Qatar future ‘bright’ onmassive LNG expansion

Full Moon shines on Derby Day; double for Al Shaqab

BUSINESS | Page 1 SPORT | Page 1

GULF TIMES

published in

QATAR

since 1978

SUNDAY Vol. XXXIX No. 11041

December 23, 2018Rabia II 16, 1440 AH www. gulf-times.com 2 Riyals

QATAR | Reaction

Qatar welcomes UN resolution on YemenQatar has welcomed the UN Security Council resolution No 2451 on Yemen, calling for a ceasefire and for activating the agreements and commitments reached in the Stockholm negotiations. In a statement yesterday, the Ministry of Foreign Aff airs said that the UN decision would alleviate the unprecedented human tragedy of the brotherly Yemeni people, if all parties are committed to it. The statement reiterated Qatar’s call to all parties of the conflict in Yemen to abide by international law and to enable international organisations to play their role. Page 8

Qatar condemnsMogadishu bombingsQatar has strongly condemned the two bombings that took place in the Somali capital Mogadishu, causing deaths. In a statement yesterday, the Ministry of Foreign Aff airs reiterated Qatar’s firm stance rejecting violence and terrorism, regardless of motives and reasons. The statement expressed Qatar’s condolences to the victims’ families, the government and people of Somalia. Page 9

AMERICA | Politics

Partial govt shutdownover budget impasseAn air of chaos enveloped Washington yesterday as the US government kicked off the holidays by partially shutting down, following the failure of leaders to pass a federal spending bill as negotiations stalled over Donald Trump’s demand for money to build a US-Mexico border wall. Having postponed his holiday trip to Florida to continue talks after operations for several key US agencies ceased at 12:01am (0501 GMT), Trump warned yesterday morning that “it could be a long stay.” Page 10

BRITAIN | Aviation

Two held over Londonairport drone chaosTwo middle-aged people were being held yesterday over the suspected “criminal use of drones” at London’s Gatwick Airport, where flights were returning to normal after three days of pre-Christmas disruption aff ecting 140,000 passengers. Police swooped on a 47-year-old man and a 54-year-old woman from town of Crawley, which neighbours Britain’s second-busiest airport. Page 12

In brief

Demonstrators of the French “yellow vests” (gilets jaunes) movement gather on the Champs-Elysees avenue at the end of a protest in Paris yesterday as the movement turned out in smaller numbers for a sixth Saturday of nationwide demonstrations. In Paris, the scene of violent clashes in previous demonstrations, traff ic was normal in the morning and most shops, except for some luxury boutiques, were open for business in the busy weekend before Christmas. Page 13

‘Yellow vest’ protests continue

UK-based broadcaster complains of piracyBy Anthony HarwoodGT London Correspondent

An online streaming service with the UK rights for La Liga and Serie A is warning that the

whole broadcast industry is under threat from piracy.

Eleven Sports is in danger of clos-ing its UK operations which it only launched in August after purchasing the broadcast rights to Spanish and Italian football.

In a statement last week the multi-national blamed ‘the challenges posed by rampant piracy’ which were ham-pering talks with Sky, Virgin and BT for them to show its content on their platforms.

The company, which is control-

led by Leeds owner Andrea Radiz-zani, spoke out after the World Trade Organisation (WTO) announced on Wednesday that it was launching an investigation into piracy.

The probe came after the Qatari channel, beIN Sports, complained to the WTO that a pirate station ‘owned’ by Saudi Arabia, called beoutQ, was illegally stealing its coverage of La Liga, Serie A and the Premier League.

But what started as a Middle East spat quickly became a problem for the West after the rogue Saudi chan-nel began broadcasting the pirated sports content across Europe, as well as stealing 10,000 major international movies and television series.

beoutQ set top boxes are sold with 10 sports channels, all showing sto-len content including the Champions

League, Wimbledon, Formula One, the Olympics and WWE - as well as the top European leagues.

It led to Marc Watson, CEO of Eleven Sports Group, warning: “Ille-gal streaming presents an existential threat to the broadcast industry as a whole. We welcome all attempts to deter content piracy in all its forms.”

The row started last year when the Riyadh-based satellite, Arabsat, be-gan broadcasting beoutQ after a dip-lomatic row between Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

FIFA and UEFA also criticised Ar-absat, which is owned by the Saudi Arabian government, and threatened legal action.

Sky and the BBC also complained to the European Commission after dis-covering its content was being stolen.

Last month Qatar, which has born the brunt of the piracy because beIN Sports owns broadcast rights of all the top sports competitions across the Mena (Middle East and North Africa) region, took its complaint to the WTO.

It launched an investigation despite objections from Saudi Arabia, which refused to take part saying the move was a threat to its’ national security’.

Sophie Jordan, Executive Director of Legal Aff airs at beIN Media Group, said: “Quite simply, this is about the international rule of law – beoutQ has been committing a completely unprecedented and brazen theft of intellectual property over the past 18 months – aff ecting rights hold-ers, broadcasters, movie studios and other stakeholders across the world of sports and entertainment. To Page 6

Shop Qatar’s 3rdedition launchedBy Joey AguilarStaff Reporter

Live music performances and a fashion show featuring latest trends in the industry marked

the offi cial opening of Shop Qatar’s 3rd edition, giving attendees a peek of the festival’s diverse off erings until January 20.

The event held on Thursday (Decem-ber 20) at Msheireb Museums was at-tended by many VIPs, including minis-ters, diplomats from various embassies in Doha, government offi cials and pri-vate sector leaders, along with the fes-tival’s host and partner organisations.

“This year, Shop Qatar is taking place during a very special season of the year for visitors and residents alike. Its content and off erings are reviewed and renewed annually to en-sure our audience segments are get-ting curated experiences that are au-thentic and respond to their diff erent needs,” Rashed al-Qurese from the National Tourism Council (NTC) said.

He thanked NTC partners across public and private sectors for con-tinuously supporting and making the annual festival a success and “we

hope to see it grow even bigger in the years to come.”

Shop Qatar’s latest edition, which kicked off with the fi rst National Day Trade Festival from December 15-20, gives residents and visitors an oppor-tunity to avail an array of retail pro-motions, entertainment shows, and special hospitality packages across the country.

“We are honoured to collaborate with NTC on this very special occa-sion. We share important common values in promoting Qatar, its culture, history and heritage,” Msheireb Prop-

erties acting CEO Ali al-Kuwari said in a press statement.

“Such events complement our ef-forts in reviving the old city centre of Msheireb Downtown Doha to make it once again the social and commercial hotspot that it once was,” he noted.

Some QR3mn worth of car and cash prizes are at stake during the month-long festival, giving every shopper a chance to enter the week-ly raffle draw for every QR200 pur-chase. The final draw will take place at the closing ceremony on Sunday, January 20, 2019. To Page 20

Amir affi rms Qatar’ssupport for SudanQNA/AgenciesDoha/Khartoum

His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani has held a telephone conver-

sation with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.

During the phone call, President al-Bashir briefed the Amir on the de-velopments in Sudan. In this regard, the Amir affi rmed Qatar’s support for Sudan and its readiness to off er help to overcome these conditions, reiterating his keenness on Sudan’s security and stability.

The Sudanese president thanked His Highness the Amir for his keenness and concern.

Reuters adds from Khartoum: Su-danese authorities arrested 14 leaders of an opposition coalition yesterday, a spokesman for the grouping said, as anti-government protests driven by an economic crisis continued for a fourth day in several cities.

Farouk Abu Issa, the 85-year-old head of the National Consen-sus Forces, one of the country’s two main opposition groupings, was among those detained after an opposition meeting in the capital

Khartoum, said spokesman Sadiq Youssef.

“We demand their immediate release, and their arrest is an attempt by the re-gime to stop the street movements,” Youssef said, adding that Abu Issa was in poor health and had been transferred to hospital after his detention.

Offi cials could not immediately be reached for comment.

The arrests came on the fourth day of demonstrations, fuelled by dete-riorating economic conditions in cities across Sudan, in which protesters have voiced anger over corruption.

Protesters also gathered in several eastern neighbourhoods of Khartoum and in the southern city of Madani, witnesses said.

Faisal Hassan Ibrahim, an assistant to Bashir and deputy head of the rul-ing party, said the protests were “co-ordinated and organised” and that two of those killed in demonstrations in the city of al-Qadarif were from the armed forces.

“Now the Sudanese armed forces are guarding strategic locations in all Su-danese regions,” he added.

Ibrahim said the latest protests were being manipulated by “organised en-tities” without naming particular groups.

Saudi woman activisttortured in jail: father

The father of Saudi activist Lou-jain al-Hathloul has claimed that Saudi authorities are tor-

turing his daughter inside the jail.On his Twitter account, Hathloul al-

Hathloul, father of imprisoned activist Loujain, mentioned about the sexual harassment and torture his daughter is facing in the prison.

Quoting an incident from history, he tweeted: “A girl screamed ‘O Mu’tasim’ (from a Roman jail) and this scream was engraved on the forehead of history.”

He added referring to his daugh-ter: “There are many stories about the cause of that scream, but it is certain that she was not electrocuted, was not held incommunicado for more than four months, was not sexually harassed and not threatened with rape and murder thereafter.”

Human Rights Watch quoting “in-formed sources” said last month that at least three of the woman activists have undergone electric shocks, whipping and “forcible hugging and kissing”.

Another report from Amnesty Interna-tional alleges they were “repeatedly tor-tured by electrocution and fl ogging, leav-ing some unable to walk or stand properly”

and “subjected to sexual harassment” .The reports said Loujain al-Hathloul

was being held in the Dhahban Prison alongside six other activists, includ-ing Samar Badawi, sister of imprisoned blogger Raif Bawai.

Canada-based opposition activist Omar Abdul Aziz al-Zahrani said the targeting of al-Hathloul by the Saudi authorities is because she raised her voice, calling for granting women their rights and releasing detainees.

Al-Zahrani added: “Al-Hathloul comes from a rich family and her de-mands were not personal. She was ar-rested twice in the past, which shows the anger of Saudi authorities at her.”

Al-Hathloul was detained by Saudi Arabian offi cials alongside several oth-er prominent human rights advocates, in what many experts are calling a crackdown on activism in the country.

Reports said that the former adviser of the former royal court Saud al-Qahtani supervised the torture of activists. Al-Qahtani is alleged to have issued the order to murder Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Turkish consulate in Istanbul on the instructions of Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman.

Senior off icials of National Tourism Council and Msheireb Properties at the off icial opening of the 3rd edition of Shop Qatar. PICTURE: Noushad Thekkayil

Broidy hit with another setback in Qatar lawsuitReutersWashington

A former top fundraiser for US President Donald Trump suf-fered another legal setback on

Friday in his eff orts to pin the blame on Qatar for a hack of his e-mails, as a judge tossed his lawsuit against a vet-eran United Nations diplomat.

Elliott Broidy, a businessman who held senior fi nance posts in Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and his inaugural committee, sued Jamal Benomar in July, claiming he orches-trated the dissemination of hacked e-mails to media outlets.

Benomar, a British citizen born in

Morocco and a former UN special en-voy for Yemen, had denied involvement and sought to get the lawsuit thrown out by asserting diplomatic immunity, a status confi rmed by the Trump ad-ministration last month.

Siding with Benomar, Manhattan Federal District Judge Cathy Seibel dis-missed the case, court records show.

“To be clear, I have never spoken with nor met Elliott Broidy. I never was involved in any hacking scheme,” Benomar said in a statement applaud-ing the court decision.

Broidy, who has claimed he was tar-geted by Qatar and its agents over his eff orts to shift US policy against the Gulf nation, plans to appeal the deci-sion, his lawyer said. To Page 6

Entertainment, prizes worth QR3mn await shoppers until Jan 20

QATAR

Gulf Times Sunday, December 23, 20182

Doctors get tips on discussing bad news with patientsA training programme to

help doctors break bad news to patients in a sen-

sitive and constructive manner was held at Weill Cornell Medi-cine-Qatar (WCM-Q) in collab-oration with the Qatar Cancer Society.

A total of 24 physicians from the Primary Health Care Cor-poration (PHCC) participated in the day-long event comprising training exercises, role play ses-sions, and discussions to share the latest best practice on com-municating diffi cult diagnoses to patients.

Dr Liam Fernyhough, assist-ant professor of medicine and course director, explained that the breaking of bad news can be a diffi cult part of any doctor-patient encounter.

“Relevant communica-tion skills can be learned and practised so that a discussion of bad news can give patients an accurate understanding of their diagnosis whilst mini-mising the stress and emo-tional pain of the moment as far as possible.”

Dr Fernyhough intro-duced the participants to the

SPIKES protocol, designed to help doctors deliver bad news both sensitively and ac-curately. Research has shown that SPIKES, which stands for Setting; Patient perception; Invitation for information; Knowledge; Explore emotions and empathise; and Strategy and summary, gives doctors and medical students greater

confidence in their ability to share difficult news with pa-tients.

The protocol advises doctors to provide a quiet location with no distractions, discover how much a patient understands about their situation, and as-sess how much information should be provided in the con-sultation and how much left for

future meetings. The SPIKES protocol also rec-

ommends that doctors should avoid using specialist medical terms and should observe verbal and non-verbal cues to discern the patient’s emotional state, off ering empathy when appro-priate.

Doctors should conclude in-teractions by giving a summary

and discussing future plans to show patients what the path ahead looks like.

Dr Mohamud Verjee, associ-ate professor of family medicine in clinical medicine, described a narrative involving patients, physicians and a need to break some bad news.

Dr Alan Weber, visiting pro-fessor of English, spoke about

the positive eff ects of good pa-tient-doctor communication and the evidence behind good communication outcomes.

Dr Stella Major, associate professor of family medicine in clinical medicine, described how best to engage with the role play sessions, in which the participants practised break-ing bad news to actors playing

the roles of patients. Dr Amal Khidir, associate professor of paediatrics, also facilitated the event.

The event was accredited lo-cally by the Qatar Council for Healthcare Practitioners-Ac-creditation Department and internationally by the Accredi-tation Council for Continuing Medical Education.

Dr Amal Khidir helped facilitate the event. Dr Stella Major Dr Mohamud Verjee

Senior UN offi cial seeks stronger ties with QRCSTwo senior offi cials from

Qatar Red Crescent Soci-ety (QRCS) and the United

Nations (UN) have agreed to work together to alleviate the suff ering of war-aff ected and neediest populations, particu-larly in Yemen, Somalia, Syria, and Palestine.

QRCS secretary-general Ali bin Hassan al-Hammadi met with UN’s undersecretary for humanitarian aff airs and emer-gency relief co-ordinator Sir Mark Andrew Lowcock during the 18th Doha Forum, discussing mutual humanitarian co-opera-tion in war zones.

QRCS’ Relief and Internation-al Development Division general director Noura Rashid al-Dosari was also involved in the discus-sion.

Al-Hammadi welcomed the senior guest and gave him an overview of QRCS’ active role as part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Move-ment, through a network of rep-resentation offi ces in multiple countries across Asia and Africa.

He highlighted the impor-tance attached by the State of Qatar to relief and development programmes, which are QRCS’s major mandates.

In Yemen, al-Dosari said QRCS off ers diverse services and aid in water and sanitation, shel-ter, and healthcare.

Notably, the organisation pro-vides vaccination for children against cholera and other epi-demic that have weighed heav-ily on the Yemeni people for the past few years.

“On the occasion of Qatar’s National Day 2018, we have de-ployed four medical convoys to extend medical help for poor pa-

tients in Bangladesh, Jordan, So-malia, and Sudan,” al-Hammadi said.

Sir Lowcock expressed his appreciation for QRCS’ hu-manitarian contributions, em-phasising his special interest in the Yemeni confl ict, under the agreement between His High-ness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and UN secretary-general Antonio Gu-terres towards intensifi ed eff orts

to put an end to the suff erings in Yemen. He also put Palestine as a top priority for him.

QRCS pays great attention to humanitarian diplomacy and advocacy, by working towards what was described as a “hu-manitarianised” legislation: issuing emergency appeals and launching fundraising cam-paigns to mobilise support for the vulnerable; raising aware-ness about disasters and crises

to urge the international com-munity to intervene; and help the nations hit by natural dis-asters or wars and armed con-flicts.

QRCS is also promoting the international humanitarian law, the four Geneva Conventions, the seven fundamental humani-tarian principles, and human rights to further establish inter-national peace and security.

Other undertakings in this

fi eld include building the capac-ity of fellow national societies and charitable organisations and upgrading their human, techni-cal, and administrative resourc-es; strengthening professional, institutional, and personal rela-tions with all components and offi cials of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Move-ment; and representing Qatar in regional and international social and humanitarian events.

Vodafone wraps up ‘most successful’ Qatar National Day celebrations to date

Vodafone Qatar has con-cluded a range of excit-ing activities that were

spread over a course of fi ve days and designed to celebrate the Qatar National Day.

This marks the largest Voda-fone celebration for the coun-try’s National Day and it includ-ed a series of activations – from a carefully designed ‘village’ that merged culture and technology, to an unforgettable aerial per-formance featuring 300 drones.

Vodafone Qatar proved once again its commitment to facili-tating community-wide con-nections and making Qatar one of the world’s most tech-ad-vanced countries.

As the strategic telecommu-nications partner of the celebra-tions at Katara – the Cultural Village, Vodafone Qatar began by deploying its 5G network in one of the country’s most popu-lar leisure sites.

As a result, thousands of Ka-

tara visitors were able to enjoy trialing the superfast, seamless connectivity that 5G coverage can provide – ahead of its com-mercial launch in 2019.

Providing entertainment for families, gamers and culture-lovers alike, the ‘Vodafone Vil-lage’ was a highlight of the Qa-tar National Day celebrations at Katara. Merging the best of cul-ture and technology, it invited visitors to try traditional games, marvel at classic cars and par-take in online gaming powered by Vodafone 5G.

On December 17 and 19, 300 drones, which lit up the night sky and an opera show called ‘Citizens and Expats: We Are One’, captivated spectators in a stunning harmony of music, lights, and dance.

Vodafone Qatar CEO Sheikh Hamad Abdulla Jassim al-Thani said, “As with every year, it was important for us to join members of the community as we cele-

brate our country’s proud past and ambitious future. Qatar is a young nation with endless aspi-rations for its future.

“At Vodafone Qatar, we are committed to being there every step of the way as we continue investing in world-class infra-structure that will accelerate the journey towards achieving the Qatar National Vision 2030, thus enhancing the way people work and live. We look forward to achieving many future mile-stones together.”

Dr Khalid bin Ibrahim al-Sulaiti, general manager of

Katara – the Cultural Village, said: “As always, Katara has organised an incredible pro-gramme of activities spread over a nine-day period and designed to celebrate this great nation by educating and entertaining visitors.”

He added that Katara is al-ways working to provide audi-ences with exciting events and activities such as ‘Citizens and Expats: We Are One’. Al-Sulaiti also thanked all Qatar National Day celebrations’ partners and sponsors, including Vodafone Qatar, highlighting the role that the company had played in en-riching the celebrations at Ka-tara and attracting audiences of all ages and backgrounds.

The nine-day long celebra-tions at Katara were one of the highlights of this year’s Qatar National Day with more than 45 events and activities that took place, including fi reworks, cul-tural shows, and more. Some of Vodafone’s Qatar National Day-related performances at Katara – the Cultural Village.

Dr Liam Fernyhough

Sir Mark Andrew Lowcock (left) speaks to Ali bin Hassan al-Hammadi at a recent meeting in Doha.

CRA issues IPv6transition guidelines to ensure higherInternet security

The Communications Reg-ulatory Authority (CRA) has collaborated with

Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q) and Qatar Uni-versity (QU) to issue a handbook of guidelines and basics to im-plement an IPv6/IPv4 dual-stack.

This is part of CRA’s initiative to support the IPv6 Taskforce in Qatar towards achieving a com-plete transition to IPv6, the CRA said in a statement yesterday.

The handbook includes the steps required to implement IPv6/IPv4 dual-stack in stake-holders’ networks, which can be customised to the organisations’ particular circumstances. The handbook also includes a check-list to clarify questions about dual stack implementation.

“The CRA is pleased with this collaboration. Enabling IPv6 in Qatar will provide higher Inter-net security and will ensure Qa-tar readiness for all new upcom-ing next generation technologies such as Internet of Things, con-nected self-driving vehicles, and Virtual Reality.

“IPv6 will also continue to position Qatar as a leader for adapting all these advanced technologies, in line with Qatar National Vision 2030 objec-tives,” said engineer Abdulla Jas-smi, Technical Aff airs Depart-ment manager at CRA.

“The handbook provides the stakeholders with a solid basis for the dual-stack implementation and CRA is always ready to sup-port them in the IPv6 transition journey in order to achieve the main goal which is Qatar’s transi-tion to a digital society,” he added.

Shuja Ashfaq, section head of Network and Telecommunica-tions at Qatar University, said:

“It was a pleasure to collaborate with CRA on this important na-tional project and to contrib-ute to the taskforce’s mission to transition to IPv6.

“Qatar University Research and Graduate Studies Offi ce serves local and global commu-nities by helping to solve chal-lenges they face; and provide the underpinnings for a knowledge-based economy through knowl-edge dissemination and tech-nology transfer.”

He added: “Qatar Univer-sity is the fi rst entity in Qatar, which has implemented IPv6 for more than three years in its in-frastructure and will be pleased to share knowledge and experi-ence with other IPv6 taskforce members. We look forward to achieve the desired benefi ts of the guidelines handbook and we would like to invite the taskforce to do the needed IPv6 tests in QU equipped labs.”

Khalid Sarwar Warraich, chief information offi cer of Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, said: “CMU-Q is dedicated to Qatar’s digital future, and we are pleased to lend our expertise to the na-tion-wide transition to IPv6.

“This has been a fruitful and productive collaboration, and the handbook we have devel-oped will provide stakeholders the tools to implement a dual-stacked IPv6/IPv4 environment effi ciently and within the time-line. We would like to invite the taskforce to do the necessary IPv6 testing in the CMU-Q’s dual-stacked testbed.”

The CRA recommended the IPv6/IPv4 dual-stack approach for a complete and seamless transition to IPv6 because of its fl exibility and ease in confi gura-tion.

QATAR3

Gulf Times Sunday, December 23, 2018

Ooredoo honours Es’hailSat teamfor successful launch of satellite

In the presence of Ooredoo senior executives, Ooredoo Chairman Sheikh Abdulla

bin Mohamed bin Saud al-Thani has welcomed Es’hailSat CEO Ali bin Ahmed al-Kuwari, and a group of Es’hailSat team mem-bers at Ooredoo’s headquarters following the successful launch of the Qatari satellite Es’hail 2 last month.

Sheikh Abdulla honoured the Es’hailsat team for their achievement, and extended his

congratulations and wishes for the team to continue their suc-cess in the future.

Talking about the occasion, Sheikh Abdulla said: “The launch of Es’Hail 2 is a huge step for our country and a tes-tament of dedication and ex-pertise of our local companies. As a global company born in Qatar, we’re delighted to have

welcomed the Es’HailSat team to congratulate them on their success and highlight Qatar’s achievements.”

Es’Hail 2 is a Qatari sat-ellite, launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on November 15, 2018. The sat-ellite was launched from the Kennedy Space Centre and is aimed to provide direct-to-home television services in the Middle East and North Africa region.

Ooredoo Chairman Sheikh Abdulla bin Mohamed bin Saud al-Thani and other senior executives with Es’hailSat CEO, Ali bin Ahmed al-Kuwari, and a group of Es’hailSat team members.

Ooredoo signs MoU with Myanmar BookAid and Preservation Foundation

Ooredoo Myanmar has signed a memoran-dum of understanding

(MoU) with Myanmar Book Aid and Preservation Foundation (MBAPF) for the transformation of 150 libraries to community centres across the nation.

The announcement was made at the ‘All Literate People have to Read’ event at the Myanmar In-ternational Convention Centre 2 (MICC-2) in Naypyidaw, Myan-mar, and was attended by Myan-mar’s state counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Union Minister for Ministry of Information Dr U Pe Myint, and Union Minister for Ministry of Education Dr U Myo Thein Gyi.

As part of the MoU, Ooredoo

Myanmar will help transform 150 libraries to become digital libraries and community centres that will benefi t the surrounding communities. Ooredoo will sup-port the project with comput-ers, modems, unlimited Inter-net connectivity for two years, and digital literacy and capacity building training for 190 librar-ians, valued at approximately 280mn Myanmar kyat (MMK) through Beyond Access Myan-mar project.

This project aims to connect libraries across Myanmar with the internet, creating new dig-ital hubs in communities across the country, which is one of the global trends of public libraries.

This will provide learning tools and services to improve the digital literacy and access to information to the people of My-anmar, fostering an environment of technological inclusivity.

Ooredoo Myanmar CEO

Vikram Sinha said: “We are de-lighted to provide tools and in-ternet access to the libraries. With the computers and fast internet provided by Ooredoo,

we hope that the library patrons will be able to open the door to new knowledge as well as equip-ping themselves with benefi ts brought to them by technologi-

cal advancement. Through the programme, libraries in Myan-mar will have the power to con-nect, educate, support and en-gage everyone.”

Ooredoo Myanmar’s work is in partnership with the MBAPF, an organisation that works to pro-vide libraries with books, ICT, and training across Myanmar.

This is the third MoU that Ooredoo Myanmar has signed with MBAPF since September 2014, having previously signed MoUs in 2014 and 2017, amount-ing to a total contribution of nearly MMK516mn. Ooredoo Myanmar has already provided 539 tablets and connected 90 li-braries across the past fi ve years.

According to a third party IREX survey, 300,000 people have used those devices in which 50,000 accessed the internet for the fi rst time in their lives. Among them, over 45% used the libraries to access news or learn-ing opportunities, 32% sought to improve their technology skills, and 23% applied for jobs.

More than 350,000 have visited the library to improve

their digital literacy, with over 120,000 people have been pro-vided training on how to use the internet and digital literacy skills.

MBAPF executive director Dr U Thant Thaw Kaung said, “In-formation becomes the most valuable resource and very im-portant asset in our day-to-day lives. Since this project is reach-ing out to the most vulnerable and underserved population in Myanmar, we welcome and ap-preciate such support. We would like to thank Ooredoo for con-tinuous support for this pro-gramme.”

Beyond Access Myanmar has been working with the Ministry of Information and Ministry of Education, as well as a number of local and international part-ners to build up competency skills for the most vulnerable and under-served population in Myanmar.

The MoU seeks to transform of Myanmar’s ‘Community Library to Community Centre’ project

Dignitaries from Ooredoo and Myanmar Book Aid and Preservation Foundation during the MoU signing ceremony.

Qeeri showcases sustainabilityresearch at climate conference

Three senior repre-sentatives from Qa-tar Environment and

Energy Research Institute (Qeeri), part of Hamad bin Khalifa University (HBKU), were members of the Qa-tari delegation at the 24th Conference of the Parties (COP24) to the United Na-tions Framework Conven-tion on Climate Change (UNFCCC) recently held in Katowice, Poland. The team of scientists showcased the work that Qeeri is doing in the spheres of energy, envi-ronment and water security research and development.

Mohamed Ayoub, who leads the Air Quality and Climate Change programme at Qeeri, and Dr Huda al-Sulaiti, who heads the Wa-ter Group, participated in a side event organised by Qatar’s Ministry of Mu-nicipality and Environment (MME) at COP24, where they addressed research re-lated to water security, air quality and food security in Qatar within the context of climate change. Dr Veronica Bermudez, senior research director for energy, high-lighted Qeeri’s research to develop and promote the implementation of sustain-able renewable energy ap-

proaches in the country.Dr al-Sulaiti highlighted

the water security chal-lenges facing Qatar in the context of climate change, stating that, with proper management, the country can avert an anticipated wa-ter defi cit in 2050. She also spoke about the increased risks of limited resources posed by climate change, and the adaptive technolo-gies research conducted at Qeeri. She also drew at-tention to the development of advanced materials for desalination and water treatment that are energy-effi cient and cost-eff ective, including fi ltration mem-brane and new desalination technologies.

Mohamed Ayoub spoke about the impact of climate

change on meteorology and air quality in Qatar. He noted that Qeeri focuses on building knowledge and developing ca-pabilities in understanding and addressing air pollution, and the impact of air pollution in Qatar. He also touched on the increase in frequency of sand/dust storms and rain events over the past decade, and fur-ther highlighted the trend of increasing dust capacity of the regional atmosphere.

“This has been an incred-ible opportunity for our in-stitute,” said Dr Marc Ver-meersch, executive director of Qeeri. “Together with our national stakeholders such as the Ministry of Munici-pality and Environment, we are committed to enabling Qatar in tackling its grand challenges in energy, wa-

ter, and environment. It has been a true privilege to have three of our senior repre-sentatives participate in this important event, as part of the Qatar delegation.”

“With its skilled scien-tists and unique facilities and capabilities, Qeeri plays a key role in providing a bet-ter scientifi c understanding of the environmental is-sues aff ecting the country including climate change. Qeeri is a valuable partner in implementing the appropri-ate solutions for Qatar. We are delighted that they were part of our COP24 delega-tion among other national partners,” added Abdulhadi Almarri, director of Climate Change Department at the Ministry of Municipality and Environment.

Qeeri representatives at the 24th Conference of the Parties (COP24) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Katowice, Poland.

Ministry opens admission for CTO training programme

The Ministry of Trans-port and Communica-tions (MoTC) has an-

nounced that the application for admission to the second class of the Chief Technology Offi cer (CTO) Training Pro-gramme is now open.

Launched in November 2017, CTO is a partnership between the Qatar Digital Government Training Pro-gramme (QDGTP) and HEC Paris. It aims to provide an intensive and immer-sive learning experience for CTOs and develop senior leaders’ strategic levels of

acumen and execution as part of the implementa-tion of the objectives of the Qatar Digital Government 2020 Strategy.

The programme, which graduated 25 CTOs in its fi rst class at a special gradu-ation event attended by HE the Prime Minister and In-terior Minister Sheikh Ab-dullah bin Nasser bin Kha-lifa al-Thani, aims to build highly-qualifi ed leadership and administrative capaci-ties, boosting professional-ism in ICT at ministries and government entities. The

programme signifi cantly supports the digital trans-formation agenda for Qatar Digital Government 2020.

CTOs at government en-tities and the private sec-tor are invited to apply for admission. Applications for registration are received until December 31, 2018 via GDQtraining@motc.gov.qa.

The six-month pro-gramme covers six diff er-ent learning modules: risk & strategy in a volatile and uncertain world, big data, digital transformation & innovation, change man-

agement, advanced project & contract management, optimising decisions & ne-gotiations, and leading high performing teams.

The CTO Training Pro-gramme functions under the umbrella of the larger QDGTP, which the Prime Minister launched during the fourth edition of Qatar’s ICT Conference QITCOM 2017.

For more information and to register for admission, call 40452334 or 40452335 or email qdgtraining@motc.gov.qa. Applications are accepted until December 31, 2018.

6 Gulf TimesSunday, December 23, 2018

QATAR

Porsche Design Huawei Mate 20 RS launched in QatarHuawei Consumer Busi-

ness Group (CBG) un-veiled the exclusive Por-

sche Design Huawei Mate 20 RS to users in Qatar during a launch event held recently at Black Or-chid at the Mondrian Hotel in Doha.

According to CBG, the Por-sche Design is the latest mobile luxury device that caters to a very niche category of daring individuals who are interested in mind challenging devices, yet practical and modern ones.

As the fourth handset to join the exclusive line-up, Porsche Design Huawei Mate 20 RS con-tinues the tradition set by its predecessors, blending state-of the-art technology with uncom-promising design.

“Huawei takes pride in being a pioneer in devices made for peo-ple who want to use technology to keep up with the speed of life,” said Ian Li, general manager of Huawei CBG, Middle East.

“Huawei has beaten all odds and sets an industry bench-mark for style and colour of new revolutionary devices,” Li noted.

“Especially for our Qatar-based customers who are on the lookout for not only the latest technology, but also the most exclusive where the new Arti-fi cial Intelligence strategy will focus on: evolving smart devices into intelligent devices by build-ing end-to-end capabilities that support co-ordinated develop-ment of chipsets, devices and the cloud,” Li added.

The Porsche Design is perfect for Qatar where indulging in luxury goods is enjoyed among residents and expats alike.

Qatar is one of the richest countries in the world and resi-dents of Qatar spend more on luxury goods and experiences than the rest of the region. In a survey commission by Ameri-can Express Middle East in 2016

it was noted than more than $4,000 a month is spent on lux-ury - approximately 12% of aver-age household income.

Salman Jassem al-Darwish, chairman and CEO of Porsche Centre Doha, said “the luxurious Porsche Design Huawei Mate 20 RS captures the best of both

worlds. It has the extravagant design of the Porsche Design brand as well as the high-tech, innovative attributes that Hua-wei is infamous for.”

Al-Darwish said “Porsche De-sign is very proud and excited about this partnership that has allowed us to present an exclu-

sive – yet innovative - high-end product for our elite customers. We have no doubt that custom-ers will embody the luxury of Porsche Design through this lat-est device.”

The Porsche Design Huawei Mate RS 20 incorporates the iconic automotive design ele-

ment into the back of the device with the Rennsport “RS” desig-nation.

It doesn’t stop there; the racing stripe motifs are put to-gether with all-natural leather and glass which adds a personal touch to the design. Together with perfectly rounded edges, the soft natural leather ensures a firm, ergonomic grip and pre-mium touch that evokes the

feeling of complete control.During the launch event,

Huawei delivered an informa-tive presentation about the brand’s performance in the re-gion and how Huawei has grown to become the 2nd largest smart-phone brand regionally and glo-bally.

Li unboxed and unveiled the new Porsche Design Huawei Mate 20 RS on stage.

Ian Li led the unveiling of Porsche Design Huawei Mate 20 RS in Qatar recently.

Porsche Design Huawei Mate 20 RS’ racing stripe motifs are put together with all-natural leather and glass which adds a personal touch to the design.

Latest mobile luxury device

The Porsche Design Huawei Mate 20 RS is available for QR7,099 and can be found in the followings stores:

Huawei showroom at Al Nasr St, Doha

Porsche Design Store, Lagoona Mall

Porsche Centre Doha, Medina Centrale, The Pearl-Qatar

Ooredoo eShop

Phone Features:Performance: Kirin 980 –

World’s 1st dual NPU Soc 7nm Process

Battery revolution: large battery + supercharge 2.0 and wireless charging

AI Biometric Security Thinking Lens: see more and

capture more in wider framesEMUI 9.0: customised UI for

precision

Tamuq awarded 11grants by QNRFTexas A&M University at Qa-

tar (Tamuq) was awarded 11 projects from the Qatar Na-

tional Research Fund (QNRF) in Cy-cle 11 of the National Priorities Re-search Programme, and its research offi ce was named the ‘Best Research Offi ce of the Year’.

This is the fourth year in a row the research offi ce has been recognised by QNRF and the sixth time in the past seven years. The research of-fi ce is responsible for vetting re-search proposals that are submitted to QNRF for funding and managing the awarded research projects.

Dr Hassan S Bazzi, associate dean for research and chemistry pro-fessor, said: “Texas A&M at Qatar is proud to be a partner in Qatar’s development through research that has a true impact. Research is at the core of our mission. Our faculty and principal investigators work to cre-ate research activities that address QNRF’s strategic pillars and drive progress in Qatar and the region.

“To be recognised for this hard work is very satisfying. It illustrates a dedication on behalf of our faculty and research initiatives to align with the priorities of the State of Qatar and provide long-term solutions to a rapidly diversifying economy.”

Cynthia Richmond, associate di-rector of the research offi ce, said: “The Offi ce of Research at Texas A&M at Qatar is accurate and eff ec-

tive in vetting proposals, meeting deadlines, and compliance criteria. The award is defi nitely because of our team’s outstanding eff orts and communication skills.”

The National Priorities Research Programme is the main funding programme of QNRF and the pri-mary means by which QNRF seeks to support research that addresses Qatar’s needs. QNRF selected 77 of the 284 proposals submitted for funding. Texas A&M at Qatar sub-mitted 40 proposals for a 28% suc-cess rate.

Texas A&M at Qatar’s Mechani-cal Engineering Programme and the Science Programme were awarded four proposals each and the Pe-troleum Engineering Programme was awarded three. The research projects address real-world chal-lenges directly applicable to Qatar.

Some of the awarded projects led by the principal investigators in-clude Dr Bilal Mansoor, associate professor in the Mechanical Engi-neering Programme, who received an award for implementing ad-vanced testing methods of oxygen-

enriched atmospheres like the one at the Air Separation Unit (ASU) at Pearl GTL, the world’s largest gas-to-liquids plant. Safe and hazard-free operation of the ASU is of stra-tegic importance to Qatar.

Also included is Dr Albertus Ret-nanto, professor of the practice in the Petroleum Engineering Pro-gramme, who is collaborating with Occidental Petroleum of Qatar to model seismic simulation of res-ervoirs as an enhanced oil recovery method so applied technologies in the fi eld can be improved.

Another principal investigator is assistant research scientist Dr Ilaria Menapace, who is designing local-ly-produced and recycled polymers as asphalt binders for use on Qa-tar’s roads. The advantages include saving money, reducing emissions, reducing waste and environmental contamination, promoting the local economy, and reducing port con-gestion.

Similarly, Dr Mohamed al-Hash-imi, research associate professor in the Science Programme, is devel-oping retrofi tting window fi lms for buildings that adjust with the out-side temperature to modulate trans-mitted light and heat. The outcome is a downturn in the massive energy consumption of buildings in Qatar due to heating, cooling and lighting costs, as well as increasing the com-fort of building occupants.

The research off ice is responsible for vetting proposals that are submitted to QNRF for funding and managing the projects.

UN offi cial says stability of world depends on political will of states

The stability of the world depends on the political will

of states, their shared re-sponsibility and eff orts to implement United Nations resolutions in various fi elds including human, women and chil-dren’s rights, UN General Assembly president Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces has said.

She was addressing a symposium hosted by Qatar University’s (QU) Faculty of Law under the title “Multilateralism Under Threat: The Chal-lenges Facing the UN in the lead up to its 75th An-niversary.”

HE Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif al-Thani, the Per-manent Representative of

Qatar to the UN, and QU president Dr Hassan al-Derham were among the guests.

In her speech, Maria Garces addressed today’s world crises including terrorism, illegal migra-tion, the refugee problem, violence against women, climate change, unem-ployment, international confl icts and armed con-fl ict. The former foreign

minister of Ecuador also noted the importance of multilateralism, includ-ing international co-op-eration, collective action, constructive dialogue and bilateral negotiations to confront these global cri-ses.

Director of the Law Clinic at QU College of Law, Dr Mohamed Mattar welcomed the UN deci-sion to adopt the Global Compact for Migration on December 10, which was considered a historic move on the roadmap to prevent suff ering. He also noted the number of UN initia-tives that QU contributes to in particular the United Nations Academic Impact and the Education for Jus-tice initiative.

Espinosa Garces speaking at QU.

Broidy hit with another setback

From Page 1

“We don’t believe that Mr Benomar’s claim of diplomatic status should provide him with immu-nity in this case,” Lee Wo-losky said.

Broidy has accused Qa-tari hackers of leaking his e-mails to the media, leading to the publica-tion of damaging stories that increased scrutiny of his access to Trump and

lobbying eff orts aimed at benefi ting his patron, the United Arab Emirates, at the expense of Qatar.

A federal judge in Cali-fornia in August granted Qatar’s request to be dis-missed from a similar law-suit, citing sovereign im-munity. Qatar has denied any involvement in the hacks.

Broidy appealed that dismissal. That case is pending.

UK-based broadcaster complains of piracyFrom Page 1

“Those responsible for this Saudi-based pirate operation must be held to account. No one can be above the law.”

beIN is also suing Saudi Arabia for $1bn in the only ever case of its kind relat-ing to state-supported il-legal piracy.

Kieron Sharp, CEO of FACT (Federation Against Copyright Theft), said: “FACT works on behalf of its members and clients to protect their content. Illegal streaming is cur-rently the greatest threat to broadcasters and rights-holders as it attacks the revenue base that allows

fi lms and TV programmes to be made and sports events to be staged.

“The enforcement and regulatory regime is strong in the UK and there is overt support from government in many guises to assist rights-holders and en-forcement agencies to take action.

“Even then it requires a major contribution and commitment to a relent-less process of varied and targeted actions to make inroads into the problem. The goal is to disrupt and prevent access and then to consider whether further actions such as criminal prosecution need to be tak-en against the perpetrators”.

REGION/ARAB WORLD

Gulf TimesSunday, December 23, 20188

UN team arrives to monitor Hodeidah ceasefi reAFPAden

UN monitors arrived in Yemen yesterday to over-see a fragile ceasefi re in

the rebel-held city of Hodeidah, the latest push to secure peace in the devastated country.

It comes a day after the UN Security Council unanimously approved a resolution authoris-ing the deployment of observers to Hodeidah, a lifeline port city which serves as the entry point for the majority of imports to war-torn Yemen.

A team led by Patrick Cam-maert, a retired Dutch general, was seen by an AFP journalist landing in Aden where the inter-nationally recognised govern-ment is based.

Cammaert was welcomed on arrival by Saghir bin Aziz, a general who heads the govern-ment team in a joint committee — with Houthi rebels — which is tasked with organising the with-

drawal of troops from Hodeidah.Another group of observers

arrived in the rebel-held capital Sanaa on a UN plane from Jor-dan, according to an AFP pho-tographer. After meeting with

leaders in Aden, Cammaert was also due to travel to Sanaa and onwards to Hodeidah, a Yemeni offi cial said.

Hodeidah is held by Yemen’s Houthi rebels and has been sub-

jected to an off ensive by pro-government forces, backed by a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia.

A halt to fi ghting in the stra-tegic port city follows intense

diplomatic eff orts which culmi-nated in peace talks last week in Sweden, where the warring par-ties agreed to the truce which came into force on Tuesday.

The ceasefi re remained shaky, however, with both sides accus-ing each other of violations in Hodeidah province.

The UN monitoring team could consist of 30 to 40 peo-ple, according to diplomats, and aims to secure the functioning of Hodeidah port and supervise the withdrawal of fi ghters from the city.

The text approved by the Se-curity Council “insists on the full respect by all parties of the ceasefi re agreed” for Hodeidah.

It authorises the United Na-tions to “establish and deploy, for an initial period of 30 days from the adoption of this reso-lution, an advance team to begin monitoring” the ceasefi re, under Cammaert’s leadership.

The resolution was backed by rebel negotiator Mohamed Ab-delsalam, who said late Friday

it marked “an important step towards stopping the aggres-sion and lifting the blockade”. He was referring to the Saudi-led military coalition which in-tervened in 2015 and imposed a blockade on Yemeni waters and airports.

Quoted by the rebel-run Al-Masirah TV, he criticised, however, the resolution for not condemning the “crimes of the aggressors”. The govern-ment of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi reaffirmed its “commitment (to respect) the agreement” reached in Sweden and endorsed by the UN reso-lution.

In a statement also released late Friday, the Yemeni gov-ernment pledged to work “in a positive spirit” with UN envoy Martin Griffi ths towards a last-ing political agreement to end the war.

Saudi Arabia also welcomed the resolution.

Khalid Manzalawi, the king-dom’s deputy permanent repre-

sentative to the UN, said the res-olution means that the Houthis “will lose their margin of ma-noeuvre”, the offi cial Saudi Press Agency reported.

Around 10,000 people have been killed since the Saudi-led intervention, according to the World Health Organisation, al-though rights groups say the death toll could be fi ve times higher.

The confl ict has unleashed a major humanitarian crisis and pushed 14mn Yemenis to the brink of famine.

The aid group Save the Chil-dren welcomed the UN resolu-tion but said that more needed to be done in a country where around 85,000 children are esti-mated to have died from extreme hunger and disease.

“The fi nal text fell short in recognising the sheer scale of the humanitarian crisis and to call for investigations into al-leged violations of international humanitarian law in Yemen,” it said in a statement.

Retired Dutch general Patrick Cammaert, who heads a United Nations advance team tasked with monitoring a ceasefire between the Houthi group and Saudi-backed government forces in Hodeidah, leaves Aden airport, yesterday.

Funeral held for Palestinians killed in border protestsDPAGaza

Mourners in the Gaza Strip yesterday buried four Pal-estinians who died in the

latest confrontation with Israeli sol-diers on the border.

An 18-year-old man was shot by Israeli soldiers on Friday and later died of his injuries, the Health Min-istry in the Palestinian territory said yesterday.

His death came after three Pal-estinians were killed and about 40 injured the previous evening in the eastern part of the Strip, a densely populated area controlled by the Hamas movement.The mourners, estimated to be in the thousands, shouted slogans against Israel and called on fi ghters to avenge their killing. Israel said that about 9,000 Palestinians had gathered at diff er-ent points on the border on Friday evening, the latest in the regular protests by Palestinians against a

blockade of the territory enforced by Israel and Egypt.

They are also demanding that Tel Aviv let Palestinian refugees return to their family homes in Israel.

Some 240 Palestinians have died in the regular confrontations since they broke out in March.

The protesters on Friday set tyres on fi re and threw explosives across the border fence, an Israeli military spokesman said.

Hamas has controlled the terri-tory since 2007.

The father (second right) of 16-year-old Palestinian Mohamed al-Jahjuh embraces the teenager’s brother (second left) during his funeral in Gaza City, yesterday.

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced during a visit to Libya yesterday an investigation into a shipment of arms smuggled from his country to the conflict-hit North African nation. Libyan off icials on Thursday said two containers of arms and munitions disguised as construction materials had been seized at the western port of Khoms. Rival administrations in Libya demanded an explanation as the UN mission in the country called the reports of the large ship-ment “extremely disconcerting” and said it expected experts from the world body to investigate.“We are going to take firm measures on this subject,” Cavusoglu said in translated comments at a press conference with his Libyan coun-terpart in Tripoli. “We are starting an investigation to determine how the arms were loaded into containers and how they entered Libya.” Libya has been subject to a UN arms embargo since it plunged into chaos amid the 2011 uprising that ousted and killed dictator Muam-mar Gaddafi. The country is divided between an internationally backed government based in Tripoli and a rival authority under strongman Khalifa Haftar in the east. UN experts have documented deliveries of weapons from destinations includ-ing Sudan, Egypt, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates despite the ban on weapons imports. The head of the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord, Fayez al-Sarraj, ex-pressed his “profound concern” over the latest shipment in a statement after meeting Cavusoglu.

Turkish minister says probing smuggled arms on Libya visit

DIPLOMACY

Moroccan activists rally to condemn murder of touristsDPA Rabat

Around 100 rights ac-tivists staged a rally outside the Danish

Embassy in the Moroccan capital Rabat yesterday to condemn the murder of two Scandinavian female tourists.

Moroccan authorities found the bodies of Maren Ueland of Norway and Lou-isa Veserager Jespersen of Denmark on Monday near the summit of Mount Toub-kal in the High Atlas moun-tain range, with cuts to their necks. A total of 13 people have been arrested in connec-tion with the killings, which Moroccan authorities believe to have been a terrorist act.

Moroccan authorities were

trying to verify a video clip circulating on social media that appeared to show the killing of one of the women. Norwegian and Danish police said Friday they believe the clip of the killing was authen-tic, but were seeking to verify it. In the footage, an alleged killer is heard shouting that the act was “in revenge to our brothers in Hageen.”

Hageen is a town in eastern Syria where a US-led coali-tion is carrying out air strikes against Islamic State mili-tants. Moroccan prosecu-tors also said they were in-vestigating a second video, which was apparently made a week before the attack and in which four of the arrested people pledge allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards launched war games in the Gulf yesterday, state television reported, after a US aircraft carrier en-tered the waterway amid rising tension with Washington over reim-posed US sanctions. Television showed amphibious forces landing on Iran’s Gulf island of Qeshm during the exercises, in which naval vessels, helicopters, drones, rocket launchers and commando units also took part. “Hopefully, with these exercises, our enemies will realise more than ever how devastating our response would be to any move by them,” said Guards chief Major General Mohamed Ali Jafari, state news agency IRNA reported. Qeshm, the largest island in the Gulf, is located near the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran Guards hold war gamesMARITIME

AFRICA9Gulf Times

Sunday, December 23, 2018

At least 13 killed in Mogadishu bombingReutersMogadishu

At least 13 people were killed and 17 wounded in a car bomb attack

claimed by Al Qaeda-linked group Al Shebaab close to the president’s residence in the Somali capital Mogadishu, po-lice said yesterday.

A second explosion followed nearby.

Al Shebaab, in comments broadcast on its Radio Anda-lus, claimed responsibility for both blasts and said the second was also a car bomb.

“The death toll has risen to 13 people including civilians and soldiers. Seventeen others were injured. The casualties are from the two blasts,” Major Mohamed Hussein, a police of-fi cer, told Reuters.

Among those killed were a journalist, two security per-sonnel and a driver working for local station Universal TV, whose car was passing the checkpoint at which the first blast went off, another reporter working for the sta-tion said.

“My colleague Awil Dahir Salad died in the blast to-gether with the driver and two security guards. They were killed by the first blast as they drove. May Allah rest their souls,” journalist Ab-diasis Ibrahim who works for Universal TV, told Reuters.

Police had earlier said the first car bomb at the check-point killed five, mostly sol-diers. A Reuters witness at the

scene of the second blast said he saw at least two bodies.

Ahmed Abdi, another po-lice officer, said the first car bomb exploded at a check-point some 400 metres from the president’s residence.

Al Shebaab carries out fre-quent attacks in Mogadishu. Its members want to dislodge the government and impose its rule based on its own strict interpretation of religious law.

The group was forced from Mogadishu in 2011 but main-tains a foothold in some re-gions.

It has killed thousands of Somalis and hundreds of ci-vilians across East Africa in a decade-long insurgency.

Somali people walk next to the scene of a car bombing attack in Mogadishu, yesterday.

Somalis gather near the wreckage of a car involved in the explosion near the president’s residence.

Envoy calls for ‘credible’ vote in DR Congo

AFP Kinshasa

The new US ambassador to Kinshasa said yester-day that a “credible and

transparent” presidential vote in the Democratic Republic of Congo next week would pave the way to enhanced co-operation with Washington.

“Credible and transparent elections would create an oc-casion for new possibilities of co-operation between our two countries,” Mike Hammer said in a French-language statement.

Hammer presented his cre-dentials more than two months after he was named, and just af-ter the DR Congo’s presidential poll was delayed until December 30. It was to have taken place today, but was postponed after a fi re broke out in a Kinshasa warehouse used by the national electoral commission.

The vote “might represent the fi rst democratic and peace-ful transition of power” in the country and “the United States is prepared to give its support,” the statement said.

Rajoelina closes in on election victoryAFPAntananarivo

Former Madagascan presi-dent Andry Rajoelina was set to return to power as

partial election results yester-day gave him a clear lead over his predecessor Marc Ravalo-manana, who has alleged the vote count was fraudulent.

With 3.5mn ballots counted out of about 5mn cast, Rajoelina had won 55.7% against 44.2% for Ravalomanana in Wednesday’s run-off election, according to the electoral commission.

Complete results are expected next week, before a period in which they can be legally chal-lenged via the courts.

The two-round election was beset by allegations of fraud from both sides and the result may be contested — raising the risk of political instability in the Indian Ocean island which has a history of coups and unrest.

“We are still waiting for the full results but I believe that the current results are irreversible. Victory is ours!” Hajo Andria-nainarivelo, a senior member of Rajoelina’s team, said.

Fanirisoa Erinaivo, a fi rst-round losing candidate who joined Ravalomanana’s team, demanded transparency over how the vote was being counted.

“According to the return sheets that have reached us, it is Marc Ravalomanana who is in the lead,” she said.

“The election commission only releases the sheets where Rajoelina is in the lead — we sus-pect manipulation.”

Ravalomanana was due to is-sue a statement today, his cam-paign team said.

Burundi declared the small central city of Gitega the country’s new political capital yesterday, in line with a presidential promise made a decade ago. A government spokesman named Gitega while also stating that the previous capital Bujumbura, on the north-eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika, would in future function solely as the country’s economic centre.

Burundi names Gitega as new capital

POLITICS

AMERICAS

Gulf Times Sunday, December 23, 201810

On the fi rst day of the US government shutdown, President Donald Trump

said he was continuing to nego-tiate with Democrats to end the impasse over the federal budget, but warned that “it could be a long stay” as he repeated his call for improved border security.

Trump has demanded $5bn to help fi nance construction of a fence along the US-Mexico border, something Democrats in Congress have resisted.

“We are negotiating with the Democrats on desperately needed Border Security (Gangs, Drugs, Human Traffi cking & more) but it could be a long stay,” the president said on Twitter yesterday.

The US Senate and the House of Representatives were in ses-sion yesterday as congressional leaders tried to hammer out a spending agreement to end the stalemate.

Trump invited several law-makers – all Republicans – to the White House yesterday to discuss the situation, including immigration hardliners from the House Freedom Caucus such as US Representative Mark Mead-ows.

The caucus has pressured Trump to stick to his demands for a border wall.

Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, speaking on the Sen-

ate fl oor, said no votes would be held until a deal is struck by Democrats and the White House.

“We pushed the pause button until the president, from whom we will need a signature, and Senate Democrats, from whom we will need votes, reach an agreement,” McConnell said.

Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s top Democrat, then took the fl oor to say that Democrats would not accede to Trump’s demands.

“President Trump, if you want to open the government you must abandon the wall, plain and sim-ple,” Schumer said.

While McConnell seemed to put the onus for a deal square-ly on Trump and Democrats, Schumer urged Congress’ Re-publican leaders to get involved in negotiations.

“Leader McConnell must agree. Speaker (Paul) Ryan must agree. They cannot duck respon-sibility. Leader McConnell still controls this chamber. Speaker Ryan controls what reaches the fl oor of the House,” Schumer said.

Schumer said discussions were ongoing at the staff level, but there were no outward signs that progress had been made.

The shutdown went into eff ect after Trump threw a wrench into the works earlier in the week by refusing to agree to a short-term funding deal cut by Democratic and Republican senators because it did not include funds for his border wall.

The US House of Representa-

tives, where Republicans have a majority until Democrats take over on January 3, passed a bill that included the $5bn, but it ran aground in the Senate and the shutdown began at midnight on Friday.

As the clock ticked toward Fri-day’s midnight deadline, Trump tried to blame Democrats.

“We’re going to have a shut-down. There’s nothing we can do about that because we need the Democrats to give us their votes,” he said in a video posted to his

Twitter account two hours before the deadline.

Democrats repeatedly re-minded Trump, and voters, that he said last week he would be “proud” to shut the government down in order to get wall fund-ing.

“President Trump has thrown a temper tantrum and now has us careening towards a ‘Trump shutdown’ over Christmas,” Schumer said on the Senate fl oor on Friday.

About three-quarters of fed-

eral government programs are funded through to September 30 next year, but the fi nancing for all others – including the de-partments of Homeland Security, Justice and Agriculture – expired at midnight.

Federal parks are closed and more than 400,000 federal “es-sential” employees in those agencies will work without pay until the dispute is resolved.

Another 380,000 will be “fur-loughed”, meaning they are put on temporary leave.

The US National Parks will generally remain open with a skeleton staff , though an alert posted on the website of the Na-tional Park Service said some parks are closed completely.

Republican governors in at least two states were working to make sure public restrooms get cleaned and visitor centres stay open.

Law enforcement eff orts, bor-der patrols, mail delivery and airport operations will keep run-ning.

For the shutdown to end, both the House and the Senate will have to approve any deal nego-tiated between Trump’s team and Republican and Democratic leaders.

In a joint statement yesterday, Schumer and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said that if the shutdown continues, the new House Democratic majority will quickly pass legislation to re-open government when it takes offi ce in January.

The shutdown comes at the end of a perilous week for the president, with Defence Secre-tary James Mattis resigning in protest after Trump’s sudden decision to pull US troops out of Syria.

The Syria move was widely criticised, even by senior Repub-licans in Congress.

The political turmoil added to fears about the economy plagu-ing investor sentiment, helping fuel continued heavy losses in the stock market on Friday.

While Trump made the prom-ise of building a border wall a fi xture of his 2016 election cam-paign, it is not a top-tier priority for most Americans.

According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll in late November, only 31% of those surveyed said improved border security should be among the top three priorities for Con-gress.

That suggests Trump is taking a political risk by gambling on a shutdown to press his point as Democrats are gearing up for the 2020 presidential primary elec-tions and looking for issues to seize on for an advantage.

The longest federal govern-ment shutdown, lasting 21 full days, occurred in December 1995 and January 1996, triggered by confl icts between Democratic president Bill Clinton and con-gressional Republicans over Medicare funding and govern-ment spending.

Clinton is widely viewed as having won the political battle over the shutdown, and was re-elected for a second term in 1996.

In 2013, the government shut down for 16 days after conserva-tive Republicans demanded to strip funding for or delay imple-mentation of Democratic presi-dent Barack Obama’s signature healthcare legislation, the Af-fordable Care Act.

Republicans suff ered plunging public opinion polls and eventu-ally capitulated, agreeing to fund the government and raise the debt limit.

US govt partially shuts downReutersWashington

A security barricade is placed in front of the US Capitol on the first day of a partial federal government shutdown in Washington.

Brett McGurk, the special US envoy to the coalition fighting the Islamic State (IS) group, has resigned, a State Department off icial said yesterday.His resignation, eff ective on December 31, comes just after President Donald Trump abruptly ordered the withdrawal of US troops from Syria as well as the announcement that Defence Secretary Jim Mattis was quitting, citing key disagreements with the US president.Just last week McGurk, a Barack Obama appointee who Trump kept on, said “nobody is declaring a mission accomplished” in the battle against IS – just days before the president’s stunning announcement of victory against the religious extremist movement.The 45 year-old top envoy was set to leave his position in February, but reportedly felt he could no longer continue in the job after Trump’s declaration.

Top US envoy in fight against IS quits

The Supreme Court has dealt a setback to Presi-dent Donald Trump by

refusing to allow his adminis-tration to implement new rules prohibiting asylum for people who cross the US border illegally, a key component of his policies

aimed making it harder for im-migrants to enter and stay in the United States.

The justices on a 5-4 vote de-nied the administration’s request to put on hold a California-based federal judge’s order at least tem-porarily preventing it from carry-ing out the policy intended make anyone crossing the US-Mexican border outside of an offi cial port of entry ineligible for asylum.

Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts, who last month rebuked Trump over his criticism of the judiciary, joined the court’s four liberals in denying the ad-ministration’s request.

Trump’s two Supreme Court appointees, Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch, joined the court’s two other conservatives in dis-sent.

The asylum restrictions were

made through a presidential proclamation Trump issued on November 9 alongside a new ad-ministration rule.

The administration has sought ways to block thousands of Cen-tral American men, women and children travelling in caravans to escape violence and poverty in their home countries from enter-ing the US, with Trump calling the people in the caravans a na-

tional security threat.Trump’s proclamation stated

that mass migration on the bor-der had precipitated a crisis and he was acting to protect the US national interest.

Trump’s policy was crafted to alter American asylum laws that have given people fl eeing per-secution and violence in their homelands the ability to seek sanctuary in the United States.

Apex court snubs Trump bid to enforce asylum policyReutersWashington

Colombia kills ‘horrendous criminal’ wanted for journalists’ murdersA dissident rebel believed to be working for a Mexican drug cartel, and on the “most wanted” lists of two South American countries, was killed on Friday in a government operation, Colombia said.Walther Arizala, known by his nom-de-guerre of “Guacho”, is believed to have ordered the abduction and murder of a three-man Ecuadoran press team on the border with Colombia early this year.“We can confirm that (Arizala) alias Guacho fell in an

operation and has been killed,” Colombian President Ivan Duque told reporters. “I told the Ecuadorian people that the crime against the three journalists would not be one of impunity.”Arizala is believed to have ordered the abduction and murder of journalist Javier Ortega, 32, photographer Paul Rivas, 45, and their 60-year-old driver Efrain Segarra in March and April.They worked for Quito’s El Comercio newspaper and were covering a story about violence along the border.

Guyana heads to elections after government loses one-vote majorityA Guyana government backbencher who complained about “dictatorship” has triggered elections and an unprecedented political situation in the former British colony.“We are going back to the polls,” Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo said after his coalition, which had a one-vote majority in the National Assembly, lost a no-confidence motion brought by the opposition over rising unemployment and what it called poor economic management.The coalition between A Partnership for National Unity and

the Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) had 33 seats, against 32 for the opposition People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC).But when AFC member Charrandas Persaud switched sides to back the opposition’s no confidence motion, Nagamootoo said that “the outcome has to be accepted”, paving the way for general elections within 90 days.Elections were not constitutionally due until 2020.Guyana, one of South America’s poorest countries, shares cultural ties with the English-speaking Caribbean.

ASIA/AUSTRALASIA

11Gulf Times Sunday, December 23, 2018

Arrests fuel anxieties among China’s Canadian expatriatesAFP Beijing

The arrest of a third Cana-dian in China has height-ened anxiety even in an

expatriate community accus-tomed to some level of fear and uncertainty.

Beijing on Thursday con-fi rmed it arrested Canadian Sarah McIver for “working il-legally” in the country, follow-ing the detention of two other Canadians on national security grounds.

While Canadian authorities said the latest detention ap-pears to be a routine visa case, it has nonetheless exacerbated concerns among Canadian ex-patriates in China — fearful that they too might be detained over a legal technicality.

“I think most Canadians that are here are living in fear at some level, a fear of losing what they have here, a fear of getting arrested, fear of retribution,” said Ricky Ng-Adam, founder of CoderBunker, a community of international software devel-opers, who regularly travels to Shanghai for work.

“It’s a constant fear,” he said, adding that some of his com-patriots self-censor their social

media postings and try to keep a low profi le.

Former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and China-based business consultant Michael Spavor were detained on December 10 and accused of engaging in activities that “endanger China’s national se-curity”.

Kovrig is a senior adviser at the International Crisis Group think tank, while Spavor fa-cilitates trips to North Korea, including visits by former NBA star Dennis Rodman.

Though no link has offi cially been made between the three detentions, suspicions are mounting that China is hold-ing at least two of the Canadian nationals in retaliation of Can-ada’s arrest of Meng Wanzhou, a top executive at Chinese tel-ecom giant Huawei.

The ambiguity surrounding the arrests has also added to the unease, said Canadian Adrian Wu, who frequently travels to China for both work and leisure.

“Even though the third per-son arrested is not related to the cases of the fi rst two, people see the headlines and immediately think ‘a Canadian got taken’,” he said.

Ottawa has repeatedly said Meng’s arrest was not politi-

cal but rather part of a judicial process in keeping with an ex-tradition treaty with Washing-ton.

Meng was released on bail last week in Vancouver pending her US extradition hearing on fraud charges related to sanctions-breaking business dealings with Iran.

Ottawa and Washington on Friday stepped up pressure on Beijing and called for the im-mediate release of Kovrig and Spavor.

Observers say Canada is in-creasingly looking like collat-eral damage in a simmering US-China trade war, with Beijing at the same time working to ease trade tensions with Washing-ton.

“Canada is really just caught in between the US and China, we’re like a scapegoat,” a busi-nesswoman in education said, requesting anonymity for fear of reprisals.

Like a number of Canadian expats, she is using the holidays as an excuse to stay out of the country.

“At least I can remain in North America to see how the situation will play out from a safe distance”, she said.

Others in the Canadian com-munity, speaking on condition

of anonymity, said they are making contingency plans to leave the country “just in case” the situation takes a turn for the worse.

It is now up to China to de-cide how much they want to es-calate the situation, said Hugh Stephens, distinguished fellow at the Asia Pacifi c Foundation of Canada. “The Chinese aren’t going to infl uence the Canadian court system by whatever they

do but there could be a lot of collateral damage, which could seriously potentially damage relationships in the long term,” he said.

Despite the volume of busi-ness between Canada and Chi-na, people might “start won-dering whether or not they’d be targeted” and consider a “long Christmas holiday”, he added.

The fallout from the arrests could have implications beyond

the immediate Canadian ex-pat community, including re-searchers who visit China.

On Thursday, representatives of six Berlin-based institutions, which included the European Council for Foreign Relations and the German Marshall Fund, expressed concern about the spate of Canadians detained.

“Developments such as these increase uncertainty and dis-trust among foreign scholars who regularly conduct research within China, as they fear for their safety,” the joint statement said.

“This will clearly undermine eff orts to better understand de-velopments in China.”

Yet some feel there is no need to overreact, calling this “Chi-na’s way of dealing with things”.

“I’m not worried about this on a day-to-day basis and I cer-tainly won’t change my daily activities because of a few peo-ple who have been detained,” fi nancial analyst Scott Laprise said.

“There’s always a sense at the back of my mind that something could happen, but that’s a part of living in China.” The Cana-dian embassy and the Canadian China Business Council did not respond to AFP requests for comment.

The National Grand Theater is lit by coloured lights to celebrate the upcoming New Year in Beijing, yesterday.

Getting ready for New Year celebration

Ottawa seeks help for release of detained

Canada’s top diplomat yesterday called on allies for support in secur-ing the release of Canadians detained in China, noting that the arrests are a “worrying precedent” for the entire international community.Foreign Aff airs Minister Chrystia Freeland said that China’s detention of former diplomat Michael Kovrig and consultant Michael Spavor is “not only a Canadian issue. “It is an issue which concerns our allies and we’ve been discussing it very actively with our allies and partners around the world,” she said in a phone conference with reporters.Freeland repeated a call for the “immediate” release of the two men who had been “detained arbitrarily.” Kovrig and Spavor were detained on December 10 and accused of engaging in activities that “endan-ger China’s national security.” Though no link has off icially been made, the arrests seem to be in retaliation of Canada’s December 10 arrest of Meng Wanzhou, a top executive at Chinese telecom giant Huawei. Ottawa has repeatedly said Meng’s arrest was not political, but rather part of a judicial process in keeping with an extradition treaty with Washington. “In my conversations with Chinese ambas-sador and in our conversation with Chinese off icials, the Chinese off icials have not directly made that connection” between Meng’s detention and the arrest of the Canadians, Freeland said.

Man dies in stabbing incidentAgenciesSydney

A man has died and another man is under police guard in hospital after a stab-

bing in Sydney’s east.In the evening yesterday,

emergency services were called to Oxford Street, near Vernon Street, Bondi Junction, following reports a man had been stabbed several times, Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Police have been told two men – one aged in his 50s and the other 33 – were involved in an altercation at a fast-food outlet before both men suff ered stab wounds.

Police told the Sydney Morn-ing Herald they believed the al-tercation started inside the fast-food outlet, confi rmed by police to be KFC Bondi Junction, before the two men moved outside.

Offi cers from Eastern Sub-urbs Police Area Command per-formed CPR on the older man, assisted by NSW Ambulance paramedics, however, he died at the scene.

Heavy fl oods displace thousands in LankaAgenciesColombo

Thousands of people have been displaced as a result of torrential rains in the

Northern districts of Kilinoch-chi, Mannar and Mullaitivu, the Disaster Management Center (DMC) reported.

According to the latest report released by the Disaster Man-agement Center, 5,775 persons of 1,829 families have been moved to 40 disaster camps in the three districts of the Northern Prov-ince while 9,161 people from 2,788 families have been aff ected by the fl oods, ColomboPage on-line newspaper reported.

The travel on A-9 main high-way linking south to north has been disrupted as the levee of Mankulam reservoir in Kilinoc-hchi breached due to the heavy rain the area received last night.

Mankulam area in Kilinochchi has received 365mm rainfall last night, according to the Meteor-ology Department. Many areas Anandapuram, Iruththipuram, Ponnagar and Piramandan Aru in the Kilinochchi district have been fl ooded due to the heavy rains.

Meanwhile, the Iranamadu reservoir is spilling over and all sluice gates are opened, fl ood-ing low-lying areas. A number of places in the A-9 road have been inundated due to the spillage from the reservoir. Police have advised motorists to be vigilant.

Security forces have launched operations to rescue the people stranded by the fl ooding from the Mankulam levee breach and have taken them to safety. The tourists visiting Jaff na via the A-9 route have been advised to exercise caution.

About 4,400 people have been displaced in Oddusudan, Puthukkudiyiruppu, Thunnu-kal, Maritimepattu, and Man-thal East in Mullaitivu district have been displaced due to fl ash fl oods. Many areas have lost power and roads have been inun-dated hindering transport.

A number of Army and Navy teams have been deployed to res-cue the displaced. Army teams have been able to take a large number of displaced people to safe locations.

The Ministry of Disaster Man-agement says steps have been taken to provide food, medicine and other essential items to the displaced at the shelters.

Wanni district MP, Minis-ter Rishad Bathiudeen called on the authorities of the Northern Province to speed up relief for the aff ected people. Instructions have also been issued to provide dry rations and food to those af-fected.

Bangladesh opposition website shut down ahead of polls: partyAFP Dhaka

Bangladesh’s main oppo-sition website has been shut down, the party said

yesterday, amid accusation the government is muzzling dissent ahead of next week’s general election.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) said authorities had closed the site since last week when they shut 54 news por-tals and websites for what they claimed were security reasons.

“We’ve written to the Election Commission to open the web-site.

But it has not been opened yet,” BNP spokesman Nazrul Islam Khan said. The shutdown has hit the party’s election cam-paign just days before the De-cember 30 polls.

“We cannot communicate with our supporters,” he said.

The BNP is part of the oppo-sition National Unity Front al-liance, which is contesting the polls after boycotting the 2014 election.

It has emerged as the main challenger to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s bid for a record fourth term in offi ce.

Hasina’s government has been accused by civil society and

rights groups of drifting towards authoritarianism, silencing dis-sent and the press by using an onerous digital-security law.

At least six people have been killed in election campaign clashes between supporters of Hasina’s ruling Awami League and the BNP, whose incarcerated veteran leader Khaleda Zia was last month handed another stiff jail term.

The Bangladesh Telecommu-nications Regulatory Commis-sion could not confi rm whether the BNP website was among the 54 sites it blocked last week.

But commission chairman Ja-hurul Haque accused the website of bad taste. “It is obscene and indecent,” he said.

In an e-mail to the Election Commission, the BTRC, how-ever, said the website was closed following orders from two intel-ligence agencies for containing “outlawed” materials, according to a report by the online edition of the mass circulation Bengali daily Jugantor.

BNP spokesman Khan reject-ed allegations that the website contained obscene materials.

Last week the government blocked more than 50 websites and news portals for what it said were security reasons, prompt-ing an outcry from rights advo-cates. BTRC spokesman Zakir

Khan said the websites were “spreading propaganda” and “destabilising the state”.

A BNP spokesman has said 18 of its online activists have been detained in recent months, including a former air force officer who was arrested on Thursday.

Human Rights Watch said the arrests and the crackdown on free speech including wide-spread surveillance contrib-uted to “a widely described climate of fear” ahead of the election.

“The authorities have used a number of broadly worded laws arbitrarily to constrain jour-nalists, restrict the free speech of ordinary citizens, and target the government’s opponents and critics,” the New York-based group said.

“The government has or-dered several units and agencies to censor the Internet, monitor online communications, and de-tain users accused of ‘spreading rumours’ or ‘anti-state activity’,” it said.

This week Facebook said it had suspended nine pages and six accounts it had linked to “in-dividuals associated with the Bangladesh government” and which posted anti-opposition content while masquerading as independent news sources.

A general view of the skyline as the air quality worsens in Bangkok, Thailand, yesterday.

Bangkok skyline view

23 dead in Nepal student bus crash

AFPKathmandu

Twenty-three people died in western Ne-pal when a bus carrying school students and teachers back from a botanical fi eld

trip plunged into a gorge, police said.The students were aged mostly between 16 and

20. Two teachers and the driver also died in the accident early evening on Friday in a remote area.

The vehicle was carrying 37 people, with 22 killed at the scene and another in a nearby hospital. Fourteen people were treated for injuries.

“Our preliminary investigation shows the cause of the incident was speed,” police offi cer Bel Bahadur Pandey said. Road accidents are rel-atively common in Nepal because of poor roads, badly maintained vehicles and reckless driving. The latest comes a week after a truck accident in central Nepal killed 20 mourners returning from a funeral ritual.

BRITAIN

Gulf Times Sunday, December 23, 201812

Two middle-aged people were being held yesterday over the suspected “crim-

inal use of drones” at London’s Gatwick Airport, where fl ights were returning to normal after three days of pre-Christmas dis-ruption aff ecting 140,000 pas-sengers.

Police swooped on a 47-year-old man and a 54-year-old wom-an from town of Crawley, which neighbours Britain’s second-busiest airport.

A Gatwick spokesman said yesterday that the airport planned to run a full schedule of 757 fl ights carrying 124,484 pas-sengers.

However, he warned that pas-sengers should expect some de-

lays and cancellations “as we continue to recover our opera-tions”.

“We are grateful for passen-gers’ continued patience as we work to get them to their fi nal destination in time for Christ-mas,” the spokesman said.

Drones were fi rst sighted buzzing around Gatwick on Wednesday then reappeared more than 50 times, forcing the government to bring in specialist military resources to help coun-ter the threat.

The dangers posed by drones include the possibility of a de-vice smashing into a passenger plane or being sucked up into an engine where its highly fl amma-ble lithium battery could cause a catastrophe.

The two people arrested late on Friday were being held on suspicion of “disrupting serv-

ices of civil aviation aerodrome to endanger or likely to endanger safety of operations or persons”.

“Our investigations are still on-going, and our activities at the airport continue to build re-silience to detect and mitigate further incursions from drones, by deploying a range of tactics,” said Sussex Police superintend-ent James Collis.

The army was called in on Thursday to off er support, with the defence ministry deploying what was described only as spe-cialist equipment.

Government offi cials held a meeting to discuss the situation.

Under recently-introduced laws in Britain, drones cannot be fl own near aircraft or within a kilometre (about half a mile) of an airport, or at an altitude of over 400’ (122m).

Violators face up to fi ve years

in prison for endangering an air-craft.

The Times reported yesterday that Transport Secretary Chris Grayling had shelved plans ear-lier this year to introduce laws regulating drone use despite be-ing warned about the risk that they posed to airports.

A Department for Transport spokesman said: “Next year fur-ther laws will come into eff ect to ensure drone users must be reg-istered and pass safety tests.

“We are continuing to intro-duce further measures and re-cently consulted on extending police powers to deal with peo-ple who misuse drones, as well working on the development of counter-drone technology to en-sure incidents like this can’t hap-pen again.”

Justin Burtenshaw, head of armed policing for Sussex and

Surrey, described the cat-and-mouse hunt for the drone opera-tors.

“Each time we believe we get close to the operator, the drone disappears. When we look to reo-pen the airfi eld, the drone reap-pears,” he said on Thursday.

A traveller who identifi ed himself as Darcis, 32, who was supposed to arrive from Milan on Thursday and had to sleep at the airport, said: “I cannot un-derstand why such a small thing can cause an international air-port like Gatwick (to close). They should be ready for these things. I really don’t understand what we can do.”

Gatwick, around 30 miles (50km) south of the British capi-tal, is the eighth-busiest airport in Europe, and sits behind Mum-bai as the world’s busiest single-runway air hub.

Police arrest two over airport drone chaosAFPLondon

Banksy fans are fl ocking to the Welsh town of Port Talbot to see a new mural by the elusive

British street artist depicting a child covered in snow that is in fact ash from a burning bin.

The subversive artist confi rmed on Instagram that the Season’s Greet-ings mural on a breeze block garage wall is genuine.

It shows a small boy wrapped up against the cold with his tongue stuck out and arms aloft to catch snowfl akes.

The rest of the mural around the corner of the garage shows that the

white fl akes are in fact ash from an industrial bin.

Port Talbot, on the edge of the Swansea Bay, is home to one of the biggest steelworks in the world, which has recently had to battle for survival.

Local councillor Rob Jones said that the “globally viewed, newly ar-rived piece of guerrilla art” made Port Talbot the perfect place to house a recently-mooted Welsh modern art gallery.

“At least one world class contem-porary artist appears to view the in-teresting mix of peaceful hillsides alongside striking urban and indus-trial landscapes as a piece of art in itself,” the offi cial said.

He added that when it came to pol-

lution, Port Talbot is on a par with or cleaner than many other towns and cities, and that its transport connec-tions were very good too.

“Ease of access could perhaps have been one of the many reasons Banksy may have chosen Port Talbot,” he said.

The elusive graffi ti artist is known for producing politically-charged sketches and artwork on walls and buildings from New York to Paris and Gaza City.

In one of the artist’s most provoc-ative stunts, a painting of Girl with Balloon shredded itself into pieces the moment it sold at auction for more than £1mn ($1.3mn).

The buyer went ahead with the purchase.

Banksy gifts Welsh steel towna white Christmas attractionReutersLondon

People view the new work by the artist Banksy that appeared during the week on the walls of a garage in Port Talbot, on the edge of Swansea.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has been criticised by “remain” sup-porters throughout Westminster

after he stressed that Brexit would go ahead even if Labour won a snap general election in the new year.

In an interview with the Guardian on Friday, Corbyn said that the party would campaign for Brexit if there was a sec-ond referendum on the UK’s member-ship of the bloc, but that he would seek a refashioned exit deal with the European Union.

He also renewed his criticism of the EU’s economic policies on state aid, which he said blocked investment and would undermine attempts to regener-ate the British economy and develop industry.

Labour’s former shadow business minister Chuka Umunna said that the interview was “deeply depressing and disappointing”.

“Brexit is essentially a project of the hard-right of British politics, who want to turn Britain into a lightly-regulated, off shore tax haven for the super rich, devoid of proper protections for work-ers, and one which seeks to dump the blame for the UK’s problems on immi-grants,” he wrote on Facebook.

“Labour should stop pretending there is ‘good’ Brexit deal and we should cer-tainly not be sponsoring this project because Brexit is the problem – it solves nothing.”

Wes Streeting, a regular critic of Cor-byn, also attacked the party leader’s re-marks and cast doubt on the suggestion that a Labour government would be able to negotiate a better deal than the one proposed by Theresa May.

“Why peddle this myth that Labour would be able to renegotiate a Brexit deal at this 11th hour?” he said. “How would Labour’s Brexit be any better than remaining in the EU?

“Our members and voters are over-

whelmingly pro-European. This lets them, and our country, down.”

Corbyn told the Guardian that if the parliamentary deadlock over May’s withdrawal agreement sparked a general election in the new year he would “go back and negotiate (with the EU) and see what the timetable would be”.

Asked about a second referendum, favoured by many of his MPs and La-bour supporters, he added: “It would be a matter for the party to decide what the policy would be, but my proposal at this moment is that we go forward, try-ing to get a customs union with the EU in which we would be able to be proper trading partners.”

Labour passed a motion at its party conference in Liverpool in September that it would seek a general election as its fi rst choice, but left open the option of supporting a second referendum.

Corbyn and other opposition front-benchers have claimed that were La-bour to replace May’s government, they would be able to renegotiate her deal.

However, shadow cabinet members

have regularly contradicted each other, fuelling speculation that the party line remains contested privately.

The Scottish National party also re-buked Corbyn, with the party’s West-minster leader, Ian Blackford, calling him “the midwife to the delivery of the [Tories’] Brexit plans”.

“Jeremy Corbyn has fi nally come off the fence he’s been sat on for the past two years,” he said. “But unfathomably he’s come down on the same side as Theresa May. The Labour party is in-capable of providing opposition to the worst UK government that most people can remember.”

The Liberal Democrat leader, Vince Cable, added that Corbyn “refuses once again to take the blinkers off ”, with the party’s policy indistinguishable from the Conservatives’.

“He is ignoring the concerns of his own supporters and the economic dam-age experts warn Brexit will do to the UK economy,” he said. “On Brexit, you sim-ply cannot put a cigarette paper between Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn.”

‘Remain’ backers slam Corbyn’s Brexit pledgeBy Mattha BusbyGuardian News & Media

Corbyn: would seek a refashioned exit deal with the European Union.

Driving home for Christ-mas could best be done today, according to mo-

toring organisations, with an additional 2.2mn cars expected on the roads yesterday for fes-tive leisure trips, whether to shops or to visit relatives.

The M40 northbound from Oxford into the West Midlands was most likely to land drivers in traffi c, according to the RAC and traffi c analyst Inrix.

Delays of more than an hour were forecast from junction 8A of the M40 to the M42 link road.

Traffi c generally would peak between 10.30am and 4pm, the RAC said, advising drivers to travel before 9.30am or after 7.30pm.

After a relatively quiet Sun-day, traffi c is expected to peak again around lunchtime on Christmas Eve, when delays of around 20 minutes can be ex-pected on parts of the M1 in the east Midlands.

The worst of the Christmas getaway though has passed for motorists, on so-called Frantic Friday, when leisure travellers mixed with regular commuting traffi c.

An estimated 19mn driv-ers were out on Britain’s roads on Friday, according to the AA (Automobile Association).

Queues of slow-moving traffi c were adding almost an hour to inter-city car journeys north out of London on Fri-day lunchtime, with the M40, M6 and M1 particularly busy, while journeys west on the M4 and A303 were also slowed by around 20 minutes.

Rail services will be dis-rupted over Christmas for en-gineering works – as well as strikes in parts.

Beyond the usual shut-down for December 25 and 26, a number of key rail services will either be closed or reduced over the coming 10 days.

Network Rail insisted that the majority of the railway would be unaff ected, although it would be carrying out work worth £148mn on 330 projects over the holiday season.

Beleaguered passengers who have not been automatically provided with a rail replace-ment bus could turn to the coach, with National Express set to lay on an additional seats for 50,000 passengers over the holidays – including Christ-mas Day, when all other public transport options have been dashed.

According to Trainline, most coach bookings for December 25 have been made for a lunch-time exodus from London to Liverpool.

Among the most aff ected rail services will be lines out of London Paddington, with the west London station closed for an additional three days in late December.

Half of London Victoria will be shut down from today until the start of 2019, as work closes one of the main lines into the station from Clapham Junc-tion.

The Gatwick Express fast airport service will not run for the duration.

Stansted Express services will be reduced during work on the lines east from the capital to London’s third airport.

East Midlands and Thames-link trains running north of St Pancras will also be aff ected by engineering.

Christmas strikes by the RMT union, in the ongoing row about the future role and responsibilities of guards on trains, will disrupt Northern and South Western railway services.

Northern services came to an early end from around 5pm yesterday, and will end earlier next Saturday as well, while the South Western network out of Waterloo will operate a reduced strike service on De-cember 27 and New Year’s Eve.

Extra 2mn cars on the roads for Christmas period

By Gwyn TophamGuardian News & Media

Traff ic expected to peak again at lunchtime on Christmas Eve

An estimated 19mn drivers were out on theso-called ‘Frantic Friday’

EUROPE13Gulf Times

Sunday, December 23, 2018

France’s anti-government “yellow vest” protest was losing steam yesterday but

caused traffi c disruption through road blocks across the country, leading to the death of a 10th per-son since the start of the move-ment last month.

The turnout on the streets of Paris and other cities was smaller than in previous weekends, au-thorities said.

No major damage or clashes had been reported between police and protesters as of mid-afternoon.

About 23,800 people were dem-onstrating at 1300 GMT, including fewer than 1,000 in Paris, the inte-rior ministry said.

This was down from a week ago at the same time when there were 33,500 protesters out on the streets, 2,200 in Paris.

Authorities had expected a march in Versailles, whose castle is

a symbol of French state power and one of Europe’s top tourist attrac-tions.

However, few “gilets jaunes” (yellow vest) protesters – so-called after the high-visibility jackets French motorists must carry in their cars – showed up in the for-mal royal city.

Dispersed groups of protest-ers were out on the streets of Paris near tourist landmarks such as the Sacre Coeur Basilica and the Galer-ies Lafayette department stores, singing La Marseillaise and calling for President Emmanuel Macron’s resignation.

Attendance was on the rise, however, in Lyon and Bordeaux, according to Reuters witnesses.

Protesters also managed to block some of the big highways, includ-ing one leading to Spain.

Late on Friday, a 36-year-old man died in Perpignan, southern France, when his car hit a truck at a road block erected by protesters, raising the death toll linked to the demonstrations to 10.

Yesterday police fi red tear gas against protesters who gathered near Macron’s villa in the chic re-sort of Le Touquet in northern France.

In the French capital, the police arrested 109 protesters, seven of whom were held in custody.

Three weeks ago the protests in Paris turned into some of the worst unrest seen in the capital since the student-led civil unrest of 1968.

Cars were set on fi re, bank and insurance offi ces’ windows smashed and street furniture was vandalised.

Of the 10 deaths linked to the protests, most have been the result of road accidents.

The “yellow vest” protesters began in mid-November to rally against fuel tax increases and sub-sequently against the wider liberal economic reform policy of Macron, who made tax and salary conces-sions earlier this month.

However, the movement has gradually lost steam in recent weeks.

Since he caved in to protesters in a TV address on December 10, Macron has kept out of the public eye, staying in the Elysee Palace for what his press team called internal meetings.

A recent poll showed France’s far-right party National Rally, for-merly known as the National Front, confi rmed that it was so far the biggest political benefi ciary of the protests.

France’s ‘yellow vest’ protests losing steamReutersToulouse/Paris

French ‘yellow vest’ demonstrators block a police vehicle on the Place de l’Etoile roundabout in Paris last night.

Thousands of people rallied for the third consecutive yesterday in Belgrade to

protest the rule of Serbian Presi-dent Aleksandar Vucic.

A crowd of more than 5,000 people marched past Serbian state broadcaster RTS, which is strongly pro-Vucic, and then on to the gov-ernment headquarters.

The fi rst protest was organised in response to the beating of an opposition politician, Borko Ste-fanovic, on the margins of a small rally in southern Serbia on No-vember 23.

Vucic mocked the fi rst rally in Belgrade, saying that it was small and that “even if there were 5mn”, he would not cede to their de-mands.

The second protest was held under the hashtag #1od5miliona (one of 5mn).

Though offi cially Vucic has a largely ceremonial role, he wields a lot of power in Serbia and openly participates in governing.

Vucic’s Progressive Party has dominated the parliament in three parliamentary elections since 2012.

Vucic started fi ve-year term as president last year.

The Serbian opposition, weak-ened by internal strife, corruption

scandals and low exposure on state and pro-government media since Vucic took over, has been fully marginalised.

Serbians rally against president againDPABelgrade

Demonstrators attend an anti-government protest in central Belgrade. The banner reads ‘1 of 5mn’.

Thousands of protesters took to the streets in Istanbul yesterday to dem-onstrate against the rising cost of liv-

ing and crippling infl ation in Turkey.Surrounded by a heavy police presence,

the protesters held banners with references to the “yellow vest” movement in France, which began as a demonstration against fuel price hikes but snowballed into anti-government protests, an AFP correspond-ent reported.

The protest, organised by the KESK, a confederation of public service workers unions, drew people from all over Turkey including the northwestern provinces of Edirne, Bursa and Yalova, the correspond-ent said.

They shouted “work, bread, freedom” and also carried banners saying “the crisis is theirs, the street is ours” and “Haziran”, June in Turkish.

June refers to the mass 2013 demonstra-tions against President Recep Tayyip Er-dogan’s rule sparked by the planned rede-velopment of Gezi Park in Istanbul.

Yesterday’s protest comes almost a week after thousands of people demonstrated in another KESK rally against the cost of living in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir.

The Turkish economy has come under heavy strain since a currency crisis in Au-gust and infl ation reached 25.24% in Octo-ber, a 15-year-high.

Although infl ation dropped to 21.62% in November, the price of everyday goods re-mains high.

Since the start of this year, the lira has lost nearly 22.5% in value against the US dollar.

The country’s economic growth has also slowed down raising fears of a recession af-ter the economy contracted by 1.1% in the third quarter compared with the previous quarter.

A recession is defi ned as two consecu-tive quarters of shrinking output based on a quarter-on-quarter comparison.

March in Istanbul against high cost of living, infl ationAFPIstanbul

Protesters shout during a demonstration in Istanbul against the government’s policies.

Italy’s far-right Interior Min-ister Matteo Salvini said yes-terday that Italian ports were

closed to hundreds of migrants rescued off Libya after a mother and newborn baby were evacuated to Malta.

The anti-immigration minister said the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms had asked to allow the men, women, children and babies rescued on Friday to disembark in Italy after Malta turned them away.

“My answer is clear: Italian ports are closed!” Salvini tweeted. “For the traffi ckers of human beings and for those who help them, the fun is over.”

The NGO said a Maltese coast-guard helicopter had taken a wom-an and her baby born on a Libyan beach three days ago who were among those rescued at sea.

“We continue with 311 people on board, without port and in need of supplies,” the NGO tweeted.

Proactiva Open Arms said on Friday that it had rescued more than 300 migrants from three ves-sels in diffi culty, including men,

women – some of them pregnant – children and babies.

The NGO posted a video of some of those rescued “from a certain death at sea.

“If you could feel the cold in the images, it would be easier to un-derstand the emergency.

“No port to disembark and Mal-ta’s refusal to give us food. This isn’t Christmas.”

Open Arms’ founder Oscar Camps tweeted at Salvini that “your rhetoric and your message will, like everything in this life, end. But you should know that in a few decades your descendants will

be ashamed of what you do and say”.

The vessel started patrolling the Mediterranean with two other boats run by migrant aid groups off the Libyan coast in late November.

This area of the Mediterranean has been the most deadly for mi-grants attempting the crossing to Europe.

German NGO Sea Watch mean-while tweeted that it had rescued another 33 migrants in diffi culty, and that it was appealing for a port to be allowed to dock.

More than 1,300 migrants have perished trying to reach Italy or

Malta since the beginning of the year, according to the International Organisation for Migration.

Aid groups have been sending rescue vessels into these waters despite vocal opposition from Sal-vini.

Accusing the groups of acting as a “taxi service” for migrants, he has denied them access to Italy’s ports.

Malta too has been increasingly unwilling to host rescue vessels.

Another aid group meanwhile, Sea-Eye from Germany, an-nounced on Friday that one of its vessels was setting off from the southern Spanish port of Algeciras.

Rescued migrants face Christmas at sea after Italy shuts portsAFPRome

Ukraine requires Orthodox Church to change nameThe president of Ukraine has signed a law that demands the Ukrainian Orthodox Church change its name in order to show its aff iliation to Russia.The move is part of President Petro Poroshenko’s eff orts to make Ukraine religiously independent of its neighbour.Under Poroshenko’s direction, religious leaders in Ukraine agreed at a synod last week to establish a new Orthodox national church that has no oversight from Russia.The law signed yesterday asks the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to alter its name in order to make its links to the patriarchate of Moscow explicit.In October, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople revoked a 332-year-old ruling that had placed Ukraine under Moscow’s leadership.The Russian Orthodox Church then broke off all contact with the ecumenical patriarch.The new Ukrainian church wants to recognise the supreme authority of Orthodoxy, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, and then its own autonomy.

Court allows ED to questionMichel in VVIPchopper scam

Congress slams AAP, seeks Kejriwal apology

IANSNew Delhi

A Delhi court yesterday al-lowed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to ques-

tion British national Christian Michel, the middleman accused in the Rs36bn AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal case, for sev-en days.

Special Judge Arvind Kumar sent Michel to ED’s custody for seven days after the probe agen-cy arrested him in the case.

ED’s lawyer and special pub-lic prosecutor D P Singh told the court that Michel’s custody was required to confront him with some witnesses.

The agency also told the court it has to probe the money laun-dering aspect as the money has not come through offi cial chan-nels but through illegal transac-tions.

The ED said the kickbacks were paid by AgustaWestland through two channels. One channel was handled by Michel and his associates while the sec-ond was handled by two other middlemen Carlo Gerosa and Guido Haschke.

“Lawyer Gautam Khaitan, who is also named as an accused in the charge-sheet, was the mas-termind behind laundering of the proceeds of crime in the sec-ond channel. Investigation has revealed crucial links between Michel, Haschke, Gerosa and Khaitan,” the ED told the court.

The ED said Michel trans-ferred the money through his aides to the desired recipients.

“Custodial interrogation of Michel is required to unearth how the kickbacks were routed and laundered, where the said

proceeds of crime are parked and how or by whom the said tainted money was placed, layered and integrated into the system.

“Michel’s custody is required to unearth the deep rooted con-spiracy and identifi cation of his accomplices, including the IAF offi cials, bureaucrats and politi-cians who gained undue advan-tage,” the ED said.

Michel was extradited to India on December 4 from the United Arab Emirates.

Michel’s lawyer Rosemary Patrizi Dos Anjos from Italy told IANS that Michel “met CBI spe-cial director Rakesh Asthana and Indian representative on June 2 in Dubai along with the Law Ministry authorities of UAE.”

She said that the meeting was held in complete frankness with Michel.

Sharing the minutes of the meeting of Michel with Indian representative, she said, “Michel was told to implicate A P and Madam (referring to Congress leaders Ahmed Patel and Sonia Gandhi). Michel felt that there was a panicked sense of urgen-cy. Even many threats were is-sued and a discussion was held on how unpleasant Indian jails were. Michel was also told that

none of his friends would be able to help him if he did not sign a statement.”

Anjos further said that Michel was told that if he signed a state-ment, he would not be arrested and all cases against him would be dropped and the Red Corner Notice against him would be re-moved.

“To this Michel said that he would not sign a statement pre-pared by them (Indian repre-sentatives) but would work with his lawyers over the next few days to prepare his statement and send it to them by Tuesday evening (June 5).

“But after all the threats Michel was surprised when they accepted his proposal and the meeting ended at approximately 11 o’clock on Saturday evening (June 2). And his statement was delivered on Wednesday morn-ing (June 6) at 10am to lawyers for onward transmission. “

On June 7, Michel was in-formed that his statement was unacceptable and the Indian side would move ahead with extradi-tion, she said.

However, the CBI had earlier claimed it had not questioned Michel in the UAE.

In its charge-sheet, the CBI had named former Indian Air Force chief S P Tyagi, his cousin San-jeev Tyagi alias Julie, then IAF vice chief J S Gujral and advocate Gau-tam Khaitan as the four Indians involved in the scam.

Others named in the charge-sheet included Giuseppe Orsi, the former chief of Italian defence and aerospace ma-jor Finmeccanica, and Bruno Spagnolini, former CEO of AgustaWestland, apart from middlemen Michel, Haschke and Gerosa.

IANSNew Delhi

Congress activists yes-terday staged a protest outside the Aam Aadmi

Party offi ce in Delhi against a resolution passed by the Delhi government on Friday seeking withdrawal of Bharat Ratna to slain prime minister Rajiv Gan-dhi and demanded apology.

The Congress workers led by Delhi party unit chief Ajay Maken demonstrated outside the AAP’s offi ce at DDU Marg in central Delhi and raised slogans against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the party.

Addressing the party workers, Maken said: “It is very unfortu-nate that the AAP government passed a resolution in the Delhi Assembly about taking back the Bharat Ratna awarded to Rajiv Gandhi to indulge in cheap poli-tics by crossing all limits.”

He demanded that Kejriwal “apologise to the country and remove from the record of the Delhi Assembly the resolution passed by it.”

Maken also said that if need be, a special session of the assembly should be called for the purpose.

Earlier Congress leader and former chief minister Shiela Diks-hit lashed out at the AAP and said no state assembly had the right to pass any resolution as the Bharat Ratna award is conferred by the government of India.

“This is not a right of any assembly. The Bharat Ratna and others are conferred by the government of India. You (AAP legislators) do not have a right to pass a resolution,” she said.

An AAP legislator on Friday had demanded that the Bharat Ratna conferred on Gandhi be taken back as he had allegedly justifi ed the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

The demand came in the assembly as an amendment a

proposed to a resolution moved by Tilak Nagar legislator Jarnail Singh.

Taking to Twittter later, an-other party legislator said the resolution amendment was not put to vote and that there was no question of it being passed, so the matter had ended.

“In connection with a dispute about a line on Shri Rajiv Gandhi in the resolution passed in the as-sembly today, I confirm that the line was not part of the original resolu-tion distributed to MLAs. Jarnail-ji didn’t propose that amendment and never put that for vote. Amend-ments are always put to vote sepa-rately and unless passed, can’t form part of the resolution,” Bharti said in a series of tweets.

In a damage control exercise, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said the AAP was not in favour of withdrawing the award and that such a demand was not part of the resolution adopted in the assembly.

14 Gulf TimesSunday, December 23, 2018

INDIA

The West Bengal police yesterday arrested the mastermind of a forgery racket and was probing his Pakistan connection, a senior officer said. “The police arrested Mohamed Umar, 32, from Delhi. There is a probability that this man was in touch with someone in Pakistan and we are looking into it ,” the officer said. Umar was taken to West Bengal, he said, adding Canara Bank in Howrah district had lodged an FIR on November 20 for forgery. The bank “complained that a cheque of Rs630,000 was deposited in an account and Rs366,591 was withdrawn. It was later revealed that the cheque was forged,” the officer said. The police officer added eight people had been arrested in the case earlier.

The third edition of Serendipity Arts Festival in Panaji came to a close yesterday with focus on collaborative eff orts of artistes while a possible detraction was averted after Subodh Gupta, a guest co-curator, decided to “step back” in light of sexual harassment allegations against him. The multi-disciplinary extravaganza which started on December 15 attracted thousands of visitors. The organisers remained tight-lipped on Gupta, who was named in anonymous sexual harassment posts on social media. Over 40 of the featured projects were commissioned exclusively for the annual event. The projects covered visual arts, crafts, photography, culinary arts, dance, music and theatre, making the annual retreat for art lovers unique in its curation. The 2018 edition of the festival culminated with a concert by Coke Studio last night.

Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member Abhishek Manu Singhvi yesterday accused the Odisha government of insulting Lord Jagannath by linking a scheme to his name. The state cabinet on Friday approved a scheme for farmers named KALIA (Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation), which is another name of Lord Jagannath. “The KALIA acronym was made to connect with the highest religious symbol of India, not only Odisha. This is totally insulting to somebody, who all of us revere. You drag Lord Jagannath into this kind of cheap politics,” said Singhvi. “Is it not a shame that you try to use the religious symbol for votes?” he asked. “In the KALIA scheme, there is no Hindi word except Krushak. All other letters are English in the acronym,” the Congress leader said.

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav yesterday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of trying to confuse and incite people for its own narrow electoral gains. In a statement, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said the ruling party thinks it can strengthen its vote bank by creating caste unrest and inciting communal passions. He said the saff ron camp is sadly mistaken as people are now mature and can see through its conspiracies. “Ministers take oath of off ice and secrecy to discharge their duties conscientiously, but the BJP ministers care two hoots about these things,” the 45-year-old Yadav said, while charging the BJP of giving priority to certain castes in the party structure. Yadav said the SP is committed to social justice, adding farmers, youth and the minorities are suff ering due to BJP’s divisive tactics and policies.

In the wake of the Delhi High Court order asking the National Herald newspaper’s publisher to vacate the Herald House within two weeks, the Bharatiya Janata Party yesterday hit out at UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and party Congress president Rahul Gandhi, saying they have been misusing public property. “The court has questioned as public premises and land worth Rs5,000 crore including the property build on it could surreptitiously be transferred to the family trust for a consideration of Rs50 lakh. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul must reply...,” Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said in New Delhi. On Friday, the high court dismissed a plea of the Associated Journals Ltd (AJL) challenging the government’s October 30 order asking the National Herald newspaper’s publisher to vacate Herald House within two weeks.

Mastermind of forgery racket held

Serendipity Arts Festival concludes in Goa

Odisha accused of using religious symbol for votes

BJP trying to confuse, incite people: Akhilesh

Sonia, Rahul must explain HC indictment, says BJP

INVESTIGATION CULTURECONTROVERSY POLITICS JUDICIARY

Karnataka cabinet expandedwith eight Congress ministersIANSBengaluru

Karnataka’s seven-month-old coalition government was ex-

panded yesterday with the in-duction of eight Congress leg-islators as cabinet ministers.

State Governor Vajubhai R Vala administered the oath of offi ce to the legislators at a sim-ple ceremony at Raj Bhavan.

Chief Minister H D Kumar-aswamy of the ruling alliance partner Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) and Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara of the Congress and others, including offi cials, were present on the occasion.

Those sworn in are M B Pa-til, Satish Jarkiholi, R B Thim-mapur, C S Shivalli, P T Para-meshwar Naik, E Tukaram, Rahim Khan and M T B Nagaraj.

Khan from Bidar in the state’s northern district took the oath in English, while the others did in Kannada in the order of their seniority.

Congress’ state unit presi-dent Dinesh Gundu Rao told reporters earlier that Satish replaced his elder brother and Municipal Administration Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi and Nagaraj came in place of Forests Minister R Shankar.

“The party’s high command dropped Ramesh and Shankar from the ministry,” Rao said without revealing why they were ousted.

Satish was elected from Yem-akanmaradi in Belagavi district in the May 12 assembly elec-tions and Nagaraj from Hoskote in Bengaluru Rural district.

Ramesh represents Gokak segment in Belagavi district and Shankar was elected as an independent from Ranebennur in Haveri district but joined the Congress later.

Patil from Babaleshwar in Vi-jayapura district was the Water Resources Minister in the pre-vious Congress government.

Timmapur is a member of the Legislative Council (MLC) from Mudhol in Bagalkot district,

while Shivalli was elected from Kundgol in Dharwad district, and Naik and Tukaram from Hadagalli and Sandur in Ballari district.

Congress legislature party leader and former chief minis-ter Siddaramaiah had earlier in the day sent the names of eight lawmakers to Kumaraswamy for fi lling up six vacancies from its cabinet quota of 22 and re-placing the two dropped.

The names were approved by party president Rahul Gan-dhi in New Delhi on Friday at a meeting with state unit leaders, including Siddaramaiah, Para-meshwara, Rao and party’s state unit in-charge K C Venugopal.

Though the JD-S has two vacancies to fi ll from its quo-ta of 12 cabinet posts in the 34-member ministry, Kumar-aswamy did not include any of its legislators.

A JD-S source told IANS that party’s supremo H D Deve Gowda and PWD Minister H D Revanna were against the in-duction of its legislators this

time as the cabinet expansion was being held during the “in-auspicious” month (Shunya Masa) according to the Hindu lunar calendar.

Kumaraswamy thanked the governor for agreeing to swear in the Congress legislators as ministers at a short notice as he received their names only yes-terday morning.

This is the second cabinet expansion of the coalition min-istry - the fi rst was on June 6 when 24 ministers, including 14 from the Congress and 10 from the JD-S, were inducted.

In the 125-member assem-bly, including one nominated, the Congress has 80 legislators, JD-S 36 and the Bharatiya Jana-ta Party 104, while the remain-ing are independents and from other parties like the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

“Kumaraswamy will soon allocate the portfolios tothe new ministers in consulta-tion with Siddaramaiah and Parameshwara,” an offi cial told IANS.

Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara are seen with the eight newly-inducted ministers in Bengaluru yesterday.

AAP leader and Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and party legislator Saurabh Bhardwaj address a press conference in New Delhi yesterday.

Kamal Haasan to contest Lok Sabha polls next yearIANSChennai

Actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan said yesterday his Makkal

Needhi Maiam would contest all the 39 parliamentary seats in Tamil Nadu in the next year general election, but “would not align with those desper-ate to change the DNA” of the state.

Speaking to reporters after the party’s executive com-mittee meeting, Haasan said: “The party will contest in the parliament elections. I will also contest. A committee will be formed to identify the contestants for 40 seats (39 in Tamil Nadu and one in Pu-ducherry).”

Asked about the parties with whom MNM would have an alliance, Haasan said: “The party will not align with those who are desperate to change the DNA of Tamil Nadu.” He did not rule out alliance talks with the Congress.

Haasan said the party would decide on contesting by-elec-tions for 20 assembly seats whenever they are announced.

He said he would announce the number of members his party has on January 31, add-ing the party has empowered him to decide on electoral al-liances.

When asked whether he would lead the alliance or was open to work under someone’s leadership, he said that de-pended on the stature of the alliance partner.

The 64-year-old actor took the political plunge by launch-ing the MNM on February 21 in Madurai. Since then, Haasan has focused on touring Tamil Nadu to build the party base.

Haasan’s decision is likely to put pressure on his contem-porary Rajinikanth, who had also announced political foray but is yet to launch a party.

The results of the just-con-cluded assembly elections are likely to weigh heavily on the minds of both leaders when they fi rm up plans for 2019.

Michel: faces ED grilling

INDIA15Gulf Times

Sunday, December 23, 2018

Govt committed to lawagainst triple talaq: PMIANSAdalaj, Gujarat

Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday said de-spite all “obstacles” from

fundamentalists and opposi-tion parties, his government was committed to bringing a law against the practice of triple talaq to ensure social justice for Muslim women.

“Despite all the obstacles, de-spite resistance from the funda-mentalists and the opposition, the government is committed to making a law against triple talaq so that our Muslim women get rid of a big insecurity in their so-cial life,” Modi told the national convention of the Bharatiya Ja-nata Party’s women’s wing Ma-hila Morcha.

The government had brought the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill last year and got it passed in the Lok Sabha, but it was stonewalled in the Rajya Sabha where the ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) lacks majority. The opposition had expressed serious concerns over making triple talaq a criminal off ence.

Under the proposed law, a man could be jailed for up to three years for pronouncing an instant divorce (triple talaq) to his wife.

Subsequently, the govern-ment brought an ordinance on the subject in September this year which has to be replaced by law in the current session. Oth-erwise, it will lapse.

Modi said the government had already done away with the condition of a ‘mehram’ (a male guardian including husband or fi rst blood relations) to accom-

pany a woman on Haj.Earlier, Muslim women from

India could not go on Haj alone. The government did away with the condition last year and around 1,300 women performed the pilgrimage without a me-hram.

Modi listed a number of schemes that his government has brought for the welfare of women - such as Ujjawala and Surakshit Matritva among oth-ers.

“Women are at the centre of several fl agship programmes of

this government...for the fi rst time there are two women in the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS),” he said.

Modi asked the BJP workers present at the conclave to down-load the Narendra Modi mobile app so that they can forward the government’s various welfare schemes to all their contacts.

“When I tell the world lead-ers that India has allowed 36 months of maternity leave to women, they look away from me. Not even the developed countries have given such a fa-

cility to women,” the prime min-ister said.

He said his government was trying to promote women en-trepreneurs through various schemes including the Mudra Yojana under which the major percentage of loans had been disbursed to women entrepre-neurs.Earlier, addressing the valedictory ceremony at the Conference of Directors Gen-eral and Inspectors Generals of Police at Kevadia, Modi urged police forces to be vigilant in countering the “dark forces of

radicalisation” and cautioned them against divisive elements exploiting caste fault lines.

He praised the offi cers for looking at all issues in the na-tional perspective and said it was the “biggest achievement of the changed nature” of the an-nual conference over the last few years.

He urged the police forces to continue working for the unity and integrity of India. “Let us strengthen forces that promote unity, and isolate divisive forces at the grassroots level.”

Nitish Kumarunder fi re after spate of killingsIANSPatna

At least three people were killed by unidentifi ed gunmen over the past 12

hours in three diff erent districts of Bihar, prompting a scathing attack by the opposition on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s govern-ance.

The latest victim was a con-struction fi rm owner, who was gunned down in broad daylight yesterday in Darbhanga district. Hours before that a bank offi cial was abducted from Gaya and killed.

A property dealer was mur-dered in Begusarai late on Friday. All these murders came barely 48 hours after the killing of a well-known businessman’s father in Vaishali.

All cases were still open, police said.

“Nitish Kumar is busy meeting in Delhi, discussing seat sharing with BJP president Amit Shah and criminals are busy killing businessmen,” former deputy chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav said.

“The chief minister has no time for anything other than preparing for 2019 Lok Sabha polls,” the leader of the Rashtriya Janata Dal said.

In the latest attack, K P Shahi, the owner of Shahi Construction company, was shot dead around 11am while he was on his way to his offi ce.

Four masked men riding a mo-torcycle targeted his car and fi red indiscriminately, killing him on the spot. Shahi Construction was engaged in road construc-tion at three or four places.

Police suspect ‘rangdari’ or extortion by a criminal gang as

the reason behind his killing.Darbhanga Senior Superin-

tendent of Police Garima Malik said it was diffi cult to say what the motive was, but “we have constituted an SIT to probe the case”.

Shahi’s murder came barely nine hours after a Punjab Na-tional Bank (PNB) employee Pintu Singh was killed in Gaya district.

Singh was abducted late on Friday. He is believed to have been shot dead around 2am yesterday, according to police officer Shayam Lal Saran. Deep injury marks were found on his head.

Meanwhile, in Begusarai dis-trict, a property dealer, Mahesh Singh, was shot dead by uniden-tifi ed men around midnight, po-lice said. He was killed in Paspura village under Mufassil Police Station, a district police offi cial said.

All these killings came barely 48 hours after a businessman was shot dead in Vaishali district.

The back-to-back killings have triggered violent protest by villagers, who blocked the GT Road disrupting traffi c for hours, Saran said.

Gunjan Khemka, an industri-alist was shot dead on Thursday in Hajipur. His son, Gopal Khem-ka is a well-known businessman in Patna.

Khemka was attacked on his way to his factory in Hajipur, about 30km from Patna, Vaishali Superintendent of Police Man-avjit Singh Dhillon said.

Police are still in the dark and yet to make any breakthrough in the case.

The RJD and Congress have targeted Nitish Kumar for the rise in crime and a total collapse of law and order.

Govt cuts tax rates on some goods under GSTAgenciesNew Delhi

The government yester-day slashed the sales tax rate on over 20 items in

a move aimed at appealing to traders and the middle class after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party lost elec-tions in five states.

Modi is seeking a second term in next fi ve months amid voter

frustration over the abrupt im-plementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in July 2017 that has resulted in job losses for thousands of workers in small businesses.

The GST Council, headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, agreed to lower the tax on some goods including televisions of 32 inches, batteries and movie tick-ets.

The council cut tax rates on six items from the highest tax rate

of 28% to 18% and on one item - wheelchairs and parts - to 5%.

Most other items saw tax rates cut from 18% to 12% and 5%.

The council has so far taken more than 190 items, including washing machines and leather goods, out of the highest tax rate.

Only 34 items - particularly luxury goods - remain in the top slab of 28%.

Air-conditioners and dish-washers have been left untouched at the highest rate because these

are not items of common use in India, Jaitley said.

Nearly 1,250 goods and serv-ices have been categorised under the four tax slabs of 5, 12, 18 and 28% under the GST regime.

“It is decided to retain sin (such as alcohol and tobacco) and luxury goods in 28% bracket. Cement and some auto parts are also still in 28% slab,” Jaitley told reporters.

The GST Council postponed a decision to the next meeting in

January on fi ve issues - taxation of residential properties, extend-ing the composition scheme for small businesses to small service providers, tax rate on lotteries, raising the exemption threshold for MSMEs and on the tax to pro-vide relief in natural calamities.

A major decision taken was that services supplied by banks to basic savings bank deposit ac-counts and holders of Jan Dhan accounts will be exempt from GST.

The council also decided to form a seven-member Group of Ministers (GoM) to study anom-alies in tax collection in some of the states which showed wide deviation from what was expect-ed in terms of shortfall.

“The council has approved the proposal to form a seven-member GoM to study the rev-enue trend, including analysing reasons for structural patterns aff ecting revenue collection in some of the states,” Jaitley said.

On Tuesday, Modi said the government was planning to cut the number of items taxed at the highest rate so that over 99% of items, with the exception of lux-ury goods, come under the 18% or lower rates.

A report by the State Bank of India estimated that federal and state governments could face a shortfall of about Rs900bn in GST tax collections in the cur-rent fi scal year against the budget target of Rs12.9tn rupees.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi stands with dignitaries on stage during the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Mahila Morcha sammelan in Adalaj, some 30km from Ahmedabad yesterday.

Troops kill six militants in KashmirAgenciesSrinagar

Soldiers yesterday killed six militants from a group be-lieved to be an affi liate of Al

Qaeda in Jammu and Kashmir dur-ing a brief fi refi ght, offi cials said, sparking clashes between protesters and police.

All six belonged to Ansar Ghaz-wat-ul-Hind, a small Kashmiri rebel group whose now only surviv-ing member is its chief and former Hizbul Mujahideen commander Zakir Musa, top police offi cer Munir Ahmad Khan said.

Musa is one of the most wanted militants in Kashmir.

Soldiers zeroed in on a mili-tant hideout in an orchard dur-ing searches in southern Tral area and fired warning shots, trig-gering a brief firefight that left the six militants dead, Inspector General of Police Swayam Pra-kash Pani said.

Eyewitnesses said hundreds of locals came out on the streets and clashed with police, who had to fi re tear gas to disperse them, after en-counter with the rebels.

Authorities also suspended mo-bile Internet and train services in the Kashmir Valley to prevent a large gathering of protestors.

“The operation is over,” Defence Ministry spokesman Colonel Rajesh Kalia said .

Police said after the completion of legal formalities the bodies of the slain militants would be handed over to their families.

Also yesterday, six security men were injured in a grenade explosion

in south Kashmir’s Anantnag dis-trict, police said.

According to the police, secu-rity forces were withdrawing after a search operation in Hassanpura vil-lage of Arwani area when militants hiding in a crowd of people hurled a grenade injuring six security men.

“The injured include six Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troop-ers and a local policeman. They were taken to hospital for treatment. Af-ter fi rst aid, they were discharged,” said a police offi cial.

This has been the deadliest year in a decade in Kashmir, with more

than 550 people including 150 civil-ians killed, according to a monitor-ing group.

Yesterday’s clash came a day after two soldiers were killed by alleged sniper fi re from the Pakistani side of the Line of Control, the de facto bor-der that divides the region.

Villagers watch from a tree during a funeral procession of slain militants of Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind, a group which claims aff iliation with Al Qaeda, at Dadsar village in Tral, south of Srinagar, yesterday.

PAKISTAN

Gulf Times Sunday, December 23, 201816

Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that he has direct-ed his party to agree with

every demand of the opposition, but not to back down from ac-countability.

Speaking at a ceremony mark-ing completion of fi rst 100 days of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s Punjab government, the premier said that there is ongo-ing drama in the assembly, where the opposition is accusing the government of political victimi-sation.

“We haven’t made any case. The probe is going on in the cases fi led during the previous tenure,” he said. “I told the party leaders to issue Saad Rafi que’s produc-tion orders, agree on Shehbaz Sharif’s appointment as Public Accounts Committee chairman, but don’t back down from ac-countability.”

The premier said that national security will remain under threat until and unless action against corrupt elements is taken.

“Stiff action against corrup-tion is important for our future generations. Opposition can’t tell us to back off from account-

ability,” the prime minister said.He said he entered in politics

22 years ago to launch a move-ment against corruption, add-ing that there is a sad precedent in the country in which people come in government to make money and later use assembly as a shield to protect this wealth.

Yesterday, the Senate Standing Committee on Law and Justice

discussed the alleged victimisa-tion and media trial of politicians and bureaucrats by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

The meeting of the committee in Islamabad was presided over by chairman Senator Mohamed Javed Abbasi.

Sources privy to the discus-sion said that the committee had held a preliminary discussion

to prepare comprehensive rec-ommendations to stop the NAB from allegedly victimising only opposition leaders, and the use of discretionary powers by the NAB chairman against them.

Recently, the NAB arrested Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif during the course of in-quiry in the Ashiyana-e-Iqbal Housing Scheme case, and Kha-waja Saad Rafi que and his broth-er Salman Rafi que in the Paragon Housing scam case.

The bureau has also issued notices to a number of leaders belonging to the Pakistan Mus-lim League – Nawaz (PML-N), the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), and even to lawmakers of the rul-ing PTI.

The notices served on the law-makers by the NAB were widely circulated in the mainstream print and electronic media, as well as on social media.

The sources said that the Sen-ate committee pointed out that in inquiries against PTI law-makers, including Prime Minis-ter Imran Khan, members of his cabinet Pervez Khattak and Zulfi Bukhari, and Punjab minister Al-eem Khan, the NAB had shown extreme leniency.

It may be mentioned that the

NAB – in a reply submitted to the Islamabad High Court on a peti-tion fi led by Zulfi Bukhari seek-ing removal of his name from the Exit Control List (ECL) – ad-mitted that Bukhari was not co-operating with the investigation team.

However, the bureau granted him one-time permission to travel abroad, on the basis of which the high court removed Bukhari’s name from the ECL.

The members of the Senate committee from the PML-N and the PPP were of the view that the recent record of arrests and pending inquiries showed that NAB chairman retired Justice Javed Iqbal had become a party against the opposition parties, according to the sources.

They further said that the Sen-ate committee had decided to summon the NAB chairman.

The committee would fi nalise its recommendations on the al-leged victimisation and media trial of lawmakers and govern-ment offi cials by the bureau.

The recommendations would be sent to Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, they added.

The committee, however, de-ferred further deliberations on the issue for its next meeting to be notifi ed later.

No compromise on accountability: PMInternewsLahore/Islamabad

Prime Minister Khan: Stiff action against corruption is important for our future generations. Opposition can’t tell us to back off from accountability.

Pakistan is planning to ease visa restrictions for visitors from 55 coun-

tries, including most European nations, in a bid to revive tour-ism that was devastated by Is-lamist violence in the fallout from the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.

“We are reviewing our visa policies. We are trying to bring 55 countries into a visa-free region, which includes most of the European countries,” Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry told Reuters.

That comes after Portugal this month declared Pakistan safe for travel, while France has also relaxed its advisory on travel to the South Asian na-tion

“I’m happy our (travel) ad-visories are changing,” said Chaudhry.

Potentially restarting tour-ism has been one of the most talked about parts of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s push to create an Islamic welfare state in Pakistan, but visitors to the country often complain of an arduous visa process.

Former Real Madrid soccer stars Kaka of Brazil and Por-tuguese playmaker Luis Figo were recently denied visas to the country for a promotional visit, Chaudhry said, high-

lighting the nation’s laborious visa process.

“We refused a visa to Kaka and Figo. Can you believe that? I called the section offi cer and he never heard of ... Kaka,” Chaudhry said, laughing. “I spoke to the interior secretary yesterday and gave him a piece of my mind.”

Pakistan was last a promi-nent tourist destination in the 1970s when the “hippie trail” brought Western travellers through the apricot and walnut orchards of the Swat Valley and Kashmir on their way to India and Nepal.

Since then, a deteriorat-ing security situation and the imposition of a harsh inter-pretation of Islamic laws has chipped away at the number of visitors.

Following Pakistan’s partici-pation in the US-led war in Af-ghanistan after the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York and Washington, the country was rocked by a decade of reg-ular militant attacks.

Security has since improved dramatically, with militant attacks down sharply in the mainly Muslim country of 208mn people.

British Airways on Tuesday announced it would resume fl ights to Pakistan next year af-ter a 10-year absence that fol-lowed a major hotel bombing, becoming the fi rst Western airline to restart such fl ights.

Government plansto relax visa policyto revive tourismReutersIslamabad

Google has released a doo-dle in honour of the leg-endary Pakistani bats-

man, Hanif Mohamed, to what would have been his 84th birth-day.

Google honoured Moham-ed, who is also known as “The Original Little Master”, with a doodle showing the scorecard at 337, paying homage to the crick-eter’s phenomenal 16-hour-long innings where he scored 337 against the West Indies at

Bridgetown in 1957-58, which saved Pakistan from imminent defeat.

It remains the longest innings in Test history and was the long-est in all fi rst-class cricket for over 40 years.

“He and his record-breaking athleticism are even credited with helping popularise cricket in Pakistan,” Google said in its post describing the legendary cricketer.

Besides playing the longest innings in Test history, he was the fi rst Pakistani player to score a triple century, and held the highest individual score of 499

in fi rst-class cricket for over three decades.

Born in Junagadh, India, on December 21 in 1934, Mohamed grew up playing cricket in the street with his brothers.

He excelled as a batsman, and after moving to Pakistan at the age of 13, he was mentored by Abdul Aziz, a famous player who recognised his potential.

Mohamed went on to play for teams representing Bahawalpur, Karachi, and Pakistan Interna-tional Airlines, and made his in-

ternational debut against India in 1952.

Mohamed played 55 Test matches for Pakistan – 11 of them as captain – and scored a total of 3,915 runs.

“Considered one of the best batsmen ever to play the sport, Mohamed even surpassed the great Don Bradman’s record for the highest individual innings,” it said.

He passed away on August 11, 2016 at the age of 81 after a long battle against liver cancer.

Google honours Hanif Mohamed on birth anniversaryInternewsKarachi

Comedian Ali pretends to be PM Khan to save the day

Comedian Shafaat Ali came to the rescue for the local authorities as he mimicked Prime Minister Imran Khan to convince a man to climb down from a mobile phone signal tower.The man hailing from Sargodha climbed on top of the signal tower, in the Blue Area of the capital city, and demanded that he be made the premier of the country as he can improve the country’s economic

condition and repay debts in six months.When asked to climb down, the man had said he will only speak to Prime Minister Khan or the Sargodha divisional police off icer.The local administration facilitated his contact with Ali, who imitated the prime minister to successfully convince the man to climb down from the tower.Police immediately arrested the man.

Leader of Opposition in the National Assem-bly and Public Accounts

Committee (PAC) chairman Shehbaz Sharif has convened the committee’s maiden meet-ing on December 28 at the Par-liament House here.

Sources said Sharif will ask the National Accountability Bureau to ensure his presence at the meeting, under Rule 108 of the “National Assembly of Pakistan Rules of Procedures and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly of 2007 Chapter XII privilege”.

Under the rule, the speaker or chairman of a commit-tee may summon a member in

custody on the charge of a non-bailable off ence to attend a sit-ting or sittings of the assem-bly or meeting of a committee of which he is a member, if he considers his presence neces-sary.

On a production order, signed by the secretary or by any other offi cer authorised in this behalf, addressed to the government of the prov-ince where the member is held in custody, or to the author-ity concerned, the provincial government or such authority shall cause the member in cus-tody to be produced before the Sergeant-at-Arms, who shall, after the conclusion of the sit-ting or the meeting, deliver the member into the custody of the provincial government or other authority concerned.

PAC meets next week

InternewsIslamabad

Festive mood

Girls in Santa Claus costumes wave from a bus on a street in Karachi on Friday evening as part of the Christmas celebrations.

Former prime minister Na-waz Sharif would attend the accountability court in

Islamabad tomorrow (December 24), where Judge Arshad Ma-lik would announce the verdict in two National Accountability Bureau (NAB) references against him, Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) leader Rana Sanaullah said.

He said that the party had no plans to stage any sit-ins or any protest actions on that day, even if the decision went against Sharif, but warned that the party would be unable to control its workers if they resorted to any agitation.

“We cannot stop party sup-porters from coming out on the road, but offi cially, there is no plan for rallies or anything,” Sanaullah said, while responding to a query about the party’s pro-test plans if the party supremo Sharif is arrested.

“The party is, in fact, gearing up for a mass-contact drive from

December30 to re-organise the party workers. On that day the party will hold a convention to celebrate the Foundation Day of the Muslim League foundation to kick-start its drive,” the PML-N member of the National Assem-bly said.

When pressed further if the party was gearing up for elec-tions or for a possible agitation movement, Sanaullah said that the way situation is shaping up, an agitation seemed imminent.

“The PML-N is preparing for it,” he said.

The former Punjab law minis-ter said that the opposition par-ties, mainly the Pakistan Peo-ples Party (PPP) and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam – Fazlur (JUI-F), might not join them because of their own compulsions.

“Even with both the senior leaders [Nawaz and Shehbaz Sharif] behind bars, the party’s advisory board of fi ve to six peo-ple will take care of party’s day-to-day aff airs,” he said.

However, Sanaullah clarifi ed that the board will not take deci-sions on its own; rather, it would consult Nawaz Sharif fi rst.

Earlier, the PML-N held an-other high-level meeting in Par-liament House.

Party president and Oppo-sition Leader in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif pre-sided over the meeting, which lasted for more than two and a half hours.

According to senior party leaders, the meeting was in con-tinuation to Thursday’s meeting, and it discussed the re-organisa-tion of the party.

There was an informal discus-sion of the NAB court’s decision on December 24, they added.

“Both these meetings dis-cussed the party’s reorganisa-tion and the mass contact drive,” former Sindh governor Moham-ed Zubair said.

He added that the party had two plans for December 24 – cel-ebrations if the court decision is favourable, otherwise the plan is to express disappointment.

Zubair said that party sup-porters would react accordingly in case Sharif is arrested, but party leaders would ensure that the reaction did not become vio-lent.

PML-N hints at protestsif ex-PM Sharif is arrested

InternewsLahore

The government is consid-ering starting afternoon classes in schools in the

federal capital in order to deal with the shortage of schools and to bring out-of-school children into schools.

Out-of-school children will be facilitated in starting school either by the establishment of new schools, upgrading new schools, or providing children in remote areas with transport.

According to government documents, missing facilities will be replaced in schools as well and schools will be set up

in unused buildings such as was done in certain parts of Balu-chistan.

According to recent data, there are almost 22.5mn out-of-school children, more girls than boys, in the country.

The primary net enrolment across the country has remained static across the years and has even declined in some prov-inces.

There is a large gender, eco-nomic and geographic disparity in education enrolment across the country.

According to the government documents, the plan will fi rst be implemented in schools in the Islamabad Capital Territory and extended to the rest of the coun-

try in later stages in consulta-tion with provincial authorities in order to address the issue of out-of-school children.

The documents say the Fed-eral Education and Professional Training Division will be max-imising existing school infra-structure by consolidating pri-mary, middle and high schools so there is more room for out of school children.

The government will fo-cus on the Waseela-e-Taleem programme under which cash transfers will be made under the Benazir Income Support Pro-gramme to families of students who enrol.

The education ministry will co-ordinate with the fi nance

departments for timely fund transfers to education depart-ments and for the effi cient utili-sation of existing funds.

A Taleemi Razakar Internship Programme will be initiated under which young graduates will be urged to teach on a vol-untary basis at school in order to address the lack of science and mathematics teachers and teachers for some languages.

The education ministry will mobilise communities for bringing out-of--school chil-dren into school and retaining them.

Free education content will be uploaded on websites and hard copies of the content will be taken to remote areas.

Govt considers classes in the afternoonInternewsIslamabad

Allahyarreceives another awardInternewsIslamabad

In another great step for Pa-kistan’s animation industry, children’s fi lm Allahyar and

the Legend of Markhor has been named the Best Feature Film at the recent South Asian Interna-tional Film Festival.

The award is based on what the audience’s demands.

The team behind Allahyar made the big announcement on the fi lm’s social media pages.

“Congratulations, everyone! It gives us great pleasure to make Pakistan so proud! We’d like to thank everyone for all the love and support!” read the post up-loaded by them.

Written and directed by Uzair Zaheer Khan, Allahyar is a full-length animated feature fi lm set in the northern areas of Pakistan.

It revolves around the young Allahyar (voiced by Anum Zaidi) who fi nds himself escaping a hunter name Manu (Ali Noor) and helping a markhor named Mehru (Natasha Humera Ejaz) reach home.

A markhor is a large species of wild goat.

The indigenous storyline, localised characters and com-mendable animation and graph-ics rendered it a must-watch for youngsters across the country.

Last month, Allahyar received the prestigious Monolith Award at an event in Beverly Hills, Cali-fornia.

PHILIPPINES17Gulf Times

Sunday, December 23, 2018

Lawmaker and bodyguard shot dead at Christmas eventAgenciesManila

A Philippine congressman was gunned down at a Christmas celebration

yesterday, police said, the latest violence in a country notorious for deadly political rivalries.

Rodel Batocabe had just fi n-ished handing out presents in the central town of Daraga when the lawmaker and his police bodyguard were shot dead by a gunman hiding in the crowd, regional police offi cial Arnel Es-cobel said.

The motive was not immedi-ately clear, but authorities said they were looking into whether the killing could be politically motivated.

Batocabe had announced plans to run for mayor in Dara-ga in midterm elections due in

May, when the Philippines will choose local, regional and na-tional representatives.

Philippine polls are fre-quently marred by violence as politicians resort to force and intimidation to win positions that will give them power and infl uence in a nation where nearly a quarter of the popula-tion lives on less than $2 a day.

Escobel said Batocabe, who was elected to the lower House of Representatives in 2010, had recently voiced concern that rivals in the mayoral race were using armed groups to infl uence the vote.

Over the years, several Phil-ippine congress members have been attacked or murdered by suspected rivals.

The most recent case was legislator Wahab Akbar who was killed along with two aides when a bomb exploded outside

the House of Representatives building in November 2007.

A year earlier, Congressman Luis Bersamin was shot dead

outside a church in a Manila suburb. Grace Poe, a member of the Senate, denounced the lat-est killing, saying: “This sorry

history in our nation of political violence must stop.”TASK GROUP TO PROBE KILLING

Meanwhile, a Special Inves-tigation Task Group (SITG) has been created to quickly resolve the killing of Ako Bicol repre-sentative Rodel Batocabe, Di-rector General Oscar Albayalde, chief of the Philippine National Police, said.

“I have directed the creation of a Special Investigation Task Group to mobilise all available resources and to orchestrate all aspects of investigation to ensure that justice is served as soon as possible to both the victims and their families,” Albayalde said in a statement, Philippine Daily Inquirer re-ported.

According to the PNP chief, the organisation condemns the killing of Batocabe and his

security escort. “The Philip-pine National Police strongly condemns the fatal shooting of AKO Bicol Party List rep-resentative Rodel Batocabe and his Security Escort, SPO1 Rolando Diaz while attend-ing a gift giving for senior and PWD citizens this afternoon in Daraga, Albay,” Albayalde said.

“We express our deep-est sympathy to the bereaved families of representative Ba-tocabe and SPO1 Diaz even as we vowed to get to the bottom of this sad incident,” he added.

He also asked the public to co-ordinate with the authori-ties to help in the investigation of the incident.

“We appeal to the public to immediately report to the po-lice any information that could lead us to the perpetrators and to help us quickly solve this case,” Albayalde said.

A man sits on the back of a truck as it passes through a crowded street market in Manila City, Metro Manila, yesterday.

Festive shopping

Rodel Batocabe

Repatriated OFWs receive assistance

Manila TimesManila

More than 100 dis-tressed overseas Fili-pino workers (OFWs)

repatriated from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) on De-cember 8 were given financial assistance from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administra-tion (OWWA).

OWWA Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac said in a statement yesterday that Labour Secre-tary Silvestre Bello 3rd released the directives to provide an assistance package, which in-cluded P20,000 in financial aid to 109 OFWs.

These workers are part of the total 521 OFWs who were re-patriated in December due to unfavourable working condi-tions in the KSA. Cacdac said that the assistance package is intended to help OFWs for their smooth reintegration as they settle back in the country.

“These were the directives from Labour Secretary Sil-vestre Bello 3rd. We hope that this can help them cope with the daily expenditure,” Cacdac said.

The DoLE reported that 88 of the beneficiaries were from Azmeel Company in Al Khobar, which locked them out and re-fused to pay their wages.

Meanwhile, contract viola-tions have prompted 18 OFWs from Rakan Trading Contract-ing Company and four employ-ees from Samama Company to return to the Philippines.

Cacdac said that in addition to the financial aid, the OFWs may also avail of the livelihood assistance programme if they should decide to stay in the country.

“Our repatriated OFWs also have the opportunity to ap-ply for a livelihood assistance. A seminar will be arranged for them and they will be required to submit their respective busi-ness plans. We will teach them how to do it,” the OWWA chief said.

Other forms of support were airport and transporta-tion assistance and temporary shelter. Legal assistance may also be provided to OFWs who want to file complaints against their employers or recruitment agencies.

Nearly 9,000 rice retailers penalised for violationsBy Eireene Jairee GomezManila Times

The National Food Au-thority (NFA) appre-hended 8,826 grains

businessmen for various vio-lations and collected at least P10.78mn in penalties, admin-istrative fi nes and other fees as of end-November this year.

In a statement, NFA said it had inspected a total of 168,140 business establishments na-tionwide and noted various violations such as non-renewal of NFA licence, operating with-out licence and noncompliance with the prescribed rice box and display of price tags and signboards. Accredited NFA rice retailers were also appre-hended for non-display of NFA rice, diversion of NFA rice and unreasonable depletion of NFA rice, among others, the agency added.

In 2017, the NFA apprehend-ed 2,561 grains businessmen and collected P14mn in various fi nes.

Acting Administrator Tomas Escarez said the NFA’s inten-sifi ed enforcement activities prevented illegal activities and helped stabilise the price of rice in the market.

“When NFA started selling rice in the markets again last June, we ensured that NFA rice sold by our accredited retail-ers were sold at the prescribed price of P27 and P32 per kilo-gram (kg). The deployment of palengke watchers and the co-

ordination between the NFA, National Bureau of Investiga-tion (NBI) and other law en-forcement agencies was very helpful in the success of the agency in monitoring the mar-ket,” Escarez said.

NFA has deployed a total of 346 palengke watchers begin-ning September in the National Capital Region (NCR), includ-ing Cavite and Rizal provinces, to assist in the monitoring of market price of rice, as the agency increased its rice distri-bution nationwide.

There are 668 major and mi-nor markets in NCR, with 1,946 accredited NFA rice retailers and 5,328 licensed grains busi-nessmen, it added.

“The average price of com-mercial regular milled rice in the market went as high as P46 to P48/kg in August to Septem-ber. But as we started selling NFA rice and deploying paleng-ke watchers, rice price started to go down and until it was back to P36 to P39/kg for regular milled rice,” Escarez said.

He said the drop in rice prices could be attributed to the gov-ernment’s implementation of suggested retail price (SRP) on rice beginning October this year.

Escarez said the agency’s ac-complishments were driven by the actual apprehension of rice traders involved in hoarding rice and other illegal activities, with the help of NBI and other

law enforcement groups.In November, the NFA can-

celled the grains trading li-cences and fi led charges against two Iligan City merchants who were caught hoarding 19,000 bags in an undeclared ware-house. A rice trader in Laguna was also apprehended while in possession of illegally acquired volumes of NFA rice, and a re-tailer in Bataan was also caught rebagging NFA rice.

Escarez also cited the help of the NFA Kontra Abuso Hotline launched last July through the initiative of former NFA ad-ministrator Jason Aquino. All of the 802 complaints received through the hotline were suc-cessfully resolved.

People buy rice from a shop.

Gray eyed as nation’s

tourism ambassadorBy Neil Jayson ServallosManila Times

The Department of Tourism (DoT) has ex-pressed its interest in collaborating with Catriona Gray for the government’s tour-

ism drive next year, saying her recent win in the Miss Universe pageant would “defi nitely” trans-late positively for the country’s tourism industry.

Tourism Secretary Bernadette-Romulo Puyat said Gray had promoted the country’s diverse culture and destinations not just as Miss Uni-verse but also as a “passionate” advocate of Phil-ippine tourism.

“When Gray walked and emerged victori-ous on the Miss Universe stage, not only did she highlight her strength as a woman, more impor-tantly, she showed the universe the pride of the Philippines through the video clips promoting our country’s diverse culture and beautiful des-tinations,” she told reporters in a message.

The Tourism secretary was referring to Gray’s two-part “This is the Philippines” tourism vid-eos, which explained the origin of her national costume and showed clips of the aftermath of Typhoon Yolanda, among others.

The DoT in an earlier statement said Gray was able to “single-handedly” lead more people all over the world to discover it was “more fun in the Philippines.”

“Amidst Gray’s preparations prior to heading for Thailand, she took precious time to do a series of video clips promoting unique and fascinating destinations and diverse cultures: Luzon’s Rizal Park and world-renowned El Nido, Palawan, the resilience of the Visayan people particularly in Tacloban City, and Mindanao’s multi-faceted South Cotabato,” the DoT said.

Puyat said the DoT was looking forward to “strengthening” its collaboration with Gray, but did not say to what extent.

The DoT previously asked 2015 Miss Uni-verse Pia Wurtzbach to be one of its tourism ambassadors, alongside boxing legend and senator Manny Pacquiao, to promote the Phil-

ippine tourism industry. “As Catriona herself said, she represents the 104mn Filipinos… We look forward to continuing and strengthening our collaboration with her in the coming year,” Puyat said.

President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday night met Gray in a courtesy call three days af-ter she won the coveted Miss Universe crown.

Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said the meeting took place at the Villamor Air Base in Pasay City.

“They exchanged pleasantries. He thanked her for bringing the crown. He said everybody is euphoric about her win,” Panelo told report-ers in a message.

Panelo said the president also mentioned that his partner Cielito “Honeylet” Avancena wanted to meet Gray as well, but had to stay in Davao City.

“He told her she made every Filipino proud. He told her that Honeylet wanted to go with him to meet her but had to stay in Davao to at-tend to her daughter, Kitty,” he added.

Catriona Gray: new role?

Gulf Times Sunday, December 23, 2018

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Latest outbreak ofEbola in DR Congothreatens mega-cities

Another Ebola epidemic is spreading in the Democratic Republic of Congo and it is the second deadliest outbreak in history.

The latest outbreak may continue for another three or four months, the east African nation’s health ministry has cautioned.

Deaths in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have reached 319, recent offi cial fi gures reveal, and the spread of the virus shows no sign of slowing down.

It is feared 549 people have been struck with the virus since the outbreak was declared in August. Twenty per cent of new cases have been reported in the last month alone.

On average, Ebola, which causes fever, severe headache and in some cases haemorrhaging – kills about half of those infected, but fatality rates in individual outbreaks have varied. The latest outbreak has a case fatality rate of about 58%.

The spread into more major cities and across borders into other countries remains the biggest concern, with ongoing armed confl ict and increased commuting expected over Christmas.

Ahead of the presidential election on December 30, several tonnes of hand sanitiser have been deployed for use in polling stations, where millions of people will use touch-screen voting machines.

Health offi cials have struggled to contain the outbreak in one city alone, but other major cities in eastern Congo

– such as Goma near the Rwanda border, and across the heavily travelled border into Uganda – are of a huge concern.

Uganda in particular is the focus of “intense collaboration” where cases have not yet been

recorded – the DRC’s Health Minister, Oly Ilunga said.This Ebola outbreak is mainly concentrated in the

provinces North Kivu and Ituri, Ilunga said. Health experts fear that travels during the Christmas

period may cause the Ebola outbreak to spread from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Uganda and elsewhere in eastern Africa.

Offi cials have warned that thousands of families will make the journey over the border to visit family and buy food during the festive period.

The current outbreak is now the second-deadliest and second largest Ebola outbreak in history, topped only by one in West Africa in 2014, when the disease killed more than 11,000 people, according to World Health Organisation (WHO).

In late November, the ministry announced the launch of a fi rst randomised control trial for three Ebola treatment drugs. Additionally, some 49,940 people have been inoculated with an experimental vaccine since early August.

Eff orts to contain the outbreak have faced tremendous obstacles so far. Local militia groups have stepped up their attacks as the country heads into a long-delayed national election on December 30.

Six months after the fi rst case of Ebola was confi rmed in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s confl ict-torn border province of North Kivu, the outbreak is still raging, leaving a trail of fractured families and hundreds of orphans in its wake.

Now an upcoming election and holiday travel are mobilising the population in the Democratic Republic of Congo, making a tough situation even harder to control.

It is the second-deadliest and second largest Ebola outbreak in history

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CHAIRMANAbdullah bin Khalifa al-Attiyah

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFFaisal Abdulhameed al-Mudahka

Deputy Managing EditorK T Chacko

AFPLondon

Aviation chiefs are going to be on a steep learning curve to counter the security threat posed by drones after a

costly and humiliating shutdown of London’s Gatwick airport.

“This kind of incident is unprecedented anywhere in the world, the disruption of an airport in this way,” Britain’s Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said on Friday.

Flights were suspended again at Gatwick on Friday by a drone alert, just hours after being reopened following the original unmanned drown sightings which caused travel chaos that left tens of thousands of passengers stranded over three days.

“We’re going to have to learn very quickly from what’s happened,” Grayling told the BBC.

“There certainly isn’t a straightforward commercial off -the-shelf solution that automatically solves all problems.”

In fact, it drone disruption at airports is not quite unprecedented.

In 2016, Dubai International Airport closed three times because of drones being used for leisure nearby.

The delayed and rerouted fl ights cost millions of dollars.

In February 2016, an Airbus A320 fl ying the Barcelona-Paris route reported a near miss with a drone at 1,600 altitude (one mile up) as it approached Charles de Gaulle airport.

The fear is that if a drone smashed into a passenger plane or was sucked up into one of its engines, its highly fl ammable lithium battery could cause a catastrophe.

Gatwick chief executive Stewart Wingate wants to see swift, co-ordinated action.

“These events obviously highlight a wider strategic challenge for aviation in this country which we need to address together with speed — the aviation industry, Government and all the other relevant authorities,” he said.

In 2016, the European Aviation Safety Agency logged 1,400 drone incidents in Europe, up from 606 between 2011 and 2015.

Deputies in the European Parliament approved EU-wide regulations on the use of drones, but still need formal approval from European ministers before taking eff ect.

Until then, it’s up to individual member states to set their own rules.

In France, civil aviation chiefs have drawn up an interactive map of zones where drones are either restricted or banned.

Airports, of course, are off limits.Charles de Gaulle airport just north

of Paris is looking at a long-distance protection system to tackle hostile drones.

But fi nding high-tech solutions to the drone threat in airport presents particular challenges, says Lucas Le Bell, founder of the start-up Cerbair that specialises in tackling the drone problem.

By Jacek RostowskiLondon

British Prime Minister Theresa May’s plan to withdraw her country from the European Union in an orderly fashion is

collapsing. Though she has survived a no-confidence vote, in January the House of Commons will almost certainly reject the exit deal she negotiated with EU leaders. In order to avoid a chaotic “no-deal” Brexit, her government will have to ask the EU for an extension on the departure date, or withdraw its “intention to leave” notification, at least temporarily.

Either way, the next step would be to hold a second referendum with the option of a so-called exit from Brexit, which would reverse the 2016 decision to leave. Voters could still decide to back May’s deal, opt for a “Norway-style” arrangement, or crash out of the EU with no deal. But recent polling suggests that the choice of remaining in the EU would win the day.

How did a country with 400 years of constitutional governance and a culture of political compromise end up here?

Most commentators point to the seemingly insoluble problem of the Irish border. Under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which put an end to decades of violent hostility

between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland, Britain agreed to permit the free movement of persons, goods, and some services across the border with the Republic of Ireland. A binding international treaty with no provision for exit, the Good Friday Agreement was signed under the assumption that both Britain and Ireland would remain in the EU indefinitely.

May’s deal with the EU includes a “backstop” that would prevent the reintroduction of a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic in the absence of a formal post-Brexit trade deal. The problem is that well over 100 members of May’s own party have rejected the backstop outright and will vote against her deal for that reason alone, making it dead on arrival.

But the Irish backstop is, in fact, a side issue. Even if there were no Irish problem, an orderly Brexit would have been impossible within the two years allotted to the UK under Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon. As I pointed out in October, British manufacturing supply chains are so deeply integrated with those of continental Europe that they could not survive the sudden establishment of customs and other checks on the British border. Britain’s automotive, aerospace, and precision-instruments industries would be decimated.

To be sure, many non-European

countries export large volumes of industrial goods to the EU. But, unlike British goods, these generally cross the EU border only once. The same would hold true for Britain’s goods only after the country disentangles itself from the web of European supply chains. That task alone would be comparable to the restructuring of post-communist countries following the collapse of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon, the Soviet-era trade bloc). Completing it could well take fi ve or more years.

After the 2016 referendum, May’s government should have had an adult discussion about the shape Brexit would take, rather than simply declaring, “Brexit means Brexit.” Scenarios in which the UK could remain in the single market, the customs union, or both were on offer from the EU. The government also should have done far more to apprise the business community of its plans.

Moreover, if the intention was always to leave both the single market and the customs union, retaining only a free-trade agreement with Europe, the government should have made clear that it would need an “implementation period” of at least five years to do this in an orderly manner. During this time it would be bound by European laws – including its obligation to pay around £13bn ($16.4bn) per year to the EU budget. May should not have invoked Article

50 until all of these decisions had been made, communicated to the relevant parties, and agreed upon at least in principle.

One reason May’s government ended up taking the exact opposite approach is that neither senior politicians nor bureaucrats understood the degree to which the British economy is intertwined with Europe. The fact that a quick Brexit into a free-trade agreement is logistically impossible seems to have been totally lost on them.

But the bigger problem was that a balanced consideration of possible options would have laid bare the lie upon which the “Leave” campaign was based. The idea that Britain could secure a “bespoke deal” and maintain “frictionless” access to the single market while pursuing its own trade accords elsewhere was always a fantasy.

Fearing the political consequences of acknowledging this basic truth, May adopted a completely unrealistic negotiating strategy, hoping that “some kind of Brexit” would happen before the British public realised it had been duped. Today, just three months before the departure date, this deeply deceitful démarche has disintegrated before May’s eyes – as well it should. - Project Syndicate

Jacek Rostowski was Poland’s Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister from 2007 to 2013.

Drone threat a steep learningcurve for airport chiefs

May’s Brexit plan collapsing

Passengers walk beneath screens displaying travel information in Gatwick Airport, in Crawley, Britain, yesterday.

I warned airports about dronesBy Simon MooresLondon

I have a drone on my airfi eld” – a statement that welcomes passengers to the latest dimension in air-travel disruption. Words of

despair from the chief operating offi cer of Gatwick airport in the busiest travel week of the year.

Elsewhere, many thousands of stranded and inconvenienced passengers turned in frustration to social media in an expression of crowd-sourced outrage. How could this happen? Why is it still happening over 12 hours after Gatwick’s runways were closed to aircraft, why is an intruder drone – or even two of them – suspended in the bright blue sky above the airport, apparently visible to security staff and police who remain quite unable to locate its source of radio control?

Meanwhile, the UK Civil Aviation Authority, overtaken by both the technology and events, is reduced to sending out desperate tweets warning that an airport incursion is a criminal off ence and that drone users should follow their new code of conduct.

Yet this is not an unforeseen event. It was inevitable. I’ve both written about the risk and warned an international airports conference in 2015 that this was “a clear and present danger” to their operations. The UK’s second-busiest airport was closed and demonstrably helpless in the face

of a small piece of fl ying technology weighing much the same as a bag of sugar.

Drones have been used before to disrupt airports. In Dubai it’s become almost commonplace – and there are frequent incursions at the UK’s smaller airports. The only surprise to date is that there hasn’t yet been a serious incident in UK airspace – as happened with a Boeing 738-800 belonging to Aeroméxico on 12 December on the fi nal approach to Tijuana in Mexico.

Fast-evolving drone technology has introduced an easily achievable and single point of failure into an already overloaded air-transport network. But aside from the exploration of the terrorism implication, the authorities appear to have been slow to take notice, other than introducing a relatively modest criminal penalty for bringing a major airport to a complete halt. In many respects, the CAA treats this as nearly equivalent to a small aircraft pilot accidentally infringing on the tightly controlled airspace that surrounds an air-traffi c zone. But if you are one of the more than 10,000 passengers aff ected by the disruption, facing the loss of your Christmas holiday, your view of the legal sanction may be very diff erent.

Outside Rochester airport in Kent, there’s a PC World that is a cornucopia of the latest drones, with prices ranging from a few hundred pounds to a thousand or more. The last thing on the buyers’ minds, I would suggest, is the CAA code of conduct. These are seen as just another modern consumer device,

like cheap green laser pointers that can cause real mischief and occasionally, almost unimaginable chaos in the hands of the malicious or the simply irresponsible.

But it’s not that airports, with their huge security budgets, don’t have access to countermeasures. They do. “Drone rifl es” are now widely available to the military or the police and Donald Trump’s Secret Service contingent never travel without one. These devices, pointed in the direction of an intruding drone threat simply disable it, causing it to land on its autopilot. End of story.

Why then, you may ask, have the police or the airport at Gatwick not deployed a drone countermeasure if, as stated, they know where one or even two drones are above the airport? It’s a mystery and leads one to wonder whether after all the warnings, they simply didn’t take the threat of a drone bringing the airport to a complete halt seriously enough. Worse still perhaps is the terrorist threat posed to airports by the consumer drones that Isis has used to dramatic eff ect in Syria and Iraq.

Perhaps it’s simply a matter of luck that both Heathrow and Gatwick were not both closed down on the same day before Christmas. But they might have been and still may be at some point in the future. It’s time to start taking this new threat very seriously indeed. – Guardian News & Media

Simon Moores is an applied futurist and a contributor to Sky News and the BBC

The noise levels at airports, the security requirements and the saturated level of communications make the task much harder.

His team is working on isolating the frequencies used to control drones, so they can not only detect

and locate the devices but take control of them.

Elsewhere in France meanwhile, Mont-de Marsan airbase in the southwest has been working on a more low-tech solution.

The airforce, inspired by a similar

experiment in the Netherlands, has been training golden eagles to search and destroy the intruders.

But that system still needs work: earlier this year, one of the eagles attacked a girl after mistaking her vest for the enemy.

COMMENT

Gulf Times Sunday, December 23, 2018 19

Moderates emerge from populist shadows in ItalyReutersRome

When Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte rose to his feet in parliament on Wednesday to announce

his budget accord with Europe, the normally ever-present heads of his government’s two coalition parties were nowhere to be seen.

Instead, Conte was fl anked by Economy Minister Giovanni Tria and Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi — two men with no political ties who had played vital roles in helping the prime minister secure a compromise deal with the European Commission.

The image spoke volumes.Backed by establishment fi gures and

pressure from the markets, the three mild-mannered men had tamed the anti-EU populists within the ruling League and 5-Star Movement, and had forced them to abandon their damaging fi ght with Brussels.

“In the end the parties realised that their budget did not have magical powers and that they were putting themselves in a situation that was far worse than they anticipated,” said a senior government fi gure, who declined to be named because of the extreme sensitivity of the issue.

The struggle over the 2019 budget in the eurozone’s third largest economy shows how the old Italian elite still wields considerable strength behind-the-scenes and is working to temper the more radical tendencies of the anti-system ruling parties.

When the cabinet unveiled the budget in October, it targeted a defi cit equivalent to 2.4% of gross domestic product — three times bigger than the previous government had promised.

Calls by Tria and Moavero for a less aggressive defi cit were brushed aside.

The head of the 5-Star, Luigi Di Maio, jumped onto the balcony of government headquarters to raise his fi st in triumph, while League leader Matteo Salvini breathed defi ance.

“We will not backtrack by even half a millimetre,” Salvini told reporters in October after the Commission had denounced the budget as an

unprecedented breach of EU fi scal rules and warned it would impose sanctions on Rome unless changes were made.

The senior government source said Salvini and Di Maio were ill advised by the euro-sceptic European Aff airs Minister Paolo Savona, who had argued that the Commission would back down because it was weak and almost at the end of its 5-year mandate.

“By contrast, precisely because the Commission was at the end of its mandate it did not have the political power to stray too far from the

rulebook,” the source said.Savona, whose original nomination

as economy minister was vetoed by Italian President Sergio Mattarella due to his critical view of the euro, declined to comment.

Political sources said Mattarella also played an important role, backing the cabinet moderates and repeatedly urging Di Maio and Salvini to accept a face-saving compromise.

“This budget is a defeat (for the coalition parties) and a victory for Mattarella’s party,” Giorgia Meloni, head of the rightist Brothers of Italy group, said on Thursday.

The Commission blind-sided Rome by threatening Italy with disciplinary measures over its high debt, not its defi cit — a mechanism that can drag on for years and one that it could initiate immediately without awaiting 2019 defi cit data.

“It is impossible to deny that facing infringement proceedings that would have put Italian accounts under review for seven years would have brought a very high political cost,” Conte said in an interview with Corriere della Sera newspaper on Thursday.

The government faced additional woes, particularly in the markets where

investor concerns pushed bond yields higher, hiking borrowing costs which started to hurt the real economy.

This alarmed business leaders, who had previously been sympathetic to the League, but were now swift to protest.

By the end of November the League and 5-Star changed their tune and empowered Conte, a little-known law professor with no political experience before becoming premier in June, to lead negotiations with Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

Those talks resulted in Wednesday’s accord, whereby Italy agreed to lower

its 2019 defi cit to 2.04% of GDP and also cut its economic growth forecast to 1.0% from a previous 1.5% that had been deemed wildly over-optimistic.

The deal allowed the government to forge ahead with its fl agship programmes — income support and earlier retirements — but the sums dedicated to these measures were scaled back.

“Conte was the best of the lot of them in the Europe talks,” said an offi cial close to the president, adding that Tria’s credibility had been hit by being initially forced to defend Rome’s budget line in Brussels.

As in any negotiations, the Commission also had to concede ground, accepting a defi cit that was well above the goal of 0.8% that have been agreed with the previous government.

It also approved a set of fi nancial promises from Rome that critics say are highly unrealistic, such as a pledge to raise some 20bn euros in 2019 from unspecifi ed asset sales.

“The Commission and Italy have signed up to a huge mess,” said Roberto Perotti, economics professor at Milan’s Bocconi University and a former government adviser on public spending.

“Both sides are pretending they believe in it but the numbers simply don’t add up.”

To sweeten its offer, the government additionally promised to raise value-added tax (VAT) and other duties by a massive 23.1bn euros in 2020 and 28.8bn in 2021 unless it can find other ways to meet a new array of targets.

Opposition leaders said only parties that had no intention of remaining in power would make such a commitment.

But the League’s economic spokesman Claudio Borghi hinted that these pledges could change and that much would depend on next year’s European parliamentary elections, when more radical parties like his own hope to trounce the old, mainstream forces.

“VAT is negotiated every year and if the elections go as I hope, Salvini could replace Juncker,” he wrote on Twitter.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and Italian Economy Minister Giovanni Tria attend a debate at the Senate in Rome, Italy, December 19.

QC’s pavilion at Darb Al Saai witnesses high visitor turnoutQatar Charity’s (QC) pavil-

ion, which was held for the fi rst time at Darb Al

Saai as part of Qatar’s National Day celebrations, has witnessed a huge turnout of visitors, volun-teers, and public.

Hundreds of children along with their families have partici-pated in its various events aimed at promoting the concepts of hu-manitarian activities, giving and social solidarity.

QC’s pavilion conveyed the pictures of the diverse human suff ering to visitors, and fea-tured a number of activities that promote the values of volunteer-ing and giving. The visitors also came to know about the charity’s impact on the vulnerable across the globe.

The pavilion was also visited by many local and regional dig-nitaries, who expressed their satisfaction at QC’s success in delivering its humanitarian mes-sage by providing the opportuni-ty to live the experience from the heart of the fi eld of philanthropy.

The list of eminent visitors in-cluded Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, HE the Min-ister of Culture and Sports Salah bin Ghanem bin Nasser al-Ali, HE the Minister of Commerce and Industry Ali bin Ahmed al-Kuwari and HE the Minister of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Aff airs Yousef bin Mohamed al-Othman Fa-khroo.

Also, HE Sheikha Hind bint Hamad al-Thani, Vice Chair-person and CEO of Qatar Foun-dation (QF); Dr Hassan Rashid al-Derham, President of Qatar Charity; Sheikh Khalid bin Nass-er bin Ahmed al-Thani; Jassem al-Buainain, director, Doha In-

ternational Book Fair; and Fa-tima al-Rashidi, Counsellor of International Relations and Organisations in Kuwait, paid a visit to QC’s pavilion at Darb Al Saai.

QC’s activities at Darb Al Saai were widely applauded by prominent media persons, social activists, and those interested in volunteer initiatives.

Saqr al-Muraikhi, a member of the Consultative Assembly, said that he was deeply impressed by the stories presented by QC’s pavilion, urging benefactors to continue helping the needy.

Nour al-Mansouri, a presenter at Al-Rayyan Satellite Channel, said: “The pavilion’s activities refl ected the eff orts made by the charity to support the vulner-able in the world, and told diffi -cult conditions of those in need across the globe, which can be changed through contributions from philanthropists.”

Asma al-Hammadi, a Qatari media personality, said: “All the human stories presented at the pavilion have started with trag-edy, but thanks to God, and then with your support, they have be-come stories of success.”

Dr Hamad al-Fayyad said: “Charitable work is a great ef-fort, and the sense of this eff ort comes through participation in this fi eld, which is refl ected at QC’s pavilion at Darb Al Saai, as it provided the opportunity to live the experience, listen to dif-ferent humanitarian stories, and know the reasons behind a dif-ference made in the lives of ben-efi ciaries.”

Dr Abdulrahman al-Harami said: “QC’s pavilion at Darb Al Saai has come up with the crea-tive and innovate activities, as we

HE Sheikha Hind bint Hamad al-Thani, Vice Chairperson and CEO of Qatar Foundation, pays a visit to Qatar Charity’s pavilion at Darb Al Saai.

HE the Minister of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Aff airs Yousef bin Mohamed al-Othman Fakhroo with other dignitaries.

HE the Minister of Culture and Sports Salah bin Ghanem bin Nasser al-Ali with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and other dignitaries who visited Qatar Charity’s pavilion at Darb Al Saai.

Dr Saleh bin Mohamed al-Nabit with other dignitaries visiting Qatar Charity’s pavilion at Darb Al Saai.

A large number of children and their families have participated in various activities organised at Qatar Charity’s pavilion.

have seen the humanitarian cases that we used to hear through the media.”

Also, a large number of chil-dren and their families have par-ticipated in various activities or-ganised at QC’s pavilion and lived the experience of humanitarian

work. They also came to know about the Qatari heritage, aimed at promoting a sense of belong-ing to Qatar in an attractive way through games, competitions and drawing, the statement adds.

Some 100 volunteers helped in the conduct of diff erent activities

at the pavilion, which highlight-ed the value of volunteering and taking part in the humanitarian action.

Noor al-Suwaidi, a volunteer, said it was a great opportunity to know about the diffi cult living conditions of the needy, and the

impact of donations in the lives of benefi ciaries.

For his part, Ammar Mohamed al-Buainain expressed his pleas-ure over his participation in the events held by QC’s pavilion at Darb Al Saai.

Qatar Charity participated in

the National Day celebrations and events at Darb Al Saai under the su-pervision the Regulatory Authority for Charitable Activities (RACA), with the aim of introducing Qatari humanitarian eff orts and develop-ment programmes, implemented around the world, to visitors.

Shop Qatar’s 3rd edition launchedFrom Page 1

Shop Qatar’s 14 participating retail partners are Al Mirqab Mall, Al Khor Mall, City Center, Dar Al Salam Mall, Doha Festival City, Gulf Mall, Hyatt Plaza, Lagoona Mall, Landmark Mall, Mall of Qatar, Royal Plaza, Tawar Mall, The Gate Mall, and The Pearl-Qatar.

The month-long festivity is also showcasing its Design District for the first time at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Centre from January 5-12. It will be a global hub for fash-ion-forward events and live

entertainment all under one roof.Some 55 hotels across the country are

off ering unmatched deals and “special curated experiences” for local, regional and international visitors this winter season.

“In each new edition of the festi-vals and tourism events NTC organises along with public and private sector partners, we are always keen to provide exciting platforms for local entrepre-neurs and home-grown talent to meet and grow their audiences,” Mashal Shahbik from NTC said.

Unique shopping tours at Souq Wa-

qif, fashion-focused events, concerts, and other live performances await fes-tival-goers and shoppers.

The event will also feature the Torba Farmer’s Market at Qatar Foundation’s Ceremonial Court on weekends; the Night Market at Duhail Sports Club daily from 4pm to 1am and the Tegahwa coff ee event at Al Hazm, taking place daily until January 19.

According to NTC, the Entertain-ment World Village will reopen to the public while local Arabic play Compars will take place on January 5 at the Qatar National Theatre.

20 Gulf TimesSunday, December 23, 2018

QATAR

HE the Minister of Commerce and Industry, Ali bin Ahmed al-Kuwari with other dignitaries.