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INDEX QATAR 2, 3, 16 ARAB WORLD INTERNATIONAL 3 4-12 ISLAM 13 COMMENT BUSINESS CLASSIFIED SPORT 14, 15 1-12 9 1-8 BUSINESS | Page 1 SPORT | Page 8 International lenders support Qatar’s banks amid Gulf rift Qatar’s Barshim soars to win in Oslo DOW JONES QE NYMEX 21,359.90 9,257.90 44.24 +14.66 +0.07% +67.92 +0.74% -0.49 -1.10% Latest Figures pu Emir speaks with Merkel, Gentiloni and May HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani yesterday held telephone conversations with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Italian Prime Minister Paolo and British Prime Minister Theresa May on the latest developments of the Gulf crisis. Merkel, Gentiloni and May stressed the need to solve the crisis through dialogue in order to preserve the stability and unity of the Gulf Co-operation Council. The Emir expressed his gratitude and appreciation for the stances of the three leaders. The Emir also offered May condolences over a deadly fire that engulfed a residential tower in west London. QATAR | Weather Windy conditions forecast until Tuesday Windy conditions are expected to prevail in the country from this afternoon until Tuesday, the Qatar Met department said yesterday. The windy spell has been forecast to begin in offshore areas today and elsewhere tomorrow, according to the weather report. While it is likely to continue being misty/foggy until the early hours today, the weather office has issued a warning for fresh strong northwesterly winds in offshore areas from this afternoon. The wind speed will range from 18-25 knots, reaching 30 knots at night towards the north, along with a wave height of 6-9/10ft. The winds will intensify on Sunday and Monday, reaching a peak of 38 knots and resulting in blowing and rising dust. RAMADAN THOUGHT And whomsoever Allah wills to guide, He opens his breast to Islam; and whomsoever He wills to send astray, He makes his breast closed and constricted, as if he is climbing up to the sky. Thus Allah puts the wrath on those who believe not. (Qur’an 6:125) Prayer times Fajr....3.14 Zuhr....11.34 Asr....2.57 Maghrib.....6.29 Isha.....7.59 Fasting times Iftar today ............................6.29pm Imsak tomorrow............... 3.04am in QATAR | Official d In brief June 16, 2017 Ramadan 21, 1438 AH www. gulf-times.com 2 Riyals Fighter plane deal ‘shows deep US support’ for Qatar A $12bn deal to buy US F-15 fighter jets shows Qatar has deep-rooted support from Washington, a Qatari official said yesterday, adding that its rift with some Arab states had not hurt Washington’s relationship with Doha, Reuters reported. The signing of the deal in Washington on Wednesday coincided with the arrival of two US Navy vessels at Qatar’s Hamad Port to participate in a joint exercise with the Qatari Emiri Navy. “The deal and the naval exercise are a strong signal for Qatar and I am sure that reassures the government in Doha that their relationship is strong,” AFP news agency quoted a Western diplomat in Qatar as saying. Qatar is facing an economic and diplomatic boycott by Saudi Arabia and its regional allies who cut ties on June 5, accusing it of funding terrorist groups, a charge Doha has vehemently denied. US Defence and State Departments have tried to remain neutral in the dispute among key allies. Qatar is home to the headquarters for US air forces in the Middle East. On Wednesday US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis signed the previouslyapproved warplane deal with Minister of State for Defence Affairs HE Dr Khalid bin Mohamed al-Attiyah. Qatar’s ambassador to the US, Meshal Hamad al-Thani, posted a picture of the signing ceremony on Twitter. “This is of course proof that US institutions are with us but we have never doubted that,” the Qatari official in Doha said. “Our militaries are like brothers. America’s support for Qatar is deep-rooted and not easily influenced by political changes.” A Qatari defence ministry source said the deal was for 36 jets. In November, under the administration of Barack Obama, the US approved a possible sale of up to 72 F-15QA aircraft to Qatar for $21.1bn. Boeing, the prime contractor on the sale, declined to comment. A European diplomat in the Gulf said the timing of the deal appeared coincidental. “Presumably the US could have delayed the deal if they had wanted to, although I do not think there is a great connect between sales and foreign policy.” The Pentagon said the jets sale would increase security co-operation between the US and Qatar and help them operate together. It added that Mattis and al-Attiyah also discussed the current state of operations against IS and the importance of de-escalating tensions in the Gulf. Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu reiterated his country’s criticism of the economic sanctions by Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain and Egypt against Qatar as “wrong”, although he denied that Turkey was supporting one side. Cavusoglu was speaking to journalists after holding talks in Kuwait yesterday. On Wednesday he visited Doha for talks with HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani. He is due to fly on to Saudi Arabia today, according to AFP. Meanwhile, US Defence Secretary James Mattis has expressed optimism about resolving the Gulf crisis. Al Jazeera News Channel quoted Mattis as saying that he was optimistic about resolving the crisis and that his country would help the Gulf countries thereon. O The Gulf crisis has begun to dissipate thanks to mediation efforts by Kuwait’s emir, a prominent member of Kuwait’s royal family said yesterday, according to aljazeera.com. “I am sure this storm will pass peacefully to the benefit of the Gulf Co-operation Council,” Sheikh Salem al-Ali al-Sabah, who is also head of Kuwait’s National Guard, was quoted as saying yesterday by Kuwait’s Al-Seyassah newspaper. “His majesty’s swift response (to the crisis) shows the emir’s keenness to achieve reconciliation between brothers,” he was quoted as saying. Mediators expect proposals ‘soon’ Saudi Arabia and the UAE are expected to relay to mediators what they want Qatar to do in return for ending their isolation of the country, according to a Gulf official with direct knowledge of the matter, Bloomberg reported yesterday. The proposals, which may come in the next two days, would make it easier to end the dispute, the official said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. While the two sides are far apart at the moment, there are positive signs they are willing to reach a conclusion and want Kuwait to continue to mediate, the official said, adding that Turkey was also helping. Qatar said the absence of a clear list of demands has complicated efforts to resolve the crisis, which escalated this month when Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain severed ties and transportation links. “A clear list of demands will be critical toward reaching a resolution without it, it is difficult to find a starting point,” said Allison Wood, an analyst with Control Risks in Dubai. Kuwait has played a role in trying to end the conflict since it started, with the country’s emir visiting Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar last week. The demand for souvenirs, with images of major landmarks in Qatar, has shot up over the past few days in the country amid a growing wave of patriotic fervour, triggered by the economic and diplomatic boycott by some Gulf Arab states. Some of the souvenirs are seen at Safari Mall in Abu Hamour yesterday. No impact on World Cup preparations, says official Q atar yesterday said the rift with some fellow Gulf Arab states, which includes economic sanctions on Doha, has not affected its preparations to host the 2022 World Cup, and alternative sources for construction materials have been secured, according to Reuters. In remarks carried by the Qatar News Agency, Ghanim al-Kuwari, executive director at the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC) said it had completed around 45% of the work in accordance with plans. Soccer’s governing body FIFA said last week it was in “regular contact” with the authorities in Qatar, after Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE, along with Egypt, severed ties with Doha. “I can confirm to everybody that there is absolutely no impact on the progress of work in the Mondial facilities and that work is proceeding normally,” said al-Kuwari. Most of the construction materials needed for building World Cup stadiums had been coming by land through Saudi Arabia, a route now blocked, but al-Kuwari said alternative suppliers have been organised. “We have actually organised alternative sources from other areas in order that the work on the project is not impacted.” He said while some goods had come by land, most materials were coming by sea, adding that some materials were being locally made. Hamad Port was bustling with activity this week, with ships bringing in food supplies as well as building materials for construction projects, including World Cup stadiums and a Metro line running alongside highways that stretch out of Doha. IOC hopes row won’t affect Gulf sports development The International Olympic Committee (IOC) yesterday said it hoped the diplomatic and economic boycott of Qatar by its neighbours would not affect sports development in the region. Qatar is among the leading investors in world sport, preparing to host the 2022 football World Cup and the 2019 world athletics championships among other top events it is set to It’s business as usual at Hamad Port ‘as the worst is over’ Q atar’s main seaport shows all the signs of having weathered the storm. Workers in hard hats monitor as giant yellow cranes lift hundreds of containers off cargo ships onto lorries waiting ashore. Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain severed diplomatic, trade and transport ties with Qatar more than a week ago. The spat initially halted much traffic to the Hamad Port and raised fears of food and other shortages. But after launching new direct shipping routes to cope with the crisis, port officials say the worst is over and the episode may even help Qatar seal new transport deals that do not rely on Gulf neighbours. “It’s a blessing in disguise,” a port official told Reuters news agency as cargo was unloaded on Wednesday. “We’re looking at signing agreements with shipping companies that can improve direct services instead of having to come through Jebel Ali.” A new shipping line to India has been launched, connecting Hamad Port with Mundra and Nhava Sheva in India. Ves- he R is bl TA 978 A 1 Q since GULF TIMES FRIDAY Vol. XXXVIII No. 10486 sels using the new line will visit Hamad Port every Friday. Also, new services have been announced from Oman, which has remained neutral during the crisis. Earlier this week, the world’s biggest container line, Maersk of Denmark, said it would accept new bookings for container shipments to Qatar from Oman. Several Maersk containers could be seen parked among rows of shipments at Hamad Port. Operations manager Omar El Khayat said another deal with Maersk was being discussed. Mediation efforts to end the crisis have intensified, including by the US, which hosts the largest US air base in the Middle East. Two US Navy ships arrived at Hamad Port on Wednesday for a joint exercise with Qatar. Port officials said the cutting of transport links by Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain with Qatar continues to affect some services. Ships from China’s Shanghai, which normally go through Jebel Ali, have to be re-routed via Iraq, adding seven days to a normally 20-day Hamad Port officials say the crisis may help Qatar seal new transport deals that do not rely on Gulf neighbours. voyage, one official said. Not all lines have resumed shipping services. China’s Cosco Shipping Lines Co Ltd, Taiwan’s Evergreen and Hong Kong Kong’s OOCL suspended container services to and from Qatar. Hamad Port’s general cargo terminal can handle 1.7mn tonnes of goods per year, according to the Ministry of Transport and Communications. Hamad al-Ansar of the Qatar Ports Management Company, Mwani Qatar, said ties with Turkey and Iran, which have flown goods into Doha since the boycott, might expand, with Turkish vessels already on their way. “We’ll open a relationship with anyone who can bring cargo.” For now, port employees have their work cut out. As one large ship took back empty containers later in the day, a second one arrived bringing livestock from Australia. “The first five days of the crisis there were fewer shipments. Now it’s back to normal. I’ve seen the schedule and it looks packed,” said a Kenyan supervisor. Hamad Port’s imports include large quantities of food and building materials for construction projects, including stadiums for the 2022 World Cup, and a Metro line running alongside highways that stretch out of Doha. The boycott raised concerns that projects could be delayed if building material including from the Far East and South Asia is choked. But at the nearby Mesaieed stockyard, vast dunes of gabbro rock, around 10mn tonnes’ worth according to officials, lay stockpiled for construction. “It’s business as usual,” the port official said. stage in the coming years. “In the world of sport, we remain politically neutral and continue our relationships with all the national Olympic committees (NOCs) in the region,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams said. “We hope for this even more, because all of the NOCs in the region are very active in Olympic sports in different respects and we appreciate especially how much is being contributed to sport development in the region,” Adams told Reuters. Teams across many sports, including top European soccer clubs such as Bayern Munich, regularly use Qatar’s state-of-the-art sports infrastructure for winter training camps. HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani has been an IOC member since 2002. “The IOC appreciates all this work very much and hopes that this crisis does not affect this co-operation,” Adams said. “This is a political issue in the region. We are encouraging a dialogue on the political level so that the problem can be solved at this level.” May calls for steps to ease tensions British Prime Minister Theresa May urged the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar yesterday to take steps to reduce tensions that have led the Arab world’s biggest powers to cut ties with Qatar. “The prime minister raised the ongoing isolation of Qatar in the Gulf region, calling on all sides to urgently de-escalate the situation, engage meaningfully in dialogue, and restore Gulf Cooperation Council unity at the earliest possible opportunity,” a spokesperson for May said in a statement. May’s office said she spoke with HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and the kings of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain yesterday evening. British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson urged Gulf states including Saudi Arabia to ease their blockade of Qatar on Monday. 2 Gulf Times Friday, June 16, 2017 QATAR Hamad Port to launch, add new service lines In brief Qatar-Algeria ties reviewed Emir condoles with Queen Elizabeth H amad Port will launch and add new service lines with Europe and Southeast Asia in the coming days, its director Captain Abdul Aziz al-Yafei has said. This comes after the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC) on Wednesday announced the launch of a new shipping line between Qatar and India. The new service connects Hamad Port with the Mundra and Nhava Sheva ports in India. In a statement, al-Yafei said movement at the port is “running smoothly”, explaining that the port currently operates three main lines, according to the official Qatar News Agency (QNA). Operations at Hamad Port “saw a change in the destinations of shipping lines”, he said, stressing that the port can accommodate all types of goods and is able to cover the needs of the State. With its capacity, the port, which opened in December 2015 six months ahead of schedule, has helped reduce dependency on transporting goods through the land border, he noted. Hamad Ali al-Ansari, director of Public Relations and Communications at Qatar Ports Management Company (Mwani Qatar), said a direct line with the Omani port of Salalah is expected to be inaugurated when the first cargo ship arrives today, with 500-600 refrigerated containers each with a capacity of 30,000kg. The ports of Oman are strategic partners and direct shipping services between those and Qatar’s Hamad Port will operate six times a week, or 22-24 times a month, he added. In May, he said, Mwani Qatar received some 193 ships carrying 2,326 tonnes of gabbro and building materials, 102,800 heads of cattle and 5,700 units of cars and equipment, along with ‘Sanctions will serve to bolster unity’ Algerian Foreign Minister Abdelkader Messahel yesterday met HE the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sultan bin Saad al-Muraikhi, currently on a visit to Algeria. They reviewed bilateral relations and means of developing them and regional and international issues. The India-Qatar Express Service. Implementation of second phase of Hamad Port begins The Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC) has announced the start of the implementation of the first part of Hamad Port’s second phase. The MoTC has said contracts worth QR2bn have been awarded for this part of the works, according to QNA. 49,400 tonnes of general cargo and 45,900 containers. He pointed out that there were plans to receive Turkish ships in the Port of Ruwais as well as a plan to increase the number of direct lines to Hamad Port, as there are agreements with various countries such as Russia, China and others in this area. Hamad Port operations manager Captain Omar El Khayat said the total capacity of the port is about 7.6mn containers, including 2mn containers per year in the first phase of the port’s operations. The second phase will be implemented on demand. Meanwhile, the MoTC said the new shipping line to India is called the India Qatar Express Service. In a post on its website, the ministry noted that the vessels using the new line would reach Hamad Port every Friday and the first shipment would have 710 containers with the “readiness to receive larger shipments as needed”. Listing the highlights and advantages of the new shipping line, the MoTC said it will involve weekly sailing, provide a direct express connection between Mundra, Nhava Sheva and Doha (Hamad Port) for local cargo and handle ICD (inland container depot) cargo via Mundra or Nhava Sheva. The new shipping service will also accept coastal cargo from ports on the western and eastern coasts of India for transshipment at Mundra. Further, it will accept transshipment cargo from Southeast Asia and the Fareast via Mundra, the MoTC explains. Further, the ministry said the service will include two vessels – M/V Hansa Magdeburg and M/V Hansa Duburg. Earlier this week, Mwani Qatar had announced the launch of a new direct service between Hamad Port and Sohar Port in Oman. The service is expected to provide a boost to food imports into the country. ‘Over 13,000 people’ hit by decision to sever ties QNA Doha T he National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) of Qatar has announced that at least 13,314 people were directly affected by the decision of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to sever relations with Qatar. This came in a report released by NHRC documenting the violations against the citizens of the four Gulf states following the decision by three Gulf states (Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Bahrain) to cut ties with Qatar, impose a land blockade and close the airspace and sea routes. Additionally, these three states notified their citizens that they have to leave Qatar within 14 days, and banned Qatari citizens from entering their lands. The violations included family separations, suspending the right to travel, education, work, freedom of opinion, residency and ownership, the report published by Al Sharq Qatari daily said yesterday. The report adds that not only Indian minister meets Qatar’s envoy T S “Those who have tried to encircle us lost the moral high ground on the first day [of the sanctions] and lost the diplomatic war later,” he said, pointing to calls by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to raise the ongoing blockade on Qatar. “Following Tillerson’s call, they [those countries imposing the sanctions] have tried to pull the wool over international community’s eyes.” He continued, “We, as Qatar, plan to raise the issue with international institutions and organisations; we want a stepback away from these immoral approaches. “Their attitude shows they are not in favour of dialogue or negotiation; this is apparent in their official statements. “They want to enforce their directives no matter what, which is absolutely unacceptable for Qatar. “Qatar is ready for sincere and constructive dialogue. But first they must withdraw [the sanctions] as we cannot negotiate when a gun is being held to our head.” sity and school reports, work contracts, family statements, and other documents that are available in the committee’s archive. The report says that the government of Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Bahrain have violated in those decisions a number of principle international human rights laws and rules, which are one of the most fundamental human rights. For the simplicity and unanimity these rules enjoy, and their wide application, these rules are treated as international norms. These resolutions blatantly violate a number of Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Most notably: 5,9,12,13,19,23, and 26) and other Articles in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (most notably Part III of Article 6, and Articles 10 and 13) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Part II of Article 2), in addition to Articles in the: Arab Charter on Human Rights (Articles 3,8,26,32, and 33). Qatar takes part in IAEA board meeting The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)’s board of governors has started its meetings of the summer session. The delegation of Qatar is taking part in the meeting as a member of the board of governors. Permanent Representative of Qatar to the International Organisations in Vienna and its Permanent Representative to the IAEA, HE Sheikh Ali bin Jassim al-Thani, is leading Qatar’s delegation at the meeting. HE Sheikh Ali bin Jassim al-Thani presented Qatar’s annual report on the IAEA’s activities, praising the agency’s role in developing nuclear energy’s contribution to enhance development and manage nuclear security and safety issues. He called on the IAEA to adopt an integration policy along with other international organisations in order to address the global economic, social, environmental and prosperity challenges. Uruguay FM meets Qatar’s ambassador Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay, Rodolfo Gustavo Nin Novoa, met Qatar’s ambassador Mohamed bin Hassan Jaber alJaber in Montevideo yesterday. Talks dealt with bilateral relations and means of enhancing them and issues of common concern. Philippines lifts deployment ban on Qatar-bound workers he Department of Labour and Employment (DOLE) of the Philippine government yesterday lifted a temporary deployment ban – imposed on June 6 and partially lifted a day later – on overseas Filipino workers travelling to Qatar for work, aljazeera.com reported. Labour secretary Silvestre Bello III said the decision to fully lift the moratorium was made after consultations with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the endorsement of the Philippine Overseas Labour Office (POLO). Bello also said the Qatari government had guaranteed the safety of the approximately alem bin Mubarak al-Shafi, Qatar’s ambassador to Turkey, has said the antiQatar sanctions have “nothing to do with law, religion or morality”, aljazeera.com reports. “These sanctions will only serve to bolster our national unity and our commitment to our principles,” he told Anadolu news agency. “Those who have tried to encircle us lost the moral high ground on the first day [of the sanctions] and lost the diplomatic war later” did Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Bahrain take severe steps on 5 June, 2017, that involved the shutting down of sea, land, and air routes, but also actions that affected the Gulf citizens. Such actions disregarded all human rights and humanitarian standards. Chairman of NHRC, Dr Ali al-Marri, said the Conflict Resolution Commission of the GCC has to play its role in resolving the ongoing rift, and even more vitally when the conflict directly affects the lives and rights of a large number of the GCC citizens. The NHRC team recorded roughly 764 complaints regarding various types of violations against citizens of the four Gulf states between 5 June, the date on which the blockade, ban, and boycott started, and Monday June 12. The NHRC’s statistics are based upon visits by the victims to its headquarters and the special forms prepared by NHRC that were filled by the victims with detailed information, and included copies of the victims’ I.D., while some cases victims attached univer- HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and HH the Deputy Emir Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad al-Thani yesterday sent cables of condolences to Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom and Prime Minister Theresa May, in which they expressed condolences on the victims of the fire at a residential tower in western London, wishing speedy recovery for the injured. 240,000 Filipinos in the country. A total of 28 new teachers and 20 bus drivers for PSD and 51 new teachers for PISQ have pending applications with the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration The decision means that the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) can resume the processing of new applications and issuance of overseas employment certificates for Qatar-bound workers, according to The Manila Times. Bello said labour attaché David Des Dicang requested the immediate deployment of teachers and drivers hired by the Philippine School Doha (PSD) and Philippine International SchoolQatar. A total of 28 new teachers and 20 bus drivers for PSD and 51 new teachers for PISQ have pending applications with the POEA. The Philippine embassy and POLO also recommended the deployment of an assessment team composed of officials from DOLE, POEA, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration and the undersecretary for migrant workers affairs of the DFA to Qatar. Minister of State for External Affairs of India, VK Singh, met Qatar’s ambassador to India Mohamed bin Khater al-Khater in New Delhi yesterday. They discussed bilateral relations and ways to develop them along with topics of common interest. Suspension of postal services Gulf states’ ministers meet ‘clear violation of UPU statute’ to discuss airspace logjam Reuters Montreal G ulf states transport ministers and aviation officials kicked off a meeting yesterday at the UN aviation agency’s headquarters in Montreal to discuss the airspace standoff resulting from the decision by Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain to cut ties with Qatar. Any direct talks would be the first since the diplomatic crisis erupted last week that led to the blockade of Qatar. Qatar had asked the Inter- national Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to intervene after its Gulf neighbours closed their airspace to Qatar flights. The Saudi transport minister arrived at the ICAO headquarters yesterday. Qatar is expected to meet separately with council members and ICAO president, according to sources familiar with the meeting. One of the sources said the talks are expected to last for two days. Qatar has indicated that it will ask the council to resolve the conflict, using a dispute resolu- tion mechanism under the Chicago Convention, which is overseen by ICAO. The agency does not impose binding rules, but wields clout through safety and security standards that are usually followed by its 191-member countries. ICAO — a UN agency that regulates international air travel under the Chicago Convention — had said it would host talks of ministers and senior officials from Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt to seek a “consensus-based solution” that addressed “current regional concerns.” QNA Doha C hairman and Managing Director of Qatar Postal Service Company (QPost) Faleh Mohamed al-Naemi has termed the suspension of postal services with Qatar by the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain as a clear violation of the constitution and agreements of Universal Postal Union (UPU), which should be respected by all member-states. In a statement to Qatar News Agency (QNA), al-Naemi said that Q-Post has contacted the Director General of UPU and briefed him on the current situation. Q-Post has also sent a written notice and called for ur- gent and bold actions to enforce the constitution and agreements of UPU, he added. “We look forward to working effectively with the UPU in a manner consistent with the spirit and systems of the UPU,” Q-Post chairman said. “We look forward to working effectively with the UPU in a manner consistent with the spirit and systems of the UPU” He stressed that the suspension of these postal services with Qatar has had a significant impact on the daily life of millions of citizens and residents of Qatar, who have been unfairly targeted by the one-sided decision of stopping services. Q-Post chairman added that the UPU conventions and regulations consider countries which endorsed the UPU constitution as a single postal area for the exchange of parcels among themselves under the name of the UPU, adding that the freedom of transit is guaranteed throughout the territory of the union. This term is contained in the treaty establishing the UPU in 1874 and indicates the ideas of unity and close co-operation among the founders of the UPU. Al-Naemi stressed that despite the clear violation by the three GCC countries of the UPU constitution and agreements, Q-Post remains committed to these international agreements and stands ready to send postal parcels to these countries. Gulf Times Friday, June 16, 2017 3 QATAR/REGION/ARAB WORLD CIVIL STRIFE DISEASE CRACKDOWN STEPPING BACK REFORM Saudi cop shot, hurt in flashpoint Shia city Yemen cholera toll rises as ‘humanity loses to politics’ Bahrain court jails 26 Shias over attacks on police UN says won’t play a part in Iraqi Kurd referendum Bouteflika urges spending cuts, warns on foreign debt A Saudi policeman has been shot and wounded in a flashpoint Shia-dominated city, the interior ministry said yesterday. It was the latest incident in the Qatif area, where violence has flared over the past month. The policeman was shot “from an unknown source” late on Tuesday while on duty in the Gulf coast city of Qatif, the interior ministry said in a statement. On June 1 in Qatif a car exploded in the street, killing the two occupants who the ministry later identified as wanted suspects. One of them, Fadel al-Hamada, was sought for involvement in the killing of 10 security forces members over the past two years in the Dammam and Qatif areas. The death toll from a cholera outbreak is approaching 1,000 in Yemen, a war-devastated and impoverished country where “humanity is losing out to politics”, a senior UN official said in Amman yesterday. “Time is running out to save people who are being killed or being starved and now you have cholera as well adding to that complication,” said Jamie McGoldrick, UN humanitarian coordinator in Yemen. “We are struggling because of the lack of resources. We need some action immediately,” he said at a press briefing in the Jordanian capital. “What is heartbreaking in Yemen is that humanity is losing out to the politics,” said McGoldrick. A Bahraini court yesterday issued sentences of up to life in prison for 26 Shias over the attempted murder of policemen in the kingdom, a judicial source said. Twenty of the defendants were jailed for life while the rest were each handed 15-year prison terms, the source said. They were found guilty of forming a “terrorist group” between 2011 and 2013 and attempting to kill policemen in the Shia village of Diraz, west of Manama. Villages of the Shia majority have been scene to frequent protests and clashes since in March 2011. The United Nations said yesterday it will not have a role in the Iraqi Kurdish referendum on independence planned to be held in September. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) said in a statement yesterday that “it has no intention to be engaged in any way or form as concerns the referendum, to be held on 25 September”. Iraq’s Kurds said the referendum on independence will go ahead despite warnings from western powers that a vote in favour of secession could trigger conflict with Baghdad at a time when the war against Islamic State militants is not yet won. Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has ordered his government to keep reducing imports and to rationalise spending to cope with a sharp fall in oil and gas earnings, but warned against turning to foreign debt. Bouteflika, who has rarely been seen in public since suffering a stroke in 2013, appeared on state television briefly presiding over a cabinet meeting on Wednesday with the new government put in place last month after legislative elections. In a statement from the presidency, Bouteflika urged the newly appointed government to enact budget cuts in a 2017 law but avoid foreign loans, suggesting instead “unconventional” internal funding. Qatar ‘only GCC state’ with charity regulator Fresh greens! Sudan lauds Qatar over Darfur role QNA New York QNA Doha T T he chairman of the National Committee for Human Rights (NHRC), Dr Ali bin Smaikh alMarri, yesterday met the Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Partnerships with the Middle East and Central Asia at the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Rashid Khalikov. During the meeting, they discussed the humanitarian and human rights challenges resulting from the siege imposed by Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain on the State of Qatar. The two sides discussed the unprecedented measures taken by the isolation cluster, classifying some of the Qatari humanitarian organisations as terrorist organisations, on the terrorism list issued by those States as a unilateral coercive measure. Al-Marri stressed that these measures are intended to obstruct the external humanitarian assistance provided by the State of Qatar by smearing the reputation of its charitable organisations and obstructing their work. He added that the accusations made by the three countries have been ignored, because they were not issued by relevant international institutions of the United Nations and because of the regional and international reputation and credibility on both regional and international levels as well as the operational and financial partnerships with the United Nations agencies and mechanisms, particularly OCHA, Unicef and UNHCR. The NHRC chairman noted that Qatari humanitarian organisations have partnerships with specialised international agencies and humanitarian organisations such as the International Red Cross and the Humanitarian Affairs Office of the Organization of Islamic Co-operation, as well as the strong partnerships linking Qatari humanitarian organisations with their counterparts in the Gulf Co-operation Council. He pointed that the State of Qatar is the only GCC state that has established a regulatory authority to oversee and control the charitable and humanitarian activities. He considered that this regulatory authority to be a regional model in the field of supervision and control, as documented by international reports issued by the UN, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the US Department of Treasury. “Thanks to these efforts, no Qatari humanitarian organisation has been listed on the United Nations’ international terrorism list, and some of them are in consultative status with the international organisation,” he said. Al-Marri denounced the blockade imposed by the three countries, in a failed attempt to obstruct the Qatari humanitarian work. He considered the unilateral move of classifying Qatari humanitarian organisations as “Terrorist organisations” to be a violation of the right to development, assistance and relief as well as a violation of the rights of vulnerable and needy communities. He called for a prompt action by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) to stop those violations and unfair accusations against Qatari humanitarian organisations. A Palestinian boy sells vegetables in Gaza City yesterday. Qatar sees 7% rise in 2017 tourist arrivals QNA Doha T he number of tourist arrivals to Qatar increased by 7% from January to May 2017 compared to the corresponding period in 2016, figures released by Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) showed yesterday. The largest contributors to the growth were visiting nationals of the Americas and Europe, whose numbers increased by 9% and 14%, respectively. Further data breakdown by visa type shows an increase by 27% in leisure visitors, demonstrating the increasingly diverse leisure options for tourists seeking family-friendly entertainment and authentic hospitality. Qatar also witnessed a 40-% increase in stopover visitors thanks to the introduction of a free 96-hour transit visa, combined with the success of the +Qatar campaign, which will continue to offer stopover passengers a free night’s stay in a 5- or “Qatar has kept its skies and ports of entry open, Qatar Airways continues to fly to and from more than 130 destinations globally, and GCC currencies are still accepted at all tourism establishments,” said al-Ibrahim. “We will always keep our doors open to visitors and stand ready to welcome them wherever they are coming from.” QTA continues to ramp up efforts in the lead up to the Qatar Summer Festival, and is co-ordinating with private sector partners to launch all retail, hospitality and entertainment offers according to plan. Regional promotional efforts this summer are focused on targeting visitors from Kuwait and Oman through marketing, as well as partnerships with on-the-ground tour operators in those countries. “The largest contribution to growth in GCC visitor arrivals to Qatar during the period January-May 2017 came from Kuwaiti nationals, whose numbers increased by 7%. Evidently the time is ripe for us to refocus promotional efforts elsewhere in the GCC, and we look forward to welcoming our brothers and sisters from Kuwait and Oman in their home away from home,” al-Ibrahim said. Beyond the Arab World, QTA continues to intensify promotional efforts internationally through its wide network of representative offices in Turkey, US, Italy, Germany, UK, France and Singapore. “There is a huge appetite for the kind of authentic experiences that Qatar’s tourism sector offers,” al-Ibrahim said. “We are especially proud of our partners who continue to uphold Qatar’s values of hospitality, extending a helping hand to tourists and visitors, regardless of their origin or nationality. Qatar’s tourism industry has the ability to maintain professionalism, adherence to ethics, and impeccable service during exceptional circumstances, and that will be the key to the sector’s resilience.” Egyptians slam proposal to cede islands to Riyadh P rominent Egyptian political parties yesterday criticised President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s plan to transfer two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia and urged people to take to the streets in protest. Parliament voted on Wednesday to back a treaty to hand over the two uninhabited islands of Tiran and Sanfir and Sisi is expected to ratify the decision soon. The Social Democratic Party, along with several other parties and groups, called for protests today. Thousands of people backed a Facebook page named “Giving up land is treason,” which urges people to protest in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, birthplace of the 2011 Arab Spring uprising. It shows a box full of Saudi cash, which it describes as the title deeds for the islands. Syrians refugees head home on foot for Eid By Umit Bektas, Reuters Cilvegozu, Turkey C National Committee for Human Rights chairman, Dr Ali bin Smaikh al-Marri, hosts Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Partnerships with the Middle East and Central Asia at the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs Rashid Khalikov, at his office in Doha yesterday. 4-star hotel throughout the summer. Top nationalities attracted by stopover packages are nationals of the United States, United Kingdom, India, South Africa, and Pakistan. According to Hassan al-Ibrahim, QTA chief tourism development officer, targeting stopover passengers and the introduction of the transit visa form part of QTA’s strategy to diversify Qatar’s tourism offering and source markets. “We continue to work towards launching the next chapter of the Qatar National Tourism Sector Strategy (QNTSS) and implementing it in pursuit of a thriving hospitality and tourism sector,” he said. “The strategy’s main pillar is diversification: of products, of services and of source markets to guarantee the sustainability of the sector and its continued growth in spite of any changes in the world around us.” Despite the ongoing GCC dispute, QTA officials expressed confidence in the tourism sectors ability to maintain strong performance. he Sudanese government has praised the role played by Qatar in achieving peace in Darfur, noting that the Doha Agreement for peace in Darfur came with modern standards which provided an international recognition of its ability to restore security and stability and strengthen the comprehensive development renaissance in Darfur. In a his speech before the Security Council on Wednesday, Permanent Representative of Sudan to the United Nations Omer Dahab welcomed the UN’s unprecedented reaffirmation that the situation in Darfur returned to normal. He described the resolution of the Security Council and the United Nations to the phased withdrawal of the African Union-UN Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) as a natural development that came as a culmination of Sudan’s long-standing efforts to achieve this goal. Sudan’s Permanent Representative to the UN thanked Qatar for its efforts to convince the international community to support the peace process in Darfur and to respond to its advantages, reiterating Khartoum’s commitment to continue its cooperation with all partners in the peace process. Omer Dahab said that the report submitted by the UN Secretary-General confirmed that UNAMID military component would be reduced in two phases of six months each. arrying suitcases, shopping bags and toddlers, thousands of refugees yesterday walked back home into Syria from Turkey ahead of the Eid festival that marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Turkey has taken in some 3mn Syrian migrants since the start of civil war in 2011, making it home to the world’s largest refugee population. Now Ankara is giving Syrian refugees the right to return to Turkey within a month if they want to go home to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr holiday. Some said they wanted to start again in their homeland, and would return within the month if it did not work out, while others said they wanted to return to Syria for good, citing the difficulty of finding employment in Turkey. “One day you can find a job, the other day you can’t,” said Sevsen Um Mustafa as she walked toward the border crossing with two daughters in tow. “Sometimes they make you work but they don’t pay. Even if they do, it’s not enough.” “Even smelling the soil of Aleppo is better than here,” said the former Aleppo resident. “I’d rather die there because of war than here because of starvation.” The majority of Syrian refugees in Turkey live outside the government-built camps and struggle to make ends meet as the cost of food, rent and clothing usually exceeds their incomes. The government, which tightened its border security after a 2016 deal with the European Union to stem illegal migration, estimates it has spent some $25bn on housing the refugees. Authorities did not give any figures on how many Syrians have returned so far. A Reuters witness said at least 3,000 people crossed on foot through the dusty Cilvegozu border crossing into Syria during over several hours yesterday. Ankara introduced work permits for Syrians in 2016 but many, like 22-year-old Mohamed Ali, said opportunities are scarce. “Even if I worked for the whole month, I’d have 200-300 liras ($57-$85) left over after paying the rent,” said Ali, who was heading back to his hometown of Afrin, in northwest Syria after four years of working as a textile labourer in Istanbul. “I had no rights of leave, no insurance. I was miserable.” The offer to return applies to Syrian nationals with valid travel documents who cross through the Cilvegozu and Oncupinar border gates, authorities said. The Eid al-Fitr holiday is expected to begin on June 25. Those who wish to return can do so until July 14. Anyone who comes back after that will be treated as new arrival and subject to the regular immigration process, a local official at the Hatay governor’s office said. Syrians carry their belongings as they walk to the Turkish Cilvegozu border gate, located opposite of Syrian crossing point of Bab al-Hawa in Reyhanli, in Hatay province, Turkey. 4 Gulf Times Friday, June 16, 2017 AFRICA Lesotho PM’s wife killed days before inauguration AFP Maseru J ust days before his inauguration, Lesotho’s incoming prime minister was left shaken by the murder of his estranged wife in a shooting highlighting the political uncertainty which has long gripped the mountain kingdom. Thomas Thabane’s 58-yearold wife Lipolelo, was shot dead on Wednesday in Ha Masana village, 35km (22 miles) south of the capital Maseru where she lives, as she was driving with a friend. Samonyane Ntsekele, the secretary general of Thabane’s All Basotho Convention party, said the prime minister-elect was devastated by the shooting. “Yes it is true that Mrs Lipolelo was shot dead last night ... everyone is traumatised by these developments,” he said. Thabane, whose party won a parliamentary election earlier this month, is due to replace Pakalitha Mosisili, prime minister Thabane: is to be sworn in today. since 2015, after he had formed a coalition with three other parties. The gunning down of Thabane’s wife just two days before he is due to take office, has created confusion in the tiny poverty-stricken country, completely surrounded by South Africa. Thabane is expected to be sworn in today amid hopes his new coalition government will end the political uncertainty that has long dogged the mountain kingdom. His ABC party won snap elections on June 3 but failed to get an outright majority, leading it to negotiate joint rule with the Alliance of Democrats (AD), Basotho National Party (BNP) and Reformed Congress of Lesotho (RCL). The new alliance will replace the government of Mosisili, a seven-party coalition plagued by infighting and corruption. Mosisili’s government was toppled in March and elections triggered when opposition parties called a vote of no-confidence which he lost. Thabane, 77, previously had served as premier of the nation of 2mn people after coming to power in 2012 – but was forced to flee to South Africa following an attempted military coup in 2014. He has pledged to bring the country stability and address its chronic poverty and 22.7% adult HIV rate. “We are fully cognisant of our mandate to work tirelessly for peace and stability as well as economic recovery and prosperity,” he said. Thabane will be sworn in at the Setsoto stadium in the capi- tal Maseru, marking the country’s third attempt at a coalition government. Both of the previous joint administrations have collapsed. The Thabane-led alliance won 63 of the 120 seats in parliament, while outgoing Mosisili’s Democratic Congress (DC) scored just 30. Stability was the dominant theme of the election in the kingdom known as Africa’s Switzerland, because of its mountainous scenery. Political analyst Mafa Sejanamane told AFP that the main challenge facing the new government will be to “manage the security forces”. “The new government also needs to unscramble Mosisili’s government system, as it is known that he placed a number of allies in key positions in the last days of his tenure,” said Sejanamane. Thabane has vowed that his new government will be “committed to the rule of law ... good governance, rebuilding and strengthening of the pillars of democracy”. Thabane secured victory just four months after his return from South Africa having claimed there was an army plot to kill him. He only headed back after the removal of army chief Tlali Kamoli who led the putsch. Lesotho has a long history of political instability having suffered coups in 1986 and 1991. South Africa’s foreign minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane warned Lesotho this week that Pretoria will not tolerate another putsch. “The coup thing is clear: we will not allow it to happen. Not in our backyard,” she told local media. South Africa led mediation efforts after Thabane’s ouster and its Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected in Lesotho for the inauguration ceremony. Lesotho’s economy is totally reliant on South Africa which it supplies with water – one of its major exports. Pretoria raises black ownership threshold for mining companies Reuters Pretoria/Johannesburg S outh Africa has raised the minimum threshold for black ownership of mining companies to 30% from 26%, the government said yesterday. Mining firms in the world’s top platinum producer have complained about a lack of consultation over revisions to an industry charter that sets targets for black ownership and participation in the powerful sector. The charter is part of a wider empowerment drive across Africa’s most industrialised economy designed to rectify the disparities of apartheid that persist more than two decades since the end of white minority rule in 1994. The Chamber of Mines, which represents mining firms, said it would take the government to court over the charter because it had not been consulted sufficiently and feared the new rules would create regulatory uncertainty and scare off investors. Announcing the new rules yesterday, Mines Minister Mosebenzi Zwane said companies had 12 months to meet the new 30% target. The rand fell 2% after Zwane announced details of the revisions. Johannesburg’s Mining Index ended the day more than 3% lower, underscoring investor concerns about the charter and the uncertainties it raises. “The value destruction is hard to quantify and the uncertainty will persist. What is certain is that South Africa continues to be a terrible destination for mining investment and assets in South Africa will continue to trade at a discount,” said Ben Davis at London-based Liberum Capital. The government has said in the past that companies must stick to ownership targets even if black shareholders sell their stakes but Zwane said it had not yet decided whether mining firms must maintain the threshold permanently. The Chamber of Mines said it would also take this issue back to courts. It argues that a company should only be obliged to meet its black ownership targets once. The Mining Charter was introduced in 2002 to increase black ownership of the mining industry, which accounts for about 7% of South Africa’s economic output. Black South Africans make up 80% of the 54mn population, yet most of the economy in terms of ownership of land and companies remains in the hands of whites, who account for about 8% of the population. Zwane told a news conference in the capital Pretoria that he had consulted widely with businesses. “We will engage with business going forward in a respectable manner. We will never take them to court,” he said. The new charter stipulates that mining firms must pay 1% of their annual turnover to the Mining Transformation and Development Agency, which helps black communities. Under the new rules, prospecting rights must be 50% black owned and mining rights should be 30% black-owned. Mining firms are required to procure 70% of goods and 80% of services from black-owned companies. This could prove difficult for many companies, as much of the expensive and sophisticated equipment used on South Africa’s increasingly mechanised mines is imported from foreign manufacturers. The new rules also state that half of the members of mining company boards must be black, and a quarter of the overall board must be women. Officials at the Chamber of Mines said they hoped legal action would force the government back to the negotiating table. “We will not sign this charter because it is not our charter,” Chamber of Mines chief executive Roger Baxter told a news conference in Johannesburg. The chamber, which represents companies such as Anglo American and Sibanye Gold, did not take part in the launch of the new charter because of what it said was a lack of prior consultation. Children stand yesterday among debris of a damaged house, following heavy rains in Niamey. Nine children die as homes collapse in Niger AFP Niamey A t least nine children have been killed in Niger as heavy rains over the past few days caused the collapse of houses in the capital Niamey, the authorities said on Wednesday. The children were killed as buildings gave way in different parts of the city, said Zourkaleini Maiga, secretary general of the local authority. One mother told local television how three of her four children had been killed as they sheltered from the downpour by the wall of a neighbouring house. and four months, has only just started. Last month, the United Nations warned that fresh flooding this year would affect more than 106,000 people in Niger. Last year’s flooding claimed the lives of 50 people and affected 145,000 people, mainly in the desert regions of Agadez and Tahoua. AFP Lagos N igeria’s military has rejected a call for senior army officers to be investigated for possible war crimes in the fight against Boko Haram Islamists. Amnesty International named six serving or retired army officers whom it said should be probed to establish whether they were responsible for murder, torture and disappearances. It alleged that more than 1,200 people had been extra-judicially killed and thousands more arbitrarily arrested during the bloody, eight-year conflict. But the army’s chief of civilian-military affairs, Major General Nuhu Angbazo, told reporters in Abuja on Wednesday that there was “no evidence” against any of the named commanders. Angbazo said that the findings were contained in the report of a board of inquiry, comprising seven military officers and two lawyers, which was set up to look into the claims. Their report has not been published in full. Amnesty’s allegations were contained in a 133-page report Stars on their Shoulders. Blood on their Hands, published in June 2015. Similar allegations made in the past have typically been dismissed but President Muhammadu Buhari, who was just one month into office at the time, vowed to look into the claims. Separate claims from Human Rights Watch of extra-judicial killings, rape and sexual coercion at camps for those displaced by the conflict were also dismissed in the report. So, too, were Amnesty claims that Nigeria’s security forces had killed at least 150 pro-Biafra protesters and injured hundreds more since August 2015 in the southeast. Angbazo said the board had raised concerns about several issues relating to the Boko Haram insurgency, including the processing of detainees and overcrowding at military jails. “The current delay in the trials of Boko Haram detainees resulting in some cases in deaths in custody is unacceptable and a denial of the rights of fair trial,” he added. Lack of access to legal representation or visits from legal practitioners was a “violation of human rights”, he said, adding the board had recommended improvements. Amnesty’s Nigeria director, Osai Ojigho, said: “We stand by the findings of our research and our call for an investigation that is independent, impartial and thorough, criteria that this panel clearly does not meet.” She called for a presidential commission of inquiry into the allegations and for the report to be made public. South African watchdog opens probe into Zuma allies AFP Johannesburg S outh Africa’s anti-corruption watchdog has launched an investigation into several allies of President Jacob Zuma allegedly linked to corruption at three state-owned companies, based on a trove of recently leaked e-mails. South Africa’s Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane said she would probe alleged “improper or dishonest” acts and “unlawful enrichment ... by certain public officials” at rail company Prasa, power company Eskom and the Transnet freight logistics conglomerate. One of the allegations involves suspected kickbacks worth 5.3bn rand ($411mn) on a contract to purchase locomotives from China for Transnet, Mkhwebane said in a statement late on Wednesday. Brian Molefe, a close Zuma ally and a former head of Eskom, is among the people who will be investigated. Tanzania shuts down newspaper for two years over articles on mining row Tanzanian authorities has banned a newspaper for two years over articles it published linking two former Tanzanian presidents to alleged improprieties in mining contracts signed in the 1990s and early 2000s. Tanzania’s President John Magufuli warned media and opposition politicians on Wednesday not to link former leaders to The heavy rains also devastated one of the main markets in the city centre. And two Niger television channels, Tele-Sahel and TalTV, were knocked off air on Tuesday evening after their studios were flooded, the station chiefs said. Niger’s rainy season, which normally lasts between three Nigerian army rejects war crimes probe allegations of impropriety in past mining contracts. “The government ... has suspended Mawio newspaper from publication for a period of 24 months effectively from today,” government spokesman Hassan Abbasi said in a statement. A court had ordered Mawio to be shut down indefinitely in January 2016 but a court overturned that ruling in March. Other newspapers have also published articles citing calls from lawmakers for Benjamin Mkapa and Jakaya Kikwete to be stripped of their immunity to face criminal investigation over mining contracts signed during their respective administrations. Neither Mpaka nor Kikwete were reachable for comment. Thousands of leaked e-mails have recently emerged in the local press exposing alleged misconduct over lucrative government contracts awarded to the Guptas, an influential Indian business family. A report published last year by the state ombudsman accused the Guptas of wielding unprecedented influence over the government, including letting them select ministers. It also ordered a judicial inquiry into the allegations, but Zuma has opposed the inquiry and launched a court challenge against the report. The Democratic Alliance, the main opposition party, criticised the probe yesterday for being too narrow and not focusing on Zuma. “It appears that this investigation has been crafted as narrowly as possible to create the veneer of a state capture investigation, while at the same time protecting the real power brokers,” the party said. In power since 2009, Zuma has been engulfed by graft scan- dals and several humiliating court rulings while grappling with record unemployment and a sluggish economy. His ruling African National Congress (ANC) party welcomed the decision to investigate the claims contained in the e-mails. “We trust that the investigation will shed some much needed light on the disturbing allegations which, if left unattended, have the effect of undermining the integrity and credibility of our government and state,” the ANC said. At least 19 killed in Wednesday’s hotel attack in Somali capital At least 19 people were killed when Islamist militants launched a car bomb and gun attack on a busy hotel and adjacent restaurant in the Somali capital, the police said yesterday. In a separate incident later in the day, at least two soldiers were killed when a roadside bomb, planted by the Islamist militant group Shebaab, struck a car carrying government troops in Central Shabelle outside of the capital, the military said. In the Wednesday evening attack, a car driven by a suicide bomber rammed into the Posh Hotel in south Mogadishu before gunmen rushed into Pizza House, an adjacent restaurant, and took 20 people hostage. District police chief Abdi Bashir told Reuters that Somali security forces took back control of the restaurant at midnight after the gunmen had held hostages inside for several hours. Five of the gunmen were killed, Bashir said. Gulf Times Friday, June 16, 2017 5 AMERICAS IMMIGRATION ELECTIONS RIGHTS INSURGENCY US, Mexico, Slim charity to work on migration Argentina’s Fernandez presents new party Politician’s ‘disappearance’ stirs Chavez’s home state Colombia’s Farc reassures on disarmament deadline The United States, Mexico and three Central American nations will this week unveil plans to work with billionaire Carlos Slim’s charity to tackle crime in Central America and find new ways of slowing migration, according to a draft document. Top US, Mexican and Central American officials meet in Miami today to discuss how to cut migration and improve conditions in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, a cluster of poor, violent countries known as the Northern Triangle that most USbound migrants set out from. The document, seen in Mexico, contains an agenda for the twoday meeting in Miami and lists several specific objectives it refers to as “deliverables.” Former Argentine President Cristina Fernandez on Wednesday announced a new political party as she eyes a bid for a Senate seat in October’s mid-term election. Rather than affiliating for the election with Peronism, the country’s dominant political movement, Fernandez and allies unveiled the Citizen’s Unity party, which aims to fight “the reinstatement of the neo-liberal model” under President Mauricio Macri. By further polarizing the opposition, however, the populist Fernandez increases the chances of Macri’s Cambiemos coalition making a strong showing in October’s legislative election that would enable him to deepen his free-market reforms. He had just left his office by car and was passing a nearby church when the state security vans swooped in on Wilmer Azuaje. Put on a military plane hours later on May 3, the 40-year-old regional lawmaker — one of the best-known opposition figures in the rural home state of former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez — has not been seen since. “He’s disappeared. They kidnapped him. There is complete silence,” said his mother, Carmen Cordero, who has been travelling between Barinas state and the capital, Caracas, to seek information on him at the headquarters of national intelligence service Sebin. There has been no official word on Azuaje’s case, and requests to authorities Colombia’s Marxist Farc rebels pledged yesterday to honour its commitment to completely disarm by June 20 after a UN monitoring mission said it had received fewer weapons than expected. “We made the political decision, we respect the agreement and we will apply it whatever happens,” Farc’s leader, Rodrigo Londono, also known as Timochenko, told reporters in Oslo. He was speaking after a public meeting and discussion with Colombia’s Foreign Minister Maria Holguin. Under a historic peace agreement signed last year with the Colombian government to end a half-century of war, the Farc had to surrender their weapons before the end of May. Kelly Garcia, wife of lawmaker Wilmer Azuaje. for information went unanswered. Azuaje is one of more than 3,000 activists, mainly young protesters, rounded up since massive demonstrations began against President Nicolas Maduro and the ruling Socialist Party at the start of April, according to rights groups. Daredevil hangs over Niagara falls AFP Niagara Falls, United States A merican daredevil Erendira Wallenda dangled from her teeth from under a helicopter in a series of eye-watering acrobatic moves over the teeming waters of Niagara Falls on Thursday. US media said her stunt set a Guinness World Record for height, breaking a record established by her husband Nik when hanging from his teeth 250 feet above Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri. Dressed in a black body suit, the mother-of-three sat and dangled from a large hoop tethered to the bottom of the helicopter, at one point hooking her feet over the hoop and hanging upside down with her arms stretched toward the water. Wallenda hung above the falls for around seven or eight minutes. She did splits hanging off the hoop backwards, before biting into an iron jaw and briefly dangling by her teeth about 300 feet in the air. Wallenda comes from a family of stunt artists and world record chasers. Yesterday’s stunt marked the fifth anniversary of her husband’s walk on a tightrope over Niagara Falls, which straddle the border between Canada and the United States. Speaking to reporters, Wallenda described the experience as “amazing” and “beautiful”, and said she had hung twice from her teeth, listening to music throughout so as to block out any sound from spectators below. Her stunt adds to the lore and legend of the renowned Wallenda family, famous for astonishing audiences around the world with their jaw-dropping stunts executed from dizzying heights. In June 2013, Nik Wallenda became the first man to cross the Grand Canyon on a tightrope, completing that record-breaking feat in under 23 minutes. Trapeze artist Erendira Wallenda performs as she hangs from a helicopter flying over the Niagara Falls. Lawmaker has another operation after shooting Trump says obstruction probe is a ‘witch hunt’ U Reuters Washington President Trump said the opposition has no evidence Reuters Washington U S President Donald Trump lashed out yesterday after a report that he was under investigation into possible obstruction of justice, dismissing as “phony” the notion his campaign colluded with any Russian effort to sway the 2016 US presidential election. “They made up a phony collusion with the Russians story, found zero proof, so now they go for obstruction of justice on the phony story. Nice,” Trump wrote on Twitter, later repeating his accusation that the probe is a “witch hunt”. The Washington Post, citing unidentified officials, reported on Wednesday that special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating the Republican president for possible obstruction of justice. Former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey told Congress last week he believed Trump fired him in May to undermine the agency’s Russia investigation. Mueller was named by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein eight days after Comey’s dismissal to lead the Russia investigation as a special counsel, a position created to conduct investigations when a normal Justice Department probe would present a conflict of interest or in other extraordinary circumstances. A source familiar with the Mueller investigation confirmed the Post report, saying an examination of possible obstruction of justice charges was “unavoidable” given Comey’s testimony, although the issue may not become the main focus of the probe. Examining such possible charges will allow investigators to interview key administration figures including Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Rosenstein and possibly Trump himself, the source told Reuters. While he was strongly critical of some of Comey’s testimony to a Senate panel, the president said last week that the former FBI chief had vindicated him when he said that while he was at the agency, Trump was not the subject of the FBI’s Russia probe. While a sitting president is unlikely to face criminal prosecution, obstruction of justice could form the basis for impeachment. Any such step would face a steep hurdle as it would require approval by the US House of Representatives, which is controlled by Trump’s fellow Republicans. According to the Washington Post, Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence, Mike Rogers, the head of the National Security Agency, and Richard Ledgett, the former deputy director at the NSA, agreed to be interviewed by Mueller’s investigators as early as this week. It cited five people briefed on the requests by Mueller’s team who spoke on condition of anonymity. The emergence of the obstruction of justice inquiry may make it harder for Trump to have Mueller removed. On Monday, a Trump friend said the president was considering dismissing Mueller though the White House later said he had no plans to do so. Moscow has denied US intelligence agencies’ conclusion that it interfered in last year’s election campaign to try to tilt the vote in Trump’s favour. The White House has denied any collusion, and Trump has repeatedly complained about the probe, saying Democrats cannot accept his election win. The investigations, however, have cast a shadow over his five-month presidency. Yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Comey had presented no evidence to prove that Moscow meddled in the US election, adding that Washington had tried to influence Russian elections “year after year”, he said. Putin also echoed Trump’s criticism of Comey, saying it was “very strange” for a former FBI chief to leak details of his conversations with the US president to the media through a friend of his. The obstruction of justice investigation into Trump began days after Comey was fired on May 9, according to people familiar with the matter, the Washington Post said. The administration initially gave differing reasons for his dismissal, including that he had lost the confidence of the FBI. Trump later contradicted his own staff, saying on May 11 he had the Russia issue in mind when he fired Comey. Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee on June 8 he believed Trump had directed him in February to drop an FBI probe into former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, that was part of the broader Russia investigation. Several US congressional committees are also looking into the question of Russian election interference and possible Trump campaign collusion. S Representative Steve Scalise underwent a third operation yesterday, a day after suffering serious wounds when a man who had expressed anger toward President Donald Trump opened fire on Republican lawmakers at a baseball practice, a source familiar with his condition said. Trump yesterday reiterated his call for unity in the aftermath of the shooting in the Washington suburb of Alexandria, Virginia. But Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat in the House of Representatives, criticised some Republicans who have blamed the shooting on vitriol from the political left. Scalise, a congressman from Louisiana who is the No 3 House Republican, suffered injuries to internal organs, broken bones and severe bleeding after being shot in the left hip on a baseball field in Alexandria where he and other lawmakers were practising for a charity baseball game. The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Scalise was undergoing another surgical procedure yesterday. Vice President Mike Pence earlier said he visited MedStar Washington Hospital Center, where Scalise was being treated. Scalise, 51, and three others were wounded when a man identified as James Hodgkinson, 66, from the St. Louis suburb of Belleville, Illinois opened fire on the Republican lawmakers. The others wounded were a police officer, a congressional aide and a lobbyist. Trump, who visited Scalise at the hospital on Wednesday, said Scalise was “in some trouble but he’s going to be okay, we hope”. “It’s been much more difficult than people even thought at the time,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Thursday, adding that he also had visited a wounded Capitol Police officer at the hospital. The gunman, who had a history of posting angry messages against Trump and other Republicans on social media, died after being wounded by police. The shooting has raised questions about lawmakers’ security. The charity game pitting Republican lawmakers against their Democratic colleagues was set to proceed as scheduled at 7.05pm(2305 GMT) at Nationals Park, home of the Washington Nationals Major League Baseball team, with thousands of spectators expected in the stands. Mercedes Drive in Alabama shudders at trade talk AFP Tuscaloosa, United States P resident Donald Trump’s harsh criticism of Germany’s trade practices is sowing concerns in rural, Republican Alabama, where Mercedes-Benz has been an economic engine for two decades. The big German carmaker since 1997 has manufactured cars in Tuscaloosa, a city of 90,000 in western Alabama previously known almost exclusively for being the home of the University of Alabama and its celebrated sports programme. Mercedes now builds the C-class sedan, and its GLE and GLS classes of sport utility vehicles at the massive plant, which is marked with the company’s trademark three-pronged star on a road dubbed “Mercedes Drive”. About 7,000 people pass through the plant each day, including 3,600 full-time workers. Among them is David Harbin, a veteran employee in his 50s who started at the factory in 2002 and counts on the company for health insurance and a $50,000 a year job in logistics. Threats of a trade war with Germany have been a source of worry. “I would lose my job,” said Harbin, who has two children. “It would be hard.” Trump, who used a Mercedes Maybach limousine at his 2005 wedding to Melania Trump in Palm Beach, threatened in January to levy a 35% tariff on imported Ger- man cars that he blames for large US trade deficit. Those threats are a source of bafflement and worry in Alabama, which Trump carried with 62 of the vote in the 2016 election. “You are talking about thousands and thousands of people who would lose their jobs overnight without the ability to easily transition to another field,” said Tuscaloosa Mayor Walter Maddox said. “It would be cataclysmic.” Prior to Mercedes opening its factory, “almost everybody worked at the coal mines”, said Bo Hicks, co-owner of Druid Brewery, which counts on the plant for business. “Mercedes gave jobs while coal mines continued to shut down.” The company has a key role in the city, where a large part of the population are evangelical Christians and which continues to feel the legacy of racism and poverty. To woo the German luxury carmaker, local officials rolled out the red carpet with $253mn in subsidies, tax abatements and job-training incentives, money that they consider well spent. “Mercedes is the catalyst of the state of Alabama,” said Greg Canfield, the state’s commerce secretary said. And Jim Page, chief executive of the Chamber of Commerce of West Alabama, said, “Candidly and with all due respect to the president, any rhetoric that undermines or insults our economic allies is inappropriate and is not productive in any shape form of fashion.” There is no indication thus far that Trump’s attacks have affected the German carmaker’s sales. Mercedes has sold 145,658 cars in the US market so far this year. That is down 0.9 %, but smaller than the 2% drop in industry-wide sales. In 2016, Mercedes, manufacturing at full capacity in Tuscaloosa, produced more than 300,000 of the 380,000 cars sold in the US market. The plant also exports some of the SUVs it manufactures. “We have a fairly close balance actually between what we produce here versus what we actually sell here so we’re not way out of balance,” said Jason Hoff, chief executive Mercedes-Benz US International. “We are committed to the area.” Mercedes has promised recently to use “Made in Alabama” parts in its cars, and, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, it sourced 80% of the parts for the Mercedes C-class cars in 2017 from the United States or Canada, up from 55% in 2016. The company has nearly completed a $1.3bn expansion of the plant announced in 2015 to build next-generation SUVs, bringing its total investment in the state to $5.8bn. The Mercedes plant also credited with putting Alabama on the map for other manufacturers. Gulf Times Friday, June 16, 2017 6 ASIA/AUSTRALASIA SOLITARY FARMER A woman dries rice in Binh Da village, outside Hanoi, Vietnam. CONTRABAND PROBE SCIENCE ACCIDENT Rare African rhino horns seized at Vietnam airport Thailand arrests suspect in Bangkok hospital attack China launches its first X-ray space telescope Two Malaysian pilots die after jet goes missing Two Vietnamese passengers were detained by customs officers at Ho Chi Minh City’s airport for transporting up to 4kg of rare African white rhino horns in their luggage. The 36-year-old man and 32-year-old woman had arrived at Tan Son Nhat airport from Africa via a connecting flight in Doha on Tuesday, the customs office said. The horns were found cut into eight small pieces, wrapped in aluminium foil and hidden in cosmetic boxes, a boiling kettle and biscuit boxes, the online newspaper Dan Tri reported. The haul was identified as African white rhino horns, which can fetch 8bn Vietnamese dong (US $352,000) on the black market in Vietnam. Thai authorities have arrested a 62-year-old man in connection with a bomb attack at a military-owned hospital in Bangkok that wounded 24 people last month, the defence minister said yesterday. The May 22 attack at the Phramongkutklao Hospital, in central Bangkok, came on the third anniversary of the army’s seizure of power, and the army initially blamed the bombing on groups opposed to military rule. Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan told reporters a male suspect was being interrogated over the attack, but gave no indication of any motive or affiliation. There was no claim of responsibility for the blast at the hospital. China successfully launched yesterday its first X-ray space telescope to study black holes, pulsars and gamma-ray bursts. A Long March4B rocket carried the 2.5-tonne telescope into orbit from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China’s Gobi Desert. The Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (HXMT), named Insight, will allow Chinese scientists to observe magnetic fields and the interiors of pulsars and better understand the evolution of black holes. It will also help scientists search for gamma-ray bursts corresponding to gravitational waves and study how to pulsars can be used for spacecraft navigation, Xinhua said. Malaysia found two air force officers dead in a northeastern forest yesterday after their fighter jet went missing during a training exercise, the chief of the country’s air force told reporters. The task of upgrading Malaysia’s ageing fleet of fighter jets is being complicated by defence budget cuts, as Prime Minister Najib Razak grapples with growing public discontent over the rising cost of living. French arms maker Dassault Aviation SA, which builds the Rafale fighter jet, is seen as a frontrunner to supply up to 18 new aircraft to Malaysia’s air force in a deal that could be worth more than $2bn. Seven killed, dozens hurt in China blast AFP Beijing A n explosion rocked a kindergarten in eastern China yesterday, killing at least seven people and injuring dozens, authorities said, as state media published images showing bloodied and unconscious victims. The blast occurred near the kindergarten and victims were taken to hospital, according to the Fengxian county government in Jiangsu province. Images circulating online showed that the force of the blast tore people’s clothes off and one woman was seen clutching her child, who is in tears. Xinhua news agency, citing the emergency office of Xuzhou city, said the explosion happened at the gate just as children were leaving the school in the afternoon. An official at the police station in Fengxian county told AFP that the cause of the blast was under investigation. At least seven people were killed and 66 injured, including nine seriously, according to Xuzhou city government. Two died at the site of the explosion and five while being treated. Pictures of the scene showed more than a dozen people outside a building, many lying on the concrete and some appearing to be unconscious, including a small child. Another video posted by the People’s Daily shows emergency workers arriving at the scene with gurneys. Another shows people lying in a hospital. Online media reports cite a business owner near the kindergarten as saying that around 5pm he heard a “bang”, and found that there had been an explosion at the kindergarten entrance only 100m away. It is the latest tragedy to strike a kindergarten in China in recent weeks. A school bus packed with kindergarten pupils erupted in flames inside a tunnel in eastern Shandong province on May 9, killing 11 children, a teacher and the driver. Officials later said the fire was intentionally set by the driver, who was angry at losing overtime wages. Images circulating online showed that the force of the blast tore people’s clothes off and one woman was seen clutching her child, who is in tears There have also been knife attacks at schools in recent years. In January a man armed with a kitchen knife stabbed and wounded 11 children at a kindergarten in southern Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. In February last year, a knifewielding assailant wounded 10 children in a schoolyard in Haikou, in the southern island province of Hainan, before committing suicide. In 2014 state media reported that a man stabbed three children and a teacher to death and wounded several others in a rampage at a primary school that refused to enrol his daughter. That followed a March 2013 incident in which a man killed two relatives and then slashed 11 people, including six children, outside a school in China’s commercial hub Shanghai. Aussie PM pokes fun at Trump in leaked audio AFP Sydney A ustralia’s prime minister has taken a comical swipe at Donald Trump, mimicking his mannerisms and making reference to the Russia scandal, in comments he said were intended as “affectionately light-hearted”. In a leaked audio recording that comes just months after a tetchy phone call between the two leaders, Malcolm Turnbull is heard making fun of the US president’s idiosyncratic speaking style. “The Donald and I, we are winning and winning in the polls,” Turnbull said in a closed event for journalists in Canberra on Wednesday. “We are winning so much. We are winning like we have never won before. “We are. We are. Not the fake polls. Not the fake polls. They’re the ones we are not winning in,” he said to laughs from the audience at the Mid-Winter Ball, where politicians and Canberra journalists let their hair down. “We are winning in the real polls. You know, the online polls. They are so easy to win.” Typically, the event is offthe-record, meaning journalists would not report on what was said, but a recording was leaked to the political editor at commercial broadcaster Channel Nine, who did not attend the soiree and decided to report it. In this file picture, US President Donald Trump and Australia Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull address reporters in New York. Turnbull played down the speech late yesterday, saying that he was the butt of the jokes rather than Trump. “My speech was light-hearted, affectionately light-hearted,” he told Melbourne’s 3AW radio. “It’s a breach of protocol, it’s a breach of faith,” he added of the leaked recording. “But it’s lighthearted, it’s affectionate and the ‘Semi-homeless’ in Sydney butt of my jokes, was myself.” In a statement cited by Channel 9, the US Embassy in Canberra said they saw the lighter-side of the address. “We understand that last night’s event is equivalent to our own White House Correspondents’ Dinner,” it read. “We take this with the good humour that was intended.” Last month, Turnbull met S Pedestrians walk past a man holding a sign claiming to be ‘semi-homeless’ as he begs for money in central Sydney, Australia. Japan passes controversial anti-terror law despite protests on citizens’ movements, not terrorism.” Retired government worker Toshiaki Noguchi added: “We’re turning into a society of censorship.” US surveillance whistleblower Edward Snowden and Joseph Cannataci, UN special rapporteur on the right to privacy, have both criticised the law, and polls show the public is divided on its merits. The bill’s passage overcame a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s cabinet and a censure bid aimed at Justice Minister Katsutoshi Kaneda. Tokyo insists the law – which calls for a prison term of up to five years for planning serious crimes – is a prerequisite for implementing a UN treaty against transnational organised crime which Japan signed in 2000. “We will uphold the law in an appropriate and effective way to protect people’s lives,” Abe told reporters after sation in the leaked recording. “It was beautiful. It was the most beautiful putting-me-atease ever,” he said. In another leaked clip, Turnbull poked fun at the ongoing controversy surrounding the Trump administration’s ties to Russia. “I have this Russian guy. Believe me, it is true. It is true,” Turnbull said. Singapore PM’s brother fears authorities may stop him from leaving Reuters Singapore Japan passed a controversial anti-terror law yesterday that critics warned would stomp on privacy rights and lead to over-the-top police surveillance. Thousands protested outside the legislature after a full night of debate by sleepy parliamentarians and unsuccessful efforts by Japan’s weak opposition to block the law’s passage. The government said the law, which criminalises the planning of serious offences, is necessary to prevent terrorism ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. It doesn’t give police new powers, but critics say the legislation could be abused to allow wiretapping of innocent citizens and threaten privacy and freedom of expression guarantees in the constitution. Terrorism “won’t disappear because of this law,” said 29-yearold demonstrator Yohei Sakano outside parliament. “It’s mostly designed to crack down the US president in New York to mend fences, after the badtempered call early in Trump’s White House tenure. Trump reportedly exploded and cut short the conversation when he was told about a Barack Obama-era deal to move refugees from Australia to America. The Australian leader appeared to make light of that icy conver- the legislation passed. “Three years ahead of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, we hope to co-operate with the international community to prevent terror,” he added. The bill was revised several times over the years as earlier versions met with fierce resistance and never made it through parliament. The latest version reduced the number of targeted crimes to around 270 offences and narrowed the definition of terrorist and criminal organisations. Earlier versions encompassed more than 600 crimes, many unrelated to terrorism or crime syndicates. The opposition has warned that petty crimes could fall under the scope of the law, and mocked Japan’s justice minister when he earlier conceded that, hypothetically, mushroom hunting could be targeted if the fungi were stolen to raise money to fund terrorism. ingapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s younger brother said yesterday he fears the nation’s authorities may stop him from leaving the country or take other action against him after he made a series of accusations against Lee. On Wednesday, Lee Hsien Yang and his sister Lee Wei Ling declared that they had lost confidence in their older brother and feared “the use of the organs of the state against us.” Lee Hsien Yang also announced that he, and his wife, Lee Suet Fern, were planning to leave the island state “for the foreseeable future” because they felt threatened. They have not disclosed the date of their departure or the destination. “Lots of things can happen to me,” he told Reuters in a phone interview yesterday. “They have stopped people from leaving the country. I suppose if they do, they would have to explain at least. I don’t think there are any grounds to.” The Prime Minister’s Office didn’t immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment on Lee Hsien Yang’s latest claims. The three children of Lee Kuan Yew, who was the founding father of modern Singapore and who ruled the country for three decades, are feuding over the future of the house that their father lived in for most of his life. The siblings have, among other things, accused the prime minister and his wife, Ho Ching, of harbouring political ambitions for their son, Li Hongyi. The prime minister on Wednesday denied the allegations and said he was disappointed that his siblings have chosen to publicise private family matters. Yesterday, Li denied he wanted a political role, saying on Facebook: “For what it is worth, I really have no interest in politics.” Lee Hsien Yang has made it clear he is concerned about his phone calls and messages being monitored Lee Hsien Yang has made it clear he is concerned about his phone calls and messages being monitored. He tries to make it more difficult to track his communications, using an international phone number and the WhatsApp messaging service. “I’ve used the term big brother, what do you think big brother means? Why do you think I use WhatsApp?” he said. WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook Inc, promises privacy through encrypted messaging. Lee, the former chief executive of Singapore Telecommunications Ltd, who is currently the chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, said that he is still in Singapore as he needs “time to sort out my affairs.” “I hope wherever I move to might be safe. It will be safer, I would say,” he said. The attacks on the prime minister by his two siblings, which initially came in a joint news release and statement while their brother was on holiday has led to a rare public display of discord at the top of a country that usually keeps such matters firmly behind closed doors. Lee Hsien Yang and his wife, Lee Suet Fern, said they feel hugely unwelcome and closely monitored in Singapore. “I’m constrained about what I should and can say. You realise of course that they are very quick to threaten defamation ... Many people and many tools get used to make people feel uncomfortable,” he told Reuters on Thursday. He provided no specific evidence of action by the Singapore government against him. Reuters was unable to independently verify the accusations. Lee Wei Ling said on Wednesday if the dispute were merely a family affair, she would not have publicised it. Her concern was also about the way ordinary citizens could face an abuse of power, she said on Facebook. Before he died in 2015, Lee Kuan Yew made it public that he wanted the house, a humbly furnished home with retro furniture near the bustling Orchard shopping district, demolished. But the prime minister’s siblings claim that he and his wife, Ho Ching, had opposed the wish. Officials have said that the prime minister has recused himself from any government decisions about the house. Gulf Times Friday, June 16, 2017 7 BRITAIN/IRELAND Minister hints at lifting the pay cap for nurses Guardian News and Media London J eremy Hunt has hinted that the pay cap for NHS nurses might be lifted in recognition of their “absolutely brilliant” work, as ministers ponder whether to relax austerity across the public sector. The health secretary sig- nalled that the government might scrap its current policy, which is to limit nurses to 1% salary increases every year until 2020. He intends to discuss the situation with the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, who is under pressure to ease the seven-year squeeze on public sector pay, which nurses say has seen their income drop by £3,000 since 2010. “I have a great deal of sympathy for the case that nurses amongst others have made on the issue of pay. I think they do an absolutely brilliant job,” Hunt told about 1,000 senior NHS managers at the annual conference of the NHS Confederation, which represents hospital trusts. Hunt praised the NHS’s 270,000 nurses for working large amounts of unpaid overtime. “There is an enormous amount of goodwill, enormous amount of time given free of charge, because people care about their jobs and they see it not as a job, but as a vocation,” he said. The chancellor would decide whether or not the cap was lifted, and “we have our budgets that we have to live within,” Hunt stressed. But, he added: “I have had a very constructive let- Search for victims may take months, say police S Reuters London P The charred remains of Grenfell Towers stands as a reminder of the tragedy that claimed 17 lives on Wednesday. rime Minister Theresa May yesterday promised a public inquiry into a fire that gutted a 24-storey apartment block killing at least 17 people, as the government faced questions about how such a devastating blaze could have occurred. Smoke was still wafting out of the blackened shell of the Grenfell Tower yesterday where specialist firefighters and dog search teams faced hazardous conditions as they scoured the wreck, with external cladding still falling from the building. Fire engulfed the social housing block, where as many as 600 people lived in more than 120 apartments, in the early hours of Wednesday, turning it into a flaming torch in minutes. “Sadly I can confirm that the number of people that have died is now 17,” London police commander Stuart Cundy told reporters. Thirty-seven people remained in hospital, with 17 of them in critical care. An investigation into the cause of the blaze, the worst in the capital in a generation, was underway. But the shock at its scale turned to anger and recriminations yesterday. Accounts of people trapped inside as the blaze destroyed everything around them, shouting for help, throwing children to safety and trying to escape through windows using makeshift ropes from bed sheets tied together left the nation in shock. Sinn Fein cautious on DUP, May tie-up Reuters London N orthern Ireland’s largest nationalist party would oppose any deal their main unionist rival strikes to prop up Prime Minister Theresa May that undermines peace in the province but would welcome the increased funding it may bring. May has been holding talks with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), keen to get the backing of their 10 lawmakers in Westminster’s parliament to return to government after failing to win a majority in last week’s election. The prime minister met leaders of Northern Ireland’s other political parties yesterday, some of whom had voiced concerns that a tie-up could destabilise local politics and undermine the government’s neutrality in overseeing separate talks to form a new power-sharing government in Northern Ireland. on nurses’ salaries twice in the election campaign during live TV appearances. Asked by the BBC’s Andrew Marr why some nurses used food banks, she replied that there were “complex reasons” why that happened. And she told a nurse who challenged her on the profession’s pay in a BBC debate that there were “hard choices” to be made across the public sector. “And I’m being honest with you in terms of saying that we will put more money into the NHS, but there isn’t a magic money tree that we can shake that suddenly provides for everything that people want,” she said. The RCN is preparing to launch a “summer of protest activity” across the NHS in pursuit of its desire to see the cap scrapped. Inquiry into tower blaze ordered as toll rises to 17 Agencies London earching a London tower block gutted in a huge fire on Wednesday might take months, a police chief said yesterday, adding he hoped the death toll would not rise from 17 to “triple figures”. Commander Stuart Cundy told reporters some victims of the blaze which destroyed the 24-storey Grenfell Tower might never be identified. Police have said 17 people were killed in the blaze and that the death toll was likely to rise. Whole families remain missing after the fire swept up the local authority building, forcing residents to flee through black smoke down the single stairwell, jump out of windows or even drop their children to safety. Fire commissioner Dany Cotton said parts of the tower were unsafe and it would take a long time to complete a detailed search of every floor. She told Sky News there were still “unknown numbers” of people inside and it would take weeks to fully search the building. “Tragically now we are not expecting to find anyone else alive,” she said. Questions are growing about how the flames spread so quickly, engulfing its 120 apartments in what fire chiefs said was an unprecedented blaze. David Lammy, a London MP, joined the chorus of condemnation and said the fire amounted to “corporate manslaughter”. “It’s absolutely unacceptable that people should die in this way in Britain,” he told BBC radio. The focus of criticism centres on the cladding fitted to external walls on the 1970s concrete block as part of a £8.7mn refit completed only last year. According to the BBC, the cladding had a plastic core, and was similar to that used by highrise buildings in France, the UAE and Australia, which had also suffered fires that spread. ter from Janet Davies, (the) head of the Royal College of Nursing, since I came back into office. I will be meeting with her and I will make sure that our conversation is reflected back to the chancellor before he makes that decision.” Hunt’s remarks come after Theresa May was criticised for appearing out of touch and unsympathetic when challenged “We will oppose any deal which undermines the Good Friday agreement,” Sinn Fein president, Gerry Adams, told reporters outside May’s Downing Street residence, in reference to the 1998 peace deal that ended three decades of sectarian violence. “A little side bargain to keep Theresa May in power, a temporary little arrangement won’t have any integrity and certainly is not as important as the integrity and the needs of the people who live in Ireland.” The DUP’s main demands centre around securing more funding for the province, a source close to the party said on Saturday and Adams said he would welcome such funds. “We are consistently making the case that our institutions are under resourced, have been undermined by austerity and need to be properly funded. So of course we would support any monies going to the executive,” Adams said. Sinn Fein, which won seven seats in the British parliament last week but does not take up its seats or vote in Westminster, would likely reject a deal to form a government by refusing to work with the DUP in Northern Ireland. However some analysts say a deal between May and the DUP that hands the province additional resources but does not damage Irish nationalist interests or undermine peace could motivate Sinn Fein to agree to form a new power-sharing government. The DUP represents people in Northern Ireland who wish the province to remain part of the United Kingdom, while Sinn Fein wants Northern Ireland to be administered by the Irish Republic. Others leaders who met May remained sceptical. “The prime minister will have to do a lot more to convince us that the DUP tail isn’t wagging the Tory dog,” Colum Eastwood, leader of the nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), said in a statement. “It was so preventable, and that’s why we’re so angry,” said Alia al-Ghabban, a veterinary receptionist who lives on the estate. “We thought there were going to be riots on Wednesday night, and if it didn’t (happen), it will very soon.” Opponents of May’s government demanded to know whether more could have been done to prevent the disaster, if building precautions such as fire doors had been properly implemented and if spending cuts to local authorities had played a part. “Right now, people want answers and it’s absolutely right and that’s why I am today ordering a full public inquiry into this disaster,” said May, who visited the scene yesterday to meet members of the emergency services. “We need to know what happened, we need to have an explanation of this. People deserve answers; the inquiry will give them.” Local residents say there had been repeated warnings about the safety of the building, which recently underwent a £8.7mn exterior refurbishment, which included new external cladding and windows. The firm behind the work said the project met all required building regulations. Planning documents detailing the refurbishment did not refer to a type of fire barrier that building safety experts said should be used when high-rise blocks are being re-clad, according to Reuters research. “We have to get to the bottom of this. The truth has got to come out, and it will,” opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said as he visited volunteers at the site. London mayor Sadiq Khan faced demands from clearly furious locals for speedy answers and action when he toured the area. In parliament, the government’s fire and housing ministers said other tower blocks which were also recently refurbished would be assessed. They also promised that those who had lost their homes would be rehoused in the local area. Survivors, many of whom lost all their belongings in the blaze, spent the night at emergency shelters, as charities and local support groups were flooded with piles of boxes full of clothes and bedding from shocked Londoners. Others gathered seeking news of the missing. Semira Mohamed, 37, a science technician who lives nearby, said she knew a family-offive who lived on the 21st floor of the block. “I kept calling and calling,” she said. “The phone was ringing but they didn’t reply to us. We were from the same community, and many in the tower were. Maybe 70% are from Somalia, Sudan, Morocco.” The Syrian Solidarity Campaign said on its Facebook webpage that Mohamed al-Haj Ali, a refugee from Syria, was one of those who had been killed. Queen Elizabeth said her thoughts and prayers were with those families who had lost loved ones and those still critically ill in hospital. “It is also heartening to see the incredible generosity of community volunteers rallying to help those affected by this terrible event,” the Queen said. Brexit talks to start on Monday: govt AFP London B Sinn Fein leader Michelle O’Neill and Sinn Fein president, Gerry Adams, speak to members of the media outside 10 Downing Street in central London yesterday. ritain and the European Union will start Brexit negotiations on Monday, while Prime Minister Theresa May nears a deal to prop up her minority government following her election fiasco. Brexit talks had been expected to begin in Brussels next week but May’s loss of her parliamentary majority in a snap general election one week ago raised doubts about the date. “The first round of talks that will see the United Kingdom leave the European Union will start on June 19,” the department for exiting the European Union ministry said yesterday. The announcement was agreed yesterday between Brexit minister David Davis and the European Commission’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier. “We are starting,” Barnier said on Twitter. Since the general election, there has been growing pressure on May to moderate the government’s approach and favour maintaining close ties with the European single market at the expense of controlling immigration. The loss of her majority meant May has been reaching out to the ultra-conservative Democratic Unionist Party to prop up her Conservative party. The Conservatives have reached a “broad agreement” with the DUP, a source said yesterday. The source said talks with the small Northern Irish party were progressing well as meetings in Downing Street with all of the British province’s main political leaders were taking place. Conservatives and the DUP are committed to strengthening British unity, delivering Brexit, combating terrorism and delivering prosperity but “at the moment there isn’t a deal,” the source said. The government meanwhile said the state opening of the parliament — when May’s government presents its legislation programme — will take place on June 21, two days later than planned. 8 Gulf Times Friday, June 16, 2017 EUROPE Court issues 23 life prison sentences Thousands rally against Turkish MP’s jail term Reuters Ankara S everal thousand people took to the streets of Turkey’s two biggest cities yesterday to protest against a 25-year prison sentence handed down to an opposition lawmaker on spying charges. A court sentenced Enis Berberoglu, a lawmaker from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), on charges of military espionage on Wednesday. It said he gave an opposition newspaper a video purporting to show Turkey’s intelligence agency trucking weapons into Syria. He is the first lawmaker from the secular CHP to be jailed in a government crackdown that followed last July’s failed coup. More than 50,000 people have been imprisoned and over 150,000 sacked or suspended from their jobs. Carrying banners that read “Justice”, and waving Turkish flags, crowds demonstrated as CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu started a 425km (265 mile) march from the capital Ankara to the Istanbul jail where Berberoglu is being held. Wearing a white shirt and waving at his supporters on the way, 68-year-old Kilicdaroglu embarked on a journey that party officials said could take at least 20 days. Kilicdaroglu has slammed the arrest as lawless and motivated by the presidential palace, a reference to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “Our march will continue until there is justice in this country,” Kilicdaroglu told reporters before setting off. Crowds gathered at a park in the capital to see him off and to protest Berberoglu’s imprisonment. “Erdogan is waving his finger at everyone who is against him,” said Nuran, a retired teacher who declined to give her surname. “The arrest was made to send a message but we are not afraid. We will resist until they jail every single one of us.” Nearby, many people held banners, waved Turkish flags and carried posters of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the secular founder of modern Turkey, and the CHP. Police imposed tight security measures at the site of the protest, setting up security barriers, sealing off nearby roads and carrying out searches with bomb disposal teams and dogs. Water cannon and armoured police vehicles waited nearby. Eleven lawmakers from the pro-Kurdish opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) have been jailed over terrorism charges since last year, including the party’s two leaders, according to the HDP. Berberoglu’s lawyer appealed against the lawmaker’s detention, seeking his immediate release, but it was rejected by the Istanbul court. He has been accused of sup- plying the Cumhuriyet newspaper with a video it used as the basis of a May 2015 report that alleged trucks owned by Turkey’s state intelligence service were found to contain weapons and ammunition headed for Syria when they were stopped and searched in southern Turkey in early 2014. The government denied accusations that weapons were sent to Syrian rebels, saying that the trucks were carrying humanitarian aid. Erdogan later acknowledged the trucks belonged to the state intelligence agency and said they were carrying aid to ethnic Turkmens battling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Islamic State. He accused Cumhuriyet’s editor-in-chief Can Dundar and Ankara bureau chief Erdem Gul of undermining Turkey’s reputation and vowed Dundar would “pay a heavy price”. Last year, Dundar and Gul were sentenced to at least five years in Demonstrators march during a protest in Ankara against Berberoglu’s detention. jail for revealing state secrets in a related case. The prosecutor is now seeking an additional 10 years in prison for the two over the report on the trucks. Dundar is being tried in absentia after leaving the country. Gul remains in Turkey and Female French politician attacked while campaigning Reuters Paris L eading French conservative politician Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet was attacked and knocked out in a Paris market yesterday while canvassing support ahead of Sunday’s vote, her campaign team said. The former environment minister, at risk of losing her National Assembly seat as President Emmanuel Macron’s party eyes a landslide victory in parliamentary elections, will remain in hospital overnight, the team said. News agency AFP showed pictures of a man throwing leaflets in the face of the politician, widely known in France under the acronym “NKM”, and of her lying on the pavement. “Nathalie is sorry not to be able to take part in the end of the campaign,” her team’s statement read. The man in his 50s called her a “crappy bobo”, a derisive term for an urban hipster, AFP said. The Paris prosecutors’ office said an investigation had been opened into the incident, which occurred on a Left Bank street market. Her centrist rival suspended his campaign and politicians across the left-right divide denounced the attack. “Violence has no place in an election campaign,” tweeted farright leader Marine Le Pen. Campaigning closes at midnight today. Kosciusko-Morizet, 44, was defeated by Socialist Anne Hidalgo in her bid to become the first female mayor of Paris in 2014. P oland’s prime minister has come under heavy fire for appearing to defend her right-wing government’s antimigrant policy during a memorial service at the former Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi German death camp. Beata Szydlo said that “in our troubled times, Auschwitz is a great lesson that everything must be done to defend the safety and the lives of citizens” at ceremonies marking the 77th anniversary of the Nazis’ first transport of Polish prisoners to the camp. Her comment came one day Szydlo: had said that ‘in our troubled times, Auschwitz is a great lesson that everything must be done to defend the safety and the lives of citizens’. after the EU launched legal action against Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic for refusing to take in their share of refugees European Parliament lifts Le Pen immunity in defamation case DPA Strasbourg T The attacker snatches leaflets from Les Republicains (LR) party candidate Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet just before knocking her out during the altercation while she was campaigning in Paris. Polish premier under fire for remarks at Auschwitz AFP Warsaw free, but his case is in process. Some 160 journalists are imprisoned in Turkey, according to the journalists union, and authorities have shut down 130 media outlets since the failed coup. The government says such measures are necessary, given the vast security threats it is facing. under the bloc’s controversial solidarity plan. Polish government spokesman Rafal Bochenek said on Tuesday that the refugee relocation plan posed a security “threat” to EU members, echoing earlier fiery rhetoric by Szydlo linking refugees and migrants with terror attacks in Europe. European Council President Donald Tusk, a former Polish prime minister, shot back on Twitter on Wednesday, saying that “such words should never be spoken at such a place by a Polish prime minister”. Katarzyna Lubnauer, head of the centrist Nowoczesna (Modern) parliamentary caucus, was more explicit, accusing Szydlo of “exploiting the cruelty of Auschwitz to make Poles fear refugees”. Szydlo’s comment at Auschwitz also caused a storm among Polish Twitter users, with leading journalists and pundits questioning her motives. Government spokesman Bochenek has accused Szydlo’s critics of taking her remark, made in a speech honouring Auschwitz prisoners, out of context. “If someone wants to, they will find bad intentions in any comment. I propose listening to the entire speech” by the prime minister, Bochenek said on Twitter. Poland along with Hungary and the Czech Republic are refusing to comply with an EU programme to relocate 160,000 migrants from frontline migrant crisis states Italy and Greece. The EU set up the plan in 2015 at the height of the migration crisis, when more than 1mn refugees, many of them Syrians fleeing a bloody civil war, landed on Europe’s shores. Nazi Germany built the Auschwitz death camp after occupying Poland during World War II. The Holocaust site has become a symbol of Nazi Germany’s genocide of 6mn European Jews, 1mn of whom were killed at the camp between 1940 to 1945. More than 100,000 non-Jews also died at the death camp, according to the museum. An estimated 232,000 of the victims were children. A Turkish court handed down life sentences to 23 people for taking part in last July’s failed coup, in the first putsch-linked verdicts in Ankara. The 23 suspects were found guilty of “trying to overthrow the constitutional order” and “depriving an individual of their liberty”, state-run Anadolu news agency reported. The prosecutor said putschist soldiers forced the presidency’s secretary general Fahri Kasirga into an ambulance and took him to the Akinci airbase in Ankara, where the coup was believed to have been organised. Eighteen of the suspects were sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment, while the other five were given life sentences, Anadolu said. An aggravated life term is a life sentence but with tougher terms of detention. It was brought in to replace the death penalty which Turkey abolished in 2004 as part of its drive to join the EU. Two other soldiers were acquitted in the trial. Colonel Muhsin Kutsi Baris, a former commander with the presidential guard regiment, was sentenced to 12 years in jail for “depriving (Kasirga of his) freedom through abduction”, the agency added. The ruling comes after the main coup trial opened on May 22 of more than 220 suspects, including over two dozen former Turkish generals, accused of being among the ringleaders of the failed putsch. Turkey blames the attempted July 15 coup on the US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, a claim he strongly denies. Gulen is one of the 221 suspects named in the main case. he European Parliament has voted to lift the parliamentary immunity of French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who is facing prosecution in a defamation case in France. The parliament voted by a show of hands to lift Le Pen’s immunity, enabling French investigating judges to summons her and potentially detain her for questioning. National Front (FN) leader Le Pen was accused by the former mayor of Nice, prominent centre-right politician Christian Estrosi, of defaming him by accusing him of financing a Muslim umbrella group and helping “Islamic fundamentalism”. A parliament committee will next week consider a separate request for Le Pen’s immunity to be lifted, sent by French judges investigating allegations that she claimed salary repayments from the assembly for aides who were actually working for the National Front. During her failed run for the French presidency earlier this year, Le Pen twice defied summonses from judges and police in that case. Le Pen denied any wrongdoing and said she would answer any summons after the elections. She is currently running for the French parliament in the National Front-run northern town of Henin-Beaumont. Le Pen took 46% of the vote in Sunday’s first round ballot, putting her in a strong position for next Sunday’s run-off vote against Anne Roquet of President Emmanuel Macron’s La Republique en Marche (LREM, The Republic on the Move). Le Pen: currently running for the French parliament in the National Front-run northern town of Henin-Beaumont. Two children stabbed to death by dad Two boys, aged one and four, were stabbed to death by their father in the eastern German state of Thuringia, police and prosecutors said yesterday. Another sibling – aged three – remains in critical condition. The boys’ mother discovered the critically injured boys when she returned from a hospital stay to her home in the town of Altenfeld. First responders were unable to resuscitate the two listed as dead. The 27-year-old father – also at the house at the time of the mother’s return – was taken into custody and brought to hospital to receive treatment for the injuries he inflicted on himself, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office in Erfurt said. Rescue ships pick up 1,000 migrants Humanitarian rescue ships picked up more than 1,000 migrants from nine rubber and wooden boats off the coast of Libya yesterday, Italy’s coastguard said. In one incident, the Vos Hestia, operated by Save the Children, rescued more than 100 migrants, most of them from Bangladesh, from a rubber dinghy off the coast of Libya in international waters. Earlier, another non-governmental group, Proactiva Open Arms, said on Twitter that Libyan coastguard officials fired into the air as an act of intimidation while it was rescuing 11 people from a boat. Arrests of militants in Europe nearly double in two years AFP The Hague T he numbers arrested in Europe on suspicion of Islamist militant activities nearly doubled over the last two years, Europe’s policing agency said yesterday, with an alarming rise among women and young adults. The suspects – numbering 718 – were arrested on offences relating to Islamist terrorism last year as opposed to 395 in 2014, Europol said in its annual EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report. But actual attacks dropped from 17 in 2014 to 13 last year – of which six were linked to the Islamic State (IS) group. The 62-page report also pointed out that women and children, as well as young adults played an increasingly important operational role. “Female militants in the West perceive fewer obstacles to playing an operative role in a terrorist attack than men, and successful or prevented attacks carried out by women in Western countries may act as an inspiration to others,” it noted. One in four of those arrested in Britain in 2016 were women, an 18% increase from 2015, Europol said. In France – the European Union country with the highest number of arrests at 456 last year – almost one-third of the suspects were 25 years or younger, Europol said. Overall there were 142 “failed, foiled or completed terrorist attacks” including those by Islamist militants – with more than half in Britain. Britain was rocked by a suicide bombing at a pop concert in Manchester on May 22 which killed 22 people, including children. Two weeks later, a knife and van attack in central London left eight dead. Of the 142 victims of terror attacks last year, 135 died in Islamist militant attacks, said the report. That reinforced the need for closer co-operation in intelligence sharing among member states, security officials urged. “Terrorists do not respect or recognise borders,” said EU safety chief Julian King. “In our resolve to defeat them we must draw on a new-found determination to work together, sharing information and expertise.” The Europol report also noted that not all attacks were Islam- ist-inspired: Most of the other attacks were carried out by “ethno-nationalist” and separatists extremists. For instance “dissident Republican groups in Northern Ireland were involved in 76 attacks”, the report said, leading to a total of 123 arrests. British authorities in May last year raised the threat level because of terror-related incidents in Northern Ireland from “moderate” to “substantial”. This “means an attack is a strong possibility”, Europol said. In total 1,002 arrests overall were made in 2016 relating to terror activities. Gulf Times Friday, June 16, 2017 9 INDIA CLARIFICATION DECISION ACCIDENT TRAGEDY LEGAL No Russia offer to mediate with Pakistan: government Petrol, diesel prices to come down from today Captain detained after ship hits fishing boat Two workers killed in ordnance factory blast Filmmakers move court as films barred from fest Russia has not made any offer to mediate between India and Pakistan, the government said after Islamabad “welcomed” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s reported offer to resolve bilateral tensions. Ministry of external affairs spokesperson, Gopal Baglay, said: “No offer of mediation between India and Pakistan was made by Russia to India. It is my understanding that Russia is well aware of India’s position to address all outstanding issues with Pakistan bilaterally in an environment free of terrorism and violence,” he said. The response came after Islamabad said: “Pakistan welcomes Russia’s attention and intention to play a role in this long-standing issue on the UNSC agenda.” Petrol will become cheaper by Rs1.12 per litre while diesel price per litre will be lower by Rs1.24, excluding state levies, from today. “The current level of international product prices of petrol and diesel and INR-USD exchange rate warrant decrease in selling price of petrol and diesel, the impact of which is being passed on to the consumers with this price revision,” the Indian Oil Corporation said. The price reduction commences the mechanism of daily petrol and diesel prices revision effective today. Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum will daily revise the prices of the two main transportation fuels in sync with global crude oil prices. The captain and the navigator of the Panamaflagged cargo ship that hit a fishing boat off the coast, leaving two fishermen dead and one missing, have been taken into custody by the Kerala Police, a top police official said yesterday. Capt Ioannis Georgiannakis, commanding the vessel named Amber L and second officer Galanos Athanasios are now being questioned, coastal police division chief Tomin J Thachenkery said. “They were taken into custody after it was found out through tests that the cargo ship was the vessel that had hit the Indian fishing boat. The vessel has also been asked to stay put here, till all formalities are completed,” Thachenkery added. Two workers were killed in a blast as they were shifting some explosives at the Ordnance Factory Dehu Road (OFDR) at Pune yesterday morning, police said. The explosion, the cause of which is not yet known, occurred in the defence ministry’s ammunition factory in Khadki area of the city at around 9.20am, said investigating official, Dilip Salunkhe of the Khadki Police Station. The duo suffered severe burn injuries in the blast and succumbed immediately, he said. In a statement, a defence spokesperson said that military experts are conducting investigations at the blast site in which there was no damage to any buildings in the establishment. Three filmmakers whose films, including on the Rohith Vemula suicide and the JNU protests, were denied permission to be screened at the International Documentary Short Film Festival (IDSFFK) have approached the Kerala High Court. The 10th instalment of the IDSFFK that begins today will continue till June 20. An official working with the organising committee of the festival said their petitions have been filed and the matter is coming up before the court today. “Seeking legal redress is the only way out for them as the ministry of information and broadcasting had denied permission and hence we can do nothing about it,” said the official, who did not wish to be identified. Sushma among front-runners to be president IANS New Delhi S enior minister M Venkaiah Naidu yesterday spoke to Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, and ally Telugu Desam Party’s (TDP) chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu as part of its exercise to evolve a consensus on presidential candidate. Naidu’s talks with Pawar and Naidu came a day before he and another senior minister, Rajnath Singh, meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi today seeking her party’s support even as opposition parties are said to be keen on a contest. Sources said Pawar told Venkaiah Naidu that he would be in Delhi for the next couple of days for talks, while the TDP chief told him that his party would stand by the prime minister’s decision on the issue. Venkaiah has so far contacted leaders of the Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the NCP, TDP, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and the All India Congress (N Rangasami). Singh and Naidu – who are part of the three-member team constituted by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah for holding discussions with political parties on the presidential candidate – are set to meet Gandhi at her residence today morning, sources said. This will be followed by a meeting with CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury later in the day. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who is also part of the team, is away in South Korea. He is scheduled to return on Saturday morning. The BJP has given no indication so far as to who its candidate is, but there is speculation around the names of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan. The name of BJP veteran Murli Manohar Joshi is also being touted in BJP circles, as he is said to have the backing of Rashtriya Swyamsevak Sangh (RSS). It remains to be seen whether the BJP team will put forward any name to Gandhi and other opposi- tion leaders it would be meeting or talking to in the coming days, or whether the team will merely seek the support for a BJP nominee. Sources in the opposition parties say they are waiting for the government side to come out with the name of its nominee before they can finalise their strategy. Opposition leaders claim the choice of the BJP candidate is known “only to (Prime Minister) Modi”, to stress the point that it is the prime minister who is calling the shots on the issue. They feel the government is only engaged in an exercise of consensus building for the sake of formality and, in fact, might not be keen on a consensus candidate. They point to Naidu’s statement a couple of days ago that the government has the mandate and the opposition should keep this in mind while talking about a presidential candidate. At the meeting of opposition parties on Wednesday, there were suggestions mainly from the Left parties that they should put up a fight by fielding a candidate, because it is an “ideological battle” with the BJP. They feel the BJP might be keen on having someone with ideological moorings in the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Should there be a fight, the Left parties are reportedly keen on fielding Gopalkrishna Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and former governor of West Bengal. There is also another section in the opposition, saying that it should be a political fight and the nominee could be a political leader like Janata Dal-United (JD-U) veteran Sharad Yadav. As part of BJP’s outreach, Shah is likely to meet Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai for seeking the party’s support for the NDA nominee. The Sena, which has been having a cold war with the BJP, has not voted with the NDA in the last two presidential elections. The Sena has been pitching for RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat for the top constitutional post and has also sought to know from the BJP why he (Bhagwat) is not acceptable. Bhagwat on his part has ruled himself out, saying he is not in the race. Unrest in Darjeeling Police personnel are deployed after clashes erupt during an indefinite strike called by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) in Darjeeling yesterday. Hundreds of riot police patrolled the streets after the GJM party warned of violence as they pushed for a new state named Gorkhaland in the hill region, which is now part of West Bengal. CBI rejects delay claims in Mallya extradition case IANS New Delhi T he Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) yesterday said it had not delayed forwarding to British authorities evidence for the extradition of fugitive baron Vijay Mallya, charged with money laundering in a Rs9bn IDBI Bank loan default involving his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines (KFA). The agency’s reaction came in the wake of reports that there was a delay from India in sharing Mallya’s case documents with British authorities. In a statement, the CBI clarified that the documents related to extradition of Mallya, who Fee structure for Gulf expat students eased By Ashraf Padanna Thiruvananthapuram I ndian authorities have relaxed the fee structure for children of Gulf expatriates seeking admissions to NITs (National Institute of Technology) and similar elite tech colleges. Expatriates now need to pay only at par with their compatriots back home, instead of the prohibitively high fee fixed earlier, which according to many expats was affordable only for highly-paid Indian workers. The national government had earlier created a 5% supernumerary quota for Children of Indian Workers in the Gulf (CIWG), NonResident Indians (NRIs) in other countries and People of Indian Origin (PIO) and international students in 47 premier schools. The fee structure set for the CIWG had been on a par with the merit seats back home, but this year it was raised to the level of the other two categories. Several expatriates voiced op- position to the decision, some wrote letters to officials and others took to the social media with an online petition to the federal human resources ministry. On March 27, Congress leader Dr Shashi Tharoor wrote a letter to the federal human resources minister Prakash Javadekar citing the disparity, following which the minister ordered a review. The new order issued yesterday says the annual CIWG fees for undergraduate admission this year has been revised to Rs125,000 payable either in Indian rupees or equivalent US dollars at the existing exchange rate. The annual tuition fee fixed earlier was $8,000 a year (Rs514,600), besides a non-refundable registration fee of $300 (Rs19,297). Candidates from CIWG countries can unlock their applications in the NRI category before 6pm, June 19, 2017, and make necessary changes. NRI applicants are requested to log in on DASA 2017 website, unlock the application, switch into the respective category, refill the academic programme choices, upload appropriate documents and submit the application if they desire. The authorities have also rescheduled the timeline of DASA, or direct admissions to students abroad, to accommodate these changes. Now, the first round of seat allotment will be on June 24. Applicants are requested to refer to the new timeline on the DASA 2017 website. Details for the refund mechanism resulting from the reduced fee structure for CIWG will be communicated on the DASA website after completion of the admission process. There are 746 undergraduate seats reserved for expat students offering courses in engineering, planning, architecture and management. There are a proportionate number of seats in postgraduate courses as well. These include Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs), Schools of Planning and Architecture (SPAs) and the Indian Institute of Space Technology (IIST). has been in London since March 2016, were sent to British authorities in February this year while supporting documents were handed over to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) much before the June 13 hearing in the case. The CBI statement also said the June 13 hearing was for Case Management Review to determine further steps to be taken in the case and to draw a timetable for extradition proceedings and was not a hearing for extradition. Maintaining there was no delay “whatsoever”, the agency said the evidence like extradition dossier, chargesheet, nonbailable warrant, sworn affidavit of a CBI superintendent of police, accompanied the Mallya extradition request in February and the additional documents were handed over to the CPS on May 2 and May 3. “The additional evidence like supplementary chargesheet (forwarded to a Mumbai court on June 2) in the Rs9bn fraud case, evidence containing falsities, misstatements and false representations by Mallya was forwarded through diplomatic channels before the June 13 hearing.” The CBI also clarified that the British court had not criticised India’s extradition request during the hearing. “During the hearing on June 13, when the counsel of fugitive Mallya sought a date in MarchApril 2018, Aaron Watkins of the CPS opposed the same.” “To justify a later date, the Anger at deaths defence counsel raised the issue of delay, which is nothing but a figment of his imagination. The specialist prosecutor of the CPS confirmed that during the proceedings on June 13, there was no criticism of the extradition request or of the Indian government. The senior district judge fixed next case management hearing on July 6 when the dates for extradition hearing will be decided,” the CBI statement said. It said that the request for Mallya’s extradition was forwarded on February 9 to the British authorities through diplomatic channels. “The secretary of state, UK, certified the request and sent it to the court. The court after satisfying itself, issued an ar- MP gets away with ‘ruckus’ at airport IANS Visakhapatnam T A man shouts slogans during a protest in New Delhi yesterday against the killing of six farmers during last week’s clashes in Madhya Pradesh. rest warrant and Mallya was arrested in London on April 18. Following the arrest, Mallya appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on April 18 and was granted conditional bail.” “The same day, CPS prosecutors sought a meeting with officers of the CBI and enforcement directorate (ED). Accordingly, a joint CBI and ED team led by Rakesh Asthana (additional director, CBI) visited London during May 2 and 3 and provided all additional documents sought and also answered queries raised,” the statement said. In March 2016, the ED had registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Kingfisher Airlines in the IDBI bank loan default case. elugu Desam Party’s (TDP) member of parliament, J C Diwakar Reddy, allegedly created a ruckus at the airport here yesterday after he was denied a boarding pass for reporting late for a flight to Hyderabad. Reddy, Lok Sabha member from Anantapur, was accused of damaging a printer and misbehaving with IndiGo airline staff. The MP had reported at the check-in counter 20 minutes before the scheduled departure of the flight. As the airline staff told him they cannot issue him a boarding pass, he got angry and entered into a heated argument with them, airport sources said. Closed-circuit television footage aired on some television channels showed the TDP leader shouting at the airline staff as some security personnel tried to control him. Interestingly, the MP managed to board the flight but it was not clear who intervened to get him the boarding pass. Reddy, however, is not likely to face any action for his behaviour as IndiGo did not formally lodge a complaint with airport authorities. Civil Aviation Minister and TDP leader Ashok Gajapathy Raju, who was present at the airport, claimed Reddy had reached the airport on time. “Perhaps the flight was overbooked,” the minister said. Reddy is learnt to have gone to the VIP lounge to seek the aviation minister’s help, who reportedly declined to interfere. In March, Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad was accused of assaulting an Air India staff, following which several airlines banned him from flying on their planes till he apologised. Gaikwad later submitted a letter to the aviation minister to express ‘regret’, after which AI revoked the ban, followed by the Federation of Indian Airlines and other private airlines. 10 Gulf Times Friday, June 16, 2017 PAKISTAN/AFGHANISTAN TERRORISM WEATHER AVIATION POLITICS EXPORT Four killed in attack on mosque in Kabul Pakistan to have normal monsoon rainfall in July Russian helicopter for Pakistani province ‘Bat’ symbol allotted to PTI after intra-party polls Pakistan-made rickshaws make their way to Japan Two gunmen and a suicide bomber killed at least four people and wounded eight more in an attack at a mosque in the Afghan capital of Kabul yesterday, the Interior Ministry said. The three suspected attackers tried to enter the Al Zahra mosque, used by Kabul’s Shia minority, but were blocked by police, setting off a gun battle. The attackers then took refuge in a kitchen, where one detonated a bomb while the other two were killed by security forces. The attack came as mosques around the city were crowded for a night of religious observances as part of the holy month of Ramadan. Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for yesterday’s attack. Summer monsoon rainfall is expected to be normal in the first half and below normal in the second half of the season in Pakistan, says the Pakistan Meteorological Department in its forecast for the season yesterday. It says area weighted rainfall during monsoon season (July to September) over Pakistan is expected to fall short of long term average. However, rainfall will be highly variable over temporal and spatial scale. During July, monsoon rainfall may range in normal limits but less than normal rainfall is likely in August and September. Less frequent rains in southern half of the country may trigger drought like conditions. A Russian-made helicopter purchased by the Baluchistan province government of Pakistan in January will be handed over to the provincial authorities next week. The Baluchistan government concluded a contract with Russian Helicopters for a Mi-171 civil helicopter. Finance Secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani visited Moscow last month to finalise arrangements for delivery of the helicopter in Baluchistan. The pilot and crew of the Mi-171 have already completed their training in Moscow. The copter, which costs $15.2mn, would arrive in Lahore by June 21, and would be handed over to the Baluchistan government later. Declaring the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) eligible for participating in the upcoming general elections, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) yesterday allotted it the electoral symbol of bat. The ECP issued a notification which declared the PTI eligible for participation in the upcoming elections after it successfully conducted its intra-party polls. Imran Khan was re-elected as chairman of the party with a resounding majority in the intra-party elections held earlier this week. Earlier, the ECP had deprived the PTI of its electoral symbol after it failed to hold intra-party elections. The PTI held intra-party elections from June 11-12. Japan has traditionally been a major market for car buyers, but things are looking up for Pakistan as a local company has started exporting its three-wheeler rickshaws to the country. Sazgar Engineering, a manufacturer of 4-stroke CNG auto rickshaws, has been exporting its rickshaws to Japanese markets. Despite a strong industrial base and a thriving automobile industry, Japan is importing Pakistani traditional rickshaws as the focus of citizens shifts to cost-effective commute. According to Sazgar Engineering Sales Head Ismail, Pakistan’s traditional, locally manufactured rickshaws are famous in Japan. Sharif questioned before anti-graft probe panel Reuters Islamabad Reuters Jalalabad P akistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif yesterday lashed out at what he called the “slandering” of his family in connection with an investigation of their wealth, and said unidentified people with agendas against him posed a danger to the country. Sharif was speaking after being grilled by a powerful panel investigating him and his family in an inquiry ordered by the Supreme Court that has gripped Pakistan and become increasingly politicised. “What is happening here is not about corruption allegations against me, it is about slandering the businesses and accounts of my family,” a defiant Sharif, clad in traditional shalwar kameez tunic and trousers, said as he read from a statement. Sharif, 67, spent about three hours at the offices of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) in the capital, Islamabad, becoming the first Pakistani prime minister to be questioned by an investigative agency. “No corruption charges have been proven against me in the past and, inshallah (God willing), it will not be so once again,” he said. The Supreme Court agreed last year to investigate the Sharif family’s offshore wealth after the opposition threatened protests after the leaking of the “Panama Papers”. Documents leaked from the Panama-based Mossack Fonseca law firm appeared to show that Sharif’s daughter and two sons owned offshore holding companies registered in the British Virgin Islands and used them to buy luxury properties in London. The Supreme Court ruled in April there was insufficient evidence to remove Sharif from office over corruption allegations I Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif speaks to media after appearing before an anti-corruption commission at the Federal Judicial Academy in Islamabad yesterday. levelled by the opposition, but it ordered further investigations. Sharif, whose father was a prominent industrialist, has said his family wealth was acquired legally. A three-time prime minister, Sharif was ousted twice in the 1990s, including in a 1999 military coup. He later lived in exile, mostly in Saudi Arabia. He swept back to power in an election in 2013 but rumours of tension between his government and the powerful military, which oversees the foreign relations and national security, occasionally circulate. Pakistani charged with taking lion on car ride AFP Karachi A Pakistani man who took his pet lioness for a ride in the back of a pickup truck was charged with public harassment yesterday after footage from startled bystanders went viral. In the video posted on social media, the big cat can be seen reclining in the bed of the truck, a paw lolling over the ledge and seemingly unfazed by the heavy traffic inching through a chaotic street in the city of Karachi. Pedestrians jostling through the cars stumble into clawing ranging but the lion — which is wearing a collar and a leash held by a man in the vehicle — just yawns. Police said Saqlain Javed, a local pet dealer in his thirties, was arrested after a concerned citizen made a complaint. IS vows to take more territory after capturing Tora Bora caves Javed, however, said he was taking the animal to the vet and had all the required permits and documentation. “We have freed the accused on bail but registered a case of negligent conduct with an animal,” Muqadas Haider, a senior police officer said. In the video a woman can be heard asking: “Who will take responsibility if something were to happen?” and wondering whether the animal is an endangered breed. The clip has been viewed over 1mn times on Facebook, where people criticised the owner for cruelty and suggested he was showing off his wealth. Others decried the general lawlessness that exists in the fast-growing country of 200mn, where despite recent economic and security gains the rich and powerful are able to commit crimes with impunity. Punjabi film actor Zahir Shah dead Renowned Punjabi film actor Zahir Shah was declared dead after being rushed to a hospital on Tuesday night. The 70-year-old was laid to rest in a graveyard near Iqbal Town in Lahore. Leaving behind a legacy of 600 films, Zahir became popular during the golden era of Punjabi cinema. Having started his career with film-maker Altaf Hussain’s Yaari Dosti and following it up with a string of hits, he is arguably one of the most iconic villains of Punjabi film industry. Sharif suggested that unidentified enemies acting behind the scenes should be stopped from trying to subvert the wishes of the electorate that handed his party victory in a 2013 general election. “If the factories that produce agendas and silence the decisions of the people are not closed, then not only the law and constitution, but the safety of this country will also be jeopardised,” he said. Pakistan has been plagued by pervasive corruption for decades, with politicians often accusing rivals of underhand dealings. The Supreme Court has given the panel two months to investigate the family and then deliver its findings. The six-man panel, made up of members of civilian investigative agencies and military intelligence officers, are examining three generations of Sharif family wealth. The team has accused government departments of tampering with old records, but Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Wednesday rejected such allegations, adding that the team’s claims meant the process was becoming “suspicious”, media reported. Sharif’s camp has sought to remove two members of the investigation team and his ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party voiced outrage over a leaked photograph taken from security camera footage showing Sharif’s son, Hussain, appearing before the panel. Opinion polls suggest Sharif’s party is likely to win the next election, due next year. A senior PML-N official told Reuters the party was unlikely to call an early election if Sharif was ousted by a Supreme Court ruling, and would select a new prime minister to take over until the general election. slamic State (IS) militants, under pressure from Afghan and US forces, have seized a new stronghold in Tora Bora, a mountainous area dotted with caves along Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan, officials said yesterday. The remote region in Nangarhar province was most famously used by Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in late 2001, in a bid to hold out against the US troops and Afghan allies who toppled the Taliban regime. Now Afghan officials say Islamic State (IS) militants have seized cave complexes in Tora Bora, after days of fighting against Taliban who had been based there. “Those areas around Tora Bora were a Taliban stronghold, but now Daesh militants captured them during fighting,” the police commander in the area, Shah Wali, said, using an Arabic term for Islamic State. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid acknowledged that Islamic State forces had managed to capture several villages, but he denied that they had seized Tora Bora. General John Nicholson, the top US commander in Afghanistan, has vowed to defeat Islamic State there this year, and in April used one of the largest conventional bombs ever dropped in combat to target a cave complex used by Islamic State in the nearby district of Achin. “After Achin, Daesh was looking for a second stronghold and now they have it,” Wali said. Abu Omar Khorasani, an Islamic State commander in Afghanistan, told Reuters that his fighters had seized Tora Bora and were also battling government troops, who are backed by US ground troops and aircraft. “We are in Tora Bora but this is not the end,” Khorasani said. “The plan is to take more territory from the government and the Taliban.” The fighting has sent hundreds of families fleeing, said Malek Tor, a tribal elder who put the number of Islamic State fighters in the area in the hundreds. “Those areas around Tora Bora were a Taliban stronghold, but now Daesh militants captured them during fighting” An official with the US military command in Kabul said Islamic State forces are “on the run” and “are attempting to take refuge” in the Tora Bora region. “No matter where they are, there is no safe haven for them in Afghanistan,” the official said in a statement. “We will continue toward our goal of defeating ISIS-K in Afghanistan this year and ending their barbaric campaign of death, torture and violence against the Afghan people.” Government forces have launched new operations targeting Islamic State, but more fighters are being recruited or crossing the border from Pakistan, said Attahullah Khogyani, spokesman for the Nangarhar governor’s office. “You kill one Daesh fighter and 10 more come from the border or are recruited here,” he said. ‘Truck art’ tradition trundles along in Pakistan Reuters Islamabad T hey pollute the roads and chug along at a snail’s pace, but to their Pakistani owners the rickety trucks are moving pieces of art, commanding attention with garish portraits of flowers, Islamic art, and snow-capped Himalayan peaks. South Asian “truck art” has become a global phenomenon, inspiring gallery exhibitions abroad and prompting stores in posh London neighbourhoods to sell flamboyant miniature pieces. Yet closer to home some people sneer and refuse to call it “art”. For the drivers, the designs that turn decades-old vehicles into moving murals are often about local pride. Picking the right colour or animal portrait is tougher than the countless hours spent on the road. Truck driver Haji Ali Bahadur, who hails from the tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, said green and yellow have been his colours of choice during 40 years behind the wheel. “We, the drivers of Khyber, Mohmand and other tribal regions like flowers on the edge of the vehicles,” he said. “The people of Swat, South Waziristan and Kashmir region like portraits A security guard poses for a portrait in front of his favourite decorated truck at a truck stop outside Faisalabad, Pakistan, May 3, 2017. of mountains and different wild animals.” Truck art has become one of Pakistan’s best known cultural exports and offshoot toy and furniture industries have been spawned closer to home. With Pakistan’s economy picking up speed and new roads opening up trade routes to China, truck art may soon find new admirers abroad. Gulf Times Friday, June 16, 2017 11 PHILIPPINES A building burns as government troops continue their assault against insurgents from the Maute group in Marawi city. Right: Funeral workers lift a coffin of a civilian who was killed in a firefight between government troops and insurgents. President Duterte takes a rest as battle for Marawi continues The president’s spokesman says he is recuperating from a punishing schedule DPA Manila P hilippine President Rodrigo Duterte has withdrawn from public duties this week because he is tired and needs to “rejuvenate”, his spokesman said yesterday as government forces battled Islamist militants in the biggest crisis of his rule. Duterte, 72, has not been seen in public since Sunday and missed a scheduled appearance the following day at annual Independence Day celebrations in Manila, sparking speculation about the state of his health. “He’s just taking some time off to rejuvenate,” presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella told reporters. Abella said there was no date for when Duterte would resume his official duties, although he insisted the president was healthy. “I’m saying that there’s nothing to worry about in terms of sickness,” he said. “The president is well.” Pressed by journalists to state whether Duterte had visited a doctor this week, Abella said: “I’m not privy to those matters but I’m sure he’s checked with his own experts.” Duterte was last seen in the southern city of Cagayan de Oro, visiting soldiers wounded in nearby fighting with Islamic State group-styled gunmen that Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte at an unspecified location. is now on its fourth week. Fifty-eight soldiers and police officers have died in the clashes in Marawi city, while at least 26 civilians have also been confirmed killed. Duterte imposed martial law over Marawi and the rest of the southern region of Mindanao, home to 20mn people, on the day the fighting erupted to head off what he said was an attempt by IS to carve out its own territory there. Abella said Duterte was taking time off because of a punishing schedule since then, which included regular visits to military camps and hospi- tals to support troops. “It has been really brutal, so it is important to allow him this kind of rest,” Abella said. Duterte had repeatedly denied during last year’s presidential election campaign that he suffered from cancer. However he said last December that he used to take fentanyl, a highly addictive synthetic opioid, to ease the pain of a spinal injury that he suffered in motorcycle accidents many year earlier. Duterte said then his doctor made him stop using it on learning he was “abusing the drug” by using more than the prescribed amount. Duterte’s fentanyl comments attracted controversy as he has led a war on drugs in which thousands of addicts and users have been killed. Under the constitution, the separately elected vice president shall act as president if the incumbent dies, is permanently disabled or removed from office. One of Duterte’s aides later released photos which he said were taken on Thursday evening, showing the president standing up and looking healthy. A man suspected of being an Islamist bomber was arrested by Philippine troops yesterday and accused of being one of the mili- tants that the government has been trying to clear out of Marawi City for four weeks now. Mohamed Noaim Maute, known as Abu Jadid, was arrested in a rented house in the city of Cagayan de Oro, about 60km north of Marawi City, following a tip from a civilian, according to Brigadier General Gilber Gapay. Gapay, a spokesman for the martial law implementation in the southern region of Mindanao, said the suspect was believed “to be a bomb expert of the Maute Group”. The suspect is allegedly the youngest brother of Abdullah and Omar Maute, who have been leading about 150 militants holed up in four districts of Marawi City, 800km south of Manila, Brigadier General Restituto Padilla said. Government forces earlier arrested the mother and father of seven Maute brothers who are part of the terrorist group. The Maute group is one of at least two militant organisations whose members went on a rampage in Marawi City on May 23 after government forces attempted to arrest a local leader of the Islamic State terrorist movement. The Maute group has been accused of previous bombing attacks, such as one in the southern city of Davao in September that left 14 dead. President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law in the southern region of Mindanao to boost military efforts to retake control of Marawi City from the militants. Nearly 300 people have been Lorenzana, Ano ready to defend martial law in court By Catherine S Valente Manila Times D efence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief General Eduardo Ano are ready to face the Supreme Court in oral arguments on the petitions to nullify President Rodrigo Duterte’s declaration of martial law in Mindanao, the military spokesman said yesterday. Lorenzana is the administrator and Ano the implementer of martial law in Mindanao, which the President declared on May 23 after hostilities broke out between government forces and extremist gunmen in Marawi City. During the “Mindanao Hour” news briefing in Malacanang, AFP spokesman Brigadier General Restituto Padilla Jr said the military establishment was willing to join the oral arguments concerning Duterte’s declaration of martial law. “We support whatever process that is currently ongoing and if we need to be resource persons elsewhere, in- cluding the supreme court, we will be there,” Padilla told reporters. “If [they are]requested by the supreme court, I guess the chief of staff himself and the secretary of National Defense will be there and talk about whatever it is the justices want to clarify,” he added. During the oral arguments on Wednesday, Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno ordered Lorenzana and Ano to participate in the oral arguments on the petitions asking the high court to invalidate the martial law declaration. Sereno issued the directive following a request by petitioner Albay Representative Edcel Lagman for Lorenzana and Ano to attend the afternoon session of Wednesday’s hearing, after the top magistrate enumerated the documents that the Office of Solicitor General must submit. Solicitor General Jose Calida, who represents the government, initially balked at the order, saying he did not see the purpose of requiring Lorenzana and Ano to appear. Calida eventually agreed to present the officials but asked that any presen- tations they make be in executive session, which Lagman objected to, saying that during the closed-door briefing on martial law given to the House, no classified information was divulged. The commander of the United States Pacific Fleet affirmed the US Navy’s strong partnership with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Wednesday following a four-day visit to Manila. Admiral Scott Swift met with Secretary of Foreign Affairs Alan Peter Cayetano, Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, Armed Forces of the Philippines chief General Eduardo Ano, and the Philippine Navy flag officer in command, Vice Admiral Ronald Mercado. Swift stressed the US Pacific Fleet’s commitment to addressing “shared regional security concerns” including counterterrorism and piracy, while highlighting the strong defence ties between the US and the Philippines. “The Philippine Navy is a valued and enduring ally of the US Navy and a close partner of the Pacific Fleet,” said Swift in a statement. “I’m very pleased to have had the opportunity to visit with senior government and military leaders here in Manila. We continue to build on the strong relationship we have and to reaffirm our commitment to working together to face shared challenges,” he added. The long-standing alliance between the Philippines and the United States has contributed to peace, stability, and prosperity in the AsiaPacific region for more than 70 years, the US Embassy said in a statement. The US and the Philippines inked a Mutual Defense Treaty in 1951 and the Visiting Forces Agreement in 1998. Three years ago, the two countries signed the Enhanced Defence Co-operation Agreement allowing the rotational presence of American troops in some military bases in the country. As part of the security partnership, the United States supports the Philippines in its efforts to strengthen national defence, and improve its ability to respond to natural disasters, terror threats, piracy, and other transnational crimes. killed in the violence, including militants, government forces and civilians. The hostilities have also displaced more than 220,000 people and left Marawi City in ruins. On the 24th day of the crisis, an Australian journalist covering the crisis was hurt when a suspected stray sniper bullet hit him in his neck area. Adam Harvey, 43, of the Australian Broadcasting Corp, was inside the provincial capital compound in Marawi City when the bullet hit him. He was rushed to hospital, but declared out of danger. Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella urged media members in Marawi City to take precaution while doing their work. “While I understand that you would not shirk your duty in the pursuit of any story, bear in mind that there’s no story more valuable than one’s life,” he said. “Take the necessary precautions and stay safe while covering conflicts.” An estimated 300 to 500 civilians are still trapped in the conflict zone, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross. “Circumstances are dire for those who are left behind,” it noted in a bulletin. “Their lives remain in danger within the fighting zone, and it’s impossible for humanitarian organisations to provide them with much needed assistance due to access and security issues.” The Red Cross also expressed concern about the plight of the displaced, amid limited supply of food and water and lack of access to sanitation facilities. “The rainy season has started, and this poses increased health risks to displaced families, especially children and elderly staying in evacuation centres,” it said. “Protracted stay under such circumstances makes the more vulnerable to waterborne and communicable diseases,” the Red Cross added. The Australian journalist who was shot in the neck has written on Twitter: “Lucky”, alongside an image of an X-ray showing the bullet lodged in his neck, close to his spine. “Thanks everyone — I’m okay. Bullet is still in my neck, but it missed everything important,” he said in another Twitter post. He was inside the provincial capitol compound where local and foreign journalists have congregated during the more than three weeks of fighting, the government’s crisis management committee spokesman, Zia Alonto Adiong, told AFP. Although the compound is secured by the military, it is only about 2km from the pockets of the city that the gunmen control. “I want to appeal to everyone you should be very careful because in our assessment the vicinity of the 103rd (military camp), the vicinity of the capitol is within the line of sight of the enemy,” local military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Jo-ar Herrera told reporters in the compound after the shooting incident. Harvey was taken to the nearby city of Iligan for medical treatment, Adiong said. CBCP backs shutdown of extremists’ accounts By William Depasupil Manila Times T he influential Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has thrown its support behind the move of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to seek the closure of social media accounts being used for propaganda by the terrorists who attacked Marawi City. Father Jerome Secillano, executive secretary of the CBCP Permanent Committee on Public Affaris, on Wednesday said the closure of Facebook accounts is not a curtailment of the freedom of expression if these violate the social media platform’s terms and conditions. Secillano said the use of social media in spreading propaganda about rebellion and terrorism runs counter to the tenets of freedom of information, because it causes more harm than good to the people. “Facebook has its own internal regulations. Those who subscribe to this social networking tool should subject themselves to these regulations. Fake news and propaganda should not be allowed to proliferate. Those who do it should even be charged for perjury or inciting to re- bellion,” Secillano said in an interview with the Church-run Radyo Veritas. He added: “Restriction to freedom of expression should not even be an issue in this regard. It’s a choice between public good vs private good. May a government or institution allow an individual to pose threat or harm to the public just because he wants to do it? No! Because that freedom is not and cannot be absolute especially if in the exercise of it, the public good is jeopardised.” Earlier, San Jose Bishop Roberto Mallari, chairman of the CBCP Episcopal Commission on Catechesis and Catholic Education, expressed the same view. Mallari said the closure of Facebook accounts promoting terrorism is a step forward to peace. “Instead of promoting violence we have to promote peace, love. Loving our fellowmen, peace for everyone are what we should promote instead,” Mallari added. He also called on the youth, which he called “digital experts”, to lead the campaign on the proper use of social media. The AFP has asked Facebook to close down 63 accounts said to be spreading propaganda and misinformation about the ongoing military offensive in Marawi City. 12 Gulf Times Friday, June 16, 2017 SRI LANKA/BANGLADESH/NEPAL Dhaka seeks to bring back Mujib killers By Mizan Rahman Dhaka B angladesh has engaged two law firms in the United States and Canada for bringing back home the fugitive convicted killers of Bangladesh’s founding father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. “As part of the legal procedure to bring back home the fugitive convicted killers of Father of the Nation, the present government initiated to confiscate non-movable properties and freeze bank accounts of the convicted killers,” Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told the parliament yesterday. He said the government had formed a taskforce led by law, justice and parliamentary affairs minister on March 28, 2010 for bringing back the fugitive convicted killers to execute the verdict. Later, the government, after assuming power in 2014, reformed the taskforce, which met several times and took various decisions including identifying the fugitive convicted killers’ location and providing information to important airports in the world through Interpol, Khan added. The minister informed parliament that the government has undertaken necessary measures to bring back home the fugitive convicted killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Earlier, in 2010, Bangladesh has appointed a US based law firm to take necessary steps for bringing fugitive killers back home from North American countries including the US and Canada. The government has so far traced only two convicts — Nur Chowdhury in Canada and Rashed Chowdhury in the USA. The fugitive killers are now in USA, Canada, Libya and Pakistan. The foreign ministry will now do what is necessary, as the government will bear the expenses for the law firm. The absconding killers of Bangabandhu are Khandaker Abdur Rashid, Shariful Haque Dalim, Nur Chowdhury, Rashed Chowdhury, Abdul Mazed and Moslehuddin Khan. A few years back the Interpol had issued warrants of arrest for the killers, who have reportedly been changing location to evade arrest. The government had earlier thought both Mazed and Moslehuddin had been hiding in India, but the Indian government could not trace them. Bangladeshi firefighters search for bodies after a landslide in Rangamati. Bangladesh hunts for landslide survivors AFP Chittagong E mergency workers in Bangladesh yesterday stepped up the search for victims of the country’s worst ever landslides, with mounting claims that the disaster was made worse by unchecked development. Rescuers found two more bodies, including that of a woman apparently washed away, taking the death toll from floods and landslides across southeast Bangladesh to 154. “We think she was washed away by strong currents during Tuesday’s landslides,” local fire chief Didarul Alam told AFP. “We have stepped up our rescue work in the five worst affected spots. But it’s a huge struggle to dig through four feet of mud. Also villagers were not sure where the bodies were buried.” Emergency workers also found the body of a soldier missing since Tuesday, army spokesman Rashidul Hasan told AFP. The landslides were the deadliest in the country’s history, eclipsing the previous highest death toll of 127 a decade ago. Bijoy Giri Chakma, an elected tribal leader in the hardest-hit district of Rangamati, told AFP the landslides were the worst he had ever seen, and blamed unplanned construction and the large-scale cutting of trees for the scale of the disaster. “Trees have been felled indiscriminately, which loosens the soil. A lot of these hills are now completely barren,” said Chakma. His views chimed with those of local rights activists. “The disaster is man-made. But there is a tendency to blame nature for this,” said Sheepa Hafiza, head of the rights group Ain o Salish Kendra, at a news briefing on Wednesday. Authorities say hundreds of homes were buried by mud and rubble sent cascading down hillsides after monsoon rains dumped 343mm of water on the southeast of the country in just 24 hours. Disaster Management Department chief Reaz Ahmed said teams had begun to assess the full extent of the damage left by two days of incessant rains in the Chittagong hills, which cover one tenth of the country’s landmass. Authorities have opened 18 shelters in the worst-hit hill districts, where 4,500 people have been evacuated. The monsoon rains came two weeks after Cyclone Mora smashed into Bangladesh’s southeast, killing at least eight people and damaging tens of thousands of homes. South Asia is frequently hit by flooding and landslides in the summer with the arrival of the annual monsoon rains. More than 200 people were killed in Sri Lanka last month when the monsoon triggered landslides and the worst flooding the island has seen in well over a decade. Database of convicted criminals helps curb crime in Bangladesh By Mizan Rahman Dhaka T he Jail Inmate Database, introduced by elite security outfit Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) one and a half years ago, is playing a significant role in reducing recurrence of crimes by the same criminals. “The database has been playing a vital role in controlling as well as preventing crimes, and most importantly decreasing the recurrence of crimes by the same criminals,” Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) Director General Benazir Ahmed told newsmen. “It is also playing a significant role in keeping an eye on the crim- inals who often commits crimes under different names,” he added. The RAB chief said earlier it took a long time to know about the previous criminal record of criminals as they usually give false information to hide themselves and the process was time consuming. “Now, the database is helping complete investigations into cases within the shortest possible time,” he added. The database was inaugurated on February 7 in 2016, incorporating 200 types of data of the criminals, who stayed in jail even for a single day. It preserved biometrics, including prints of all 10 fingers and iris scan of the criminals. Previous crimes records, types of crimes, punishments, name of criminals, their addresses and professions have been mentioned in the database. Communication and Management Information System wing of the anti-crime elite force prepared the database with the help of the prison authority. Warrant issued for militant Lanka monk AFP Colombo A Sri Lankan court yesterday issued a warrant for the arrest of a radical Buddhist monk accused of instigating arson attacks against the island’s minority Muslim community. Police said the warrant for the arrest of Galagodaatte Gnanasara relates to an accusation of insulting the Qur’an that dates back to April 2014, months before the outbreak of deadly religious riots. The magistrate ordered his arrest after he failed to appear yesterday for a court hearing into the matter. Police are also investigating more than a dozen recent complaints of incitement against Gnanasara, who went into hiding in May, after a series of arson attacks targeting Muslims. Yesterday, they said they had arrested two of his associates in connection with a petrol bomb attack on a mosque last month. Gnanasara’s Buddhist Force or BBS is accused of instigating the hate crimes. On Sunday, police said they had made the first arrest of a BBS member in connection with four arson attacks in a Colombo suburb. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe vowed on Wednesday that he would not allow a repeat of 2014 anti-Muslim riots in which four people died and hundreds of homes were destroyed, promising tougher legislation. With stoning and desecration of Muslim-owned places now an almost daily occurrence, the government faces international criticism over its failure to tackle the violence and rein in the BBS. In a video message released Sunday, the group denied any involvement, but accused the government of allowing Islamic extremism to flourish in the Buddhist-majority nation. Earlier this month, Western diplomats urged Sri Lanka to take action to stop the renewed outbreak of religious violence. Chugging back to life: Kathmandu revamps colonial-era rail link Reuters Janakpur, Nepal S hrubs spring up around a rusted train engine in southeast Nepal, with carriages propped up on bricks and tall grass growing over abandoned wheels, offering mute testimony to years of neglect suffered by an abandoned railway line. First built as a cargo line to carry wood from Nepal to India in 1937, it was once the lifeblood of the community in Janakpur, running 29km from Jainagar in India’s neighbouring eastern state of Bihar. The train service, which eventually became a cheap way for travellers to cross the international border, closed in January 2014 for a $100mn project to upgrade the colonial-era narrow rail track into a broad-gauge line. Now the only sign of life is laughing children, who chase each other through the disintegrating carriages, climbing on rusting benches and tumbling over one another. But the closure hit Janakpur hard, with close to 130 railway employees losing their jobs, said Tula Bahadur Dangi, acting general manager of Nepal Railway Corp, who has worked for the company for 18 years. Travellers have been forced to use buses instead, paying three times the price of a train ticket for a journey four times as long, which is complicated further during the monsoon rains that make the roads muddy. Other trades dependent on the railway have also suffered. “There is no business now, compared to when there was a train,” lamented Rajendra Kushwaha, who ran a bookstall at Janakpur railway station for 45 years. The revamp of the railway, set to be completed next March, presents clear signs of renewal and the improvements to come. Construction is nearly 80% complete, with bridges and a total of 14 stations built along the route, where land has been levelled for the laying of track to extend the line northwards a distance of 69km. The expansion will create 350 jobs, Dangi said, complete with plans for a museum to showcase the old German-made abandoned carriages and engines. The expanded route would also make it easier for tourists to visit the Ram Janaki temple, a Unesco World Heritage site that devout Hindus believe to be the birthplace of the deity Sita. Completion can’t come quickly enough for Rafid Kabadi, who drove trains on the old line for 25 years, the third generation of his family in the job. “I am sad the train stopped, but happy the new one is coming,” he said, standing before a rusted carriage with his grandson. Plants grow on the abandoned train at the workshop of Nepal Railways Corporation Ltd in Janakpur. Gulf Times Friday, June 16, 2017 13 THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH Indications of the Night of Al-Qadr A llah The Almighty Says (what means): {The angels and the Spirit descend therein by permission of their Lord for every matter. Peace it is until the emergence of dawn.} [Qur’an 97:4-5] It is narrated on the authority of Zirr ibn Hubaysh that he heard Ubayy ibn Ka‘b on being told that ‘Abdullaah ibn Mas‘ood had said, “He who stands for (supererogatory) prayer (every night) throughout the year, will happen to witness the Night of Al-Qadr”, commented, “By Allah except for whom there is no deity, that is in (the month of) Ramadan. (He took an unrestricted oath) By Allah, I know the night: it was the night on which The Messenger of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, ordered us to stand in prayer, that is, the eve of the twentyseventh day, and its sign is that the sun rises whitish on that day without having rays.” [Muslim] According to another narration of this, “Its sign is that the sun rises in the next morning white without rays, as if it were a round tray.” [Ibn Hibbaan] It is also narrated on the authority of Ibn Mas‘ood that the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, said: “Indeed, the Night of Al-Qadr is on the middle night of the last seven (nights) of Ramadan. The following morning, the sun rises pure without rays.” Ibn Mas‘ood said, “I looked at it and found it just the same as described by the Messenger of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam.” [Ahmad] It is narrated on the authority of Abu Hurairah that the Messenger of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, said: “The Night of Al-Qadr is on the 27th or the 29th [of Ramadan]. On that night, the angels on earth are more numerous than its pebbles.” [Ahmad] It is narrated on the authority of ‘Ubaadah ibn As-Saamit that the Messenger of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, said: “Indeed, the sign of the Night of Al-Qadr is that it is bright and pure as if the moon is shining in it, still and tranquil, neither cold nor hot. On it, it is impossible for a star to be shot [at a devil] until morning comes. Its [other] sign is that in the morning after it, the sun rises brightly and without rays, similar to a full moon; and it is impossible for Satan to come out with it on that day.” [Ahmad] It is further narrated on the authority of Jaabir that he said: “The Messenger of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, said: ‘I was shown (in a vision) the night of Al-Qadr, but later I forgot it. It is one of the last ten nights of Ramadan. It is shining and bright, neither hot nor cold, as if it has a full moon revealing its stars. On it the devil does not come out before its dawn rises.’” [Ibn Khuzaymah and Ibn Hibbaan] It is narrated on the authority of Ibn ‘Abbaas that the Prophet, sallallaahu Sheikh Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahhab Mosque in Doha by night. PICTURE: Noushad Thekkayil ‘alaihi wa sallam, said, concerning the night of Al-Qadr: “It is a shining night, neither hot nor cold, and in the morning next to it the sun rises red with no rays.” [Ibn Khuzaymah] Benefits and rulings First: It is permissible for a religious scholar to hide some information that he knows if he sees that hiding it may be beneficial, just as Ibn Mas‘ood concealed his knowledge about the Night of Al-Qadr lest the people would rely on that and slacken to stand in prayer in all the last ten nights of Ramadan. Second: A religious scholar Supplication on the Night of Al-Qadr In a Hadith on the authority of ‘Aa’ishah, radhiallah ‘anha, she said: “I said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, if I know which night is the Night of Al-Qadr, what should I say on that night?’ He said: ‘Say: ‘Allaahumma innaka ‘afuwwun kareemun tuhibbu al-‘afwa fa’fu ‘anni (O Allaah, You are Ever Pardoning and Generous and You love pardoning, so pardon me!)’’” [At-Tirmithi: Hasan Saheeh] In another narration, she said, “I said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, if I witness the Night of Al-Qadr, what should I say?’ He said: ‘Say: ‘O Allah, You are Ever Pardoning and Generous, and you love pardoning, so pardon me.’’” [Ibn Maajah] Benefits and rulings: First: The virtue of the Night of Al-Qadr and the keenness of ‘Aa’ishah, the Mother of the Believers, to witness it, offer voluntary prayers in it and supplicate to Allah in it. Second: The keenness of the Companions to ask about matters that benefit them. Third: The virtue of supplication on the Night of Al-Qadr and the fact that it is most likely to be answered. Fourth: A recommendation to supplicate to Allah by the succinct words of the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, and not to burden oneself with supplications that are rhyming or those whose meanings are not known. Fifth: The supplication mentioned in the Hadith is one of the most beneficial and allinclusive supplications because it combines between the good of the worldly life and the Hereafter. For if Allah pardons His slaves in the worldly life, He will remove punishment from them and bestow favour upon them. If He pardons them in the Hereafter, He will save them from Hell and admit them to Paradise. Sixth: Ascribing the attribute of love to Allah in a way that befits His Majesty and that He The Almighty loves forgiveness. Seventh: The virtue of pardoning people because Allah The Almighty loves pardoning and those who pardon others. Eighth: The advice of the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, to his Ummah (nation) and teaching them what benefits them. nevertheless has to tell the people what they need to know, just as Ubayy told the people the date and sign of the night of Al-Qadr. Third: It is permissible for scholars to strive their utmost, depending on their personal reasoning, and even differ about determining the benefits and evils of this. It is not forbidden so long as it is based on sound Ijtihaad (exertion of effort) and a sincere search for the truth. Fourth: The Night of Al-Qadr is one of the last ten nights of Ramadan; most likely an odd-number night, most probably the 27th night, as Ubayy Ibn Ka‘b took oath to that. Fifth: These texts provide evidence Seeking the Night of Al-Qadr during the last seven nights I bn ‘Umar, radhiallah ‘anhu, reported: “Some of the Companions of the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, saw the Night of Al-Qadr (Decree) in their dreams as one of the last seven nights of Ramadan. So, the Messenger said, ‘I see that your dreams all agree upon it being in the last seven nights. Hence, whosoever seeks it, let him do so in the last seven nights.’” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim] In another narration, the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, said: “Look for it among the last ten nights; however, if one of you fails to or is unable to do [that much], let him not miss out on [at least] the remaining seven nights.” [Muslim] He, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, also instructed, “Seek the eve of Al-Qadr in the last seven nights.”[Muslim] Benefits and rulings [derived from these Hadiths]: 1- This Ummah (Muslim nation) is protected against falling into error on whatever it unanimously agrees on, in terms of narrations, opinions and visions, as the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, gave significance to the similar dreams of the Companions. 2- One should seek the Night of Al-Qadr, in which to pray and worship Allah The Almighty, given its great merit and virtue. Nonetheless, this is an act of Sunnah, not an obligation. 3- This Hadith proves that visions are of great importance and that it is possible to rely on them regarding tangible matters, provided that they do not contradict the established rules of Shari‘ah (Islamic jurisprudence). Yet, one should not exaggerate in reliance on dreams, by applying them [to life] inappropriately and letting it cause one to be lazy in worship. 4- A vision may be from Allah The Almighty, the product of one’s subconscious or from the devil. When the believers see similar dreams about something, then there is certainly some truth to it. This also applies to their unanimous opinions and narrations, because the individual may lie or commit a mistake, but there can never be a consensus among believers upon what is false. 5- This proves that the opinion of the majority should be adopted, so long as it does not contradict an explicit religious text, Ijmaa’ (consensus) or a clear analogy. 6- The dreams of the Companions were consistent about the Night of Al-Qadr being in the last seven nights of the month of Ramadan. The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, also confirmed this during that year. Hence, it is most likely to be one of those nights. 7- The Night of Al-Qadr may even be shown to some people in their visions or [through some signs] while they are awake, such as by seeing lights or someone telling them: “This is the eve of Al-Qadr.” Allah The Almighty may also inspire some people to know of when this blessed night is. Article source: http://www.islamweb.net/emainpage/ for the fact that the Night of Al-Qadr has many signs, including: 1. Angels descend on it in great numbers, led by Jibreel (Gabriel) to witness the praying people in their mosques. Indeed, they are more numerous than pebbles. But this sign does not appear to humans. 2. Safety and peace are widespread on it due to the acts of worship done by servants in obedience of Allah The Almighty. 3. The next morning, the sun rises whitish without rays. The reason for that, as mentioned by religious scholars, is that the angels (who had descended on that night) then ascend to the heavens with their wings or lights screening the rays of sun due to their immense number. 4. Among its characteristics is that it is a pure still night, neither cold nor hot, and this cold and heat are relative, depending on the climate of each country or region. The point is that it is neither cold nor hot in relation to the nights prior to and next to it. 5. Satan does not come out with the sun of the following morning because the sun always rises between the two horns of Satan, except in the morning next to the night of Al-Qadr. Sixth: Most of those signs mentioned above do not appear to people except after the end of the night of Al-Qadr, perchance that those who offered acts of worship on it would thank their Lord for helping them to stand in prayer and worship on it, and those who indulged on it would regret their indulgence and be determined to do their best to seize it in the coming year. Seventh: These signs are a characteristic every Night of Qadr, past, present and future, and not specific only to the lifetime of the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam. Eighth: A Muslim really must strive to seize the opportunity of all the goodness that lies in it. Article source: http://www. islamweb.net/emainpage/ 14 Gulf Times Friday, June 16, 2017 COMMENT Chairman: Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Attiyah Deputy Managing Editor: K T Chacko Production Editor: Amjad Khan P.O.Box 2888 Doha, Qatar [email protected] Telephone 44350478 (news), 44466404 (sport), 44466636 (home delivery) Fax 44350474 GULF TIMES Le Pen’s parliament hopes fade amid bickering in party A few months ago, French National Front leader Marine Le Pen was the hope of the European nationalist right and the bogeyman of the European Union as she led in the polls ahead of the country’s presidential election. Now, days before Sunday’s second round of the parliamentary elections, it all looks very different. The National Front knew that the odds were against a Le Pen presidency, but also hoped that a good performance in the run-off vote on May 7 would pave the way for it to enter parliament in force. Le Pen lost to centrist Emmanuel Macron on polling day, but hit a record for her far-right party: 10.6mn votes, or 33.9% of the total. But things had already started to come apart four days before the May 7 vote, when Le Pen went head to head with Macron in a bad-tempered television debate. Apparently badly-prepared, she had to put up with her rival correcting her several times on points of fact, including on the size of France’s annual contribution to the EU budget. For many viewers, her harsh insults of Macron also left a sour taste – even though he gave as good as he got. Le Pen’s poor performance in the debate also dismayed many in her party. The policy of leaving the euro single currency is a particularly sore point – it was the National Front’s most prominent economic pledge, but polls repeatedly showed that it was extremely unpopular. That has fed into the internal recriminations: the main defender of leaving the euro, party vice-president Florian Philippot, has come under attack. National Front general secretary Nicolas Bay has suggested that Philippot – a close ally of Le Pen in her efforts to moderate the party’s image – was engaging in “blackmail” by threatening to leave the party if it abandoned its stance on the currency issue. Le Pen herself seemed unimpressed by Philippot’s decision to establish an “association” called The Patriots within the party in the aftermath of the presidential vote. Meanwhile, one of the party’s just two outgoing members of parliament, Le Pen’s niece Marion Marechal-Le Pen, announced that she would not run for re-election, citing personal reasons. The younger Le Pen, based in southern France, has widely been seen as embodying a more traditional right-wing line within the party. She is identified with conservative Catholic values and has promoted an opening to politicians in the mainstream centre-right. Marine Le Pen and Philippot, concentrating on working class voters in the north, have pushed a more centrist economic policy and railed against the “system” of centreright and centre-left. The party’s internal recriminations were crowned last Sunday with a deeply disappointing 13.2% of the vote in the first round of the parliamentary elections. The party is leading in only 20 seats, and pollsters doubt that it will take more than five of them in next Sunday’s runoff votes. It needs 15 to form an official parliamentary group. Le Pen has sought to mobilise voters for the second round by saying that it’s essential for democracy to have a strong opposition. But whatever happens on Sunday, the National Front will have to deal with its increasingly obvious internal differences as well as thorny policy issues such as the euro. Climate change, food security and adaptation Climate change could create a vicious cycle of disease and hunger, WFP warns By Anthony Morland/IRIN Paris T he humanitarian crisis unleashed by drought in Somalia has again highlighted the close links between extreme weather and food security. But how exactly are the two connected? And what can farmers in developing countries do to lessen the negative effects of climate change? This Q&A provides an overview of the key issues, with a focus on smallholders in Africa. *What is food security? The term may sound like jargon for simply having enough to eat or knowing where one’s next meal is coming from, but food security is a multifaceted concept that has evolved significantly over time. According to the current UN World Food Programme definition, people are said to be food secure when “they have availability and adequate access at all times to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life.” In other words, it’s not just about now, but the foreseeable future; and it’s not just about food, but the right kind of food, and the ability to prepare it safely. “Access” is a key component of this definition: even when there is plenty of food in markets or granaries, people will be food insecure if they cannot afford to buy it, or have nothing to barter for it. Even famines sometimes occur when food is available but not accessible. To help aid agencies respond effectively to a food crisis in Somalia, a system was established in 2004 to precisely define and analyse local food insecurity, using a scale consisting of five categories: None/Minimal, Stressed, Crisis, Emergency, and Humanitarian Catastrophe/Famine. The evidence-based Integrated Food Security Phase Classification system, run by a range of UN agencies and NGOs, and which was thoroughly updated in 2017, has now been adopted in 25 countries across the world. *How does climate change affect food security? One of the key effects of climate change is that extreme weather events such as floods, droughts, heatwaves and rainfall variations become more frequent and more severe. Rising sea levels linked to climate change cause coastal erosion and loss of arable land. Rising temperatures encourage the proliferation of weeds and pests and threaten the viability of fisheries. All this has a direct impact on agricultural production, on which the food security of most people in developing nations primarily depends. This is because agriculture in these countries is almost entirely rain-fed, and so when rains fail, or fall at the wrong time, or major storms strike, entire crops can be ruined, key infrastructure damaged or destroyed, and community assets lost. Consequently, climate change is widely seen as the greatest threat facing the estimated 500mn smallholder farmers around the world. According to the WFP, “Changes in climatic conditions have already affected the production of some staple crops, and future climate change threatens to exacerbate this. Higher temperatures will have an impact on yields while changes in rainfall could affect both crop quality and quantity.” Rising grain prices and falling yields hit the world’s poorest people hardest, as they spend most of their income on food. In the long term, climate change could “create a vicious cycle of disease and hunger”, WFP warns. By 2050, child malnutrition is expected to increase by 20% relative to a world with no climate change. Meanwhile, the world’s population is set to reach 9bn by 2050. With more people eating meat and dairy products, and more farmland given over to biofuel crops, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation believes that (to satisfy demand in 2050) global food production will have to increase by 70% over 2005 levels. *Why is agriculture in Africa especially vulnerable? Smallholder farmers account for some 80% of food production in sub-Saharan Africa. With only a tiny proportion of farmland under irrigation, and reliable water sources becoming scarcer, most crops depend on rainfall, which climate change is making increasingly erratic and unpredictable. Farming in Africa is often done in marginal areas – such as flood plains, deserts, and hillsides – where ever more frequent weather shocks cause severe damage to soil and crops. While there have always been variations in climate, the current pace and intensity of these changes mean that traditional methods of adapting to changes in weather patterns are no longer sufficient. The millions who raise livestock in more arid areas of Africa are particularly vulnerable to extreme weather, as the current drought affecting Somalia and Kenya demonstrates. When shocks do occur, and crops are ruined or livestock dies, the endemic poverty of most rural farmers means they have little to cushion them in terms of savings and stockpiles. Few African smallholders own the land they cultivate, so they have difficulty in obtaining credit for inputs, such as fertilisers and pesticides, or machinery. Many also lack the ability to store their crops, while poor infrastructure often limits their access to markets. Modern yield-boosting technologies, as well as insurance policies, are beyond the reach of many smallholder farmers. Even when farmers do have extra cash, there is little incentive to invest in the land they farm if they lack the title deeds. According to the fourth assessment report of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, “Africa is likely to be the continent most vulnerable to climate change. Among the risks the continent faces are reductions in food security and agricultural productivity, particularly regarding subsistence agriculture, increased water stress and, as a result of these and the potential for increased exposure to disease and other health risks, increased risks to human health.” *What can African farmers do about it? Changes made to mitigate the effects and risks of climate change, whether at the regional, national, or very local level, are known as “adaptation”. Smallholder farmers facing weather shocks and other climate-change related events are already using a variety of adaptation measures. These include diversifying and rotating the crops they grow, engaging in non-agricultural income generating activities, adjusting the times they sow their lots, conserving soil and water, building irrigation systems and flood defences, using more inputs such as fertilisers, sowing improved seeds, planting trees, and integrating crops with livestock. Farmers need support from their governments to make the right adaptation choices. This support can take the form of more reliable and localised weather forecasts, subsidies for inputs, well-trained extension workers, better facilities for livestock health, well-funded agricultural research, and improved rural infrastructure such as road networks. zWhat about the money? Although it directly affects the livelihoods of billions of people, agriculture has long received only a fraction of overall climate finance. According to a World Bank report, agriculture, forestry and other types of land use combined received just $6-8bn of the $391bn spent on climate finance globally in 2014. Mitigation – reducing emissions and transiting to low carbon economies – has traditionally received three times as much as adaptation. But the importance of investing in climate-resilient agriculture is gaining recognition, notably in the Sustainable Development Goals and in the Paris Agreement of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), both adopted in 2015. Most countries party to the UNFCC have included at least some estimates of the costs of agricultural adaption in their individual climate change action plans, known as Intended Nationally Determined Contributions. The newest and largest source of climate finance, the $10bn Green Climate Fund, aims to balance its resources equally between mitigation and adaptation. Precisely what effect US President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from both the Paris Agreement and the GCF will have on agricultural adaptation finance remains to be seen, but experts are pessimistic. For many viewers, her harsh insults of Macron also left a sour taste – even though he gave as good as he got To Advertise [email protected] Display Telephone 44466621 Fax 44418811 Classified Telephone 44466609 Fax 44418811 Subscription [email protected] 2017 Gulf Times. All rights reserved Livestock raising communities are particularly vulnerable to climate change. South Sudan’s economy crumbles AFP Aweil, South Sudan “ I sell the small bottle of cooking oil for 140 SSP. Six months ago, it was 70. The customers complain,” said James Deng, an 18-year-old stallholder in Aweil, South Sudan. In this regional market in the country’s northwest – just as at the main Konyokonyo market in the capital Juba, 800km to the south, and other towns across the country – prices of essential items have rocketed as a direct consequence of almost uninterrupted civil war since December 2013. The South Sudanese Pound (SSP) has collapsed from 18.5 to the dollar in December 2015 to around 140 now in black market transactions in Juba. Inflation has reached record levels increasing by 730% in the 12 months up to August 2016, according to World Bank figures. Adam Oumar, a shopkeeper in Aweil, sells red onions for 500 SSP per ‘malua’, an iron container used as a measuring unit and containing about 4kg. Only six months ago, it cost 70 pounds. “It’s now very expensive and people can’t afford it anymore, so they take little,” he said, standing in front of his shop, well-stocked like those of his neighbours, but lacking customers. In Konyokonyo, Saturdays used to be the busiest in the hectic market, but in early June the dense maze of uneven paths contained just a few customers, shuffling between stalls dedicated to mattresses, plastic buckets and secondhand clothing in the section run by Sudanese traders. Vegetables are sold in an area dominated by Ugandan merchants. Kamala, a 46-year-old schoolteacher, a basket of shopping in her hand, had a frustrating morning. “I came with 6,000 pounds but just see, this basket is not filled up.” She said she received her last wages in January and it was getting harder and harder to buy the basics. Kamala should receive 2,000 pounds a month, a salary that has not increased for years. In early 2016 it was worth about $65. Now it’s worth just $15. This is a particular problem in South Sudan where almost everything is imported. “This money we are pulling out now, it’s money we saved for the future, to cater for issues of children, medicine or education for children. But this money, now we are finishing it for food,” she said. “The first solution to this problem is for the conflict to stop. This will give us opportunity to cultivate and grow our own food,” Kamala said. In South Sudan, 85% of the working population is self-employed, the overwhelming majority engaged in small-scale farming. But the conflict has severely disrupted agricultural production, triggering a major food crisis nationwide and even famine in some areas. The government of President Salva Kiir understands the sensitivity of the matter and ordered food trucks from neighbouring Uganda to Juba at the beginning of May. The influx of subsidised food was supposed to help relieve pressure on prices, but the effect was limited. The conflict has also hit South Sudan’s oil production, its only source of foreign exchange, at the same time as global oil prices have tumbled. “Before the crisis of 2013 we were producing 240,000 barrels per day. In 2014 up to the first half of 2015 we were producing 160,000 barrels per day. To my knowledge today we are below 130,000,” Finance Minister Stephen Dhieu said in an interview. He added that the government is trying to rehabilitate some of the oil facilities damaged by fighting and increase production to around 160,000-180,000 barrels a day this year. The country is the world’s most dependent on oil revenues, which account for almost all of its exports and for 60% of gross domestic product, according to the World Bank. Truckers, taxis and private individuals struggle to fill their tanks, waiting for hours in long queues outside the few petrol stations that have fuel. The alternative is the black market where, in Aweil for example, 26-yearold Sadik sells a 16 litre container of petrol for 2,800 pounds, up from 1,700 six months ago. Rather than a black market, this is in fact a parallel market, operating in plain sight, on a busy city road. The only time Sadik has any problems with officials, he says, is when they come to complain that traders are stockpiling fuel to push prices higher still, as he too tries to earn enough to live. Gulf Times Friday, June 16, 2017 15 COMMENT Child ‘marriage’ is child labour Millions of girls are excluded from the ILO tallies because the men who robbed them of their childhoods – and put them to work – first married them By Ruth Messinger and Seth Earn/ IRIN New York C ountless underage girls around the world are being forced to work long, punishing hours. They’re cooking, cleaning, and caring for young children. They’re being denied education, access to future employment, and agency over their own bodies and lives. Every day, older men are raping these children, enslaving them, and violating their fundamental human rights. The plight of these girls is known. They are trapped in illegal child “marriages”. Yet today, they and their work are being ignored – cast aside by the very organisation that has the political clout and powerful reach required to help them. We’re talking about the International Labour Organisation. As a UN agency that operates the world’s largest global programme to end child labour, the ILO is uniquely positioned to attack the problem by marshalling the resources of not just member governments, but also the private sector and unions. According to the ILO’s statistics, there are 168mn child labourers worldwide. The number of girls and boys engaged in child labour under the age of 11 is fairly equal. But by their mid-teens, about four times as many boys as girls are trapped in child labour. Sounds like relatively good news for the girls of the world, right? Wrong. These girls haven’t escaped child labour. They haven’t returned to Child “marriage” is not merely a harmful tradition, it is a violation, a crime perpetrated by a man against a child. their families and enrolled in school. They aren’t free. They’re still captive and they’re still working, but they’ve become invisible – erased from the ILO’s statistics because they’ve become underage, illegal “wives”. Why does the ILO leave these girls out of its tallies, and the associated funding, programming, and support? “Child marriage may not be interpreted as constituting a worst form of child labour for girls, given Weather report Three-day forecast TODAY High: 44 C Low : 30 C Inshore: Hazy to misty / foggy at places at first becomes hot daytime with slight dust at places. SATURDAY High: 45 C Low: 34 C Sunny SUNDAY High: 45 C Low: 34 C definitional primacies,” says the ILO. In essence, the ILO claims that the labour performed by girls in illegal child “marriages” does not qualify as “work”. “Prostitution and pornography are considered among (the worst forms of child labour) as there is a work-related aspect,” the ILO says. “On the other hand, incest and early child marriage, although encompassing forms of sexual exploitation, do not constitute Live issues Lack of vitamin A can be cause of diabetes QNA Stockholm Cloudy Fishermen’s forecast OFFSHORE DOHA Wind: NE-NW 18-25/30 KT Waves: 4-7/10 Feet INSHORE DOHA Wind: NW-NE 05-15/18 KT Waves: 1-3/4 Feet Around the region Abu Dhabi Baghdad Dubai Kuwait City Manama Muscat Riyadh Tehran Weather today Sunny Sunny Sunny Sunny Sunny Sunny Sunny Cloudy Max/min 39/33 41/27 43/32 47/32 41/32 37/33 46/28 35/23 Weather tomorrow Sunny Sunny Sunny Sunny Sunny Sunny Sunny Sunny Max/min 38/33 43/28 42/31 46/32 41/33 41/33 45/29 36/23 Weather tomorrow M Sunny Sunny P Cloudy Cloudy Sunny P Cloudy T Storms T Storms T Storms P Cloudy P Cloudy S T Storms M Sunny P Cloudy Max/min 30/20 27/24 36/26 22/12 38/23 14/08 29/26 31/26 29/27 28/19 32/24 33/29 28/17 33/26 Around the world Athens Beirut Bangkok Berlin Cairo Cape Town Colombo Dhaka Hong Kong Istanbul Jakarta Karachi London Manila Weather today S Showers Sunny M Sunny S Showers Sunny M Sunny T Storms T Storms T Storms Sunny S T Storms Cloudy P Cloudy M Sunny Max/min 31/19 27/23 36/26 20/12 37/23 18/12 29/26 29/26 30/28 27/18 31/24 33/29 24/14 34/27 R esearchers have found that vitamin A may be crucial to the insulin-secreting function of beta cells, a discovery that could open the door to new treatments for diabetes. Type 2 diabetes accounts for around 90 to 95% of all diagnosed cases, and this arises when the beta cells of the pancreas fail to produce enough insulin – the hormone that regulates blood glucose – or when the body is no longer able to use insulin effectively. Type 1 diabetes, which accounts for the remaining 5% of cases, occurs when the immune system destroys beta cells, hampering insulin production. In a new study, researchers from the United Kingdom and Sweden discovered that there are large quantities of vitamin A receptors on the surface of beta cells, called GPRC5C. The researchers partially blocked GPRC5C in these beta cells. When sugar was applied to these cells, the team found that their insulinsecreting ability decreased by almost 30%. The researchers believe that this finding indicates that a lack of vitamin A – found in liver, fish oils, and various fruits and vegetables – may play a role in the disease. What is more, the team discovered that a lack of vitamin A led to a reduction in beta cells’ ability to stave off inflammation, while a complete deficiency of vitamin A caused beta cells to die. While these findings indicate that vitamin A may be beneficial for diabetes, the researchers stress that increasing the intake of this vitamin, particularly through supplements, may be too risky. They note that excess vitamin A levels have been associated with osteoporosis and other health problems. However, they say that it is unlikely that one could get too much vitamin A from dietary sources alone. Still, the team is now on the hunt for small molecules or peptides that can activate GPRC5C on the surface beta cells, but which do not cause the side effects associated with vitamin A. (worst forms of child labour).” The ILO also makes this distinction: chores performed by a child in a third-party household, whether paid or unpaid, qualify as work; household chores performed in one’s own household do not. The agency says illegal child “wives” are doing household chores in their own homes. But to treat the home of her “spouse” as the child’s own home is indefensible. She can’t consent to the illegal “marriage” or the nature of her living arrangement. Calling the household her legal home is akin to calling a kidnapper’s household his victim’s valid home. Look at other criteria the ILO uses for child labour – as well as hazardous work and the worst forms of child labour – and you’ll see it matches up with the conditions of child “marriage”. Does the work done by the child in the “marriage” interfere with her schooling? Yes. Does it unreasonably confine the child to the premises of her employer? Yes. Could the work result in the child’s injury, illness, or death? Yes. Does the work expose the child to physical, psychological, and sexual abuse? Yes, yes, and yes. Yet every year, millions of girls are excluded from the ILO tallies because the men who robbed them of their childhoods – and put them to work – first married them. These girls are used as roundthe-clock domestic servants, habitually raped, and deprived of their childhoods, their potential, and their dignity. They face serious dangers, including an increased likelihood of contracting HIV because they don’t have access to contraception or they fear asking their older “husbands” to use it. These girls face an elevated risk of early childbirth that can lead to death. Men are breaking the law, and the UN is breaking its promise to fight all forms of discrimination against women and girls. Child “marriage” is not merely a harmful tradition, nor a ritual that simply happens too early. It is not a condition, like abject poverty. It is a violation, a crime perpetrated by a man against a child. It is a complete violation of a girl’s human rights. And it is child labour in its worst form. To turn a blind eye is to endorse the practice. The UN has called for ending all forms of child labour by 2025. But that’s not possible unless all child labourers are counted. The statistics matter; they indicate who needs help and who should and will get it. And the ILO is enormously powerful. Bringing together member states, trade unions, and the private sector to work on the issue of child “marriage” would provide an entirely new perspective from which to combat this scourge. So now it’s time for the ILO to include illegal child “wives” in its data – and to use the agency’s considerable power to find funding, offer support, hold perpetrators accountable, and ensure the labour of millions of girls is no longer ignored. 16 Gulf Times Friday, June 16, 2017 QATAR New species of crab found in Qatar waters A research team from the Marine Biology Cluster at Qatar University Environmental Science Center (QU-ESC) has discovered a new species of crab during an exploration trip on the research vessel Janan. The trip aimed to investigate marine benthic biodiversity within the Qatar Marine Zone. Named “Coleusia janani”, the new crab has never been collected or identified within Qatar’s waters or elsewhere. The small crab of 13.6mm inhabits a gravel/ mud substrate associated with the oyster bed ecosystem. It has a bright orange and grey shell with two pairs of orange/red outlined circles on each side of the shell. The legs and pinchers are white with orange bands. The investigation is a QU-funded project. ESC Marine Operations and Logistics manager Dr Ibrahim Abdullatif al-Maslamani noted that the new discovery will definitely lead to new research as it highlights shortcomings in the current taxonomic descriptive identification keys and species lists of the Leucosiidae family of crabs in the Arabian Gulf. “The discovery of Coleusia janani within the Arabian Gulf should trigger a revision of the Leucosiidae family of crabs in the region. This discovery underlines the gap in the taxonomic descriptions of the marine benthic environment and its associated species within the Qatar Marine Coleusia janani Dr Ibrahim Abdullatif al-Maslamani Zone. It also represents a new species to science which is considerably exciting.” Dr al-Maslamani reiterated that the new discovery aligns with QU’s commitment to study the marine environment and Qatar’s territorial sea. “QU has always taken the lead in efforts to meet the requirements for marine studies with the acquisition of the sophisticated research vessel, Janan and other powerful survey assets like speed boats, Remotely Operated Vehicles, and advanced analytical facilities. Additionally, QU’s marine science programme has produced many graduates whose contribution to Qatar’s marine conservation efforts will be invaluable.” ESC director Dr Hamad alKuwari said: “This new discovery adds value to the research achievements of QU researchers. We are delighted that this finding Aspire Academy, TFQ sign exchange agreement has been recorded by Janan, QU’s state-of-the-art marine research vessel. Field trips on the Janan to various ESC marine project sites help our students to better understand the concepts of ocean science and biological and environmental science studies.” Dr Hamad al-Kuwari MIA celebrates Garangao A spire Academy and Teach For Qatar (TFQ) yesterday signed a new two-year partnership agreement that will take effect this summer. TFQ will hone the skills of young teachers in Qatar as part of its Summer Institute and Camp Qatar, preparing them for a role at Aspire Academy in the new academic year. The agreement also facilitates the exchange of knowledge and expertise between Aspire Academy and TFQ, which will aid the development of sports and academic excellence in Qatar. The signatories were Aspire Academy director general Ivan Bravo and TFQ CEO Nasser al-Jaber. Aspire Academy deputy director general Ali Salem Afifa, Education and Student Affairs director Badr al-Hay, School principal Jassem al-Jaber, Corporate Services director Ali Sultan Fakhroo, and TFQ’s Recruitment, Selection and Matriculation head Khalid Omar Yassin were also present. Speaking at the signing ceremony, Bravo said the Sum- Officials of Aspire Academy and Teach for Qatar at the agreement signing ceremony yesterday. mer Institute and Camp Qatar initiatives will elevate teaching expertise in Qatar, increase teacher numbers, and engage more people in the education process. Al-Jaber said the new partnership will play a vital role in enhancing the training expe- rience for the young teachers enrolled in the summer programme. TFQ forms part of the initiative led by HE Sheikha Hind bint Hamad al-Thani that provides niche, innovative solutions to Qatar’s education challenges. TFQ recruits the country’s young leaders to take part in a rigorous teacher-training programme and two-year teaching placement in one of the country’s schools. TFQ is the 32nd member of the Teach for All Network, recognised as one of the world’s 100 strongest NGOs in 2013 by the Global Journal. Dozens of children and families visited the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) last week to celebrate Garangao, a traditional children’s event celebrated after the breaking of the fast on the 14th night of Ramadan. MIA hosted an evening of fun activities, including storytelling and traditional gift giving for children. The museum is offering a variety of experiences and activities in celebration of the holy month, including talks and lectures, Ramadan lantern-making, weaving rugs out of paper and the MIA bazaar. Mah Jong charity auction proceeds to help initiative for orphans A n estimated QR138,725 was raised at a charity auction held recently, with the organisers saying the final amount will be confirmed soon as the bidders have up to seven days to proceed with the payment. On the occasion of Ramadan and under the patronage of Sheikh Dr Hassan bin Mohamed bin Ali al-Thani, premium French furniture design brand Roche Bobois held the “Qatari Art Meets the Mah Jong” charity auction in collaboration with AlBahie Auction House to raise funds for Rofaqa, a Qatar Charity initiative that provides an integrated care programme for orphaned children around the world. Twelve Qatar-based artists “freely and totally re-imagined” one of the most iconic pieces of the French house — the Mah Jong sofa, according to a press statement. The 12 pieces of art went under the hammer on the evening of June 7. The artists are Ahmed al-Bahrani, Ahmed alMusaifri, Amal al-Aathem, Hasa Kala, Ismail Azzam, Mohamed Abouelnaga, Monera al-Meer, Nadia al-Meer, Nour Abuissa, Sabah Arbilli, Salman al-Malik and Yousef Ahmed. A press preview and private viewing was held on May 31 at AlBahie Auction House. Qatar-based artists “freely and totally re-imagined” one of the most iconic pieces of the French house — the Mah Jong sofa An exhibition of the artworks was open to the public from June 1 until June 6. “Following the success of similar events in Mexico, the US, the UK, Spain, Brussels, Kazakhstan and more recently Hong Kong and Beirut, Qatar has now put its own spin on the project,” the statement noted. All funds raised will be used to support the Rofaqa initiative, which aims to develop an advanced integrated care programme for orphans around the world, including social, educational, health and psychological care of orphans worldwide. Nicolas Roche, creative director of Roche Bobois, said: “It’s been fascinating to see the variety of approaches and ideas to come from such a talented group of artists.” Rami El Natsha, deputy MD of Tivoli Group of Companies, business partner of Roche Bobois in Qatar, added: “We’re delighted to be supporting Rofaqa, a Qatar Charity initiative that provides care to orphans worldwide.” Ashraf Abu Issa, chairman & CEO of Abu Issa Holding and co-founder of AlBahie Auction House, noted: “AlBahie Auction House is pleased to host Roche Bobois and Qatar Charity for this unique collaboration of Qatari artists and majlis-style sofas.” Abdulsalam Abu Issa, Nabil Abu Issa, Rami El Natsha, Ashraf Abu Issa and Mohamed Abu Issa.