Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani met at his office in Al Bahr Palace yesterday with former president of the Republic of Turkey, Abdullah Gul, who called on the Emir to greet him on the occasion of his visit to Qatar. Talks dealt with a number of issues of mutual interest.

Barshim leads Team Qatar as London show begins

Sterling skids to 9-month low against euro

Get our best rates with the new Flexi cardAll-in-one card: Local data, local and international calls.

Terms and Condition apply

BUSINESS | 11 SPORT | 19

Volume 22 | Number 7243 | 2 RiyalsFriday 4 August 2017 | 12 Dhul-Qa’Da 1438 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

3rd Best News Website in the Middle East

Dr Ali bin Sumaikh Al Marri says latest statistics of the National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) reveal 318 violations were committed by Saudi Arabia regarding the suffering of separated families and its reflection on the rights of children and women, followed by Bahrain (195), and the UAE (63).

QNA

The Minister of Economy and Com-merce, H E Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani stressed that the current crisis rep-resents a new stage in consolidating

Qatar’s position on the world economic map and achieving its independence and economic security. The Minister was speaking at the opening ceremony of the programme for the Qatari delegation in the Turkish city of Izmir, in the presence of the Minister of Economy of the Republic of Turkey, Nihat Zeybekci, along with an elite of private sector repre-sentatives from both countries.

The Minister stressed that the Qatari

economy has proved its strength and stead-fastness in the face of the global economic challenges that have extended to major econ-omies of the developed countries, pointing out that Qatar was able, under the wise directives of the wise leadership, to break the siege within hours through activation of its strategies and proactive plans that have been in place for many years to address any local or global cri-ses. Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani highlighted the combined efforts being exerted by the public and private sec-tors by increasing the local product and opening new channels with Qatar’s various trading partners around the world.

Qatar has succeeded in maintaining the con-tinuous flow of products to the local market at the same pace that ensured that there is no shortage of any consumer goods or other prod-ucts, the Minister said, pointing out that the huge natural resources of the State built on the rev-enues of gas exports have played an important role in supporting the strength of the economy and helping it withstand the arbitrary measures taken by the siege countries, which constitute a violation of all international laws, conven-tions and customs.

→ See also page 3

Crisis consolidates Qatar’s position on world economic map

QNA

Chairman of the National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) Dr Ali bin Sumaikh Al

Marri revealed that the violations committed by the UAE with regard to the right to property since the beginning of the siege on the State of Qatar amounted to 320.

Al Marri said that the huge number of violations against Qatari owners of properties and companies in the siege countries, especially the UAE, confirms the absence of a safe legislative environment for investors. This came during a symposium organised by the Oxford Gulf and Ara-bian Peninsula Studies Forum at the British Parliament in London in the presence of diplomats, members of the UK House of Lords, representa-tives of think tanks, media professionals and academics.

Al Marri said that no country has the right to threaten the interests of

the individuals, close down compa-nies, confiscate properties, prevent money transfers and lay off work-ers or commit other violations on the grounds of political differences. He pointed out that Saudi violations of the right to property were more than the violations of the UAE in terms of the number which reached 596 complaints, most of which were related to the livestock of the Qatari citizens in Saudi Arabia.

But in the UAE, which is posi-tioning itself as the first investment destination in the region, violations of right to property were horren-dous, which has have shaken corporate confidence in its invest-ment environment, he added.

Dr Ali bin Sumaikh Al Marri also touched on the suffering of sepa-rated families and its reflection on the rights of children and women, pointing out that the latest statistics of the NHRC revealed in this regard that 318 violations were committed

by Saudi Arabia, while Bahrain com-mitted 195 violations, and the UAE 63 violations. He said that the vio-lations that affected the common families were the most serious since the beginning of the siege, as they have directly affected the social fab-ric of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries where the lineages are highly intertwined. This has nega-tively affected the rights of women and children and has caused severe psychological suffering that is diffi-cult to treat in the short term.

Qatar’s siege is a collective pun-ishment of Gulf peoples and targets the prevalent social values in the Gulf region. He noted that the siege coun-tries have imposed these sanctions and threatened more of them as they escalate the crisis, adding that it con-stitutes a clear violation of human rights and further violations of inter-national conventions and treaties.

→ Continued on page 2

NHRC chief: Siege a collective punishment that targets social values in Gulf region

Minister of Economy and Commerce H E Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani (second left) attending the Turkey-Qatar B2B meeting at the Swiss Hotel Grand Efes in Izmır, Turkey, yesterday. Also seen are Turkish Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci (second right), Qatar’s Ambassador to Turkey, Salem bin Mubarak Al Shafi (right), and Governor of Izmir, Erol Ayyildiz.

Paris

AFP

Brazil star Neymar com-pleted his world record transfer to Qatari-owned

Paris Saint-Germain yesterday when he signed a five-year con-tract, the French club announced.

The 25-year-old Brazilian

earlier broke his contract with Barcelona by paying a ¤222m ($264m, £201m) buyout clause. “I am extremely happy to join Paris Saint-Germain,” said Ney-mar in comments posted on the English language version of the club’s website.

“Since I arrived in Europe, the club has always been one of the most competitive and most

ambitious. And the biggest chal-lenge, what most motivated me to join my new teammates is to help the club to conquer the titles that their fans want. “From today, I will do everything I can to help my new teammates, to open up new horizons for my club and to bring happiness to its millions of supporters around the world.” They have cancelled coach Unai

Emery’s press conference which had been scheduled for later in the day. Neymar will then be pre-sented to the club’s supporters on Saturday afternoon ahead of their opening game of the new Ligue 1 season against newly pro-moted Amiens. “It is with immense joy and pride that we welcome Neymar Jr to Paris Saint-Germain,” said PSG

president Nasser Al Khelaifi in the club’s statement. “Neymar Jr is today one of the very best players in world football. His winning mentality, strength of character and sense of leader-ship have made him into a great player. He will bring a very pos-itive energy to this club.”

→ See also page 16

The huge natural resources have played an important role in supporting the strength of the Qatari economy and helping it withstand the arbitrary measures taken by the siege countries, says Minister of Economy and Commerce, H E Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani.

Turkey sends 221

cargo-planes of daily

use items to QatarAnatolia

TURKEY asked Qatar, which has been under a blockade by Arab countries since June, to join hands for sustainable food production, the Turkish economy minister said. Nihat Zeybekci, proposed that Turkey, instead of sending finished goods to Qatar, could send raw materi-als, which Qatar could process at its own plants. “Production could start in Turkey but continue there in Qatar,” he said, speaking at a Turkey-Qatar busi-ness forum in western Turkish province of Izmir. Turkey has sent a total of 221 cargo-planes of daily use items to Qatar after the blockade, the minister said.

Neymar signs five-year contract with PSG

eam

East

Emir meets former Turkish president

02 FRIDAY 4 AUGUST 2017HOME

Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani sent yesterday a written message to President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades, pertaining to bilateral relations and means of developing them. Ambassador of Qatar to the Republic of Cyprus, Sultan bin Ibrahim Al Mahmoud, handed over the message during a meeting with Anastasiades yesterday.

Message to Cyprus President

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs H E Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi met Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Macedonia, Arta Toci, during his visit to the country, yesterday. They discussed bilateral relations and means of enhancing them.

Muraikhi meets Macedonian MinisterNU-Q presents research projects at US journalism conferenceThe Peninsula

NU-Q faculty, staff, and a student are present-ing a series of research

projects at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) conference, which is held annually in the US.

“As the largest and most prestigious organisation for journalism and mass commu-nication scholars, the AEJMC provides NU-Q with an opportunity to present the work being done by our fac-ulty, staff, and students to a global audience,” said Ever-ette E. Dennis, dean and CEO. “Each year, we also have the opportunity to present our annual study on the use of media in the Middle East.”

Dennis will address a session at the conference on “The Life and Legacy of Melvin L DeFleur,” discuss-i n g h i s l o n g t i m e collaboration with DeFleur, a renowned media scholar. Dennis and DeFleur co-authored a leading text titled Understanding Mass Com-munication for more than 30 years.

This year’s session on the media study - Five Years of Media Use & Public Opinion in the Arab Region: Findings and Reflections from a Mul-tinational Longitudinal Survey – will be moderated by NU-Q’s Senior Associate Dean Klaus Schoenbach and will feature NU-Q Professor Justin D Martin and Marium Saeed, research study coordinator.

The study, which will be released in September, exam-ines media use patterns, content preferences, and atti-tudes toward issues such as censorship, freedom of speech, and cultural preser-vation across the region. Over the years, the studies have achieved widespread recognition.

Dr Al Kawari meets Mauritius President

Port Louis

QNA

President of Mauritius, Ameenah Gurib, met yesterday with H E Dr Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al Kawari, Adviser at

the Emiri Diwan and Qatar’s candidate for the post of Direc-tor-General at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco).

During the meeting, Dr Al Kawari conveyed the greetings of Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to the Mauri-tian President and his wishes for more progress and prosperity for Mauritius.

President Gurib entrusted Dr Al Kawari to convey her greet-ings to the Emir, wishing him good health and happiness and the Qatari people further growth and prosperity. She also expressed her aspirations of developing relations between the two friendly countries at all levels.

During the meeting, Dr Al Kawari presented to President Gurib a detailed explanation of his vision for the advancement of Unesco, saying that his

campaign started more than two years ago and he has visited most member countries of the Unesco’s Executive Council and other nations, where he listened to the leaders. He also told her that Africa has a special place in his vision and that he is well aware of its importance.

He also explained to her the severe financial crisis faced by the organisation, which he regards as political rather than financial. He pointed out that it is important to return to consen-sus on the decisions to achieve the advancement of Unesco.

He also reviewed his plan to establish a fund for small projects, support education and science, pay attention to herit-age and strengthen the status of women and young people.

President Gurib wished Qatar’s candidate success.

On the other hand, Dr Al Kawari met with Minister of Education in Mauritius. They talked about the importance of quality education. She praised Qatar’s experience in the field of education and hailed Qatar Foundation’s experience in host-ing international universities.

She also expressed her desire to promote cooperation between the two friendly coun-tries in this field and in programmes implemented by Qatar in the service of education in the world, in particular the ‘Educate a Child’ programme, which provides educational opportunity for millions of chil-dren in the world in cooperation with Unesco.

President of Mauritius, Ameenah Gurib, with H E Dr Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al Kawari, yesterday.

Dr Al Kawari presented to President Gurib a detailed explanation of his vision for the advancement of Unesco.

‘Siege nations violated right to education multiple times’

Continued from page 1The Chairman of the

National Human Rights Com-mittee (NHRC), Dr Ali bin Smaikh Al Marri said the siege countries excessively violated human rights as if living alone in this world, adding that they violate human rights under a political cover.

In this regard, he asked that civilians be spared any repercussions that negatively affect the rights guaranteed to them by international conven-tions to achieve small political gains.

Dr Al Marri called on the rights committees in the UK par-liament and active human rights groups in the United Kingdom to help in pointing out the vio-lations of the siege countries due to their politicaldifferences with Qatar on all international plat-forms, notably the Human Rights Council.

The NHRC chairman high-lighted the situation of workers in Qatar who were affected by the siege, particularly those who are GCC citizens and were forced to leave their jobs in

Doha, in addition to 850 work-ers who are employees of Qatari nationals in Saudi Arabia. Dr Al Marri also discussed the suffer-ing of students who were expelled from universities and deprived from writing their exams in a clear violation of uni-versity accreditation law.

In this aspect, he pointed to the NHRC statistics, which indicate that Saudi Arabia vio-lated the right to education 48 times, the UAE 120 times and Bahrain 27 times.

He added that the violation of the right to practicing reli-gious rituals were all by Saudi Arabia as the crisis coincided with the beginning of Ramadan and continued until the hajj season, noting that these

violations stand at 144 so far affecting cit izens and residents.

The NHRC chairman said this is an “extremely sensitive” issue that prompted the com-mittee to address the international concerned entities to look into the violations of the right to religion and faith.

He stressed that the NHRC will carry on its regional and international efforts to lift the harm and unfairness that affected Qatari citizens and all those under the legal jurisdic-tion of Qatar, whether GCC nationals or expatriates. He added that the committee will continue to follow up on the immediate and future conse-quences of these violations.

Awareness week encourages breastfeedingThe Peninsula

To mark World Breastfeed-ing Week, Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) is

encouraging more women to exclusively breastfeed their babies.

Each year during the first week of August, HMC supports the global network of individu-als and organisations working to raise awareness about the importance of breastfeeding babies from birth up to the age of two. The theme for the week this year is: ‘Sustaining Breast-feeding Together’.

Dr Amal Abu Bakr Arbab, Lactation Consultant and Lead for the Baby-Friendly Hospital

Initiative at Women’s Hospital, said that breastfeeding is the normal way of providing young infants with the nutrients, anti-bodies, enzymes, and substances they need for healthy growth and development.

“Virtually all mothers can breastfeed, provided they have accurate information, and the support of their family, the healthcare system and society at large. Through our event, we will ensure women are empowered and have the right information and practical help to understand how to successfully breastfeed their babies,” she said.

She added that colostrum, the yellowish, sticky breast milk produced at the end of

pregnancy, is hailed by the WHO as the perfect food for newborns. The organisation recommends that feeding should be initiated within the first hour after birth.

According to the WHO, breastfeeding is one of the most effective ways to ensure child health and survival. If every child was breastfed within an hour of birth, given only breast milk for their first six months of life, and continued breastfeeding up to the age of two years, about 800,000 child lives would be saved every year.

To raise awareness of the benefits of exclusive breastfeed-ing during World Breastfeeding Week, HMC’s maternity

facilities will be conducting events for both staff and patients. As part of the activities, the

Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department at Al Wakra Hospi-tal is organising an awareness campaign, featuring educational workshops and lectures in Eng-lish and Arabic to highlight the significance of breastfeeding and its impact on the health of mother and child as well as the difficulties that breastfeeding women can face.

In addition, Women’s Hos-pital will conduct a public awareness and patient educa-tion event for pregnant women, new mothers, and their families.

During the event, the spe-cialised breastfeeding team will provide one-on-one breastfeed-ing education and counseling.

A mother cuddling her baby.

Commander visits Turkish frigate

Commander of Qatari Emiri Naval Forces Major General Mohammed

Nasser Al Mohannadi paid yes-terday a visit to Turkish frigate

TCG Gokova, which is partici-pating in naval manoeuvres between the State of Qatar and Turkey, Qatar News Agency reported.

03FRIDAY 4 AUGUST 2017 HOME / MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

Qatar & Turkey enjoy unique fraternal ties: Minister QNA

The Minister of Economy and Commerce, H E Sheikh Ahmed bin Jas-sim bin Mohammed Al Thani, highlighted

Qatar’s keenness to continue business transactions with its major trading partners and the rest of the world, stressing that the Qatari economy will not be affected by the illegal measures taken by only 4 countries on the commercial level.

Qatar has been able to over-come various challenges of the export movement and the move-ment of ports and airports and maintained the continuity of development and growth of all economic sectors, the Minster said, adding that Qatar is one of the largest producers and exporters of natural gas in the world and has the world’s largest fleet of LNG carriers. The Minister highlighted the significant role of Hamad Port in activating the movement of imports and providing alternatives for the different goods after the arbitrary closure of the state’s only land access.

He said the project is one of the biggest and most important ports in the Middle East and has managed to develop direct lines with a number of strategic ports around the world, adding that Hamad International Airport has also helped in maintaining a con-tinuous passenger and cargo traffic at a normal pace to more than 150 world destinations.

Economic policiesThe Minister stressed that the

successful economic policies of the State of Qatar have enhanced the national economy’s status in the different international reports. Qatar ranked second globally in terms of providing a stable

macroeconomic environment and was eighth in the Economy Per-formance Index, the minister said, adding that Qatar also was 18th on the Global Competitiveness Index 2016, while Qatar’s sover-eign wealth fund is 14th globally boasting 335 billion in assets across the world.

The Minister shed the light on the country’s macroeconomic indices, saying that non-oil sec-tors contribute more than 70 percent of the nominal GDP in 2016 and the Qatari economy pro-vides substantial investment opportunities not only in the field of food security but also in the logistics, sports, tourism and health sectors.

Addressing ties between the State of Qatar and the Republic of Turkey, the Minister said the two countries enjoy unique bilateral and fraternal ties that consolidated and strengthened over decades in the different fields. He added that these ties reflected positively on the volume of trade exchange, which amounted to QR2bn ($547m) in the first half of 2017.

H E Sheikh Ahmed bin Jas-sim bin Mohammed Al Thani said the Republic of Turkey’s support-ive stance for the State of Qatar during the current crisis is an extension of the march of his-toric ties between the two

countries, which deepened in light of the wise leadership of Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and President of the Republic of Turkey, Recep Tayyib Erdogan.

Private sector praisedThe Minister praised the

efforts of the Qatari and Turkish private sector in breaking the ille-gal siege imposed on Qatar by providing high-quality alternatives for several goods, stressing that the Turkish product proved its worth in the Qatari market.

Concluding his speech, The Minister expressed hope that the forum would lead to boosting the volume of trade exchange between the two countries, dis-cussing means of facilitating the flow of Turkish products from the different sectors, and entering into successful strategic and invest-ment partnerships that would consolidate the status of both economies and enhance their abil-ity to tackle any future challenges.

On the sidelines of a pro-gramme held for the Qatari delegation, Minister of Economy and Commerce H E Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani and Minister of Economy of Turkey, Nihat Zeybekci, held a meeting during which they

discussed a bilateral agreement between Qatar and Turkey to increase the flow of trade and investment, facilitate the move-ment of trade and increase the volume of trade exchange between the two countries.

WTO position outlinedThe Minister also explained

Qatar’s position in the World Trade Organization (WTO) and its recent action to lodge a formal complaint with the WTO dispute settlement body against the siege countries for breaching WTO’s laws and basic agreements, espe-cially those related to trade in

goods and services as well as aspects of intellectual property related to trade.

The event, attended by more than 100 businessmen from Qatar, saw a series of meetings between Qatari businessmen and their Turkish counterparts to dis-cuss ways of enhancing trade relations and reviewing invest-ment opportunities available in both countries to establish joint ventures in Turkey or in Qatar. These meetings and bilateral meetings resulted in the signing of a number of agreements and memorandums of understand-ing between Qatari and Turkish

companies in various fields.Qatar Chamber of Commerce

and Industry (QCCI) stressed its keenness to establish close rela-tions with the chambers of commerce in Turkey for the sake of the private sectors in both coun-tries, said Mohammed Mahdi Al Ahbabi, Member of the QCCI Board of Directors, adding that the QCCI has agreements and mem-orandums of understanding with a number of Turkish counterparts, including memorandums of understanding with the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey, and another with Istanbul chamber.

Mutual visitsIn his speech during the open-

ing of the event in the Turkish city of Izmir, Al Ahbabi noted QCCI’s keenness on increasing mutual visits between the Qatari and Turkish sides to discuss the oppor-tunities available in both countries and create partnerships between businessmen from both sides.

He pointed out that the Qatari delegation includes a group of Qatari companies operating in the fields of building materials and construction, foodstuffs, plastic and paper industries, electricity, tools and medicines, which will allow for the signing of coopera-tion agreements between the Qatari and Turkish sides, and cre-ate alliances between businessmen to set up joint projects especially in the health, education, tourism, construction and contracting sectors. Al Ahb-abi pointed out that QCCI encouraged Qatari businessmen to direct their investments to Tur-key due to its attractive investment advantages as well as its strong relations with Qatar, hoping that the meeting will be an opportu-nity to enhance joint cooperation.

The Minister of Economy and Commerce, H E Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani, at the Turkey-Qatar B2B meeting in the Turkish city of Izmir, yesterday.

H E Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani said the Republic of Turkey’s supportive stance for the State of Qatar during the current crisis is an extension of the march of historic ties between the two countries, which deepened in light of the wise leadership of Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and President of the Republic of Turkey, Recep Tayyib Erdogan.

Truce back in Homs after safe zone agreedMoscow

AFP

Syrian regime forces and “moderate” rebels will cease fire in northern parts of Homs

province after Russia struck a deal with the opposition on imple-menting a third safe zone, Moscow said.

“From 1200 local time (0900 GMT), units of the moderate oppo-sition and government forces will completely stop firing,” defence ministry spokesman Igor Konash-enkov said in a statement.

Konashenkov said Moscow and Syrian opposition groups had reached an agreement on the “operational details” of a “de-escalation zone” north of the city of Homs at talks in Cairo on July 31. The zone is the third to be

established in Syria under a Rus-sian-led initiative aimed at halting fighting in four areas between President Bashar Al Assad’s forces and rebels.

It covers 84 towns and villages with a total population of 147,000 people, Moscow said.

Konashenkov said Russian military police will set up two checkpoints and three observa-tion posts today along the boundaries of the zone dividing the two forces.

Rebels had agreed to “unblock” part of a road running through the safe zone between the cities of Homs and Hama and a “Committee for National Justice” made up of rebels and local groups would help oversee the imple-mentation of the plan, he said. The northern parts of Homs province

were recently being shelled by regime forces and hit by intermit-tent air strikes. Towns in the area were among the first to fall to Assad’s opponents in 2012 after a revolt against his rule. They have remained outside the hands of

militant groups including the Islamic State (IS), which do not fall under the Russian deal.

Russia last month struck a deal with the United States and Jordan for a ceasefire in another southern zone, where Moscow has

now deployed its military police. Under a second agreement

sealed with rebels in July Russian forces also set up two checkpoints and four observation posts in an area covering conflict-ravaged Eastern Ghouta near Damascus.

A Syrian girl holds a woman’s hand as she walks down a street in the central Syrian rebel-held town of Talbiseh, north of Homs, yesterday.

Niger President warns of rising birth rateNIAMEY: Niger’s President has sounded the alarm over his country’s world-leading birth rate, labelling the aver-age of over seven children per household a “handi-cap” to development in the impoverished west African nation. Mahamadou Issou-fou said that at the current rate, Niger’s population would more than double by 2035 and hit 75 million by the middle of the century.

“Common sense compels us to reflect now on this future,” he said during a tel-evised address on the 57th anniversary of Niger’s inde-pendence from France.

Sara Netanyahu questioned in fraud probeJERUSALEM: Israeli police grilled Prime Minister Ben-jamin Netanyahu’s wife for two hours on suspicion that she diverted public money for private housekeeping expenses, local media said.

The interrogation came as a new threat loomed over the premier in his own long-run-ning battle with corruption suspicions, as his former chief of staff reportedly considered an offer to turn state’s evidence.

Israeli public radio said Sara Netanyahu was interro-gated at National Fraud Squad headquarters near Tel Aviv over allegations she used public money for personal housekeeping expenses at the couple’s official and private residences.

Al Qaeda releases South African after 6 yearsJohannesburg

AP

Al Qaeda’s North Africa branch has freed a South African man who was

held hostage for six years in Mali and he is now back home, South Africa’s government announced yesterday.

Stephen McGown, who was released on July 25, was the longest-held of a number of for-eigners seized by extremists in Mali, where several armed groups roam the West African country’s north. The extremists have made a fortune over the

last decade abducting foreign-ers in the vast Sahel region and demanding enormous ransoms for their release.

McGown was kidnapped in 2011 at a hostel in Timbuktu, where he had been travelling as a tourist. He also has British cit-izenship. “It was a big surprise when Stephen walked through the door,” his father, Malcolm, told reporters. “He felt as sound and as strong as before.”

South Africa’s minister for international relations, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, said the government does not pay ran-som in hostage situations.

US breaching deal: IranTEHRAN: Iran said yester-day that new US sanctions were a violation of its nuclear deal with world powers, piling pressure on President Hassan Rowhani as he started his sec-ond term.

Rowhani vowed to con-tinue his efforts to end the country’s isolation as he was sworn in by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei fol-lowing his re-election in May.

But the ceremony came less than 24 hours after US President Donald Trump con-firmed fresh sanctions against

Catherine McGowan (second left), wife of Stephen McGowan, with Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane and Malcom McGown, father of Stephen, and Sue Peisier, Stephen’s mother-in-law, in Pretoria, yesterday.

04 FRIDAY 4 AUGUST 2017ISLAM

The very word ‘Islam’ (from the Arabic silm) connotes peace. According to a tradition of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), ‘Peace is Islam’

(Bukhari). This means that peace is one of the prerequisites of Islam. Similarly, a Hadith states: A Muslim is one from whose tongue and hands people are safe.

One of the attributes of God described in the Quran is ‘As-Salam’, which means peace and security.’ That is to say that God’s Being itself is a man-ifestation of peace. Indeed, God is Peace (Bukhari).

In the Quran divine guidance is lik-ened to the paths of peace. (5:16) Similarly, God’s desired religion is called ‘paths of peace’ (5:16). Paradise, the ulti-mate destination of God’s true devotees, is called the ‘home of peace’ (6:127). It is also said that, the people of Paradise will wish peace to one another, indicating that the social culture of the people of Paradise will be based on peace.

The Quran, avers that, ‘reconcilia-tion is best’ (4:128), and judging by the consequences, the way of peace is far better than that of confrontation. By the law of Nature, God has decreed that suc-cess will be met with only on a reconciliatory path, and not on a con-frontational or a violent course of action.

Whenever the Prophet (PBUH) had an option between two courses of action, he always chose the easier (non-con-frontational) one. (Bukhari)

This means that, violent activism should not be indulged in if peaceful activism is an option. For, non-violent activism is the easier course as com-pared to violence. Peaceful activism or Non-violent activism, which should not be confused with passivity, is the per-fect solution to problems in all spheres.

Whenever any problem arises between two groups, be it individual or social, one way to deal with it is to opt for the way of violence and confronta-tion. Another method is to make every attempt, by scrupulously avoiding the path of clash and confrontation, to solve the problem by peaceful means. There are many forms which peaceful means may take; it is, in fact, the exact nature of the problem which tells us which of the peaceful means is to be employed on which occasion.

Islam teaches us non-violence. The Quran tells us that God does not love disorder (2:205).

This verse also clearly states what is meant by disorder. According to the Qur’an, disorder is that course of action, which results in disturbance in the social system incurring loss in terms of life and property (2:205).

We may put it differently and say that certainly God loves non-violence. He does not want people to indulge in such violence in human society as would result in death and destruction.

The entire spirit of the Quran is in tune with this concept. For instance, the Qur’an attaches the greatest of impor-tance to patience. Patience is the only Islamic act, which is promised reward beyond measure (39:10). Patience, in fact, is another name for peaceful

activism, while impatience is another name for violent activism. Patience, in essence, is exactly what is called non-violence in modern times. Patient activism means non-violent activism.

This point has been clearly made in the Traditions. According to one Tradi-tion, the Prophet of Islam (PBUH) observed: God grants to non-violence what he does not grant to violence. (Sunan abi Dawood 4/255)

In this tradition the word ‘rifq’ (gen-tleness) has been used as compared to ‘unf’ (violence). These words denote exactly what is called violence (unf) and non-violence (la unf) in modern times. It bespeaks the eternal superiority of non-violence over violence.

God grants to non-violence what he does not grant to violence. This is no simple statement. It tells us of a very profound reality. It tells us of an eter-nal law of nature. By the very law of nature itself, all bad things are con-nected with violence, while all good things are connected with non-violence. Violent activities breed hatred in soci-ety, while peaceful activities breed love in society. Violence is a source of destruction, while non-violence is a source of construction. Hostility flour-ishes in an atmosphere of violence, while amity flourishes in an atmosphere of non-violence. The way of violence gives rise to negative values, while the

way of non-violence gives rise to pos-itive values. The way of violence embroils people in problems, while the way of non-violence shows people the way to exploit opportunities. To put it briefly, if violence is death, non-vio-lence, as compared to violence, is life.

Both the Quran and Hadith speak of jihad as a very superior act. What is jihad? Jihad means ‘struggle.’ This word is used for non-violent activism as com-pared to violent activism. One clear proof of this is provided by the verse of the Quran which says:

“Do not yield to the unbelievers, but struggle with them by means of it (the Qur’an) most strenuously.” (25:52).

The Quran is no gun or weapon of war. It is a book of ideology. In such a situation asking people to struggle by means of the Qur’an signifies to strive by means of ideology. That is to say, to work hard to conquer people’s hearts and minds by the superior ideology of Islam.

In the light of this Quranic explana-tion, it would be true to say that jihad, in fact, is another name for peaceful activism or non-violent activism, that is to say, if qital is violent activism, jihad is non-violent activism.

The greatest problem facing Islam in present times, to my way of think-ing, is that Muslims have consigned the sunnah of non-violence to oblivion. In

more recent times, when Muslims faced such problems as that of Palestine, the fall of the Mughal empire, and the Turk-ish caliphate, they fell prey to negative reaction on such a large scale that they completely forgot that the policy of Islam was that of non-¬violence and not of violence. It is as a result of this deviation from the teachings of Islam that even after a I00-year long bloody war, there has been no positive out-come. The outcome has, in fact, been the reverse. They have lost to an inde-scribable and unimaginable extent what still remained to them after losing their empires.

According to Imam Malik, this ummah will be reformed in its last phase just as was done in its first phase. That is to say, that just as the issues of the first phase of Muslims were settled by the non-violent method, so will the issues of latter day Muslims be settled likewise. If a violent course of action did not yield any benefit in the past, nei-ther will it do so in future. The circumstances of present day Muslims resemble those that prevailed at the time of Hudaybiya. Today once again the unbelievers are guilty of bigotry (48:26).

The solution to this problem in the first phase lay in the Muslims’ refusal to display bigotry by not falling prey to the psychology of reaction but rather

adhering strictly to the path of taqwa (righteousness) since that would enti-tle them to divine succour and a clear victory (48:26).

The Quraysh, who enjoyed the posi-tion of leadership in Arabia, were bent on waging war at the time of the Huday-biya treaty. The Kabah was in their possession. They had expelled the Prophet (PBUH) and his companions from their own homeland. They had taken possession of Muslims’ homes and properties. They ceaselessly engaged in antagonistic activities against Islam.

Given this state of affairs, the Mus-lims had two options before them. One, to wage war with their opponents in the name of putting an end to persecution and securing their rights. This option would certainly have resulted in fur-ther loss in terms of lives and resources. The second option was to exercise patience on the question of political and material loss for the time being and to exploit the opportunities that still existed. The Prophet of Islam (PBUH) and his companions chose the second option. The result was splendid: within just a few years the history of the whole country underwent a revolution and the whole of Arabia was Islamized, what the Quran calls a ‘clear victory’. (48:1)

There is great guidance for us in this sunnah of the Prophet (PBUH). Careful study shows that in present times we are faced with the same state of affairs as prevailed at the time of Hudaybiya in the first phase of the Islamic revolu-tion. Here the Prophet’s (PBUH) sunnah shows us the way to follow this pro-phetic policy in today’s circumstances and be held deserving by God of a ‘clear victory’ once again.

The incident of Hudaybiya is not simply a chapter of past history. It is a living historical example. It tells believ-ers in every age as to which course in controversial situations is a sure guar-antee of success. This involves refraining from making a controversial matter into one of prestige, rather try-ing to seek a solution in the spirit of taqwa (God¬-fearing spirit). The Huday-biya principle is not jut a sunnah in the simple sense of the word. Rather it is an eternal law of nature. If this law were to be put into practice not only by Mus-lims but also by non-Muslim nations, they would reap the same benefits in their respective fields.

One example of this is provided by modern Japan. By the time of the Sec-ond World War Japan was of the view that it could fulfill its national goals by means of military action. But it suffered a severe defeat in this war. Its economy was destroyed. After the war, a new thinking surfaced amongst the Japanese. Removing themselves from the field of war and confrontation they centered all their efforts on the fields of educa-tion, commerce and industry. The result of this change was that an annihilated Japan could stand up once again and become an international economic power. Peaceful activism is the sunnah of the Prophet of Islam (PBUH). He prac-ticed it throughout his life.

http://islam101.net

The power of peace in Islam

Islam is a continuation of the message received by previ-ous prophets, such as Noah,

Abraham, David, Moses and Jesus (peace be upon them all). Therefore, the Quran maintains the pure teachings of previous revelations, including the Torah and the Gospel. The Quran describes that all the prophets taught people to believe in the One God, the Creator. The mes-sengers also instructed them to spend their lives with God-con-sciousness, doing good deeds and avoiding sins. Moreover, they warned their fellow humans of accountability in the afterlife, a subject which the Quran returns to again and again.

Since its revelation, the Quran has remained preserved in its exact, primary text. While numerous translations of the Quran exist, they are all based on the single, original Arabic

script, making the Quran unique from previous scriptures in its pure authenticity.

Quran’s MessageThe distinctive approach of

the Quran is that its spiritual message includes practical injunctions aimed at the general welfare of individuals, society and the environment in which we live. The Quran’s message is eternal and universal, tran-scending our differences in race, colour, ethnicity and national-ity. It provides guidance on every facet of human life – from economics and the ethics of trade to marriage, divorce, parenting, gender issues and inheritance.

Monotheism is a prominent theme of the Quran, affirming that God is One without any partners. In a concisely-worded Quranic chapter, God com-mands, “Say, ‘He is God the One,

God the eternal. He begot no one nor was He begotten. No one is comparable to Him’” (112:1-4). [Read more: Belief in One God]

A foundational message in the Quran is its emphasis on righteous conduct built on firm belief and love for God. The Quran acknowledges human desires while reminding individ-uals to cultivate their souls. In addition, God calls on humans to use their intellect and reflect on the world around them. The Quran encourages humankind to recognize the signs of God’s existence in the precise order of the universe and the careful placement of every object in the total scheme of creation.

As Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam), former British pop star, has expressed, “Everything made so much sense. This is the beauty of the Quran; it asks you to reflect and reason… When I read the Quran further, it talked about

prayer, kindness and charity. I was not a Muslim yet, but I felt the only answer for me was the Quran and God had sent it to me.”

Quran’s preservationMuslims believe that God

sent many revelations to humanity throughout history, and over time they underwent changes from their original form. However, God chose to preserve His message to human-ity in His final revelation, the Quran. Yet, one might wonder, which evidence supports the claim that the Quran has never been modified?

The Quran was revealed to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) over a period of 23 years. The unique rhythmic style of the Quran made it easy to memorise, which has been the main source of its preservation. Moreover, since Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) could not

read or write, he appointed scribes to record the Quran as it was being revealed to him. Thus, the complete Quran was not only memorised by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and many of his companions, but it also existed in its entirety in written form during his lifetime.

Within a year after Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) death, a manuscript of the entire Quran was assembled by a committee led by his chief scribe, who fol-lowed stringent criteria to safeguard against any errors. This copy was approved unan-imously by Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) compan-ions, including hundreds that had memorised the entire Quran. Eventually, several cop-ies of the Quran were compiled in book form and distributed to the major Muslim cities. One such copy is currently at the museum in Tashkent and a

facsimile of it, produced in 1905, is available in the Columbia Uni-versity Library.

The process of memorisa-tion began during Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) life and is still emphasised by Muslims to this day. In his book, An Introduc-tion to Hadith, John Burton explains that oral transmission through the generations aids pres-ervation by diminishing reliance solely on written records. Manu-scripts which are not protected through memorisation can be altered, edited or lost overtime. However, a book that is commit-ted to memory by millions of people across the world over cen-turies cannot be changed due to the amount of people who know it word-for-word. God promises in the Quran, “We have, without doubt, sent down the Message; and We will assuredly Guard it from corruption.” (15:9).

www.whyislam.org

Holy Quran remains unique from previous scriptures

The incident of Hudaybiya is not simply a chapter of past history. It is a living historical example. It tells believers in every age as to which course in controversial situations is a sure guarantee of success. This involves refraining from making a controversial matter into one of prestige, rather trying to seek a solution in the spirit of taqwa (God-fearing spirit).

05FRIDAY 4 AUGUST 2017 ASIA

SC refuses to stay NOTA option in Gujarat RS poll NEWS BYTES

SHILLONG: Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma yes-terday removed Prestone Tynsong and Sniawbhalang Dhar from his Council of Ministers and announced the induction of two new Ministers. Sangma called on Governor Banwar-ilal Purohit at Raj Bhavan here and informed him about his plan to induct Comingone Ymbon and Celestine Lyngdoh as Ministers, a Raj Bhavan official said. Ymbon and Lyngdoh confirmed that they will be sworn in at 10.30am today by Governor Purohit.

Two Meghalaya ministers sacked

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Two CPI-M leaders in Kerala yesterday criticised party General Secretary Sitaram Yechury for keeping silent after the West Bengal unit agreed to back him to get re-elected to the Rajya Sabha. The two leaders, including a member of the Kerala assembly, targeted Yechury at a two-day meeting of the party’s state committee that will end today. Communist Party of India-Marxist rules do not allow anyone to get three terms to the Rajya Sabha. The issue came up when the Central Committee decision not to field Yechury a third time was reported to the meeting by polit-buro member S. Ramachandran Pillai.

Yechury under fire at CPM meeting

CHANDIGARH: Taking the liberty of staying connected with the world while teaching can prove costly for government school teachers in Haryana. The Education Department yesterday announced that teachers won’t be allowed to carry mobile phones to classrooms. Fresh guidelines issued by the Education Department could put teachers and school heads in the dock if they carry or use mobile phones in classrooms. Outlining the guidelines, an official spokesman said here that “henceforth no teacher shall take mobile phone to the classroom.

Haryana bars teachers from using cellphones in class

New Delhi

IANS

The Supreme Court yester-day refused to stay an Election Commission noti-

fication to introduce the “None of the Above” (NOTA) option for the coming Rajya Sabha election in Gujarat.

A bench of Justice Dipak Misra, Justice Amitava Roy and Justice A.M. Khanwilkar refused to stay the notification. However, they issued a notice to the poll

panel for September 13 to exam-ine the constitutional validity of the notification.

“Why did you (petitioner) move the court so late? When it suited you, you did not come. You come here on the eve of elections,” said the bench ques-tioning the delay in filing the petition against NOTA.

The court said the Election Commission issued a notifica-tion in January 2014 and another circular in 2015. “You did not act upon it because it was not

prejudice to you, so you remained silent.”

The order came on a plea filed by the Chief whip of the Congress in the Gujarat Assem-bly, Shailesh Manubhai Parmar, who moved the court seeking quashing of the August 1 noti-fication introducing NOTA for the August 8 election in Gujarat.

After the court refused to stay the notification, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Parmar, said that including

NOTA in this election would “encourage corruption”.

“Including NOTA will encourage corruption. It’s a rec-ipe for corruption. If you don’t stay the notification on NOTA, it will let people purchase votes,” Sibal earlier told the court.

Sibal said without a corre-sponding amendment in the Act and the Rules, any purported administrative action of the Election Commission to intro-duce NOTA was ex-facie illegal and arbitrary.

Modi to address NDA MPs todayCBI books GST Council official for bribery New Delhi

IANS

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the Parliament mem-bers of the National Democratic

Alliance (NDA) today, ahead of the Vice President’s election tomorrow.

According to party officials, apart from the NDA’s 81 Rajya Sabha mem-bers and 337 Lok Sabha members, members of the AIADMK, YSR Con-gress and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) will also be present.

During the meeting, a demonstra-tion on voting will be held for the MPs, so that their vote in Vice President’s election does not go in vain. This was decided because at least 21 votes were

declared invalid during the Presi-dent’s election. All the NDA leaders will also speak about the alliance’s Vice Presidential nominee M Venkaiah Naidu.

The Prime Minister will also host a dinner. Twenty-one items, includ-ing south Indian dishes, are on the menu.

Naidu is contesting against oppo-sition candidate Gopalkrishna Gandhi in the Vice President’s election.

Naidu on Wednesday reached out to all members of Parliament across the parties, seeking their support for the August 5 election and said he would uphold ideals of the freedom struggle and principles of the Constitution.

New Delhi

IANS

A Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council official has been booked by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for demanding and accept-

ing bribes during his stint in the Central Excise Department, an official said yesterday.

The CBI registered the FIR against Monish Mal-hotra, now posted as Superintendent in the GST Council, on Wednesday on charges of accepting money from businessmen on quarterly and monthly basis for extending undue favours to them.

The charges of criminal conspiracy and seeking illegal gratification under the relevant sections of Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Corruption Act have been slapped against Malhotra. Manas Patra, a tax consultant, has also been booked on the charge of working as a conduit for Malhotra.

Malhotra was transferred to the GST Council from the Central Excise Department where he was posted as Superintendent-Range 36. The FIR accuses Mal-hotra, a resident of Kalkaji in south Delhi, of indulging in corrupt practices of extending undue favours to businessmen by not taking action against them in lieu of periodical illegal gratification.

Patra is accused of being in regular contact with Malhotra and many other Excise Department offic-ers and working as conduit to collect bribes on their behalf. Patra contacted parties on behalf of Malhotra when he was posted in the Excise Department and made collections on quarterly and monthly basis, according to the FIR. The collected money was deliv-ered to Malhotra through cheques, NEFT and cash by routing it through various accounts, it said.

“In order to camouflage receipt of a few illegal grat-ifications, the amounts were deposited by Patra in his own account...all these amounts were transferred to the accounts of Malhotra’s wife and daughter through three cheques of Rs20,000 each on May 19, May 22 and June 1 and a Rs30,000 cheque on May 24 this year.”

The CBI filed a case following information that Patra had collected several illegal gratifications from many private persons in the last a few days, which was likely to be delivered by him to Malhotra shortly, the FIR added.

New Delhi

IANS

Noting that the Chi-nese action in Doklam is of con-cern, External Affairs Minister

Sushma Swaraj said yesterday that India will continue to engage with China diplomati-cally to resolve the border standoff and that war is not a solution.

“Our stand is that we main-tain restraint in language and keep patience and engage in diplomacy. No solution will be gained out of war because even after war, talks are required. A solution cannot be derived out of war.

“Times are changing and it is economic power and not stra-tegic power that decides strength of a nation...If there is a dialogue there will be a solu-tion,” she said in a combative speech in the Rajya Sabha, dis-missing opposition criticism during a foreign policy debate on the government’s handling of diplomatic relations, specially with neighbours.

India, she said, always

believes that peace and tran-quility in the India-China border areas is an important prerequi-site for smooth development of our bilateral relations.

“We will continue to engage with the Chinese side through diplomatic channels to find a mutually acceptable solution on the basis of the Astana consen-sus between our leaders. I note the sense of the House is sup-portive,” the Minister said, recalling that Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had agreed dur-ing their recent meeting in the

Kazakhstan capital that differ-ences should not be allowed to be converted into disputes.

In this regard, she said, in keeping with the unique and traditional friendship with Bhu-tan “we will also continue to maintain close consultation and coordination with the Royal Government of Bhutan”.

She said that Chinese invest-ment in India has touched $160 billion, and “we are talking of bilateral relations with China and not only Doklam”. She said that in India’s growing economic capabilities, “there is a big investment from China”.

Reading out from a prepared text, the Minister said, “Our rela-tions with China have recently come under renewed focus due to developments in the Doklam area in the Sikkim sector close to the India-China-Bhutan tri-junction boundary.”

She said India’s position has been articulated in the state-ment issued by her Ministry on June 30. “Our concerns emanate from Chinese action on the ground which have implications for determination of the tri-junction boundary point between India, China.

Diplomacy key to resolving Doklam standoff: Sushma

Tea garden workers marching during a protest rally to demand the implementation of a minimum wages, in Kolkata, yesterday.

Strike at Bengal tea gardens continuesKolkata

IANS

Tea production in northern West Bengal, home to the world famous Darjeeling

tea, was badly hit on Tuesday as most of the tea gardens remained shut on the second day of the strike called by trade unions.

A joint forum of 24 trade unions of the tea industry in

North Bengal have resorted to a two-day industrial strike, demanding implementation of minimum wages, reinforcement of entitlement for tea workers and distribution of land holding among tea workers for residen-tial purposes.

According to industry experts, the strike severely affected work at 300 tea gardens in North Bengal, including 87 in

Darjeeling. Experts said the Dar-jeeling tea industry is expected to face a loss of more than Rs 10 crore during the two-day strike.

“No work has been reported in the tea gardens of Darjeeling for the second day. This has hit production of around 85,000 kg of Darjeeling tea a day. This is a huge loss,” Darjeeling Tea Asso-ciation (DTA) Principal Advisor Sandip Mukherjee said.

War no solution

“Our stand is that we maintain restraint in language and keep patience and engage in diplomacy. No solution will be gained out of war because even after war, talks are required. A solution cannot be derived out of war.” External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said.

06 FRIDAY 4 AUGUST 2017ASIA

Two men charged over foiled Australia plane plotSydney

AFP

Two men have been charged with terrorism offences after Australian police

thwarted an alleged plot to blow up a plane, authorities said yes-terday, as pilots warned of major airport security gaps despite efforts to tighten screenings.

Four men were arrested in Sydney on Saturday accused of planning an attack using an improvised explosive device, prompting authorities to increase security at airports across the nation.

One of the four was released on Wednesday, while two oth-ers -- aged 32 and 49 -- were

each charged with two counts of “acts done in preparation for, or planning, a terrorist act”, Aus-tralian Federal Police said.

They face maximum sen-tences of life imprisonment if found guilty and are due to appear in a Sydney court today.

The charges came as pilots -- who have to be screened alongside air crew, retail work-ers and passengers at airports -- said similar requirements were not in place for ground staff, who are instead issued with security cards.

“Pilots and cabin crew are routinely screened along with passengers but a lot of ground staff can access aircraft on the tarmac without the same level

of scrutiny,” Australian Airline Pilots Association president Mur-ray Butt said late Wednesday.

“We believe it would enhance airport security if all airline staff who have access to aircraft, were screened to the same level as personnel enter-ing through the terminal.”

The concerns followed a report by Sydney’s Daily Tele-graph citing sources who alleged that the plot involved using an unwitting passenger to carry a bomb onboard, with Etihad Air-ways confirming this week it was helping the investigation.

Aviation experts have also warned of loopholes, such as the use of private-sector security guards instead of government

employees at airports, and no photo ID checks for passengers at domestic terminals.

Butt said Australia needed to emulate the US requirement for photo ID checks for passengers, while a former Sydney Airport security chief said security data-bases should be linked to booking systems.

“The scary thing is domestic airlines have no idea who is really on their aircraft,” Mike Carmody said.

“There is very little coordi-nation. Unless you happen to be someone who really stands out, you are going to fly right through security.”

In response to calls for ID checks, Prime Minister Malcolm

Turnbull said Thursday airport security measures were “con-stantly under review”.

He said that the times pas-sengers had been advised to arrive at airports would return to normal after being extended in response to the alleged plot which “has been disrupted and it has been contained”.

Transport Minister Darren Chester defended the current safety measures, saying work-ers with access to large passenger planes must hold a security card only issued after thorough checks.

Police have until the week-end to hold the fourth man without charge after obtaining a court extension.

Abbasi may continue as PM till 2018 pollsLahore

Reuters

Interim Pakistani leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi took control of prime ministe-rial duties yesterday after a guard of honour amid

growing uncertainty that the brother of ousted leader Nawaz Sharif will eventually take over the job as planned.

Sharif, disqualified by the Supreme Court last week, named Abbasi as temporary prime min-ister and outlined plans for brother Shahbaz Sharif to take over once he contests and wins a parliamentary by-election in less than two months.

But doubts seem to have sur-faced about those plans since Sharif’s ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party used its hefty majority in the National Assembly to elect Abbasi as prime minister on Tuesday.

Three senior PML-N officials said that Shahbaz’s eventual installation as prime minister was no longer a foregone con-clusion, while two of Shahbaz’s Lahore-based aides added that the chances of him taking over were receding.

“Nawaz Sharif is in two

minds about Shahbaz’s premier-ship,” said one of Shahbaz’s aides in Lahore.

Asif Khawaja, former defence minister and staunch Nawaz ally, said late on Wednes-day that the plan to make Shahbaz premier was “almost confirmed”, but added Nawaz as

the leader of the party “has the prerogative to revise (or) amend his decision - or stick to it”.

Opposition politicians have slammed Nawaz’s plans as dynastic, with opposition party leader Imran Khan decrying Pakistani politics as a “form of monarchy”.

Still, analysts say the rela-tively smooth transition to Abbasi after Nawaz was disqual-ified has eased fears that nuclear-armed Pakistan could be plunged into a prolonged bout of political turmoil.

Former petroleum minister Abbasi has frequently travelled to the Sharif family home in Mur-ree, in the hills northeast of Islamabad, and has spoken openly about “consultations” with his old boss, bolstering the widespread view that the top-pled leader is the power behind the throne.

Nawaz resigned on Friday after the Supreme Court disqual-ified him for not declaring a small source of income - some-thing he rejects receiving.

He has criticised the judici-ary for cutting short his third stint in power and his allies have hinted that elements of the pow-erful army may have played a role, but the veteran leader

retrains widespread backing of his party.

PML-N officials say the main reason why Shahbaz may not take over is linked to the 2018 general elections, and the par-ty’s fears that its grip on the vital Punjab province will weaken if he steps down as chief minister.

The way Pakistan’s political system is set up means any party that sweeps Punjab, which houses more than half of Paki-stan’s 190 million people, will most likely go on to form a

government after the general elections in mid-2018.

Shahbaz has served as chief of Punjab since 2008, delivering big wins for PML-N and forging a reputation as a competent administrator whose workaholic habits have contributed to timely completion of infrastructure mega projects popular with voters.

“The safer choice is to leave Shahbaz in Punjab,” said a sen-ior PML-N official. “Most people think that it would be safer and better at this stage to not disturb

these things too much.”Abbasi and Sharif are due to

hold further discussions about the formation of the new cabi-net and PML-N officials expect a decision to be made about Shahbaz’s future in a day or two.

Abbasi, a Western-educated businessman who founded a budget airline, is regarded as an absolute Nawaz loyalist.

Abbasi spent most of his political career by Nawaz’s side and the two were jailed after the 1999 coup by General Pervez Musharraf.

Air France extends no-fly zone around North KoreaParis

AFP

AIR France said yesterday it was extending its non-flyover zone around North Korea after a missile from the reclusive state fell into the sea 100km from one its trajectories.

“Having learned of this missile test we have decided to establish a wider non-flyover zone to move further away from North Korean territory,” Air France said in a statement, describing the move as a “pre-cautionary measure”.

The airline added: “Infor-mation at Air France’s disposal at this stage shows the missile fell into the sea more than 100km from the trajectory” of flight AF293.

“Even if this distance were proven, it would not bring into question the safety of the flight.”

US to raise human rights concerns in PhilippinesManila

AP

The United States’ top dip-lomat is expected to raise concerns about human

rights in the Philippines when he visits Manila this week for Asia’s biggest security forum, including during possible talks with President Rodrigo Duterte.

Secretary of State Rex Till-erson will raise all relevant issues in the US alliance with the Philippines, including con-cerns about human rights, Acting US Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Susan Thornton said. She said a meeting with Duterte is being arranged.

Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Robiespierre Bolivar said yes-terday the Philippines is open about its rights record.

“So definitely if Secretary Tillerson wishes to raise that, the Philippines has always been open and committed to protect-ing human rights.”

Duterte, however, has lashed out at critics of his war on illegal drugs, which has left thousands of suspects dead in the past year.

When then-US President

Barack Obama raised concerns about the mounting death toll, Duterte insulted the president.”

Thornton said Tillerson’s trip to Manila will provide a chance for a robust bilateral programme with the Philip-pines on the sidelines of the security meetings.

She said there will be much to talk about, including a siege by IS group-linked militants in the southern city of Marawi and growing threats of international terrorism.

“But certainly, we will be talking about governance, about human rights issues, and about how we can increase our economic and other kinds of people-to-people engagement with the Philippines,” she added.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi reviews the guard of honour in Islamabad, Pakistan, yesterday.

Three senior PML-N officials said that Shahbaz’s eventual installation as prime minister was no longer a foregone conclusion, while two of Shahbaz’s aides added that the chances of him taking over were receding.

Leadership

PML-N officials say the main reason why Shahbaz may not take over is linked to the 2018 general elections, and the party’s fears that its grip on the vital Punjab province will weaken if he steps down as chief minister.

So definitely if Secretary Tillerson wishes to raise that, the Philippines has always been open and committed to protecting human rights: Bolivar

Cambodia arrests 215 online scammersPhnom Penh

AFP

Cambodia has arrested more than 200 Chinese men and women sus-

pected of running an online scam that persuaded victims to send nude photographs and then extorted them for cash, police said yesterday.

The sweeping arrests come

as the Southeast Asian country cracks down on Chinese cyber-crime gangs who use web technology to target their fellow citizens from abroad.

The gang allegedly used inter-net voice calls to contact victims in China, building up relationships with their targets over time before asking them to send nude pictures which they then used as black-mail, police said.

After a tip-off from Chinese authorities, Cambodian police raided an apartment compound on the Thai border on Wednes-day and detained 215 Chinese men and women.

“We are questioning them. Nearly two hundred of them were involved with the crimes,” Uk Heisela, a Cambodian immi-gration police officer, said yesterday.

Detained Chinese nationals, in Banteay Meanchey province.

Father of robotics team member dead in attackKabul

AP

THE manager of Afghanistan’s all-girl robotics team says the father of a team member died in the horrific suicide assault on a Shia mosque this week in western Herat.

AliReza Mehraban said yesterday that Asif Qaderian, the father of Fatima Qaderian, died of his injuries in the Herat Hospital.

Tuesday’s brutal attack on the Shia mosque killed 33 worshippers as they prayed and wounded another 66, according to provincial officials.

The all-girls robotics team won a silver medal in the US competition last month. The team garnered attention after they were twice denied visas but finally went to the US to compete after President Don-ald Trump intervened.

07FRIDAY 4 AUGUST 2017 EUROPE

Macron’s popularity ratings dropParis

Reuters

French President Emmanuel Macron heads into the summer break faced with fall-ing popularity ratings

after tough debates in parliament over labour reform and a public ethics law, a standoff with the military and cuts to housing assistance.

A YouGov poll published yes-terday showed 36 percent of voters held a favourable view of the 39-year-old, a fall of 7 points on the previous month and ech-oing the downward trend seen in other surveys.

Centrist Macron, France’s youngest leader since Napoleon, was elected in May on a prom-ise to usher in sweeping economic and social reforms to haul France out of its economic malaise. The main concern of voters was the same as before the election - unemployment - the YouGov survey showed.

On the jobs reform front, Macron’s government scored a victory this week when it won the Senate’s backing to

deregulate the labour market that will now go back to com-pany bosses and trade unions before being written into law.

Parliament’s lower house is also expected next week to approve a new public ethics bill, over-ruling Senate objections to a proposal scrapping a constit-uency fund for lawmakers. The bill is designed to clean up French politics.

But a reduction in housing aid, controversy over the timing of promised tax breaks for ten-ants, and allegations of financial scandal against members of his government that led to some early ministerial resignations have tainted Macron’s first months in the Elysee.

The resignation of his armed

forces chief after a row between the two men over defence budget cuts was another early blow, and the standoff was seen by the president’s critics as evi-dence of an over-controlling nature.

With Macron and his prime minister both suffering declin-ing popularity ratings in past

weeks, the president issued a warning to his ministers at a cab-inet meeting in July.

The Yougov poll showed a 14-point slide in backing for Macron among his party’s sup-porters, although a huge 81 percent still said they held a favourable opinion of the president.

UK acid attack victims call for longer jail termsTruro

Reuters

VICTIMS of acid attacks in Britain are calling on the government to enforce longer prison sentences and tighten controls on the sale of corro-sive substances, after a jump in the number of cases last year and in 2017.

The issue hit headlines after a recent spate of attacks, including one in June in which two cousins were doused with acid through a car window as they were out celebrating a birthday, prompting Interior Minister Amber Rudd to review legislation.

The Home Office said it planned to set out guidance for prosecutors on classifying cor-rosive substances as dangerous weapons and to review sen-tencing guidelines.

“Other key actions will include a review of the Poisons Act to assess whether it should cover more acids and harmful substances and further work with retailers to agree meas-ures to restrict the sales of acids and other corrosive sub-stances,” said Sarah Newton, minister for crime, safeguard-ing and vulnerability.

Russian reporter punched during live broadcastMoscow

Reuters

A man walked up to a jour-nalist broadcasting live from a Moscow park on

a popular Russian television channel and punched him in the face.

The journalist was report-ing on Wednesday for the NTV channel from the park, which was filled with former para-troopers lazing in the sun as Russia celebrated the annual Airborne Troops Day. He was approached by a burly, bearded man in a tee-shirt and shorts, spewing curses at him.

The journalist, Nikita Raz-vozzhayev, asked the man to keep away.

The man then delivered a right hook to the journalist’s face and walked off.

The network cut the broadcast.

The attacker, who Russian media said was drunk, was arrested shortly afterwards.

Police described him as a known soccer hooligan.

Angry social media users blamed the incident on para-troopers, labelled in Russia as a rowdy bunch who drink in public places, bath in fountains and harass passers-by.

Fake news: Facebook to expand fact-checking schemeBerlin

Reuters

Facebook is to send more potential hoax articles to third-party fact checkers

and show their findings below the original post, the world’s largest online social network said yesterday as it tries to fight so-called fake news.

The company said in a statement on its website it will

start using updated machine learning to detect possible hoaxes and send them to fact checkers, potentially showing fact-checking results under the original article.

Facebook has been criti-cised as being one of the main distribution points for so-called fake news.

The issue has also become a big political topic in Europe, with French voters deluged

with false stories ahead of the presidential election in May and Germany backing a plan to fine social media networks if they fail to remove hateful postings promptly, ahead of elections there in September.

Yesterday, Facebook said in a separate statement in German that a test of the new fact-checking feature was being launched in the US, France, the Netherlands and Germany.

“In addition to seeing which stories are disputed by third-party fact checkers, people want more context to make informed decisions about what they read and share,” said Sara Su, Facebook news feed prod-uct manager, in a blog.

“Facebook would keep test-ing its “related article” feature and work on other changes to its news feed to cut down on false news.”

Court probes Portugal plane crashLisbon

AFP

A flight instructor and trainee pilot of a small plane that crash landed

on a crowded beach near Lis-bon, killing a man and an eight-year-old girl, appeared in a Portuguese court yesterday.

The two men refused to speak to reporters as they arrived at the building in Almada, across the River Tagus from the Portuguese capital, to be questioned by a prosecutor behind closed doors.

The pilot and instructor could be charged following the interview, with legal experts speculating on a possible charge of negligent homicide. It carries a prison sentence of up to 16 years.

Terrified sunbathers ran for their lives, some of them into the sea, as the plane flew onto Sao Joao da Caparica beach on Wednesday after having

mechanical trouble.The plane hit an eight-year-

old girl and a 56-year-old man, killing them instantly, authori-ties said.

“The plane first hit the man, who had his back to it. Immedi-ately after it lifted up and when it descended again it hit the child’s head,” Filipe Janeira, 34,

who was at the beach, told daily Jornal de Noticias.

The girl was with her par-ents, who were unhurt, and was on her way to take a swim in when she was hit.

Beachgoers surrounded the plane after it came to a halt on the sand and confronted the two men inside.

French President Emmanuel Macron visits the recreational centre for children in Moisson, yesterday.

A YouGov poll published yesterday showed 36 percent of voters held a favourable view of the 39-year-old, a fall of 7 points on the previous month and echoing the downward trend seen in other surveys.

Opinion poll

The main concern of voters was the same as before the election - unemployment - the YouGov survey showed.

UN envoy calls on Cypriots to ‘stand up for change’Lefkosa

Anatolia

OUTGOING UN envoy to Cyprus, Espen Barth Eide, yesterday said civil society groups on the divided island should be included in future reunification talks.

“If people want change, they need to stand up for change,” Eide told reporters following a meeting with Turkish Cypriot President Mustafa Akinci.

Eide, who has been the UN’s envoy on the Cyprus issue for over two years, said Cypriots had left the peace process in the hands of their leaders.

“If a new opportunity arises for talks, a wider part of society must be included in the process,” Eide said, adding this was a lesson to be drawn from the recent failed negotiations in Switzerland.

“You have to stand up for change, you cannot sit and wait for others to change for you,” the envoy said.

The eastern Mediterra-nean island was divided into a Turkish Cypriot state in the north and a Greek Cypriot administration in the south after a 1974 military coup was followed by Turkey’s inter-vention as a guarantor power.

There has been an on-and-off peace process over recent years, with the latest initiative in Switzerland under the auspices of guar-antor countries Turkey, Greece and the UK, collaps-ing last month.

Turkey has blamed Greek Cypriot intransigence for the latest talks’ failure.

A plane landed in Sao Joao Beach, killing two people, in Costa da Caparica, Portugal.

08 FRIDAY 4 AUGUST 2017VIEWS

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

QUOTE OF THE DAY

According to the possible calendars of approval, the bestof the scenarios that we could have ... would be the start ofimplementation almost at the end of 2018 or the start of 2019.

Ildefonso GuajardoMexico’s Economy Minister

On July 19, and while Israeli forces were brutally suppressing non vio-lent Palestinian protests in occupied East Jerusalem, Radiohead crossed the Palestinian boycott picket line

to play in Tel Aviv. Most importantly, and just as Palestinian and international human rights defenders had cautioned, Israel played Radio-head, to the last note.

Radiohead stubbornly ignored the voice of the overwhelming majority of Palestinians appealing to it not to undermine our rights and our Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement as an indispensable, nonvio-lent means of achieving them. All that we have asked is for Radiohead to do no harm, if they can do no good, to our struggle for free-dom, justice and equal human rights.

Dozens of principled artists and world fig-ures, including South African anti-apartheid leader Archbishop Desmond Tutu, theatre stars Eve Ensler and Miriam Margolyes, award-winning filmmakers Mike Leigh and Ken Loach, and world-renowned musicians Roger Waters, Thurston Mooreand Dave Ran-dall, joined us in appealing to Radiohead to refrain from entertaining Israeli apartheid. So did progressive Jewish Israeli musicians.

At concerts throughout Europe, Radio-head fans raised Palestinian flags and amplified our call for no-business-as-usual until Israel complies with its obligations under international law.

Yet Radiohead went on with their show in Tel Aviv, allowing Israel to use their brand for whitewashing, or art-washing, its siege of Gaza, forced displacement of Palestinian communities in Jerusalem, the Negev and the Jordan Valley, and incessant construction of illegal settlements and walls in the occupied Palestinian — and Syrian — territory.

To add insult to injury, Radiohead pro-fessed to know better than Palestinians how we should resist our oppression, in a classic colonial attitude. In doing so, they became the propaganda darlings of the Israeli govern-ment and its lobby groups.

Dozens of tweets from Israeli government officials, ambassadors and Israel lobby groups gloated over Radiohead’s decision to violate the cultural boycott. Israel, after all, sees “cul-ture as a hasbara [propaganda] tool of the first rank,” as a ranking Israeli official once admitted.

Radiohead was also celebrated by US con-servative pundit Glenn Beck, Fox News, and a cofounder of the far-right Tea Party Patriots. This new fanbase should be cause for concern for a band known for its progressive politics.

Two days after the election of Donald Trump as US president, Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke tweeted, “In the coming days, commentators will attempt to normalize this event.” Yet Radiohead have done just that for the Israeli government, with leading right-wing Israeli media describing the band’s public opposition to BDS as the best gift of “hasbara Israel has received lately”.

Radiohead is art-washing Israeli apartheidOmar Barghouti Al Jazeera

It is hard to understand what moti-vates such a prominent band like Radiohead to step over Palestinian rights this way, but the legacy of the cultural boycott of apartheid South Africa may provide some insight. In 1984, Enuga S Reddy, director of the UN Centre Against Apartheid, said:

“We have a list of people who have performed in South Africa because of ignorance of the situation or the lure of money or unconcern over racism. They need to be persuaded to stop entertain-ing apartheid, to stop profiting from apartheid money and to stop serving the propaganda purposes of the apartheid regime.”

On the bright side, months of cam-paigning to convince Radiohead to cancel their Tel Aviv gig has reached mainstream audiences worldwide, rais-ing awareness about the struggle for Palestinian rights among millions who may not have been engaged in it before.

Even before this campaign, BDS had already started to have a palpable impact in the cultural mainstream, including in the United

States. Of the 26 Oscar nominees in 2016, for instance, none went on an all-expense-paid Israeli propaganda trip, and out of eleven National Football League players in the US, six turned down a similar offer by the Israeli government.

Days ago, however, former R.E.M. lead singer Michael Stipe suggested on Instagram “dialogue”, not boycotts, to “bring [Israel’s] occupation to an end and lead to a peaceful solution”.

But dialogue that has been going on literally for decades has failed to bring us any closer to attaining justice and our human rights. On the contrary, it has served Israel’s agenda superbly, by pro-viding it with a perfect fig leaf.

For dialogue to be ethical and effec-tive, it must recognise that all humans deserve equal rights under international law. Otherwise, it would privilege the oppressor and entrench the notion of coexistence under oppression rather than co-resistance to oppression - a key condition to ethical coexistence.

Reconciliation and dialogue in South Africa came only after the end of apart-heid, not before, as Desmond Tutu never gets tired of repeating.

In one of their songs, Radiohead say, “Some things cost you more than you realize.” By insisting on siding with the oppressor and ignoring the appeals of the oppressed Radiohead became part of Israel’s show, eroding their progressive credentials. But there is always time to do the right thing and choose the right side of history.

The writer is a cofounder of the Boycott,

Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement

for Palestinian human rights and corecipient

of the 2017 Gandhi Peace Award.

Dialogue that has been going on literally for decades has failed to bring us any closer to attaining justice and our human rights. On the contrary, it has served Israel’s agenda superbly, by providing it with a perfect fig leaf.

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

CHAIRMANSHEIKH THANI BIN ABDULLAH AL THANI

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

editorinchief@pen.com.qa

ACTING MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED SALIM MOHAMED

msalim@pen.com.qa

The furore over airlines rationalising cabin space available to the passenger for legroom and free movement has brought to the fore issues that have been troubling the aviation

business for some time now. Shrinking seat size and shorter pitch — distance between the same point on two seats — have allowed airlines to make gains by adding more seating in the same cabin space. It is not surprising to see even legacy carriers, besides low-cost airlines, to reduce the thickness of seats, make them narrower and slash leg space as a direct result of cutting the pitch.

Largely an economy class phenomenon that has caught on the fancy of cash-starved and passenger comfort-blind airline companies, the reduction in leg-room leads to squirming travellers trying to balance the need of paying less for a ticket against the over-arching requirement of making it to the destination. Thicker backrests, which now evoke nostalgia, made aircraft cabins look grand and sophisticated. Broader seats and bigger head rests lent an ambience to the space making flyers more wanted and pampered. In the days of emaciated models and run-down looks, flight cabins have uncannily acquired the ‘thin and mean’ look.

The United States airline industry, considered a flagship market for rest of the world, is in the forefront of this cut-and-earn business. A passenger body has complained to the court that the Federal Aviation

Administration was wrong in rejecting its demand of setting standards to regu-late seat size. The court asked the US aviation reg-ulator to consider passenger comfort while fixing norms for seat design.

Less legroom can lead to deep vein thrombosis or clots in blood vessels because of restrained movement. Not many fly-ers realise that the air

inside a plane is replenished periodically and older or ill-maintained aircraft could affect the quality of air passengers breathe. Combined with limited movement within the cabin because of crimped space, passengers’ health is affected. In some cases, it could lead to onboard health emergencies resulting in added cost to carriers, much offsetting the gains they make by squeezing space for passengers.

Safety can be a casualty as it is harder to evacuate a congested cabin. In times, when terror is more a fac-tor to be reckoned with than any other condition, making it harder for people to move freely inside plane cabins has its drawbacks.

The pandemic to cut costs has taken over busi-nesses across the globe, and it doesn’t seem to go away any soon. Budget carriers have been known to cut cor-ners even where safety can’t be compromised. Flight attendants with haute couture is not a casualty of this indiscretionary drive, but passenger comfort is. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) should start looking into the need to balance comfort and safety with the justification to cut costs, lest the indus-try should pay a cost in the long run.

Cringe and bear it

Cutting seat size and legroom doesn’t augur well for the US airline industry in the long run.

ED ITOR IAL

Protesters show Palestinian flags demanding to Radiohead to cancel their concert in Tel Aviv.

09FRIDAY 4 AUGUST 2017 OPINION

development plan, published in 1965, shaped the country’s negative perception of pastoralism. The plan divided the country into low and high potential regions, stating that high potential regions — regions expected to contribute significantly to the country’s GDP - would receive more investment. Since Kenya’s northern rangelands and, by exten-sion, pastoralism do not contribute considerably to the country’s GDP, the state limited its investments in this region and sector. By doing so, it placed itself on the side of conservationists against local com-munities who depend on pastoralism to survive.

Unsurprisingly, the conflict between white set-tlers and the neighbouring pastoralist communities has attracted a lot of foreign media attention.

Articles on this issue showed up most frequently in British newspapers, since most of the white con-servationists are of British descent. However, the media coverage failed to communicate the reality of the problem, as it was mostly shaped by the views of the well-heeled intergenerational wildlife con-servation clique. These untouchable “royals” framed the discussion for their own benefit, using a well-choreographed, sleek PR machine.

For instance, in a piece published by the British newspaper The Guardian, titled “Who shot Kuki Gallmann? The story of a Kenyan conservationist heroine”, the conflict between the ranchers and pastoralist communities is presented in a simplistic and paternalistic way. The article, which is pep-pered with manifestations of a messiah complex,

Tillerson is right not to preach US values

Recent leaks from the US State Department suggest that Secretary Rex Tillerson is not interested in one of its traditional mis-sions: Promoting democracy across the world. But could it actually be a wise

move to pause those efforts — especially at this undeniably awkward moment for the US?

Josh Rogin at The Washington Post reports that State is looking to amend its mission statement, edit-ing out the goal of “shaping” a “just and democratic world.” A Politico report reveals Tillerson’s reluc-tance to access a total of $79.8m of available funding earmarked under President Barack Obama for counteracting Russian and Islamic State propa-ganda. There’s clearly a pattern there: Tillerson, who is intent on downsizing the department, appears to consider the negotiating part of its job more impor-tant than the soft power part. He has said as much, warning underlings that too much focus on promot-ing US values “really creates obstacles to our ability to advance our national security interests, our eco-nomic interests.”

Understandably, that rankles old-timers. They see it as a reflection of the Trump administration’s isolationism, its lack of firm principles, even a pro-Russian attitude (why else would Tillerson withhold money from an effort against Russian propaganda?). But it could be just a former businessman’s instinct against waste.

This year’s “Soft Power 30 Report,” produced by the London-based communications firm Portland, ranked the US in third place among the world’s most influential nations — after France and the UK. The

report points to America’s unmatched advantages: Its role as the global center of higher education, its immensely popular cultural output, its strength in new technology. But it also explains why the US allowed France to overtake it. “Clear threats to Amer-ican soft power do exist,” the report said, “if its leadership continues with an ‘America First’ approach of promoting nationalistic rhetoric, devaluing inter-national alliances, and prioritizing hard over soft power.” Under the Trump administration, the inter-national image of the US has suffered, polls by both Portland and the Pew Research Center show.

One of Portland’s recommendations is that Tiller-son not weaken the public relations function of State because that would “diminish America’s ability to lev-erage its existing soft power assets.” But, given the president’s colorful history, his tendency to distort even well-known facts and his penchant for flip-flop-ping, does the Trump administration have the credibility to push a set of values to the outside world?

Even Obama, a far more traditional global role model, wasn’t particularly effective at projecting America’s soft power: hopes for more democracy in the Arab world turned out to be misplaced, populist parties rose in Europe, and Russia kicked out US-backed organisations that worked with its civil society.

Arguably, the US has always been better at pro-jecting soft power through its private sector than through government channels. Hollywood, the music and tech industries, the lively and masterful media provide the shining examples everyone wants to imi-tate. Their success comes bundled with American

values, such as a broader freedom of speech than in most other countries, open-ness to diversity, economic liberty, the constant quest for the next new thing. The energy pumping through the American cultural product is genuine: Anyone who has been to the US has felt it in daily interactions. Can the government add much to this perception? I doubt it. But as part of such a product, even the Trump administration can contribute to promoting US values: Look how relent-lessly US journalists pursue the president and his team. Such a fiery, eminently watchable confrontation is possible in very few nations.

I grew up in the Soviet Union, my eyes and ears filled daily with state propa-ganda. But, like others around me, I sought out American and European movies, music, books,

clothes, magazines. None of what I wanted was gov-ernment-produced, which made it all the more attractive. The Soviet machine sputtered because it lost credibility in competition with Western private initiative. When it comes to counteracting Russian state propaganda today, the private sector still does a great job. RT, the TV channel that pushes the Kremlin point of view to US audiences, doesn’t even have Nielsen ratings (and it would certainly pay for them if a lot of people watched it). That’s because private US news outlets dominate. And if some of them some-times choose to amplify RT’s messages, that’s because their audience wants them to, in order to feed its confirmation biases. What would the State Department do with the millions of dollars it’s been given to fight Russian propaganda? Would it be any-thing US media and civil society groups are not doing better?

Last year, Michael Lumpkin, coordinator of the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, which is trying unsuccessfully to get the money from Tillerson, gave an example of the center’s efforts against Islamic State. “In East Africa we are establish-ing an online radio station in Kiswahili (or Swahili),” he wrote. “It airs youth-produced programming that pushes back against the rising volume of violent extremist propaganda in the region. In particular, the content is aimed at local youth living in neighbor-hoods where violent extremists are known to recruit.” But there are lots of other players in African community radio, from the Gates Foundation to the United Nations. They all have an advantage over the US government: They are more neutral, and their

Wildlife conservation is big business in Kenya. The tourism sector, which is mostly wildlife-based, is regularly among the top

three contributors to the country’s GDP. As a result, the Kenyan government and the Western media are more than eager to focus on the positive aspects of conserva-tion. But, unfortunately, the real story is not that straightforward.

In Kenya, there is an ongoing battle between white settler conservationists from the Laikipia plains and pastoralist communities occupying the neighbouring northern rangelands.

Wildlife conservationists perceive pas-toralism as a poor land use method with little economic value, which is detrimental to wildlife. Pastoralists, on the other hand, see wildlife conservation as a large-scale pastoral “land grab”. And as conservation-ists claim more and more land for “wildlife protection”, Kenyan pastoralists, who had been the true protectors of wildlife for centuries, are swiftly losing their liveli-hoods. In the past year, dozens of people have been killed or injured as a ravaging drought hit the pastoral communities and increased tensions between the two groups.

Discussions on wildlife conservation and pastoralism in Kenya are always cast in Manichean terms; wildlife conservancy is “good” and pastoralism is “bad”. This framing is rooted in Kenya’s colonial leg-acy, which the post-colonial African government not only inherited, but also enhanced.

Kenya’s first post-independence

The ugly truth about wildlife conservation in Kenya

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson speaking to State Department employees in Washington, DC.

casts pastoralists as the barbarians at the gate of civilisation, and Kuki Gallmann, whose life was immortalised in the movie I Dreamed of Africa, as a noble white saviour who is keeping the wildlife safe from, by implication, the neighbour-ing pastoralist communities.

In general, Western media frame this conflict in racial terms, as a battle between the white rancher and the black pastoralist, and blatantly ignores the historical and colonial arrangement that sustains the present private wildlife man-agement system and displaces native communities from their communal land holdings.

Currently, the Northern Rangeland Trust (NRT) is the main driver for the establishment of wildlife conservancies in Kenya. By some estimates, the NRT controls about 7.5 per-cent of Kenyan land mass in the name of wildlife conservation, that is, 44,000sq km (or 10.8m acres) of land.

These lands are found in the Rift Valley, and the Northern part of the country, formerly known as the Northern Frontier District. Presently, there are 140 conservancies spread across 22 counties. The conflict between conservationists and pas-toralists is not restricted to the plains of Laikipia. For example, the neighbouring Isiolo County is having an even larger problem as a result of the friction between these two groups. The situation in Isiolo is compounded by two factors. First, Isiolo is the home to several mega infrastructure projects that are part of Kenya’s Vision 2030 national devel-opment agenda. To complete these projects, the state acquired huge chunks of land, some of which were histori-cally used by the pastoralists for pasture during the dry seasons.

Second, the NRT has established several large conserva-tion parks in Isiolo, bringing the area under conservancy to more than half a million hectares, massively reducing the land that can be used by pastoralists.

According to the NRT, conservancies in this county are community-led initiatives that help pastoral communities work productively towards Kenya’s conservation and devel-opment goals. As some locals manage to secure jobs as security guards and cooks in these conservancies, they argue that it is a win-win situation for pastoralist communities and wildlife conservationists.

Those opposed to the conservancies, on the other hand, see them as a massive land grab from pastoralist communi-ties by wealthy foreigners with local connections. They also argue that these conservancies prioritise wildlife welfare over the welfare of humans and livestock.

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OFFICETEL: 4455 7741 / 767FAX: +974 4455 7758

MANAGING EDITORTEL: 4462 7505

DEPUTY MANAGING EDITORTEL: 4455 7769

LOCAL NEWS SECTION TEL: 4455 7743

BUSINESS NEWS SECTION TEL: 4462 7535

SPORT NEWS SECTION TEL: 4455 7745

ONLINE SECTION TEL: 4462 7501info@pen.com.qa

PUBLIC RELATIONSTEL: 4455 7613pr@pen.com.qa

ADVERTISING DEPARTMENTTEL: 4455 7837 / 780FAX: 4455 7870 adv@pen.com.qa

CLASSIFIED DEPARTMENTTEL: 4455 7857adv@pen.com.qa

SUBSCRIPTION & DISTRIBUTIONTEL: 4455 7809 / 839FAX: 44557819info@tawseelqatar.com

D-RING ROADPOST BOX: 3488DOHA - QATAReditor@pen.com.qa

All thoughts and views expressed in these columns are those of the writers, not of the newspaper.

All correspondence regarding Views and Opinion pages should be mailed to the editorinchief@pen.com.qa

funding sources cannot be used against them by the adversary.

Instead of spending $80 million fighting a propaganda war that authoritarian regimes and terrorist groups are trying to force on the US, America should simply let news organisations do their job. Tax breaks for expanding international reporting networks and starting foreign publications would work far better than direct investment in counterpropaganda, which is, essentially, state propaganda as well. An African journalist with experience stringing for a US publi-cation is worth a dozen state-funded PR projects: The web-site he will set up some day will do an honest, compelling job promot-ing democratic, humanist values.

The US does best when it pro-motes those values spontaneously, by example. The only reason Russia and other authoritarian regimes have state-financed propaganda machines is because they cannot match that. I’d like to think Tiller-son’s opposition to imitating them at a cost to US taxpayers stems from an understanding of Ameri-can soft power’s origins. Let him do deals — and let US media and civil society judge those deals from a values standpoint. That’s how the US system is supposed to work, and that’s what people the world over find attractive about it.

The writer is a Bloomberg view col-

umnist. He was the founding editor of

the Russian business daily Vedomosti

and founded the opinion website

Slon.ru.

Leonid BershidskyBloomberg

Abdullahi Boru HalakheAl Jazeera

Instead of spending $80 million fighting a propaganda war that authoritarian regimes and terrorist groups are trying to force on the US, America should simply let news organisations do their job. Tax breaks for expanding international reporting networks and starting foreign publications would work far better than direct investment in counterpropaganda, which is, essentially, state propaganda as well.

The lack of transparency and adequate information about the manner in which new conservancies are established in Kenya adds to the anxiety of the pastoralist communities who already feel dispossessed as result of past ‘land grabs’.

10 FRIDAY 4 AUGUST 2017AMERICAS

Prosecutors open probe into Venezuelan voteCaracas

Reuters

The Venezuelan state prosecutor’s office said it has opened an inves-t i g a t i o n i n t o accusations that the

country’s elections council manipulated turnout figures in Sunday’s controversial election for a legislative superbody.

Voting technology firm Smartmatic, which provides the South American nation’s voting machines, said the turnout fig-ure of 8.1 million had been inflated by at least 1 million votes. It did not describe its methodology in reaching that conclusion.

President Nicolas Maduro and the elections council denied the accusation.

The vote count was crucial for the ruling Socialist Party to legitimise the vote for the con-stituent assembly, which was boycotted by the opposition and broadly condemned by countries around the world as an assault on democratic freedoms.

“We are in the face of a grave and unprecedented action that could constitute a crime,” Chief Prosecutor Luisa Ortega said in a statement by the prosecutor’s office, which quoted her inter-view with CNN.

She said that the accusations “constituted another element in the fraudulent, illegal and uncon-stitutional process,” according to the statement, which did not say whether the investigation would be based only on Smart-matic’s accusations.

Socialist Party officials have for months questioned Ortega’s actions and have begun judicial proceedings to remove her from

office on the grounds that she has overstepped her authority. Ortega had described Sunday’s vote as illegal.

Maduro on Sunday said one of the top priorities of the con-stituent assembly, which has no formal restrictions on its power, would be a “restructuring” of the chief prosecutor’s office. Social-ist Party officials have suggested that the new assembly will remove her from office.

Opposition leaders are call-ing for a march to the centre of Caracas today to protest the cre-ation of the 545-member constituent assembly.

The new body is empowered to write a new constitution and may dissolve state institutions, including the opposition-led congress.

Maduro says it will bring peace to the convulsed Opec nation after four months of vio-lent opposition street protests that have left more than 120 peo-ple dead. His critics accuse him of running roughshod over the country’s democratic institutions and of overseeing an economic

collapse that has left millions struggling to eat and driven infla-tion into the triple digits.

The Information Ministry, when asked for comment on the prosecution office announce-ment, referred Reuters to statements by National Elections Council chief Tibisay Lucena in

response to Smartmatic, which came prior to the prosecutor’s announcement.

A National Elections Council official contacted said there was nobody available to speak about the issue. Smartmatic did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the

announcement.Only 3.7 million people had

voted by 5:30 pm in the vote for the assembly, according to inter-nal elections council data.

The elections council extended voting to 7 pm, but some centres are thought to have stayed open longer.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro (right) being greeted during a meeting with constitutionalists in Caracas. President Maduro postponed the launch of a powerful new “constituent assembly” to today, pushing it back a day in the face of international accusations of undermining democracy and opposition calls for massive protests.

Court upholds closure of probe on MacriBUENOS AIRES: A court in Argentina is upholding a decision to close a money-laundering investigation into President Mauricio Macri’s role in two offshore compa-nies named in the massive leak of law firm documents known as the Panama Papers.

The decision ratifies a previous ruling that found no proof of suspicious transac-tions or accounts. But the court said Macri will still be probed for possible tax evasion.

Macri says the companies were family businesses but he was not a shareholder and did not receive compensation. He has set up a blind trust to han-dle his financial holdings in response to criticism over the revelations.

The case was initially launched by a prosecutor seeking to investigate whether Macri “maliciously” omitted his role in the com-panies in tax declarations.

Trump pressured Mexico on border wall paymentWashington

Reuters

US President Donald Trump pressured the Mexican president to stop

voicing opposition in public to his plan to have Mexico pay for a border wall, according to tran-scripts of phone calls published yesterday that gave an insight into Trump’s attempts to influ-ence foreign leaders in his first days in office.

The Washington Post pub-lished texts of calls with Mexico’s Enrique Pena Nieto and Austral-ian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull just days after the Republican took office on Jan-uary 20.

Trump, who took office on January 20, argued with Turn-bull over refugees in an acrimonious call eight days later which the new US president told his counterpart was “unpleas-ant.” In a January 27 call, Trump told Pena Nieto that “if you are going to say that Mexico is not going to pay for the wall, then I do not want to meet with you

guys anymore because I cannot live with that,” according to the transcript.

“You cannot say that to the press,” Trump said repeatedly.

The proposed wall, aimed at preventing illegal immigra-tion to the United States, is a bone of contention between Mexico and Washington.

Before the call, Pena Nieto had scrapped a plan to hold talks with Trump in the United States due to tensions over the wall and trade. Pena Nieto has frequently ruled out paying for the wall. The two men have since met, holding talks at a summit of Group of 20 nations in Germany last month.

The White House has said the US government will pay for the wall initially to get the project off the ground but that Mexico will eventually reim-burse it for the work.

In the phone call, Trump said both leaders were “in a lit-tle bit of a political bind” due to Trump’s campaign pledge to build the wall and have Mexico foot the bill.

US President Donald Trump speaks to a patient as US Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin watches during a Department of Veterans Affairs Telehealth event at the White House in Washington, yesterday.

Ceremony held to crush 2 tonnes of ivory in NYNew York AP

Trinkets, statues and jewel-lery crafted from the tusks of at least 100 slaughtered

elephants were fed yesterday into a rock crusher in New York City’s Central Park to demonstrate the state’s commitment to smashing the illegal ivory trade.

The artifacts placed ceremo-niously onto a conveyor belt to be ground into dust included piles of golf ball-sized Japanese sculp-tures, called netsuke, intricately carved into monkeys, rabbits and other fanciful designs. Many of the items were beautiful. Some were extremely valuable. But state environmental officials and Wildlife Conservation Society members, who partnered with Tiffany & Co. for the “Ivory Crush” of nearly two tonnes of ivory, said no price justifies slaughtering ele-phants for their tusks.

“By crushing a tonne of ivory in the middle of the world’s most famous public park, New

Yorkers are sending a message to poachers, traffickers and deal-ers who try to set up shop right here on our streets,” said John

Calvelli, the Society’s executive vice president and director of the 96 Elephants Campaign. “We won’t stand for the slaughter of

elephants. Nobody needs an ivory brooch that badly.”

The sale of ivory across inter-national boundaries has been

banned since 1990, but the United States and many other countries have allowed people to buy and sell ivory domestically, subject to certain regulations that gave smugglers loopholes. Last year, the US Fish and Wildlife Service insti-tuted a near-total ban on the domestic commercial ivory trade and barred sales across state lines.

Since August 2014, New York law has prohibited the sale, pur-chase, trade or distribution of anything made from elephant or mammoth ivory or rhinoceros horn, except in limited situations with state approval. Enforcement efforts have focused on New York City, the nation’s largest port of entry for illegal wildlife goods, state officials said.

“I can’t imagine who would want this on their mantelpiece,” New York Environmental Con-servation Commissioner Basil Seggos said at an event in Albany last week showcasing $8.5m worth of ivory artifacts confis-cated by state investigators in the last three years.

Carved ivory items exhibited in Central Park in New York City, yesterday.

Medical care for veterans made easyWashington

AP

The US government wants to make it easier for veterans to get medical care and is pro-moting new ways to use technology to help.

President Donald Trump says the goal is to greatly expand access, especially for mental

health care and suicide prevention. Trump says veterans in rural areas will also benefit.

The initiatives Trump announced yesterday at the White House include using video technol-ogy and diagnostic tools to conduct medical exams. Veterans also will be able to use mobile devices to make and manage VA doctor appointments. Bill to protect

Mueller introducedWASHINGTON: Two US sen-ators introduced a bipartisan bill aimed at protecting special counsel Robert Mueller, who faces mounting pressure as he investigates President Donald Trump’s team for possible con-nections to Russia.

The legislation, sponsored by Democrat Chris Coons and Republican Thom Tillis, would help insulate Mueller by bar-ring a president from directly firing the special counsel with-out a judicial review. Under the bill, Mueller would be allowed to challenge his removal in court in the event he is fired without good cause.

“A back-end judicial review process to prevent unmerited removals of spe-cial counsels not only helps to ensure their investigatory independence, but also reaf-firms our nation’s system of check and balances,” Tillis said. Coons added: “Ensuring that the special counsel can-not be removed improperly is critical to the integrity of his investigation.”

Opposition leaders are calling for a march to the centre of Caracas today to protest the creation of the 545-member constituent assembly.

13FRIDAY 4 AUGUST 2017 CLASSIFIEDS

SERVICES

ARTECHSage Accounting, Peachtree, QuickBooks, Dynacom,

Tel: +974 44375654 E-mail: artech@ar-technology.net

ACCOUNTING SOFTWARES

GEM ADVERTISING & PUBLICATIONS(Overseas Newspaper Advertisements)

44442001 - GSM: 55783303

ADVERTISING OVERSEAS NEWSPAPER

ATTESTATION

ASIA TRANSLATION & SERVICES CENTRE

AL HAYIKI TRANSLATION & SERVICES EST.

ELECTRONICS

COMPUTER & IT

COMPUTER TRAINING CENTRE

FAMILY COMPUTER CENTRE

44435361/44370779 44449130

AL MUTWASSIT CLEANING & PEST CONTROL

44367555 44367999 GSM: 55875920/55860432

CAPITAL CLEANING COMPANY W.L.L.

44582257 33189899/ 55565328E-mail: capitalcleaningwll@gmail.com

CLEANING AND MAINTENANCE

LEADER MIDDLE EAST W.L.L.

+974 55745147

BUSINESS SET-UP

APOLLO FURNITURE

44689522 (3 Lines)

FURNITURE

QUEENS LAND SERVICESBusiness Set-up and Sponsorship.

77776917 info@qlsqatar.com

INVEST IN QATAR

HELPLINE GROUP OF COMPANIES

77711129/44351974/44919213 - www.helplinegroups.com

APOLLO ENTERPRISES

44426664 GSM: 55830870/33599574 mlibor@belzona.org

GLASS COATING

GENERAL TRADING SERVICES

ARMSTRONG

: 558 60 369 E-mail: secretary@armstrongmachinery.com www.armstrongmachinery.com

GENERATORS (Sales & Rentals)

SAMA COOL

44433199 55591717 4444 7709 - samacoolqatar@gmail.com

ARMSTRONG

: 55860369 E-mail: @armstrongmachinery.com www.armstrongmachinery.com

A/C MAINTENANCE & SERVICES

IMMIGRATION SERVICES

JEWELLERY

CANARA JEWELLERY

44422071, 44357283

WOKEER INDUSTRIAL AREA

660 02 704 E-mail: portacabins@iescoqatar.com

LABOUR CAMP

MANPOWER SERVICES

APOLLO ENTERPRISES44426664

GSM: 55871914/ 55524897

METAL REPAIRS

FACILITY MANAGEMENT SERVICES

ALWASEEM TRANSLATION & SERVICES CENTER

14 FRIDAY 4 AUGUST 2017CLASSIFIEDS

SERVICES

RECRUITMENT SERVICES

REAL ESTATE

AL MUFTAH SERVICES 44634444/44010700 Mob: 55542067/55823100

APOLLO REAL ESTATE55864352/55506803/ 55872145

44689522

ADAM REAL ESTATE COMPANY

44366932 44366931 55500789 / 55803731

NEW STATE CLEANING & PEST CONTROL

Mob+: 466517556/55404339

PEST CONTROL

RENT A CAR

REGENCY FLEETS

44433822/44554046/44554048 44554047 Airport Branch (24hrs): 70482655

NATIONAL - ALAMO RENT A CAR

5547 8150, 5040 0624

OASIS RENT A CAR

4413 0011 6641 7354 : 4413 0033

AL DAR CAR RENTAL

44877789 44866637

EUROCAR RENT A CAR CO LLC44660677

Airport: 40108888 66967787/ 55849587

AVIS RENT A CAR

44667744 / 40108887 44657626

COUNTRY RENT A CAR - BARWA AL WAKRA

44154467/44687507 55048720/ 5544042/66995238

AL MUFTAH RENT A CAR WLL

GO RENT A CAR

+974 44325500 44375753 33697075/ 66971703/55241629

WATER TANK CLEANING

AL MUTWASSIT CLEANING & PEST CONTROL

443679 99 55875920/55860432

CAPITAL CLEANING COMPANY

55565328/ 33189899 44582257 E-mail: capitalcleaningwll@gmail.com

SECURITY SYSTEM & SOLUTION

ARMSTRONG

: 557 80 396 E-mail: portacabins2@ qatar.com www.iescoqatar.com.

SEWAGE & WASTE REMOVAL

SCAFFOLDING

APOLLO ENTERPRISES SCAFFOLDING DIVISION44693334

44416274 55521089/55560246/55536285

QATAR AL ATTIYAH INTERNATIONAL GROUP (QAIG)

UNIFORMS

TRANSLATION SERVICES

HELPLINE44919213

Mob: 77711129 - www.helplinegroups.com

ARMSTRONG

: 557 80 396 E-mail: portacabins2@ qatar.com www.iescoqatar.com.

USED CONTAINERS (Sales & Rentals)

WOKEER INDUSTRIAL AREA

660 02 704 E-mail: portacabins@ qatar.com

WAREHOUSE FOR RENT

PARTY KINGDOM

44353501/ 44366431 E-mail: partykingdom10doha@yahoo.com

PARTY ITEMS & BALLOON DECORATION

ARMSTRONG

: 557 80 396 E-mail: portacabins2@ qatar.com www.iescoqatar.com.

PORTA CABINS (Sales & Rentals)

ARMSTRONG

: 557 80 396 E-mail: portacabins2@ qatar.com www.iescoqatar.com.

PORTABLE & CHEMICAL TOILETS (Sales & Rentals)

MASSAGE

KOTTAKKAL AYURVEDIC MASSAGE CENTRE

44360061 33453697

HERBOLIFE MASSAGE (AYURVEDIC)

77521322/44764968

AUTHENTIC THAI MASSAGE CENTERS

KERALA AYURVEDIC MASSAGE CENTER - FOR LADIES.

44147741 50007714.

APOLLO REAL ESTATE

Qatar’s first Real Estate Company under British Management

Call: Office: 44689522, Maureen 55864352Abubakar 55850815, Peter 55506803, Dexter 55872145

www.apollopropertiesonline.com

CHANGE OF NAME

FOR RENT

BANGLADESH COOKWith 20 years experience in Gulf

Expert Cooking Arabic, Indian, English & Chinese special food. Is looking for a job

Call: 77128687

SITUATION WANTED

MR. MOHAMMED ISMAIL VALIYA PURAYILINDIAN NATIONAL,

PASSPORT NO. Z2235998QATAR ID NO. 26335601779

The above said person is changing his employer.

Mobile: 55442932

Anybody who has any claim against him should contact us on the fol-lowing number within 2 days from the date of this advertisement. We will not be responsible for any claim whatsoever after the above said date.

NOTICE

Announcement

LAKSH MATHUR

KALLINGAL VIJAYA KUMAR.

KHALIFA MOHAMMED YOUSUF.

15FRIDAY 4 AUGUST 2017 BREAK TIME

Yesterday’s answer

SHOWING ATVILLAGGIO & CITY CENTER

BABY

BLU

ES

ALL IN THE MIND

ANN BAXTER, AUDREY HEPBURN, AVA GARDNER, BETTE DAVIS, CAROLE LOMBARD, GLORIA SWANSON, GRETA GARBO,HEDY LAMARR, INGRID BERGMAN, JANE RUSSELL, JANE WYMAN, JEAN HARLOW, JEAN SIMMONS, JOAN CRAWFORD, JUDY GARLAND, LANA TURNER, LAUREN BACALL, MARILYN MONROE, MERLE OBERON, MYRNA LOY, RITA HAYWORTH, VERONICA LAKE, VIRGINIA MAYO, VIVIEN LEIGH.

08:00 News

08:30 AJ Selects

09:00 Al Jazeera World

10:00 News

10:30 Inside Story

11:00 News

11:30 The Stream

12:00 News

12:30 101 East

13:00 NEWSHOUR

14:00 News

14:30 Inside Story

15:00 The Big Picture

16:00 NEWSHOUR

17:00 News

17:30 The Stream

18:00 Newsgrid

19:00 News

19:30 Artscape - Poets of

Protest

20:00 News

20:30 Inside Story

21:00 NEWSHOUR

22:00 News

22:30 Women Make Change

23:00 The Caliph

10:10 Gold Divers

13:10 Gold Rush

13:55 Abandoned

Engineering

14:40 Gold Divers

15:25 Misfit Garage

16:10 Wheeler Dealers

17:00 How Do They Do

It?

18:20 Baggage Battles

18:50 Abandoned

Engineering

20:10 How Do They Do

It?

21:00 The Island With

Bear Grylls

21:50 The Wheel: Survival

Games

22:40 Running Wild With

Bear Grylls

23:30 Misfit Garage

00:20 Wheeler Dealers

01:05 The Island With

Bear Grylls

01:50 The Wheel: Survival

Games

10:05 Tanked

11:00 Dr. Dee: Alaska

Vet

11:55 Cats 101

12:50 Lone Star Law

13:45 River Monsters

14:40 Wildest Indochina

15:35 Tanked

16:30 Catching

Monsters

17:25 Dog Rescuers

18:20 Wild Animal

Repo

19:15 Tanked

20:10 Dr. Dee: Alaska

Vet

21:05 Dog Rescuers

22:00 Wild Animal

Repo

22:55 Wildest

Indochina

23:50 Catching

Monsters

00:45 Cats 101

01:40 Wild Animal Repo

02:35 Tanked

13:10 Girl Meets World

15:20 Bizaardvark

15:45 Elena Of Avalor

16:10 Liv And

Maddie

16:35 Descendants

Wicked World

16:40 Miraculous Tales

Of Ladybug...

17:05 Stuck In The

Middle

17:30 Bunk'd

18:20 Disney Mickey

Mouse

20:10 The Adventures

Of Disney Fairies

20:35 Cracke

20:40 Bizaardvark

21:05 Miraculous Tales

Of Ladybug...

21:30 Stuck In The

Middle

22:00 Bunk'd

22:50 Miraculous Tales

Of Ladybug...

Conceptis Sudoku: Conceptis Sudoku is a number-

placing puzzle based on a 9×9 grid. The object is to

place the numbers 1 to 9 in the empty squares so

that each row, each column and each 3×3 box

contains the same number only once.

CROSSWORD

CONCEPTIS SUDOKU

Yesterday's answer

MALL

LANDMARK

ROYAL PLAZA

ASIAN TOWN

NOVO — Pearl

ROXY

Jawab Leteqal (2D/Arabic) 10:00am, 12:20, 2:40, 5:00, 7:20, 9:40pm & 12:00midnight 6 Days (2D/Action) 1:30, 5:30 & 9:30pmThe Dark Tower (2D/Action) 11:00am, 1:30, 2:30, 3:30, 5:30, 7:00, 7:30, 9:30 & 11:30pm Atomic Blonde (2D/Thriller) 10:00am, 2:40, 7:20pm & 12:00midnightBaby Driver (2D/Action) 12:20, 5:00 & 9:40pmFirst Kill (2D/Action) 11:30am, 3:30, 7:30 & 11:30pmMamnoun Min El Ektirab (2D/Arabic) 10:00am, 2:40, 7:20pm & 12:00midnightBling (2D/Animation) 10:00am, 12:50, 2:40 & 4:30pmWar For The Planet of The Apes (2D/Action) 6:40, 9:40 & 11:40pm Jab Harry Met Sejal (2D/Hindi) 10:00am, 3:10 & 8:20pm Baywatch (2D/Comedy) 12:50, 6:00 & 11:20pmBoyka: Undisputed (2D/Action) 10:00am, 12:00noon, 2:00, 4:00, 6:00, 8:00, 10:00pm & 12:00midnight The Big Sick (2D/Comedy) 12:10, 4:50 & 9:30pmDunkirk (2D IMAX/Action) 11:00am, 1:10, 3:20, 5:30, 7:40, 9:50pm & 12:00midnight Boyka: Undisputed (2D/Action) 2:30, 7:00 & 11:30pm

Bling (2D/Animation) 2:30 & 4:00pm Jab Harry Met Sejal (2D/Hindi) 2:15, 7:00 & 11:15pm 6 Days (2D/Action) 3:00 & 5:30pm The Dark Tower (2D/Action) 3:00, 9:30 & 11:45pm The Big Sick (2D/Comedy) 5:00pm Mamnoun Min El Ektirab (2D/Arabic) 5:00 & 9:30pm Finally Found Someone (2D/Tagalog) 5:30, 7:15 & 9:30pm First Kill (2D/Action) 7:45 & 11:30pm

Mamnoun Min El Ektirab (2D/Arabic) 2:45 & 9:30pm The Big Sick (2D/Comedy) 2:30 & 5:00pm Bling (2D/Animation) 3:00 & 4:30pm Finally Found Someone (2D/Tagalog) 5:00 & 8:45pm Jab Harry Met Sejal (2D/Hindi) 6:00 & 11:00pm Huroob Ezterari (2D/Arabic) 7:30 First Kill (2D/Action) 7:30 & 11:30pm The Dark Tower (2D/Action) 9:30 & 11:30pm 6 Days (2D/Action) 9:30pm

Bling (2D/Animation) 2:00, 3:30 & 5:30pm The Big Sick (2D/Comedy) 2:30 & 6:30pm 6 Days (2D/Action) 3:00 & 5:30pm Mamnoun Min El Ektirab (2D/Arabic) 4:30 & 9:30pm Jab Harry Met Sejal (2D/Hindi) 8:45 & 11:15pm First Kill (2D/Action) 2:30, 7:30 & 11:30pm Finally Found Someone (2D/Tagalog) 5:00 & 7:30pm The Dark Tower (2D/Action) 9:45 & 11:30pm

Jab Harry Met Sejal (Hindi) 12:00noon, 3:00, 3:15, 3:45, 6:00, 6:30, 8:45, 9:00,

9:15, 11:30pm, 12:00midnight & 02:15am Thondi Muthal (2D/Malayalam) 1:00pm

Fidaa (2D/Telugu) 12:30pm Goutham Nanda (2D/Telugu) 1:00pm Sunday Holiday (2D/Malayalam) 3:45, 9:15pm, 12:00midnight & 02:30am

Vikram Vedha (2D/Tamil) 6:30pm

Chunkzz (Animation) 12:00noon, 3:00 & 6:00pm The Dark Tower 5:00, 7:00, 9:00, 11:00pm & 01:00amFirst Kill (Thriller) 12:00noon, 2:20, 4:30, 6:50, 9:00 & 11:10pm

Jab Harry Met Sejal (Hindi) 12:00noon, 2:50, 5:40, 8:30 & 11:20pmDunkirk (2D/Thriller) 9:00 & 11:15pm Atomic Blonde 12:00noon & 2:30pm

AL KHORJab Harry Met Sejal (Hindi) 11:15am, 2:15, 5:15, 8:15 & 11:15pm

Dark Tower (2D/Action) 2:30, 7:00, 9:15 & 11:30pm Bling 11:45am & 1:30pmFinally Found Someone (Tagalog) 3:45, 9:00 & 11:30pm

Dunkirk (2D/Thriller) 12:15 & 4:45pm Sunday Holiday (Malayalam) 6:15pm

Yesterday's answer

Tamim Al Majd pictures displayed on streets in Kenya to show the support and respect to the beautiful country of Qatar and its leadership.

FRIDAY 4 AUGUST 2017

FAJRSHOROOK

03.38 am

05.02 am

ZUHRASR

11.40 am

03.08 pm

MAGHRIBISHA

06.20 pm

07.50 pm

PRAYER TIMINGS

HIGH TIDE 00:45 – 15:45 LOW TIDE 08:00 – 23:00

Hazy to misty at places at first with

a weak chance of local rainy clouds

at places during afternoon becomes

humid by night.

WEATHER TODAY

Minimum Maximum

Courtesy: Qatar Meteorology Department

34oC 43oC

20 HOME

Qatari artist Ahmed bin Majed Al Maadheed stands next to his paintings at a gallery.

‘Tamim the Glorious’ rises as national emblemDoha

AFP

As Qatar finds itself at the centre of a diplomatic storm, a young artist has shot to stardom with a sketch of the Emir — now

the emblem of Qatari nationalism.In Qatar, Emir H H Sheikh Tamim

bin Hamad Al Thani’s face is every-where, thanks to a silhouette of the ruler’s profile and the slogan “Tamim Al Majd” — Arabic for “Tamim the Glo-rious” — on bumpers, shop windows, concrete walls and mobile phone cases. “I have no words to describe what I feel when I see my illustration everywhere,” says Ahmed Al

Maadheed, who created his design hours after Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut ties with Qatar on June 5.

“It’s a gift from God to have the honour to draw His Majesty’s portrait and have it become a symbol”, Maad-heed said.

Maadheed posted a portrait of the Emir, sketched hastily in black and white immediately after Saudi Arabia and its allies announced the siege against Qatar, to his personal Twitter and Instagram accounts.

The Emir’s profile, and the line “Tamim the Glorious” in intricate Ara-bic calligraphy, spread like wildfire in Qatar after a retweet by the Emir’s brother, finding its way into the streets

as posters, stickers, flags and even jewellery.

The design also resurfaced as a graffiti stencil, frequently painted in black and accompanied by the Qatari flag. The success of “Tamim the Glo-rious” propelled the then-unknown artist into the limelight overnight, and by the end of June he had exhibited his work at an annex of Qatar’s art museum and one of Doha’s top hotels. Nearly all the paintings sold that month.

Maadheed’s paintings are fre-quently patriotic, featuring portraits of the royal family and even Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has come to Qatar’s aid with food sup-plies and military training in the Gulf

crisis. “I draw inspiration from my cul-ture, from nature ... but also from well-known figures”, Madheed said.

The emblem of the Emir has since been translated to English for the country’s sizeable expatriate commu-nity, who make up 80 percent of Qatar’s 2.5 million population, and stickers and banners in English are now visible across Qatar.

Madheed, who runs a small adver-tising agency by day, said he had been offered $10m for the original Arabic design by a private party, but opted instead to gift it to the Emir.

“I’m thankful God gave me the chance to create this sort of work ... which expresses my love for the Emir,” Maadheed said.

Ministry extends dates festival by a week

The Peninsula

The Ministry of Municipality and Environment has decided to extend the Second Local Dates Festival at Souq Waqif for another week in

order to meet the increasing demands of visitors. Accordingly, the festival is due to conclude on August 12 instead of August 5.

The festival which was launched on July 27, has achieved a peerless success comparing to the pre-vious year, said the Ministry yesterday in a statement. Due to the high demand, the festival is witnessing big sales of different types of dates with quantities

ranging between 7 to 12 tonnes every day. This year festival has attracted considerable number of VIPs and senior officials along the increasing number of nationals and expatriates.

There are a total of 61 local farms participating in this year festival , which is three fold of the last year participants said the ministry.

The ministry also noted that exhibitors have sold a total of 70 tonnes from different types of dates since the binning of the festival and week end rep-resents the golden opportunity for as number of visitors significantly increases and where the total sale is expected to reach 10 tonnes.

Visitors at the Second Local Dates Festival at Souq Waqif.

Sanofi & Roche Diabetes Care to introduce ‘My Star Starter Kits’ in QatarThe Peninsula

To enable health care providers and patients to effectively manage diabetes, Sanofi, in partner-ship with Roche Diabetes Care, are introducing

‘My Star Starter Kits’ in Qatar. The aim is to channel knowledge, health beliefs, as well as encourage adher-ence to medication and lifestyle measures that can aid diabetic patients cope well in the long run.

The ‘Starter Kit’ offers easy-to-use resources, information and tools that can improve a patient’s understanding of their condition. The objective is to support patients through their journey with diabetes by providing them with useful information on day to day concerns, facilitate regular monitoring of blood sugar levels, and improve awareness on the benefits of effective diabetes management.

The kit consists of various components including a diabetes general education booklet, a sugar log book and a blood glucose machine to measure their blood sugar levels.

The starter kits will be distributed to physicians treating patients. In turn, the treating physician will share the starter kits with suitable patients, introduce them to the items included in their kits, and explain how these can be used to improve their well-being and diabetes control. In Qatar, the ‘Starter Kits’ will be available for patients in private as well as govern-ment hospitals, including facilities managed by Hamad Medical Corporation.

The increased prevalence of diabetes in Middle Eastern countries is a major health concern. Lifestyle interventions and adherence to medications are cen-tral to disease prevention and management.

Tamim Al Majd in Kenya