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Volume 22 | Number 7367 | 2 RiyalsWednesday 6 December 2017 | 18 Rabia I 1439 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

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BUSINESS | 21 SPORT | 36

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185UNDER SIEGE

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H H Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, yesterday visited the 28th Doha International Book Fair, being held under the slogan “Towards a Conscious Society” at Doha Exhibition and Convention Center. H H Sheikha Moza toured the local, Arab and international publishing houses, where she was briefed on the latest publications in different fields.Pic: Aisha Almusalam → See also page 4

H H Sheikha Moza visits Doha International Book Fair

Image of Emir for National Day unveiled

The organising Commit-tee for the celebrations of the National Day has

unveiled the accredited picture of the Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

The image shows the Emir with the motto of the Qatar National Day 2017 ‘Promise of Prosperity and Glory’, which is inspired by a quote of the Emir, written below the image and also Tamim bin Hamad writ-ten below the motto.

With the theme ‘Promise of Prosperity and Glory’, Qatar National Day celebrations will start on December 9 at Darb Al Saai and continue for ten days.

QNA

The State of Qatar has totally rejected any measure calling for the recognition of Jeru-salem as the capital of Israel.

An official source at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that such measures undermine the international efforts aiming at the implementa-tion of the Two-State solution.

The source reiterated Qatar’s firm position in support of the Palestinian cause and the rights of the brotherly Palestinian people, foremost of which is the establishment of an independent and sovereign state on the basis of the 4 June 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital.

Meanwhile, the extraordinary session of the Council of the League of Arab States, at the level of permanent delegates, began at the headquar-ters of the Arab League Secretariat in the Egyptian capital Cairo yesterday to discuss developments affecting Jerusalem and its legal and historical status. The state of Qatar participates in the meet-ing with a delegation headed by the Permanent Representative to the Arab League H E Saif bin Muqaddam Al Buainain.

The meeting discusses the formulation of an Arab position to confront threats and challenges facing Jerusalem, its identity and its historic status. → See also page 9

Qatar rejects call to recognise Jerusalem as Israel capital

Satish Kanady The Peninsula

Qatar is aiming at a ‘near total self-sufficiency’ in food security. The budget

for the new fiscal will see a sig-nificant focus on private sector and boosting country’s food security agenda. The annual budget proposal will also have its emphasis the country’s SMEs sector and the FIFA-related projects, Finance Minister H E Ali Shareef Al Emadi revealed yesterday.

In candid on-stage inter-view at ‘The Euromoney Qatar Conference’, opened in the presence of Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Kha-lifa Al Thani, the Minister said : “In the past, our policy was to avoid competition with other nations in the GCC, which cre-ated some challenges with food security and the import of medicines, among other areas. In the future, our policies will differ. For example, we are already more than 40 percent self-sufficient in dairy, which will move to 100 percent in the future.”

In fact, the government’s desire to strengthen the role of the private sector began three years ago, but the unprece-dented blockade on Qatar forced the country to speed up the process.

The minister said there will always be talk about backing for the private sector and pro-moting it.

The country will extend an unflinching support to the pri-vate sector. The sector will play a major role, especially in rela-tion to food security, healthcare and agriculture.

Despite the blockade, Qatar has managed a large increase in its exports and imports, which enables it to provide alternative routes to import goods that the siege countries used to provide.

This contributed to promot-ing the strength and robustness of Qatar’s economy during this time, where through Hamad Port, the state was able to receive shipments from more than 80 ports and has contact with more than 160 countries through Hamad International Airport, in addition to its good connection with a number of countries.

The Minister said Qatar will maintain its base oil price at $45 in the 2018 budget proposal, though it is expected that oil prices can be as high as $60 per barrel.

Al Emadi said the non-oil sectors and the private sector can grow by 2.5 to 3 percent in 2018, which is a relatively dis-tinct growth.

→ Continued on page 5

Budget to emphasise on private sector, FIFA 2022: Finance Minister

Emir: Qatar will spare no effort to achieve Gulf interests

Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani is received by the Emir of Kuwait H H Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah, at Bayan Palace in Kuwait, yesterday. →More pictures on page 2

Emir sends greetings to King of Thailand

Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani sent yester-day a cable of

congratulations to H M King Maha Vajiralongkorn of the Kingdom of Thailand on the occasion of his country’s National Day.

Deputy Emir H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Thani also sent similar cable to the King of Thailand..

The Peninsula

Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani yesterday participated in the 38th ses-sion of the Supreme Council of Gulf Cooperation Council

(GCC), which took place at Al Tahrir Hall at Bayan Palace in Kuwait.

The Emir affirmed that the State of Qatar will spare no effort to achieve the best interests of the peoples of the Gulf and the peoples of the Arab and Islamic nations, praying Almighty Allah to grant the Emir of Kuwait H H Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah the best of health, and to achieve prosper-ity and progress for the State of Kuwait under his wise leadership.

The session was attended by the offi-cial delegation accompanying the Emir, which included H H Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Personal Repre-sentative of the Emir, as well as a number of Their Excellencies ministers.

Earlier, on arrival in Kuwait for the Summit, the Emir said he hoped that the summit which was taking place amid critical conditions in the march of the GCC and amid regional chal-lenges would result in outcomes that contribute to maintaining security and stability of the region as well as achiev-ing the aspirations of the Gulf peoples towards deepening cooperation and solidarity and reaching the desired goals of the council.

The Emir and the accompanying delegation were received by Kuwait

Emir. The Emir extended his and the Qatari people’s sincere greetings to HH Emir of Kuwait and the fraternal Kuwaiti people, wishing him health and wellbeing and further wishing his country progress and prosperity under his wise leadership. The Emir prayed that they would succeed in achieving the good for the Gulf, Arab and Mus-lim peoples.

Gulf Summit which was cut short from two days to one day passed Kuwait Declaration which stressed the crucial role of the Gulf Cooperation Council in maintaining security and stability in the region, combating ter-rorist organisations and extremist ideology in defence of Arab values and the principles of the Islam based on moderation and tolerance.

→ Continued on page 2

Gulf Summit passed Kuwait Declaration which stressed the crucial role of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in maintaining security and stability in the region, combating terrorist organisations and extremist ideology in defence of Arab values and the principles of Islam based on moderation and tolerance.

02 WEDNESDAY 6 DECEMBER 2017HOME

Emir: Qatar will spare no effort for the interest of Gulf

→ Continued from page 1

The Emir left Kuwait after attending the Gulf Summit. The Emir sent a cable to the Emir of Kuwait, in which H H the Emir expressed thanks and appreciation for the hospitality and appreciation he received during his participation in the 38th session of the Supreme Council of the Gulf Cooperation Council, and praised the efforts of the Emir of Kuwait aiming to enhance cooperation and solidarity among GCC countries and to consolidate security and stability in the region.

Opening the session, Kuwait Emir H H Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah affirmed that the Gulf Coopera-tion Council (GCC) would carry on its leading role in the region despite the numerous challenges and upheavals.

The holding of the summit proves to the world that the GCC, as an important

entity, needs to continue to address the needs of the people of the region, said H H the Emir. H H the Emir of Kuwait touched on the Gulf countries’ joint accomplishments since the formation of the council, adding that the future still holds more goals to achieve and mile-stones to surpass. Uniting the Gulf countries efforts against regional and international challenges will ensure the security and stability of the council, H H the Emir affirmed.

Concerning the peace process in the Middle East, H H the Emir of Kuwait expressed hopes that such stalemate in the process be moved forward in order to reach a just and everlasting peace agreement for the sake of substantiating the stability of the region and the world in accordance to the Arab peace initia-tive and international resolutions in this

regard. H H the Emir of Kuwait called for the formation of a committee that will look into modifying the Gulf Coopera-tion Council’s (GCC) statute. “Any dispute on the Gulf level must not affect the con-tinuation of the summit,” said H H the Emir. He noted that despite “negative developments and sorrowful events” over the last six months, GCC leaders man-aged to calm the situation which is an important step in addressing the recent feud.

Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani also attended the dinner ban-quet hosted by H H the Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah at Bayan Palace in honor of Their High-nesses and Excellencies heads of the delegations taking part in the 38th ses-sion of the Supreme Council of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The Kuwait

Declaration stressed the crucial role of the Gulf Cooperation Council in main-taining security and stability in the region, combating terrorist organisations and extremist ideology in defense of Arab val-ues and the principles of the Islamic religion based on moderation and tolerance.

The Declaration stressed the need to recognize the challenges that threaten the security and stability of the region and the importance of adhering to the GCC process, and the importance of enhancing collective action and

mobilizing common energies to face all challenges and fortifying the GCC coun-tries against its repercussions, in order to meet the aspirations of GCC citizens.

The Declaration called on writers, media and thinkers to take responsibility in front of GCC citizens and to play a con-structive and effective role to support and strengthen the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) process to achieve the common interests of its countries and peoples and to submit constructive proposals for the completion of the plans and projects adopted during the Gulf joint action.

Defence Ministry takes part in Darb EI Saai eventsThe Peninsula

The Director of Defence Com-munication Lt.

Col. Nawaf M. AI Thani (pictured)announces the MOD’s participation with a special pavil-ion for the first time in Darb EI Saai cele-brations of the national day.

The pavilion is called “Defence Camp”, and DDC is happy to invite the pub-lic to visit the pavilion and participate in a variety of activities.

All units of the Qatar Armed Forces are participating in the activities, such as live military demonstrations, military band marches, hand combat, para-chute landings, and many more activities.

“Defence Camp” will also include old and modem vehi-cles, and future air and maritime military simulators. In addition to that, the DDC is organising an interactive gal-lery, where the public can experience the QAF through different scenarios in different

rooms and each room dedi-cated to a certain activity. A replica of the General Head-quarters (GHQ) will house a time line of the progress of the QAF from 1948 up to our present day, and a display of antiques several vintage weapons.

Visitors can venture upon special forces exercises, through running the obstacle course.

There are suitable activities for every age group, as well as a photo-booth and a dedicated area for kids under five years old. The “Defence Camp” is fully accessible and compatible with comfort and safety standards for people with special needs.

MDPS to celebrate Qatar Statistics Day todayThe Peninsula

The Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics (MDPS) will mark today the

Qatari Statistics Day, which aims at raising the awareness of soci-ety about the importance of relying on statistics in daily life in general.

The celebration, which falls on December 6 each year, also emphasises the statistics impor-tance in policy formulation and

monitoring progress in national development strategy to achieve Qatar National Vision 2030.

It reflects the importance of monitoring high-quality official statistical information and data, its role in conducting analyses, making informed decisions on the development and implementa-tion of plans and policies for sustainable development in par-ticular in all institutions of the State.

In addition, statistics help in

the optimal implementation of the national development strategy at various stages and highlight the importance of cooperation and coordination between all parties in the state to build an integrated statistical system.

The Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics said that it seeks during the celebration of the Qatar Statistics Day to encourage students to take an interest in the field of statistics and to enter into the system of community

partnership in order to build a modern statistical system that meets the needs of national and international users. The ministry said it also aims to invite all inno-vators and creators in the fields of statistics and ensure their involve-ment in the development of statistical and legal standards in order to improve data quality and its use at the developmental level through the use of the best inno-vations in the fields of contemporary technology.

QNA

Qatar Council for Healthcare Practitioners (QCHP), part of the Ministry of Public

Health, is organising a workshop to train authorised suppliers of medical education programmes and continuous professional development regarding the sup-plier accreditation system.

The workshop introduced the standards of certifying the medi-cal education activities and continuously developing

professionalism. In addition, the workshop

explains how to adopt these activ-ities and attachments and see the electronic system through which activities are registered.

Qatar Council for Healthcare Practitioners continues to sup-port the suppliers of medical education programs and organ-ise workshops related to the accreditation system, in aim to improve the quality and availa-bility of education programmes for health practitioners.

QCHP workshop to focuson accreditation standards

Officials of Qatar Council for Healthcare Practitioners and other officials at the event.

03WEDNESDAY 6 DECEMBER 2017 HOME

Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad A Thani received a written message from President of the State of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, pertaining to the latest developments in the Palestinian arena and the possibility of the US administration to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and transfer the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Ambassador of Palestine to Qatar, Munir Abdullah Ghannam, delivered the message during a meeting with the Emir at Al Bahr Palace yesterday. The Emir affirmed the State of Qatar’s firm stance towards the Palestinian issue in general and Jerusalem in particular because of its religious and political importance to Arabs, Muslims and the whole world.

Emir receives message from Palestine President

HMC officially launches National Trauma RegistryThe Peninsula

In a new move to reduce pre-ventable deaths and associated losses, Hamad

Medical Corporation (HMC) has officially launched the Qatar Trauma Registry, the first and only national trauma registry in the Arab world. Through the Qatar Trauma Registry, clini-cians and other public health officials will have the data needed to make better decisions toward reducing trauma inci-dents in the country.

The Qatar Trauma Registry, which builds upon HMC’s trauma registry, was initiated in January 2017 with the endorse-ment of Minister of Public Health H E Dr Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari. She said, “Our vision for Qatar is to establish an inclu-sive trauma system that facilitates a coordinated approach with which to deliver the safest, most effective, and most compassionate care to all patients. The establishment of the Qatar Trauma Registry rep-resents another milestone in the growth and development of our national trauma system; one that is based on international best practice and is designed to achieve the best possible health outcomes for patients while also improving our health system.”

The Qatar Trauma Registry is also designed to improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of trauma care delivery in Qatar. The national trauma system and registry concepts were devel-oped under the leadership of Dr Hassan Al Thani, Head of Trauma and Vascular Surgery at HMC, along with the support of other ministries, notably the Ministry of Interior.

“The Qatar Trauma

Registry is essentially a database that documents the injuries of trauma patients and the acute care they receive. It is designed to provide information that can be used to improve the effi-ciency and quality of trauma care delivery,” said Dr Al Thani. “With the data collected, we can identify gaps in the way injury victims are identified and trans-ported to where they receive care.”

“Trauma registries are rec-ognised globally as highly successful ways to reduce pre-ventable deaths and associated losses. This programme allows us to deliver a more integrated and enhanced system of trauma care in Qatar,” added Dr. Al Thani. “Qatar has been bench-marking its trauma data internationally through a col-laboration with the National Trauma Data Bank® (a division of the American College of Sur-geons), which is a global repository of trauma data.”

“Injury is a leading cause of death and disability in people

under 45 years old in Qatar. Today’s announcement is a sig-nificant step towards improving trauma services across the country,” said Brig. Gen. Mohamed Saad Al Kharji, Direc-tor General of Traffic at the Ministry of Interior. “We want people to keep their safety, and the safety of others, always in mind. With the data we collect it will be easier for us to high-light the main areas of concern where more preventative meas-ures need to be introduced to safeguard the population.”

Collaboration between key stakeholders is essential to ensure that the data collected is accurate and can provide a meaningful basis for identifying trends and improving the care delivered to injured patients. It is also essential for introducing safety measure to help prevent injuries from occurring. How-ever, the creation and upkeep of such registries require a sub-stantial investment of money, time, and effort from all parties involved.

Minister of Public Health H E Dr Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari and other officials at the official launch of the Qatar Trauma Registry.

Qatar’s industrial sector has great potential to lead growth rates: EnvoyVienna

QNA

H E Sheikh Ali bin Jassim Al Thani, Qatar’s ambassador to the Repub-lic of Austria and Qatar’s

permanent representative to the United Nations Industrial Development Organ-ization (UNIDO), said that the industrial sector in Qatar has great potential to lead growth rates over the next few years in light of the plans and strategies that have been developed and correspond to the new changes that have occurred in the global economic arena.

In a speech to the 17th session of the

general conference of the UNIDO, the Ambassador said the State of Qatar had taken firm and strong steps in all areas of industry, whereas it has diversified the industry and developed supporting industries such as iron and steel, cement and food industries.

The Ambassador added that Qatar has also established an advanced infra-structure capable of servicing national industries and responding to their future needs and challenges, which helped to promote the industrial sector and increase its competitiveness in addition to the holding of mega-projects being developed in the areas of energy and

desalination. He explained that economic development is a key element in the Qatar National Vision 2030, which is the engine of development by providing many opportunities and ensuring a bet-ter life for Qataris.

The Ambassador noted that the development of Qatar’s economy means balancing the oil-based economy with a more knowledge-based economy in order to diversify the economy and ensure a stable and sustainable business environment.

The Ambassador pointed out that the State of Qatar pursues an open market economy policy, enacting appropriate

legislation in order to create an environ-ment conducive to legitimate competition away from monopolistic practices, and protecting industrial installations from dumping and harmful practices.

Sheikh Ali bin Jassim Al Thani con-cluded that the economic and social progress of modern societies is no longer subject to automatic development or being left to changing circumstances, but it’s based on a long-term process with pre-defined goals, based on clear vision and sound planning, which has led Qatar to develop its comprehensive national vision 2030 in the interest of its present and future generations.

2,429 new companies registered in NovemberQNA

The Ministry of Economy and Commerce issued a report on the busi-ness sector progress for the month of

November, which indicated the registration of 2,429 new companies.

The report indicated the reg-istration of 1,787 main commercial records and 642 branch commercial records.

Limited liability companies accounted for 62 percent of new commercial records followed by limited liability companies in the category of single-person com-panies at 27 percent while 10 percent of new companies were registered in the category of Indi-vidual Corporations, according to the report. Contracting com-panies topped the list of most

common activities in November, with 1,225 commercial records issued in this field. 980 commer-cial records were issued for restaurants, cafeterias and ice cream shops, while 864 com-mercial records were issued for grocery and supply stores, as well as 750 commercial records were issued for construction materi-als trading, the report showed.

The report pointed out that a total of 9,536 commercial licenses were issued, amended or renewed during November.

According to the report, the number of licenses issued by the Ministry of Economy and Com-merce reached 1,712, while 1,019 were modified and 6,805 were renewed. A total of 309 compa-nies closed in November, representing 13 percent of newly registered companies. Regard-ing write-off activities,

contracting companies topped the list at 27 percent, followed by the supplies trading by 21 per-cent. Electrical appliances, electronics and construction materials trading come in the third place by 18 percent. Gro-cery and grocery activities came in fourth with 16 percent.

The report also indicated that the total number of transactions that took place during Novem-ber at the Ministry’s branches reached 33,576 transactions.

In the area of intellectual property rights, the report indi-cated that 59 new patent applications were issued in November 2017, while 181 pat-ent applications were renewed. In addition, 4,448 trademarks have been registered during November, while 14 certificates were issued in the field of copy-right and related rights.

H E Sheikh Ali bin Jassim Al Thani, Qatar’s Ambassador to the Republic of Austria said Qatar had taken firm and strong steps in all areas of industry, whereas it has diversified the industry and developed supporting industries such as iron and steel, cement and food industries.

04 WEDNESDAY 6 DECEMBER 2017HOME

The Peninsula

Vodafone engaged more than 1,000 children, teachers

and parents on the topic of online safety through-out the week-long Doha International Book Fair which came to a close yesterday.

This came as part of Vodafone’s AmanTECH online safety programme, which aims to equip peo-ple with the right tools to navigate the digital world safely. In line with Voda-fone’s commitment to promote online safety across the community, the Company has been roll-ing out its digital safety training across schools and key events in the country to reach high numbers of the public.

Vodafone used inno-vative digital technology to help visitors to its ded-icated stand learn about how to stay safe on the internet. Vodafone cre-ated an augmented reality (AR) app, which brought everyday objects to life with overlaid informative videos and infographics. The 25 AR learning activ-ities included topics such as how can technology help with education, how to stay safe using social media and how long is it good for a child to spend on screens each day.

“In today’s ever-expanding digital world, the subject of online safety has become critical to understand. Nearly half of Qatari children aged 8-15 own a smartphone, and 76% of children aged 9-16 have a social network profile,” said Mohammed Al Yami, External Affairs Director, Vodafone Qatar.

“The average Qatari 9-16 year-old spends over 3 hours per day on the net which is a considerable amount of time spent by people of different age groups online. It is there-fore crucial that we ensure youth are sur-rounded with a healthy technology-driven atmos-phere and that we don’t miss out on the extraordi-nary benefits of this revolutionary era in human communications,” he said.

Vodafone spreads online safety awareness

H H Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of QF for Education, Science and Community Development, yesterday visited the 28th Doha International Book Fair at Doha Exhibition and Convention Center. Sheikha Moza toured the local, Arab and international publishing houses, where she was briefed on the latest printed publications in different fields. Pic: Aisha Almusalam

Qatar Post launches new promotionsThe Peninsula

Qatar Postal Services Company (Qatar Post) has announced the launch of a new pro-motional bundle for

postal box subscription and renewal with Home Delivery Service (HDS).

The promo, which runs from December 3 to February 2018, offers customers 50 percent dis-count on Home Delivery Service (HDS) on new subscriptions or renewal of PO Box, within the promo time frame, customers can subscribe to both services by visiting our link http://www.qatarpost.qa/PoboxOnline.aspx

HDS, which runs from

Saturday to Thursday every week, offers customers the opportunity of enjoying the con-venience of having mails from their PO Box, delivered straight to the front door at different

times weekly, based on the type of subscription.

The existing subscription rates after the 50% discount for HDS are QAR 250/year for once a week delivery while 3 times per week service for QAR 750/year and QAR 1500/year for up to 6 times delivery weekly.

HDS is safe, secured and convenient as mails are kept safe and sealed while delivering to customer doorstep. Besides, with the service, a change of home address does not necessarily mean a change of postal box as customer’s PO Box stays the same, except otherwise decided, which means there is no disrup-tion in mail delivery even with any relocation or change.

Qatar Post Deputy Director of Retail & Customer Services “Hassan Al Otaibi” said: “The new promotion is one of the ways of appreciating our cus-tomers and to offer them the opportunity of maximizing the benefits of subscribing to our services.”

“The bundle offer promo, which is a first of its kind, gives customers the opportunity of enjoying our Home Delivery Service at a much reduced rate in addition to the tremendous convenience that comes with it.”

To enjoy the offer, please click on http://www.qatarpost.qa/PoboxOnline.aspx or alter-natively visit your nearest Qatar Post branch.

QCS unveils electronic collection systemThe Peninsula

Qatar Cancer Society (QCS) has launched an elec-tronic system which contains 21 websites in the country, to make it easier for the donors to

contribute. It will help to increase donations, which is the most

important method which helps patients who are unable to afford their expenses for treatment. Also the new sys-tem will support programmes which aims to spread awareness about cancer.

Mariam Al Noaimi, General Manager at QCS said, “Launch of the electronic collection system aims to use the modern technology and help donors and save time and effort.”

She also stressed the importance of donation to finan-cially and morally support patients and fighting cancer and urged everyone to join hands to raise awareness of the disease and contribute to patient’s treatment.

In addition, some websites have been providing with screens to display awareness videos about cancer and promote early detection, the next period will also include the dissemination of this experiment to all collection sites. she added.

She noted the websites which allows donations sev-eral projects licensed by Regulatory Authority for Charitable Activities Which is the treatment of cancer patients under license No. 6/2017, and cancer awareness programs under license No. 7/2017. In conjunction with the launch of the electronic collection system, a course was organized to develop the skills of Cancer Awareness Promoters.

Al Noaimi also said that QCS has placed 526 donation boxes at different location. Also donations could be deposited at Qatar International Islamic Bank, through the following account numbers,Q A 7 2 Q I I B 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 2 6 3 6 2 0 0 0 1 a n d QA34QIIB000000001111263620006.

The promo, which runs from December 3 to February 2018, offers customers 50 percent discount on Home Delivery Service on new subscriptions or renewal of PO Box, within the promo time frame.

Qatar Cancer Society launched an electronic system to make it easier for the donors to contribute.

Mega Mart opens new branch at Q-MallThe Peninsula

Mega Mart has opened their new outlet in Q-Mall at

Al Gharaffa. This is the sixth Mega Mart outlet in Qatar and the group also operates two Shoprite outlets.

Sheikh Fahad bin Abdullah bin Thani Al Thani inaugurated the Mega Mart - Q Mall Branch yesterday by cut-ting a ribbon. Sheikh Nawaf bin Nasser bin Khaled Al Thani, Chair-man & CEO of NBK Group of Companies, Sheikh Nasser bin Nawaf bin Nasser bin Khaled Al Thani, Sheikh Abdullah bin Fahad bin Abdullah bin Thani Al Thani, Mohammed Hasan Al Harami and Hussain Ahmed Abdullah Al Siddiqi, Devi Das Aswani, General Manager, NBK Sons Trading Co, were also present at the event.

The newly opened Mega Mart stores key range of organic and health food in addition to regular consumer goods from around the world . Highlights of the new branch, which is more than 1,000 square meters, is a high-end bak-ery, flower shop and roastery serving quality nuts inside the store. As an

attractive opening offer the store is already running a ‘free cake’ promo-tion where any customer who spends QR250 will get a gift voucher for a cake worth QR74. The customers can choose either the chocolate cake or the mixed fruit cake. According to a store spokes-person “Like our all outlets, Mega Mart

– Q Mall offers the best of fresh and quality fresh produce ,dairy products , fresh fish all is offered to our custom-ers at a very competitive price. We don’t compromise on quality and we fill our shelves with only the best prod-ucts available in the market,” the spokesperson added.

Sheikh Fahad bin Abdullah bin Thani Al Thani along with other dignitaries at the inauguration of the Mega Mart - Q Mall Branch yesterday. Pic: Salim Matramkot / The Peninsula

Sheikha Moza visits Doha International Book Fair

05WEDNESDAY 6 DECEMBER 2017 HOME

‘Qatar’s economy to have different direction’QNA

H E Dr Ibrahim Al Ibrahim, Economic Adviser at the Emiri Diwan, said the Qatari econ-

omy will have a different direction in the future from what it has been before, espe-cially since the State of Qatar has been relying on integration in the Gulf region.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Euromoney Qatar confer-ence, Dr Al Ibrahim said the vigilance and prior readiness of the Qatari administration for surprises such as the siege formed a protection from any repercussions of the siege, not-ing that there are effective plans to move towards all markets and strengthen trade relations with all world countries.

He noted that in the past the State of Qatar has faced the challenge of being able to take the gas sector from the Gulf market or the region to go glo-bal, stressing that it largely succeeded in doing that and became the biggest exporter of LNG in the world. He added that

this is currently being repeated in exporting in the non-oil sec-tor and how the state can succeed in exporting its prod-ucts globally.

Dr Al Ibrahim noted that the second national strategy is almost complete and will include six priority sectors. These sectors will have compre-hensive strategies, he said, adding that there are specific targets for each sector such as increasing productivity, increas-ing employment efficiency, creating an appropriate invest-ment climate for local and foreign investors, and encour-aging innovation and entrepreneurship. He said that the state will help with the export process in these sectors. The economic adviser said the siege had an impact on the state budget for fiscal year 2018 as it

created new challenges and cir-cumstances that prompted the need to develop plans for the development of food industries and intermediary industries

necessary to serve the rest of the economic sectors in the country.

Dr Al Ibrahim added that the merger between Qatargas and

RasGas has been successfully done under the umbrella of one entity, Qatargas, as one of the largest in the world in LNG production.

Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani and Finance Minister H E Ali Shareef Al Emadi with other officials at ‘The Euromoney Qatar Conference’, yesterday.

Ooredoo and QTA announce joint support for Doha MarathonThe Peninsula

Ooredoo announced yesterday a three-year partnership with Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) in support of the Ooredoo Doha Mar-

athon. As official sports tourism partner for the coming three editions of the annual event, QTA will help lay the foundations for marketing and promot-ing the marathon internationally to further position Qatar as a premium destination for mass participa-tion sports events.

A new ‘Invitational Elite Half Marathon’ cate-gory will be introduced, creating an opportunity for some of the world’s top athletes to participate. For the upcoming edition, scheduled to be held on Jan-uary 12, 2018, QTA will facilitate the attendance and participation of several international athletes in the marathon, whose names will be revealed in the upcoming weeks. Waleed Al Sayed, Ooredoo CEO, said: “We are delighted to be working with Qatar Tourism Authority to make the next three mara-thons the very best they can be for Qatar’s people and its visitors. By opening a special category for international athletes, we hope to further inspire the community to join in and get fit, as well as help mould the next-generation of Qatari athletes.”

As part of the partners’ shared vision for inspir-ing Qatar’s communities to adopt a healthier lifestyle, the international athletes will be visiting local schools

and universities to talk about the benefits of sports and their experience as a professional athlete. Has-san Al Ibrahim, Acting Chairman, QTA, said: “Over the past five years, the Ooredoo Doha Marathon has grown to become the largest mass participation event in Qatar. Held in the pleasant winter weather, the marathon celebrates the power of sports to bring people together, citizens and residents, against the backdrop of Doha’s iconic cityscape, giving it great potential to be an attractive sports tourism prod-uct.” He added, “We are pleased to be supporting the event for the coming three editions and are par-ticularly excited to be hosting elite athletes that will help raise the profile of the event in key visitor source markets. We look forward to announcing their names in the coming weeks.”

Now in its sixth year, registration for the 2018 edition of the Ooredoo Doha Marathon is open, and everyone is encouraged to share their plans to run, and their training progress using the hashtag #oore-doo_doha_marathon on social media.

Registration fees range between QR100 and QR250 depending on the participant’s selected course and age and 100 percent of this year’s reg-istration fees for the Ooredoo Doha Marathon will be donated to charity. To help with the marathon’s organisation and to ensure a range of attractive prizes, several local agencies and companies will also support this annual event.

Partnership deal signed to promote National Autism PlanThe Peninsula

Qatar Foun-dation, the W o r l d

Innovation Sum-mit for Health (WISH), and Qatar Autism Families Associ-ation (QAFA), have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to pro-mote the Qatar National Autism Plan.

The partner-ship is aimed at p r o v i d i n g socially inclusive opportunities at QF facilities, par-ticularly sports and leisure activ-ities, for those with autism and their families, advancing the Qatar National Autism Plan.

The agreement was signed by Machaille Al Naimi, Presi-d e n t o f C o m m u n i t y Development, QF, and Fatima Al Sulaiti, Chair, QAFA. Also present was Sultana Afdhal, Acting CEO, WISH.

Al Naimi said, “We have been working with QAFA for some time now, particularly over the summer months when we hosted a number of hugely popular activities initiated by WISH.”

“The signing of this MoU is the culmination of that work and provides the framework for these and other events to con-tinue on a year-round basis, thus providing much needed opportunities for inclusive sports and leisure participation. We look forward to working together to co-create programs and events that will help to pro-mote a healthy and active lifestyle within the wider spe-cial needs community in Qatar,” Al Naimi added.

WISH, in partnership with

Qatar Foundation’s Community Development, introduced a number of activities, primarily for QAFA, during 2017, to address the growing need for social and sports facilities to be made available to children with autism. These included swim-ming classes, horse riding lessons, and special football sessions with coaches from the Liverpool Football Club Foundation.

Beyond sports and leisure activities, the agreement also provides an opportunity for WISH and QAFA to collaborate towards the advancement of autism spectrum disorder research in Qatar.

Afdhal said: “Through this MoU, we are keen to collabo-rate in a number of important areas beyond the sports and lei-sure initiatives that have already been initiated, includ-ing lectures and workshops, research awareness through community outreach events, and conducting studies to cap-ture families’ experiences with national healthcare services. WISH’s collaborative work forms part of its commitment

to helping to establish a sus-tainable program that supports Qatar’s National Mental Health Strategy, ‘Changing Minds, Changing Lives 2013-2018’.”

To date, WISH has worked with its global community of healthcare experts to create two evidence-based reports; ‘Men-tal Health and Wellbeing in Children’ and ‘Autism: A Global Framework for Action’.

While, Al Sulaiti expressed her appreciation of QF’s con-tinuing efforts to support children with autism and other complex needs.

“We are delighted and grateful that Qatar Foundation is opening up its recreation facilities for our families so that children, as well adults, with autism and other complex needs, can enjoy the health benefits of sports activities all year round,” said Al Sulaiti.

“The summer activities organised by WISH were a great way to integrate children with autism into activities that they are often marginalized from, in a free and interactive learning environment,” added Al Sulaiti.

→ Continued from page 1On the subsidy issue, Finance Min-

ister H E Ali Shareef Al Emadi said the government will not shy away from giv-ing subsidies to the deserving sectors. ‘Subsidy’ is not a bad word for the gov-ernment and the government will continue its subsidy policies. The

government believes subsidies are good for economy if it is driven well. “Europe is giving subsidies; the entire advanced nations are giving subsidies. We will continue without subsidy polices and it will be allocated the way it will help economy to grow,” he said.

It is important to look into Qatar’s

performance in the past decade and how it affected its direction during the cri-ses. Everyone expected Qatar will face major obstacles in the first few weeks of the blockade; however it was able to recover from the initial wobble. As part of the recovery, Qatar invested in the infrastructure, Qatar Airways, leading

funds, the central bank, ports and air-ports, confirming that investing in the infrastructure alone is a shock absorb-ent. Qatar is looking to transform its economy more competitive to attract more foreign investments. The coun-try’s upcoming free trade zone will be a pillar to the Qatari economy.

The Qatari economy has performed well during the current crisis since it is an economy that works on diversity and the lack of reliance on oil and gas as the main source of income. Qatar’s growth is to be higher than other GCC countries in 2017 despite the fall in oil prices, the minister said.

H E Dr Ibrahim Al Ibrahim, Economic Adviser at the Emiri Diwan, said that there are effective plans to move towards all markets and strengthen trade relations with all world countries.

Budget to emphasise on private sector & FIFA 2022: Finance Minister

Machaille Al Naimi, President of Community Development, QF, and Fatima Al Sulaiti, Chair, QAFA, at the agreement signing ceremony. Also present was Sultana Afdhal, Acting CEO, WISH.

06 WEDNESDAY 6 DECEMBER 2017HOME

The Peninsula

The Australian Ambassador to Qatar Dr Axel Waben-horst recently participated,

along with the well-known Qatari Chef Aisha Al Tamimi, in a live cooking event held at The Curve Hotel.

During the event, most known Qatari dish ‘Al Machboos’ was prepared as a means to introduce the audience to the Qatari cuisine legacy, habits and cherished culture, in a magnifi-cent occasion to highlight the authenticity of the Qatari society.

Held on the open roof terrace by the pool at the hotel, the event was attended by a number of a m b a s s a d o r s , m e d i a

professionals, journalists and food bloggers, who joined Chef Aisha’s live event, as she was preparing the most delicious Qatari delicacies.

Commenting on the event, Wabenhorst said: “I am grateful for the opportunity to learn about Qatari food from one of Qatar’s best chefs, Aisha Al Tamimi. One of the best ways of getting to know a country is through its food.”

“Through cooperating with Chef Aisha, I will learn the skill of cooking Qatari food, having already mastered eating Qatari food. The ability to cook Qatari food will remain with me during my time in Qatar and afterwards, creating a lasting memory of my posting.”

On the sidelines, Acting Hotels Group General Manager Wael El Telbany said: “It is a good opportunity to showcase the captivating Qatari culinary and art of gastronomy people of Qatar enjoy. The Curve Hotel, which recently celebrated its one year anniversary, has always been keen to serve as a cultural bridge between the people through organising such big event.”

“The Hotel spares no effort to highlight the authenticity of the Qatari society and its original characteristics and cuisine, which reflect the soci-ety’s diversity and openness to the world. Not to mention Qatar’s exceptional qualities of hospitality, and amazing

spirit of coexistence”. It is worth mentioning that

The Curve Hotel, which is man-aged by Ezdan Hotels, opened at the end of last year, is over a stra-tegic location overlooking the charming Arabian Gulf. The Hotel name was inspired by its uniquely curved architectural design, similar to the Doha Corniche.

Boasting up to 600 serviced apartments of different areas, the hotel features also a swimming pool, a gym for men and women in addition to more comfy rec-reational facilities for the convenience and wellbeing of all guests.

In the same context, the Curve Hotel has organised, dur-ing one year of its inception, a

number of diverse events to rein-force its role in community responsibility arena, mainly on matters such as safety and health. The hotel is keen to i n v o l v e a l l i t s

staff and encourage its guests to participate in these initiatives to promote the community, spread-ing awareness and calling for humanitarian and charitable actions.

Spreading loveand peace through artRaynald C Rivera

The Peninsula

Art is a potent weapon to achieve peace, Qatari artist Nasser Al Attiya believes.

“Art is a two-edged weapon. It can be used to breed hate or attain peace. It is extremely wrong to use art for hate, but if an artist uses it to send positive message even in a bad sit-uation we can find a way to have more peace,” said Al Attiya, while speaking to local media.

Asked on the role the Qatari artist plays given the current sit-uation in the region, he stressed: “The role of Qatari artist is to show his love for his country.”

He was speaking on the side-lines of the opening of his solo exhibition ‘Planet Perfumes’ at Doha Fire Station’s Workshop 3, following his successful three-month residency at Qatar’s studio in the prestigious Cité internationale des Arts in Paris.

An extension of the Fire Sta-tion: Artist in Residence programme in Doha, Paris resi-dency provides one lucky Qatari artist with studio space and all the benefits of an overseas art residency including opportuni-ties to collaborate with

like-minded individuals, the chance to develop their craft in a new setting and draw inspira-tion from museums, galleries and the city’s vibrant art scene during a three-month period.

For Al Attiya, Paris residency has given him invaluable expe-rience that has changed his life as an artist interacting and col-laborating with other artists from around the world during which he started his unique project ‘Planet Perfumes’ which com-bines sculpture and painting in creating artworks that reveal a person’s distinct personality, beliefs and message.

Planet Perfumes in an

ongoing collaborative art project which invites people to create their own artworks using the perfume bottles sculpted by Al Attiya.

“Around 30 art pieces for the project were made during my stay in Paris which I will exhibit later. There will be three sepa-rate days when anyone – artist or not — can come and create artworks using the sculptures and I hope they’re going to put a message, something they believe in and tell people about their thoughts,” he said.

The exhibition features 24 paintings, some of which Al Attiya created in Paris while the rest were made in Doha includ-ing oil paintings which resemble flags of Turkey, Kuwait, Oman and France

shaped like butterflies.“I chose these countries

because they have supported us during the situation, though there are still lots of countries I haven’t done yet. The butterfly for me represents freedom, that’s why I made the flag to resemble like butterfly wings,” he explained.

Nasser’s residency is the sec-ond organised by the Fire Station this year, and follows a three month stay by Ebtisam Al Saffar in Paris that began in January. The experience of both artists demonstrates how well estab-lished the programme has become in supporting creative talent to develop and flourish.

Khalifa Al Obaidli, Director of the Fire Station, said: “The team and I are very proud that

we’re able to celebrate yet another milestone success from this wonderful creative hub that we’ve worked so hard to develop at the Fire Station: Artist in Res-idence. It’s a pleasure to share with the local community this fantastic body of work created by Nasser Al-Attiya following his time in Paris. He fully embraced all the opportunities that this res-idency represents and his experience perfectly highlights why it is so important to us to continuously nurture future gen-erations of artists and provide them with a platform to reach their full potential whilst draw-ing inspiration from the world around them.”

Al Attiya’s works are on show until December 31, from 9am to 7pm.

Nasser Al Attiya (left) talks about some of his paintings while Khalifa Al Obaidli (centre), Director of the Fire Station looks on, at the opening of Al Attiya’s exhibition at Doha Fire Station on Monday. Pic: Kammutty VP/The Peninsula

Qatari artist Nasser Al Attiya’s solo exhibition ‘Planet Perfumes’ opens at Doha Fire Station’s Workshop 3, following his successful three-month residency at Qatar’s studio in the prestigious Cité internationale des Arts in Paris.

Aadhaar enrolment for NRIs, PIOsThe Peninsula

Aadhaar Card enrolment is presently available to residents in India.

OCI Cardholders who stay in India for a long time (over 182 days in 12 months immedi-ately preceding the date of application for enrolment) and have an Indian address can also enrol for Aadhaar Card in India. NRIs, although they are citizens of India, are not eligible for Aadhaar Card if they have not stayed for more than 182 days or more in the last 12 months. Upon completion of 182 days of their stay in India in the last 12 months immediately pre-ceding the date of application for enrolment, NRIs can apply for Aadhaar Card.

“As per Section 139AA of the Income-tax Act, 1961, every per-son who is eligible to obtain Aadhaar number shall, on or after the 1st day of July, 2017, quote Aadhaar number – (i) in the application form for allot-ment of permanent account number; (ii) in the return of income. The above provisions apply to persons who are eligi-ble to get Aadhaar. Under section 3 of the Aadhaar Act, 2016, only a resident is entitled to get Aad-haar. Therefore, the provisions of Section 139AA quoted above regarding linking of Aadhaar to PAN or the requirement of quot-ing the Aadhaar number in the return shall not apply to a non-resident, who is not eligible to get Aadhaar”.

NAMA Pavilion at Qatari Youth Forum presents services for youthThe Peninsula

NAMA Center recently had a remarkable participa-tion in the activities of the

Qatari Youth Forum in its sec-ond edition, where it organised several activities that followed three main orientations.

At the NAMA Pavilion, the services provided to youth were presented, along with the out-c o m e o f t h e s o c i a l entrepreneurs’ development project.

The outputs of the project were developed by the social entrepreneurs. In parallel, the Center’s team, in cooperation with Qatar University’s Center for Humanities and Social Sci-ences (CHSS), supervised the management of several workshops.

Through the forum, NAMA Center also sought engagement with youth, as it considers engag-ing with them and reaching out to them is one of the most impor-tant mechanisms to achieve the

Center’s strategic directions for 2017-2020.

The Center has set up its pavilion to be an interactive platform managed by ‘Sama

Nama’ youth themselves, in order to motivate young peo-ple to participate in community service, discuss the various par-ticipations of Sama Nama’s

youth, present their commu-nity projects and encourage them through dialogue to engage in capacity building projects at the Center.

The Entrepreneurship Department participated in the various events of the Qatari Youth Forum with a number of projects incubated by NAMA Center. Participants in the “influencers” segment included Al Jazi Al Manaa, Lat-ifa Al Bouainin, Roqaya Issa Al Sada and Fatima Ibrahim Al Ansari. Meanwhile, Salem Khamis Saif Al Alawi, Hind Abdulmalik and Ghanem Al Kuwari participated in the “Wings” segment.

As for the “Restaurant” activ-ity, the participants were Mubarak Mohammed Al Khulaifi, Khuloud Rashid Jassem Rashid Al Rumaihi and Aisha Mubarak Marzouq Al Abdullah.

“Our participation in the second edition of the Qatari Youth Forum is a reflection of our strategy to empower young people, build their capacities and invest in their potential through the development of ini-tiatives and programs that contribute to activating their

participation in community development and to contribute effectively and dynamically to the realization of the Qatar National Vision 2030,” said Maryam bint Abdullatif Al Man-nai, Acting Executive Manager of NAMA Center.

“We spare no effort at NAMA Center to provide all that contributes to the development and capacity-building of youth to assume their leading role in shaping a bright future for themselves and their society. We continue to listen to them and nurture their creative ideas, while striving to find practical solutions to their problems.

“We are also working to open communication channels among youth themselves, to share ideas and experiences, and build on their successes and achieve-ments, including helping them to continue their march towards supplying the nation and society with all that is useful and beneficial”.NAMA Pavillion at Qatari Youth Forum.

Australian Ambassador joins Qatari Chef Aisha Al Tamimi in cooking event

Chef Aisha Al Tamimi and Ambassador Dr Axel Wabenhorst during the cooking event.

07WEDNESDAY 6 DECEMBER 2017 HOME

The Peninsula

In a bid to heighten aware-ness on the far-reaching implications of cyber secu-rity threats on national and economic safety, Hamad

Bin Khalifa University’s (HBKU) College of Science and Engineer-ing (CSE) hosted the new edition of its ICT Seminar Series, enti-tled Emerging Cyber Threats, recently. Guest lecturer and aca-demic Dr Saif Al Kuwari led the seminar, which discussed the benefits and threats that recent technological advances bring to modern states.

Addressing graduate stu-dents in the seminar, Dr Al Kuwari shared his research find-ings and shed light on the extensive role that technology plays in societies, national econ-omies, education systems, health care facilities, and political are-nas. He concluded that, while the dawn of the digital era had intro-duced dramatic improvements

to the global standard of living, technology had paradoxically also ushered a new set of chal-lenges and threats in the form of cyber crime. To illustrate this, he utilised recent case studies to demonstrate how stealthily cyber attacks may be perpetrated, and the devastating political and eco-nomic impacts they carry at the

individual, enterprise, and state-levels. He also summarised facets of the cyber security infrastruc-ture to the prevent future cyber threats.

Commenting on the opportu-nities and threats of cyberspace as they relate to graduates in Qatar, Dr Mounir Hamdi, dean of CSE, said: “Today, cyber security emerges as a top national security issue. It is also regarded as an eco-nomic priority, warranting a shift in our educational focus. Our nation’s youth – including the graduates we address here today at the ICT Seminar Series – are ‘digital natives’. They have never known a world where Internet and connectivity to cyberspace were not commonplace, and these technological threats affect them tremendously. It will be them who will serve as the engines of our national economy and its security in the future, and this is where we see the importance of this semi-nar, in which we invite leaders from industry and academia to

share with us the benefit of their knowledge and experience.”

Although not intrinsically linked to the cyberattacks in Qatar earlier this year, the sem-inar comes at a pivotal time for Qatar’s technological future. Increasingly, educational insti-tutions in the country have placed newfound emphasis on e n s u r i n g t h a t t h e

next generation has a firm understanding of the implica-tions of cyberattacks.

Dr Marwa Qaraqe, an assist-ant professor at the College of Science and Engineering, said: “This talk by Dr Al Kuwari is of particular interest to Qatar because it highlights the poten-tial threats that emerging technologies can harbour. New

technological advances are quick to be adopted, however, con-sumers fail to understand the potential risks associated with these technologies with respect to our society, education, health, economics, and politics. Dr Al Kuwari discussed several recent cyber incidents, how they were orchestrated, and their effects on Qatar. “

HBKU hosts seminar on emerging cyber threats

While the dawn of the digital era had introduced dramatic improvements to the global standard of living, technology had paradoxically also ushered a new set of challenges and threats in the form of cyber crime, Dr Saif Al Kuwari said. A view of the Hamad bin Khalifa University.

Sidra to take part in HIMMS Qatar educational meet and IT expoThe Peninsula

Sidra Medicine, a member of the Qatar Foundation and Qatar’s new hospital

for children, young people, and women, will be taking part in the ‘HIMSS Qatar Educational Conference and Health IT Exhibition.’

The exhibition, will take place in Doha from tomorrow to Saturday and focus on improving health care provision through information technol-ogy. It is being jointly organised by HIMSS and Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) in partner-ship with Sidra Medicine and Primary Healthcare Corporation (PHCC), under the patronage of Qatar’s Ministry of Public Health.

Sidra Medicine, will also be the recipient of a HIMMS 6 cer-tificate during a separate ceremony tomorrow. This is fol-lowing its official designation as a HIMSS Analytics EMRAMSM 6 facility earlier this year. The Sidra Medicine Outpatient Clinic (OPC) earned the recognition for using electronic medical records and other supporting technolo-gies to enhance the quality of care provided to patients and families at the Sidra Medicine OPC.

“This is the first time a HIMSS event is being held in Qatar, as a testament to the massive national health care system transformation that is underway in the country. The participation of key operators

in Qatar’s health care space will help create a robust platform for experts in medical informatics from Qatar and around the world to share learnings and find creative ways of overcom-ing challenges that emerge. We are very pleased to partner with HMC and PHCC to showcase how we are working together to advance and strengthen Qatar’s health care network,” said Dr Khalid Alyafei, Chief of Medical Informatics at Sidra Medicine.

Sidra Medicine speakers will discuss topics ranging from clin-ical informatics to disruptions in innovation. In addition to Dr Alyafei, who will be discussing the challenges in Electronic Medical Record (EMR) imple-mentations, Sidra Medicine speakers include Executive Chair of Foundation Medical Services, Dr Deepak Kaura and Dr. Avez Rizvi, Acting Vice Chief of Medical Informatics who will discuss better patient care solutions.

Sidra Medicine is at the fore-front of developing customised applications to deal with the specific needs of its patients, sig-nificantly improving patient experience. Most recently, Sidra Medicine teams implemented the Whitespace Demand and Capacity Model and Scorecard apps which help reduce appointment wait times and improve doctor compliance with best practice protocols respec-tively. This is in addition to the launch of its Saffara application to help reduce wait times at its four pharmacies.

“The technology at Sidra Medicine is designed to be in line with our ethos of providing patient and family focused care. Very few hospitals in the world can claim the level of integra-tion the Sidra Medicine OPC has achieved. We have customised our technologies, systems and processes to help our physicians treat patients in the best possi-ble manner. With the current systems in place, our physicians can be alerted about unusual patterns in behaviour or pre-scriptions that may be not be suitable for the patient. The ulti-mate goal of all our technology implementations is to ensure patient safety and minimize human error,” said Dr. Khalid Alyafei.

To register and find out more about sessions taking place and the conference, health informatics professionals can visit: https://www.himssqatar.org/ehome/155998/354101/

Students attending the workshop.

100 students participate in traffic safety workshopThe Peninsula

Around 100 students from 20 Independent boy schools in Doha partici-

pated in a training workshop recently held by the Qatar Transportation and Traffic Safety Center (QTTSC) at Qatar University College of Engineer-ing (QU-CENG).

Themed “Traffic Safety Ambassadors”, the workshop was organised in coordination with the Ministry of Interior and the National Committee for Traffic Safety, and sponsored by Qatar Petrochemical Company (Qapco). It aimed to spread the

culture of traffic safety among high school students.

Ambassadors are expected to run workshops, campaigns and sessions within their schools to raise awareness on the importance of traffic safety. By the end of the academic year, each school will present a report on its activities.

Attendees included General Directorate of Traffic Awareness Section Head First Lieutenant Fahd Al Abdullah and General Directo-rate of Traffic Studies Section Head Captain Ali Al Ettabah, as well as CENG and QTTSC faculty and staff.

The participating students were oriented by staff members from QU and the General

Directorate of Traffic on various procedures to run traffic safety campaigns at schools.

Commenting on the event, CENG Dean and QTTSC Direc-tor Dr Khalifa Al-Khalifa said: “Through this initiative, QTTSC strives to involve high school students in spreading traffic safety culture within the com-munity, in line with the objectives of the National Strat-egy for Traffic Safety 2013-2022. This showcases the centre’s commitment to encourage stu-dents to create awareness programmes and to provide solutions that tackle traffic safety challenges in Qatar.”

QU college and Behavioural Healthcare Centre sign MoUThe Peninsula

The Center for Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS) at Qatar University College

of Arts and Sciences (QU-CAS) and the Behavioural Healthcare Center signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on December 4 to enhance their col-laboration in the field of behavioural health.

The MoU was signed by CHSS Director Dr Kaltham Al Ghanim and Behavioural Healthcare Center Director Rashid bin Mohammed Al Hamdah Al Nuaimi in the presence of CAS Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies Prof Ibrahim

Al Kaabi, CHSS faculty and researchers, and representatives of the Behavioural Healthcare Center.

It aimed to provide effective treatment, training and aware-ness services in the field of behavioural health, and to shape highly qualified professionals in the field of behavioural and cog-nitive therapy.

The terms of the MoU include collaboration between CHSS and the Behavioural Healthcare Center on conduct-ing research that meets the needs of Qatari society.

Both parties will collaborate on developing, evaluating and implementing policies and

programs to advance research in the State of Qatar. They will also collaborate on the exchange of technical, consult-ative and training services.

Other areas of collaboration include the organisation of joint conferences, seminars and exhibitions.

In his remarks, Prof

Ibrahim Al Kaabi said: “Through its Center for Humanities and Social Sciences, QU offers spe-cialised training programs that contribute to bridging the gap between academia and indus-try. The University also provides many collaboration opportunities for the develop-ment and implementation of joint research, in line with the best international standards and practices.”

Dr Kaltham Al Ghanim said: “This agreement highlights CHSS role in promoting quality and interdisciplinary research. It also underlines QU’s commitment to meet the needs of society by pro-viding practical research

outcomes in the field of human and social sciences.”

Rashid bin Mohammed Al Hamdah Al Nuaimi said: “The Behavioral Healthcare Center is committed to raising community awareness of behavioural health by educating youth about the dangers of behavioural deviations.

The centre is also commit-ted to developing and integrating appropriate treat-ment plans. In this context, the centre will offer a number of training programs in 2018, aimed at enhancing the effi-ciency of rehabilitation services in various behavioural health institutions.”

Rashid bin Mohammed Al Hamdah Al Nuaimi.

Professor Ibrahim Al Kaabi

Dr Khalid Alyafei

08 WEDNESDAY 6 DECEMBER 2017HOME / MIDDLE EAST

Officials and guests during the launch of Nespresso’s third flagship store and recycling programmet at Doha Festival City.

The Peninsula

Films on gender stereo-t y p i n g , f a m i l y relationships, and cul-tural barriers by Northwestern Univer-

sity in Qatar (NU-Q) students and alumni won awards at this year’s

Ajyal Youth Film Festival’s “Made in Qatar” section.

The films were made inde-pendently or with the support of NU-Q and Doha Film Institute’s workshops or funding programmes.

“NU-Q has supported Ajyal since its inception five years ago

and are delighted to see so many film entries from NU-Q students, graduates and faculty, each car-rying an important message that addresses social, cultural, or political constructs. The award-ing of four of these films is also an indication of the high-qual-ity production our students, graduates, and faculty are bring-ing to the film industry,” said Everette E. Dennis, dean and CEO of NU-Q.

NU-Q student Amal Al Muf-tah – who won the Best Narrative Award for her film, Smicha – also received the Qatar Woman of the Year Award 2017 for Best Young Talent. Her film tells the story of the bond between a seven-year-old girl, Lulwa, and her elderly grandfather, who is beginning to show signs of senility. It has also just been announced that Al-Mufath’s film will also be available for viewing on Qatar Airway flights.

Rawan Al Nassiri and Nada Bedair, also NU-Q students, won Best Documentary/Experimen-tal Award for Treasures of the

Past, a documentary that follows three older Qatari women as they strive to defy gender stereotypes by starting their own businesses.

The documentary was also screened at the Middle Eastern Studies Association annual meet-ing in Washington DC, and will be displayed during Qatar Foun-dation’s upcoming Town Hall event, “I AM QF.”

“The award is a celebration of the Qatari women from pre-vious generations who constantly

fought against forced gender stereotypes. To me personally, it is an acknowledgment of those warriors who refused to lean on anyone but themselves,” said Al Nassiri.

NU-Q alumna Rawda Al Thani received the Special Jury Documentary/Experimental Award for her abstract short film I Have Been Watching You All Along which follows a woman as she explores an abandoned cinema, guarded by men, through a trance-like journey

into its past by using the film reels she finds.

Also recognised at the festi-val was NU-Q Professor Rana Kazkaz for her film, Mare Nos-trum, which she co-directed with Anas Khalaf.

Four other films by NU-Q students and alumni were also screened at the festival. These were The Palm Tree by Jassim Al Rumaihi, Kashta by AJ Al Thani, Makh’bz by Aisha Al Muhannadi, and Our Time is Running Out by Meriem Mesraoua.

Films by NU-Q students

win big at Ajyal fest

Chief Administrative Officer of Doha Film Institute Abdulla Jassim Al Mosallam (left), CEO of Doha Film Institute Fatma Al Remaihi (right) with award winners Nada Bedair, Rawda Al Thani, Nibu Vasudevan and Amal Al Muftah at the award ceremony during the Ajyal Youth Film Festival.

A scene from the film Smicha.

QRCS’ Warm Winter Campaign to help 200,000 QNA

Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) launched its annual “warm winter” relief cam-

paign under the slogan “giving warmth” which aims to provide winter aid to 200,000 benefici-aries in several countries with a total budget of QR12,250,000.

QRCS Secretary-General Ali Hassan Al Hammadi said at a press conference that the cam-paign aims to achieve through donations of good people, not only to provide a means of heat-ing, but to revive the hopes of entire families preparing

themselves for a harsh winter, and the preservation of their dig-nity from the hardship of need and bitterness of deprivation.

He pointed out that the QRCS has been carrying out this cam-paign every year for the benefit of tens of thousands of families who have resorted or displaced as a result of natural disasters or armed conflicts. He pointed out that the refugees in Syria, Iraq and Yemen in addition to the Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan, as well as the Palestini-ans at the camps, all do not enjoy this season as much as they suf-fer from it, and so is the situation

in Afghanistan, which is suffer-ing from extreme poverty, and Kyrgyzstan, which is standing on the doors of a bitter winter, all of them waiting for us more than waiting for the winter, which increases their tragedy and com-pound their suffering.

Al Hammadi noted that QRCS will try, through the tar-geted amount, to cover the need of the weak and the poor in these countries, and provide warmth, clothing, food and treatment for them.

QRCS Director of Financial Resources and Investment Development Saad Shaheen Al

Kaabi said that the campaign is aimed at helping the needy in the face of winter and cold, and those affected by wars and nat-ural disasters inside Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan, as well as Syrian ref-ugees in Lebanon, Jordan and Palestinian refugees in Lebanese camps.

Al Kaabi called on all sectors of society in Qatar to support the warm winter campaign through any donation method to raise funds. He pointed out that QRCS will organize a number of public events associated with the cam-paign to inform the public about

its projects.On the warm winter cam-

paign projects 2017-2018, QRCS Director of Disaster Management and International Development Department Ayham Al Sakhani, explained that this year’s cam-paign involves many projects that QRCS intends to implement in several countries for refugees and displaced people.

He reviewed campaign projects such as those for heating, accommodation and food baskets for displaced people and refugees in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq and the pharmaceutical quotas for Syrian refugees in Lebanon.

Ministry raises awareness on vaccination side effectsQNA

The Ministry of Public Health trained a number of health prac-

titioners on vaccination services and supervising the side effects of it. This took place at a workshop organ-ised by MoPH which aims to develop the skills and strengthen the capabilities of health facilities in the private and public sectors to detect and report the side effects of vaccinations as they occur and minimises these effects.

The Ministry’s Director of Public Health Department, Sheikh Dr Mohamed bin Hamad Al Thani, confirmed the ministry’s continuous efforts to develop the quality of health services including the vacci-nation provided to the residents and citizens of Qatar.

He referred to the minis-try’s interest towards continuous training to the health personnel in Qatar in the private and public sector and mentions the benefits of this workshop to its attendees.

The Ministry’s Head of Vaccination, Dr Soha Al Bayat, said the ministry’s national program for vacci-nations aims to develop the skills and knowledge of the health practitioners working in vaccination services in the private and public sectors.

Ministry recalls Destination Travel AdaptorsThe Peninsula

Ministry of Economy and Commerce announced recall of

Destination Travel Adaptors model of 2017 because they do not conform with the product’s specification.

The Ministry said the recall campaign comes within the framework of its ongoing efforts to protect consumers and ensure that product deal-ers follow up on defects and repairs. The ministry said that it will coordinate with the dealer to ensure that the measures have been carried out.

Mitsubishi ASX - Pajero recallThe Peninsula

Ministry of Economy and Commerce announced the recall

of Mitsubishi ASX - Pajero Sports models of 2009-2016 over probable defect in tail gate’s gas spring.

The Ministry, in collabo-rat ion with Qatar Automobiles Company, dealer of Mitsubishi vehicles in Qatar, has announced the recall.

South owes Sudan $1.3bn from 2012 oil deal: Official

Washington

AFP

The US military plans to stay in Syria as long as necessary to ensure the Islamic State

group does not return, a Pentagon official said yesterday.

“We are going to maintain our commitment on the ground as long as we need to, to support our partners and prevent the return of terrorist groups,” Pentagon spokesman Eric Pahon said.

The United States currently has approximately 2,000 troops on the ground in Syria, where they have been helping train and advise partner forces in the fight against IS.

Now that the jihadists have been cleared from all but a few pockets of territory, the United

States has been assessing what its presence will be going forward in the civil-war-torn nation.

Pahon said its troop com-mitment in Syria would be “conditions-based,” meaning that no timeline will determine if and when the US will pull out.

“To ensure an enduring defeat of ISIS, the coalition must ensure it cannot regenerate, reclaim lost ground, or plot external attacks,” he said.

“This is essential to the pro-tection of our homeland as well as to defend our allies and part-ners.... The United States will sustain a ‘conditions-based’ military presence in Syria to combat the threat of a terror-ist-led insurgency, prevent the resurgence of ISIS, and to sta-bilize liberated areas.”

Juba

Reuters

South Sudan still owes neigh-bouring Sudan $1.3bn from a 2012 deal that ended a

dispute over oil payments between the two nations, the deputy finance minister said before he was sacked last week.

The previously undisclosed amount is equivalent to eight years worth of oil revenues for South Sudan at current prices, according to former deputy

minister Mou Ambrose Thiik. He spoke said on Friday and was removed from his post by Pres-ident Salva Kiir later that day.

Finance Minister Stephen Dhieu Dau did not answer calls or text messages. Oil minister Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth also did not answer calls or text messages. Information minister Michael Makuei said he could not com-ment on figures.

In 2012, South Sudan shut down oil output after it could not reach an agreement with

neighbouring Sudan, its former ruler, on payment to use its infrastructure to export crude from its oilfields.

South Sudan eventually agreed to pay $3bn to Khartoum in a late 2012 agreement. South Sudan is also supposed to pay royalties fees for each barrel of oil it exports through Sudan. But Thiik said Juba still owes $1.3 bil-lion of that original amount.

The debt underscores the ruinous state of the economy of the world’s youngest nation amid

a four-year civil war that has killed tens of thousands of peo-ple, forced 4 million people to flee their homes and slashed oil out-put, the main source of revenues. Juba has not paid soldiers or civil servants for most of this year.

It was not clear if the $1.3 bil-lion debt included the arrears that landlocked Juba continues to rack up with Khartoum - the amount agreed in 2012 was roughly $26 in fees for each bar-rel of South Sudanese crude piped to Port Sudan.

US military to stay in Syria as long as we need to: Pentagon

Nespresso opens shop

09WEDNESDAY 6 DECEMBER 2017 MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

Washington/Gaza

AFP

President Donald Trump told Palestin-i a n P r e s i d e n t Mahmoud Abbas yes-terday that he intends

to move the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, a Palestin-ian spokesman said, amid a growing outcry across the Mid-dle East against any unilateral US decision on the ancient city.

Trump also phoned Jordan’s King Abdullah to tell him he intends to proceed with a deci-sion to move the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, a Jordanian palace statement said.

King Abdullah was quoted in the statement as telling Trump that such a decision would have “dangerous reper-cussions on the stability and security of the region” and would obstruct US efforts to resume Arab-Israeli peace talks. It would also inflame Muslim and Christian feelings, the king added. Senior US officials have said Trump to recognise Jeru-salem as Israel’s capital likely today while delaying relocating the embassy from Tel Aviv for another six months, though he is expected to order his aides to begin planning such a move immediately. The officials said, however, that no final decisions have been made.

US endorsement of Israel’s claim to all of Jerusalem as its capital would break with dec-ades of US policy that the city’s status must be decided in nego-tiations with the Palestinians, who want East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state. The international community does not recognize Israeli sovereignty over the entire city.

Abbas joined a mounting chorus of voices saying the US move could unleash turmoil.

“President Mahmoud Abbas

received a telephone call from US President Donald Trump in which he notified the president of his intention to move the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem,” Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rdainah said. The statement did not say whether Trump, specified the timing of such a move.

Abbas “warned of the dan-gerous consequences such a decision would have to the peace process and to the peace, security and stability of the region and of the world,” Abu Rdainah said.

Israeli Intelligence Minister Israel Katz, who met last week with US officials in Washington, told Israel’s Army Radio: “My impression is that the president will recognise Jerusalem, the eternal capital of the Jewish people for 3,000 years, as the capital of the state of Israel.”

Asked if Israel was prepar-ing for a wave of violence if Trump recognises Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, he said: “We are preparing for every option. Anything like that can always erupt. If Abu Mazen (Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas) will lead it in that direction then he will be making a big mistake.”

Turkey threatened yester-day to cut diplomatic ties with Israel if Trump recognises Jeru-salem. Senior US officials said some officers in the State Department were also deeply concerned and the European

Union, the Palestinian Author-ity, Saudi Arabia and the Arab League all warned that any such declaration would have reper-cussions across the region.

“Mr. Trump, Jerusalem is the red line of Muslims,” Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a parliamentary meeting of his ruling AK Party.

“This can go as far as sever-ing Turkey’s ties with Israel. I am warning the United States not to take such a step which will deepen the problems in the region.” Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far declined to speculate on what Trump might say.

But Katz took to Twitter to reject Turkey’s threat and reit-erate Israel’s position on the ancient city, which is one of a long list of stumbling blocks in years of failed peace talks with the Palestinians.

“We don’t take orders or accept threats from the presi-dent of Turkey,” he wrote.

Two US officials said on condition of anonymity that news of the plan to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital had kicked up resistance from the State Department’s Near East-ern Affairs bureau (NEA), which deals with the region.

“Senior (officials) in NEA and a number of ambassadors from the region expressed their deep concern about doing this,” said one official, saying that the con-cerns focused on “security.”

The State Department referred questions to the White House. The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A fourth US offi-cial said the consensus US intelligence estimate on US rec-ognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital was that it would risk triggering a backlash against Israel, and also potentially against US. interests in the Mid-dle East.

Trump tells leaders he will move embassy to Jerusalem

Sana’a

AP

Heavy airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition rocked Yemen’s capital

yesterday, striking densely populated Sana’a neighbour-hoods in apparent retaliation for the killing of former pres-ident Ali Abdullah Saleh by the Shia rebels who control the city.

Residents reported heavy bombing, and a UN official said at least 25 airstrikes hit the cap-ital over the past 24 hours. The Saudi-led coalition battling the rebels had thrown its support behind Saleh just hours before his death, as the longtime strongman’s alliance with the rebels unraveled.

Saleh’s body, which had appeared in a video by the mili-tias with a gaping head wound, was taken to a rebel-controlled military hospital. A rebel leader,

speaking to a mass rally in Sana’a, said Saleh’s wounded sons had been hospitalised, without providing further details.

The gruesome images from the previous day sent shock-waves among Saleh’s followers — a grisly end recalling that of his contemporary, Libya’s Muammar Gadhafi, in 2011.

Saleh’s son Salah said on Facebook yesterday that he won’t receive condolences for his father’s death until “after avenging the blood” of the former leader. Salah also urged his father’s followers to fight their former allies, the rebels known as Houthis.

Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul-Gheit meanwhile denounced Saleh’s “assassi-nation” at the hands of “criminal militias,” and warned of a further escala-tion of the war and Yemen’s humanitarian crisis.

A spokesman quoted Aboul-Gheit as saying the international community should label the Houthis a “ter-rorist” organisation. “All means should be tackled for the Yem-eni people to get rid of this black nightmare,” he said.

Iran, which supports the Houthis but denies arming them, welcomed Saleh’s killing, say-ing it had put an end to a Saudi conspiracy. “He got what he deserved,” Ali Akbar Velayati, an aide to Iran’s supreme leader, was quoted as saying by the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

Saleh’s slaying likely gives the rebels the upper hand in the clashes in Sana’a, which ended after his death, while also dash-ing the hopes of Yemen’s Saudi-backed government that the former president’s recent split with the Iranian-allied Houthis would have weakened them.

Geneva

Reuters

Turkey has asked the World Trade Organization to back a policy of using trade to

improve the livelihoods of millions of Syrian refugees, calling their plight “an exceptional situation”, a Turk-ish document submitted to WTO showed yesterday.

Turkey has drafted a decision for approval by WTO ministers meet-ing next week in Buenos Aires, in which all 164 WTO members would

agree to help provide jobs for stranded Syrians, since normalisa-tion of conditions in Syria might take years. The death toll in Syria’s six-year war has surpassed 500,000, Turkey said, and over half the coun-try’s pre-war population, more than 11 million people, has been forced to flee their homes. More than 3 mil-lion of them came to Turkey.

“The Ministerial Conference ... agrees that the Syrian humanitarian crisis is an exceptional situation that justifies a call to engage in relevant consultations within the WTO (and)

to explore ways that trade and the WTO can help in alleviating the adverse impact of this crisis,” the draft decision said. “To alleviate the adverse impacts on the countries hosting espe-cially significantly large number of refugees, we call on the international community to ease the financial, eco-nomic and social responsibility of the host countries,” it said.

Turkey’s draft did not explicitly call for a waiver from WTO trade rules, but if it receives the unanimous backing of the WTO membership, it would give Turkey a strong argument

for bending the rules to help refugees. WTO members are not allowed to give more favourable treatment to domes-tic companies than foreign competitors and they have to offer the same terms of trade to all other countries, unless they have a wide-ranging free-trade agreement. As an exception to the normal rules, Turkey might ask to be allowed to subsidise exports from Syrian producers or encourage con-sumption of their goods within Turkey, or it might ask other coun-tries to drop tariffs on imports of such goods.

Kenyan oppn accuses police of killing 215 since AugustNAIROBI: Kenya’s main opposition leader accused the police of killing more than 215 people since a disputed vote in August and described the arrest of a colleague who’s pushing for electoral reform as political intimidation.

“Innocent Kenyans” died at the hands of “trig-ger-happy police officers,” Raila Odinga, who competed in the Aug. 8 election but withdrew from a rerun, said Monday in a televised press briefing. Police spokesman Charles Owino said by phone he wasn’t immediately able to comment on the allegations.

President Uhuru Kenyatta was sworn in last week for a second term following three months of electoral uncertainty that undermined inves-tor confidence in East Africa’s biggest economy. Odinga called the October rerun a sham after elec-toral authorities failed to implement reforms his National Super Alliance, or Nasa, demanded to ensure a fair vote. The alliance said David Ndii, chairman of the steering committee of its so-called People’s Assembly, was arrested near the port city of Mombasa on Sunday.

Houthi rebel fighters inspect the damage after a reported air strike carried out by the Saudi-led coalition that targeted the Presidential Palace in the Yemeni capital Sana’a, yesterday.

Turkey asks WTO to help Syrian refugees through trade

Beirut

AP

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Har-iri revoked his resignation yesterday following a consensus deal reached

with rival political parties, marking an end to one of the most bizarre interludes in Lebanese politics. The announcement came at the end of the first Cabinet meet-ing to be held since Lebanon was thrown into a political crisis following Hariri’s stunning move a month ago.

Hariri announced his resignation in a November 4 televised broadcast from Saudi Arabia, citing the Iranian-backed Hezbollah’s meddling in regional affairs as a main reason for stepping down. The nature of the announcement raised suspicions that it was orchestrated by Saudi Arabia, his main backer, and that he was being held against his will, prompting calls for his release from top Lebanese officials. The move thrust Lebanon to the forefront of the regional rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran and shattered the national unity gov-

ernment that Hariri headed.Following French diplomacy that

facilitated Hariri’s departure from Saudi Arabia to Paris for a brief visit, he returned to Lebanon on November 21 and put the resignation on hold to allow for consultations. The Lebanese have rallied around Hariri in what became an embar-rassment for Saudi Arabia. Yesterday’s Cabinet meeting, attended by Hariri, endorsed a statement that calls on rival Lebanese groups to distance themselves from regional conflicts and the internal affairs of Arab countries.

“The Lebanese government, through all its political components, disassociates itself from any conflicts or wars, as well as the internal affairs of Arab countries to protect Lebanon’s political and eco-nomic relations with its Arab brothers,” Hariri said. He then said he had rescinded his resignation. It is not clear what, if any-thing, the agreement entails beyond a supposed commitment to tone down inflammatory rhetoric towards regional states from all sides. Hariri has com-plained about the Shia militant Hezbollah

Nigerian state Imo gets ‘happiness minister’LAGOS: It has been ranked among the happiest places in the world despite widespread unrest, political crisis and recession. Now one Nigerian state has a minister in charge of contentment.

The commissioner for happiness and couples’ fulfilment is the brainchild of Rochas Okorocha, governor of the southeastern state of Imo.

Okorocha, who was previously widely criti-cised for using public funds to erect statues of prominent African leaders, appointed his sister to the post.

Ogechi Ololo now takes up the first such port-folio in Nigeria. She previously served as Okorocha’s deputy chief of staff and special adviser on domestic matters, in charge of Christmas dec-orations. The governor’s spokesman, Sam Onwuemeodo, could not provide exact details of Ololo’s responsibilities, but said: “There is noth-ing unusual about the appointment”.

“The governor is a man of ideas, always intro-ducing new things to governance.”

Hariri revokes resignation

Lebanese President Michel Aoun (right) and Prime Minister Saad Hariri attend a cabinet meeting at the Presidential Palace of Baabda, east of the capital Beirut, yesterday.

group’s meddling in regional affairs, including the affairs of Gulf countries — a reference to Yemen, where Saudi Arabia is fighting Shia rebels supported by Iran.

Two days before Hariri returned to Lebanon, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah reiterated that it was not playing a military role in warn-torn Yemen and categorically denied any role in launch-ing a missile from Yemen towards Saudi Arabia. In conciliatory remarks that sent positive signals to Hariri, he also said Hezbol-lah cadres would be coming back from Iraq now that the Islamic State group has been defeated there.

Saudi strikes rock Yemeni capital

“Mr. Trump, Jerusalem is the red line of Muslims,” Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a parliamentary meeting of his ruling AK Party.

A golden chance to sort out political differences in the region through meaningful and respectful dialogue from the platform of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) was missed yesterday due to disappointing approach of

blockading countries whose heads deliberately skipped the vital Gulf Summit.

The Summit held in Kuwait reflects two things: Sincerity of Qatar with Gulf and its people and the indifference of leaders of siege countries — due to which the important event was cut short by one day — towards the greater cause of maintaining cohesion and peace in the region.

The participation of Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani is the continuation of Qatar’s positive and constructive approach for resolving a crisis, which was imposed on the Gulf region by Saudi-led alliance.

On arrival in Kuwait for the Summit, H H the Emir hoped that the summit which was taking place amid critical conditions in the march of the GCC and amid regional challenges would result in outcomes that contribute to maintaining security and stability of the region as well as achieving the aspirations of the Gulf peoples towards deepening cooperation and solidarity and reaching the desired goals of the council. On the other hand, heads of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE did not attend the crucial session which might have led to a breakthrough in existing stalemate. It shows that they

do not want to resolve the crisis rather they intend to complicate and prolong it further. This approach will never do any good to the region or its people particularly at a time when the whole region is facing the challenge of terrorism.

The Gulf Summit also reflected wisdom and sincere efforts being made by His Highness the Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah for breaking the impasse. The Emir of Kuwait affirmed that the GCC would carry on its leading role in the region despite the numerous challenges and upheavals.

“Uniting the Gulf countries efforts against regional and international challenges will ensure the security and stability of the council,” H H

the Emir affirmed. The Emir of Kuwait also called for the formation of a committee that will look into modifying the GCC’s statute. He said that any dispute on the Gulf level must not affect the continuation of the summit.

After attending the Gulf Summit, Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani affirmed in a cable he sent to the Emir of Kuwait that the State of Qatar will spare no effort to achieve the best interests of the peoples of the Gulf and the peoples of the Arab and Islamic nations.

10 WEDNESDAY 6 DECEMBER 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

m.salim@pen.com.qa

Sincerity vs indifference

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Adopting a new legal framework to regulate the operations of the armed forces in internal security is not the answer. The current draft law risks weakening incentives for the civilianauthorities to fully assume their law enforcement roles.

Zeid Ra’ad Al HusseinUN Human Rights Chief

The Summit held in Kuwait reflects two things: Sincerity of Qatar with Gulf and its people and the indifference of leaders of siege countries — due to which the important event was cut short by one day — towards the greater cause of maintaining cohesion and peace in the region.

This week marks six months since four Arab countries led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) imposed a siege on Qatar, accused it of endanger-ing their security by supporting terrorists

and aligning with Iran, and demanded specific pol-icy changes or else face harsher pressures. Despite serious high-level Kuwaiti, American, and Euro-pean mediation, the situation remains unresolved and stalemated - yet several important outcomes are already evident. One is about the limits of eco-nomic, diplomatic, and military power, even in the hands of powerful countries like Saudi Arabia, the United States, Germany and its European partners, and others, who have tried but failed to achieve their desired outcomes.

Another is about the ability of determined small countries like Qatar to mobilise their own public opinion in order to withstand the immense pressures they face - a lesson that was also repeated in Lebanon in November when Saudi Arabia pressured that country. A third is that the ever-changing Middle Eastern landscape of regional and global powers allows countries like Qatar to survive by quickly adjusting their strategic linkages and economic-logistical net-works, given the independent actions of powers like Turkey and Iran, and smaller states like Oman - such structural reconfigurations of the strategic military, economic, and transport rela-tionships between Arab and non-Arab Middle Eastern powers are perhaps the most important outcome of the last six months. A fourth is the weakness of Arab groupings like the Gulf Coop-eration Council (GCC), whose utility and relevance have both been badly exposed as being extremely thin, and perhaps irrelevant.

The most important underlying lesson from this stalemate is that the Saudi Arabia and the UAE are determined to use military, economic, and political pressures around the entire Middle East in order to achieve results that are … well, that are still unclear to most observers. The ini-tial 13 demands on Qatar by the Saudi-UAE duo (the other siege-supporting countries are sup-porting secondary actors) addressed issues they felt threatened their national well-being. Observers have widely viewed the accusations against Qatar variously as exaggerated, untrue, unreasonable, or equally applicable to most of the six GCC states (the most prominent demands were to close the Al Jazeera television network, curtail ties with Iran, end support for terrorists, and cut ties with Islamist groups). They went nowhere and were widely ridiculed, including effectively being called unreasonable by the US government.

Weeks later, in July, these demands were followed up by a list of six more reasonable principles that the siege-states wanted Qatar to accept, on not supporting or funding terrorists, and non-interference in neighbours’ affairs. Doha replied that it was open to dialogue at any time to resolve the issues in question, but not under siege, threats, or infringements of its sov-ereignty. Yet dialogue seems off the table for now, and if we are to believe the comments made by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson during his latest mediation attempt, it is because the key Saudi leader, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, is not interested in dialogue.

The GCC summit that took place in Kuwait, with all six members invited, is unlikely to make any headway in resolving the conflict, as it has

Six months later, lessons from a failed siegeRami G KhouriAl Jazeera

already been cut short by a day. The con-flict also apparently will not be resolved by Qatar folding under the pressures of the siege, or by Saudi-Emirati reversal of posi-tions due to the failed siege.

Mohammad Bin Salman has recently called the Qatar feud a “very, very small” issue, indicating that the Saudi-Emirati lead-ers are willing to maintain the pressure on Qatar for years if need be, and will shed no tears if Qatar leaves or is thrown out of the GCC. Qatar for its part is making numerous rapid adjustments that negate most impacts of the siege, and considerably strengthen both its regional strategic alliances and its domestic economic production capacity.

A Qatari exit from the GCC would be problematic for the Saudis and Emiratis in two ways: first, Qatar has shown that it is able to adjust its strategic, economic, and logistical relationships very quickly, and thus to neutralise most of the impacts of the siege; and second, the Saudi-Emirati failure in Qatar creates negative back-lashes for them, as potential commercial or political partners around the world may think twice about entering into agree-ments with countries that can so quickly and harshly turn against their own long-time regional partners.

The past six months also revealed that the Saudi-Emirati accusations and actions against Qatar are just one element in a wider regional strategy that Riyadh and Abu Dhabi have unleashed in the past three years in Yemen, Qatar, Syria, Pales-tine, Lebanon, Iraq, and other Arab lands. They seem to be using their substantial military and economic might to attempt to reconfigure regional political-military ties in a manner that achieves three concentric goals: reduce Iran’s links with various Arab parties that could threaten the GCC states, weaken the power of Islamist and other opposition groups in Arab lands, and strengthen conservative and autocratic Arab leaders that are willing to coordinate with the United States and Israel. Within this wider context, Qatar is merely a sym-bol of Saudi-Emirati muscle-flexing and message-sending - most of which to date seems to have been unsuccessful.

The siege states repeatedly say they will pressure Qatar until it comes back into line with their policies. In response, the Qatar foreign minister said in Washington, DC, recently, “We see a pattern of irresponsibil-ity and a reckless leadership in the region

which is just trying to bully countries into submission.” An important development of the past six months has been Washington’s apparent disagreement with the Saudi-Emirati accusations. One sign of this was the new Qatar-USA treaty to work together to fight terrorism financing. Another was the US Department of State’s approval within weeks of the siege on Qatar to sell Doha 36 F-15 fighter-jets worth $12bn, with a related $1bn support programme.

Qatar has also expanded its military cooperation with Turkey which already operates a base in the country, signed mil-itary agreements with Russia on air defences and military supplies, and expects to buy French advanced jet fight-ers. So a military attack against Qatar is unlikely, while Saudi attempts to promote a cousin of the Qatari Emir as a replace-ment for him have also proved to be amateurish at best, causing Riyadh to say that regime change is not one of its goals.

Qatar has withstood the siege impacts essentially by pursuing several parallel poli-cies: drawing on its extensive foreign currency reserves and investments to bol-ster its banks, quickly reconfiguring critical trade relationships, expanding its foreign sources of essentials such as food, con-sumer goods, construction materials, and medicine, developing strategic new rela-tionships that allow it to use nearby maritime ports for its trade, and making adjustments in other areas like air transport. It is also increasing strategic investments abroad in food and other manufacturing, air transport, and maritime ports.

Qatar’s economy was hardest hit in the past six months in the banking, real estate, and stock market sectors, but by late November it seems to have weathered the worst of the pressures and resumed pre-siege import levels. An important new development was a trilateral agreement signed in November among Turkey, Iran, and Qatar to speed up imports by air and sea. The results of such adjustments include a 90 percent increase of Turkish exports to Qatar in the first four months of the siege, and a 29 percent increase in Turkish exports to Qatar in the first nine months of this year. Iranian exports to Qatar increased 119 percent in October over a year ago, fol-lowing a full restoration of diplomatic relations in August. Qatar’s October exports increased 11.9 percent from last year, and its trade surplus expanded 12.9 percent. Offi-cial data also shows a 7.4 percent rise in Qatar’s industrial output since September 2016, comprising both gas and manufactur-ing increases, including 23.5 percent higher food manufacturing. Qatar is also fighting back against the siege-states by raising cases against them in international tribu-nals, including the International Criminal Court, the World Trade Organization, and international air transport organizations.

Six months into this crisis, Qatar has effectively neutralised the impact of the siege against it, while Saudi-Emirati policies around the region continue to assert a will-ingness to use hard power decisively - though so far ineffectively - to achieve their own national security goals. We are in the early stages of a historic transformation of GCC-based power relationships that require a few years to settle into a new pat-tern, though some important lessons on this pattern of change have been learned in the past six months.

A Qatari exit from the GCC would be problematic for the Saudis and Emiratis in two ways: First, Qatar has shown that it is able to adjust its strategic, economic, and logistical relationships very quickly, and thus to neutralise most of the impacts of the siege; and second, the Saudi-Emirati failure in Qatar creates negative backlashes for them, as potential commercial or political partners around the world may think twice about entering into agreements with countries that can so quickly and harshly turn against their own long-time regional partners.

ED ITOR IAL

11WEDNESDAY 6 DECEMBER 2017 OPINION

coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia to influence the 2016 US presidential elec-tion. While Trump has long dismissed the probe into whether his team colluded with Russia as “fake news,” Flynn’s move was a sobering reminder that the investigation is not going away.

And Trump’s anger and frustration with the investigation have only served to compound the problem and further distract from his agenda. The president has insisted that the investigation is aimed at discrediting his unlikely triumph over Democratic rival Hillary Clinton and has made him look weak before world leaders. He’s been any-thing but subtle in trying to make it go away.

In February, he told FBI Director James Comey he hoped the FBI would “let go” of an investigation into Flynn — a comment Comey took as a presi-dential directive. Three months later, Trump fired him. Comey saw that as an effort to interfere with his investigation of Russia’s ties to the Trump cam-paign. The president hasn’t been able to stop talking about the Russia probe. Over the summer he tweeted: “You are witnessing the single greatest witch hunt in American political history - led by some very bad and conflicted people!”

This time, the initial White House response came from attorney Ty Cobb, who argued that “nothing” about the plea implicated anyone in the White House. Cobb pointedly referred to Flynn as a “former Obama administration official” who had worked for the Trump administration for just 25 days.

In October, Trump similarly sought to disasso-ciate himself from his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who pleaded not guilty to felony

charges of conspiracy against the United States and other counts, along with his business partner. Trump also dismissed George

For President Donald Trump, this is a best-of-times, worst-of-times moment. So far.

The president was up early Saturday celebrating the Sen-

ate’s overnight passage of a sweeping tax overhaul package that puts him on the cusp of a major legislative achievement that has so far eluded him. But within hours, he was tweeting and commenting about Russia, even in the midst of a vic-tory tour in New York celebrating the advance of the tax overhaul.

That victory was clouded by Friday’s news that Trump’s former national secu-rity adviser, Michael Flynn, was pleading guilty to lying to the FBI about his Russian contacts during the presidential transi-tion. Flynn is cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investi-gation, a potentially ominous sign for Trump.

The head-snapping developments in less than 24 hours underscored a reality of his presidency: He just can’t escape Russia. “I think the timing probably dis-pleased him,” said former Trump campaign aide Barry Bennett, an under-statement about a man given to overstatement.

Indeed, Trump’s most substantial reaction to the Flynn developments came in a tweet while he was in a motorcade in New York City, going from one political fundraiser to the next. “There was noth-ing to hide!” said his tweet. He declared that he “had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI.”

Trump called it “a shame” because Flynn’s actions during the transition fol-lowing the 2016 election “were lawful.” He told reporters earlier there was no collusion between his campaign and Rus-sia. Flynn became the first member of the Trump White House to admit guilt in Mueller’s criminal investigation. His cooperation with investigators could help build a case involving possible

Michael Flynn’s plea clouds Trump’s tax victoryPapadopoulos, who admitted to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian intermediaries last year, as a “young, low level volunteer.”

But that approach became more difficult with Flynn, who was a steady presence during Trump’s campaign and was hired to become the president’s top national security aide. “It’s huge. It’s rolling out like Watergate did,” said GOP analyst Rick Tyler. “Now you have someone on the inside who is turning on the president and they’ve already dis-tanced themselves.”

Even as Mueller’s team was disclosing the agreement with Flynn on Friday, Trump’s team was notching progress on his plan to cut taxes and give the president a much-needed victory after multiple failed tries to overturn President Barack Obama’s health care law.

Shortly after Flynn was charged, Senate Republican leaders signaled they had enough votes to pass the tax bill, the culmination of an intense lobbying campaign by the president and his allies.

With Pence presiding, the bill cleared the Senate early Saturday morning on a vote of 51-49, winning passage with the support of Senate Republicans who crossed Trump on his ill-fated health care legislation, such as Sens. John McCain of Arizona, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine.

“On health care, in all candor, they struggled to lead,” said Tim Phillips, president of Americans for Prosperity, the conservative group backed by the activist brothers David and Charles Koch. But he said Trump was on the verge of a “significant achievement” in guiding the tax overhaul through both chambers.

Trump aides who spent Thursday night at a White House holiday party spent Friday trying to process the jar-ring Flynn developments and pointing to the momentum on the tax bill as a positive development. For a president who has already begun raising money and preparing for his re-election campaign, Trump’s advisers and allies argued the tax bill would be far more consequential to his 2020 cam-paign than the Mueller probe.

Yet the magnitude of the sweeping investigation was reflected in the stock market, the barometer that Trump frequently points to as an affirmation of his economic stew-ardship. Shortly after news of Flynn’s guilty plea spread, the Dow Jones industrial average sank more than 300 points before recovering most of that ground during the afternoon.

Shortly after the tax bill passed the Senate, Trump tweeted: “We are one step closer to delivering massive tax cuts for working families across America.”

He seemed to be betting that Americans will care more about tax cuts than the investigation moving deeper into his White House.

Ken Thomas and Catherine Lucey cover the White House and

national politics for The Associated Press.

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Death of Yemen’s strongman sets stage for even more chaos

Yemen’s Ali Abdullah Saleh dominated the political life of his country for close to four decades. He was president for 33 years and survived the 2011 upheavals that rocked the Arab world, stepping

down after political negotiations while autocrats elsewhere were cast out or killed. He later resur-faced, allying himself to a rebellion that unseated the weak Saudi-backed government that had replaced him, and became a key player in the civil war that has ravaged Yemen for the past three years.

Saleh, a Machiavellian political operator who held sway by manipulating Yemen’s mess of tribal and political divisions, infamously referred to his task as “dancing on the heads of snakes.” The snakes, critics contend, were of his own creation. In their view, Yemen was a country consumed by Saleh’s short-term alliances and cynical power plays. What-ever the case, Saleh’s dance has finally come to an end.

The 75-year-old former president was appar-ently killed on Monday by Houthi rebels. Though the circumstances of his death were not clear, some reports suggested he attempted to flee the capital, Sanaa, but was stopped and killed at a Houthi check-point. It is an astonishing development given that Saleh had been allied with the Iran-backed group as recently as last week.

It was Saleh’s tacit support that enabled the Houthis to seize the Yemeni capital in late 2014, driving out the internationally recognised govern-

ment of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. And it was his designs on power that saw him maintain his pact with the Houthis — a faction

linked to a Shia sect that Saleh had repressed in the past — after the Saudi-led coalition began bombing and blockading the country in March 2015.

That same thirst for power, however, was likely what drove Saleh to turn his back on the Houthis, possibly in the hope that his Abu Dhabi-based son could ultimately return home and take control. “Yemeni citizens have tried to tolerate the reckless-ness of the Houthis over the last two and half years but cannot anymore,” Saleh said on Saturday, in a gesture of conciliation with the Saudi-led coalition.

By the time he announced the break, forces loyal to him were already engaged in running battles in Sanaa with their new adversaries, with myriad civil-ians caught in the crossfire. “I call on our brothers in neighboring countries … to stop their aggression and lift the blockade … and we will turn the page,” Saleh said.

In a televised speech on Monday after Saleh’s death, Houthi Abdulmalik al-Houthi said his group had defeated a “large-scale conspiracy that posed a threat to the security and stability of the country, aimed at supporting the forces of aggression” — a jab at Saleh’s volte-face and apparent collusion with the Saudis.

According to some reports, Houthi fighters were heard declaring his assassination revenge for the 2004 death of their movement’s founder, who was killed in a cave on Saleh’s orders. Houthi fighters also

seem to be carrying out reprisal attacks and arrests on Saleh loyalists in Sana’a.

The chaos underscores the fundamental awful-ness of the situation in Yemen. A hodgepodge of factions are at war inside the country, while foreign powers have meddled in its affairs or pulverised its cities with months of airstrikes, allegedly killing hun-dreds of civilians (read: Saudi Arabia), perhaps even with munitions supplied by the West (read: the United States and Britain).

Saleh made a career of playing various sides against each other, including the United States, which directed large sums of money to Saleh’s gov-ernment as part of a wider effort to combat Al Qaeda’s powerful, entrenched Yemeni branch. Al Qaeda remains in operation in Yemen, as does a cov-ert US drone program that targets suspected extremists but has also been implicated in the deaths of many Yemeni civilians.

More than 10,000 Yemenis have died since March 2015, when the Saudi-led coalition began its campaign against Saleh’s forces and his Houthi allies. About 7 million Yemenis are on the brink of famine. But with Saleh dead, there are fears that things may get even worse. “Having attempted to pull the carpet out from under the Houthis’ feet, the Saudis must now decide whether to engage in mediation efforts in a climate of zero trust, or to push on with a mili-tary campaign that has had few notable successes

A supporter of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh waves a poster featuring him during a rally to show support for him in Sana’a.

over the past two and a half years,” wrote Peter Salisbury, a Yemen expert at Chatham House. “Saleh was a divisive figure, but he was also the person most likely to be able to broker some kind of settle-ment. His death will only lead to deeper polarization in the conflict.”

Saleh’s death “will only aggra-vate fragmentation and conflict by adding layers of revenge,” tweeted Joost Hilterman, a Middle East expert at the International Crisis Group. “Expect more fighting. Ter-rible for civilians in Sanaa and the north, who will bear the brunt. Yemen already a humanitarian catastrophe.” In the current envi-ronment, Hilterman concluded, “no one wins.”

The author writes about foreign affairs

for The Washington Post. He previ-

ously was a senior editor and

correspondent at Time magazine,

based first in Hong Kong and later in

New York.

Ishaan Tharoor The Washington Post

The chaos underscores the fundamental awfulness of the situation in Yemen. A hodgepodge of factions are at war inside the country, while foreign powers have meddled in its affairs or pulverised its cities with months of airstrikes, allegedly killing hundreds of civilians.

Ken Thomas & Catherine LuceyAP

More than 10,000 Yemenis have died since March 2015, when the Saudi-led coalition began its campaign against Saleh’s forces and his Houthi allies. About 7 million Yemenis are on the brink of famine.

Flynn became the first member of the Trump White House to admit guilt in Mueller’s criminal investigation. His cooperation with investigators could help build a case involving possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia to influence the 2016 US presidential election.

12 WEDNESDAY 6 DECEMBER 2017ASIA

New Delhi

IANS

A total of 39 people from Tamil Nadu and Kerala have been killed and 167 are still missing

after Cyclone Ockhi hit both the states on December 30, a Home Ministry off ic ia l said yesterday.

Of the dead, 10 hailed from Tamil Nadu and 29 from Kerala where 2,802 and 33,000 peo-ple got affected due to the impact of the cyclone respec-tively, he said.

According to the official, five people from Tamil Nadu and 56 from Kerala suffered injuries after the cyclone which devel-oped on November 30, a day

after the India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a warning. A total of 220 fisher-men in Tamil Nadu, 390 in Kerala and 27 in Lakshadweep have been rescued along with 18 those who were stuck on two merchant craft boats, he said, adding “only those are missing till now who left into deep sea

well before November 29”. “The cyclone affected four

districts in Tamil Nadu and eight in Kerala. There is lot of dam-age in Lakshadweep but no loss of human lives is reported.”

The official said a number of 74 people from Tamil Nadu and over 93 from Kerala are still missing and that the state gov-ernment is in the process to identify them in the villages.

A total of 33 Indian and for-eign touris ts v is i t ing Lakshadweep at time the cyclone hit the island are safe, he said. “The tourists along with 250 people landed on the Lak-shadweep coast and 809 landed on Maharashtra coast are being provided shelter and basic facil-ities.” The official said that 10 ships and five aircrafts of Navy;

13 ships, four dornier aircrafts and one Chetak helicopter of Indian Coast Guard; one Advanced Light Helicopter, two MI-17 chopper and an AN-32

aircraft of Air Force is being used in the rescue operation. “This is a totally coordinated rescue operation. Cabinet Sec-retary review everyday about

the situation apart from joint secretary level officers taking congnisance of the situation every three hours,” the official said.

Cyclone Ockhi claims 39 lives; 167 still missing

New Delhi

IANS

Giving a new twist to the Ram Janmabhoomi dis-pute, the Sunni Waqf

Board yesterday urged the Supreme Court to defer hearing in the Ayodhya title suit till July 2019 when the next Lok Sabha elections will be over, but the top court brushed aside the plea and fixed February 8, 2018 for com-mencing final hearing in the case.

As the bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice S. Abdul Nazeer began hearing the mat-ter yesterday, Senior Counsel

Kapil Sibal, Rajiv Dhavan and Dushyant Dave urged the court not to go ahead with the hearing which would have repercussions for the country’s polity.

“The court should not hear the matter which has repercus-sions on the polity of the country,” Sibal, who appeared for the Waqf Board, urged the court to have the hearing in July 2019, suggesting that it would have a bearing on 2019 general elections.

Senior counsel Harish Salve countered Sibal. He told the bench that whatever the reper-cussion outside the court was not the court’s lookout. As far as the

court was concerned, it was “just a case” like any other case before it, he stressed.

Urging the bench to com-mence hearings in December itself, Salve took exception that “it is being presumed which way the verdict will go... You have it (hearing) in December”.

Salve appeared for one of the petitioners seeking an early hearing on the petitions chal-lenging the 2010 Allahabad High Court verdict, which was stayed by the top court on May 9, 2011, which had described the High Court verdict that had divided the disputed Babri Masjid site between the Nirmohi Akhara,

Lord Ram deity and the Sunni Waqf Board as “strange and surprising”.

Referring to a statement by a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader that the matter would be listed and decided in three months, Sibal said that “justice should not only be done but also appear to have been done”.

Dave, also seeking that the hearing takes place after the 2019 elections, wondered what was the “hurry”. He told the bench that the government was keen that the Supreme Court heard the appeals early because Ram temple was part of the rul-ing party’s manifesto. He urged

the court not to fall into their trap, a point also reiterated by Sibal. According to Dave, the issue tears into the secular, dem-ocratic fabric of the country. He joined senior counsel Rajeev Dhavan in urging the bench that the matter should be heard by a five-judge constitution bench.

Sibal also raised the issue of paucity of time in preparing the case that involves relying on more than 19,000 documents, a position also supported by Dha-van, who said the hearing would involve making their submis-sions and also “honestly” responding to the queries from the bench.

SC to commence Ayodhya case hearing on February 8

Chennai

IANS

The Election Commission yesterday rejected the nominations filed by

actor Vishal Krishna, and late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J.Jayalalithaa’s niece J.Deepa and 57 others while accept-ing those by 65 candidates for the by-election to the Rad-hakrishnan Nagar assembly constituency.

According to Election Commission officials, the nomination papers filed by actor Vishal had inconsisten-cies with regard to the addresses of the people who proposed him.

Nomination papers filed by candidates belonging to the ruling AIADMK (E.Madhusudhanan), DMK (N.Marudhu Ganesh), the Bharatiya Janata Party (K.Nagarajan) and over 50 independents.

Upset at the rejection of his nomination papers, Vishal argued with the poll body officials and also protested on the road. Similarly Deepa’s nomination papers were rejected as several columns were left blank.

New Delhi

IANS

London Mayor Sadiq Khan, on a visit to Delhi on a “severe” smoggy day, yes-

terday launched a global network to find solutions to improve worsening air quality in cities worldwide.

Bengaluru Mayor R Sampath Raj will co-chair with Khan the newly formed ‘Air Quality Net-work’ under the C40 network to tackle rising air pollution.

The decision to work together on the issue of air pol-lution was announced at a meeting held by Mayors here yesterday.

C40 is a network of major cities like London, Paris, Los Angeles and Copenhagen work-ing together to reduce greenhouse emissions and cre-ating models that other cities and governments can adopt.

With support from the net-work of cities, London will set

up a trial $1m worth street-by-street air monitoring system to analyse pollution in over 1,000 areas in London including in schools, hospitals, construction sites and busy roads, the state-ment said.

All the members will have access to the learnings from the Air Quality Network.

“The results from London’s new air quality sensor monitor-ing trial will be used to target policies, engaging citizens in cleaning up London’s air, and will be shared with Bengaluru and other cities in the C40 Air Quality Network,” it stated.

“Air pollution is a global problem that harms the lives of

millions of people and only by working together will we help beat this international health crisis.”

Khan said he was “proud to announce that London and Ben-galuru will be leading a new air quality partnership. We hope to work with key cities across the world and in India, including Delhi.”

Khan is on a six-day trip to India and Pakistan in a bid to improve London’s trade rela-tions with the two countries. He arrived in Mumbai on Sunday.

Khan on Tuesday visited Maharaja Agrasain Public School in Delhi where he met students studying air pollution. He also visited “the incredible Akshard-ham temple” that he called “sister” to Neasden temple - one of London’s hidden jewels.

“Thank you to London’s Hindu community for the huge contribution you make to our city,” he tweeted, posting a video of his visit.

London Mayor launches anti-pollution network

RK Nagar bypoll: Vishal and Deepa’s papers rejected

New Delhi

IANS

Industry body Ficci yester-day said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi

will give the inaugural address at its 90th annual general meeting (AGM) which will be held from December 13 to 14, 2017.

According to Ficci, this will be for the first time that Prime Minister Modi will speak at an AGM of a leading industry chamber in the country.

“At a time when eco-nomic growth has started showing signs of green shoots, the Prime Minister addressing India Inc. is expected to boost industry’s sentiments further,” the industry body said in a statement.

“His inaugural address at the two-day Ficci AGM (Dec 13-14) is also significant because though it has been an established practice in the past for Prime Ministers to attend the AGMs of business chambers, Prime Minster Mr. Narendra Modi will be doing this for the first time.”

PM to speak at Ficci’s 90th AGM

New Delhi

IANS

Rahul Gandhi yesterday moved a step closer to be the Congress chief as

he was the only candidate left in the fray in the election for the post after all 89 nomina-tions filed in his favour were found to be valid on scrutiny.

“A total of 89 nomination papers, all proposing the name of Rahul Gandhi, have been received. These nomi-nation papers have covered all the states.

“We have scrutinised each nomination paper and found all the 89 papers valid. There is now only one validly nominated candidate, i.e., Rahul Gandhi, left in the fray for the election of Congress President,” said Returning Officer for the election Mul-lapally Ramachandran in a statement.

The last date for with-drawal of candidature is December 11 and Gandhi is expected to be declared the new Congress chief on that day. He filed papers at the Congress headquarters here on Monday.

Gandhi, who became the Congress Vice President in January 2013, will succeed his mother Sonia, the longest-serving Congress chief who has helmed the party since 1998.

The 47-year-old Gandhi will be the sixth Nehru-Gan-dhi scion to helm the party after his great great grandfa-ther Motilal Nehru, great grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru, grandmother Indira Gandhi and father Rajiv Gandhi.

Rahul Gandhi closer to become party president

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan (centre), looks on during an event in a school in New Delhi, yesterday.

New Delhi IANS

BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha yesterday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi

and party chief Amit Shah for sidelining veterans like L.K. Advani, Murli Manohan Joshi and Yashwant Sinha.

The actor-turned-politician criticized Modi and Shah -- without naming them -- for not responding to queries being raised in the national interest by Sinha, Arun Shourie and he (Shatrughan Sinha) himself.

He referred to estranged Maharashtra Congress leader

Shahzad Poonawala’s rant against Rahul Gandhi who is set to be declared the new Congress President and how Bharatiya Janata Party leaders used the remarks to target the Congress.

“Poonawala vented his ‘Shahzaada frustration’ in what was clearly an ‘internal matter’ of their party. But maybe due to wrong briefing, or due to anger and confusion, some of our own people and leaders have jumped in to shed crocodile tears for him on RaGa’s (Rahul Gandhi) elevation,” Sinha said in a series of tweets.

“On the other hand our own

‘one man show and two man army’ (a clear reference to Modi and Shah) have been giving unbecoming treatment to some of our most deserving and sen-ior leaders like respected Advaniji, Murli Manohar Josh-iji and most deserving Kirti Azad.

“And why is the leadership not responding to queries being raised in the national interest time and again by learned and intellectual leaders like Yashwant Sinha, Arun Shourie and yours truly Shatrughana Sinha?

“What is right for Peter should be right for Paul too!” he

said. Sinha’s remarks came after Modi congratulated the Con-gress for the “Aurangzeb Raj” as the Gandhi scion filed his nomination papers for the par-ty’s chief post on Monday.

Advani and Joshi, both founding members of the BJP, were made members of the par-ty’s Margdarshak Mandal after Modi came to power in May 2014, virtually signalling the end of their active political life.

Sinha and Shourie - both former Union ministers - have been vocal against the policies of the Modi government, espe-cially demonetisation and the GST.

BJP member flays Modi for sidelining Advani

People take photographs of a large wave caused by Cyclone Ockhi in Mumbai, yesterday.

Of the dead, 10 hailed from Tamil Nadu and 29 from Kerala where 2,802 and 33,000 people got affected due to the impact of the cyclone respectively.

13WEDNESDAY 6 DECEMBER 2017 ASIA

Pakistan Peoples Party President Asif Ali Zardari (centre) and his son and Chairman of the Bhutto’s Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari (second left) take part in a rally to mark the party’s 50th anniversary in Islamabad, yesterday.

‘Redouble’ action against militants, US tells PakistanIslamabad

AP

The US Defence Secre-tary Jim Mattis yesterday asked top Pakistani leaders to “redouble” efforts to

go after insurgents operating in safe havens withing the country. Both sides released comments saying that the US and Pakistan want to continue to work together and that Islamabad plays a key role in the struggle for peace in Afghanistan.

In brief comments before their meeting, Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said his country is committed to the war on terror and shares the same common objectives as the US. “Engagement is there,” he said, adding that they “need to move forward with the issues at hand.”

Mattis did not speak to the reporters present on the occa-sion. A Pentagon statement said that during the meetings Mattis discussed Pakistan’s role in the peace process and “reiterated that Pakistan must redouble its efforts to confront militants and

terrorists operating within the country.”

A senior US official said the meetings were “straightfor-ward,” and that Mattis was very specific about what Pakistan needs to do to show it is taking action against the militants. Asked if Mattis set any timelines, the official said the urgency of the matter was communicated.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to dis-cuss private meetings, said Mattis also made it clear that Pakistan must do its part to bring the

Taliban to the negotiating table with Afghanistan.

A statement from Abbasi’s office said the prime minister talked about recent counter-ter-rorism operations and said Pakistan “would continue to con-duct intelligence based operations all over the country.” And it said Abbasi appreciates “the US resolve not to allow the use of Afghan soil against Pakistan.”

Mattis also army chief Gen-eral Qamar Javed Bajwa, as well as a number of senior Pakistani leaders and military officials and U.S. Ambassador David Hale. It was Mattis’ first trip to Pakistan as secretary.

Bajwa, in a statement, said Mattis expressed concern about militants in Pakistan trying to “further their terrorist agenda” in Afghanistan, and said he is “prepared to look into the pos-sibility of miscreants exploiting Pakistan’s hospitality.”

Mattis’ statement reflects persistent US assertions that Islamabad is still not doing enough to battle the Taliban and allied Haqqani network insur-gents within its borders.

The US believes that since the start of the war in Afghani-stan, militants in Pakistan have been crossing the mountainous and ill-defined border to wage attacks, then return to safe havens in Pakistan.

In a blunt assessment early last week, General John Nichol-son, the top US commander in Afghanistan, said there have

been no changes in Pakistan’s support for militant networks.

He said Pakistani leaders went to Kabul and met with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. “They identified certain steps that they were going to take. We have not yet seen those steps play out,” Nicholson said.

The US, he said, has been very direct about what it expects

Pakistan to do in the fight against the Taliban hiding in Pakistan. “We’re hoping to see those changes,” he said.

Following Mattis’ visit, Paki-stan’s prime minister’s office released a statement saying there are no safe heavens in Pakistan and that the nation was commit-ted to eradicating terrorism once and for all.

Six dead in Waziristan blast Peshawar

AP

A Pakistani official says a roadside bomb has killed six people and

wounded eight others in Mir Ali town of North Waziristan near the Afghan border.

Kamran Khan Afridi, a top administrator in the North Waziristan tribal region, says the bomb was planted in a parked motor-cycle in the village of Khaddi and detonated remotely when a security patrol passed on yesterday.

Nobody had claimed responsibility for the deadly attack so far.

Duterte declares communist rebels as ‘terrorists’Manila

AFP

Philippine President Rod-rigo Duterte yesterday declared communist

rebels as “terrorists”, his spokesman said, weeks after cancelling peace talks with groups waging one of Asia’s longest-running insurgencies.

In an attempt to boost negotiations, Duterte last year freed top rebel leaders from prison and met them at the presidential palace, but the peace process quickly soured after deadly attacks against sol-diers and police angered the president.

Duterte signed an order declaring two communist groups “terrorist organisations”, but it would require court approval to go into effect, his spokesman Harry Roque told reporters.

The classification targets the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its 3,800-member armed wing, and the New People’s Army (NPA), accusing them of “con-tinued violent acts”.

The order follows a 2002 US classification of the two groups as “foreign terrorist organisations”. Communist rebels have been waging an

insurgency in the Philippines since 1968 to overthrow what they call a capitalist system that has created one of Asia’s big-gest rich-poor divides. Peace talks to end the conflict -- which the military says has claimed 30,000 lives -- have been held on and off for three decades.

Duterte’s election last year revived hopes for successful negotiations as the president is a self-declared socialist who has said it is his “dream” to forge peace in the country. But he cancelled peace talks in November after a rebel ambush in the southern Philippines killed a police officer and a four-month-old baby.

Duterte has also accused the communists of plotting with his political rivals to destabilise his rule. He has since ordered the arrest of more than a dozen rebel leaders freed last year, and has threatened to shut down mining companies that yield to insurgents’ demands for money.

Roque said yesterday’s order would allow the military and the police to crack down on people funding the rebels.

The military said the dec-laration would also make its operations against the insur-gents “more effective”.

Kabul

Agencies

Eighteen Taliban mili-tants including a top Al Qaeda leader were

killed in various security operations and air strikes in different parts of Afghanistan, Afghan authorities said.

The provincial govern-ment media office in Helmand in a statement said that at least nine Taliban insurgents including two sen-ior local leaders were killed during operations in Musa Qala and Greshk districts and five more were killed in air strike on Greshk-Musa Qala.

In a separate air strike in the same area four more insurgents were killed, the statement said.

The authorities did not say whether the security operations were carried out by Afghan forces or with the help of US forces stationed in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, a top leader of Al Qaeda was killed in a joint military operation by Afghan army, intelligence and NATO-led forces, intelligence sources said.

Omar Khetab, also known as Omar Mansoor, was the most senior member of his branch of the group killed in Afghanistan, the National Directorate of Security said in a statement.

Sharif mobilising party to gear up for electionsIslamabad

Internews

Nawaz Sharif-led ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) appears

to be gearing up for the 2018 general elections by launching a countrywide public mobilisation campaign at the district level.

Party sources said here yes-terday that the decision was taken a day earlier at the maiden meeting of party’s newly-con-stituted Central Executive Committee (CEC), chaired by party chief and former prime minister Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif.

In the new CEC, notified last week, members from both the

prevalent camps in the party - respectively linked with Sharif and his brother Mian Shahbaz are included.

However, analysts believe that composition of the new CEC has further consolidated the elder position of Nawaz Sharif as more members from his camp are included in the committee.

Among the new members are Maryam Nawaz, daughter of the elder Sharif, Hamza Shah-baz, son of the younger Sharif, Minister of State for Information Marriyum Aurangzeb and former information minister Senator Pervaiz Rashid.

A participant of the meeting said Nawaz Sharif has given the herculean task to his daughter

Maryam Nawaz to contact the disgruntled members of the party and address their grievances.

The PML-N head has also tasked some ministers to con-tact other political parties for what he called “greater interest of democracy”.

The PML-N and opposition Pakistan People’s Party headed by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari have been in touch at the level of sec-ond-tier leadership. However, the PPP’s de-facto supremo and former president of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari has publicly declined to meet Nawaz Sharif.

By adopting an anti-Sharif public posture, the PPP is trying to regain the ground it lost to its

rivals, especially in Punjab, the stronghold of the PML-N.

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto on Monday asked Sharif to retire from politics since he has been disqualified by the highest court of the country.

“The meeting discussed in detail 2018 elections. We have decided to launch campaign at district level”, Senator Musha-hidullah Khan said after the PML-N CEC meeting.

He said the party president had given directions to start preparations for the next gen-eral polls. He, however, did not elaborate if his party was plan-ning for early elections. Some reports suggest that both PML-N and PPP are considering options

about early elections.A powerful segment in the

ruling camp is of the opinion that they should go for polls few months before the schedule, immediately after the Senate elections scheduled for early March 2018.

The terms of the national and provincial assemblies will com-plete in the last week of May and first week of June nest year.

If assemblies are dissolved on completion of their normal terms around early June, gen-eral polls will be held by late July or early August 2018.

In case assemblies are dis-solved early, elections will have to be held within 90 days of their dissolution.

Peace activist goes missing in LahoreKarachi

Reuters

A Pakistani peace activist has been reported missing over the weekend from

eastern city of Lahore, his friend and police said yesterday.

Raza Mehmood Khan, 40, a member of Aghaz-i-Dosti (Start of Friendship), a group that works on peace building between arch-rivals Pakistan and India, hasn’t been heard from since he left home on Sun-day, said Rahim-ul-Haq, a

friend. He said the group has offices in both countries. Police official Shehzad Raza said Khan’s family reported he had been missing since Saturday.

Haq said Khan spoke at a discussion on Saturday on the topic of extremism. “Everyone discussed their views and, of course, Raza was very critical,” he said. He said that Raza’s recent Facebook posts were critical of Pakistani military, especially in view of a recent sit-in protest by hard-liners that paralyzed Islamabad for over

two weeks. The extremists won almost all of their demands, including resignation of a min-ister they accused of blasphemy, in an agreement brokered by the army.

Several social media activ-ists critical of the army and the country’s extremists and mili-tant groups have gone missing in Pakistan in recent months. Four of them were released nearly a month after they dis-appeared early this year, who later accused security agencies for their abduction.

Top Al Qaeda leader among 18 killed in Afghanistan

A Pentagon statement said that during the meetings Mattis discussed Pakistan’s role in the peace process and “reiterated that Pakistan must redouble its efforts to confront militants and terrorists. operating within the country.”

US Secretary of Defence James Mattis (third left) meets with Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi (fifth right), during his official visit to Pakistan, yesterday.

PPP marks 50th anniversary

14 WEDNESDAY 6 DECEMBER 2017ASIA

UN warns of genocide in Myanmar Geneva

Reuters

Myanmar’s security forces may be guilty of genocide a g a i n s t t h e Rohingya Muslim

and more of them are fleeing despite a deal between Myan-mar and Bangladesh to send them home, the top UN human rights official said yesterday.

The United Nations defines genocide as acts meant to destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group in whole or in part. Such a designation is rare under international law, but has been used in contexts including Bosnia, Sudan and an IS militant campaign against the Yazidi communities in Iraq and Syria.

Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, was addressing a special session of the Human Rights

Council which later adopted a resolution condemning “the very likely commission of crimes against humanity” by security forces and others against Rohingya.

Myanmar’s ambassador Htin Lynn said his government “dis-associated” itself from the text and denounced what he called “politicisation and partiality”.

Zeid, who has described the campaign in the past as a “text-book case of ethnic cleansing”, said that none of the 626,000 Rohingya who have fled violence to Bangladesh since August should be repatriated to

Myanmar unless there was robust monitoring on the ground.

He described reports of “acts of appalling barbarity commit-ted against the Rohingya, including deliberately burning people to death inside their homes, murders of children and adults; indiscriminate shooting of fleeing civilians; widespread rapes of women and girls, and the burning and destruction of houses, schools, markets and mosques”.

“Can anyone - can anyone - rule out that elements of genocide may be present?” he told the 47-member state forum.

Shahriar Alam, Bangladesh’s junior foreign affairs minister, told the session in Geneva that his country was hosting nearly one million “Myanmar nation-als” following executions and rapes.

These crimes had been “per-petrated by Myanmar security

forces and extremist Buddhist vigilantes”, Alam said, calling for an end to what he called “xeno-phobic rhetoric..including from higher echelons of the govern-ment and the military”.

Prosecutions for the violence and rapes against Rohingya by security forces and civilians “appear extremely rare”, Zeid said.

Marzuki Darusman, head of an independent international fact-finding mission on Myan-mar, said by video:

“We will go where the evi-dence leads us.”

His team has interviewed Rohingya refugees, including children in the Bangladeshi port city of Cox’s Bazar, who recounted “acts of extreme bru-tality” and “displayed signs of severe trauma”.

Myanmar has not granted the investigators access to Rakhine, the northern state from which the Rohingya have fled,

Darusman said. “We maintain hope that it will be granted early in 2018.”

Pramila Patten, special envoy of the UN Secretary-Gen-eral on sexual violence in conflict, who interviewed survi-vors in Bangladesh in November, said: “I heard the most heart-breaking and horrific accounts of sexual atrocities reportedly committed in cold blood out of a lethal hatred of these people solely on the basis of their eth-nicity and religion”.

Crimes included “rape, gang rape by multiple soldiers, forced public nudity and humiliation, and sexual slavery in military captivity”, Patten said.

Myanmar denies committing atrocities against the Rohingya. Its envoy Htin, referring to the accounts, said: “People will say what they wanted to believe and sometimes they will say what they were told to say.

Two former Korean spy chiefs charged with briberySeoul

AP

South Korean prosecutors yesterday formally charged two former spy

chiefs who were arrested last month over suspicions they used their agency’s funds to make illegal payments to former President Park Geun-hye.

Park was removed from office and arrested in March, and is being tried on broad corruption charges.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said Nam Jae-joon and Lee Byung-kee were indicted on charges including bribery and causing unjust losses to state funds.

Prosecutors believe Nam and Lee took a combined $1.2m from the National Intel-ligence Service’s coffers and gave it to Park’s close aides as paybacks for being named NIS directors. Nam and Lee reportedly acknowledged to prosecutors that they paid the money at the aides’ request.

Nam and Lee served as the spy agency’s chiefs between 2013 and 2015. Prosecutors are also investigating another of Park’s former spy chiefs, Lee Byoung Ho, who served at the NIS from 2015 to 2017, over similar suspicions.

Park faces the possibility of a lengthy prison term over charges that she colluded with a friend to take tens of millions of dollars from com-panies in bribes and extortion. She was arrested and jailed weeks after the Constitutional Court upheld an impeach-ment bill passed by lawmakers in December.

Beijing

AFP

A senior United Nations official travelled to North Korea yesterday for a

rare visit aimed at defusing soaring tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme.

Jeffrey Feltman’s visit—the first by a UN diplomat of his rank since 2010 -- comes less than a week after North Korea said it test-fired a new ballistic missile capable of reaching the United States.

Feltman arrived in a UN-flagged car at Beijing’s international airport in the

morning before North Korea’s Air Koryo flight took off for Pyongyang in the early afternoon.

His trip comes a day after the United States and South Korea launched their biggest-ever joint air exercise—manoeuvres slammed by Pyongyang as an “all-out provocation”.

The five-day Vigilant Ace drill involves 230 aircraft, including F-22 Raptor stealth jet fighters, and tens of thousands of troops, Seoul’s air force said recently.

Feltman, the UN’s under secretary general for political affairs, arrived in China on Mon-day as Beijing is one of the few

transit points to North Korea in the world.

He met with a Chinese vice foreign minister while in Beijing.

China, which is Pyongyang’s sole major diplomatic and mil-itary ally, has called on the United States to freeze military drills and North Korea to halt weapons tests to calm tensions.

Once in the North, Feltman will discuss “issues of mutual interest and concern” with offi-cials, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said, adding he was unable to say whether Feltman will meet with the reclusive state’s leader Kim Jong-Un.

Call to stepup fight againt militancy in SE AsiaSingapore

Reuters

Southeast Asian countries must step up their fight against religious militancy

taking root in their region, including in Myanmar’s troubled Rakhine State, Singapore’s for-eign minister said yesterday.

Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, said the weaken-ing of IS militant group (IS) in the Middle East and the recent occu-pation of the Philippine town of Marawi by IS-supporting gun-men had renewed concern that the region could become a mag-net for militants.

“We saw some returning fighters to Marawi in the south-ern Philippines and there are other potential hotbeds for ter-rorists in our region,” Balakrishnan said in a lecture on Singapore’s priorities as it pre-pares to take over as chair of the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean).

“Even our concern about the Rakhine state is also related to our anxiety that this becomes another sanctuary, another hot-bed for extremism,” he said. “It is not just a Middle East phenomenon.”

Asean includes Indonesia, which has the world’s biggest Muslim population, mostly Mus-l i m M a l a y s i a a n d Buddhist-majority Myanmar, where a campaign of violence against members of the Rohingya Muslim in Rakhine State has brought UN accusa-tions of ethnic cleansing.

Myanmar rejects the accu-sations. Nevertheless, both Indonesia and Malaysia have pressed it over the plight of the Rohingya, more than 600,000 of whom have fled to Bangla-desh since late August.

Singapore has offered humanitarian help for those dis-placed by the violence.

Asean members have pledged greater cooperation and

intelligence sharing to combat the threat of militancy.

The mostly Christian Phil-ippines has over the past year faced the region’s most serious militant violence, which began when hundreds of gunmen,

including some from elsewhere in the region, occupied Marawi, sparking the country’s most serious fighting since World War II.

Singapore will be chair of the 10-member Asean in 2018.

Thailand flood toll risesBangkok

AFP

Fifteen people have died and one million have been affected by flooding in Thailand’s deep south, authorities said yesterday.

The monsoon rains that started late last month have inundated eight provinces and hit hundreds of thousands of households, according to the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department.

Fifteen people have drowned, an official at the department’s call centre said. The toll stood at five under a week ago.

Some one million residents have been hit in some way: through submerged or damaged homes, disruption to occupations such as farming, or transport difficulties because of flooded roads.

Wanchai Sakudomchai, the Meteorological Department direc-tor-general, said the downpour is expected to taper off in mid-December.

“But before that time heavy rains are expected from Decem-ber 6th to 8th,” he added.

Like other countries in the region, Thailand is annually hit by seasonal flooding of varying severity.

Macau suspends lawmaker over disobedience chargeHong Kong

Reuters

Macau has suspended a pro-democracy law-maker for alleged

“disobedience” after he took to the street instead of staying on a sidewalk during a protest, as activists warn suppression of civil rights is growing in the country.

The suspension of the law-maker is the first since 1999, when the former Portuguese colony returned to China within a “one country, two systems” framework that allows a free press and an independent judi-ciary, liberties denied on the mainland.

“It’s a dark day for Macau,” said Jose Coutinho, one of four legislators who voted against the suspension in Monday’s secret ballot, which drew 28 votes in favour. “I am sad and disillu-sioned with this outcome.”

There were numerous ille-galities in the ballot and the lawmaker, 26-year-old Sulu Sou, should have been given an opportunity to defend himself, Coutinho added.

Sou is awaiting trial over a protest in 2016 against a per-ceived conflict of interest in the transfer of $15m from the char-itable government-linked Macau Foundation to a Chinese university on whose board its chief executive, Fernando Chui, sits.

No date has been set for Sou’s trial, but the assembly vote strips him of his duties, and he can only return if he is found not guilty or gets a jail term shorter than 30 days.

Many in Macau fear the decision signals authorities intend to follow a path similar to Hong Kong, which has jailed several pro-democracy activ-ists in the past year.

Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein described reports of “acts of appalling barbarity committed against the Rohingya.

Rohingya crisis

Jeffrey Feltman (centre), UN's Under Secretary-General for political affairs, and his party pose for a photo at the Pyongyang International Airport, yesterday.

UN envoy bound for North Korea as tensions soar Emperor Hirohito’s memoir up for auctionNew York

AP

A memoir by Japanese Emperor Hirohito that offers his recollections

of World War II is predicted to fetch between $100,000 and $150,000 at an auction in New York.

The 173-page document was dictated to his aides soon after the end of the war. It was created at the request of Gen Douglas MacArthur, whose administration controlled Japan at the time.

The memoir, also known as the imperial monologue,

covers events from the Japa-nese assassination of Manchurian warlord Zhang Zuolin in 1928 to the emper-or’s surrender broadcast recorded on August 14, 1945.

The document’s contents caused a sensation when they were first published in Japan in 1990, just after the emper-or’s death.

The two volumes being auctioned are each bound with strings, the contents written vertically in pencil. It was tran-scribed by Hidenari Terasaki, an imperial aide and former diplomat who served as a translator when Hirohito met

with McArthur.The monologue is believed

among historians to be a care-fully crafted text intended to defend Hirohito’s responsibil-ity in case he was prosecuted after the war. A 1997 documen-tary on Japan’s NHK television found an English translation of the memoir that supports that view.

The transcript was kept by Terasaki’s American wife Gwen Terasaki after his death in 1951 and then handed over to their daughter Mariko Tera-saki Miller and her family.

It’s scheduled to be auc-tioned at Bonhams today.

Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan duringthe 15th Asean Lecture on “Asean: Next 50” at the ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute, in Singapore, yesterday.

15WEDNESDAY 6 DECEMBER 2017 EUROPE

Catalan leader’s European warrant droppedMadrid

AFP

Spain has withdrawn a European arrest war-rant for Catalonia’s sacked leader Carles Puigdemont and four of

his deputies, who fled to Belgium after the regional parliament declared unilateral independ-ence, the Supreme Court said yesterday.

In a ruling, Judge Pablo Llarena decided to withdraw the warrant as the five “appear to have shown their intention to return to Spain” to take part in regional elections on December 21.

But Llarena, who is in charge of the case, has retained the Spanish arrest warrant, which means they will be detained upon arrival in the country, court sources said.

The judge said the European warrant would complicate the overall probe into the region’s leaders.

Some of them are still in Spain—either in jail or out on bail—and are facing charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds.

He said Belgium could reject some of the reasons for the war-rant, meaning it could agree to the extradition of Puigdemont and the four others—but with restrictions, and only for certain offences.

This in turn would stop Spain

from investigating the restricted offences, thereby creating ine-qualities with those already held in Spain who would be probed on the full charges, Llarena argued.

It is unclear what charges would have posed a problem, but there has been controversy in Spain over the offence of rebel-lion, which carries up to 30 years in jail and has been criticised as “disproportionate” by some crit-ics in the legal world.

Llarena also said he had dropped all other “international” warrants, without giving further details.

The unexpected decision comes a day after Puigdemont and his four colleagues attended an extradition hearing in Brus-sels, with the Belgian judge due to give a decision on December 14.

Jaume Alonso Cuevillas, one of Puigdemont’s lawyers, told Catalonia’s TV3 channel he was pleasantly surprised.

“This means yesterday’s hearing went much better than we thought,” he said.

“It pushed Spain’s judicial authorities to withdraw the European warrant to avoid get-ting a slap from Belgian judicial authorities.”

Paul Bekaert, another of his lawyers, told Belgium’s L’Echo daily the Catalan leader would “not leave Belgium.”

The decision also comes after the Catalan election campaign kicked off, with Puigdemont speaking to supporters in Cata-lonia on Monday night via video link.

The Madrid authorities “want to raise as many difficulties as possible so we can’t campaign on an equal footing with the other candidates,” he told a party rally in Barcelona.

Madrid called the new elec-tions after the independence declaration on October 27, while dismissing Catalonia’s govern-ment and suspending the region’s autonomy. It hopes the polls will restore normality to the region.

Twelve of the 13 members of the sacked Catalan government are standing in the election, with Puigdemont and his deputy Oriol Junqueras—who is still in jail—competing to head the separatist camp.

In the last regional election in 2015, separatist parties cap-tured 47.8 percent of the vote, giving them an absolute major-ity of 72 seats in the 135-seat

Catalan regional parliament.A poll published on Monday

by the central government’s Sociological Research Centre (CIS) predicted the three pro-independence parties would get 44.4 percent of the vote and 66 to 67 seats this time—just short of the absolute majority of 68.

The three parties firmly opposed to independence would get 44.3 percent and gain 59 to

60 seats, the poll suggested.While the separatists are

united against what they say is “repression” from Madrid, they are divided over the future of their region, which itself is d e e p l y s p l i t o v e r independence.

Puigdemont’s PDeCAT party and Junqueras’ ERC ran on a joint list two years ago but are run-ning separately this time around.

May scrambles to shore up Brexit dealLondon

AFP

British Prime Minister Theresa May scrambled yesterday to salvage a deal

over the post-Brexit border in Ireland after it was rejected by her DUP allies, exposing the weakness of her position as an EU deadline looms.

May was due to speak by phone with Arlene Foster, the leader of Northern Ireland’s small Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which keeps her Con-servative minority government in office, after it blocked agree-ment on a major issue holding up Brexit talks.

London had reportedly agreed that British-controlled Northern Ireland would main-tain “regulatory alignment” with EU-member Ireland after Brexit, even as Britain as a whole with-draws from the bloc’s single market and customs union.

But as May sought to close the deal over lunch with Euro-pean Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels

on Monday, the DUP made clear its opposition.

DUP lawmaker Nigel Dodds said yesterday his party had only seen the draft text on Monday morning and found it “clearly unacceptable”.

“We will not allow any set-tlement to be agreed that causes the divergence politically or economically of Northern Ire-land from the rest of the United

Kingdom,” he said.Several Conservative MPs

have also expressed alarm, with one leading Brexit supporter, Jacob Reese-Mogg, warning “the government doesn’t have major-ity” to effectively move the EU customs border into the Irish Sea.

May is due to return to Brus-sels later this week, with both sides saying they hoped to strike a deal by the weekend.

Finland suspects Russian aircraft violated airspaceHelsinki

Reuters

Finland’s defence minis-try said yesterday it suspected a Russian air-

craft had violated Finnish airspace over the Baltic Sea earlier in the day.

The ministry said a Tupolev TU-154, a Russian passenger and transport plane, had been detected south of Porvoo and that the border guard was investigat-ing the matter.

A ministry spokesman declined to say whether Fin-land had scrambled jets to identify the plane. The Rus-sian defence ministry was not immediately available to comment.

Finland, which is prepar-ing to celebrate 100 years of independencetoday, has accused Moscow of several airspace violations since the Ukraine crisis began in 2014.

Ajaccio

Reuters

Corsican nationalists yes-terday demanded the French government enter

into negotiations over greater autonomy for the Mediterranean island after they won almost half the votes in a local election.

The nationalists - split between those who seek greater autonomy and those who see full independence from France as the end-game - emerged as Cor-sica’s main political force for the first time in French regional elections in December 2015.

In a vote on Sunday for a newly created local assembly, the Pe a Corsica (For Corsica), an alliance of the two main nationalist parties, won 45.36 percent of the ballot, putting it in a commanding position for the second round vote on Decem-ber 10.

In the wake of Catalonia’s

recent independence referen-dum, Corsican nationalists have downplayed any ambitions for secession, saying the island lacked the demographic and economic clout of the Spanish region.

Corsica has a population of just 320,000 people and a tiny $10.2bn economy.

The nationalists’ less ambi-t i o u s d e m a n d s , a n d dissatisfaction with the central government in France, proba-bly helped the nationalists attract more votes on Sunday.

Pe a Corsica, which unites

the moderately autonomist Femu a Corsica and the commit-ted separatist Corsica Libera, has drawn up a 10-year road-map during which it hopes to obtain a new status giving the island greater autonomy and pave the way for stronger economic development.

“Paris must at last open dia-logue with Corsica,” said Gilles Simeoni, the outgoing president of Corsica’s Executive Council and a member of Femu a Cor-sica. “Corsican people have their own identity and this must be recognised.”

The French government said it would not comment on the Corsican vote until after the sec-ond round.

France is a highly central-ised state and its demands for more autonomy have often been met with irritation and a refusal to negotiate by past governments.

But support for the

nationalist political movement has gained support since the most active clandestine group, the National Front for the Liberation of Corsica (FLNC), laid down its weapons in 2014 after a near four-decade long rebellion.

Corsica’s nationalists oppose France’s political and cultural dominance over the island, the birthplace of Napoleon annexed by Paris in 1768, and their demands for independence fueled years of bloodshed.

“At some point, the wishes of Corsican people will have to be taken into account,” Jean-Guy Talamoni, the president of the Corsican Assembly and leader of the pro-independence Cor-sica Libera movement, said.

However, he acknowledged those backing all-out independ-ence were still in a minority.

“If a majority of Corsican people want independence in 10 years, in 15 years time, no one will be able to get in their way.”

Deposed Catalan regional government spokesperson Jordi Turull (left) and deposed Catalan regional government Territory and Sustainability chief Josep Rull take part in a press conference, in Barcelona, while deposed Catalan regional president Carles Puigdemont and other former ministers participate via viadeo-conference from Brussels, yesterday.

Complication

The judge also said the European warrant would complicate the overall probe into the region’s leaders.

It is unclear what charges would have posed a problem, but there has been controversy in Spain over the offence of rebellion, which carries up to 30 years in jail and has been criticised as “disproportionate” by some critics in the legal world.

Corsica’s nationalists seek autonomy talks One dead in airport shootingBastia

AFP

One man was killed and two people were injured on Tuesday in a

shooting at an airport on the French island of Corsica, emer-gency service workers said.

The shooting took place near the entrance of Bastia air-port in the north of the Mediterranean island, leaving one man dead with a gunshot to the head, another with sev-eral bullet wounds and a third with minor injuries.

Corsica was once plagued by separatist violence, but the main militant group seeking independence for Corsicans declared a ceasefire in 2014.

About a dozen assassina-tions of public figures have taken place on the island in the last 20 years.

Spain makes largest cocaine bust in 18 yearsMadrid

Reuters

Spain has made its larg-est cocaine bust in 18 years, the Interior Min-

istry said yesterday, after more than 5,800kg of the drug were discovered on a container ship travelling from Medellin in Colombia.

The ship, stopped in the southern port of Algeciras, was carrying bananas from Colombia to El Prat de Llo-bregat, the location of the international airport in Cata-lonia, the ministry said.

Three people had been arrested in relation to the haul, including the Spanish head of the import company using the container, and more arrests have not been ruled out with at least two more under investigation, it said yesterday.

Italy police arrest 25 in Palermo dragnetPalermo

Reuters

Police in the Sicilian capi-tal of Palermo scooped up 25 suspected mobsters on

an array of charges yesterday, including a woman accused of filling in as boss for her impris-oned husband.

More than 200 police, two helicopters and five canine units took part in the early morning roundup of the sus-pects. They are accused of extortion, handling stolen goods, vandalism and being mafia members, according to the arrest warrant.

With extensive use of wire-taps and ambient recordings, police reconstructed territorial divisions in the city and the internal power struggle that made Maria Angela Di Trapani, 49, a powerful figure inside one of the city’s historic clans.

Her husband, Salvatore

“Salvino eyes of ice” Madonia, who is in jail for murder. Police said she carried messages from her husband to clan members and organised monthly pay-ments to the families of imprisoned mobsters.

She also designated who should be running the mob family’s business, or who should be “acting boss”, on behalf of her husband.

In one wiretap, an accused clan member refers to her as “the mistress of the house”, and the police statement on the arrests said she was the real boss of the Resuttana neighbourhood.

“For all intents and pur-poses, she acts like a real man,” a turncoat told investigators, according to the court documents.

The Sicilian mafia, or Cosa Nostra, has been hurt by a series of arrests in recent years, weak-ening the crime network.

Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) Deputy Leader Nigel Dodds (right) during an interview outside the Houses of Parliament, in central London, yesterday.

The French government said it would not comment on the Corsican vote until after the second round.

16 WEDNESDAY 6 DECEMBER 2017EUROPE

Revered Romania king Michael diesBucharest

AFP

Romania’s former king Michael, who died yesterday aged 96 in Switzerland where he lived, incarnated the

tragic fate and political turmoil suffered by his country in the 20th century.

One of the last surviving World War II leaders, the beloved monarch who suffered from leukaemia announced last March he was seriously ill, with-drawing from public life and handing his duties to his eldest daughter Margareta, 68.

Born on October 25, 1921 in Sinaia, about 120km north of Bucharest, Michael was a descendant of the German Hohenzollern dynasty.

He ruled twice, from 1927 to 1930 and then from 1940 to 1947, before the communist govern-ment ended the monarchy in the Balkan country.

He was just 19 when he began his second reign as the war was raging, and Romania, then led by marshal Ion Antonescu, had become an ally of Germany’s Adolf Hitler.

Despite his inexperience, the young king managed to stage a coup d’etat in 1944, leading to Antonescu’s arrest and Bucha-rest’s joining the allied forces.

But the end of World War II

unleashed the rise of commu-nism and Romania became a satellite of the Soviet Union.

The slim, blue-eyed ruler with an unmistakable aristo-cratic bearing was forced to abdicate and go into exile on December 30, 1947.

A few months later, he was also stripped of his citizenship.

Michael opted to settle in Switzerland, where he earned a modest living as an aircraft mechanic and farmer.

He had five daughters with h i s w i f e A n n e o f Bourbon-Parma.

Democracy returned to Romania in 1989 when Nicolae Ceausescu’s dictatorship collapsed.

Dreaming of “serving” his people again, the former king tried to settle back in his home country on several occasions, but Romanian authorities blocked his attempts.

Fate turned in his favour in 1996 with the ousting of

president Ion Iliescu, once a high-ranking communist official and a key opponent of the former monarch.

The new government restored Michael’s citizenship the following year and he began to revisit the country.

He also took on some quasi-diplomatic roles for Romania, campaigning for its admission to

Nato and the European Union.After moving back to Bucha-

rest in 2002, he kept a low profile, making only brief appearances in public for major events.

For his 90th birthday in 2011, Michael gave his first parliamen-tary speech since being deposed.

In the historic address, he spoke of his “long life, full of

happy and unhappy events” and called on Romania to shed “bad habits of the past”.

He spent his remaining years residing in both Romania and Switzerland.

In 2016, he was diagnosed as suffering from skin cancer and a chronic form of leukaemia. It was also the year that his wife died.

Seriously ill

One of the last surviving World War II leaders, the beloved monarch who suffered from leukaemia announced last March he was seriously ill, withdrawing from public life and handing his duties to his eldest daughter Margareta, 68.

File photo: Former Romania's king Michael receives flowers as he leaves after laying a wreath at the statue of King Carol I, the founder of Romania's royal dynasty, in Bucharest, on May 10, 2012.

Unrest after Ukrainedetains SaakashviliKiev

AFP

Scuffles broke out in Kiev yesterday after Ukrainian authorities accused former

Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili of plotting a coup sponsored by Russia and attempted to arrest him.

Saakashvili, a former Ukrainian governor, fell out with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and was stripped of his Ukrainian passport. He forced his way back into the country with the help of sup-porters in September and since then has led rallies calling for Poroshenko’s ouster.

The 49-year-old politician’s confrontation with Ukrainian authorities came to a head Tuesday morning when police raided Saakashvili’s flat, prompting him to climb onto the roof of his central Kiev building and address support-ers below before officers led him down into a vehicle.

U k r a i n e ’ s g e n e r a l

prosecutor Yuriy Lutsenko accused Saakashvili and his allies of receiving $500,000 from Russian sources to fund the rallies against the pro-Western Ukrainian government.

Lutsenko claimed Saakash-vili was in cahoots with the allies of former Ukrainian pres-ident Viktor Yanukovych who he said plotted “revenge” from Russia where he had fled after being removed from power in a popular uprising in 2014.

Ukraine is fighting a Krem-lin-backed separatist movement in the east of the country in a conflict that has claimed more than 10,000 lives since 2014 and accusations of ties with Moscow are hugely damaging in the eyes of voters.

After his detention several hundred people gathered around the van carrying the politician and prevented it from moving, finally freeing him from it.

Amid clashes, police and Saakashvili supporters used tear gas against each other.

International police take down ‘Andromeda’ malwareAmsterdam

Reuters

A joint operation involving Germany, the United States and Belarus has

taken down a malware system known as “Andromeda” or “Gamarue” that infected more than 2 million computer devices globally, Europol said yesterday.

Andromeda is best described as a “botnet”, or group of com-puters that have been infected with a virus that allows hackers to control them remotely with-out the knowledge of their owners.

The police operation, which

involved help from Microsoft, was significant both for the number of infected computers and because Andromeda had been used over a number of years to distribute new viruses, said Europol spokesman Jan Op Gen Oorth.

“Andromeda was one of the oldest malwares on the market,” added the spokesman for Europol, the EU’s law enforce-ment agency.

Authorities in Belarus said they had arrested a man on sus-picion of selling malicious software and also providing technical support services. It did not identify the suspect.

Officers had seized

equipment from his offices in Gomel, the second city in Ber-laus, and he was cooperating with the investigation, the coun-try’s Investigative Committee said.

Op Gen Oorth said yesterday that the individual is suspected of being “a ringleader” of a crim-inal network surrounding Andromeda.

German authorities, work-ing with Microsoft, had taken control of the bulk of the net-work, so that information sent from infected computers was rerouted to safe police servers instead, a process known as “sinkholing.”

Information was sent to the

sinkhole from more than 2 mil-lion unique internet addresses in the first 48 hours after the operation began on November 29, Europol said.

Owners of infected comput-ers are unlikely to even know or take action.

More than 55 percent of computers found to be infected in a previous operation a year ago are still infected, Europol said.

Information about the joint operation has been gradually released by Europol, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and Belarus’s Investigative Committee over the past two days.

Athens

AFP

Mayors and residents of Greece’s Aegean islands, which are sheltering

more than 15,000 refugees and migrants, yesterday called for the government to relocate peo-ple from overcrowded camps into centres on the mainland.

“The islands, and especially Lesbos, are facing an emer-gency,” the island’s mayor Spyros Galinos told protesters gathered outside Greece’s migration ministry.

Galinos said they wanted to force Athens to listen to the islanders, but also convey that migrants are living “in unsuita-ble accommodation” and that their lives are “in danger from the elements”.

The Moria camp on Lesbos, the largest in the Aegean, is now

the size of a small town, with more than 6,500 people occupy-ing a facility built to handle 2,300.

Some people have been forced to sleep in flimsy tents outside the enclosure.

“Boats arrive every day,” camp manager Yiannis Bal-bakakis said. “We cannot leave

anyone without shelter”.“We are working non-stop

to manage the situation, but there needs to be immediate relocation”.

Aid groups have warned that transferring refugees to heated accommodation before winter is a matter of life and death.

6 Macedonia MPs held in parliament attack probeSkopje

AFP

A Macedonian court ordered yesterday that three opposition MPs

be held in judicial custody for a month while another three were placed under house arrest over an April attack on parliament.

Scores of people were injured in bloody riots after some 100 nationalists, includ-ing masked men, broke into the assembly in Skopje on April 27 to protest against the vote for new parliamentary speaker.

The six MPs, all from the conservative VMRO-DPMNE party, are among 36 people under investigation for sus-p e c t e d “ t e r r o r i s t endangerment of the consti-tutional order and security”.

On Friday, the Balkan parliament voted to lift the MPs’ immunity to allow pros-ecution although the session was boycotted by VMRO-DPMNE deputies.

A few hundred people protested in the streets of Skopje yesterday in support of the detained MPs.

The attack on parliament, which met with international condemnation.

A month after the vio-lence, Social Democrat, Zoran Zaev, became prime minister.

Poll: Support for anti-immigration Sweden Democrats tumblesStockholm

Reuters

Support for the far-right, anti-immigration Sweden Democrats party has fallen

to its lowest level since surging during the migration crisis of 2015, a government poll showed yesterday.

The Sweden Democrats’ approval rating shot to nearly 20 percent in November 2015 after hundreds of thousands of

people arrived in Sweden to seek asylum.

But a stricter immigration policy has led to a big reduction in numbers, and the issue has slipped from the top of the political agenda.

Support for the Sweden Democrats stood at 14.8 percent in November, compared to 18.4 percent in June, Sweden’s Sta-tistics Office found in its twice yearly poll for which it inter-viewed 9,000 people between

October 27 and November 28.The government, comprised

of the Social Democrats and Greens, had a 36.4 percent approval rating, compared with 35.6 percent in the June poll.

Prime Minister Stefan Lofven has wooed voters with a pledge to boost spending by almost $5.23bn in the budget for 2018 with much of the money going on welfare, education and the police.

“Immigration is no longer

dominating the political debate in Sweden,” Jonas Hinnfors, political scientist at Gothenburg University said.

Together with the Left Party, which supports the coa-lition in parliament, the government has 43.4 percent support, up from 41.9 percent in June.

At its current level of sup-port, the Sweden Democrats would still have enough clout to block either the centre-left

or centre-right blocs from forming a government after the next election in September 2018, should they fail to reach a majority.

The Sweden Democrats, shunned by all the major par-ties due to their far-right roots, have said they would help vote down either a centre-left or centre-right coalition in 2018, making it unclear how either bloc will be able to form a government.

Former Georgian leader Mikheil Saakashvili (centre left) after he was released by supporters in downtown Kiev, yesterday.

Greeks protest refugee overcrowding

A resident of Greece's eastern Aegean islands takes part in a protest outside the Migration Ministry, in Athens, yesterday.

17WEDNESDAY 6 DECEMBER 2017 AMERICAS

Washington

Reuters

Democrat John Conyers, the longest serving member of the US House

of Representatives, announced his retirement yesterday, amid accusations of physical harass-ment, and endorsed his son to take his place in Congress.

“I am in the process of putting my retirement plans together and will have more on that very soon ... I am retiring today,” RConyers said.

“I have a great family here and especially in my oldest boy, John Conyers III, who inciden-tally I endorse to replace me in my seat in Congress,” Conyers said.

The House Ethics Commit-tee last week opened an investigation into Conyers, 88, after he said his office had resolved a harassment case of a former staffer with a payment but no admission of guilt.

Conyers, who was first elected to the House in 1964, is the first major US politician to step down since the recent

wave of harassment allegations. He has denied the accusations and continued to do so in the interview on Tuesday.

“Whatever they are, they are not accurate or they are not true, and I think that they are something that I can’t explain where they came from,” he said.

Conyers called for all records in such cases to be made public. Congress has been reviewing policies on how to handle sexual harassment com-plaints after a string of cases involving prominent figures in the US media, Hollywood and politics, including Republican President Donald Trump, Dem-ocratic Senator Al Franken and Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore.

Trump and Moore have denied the accusations against them. Franken has apologized for his actions.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and other top US Democratic House lawmakers, along with Republican US House Speaker Paul Ryan, had called on Conyers to resign immediately.

Frankfurt am Main AFP

US special prosecutor Rob-ert Muel ler has subpoenaed German

lender Deutsche Bank for infor-mation on Donald Trump’s dealings, according to media reports yesterday.

Investigators — who are probing whether Trump’s cam-paign colluded with Moscow to swing last year’s US presidential

election — presented Germany’s biggest bank with a demand for information about Trump and members of his family, Bloomb-erg News and German business daily Handelsblatt reported, cit-ing anonymous sources.

The subpoena arrived “a few weeks ago,” according to the German paper, which added that the most important files relevant to the request have already been sent to Mueller’s team.

Investigators were looking

for “information about specific financial and credit transactions with the Trump family,” Han-delsblatt reported.

A Deutsche Bank spokesman declined to comment on the reports when contacted by AFP.

An internal investigation at Deutsche “found no suspicious connections between Trump and Russia so far,” Handelsblatt added.

Trump has a history of deal-ings with Deutsche Bank during

his career as a New York prop-erty mogul, and his businesses owed it around $300 million in July 2016 according to a Bloomb-erg analysis.

Meanwhile, the president’s wife Melania, his daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner are all customers of Deutsche’s wealth management a r m , a c c o r d i n g t o Handelsblatt.

In a separate case, Deutsche was fined almost $630 million

by US and British authorities over money laundering earlier this year, after moving $10 bil-lion illegally out of Russia using a so-called “mirror trading” scheme. Executives at the lender, which has weathered a series of scandals and swingeing fines in recent years, were reportedly only too keen to hand over what information they have on Trump and remove a political target from their own backs, the news-paper added.

Santa Paula

AFP

Firefighters were battling a wind-whipped brush fire in southern California yes-

terday that has left at least one person dead and destroyed more than 150 homes and businesses.

The Ventura County Fire Department said over 27,000

people had been told to evacu-ate their homes and the fast-moving fire in the coastal county north of Los Angeles had grown to 31,000 acres.

“The prospects for contain-ment are not good,” Ventura County Fire Chief Mark Loren-zen told a late night news conference. “Really, Mother Nature is going to decide when we have the ability to put it out.”

The National Weather Serv-ice said easterly Santa Ana winds fueling the fire had reg-istered gusts of up to 50 miles per hour.

“The fire is pushing quickly towards the city of Ventura,” Lorenzen said, and has reached the eastern city limits. The Pacific Ocean beachfront city has a population of around 100,000.

Brussels

Reuters

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson deliv-ered a message of support to European allies in Brussels

yesterday but their concerns about President Donald Trump’s foreign policy have created a rift on a host of issues.

European allies are troubled by Trump’s “America first” rhet-oric, his decision not to certify Iran’s compliance with a nuclear deal and his withdrawal from the Paris climate change accord.

Tillerson told Europe’s for-eign ministers at the European Union and Nato the US govern-ment remains committed to transatlantic ties that Trump has previously questioned.

Tillerson also sought to reas-sure US diplomats posted abroad that his ideas to revamp the country’s foreign service were bearing fruit, saying he would reveal a modernisation plan for the US State Department soon.

Tillerson, the former chief executive of Exxon Mobil, said his visit showed “the strong

commitment the US has to the European alliance, the important role that the European alliance plays in our shared security objectives.”

Before a lunch with the Euro-pean Union’s foreign ministers, Tillerson stressed “shared val-ues, shared objectives for security and prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic.”

Trump visited the US-led NATO alliance in May to admon-ish European leaders on their low defence spending. During his visit on Tuesday, Tillerson offered a more generous appraisal and gave an “unwa-vering” US commitment to NATO’s mutual defence clause,

which considers an attack on one ally as an attack on all. Tillerson ignored questions from report-ers about whether he would be ousted from the White House.

In his first substantive pub-lic comments since reports last week of a White House plan for CIA Director Mike Pompeo to replace him, Tillerson said despite “a little criticism”, he was on top of his job.

“While we don’t have any wins on the board yet, I can tell you we’re in a much better posi-tion to advance America’s interests around the world than we were 10 months ago,” he told senior US diplomats and US embassy staff at the US mission to Belgium in Brussels.

Tillerson’s trip will also take him to Vienna and Paris but it has been overshadowed by the reports that he could be fired.

While Trump said last week he was not leaving and Tillerson said the reports were untrue, , Trump has also said he alone determines US foreign policy, saying in a tweet on Friday that “I call the final shots.” Tillerson told US diplomats gathered at the embassy in Belgium that it had

been “a bit of a shock” to meet Trump for the first time when he was approached as a possible

secretary of state late last year. Diplomats said EU government face a dilemma because

Tillerson’s views are more closely aligned with theirs but may not reflect those of Trump.

Tillerson tries to reassure worried EU over Trump

Prosecutor demands Trump’s data from Deutsche Bank

US Congressman Conyers retires after accusations

Washington

Reuters

US Special Counsel Rob-ert Mueller’s office has spent about $3.2m so

far as part of its ongoing probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential elec-tion, the Justice Department revealed yesterday in a report.

The money was spent between mid-May, when the investigation began, and Sep-tember 30 of this year.

That money has helped fund 17 attorneys working on the probe, as well as special agents, support staff, travel, rent, acquisitions of equip-ment and other expenses.

The bulk of the spending- $1.7 million - has been on personnel salary and bene-fits, according to the report.

Some of the attorneys working on the probe were hired from law firms, while others were already on the government payroll and were detailed from their regular Justice Department jobs. The special counsel’s budget itself has not been made public.

Washington

Reuters

President Donald Trump shrank two wilderness national monuments in

Utah by at least half in the big-gest rollback of public land protection in US history, draw-ing praise from pro-development lawmakers and a lawsuit from environmentalists.

Trump’s announcement

followed months of review by the Interior Department after he ordered the agency in April to identify which of 27 monuments - protected areas designated by past presidents - should be rescinded or resized to give states and local governments more control of the land.

“Some people think that the natural resources of Utah should be controlled by a small handful of very distant bureaucrats

located in Washington. And guess what? They’re wrong,” Trump said in the state capitol alongside Utah’s Republican governor, Gary Herbert, the Utah congressional delegation and local county commissioners.

Unlike national parks that can only be created by an act of Congress, national monuments can be designated unilaterally by presidents under the century-old Antiquities Act, a law meant

to protect sacred sites, artifacts and historical objects.

Trump said former presi-dents abused the Antiquities Act by putting unnecessarily big chunks of territory off limits to drilling, mining, grazing, road traffic and other activities – a headwind to his plan to ramp up US energy output.

Trump signed two proclama-tions after his speech. One would reduce the 1.3-million-acre (0.5

million hectare) Bears Ears National Monument, created in 2016 by then-President Barack Obama in southeastern Utah, by more than 80 percent split into two areas. The other would cut the state’s 1.9-million-acreGrand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, designated by Pres-ident Bill Clinton in 1996, nearly in half. The landscape of can-yons, ridges and rock formations would be split into three zones.

Washington

AFP

US military police often failed to provide fin-gerprints and other

information to federal offi-cials after personnel were convicted by courts-martial, a Pentagon watchdog said yesterday, meaning disgraced ex-troops could have illegally bought guns.

The issue of former serv-ice members illegally buying weapons has come to the fore after it emerged that an ex-airman who carried out a mass shooting in Texas last month bought firearms despite a court-martial con-viction for domestic assault The Pentagon’s Inspector General conducted an evalu-ation of military police across all the services to see if they had been updating a federal database with the fingerprints and outcomes of military criminal convictions.

US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson (second left) and Nato Secretary-General, Jens Stoltenberg, attend a Nato foreign ministers meeting at the Alliance headquarters in Brussels, yesterday.

Tillerson told Europe’s foreign ministers at the European Union and Nato the US government remains committed to transatlantic ties that Trump has previously questioned.

A home burns as strong winds carry a wildfire in Ventura, California, yesterday.

One dead as firefighters battle California blaze

Mueller’s office has spent $3.2m since May: Report

Military police fail to give officials vital information

Trump outlines big cuts to Utah monuments

18 WEDNESDAY 6 DECEMBER 2017AMERICAS

Mexico City Reuters

Mexico’s Senate yesterday prepared to debate leg-islation enshrining the

use of the military in law enforcement, prompting criti-cism from the United Nations human rights body, a decade after troops were first deployed against the country’s drug gangs.

The lower house of Congress last week passed the long-debated bill that lawmakers say is needed to regulate soldiers used heavily since former Pres-ident Felipe Calderon sent troops to fight gangs in late 2006.

The United Nations human rights chief on Tuesday called

on Mexican lawmakers not to pass the bill, saying Mexico needed a stronger police force. Activists gathered outside the senate to protest what they called the militarization of the country. U.N. High Commis-sioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein said the law did not contain strong enough controls to protect civilians from abuses in Mexico, where extra-judicial killings, torture and disappearances are carried out by both security forces and criminal gangs.

“Adopting a new legal framework to regulate the oper-ations of the armed forces in internal security is not the answer. The current draft law risks weakening incentives for

the civilian authorities to fully assume their law enforcement roles,” Zeid said.

Lawmakers are expected to push the bill through commit-tees and later put the measure to a full floor vote. Lower house lawmakers moved quickly on the bill last week after it had lan-guished in committees for years.

The law has broad support from the ruling party and mem-bers of the opposition National Action Party. It is strongly opposed by the party of leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, which has only a handful of senators.

In his presidential campaign, President Enrique Pena Nieto promised to develop a large new national police force.

Mexico Senate to take up security law blasted by UN rights boss

Monterrey

Reuters

A Mexican presidential hopeful and governor of a wealthy border state said

he would cut taxes to compete with lower rates in the United States if President Donald Trump’s fiscal reform passes Congress, hinting at a broader potential response in Mexico.

Jaime Rodriguez, the gover-nor of Nuevo Leon who is seeking to become the

first independent to take the presidency, said he would lower “many taxes” if successful.

“We’re going to compete,” he told Reuters on Monday. “If I make it and am able to be pres-ident, I would lower taxes,” he added, though he declined to give details.

Mexico’s government has been watching Trump’s fiscal plans closely, and some senior officials and lawmakers say the country may have to cut taxes if the United States does.

The US Senate approved a bill on Saturday that could see corporation tax slashed to 20 percent from 35 percent, raising questions over whether this could make investment in Mex-ico, where the corporate tax rate is 30 percent, less attractive.

Two years ago, Rodriguez pulled off a surprise win with a social media-led campaign and became the first independent governor of a Mexican state.

Nuevo Leon, home to the major industrial hub of

Monterrey, has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which spurred an influx of investment from companies seeking access to US consumers.

That included a $1 billion investment from South Korea’s Kia Motors under a 2014 deal, although Rodriguez and others were critical of the incentives the company received.

“We don’t want any more car assembly plants,” he said. “We

won’t give incentives like the ones we gave to Kia to any other company, it’s excessive.”

Trump has threatened to withdraw from NAFTA if he can-not rework it in favor of the United States.

However, Rodriguez, who in May 2016 predicted that Trump would win the presidency, was adamant that NAFTA would survive.

“It’s not going to collapse,” he said. Known in Mexico as “El Bronco” due to his blunt style, the

59-year-old Rodriguez leads aspiring independents to gather the 866,593 signatures needed by Feb. 19 to get on the ballot for the July 1 election, according to statistics from electoral regula-tor INE.

However, he has reached the threshold of 1 percent of voters in just three states, and the law requires getting that share in 17 states. Polls so far suggest Rod-riguez is unlikely to mount a serious challenge for the presidency.

Tegucigalpa

AFP

A political crisis in Hon-duras triggered by a disputed presidential election deepened yesterday, after hun-

dreds of police revolted against an order to impose a curfew.

The police, many of them members of an anti-riot unit called the “Cobras” joined by other officers, went into the street in the capital Tegucigalpa late Monday to show their rejec-tion of the order. Locals applauded their presence.

“The truth is we don’t want to fight the people any more,” one of the officers said, declin-ing to give his name and his face hidden by a ski mask.

The rebellion signals a potentially dangerous new turn in the crisis that has unfolded since the November 26 vote in which President Juan Orlando Hernandez controversially sought re-election.

His bid was made possible by a 2015 Supreme Court ruling overturning a constitutional ban on more than one presidential term -- a decision that sparked criticism. But a TV-presenter-turned-politician picked as the leftwing opposition’s candidate,

Salvador Nasralla, 64, caused an upset in the election.

Initially, Nasralla emerged with an early lead, but that was whittled down and then reversed after a much-delayed counting of ballots that the opposition alleged was marred by fraud.

As protests turned violent and pillaging was reported, Her-nandez’s government last week ordered a state of emergency with a nighttime curfew.

A teenage girl was killed in one clash, her family said, blam-ing the police who responded by saying they were investigating.

The rebellion by some of the police showed Hernandez’s authority could be crumbling.

If that is the case, Honduras -- a small Central American nation of 10 million beset by gang violence, corruption and poverty -- could be in the grips of its worst crisis since 2009, when then-president Manuel Zelaya was ousted in a coup.

“What we are demanding is that peace return, that the prob-lem be resolved and that there are no more deaths, no more blood,” the police officer in the ski mask said The public safety

minister, however, downplayed the police row, calling it part of a dispute over pay and Christ-mas bonuses.

Honduras’ Supreme Elec-toral Tribunal said the final ballot count showed Hernandez with 42.98 percent of the vote, barely ahead of Nasralla with 41.39 per-cent.But it declined to name an election winner, saying appeals could yet be lodged. Nasralla said he “cannot accept anything,” and refused to recognize the

tribunal’s count. A coordinator for a group of European Union poll observers, Marisa Matias, urged the tribunal to hold off on naming a winner, saying “the electoral process is far from finished.”

The head of the mission from the Organization of American States, Jorge Quiroga, also high-lighted the narrow margin given between Hernandez and Nas-ralla, as well as “irregularities” in the election.

Honduras poll crisis widens with police revolt

Santiago

Reuters

The leader of an influ-ential leftist bloc in Chile endorsed cen-

tre-left presidential hopeful Alejandro Guillier (pictured) over conserv-ative Sebastian Pinera in next week’s run-off election.

Beatriz Sanchez, the flagbearer for the hard-left Frente Amplio coalition, said Pinera’s suggestion that ballots had been tampered with in the first-round election had changed her mind about stay-ing quiet on whom she would vote for in the run-off.

“That crosses the line and that’s why today I’ve decided...to vote against Sebastian Pin-era,” Sanchez told journalists. “My vote will be for Alejandro Guillier.”

Winning over Sanchez vot-ers has been seen as essential for a Guillier triumph over Pin-era in the second-round vote. As Frente Amplio’s presidential candidate, Sanchez secured twice as many votes as expected by opinion polls and came two points short of mov-ing onto the run-off election with Pinera.

But it was unclear if Sanchez’ somewhat reluctant endorsement of Guillier would be enough to get her support-ers excited about heading to polls December 17. Last week, Frente Amplio refrained from endorsing Guillier and demanded he clarify his

proposals. Pinera, a former president who governed Chile between 2010 and 2014, had been expected to easily win this year’s election before his dis-appointing performance in the Nov. 19 first-round vote.

On Monday, Pinera said on a local radio program that some voters had reported that bal-lots were pre-marked in favor of his rivals in the first-round election and that he would have more supporters supervising voting stations in the run-off vote.

Chile’s electoral authority said it had received no com-plaints of irregularities and Pinera’s remarks were widely criticized.

“Let’s be responsible and not discredit our democratic institutions,” outgoing center-left President Michelle Bachelet said on Twitter.

Pinera said in an impromptu news conference later on Monday that he did not mean to cast doubt over elec-tion results but reiterated that he believed ballots had been tampered with.

Havana

Reuters

The Trump administra-tion has named career diplomat Philip Gold-

berg to head the all-but-abandoned US Embassy in Havana, accord-ing to three sources familiar with the matter, at a time of heightened tensions between the United States and Cuba.

Goldberg has lengthy experience in a number of countries, and was described by a US congressional aide on Monday as “career and the best of the best”.

But his appointment may ruffle feathers in Havana. He was expelled from Cuba’s socialist ally Bolivia in 2008 for what President Evo Morales claimed was foment-ing social unrest.

The appointment has not been publicly announced.

If approved by Cuba, Goldberg will arrive at a low moment in bilateral relations. The embassy was reopened for the first time since 1961 last year, as part of a fragile detente by former Demo-cratic US president Barack Obama. But the administra-tion of Republican President Donald Trump has returned to Cold War characterizations of the Cuban government and imposed new restrictions on doing business in Cuba and travel. It has charged Cuba with responsibility for health problems affecting some two dozen diplomats or their fam-ily members, which it has termed attacks. Cuba denies the charges.

Bogota

AFP

Thirteen people were killed in Colombia in a clash between National

Liberation Army (ELN) rebels and FARC dissidents, the country’s ombudsman said yesterday.

The firefight, which comes as the ELN is observ-ing a three-month ceasefire with the government in Bogota, happened last week in a remote area of the coun-try’s southwest, the official, Carlos Negret, told reporters.

Negret said ELN guerril-las had gone to a municipality near the Ecuador border to disarm a local farmers’ resist-ance group, made up of alleged FARC dissidents, when the fighting occurred “resulting in the killing of 13 citizens.”

He said the confrontation “totally goes against” the ELN’s ceasefire with the government.

Trump names career diplomat to head Cuban Embassy

Leftist leader backs Guillier in Chile polls

13 dead in clashes between rival Colombian rebels

Mexico presidency hopeful eyes tax cuts to counter Trump reform

The police, many of them members of an anti-riot unit called the “Cobras” joined by other officers, went into the street in the capital Tegucigalpa late on Monday to show their rejection of the order. Locals applauded their presence.

Members of Honduras National Police stand outside their headquarters as they refuse to crack down on demonstrators in Tegucigalpa, yesterday.

Activists hold a protest against a law that militarises crime fighting in the country outside the Senate in Mexico City, yesterday.

19WEDNESDAY 6 DECEMBER 2017 HOME

20 WEDNESDAY 6 DECEMBER 2017MORNING BREAK

HIGH TIDE 07:00 – 18:00 LOW TIDE 14:15 – 00:00

Hazy at places at first becomes

moderate temperature with some

clouds, relatively cold night.

WEATHER TODAY

Minimum Maximum

Courtesy: Qatar Meteorology Department

20oC 26oC

The Doha Players in final rehearsal at the Qatar National Convention Centre for their 2017 ‘panto’ ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’. Tickets are available for today’s and Friday evening performances only.

Doha Players to stage Snow White

FAJRSHOROOK

04.44am

06.05 am

ZUHRASR

11.25 am

02.24 pm

MAGHRIBISHA

04.46 pm

06.16 pm

PRAYER TIMINGS Nursing a growing career option in QatarFazeena Saleem The Peninsula

Qatar’s health system has seen a growing number of nurses and at least 24 Qatari nurses are working with the Pri-mary Health Care

Corporation’s (PHCC) health centres in the Western and Central regions of the country.

Nursing profession is critical in pri-mary health care and it has the capacity and responsibility to influ-ence the present and future of health care delivery systems, says Afrah Ali, a Qatari nurse and Operation Pro-gramme Manager at PHCC.

“Nursing has a unique role in the health system as we make direct con-tact with patients, ensuring that we deliver a holistic service that not only improves patients’ health but also sup-port them. To provide such services, it is required to have a health care model that can empower nurses and position them in a leading place, so they can make a positive contribution to the operations of health centres and fulfil their role entirely,” she told The Peninsula.

“The challenge of shortage in number of physicians provides a great opportunity for the nurse’s role to be expanded; they can work together with family physicians and support them when needed. The role has a large scope as we now provide direct clin-ical care, some of us are experts in coaching, we are leading in many

research initiatives, and even Qatar National Research funded some research projects,” said Afrah, who has obtained a Master of Science degree from the University of Calgary in Canada.

Nursing is growing as a new career interest among young Qataris as many of them have begun to study and take it as a profession. However, Afrah says that there is still misconception around the nursing profession locally, espe-cially for males.

“Culturally we are beginning to value nursing as a great career option but more awareness is needed. PHCC is driving a national effort to eliminate the general misconception that nurs-ing is a profession only for women. It

highlights the significant role played by nurses and promote the benefits and value of the nursing profession to encourage Qataris to peruse it as a career,” she said.

While, Qatari students are show-ing increasingly strong interest in the University of Calgary in Qatar (UCQ)’s Master of Nursing program where they make up 34 percent of the student body.

“Opening of the University of Cal-gary in Qatar was a great step towards promoting nursing in the country. The university offers programs for nurses with the diplomas to follow a bachelor degree and those with a bachelor degree to follow a master’s program. It helps in improving knowledge and skills. Also

the campus’ exchange programs with the University of Calgary gives an oppor-tunity to travel to Canada and get more exposure,” said Afrah.

The PHCC is also supporting its nurses to further enhance their qual-ifications and skills by facilitating them to study at the UCQ and by providing wide training programs.

“PHCC is providing plenty of opportunities for nurses including to continue doing a degree at the UCQ. There are many opportunities to take part in workshops delivered by PHCC and in training. Also nurses get the chance to take part in training work-shops delivered by PHCC. We have opportunities to attend local confer-ences to share ideas and experience and opportunities to travel to interna-tional conferences to discuss challenges and opportunities. We can also complete online courses attend seminars and workshops focused around nursing development. These opportunities pave way for the devel-opment of nursing profession in Qatar,” said Mona Mansoori , a long term resident in Qatar and working as a nurse with the PHCC.

Her personal experience in the nursing profession has been a chal-lenging one. “I owe a lot to PHCC, where I built my leadership skills, my experiences in non-communica-ble diseases. It was not an easy journey however with hard work determination and supportive team around you anything can be achieved,” said Mona.

Afrah Ali Mona Mansoori

Asian dolphins a step closer to extinctionTokyo

Reuters

The International Union for Conservation of Nature said on Tuesday it had changed the sta-tus of the Irrawaddy dolphin and finless

porpoise, both living in Asian waters, to “endangered” from “vulnerable”, meaning they are closer to extinction.

In the latest update of its closely watched Red List of threatened species, the environmental group also moved Australia’s western ringtail possum by two notches from “vulnerable” to “critically endangered”.

The re-evaluation of the status of the two aquatic mammals comes after the numbers of Irrawaddy dol-phin more than halved over the past 60 years, and over the past 45 years for the finless porpoise, the group said.

“These species live in shallow waters near shore and both have populations confined to freshwater systems, and that makes them extremely vulnerable to human activities,” Craig Hilton-Taylor, head of the group’s Red List unit, told reporters.

Arctic sea ice melt to exacerbate California droughts: StudyWashington

Reuters

Melting Arctic sea ice could render sun-soaked California vulner-able to a recurrence of the

severe drought suffered in recent years as it is likely to cause high pressure sys-tems that push away rain-bearing storms, a study released yesterday said.

As temperatures rise, the Arctic Ocean is expected to become ice-free within two or three decades, resulting in more of the sun’s heat being stored in the Arctic Ocean, leading to atmospheric circulation changes and cloud formations in the tropical Pacific that move north.

That will lead to the building of high pressure system known as an atmos-pheric ridge in the northern Pacific off California’s coast, steering storms north into Alaska and Canada, the study said.

“This has the potential to make a drought very similar to the one we had in 2012 to 2016,” said Ivana Cvijanovic, an atmospheric scientist at the Depart-ment of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Cvijanovic led the study with con-tributions from colleagues at the lab and at University of California, Berkeley.

The recent five-year drought cost California’s farmers billions of dollars in lost production, slashed seasonal agri-culture jobs by the thousands, and spiked electricity bills for residents as hydroe-lectric systems failed.

US meetings on the Arctic warming

are mostly attended by scientists and members of Alaskan communities, but Cvijanovic said residents of other regions should pay attention.

“Studies like this one imply that it’s not only a problem (for communities in Alaska) and that Arctic Sea ice loss that we expect in the next couple of decades could have massive effects” on Califor-nians and other people around the world, she said.

Modelling by the scientists showed that the loss of sea ice could cause a 10 to 15 percent decrease in California’s rain-fall when considering a 20-year mean,

with some years becoming much drier and others becoming wetter. The loss of Arc-tic sea ice is only one path to a drier California that scientists have predicted.

A previous study on drought in the country’s most populous state blamed another aspect of global warming. Califor-nia’s temperatures have risen about 2 degrees Fahrenheit over the last century and the warmer air holds more water, sucking moisture out of soil, rivers and streams.

The study appeared in the journal Nature Communications and was funded by the Energy Department’s science office.

The crew of the US Coast Guard Cutter Healy, in the midst of their ICESCAPE mission, retrieves supplies in the Arctic Ocean.

Patterson plans Einstein series for childrenNew York

AP

Already co-writing a political thriller with former President Bill

Clinton, James Patterson is now set for a collaboration with the managers of Albert Einstein’s archives.

The best-selling novelist is developing a series for mid-dle schoolers inspired by Einstein’s scientific discover-ies. In a licensing deal with the Einstein archive, Little Brown will publish the first of three planned books, cur-rently untitled, next fall. The release will come through the author’s own JIMMY Patter-son children’s imprint.

“I love the idea of introduc-ing Einstein and the ideas of science to millions of kids around the world,” says Patterson.

Patterson, admittedly still learning when it comes to sci-ence, has worked in an innovation of his own. The series’ young protagonist, Max Einstein, is a girl.