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Volume 24 | Number 8146

Amir honours outstanding graduates of Police College

QNA — DOHA

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani patronised the graduation ceremony of the second batch of candidate students of the Ministry of Inte-rior’s Police College at its head-quarters in Al Sailiya, yesterday.

The ceremony was attended by Prime Minister and Interior Minister, H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani; Minister of Interior of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, H E Salameh Hammad; Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Moldova, H E Pavel Voicu; Minister of Internal Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic, Colonel Kashkar Junushaliev, and Deputy Minister of Interior

of the Republic of Turkey, H E Professor Tayyip Sabri Erdil.

It was also attended by a number of Their Excellencies the Ministers, heads of diplo-matic missions in the State and senior officers of the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Interior, the State Security Bureau, the Amiri Guard and the Internal Security Force (Lekhwiya), in addition to a number of leaders of security and military colleges from brotherly and friendly countries.

At the beginning of the cer-emony, the national anthem was played. Then commander of the graduates’ queue came forward to request H H the Amir to review the queue of the 110

graduates from the State of Qatar, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the State of Palestine and the Republic of Yemen.

After reciting verses from the Holy Quran and the per-formance of the graduates’ parade and the military parade, H H the Amir honoured the first seven outstanding graduates.

After that, the second batch handed over the flag to the third batch. The order for promotion

was then read out and the parade queue left. Then, tomor-row’s officers of school students entered the parade. At the end of the ceremony, the second batch graduates took the oath and performed the anthem of the college.

Director-General of the Police College Brigadier Dr. Mohammed Abdullah Al Muhana delivered a speech on this occasion, in which he said “Today

we celebrate the honour of Your Highness to graduate a distin-guished constellation of can-didate students from the second batch of the Police College who successfully passed the require-ments for a bachelor’s degree in law and police science.”

The candidates, he said include 110 graduates, 89 of whom are Qatari from the Min-istry of Interior and from a number of military entities in the country, and 21 from the sis-terly Arab countries, including the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the State of Palestine and the Republic of Yemen.

Brigadier Dr. Al Muhana said that the Police College pro-vided its graduates with sci-ences and knowledge in the

legal and police fields, as well as advanced training courses, expressing hope that they will work to enhance the capabil-ities of the Ministry of Interior and complete it path.

The Director-General of the Police College stressed in his speech that the blessing of security and safety that our dear country enjoys is nothing but the fruits of a wise leadership vision that put human dignity, hap-piness and security at the top of its priorities and goals, quoting H H the Amir as saying that humans are the most important aspect of building a nation and a country’s biggest investment, and that Qatar has invested in its youth and with them it will develop further. �P2

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani honouring one of the outstanding students of the second batch of graduates of the Police College yesterday. RIGHT Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani reviewing the queue of 110 new graduates.

Qatar renews call for settlement of Gulf crisis through dialogueQNA — NEW YORK

Qatar has renewed its call to settle the crisis with the blockading countries peacefully through constructive and unconditional dialogue, which preserves the sovereignty of states within the framework of the United Nations Charter, international law and the principles of friendly relations between countries.

The State also affirmed its keenness to defuse the crisis and achieve international peace and security. This came in a statement made by Permanent Represent-ative of the State of Qatar to the U N Ambas-sador H E Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif Al Thani at the regular meeting of the UN Security Council on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.

Her Excellency stated that the State of Qatar remains committed to its usual prin-cipled positions in light of the ongoing unjust blockade and unilateral unlawful measures it has been subjected to for more than two and a half years, which is

a flagrant violation of the provisions and purposes of the UN Charter and interna-tional law, as well as contributes to under-mining regional and international peace and security.

Meanwhile, she referred to the cam-paigns of misinformation and incitement that the State of Qatar is exposed to by the blockading countries, which reflects the desperate and failed attempts by the blockading countries to undermine the State. Her Excellency also stressed Qatar’s steadfast position in calling for a peaceful settlement of the crisis through constructive and unconditional dialogue that preserves the sovereignty of states.

She added that Qatar remains com-mitted to mediation to solve and defuse the crisis and achieve international peace and security. She also renewed Qatar’s appreciation for the sincere efforts made by Amir of the sisterly State of Kuwait H H Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah.

On the Palestinian issue, H E the

Ambassador said that the Israeli occu-pation, illegal settlement and repressive Israeli practices against the brotherly Palestinian people are among the rejected manifestations of non-com-pliance with international conventions and norms.

She stressed that settling the Pales-tinian issue requires ending the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian and Arab lands, including the occupied Syrian Golan and Lebanese territories, and

stopping settlement in the occupied land. H E the Ambassador called for lifting

the siege on the Gaza Strip, stopping illegal practices against the Palestinian territories, returning refugees, and stopping all practices that threaten the two-state solution, that includes the establishment of an independent and viable state of Palestine on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, which lives side by side with Israel in peace and security. �P2

Qatar ranks 30th in Corruption Perceptions Index 2019QNA/THE PENINSULA — DOHA

The State of Qatar was ranked 30th in the world out of 180 countries in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index 2019, advancing three positions compared to last year.

The Administrative Control and Transparency Authority said yesterday that the annual index is published by Transparency International. They noted that the index is of particular interests to states, investors, develop-mental and rights organisations all over the world.

The index relies on 13 dif-ferent institutions, as well as experts and the business com-munities. It uses data from inter-national organizations such as the World Bank, World Eco-nomic Forum, International Institute for Management Devel-opment (IMD), and the Econ-omist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

Qatar’s score of 62 was 23 points higher than the average for the Middle-East and North Africa region. The organization noted the negative impact some of the recent develop-ment’s in the region had on the countries’ score. They high-lighted that the State of Qatar was one of the top countries in the region thanks to its efforts in transparency and combatting corruption. �P3

H H the Amir honoured the first seven outstanding graduates during the ceremony which was attended by H E the Prime Minister and Interior Minister and Ministers from Turkey, Jordan, Moldova and the Kyrgyz Republic.

H E Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif Al Thani addressing the UN Securiy Council meeting.

Top regional designers showcase creations at Shop QatarRAYNALD C RIVERA THE PENINSULA

The stunning Italian-inspired architecture of Al Hazm was the perfect backdrop for the opening of the week-long fashion event held yesterday as a highlight of the fourth edition of Shop Qatar, the country’s biggest shopping festival.

It was a night of spectacular parade of creations from

leading regional designers including Ahmed Talfeet, Laith Maalof, Naja Saade, Amgad Al Adab, Saeed Malass and Toufic Al Hasa, Baris and homegrown designer Fahad Al Obaidly who flaunted their latest creations on the runway at the well-applauded fashion show.

From haute couture and bridal gowns to ready-to-wear evening gowns, bespoke menswear and accessories, the

fashion event was a treat for Doha’s fashion savvy.

“I’m very proud and happy to participate in the fashion show during Shop Qatar fes-tival. It’s my second time to do a fashion show in Qatar and I’m always very proud to showcase my designs here,” top Lebanese designer Naja Saade, told the media.

Saade opened the inaugural show with his exquisite

collections of evening gowns and bridal wear both inspired by the woman, the former called “Spirit of the Time” while the latter “Rebirth,” mostly made of silk and handmade embroideries.

On his view of Qatar’s fashion industry, he said, “I see a lot of improvement in the fashion industry in Qatar because Qatari women know about fashion. They know what to choose and what suits them that’s why we

see a lot of competition in this market, and we have to do a lot of creations and new things.”

Five more fashion shows will be hosted at Al Hazm including the Qatar debut of famous Lebanese designer Nicolas Jebran this evening, “Designed by Qatar” tomorrow, “Haute couture & evening wear” and “Ready to wear” shows on Sunday and “Designed by China” on Wednesday. �P3

02 FRIDAY 24 JANUARY 2020HOME

FAJR SUNRISE 05.00 am 06.20 am

W A L R U WA I S : 14o↗ 18o W A L K H O R : 14o↗ 20o W D U K H A N : 14o↗ 18o W D O H A : 13o↗ 20o W M E S A I E E D 14o↗ 21o W A B U S A M R A 12o↗ 18o

PRAYER TIMINGS WEATHER TODAY

HIGH TIDE 04:45 – 15:30 LOW TIDE 02:29 – 22:57

Relatively cold daytime with scattered clouds and a chance of rain at some places at first, cold by night.

Minimum Maximum13oC 20oC

ZUHRMAGHRIB

11.46 am05.14 pm

ASR ISHA

02.51 pm06.44 pm

Police College signs Letters of Intent with Moldovan Stefan cel Mare Academy, International Society for CriminologyQNA — DOHA The Police College of the Ministry of Interior in Doha yesterday signed a letter of intent for academic and training cooperation with the “Stefan cel Mare” Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Moldova, on the sidelines of the graduation ceremony of the second batch of graduates of the Police College.

The letter of intent was signed on behalf of the Police College by Director-General of the Police College Brigadier Dr Mohammed Abdullah Al Muhana, and for the Academy by its Pres-ident Lt Col Dr Dinu Ostavciuc.

Brigadier Dr Mohammed

Abdullah Al Muhana stated that the letter of intent aims to enhance cooperation and coor-dination between the College and the Academy in various academic and training fields, especially the exchange of experiences, research activities, lecturers, and mutual scientific visits between the two parties.

For his part, Lt Col Dr Dinu Ostavciuc said that the signing of the letter of intent between the Moldovan Academy and the Police College is the result of cooperation between the two friendly countries, stressing that cooperation between the two sides will reflect positively on the outputs of both the Academy and the College in graduating

highly qualified police cadres.He also praised the highly

qualified graduates of the second batch of Qatari Police College, saying that the parade is a testament to the quality of the college’s efforts to graduate police officers.

The Police College also signed a letter of intent with the Inter-national Society for Criminology, which is registered in the Com-monwealth of Virginia, USA.

The letter was signed on behalf of the Police College by Director-General of the Police College Brigadier Dr Mohammed Abdullah Al Muhana, and for the Society by its President Dr Emilio Viano.

It aims to build bridges of

cooperation, enhance joint work, exchange experiences in all fields, support efforts of mutual interest, and exchange information and opinions on issues related to academic and training activities and enhance coordination on developing cadres of the two parties to improve the quality of their work.

The President of the Inter-national Society for Crimi-nology expressed his happiness at signing the letter of intent with the College, which will upgrade and benefit both parties at the professional, training and academic level.

He praised that the Police College’s capabilities that make

it a pioneer college with modern training programmes and plans and constant quest for

development and moderni-sation in its administrative, aca-demic and training systems.

Officials during the signing ceremony of the Letter of Intent.

Amir honours outstanding graduates of Police College

FROM PAGE 1

He also stressed that the College seeks to confirm this through achieving quality in education and training by graduating a modern police officers with a high degree of effi-ciency and professionalism.

Amir meets Ministers, Security and Military leadersQNA — DOHA

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani met yesterday morning at the Police College headquarters in Al Sailiya with H E Minister of Interior of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Salameh Hammad; H E Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Moldova Pavel Voicu; H E Minister of Internal Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic Colonel Kashkar Junushaliev; H E Deputy Minister of Interior of the Republic of Turkey Prof Tayyip Sabri Erdil; and a number of Their Excellencies leaders of security and military colleges in some brotherly and friendly countries who called on H H the Amir to greet him on the occasion of their visit to the country to attend the graduation ceremony of the second batch of candidate students of the Ministry of Interior’s Police College

The meeting was attended by H E Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani.

Qatar renews call for settlement of Gulf crisis through dialogueFROM PAGE 1

Her Excellency also affirmed that the time has come to reach a just and compre-hensive solution to the Pales-tinian cause that enables the Palestinian people to achieve their rights and achieve their legitimate aspirations, through dialogue and serious negoti-ation on the basis of the UN Charter, international law, international legitimacy reso-lutions, agreed references and the Arab Peace Initiative. She urged the international com-munity to strive in every way to achieve this goal that would put an end to the decades of suf-fering and instability in the region.

Regarding the Gaza Strip, H E the Ambassador stated that Qatar has endeavored to fulfill its role at various levels in order to create the appropriate envi-ronment for a lasting and com-prehensive peace. She drew attention to the importance of addressing the deteriorating

humanitarian situation, espe-cially in the Gaza Strip, noting the support provided by Qatar to strengthening the budget of the Palestinian Authority and providing humanitarian needs.

She also referred to the grant of the State of Qatar, which contributed to making a significant difference in pro-viding electricity to Gaza and providing support to the tem-porary employment programs of the UN and other areas of importance to improve the living conditions of the Pales-tinian brothers.

As for the situation in Syria, H E Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the UN Ambassador Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif Al Thani said that the time has come for the brotherly Syrian people to obtain their legitimate demands for security, peace and a decent life and to preserve the unity, sovereignty and independence of their country, referring to the continuation of the crisis and

the resulting escalating human suffering and serious violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law.

She stressed that the political solution to the crisis should be in accordance with the Geneva Declaration and Security Council Resolution 2254, calling for the necessity of ensuring the activation of the Constitutional Committee as a step on the right path.

H E said that the State of Qatar will continue to support efforts to remove obstacles to achieving peace and a political solution based on international and legal references.

On the Libyan issue, H E the Ambassador called on all actors to assume their responsibility, respect the will of the brotherly Libyan people for a peaceful solution and support efforts to stop violence, achieve national consensus and implement Security Council resolutions, expressing the State of Qatar’s

full support for Special Repre-sentative of the Secretary-General for Libya Ghassan Salame’s efforts.

Regarding the situation in Yemen, Her Excellency stated that the brotherly Yemeni people deserve an end to the conflict and their severe human suffering, calling on the parties to engage in a dialogue aimed at achieving a political solution and national reconciliation, based on Security Council Res-olution 2216, which will ensure the preservation of the unity of Yemen and restore security and stability.

Her Excellency reiterated the State of Qatar’s support to the efforts of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General, stressing the need to adhere to international law and protect human rights, and the need to secure the basic needs of all Yemenis and facilitate the arrival of humanitarian assistance to them.

In regard to the

developments taking place in the Iraqi arena, H E the Ambas-sador Sheikha Alya underlined that the State of Qatar is closely following up the developments of events in Iraq and what the region is currently experiencing from a sensitive stage that requires concerted efforts and building bridges of communi-cation as well as the preference of pluralism to unilateralism in finding solutions.

In her statement, H E also stressed the need to raise the voice of reason and wisdom to reduce tension and stop esca-lation. In this context, she noted the State of Qatar’s firm stance which calls for the importance of activating preventive diplomacy and adopting peaceful methods to resolve disputes and conflicts through dialogue and mediation. Today, the State of Qatar’s stance remains consistent in empha-sizing the need to adhere to international law and the prin-ciples of friendly international

relations, she added.H E affirmed the importance

for the international community to carry out its responsibilities to ensure the security and sta-bility of the region, pointing out that the State of Qatar is exerting its utmost diplomatic efforts, and is seeking, through consultation and coordination with friendly and brotherly countries, to calm and reduce escalation.

Concluding her statement, H E Ambassador Sheikha Alya said that the Middle East is in need, more than ever before, to put an end to all tensions with disastrous effects on interna-tional peace and security, calling on the Security Council to assume its responsibility in taking the necessary measures to stop all serious violations of international law and end crises in order for the region to become a safe place for its people in terms of peace, sta-bility, development and prosperity.

DOHA: Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani sent yester-day a cable of congratulations to H E Katerina Sakellaropoulou on being elected as the new President of the Hellenic Republic.

Deputy Amir H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Thani sent yesterday a cable of congratulations to H E Katerina Sakellaropoulou on being elected as the new President of the Hellenic Republic. QNA

Amir and Deputy Amir send congratulations to Greek president-elect

03FRIDAY 24 JANUARY 2020 HOME

Qatar ranks 30 in Corruption

Perceptions Index 2019FROM PAGE 1

This comes despite the unjust blockade imposed on the country. The Administrative Control and Trans-parency Authority highlighted that a lot of the state’s efforts in the field of transparency were not reflected by the index, given that it is based on research done last year.

The top countries in the Index are New Zealand and Denmark, with scores of 87 each, followed by Finland (86), Singapore (85), Sweden (85) and Switzerland (85). The bottom countries are Somalia, South Sudan and Syria with scores of 9, 12 and 13, respectively.

According to Transparency International, in the last eight years, only 22 countries significantly improved their CPI scores, including Greece, Guyana and Estonia. In the same period, 21 countries significantly decreased their scores, including Canada, Australia and Nicaragua. In the remaining 137 countries, the levels of corruption show little to no change.

The Index uses a scale of zero to 100, where zero is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean. More than two-thirds of countries score below 50 on this year’s CPI, with an average score of just 43.

Similar to previous years, the data shows that despite some progress, a majority of countries are still failing to tackle public sector corruption effectively.

Ministry of Interior officials praise high standards of Police CollegeQNA — DOHA

Several officials of the Ministry of Interior said yesterday that the Police College succeeded in a short time since its estab-lishment in ensuring its excel-lence regionally and interna-tionally in terms of training, noting the high performance of its earlier graduates.

The Police College wit-nessed yesterday the graduation of its second batch of officers, which included 110 students. A total of 89 of those students were Qatari. The remaining stu-

dents came from Jordan, Pal-estine, and Yemen.

Commenting on the occasion, Director General of Public Security H E Saad Bin Jassim Al Khulaifi that estab-lishing the Police College was one of the ministry’s biggest achievements over the past few years. His Excellency added that the college proved its ability to train more than capable police officers in line with the highest regional and international standards. He added that there were high expectations for this year’s graduates.

For his part, Advisor of the Minister of Interior Major General H E Dr Abdullah Yousef Al Mal, who is also the Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Council of Police College expressed his delight with the education that today’s grad-uates got over the past year, saying that it will help them carry out their duties in the future. He added that the college was continuing its mission of developing its edu-cational programmes through specialised courses that will be introduced along with the aca-

demic curricula.Meanwhile, Director of the

International Cooperation Department of the Ministry of Interior Major General Abdulaziz Al Ansari said that the Police College became in a short time a beacon of knowledge in the security field.

For his part, Assistant of Director of Public Security Major General Abdullah Mohammed Al Suwaidi said that the Ministry of Interior is sparing no effort in developing security operations and building up capabilities, noting that the

Police College was an important component of developing human capital in line with Qatar National Vision 2030.

Director of National Command Centre (NCC) Major General Khalifa Abdullah Al Nuaimi the Police College, despite being recently estab-lished, was able to occupy a dis-tinguished position among its counterparts at the regional and Arab levels, and to keep abreast of developments of police col-leges at the international level.

He emphasised that the approach of the Police College

in training its students confirms its ability to produce distin-guished police officers who are able to carry out all the tasks undertaken by the Ministry of Interior.

Head of Human Resources Major General Khalifa Nasr Al Nasr said that the police college was one of the ministry’s biggest achievements in providing appropriate training to its cadres, stressing that training was a pillar of the ministry’s strategy.

The officials then congrat-ulated the graduates for their efforts over the past four years.

Sheikha Alya to lead negotiations on statement of commemoration of 75th anniversary of UN

The President of the 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, H E Tijjani Muhammad appointed Permanent Repre-sentative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations Ambassador, H E Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif Al Thani, and Permanent Repre-sentative of Sweden to the United Nations Ambassador, H E Anna Karin Enestrom to facilitate and lead international negotiations for an agreement on a statement of the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the United Nations.

This was stated in a letter circulated by the President of the General Assembly to all UN Member States.

The political statement, to be adopted at the high-level meeting on September 21, 2020, with the participation of heads of state and government, will be under the theme: a brief, forward-looking objective statement that strengthens unity among Member States, reaffirms collective commitment to multilateralism and to the United Nations, and reflects joint vision towards a shared future.

The General Assembly, in its resolution 73/299 entitled “Com-memoration of the 75th anniversary of the United Nations”, approved the high-level meeting.

Concluding his message, H E Tijjani Muhammad expressed his thanks and appreciation to Ambassador H E Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif Al Thani and to H E Ambassador Anna Karin Enestrom for accepting this important responsibility, calling on all Member States to provide support and cooperation to make the mission a success.

QNA — DOHA

Prime Minister meets Moldovan counterpart

The Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani held yesterday a meeting with Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Moldova Pavel Voicu, who were visiting the country to attend the graduation ceremony of the second batch of graduates of the Police College. He also met Minister of Interior of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan H E Salameh Hammad Suhaim; Minister of Internal Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic Colonel, H E Kashkar Junushaliev; Director-General of National Security of the Republic of Tunisia, H E Kamel Guizani, who were visiting the country to attend the graduation ceremony of the second batch of graduates of the Police College. The meetings focused on cooperation ties with the State of Qatar and the means to enhance them, in addition to discussing issues of joint interest.

DAVOS: H E Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of For-eign Affairs and the Chairman of Qatar Investment Authority, met separately with a number of ministers, UN offi-cials and heads of companies and financial institutions, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (Davos).

The meetings reviewed a number of issues of common con-cern, especially the region’s issues and its latest developments, eco-nomic and investment matters.

Deputy PM, Minister of Foreign Affairs meets ministers & UN officials

Top regional designers showcase creations at Shop QatarFROM PAGE 1

Local designers who will be revealing their latest collections tomorrow include Waad, Yasmeen Mansoor, Sarmad, Shaden, Tamadar Al Sultan and Lady Ayesha will showcase their latest couture and prêt-à-porter col-lection along with creations by Modish, Soliel Abayas, Al Dukan, and the Black Pearl.

The haute couture & evening wear show on Sunday will showcase collections from Saiid Kobeisy, Sandra Mansour, Marco & Maria, J Mendel, Ziad Nakad, Jenny Packham and Bazzaza as well as bridal wear from Frida, Mae collection, Demetrios and Yolancris, while the ready to wear show will unveil collections from leading brands The Row, Avaro Figlio, Alexander Terekhov, Racheal Gilbert, Dice Kayek, Blumarine, Loriz Azzaro, and Hrabal Gurong.

The week culminates with China’s most influential fashion

innovators Grace Chen and Lan Yu presenting their unique approach to couture in celebration of the Chinese New Year.

Meanwhile, Al Mirqab Mall will be holding a fashion show today displaying the latest trend in chil-

dren’s wear.A major feature of Shop Qatar

2020, more than 20 leading designers from Europe, Asia and the Middle East are showcasing their Spring/Summer collections at the event.

In addition to the fashion shows, well-known names in the beauty world including Hanan Alnajadah, Dalal Al Rifai and Lady Aisha conducted master classes and workshops to packed audiences.

The 25-day shopping festival features over 30 diverse activities, weekly raffle draws with big prizes and unbeatable discounts and promotions in 12 malls and retail partners including Al Mirqab Mall, AlKhor Mall, City Centre, Doha Festival City, Gulf Mall, Hyatt Plaza, Lagoona Mall, Landmark Mall, Mall of Qatar, Villaggio, The Pearl-Qatar and Galeries Lafayette.

Organised by Qatar National Tourism Council, Shop Qatar is part of efforts to energise the country’s economy by with focus on its thriving retail sector. The festival’s 2019 edition witnessed the participation of over 3,000 stores and sales vouchers worth QR58.4m.

Models wearing creations by Lebanese designer Naja Saade at the opening fashion show held at Al Hazm yesterday as a highlight of Shop Qatar 2020.

2022 World Cup represents opportunity to make positive changes in region: SC Secretary-General

H E Hassan Al Thawadi, Secretary-General of the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC), described hosting the FIFA World Cup 2022 as ‘transformational’ for Qatar and the entire Middle East during the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting Davos 2020.

Al Thawadi held a number of bilateral meetings, took part in a panel discussion where he explored the eco-nomic prosperity in the Middle East with a number of notable figures, and conducted interviews with global broadcasters such as CNBC, CNN and Astro Awani on the sidelines of this year’s forum.

During an interview with CNBC, Al Thawadi said the tournament had the power the unite people from across the world.

“Major sporting events particularly football and the FIFA World Cup provide incredible opportunities for bringing people together,” said Al Thawadi. “If you look at the recent FIFA Club World Cup, we had people in Qatar from five continents engaging with each other and celebrating football. It was a true festivity.”

Al Thawadi continued: “We also appreciate the value and power of sport in building bridges between people from every walk of life. The recent Gulf Cup, held in Qatar, was a fantastic example. It was the first time Bahrain won the tournament and the emotion of the fans was incredible.

“Sporting events can be truly trans-formational and something that leaves a legacy not only for us but for gener-ations to come. We’re working hard to ensure that everyone appreciates the powerful tool we have in bringing people together and the unique oppor-tunity we have been granted. In an age where divisiveness and nationalism are on the rise, we must work to use these platforms to showcase our common humanity and celebrate our shared values and harness this once in a lifetime opportunity.”

In line with this year’s sustainability theme at WEF, Al Thawadi also dis-cussed the tournament’s sustainability credentials during the interview, noting the launch of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Sustainability Strategy this week the first to be planned and delivered jointly by FIFA, the host country and the local organisers. Al Thawadi also reiterated Qatar’s commitment to

hosting the world’s first truly carbon neutral tournament in 2022.

Speaking about tournament prep-arations, Al Thawadi said 2020 would be a busy year for the SC. Qatar will host the CAF Super Cup in February and the FIFA Club World Cup in December 2020, welcoming thousands of fans from around the world to the region once again. Al Thawadi noted that two stadiums will be unveiled during the first half of the year, Edu-cation City and Al Bayt, and that all tournament infrastructure will be delivered by 2021.

Al Thawadi also took part in a panel discussion at a Qatar Investment Authority event on the sidelines of this year’s WEF Annual Meeting. Titled ‘Perspectives from Qatar: The Reality of Economic Prosperity in the Middle East’, Al Thawadi joined fellow pan-elists HE Ali bin Ahmed Al Kuwari, Min-ister of Commerce and Industry, Mirek Dusek, Deputy Head of the Centre for Geopolitical and Regional Affairs and Member of the Executive Committee, World Economic Forum, and Henry Lawrence Culp Jr, CEO, General Electric.

Bilateral meetings were also held throughout the week with figures

including Klaus Schwab, Founder and Chairman, World Economic Forum, David Miliband, President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee, Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the ITUC, Ian Bremmer, CEO of Eurasia Group, and Mirek Dusek, Deputy Head of the Centre for Geopolitical and Regional Affairs and Member of the Executive Committee, World Economic Forum.

The WEF Annual Meeting in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, is the foremost creative force for engaging the world’s

top leaders in collaborative activities to shape the global, regional and industry agendas at the beginning of each year. 2020, which marked the forum’s 50th year, attracted 3,000 par-ticipants from around the world and aimed to give concrete meaning to “stakeholder capitalism”, assist gov-ernments and international institutions in tracking progress towards the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Devel-opment Goals, and facilitate discus-sions on technology and trade governance.

QNA — DAVOS

H E Hassan Al Thawadi, Secretary General of the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) during an interview with CNBC on the sidelines of World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting 2020, in Davos.

OFFICIAL NEWS

04 FRIDAY 24 JANUARY 2020HOME/MIDDLE EAST

QU’s Empower Generations Consortium signs MoUs for health care and educationQatar University (QU), through its Empower Generations Consortium, a project that directs secondary student interest towards careers in life & biomedical sciences, signed a number of MoUs with its partners in health care and education sectors. The MoU’s aim to build national capacities in life sciences and health care through collaborative initia-tives.

Qatar University President Dr. Hassan Al Derham signed three individual memorandums with project partner Al Gannas

Qatari Society, represented by its President Ali Khatem Al Mehshadi.

QU’s Vice-President for Medical and Health Sciences and Dean of the College of Med-icine Dr. Egon Toft, signed MoU’s with seven additional partners. These partners include two international institutes: FractalUp for Artificial Intelli-gence (AI) and the Core Africa project for research excellence. Local institutes include Sidra Medicine, represented by Chair of the Transition Committee and Board Member Mohammed Al Mana; Equine Veterinary Medical Center, represented by

Executive Director of Strategy, Administration and Projects Hisham E Nourin; Qatar Biobank, represented by its Director Dr. Nahla Afifi; and Qatar Genome, represented by Director of the Qatar Genome Project Dr. Said Ismail.

Dr. Hassan Al Derham com-mented saying: “This collabo-rative initiative is coherent to the institutional strategies, the sustainable development agenda and Qatar National Vision 2030. We aim to invest in the new generation and build stronger societies through inter-national and national collabo-rations in the field of applied science and education. This consortium is the first of its kind in the Middle East in terms of content and operating mech-anism, and among the rare projects that aspire for sus-tainable outcomes by employing statistical means to reflect its value and effectiveness.”

Professor Asmaa Althani, the Founder of the Empower Generations Consortium, the Former and Founding Dean of the College of Health Sciences, Director of Biomedical Research Center, Chair of Qatar Genome Program Committee and Board Vice Chairperson of Qatar Biobank shed light on the history of the consortium and its positive impact on Qatar’s national capacities. She said: “The consortium so far enrolled 646 Qatari students from 2013 to 2018, and more than 3500 students were impacted. The project has reached 100 percent of the schools in Qatar and achieved 96 percent participation.”

The project also docu-mented a 10 percent annual

increase in science major enrol-ments at Qatar University (9 percent in 2013, 19.6 percent in 2014, 21 percent in 2015, 37 percent in 2016, 46 percent in 2017 and 49 percent in 2018). This reflects 6.5-8 percent increase in the entry level to the science and health care sector in 2022.

Dean of QU’s College of Health Sciences Dr. Hanan Abdul Rahim, reiterated the col-lege’s commitment to building national capacities in the careers of life sciences and health care, saying, “The College of Health Sciences has a long tradition of serving the health sector in Qatar through high quality academic programs. With the consortium and this wide array of national and international collaborations, the college is working to show young men and women the exciting opportunities they can find in health care and in health research.”

Mohammed Al Mana said, “As an academic health care organization, Sidra Medicine takes an active role in pre-paring today’s students to become tomorrow’s health

care professionals and researchers. Through our joint collaboration with Qatar Uni-versity, we hope to further build national capacity, in line with Qatar National Vision 2030, so that more of our youth will consider careers in the field of health care, biomedical and life sciences. The part-nership with Qatar University is a major step in strengthening the foundation of health care in Qatar for professionals and patients alike.”

Ali Khatem Al Mehshadi said, “The Empower Gener-ation Consortium at QU is a pioneering initiative that aims to attract Qatar’s younger gen-eration to move towards sci-entific disciplines, which have the power to protect the coun-try’s environment and heritage.”

Executive Director of Strategy, Administration and Projects at Qatar Foundation (Equine Veterinary Medical Center) Hisham E. Nourin said, “The Equine Veterinary Medical center, an entity of Qatar Foun-dation, is very proud to be part of this initiative. Creating awareness among the young

Qatari population of the advances that have been made in equine veterinary medicine is crucial for both the devel-opment of animal health and the advancement of research in Qatar and the region.”

Director of Qatar Biobank Dr. Nahla Afifi said, “Qatar Biobank works to create a healthier local population as envisioned in the country’s national health strategy in line with Qatar National Vision 2030. It is therefore critical that the nation’s youth undertake and understand biobanking and the relevant fields, so the next generation of health care pro-viders and practitioners can build on the excellent work we have already done.”

Director of Qatar Genome Program Dr. Said Ismail said, “One of our main pillars is building human capacity, and we shoulder the responsibility of not only inspiring, but also supporting the young gener-ation in choosing a career in precision medicine. There is a growing need both locally and internationally for human talent in this field and all its related specialities.”

Qatar University President Dr. Hassan Al Derham with other officials during the ceremony.

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Westin Doha supports cervical cancer awareness campaign

As part of the Cervical Cancer Awareness Month, The Westin Doha Hotel and Spa in collab-oration with Qatar Cancer Society have conducted an internal session for its employees to highlight infor-mation about the disease, the diagnosis, methods of prevention, importance of early detection and screening.

Cervical Cancer Awareness Month is an occasion to raise awareness among female employees and women in general in the local community on ways to protect themselves from HPV (human papilloma-virus) and cervical cancer.

The main focus of the

campaign is to encourage women to do a cervical screening, especially that most deaths from cervical cancer could be prevented by regular screenings and follow-up care.

Commenting on the initiative, Ammar Samad, General Manager, of The Westin Doha Hotel & Spa said:“It is very important for us to increase awareness among our female associates regarding cer-vical cancer. We are pleased to have this joint venture with Qatar Cancer Society, it also our duty to be part of the society and encourage positive and healthy lifestyle changes”

He added:“We are honored to support QCS activities along with our female associates because health and the

well-being are part of the core values of The Westin brand.”

Nour Hammad, Health

Educator at QCS said: ‘You are precious’ campaign comes within the framework of

January, which is the global awareness month of cervical cancer, which is considered one of the most common types of cancer among women. This campaign aims to raise awareness about cervical cancer and emphasize the importance of early detection and how we prevent it”.

She thanked as well The Westin Doha Hotel & Spa for participation in QCS’s campaign and wished all the institutions to join hands in order to raise awareness of cancer, noted society’s needs to further spread awareness about cancer and change stereotypes around it. “It is time to shed light on this disease and put more positive images around it,” she added.

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Dean of the College of Medicine, Dr. Egon Toft, with the Director of Qatar Biobank, Dr. Nahla Afifi.

No talks with Iraq yet on removing US troops, says officialAFP — WASHINGTON

The United States has not yet entered into talks with Iraq on the removal of US troops from the country, as demanded by the Iraqi parliament, a senior US official said yesterday.

“There has not been any real engagement,” said ambassador James Jeffrey, the US special envoy for Syria

and the coalition against the Islamic State.

“Our position, as you know — we’ve said it several times —is that we’re pre-pared to discuss with the Iraqi gov-ernment our overall strategic rela-tionship,” Jeffrey told reporters.

“We have a Strategic Framework Agreement with Iraq since 2008,” he said. “It covers economic, security, and

diplomatic engagement across the board.“We see this as a package,” Jeffrey

said. “And when we do sit down and talk with them, that’s where we’ll be aiming to direct the conversation.”

Jeffrey said that operations against IS fighters have been on hold since a January 3 US drone strike near Baghdad airport killed top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani. “Coalition operations have

been primarily on pause in Iraq as we focus on force protection and looking into the way forward with the Iraqi gov-ernment after the non-binding vote by the Council of Representatives on the with-drawal of US and thus coalition forces,” Jeffrey said.

The special envoy said there had been no notable surge in IS activities in Iraq since Soleimani’s killing.

Missile attack on Yemen MP's home kills two, including child

AFP — DUBAI

A rebel missile attack on the home of a Yemeni lawmaker killed two of his relatives, authorities said yesterday, drawing condemnation from the UN after a recent strike in the area left 116 dead.

Yemen’s internationally recognised government —backed by a Saudi-led military coalition — has been battling the Iran-allied rebels since 2014, when they overran the capital Sana'a.

The attack on Wednesday night targeted the home of parliamentarian Mossad Hussein Al Sawadi in Marib province, east of the capital, killing his daughter-in-law and 16-year-old grand-daughter, according to the official Saba news agency.

“Sawadi was seriously injured along with three other members (of his family),” said Hussein al-Huleissi, director of the criminal investigation department in Marib.

“The strike destroyed the home completely and caused panic in the residential neighbourhood.”

United Nations envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths con-demned the attack and called for a halt to the recent military escalation in Yemen, which comes after several months of relative peace. “Targeting MPs and civilian areas is unac-ceptable and against interna-tional law,” he said in a tweet.

The attack came after a missile strike blamed on the Huthis killed 116 people including civilians at a mosque in a military camp in Marib on Saturday.

Yesterday, authorities in Marib said they dismantled two Huthi-linked “cells” that took part in planning the strike. The attack on the mosque, one of the bloodiest single incidents since the war erupted, came a day after coalition-backed gov-ernment forces launched a large-scale operation against the Huthis in the Nihm region, north of Sana'a.

The Westin Doha Hotel and Spa staff attending the session.

Sonu Nigam enthralls audience at Asian Town Amphitheatre

Audience listening to a rendition by Sonu Nigam (left) at the Asian Town Amphitheatre yesterday. PIC: BAHER AMIN/ THE PENINSULA

05FRIDAY 24 JANUARY 2020 ISLAM

The status of parents in IslamSYED HASAN AKHTAR, M. D.

All religions and all societies have given parents an hon-orable status. From a purely material

viewpoint, we find ourselves indebted to our parents, partic-ularly our mother. She not only nourished us in her womb, but went through pain and suf-fering. She loved us even before we were born. She toiled when we were totally helpless infants. She spent sleepless nights caring for us. Our parents as a team provided for all our needs: physical, educational, psycho-logical, and in many instances, religious, moral, and spiritual.

Our indebtedness to our parents is so immense that it is not possible to repay it fully. In lieu of this, it becomes oblig-atory for us to show the utmost kindness, respect, and obe-dience to our parents. The position of parents, and the mutual obligations and respon-sibilities, have been addressed in Islam in great detail. The Qur’anic commandments, as well as the sayings of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) guide us in this matter. The parent-child code of behavior in Islam is unique, since rules were laid down by divine command.

References to parents have been made at least 15 times in the Holy Qur’an. There are numerous traditions of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) on this subject. I will first quote some of the Qur’anic verses here:

“And We have enjoined on man (to be good) to his parents. In travail upon travail did his mother bear him, and in two years was his weaning. Show gratitude to Me and to thy parents; to Me is thy final goal.” (Quran 31:14)

According to the above verse, gratitude to God and to parents go hand in hand. Grat-itude to God is incomplete without showing gratitude to one’s parents. Since being grateful to God is a form of ibadah (worship) which earns

heavenly rewards, it can therefore be said that being grateful to one’s parents also earns heavenly rewards.

“Thy Lord hath decreed that ye worship none but Him, and that ye be kind to parents. Whether one or more attain old age in thy life, say not to them a word of contempt, nor repel them, but address them in terms of honor. And out of kindness, lower to them the wing of humility, and say, “my Lord! bestow on them Thy Mercy, even as they cherished me in childhood.” (Quran 17: 23-24)

“We have enjoined on man kindness to his parents; in pain did his mother bear him, and in pain did she give him birth.” (Quran 46:15)

Thus, God has enjoined on us to show kindness, respect, and humility to our parents. We are commanded to do this, even though they may have injured us. The only exception to the above command is made in the following verse:

“We have enjoined on man kindness to his parents; but if they strive (to force) thee to join with Me anything of which thou hast no knowledge, obey them not.” (Quran 29:8)

Some of the traditions of Prophet Muhammad, and of the learned members of his family, about our responsibilities toward our parents are quoted here:

“Paradise lies under the feet of the mother.”

“God’s pleasure is in the pleasure of the father, and God’s displeasure is in the displeasure of the father.”

“He who wishes to enter

Paradise through its best door must please his parents.”

“It is a pity that some people may not attain Paradise, on account of not serving their old parents.”

“If a person looks with love at his parents, God writes in his favor the reward equal to the performance of one Hajj.”

[Someone asked, “will this promise be good if one looks at his parents one hundred times a day?” The Holy Prophet (pbuh) replied, “even if one does so a hundred thousand times a day, God gives the reward accordingly.”]

“A man or woman is bound to be good to his or her parents, even though they may have injured him or her.”

Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq (r.a.), the great-great-grandson of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is reported to have quoted Imam ‘Ali (ra) that, “disobedience to

parents is a major sin.” He also stated that, “if a person looks at the face of his or her parents with wrathful eyes, despite the fact that injustice was done to him or her by the parents, his or her salah (prayer) will not be accepted by God.”

According to one of the Hadith-e-Qudsi, the following is reported about the status of parents:

“God has commanded that if anybody prays equal to the invocations performed by the prophets, such prayers will do no good if that person has been cursed by his or her parents.”

It has also been related that the very first words which have been written on the Lauh-e-Mahfuz (The Heavenly Pre-served Tablet) are:

“I am God, and there is no deity except Me. I am pleased with those with whom their parents are pleased, and I am

displeased with those with whom their parents are displeased.”

Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is reported to have said: “On the Day of Judgment, my person will not be seen by those who drank liquor, those who on hearing my name did not invoke the blessings of God on me, or those who were cursed and dis-owned by their parents.”

‘Ali ibn al-Husain (ra) is reported to have said: “The right of your mother on you is that you should know that nobody could endure the trouble and the conditions under which she protected you and nourished you with the juice of her life, and tried with her heart and soul to satisfy all your needs in relation to hunger, thirst, dress, etc. She passed sleepless nights, suffering anxieties. She pro-vided you with shelter against heat and cold, and protected

you from ailments. It is not pos-sible for you to compensate her, or thank her enough for all the services, except that God may give you guidance for that. The right of your father on you is that you should know that it is he who brought you into existence, and you are a branch of the tree of his life.”

According to a reliable tra-dition, it is related that a man came to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and asked him to whom he should render kindness. The prophet told him to be kind to his mother. Three times he put the same question to the prophet, and three times he got the same answer. When he asked the question the fourth time, he was told to be kind to his father, indicating that the mother’s right took precedence over that of the father.

Parents’ duties: Islam has assigned certain duties to parents that they must fulfill. If they fail in those, they will be questioned about it. Besides providing the basic necessities of life, Islam requires that the parents teach their children about the Oneness of God, the Quranic commandments, values, the Prophets and their teachings, and the moral code of Islam as according to the Quran and the Sunnah (teachings) of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

Let us pray to God that He guide us to be respectful, kind, and obedient to our parents, and that we continue to show them humility regardless of the power, position, wealth, and influence we may possess. Let us also pray that we be patient, kind, thoughtful, and friendly with our children, as we guide them through their lives, and that we discharge our respon-sibilities towards them as required by our religion, so that God may be pleased with us, and may He Bless and reward us, both in this world and in the Hereafter. Ameen.

* Syed Hasan Akhtar, M. D. He resides in Austin, Texas.

—Source: islamicity.org

There is good in every eventHARUN YAHYA

Every event that happens to the Muslim has a sort or another of goodness in it. Allah states that

even events that seem to be unfavorable may have a lot of good in them:

[It may well be that you dislike something in which Allah has placed a lot of good.] (An-Nisaa’ 4:19)

[It may be that you hate something when it is good for you and it may be that you love something when it is bad for you. Allah knows and you do not know. ] (Al-Baqarah 2:216)

Aware of this secret, believers seek goodness and beauty in every event. No seem-ingly adverse incident, hardship, or mischief ails or worries them. They maintain their composure, whether the experience is insignificant or a serious ordeal. Sincere Muslims even see goodness and Divine purpose in the loss of all their hard earned possessions. They express gratitude to Allah for the gift of life. They have faith that Allah may have protected them from committing an evil act or against too much attachment for possessions.

Accordingly, believers give their most inner thanks to Him because no loss in this world equals the loss in the hereafter. Loss in the hereafter means eternal and intolerable pun-ishment (unless Allah wills oth-erwise). Those who keep them-selves occupied with the remembrance of the hereafter view every event as goodness and beauty leading to the hereafter.

Those who overcome such ordeals will recognize their weaknesses before Allah and will reconsider how much they are in need of Him. They will turn to Allah with much humility through prayers and remembrance that will bring

them closer to Him. This is surely an enormous benefit to one’s hereafter. These aside, by putting absolute trust in Allah and showing steadfastness, they will earn His pleasure and will be rewarded with eternal bliss.

People should seek goodness and beauty not only in ordeals, but also in daily rou-tines. For example, burning the food one has painstakingly pre-pared may lead one to take numerous measures that would, by the will of Allah, prevent a more serious accident in the future. A young person might fail the college admission test on which all hopes for the future had been pinned. People should, however, know that there is goodness in their failure, too; they should be able to think that Allah might have willed them to avoid some adverse circumstances or

people and thereby feel pleased with the result. Alternatively, by thinking that Allah has placed in every event many other blessings that are either obvious or beyond the imagination, believers see the beauty of full submission to the guidance of Allah.

People may not always see the goodness and divine purpose behind every incident. Even if this is the case, they know for certain that there is goodness in all events. They offer prayers for Allah to dis-cover the goodness and divine purpose hidden behind every-thing that happens.

Those who are aware that everything has a purpose in Allah’s creation never use phrases such as “I wish I had not done this” or “I wish I had not said that” and so on. Mis-takes, defects, or seemingly unfortunate events essentially include blessings, and each one of them is the trial of destiny. Allah gives important lessons and reminders to humans in the destiny He creates individually for each person.

For those who can evaluate with insight, there are no mis-takes or adversities, but rather lessons, warnings, and wisdom from Allah. For example, a Muslim whose shop burns down will search his or her soul, and will become even more sincere and true in his or her faith, deeming it as a warning by Allah against overindulgence in w o r l d l y g o o d s a n d attachments.

Consequently, no matter

what one encounters in this life, the ordeals will all eventually end. A person who recalls a hardship will be amazed that it is nothing more than a reminis-cence in the mind. This is also how people recall the scenes from a film. Accordingly, one day will come and the most painful experience will become only a memory, more like the image of a scene from a movie. Only one thing will remain — the attitude a person assumed during the time of hardship and whether Allah is pleased with him or her.

People will not be called to account for their experiences, but rather for their attitudes, thoughts, and sincerity they dis-played at the time of these experiences. Therefore, endeavoring to see the goodness and the divine purpose Allah creates in the sit-uations encountered and taking a positive attitude will bring bliss to believers both in this world and in the hereafter. No sorrow or fear awaits these believers who are aware of this secret. Similarly, no one, no event can create fear, harm, or distress in this world or in the hereafter. Allah reveals this secret in the Qur’an:

[Those who follow My guidance will feel no fear and will know no sorrow.] (Al-Baqarah 2:38)

[Yes, the closer servants of Allah will feel no fear nor shall they grieve: those who believe and have done their duty, there is good news for them in the life of the world and in the Here-after. There is no changing the words of Allah. That is the great victory.] (Yunus 10:62-64)

*Harun Yahya studied fine arts at Istanbul’s Mimar Sinan University and philosophy at Istanbul University. Since the 1980s, he has published many books on political, faith-related, and scientific issues.

Love and justice must coexistISHAQ ZAHID

Allah T’ala says in the Holy Quran: ‘Oh you who believe, stand up firmly for justice, as wit-

nesses to God, even if it be against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin, and whether it be against rich or poor; for God can best protect both. Do not follow any passion, lest you not be just. And if you distort or decline to do justice, verily God is well-acquainted with all that you do.’” (Quran 4:135)

In the same book, Allah T’ala elevates obedience and kindness to parents (especially mothers) to a status second only to the worship of Allah:

“Your Lord has decreed that you worship none but Him and that you be kind to parents. Whether one or both of them attain old age in your life, say not to them a word of contempt nor repel them, but address them in terms of honor.” (Qur’an 17:23)

What does it mean if you find out that your father or mother or son have committed a crime? You love them, you will be stricken with grief, you will cry, but you still have to stand for justice. Love and justice must coexist!

In fact, confession of a crime may lead to forgiveness and Mercy of Allah T’ala.

Imran b. Husain reported that a woman from Juhaina came to Allah’s Apostle (may peace be upon him) and she had become pregnant because of adultery. She said: Allah’s Apostle, I have done something for which (prescribed pun-ishment) must be imposed upon me, so impose that. Allah’s Apostle (may peace be upon him) called her guardian and said: Treat her well, and when she delivers bring her to me.

He did accordingly. Then Allah’s Apostle (may peace be upon him) pronounced judgment about her and her clothes were tied around her and then he commanded and she was stoned to death. He then prayed over her (dead body). Thereupon Umar said to him: Allah’s Apostle, you offer prayer for her, whereas she had committed adultery! Thereupon he said: She has made such a repentance that if it were to be divided among seventy men of Medina, it would be enough. Have you found any repentance better than this that she sac-rificed her life for Allah, the Majestic? (Muslim Book 017, Number 4207)

The person being punished should not be cursed.Narrated Abu Salama: Abu Huraira said, “A man who drank wine was brought

to the Prophet. The Prophet said, ‘Beat him!” Abu Huraira added, “So some of us beat him with our hands, and some with their shoes, and some with their garments (by twisting it) like a lash, and then when we finished, someone said to him, ‘May Allah disgrace you!’ On that the Prophet said, ‘Do not say so, for you are helping Satan to overpower him.’ “ (Bukhari Volume 8, Book 81, Number 768)

—www.islam101.net

People should, however, know that there is goodness in their failure, too; they should be able to think that Allah might have willed them to avoid some adverse circumstances or people and thereby feel pleased with the result.

References to parents have been made at least 15 times in the Holy Qur'an

A man or woman is bound to be good to his or her parents, even though they may have injured him or her.”

People may not always see the goodness and divine purpose behind every incident. Even if this is the case, they know for certain that there is goodness in all events. They offer prayers for Allah to discover the goodness and divine purpose hidden behind everything that happens.

06 FRIDAY 24 JANUARY 2020MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

No country to send military to Libya while truce lastsANATOLIA — MOSCOW

No one will send to Libya any additional advisers or troops or mercenaries or other personnel as long as the truce is observed, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said yesterday.

The issue of sanctions will not be raised under the same condition, the minister said in an interview with Russia’s RIA News Agency.

“We all agreed that as long as the truce, ceasefire is respected, nobody will send any additional advisors or troops or mercenaries from any neigh-bouring countries and no more additional personnel; eve-rybody is committed to that,” the minister said, reminding that the UN Security Council Resolution 2259 addresses the issue of sanctions.

He also stressed that the same resolution recognises the UN-recognised Libyan Gov-ernment of National Accord (GNA) as the only legitimate government and called on the armed groups to respect it.

The minister said the efforts, aiming to resolve Libyan crisis peacefully, will continue, and that he expects Germany, as organiser of the next meeting to be held in Berlin, to announce the date of gathering in the near future.

“I think (the next meeting

on the Libyan settlement will take place) in the first week of February. But we have to get this date from Germans, from (Foreign Minister) Heiko Maas. I think he’s coordinating this with other ministers who want to participate. We have already supported this idea to have a follow-up meeting,” Cavusoglu said.

The minister added that east-Libya based commander Khalifa Haftar has not still named his representatives for the military committee, estab-lishing for the Libyan warring sides to discuss the questions of the cease-fire and mark the contact line.

“Haftar for a long time didn’t nominate his names. Sarraj did from the beginning. This is also what we put on the joint statement together in Moscow after he (Haftar) didn’t sign (the agreement). This mil-itary committee will be so important or can play a crucial role to sustain the ceasefire and also to define the confron-tation lines between the two sides.

But overall, it could be also

a good confidence-building measure between Haftar and Sarraj side. The first meeting is of course important. We sup-ported that initiative. I hope it will work. Libyans should start working together instead of staying in different buildings or different rooms. They should get together and work together for a sustainable peace, cease-fire and a lasting political solution,” he said.

For now, Cavusoglu does not see any need in mediating the first meeting of the military committee, saying it would be better “to let them do it between themselves”.

Turning to the second meeting of the Syrian Consti-tutional Committee, Cavusoglu assessed it as “not very prom-ising because of the conditions put forward by the regime”.

“Since the committee has been functioning, we should let the Syrians draft the consti-tution or amend the consti-tution for their own country. If they need any expertise from us or from international com-munity, then we can extend it,” he said.

Successor to slain Iran general may face same fate: US envoyREUTERS — WASHINGTON The successor to the Iranian commander killed in a US drone strike would suffer the same fate if he followed a similar path by killing Americans, the US special representative for Iran said, according to Asharq al-Awsat newspaper.

Washington blamed Qassem Soleimani for masterminding attacks by Iran-aligned militias against US forces in the region. US President Donald Trump ordered the January 3 drone strike in Iraq after an escalation

that began in December with missile strikes that killed an American contractor, which Washington blamed on an Iran-aligned militia in Iraq.

Iran responded to the killing of Soleimani by launching mis-siles at US targets in Iraq on January 8, although no US sol-diers were killed.

After Soleimani’s death, Tehran swiftly appointed Esmail Ghaani as the new head of the Quds Force, an elite unit in the Revolutionary Guards that handles actions abroad. Ghaani has pledged to pursue

Soleimani’s course.“If (Esmail) Ghaani follows

the same path of killing Amer-icans then he will meet the same fate,” US envoy Brian Hook told the Arabic-language daily Asharq al-Awsat.

He said in the interview in Davos that Trump had long made it clear “that any attack on Americans or American interests would be met with a decisive response.”

“This isn’t a new threat. The president has always said that he will always respond deci-sively to protect American

interests,” Hook said. “I think the Iranian regime understands now that they cannot attack America and get away with it.”

After his appointment, Ghaani said he would “continue in this luminous path” taken by Soleimani and said the goal was to drive US forces out of the region, Iran’s long stated policy.

The Revolutionary Guards aerospace commander said four US military bases in the region were used to deploy aircraft and drones that played a role in the January 3 attack that killed Soleimani, including two bases

in Iraq and another in Kuwait.“Most of the drones” had

taken off from Kuwait, Amirali Hajizadeh, who heads the Guards’ aerospace unit, told state television, although he did not say if a drone from Kuwait was ultimately responsible for attack on Soleimani.

Tensions between Wash-ington and Tehran have steadily increased since Trump withdrew from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers in 2018 and imposed tough news sanc-tions that have hammered the Iranian economy.

Iraqi protester gunned down in 2nd night of violence AFP — BASRA

An Iraqi demonstrator was shot dead in the southern city of Basra overnight, a security source and the human rights commission said yesterday, the latest in a string of protester deaths.

The anti-government dem-onstrations rocking the Iraqi capital and the Shia-majority south since October had abated in recent weeks amid spiralling tensions between Iraq’s key allies, the US and Iran.

To recapture momentum and boost pressure on author-ities, protesters this week

began shutting down roads across the country — but vio-lence against them has esca-lated, too.

The young demonstrator was shot dead by unidentified assailants after he left the main protest camp in Basra, a security source said.

He had no papers on his person and police were waiting for someone to identify the body, the source said.

It was the second straight night a protester was gunned down in Basra. Female activist and paramedic Janat Madhi, 49, was killed the same way late on Tuesday.

The deaths bring this week’s toll to 12 demonstrators killed, according to the Iraqi Human Rights Commission, a state-funded monitor which reports on protest violence.

“Violence against demon-strators is clearly ongoing,” commission member Ali Bayati said. “The unknown armed groups targeting protesters show that security forces are unable to protect citizens”.

Hundreds of students gathered in Basra yesterday morning to protest against the killings, chanting and holding up signs saying “Give us a country.”

Mevlut Cavusoglu stressed that UN Security Council Resolution 2259 recognises the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) as the only legitimate government and called on the armed groups to respect it.

An Iraqi student holding a placard during an anti-government demonstration near the headquarters of the local government in the southern city of Basra, yesterday.

Daughter of Angola's ex-president charged with fraud; banker named in scandal found deadAFP — LUANDA

Isabel dos Santos, the tycoon daughter of Angola’s former pres-ident, has been charged with money laundering and misman-agement, Angolan prosecutors said, as they launched a bid yesterday to have the billionairess and other suspects return home for questioning.

One of five named suspects, a Portuguese banker identified at the weekend in a worldwide media exclusive dubbed the “Luanda Leaks,” has been found dead in Lisbon, police there said.

The eldest child of ex-pres-ident Jose Eduardo dos Santos is the target of an anti-graft cam-paign led by her father’s suc-cessor, Joao Lourenco.

“Isabel dos Santos is accused of mismanagement and embez-zlement of funds during her tenure at Sonangol,” prosecutor general Helder Pitta Gros told a news conference, referring to Angola’s state-owned oil giant.

“(She) is thus charged in the first instance with crimes of money laundering, influence ped-dling, harmful management ... forgery of documents, among other economic crimes.”

Gros said dos Santos was among five suspects, all of whom were currently residing abroad.

“At the moment, the concern is to notify and get them to voluntarily come to face justice,” said Gros.

Gros travelled to Lisbon after his announcement and was expected to meet his Portuguese counterpart.

Dos Santos is accused of using her father’s influence to steal mil-lions of dollars from the oil- and diamond-rich but poor southern African country and stashing it abroad.

Investigations into her 18-month tenure as Sonangol head began after her successor Carlos Saturnino raised the alarm about “irregular money transfers” and other suspect procedures.

The so-called “Luanda Leaks”

trove of more than 715,000 files, published on Sunday by some of the world’s top media outlets, suggest the alleged looting was systemic.

The mounting scandal has stoked scrutiny of Portugal and some of its major corporations, especially the bank Eurobic.

Eurobic banker Nuno Ribeiro da Cunha, who was named in the “Luanda Leaks”, was found dead in Lisbon, police said yesterday.

“All indications point to suicide,” a police spokesman said.

Just hours earlier, Eurobic said in a statement that Dos Santos — who owns 42.5 percent of the bank — had taken the decision to “withdraw” as a shareholder.

Dos Santos has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and denounced the investigations as politically motivated.

The businesswoman has been furiously defending her empire, claiming her fortune was built on nothing but hard work and fruitful investments.

A file photo of Angolan businesswoman Isabel dos Santos during the start of the new EFACEC Portuguese corporation’s electric mobility industrial unit in Maia.

Turkish aid groups building houses in Syria for Idlib’s displacedREUTERS — ANKARA

Turkish aid groups have begun building more than 10,000 houses in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib to shelter growing numbers of people displaced by fighting, while Turkey seeks to prevent a new influx of migrants fleeing from Syria.

The houses are being erected near a Syrian village next to the Turkish border, an area so far spared from the air strikes and fighting which have uprooted hundreds of thousands of people.

Syrian and Russian forces have bombarded rebel-controlled targets in Idlib this week despite a deal between Turkey and Russia, which back opposing sides in the conflict, for a January 12 ceasefire. On Thursday Russia said hundreds of Syrian militants

launched attacks on Syrian government forces in Idlib.

Turkey already hosts more than 3.5 million Syrian refugees and fears that the fighting in Idlib — the last notable rebel stronghold in Syria after almost nine years of conflict — could drive mil-lions more across the border.

But last week Ankara suggested it could reach a deal with Moscow to prevent another refugee wave.

Turkish aid group Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) said that more than 450,000 people had fled towards the Turkish border over the past five months and that it was aiming to build 10,000 houses around 5km from the frontier.

“We provide food and clothes to the families on the migrant trail, but we also need to provide them shelter throughout the winter months,” IHH Deputy

Chairman Serkan Nergis said.Nergis said the houses would

provide better shelter than the existing tent camps near the border. The houses “will begin hosting their guests in a few days”, with the goal of accommodating 60,000 people, Nergis said.

Images from the project showed several rows of houses under con-struction next to the tents currently housing the displaced Syrians, in Idlib’s Kafr Lusin region, near the Turkish border.

Turkey’s Kizilay aid group also said this week it will build 1,000 emergency housing units in Idlib, which would be completed in 2-3 weeks.

President Tayyip Erdogan said last week Turkey was working to provide better conditions for the displaced Syrians in Idlib during the freezing winter.

Tunisia repatriates children of IS fighters from Libya

AFP — TRIPOLI

A Tunisian delegation travelled yesterday to Libya’s third city Misrata to repatriate children of IS fighters killed in 2016 in the North African country, the Libyan Red Crescent said.

Six Tunisian children, aged three to 12 years old, along with a dozen others of dif-ferent nationalities, had for three years been cared for by the charity in Misrata.

They are the children of IS fighters who were killed in 2016 in the coastal Libyan city of Sirte, a former stronghold the IS militant group.

A year ago, Tunisian forensic police took DNA samples from the children to confirm their nationality before evacuating them out of Libya.

The pace of the procedure was criticised by NGOs, including Human Rights Watch, which accused Tunisian officials of “dragging their feet” on efforts to repat-riate children of IS members.

In recent years, Tunisia has been one of the key sources of fighters who headed to con-flicts around the world to join ranks with IS militant groups.

In 2015, the United Nations said that some 5,000 Tuni-sians had flocked mainly to Syria and Libya to join the IS, while authorities in Tunis gave a lower figure of 3,000.

Many Tunisian fighters who went to Libya joined IS in Sirte, which was seized in December 2016 by forces allied to the Tripoli-based UN-recognised Government of National Accord after months of heavy fighting.

UN says at least 19 people dead in tribal clashes in Abyei regionAP — CAIRO

At least 19 people were killed in an attack on Wednesday in the disputed Abyei region on the Sudan-South Sudan border, a UN peacekeeping mission said yesterday.

The mission, known as UNISFA, said in a statement that armed men allegedly from the Sudan-allied Mis-seriya attacked the Dinka village of Kolom, about 9km northwest of Abyei.

UNISFA said the attack wounded at least two dozen others and that three children were reportedly missing. At least 19 houses were set ablaze, it said.

UNIFSA It has been in Abyei since 2011.

Kuol Alor Kuol, the chief admin-istrator of the Abyei area, told local media at least 29 people were killed in the attack.

“This morning at around 7:10, gunmen came and attacked Kolom area. The attackers killed 29 civilians including 9 children,” Radio Tamazuj quoted Kuol as saying.

Footage circulated online showed burned properties to the ground, as well as graphic images of burned bodies and wounded people with blood-stained clothes.

Sudan’s transitional government condemned the attack, and called on the UNISFA to contain the situation and provide protection to civilians in the region.

07FRIDAY 24 JANUARY 2020 ASIA

UN court orders Myanmar to prevent Rohingya genocideAFP — THE HAGUE,

The UN’s highest court ordered Myanmar yesterday to do everything in its power to prevent the alleged genocide of Rohingya Muslims, as interna-tional justice stepped into the crisis for the first time.

The International Court of Justice rejected arguments made by Myanmar’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi in The Hague in December and set out urgent steps for the majority Buddhist nation to end the violence.

The mainly Muslim African state of The Gambia had asked the court to impose emergency measures following a 2017 mil-itary crackdown by Myanmar that sent around 740,000 Rohingya fleeing into neigh-bouring Bangladesh.

Presiding judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf said that “the court was of the opinion that the Rohingya in Myanmar remain extremely vulnerable” and needed to be protected from further bloodshed.

Thousands are suspected to have been killed in the crackdown and refugees brought widespread reports of rape and arson by Myanmar’s military and local Buddhist militias.

The court ordered Myanmar to “take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts” described by the 1948 UN Gen-ocide Convention, under which

Gambia brought the case.These acts included “killing

members of the group” and “deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calcu-lated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.”

The court ordered Myanmar to report back within four months, and then every six months after that. It also told Myanmar to prevent the destruction of any evidence of crimes against the Rohingya.

The Gambia asked the court — set up after the Second World War as the UN’s top judicial organ to rule in disputes between nations — for the measures pending a full case that could take years.

Gambian justice minister Abubacarr Tambadou hailed the court’s decision to uphold his country’s case, which was

supported by the 57-nation Organisation for Islamic Coop-eration, Canada and the Netherlands.

“This is a historic day today, not just for international law, for the international com-munity, but especially for the Rohingya,” he told reporters outside the court.

Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi — who was widely criticised for her defence of the same mil-itary that once locked her up for years — said yesterday that some Rohingya refugees may have “exaggerated” the extent of the abuses.

“The international justice system may not yet be equipped to filter out misleading infor-mation before shadows of incrimination are cast over entire nations and govern-ments,” she wrote in an opinion piece in the Financial Times published ahead of the ruling.

Suu Kyi also said Myanmar should have time to act on the results of an internal investi-gation by the country, which this week admitted war crimes may have been committed but ruled out genocide.

The military dodged ques-tions in the capital Naypyidaw on Thursday morning, with a spokesman telling reporters it would simply “follow the i n s t r u c t i o n s o f t h e government”.

The result was also hailed in the Bangladeshi camps where some 600,000 people still remain.

“It’s a great day for us,” Mayyu Ali, a Rohingya author and poet, said by telephone from Cox’s Bazaar. “When the international court made its ruling today, I felt the gate of justice had been opened. I have the first taste of justice.”

Rights groups also hailed the ICJ ruling while calling on the international community to put pressure on Suu Kyi and Myanmar.

Tun Khin, president of the Burmese Rohingya Organi-sation UK, who was dressed in

traditional Rohingya clothing, said outside court: “The inter-national community has to push to comply Burma with these provisional measures, oth-erwise (the) Rohingya will be much more destroyed.”

“Today’s decision sends a message to Myanmar’s senior officials: the world will not tol-erate their atrocities,” Amnesty International’s Regional Director Nicholas Bequelin said.

The ICJ’s orders are binding but it has no power to enforce them.

However the “significance... shouldn’t be written off,” said Cecily Rose, assistant professor in international law at Leiden U n i v e r s i t y i n t h e Netherlands.

“The court’s orders and judgments tend to carry rela-tively great authority or legit-imacy. Even though the situ-ation in Myanmar is highly political and fragile, interna-tional law still plays a role by informing decision-making among international actors,” she said.

Abubacarr Tambadou, Minister of Justice of The Gambia speaks to the press after the ruling of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, yesterday.

Nepal ends search for missing trekkers, guides

AP — KATHMANDU

Nepalese authorities decided yesterday to end the search for four South Korean trekkers and three Nepali guides who were buried by an avalanche on a popular trekking route.

Despite several attempts to locate them, including digging deep through snow at several spots on the Mount Annapurna Circuit trail, crews have not been able to find any clues of their whereabouts, Nepal army spokesman Brig. Gen. Bigyan Dev Pandey said.

Rescuers have been searching since an avalanche swept the South Korean team and their guides on Friday. Fresh snowfall and smaller avalanches on the trail have made the oper-ation difficult. Authorities had mobilized army experts, moun-taineering guides and local vil-lagers to help in the search.

Attempts were being made to pull out the rescue team from the avalanche site but weather conditions were delaying the effort. It could take weeks or months for the snow to melt and for the bodies to surface.

Firefighting plane crashes in Australia, killing 3 AmericansAP — SYDNEY

Three American crew members were killed yetserday when a C-130 Hercules aerial water tanker crashed while battling wildfires in southeastern Australia, officials said.

New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian confirmed the crash deaths in the state’s Snowy Monaro region, which came as Australia grapples with an unprecedented fire season that has left a large swath of destruction.

Coulson Aviation in the US state of Oregon said in a statement that one of its Lockheed large air tankers was lost after it left Richmond in New South Wales with retardant for a firebombing

mission. It said the accident was “extensive” but had few other details.

“The only thing I have from the field reports are that the plane came down, it’s crashed and there was a large fireball associated with that crash,” said Rural Fire Service Commis-sioner Shane Fitzsimmons.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne said she had conveyed Australia’s condolences to US Ambassador Arthur Culvahouse Jr.

“Our hearts go out to their loved ones. They were helping Australia, far from their own homes, an embodiment of the deep friendship between our two countries,” she said in a statement.

“Thank you to these three,

and to all the brave firefighters from Australia and around the world. Your service and contri-bution are extraordinary. We are ever grateful,” she added.

The tragedy brings the death toll from the blazes to at least 31 since September. The fires have also destroyed more than 2,600 homes and razed more than 10.4 million hectares, an area bigger than the US state of Indiana.

Coulson grounded other firefighting aircraft as a pre-caution pending investigation, reducing planes available to firefighters in New South Wales and neighbouring Victoria state. The four-propeller Hercules drops more than 15,000 litres of fire retardant in a single pass.

Australian Transport Safety

Bureau, the national air crash investigator, and state police will investigate the crash site, which firefighters described as an active fire ground.

“There is no indication at this stage of what’s caused the accident,” Fitzsimmons said.

Berejiklian said there were more than 1,700 volunteers and personnel in the field, and five fires were being described at an “emergency warning” level —the most dangerous on a three-tier scale — across the state and on the fringes of the national capital Canberra.

Also Thursday, Canberra Airport closed temporarily because of nearby wildfires, and residents south of the city were told to seek shelter. The airport reopened after several hours

with Qantas operating limited services, but Virgin and Sin-gapore Airlines canceled flights for the rest of the day.

The blaze started Wednesday but strong winds and high temperatures caused conditions in Canberra to dete-riorate. A second fire near the airport that started on Thursday morning is at a “watch and act” level - the middle of the three tiers.

Residents in some Canberra suburbs were advised to seek shelter and others to leave immediately.

“The defense force is both assisting to a degree and looking to whether that needs to be reinforced,” Chief of Defense Angus Campbell told reporters.

Hundreds of rebels surrender to Indian forces in peace pushAP — GUWAHATI

More than 600 insurgents belonging to eight different rebel groups surrendered to Indian authorities in a troubled northeastern state yesterday, responding to a government’s peace initiative that will allow them to rejoin mainstream society, police said.

Assam state police chief Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta said the rebels also laid down assault rifles, grenades, bombs and other weapons.

The rebels will now be kept in government-run camps and taught technical skills to take up jobs in the near future.

Government forces are bat-tling dozens of ethnic insurgent groups In India’s remote northeast who are pushing demands ranging from inde-pendent homelands to maximum autonomy within India.

The surrender ceremony yesterday was attended by Assam state’s top elected official, Sarbananda Sonowal, and some top security officials.

“A total of 644 rebels belonging to eight different insurgent groups surrendered today, lending a huge boost to the government’s peace initia-tives,” Mahanta said.

More than 300 belong to the National Liberation Front of

Bengalis, an outfit formed around 2015 to protect Bengali-speaking people from rival armed groups in the state.

The rest belong to the Adivasi Dragon Force, which represents the state’s tea garden Adivasi community, and the United Lib-eration Front of Asom, a faction headed by Paresh Baruah.

Another faction of ULFA, headed by Arabinda Rajkhowa, is already in peace talks with the Indian government.

Earlier this month, the National Democratic Front, a key insurgent group headed by B Saoraigwra, signed a cease-fire agreement with Indian authorities in Assam state

Malaysia to buy more Indian sugar to resolve palm oil spat: SourcesREUTERS — KUALA

Malaysia’s top sugar refiner said it will increase purchases of the commodity from India, which according to two sources is part of efforts to placate New Delhi amid an ongoing spat over palm oil imports.

MSM Malaysia Holdings Berhad will buy 130,000 tonnes of raw sugar from India worth 200m ringgit ($49.20m) in the first quarter, the company said. It bought around 88,000 tonnes of raw sugar from India in 2019.

MSM is the sugar refining arm of the world’s largest palm oil producer, FGV Holdings, which is an unit of Malaysian state-owned Federal Land Development Authority or Felda.

The company did not cite the palm oil dispute as a reason for the increase in purchases.

But the two sources, who are familiar with discussions between the company and the government on the purchase, said it was a bid to appease India, which has been urging Malaysia to reduce the trade def ic i t between the countries.

India, the world’s largest edible oil buyer, this month effectively halted Malaysian palm oil imports apparently in retaliation to Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s comments criticising New Delhi over its policy on Kashmir.

Malaysia has said it will look to other markets to sell more palm oil but that may not be easy as India has been the biggest buyer of Malaysian palm oil for the past five years, purchasing 4.4 million tonnes in 2019.

Malaysia’s exports to India were worth $10.8bn in the fiscal year that ended on March 31, while imports totalled $6.4 billion.

Malaysia imported a total of 1.95 million tonnes of raw sugar in 2019, according to data from the International Sugar Organization on Refinitiv Eikon. It typically buys more from Brazil and Thailand than from India.

India is the world’s biggest sugar producer but is struggling with a surplus. Its exports are expected to rise to a record 5 million tonnes for the 2019/20 season.

MSM said it was expecting the arrival of three shipments of raw sugar from India between January and February.

“This is very good move. It will help India in increasing sugar exports,” Praful Vithalani, president of the All India Sugar Trade Association said about MSM’s move to buy more from India.

Around 50,000 tonnes of raw sugar has already been contracted by Malaysia for January shipments, said a Mumbai-based dealer with a global trading firm.

Gearing up for Indian Republic Day paradeIndian soldiers march during the full dress rehearsal for the Republic Day parade in New Delhi, yesterday.

Andhra CM hints at abolishing Legislative Council

IANS — AMARAVATI

A day after the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council referred to a select committee two Bills for creating three state capitals, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy yesterday dropped clear hints that the Upper House of the state legislature could be abolished.

“Pained” over Wednes-day’s developments in the Council, he told the State Assembly that there is a need to decide whether to continue such a House by spending huge public money.

The Assembly may decide the fate of the Council on January 27, when the Assembly will meet again. Speaker T. Seetharam agreed to the Chief Minister’s suggestion for a day-long discussion on the issue.

YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government’s move came a day after it suffered a major setback with Council Chairman Mohammed Ahmed Shariff accepting the oppo-sition Telugu Desam Party’s (TDP) demand to refer the two Bills to a select committee.

The International Court of Justice ordered Myanmar to “take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts” described by the 1948 UN Genocide Convention, under which Gambia brought the case.

The court also ordered Myanmar to “take effective measures to prevent the destruction and ensure the preservation of evidence related” to allegations of genocidal acts.

08 FRIDAY 24 JANUARY 2020VIEWS

CHAIRMAN

SHEIKH THANI BIN ABDULLAH AL THANI

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

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EDITORIAL

AS more and more countries are reporting cases of people affected by the new coronavirus, international health officials and medical community are scrambling to contain the outbreak and stop the virus from spreading further.

Qatar has also taken precautionary measures and Ministry of Public Health is continuously monitoring the situation. The National Committee for Epidemic Prep-aration in the Ministry already held a meeting, which was attended by various stakeholders including Hamad Medical Corporation, Primary Health Care Corporation, Hamad International Airport and Qatar Airways.

As responsible residents, every one of us must be on alert and report to relevant authorities if we notice any of the symptoms that matches World Health Organ-isation’s definition including high temperature, coughing and breathing difficulties.

The new virus was first spotted in the central Chinese city of Wuhan and has till now claimed 18 lives worldwide and has infected nearly 650 people globally. Many pre-cautionary steps are put into place like thermal screening at many international airports and China has locked down three cities including Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, Huanggang and Ezhou.

The virus, which spread from animals to humans in Wuhan from an illegal wildlife market, is not known pre-viously to researchers and doctors are not sure how easily it transfers from human to human nor they know how dangerous this strain is.

Like the Ministry advised in their communication yesterday, it is better to avoid travel to places where these outbreaks are reported in China, avoid close contact with animals in the affected areas and not to mix closely with people who show symptoms of respi-ratory infections, while continuing to wash hands with soap and water.

According to the Coalition for Epidemic Prepar-edness Innovations three research teams are already working on developing a potential vaccine and is expected to have a working solution in a few months’ time. The world bodies have responded early to the outbreak and are wiser from their experience of con-taining the dangerous SARS few years back.

Qatari authorities also swung into action very quickly and has issued national guidelines for dealing with new cases.

The precautionary measures are in place, processes to deal with new cases are clearly explained and with proper monitoring and creating awareness among trav-ellers the new coronavirus will certainly be contained, we just need to listen and follow what the professionals and experts are advising us to do.

Keeping coronavirus at bay

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Quote of the day

The question of achieving the Paris Agreement goals could be a matter of survival for the whole continent and that is why there is pressure to act.

Angela Merkel, German Chancellor

Minister for the Office of the State Counsellor of Myanmar, Kyaw Tint Swe, attending the ruling in a case filed by Gambia against Myanmar alleging genocide against the minority Muslim Rohingya population, at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, Netherlands.

In a sweeping legal victory for members of the Rohingya Muslim minority, the United Nations’ top court ordered Myanmar take all measures in its power to prevent genocide against the Rohingya people. The court’s president, Judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf, said the International Court of Justice “is of the opinion that the Rohingya in Myanmar remain extremely vulnerable.”

In a unanimous decision, the court added that its order for so-called provisional measures intended to protect the Rohingya is binding “and creates international legal obligations” on Myanmar.

The court also ordered Myanmar to “take effective measures to prevent the destruction and ensure the preser-vation of evidence related” to alle-gations of genocidal acts.

Yasmin Ullah, a Ronhingya activist who lives in Vancouver and was in court for the decision, called it a historic ruling.

“Today, having the judges unanimously agree to the pro-tection of Rohingya means so much to us because we’re now allowed to exist and it’s legally binding,” she told reporters on the steps of the court.

At the end of an hour-long sitting in the court’s wood-paneled Great Hall of Justice, judges also ordered Myanmar to report to them in four months on what measures the country has taken to comply with the order and then to report

every six months as the case moves slowly through the world court.

Rogingya refugees living in camps in Bangladesh welcomed the order. “This is good news. We thank the court as it has reflected our hope for justice. The verdict proves that Myanmar has become a nation of torturers,” 39-year-old Abdul Jalil told The Associated Press by phone from Kutupalong camp in Cox’s Bazar.

However, he expressed doubts that Myanmar would fully comply.

“Myanmar has become a noto-rious state. We do not have confi-dence in it,” Jalil said. “There is little chance that Myanmar will listen.” Rights activists also wel-comed the decision, which was even supported by a temporary judge appointed by Myanmar to be part of the 17-judge panel. “The ICJ order to Myanmar to take concrete steps to prevent the genocide of the Rohingya is a landmark step to stop further atrocities against one of the world’s most persecuted people,” said Param-Preet Singh, associate international justice director of New York-based Human Rights Watch. “Concerned governments and UN bodies should now weigh in to ensure that the order is enforced as the genocide case moves forward.”

The world court order for what it calls provisional measures came in a case brought by the African nation of Gambia on behalf of an organization of Muslim nations that accuses Myanmar of genocide in its crackdown on the Rohingya.Judges did not rule Thursday on the substance of the case, which will be debated in legal arguments likely to last years. But their order to protect the Rohingya made clear they fear for ongoing attacks.

At public hearings last month, lawyers for Myanmar’s accusers used maps, satellite images and

graphic photos to detail what they call a campaign of murder, rape and destruction amounting to gen-ocide perpetrated by Myanmar’s military. The hearings drew intense scrutiny as Myanmar’s former pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi defended the campaign by military forces that once held her under house arrest for 15 years.

Suu Kyi, who as Myanmar’s state counselor heads the gov-ernment, was awarded the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for champi-oning democracy and human rights under Myanmar’s then-ruling junta. She wasn’t present in court for Thursday’s hearing.

Buddhist-majority Myanmar has long considered the Rohingya to be “Bengalis” from Bangladesh even though their families have lived in the country for genera-tions. Nearly all have been denied citizenship since 1982, effectively rendering them stateless. They are also denied freedom of movement and other basic rights.

In August 2017, Myanmar’s military launched what it called a clearance campaign in northern Rakhine state in response to an attack by a Rohingya insurgent group. The campaign forced more than 700,000 Rohingya to flee to neighboring Bangladesh and led to accusations that security forces committed mass rapes, killings and burned thousands of homes.

Suu Kyi told world court judges in December that the exodus was a tragic consequence of the military’s response to “coordinated and com-prehensive armed attacks” by Rohingya insurgents. She urged judges to drop the genocide case and allow Myanmar’s military justice system to deal with any abuses. Judges rejected that appeal in their decision. The Myanmar del-egation left the court without com-menting on the decision.

THE WASHINGTON POST

No one yet knows the severity of an outbreak of a novel coro-navirus in Wuhan, China, that causes a pneumonia-like illness that has infected at least 555 people and led to at least 17 deaths. But it is not too soon to embrace the lessons of two earlier outbreaks: severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, which began in China in 2002, and the Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS, in Saudi Arabia in 2012. Both showed that transparency and early international cooperation are vital to saving lives. The tendency of authoritarian regimes to cover up at times of trouble must be resisted.

China was shaken by the mistakes in handling SARS,

which killed 774 people, including 349 in China, and infected more than 8,000 worldwide between November 2002 and July 2003. A subse-quent study of China’s response concluded: “A fatal period of hes-itation regarding information-sharing and action spawned anxiety, panic, and rumor-mon-gering across the country.” This time, China’s leadership has attempted to show a different reaction, with one Beijing gov-ernment agency declaring, “Anyone who deliberately delays and hides the reporting of cases out of his or her own self-interest will be nailed on the pillar of shame for eternity.”

That is the right message, if a bit melodramatic. But the real test will be in execution. Local authorities may fear the

consequences if the virus seems to be out of control. They will also be tempted to use China’s considerable cen-sorship machine to suppress the facts. The Washington Post’s Anna Fifield described a case in which a woman with a suspected infection died under circumstances that would suggest the government did not want her family to know she had the coronavirus.

China at first said the new virus did not appear to be spreading from human to human, but then reported that it was. A disease outbreak comes with significant uncer-tainty, but Beijing must be careful not to complicate the situation by deliberately masking it. China promptly shared the genetic sequence of

the new virus with the rest of the world, but the challenges will not end there. Key unknowns are how the virus transmits from person to person, and its lethality, both of which China should help answer in the near future.

As many epidemics - from swine flu to Ebola - have dem-onstrated in recent years, managing public trust at a time of crisis is just as important as the biomedical aspects of an outbreak. The decision Wednesday to curtail out-bound travel from Wuhan, a city of 11 million, is a big gamble. A decision in Mon-rovia, Liberia, to quarantine an urban neighborhood during the Ebola outbreak of 2014 turned chaotic as people inside the cordon struggled to exit.

Rohingya hail UN ruling ordering Myanmar to prevent genocide

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09FRIDAY 24 JANUARY 2020 ASIA

China shuts down more cities; Singapore reports first case of coronavirusAP — BEIJING

China decided yesterday to lock down three cities that are home to more than 18 million people in an unprecedented effort to try to contain a deadly new viral illness that has sickened hundreds and spread to other cities and countries in the Lunar New Year travel rush.

Police, SWAT teams and paramilitary troops guarded Wuhan’s train station, where metal barriers blocked the entrances at 10am sharp. Only travellers holding tickets for the last trains were allowed to enter, with those booked for later trains being turned away.

Normally bustling streets, shopping malls, restaurants and other public spaces in the city of 11 million people were eerily quiet. In addition to the train station, airport, ferry, subway and bus services were also halted.

Similar measures will take effect from today in the nearby cities of Huanggang and Ezhou. In Huanggang, theatres, Internet cafes and other entertainment centres were also ordered closed.

In the capital Beijing, authorities cancelled “major events” indefinitely, including traditional temple fairs that are a staple of holiday celebrations, according to an announcement

by the city’s bureau of culture and tourism. It said it was needed to “execute epidemic prevention and control.”

“To my knowledge, trying to contain a city of 11 million people is new to science,” Gauden Galea, the World Health Organisation’s representative in China, said in an interview at the WHO’s Beijing office.

“It has not been tried before as a public health measure. We cannot at this stage say it will or it will not work.”

Meanwhile, Singapore yes-terday confirmed its first case of the new coronavirus.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) said the patient was a

66-year-old man from Wuhan who arrived in Singapore with his family on Monday.

He was immediately iso-lated after arriving at a hospital with a fever and cough, and test results later confirmed he was infected with the coronavirus.

One of his travelling com-panions, a 37-year-old man from Wuhan, has also been admitted to hospital as a suspect case.

Prior to admission, they had stayed at a hotel on the resort island of Sentosa, the ministry said.

It added that Singapore was expecting more cases and alarms "given the high volume of international travel".

The illnesses from a newly identified coronavirus first appeared last month in Wuhan, an industrial and transportation hub in central China’s Hubei province. The vast majority of mainland China’s 571 cases have been in the city.

Other cases have been reported in the United States, Japan, South Korea and Thailand. One case was con-firmed Thursday in Hong Kong after one was earlier confirmed in Macao. Most cases outside China were people from Wuhan or who had recently traveled there.

A total of 17 people have died, all of them in and around

Wuhan. Their average age was 73, with the oldest 89 and the youngest 48.

Images obtained from inside Wuhan following the closure showed long lines and empty shelves at supermarkets, as res-idents stocked up for what could be weeks of relative isolation.

That appeared to be an over-reaction, since no restric-tions have been placed on trucks carrying supplies into the city, although many Chinese still have strong memories of shortages and privations in the years before the country’s recent economic boom.

Such sweeping measures are typical of China’s authori-tarian communist government, although their effectiveness in containing the outbreak remains uncertain.

Local authorities in Wuhan have demanded all residents wear masks in public places and urged government staff to wear them at work and for shop-keepers to post signs for their vis-itors, Xinhua news agency quoted a government notice as saying.

Xinhua cited the city’s anti-virus task force as saying the measures were taken in an attempt to “effectively cut off the virus spread, resolutely curb the outbreak and guarantee the people’s health and safety.”

Liu Haihan left Wuhan last Friday after visiting her boy-friend there. She said everything was normal then, before human-to-human transmission of the virus was confirmed. But things have changed rapidly.

“(My boyfriend) didn’t sleep much yesterday. He disinfected

his house and stocked up on instant noodles,” Liu said. “He’s not really going out. If he does he wears a mask.”

The significant increase in illnesses reported just this week come as millions of Chinese travel for the Lunar New Year, one of the world’s largest annual migrations of people. Chinese are expected to take an estimated 3 billion trips during the 40-day spike in travel.

Analysts have predicted the reported cases will continue to multiply.

“Even if (the number of cases) are in the thousands, this would not surprise us,” the WHO’s Galea said, adding, however, that the number of cases is not an indicator of the outbreak’s severity, so long as the mortality rate remains low.

A medical staff attends to a patient with pneumonia caused by the new coronavirus at the Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, yesterday.

Imran Khan meets Ivanka Trump in Davos

INTERNEWS — ISLAMABAD

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and Ivanka Trump had an informal meeting on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2020 summit on Wednesday.

Pictures from the meeting between the two surfaced on social media in which PM Imran and Ivanka can be seen exchanging pleasantries.

Adviser to the Prime Min-ister on Overseas Pakistanis Zulfi Bokhari can also be seen in the photo with PM Imran.

This is the first time that the Pakistani prime minister met President Trump’s daughter. The senior White House adviser has previously expressed her desire to work towards empow-ering Pakistani women to help them become a part of the country’s workforce.

In a meeting with the PM’s special assistant on Overseas Pakistanis in Washington DC last year, Ivanka had shown keen interest in launching various programmes for the welfare of women in Pakistan.

Bukhari had thanked Ivanka for her interest and also extended an invitation to the US president’s daughter to visit Pakistan.

PTI’s five ministers, 20 MPAs unite against KP chief ministerINTERNEWS — PESHAWAR

Serious differences have emerged between the chief minister and five provincial ministers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province with the latter complaining about bad governance in the province.

The ministers have threatened to resign if gov-ernance is not improved. At least 20 MPAs along with five ministers have formed a group within the party. They are dis-appointed at what they call poor performance of Chief Minister Mahmood Khan.

They allege that corruption and commission ratio has

increased in the province, calling KP’s government worse than Punjab’s.

They declared Mahmood Khan as Usman Buzdar Plus, alleging CM’s Principal Sec-retary and the Principal Sec-retary to the prime minister are running the whole show in the province.

Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mahmood Khan, while strongly denying the alle-gations, said that two or three ministers are involved in the conspiracy because he had not adjusted their near and dear ones in the cabinet.

“My brother is active in local politics of my area and he looks

after my constituency but never interferes in the government affairs. Ministers were changed on poor performance and if their performance does not improve, they will be removed soon,” the chief minister added.

When asked why incom-petent ministers were given new portfolios, he replied that he has given them a chance to perform otherwise they will be removed. “Corruption and bad governance allegations are baseless.

My principal secretary is working on my behalf and only communicates my orders. I have not received any com-plaint of corruption or misuse of authority against any

minister or official. I will take strict action if someone is found involved in corruption or is taking a commission,” he said Mahmood Khan said Imran Khan had nominated him the chief minister and authorised him to remove or induct anybody into the cabinet. “I don’t bother about someone resigning from the cabinet.

The performance of these ministers is unsatisfactory and I am planning to remove them soon. Imran Khan has shown full confidence in me and given me a free hand to replace anyone,” he added.

Three ministers and four MPAs after their joint meeting

at Peshawar. A senior minister said on condition of anonymity that corruption, misuse, abuse of power and bad governance have damaged the credibility of the PTI.

Imran Khan was informed several times to take notice of the issue but still to no avail. “The CM is incompetent and the province is governed from Islamabad. Some party leaders and bureaucrats are interfering in the province.

The principal secretaries to the PM and CM are running the show while corruption and bribery have increased by 20 per cent in the province”, he claimed.

Fashion show in AfghanistanAfghan models present traditional costumes during the first street fashion show in Kabul, yesterday.

Taliban kill Afghan officer; bomb kills two troopsAP — KABUL

The Taliban ambushed and killed an Afghan intelligence official in southern Helmand province as he was walking home from work while a roadside bombing in the coun-try’s north killed a military commander and his body-guard, officials said yesterday.

The attacks were the latest violence in Afghanistan even as the Taliban hold peace talks with a US envoy tasked with finding a resolution to the 18-year war, America’s longest conflict.

In the Helmand attack, the officer, who headed the intel-ligence department’s press office for the province, was ambushed late on Wednesday, according to the provincial police chief’s spokesman Zaman Hamdard. Another

member of the intelligence department was wounded in the attack, the spokesman said.

An investigation was underway to find the perpe-trators, Hamdard added. Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi claimed responsibility for the attack.

The roadside bombing in northern Faryab province took place on Wednesday morning, killing the commandeer of the Afghan army’s First Battalion and his bodyguard, and wounding two other bodyguards.

According to Mohammad Hanif Rezaie, the military spokesman in northern Afghanistan, the battalion com-mander, Captain Muhib Shah, was traveling to the volatile Khwaja Sabzposh district when the car he and his bodyguards were in hit the roadside bomb.

Japan should ban confiscation of foreign employees’ passports: LawyerREUTERS — TOKYO

The Japanese government should forbid employers from retaining the passports of their foreign workers, a lawyer said yesterday after a Filipino woman sued her former employer for refusing to return her personal documents.

The case comes at a time when the government is seeking to attract labourers from outside Japan in hopes of finding a solution to the country’s severe labour shortage. A visa scheme introduced last year is projected to draw in 345,000 workers over five years.

“Unfortunately, it’s common practice for companies to take the passports of the foreign workers they employ,” Shoichi Ibusuki, the plaintiff’s lawyer, told reporters.

“But to take someone’s passport and then force them to work is forced labour, and should not be allowed under Japanese law,” he said.

The 30-year-old woman, who has kept her name private, filed a lawsuit last week demanding the return of her passport, graduation certificate and other documents that she turned over when she started working at the company, a law

office, in May 2019.The woman asked for her

passport back when she resigned in July 2019 but the company refused to return it, claiming it feared she would “run away,” said Makoto Iwa-hashi, a representative from a non-governmental organisation that is assisting the woman with legal procedures.

Iwahashi said he believed the issue was not uncommon, but the breadth of the problem was hard to grasp because many cases went under-reported because of the lan-guage barrier and fears of deportation threats.

“I’m standing up also for others to not be afraid and fight for what is right, so I’m standing not only for myself but for other foreign workers who are in the same situation,” the woman said in a short video clip shown to reporters at the news conference.

AdvanceConsul Certified Administrative Procedures Legal Specialists’ Office, her former employer, declined to comment when contacted by Reuters.

It is illegal in Japan for com-panies to confiscate the pass-ports of technical trainees under a special intern

programme, but there is no law forbidding firms from taking the passports of foreign labourers in Japan under other visa schemes.

There is a government guideline advising against the confiscation of passports but it is not legally binding.

“I believe this guideline should become law, and also include a penalty clause,” Ibusuki said.

“We’re hoping that we can use this lawsuit as an oppor-tunity to convince the gov-ernment to create a law that would ban the confiscation of passports.”

Pakistan tests ballistic missileANATOLIA — KARACHI

Pakistan’s army yesterday said it had successfully tested a ballistic missile Ghaznavi amid heightened tensions with arch-rival India.

Named after the 11th-century Afghan king, the missile is capable of delivering multiple types of warheads up to a range of 290km, according to a statement from the army’s media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations.

This was part of a military drill aimed at training the troops for combat, it added.

President Arif Alvi, Prime Minister Imran Khan and the three services chiefs “congrat-ulated the nation on this landmark achievement,” the statement concluded.

The fresh flare-up in already heightened tensions between the two nuclear-armed rivals was sparked by New Delhi’s scrapping of the special rights Jammu and Kashmir.

Police, SWAT teams and paramilitary troops guarded Wuhan’s train station, where metal barriers blocked the entrances at 10am sharp. Only travellers holding tickets for the last trains were allowed to enter, with those booked for later trains being turned away.

10 FRIDAY 24 JANUARY 2020EUROPE

UK parliament ratifies Brexit divorce lawAFP — LONDON

After years of acrimonious debate, British lawmakers on Wednesday finally approved the terms of their country’s historic departure from the European Union — due in just nine days time.

MPs in the lower House of Commons had already backed the EU Withdrawal Agreement Bill, which ratifies the divorce deal that Prime Minister Boris Johnson struck with Brussels last year. But the unelected upper House of Lords made some changes this week, including on the rights of EU citizens and child refugees after Brexit.

In a series of votes on Wednesday, the Commons — where Johnson’s Conservatives have a large majority — rejected all five amendments and sent the bill back to the Lords, who then reluctantly agreed to back down.

The only hurdle left to formal ratification now is royal assent by Queen Elizabeth II, which could come as soon today, paving the way for Britain to leave the EU on January 31.

The European Parliament still has to back the deal in a vote next week but its approval in London is a historic moment, as Britain edges closer to becoming the first country to leave the 28-member EU.

“At times it felt like we would never cross the Brexit finish line, but we’ve done it,” Johnson said in a statement.

“Now we can put the rancour and division of the past three years behind us and focus on delivering a bright, exciting future.”

It is a huge personal achievement for Johnson, who took office last year promising to end several years of political wrangling that had divided the country and paralysed successive governments.

His predecessor, Theresa May, negotiated a Brexit deal with Brussels in 2018 but the Commons rejected it three times, forcing her to resign.

Johnson then agreed changes to the text with Brussels, only to be defeated again by MPs unable

to agree on the timetable for turning his new deal into law.

He accused them of trying to frustrate the result of the landmark 2016 referendum vote for Brexit and forced a snap election last month.

The result, with Johnson returned to office on a thumping majority, fundamentally upended the dynamic and MPs swiftly backed the agreement.

The Lords put up a minor fight this week.

One amendment sought to alter the government’s scheme to register around 3.6 million EU citizens living in Britain, to give them physical documents proving their right to stay.

Another change would have required the government to negotiate the right of unaccom-panied child refugees in the EU to join relatives in Britain.

The Brexit deal protects the rights of EU citizens, makes special trading arrangements for the British province of Northern Ireland, and settles the UK’s EU debts.

It also paves the way for transition phase until December 31, in which UK-EU ties will remain largely the same while both sides try to agree a new trading and security partnership.

But the shape of that future relationship remains unresolved

— and negotiating it could pose an even bigger challenge than agreeing the divorce.

In a speech early next month, Johnson is expected to set out more detail of his hopes for a free trade agreement with Brussels along the lines of the EU’s recent deal with Canada.

“I’m absolutely confident that we can do that,” Johnson said on Wednesday while taking

questions online from members of the public.

He wants to both preserve free-flowing commerce between Britain and its largest trading partner across the Channel, and strike agreements with other countries — namely the United States.

Brussels has warned that it is impossible to address all issues in that time, suggesting a more

limited deal is now likely. But while UK finance minister Sajid Javid admitted on Wednesday that it was a “tight timetable”, he agreed with Johnson that it could be done.

The premier’s office denied a row with Washington over Lon-don’s proposed tax on tech giants would affect trade negotiations after Brexit, saying: “It’s not part of the discussions.”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson (fourth right) attends a session in the House of Commons in London, on Wednesday.

The European Parliament still has to back the deal in a vote next week but its approval in London is a historic moment, as Britain edges closer to becoming the first country to leave the 28-member EU.

Fight against climate change ‘matter of survival’: Merkel BLOOMBERG — DAVOS

Europe’s rising to the challenge of meeting its international climate pledges may be a question of survival for the continent, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said yesterday in Davos.

In 2020, Europe and beyond faces a “decade of action,” Merkel said in a speech at the World Economic Forum, citing a comment from Secretary General Antonio Guterres of the United Nations. Fulfilling Paris Climate Accord pledges “may turn out to be a matter of survival,” said the German leader.

Global leaders should listen to young voices that are cam-paigning for more trenchant policy to counteract global warming, said Merkel. The “impatience of young people” must be addressed, she said. “We are required to act accord-ingly,” said Merkel.

Merkel is making climate policy a focus of her last full year in power as German leader.

In the wake of mass protests over the past year, her admin-istration sought to kick start her stalled climate agenda with a series of measures to help get Germany on track to achieve a

steep cut in carbon emissions. Germany, which is Europe’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, is lagging in meeting those targets. It aims to cut emissions 40 percent by this year compared with 1990 levels yet needs to close a big gap to get there.

The moves include placing levies on transportation, investing heavily in railways and applying a timetable for power companies to exit coal. Yet critics say the measures are too little and too late, and that tax payers ought not to be paying billion-dollar compen-sations to utilities.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (right) stands next to World Economic Forum Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab at the the WEF annual meeting, in Davos, yesterday.

Germany bans neo-Nazi group Combat 18, launches raids

REUTERS—BERLIN

Germany has banned the neo-Nazi group Combat 18 and raided the homes of its leading members across the country, the Interior Ministry said yesterday.

Two hundred officers seized phones, laptops, weapon-related objects, clothing and Nazi relics, the ministry said in a statement.

Last year, Walter Luebcke, a senior local conservative pol-itician known for pro-migrant views, was shot dead, and a man believed to be a far-right sympathiser was arrested on suspicion of murdering him.

Germany was also shocked when two people were shot dead last year near a syna-gogue in Halle in eastern Germany, while two years ago leaders of the neo-Nazi group NSU were convicted of killing immigrants in a spree that lasted years.

“Today’s ban gives a clear signal: right extremism and anti-Semitism have no place in our society,” Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said in a statement.

“The terror attacks of the NSU, the terrible murder of Walter Luebcke and the act of terror in Halle last year have given us a brutal illustration of the real danger that right-wing extremism poses to our free society,” he added.

Combat 18 originated in Britain in the early 1990s. Regional interior ministers in Germany have been calling for a ban for at least a year.

Merkel’s party chief aims to gather team to succeed the Chancellor by year-end BLOOMBERG — DAVOS

Germany’s Christian Democrats aim to assemble their team to succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel by the end of this year, the party’s chairwoman said in an interview.

Annegret Kramp-Karren-bauer, who as CDU leader is Merkel’s presumptive heir, sig-nalled in an interview yesterday that she opposes a call by a key Bavarian ally for a cabinet reshuffle by the summer.

“For 2021, the CDU needs a new team for the future, with new faces, and we’ll put that in place this year,” Kramp-Karren-bauer, 57, said at the World Eco-nomic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

“For me, that’s a more important perspective than a short-term change.”

Ever since Merkel stepped down as leader of the CDU at the end of 2018, the ruling coalition has been plagued by infighting as potential contenders jockey for positions to succeed her and Germany’s export-driven economy runs out of steam.

Kramp-Karrenbauer herself has struggled to gain traction, garnering less than half the approval ratings of Merkel, who remains the country’s most popular politician.

AKK, as she’s known, will have to reinforce her position within the CDU if she wants to become the party’s candidate for the chancellorship in the next election, due in 2021 at the latest. Merkel has said she won’t run for a fifth term.

Even after she fended off a

leadership challenge in the CDU late last year, Kramp-Karren-bauer remains under scrutiny from the party’s conservative and business wings.

One rival who has emerged is Bavarian Premier Markus Soeder, the chairman of the CDU’s sister party, the Christian Social Union.

He made the call for Merkel to reshuffle the cabinet, an objective he hopes to deliver by the summer.

While AKK initially said the idea could be discussed, yes-terday she pushed back on the proposal.

“First we have to ensure that this government that we have now works as well and dynam-ically as possible. There’s room for improvement, we can do even better.”

Such improvements include streamlining investments and cutting red tape, she said.

“The problem is that we are too slow and too complicated in the process. Not enough is invested as a result, and this is the construction site we need to work on,” she said.

Germany’s economy expanded at 0.6 percent in 2019, its weakest growth in 6 years. But the government continues to generate large budget sur-pluses, prompting renewed calls for even larger spending growth and tax breaks. AKK said such surplus cash should be invested “sensibly” in infrastructure and the military.

“If we look at our budget and our investment right now, we see that we have no problem with money,” she said.

Greece expects tourism growth this year despite bumpy 2019: MinisterREUTERS — ATHENS

Tourism, which accounts for about a quarter of Greece’s gross domestic product, will grow in 2020 despite the blow dealt to the sector last year by the collapse of British travel giant Thomas Cook, Tourism Minister Harry Theocharis said yesterday.

Greece is emerging from a decade-long debt crisis and relying on its resorts, beaches and ancient monuments to attract strong visitor numbers if it is to fully recover. Tourism employs roughly one in five people.

Revenues in 2019 grew an estimated 12-15 percent from about 16 billion euros in 2018 on the back of a 4 percent to 5 percent rise in arrivals, Theo-charis said in an interview.

About 33 million tourists visited Greece in 2018, the year the country exited its

third international bailout. The collapse of Thomas Cook in Sep-tember left thousands of holiday-makers stranded at island resorts and dealt a significant blow to Greek hoteliers and businesses.

The impact was initially esti-mated at 500 million euros and was seen spilling over to 2020, an immediate worry for the con-servative government that took office in July. But the sector has found new contracts and replaced the lost slots, Theocharis said, adding, “Despite the ups and downs, the surprises and the hurdles, 2019 rewarded us with a positive result.

“We are in a position to envision a new year with optimism that Thomas Cook has not left its mark,” he said.

“We expect 2020 will be better than 2019.”

Greece’s target for 2020 and the years to come is an annual

one-digit rise in arrivals and a two-digit increase in revenue, said Theocharis, who headed revenue collection at the coun-try’s finance ministry at the peak of the crisis in 2013-14.

The government has been mulling changes to the sector ranging from further regulating the homesharing market to opening up the industry to sea diving tourism, which is currently restricted because of the many archaeological ruins in Greek waters. The sector is still vul-nerable to risks outside the gov-ernment’s control such as a recession in Europe or turmoil in the Middle East, Theocharis said.

“Climate change is a long-term challenge and Greece is studying its estimated impact. Greece has a strong brand and can win a big share of the market as long as economic and other conditions allow it,” he said.Tourists arrive at Heraklion airport on the Greek island of Crete, in this file photo.

11FRIDAY 24 JANUARY 2020 EUROPE

Russian MPs give approval to Putin’s constitutional reformsAP — MOSCOW

Russian lawmakers yesterday quickly gave preliminary approval to a slew of consti-tutional changes widely seen as an attempt by President Vladimir Putin (pictured) to remain in charge after his current term ends in 2024.

Kremlin critics have described the amendments as an attempt by Putin to secure his rule over Russia for life, but still it remains unclear how exactly the changes allow him to do that.

Putin also didn’t explain why he hastily moved to amend the constitution now, four years before the end of his term. That drew sugges-tions it could herald a plan to call an early parliamentary or presidential election.

Putin’s amendments give parliament the right to appoint Cabinet members, but they are focused primarily at pre-serving and even strength-ening the powers of the presidency.

The Kremlin-controlled lower house of parliament, the State Duma, rubber-stamped the amendments yesterday by

a unanimous vote in the first of three required readings.

Putin, a 67-year-old former KGB officer, who has led Russia for more than 20 years - the longest since the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, likes to keep his plans secret until the last moment.

When the Russian leader announced his proposals last week, many observers specu-lated he may use them to shift into the post of prime minister — something he did previously when he stepped down after two terms in 2008 and let his protege, Dmitry Medvedev, serve as placeholder president for four years before

reclaiming the job.Putin continued to wield

power during Medvedev’s presidency, but he wasn’t happy with what was dubbed”the tandem rule.”

It’s clear he would not take the premier’s position again without turning it into the top executive job. The proposed amendments leave the prime minister subordinate to the president, who can fire him at his whim.

I m m e d i a t e l y a f t e r announcing the proposed changes last week, Putin fired Medvedev, who had held prime minister job for eight years, and named tax chief Mikhail

Mishustin to succeed him. Putin’s suggestion that the constitution must enshrine the role of the State Council, an advisory body of regional gov-ernors and top federal officials, led some analysts to predict that he could aim to stay at the helm as its head.

But Putin’s amendments say the president will have the power to form the Council.

The draft also revises the constitutional limit of two con-secutive terms, limiting a pres-ident to two terms altogether.

Some have suggested that Putin, who served two consec-utive terms in 2000-2008 and is currently serving the second of another pair of consecutive terms, may use the constitu-tional changes to reset the term clock.

Most observers agree, however, that such a move would be too blunt for Putin, a law faculty graduate who prefers to have a democratic veneer on his political machinations.

As wild speculation about Putin’s intentions has con-tinued to swirl, he remains poker-faced.

Bulgaria charges three Russians in Skripal-linked investigation

BLOOMBERG — SOFIA

Bulgaria charged three Russians for the attempted murder of an arms dealer in an investigation linked to the poisoning attack against former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in the UK.

Authorities in the Balkan state have been working with the UK and the FBI over the poisoning of Emilian Gebrev, the head of small-arms and ammunition maker Emco OOD, which drew similarities with the 2018 attack against Skripal and his daughter in the city of Salisbury.

Prosecutors issued European arrest warrants and has requested an international manhunt for the three unnamed Russian citizens.

The alleged attackers used a phosphorus-like substance to poison Gebrev, his son and an employee of his company in 2015, the prosecutors’ office said in a statement yesterday.

Bulgaria, which has tradi-tionally strong cultural and economic ties with its Cold War ally Russia, didn’t join most European Union states in expelling Russian diplomats after the UK poisoning case. The government then said it needed more proof of Russia’s involvement. Sergei Fedotov, one of the Russians suspected by UK authorities of having a connection to the Skripal case, visited Bulgaria several times in 2015.

France and The Netherlands break smuggling ring to UKANATOLIA — PARIS

Authorities from France and The Netherlands disbanded a major migrant smuggling ring to the United Kingdom, making 23 arrests. 19 suspects were arrested in France and four in The Netherlands in the vicinity of The Hague on Wednesday, according to officials.

Those arrested are sus-pected of illegally transporting approximately 10,000 Kurdish migrants to the UK in small rubber boats and refrigerated trucks, from parking areas in France. The actions carried out by the authorities included the searching of five different locations.

The investigations were taken in cooperation with Eurojust, the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation, which aids in the fight against crime across borders bringing authorities together in joint efforts and operations.

During the investigations, initiated by French authorities in August 2018, Eurojust reports that the network was found to be picking up migrants at rest areas between Le Mans and Poitiers.

Suspects were also spotted using vehicles with Dutch license plates, which led to

opening up the case to the Netherlands. In a statement on the Eurojust website, the organisation outlined their “financing of a Joint Investi-gation Team (JIT) and the establishing of a coordination center to support both coun-tries’ authorities in initiating their actions.” Eurojust says they also provided support with the execution of European arrest warrants.

The smuggling network reportedly charged fares to the migrants of 7,000 euro per person, with total profits amounting to 70 million euro.

The statement on the Eurojust website further detailed that “Europol provided analytical support during the operation, with the action suc-cessfully carried out by the International Specialised Juris-disction of Rennes and BMRZ mobile brigade of the French border police, along with the Dutch Koninklijke Mare-chaussee, the specialised FINEC unit of the national police, and the Dutch immi-gration services.”

It is reported that a link was also discovered to a suspect running an illegal hawala banking system in the Nether-lands, partly used for the payment of transporting the migrants.

Putin’s amendments give parliament the right to appoint Cabinet members, but they are focused primarily at preserving and even strengthening the powers of the presidency.

Demonstrators protest against the 50th Davos World Economic Forum annual meeting, in Zurich, Switzerland, yesterday. The banner reads 'Fight the Climate Crisis! Zurich against the WEF'.

Protest over climate change

Greek top court approves extradition of cybercrime suspect to FranceREUTERS — ATHENS

Greece’s top administrative court has ruled in favour of extraditing to France a Russian man suspected of laundering billions of dollars in digital currency, a judicial official said yesterday.

The Greek justice minister had in December ordered the extradition of Alexander Vinnik, who is accused of masterminding a $4 billion bitcoin laundering ring and is wanted by both France and the United States.

Vinnik’s lawyer called the decision unfair and appealed

against it, calling the move “a death sentence”, while the detained 40-year-old Russian launched a hunger strike.

But the top administrative court concluded the minister had the authority to make the decision, the judicial official said. The higher court ruling cannot be further appealed in Greece.

US authorities accuse Vinnik of running BTC-e - a digital cur-rency exchange used to trade bitcoin - to facilitate crimes ranging from computer hacking to drug trafficking since 2011.

Vinnik has denied the

charges, saying he was a tech-nical consultant to BTC-e and not its operator.

Since his arrest in a village in northern Greece in 2017, Moscow has requested that Vinnik be returned home, as it has done before with other nationals wanted by the United States.

The Greek ministerial decision mentioned that a second destination should be the United States and lastly Russia, meaning that when Vinnik’s judicial pro-ceedings are done in France he could be extradited further to the United States.

Italy readies pension reform, may end early retirement scheme ahead of scheduleREUTERS — ROME

Italy is preparing to reform its pension system again to make it more flexible for those who want to leave work early, offi-cials say, and the changes may include ending ahead of time a costly but underused 2018 plan that lowered the minimum retirement age.

With a steadily growing army of retirees, pensions in Italy are a national obsession and one of the most frequently debated topics on television talk shows.

Under the 2018 “quota 100” plan, people can draw a pension if they have paid in 38 years of contributions as long as they are 62 years old - the sum of the two figures giving the “100” of the plan’s name.

The plan was budgeted to cost almost 20 billion euros over three years until 2021, when it is due to expire. But some in the government are pushing to drop it at the end of this year to save money.

With one of the world’s oldest populations, Italy spends more than 16 percent of national output on pensions, more than any other developed country except Greece, data from the Organisation for Eco-nomic Cooperation and Devel-opment shows.

This makes it harder for Rome to reduce its debt, which is the second highest in the European Union and drains resources from other areas. For example, Italy is near the bottom of the OECD’s 35-nation

league table for education spending.

“Instead of waiting for the natural end of quota 100 at the end of 2021, it would be better to have a replacement solution ready to come into force next January,” Treasury undersec-retary Pier Paolo Baretta of the ruling Democratic Party said.

As things stand, when quota 100 expires, retirement rules are set to automatically revert to those imposed in a highly unpopular 2011 reform that raised the retirement age to 67. The government wants to avoid this by introducing a new system that is less gen-erous than quota 100 but less severe than the 2011 regime, imposed by former premier Mario Monti at the height of the eurozone debt crisis.

One option being con-sidered is to let people retire at 64 but on a reduced pension compared with what they would get if they stayed at work a few years longer, said a gov-ernment source who asked not to be named.

“Pension reform is one of our top priorities,” said Labour Minister Nunzia Catalfo of the co-ruling 5-Star Movement.

“We will try to find a way to help workers retire earlier, especially those with physically tough jobs,” she told Reuters.

The new reform will be the sixth significant overhaul in recent decades. Three of the previous ones raised the retirement age, while two of them, including quota 100, reduced it.

Storm Gloria claims 11 lives in Spain, several missing

ANATOLIA — OVIEDO, SPAIN

At least 11 people have died and several more are missing yesterday from winter storm Gloria that has devastated parts of Spain.

The storm brought with it record-breaking waves in the

Mediterranean Sea, huge amounts of snowfall and rain, strong winds, storm surges and flooded rivers when it hit Monday.

A victim was caught yes-terday in his car while driving in the region of Barcelona, while another man was found after

presumably falling into the sea Wednesday.

Five other individuals have been reported missing, and rescue crews are also searching for six fishermen who sent a dis-tress signal in the waters between Spain and Morocco.

The northeastern part of

Spain and parts of Andalusia in the south are still on alert. In Girona, Catalonia, residents of 29 municipalities have been told to stay indoors and above street level due to flooding.

On the Mediterranean coast, dozens of beaches have been swallowed by the sea, as has nearly the entire Ebro River delta. In the delta alone, destruction is estimated at €10 million.

“We can’t fix everything that has been lost, but we won’t spare on any resources to restore nor-mality,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told the media in Mallorca while visiting some of the worst affected regions Thursday.

“Climate change is getting stronger and we’re dealing with the effects … we need to develop a culture of preparation so that lives and businesses aren’t as affected by these kinds of mete-orological phenomena.”

A flooded street is pictured in Sarria de Ter, Spain yesterday, as storm Gloria batters the Spanish eastern coast.

Spain raises minimum wageAFP — MADRID

Spain’s new Socialist government under Pedro Sanchez on Wednesday brokered an accord with unions and bosses lifting the minimum wage 5.5 percent or 598 euros to 1,108 euros gross a month.

“We have reached agreement to lift the minimum wage this year,” said labour min-ister Yolanda Diaz, hailing a “very happy day for democracy in this country and for all workers.”

The cabinet is due to approve the measure within days upon which the rise will take imme-diate effect.

Sanchez’ new adminis-tration, which has the support of radical leftist party Podemos, has also announced a 0.9 percent increase in pensions and a 2 percent increase in wages of civil servants.

While unions saluted the minimum wage rise the

president of the Confederation of Employers’ Organizations, Antonio Garamendi, admitted that “we would have liked (the rise) to be a little lower,” even if the figure agreed was below an initially mooted 1,167 euros.

The latest rise comes on the back of Sanchez’s pushing through of an unparalleled 22 percent hike last year.

The government has pledged over the coming four years to lift the level to 60 percent of the current average salary of 1,970 euros — which would be cur-rently 1,182 euros.

Speaking at the Davos forum earlier, Sanchez said his gov-ernment would still pursue “fiscal rigour” in targeting cutting the national deficit and public debt.

Spain’s move comes weeks after Britain’s conservative gov-ernment pledged to increase the minimum wage by more than four times the rate of UK inflation from next year

12 FRIDAY 24 JANUARY 2020AMERICAS

Democrats resume arguments in Trump trialREUTERS — WASHINGTON

Democrats on yesterday resumed their arguments at US President Donald Trump’s Senate impeachment trial for removing him from office, but his fellow Republicans gave scant indication of relenting in their resistance to the Demo-cratic case.

House of Representatives Democratic “managers” serving as prosecutors in the trial began presenting the second of three days of opening arguments in their case against Trump.

“ T h e a r t i c l e s o f impeachment against President Trump rank among the most serious charges ever brought against a president,” Demo-cratic Representative Jerrold Nadler told the assembled senators.

“And as our recital of the facts indicated, the articles are overwhelmingly supported by the evidence amassed by the House, notwithstanding the president’s complete stone-walling, his attempt to block all witnesses and all documents from the United States Con-gress,” Nadler added.

The Democrats are pre-senting arguments that Trump should be convicted of two articles of impeachment passed by the House last month — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress — for pressuring Ukraine to investigate Demo-cratic rival Joe Biden last year, and impeding a congressional inquiry into the matter.

“His conduct is not America first. It is Donald Trump first,” Nadler said.

Democrats said they will focus on the US Constitution, the impeachment articles and the facts relating to them yesterday.

Trump is almost certain to be acquitted by the Senate, where a two-thirds majority is needed to remove him from office.

Blocked so far in their drive to persuade the Republican-led Senate to let them call new wit-nesses, Democrats are using their time instead to outline an extensive narrative, complete with video clips, based on the testimony presented during hearings in the Democratic-control led House of Representatives.

The top Senate Democrat, Chuck Schumer, made a fresh appeal yesterday for Republican senators to join with Democrats in voting to allow witnesses and new evidence to be presented in the trial. Republicans control the 100-seat Senate. Four of the Senate’s 53 Republicans would have to join the Democrats in

order to win a simple majority vote.

“The issue of relevant evi-dence, documents and wit-nesses is going to come back up. And Senate Republicans will have the power to bring that evidence into the trial,” Schumer told reporters.

“Republican senators - four of them, it’s in their hands - can make this trial more fair, if they want to,” Schumer added.

This is only the third impeachment trial in US history. It began in earnest on Tuesday and Democrats started their opening arguments on Wednesday.

The case focuses on Trump’s request that Ukraine investigate Biden, a top contender for the Democratic nomination to face Trump in the Nov. 3 presidential election, and Biden’s son on unsubstantiated corruption allegations. Trump also asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate a dis-credited theory beneficial to Russia that Ukraine worked with Democrats to hurt Trump in the 2016 U.S. election. Last year, Trump temporarily withheld $391 million in US mil-itary aid to Ukraine, which Democrats say was leverage for his demands.

Even if finding Trump guilty seems to be a long shot for Democrats, the trial presents them an opportunity to inflict political damage on Trump ahead of the November election, with millions of Amer-icans watching the televised proceedings.

Trump condemned the pro-ceedings as “unfair & corrupt” in a Twitter post on Thursday.

Some Republican senators said they have heard nothing new in the presentation made by the Democratic managers

and already have decided to vote for acquittal.

“I’ll say we shouldn’t be in an impeachment trial,” Repub-lican Senator Ron Johnson said.

Republican Senator Thom Tillis said he has already made up his mind to vote for acquittal. Referring to the Democrats’ presentation, Tillis told reporters, “It reminds of the shopping channel, the hits of the ‘80s, you hear it again and again and again and again. I can almost recite the testimony.” Republican Senator James Lankford added, “It’s a more organized presentation of the same facts.”

Republican Senator Mike Braun said he will vote for acquittal if nothing new emerges yesterday or Friday.

Other Republicans were more circumspect. Republican Senator Mitt Romney said, “Sorry, but I’m not going to be commenting on the evidence or process until the entire trial is over.”

Schumer called the argu-ments presented by the Dem-ocratic managers “powerful,” “precise” and “devastating.” Referring to Senate Repub-licans, Schumer said, “It may have planted the first seed in their minds that, yes, perhaps the president did something very wrong here.”

Trump denies wrongdoing and his fellow Republicans have said his conduct did not fit the description of “high crimes and misdemeanors” outlined in the US Constitution as rationale to

oust a president.The Senate’s schedule

means that Trump’s defense team, a group of White House lawyers and outside counsel who will be given three days for rebuttal to the Democratic opening arguments, would likely start to present their case tomorrow.

Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow said it was unclear whether the Trump defense would need all three days, suggesting it could last as little as six hours.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday found 72 percent of Americans — including 84 percent of Demo-crats and 69 percent of Repub-licans — want to see new wit-nesses testify in the impeachment trial.

US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell speaking during the third day of the US Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump at the US Capitol in Washington DC, yesterday.

An aerial view of people marching for peace and to protest against a wave of violent crimes from Cuernavaca, Morelos state, to Mexico City, yesterday.

March for peace

Trump removes protections for waterways, aiding developersAP — WASHINGTON

The Trump administration lifted federal protections yesterday for some of the nation’s millions of miles of streams, arroyos and wetlands, completing one of its most far-reaching environmental roll-backs.

The changes will scale back which waterways qualify for protection against pollution and development under the half-century-old Clean Water Act. President Donald Trump has made a priority of the rollback of clean-water pro-tections from his first weeks in office. Trump says he is tar-geting federal rules and regu-lations that impose unnec-e s s a r y b u r d e n s o n businesses.

Chiefs of the Environ-mental Protection Agency and the US Army Corps of Engi-neers signed the new rule before appearing at a builders’ convention in Las Vegas.

“EPA and the Army are pro-viding much needed regulatory certainty and predictability for American farmers, landowners and businesses to support the economy and accelerate critical infrastructure projects,” EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said in a statement.

The changes had been sought by industry, developers and farmers, but opposed by environmental advocates and public health officials. They say the changes would make it harder to maintain a clean water supply for the American public and would threaten habitat and wildlife.

The administration says the changes would allow farmers to plow their fields without fear of unintentionally straying over the banks of a federally pro-tected dry creek, bog or ditch.

But the government’s own figures show it is real estate developers and those in other nonfarm business sectors that take out the most permits for impinging on wetlands and waterways, and stand to reap the biggest regulatory and financial relief.

Wheeler specified the changes lift federal protections for so-called ephemeral waters - creeks and rivers which run

only after rainfalls or snow melt. Such streams provide a majority of the water for some dry Western states, including New Mexico.

The final rule will be pub-lished in the Federal Register in the next few days and become effective 60 days after that.

The rollback is one of the most ambitious of the Trump administration’’s wide-ranging cuts in federal protections on the environment and public health. While many rollback efforts have targeted regulations adopted under the Obama administration, the draft clean-water plan released earlier would lift federal protections for many waterways and wetlands that have stood for decades under the Clean Water Act.

That includes protections for creek and river beds that run only in wet seasons or after rain or snow melt.

“That’’s a huge rollback from way before Obama, before Reagan,” said Blan Holman, a senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center.

State officials in New Mexico have particular con-cerns given that the Rio Grande, which provides drinking water and irrigation supplies for millions of people in the Southwest and Mexico, depends largely on the types of intermittent streams, creeks and wetlands that could lose protection under the rule draft released earlier. The Rio Grande is one of North Amer-ica’s longest rivers.

Jen Pelz, the rivers program director with the New Mexico-based environmental group WildEarth Guardians, said the Rio Grande would be hard hit.

“It defies common sense to leave unprotected the arteries of life to the desert Southwest,” Pelz said.

Trump has portrayed farmers - a highly valued con-stituency of the Republican Party and one popular with the public - as the main benefici-aries of the rollback. He claimed farmers gathered around him wept with grat-itude when he signed an order for the rollback in February 2017.

US visa curbs for pregnant women come into forceAP — WASHINGTON

The Trump administration yesterday imposed new visa rules aimed at restricting “birth tourism,” in which women travel to the United States to give birth so their children can have US citi-zenship.

Applicants will be denied a tourist visa unless they can prove they must come to the US to give birth for medical reasons and they have money to pay for it - not just because they want their child to have a passport.

“Closing this glaring immi-gration loophole will combat these endemic abuses and ulti-mately protect the United States from the national security risks created by this practice,” White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement.

“It will also defend American taxpayers from having their hard-earned dollars siphoned away to finance the direct and down-stream costs associated with birth tourism. The integrity of American citizenship must be protected.”

The practice of traveling to the US to give birth is funda-mentally legal, although there are scattered cases of author-ities arresting operators of birth tourism agencies for visa fraud or tax evasion.

And women are often honest about their intentions when applying for visas and even show signed contracts with doctors and hospitals.

The State Department “does not believe that vis-iting the United States for the primary purpose of obtaining US citizenship for a child, by giving birth in the United States - an activity com-monly referred to as ‘birth tourism’ - is a legitimate activity for pleasure or of a recreat ional nature ,” according to the new rules, which were published Thursday in the Federal Reg-ister and take effect today.

US financial chief asks Thunberg to ‘study economics’ over climate spatAFP — DAVOS, SWITZERLAND

The United States’ financial chief yesterday told Swedish teen Greta Thunberg to go study before calling for a fossil fuel halt, prompting the climate campaigner to reply it doesn’t “take a degree” to understand the science.

The spat between US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Thunberg again highlighted the tensions over climate change at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, where governments have come under pressure to act on global warming as well as talk about the issue.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday also said in a keynote address that governments were obliged to act on the younger genera-tion’s concerns over climate change.

Mnuchin had earlier advised Thunberg, who has been bitterly critical of US policy during her stay at Davos, to study economics before giving out lessons.

Asked about the 17-year-old’s demand for an immediate halt to investment in fossil fuels, he told reporters: “After she goes and studies eco-nomics in college, she can come back and explain that to us.” But in a thread of tweets, Thunberg dismissed Mnuchin’s comments in a typically with-ering response.

“My gap year ends in August, but it doesn’t take a

college degree in economics to realise that our remaining 1.5 degrees carbon budget and ongoing fossil fuel subsidies and investments don’t add up,” she wrote.

“So either you tell us how to achieve this mitigation or explain to future generations and those already affected by the climate emergency why we should abandon our climate commitments,” she added.

Swedish climate change activist Greta Thunberg attending a session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, yesterday.

The Democrats are presenting arguments that Trump should be convicted of two articles of impeachment passed by the House last month — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress — for pressuring Ukraine to investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden last year, and impeding a congressional inquiry into the matter.

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Migrant caravan crosses into Mexico from Guatemala, walks along highwayAP — CIUDAD HIDALGO, MEXICO

Hundreds of Central American migrants crossed the river into Mexico from Guatemala yesterday after a days-long standoff with security forces.

Carrying US and Honduran flags at the head of the pro-cession, they walked along a highway toward hundreds of national guardsmen along the highway with riot shields and body armour and vans from the National Immigration Institute. The migrants still appeared to have superior numbers by at least double.

Jose Luis Morales, a Salva-doran leader of the caravan, said the migrants want to nego-tiate to be allowed to pass peacefully.

But Mexico has cracked down on the large caravans seen previously following intense pressure from Wash-ington last year.

Aníbal, who declined to give his last name for fear of reprisal from immigration authorities, joined the majority Honduran caravan from his hometown of Santa Rosa, Guatemala. He and

others rested in the shade of a tree yesterday morning after walking for hours along the highway.

He was determined to get to the US, no matter where, and work to save money and return to his wife and three kids. Back home he worked part time gigs as a labourer, machinist, selling used clothing, but there wasn’t enough work.

“They need to let us pass,” he said.

Asked about assertions from Mexico’s president that migration must be regular and orderly, he said: “He needs to have a little more compassion ... we’re going out of necessity. We’re not going for ambition.”

Yesterday’s movement was a resurgence of a migrant caravan that had been dimin-ishing since its last concerted attempt to cross the border Monday was turned back by Mexican National Guardsmen posted along Suchiate river, which forms the border here.

The migrants awoke with a plan Thursday. By 4.30am they had all packed their belongings and were just awaiting the call to move. They would not cross where Mexican authorities were posted across the river.

They prayed for about an hour before leaving and then walked upriver on the Gua-temala side in the dark to near another bridge that handles commercial traffic between the two countries. There were no Mexican authorities on the opposite bank.

There the water was deeper, coming to the waist of a grown

man, so a number of young men entered the river first and formed a human chain to keep the women and children who followed from being pulled by the current. When the first migrants crossed at 6am, it was still pitch black.

The national guardsmen awaited the caravan outside the community of Frontera Hidalgo, near Ciudad Hidalgo where the migrants crossed the Suchiate river at dawn.

Mexico began flying and

busing members of the caravan back to Honduras on Tuesday.

Seven more buses left Mexico for Honduras on Wednesday, carrying 240 migrants back home, and two flights left with an additional 220 Hondurans, Mexico’s National Immigration Institute said. By Wednesday, the number of people outside the Casa del Migrante in Tecun Uman was perhaps half of what it was at its peak Sunday night.

In previous caravans,

Mexican authorities have allowed caravans to walk for awhile, seemingly to tire them out, and then closed their path.

While the migrants have been receiving steady local media coverage since they arrived at the border, they have not surpassed topics of security, economy or corruption in the public agenda.

Yesterday, a multi-day march for truth, justice and peace departed the central Mexico city of Cuernavaca bound for the capital.

Military police walk along a road from Ciudad Hidalgo to Tapachula, Chiapas State, Mexico, yesterday, while a caravan of migrants heading to the US was taking place.

Chile vote campaign for new Constitution beginsANATOLIA — SANTIAGO DE CHILE

More than 14 million Chileans will go to the polls on April 26 determine the idea of creating a new Constitution.

The vote has been compared to the historic plebiscite of 1988 in which Chileans voted “No” to the continuity of Gen. Augusto Pinochet and marked the end of his dictatorship that afflicted the country for 17 years.

Chilean law states that in the plebiscites, the government assumes a position and the parties that adopt it campaign with the executive, while the opposition will be designated with half of the time to explain its choice.

But unlike the plebiscite 32 years ago, Sebastian Pinera’s government decided not to par-ticipate and stay away from the discussion in televised coverage. He gave 100 percent of the time

to other political parties.Three months before the pleb-

iscite, the camps started to be formed. The Command Worthy Chile, composed of left-wing parties and the Mapuche indig-enous community, launched its proposal for approval, while the right wing began to organise support for the rejection option.

“All our causes and struggles had a common challenge: to change the political, economic,

social and cultural model inherited from the dictatorship, which in these years of restricted democracy has only impoverished and violate us as people,” says a manifesto of the Command Worthy Chile.

President of the Social Green Regionalist Federation (FREVS) Party, Jaime Mulet, who com-poses the command, said there are symbolic reasons that make a new Constitution necessary.

“The Constitution of the 80s was made in full dictatorship, under a regime of repression without electoral records, it is invalid in its origin. Apart from the sym-bolic, the Constitution appoints to a certain economic regime that we have called an exacer-bated neoliberal regime.” Mulet points out that the “Yes” cam-paign aims to get to those who still have doubts about the process, so that they are

convinced of the approval of the plebiscite and hopefully it would put an end to a Constitution “that has established a regime of brutal inequality in Chile”.

For the former presidential candidate and referent of the Chilean extreme right, Jose Antonio Kast, leader of the Republican Party, a new Con-stitution is not necessary because the current one has been modified several times.

Greenwald lawyers ask Brazil to drop ‘scandalous’ criminal chargesREUTERS — BRASILIA

Lawyers for US journalist Glenn Greenwald urged a Brazilian court yesterday to dismiss criminal charges against him for allegedly aiding hackers who accessed the private phone messages of Sergio Moro, Brazil’s current Justice Minister.

In a federal court filing in the capital Brasilia, a copy of which was seen by this news wire, the lawyers argue that prosecutors’ decision to charge the journalist was an act of “scandalous disrespect.”

They point to an injunction by Brazil’s Supreme Court that barred prosecutors from investigating Greenwald for having received or obtained “infor-mation published in the media, due to the consti-tutional right to the protection of journalistic sources.”

Greenwald, a resident of Brazil and fierce critic of far right President Jair Bolsonaro, is best known for his work on the disclosures of Edward Snowden, the American former National Security Agency contractor who leaked secret documents about US telephone and Internet surveillance in 2013.

Greenwald was charged on Tuesday with criminal association with a group of six people, all of whom face charges of hacking the phones of Brazilian officials, as well as bank fraud and money laundering.

Last year, Greenwald and the Intercept Brasil website, which he helped found, published stories based on leaked chat messages involving prose-cutors and Moro, then a judge working on high profile corruption cases and now minister of justice in Bolsonaro’s cabinet.

In support of their case, federal prose-cutors said in a statement that an audio feed found on the seized laptop of one of the alleged hackers showed Greenwald advising him to erase all messages linked to the Intercept, at a time when the hacking was still taking place.

The leaked conversations between Moro and prosecutors showed the judge advising them on the corruption case against former leftist Pres-ident Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, raising questions about Moro’s independence.

Moro has dismissed the messages as coming from illegal hacking and has questioned their authenticity, saying they may have been doctored.

Greenwald, part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize for stories involving Snowden, lives in Rio. He is married to David Miranda, a left-leaning politician who was elected to Con-gress last year.

Carrying US and Honduran flags at the head of the procession, they walked along a highway toward hundreds of national guardsmen along the highway with riot shields and body armour and vans from the National Immigration Institute.

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European Central Bank holds rates,

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Minister of Finance meets financial honchosThe Minister of Finance, H E Ali Shareef Al Emadi (right), met yesterday with the top officials of several financial and governmental institutions, and international banks, including Credit Suisse CEO, Tidjane Thiam (pictured), on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum 2020 in Davos, Switzerland. The other officials H E Al Emadi met included Tatsofumi Sakai, the President of the Board of Directors of Japan’s Mizuho Financial Group; The Rt. Hon. Lord Mayor of London, William Russell; and Group Chief Executive of Barclay’s Bank, Jes Staley. During the meetings ways of enhancing cooperation and other issues were discussed.

H E Al Kuwari meets leaders in Davos, discusses economic ties

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Minister of Commerce and Industry H E Ali bin Ahmed Al Kuwari has met with ministers and senior government officials as well as high ranking members of international organisations and private insti-tutions on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.

During the meeting they discussed joint cooperation and ways of boosting trade and investment for mutual benefits.

Minister Al Kuwari was in Switzerland to attend the inau-guration of the 50th edition of the World Economic Forum (WEF), which concludes today.

He also participated in a number of panel discussions organised within the framework of the WEF 2020.

The Minister also attended the special address by the Pres-ident of the Republic of Iraq H E Dr Barham Salih during the event. On the sidelines of his participation in Davos 2020, the Minister on Tuesday held a separate meeting with H E Dr Ali bin Masoud al Sunaidy, Oman’s Minister of Commerce and Industry, and the French Ambassador for International Investments and Chairman of the Board of Business France Pascal Cagni.

On Wednesday, Minister Al Kuwari also met with the World Trade Organization Director-General Roberto Azevedo. Dis-cussions held during the meetings touched on the

promotion and development of joint cooperation, particularly in the trade, investment and industrial fields. Officials also exchanged views on the topics featured in the Forum’s agenda.

Also, the Minister held another meeting with Chris Ciauri, President of Google’s cloud arm in Europe, the Middle East and Africa region, on the sidelines of the WEF 2020, wherein both officials discussed ways on enhancing the part-nership between both sides and expanding the use of Google’s cloud platform in Qatar.

This year’s WEF edition brings together more than 250 political leaders from G20 group among other countries, along with the heads of a number of international organ-isations, business leaders, pol-iticians, ministers, academics, technology pioneers, represent-atives of civil society organisa-tions and cultural leaders.

This forum is being held under the theme “Stakeholders for a Cohesive and Sustainable World” and focuses on global, regional and national initiatives that have a positive impact on

all stakeholders.During the event, partici-

pants will tackle four global issues including efforts to address climate and environ-mental challenges that damage the environment and the economy; measures to transform industries and promote sustainable and com-prehensive business models particularly within the framework of political, eco-nomic and social priorities in altering trade and consumption patterns; in addition to taking advantage of technologies fueling the fourth industrial revolution to benefit society and the business environment; and efforts being undertaken to cope with demographic, social and technological trends and to promote education, e m p l o y m e n t a n d entrepreneurship.

The World Economic Forum, founded in 1971 in Geneva, Switzerland, is an independent international non-profit organisation with a mission to promote global development. Each year, the WEF brings together a large number of heads of state and government, senior officials and influential businessmen in the global economy.

The annual meeting aims to provide a platform for dialogue and the exchange of ideas among participants, presenting opportunity to strengthen bilateral relations between various countries and interna-tional companies.

The Minister of Commerce and Industry, H E Ali bin Ahmed Al Kuwari (right), during a meeting with the World Trade Organization Director-General Roberto Azevedo on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Wednesday. The Minister also held meetings with the French Ambassador for International Investments and Chairman of the Board of Business France Pascal Cagni; Chris Ciauri, President of Google’s cloud arm in Europe, the Middle East and Africa region; and H E Dr Ali bin Masoud al Sunaidy, Oman’s Minister of Commerce and Industry, on the sidelines of the Forum.

Dynamic loyalty programme ‘Doha Bank ENTERTAINER’ launched nationwideTHE PENINSULA- DOHA

Doha Bank has announced the launch of its dynamic loyalty pro-gramme, Doha Bank ENTER-TAINER as part of its continuous efforts to offer best-in-class banking services and benefits and to reward its loyal cardholders, the bank said in a press statement released yesterday. The app is set to be rolled-out by the second week of January 2020.

Doha Bank ENTERTAINER will give cardholders access to over 4,600 exclusive buy-one-get-one-free offers across Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, UK, South Africa, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong. The programme is offered through a partnership with the region’s largest loyalty solutions

provider, the ENTERTAINER business.

Commenting on the launch, Braik Ali Al Marri, Chief Retail Banking Officer at Doha Bank, said: “We are heavily invested in the digital future of Doha Bank whilst maintaining our com-mitment to excellence. As a leading financial institution, we continuously work to foster a brand that focuses on ensuring that the customers’ needs are always being met.”

He added: “Doha Bank ENTERTAINER is a testament to our pioneering approach in understanding the power of cus-tomer rewards. It is specifically designed to provide exclusive and personalised benefits to help our customers get more from their

personal lives and our brand.” As part of the programme, members will have access to ENTERTAINER GO, a mobile travel companion that redefines how companies engage with their customers while they visit their favorite destinations.

ENTERTAINER go provides travelers with day planners, city guides and instant bookings of tours and attractions as well as access to money saving vouchers from the best restaurants and spas in over 165 cities using their Doha Bank card. It also includes a closed membership booking engine that features discounts of up to 35 percent to 60 percent off in over 660,000 hotels worldwide.

“It’s very encouraging to see our business partner, Doha Bank,

excited about the future of travel-based rewards and we are proud

to include our travel product in their new loyalty programme,”

said Paul Hennessey, CEO of the ENTERTAINER.

Dr. R Seetharaman (centre), Group CEO of Doha Bank, Paul Hennessey (left), CEO of the ENTERTAINER, and Braik Ali Al Marri, Chief Retail Banking Officer at Doha Bank during the launch of Doha Bank ENTERTAINER in Doha, recently.

Oil prices fall as spectre of China virus looms over fuel demandREUTERS- LONDON

Oil prices fell yesterday on concern that the spread of a res-piratory virus from China could lower fuel demand if it stunts economic growth in an echo of the SARS epidemic nearly 20 years ago.

Brent crude futures were down $1.59, or 2.5 percent, at $61.62 a barrel by 1426 GMT, having touched their lowest since December 4. They lost 2.1 percent in the previous session.

US West Texas Intermediate futures fell $1.58, or 2.8 percent, to $55.85 after falling to their lowest since November. The contract declined 2.7 percent on Wednesday.

Two Chinese cities that were at the epicentre of a new coro-navirus outbreak that has killed 17 people and infected nearly 600 were put in lockdown yes-terday as health authorities around the world scrambled to prevent a global pandemic.

The potential for a pandemic has stirred memories of the

Sudden Acute Respiratory Syn-drome outbreak in 2002-03, which also started in China and dented economic growth and caused a slump in travel.

“Fundamentals are really being driven by virus fears. On a technical basis, there’s been a fight over the past six sessions but oil finally broke the 200-day moving average when it closed below that level yesterday,” said Olivier Jakob, of consultancy Petromatrix.

With coronavirus cases detected as far as away as the United States, global stock markets also felt the effects of fears that the virus could spread further as millions of Chinese prepare to travel for the Lunar New Year.

Beijing said yesterday that it had cancelled major public events, including two well-known Lunar New Year temple fairs, to curb the spread.

“We estimate a price shock of up to $5 (a barrel) if the crisis develops into a SARS-style epi-demic,” JPM Commodities

Research said in a note, citing historical oil price movements.

The US bank maintained its forecast for Brent to average $67 a barrel in the first quarter and $64.50 throughout 2020.

Amid all the demand con-cerns, however, supply remains plentiful. The International Energy Agency (IEA) said this week that it expects a surplus of 1 million barrels per day in the first half of the year.

The market was eagerly awaiting data from the US Energy Information Adminis-tration to confirm a rise in crude stocks after the American Petroleum Institute surprised the market by noting an increase of 1.6 million barrels last week.

In Brazil, crude output rose above a billion barrels in 2019, a first for the South American nation, the national oil regulator said on Wednesday.

China, meanwhile, released data yesterday showing its gasoline exports rose by nearly a third last year thanks to new refineries.

16 FRIDAY 24 JANUARY 2020BUSINESS

European Central Bank holds rates, launches policy reviewAP — FRANKFURT

The European Central Bank has decided to launch a top-to-bottom review of how it steers the economy for 342 million people in the 19 countries that use the euro currency.

The bank’s 25-member gov-erning council yesterday gave the green light for the review pro-posed by new ECB head Christine Lagarde (pictured).

The review could look at the bank’s inflation target of just under 2 percent. The target is in focus because the bank has struggled to meet it for years despite massive monetary stimulus and record low interest rates.

The central bank yesterday also left unchanged its key interest rates and stimulus programs.

Lagarde said in her news conference that risks to the economy “have become less pro-nounced as some of the uncer-tainties around international trade have receded.” Lagarde spoke a day after US President Donald Trump and European

Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen said they expect a US-EU trade deal this year. The US has also signed an initial trade pact with China that eases some tensions.

Lagarde took over from Mario Draghi on November 1 at the head of the top monetary authority for the 19 countries that use the euro as their currency. The monetary policy review will be the first since 2003 for the bank, which was founded in 1998 ahead of the euro’s launch in 1999.

One reason for the review is the bank’s inability in recent years to reach its stated goal of inflation of “below, but close to, 2 percent.” Inflation averaged 1.2 percent over Draghi’s eight-year term despite stimulus measures such as lowering interest bench-marks below zero and pumping €2.6 trillion ($2.9 trillion) into the financial system through bond purchases. The current inflation goal is considered to offer a margin of safety against deflation, a vicious circle of falling prices, investment and slow growth. Some inflation also

helps countries in the eurozone that are trying to improve their price competitiveness without having to fall into negative inflation themselves. The current goal could be replaced by a range or a different formulation.

Carsten Brzeski, chief econ-omist at financial firm ING Germany, said that the review might have broad parameters at the start but “could end up changing very little.” He said a new definition of price stability of “around 2 percent” would give the bank some new flexibility to overshoot after periods of not reaching the target. Others have proposed a range, such as 1.5 percent to 2.5 percent.

Lagarde says the review will look at climate change and that European institutions should support the fight against global warming, but cautioned that this must be done within their man-dates. The ECB’s legal mandate is to first seek price stability, and only after that to pursue the general economic goals of the union, such as growth and jobs.

One way central banks could influence climate policy would

be to make bonds funding envi-ronmentally friendly projects such as wind farms part of the ECB’s purchase programs, and to exclude bonds of companies heavily reliant on fossile fuels.

So far, the ECB doesn’t buy bonds on environmental criteria but has in fact bought bonds that finance environmentally friendly projects as part of the broader effort to raise inflation.

Lagarde will also give her assessment of how things stand in the economy. She inherited a stimulus package enacted at Draghi’s next-to-last meeting in September. The bank cut the deposit rate on money left over-night by commercial banks to minus 0.5 percent from minus 0.4 percent and started €20bn ($22bn) in monthly bond pur-chases. The package was aimed at supporting weak growth against headwinds from the US-China trade dispute.

New CEO stands by 737 MAX, eyeing reset at troubled BoeingAFP — NEW YORK

Boeing Chief Executive David Calhoun (pictured) sought to pivot from a bruising period of crisis and scandal on Wednesday, pledging a renewed commitment to safety and transparency and endorsing the long-term viability of the 737 MAX plane.

“I commit to you to be more accessible than the team has been,” Calhoun said at the outset of an hour-long conference call with reporters, the first such event with a Boeing executive since the MAX was grounded in March following two deadly crashes.

Calhoun vowed a “safety first” culture and promised future investments to fortify company engineers, who critics say have lost influence in the company’s zeal to boost its share price.

Without safety “there is no shareholder value, there is no profit sharing,” Calhoun said a day after the company latest bombshell decision to push back the timeframe for the MAX’s return until at least midyear.

Calhoun reaffirmed his com-mitment to the MAX, saying “I believe in this airplane” and

pointing to positive feedback from pilots as he dismissed spec-ulation it could be grounded permanently.

A former General Electric and Blackstone Group executive who has been on the Boeing board since 2009, Calhoun took the corner office at Boeing just nine days ago after the company ousted Dennis Muilenburg in December.

Analysts have broadly sup-ported the move, although some have questioned whether Cal-houn’s lengthy board tenure makes him an ideal agent of change.

The appearance came ahead of yesterday’s scheduled first flight of the Boeing 777X, a key step in trying to jump-start a new model that has missed earlier deadlines. It also came hours after bruising comments from US

President Donald Trump, who called Boeing a “very disap-pointing company” because of the MAX crisis.

Calhoun responded to some-times pointed questions from reporters with greater ease and less defensiveness than the more technocratic Muilenburg, who was savaged by lawmakers at congressional hearings and lost the confidence of airlines and regulators with a series of too-rosy predictions about the MAX that damaged credibility.

But Calhoun dismissed a question on whether Boeing would suspend or cut its dividend as a way to signal a shift in the company’s orientation, saying the company has the financial capacity for the payoffs.

The policy will persist “unless something dramatic changes,” he said.

CROSSWORD

A coming-of-age story based on the lives of street dancers.

STREET DANCER

MALL ROYAL PLAZA

Toy Guardians (2D/Animation) 2:00pmShylock (2D/Malayalam) 2:00, 6:15 & 11:30pm Street Dancer 3D (2D/Hindi) 2:30, 8;45 & 11:30pmDisco Raja (2D/Telugu) 3:45pmAnjaam Pathira (2D/Malayalam) 4:30 & 9:00pmThe Turning (2D/Horror) 7:15pmFrozen II (2D/Comedy) 5:15pmThe Last Full Measure (2D/Drama) 7:00pmPanga (2D/Hindi) 9:00pmJust Mercy (2D/Drama) 11:30pm

Anjaam Pathira (2D/Malayalam) 10:45, 4:00 & 9:15pmPanga (2D/Hindi) 12:15, 6:00 & 11:45pmThe Turning (2D/Horror) 12:15, 5:00 & 9:45pmShylock (2D/Malayalam) 1:30, 6:45 & 12:00 midnightStreet Dancer 3D (2D/Hindi) 3:00 & 8:45pmThe Gentlemen (2D/Action) 2:30, 7;15 & 12:00pm

LANDMARK

AL KHOR

Anjaam Pathira (2D/Malayalam) 12:30, 3:15, 6:00, 8:45, 11:30pm & 2:15amShylock (2D/Malayalam) 1:30, 4:00, 6:00, 9;15, 11;45 & 2:15amStreet Dancer 3D (2D/Hindi) 6:30pmPanga (2D/Hindi) 6:15pmDisco Raja (2D/Telugu) 12:30 & 3:15pmAla Vaikunthapurramuloo (2D/Telugu) 12:30pm

ASIAN TOWN

ROXY

FLIK Mirqab Mall

1917 (2D/Crime) 3:10pmAnjaam Pathira (2D/Malayalam) 4:40, 11:40pmBad Boys For Life (2D/Action) 10:40am, 1:10, 2:10, 3:35, 6:00, 7:00, 8:30, 9:30, 11:00pm & 12:00 midnightDolittle (2D/Comedy) 10:10am, 11:00am, 1:00, 3:00, 5:00, 6:20, 8:20, 10:20pmJumanji: The Next Level (2D/Action) 11:05, 1:30 & 3:55pmJust Mercy (2D/Drama) 12:10, 5:10, 7:25 & 8:00pmPanga (2D/Hindi) 2:00 & 7:35pmSpies in Disguise (2D/Animation) 10:00am & 12:00pmStreet Dancer 3D (2D/Hindi) 12:20, 3:35, & 8:40pmThe Gentlemen (2D/Action) 12:00, 2:15, 4:30, 6:45, 9:00 & 11:15pmThe Last Full Measure (2D/Drama) 2:55 & 10:40pmThe Turning (2D/Horror) 1:15, 5:30, 10:05pm & 0:05amUnderwater (2D/Action) 0:20am

Anjaam Pathira (2D/Malayalam) 4:00 & 10:00pmBad Boys For Life (2D/Action) 12:30 & 5:30pmDisco Raja (2D/Telugu) 1:00 & 7:00pmDolittle (2D/Comedy) 12:30, 2:30, 4:40 & 6:50pmPanga (2D/Hindi) 12:30 & 6:00pmStreet Dancer 3D (2D/Hindi) 3:00, 8:40 & 11:30pmThe Gentlemen (2D/Action) 1:00, 3:00, 5:40, 10:00 & 10:40pmThe Turning (2D/Horror) 3:30pm

Shylock (2D/Malayalam) 2:00, 5:45 & 11:30pmDisco Raja (2D/Telugu) 2:30pm Anjaam Pathira (2D/Malayalam) 8:45 & 11:00pmThe Turning (2D/Horror) 7:00pmPanga (2D/Hindi) 4:30pmStreet Dancer 3D (2D/Hindi) 8:15 & 11:30pmAl Nihaya A.K.A The End (2D/Action) 5:15pmJust Mercy (2D/Drama) 7:00pmThe Gentlemen (2D/Action) 9:30pmToy Guardians (2D/Animation) 2:15pmFrozen II (2D/Comedy) 4:00pm

Shylock (2D/Malayalam) 2:00 & 9:00pmPanga (2D/Hindi) 2:00pm; Disco Raja (2D/Telugu) 4:30pm; Street Dancer 3D (2D/Hindi) 6:00 & 8:45pmToy Guardians (2D/Animation) 2:30pmDolittle (2D/Comedy) 4:15pmAnjaam Pathira (2D/Malayalam) 4:30 & 11:30pmFrozen II (2D/Comedy) 7:00pmThe Gentlemen (2D/Action) 7:00pmJust Mercy (2D/Drama) 7:00pmThe Last Full Measure (2D/Drama) 9:30pmThe Turning (2D/Horror) 11:30pm

17FRIDAY 24 JANUARY 2020 SPORT

SPORTAs I said, him doing well with the gloves has really opened up a scenario for us where it gives us a lot more balance in playing an extra batsman: India captain Virat Kohli suggests KL Rahul will continue as their wicketkeeper in T20s against the Kiwis

Australian Open matches at

Melbourne Park

QNB Stars League: Round 13 matches in Doha

TENNIS FOOTBALL

TO

DAY’S

A

CT

ION

Pakistan seek to retain top T20 spotAFP — LAHORE

Pakistan are seeking to hold on to the top world ranking and also prove again the country is capable of hosting international cricket when they take on Bangladesh in a Twenty20 series starting today.

If the host team lose just one of the three matches scheduled they will slide to second behind England or India in the rankings after holding the top spot since January 2018.

But they also want to show the security situation has improved enough for the team to start regularly hosting home internationals.

Following an attack in 2009 by Islamist militants on a

convoy ferrying the Sri Lanka team to a fixture in Lahore, Pakistan became a wilderness for the national side who had to play home fixtures in the Middle East.

That ended in December when Sri Lanka returned to give Pakistan their first home series in a decade.

The first priority for skipper Babar Azam is to stay top of the world in the shortest interna-tional version of the game.

“The focus is to continue the number one ranking,” said Babar yesterday.

“We can hang on to that only if we win all three matches, so its a do-or-die situation and we have planned for that,” he told a press conference.

Pakistan’s rise started in 2016 under Sarfaraz Ahmed as they won eleven consecutive Twenty20 series -- before losing three on the trot.

A poor finish in the 50-over World Cup in England, where they failed to reach the semi-finals, resulted in the sacking of Sarfaraz and head coach Mickey Arthur, to be replaced by Azam a n d M i s b a h - u l - H a q respectively.

The team remained in a slump in Australia late last year, losing 2-0 in the Twenty20s and by the same margin in two Tests.

Now the selectors have recalled veterans Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik, but they need all the experience they can get.

Bangladesh, who last toured Pakistan in 2008, are coming off the back of an

impressive series in India, where they won one of their three matches.

They also have a 2-1 advantage against Pakistan in the last three Twenty20 internationals.

“We have been good,” said

Bangladesh skipper Mah-mudullah. “We want to do well in Pakistan.”

Mahmudullah said security fears had been left behind in Bangladesh. “We feel good in Pakistan... so the focus will be on cricket,” he said.

Pakistan’s Babar Azam (left) and Bangladesh’s Mahmudullah pose holding the T20 series trophy at the Gaddafi Cricket Stadium in Lahore, yesterday.

Pakistan Babar Azam (capt), Ahsan Ali, Amad Butt,

Iftikhar Ahmed Haris Rauf, Imad Wasim,

Khushdil Shah Mohammad Hafeez,

Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Rizwan,

Mohammad Musa, Shadab Khan, Shaheen

Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Usman Qadir

Bangladesh Mahmudullah (capt), Tamim Iqbal, Soumya

Sarkar, Mohammad Naim, Najmul Hossain

Shanto, Liton Das, Mohammad Mithun, Afif

Hossain, Mahedi Hasan, Aminul Islam,

Mustafizur Rahman, Shafiul Islam, Al Amin

Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Hasan Mahmud

SQUADS (FROM):

New Orleans 117, San Antonio 121

Atlanta 102, LA Clippers 95

Boston 119, Memphis 95

Miami 134, Washington 129 (OT)

New York 92, LA Lakers 100

Golden State 96, Utah 129

Phoenix 87, Indiana 112

Chicago 117, Minnesota 110

Houston 121, Denver 105

Detroit 127, Sacramento 106

Orlando 114, Oklahoma City 120

Toronto 107, Philadelphia 95

NBA RESULTS

Root facing ‘really good selection headache’AFP — JOHANNESBURG

England captain Joe Root (pictured) yesterday was looking forward to the prospect of two of the world’s fastest bowlers operating on a pace-friendly pitch in the fourth and final Test against South Africa, starting at the Wanderers today.

Root said Jofra Archer had bowled with “good pace” in practice on Wednesday after recovering from an elbow injury which kept him out of the second and third Tests -- both of which England won to take an unbeatable 2-1 series lead to Johannesburg.

He said that if Archer had no lingering signs of injury or soreness, England would have a “really good selection headache”.

Mark Wood startled several of the South African batsmen in the third Test in Port Eliz-abeth, bowling bouncers at around 150kmh.

Archer is also among the world’s small club of 150kmh bowlers.

“It would be nice to see how they go together,” said Root.

“I think they would be a relentless barrage of pace which is exciting, especially on a surface such as you typically get here at the Wanderers.”

But Root cautioned that history showed it was not always the fastest bowlers who prospered at the stadium.

“The accurate guys are those who have success here.

It would be great to have that firepower but ultimately we’ve got to make sure we hit those areas (on the pitch),” he added.

“We’ve been very good in that department on this tour.”

Root said that it would be “a very big achievement” if England could complete a series win.

“When we’ve got our opportunities we’ve taken them,” he said.

South African captain Faf du Plessis said his side needed to dig deep to salvage a series draw.

“ H o w strong are we mentally in t h i s l a s t hurdle? We know where w e h a v e been a little bit

poor in our game plans,” he said.

He said South Africa had not scored enough runs in the first innings.

“That’s the basic of Test cricket, you can look at England as a blueprint, the top three batting at their own pace and making sure they (are) setting up the innings for the rest of the guys to come in and play.”

Du Plessis refused to answer questions about his future after being replaced as one-day international captain by Quinton de Kock -- and left out of the squad that will play three ODIs against England, although a spokesperson said he would be willing to talk about one-day cricket at the

end of the match.“I’d like to, for

my own per-sonal reasons, focus on this Test match,” he said.

department on this tour.Root said that it would be ery big achievement”

ngland could complete ries win.“When we’ve got

opportunities ve taken them,” aid.South African tain Faf du

ssis said his sidde eded to dig deepalvage a seriessw.“ H o wng are we ntally ins l a s tdle? Wew where

h a v e n a little bitttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt

end of the match.“I’d like to, for

my own per-sonal reasons,focus on this Test match,”he said.

The accurate guys are those who have success here. It would be great to have that firepower but ultimately we’ve got to make sure we hit those areas: Captain Joe Root

Spotlight on captain Williamson as India kick off New Zealand tour

AFP — WELLINGTON

New Zealand will be looking to put their Test humiliation in Australia behind them when they switch formats today to start a five-match Twenty20 series against India with the spotlight on Kane Williamson’s (pictured) leadership.

The series launches a six-week tour by Virat Kohli’s men with three one-day interna-tionals and two Tests to follow.

However, in a Twenty20 World Cup year it is form in cricket’s shortest format that will command considerable attention.

India have just completed a successful three-match ODI series against Australia and Kohli’s immediate concern on arriving in New Zealand was the tight schedule his side faced.

“It’s definitely getting closer and closer to landing at the stadium straight, that’s how compressed the game has come,” he said on the eve of the first match in

Auckland before switching his attention to the plight of rival captain Williamson.

There has been intense debate in New Zealand whether captaining the side in all three formats put too much pressure on the 29-year-old, the New Zealand batting talisman who had below par innings of 34, 14, nine and a duck against Aus-tralia last month.

Kohli, who also leads all three Indian sides, said lead-ership was not always deter-mined by results. “It’s also about how you can get the team together and get the guys func-tioning under you as well, which I think Kane has done wonderfully well,” Kohli said.

Tim Southee, who cap-tained the New Zealand Twenty20 side against India

last year, was confident the squad members who were part of the three-Test thrashing across the Tasman would bounce back.

“What’s gone is gone, and as I said, it was very disappointing

and the guys have learnt from it,”

Southee said as the teams assembled i n Auckland.

rriving in New Zealand was he tight schedule his de faced.

“It’s definitelyetting closer andoser to landing t the stadiumraight, that’s

ow compressedhe game has ome,” he saidn the eve f the first

match in

Twenty20 side against Indilast year, was confident th

squad members who werpart of the three-Tethrashing across thTasman would bouncback.

“What’s gone gone, and as I said, was very disappointin

and the guys havlearnt from it

Southee saias the teamassembleiAuckland

New Orleans' Williams thrills on NBA debutAFP — LOS ANGELES

New Orleans rookie Zion Williamson flashed some bril-liance on his long-awaited NBA debut, but the San Antonio Spurs spoiled the party at Smoothie King Center with a 121-117 victory over the Pelicans.

Williamson, who was the number one overall draft pick in June, offered a tantalizing glimpse of what’s to come in his career when he exploded for 17 points in little more than three minutes in the fourth quarter.

The 19-year-old sensation had been sidelined since arthroscopic surgery on his right knee on the eve of the Pelicans’ season-opener in October.

He made a tentative start, scoring just five points with four rebounds, one assist four turnovers in less than 12 minutes on the floor over the first three quarters.

With 8:52 remaining and the Spurs up 99-91, Wil-liamson connected with a three-pointer from the top of the key that ignited the crowd of 18,365.

He followed up with an alley-oop layup, fed by Lonzo Ball, drained a trey and put back his own miss with a spinning layup before adding two more three-pointers.

The crowd was chanting “M-V-P!” as he capped the burst with a free-throw, but he was soon subbed out of the game as Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry stuck to the plan of playing Williamson only in short bursts. “I think what you saw there is a taste,” Gentry said.

The Spurs, who led by as many as 15 and by 12 to start the fourth quarter, were up 109-108 when Williamson departed and quickly pulled away again.

LaMarcus Aldridge led the Spurs with 32 points and DeMar DeRozan added 20 for a San Antonio team holding down the eighth and final play-off spot in the West.

Williamson, who admitted on Tuesday he wasn’t sure just how much sleep he’d get on the eve of his debut, said that as the pre-game introductions were made he just told himself to “be calm.” - ‘great stuff’ - He said it wasn’t just Gentry who urged him at halftime to defer less but also team-mates including Jrue Holiday.

“I think he did well,” Holiday said, commending the teenager’s poise.

“We’re almost in February and he hadn’t played a game yet, so for him to come out and do that his first game is pretty elite.”

Zion Williamson

Harare Test: Lakmal sets up SL winZimbabwe 358 and 170 (S. Williams

39, B. Taylor 38; S. Lakmal 4-27, L.

Kumara 3-32, L. Embuldeniya 2-74)

Sri Lanka 515-9 declared and 14-0

Result: Sri Lanka won by 10 wickets

Man of the match: Angelo Mathews

Toss: Zimbabwe

BRIEF SCORES

AFP — HARARE

Suranga Lakmal took four for 27 to set up Sri Lanka for a 10-wicket win over Zimbabwe in the first Test in Harare yesterday.

Resuming on 30 without loss and needing 157 to make Sri Lanka bat again, Zimbabwe recovered from the loss of three early wickets to Lakmal to reach lunch at 120 for three.

The tall pace bowler struck again immediately after, removing Brendan Taylor for 38, and Zimbabwe slumped to

170 all out, losing their last seven wickets for 50. Sri Lanka needed just 14 to win and the openers Oshada Fernando and Dimuth Karunaratne knocked off the runs in three overs.

Angelo Mathews was named man of the match for his 200 not out in Sri Lanka’s first innings of 515 for nine declared.

Zimbabwe, who had four debutants in their team, began the day with high hopes of wiping out that lead and saving the first Test they have played since November 2018. Lakmal,

however, was quick to make inroads, removing the top three, all left-handers, in his first three overs as Zimbabwe crumbled to 41 for three.

In his first over, the second of the day, Lakmal found some extra bounce to induce an edge from Prince Masvaure which carried through to wicket-keeper Niroshan Dickwella.

In his next two overs he had the other opener Brian Mudzinganyama, who had been drafted in for the con-cussed Kevin Kasuza, leg before and Craig Ervine, who

made 85 in the first innings, caught at short leg.

Three wickets had fallen for eight runs and Zimbabwe were sinking before Sean Wil-liams and Taylor temporarily steadied the ship with some positive batting on a surface that remained largely benign in spite of the occasional ball keeping low.

At lunch they had added 79 and taken Zimbabwe to 120 for three, still 37 short of making Sri Lanka bat again.

Both, however, were dis-missed without adding any

further runs in the first eight balls after lunch.

Lakmal had Taylor caught at mid-on and Kasun Rajitha prompted Williams to feather a catch to Dickwella for 39. The keeper then produced a smart stumping to remove Sikandar Raza off some probing left-arm spin from Lasith Embuldeniya.

18 FRIDAY 24 JANUARY 2020SPORT

Spain’s Rafael Nadal hits a return against Argentina’s Federico Delbonis during their singles match on day four of the Australian

Open in Melbourne yesterday.

Zverev says young guns have more pressure than Federer didAFP — MELBOURNE

Alexander Zverev said yesterday the pres-sures of social media made it harder for the new generation of players compared to when the likes of Roger Federer were trying to break through.

The German is among a clutch of players in their early twenties who are seen as the new guard to take over from Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

But the 22-year-old said the constant news cycle and social media made it tough to keep focus and ignore negativity.

“I think it’s different than it was 20 years ago,” said the Australian Open seventh seed after he beat 98th-ranked Egor Gerasimov in three tough sets in the second round.

“I think with the social media, I think with the mobile phones that we have, the pressure the media puts on us, other people put on us, we are more aware of it than 20 years ago.

“To read what’s going on, to read the press, you (used to) have to buy a newspaper, go on the laptop and search for it.

“Now you open up Instagram, there’s five million people that have an opinion about you all of a sudden.

“It’s maybe more difficult for us now. “On the other hand, with the guys like

Novak, Rafa, and Roger, simply they’re better than us because they’re winning,” he added.

Zverev said he was trying to stay in a tennis bubble and cut out checking social media during Grand Slams, but admitted it was easier said than done and negative opinion hurt.

“Even though when people say they don’t care, they still read it. In the back of their mind, they’re aware of it,” he said. “So I think that is a massive difference.”

Despite the perceived extra pressure, Zverev is confident it is only a matter of time before one of the up-and-coming players takes the next step and wins a Major tournament.

“Even though maybe some of us don’t want to admit it because we have all kind of personal relationships that we have with each other, but once one of us wins it, it’s going to be good for the others, as well,” he said.

Zverev will next play Fernando Verdasco or Nikoloz Basilashvili as he attempts to match his best Australian Open result after reaching the round of 16 last year.

Germany’s Alexander Zverev in action during the match against Belarus’ Egor Gerasimov in Melbourne yesterday.

REUTERS — MELBOURNE

Rafa Nadal passed up a good few chances for an earlier finish to his night before muscling his way into the third round of the Australian Open with a commanding 6-3 7-6(4) 6-1 victory over Argentine Federico Delbonis yesterday.

The match lacked nothing in quality power tennis but was almost entirely devoid of drama and the most notable incident came late in the third set when the ball flew off top seed Nadal’s racket and hit a ballgirl on the head.

The 19-times Grand Slam champion raced over to check she was alright and then planted a kiss on her cheek, drawing a huge cheer from the Rod Laver Arena crowd.

“It probably was one of the scariest moments on the tennis court because the ball was straight to the head,” said Nadal.

“I’m glad she’s okay, she’s very brave.”

His mercy mission completed, Nadal went back to the baseline, re-applied his game face glare and resumed pummelling his 76th-ranked opponent.

The left-handed Spaniard, hunting for a second Australian Open title 11 years after his first, has now lost only three sets in his last nine matches at Melbourne Park, all in his

defeat to Novak Djokovic in last year’s final.

Delbonis never looked like adding to that tally in the two and a half hour contest, particularly as he was unable to muster up as much as a single break point.

The world number one was prof-ligate with his own break points - converting only three of 20 - but there was never a moment of doubt that he would move through.

The 33-year-old said it was a minor concern that he was forced to go to a tiebreaker in the second set despite having nine opportunities to break Delbonis.

“When you are not able to convert one break point after I don’t know how many chances, of course you are in trouble,” he said.

“But that’s just something that

happened today. We don’t need to put a lot of attention on this. It was just something that was hopefully the history of just one day.”

Nadal will next face Pablo Carreno Busta. He holds a 4-0 career record against his younger compa-triot but Carreno Busta did take a set off him in their only meeting on hardcourt.

While Nadal was a bit worried about his inability to kill off his opponent yesterday, he was uncon-cerned to hear that potential fourth-round opponent Nick Kyrgios had imitated his service action ticks during the Australian’s match against Gilles Simon.

“I really don’t care. I am here to play tennis,” he said.

“Honestly, I don’t care at all. If was funny, good. That’s it,” he said.

Rafael Nadal speaks with a ball kid who was hit by a return from the Spaniard during a singles match against Argentina’s Federico Delbonis on day four of the Australian Open in Melbourne yesterday.

Injury cuts short Grand Slam return for India’s MirzaREUTERS — MELBOURNE

Sania Mirza’s return to her first Grand Slam after a two-year break was cut short yesterday when the former world number one was forced to retire midway through her first round match in women’s doubles at the Australian Open due to a calf injury.

India’s Mirza, who won six Grand Slam doubles titles, took a break from the game after the China Open in October 2017 and gave birth to her son a year later.

The 33-year-old made a winning return to the WTA Tour at this month’s Hobart International with Ukrainian Nadiia Kichenok, picking up her 42nd WTA doubles title and the first since winning the women’s doubles in Brisbane in 2017. Mirza said she strained her calf muscle in her right leg during the Hobart final.

“It just got worse in the match. It was bit of a bad strain, but I had a few days off,” she told reporters. “So I obviously had to try to do whatever I could to try to get on the court.

“It felt okay when I went on the court, but it was tough to move right. I just felt like I’m gonna tear it or something pretty bad.”

Mirza won her first Grand Slam in mixed doubles at the Australian Open in 2009 and also bagged the women’s doubles in 2016.

Mirza always believed there was tennis left in her which inspired her comeback, she said on Sunday.

She had already pulled out of the Australian Open mixed doubles, where she was to partner compatriot Rohan Bopanna. Mirza and Kichenok were trailing the Chinese pair of Xinyun Han and Lin Zhu 6-2 1-0 yes-terday when the Indian had to call it quits due to the injury.

“As a tennis player you want to compete, it is the Grand Slam. If it’s any other tournament, you would probably take a call and be like ‘I don’t want to risk it’,” she said.

Mirza, who is married to Pakistan cricket captain Shoaib Malik, said she would take two weeks to recover and was hoping to play at next month’s Dubai championships.

“When you play a professional sport, injuries are really part of it. And it’s something that you have to accept,” she said.

Romania’s Simona Halep

celebrates victory against

Britain’s Harriet

Dart during their singles match at the

Australian Open

yesterday.

Kyrgios mocks his way to third roundAP — MELBOURNE

Love him or hate him -- and make no mistake, there are plenty in each camp -- Nick Kyrgios never allows for a dull moment when he’s on a tennis court, whether it’s shot selection, showmanship, momentum swings, barking at his entourage or mocking another player not even involved in the match at hand.

All of the above happened during his ever-eventful 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 victory over Gilles Simon in the Australian Open’s second round Thursday night.

That included a moment when Kyrgios - currently on six months’ probation from the ATP for verbally abusing tennis offi-cials - poked fun at the man he might meet in the fourth round, Rafael Nadal.

After being warned for taking more than the allotted 25 seconds between serves, Kyrgios mimicked how Nadal fidgets before a point, as if to remind the chair umpire

that there are folks who more egregiously waste time.

When a reporter asked Nadal about Kyrgios’ imitation of the 19-time major champion, the Spaniard replied: “I really don’t care. I’m here to play tennis.”

About the only boring segment of the proceedings came during the in-stadium interview, when an allusion was made to later rounds and Kyrgios, an Australian seeded 23rd, told the Melbourne Arena crowd, “I’m not thinking ahead.... I’m just taking it one match at a time at the moment.”

After Kyrgios wrapped up, the No. 1-seeded Nadal was still in the early stages of what became a 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-1 win against Federico Delbonis over at Rod Laver Arena.

Those results were the most intriguing of Day 4 at the year’s first Grand Slam tour-nament, especially given the distaste Kyrgios and Nadal have for each other in

a raucous rivalry that provided one of the highlights of Wimbledon in 2019.

Never too early to begin pondering a meeting with a quarterfinal berth at stake during Week 2 in Melbourne, with the popular Nadal facing the home-backed Kyrgios.

For that to materialize, Kyrgios first needs to beat No. 16 Karen Khachanov of Russia tomorrow, when Nadal plays No. 27 Pablo Carreno Busta in an all-Spanish matchup.

Among the noteworthy winners were US Open runner-up Daniil Medvedev, who took a medical timeout because of a nose-bleed late in the second set of his 7-5, 6-1, 6-3 victory over Spanish qualifier Pedro Martinez, along with two-time French Open finalist Dominic Thiem, No. 7 Alexander Zverev, No. 10 Gael Monfils and a trio of women who have been ranked No. 1 and own Grand Slam titles: Simona Halep, Angelique Kerber and Garbiñe Muguruza.

Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina celebrates after defeating Lauren Davis of the US during their singles match on day four of the Australian Open yesterday.

Super Nadal eases into the third round in Melbourne

19FRIDAY 24 JANUARY 2020 SPORT

Key decisions made at IWF meeting in DohaIWF.NET — DOHA

An extraordinary meeting of the IWF Executive Board (EB) responded to allegations made by a television report that aired on Germany’s ARD, and acted decisively to restore the IWF’s reputation, a report on the IWF wesbite said.

A point-by-point analysis of the allegations was considered by the IWF Executive Board before it entered into compre-hensive discussions and decided on a detailed plan of action.

Consistent with the prin-ciple at the heart of the IWF’s successful and widely-wel-comeds recent anti-doping reforms, the IWF will now convene a group of independent experts to assess the validity of the ARD allegations, the report added.

This work is expected to be completed during a 90-day period, starting immediately, the report said.

Mohammad Yousef Al Mana, President of Qatar Weightlifting Federation (QWF), President of the Arab and Asian Weightlifting Federations and

Vice President of the IWF, was part of the meetings held in Doha.

“The ARD’s allegations against the IWF in general and against me in particular are unfounded. They are not sup-ported by the relevant docu-mentation or by people involved in the relevant deci-sions. Consequently, I have no doubt that external experts will

vindicate my commitment of nearly fifty years to develop the sport of weightlifting,” IWF President Tamas Ajan said in the post.

For the 90-day period, and consistent with the practice of good governance, IWF Pres-ident Ajan has delegated a range of operational responsibilities to IWF Vice President Ursula Papandrea, who will

temporarily serve alongside Ajan in an acting role.

“Weightlifting has always been bigger than one man, and I am happy to have Ursula acting by my side me in a pres-idential capacity," Ajan said.

"The EB and I know that she will do a great job of ensuring that the validity of these allega-tions is examined and estab-lished in a way that is beyond

criticism,” Ajan added. Papandrea will now head an ad hoc Oversight and Integrity Commission whose responsi-bilities will include identifying, nominating and recommending independent experts in fields including anti-doping and financial reporting. The experts will be appointed by the IWF Executive Board.

S e r v i n g a l o n g s i d e

Papandrea on the commission will be fellow EB members H.E Marcus Stephen, Birendra Prasad Baishya and Karoliina Lundahl.

The Oversight and Integrity Commission will also ensure the provision of an interim report to the meetings of the IWF Executive Board and IWF Con-gress, scheduled for Bucharest on March 11-13.

Mohammad Yousef Al Mana, President of Qatar Weightlifting Federation, President of the Arab and Asian Weightlifting Federations and Vice President of IWF, is seen with the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) officials during a meeting in Doha. RIGHT: Yousef Al Mana addresses the meeting.

Coach Hallgrimsson says Al Arabi ready for Al Duhail THE PENINSULA — DOHA

Al Arabi coach Heimir Hall-grimsson (pictured right) yesterday said QNB Stars League clash against unbeaten Al Duhail team won't be an easy one for his young side.

The Round 13 match will be played at Al Arabi Stadium today.

“It will be difficult for both teams. We are able to make things difficult for Al Duhail. At the same time, our opponents have not lost a game so far in the league and have out-standing players in their ranks," Hallgrimsson said yesterday.

“We had put up a strong performance against Al Duhail in the first leg and the match ended in a 1-1 draw. The pos-itive thing is that our players are well aware of the responsibility they have.

“In Al Duhail, there are big changes and they want to make a strong comeback, especially after their loss to Al Sadd in the final of 2020 Qatar Cup. We are mindful of all these matters and are ready for them.

“It is good that the Qatar Olympic team players have

returned to the team’s fold. The presence of all players as well as strengthening of the ranks with Helal Mohammed from Al Khor is a good thing for the team. The new player has

trained with us and he is sure to provide val-uable addition to our squad.

“We may m i s s t h e services of Morteza Poura-liganji and Abdulrahman Anad for this match. Pierre-M i c h e l l e Lasogga is also a d o u b t f u l starter,” said Hallgrimsson.

Al Duhail’s caretaker coach Bruno Oliveira yesterday said: "I have had the privilege to work with coach Rui Faria. He is a distinguished person, as a coach and as a

human being. I wish him success in his future career."

He added: "The Al Arabi game will be difficult, especially because they have been doing

well this season. But we are ready to meet them. We pre-pared the team well and we will enter the field with victory in mind.

“We will not accept another loss. Any defeat will leave eve-ryone with a feeling of shock and sadness as we are used to achieving victories.

“When you achieve many victories, it means that you have a strong will. If you lose, you must recover quickly in order to get the players out of the sad situation. I am confident that our players have the ability to take the team to victory against Al Arabi."

Oliveira said one of his key players Bassam Al Rawi is still out injured.

“Bassam is still out of action with an injury. We will also miss Ismail Mohammed, who got injured during the 2020 Qatar Cup final,” Oliveira said.

Al Duhail player Luis Martin said: “I have trust in the team’s ability to make up for the loss in the Qatar Cup final and be back among the victories. The Al Arabi game will not be easy because the opponents have players with good levels.”

Manager Solskjaer in firing line but United malaise runs deepAFP — LONDON

Manchester United played out the final stages of Wednesday’s humiliating 2-0 defeat to Burnley in front of banks of empty seats, raising fresh questions over how long beleaguered boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will survive.

The United teams that Sol-skjaer played in during the glory years of Alex Ferguson were famed for their great escapes but his young, jaded players are struggling to live up to the club’s swashbuckling traditions.

Solskjaer has now lost more Premier League games than he has won since being handed the job on a per-manent basis in March after an exhilarating three-month stint as caretaker boss.

His appointment increas-ingly looks a rash and mis-judged decision by the club’s executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward, who is blamed by large sections of United’s support for the club’s malaise.

Those who stayed to the bitter end of Burnley’s first win at Old Trafford since 1962 did so to make their thoughts on Woodward and the club’s American owners, the Glazer

family, clear as the atmos-phere at Old Trafford turned toxic.

Former United defender Rio Ferdinand, a Premier League and Champions League winner with the club, called on the Glazers to take action to stop the rot.

“Fans are walking out after 84 minutes. It’s an embar-rassment. People at the top need to look and see this and make changes,” Ferdinand told BT Sport.

“The downward spiral in this short space of time, it’s only seven years, has been remarkable.”

Should Solskjaer be the fall guy for yet another disap-pointing season, he would be the fourth manager to come and go since Ferguson retired in 2013.

But a change in the dugout would not address the deeper-lying problems at the club, with repeated errors made in the transfer market.

United have spent close to £1bn ($1.3bn) on transfers in the past seven years and still have the highest wage bill in the Premier League.

Yet they find themselves 30 points adrift of league

leaders Liverpool, who also have two games in hand, and just 11 above the relegation zone.

“If you don’t lose your job for essentially overseeing that investment, that wage bill, and putting that team out on the pitch then I have to say some-thing is really wrong,” former United captain Gary Neville said of Woodward.

“In terms of what the club needed to do for a number of years now -- put the best in class football operators into that club and they’re not doing it. They’re not doing it and it’s a mess.”

Solskjaer’s desperation to turn things around quickly to save his job may only be making matters worse.

Top-scorer Marcus Rashford is expected to miss the next couple of months after being rushed back into action for a FA Cup third-round replay against Wolves last week only to suffer a serious back injury.

Long-term injuries to Paul Pogba and Scott McTominay have left United’s midfield threadbare.

“These players are stretched, and I’ve got

no complaints on any of them -- they give everything they’ve got,” said Solskjaer in a revealing assessment of what the players at his disposal are capable of.

“Some of the players have played more than they should have. More mentally rather than physically, they need a mid-season break.”

That break starts on Feb-ruary 2 and the pressure is on Woodward to deliver in the next week before the January transfer window closes.

However, the risk is of another expensive attempted quick fix rather than a con-certed effort to address the long-term problems at the club.

Mauricio Pochettino is likely to be the man United turn to should Solskjaer go.

The Argentine proved his ability to work wonders with a young squad on a far more restricted budget than he would have at United in five years at Spurs before being sacked earlier this season.

But it is change further up the hierarchy United fans most crave, starting with Woodward letting go of his grip on football operations.

Porte ascends to the top of Tour Down UnderAFP — ADELAIDE

Australian Richie Porte conquered a brutal uphill finish yesterday to claim the third stage and the race leader’s jersey in the Tour Down Under.

Porte, the 2017 TDU winner, made the decisive move for his Trek-Segafredo team in the season’s opening UCI tour, to power up the torturous hill climb to the Paracombe finish in the fire-ravaged Adelaide Hills and win the stage by a commanding five seconds.

Australia’s Rob Powers (Team Sunweb) just held out Britain’s Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) for second, with Australia’s Rohan Dennis (Team Ineos) fourth.

South Africa’s Daryl Impey, chasing a third straight TDU title for Mitchelton-Scott, finished sixth to lie six seconds behind Porte in the general classification with three stages left to Sunday’s finish.

“Hats off to the boys,” Porte said yesterday. “They did a really good job in controlling it.

“I felt good at the bottom of the climb and got a bit of a gap there. It was just a shame there was such a headwind in the final bit, because we could have really done some damage.”

It was a lung-busting surge by Porte up the 1.7-kilometre final ascent, leaving his rivals trailing in his wake.

Impey will need to win time bonuses in the remaining stages for a third straight title.

“It was always going to be a challenge getting close to the guys up here, but to finish in that group at the end, I was pretty chuffed,” Impey said.

“I think we’re in a great situation. Obviously we’d like to be in the (leader’s) jersey, but there’s still lots of bonuses to come and lots of opportunities in the race.”

It was a courageous effort by Yates to get on to the stage podium after crashing heavily and injuring his left knee in Wednes-day’s second stage and he occupies fourth spot overall, 11 seconds behind Porte.

“It was alright,” Yates said yesterday. “It was a little bit stiff in the morning but once we got into it, it started getting better and better.”

Dennis, the individual world time trial champion, said his fourth placing was encouraging for the remainder of the race.

“It was a confidence boost ahead of Willunga (final hill stage). I really had to play mind games with myself and I really had to look after myself before that final climb,” Dennis said.

“I had (teammate) Dylan van Baarle in front, protecting me, but Richie kicked on the climb and he was just too good.”

The stage went through the charred Adelaide Hills district where hundreds of properties were destroyed by raging bush-fires last month.

Team Trek-Segafredo rider Richie Porte of Australia

clebrates after stage three of the Tour Down Under UCI

World Tour cycling event through the Adelaide Hills, South Australia, yesterday.

SPORT | 17Harare Test:

Lakmal sets up Sri Lanka win

over Zimbabwe

SPORTSuper Nadal eases into the third round in Melbourne

SPORT | 18

FRIDAY 24 JANUARY 2020

L

o

QOC announces 2020 sport events calendarTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) announced yesterday the calendar of sporting events and championships to be organized by the sport feder-ations and authorities in the country from January 1 to December 31, 2020.

This year’s calendar includes 65 sport champion-ships and events, the most prominent of them are FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour - Qatar Open to be organized by the Qatar Volleyball Associ-ation at Katara from March 9-13 and 2020 FIFA Club World Cup from December 9-19.

Qatar will also organise 35 international championships

including, World Singles Qual-ification Tournament for Tokyo 2020 Olympics from May 28-31, FINA 10km Marathon Swim World Series 2020 on February 15th on Doha Cor-niche, Qatar Open Amateur Golf Championship from 20-22 February, The Amir Show Jumping Cup at the QEF Arena from February 20-22, Qatar Total Open from February 23-29, Commercial Bank Qatar Masters from March 5-8 at Educational City, FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup from March 18-21, 1st and 2nd Qatar ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Open, FIBA 3x3 Basketball World Tour from the first of April, QSF Squash Open Cham-pionship from April 4-6, IAAF Diamond League on 17 April,

Judo Masters Championship from May 28-30, FINA Swimming World Cup from October 8-10, Qatar Classic Squash Championship from October 16 to November 2, Qatar Junior’s Table Tennis Championship October 27-31, Qatar and Al Rayyan Interna-tional Show Jumping Champi-onship, 5th and 6th Qatar Men’s ITF World Tennis Cham-pionship, Qatar Asian Weight-lifting Championship from December 19-24.

At African level, Doha will host the CAF Super Cup on February 14, 2020. While at the Asian level, the calendar includes 11 sport events, 7th Asia Rugby Championship (Men and Women from March 4-8 and Doha Junior Squash

Open Championship to be organised by the Qatar Tennis, Squash and Badminton Feder-ation from March 11-14 at Khalifa International Complex for Tennis and Squash, Qatar Junior Squash Championship from March 15-17, West Asia Rugby Championship from April 2-5, Qatar First Asian Junior Tennis Championship from April 6-11, Qatar Second Asian Junior Tennis Champi-onship from April 13-18, Asian Friendly U19 Cricket Champi-onship from May 1-15, Qatar Third Asian Junior Tennis Championship from November 9-14, Asian Cricket Champi-onship from December 6-18 and Qatar Asian Junior Team Championship from December 28, 2020 to January 1, 2021.

At GCC level, Doha will host GCC Basketball 3x3 Champi-onship on April 1, GCC Club Basketball Championship from May 29 to June 6 and the 28th GCC Aquatics Championship in August.

Doha is also set to a huge number of local events including National Sport Day on February 11, Qatar Vol-leyball Cup final on March 24, SOP finals on March 25, Qatar Basketball Cup final on March 31, Qatar Handball Cup final on May 7, The Amir Volleyball Cup final on May 12, The Amir Football Cup final on May 15, The Amir Handball Cup final on May 18 and the Sport Excellence Day to be organised by the QOC in November.

Moreover, the national sport federations and com-mittees will organise 216 com-munity events including 12 events to be organised by the QOC Sport Affairs Department including Sport Diplomatic Day on February 29, QOC Ramadan Championship from April 26 to May 5, Olympic Day on June 23, World Chal-lenge Day, QOC Electronic Games Championship on Sep-tember 12, World Walking Day on October 29, Entertainment Day For People with Special Needs on November 5, QOC Padel Championship from November 15-17, Fitness and Health Program on December 2 and the QOC Multi-Sports Championship on December 19.

Formula One CEO says overhaul deal talks in ‘final stages’BLOOMBERG — LONDON

Formula One is close to concluding years of negotia-tions with teams over a new charter, a crucial piece of Liberty Media Corp’s overhaul plans for the sport, according to Chief Executive Officer Chase Carey.

“We’re in the final stages of it,” Carey said in an interview at the World Eco-nomic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The current agreement between the Formula One company, its competitor teams, and the motor sport governing body, the Federation Interna-tionale de L’Automobile, expires in a year.

Billionaire John Malone’s Liberty Media wants to make the sport more competitive and attract a larger audience -- Mercedes won the last six championships, and Red Bull the four before that. It has pro-posed teams share revenues more evenly to keep chal-lengers from going bankrupt so often, and spending limits be implemented so races are more about drivers’ skills than testing who can afford the best engineering.

“We have elements of the future resolved,” Carey said.

“We’ve had the rules, reg-ulations, the cost cap, those things have been resolved.”

Liberty Media is betting that less predictable races will lead to bigger sponsorships and ad sales, and better TV deals. The richer teams have opposed some of the proposed rules.

“The real key moment for success is getting this deal in place,” said Pivotal Research analyst Jeff Wlodarczak, who rates the stock a buy. It’s risen 58% in the last 12 months, boosted in part by progress in revising the Concorde Agreement, which includes a rulebook of nearly 200 pages.

“The underdog has to have a chance to win,” said Carey.

“Ultimately this season you really had three teams that were competing to win.”

Billionaire John Malone’s Liberty Media wants to make the sport more competitive and attract a larger audience.

QSL: Kodjia fires hat-trick on Qatar debut as Al Gharafa stun Al RayyanFAWAD HUSSAIN THE PENINSULA

Jonathan Kodjia yesterday made a dream Qatar debut as the Ivory Coast striker fired a hat-trick to lift Al Gharafa to a thrilling 4-2 victory over Al Rayyan at the QNB Stars League (QSL).

Diego Aguirre-coached Al Rayyan visited Al Gharafa Stadium yesterday looking to supersede points leaders Al Duhail in their Round 13 clash, but Kodjia proved himself too tough to handle for Al Rayyan defense.

The 30-year-old, who moved to Al Gharafa from English Premier League side Aston Villa on a two-and-a-half-year deal, scored all his goals in the second half to give Al Gharafa a victory to remember.

With the win, the Cheetahs cut third-placed Al Sadd’s lead and are just one point behind Xavi’s side with 23 points. Al Duhail, who take on Al Arabi today, are on top with 30 points, two points ahead of Al Rayyan.

In yesterday’s first match, Abel Mathias goal helped Al Ahli to a 1-0 win over Al Sailiya.

However, the game at Al Gharafa Stadium yesterday dubbed ‘the battle of heavy-weights’, produced fireworks with Kodjia adding more thrill in front of enthusiasts of both

the clubs. After the game was tied 1-1 at half-time, Al Rayyan took lead in the 62nd minute when veteran forward Sebastian Soria headed the ball into the net off a cross from Yacine Brahimi.

But the lead did not last for long as Kodjia showed what he is capable of, opening his account with a goal from penalty spot in the 65th minute.

Within 60 seconds, he put Al Gharafa ahead with another goal and completed his hat-trick in 86th minute with an

acrobatic strike. In the first half, Sofiane

Hanni gave Al Gharafa lead with a goal on penalty kick, which was leveled by Yohan Alex-ander in 27th minute.

Earlier, hosts Al Ahli jumped three places to 7th spot after a 1-0 victory over Al Sailiya.

Mathias netted the winner in the 27th minute, leaving Al Sailiya just one point ahead of Al Ahli.

It was Al Ahli’s first win, and fifth overall, after they replaced Spanish coach Ruben de la

Barrera with Montenegrin Nebojsa Jovovic. On the other hand, Al Sailiya suffered their sixth defeat.

Al Ahli started of well and dominated the first session that lent them the all-important goal. Mathias, who missed a chance earlier, connected home a cross from the right flank by Hernan, who was the Briga-diers’ livewire.

Al Ahli’s Abdelrahman Mohammed sent his angular shot against the right upright in the 36th minute, with Hernan providing the pass from the right again.

Al Sailiya’s Nadir Belhadj had to see his on-the-run shot go over the bar early in the game.

Later, Al Ahli goalkeeper Ivanildo Rodrigues came up with a diving save after Adel Bader hit the target from an acute angle.

Al Sailiya came back from the breather as a better side as they sought the equaliser. They came closest to scoring a goal in the 66th minute.

But Karim Ansari, who could not do much in the game, and Mohammed Faisal both failed to connect a cross.

Referee Ali Abdulrahman Al Marri awarded a penalty in the 83rd minute after Al Sailiya’s Mostafa Mohammed handled Abel’s shot, with the former also earning a red card.

However, both were ruled out through VAR.

Al Gharafa's Jonathan Kodjia celebrates after completing his hat-trick against Al Rayyan yesterday.

Yesterday's Results

Al Ahli beat Al Sailiya 1-0

Al Gharafa beat Al Rayyan 4-2

Today's Matches

4:30pm: Qatar SC vs Al Wakrah at

Qatar SC Stadium

6:40pm:Al Arabi vs Al Duhail at

Al Arabi Stadium

Tomorrow's Matches

4:30pm:Umm Salal vs Al Khor at

Al Gharafa Stadium

6:40pm:Al Sadd vs Al Shahania at

Al Sadd Stadium

QNB STARS LEAGUE

Qatar top group: Action from Qatar's final Group 2 match against hosts Kuwait at the 2020 Asian Men's Handball Championship yesterday. Qatar won the match 29-23 to top their group. The three-time winners in the event also defeated South Korea and Iran in the main round of the tournament.