qatar on course to achieve food security

MONDAYMAY 13, 2019

RAMADAN 8, 1440VOL.12 NO. 4632 QR 2

THE countdown has begun for the inauguration of Al Wakrah Stadium, one of the venues of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. The stadium is a few days away from its official opening and will hold the 2019 Amir Cup final on May 16. Al Wakrah Stadium, which is inspired by the design of a dhow boat in-verted for maintenance, has a capacity of 40,000 seats, with a roof that opens and closes in 30 minutes. It will host the World Cup until the quarter-finals. The stadium will add to the quality of life people in Al Wakrah as it will offer many facilities around it. PAGE 17

The Amir HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani hosted an iftar banquet for members of the ruling family and dignitaries on the occasion of the Holy Month of Ramadan at the Amiri Diwan on Sunday. The banquet was attended by HE Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Khalifa al Thani; HH Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al Thani, personal representative of HH the Amir; HH Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalifa al Thani; HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa al Thani; HE Jassim bin Khalifa al Thani and a number of sheikhs. (QNA) PAGE 20

AMIR HOSTS IFTAR BANQUET FOR MEMBERS OF RULING FAMILY, DIGNITARIES

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORKDOHA

QATAR has been ranked as the first Arab country and 23rd worldwide in the field of food security, according to a top official.

In an interview with Qa-tar Radio, Masoud Jarallah al Marri, Director of Food Secu-rity Department at the Minis-try of Municipality and Envi-ronment (MME), said the food security department is con-cerned with studying the cur-rent status of local production, comparing it with imports and identifying gaps between local production and imports.

He said the new adminis-

tration focuses on increasing local production to reach self-sufficiency in crops that can be cultivated in Qatar, and work to overcome difficulties faced by food security projects, re-

search and planning in the area.

“The Food Security Depart-ment is also mandated to study the private sector’s requests related to food security pro-

jects in terms of their econom-ic feasibility and to advise on their feasibility and the issu-ance of licenses in accordance with the National Strategy for Food Security. Also, the de-

partment is mandated to study policies for local production, marketing, storage and post-production chains to reach the consumer,” he added.

Giving details of the Na-tional Strategy for Food Se-curity 2019-2023, he said the strategy is based on four basic pillars. Boosting local produc-tion is the first of the pillars.

“The second pillar is the strategic storage that aims to provide non-produced goods in the country. The strategy has identified goods that must be stored in good quanti-ties to cover the needs for six months,” he said.

Qatar on course to achieve food security

SANTHOSH CHANDRANDOHA

AFTER the initial thrill and enthu-siasm of a maiden journey on Doha Metro’s Redline, the attention of the commuters has now shifted to met-ro’s timing and the shuttle bus ser-vices that provide last-mile connec-tivity to the offices and residences.

Sources said most of the pas-sengers on Sunday enquired about the frequencies of trains and Met-ro’s shuttle bus services to make best use of the new transportation network.

Speaking to Qatar Tribune, a Metro Service Staff at Ras Bu Fon-tas said, “Most of the passengers enquired about metro stations and availability of Metro’s shuttle bus services.”

Six years in the making, the Doha Metro’s Redline opened on Wednesday, running from Al Qassar to Al Wakrah.

An employee of a construction company said, “My ride in the Met-

ro for official purposes on Sunday was pleasant. With little homework about the timing of bus services, I picked a Metro bus from my residen-tial complex at Wukair to Al Wakrah station. The journey from Al Wakrah to DECC in Metro was quite comfort-able and relaxing. For the first time, since I arrived in Doha, I reached the office without the stress of traffic.”

A housewife, who was returning

to Al Matar Al Qadeem from West Bay, said, “For the first time, I went to West Bay area without the support of anyone. I had collected maximum information about the service and the mode of transport from Metro’s website and the information shared by friends on social media.”

Another passenger said, “Service staffs in Metro provided all the infor-mation related to trains.”

Doha Metro a boon for commuters


THE Ministry of Interior (MoI) has arrested a number of beggars of Asian nationali-ties from different parts of the country and initiated neces-sary legal actions against them.

Captain Hadi Mohammed al Hajri, Head of the Anti-Begging Department, said the CID is playing a vital role in combating the practice of begging.

The Department of Anti-Begging and criminal investigation departments in the vari-ous secu-rity agencies have been carrying out intensive cam-paigns in dif-ferent areas and places frequented by beggars, especially commercial complexes and mosques, to eliminate this problem, he added.

Hajri said the administra-tion is taking all measures and leaving no stone unturned to spread awareness about beg-ging.

He said the department, in coordination with the De-partment of Mosques in the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs, is urging imams and

preachers to educate citizens and residents to send their do-nations to accredited charities.

He said anyone who begs in the streets or public places or encourages begging faces imprisonment for a period not exceeding three months.

Captain Engineer Madawi Saeed al Qahtani, assistant director of the Department of Economic and Electronic Crimes, said beggars have been devising new methods of begging through social me-

dia such as Facebook and Instagram. He

said the beggars have been or-ganising fun-draising cam-paigns under the pretext of building

mosques in poor countries,

building hos-pitals, schools or

treating patients with serious illnesses.

He said beggars show false medical reports to people and take advantage of their gen-erosity in the Holy Month of Ramadan.

Qahtani said people who do electronic begging are ba-sically from outside the coun-try and have intermediaries in Qatar. The CID has arrested many of them and referred them to the Public Prosecu-tion, he said.

MoI cracks down on beggars in

Ramadan

A Doha Metro station is bustling with activity on Sunday.

Increasing local production to achieve self-sufficiency in vegetables

Strategic storage to stock goods that can help meet the demands for at least six months

Developing mechanisms for delivering goods at fair prices for the producer and the consumer

24% self-sufficiency in vegetables

Qatar sees increased demand for premium homes (PG 11)

Israel reopens borders to Gaza Strip amid relative calm (PG 9 )

Countdown begins for Al Wakrah Stadium’s grand opening on May 16

Continued on page 2

Screening capacity at Rawdat Al Khail Health Center increased

The Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) has

announced the expansion of its existing screening suite at Rawdat Al Khail Health Center after the successful expansion at Leabaib Health Center.

With the expansion, the screening suite at Rawdat Al Khail Health Center now has a higher capacity of handling 180 visitors per day with more nurses rooms, screening rooms and follow-up rooms, in addition

to separate male and female entrances and waiting areas. With the expansion, breast cancer screening at Rawdat Al Khail Health Center for women between 45 and 69 years will now take less than 20 minutes for each appointment.

Besides this, a second mammogram room has doubled the capacity of the screening suite to reach 90 participants per day and 450 participants per week. PAGE 4

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Tajik FM meets Qatari ambassador MINISTER of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Tajikistan Sirodjidin Aslov met on Sunday with the Ambassador of Qatar to Tajikistan HE Ibrahim bin Mohammed al Abdullah. During the meeting, they discussed bilateral relations and the ways to boost and develop them. They also discussed topics of common interest. (QNA)

Traffic Directorate holds expo to mark Road Safety Week

QNADOHA

THE General Directorate of Traffic opened at its main headquarters on Sunday an awareness exhibition on the occasion of the Global Road Safety Week, being observed this year under the theme ‘Leadership for Road Safety’.

The Ministry of Public Health, Qatar Red Crescent Society, and Hamad Medical Corporation are taking part in the event to highlight their ef-forts and awareness messages related to road safety.

In a press statement on the occasion, Assistant Director-General of the General Directo-rate of Traffic Col Nasser Dar-man al Mufqai said Qatar has joined the world to mark this event by organising a traffic ex-hibition to raise awareness of

the dangers of road accidents.“This occasion reminds

everyone about the dangers of negligence in traffic safety procedures, the resulting suf-fering of families and friends, and the significant impact on the country’s economic re-sources due to the large cost of treating injuries caused by accidents,” he said.

“Qatar has paid great at-tention to providing safety for all road users, highlighting the National Traffic Safety Strate-gy, in which all governmental and non-governmental sec-tors have been involved and have made efforts to reduce traffic accidents.”

He called on road users to adhere to the traffic safety rules including speed limit, avoid using mobile phones while driving and fastening the seat belts.

King Harald V receives the credentials of HE Sheikha Moza bint Nasser al Thani as non-resident ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of Qatar to the Kingdom of Norway, at the Royal Palace in Oslo on Sunday. The ambassador conveyed the Amir HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani’s greetings and wishes of good health and happiness to the Norwegian king and his wishes of more pro-gress and prosperity to the government and people of Norway. For his part, King Harald V entrusted the ambassador to convey his greetings to HH the Amir, and his wishes of more prosperity and progress to the people of Qatar. He wished the ambassador success in her new duties and in promoting and strengthening ties of friendship and cooperation between Qatar and Norway. (QNA)

KING OF NORWAY RECEIVES QATARI ENVOY’S CREDENTIALS Four Seasons Hotel to close for renovation from June 15


FOUR Seasons Hotel Doha will embark on a new era of hospitality with an extensive refurbishment to the luxury property, in-spired by the captivating heritage and re-markable progress of Qatar.

The hotel will close its doors on June 15 for the enhancements to take place be-fore revealing a contemporary new look later this year.

From late 2019, guests will be able to enjoy redesigned bedrooms, suites and guest floors; an elegantly-enhanced lobby; redesigned Seasons Tea Lounge, with a new outdoor terrace; refreshed Arabica Café with enhanced al-fresco dining and shisha experience; a brand-new signature restaurant; and brand-new cigar club.

The property has been a firm favourite with Qataris since it opened 14 years ago.

General Manager Jeff Rednour be-lieves the renovations will reinforce the hotel’s position as an unmatched centre of Qatari hospitality.

He said, “I’m tremendously excited about the opportunities this renovation gives Four Seasons Hotel Doha to further strengthen our ties with the local com-munity here in Qatar. It will enable us to progress at a time when the country itself is moving forward at such an incredible pace.

“The needs of travellers in the Mid-dle East are changing. We’ve listened to what our guests want and believe much of that will be incorporated with this re-

furbishment, which will allow the hotel to face the future with confidence. We’re thrilled to see the hotel evolve, while re-taining its core traditions.”

The renovation project is being led by world-renowned interior designer Pierre-Yves Rochon who has already worked suc-cessfully with Four Seasons in France, Italy and Bahrain, among other locations.

Bedrooms will embrace the latest tech-nology, but will also pay homage to the heritage of Qatar by, for example, featuring Mother of Pearl inlay decorative features. Such styling of the classic with the con-temporary will be a hallmark of the refur-bishment, further details of which will be revealed over the coming months.

Four Seasons Hotel Doha will embark on a new era of hospitality with an extensive refurbishment

CNA-Q event celebrates Korea’s rich culture and musicAILYN AGONIA

DOHA

THE Korean Club at the College of North Atlantic Qatar (CNA-Q), in partnership with the Embassy of Korea in Qatar, celebrated the col-ourful Korean culture during the Spirit of Korea event held at the CNA-Q auditorium recently.

Around 200 students and lovers of Korean culture, including fans of its world-renowned music, at-tended the programme which high-lighted Korean fashion, traditional dance and music as well as food.

Korean Ambassador to Qatar HE Chang-mo Kim warmly ad-dressed the attendees while CNA-Q Vice-President for Student Affairs Aljazzi Fetais presented a token of appreciation to the envoy.

Also present at the event were Chairman of Korean Community Lim Ilchang and President of Kore-an Language School Kim Sungsoo.

On the occasion, CNA-Q Korean

Club President Noor Jameel intro-duced their community of Korean lovers within the technical college.

The CNA-Q Korean Club is one of the two university-based clubs supported by the embassy. The oth-er one is based in Qatar University.

The Spirit of Korea event fea-tured a fashion show and perfor-mances of Korean dance and tra-ditional instrument by Dynamic Korea Shin Myung, a team created in 2013 in Qatar by people who love Korean traditional music and

dance. Headed by Dance Master OH

Geunyoung, the group has been performing Korean traditional mu-sic at several events in the country such as during the International Festival held in Education City and

events hosted by the Korean com-munity and the embassy.

The programme also featured a showcase of authentic Korean food including food prepared by the Embassy Residence Chef Jeong Kyu Suk.

He prepared Korean kichi and spicy rice cake for the guests. While Tofu House Restaurant, one of the famous Korean restaurants in the country, served mixed Korean fu-sion food such as kimbab and jap-cha (sweet potato noodles).

Korean Ambassador to Qatar HE Chang-mo Kim addressed the attendees. Around 200 students and lovers of Korean culture, including fans of its world-renowned music, attended the programme.

Qatari artist presents masterpiece on Jerusalem to President Erdogan

HISHAM ALJUNDIDOHA

TURKISH President Recep Tayyip Erdogan received a luxury artwork on Jerusalem from noted Qatari art-ist Abdelsalam al Qadi, who met with

the Turkish president in Istanbul, re-cently.

Qadi presented the magnificent artwork made of Swarovski crystals to Erdogan in the presence of Turk-ish diplomats.

The artwork consisting of 62,000

pieces of Swarovski gems depicts the Dome of the Rock and is entitled ‘Vic-tory from Allah’. It took Qadi 100 days to create the work.

The Turkish president thanked Qadi and the Qatari people stressing the brotherly relations between the

two countries. Qadi has created several artworks

on eminent personalities and leaders in the past including one on the Amir of Qatar His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani and the other on the Amir of the State of Kuwait.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan receives a luxury artwork on Jerusalem from noted Qatari artist Abdelsalam al Qadi in Istanbul.

70% self-sufficiency in vegetable production expected by 2023

Continued from page 1

INTERNATIONAL trade is the third pillar. “Finally, the fourth pil-lar of the strategy is the local mar-ket,” he added.

On the role of the National Com-mittee for Food Security, Marri said the committee is working to formu-late policies and overcome the obsta-cles facing the food security system.

“The Food Security Department is the executive body for the adop-tion of plans, policies and strategies at the national level by the com-mittee,” he said, adding that “the administration also represents the secretariat of the National Commit-tee for Food Security.”

Marri said food security aims to provide food at a convenient price and with easy access. By fulfilling these conditions, he said, the concept of food security has been achieved.

Pointing out the difference be-tween self-sufficiency and food secu-rity, he said self-sufficiency is aimed at achieving only what can be pro-duced in the country. There are na-tional goals to achieve self-sufficiency in a range of commodities that can be produced in Qatar. Food security

is the provision of all commodities whether produced locally or exter-nally, he added.

Self-sufficiency in vegetables has reached 24 percent and work is going on to achieve 70 percent by 2023, he said.

“Ten new projects are currently under way to boost self-sufficiency by using greenhouses technologies, which can increase self-sufficiency to 38 percent. If the new 24 projects are launched, self-sufficiency will reach 65 percent.”

In terms of fresh poultry, the self-sufficiency level has reached 124 per-cent, while 20 percent of poultry con-sumption in Qatar comes from fresh poultry and 80 percent from frozen poultry consumption.

He said the market is witness-ing a strong demand for national products because of its quality and competitive prices. Qatar is an open market and can get products from any country in the world.

“The competition provided by the local market has contributed to improving the quality of the local product to international standards, enabling it to compete with imported products,” he noted.

Nation 03Monday, May 13, 2019

QRCS, UNRWA launch fundraising campaign for PalestineTRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA

AS part of an initiative from the UN Secretary-General’s Hu-manitarian Envoy, Dr Ahmed M al Meraikhi, Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UN-RWA) have launched a joint humanitarian campaign for Gaza.

Under the ‘Bring Hope for Gaza’ drive, the two partners will mobilise financial resourc-es during the holy month of Ramadan to support the ser-vices provided by UNRWA for the Palestinian people in Gaza.

“The purpose of this cam-paign is to spotlight the calam-ity of our Palestinian brothers, let their voice be heard and urge the international community to help those blockaded in Gaza,” said Ali bin Hassan al Hamma-di, secretary-general of QRCS.

“In a sad culmination of decades of tragedies for the Palestinian people, UNRWA’s aid has been cut due to limited

contributions by donors. As a result, the main and perhaps only UN agency concerned with Palestine had to reduce its hu-manitarian services over the past few months.”

An agreement to this initia-tive, spearheaded by Dr Merai-khi, was signed with UNRWA to work together to raise the funds needed to continue serv-ing the Palestinian refugees, particularly in Gaza. As a mem-ber of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Move-

ment, QRCS has a responsibil-ity to back fellow organisations that share the same humanitar-ian goals and values.

“Public fundraising will run throughout the Holy Month of Ramadan, and there will be awareness messages in the media and QRCS’ social media. All the donations col-lected will go directly to UN-RWA. I am confident that the people of Qatar will respond well, with their absolute com-mitment to this humanitarian

cause,” Hammadi noted.Dana al Fardan, well-

known Qatari composer, took part in the ‘Bring Hope for Gaza’ campaign, by travelling to Jordan and visiting some UNRWA schools. “It is easier said than experienced,” she commented. “Our brothers face unbearable difficulties on a daily basis. It is the duty of eve-ryone to do their best to help UNRWA, enabling it to provide as much health care, education and food as possible. Let’s give them hope for a better future.”

She added, “It is my honour to be with my brothers. I spent a nice time that I will never for-get. I am here to tell them: We stand up for you. Your stead-fastness is a source of pride. One day, the adversities of life must come to an end.”

According to her, the new drive is part of Qatar’s unri-valed humanitarian legacy un-der the wise leadership of the Amir HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani, who is always at the forefront of efforts to support Palestine and all needy countries around the world.


IT’S not safe for those with dia-betes to fast, especially those who have poorly controlled diabetes, a diabetes educator at Hamad Medical Corpora-tion (HMC) has said. Diabetics should work closely with their healthcare team and regular monitoring is essential for those among them who choose to fast during Ramadan, she added.

“For many individuals, fast-ing during the Holy Month of Ramadan has numerous health benefits; however, for individu-als with diabetes, fasting is a more complex topic and can have serious health risks,” said Amani Ajina, senior adult dia-betes educator at HMC.

“Ideally, individuals with diabetes should consult their doctor or health educator be-fore Ramadan begins. Their healthcare team can help them determine if it’s safe to fast and can also provide important ad-vice about physical activity, nu-trition, safe glucose levels and guidance around changes to the dosage and timing of any medi-cations,” noted Ajina.

Successful blood sugar management is the key to liv-ing well with diabetes and fasting should be approached with care, she said, adding, “Blood sugar testing is an im-portant part of diabetes care and monitoring blood sugar levels frequently is particularly important for diabetics who fast because during Ramadan eating, sleeping, and exercise patterns are significantly al-tered. During the Holy Month, we advise all fasting diabetics to monitor their glucose levels throughout the day and night to ensure their levels are within a healthy range.”

Appropriate blood sugar levels vary throughout the day and from person to person. She recommends that diabetics check their blood glucose sev-eral times throughout the day and night and in particular at noon, before iftar and suhour meals, and again two hours af-ter suhour.

“Patients with diabe-tes must ensure they eat the suhour meal and they should eat sensibly – being mindful of the types of food eaten as well as the quantity. Overeating at iftar or suhour can cause a sudden increase in blood glu-cose levels. It’s also important to drink adequate fluids dur-ing non-fasting hours, ideally choosing water or another sug-ar-free beverage,” she pointed out. Ajina recommends starting meals with a small amount of simple carbohydrates, such as dates or milk.

She also recommends eat-ing the suhour meal as late as possible and including foods that are rich in complex carbo-hydrates, such as whole grain bread or vegetables. Normal levels of physical activity can be maintained for most diabetics who choose to fast, but exercise during fasting hours, especially before iftar, is generally dis-couraged as it may lead to hy-poglycemia.

Regular checkup a must for fastingdiabetics: Amani

QC implements iftar, food projects in Gaza, Sudan


QATAR Charity (QC) has been organising collective iftar events for orphans under its sponsor-ship and distributing food bas-kets to them and their families in Gaza and Sudan during the Holy Month of Ramadan.

The implementation of the iftar project and the distribu-tion of food baskets come as part of Qatar Charity’s ‘Ramadan, the Gift of Giving’ campaign for this year. In Palestine, Qa-tar Charity has so far organised six iftar gatherings for orphans and their families across the Gaza Strip, Palestine, benefit-ing some 2,300 orphans. These iftars also included recreational activities, toys and gifts distri-bution to bring joy to orphans. Qatar Charity’s office in the Gaza Strip has already implemented a project to provide food bas-kets through direct shopping for orphans and families in need, as part of the iftar project to al-

leviate the economic and social pressure on 5,866 families of orphans, the needy and people with special needs sponsored by Qatar Charity.

Director of Qatar Charity’s office in the Gaza Strip Engineer Mohammed Abu Haloub said the iftar project, which includes the distribution of coupons and collective iftars for orphans and their families, costs QR990,000. The number of people sponsored by Qatar Charity is over 15,000 in the Gaza Strip, who receive

cash and material assistance on a regular basis. Qatar Charity also continues to implement de-velopment projects there.

In Sudan, Qatar Charity’s office in Khartoum distributed 600 food baskets to orphans un-der its sponsorship in the River Nile State of Sudan. Qatar Char-ity will also distribute 1,000 food baskets to orphans it sponsors in the Khartoum State.

Qatar Charity sponsors 13,420 people in Sudan, includ-ing 12,094 orphans.

Speaker of the Shura Council HE Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaidal Mahmoud met separately on Sunday with the Ambassador of the French Republic to the State of Qatar HE Franck Gellet and Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia HE Jasminko Pozderac. The meetings discussed Qatar’s bilateral relations with France and Serbia and the ways of enhancing them, especially in the parliamentary field, in addition to issues of mutual interest. The two meetings were attended by a number of officials at the Shura Council. (QNA)

MAHMOUD MEETS AMBASSADORS OF FRANCE, SERBIAMinistry recalls FLUKE socket inspection device

THE Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI), in coopera-tion with Prompt Engineering and Trading Co., has recalled FLUKE Socket Inspection De-vice SM100, SM200, SM300, models 2003-2018, due to po-tential risk of electric shock to the users while examining the socket.

The recall comes within the framework of the minis-try’s efforts to protect con-sumers and ensure that deal-ers follow up on merchandise defects and repairs. The min-istry said it would coordinate with the dealer to follow up on the maintenance and re-pair works and would com-municate with customers to ensure the necessary repairs are made. (TNN)

HMC to introduce new group therapy programme for lupus patients this yearTRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA

A new group therapy pro-gramme to be introduced later this year will provide patients living with lupus with support from others who understand their condition, Dr Samar al Emadi, head of the Rheumatology Division at Hamad Medical Corpora-tion’s (HMC) Hamad General Hospital, has said.

“Systemic lupus erythe-matosus, more commonly known as lupus, is a complex, chronic autoimmune disease that occurs when the body’s immune system attacks its own tissues and organs,” said Dr Emadi.

“Lupus has many differ-ent symptoms and affects each person differently, with symptoms ranging from a mild skin rash to serious complications impacting ma-jor organs such as the heart and brain. The symptoms of lupus can come and go and can change over time, mak-ing the disease difficult to diagnose and treat. The emo-tional effects of lupus can be as challenging to manage as the physical effects, so our planned peer-based group therapy will help enhance our patients’ self-efficacy in man-aging their condition,” said Dr Emadi.

Dr Emadi said the new support group would al-low patients to talk candidly about their experience of liv-ing with lupus, asking each other questions and provid-ing words of encouragement during difficult times.

HMC is currently treat-ing around 450 patients with lupus and has been at the forefront of lupus care in the region. Last year HMC intro-duced a specialist antenatal

clinic for pregnant women with lupus. The first of its kind in the Middle East, the clinic cares for around 55 pregnant women each year.

“Lupus is more common in women and tends to ap-pear in women of childbear-ing age. It can be very chal-lenging to diagnose and treat,

especially in pregnant wom-en, and it can lead to preg-nancy loss, pre-eclampsia, premature birth and a failure of the baby to grow. Since its establishment, our clinic has recorded excellent outcomes among patients and their ba-bies,” said Dr Emadi.

While lupus develops

mostly in women between the ages of 15 and 45, men, older people, and children can also be diagnosed with the dis-ease. Dr. Omar Alsaed, as-sociate consultant, Rheuma-tology Division, said a lupus diagnosis is life-changing and early diagnosis and proper medical treatment can sig-nificantly help control the disease.

“Worldwide, around five million people are thought to be living with lupus. While the signs and symptoms vary, common symptoms include extreme tiredness, head-aches, painful or swollen joints, fever, and a butterfly-shaped rash across the cheeks and nose. There is no cure for lupus and because no two people with lupus are alike, the best treatment is one that is tailored to each patient’s specific condition. It’s im-portant to see a doctor im-mediately if you experience symptoms of lupus,” said Dr Alsaed.

Dr Alsaed added: “Many of our patients tell us that one of the challenges of living with lupus is the misconcep-tions and the resulting social stigma. No one can ‘catch’ lupus or ‘give it’ to someone else. Lupus is a very treat-able disease. The condition does not cause infertility, and women with lupus can give birth to healthy babies.”

He further pointed out, “Low awareness of lupus con-tributes to late diagnosis and we know this disease is bet-ter managed if diagnosed and treated early. Raising aware-ness of lupus, and correcting common misconceptions, is a key objective of our team and we are committed to not only improving the health out-comes for patients with lupus but also to shine a light on the many issues affecting people living with this disease.”

World Lupus Day is ob-served on May 10.

Proclaimed by the World Lupus Federation, the day fo-cuses on the need for height-ened public awareness, im-proved patient healthcare services, increased research into the causes of and a cure for lupus, and enhanced phy-sician diagnosis and treat-ment of lupus.

Dr. Samar al Emadi, Head of the Rheumatology Section at Hamad General Hospital.

Visitors at an HMC stand to mark World Lupus Day on May 10 in Doha.

Amani Ajina, Senior Adult Diabe-tes Educator at HMC.

Beneficiaries of Qatar Charity’s iftar project in Gaza. New fundraising drive to help Palestineian people


MALL of Qatar is inviting visitors of all backgrounds to live the Ramadan experience throughout the holy month. Every day from 7.00pm un-til 1.00am, kids are invited to learn Arabic calligraphy, create prayer pads, lanterns, puppets and much more in an arts and crafts area near West Gate 1 facing Salam Depart-ment Store. A henna station is also available, dedicated to creating beautiful designs for visitors of all ages.

At weekends, a storyteller will bring to life traditional stories in the activation area and everyone can enjoy tradi-tional Oud and Kanoon at the Oasis from 9pm to 12.30am.

The mall is adorned with decorative elements, provid-ing a welcoming ambience that reminds visitors of the true essence of this special occasion.

Additionally, Mall of Qa-tar has partnered with new tenant: Qinwan, a Qatari company specialised in the international trade of the fin-est dates, to offer visitors daily Arabic coffee and dates every day from 6.30pm to 7.30pm and 9.30pm to 11.30pm.

“Ramadan Kareem to all, we look forward to welcoming everyone to experience the tra-ditions of Ramadan at the na-tion’s mall,” said Stuart Elder, Mall of Qatar CEO.

On the 14th day of Rama-dan at 9.00pm, Mall of Qatar will be hosting an educative play on the traditional Ga-rangao celebration in col-

laboration with Qatar Cancer Society with gifts of sweets for all children throughout the mall.

Mall of Qatar will be ex-tending its opening hours with restaurants and cafes open for Iftars to as late as 2am.

04 Monday, May 13, 2019 Nation


FOLLOWING its success-ful expansion strategy at Lea-baib Health Centre, the Pri-mary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) has expanded its exist-ing screening suite at Rawdat Al Khail Health Center, raising the total capacity for all three clinics to over 2,000 visitors weekly.

Rawdat Al Khail is one of the health centres in the Central Area. It meets the high demand of this area. The centre covers a big central area of Doha, includ-ing Fereej Abdul Aziz, Fereej Bin Mahmoud, Najma, Al Man-soura, Al Muntazah and other nearby areas.

With the expansion, the screening suite in Rawdat Al Khail Health Centre now has a higher capacity of 180 visi-tors per day with more nurses’ rooms, screening rooms and follow-up rooms, in addition to separate male and female en-trances and waiting areas.

With this strategic expan-sion, the total capacity for all three clinics gets enhanced with the figure reaching 2,000 visi-tors weekly.

PHCC Managing Director Dr Mariam Abdulmalik said, “PHCC through Screen for Life programme has been success-fully creating awareness among people on the timely screening of breast and bowel cancer. Our strategic expansion initiative has been gaining momentum, which started with Leabaib Health Centre and now it has extended to Rawdat Al Khail Health Cen-tre as well.

“This success has only been possible due to people’s keen interest in approaching us and understanding the importance of screening. With this expan-sion, we are able to reach out to more people on a daily basis as the capacity now stands at 180 visitors per day.”

She added, “Besides this, Screen for Life will keep educat-ing the masses and providing high-quality screening services. We continue to achieve the ob-jectives of the national cancer strategy and the national can-cer framework and root out the

instances of breast and bowel cancer as we strongly entrust on the philosophy of prevention is

better than cure.”Dr Shaikha Abu Shaikha,

manager of Screening Pro-grammes at PHCC, said: “Start-ing with Leabaib Health Center to expanding capacity at Rawdat Al Khail Health Center, Screen for Life has come a long way in realising its vision of reaching out to the people of Qatar in making them aware on the im-portance of timely screening.

“This expansion would fur-ther strengthen our objective of reaching out to a larger num-ber of people by inviting them

for screening through our dedi-cated call centre and receiving them in our spa-like newly ex-panded suites with complete privacy, comfort and ease.”

With the benefit of the ex-panded space, breast cancer screening at Rawdat Al Khail Health Center for women be-tween 45 and 69 years will now take less than 20 minutes for each appointment.

Besides this, a second mammogram room is added doubling the capacity of the screening suite to reach 90 participants per day and 450 participants per week.

As for bowel screening which targets men and women between 50 and 74 years, the total capacity per day will be close to 96 participants and 480 per week.

The appointments are even shorter than those in breast screening clinics since the par-ticipant will take the screening kit home where they will do the FIT test. The bowel screening centre will also have two as-sessment clinics for both men and women with specific open-ing hours.

The clinic houses well-trained staff, receptionists,

nurses, mammogram techni-cians and radiologists. To-gether they will make sure the screening flow is completed smoothly and participants’ in-quiries -if any- are answered fully.

The staff speaks different languages, including Arabic, English, Hindi and Tagalog.

Participants are requested to call the dedicated number 800 1112 to book appointments and they are required to arrive 30 minutes ahead of their ap-pointment. Walk-ins are wel-comed also; however, appoint-ments will save waiting times.

PHCC screening suites capacity exceeds 2,000 visitors per weekRawdat Al Khail Health Centre suite has now been expanded to attend to 180 visitors per day

Ooredoo distributes water, dates packets on Corniche


A host of Ooredoo volunteers distributed dates and water to families and people on the Doha Corniche last week to kick off the company’s CSR activities. Ooredoo volunteers arrived just before sunset to distribute water and dates to people to break their fast.

Manar Khalifa al Murai-khi, Ooredoo Director of PR and Corporate Communica-tions, said: “Like every year, we surprised people passing by our Doha Corniche with water and dates to break their fast. It’s a great start to our CSR activities for this year, as we break fast with the people of our country. We encourage everyone to follow us and stay updated on our great activities and offers that we have in store

for this year’s Holy Month.” The volunteers, who rep-

resented some of the busi-ness units across the compa-ny, were stationed at the end

of the Corniche near West Bay, to distribute the boxes at sunset to passers-by as well as people driving along the seafront.

A boy gives Ooredoo Ramadan packet to a driver.

Ooredoo volunteers distribute Ramadan packets to people on Corniche Road recently.

Carrefour supports

EAA with Ramadan

fundraising drive


CARREFOUR has an-nounced that it will be sup-porting Education Above All Foundation (EAA) with its Ramadan fundrais-ing campaign as part of its commitment to creating great moments for every-one everyday during the Holy Month and beyond.

Since last week, cus-tomers have been directed to donate funds via Carre-four cash counters across Qatar or online by visiting: https://donate.education-aboveall.org/en/carrefour

Additionally, Carrefour will donate QR1 to EAA each time a customer scans their My Club card when cashing out until Tuesday, with the aim of donating a total sum of up to QR200,000.

Laurent Hausknecht, Country Manager at Car-refour Qatar said: “We are pleased to be collaborat-ing with Education Above All Foundation, as we have a shared goal of providing impoverished youth with access to quality education that will transform their lives for a better future. Through this partnership, we hope to raise awareness about the plight of youth who cannot afford to go to school, while supporting EAA’s projects in Education in line with our commit-ment to enriching peoples’ lives in the communities we operate in.”

Mall of Qatar orgainses an array of activities to enliven Ramadan spirit

HCC announces cancer screening suites working hours for Ramadan periodTRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA

THE Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) has an-nounced the opening hours of its three dedicated cancer screening facilities and call center during the Holy Month of Ramadan for Qatari citi-zens and residents

Both Al Wakra and Raw-dat Al Khail Health Centers will operate from Sunday to Thursday between 8:00 am and 1:00 pm while Leabaib Health Center will be open from Sunday to Thursday from 8:00 am to 1:00 pm and 7:00 pm to 12:00 am. Call Center will be operational from Sunday to Thursday be-tween 8:00 am and 2:00 pm and on Saturday from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm for any assis-tance and booking appoint-ments.

All three clinics will be open for bowel cancer screening and Leabaib and Rawdat Al Khail will be open for breast and bowel cancers screening.

Dr Shaikha Abou Shai-kha, Manager of Screening Programs at PHCC, said, “The Holy Month of Rama-dan is one of the blessed months where people in-dulge in religious activi-ties and pray for peace and prosperity to all. Taking due cognisance of the same, we at PHCC have revised our screening suites’ opening and closing hours, which is aimed at offering ease to

our Qatari citizens and resi-dents. They can make prior appointment before visiting any of the suites to avoid long waiting time for the check-ups and enjoy Rama-dan rituals with their family and friends.”

Screen for Life is a pro-gram by PHCC, aiming to educate and raise aware-ness of the importance of early detection of breast and bowel cancers in Qatar. The Screen for Life team intends to remind men and women that it’s easy to get screened at the PHCC screening cent-ers and they should do it even when there are no signs of symptoms.

The eligible age for breast cancer screening is 45-69 for women and for bowel cancer screening, it is 50-74 for men and women.

Participants can book an appointment for screening by calling the dedicated call cen-tre on 8001112.

PHCC Managing Director Dr Mariam Abdulmalik at the expansion suite of Rawdat Al Khail Health Centre in Doha recently.

There will be an arts and crafts area near West Gate 1 for kids.

Mall of Qatar has lined up a host of educative play activities for children.

Revised time “Taking due cognisance

of the same, we at PHCC have revised our screening suites’ opening and closing hours, which is aimed at offering ease to our Qatari citizens and residents. They can make prior appointment before visiting any of the suites to avoid long waiting time,” said Dr Shaikha Abou.

“This success has only been possible due to people’s keen interest in approaching us and understanding the importance of screening. With this expansion, we are able to reach out to more people on a daily basis as the capacity now stands at 180 visitors per day,” said Dr Mariam Abdulmalik.


AL Khalij Commercial Bank (al khaliji) PQSC, Qatar’s next generation bank, as part of its strategy to build human capac-ity to enable and maintain a sustainable future, sponsored the opening of The Masters Medical Center in Doha.

The launch event held re-cently at Marsa Katara was at-tended by al khaliji senior man-agement and other dignitaries.

Commenting on the occa-sion, Omar al Emadi, acting group chief business officer at al khaliji, said: “We take pride in associating with Dr Jassim Fakhro and Dr Mohammed al kuwari on a project of such a stature which is going to trans-form the medical infrastructure in Qatar. The Masters Medical

Center in Doha is sure to carve its name in facilitating state-of-the-art medical services to the people of Qatar.

“I would like to congratu-late the team who made this vision a reality and dedicated to the nation such a world-class

facility which truly testifies the strong emphasis of the Govern-ment of Qatar on creating an inclusive health ecosystem to

ensure people of Qatar remain healthy. This is also a great op-portunity for the health profes-sionals to get associated with such a noble cause and help the government achieve an all-inclusive growth.”

al khaliji’s sponsorship is part of the bank’s continuous efforts to support the commu-nity it serves while committing to its multi-faceted CSR, which contributes to the achievement of the four pillars of the Qatar National Vision 2030, and its emphasis on human and so-cial development. The bank consistently demonstrates its promise to community de-velopment in Qatar and will continue supporting initiatives and programs that raise public awareness of important social issues, said a press statement from the bank.

Nation 05Monday, May 13, 2019

WCM-Q Grand Rounds explores generational differences in educationTRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA

THE challenges posed to educators by generational differences were explored at the latest instalment of Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar’s (WCM-Q) Grand Rounds.

Visiting expert Dr John F Mahoney, associate dean for Medical Education at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Medicine, ex-plained how the different cultural and personal char-acteristics of baby boomers, generation Xers, millennials and Gen Z affect the way each group studies, learns and in-teracts, and the challenges and opportunities arising from these differences.

Boomers are considered to be the demographic co-hort born between 1946 and 1964, generation Xers be-tween 1965 and 1980, mil-lennials between 1981 and 1994, and Gen Z between 1994 and 2012. Dr Mahoney explained that each genera-tion has unique characteris-tics, cultural values and work habits and discussed ways to improve inter-generational communication to enhance teaching outcomes. One of the biggest differences be-tween the generations is their attitudes to technology, according to Dr Mahoney.

Dr Mahoney said: “For a lot of the older generation, reaching for technology is not the first or intuitive solu-tion to a problem, whereas for the younger generation the technology solution is the obvious way to go. While millennials feel that technol-ogy is essential, for the Gen Z person who has grown up with technology, things are subtly different – they don’t just value connectivity, they assume they will have con-nectivity and they view Inter-net access as a right. These things have always been part of their everyday lives and that impacts the way they see the world and see learning.”

Dr Mahoney also out-lined generational differenc-es in the way people interact, with boomers preferring face-to-face meetings, gen-eration Xers and millen-

nials favouring emails and texts, and Gen Z increasingly spurning emails and using text messaging almost exclu-sively. Attitudes to work are also different, with boomers more prepared to work long hours and overtime but re-sistant to work-related inter-ruptions to their free time, while the younger genera-tions demand more leisure time but are comfortable fielding work queries while away from the office.

In terms of learning hab-its, millennials and Gen Z prefer learner-centred tasks, are good at computer-based learning and multi-tasking, have a need to perceive rele-vance, are resistant to learn-ing by rote, and often have short attention spans. Im-portant differences exist be-tween millennials and Gen Z, explained Dr Mahoney; while millennials tend to be informal and are receptive to team-based learning, Gen Z are more individualistic and driven. While millen-nials are willing to sacrifice financial rewards for a bet-ter work-life balance, Gen Z tend to crave financial stability, possibly as a result of growing up in turbulent economic times.

“To take advantage of the strengths of the younger gen-erations, educators must uti-lise technology and constant connectivity in imaginative ways to customise and opti-mise learning experiences. Older generations must be prepared to use the same communication methods as their younger counterparts and must set very clear ex-pectations for students who cut through the noise and confusion caused by con-stant connectivity,” said Dr Mahoney.

QBRI, Harvard experts deliberate onbreakthroughs in diabetes, stem cell


QATAR Biomedical Research Institute (QBRI), part of Hamad Bin Khalifa Univer-sity (HBKU), and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) recently held an inaugural symposium in Boston, the US, as part of a five-year collabo-rative research and training agreement.

The symposium provided a platform for experts to discuss the latest research and break-throughs on diabetes and stem cell biology. It enabled scien-tists from both institutes to present their current research findings and propose specific research areas for upcoming projects.

Dr Omar ElAgnaf, execu-tive director at QBRI, said: “Stem cell research has long been identified as a core area of study presenting many promising prospects for diabe-tes therapy. Our partnership with HSCI is a significant step

towards diabetes and stem cell research that can have a tan-gible and meaningful impact on their intended segments. The symposium provided an opportunity for scientists to share their expertise and col-lectively work towards break-throughs in the research of diabetes. The event yielded fruitful outcomes, and we look forward to reaping mutual benefits that will undoubtedly arise from this collaborative agreement.”

Brock Reeve, executive di-rector, HSCI, said: “Meeting with our QBRI collaborators was an excellent opportunity

to hear about research devel-opments in Qatar, and to share knowledge in a range of areas from diabetes, cardiology and nervous system diseases to bioinformatics and early-stage research programmes. It was exciting to see our joint en-

deavours taking off and to dis-cuss future projects, including clinical trials.”

In 2018, QBRI inked an important five-year agreement with HSCI that includes tech-nical training and research in stem cell biology, which are essential for discovering viable treatments for diabetes.

As part of the collabora-tive agreement, the first pro-ject on stem cells and diabe-tes between the two entities was already launched. The joint project will make use of the unique integrated exper-tise at QBRI and HSCI and will enable researchers from

the stem cell biology, dia-betes, genomics and struc-tural biology to collaborate and utilise diverse tools to discern the function of tran-scription factors expressed during pancreas develop-ment and play a critical role in β-cell functionality.

QBRI staff who are work-ing in the stem cells and dia-betes field now have the op-portunity to be based in HSCI premises, where they can be trained, exchange knowledge and best practices with their Harvard peers with the ulti-mate goal of translating dis-coveries into clinical trials and applications. So far, a QBRI core manager and researcher have benefited from this expe-rience, trained and conducted research at HSCI, with more staff and students set to make use of this valuable opportu-nity in the future.

As a result of this partner-ship, QBRI investigators have access to the largest collabo-rative network of stem-cell researchers globally. Clinical trials arising from agreement will be conducted with QBRI stakeholders, such as Ham-ad Medical Corporation and Sidra Medicine.

The symposium provided a platform for experts to discuss the latest research on diabetes and stem cell biology.

Dr John F Mahoney

Inaugural symposium forms part of five-year collaborative deal

The launch event held at Marsa Katara was attended by al khaliji senior management and other dignitaries.

al khaliji sponsors opening of Masters Medical Center

Qatar Aircraft Catering Companyshowcases sustainability initiatives


QATAR Aircraft Catering Com-pany (QACC) hosted its first-ever environmental awareness event at its headquarters, show-casing the company’s latest sus-tainability initiatives.

The event included a range of activities, including work-shops, discussions and an exhi-bition highlighting the compa-ny’s commitment to sustainable business practices.

QACC Senior Vice-Presi-dent Michael Winner said: “We are very excited to have hosted our first-ever environmental awareness event in Doha. This two-day event is part of QACC’s commitment to sustainabil-ity. The programme covered all aspects of QACC’s global op-erations, including flight and

ground operations, as well as corporate activities.

“As part of the Qatar Air-ways Group, we firmly believe in allocating time and resources to continuously improve our envi-ronmental performance.”

QACC has already intro-duced several initiatives as part of its sustainability programme, including recycling plastic ma-terials that are offloaded from the aircraft, with non-consumed and sealed items donated to charities. QACC carefully moni-tors passenger numbers on the flights it services and adjusts the number of meals and catering items loaded onboard accord-ingly. “Additionally, by loading only the required linen quantity onboard, QACC saves approxi-mately 5,400 kilogrammes per day of excess weight and ulti-mately reduces consumption of

fuel during the flight.” Other initiatives include the

enhancement of plastic pack-aging and utilising sustainable products, such as corn flour and sugar cane byproducts. With more than 150,000 meals pro-duced daily by QACC, shifting to food-grade materials that can be composted later is an essential and environmentally friendly practice.

QACC recently signed an agreement with Qatarat Agri-cultural Development Company (QADCO) for supplying fresh produce to be served onboard flights from Doha and at Ham-ad International Airport (HIA) lounges. The two-year agree-ment demonstrates the airline’s efforts in supporting the Qatar National 2030 vision.

Other internal environ-mental awareness campaigns

held by Qatar Airways since the start of 2019 include observing Earth Hour, World Water Day and No Paper Day, as well as hosting its own ‘Switch-Off’ awareness campaign focused on energy conservation and fire safety.

Qatar Airways operates a modern fleet of more than 250 aircraft via its hub, Hamad In-ternational Airport (HIA), to more than 160 destinations worldwide.

A multiple-award-winning airline, Qatar Airways was named ‘World’s Best Business Class’ by the 2018 World Air-line Awards, managed by Inter-national Air Transport Rating Organisation, Skytrax. It was also named ‘Best Business Class Seat’, ‘Best Airline in the Mid-dle East’ and ‘World’s Best First Class Airline Lounge’.

The event included a range of activities, including workshops and discussions highlighting the company’s commitment to sustainable business practices.

DPS-MIS shines at Qatar Secondary School Debate League NationalsTRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA

QATARDEBATE – a member of Qatar Foundation for Edu-cation, Science, and Commu-nity Development – recently organised the Qatar Secondary School Debate League Nation-als (QSDL) in English at New-ton International Academy in Barwa City recently.

The Grand Final Debates were hosted at the College of Islamic Studies, Hamad Bin Khalifa University. This year’s Nationals had the top teams from the two QSDLs for this debate season – top 12 teams in the Open category and eight teams in the EFL category for both boys and girls tourna-ments.

In the Open Category (girls), DPS Modern Indian School won the championship, while DeBakey High School was declared the runner-up.

In the Open Category (boys), DPS Modern Indian School clinched the champi-onship title, followed by De-Bakey High School in the sec-ond place.

In the EFL Category (girls), Al Kawther Secondary School for Girls won the champion-ship, followed by Rabaa Alad-awiya Secondary School for Girls as the runner-up.

In the EFL Category (boys), Mosab bin Omair Sec-ondary School for Boys be-came the winners, followed by runner-up Omar Bin Al

Khattab Secondary School for Boys.

While all the participants received certificates of partici-pation, the top 10 speakers re-ceived certificates and medals.

In the competition, school-wide points are ac-cumulated by adding total number of wins and total points of top two teams from

each school, and schools are ranked as per number of wins in both league tourna-ments. If two schools have a tie on the number of wins, the school with the higher total speaker points is ranked high-er. Awards for Top 3 Schools in the League are handed out separately from the Nationals Grand Finalists.

The winning teams from DPS Modern Indian School.

In 2018, QBRI inked an important five-year agree-ment with HSCI that includes technical training and research in stem cell biology, which are essential for discovering viable treat-ments for diabetes

CAMPUS CORNER

Birla Public School students shine in CBSE Class X exams

Parvathy Satheesan Aaron Varughese SitaRamisa Tarannum Alam Shamsiya Shihab Sudarshan SaravananRiya Ketankumar Shah Shona Sam Syed Kashif Mujtaba

Jermy Emmanuel Vaddi Muhammed Faiz Abbas

Pragati Biswal

Anuja Srivastava

Nayana Leah Thomas

Vishnu Tirth Bysani

Christina Susan Aju

Niel Biju Samuel

Afra Banu Shaikh Aslam

Fadilah Thasnim

Joel Abraham Nagashree Ravishankar

Sneha Patra

Authisha Selvam

Nayanendu Anand

Sneha Patra

Dhaya Thankam

Ninav Neshikumar Lali

Aingela Shibu

Fidha Manal Parambil

Manasva Mittal Nandini Sajive Pillai

Komal Sunilbhai Mehta

Bhuvanasri Bai

Nidhi Chandrasekhar

Adityan Sivakumar

Ethan Ignatius Dsa

Niveditha Ajay

Ancy Biju

Hajrah Nazeer Shees


WITH the Class X results announced by the CBSE, Birla Public School has earned a hundred percent pass.

The 12th batch consisted of 487 students. Pragati Biswal emerged as the topper of the

school by scoring 98.80%, while Sneha Patra and Komal Sunil Bhai Mehta scored second place with 97.50% and Vishnu Tirth Bysani stood third with 97.33%.

A total 211 students scored more than 90% marks.

A total 221 students scored marks above 75%.

Reem Shameer

Afnan Aftab Bagdadi

Chandini Sagar

Hanna Mariam

Angela Ammu Binoy

Fathima Mehaboob

Punit Pande

Akshara Sunil

Derik Saldanha

Mariyam Benny

Anjana Kunnathully Rajeev

Fatima Ajaz

Sayana Shoukath

Arushi Ramesh Naskar

Hafsa Naeem

Sooraj Suresh Babu

Ameena Fathima

Disha Dinesh

Meenakshy N

Arup Biswas

Gayana Sam

Shehna Shajahan

Arya Thadathil Suresh

Haneen Magdy

Varun Viswanathan

Abhinav

Indhumathi

Akshara

Parthiv

Fiza Fathima

Naureen Rukhiya

Tessiya

Daisy Sunish

Harini Muthukumar

Anna Martin

Varshini M

Bhavan’s Public SchoolDoha students excelin Class X CBSE exams

Record-breaking performance by MES in Class X CBSE examination


MES Indian School produced record-breaking result in the Class X CBSE Examination held in March 2019 with a top score of 98.2 percent.

A total of 595 students ap-peared for the board examina-tion with the school securing 100 percent pass. MES main-tained the remarkable perfor-mance for the second consecu-tive year with an impressive number of 167 students se-curing 90 percent and above, and 417 students secured the distinction of 75 percent and above.

Nandini Rajagopalan, with her brilliant performance, se-cured 98.2 percent to emerge as the school topper, closely followed by Devi Sreejith with 97.8 percent and Gay-athri Sivakumar and Shreeya Shrestha to share the third po-sition with 97.6 percent.

Students who secured 100 marks in various subjects in-clude:

Nandini Rajagopalan, Shreeya Shrestha and Derik Saldanha secured 100 marks in Mathematics. A record number of students including Nandini Rajagopalan, Hanna Mariam Roji, AaleenaFayaz, Meenakshy N, Juveriya Tah-

seen, Amreen, Krishnendu P S, Minakshi Niharika, Risha Abdul Rasheed, Aansmaria-Siby, Lubna Haroon, Mithila Sunilkumar, Nawal Aboobak-ker, Nileena Lison, Niya Nilo-far, Rufus John Kurian and Salim Khursheed topped in Social Science with 100 marks.

Students who secured A1 in all 5 subjects:

A total of 29 students got A1 in all 5 subjects. They are Arup Biswas, Derik Saldanha, Punit Pande, Sooraj Suresh Babu, Varun Muhil Viswana-than, Aaleena Fayaz, Afnan Aftab Bagdadi, Akshara Sunil, Ameena Fathima, Angela Ammu Binoy, An-jana Kunnathully Rajeev, Arushi Ramesh Naskar, Arya Thadathil Suresh, Chandini Sagar, Devi Sreejith, Disha Dinesh Nayak, Fathima Amal Mehaboob, Fatima Ajaz, Gay-

ana Sam Santhakumar, Gay-athri Sivakumar,

Hafsa Naeem Chohan, Haneen Magdy Abdullah Taha, Hanna Mariam Roji, Mariyam Benny Thomas, Meenakshy N,

Nandini Rajagopalan, Saya-naShoukath, ShehnaShaja-hanand Shreeya Shrestha.

The top scorers in differ-ent subjects are: Salma Shani topped in English with 99. Nandini Rajagopalan, Shreeya Shrestha and Derik Saldanha secured 100 in Mathematics. Jayashankar Kumar and Ni-leena Lison emerged as top-pers in Science by securing

98. A record number of 17 stu-dents including Nandini Raja-gopalan, Hanna Mariam Roji, Aaleena Fayaz, Meenakshy N, Juveriya Tahseen, Amreen, Krishnendu P S, Minakshi Ni-harika, Risha Abdul Rasheed, Aansmaria Siby, Lubna Ha-roon, Mithila Sunilkumar, Nawal Aboobakker, Nileena Lison, Niya Nilofar, Rufus John Kurian and Salim Khur-sheed topped in Social Science with 100 marks.

Ameena Fathima was the topper in Hindi with 96. Suneeh Husain, An-jana Kunnathully Rajeev, Arya Thadathil Suresh, AthulyaShaji, Devi Sreejith, Gayathri Sivakumar, Hanna Mariam Roji, Heba Mariam Roji, Meenakshy N, Minakshi Niharika, Nandini Rajagopa-lan, Neha Karakkattu, Safa Mohammed Ali and Tishamol

Tomy were the toppers in Ma-layalam with 99.

Samiha Rashid secured 99 to top in Arabic. Varun Muhil Viswanathan and Gayana Sam Santhakumar scored a maxi-mum of 99 in Tamil. Haneen Magdy Abdullah Taha and Shreeya Shrestha became top-pers in French with 98. Aal-eena Fayaz and Juveriya Tah-seem secured 99 to become the subject toppers in Urdu.

The school management and Prin-cipal Ha-meeda Ka-dar have lauded the efforts of s t u d e n t s and the contribu-tion of teachers.


THE fifth batch of Class X students has brought laurels to Bhavan’s Public School Doha by spectacular achievement with 100 percent results.

Drashti Nikhil Modi is the school topper with 98.2 percent while Reem Shameer secured the second position with 96.4 percent and Parthiv Ashokkumar came third with 96.2 percent.

Thirteen students scored ‘A’ grade is all subjects. They are Drasthi Nikhil Modi, Reem Shameer, Parthiv Ashokkumar, Fiza Fathima, Harini Muthukumar, Naureen Rukhiya, Akshara Ratish, Indumathi Jagamohan, Daisy Sunish, Varshinee M, Abhinav Vattekkattu, Anna Martin and Tessia Elsa Baiju.

Out of the total students who sat for the examination, 80 percent scored above distinction marks and others scored 70 percent marks and above.

The management, director administra-tion, principal, vice-principals and head-masters congratulated the students for their commendable achievement.

Drashti Modi

Nandini Rajagopalan Devi Sreejith Gayathri Sivakumar Shreeya Shrestha

Aaleena Fayaz

A total of 595 students appeared for the board examination and the school has secured 100 percent pass

06 Monday, May 13, 2019

THE Indian community paid rich tributes to noted Mappilappattu singer and Kerala Folk-

lore Akademi vice chair-man Eranholi Moosa, who passed away in the Indian state of Kerala recently.

Moosa was a frequent visitor to Doha and a crowd puller at many cultural pro-grammes for many years.

The death of Moosa has saddened Mappilappattu lovers across the world. En-dearingly called Moosakka, he was unquestionably the number one singer of the modern Mappilappattu era.

Sociocultural organisa-tions of the Kerala expatri-ate community organised music programmers focused on the melodious songs popularised by Moosa.

Speaking to Qatar Trib-une, President of Indian Cultural Centre AP Mani-kantan said, “Moosakka played a vital role in mak-ing Mappilappattu popular among the expatriate com-munity. His style of sing-ing touched the people and made him popular even among young generation singers. His style made him distinct among Mappilap-pattu singers in Kerala. Moosa was also known for his simplicity and the sup-port he offered to young singers.”

Moosa’s rendition of Manikya Malaraya Poovi, Mihraj Raavile Kaatte and songs like Misrile Raajan,

Thaif Nagari, Nafsu Naf-sine, and Samanin Koor-irul Kaatte still remains the best loved version of the old songs.

Organiser of Cultural Shows and Chief Executive Officer of Qbiz Events Ni-shad Khader said, “Moosa introduced a culture that drew the common man to the world of music. He had a large number of fans in Qatar and his programmes attracted a large num-ber of music lovers, com-mon men as well as music scholars.”

Moosa had more than 1,000 stage performances to his credit. No other Map-pilappattu singer has per-formed more than Moosa in the Gulf countries. He per-formed in more than 300 programmes in Gulf coun-tries. Little wonder that Moosa remains the most loved Mappilappattu singer for Keralites living in the Arabian Gulf.

Indian community pays rich tributesto Mappilappattu singer E Moosa

Eranholi Moosa

One of oldest Indian forums marks 28th anniversary

CHARISHMA Arts, one of the oldest Indian expa-triate forums, celebrated its 28th anniversary in

Doha, recently. President of Charishma

Arts Mohammed Basheer in-augurated the function. Presi-dent of Indian Cultural Centre AP Manikantan was the chief guest on the occasion.

A music concert titled ‘Mizhiyoram’ was the key at-traction of the event. Sumesh Ayroor, a popular singer in Malayalam television pro-grammes, gave a mesmer-izing performance that was led with a 13-piece orchestra coordinated by Ajay Vincent. Sumesh displayed his multi-faceted talent and also imi-tated voice progressions of famous playback singer leg-endary singer Yesudas and MG Sreekumar.

The other singers on the stage were Priyadarsini Sai, Sivapriya Suresh, Ajith Pil-

lai, Abdul Salam and Mohan Ayeroor.

Charishma also bid fare-well to long-term members Alichen Thomas and Lizy Ali-chen.

Sheeja Ann Varghese, who sang at the maiden stage show of Charishma Arts ‘Anaswara-ganangal in 1991 at Giwana Hall, Ramada Hotel, was hon-oured. She sang the same song “Orukochuswapnathin Chi-rakumai Aviduthe,” as a remi-niscence of the maiden show.

Charishma Arts has in-troduced more than 700 local artists including sing-

ers, actors, orators, paint-ers and dancers through various cultural shows in

Qatar. Film and TV serial actor Mohan Ayeroor com-pered the programme.

Singers Sumesh Ayroor and Priyadarsini.

‘Qatar Metro’ pictures, videos go viral on social media accounts of Indian community

SINCE the Doha Metro flagged off on its historic jour-ney last week, so-cial media accounts

of the Indian community, like those of other expatriates, has been buzzing with excitement about Qatar’s much awaited transportation network.

Even though the Ministry of Transportation and Com-munication had announced the opening of Metro two days in advance, the general public was eagerly awaiting the details of the inaugural journey, the timing, ticketing etc. Thereaf-ter, immediately after the first Metro train unrolled on its de-but journey at 8am on May 8, the social media pages of Indian community members became flooed with Metro photos. As the flow of public to the Metro stations begun pouring in thick and fast, so did the videos and photos on social media.

Six years in the making, Qatar’s first-ever underground railway system opened on Wednesday, May 8, running along the coast from Al Qassar district in the capital Doha to the southern city of Al Wakra.

Thirteen out of the 18 sta-tions on the 40-kilometre Red Line route, connecting Al Wakra to Lusail city in the north, are currently operational.

Active on social media and a YouTube content creator by profession, Lubna Jeffin Kak-

kassery, who travelled in the Metro on its second trip from Ras Bu Fontas on the open-ing day, had this to say: “Our 10-minute video on Metro was shared by more than 10,000 people within four hours. The well narrated video content with essential information about the operation and ser-vices of the Metro, has been watched by nearly 50,000 peo-ple from all across the world within five days.”

Speaking to Qatar Trib-une, an employee of Metro at Al Wakra said, “The number of riders who arrived to enjoy their first metro-ride has stead-ily increased. Excited about the state-of-the-art facilities of Metro, commuters captured their debut journey to share with their friends on social me-dia in Qatar and abroad.”

An Indian community member active on Facebook said, “I have uploaded more

than 25 photos taken from my first journey. The response to the photos has been quite thrilling and is still attracting attention after four days.”

Qatar is aiming to run 75 trains, complete 37 stations and two more lines - Green and Gold - by the year 2020. Travelling at a speed of 80 to 100 km/hour, the state-of-the-art, driver-less trains imported from Japan are divided into three compartments - Stand-

ard Class, Family Section and Gold Club. Each train with ca-pacity of seating 130 people, has a total occupancy of about 416. The total travel time from Al Qassar to Al Wakra is ap-proximately 35 minutes.

“I had never travelled in a metro train before. So, I was so excited. I took two journeys on the opening day, alone in morning and with family in evening. The photos posted on my Facebook page was vis-

ited and commented by a large number of friends and family members,” Indrajith Kumar, an Indian expatriate, said.

Husain Ahmed, another Indian expatriate and resident of Ezdan Village at Al Wakra who travels from Al Wakra to Westbay every day by taxi said, “I was waiting for Metro to make my journey comfort-able and reduce the expense. Now, I have Metro feeder bus service from my residential area. I am getting lots of en-quiries from friends who want

to know more about the timing and travel time of Metro after I posted my first experience of Metro on Facebook.”

Qatar Metro is one of the mega projects of Qatar and is a new mode for transport in the country. A single journey in the standard compartment costs QR2, while a ride in the Gold Club section costs QR10. Construction for the Doha Metro started in 2013 and was carried out amid the blockade imposed on Qatar by some neighbouring countries.

Qatar’s first-ever underground railway system opened on Wednesday, May 8, running along the coast from al-Qassar district in the capital Doha to the southern city of al-Wakra.

Expatriates hail the state-of-the-art service, say it will cut travel time, cost

A music concert titled ‘Mizhiyoram’ was the key attraction of the event. Sumesh Ayroor, a popular singer in Malayalam television programmes, gave a mesmerizing performance led with a 13-piece orchestra coordinated by Ajay Vincent

DPS MIS organises workshop on ‘concept-based teaching’

DPS Modern Indian School organised a workshop on ‘Concept-based Teach-

ing’, on April 25 . The work-shop was facilitated by Dr. Sreelaxmi Murthy, founder and director of Nunam, and was attended by 35 members of the faculty from various departments.

The workshop focused on expanding the understand-ing of the teachers on how to focus on curriculum and instruction to support deeper thinking and the transfer of learning, by contrasting be-tween three dimensional and two dimensional instruction

models.The workshop answered

various questions based on achieving a synergy between lower and higher conceptual

levels of thinking, ways to scaffold thinking to deeper levels, standard assessment, and designing a concept-based lesson plan.

The attendees were guid-ed through various ways to develop and facilitate a “thinking classroom”- a pre-sent day need.

The highly interactive ses-sion concluded with making a sample concept-based lesson plan, which involved the par-ticipation of each department.

Reports by Santhosh Chandran For events and press releases email

[email protected] or call (974) 4000 2222Indian Experience

07Monday, May 13, 2019

We All Have A Stake In Ending The HIV Epidemic, Even President Trump

THE Trump administration has re-jected efforts to equalise health care access and embraced discriminatory policies toward those most impacted by America’s HIV epidemic. Yet it has

also launched one of the most ambitious, historic and inspiring health initiatives of our time -assuming Congress funds it.

President Donald Trump announced earlier this year a goal to reduce new HIV infections in America by 90 percent over the next decade. And it’s completely doable; we have the tools. The medicines that re-store and protect the health of people living with HIV also suppress the virus, stopping its transmission. And a daily pill –called a pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP–pre-vents people from acquiring HIV.

So why haven’t we solved this already? Just 54 percent of people living with HIV in the US have access to the health care and treatment necessary to suppress the virus. In fact, data released in March show the United States is dead last on rates of HIV vi-ral suppression among 12 comparable high-income countries. The reason we have poor-

er HIV outcomes than other high-income countries is not because we lag behind those nations in resources; it’s because we lag be-hind in ensuring a basic level of health care throughout the country. That must change, and it will require significant funds to do it.

The communities targeted by the White House initiative tell the story. Each is home to persistent barriers to services that are grounded in stigma, inequity, discrimina-tion and neglect, including in places where the knowledge, skills and technology need-ed to control this epidemic are available, but for many, out of reach.

The list includes Los Angeles County, where I saw my first patients with AIDS. It’s also where much of the early research that helped us understand the disease took place, and where unmet needs persist three decades later, fueling the epidemic among black and Hispanic men who have sex with men.

It includes Baltimore and Washing-ton, DC, where I work now, home to well-resourced academic medical centers –and to the greatest impacts of substance use disorders in people of color.

It includes South Florida, home to Mar-a-Lago, but also towns with high

rates of people without health insurance coverage. It includes Texas, where I grew up and became interested in medicine, but also where, like Florida, officials have re-fused to expand Medicaid to lower income adults and families.

The challenge now is reaching econom-ically and socially marginalized people at higher risk for or living with HIV with little or no access to health care. Nearly doubling

our rate of viral suppression in 10 years will require funding, and innovative approach-es to delivering health care and eradicating stigma.

New funding for HIV prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and federally funded Community Health Centers, and for care and treatment through the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program is a necessary start, but this Initiative cannot rely on an-

nual congressional funding cycles.Support for this initiative must be

demonstrated with a long-term commit-ment protecting it from shifting political priorities.

The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which over the last 15 years has saved millions of lives globally by sup-porting HIV prevention and treatment in more than 50 countries, began with five-year funding authorization. This plan de-serves no less. Health care coverage must be also available through Medicaid expan-sion and through private insurers.

It is up to Congress to make this invest-ment and ensure that this shared vision of ending the HIV epidemic in America , something every one of us has a stake in, even President Trump is realised.

Dr W David Hardy is an adjunct professor of medicine at Johns Hop-kins University School of Medicine and chairman of the board of di-rectors of the HIV Medicine Asso-ciation.(c)2019 The Baltimore Sun Visit The Baltimore Sun at www.baltimoresun.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Just 54 percent of people living with HIV in the US have access to the health care and treatment necessary to suppress the virus

Opinion

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

IT’S still a long way to Iowa (where the caucuses are currently scheduled for Feb. 3), but we’re now within 50 days of the first Democratic nomination debates of the presidential cycle, to be

held on June 26 and 27. Here are the five big areas where we’ll

get some answers by then: Where will Joe Biden’s support rest in the polls after his post-announcement surge has time to set-tle–and will party actors begin to move strongly toward him? He’s up to about 40% in nomination polls, which isn’t bad at all.

But that number likely includes, along with some committed supporters, a large number of people who are responding to one of only two names (along with Bernie Sanders) they know, and those who are responding to his domination of the nomination news in the past few weeks. Once that ends–and it’s likely to end–he’ll probably deflate some.

Meanwhile, Biden continues to lead in endorsements by a fairly narrow margin, with very little movement after his kickoff despite the polling surge. If he doesn’t get a lot of new endorsements now, will he ever? Do any candidates who don’t make the debate drop out?

The Democrats, if they stick to their plans, have 20 debate slots; they’re going to split them into two 10-candidate events by lot. As of now, it appears that between 21 and 24 candidates will qualify. Will those excluded drop out? Will they con-tinue on, but be entirely ignored by the media?

Or will they find some way to exploit their exclusion and wind up getting a fair amount of attention after all? Will a post-Biden bubble inflate in the next few weeks? Before Biden, Pete Buttigieg was drawing quite a bit of attention; before that, Bernie Sanders had a post-announcement surge, and Beto O’Rourke and Kamala Harris each had polling surges as well.

Which candidate appears to be doing well going into the debates can affect how those events are perceived–and how they actually play out, because it’s common for the “hot” candidate to receive more time.

Look for candidates to deploy whatev-er gimmicks they might have in late May or early June to try to spark a flurry of at-tention in the hopes they can ride it into the debates.

Who will go negative this early–and against which target(s)? We’ve seen Sand-ers already criticize Biden, and there have been a few other minor skirmishes, but nothing too serious yet. In a normal-size multicandidate field, the danger of going negative is that the attacker can alienate

some voters. But in this oversize collection of can-

didates, one or more may decide that increased visibility overrides every other consideration. (I’ve suggested only half tongue-in-cheek that two of the stalled contenders stage a mock feud over, say, who first committed to some popular policy option.) What’s happening in the policy primary? Candidates continue to roll out proposals.

They choose what to talk about based on their own interests, the reactions of voters, and most importantly the influ-ence of key party groups.

Questions asked during debates will be based, to a large extent, on the topics the candidates have been talking about, especially if there are striking differences in their approaches. Over the next several weeks, watch as candidates and groups attempt to raise the profile of some policy areas (and, sometimes, to lower the pro-file of others).

After all, in the era for partisan presi-dencies, the party’s collective policy posi-tions and priorities can be more impor-tant than which candidate winds up in the Oval Office. And getting the candidates to make high-profile commitments is one of the ways the parties guarantee a partisan

presidency.Remember: At this stage, most voters

aren’t paying attention, and the prefer-ences they express to pollsters are very unlikely to be set in stone. That doesn’t mean that an early polling leader can’t win. It does mean that just about anything in the polls can change.

However, at the same time that voters are barely engaged, party actors – politi-cians, campaign and governing profes-sionals, formal party officials and staff, donors and activists, and party-aligned groups and the partisan press – are in-tensely engaged in selecting the nominee and seeking to push the party in the direc-tion they want.

That’s been going on for months al-ready, but now that almost all the remain-ing candidates have reached the formal declaration stage, and the first big cam-paign event is on its way, it only gets more intense.

Jonathan Bernstein is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering poli-tics and policy. He taught political science at the University of Texas at San Antonio and DePauw Univer-sity and wrote A Plain Blog About Politics.

Biden Takes The Lead In Democratic race

With the first Democratic nomination debate for the presidential cycle slated for June 26-27, the race to the Iowa caucus is about to begin

Tribune News Service

PRESIDENT Trump says he wants to protect American jobs. Yet his admin-istration is about to ease publication rules designed to ensure that employ-ers don’t replace US citizens with tem-

porary foreign workers.Specifically, he plans to eliminate a dec-

ades-old requirement that companies post their job openings in local newspapers before trying to fill them with workers from abroad. The current federal policy is intended to pro-tect American jobs.

The change would undermine that goal by reducing the number of US citizens learning of employment opportunities before they’re given to foreign workers and harming the na-tion’s already-struggling newspaper industry.

Despite the internet, nearly one-third of American workers still learn of job opportu-nities through print newspapers. And news-papers depend heavily on revenue from those job listings to help pay the employees who provide vital local journalism.

The rule changes aren’t designed to pro-tect American jobs–they’re an apparent at-tempt to ensure that the president, who oth-erwise has tried to tighten requirements for foreign workers, can easily hire them for his hotels.

The current federal rules help ensure that US workers get first shot at job open-ings before employers are granted visas to hire foreign workers for temporary posi-tions.

US employers currently must first make the jobs available to workers who have filled the positions before; alert union workers if the jobs are covered by a labor contract; and notify the general public through two Sunday

local newspaper ads in the area where the job is available.

It’s that final requirement that would be eliminated under rules the Trump adminis-tration is currently considering. Instead, the US Departments of Homeland Security and Labor are proposing to allow employers to simply place an ad on a website that is “wide-ly available.”

There’s no question that the job offerings should be posted online. But newspapers also provide a critical role. Abandoning the print option would greatly reduce the number of US citizens who learn about the work before it’s given to foreign workers.

If US workers don’t step forward, then the employers can hire workers through the H-2A visa program for seasonal farm work-ers and the H-2B program for temporary non-farm jobs with, for example, landscaping companies, restaurants, hotels and amuse-ment parks.

The administration has announced plans to expand the H-2B program this year. It comes at a time when Trump’s hotels, under scrutiny for hiring undocumented workers, have been hiring more workers through the H-2B program instead.

The H-1B program relied on heavily by Silicon Valley companies to bring in highly skilled workers also requires public noti-fication through newspapers. But it would not be affected by the administration’s pro-posed rule changes. If the administration is serious about ensuring that qualified US workers get first crack at new jobs, it should ensure that those workers learn about the positions. Limiting the notifica-tion process undermines that goal.

Trump Visa Changes Threaten Jobs And Journalism

Move to do away with requirement of posting job opportunities in newspapers will harm the American workers, and by robbing

the newspapers of revenue it will affect journalism

ESTABLISHED SEPTEMBER 3, 2006

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

W DAVID HARD TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

JONATHAN BERNSTEIN TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

08 Monday, May 13, 2019

REUTERSDUBAI

THE government of Fujai-rah, a member of the United Arab Emirates federation, denied on Sunday media re-ports about blasts at the port of Fujairah, according to a statement tweeted by its me-dia office.

Fujairah, just outside the Strait of Hormuz, is one of the largest bunkering hubs

in the world. The strait is vital oil and natural gas cor-ridor for the global energy market.

The statement didn’t identify the media outlets that published these re-ports but the Iranian Press TV website cited a Lebanese broadcaster, Mayadeen, say-ing seven oil tankers were at-tacked in the port.

“The media office of the government of Fujairah de-

nies the veracity of the media reports saying strong explo-sions rocked the port of Fu-jairah this morning,” it said.

“The operations at the port are going as usual.” A

spokesperson for the US Navy’s Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet said they had no com-ment at this time when con-tacted by reporters.

Tensions are running high in the region after the US military sent forces, in-cluding an aircraft carrier, to the Middle East to coun-ter what the White House says are “clear indications” of threats from Iran to its forces there.

UAE emirate of Fujairah denies reports about blasts at port

REUTERSYEMEN

YEMEN’S government wants the United Nations to give time-frames for next steps of a peace deal after Houthi forces began withdrawing from key ports in the most significant advance yet for efforts to end the four-year war and relieve hunger.

In line with an accord in Sweden last year, the Iran-aligned Houthi movement began on Saturday a unilat-eral pullout from three Red Sea ports used for grain, oil, commerce and aid. Local coast guards have taken over security at the Saleef, Ras Isa and Ho-deidah ports, according to the United Nations which is super-vising operations there.

Some officials from the Saudi-backed, internation-ally recognised Yemeni gov-ernment dismissed the pullout as a “show”, but government negotiator Sadiq Dweid ac-knowledged it marked the start of implementing the Stockholm accord.

The war has killed tens of thousands of people and left millions on the brink of famine. Dweid tweeted late on Satur-day that he had held a positive meeting with the chief UN ob-server, agreeing that the pullout should lead to time frames for implementing a UN mecha-nism for inspecting ships, de-mining and removing military installations.

While the Houthi move en-couraged foreign powers push-ing to re-open humanitarian corridors, displaced Hodeidah residents said they were not ready to return.

“We fled the war and I do not want to go back unless it ends, I fear death,” said Sami, an 11-year-old who lives with his family in a graveyard in the capital Aden. “War destroyed

everything - no work and no security,” said Abdul Rah-man Taher, a 34-year-old man forced from his home in Ho-deidah and now washing cars in Aden.

Saudi Arabia and the Unit-ed Arab Emirates, leaders of the coalition backing President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi’s government, have so far not commented on the Houthi

ports withdrawal. Sources saw this as a sign UN envoy Martin Griffiths had managed to get the warring sides to agree to the plan, since the coalition had quickly rejected a previous at-tempt by the Houthis to unilat-erally withdraw last December.

Under plans to avert a full-scale assault, the Houthis are to pull back five km (three miles) from the ports between May 11 and 14. Coalition forces, cur-rently massed four km from Hodeidah port on the edges of the city, are to retreat one km from two flashpoint districts.

As Houthis quit ports, Yemen govt awaitsnext peace steps

AGENCIESTEHRAN

IRANIAN President Hassan Rowhani has said his country will not surrender to political and economic pressure amid increas-ing tensions with Washington.

“Surrendering is not com-patible with our culture and re-ligion, and people do not accept it, so we must not surrender and we must find solutions,” the Ira-nian leader told political activ-ists, according to a statement published on his office’s website late on Saturday.

On Wednesday, Rowhani said Tehran would begin to withdraw from key aspects of the 2015 international nuclear deal unless major powers swiftly grant promised sanctions relief.

That day marked one year since US President Donald Trump announced that his country would pull out of the agreement. Following Rowha-ni’s announcement, Trump said he would like to hear directly from Iran’s leaders.

“What I’d like to see with Iran - I’d like Iran to call me,” Trump said. “We are not look-ing to hurt Iran. We want them to be strong and great and have a great economy,” he told re-porters.

Rowhani compared his country’s current situation to the one during the eight-year war between Iran and Iraq in the 1980s.

“Today, it cannot be said that the conditions are better or worse than the Imposed War [with Iraq], but during the war we did not have problems with banking, oil sales and imports

and exports, and our only sanc-tion was boycott of arms pur-chases,” Rowhani said.

Meanwhile, a senior com-mander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Sunday, that the United States’ military presence in the Gulf used to be a serious threat but now it is an oppor-tunity, Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA) reported.

The US military has sent forces, including an aircraft car-rier and B-52 bombers, to the Middle East to counter what US officials have said are “clear in-

dications” of threats from Iran to its forces there.

The USS Abraham Lincoln

is replacing another carrier ro-tated out of the Gulf last month.

“An aircraft carrier that has at least 40 to 50 planes on it and 6,000 forces gathered within it was a serious threat for us in the past but now...the threats have switched to opportunities,” Amirali Hajizadeh, head of the Guards’ aerospace division said.

He added, “If (the Ameri-cans) make a move we will hit them in the head.” The com-mander of the Guards, Major General Hossein Salami, said in a parliament session on Sun-

day that the United States has started a psychological war in the region, according to a par-liamentary spokesman.

“Commander Salami, with attention to the situation in the region, presented an analysis that the Americans have started a psychological war because the comings and goings of their mil-itary is a normal matter,” said Behrouz Nemati in a summary of the Salami’s comments, ac-cording to parliament’s ICANA news site. Salami was appointed head of the Guards last month.

Demonstrators hold anti-US placards and posters of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as they take part during an anti-US rally, to show their support of Iran’s decision to pull out from some part of nuclear deal, in Tehran, Iran, on Friday. (EPA-EFE)

Rowhani compares Iran’s current situation to the one during the eight-year war with Iraq in 1980s

Iran’s Rowhani vows not to ‘surrender’ amid US tensions

AFPJERUSALEM

ISRAELI Prime Minister Ben-jamin Netanyahu said Sunday that a site for a promised new settlement to be named after US President Donald Trump had been chosen and formal approval was under way.

“I promised that we would establish a community named after President Trump,” Net-anyahu said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting.

“I would like to inform you that we have already se-

lected a site in the Golan Heights where this new com-munity will be established, and we have started the pro-

cess,” he said in Hebrew. Ne-tanyahu pledged such a move last month, in appreciation of Trump’s recognition of Israel’s claim of sovereignty over part of the strategic plateau.

Trump broke with long-standing international con-sensus on March 25 when he recognised Israel’s claim of sovereignty over the part of the Golan it seized from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War.

In December 2017, he said Washington would recognise the disputed city of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, sparking

outrage among the Palestini-ans who claim Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem as the capital of their own future state. The US embassy was moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and in-augurated on March 14, 2018. Netanyahu said he would sub-mit the new settlement plan for cabinet approval when a new government takes office in the wake of last month’s snap general election.

Netanyahu has been con-ducting low-key meetings with heads of the parties ex-pected to join his coalition.

Israel says site found for Golan ‘Trump’ settlement

DPATEL AVIV

ONE week after the worst flare-up in tensions between Israel and the authorities in Gaza in several years, Israel reopened the border crossings to the Palestinian territory on Sunday. The Erez and Kerem Shalom crossings were open again, Israeli media reported, in a move first announced the previous evening.

The Erez crossing can be used by foreigners and Pal-estinians who have special permissions, such as patients requiring medical care. The Kerem Shalom one is mainly for transporting goods. Just

over a week ago, an escalation of violence involving Palestin-ian rocket fire and Israeli air-strikes killed four Israelis and 25 Palestinians. Ten of the Pal-estinians killed were civilians and the rest were militants, the Gaza Health Ministry said.

A ceasefire, mediated by Egypt at the United Nations, has largely held since Monday.

On Friday, however, a Palestinian man was killed by Israeli forces in weekly anti-Israel protests along the border fence in the southern Gaza Strip, according to the Health Ministry.

The ministry said that a total of 30 Palestinians were injured in the protests, in-

cluding four children and one field paramedic. An Israeli army spokeswoman said some 6,000 rioters demonstrated

along the border. Some threw explosives at the fence and several attempted to approach the fence, the army said, add-

ing that it responded in some cases with live fire. Palestin-ian witnesses and media said that militants fired two projec-

tiles from the southern Gaza Strip, but they fell inside Gaza near the border fence. Earlier that day, Israel reopened the

Gaza fishing zone after having closed it last weekend when violence erupted between the two sides.

Qatar has allocated 480 million dollars in aid to Pales-tinians in the West Bank and Gaza, the Qatari Foreign Min-istry said on Tuesday.

Some 2 million people live in the Gaza Strip in harsh con-ditions. There is a shortage of drinking water and electricity, among other things.

Israel and Egypt have im-posed a blockade on Gaza for over a decade, which they jus-tify with security reasons.

Hamas is classified by the EU, Israel and the US as a ter-rorist organization.

Israel reopens borders to Gaza Strip amid relative calm

Gulf / Middle East

Aircraft carrier that has 40 to 50 planes on it & 6,000 forces gathered within it was a serious threat for us in past but now the threats have switched to opportunitiesAmirali Hajizadeh

Rebel pullout from key Yemen ports on track, says UN

HODEIDA: The United Na-tions said Sunday that a Yemeni rebel withdrawal from key Red Sea ports was pro-ceeding as planned, after the government accused insur-gents of faking the pullout.

The UN, said it had teams monitoring the Hodeida, Saleef and Ras Issa ports, later reported that the pullout had gone “in accordance with estab-lished plans”. It said the coastguard had taken over responsibility for security at the three sites after a Huthi rebel withdrawal that had begun Saturday. (AFP)

The statement didn’t identify the media outlets that pub-lished these reports but the Iranian Press TV website cited a Lebanese broadcaster

Rebel fire kills five civilians in Syria regime town: State mediaDAMASCUS: Rebel rocket fire killed four children and a woman Sunday in a regime-held town outside the embattled militant bastion of Idlib in northwest Syria, state news agency SANA said. The bombardment by “terrorist groups” on the Christian-majority town of Suqaylabiyah in Hama province also wounded six other children, SANA said, using its term for rebels and militants. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the rockets had been fired from the nearby Idlib region, which is controlled by former Al-Qaeda affiliate Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. The Britain-based war monitor said it was unclear whether HTS or other insurgent groups were behind the attack. That region of some three million people is supposed to be protected from a massive regime assault by a September buffer zone deal signed by Russia and Turkey. (AFP)

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

Sudan tribal clashes kill 7, wound 22: local official

AFPKHARTOUM

CLASHES between the mem-bers of two Sudanese tribes in an eastern town have left seven people dead and 22 wounded over the past two days, a local official said Sunday.

The violence erupted on Saturday between members of the Nuba and Bani Amer tribes in the town of Gadaref, said Mohieddine Ahmed,

governor of Gadaref prov-ince. “It all started when a woman from the Nuba tribe and a water vendor from the Bani Amer tribe quarrelled over the price of water” on Saturday, Ahmed said.

“The verbal dispute end-ed with the vendor killing the woman, which triggered anger among her tribe mem-bers.” Members of the two groups then set fire to homes and shops belonging to each other’s kin, Ahmed added.

Trucks pass through the Kerem Shalom crossing, the main passage point for goods entering Gaza from Israel, in the southern Gaza Strip. (AFP)

ProtestsOn Friday, however, a Palestinian man was killed by Israeli forces in weekly anti-Israel protests along the border fence in the southern Gaza Strip. The ministry said that a to-tal of 30 Palestinians were injured in the protests, including four children and one field paramedic

Turkey denies torture claims by journalist Deniz Yucel

DPAIstanbul/Berlin

THE Turkish Foreign Min-istry has denied a claim by German-Turkish journalist Deniz Yucel that Turkish of-ficers tortured him in a high-security prison near Istanbul. The ministry also rejected a warning issued by its Ger-man counterpart demand-ing that the government in Ankara stick to the United Nations anti-torture conven-tion. The German comments were “completely ground-less,” Ankara said.

“Our country acts in com-pliance with its international obligations in its fight against torture, as it does in all areas,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said in a state-ment Sunday. “Our country thoroughly investigates all allegations of torture and ill-treatment and demonstrates, on every occasion, a transpar-ent position on this issue.”

09Monday, May 13, 2019

REUTERSWASHINGTON

DEMOCRATS are reluctant to impeach US President Donald Trump, but he may provoke such a move by continuing to obstruct Congress’ efforts to oversee his administration, a senior Democratic lawmaker said on Sunday.

Adam Schiff, chairman of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, told ABC’s “This Week” that im-peachment by the Democratic-run House would be politically divisive and unlikely to succeed in the Republican-run Senate. “But he (Trump) may get us

there,” Schiff said. “He certainly seems to be trying and maybe this is his perverse way of divid-ing us more... he thinks that’s to his political advantage, but it’s certainly not to the country’s advantage.” Trump’s stone-walling of congressional probes of his administration does add

weight to impeachment, Schiff told ABC. “But you know, part of our reluctance is we are al-ready a bitterly divided country and an impeachment process will divide us further.”

Democrats have confronted the Republican president and his administration for refusing to cooperate with at least six separate congressional investi-gations of Trump, his turbulent presidency, his family and his business interests. A Demo-cratic-led House committee on Wednesday approved a meas-ure to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt for refusing to hand over an unre-dacted copy of Mueller report.

‘Trump may provoke lawmakers to impeach him’

REUTERSNEW DELHI

VOTERS in north India lined up early on Sunday to cast their ballots in the second-to-last round of a seven-phase general election, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi facing a diverse group of opposition parties seeking to deny him a second term.

More than 100 million peo-ple across seven states were on roll to exercise their franchise on Sunday. The 39-day-long poll kicked off on April 11 with Modi as front-runner after an escalation of tension with neighbouring Pakistan.

But opposition parties have taken heart at what they see as signs Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) may be losing ground and have begun negotiations over a post-election alliance even before polling ends on May 19. Votes

will be counted on May 23. The president of the main op-position Congress party, Rahul Gandhi, said the main issues in the election were unemploy-ment, economic hardship in the countryside, the de-moneti-sation of bank notes and a new sales tax.

“It was a good fight,” Gan-dhi said after he cast his vote.

“Narendra Modi used ha-tred, we used love. And I think love is going to win.” A lack of new jobs - despite annual eco-nomic growth of about 7% - and the plight of farmers struggling with falling crop prices have been major worries for voters.

A new goods and services tax (GST), as well as Modi’s shock ban on all high-value cur-rency notes in 2016, hurt small and medium businesses. Some voters in the capital, New Delhi, said they were backing Modi because they were won over by his tough stance on security.

Indian warplanes attacked what the government said was a terrorist training camp in Pakistan in February, soon af-ter a suicide car bomb attack in the disputed Kashmir re-gion killed 40 police officers.

The aggressive response stirred nationalist passions that pollsters said could fa-vour Modi in the election.

“I have voted for Modi’s sound foreign policy and na-tional security,” said a 36-year old first-time voter who de-clined to be named.

“The de-monetisation has affected jobs growth, but over time the positive effects of GST and de-monetisation would take care of jobs,” he said.

But concern about un-

employment and crop prices have put the BJP on the back foot, and the opposition has in recent days felt more upbeat about its chances. Political ana-lysts say state-based and caste-driven parties could be decisive in determining the make-up of the next government.

“Regional parties will play a bigger role compared to the previous 5 years or even 15 years,” said KC Suri, a political science professor at the Uni-versity of Hyderabad. “They will regain their importance in national politics.”

Recent weeks have also been marked by personal at-tacks between leaders, includ-ing comments from Modi about the family of Congress President Rahul Gandhi, the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty.

At a recent rally Modi called Gandhi’s late father, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, “corrupt no. 1”. The BJP says Modi was reacting to Rahul Gandhi calling him a thief.

“The political vitriolic has become intense, and negatively intense,” said Ashok Acharya, a political science professor at the University of Delhi.

Indian police officials checking voters identities as they arrive at a polling station in the Welcome colony of Delhi, India, on Sunday. (EPA-EFE)

Voting for penultimate seven-phase general election ends in India

REUTERSLONDON

EUROPEAN elections will be difficult for Britain’s governing Conservatives, their education minister said on Sunday, after the party slumped into fourth place in an opinion poll and a new Brexit Party took top spot.

Almost three years since Britain voted to leave the Euro-pean Union, the country’s Brex-it process has become mired in chaos with Prime Minister Theresa May’s inability so far to get a deal through parliament fuelling anger among voters.

With little movement in talks between the government and the opposition Labour Party to try to end the impasse in par-liament, an election to the Eu-

ropean Parliament on May 23 will offer a new opportunity for voters to show their discontent.

And both of Britain’s main parties, which are deeply divid-ed over how to leave the EU, are set to be punished by frustrated Britons, with the Conservatives losing votes to the new Brexit Party, led by veteran euroscep-tic campaigner Nigel Farage.

“I don’t think anyone is in any doubt these are going to be difficult elections for us... for some people this is the ultimate protest vote op-portunity,” education min-ister Damian Hinds told the

BBC’s Andrew Marr Show.With the March 29 dead-

line for Brexit rapidly becom-ing a distant memory, Britain is increasingly divided between those who want the country to leave the EU abruptly with no deal and those who hope to avert Brexit - options neither big party back.

According to the latest Opinium poll for the Observer newspaper, Farage’s newly formed party is on 34% be-fore the European election, with Labour in second place on 21% and the Conservatives back in fourth on 11%.

Brexit anger makes EU vote ‘difficult’ for Conservatives: Minister

Pakistan PM slams hotel attack as bid to damage economy

AFPISLAMABAD

AN attack on a luxury hotel in the southwestern city of Gwa-dar was a bid to “sabotage pros-perity”, Pakistani prime minis-ter Imran Khan said Sunday, as police confirmed all the attack-ers had been killed.

At least one person was shot dead Saturday after gun-men stormed a luxury hotel in the southwestern Pakistani city of Gwadar, the centrepiece of a multi-billion dollar Chinese in-frastructure project.

A Baloch separatist group, the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), claimed responsibility for the attack via Twitter. “Such at-tempts especially in Balochistan are an effort to sabotage our eco-nomic projects and prosperity. We shall not allow these agendas to succeed,” Khan said in a state-ment issued by his office.

The Chinese embassy in Islamabad also strongly con-demned the incident. Local police said four gunmen who had stormed the hotel, shoot-ing dead a security guard, had been killed overnight by secu-rity forces.

Mohammad Aslam, a police official in Gwadar, said Satur-day that only staff were present in the building at the time of the attack. The BLA is one of a myr-

iad of insurgent groups fighting in tightly-guarded Balochistan province, which has been rocked by separatist, Islamist and sectarian violence for years.

The Pearl Continental, part of Pakistan’s largest five-star hotel chain, is the only luxury hotel in Gwadar, fre-quented by foreign and Paki-stani business delegations as well as diplomats. It sits iso-lated on a ridge overlooking the Arabian Sea port city that was formerly a small fishing village, but now touted by of-ficials as “the next Dubai”.

Asia10 Monday, May 13, 2019

MEXICO City: Mexican author-ities have found 35 bodies over four searches last week in the metropolitan area of Guadalajara, in the west of the country, state prosecu-tors said Saturday. Investiga-tors searching a house in the Campanario neighbourhood, in Guadalajara’s south-east, found 27 bodies, Jalisco state Attorney General Gerardo Solis said at a press conference. Solis said that investigators were looking for more victims at the site and that, so far, only two bodies had been identified. The attorney general said that in a separate search in the central neighbourhood of Quinta Velarde. (DPA)

At least 35 bodies found in unmarked graves in Mexico

NEW Delhi: Indian officials Sunday said that at least 300 yaks starved to death in a remote Himalayan valley af-ter a bout of unusually harsh winter weather. Officials in the northeastern state of Sikkim said they received the first distress call from around 50 people cut off in the re-mote Mukuthang Valley in De-cember. Following very heavy snowfall the residents asked for help providing feed for their herd of around 1,500 yaks, a source of local milk, milk products, transportation and wool. “We made several attempts to reach them but couldn’t,” local official Raj Kumar Yadav said. (AFP)

300 Himalayan yaks starve to death in India

DHAKA: Twenty-three teen-age Rohingya girls were rescued after being brought from refugee camps to the capital Dhaka to be sent to Malaysia by air, Bangladesh police said Sunday. Dhaka police also arrested four human traffickers including a Rohingya couple and recov-ered over 50 Bangladeshi passports from them on Saturday. Police spokesman Mokhlesur Rahman said they raided a residence in the northern part of the city and found the teenagers hiding in a room behind a tailoring shop. “They were promised jobs in Malaysia and brought from refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar,” he said. (AFP)

Bangladesh rescues 23 Rohingya girls from traffickers

MANILA: Security was increased in the Philippines on Sunday, a day ahead of mid-term elections expected to be dominated by candi-dates allied with President Rodrigo Duterte. More than 18,000 positions, from municipal councillors to senators, are up for grabs in Monday’s elections. The key race is for twelve of the Senate’s 24 seats, widely considered the last bastion of opposition against the 74-year-old leader. Filipinos will also vote for more than 240 members of the House of Representatives, which has long been dominated by Duterte supporters. (DPA)

Philippines security high ahead of mid-term polls

BERLIN: Support is growing in Germany for a “mosque tax” to make Islamic institu-tions less dependent on potentially anti-democratic or “radical” foreign funding sources, a media report said Sunday. The federal government sees it as “a possible path”, according to an answer to a parliamentary query, the Welt am Sonntag newspaper reported. Several of Germany’s 16 states had also signalled support in prin-ciple for the idea which would mirror Germany’s voluntary Christian “church tax”. (AFP)

Germany debates ‘mosque tax’ to replace foreign funding

NEWS IN BRIEF

Regional parties will play a bigger role compared to the previous 5 years or even 15 years. They will regain their importance in national politicsProfessor KC Suri

5 dead in Pakistan luxury hotel attackISLAMABAD: Five people includ-ing a soldier were killed after gunmen stormed a luxury hotel in the southwestern Pakistani city of Gwadar, the centrepiece of a multi-billion dollar Chinese infrastructure project, the military said Sunday. The soldier was among security forces who rushed to the five-star Pearl Continental Hotel after the attack on Saturday. During the attack “5 individuals got Shaheed (martyred) including 4 hotel employees and a Pakistan Navy soldier,” the military said in a statement. One of the hotel staff killed was a security guard shot at the entrance. (AFP)

Pakistan, IMF strike $6 bn deal, says finance adviser

TRIBUNE.COM.PK ISLAMABAD

THE government has struck a deal with the In-ternational Monetary Fund (IMF) on financial pack-ages for about $6 billion, PM’s Adviser on finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh an-nounced on Sunday.

He said this while speak-ing to state-run Pakistan Television (PTV).

The staff level agree-ment on economic policies, which could be supported by a 39-month Extended Fund Arrangement (EFF), is aimed to support Paki-stan’s strategy for stronger and more inclusive growth by reducing domestic and external imbalances, re-moving impediments to growth, increasing trans-parency, and strengthen-

ing social spending, said a statement issued on IMF‘s official website.

“An ambitious struc-tural reform agenda will supplement economic poli-cies to rekindle economic growth and improve living standards,” the statement read, adding that, “Financ-ing support from Pakistan’s international partners will be critical to support the authorities’ adjustment ef-forts and ensure that the medium-term program ob-jectives can be achieved.”

“This agreement is sub-ject to IMF management approval and to approval by the Executive Board, subject to the timely im-plementation of prior ac-tions and confirmation of international partners’ financial commitments,” Rigo said in a statement.

Mosques attacked in Sri Lanka town after Facebook row, curfew imposed

REUTERSCOLOMBO

SEVERAL dozen people threw stones at mosques and Muslim-owned stores and a local man was beaten in the town of Chilaw on Sri Lanka’s west coast on Sun-day in a dispute that start-ed on Facebook, sources told reporters.

Three weeks ago in Sri Lanka Islamist bombers blew themselves up in four hotels and three churches, killing

more than 250 people. Since then Muslim groups say they have received dozens of complaints from across the country about people being harassed.

“A police curfew has been imposed in Chilaw Po-lice area with immediate ef-fect until 6 a.m. tomorrow to control the tense situation,” police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera said. The police later said the curfew would be lifted at 4 a.m.

A screenshot of the al-

leged Facebook exchange showed a user had written in Sinhalese “It is difficult to make us cry” and added a lo-cal slur against Muslim men.

A Facebook user iden-tified as Hasmar Hameed, whom two locals said was the man later arrested, re-plied in English: “Dont laugh more 1 day u will cry.” Authorities said they arrest-ed the author of a Facebook post, identifying him as 38-year-old Abdul Hameed Mohamed Hasmar.

US President Donald Trump.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May.

Separatists seek majority as New Caledonia votesNOUMEA: Voters in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia cast ballots for their local Congress Sunday, with separatists hoping to win a majority.

The ballot comes six months after a closer-than-expected referendum raised questions over France’s grip on the strategic islands, which sit on a quarter of the world’s known supplies of nickel, a vital electronics component.

The November 6 referendum result showed 56.7 percent voted to stay French, a much tighter outcome than predicted.

Turnout was on Sunday was 58.49 percent at one hour before the polls closed at 6pm (0700 GMT), about 15 percent less less than in the referendum at the same time, the high commission said. Under a 1998 agreement, there can be two further votes on independence before 2022 in the archipelago located more than 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) northeast of Brisbane, Australia. (AFP)

The election, in which the ruling and opposition parties have traded ugly, personal attacks, will end on May 19


QATAR has managed to over-come the siege and to pursue its economic development, and has become one of the most important and attractive investment destinations, Qa-tar Chamber (QC) Chairman Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim al Thani has said.

Speaking at the cham-ber’s annual general meeting in Doha on Sunday, Sheikh Khalifa said the year 2018 was exceptional for both Qatar and the chamber as QC carried out a large number of activities and events during the year.

He said, “QC organised 170 activities including conferenc-es, seminars and meetings in 2018. It also participated in a large number of events related to private sector.

“QC joined the World ATA Carnet Council (WATAC) and

the International Certificate of Origin (CO) Accreditation Chain at the International Chamber of Commerce.”

Sheikh Khalifa said the chamber continued its coop-eration with all ministries and authorities concerned in the state to overcome obstacles faced by the private sector, and organised a number of meetings to discuss issues and matters of interest to the pri-

vate sector.In order to enhance coop-

eration with all parties, insti-

tutions and chambers of com-merce, Sheikh Khalifa said the QC signed many agreements

and memorandums of under-standing, including those with the chambers of Nepal and Bulgaria.

The QC also signed pacts

with the Mexican Business Council for Foreign Trade and Investment and Technol-ogy (COMCE) and Palestinian Trade Center, he said.

Sheikh Khalifa said QC hosted 100 foreign trade del-egation and organised seven foreign business visits for Qa-tari businessmen.

“The QC also organised a number of exhibitions such as “Made in Qatar” in Oman, which was a great success and ended with signing a number of contracts between Qatari manufacturers and Omani co-unterparts,” he added.

Sheikh Khalifa said QC has developed its services by providing a number of e-ser-vices such as issuing certifi-cates of origin via the cham-ber’s website.

“Last year, 1,453 certifi-cates were issued online and 35,000 documented certifi-cates.”

During 2018, the QC or-ganised 12 training courses and a number of arbitration courses in cooperation with the Qatar International Cent-er for Conciliation and Arbi-tration (QICCA).

Sheikh Khalifa expressed hope that the chamber would achieve more accomplish-ments this year and urged businessmen to actively par-ticipate in its activities, assur-ing that members’ proposals and views would benefit the private sector.

The Qatar Chamber’s annual general meeting ap-proved the report of the board of directors and the audit report of 2018 as well as ratified the budget of 2019 and appointed a new auditor for 2019.

The meeting was held in the presence of all board members and a number of businessmen and members.

Qatar key investment destination: QC chairman

Demand for affordable premium homes has gone up in West Bay, The Pearl-Qatar and Lusail

A view of apartments in The Pearl-Qatar complex .

RAHUL PREETH DOHA

INCREASING affordability of premium apartments in Qatar has pushed the demand for such units in West Bay, The Pearl-Qatar and Lusail, ac-cording to a real estate report released on Sunday.

“The average rental reduc-tion of more than 20 percent over the past three years has increased the affordability of many prime locations, with in-creased demand for West Bay and The Pearl-Qatar being driven by residents looking to trade-up,” real estate research firm DTZ’s Director for Con-sulting and Research in Qatar Johnny Archer wrote in the report.

“As supply increases, so does the range of options available to residents in all in-come brackets,” he said.

The lower rents that are now on offer are also being supplemented by rental incen-

tives, such as rent-free periods or the inclusion of utility bills within quoted rents, the re-port, which gives an overview of the first quarter real estate trends in Qatar, said.

“While residential rents have typically fallen by 5 to 8 percent over the past 12 months, a lack of available three-bedroom units in Porto Arabia has seen rents for these units increase, bucking the general trend,” the report said.

“The large increase in the number of one-bedroom units being delivered to the market in new and upcoming devel-opments (in comparison with two and three-bedroom units) is likely to see greater down-ward rental pressure on these units in the coming year,” it added.

Occupancy rates in villa compounds have also been recovering throughout Doha, particularly in some of the more sought-after develop-ments, according to the report.

This has resulted in rental lev-els stabilising after a period of decline between 2016 and 2018, it added.

Highlighting the factors that increased demand in the domestic residential market, the report said the potential market for residential sales has been expanded by Law No. 16 of 2018, which was imple-mented in March of 2019, as the number of ‘freehold’ zones

in Qatar has been increased from three to 10.

Citing the Planning and Statistics Authority, the report said both the overall number of residential sales and the total value of transactions in Qatar in January and Febru-ary increased by 40 percent and 32 percent respectively, compared to the correspond-ing months last year.

However, it added, the average price per transaction has decreased by 6 percent as purchasers take advantage of a softening market.

Several new residential towers have recently been completed in Viva Bahriya, with a significant number of additional buildings in Abraj Quartier, the Marina District and Viva Bahriya expected to complete within the next 12 to 18 months, DTZ said.

In its office market over-view, the report said the de-mand is yet to catch up with the new supply of office ac-

commodation coming on-line in the Marina District of Lusail. Relocations are more likely to happen as corporate occupiers seek to upgrade, it added.

Supply in the hospital-ity sector, the report said, has surpassed 26,000 keys, with five-star accommodation ac-counting for 56 percent of to-tal available keys.

“By 2022, an additional 23,000 hotel rooms and hotel apartments are expected to come online, with 117 entities currently at various stages of planning and construction,” it added.

The report attributed in-creased supply in the retail real estate market to higher vacancy rates.

“Rental and capital incen-tives are being offered to pro-spective tenants as landlords compete for retail occupiers – a sign of an oversupplied retail market in a climate of reduced retail spending,” it said.

Qatar sees increased demand for premium homes: Report

Positive 2018 QC organised 170

activities including conferences, seminars and meetings in 2018

The chamber signed many agreements and memorandums of understanding, including MoUs with the chambers of Nepal and Bulgaria

QC hosted 100 foreign trade delegation and organised seven foreign business visits for Qatari businessmen

Qatar Chamber Chairman Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim al Thani speaks at the chamber’s annual meeting in Doha on Sunday.

23,000 keys By 2022, an additional 23,000 hotel rooms and hotel apartments are expected to come online, with 117 entities currently at various stages of planning and construction, according to DTZ report

Qatar Chamber has developed its services by providing a number of e-services such as issuing certificates of origin via the chamber’s websiteQC Chairman Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim al Thani

Nakilat bags award for outstanding training in Qatar’s oil & gas industryTRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA

NAKILAT was recently honoured with the annual Qatarisation Crystal Award for ‘Supporting Training & Development’ at the Energy and Industry Sector’s 2018 Annual Qatarisation Review Meeting.

The award presented by HE Saad Sherida al Kaabi, the Minister of State for En-ergy Affairs and President and CEO of Qatar Petrole-um, was received by Nakilat CEO Abdullah al Sulaiti, Na-kilat said in a statement on Sunday.

This is the third con-secutive year the company has been recognised for its outstanding contribution in-cluding training and devel-opment initiatives for Qatari nationals, from among the 35 participating companies in the local energy sector, the statement said.

There were four award categories, namely Support for Training & Develop-ment, Support & Liaison with the Education Sector, Supporting Qatarisation, and Highest Overall Qatari-sation Rate.

Sulaiti said, “We are proud to be recognised for our strategic efforts at tak-ing Qatarisation through robust training and devel-

opment programmes. “Our Qatarisation ini-

tiatives come as part of our commitment to invest in human capital in attracting, retaining, and developing our workforce with an em-phasis on national develop-ment, as evident from our mission statement; a mis-sion that is aligned with Qa-tar’s National Vision 2030, which aims for the develop-ment of a high-calibre and sustainable Qatari work-force.”

Sulaiti added, “The com-pany would not have been able to expand and develop its business without the ef-forts of the employees. Our shared values drive us to motivate one another to in-novate, develop and nurture human capital”.

Minister of State for Energy Affairs and President and CEO of Qatar Petroleum HE Saad Sherida al Kaabi gives away the award to Nakilat CEO Abdullah al Sulaiti at an event in Doha recently.

Our Qatarisation initiatives come as part of our commitment to invest in human capital in attracting, retaining, and developing our workforce with an emphasis on national developmentNakilat chief executive Abdullah al Sulaiti

MONDAY, MAY 13, 2019

Trump to China: Trade deal now or it will be ‘far worse’ after 2020 PAGE 14

‘Damage to Turkish economy from currency crisis will be short-lived’ PAGE 14

DOW QE GOLD

SILVERWTIBRENT

25,942.37 +114.01 PTS

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9,928.22-98.95 PTS

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PRICE PERCENTAGE70.62 +0.33%

PRICE PERCENTAGE61.66 -0.06%

REUTERSNEW DELHI

ECONOMISTS and investors are in-creasingly showing that they have lit-tle or no confidence in India’s official economic data – presenting whoever is elected as the next prime minister with an immediate problem.

There have been questions for many years about whether Indian gov-ernment statistics were telling the full story but two recent controversies over revisions and delays of crucial num-bers have taken those concerns to new heights.

The government itself has admitted there are deficiencies in its data collec-tion.

A study conducted by a division of the statistics ministry in the 12 months ending June 2017 found that as much as 36 percent of the companies in the database used in India’s GDP calcu-lations could not be traced or were wrongly classified.

But the ministry said there was no impact on GDP estimates as due care was taken to adjust corporate filings at the aggregate level.

Last December, the government held back the release of jobs data but an official report leaked to an Indian newspaper showed the unemployment rate had touched its highest level in 45 years.

Economists and investors are now voting with their feet – by using al-ternative sources of data and in some cases creating their own benchmarks to measure the Indian economy.

Ten economists and analysts at banks, think-tanks and foreign funds interviewed by Reuters said they were moving to use alternative data sources, or at least official data of a different kind.

Among the numbers they prefer are fast-moving indicators like car sales, air and rail cargo levels, purchas-ing managers’ index data, and propri-etary indices created by the institutions themselves to track the economy.

Many economists said they were stunned when the government upward-ly revised GDP growth for 2016/17 to 8.2 percent from 6.7 percent, although the demonetization of high value notes hit businesses and jobs in that financial year.

“Our response has been to spend time developing an Indian Activity In-dex, which takes a range of time series data that in the past were strongly cor-related with real GDP growth and ex-tract the common signal from them,” said Jeremy Lawson, chief economist at Aberdeen Standard Investments, which manages more than $700 bil-lion in assets.

The preliminary evidence from the index, which includes components like car sales, air cargo and purchas-ing managers’ index data suggests the

government has over-estimated GDP growth, he said.

“Our index would suggest that there was stable growth, rather than the rapid acceleration suggested by the GDP figures,” he said, referring to three years of data from 2014.

Even those close to the govern-ment have said the lack of accuracy in the official data makes it much more likely that authorities will miss major swings in activity and be unable to react quickly to head off a crisis. It is also a problem for investors who may be misled into thinking the economy is more robust than it really is.

The economic wing of the Rashtri-ya Swayemsewak Sangh, the fountain-head of the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, said the gov-ernment and the Indian central bank

missed anticipating a farm crisis that has now gripped the countryside, with low crop prices driving down farmers’ incomes.

“The fact is the government ad-visers and the monetary policy com-mittee of the central bank could not diagnose the farm crisis, deflationary conditions in rural economy, and ig-nored the need to boost growth,” said Ashwani Mahajan, the co-convenor of the group, Swadeshi Jagran Manch, adding the government was now tak-ing steps to address the problem.

The delayed response has cost Prime Minister Narendra Modi at least some support in the country-side in the current general election – although most political strategists still think he can probably hang onto power.

The opposition and other critics have said Modi suppressed jobs data and “massaged” economic growth numbers in an attempt to show that his government has done better than the previous administration.

A spokesman at Modi’s office said no official was available for comment as they were busy with the election while a finance ministry spokesman referred to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s previous comments.

In a blog in March, Jaitley criti-cised economists for doubting the credibility of data and accused them of running a fake campaign against the government.

Some investors have been burned by believing in India’s high growth story.

Private power producers invested billions of dollars based on expecta-tions of electricity demand that didn’t pan out in the rural economy. With economic growth pegged at over 8 percent a year, they had expected a

pick up in demand by small business-es and household.

Many of the power producers are now facing bankruptcy and legal dis-putes as many of the new plants they built are working at about 60 percent of capacity.

In the real estate sector, develop-ers said, it could take 3-4 years to clear about 500,000 unsold flats in and around New Delhi that were built on the assumption of higher income jobs in urban areas.

To be sure, the proportion of the Indian economy that is based on the unofficial sector, such as household enterprises, makes it a nightmare to assess economic activity.

P. C. Mohanan, former acting chairman of the national oversight body for statistics, who resigned to protest government interference over the release of the jobs figures and back series data on GDP, said the govern-ment hasn’t allocated the resources it needs to measure activity given the growth in the economy.

Gita Gopinath, the International Monetary Fund’s chief economist, told an Indian TV channel last month the IMF had raised the issue of “trans-parency” with Indian officials in data collection and, in particular, measure-ment of the GDP deflator - the adjust-ed inflation rate used to estimate real GDP.

In a statement, the statistics min-istry said it was working to address the issue.

A senior official earlier said they were open to suggestions for improve-ment, just not “politically motivated” criticism.

There are already plans to revamp data compilation and capture the nu-anced relationship between prices and real GDP, he said.

A study conducted by a division of India’s statistics ministry found that around 36% of the companies in the database used in India’s GDP calculations could not be traced or were wrongly classified

IN INDIA, ECONOMISTS CREATE OWN BENCHMARKS

Job seekers fill up forms as others line up for registration during a job fair in Chinchwad, India. (REUTERS)

Economy & Business

Expert Afghan jeweler Khalil Nuri poses for a picture in his shop at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, on April 11, 2019. (AFP)

Afghan refugee entrepreneurs thrive in Turkey

AFPBEYLIKDÜZÜ, TURKEY

WHEN Afghan business-man Haji Yakup Burhan fled the violence of his home country 30 years ago, he brought with him his family -- and all his money.

He headed to Saudi Arabia, where he opened a restaurant but, as refugees, his children had difficulty getting into a school. Then he moved to the United Arab Emirates, but Dubai’s costs seemed impossible.

So, two years ago, he moved to Turkey and opened a restaurant in Istanbul’s Esenyurt neigh-bourhood, taking advantage of the country’s relatively open business environment for refugees.

“I have 15 people work-ing for me in this restau-rant. They are Afghans, Iranians and Turks.

“I have invested about $120,000 (107,000 euros) in this restaurant so far,” Burhan, 52, told AFP at his Afghan Kebab establish-ment.

“Over 60 percent of our customers are Afghans living here. The rest are Arabs, Iranians and Turks,” he said.

Afghan refugee en-trepreneurs appear to be increasingly finding suc-cess in Turkey, where they bring to the local economy, not only their savings, but sought-after know-how, whether in restaurants, commerce or skilled crafts and speciali-ties.

In turn, Turkey offers refugees simplified ad-ministrative procedures for setting up a new busi-ness.

Turkey hosts nearly four million refugees, with Syrians making up the largest group, but Afghans number more than 145,000, according to Am-nesty International figures released last year.

Some people in Turkey view refugees as a bur-den, but a different pic-ture emerges in Burhan’s bustling Istanbul suburb, where refugees like him have made significant investment in the Turkish economy.

Citizenship investment Inside Burhan’s res-

taurant, a TV blares Afghan channels showing Turk-ish soap operas over the hum of customers eating the popular Afghan dish Qabeli Palaw -- rice with lamb meat and mixed with caramelised carrots, raisins and almond slivers.

“We are the only Afghan restaurant in this neighbourhood for now,” he told AFP, sitting cross-legged on a mattress, sip-ping green tea.

To attract more invest-ment at a time when the Turkish economy was struggling last year, the government in September slashed from $1 million to $250,000 the threshold at which Turkish citizenship is offered to foreigners buying property.

It sparked an 82-per-cent increase in foreigners buying real estate in the first quarter of this year, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) said.

Afghans likely account for a small percentage of this hike -- precise figures are unavailable -- but not all those fleeing the war-ravaged country are desti-tute.

Mehmet Yasin Hamidi, an Afghan who runs the Royalist real-estate agency in Beylikduzu, on Istanbul’s outskirts, told AFP that their sales of homes had doubled this year compared to the same period last year.

“People cannot protect their lives and money in Afghanistan,” Hamidi, who has lots of Afghans among his clients, said.

“If you have money, you or your children could get kidnapped. The business-men are threatened there. That is why they bring their money here.”

Rare skills Construction of new

housing has exploded in Beylikduzu in recent years to meet a growing demand

for real estate in-vestment by foreigners.

The Association of Housing Develop-ers and Investors says that foreign-ers bought $4.6 billion of Turkish property in 2018 and

the figure is expected to jump to $10 billion this year.

Many refugees arriving in Turkey bring with them diverse skills and experi-ence that allow them to make a contribution to the country’s workforce.

Hadi Ekhlas, an en-graver from Afghanistan’s Hazara ethnic group, left the war-torn nation eight years ago. He first went to neighbouring Pakistan to sell his skills.

He then moved to Tur-key, where he now engraves Islamic and Ottoman scripts on gemstone rings and semi-precious stones -- a skill he learned from his grandfather -- in Istan-bul’s Grand Bazaar, one of the world’s oldest covered markets.

“In the past, some Turk-ish traders would import stones with engravings from other countries, but now I am making them here and taking orders,” Ekhlas told AFP.

People cannot protect their lives and money in Afghanistan. If you have money, you or your children could get kidnapped. The businessmen are threatened there.An Afghan refugee in Turkey

The red flags Many economists said they were

stunned when the government upwardly revised GDP growth for 2016/17 to 8.2 percent from 6.7 percent, although the demonetiza-tion of high value notes hit businesses and jobs in that financial year.

Private power producers invested billions of dollars based on expectations of electricity demand that didn’t pan out in the rural econo-my. With economic growth pegged at over 8 percent a year, they had expected a pick up in demand by small businesses and household. Many of the power producers are now facing bankruptcy.

12 Monday, May 13, 2019

www.guide.com.qaMonday, May 13, 2019

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REUTERSDUBAI

EMIRATES Chief Commercial Officer Thierry Antinori has resigned, a spokeswoman said on Sunday, days after the Gulf airline announced its weakest profit in a decade.

Antinori, also an executive vice president, was responsi-ble for commercial operations, products, the frequent flyer program and cargo division, according to Emirates’ web-site.

The spokeswoman de-clined to comment when asked why Antinori resigned

and when it was effective.Antinori spoke to media

in his capacity as an Emirates executive on April 24 in Dubai and was seen at the Emirates stand at a travel exhibition in Dubai on April 29.

Adnan Kazim, divisional senior vice president, strategic planning, revenue optimiza-tion & aeropolitical affairs, has been appointed acting CCO, the spokeswoman said.

Emirates reported a 69 percent fall in full-year profit last week, its lowest in 10 years as soaring fuel costs and a strong dollar took a toll on earnings, while passenger growth stalled.

Antinori joined Emirates as executive vice president for passenger sales worldwide in October 2011 and was promot-ed to CCO in June 2013, Emir-ates’ website shows.

Emirates chief commercial officer resigns after airline’s profit dives

AFP WASHINGTON

PRESIDENT Donald Trump warned China on Saturday that it should strike a trade deal with the United States now, otherwise an agreement would be “far worse for them if it has to be negotiated in my second term.”

Washington and Beijing are locked in a trade battle that has seen mounting tar-iffs, sparking fears the dis-pute will damage the global economy.

Two days of talks ended Friday with no deal. China’s top negotiator said the two sides would meet again in Beijing at an unspecified date, but warned that China would make no concessions on “im-portant principles.”

“I think that China felt

they were being beaten so badly in the recent negotia-tion that they may as well wait around for the next election, 2020, to see if they could get lucky & have a Democrat win – in which case they would continue to rip-off the USA for $500 Billion a year,” Trump said in a tweet Saturday.

“The only problem is that they know I am going to win (best economy & employment numbers in US history, & much more), and the deal will become far worse for them if it has to be negotiated in my second term. Would be wise for them to act now, but love collecting BIG TARIFFS!”

Trump had accused Bei-jing of reneging on its com-mitments in trade talks and ordered new punitive duties, which took effect Friday, on $200 billion worth of Chinese

imports, raising them to 25 percent from 10 percent.

He then cranked up the heat further, ordering a tariff hike on almost all remaining imports – $300 billion worth, according to US Trade Rep-

resentative Robert Lighthizer – from the world’s second-biggest economy.

Those tariffs would not take effect for months, after a period of public comment.

Trump also said on Sat-urday that firms could eas-ily avoid additional costs by producing goods in the Unit-ed States.

“Such an easy way to avoid Tariffs? Make or pro-duce your goods and products in the good old USA. It’s very simple!” he tweeted, echoing a similar message he sent Fri-day – and even retweeted.

Only a week earlier, the United States and China had seemed poised to complete a sweeping agreement.

Washington wants Bei-jing to tighten its intellectual property protections, cut its subsidies to state-owned

firms and reduce the yawning trade deficit; China wants an end to tariffs as part of a “bal-anced” deal.

While supporters laud Trump as a tough negotiator, free-trade-minded Repub-licans have warned that the tariffs could do real damage to the economy, and many farmers – including Trump supporters – say the tariffs have hit their bottom line.

As the trade war spread, China imposed $110 billion in duties on farm exports and other US goods.

Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, from the farm state of Iowa, cautiously welcomed the new tariffs but urged negotiators to reach a quick solution “so we can avoid prolonged tariffs, which we know have an impact on the US economy.”

Trump to China: Trade deal now or it will be ‘far worse’ after 2020

A crane loads a container on a ship at Port of Qingdao in China’s Shandong province. (File photo) (EPA)

US wants Beijing to tighten its intellectual property protections, cut its subsidies to state-owned firms

Damage to economy from currency crisis will be short-lived, says Turkish FM

REUTERSISTANBUL

THE Turkish economy will hopefully overcome the impacts of a currency crisis last year with just two quar-ters of contraction, Turkey’s Finance Minister Berat Al-bayrak said on Sunday.

Speaking to broad-caster CNN Turk, Albayrak referred to Turkey’s per-formance during the 2008 global financial crisis when the economy contracted for four consecutive quarters.

“Turkey will get over this period hopefully with two quarters (of contraction) and with minimum negative impact,” Albayrak said.

“The first quarter data year-on-year and when compared to last quarter, technically rebalancing, re-covery process will extend more than two quarters.” The Turkish economy con-tracted 3 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2018, after a currency crisis knocked some 30 percent off the value of the lira last year. Economists expect two more quarters of con-traction year-on-year.

The lira has lost as much as 15 percent against the dollar this year, with the latest weakness driven by investor concerns over Monday’s decision to re-run a mayoral election in Istan-bul that had been narrowly

won by the main opposition party.

Turkey’s central bank moved to tighten policy by funding the market through a higher rate and took addi-tional liquidity steps, while state banks sold dollars to boost the local currency.

Albayrak said Turkish inflation and employment will improve this year, while the government will imple-ment necessary reforms without hesitation.

“Turkey, especially in-flation and employment, will reach a better, more balanced place till the end of 2019,” Albayrak said.

The meeting between the finance minister and US President Donald Trump was constructive, hopeful and positive, Albayrak said, adding that Trump will most probably pay a visit to Turkey in July.

Economy slips 3% The Turkish economy contracted 3 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2018, after a currency crisis knocked some 30 percent off the value of the lira last year

REUTERSNEW DELHI

INDIA’S antitrust watchdog has ordered an investiga-tion into Alphabet Inc’s unit Google for allegedly abusing the dominant position of its popular Android mobile op-erating system to block rivals, two sources aware of the mat-ter told Reuters.

The Competition Com-mission of India (CCI) last year started looking into the complaint, which is similar to one Google faced in Europe that resulted in a 4.34 billion euro ($5 billion) fine on the company, Reuters reported in

February.In mid-April, the CCI de-

cided there was merit in the accusations made in the com-plaint and ordered its inves-tigation unit to launch a full probe, one of the sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.

That decision, which was confirmed by the second source, has not been previ-ously reported and the order calling the full investigation was not made public.

“It is a strong case for the CCI, given the EU precedent,” said the first source. “The CCI has (preliminarily) found Google abused its dominant

position.” The probe would be completed in about a year and Google executives would likely be summoned to ap-pear before the CCI in coming months, the source said.

The CCI did not respond to a request for comment.

A Google spokesman said Android has enabled millions of Indians to connect to the internet by making mobile de-vices more affordable. Google looked forward to working with the CCI “to demonstrate how Android has led to more competition and innovation, not less”, the spokesman said in a statement.

The precise details of the complaint against Google in India could not be deter-mined, but sources have told Reuters it is on the exact same lines as the case filed against

the company in Europe.In the EU case, regulators

said Google forced manufac-turers to pre-install Google Search and its Chrome brows-er, together with its Google Play app store, on Android

devices, giving it an unfair ad-vantage.

Google has appealed the order but, in a bid to quell EU antitrust concerns, last month said its Android device us-ers in Europe would be able

to choose rival browsers and search engines. Once a user downloads a rival search app, it also prompts them to change their default search engine in their Google Chrome browser, if they so wish.

Android, used by device makers for free, features on about 88 percent of the world’s smartphones. In India, about 99 percent of the smartphones sold this year used the plat-form, Counterpoint Research estimates.

It remains possible that the CCI’s investigations unit could clear Google of any wrongdo-ing. The amount of fine that can be imposed on Google if the CCI rules against it was not immediately clear.

The Indian regulator has powers to impose a penalty of up to 10% of the relevant

turnover of a company in the last three financial years if it is found to have abused its dominant position. In that case, Google’s earnings linked to its web browser and search engine could be considered to assess the fine, New Delhi-based antitrust lawyer Gautam Shahi said.

Google does not disclose its India earnings from its web browser or search engine.

“They can either change their conduct in India volun-tarily or let CCI investigate. Voluntary change in conduct may have an impact on the quantum of penalty, if it’s im-posed,” said Shahi.

The Indian investigation, however, is not the only anti-trust trouble for the Mountain View, California-based com-pany in its key market.

India orders anti-trust probe of Google for alleged Android abuse

The new Google Pixel 3a (top shelf) is displayed during the 2019 Google conference in California recently. (AFP)

Google faced fined of $5 billion in Europe on a similar complaint

REUTERS NEW YORK

US refiners had a plan for 2020: use their complex op-erations to maximise profits by making products that would comply with new international laws capping sulfur content in shipping fuels.

But after a series of unex-pected market moves, heavy, sour crude oil processed by US refiners has become more ex-pensive, eating up hoped-for profit windfalls before they even materialized, forcing refiners to rethink plans to invest more in heavy crude processing units.

New regulations by the International Maritime Or-ganization (IMO) will require

ships globally to use fuels with a sulfur content below 0.5% be-ginning in 2020. Current ship-ping fuel is much dirtier, with a higher sulfur content.

The move was expected to make heavy crude oil cheap as most refiners worldwide shifted to lighter crudes that yield com-pliant lower-sulfur fuels - and benefit complex US refiners that possess greater capability to break down that heavy crude into high-margin products.

Instead, global heavy crude supplies have become scarce due to sanctions on Venezuela, one of the world’s biggest heavy producers, pipeline bottlenecks in Canada and OPEC output cuts. The OPEC’s April output

fell to 30.23 million barrels per day (bpd), the lowest since 2015.

“The biggest single factor is the big loss of heavy crude,” said Todd Fredin, executive vice president of supply, trad-ing and logistics at Motiva Enterprises, which operates a 603,000 bpd operation in Port Arthur, Texas, the largest US refinery. The benefit to complex refiners from the regulatory change “is going to be less than people thought,” he said.

Heavy crude once fetched a big discount compared with light crude, but it has narrowed after sanctions on Iran and Venezuela. That weighed on first-quarter earnings for ma-

jor independent refiners Valero Energy Corp and Phillips 66 .

Marathon Petroleum Corp this week halted plans to add a coking unit to its Garyville, Lou-isiana refinery that would have processed more heavy crude. Marathon said the coker, which was expected to come online in 2021, was no longer financially viable due to narrowed spreads.

US refiners rely on cok-ers to break down residual oils into other refined products, including gasoil and naphtha. Refineries without that capabil-ity typically process more light crude, produced in abundance by the United States, versus heavy crude, which US refiners have to import.

Expensive heavy fuel may dent US refiners’ plans

Emirates CCO Thierry Antinori

A merchant counts Turkish lira banknotes at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul recently. (REUTERS)

The only problem is that they know I am going to win (best economy & employment numbers in US history, & much more), and the deal will become far worse for them if it has to be negotiated in my second term. Would be wise for them to act now, but love collecting BIG TARIFFS!Trump tweeted on Saturday

Economy & Business14 Monday, May 13, 2019

AFPBRIGHTON

PEP Guardiola said Manches-ter City’s 2018/19 Premier League success was the tough-est title triumph of his illustri-ous managerial career.

City came from behind to win 4-1 away to Brighton on Sunday’s final day of the sea-son – a result that meant the reigning champions finished just a point in front of second-placed Liverpool, who won 2-0 at home to Wolves.

In most seasons, Liver-pool’s tally of 97 points would have seen them crowned champions.

Guardiola, celebrating his eighth domestic champion-ship in 10 seasons that have featured La Liga and Bun-desliga titles with Barcelona and Bayern Munich, was in no doubt about Liverpool’s quality.

“We worked a lot,” he said. “I have to say congratulations to Liverpool of course. Thank you so much. They helped to push us and to increase our standards from last season.”

“To compete against this team pushed us to do what we have done. It’s incredible, 198 points in two seasons.”

“I think last season Man-chester City made the stand-ards,” Guardiola added. “That is the level in the Premier League

and Liverpool have helped us to be there all the time.”

Guardiola’s side secured exactly 100 points in winning the title last season but the manager was arguably even more impressed by their ef-forts this term, even if the

overall tally was lower.“To win the title we had to

win 14 games in a row,” he ex-plained.

“For two to three months we cannot lose one point and we did it all playing in all com-petitions until the semi-finals

of the Champions League.“It’s incredible. Normally if

you get 100 points the tenden-cy is to go down but Liverpool helped us to be consistent.

“This was the toughest title in all my career.”

But Guardiola said next season could be even more competitive.

“It will be tougher but we will be stronger too,” he said.

“When you can win two in a row I have the feeling that next season we will come back and try to be who we are right now.”

Sunday’s result meant Liv-erpool’s wait for a maiden Pre-mier League title – their last domestic championship was in 1990 – goes on, although they could yet win the Champions League if they beat Tottenham Hotspur when the English ri-vals meet in a Madrid final on June 1.

Liverpool forward Mo-hamed Salah, whose 22 goals this season made him a joint-winner of the Premier League’s golden boot award, said the Anfield club would challenge again next term.

Guardiola says triumph ‘toughest title’ of his career

DPA LONDON

MANCHESTER CITY clinched their second consecutive Pre-mier League title after they won 4-1 at Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday.

Glenn Murray put Bright-on in front but Sergio Ague-ro, Aymeric Laporte, Riyad Mahrez and Ilkay Gundogan ensured that City finished one point ahead of Liverpool, who beat Wolves 2-0 with two goals from Sadio Mane.

City, who won their last 14 games, are the first side since Manchester United in 2009 to win back-to-back Premier League titles.

“This was by far the hard-est one,” City captain Vincent Kompany said, referring to his fourth league title.

“It was the most draining. Every week, we knew we had to win.

“We defeated one of the all-time greatest teams in Eng-lish history.

I’m proud of that.” And they now have the chance to complete the domestic treble by winning the FA Cup next Saturday having previously lifted the League Cup.

“We’ll celebrate tonight but after that it will be all about Watford,” Kompany added.

Liverpool, who lost just once all season, will take sol-ace in a record-points tally of 97 and will now turn their at-tention to next month’s Cham-pions League final.

With the title race going to the final day, Pep Guardiola’s City had a shock when Murray headed Brighton in front on 27

minutes but Aguero equalised one minute later.

And for 20 minutes, with Mane scoring early at Anfield, Juergen Klopp’s side were top,

their fans dreaming of their first league title since 1990.

But Laporte headed City in front before half-time, Mahrez smashed in a third and Gun-

dogan curled in a superb free kick to put the icing on the cake.

As news of City’s equaliser and second goal came in, An-field fell a little flat but Liver-pool ensured they did all they could with another victory.

Wolves had a number of chances to equalize but Mane headed a second goal in the second half to seal victory and leave Liverpool so close, but with no league trophy to show for an oustanding season.

“We only lost one game all season,” Mohamed Salah said. “We gave everything. We got 97 points. We will fight next season for the title.” Klopp hailed his Liverpool team.

“Our season was good, an incredible season, and unbe-lievable season,” he said. “Re-ally exceptional.

“We have to be very, very close to perfection to win the Premier League. We made ex-traordinary steps and I expect

more to come.” Mane’s dou-ble also gave him 22 league goals for the season, tied at the top for the Golden Boot with team-mate Salah and Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Au-bameyang, who scored twice in his side’s 3-1 win at Burnley.

Chelsea finished third after a 0-0 draw at Leicester while Tottenham ended up fourth, one point ahead of Arsenal, after Christian Eriksen equalized in a 2-2 draw at home to Everton.

Michy Batshuayi scored twice as Crystal Palace beat Bournemouth 5-3, while West Ham finished 10th after a 4-1 win at FA Cup finalists Watford, with Mark Noble scoring twice.

Newcastle signed off with a 4-0 win at relegated Fulham while Southampton drew 1-1 with bottom side Huddersfield in the day’s other match.

Liverpool win to end up with 97 points but finish second having lost only one game all season

MONDAY, MAY 13, 2019

Malinga bowls Mumbai Indians to their fourth IPL title PAGE 16

MANCHESTER CITY RETAIN PREMIER LEAGUE TITLE

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola and co-assistant coach Brian Kidd celebrate with the trophy at the American Express Community Stadium in Brighton on Sunday. (REUTERS)

Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah walks around the pitch alongside his wife, Magi Salah, after the match against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Anfield, Liverpool. (REUTERS)

This was by far the hardest one. It was the most draining.

Every week, we knew we had to win. We defeated one of the all-time greatest teams in English history. I’m proud of that.Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany

TEAM PLAYED WON DRAWN LOST GF GA GD PTS

MANCHESTER CITY 38 32 2 4 95 23 +72 98LIVERPOOL 38 30 7 1 89 22 +67 97CHELSEA 38 21 9 8 63 39 +24 72TOTTENHAM 38 23 2 13 67 39 +28 71ARSENAL 38 21 7 10 73 51 +22 70MAN UNITED 38 19 9 10 65 54 +11 66

EPL 2018-19 FINAL STANDINGS (Top 6)

Solskjaer says ‘work starts now’ for United after

dismal end to seasonAFP

MANCHESTER

OLE Gunnar Solskjaer said Manchester United will “take some time” to close the gap to Manchester City and Liver-pool after they finished their season with a dismal 2-0 de-feat at home by already-rele-gated Cardiff.

United finished in sixth place in the Premier League, 32 points behind champions City, who edged out Liverpool by a single point.

They were five points be-hind fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur.

“Today was not the prob-lem,” said United manager Solskjaer, who previously had a brief spell in charge of Car-diff, after away fans at Old Trafford on Sunday had chant-ed he would be “sacked in the morning”.

“You can have all the pos-session and chances you want

but we concede easy goals and not score at the other.

“That is not where our challenge lies – we have a long and hard way to be where we want to be.”

The Norwegian, who initial-ly oversaw a dramatic upturn in form after he took over from Jose Mourinho in December, said: “It will take some time to close in on the top. We finished five or six points behind third, fourth, fifth and that has to be our aim.

“The top two teams have set a standard higher than be-fore and we have to take up the next challenge.”

The former United striker added: “The work starts now. Everyone has the summer off but we have to come back with a different mentality and dif-ferent attitude of being a Man United team.

“The ones who played, did well but it was not good enough.”

s ns

AFPHYDERABAD

LASITH Malinga kept his nerve with the final ball as Mumbai Indians beat Chen-nai Super Kings by one run to clinch a record fourth Indian Premier League title on Sunday.

After Shane Watson hit a blistering 80, Chennai needed two runs off the last ball to overtake Mumbai’s 149-8 but the Sri Lankan veteran bowled Shardul Thakur lbw to claim the landmark win.

Malinga gave away 49 runs in his four overs but the last two overs by the Sri Lan-kan and fellow pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah who took 2-14, were decisive.

West Indies batsman Kier-on Pollard smashed an unbeat-en 41 off 25 balls to set up the Mumbai total after they elected to bat first.

“The team that panics less does better. It was a team per-formance,” said Pollard as the Mumbai players celebrated on the pitch.

Watson batted through the Chennai innings until he was run out in the final over going for a reckless second run. He smashed four sixes and eight fours in his 59-ball knock.

Ishan Kishan sent Chennai dangerman M.S. Dhoni back to the dugout with a direct throw at the bowlers’ end to put the defending champions in trouble

at 82-4. Dhoni made just two.Earlier Chennai leg-spin-

ner Imran Tahir took 2-23 to surpass fellow South African Kagiso Rabada as the top IPL bowlers chart this year with 26 wickets. Tahir was also the first 40-year-old to appear in an IPL final.

Deepak Chahar took three wickets while fellow quick Shar-dul Thakur took two.

South African captain Faf du Plessis then came all guns blazing to give Chennai a brisk start with his 26 off 13 deliveries.

Indian batting legend

Sachin Tendulkar, an advisor to the Mumbai team, nervously watched the finale, frequently burying his head in his hands.

“The key moment was Dho-ni’s run-out,” he said.

“But also in patches when Bumrah bowled those critical balls to even out Malinga’s one

poor over was also crucial.“And the last over, I thought

Malinga finished the game out beautifully.”

Mumbai won the IPL in 2013 and 2015 -- both against Chennai -- and again in 2017 when they beat Rising Pune Su-pergiant by one run.

Malinga keeps cool, Chennai Super Kings lose plot under pressure; Watson’s 80 in vain in a chase of 150

Kieron Pollard holds Lasith Malimnga aloft as Mumbai Indians players celebrate after winning the 2019 Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 final against Chennai Super Kings at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Sunday. (AFP)

MUMBAI INDIANS SHOW NERVES OF STEEL TO CLINCH 4TH IPL TITLE

AFPSOUTHAMPTON

HOW do you stop Jos But-tler? It was a question that was being asked again after the talented batsman’s latest one-day international hundred saw England to a 12-run win over Pakistan in the second one-day international on Saturday.

With a home World Cup just weeks away, Buttler’s 110 not out, which saw him reach three figures off just 50 balls, was another reminder of his match-winning ability in white-ball cricket.

This was Buttler’s eighth century in 129 matches at this level, with the England ODI wicket-keeper now having scored 3,497 runs at an aver-age of 42.

But what makes Buttler a particularly devastating bats-man in this format is a strike-

rate of 119.88 – a figure bettered only by the West Indies’ Andre Russell (130.45) and Australia’s Glenn Maxwell (121.95).

Russell, however, has only scored 998 runs in 52 ODIs, with Maxwell making 2,700 in 100 matches.

Alterations in field and bouncer restrictions, a reduc-tion in the number of overs in an ODI, generally shorter boundaries and the change to a ball from each end as opposed to just one for a full duration of an innings, make comparisons across the generations argu-ably even harder than they would be in Test cricket.

For many observers that means Vivian Richards re-mains the most destructive one-day batsmen they’ve seen.

The West Indies great scored 6,721 runs in 187 ODIs including 11 hundreds at an av-erage of 47, – a tally including

a brilliant, match-winning 138 not out in the 1979 World Cup final against England at Lord’s – with a strike-rate of 90.20.

But just as Richards revo-lutionised ODI batting with extraordinary ‘inside out’ drives to the boundary off bowlers as fast as Australia’s Jeff Thomson, so are Buttler’s range of scoops and flicks helping expand the repertoire

of present-day run-getters.Buttler’s success is also a

matter of attitude as well as talent -- as evidence by the words “fuck it” he has written on the top of his bat handle to remind him of his best ap-proach to batting.

‘No answer’ Pakistan coach Mickey

Arthur admitted he was at a loss about the best way to stop Buttler following the 28-year-old’s batting fireworks in Southampton.

“Oh, I don’t know, I’ve just asked the bowlers actually. They didn’t give me an answer either,” Arthur said after Paki-stan fell 1-0 behind in this five-match series.

“We’ll sit down and analyse that and try to work out a plan.

“I don’t think we’re going to stop him, we’ve got to find a way to get him out. The longer

he bats he’s going to do some serious damage.”

England captain Eoin Morgan had arguably the best view in the ground while mak-ing a far from sluggish 71 not out while sharing an unbroken stand of 162 with Buttler that took the hosts to 373 for three in their 50 overs.

“He’s very good. He really is,” left-hander Morgan told Sky Sports. “I was in prime po-sition to see the whole innings and his freakish knocks seem to be getting closer and closer together, so that’s a good sign for us moving forward.

“But he seems to have a gear that not many of us have. I certainly don’t have it, but it’s great to watch. He always seem to time his run really well, regardless of what time he comes in, he always seems to have enough balls to go on and bang a 50-ball hundred.”

Pakistan the latest left wondering how to stop Buttler

Pakistan players come over to congratulate England’s Jos Buttler (right) after his Innings of 110 not out during the second One Day International at The Ageas Bowl in Southampton on Saturday. (AFP)

Unstoppable?This was Buttler’s eighth century in 129 matches at this level, with the England ODI wicket-keeper now having scored 3,497 runs at an average of 42.

Mumbai Indians team owner Nita Ambani celebrates with captain Rohit Sharma soon after the final. (AFP)

MUMBAI INDIANS

Quinton de Kock c MS Dhoni b Shardul Thakur 29 Rohit Sharma c Dhoni b Deepak Chahar 15 Suryakumar Yadav b Imran Tahir 15 Ishan Kishan c Suresh Raina b Tahir 23 Krunal Pandya c&b Thakur 7 Kieron Pollard Not Out 41 Hardik Pandya lbw Deepak Chahar 16 Rahul Chahar c Faf du Plessis b Chahar 0 Mitchell McClenaghan Run Out 0 Extras: (lb, 3w) 3

TOTAL: (20.0 overs) 149-8

Fall of Wickets: 1-45 de Kock, 2-45 Sharma, 3-82 Yadav, 4-89 Pandya, 5-101 Kishan, 6-140 Pandya, 7-140 Chahar, 8-141 McClenaghan. Bowling: Deepak Chahar 4-1-26-3 (1w), Shardul Thakur 4-0-37-2, Harbhajan Singh 4-0-27-0 (1w), Dwayne Bravo 3-0-24-0 (1w), Imran Tahir 3-0-23-2, Ravindra Jadeja 2-0-12-0.CHENNAI SUPER KINGS

Faf du Plessis st Quinton de Kock b Krunal Pandya 26 Shane Watson Run Out Krunal Pandya 80 Suresh Raina lbw Rahul Chahar 8 Ambati Rayudu c de Kock b Jasprit Bumrah 1

MS Dhoni Run Out Ishan Kishan 2 Dwayne Bravo c Quinton de Kock b Bumrah 15 Ravindra Jadeja Not Out 5 Shardul Thakur lbw Lasith Malinga 2 Extras: (5b, lb, 4w): 9

TOTAL: (20 overs) 148-7

Fall of Wickets: 1-33 du Plessis, 2-70 Raina, 3-73 Rayudu, 4-82 Dhoni, 5-133 Bravo, 6-146 Watson, 7-148 Thakur.Bowling: Mitchell McClenaghan 4-0-24-0 (2w), Krunal Pandya 3-0-39-1, Malinga 4-0-49-1 (1w), Bumrah 4-0-14-2, Rahul Chahar 4-0-14-1, Hardik Pandya 1-0-3-0 (1w).

SCOREBOARD

Mumbai Indians players celebrate their record fourth Indian Premier League title triumph with the trophy. (AFP)

Shane Watson

Sports16 Monday, May 13, 2019


AL Sadd continued thier dom-inance over rival Al Rayyan with a 2-0 victory to clinch a spot in the final of the 2019 Amir Cup. Goals from Ali Asad and Baghdad Bounedjah kept the Wolves on track for a domestic double in what was Xavi Hernandez’s last match at the Al Sadd Stadium on Saturday.

“Throughout my time working with Xavi, he was always at a high level. I want to salute Xavi, because he fo-cused on the young players. He did not give importance to his status or fame; he just

wanted to work for the team,” Al Sadd coach Jesualdo Fer-reira said.

The Barcelona and Spain legend joined Al Sadd in 2015 and has won four trophies with the club, but his impact has been felt both more an doff the field. The 39-year-old has also been highly touted to take over as Al Sadd coach af-ter his retirement and with the imminent departure of Fer-reira, that looks more likely in the coming weeks.

“Xavi will be in the most suitable position in his sport-ing career. He knows Qatar well and he knows Al Sadd and the players here. He will be fortunate that he will be

in a country with good infra-structure that is unmatched in the world. I wish him and Al Sadd all the best and I am sure that success will continue to follow Al-Sadd, because of the way Xavi deals with Al Sadd, the fans and Qatari sport in general,” Ferreira said of Xavi.

Al Sadd were always fa-vourites heading into the match, having won their most recent matches in the league against Al Rayyan who were mainly let down again by poor finishing in the final third.

Al Sadd opened scoring in the first half through Asad who was on hand to slot in Akram Afif’s cross.

Al Sadd then got a penalty

when Bounedjah was fouled by Dame Traore. However, Fahd saved the shot taken by the Algerian striker him-self, who was the QNB Stars League’s top scorer with 39 goals.

Bounedjah then got the se-curity goal in the 84th minute after taking on the Al Rayyan defence before firing past the hapless Fahd in goal.

“Al Sadd dominated throughout the 90 minutes. We were keen to avoid mis-takes and conceding goals. We could have scored more but we played with defensive cau-tion. We also missed a penalty and were not lucky in front of goal.

“We are really happy that we have achieved this victory, just days after defeating Al Ahli in the AFC Champions League. So I want to con-gratulate the players and also the fans who supported us. I would have been delighted to reach the final, even if the re-sult was 1-0. I am happy that we will play the final at the Al Wakrah Stadium, which will attract the attention of the world. Our players will never forget those historic moments. The fans need to be with us on that occasion. Today you saw the intense desire of the play-ers to reach the final and get the title,” Ferreira said of the match.

Al Sadd through to Amir Cup final in Xavi’s last home game

Sports 17Monday, May 13, 2019

SC.QA

FROM a career as a player at Al Wakrah Sports Club in the 1970s, a university

scholarship in North Ameri-ca before a return to his home nation to help play a key part in delivering Al Wakrah Sta-dium – Abdulaziz al Ishaq has been on a fascinating journey. He spoke to sc.qa about his 40-year affiliation with the club, the city and his pride in being a part of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.

How proud are you to be part of this project, espe-cially considering your affiliation with the city of Al Wakrah?Firstly, I am so proud to be part of this landmark in the Qatar. I believe I have now been able to do something for my nation; a nation which has done so much for me.I started playing for Al Wak-rah when I was 13 years old. I played for the youth teams at first and did well, so I even-tually got the chance to join the first team. At the begin-ning, I was often a substitute, but after three years I got my chance and started most games. I started as a centre back; then they pushed me to the right side and I became a wing-back.This was in the 1970s, and by ’78 and ’79 I reached the peak of my performance. I was lucky enough to represent Wakrah in the Amir Cup fi-nal for two years running. We didn’t win unfortunately but it was a huge honour to play in front of His Highness and represent Wakrah.Later, I got a university schol-arship to study engineering in North America. The club

asked me if I could stay a little bit longer because the nation-al team was interested in se-lecting me, but I said I needed to go and study.

When did you come back to Qatar, and how keen were you to be involved in the FIFA World Cup when Qatar won the rights to host?It was around 1987 that I re-turned to Qatar and yes, abso-lutely, I was very determined to be part of this World Cup. I applied to the SC and they asked for an interview. They liked my age and experience, and said it would be helpful for me to be part of the team.

What is your job here…I am part of the team which manages the stadium pro-ject. I share responsibilities with the project manager and project executive director. We are all engineers and there

are certain activities that each one of us knows how to han-dle given the certain respon-sibilities and experiences that we have – so we work very well together as a team.

What makes Al Wakrah Stadium so special?You cannot compare this sta-dium to any other. You can only compare it to an artist sitting down with a paint-brush and creating some-thing. It’s not something you can create automatically on a computer. It is a piece of art. We were fortunate to have worked with Zaha Hadid, such a well-known and pio-neering architect around the world – and she gave us a really interesting and unique stadium. We are proud to have it here.

The progress at Al Wak-rah Stadium has been astounding. What do you

put this success down to?We are fortunate for three

reasons. Firstly, the contrac-tor, the designers and every-one involved in this project is the best of the best. They are all highly experienced in this field and are specialists in what they do because they have worked on so many sta-diums around the world. The second advantage is that most of the materials we use for the stadiums are local ma-terials, and therefore we get great support. Thirdly, the blockade. This was also an advantage for us because we got people mov-ing even more materials through local markets – so things have been able to move very quickly.

What does this stadium mean to the people and city of Al Wakrah?It will become a landmark of Al Wakrah. Wakrah is an old town that has now become very much open. We have

lots of shops, a mall, schools; thousands of people now live here. People used to come to Al Wakrah for the beach and for one of the best fish-ing spots in Qatar, but having a landmark like this for the people here is something that is greatly appreciated.

How do you think you will you feel on May 16th, when His Highness The Amir cuts the ribbon at the stadium?This is the most important moment that we are all look-ing forward to. I’ve played twice in the Amir Cup final and been honoured to get to the stage and shake hands with His Highness. This moment for a football player, it means a lot. Espe-cially if you are a Qatari na-tional – that he knows who you are and where you come from, with people all around watching you, it is a special

moment. When he is here to open the new stadium, it will be a very special moment for us all.

Can you believe that in three-and-a-half years’ time, Al Wakrah will be hosting FIFA World Cup matches?People here are waiting for this moment. They are re-ally waiting and counting the days. I assure you Wakrah will be one of the most attrac-tive places for all these fans to visit. We have Souq Wakrah, we have the beach, we have some old restaurants and everything is very close to each other. People can walk around and enjoy everything very easily. Most of the Wakrah people are Qataris, and Qataris are very welcoming and generous – and love to welcome people from all around the world.

From playing for Al Wakrah to planning the stadium, meet Abdulaziz al Ishaq

Abdulaziz Al Ishaq (left) and the Al Wakrah Stadium,which will open on May 16, with the Amir Cup final and will later host some of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 matches.

Special MomentI’ve played twice in the Amir Cup final and been honoured to get to the stage and shake hands with His Highness The Amir. This moment for a football player, it means a lot. Especially if you are a Qatari national – that he knows who you are and where you come from, with people all around watching you, it is a special moment. When he is here to open the new stadium, it will be a very special moment for us all.

Al Sadd players celebrate Xavi after the game.Al Sadd fans unveil a banner which reads “Thank You Xavi” in the sixth minute of their Amir Cup match against Al Rayyan at the Al Sadd Stadium on Saturday.

AFPMADRID

NOVAK Djokovic joined Ra-fael Nadal as a 33-time Mas-ters champion on Sunday when he swept to a 6-3, 6-4 win over Stefanos Tsitsipas to claim a third Madrid Open title.

The world number one dominated a clearly exhaust-ed opponent less than 24 hours after the 20-year-old Greek had stunned five-time champion Nadal in a semi-fi-nal which ended around mid-night on Saturday.

Djokovic and Nadal will now attempt to claim a 34th Masters title in Rome this week in a key indicator ahead of Roland Garros which gets under way on May 26.

Djokovic never let Tsit-sipas get into gear in a final which lasted just over 90 min-utes

“This is a very important win for me, especially for my confidence,” 15-time Grand Slam winner Djokovic said.

“I was not playing my best after winning the Australia Open but I started this week well, not dropping a set all through. I’ve played some of my best tennis here.”

Tsitsipas, who beat Djoko-vic in their previous meet-ing last summer in Canada, was broken once in each set, enough of a margin for the top seed to take the trophy, his second of the season after the Australian Open.

The Serb still needed four match points to get the job done with Tsitsipas fi-nally beaten when Djokovic sent a winning volley into

the corner.Tsitsipas hailed Djokovic

who will hold all four Slam titles if he goes on to claim a second French Open next month.

“It’s inspiring what you do, simply amazing. You de-serve it,” the Greek told the Serb.

“You had a great week. It was also a great one for me, with good memories and good crowd support.”

Djokovic said he was like-ly facing an opponent lacking a few physical reserves after a long semi-final struggle with Nadal.

“I needed to step up, Ste-fanos is very talented. But he finished around midnight -- he had a very late night and a very long match.

“This was a big week for me and I’m looking forward to continuing like this in Rome.

“The Masters 1000s are the biggest ATP events, right alongside the Grand Slams. This is about as important and good as it gets.”

Tsitsipas was playing his second Masters 1000 final af-ter losing to Nadal in Toronto last August.

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic kisses his trophy after winning the ATP Madrid Open final against Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas at the Caja Magica in Madrid on Sunday. (AFP)

‘Inspirational’ Djokovic wins third Madrid title

AFPROME

SERENA Williams returns from injury in Rome next week looking to get back to winning ways as she pre-pares her bid to match Mar-garet Court’s record of major singles titles at the French Open later this month.

Rome will be Williams’s fourth tournament of the season and the first since be-ing forced to withdraw from the Miami Open in April due to a knee injury.

The 37-year-old Ameri-can – now ranked 11th – has completed just seven match-es this year, also withdraw-ing from Indian Wells in March with illness.

There are now doubts that the veteran can add to her tally of 23 Grand Slams, something which has so far proved beyond her since re-turning last year after taking time out following the birth of her first child.

Her last Grand Slam sin-gles title was won at the Aus-tralian Open in 2017, where she was pregnant, breaking a tie with Steffi Graf for the most in the professional era.

Her win in Melbourne moved her one behind Aus-tralian Court’s record of 24 major singles titles. After giving birth to her daughter Olimpia in September 2017, Serena made her return to Grand Slam tennis at last year’s French Open, where she reached the fourth round.

She reached the finals of Wimbledon and the US Open, suffering a meltdown in Flushing Meadows, as she smashed her racquet and called the umpire a “thief” and a “liar” in a tem-per tantrum after losing to

Naomi Osaka.More drama followed

in the quarter-finals of this year’s Australian Open, when she suffered a spectac-ular collapse in a three-sets defeat by Karolina Pliskova.

Williams led 5-1 in the decider before failing to con-vert four match points and losing six games in a row.

She has admitted that it has been tougher than ex-pected to get back winning after her maternity leave.

“From day one, I expect to go out and, quite frankly, to win. That hasn’t hap-pened. But I do like my at-titude,” she said.

“I like that I don’t want to go out there and say: ‘I expect to lose because I had a year off. I’ve been playing for 10 months. I’m not sup-posed to win.’ I don’t have that attitude.”

Rome is a special place for Williams who met her husband Alexis Ohanian in the Eternal City in May 2015, a year when she with-drew from the tournament with an elbow injury.

A four-time Rome win-ner, Williams last won at the Foro Italico in 2016 defeat-ing her compatriot Madison Keys in a straight-set final.

She also won the Rome title in 2002, 2013 and 2014.

This year she is in the top half of the draw along with world number one Naomi Osaka, Kiki Bertens, and Si-mona Halep.

Three of the four semi-fi-nalists from Madrid are in the top half, along with winner Kiki Bertens and runner-up Simona Halep.

Williams will open against a qualifier and could face older sister Venus Williams in the second round. Should Serena and Venus meet in Rome, it will be their first meeting on European clay in nearly 17 years. Their last meeting on red clay came at the 2002 Roland Garros final.

Two-time defending champion Elina Svitolina comes in short on form after a knee injury but could have an opportunity as she plays in the bottom half of the draw.

Rome will be Williams’s fourth event of the season and the first since being forced to withdraw from the Miami Open in April

Serena looking to turn back the clock in Rome before Roland Garros bid

Ackermann claims second stage of Giro d’Italia

I was not playing my best after winning the Australia Open but I started this week well, not dropping a set all through. I’ve played some of my best tennis here.Novak Djokovic

Hamilton rules in Spain to seize championship leadAFP

BARCELONA

LEWIS Hamilton beat Valtteri Bottas in the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday to replace his team-mate as world champi-onship leader as Mercedes’ ex-tended their record start to the season with a fifth 1-2 finish.

The defending five-time world champion seized the ini-tiative at the start in Barcelona and led from lights to flag with a consummate demonstration of his speed and race-craft at the Circuit de Catalunya.

It was his third win this year, the 76th of his career and his fourth in Spain follow-ing victories in 2014, 2017 and 2018. Responding to being out-paced by Bottas in qualifying, Hamilton came home 4.074 seconds ahead of the Finn who was second ahead of Max Ver-stappen of Red Bull, four-time champion Sebastian Vettel and his Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc.

Pierre Gasly was a solid sixth in the second Red Bull ahead of Kevin Magnussen of

Haas, home hero Carlos Sainz of McLaren, Daniil Kvyat of Toro Rosso and Romain Gros-jean in the second Haas.

It was the 16th time that Hamilton won a Grand Prix af-ter leading every lap of the race.

Hamilton’s triumph hoisted him back to the top of the stand-ings with 112 points, including one for fastest lap, ahead of Bot-tas on 105.

“I have to put it down to this incredible team,” said Hamil-ton. “This is history in the mak-ing to have five 1-2’s. I am very proud of that!

“It’s definitely been a bit of a hard first four races. Naturally we have a great car, but we don’t always get along. I’m grateful in the race that we managed to set-tle our differences.”

Bottas said: “I lost it there, at the start. The clutch was strange - bite and release, bite and release. I’ve never had that before.”

Hamilton made a near-perfect start to draw level with pole-man Bottas and seize the initiative as they began the long run to Turn One.

This left Bottas to respond, but he had to defend against an attack on his left from Vettel down the third-longest straight on the F1 calendar. Hamilton’s surge gave him the inside line while Vettel locked up as he attempted to pass Bottas and swerved left to avoid a collision.

Almost invisibly, Hamilton then began to pull clear. From 1.7 seconds after three, his lead was 2.2 in six and three sec-onds by lap 10. Bottas could not match his thrust through traffic and by lap 20, when Vettel pit-ted, the champion was clear by seven seconds.

In that time, on lap 12, Fer-rari told Vettel to let Lerclerc pass him for fourth, the Mone-gasque moving up to third when Verstappen pitted on lap 23. By the time Hamilton had been in and out after lap 27, the order resumed: Hamilton ahead of Bottas by eight seconds with Verstappen, Leclerc and Vettel chasing.

Notably, both Ferrari stops took 4.4 seconds while the Mer-cedes men were stationary for 2.8 and 2.6 respectively.

First-placed Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton on the podium with the Span-ish Grand Prix trophy at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Barce-lona on Sunday. (REUTERS)

Valencia take control of Champions League raceDPA

BARCELONA

VALENCIA took control of the race for fourth place in La Liga on Sunday with a 3-1 win over Alaves at Mestalla, while Getafe fell to a 2-0 defeat at Barcelona.

Marcelino’s Valencia are level on 58 points with Getafe with one match remaining next weekend, but have the better head-to-head record. Valencia go to Real Valladolid next Saturday.

Ximo Navarro put Alaves ahead but strikes from Carlos Soler, Santi Mina and Kevin Gameiro turned the game around for Los Che.

Champions Barcelona edged Getafe in a drab en-counter at Camp Nou, with the Catalans still stinging from their shock Champions League semi-final elimination by Liverpool earlier in the week.

Goals from Arturo Vidal

and Lionel Messi stopped Jose Bordalas’s side in their tracks.

Sevilla, sixth, are still in with a slim chance of Champi-ons League qualification after a 1-1 draw at Atletico Madrid, but they are two points behind Getafe and Valencia and may have to settle for a Europa

League place. At the other end of the table Levante beat 18th-placed Girona 2-1 away to virtu-ally ensure the Catalans will be relegated next week.

Girona are three points from safety, with Celta Vigo, 17th, los-ing 3-1 at Athletic Bilbao.

They need Celta to lose at

home against relegated Rayo Vallecano and to bridge a goal difference gap of six to survive.

Zinedine Zidane’s Real Ma-drid, third, suffered another disappointing defeat at Real Sociedad, tumbling 3-1 in the Basque Country, the third loss since the Frenchman returned.

Valencia’s players celebrate at the end of the Spanish League match against Alaves at the Mestalla Stadium in Valencia on Sunday. (AFP)

German champion Pascal Ackermann won a high speed bunch sprint to claim victory on stage two of the Giro d’Italia on Sunday, edging home favourite Elia Viviani at the line. Slovenian Primoz Roglic retains the overall lead as the peloton finished together after a 205km run from Bologna to Fuceccio, with Ackermann, of the Bora-hansgrohe team, crossing the line in 4hrs 44mins and 43sec.

Sports18 Monday, May 13, 2019

AFPYOKOHAMA (JAPAN)

THE United States’ track ath-letes were left with bloody noses at the World Relays on Sunday but ultimately emerged victorious after a bruising two days of competi-tion in Yokohama.

American joy at finishing top of the medals table with five golds will be tempered by the disappointment of losing their proud unbeaten record in the 4x400 metres after elec-trifying performances from Poland and Trinidad and To-bago.

Team USA had dominated the event at the three previ-ous editions of the World Re-lays but they were stunned by Poland’s women as Justyna Swiety-Ersetic anchored the European champions to an

upset win in three minutes, 27.49 seconds.

The Americans came up just short, the hot favourites settling for silver in 3:27.65 with Italy taking bronze.

“We can’t believe it,” said Patrycja Wyciszkiewicz. “It was such an amazing feeling to actually hit the line first.”

Lightning struck again in the men’s 4x400m final when Machel Cedenio produced an astonishing last 100 metres to give world champions Trini-dad and Tobago gold in a pho-to finish with Paul Dedewo.

Cedenio ran a 44.41 split to give his team victory in a world-leading 3:00.81 seconds -- three hundredths ahead of the Americans, who were later disqualified, bumping Jamai-ca up to the silver medal spot and Belgium to third.

The US hit back in the

mixed 4x400m, Jasmine Blocker building a huge lead to give anchor Dontavius Wright the freedom of Yokohama and he brought it home for a runa-way gold medal in 3:16.43, al-most two seconds clear of Can-

ada with Kenya taking bronze.France then pulled off a

shock victory in the women’s 4x200m after two fumbled handovers by a star-studded Jamaican team.

Maroussia Pare anchored

the French to gold from lane nine in 1:32.16 after butter-fingered exchanges from Olympic champions Elaine Thompson and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.

China grabbed silver in an

Asian record of 1:32.76 with Jamaica salvaging bronze af-ter their American rivals suf-fered another disqualification.

“We were nervous about facing such big, big teams,” admitted Pare.

“But even though we were running against Elaine Thompson and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, the magic hap-pened!”

Jamaica failed to win a single event, their male sprinters coming up woe-fully short in the 4x100 and 4x200m as they continue to struggle without retired sprint king Usain Bolt.

The United States made no mistake in the men’s 4x200m as Remontay Mc-Clain romped home in 1:20.12 with clear daylight between him and South Africa’s Akani Simbine.

Aleia Hobbs then hung on to give the Olympic champions a fifth gold medal in the wom-en’s 4x100m ahead of fast-fin-ishing Jamaica and Germany.

The Americans clocked 43.27 as Hobbs edged out Jon-ielle Smith by two hundredths with Rebekka Haase securing bronze for the 2017 winners.

But the US were unable to close with a hat-trick of wins after Brazil swept to a historic victory in the men’s 4x100m, firing a further warning to Team USA before the world championships in Doha later this year.

Paulo Andre Camilo de Ol-iveira held off American Noah Lyles in the tightest of finishes to clock a world-leading 38.05 with world champs Britain taking bronze.

A botched handover by American world champion Justin Gatlin left Isiah Young with too much work to do on the third leg.

After securing Brazil’s first-ever World Relays gold, de Oliveira was mobbed by his teammates as they celebrated wildly in the stadium where their country’s footballers lift-ed the World Cup in 2002.

Brazil claim a historic Men’s 4x100m gold medal after shocking US

American big-shots bruised but victorious at World Relays

(From left) Jorge Vides, Rodrigo do Nascimento, Paulo Andre Camilo de Oliveira and Derick Silva of Brazil celebrate after winning the Men’s 4x100m Relay Final at the IAAF World Relays 2019 in Yokohama, Japan on Sunday. (EPA-EFE)


QATAR’S star players Cherif You-nousse and Ahmed Tijan main-tained their stranglehold on the continental beach volleyball as they defended the Asian Cham-pionship crown with an emphatic 2-0 victory over top seeds Chinese Gao Peng and Li Yang in Maom-ing, China on Sunday.

The young and surging Qataris used aggression to rattle the rivals despite a massive home support to the Chinese players and then they controlled the proceedings, taking 33 minutes to wrap up a 21-13, 21-18 victory.

This was the fourth successive title for sixth world-ranked You-nousse and Tijan and fifth out of six events on the AVC Tour. Another striking feature of the dominant dis-play by the Qatari team is that they have not dropped a set in two Asian Championships so far. It was their 14th consecutive straight-set victory starting after their 2-1 quarter-final win over Iranians Bahman Salemi-injehboroun and Arash Vikili in the Asian Games in Palembang, Indo-nesia last year.

A pleased Younousse comment-ed after the prize distribution cer-emony, “We’re very delighted and proud to bring the Asian title home once again. We want the thank our family, friends and the association, especially the President Ali Ghanim al Kuwari, Secretary-General Yousef Kano and QVA beach volleyball vice-chairman Mohammed Salem al Kuwari, who really supported us right from the first day.

“We wanted to do something just as the national football team did in the UAE. That motivated us to

raise our level higher than our rivals could reach. Still I would say it was not an easy tournament for us espe-cially after the bronze medal in the Four-Star Xiamen Open recently.

“We have been out on the Tour

for more than two weeks. The final particularly was challenging as the Chinese players had a huge local backing. But our experience on the World Tour, which is certainly much tougher than the Asian one, helped

us piled pressure on the opponents and win the second back-to-back Asian title,” Younousse added.

Tijan said: “God has been very kind to us….We’re so proud of our performance over the past few weeks. We were first in Xiamen for the World Tour Four-Star event. Many of the top teams were present there and we managed the third place, which meant a lot.

“Coming back to the Asian Championship, it is a second time in a row that we won the title. We’re in fact delighted that we created a his-tory for winning two crowns with-out losing a set! We’re playing great beach volleyball. We’ve just started the season and till now, it has been a strong beginning for us. We’ll try to improve and raise our bar even

higher,” added Tijan. Initially, China had set its sights

on landing the men’s title at the Asian Senior Beach Volleyball Champion-ships for the first time in nine years. Wu Penggen and Xu Linyin handed China the last gold medal in the 2010 Asian meet at home in Haikou, but since then no Chinese team cap-tured the men’s title.

Gao and Li also performed well in their career, winning back-to-back Asian Tour Samila Open in Songkhla, Thailand (2018 and 2019) and claimed gold medal at the 2018 FIVB World Tour 2-star in Singa-pore aside from the ninth place at the Xiamen Open last month.

In the third-place playoff, Chi-nese third seeds Wu Jiaxin and Ha Likejiang restored their pride

after beating Australians Cole Du-rant and Damien Schumann 2-0 (21-19 21-16).

QVA President Ali bin Ghanem al Kuwari hailed the achievement by Younousse and Tijan as historic and dedicated it to the wise leadership of the Emir His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani and the support from Qatar Olympic Com-mittee President His Excellency Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad al Thani.

He also added: “The Asian title will inspire both Younousse and Tijan to perform well in the upcom-ing World Beach Volleyball Cham-pionship in Hamburg, Germany. The team is making an incredible progress in the rankings, which will help them qualify for the 2020 To-kyo Olympics straight.”

Mohammed Salem al Kuwari, Vice-Chairman of the Beach Com-mittee Commission, expressed his delight at the successful defence of the Asian title by the Qatar team. “I congratulate the team and the support staff on this wonderful performance. Their hard work and dedication are keys to this achieve-ment. Now the next target for our team is to get an entry to the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020. The team is currently playing very well on the World Tour and the QVA Beach Vol-leyball Commission will make every possible effort to help them make to the Olympics.”

RESULTSGold medalCherif/Ahmed (QAT) beat P. Gao/Y. Li (CHN) 2-0 (21-13, 21-18) 0:33

Bronze medalWu Jiaxin/Ha Likejiang (CHN) beat Durant/Schumann (AUS) 2-0 (21-19, 21-16) 0:37

The Qatari pair creates a unique record, defend the Asian Beach Volleyball Championship title without dropping a set

Cherif, Ahmed kings of Asia again

Cherif Younousse (standing left) and Ahmed Tijan (Standing right) with coach Mariano Baracetti (sitting left) celebrate after winning the Asian Beach Volleyball Championship in Maoming, China on Sunday.

Younousse and Tijan with the prize money cheque on the podium after winning the final against the Chinese team in Maoming on Sunday.

Nadir Abubakr of Police jumps to beat the Al Ahli players during the second semi-final playoff of the Amir Cup Volleyball Championship at the QVA Hall in Doha on Friday.

Police overcome Al Ahli, enter Amir Cup volleyball finalTRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA

FOUR-TIME runners-up Po-lice took two matches to punch their ticket to the final of the prestigious Amir Cup Volley-ball Championship with a 3-1 victory over last year’s Al Ahli Club at the QVA Indoor Hall on Saturday.

Police had a flying start as they bagged the opening set but Al Ahli, who won the 1987-88 title in four finals, tied the scores as they clinched the second set. Police however used their all-round abilities to carve out a 25-14, 21-25, 25-22, 25-18 victory in one hour and 38 minutes to advance to the final.

The QVA League winners Police had been shut out of the Amir Cup title clash for four seasons. They lost three finals to Al Arabi, the 21-time cham-pions and the last one to Al

Rayyan Club in 2013-14. Police have been consistent

this season in terms of winning accolades. Though they lost the Super Cup to Al Rayyan at the beginning, they reigned su-preme in the League in which they did not drop a match and posted 18 triumphs in a row.

Besides taking home the National Volleyball Cup, they grabbed the bronze medal in the Arab Club Championship in Tunis as well. They followed it with the runners-up finish to Al Rayyan in the Qatar Cup but they are expected to pose a tough challenge in the final and

may even go on to claim their maiden Amir Cup, considering the strength and rhythm they are displaying.

Willner Rivas and Evandro Guerra collected 16 points each for Police. Osman (11), Na-dir Abubakr (10) and captain John Chigbo (8) maintained the pressure on the opponents.

Brazilian Rafael Araujo came up with a match-high contribution of 23 points for Al Ahli, including seven blocks. Bartlomiej Lipinski (Poland) had eight points with six off the blocks. Other players failed to offer any substantial contri-bution.

Police had beaten Al Ahli Club in the opening match of their best-of-three series 25-22, 26-24, 25-19.

RESULTS

Police beat Al Ahli 25-14, 21-25, 25-22, 25-18 in 98 minutes(Police win series 2-0 and advance to the final)

QVA Board Member Mohammed Salem al Kuwari presents the man of the match award to Bobby of Police in Doha on Friday.

Sports 19Monday, May 13, 2019

THE Amir HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani hosted an iftar banquet for their excellencies members of the ruling family and dignitaries at the Amiri Diwan on Sunday. The iftar ban-quet was attended by HE Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Khalifa al Thani; HH Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al Thani, personal representative of HH the Amir; HH Sheikh Ab-dullah bin Khalifa al Thani; HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa al Thani; HE Jassim bin Khalifa al Thani and a number of their excellencies sheikhs. (QNA)

Classic cars enchant automotive enthusiasts at Souq Waqif

The Souq Waqif management is organising a parade of classic cars dating back to the 1980s and 1970s, at the market every Friday and Saturday throughout the Holy Month of Ramadan. The vintage beauties are adding to the charm of the market. (TNN)

The Last Word20 Monday, May 13, 2019

AMIR HOSTS IFTAR FOR MEMBERS OF ROYAL FAMILY, DIGNITARIES

qatar on course to achieve food security

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