envoy - qatar tribune

DOHA: Qatar University (QU) has been listed as one of the top 400 universities worldwide in electrical and electronic engineering in Quacquarelli Symonds’ (QS) World University Ranking by Subject. The rank-ings aim to help prospective stu-dents identify the worlds leading colleges in their chosen field. QU President Dr Hassan Rashid Al Derham said the university has been advancing across all rankings in recent years. PAGE 5

DOHA: The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) on Monday warned of possible spread of listeria through melons from New Zealand and Australia. The ministry has received a global notification in this regard. Those who have bought the fruit should return it to the outlet from which it had been purchased, the ministry said. It has also urged those who have consumed the fruit to look out for symptoms such as nausea, fever and gastrointestinal disor-der in three to five days. TNN

MoPH caution on eating melons from NZ and Australia

Quick read

The world’s best university ranking by QS features QU

QNADOHA

THE blockading countries have been able to introduce instabil-ity into the GCC system, which was considered — especially after the Arab Spring — a contributing fac-tor in the region’s stability, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lulwah

Rashid al Khater has said in Geneva.Qatar is also concerned about

the use of back-door tactics by these countries, especially the members of the GCC, to discredit Doha in the eyes of the West, she said while ad-dressing a press conference.

Khater said she saw a great con-tradiction between the announce-ment of a major reform agenda and then resort to a sectarian and tribal speech, stressing that the closure of the diplomatic process is disturbing.

“The tactics and efforts to ma-nipulate Qatari currency will be tackled by the Qatar Central Bank legally, because there is evidence

linking this issue to one of the GCC countries,” she said.

Khater called for a return to the report of the substantive mission of the United Nations High Commis-sioner for Human Rights issued in December 2017. She said the mis-sion visited Qatar and wanted to visit the blockading countries to identify their positions.

“But these countries refused to welcome the mission,” she said.

After the report was published, the siege countries started question ing the mission and the impartiality and objectivity of its report. See also page 2

GCC system destabilised by blockading countries: KhaterQatar also concerned about their backdoor tactics to discredit Doha

SATYENDRA PATHAK DOHA

NEPALESE migrant workers engaged in the ongoing projects are treated well in Qatar, the country’s top diplomat in Doha has said.

Nepal’s Ambassador to Qatar HE Ramesh Prasad Koirala told Qa-tar Tribune that there were very few instances of labour-related issues and he was quite sat-isfied with the overall condition of Nepalese in Qatar.

“Qatar has intro-duced many amend-ments in its law and brought out several policy reforms to ensure that expatriate workers are treated very well in the country. These steps are very positive and al-ready working for Qatar to achieve its goal,” Koirala said.

The envoy said Qatari authorities were very supportive in solving issues related to Nepalese workers.

“Whenever I ap-proach Qatari authori-ties with an issue related to any Nepali worker, they try to solve it im-mediately. The kind of support we are getting from Qatari authorities is very positive,” the en-voy said.

Besides workers, Koirala said the Qatari authorities were also supportive in address-ing issues of the large Nepalese community in the country.

“We have received a very positive response from various Qatari authorities in our bid to open first Nepalese school in Qatar. Talks are on to identify the place where the school will be situated. We are expected to finalise land for the school very soon. The school is expected

to be functional next year,” the envoy said. Koirala said that work on setting up

‘Nepal House’ in Qatar is also on track with the support of Qatari authorities.

Nepal workers treated well in Qatar: EnvoyFirst Nepalese school in Qatar expected to open next year, says the ambassador of Nepal

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Moving ahead Qatari business groups

are in advanced stages of talks to set up water bottling plant and sell the mineral water products in the Qatari market

Work on setting up the ‘Nepal House’, a centre to promote Nepalese culture and art, in Qatar is also on track Page 2

SUNDAYMARCH 4, 2018

JUMADA AL-AKHIRAH 16, 1439VOL.11 NO. 4198 QR 2

The second day of the Halal Qatar Festival being held at Cultural Village Foundation — Katara saw the auctioning of special breeds of sheep and goats. The festival sheds light on the crucial role livestock breeding and trade has played in the past, as well as on the attempts to preserve this integral component of Qatari culture and heritage. PAGE 5

A VIBRANT DAY FOR HALAL QATAR FESTIVALEmir to attend today Scientific Excellence Day Award ceremony The Emir HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani will attend the 11th Scientific Excellence Day Award ceremony to be held at Sheraton Doha on Sunday. QNA

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Business 17Nakilat expands joint venture partnership with Maran Ventures

Sports 28VAR technology approved for use at 2018 Russia World Cup

Chill OutThe rise of roller-skating in Qatar

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AILYN AGONIADOHA

AMBASSADOR of Spain to Qatar HE Ignacio Escobar said that several events are slated to be held in Qatar in the coming months.

In an interview with Qatar Tribune recently, the ambassador elaborated that among the events in their line-up is the Spanish gourmet extravaganza which will bring top chefs and artisan food brands from Spain to Doha. It is likely in April.

Furthermore, a bilateral invest-ment forum will be organised by the Embassy in Doha to tackle in-vestment opportunities in Qatar as well as in Spain and to discuss the double taxation agreement recent-ly approved between the countries, he added.

The ambassador is also keen to host in Qatar another flamenco show before the Holy Month of Ramadan which he said has a huge following in

Qatar and the region. A special exhi-bition called ‘The Gardens of Islam’ is likely to be hosted by the Embassy in Katara, within the year.

Similarly, the ambassador said that a strong Spanish presence will be seen in some of Qatar’s major events such as the Agritech 2018 where a Spanish pavilion will show-case the alliance of Spanish firms called ‘Agro Qatar’.

The diplomat also underlined the strong presence of Spanish firms in Qatar. Currently, there are around 60 Spanish firms in Qatar registered with the Spanish Business Council, a non-profit institution under the sponsorship of Qatar Financial Cen-tre whose aim is to provide a forum for discussion of key economic, com-mercial and other issues of interest to Spanish companies doing or plan-ning to do business in Qatar.

Ambassador Escobar further said that Spanish firms are interest-ed in Qatar’s development, placed in main sectors, such as construction, clothing, R&D, railways, metro, en-ergy, health sector, among others. He also stated that Spanish firms are keen to explore with Qatar in terms of bilateral investments in

greenhouses, health services, smart cities, food sector, lab drugs or tech-nology related to sport as well as other industries.

In the field of education and linguistic skills, the ambassador stressed a huge interest among Qa-taris and expatriate communities to learn the Spanish language. He said the Embassy is collaborating with

local schools and actively support-ing educational institutions such as Qatar University and the Transla-tion and Interpreting Institute at Hamad Bin Khalifa University in coping with the demand for Spanish language courses.

The population of Spanish community in Qatar is currently around 4,000. The ambassador

said that many Spanish profession-als, especially in the fields of hospi-tality and facility management, are coming to Qatar.

He added that the presence of Spanish coaches and athletes in Qa-tar are among the significant con-tributions of their community in the country.

Commenting on the prepara-

tions of Qatar in hosting the FIFA World Cup 2022, he lauded the ef-forts of Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SCDL) in ensuring that preparations and de-velopments for the major event are right on track.

“So far, I think the Committee is doing an excellent job. As far as I know things are going perfectly well and there is still some time ahead. But the deadline is getting closer, so the activity will increase expo-nentially in the next few years. The SCDL is in the hands of very compe-tent people who are dealing with all aspects from construction, transpor-tation, security to accommodation.”

The ambassador further said: “As far as the present situation, we don’t expect the blockade to last for-ever, so sooner or later things will get back to normal. We have to take into consideration that an event of the magnitude of the World Cup will be held in Qatar. But this is not a Qatari issue only. This is a major event for the region as a whole. I think all the people in the Middle East, especially those in the Gulf, should be proud that they can experience an event such as this one.”

Spain’s Embassy to organise investmentforum, culinary event in Qatar: Envoy

Ambassador of Spain to Qatar HE Ignacio Escobar. (JALAL PATHIYOOR)

INTERVIEW‘We have to take into consideration that an event of the magnitude of the FIFA World Cup will be held in Qatar. But, this is not a Qatari issue only. This is a major event for the region as a whole. I think all the people in the Middle East, especially those in the Gulf, should be proud that they can experience an event such as this one’

~ HE Ignacio Escobar

Envoy praises Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy’s excellent work

Lekhwiya held 113 training programmes and adopted new uniforms for its employees, according to a QNA report on Saturday.

Police College celebratesgraduation of 63 studentsTHE Police College celebrated on Saturday the graduation of civil university students in a core skills training course held for two weeks in Zekreet.

The course was held in co-operation with Lekhwiya and with 63 university students participating.

The training involved a number of drills such as com-bat in inhabited areas, shooting

and infiltration among others. Director of training at the

college Fahd Saeed al Subaei said that they adopt the best training programmes in the world.

For his part, one of the course’s officers Mubarak Ab-dulaziz al Mannai said that the trainees carried out a number of drills such as ways to capture criminals and terrorists, among

other things.The graduation ceremony

was attended by Vice Presi-dent of Police College Supreme Council and Advisor to HE the Minister of Interior Major-General Dr Abdullah Yusuf al Mall and Director-General of the college Mohammed Abdul-lah al Mahanna, along with a number of directors at the Min-istry of Interior. (QNA/DOHA)

Emir congratulatesBulgaria president

THE Emir His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani sent on Saturday a cable of congratu-lations to the President of the Republic of Bulgaria Rumen Radev on the occasion of his country’s National Day. (QNA)

Deputy Emir greetspresident of BulgariaTHE Deputy Emir HH Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad al Thani sent on Saturday a cable of congratulations to the president of Bulgaria Rumen Radev on the occasion of his country’s National Day. (QNA)

PM congratulatesBulgarian counterpartPRIME Minister and Minister of Interior HE Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al Thani sent on Saturday a cable of congratu-lations to the Prime Minister of Bulgaria Boyko Borisov on the occasion of his country’s National Day. (QNA)

Qatar participates in ALO’s Boardof Directorsmeeting in Iraq

MINISTER of Administrative Development, Labour and So-cial Affairs HE Dr Issa bin Saad al Jafali al Nuaimi led Qatar’s delegation to the 88th session of the Board of Directors of Arab Labour Organization (ALO) be-ing held in Baghdad, Iraq.

The meeting discussed vari-ous topics including a report on Israeli settlements and their economic and social effects on the Palestinian territories and the labour sector.

The board reviewed finan-cial position of the ALO, the draft of ALO’s action plan and the financial budget for the years 2019-20, in addition to reports on the outcomes of the work of the committee of legal experts, the committee on freedom of as-sociation and the committee on women’s affairs, and topics to be presented by the Arab Group at the ILO Conference in Geneva at its 107th session for June.

The board also considered a report on the Arab network for labour market information and the supplementary report on the results of the 101st session of the Arab Economic and Social Council. (QNA/BAGHDAD)

Qataris to set up natural mineral water plant in Nepal, says envoy

Continued from page 1

THE envoy said many initia-tives are also being taken to strengthen trade and invest-ment ties between the two countries.

A delegation of Qatar’s pri-vate sector will be visiting Ne-pal in August this year to ex-plore the possibility of setting up a mineral water plant in the Himalayas.

“Nepal is rich in natural mineral water which is very pure and healthy. Some Qa-tari business groups are in ad-

vanced stages of talks to set up water bottling plant and sell the mineral water products in the Qatari market,” he said.

Nepali authorities are also upbeat about this project, the envoy said, adding that high level of cooperation between the two countries would very soon see Nepali mineral water bottles enter Qatar’s market.

The ambassador added that Nepal is also looking to export larger volume of organic fruits and vegetables to Qatar.

Given the strengthening ties between the two countries, the envoy said the trade volume be-

tween the two countries is very less.

To address this issue, he said a large delegation of busi-nessmen from Nepal is ex-pected to visit Qatar this year to have business to business (B2B) meetings with their Qa-tari counterparts.

The meeting will be aimed at bringing the business communi-ties of the two countries closer and form joint ventures to enhance trade, the envoy said.

The envoy said that Nepal is also seeking jobs for its skilled and semi-skilled workers in Qa-tar’s growing job market.

Siege countries’ claims of free trade zones

contradictory: Al KhaterQNADOHA

FOREIGN Ministry spokes-person HE Lulwah Rashid al Khater has said that the citi-zens of Qatar and siege coun-tries are deprived of their right to reunite with their families.

“There is a contradiction in siege countries’ claim of estab-lishing free trade zones as they have deprived Qatari business-men and women of access to their property and investments because of their politics,” she said, adding that the National Commission for Compensa-tion documented about 4,500 complaints of individuals who are unable to access their in-vestments and properties in siege countries.

Khater pointed out that the technical committee report of the United Nations High Com-missioner for Human Rights concluded that the siege tar-geted the State of Qatar and Qatari citizens and the meas-ures taken by the countries of the blockade were unilateral while Qatar did not reciprocate with similar measures against the citizens of these countries. She stressed that the report describes the measures taken against Qatar as an economic war against the country, not-ing that the speeches made against Qatar in the siege countries can be described as a hate speech against Qatar and Qatari citizens.

“The technical mission gave the countries of the block-ade an opportunity to respond twice, but after the publication of the report in December and January, they politicised the issue instead of addressing the issues raised,” she pointed out.

Khater stated that while Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs HE Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul-rahman al Thani spoke before the Human Rights Council, the siege countries responded by not addressing the actual violations and describing the violations mentioned in the report as a “secondary issue, which does not interest the in-ternational community.”

“The response of the block-

ading countries, given their human rights records, not only against Qatari citizens but also against their own citizens is not surprising at all. This is normal for them, but for us, any viola-tion against a Qatari citizen means a lot. We are keen and we will seek every citizen’s rights and receive appropriate compensation as well.”

She pointed out that the countries of the blockade indi-cated in their reply that this is a diplomatic crisis caused by Qatar, but the fact is that on June 5, these countries decid-ed to cut ties and close their borders with Qatar, which depended on them for 90 per-cent of its food and medicine supplies.

“This is an allegation and a misrepresentation of reality, but we are not surprised be-cause they previously planned to hack the website of the Qa-tar News Agency to justify the blockade later,” she said.

Replying to a question, Khater said that Qatari di-plomacy has been very active recently, pointing out in this regard the holding of the US-Qatari dialogue at the end of January in Washington, as well as the multiple rounds of Qatari diplomacy in various continents.

She also stressed that Qa-tar has overcome the embargo economically and looks for-ward to strengthening bilateral relations with all countries. She mentioned signing of vari-ous agreements by Qatar with the UK and the US among oth-er countries.

On Qatar’s complaint to the World Trade Organization (WTO) against the siege coun-tries, she said that Qatar con-tinues to take legal steps in this direction.

She added that the dam-age occurred at different lev-els ranging from individuals and companies to govern-ment institutions and the National Human Rights Com-mittee is following up cases of individuals through a group of lawyers. With regard to the companies affected by the blockade, she indicated that the process of documentation

of the damage continues. In response to a question

from the UAE news agency about why Qatar does not move forward to address con-cerns and allay fears of the four countries, if it is keen to resolve the crisis, the official spokes-man of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Qatar has al-ways been ready for a dialogue with the siege countries.

“If siege countries have ob-servations on Qatar, the State of Qatar has observations on them as a number of countries in the region, such as Lebanon, Yemen and other Arab coun-tries have on them,” she fur-ther pointed out.

Commenting on what the Al-Jazeera news chan-nel reported, Khater said: “If a media channel broadcasts content that some parties do not like, these parties should respond to the media as they do in civilised countries that have multi-spectrum media. As the countries of the block-ade have observations on Al-Jazeera, Qatar also has pro-fessional observations on the media of the countries of the blockade. At the same time, they assert that they will not defend Al-Jazeera. They are in the hall and can defend themselves.”

Every observation and problem must be resolved through its natural channels. Observations may be of a po-litical, diplomatic or economic nature, and these are resolved through their natural chan-nels. “What happened is that in this crisis, diplomatic and po-litical channels were blocked,” she said.

As for the attempts to deprive Qatar of organising the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the Foreign Ministry spokes-person expressed hope that this is not the purpose of the blockade. Qatar is continu-ing to build the necessary infrastructure for the World Cup, she said, adding that the World Cup will be held in Qa-tar. She called on the interna-tional media to come to Qatar and watch the progress in the implementation of World Cup projects.

02 Sunday, March 4, 2018

Scientific excellence awardshuge motivation for students

MALEK HELALIDOHA

THE scientific excellence award has been a huge motivational factor for Qatar’s outstand-ing individuals aiming to serve their country and advance their careers in different fields, a Ministry of Education and Higher Education statement said.

Winners of previous editions have also stressed on the significance of the award.

Mariam al Hajri, Qatar University student and the platinum medal winner of the scientific excellence award university student category, said that the award is the best conclusion to any educational level.

Mariam stressed on the importance of the award as a motivational factor encouraging stu-dents to be involved in scientific experimenta-tion not only on the academic level but also from a scientific research perspective. She explained that the award promotes a culture of scientific research and encourages students to work out-side the classrooms by being part of non-aca-demic experiences which enhance their overall academic experience.

Mariam added: “I achieved the platinum medal through hard work and dedication as I was always a serious knowledge seeker ever since I joined university. I started registering in university research activities as an assistant researcher working on a number of Qatar Na-tional Research Fund sponsored projects in ad-dition to reading extensively in my field of study while also attending as many workshops and discussion panels as possible in order to expose my ideas to criticism and walk out with more solid and robust ideas.”

The platinum award winner noted that lead-ing the debate club in her university contributed greatly to her achievement as she organised

workshops and debates on the science of logic on a weekly basis which benefited her in enrich-ing her knowledge background and debating

skills. Mariam highlighted the award’s role in teaching Qatar’s students to learn continuously even outside the academic context and that is the best investment in human potential capable of guaranteeing a better future for the country.

Lieutenant Abdullah al Marri, platinum medal winner of the scientific excellence award university student category, said that the award is the most prestigious academic honor in the State of Qatar that can be given to outstanding individuals. He added that he has been antici-pating his placement on the list of honored win-ners who will gain the privilege of being award-ed by HH The Emir.

Abdullah said: “Winning this award is the least we are striving for as children of this coun-try aiming to be on a high level that enables us to serve it. I have been able to achieve this honour with the encouragement of my siblings and the administrators of Ahmed Bin Mohamed Mili-tary College.”

According to him, winning the award is a result of dedication and hard work during his university studies where he was ranked first among the Qatari Armed Forces and got the sec-ond placement in the shared results of the 12th batch of graduates from Ahmed Bin Mohamed Military College securing the honour of getting the golden dagger token by HH The Emir.

“I finished my university studies in the field of law and got a military diploma with an ex-cellent designation and the rank of lieutenant. I have also represented Qatar through Ahmed Bin Mohamed Military College in many occa-sions, regionally and internationally, where I got a number of awards and tokens reflecting leadership skills on an individual and collective level,” he added.

Lieutenant Abdullah al Marri, platinum medal winner of the scientific excellence award university student category.

Mariam al Hajri, Qatar University student and the platinum medal winner of the scientific excellence award in university student category.

Parking restrictions at Asian Town toensure a worker-friendly experience

SANTHOSH CHANDRANDOHA

PARKING restrictions have been put in place in specific areas of Plaza complex in Asian Town after regular shopping hours to make the Labour City more friendly for expatriate workers who ar-rive there for entertainment, refresh-ments and shopping.

The measure has made the wide courtyard of Asian Town convenient for large numbers of workers who visit the complex in late evenings for leisure. It will also curb the practice of irrespon-sible parking.

There are now large notice boards at the venue which clearly state, ‘No vehicles will be allowed to park after duty hours, otherwise vehicles will be towed away after 24 hours at the owner’s expense as per Ministry of Interior instructions’.

Speaking to Qatar Tribune, an offi-cial at the venue said that the move is to restrict unfair practice of using the Asian Town premise as a ‘long time parking area’ thereby disrupting the activities and movement of people who spend late hours with their friends and families on weekends.

Asian Town or the Labour City is one-of-its-kind in this region built for

the expatriate workforce. It features a mall with over 200 shops,several eateries, textile shops, cinema halls, salon, a cricket stadium and an entertainment arena.

An expatriate worker who frequents Asian Town said: “Spending late eve-nings in Asian Town is a pleasant expe-rience for many workers. The practice of leaving vehicles at Asian Town at night

is unhealthy and unfair. This measure to restrict the parking area – to be used only during the shopping hours – will keep the Asian Town premises cleaner, hygienic and friendly for visitors.”

A manager at a restaurant in the complex said that the parking re-strictions after duty hours “will not have any impact on their business or flow of customers”.

Make back-to-school seasonless stressful with Doha Bank

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORKDOHA

RENEWING its commitment to simplifying customers’ lives, Doha Bank, one of the largest private commercial banks in Qatar, has once again rolled out its ‘Back to School’ campaign to help parents pay their children’s school fees us-ing the bank’s credit card with easy and flexible repayment plans, while receiving guaran-teed Doha Miles rewards for their spend.

Under the ‘Back to School 2018’ program, which will run between March 1 and April 30, 2018, Doha Bank customers can convert their child’s school fee payments of a minimum of QR1,000 per transaction into an interest-free six-month payment plan with no process-ing fee.

In addition, customers can earn a bonus of 20,000 Doha Miles with every local school fee payment of up to QR25,000 or more using Doha Bank credit cards. Lulu cardholders will in-stead receive loyalty rewards in Lulu points currency.

“Doha Bank understands how challenging the back-to-school season can be for par-ents. Our campaign aims to help ease the heavy financial burden on them by making the payment process easier for our credit card holders, offering them increased convenience and flexibility. In addition, we consider this as an excellent opportunity to re-ward our customers for their loyalty. With this campaign, we

have once again affirmed our commitment to improving the quality of life of our customers, by way of enhancing conven-ience and providing a rewarding banking experience,” said Braik Ali HS al Marri, acting chief Re-tail Banking Officer, Doha Bank.

Doha Bank credit card-holders can call ‘4445-6000’ or visit ‘www.dohabank.com.qa’ to learn more about the promotion.

A large notice board at Asian Town to inform motorists about the parking restrictions.

Bank’s credit card holders can convert fee payments into zero percent interest six-month payment plan with no processing fee

Luxury Travel & Tours celebrateslaunch of its first branch in Qatar


LUXURY Travel & Tours, pre-mier luxury travel company that specialises in provid-ing a wide range of exclusive and first class travel products and individualised vacations worldwide, has recently cel-ebrated the launch of its first state-of-the-art branch in Doha, located at the Gate Mall, in a grand ceremony.

The ceremony was at-tended by dignitaries as well as media representatives, who were present to celebrate the momentous occasion. The original concept travel com-pany crafts, creates and deliv-ers a seamless and personal service helping their clients to plan and then enjoy authen-tic, tailor-made experiences around the world, providing them with exclusive access to the globe’s finest hotels, lux-ury villas and retreats. All the company’s products have been carefully selected to satisfy the most demanding clientele.

“We are elated to be cel-ebrating the official launch of Luxury Travel & Tours’ first

branch in Qatar. The original concept behind our company aims to celebrate travel and tourism in more ways than one, and to offer our clients a diverse array of travel pack-ages that are tailored to ac-commodate their specific re-quirements and travel needs,” stated Mohamed Jaber HR Labda, Chairman — Luxury Travel & Tours.

Whether clients are look-ing to arrange a family holi-

day, embark on a beyond the imagination adventure, take flight on a private jet or host a memorable client experience, Luxury Travel & Tours prom-ises to offer journeys for every moment in life.

The company’s dedicated team of travel consultants are on hand to cater to all travel requirements from the mo-ment the process of planning client’s travels take place, to the moment of return and eve-

rything in between.Highlighting the efforts

that went into conceptualizing and bringing the concept be-hind Luxury Travel and Tours to maturity, Hamza Triki, CEO, Luxury Travel & Tours, stated: “It’s the fruit of 25 years of experience in travel and hospitality. Our good knowl-edge of the industry allows us to be creative, develop a range of products focused mainly on bespoke activities and provide

highly personalized, enriching experiences for all our clients.”

No matter the mode of travel or type of accommoda-tion sought after by clients, Luxury Travel & Tours’ port-folio boasts of various travel packages that offer diverse accommodations that can vary from a luxury hotel or a boutique property to a unique building or an eco-style lodge. One thing’s constant for the original-concept travel compa-

ny, and that is the experience to be had by clients is bound to be an especially memorable one. Luxury Travel & Tours consultants work to source and design travel experiences for any occasion, and to provide clients with airport concierges, charter private jets, relax in luxury villas, luxury shopping, spa, and much more.

Luxury Travel & Tours have devised a strategy to help promote Qatari tourism.

Helmed by Zouheir Mansouri, Operational Manager, Luxury Travel & Tours, the company’s first plan of auction is to devel-op the inbound tourism.

“We believe that Qatar has a lot of precious assets, and boasts a rich culture, and that it is bound to become a sought after destination for travellers seeking authentic-ity, comfort and serenity,” stated Mansouri. The com-pany also aims to develop other ambitious projects that include outbound tourism, ticketing MICE, sports tour-ism, events planning and life-style management.

“We will elaborate a strat-egy of segmentation and create a bouquet of niche products of brand or departments that will help us achieve our goals,” ex-pressed Mansouri. “However, our first target is the local mar-ket where we are determined to become a must address for all luxury travel and services,” he concluded.

The Luxury Travel & Tours offers its clients a wide range of first class travel packages and services. It sets up ambitious strate-gies to help promote Qatar as a sought-after travel destination

MME destroys fungus shipments

QNA DOHA

THE Ministry of Municipal-ity and Environment (MME), represented by the Wildlife Section, has destroyed ship-ments of a number of species of fungus after being confiscat-ed at various border outlets.

Head of the Wildlife Sec-tion Mohammed Mubarak al Marri said the confiscation and destruction of the fun-gus was owing to importa-tion without obtaining the necessary import permits in advance from the competent authorities and in light of the ministry’s keenness to imple-ment local and international laws and regulations as stip-ulated in some agreements signed by Qatar.

He said this action is aimed at deterring violators by making them lose their pur-chase and shipments to the state, which at the end will be confiscated at the border out-lets and destroyed, in addition to preserving the stock of such fungus in their natural envi-ronment and their original habitat and protecting them from depletion.

Marri added that Qatar had signed many environmen-tal agreements and enacted many local laws, legislations and procedures to ensure the implementation of its obliga-tions under these agreements. These laws and procedures are binding on citizens, residents, visitors and even transients through the State.

‘The award is the most prestigious academic honor in the State of Qatar that can be given to outstanding individuals. I have been able to achieve this honour with the encouragement of my siblings and administrators of Ahmed Bin Mohamed Military College’ ~ Lt Abdullah al Marri

‘The award is a motivational factor encouraging students to be involved in scientific experimentation on academic level & also from a scientific research perspective. It promotes a culture of scientific research and encourages students to work outside the classrooms’ ~ Mariam al Hajri

Nation 03Sunday, March 4, 2018


THE Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) has recently organised a workshop to determine the fu-ture vision of the National Diabe-tes Registry in Qatar.

The workshop is part of the fifth pillar of the National Dia-betes Strategy 2016-2022, which was launched under the title ‘To-gether for the prevention of dia-betes’ objectives of the National Health Strategy and the Qatar National Vision 2030.

The fifth pillar of the National Diabetes Strategy is to build ca-pacity in the management of dia-betes information and to provide accessible access for patients, healthcare professionals and re-searchers. The National Diabetes Registry is a pioneering and key diabetes prevention tool in Qa-tar and to ensure that diabetes management is more integrated and effective in order to enhance access to and use of information in future planning, research and risk management.

The workshop was opened by Head of the National Committee for Diabetes Control Sheikha al

Anoud bint Mohammed al Thani, director of Promotion of Health and Non-communicable Diseases at the Ministry of Public Health, and Prof Abdul Badi Abu Samra, head of Internal Medicine at Ha-mad Medical Corporation in the presence of representatives of the Ministry of Public Health, Ha-mad Medical Corporation, Pri-mary Health Care Corporation, Medical Services of the Ministry of Interior, Medical Services of the Armed Forces, private hospi-tals in Qatar, Medical Services of

Qatar Petroleum, Qatar Diabetes Society, Sidra Medicine and Qa-tar Red Crescent Society.

Sheikha al Anoud stressed that the promotion of public awareness and improvement of the patient’s empowerment will be carried out through awareness campaigns on the symptoms and complications of diabetes and prevention methods soon. The first and second pillars of the na-tional strategy to combat diabetes are based on awareness, preven-tion and patient empowerment.

Prof Abu Samra pointed to the completion of the develop-ment of the clinical guidelines and the completion of the con-tinuous medical training pro-gramme on diabetes for all healthcare workers, which will reduce the number of new infec-tions as well as the number of people with complications of dia-betes, thereby cutting the cost of diabetes treatment in Qatar.

During the workshop, the fu-ture vision of the National Diabe-tes Register and the use of tech-nology to promote exchange of information and communication were discussed, given the urgent need to collect diabetes data in a central database.

The experiences of some countries in the use of central medical records were also dis-cussed. Participants discussed the initial vision of the design of the registry so that it can be ac-cessed through available means, patient applications and health-care professionals’ applications to collect basic information on di-abetes screening and prevention, self-care of the patient and man-agement of diabetes and other risk factors for chronic diseases.

T +974 4448 6111 | F +974 4448 6100 | P.O. Box 11112, Doha, Qatarqterminals.com

MoPH, experts discuss future of National Diabetes Registry

The workshop is part of the fifth pillar of the National Diabetes Strategy 2016-2022.

Al Ahli delegation visits Kenya to support QC’s initiative with QR1.7 million projects


A DELEGATION from the Al Ahli Sports Club Team contesting in Qatar Charity’s (QC) ‘Competitors 2’ programme visited Kenya to know about the nature and loca-tion of the developmental project, which it intended to be imple-mented in the country.

The team’s visit to Kenya has resulted in determining the type and location of the project, which includes building a health centre, drilling an artesian well and spon-soring 100 orphans and 100 peo-ple with special needs.

The project will be implement-ed in the outskirts of the capital Nairobi at a total cost of about QR1.7 million due to the need of the people for such projects in these places, according to the field assessment.

The visit was organised in the context of the competition with Al

Wakrah Sports Team, which re-cently visited Indonesia and then started marketing its project to build a school with six classrooms and 25 houses at a cost of at a cost of QR1.5 million with the aim to benefit 1,250 people.

The delegation included President of Al Ahli Sports Club Sheikh Ahmed bin Hamad al Thani, Ali al Kuwari, Captain Abdullah Jassim, Captain Abdul-lah Saad, Captain Nasser Salimin

and Ibrahim Fetian from the QC’s Media Department.

The Al-Ahli Sports Club’s del-egation began the tours with a visit to the Qatar Charity’s Regional Of-fice in Nairobi and came to know the activities and achievements of the office.

The delegation also partici-pated in the opening of Al Habib Mosque built by Qatar Charity in the Njiru district of Nairobi, where the imam thanked the peo-

ple of Qatar. A member of the delegation,

Sheikh Abdullah al Sada talked about the role of the mosque and its importance as a beacon of the knowledge.

The team also took part in the distribution of food baskets (con-sisting of rice, flour, sugar, cook-ing oil and baby milk) to 167 poor and needy families in the district of Njiru.

The delegation presented val-uable gifts to some orphans spon-sored by Qatar Charity in order to bring joy to their hearts, in addi-tion to distributing food baskets to orphans.

Sheikh Sada said that the visit was successful by all standards, pointing out that Al Ahli Sports Club Team undertook to build a mosque and a school outside the competition, in addition to the club’s commitment to promoting its project within the framework of the competition.

QNA DOHA

MENTAL Health Friends Association (Weyak), in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, has launched a cultural school competition for preparatory and secondary stages.

The competition will cover ‘poetry, drawing and video clips’, through which participants will be given the choice of the appropriate materials to perform the art-work according to the conditions. Applying for the competition is open until March 29.

The results will be announced on April 25.

Vice-Chairman of the association Has-san bin Abdullah al Ghanim said that the launch of the competition comes as part of the ongoing campaign launched by the as-sociation on November 8 and continuing

until May, aiming to introduce students to ways to overcome the pressures and diffi-culties facing them in life and raising the values of loyalty to the homeland to avoid the risks of rumours in the community.

He added that the board of directors of the association emphasises the importance of programmes aimed at young people and youth, especially those who sit in the class-room because they represent the hope of the nation and its bright future, and consti-tute the cornerstone of the Qatar National Vision 2030.

Weyak launches cultural contest to help students overcome challenges

Ministry of Economy and Commerce detects 27 violationsQNA DOHA

THE Ministry of Economy and Commerce (MEC) recently carried out surprise inspec-tions targeting women’s beau-ty salons, clothing and acces-sories in different parts of the country, resulting in 27 viola-tions, ranging from not dis-playing prices, not issuing bills

in Arabic and announcement of sales and special offers with-out prior permission, to raising prices without a licence.

The ministry said the ac-tivities constitute violations of the provisions of Law No 8 of 2008, Ministerial Decision No 5 of 1984 regarding sale through reductions and Min-isterial decision No19 of 2002 regulating the promotion of

the sale of goods. The inspections are part

of the ministry’s keenness to monitor the markets and com-mercial activities with the aim of controlling prices and detect-ing violations in order to protect the rights of the consumer and to monitor the compliance of suppliers (shops and women's salons) with their obligations.

The ministry stressed the

necessity of starting without delay the adoption of designs and models of the mark (shop-ping with confidence) in all the advertisements of sales and promotions, and placing them on the invoices delivered to customers, which are clear evi-dence to the consumer that the shop holds the licence which is required by the competent au-thorities in the MEC.

The ministry warned all shops with a discount licence to commit to giving real dis-counts and to avoid misleading and any practices that would violate the consumer's right. The ministry vowed to take actions against those who are negligent in carrying out their obligations under the Con-sumer Protection Law and its executive regulations.

The ministry also promised to intensify its inspection cam-paigns to control such practices, adding that violators of laws and ministerial decisions would be referred to the competent au-thorities for appropriate action.

MEC also called on all con-sumers to view the price of the item before and during the pe-riod of sales or promotions. The consumer is also entitled to see

the statement in the shop that shows the price before and after the sales process and the ap-proved discount rate. The con-sumer should take a detailed invoice showing the actual price and the price of the sales.

The Ministry of Economy and Commerce has urged all consumers to report any viola-tion or irregularities through its communication channels.

The visit was organised as part of the competition with Al Wakrah Sports Team.

Nation04 Sunday, March 4, 2018

The competition will cover ‘poetry, drawing and video clips’, through which participants will be given the choice of the appropriate materials to perform the artwork.

Minister visits Visual Arts CenterMALEK HELALI

DOHA

THE Minister of Culture and Sports HE Salah bin Ghanem al Ali visited the Visual Arts Center located at Cultural Village-Katara recently to wit-ness the workshops currently being held at the center.

The center is affiliated with the Ministry and plays an important role in attract-ing talented Qatari artists and supporting the local artistic movements.

On the sidelines of his visit, the Minister met with a number of caricaturists and held an open discussion with them where he was informed about their opinions on the advance-ment of the art of caricature given its influence on society.

In a statement, Salman al Malik, director of the visual arts center, praised the Min-ister’s support for caricature artists and his efforts to en-rich this form of art in Qa-tar where an elite group of caricaturists are producing a large number of artistic prod-

ucts published in local news-papers and through their so-cial media platforms.

Malik further stated that the Minister listened to the artists’ perspectives on the means of advancing the art of

caricature and confirmed the Ministry’s support and incuba-tion of their talents in order to enrich the cultural and artistic landscape in the country.

He noted that the Min-istry’s support of the art of

caricature reflects a promis-ing future for this art in the region and that more meet-ings with caricaturists are be-ing planned in the future to enhance the quality of this art and serve the Qatari society.

Minister of Culture and Sports HE Salah bin Ghanem al Ali at the Visual Arts Center in Katara recently.

QU among QS world’s bestuniversities in electrical eng

QNADOHA

QATAR University (QU) has been chosen as one of the top 400 universities world-wide in electrical and elec-tronic engineering in Quac-quarelli Symonds’ (QS) QS World University Ranking by Subject.

QS ranks the world’s top universities in individual subject areas, covering 48 subjects as of 2018. The rankings aim to help pro-spective students, identify the world’s leading schools in their chosen field, with the list of subjects extended each year in response to

high demand for subject-level comparisons.

Each of the subject rankings is compiled us-ing four sources. The first two of these are QS’s global surveys of academics and employers, which are used to assess institutions inter-national reputation in each subject. The second two indicators assess research impact, based on research citations per paper and h-index in the relevant sub-ject. These are sourced from Elseviers Scopus database, the world’s most compre-hensive research citations database.

President of Qatar Uni-

versity Dr Hassan Rashid al Derham said that the uni-versity has been advancing across all rankings in recent years, expressing his pride at being in the latest QS ranking. He said that such recognition reflects the great development the university has seen in recent years.

He also highlighted that it was the first time for QU to be involved in the by-subject ranking, adding that the achievement was also in line with the univer-sity’s mission of providing high-quality education and preparing students for cre-ating their own and their country’s future.

HALAL QATAR FESTIVAL 2018

The Halal Qatar Festival continued its activities and competitions in the southern part of Cultural Village-Katara amid a large turnout of visitors on Saturday. A lot of children and families also visited the venue to tour the cultural site. Besides watching a range of species of sheep and goats, children enjoyed recreational and educational activities. (TNN)

Tamuq meet focuses on localsolutions to global problems


TEXAS A&M University at Qa-tar (Tamuq) has hosted attend-ees from around the world for the sixth annual Liberal Arts In-ternational Conference, ‘Local Dreams, Global Visions: Multi-disciplinary Perspectives’.

The conference theme was inspired in part by Qatar’s re-cent experience on the world stage, said Dr Mark van de Logt, chair of the conference’s organ-ising committee and an assist-ant professor of political science at Texas A&M at Qatar.

“We see the effects of glo-balisation or trans-nationalism all around us,” Van de Logt said. “The question is, in an age of globalisation, how do we maintain local identity and au-thenticity while engaging with the rest of the world? The world must reckon with the challenges of globalisation, while seizing all of the opportunities it presents. We hope that this conference

will provide us with answers, show us where to look for solu-tions, and educate us on what local entities can do to improve our lives as members of the glo-bal community.”

The conference featured keynote addresses and panel sessions and a slate of more than 70 speakers, including eight Tamuq students and 24 presenters from Qatar. Other countries represented include the US, the UK, Canada, Brunei, Japan, Germany, Poland, India, Bangladesh, Oman, Cyprus and the Netherlands. Conference participants also came from France, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Pa-kistan, the Philippines, Singa-pore and Uruguay.

Panel sessions were spon-sored by The Initiative in Professional Ethics at Tamuq and QAPCO.

This year’s conference fea-tured three renowned keynote speakers: Dr Kirk St Amant, professor and chair of the Tech-nical Communication depart-

ment at Louisiana Tech Univer-sity (the USA); Dr Michael de Miranda, professor and head of the Department of Teaching, Learning and Culture at Texas A&M University (the USA); and Dr Mehran Kamrava, profes-sor and director of the Center for International and Regional Studies at Georgetown Uni-versity’s School of Foreign Service in Qatar.

Dr César O Malavé, dean of Tamuq, said: “Texas A&M is known for excellence in en-gineering, and this tradition continues in Qatar. A multi-disciplinary approach to edu-cation — including a strong commitment to the social sci-ences, arts and humanities — creates engineers who are known as the problem solvers and critical thinkers.”

Dr Zohreh Eslami, Dr Sara Hillman, Dr Phillip Gray and Dr Paul Lee comprised the organ-ising committee, with assist-ance from Khadija El-Cadi and Olena Snitko.

The conference featured keynote addresses and panel sessions and a slate of more than 70 speakers, including eight Tamuq students and 24 presenters from Qatar.

VCUarts Qatar marks 20th anniversarywith special activities for students

VIRGINIA Commonwealth School of the Arts in Qatar (VCUarts Qatar) recently held an event for its students as part of its 20th anniversary celebrations.

The event was one of sever-al such events that the univer-sity has been holding in its 20th year. VCUarts Qatar opened in 1998 and was originally called Shaqab College of Design Arts. The first degree programmes in Fashion Design and Graphic Design in 1999 followed the es-tablishment of its Art Founda-tion programme in 1998.

Students, faculty and staff gathered in the atrium to take part in Virginia Common-

wealth University-themed board games and other games and activities, including hav-ing their photographs taken at a 20th anniversary photo booth and to enjoy the choco-late fountain, nachos, crazy drinks and other fun snacks.

The event began with an introduction by Assist-ant Dean for Student Affairs Valerie Jeremijenko, who said: “As someone who has been here for close to 17 of those 20 years, I have been witness to the work of all the faculty, all the staff, and all our amaz-ing students and alumni, as we have worked towards cultivat-ing the arts, igniting imagina-

tions and changing the percep-tion of art and design in Qatar. We have come a long way in 20 years and made a very big impact. Thank you all for being change-making and innova-tors. Thank you all for being a part of this mission.”

Her comments were ech-oed by Executive Dean Dr Donald N Baker, who said: “VCUarts Qatar is proud to be part of the 2030 vision of Qatar and proud to have been cultivating the arts, and ignit-ing imagination to building the future for the past 20 years.”

Student Government As-sociation President Anusheh Zaman and Interim Manager

of International Education and Student Programming La Kisha Tillman also addressed the assembled students before joining the Dean and other student association presidents on the Atrium’s stage to cut a large cake that was bedecked with the 20th anniversary logo. The attendees also re-ceived specially created 20th anniversary souvenirs such as mugs and badges.

VCUarts Qatar also recent-ly opened an exhibition called ‘Hindsight’, which is a collec-tion of photographs showing the university’s faculty and staff when they were in their twenties. (TNN)



Public talk explores history of US-Arab tiesTRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA

THE shared history of mod-ernisation between Arabs and Americans was expounded at a recent lecture at Georget-own University in Qatar (GU-Q), where Professor Nathan J Citino shared insights from his recent book ‘Envisioning the Arab Future: Moderniza-tion in US-Arab Relations, 1945-1967’.

Citino is a professor at Rice University who specialises in the history of US and the world with a focus on the Middle East. His talk focused on modernisa-tion as a key theme of US-Arab relations during the Cold War and included case studies of global Arab travel and conflicts over the development of post-revolutionary Iraq.

“The study of past Arab-American relations can help us to see contemporary issues in new ways,” explained Citi-no. “Not so long ago, the dom-inant political discourse in the

Arab world concerned secular economic development, and Arabs and Americans spoke a common language of mod-ernisation.”

The lecture was based on findings from Citino’s book, which includes new research in both Arabic and English. The book assesses the regional implications of US power while examining a range of topics that transcend Arab-Israeli conflict, such as travel, com-munity, gender, oil and agri-culture in both the US and the Middle East.

The historian, who holds a Ph.D. from Ohio State Univer-sity, is also the author of ‘From Arab Nationalism to OPEC: Eisenhower, King Sa’ud, and the Making of US-Saudi Rela-tions’. He has published wide-ly, including articles in titles such as ‘Diplomacy & State-craft’, ‘the International Jour-nal of Middle East Studies’, ‘the Business History Review’, ‘the Arab Studies Journal’ and ‘Cold War History’.

Professor Nathan J. Citino at the lecture.

The Model United Nations brought together young delegates from 33 local and 11 international schools.

Students debate global issues at MUNTRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA

HIGH school students from nine countries gathered at the Qatar National Conven-tion Center recently to engage in mock international nego-tiations as part of the Georget-own University in Qatar Mod-el United Nations (MUN).

The event, now in its 13th year, is the longest-running international MUN confer-ence in Qatar.

The MUN brought to-gether young delegates from 33 local and 11 international schools to take on diplo-matic roles in a simulated version of real life United Nations negotiations. Under this year’s theme, ‘Redefin-

ing the role of the individual in the information revolu-tion’, participants represent-ed their assigned countries in complex discussions to reach consensus on key glo-bal issues.

While the topics dis-cussed can result in heated debates between parties with opposing views and be-liefs, the conference encour-ages participants to engage in debates respectfully to enhance their inter-cultural understanding. The del-egates this year hailed from a diverse range of countries, including South Africa, Jor-dan, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Turkey and Oman.

“MUN is a tool that fos-ters growth and personal de-

velopment in youth, allow-ing these future leaders to devise creative solutions to global problems and expand their understanding of the world,” said MUN Secretary-General Nayab Rana (SFS ’18). “These conferences are not just simply events, but rather are experiences for students to actually apply what they have learnt in the classroom and go beyond what they have just read in their textbooks.”

This year’s event featured a keynote speech by Clayton Swisher (G’03), a Georget-own University alumnus and director of investigative jour-nalism for Al Jazeera Media Network. Swisher, whose 11 years with the network have

resulted in some of its big-gest scoops, shared words of inspiration ahead of three days of intense negotiations for the delegates.

The subjects under dis-cussion were devised by the student-run MUN board, which comprises experi-enced GU-Q students who have been involved in previ-ous MUN events. Topics this year included diverse sub-jects such as counterterror-ism efforts, the blockade on Qatar, climate change, priva-cy in digital age and modern border disputes.

“The theme for this year urged delegates to chal-lenge the status quo in a constructive manner and become more active citizens

of the world,” explained Rana. “We wanted them to push the boundaries that they feel they are limited by and understand that they are the ones who can make the difference.”

The event was the culmi-nation of months of training and preparation by delegates and advisors. Before they could participate in the MUN conference, high school stu-dents needed to attend three rounds of intensive training to boost their negotiation skills. These sessions also helped GU-Q students gain experience chairing discus-sions, in order to obtain the proficiency needed to per-form their roles in the main MUN event.

QM wraps up archaeology activities seriesTRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA

QATAR Museums (QM) marked the end of a hugely successful se-ries of archaeology and heritage ac-tivities with an enjoyable, informa-tive and interactive workshop on traditional building methods that took place in the surroundings of Al Zubarah Fort.

The workshop welcomed over 100 children who took part in hands-on activities and learned about Qatar’s heritage.

Conducted in both Arabic and

English, workshop participants re-ceived expert instruction and guid-ance from members of the Cultural Heritage Department at QM on a range of historic techniques and methods used by the country’s pop-ulation historically to build shelters and homes.

Following an engaging over-view and explanation by the ex-perts, the interactive session gave participants the opportunity to put into practice what they had learned by building their own stone wall. Under careful guidance, they ap-plied the various ancient methods

and approaches, including mixing their own mortar. They worked collaboratively in small groups to build a wall from the ground up.

The workshop reflects QM’s ongoing and continued efforts to put local communities in touch with their past, reminding them of the skills and wisdom of their ancestors.

The event marked the finale of a months-long series of archaeologi-cal activities designed to engage the community and spread awareness and appreciation for a wide range of historical and traditional crafts

and practices. These included pres-entations, practical workshops and hands-on demonstrations by a wide range of craftsmen and pro-fessionals, specially tailored to resi-dents and visitors.

The carefully prepared pro-gramme and numerous events included in QM’s archaeological activities took place in a range of locations around Qatar including the UNESCO World Heritage site Al Zubarah Fort. The workshops ran every Friday and Saturday over the past four months.

The activities have been very

well received by the community. To date more than 300 adults and children have taken part, and the feedback received has been over-whelmingly positive.

The level of engagement makes this initiative one of the most suc-cessful organised by QM to date in terms of engaging the local com-munity in Qatar’s cultural history and heritage.

Commenting on the work-shop and the wider programme of Archaeological Activities, Dr Ali Jassim al Kubaisi (acting chief archaeology officer) from the

Cultural Heritage Department at Qatar Museums said: “Qatar has a rich and long history and important cultural traditions and practices of which the coun-try can rightly be very proud of. Our team are fully committed to developing a range of interactive and engaging opportunities de-signed to bring to life the wisdom, experience and knowledge of our ancestors. We’re thrilled with the response to our series of archaeo-logical activities to date and with the way they seem to have cap-tured the public’s imagination.”

Interactive event proves to be a big hit with young participants.

HBKU’s QCRI to hold creativespace computing fair for kids


QATAR Computing Research In-stitute (QCRI), a part of Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), is holding a Creative Space Fair – a day packed with innovative learning activities – on March 10.

School-aged children will be able to attend this free event.

Creative Space Fair will in-clude activities in the little Bits Playground, allowing children to build complex digital inventions in a few seconds. Additionally, children will be able to build their own bubble machines, create 3D objects using 3D pens and make origami critters with their own motors. The youngsters will also be able to interact with Anki Coz-mo, an artificial intelligence toy robot with a big brain.

Some of the more advanced activities on offer during the fair will include developing apps to install on their own devices us-ing App Inventor, learning to de-

velop with Arduino and turning phones into hologram projects. Participants will also be able to play Maze Star, a custom-made

game that allows them to explore their ideas while learning about human-computer interaction, web design, privacy, coding, de-

bugging and more.QCRI’s Director of Educa-

tional Initiatives, Dr Eman Fituri, has asked parents to register their children early, as QCRI’s Crea-tive Space events usually fill up quickly. Children in three age cat-egories, which are six and under, seven to 10, and 11 to 14, should be registered and accompanied by an adult.

The fair will be hosted in both Arabic and English and will be held from 11am to 1pm on March 10 on the ground floor at the HBKU Research Complex in Edu-cation City.

Interested applicants may register online by visiting: ‘www.qcri.org.qa’.

WISE to host WISE@Accraconference in Ghana this May


THE World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE), an initiative of Qatar Foundation (QF), in partner-ship with the office of the president of Ghana, Akufo-Addo, is to hold a conference for education stake-holders and change-makers in Af-rica to share the latest innovations in learning.

The WISE@Accra conference will take place in Ghana’s capital, Accra, on May 11, under the theme ‘Unlocking the World’s Potential: Leading and Innovating for Quality Education in Africa’.

The event will engage promi-nent leaders, policy-makers and young people on working towards an improved and connected educa-tion system. “With almost half of the world’s youth living in Africa, the entire international community stands to benefit from empowering the leaders and change-makers of tomorrow,” said Stavros Yiannouka, CEO, WISE.

The event will address topics

such as quality education, ethical leadership, teacher training, teach-ing 21st century skills, funding and partnership accountability. Regional collaboration to tackle development challenges will also be discussed.

WISE hosted its biennial summit in Doha in November 2017, which brought together some of the bright-est minds in education from all over the world. During his keynote ad-dress to the conference, Ghana’s president highlighted education as a fundamental pillar to achieve prosperity. “The countries that have done well, even without natural re-sources, are the ones that have in-vested in education,” he said.

The summit also awarded the winner of the sixth prestigious WISE Prize for Education to Dr Patrick Awuah, Founder and President of Ashesi University College in Ghana. The university is empowering Gha-naian youth with entrepreneurship, ethics and leadership skills to build the future of the region.

Visit ‘www.wise-qatar.org’ to learn about the latest innovations in education.

Creative Space Fair will include activities allowing children to build complex digital inven-tions in a few seconds

Nathan J Citino is a professor at Rice Univer-sity who spe-cialises in the history of US and the world with a focus on the Middle East. His talk focused on modernisation as a key theme of US-Arab re-lations during the Cold War

Nation


QU Pharmacy Chapter holds ‘Go Smart’ eventTRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA

QATAR University Alumni As-sociation (QUAA) Pharmacy Chapter held a ‘Go Smart’ event at Aspire Park in Doha on Saturday (February 24).

The event was aimed to raise community awareness on health-related websites and social media platforms and to provide the public with tips to evaluate the credibility of these sites.

The event brought togeth-er health experts from Qatar University (QU), Aspetar and Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) to share their knowl-edge and provide ways to as-sess digital health education in various areas such as nutri-tion, sports, medication, ma-ternal and child health, skin care, and more.

Attendees included QU President Dr Hassan al Der-ham, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education and

Higher Education and QUAA Vice-President Dr Ibrahim Saleh al Noaimi, and QU Col-lege of Pharmacy (CPH) Dean Dr Mohammad Diab, Assist-ant Dean for Student Affairs Dr Alla al Awaisi and Profes-sor and Director of Research

and Graduate Studies, Medical and Health Sciences Dr Feras Alali, as well as CPH faculty, students and staff.

The event’s programme featured a presentation titled ‘Technology in medicine’. It was delivered by CPH PharmD

graduate and Pharmacy Chap-ter President Rasha Abdul Kader Mousa Bacha.

In her remarks, Rasha said: “Nowadays, modern technol-ogy and social media had in-vaded our lives in many areas including health, sports and

arts. This implies the highly dependency of people on social networking for health educa-tion, which affects the credibil-ity and reputability of these sites and sources. This event aims at educating the various segments of Qatari society on

the importance of getting the right health information from its trusted resources. It is one of our most important respon-sibilities towards the commu-nity as QU graduates.”

CPH graduate and Phar-macy Chapter Vice-President

for External Relations, Aala Faisal, said: “Social commu-nication plays an important role in our lives, but when it comes to our health we should be more careful in using it to maintain the effectiveness of the resources usage.”

ASD’s Friendship Festivalbrings communities together

THE spirit of Friendship Festival is expressed during a special time of the year for the American School of Doha (ASD).

The Friendship Festival has been a part of the ASD community for 24 years, and continues to embrace its mission of bringing Doha together. ASD Director, Thomas Hawkins, ex-presses how this special day is a time for communities to come together and mingle. Many of the people who visit the Friendship Festival are from the Doha community at large.

The traditionally enthusiastic day is for families to bring their children and friends, to enjoy a day filled with games, prizes, food, and most impor-tantly fundraising for a cause. Last Friday, ASD held its annual Friend-ship Festival celebration, which racked in over 4,000 people, from different backgrounds, showcasing the true multicultural State of Qatar.

It’s a day where children can come into their schools with excitement in their eyes, to show their parents where their identities and talents are cherished. It’s the day where parents come together to feel the atmosphere their children are growing up in.

The event is organised by the Parent Teacher Association (PTA), a group that is led by parents, and

teachers who volunteer their time to build such a successful event. Lori, Chair of The Friendship Festi-val, states, “Without the volunteers, and our teachers being able to help us throughout the planning of the Friendship Festival, it wouldn’t be possible to construct such an event.”

The Friendship Festival hosts a wide range of games and activities, as well as glorious food stalls for the children and adults to experience. The children are excited to come and play games that are accompanied by winning prizes and often dunking teachers into a tank, and the adults are intrigued by the market vendor choices. This year, ASD expanded their groundwork of fun activities into their newest elementary field, which included miniature bouncy castles for the young ones.

Friendship Festival has always had a foreground of embracing and showcasing different vendors, whether it be food stations, to home grown businesses. Market vendors, which are stationed in the school’s gym, showcase a broad spectrum of talents. Sheggy, a clothing vendor at ASD, states, “I’ve been coming to ASD since 2005, and each year my business becomes more and more successful. Customers like the clothes

that I bring here, because it's’ some-thing you can’t find in Doha.”

As ASD Director Thomas Hawkins states, “It’s like coming to a giant souq, where people can come and buy silent sales.”

Moreover, with such a success-ful event, there’s no affluence to the event, without raising money for a cause. All the money raised during the Friendship Festival is put back into the school, to support the kids in funding for school projects, facilities, and serv-ice trips. Recently, some of the fund-ing that was raised was put into an organisation called the Hope for Edu-cation and Leadership in Afghanistan (HELA). HELA a non-profit organisa-tion in Afghanistan that devotes it’s time to teaching Afghan children how to research, debate and gain leader-ship skills to be a part of MUN (Model United Nations). Without the help of people willing to come and support this event, for specific causes, projects like HELA wouldn’t be able to flourish in such a successful way.

The ASD Parent Teacher Asso-ciation would like to thank our won-derful team of Friendship Festival sponsors which have helped to sup-port and grow the Festival into such a wonderful fun-filled day for families.

(By LATEEFA FARAH, ASD ALUMNA)

Once upon a time, Mounira al Romaihi visited ASD

THE best thing as a child is getting to read a story right before bed. As you try hard to stay awake, you slow-ly feel the weight of your eyes shut-ting, and thus you become the story.

Children’s books hold a special space for imagination and escape. Children have a strong will power to try new things and take on new chal-lenges.

On January 25, the elementary students of the American of School Doha (ASD) were granted a treat from the Arabic Mothers Asso-ciation. Nisreen, who is one of the mothers in the association explains how, “the Arabic book fair is an educational festival where reading, language and culture blend together to nourish the community. Every year we try to include new titles, introduce new learning tools, invite different authors, and this is all to support one of our most important missions in the school, which is sup-porting the learning about Arabic language and culture by members of the ASD community.”

A well respected, Qatar based author named Mounira al Romaihi, came to the school for an intimate reading event with children who took Arabic as a second language.

During her time at the American School of Doha, she managed to read two of her latest books called ‘Angry Majid’ and ‘I Look Like The Moon’. Romaihi has devoted her time to creating children’s books in Arabic, which are then translated to English.

Romaihi has had a strong love for writing and reading since her early days of elementary. As the young children expressed shock in their face, wondering how she would write at the age of 12, she explained how it became a hobby. She loved expressing herself, and the older she got the more her voice roared.

In ‘I Look Like The Moon’, read-

ers get a grasp of a sensitive topic on cancer and how a young boy seeks to find out the answer about this dis-ease. His relationship with the moon showcases Romaihi’s extremely po-etic style. Her ability to restructure a topic so hard-hitting, into something lighthearted where one can see the light at the end of the tunnel. She ex-presses the courageousness of brave children who continue to fight a long battle with cancer, and how they be-come strong individuals who never give up on hope.

The importance of this book can create an environment for the youth to continue to ask questions without being shy. Romaihi explains how her books are inspired by her children as their connection creates openness for questions and concerns. The authenticity in her stories creates a space for relativity between parents and children. The sentimental time between a parent and a child during story time, is something that is cher-ished amongst many children.

Therefore, with stories like ‘I Look Like The Moon’, children can learn that they don’t need to be re-luctant to ask questions of what they see, hear and feel.

(By LATEEFA FARAH)

EMRA’A holds 3rd Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day


EXXONMOBIL Qatar’s Pro-fessional Women’s Network, EMRA’A has held its third ‘In-troduce a Girl to Engineering Day’ this week.

Held in conjunction with INJAZ Qatar, the event, which is an extension of an annual programme organised by Exx-onMobil in the United States and around the world, took place at Vision International School, Al Wakra.

‘Introduce a Girl to En-gineering Day’ is designed to increase interest in engineer-ing among middle school stu-

dents. It features hands-on activities and interaction with female engineers and profes-sionals with a background in science, technology, engi-neering and math (STEM) subjects.

As part of the day’s events, more than 30 girls from grade 6 and 7 joined a group of 15 ExxonMobil Qatar volunteers. Together, they took part in fun and stimulating activities that encouraged the students to explore basic engineering concepts with guidance from the volunteers.

The programme’s main activity involved the girls working as a team to accom-

plish a stated set of goals while performing specific roles and responsibilities within the team to simulate various project management skills. Students had to use their im-aginations and then put their STEM skills to test by working together to build load-bearing bridges out of raw spaghetti and marshmallows.

Students then had a dis-cussion with the ExxonMobil Qatar volunteers who spoke about their professional expe-riences and how rewarding a career in engineering can be. The discussion highlighted the exciting and often unique work of scientists, technolo-

gists, engineers and math-ematicians and the resulting impact on society.

“I can’t stress enough how important ‘Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day’ is for our young female students,” said Sara al Madadi, business ana-lyst for ExxonMobil Qatar, who delivered the introduc-tion at the event. “We need to encourage young girls to develop their STEM skills, lay-ing the foundation for further scientific exploration as they grow. One of the most effec-tive things we can do is to en-courage young girls to enter engineering and other STEM careers by simply telling them

our story. Most people have a partial understanding of what it is that engineers do – and it’s up to us in the STEM fields to develop and nurture that view through events like this one.”

“Introduce a girl to engi-neering is a wonderful pro-gramme that is effective in introducing students to the world of engineering,” said Emad al Khaja, chief execu-tive officer, INJAZ Qatar. “We are pleased to have helped our partner ExxonMobil Qa-tar hold this unique event in Doha for the second time – it is truly a unique way to help students develop a passion for engineering.”

‘Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day’ is designed to increase interest in engineering among middle school students.

The event was aimed to raise community awareness on health-related websites and social media platforms.

The Friendship Festival has been a part of the ASD community for 24 years, and continues its mission of bringing Doha together. Mounira al Romaihi has devoted her time to creating children’s books in Arabic, which are then translated to English.

THE Trump administration has sig-nalled to the warring Gulf countries to take the first necessary step to pre-pare the ground for the resolution of the crisis before the President can get

involved in the mediation bid. Though the administration has from time to time tried to push the Gulf nations to join the Kuwaiti mediation to reach understanding over the contentious issues that divide them, it has realised that it would require more concert-ed and direct efforts to bring the warring parties to the negotiating table.

The shuttle diplomacy on part of the Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has met virtually no success. The diplomatic push so far has been limited to nudge the quartet of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt to join the Kuwaiti media-tion and engage with Qa-tar with open mind. But the US President seems to have come to a conclusion that more needs to be done to bring the parties to the negotiating table.

It sounds reasonable that the US administra-tion is working on con-vincing the quartet to make concrete progress towards resolution of the crisis before Pres-ident Trump can host a Camp David sum-mit. It’s not yet clear what measures the US expects the Gulf countries to take to show that progress had been made before holding the summit. However, there are reports that the US has asked the quartet to lift the air blockade of Qatar as a step to show that they are serious about resolving the crisis.

Qatar on its part has been insisting that the siege must be lifted forthwith. Qatar’s stand that the siege be lifted has been whol-ly supported by the international commu-nity as well as human rights organisations. It stands to reason that the US administra-tion is now nudging the quartet to lift the air blockade as a precondition for holding the much talked about Camp David summit.

The administration has announced that it will be sending two seasoned and expe-rienced Gulf hands to the region to work on its plan. Tim Lenderking, the top State Department official for the Gulf, and retired Marine Corps General Anthony Zinni will be meeting the leaders of the Gulf countries

to prepare the ground. They will be tasked with persuading the leaders to take concrete and tangible steps to show that they mean to engage in dialogue to find a solution to the crisis. In absence of tangible measures, prospects of holding any meaningful nego-tiation will not fructify.

Besides ending the air blockade the na-tions that have imposed the siege would also do well to end the humanitarian crisis that have arisen in the aftermath of the siege. It’s been nine months since the blockade, which has brought untold miseries upon the peo-ple of Qatar as well as upon the people from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt. The siege has forced a large number of indi-viduals and families to separate from their near and dear ones, which include spouses

and children being separat-ed. It has forced students to miss academic year and businessmen and profes-sionals to lose their source of income. It’s difficult to measure the loss that families, especially women and children have had to endure. Qatar’s National Human Rights Committee has meticulously prepared lists of the people who have

been the victims of the siege with no fault of theirs and apprised the United Nations Hu-man Rights Council and other international organisations of the same.

It’s important that human rights issues be addressed too along with lifting the air blockade as necessary conditions to pre-pare the ground for calling a summit of the Gulf leaders and holding a meaningful dialogue. Qatar’s Foreign Ministry Spokes-person Lulwah al Khater has reminded the international community of the importance of easing the human rights situations for finding a solution to the crisis. At a press conference in Geneva on Friday, she also re-minded the world that the nations who had imposed the siege were talking in air about engaging in dialogue while they continued to tarnish the image of Qatar through false propaganda and slanderous campaign. The quartet must take urgent measures to stop their campaign, lift the air blockade and end the humanitarian crisis to prepare the necessary conditions for holding a mean-ingful dialogue.

Lift The Air Blockade Of Qatar

The US administration has rightly asked the quartet to end the air blockade to prepare the ground

for holding a summit of Gulf leaders

Mistakes Most People Make When Giving Negative Feedback

PICTURE this. There's a team of en-thusiastic employees working on a project. Everyone is super excited to be a part of the project, and they can't wait to succeed.

Then, the boss comes in and points out something that one of the employees did wrong. He berates the employee in front of everyone and then leaves.

Guess what happens next?You don't have to be a mind reader to

figure this out. The criticism sucks the en-thusiasm right out of the room. Suddenly, no one is excited about working on the project, especially the employee who re-ceived the criticism.

Ineffective leaders are quick to criti-cise, and they love doing it in front of eve-ryone as a sign of their power. Effective leaders understand that while criticism is a part of the job, it should only be used in a constructive way, and it should be done in private.

Live by this mantra as a leader.Praise in public, and constructively

criticise in private.How to Provide CriticismSo, just how do you provide criticism?

You can't just go in and tell someone that he or she is doing X, Y, and Z incorrectly, even if you do it in private. As with every other aspect of leadership, you need a strategy. That way, you will maintain a positive atmosphere, even when providing criticism.

Check Your Ratio. Criticism and praise are both an important part of the business world. Effective leaders don't only provide praise, nor do they only pro-vide criticism. Instead, they find the sweet spot between the two.

Academic Emily Heaphy and consult-ant Marcial Losada conducted a study that determined the best-performing teams give an average of 5.6 positive comments for every criticism. That means you need to praise someone between five and six times for every criticism you deliver. This will ensure the employee feels appreciated and will make him or her more likely to ac-cept your criticism.

Take Emotions Out of It. When you provide praise, you want to connect to the recipient on an emotional level. That shows your employee that the praise is sincere. On the other hand, emotion has

no place in criticism. If you're emotional when you provide criticism, you're more likely to say something unnecessary, rude, or demeaning. The same is true for the employee. Don't offer the criticism when the employee is emotional. Wait until both of you are calm and clear. Then, offer the feedback. You are more likely to get your message across, and the employee is more likely to receive it.

Be Clear and Concise. Giving criti-cism is almost as uncomfortable as re-ceiving it. No one likes criticism, and that causes us to talk around the issue. We start describing the behaviour, and before we know it, we're talking about something else entirely. The recipient is confused, and nothing gets done.

Instead, you need to be clear and con-cise about the behaviour. Give the who, what, when, and where of the situation. Be sure to provide examples, as well. Two or three strong examples should get the point across.

Go Over the Impact of the Behav-iour. It's important for the employee to know how his or her behaviour impacts you or others at the company. That means you need to explain the impact. For in-stance, if someone said something inap-propriate, say you were embarrassed or uncomfortable. Show the cause-and-effect relationship between the behaviour and the consequence.

Explain the Desired Behaviour. You want your criticisms to be construc-tive, which means you need to talk about the desired behaviour. That way, your

employee can make a change for the bet-ter. Explain the desired outcome and talk about what the employee needs to do to reach that outcome. If your employee has exhibited the desired behaviour in the past, talk about that, too.

Ask the Employee for Feedback. Employees can feel as if they don't have a voice when facing criticism. You need to empower the employee by asking for his or her feedback. Ask the employee what he or she thinks and if he or she would like to provide any input. Maybe the employee is exhibiting the behaviour for a reason that you need to address. You won't know un-less you ask.

The TakeawayYou can't praise your employees all the

time, and you can't criticise them all the time, either. Effective leaders know how to use praise and criticism to get the desired results. That includes criticising employ-ees the right way. If you can do that, your employees will feel appreciated while also receiving the guidance they need to meet your company's goals. You will create a better work environment, and everyone will work together for the best outcome.

GORDON TREDGOLD | TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

ESTABLISHED SEPTEMBER 3, 2006

PRINTED AT ALI BIN ALI PRINTING PRESS

HAMAD BIN SUHAIM AL THANI CHAIRMANADEL ALI BIN ALI MANAGING DIRECTORDR HASSAN MOHAMMED AL ANSARI EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

“HUMAN beings are not prop-erty… let us reaffirm the inherent dignity of all men, women, and children. And let us redouble our efforts so

that the words of the Universal Declara-tion of Human Rights — ‘no one shall be held in slavery or servitude’ — ring true.”

– Kofi Annan

Lately, some aid agencies have been in the news for all the wrong reasons. Some of their staff have accused of perverse behaviour on duty — they were found of-fering handouts in exchange for sexual favours. Adding to the shock, however, is the way honchos at these human aid or-ganisations have been trying to explain away this perversity. They are offering ali-bis like the loneliness of these men, their long deployment away from families, or for being stationed in distant, inhospita-ble terrains, etc.

Can any of these factors hide the fact that these are the people supposed to be acting as the “protectors” of human dignity, the ones tasked with —and, of course, drawing their salaries for—pro-viding succor to the unfortunate victims of dire circumstances not of their making, in conflict zones, in areas hit by natural calamities, etc.?

Of course not. The recent revelations by the Inter-

national Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), that as many as 23 of its staff members had left since 2015 over sexual misconduct charges, make it the latest hu-manitarian organisation to be hit by abuse allegations. This has virtually shaken the aid sector exposing once more the deep-rooted fault lines that keep popping up every now and then. Sierra Leone, Chad, Liberia, Central African Republic, Haiti… the list is long. A fairly long one at that.

As it turns out, a large number of local women in countries with substantial pres-ence of aid agencies have been made to work as “sex workers”, often in exchange for handouts, and in some cases, even for food.

There have been well documented cases of UN peacekeepers sexually abus-ing local women with the victims includ-ing children as well.

A recent incident involves British charity Oxfam's country director in Haiti who has admitted to using sex workers at his residence during a relief mission. This is a breach of trust of humongous propor-tions. If those working with humanitarian aid agencies can indulge in sexual exploi-tation of women, abusing them, forcing them into submission, can we expect the fight against the global trafficking mafia going anywhere in the desired direction? It's too dreadful a thought, frankly. But this precisely is what has hit us in the face.

Across the nooks and corners of the

globe, in situations of natural or man-made adversities, women are being forced into sexual slavery, sometimes reported, often unreported, wherein they have had to forsake control over their very own bodies.

It’s the tale of an unequal and exploit-ative transaction where the victim hardly has a choice. That there have been in-stances of women —as well as children— being made to offer sexual services in ex-change for food, is a case in point.

Even otherwise, these transactions paint an imbalance of power wherein lo-cal women’s vulnerability in conflict zones is exploited to the hilt. These unfortunate beings are being termed as “sex workers” while they cannot even comprehend the exploitative context in which these crimes are being committed.

When it comes to conflicts or wars, mankind has been known to be fighting its wars on the bodies of the women. His-tory is replete with these incidents. It’s been happening in the present. And, it’ll likely continue like this in the foreseeable future unless the men-folk change their mindset. It’s precisely such a mindset that

goads an aid worker into offering food to a deprived woman in exchange for sex.

However, what this kind of deprav-ity does is to prevent the light of civilisa-tion from travelling through the conflict zones of our “modern” world. That’s the kind of message that emanates, for exam-ple, from the scandal involving the ICRC, which has more than 17,000 staff world-wide and, as such, bans its staff from pay-ing for sexual services. Or, for that matter, the UN peacekeeping missions, agencies, funds and programmes and the imple-menting partners, that have time and again faced allegations of sexual exploita-tion and abuse.

With the trickle of allegations now turning into a torrent, and the involve-ment of even those holding top positions coming into the open, it seems to have forced the system to call for an emergency action. Whether such as a course-correc-tive action is delivered in a fool-proof way is another debate altogether.

While aid agency bosses have prom-ised to crack down on such elements, one would argue, it’s time for immediate, cor-rectional steps towards global safeguard-ing practices and policies. It’s about cre-ating a culture where those tasked with helping the distraught never ever stooped to such levels where they themselves met-amorphosed into exploitative devils.

And to the countless vulnerable wom-en out there, a quote from an Anonymous:

‘Don’t let those wicked men win,don’t let them destroy you…’

Time For Aid Staff To Shun Toxic Mentality

MEHRE ALAM | TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

The aid sector has been shaken by a wave of allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse putting the spotlight once again on the turpitude of those involved

and the vulnerability of women, including underage girls, in conflict zones

Criticism at workplaces should only be used in a constructive way, and it should be done in private

Opinion

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED ON THE OPINION AND ANALYSIS PAGES ARE THE AUTHORS’ OWN. QATAR TRIBUNE BEARS NO RESPONSIBILITY.

A large number of local women in countries with substantial pres-ence of aid agencies have been made to work as ‘sex workers’, often in exchange for handouts, and in some cases, even for food

It’s important that human rights issues be addressed too along with lifting the air blockade as necessary con-ditions to prepare the ground for calling a summit of the Gulf leaders and holding a meaningful dialogue


AFPKUALA LUMPUR

A NEW hunt for flight MH370 is expected to end by mid-June, Malaysian authorities said on Saturday, as families marked four years since the disappearance of the plane amid renewed hope.

The Malaysia Airlines jet disappeared on March 8, 2014 with 239 people -- mostly from China -- on board, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

No sign of the plane was found in a 120,000 square kil-ometre (46,000 square mile) sea search zone and the Aus-tralian-led hunt, the largest in aviation history, was suspend-ed in January last year.

But the Malaysian gov-ernment struck a “no find, no fee” deal with exploration firm Ocean Infinity to resume the search in an area north of the original zone, that scientists

now believe is the likeliest crash site.

The hunt restarted in January, with a research ves-sel deploying eight high-tech drones to scour the seabed.

Officials had said the search would last a maximum of 90 days.

Speaking as families marked four years since the plane disappeared in the Ma-

laysian capital, the country’s civil aviation chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said that this would be spread over several months as the ship needed to stop sometimes to refuel.

The hunt is expected to end by mid-June, he said.

“Hopefully, we will be able to identify the location of MH370,” he said at the anniversary event at a Kuala

Lumpur shopping mall.By the end of Febru-

ary, research vessel Seabed

Constructor had surveyed 8,200 square kilometres of the 25,000 square kilome-

tre search area, according to Ocean Infinity’s most recent update.

At Saturday’s event, rela-tives of the missing passen-gers spoke of their continuing sense of pain and loss.

But the new search meant there was also a glimmer of hope.

Jacquita Gonzales, whose husband Patrick Gomes was a steward on the flight, told the event she was “grateful” to the Malaysian government they had restarted the search.

“They have not given up hope, and neither have we.”

K. S. Narendran, whose wife Chandrika Sharma was on the flight, was more cau-tious.

“Am I hopeful? It’s hard to say -- there are a number of ‘ifs’,” he told AFP.

“If the data is right, if the analysis is right, if they are searching in the right area.”

AFPMANILA

MORE than 100 drug sus-pects have been killed since Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the police to rejoin his “war on drugs”, an official said on Saturday.

Duterte was elected in 2016 on a promise to eradi-cate drugs, and launched an unprecedented campaign in which -- rights activists allege -- as many as 12,000 people have been killed.

Chief Superintendent John Bulalacao confirmed that 102 drug suspects were killed by police between De-cember 5 -- when Duterte or-dered the force to rejoin the drug war -- and March 1.

In October last year, the

president had announced that the Philippine Drug Enforce-ment Agency would replace the police in counter-nar-cotics operations following mounting public opposition, including rare street protests.

But Duterte, 72, also re-peatedly said the anti-drug agency, with only around 2,000 officers, would not be able to effectively conduct the crackdown.

He eventually ordered the police back into the anti-drug campaign without any major reform of the force.

Bulalacao could not give comparative figures for the death toll before December 5, but according to figures re-leased separately by the gov-ernment, 4,021 “drug person-alities” were killed between

June 2016 -- when Duterte took office -- and February 8 this year.

Activists allege that around 12,000 people have been killed in the drug war, many of them by shadowy vigilantes, and warn that the

fiery president may be carry-ing out a crime against hu-manity.

In early February, the prosecutor at the Interna-tional Criminal Court said she had opened a “preliminary examination” into the alleged

abuses.In recent weeks, the Phil-

ippine government has said it is willing to let a UN Special Rapporteur into the country to look into the accusations.

But the foreign secretary has called for fairness in the investigation, and Duterte has told police and the mili-tary to not cooperate with the rapporteur.

“If they ask you about wrongdoing, do not answer. And if they ask you why, tell them: we have a commander in chief,” Duterte told police and soldiers on Thursday.

Asked about this remark, Bulalacao said that if interna-tional investigators approach the police, “we shall refer this matter to the higher authori-ties.”

Dogs run for a cause in Manila

New hunt for MH370 likely to end in mid-June: Official

MANILA A chorus of dog barks filled the grounds of the Philip-pine Mall of Asia in Manila on Saturday as thousands of canines ran with their owners in this year’s Pet Express Doggie Run to raise funds for charity. Wearing yellow bandanas around their neck, tiny chihuahuas, labradors, shih tzu, great danes, beagles and their owners raced to win trophies, bottles of dog shampoo and sacks of dog food. The entry fees will help raise funds for the Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), a non-government organisation focused on preventing animal cruelty. The Pet Express Doggie Run started with 350 partici-pants eight years ago and now attracts thousands of pet own-ers. (REUTERS)

Over 100 killed after Philippine police return to war on drugs

Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) agents and police secure part of a street as they search a house looking for a drug dealer during a raid in Maharlika village, Taguig, south of Manila, recently. (AFP)

Family members hold candles during the fourth annual remem-brance event for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Saturday. (REUTERS)

DPAMANILA

THE European Union has allocated 3.8 million euros (4.6 million dollars) to fund drug rehabilitation centres in the Philippines, where thousands of people have been killed in a controver-sial campaign against illegal drugs.

Stefano Manservisi, di-rector general for interna-tional cooperation and de-velopment of the European Commission, announced the funding on Friday after meetings with government officials.

The aid will be part of the EU’s 250-million-euro development assistance package allocated for the Philippines.

“This is the last im-portant component of this programme that we will dis-burse in the net days,” Man-servisi said.

Last year, President Ro-drigo Duterte’s government rejected an aid package worth 6.1 million euros from the EU, which has criticised his anti-drug war amid the mounting death toll.

Duterte has accused the EU of interfering in the country’s domestic affairs by attaching conditions on its assistance, such as im-posing human rights regu-lations in exchange for the aid.

Manservisi denied im-posing “unilateral condi-tionalities” in the EU’s aid, adding that under a partner-ship cooperation agreement signed in 2012, the Philip-pines and the regional bloc can discuss any objections to development projects.

“In this context, when each side has a problem, we raise it and we have mechanism to discuss and

address. Therefore, there is no unilateral kind of condi-tion,” he said.

Since police resumed anti-drug operations in De-cember after a two-month suspension in 2017, at least 102 suspected drug pushers and users have been killed until March 1, according to official data.

Before the latest count, the Philippine Drug En-forcement Agency said 4,021 suspects were killed in police anti-drug opera-tions between July 1, 2016 and February 8, 2018.

But New York-based Human Rights Watch has noted that estimates by lo-cal rights and church groups place the death toll at up to 13,000 people, includ-ing those suspected to have been murdered by hired or vigilante killers.

EU gives 3.8 mn euros to fund drug rehab centres in Philippines

Taiwan celebrates Chinese New Year with Lantern Festival 2018

IANSCHIAYI

ADDING exuberance to the Chinese New Year celebrations, Chiayi announced the opening of the 29th edition of Taiwan Lantern Festival on Friday with the lighting of the lantern in the Chiayi County area.

According to the officials, the exhibition scale for this year’s festival reaches 50 hec-tares, making it the biggest lantern festival ever held in Taiwan.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen turned on the lights on Friday evening to mark the opening of the 2018 Taiwan Lantern Festival, which will run until March 11.

At a press conference, Chou, Yung-Hui, Director Gen-eral, Tourism Bureau, Ministry of Transportation and Commu-nications here, said the festival combines technology and art.

“It will be on for 10 days and there will be water foun-tain show and light show. Also, the lantern area features a tree of life inspired by Indian tapestry art, an art work made of bamboo, and a dog shaped lantern which features our culture,” he said.

He hopes visitors get a sense of local culture of Tai-wan through the Lantern Festival. “The lantern festival attracts international visitors and we are looking forward to international visitors in Chiayi too. We want to promote re-gional tourism,” he added.

The exhibition features the main lantern (Nature-born Loyalty), which depicts an in-digenous child with Taiwanese dog portraying the theme of loyal auspiciousness.

Activists allege that around 12,000 people have been killed since start of drug war

Cambodia PM accuses US of lying over aid cut

REUTERSPHNOM PENH

CAMBODIA’S prime minister on Saturday accused the US government of being dishonest in its announced suspension of aid to the Southeast Asian nation, saying Cambodia had already stopped receiving aid from Washington in 2016.

The White House said on Tuesday it was suspending or curtailing several Treasury, USAID and military assistance programmes that support Cambodia’s military, taxa-tion department and local au-thorities - all of which, it said, shared blame for recent politi-cal instability.

In his first public com-ments since the announced aid suspension, Prime Minister Hun Sen accused US Ambas-sador to Cambodia William Heidt of lying, saying aid cuts

to Cambodia’s tax department were made in 2016.

“We, the 16 million peo-ple, didn’t receive American aid in the tax sector. This aid was already finished in 2016,” Hun Sen said in a speech to thousands of garment work-ers in the southern province of Preah Sihanouk.

“Please, US Ambassador, answer this one question: why did you announce cutting aid while there is no aid? Do you intend to distort the reputa-tion of Cambodia?”

The US Embassy in Phnom Penh declined to comment.

The White House decision comes amid an ongoing crack-down by the government and its allies against critics of Hun Sen ahead of a July general election. The crackdown has targeted some non-governmental organ-isations, independent media and opposition lawmakers.

Director-General for Interna-tional Cooperation and Devel-opment of the European Union Stefano Manservisi

Families of missing passengers mark 4th year of tragedy KUALA LUMPUR The families of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 passengers and crew held a remembrance event in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, less than a week before the March 8 anniversary of the plane’s disappearance four years ago with 239 people on board. The memorial event at an outdoor open space of a mall in Kuala Lumpur included shows by local performers and tributes by the next of kin from India, Malaysia and China. The event also saw experts speak about air crash investigations, the psychological impact of the case and the importance of family support associations for the victims. (DPA)

Dog owners and their pets jog through an open road as they participate in the annual Doggie Run outside a mall in Pasay city, metro Manila, Philippines, on Saturday. (REUTERS)

Duterte has accused the EU of interfering in the country’s domestic affairs by attaching con-ditions on its assistance, such as imposing human rights regulations in exchange for the aid

Duterte rebuffs UN human rights investigation in the Philippines

MANILA Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered police not to cooperate with UN human rights investigators, but remained open to a separate, impartial look into alleged rights violations in the country, his spokesman said Saturday. Duterte’s order to reject the UN probe was made because “he thinks the UN rapporteur that wants to come to the country is biased and has already made a conclusion before investigating,” said presidential spokesman Harry Roque. “We will cooperate with people who ... [have] the integrity to investigate first before making a conclusion,” said Roque. (DPA)

Philippines / Southeast Asia 09Sunday, March 4, 2018

REUTERSISLAMABAD

PAKISTAN'S ruling party gained control of parliament's upper house in a secret ballot on Saturday, local media said, in a boost for the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party ahead of a general election due in summer.

The result may revive the political fortunes of ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who has clashed with the judi-ciary since the Supreme Court ended his premiership in July by disqualifying him from office over undeclared assets.

"PMLN now the single largest party in Senate as well,

Masha'Allah," tweeted Sharif's daughter and presumed heir, Maryam Nawaz Sharif.

Candidates backed by PML-N won 15 of the 52 seats up for grabs, overtaking Pakistan Peo-ples Party (PPP) as the biggest group in the upper house, ac-cording to Geo TV channel and other media. PPP candidates won 12 seats.

Working with allied parties in the senate, PML-N should have de facto control of the 104-seat chamber.

Lawmakers from the four provincial assemblies and the federal parliament voted in se-cret on the new senators, who are due to serve six-year terms. Unlike the last senate elec-

tions in 2015, lawmakers were not even allowed to take their phones into the assemblies dur-ing the vote.

Winning control of the Sen-ate could enable the PML-N to change the constitution to make Sharif eligible to hold office again when the party contests a national election due later this year.

PML-N has not spoken about amending the constitu-tion, but it has been on a colli-sion course with the judiciary since the Supreme Court ousted Sharif from power.

Last month the top court again disqualified Sharif by re-moving him as head of PML-N, the political party he founded.

Sharif has been deeply critical of the judiciary, accusing it of a conspiracy to hurt his party and Pakistan's civilian leaders.

Mushahid Hussain Sayed, who won a seat in capital Islam-abad, told media that the senate victory vindicates Sharif's politi-

cal "narrative" with voters.The official results will not

immediately show how well PML-N has done because a number of candidates were barred from running under the party's banner after Sharif was removed from office.

Pakistan’s ruling PML-N gains control of senate in secret vote

DAWN.COMWASHINGTON

THE Uni ted States has assured Pakistan that it does not want to sever bilateral ties with this important ally while Islama-bad extended its “wholehearted support” to the US-backed Af-ghan offer of peace talks with the Taliban.

The two statements sup-plement renewed efforts to im-prove relations between the US and Pakistan which were once close allies in the war against terror.

The move for improving ties began last week when Washing-ton sent a senior Trump aide to Islamabad for talks with Paki-stani leaders. And on Thursday, official sources in Washington said that Foreign Secretary Te-hmina Janjua will visit Wash-ington next week for a series of meetings with senior American officials. In an interview to VOA radio in Kabul on Friday, US

State Department’s Acting As-sistant Secretary for South and Central Asia Alice Wells said the US was not thinking of cut-ting ties with Pakistan.

She also assured Islama-bad that the US considered Pakistan essential to resolving the Afghan imbroglio. Asked if Washington could sever its re-

lations with Pakistan, Ms Well said: “On the contrary, we are backing Pakistan against all militant groups.”

In Islamabad, Foreign Min-ister Khawaja Asif told report-ers that Pakistan “wholeheart-edly supports Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s latest offer of peace talks to the Taliban be-

cause “it’s a good move and a healthy move towards restor-ing peace in Afghanistan”.

Earlier, a top US general also dispelled the impression that the United States and Paki-stan were on a collision course. “We have preserved the valu-able military-to-military rela-tionship with Pakistan” while working to increase transpar-ency and communication with military leaders, Gen Joseph Votel, head of the US Central Command told a congressional panel in Washington this week.

In Washington, diplomat-ic observers are describing Foreign Secretary Janjua’s March 6-8 visit to Washing-ton as a positive develop-ment, noting that it follows a surprise trip to Islamabad last week by a senior Trump of-ficial, Lisa Curtis, who spoke of the need to build a new re-lationship with Pakistan after her talks with senior Pakistani officials.

US, Pakistan inch towards better relations

Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua.

(File photo) The National Assembly of Pakistan.

Winning control of the upper house could enable PML-N to change the constitution making ex-PM Nawaz eligible to hold office again

A shot in the arm for Sharif

News in brief

MALE: The Maldives opposition denounced on Saturday the arrest of 17 protesters, including three MPs of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), in the latest round of defiance against the emergency imposed by President Abdulla Yameen a month ago. The opposition, led by the MDP, said in a joint statement that police had arrested 17 demonstrators, including three MPs -- Abdulla Shahid, Abdul Latheef Mohamed and Abdulla Riyaz -- along with several activ-ists and council members of the party during the latest protests in the archipelago, which began on Friday and continued early Saturday, Maldives Independent reported. (IANS)

NEPAL: Lieutenant Colonel Ram Kaji Thapa of Nepal has taken over the command of The Observer Group Lebanon, which is part of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organisa-tion, from Commandant Peter Ott of Ireland. With the change of command, new OGL Chief Thapa has taken charge of 53 unarmed officers from 20 different countries, according to a statement issued by the UN. OGL observers support UN Interim Force in Lebanon in main-taining stability in the mission’s 1,060 sq km area. Operating under the overall leadership of UNTSO, their counterparts are also present in Israel. (HIMALAYAN NEWS SERVICE)

3 opposition party MPs among 17 arrested in Maldives protests Nepal Army officer takes command of Lebanon Observer Group


Celebrated Bangladeshi writer, secular activist stabbed in Sylhet: Police

AFPDHAKA

ONE of Bangladesh's top writers was attacked and in-jured in the northern city of Sylhet on Saturday, police said, the latest in a series of attacks on authors and blog-gers.

Police said Zafar Iqbal, a celebrated secular activist and bestselling science fic-tion writer, was rushed to a hospital in Sylhet after the attack.

"He was hit on the back of his head and he was bleed-ing," a police constable posted at the hospital said, speaking on condition of an-onymity.

Abdul Wahab, a spokes-man for the Sylhet city po-lice, confirmed the incident, saying police suspect he was attacked with a knife.

"He was in a seminar when he was attacked. His gunman caught an attacker," he said, referring to Iqbal's police guard. Bangladesh's government provides securi-ty for the country's top secu-lar writers and activists.

Police do not know how many people were involved in the attack nor whether they belonged to any Islamist extremist groups, he said.

"He has been taken to the operating theatre," he said.

Iqbal, who teaches at a state-run university in Sylhet, is a longstanding a champion of free speech and secularism in Bangladesh. He is also a top selling author and celebrity speaker who regularly appears at univer-sity campuses nationwide.

Suspected Islamist ex-tremists have carried out a series of attacks on secular and atheist writers and blog-gers in the last four years, killing around a dozen of them including a top Bangla-desh origin American atheist blogger.

Police have blamed homegrown extremist group Ansarullah Bangla Team, known as Ansar al Islam, linked with Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent for most of the attacks.

Horse-trading rampant in polls,says MQM leader Sattar

SINDH: Farooq Sattar of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement - Pakistan on Saturday levelled staggering allegations against the Pakistan Peoples Party, accusing the latter of indulging in horse-trading and of trying to turn MQM-P lawmakers over to their side. The senior MQM-P leader said it was the PPP’s hobby to indulge in horse-trading for their own benefit. “NASIR Shah (of PPP) is here and his leader is present as well. All the feudals should come and speak about how much money they have made, how much they have stolen, and how much taxes they have paid, and how much property they have accumu-lated. They should take an oath and appear before the camera,” the MQM-P leader demanded. (DAWN.COM)

Muhammad Zafar Iqbal.

Myanmar removes heavy weapons from Bangladesh border: MinisterUNB, Dhaka: Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan today said Myanmar has removed its heavy weapons from Tambru border in Bandarban following a flag meeting held on yesterday.

The minister came up with the information replying to a query from reporters at a programme arranged by Metropolitan Cooperative Society in Farmgate area of Dhaka. "During the flag meeting, the Myanmar authorities said they, upon receiving wrong information, deployed army and artillery along Tambru border in Naikkhongchhari of Bandarban," he said.

Members of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and Border Guard Police (BGP) of Myanmar will patrol their respective border areas in coordination from March 27, Asaduzzaman added.

Earlier on Thursday, BGB members were put on high alert as My-anmar army took position along the Tambru border in Naikkhongchhari of Bandarban with heavy arms and ammunition. (THEDAILYSTAR.NET)

Islamabad, Moscow hold talks, agree to bolster ties

DAWN.COMISLAMABAD

PAKISTAN and Russia on Fri-day agreed to explore new av-enues for bilateral cooperation to enhance the “existing posi-tive momentum in ties”.

“Both sides agreed on the need to further capitalise on the positive trajectory of the overall bilateral relations by exploring avenues for mutual-ly beneficial bilateral coopera-tion,” Foreign Office said after the 12th meeting of Pakistan-Russia Consul tative Group on Strategic Stability.

The platform that pro-vides for structured dialogue between the two countries has existed since 2003. The meet-ing was held at the level of sen-ior officials.

Russian delegation was led by deputy foreign minis-ter, while the Pakistani side

by special secretary The Paki-stani side was led by Special Secretary Amb Tasnim Aslam, whereas the Russian side was led by Deputy Foreign Minis-ter Sergey Ryabkov.

“The two sides had an in-depth exchange of views on the regional and global develop-ments, including with respect to arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation,” the FO said.

Ties between Moscow and Islamabad have been improv-ing for years now and the two have taken great strides since 2007, when the ties were re-newed after a long estrange-ment during the cold war.

Pakistan and Russia in 2014 signed a defence coop-eration accord and in 2015 they inked a technical coop-eration accord providing for arms supplies and coopera-tion in weapon development.

Pakistani doctors to attend conference in India await visasDAWN.COM

ISLAMABAD

ANXIETY among 30 Pakistani doctors who want to attend a conference related to liver dis-eases in India is increasing as New Delhi has so far not issued visas to them. After getting vi-sas the doctors will apply for NOCs from their respective organisations and that process will also take some time.

The doctors willing to participate in the conference which is being organised by the Asian Pacific Association for

the Study of the Liver (APASL) say that it will provide them an opportunity to understand the Indian medical system and make them able to guide Pa-kistani patients who want to travel India for liver transplan-tation. According to APASL’s website, the conference will be held from March 14 to 18 in New Delhi.

There is only one weekly flight from Lahore to New Delhi and the last one before the conference is scheduled for March 14. According to these doctors, the conference

will have high quality content with up-to-date information by eminent researchers and clinicians, covering all aspects of hepatology (a branch of medicine that incorporates the

study of liver). An official of the Indian High Commission said that because of the ten-sion in relations between the two countries the process of security clearance for the is-suance of visas for Pakistanis was taking more than usual time these days.

However, he added, a re-minder would be sent to New Delhi for expediting the cases of Pakistani doctors. Avinash Singh, spokesperson for In-dian High Commission, said in a written reply that the visa ap-plications were under process.

An official of the Indian High Commission said that because of tense relations the process of security clearance for the issuance of visas for Pakistanis was taking more than usual time these days

Nepal holds mass prayers to set new Guinness record

IANSKATHMANDU

THOUSANDS of people gath-ered in Nepal's capital on Saturday to recite the mes-sages of Lord Gautam Bud-dha, known as Dhhamapad, to set a new Guinness World Record.

Though the organiser claimed to have gathered over 75,000 people in the mass prayers, the number was yet to be confirmed of-ficially by Guinness World

Records, Xinhua news agen-cy reported. People from all walks of life and across the country took part in the mass prayers held in the city's largest open square Tundikhel.

Nepali Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli along with former ministers and high ranking officials attended the event. Addressing the ceremony, Oli said that the mass prayer will promote peace and harmony in the nation and in the world.

SC reschedules hearing on contempt case against Nepal media groupHIMALAYAN NEWS SERVICE

KATHMANDU

THE Supreme Court today rescheduled the hearing on a contempt of court case against Kantipur Media Group and told the defend-ants to present themselves to record their statements on Sunday.

Chairman of Kantipur Media Group Kailash Sirohi-ya, his wife and KMG Direc-tor Swastika Sirohiya, Kan-tipur daily’s editor Sudheer Sharma and correspondent Krishna Gyawali are defend-ants in the case.

Accompanied by a large number of well-wishers and people from different walks of life, all four defendants were present before the court at 2:00pm today to record their statements.

“We requested the SC to start recording of our state-ments today,” Kantipur edi-tor Sudheer Sharma said. “No specific reason was cited. We were only told the chief justice has ordered to begin the hearing on Sun-day.”

Recording of the defend-ants’ statements will start at 10:30am on Sunday, accord-ing to the SC.

The case against KMG was filed by advocate Toy-anath Dhungana over the news questioning CJ Gopal Prasad Parajuli’s multiple birth dates and authenticity of his academic certificates.

Pakistan / South Asia

IANSAGARTALA/SHILLONG/KOHIMA

HERE is the final party posi-tion in the results declared on Saturday for assembly polls in Tripura and Meghalaya. The party position for Nagaland is as declared by the Election Commission at 10 p.m.

TRIPURA: Bharatiya Ja-nata Party (BJP) - 35 Indig-enous People’s Front of Tripura - 8 Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) - 16 Commu-nist Party of India (CPI) - 0 Congress - 0.

MEGHALAYA Indian Na-tional Congress - 21 National People’s Party - 19 Bharatiya Janata Party - 2 United Demo-cratic Party - 6 People’s Dem-ocratic Front - 4 Hill State People’s Democratic Party - 2 Nationalist Congress Party - 1 Khun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Movement - 1 Inde-pendent - 3.

NAGALAND Naga People’s Front - 27 National Democratic

Progressive Party - 15+ (lead-ing on one seat) Bharatiya Ja-nata Party - 11 National People’s Party - 2 Janata Dal-United - 1 Independent - 1 .

The stunning saffron surge in the northeast on Saturday decimated the Left in Tripura –one of its last two citadels–with the BJP ousting the CPI-M from power after 25 long years and looking to form a coalition gov-ernment in Nagaland while eye-ing power in Meghalaya with the help from anti-Congress parties.

The BJP Parliamentary Board met in the evening and expressed confidence that the party would form governments in Nagaland and Meghalaya also, claiming it has got abso-lute majority with allies in the two states that have thrown up fractured verdicts.

Riding on Saturday's elec-toral victory, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party Presi-dent Amit Shah told BJP work-ers that their goal now should

be to capture power in Karna-taka, Kerala, West Bengal and Odisha.

Pulling of a historic vic-tory, the BJP and its ally Indig-enous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT), a tribal-dominated party, together won 43 out of 59 Tripura constituencies.

The BJP on its own won 35 seats, four more than the half-way mark, while its ally IPFT won eight seats. In a remarkable performance, the alliance swept all the 20

seats reserved for tribals. The BJP, which had no

MLAs in the outgoing Assem-bly and polled just 1.5 per cent votes in the 2013 elections, los-ing deposits in 49 of the 50 con-stituencies it contested, secured over 42 per cent of votes in the February 18 Tripura elections.

Tripura Pradesh BJP Presi-dent Biplab Kumar Deb, who won from Banamalipur, is tipped to be the Chief Ministe-rial choice.

The CPI-M which headed

the ruling Left Front was re-duced to just 15 seats–down from 50 in the last elections. None of its partners, includ-ing the CPI, Forward Bloc and Revolutionary Socialist Party, could open their account.

Narendra Modi @narendramodi

BJP is fully committed to the overall transformation of the Northeast. This region is blessed with immense poten-tial to become a powerhouse of development. The Central Government has already undertaken numerous efforts for better growth and oppor-tunities in the Northeast.

REUTERSMUMBAI/NEW DELHI

AN official of India's Punjab Na-tional Bank received gold and diamond jewellery from a bil-lionaire jeweller accused of be-ing involved in a $2 billion bank fraud, The Central Bureau of In-vestigation (CBI) told a court on Saturday.

The state lender in January uncovered the alleged fraud in which several bank officials were suspected of colluding with jew-

eller Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi to issue fraudulent letters of undertakings (LoUs), for their companies to raise loans from overseas branches of mostly Indian banks.

The Central Bureau of In-vestigation (CBI), which has ar-rested 14 people in the case, on Saturday for the first time said bribes were paid to at least one Punjab National Bank (PNB)of-ficial by Modi. The agency told the court that Yashwant Joshi, who worked as a manager in the

forex department of the Mum-bai branch that is at the centre of the fraud, admitted to having received two gold coins weighing 60 grams and a pair of gold and diamond earrings from Modi. The articles have been recovered from Joshi's house in the pres-ence of independent witnesses, the CBI said.

"This indicates that he was in collusion with the benefici-ary accused persons to cheat the bank," CBI Inspector D. Damo-daran said in a court filing.

"He also obtained illegal gratification from the benefici-ary party for continuing issuance of fraudulent LoUs." Joshi, who was committed to judicial cus-tody by the Mumbai court along with four other PNB officials

and an associate of Modi, could not be contacted for comment. Modi and Choksi, who owns Gitanjali Gems Ltd, left In-

dia before the fraud came to light, but have said in letters and statements they were in-nocent.

Gold bribes given in PNB fraud case: CBIYashwant Joshi admits to having received 2 gold coins & a pair of gold and diamond earrings from Modi

Tripura 59 Meghalaya 59 Nagaland 60

BJP _ IPFT 43 CONG 21 NDPP+BJP 30

CPM+ 16 NPP 19 NPF 27

CONG 0 OTHERS 17 OTHERS 2

OTHERS 0 BJP 2 CONG 0

TR Zeliang @TRZeliang

I am grateful and humbled by the faith and trust reposed on me and my NPF party by the people of Nagaland once again. We managed to be the single largest party with 27 seats secured. Hope to work-out the nitty-gritty with our partners and form a stable government.

Amit Shah @AmitShah

I thank brothers and sisters of Tripura for their massive support to BJP. This is the victory of PM @narendramodi’s politics of development and his commitment to the welfare of North-Eastern region of India.

Sitaram Yechury @SitaramYechury

We will continue to oppose the BJP and its divisive agenda, not only in Tripura but all over India. It is imper-ative for those who believe in India’s constitutional ideals to defeat the nefarious designs of the BJP-RSS combine.

Shakeel Ahmad @Ahmad_Shakeel

It appears the political equations are changing rapidly. the BJP is losing ground wherever they are pitted directly against the Congress like Gujarat. It lost all three seats in byelections in Rajasthan, and in MP. The BJP is doing well only in multi corner contests.

Tweets from leaders

BJP CRUSHES LEFT IN TRIPURA, WINS BIG IN NORTHEAST STATES

India 11Sunday, March 4, 2018

Prime Minister Narendra Modi (centre) gestures as he is garlanded by Bharatiya Janata Party leaders during the state election results of three Northeast states at the BJP headquarters in the New Delhi, on Saturday. (AFP)

Supporters of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) celebrate in front of a cut-out of Prime Minister Narendra Modi after learning of the initial poll results of Tripura state assembly elections, in Agartala, on Saturday. (REUTERS)

Mumbai court issues non-bailable warrants against Nirav, Choksi

MUMBAI: A PMLA court here on Saturday issued non-bailable warrants (NBWs) against absconder diamantaires Nirav Modi and his uncle and business partner Mehul Choksi in the Rs 12,600-crore (almost $2 billion) Punjab National Bank fraud. The NBWs, issued by the Prevention of Money Laundering Act court Judge MS Azmi, will facilitate the extradition of Modi and Choksi once their whereabouts are traced, said Special Public Prosecutor Hiten Venegaonkar. The development comes after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on February 27 moved the PMLA court for issuing the NBWs after the duo failed to honour three summonses and appear before the agency for questioning on February 15, 17, and 23. (IANS)

Congress refusedcoalition, seat sharing: Mamata

Kolkata: Accusing the Con-gress of total negligence in contesting the Tripura Assem-bly elections, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Ban-erjee on Saturday said she had approached Congress President Rahul Gandhi for al-liance but was not listened to. “I requested the Congress for a coalition (in Tripura). I told Rahul Gandhi that we are new as a party in Tripura. But they did not listen to me,” Baner-jee said in the wake of BJP victory in Tripura. (IANS)

Will inspire Meghalaya parties to form non-Congress govt: BJP

SHILLONG: The BJP on Saturday said that it will “inspire” the regional parties to respect the public mandate and form the non-Congress government in Meghalaya. “We have less role to play in the formation of the new government but we will inspire the regional parties and the NPP (National People’s Party) to come together and form the new government,” Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said. Sarma said: “I don’t know what is the stage of the negotiations; the BJP’s role will only be to encourage them to form the government -- this is a verdict against the Congress.” (IANS)

India, Vietnam vow to work for open, prosperous Indo-Pacific

IANSNEW DELHI

IN what can be seen as a strong signal to China, India and Vi-etnam on Saturday agreed to work for an independent, open and prosperous Indo-Pacific region as the two sides signed three agreements, including one on enhancing bilateral economy and trade.

"We will work together for an independent, open and prosperous Indo-Pacific region where sovereignty and interna-tional laws are respected and disputes are resolved through dialogue," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a joint address to the media with visit-ing Vietnam President Tran Dai Quang following delegation-level bilateral discussions here.

"Both of us are committed to expanding our maritime ties and ensure an open, transpar-ent, inclusive and rules-based

regional architecture," Modi said. On his part, Quang said that both countries will work together for regional security, including maritime and cyber security.

The remarks assume signifi-cance given China's increasing influence in the Indian Ocean region and aggressive attitude in the South China Sea.

In his remarks, Modi said that Vietnam has played a sig-nificant role within the frame-work of New Delhi's Act East Policy and India's ties with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) regional bloc.

Vietnam is the country co-ordinator for India with the Asean, a role that will be passed on to Thailand later this year. The Prime Minister recalled that during his visit to Vietnam in 2016, the bilateral relation-ship was elevated from a Stra-tegic Partnership to a Compre-hensive Strategic Partnership.

NEWS IN BRIEF

Manmohan, Sonia meet Vietnam President QuangNEW Delhi: Ex-PM Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Saturday met Vietnam President Tran Dai Quang, who is on a three-day visit to India. Former Union Minister and senior Congress leader Anand Sharma also accompanied Gandhi. Quang was on Sat-urday accorded a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here in the presence of his Indian counterpart Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minis-ter Narendra Modi. (IANS)

Sonia, Hillary to address India Today ConclaveMUMBAI: Former Congress President Sonia Gandhi will address a special session of the 17th India Today Conclave scheduled here on March 9-10, an official said on Saturday. She is likely to share her views on this year's conclave theme -- The Great Churn. Triumphs and Tribulations', and will be her second appearance at the event after 2004, Kalli Purie, Vice-Chairperson of India Today Group and Con-clave Director, said. (IANS)

Turkey’s offensive in Syria

AFPBEIRUT

TURKISH air strikes killed at least 36 pro-regime fight-ers backing Kurdish militia in Syria’s northwestern Kurdish enclave of Afrin on Saturday, a monitoring group said.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democractic Forces alliance said the Turkish raids target-ed pro-regime positions, but

gave no death toll.The Britain-based Syrian

Observatory for Human Rights said the strikes on the area of Kafr Janna were the third such raid on loyalist fighters in the enclave bordering Turkey in less than 48 hours.

They came after Turkish raids on other parts of the enclave killed 14 pro-regime fighters on Thursday and four more on Friday, the monitor

said.Turkish-led Syrian oppo-

sition fighters have advanced steadily since January 20 when they launched an as-sault on Afrin, controlled by the Kurdish People’s Protec-tion Units (YPG).

The Syrian government deployed fighters to the en-clave a month later after the Kurds appealed for help.

The Observatory says

Turkish-led forces control more than 20 percent of the enclave after seizing the area of Rajo in the northwest of Af-rin on Saturday.

They also seized a strategic mountain in the northeast of the enclave, a military official from the Turkish-led opera-tion said.

Ankara says the YPG is a “terrorist” extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has waged a three-decade insurgency against the Turkish state.

The YPG has been a key component of a United States-

backed Kurdish-Arab alliance that has been fighting the Is-lamic State jihadist group in Syria.

The Observatory says more than 140 civilians have been killed in Turkish bom-bardment since the start of the assault, but Turkey denies the claim and says it takes the “utmost care” to avoid civilian casualties.

Thousands of civilians have fled their homes since the start of the operation, ei-ther to the town of Afrin or to nearby government-control-led areas.

AFPBEIRUT

SYRIAN regime forces have advanced inside Eastern Ghouta, a monitor said on Sat-urday, as fighting intensifies on the ground to retake the battered rebel enclave east of Damascus.

Russia-backed govern-ment forces on February 18 launched an assault of the be-sieged region, pounding the area with air strikes, killing more than 630 civilians.

On February 25, clashes on the ground between the armed opposition and regime forces intensified on the edges of the enclave, the Britain-based Syr-ian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said.

Since Thursday, regime forces have advanced inside the region, retaking an area in the enclave’s southeast, as well as another and two mili-tary bases in the south from main opposition group Jaish al-Islam.

“Regime forces and their allies have intensified their attacks on rebel positions in the past 48 hours,” Observa-tory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.

Government fighters are trying to advance inside East-ern Ghouta to cut off the main town of Douma and its sur-roundings in the north of the enclave, as well as isolate the

southeastern area of Al-Marj, Abdel Rahman said.

The Observatory says “Russian advisors” are tak-ing part in the battles along-side regime forces in Eastern Ghouta, backed by heavy air strikes and shelling.

Since February 25, 60 re-gime and allied fighters have been killed, while 34 rebels from Jaish al-Islam have also died, it said.

Rebels today control only a third of the area they once held in Eastern Ghouta in 2012, as regime forces have gradu-ally taken back territory from them.

Eastern Ghouta’s 400,000 residents have lived under regime siege since 2013, fac-ing severe food and medicine shortages even before the lat-est offensive.

The ground offensive co-incides with the start of a five-hour daily “humanitarian pause” announced by Russia and in force since Tuesday.

The bombardment has lessened but continued to claim lives since, and trucks loaded with desperately need-ed aid have remained unable to enter the enclave.

Moscow said it would provide safe passage to non-combatants wishing to leave the enclave during the pause, but no Syrian civilians have left since Tuesday, according to the Observatory.

Regime forces advance in Syria’s battered Ghouta

Turkish air strikes kill 36 pro-regime fighters in Afrin

Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army fighters are seen carrying a wounded colleague in Afrin, Syria, on Friday. (REUTERS)

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democractic Forces alliance said the Turkish raids targeted pro-regime positions

REUTERSBAGHDAD

IRAQ’S parliament approved a long-delayed budget on Sat-urday, the first since declar-ing victory over Islamic State after three years of war, but Kurdish lawmakers boycott-ed the vote over their region’s diminished allocation.

The budget of 104 trillion Iraqi dinars ($88 billion) is based on projected oil ex-ports of 3.8 million barrels per day (bpd) at a price of $46, lawmakers told Reuters.

It envisions government revenues of 91.64 trillion di-nars ($77.6 billion) with a deficit of 12.5 trillion dinars ($10.58 billion), according to lawmakers.

Parliament was meant to pass the budget before the start of the 2018 financial year in January but all three main blocs, Shi’ite Arabs, Sunni Arabs, and Kurds, had serious issues with the gov-ernment’s proposal.

“We boycotted the vote and there are proposals for Kurdistan to withdraw from

the entire political process in Iraq over the unfair treat-ment we have received,” said Kurdish MP Ashwaq Jaff.

The budget cut the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Re-gional Government’s (KRG) share to 12.67 percent, down from the 17 percent the re-gion has traditionally re-ceived since the fall of Sadd-am Hussein.

The Kurds overwhelm-ingly voted to secede in an independence referendum in September, which was op-posed by Baghdad.

In October, Iraqi forces retook disputed territo-ries, including the oil city of Kirkuk, that had came under Kurdish control in 2014, and Baghdad imposed sanctions on the KRG, such as suspend-ing international flights from Kurdish airports.

Baghdad and the KRG had been engaged in talks for months about the sanctions and Kurdistan’s share of the budget.

The government said on Tuesday it had reached an agreement with the Kurds to resume Kirkuk oil exports through Turkey’s Ceyhan port but gave no precise time-

line.The projected 3.8 million

bpd exports in the budget include a 250,000 bpd con-tribution from the Kurdistan region, lawmakers said on Saturday. It was not imme-diately clear what effect the Kurdish boycott of the vote would have on that.

Shi’ite lawmakers wanted more spending allocated to the southern oil-producing, predominantly Shi’ite, prov-inces as well as greater sala-ries and benefits for the Iran-backed Shi’ite militias known as Popular Mobilisation Forc-es, who helped Iraq’s security forces defeat Islamic State.

Iraqi parliament approves budget, Kurdish lawmakers boycott vote

(File photo) Iraqi lawmakers attend a session in Baghdad, Iraq. (AP)

No missile talks unless West gives up its nuclear arsenal, says Iran

AFPTEHRAN

IRAN’S armed forces spokes-man said on Saturday that there can be no talks on the country’s missile programme without the West’s destruction of its nuclear weapons and long-range missiles.

“What Americans say out of desperation with regards to limiting the Islamic republic of Iran’s missile capability is an unattainable dream,” Briga-dier General Masoud Jazayeri told the official IRNA news agency.

“The condition for negotia-tions on Iran’s missiles is the destruction of America’s and

Europe’s nuclear weapons and long-range missiles.”

Jazayeri said US criticism of Iran’s missile programme was driven by “their failures and defeats in the region.”

US President Donald Trump has threatened to tear up a 2015 nuclear deal be-tween Iran and world powers unless more is done to curb Iran’s missile programme.

European governments have been scrambling to ap-pease Trump and keep the deal intact, and have voiced increasing concern over Iran’s missile programme.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who is due to visit Iran on Monday,

said last month that its missile programme and involvement in regional conflicts needed to be addressed if Iran “wants to return to the family of na-tions”.

Ali Akbar Velayati, for-eign policy advisor to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khame-nei, criticised Le Drian’s po-sition on Saturday, just two days before they are expected to meet.

“Iran’s defence programme is not the concern of other countries such as France, that they should come and tell us what missiles we can have. Do we tell France how it should defend itself?” he told the semi-official ISNA news agency.

Egypt’s top court waives legal challenges to Red Sea islands transfer to Saudi

REUTERSCAIRO

EGYPT’S top court on Satur-day dismissed all outstand-ing legal challenges to a deal transferring two Red Sea is-lands to Saudi Arabia, a day before a visit by its crown prince.

The plan to cede the is-lands to Riyadh, an ally which has given billions of dollars in aid to Egypt, was announced in 2016 and became mired in political protest and legal ac-tion.

The Supreme Court ruled that no other court had ju-risdiction over the matter, blocking two opposing ver-

dicts - one by the Supreme Administrative Court, which was against ceding control of the islands of Tiran and Sanafir, the other by the Court of Urgent Matters, which looked to void that de-cision.

“The signature of the rep-resentative of the Egyptian state on the maritime borders agreement between the gov-ernments of Egypt and Saudi Arabia is undoubtedly an act of sovereignty,” the Supreme Court said in a statement, adding that approving the deal was down to Egypt’s leg-islative body.

Prince Mohamed signed the deal on behalf of the

Kingdom before becoming crown prince.

Egypt’s parliament backed the deal in June, and Sisi ratified it one week later.

Opponents say Egypt’s sovereignty over the islands dates back to 1906, before Saudi Arabia was founded.

Saudi and Egyptian of-

ficials say the islands belong to the kingdom and were only under Egyptian control be-cause Riyadh had asked Cairo in 1950 to protect them.

Saudi Arabia has sup-ported Sisi since he toppled President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013, and legal wrangling over the Red Sea deal was a source of tension between the two countries.

Opposition to the deal has been a problem for Sisi, sparking the only major street protests since he came to power in 2014 and becom-ing a rallying point for oppo-sition figures that have been marginalised during his rule.

Baghdad at odds with Kurds after independence attempt

Smoke billows following Syrian government bombardments on the besieged rebel-held town of Hamouria in the eastern Ghouta region on the outskirts of Damascus on Saturday. (AFP)

NEWS IN BRIEF

MOGADISHU At least three Burundian soldiers were killed in Somalia on Friday after fighters with the al-Shabaab ter-rorist group ambushed their convoy. Seven soldiers were injured, some seriously, and four were still missing after the ambush, the Burundian military said Saturday in a statement. (DPA)

GAZA CITY A Palestinian farmer was killed Saturday by Israeli army fire near the Gaza Strip city of Khan Yunis, the health min-istry of the Islamist movement Hamas said. A spokeswoman for the Israeli army said soldiers opened fire at a Palestinian man who had entered a “banned zone” near Gaza’s border with Israel, but gave no further details. (AFP)

CAIRO Nine people were killed on Saturday when a minibus and a taxi collided near Egypt’s city of Ismailia, security sources said. Eight others were injured in the crash that took place on a desert road linking Ismailia to Cairo, they added. The taxi caught fire due to the collision, leaving some of the passengers’ bodies charred, reported the al-Masry al-Youm newspaper. (DPA)

Al-Shabaab militants kill 3 Burundian soldiers in Somalia

Palestinian in Gaza killed by Israeli army fire: Healthy ministry

Nine dead after taxi, minibus collide in Egyptian city on Suez Canal


The plan to cede the islands to Riyadh, an ally which has given billions of dollars in aid to Egypt, was announced in 2016 and became mired in political protest and legal action

Gulf / Middle East

Boko Haram attack halts aid in Nigerian townAFP

LAGOS

HUMANITARIAN work has been suspended until next weekend in a remote town in northeast Nigeria after a Boko Haram attack killed three aid workers, the UN said on Sat-urday.

The attack happened on Thursday evening in Rann, near the border with Cam-eroon, where nearly 80,000 people depend on emergency food aid and medical care.

At least one other aid worker was critically injured and another three were miss-ing. Eight Nigerian soldiers were also killed.

A UN spokeswoman in

Abuja, Samantha Newport, told AFP: “Operations in Rann were temporarily suspended for one week from yesterday morning (Friday).

“Yesterday, we evacuated 52 aid workers and the three deceased, in addition to 300 ki-los (661 lbs) of medical supplies that were going to go bad.”

The aid workers are not believed to have been specifi-cally targeted but were caught up in an attack on the military.

Those killed were Nigeri-ans working for the Interna-tional Organization for Mi-gration and the UN children’s fund Unicef. The injured and missing are also locals.

Newport said an assess-ment would be conducted in the coming days about dam-age caused to facilities used in the relief effort, as well as security.

But she said there would be “extremely minimal impact” on people in Rann, where 55,000 people displaced by the Boko Haram conflict are housed in a camp.

REUTERSSEOUL

NORTH Korea threatened on Saturday to “counter the US” if the United States holds joint military exercises with South Korea, and said it would not beg for talks with Washington.

The United States is due to start joint exercises in early April, a South Korean presiden-tial security adviser said this week according to Yonhap news agency - the latest in a series of drills that the north has regu-larly described as a threat.

“If the US finally holds joint military exercises while keeping sanctions on the DPRK, the DPRK will coun-ter the US by its own mode of counteraction and the US will be made to own all responsi-bilities for the ensuing conse-quences,” North Korea’s of-ficial KCNA news agency said in its commentary, saying the drills would harm reconcilia-tion efforts on the peninsula.

The DPRK is the acronym of the country’s official name, the Democratic People’s Re-public of Korea.

On Feb. 23, the United States said it was imposing its largest package of sanctions to pressure North Korea to give up its nuclear and missile programmes. President Don-ald Trump warned of a”phase two” that could be “very, very unfortunate for the world” if the steps did not work.

North Korea has slammed Trump’s unilateral sanctions

against it, but it said it was open to talks with the United States during senior North Korean of-ficials’ visit to South Korea for the Olympics last month.

The White House said any talks with North Korea must lead to an end of its nuclear programme.

North Korea reiterated on Saturday that it was willing to talk to the United States but said it would never sit with any precondition.

A North Korean foreign ministry spokesman was

quoted by state media KCNA news agency as saying “we will neither beg for dialogue nor evade the military option claimed by the US”

“Whether peace desired by our nation and the rest of the world settles on the Korean pe-ninsula or a situation that no one desires is developed in the vicious cycle of confrontation depends entirely on the attitude of the US” the spokesman said, according to KCNA.

South Korea plans to send a special envoy to North Ko-rea in response to an invita-tion from leader Kim Jong Un, South Korean President Moon Jae-in told Trump in a phone call on Thursday.

The Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang last month gave a boost to recent engagement between the two Koreas af-ter sharply rising tensions over the North’s missile pro-gramme.

N Korea warns US over military drills with South

(File photo) Kim Jong-un visiting the Chemical Material Institute of the Academy of Defence Science, in Pyongyang. (AFP)

AFPOUAGADOUGOU

AUTHORITIES in Burki-na Faso were on Saturday hunting for clues about the masterminds behind Fri-day’s deadly twin attacks on the French embassy and the country’s military HQ.

The coordinated attacks in Ouagadougou, which co-incided with a meeting of regional anti-Islamist forc-es, underlined the strug-gle the fragile West African nation faces in containing a bloody and growing Islam-ist insurgency.

Eight armed forces personnel were killed, the government said, while a French security source said 12 more were seri-ously injured. Earlier secu-rity sources had reported a higher toll.

There was no immedi-ate claim of responsibil-ity, and while a Islamist plot is the most likely, the government was not rul-ing out the involvement of plotters behind a failed coup in 2015.

“This is a terrorist at-tack, linked to a current or another terrorist movement in the Sahel... or to others who want to are destabilise

or block our democratic progress,” said communi-cation minister Remis Ful-gance Dandjinou on Satur-day morning.

Two people were arrest-ed near the headquarters, a security source told AFP.

The government said the attack on the military HQ was a suicide car bomb-ing and that the G5 Sahel re-gional anti-terrorism force may have been the target.

“The vehicle was packed with explosives” and caused “huge damage”, Security Minister Clement Sawado-go said.

Officials from Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauri-tania and Niger were at the meeting, represent-ing the nations who have launched a joint military force to combat Islamists on the southern rim of the Sahara.

Police hunt for clues about mastermind of deadly attacks in Burkina Faso capital Pyongyang threatens

to ‘counter the US’ if military exercises proceed; would not ‘beg’ for talks

NEWS IN BRIEF

BEIJING China wants to deepen friendship with Taiwan, the ruling Communist Party’s fourth-ranked leader said on Saturday, a day after state media warned China could go to war over Taiwan if a US bill promoting closer ties with the island becomes law. China has been infuriated over the bill, telling Taiwan on Friday it would only get burnt if it sought to rely on foreigners, adding to the warnings from state media about the risk of war. The legislation says it should be US policy to allow officials at all levels to travel to Taiwan to meet their Taiwanese counterparts, permit Taiwanese officials to enter the US “under respectful conditions”. (REUTERS)

YAOUNDÉ Drivers in one of Cameroon’s restive English-speaking provinces have been banned from driving at night for a month, as tensions run high between government forces and sepa-ratists. Vehicles in five of the Southwest Region’s six districts are not allowed on the road between 7:00 pm and 6:00 am (1800 GMT and 0500 GMT) with the exception of ambulances as well as state and police cars, according to an official statement seen by AFP late Friday. The renewable ban, which entered into force at the start of the month, will remain in place for “30 days”, regional governor Bernard Okalia Bilai said in the statement. (AFP)

China vows friendship with Taiwan amid tensions over US bill Cameroon bans nighttime driving in restive southwest

UN inquiry blames Congo’s ADF rebels for deadly attack on peacekeepers

REUTERSUNITED NATIONS

A Congo-based Ugandan rebel group is to blame for three at-tacks on United Nations peace-keepers, including one in De-cember that killed 15 Tanzanian troops, the UN said on Friday.

The Dec. 8 attack, which also killed five Congolese sol-diers and wounded another 53 peacekeepers, on a UN base in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s troubled eastern bor-derlands came amid a rising

wave of violence in the miner-al-rich area.

A special UN inquiry also looked at two other attacks on Tanzanian peacekeepers, on Sept. 16 and Oct. 7, 2017.

The investigation conclud-ed “the three attacks against the UN peacekeepers were car-ried out using a similar modus operandi and that all available evidence points to the ADF as the attacker,” the United Na-tions said in a statement.

The UN peacekeeping mis-sion, known as MONUSCO, is

still searching for one peace-keeper missing after the Dec. 8 attack.

The ADF has operated in-side Congo since the 1990s. Congolese and UN troops have conducted repeated offensives against it, but the group al-ways managed to bounce back. It is considered one of the most lethal of Congo’s dozens of armed bands.

The UN investigation “found a number of gaps in the training and posture of MONUSCO.”

Putin promises ‘victories’ for Russia at star-studded rallyAFP

MOSCOW

PRESIDENT Vladimir Putin on Saturday promised “vic-tories” for Russia at a star-studded rally attended by tens of thousands of supporters ahead of a March 18 election he is all but certain to win.

Olympic athletes, celebri-ties and cosmonauts had taken to the stage to voice their sup-port for Putin, who has ruled Russia for almost two decades and is seeking to extend his Kremlin term to 2024.

“We want our country to

be bright and looking to the future, for our children and grandchildren...we will do eve-rything we can for them to be happy,” he told the cheering crowd at Moscow’s Luzhniki stadium.

“Nobody else will do this

for us. And if we do this, the coming decade and the whole 21st century will be marked by our bright victories,” he said.

“Together we are a team. Are we a team?” he asked the crowd, which replied, “Yes!”.

Organisers said around 100,000 people were expected to turn out. An AFP journal-ist said the stadium was com-pletely full for Putin’s speech, which was to be followed by a concert by big-name Russian popstars.

Supporters held signs say-ing “I am for Putin”, “Putin is our president” and “I’m voting

for the future”.“I do not see another can-

didate who could be our com-mander in chief. He’s the only one. Putin is our president,” Oscar-winning director Nikita Mikhalkov said from the stage.

“Only with him can our country achieve cosmic suc-cesses,” said cosmonaut Sergei Ryazansky.

The event is the first rally in an otherwise lacklustre campaign for Putin, who has yet to produce a programme and has declined to take part in televised debates with seven other candidates.

Ethiopia ratifies emergency rule imposed after PM exits

REUTERSADDIS ABABA

ETHIOPIA’S parliament rati-fied on Friday a state of emer-gency imposed after the prime minister announced his resig-nation, though votes against the bill exposed rifts within the ruling coalition.

The emergency bans pro-tests and restricts publications that could be deemed to incite violence. It was imposed on Feb. 16, a day after Hailemar-iam Desalegn announced his surprise resignation.

The resignation was un-precedented in Ethiopia’s modern history. It followed several years of unrest that

broke out in 2015 over land rights before broadening into demonstrations over political and human rights.

Ethiopia is East Africa’s biggest and fastest-growing economy and a Western ally in the fight against Islamist mili-tancy.

But rights groups criticise the government for mass ar-rests and long jail terms hand-ed to political opponents and journalists.

The parliament’s approval of emergency rule was expect-ed. The ruling Ethiopian Peo-ple’s Revolutionary Democrat-ic Front coalition, comprised of four region-based parties, controls all 547 seats.

Migration to Mali’s centre rages as insecurity continues: UNAFP

UNITED NATIONS

INSECURITY in Mali “contin-ues to rage” and is progressing toward the centre of the coun-try, according to an interim UN report. Members of Plateforme, an armed pro-government coa-lition, and the CMA rebel alli-

ance, who were signatories to a 2015 peace deal, are seeing “progressive decline of their influence in areas traditionally under their indirect or direct control,” said the report which was to the Security Council and seen by AFP on Friday.

“Such loss of territorial con-trol, adding to the increasing

fragmentation of armed groups along ethnic lines and the sub-sequent multiplication of non-signatory armed groups, repre-sent currently the main threat to the implementation of the agreement,” it said, referencing the peace deal brokered in Alge-ria in 2015.

The report’s authors added

that drug, human and arms trafficking remain rife in Mali, and despite the 2015 deal, “the humanitarian situation in the north and centre of the country remains volatile, unstable and a marked deterioration persists.”

“Across the country an es-timated 4.1 million people are in need of humanitarian as-

sistance,” they said.The situation in Mali is a

key factor in the creation of the multinational, anti-Islam-ist G5-Sahel force, which the report says goes hand in hand with the “intensified terrorist threats of the ISGS (Islamic State in the Greater Sahara) and Ansar al-Islam.”

Freed Uzbek reporter to take up teachingAFP

TASHKENT

A JOURNALIST from Uz-bekistan who was freed after the longest stint in jail spent by a reporter worldwide is shunning media work to take up teaching Russian, his neph-ew said Saturday.

Yusuf Ruzimuradov, 53, was recently freed in Uzbekistan after 19 years in jail on sedition charges his critics dismissed as politically motivated.

The Committee to Protect Journalists, a media watchdog that monitors threats to re-porters across the world, says that Ruzimuradov’s stint in jail broke a record after his col-league Muhammed Bekjanov,

64, was released last year.The pair were forcibly

taken to Uzbekistan from their place of exile in Ukraine and jailed in 1999, as late strong-man ruler Islam Karimov in-

tensified his crackdown on the opposition.

Ruzimuradov’s nephew Kamal Ruzimuradov told AFP by telephone Saturday that his uncle would not continue jour-nalism and instead planned to teach students in his home region some 600 kilometres south of the capital Tashkent.

“He is in good health. In the near future he needs to restore all his documents. After that he wants to teach Russian in a school,” Ruzimuradov said.

Yusuf Ruzimuradov, who worked at the banned oppo-sition newspaper Erk prior to his arrest, is currently not speaking to journalists, but was close by when his nephew took the call.

The coordinated attacks in Ouagadougou under-lined the struggle the fragile West African nation faces in contain-ing a bloody and growing Islamist insurgency

Olympic athletes, celebrities and cosmonauts had taken to the stage to voice their support for Putin, who is seeking to extend his Kremlin term to 2024

Yusuf Ruzimuradov. (File photo) A member of security force stands guard at a school in the northeastern city of Damaturu, Nigeria. (REUTERS)

North Korea has slammed Trump’s unilateral sanctions against it, but it said it was open to talks with the United States during senior North Korean officials’ visit to South Korea for the Olympics last month

World 13Sunday, March 4, 2018

REUTERSLONDON

THE head of a hardline group of pro-Brexit lawmakers on Saturday gave a cautious welcome to Prime Minister Theresa May's plans for Brit-ain's future ties with Europe, saying now was not the time to nitpick.

May, battling to strike a deal with Europe that appeas-es both sides of her deeply divided party, used a speech in London on Friday to warn that the country needed to face up to some "hard facts" that "neither of us can have exactly what we want".

Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of an influential group in May's Conservative Party who has warned the govern-ment not to waver in its ap-proach, congratulated May for taking a "sensible, pragmatic and generous approach to Brexit".

"There are inevitably a few small points that will concern Leave campaigners but we must all recognise that every-one will have to give up some-thing to get a deal, so now is not the time to nitpick," he said.

Rees-Mogg told the BBC the issues he remained con-cerned about included how the fisheries industry would be treated and how British companies would liaise with European agencies.

With just over a year to go before Britain leaves the EU on March 29, 2019, May sof-tened her tone and called on Europe to show flexibility to help solve some of the more difficult problems.

She said she hoped to se-cure a tailor-made free trade deal that would include finan-cial services and said Britain would aim for associate mem-bership of EU agencies cover-

ing chemicals, medicines and aerospace.

In order to smooth future trade ties, May said Britain would not pursue a race to the bottom on standards and instead seek the same regula-tory outcomes. Were a future government to pursue an al-ternative path it would do so in the knowledge that there would be consequences for market access, she said.

While that was welcomed by business leaders who want to avoid delays at borders, it was greeted warily in Brussels where EU officials described some of the proposals as un-realistic.

Elmar Brok, a German member of the European Par-liament, said: "It sounds like

she wants to have member-ship of the internal market

without fulfilling the obliga-tions of that."

Michel Barnier, the EU executive's negotiator, wel-comed May's recognition that there would be "trade-offs" but made no comment on her belief that Britain could se-cure EU recognition of its own independent regulations in many areas.

Britain's newspapers, as divided over Brexit as May's party, welcomed May's pro-posals as a way to return pow-er to London without dam-aging trade from the world's sixth biggest economy.

"For months, the Brexit hardliners have called the tune," the Financial Times said. "Mrs May has stopped dancing."

AFPROME

ITALIAN populist and far-right parties have their eye on making major gains in this weekend's election, spooking investors and European capi-tals after a campaign dominat-ed by fears about immigration and the economy.

No campaigning was al-lowed on Saturday on the eve of the closely-watched poll. Rival parties held their final

rallies on Friday, at the end of a bitter race marred by clashes between far-right and anti-fascist activists.

The outcome is far from certain and could end up in a draw between the anti-estab-lishment Five Star Movement, three-time prime minister Sil-vio Berlusconi's rightwing coa-lition and the ruling centre-left Democratic Party.

Berlusconi cannot himself hold office because of a tax fraud conviction but is still hoping to

play a leading role and has put forward European Parliament President Antonio Tajani as his prime ministerial nominee.

Berlusconi's plans, how-ever, face a challenge from his ambitious coalition partner, League leader Matteo Salvini, whose anti-immigration and eurosceptic rhetoric has fired up the campaign.

Italy's election "epitomises everything, it is pure populism," former White House adviser Steve Bannon, who harnessed

the populist insurgency that propelled US President Trump to power, said in an interview with the New York Times.

Bannon, who is visiting It-aly as part of a European tour, told the paper: "The Italian people have gone farther, in a shorter period of time, than the British did for Brexit and the Americans did for Trump".

Bannon called a coalition between the Five Star Move-ment and the League the "ul-timate dream".

Populists, far-right eye gains in Italian poll

DPABERLIN

GERMANY'S Social Demo-crats on Saturday began counting votes from a poll among rank-and-file party members on whether to join a fresh government coalition led by Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The final postal truck containing mailed-in ballots rolled up to the Willy-Brandt-Haus, the party's headquar-ters, in Berlin shortly before 5 pm (1600 GMT) on Saturday, kicking off an expected 10 to 14 hours of counting.

Some 120 volunteers draft-ed for the effort had to hand in their mobile phones at the door so that the secrecy of the ballot is not compromised. In the same vein, the glass front of the headquarters was cov-ered up with privacy film.

Assisting the volunteers will be high-performance envelope-opening machines that can process 20,000 envelopes per hour. The results are expected by early afternoon on Sunday.

More than 460,000 party members were called on to ap-prove a coalition agreement be-tween the SPD, Merkel's Chris-tian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian sister party, the CSU.

Voting officially started last month and ended at mid-night on Friday. Postal votes received after this date will not be considered.

The deadline for joining the party in order to be able to vote was February 6.

Acting SPD chairman Olaf Scholz on Saturday described the vote as a "good democratic activity" and spoke of high participation numbers. "Ei-ther way, the result will be one that helps the SPD to move decisively forward," he added.

If SPD members vote "no," Merkel could attempt to gov-ern without a fixed majority, looking to different partners to form majorities for foreign mil-itary missions or the budget.

REUTERSDUBLIN/LONDON

AIRPORTS reopened and pub-lic transport began to grind back into service on Saturday after the worst snowstorms in nearly 30 years caused two days of major disruption in Britain and shut most of Ireland.

A blast of Siberian cold dubbed "the Beast from the East" combined with Storm Emma's arrival from the south to ground planes, shut schools and in Ireland, knock out the entire public transport net-work with weather rarely seen in either country.

Flood warnings were is-sued on Saturday due to the melting snow, which in Scot-

land had led to snow drifts up to 10 feet (three metres) deep, according to ScotRail. While Ireland's most severe weather warning was lifted, the gov-ernment urged caution.

"Driving conditions re-main treacherous due to ice and snow on the ground. We're working hard to reo-pen roads and resume public transport. Please continue to take extreme care," Prime Minister Leo Varadkar warned the public on Twitter.

Ireland's main airports reopened, although over 50 flights in Dublin, mainly op-erated by Ryanair and IAG's Aer Lingus, had already been cancelled before snow and ice teams worked through the

night to clear the airfield.Eight men aged between 24

and 47 were due in court in Dub-lin on burglary charges after po-

lice said they caused substantial damage to a supermarket oper-ated by German discount store Lidl late on Friday.

Several Irish media outlets reported that the supermarket had been looted. State broad-caster RTE showed video foot-age from social media of a me-

chanical digger pulling down part of the wall in the blizzard. Reuters was unable to verify the video.

Public transport across Ire-land was due to reopen with a limited service from 1200 GMT, while train operators were run-ning half a schedule in Scotland, which initially bore the brunt of the Siberian cold front.

According to forecasters, Scotland was expected to see more snow on Saturday while they warned that flooding and icy roads could disrupt travel across the rest of Britain.

Major roads in northern England and the south west have been badly hit by snow, trapping passengers in their vehicles for hours on end.

REUTERSKLAGENFURT

AUSTRIA'S far-right Free-dom Party is set to come a dis-tant second when its former stronghold of Carinthia votes on Sunday, the third provin-cial election to suggest a slide in support for the party since it entered government less than three months ago.

Carinthia was the fiefdom of Joerg Haider, who first led the Freedom Party (FPO) to mainstream success and died in a car crash in 2008. The

southernmost of Austria's nine provinces, bordering Ita-ly and Slovenia, it is the only one the FPO won in October's parliamentary election, with 32 percent of the vote.

But being in power, then and now, has not helped. The national coalition govern-ment's struggles and a finan-cial crisis dating back to Haid-er's tenure as governor of the province have hurt the party's image.

"We're still paying for it! I'm furious," Claudia Schwaer-zli, a 49-year-old librarian,

said of the crisis caused by the collapse of a local bank, Hypo Alpe Adria, whose rapid growth was encouraged under Haider.

A 2016 settlement with creditors left the province sad-dled with the most debt per capita in Austria.

Local issues and personali-ties are sharply in focus. But in two other provincial elections in recent weeks, in Lower Aus-tria in the east and Tirol in the west, the FPO has failed to match its score in the national parliamentary election.

Ireland, Britain grind slowly back to normal after snowstorms

Power erodes Austrian far right’s appeal as old stronghold votes

Council workers begin to clear snow besides the canal in Birmingham, Britain, on Saturday. (REUTERS)

TOULOUSE A Spanish skier died on Saturday when an avalanche swept away a group and their guide skiing off-piste on a mountain in southwestern France.

A second Spaniard was rescued in a state of "total emergency", while two oth-ers and the guide managed to dig themselves out of the snow above Aragnouet in the Haute-Pyrenees. About 20 gendarme rescuers were deployed along with dogs and two helicopters, the authorities said. (AFP)

Skier swept to death in Pyrenean avalanche

MANDRES-EN-BARROIS Police used tear gas during clashes with anti-nuclear protesters at a waste site in northeastern France on Saturday.

Demonstrators threw missiles at officers who have been blocking access to woodland at the Bure plant, halfway between Paris and Strasbourg, since a pro-test camp was dismantled 10 days ago. Lejuc wood was selected by France's radioactive waste agency (ANDRA) for exploratory drill-ing ahead of an application to create a nuclear waste storage site. (AFP)

Police use tear gas against anti-nuke rallyists in France

KIEV Ten people were injured and at least 50 arrested in Kiev on Saturday following clashes between police and anti-corruption protesters who have set up camp outside the Ukrainian parliament.

Dozens of supporters of Mikheil Saakashvili, the former leader of Georgia and one-time governor of Ukraine's Odessa region, erected their tents in Octo-ber and have been holding regular rallies demanding the resignation of President Petro Poroshenko. (AFP)

Ten hurt, 50 held as police storm Kiev protest camp

European Council President Donald Tusk (left) and British Prime Minister Theresa May during their meeting in 10 Downing street in central London recently. (AFP)

The prime minister believes that Britain could secure EU recognition of its own independent regulations in many areas

Hardliners give cautious welcome to May’s Brexit ties with Europe

News in brief

Germany’s SPD counts ballots after party vote on new coalition

May discusses differences on Brexit ‘power grab’ with Scottish leader

LONDON British Prime Minister Theresa May has discussed differences over Brexit with Nicola Stur-geon, first minister of Scotland’s devolved government, following May’s speech on her latest Brexit policy, the two sides confirmed on Saturday. May and Sturgeon spoke by phone late Friday to discuss “recent progress on the EU withdrawal bill and agreed both governments should continue to work to reach an agreement,” Downing Street said, adding that they planned more talks at a meeting on March 14. Sturgeon wrote on Twitter that she reiterated her government’s position that continued member-ship of the EU single market and customs union after Brexit would be in Scotland’s best interests. She indicated her “desire to reach agreement on the withdrawal bill but emphasized again the issue of principle at stake - we will not agree to a power grab on the Scottish parliament.” The dispute over a “power grab” concerns which powers should be given to the devolved Scot-tish government once they are relinquished by the European Union, and which should be held centrally by May’s government in London. Sturgeon said earlier that May’s speech, in which she ruled out Britain joining a customs union after Brexit, contained “more detail, but no progress.” (DPA)

Public transport across Ireland was due to reopen with a limited service, while train operators were running half a schedule in Scotland

AFPATHENS

GREECE is not planning to exchange two soldiers held by Turkey after illegally entering the country with eight Turkish soldiers who seek asylum in Greece, the Greek junior for-eign minister said on Saturday.

“This is pure fantasy. We are not at war with Turkey to conduct an exchange of prisoners,” junior minister

Yiorgos Katrougalos told reporters on Saturday, add-ing that such “spy stories” originated in Turkish media reports.

“This is not an unusual episode. Such incidents oc-cur on the border,” he said, according to state agency ANA.

Two Greek soldiers were arrested by a Turkish border patrol inside Turkish territory on Thursday.

Greece not planning soldier exchange with Turkey

Slovak police free all suspects held over journalist’s murder

AFPBRATISLAVA

SLOVAK police on Saturday said they had released seven Italian businessmen detained after they were named by mur-dered journalist Jan Kuciak in an explosive report on alleged high-level political corruption linked to the mafia.

"The investigator has, within the legal timeframe (48 hours) at his disposal, checked the facts necessary to bring charges. After 48

hours, detainees were re-leased," police said in a state-ment on Saturday.

The seven men were tak-en into custody on Thursday in police raids in the eastern town of Michalovice.

Slovak media reported that among those held was businessman Antonino Vadala -- the owner of several companies -- and some of his relatives, alleged by Kuciak to have links to Italy's notorious 'Ndrangheta crime syndicate and contacts in the Slovak

government.In Italy, prosecutors have

suggested that the notori-ous Calabrian crime syndi-cate the 'Ndrangheta may have been behind the killing of Kuciak, 27, and his fian-cee Martina Kusnirova who were found shot dead at their home on Sunday.

The murder has raised concerns about media free-dom and corruption in Slo-vakia and sparked mass protests at home and sharp condemnation abroad.

UK / Europe14 Sunday, March 4, 2018

AFPWASHINGTON

THE world’s largest asset manager BlackRock is exerting pressure on the gun industry following the latest US school shooting massacre, pressing firms on how they monitor firearms use and safety.

In a statement published Friday on BlackRock’s web-site, the investment titan said it was considering launching new funds including “index-based portfolios that would exclude just firearms manu-facturers and retailers.”

The world’s largest inves-tor in publicly held companies, with more than $6 trillion in assets under management, also said it was pressing gun-makers and retailers in which

its clients invest on issues ranging from litigation risk to weapon safety monitoring to background checks.

“As it has for many peo-ple, the recent tragedy in Florida has driven home for BlackRock the terrible toll from gun violence in Ameri-

ca,” the firm said.“We believe that this event

requires response and action from a wide range of entities across both the public and pri-vate sectors.”

The asset manager is a leading shareholder in fire-arms manufacturers Ameri-

can Outdoor Brands, Sturm Ruger & Company and Vista Outdoor.

“Over the past two weeks, we have reached out to our cli-ents to help them understand their exposure to civilian fire-arms companies,” BlackRock said in its notice.

“We have a continuing dialogue with many clients and are helping them explore their options for altering or eliminating their firearms ex-posures.”

A number of US compa-nies have shifted course on firearms in the wake of Febru-ary’s horrific Florida shooting that saw a 19-year-old enter his former high school and gun down 17 people.

Three large US retailers, Walmart, Kroger and Dick’s Sporting Goods, have an-nounced a minimum age of 21 for gun purchasers.

BlackRock’s move comes after its CEO in January called on corporate leaders to act for the betterment of society -- or risk losing the investment gi-ant’s support.

US investment giant piles pressure on gun industry

BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, announced Friday that it is asking gunmakers and retailers in its portfolios to explain how they monitor firearms sales and use.

The top asset manager considers launching new funds ‘which would exclude firearms manufacturers and retailers’

US Northeast braces for more flooding after powerful storm

REUTERSPRINCETON

NEARLY 2 million cus-tomers remained without power along the eastern US seaboard on Saturday as residents braced for more flooding in the wake of a powerful storm that killed at least seven people.

The snow and rain end-ed by Saturday morning but forecasters said the rem-nants of the storm, known as a nor’easter, would con-tinue to lash the northeast-ern United States with wind gusts of up to 50 miles per hour (80 kph) even as it moved hundreds of miles out to sea.

The high winds were ex-pected to hamper efforts to restore power.

The National Weather Service warned that the next high tide around noon EST (1700 GMT) would bring renewed flooding, with a surge of up to 3 feet (0.9 m) and waves of up to 25 feet, and a warning was in effect for virtually the en-tire New England coastline.

Bob Thompson, the meteorologist-in-charge at the agency’s Taunton, Massachusetts-based office, said the latest high tide cy-cle would likely be the last to bring serious flooding.

After several hours of suspended service due to power outages, trains between New York and Washington along Am-trak’s Northeast Corridor resumed at 11 a.m. EST, the passenger railroad said in a statement, although it warned that riders should still expect delays.

The storm brought hur-ricane-force winds to Bos-ton and nearby shore com-munities on Friday, sending seawater churning into the streets - the second time the area has been flooded this year.

Gusts of more than 90 mph downed trees and pow-er lines across the region. Falling trees killed seven people, including two boys who died when trees struck their homes, in Connecti-cut, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Virginia, according to local media and police.

Student who killed parents at US university in custody

AFPCHICAGO

A UNIVERSITY student who fatally shot his parents on his school campus in the US state of Michigan was arrest-ed without incident after an hours-long manhunt, officials said early Saturday.

The episode had put the Central Michigan University campus into lockdown Friday morning, trapping students in classrooms and dormitories until mid-afternoon, while po-lice conducted an expansive search for the 19-year-old sus-pected gunman.

James Eric Davis, de-scribed as a university stu-dent, was turned in by “an individual on a train passing

through the north end of cam-pus shortly after midnight”, university officials said. Offic-ers arrested him without inci-dent.

The suspect is accused of killing his father, a police of-ficer, and mother in a shoot-ing inside a dormitory build-ing in what a university police spokesman described as a “family-type domestic issue.”

There were no other casu-alties.

The college campus in the city of Mount Pleasant in central Michigan was on lockdown hours after the 8:30 a.m. (1330 GMT) shoot-ing, as federal, state and lo-cal law enforcement searched for Davis using helicopters and police dogs.

Honduras detains energy company executive over murder of activist

AFPLA ESPERANZA

HONDURAN authorities said they have arrested an energy company executive allegedly behind the high-profile 2016 murder of prominent environ-mental activist Berta Caceres.

Police detained electrical engineer Roberto David Cas-tillo Mejia “as the intellectual perpetrator” behind Caceres’s murder, the prosecutor’s of-fice said in a statement Friday.

Officials said Castillo had served as CEO of the com-pany Desarrollos Energeticos (DESA), which Caceres active-ly campaigned against over plans to build a hydroelectric dam, at the time of the activ-

ist’s slaying.He was “responsible for

providing logistics and other resources to the perpetrators,” the statement said.

Caceres opposed DESA’s plans to construct the dam across a river on which in-digenous communities de-pended.

Two masked gunmen fa-tally shot the activist at her home in La Esperanza, north-west of the capital Tegucigalpa on March 3, 2016.

Her murder sparked in-ternational outrage and high-lighted threats to Honduran activists.

At least eight other people have been arrested in connec-tion with the homicide , among them employees of DESA, but Caceres’ family has repeatedly demanded the masterminds be brought to justice.

Late Friday some 400 peo-ple including relatives and members of the indigenous community in western Hon-duras marched to reiterate that call.

Mexican directors dazzle abroad but struggle at homeAFP

MEXICO CITY

MEXICAN directors have won trophy cases full of the most prestigious awards in film-making over the past several years, but many of the coun-try’s most talented creative minds struggle to get their movies shown at home.

The latest poster boy for Mexican cinema is Guillermo del Toro, whose movie “The Shape of Water” is the top contender going into Sunday’s Oscars, with 13 nominations including best picture and best director.

Del Toro is one of the “three amigos” in Mexican filmmaking along with Ale-jandro Gonzalez Inarritu, who won the best director Oscar in 2015 and 2016 with “Bird-man” and “The Revenant”,

and Alfonso Cuaron, who won in 2014 with “Gravity.”

In the past four years, films by Mexican directors have scooped up a total of 15 Os-cars, six Golden Globes and a host of film festival prizes.

That international success has been matched by a boom in Mexican productions: there were 160 last year, according to Ernesto Contreras, director of the Mexican Academy of Mo-tion Picture Arts and Sciences.

That is up from just 12 in 2000, the year Inarritu re-leased his first film, “Amores Perros.”

But good luck trying to catch a Mexican movie in Mexico, where two big movie theater chains rule the market and consumers tend to prefer Hollywood blockbusters.

In 1993 -- the year be-fore the United States, Mex-

ico and Canada launched the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) -- movie theaters here were required by law to devote at least 30 percent of total screen time to Mexican films.

In 1997, the percentage was reduced to 10, but no one seems to be enforcing the law anymore.

“I hate the fact that out of 160 films, only 80 get a theat-rical release,” Contreras told AFP.

“When ‘Coco’ and ‘Thor’ came out, 98 percent of Mexi-can movie screens were show-ing those two films.”

Two chains, Cinemex and Cinepolis, operate nearly eve-ry movie theater in Mexico.

Even Mexican movies that win prestigious prizes abroad have trouble reaching an audi-ence at home.

(File photo) Mexican film director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu attends the premiere of ‘The Shape of Water,’ at the Academy of Motion Pic-tures Arts & Science in Beverly Hills, California. (AFP)

FARC presidential hopeful to undergo heart surgery in Colombia

DPABOGOTA

THE presidential candidate of Colombia’s new far-left party FARC will undergo heart sur-gery after suffering a heart at-tack, the clinic where he is be-ing treated said Friday.

Rodrigo Londono alias Timochenko, was hospitalised with chest pain on Thursday.

Doctors decided that sur-gery was the best way to re-establish his health, the clinic said in a statement.

Londono was reported to be in a stable condition and fully conscious.

The former guerrilla com-mander will run for president on May 27 for FARC, a rebel group turned into a political party after a 2016 peace deal ended its 52-year armed con-flict with the government.

Formerly referring to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the acronym FARC is now the name of the new party, Common Alterna-tive Revolutionary Force.

The party will make its po-litical debut in the March 11 parliamentary elections, with the peace deal guaranteeing it at least five seats in each chamber of Congress.

FARC’s participation in the elections has been criti-cized by many Colombians, and violent protests against Londono’s electoral rallies prompted the party to sus-pend its campaign.

White House on lockdown after shots firedWASHINGTON The White House was placed on lockdown and the surrounding area cordoned off by emergency personnel Saturday after an apparent gunshot was heard. The US Secret Service said on Twitter that it was responding “to reports of a person who allegedly suffered a self-inflict-ed gunshot wound along the north fence line of @White House.” It said medical personnel were “responding to the male victim,” but that there were “no other reported injuries.” The victim’s identity was not immediately known. President Donald Trump was not at the White House at the time. He is spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Reporters tweeting from the White House briefing room said they had been told to shelter in place. Police cars and ambulanc-es swarmed to the area minutes after the incident. Disturbances outside the White House are not rare. On Feb. 23, a woman was arrested after crashing her vehicle into a security barrier near the presidential residence. And there have been repeated attempts to jump over fences around the building. (AFP)

Argentine ex-president Kirchner to face graft trial

AFPBUENOS AIRES

AN ARGENTINE judge Friday said that ex-president Cristina Kirchner must face trial over alleged corruption related to the awarding of public con-tracts in her southern political stronghold of Patagonia.

Federal judge Julian Er-colini also ordered trials of ex-minister Julio de Vido and con-struction magnate Lazaro Baez, figures close to Cristina Kirch-ner and her husband, former president Nestor Kirchner.

The two were in power be-tween 2003 and 2015.

Cristina Kirchner, De Vido, and Baez are suspected of “illicit association,” “irregu-

larities in the awarding of pub-lic contracts in the province of Santa Cruz,” and having ben-efited from contracts awarded to Baez’s Austral construction group to the tune of $2.4 bil-lion, according to the Judicial Information Center (CIJ).

The date of Kirchner’s trial has yet to be set. According to Argentine law, Kirchner can be tried and sentenced, but parlia-mentary immunity protects her from imprisonment. Baez and De Vido, meanwhile, have been remanded in custody.

Protesting her innocence, Kirchner several months ago expressed her desire to ap-pear in front of a judge to provide “definitive and pub-lic clarification.”

Mexico prepares to make arrests in disappearance of student-teachers

REUTERSMEXICO CITY

MEXICAN authorities are pre-paring to arrest dozens of peo-ple implicated in the kidnap-ping and alleged murder of 43 student teachers in southern Mexico more than three years ago, the prosecutor in charge of the case said on Friday.

Prosecutor Alfredo Higuera told a hearing of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in Bogota he had obtained new information to file charges against 30 people, including local police officers.

The disappearance of the 43 student teachers on Sept. 26, 2014, in the city of Iguala in Guerrero state sparked in-ternational outcry, battering Mexico’s reputation and un-dermining the popularity of President Enrique Pena Nieto.

Guerrero has become Mexico’s deadliest state as a growing number of gangs bat-tle over the control of poppy fields used to produce opium, the main ingredient in heroin.

An initial investigation by the government stated that the 43 were abducted by cor-rupt police who handed them over to members of a local drug cartel, who then killed them, incinerated their bodies at a trash dump and threw the ashes into a river.

However, an international team backed by the IACHR uncovered irregularities in the case that undermined the con-clusions of the official investi-gation.

Higuera launched a new probe in 2016, and he said Fri-day that he had developed new lines of investigation.

The party will make its political debut in the March 11 parliamentary elections

The National Weather Service warned that the next high tide around noon EST (1700 GMT) would bring renewed flooding, with a surge of up to 3 feet (0.9 m) and waves of up to 25 feet

Police detained electrical engineer Roberto David Castillo Mejia “as the intel-lectual perpetrator” behind Caceres’s murder, the pros-ecutor’s office said in a statement Friday

US / Americas 15Sunday, March 4, 2018

The Last Word16 Sunday, March 4, 2018

HBKU alumna helps improve life forpeople with special needs in Qatar


BUILDING upon her graduate studies at Hamad Bin Khalifa University’s (HBKU) College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS), Sarah Saad, a class of 2017 alumna, continues to be mindful of individuals with special needs as she works to improve their living standards in Qatar.

At present, Saad is focus-ing her efforts on developing her university capstone project – the creation of inflight safety information that seeks to trans-form the travel experience of passengers who suffer from sen-sory loss, especially blindness.

Her latest project involves further development of a multi-sensory safety kit Saad worked on while pursuing her studies at HBKU. The kit aims to serve travellers with special needs,

and comes inclusive of a model life vest, an oxygen mask rep-lica as well as instructions in Braille and a sound player that emits an audio description. This unique project has important relevance for the aviation in-dustry as airliners around the world continuously innovate on the practices and mechanisms in place to improve the travel experience of passengers flying with impairments.

Explaining her drive to im-prove the lives of people with special needs, Saad said: “Es-timates suggest that 15 percent of the world’s population expe-rience some form of disability. The truth is nearly 100 percent of the global population knows or loves somebody with one. The issues our suffering friends, family and community mem-bers face are a collective con-cern – and I won’t stop work-ing until I play my due role in

shaping a more accessible and inclusive environment in Qatar and the world.”

Audiovisual translation has become a valuable tool in the trans-adaptation of messages to suit the needs of users of the most diverse profiles. For peo-ple with sensory disabilities, audiovisual translation for ac-cess provides a number of new channels of communication that help them gain access to information, using the format that suits their personal profiles and needs. This is particularly the case for individuals with sensory loss, and especially the blind, which is why Saad’s re-search aimed to understand the needs of blind travellers when flying. Her project involves de-termining if the information provided inflight is adequate, and finally developing an audio-tactile information kit for blind travellers, before moving on to

validate the new approach to in-flight information with the avia-tion industry for blind travellers.

Saad attained her Master of Arts in Audiovisual Translation (MAAT) from CHSS last year. In 2016, a validation for the MAAT program from the Uni-versity of Geneva was officially announced. With this validation came the Faculty of Translation and Interpreting Quality Label from the University of Geneva.

The programme is delivered by the college’s Translation and Interpreting Institute (TII) to train specialists in the media-tion of audiovisual texts, both for foreign-language viewers and sensory-impaired audienc-es. Graduates of the programme are equipped to master the prac-tical and technological skills re-quired for a career in subtitling, dubbing, voice-over, subtitling for the hard-of-hearing and au-dio description.

Following her involvement in special trans-adapted screen-ing projects during Ajyal Youth Film Festival 2016 and 2017, Saad developed an interest in assistive support for people with special needs. Today, she serves her alma mater in a professional capacity at CHSS’s Translation and Training Center.

“Shortly after my enrol-ment in the ‘Advance Accessi-bility in Translation’ master’s class during my master’s pro-gramme in audiovisual trans-lation at HBKU, I took part in projects that sought to uplift the quality of life being enjoyed by audiences who are either deaf or hard-of-hearing, as well as blind and partially sighted viewers,” Saad said.

“My participation helped me see the responses our work elic-ited from our target audiences – the most rewarding of which were the smiles on their faces.”

‘Qatar has a rich diversity of traditional crafts’MALEK HELALI

DOHA

QATAR’S participation in the National Exhibition of Crafts not only emphasises the im-portance of preserving tradi-tional crafts but also repre-sents a rich cultural heritage for nations, according to Amal al Ali, the Head of the depart-ment of cultural ceremonies at the Ministry of Culture and Sports (MoCS).

The National Exhibition of Crafts was hosted by Oman’s public authority for crafts in-dustries. It was inaugurated on Thursday with the participa-tion of 15 countries.

In a media statement, Amal al Ali said: “We are commit-ted to sharing with our Omani brothers and sisters their Na-tional Crafts Day as the ‘na-tional exhibition’ emphasises the importance of preserving traditional crafts that repre-sent a rich cultural heritage for nations.”

She noted that Qatar has a rich diversity of traditional crafts supported by the Minis-try. This is aimed at preserving Qatar’s cultural heritage.

“The Ministry of Culture and Sports participated with

the crafts of manual embroi-dery including women’s cloth-ing and the traditional Jalsa furniture with its multitude of colours that can be found in every Qatari house. This was presented by Moza al Muftah,” she said, adding that the sec-ond participation was the em-broidery of the Qatari abaya and its different styles present-ed by Najla al Harmi.

The exhibition featured the inauguration of modern crafts exhibited for the first time in different areas such as the modelling of glass, silver, copper and clay pieces, as well as knitting of carpets and the environment-friendly natural dyeing techniques.

The exhibition is consid-ered the largest international crafts event aimed to advance the marketing competitiveness between craft projects and mo-tivate youngsters to join the industry as it attracts local, regional and international ex-perts in the field of handicrafts.

Some of the countries which took part in the three-day exhibition were Qatar, Lebanon, Algeria, Sudan, Ni-geria, India, China, Malaysia, Turkmenistan and the host na-tion, Oman.

SANTHOSH CHANDRANDOHA

POTTERY forms an important part of every country’s cultural heritage and history, and Qatar is no exception.

The pottery exhibition of Qatari artisan Mariyam al Dosary at the ongoing Halal Qatar Festival at the Cultural Village-Katara amply proves this. Mariyam, who is a doctor by profession, has a passion for pottery making as it highlights the richness of the Arab tradition.

Mariyam, the proprietor of the first pottery shop in Qatar ‘Anteeka’ in Al Wakra, told Qatar Tribune: “Pottery is integral to Arab culture and tradition, which has survived the passage of time and the race for mod-ernism. My initiative is an attempt to recapture that tradition in order to arouse the younger generation’s in-terest in the art of pottery making.”

Mariyam is a doctor in Family Medicine, but her passion for pottery making is such that she has opened the first pottery shop of Qatar at Souq Al Wakra and also trains young stu-dents in the art.

Her unique store at Souq Al Wakra appears like a beautiful art gallery displaying a large variety of colourful

water pots, utensils, show pieces and chandeliers in terms of design, sizes and price range. The sizes of the pot-tery at her store range between 10cm and 2,000cm, and costs between QR50 and QR2,500.

“It is more than a mere business initiative for me. It’s an attempt to explore our history through pot-tery’s role in our daily lives then and now. Pottery also symbolises our love for a healthy environment,” Mariyam said, adding, “There is a need for promoting use of earthen-ware in our daily lives – because it is eco-friendly – through a strong marketing campaign. Social media can prove to be a very useful plat-form in this regard.”

However, according to her, get-ting quality raw materials is still a big challenge. “Currently, Oman and Tur-key are major sources for raw materi-als,” Mariyam further said.

Incidentally, Mariyam has ap-pointed a Pakistani expatriate to train children in the art of pottery making. She also offers special training course for the differently-abled children.

SETTING AN EXAMPLE: Qatari artisan Mariyam al Dosary. (PHOTOGRAPH BY JALAL PATHIYOOR)

Knowing Qatar through its pottery

Ooredoo’s ‘NetgearOrbi’ in high demand


OOREDOO has announced on Saturday that the company has seen a huge demand for its new Netgear Orbi Wi-Fi.

The new Netgear Orbi device, which was launched early in 2018, has been purchased by the majority of Ooredoo customers subscribing to the company’s new Fibre Home Broadband plans and has received rave reviews from customers.

With the Netgear Orbi device, Ooredoo customers can take advantage of a first-in-the-region mesh Wi-Fi system, which has been designed to provide high-bandwidth and Wi-Fi coverage in every corner of a home.

Talking about the demand, Manar Khalifa al Muraikhi, director of PR and corporate communications, Ooredoo, said: “For customers with a large home that traditionally would have low Wi-Fi coverage, Orbi offers a simple one-stop solution. Orbi is also perfect for cus-tomers who need to be able to connect up to 20 users, whilst still keeping Su-pernet speeds.”

“So far, feedback from customers has been positive in terms of perform-ance, coverage within the home, ease of installation and use of the Netgear ap-plication,” added Muraikhi.

Orbi device uses can take advantage of the Netgear user-friendly Orbi phone application that helps with the instal-lation and configuration process for customers. The Orbi phone application also allows users to have control over the service by viewing devices connect-ed and edit Wi-Fi settings for optimum security.

The Orbi device comes in a dual pack (a router unit and a satellite unit) and has been designed to be the ideal service for large villas, especially where residents are using Ooredoo tv services, streaming films or music, and gaming.

Orbi is the fastest Wi-Fi system in the market and has the ability to provide speeds of up to 1,266 Mbps, cover up to a 5,000-square-feet space, and connect more than 20 devices at once.

The Orbi Tri-band Wi-Fi mesh service by Netgear is available now in Oore-doo shops. Ooredoo has announced it will offer the service on monthly payment plans of 12 or 24 months for all new Fibre Home plans.

The Ooredoo Fibre network is available across Qatar, with more than 260,000 homes and businesses currently benefiting from super-fast Internet and next-generation services.

With the Netgear Orbi device, Ooredoo customers can take advantage of a first-in-the-region mesh Wi-Fi system, which has been designed to provide high-bandwidth and Wi-Fi cover-age in every corner of a home

Qatar Foundation farm marketinitiative ‘vibrant’ and ‘friendly’

MALEK HELALIDOHA

QATAR Foundation’s (QF) Torba Farmers Market is attracting a lot of interested and curious young visitors to Education City during weekends. The initiative provides locally-grown organic food and homemade products in a market-place environment.

Some of the visitors told Qatar Tribune the significance of this re-markable initiative to promote local farm produce and spread its aware-ness on the university campus.

Sarah, a Qatari student, said that she had told her friends and family about the market in order to support local products and businesses. Additionally, she noted that the neat and organ-ised venue is very appealing for a weekend hangout.

Farah, a Sudanese student, said that she has been a regular visitor to the market’s café with her friends as the atmosphere is

vibrant and friendly. “There’s a great variety of food and bever-ages offered by the different local merchants owning small busi-nesses ranging from desserts to salty snacks and healthy shakes,” she added.

Another student, Kholoud, said: “I think initiatives such as Torba Farmers Market en-courages the preference for or-

ganic, healthy options for our diets as well as the local entre-preneurship consisting of small businesses which often start at home. Consequently, more peo-ple will be drawn to start their own projects and diversify the market to meet the country’s true potential.”

Even Jassem, a Qatari par-ent, sees the QF farmers market

as a vibrant place for hanging out with family. He praised the ini-tiative and expressed his pride in the local businesses as well as the institution’s support of national products.

“The quality of vegetables is impressive, and their prices are very reasonable. I have been trying to come here for grocery shopping as often as I can to sup-port the initiative. And I have oc-casionally brought my wife and children to spend time at the café, since the atmosphere is very friendly,” Jassem added.

Some of the local products available at the farmers’ market are green peppers, eggplant, cu-cumbers, broccoli and okra.

The market, which takes place at QF’s Ceremonial Court and is normally accessible from Educa-tion City’s Gate 2, is open every Thursday from 12pm to 7pm, eve-ry Friday from 8am to 11am and 1pm to 5pm, and every Saturday from 10am to 7pm.

The significance of this remarkable green initiative is to promote local farm produce and spread its awareness on the university campus

Sarah Saad, a Class of 2017 alumna, is focusing her efforts on developing her university capstone project – the creation of inflight safety information that seeks to transform the travel experience of passengers who suffer from sensory loss, especially blindness.

SPECIAL

It is more than a mere business initiative for me. It’s an attempt to explore our history through pottery’s

role in our daily lives then and now’

ASIF IQBALDOHA

BARWA Real Estate Company is currently looking to obtain necessary approvals to initiate the construction of the Lusail Golf Land Project, which will be a surprise to the real estate market, a top company official has said.

“We are relying heavily on this project as this will be an icon for Barwa projects and will also be one of the out-standing projects not only in Lusail area but in Qatar as a whole,” Group Chief Execu-tive Officer Salman bin Mo-hammed al Mohanndi told shareholders at the compa-ny’s annual general meeting (AGM) recently.

Mohannadi said the Lu-sail Golf Land Project, which is in addition to the Barwa Al Doha Complex project, will be characterised by applying new concept of privacy for its resi-dents, providing a comfort-able space.

Covering an area meas-uring 3,659,736 square me-tres, 31 percent of Lusail Golf Project is allocated to resi-

dential areas and 69 percent to sports facilities and green areas.

The project plans to dedi-cate 28 percent space for public areas and gardens, 12 percent for open spaces like pedestrian paths, roads and utilities, and 2 percent for community amenities like schools, mosques, a hotel, and a health clinic.

A further 26 percent would be dedicated to sports amenities, which include a golf course, golf club and ten-nis facilities, and 31 percent land area would feature low and medium residential den-sity zones.

The development is split across three distinct zones: Lusail Gharb, Souq Lusail, and Lusail Sharq.

Lusail Gharb is an up-market, exclusive zone that features a Greg Norman 18-hole Golf Course, Golf & Country Club and Chris Evert Tennis Centre.

It also includes an exclu-sive branded cluster of Nor-man Estates.

Souq Lusail, on the other hand, is a contemporary in-

spired souq, offering retail and lifestyle services, sports and residential clubs, an inter-national school and a mosque.

Meanwhile, Lusail Sharq will have a six-hole Golf Acad-emy Course, schools, and oth-er facilities.

Talking about the other upcoming projects, Mohan-nadi said, "The phase one of Barwa's Dara A Project is ex-pected to be completed in the second quarter of this year, while the second phase is ex-

pected to be completed in the first quarter of 2021."

The Dara project is located in the northern part of Fox Hills zone in Lusail City.

The Barwa CEO further said the completion of the con-struction of phase one of Mad-inat Al Mawater will be done within a period of 10 months. Once completed, the project will be the main destination for all used car-related services.

Regarding the affordable housing project for labour-ers on Salwa Road, Mohan-nadi said the contract for the project has already been awarded and is expected to be completed within 12 months. The project was launched in December 2017.

On the progress of the ware-house and workshop project in Barwa Al Baraha, the CEO said the contract for this project has already been awarded and the project is expected to be com-pleted in 18 months.

"The first phase of this two-phased project is already complete and it provides ac-commodation for 50,000 labourers and technician," Mohannadi said.

The project allocates 31% to residential areas & 69% to sports facilities and green areas

A view of Barwa’s Al Baraha project.

Barwa in process to get approval for Lusail Golf Project

BOOSTING QATAR’S CONSTRUCTION LANDSCAPE

EQUIFAX Inc said it expects costs related to its massive 2017 data breach to surge by $275 million this year, suggest-ing the incident at the credit reporting bureau could turn out to be the most costly hack in corporate history. The projection, which was disclosed on a Friday morning earnings conference call, is on top of $164 million in pretax costs posted in the sec-ond half of 2017. That brings expected breach-related costs through the end of this year to $439 million, some $125 mil-lion of which Equifax said will be covered by insurance. “It looks like this will be the most expen-sive data breach in history,” said Larry Ponemon, chairman of Ponemon Institute, a research group that tracks costs of cyber attacks. (REUTERS)

COMMERCIAL Bank has agreed to extend until April 2 the exclusive deadline given to Tabarak Investment for the third time. The deadline pertains to Tabarak Investment’s purchase of a stake in United Arab Bank (UAB) from Commercial Bank, according to a statement given to Qatar Stock Exchange. Com-mercial Bank had announced earlier that it agreed to sell its 40 percent stake in the Abu Dhabi-listed UAB for QR1.3 billion ($354 million) to Tabarak Investment, a subsidiary of Tabarak Commercial Investment One Person Company. Qatar’s third-largest bank had previously extended the deadline for 30 days until 24 January, before moving it once again to 28 February. (TNN)

THE Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) will remain closed on Sunday in line with the an-nouncement of Qatar Central Bank (QCB) that the first Sunday of March each year will be an official holiday for banks and financial institutions in the country. The QSE will resume work from Monday, according to a statement on Qatar Stock Exchange website. (TNN)

Commercial Bank extends deadline for UAB deal

Qatar Exchange to remain closed today

Equifax breach could be most costly in corporate history

QUICK READ

Nakilat expands joint venture partnership with Maran VenturesTRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA

NAKILAT has expanded its joint venture partnership with Greek shipping company Ma-ran Ventures Inc, to include two additional LNG vessels, the company announced in a press statement on Saturday.

Maran Nakilat Co Ltd was first established in 2005 with four jointly-owned LNG ves-sels, and has further been ex-panded on several occasions. The new agreement increases the number of vessels jointly-

owned by Nakilat and Maran Gas from 13 to 15 vessels, the statement said.

The two newly added ves-sels, Woodside Rogers and Woodside Goode, are equipped with modern technology and built by Daewoo Shipbuild-ing and Marine Engineering Co (DSME). In addition, the two vessels are under long-term charter, and equipped with Dual Fuel Diesel-Electric (DFDE) propulsion models with a capacity of 159,800 cubic metres each.

Nakilat CEO Abdullah al

Sulaiti, said, “Nakilat is ex-tremely pleased that our strong partnership with Maran Gas continues to flourish since the first agreement signed in 2005.

"Strategic alliance with renowned partners has been fundamental to our success, and we are always looking for opportunities to grow our in-

ternational presence. "Nakilat now has owner-

ship interest in 69 vessels, af-firming our global leadership in energy transportation with the world’s largest LNG fleets.

He further said, "The com-pany’s growth is a testament of our robust financial perform-ance and strategic planning which has allowed us to fur-ther increase our fleet size and strengthen our international portfolio.

"This expansion comes as part of our efforts to maximize returns for our shareholders

and support Qatar’s industry leading position as the world’s top LNG exporter.”

Maran Gas Chairman John Angelicoussis, said, “We are immensely proud of our part-nership with Nakilat, one of the global leaders in energy transportation. We are de-lighted at this opportunity to further strengthen our long-term strategic relationship. We look forward to working closely together in the future, continuing to strive to provide a first-class service to all our LNG customers.”

Exchange rateCurrency buy QR sell QR

US 3.6315 3.6495

Euro 4.4004 4.5295

Pound Sterling 5.9664 5.0969

Indian Rupee 0.0552 0.0565

Pakistani Rupee 00000 0.0333

Philippine Peso 0.0693 0.715

SriLankan Rupee 00000 0.0242

Bangladeshi Taka 00000 0.0443

Nepalese Rupee 00000 0.0357

Japanese Yen 0.3369 0.0348

Kuwaiti Dinar 12.008 12.282

Omani Riyal 9.2560 9.5740

Saudi Riyal 0.9570 0.9791

UAE Dirham 0.9770 0.9968

Bahraini Dinar 9.5610 9.7650Source: www.dohabank.com.qa

Senior officials of Nakilat and Maran Gas at an event in Doha recently.

Key facilities The project plans to dedicate 28 percent space for public areas and gardens, 12 percent to open spaces like pedestrian paths, roads and utilities, and 2 percent for community amenities like schools, mosques, a hotel, and a health clinic

QICCA, Astad hold seminar on SANADTRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA

QATAR Chamber’s (QC) Qatar International Centre for Con-ciliation and Arbitration (QIC-CA) organised a seminar on SANAD, in cooperation with Astad Engineering Consultan-cy and Project Management in Doha on Thursday, a press statement said on Saturday.

SANAD is an integrated suite of contracts, which aims to help minimise the different challenges for Chamber with-in construction contracts by maintaining a fair appropriate risk for all parties and by of-fering more balanced contract terms and conditions.

The seminar was attended by QC and QICCA Chairman Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim al Thani, QC board member Mo-hamed bin Ahmed al Obaidli, QICCA board member HE Sheikh Thani bin Ali al Thani and Astad’s CEO Ali bin Nass-er al Khalifa.

Sheikh Thani said the sem-inar is of a special importance as it discusses SANAD which supports construction indus-try and contributes to estab-lish better construction con-tracts in Qatar and the region.

He stressed the impor-tance of SANAD in facilitat-ing business environment and minimising disputes, particu-larly in light of the huge boom Qatar is witnessing due to the mega construction projects being implemented in the country.

Khalifa said Astad seeks to support and accomplish the Qatar National Vision 2030 by providing the best practices in project management and as-sets.

He said SANAD refines contractual procedures in the construction industry within Qatar and the region.

“Astad developed SANAD specifically for Qatar, yet with the added feature of being adaptable to enable custom-ised tailoring to suit the re-quirements of any construc-tion project across the region.

“It complies with local laws, regional realities, and global best practices while

holding equity, flexibility, bal-ance, and effectiveness at its core.”

Astad has developed sev-eral mega projects in Qatar in-cluding Islamic Art Museum, Qatar National Museum, Edu-cational City and 2022 World Cup projects, he said, noting that the key to Astad’s success is its full awareness of the local market and its commitment to the highest global standards.

Chief Commercial Officer and General Manager of As-tad International, Abdulaziz al Mulla delivered a presentation on the effectiveness of SANAD in adding value to the project management sector and con-struction projects,

Mulla said, “SANAD is a very essential and effective tool that supports construc-tion industry and regulates contractual procedures in Qa-

tar and the region.”Astad’s general counsel

Yazid J Tamimi highlighted the disputes in construction contracts in the light of SA-NAD’s contract suite in which he reviewed procedures of avoiding disputes, amicable settlement dispute, applicable law, litigation and competent courts, and arbitration as an alternative means of settling disputes.

He said that instead of settling disputes in ordinary courts, parties have the right to adjust their contract to in-clude other settlement means in Qatar, whether through lo-cal or global arbitration.

ASTAD’s senior contracts specialist Seah Ban Kiat gave a presentation on SANAD’s con-tract suite.

QC and QICCA Chairman Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim al Thani and other dignitaries at an event in Doha recently.

SANAD complies with local laws, regional realities, and global best practices while holding equity, flexibility, balance, and effectiveness at its coreAstad’s CEO Ali bin Nasser al Khalifa

The new agreement increases the number of vessels jointly-owned by Nakilat and Maran Gas from 13 to 15 vessels

SUNDAY, MARCH 4, 2018

Indonesia growth set to touch 5.3% in 2018: QNB PAGE 19

DOW QE GOLD

SILVERWTIBRENT

24,398.52-210.46 PTS

1,324.00+1.44%

16.51+1.44%

8,730.06+76.74 PTS

34,046.94-137.10 PTSSENSEX

PRICE PERCENTAGE64.11 +0.44%

PRICE PERCENTAGE61.12 +0.21%

www.facebook.com/QatarTribune

www.twitter.com/Qatar_Tribune

www.youtube.com/QatarTribuneChannel

SATYENDRA PATHAK DOHA

QATAR’S stock market wit-nessed one of the biggest weekly drop in the last nine months as a number of stocks went ex-dividend during the week.

The Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) main index decreased 366.30 points, or 4.03 per-cent, during the trading week to close at 8,730.06 points.

Market capitalisation fell by 4.06 percent to QR467.6 billion against QR487.4 bil-lion at the end of the previous trading week.

Trading value during the week increased by 52.3 per-cent to reach QR1.2 billion against QR792.7 million in the previous week.

The banks and financial services sector led the trad-ing value during the week, ac-counting for 33.27 percent of the total trading value.

The industrial sector was the second biggest contribu-tor to the overall trading val-ue, accounting for 22 percent of the total trading value.

Industries Qatar (IQ) was the top value traded stock during the week with total traded value of QR116 million.

Trading volume increased by 55.9 percent to reach 51.3 million shares against 32.9 million shares in the previous week.

The banks and financial services sector led the trading volume, accounting for 30.3 percent, followed by the tele-coms sector which accounted for 24.9 percent of the overall trading volume.

Vodafone Qatar was the top volume traded stock dur-ing the week with 12.4 million shares.

The number of transac-tions rose by 37.2 percent to reach 18,506 against 13,489 transactions in the previous week.

The banks and finan-cial services sector led the number of transactions dur-ing the week, accounting for 29.4 percent of the total transactions, followed by the industrials sector, which ac-

counted for 18.34 percent. Vodafone Qatar was the

best performing stock of the week with a gain of 20.8 per-cent on 12.4 million shares traded. The second telecom operator of Qatar announced this week that its nine-month net loss narrowed 32 percent, and that its telecommunica-tions licence had been ex-tended by 40 years, which would cut annual amortisa-tion costs sharply.

On the other hand, Qatar Insurance was the worst per-forming stock for the week with a decline of 25.3 percent on 879,200 shares traded.

QNB Group, Industries Qatar and Masraf Al Rayan

were the primary contribu-tors to the weekly index decline.

QNB was the biggest con-tributor to the index’s weekly decline, deleting 61.2 points from the index. IQ was the second biggest contributor to the mentioned decline, de-leting 56.6 points from the index.

Moreover, Masraf Al Ray-an shaved off 51.6 points from the index. However, Voda-fone Qatar added 53.7 points to the index.

Foreign institutions turned bearish with net sell-ing of QR75.6 million against net buying of QR1.3 million in the previous week.

Qatari institutions, how-ever, remained bullish with net buying of QR64.1 million against net buying of QR57.4 million in the week before.

Foreign retail investors turned bullish with net buy-ing of QR11.1 million against net selling of QR2.8 million in the previous week.

Qatari retail investors also turned marginally bullish with net buying of QR0.3 million against net selling of QR55.8 million the week before.

According to an estimate by QNB Financial Services (QNBFS), foreign institu-tions bought Qatari equities worth $63 million on a net basis since the beginning of

this year.Of the 45 listed compa-

nies, 10 ended the week high-er. While 33 stocks declined, there was no change in the share prices of the remaining two companies.

The week also saw just one sector index out of the seven sector indices close in the positive territory.

The telecom sector, which went up 4.95 percent on the back of an impressive rise in its constituent Vodafone Qa-tar, was the only sector index to have closed in the green.

The insurance sector, which went down almost 7 percent, was the worst performer during the week.

Index declines as many stocks go ex-dividend

Trading value goes up 52.3 % to QR1.2 bn during the week

Focus

51,342,499 1,207,251,896.87 18,506

Transportation

Weekly Trading Report (February 25 - March 1)

QE WEEKLY INDEX

There is a bearish move taking place on higher index constituents’ volumes, which indicates further correction ahead, QNBFS has said in its weekly re-port . “The moving average convergence divergence moved closer to its signal line, which is another sign for the weakness. We maintain our expected resistance level at the 10,000 level, and the current support level is situated at the 8,000 mark,” it said.

Perc

enta

ge T

o To

tal V

alue

Transaction Type

Non

-Qat

ari's

Tran

sact

ions

Qat

ari's

Tran

sact

ions

Further correction expected, says QNBFS

Top 5 gainers

Top 5 losers

Top 5 shares by value

Top 5 shares by volume

Performance of GCC stock markets

PERCENTAGE OF INVESTORS’ TRANSACTIONS

Qatari funds remain bullish Qatari institutions remained bullish with net buying of QR64.1 million against net buying of QR57.4 million in the week before. Foreign retail investors also turned bullish with net buying of QR11.1 million against net selling of QR2.8 million in the previous week

18 Sunday, March 4, 2018 QSE Weekly Analysis

REUTERSKUALA LUMPUR

THE US Justice Department has asked a court to lift a stay on civil proceedings linked to a Malaysian fund at the centre of its biggest ever ‘kleptocracy’ probe, so that a settlement can be reached with producers of the movie The Wolf of Wall Street.

In September, US prosecu-tors were granted a stay on doz-ens of civil lawsuits they filed in connection with $1.7 billion in assets allegedly bought with or funded by money stolen from 1Malaysia Development Ber-had (1MDB), to make way for a criminal probe into the scandal-hit state fund.

The court filing on Friday requesting the lifting of the stay order did not say whether pros-ecutors would now go ahead with a criminal probe. If they did, the timing could be awk-ward for Malaysian Prime Min-

ister Najib Razak, who founded 1MDB, as he prepares to call an election that must be held by August.

The court filing said the prosecutors sought to lift the stay order to make way for a“consent judgment and pro-posed consent judgment that will fully resolve this case”.

Red Granite Pictures, which

produced The Wolf of Wall Street’ and was co-founded by Najib’s step son, had an-nounced in September that it had“reached a settlement in principle” with the US govern-ment, without revealing any sum. The Hollywood block-buster, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, was among the assets listed in the US Justice Depart-ment’s lawsuits.

The filing also said the par-ties involved have reached a global settlement that includes rights and interests in the mo-tion pictures“Daddy’s Home” and “Dumb and Dumber To”.

Red Granite and 1MDB did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A total of $4.5 billion was misappropriated from 1MDB by high-level officials of the fund and their associates, according to US lawsuits filed in the past three years under the Justice Department’s kleptocracy asset

recovery initiative. They include a private jet, a hotel and real estate in New York, and a $107 million interest in EMI Music Publishing purchased by Ma-laysian financier Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low, the department said.

The US attorney-general described the 1MDB scandal as“kleptocracy at its worst”.

The lawsuits also said $681 million from 1MDB was transferred to the account of“Malaysian Official 1”, which US and Malaysian sources have previously identified as Najib.

Najib’s office did not imme-diately respond to requests for comment.

Najib set up 1MDB in 2009 and previously served as chair-man of its advisory board. He and the fund have denied any wrongdoing. At least six coun-tries are investigating transac-tions related to 1MDB, including the United States, Switzerland and Singapore.


GROWTH in Indonesia has been remarkably steady for the last four years, barely diverg-ing from the 5 percent level and coming in at 5.1 percent in 2017, according to a Qatar Na-tion Bank (QNB) report.

However, in 2018 the bank expects growth to break away slightly from this flat-lining and pick up to 5.3 percent, thanks to three positive driv-ers: higher social spending, easier monetary policy and stronger private investment.

Consumption will likely be helped by an increase in social spending ahead of elections in 2019. A shift in focus from infrastructure to higher social spending was planned in the latest budget for 2018. This in-cluded a budgeted increase in social transfers of 0.5 percent of GDP on cash and food ben-efits to lower income house-holds, the report said.

Besides, the easier mone-

tary policy should lend support to growth. Bank Indonesia (BI) cut interest rates in August and September 2017 by 25 basis points in each month. The ef-fect of these cuts should contin-ue to support growth in 2018.

Bank Indonesia is likely to cut rates again in 2018 as infla-tion continues to decline which will support growth, the report added.

The bank said inflation was as low as 3.2 percent in Janu-ary 2018, which is well within the bottom half of Bank Indo-nesia’s target range of 2.5-4.5 percent.

The only constraint could be the re-emergence of a weak Rupiah. However, the currency has been broadly stable since 2016 and although it has expe-

rienced some downward pres-sure amid the recent global financial market turmoil, the bank expects positive investor sentiment towards Indonesia to continue.

According to the report, both higher growth and a cur-

rent account deficit, which at less than 2 percent of the GDP, is considerably lower than a few years ago, should give in-vestors comfort.

Private investment should be supported by recent gov-ernment measures. In August

2017, the government launched its 16th economic package, which aims to speed up the issuance of business permits by simplifying the application process and requiring a single application to central and lo-cal governments. This pack-age builds on another set of measures in 2016 that aimed to accelerate investment licence applications and also raised foreign ownership limits.

All these measures should work to improve the business environment and help boost private investment in the econ-omy, the report said.

There are a number of risks to the bank’s baseline forecast for growth in 2018.

The economy faces a number of headwinds that could hold back growth.

With the Chinese economy slowing, external demand for Indonesia’s exports could sof-ten. Besides, prices of Indone-sia’s main export commodities, coal and palm oil, are expected to fall.

US prosecutors want stay lifted to settle ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ suit

REUTERSWASHINGTON

SINGAPORE-BASED chip-maker Broadcom Ltd, which is seeking to buy rival Qualcomm Inc, plans to complete its move back to the United States by mid-May, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Wrapping up the move from Singapore and redomicil-ing in the United States rela-tively quickly could remove a roadblock to the proposed deal by calming concerns at the in-ter-agency Committee on For-eign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which has the power to stop deals that could harm national security.

Broadcom said in Novem-

ber that it would return to the United States but did not say when the move would happen.

Broadcom shareholders

will vote on the proposal by May 6, after which it must be confirmed by a judge. Once that happens, which is ex-pected in early to mid-May, the redomiciling can happen quickly, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The entire process is likely to be wrapped up as soon as mid-May, the source added.

Broadcom was a US com-pany until it was bought in 2016 by Singapore’s Avago, which decided to use the name Broadcom.

Despite Broadcom’s plans to move back to the United States, CFIUS has already shown an interest in the pro-posed transaction because Broadcom has proposed six

directors for Qualcomm’s 11-member board. The vote on that slate is set for Tuesday.

Broadcom has argued that CFIUS’ concern is unwarrant-ed since it does not control the directors that it proposed.

“Broadcom could not and will not control the Qualcomm board - the essential basis for CFIUS jurisdiction - in the event some or all of the inde-pendent, Broadcom-nominat-ed directors are elected,” the company said in a statement on Friday.

It also reiterated it was confident it would be able to win regulatory approval for a deal to buy Qualcomm within approximately 12 months of reaching an agreement.

‘Broadcom return to US may be complete in May’

Indonesia growth set to touch 5.3% in 2018: QNB

A luxury yacht ‘Equanimity’ owned by Jho Low, a former unofficial ad-viser to the Malaysian fund 1MDB at Benoa Bay in Bali recently. (AFP)

REUTERSPARIS/LONDON

A year before Britain is due to leave the European Union, top US investment banks plan to hire far more people in London than anywhere else in Europe, indicating they expect the City will re-main their main regional hub, at least in the short term.

When Britain voted to quit the EU in the summer of 2016, analysts predicted a mass exodus of investment banking jobs from London - historically Europe’s pre-mier financial hub - to rival centres in cont inental Europe.

B a n k s t h e m s e l v e s warned that t h o u s a n d s of London-based jobs could be lost or transferred to Europe, and named or started to beef up alternative hubs in cities like Frankfurt and Dublin.

But as confusion reigns over what the trading re-lationship between Britain and the EU will look like af-ter Brexit Day on March 29, 2019, top banks appear to be keeping plans for large scale recruitment in continental Europe on ice and investing in their well-established Lon-don offices instead.

As of February 27, JP-Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs had a total 1,544 post-ings for jobs in Britain open on their websites, according to a review of the websites con-ducted by Reuters.

Total vacancies available in Dublin, Frankfurt and Paris - the three cities vying to woo business away from the city of London after Brexit - stood at less than 200 for the five banks. The five banks, which employ around 40,000 peo-ple in Britain, declined to pro-vide official comment on their plans.

“American banks were really quiet in 2016 and early 2017, but in the beginning of this year they are forecasting

their hiring will be up (in the UK) this year compared to last year,” said Darren Burns, a di-rector at international recruit-ment firm Morgan McKinley.

This comes after a buoy-ant year for investment bank-ing fees in 2017 and a return to market volatility in early 2018, which analysts believe could lead to much healthier revenues for the banks’ trad-ing business over the coming months. Fees from bond and equity trading, loan syndica-tion and mergers and acquisi-tions in Europe, Middle East and Africa for investment banks overall rose 19.5 per-cent in 2017, outperforming

growth in the Americas and Asia-Pacific.

JP Mor-gan, Goldman Sachs, Citi-group, Mor-gan Stanley and BofA-Merrill Lynch took a 23.1 percent share in investment banking fees in EMEA last year, up from

21.2 percent in 2016, ac-cording to Thomson Reuters data. Anne Murphy, head of the financial services practice at headhunter Odgers Bern-dtson, said US investment banks were adding to their London-based workforce more actively than last year.

“It is fair to say that lots of banks are waiting as long as they can before pushing the button on any continental European relocation or hir-ing plans and even when that happens, in the short term the numbers involved will be in the 10s rather than the thousands,” she said.

She pointed to several large office lettings and lease extensions, and a number of initiatives in the UK capital, such as Citigroup’s recent decision to set up an innova-tion lab. US banks have said London would almost cer-tainly remain their primary hub in Europe irrespective of Brexit, citing a broader pool of talent, a more suitable legal and regulatory frame-work and an Anglo-Saxon workplace culture as factors giving the British capital an edge.

US investment banks still bet on London a year before Brexit

Airbus to meet EU body after reports of 3,600 job cuts

DPAPARIS

AIRBUS said that it plans to meet with the European Works Council next week, following a media report that the European aircraft manufacturer wants to cut or transfer thousands of jobs.

An Airbus spokesman said Saturday that the public would be informed of the manufac-turer's plans following the meeting, though he declined to provide a date. Airbus is con-sidering slashing 3,600 jobs in response to production cuts on its A380 model and the A400M military transporter, according to a report from French maga-zine Challenges published late Friday.

The cuts, set to be an-nounced Wednesday, would hit German facilities in Bremen and Augsburg, as well as loca-tions in Sevilla, Spain, and Fil-ton, Britain, the report said.

"Any associated impacts on the workforce will be discussed with our social partners first," the Airbus spokesman said. "We are always striving to find the best solutions for our work-force."

Airbus announced in 2016 that, beginning this year, it would deliver only 12 A380 ma-chines annually due to insuffi-cient orders.

Starting in 2019, the de-livery figure will drop to eight. With the A400M, the com-pany's new military transport plane that has seen problems with refuelling techniques and gearboxes, the delivery sched-ule is set to be extended by several years. Airbus said last month that it was forced to write off 1.3 billion euros (1.6 billion dollars) in charges due to the A400M programme.

Higher social spending, easier monetary policy and stronger private investment to boost economy: Report

Dialog expects to supply chips to Apple through 2020: CEO

REUTERSFRANKFURT

DIALOG Semiconductor ex-pects Apple, its top customer, to use its chips for a significant proportion of its devices in 2019 and 2020, Chief Execu-tive Jalal Bagherli told a Ger-man newspaper.

“Apple at the start of the year commissioned us with the design of chips for many devices for 2019 and 2020,” weekly Euro am Sonntag quoted Bagherli as saying in an interview published on Saturday, without providing details.

Dialog’s stock has lost

more than half of its value over the past year on investor con-cerns that Apple is working on its own battery-saving chips for iPhones. Analysts reckon Dialog derives more than half its revenue from supplying Apple with power manage-ment integrated circuits.

Dialog in December ac-knowledged that Apple could develop its own power chips. It said at the time there was no risk to its existing supply deals in 2018 and that it was in the advanced stages of working with Apple on designing“2019-type products” that could lead to commercial contracts by this month.

Economy & Business 19Sunday, March 4, 2018

$4.5 bn scam A total of $4.5 billion was misappropriated from 1MDB by high-level officials of the fund and their associates, according to US lawsuits filed in the past three years under the Justice Department’s kleptocracy asset recovery initiative

A US firm before Broadcom was a US

company until it was bought in 2016 by Singapore’s Avago, which decided to use the name Broadcom

Broadcom said in November that it would return to the United States but did not say when the move would happen

Bank Indonesia cut interest rates in August and September 2017 by 25 basis points in each month. The effect of these cuts should continue to support growth in 2018.

Sources: Indonesia Statistical Agency and Haver Analytics

Real GDP Growth (%)Bank Indonesia is likely to cut rates again in 2018 as inflation continues to decline which will support growth, the QNB report said

REUTERSWASHINGTON

PRESIDENT Donald Trump, after shocking markets with the risk of a global trade war, came under intense pressure on Fri-day from US business interests and foreign trading partners to moderate his threat to slap tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

Trump dispatched pro-tariff advisers Wilbur Ross and Peter Navarro to TV news stu-dios to defend his plan, while White House aides scrambled to downplay the prospect of a resignation by free trade advo-cate Gary Cohn, the top White House economic adviser, over the matter.

Cohn is part of a faction in Trump's administration that warned the Republican presi-dent for months not to threaten the 25-percent steel and 10-per-cent aluminum tariffs that he pledged to impose in a chaotic announcement on Thursday.

There was speculation that Cohn, who told Trump the markets would slump on a tar-iffs threat, might step down as a result of Trump's decision, but there was no indication of a such a move anytime soon, a senior White House official said.

"Gary was here yesterday afternoon, I talked to him in my office several times, so I don't have any reason to think oth-erwise," White House spokes-woman Sarah Sanders told re-porters.

Turmoil inside the adminis-tration over trade came during one of the most hectic weeks of the Trump presidency, with confusion around the issue in-tensified by adviser Hope Hicks' resignation on Wednesday and staff secretary Rob Porter's on February 7. National Economic Council Director Cohn, Treas-ury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and others for months had tried to steer Trump away from ag-gressive tariffs, but the presi-dent resisted their counsel, a

senior administration official said. Interviews with large trade associations, as well as lobby-ists who represent companies in several industries, indicated back-channel discussions were underway, with companies try-ing to convince the White House and Commerce Department to

include key exemptions in the coming official tariffs policy.

Industry groups want ex-emptions for imports from in-dividual countries or for types of metals that cannot be found in the United States, the lobby-ists said.

Companies that use cans

for products like drinks or soup were among the most vocal op-ponents.

"Like most brewers, we are selling an increasing amount of our beers in aluminum cans and this action will cause alumi-num prices to rise and is likely to lead to job losses across the

beer industry," said MillerCoors spokesman Colin Wheeler.

Can manufacturers plan to pressure lawmakers and ad-ministration officials next week. "What Wilbur Ross doesn't real-ize is that a few cents on 115 bil-lion food and general line cans is a lot of money," said Robert Budway, president of the Can Manufacturers Institute in Washington.

Trump's attitude on tariffs should not come as a surprise, Commerce Secretary Ross said in a CNBC interview. "The pres-ident has been consistent all the way from his campaign days to the present about doing some-thing big to protect steel and aluminum, so it should not have come as a shock," Ross said.

A senior official at a ma-jor industry trade associa-tion, speaking on condition of anonymity, said business-es want to pull Trump back before he formally imposes tariffs next week.

Porsche may build flying taxis, says sales chief

REUTERSFRANKFURT

VOLKSWAGEN'S sports car maker Porsche could develop a flying passenger vehicle to compete with rivals in a possible market for urban air taxis and ride-sharing services, Porsche sales chief Detlev von Platen told a German magazine.

"That would really make sense. If I drive from (the Por-sche plant in) Zuffenhausen to Stuttgart airport, I need at least half an hour, if I'm lucky. Fly-ing would take only three and a half minutes," Automobilwoche quoted von Platen as saying.

Porsche would join a raft of companies working on designs for flying cars in anticipation of a shift in the transport market away from conventional cars to self-driving vehicles shared via ride-hailing apps.

Volkswagen's auto designer Italdesign and Airbus at last

year's Geneva auto show pre-sented a two-seater flying car, called Pop.Up, designed to avoid gridlock on city roads.

The magazine said that un-der Porsche's plans, passengers would be able to have some control over the flying vehicle themselves but would not need a pilot licence because many of the car's functions would be au-tomated. Potential competitors to a flying vehicle made by Por-sche would be German start-ups Volocopter, backed by Daimler, Lilium Jet and eVolo, as well as US-based Terrafugia and Cali-fornia-based Joby Aviation.

German minister wants tougher foreign investment rules

AFPBERLIN

GERMANY'S economy min-ister on Saturday suggested tightening the rules on foreign investment, following concern over Chinese influence on Eu-ropean firms.

Last month it emerged that Chinese billionaire Li Shufu had quietly bought a near 10-percent stake worth around 7.2 billion euros ($8.9 billion) in German car giant Daimler -- making him the group's largest shareholder.

"We must always adapt our law on the external economy according to new develop-ments, including the threshold at which (the government) can become involved," Economy

Minister Brigitte Zypries told the weekly Der Spiegel.

Currently, Berlin can scru-tinise a transaction and pos-sibly prevent it, if the foreign investor seizes a stake worth more than 25 percent of a com-pany's capital.

"The fact is, the investors can often exert considerable influence on a business, even with a smaller stake," said Zypries, a Social Democrat.

China's increasing inter-est in German companies has sparked unease in Europe's biggest economy.

The distrust is all the great-er as EU nations are more open to investment from abroad than Beijing allows on its ter-ritory.

The subject will "have to

be on the agenda of the new government, particularly with regard to strategic infrastruc-tures, such as energy, transport or internet sectors", Zypries said.

Germans are waiting to dis-

cover on Sunday whether the Social Democrats will approve a coalition with Chancellor An-gela Merkel's Christian Demo-cratic Union, bringing an end to a five-month stalemate fol-lowing inconclusive elections.

German ministers agreed last year to expand government powers to scrutinise takeover bids from abroad, especially in sectors affecting critical in-frastructure, and to extend the range of deals eligible for offi-cial probes.

The move followed the 2016 Chinese takeover of in-dustrial robotics firm Kuka and US-based Tesla Motors' buying-up of factory automa-tion specialist Grohmann En-gineering.

That same year also saw Washington block a Chinese acquisition bid for German mi-crochip maker Aixtron, warn-ing its products could have military applications.

Billionaire Li Shufu’s 10% stake in Daimler raises concern of Chinese influence on European firms

REUTERSMEXICO CITY

US President Donald Trump's threats to unleash a trade war over steel crushed hopes of substantial progress in the latest talks to rework NAFTA, heightening fears for the trade deal's future.

Trump said on Thursday that a plan for protectionist tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum goods would be announced next week, follow-ing up on Twitter on Friday by calling trade wars "good, and

easy to win." Trump's state-ments have blunted efforts to renegotiate the 1990s-era North American Free Trade Agreement, which had al-ready been disrupted by the early departure of a US official handling one of the most divi-sive subjects, content rules for autos.

Asked how NAFTA ne-gotiators could be working in good faith to update the deal while Trump talked ap-provingly about trade wars, a well-placed Canadian source replied: "That's a very good question. I don't think there's

an answer yet." Jerry Dias, head of Canadian private-sector union Unifor, said after meeting with Canada's chief negotiator on Friday that Trump's latest gambit to push his "America First" strategy immediately soured the nego-tiations.

"The Canadian team is absolutely furious," Dias told Reuters, saying Canada should walk away from the talks if it did not receive an exemption. He likened the Trump administration to a schoolyard bully.

"Ultimately Canada's go-

ing to have to start fighting fire with fire," he told reporters. One Mexican official familiar

with the process gave a terse appraisal of how Trump's an-nouncement went down at the

talks. "Very bad news, very bad timing, very dangerous to go down this road," the official said.

Trade officials have be-come used to tensions sparked by Trump, and Mexico's chief NAFTA negotiator Kenneth Smith said the talks had not been affected by the steel an-nouncement.

However, he said Mexico and Canada should be ex-empted from the measures as NAFTA allies of the United States. It remains unclear whether the metals tariffs would apply to the United

States' partners under NAF-TA, which together account for more than $1 trillion worth of annual trilateral trade.

Canada, the biggest for-eign supplier of steel and alu-minum to the United States, is looking at ways to impose immediate sanctions on the United States if necessary, said the Canadian source.

Mexican officials said the government would likely wait for clarity on the matter be-fore responding, but one said earlier this week that Mexico would hit back if subject to US tariffs.

Trump’s tariff call a setback for flagging NAFTA talks

Trump under pressure from US businesses over tariffs threat

US President Donald Trump announces that the United States will impose tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on imported aluminum during a meeting at the White House in Washington recently. (REUTERS)

AFPWASHINGTON

THE International Mon-etary Fund warned Friday that the steel and alumi-num tariffs announced by President Donald Trump will harm the US and glo-bal economies.

"The import restric-tions announced by the US President are likely to cause damage not only out-side the US, but also to the US economy itself," IMF spokesman Gerry Rice said in a statement.

He said the move raises fears other countries could use national security ration-ale "to justify broad-based import restrictions," and urged countries to work to resolve trade disagreements without such extremes.

It was the latest interna-tional reaction to Trump's announcement Thursday that he will impose 25 per-cent tariffs on steel imports

and 10 percent on alumi-num, raising fears of a trade war and sending global stock markets tumbling.

Those fears were exac-erbated early Friday when Trump welcomed a trade war in a blistering series of tweets, saying they are "good and easy to win."

He raised the stakes saying he would seek to impose "reciprocal taxes" on all imports from trading partners that have duties on US exports. Rice urged countries to step back from such harsh steps.

"We encourage the US and its trading partners to work constructively togeth-er to reduce trade barriers and to resolve trade disa-greements without resort to such emergency measures."

He noted that the steel and aluminum taxes would hurt the manufacturing and construction sectors, which are major users of alumi-num and steel.

Tariffs would damage US, global economies: IMF

White House plays down prospect of resignation by free trade advocate Gary Cohn over the issue

Chinese foreign minister slams tariffs plan: Report

AFPBEIJING

CHINA'S foreign minis-ter tore into the new steel and aluminium tariffs announced by US Presi-dent Trump, calling them "groundless" in remarks to state media Saturday.

"The American action to put sanctions on other coun-tries' reasonable steel and aluminium exports in the name of harming national security is groundless," min-ister Wang Yi said.

Wang Yi made the com-ments in an interview with China Business Journal on the sidelines of the Chinese People's Political Consulta-tive Conference, a top advi-sory body opening its annu-al national session in Beijing over the weekend.

"It's not only China that believes this to be unrea-sonable, many European countries and Canada have all said they cannot accept this."

Trump announced Thursday his decision to impose hefty tariffs on steel

and aluminum imports, in-citing a worldwide uproar and stoking fears of a global trade war. European Com-mission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said Friday the EU was drawing up retaliatory measures including tariffs on imports of American goods like Harley-Davidson motorcycles, bourbon and blue jeans, if the Trump ad-ministration moves forward with its plan.

China has previously warned it was ready with counter-measures should the Trump administration deploy tariffs, but the coun-try has yet to make any spe-cific moves after the latest trade volley.

RISK OF GLOBAL TRADE WAR

Electrolux suspends US investments

STOCKHOLM Swedish home appliance maker Electrolux said Friday it would suspend its investments in the United States following the announcement by President Donald Trump that he intends to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium imports. “We’re freezing our investments,” Electrolux spokesman Daniel Frykholm was quoted as saying by the Swedish news agency TT. “We need to analyse the taxes and see how the market reacts,” he said, adding “but to be clear: this is a message to the (Trump) administration this is real negative for us. According to Swedish public television channel SVT, the investment of $250 million is to modernise an Electrolux factory.

Frykholm said the intention of Trump to impose tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminium imported into the United States “could render economically unjustifiable” the planned investment into the factory. (AFP)

Trump rejects counsel of aides National Economic Council Director Cohn, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and others for months had tried to steer Trump away from aggressive tariffs, but the president resisted their counsel, a senior administration official said

Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Mexico’s chief negotiator Kenneth Smith during the seventh round of NAFTA talks in Mexico City. (REUTERS)

Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche (right) and Bosch CEO Volkmar Denner at the Bosch Connected World Conference in Berlin recently. (REUTERS)

Currently, Berlin can scruti-nise a transaction and pos-sibly prevent it, if the for-eign investor seizes a stake worth more than 25 percent of a company’s capital

Porsche would join a raft of companies working on designs for flying cars in anticipation of a shift in the transport market away from conventional cars

Economy & Business20 Sunday, March 4, 2018

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Sunday, March 4, 2018

REUTERSLONDON/HOUSTON

THE gasps in the audience were clearly audible at the auction of Mexico’s oil blocks a month ago as Royal Dutch Shell’s hefty bids were announced one by

one.The size of Shell’s cash pay-

ments - $343 million out of the total of $525 million that Mexico earned in the sale - far outstripped its com-petitors’ offers, guaranteeing that the company swept up nine of the 19 offshore blocks.

The Anglo-Dutch major knew something no one else did.

Six months earlier, its drilling rig had struck a giant oil reservoir, the Whale well, in the US side of the Gulf of Mexico - just across the border from many of the Mexican blocks, which share a similar Paleogene-age geology.

Calculating that this significantly increased the chances of the Mexi-can blocks also containing treasure, Shell delayed the announcement of the discovery until the day of the auction, after bids had been submit-ted.

“Post the Whale discovery we had some geological insights. It is not by accident we didn’t announce it until the day of the bid,” Andy Brown, Shell’s head of oil and gas production, told Reuters. “The nine blocks give us significant potential.”

The geological intelligence gleaned from the Whale discovery explains why Shell bid so aggres-sively for the Mexican blocks, some-thing that had confounded industry experts.

It could also offer insight into the rationale underpinning its bet that Latin America - particularly Mexico and Brazil - will be a major source of new reserves as its current resources dwindle.

Shell, or any other explorer, is not legally obliged to publicly dis-close a discovery. The fact that its first major exploration success in over 10 years came adjacent to blocks coming up for auction was a matter of good fortune, while the timing of the announcement was canny.

Shell has not yet released any estimates for the Whale’s recover-able resources, but two industry sources close to the exploration project put the figure at up to 700 million barrels of oil. That equates to about half of Shell’s 2017 oil production and would make the reservoir one of the big-gest discoveries of the past decade in the industry.

Shell declined to comment on the potential size of the reserves.

Fossil fuels like oil are formed over millions of years in specific rock formations, which geologists and explorers try to identify via seismic studies and drilling to predict where resources might be found.

But, even though a similar geol-ogy might increase the chances of similar exploration success, there are no guarantees, and luck is always a big factor. So there is no certainty that the Mexican blocks will yield commercial volumes of oil.

Shell acquired large amounts of specialized seismic data before the auction, about Whale and the Mexi-can blocks, to try to gain a better sense of the geologi-

cal formations and potential oil reserves under the seabed, according to a source at an oil services company that provides such information.

“Even for us it was surprising the way Shell bid during Mexico’s deep-water auction. They really wanted the blocks close to the border, which

indicates there must be a link be-tween the formation in the US and in Mexico,” the source added.

Shell needs to replenish its oil and gas reserves to maintain its pro-

duction into the 2030s. Aside from the $54 billion acquisition of

BG Group in 2016, which boosted its reserves, the

company has had lim-ited success in recent

years.Last year, it was

able to replace only 27 percent of its production, while on a three-year av-erage, the figure was 78 percent, the company disclosed in its full-year re-

sults. The decline in reserves means that at

the end of 2017 Shell had enough reserves to sus-

tain its production for 8.9 years, compared

with around 10.5 years in 2015.

CEO Ben Van Beurden, while insisting he was not“obsessed” with the scale of his company’s reserves, said Shell was starting to work on re-stocking its resources.

“We have a deepwater program that looks pretty good all the way into the next decade, but if you look

at the second half of the next decade ... you will need new elements in the development funnel to sustain the cash-flow generation,” he told re-porters after the annual results an-nouncement last month.

Shell has now given itself seven years to replenish its exploration program in order to sustain its deep-water production growth well into the 2030s, he added.

The company, like many of its

peers, was forced to dramatically slash spending in recent years be-cause of weak oil prices, with its exploration budgets hit particularly hard. Now that prices have recov-ered to a near three-year high of around $65 a barrel, firms feel more confident to once again invest in ex-pensive offshore developments.

Shell owns a 60 percent stake in the Whale discovery with the re-maining 40 percent held by Chev-

ron, which is mainly shale-focused.The reservoir is located in the

Perdido area, which has become a heartland of Shell’s deepwater ac-tivities in the US Gulf of Mexico.

Companies such as Shell that are eyeing Mexico’s offshore are hop-ing to use the vast infrastructure of pipelines and rigs on the US side to reduce development costs, said An-drew Latham of Edinburgh-based consultancy Wood Mackenzie.

The geological intelligence gleaned from the Whale discovery explains why Shell bid so aggressively for the Mexican blocks, something that had confounded industry experts.

Six months before the Mexican oil blocks auction, Shell’s drilling rig had struck a giant oil reservoir, the Whale well, in the US side of

the Gulf of Mexico. Shell delayed the announcement of the discovery until the day of the auction, after bids had been submitted

How Shell hid a ‘Whale’ before placing hefty Mexican oil bet

Post the Whale discovery we had some

geological insights. It is not by accident we didn’t announce it until the day of the bid. The nine blocks give us significant potential, Andy Brown, Shell’s head of oil and gas produc-

tion, told Reuters

REUTERSKUALA LUMPUR

MALAYSIAN state energy firm Petroliam Nasional Ber-had, or Petronas, pledged on Friday to ramp up its growth and spending plans this year following a sharp rise in prof-its, even as it cautioned about the sustainability of higher oil prices.

Petronas, like other oil majors, has taken a hit from lower oil prices, but sharp cost cuts - along with some recent stability in oil prices - helped the company boost profits and margins despite lower production.

Net profit for the fourth

quarter ended December rose to 18.2 billion ringgit ($4.65 billion) from 11.3 billion ring-git in the same quarter last year, while revenue rose 13.8 percent to 61.8 billion ringgit.

The quarterly result helped push full-year profit up 91 percent to 45.5 billion

ringgit - marking a second year of profit growth for the sole manager of Malaysia’s oil and gas reserves following a two-year profit slump.

“Petronas is now in stronger position to execute its long term growth agenda,” Chief Executive Wan Zulki-flee Wan Ariffin said. “Petro-nas will explore new business areas, including speciality chemicals and new energy.”

Petronas will focus on the ASEAN region, the In-dian subcontinent, the Mid-dle East and the Americas for growth, he said, adding that the company will assess op-portunities in solar energy.

The company, tradition-ally conservative with its outlook, said its performance in 2018 will be“satisfactory” subject to the sustainability of the oil price - which the CEO

said remains to be seen.It is budgeting for an oil

price of $52 per barrel in 2018. Brent crude prices were trading at $63.99 on Friday.

Wan Zulkiflee said indus-try wide costs are showing signs of increasing, driven by what he called“premature exuberance” over the oil price recovery.

“It is imperative we do not drop the austerity mindset, and continue to ensure we keep costs under control, in-crease efficiency and drive up value,” he said.

Petronas, a major con-tributor to Malaysia’s budget and one of the country’s big-gest employers, embarked on a cost cutting drive after Wan Zulkiflee’s appointment as CEO in early 2015.

The company said in 2016 that it would reduce expenses

by $12 billion over a four-year period, and has cut thousands of jobs and its dividend pay-out to its sole shareholder, the Malaysian government.

Controllable costs for 2017 fell 6 percent to 45.9 bil-lion ringgit, Petronas said.

For 2018, the company said it planned capital ex-penditure of around 55 billion ringgit, higher than last year’s 44.5 billion ringgit.

It will also increase its div-idend to the government this year to 19 billion ringgit, from 16 billion ringgit last year.

Total production volume - the sum of Malaysia’s oil and gas output and Petronas’ in-ternational output - fell 2 per-cent to 2.32 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, while sales of liquefied natural gas (LNG) rose two percent to 30.7 million tonnes.

Malaysia’s Petronas ramps up spending as profit surges

File photo of Petronas logo at a petrol station in Putrajaya outside Kuala Lumpur. (REUTERS)

The company’s profit jumped 61 percent to $4.65 billion in the fourth quarter

Economy & Business

Petronas will focus on the ASEAN region, the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East and the Americas for growthChief Executive Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin


BIRMINGHAM: As usual, Kim Collins -- at 41 one of track's most enduring, popular and charismatic figures – made everyone in the athletics arena smile on Saturday but it was for the last time. “I keep telling them I could be their father so they need to give me some respect!” laughed the man who seems to have sprinted on forever as he talked of his opponents in the heats of the 60 metres at the world indoor championships. “Some of them don’t like it that their mum is my biggest fan – but it’s all fun and games.” It has always been fun and games with this most laid-back and cool of Caribbean athletes but Collins, the one-time world 100 metres champion who put his home of Saint Kitts & Nevis on the sporting map, confirmed the bad news for his huge fan club. “This is it. My last competition. I just can’t do it any more,” said Collins with a pained look. “Of course, you feel young and I’d love to carry on but the body has been doing so much for so many years, it’s time to just say

‘bye’ and for me it’s peace. “It’s not about the high note or the low note, it’s just about leav-ing in peace.” (REUTERS)

IKOLI VICTORDOHA

THE Al Sadd football team delegation arrived to a warm welcome at the Qarshi Airport, Uzbekistan, ahead of their Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League on Saturday. The team had flown from Doha in a chartered jet.

The two-time Asian champions will face Nasaf on Matchday Three of the AFC Champions League fixture at the Qarshi Central Stadium on Monday.

The players were wel-comed with bouquets amid a tune of the city’s music by a band much to the admiration of the Wolves.

Al Sadd General Manager Turki al Ali led the delega-tion and was accompanied by Sporting Director Moham-med Gholam al Baloushi, Media Officer Ahmed al An-sari and first team manager Abdullah al Breik.

Head coach Jesualdo Ferreira led the coach-ing staff, which consists

of assistant coach Nuno Migue and fitness coach Jose Pedro. The team left with 19 players excluding

captain Xavi Hernandez, who has been ruled out for three weeks due to a back muscle injury suffered

during the 3-4 loss to Al Duhail in the QNB Stars League on Thursday.

Xavi played only in the first

half of the crucial game. The Spanish star underwent a test on Friday under the supervi-sion of the club’s medical team and a tear on his back muscle was confirmed.

Al Sadd are currently lead Group C in AFC Champions League with two wins from two games, having defeated Al Wasl 2-1 and Persepolis 3-1.

The team held their last training in Doha Saturday, be-fore leaving for Hamad Inter-national Airport at 4pm to fly to Qarshi.

According to the club’s website, the team will only hold a single training session before the match on Sunday from 4.30pm local time.

The 19-member squad: Saad al Dosari, Meshaal Bar-sham, Abdelkarim Hassan, Morteza Pouraliganji, Bagh-dad Bounedjah, Pedro Miguel, Ahmed Sohail, Hassan al Hay-dos, Ali Asad, Akram Afif, Sa-lem al Hajri, Hassan Ahmed, Ahmed Sayyar, Musab Kheder, Jugurtha Hamroun, Hamed Ismail, Yasser Abubakar, Ali Ferydoon, Jehad Mohammed.

Collins bids farewell after longest sprint

AFPZURICH

FOOTBALL'S lawmakers on Saturday approved video assistant referee technol-ogy (VAR) for this summer's World Cup, in one of the big-gest changes to the sport in years.

The International Football Association Board (IFAB), meeting in Zurich, rubber-stamped a move already backed by FIFA's top brass, including president Gianni In-fantino.

“We came to the conclu-sion that VAR is good for foot-ball,” Infantino told reporters shortly after IFAB announced

the decision.He added that the final de-

cision to use the technology at the World Cup in Russia will be made when the FIFA Coun-cil – world football's top deci-sion-making body – meets in Colombia on March 15 and 16.

“We will hope and encour-age the council to take a fa-vourable decision,” Infantino said, voicing confidence that VAR will secure final approval.

IFAB said in a press release that the decision “represents a new era for football with video assistance for referees helping to increase fairness in the game”.

Separately, the IFAB meet-ing also approved a fourth sub-stitute in the case of extra time.

VAR can only be used when there is doubt surround-ing any of four key game-changing situations: goals, penalty decisions, straight red cards or mistaken identity of a sanctioned player.

It has already been im-plemented in top European leagues including the German Bundesliga and Italy's Serie A.

Spain's La Liga on Friday began training officials ahead of the technology's expected introduction next season.

But opinion is still divided.Players and managers have

complained of referees being too eager to defer to technol-ogy, while fans in stadiums have been left in the dark as to why decisions are being made.

UEFA president Aleksand-er Ceferin said this week that European football’s governing body would not introduce VAR in next season's Champions League due to ongoing "confu-sion" surrounding its use.

Infantino conceded that he too was once a sceptic.

“I was pretty much against it a couple of years ago and I changed my mind because I studied it,” he said.

He pointed to IFAB re-search from 1,000 matches showing that referee accuracy

without VAR -- which stood at 93 percent – rose to 99 per-cent with video assistance.

With VAR, referee deci-

sion-making was "almost per-fect", Infantino said.

Others have voiced con-cern about video assistance slowing down the game, pos-sibly breaking a team's mo-mentum or diminishing fan experience by forcing people to abruptly halt a celebration while a goal is reviewed.

Infantino said that rather than ruining celebrations, VAR will create “an additional moment of tension”.

The Football Association’s chief executive Martin Glenn, seated next to Infantino, con-ceded that improvements were needed.

That includes better com-munication with fans while reviews were ongoing and a better definition of what con-

stitutes a "clear and obvious error" that justifies a VAR re-view, Glenn said.

Asked about reported hostility towards video review with the Premier League, Glenn said he be-lieved English clubs under-stood the benefits of VAR “conceptually” and that its implementation was likely only a matter of time.

Some sceptics also have reservations about introduc-ing such a significant change at the June 14 to July 15 World Cup, before all the kinks have been resolved at lower-profile competition.

“I can guarantee the ref-erees that will be at the World Cup will be ready,” Infantino pledged.

Pierluigi Collina, the chair-man of FIFA's referee commit-tee, noted that the governing body had been preparing for more than a year to use VAR at the 2018 World Cup even though the decision has not been made. “FIFA is not going to start tomorrow,” he told re-porters. “We already started in December 2016.”

For Infantino, the over-riding objective was to en-sure that referees are able to make the right calls, espe-cially in an era when many fans have access to a full range of replays on their smartphones.

“At the end of the day what is... important for us is that we can help the referee to take the right decision,” he said.

TRACK TALE

CAN WE HAVE THE REPLAY PLEASE! The video assistant referee technology (VAR) has already been implemented in top European leagues including the German Bundesliga and Italy’s Serie A.

VAR technology approved for use at 2018 Russia World CupFOOTBALL’S LAWS BODY SAYS VIDEO ASSISTANT REFEREE IS GOOD FOR GAME; IFAB ALSO OKAYS 4TH SUBSTITUTE IN EXTRA TIME

Al Sadd players arrive to a warm welcome in Uzbekistan ahead of AFC CL clash

The Al Sadd football team on arrival at the Qarshi airport in Uzbekistan ahead of their AFC Champions League match against Nasaf on Monday.

For what VAR will be used VAR can only be used when there is doubt surrounding any of four key game-chang-ing situations: goals, penalty decisions, straight red cards or mistaken identity of a sanctioned player.

I was pretty much against it (video assistant referee technology – VAR) a couple of years ago and I changed my mind because I studied it.FIFA President Gianni Infantino

Convinced

St Kitts and Nevis’s Kim Collins competes in the men’s 60m round 1 event at the 2018 IAAF World Indoor Athletics at the Arena in Birmingham on Saturday. (AFP)

See also page 27

SUNDAY, MARCH 4, 2018

Zarco tops MotoGP Qatar TestJohann Zarco of Monster Yamaha Tech 3 emerges as the fastest at Losail PAGE 27

‘Neymar’s foot operation a success’Surgery on the broken right foot of PSG superstar Neymar went successfully, say officials PAGE 24

CRICKET TEST

SOUTH AFRICA VS AUSTRALIA


HOSTS Qatar SC fought back in style to share honours with Umm Salal in Week 19 of the QNB Stars League on Satur-day. It was Umm Salal’s sev-enth draw of the season.

Feared striker Yannick Sagbo (third minute) and Oussama Darragi (20th) were on target as Umm Salal raced to a 2-0 lead. However,

Qatar SC hit back through Osama Omari (65th) and Bruno Gallo (76th-min pen-alty).

Umm Salal opened the scoring early when Sagbo found the net with a neat clip to the top right of the net from close range.

Darragi found the Ivory Coast striker, stationed in-side the box, with a short clip on an indirect free-kick. Sagbo swivelled and rifled

the ball to the top of the net in one quick move.

In the fast-paced match, Qatar SC nearly pulled off an equaliser when Omari flat-footed a powerful drive from inside the box, but Umm Salal goalkeeper Baba Malick was alert to thwart the danger by punching the ball away.

Umm Salal went 2-0 up when Darragi flicked home from close range following a cross from Mahmoud Ma-was. It was Darragi’s third goal of the season.

Nine minutes into the second half and Mawas end-ed up hitting the Qatar SC

crossbar following a cross from Sagbo.

After a series of attacks, Qatar SC produced their first goal through Omari, who de-flected the ball into the net from close after Umm Salal’s Abdul Hussain failed to stop a low cross from the flank. It was Omari’s sixth goal of the season.

Eleven minutes later, Qa-tar SC drew level with a well-taken penalty kick by Gallo.

In the late kick off, Al Arabi beat fellow strugglers Al Markhiya 3-1 to move up to ninth in the 12-team league. Diego Jardel’s open-

ing goal from a penalty in the eighth minute set things rolling for the Dream Team. Kwame Karikari scored a brace in between Leo Minei-ro’s lone strike for the relega-tion bound Markhiya.

Karikari eased Arabi’s nerves after doubling their advantage in the 21st minute but Mineiro pulled one back for Al Markhiya just nine minutes later.

Karikari sealed victory in the 95th minute as Al Arabi pick up their first back-to-back victories of the season after last week’s 2-1 victory over Al Kharaitiyat.

RAAJIV TRIPATHIDOHA

TWO of hosts Qatar’s three pairs will start charting new life on the FIVB Beach World Tour through the upcoming prestigious four-star Katara Beach Volleyball Cup 2018, which will take place at the scenic sandy beach in Katara from March 6 to 10.

This is the first time that a four-star status event is be-ing organised in the Middle East and Qatar has fielded a trio Cherif Younousse & Ahmed Tijan, Jefferson San-tos Pereira & Julio Cesar do Nascimento and newcomers Benlouaer Ziad & Ahmed Ali Nassir – with an eye on the 2020 Olympic Games.

Earlier, Jefferson and You-

nousse were treated as the No. 1 team of Qatar. But towards the close last year, the Qatar Volleyball Association decided to change the top pair and re-placed Jefferson with Tijan.

Todate, Younousse and Ti-jan have already got the taste of two events on the World Tour after reuniting first time

since the 2014 Doha Open, while Pereira and do Nasci-mento have yet to launch the New Year together. Both the Qatari teams appeared in the Palembong AVC Beach Tour Event in November last year in Thailand. Younousse and team bagged the title, while Pereira and do Nascimento

finished third. Ahead of going for a prac-

tice session in Katara, Pereira said he was keen to have a strong start to the World Tour after the change in the team. “This is our first event together on the World Tour. After Julio joined me in the new team, it is indeed going to be a new ex-

perience for me and let us see how it goes.”

The two used to play to-gether when they were young so Pereira doesn’t forsee much problem in terms of adjust-ments. “When we were young, we played a lot of junior tour-naments in Brazil together. We know each other well and

have been sharing practice sessions for long. So I hope we should be able to find the nec-essary cohesion and unity re-quired in the beach volleyball.

“The Katara tournament is a big opportunity for all of us to showcase our talent and I’m confident that we’ll will put up our best-ever show at the home event,” he added.

Pereira however feels that if he had started the World Tour a bit earlier, it would have given his team more competition time. “We’re go-ing to start the World Tour in the Katara tournament, while other teams have already got a head start on us by playing a couple of events.

“We can’t afford to miss big events like four-star or five-star tournaments on the World Tour. There are lot of points at stake and the more you play, the chances are bet-ter to improve the rankings, which help you to get auto-matic spots in major events,”

Pereira added. “We’re working hard and

can’t wait to start the season here. Despite a bit late start, we’re optimistic about a good finish here,” Pereira said.

Do Nascimento is the play-er to have teamed up with him.

Earlier, Thiago Santos was the partner with him from December 2013 to November 2014. Younousse then played along side with him. Assam Ahmed Mahmoud figured in just one event with Pereira before Younousse returned to pair up with him again.

Both Pereira and Younousse had indeed formed a potential combo. Besides clinching the three-star Kish Island Open in 2016, they figured in two World Championships and the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

With a new test coming up at home, Pereira and do Nas-cimento would be more than keen to give it a good shot and make up for the lost time on the Tour.

Jefferson & Julio aim to make a strong start in Katara Cup

Gallo’s penalty secures valuable point for QSC

Qatar pair wants to make up for the lost time

Al Arabi beat Al Markhiya 3-1 in QNB Stars League

Umm Salal striker Yannick Sagbo dribbles the ball against Qatar Sports Club midfielder Bruno Gallo during a QNB Stars League Week 19 match at the Qatar Sports Club Stadium on Saturday.

AYENI OLUSEGUNDOHA

AL Rayyan turned a close game in the first quarter into a blow-out victory as they beat Al Khor 104-84 in the Qatar Basketball Cup at Al Gharafa Sports Club on Saturday.

Point guard Terrel Stoglin scored a team high 25 points, dishing seven assists to go with six rebounds. Six Rayyan play-ers finished in double figures as the Lions pulled away in the second quarter to finish the first period 51-42.

In the third quarter, The Lions continued their offen-sive onslaught before opening a 20-point lead at the end of the quarter. Forward Tanguy Ngo-mbo finished with 19 points on 7 of 10 shooting with eight

rebounds. Stephen Hurt shot almost perfectly from the field on eight of nine, making seven of his two points attempt.

Al Khor were left to rue their poor bench production. Khor’s bench were outscored 19-2 while the entire team com-bined for 10 turnovers which gifted Al Rayyan 14 points.

Dominique Lacy led Khor with a game high 26 points but shot poorly from three point range, making just three of his ten attempts. Isaac mack managed just seven points in 40 minutes on the floor. Aladji Magassa recorded a double-double with 21 points and 12 rebounds.

The Cup games continue on Sunday with Al Wakrah against Al Shamal after which Al Gharafa host Al Sadd.

Al Rayyan cruise in blow out win over Al Khor

WORLD INDOORS ATHLETICS

Jefferson Santos Pereira (left) and Julio Cesar do Nascimento will be one of Qatar’s three pairs taking part in the Katara Beach Volleyball Cup 2018 to be held from Match 6 to 10.

AGENCIESLOSAIL

JOHANN Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) emerged as the fastest man on track at Qa-tar Test on Saturday with the Frenchman just over a tenth over Jorge Lorenzo’s 10-year-old pole lap record to top the test with a 1:54.029.

Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) shot back up into the higher echelons to get closest to the French-man as he was 0.247 further back – with Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) completing the top three as he was once again a constant presence to be reck-oned with.

Lorenzo’s record that Zarco was hunting down is a 1:53.927, set in 2008 when the now five-time World Cham-pion debuted – a longstand-ing mark of pace at the venue

to add some extra lustre to the Tech 3 rider’s laptime.

Behind that show of out-right pace from the French-man’s Yamaha, Rossi’s two and a half tenth deficit as nev-ertheless enough to put the Italian into P2 – and Dovizio-so was just 0.055 off his com-patriot.

In fourth, Cal Crutchlow

(LCR Honda Castrol) was the fastest Honda with a 1:54.457 – continuing his fantastic pre-season form – after putting in 57 laps, which was the most of the top five. It was incred-ibly close between the Brit and the third Yamaha Maverick Viñales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP), however, with the Spaniard – fastest in testing at the venue last season and the race winner – just 0.014 off af-ter he made a late attack.

The top five were the same as the combined times on Day 3, but the man who leaves the desert sixth over-all set his best laptime on Day 2 – Andrea Iannone (Team Suzuki Ecstar).

The Italian, whose 1:54.586 was the fastest lap on Friday, was sidelined on the third and final day of the third and final preseason test, suf-fering with illness.

Zarco, Rossi and Dovizioso rise to rule Day 3 at Losail

Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) in action at the Losail Interna-tional Circuit on Saturday.

Triple jumper Rojas, shot putter Walsh strike gold

REUTERSBIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND

VENEZUELA’S Yulimar Ro-jas, an athletics heroine who has shone in dark times for her country, again made her compatriots proud as she suc-cessfully defended her triple jump crown at the world indoor championships on Saturday.

Tom Walsh, a New Zea-lander who never fulfilled his mother’s dream of him becom-ing a rugby All Black, again excelled in his preferred ath-letic field, winning the shot gold with a record-breaking put on the penultimate morning of the four-day worlds.

Rojas’s victory, after she belatedly roused herself to pro-duce a fifth-round winning leap of 14.63 metres, the best in the world this year, proved another emotional one for the dramatic figure from Caracas.

When she won the equiva-lent crown in London last year to become the first Venezuelan to strike gold at an outdoor world championships, Rojas dedicated her triumph to her country, which was embroiled in political and economic strife.

Again, after adding a third world title to her impressive resume at the age of just 22, Ro-jas felt moved to declare: “This is a great achievement for Ven-ezuela, for our nation. I hope I brought a bit of joy to them and

they enjoyed watching it.”The woman coached by

Cuba’s former Olympic long jump champion Ivan Pedroso in Madrid had looked as if she might miss out as the Birming-ham-based Jamaican Kimberly Williams led with a fine series, headed by her third round 14.48m.

Yet before her fifth round effort, Rojas started whooping loudly to get the crowd involved and soared out to 14.63. Wil-liams was unable to respond, with Spain’s Ana Peleteiro tak-ing the bronze with 14.40.

Right choiceWalsh, rapidly becoming

as dominant in the shot put arena as his female compatriot Valerie Adams has been, put the competition to bed with his opening effort of 22.13 metres, which he matched in the third round.

Then, with the competition won and to the accompaniment of rock music in the dimly-lit arena, the 26-year-old un-leashed his celebratory ‘shot in the dark’ of 22.31 metres, a life-time best and Oceania record that put him fourth on the all-time list.

The mark also erased East German Ulf Timmermann’s 31-year-old championship record of 22.24m, the longest-standing world indoor champi-onship mark.

Gold medallist Venezuela’s Yulimar Rojas poses on the podium after the women’s triple jump final at the 2018 IAAF World Indoor Athletics Championships at the Arena in Birmingham on Saturday. (AFP)

Sports 27Sunday, March 4, 2018

AFPDURBAN

AUSTRALIAN opening bats-man Cameron Bancroft said on Saturday that South Afri-ca's batsmen will face a major challenge in the fourth innings of the first Test at Kingsmead.

Although South Africa fought back to reduce Austral-ia to 213 for nine in their sec-ond innings at the end of the third day, the Australians hold an overall lead of 402.

Bancroft, who top-scored with 53, said conditions would be difficult for the South Af-ricans when they eventually start to bat.

“The ball is starting to re-verse-swing a lot more,” said Bancroft. “For new batters starting their innings that's very, very difficult. The wicket has just slowly deteriorated. There are a lot more bare patches and the ball's reverse-swinging earlier and earlier because of that abrasiveness.”

Adding to what is already shaping as a massive task for the hosts, opening batsman Dean Elgar suffered a dislocated right little finger when he held a catch at cover off a ferocious drive by Mitchell Starc off Morne Morkel late in the day.

Elgar left the field and a team spokesperson said the fin-ger had been put back in place and Elgar would be able to bat.

Bancroft and David Warn-er got Australia off to a bright start against the new ball when they started the second innings with the consider-able cushion of a first innings lead of 189. They put on 56 in 13 overs before Warner was caught at mid-on for 28.

The scoring remained brisk as Australia reached 112 for three at lunch. But it dried up after lunch, however, and Australia lost six more wickets while eking out another 101

runs in 44.4 overs before the umpires took the players off the field.

Bancroft made his first fifty since he scored 82 not out on debut against England in Brisbane in November.

"It's pretty important," he said. "Cricket is one of those games where it can be not very rewarding at times. In my own game I feel I have been improving, doing a lot of very good things and sometimes they don't come out and be recognised in the middle."

Bancroft was struck on the body by a hostile lifting deliv-

ery from Morkel in a testing first over. But he went on bat impressively, scoring his runs off 83 balls with ten fours be-fore he was stumped off left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj.

South African assistant coach Malibongwe Maketa said South Africa's bowlers had shown improvement on their first innings performance.

“We did feel we gave away way too many boundaries,” he said.

Maketa acknowledged that South Africa were in a difficult position after a poor batting effort when they were bowled

out for 162 in their first in-nings.

"A few guys probably came in not having hit enough but they have played a lot of crick-et and they know what is re-quired to do well at this level. We've got faith that we can still be a factor in the game," he said.

Kagiso Rabada bowled with pace and hostility and was unlucky not to claim more than the two wickets he took for 28 runs.

Bancroft and Warner at-tacked Maharaj when he started to bowl on Saturday, scoring 20 runs off his first two overs. But Maharaj settled down and again bowled the most overs for South Africa, following up a five-wicket haul in the first innings by taking three for 93 in 28 overs.

Morkel, who did not bowl between lunch and tea after bowling poorly in the morn-ing, came back strongly in late afternoon and finished with three for 42.

Oz ensure SA face daunting run chase

Australia opener Cameron Bancroft during his innings of 53 in the second essay against Australia in the first Test at Kingsmead in Durban on Saturday. (REUTERS)

Tour De France legend Dekker storms to victory


DUTCH, multiple Tour De France stage winner, Erik Dekker took victory in the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) MTB Elite Race at the second edition of the Al Adaid Desert Challenge in Qatar this weekend.

Dekker won in the Qa-tar Cyclist Centre organised event in 1.11:39s over the new 38.6km course that included six testing sand dunes.

New Zealand’s Roman Van Uden and French national MTB marathon champion Frederic Gombert came in sec-ond and third respectively in the UCI elite race, in times of 1h14m53 and 1h22m59.

A delighted Dekker said, “I love the race, I love the chal-lenge. I broke from the pack already 3 km after the start near the 1st dune. I waited for Van Uden since it is long way to ride alone for 30 km, but then realised I was much fast-

er on the dunes.”Dekker, who was in Qatar

with his wife continued; “It is re-ally nice to come to Qatar from Europe at this time of year. Qa-tar has great weather, city and beautiful desert… it’s great to combine your visit of the coun-try with the event. I would rec-ommend it to everyone.”

The women’s event was won by Qatar resident, Pia Sundstedt with a time of 1h30m03s. The Finish moun-tain bike star, who won multi-ple UCI MTB World Cup’s dur-ing her career beat Australia’s Julie Melville respectively.

Pia commented, “As a rider experience it was perfect… the atmosphere is amazing. The new finish was nice, especially the last sand dune, from where you could see the water and the finish line. Riding down the dune was real fun. I had a sup-port from my husband and son. We all enjoyed in the event.”

In addition to the elite’s, the race also saw over 240 am-ateur riders register and 200

compete on the day. Riders competed in mountain bike, fat bike and Qatari national’s categories.

The rapid growth of cy-cling in Qatar, was reflected by the 30 Qatari nationals, who took to the start line of this epic desert challenge. The battle for the title of top Qatari rider was very tight, with vic-tory decided on the last sand dune of the race. The first three riders came to finish line in the gap of 20 second with Mubarak Alajji taking victory

from Saleh Almuhannadi and Ahamd Alsubaey. The Qatari ladies event was won by Tala Abujbara.

The race organisers spiced up the event with race in-side the race on the 800 me-ters long sandy patch. The “Garmin Sinking Sand” sec-tion was won by Dekker who managed to get out the most of his special sand bike.

Omar al Jaber, Director of Shared Services at Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA), the principle partner of the event commented, “The Al Adaid Desert Challenge’s ability to draw participants from 15 countries and 39 different na-tionalities to a hidden gem in the Qatari desert, is testament to the power of sport in bring-ing people together to share unique challenges and experi-ences. QTA is delighted to be supporting a sporting event which promises to contribute to the growing sports tourism sub-sector in Qatar.” He add-ed, “We are particularly proud

of the Al Adaid Challenge as a Qatari-owned and founded initiative, which has steadily grown over the years.”

Event Managing Direc-tor, Dr. Jamal al Khanji added: “I would like to thank everybody who came to the event from all around the world to participate. It was very interesting race and I hope all the riders enjoyed it. We are happy that our event is growing bigger by the year. This would not be possible without our spon-sors and supporters Ministry of Culture and Sports, Qatar Tourism Authority, QNB,

Ethicon, Ooredoo, Rayyan water, Qatar Cycling Federa-tion, Mawater, Rassen Sport, GMC, Garmin, Royal Riviera Hotel, Carbon Wheels and Qatar Airways.”

President of Qatar Cyclists Center, the organising body, Dr. Abdulaziz al Kuwari said, “This race is the most impor-tant event for Qatar Cyclists. It is a very special event for the nation as it is hosted in one of our most beautiful and iconic locations in the desert, Khor Al Adaid.

“We really enjoyed organ-ising the event, as it presents a unique challenge for partici-

pants, both local and the grow-ing number of international participants, travelling from afar to take on this new must do race on the UCI MTB cal-endar. Taking care of cyclists in this remote location repre-sents a real challenge.

“We collaborate with sev-eral authorities and organisa-tions in order to organise this beautiful event.

“The family friendly atmos-phere at the finish line gave participants another experience to enjoy a peaceful beautiful sce-nic view with a kids race at the end to try to promote healthy lifestyle for kids.”

Ali, Rashid spin England to dramatic win over NZ

AFPWELLINGTON

A devastating spell by spin twins Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid and a freakish run out saw England pull off a dramatic four-run victory in the third One-Day Interna-tional against New Zealand in Wellington on Saturday.

The game boiled down to New Zealand skipper and cen-turymaker Kane Williamson needing a six off the final ball as they chased a 235 target.

But he was unable to de-liver, leaving New Zealand on 230 for eight as England went 2-1 up in the five-match series.

New Zealand appeared to have the game in their hands at 80 for one in the 18th over, before Ali and Rashid turned the match with five wickets for 23 runs in a 41-ball burst.

Ali finished with three for 36 and Rashid took two for 34.

They were assisted by a stunning catch from Ben Stokes diving to his left to remove Colin Munro (49) to ignite the New Zealand slump from a comfort-able 80 for one to 103 for six.

Williamson, who had struggled for runs in recent innings and missed the sec-ond ODI, which England won, because of a hamstring strain, returned to the arena with an imperious performance for his 11th ODI century.

He faced 143 deliveries and was in the middle for most of the New Zealand innings af-ter the early dismissal of Mar-tin Guptill for three.

Williamson shared a 68-run stand with Munro, and once Ali and Rashid had destroyed the rest of the recognised New Zea-land batting he engineered a re-vival with Mitchell Santner.

Santner was given the ben-efit of the doubt on two when Jason Roy took a catch at ground level and there was no clear evidence the ball had not touched the grass.

Woakes, defending 15 runs in the final over, conceded two twos and a six to Williamson

and then fired in two dot balls to prevent a New Zealand victory.

Cyclists take off for a gruelling test in the second edition of the Al Adaid Desert Challenge in Al Khor.

Al Adaid Desert Challenge Qatar

Dutch star Erik Drekker (centre) on the podium with New Zealand’s Roman Van Uden and French Frederic Gombert after the UCI Men’s Elite Race.

Participants go down a sand dune during the Al Adaid Desert Challenge Qatar held over the weekend.

ELITE - UCI C3

Men: 1. Erik Dekker (Netherlands) 1:24:55; 2. Roman Van Uden (New Zealand) 1:25:27; 3. Frederic Gombert (France) 1:25:59.Women: 1. Pia Sundstedt (Finland) 1:47:00; 2. Sophie Giovane (France) 2:06:23.Mountainbike

Men: 1. Glenn Bull (Australia) 1:41:14; 2. Fawaz al Hichan (Qatar) 1:55:06; 3. Max Caparanga (Philippines) 2:00:52; 4. Mehdi Mersni (Tunisia) 2:02:16; 5. Abdulaziz al Kuwari (Qatar) 2:02:58.Women: 1. Julie Melville (Australia) 2 :24:03; 2. Tessa du Toit (South Africa) 2:33:00; 3. Carla Pregigueiro (Spain) 2:43:52.

RESULTS

England’s Chris Woakes (right) celebrates his team’s win as New Zealand’s captain Kane Williamson stands dejected during their third ODI at Westpac Stadium in Wellington on Saturday. (AFP)

Australia (1st innings): 351

South Africa (1st innings): 162

Australia (2nd innings):

C. Bancroft st De Kock b Maharaj 53D. Warner c sub (Mulder) b Rabada 28U. Khawaja c De Kock b Maharaj 6S. Smith lbw b Elgar 38S. Marsh c De Villiers b Morkel 33M. Marsh c Amla b Rabada 6T. Paine c De Villiers b Maharaj 14P. Cummins not out 17M. Starc c Elgar b Morkel 7

N. Lyon c Amla b Morkel 2J. Hazlewood not out 4Extras: (lb5) 5

Total: (For 9 wkts, 71.4 overs) 213

Fall of wickets: 1-56 (Warner), 2-71 (Khawaja), 3-108 (Bancroft), 4-146 (Smith), 5-156 (M. Marsh), 6-175 (Paine), 7-185 (S. Marsh), 8-203 (Starc), 9-209 (Lyon).Bowling: Morkel 13.4-4-42-3, Philander 14-4-35-0, Maharaj 28-4-93-3, Rabada 13-6-27-2, Elgar 3-1-10-1.Match situation: Australia lead by 402 runs with one wicket remaining in the second innings.Toss: Australia.

SCOREBOARD

ENGLAND

J. Roy c Guptill b Boult 15J. Bairstow b Sodhi 19J. Root c Sodhi b de Grandhomme 20E. Morgan b Southee 48B. Stokes c Munro b Sodhi 39J. Buttler c Latham b Sodhi 29M. Ali run out (de Grandhomme/Southee) 23C. Woakes c Williamson b Boult 16A. Rashid run out (Boult) 11T. Curran not out 2M. Wood run out(Nicholls/Boult) 1Extras: (b2, lb2, wd7) 11

Total: (For 10 wickets; 50 overs) 234

Fall of wickets: 1-25 (Roy), 2-53 (Root), 3-68 (Bairstow), 4-139 (Morgan), 5-168 (Stokes), 6-184 (Buttler), 7-215 (Woakes), 8-222 (Ali), 9-231 (Rashid), 10-234 (Wood).Bowling: Southee 10-0-48-1 (1w), Boult 10-1-47-2, Santner 2-0-12-0, de Grandhomme 10-1-24-1 (1w), Sodhi 10-0-53-3, Munro 8-0-46-0 (1w).

NEW ZEALAND

M. Guptill c Curran b Woakes 3C. Munro c Stokes b Rashid 49K. Williamson not out 112M. Chapman c Morgan b Ali 8T. Latham lbw Ali 0H. Nicholls lbw Rashid 0C. de Grandhomme c Woakes b Ali 3M. Santner run out (Woakes) 41T. Southee c Stokes b Woakes 7I. Sodhi not out 2Extras: (lb1, w4) 5

Total: (For 8 wickets; 50 overs) 230

Fall of wickets: 1-12 (Guptill), 2-80 (Munro), 3-97 (Chapman), 4-97 (Latham), 5-98 (Nicholls), 6-103 (de Grandhomme), 7-199 (Santner), 8-210 (Southee)Bowling: Woakes 10-1-40-2 (3w), Wood 6-0-36-0, Curran 7-0-49-0, Stokes 6-0-27-0 (1w), Rashid 10-1-34-2, Ali 10-1-36-3, Root 1-0-7-0.Toss: New Zealand; Result: England won by four runs.Series: England lead 2-1.

SCOREBOARD

Sports26 Sunday, March 4, 2018

DPABERLIN

SCHALKE, Eintracht Frank-furt and Bayer Leverkusen all recorded wins on Saturday in the Bundesliga as the race for second place showed no signs of slowing down.

A first-half Marko Pjaca goal was enough to give Schal-ke a 1-0 win at home to stuffy Hertha Berlin and move them up to second on 43 points, while Frankfurt’s Danny da Costa scored the only goal at home to Hanover to move his side a point behind the Royal Blues in third.

A gem of a goal from Ju-lian Brandt sealed a 2-1 win for Leverkusen away to Wolfs-burg as they move fifth, level on 41 points with fourth-placed Borussia Dortmund, who play RB Leipzig in Saturday’s late game.

Relegation-threatened SV Hamburg were desperate for all three points as they looked to make up a seven-point defi-cit on visitors Mainz, but they could only draw 0-0. Hof-fenheim eased to a 2-0 win in Augsburg.

Schalke coach Domenico Tedesco continues to work wonders with his team, who picked up their third win on the trot thanks to a 37th-minute strike from Juventus loanee Pjaca to edge ahead of arch-rivals Dortmund.

But Tedesco felt a weak second half could have cost his team. “It was enormously important to play cleverly to-day,” he said. “We did that be-

fore the break. But the second half was very poor... We hardly won a second ball... There’s a lot of work to do.”

Niko Kovac has done a sim-ilar job of galvanizing Frank-furt, and Danny da Costa’s close-range strike on 39 min-utes kept them in the hunt for second. The video assistant ref-eree (VAR) team was due some credit for their win after they rescinded a penalty for a foul on Hanover’s Miiko Albornoz and instructed the referee to book the substitute for diving.

And Kovac felt his team had learned from last week’s surprise defeat to Stuttgart.

“After Stuttgart, I told the team clearly what wasn’t good,” he said. “The boys re-acted positively and showed a good mentality.”

In Wolfsburg, a Lucas Alario penalty gave Leverkusen a first-half lead, which Brandt extended on 78 minutes with a sumptuous dink over the keeper after a neat exchange with Alario.

Admir Mehmedi respond-ed instantly with a long-range strike for Wolfsburg but Leverkusen held on to keep pace with the pack in the chase for the runners-up spot and ruin Bruno Labbadia’s home debut as Wolfsburg coach.

Filip Kostic had a night-mare for Hamburg, who played out an excruciating goalless draw against Mainz to sink deeper into relegation trouble.

With a tough away fixture next week against Bayern Mu-nich, Hamburg were desper-

ate to claim all three points here to cut the deficit on the visitors, who sit seven points above them in the relegation play-off spot.

Kostic had a first-half goal chalked off for offside after consultation with the VAR and then missed a second-half penalty as Hamburg failed to turn their dominance into goals.

The result leaves belea-guered Hamburg coach Bernd Hollerbach still without a win from his six games in charge since replacing Markus Gisdol.

“It’s not a great moment for us today,” he said. “Basi-

cally, the only thing that was missing was a key moment. We gave everything. I really feel for the team. And for the fans.”

Hoffenheim claimed an important win in the fight for the Europa League spots with an easy 2-0 win at toothless Augsburg. Andrej Kramaric’s eighth of the season put them ahead on the half-hour and a well-worked Serge Gnabry goal on 50 minutes clinched the three points.

The win sees Hoffenheim go seventh, three points clear of Augsburg, who are badly missing the goals of injured

Alfred Finnbogasson. The hosts have now scored just once in their last four games.

Dortmund can retake second spot with a win away to Leipzig in Saturday’s late game, while the hosts them-selves need three points to re-tain a realistic chance of being the best of the rest.

On Sunday, bottom side Cologne will be aiming to take advantage of Hamburg’s draw with Mainz at home to resur-gent Stuttgart, while champi-ons-elect Bayern Munich will look to continue their march to the title with three points in Freiburg in the late game.

Schalke, Frankfurt and Leverkusen win as battle for second hots up in Germany

Di Maria on the mark as PSG turn focus to Real

Marko Pjaca scored the winner for Schalke against Hertha Berlin

Schalke’s midfielder Marko Pjaca (centre) is congratulated by his teammate Breel Embolo (left) after scoring his goal during the German Bundesliga match in Gelsenkirchen, on Saturday. (AFP)

AFPPARIS

ANGEL Di Maria kept up his irresistible form as a Paris Saint-Germain side miss-ing Neymar, Edinson Cavani and Kylian Mbappe defeated Troyes 2-0 ahead of their Champions League show-down with Real Madrid.

The Argentine notched his 13th goal in 14 starts this year during Saturday’s visit to the Stade de l’Aube, which co-incided with Neymar success-fully undergoing an operation to repair a broken bone in his

right foot.Academy product Chris-

topher Nkunku marked his first start of the season with his first goal this term 13 min-utes from time to complete a victory that left PSG 14 points clear of defending champions Monaco at the top of Ligue 1.

With a 3-1 deficit to over-come in the second leg of their last-16 tie against Real on Tuesday, PSG coach Unai Emery refused to risk Cav-ani while Mbappe stayed in Paris to continue treatment on an ankle injury sustained against Marseille in midweek.

Marco Verratti was also rested for Saturday’s trip, as Di Maria again took full ad-vantage of the opportunity presented to several mem-bers of PSG’s expensively as-sembled squad in the wake of Neymar’s injury.

Di Maria himself was feted as the player to turn PSG into genuine Champi-ons League contenders when he signed from Manchester United for 63 million euros ($78 million) in 2015, and the 30-year-old has arguably been their best performer of late.

Troyes goalkeeper Erwin Zelazny produced a series of saves to deny Di Maria, and then Giovani Lo Celso twice in the first half, but the home

goal was breached after a de-fensive lapse on 47 minutes.

A poor clearance followed by further miscommunica-tion in the Troyes backline gifted Julian Draxler the opening to slide in Di Maria and the Argentine master-fully dinked the ball over an advancing Zelazny.

Twenty-year-old Nkunku sealed the win on 77 min-utes, picking out the far cor-ner of the net after gathering a threaded pass from Dani Alves as the linesman’s flag controversially stayed down.

Troyes boss Jean-Louis Garcia and his assistant were both ordered to the stands after protesting the decision to allow the goal, with re-plays indicating Nkunku had

strayed marginally offside.Emery then handed a first-

team debut to Timothy Weah, as the son of former PSG star, and current Liberian presi-dent, George Weah replaced Lo Celso for the final few min-utes.

The 18-year-old US youth international, whose father won the 1995 Ballon d’Or, nearly bagged a debut goal in stoppage time after racing clear of the Troyes defence be-fore being foiled by Zelazny.

On Friday, Rony Lopes scored his sixth goal in seven games as Monaco came from behind to beat Bordeaux 2-1 to tighten their grip on sec-ond place, with Marseille and Lyon not in action until Sun-day.

Coach Emery rested Cavani, Mbappe ahead of Tuesday’s Champions clash

Paris Saint-Germain’s Argentinian forward Angel Di Maria celebrates his goal during the French L1 match at the Aube Stadium in Troyes on Saturday. (AFP)

DPABARCELONA

SEVILLA consolidated their place in the race for a European spot in La Liga with a 2-0 win over Athletic Bilbao on Satur-day.

Luis Muriel opened the scor-ing on 26 minutes from Franco Vazquez’s assist and the Argen-tine playmaker scored himself on 31 minutes with a header making it 2-0.

Athletic Bilbao were disap-pointing once more and de-fender Iñigo Martinez said: “We know Sevilla start strongly at home and with a couple of stupid mistakes we fell behind.”

Sevilla’s Vazquez said: “We have had a long week with three games so now we can rest before our next match.”

Sevilla remain fifth but they

are now four points clear of sixth-placed Villarreal who were beat-en by Girona earlier Saturday.

Girona on Saturday upset Villarreal 2-0 in the 27th round of La Liga, moving within strik-ing distance of qualifying posi-tion for the European club foot-ball tournaments.

The match got off to a fast start, as Villarreal were very active and sought to open the scoring, but Girona forward Cristhian Stuani made use of an error by Villarreal defender Javi-er Calleja, netting the first goal in the 16th minute.

With just 10 minutes to go, Anthony Lozano netted the sec-ond goal for Girona to secure the away win and the second straight victory for his side. After this win, Girona jump to seventh place in the La Liga ta-ble with 40 points. .

AFPBUJUMBURA

TWO Burundi officials have been imprisoned after the Afri-can country’s president was al-legedly “roughed up” in a football match they organised.

President Pierre Nkurun-ziza is a ‘born-again’ evangeli-cal Christian who spends much of his time travelling Burundi with his own team, Haleluya FC. He travels with his own choir, “Komeza gusenga”, which means “pray non-stop” in the local Ki-rundi language.

On 3 February, his team faced a side from the northern town of Kiremba.

Normally, the opposition

is well aware they are playing against the country’s president, and it has been said they go easy in the games, even perhaps allow-ing Nkurunziza to score.

But as the Kiremba team con-tained Congolese refugees who did not know they were playing against Burundi’s president, they “attacked each time he had the ball and made him fall several times”, a witness told AFP.

Kiremba’s administrator Cyriaque Nkezabahizi and his assistant, Michel Mutama, were imprisoned on Thursday, the news agency reports.

AFP cited a judicial source as saying they had been arrest-ed on charges of “conspiracy against the president”.

Sevilla sink Bilbao to move clear of faltering Villarreal

Two officials in jail after Burundi leader is ‘roughed up’ in football game

Bundesliga’s top four race will go to the wire

DPAROME

PAULO Dybala’s last-gasp goal sealed a 1-0 win for Ju-ventus at Lazio on Saturday despite a dismal showing from the Serie A champions.

The win brings them with-in one point of leaders Napoli, who play Roma in Saturday’s late game.

Argentinian Dybala stormed into the box in stop-page time and beat Lazio keeper Thomas Strakosha with from the Bianconeri’s only shot on target.

Napoli can go four points clear of the champions if they beat Roma, who sit in fifth position - though Napoli will then have played one game more than Juve.

Lazio, who are third, 17 points from the top, had few problems controlling Juve’s sluggish play, which provided no chances for forwards Dyba-la and Mario Mandzukic, with Gonzalo Higuain sitting in the stands with a bruised ankle.

Juve captain Gianluigi Buf-fon saved two attempts from Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and the league’s top scorer Ciro

Immobile in a dull first half at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico.

After the break the Bian-coneri brought on Douglas Costa and Alex Sandro on the wings to inject some pace but failed to threaten Strakosha until Daniele Rugani fed Dy-bala late on.

Promoted Spal moved out of the relegation zone after winning 1-0 against 10-man Bologna in a regional derby.

Alberto Grassi volleyed home in the 48th minute after the ball was cleared following a corner kick to help Spal go two points clear of third-bot-tom Crotone, who play Sunday at Torino.

Bologna, who are 12 points off the drop zone, had Gian-carlo Gonzalez dismissed on 10 minutes for fouling goal-bound Mirco Antenucci. Spal’s Federico Mattiello was also sent off in stoppage time.

Juventus edge Lazio as Dybala gets last-gaspwinner

Juventus’ Paulo Dybala celebrates scoring his goal during an Itlian Serie A match at Stadio Olimpico, in Rome, on Saturday. (REUTERS)

ResultsSPAL 1 - 0 BolognaLazio 0 - 1 Juventus Napoli v Roma

Sports 25Sunday, March 4, 2018

AFPLONDON

SON Heung-Min struck twice as Tottenham Hotspur’s chal-lenge for Champions League football next season contin-ued unabated with a routine 2-0 win over Huddersfield at Wembley on Saturday.

Spurs leapfrog Liverpool, who host Newcastle later (1730GMT), into third in the Premier League, but more importantly open up a five-point lead over fifth-placed Chelsea in the battle for a top four finish.

Son was the star of the show as the South Korean took his tally for the season to 15 with a pair of calm fin-ishes either side of half-time to extend Tottenham’s un-beaten run in all competi-tions to 17 games.

By contrast, Huddersfield offered barely any attacking threat as a 10th defeat in 15 away league games leaves David Wagner’s men just three points above the rel-egation zone in 15th.

Despite the spectre of a huge Champions League last 16, second leg with Juventus to come on Wednesday, Mau-ricio Pochettino named his strongest available side.

Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen were among those restored to the starting line-up from Wednesday’s 6-1 demolition of third tier Rochdale in the FA Cup.

And that trio should have put Spurs out of sight of a limited Huddersfield in the first 45 minutes.

Alli just couldn’t stretch to turn home Kane’s driven cross inside three minutes before the on-form Son’s cut-back for Kane produced a fine save from Jonas Lossl.

Eriksen then saw a de-flected free-kick come back

off the post and hit a fiercely struck low drive that forced Lossl into action once more.

Son was in a class of his own all afternoon and it was little surprise he showed more poise than his team-mates in front of goal to fi-nally open the scoring 27 minutes in.

Alli’s fine pass split the Huddersfield defence wide open and Son took his time to round Lossl before slotting into an empty net.

It took Huddersfield 53 minutes to pose a treat when substitute Tom Ince latched onto a long ball in behind the Spurs defence and saw his well-struck effort beaten away by Hugo Lloris.

However, seconds later the game was over as a con-test when Son stooped to head home at the back post.

Kane may have failed to score for a sixth straight game, but the England strik-er deserved most of the credit for Son’s second, though, as his wonderful cross picked out his teammate perfectly.

Son was denied the chance of a hat-trick as he was re-placed 20 minutes from time by Erik Lamela as Pochettino began to look ahead to Ju-ventus with Moussa Dembele and Alli also withdrawn.

And Kane’s failure to continue his scoring streak was the only negative of a comfortable afternoon for the hosts as he skewed wide when completely unmarked from an Eriksen corner 10 minutes from time.

Son hits brace to lift Tottenham into third place in Premier League

AFPBELO HORIZONTE, BRAZIL

SURGERY on the broken right foot of Brazil and Paris Saint-Germain superstar Neymar went successfully Saturday, officials said, leaving the plan-et’s most expensive footballer in a race to recuperate before the World Cup.

The operation, performed by Brazilian national team surgeon Rodrigo Lasmar, be-gan early on Saturday morn-ing in the Mater Dei hospital in Belo Horizonte.

Just after midday (1500 GMT), a spokesman from the Brazilian football federation announced that the operation was over. “Neymar is already in his room. It went well,” he said. Neymar broke his fifth metatarsal -- the bone leading to his small toe -- during a 3-0 drubbing of Marseille on Feb-ruary 25. The striker -- whose transfer from Barcelona cost PSG a record 222 million eu-ros ($264 million) last August -- has scored 28 goals in 30 appearances in all competi-tions for the club.

Neymar will miss PSG’s make-or-break game against Real Madrid next Tuesday. But with Lasmar predicting a recovery period of two and a half to three months, Brazil is worried that Neymar, 26, may not be fit for the World Cup in Russia starting in June.

The rival demands from

club and country appeared to erupt into tension just as he went under the knife, with Paris newspaper L’Equipe re-porting Saturday that PSG be-lieves Lasmar lied about Ney-mar’s condition.

The report said that Ney-mar was initially found to have suffered a minor fracture and that PSG was shocked to hear Lasmar say Thursday that it was a serious break requiring a longer than expected recu-peration.

Globoesporte.com report-ed that PSG also insisted it control any future information on the player’s health.

Staff at the hospital in Belo Horizonte, were put on pa-parazzi lockdown, with a ban on using cellphones anywhere near the star.

After a remarkable turna-round in fortunes since the shambolic exit in a 7-1 semi-final loss to Germany in the 2014 World Cup, Brazil are seen as top contenders in Russia. But a big part of that optimism depends on the tal-ented Neymar, who missed that infamous semifinal four years ago and looks likely to miss two warm-up friendlies against Russia and Germany in March.

Jose Luiz Runco, a former chief medical officer for the Brazilian team, told AFP that Neymar will walk with crutch-es after two to three weeks, ex-ercise while putting weight on his repaired foot after about 60 to 75 days, and then return-ing to training. “He’s likely to recover pretty quickly because he’s an athlete and young.”

A potential plus for Ney-mar is that the enforced break from competitive football may do him good.

“When you think how ex-hausting the European season is, he could even arrive fresher than the others, both physi-

cally and emotionally,” said Cristiano Nunes, the physi-otherapist for Brazilian first division club Internacional in Porto Alegre.

Neymar may not be able to walk for a while, but he is al-ready carrying the burden of a nation’s expectations.

“I hope he recovers quickly in time for the Cup, so that he can play,” said Mateus Fal-queto, 13, who waited outside the hospital in the hope of get-ting Neymar’s autograph on a yellow Brazilian team shirt that had already been signed by several other players.

Rita di Cassia Sepulveda stopped by with her seven-year-old twin sons, Gabriel and Rafael, who are avid fans of the star. “I don’t think fans like them exist anywhere else,” she said. “It’s remarkable. There’s a sacred place at home where they keep anything that has something to do with Ney-mar. They watch all the games and when Neymar was injured they cried.”

“Their dream is to meet Neymar. They know it’s very hard but at least here they can feel close to him.”

Neymar has suffered 14 in-juries that forced him to miss at least one game, including the fractured vertebrae during the 2014 World Cup which for-cied him to miss the infamous thrashing by Germany, but the latest is by far the most serious, GloboEsporte.com said.

Neymar’s foot operation a success: Brazil officials

Spurs open up a five-point lead over fifth-placed Chelsea in the battle for top four finish

Staff at the hospital have been banned using cellphones anywhere near the PSG star

Brazilian superstar Neymar (right), is pictured next to his doctor Rodrigo Lasmar (left), upon his arrival in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais state, Brazil on Friday. (AFP)

Tottenham’s Son Heung-min goes around Huddersfield Town’s Jonas Lossl in a Premier League match in London on Saturday. (REUTERS)

In race to recuperate before World Cup

Allardyce vows to turn around Everton

REUTERSBURNLEY, ENGLAND

EVERTON fans vented their frustration with manager Sam Allardyce during Saturday’s 2-1 loss at Burnley, leaving the much-travelled boss vowing to turn the club around.

Although Everton have climbed clear of relegation trouble under Allardyce, the fans remain unhappy with the quality of football and turned on the manager in the 68th minute when he took off striker Cenk Tosun, who had put the Toffees ahead at Turf Moor.

The chants, personal in na-ture, were aimed directly at Al-lardyce, who replaced caretaker David Unsworth in December after Ronald Koeman had been sacked in October with the team in the relegation zone.

“It happens,” said Allardyce of the crowd reaction.

“My job is not what the fans are saying or not saying. This

is only his second start ... We replaced him with fresh legs which is Oumar (Niasse) who has scored more goals recently than anyone else.

“It hasn’t worked by the fact we haven’t played well enough in the second half to create enough chances. Everyone has an opinion on a game of foot-ball.”

The 63-year-old said he, too, was frustrated by his team’s fifth straight away loss.

“I feel worse than the fans - they won’t believe this - but it’s my responsibility. I go home and say to myself ‘How do I put this right?’ For me to see the players under-perform in the second half is very disappoint-ing for me. It’s my problem to sort it out,” he said.

“We lost it by not scoring the second goal when we had clear, clear opportunities. At least three in the first half.

“Burnley hadn’t won in 11 and if we went 2-0 up it would

have been hugely difficult for them.

“That’s five away defeats on the trot. It’s simply not good enough.”

Everton’s disappointing day was made worse by the late sending off of skipper Ash-ley Williams, who lashed out at Ashley Barnes in a crowded

penalty area and was handed a straight red card.

“Ashley Williams getting sent off sums our day up. It shouldn’t happen, he’s swung his arm and he’s an experi-enced player,” he said.

“No complaints with the red card, you can’t do that. It was unprofessional from Ash-

ley Williams,” added Allardyce, who suggested the Welsh inter-national would be fined.

“There is the fines system which is in place for everyone in the country, which is across the board. Straightforward for everyone to follow so there is no need other than to go through the system. Silly thing,” he said.

The 2-1 loss at Burnely is Everton’s fifth straight away loss

City’s stability leaves Chelsea playing catch up

AFPMANCHESTER

PREMIER League champions Chelsea travel to Manches-ter City on Sunday, 22 points adrift of the side destined to take their crown and fighting just to salvage a place in the top four.

Antonio Conte’s men could be five points adrift of the Champions League places by the time they kick-off at the Etihad.

The Italian is strongly ru-moured to be on his way out as boss at Stamford Bridge come what may in the remainder of the season despite Chelsea still competing on three fronts.

Conte has repeatedly clashed with the Chelsea hi-erarchy over his lack of input into the club’s recruitment policy.

He hinted at his frustra-tions once more when asked how City had overturned a 15-point deficit on Chelsea last season into such a command-ing lead with still 10 games of

the Premier League season to go.

“When you work very well and there is a great feeling between the manager and the club, you can work in the way you want, to try to improve your team in the best way,” Conte said.

“Manchester City has the possibility to spend a lot of money.

“When you link this situ-ation, good manager, much money to spend in the transfer market, the same ambition, this is the final result.”

Should he go, Conte will be ninth manager to leave in the Roman Abramovitch era, with Jose Mourinho and Guus Hid-dink enjoying two spells each in charge in that time.

By contrast, City’s cash-rich Emirati owners stood by Guardiola after a disappoint-ing trophyless first season, and doubled down by spend-ing reportedly over 300 mil-lion euros (£266 million, $366 million) in the transfer market to bolster Guardiola’s squad.

Burnley striker Chris Wood (centre) turns to celebrate after his header beats Everton’s goalkeeper Jordan Pickford (second left) during the English Premier League match at Turf Moor in Burnley, on Saturday. (AFP)

ResultsBurnley 2 Everton 1 Leicester 1 Bournemouth 1Southampton 0 Stoke 0Swansea 4 West Ham 1Tottenham 2 Huddersfield 0Watford 1 West Brom 0

Soccer fans pose in front of Mater Dei hospital where soccer star Neymar is undergoing surgery on a frac-tured metatarsal and a sprained ankle, in Belo Horizonte, on Saturday. (REUTERS)

Sports24 Sunday, March 4, 2018

AFPLOS ANGELES

STEPHEN Curry and Kevin Durant each scored 28 points as the Golden State Warriors beat the Atlanta Hawks 114-109 on Friday despite losing Curry in the second half to an ankle injury.

Curry tallied 15 of his points in the final seven minutes of the second quar-ter, then left the game for good in the third after ini-tially tweaking his right an-kle in the opening period.

Curry played just six minutes in the third before sitting down for the rest of the contest.

He said he doesn’t expect to miss much time going for-ward.

“Basically their call,” Curry said. “Frustrating, but in the big picture I under-stand. I don’t think it’s going to be anything that will keep me out.”

Warriors swingman An-dre Iguodala made a clutch dunk in the final seconds of the fourth quarter to help seal the win. With Golden State ahead by three points, the Hawks took posses-sion with a chance to tie the game.

But Iguodala stripped the ball from a Hawks player then raced the length of the court for a slam dunk with five seconds left.

The play solidified the defending NBA champion Warriors’ 25th road win of the season, giving them the best road record in the league (25-7).

Atlanta rallied from an 18-point deficit. Prior to Ig-uodala’s dunk they had used a 9-0 burst to pull within two points with 20 seconds remaining.

Curry shot eight-of-15 from the field, four-of-nine from three-point range and made all eight of his free throws in 23 minutes of playing time.

Curry also hit his 200th three-point field goal of the season. He is the first player in league history to sink at

least 200 threes in six differ-ent seasons.

Curry missed time earlier this season with a sprained right ankle and his health would most likely be a factor in determining the Warriors’ chances of winning back-to-back titles.

His history of ankle in-juries includes missing 13 games this season after spraining it on December 4th in New Orleans.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr said they don’t want to take any chances with Cur-

ry’s health.“He wanted to stay in but

we didn’t want him to stay in just because of the potential to make it worse,” Kerr said.

Elsewhere, DeMar DeRo-zan scored 23 points and re-serve CJ Miles chipped in 20 as the Toronto Raptors won their season-high fourth straight game on the road with a 102-95 win over the Washington Wizards.

Miles scored 11 points in the second half and was six of nine from beyond the arc as the Raptors’ reserves dominated the Wizards’ bench 50-15.

Eastern Conference lead-ers Toronto have won 10 of their last 11 contests.

Otto Porter led Washing-ton with 24 points on nine-of-12 shooting and Bradley Beal rebounded from an eight-point game Wednes-day against Golden State to finish with 23.

In Milwaukee, Victor Oladipo had 21 points, and the Indiana Pacers nearly blew a 17-point lead in the fourth quarter before hold-ing off the Milwaukee Bucks for a 103-96 win.

Sports

REUTERSMEXICO CITY

INDIA’S Shubhankar Sharma surprised a few people, but not himself, as he upstaged the big-gest names in golf for a two-shot halfway lead at the WGC-Mexi-co Championship on Friday.

In his first appearance in a World Golf Championships event, Sharma added a five-un-der-par 66 to his opening round 65 to set the pace at 11-under 131 at Club de Golf Chapultepec in Mexico City.

“I didn’t really put any pres-sure on myself before I came here. I expected to play well,” the 21-year-old told Golf Chan-nel. “I’m really happy that I’m playing at such a high level and playing with all these great play-ers. I’ve tried to enjoy myself as much as possible out there and this is the best position I could have been in.

“I’ve definitely proved to myself that I belong here and I can play with the big boys.”

Several of those big boys were lurking close, with Span-ish duo of Sergio Garcia (65) and Rafa Cabrera Bello (67) in a share of second with American Xander Schauffele (68) on nine-under.

First round leader Louis Oosthuizen (71) backtracked to fall four shots off the pace in a large group sharing fifth, which also included defending cham-pion Dustin Johnson (66).

An eagle on Friday at the short par-four first hole, where Sharma drove the ball to inside two feet for a tap-in, changed that and bogeys at the next two holes proved minor setbacks.

The five birdies he picked up on the back nine, including at the final three holes, helped him stamp his authority on the event.

“I just kept the ball in play throughout the day,” Sharma said.

“The only two bogeys I made were three putts. I kept

the ball in the fairway and gave myself as many chances to at-tack the pin as possible.”

Sharma has plenty to play for over the weekend, not least a shot at securing a spot at next month’s Masters.

Currently ranked 75th in the world, he needs to climb into the top 50 in the next four weeks, or better yet win a tour-nament, to qualify for Augusta National.

But Sharma is likely to feel some heat in the final two rounds, with reigning Masters champion Garcia among those poised to pounce.

“We still have a long week-end to go,” Garcia said. “The course is getting firmer and tougher as the week goes on. Hopefully I can play more of the same.”

Sharma upstages big names to take lead in Mexico

Formula One hires Hollywood composer to write new theme

REUTERSLONDON

FORMULA One has hired the composer of several “Fast and Furious” movies to write a new theme tune for the motor racing organisa-tion.

Brian Tyler, an Emmy-nominated American has made music for “Aveng-ers: Age of Ultron”, “Iron Man 3”, “Thor: The Dark World” as well as the “Fast and Furious” franchise, and also wrote theme music for ESPN’s National Football League (NFL) shows.

“What an honor to be chosen to compose the For-mula 1 theme! This is a life long dream come true as I am a massive #formula1 fan. Thank you #F1!,” Tyler, who was a guest at last year’s U.S. Grand Prix, said on his Twit-

ter feed.U.S.-based Liberty Media

took over the global sport in January last year and has set about engaging a younger audience as well as develop-ing a digital strategy.

Formula One launched a television streaming prod-uct, F1 TV, last Tuesday.

“Within the context of looking at ways to bring fans closer to Formula One, we are exploring all avenues to refresh the look and feel of the show,” said a Formula One spokesman.

“Music is a key compo-nent of the emotion of sport and we are engaging with top international talent in order to develop a new sig-nature tune for F1.

“This is a process in de-velopment and we will make a formal announcement at the right time.”

The point guard tweaked ankle in second quarter; Raptors extend Eastern Conference lead

Road Warriors sink Hawks, Curry suffers ankle injury

WGC-Mexico Championship

AFPMONACO

FORMER world number one Novak Djokovic’s toughest hurdle when he returns to the ATP Tour after a long injury absence will be a mental one, believes former coach Boris Becker.

The 30-year-old Serbian’s return to competitive action is yet to be confirmed although he published photos of him-self on the practice courts ear-lier this week for the first time since he underwent a minor “medical intervention” follow-ing a fourth round exit at the Australian Open.

The 12-time Grand Slam winner struggled through his defeat by Chung Hyeon of South Korea, troubled still by a persistent elbow injury, that had seen him off the circuit

since Wimbledon last year, and a hip problem.

Becker, who coached Djokovic to six Grand Slam titles from 2014-16, told jour-nalists earlier this week at the Laureus Awards in Monte Carlo that Djokovic would

have to accept that renewed success might not come im-mediately.

“Mentally is going to be the biggest challenge,” said Becker at the event staged by Laureus, a global movement that aims to use the power of sport to tackle social chal-lenges.

“How much you accept to do the dirty work like Monday morning practice, the first and second round of tourna-ments you are expected to win and it is hot and windy condi-tions.

“Usually they say the amount of time you have been away takes you the same amount to come back to your previous level and I hope that is not the case for Djokovic because that would mean the end of the year.”

Becker said legends Ra-

fael Nadal and Roger Federer had shown it was possible to succeed after long injury ab-sences.

Federer and Nadal domi-

nated the Slams in 2017 while the Swiss star defended his Australian Open in January, claiming a 20th major.

“It would be a lot to expect

him (Djokovic) coming back and winning his first tourna-ment at a Grand Slam,” said Becker.

“Rafa and Federer have set examples of coming back but they are not normal. Usu-ally it takes time.”

Becker, who won six Grand Slams including his first Wimbledon aged just 17, denied Djokovic’s situation would be better if he had un-dergone surgery earlier.

“Tennis players don’t have only one injury,” said the 50-year-old German. “You play a Grand Slam over two weeks it is more than an elbow that hurts.

“You take the decision to have surgery when it is a seri-ous problem.

“If you were to go into the locker room on a Monday morning you would be amazed

how many players have elbow, ankle and foot injuries.”

Becker added: “I hate to tell you tennis is a very physi-cal game. Period. I can’t ad-mire them (Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Andy Murray who has undergone hip sur-gery) enough. To play 75-80 matches a year -- most sports aren’t like that.”

Becker, who named Aus-tria’s Dominic Thiem and hot-headed Australian Nick Kyr-gios as potential successors to the likes of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic when they finally re-tire, said injuries were nothing new.

“It is the nature of the beast of a professional tennis player,” he said.

“You have it in the 1980s and 90s but the difference now is it is becoming more public.”

Mental battle key to Djokovic comeback, says Becker

Indian golfer Shubhankar Sharma is pictured after his shot at the eighth tee, during the second round of the World Golf Championship in Mexico City on Friday. (AFP)

Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant dunks against the Atlanta Hawks in the first quarter of an NBA game at Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia on Friday. (USA TODAY SPORTS)

Dkoko’s battleThe 30-year-old Serbian’s return to competitive action is yet to be confirmed although he published photos of himself on the practice courts earlier this week for the first time since he underwent a minor “medical intervention” following a fourth round exit at the Australian Open.

ResultsUtah 116, Minnesota 108Washington 95, Toronto 102LA Clippers 128, New York 105Atlanta 109, Golden State 114Phoenix 116, OKC 124Chicago 108, Dallas 100Memphis 102, Denver 108Milwaukee 96, Indiana 103Orlando 115, Detroit 106 (OT)Philadelphia 110, Charlotte 99

23Sunday, March 4, 2018

US teen Korda tops leaderboard in SingaporeAFP

SINGAPORE

TEEN sensation Nelly Korda powered her way into the lead at the HSBC Women’s World Championship Saturday as a third-round seven-under par 65 left the American poised to claim her first LPGA Tour title and a unique hat-trick of sport-ing successes for the Korda clan this year.

It was a day of high drama as the chasing pack went out in hunt of overnight leader, rising American star Danielle Kang, as former world number ones Lydia Ko of New Zealand and Park Inbee of South Korea con-tinued to lag behind, finishing tied for 12th and 30th respec-tively.

American star Michelle Wie leads a group of four players tied for fifth at 10-under after she shot a six-under 66.

But the day belonged to the 56th-ranked Korda, in just her second year on the LPGA Tour but having so far already fin-ished in the top-10 six times.

“I was aggressive when I needed to be, so I’m just happy with the way it ended and really looking forward to tomorrow,” said the 19-year old after ending the day on 15-under 201.

Korda went on a birdie blitz through the middle of her round, picking up five strokes from across holes six to 11 to put the pressure on Kang.

Up until that point the 25-year-old Kang’s play had been flawless but bogies on 15

and 18 saw her hand up the lead to the charging Korda, who leads by a stroke from her rival going into the final round.

Victory would certainly been in keeping with tradition among a Korda clan sired by former tennis pro father Petr, winner of the 1998 Australian Open.

Korda’s elder sister Jessica won the Honda LPGA Thailand last weekend while her younger tennis-playing brother Sebas-tian picked up the boys’ singles at the Australian Open back in January.

Korda admitted to feeling a little sibling heat coming in to the Sentosa Golf Club, say-ing she had been reminded that it was her turn to win “all the time.”

Nelly Korda hits a shot from the bunker during round three of the HSBC Women’s World Championship golf tournament in Singapore on Saturday. (AFP)

Novak Djokovic

Sunday, March 4, 2018

COVE

R STORY

PG 2&

3

LLEWELLYN FLORESDOHA

ISIT the Hotel Park on a Friday morning and you are most likely to come across young roller- skaters whizzing past on the concrete pathways. Or perhaps,

see some wobbling as they try to maintain their balance.

These youngsters, some as young as three, have become a club of skaters trained by Naoussi Kemgang Nazaire Gery, an avid roller skater.

A 26-year-old Cameroonian, Gery, himself started skating at a young age. “My parents bought me my first pair of

skating shoes when I was turning four and I started skating then,” he said. After showing some promise in the sport, he was introduced to a coach when he was five which led to two Federation Camer-ounaise de Patins à Roulettes (Fecapar) championship trophies in the junior cat-egory of speed skating, jump and slalom. The first he won in 2010 and the second in 2011.

Although he is no longer competing, Gery’s passion for the sport persisted. He came to Qatar in 2011 with the objective of establishing a roller-skating community in the country. “Through internet research, I realised Qatar didn’t have any roller-skat-ing community. That was my main reason to travel to Qatar, to bring my passion for roller-skating to this country.”

Naoussi Kemgang Nazaire Gery giving his young wards pointers.

(Top and bottom) Young roller-skaters compete at the first Qatar Roller-skating Championship.

Once in Qatar, Gery became a common sight in different parks in Doha spending most of his time skating. “I trained most of my friends and convinced them to join the sport,” he said. This is while keeping a job as Assistant Manager at SH Al Mana. “A lot of people showed interest. Some of them happened to be coaches,” he added.

Gery trained enthusiasts at sports complexes, residential compounds and parks across the country. “The community that did not exist, began to grow and now we have a population of roller-skaters in Qatar. This is something that I am very happy to see in this country,” he said.

In 2014, Gery finally established Gery’s Sports also known as Qatar Roller Skat-ing. It became a registered organisation in 2017. Gery’s Sports aims to turn Qatar into one of the biggest roller-skating communi-ty in the Middle East and train children to become future athletes representing Qatar in world championships.

“Our objective is to use roller-skating as a way of promoting health and fitness with a promise of fun for the entire family,” Gery said. “Our company believes that with our highly qualified and passionate team of coaches, roller-skating will become one of Qatar’s favourite sports.”

On National Sport Day, Gery’s Sports launched the first roller-skating champi-onship in Qatar that took place at Al Ahli Sports Club. It had over 50 participants competing and over 200 spectators. See-ing the product of their hard work and perseverance, Gery said, “I felt emotional, happy and proud of what we have achieved because of our passion for roller-skating – the first edition of the roller-skating cham-pionship in Qatar.”

Roller-skating has many types. Gery’s Sports focuses on inline skating – a multi-disciplinary sport that uses skates with wheels arranged in a single line. It now coaches children and adults in its different types such as speed, slalom and fitness-skating in more than 25 schools. It also conducts training sessions at public parks.

Inline speed-skating is a competitive form of skating in which the competi-tors race each other in travelling a certain distance while slalom skating involves performing tricks around a straight line of equally spaced cones. Fitness-skating is skating for a specified length of time. “It’s a great fat-burning exercise,” said Gery of the sport. “It’s good for the mood, works the arms and legs, great at improving bal-ance, agility and coordination, improves endurance, and can be done anywhere.”

Gery added that “roller-skating can be a way of life.” The sport benefits not just the body but also the person’s well-being. And it is easy enough to engage in. The equipment needed is relatively cheap and the venue where it can be practised – parks and practically any open, solid and flat surface – are free. Also, age is not a barrier in learning the sport.

Thirty-year-old Amal said, “I never knew I could still be able to skate at this age. I thought it was only for kids. But Gery

convinced me that there is no maximum age in learning to skate. Today, I can skate very well.”

The basic equipment needed for inline skating are shoes, helmet and elbow, hand

and knee pads. But often people fail to choose the appropriate accessories, Gery said. “All they have to do is call us and we can guide them on what to buy. They can send us a picture of the item they have

selected and we can confirm if it’s the ap-propriate equipment to get,” he added.

Seeing the children he teaches skate in parks, brings Gery pride and joy. He said, “Roller-skating can teach children disci-pline and help make them stronger. It also gives them a sense of belonging and that empowers children.”

The children are equally proud of their achievement and grateful for having learned the skill. “If today I can skate well, it’s because of Gery,” said Nord Anglia International School student Ahmed al Jaber. He is grateful that he can now skate backwards.

Aarya, on the other hand, who was able to complete a 23 on-km round track – from Old Airport to Hamad International Airport and back to the Old Airport – said, “I didn’t think I was capable of doing that. I am so proud of that achievement.”

Gery is also proud that Gery’s Sports has become a part of sports development in Qatar. But he intends to take roller-skating in the country farther. “We hope to see Qatar generating its own competitive roller-skating, world class athletes.”

Those interested in enrolling themselves or their children for roller-skating lessons may contact Gery’s Sports at 30171264 or [email protected]. For more information about the organisation, visit www.rollerskat-ingqatar.com.

Winners in the first Qatar Roller-skating Championship held at Al Ahli Sports Club On National Sport Day.

Young roller-skaters get ready for a race at the first Qatar Roller-skating Championship held during National Sport Day.

Gery trains young roller-skaters indoors.

E is a full-blooded Filipino but his heart is set on cook-ing Japanese dishes. Chef Dionysus “Jojo” Garados Geva of the D’Chopstix Res-

taurant in Holiday Villa Doha Hotel & Residences has been dishing out Japa-nese delicacies since 1997.

The native of Bicol Province is proud about his humble beginnings that led him to pursue a career as a chef despite lacking a formal educa-tion. He said his talent and skills in concocting the best sushi and tempuras is driven by his experience in various Japanese restaurants in Manila and abroad. Satisfaction of his diners is his top priority.

“Why specialise in Japanese food? Because it was one of the best cuisines that I learned that brought out my creative side. Whenever I prepare any Japanese food, I make sure to do it to the satisfaction of my guests and with thoughts of my family back home. I make sure to always cook from the heart,” Jojo told Qatar Tribune in an interview.

But Jojo’s culinary journey is far from the typi-cal story of someone who really desires to venture into the field. In fact, he said, he never thought he would be wearing a chef’s hat someday.

“I don’t have any formal education in cooking. I took up automotive repairs in college but I was not able to land a proper job with that. When I left our province to try my luck in Manila, I ended up doing construction work. And then I landed a job as a security guard in a Japanese restaurant. But when an opening for a steward (dishwasher) position came, I grabbed it and that’s where I had my first at-tempt at a job in the kitchen. Then I was given a chance to work in the preparations section until I became a cook,” he said.

Jojo started as a cook in Sugi Japa-nese Restaurant in Manila in 1997 and continued till 2004. He honed his skills by working in different sections in a Japanese kitchen. And then he was given a chance to work abroad in a restaurant in Saipan called Kimpanchi Japanese Restaurant. He also worked in

other Japanese restaurants abroad and then went back to Manila to further his culinary education.

Despite doing well, he grabbed an-other opportunity to work abroad but this time away from his comfort zone of Japanese food. He tried his hand at preparing other cuisines as a private chef for one of the most prominent

families in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He stayed with the family for a few years, learning the Arabian menu until he saw an opportunity to go back to cooking his first love - Japanese food at a hotel in Qatar.

Jojo has been with Holiday Villa Doha Hotel & Residences since July last year. He feels grateful for the opportunity given to share his passion with the diners of the hotel.

“Filipino chefs are more flexible. While we take pride in what we do, as do most chefs, we tend to listen more to our diners. If the

guests have negative comments on our food, we will not insist on our standards but instead go back to the kitchen and make sure to return with a dish that would bring smiles to their faces,” said Jojo.

“Filipino chefs are also friendly and don’t mind sharing our knowledge with others in the kitchen. Here in the hotel, where I am currently working, I am happy with the camaraderie of the chefs and those who work in the kitchen. We are like one family,” he added.

While enjoying his work in Qatar, Jojo said his ultimate dream is to be an entrepreneur. He wants to open up Chef Dionysus “Jojo” Garados Geva at work.

Reports by

Ailyn Agonia

For events and press releases email

[email protected] or call (974) 44422077

HE Philippine Institute of Civil En-gineers, Qatar Chapter (PICE-Q) in-ducted its new set of office-bearers.

The officers who were elected dur-ing the 11th PICE-Q General Assembly, last year, were sworn into office by Atty. Roussel Reyes, First Secretary and Consul General at the Philippine Embassy Doha. They were formally introduced to the PICE-Q members at the event.

The roster of officials who will lead the activities of the professional group this year is headed by President Aileen A Buenaflor. Others include Alden P Cayaga (1st Vice-President), Luisito S Carlos (2nd Vice-President), Elvin D Fajutagana (Secretary), Ma. Michelle A Revillosa (Treasurer), Sheila Medel (Auditor), Felipe D Catinoy (Business Manager), Russel D Flores (Public Relations Officer) and Belinda E Dela Cruz (Sergeant-At-Arms).

The PICE-Q Committees for 2018 are headed by Medel F Dalida (Com-mittee on Membership), Newcesar T Templonuevo (Committee on Ways and Means), Emilio M Manalo (Committee on PICE Qatar Affairs), Bernard Y De Vera (Committee on Honors and Profes-sional Licensure Examination), Loraine C Radan (Committee on Continuing Professional Advancement) and Alfonso Belito C Betita (Committee on Publica-tions and Information).

Reyes, who also served as the guest

speaker during the induction ceremony, cited the organisation’s accomplish-ments in the previous years which

earned them the Best International Chapter Awards for Best Newsletter and Public Service. He also lauded the

organisations support to the govern-ment and to its fellow countrymen as evident by its various public service programmes including scholarship and green school building to name a few.

Following the induction ceremony, PICE-Q also organised a beach clean-up drive in coordination with Qatar Petro-leum, in Dukhan. Forty-five members of PICE-Q together with their families sup-ported the campaign dubbed ‘Save Life Below Water’. The ocean conservation drive was carried-out under the auspices of the PICE-Q’s Committee on PICE Qatar Affairs chaired by Emilio M Manalo. The activity was one of the many community service initiatives the organisation plans to undertake this year for the host country and also in the Philippines.

his own restaurant in the Philippines, a Japanese restaurant, of course! He said that he has started saving up for his dream business that he hopes to realise in a few years.

When asked what is the proper way of preparing tempura which is a very common Japanese dish, Jojo gave some pointers in proper handling and clean-ing of shrimp and the right tempera-ture of the oil so as not to overcook the seafood coated with perfectly seasoned batter. But the most important tip, he said, is cooking your tem-pura with feeling. “Fry the shrimps with love!”, Jojo said fondly.

Chef Dionysus “Jojo” Garados Geva at his work station in D’Chopstix Restaurant in Holiday Villa Doha Hotel.

PICE-Q members cleaning the Dukhan beach.

k d i h i d i d h h B I i l

New PICE-Q office-bearers inducted by Consul General Atty. Roussel Reyes.

Handing over of presidency of PICE-Q from former president Allen Nicario (right) to newly elected President Aileen Buenaflor

atter. But the most mportant tip, he said,s cooking your tem-ura with feeling. “Fry he shrimps with love!”,ojo said fondly.

Tempura

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

HE Indian Ladies Achieve-ment Awards (ILA Awards), a first initiative of its kind, was launched recently in celebration of womanhood and to recognise

the contribution of Indian women in vari-ous fields.

ILA Awards provides a unique plat-form to women from India, who are residents of Qatar, to be recognised for their talent and efforts. This award is a great way to honour the contribution of women who have excelled in their re-spective fields, which will inspire future generations of women to achieve their full potential.

The guests of honour at the launch and award ceremonies were:

Asma Al Ghanem & Partners Found-ing Partner Advocate Asma Muftah al Ghanem

National Human Rights Committee of Qatar Legal Consultant Hala al Ali

Qatar Professional Women Network-ing Head Susie Billings, and,

Qatar Women of the Year Awardee Maryam Ahmad al Bishri

ILA Awards were presented by the guests of honour along with the Lizzie Andrews Memorial Trust Trustees Hema M Pereira and Ushas Andrews. The inau-gural ILA Awards were instituted by the Lizzie Andrews Memorial Trust, a socio-organisation of Kerala, working for the needy and poor in India.

Six Indian women from different

categories won the award. The recipients of these awards are women from various walks of life, who have achieved success and led by example.

Indian Cultural Center (ICC) Presi-dent Milan Arun received the ILA Award of Community Services, for her outstand-ing leadership and support extended to the Indian community and as the first woman president of the ICC. A self-made woman at the helm of affairs of the ICC is indeed a moment of pride for all working women, who not just contribute towards the welfare of their families but also the society equally, dedicating their ener-gies and resources to personal as well as professional life.

Recipients of ILA Award of Humanitarian Services were;

Dr. Smitha Anilkumar (for her dedicated medical assistance to the community through medical camps, awareness classes and labour camp visits), and,

National Cancer Center for Care and Research Case Manager Rati Pillai (for her dedication and loyalty towards the sick and the needy. Also being part of cancer awareness pro-grammes, she was able to educate and console many of the patients and their families in the community)

Thankom Thomas received the ILA Award of Philanthropist (for her

efforts as a silent benefactor of the community) .Through her charitable foundation she has silently reached out to many underprivileged and needy people, and directly created positive change in the life of many families.

ILA Award of Entrepreneur Excellence was presented to Kausar Hassan a leading businesswoman. Earlier recipient of NEEDS-Mumbai Entrepreneur Award and One of the Hundred Super Women of the Middle East By Gray Matters (UAE) (for her outstanding and stellar achievements in the business world)

Crunch Doha owner and Co-founder Saima Bhukhari won the ILA Award of Emerging Entrepreneur (as a rising star and a promising future in the business industry)

During the launch of the award, and as a tribute to the host country the ILA Award of Academic Excellence was presented to Maryam A al Bishri, a Reservoir Engineer at Qatar Petro-leum, who graduated from Texas A&M University at Qatar with a bachelor’s degree in Petroleum Engineering and a minor in Geology. She was also a recipient of Qatar Today Women of the Year Award for Female Engineer of the year. In 2016, she was awarded for her excellent academic perform-ance by the Qatar Petroleum CEO and President.

The event was compeered by Usha Ravishankar. The launch and the award ceremony was followed by a musical en-tertainment by Malini Gopan and Shabit.

((Standing top from left) Asma Muftah al Ghanem, Maryam Ahmad al Bishri, Sussie Billings, Hala al Ali, Hema Mervin Pereira, Usha Ravishankar (and, standing below from left) Ushas Andrews, Smitha Anil Kumar, Kausar Hassan, Milan Arun, Rati Pillai, Thankom Thomas, Saima Bukhari and Asandra Andrews

(From left) Maryam Ahmad al Bishri, Hala al Ali, Ushas Andrews, Hema Mervin Pereira and Usha Ravis-hankar

(Standing top from left) Asandra Andrews, Maryam Ahmad al Bishri, Sussie Billings, Hala al Ali, Asma Muftah al Ghanem, Hema Mervin Pereira, Usha Ravishankar (and, standing below from left) Ushas An-drews, Smitha Anil Kumar, Kausar Hassan, Milan Arun, Rati Pillai, Thankom Thomas and Saima Bukhari


HE Doha Chapter of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) elected the new managing committee for the year 2018 at their

36th Annual General Meeting recently. More than 100 members representing various business institu-tions attended the meeting.

Rupalakshmi Setty was elected as the chair-person. The other members of the new executive committee are Rukkaiya Pachisa, vice-chairperson; Sandeep Chowdhary, Secretary and Nirlep Bhatt, Treasurer, along with Jithu Koshy, Ankit Agarwal, Abdul Nassar and Jaison PT as Members of the Committee.

The chair and the vice-chair both being women is a proud moment for ICAI Doha Chapter and an example for other institutions. The year 2017 under the Chairmanship of Gaurav Kakkar was full of activities and benefits to its members and for the second time in the row ICAI Doha was the proud recipient of Best Overseas Chapter award by ICAI under Category II.


IRLA Public School distributed the hall tickets to the XII Board examinees for the year 2018, in a ceremony held recently.

The function was graced by Chairman Lukose Chacko, who was also the chief guest, Directors Mohan Thomas and CV Rappai, life member Naray-anan, school authorities, parents, teachers and well-wishers. The programme began with the school prayer rendered by Malavika of the 2018 class, fol-lowed by the lighting of the lamp by the dignitaries.

Class representatives from all the sections of Class XII addressed the audience, revisiting memo-ries and expressing gratitude to all academic and non-academic facilitators of the school. This was followed by the distribution of the hall tickets to all the students.

An inspiring message was given by V P Radhika Rele. The highlight of the programme was the sol-emn ‘Passing the Light’ ceremony, where teachers lit the candles held by students, to the accompani-

ment of hymns. It was followed by a special prayer rendered by the Senior Vice-Principal Shirly Rappai who had earlier initiated the candle ceremony.

The chief guest and the principal addressed the

students encouraging and blessing the students for the Board exams, as also in their future endeavours.

The programme concluded with a motivational speech by Vasantha Mareth.

The 8th batch of Class XII students of Birla Public School gathered to receive hall tickets for their Board exams starting on March 5

Chairman Lukose K Chacko and other Board officials, flanked by Principal AP Sharma, Senior Vice-Principal Shirly Rappai, and Vice-Principals George Edison and Radhika Rele give away hall tickets to Class XII students

BPS Chairman Lukose K Chacko lighting the lamp and inaugurating the function with other Board officials

Teachers “Passing the Light” to students, to the accompaniment of hymns


PS-MODERN Indian School hosted inform-ative sessions on the topic ‘Basic First Aid and CPR Procedures’

recently for its senior teaching and non-teaching staff to equip them with essential skills needed to handle an emergency.

The workshop, conducted by Hamad International Training Centre officials Alice George, MS Jini Joy and Siddiqui pro-vided knowledge needed to recognise, prevent and respond to cardiovascular emergencies in adults, children and infants, cardio-pulmonary resuscita-tion (CPR) and other topics such as choking, foreign-body

airway obstruction, breathing emergencies, and prevention of disease transmission. Par-ticipants had the opportunity to learn the skills of hands-only CPR, a life-saving activity that calls on people to act in critical situations. They practised chest compressions on mannequins and received instant construc-tive and corrective feedback.


HE Qatar Chapter of the Institution of Engineers (In-dia) organised a full-day workshop on ‘Flow Network Design and Surge Analysis’ at Oryx Rotana recently.

Eminent speaker, Professor Arun Moharir, Chemical Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technol-ogy, Mumbai, conducted four technical sessions on flow networks design and surge analysis with various real-life examples on utility (steam, potable water, cooling water etc.) networks in process plant, potable water supply utility networks, chilled water networks of district cool-ing systems and cross-country transportation networks

for petroleum products & natural gas. He also presented case studies using PAnORaMA (Piping Analysis, Opera-tions Research and Maintenance Application) developed at IIT Mumbai.

As many as 40 engineers benefitted from the workshop. Asim Anwar, Third Secretary, Embassy of India graced the function as chief guest and felicitated the speaker.

On this occasion, IIT Mumbai announced special dis-count for online Piping Engineering Certificate Course to members of IEI Qatar Chapter. Those interested can register within one month to avail of the special offer.

For enquiry, email to: [email protected] and [email protected]

Jiro Alin

dog

Sunil Crasto

ZIG-ZAG THEY STAND!

REAL, YET SURREAL!

TOMATO BLOOMS

Loveraj Ta

mang

TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

ATE in the World War II drama Darkest Hour, Winston Churchill – played, in case you hadn’t heard, by Gary Old-man – delivers his famous ‘We

shall fight on the beaches’ speech in the House of Commons, a piece of oration so rousing that it brings his listeners to their feet.

For a moment ripped from the pages of history, the scene feels curiously pro-phetic: less a blast from the past than a dress rehearsal for Oscar night.

If he wins the Academy Award for lead actor on March 4, as he is widely expected to do, Oldman will likely earn another standing ovation, this time while wearing a tuxedo rather than a fat suit and prosthetics.

The same goes for Frances McDor-mand, Sam Rockwell and Allison Janney, heavily favoured to win the Oscars for Lead Actress, Supporting Actor and Sup-porting Actress, respectively. All four have already triumphed at the Critics’ Choice Awards, the Golden Globes, the Screen Actors Guild Awards and the British Acad-emy Film Awards, a rare confluence of press and industry opinion that is almost certain to repeat itself once more at the Oscars, to much applause if also a weary-ing sense of anti-climax.

Not everyone will find it wearying, of course. Those who believe that the year’s most indelible feats of big-screen acting can be found in Darkest Hour, I, Tonya and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri will join the applause without hesitation. And even those who don’t might be heartened by the recognition of veterans as respected as Oldman, McDor-mand, Rockwell and Janney.

Is it petty, then, to long for an upset or two? To wish that those prior awards ceremonies had supplied a less unani-mous, more interesting set of responses? Was there not a voting body that felt inclined to shed some well-deserved light on, say, Sally Hawkins for The Shape of Water, Mary J Blige for Mudbound or Willem Dafoe for The Florida Project? Was it ageism that kept them from bestowing a prize on either of the two most exciting dis-coveries of the year, Timo-thee Chalamet in Call Me by Your Name and Daniel Kaluuya in Get Out?

Every awards season tends to converge toward predict-able outcomes. Even still, the near-unprece-dented degree to which the same four actors have steam-rolled their competi-tion strikes me as an unusually

misguided example of the consensus machine working overtime. It’s not that the performances given by Oldman, McDormand, Rockwell and Janney –

wonderful actors all, it scarcely needs

mentioning –

are without their individual merits. But lauded together, over and over again, they amount to a skewed, lazy and finally unrepresentative sampling of what was an exceptionally rich and varied year in movie acting.

Is it pure coincidence that McDor-mand, Janney, Oldman and Rockwell all played such fierce, stubborn, self-isolating characters? Fictional or fact-based, these men and women always seem at war with the world around them – none more liter-ally than Oldman’s Churchill, bickering with his allies, seething at his rivals and ultimately defying Adolf Hitler himself, all while giving a master class in scenery chewing to make the Blitz look restrained by comparison.

The stakes may be less world-shattering in I, Tonya, but Janney’s LaVona Golden – the perpetual devil on the shoulder of her celebrity daughter, Tonya Harding – seems to inhabit her own zone of angry solitude. She’s a self-styled truth teller in a world overrun by bullies and phonies.

Something similar could be said of McDormand’s Mildred Hayes and Rock-well’s Officer Dixon in Three Billboards (From left): Gary Oldman, Allison Janney and Sam Rockwell.

Outside Ebbing, Missouri, two unfriendly small-town outcasts and staunch adver-saries who reluctantly join forces in their bitter pursuit of justice.

WINNING FORMULA

The cumulative ferocity of these performances is worth noting, in part, because it plays into the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ long-standing tendency to mistake aggressiveness for depth, to equate the showiest, most arresting and physically transformative acting with the best.

But to their credit, academy voters have also proved admi-rably willing to resist those more-is-more impulses, especially in recent years. Think of Mahershala Ali winning the sup-porting actor Oscar for his quietly tran-scendent performance in Moonlight, or Patricia Arquette earning supporting actress for her moving, flash-free work in Boyhood. The academy will always love its dazzling star turns and its disease-of-the-week histrionics, but it clearly also has voters who are willing to appreciate nuance and avoid the obvious.

This year there seems to be no avoid-ing Janney, whose acidly funny per-formance might be the best thing about I, Tonya but is far from the best thing nominated for supporting actress. Jan-ney makes a memorable Gorgon, to be sure, but she also reduces LaVona to a cardboard grotesque, the kind of side-show that can’t hold a candle to Laurie Metcalf’s infinitely more layered portrait of a tough-loving mom in Lady Bird.

There also seems to be no avoiding the Three Billboards duo of McDor-mand and Rockwell, whose joint win-ning streak over the last few months is

an unmistakable if somewhat excessive salute to the actors’ rough-hewn chem-istry. It also shows just how little the industry seems to care about the critical sentiment that has built up against Mar-tin McDonagh’s film in recent months, much of it directed specifically at Rock-well’s Dixon, an ill-tempered white police officer with a fondness for beating up black suspects.

If anything, the most glaring flaw in McDonagh’s screenplay – the callousness

with which it reduces its black characters’ suffering to a

mere plot point – is pro-ductively complicated

by Rockwell’s idiot-bad-boy swagger. He makes Dixon both a repellent moron and an in-sidious charmer; if he’s someone you love to hate, he’s also someone you

hate to love.

SHOW-STOPPING SPEECH

Perhaps most of all this year, there seems to be no avoid-

ing Oldman and the admittedly remark-able metamorphosis he undergoes in Darkest Hour. It’s astonishing to see the actor who once played the thin, gangly Sid Vicious now fully inhabiting Church-ill’s portly figure, outsized persona and heroic legacy. Oldman doesn’t give a bad performance; he gives a grandiose one, impeccably scaled to the ham-fisted pro-portions of the dramatic vehicle at hand.

“He mobilised the English language and sent it into battle,” one of Church-ill’s rivals says with grudging admiration after that aforementioned speech. It’s an unwittingly apt summary of a perform-ance type that tends to excite awards voters, in which words are all but mar-shalled into action, pressed in service of grandstanding speeches and lump-in-the-throat line readings.

AFPGDANSK, POLOGNE

VYING for an Oscar, Loving Vincent is the world’s first animated feature film painted by

hand -- all 65,000 frames -- in the distinct style of Vincent van Gogh.

Centred on a probe into his untimely death, the film was shot on a shoestring budget of $5.5 million. That is 30 times less than Disney’s Coco, one of the film’s four Oscar rivals.

For director Dorota Kobiela, Loving Vincent has been a seven-year la-bour of love combining her twin passions of cinema and painting.

“Van Gogh’s style was perfect for the project; his paintings show all the details of his life, his day-to-day habits, his house, his room, his friends,” Kobiela said ahead

of the Oscar ceremonies in Los Angeles.

Kobiela and co-director Hugh Welchman already

have one Oscar under their belt; their BreakThru Pro-ductions film company won an Academy Award in 2008 for the animated short Peter and the Wolf,

based on the story and music by Sergei Prokofiev.

“We are the underdogs! Our category is normally dominated by

Disney and Pixar but I have a feeling we might be one of the big upsets this year,” Welchman, who is also Kobiela’s husband,

said.After five years of pre-production, it

took another two years for 125 artists from around the globe to bring the opus to life under Ko-biela’s watchful eye.

Working in a massive studio in Poland’s Baltic port city of Gdansk, they based their oil paintings on scenes initially shot on film with actors.

The film includes rep-resentations of van Gogh’s most famous paintings such as The Starry Night.

Painting the 93-minute-long movie was a painstak-ing task.

“The pace of work was very slow, averaging a quarter of a second of the film

a day,” said Kobiela, who spent seven years on the project.

A single second of the film represents an average of 12 hand-painted frames.

Each artist completed an average of six paint-ings a day, amounting to a half-second of the film for simple scenes.

But according to Kobiela, the quality of the hand-painted frames surpasses digital animation, making them well worth the extra effort.

“Often in animation, we have the problem that facial

expressions are limited. But in oil painting, we can show even greater expression if the portrait is painted properly,” said.

Best PictureCall Me by Your NameDarkest HourDunkirkGet OutLady BirdPhantom ThreadThe PostThe Shape of WaterThree Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Lead ActorTimothée Chalamet, Call Me by Your NameDaniel Day-Lewis, Phantom ThreadDaniel Kaluuya, Get OutGary Oldman, Darkest HourDenzel Washington, Roman J Israel, Esq.

Lead ActressSally Hawkins, The Shape of WaterFrances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, MissouriMargot Robbie, I, TonyaSaoirse Ronan, Lady BirdMeryl Streep, The Post

Supporting ActorWillem Dafoe, The Florida ProjectWoody Harrelson, Three Billboards Outside Ebb-ing, MissouriRichard Jenkins, The Shape of WaterChristopher Plummer, All the Money in the WorldSam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Supporting ActressMary J Blige, MudboundAllison Janney, I, TonyaLesley Manville, Phantom ThreadLaurie Metcalf, Lady BirdOctavia Spencer, The Shape of Water

DirectorDunkirk, Christopher NolanGet Out, Jordan PeeleLady Bird, Greta GerwigPhantom Thread, Paul Thomas AndersonThe Shape of Water, Guillermo del Toro

Animated FeatureThe Boss Baby, Tom McGrath, Ramsey Ann NaitoThe Breadwinner, Nora Twomey, Anthony LeoCoco, Lee Unkrich, Darla K AndersonFerdinand, Carlos Saldanha

Loving Vincent, Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman, Sean Bobbitt, Ivan Mactaggart, Hugh Welchman

Animated ShortDear Basketball, Glen Keane, Kobe BryantGarden Party, Victor Caire, Gabriel GrapperonLou, Dave Mullins, Dana MurrayNegative Space, Max Porter, Ru KuwahataRevolting Rhymes, Jakob Schuh, Jan Lachauer

Adapted ScreenplayCall Me by Your Name, James IvoryThe Disaster Artist, Scott Neustadter & Michael H WeberLogan, Scott Frank, James Mangold and Michael GreenMolly’s Game, Aaron SorkinMudbound, Virgil Williams and Dee Rees

Original ScreenplayThe Big Sick, Emily V. Gordon & Kumail NanjianiGet Out, Jordan PeeleLady Bird, Greta GerwigThe Shape of Water, Guillermo del Toro, Vanessa TaylorThree Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Martin McDonagh

CinematographyBlade Runner 2049, Roger DeakinsDarkest Hour, Bruno DelbonnelDunkirk, Hoyte van HoytemaMudbound, Rachel MorrisonThe Shape of Water, Dan Laustsen

Original ScoreDunkirk, Hans ZimmerPhantom Thread, Jonny GreenwoodThe Shape of Water, Alexandre DesplatStar Wars: The Last Jedi, John WilliamsThree Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Carter Burwell

Original SongMighty River from Mudbound, Mary J BligeMystery of Love from Call Me by Your Name, Sufjan StevensRemember Me from Coco, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert LopezStand Up for Something from Marshall, Diane Warren, CommonThis Is Me from The Greatest Showman, Benj Pasek, Justin Paul

Frances McDorm

and

IANS

ESSICA Alba will be re-turning to the small screen as Gabrielle Union’s part-

ner in a Bad Boys spin-off.Alba will also executive

produce the show, reports variety.com.

Union will star in the untitled drama as Syd Burnett, her character from Bad Boys 2.

In the show, she has left the DEA and now has a fresh start in her new job as an LAPD detective.

Alba will play Nancy McKenna, Burnett’s partner. McKenna joined the Army out of

high school and spent most of the 2000s in Iraq and Afghanistan. Women weren’t allowed in com-bat, so she joined the military police to get closer to the action. McKenna is now a detective raising two pre-teen step chil-

dren with her husband.Alba is a film and televi-

sion star who broke out in the action TV series

Dark Angel. She fol-lowed that up with roles in films like Sin City, Fantastic

Four and the sequel Rise of the Silver

Surfer, and Into the Blue.Most recently, she ap-

peared in the films El Camino Christmas and Mechanic: Resurrection.

Kevin McKidd and Arielle Goldrath

IANS

CTRESS Sandra Bullock is not married to her boyfriend and photographer Bryan Randall,

according to her representative.“They are not married,” Bullock’s

representative told people.com. The denial follows a flurry of

rumours claiming the two secretly exchanged vows.

Bullock started dating Randall in 2015.

“They started dating after Bryan photographed (Bullock’s son) Louis for his graduation,” a source said.

When Bullock, 53, adopted daughter Laila in 2015, Randall

stood by her side. They have kept their romance

low-key over the years, stepping out for occasional date nights in Los Angeles and New York together. Randall also accompanied Bullock at the October 2015 premiere of Our Brand Is Crisis.

Sandra Bullock and Bryan Randall

TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

EVIN McKidd has tied the knot with Arielle Goldrath.

The ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ actor - who has two chil-dren, 17-year-old Joseph

and 15-year-old Iona, with ex-wife Jane Parker - also revealed that Arielle is preg-nant with their first child.

Kevin shared the happy news on his website, KevinMcKiddOnline, writing: “Arielle and I are so happy to announce our marriage and new baby, who is soon to join our growing family. My kids are happy for us too and are looking forward to the arrival of their newest sibling! Close friends and family came together with my Grey’s family to share in our celebration day - an intimate, low key gathering culminating in a Scottish Cei-lidh dance. There’s much to be grateful for and we’re thrilled for the adventures

2018 will bring us all!”He also shared a picture of them

together, showing that he paid tribute to his Scottish roots for the wedding by wearing a kilt, while Arielle opted for a stunning white lace gown.

Arielle, 29, is a private chef and an animal rights activist.

Kevin, 44, has been divorced from his wife since December 2016 but he and Arielle only went public in January this year, when he posted a smiling picture of them together on Instagram.

He captioned the picture, which showed them both wearing cowboy hats: “Happy New Year to everyone , love from us! Love you all!! #forevercowboys #cuprunnethover #newyearnewbegin-nings (sic).”

The couple tied the knot at Calami-gos Ranch in Malibu, California and the ceremony was officiated by Rabbi Emma Lutz, according to PEOPLE.

IANS

IP-HOP star Rick Ross was hospitalised after taking ill at his Miami-area home,

police said.Police and emergency teams

were called to his home after he was “found unresponsive” according to a dispatch report filed by police,

reported USA Today.According to the report, a 911

caller sought help for a man fitting Ross’s description “in distress” who was breathing heavily, “slobbing out the mouth”, and briefly combative.

They had no other information because the call to Ross’s home turned out not to be a law enforce-ment matter, said a spokesman for

Davie police.Some celebrities – including

Gucci Mane, LL Cool J and Missy Elliott – took to Twitter to send Ross messages of support.

“Prayers up for my guy,” rapper Snoop Dogg tweeted.

There were reports he was on life support, but his friends from the industry said it was never so.Rick Ross

Jessica Alba

IANS

SUPERNATURAL thriller, Pari is an unusual love story albeit with thrills and chills for good measure.

Set in Kolkata, Arnab (Parambrata Chatterjee), a Bengali gentleman, is an introvert and hence readily agrees to an arranged match to please his parents. Returning home after meeting Piyali (Ritabari Chakraborty), his father accidentally runs over an elderly woman, who dies.

Aiming to help the woman’s daugh-ter Rukhsana (Anushka Sharma) now an orphan, Arnab gives her shelter in his house for a few days as she is osten-sibly scared of “those men who want to harm her”.

Their unusual bond amidst startling revelations of her identity, forms the crux of the film.

The first half of the film suppos-edly has you on the edge of your seats, as there are jump scares galore, some well-timed, others deliberate and un-necessary.

The horror elements – gore and gloom, torrential rain, evil spirits, ac-centuated by sound design – are at-tempted at sending a chill down your spine, end up seeming a trifle inane and ludicrous, as these are grossly overdone.

The pace of the narrative, however, drags before the interval, leaving you unsettled and bored as the core of the film till then appears confusing and unclear.

The second half picks up and you discover there is a full-fledged story after all, albeit poorly told. And that is the undoing of the film. The manner in which the narrative propels forward, is a let-down.

The story although fiction, is heart-

warming and touches your heart, but fails to engage, as it unfolds after a long and convoluted run, making for tire-some viewing.

Director Prosit Roy sadly does not let the film rise beyond the initial horror elements and fails to focus on story-telling.

On the performance front, Anushka Sharma as Rukhsana, delivers a strong and unconventional performance, as the vile, feral, yet, loving and vulner-able girl. You empathise with her

instantly. The range of emotions she displays are astutely handled by her.

Parambrata Chatterjee as the quin-tessential introvert, essays his charac-ter with ease and panache, delivering a restrained performance. His demean-our and dialogue delivery are in synch with his character from the word go.

Rajat Kapoor as the Professor with a damaged eye, espousing the cause of a movement, is effective, but not neces-sarily outstanding.

Ritabari Chakraborty as Piyali, has a pleasant on-screen presence and ap-pears effortless.

The background score heightens the viewing experience as it resonates with the setting of the film.

The production values are decent and conform to the genre of the film.

Overall, this film with a promising story had a lot of potential, but it is the weak writing that becomes its Waterloo.

A still from the film Pari.

Film: Pari Rating: Director: Prosit RoyCast: Anushka Sharma, Parambrata Chatterjee, Rajat Kapoor, Ritabari ChakrabortyNOW SHOWING IN QATAR SCREENS

EVIL has no religion, says Pari co-producer Prernaa Arora of KriArj Entertainment after the film was

banned in Pakistan for being against religious ethos.

According to Pakistan Censor Board chief Mobashir Hasan, Pari was declared “unfit” for public exhibition by a panel followed by Central Board of Film Cen-sors’ (CBFC) full board review as it “flouts various sections of the existing rules and code of CBFC” and “innumerable dia-logues and scenes are against the estab-lished religious, social and moral ethos”.

Arora, who has produced the movie with the film’s lead actress Anushka Sharma’s banner Clean Slate Films, said: “They (the Pakistan censor board) seem to be taking random decisions. How do we explain why they would think of Pari as anti-Islamic? Evil, which the film portrays, has no religion.

“We as a responsible production feel very strongly about causing offence to any community. Earlier, our co-produc-tion Pad Man was banned in Pakistan for being anti-Islamic. Now Pari is also anti-Islamic. Can they please define anti-Islamic? I have no doubt Pakistan will find my next release Parmanu - The Story of Pokhran anti-Islamic too.”

Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran, co-produced by KriArj Entertain-ment and John Abraham, is about the nuclear tests conducted at Pokhran in 1998.

Prernaa Arora

IANS

ALMAN Khan’s Bajrangi Bhai-jaan, after over two years of re-leasing in India, got off to a flying

start in China by raking in Rs 18 crore.Bajrangi Bhaijaan is about a man

who reunites a Pakistani girl lost in In-dia with his family by crossing the tense border between two hostile countries.

The movie – Salman’s first to re-lease in China, where Aamir Khan’s

entertainers are the biggest Bollywood attractions – released recently.

According to Chinese box office observers, Bajrangi Bhaijaan has beaten the first day collections of Aamir Khan’s Dangal in China. How-ever, it fell well short of Aamir’s last release in China, Secret Superstar, which minted Rs 40 crore on its open-ing day in the country.

Overall, Dangal earned over Rs 1,000 crore in China and became

the highest-grossing Indian movie in China, where craze for Bollywood films is growing. Secret Superstar collected well over Rs 750 crore.

As of Saturday afternoon, Bajrangi Bhaijaan had already crossed Rs 25 crore.

“India has always been about style. The story reveals the human nature of the true good, the world peace. Worth promoting,” Lareina Yang, a user, wrote on Chinese ticketing website Maoyan.A movie poster of Bajrangi Bhaijaan in China.

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ACROSS1 Easy thing to do5 Lobster serving9 Great time

14 Skin opening15 Tra-__: refrain

syllables16 Main artery17 Snapchat co-

founder Spiegel18 Cyberzine19 Parakeets’

quarters20 Have things

finally go one’sway

23 Photo __: mediaevents

24 Charged particles25 Intl. news

broadcaster27 Singer’s quavers30 Recently35 Harry’s pal

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disease38 Penne __ vodka40 Singer Damone41 Trig ratio42 Engage in hard-

nosednegotiations

47 “Just a __!”48 Dress-for-

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62 Georgia statefruit

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grade67 Kind of pittance?68 The “A” of NEA69 Drive too fast70 New England

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3 “I smell __!”4 Crossword

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youngsters7 Bygone apple

spray8 Regular pay9 “Not so close!”

10 Extended pd.away from work

11 Golden Fleeceship

12 How-toinstruction

13 Soviet newsagency

21 Sanctified22 Declare

emphatically26 Drinks in

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29 Groom’s newrelative

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boat33 Guiding principle34 Standing tall

37 Heinz varietiescount, to Caesar?

39 Those in favor43 Failed suddenly,

as a laptop44 URL letters45 Political fugitives46 __ profit: make

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52 Equine outburst

53 iPhonedownloads

54 __-sea diver55 Drink with sushi57 Frolic in a lively

way58 Thinking output59 Currency named

for a continent60 Choir voice61 Student’s

workplace63 Runner Sebastian

By Bill Zagozewski©2018 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

03/06/18

03/06/18

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword PuzzleEdited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

(Answers tomorrow)THINK AFTER SMOOTH JUGGLEYesterday’s Jumbles:

Answer: He wasn’t sure how much sandpaper he’dneed, but he had a — ROUGH ESTIMATE

Now arrange the circled letters to form the surprise answer, assuggested by the above cartoon.

THAT SCRAMBLED WORD GAMEby David L. Hoyt and Jeff Knurek

Unscramble these four Jumbles,one letter to each square,to form four ordinary words.

NUWSG

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CAYPFI

©2018 Tribune Content Agency, LLCAll Rights Reserved.

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By Nancy Black, Tribune Content Agency, Linda Black Horoscopes

Take physical action with a part-ner. Discuss a shared passion and get moving, one step at a time. Follow the path of least resistance.

Games, sports and physical activity can get fun. Get out and move with someone attractive. Listen carefully and grab a passing opportunity. Stick to basics.

Create a dreamy romance. Get outside together and do something fun. Consider family when making decisions, especially in chaotic moments. Wait for developments.

Good fortune comes through studies and exploration this year. Fundamental team-work allows pursuit of a dreamy possibility. Summer fun and romance lead to an introspective phase that recharges your work, health and fitness. Plan winter gatherings and shared adventures to expand and connect.To get the advantage, check the day’s rating: 10 is the easiest day, 0 the most challenging.

You can do without fancy frills. Stick to simple ingredients. Slow to avoid technical errors. Discuss desired home improvements with family before starting.

Envision a new course. Put your imagination to work. Edit for simplicity, and review details closely. Inspire your team to victory, and share thanks.

Profit from a brilliant idea. Keep or change your agreements. List and schedule tasks and responsibili-ties. Don’t touch savings. Listen to your financial intuition.

Introspection reveals something new about yourself. Listen to your inner child with compas-sion. Handle a potentially tense situation with grace.

Things may not go as planned with friends. Expect disruptions and distractions. Avoid overindulging or overspending. Cleaning and organizational projects satisfy.

Accept team leadership and re-sponsibility gracefully. Share a clear view of what’s at stake and what’s needed. Invite participation and remain willing to compromise.

Keep digging. Your research benefits your career. New facts dispel old fears. Study what’s going on backstage. Put in a good word for someone else.

Listen closely to a teacher or mentor. You may uncover conflicting data. New evidence threatens complacency. Make an amazing discovery.

Collaborate with your partner on a financial challenge. Keep confidences and secrets. Consider risks, pros and cons. Answer the tough questions together.

ARIES (Mar 21-Apr 19 ) TAURUS (Apr 20-May 20) GEMINI (May 21-Jun 20)

CANCER (Jun 21-Jul 22) LEO (Jul 23-Aug 22) VIRGO (Aug 23-Sep 22)

LIBRA (Sep 23-Oct 22) SCORPIO (Oct 23-Nov 21) SAGITTARIUS (Nov 22-Dec 21)

CAPRICORN (Dec 22-Jan 19 ) AQUARIUS (Jan 20-Feb 18 ) PISCES (Feb 19-Mar 20 )

Solution to previous puzzle

envoy - qatar tribune

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