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GULF TIMES

FRIDAY Vol. XXXVII No. 10339 January 20, 2017 Rabia II 22, 1438 AH

www. gulf-times.com 2 Riyals

QATAR | Reaction

Souq Waqif Spring Festival gets off to a colourful start

Qatar condemns attack on Mali military camp

By Joey Aguilar Staff Reporter

In brief

Qatar has strongly condemned and denounced the attack that targeted a military camp in the northern Mali city of Gao, killing and wounding dozens of people. In a statement issued yesterday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterated Qatar’s rejection of all criminal acts which contravene values and principles of humanity, and aim to destabilise security and stability. The statement also reaffirmed Qatar’s rejection of violence and terrorism in all their forms and manifestations.It expressed sincere condolences to the government and people of Mali and the families of the victims. Page 4 AFRICA | Politics

New Gambian president takes oath in Senegal Adama Barrow has been sworn in as Gambian president in Senegal’s capital, Dakar, after weeks of political impasse. “This is a day no Gambian will ever forget,” said Barrow after he was sworn into office at Gambia’s embassy in Dakar. The inauguration comes after an escalating political standoff triggered by Yahya Jammeh’s rejection of the December 1 presidential election results. Barrow had been scheduled to be inaugurated in Gambia, but the ceremony was jeopardised by Jammeh’s refusal to give up power. Page 4

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n array of cultural performances and stage shows yesterday marked the opening of this year’s Souq Waqif Spring Festival, which will run until February 2, from 3.30pm to 10.30pm daily. The opening salvo saw groups of male and female performers from Qatar, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Oman entertaining a large number of spectators with traditional songs and dances. “Our aim is to continuously promote and highlight Qatar’s rich cultural heritage in such festivals and events,” an organiser told Gulf Times. He said visitors will have the opportunity to watch several cultural performances and shows on stage at various locations within Souq Waqif throughout the 15-day festival, including a musical parade and unique presentation led by an all-female group. The festival is also hosting entertainment shows daily at a dedicated stage, featuring several popular Arab singers and artistes. The organiser noted that the popular dolphin show has returned to Souq Waqif’s amusement park (Al Ahmed Square). Shows take place between 4pm and 5pm and between 7pm and 8pm. Al Ahmed Square is hosting eight different games from 4pm to 10.30pm for visitors, particularly children, as well as amusement (fun and thrill) rides such as the Crazy Frog, Ranger, Caterpillar, Crazy Fire,

and Extreme Swing, among others. At the Souq Alley, several shows and attractions are also expected to enthral visitors such as the Blue Drummers, Alien Percussion, Toy Soldier, Rainbow Parade, Orange Drummers, and Venice Group. Abdul Aziz Nasser Theatre (Mirqab Hotel) will host a separate ‘Kids Show’ daily at 7.30pm from today to February 2 while Majlis Al Damah features a ‘Spring Championship Damh’ for professionals and amateurs. Art lovers and artists will also have the opportunity to take part in some of the activities at the Souq Waqif Art Centre from 4pm to 10.30pm. “Souq Waqif is a popular tourist spot for both domestic and foreign visitors. We organise and host festivals that promote Qatar as a family destination,” said the organiser, stressing that they also offer authentic Arab and Qatari cuisine. A similar event is also taking place at Souq Al Wakrah where visitors receive a unique treat from a variety of performances, as well as attractions while savouring the winter weather. With the opening of several restaurants and shops, Souq Al Wakrah has seen a huge increase in the number of visitors who want to spend their free time with their families especially during the weekend. “Before, Souq Waqif (Doha) was too crowded with people because celebrations were concentrated only there, but now, Wakrah receives nearly the same volume of visitors,” said a restaurant employee who was previously assigned at Souq Al Wakrah. Page 16

Roving performers at the 15-day Souq Waqif Spring Festival, which opened yesterday in Doha. PICTURE: Shemeer Rasheed

EUROPE | Disaster

Avalanche buries hotel in Italy; dozens missing A huge avalanche swallowed up a luxury mountain hotel in central Italy after a series of strong earthquakes rocked the area, burying up to 30 people under tonnes of snow and debris, officials said yesterday. The authorities said just two bodies had been recovered. Parts of the roof and a row of windows were the only sections of the four-storey Hotel Rigopiano still visible after the wall of snow smashed into the resort early on Wednesday evening. Page 8 ARAB WORLD | Offensive

US strikes in Libya kill more than 80 IS fighters More than 80 Islamic State (IS) militants, some of whom were believed to be plotting attacks in Europe, died in US air strikes on camps outside the group’s former North African stronghold of Sirte in Libya, the US said yesterday. “These strikes were directed against some of ISIL’s external plotters,” US Defence Secretary Ash Carter said.

Chance of light rain, drop in temperatures forecast

Qatar denies receiving invitation to attend Syria talks in Astana

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atar has denied receiving an invitation to participate in the Syrian crisis talks to be hosted by Astana, capital of Kazakhstan this month, an official source at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The official told Qatar News Agency (QNA) that the Reuters’ report citing an official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday on Qatar receiving an official invitation to participate in the talks is completely untrue. Meanwhile, Reuters, quoting a State Department official said yesterday that the United States is reviewing an invitation to attend upcoming talks on the Syria conflict in Astana. “We did get an invitation and it’s under review,” the official told Reuters, after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted as saying the US had been

here is a chance of light rain in the coming days, followed by a spell of strong winds and a noticeable drop in temperatures in the country, the Qatar Met department has said. In Doha, the mercury level may dip to 10-13C next week in view of the expected conditions, according to the weather report. In a statement yesterday, the Met department said “beautiful weather” is expected in the coming days as the skies will gradually become “partly cloudy to cloudy at times” from today until early Monday (January 23). There is a chance of scattered light rain during this period, especially on Sunday, January 22, the forecast states. Then, a high-pressure ridge is expected to affect Qatar from Monday

until Wednesday (January 25), accompanied by fresh to strong winds blowing at speeds ranging from 15 to 25 knots. The wind speed may go up to 35 knots in offshore areas and the Met department has also issued a warning for high seas, observing that the sea level may exceed 12ft towards the north. In addition, a noticeable drop in the mercury level is also likely during this period as the minimum temperature is expected to range between 10C and 13C in Doha and less than that in external areas. The windy conditions will add to the chill factor, the weather office has said. The Met department has urged people to be cautious and avoid venturing into the sea in windy conditions. Meanwhile, today’s forecast says there is a chance of light rain in some

places besides poor visibility in the early hours of the day due to fog. There is also a chance of scattered rain in offshore areas towards the north along with hazy and cloudy conditions at times, according to the weather report. The detailed report says hazy to misty/foggy conditions are likely in some inshore areas at first. This will be followed by cloudy conditions at times along with a chance of light rain in some places. Visibility may drop to 2km or less in some areas in the early hours of the day. The minimum temperature is likely to be 11C in Abu Samra and 16C in Doha today. Yesterday, the mercury level dropped to 9C in Abu Samra and 10C in Karana, while in Doha (airport area) it was 15C.

QNA Doha

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invited. The talks, arranged by Moscow, will include officials from Russia, Iran, Turkey and the United Nations, and comes as US president-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office today. Moscow, which has supported Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in a military campaign against Islamic State and US-backed opposition groups, has pushed the Astana talks with help from Iran and Turkey. However, Tehran has said it opposed any US presence at the meeting. A decision on whether to attend the talks will be up to the new Trump administration. The Pentagon said in a statement yesterday that a US air strike killed an Al Qaeda leader in Syria on Tuesday. Mohamed Habib Boussadoun alTunisi, a Tunisian who was involved in “external operations and has been connected to terrorist plots to attack Western targets,” was killed in the strike near Idlib in Syria, the statement said.

Qatar calls for peaceful resolution of Rohingya issue QNA Kuala Lumpur

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atar has called for finding a solution to the issue of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar through peaceful and comprehensive means and dialogue so as to achieve national unity. This came in the remarks of HE the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sultan bin Saad al-Muraikhi during his participation in a meeting of foreign ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation’s (OIC) member-states in Kuala Lumpur to discuss the situation of the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. HE al-Muraikhi emphasised Qatar’s

belief that conflict settlement should be done through peaceful means so as to the bring the points of view of the parties to the conflict closer, noting that impacts of disputes and conflicts are not confined to a certain geographic area but rather go beyond borders to threaten global security and peace. He added that the Muslim world still faces several challenges that affect its unity and stability and limit cultural interaction and global co-operation. The minister said that stability in the Muslim world will reflect on the whole world, and settling disputes in Muslim states will help in building global peace and consolidating human values. The minister of state for foreign affairs said the Rohingya issue is a hu-

manitarian issue in the first place and requires dialogue and new patterns of co-operation and partnerships, adding that settling disputes is not inseparable from development projects, achieving transitional justice, the rule of law and good governance, and addressing human rights violations. HE al-Muraikhi said Qatar supports national reconciliation and backs all efforts that aim at raising regional and international awareness of the effects of the issue, adding that Doha has pledged financial aid to some neighbouring countries to cover the costs of hosting Rohingya refugees as well as provided assistance inside Myanmar, particularly in Rakhine State. The minister added that Qatar’s

keenness on a peaceful settlement stems from its firm belief that if clashes, hate speech and incitement to violence continue, an environment of violent extremism from all sides as well as chaos might be created, which, he added, will negatively affect the peace and stability of the whole region. HE al-Muraikhi said the OIC and the international community have a responsibility to play a major role in raising the level of co-operation so as to establish a mechanism at the regional and international levels to solve the issue of Rohingya. He added that all sides must cooperate to settle the issue in a way that helps Rohingya live in dignity with their fellow citizens in a safe environment

where stability, prosperity, growth and national unity prevail. He thanked Malaysia for hosting the meeting as well as the warm reception and hospitality, praising the efforts of OIC general secretariat in preparing for the meeting and its efforts to reach a peaceful settlement for the issue. HE al-Muraikhi also held separate meetings with Shahriar Alam, Bangladeshi state minister of foreign affairs, and Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi on the sidelines of the OIC foreign ministers meeting. Meanwhile, OIC Secretary-General Dr Yousef al-Othaimeen, addressing the meeting, said the organisation is co-operating with Myanmar authorities on various levels, and called on

them to follow just and transparent policies towards racial and religious minorities, adding that the authorities must enable Rohingya to restore their citizenship, stop discrimination, violence and the unexplained violations against them. The OIC secretary-general added that the organisation received many reports from different sources about violence against the Rohingya Muslims, including unlawful killings, burning of homes, and many arrests by security forces. More than 65,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh between October 9 last year and January 5, according to the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Page 6

Gulf Times Friday, January 20, 2017

2

QATAR Qatar-Malaysia ties reviewed

Transport minister meets Unesco official

QU student picked to attend top global event

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HE the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sultan bin Saad al-Muraikhi holding talks with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. They discussed means of further developing bilateral relations between Qatar and Malaysia and other issues of common concern.

QRCS’ projects in S Sudan benefit thousands

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he Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) has completed a number of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) projects in Central Equatoria and Northern Bahr El-Ghazal, in South Sudan that has benefited 84,600 people. Such deliveries are spearheaded by QRCS and Adeso, an African charity and development agency with funding from the Qatar Fund for Development. The works involved drilling artesian wells, setting up toilets with sewage pumps, and providing hygiene kits to promote sanitation in the local community. Chieftains, camp authorities, and international organisations took part in the inauguration ceremony, attended by QRCS’ eastern and central Africa coordinator Nawal Kamel, together with representatives from the health, water resources, and social welfare ministries. The participants commended QRCS for contributing to epidemic control efforts by securing clean water, environmental sanitation, and health education. The projects aim to improve public health conditions and prevent pandemics in Africa, especially in South Sudan, where humanitarian conditions of displaced populations are alarming due to the political unrest. The WASH is QRCS’ first project in South Sudan, which has been widely swept by cholera, diarrhea, and other communicable diseases. According to camp and health officials, QRCS is the first humanitarian organisation to reach out to this part of the country with muchneeded water resources, sanitation facilities, and hygiene supplies.

HE the Minister of Transport and Communications Jassim Seif Ahmed al-Sulaiti yesterday met Stanley Mutumba Simataa, president of the general conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco). During the meeting, the two exchanged views on issues of common interest.

Construction boom brings traffic woes By Ramesh Mathew Staff Reporter

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he traffic along the road between Barwa Village signal and Mesaieed has become a nightmare for commuters owing to a huge increase in the movement of heavy vehicles, especially trailers and container trucks, on the route. The increase in heavy vehicle traffic has led to commuters getting caught almost daily in the traffic jams, especially between 6.30am to 8.30am and between 3.30pm to 6.30pm. While attributing the traffic congestion to the many major construction projects, daily road users feel it is high time restrictions are put in place on the movement of heavy vehicles in the southern area during peak hours. Works worth several billion riyals are currently in different stages of execution in the southern area including largescale construction activities like the Doha Metro, Hamad Seaport, Umm Al Houl power plant, East West corridor, Orbital Highway, Manateq Economic Zone, Wakra bypass, the 2022 FIFA World Cup Stadium in Wakrah, and the Al Thumama water reservoir project. “As a result, there has been a phenomenal rise in vehicular movement along the whole stretch between Barwa signal and Mesaieed. This is besides the ongoing road works in the area,” said a daily road user

Traffic near the Barwa Signal slows to a crawl during peak hours. PICTURES: Ram Chand who spends a considerable amount of time commuting the stretch both in the morning and afternoon. In the last five years, the population in Wakrah, Wukair and its neighbourhoods have shot up considerably with the completion of more than 20,000 residential units in the area. “The movement of vehicles to and from the area to the city in the peak hours too has gone up on account of this,” a motorist pointed out. Commuters feel that until the completion of the Wakrah bypass there is a greater need for restricting the movement of large vehicles during peak hours.

Motorists blame heavy vehicles for the slow movement of traffic between Wakrah and Barwa Signal.

Traders, customers lament absence of ATM at Ain Khalid Souq Shopkeepers as well customers at the Ain Khalid Souq have rued the absence of an ATM at the complex which houses dozens of commercial outlets, offices and restaurants. The nearest ATM, they point out, is nearly a kilometre away at present. A number of visitors arriving at the complex are unaware of the absence of an ATM here, say shopkeepers. They point out that it is common to see customers — ones without debit/ credit cards — leaving the souq after a futile search for ATMs. While some return after withdrawing money from the nearest ATM outside, others do not bother and leave without making any purchases, they added. The busy complex caters to customers from the Ain Khalid and areas in its vicinity and beyond. Many people frequent the place due to the relatively easy availability of parking space there, according to sources. “It’s a convenient shopping option for many people. An ATM will make things easier for them and also help attract more footfalls,” a visitor said. One of the shopkeepers suggested that drive-through ATMs could also be set up at the complex, given the large number of vehicles visiting the place every day.

Ain Khalid Souq: ATMs elusive

atar University’s College of Engineering (QUCENG) computer science PhD student, Maram Hasanain, has been selected among 10 students from all over the world to represent the Association for Computing Machinery’s Special Interest Group on Information Retrieval (ACM SIGIR) at the 50-year celebration of the ACM Turing Award, to be held in June 2017 at San Francisco, US. Maram has been awarded a travel grant to attend the event as an ACM SIGIR ambassador. In her selection letter, ACM SIGIR chair Diane Kelly indicated that Maram’s attributes and experiences make her uniquely qualified to represent SIGIR at the prestigious event.

“I am excited to get the opportunity to meet computing pioneers who helped and continue to help in the development of computers and computing technology” During the next several months, ACM will celebrate 50 years of the Turing Award, often referred to as the “Nobel Prize of Computing”, and the visionaries who have received it. ACM aims to highlight the significant impact of the contributions of the Turing Laureates on computing and society, to look ahead to the future of technology and innovation, and to help inspire the next generation of computer scientists to innovate. CENG dean Dr Khalifa alKhalifa congratulated the student by stating that such an achievement underlines the level of education that students receive at CENG. “The college is committed to providing students with an optimum learning environment to explore and achieve their full potential, which will contribute to shaping the future of professional engineers.” CENG department of computer science and engineering (CSE) head Dr Sumaya al-Maadeed said the CSE had proved its excellence at different international and regional activities and events. “We encourage students to get involved in such events and be a part of these to further widen their knowledge and experiences.” Maram Hasanain said it was a great honour to be selected by ACM SIGIR to attend such a prestigious event. “I am very excited to get the opportunity to meet computing pioneers who helped and continue to help in the development of computers and computing technology as we know it today.”

Emirates Airline Literature Festival tickets go on sale T ickets are now on sale for the ninth Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, the organisers have announced. The annual literary extravaganza brings a host of top authors to Dubai, the UAE, and will take place over nine days this year from March 3 to 11. The ‘not-to-be-missed’ events include sessions with master storyteller Jeffrey Archer, ‘queen of crime writers’ Kathy Reichs, celebrated Emirati writer Dr Hamad al-Hammady, veteran poet Mourid Barghouti and multi award-winning journalist Christina Lamb, according to a press statement. The festival will be held during the UAE’s 2017 Month of Reading and feature more than 160 authors, a third of whom are from the UAE and Arab world. Overall, some 32 nationalities will be represented. Also in attendance will be Emirati adventurer, photographer and campaigner Jalal Jamal

bin Thaneya, who recently completed a journey — on foot — of the seven Emirates in only 14 days, in an effort to raise awareness about people with special needs. “It is always a hugely exciting moment when tickets go on sale,” said Isobel Abulhoul, CEO and trustee of the Emirates Literature Foundation and director of the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature.“We have a stellar line-up of diverse authors and sessions, and there truly is something to suit all tastes; so many sessions are expected to sell out within the first few weeks.” Ticket prices start at AED40 and many children’s events and activities will be available free of charge. Tickets can be purchased on the festival website (tickets. emirateslitfest.com) and via the Emirates Literature Foundation app, available on the iOS and Google Play app stores. For the first time, the Emirates Airline Festival of Litera-

ture will be holding four threeday creative writing courses in Arabic and English for writers at different stages of their writing journey, the statement notes. Internationally-acclaimed authors Patrick Gale, Sue Moorcroft, Tamsyn Murray and Fatima Sharafeddine will be conducting the workshops. The festival includes a number of feature events, while visitors can also win tickets and exclusive opportunities to meet authors through the festival’s online contests such as the ‘Family Favourite Bake Competition’ and ‘Share and Meet the Authors, At The Top’. The main festival programme runs parallel to the festival’s education events. The festival is held under the patronage of Sheikh Mohamed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, UAE Vice-President & Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, in partnership with Emirates Airline and the Dubai Culture & Arts Authority (Dubai Culture).

Gulf Times Friday, January 20, 2017

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REGION/ARAB WORLD

20 firefighters killed in Tehran building crash Reuters Ankara

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t least 20 firefighters were killed when a 17-storey Tehran commercial building collapsed on top of them as they tried to put out a blaze, Iranian state television quoted the city’s mayor as saying yesterday. But there was confusion over the toll, as a fire department spokesman said soon afterwards that there was still a chance of finding them alive. Soldiers, sniffer dogs and rescue workers were searching the ruins of the Plasco building after it crashed down in a giant cloud of dust. The collapse was shown live on state television. One witness described it as “like a horror movie”. “At least 20 firefighters who were trapped under rubble have died,” Mayor Mohamed Baqer Qalibaf said. “They are martyrs. They lost their lives when trying to help people.” Qalibaf had earlier said around 25 firefighters were trapped inside the building. State TV said the death toll might increase. But Tehran Fire Department spokesman Jalal Maleki told the broadcaster: “I cannot confirm the death of around 20 firefighters... The rescue operation still continues. They might still be alive.”

State TV said at least 78 people, including 45 firefighters, had been injured, and the remains of the building had continued to burn after the collapse. Most of those hurt had been taken to hospital and many were quickly discharged, it said. The semi-official Tasnim news agency said troops had been sent to help dig through the ruins. It said one of the first firefighters to be reached had demanded to be let back inside to save his colleagues. The agency quoted an official in the Tehran governor’s office as saying an electrical short-circuit had caused the fire, but there was no immediate confirmation of this. President Hassan Rouhani ordered an immediate investigation and compensation for those affected. Occupants of the building had been evacuated as the firefighters tackled the blaze. State TV said the tenants included garment manufacturers, and broadcast footage of business owners trying to re-enter the wreckage. Sniffer dogs searched for signs of survivors buried under giant slabs of concrete and heaps of twisted metal. The rescue operation could last more than two days, state TV said. The Plasco building, Iran’s first private high-rise, was built more than 50 years ago by a prominent Iranian-Jewish businessman who was arrested and sentenced to death

An Iranian firefighter walks amidst the debris of Iran’s oldest high-rise, the 15-storey Plasco building in Tehran. for ties to Israel after the 1979 Islamic revolution. Tasnim said it “had caught fire in the past”. Fire department spokesman Maleki said: “We had repeatedly warned the building managers about the lack of safety. The building lacked fire ex-

tinguishers...But the building managers ignored the warnings.” He said the building had collapsed vertically. “That is why adjacent buildings were not damaged.” The owner of a nearby grocery store, forced by police to leave the area, told Reuters by telephone: “It

was like a horror movie. The building collapsed in front of me.” The semi-official Fars news agency said police had cordoned off the nearby British, German and Turkish embassies. “The flames could be seen kilometers away from the old building,” it said.

Most IS commanders in Mosul already killed, says Iraqi general Reuters Mosul

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ost Islamic State (IS) commanders in Mosul have been killed in battles with Iraqi government forces that raged over the past three months in the eastern side of the city, an Iraqi general said yesterday. The fight to take the western side of Mosul, which remains under the jihadists’ control, should not be more difficult than the one on the eastern side, Lieutenant-General Abdul Ghani al-Assadi told Reuters before embarking on a tour of areas newly retaken. Assadi’s Counter-Terrorism Service announced on Wednesday that almost all of the city’s eastern half had been brought under government control. “God willing, there will be a meeting in the next few days attended by all the commanders con-

Iraqis fleeing the fighting between security forces and militants of the Islamic State group sit in the back of a lorry as army vehicles drive on a road in eastern Mosul. cerned with liberation operations,” he said, replying to a question on when he expects a thrust into the

western side of Mosul to begin. “It will not be harder than what we have seen. The majority of (IS)

commanders have been killed in the eastern side.” He did not give further details. Since late 2015, government forces backed by US-led coalition air power have wrested back large amounts of northern and western territory overrun by IS in a shock 2014 offensive. Regular Iraqi army troops yesterday captured the Nineveh Oberoy hotel, the so-called “palaces” area on the eastern bank of the Tigris, and Tel Kef, a small town just to the north according to military statements in Baghdad. The army is still battling militants in al-Arabi, the last district which remains under their control east of the river, said one of the statements. Over 50 watercraft and barges used by Islamic State to supply their units east of the river were destroyed in air strikes, the US envoy to the coalition, Brett McGurty, tweeted. Mogul’s five bridges across the Tigris had already been partially damaged by US-led air strikes to slow the

militants’ movement, before Islamic State blew up two of them. “God willing, there will be an announcement in the next few days that all the eastern bank is under control,” Assai said. A Reuters correspondent saw army troops deploying in an area by the river as mortar and gun fire rang out further north. On one of the streets newly recaptured from Islamic State, men were reassembling breeze blocks into a wall that was blown up by a suicide car bomb several days ago. Prime Minister Hailer al-Badri said on Tuesday that Islamic State had been severely weakened in the Mosul campaign, and the military had begun moving against it in the western half. He did not elaborate. If the US-backed campaign is successful it will likely spell the end of the Iraqi part of the self-styled caliphate declared by the ultra-hardline Islamic State in 2014, which extends well into neighbouring Syria.

Haftar loyalists battle militants in Benghazi AFP Benghazi

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orces loyal to Marshal Khalifa Haftar, who control large parts of eastern Libya, said yesterday they were locked in fierce fighting with extremists in the second city Benghazi. Fighting was raging in Shaabiyat al-Tira area of Qafunda district, on the western edges of the coastal city, said Mohamad al-Jali, a spokesman for Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA). An AFP correspondent in Benghazi said the clashes broke out at dawn and since then warplanes have been pounding the positions of militants almost non-stop. Haftar has managed to retake a large part of the eastern coastal city of Benghazi from jihadists since it came under their control in 2014. But the militants still control Qafunda as well as the central districts of Al-Saberi and Souq al-Hout. On Monday, Haftar’s forces said they had routed the militants from Abu Sneib neighbourhood in Qafunda, after two days of fierce fighting that killed nine LNA soldiers. Six more LNA soldiers were killed in fighting also on Wednesday as Haftar’s forces pressed with a major offensive to push the militants out of all of Benghazi, an LNA spokesman said. It was not immediately clear if yesterday’s fighting caused casualties. Around 60 soldiers have been killed in clashes in and around Benghazi since January 1, according to the LNA. The spokesman said Haftar forces would suspend temporarily the fighting in Benghazi to give safe passage to three families trapped in the Qafunda area. The extremist groups include the Revolutionary Shura Council of Benghazi, an alliance of Islamist militias that comprises the Al Qaeda-linked Ansar al-Sharia.

Egypt court to try 304 over ‘Brotherhood attacks’

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gypt’s prosecution has referred 304 suspects including Muslim Brotherhood leaders in Turkey to military trial for allegedly organising militant groups that claimed several attacks in Cairo last year. The case is one of the largest to link armed attacks with the Muslim Brotherhood movement of Mohamed Mursi, the Islamist president toppled by the military in 2013. A prosecution statement late on Wednesday said the suspects, many of them abroad, had set up the Hassam militant group that claimed responsibility for several assassinations and attacks in Cairo and the Nile Delta. Mursi’s ouster ushered in a crackdown that decimated the Islamist movement and killed hundreds of his followers, and set off a militant insurgency that has killed hundreds of security personnel. “The accused, after many Brotherhood leaders were arrested, agreed to revive armed operations,” a prosecution statement said. It also accused them of establishing Lewaa alThawra, another group that surfaced in 2016 to claim several attacks in Cairo, including the assassination of an army general in October. The suspects include Brotherhood leaders and activists who fled the crackdown to Turkey, the statement said. The Brotherhood, once Egypt’s largest opposition movement, has long denied involvement in violence.

Hamas halts electricity protests, but anger remains By Mike Smith, AFP Jabalia

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he 25-year-old nicknamed Guevara because of his admiration for the Latin American revolutionary had returned to his home in Gaza after days of hiding, but was not giving up. He had avoided home after a warning that Hamas security forces were looking for him due to his role as an organiser of recent protests over severe electricity shortages. In a mock army jacket and with a Che Guevara-like beard, Mohamed al-Taluli was being greeted by dozens of supporters from his neighbourhood of Jabalia, a crowded, overgrown refugee camp north of Gaza City. “We are going to continue asking for our humanitarian demands,” he said while seated at a plastic table in a room in his home he called his office. Hamas, the Islamist movement that runs the Gaza Strip, has managed to end a recent series of protests over the electricity crisis with a security crackdown and foreign aid used to purchase more fuel. But frustration in places like Jabalia remains, and there are once again warnings that deteriorating conditions in the Palestinian enclave of 2mn people may be leading to a larger eruption of anger. Gazans face electricity short-

New plant seeks to head off Gaza water crisis The largest desalination plant in the Gaza Strip partially opened yesterday with international help as the impoverished and blockaded Palestinian enclave seeks to prevent a water crisis. The first phase of the plant opened in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza and will provide around 75,000 people with safe water, Michael Kohler from the European Commission said. The European Union has financed two phases of the project with two grants of 10mn euros ($10.6mn). The second phase will eventually leave the plant able to provide 12,000 cubic metres of safe drinking water per day. That will be able to help a total of 150,000 people, said Robert Piper, United Nations humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories.

ages all year, but the problem is exacerbated in winter and midsummer, when power usage spikes. The Hamas authorities in the coastal enclave usually provide electricity in eight-hour intervals, but supply was reduced to four hours this month. Protests began modestly, with dozens of people holding candles, before culminating on January 12 with thousands marching in Jabalia towards the electricity company. Hamas security forces fired

A 2012 UN report warned that over-extraction of groundwater from the Gaza Strip’s sole aquifer could cause irreversible damage by 2020. “Today, 96% of (Gaza’s) water is unfit for human consumption,” Piper said. More than 2mn people live in Gaza, largely sealed off by a decade-long Israeli blockade and closed Egyptian border. Kohler said the plant would help but wider changes were needed to find a lasting solution. “Fundamental change to the political, economic and security situation in Gaza” requires the borders being open, he said. UN officials have repeatedly called for the blockade to be lifted to allow for improved humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip.

European Commission’s Michael Kohler (left) attends the inauguration yesterday of the first phase of a desalination plant in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.

into the air to disperse the crowd, carried out arrests and hit an AFP photographer who required stitches to his face. Further protests were prevented by a show of force by Hamas security. On Monday, Hamas said it was returning to eight-hour electricity — and was releasing all those arrested in connection with the protests. A Gaza government spokesman argued that Jabalia protesters were attacking security forces and public buildings, but also

said that Hamas was responding to demands by working to improve electricity supply. “There is no security solution,” Salama Maroof told AFP. Che Guevara admirer Taluli felt safe enough to return home after the announcement that those arrested would be released, but for him and others, the electricity shortages are only one in a series of frustrations. Many young people feel trapped between Hamas’s strict rule and Israel’s blockade of the enclave, which has been in place

for about a decade and prevents them from leaving. Egypt’s border with Gaza has also remained largely closed, and unemployment is around 42%. Three wars since 2008 between Palestinian militants in Gaza and Israel have left behind death and destruction, not to mention psychological scars. Even those with longtime businesses have suffered. “I need electricity for more than eight hours to complete my work for the customers,” said 29-year-old Mohamed Abu

Sharaf, whose family has had a print shop in Gaza City for 40 years. As he spoke, the electricity cut again. The reasons for the electricity shortages are multi-layered, with the first simply a lack of capacity. Gaza has one power plant that runs on diesel fuel and which has been previously bombed by Israel. It also imports electricity from Israel and Egypt, but it is not nearly enough. Ageing power lines and theft

add to the problem, with Gaza losing up to 20% of electricity that makes its way onto the grid, Maroof said. The recent shortages were complicated by a dispute with the Palestinian Authority, based in the West Bank and dominated by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party. Fatah and Hamas remain divided despite repeated attempts at reconciliation. The Palestinian Authority handles fuel purchases from Israel since the Israeli authorities do not deal directly with Hamas, which they consider a terrorist organisation. The PA then requires Hamas to reimburse it for bills and taxes, but Gaza’s electricity company faces cash shortages because many customers do not pay. Maroof said the company should collect some $13mn per month, but only manages around $6mn. He blamed it on poverty and simple reluctance to pay, while calling the PA’s taxes excessive. Many Gaza residents are well aware of the complications, but have become fed up. Those who know the situation well say Hamas must be seen as responding to their frustrations. “This is for them a strong message that you can’t count on your stick or your gun to undermine the people and to silence the people,” Ahmed Yousef, a senior Hamas member and former government official, told AFP.

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Gulf Times Friday, January 20, 2017

AFRICA

Barrow is sworn in as Gambia president

Reuters Nairobi

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Reuters/AFP Banjul/Dakar

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dama Barrow took the oath of office as Gambia’s president yesterday at its embassy in neighbouring Senegal, calling for international support as regional troops prepared to back him in a showdown with incumbent Yahya Jammeh, who has refused to step down. Barrow’s appeal that could trigger a military push into Gambia by West Africa’s ECOWAS (Economic Community Of West African States) bloc, which has said it is ready to remove Jammeh by force if necessary. Jammeh, in power since a 1994 coup and whose mandate ended overnight, initially conceded defeat to Barrow following a December 1 election before backtracking, saying that the vote was flawed. Overnight talks to persuade him to stand down failed, despite his increasing political isolation. “This is a day no Gambian will ever forget,” Barrow said after taking the oath, which was administered by the president of Gambia’s bar association. “Our national flag will now fly high among the most democratic nations of the world. I hereby make an explicit appeal to ECOWAS, the (African Union) and the UN ... to support the government and people of the Gambia in enforcing their will, restoring their sovereignty and constitutional legitimacy,” he said. ECOWAS and the African Union have said they will recognise Barrow. Senegal’s army, which has deployed hundreds of soldiers at the Gambian border, said on Wednesday that it would be ready to cross into its smaller neighbour, which it surrounds, from midnight. Ghana has also pledged troops. A senior military source in Nigeria, which pre-positioned war planes and helicopters in Dakar,

Kenya university lecturers join strike over pay

A handout photo released by the Senegalese presidency shows Barrow being sworn in as president of Gambia at the Gambian embassy in Dakar. told Reuters that regional forces would only act once Barrow had been sworn in. Late yesterday Senegal army spokesman Colonel Abdou Ndiaye wrote in a text message to Reuters that “we have entered Gambia”. Barrow gave the oath in a tiny room in Gambia’s embassy in the Senegalese capital, Dakar, and many of those present broke into the Gambian national anthem once he had completed it. Outside the building on a residential street amid a heavy security presence, dozens of Gambians listened to the ceremony through loudspeakers. “It’s very sad to be swearing in a president in someone else’s country. I am happy and sad at the same time,” said Fatou Silla, 33, a businesswoman who fled Gambia with her son a week ago. Fearing unrest, thousands of Gambians have fled the country, the United Nations estimates. Yesterday the UN Security Council unanimously backed ECOWAS efforts to ensure Jammeh hands over power. A resolution drafted by Senegal won the support of all 15 council members, including Russia, which stressed that the measure did not formally authorise military action in Gambia. The resolution calls on the

Streets are empty and shops are closed in Serrekunda, west of Banjul, as Jammeh’s mandate expired yesterday. council to give “its full support to the ECOWAS in its commitment to ensure, by political means first, the respect of the will of the people”. The measure does not invoke Chapter 7 of the UN charter, which authorises the use of force. Russian Deputy Ambassador Petr Iliichev stressed that the resolution calls for political means to resolve the stand-off and warned that military action could fail. “For the time being, there is no bloodletting but if they intervene, who is going to take responsibility for that?” Iliichev told reporters ahead of the vote. UN diplomats said if Barrow requests a military intervention in Gambia, this would provide the legal basis for the use of force. “We are hoping that there is a peaceful resolution to this, but it is very clear that if President Barrow asks for assistance, then that is something that, as the legitimate president of Gambia, he

is perfectly entitled to do,” said British Deputy Ambassador Peter Wilson. The resolution requests that Jammeh “carry out a peaceful and orderly transition process, and to transfer power” to Barrow. It urges “all stakeholders, within and outside Gambia ... exercise restraint, respect the rule of law and ensure the peaceful transfer of power”. At a bar in the Gambian capital Banjul’s popular SeneGambia strip, people crowded around a television to watch the swearing in and cheered and danced when it was over. “I’m so happy there’s a new government,” said a cashier who only gave her name as Fama. “We have been suffering for 22 years and now things will be different.” During the brief inauguration speech, Barrow asserted his new role as commander and chief of Gambia’s armed services, ordering soldiers to stay calm and remain in their barracks.

Those who did not would be considered rebels, he said. As tour companies pressed on with the evacuation of hundreds of European holidaymakers, shops, market stalls and banks in Banjul remained closed while police circulated in trucks and soldiers manned checkpoints. It was unclear what Jammeh’s next move would be. He faces almost total diplomatic isolation and a government riddled by defections. In the biggest loss yet, VicePresident Isatou Njie Saidy, who has held the role since 1997, quit on Wednesday, a government source and a family member told Reuters. Gambia’s long, sandy beaches have made it a prime destination for tourists but Jammeh, who once vowed to rule for “a billion years”, has also earned a reputation for rights abuses and stifling dissent. He has ignored pressure to step aside and offers of exile.

ecturers at Kenya’s public universities started an indefinite strike yesterday over poor pay, joining doctors who have been striking for more than five weeks and deepening a crisis in public services as the country heads towards elections. Two unions, the University Academic Staff Union (UASU) and the Kenya University Staff Union (KASU), say their members will refuse to work at Kenya’s 33 public universities until their demands are met. UASU mainly represents lecturers and KASU’s members are mainly administrative and technical staff. “Teaching staff are being underpaid and this has gone on for a long time. We want professors to earn what politicians get,” Robinson Oduma, the UASU chapter head at Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology in the western town of Kakamega, told Reuters by phone. Kenyan lawmakers are among the most highly-paid in the world, taking home around 1.2mn Kenyan shillings ($11,500) per month, including

allowances, according to Justine Musila who runs the parliamentary watchdog website Mzalendo. The average annual income for Kenya’s 46mn citizens is $1,340, according to World Bank data. Professors are demanding a 400% pay rise to bring them into line with legislators, said Oduma. The striking doctors want a 300% pay rise, which they say was promised to them in 2013. They also accuse the government of failing to stock public hospitals with basic medicines and supplies of items such as gloves. No government spokesmen were available for comment yesterday, but officials have previously said the government does not have enough money to pay the salary increases. The strikes come as President Uhhuru Kenyatta is battling a slew of corruption scandals ahead of his bid to seek a second term in office in an election due in August. Authorities are investigating tens of millions of dollars alleged to be missing from the health ministry, National Youth Service and from ministries issued cash by a Eurobond offering.

Student doctors perform a drill during a strike in Nairobi.

Investigators search home of South Africa’s top cop Anti-corruption investigators searched the home of South Africa’s acting police commissioner yesterday after allegations that he took bribes to fund an 8mn rand ($600,000) mansion in an upmarket suburb of Pretoria. Officers of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) – a constitutional body tasked with monitoring the police – obtained a warrant to search the home of acting commissioner Khomotso Phahlane, local television station eNCA reported. It showed footage of about a dozen Ipid investigators entering the commissioner’s home to execute the warrant. Phalane was not available to comment.

Mali suicide car bomb attack toll rises to 77 DPA/AFP Paris/Bamako

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he death toll of a suicide car bomb attack on a military camp in northern Mali has risen to 77, a French army spokesman said yesterday, adding that it was a provisional figure. Shortly after the attack on Wednesday, Mali’s President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita said 60 had died in the bombing in the city of Gao, while 115 others were injured. Five suicide bombers were also among the dead. Terrorist group Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb later claimed responsibility for the attack, according to a website that monitors Islamist militant organisations, Site Intelligence Group. A French military intervention in

January 2013 turned back a Islamist militant and separatist insurgency in Mali’s north, but various Islamist groups still stage attacks. The updated death toll came as Boubacar Keita travelled to Gao in the troubled north to visit injured survivors and relatives of the dead, the head of state’s office announced on Twitter. “There are more than 70 victims,” a medical source in Gao told AFP earlier. The wounded have been evacuated to Bamako. The assault targeted a camp housing former rebels and pro-government militia who are signatories to a 2015 peace accord struck with the government. Keita has ordered three days of national mourning. The attack, Mali’s worst in years, occurred as former rebels from the

Tuareg-led CMA movement prepared to go on a joint patrol with pro-government militia members under the terms of the peace deal. Mali’s north fell under the control of Tuareg-led rebels and Islamist militant groups linked to Al Qaeda in 2012. The Islamists sidelined the rebels to take sole control. Although they were largely ousted by a French-led military operation in January 2013, implementation of the peace accord has been piecemeal with insurgents still active across large parts of the region. The joint patrols, which also include regular Malian army troops, are supposed to help prepare for the reorganisation of the army. In Paris, meanwhile, the French military said yesterday that armed groups in Mali launched 118 attacks against the army, UN peacekeepers

and French troops last year. Fifteen Malian soldiers, 24 members of the MINUSMA UN peacekeeping force and four French soldiers lost their lives, French army spokesman Patrik Steiger told a weekly press briefing in Paris. The attacks “were generally from explosive devices, suicide bombings, mines, rocket and mortar fire and the aim was to kill while generating the maximum amount of publicity possible”, Steiger said. The United Nations has deployed 13,000 troops in Mali while France, the former colonial power, has an additional 4,000 soldiers stationed there. The UN Security Council agreed on Wednesday to consider setting up a sanctions regime for Mali to punish those who are hindering efforts to implement a 2015 peace accord.

Nigeria plans inquiry into botched air strike AFP Maiduguri

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igeria gave details yesterday of a formal probe into a botched air strike that killed at least 70 people, as aid workers feared the bloodshed could affect vital humanitarian programmes. More than 100 people, many of them children, were injured in the bombing at a camp for people displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency in Rann, in the country’s northeast, on Tuesday. Six local Red Cross workers who were distributing food to between 20,000 and 40,000 people living in makeshift shelters at the camp were among the dead. The Nigerian Air Force said a board of inquiry comprising six senior officers would investigate the bombing, and had initially been presented with a list of 20 witnesses. “Among its terms of reference,

the board is to determine the immediate and remote causes as well as the circumstances that led to the incident,” it said in a statement. The board will submit its report no later than February 2, it added. Military commanders have already called the bombing a mistake, blaming it on “the fog of war”. They said the intended target was Islamist militants reportedly spotted in the Kala-Balge area, of which Rann is part. The Nation newspaper, sympathetic to President Muhammadu Buhari, attributed the bombing to a “failure of intelligence” caused by information provided by a “foreign country”, without elaborating. Boko Haram, which wants to establish a hardline Islamic state in northeast Nigeria, has laid waste to the area since taking up arms against the government in 2009. At least 20,000 have been killed and more than 2.6mn made homeless.

On December 24, Nigeria said it had flushed Boko Haram fighters from their stronghold in the Sambisa Forest of Borno state and that the group was in disarray. But attacks on troops and civilians continue. Alfred Davies, a field co-ordinator for Doctors Without Borders (MSF), and one of the injured victims who spoke to AFP, said that the air force dropped at least two bombs. In an account made public by the medical charity, Davies said the first landed just metres away from the Red Cross office. “The plane circled back and it dropped a second bomb five minutes later,” he said, adding that they were “dropped on houses”. He added: “There are no words to describe the chaos. Some people had broken bones and torn flesh; their intestines hanging down to the floor. I saw the bodies of children that had been cut in two.” MSF arrived in Rann last weekend

to vaccinate children and screen for malnutrition, which has gripped the region and left hundreds of thousands of people in dire need of help. The town, near the shores of Lake Chad and the border with Cameroon, was previously inaccessible because of insecurity, and the people there were dying of hunger, Davies said. “The army that was meant to protect them bombed them instead,” he said. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said 61 injured people were airlifted to its specialist trauma unit in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state. Of those, 28 were children, seven were women and 26 were men, it added. International aid agencies have condemned the bombing of civilians, who are facing extreme food shortages because of the conflict, as well as having lost their livelihoods and families.

Gulf Times Friday, January 20, 2017

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AMERICAS Former governor Perdue nominated for agriculture AFP Washington

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onald Trump has announced that he has nominated former Georgia governor Sonny Perdue to be US secretary of agriculture, rounding out the president-elect’s cabinet picks on the eve of his inauguration. With his inner circle finalised, Trump’s incoming cabinet will feature no Hispanics, the first time since Ronald Reagan’s presidency in the 1980s. Perdue, 70, has considerable political experience, having been a state senator for a decade before serving two terms as governor of an agricultural state whose capital Atlanta is a major business hub. He also worked as a veterinarian before becoming a small-business owner. “Sonny Perdue is going to accomplish great things as secretary of agriculture,” Trump said in a statement announcing his pick. “From growing up on a farm to being governor of a big agriculture state, he has spent his whole life understanding and solving the challenges our farmers face, and he is going to

Washington girds for anti-Trump protests Reuters Washington

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Perdue: has considerable political experience. deliver big results for all Americans who earn their living off the land.” The nomination of Perdue, which requires confirmation by the US Senate, is the final pick for Trump’s 15-member cabinet. Another former governor, Rick Perry of Texas, has been tapped for the cabinet post of energy secretary, while South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley is Trump’s pick to be ambassador to the United Nations, a position with cabinet rank. Out of the 21 cabinet-rank positions already nominated by Trump, only four are women. One is black and two are Asian-American.

Lambada singer found dead: police The singer of Latin pop hit La Lambada, Loalwa Braz, was found dead yesterday in a burned-out car in her native Brazil, police and media said. She provided the sensual lead vocals for the international hit song released by French group Kaoma in 1989. A police official told AFP Braz was found in the coastal district of Saquerema near Rio de Janeiro, but could give no further details. Brazilian media said the singer’s body was found totally burned inside the car near her home.

ashington will turn into a virtual fortress ahead of Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration as the US capital braces for more than a quarter-million protesters expected during the Republican’s swearing-in. Police have forecast that some 900,000 people, both supporters and opponents, will flood Washington for the inauguration ceremony, which includes the swearing-in on the steps of the US Capitol and a parade to the White House along streets thronged with spectators. Many of those attending will be protesters irate about the New York real estate developer’s demeaning comments about women, immigrants and Muslims, a vow to repeal the sweeping healthcare reform law known as Obamacare and plans to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. His supporters admire Trump’s experience in business, including as a real estate developer and reality television star, and view him as an outsider and problem-solver. Outgoing US Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said police aim to separate groups to diffuse tensions, similar to last-year’s political conventions. “The concern is some of these groups are pro-Trump, some of them are con-Trump, and they may not play well together in

Workers prepare the inauguration of President-elect Trump at the US Capitol in Washington, DC. the same space,” Johnson said on MSNBC yesterday. About 28,000 security personnel, miles of fencing, roadblocks, street barricades and dump trucks laden with sand will be part of the security cordon around 3sq miles (almost 8sqkm) of central Washington. About 30 groups that organisers claim will draw about 270,000 protesters or Trump backers have received permits for rallies or marches before, during and after the swearing-in. More protests are expected without permits.

Rival gangs clash inside Brazil massacre prison Reuters Rio de Janeiro

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undreds of inmates from rival drug gangs clashed yesterday inside a Brazilian prison where 26 inmates were killed in the latest of an ongoing series of bloody uprisings, television images showed. Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas canisters into the yard of the Alcacuz prison in northeastern Brazil as helicopters buzzed overhead. Prisoners erected makeshift barricades, while inmates traded blows with wooden clubs and hurled stones. Some police officers appeared to be firing live rounds from a watchtower. There was no immediate word on deaths, but several inmates clearly appeared to be injured. The outbreaks of violence were the latest in Brazil’s beleaguered penitentiary system, where 140 people have died in clashes in recent weeks. The overcrowded prisons are now the battleground in a quickly escalating war between the nation’s two biggest drug gangs, the Sao Paulo-based First Capital Command (PCC) and the Red Command based in Rio de Janeiro. For two decades, the two factions have maintained a working relationship, ensuring a steady flow of drugs and arms over Brazil’s porous border. But about six months ago, the PCC began trying to muscle the Red Command out of drug routes. The PCC has aggressively moved into new areas in the north and northeast of Brazil, where all the deadly clashes have taken place in recent weeks. In response, the Red Command has allied itself with local gangs, enlisting them to take on the PCC. The bloodshed has mostly played out inside the prisons, but security experts fear it will soon spill into already violent city streets. The violence, the deadliest outbreak in the sharply criticised penal system

Members of the special police battalion enter the Alcacuz Penitentiary Centre in Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. Brazilian authorities said on Wednesday that they are deploying 1,000 troops to ‘clean out’ arms and cellphones from restive prisons while police struggled to end a deadly gang face-off at Alcacuz. in over two decades, has gripped Brazil. Cellphone videos circulate widely on social media, some showing gang members chopping the heads off their rivals, slicing their hearts out and disemboweling them. Members of a SWAT team entered the Alcacuz prison on Wednesday night to transfer more than 200 of the prisoners that belong to the “Crime Union of RN” gang – RN being initials for the local Rio Grande do Norte state, whose members had been killed this past weekend by PCC inmates. Police said they searched cells and confiscated a large quantity of guns, knives, homemade weapons and bullet-resistant vests. Caio Bezerra, the top security official for Rio Grande do Norte, told reporters that the Wednesday night operation was successful and that prisoners did not resist. The spokesman for the state police force, Major Eduardo Franco, told Reuters late on Wednesday that the prison was back under control.

The killings began on January 1, when the powerful North Family gang, which is allied with the Red Command, killed 56 inmates at a prison in Amazonas state, mostly PCC members. The North Family controls a lucrative cocaine route along the Solimoes, a branch of the Amazon that flows from Colombia and Peru, the world’s top two cocaine-producing nations. The PCC retaliated on January 6 by killing 33 inmates at the Monte Cristo prison in the Amazonian state of Roraima, before carrying out the most recent killings at Alcacuz this past weekend. In another prison in northeastern Brazil yesterday, at least one inmate was killed when members of different gangs clashed, authorities said. Prisoners fought, burnt mattresses and ripped down part of the roof in one of the blocks of the Caico prison, also in Rio Grande do Norte, before being suppressed by guards, a spokesperson for the state’s security secretariat said. Five inmates were injured in the clashes.

As more Latin Americans eat processed food, obesity rates surge Latin America, once plagued by malnutrition, now faces a different type of public health crisis as processed food increasingly replaces traditionally prepared dishes, leading to a surge in obesity rates, a UN report showed yesterday. Nearly 58% of the region’s inhabitants, or close to 360mn people, is either overweight or obese, said the report by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). The rapid jump in obesity rates has crisscrossed the region,

affecting Latin Americans “regardless of their economic situation, place of residence or ethnic origin”, it said. The problem is greatest in net food importing countries. The countries with the highest levels of obesity are the Bahamas, Mexico, and Chile, with rates of 69%, 64% and 63%, respectively. Still, even as obesity rates surge, Latin America is still home to the nation with the highest rate of undernourishment; in Haiti, 53% of the population is undernourished.

A protest group known as Disrupt J20 has vowed to stage demonstrations at each of 12 security checkpoints and block access to the festivities on the grassy National Mall. By far the biggest protest will be the Women’s March on Washington tomorrow, which organisers expect to draw 250,000. Hundreds of Women’s Marchrelated protests are scheduled across the United States and around the world as well. There will be an anti-Trump protest in New York when Mayor Bill de Blasio, filmmaker Michael

Moore and actors Mark Ruffalo and Alec Baldwin, who portrays Trump on Saturday Night Live, take part in a rally outside the Trump International Hotel and Tower. One Washington protest will come amid a haze of pot smoke as pro-marijuana activists show their opposition to Trump’s choice for attorney general, Alabama Republican Senator Jeff Sessions, a critic of pot legalisation. The group plans to distribute 4,200 joints at the inauguration and urge attendees to light up.

Possession of small amounts of marijuana is legal in Washington but public consumption is not. Interim Police Chief Peter Newsham said officers were prepared for mass arrests, although authorities hoped that would be unnecessary. “If we do have a mass arrest, we’ll be able to get people processed very quickly,” he told Washington’s NBC 4 television station. Police and security officials have pledged to guarantee protesters’ constitutional rights to free speech and peaceful assembly. Today’s crowds are expected to be less than the 2mn who attended Obama’s first inauguration in 2009, and in line with the million who were at his second, four years ago. The inaugural parade down Pennsylvania Avenue will pass the Trump International Hotel, a rallying point for protesters since the election now encircled by security fences. In a sign of the Trump-related angst gripping Washington, the dean of the Washington National Cathedral said this week its choir would sing God Bless America at the inauguration despite misgivings by some members. “Let me be clear: We are not singing for the President. We are singing for God because that is what church choirs do,” the Reverend Randolph Marshall Hollerith said in a letter. Trump will attend an interfaith prayer service at the cathedral tomorrow, closing out the inaugural ceremonies.

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Gulf Times Friday, January 20, 2017

ASIA/AUSTRALASIA DISPUTE

EMBEZZLEMENT

RITUALS

MILITARY

OFFBEAT

Vietnam police halt anti-China protest

S Korea retail chief’s sister given 3 years jail

Tokyo shrine offers blessings to pets

N Korea ICBM launch ‘could be imminent’

Customer calls police after drug deal goes wrong

Police in Vietnam’s capital Hanoi stopped an anti-China protest within minutes yesterday at a ceremony to commemorate a clash between the two countries in the South China Sea more than four decades ago. Vietnam and China have a longstanding dispute over the South China Sea, nearly all of which is claimed by China. Four other countries have claims in the sea, through which an estimated $5tn in trade passes each year. The protest in Hanoi started after a peaceful commemoration for soldiers of what was then South Vietnam who were killed in 1974, when China seized the Paracel islands, which it still holds. Police dragged about 20 protesters on to a bus after they ignored a warning to disperse and began marching with banners and chanting “Demolish China’s Invasion” and other slogans.

A South Korean court sentenced the elderly sister of the chairman of Lotte Group, one of the country’s major conglomerates, to three years in prison yesterday for embezzlement and breach of duty. Shin Young-Ja, 74, was the latest member of a South Korean business dynasty to fall foul of judicial authorities amid mounting public anger at the sprawling “chaebols” that dominate the economy. Retail giant Lotte, founded by Shin’s father, has been subject of a lengthy corruption probe, but she was the first family member to be convicted. Her father and two brothers – who are engaged in a bitter public feud for control of the country’s fifth-largest family-run conglomerate – have all been indicted on charges of tax evasion and embezzlement.

Some might describe the idea as barking mad but a shrine in Tokyo is offering blessings to pets to protect the fluffy creatures from a ‘ruff’ year ahead. Pet owners have been flocking to the Ichigaya Kamegaoka Hachimangu shrine since it introduced New Year ceremonies for dogs and cats in 2000 – and numbers have gone through the woof in recent years. “Well, they’re part of the family,” 43-year-old Yuki Mitsui said, hugging two miniature dachshunds that were proudly sporting tiny fur-trimmed kimonos. “It gives me peace of mind that these little fellas can also receive an amulet that will protect them for the year.” Visits are by appointment only. Over 500 visitors yearly bring pets dressed in brightly coloured finery to the shrine, where they make an offering to the gods in return for a blessing.

North Korea may be planning to launch two intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) soon, South Korean media reported yesterday citing military sources. According to defence officials, two missiles, presumed to be ICBMs were place on mobile launchers for test firing, the Yonhap news agency reported. The launch could be imminent and coincide with US President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration today in order to send the US a “strategic message”, Yonhap said. However, the military reports could not be verified, a spokesperson for the ministry of defence in Seoul said. Earlier this month, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said in a New Year’s speech the country was in the final stages of preparing for a test firing of an ICBM.

A disgruntled New Zealand pot smoker complained to the police after a drug deal she allegedly arranged via social media went wrong, local media reported. Local website Stuff said that the woman, from the North Island city of Hamilton, claimed she paid 40 New Zealand dollars ($29) for what a dealer said was one ounce (28g) of marijuana. It was supposed to be a fraction of the usual price. When the dealer didn’t come through with the drug, the woman complained both to police and on a Facebook page that boasts 40,000 members. The woman didn’t think she could be charged, she said, because she hadn’t received the drugs. Hamilton Police Senior Sergeant Rupert Friend, however, disagreed.

S Korea court rejects arrest warrant for Samsung heir AFP Seoul

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South Korean court yesterday refused to authorise the arrest of the heir to the Samsung business empire, in a setback to prosecutors probing a corruption scandal engulfing President Park Geun-Hye. Officials on Monday sought the arrest of Lee Jae-Yong on charges of bribery, embezzlement and perjury, sending shock waves through the group, which is a major part of the South Korean economy and includes the world’s largest smartphone maker. It is already reeling from the debacle over the recall of its flagship Galaxy Note 7 device and reports have suggested it could face sanctions from overseas authorities if Lee is punished. Lee, who became Samsung’s de facto head after his father suffered a heart attack in 2014, is accused of bribing Choi Soon-Sil, Park’s secret confidante at the centre of the scandal, and receiving policy favours from Park in return. But the court rejected the request on grounds of insufficient evidence, which could mar investigators’ plan to question Park – impeached by parliament last month – on charges of bribery. A spokesman for the prosecution team described the decision as “very regrettable” but said they will “carry on with our probe without wavering”. Opposition politicians and analysts questioned the decision. Seoul mayor Park Won-Soon, who is expected to stand for president later this year, accused the court of basing its decision on the potential economic ramifications rather than justice. “A fair ruling is a requirement for economic improvement,” he said on Facebook. “A country that tolerates corruption cannot do well economically.” Samsung is South Korea’s largest business group and its revenue is equivalent to about a fifth of the country’s GDP. Kim Nam-Geun, a Seoul lawyer and a political

commentator, added: “A court usually approves arrest warrants over bribery cases involving such an enormous amount of money and circumstantial evidence.” As well as the investigation of Park, the decision could weaken prosecutors’ probes into the heads of other conglomerates implicated in the scandal, said Choi Chang-Ryol, a professor of politics at Yongin University. “It would be far easier for prosecutors to quiz Lee if they have him under detention, and eventually build a bribery case against Park as well,” he said. Lee, 48, was seen early yesterday leaving a detention centre where he had awaited the decision for the previous 18 hours, following a hearing by the court. Investigators said Lee gave or promised some 43bn won ($36.3mn) worth of bribes to Choi, allegedly in return for the state pension fund’s backing of a merger of two Samsung affiliates – deemed crucial for Lee’s hereditary succession at Samsung. Lee and his lawyers have claimed Park pressured the group into making donations, but that it did not expect special favours in return for the funds. In a statement released by the prosecutors, the court said it was “difficult to accept the reasons, need and justification” for his arrest. “We appreciate the fact that the merits of this case can now be determined without the need for detention,” Samsung said in a statement yesterday. Choi is accused of using her presidential ties to force top local firms into donating nearly $70mn to two non-profit foundations controlled by her. Samsung is the single biggest contributor to the foundations and separately paid Choi millions of euros, allegedly to bankroll her daughter’s equestrian training in Germany. Prosecutors have been probing whether Samsung’s payments were aimed at securing government approval for the controversial merger of Cheil Industries and Samsung C&T in 2015.

Rohingya refugees living in Malaysia gather outside the venue of the OIC conference on the Rohingya situation in Myanmar, in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

Myanmar urged to end Rohingya crackdown Malaysian PM warns the issue could fan the flames of international militancy AFP Kuala Lumpur

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alaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak yesterday urged Myanmar to end its crackdown on the Muslim Rohingya minority, warning that Islamist extremists may exploit the crisis. The plight of the Rohingya, a stateless group denied citizenship in Myanmar and reviled as illegal immigrants by the majority Buddhist population, has become a lightning rod for anger across the Muslim world. Since October Myanmar’s army has carried out “clearance operations” in the north of western Rakhine state to root out insurgents accused of deadly raids on police border posts. At least 66,000 Rohingya have subsequently fled to neigh-

Australia hails buy-back of national spread Vegemite AFP Sydney

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egemite, the salty yeastbased spread beloved by Australians, is returning Down Under after decades of US ownership. An acquired taste for the foreign pallet, Vegemite on toast is a staple found on most Australian breakfast tables, and its fans now range from prime ministers to celebrity chefs. Cheese maker Bega announced the Aus$460mn (US$346mn) purchase yesterday of most of US-based Mondelez International’s Australia and New Zealand grocery business, which includes the tarry sandwich filling. Barry Irvin, Bega’s executive chairman, noted “the wonderful

heritage and values that Vegemite represents and its importance to Australian culture”, in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange. The sticky spread, which was invented to rival Britain’s Marmite, first hit the shelves in 1923 and during World War II was rationed for civilians due to overwhelming demand from the military. Today, the yeast extract sells on average close to one jar per Australian each year. Developed by the Fred Walker Company, Vegemite was acquired after the war by Kraft which in 2012 split in two forming Mondelez International. Despite being owned by a US outfit, Vegemite has continued to be produced in Melbourne. The National Museum of Australia says the spread “provides

a connection back to seemingly simpler times and is symbolic of the reverence for the ordinary in Australian culture.” Former prime minister Kevin Rudd tapped into this nostalgia declaring himself during the 2007 election campaign “toast and Vegemite sort of guy”. But even haute cuisine has got in on the act, with celebrity British chef Heston Blumenthal putting an experimental Vegemite-inspired ice cream on his menu for an Australia Day lunch next week in Melbourne. “The highlight is sure to be the new VEGEMITE ® Ice Cream, a dessert featuring Australia’s favourite spread accompanied with a biscuit base, yeast salted caramel, barley chocolate Ganache and verjuice curd,” a promotion for the $270 four-course lunch reads.

bouring Bangladesh, alleging rape, murder and torture at the hands of security forces. But Myanmar denies the allegations. “Far too many people have lost their lives in Myanmar,” said Najib, speaking in Kuala Lumpur at the opening of a special meeting of foreign ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (OIC). “Many have suffered appalling deaths, and those that have lived through the atrocities have witnessed or endured unspeakable cruelty,” he added. “For a start, the killing must stop. The violation of women and girls must stop,” he said, adding that “the persecution of your fellow men and women, simply on the grounds that they are Muslim, must stop.” Najib, who has called the crisis a “genocide” and whose prominent defence of the Rohingya comes as he battles a massive graft scandal at home, warned the issue could fan the

flames of international militancy. “OIC member states are well aware that terrorist organisations such as Daesh (Islamic State) could seek to take advantage of this situation,” he said. “This should concern the international community as a whole, as the threat of a new home for terrorist groups has the potential to cause death and destruction well beyond this region.” Najib added that Myanmar’s treatment of the Rohingya – tens of thousands of whom have languished in displacement camps since communal riots in 2012 – was a “stain” on the 10-member Southeast Asian regional bloc Asean. Najib said Malaysia would deploy a food flotilla and provide 10mn ringgit ($2.25mn) for humanitarian relief. The plight of the Rohingya has put Myanmar’s democracy champion and de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi under immense international pressure.

Shopping centre fire

The Nobel Peace Prize winner is accused of standing by while the Rohingya have been persecuted. She has appointed a commission to investigate the latest violence and has urged the international community to give Myanmar time to heal a bitter and complicated issue. Myanmar refuses to recognises Rohingya as an official ethnic group. Instead it describes them pejoratively as Bengalis – or illegal immigrants from Bangladesh – even though many have lived in Myanmar for generations. The secretary-general of the 56-member OIC, Yousef alOthaimeen, urged Myanmar security forces to use restraint with civilian populations or risk fuelling a violent reaction from oppressed groups. Meanwhile the OIC in a joint communique called on Myanmar to end the “violence and discrimination” against the Rohingya Muslims.

Massacre denial sparks tourism boycott calls Reuters Tokyo

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Thick black smoke rises from kiosks on fire at one of the biggest shopping centres in Jakarta yesterday. More than 30 fire trucks and hundreds of fire fighters battled for hours to extinguish the fire.

“Myanmar should ensure that the security forces act in accordance with the law and that all perpetrators of acts of violence be held accountable,” it said. The OIC also shared Najib’s fears, saying that if the root causes of the Rohingya are not addressed there could be “infiltration of radical elements” into the community and called for the “reconciliation process”, including a safe return of Rohingya refugees. Myanmar authorities accuse militants with overseas training of launching the October attacks on border posts in Rakhine. Analysts say Najib’s embrace of the Rohingya in part aims to burnish his international image after the damaging 1MDB graft scandal. The premier has been buffeted by allegations that he took part in the looting of billions of dollars of public cash through state fund 1MDB. Both he and the fund vehemently deny the allegations.

Japanese hotelier’s denial of a 1937 massacre by Japanese troops in the Chinese city of Nanjing has prompted Chinese social media calls for a boycott of travel to Japan, threatening tourist arrivals days before the Lunar New Year holidays. The furore erupted over books by Toshio Motoya, the president of Tokyo-based hotel and real estate developer APA Group, which contain his revisionist views and are placed in every room of the company’s 400-plus APA Hotels. In one, printed in English and Japanese and entitled The Real History of Japan, he says the “Nanking Massacre story” was “impossible”, blaming looting and killings on members of a branch of the Chinese military

who had shed their uniforms. “These acts were all said to be committed by the Japanese army, but this is not true,” Motoya, using his pen name Seiji Fuji, wrote. Japan’s wartime occupation of Nanjing and resulting massacre is a highly contentious issue between the uneasy neighbours. China says Japanese troops killed 300,000 people in the city. A post-war Allied tribunal put the death toll at about half that number. Motoya’s latest book, comprised of essays written over the last two years, caught Chinese attention after it was uploaded on a Chinese social networking site, igniting criticism on Chinese social media and the travel boycott calls. “Any Chinese person with self-respect for their nationality should boycott Japanese goods and boycott travelling to Japan,” one writer on China’s Weibo platform wrote.

Gulf Times Friday, January 20, 2017

7

BRITAIN CRIME

VERDICT

AVIATION

ACCIDENT

PROPOSAL

Woman, partner jailed for feeding daughter drugs

Driver high on drugs jailed for eight months

BA to fly all customers to destinations during strike

Pedestrian dies after being hit by fire engine

Surrey plans 15% council tax hike

A mother and her ex-partner have been jailed for 13 years each after being convicted of feeding drugs to her four-year-old daughter. Poppy Widdison collapsed at her home in Grimsby and died in hospital from a cardiac arrest in June 2013. Her mother Michala Pyke, 38, and her former partner John Rytting, 40, were found guilty of child cruelty, last month. Passing sentence, jJudge Jeremy Richardson QC said the defendants “existed in a swamp of drug addiction and drug peddling” and Poppy was “plunged into mire of drugs”. The jury at Hull Crown Court heard Pyke and Rytting encouraged the girl to eat sedatives because they felt she was an inconvenience to their relationship.

A mechanic who careered through London streets in his Audi A3 as he fled police while high on drugs has been jailed. Dalton Williams, 21, sent sparks flying from his car as he raced along Stockwell streets at up to 60mph. He drove on the wrong side before crashing into a road sign. Williams, already with two driving bans to his name, had no insurance or licence at the time of the chase, Inner London crown court heard. He tested positive for cannabis following his arrest. Williams, of Stockwell, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and driving without insurance and a licence. Judge Usha Karu jailed him for eight months and banned him from driving for 18 months.

British Airways said that all its passengers would be flown to their destinations during a 72-hour pay strike by some cabin crew which began yesterday. BA, owned by International Airlines Group, said a small number of its short-haul flights from Heathrow would be merged resulting in one percent of its total schedule being cancelled over the three-day period. “Our flight programme is running as planned and we are going to fly all customers to their destinations,” BA said in a statement. All BA’s long-haul services to and from Heathrow, Britain and Europe’s busiest airport, plus its flights to and from Gatwick airport and London City will all operate as normal, the airline said.

A pedestrian has died after being hit by a fire engine that lost control and overturned while on a 999 call. Police are investigating the crash, which happened on a roundabout at the junction of York Way and Old North Road in Royston, Hertfordshire. The vehicle was turning right when “for reasons unknown” it lost control and hit the pedestrian, police said. Officers said the four firefighters involved were left with minor injuries. The East of England Ambulance Service said the pedestrian died at the scene. Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service said two firefighters were taken to hospital for “precautionary checks”.

A council wants to raise its tax by 15% in the next financial year, blaming cuts and increased demand for social care. Surrey county council leader David Hodge said the government had cut its annual grant by £170mn since 2010. The proposed increase would add nearly £200 to a Band D bill, bringing it to about £1,500. The government said if the proposed budget is set, taxpayers would have the final say at the following referendum. Any authority wanting to increase tax by more than 2% must put the plans to vote. This would take place on May 4, alongside local elections, and would include a vote in Chancellor Philip Hammond’s constituency of Runnymede and Weybridge.

Grammar schools lose league table top spots Guardian News and Media London

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he traditional pecking order of England’s secondary schools has been upended by the government’s new school performance measure, knocking grammar schools out of the top spots and boosting schools that dramatically improved results among their pupils. The department for education’s latest performance tables, published yesterday — including 2016’s GCSE exams and ranked by its new Progress 8 measure — reveals that the best schools in England are those which make the greatest advances in their pupils’ grades. At the top of the national Progress 8 league table sit two faith schools in Blackburn run by the Tauheedul multi-academy trust, one of which, Tauheedul Islamic Boys’ high school, is a free school with its first full cohort sitting GCSEs. The new measure of progress is calculated using a pupil’s best eight exam scores — with extra emphasis on maths and English — and then comparing the final results with a pupil’s expected scores based on previous performance. Those schools that recorded positive progress scores among their pupils outperformed the national average, while those that returned a negative score did worse. Among all schools with more than 50 pupils taking exams, both Tauheedul schools, along with Harris Academy in Battersea, King Solomon’s Academy in Paddington, St Andrew’s Catholic school in Leatherhead and the City Academy, Hackney, recorded progress scores of more than one, a complete grade above their expected results. The best-performing selective

school appeared further down, in 13th place on the national performance table, with Tunbridge Wells Girls’ Grammar school recording a Progress 8 score of 0.82. In previous performance tables the key metric was the percentage of pupils achieving grade C or higher in five GCSE subjects, including English and maths. That led to schools concentrating efforts into raising pupil performance only to a C, to the detriment of other results. The new measure, however, rewards schools which do better than expected, including raising a pupil’s grade from an E to a D, or from a B to an A. Nick Gibb, the school standards minister, hailed the latest figures as evidence of higher standards and praised teachers and pupils for their efforts. “As well as confirming that the number of young people taking GCSEs in core academic subjects is rising, today’s figures show the attainment gap between disadvantaged and all other pupils has now narrowed by 7% since 2011,” Gibb noted. “Under our reforms there are almost 1.8mn more young people in good or outstanding schools than in 2010, and through our new, fairer Progress 8 measure we will ensure that even more children are supported to achieve their full potential.” The new measure also caused fewer schools to fall below the department for education’s floor standard, making them vulnerable to intervention. Last year 329 schools – 11% of the total in England – failed to reach the floor target but under Progress 8 only 282 failed to do so. However, recent legislation creating a new class of “coasting” schools, which receive scrutiny from the DfE’s regional agents, means that 329 will be branded as coasting, of which 152 are also below the floor standard.

Lantern festival

Visitors walk in front of a light sculpture depicting architecture of the Tang dynasty during a photocall to promote the Magical Lantern Festival at Chiswick House Gardens in west London. The ‘Silk Road’ was chosen as the festival theme for 2017 due to its historical significance.

Toxic air cloud sparks ‘red alert’ in London London Evening Standard London

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toxic air “red alert” was issued across London yesterday, with millions of people urged to consider taking it easy to protect their health. Mayor Sadiq Khan raised the alarm about a filthy cloud of pollution for the first time this year at thousands of bus stops and all Tube stations. City chiefs advised commuters, cyclists, joggers, drivers and pedestrians to avoid busy, pollution-clogged roads. Khan said: “The extent of our air quality crisis means that I have triggered a city-wide alert, ensuring Londoners have all the information possible. It’s

House price growth slows for first time since July Reuters London

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he housing market had its weakest month since just after June’s Brexit vote in December as house price growth slowed and the number of homes sold fell slightly, a closely watched survey of property valuers showed. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said its members expected a further slowdown in price rises over the next three months, although a clear majority thought prices in 2017 would be higher than last year. The resilience of Britain’s housing market since the referendum decision to leave the European Union has confounded warnings from former finance minister George Osborne of a sharp fall in prices if the country voted to leave the bloc. RICS’s headline house price balance slowed to +24 in December, its first fall since July, from November’s seven-month high of +29.

That was a bigger drop than any of the forecasts in a Reuters poll of economists although it still reflected solid price rises. Gains were strongest in northwest England. Central London, where prices have fallen for 10 months due to concerns about Britain’s exit from the European Union and higher tax on expensive properties, was the only region to see a decline. RICS chief economist Simon Rubinsohn said a shortage of properties for sale was creating a vicious cycle. Existing homeowners were reluctant to move because of the poor choice on offer and high cost of buying a larger home. “A familiar story relating to supply continues to drive both the sales and letting markets, impacting on activity, prices and rents,” he said. A narrow majority of surveyors reported a fall in the number of sales for the first time since a big drop-off in June around the time of the Brexit referendum. The proportion expecting

sales to pick up in early 2017 fell sharply. “It remains to be seen whether or not this is a temporary setback or the onset of a weaker trend,” RICS said. Some of its members in Scotland and London reported concern about Brexit hurting the market. The government is due to publish plans to boost house-building in the next few weeks, but Rubinsohn said it was unlikely to end the housing shortage fast. Britain’s economy expanded much faster than most economists expected in the six months after June’s Brexit vote. But consumers are now reporting a greater squeeze on their disposable income as inflation starts to pick up after a near 20 % fall in the value of sterling since the referendum. Leading mortgage lenders Lloyds Banking Group and Nationwide Building Society predict house price growth will slow this year to roughly 2 %, compared with an official price rise of 6.7 % in the 12 months to November.

crucial that Londoners who are vulnerable, such as asthma sufferers, are able to take appropriate measures to protect themselves.” Pollution was predicted to reach “high” — the same as red — in at least seven boroughs and the City as a cloud of toxic air from Germany’s industrial heartlands was set to sweep in, smothering a swathe of central and west London. Scientists at King’s College London said: “There is a good chance that particulate pollution will continue to rise into the ‘high’ threshold across London.” The particulate pollution was expected to mix with locally produced nitrogen dioxide, much of which is spewed out by diesel vehicles.

The “high” alerts were issued early yesterday morning for Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea, Hammersmith and Fulham, Tower Hamlets, Wandsworth, the City, Kingston and Hounslow — with the rest of the capital rated “moderate”. AirText messages from City Hall before 8am to the worstaffected boroughs stated: “High air pollution forecast. Consider spending less time outdoors, take medication. If unwell contact GP.” By mid-morning yesterday, air quality warnings were sent out to 2,500 bus countdown signs and river pier signs, electronic update signs in the entrances of all 270 Underground stations and 140 road-side message signs on the busiest

Overcoming fear

main roads into London, with instructions to switch engines off when stationary to reduce emissions. A red alert is issued when the scale indicating air toxicity stands between seven and nine out of 10. It hit nine on Wednesday near MI6’s Vauxhall HQ. City Hall issues a Londonwide alert if more than four boroughs, excluding the City, are forecast to hit “high” air pollution. When filthy air rises to that level the official health advice is: “Anyone experiencing discomfort such as sore eyes, cough or sore throat should consider reducing activity, particularly outdoors.” Adults and children with lung problems and adults with heart problems should reduce strenu-

OBE medal found at waste depot Guardian News and Media London

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Murchison, a Rothschild giraffe, less than a month old, leaves the Giraffe House at Chester Zoo in Chester, north-west England, yesterday for the first time. Despite the best efforts of the keepers the calf has been reluctant to step into the outdoors until yesterday. The zoo celebrated the birth of a rare Rothschild’s giraffe calf, whose number has dwindled to fewer than 1,600 in its native Kenya and Uganda on Boxing Day last year.

ous physical exertion, especially outside. People with asthma may find they need to use their inhaler more often. Older people should also reduce physical exertion. A City of London Corporation spokesman said: “This spike in air pollution is a huge health problem. We encourage pedestrians, cyclists, joggers and drivers to use our free City Air app for lower pollution travel routes.” Research has shown that air pollution inside cars can be particularly bad. A “black” warning — 10 on the toxicity scale — would trigger an alert urging all of the public to “reduce physical exertion, particularly outdoors, especially if you experience symptoms such as cough or sore throat.”

search is under way for a pote ntially careless member of the British establishment after an OBE medal was found at a waste-sorting depot in east London. It is unclear whether the medal was discarded by mistake, thrown away in disgust at government policy or just dumped as a worthless gong. In any case, the Envirowaste depot in Leyton, where the OBE was found, is seeking to reunite it with its owner or the recipient’s family. The medal, or badge as it is formally known, was found attached to a crimson ribbon in a black presentation box together with instructions on when and how it should be worn and what should be done with it after the recipient dies. The instructions read: “The insignia is not returnable on death, but should be retained by the person legally entitled to receive it under the terms of the deceased’s will.”

The OBE was found at the end of November as workers were sifting through rubbish from house and office clearances. Envirowaste’s owner, James Rubin, said it was impossible to trace where the OBE came from, because the depot deals with waste from up 30 clearances a day. “We come across some weird and wonderful things on hauls, but this really is something that needs to find its way home,” he said. The OBE is not weirdest item Rubin’s company has found. “We’ve had a whole human skeleton, stuffed animals and lockers full of brand new iPads,” he said. “People hide all sorts of things under mattresses or in drawers that haven’t been gone through.” Asked to guess how the OBE had been discarded, Rubin said: “It was probably left by mistake in a pile for house clearance, possibly from someone who recently died. “If you have any information or know of anybody who’s lost an OBE in the London area please don’t hesitate to get in touch.”

8

Gulf Times Friday, January 20, 2017

EUROPE

Stung by Trump, Germany to up defence spending Reuters Berlin

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Von der Leyen: We want the Americans to be clear, ‘What is your agenda’. The most important thing ... is reliability.

ermany, under fire from US President-elect Donald Trump for not meeting Nato’s defence spending goal, is boosting military budgets, but also wants Trump to map out a consistent foreign policy agenda, Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said. Trump sparked concern among the North Atlantic Treaty

Organisation (Nato) and EU foreign ministers on Monday when he said that Nato was obsolete and criticised the alliance members that failed to meet the alliance’s target of spending 2% of national output on defence. A key Trump adviser said on Tuesday that only parts of Nato were obsolete, while Nikki Haley, his nominee for ambassador to the United Nations, said Nato was an important alliance and she did not believe it was obsolete.

“We want the Americans to be clear, ‘What is your agenda’,” von der Leyen told German broadcaster NTV. “The most important thing ... is reliability.” Von der Leyen said Germany was boosting military spending by nearly €2bn in 2017 to €37bn, or 1.22% of gross domestic product (GDP). It is due to reach €39.2bn by 2020. “We’re moving in the right direction, but we can’t do it in one year,” she told NTV.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in November that she did not expect Germany to meet its Nato defence spending target in the near future. Von der Leyen welcomed support for Nato voiced by Trump’s defence secretary nominee, James Mattis, during his Senate confirmation hearing. “He’s very reliable,” she said, adding that the Trump administration still had to resolve some issues internally. Nato Secretary General Jens

Stoltenberg told German newspaper Die Welt in an interview published yesterday that Trump had assured him in a telephone call that the United States continued “to feel committed to Nato”. “I am absolutely certain the United States will continue to fully live up to its security guarantees for Nato,” he said. Asked about Trump’s criticism that Nato had failed to prevent terror attacks in Europe, Stoltenberg said the alliance was already

Avalanche turns Italian luxury hotel into ‘coffin’ Reuters/AFP Penne, Italy

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huge avalanche swallowed up a luxury mountain hotel in central Italy after a series of strong earthquakes rocked the area, burying up to 30 people under tonnes of snow and debris, officials said yesterday. More than 24 hours after the avalanche hit, the Civil Protection department said just two bodies had been recovered. The first rescue workers only reached the remote site in the early hours of yesterday and it was midday by the time a snow plough and the first mechanical excavation equipment got there. Rescue workers were continuing their search for other victims or possible survivors as night fell. “We are trying to recover bodies,” said fire service spokesman Luca Cari. Asked if there was any hope of survivors, he told AFP: “You never know.” He added: “The building was basically run over by the avalanche leaving it buried. I saw mattresses that had been dragged for hundreds of metres, which shows how big the search area is. There are tonnes of snow, tree trunks and all kinds of detritus.” Italian broadcasters showed images of piles of masonry and rubble in the entrance area of what they dubbed a “coffin hotel”. Titti Postiglione, head of the department’s emergency office, said that more avalanches were possible in the Gran Sasso mountain range in the central Abruzzo region because the temperature was rising, while

further quakes were possible. “This is an enormously complex rescue operation,” she said. The gabled peaks of parts of the roof and a row of windows were the only sections of the four-storey Hotel Rigopiano still visible after the wall of snow smashed into the four-star spa resort early on Wednesday evening. “This is a tragedy of enormous proportions,” said Health Minister Beatrice Lorenzin. Local authorities said about 30 people had been in the building at the time, including two children. Only a couple of survivors had been found – two men who had been outside when the disaster struck. “The hotel is almost completely destroyed. We’ve called out but we’ve heard no replies, no voices,” said Antonio Crocetta, a member of the Alpine Rescue squad who was on the scene. “We’re digging and looking for people,” he told Reuters by phone from the isolated location. Rescue workers entered what appeared to be a lobby decorated with oil paintings and plants, where a landslide had torn through a wall, television footage showed. Mattresses and furniture were spotted dozens of metres away and sniffer dogs were brought to the area to help with the search effort. “I am alive because I went to get something from my car,” one of the two survivors, Giampiero Parete, told medical staff. Italian media said he had been on holiday with his wife and two children, who were all still missing. Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni called for national unity,

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slamic State (IS) is using “headhunters” on social media and instant messaging sites to recruit disaffected young people in Germany, some as young as 13 or 14, the head of the country’s domestic intelligence agency said yesterday. Hans-Georg Maassen also drew parallels between the militant Islamist group and past radical movements such as communism and Adolf Hitler’s Nationalist Socialists that also tried to lure young people keen to rebel against their parents and society. “On social media networks there are practically headhunters who approach young people and get them interested in this (Islamist) ideology,” Maassen told foreign reporters in Berlin. He cited the cases of a German-Moroccan girl, Safia S, 16, who is accused of stabbing a police officer at a train station in Hanover in February last year, and a 12-year-old German-Iraqi boy who tried to detonate two explosive devices in the western town of Ludwigshafen in December. In closing arguments at Sa-

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A handout picture released by the Corpo Nazionale Soccorso Alpino e Speleologico (CNSAS) shows rescuers taking part in the operations at the ruins of the Hotel Rigopiano. saying that Italy was caught in an “unprecedented vice” of earthquakes and heavy snows simultaneously. The rescue operation was hampered by metres of snow which has fallen on the Gran Sasso in recent days. Drifts made snow as deep as 5m (16’) in some places and snow

Albanian theology teacher held for praising IS A theology teacher in a Qur’anic school in the northern Albanian town of Shkodra was arrested yesterday for praising the Islamic State (IS) group in class, a police spokesman said. The 39-year-old told her students that “people from the Islamic State are good” as they protect “Muslims in Syria, Palestine or Egypt”, but the Albanian “state wants to fight them”, according to concealed-camera footage. The students were 16-year-olds, said the education ministry, after the comments were broadcast in an investigation by TV Klan channel on Wednesday. It was unclear when the story was filmed. The school’s head told AFP said she had been a temporary replacement in 2015 and was no longer a member of staff, adding that the remarks had “nothing to do with the school ... programme”. Albania is a Muslim-majority country.

fia’s trial yesterday, prosecutors asked the judge to convict her of attempted murder, grave physical injury and support of a foreign terrorist organisation, with a sentence of six years in prison. A verdict is expected on January 26. Prosecutors are also seeking a three-year sentence for Mohamad Hasan K, a 20-year-old German-Syrian accused of having known of Safia’s planned attack but not informing the police. About 20% of an estimated 900 people from Germany who have been recruited by Islamic State to join the fight in Iraq and

Greece, Cyprus say peace deal must end troop presence AFP Nicosia

ploughs struggled to cut a path up winding mountain roads. The first rescuers only managed to arrive at 4.30am (0330 GMT) after having to ski through a blizzard to reach the site. After dawn broke, emergency services sent in helicopters. A base camp for rescue workers was set up in the town of

Spy chief: Islamic State using online ‘headhunters’ to recruit Germans Reuters Berlin

engaged in counter-terrorism efforts and talks were under way about how to expand that work. A defence ministry spokesman said the German military’s spending on weapons, munitions and other equipment rose by nearly 11% in 2016 to €5.1bn and would increase even more sharply to $6bn this year. Procurement spending would account for 16.2% of the overall military budget in 2017, up from 14.5% in 2016 and 13.5% in 2015, the spokesman said.

Syria are women, some as young as 13 or 14, Maassen said. German authorities are monitoring 548 Islamists deemed to be a security risk, but German law does not allow for their arrest until they have committed a crime, Maassen said. He said he was satisfied that police and security officials had communicated well over the case of the failed Tunisian asylum-seeker Anis Amri, who killed 12 people on December 19 by ramming a truck through a Berlin Christmas market. The case sparked criticism because German authorities had identified Amri, who was im-

prisoned in Italy for four years, as a security risk and had investigated him for various reasons, but never took him into custody. German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said on Wednesday that the cases of all those deemed a security risk in the aftermath of the Berlin attack would be reviewed. Maassen said European intelligence agencies were also seeing the radicalisation of other segments of society through social media, with growing numbers of people who were not previously politically active attracted to far-right groups. Such people had their views reinforced in so-called “echo chambers” on the Internet, Maassen said. “We’ve seen this with Islamic State, but now we’re seeing this with so-called ‘good citizens’ who are being radicalised, and we worry that this radicalisation could be transformed into a willingness to commit violent acts.” Support for far-right groups has grown in Germany following the arrival of more than a million migrants and asylumseekers over the past two years, many of them young Muslim men fleeing conflicts in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere.

Penne, some 10km away, where ambulances waited. The avalanche shunted the 43-room hotel, which is 1,200m (4,000’) above sea level, some 10m (30’) down the hill, according to media reports. The disaster struck just hours after four earthquakes with a magnitude of above 5.0 hit cen-

tral Italy, sparking fears about possible avalanches. Italian media said guests at the hotel had checked out and were waiting for a snow plough to arrive to open up the road and let them down the mountain. However, the avalanche struck before they had been able to leave.

Sweden’s conservatives woo far-right to bring down minority government Sweden’s main opposition party courted controversy yesterday by suggesting that it accept support by the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats (SD) to bring down the minority government. Mainstream parties have so far rejected any co-operation with the SD, a party with a history linked to Sweden’s neo-Nazi movement. Neither the left nor right have had a majority in parliament since the 2014 election, meaning the right can topple the government by proposing a budget that would be adopted thanks to the far-right. The leader of Sweden’s conservative Moderates party called yesterday on its fellow centre-right opposition parties to accept the support of the SD to adopt such a budget, which would force the resignation of the Social Democrat-Green coalition government. “On issues where there are conditions to agree on, I don’t think we should refrain from talking to SD,” Anna Kinberg Batra told a news conference in Stockholm. She ruled out the formation of a coalition, however. Budget talks are due to start in September and to last until December. “I want us to act swiftly, before 2018,” Batra said, referring to the next general elections. According to a poll released yesterday by the daily Aftonbladet, SD is now the second largest party with 21.5% in support after the Social Democrats at 25.8%. Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, leader of the Social Democrats, slammed Batra’s comments, accusing her party of losing its “moral compass”.

yprus and Greece have insisted that any peace deal for the divided island must provide for the withdrawal of Turkish troops and new security arrangements. If Turkey and the island’s minority Turkish Cypriots want a solution, “there can neither be occupation troops nor guarantees”, Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos said after talks in Nicosia with his Cyprus counterpart Nicos Anastasiades, the Greek Cypriot leader. Anastasiades, whose country has been a European Union member since 2004, said: “Our common goal is to finally achieve a solution that is fully compatible with the European acquis (EU legislation) … without the need to have any third country as a guarantor or troops of any country staying to protect supposedly one or the other community.” Their comments came as technocrats in Switzerland were discussing a post-settlement Cyprus security formula. UN-backed negotiations in the Swiss resort town of Mont Pelerin include Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot representatives as well as officials from Ankara, Athens and former colonial power Britain. Those parties were also in Geneva last week trying to reach a deal to reunite Cyprus, which has been divided since 1974 when Turkish troops invaded its northern third in response to an Athens-inspired coup seeking union with Greece. Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci have been holding direct talks at various locations over the past 20 months on how to forge a unified, two-zone federation. The larger group, meeting now in Mont Pelerin, is focused on reforming Cyprus’s so-called “guarantor power” agreement, a 1960 deal that gives Britain, Greece and Turkey the right to intervene to defend the island’s sovereign integrity. There is general consensus that the guarantor power system needs to change, although the fate of some 30,000 Turkish troops deployed in the north remains an obstacle, with Ankara insisting that they will not be withdrawn. In Mont Pelerin, technical experts are trying to craft ideas for a new security system that can be weighed by senior political leaders. Greece, like Britain, has said it is happy to do away with the guarantor power arrangement but has insisted on the end to the Turkish military’s “occupation” of northern Cyprus.

Italy to return stolen Van Goghs to Dutch museum soon Two Van Gogh masterpieces stolen in Amsterdam 14 years ago will be returning to The Netherlands from Italy shortly after police recovered them from the house of notorious drug boss, a museum official said yesterday. The 1882 Seascape at Scheveningen and the 1884/5 Congregation leaving the Reformed Church at Nuenen will soon be on their way after an Italian judge cleared their return, Van Gogh Museum director Axel Rueger said. “We’ve just heard that the judge has ordered the release of the two recovered Van Goghs,” Rueger said in a statement issued in Amsterdam. “The two canvasses will be formally handed over in the near

future. Precise date hasn’t been fixed yet, but it’s expected to happen quickly.” Italian investigators in late September raided a home belonging to infamous drug baron Raffaele Imperiale, who was arrested 10 years ago at the same location at Castellammare di Stabia, some 34km southeast of Naples. The area is a notorious hotspot for Neapolitan mafia activity. The two paintings – which have since been confirmed as authentic and are worth millions – were stolen in a daring raid in 2002. The daring heist left Dutch police flabbergasted at the time.

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INDIA

Modi refuses to step in over Jallikattu ban Tension rises as protests swell across Tamil Nadu Agencies Chennai

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rime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday refused to overturn a Supreme Court ban on a festival featuring young men wrestling with bulls that has brought thousands onto the streets of Tamil Nadu in protest. Residents of the state say the Jallikattu festival is a crucial part of their culture and are demanding the ban be lifted. Critics say the festival is cruel and that organisers lace the bulls’ feed with liquor to make them less steady on their feet and throw chilli powder into their faces to send them into a sudden frenzy as they are released from a holding pen. The Supreme Court outlawed Jallikattu last year after a plea by animal rights groups, which have long argued that the event – held every year in different parts of

Protesters gather during a demonstration against the ban on Jallikattu at Marina Beach in Chennai yesterday. Tamil Nadu during the harvest festival of Pongal – abuses the animals. Tensions have been escalating for the last week after hundreds of people were detained by police for allegedly organising local Jallikattu contests in defiance of the court ban. Thousands of protesters have gathered on the Marina Beach in Chennai and other cities. Thousands of small factories,

shops and schools were closed across Tamil Nadu for a second day yesterday. Children carried placards blaming the judiciary and animal rights groups for the ban. “It is a primitive sport and we love it. No one has the right to stop a sporting activity,” said Kanimozhi Subramanian, 23, a university student spearheading youth protests. “We fear that the protests could

get violent or a stampede could lead to loss of lives. It is hard to contain the outrage,” said Deputy Police Commissioner G Shasshank Sai. Chief Minister O Panneerselvam flew to New Delhi to ask Modi to issue an ordinance allowing the festival this year. “The ban imposed on Jallikattu by the Supreme Court came up for discussion,” Modi’s office said on Twitter after the two men met. “While appreciating the cultural significance of Jallikattu, the prime minister observed that the matter is presently sub judice” or prohibited from public discussion because it is still under judicial consideration. Scores of students from Tamil Nadu held protests in New Delhi in support of Jallikattu. “This is an attack on our culture,” said Manikanda Venkatesh, a student from Tamil Nadu. “People who have never been to Tamil Nadu are telling us about about culture and calling it barbaric. The farmers treat these bulls like their children and no

parent can be cruel to their child. “This is not a festival for Tamils but also for the bulls, which show their prowess. Through Jallikattu the farmers are able to find the best bulls, which helps in breeding of native species.” Pangaj Easwaa, another student from Tamil Nadu, said that while he respected the Supreme Court, he would not tolerate attempts “to amend our cultural practices”. “What is the harm is Jallikattu? No bulls are killed in the festival.” Unlike in traditional Spanish bullfighting, the animals are let loose into open fields and young men then compete to subdue them bare-handed. Organisers insist the animals suffer no harm and Jallikattu is an established part of Tamil culture. A legal expert said the prime minister could in theory issue an ordinance overturning the Supreme Court ruling, although such a move would be rare. Police say the protests have remained peaceful so far but have spread to large parts of Tamil Nadu.

12 children among 25 killed in school bus crash Agencies Lucknow

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school bus carrying dozens of pupils collided with a truck in Uttar Pradesh yesterday, killing 25 people, officials said. Twelve of the dead were children aged between seven to 14

years, who were seated near the front of the bus, when an oncoming truck collided with it in the state’s Etah district. The school bus driver also died in the crash, the latest deadly accident in a country with one of the worst road safety records. “The death toll is 25 and some 11 people are in hospital undergoing treatment,” Shambu Nath, the lo-

cal district magistrate, said. “At least 28 were discharged after first aid.” Uttar Pradesh’s Director General of Police Javeed Ahmad had earlier tweeted more than 15 children were killed in the accident. Ahmad’s spokesman Rahul Srivastava said that the figure was a result of “confusion and chaos” that followed the accident.

Nath said authorities suspect the vehicles were speeding in foggy conditions. The driver of the truck is in critical condition, he added. The authorities have cancelled the licence of the J S Public School for disobeying an official edict after apparently defying a government order to shut during an ongoing cold spell. The bus was carrying 61 chil-

dren to the school when a sandladen truck rammed into it headon on the Patiali Road near Aliganj. Road accidents killed nearly 150,000 people in India last year, around 400 a day, according to data from the highways ministry. Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted his condolences to the victims’ families, saying he was “anguished by the tragic accident”.

Lenders told to recover loans from tycoon Mallya AFP New Delhi

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court yesterday ordered a consortium of banks to start the process of recovering loans from the tycoon Vijay Mallya who has refused demands to return home from exile in Britain. The Debt Recovery Tribunal ordered a consortium of 17 banks led by the State Bank of India to start the process of recovering Rs62bn (around $1bn) at an annual interest rate of 11.5% from Mallya and his companies, the Press Trust of India news agency reported. Among the companies named in the ruling were United Breweries – a liquor company which Mallya once owned and in which he still retains a small shareholding – along with the now defunct Kingfisher Airlines. The lenders had filed a case with the tribunal in 2013 to recover loans made to Kingfisher Airlines which started running into financial difficulties in 2011 and eventually went bust. There was no immediate comment from Mallya who fled to Britain last March as pressure grew from the banks to pay back the loans. He has repeatedly failed to appear before investigators at the Enforcement Directorate, a financial crimes agency, who suspect him of misusing funds loaned by a state bank.

Experts say yesterday’s ruling may be too late to enable lenders to recover anything from Mallya, who was known for his flamboyant lifestyle and styled himself as the “King of Good Times”. “The DRT ruling is welcome, but it has come three years too late,” said Anjali Sharma, a consulting professor at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research in Mumbai. “Perhaps in 2013, when the case was filed, there was some value recoverable in the company.... but now is there anything left to recover for lenders? “Leased assets like planes have no value, the management has gone, there is no value to Vijay Mallya’s promises. I wouldn’t place any bets on recovery.” Mallya, who remains a partowner of the Force India Formula One team, has come to personify India’s problems with bad debt that are piling up on the balance sheets of banks. The previous Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan had made cleaning up the banking sector’s mountain of soured loans – defined as in default or close to it – a priority of his tenure. In 2015, the RBI ordered banks to undertake an Asset Quality Review – forcing lenders to classify many more loans as soured – and set a 2017 deadline for them to clean up their balance sheets.

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PAKISTAN/AFGHANISTAN Taliban seeks to reassure UAE govt over attacks Reuters Peshawar

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he Afghan Taliban has sought to reassure the United Arab Emirates that it was not behind an attack in the southern city of Kandahar that killed five UAE diplomats and injured the ambassador, senior Taliban officials said yesterday. More than a dozen Afghan and foreign officials were killed last week by a bomb hidden under a couch in the Kandahar governor’s residence in an attack Afghan authorities have blamed on the Taliban and Pakistani intelligence services. However the Taliban has denied responsibility, instead accusing “covert intelligence circles” close to the government of carrying out the attack to damage relations between the insurgents and a friendly Arab government. No claim of responsibility has been made. Although the insurgents have frequently targeted Afghan government officials, the attack on diplomats from a Muslim country with which the Taliban has previously had good relations came as a major shock, prompting the insurgent movement to seek to reassure UAE authorities. The UAE was one of the few countries to recognise the former Taliban government in the 1990s although it broke relations in the wake of the September 11 attacks on US targets in 2001. The United States had demanded the extradition of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden from Afghanistan for involvement in the attacks but the Taliban refused. A number of senior Taliban members are believed to be living as private citizens in the UAE. There was no immediate word from UAE officials. In Kandahar, authorities are continuing an investigation into the attack, which injured the provincial governor and killed his deputy. Kandahar police chief General Abdul Raziq, one of the most formidable anti-Taliban commanders who himself narrowly escaped the attack, said that around 20 people had been detained for questioning, including construction workers and government employees including a cook and guards. He said a UAE investigation team, including specialists from Britain, had been in Kandahar but had left the city.

Human rights activists hold a picture of Salman Haider, who is missing, during a protest to condemn the disappearances of social activists in Karachi.

Hardliners want bloggers to face blasphemy charge Reuters Karachi

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ardline religious protesters yesterday threw stones at supporters of five missing Pakistani activists and demanded that police charge the missing men under a blasphemy law that carries a mandatory death sentence. The liberal activists, who have posted blogs criticising the political influ-

ence of the military and speaking up for the rights of religious minorities, have all gone missing separately since January 4, and it is unclear what happened to them. Shortly after their disappearances, blasphemy allegations against them appeared on social media and in a complaint to police. Critics of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws say they have long been used by individuals and religious groups to settle disputes.

About 100 members of a littleknown religious group, Tehreek Labaik Ya Rasool Allah, arrived at the local press club in the port city of Karachi and started hurling stones at people gathered there to support the missing activists. They chanted slogans asking police to file blasphemy cases against the missing activists and carried banners that read: “Beheading is the punishment of blasphemers.” The activists’ supporters were

Winter fare

forced to withdraw into a nearby building. “We persuaded the religious activists to withdraw,” police officer Aurengzeb Khan said. “Their leader then held prayers and called on the members to leave.” Friends, family and supporters of all five men deny they have blasphemed, and have denounced the campaign to press that charge, which could endanger their lives were they to reappear.

Afghan journalists face more threats as violence spreads Reuters Kabul

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An Afghan skier skis down a mountainside on the outskirts of Kabul.

Top MPs become millionaires ‘by mistake’ Internews Islamabad

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magine you receive a message acknowledging receipt of millions of rupees into your bank account. Sounds unreal, right? But this is what happened, not to any commoner, but to some senior federal lawmakers in Pakistan. Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani, National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and PPP Senator Aitzaz Ahsan were surprised to know that Rs100mn each had been deposited into the

bank accounts they do not maintain. Sadiq and Shah got the receipts in their chambers in the Parliament House, while Rabbani received the receipt from SME Bank at his Karachi residential address. Rabbani made the revelation yesterday during a session of the upper house of parliament.“This is a fraud. I don’t have an account in SME Bank,” he added.“Details of my bank accounts are clearly mentioned in my income tax returns.” Rabbani said that he has taken up the issue with the SME Bank president and FIA’s director general, asking them both to investigate the fraud.

Khursheed Shah said he was surprised to see the Term Deposit Receipts from a private bank where he has no account. “If no such account exists in my name, then how come Rs100mn can be deposited in it,” Shah said in a statement issued from his office. The statement claimed that when the details were shared with the bank, they termed the deposits fake and the staff said such transactions had also been reported earlier. “The issue has been referred to the SBP and the FIA for probe and to unveil names of those who are out to defame politicians,” it added.

fghan journalists say they are facing more risks than ever as both insurgents and unscrupulous government officials increasingly threaten, assault, and even murder reporters. At least 13 journalists were killed in Afghanistan last year, making it the deadliest year on record for Afghan media, the Afghan Journalists Safety Committee (AJSC) has said. “This is an ugly, worrying and serious trend, and if certain actions are not taken, 2017 could be worse,” said AJSC head Najib Sharifi. Journalists are increasingly in the firing line of a conflict between the Western-backed government and Islamist militants like the Taliban, who threaten several major cities. Besides the 13 deaths, the press group documented at least 88 incidents of assault, intimidation, abuse, and other physical attacks, a 38% increase over numbers recorded in 2015. “Direct attacks on journalists are very worrying,” said Parwiz Kawa, editor of the 8AM daily newspaper. “It limits the ability of journalists to move and produce stories and increases the cost of media outlets for additional security.” Targeted violence has forced some journalists to find safer work, he added. The AJSC blamed the deaths of at least 10 of the 13 journalists on the Taliban, say-

ing the group had “drastically increased” its targeting and intimidation of journalists, leading in some cases to more self-censorship by media. In late 2015, the Taliban issued death threats against journalists over what they perceived as unfavorable coverage. The militants followed up with a deadly attack against employees of Tolo, one of Afghanistan’s largest TV stations. They said the station was an “intelligence network” opposed to national unity and religious values, not an impartial media outlet. Tolo rejected the accusations. A Taliban spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment on the AJSC’s findings. The AJSC credited the government with policies aimed at protecting a free media, but individuals linked to the government accounted for about half of the incidents reported. “It is alarming that the government continues to be responsible for so many cases,” European Union Special Representative Franz-Michael Mellbin said in a statement, urging the government to bring perpetrators to justice. A spokesman for President Ashraf Ghani said acts of intimidation had been by individuals, but not by the government and the president was committed to a free press. “There are no journalists in jail in the whole country and the attorney general’s office has prosecuted those government officials who have threatened or acted against journalists.”

The interior ministry said yesterday that police had not registered a blasphemy case, although police in Islamabad confirmed on Wednesday that a formal complaint had been made by a lawyer. “There is absolutely no truth to reports that cases have been filed against the bloggers,” the ministry said. Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan was quoted last week as saying the government was not responsible for the disappearances.

Pak, Afghan spy agencies must help forge trust: Gen Raheel

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ntelligence agencies of Pakistan and Afghanistan will have to play a key role in overcoming the air of mistrust between the two countries, said former chief of army staff General (Retd) Raheel Sharif. Gen Raheel said that during his tenure he had made progress in relations with Afghanistan and expressed the hope that his successor, General Qamar Bajwa, would make progress in this regard. General Raheel was speaking at a dinner hosted in his honor by the chairman of the Pathfinder Group, Ikram Sehgal, on the sidelines of World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting at Davos in Switzerland. General Raheel’s comments suggested that both countries still had a lot of work to improve strained relations. He said that during his tenure, military-to-military ties between Pakistan and the United States had improved a lot and he enjoyed good relations with US military heads. “In my time, the militaryto-military relations were very good, if not excellent, and we respected each other,” said the former chief. He said that he preferred doing things in an “open and frank” manner. During the first day of the fourday annual WEF meeting, he presented Pakistan’s case in an emphatic manner. His appearances at two formal sessions of the WEF also helped project a positive image of the country, as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif did not participate in the meeting despite his presence in Switzerland. However, the premier held bilateral meetings with various world leaders. Raheel said that Pakistan needed to have a fine balance in its relations with three global powers and that was what exactly it was doing.

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PHILIPPINES All aboard the Miss Universe ship

Reigning Miss Universe Pia Wurzbach of the Philippines gestures as she arrives at the navy port in Manila yesterday to travel with contestants for the 2017 pageant to a photo shoot at a private resort in Batangas province, south of the capital. Around 86 contestants from different countries are vying for the Miss Universe title when the winner will be crowned on January 30.

Duterte to visit China again as ties warm up Reuters Beijing

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hilippine President Rodrigo Duterte will visit China in May to attend a multilateral summit, China’s foreign ministry said yesterday, making his second visit to Beijing since taking office as he seeks to further distance himself from Washington. Duterte has carried out a stunning U-turn in Philippines’ foreign policy since assuming office last year, making overtures towards China while berating traditional ally the United States. In a statement issued after Duterte met China’s Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin in Manila on Tuesday, the Chinese foreign ministry said Duterte said he was pleased with how ties had developed since he came to China last year. “I will come to Beijing in May to attend the ‘One Belt, One Road’ international co-operation summit forum, and I look forward to meeting President Xi Jinping again,” the ministry paraphrased Duterte as saying, without elaborating. The Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs said it could not immediately confirm the comments were made as no ministry officials were present at the meeting. Both sides agreed that territorial disputes in the South China Sea were a “small part” of bilateral relations and to set up a bilateral consultation mechanism to deal with issues that arise in the region, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said yesterday at a regular press briefing. China has given few details about the summit, but diplomatic sources in Beijing say the government is expected to invite a large number of foreign leaders to attend. China has dubbed a series of infrastructure projects stretching across some 60 countries as the “One Belt, One Road” initiative, based upon resurrecting the old Silk Road that once connected China with Central Asia, Europe and beyond. Duterte reiterated last month he wanted to avoid confrontation with China and saw no need to press Beijing to abide by a July ruling on China’s claims in the disputed South China Sea that went in favour of the Philippines.

Members of a Philippine Naval Special Operations Group (NAVSOG) escort a private yacht carrying contestants for the 2017 Miss Universe contest as it departs the navy port in Manila.

Philippines hopeful on communist peace talks AFP Rome

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he Philippines expressed hope yesterday of securing a permanent ceasefire deal with communist rebels waging one of Asia’s longest insurgencies, as peace talks resumed in Italy. The communists have been waging a “national democratic revolution” since 1968 to overthrow a capitalist system that has created one of Asia’s biggest rich-poor divides and claimed 30,000 lives, according to the military. A new round of negotiations began in Rome yesterday, with the government’s chief negotiator Silvestre Bello saying longstanding contentious issues could be “hurdled”. “I am one with President (Rodrigo) Duterte’s optimism that in this round of talks, we are able to finalise and approve the joint ceasefire agreement,” Bello said at the opening of the talks. “There are reasons to hope we can hurdle the task.” Duterte, 71, said it was his “dream” to secure a lasting

peace deal within his six-year term. After assuming office in June last year, the self-styled socialist launched the peace process and appointed three communists to his cabinet. Both sides agreed to a temporary ceasefire during talks in Norway last August. The government said then it was aiming for a final peace deal within 12 months. However the communists said this week they would need at least two more years after negotiators agreed on a series of economic and political reforms before even beginning “serious discussions” on a final peace pact. Yesterday, the communists’ chief negotiator Fidel Agcaoili pointed out “serious obstacles” in the talks as he reiterated the rebels’ demand that nearly 400 jailed guerillas be released. Duterte last year released 18 top leaders to kickstart the peace process but had refused to free the rest, calling them his “aces” in a “poker game”. “It is a matter of justice and an obligation of the (government),” Agcaoili said. “Neither should the political prisoners be treated as trump cards to extract concessions

Chief of the National Democratic Front of Philippines (NDFP) Jose Maria Sison (right) shakes hand with Philippines Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus G Dureza during the opening ceremony of the formal peace talks between the Philippine government and the (NDFP) in Rome yesterday. from the (communists). Such conduct is bound to further erode mutual trust and confidence.” In the week-long talks in Rome, negotiators will discuss

some of the toughest and most complicated issues involving political, economic and constitutional reforms at the heart of the communists’ grievances. Despite the challenges, the

Duterte rails at clergy for hypocrisy Reuters Manila

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Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (right) talks to Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Ronald Dela Rosa during the oath-taking of the newly promoted officials of the PNP at the Malacanang presidential palace in metro Manila.

Police chief furious after rogue cops kill Korean The Philippines police chief expressed sorrow and fury yesterday after discovering some of his men had kidnapped and killed a South Korean businessman inside the national police headquarters. “I want to disappear from this world because of so much shame after what my men did,” national police chief Ronald Dela Rosa told reporters. Dela Rosa, a longtime ally of President Rodrigo Duterte, said he was “very angry” and “very offended” after learning the crime took place at the home of the national police. Dela Rosa did not say how many police were involved, or

if any had been charged. The remains of Jee Ick-joo, abducted in October by rogue officers involved in kidnappings, were found at a funeral parlour in the capital, Manila, according to media. His death is the latest setback for a police force drawing heavy criticism from rights groups, who say cover-ups and abuses of police power are rampant and accuse police of executing suspected drug dealers as part of Duterte’s narcotics crackdown. Police deny involvement in extrajudicial killings and say deaths in the course of the anti-drugs campaign are in selfdefence.

ndeterred by a blessing from Pope Francis, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte launched an angry rebuke yesterday of priests and bishops critical of his drugs war. Duterte was furious over concerns by the Catholic Church of alleged extrajudicial killings during his crackdown and lambasted clergymen for denouncing him instead of using their influence to get people off drugs. His no-holds-barred tirade came a day after one of Duterte’s top advisers met Pope Francis at the Vatican and said the Pontiff had told him he would bless the Philippines, and “also bless your president”. In a speech to policemen, the firebrand leader of one of only two majority Catholic Asian countries challenged the church to a “showdown” and threatened to expose priests and bishops for a litany of abuses. “Most people here are Catholics. If you are a good priest, make them understand that they will die,” he said, referring to drug users. “You

criticise the police, you criticise me. For what? You have the money. You are all crazy ... when we were making confessions to you, we were being molested ...” The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines had no immediate comment when contacted. Duterte’s aide, Jesus Dureza, was at the Vatican this week to deliver a letter from the president, thanking the Pope for his 2015 visit to the Philippines. Duterte had famously called the Pope a “*****” for causing traffic snarl-ups, and later apologised, saying his remark was aimed at incompetent officials. The Pope’s blessing did not stop Duterte chiding the church, which is among a few institutions willing to oppose his war on drugs. Police figures show 7,042 people have been killed during the campaign, 2,250 in anti-drugs operations and most of the other deaths still being investigated. Priests were also misusing state funds, he said, and they could not explain where vast amounts of money from public donations had gone. “You expose me, fine. I expose you. Why? Your mistake is just all right, but ours is not?

Church to ‘Walk for Life’ in fight against drugs A Philippine Catholic bishop on Wednesday urged Filipinos to speak out against a spate of killings under the government’s aggressive campaign against illegal drugs. “Six thousand killed. That means more than 30,000 directly affected, orphaned of their father, their brother their sons and daughters, their husbands,” Bishop Broderick Pabillo told a international gathering of bishops, priests and lay people. “If we are true to our call to be a church of the poor, we cannot as a church keep silent on these issues,” he added. Pabillo, chairman of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines’ Commission of the Laity, is

*******. That is a big joke,” he said. “You asked for it. So if you really want a showdown, showdown. Make a change. Responding to Duterte’s comments, Father Roy Bellen, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Manila, said the church

organising a ‘Walk for Life’ on February 18 to condemn the killings under the drug war. “I know that people tag me as activist bishop for speaking out often, but I am not speaking out for myself, but for the poor and voiceless,” he said. Since President Rodrigo Duterte came to power in late June, 2,256 suspects have died in police operations against drug users and pushers up until January 18. Thirty-five police officers have also been killed in the same period. Police are also investigating nearly 3,000 additional deaths in the first six months of Duterte’s presidency, including possible vigilante killings in connection with the drug war.

was aware of its weaknesses and despite limitations, it was fighting to root out its bad elements. “Yes, there’s still work to be done inside and outside of the church,” he said. “We can never do everything, but whatever is in reach, we do it.”

communists understand their best chance for securing most of their goals is during the presidency of Duterte, who has pivoted his foreign policy away from the US towards China.

IS-linked militants release 2 hostages An Islamic State-linked kidnapping gang in the Philippines freed two Filipinos held captive for nearly three months, the military said yesterday. This is the second release in less than a week by a group notorious for beheading foreigners. It was unclear if a ransom was paid to the militant outfit but the military said its intensified operations against the heavily armed Abu Sayyaf group likely forced it to release the captives. “We’ve added more forces there so that’s the most probable reason,” said Franco Alano, spokesman for the military’s Western Mindanao Command. Abu Sayyaf last week freed the captain of a South Korean cargo ship captain and a Filipino crew member held since October last year. The group, which was born out of a separatist ideology but is better known for banditry and piracy, is still holding about two dozen foreign and Filipino captives on Jolo island, its stronghold where more than 10,000 troops have been deployed. The military was expecting more captives to be freed in the coming days as its operations take their toll on the rebels, Alano said.

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Dhaka calls for ‘sustainable’ return of Rohingyas to homeland By Mizan Rahman Dhaka

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angladesh yesterday called for a ‘sustainable’ return of refugees and displaced Rohingyas to their homeland Myanmar while ensuring basic rights for people in the restive state of Rakhine. State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam made the plea at the Ex-

traordinary Session of OIC Council of Foreign Ministers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Alam was leading a Bangladesh delegation to the OIC session held to discuss the present situation of Rohingyas in Myanmar. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak inaugurated the event. In his comments, the state minister expressed deep concern on the ongoing violence in the Rakhine state, re-

Sheikh Hasina defends Rampal coal power plant By Mizan Rahman Dhaka

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rime Minister Sheikh Hasina once again defended construction of Rampal coal-fired power plant in Bagerhat as former US vice-president Al Gore raised the issue in a plenary session of the 47th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF). The prime minister also invited Al Gore, a celebrated environmentalist, to visit Bangladesh and see for himself ‘what is happening in Rampal’, Foreign Ministry officials said in Dhaka yesterday. “Come to Bangladesh and see for yourself whether it (plant) affects the environment,” she said. Apart from Sheikh Hasina and Al Gore, Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, CEO of HSBC Stuart Gulliver, Cofco Agri CEO Jingtao Chi also took part in the plenary session titled ‘Leading the Fight against Climate Change’ at the Congress Hall in Davos. The PM’s Deputy Press Secretary Mohamed Nazrul Islam briefed reporters after the event. Coming down heavily on those who are staging movement centering the Rampal power plant, Sheikh Hasina said a quarter is creating an ‘unnecessary issue’ regarding the power plant. “I don’t know exactly what they want ... maybe they have a different intention in their mind,” she said.

The premier said that people who were opposed to Rampal project could not point out any logical reason for why and how the plant would affect the environment and even did not respond to her call to visit the plant site either. Sheikh Hasina said her government took all measures to protect the environment. “As I’m the prime minister of the country, nobody is more concerned ... I won’t give permission for any project where there is a possibility of any type of damage,” she said. The prime minister said that the Rampal power plant is being set up around 14km away from the outer boundary of the Sundarbans, the world’s biggest mangrove while it is about 70km away from the world heritage site. Moreover, she said, the Rampal power plant was going to be a ‘clear coal’ plant where ‘supercritical modern technology’ is being used. “We’ve taken all kinds of measures to protect the environment of the Sundarbans and the surrounding areas as well as to protect the habitat and biodiversity of that region,” the premier added. Explaining the preventive measures, Sheikh Hasina said coal would be transported to power plant site from deep sea in covered barges, while covered and low-sound engines will be used in the barges and therefore, “there is no possibility of environment pollution”.

sulting in Rohingyas fleeing to Bangladesh. Referring to the recent influx of Rohingyas into Bangladesh, he demanded Myanmar bring back normalcy in the Rakhine state immediately and take steps for rehabilitation and reconstruction of displaced people. He stressed the need for ensuring basic rights for the people of Rakhine as a durable solution of the problem with

particular emphasis on restoring citizenship through a necessary review of the existing law. Alam also demanded sustainable repatriation of refugees and all documented and undocumented Myanmar nationals temporarily sheltered in Bangladesh, to their centuries-old homeland – the state of Rakhine – with safety and security. He urged the OIC to continue work-

ing for a durable solution of the problem. In his opening remarks, the Malaysian PM highlighted that the international community cannot remain silent at the continued suffering of the Rohingyas and demanded an end to the denial of their basic rights and violence inflicted on them. OIC’s Special Envoy to Myanmar Dr Hamid Albar presented a report on the plight

of the Rohingyas and underlined the atrocities, gross violation of human rights and state-sponsored violence. He stressed the need for engaging the international community including Human Rights Council and called upon Myanmar to stop the violence. The OIC countries in general expressed concern on the plight of the Rohingyas, and called for the end of discrimination and

Bangladesh splits Home Ministry in security overhaul By Mizan Rahman Dhaka

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he Home Ministry, which looks after law and order in Bangladesh, has been split into two divisions for efficient handling of security issues. The government issued a gazette notification to this effect yesterday. The home ministry is split into two divisions: Public Security Division and Security Services Division. The former will have departments on police, Border Guard Bangladesh, Ansar, Coast Guard and investigation agencies of International Crimes Tribunal. On the other hand, the Security Services Division will have departments on Directorate of Immigration and Passport, jails, fire service and civil defence, narcotics control and National Telecom Monitoring Centre.

A total of 493 officials and employees will be working in the two divisions. A total of 163 posts have been created in Public Security Division while 243 posts in Security Services Division. The split of the Home Ministry was part of the government’s move to create at least 10 divisions under five ministries as part of its efforts to accelerate the pace of work in the civil administration and accommodate additional officials at different tiers of bureaucracy. The move would make room for promoting some top officials to the rank of secretary and also for expanding the Sheikh Hasina-led cabinet, said government sources. The four other ministries that will have new divisions are education, health and family welfare, local government and rural development and co-operatives, and civil aviation and tourism ministries.

The home and the education ministries already got orders in this regard from the Prime Minister’s Office. At present, seven of the 45 ministries have 16 divisions. According to the PMO order, the education ministry will have three divisions — one for primary to higher secondary education, one for technical and madrasa education and another for higher education. Abdus Sobhan Sikder, former secretary at the PMO, said, “This move will not only speed up the pace of work of the civil administration but also help accommodate a large number of officials at different ministries.” Once the divisions start functioning, it would be possible for the ministries to make decisions promptly, which would ultimately benefit people, he said. “Every big ministry should have divisions for accelerating the pace of work,” added Sikder.

The civil bureaucracy is already turned top heavy due to wholesale promotions in the administration over the years. There are 1,301 deputy secretaries against 830 posts; 908 joint secretaries against 350 posts and 416 additional secretaries against 120 posts in different ministries, said sources at the public administration ministry. Besides, there are around 250 officers on special duty (OSD). Though they don’t have any responsibilities, they get salaries and other benefits regularly. Now, several hundreds of the promoted officials are working as in-situ officials. An in-situ official is one who continues to hold the same office and perform the same duties even after being elevated to a higher position. Government sources said the latest move to create divisions under the five ministries is

along with its leaders and activists placed wreaths at the grave of Ziaur Rahman at Sher-eBangla Nagar at around 11.30am. The party arranged a discussion on the life of Ziaur Rahman on Wednesday at Mohanagar Natyamancha. BNP’s associate organisations and district committees also chalked out various programmes, including discussion and ‘milad mahfil’, to mark the day. The Doctors’ Association of Bangladesh (Dab) arranged a free medical camp and voluntary blood donation on the ground floor of BNP’s Nayapaltan central office from 9am to 3pm yesterday.

Tourist arrivals to Nepal rise in wake of 2015 earthquake DPA Kathmandu

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epal saw a record number of international tourists in 2016, giving the country a boost after numbers plummeted following a major earthquake in 2015, officials said. A total of 729,550 international travellers visited Nepal last year, the Immigration Department said, although figures on Indian tourists who crossed the porous border into Nepal weren’t included in the calculation. Tourist arrivals increased by 31% compared to 2015, when 554,747 foreign tourists visited the country, which was hit by a 7.8-magnitude earthquake on April 25, 2015, killing 9,000 people, including foreign tourists, and damaging trekking trails and world heritage sites.

Nepal’s neighbours, India and China, topped the list of countries for tourists to Nepal, with the United States coming third, according to the data released last week. Sharad Pradhan, a spokesman for the Nepal Tourism Board, a state agency that promotes tourism, attributed the rise to goodwill and publicity Nepal garnered after the earthquake. “European and Americans who had a soft spot for Nepal thought that visiting our country would be the best way to help us recover from the earthquake. Guidebooks such as ‘Lonely Planet’ and ‘Rough Guides’ also helped our cause by promoting Nepal as a favourite destination,” Pradhan said. Last year, the travel and tourism sector contributed 4% to the gross domestic product of Nepal, which aims to attract 1mn foreign tourists by 2018.

aimed at promoting some senior officials to the rank of secretary and expanding the cabinet. “This initiative has been taken so that some new lawmakers could be inducted in the cabinet. It will strengthen the party and bring dynamism to the government,” said a senior minister. The minister also referred to the appointment of Tarana Halim and Zunaid Ahmed Palak as state ministers at the two divisions under the posts, telecommunications and ICT ministry. However, former cabinet secretary Ali Imam Majumder thinks decentralisation of power of the ministries, rather than the creation of divisions, would be more effective. “There would be no need to create divisions if a ministry gives the responsibility for implementing decisions to its departments concerned,” he said.

Lanka drops plan to decriminalise homosexuality

Slice of life

BNP marks Zia’s birth anniversary Major opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its associate bodies yesterday celebrated the 81st birth anniversary of BNP’s founder Ziaur Rahman across the country. Born on January 19, 1936 at Bagbari in Bogra, Ziaur Rahman founded BNP in 1978 and become the country’s 7th president. The BNP organised elaborate programmes to observe the day. The programmes included hoisting of the party flag atop its offices, placing wreaths and arranging discussion and free medical camp. BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, the widow of the party founder,

violence against them. The delegates stressed the need for restoring basic rights including citizenship. Several countries called for strong actions through UN and Human Rights Council when they expressed a consensus view that the Rohingya crisis is not merely a humanitarian issue, rather it deserves to be addressed within a human rights perspective.

A woman reacts to the camera while preparing to cook, next to a railway track in Kawran Bazar, as a train passes by in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Sri Lanka has dropped a proposal to decriminalise homosexuality following protests, a senior cabinet minister said. The proposal to decriminalise homosexuality was included in a national human rights plan in an attempt to regain European Union tariff preferences under a scheme known as GSP+. “In view of the protests by members of the cabinet of ministers, as well as other groups, we have decided to drop the proposal,” government spokesman and Health Minister Dr Rajitha Senaratne said. Opposition political parties and Buddhist monks have also strongly opposed any moves to legalise homosexuality in the country. Homosexuality is an offence under existing laws in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka plans to ratify and implement some 27 international conventions before seeking restoration of the GSP+ scheme. These conventions relate to international human rights, labour rights and environmental standards. The GSP+ scheme, which gives selected nations preferential access to the EU trading bloc in return for following strict commitments on a wide variety of social and rights issues, was suspended in 2010. The EU is currently considering the restoration of the scheme.

Summit highlights role of locals in saving snow leopards By Deepak Adhikar, DPA Kathmandu

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etting local communities involved is key to protecting the endangered snow leopard, participants of a regional conference in Kathmandu said. The conference – which began on Tuesday brought together officials and experts from 12 countries with snow leopard

populations. They will now deliberate on ways to conserve the elusive big cat, which tends to live in areas 3,000m above sea level, mostly in the wilds of Central Asia and South Asia. “Conservation of snow leopard is high in priority in all of our conservation plans. The role of local communities and their participation is crucial in this,” said Prem Narayan Kandel, acting secretary of Nepal’s Forest and Soil Conservation Ministry,

the host of the conference. “The species is under threat from habitat loss, loss of prey and poaching. This conference provides a platform to review our efforts in saving snow leopard,” he said. The global population of snow leopard is estimated at 3,500-7,000 adults. Experts say between 300 and 500 live in Nepal’s Himalayan region. Shankar Bhandari, Nepal’s minister for forest and soil conservation, urged snow leopard

countries to work together to save the animal, which is protected by law. In Nepal, those found guilty of poaching can face fines of 100,000 rupees ($918) and up to 15 years in jail. “Protection of this endangered species is one of our priorities. It is among 26 protected mammals in Nepal and we are committed to protect the species, which is a key indicator of our climate ecosystem,” Bhandari said.

The snow leopard faces traditional threats such as biomass extinction and conflict with humans, as well as emerging challenges, including climate change and poorly planned infrastructure, said Koustabh Sharma, a senior ecologist with Snow Leopard Trust. “Snow leopards and people interface in these regions. We need to go to local communities to save it from extinction,” he said. The conference ends today.

Gulf Times Friday, January 20, 2017

13

THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH

History of Imaam Maalik Khutbah by Abdul Baarie Ath-Thubaitie

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ll praise is due to Allah. May peace and blessings be upon the noble Prophet, his household and companions. Fellow Muslims! Speaking about great scholars is not an easy task, for however you try to grasp the life of any of them you will not be able to do so. Even you may miss the most important and the most impressive aspect of his life. The way of life of the earliest great Ulamaa is the exemplar par excellence and showing that is an encouragement to our youths in order to discourage them from imitating evil people who have either no positive role to play in this life nor any value in human history. Our speech about the scholars does not in any way mean being partisan to any one of them, for everybody can have his word accepted or rejected except the impeccable Prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam - may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). Our man of today’s talk is that great Imaam who grew up in this city of Madinah, whose mention is elevated and whose knowledge has filled the earth. He taught people in the corners of the great Prophet’s Mosque and became so popular that people called him “The scholar of Madinah” or “the Imaam of the city of Hijrah”. Maalik Ibn Anas was born in the Prophet’s city and grew up there as a lover and seeker of knowledge in spite of his poverty. His mother gave him good upbringing by telling him: “Go to Rabee’ah and learn from him manners before you learn knowledge”. This woman knew her role in life and her mission of educating and grooming the youth. She knew that manners are good companions of knowledge and that knowledge is valueless without manners. This woman moulded a man and as such moulded a nation. Mother’s role is not restricted to nurturing body and guarding it against physical diseases. Rather, she has greater mission to accomplish. Her mission includes strengthening the faith, building a strong personality, developing intellectual capability and encouraging children to aim high. All these cannot be achieved except by first giving preference to meritorious act of upbringing over concerns for this world. This was what actually happened in the life of Maalik and that was what made him a school in manners from whom students learn and the whole Ummah benefits. Maalik once told a Quraishee youth: “O my nephew, learn manners before you learn knowledge”. Yahya ibn Yahya At-Tameemee said: “I stayed with Maalik after the completion of my learning knowledge from him for a year in order to learn manners and good qualities from him. And the qualities are the same as those of the companions of the Prophet and those who followed them.” Brothers in faith! Modern educational methods sometimes appear like mere texts that are devoid of any moral content thereby making knowledge losing its splendour and impact. If knowledge were to be separated from manners – however much the knowledge may be – you will see a huge defect in its influence on people’s conduct and purity of their deeds. Therefore, there is no good in a knowledge that does not earn one good morals. Creating a gap between knowledge and manners breeds ill behaviours like attacking the Ulamaa, being rude to them, bad conduct, maltreatment of parents, blind imitation of unbelievers in matters of dressing and being

Inside view of the Sheikh Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahhab Mosque in Doha. PICTURE: Noushad Thekkayil hostile to teachers and educators either physically and verbally. The city of the Prophet had a significant impact on Maalik’s personality, for it has been flourishing with scholars. The first school in Islamic history was the Prophet’s Mosque and there have always been classes there conducted by competent scholars and these classes provided the Muslim children with good education that guaranteed for them religious and moral qualities that make man good-mannered. Brothers in faith! It goes without saying that bad environment only destroys and does not build …If not, what is the benefit of teaching a child Islamic values in the morning and in the evening he goes to bad companies who destroy what his parents has put in order? Or what is the benefit of teaching a child manners for years and then to be taken to corruption ridden environment by his very father?! Imaam Maalik sat to give fatwa (formal legal opinion) and did not do so until seventy scholars had attested to his worthiness of that. What a difference between the one who praises and forward himself and the one who is praised and forwarded by the knowledgeable and distinguished people! Maalik said: “It is not everyone who would like to sit in the mosque and teach the Hadith and give fatwa are worthy of that. Let the one who wants to sit for fatwa first seek for the advice of pious and distinguished people; if they see that he is fit for that, let him do that; for I did not sit to teach Hadith and give fatwa until seventy scholars attested to his worthiness of that.” Imaam Maalik said: “I am only human, I make mistakes and I do give correct opinions. As for my opinions, examine them, if they are in accordance with Sunnah take them.” With this valuable statement, Maalik established a moderate line between those who follow their leaders blindly and those who reject authentic evidences outright and reject the sayings of scholars and

say, “They are men and we are also men.” What a difference between those men and these men! What a difference between dead men whom Allah immortalises their names for centuries and valueless men who though are living are counted among the dead! Mere mention of the formers’ names activates the heats while keeping the company of the latter deadens the hearts. Those scholars of eminence did not only possess knowledge but were also leaders in morals, piety, self-abstinence and fear of Allah. There are however some followers of these scholars who prefer only imitation and do not wish to exceed that in spite of their ability to differentiate between the truth and falsehood. It is also a mistake to look down upon other people’s works or to feel that one’s good deed is better than others. This is because all these talents and capabilities are provisions from Allah and not from any human being. This is a great concept that Maalik wanted to show people that serving Islam is an obligation that should involve every Muslim in all professions without anyone revolting against others. Maalik wrote to one of the worshippers of his time, “Allah has portioned out deeds as He has portioned out provisions. Many are endowed with energy and the will to pray (as many supererogatory prayers as possible) but are not endowed with (much of voluntary) fasting; others are endowed with giving charity but are not endowed with fasting; others are endowed with Jihad and others with seeking for knowledge. Spreading knowledge is one of the best deeds and I am contented with Allah has endowed one with and I do not think that what I do is less meritorious than what you do but hope that both of us are doing good and righteous deeds.” Therefore charitable people, worshippers, those who spend their times in the cause of Allah, the scholars, the propagators of Islam and those serving Islam in their various fields are all doing

righteous deeds - if they are sincere in their intentions. Whenever Maalik was asked a question, he would tell the questioner, ‘Go now and let me think over it.’ When the questioner was gone, Maalik’s students would ask him the reason for what he said and he would answer. “I fear a Day with the Questioner (Allah) and what a (terrible) Day!” A man was sent by the people of Maghrib to ask Imaam Maalik about some issues. The man would ask Maalik a question and he would say, ‘I do not know, for we do not know of this issue in our land and we have not heard any of our scholars saying anything about it, but you can come back again!’ On the following day, the man went back to Maalik and Maalik told him: “ You asked me question but I do not know the answer!’ the man said: ‘ O Abu Abdullah! I came from a people who think that there is none in the world who is more knowledgeable than you!’ Maalik answered: “ I am not perfect.’ He was also asked a question and he asked the questioner to give him time to make some research and the man said: ‘But the issue is very simple. Maalik retorted, ‘There is nothing simple in knowledge! Don’t you her the saying of Allah: “We shall send down to you a weighty word.” (Qur’an 73:4) Maalik used to say, “The people of knowledge and understanding that I have met in our country, when one of them was asked a question on an issue, he would feel like the one about to die. But the people of our own time love giving fatwaa (without hesitation). Had they know what they are going to face tomorrow (in the Day of Judgment) they would not have done that. Umar, Alee and ‘Alqamah are some of the best companions of the Prophet, yet when anyone of them was asked a question, he would consult his fellow companions before giving an answer to it. But it is unfortunate that fatwaa has become the pride for the people of our time”

These are the erudite and sagacious scholars who filled the world with their knowledge and good deeds and yet used to say, “I do not know”. You will however be surprised to see some people who know next to nothing about Islamic law and yet desecrating it by speaking about the allowed and forbidden things. Even, a topic on Islamic law may come forth in a meeting and the meeting will not end before all the attendants -irrespective if their different fields of knowledge - give their opinions saying for instance, ‘According to my view ...’ ‘As far as I believe ...’ etc. SubhaanAllah! When did the matter of legalising and forbidding become a subject to ignorance and conjecture?!! If an engineer were to practise medicine and prescribe drugs, what are you going to say about him and what is going to be his fate?! What then about the one who dares to desecrate the Islamic law and speak about the lawful and forbidden things without knowledge particularly on special events that are so complicated that if Umar were to witness such events, he would have gathered all the companions who took part in the Battle of Badr to help solve the problem. But unfortunately fatwa in our age has become a spacious ground in which all those who wish to become popular or are seeking people’s pleasure at the risk of Allah’s displeasure contest. Brothers in faith! Issues pertaining to Islamic belief are static ones over which no one is allowed to give his independent judgment. Likewise are issues that have evidences in the Qur’an and Sunnah and issues on which scholars have consensus. It is incumbent on all Muslims to leave the say on matters of knowledge to whom they are due and not to enter into the issues of Halaal and Haraam of which they have no knowledge. Maalik said: “Whoever wants to give answer to a question should first assume himself standing between Paradise and Hell and ponder about how he is going to be saved in the Hereafter before he answers.” Some people may be thinking that these Ulamaa are only well-versed in controversial issues and discussion of scholastic opinions and that their classes are devoid of admonishing Hadith that address the hearts and remind of Paradise and Hell. In order to show that their classes are resplendent in various kinds of sciences, let us hear what Maalik said to a brother of his admonishing him: “Remind yourself of the agonies of death, what you are going to experience and what is going to be your fate after death; your standing before Allah, your reckoning, then your perpetual abode of either Paradise or Hell. Provide for that moment what will make things easy for you then, for when you see those who have earned the wrath of Allah and the horror of their torment and you hear their cries in the Fire with their gloomy faces; unable to see and talk and exclaiming for destruction and greater than all this is Allah’s turning away from them and their despair of His answer to their pleas and He will say: “Remain you in it with ignominy! And speak you not with Me.”(Al-Mu’minoon 23:108) if you know all this, nothing in this world will be too great for you to sacrifice if you want salvation.” Imaam Maalik was sick for 22 days and died at the age of 87. Naafi’ (his famous student) said: “Maalik died at the age of 87 and lived in AlMadinah as its Mufti for 60 years.” May Allah have mercy on Maalik, for he used to say: “I met some people in Al-Madinah who had no faults but they speak of other people’s faults, then people created faults for them. I also met other another group of people in al-Madinah, who had faults but kept away from speaking of other people’s faults and the people also keep off from speaking about their faults.

Envy is a disease of the heart S

trictly speaking, envy (hasad) is hatred and disliking the good condition of the envied one. This is of two types: 1) The blameworthy type of envy is unrestricted dislike of the blessings bestowed upon the envied. This is the type of jealousy that incurs blame, so when one hates something he is then hurt and grieved by the existence of what he hates, and this becomes a sickness in his heart such that he takes pleasure in the removal of the blessings from the envied even if this does not result in any benefit to him except the single benefit of having the pain that was in his soul removed. But this pain is not removed except as a result of his continuously watching the envied so that the jealous person finds relief when the blessing is removed, but then it becomes more severe as is the case of the one who is sick, for it is possible that this blessing, or one similar to it, returns to the envied. This is why the second group said: ‘It is a desire to have the blessings removed,’ for indeed the one who dislikes the blessings bestowed upon other than him desires them to see removed. 2) That he dislikes the superiority of that person over him, and he desires to be like him or better, so this is jealousy and has been called ghubta, and the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, called it hasad in the hadith reported by both Al-Bukhari and Muslim from the hadith of ibn Mas’ood and ibn ‘Umar, radiallahu ‘anhumaa, that he, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, said: “There is no envy except in two cases: a person to whom Allah has granted wisdom, and he rules by this and teaches it to the people, and a person to whom Allah has granted wealth and property along with this the power to spend it in the cause of Truth.” This being the wording of Ibn Mas’ood. The wording of Ibn ‘Umar is, “A person to whom Allah has given the Qur’an and he recites it night and day, and a person to whom Allah has granted wealth and property from which he gives in charity night and day.” So the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, forbade hasad, with the exception of two cases

which are referred to as al-ghubta, meaning that a person loves the condition of someone else and dislikes that this person be superior in this way (without his wishing that it be removed from that person). So if it is asked: ‘Then why is this (ghubta) called envy when he loves only that Allah bestow these blessings upon him?’ It is said, ‘The starting point of this love is his looking towards the favours Allah has bestowed upon someone else and his disliking that this person be favoured over him. So if this other person were not present then he would not have desired these blessings. So because the starting point of this love is this dislike that someone else be made superior to him, then this is called envy due to the love following the dislike. As for desiring that Allah bestows favours upon him without consideration of people’s material conditions then this is not envy at all.’ This is why the generality of mankind have been tried with this second type of envy that has also been called al-munaafasah (competition) because two people compete in a single desired matter, both of them trying to attain the same good. The reason for their trying to attain it is that one of them dislikes that the other be blessed with this matter over him just as any one of two competitors dislikes that the other beat him. Competition is not considered blameworthy in general, rather it is considered to be praiseworthy when competing for righteousness. The Exalted said, “Indeed the pious will be in delight. On thrones, looking on. You will recognise in their faces the brightness of delight. They will be given to drink pure sealed wine. The last thereof (that wine) will be the smell of musk, and for this let those compete who want to compete.” [AlMutaffifeen (83):22-26] So one is commanded to compete for these delights and not compete for the delight of this fleeting world. The souls do not envy the one who is in severe hardship and this is why the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, did not mention it even though the mujaahid, fighting in the Way of Allah, is

superior to the one who is spending wealth. Similarly, the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, did not mention the one who prays, fasts and performs the pilgrimage, because there is no tangible benefit attained from the people for these actions by which the person can be exalted or disgraced, as can be attained in teaching and spending. Fundamentally, envy occurs when someone else attains power and authority; otherwise the one who is performing these actions is not normally envied, even if this person be blessed with far more food, drink and wives than others, as opposed to these two blessings of power and authority, for they cause a great deal of envy. Allah praised the Ansaar with His saying, “And they have no jealously in their breasts for that which they have been given (the muhaajiroon), and give them preference over themselves even though they were in need of that.” [Al-Hashr (59):9] As for the jealousy that is totally blameworthy then Allah has said with regards to the Jews, “Many of the People of the Book wish that if they could turn you away as disbelievers after you have believed, out of envy from their own selves even after the truth has become clear to them.” [AlBaqarah (2):109] ‘They wish’ meaning that they hope to make you apostatise from your religion out of jealousy. So jealousy was the deciding factor behind their wish even after the Truth had been made clear to them. This because when they saw you attain what you attained of blessings – in fact they saw you attain that which they themselves had never attained – they became jealous of you. Similarly this is mentioned in another verse, “Or do they envy men for what Allah has given them of His bounty? Then We have already given the family of Abraham the Book of Wisdom, and conferred upon them a great kingdom. Of them were (some) who believed in him (Muhammad) and of them were some who averted their faces from him and enough is Hell for burning (them)...” [An-Nisaa’ (4): 54-55] “Say: I seek refuge with the Lord of the Daybreak. From the evil of what He has created.

And from the evil of the darkening (night) as it comes with its darkness. And from the evil of the witchcrafts when they blow in the knots. And from the evil of the envier when he envies.” [AlFalaq (113):1-5] So the one who is jealous, hating the favours bestowed by Allah upon someone else is an oppressor, going beyond bounds due to this. As for the one who dislikes that someone else be blessed and wishes to be blessed in the same way, then this is forbidden for him except in that which will bring him closer to Allah. So if he were to wish for something that has been given to someone else which would help bring him closer to Allah then there is no problem in this. However, his wishing for it in his heart, without looking to the condition of someone else is better and more excellent. Then if this person were to act, dictated by this jealousy, he would be an oppressor going beyond bounds, deserving of punishment unless he repents... Jealousy is one of the sicknesses of the soul, and it is an illness that afflicts the generality of mankind and only a few are secure from it. This is why it is said, “The body is never free from jealousy, but debasement brings it out, and nobility hides it.” It was said to Al-Hasan Al-Basree, “Can a believer be envied?” He replied, “What has made you forget Yusuf and his brothers, have you no father? But you should keep (this envy should it occur) blinded in your heart, for you cannot be harmed by that which you did not act upon in speech or action.” So the one who finds that he harbours jealousy in his soul towards someone else, then it is upon him to treat it with patience and taqwaa of Allah, and dislike it being in his soul... As for the one who actually takes a stance against the envied, either with words or actions then he will be punished for this, and the one who fears Allah and is patient and does not become one of the oppressors – Allah will benefit him for his taqwaa. In the hadith there occurs, “There are three sins from which no one can be saved: jealousy, suspicion and omens. Shall I tell you of what will remove you from this: When you envy do not hate, when you are suspicious then do not

actualise your suspicions, and when you see omens then ignore them.” Reported by Ibn Abi Ad-Dunya from the hadith of Abu Hurairah. In the Sunan from the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, “You have been afflicted with the illness of the nations that came before you – jealousy and hatred. They are the shearers, I do not mean the shearers of the hair, rather they are the shearers of the religion.” [At-Tirmidhi, atTabaranee and al-Hakim who said it was saheeh]. So he called jealousy an illness just as he called miserliness an illness in his saying, “And what illness is worse than miserliness.” [Ahmad, Hakim and others, saheeh] In the first hadith jealousy was mentioned along with hatred. This is because the envier, first of all dislikes the bounty bestowed by Allah upon the one who is envied, and then begins hating this person. This is because the hatred of the thing being bestowed leads to hatred of the one upon whom it is bestowed, for when the blessings of Allah are bestowed upon an individual, he would love that they go away, and they would not go away except by the one who is envied going away, therefore he hates him and loves that he not be there. Jealousy necessarily leads to desire and hatred just as Allah informed us of those that came before us that they differed, “After there came to them knowledge out of mutual hatred and desire.” [Aal ‘Imraan (3):19] “Do not envy one another, do note hate each other, do not oppose each other...” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim] “By the One in Whose Hands is my soul, none of you believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim] Greed is a sickness as is miserliness, and jealousy is worse than miserliness, as occurs in the hadith, “Jealousy eats away at good deeds, just as fire eats away at firewood.” [Sunan Ibn Majah] This is because the miser only stops himself from having good but the envier dislikes the favours of Allah bestowed upon His servants. [Excerpted and adapted from Imam Ibn Taymiyyah’s Diseases of the Hearts and Their Cures]

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Gulf Times Friday, January 20, 2017

COMMENT Chairman: Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Attiyah Deputy Managing Editor: K T Chacko Production Editor: Amjad Khan

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GULF TIMES The jury is still out on Pakistan military courts The stalemate between the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the opposition parties in Pakistan continues, as the issue of reconstituting military courts for trial of those accused of terrorism in the country remains unresolved. The courts, which were established through an amendment in the constitution following the horrific attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar on December 16, 2014, wound up on January 7 this year. When the military courts were established in the first week of 2015 most of the political parties were primarily against the move, but they were forced to accept it as a “bitter pill” because of the failure of the criminal justice system to effectively try and punish terrorists. Back then an All Parties Conference gave the approval for the amendments in the Pakistan Army Act to extend its jurisdiction for speedy trial of terror cases under the constitutional amendment with a sunset clause of two years from the date of enactment. Since the expiry of the mandated period of the military courts, the government has expressed its intent to revive them, saying it aims to bring a constitutional amendment for the purpose ‘’which is agreed by all political parties represented in parliament’’. But so far, the government has failed to secure the consent of opposition parties on the issue. The latest meeting, on January 17, between the opposition parties and the government on the issue remained inconclusive. The government’s briefings failed to impress the opposition leaders who reportedly sought clarifications on the implementation of the National Action Plan, seminary reforms, judicial reforms and the government’s policy on the proscribed outfits including the sectarian groups. The government has assured that it will answer all the questions raised by the parliamentary parties’ leaders in the next meeting that will be held on January 31. The issue of military courts has generated a heated debate in the country. While rights activists have described them as violation of basic human rights, the government has justified their existence saying the courts have served as a deterrent and reduced terrorist activities. Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations has claimed that ‘’Disposal through military courts has yielded positive effects towards reduction in terrorist activities.” The Prime Minister’s Office has said in a statement said the military courts have complemented the army’s Operation Zarb-e-Azb against terrorism. While the fate of military courts hangs in the balance till the Jan 31st meeting, the government seems to be taking no chances. In case it fails to achieve a political consensus to win a new life for the military courts, the government is considering setting up courts for trial of terrorism cases with secret judges and prosecutors. The proposal ensures that the identity of both the judge and prosecutors of these courts will be concealed in order to encourage them to speedily decide terrorism cases without any fear. These courts will be set up, according to the proposal, with the merger of the existing Anti-Terrorist Act and the recently-lapsed Protection of Pakistan Act of 2014. While it remains to be seen whether the government will play the trump card, for now the jury is still out on the military courts in Pakistan.

Aligning the West for an uncertain world The need of the hour for the West is alignment among the US, the UK, and the EU, but national politics are pulling it apart By Iain Conn London

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n 2016, the United Kingdom made the momentous decision to leave the European Union, Donald Trump was elected president of the United States, and many European countries continued to struggle with internal challenges. The EU feels less stable than at any point in my lifetime. There are common forces that brought us to this dangerous place, and it is more important than ever that the developed democracies come together to address them. Sadly, the opposite is happening. Just when the West needs alignment among the US, the UK, and the EU, national politics are pulling it apart. Within Europe, there are three major challenges. The first is Brexit, the biggest event in British politics in a generation. Many think that withdrawal from the EU is a mistake; but it is what more than half of those who voted decided, so now we have to implement it. It won’t be easy. Translating the vote into policy will be like defusing a bomb: determining which wires to cut will require great care. If Prime Minister Theresa May’s government focuses on what really matters in the upcoming negotiations

with the EU, we can be guardedly optimistic that it will return with a good deal. Europe has a clear economic interest in keeping the UK close, and it needs the UK’s diplomatic, military, and intelligence capabilities. The UK also has a strong relationship with the US, and will remain an important part of the transatlantic security axis.

The US, the UK, and the EU must show a united front, and continue to work through multilateral organisations such as Nato Meanwhile, we Britons should acknowledge that many EU laws and regulations have become our own, and that we share many common goals and joint programmes. We need not change all of these, nor should we discount the value of having access to the EU single market. Europe is the largest economic bloc in the world by some measures, and it is a significant source of investment in the UK. The distinction between a “hard” or “soft” Brexit misses the point. The negotiations will be so complex that certain outcomes are bound to be soft, while others will be hard. The UK may be able to pay a price for access to the single market, “passporting” for financial services, or control over immigration from the EU. The second big challenge within

Europe is weak economic growth and competitiveness. Growth in European economies is lower than in the US and most Asian countries, energy costs are twice those of the US, and labour costs are twice those of Asia. EU countries urgently need to deregulate their markets and make their industries more competitive, which the UK has long advocated. The third challenge for Europe is social inequality. A quarter of young people in Spain, Portugal, and Greece are unemployed, and many people sense that the rewards of prosperity are not being fairly distributed. While globalisation has been good for the world overall, it has left many people behind. These people are now making their voices heard at the ballot box, and we need to listen to them, and respond to their concerns. Indeed, social inequality is even worse in the US than in Europe. Many Rust Belt households’ incomes haven’t risen for 30 years, and many of those households helped elect a president who has promised to turn the country inward. The US must avoid this temptation. A dangerous world needs an actively engaged America, one that maintains security, defence, and intelligence co-operation with countries such as the UK. That transatlantic alignment has safeguarded global peace and prosperity for 70 years, and it will be needed to confront looming global threats. For starters, Russia’s incursion into Ukraine and annexation of Crimea were an affront to the rule of law; and yet Europe and the US must maintain constructive relations with Russia for the sake of global stability. The UK can

help: while it is a party to sanctions against Russia, British companies have investments there, and vice-versa. Second, the prolonged conflicts in Iraq and Syria have left a vacuum in a crucial region, and the old alliances have failed to take concerted action to address it. But the West must bring peace to the region, even if Russia’s involvement has introduced new complications. Similarly, an US-UKEU axis will be necessary for dealing with North Africa, where some countries lack stable governments and have become incubators for terrorism and immigration to Europe. We in the West have stopped playing a direct role on these fronts; in some cases, we helped create the instability. If we continue to turn inward, Russia and other countries will be able to step in and gain influence and prestige. The US, the UK, and the EU must show a united front, and continue to work through multilateral organisations such as Nato. Displaying leadership on the world stage only makes us stronger. The forces that are now pulling at the threads of the post-1945 international order must be resisted. The US, the UK, and the EU have a shared heritage that should be protected. There is no reason why precious legacies such as the rule of law should be jeopardised simply because Britain is leaving the EU and America has elected a leader who is challenging some aspects of traditional thinking. We must protect the ties that bind, and place our hope for the future in our alliances and shared traditions. – Project Syndicate zIain Conn is Chief Executive Officer of Centrica.

“Disposal through military courts has yielded positive effects towards reduction in terrorist activities”

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Treating malnutrition By Casie Tesfai and Jeanette Bailey New York

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n South Sudan, an acutely malnourished child may have to travel up to eight hours along unpaved roads, through swamps and mud, under threat of violence, to reach a medical clinic where treatment can be administered. To complete a full course of treatment, this journey must be repeated once a week for three months or longer. The result, not surprisingly, is that the majority of malnourished children in South Sudan and many other countries are not getting the urgent treatment they need. Globally, malnutrition accounts for roughly half of all deaths of children under the age of five, yet only one in 10 severely malnourished children get treatment. That amounts to approximately 3mn children each year whose deaths are entirely preventable. The biggest obstacle to treatment is the inability of families to travel long journeys to health facilities, or to bear the costs of taking time away from home or work. But the barriers to treatment go beyond poverty or weak governments and infrastructure. They are also the result of global decisions. Acute malnutrition is a continuum condition, but severe and moderate acute malnutrition are treated separately in different programmes, with different protocols and therapeutic products managed by separate UN agencies. Funding shortages and the logistical difficulties of co-ordinating two programmes

mean that treatment is often only available for severe malnutrition. The result of this system is that children often must deteriorate into the life-threatening stages of severe malnutrition before they are eligible for treatment. The global community can do better, but only by fundamentally challenging how we think about delivering nutrition services for those who need it most. Across the world, three leading causes of child death – diarrhoea, malaria, and pneumonia – can be treated by local health workers right in children’s homes. In many African countries, these workers often have little to no formal education, but they are given rudimentary training and equipped with simple-to-use tools that allow them to diagnose and begin treatment of all three conditions. In South Sudan, this approach has increased treatment for diarrhoea, malaria and pneumonia tenfold over what could have been achieved if children were required to visit distant health facilities. Unfortunately, the treatment of malnutrition — beyond identification and referral — is not currently part of this community-based model. In South Sudan — and most countries where the burden of acute malnutrition is highest — treatment is limited to health facilities because it has been assumed that only a literate health worker can provide treatment. But the effect of this policy, in poor countries where literacy is very low, is to condemn thousands of children to preventable deaths.

Since 2015, the International Rescue Committee has been developing and field-testing tools that enable people with low-literacy levels to treat malnutrition. We’ve simplified treatment diagnostics and dosages, how to monitor progress over the course of treatment, and how to match patient records with individual children so they can all be done by someone who doesn’t know how to read or write. We’ve learnt that it is possible for people with little to no education to provide effective treatment for malnutrition if they are given the appropriate tools and training. In the future, it may be possible to eliminate the necessity for many malnourished children to make gruelling journeys to health centres. No one deliberately set out to make the treatment of malnutrition needlessly complex, but decisions made over the years have evolved into standardised practices that are hard to change. In 2016, the IRC and its partners — Action Against Hunger and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine — completed the first phase of a global research initiative that challenges some of the assumptions preventing progress in treating malnutrition. Together, the consortium developed a protocol that eliminates the binary distinction between severe and moderate acute malnutrition, and instead offers a unified and simplified protocol for treating both. Having one protocol for the two conditions lowers costs, thereby improving the availability of treatment and reaching

more children who are considered moderately malnourished before they deteriorate into the potentially irreversible consequences of severe malnutrition. The simplified protocol also supports efforts to enable lowliteracy local health workers to treat malnutrition in their communities. We look forward to seeing the impact health workers in Kenya and South Sudan will have as they pilot this approach in 2017. We now know that treatment need not be restricted to the confines of clinics and to children who are severely malnourished, but can be made available to even moderately malnourished children in every corner of a country. Changing the way we deliver international aid can feel like a daunting task. But it is far easier than the perilous journeys thousands of families in South Sudan make every day to access life-saving treatment for their acutely malnourished children. We should be willing to take every step necessary to shorten those journeys. zCasie Tesfai is the senior technical adviser for nutrition at the International Rescue Committee. Jeanette Bailey is project director for the COMPAS research consortium at the International Rescue Committee. The projects described are supported by The Eleanor Crook Foundation, the Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance, and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation.

Gulf Times Friday, January 20, 2017

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COMMENT

Illusions driving up US asset prices The combination of Trump and a succession of new asset-price records has been sustaining the illusion underpinning current market optimism By Robert J Shiller New Haven

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peculative markets have always been vulnerable to illusion. But seeing the folly in markets provides no clear advantage in forecasting outcomes, because changes in the force of the illusion are difficult to predict. In the United States, two illusions have been important recently in financial markets. One is the carefully nurtured perception that Presidentelect Donald Trump is a business genius who can apply his deal-making skills to make America great again. The other is a naturally occurring illusion: the proximity of Dow 20,000. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has been above 19,000 since November, and countless news stories have focused on its flirtation with the 20,000 barrier – which might be crossed by the time this commentary is published. Whatever happens, Dow 20,000 will still have a psychological impact on markets. Trump has never been clear and consistent about what he will do as president. Tax cuts are clearly on his agenda, and the stimulus could lead to higher asset prices. Lower corporate taxes are naturally supposed to lead to higher share prices, while cuts in personal income tax might lead to higher home prices (though possibly offset by other changes in the tax system). But it is not just Trump’s proposed

On November 10, 2016, two days after Donald J Trump was elected, the Dow Jones average hit a new record high – and has since set 16 more daily records. tax changes that plausibly affect market psychology. The US has never had a president like him. Not only is he an actor, like Ronald Reagan; he is also a motivational writer and speaker, a brand name in real estate, and a tough deal maker. If he ever reveals his financial information, or if his family is able to use his influence as president to improve its bottom line, he might even prove to be successful in business. The closest we can come to Trump among former US presidents might be Calvin Coolidge, an extremely

pro-business tax cutter. “The chief business of the American people is business,” Coolidge famously declared, while his treasury secretary, Andrew Mellon – one of America’s wealthiest men – advocated tax cuts for the rich, which would “trickle down” in benefits to the less fortunate. The US economy during the Coolidge administration was very successful, but the boom ended badly in 1929, just after Coolidge stepped down, with the stock-market crash and the beginning of the Great Depression. During the 1930s, the

1920s were looked upon wistfully, but also as a time of fakery and cheating. Of course, history is never destiny, and Coolidge is only one observation – hardly a solid basis for a forecast. Moreover, unlike Trump, both Coolidge and Mellon were levelheaded and temperate in their manner. But add to the Trump effect all the attention paid to Dow 20,000, and we have the makings of a powerful illusion. On November 10, 2016, two days after Donald J Trump was elected, the Dow Jones average hit a new record high – and has since set 16

Suu Kyi faces criticism over Rohingya issue

more daily records, all trumpeted by news media. That sounds like important news for Trump. In fact, the Dow had already hit nine record highs before the election, when Hillary Clinton was projected to win. In nominal terms, the Dow is up 70% from its peak in January 2000. On November 29, 2016, it was announced that the S&P/CoreLogic/Case-Shiller National Home Price Index (which I co-founded with my esteemed former colleague Karl E. Case, who died last July) reached a record high the previous September. The previous record was set more than ten years earlier, in July 2006. But these numbers are illusory. The US has a national policy of overall inflation. The US Federal Reserve has set an inflation “objective” of 2% in terms of the personal consumption expenditure deflator. This means that all prices should tend to go up by about 2% per year, or 22% per decade. The Dow is up only 19% in real (inflation-adjusted) terms since 2000. A 19% increase in 17 years is underwhelming, and the national home price index that Case and I created is still 16% below its 2006 peak in real terms. But hardly anyone focuses on these inflation-corrected numbers. The Fed, like the world’s other central banks, is steadily debasing the currency, in order to create inflation. A Google Ngrams search of books shows that use of the term “inflation-targeting” began growing exponentially in the early 1990s, when the target was typically far below actual inflation. The idea that we actually want moderate positive inflation – “price stability,” not zero inflation – appears to have started to take shape in policy circles around the time of the 1990-1991 recession. Lawrence Summers argued that the public has an “irrational” resistance

to the declining nominal wages that some would have to suffer in a zeroinflation regime. Many people appear not to understand that inflation is a change in the units of measurement. Unfortunately, although the 2% inflation target is largely a feel-good policy, people tend to draw too much inspiration from it. Irving Fisher called this fixation on nominal price growth the “money illusion” in an eponymous 1928 book. That doesn’t mean that we set new speculative-market records every day. Stock-price movements tend to approximate what economists call “random walks,” with prices reflecting small daily shocks that are about equally likely to be positive or negative. And random walks tend to go through long periods when they are well below their previous peak; the chance of setting a record soon is negligible, given how far prices would have to rise. But once they do reach a new record high, prices are far more likely to set additional records – probably not on consecutive days, but within a short interval. In the US, the combination of Trump and a succession of new asset-price records – call it Trumpsquared – has been sustaining the illusion underpinning current market optimism. For those who are not too stressed from having taken extreme positions in the markets, it will be interesting (if not profitable) to observe how the illusion morphs into a new perception – one that implies very different levels for speculative markets. – Project Syndicate zRobert J Shiller, a 2013 Nobel laureate in economics and Professor of Economics at Yale University, is co-author, with George Akerlof, of Phishing for Phools: The Economics of Manipulation and Deception.

Weather report Three-day forecast TODAY

In recent months 65,000 Muslim Rohingya minorities have fled Myanmar DPA Yangon

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eality in Myanmar can feel like a dark movie plot these days: a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who fought for decades against a military dictatorship now provides political cover for atrocities committed by the army. The humanitarian crisis that began unfolding several years ago in Myanmar’s western Rakhine State is the biggest challenge so far for Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically elected government. When nine border police officers were killed in an attack in October, the army launched a clearance operation that human rights watchdogs say has spiralled out of control. Soldiers are accused of arson, rape and murder. At least 65,000 members of the Rohingya Muslim minority have fled across the border to Bangladesh, the International Organisation for Migration says. UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Yanghee Lee was in Myanmar on Wednesday as part of a 12-day visit

to assess the country’s human rights situation. During the trip, Lee also spent time inside the conflict zone in Rakhine. Most Rohingya, despite having lived in Myanmar for generations, are technically stateless, with restricted access to health care, education and jobs. The UN has described them as one of the world’s most persecuted minorities. Since an outbreak of violence in 2012, Buddhists and Muslims in Rakhine State have mostly lived apart from one another, in many cases in squalid camps. Even before the recent outbreak of violence, Suu Kyi, who serves as foreign minister and state counsellor and is constitutionally barred from being president, was being sharply criticised for not speaking out in defence of the minority group. Since her administration took power in April, complaints have been numerous: fighting has flared up across the country, investors have been disappointed with the slow pace of development and people still complain of being subjected to repressive junta-era laws. However, international observers consider the crisis in Rakhine State to be the low point in Suu Kyi’s tenure so far. In December, 13 fellow Nobel

laureates publicly criticised the 71-year-old for not standing up for the persecuted Rohingya. The events in Rakhine State, where humanitarian aid was blocked from the conflict zone for weeks, amounts to “ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity,” they said in an open letter to the UN Security Council in December. “It is time for the international community as a whole to speak out much more strongly...If we fail to take action, people may starve to death if they are not killed with bullets,” the letter said. Meanwhile, Suu Kyi’s government essentially denies allegations that soldiers have committed human rights violations. Her office instead blames the Rohingya, saying they burned down their own houses to attract international attention and support. While state media continues to deliver military propaganda, the government criticises the foreign press — who aren’t allowed into the conflict zone — for publishing “fake news.” “It is atrocious how Suu Kyi handles the crisis,” says David Mathieson, an analyst based in Myanmar’s largest city Yangon. But Mathieson also defends the politician against what he considers unfair criticism. “It now almost seems it is her, not

the military, who created the whole mess,” he says. Burmese analyst Min Zin, who studies the civilian-military relationship in the country, adds: “The constitution leaves the new government with only little power.” The military still controls a quarter of all seats in parliament as well as central ministries, including Defence, Home Affairs and Border Affairs. Suu Kyi’s lack of transparency reminds Min Zin of the previous military government. “We have no idea what she thinks and what her strategies are,” he says. Within Myanmar, most people reject the Rohingya’s claim for citizenship, agreeing with their government’s assessment that the Rohingya are in fact Bangladeshi migrants. If Suu Kyi’s government, which won more than 80% of the votes in the 2015 election, is criticised by the Myanmar people at all, it is for chasing vendors from Yangon pavements rather than for covering up the army’s human rights abuses. Khin Thet Maw, a 34-year-old waitress in Yangon, doesn’t agree with the attacks against Suu Kyi from abroad. “’Mother Suu’ is the leader of Myanmar,” she says.”It’s like in a family. All members should follow the family leader.”

High: 25 C Low : 16 C Expected poor horizontal visibility at places at first

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High: 24 C Low: 17 C P Cloudy

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Fishermen’s forecast OFFSHORE DOHA Wind: NE-SE 5-15/18 KT Waves: 1-3/4 Feet INSHORE DOHA Wind: SE-SW 05-15 KT Waves: 1-2 Feet

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Live issues

Depressed men look for quick fixes during therapy IANS London

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hile visiting a psychologist for therapy to deal with depression, men are more likely to prefer a quick fix than women who want to talk about their feelings, a study has shown. Despite the fact that men commit suicide at three to four times the rate that women do, men do not seek psychological help as much, the study said. “This might be because the types of treatment on offer are less appealing to men because many psychological interventions are more about talking than about fixing problems,” said John Barry from University College London. “It is likely that men benefit as much as women from talking about their feelings, but if talking about

Despite the fact that men commit suicide at three to four times the rate that women do, men do not seek psychological help as much, a study has found. feelings appears to be the goal of therapy, then some men may be put off,” Barry added. For the study, the team asked 347 participants to say what kind of

therapy they would like if they needed help. The men and women in this group, half of whom reported having received some form of therapy, showed many

similarities in their preferences, but also some key differences. Men more than women expressed a preference for therapy that involved sharing and receiving advice about their concerns in informal groups. But women preferred a psychodynamic psychotherapy, where discussion focuses on feelings and past events. In addition, they also showed interesting differences in coping strategies. While trying to cope with stress and trauma, women turned to the comfort of eating, whereas men were more likely to indulge in recreational activities, the researchers said. Psychology might be more effective in treating men if gender differences were taken into account more, the researchers suggested. The findings were presented at the annual conference of the British Psychological Society’s Division of Clinical Psychology in Liverpool.

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Gulf Times Friday, January 20, 2017

QATAR Al Shamal eateries and restaurants inspected

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he Ministry of Municipality and Environment’s (MME) Health Inspection Section at Al Shamal Municipality has conducted a search campaign on the eateries and restaurants within its jurisdiction. The campaign, which aims at ensuring the safety of the food on display and that all the workers abide by the food safety rules, resulted in the issuing of two violation reports, in addition to 40 notices and warning to a number of outlets to correct any related violations. MME’s islands and beaches section at the Public Cleaning Department also conducted a cleaning campaign at the Sealine beach. All the rubbish and discarded items were removed with the participation of more than 100 employees of Med Gulf Company.

New deal extends helping hand to bereaved orphans Q

atar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Hamad Medical Corp (HMC) to provide aid for young orphans whose family breadwinner dies while receiving treatment at HMC hospitals. Under the agreement, 33 families will be covered on an average as part of the social security project, QRCS said in a press statement. Details of the project were announced at a press conference yesterday morning. The pact was signed by QRCS secretary-general Ali Hassan al-Hammadi and HMC medical director Dr Yousef al-Maslamani. Al-Hammadi briefed the reporters on the new project, saying: “Orphans are among the most vulnerable and care-deserving segments of society. “When a patient dies and he or she has young children, they lose their breadwinner and are in dire need for subsistence. “Here, it is the duty of charities and NGOs to co-operate with the government in extending the social security umbrella for this special group and helping them go on with their lives.” Under the agreement, HMC will prepare case studies about the deceased patients who leave young children without a source of sustenance. Then, these reports will be referred to QRCS to allocate monthly stipends for them.

QRCS secretary-general Ali Hassan al-Hammadi and HMC medical director Dr Yousef al-Maslamani shake hands at the signing ceremony as other officials look on. This will not only help protect such children, but are also in line with the humanitarian approach of Qatar to the welfare of its residents, the press statement notes.

Dr al-Maslamani thanked QRCS for its co-operation, saying: “HMC’s scope of work involves medical and emergency care for all society members. “As for supportive services, they are

offered jointly with other organisations concerned. This includes coverage of emergency treatment costs and aid for patients’ families.” “HMC and QRCS have been partners

Mwani Qatar launches diabetes awareness drive

Q

An inspector checks some of the items displayed in a store under the jurisdiction of the Shamal Municipality.

atar Ports Management Company — Mwani Qatar, in association with the Qatar Diabetes Association (QDA), has launched a campaign to raise diabetes awareness among its employees. The campaign at the company headquarters, offered free medical check-ups, including blood sugar and blood pressure tests. Physicians also briefed the employees about diabetes, its symptoms and how to prevent it. The campaign comes in the framework of health initiatives adopted by Mwani Qatar aimed at encouraging

the creation of a healthy society and healthy work environments. According to recent statistics, diabetes is one of Qatar’s biggest health challenges. The proportion of people with diabetes in Qatar is among the highest in the world, with an incidence rate of 17%. The QDA strives to help people with diabetes and those who are at risk of developing it by providing innovative patient care, education and related services with the hope of improving the overall quality of life of those who are affected.

Mwani Qatar employees receive free medical check up.

Spring in the air ...

Souq Waqif is in festive mood again with yesterday’s opening of the annual Spring Festival. The 15-day event features several attractions, games, cultural performances and entertainment shows daily until February 2. The dolphin show, staged at the Al Ahmed Square, wowed the crowds yesterday as dolphins performed a number of fascinating stunts. Popular Arab singers are also performing at the festival, which is held from 3.30pm to 10.30pm daily. PICTURES: Shemeer Rasheed

for more than 10 years now. This agreement is the product of two months of deliberations, to ensure optimum convenience for the patients and their families,” Dr al-Maslamani concluded.