Gulf Times

BUSINESS | Page 1
INDEX
QATAR
2, 3, 24
4
REGION
5, 6
ARAB WORLD
INTERNATIONAL
7 – 21
22, 23
COMMENT
BUSINESS
Nakilat
first-half
net profit
up 2% to
QR501mn
1 – 9, 12 – 16
CLASSIFIED
SPORTS
10 – 12
1 – 12
SPORT | Page 1
Pakistan
unites
behind Amir
ahead of
Lord’s return
China warned its rivals yesterday
against turning the South China
Sea into a “cradle of war” and
threatened an air defence zone
there, after its claims to the
strategically vital waters were
declared invalid. The surprisingly
strong and sweeping ruling by a
UN-backed tribunal in The Hague
provided powerful diplomatic
ammunition to the Philippines,
which filed the challenge, and
other claimants in their decadeslong disputes with China over the
resource-rich waters. Page 11
EUROPE | Migration
Unified asylum
rules are proposed
The European Commission
yesterday proposed more unified
EU asylum rules, in a bid to stop
people waiting for refugee status
moving around the bloc and
disrupting its passport-free zone.
In an unprecedented wave of
migration last year, Page 15
-1.90
-4.06%
in
China warns against
‘cradle of war’ in sea
44.90
-178.95
-1.76%
d
EAST ASIA | Tension
10,319.74
+17.56
+0.10%
he R
is
bl TA 978
A 1
Q since
More work needed
on N-deal, says Iran
A top Islamic State (IS) group
commander, Omar al-Shishani, has
been killed in Iraq, the militantlinked Amaq agency said yesterday.
The Pentagon announced in
March that Shishani, known as
Omar the Chechen, was believed
to have died of injuries received
in an air raid targeting his convoy
in northeastern Syria - details at
odds with Amaq’s account. Citing
a “military source,” Amaq said
Shishani was killed “in the town of
Sharqat as he took part in repelling
the military campaign on the city of
Mosul”, referring to the last IS-held
city in Iraq.
18,365.23
pu
REGION | Agreement
IS confirms death
of top commander
NYMEX
THURSDAY Vol. XXXVII No. 10149
July 14, 2016
Shawwal 9, 1437 AH
www. gulf-times.com 2 Riyals
Warranty
extended
to one year
for tyres
In brief
IRAQ | Offensive
QE
Latest Figures
GULF TIMES
Iran’s nuclear deal with world
powers is holding a year after it was
agreed but more needs to be done
to ensure its full implementation,
a top Iranian negotiator said
yesterday.“The total process
has been relatively satisfactory
despite the difficulties that we see
in the implementation,” Hamid
Baeidinejad told a press conference
in Tehran for the first anniversary
of the agreement.“We believe that
the deal has not been violated so
far and efforts continue to resolve
the remaining issues,” Baeidinejad
said. Page 4
DOW JONES
Britain’s new Prime Minister, Theresa May, and husband Philip posing for the media outside number 10 Downing Street, in
central London, yesterday.
The extension will give consumers
enough time to detect defects, if
any, through usage, according to a
senior official
T
New British PM May makes
Johnson foreign minister
Cables of congratulations
AFP
London
T
heresa May, who took over as
Britain’s new prime minister
yesterday charged with pulling the country out of the EU, caused
surprise by immediately appointing
leading Brexit campaigner Boris Johnson as foreign minister.
May replaced David Cameron as
Conservative leader after he stood
down following the seismic vote to
leave the European Union on June 23,
which sparked three weeks of intense
political turmoil and volatility on financial markets.
May, who had supported Britain’s
continued EU membership, moved
quickly to heal divisions sparked by
the referendum by appointing leading “Leave” campaigner Johnson to a
senior cabinet post.
The decision to name Johnson, the
Boris Johnson: named to the
high-profile post of foreign minister.
eccentric former mayor of London,
to the high-profile post of foreign
secretary is likely to cause controversy.
Johnson led the Brexit camp to victory, antagonising many EU leaders in
the process, but dismayed many of his
supporters by pulling out of the race to
succeed Cameron at the last minute.
In another key appointment, May
named former foreign minister Philip
Hammond as her new finance minis-
HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad
al-Thani, HH the Deputy Emir Sheikh
Abdullah bin Hamad al-Thani and HE
the Prime Minister and Minister of
Interior Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin
Khalifa al-Thani yesterday sent cables of
congratulations to Theresa May on the
occasion of assuming the post of prime
minister of the United Kingdom.
ter, with the job of calming fears over
the economic fall-out of leaving Britain’s biggest market.
She named former Europe minister
David Davis, another “Leave” campaigner, as the minister charged with
implementing Britain’s exit.
In other cabinet appointments announced, Michael Fallon will stay on
as defence minister, and former energy minister Amber Rudd replaces May
at the interior. Page 12
he Qatar General Organisation
for Standards and Metrology
has decided to extend the warranty period for all types of tyres sold
in the country from six months to one
year.
Local Arabic daily Arrayah reported
that Dr Mohamed bin Saif al-Kuwari,
assistant undersecretary for Laboratories and Standardisation at the Ministry of Municipality and Environment,
said the extension would give consumers enough time to detect defects, if
any, through usage.
He pointed out that some commercial outlets often stored tyres in
improper conditions, such as keeping
them in the open and exposing them to
direct sunlight and heat, which “causes
damage that gradually appears with
usage”.
Dr al-Kuwari also warned consumers against importing tyres from European countries that did not comply
with GCC standards. One reason could
be that such tyres are generally made
to meet European standards which demand compliance with cold and snowy
conditions rather than the extreme
heat in the Gulf region.
He said it had been observed that
some people spent a lot of money in
buying tyres from European countries
and try to bring them into the country
without the organisation’s approval.
“These are usually banned and not allowed in the country, which leads to big
financial loss for people who buy such
tyres.”
He noted that the organisation had
rejected a number of requests, in the
past few months, to approve the entry
of some European tyres due to lack of
compliance with GCC standards.
The official explained that these were
rejected as the tyres were not suitable
for use in hot conditions as those experienced in the GCC countries. These
tyres can only withstand temperatures
up to 35 degrees Celsius, while the ones
approved in line with GCC standards
can do so for up to 80C.
He advised consumers to communicate with the organisation before trying
to import any type of tyres to get the
required information.
The government has taken several
steps in the recent past to help consumers in the country by strictly implementing the provisions of the Consumer Protection law and issuing new
rules, wherever necessary. One of these
measures has been instructing automobile dealerships to loosen restrictions on vehicle warranties.
The Ministry of Economy and Commerce has told car distributors not to
void a customer’s warranty solely because a vehicle was serviced by a thirdparty garage.
Dealers have been asked to give vehicle owners the freedom to choose
shops to do maintenance and repair
works of their cars. Most of the distributors have complied with the new rule.
Qatar hospitality exhibition receives ‘tremendous response’
H
ospitality Qatar 2016, an exhibition for the hospitality and
hotels, restaurants, and cafes
(Horeca) sectors in Qatar, will be held on
October 18-20 at the Doha Exhibition
and Convention Centre (DECC), it was
announced.
The show, licensed by the Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA), will be one of the
premier hospitality-related events in the
region, as it features all aspects of the hotel
and franchise market in the Gulf region.
The exposition is designed to build a
strong platform for local, regional, and
international Horeca suppliers to meet
hospitality professionals from around
the region.
It will also allow franchise brands,
hotel groups, developers, bankers and
consultants to network and build new
business opportunities with hotels and
franchise investors.
Rawad Sleem, project manager of the
show, said: “There has been a tremendous response from exhibitors, especially
those that participated in last year’s successful Hospitality Qatar show.”
He said that companies had cited the
rapid growth of the hospitality and Horeca sectors in Qatar as a reason for vying to
be part of this year’s exposition.
“With obvious business drivers such
as the FIFA 2022 World Cup and the Qatar National Vision 2030, we are expecting a record turnout by exhibitors and attendees, alike,” Sleem said.
Hospitality Qatar 2016 is being launched at a time when Qatar
is emerging as a major player in the
hospitality and franchise investment
market in the GCC. Due, in part, to the
massive build-up required for the 2022
FIFA World Cup, the markets for food
and beverage (F&B), Horeca supply, and
hotel construction are peaking.
Through Qatar’s National Tourism
Sector Strategy 2030, Sleem said Qatar
had adopted a comprehensive approach
to addressing sustainability in all aspects
of the tourism industry, with a special focus on creating a thriving hospitality sector in the country.
He noted that more than $40bn of
investments were planned in the sector
over the next 15 years.
“We are very pleased with the high
level of international interest from
suppliers outside of Qatar, such as
China, Germany, India, Kuwait, Lebanon, Pakistan, Philippines, Romania,
Turkey, among others,” he said.
According to Sleem, Hospitality Qatar
2016 is playing a major role in helping
suppliers from around the world meet
many types of visitors.
These include hotel investors, consultants and engineers, franchise and
retail investors, hotel/restaurant/lounge
managers and owners, franchise operators, Horeca operators, hotel management companies, F&B executives, event
and catering managers, operations and
procurement managers, sales and marketing managers, facility managers and
corporate purchasing managers.
Investigation committee submits report on hospital death
A
committee formed to investigate the case of a Qatari woman, who died while giving birth
at the Hamad Medical Corporation’s
Women’s Hospital, has submitted its
report to the Ministry of Public Health
(MoPH) .
The ministry had ordered a probe
into the circumstances surrounding the
death of the woman on May 22.
In a statement issued by the ministry
yesterday, it pointed out that the Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) had
finished the procedures of investigation into the death of the woman with
the help of local and international expertise.
“The procedures followed in such
case include the formation of an investigation committee at the hospital
that would submit its report to the
HMC and then the MoPH,” the statement said.
“The result of the HMC investigations was submitted to the MoPH
Permanent Licensing Committee yesterday. Besides, the Department of Professional Efficiency at Qatar Council for
Healthcare Practitioners (QCHP) under
the MoPH is investigating the case,” the
statement said.
“In addition, a number of expert
physicians from outside the country
have been nominated to study the issue. The family of the deceased woman
will be told the result of the investigation as soon as the process is concluded
and the necessary actions will be taken
accordingly,” it added.
Meanwhile, MoPH has reiterated its
condolences to the bereaved family.
The victim’s husband had alleged
negligence on the part of the medical
team that attended to his wife’s delivery at the hospital.
Narrating the incident to Arabic
daily Arrayah, he said his wife had gone
to the Emergency Department of the
Women’s Hospital on May 21 afternoon
after she had felt severe pain but the
doctor who saw her told her the case
was not urgent. “She was given some
antibiotics and admitted to the hospital
for treatment.”
According to him, his wife continued to be in labour until dawn next day,
when the nurses took her to the delivery
room. Nurses told her they would give
her the necessary anaesthetic injection
and took the necessary procedures to
prepare her for a normal delivery.
The man said that his wife was left
in pain for some time before a doctor
came to see her.
“She told him that the gynaecologist
who had been doing the regular checkups and following up her pregnancy
had advised her to deliver through a
caesarean section, but the doctor did
not listen. As her case started to deteriorate due to excessive bleeding and
she showed signs of heart failure, she
was taken to the operation room for a
caesarean surgery.”
The man told the daily that the doctor who was handling the case told him
that she had suffered a number strokes
and internal bleeding after the operation. Accordingly, the doctor told him
that they had to remove her uterus.
“About an hour later, the medical staff
told me that she had a clot in her lung
and her heart had stopped beating a
number of times, but her condition was
stable and they would have to transfer
her to the Intensive Care Unit at the
Hamad General Hospital (HGH), because they did not have the necessary
equipment to handle the case.
“Eventually, she was declared dead
when she arrived at the HGH and
the doctor there told me that she had
died before she arrived at the hospital
(HGH).” The newborn baby survived
the incident.
The man has demanded a thorough
investigation to identify the causes that
led to his wife’s death and fix responsibility.
The issue was hotly debated on the
social media where users demanded “a
quick and just investigation” into the
incident.
Some of the tweets published by the
paper showed the anguish and disappointment of the people who expressed their full support to the widower and the family. “They have every
right to a detailed account of what really happened during the operation.
People found to be responsible for her
death have to be dealt with according to
the law.”
Some other tweets stressed that
steps should be taken to ensure that the
medical personnel are really qualified
and competent to deal with such critical cases. Almost all tweets expressed
condolences and solidarity with the
family of the deceased woman.
2
Gulf Times
Thursday, July 14, 2016
QATAR
Concern voiced over
disparity in prices of
goods sold in Qatar
A
number of Qataris have
expressed concern over
the prices of certain types
of goods, which they say are
higher in Qatar as compared to
some neighbouring countries.
These products include automobile spare parts, some medicines, electrical appliances and
others, according to them.
Speaking to local Arabic
daily Arrayah, the citizens said
they often visited neighbouring countries to buy such items.
This is because the prices there
- for products of similar quality
- are often almost half of what is
charged in Doha, they argue.
Mihana al-Nuaimi, a young
Qatari man, said his vehicle had
met with an accident and he
had gone to the dealer in Doha
to inquire about spare parts. He
was told that the parts would
cost him more than QR20,000.
However, he found out that the
same would cost only around
QR10,000 in a neighbouring
country.
He said the authorities here
need to adopt a strategic plan to
keep the prices of different kinds
of products in check.
Similarly, Mohamed al-Yazidi
felt that the “limited number of
dealers and brands” in the country, for a variety of goods, was
responsible for the high prices
and the market should be opened
up to include more options. Oth-
erwise, many locals would be
compelled to go abroad to meet
their requirements, he added.
Meanwhile, Abdulla al-Merri
stressed that there should be
more authorised distributors for
the same product to boost competition in the market, which
would ultimately benefit consumers by giving them more options in terms of price and quality.
The daily also reported that
citizens consider automobile
spare parts to be particularly expensive in Qatar as compared to
some other countries.
They also pointed out that
high rents in the country have
had a negative impact on pricing.
Nepal’s president meets Qatar’s envoy
In brief
Al-Kuwari leaves
for Kenya to attend
UNCTAD meeting
Nepalese President Bidhya Devi Bhandari met Qatar’s outgoing ambassador Ahmed Jassim al-Hamar
in Kathmandu yesterday. The president wished the ambassador success in his future posts and further
prosperity to bilateral ties between Qatar and Nepal.
HE Dr Hamad bin Abdul Aziz
al-Kuwari, Adviser to HH the Emir
and Qatar’s candidate for the
post of the director-general of the
Unesco left Doha yesterday for
Nairobi, Kenya.
During his visit to Kenya, Dr
al-Kuwari, who is also the
president of the 13th United
Nations Conference on Trade
and Development (UNCTAD),
will hand over the presidency of
the 14th session of UNCTAD to
Kenya’s Minister of Foreign Affairs
Amina C Mohamed.
Kenya is scheduled to take over
the presidency of UNCTAD during
the opening of the 14th session
of the conference which will see
as well a speech delivered by
HE Dr Hamad al-Kuwari on the
important achievements during
the presidency of Qatar.
WISE attends international Free collection and delivery
service for Audi customers
economic forum in Montreal
Q
-Auto, the official dealer
of Audi in Qatar, has announced the launch of
an exclusive new collection and
delivery facility for all Audi customers who book their car in for
service.
The collection and delivery
service is available from either
home or place of work within
Doha city limits to the “brandnew, state-of-the-art” service
facility located on Street 41 in
the Industrial Area.
Customers need to fix an appointment for scheduled servicing or maintenance and the team
T
he World Innovation
Summit for Education
(WISE), an initiative of
Qatar Foundation for Education,
Science and Community Development, recently took part in the
International Economic Forum
of the Americas (IEFA) in Montreal, Canada.
The
three-day
gathering
brought together 4,000 international leaders under the theme
‘Shaping a New Era of Prosperity’.
More than 200 speakers presented
insights on major global economic
issues, discussing their social,
cultural, and political impacts.
In a roundtable discussion
on technology and innovation
in education, Stavros N Yiannouka, CEO, WISE, noted the
dramatic potential of emerging
technologies in extending education access to the most vulnerable and marginalised. Technology, he said, could only reach
its full potential through strong
teaching and leaders committed
to transforming school systems.
Yiannouka praised the economic
and leadership opportunities
that creative projects and organ-
at Audi will arrange the collection on a flatbed truck, eliminating unnecessary trips to the Industrial Area, Q-Auto has said in
a statement.
Commenting on the newly
launched service, Q-Auto general manager Ahmed Shariefi said:
“At Audi, we have identified key
areas of the customer experience
to delight our owners, and we are
concentrating on these areas to
give our customers an experience that exceeds expectations.
Our focus on customer satisfaction means that Audi is the only
dealership in Qatar to dedicate
this complimentary facility to
all service bookings within Doha
city limits.”
The complimentary service
is part of a wider company initiative focusing on “delighting
customers through a premium
experience from the showroom
through to aftersales care”, the
statement notes. Other initiatives include the recent launch
of the only Audi body shop in
Qatar approved by Audi and the
provision of courtesy cars for all
roadside assistance cases where
the car will be held for more than
24 hours.
Alan Shepard, Stavros Yiannouka, Cecilia D’Oliveira, Mike Feerick, and Robert Beauchemin at the
International Economic Forum of the Americas in Montreal, Canada.
isations are bringing to women
and young people in vulnerable
regions, and called for a wider
recognition of the need for creativity and innovation in education management.
Also taking part were representatives of two WISE Award
winning
projects:
Cecilia
D’Oliveira, associate dean of Digital Learning, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, who led
a team that developed the MIT
OpenCourseWare, which shares
freely teaching course materials that reach over 150mn people
worldwide; and Mike Feerick,
founder of the Alison courses,
providing an online learning
platform that enables worldwide
users to gain employability skills.
Also participating were Robert
Beauchemin, CEO of KnowledgeOne, which provides training
and development solutions for
businesses; and Alan Shepard,
president and vice-chancellor,
Concordia University, Montreal.
In a separate gathering at
IEFA, Yiannouka called for a
renewed commitment among
global leaders to empowerment
through education at all levels.
“Education is likely the most effective investment societies can
make to tear down the walls of
ignorance, fear, and demagoguery wherever they may arise,” he
said.
Traffic diversion
A
temporary
diversion
will be in place from tomorrow (July 15) for six
months on Al Atooriya Road on
the western side of Doha.
The diversion is for approximately 2km to the east of the Camel Racing Track in Al Sheehaniya.
Road users on both directions on Al Atooriya Road
will be diverted to two single-lanes of 500 metres running parallel to the diversion
route, before rejoining on Al
Atooriya Road (as shown on
the map).
Northbound road users required to access the Camel Racing Track or return to Al Sheehaniya, will be able to make a
U-turn soon after the existing
roundabout (as shown on the attached map).
The diversion is required to
enable the demolition and reconstruction of the roundabout
leading to Al Atooriya Road and
the Camel Racing Track.
Expat gets jail term for stealing cash
76 violations of hygiene rules
detected during Eid al-Fitr
T
he health inspection departments at Doha Municipality and Al Rayyan
Municipality detected 76 violations involving food products
during the Eid al-Fitr period.
According to local Arabic
daily Arrayah, the inspectors
were keen to intensify their efforts during the Eid days to exercise tighter control on food
outlets and eateries and ensure
that these followed health and
hygiene standards.
Officers conducted 112 inspection
tours in the Al Rayyan Municipality area in the said period, detecting
31 violations of health regulations.
These included the use and display
of expired food products.
Similarly, 45 violations were
found in the Doha Municipality area, mostly at eateries that
were not keen on strictly following health standards, the
daily said.
Expatriate acquitted of theft charge
A Doha Criminal Court has
acquitted an Ethiopian expatriate
of charges of stealing the wallet
of another man.
According to local Arabic daily
Arrayah, the victim told the court
that he ran into the defendant
one night while walking and
discovered soon after that he
had lost his wallet containing
QR29,000.
He later identified the man
from among a group of
suspects with similar features
and characteristics, the daily
said.
However, the defendant was able
to prove to the court that at the
time of the said crime, he was in
police custody - along with some
friends - as suspects in a pickpocketing case.
Eventually, the court acquitted
him for lack of evidence.
A Bangladeshi man has been
sentenced to three months in jail
for stealing QR10,600 from the
wallet of another expatriate.
A Doha Criminal Court has
also ordered his subsequent
deportation, according to local
Arabic daily Arrayah.
The two men had met by chance
at Doha’s Souq Haraj while the
defendant was looking for a
room to rent. The victim invited
defendant to stay with him in his
accommodation in Najma.
The accused stole the money
while the victim had gone to
the toilet one night, leaving the
wallet behind, according to the
daily.
When the victim returned, he
discovered that the said sum of
money was missing along with
the defendant.
He immediately reported the
matter to the police and the
accused was subsequently
arrested.
The defendant admitted to being
involved in the offence during
interrogation.
The collection and delivery service is available from either home or place of work within Doha city limits
to the service facility in the Industrial Area.
Bose launches new headphones
B
ose Store, represented
by Darwish Technology,
recently introduced the
QuietComfort 35 around-ear
headphones.
It has also announced the
all-new SoundSport headphones from Bose, “resetting expectations for wireless
workouts”, according to a press
statement.
The new headphones can be
found at the Bose and FNAC
stores located in Lagoona Mall
and Fifty One East in Al Maha
Centre, in addition to all branches of iSpace (Apple premium reseller and Apple authorised reseller) and Virgin Megastore.
The QuietComfort 35 “shatters the limitations of existing wireless noise-cancelling
headphones with an entirely
new experience for travelling,
commuting, creating, studying or relaxing”, the statement
notes.
“The QC35 lets you tune
out completely with the same
remarkable silence of Bose’s
wired QuietComfort headphones. Against a backdrop
of quiet, the new QC35 reproduce music with stunning
clarity at any volume.”
Designed exclusively for exercise, SoundSport wireless
headphones “present an unbeatable combination of benefits
for training and feature great
audio for playlists, a stable and
comfortable fit, and durability
for daily use inside or out”, the
statement explains.
All of Bose’s new wireless headphones include NFC
(near field communication) for
“touch-to-pair convenience,
super-intuitive controls for
music and calls, voice prompts
for key information, including
setup, caller ID and battery life,
and the free Bose Connect app
for even more functionality”.
Darwish Technology is the
technological arm of Darwish
Holding.
Qatar supports Chemical Weapons Convention
QNA
The Hague
T
he State of Qatar has reiterated its support to
Chemical Weapons Convention, saying that its policy is
aimed at the elimination of all
weapons of mass destruction
and the prohibition of their acquisition.
Qatar also highlighted the im-
portance of the Chemical Weapons Convention and the serious
threats posed by such weapons,
looking forward to the day when
the universality of the Convention is realised.
The State of Qatar also condemned in the strongest terms
the use of the chemical weapons
by any party under any circumstances saying it is reprehensible
and contrary to the rules of international law, pointing to the
Security Council resolution No
2209 of 2015 which stresses that
those responsible for any use of
chemical weapons must be held
accountable and that any future
use will lead to measures under
Chapter VII of the Charter of the
United Nations.
This came in a speech delivered by HE Lieutenant Major
(Air) Hassan Saleh Hassan alNisf, deputy head of the National Committee for the Prohibition
of Weapons, on the occasion of
the 82nd session of the Executive
Council of the Organisation for
Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague.
Al-Nisf affirmed Qatar’s
support to the draft resolution
submitted to the Council on addressing the threats posed by the
use of chemical weapons from
non-State actors, stressing the
role of the OPCW in the face of
the threat of the acquisition of
chemical weapons by the nonState actors.
He said the State of Qatar
commends the efforts made by
the OPCW with regard to the
destruction of Syria’s declared
chemical weapon programme,
adding that it also supports
OPCW’s investigations into the
use of chemical weapons against
civilians in Syria, especially the
efforts of the fact-finding mission in this regard.
Gulf Times
Thursday, July 14, 2016
3
QATAR
National Reading Campaign
QF workshop explores ways
to enhance human capacity
Q
atar Foundation Research and Development
(QF R&D) recently held
a high-level event exploring
pathways for developing human
capital, essential in building a
sustainable knowledge-based
future for Qatar.
Families from across the country gathered at Qatar Foundation’s (QF) National Reading Campaign
booth at City Centre Doha during Eid al-Fitr to take part in a series of exciting and engaging
educational activities.The National Reading Campaign strives to cultivate a love of reading from
an early age, while fostering a lifelong pursuit of knowledge. Held in collaboration with the Alfaisal
Social Responsibility Centre throughout Ramadan and Eid, the activities included themed
storytelling sessions as well as a number of educational and entertaining games.
Jaidah Motors awarded
safety certification
J
aidah Motors and Trading Co has been awarded
the occupational health and
safety certification, 18001:2007,
by the Chairman Certification
Committee from Vinçotte International Middle East, an organisation boasting 30 years of
experience in the field of specialised experts in inspection
and certification.
The certification was awarded
in recognition of the implementation of highest standards of
health and safety practices in the
workplace, the company said in a
statement yesterday.
This took into account the
employment of international
best practices in relation to overall health and safety management, including risk assessment
and inspection of workplace
hazards; incidents reporting and
monitoring; and emergency response and contingency plans.
It also addressed incident
rates, evaluated compliance with
legislative requirement to foster
a culture of safety and identified
areas of training and competency requirements to improve
productivity. At the core of it,
the certification endorses the
promotion of corporate responsibility and the overall health
and safety management of Jaidah Motors and Trading Co, a
leading automotive, equipment,
electrical, furniture and projects
company in Qatar.
Accomplishment of the certification exhibits the “chairman’s
commitment to professional excellence and continual improvement as well as the creation of
a safe working environment for
the company’s employees, cus-
tomers and stakeholders alike”,
the statement notes.
Mohamed Jaidah, Group executive director, said: “This award is
a testament to our commitment to
guarantee safe working practices;
it is an ongoing aim for us at Jaidah
Motor Trading to maintain the
highest quality in both products
and services. The certification illustrates the vigilance of the company workforce and we are proud
to encourage this growing culture
in our business.”
Earlier, the company had acquired the ISO 9001:2008 quality management system certificate as part of a mission to raise
the standards of both services
and products in the market.
Vinçotte International Middle
East has 30 years of experience
in the field of inspection and
certification.
“Through this workshop,
QF R&D has provided a
valuable opportunity for
stakeholders who have a
pivotal role in nurturing
and enhancing Qatar’s
human capital to share
knowledge”
Representatives from ministries, research institutes and
universities attending QF R&D’s
Human Capacity Development
Workshop, discussed existing
initiatives and programmes to
widen Qatar’s R&D talent pool.
The event also examined the key
challenges and priorities for this
area, and potential solutions and
enhancements.
The workshop addressed the
need for the continuing development of Qatar’s human capital in
research and development, one of
the primary objectives of the Qatar National Research Strategy.
By bringing together entities
and institutions with a diverse
research and education scope and
shared goals, the event aimed to
identify common areas of interest and focus to address gaps in
capacity-building
provision,
nurture and retain high-calibre
researchers and scientists, and
bolster Qatar’s workforce and the
nation’s research culture.
In a roundtable discussion,
stakeholders outlined their capacity-building
programmes,
initiatives, insights and suggestions. The workshop provided an
overview of Qatar Research Leadership Programme – a unique QF
R&D initiative dedicated to devel-
Representatives from ministries, research entities, and universities, attend Qatar Foundation Research
and Development’s Human Capacity Development Workshop.
oping homegrown scientific research and research management
talent in Qatar – and the capacitybuilding sponsorship programmes
of Qatar National Research Fund,
also part of QF R&D.
“By providing a forum for key
stakeholders to discuss education and training needs relating
to the development of human capacity in Qatar, Qatar Foundation
Research and Development aims
to enhance understanding of the
landscape of provision in this area,
so that gaps can be identified and
addressed,” said Dr Dirar Khoury,
executive director, Research Coordination and Special Initiatives,
and acting executive director, Education, Training, and Development, QF R&D.
The workshop also highlighted that the number of researchers in Qatar increased
twenty fold between 2008 and
2015, to about 1,600, including
more than 250 Qatari researchers. It emphasised the need for
continued investment in the
development of human capacity in research and development
to underpin Qatar’s economic
growth and diversification and
build the high-calibre workforce
required to sustain a successful
knowledge-based society.
“Through this workshop, QF
R&D has provided a valuable opportunity for stakeholders who
have a pivotal role in nurturing
and enhancing Qatar’s human
capital to share knowledge, ex-
change ideas and perspectives,
and develop a comprehensive
and holistic understanding of
our capacity-building status and
needs,” said Dr Khaled al-Horr,
director of the Higher Education
Institute, Ministry of Education
and Higher Education.
Based on the workshop’s discussions and analysis of gaps in
provision, participating stakeholders will review their existing
capacity-building programmes,
with a view to introducing new,
synergetic mechanisms for supporting young people in pursuing successful and rewarding
careers in research and development, and ensuring the continuing development of Qatar’s human capacity in this field.
4
Gulf Times
Thursday, July 14, 2016
REGION
Iran nuclear deal
holding but ‘more
work needed’
Yemen clashes
kill 44 as UN
seeks talks
AFP
Aden
F
ighting in Yemen killed at
least 44 people in a 24-hour
period to yesterday, military
officials said, as the UN’s peace
envoy arrived in the capital to
meet rebels.
Saudi-backed
government
forces clashed with the Shia
Houthi rebels and fighters loyal
to ousted president Ali Abdullah
Saleh in battles across western
Yemen.
The UN’s mediator, Ismail Ould
Cheikh Ahmed, landed at Sanaa
airport yesterday afternoon ahead
of meetings with Houthi and
Saleh representatives.
The envoy met this week with
President Abd-Rabbu Mansour
Hadi in the Saudi capital to prepare for a resumption of talks
between the two sides in Kuwait
tomorrow.
Kuwait City has already hosted more than two months of
UN-backed negotiations that
have failed to make any real
headway.
The talks, aimed at ending a
war that the United Nations says
has killed more than 6,400 people
since March 2015, were suspended at the end of June.
Fighting has persisted across
Yemen despite a truce that came
into force on April 11.
Yesterday
pro-government
forces seized a mountain base
from Houthis in Nahm, northeast
of Sanaa, said military spokesman
Abdullah al-Shandaqi.
Eight loyalists and 17 rebels
AFP
Tehran
I
ran’s nuclear deal with world
powers is holding a year after
it was agreed but more needs
to be done to ensure its full implementation, a top Iranian negotiator said yesterday.
“The total process has been
relatively satisfactory despite
the difficulties that we see in the
implementation,” Hamid Baeidinejad told a press conference in
Tehran for the first anniversary of
the agreement.
“We believe that the deal has
not been violated so far and efforts continue to resolve the
remaining issues,” Baeidinejad
said.
The deal between Iran and the
P5+1 group of powers (Britain,
China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States) limited Tehran’s atomic programme
in return for the lifting of some
international sanctions, which
took effect in January.
There has been some disappointment in Iran that the lifting
of the sanctions has not yet led
to significant investments, with
many international investors and
banks still wary of doing business with the Islamic republic.
were killed in the battle, he said.
A Saudi-led coalition operating
in Yemen since March 2015 supported the assault with air strikes,
said military sources.
Four soldiers and four rebels
also died during battles in Marib
province, east of Sanaa, when
pro-government forces repelled a
rebel attempt to seize a hill overlooking their base, a government
source said.
Further north, coalition air
strikes against a rebel convoy
killed seven rebels in Jawf province, said the army.
In the oil-rich southern province of Shabwa, four soldiers died
during battles that saw the army
make “slow progress” against
rebels, said Colonel Motleq
Jawhar, an infantry commander
in the region.
Saudi soldier dies in mine blast
AFP
Riyadh
A
landmine has killed a Saudi Arabian soldier patrolling the southern border
with Yemen, the interior ministry says.
The blast struck a Border
Guard patrol at 7am (0400
GMT) Tuesday morning in the
kingdom’s Jazan region, the
ministry said in a statement late
Tuesday.
About 100 Saudi soldiers and
civilians have died from shelling,
skirmishes and mines in the border region since a Saudi-led coalition in March last year began a
military intervention in Yemen.
The Arab coalition intervened with air strikes and other
support for Yemen’s President
Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi after
Iran-backed Shia Houthi rebels
overran much of the country.
Fighting has continued in
Yemen despite a formal ceasefire
in conjunction with United Nations-brokered peace talks between rebels and the government
that began in Kuwait in April.
Negotiations have failed to
make headway but are scheduled
to resume tomorrow.
More than 6,400 Yemenis,
most of them civilians, have been
killed since early last year.
UN special envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed
disembarks his plane upon his arrival at Sanaa’s International
Airport yesterday.
Kuwait ministry:
No restrictions on
personal freedoms
QNA
Kuwait
K
uwait Interior Ministry refuted yesterday
rumours carried by the social networks
that the ministry has enacted a number of
measures restricting the use of public freedoms,
especially the freedom of speech.
“There is no basis for claims that the ministry monitors personal phone calls or services
offered by the social networks through many
popular apps”, the ministry said in a statement
carried by Kuwait News Agency (KUNA).
Tracking cybercrime, the statement added,
would not require watching social networks or
internet users in general with the eye to incriminate them.
With regard to the enforcement of the cybercrime law as of the start of its application last
January, the statement said
it enables the Ministry of
Interior to carry out certain
steps such as first responding to a complaint about the
occurrence of a cybercrime
and then following it up with
pertinent investigation with
the end result of eventually
nabbing the offender or offenders, whichever the case
may be.
Hackers, those who set
up illegal websites, and others who carry out moneylaundering schemes online
or deal in human trafficking
or illegal drugs online, all
face strict jail sentences and
hefty fines, said the statement.
Bahrain court
denies bail for
rights activist
A Bahraini court denied bail for
human rights activist Nabeel
Rajab as he went on trial on
charges of insulting a state
institution and neighbouring
Saudi Arabia online, his group
said yesterday.
The 51-year-old activist,
who had been pardoned for
health reasons last year, was
rearrested last month.
Rajab appeared in court on
Tuesday.
The accusations refer to tweets
posted on his account in 2015,
referring to “allegation of
torture” at Bahrain’s Jaw prison,
and the Saudi-led military
intervention in Yemen, the
BCHR said.
Despite the lifting of nuclearrelated penalties, Washington
and the European Union maintain some sanctions on Iran over
its human rights record and ballistic missile testing.
Asked if Iran had oversold the
deal to its people, Baeidinejad
said: “We knew exactly what was
agreed upon in the deal and what
was not.”
He said Tehran “had more
expectations on the removal of
economic, banking and financial
restrictions, but despite all these
deficiencies there is a feeling of
hope inside our country to remove these obstacles” through
more talks.
“We will not agree to anything
less than the full implementation
of the JCPOA,” he said, referring
to the Joint Comprehensive Plan
of Action, the official name of the
agreement.
The agreement caused “great
optimism” in Iran on “unrelated
issues”, Baeidinejad said, but
those expectations are “fortunately being balanced and adjusted to reality”.
President Hassan Rouhani
yesterday also praised the “new
atmosphere” created by the accord, saying it can lead to “better
economic, defence, and technological activity” for Iran.
Tehran summons
French envoy over
opposition rally
AFP
Tehran
I
ran has summoned the French
ambassador and lodged a formal protest over a rally outside
Paris held by an exiled opposition
group last weekend, a diplomatic
source said yesterday.
The National Council of Resistance in Iran (NCRI), which
includes the former rebel People’s Mujahedeen of Iran (MEK),
claimed that 100,000 Iranians
attended the annual rally at Le
Bourget, near Paris, on Saturday.
“The holding of this rally by
those whose hands are stained
with the blood of the Iranian
people is unacceptable,” said the
message handed to French ambassador Francois Senemaud by
senior foreign ministry official
Abolqassem Delfi, state media
reported.
The MEK is reviled by Tehran
for siding with Saddam Hussain’s
regime during the Iran-Iraq war
of 1980-88.
The US State Department listed it as a “terrorist organisation”
in 1997.
After the US-led invasion of
Iraq in 2003, its remaining fighters
were disarmed and placed in camps
where many of them remain with
their families to this day.
It was removed from terrorist
watch lists by the European Union in 2008 and the United States
in 2012.
Delfi said NCRI was linked to
organisations such as “the Taliban, Al Qaeda and the Islamic
State” group.
A French foreign ministry
spokesman distanced his country
from MEK, the main group within
the NCRI.
“The French government has
no contact whatsoever with the
People’s Mujahedeen of Iran,”
said the spokesman, noting that
the group held “violent and undemocratic” positions.
Gulf Times
Thursday, July 14, 2016
5
ARAB WORLD
Israel opens
Gaza crossing
for first time
in nine years
A man holding a Palestinian flag protests as he sits in the scoop of an Israeli excavator as tries to prevent it from clearing his land during a
protest against Jewish settlements, near the village of Deir Qaddis near the West Bank city of Ramallah yesterday.
Israeli border police kill
Palestinian in West Bank
AFP/QNA
Jerusalem
A
n Israeli border policeman shot dead one Palestinian and wounded
another in the occupied West
Bank yesterday when they
drove towards officers, an army
spokeswoman said.
The officers had been carrying out a search operation in AlRam, northeast of Jerusalem,
during which they uncovered
an arms workshop, when they
spotted the vehicle coming towards them, the spokeswoman
said.
One of the border policemen,
who “felt in danger”, opened
fire, she added.
A third Palestinian in the vehicle was arrested.
Israeli security forces have
launched a major crackdown
on underground arms workshops in the West Bank, closing
16 since the start of the year,
a senior army officer said on
Tuesday.
A wave of violence in Israel
and the Palestinian territories
since October last year has has
killed at least 215 Palestinians,
34 Israelis, two Americans, an
Eritrean and a Sudanese.
Some of the Palestinians
were shot dead during protests
and clashes, while some were
killed by Israeli air strikes in the
Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces detained at least 14 Palestinians
yesterday, including a woman
and a minor, during predawn
raids across the West Bank.
According to security sources, seven Palestinians were detained from Jerusalem district,
five others from Hebron, another from Bethlehem and another from Tulkarem, state news
agency (WAFA) reported.
Israeli forces conducted a
large-scale detention raid across
the Jerusalem town of Al-Issawiya, detaining seven Palestinians.
In the southern West Bank
district of Hebron, the forces
raided Dura town, south of
Hebron, detaining five Palestinians after breaking into and ransacking their houses and causing property damages.
During the predawn raid,
troops stormed and thoroughly
searched many houses, blowing up some of their main doors
and causing extensive property
damages.
In Bethlehem, the forces detained one Palestinian after
storming his family house in Beit
Fajjar town, south of Bethlehem
city.
Meanwhile, troops raided
Shweika neighborhood, north
of Tulkarem, detaining one after
storming his family house.
AFP
Jerusalem
I
srael opened a major crossing
point between Israel and Gaza
yesterday to allow the transfer
of vehicles carrying goods for the
first time in nine years, officials
said.
An AFP photographer saw deliveries arriving through the Erez
crossing at the entry to the Palestinian territory that has been
under an Israeli blockade for a
decade.
Erez has been restricted to individuals since 2007, with goods
going through Kerem Shalom in
southern Gaza.
Residents of the Israeli towns
in the area had for months complained about the hundreds of
trucks passing through the area
daily, which caused heavy traffic
and endangered motorists.
In May, then defence minister
Moshe Yaalon said Erez would be
opened in order to enable a better
flow of goods into Gaza and ease
congestion at Kerem Shalom.
A spokesman for COGAT, the
defence ministry body responsible for implementing government
policies in the Palestinian territories, confirmed vehicles had
Buses received yesterday on the Palestinian side of the Israeli border
terminal of Erez in the Gaza Strip in the first such delivery since
Israeli imposed a blockade on Gaza in 2007.
entered Gaza through the Erez
crossing.
“This measure has been taken
to facilitate the work of Palestinian importers and thus help the
economy of the Gaza Strip,” the
spokesman said.
An association of Palestinian vehicle owners in Gaza said
110 vehicles arrived on their side
through Erez.
Located in the northern Gaza
Strip, Erez is nearer to major Israeli cities than Kerem Shalom
and could make bringing goods
from Israeli port cities such as
Ashdod easier. Israel has imposed
its blockade on Gaza for a decade,
saying it is necessary to prevent
Hamas, which runs the strip, from
rebuilding its military forces and
positions.
According to the World Bank
and the UN, the blockade has
killed virtually all exports from
Gaza, as well as bringing the
economy of the small enclave to
the brink.
Wedged between Egypt, Israel
and the Mediterranean, the Gaza
Strip is home to about 1.9mn Palestinians.
6
Gulf Times
Thursday, July 14, 2016
ARAB WORLD
UN fears more fighting could break out in South Sudan
AFP
United Nations
U
N peacekeeping chief
Herve Ladsous warned
yesterday that more
fighting could break out in South
Sudan despite a two-day ceasefire that followed a major flareup
of violence in Juba.
At least 272 people have been
killed during three days of fighting in the capital but Ladsous
said the death toll was “only the
tip of the iceberg” because many
civilians were prevented from
reaching safe ground.
“We remain very worried
about the potential for the resumption of violence and spillover into other parts of the country, as we have seen in the past,”
he told the Security Council.
At least 42,000 people have
fled their homes in the latest
flareup, with 7,000 sheltering in
UN peacekeeping bases, while
aid groups and churches in the
city have taken in 35,000 people.
The United Nations is considering an emergency request from
East African leaders to send an
intervention brigade to Juba that
could secure the airport and separate the warring sides.
Government troops appear to
be in full control of Juba but opposition forces remain around
the west of the city and “further
clashes cannot be ruled out,”
Ladsous said.
Both army and rebel forces
are mobilizing around parts of
Malakal in Upper Nile region
and Leer in Unity state, fuelling worries of fighting there,
he added.
Ellen Margrethe Loj, head of
the UN mission in South Sudan,
told reporters that she had received reports yesterday of fighting in Leer, adding she remained
vigilant about other potential
flareups.
The East African IGAD bloc
of countries is calling on the
United Nations to strengthen the
peacekeeping mission in South
Sudan with more troops and bet-
ter equipment, including attack
helicopters.
UN officials are leaning on
African governments to beef
up the mission known as UNMISS ahead of an African Union summit on Sunday in Kigali, where the crisis will be
discussed.
UN Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon will arrive in Kigali tomorrow for talks on South Sudan
with African leaders, his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
The Security Council is also
considering an appeal from Ban
for an arms embargo to be imposed on South Sudan and sanctions targeted at those responsible for the violence.
France and Britain back calls
for an arms embargo and Russia
has said it was willing to consider
such a step as part of a broader,
comprehensive approach to ending the conflict.
South Sudan descended into
war in December 2013 after President Salva Kiir fired his deputy
Riek Machar, unleashing a wave
of violence that has left tens of
thousands dead.
Although Kiir and Machar
signed a peace deal in August last
year, fighting has continued.
South Sudan’s UN Ambassador
Akuei Bona Malwal described the
latest fighting as “setbacks” that his
government considered part of “a
learning curve,” saying he remained
committed to the peace deal.
The 13,500-strong UNMISS is
providing protection to tens of
thousands of civilians in its bases
across the country.
Damascus must
explain chem
warfare agents,
says watchdog
AFP
The Hague
T
he world’s chemical weapons watchdog is pressing
Syria to explain why it has
four undeclared warfare agents,
its head said yesterday, after a
US official accused Damascus
of continuing to hoard a toxic
stockpile.
Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons chief
Ahmet Uzumcu said despite
previous declarations by Syria,
OPCW teams have found indications of five additional chemical
agents.
After recent consultations
with The Hague-based OPCW’s
secretariat, Syria “declared research and development of one
more chemical agent,” Uzumcu
said in a report released last
week, of which AFP was given a
copy yesterday.
But “at present, Syria has not
yet adequately explained the presence of indicators of four chemical
warfare agents,” Uzumcu said.
The OPCW chief added that
“new information” offered by
Damascus has failed to resolve
outstanding issues on Syria’s
chemical warfare programme.
“In many instances, such new
information presents a considerable change in narrative from
previous information -- or raises
new questions,” Uzumcu said.
Uzumucu said the OPCW’s
secretariat believed if Syria’s effort continued “without a change
in approach” its declaration “is
unlikely to yield concrete results.”
It’s been almost three years
since a US-Russian brokered deal
in September 2013 saw Syria cave
in to international pressure to
hand over its chemical stockpile
to the OPCW for destruction.
Syria’s admission comes after
a sarin gas in August that year on
rebel-held areas near Damascus
that was blamed by the West and
the opposition on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
The removal of the weapons
was the result of the historic deal
that averted threatened US air
31 civilians dead in bombing of rebel towns
Fierce bombardment of two
opposition-held Syrian towns
killed at least 31 civilians including children yesterday, the
Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights monitor said.
Most were killed in air raids likely
carried out by either President
Bashar al-Assad’s regime or its
Russian ally, the Observatory
said.
The attacks come despite the
army’s extension of a nationwide truce until early tomorrow.
The freeze in fighting has yet to
produce any respite in violence.
Bombing raids killed at least 16
civilians and wounded dozens
more in the rebel-controlled
town of Rastan in central Homs
province the Observatory said.
Another three civilians were
killed in government shelling on
the town earlier in the day.
Rastan – one of the last rebel
strongholds in Homs province –
has suffered a devastating siege
by government forces in 2012.
In northwest Syria, 12 civilians
including three children were
killed in raids on the oppositionheld town of Ariha.
The town is controlled by the
Army of Conquest, a rebel alliance of mainly Islamist groups
including Al Qaeda affiliate
Nusra Front that holds almost all
of Idlib province.
An AFP journalist saw civil
defence workers using a large
bulldozer to clear debris away
from a crumbling building.
strikes against Damascus after
the August attacks.
But on Tuesday the US permanent representative to the OPCW
voiced frustration with Syria’s
perceived lack of co-operation in
the process to verify its chemical
arsenal.
Kenneth Ward said the
OPCW’s latest findings were
“indicative of (the) production,
weaponisation and storage of
chemical warfare agent by the
Syrian military.”
This “has never been acknowledged by the Syrian government,” Ward said in an address
at OPCW, obtained by AFP yesterday.
“We therefore remain very
concerned that chemical warfare agent and associated munitions, subject to declaration and
destruction, have been illicitly
retained by Syria,” he said.
In January, the OPCW announced that all Syria’s declared chemical arms had been
completely destroyed, despite
concerns that sarin gas and
other chemical weapons were
still being unleashed in the
country’s complex civil war
that has so far killed more than
280,000 people.
Damascus has furiously denied ever using chemical arms
and instead said the accusations
“only served political agendas”.
But Ward, in a stronglyworded statement, said there
was a “body of evidence indicating that Syria never truly accepted the obligations or ideals
of the Chemical Warfare Convention.”
“For more than two years, the
(OPCW’s) Secretariat and Council provided Syria with an opportunity to instill international
confidence that it had renounced
chemical weapons,” said Ward.
“Syria has not only squandered that opportunity, it has
cynically exploited it,” the US
representative said.
Solar Impulse 2, the solar powered plane, piloted by Swiss pioneer Andre Borschberg, is seen during the flyover of the pyramids of Giza yesterday prior to landing in Cairo.
Solar plane lands in Egypt on
penultimate leg of world tour
AFP
Cairo
T
he Solar Impulse 2 landed
in Cairo yesterday for its
penultimate stop as the
solar-powered plane nears the
end of its marathon tour around
the world.
After the two-day flight from
Spain, just one final leg lies between it and its final destination, Abu Dhabi, where it started its odyssey in March last year.
The aircraft landed in Spain
last month, after completing
the first solo transatlantic flight
powered only by sunlight.
After setting off from Seville
on Monday morning, the plane
passed through Algerian, Tunisian, Italian and Greek airspace,
and flew over the Giza Pyramids
before touching down at Cairo
airport at around 7:10am (0510
GMT). Its support crew cheered
as the plane, no heavier than a
car but with the wingspan of a
Boeing 747, landed, and trailed
after it on bicycles.
It had finished the 3,745km
(2,327 mile) journey with an
average speed of 76.7km (47.7
miles) an hour, the flight organiser said.
“It was fantastic, everything
worked well,” pilot Andre Borschberg told the control tower,
as a live stream from the cockpit
was broadcast on Solar Impulse
2’s Facebook page.
He emerged from the cockpit
and hugged Bertrand Piccard,
with whom he has taken turns
flying the plane around the
world.
Solar Impulse is being flown
on its 35,400km (22,000 mile)
trip in stages, with Piccard and
his Swiss compatriot Borschberg alternating at the controls
of the single-seat plane.
Picard, who had arrived early
to greet the aircraft, told reporters that flying Solar Impulse 2
showed what new technologies
can do.
The 58-year-old had flown
the plane across the Atlantic in
a 6,765km (4,200 mile) journey.
It had completed its flight
from New York to Seville in 71
hours, flying through the night
with the energy stored in its
17,000 photovoltaic cells.
“It’s a new era for energy,” he
said.
“I love to fly this plane because when you are in the air for
several days you have the impression to be in a film of science
fiction,” he said.
“You look at the sun, you look
at your motors, they turn for
days and for days, no fuel. And
you think that’s a miracle. That’s
magic. It is actually the reality of
today. This is what we can do with
these new technologies.”
He said the pilot takes 20
minute naps during the long
flights, as the plane inches
across the sky.
Borschberg had piloted the
plane in its 8,924km (5,545 mile)
flight from Japan to Hawaii in
118 hours, breaking the previous
record for the longest uninterrupted journey in aviation history.
“It is comfortable. But of
course you need to train for
that,” Piccard said.
Borschberg and Piccard have
said they want to raise aware-
ness of renewable energy sources and technologies with their
project.
Picard said the plane could fly
continuously. “The pilot is the
limit,” he said.
“You capture the energy during the day, you use it in the engines and store it, and during
the night you use the storage
from the batteries, and you continue cycle after cycle,” he said.
Borschberg said a 20-day
long flight could be on the cards.
“Will we be able to fly longer?
I believe we will fly 20 days. But
you have to be sustainable. You
have to produce water. You have
to produce oxygen,” he said.
Piccard does not expect solar
powered commercial planes any
time soon.
“But there will be passengers very soon in electric airplanes that we will charge on
the ground.
“On the ground you can
charge batteries and you can
have short haul flights maybe
500km (310 miles) with 50 people flying in these planes” in a
decade, he predicted.
Queues for food in Aleppo after supply route cut
AFP
Aleppo, Syria
I
n a rebel-held neighbourhood
in the east of Syria’s second
city Aleppo, more than 100
people are lined up outside a bakery, hoping to get a daily ration of
bread.
For some, it may be the only
food available after a government
advance severed the sole remaining supply route into rebel-held
districts, prompting shortages
and rising prices.
“I’ve been standing here for
about 45 minutes and there are
still 40 people in front of me,”
said Ahmad al-Haj, in the queue
of around 150 people.
At another nearby bakery, the
queue is even longer, with some
200 people gathered.
“Yesterday, my family of five
didn’t eat any bread because the
bakeries stopped working.
Today, I will only get sev-
en pieces which will barely be
enough for a single meal,” he said.
With their route to the outside
world cut, there is no new flour
coming to the city’s bakeries, and
fuel to light their ovens is also
now hard to find.
The mood among those waiting is grim, with families arguing
over their spot in the queue and
the meagre portions available to
families that sometimes include
seven or eight people.
Once an economic powerhouse and a thriving tourist destination, Aleppo has been devastated by the conflict that began in
March 2011.
Since mid-2012, it has been
roughly divided between government control in the west
and rebel control in the east,
and has suffered enormous destruction in the war that has
killed more than 280,000 people nationwide.
Last week, a government advance brought regime troops
Syrian girls carry bags with bread as people queue up outisde a bakery in a rebel held neighbourhood in the
northern city of Aleppo on Tuesday.
within firing range of the Castello
Road, the only remaining supply
route into the opposition-held
east, effectively severing rebel
neighbourhoods from the outside world.
The United Nations said yesterday it was “deeply alarmed”
by the situation in Aleppo, warning that the east was “at risk of
besiegement.”
It also criticised civilian deaths
in ongoing government air
strikes on the east and rebel fire
on the west.
With the Castello Road cut,
shop shelves have been left empty and residents are struggling to
find even basic goods.
Abu Mohamed was combing
through a nearby half-empty
vegetable market in a bid to find
potatoes, which now go for five
times the price they did last week
-- about 500 Syrian pounds ($1)
a kilo.
“I have four children and I
don’t know what we will eat today,” he said.
“The markets are totally empty, I couldn’t find anything. Everything is missing -- eggs, yogurt, cheese, vegetables.”
Abu Mohamed, a tailor, said
his salary of 25,000 Syrian
pounds was no longer enough to
feed his family.
“The prices are so high now,
so my income isn’t enough for a
single week.”
In another neighbourhood,
supermarket owner Mohamed
Hijazi looked at the half-empty
shelves of his store.
His remaining stock, including
cleaning supplies and perfumes,
is of little interest to customers
who can barely afford food.
“For the past two days, my
shop was full of people trying
to buy canned food and dates to
store them,” he said.
“I had to ration what each person could buy so that as many
people as possible could get what
they needed. But today we’ve
nearly run out of supplies.”
Other shopkeepers closed
their doors in the first days after
the road was cut, and only reopened after hiking their prices.
The price of a kilo of dates has
doubled to 800 Syrian pounds
($3.70), while a kilo of tomatoes
has gone from 100 to 600 Syrian
pounds.
Fuel is also in short supply and
increasingly expensive.
Gulf Times
Thursday, July 14, 2016
7
AFRICA
Nigerian oil trade
union suspends
strike
A Nigerian union representing oil
workers has suspended a strike
that some feared would lead to
fuel shortages and disrupt crude
production, one of its leaders said
yesterday.
The strike by about 10,000
members of the Petroleum
and Natural Gas Senior
Staff Association of Nigeria
(PENGASSAN), which includes
refinery workers and office staff,
began on Thursday over issues
that include oil sector reforms
and pay.
A prolonged drop in global crude
prices and a spate of attacks by
militants on oil and gas facilities
in the southern Niger Delta region
briefly pushed oil production to
30-year lows, hitting the economy
hard over the past few months.
Last week the Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)
cautioned people against panic
buying. There have been no signs
of fuel shortages so far.
The strike “has been suspended in
the early hours of today, around
4am (0300 GMT),” said Lumumba
Okugbawa, PENGASSAN acting
general secretary, adding that
“some understandings” had been
reached.
Talks with government officials,
including the oil minister, the
labour minister and NNPC’s new
group managing director, were
held on Monday and Tuesday. The
agreement to suspend the strike
was reached in the early hours
yesterday.
“The suspension is not just on
paper. People have returned to
work,” said NNPC spokesman
Garba Deen Muhammad.
SA’s pension fund
injects cash into
home loans
South Africa’s government
employees pension fund is
investing nearly $750mn into
lender SA Home Loans as part
of plans to provide cheaper
mortgages and build more
houses in a country with glaring
income disparities.
The lack of affordable housing
is a thorny issue in South Africa,
where the unemployment rate
is around 26.7% and poverty
persists two decades after the
end of apartheid rule.
The government’s Public
Investment Corporation (PIC),
which will invest the 10.5bn
rand ($732mn) on behalf of the
pension fund (GEPF), will inject a
further 500mn rand to Affordable
Housing Development Company.
SA Home Loans has been the lender
of choice for many government
employees over the years, but also
provides them for private sector
workers and is often seen as the
go-to lender for people who cannot
afford regular bank loans.
A housing subsidy programme
caters mainly for households with a
monthly income of less than 3,500
rand ($240), and households with
income between 3,500 rand and
15,000 rand ($1,050) qualify for
partial assistance.
However, even families bringing in
15,000 rand a month largely remain
excluded from accessing home
loans, despite their regular income
and relatively security employment.
Five billion rand will be
earmarked for members of the
pension fund, 2bn for affordable
housing, 2bn to enable SA
Home Loans to extend loans to
qualifying applicants and 1.5bn
rand to fund developers, PIC
board member Claudia Manning
told reporters yesterday.
Zimbabwe court
rejects charges
against pastor
AFP
Harare
T
he pastor leading Zimbabwe’s new protest movement walked free from
court yesterday after charges
against him of attempting to
overthrow President Robert Mugabe’s authoritarian
government were thrown out.
Evan Mawarire was greeted
outside Harare magistrates’
court by several hundred cheering supporters after the magistrate told the court that his “remand... is hereby refused” and
acquitted him of the charges.
Mawarire, who started the
popular ThisFlag Internet campaign in April, was an organiser of a one-day nationwide
strike last week that closed offices, shops, schools and some
government departments.
Mawarire, 39, had appeared
in court, the national flag tied
around his neck, on allegations
of setting up a campaign aimed
at “overthrowing or attempting
to overthrow the government
by unconstitutional means.”
A recent series of demonstrations, the largest in years,
has been driven by an economic
crisis in Zimbabwe that has left
banks short of cash and the
government struggling to pay
its workers.
Asked by magistrate Vakai
Zimbabwe anti-riot police guarding the entrance at the Harare magistrate’s court where pastor Evan Mawarire
was due to appear in court on charges of inciting public violence following his arrest on Tuesday.
Chikwekwe if he understood
the charges against him, he
said: “I have understood, your
worship.”
Mawarire was originally
charged with inciting public
violence when he was arrested
on Tuesday, his lawyer Harrison Nkomo said.
“This is clearly unlawful because upon his arrest he was
not informed of these (new)
charges,” Nkomo told the court.
Mugabe, 92, has previously
used his ruthless security forces to crack down on any public
show of dissent.
The protests have revealed longsimmering frustration in a country
where 90 percent of the population
is not in formal employment.
Mugabe, who is increasingly
fragile, has overseen years of
economic decline, repression
of dissent, allegedly rigged
elections and mass emigration
since he came to power in 1980.
“The arrest of Pastor Evan
Former Burundian
minister shot dead
Reuters
Bujumbura
A
Burundian member of the East
African Legislative Assembly
was shot dead yesterday in what
Rwanda’s foreign minister called an assassination in a country in violent political turmoil.
Hafsa Mossi, a former minister in
President Pierre Nkurunziza’s government, was “shot by criminals” in the
capital Bujumbura, the president’s media adviser Willy Nyamitwe tweeted.
More than 450 people have been
killed since Nkurunziza pursued and
won a third term last year, a move that
his opponents say violated the constitution and a peace deal that ended a
civil war in 2005.
Government officials and members of
the opposition have been among those
killed in tit-for-tat violence by rival sides.
A witness, who did not wish to be
identified, said Mossi was shot as she
was leaving her home in the MutangaNord neighbourhood of the capital.
The witness said a car rammed into
Mossi’s car as she was reversing out of
the compound and armed men from
that vehicle shot her in the head when
she stepped out to find out what was
going on.
Louise Mushikiwabo, the Rwandan
minister of foreign affairs, tweeted that
she was mourning the loss of Mossi who
had been “assassinated”.
The upsurge in violence in Burundi
has caused alarm in a region where
memories of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide
remain raw. Like Rwanda, Burundi has
an ethnic Hutu majority and a Tutsi minority.
So far the violence has largely followed political rather than ethnic lines.
But diplomats fear ethnic wounds could
re-open the longer violence continues.
Mossi had represented Burundi at the
regional parliament since 2012 and her
term was set to run until next year, according to the assembly’s website.
Ivorian refugees still afraid to return
AFP
Egyeikrom, Ghana
F
ive years after the return of peace
to Ivory Coast, 11,000 Ivorian
refugees living in Ghana are still
afraid to go home despite an upbeat
economic climate in the world’s top
cocoa producer.
While the international community
deems it safe for those involved in a
decade of trouble to return, Ange-Pelagie Baya said: “We would prefer to die
of hunger rather than go back.”
On Tuesday, a UN refugee agencybrokered meeting opens in Abidjan to
prepare for the return of all the Ivorians who fled the bloody post-electoral
violence that erupted in 2010-11.
Ivory Coast’s Social Cohesion Minister Mariatou Kone has pledged that
“no-one would be arrested on their
return” and indicated a possible amnesty for those opposed at the time to
current President Alassane Ouattara.
But of the 11,000 Ivorian refugees
in Ghana, only four have officially returned since Kone visited Accra in May.
Ouattara won a second mandate in
October on pledges of restoring longtime stability following the troubled 2010
elections which saw him compete against
former strongman Laurent Gbagbo.
Gbagbo now is behind bars on trial
in The Hague following the deaths of
some 3,000 in post-election violence
in 2010-2011.
In Ghana’s Central Region, the 2,200
refugees at the Egyeikrom camp, all of
them Gbagbo supporters, are adamant
they cannot return.
“We can’t go back as long as the
(Ouattara) regime remains,” said Baya.
Baya doesn’t recognise Ouattara’s
legitimacy as president, labelling him a
“rebel” and a “foreigner”.
Yet she admits life as a refugee is
harsh. “We don’t have anything here,
just a bit of work in the fields during
harvest time.”
Food distribution to the refugees
was stopped in November and only
three percent of the aid promised by
donors to the UNHCR has been allocated since the start of the year.
“The donors would rather invest in the
country, given that the situation in Ivory
Coast is stabilising,” said the UNHCR
spokesman in Ghana, Nii Ako Sowa.
With growth at eight percent last
year, Ivory Coast, Ghana’s neighbour to
the west, is no longer a priority for aid.
But for the groups representing the
Ivorian diaspora, the budget cuts have
been brutal and are seen as a way of forcing the poorest refugees to return home.
Leon-Emmanuel Monnet, a former
member of Gbagbo’s Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) in exile in Accra, said
the promises of reconciliation were
a smokescreen and Kone’s visit “a
publicity stunt”.
According to the UNHCR, more
than two-thirds of the 300,000 Ivorians who fled in 2010 to Ghana, Guinea
or Liberia are no longer registered.
Yet last year there were only 10 official returns from Ghana. Diaspora
groups say many have gone to north
Africa or Europe.
In reality, no-one really knows where
they are. Besides some risk being considered as traitors if they return home.
“Refugees leave the country unofficially and this is a problem, since we
don’t have any record of their return
and don’t know how they reintegrate,”
said Ghana Refugee Board (GRB) regional coordinator Charles Yorke.
Mawarire appears to be a wellcalculated plan to intimidate
him and other activists,” Muleya
Mwananyanda of Amnesty International said in a statement.
“Instead of suppressing dissenting voices, Zimbabwean
authorities should be listening
to protesters.”
Amnesty said about 300
people had been arrested for
participating in protests around
the country since they started
last week.
Mali protesters call
for govt resignations
after shootings
Reuters
Bamako
P
rotesters
in
Mali’s
northern city of Gao
yesterday called for the
resignation of the region’s
governor and the national
security minister a day after
three people were killed when
security forces opened fire on
a demonstration there.
The
government
has
promised to open an inquiry
into the incident, which saw
at least 31 others injured and
exposed the fragility of efforts to implement a year-old
peace deal and stabilise the
West African nation’s troubled north.
The protesters, some of
whom burned tyres and
threw stones at police, were
angered by the introduction
of a new interim authorities
who are due to take charge of
the region on Friday in line
with the terms of the peace
agreement.
After initially attempting to
disperse the crowd with teargas, security forces shot at the
protesters, witnesses said.
“We’re calling for the immediate departure of the
governor (of Gao), the security minister and the heads
of the police, the gendarmes
and the army in Gao,” said
Amadou Sarr, a leader of a
local vigilante group who
helped organise the demonstration.
The government in the capital Bamako announced late
on Tuesday that it would send
a delegation including the
ministers of defence, internal
security, justice and territorial administration to Gao on
Wednesday.
“The government exhorts
the population of Gao to re-
main calm and remember that
dialogue and consultation
must guide all parties,” it said
in a statement.
The streets of Gao were
quiet yesterday, but hundreds
of protesters staged a sit-in,
blocking streets in front of the
regional governor’s office as
they awaited the delegation’s
arrival.
“The markets are paralysed
and the local government
and banks have been closed
since yesterday. I myself am at
home,” said civil servant Mahamadou Tamboura.
Mali’s government, proBamako militias and Tuareg rebels signed the peace
agreement last year to end a
decades-long cycle of uprisings that helped jihadist groups seize the desert
north in 2012, provoking a
French military intervention.
However, implementation
of the deal has been slow, with
the rival factions accusing
each other of stalling.
Participants in yesterday’s
demonstration said they rejected the agreement’s creation of interim authorities to
share power among the deal’s
signatories.
“These same groups that
mistreated us yesterday now
want to govern us under the
label of interim authorities.
We say no,” said Nasser Abdoulaye Touré, one of the sitin participants.
The protests also included
members of local vigilante
groups who were demanding inclusion in a disarmament and demobilisation programme.
The UN Security Council
decided last week to add 2,500
peacekeepers to its mission in
Mali to combat growing instability in the north.
8
Gulf Times
Thursday, July 14, 2016
AMERICAS
The Tenors
apologise
for change
in anthem
Agencies
San Diego
M
Trooper Chantz Jackson with the Oklahoma Highway patrol returns a salute to Preston Chavez, 3, of Frisco, Texas in the parking lot as officers arrived for the funeral service of
senior corporal Lorne Ahrens, killed in Dallas, held at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas.
Police keep low profile
for GOP’s convention
Police are being asked to adopt a less
confrontational posture
Reuters
Cleveland
A
s dozens of Black Lives Matter
protesters chanted: “No justice,
no peace!” in central Cleveland on
Monday, they faced down a wall of police
— on bicycles, dressed in polo shirts and
shorts.
It was the kind of police presence the
organisers of next week’s Republican National Convention in Cleveland have long
had in mind — respectful of free speech,
and orderly.
No arrests were made.
Elsewhere in the United States, tensions
are high since last week’s deadly attack
on police in Dallas, creating scenes like
the one in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where
police in riot gear confronted a woman
standing calmly in a flowing dress, an image captured in a photograph that has attracted worldwide attention.
But in Cleveland, where the four-day
Republican convention begins on Monday, police are committed to a low profile,
avoiding the militarised presence that has
become common in recent years since police across the country received free war
surplus equipment from the Pentagon.
The Ohio city is sticking with its plan
even after the events in Dallas, where a
black US veteran of the Afghan war, who
had said he wanted to “kill white people”,
fatally shot five police officers on Thursday.
The attack came during an otherwise
peaceful protest to denounce last week’s
police killings of black men in Louisiana
and Minnesota.
Protests have continued in those states,
resulting in hundreds of arrests.
Cleveland police have said they will in-
A demonstrator wearing the insignia of the New Black Panthers Party carries a shotgun
during a protest over the shooting death of Alton Sterling near the headquarters of the
Baton Rouge Police Department in Louisiana
.
crease intelligence and surveillance as a
result of the Dallas attacks.
“(Dallas) affects our planning, but we
have planned, we have what-iffed and we
have table-topped this for a long time,” the
police chief, Calvin Williams, told a news
conference on Tuesday. “We don’t want
anybody to trample on anybody else’s
rights.”
Steve Loomis, the head of the Cleveland
police officers’ union, said Cleveland may
be too lightly equipped.
He also complained about a 28-page
General Police Order sent to officers a
month before the convention, with instructions on de-escalating conflicts and
preserving protesters’ rights, calling it
condescending and designed to make officers look weak.
“We have no shields because they think
it is too offensive,” Loomis said. “But a
brick to the head is offensive to me.”
Political conventions are a magnet for
protests even under normal circumstances, and Cleveland will have the Trump factor.
Donald Trump, the New York businessman set to receive the Republican presidential nomination for the November 8
election, has stirred passions among supporters and opponents during the campaign with his comments on illegal immigrants and Muslims, and the two sides
have clashed at several of his campaign
events.
Cleveland’s gun laws will allow people
to carry guns openly within the so-called
event zone where demonstrations will take
place.
The New Black Panther Party, a “black
power” movement, will carry firearms for
self-defence during demonstrations in
Cleveland, the group’s chairman said.
The city comes into the convention with
less hardware than other places.
Cleveland never received any war surplus but has bought one armoured vehicle
and personal protective equipment for officers, a police spokeswoman said.
Otherwise, Cleveland has avoided
“controlled equipment” such as bayonets
and grenade launchers, which the defence
department has since recalled from many
police departments.
But the city is also keeping secret millions of dollars worth of police purchases
until after the convention, citing security
concerns.
Among the publicly disclosed purchases
for the convention to date have been 2,000
new sets of personal protection equipment, colloquially known as riot gear.
The US Secret Service and FBI will run
security inside the convention hall, while
Cleveland police will handle crowd control
outside, aided by 3,000 reinforcements,
mostly from elsewhere in Ohio.
Jacqueline Greene, co-coordinator for
the National Lawyers Guild, a human
rights organisation, expressed concern the
visiting officers may not share Cleveland’s
priorities on protecting free speech.
Cleveland and visiting police will be
bound by the General Police Order on
managing crowds while protecting free
speech and assembly rights guaranteed by
the US Constitution.
The order directs police to “rely on deescalation and voluntary compliance, and
without using force, as the primary means
of maintaining order”.
Only the police chief or his designated
subordinates may approve mass arrests.
“One order is to create space,” Loomis
said. “That is retreating.
When they (protesters) see we are on our
heels, it is a victory for them.”
Transgender bathroom fight set
to reach Supreme Court
The legal fight over whether transgender people can use
public bathrooms that reflect their gender identity is set
to reach the US Supreme Court for the first time in a case
involving a Virginia high school student who was born a girl
but now identifies as male. The Gloucester County School
Board has lost its fight in lower courts to prevent Gavin
Grimm, 17, from using the boys’ bathroom while litigation
continues. The board is expected to file an emergency
application with the supreme court seeking to block a lower
court’s injunction requiring it to allow Grimm to use the
boys’ bathroom, according to Kyle Duncan, one of the school
board’s lawyers. The move comes after a federal appeals
court on Tuesday refused to put the injunction on hold.
The school board is expected to ask chief justice John
Roberts, who has responsibility for emergency actions that
arise from the regional federal appeals court that covers
Virginia, to grant a stay of the injunction.
Roberts could act alone or refer the matter to all eight
justices. Five votes are need to grant a stay application.
The American Civil Liberties Union had sued on behalf of
Grimm to challenge the school board’s bathroom policy,
which requires transgender students to use alternative
restroom facilities.
The April ruling by the Richmond, Virginia-based 4th US
circuit court of appeals in favor of Grimm was the first
by an appeals court to find that transgender students
are protected under federal laws that bar sex-based
discrimination.
embers of The Tenors quickly distanced
themselves from a
rogue Tenor on Tuesday night
after a member of the classical-pop group inserted a political statement into the lyrics
of O Canada before the Major
League Baseball all-star game
in San Diego.
During their on-field performance at Petco Park, a line
in the anthem was changed
to “We’re all brothers and
sisters, all lives matter to
the great”. The normal lyric
is “With glowing hearts we
see thee rise, the True North
strong and free”.
On Facebook, members of
the British Columbia-based
quartet blamed the alteration
on Remigio Pereira, saying he
acted as a “lone wolf” who
changed the anthem to “serve
his own political views”.
Their
statement
said
they are “deeply sorry” and
“shocked and embarrassed”
over what they term the “disrespectful and misguided lack
of judgment by one member of
the group”.
“The actions of one member of this group were extremely selfish and he will not
be performing with The Tenors until further notice,” said
the statement.
“Our sincere apologies and
regrets go out to everybody
who witnessed this shameful
act, to our fellow Canadians,
to Major League Baseball, to
our friends, families, fans and
to all those affected.”
Pereira — who sang the altered lyric alone and drew
a sideways glance from the
Tenor to his left — also held
up a sign during the performance saying “All Lives Matter.”
The words “United We Stand”
were written on the back of
the sign.
“I’ve been so moved lately
by the tragic loss of life and I
hoped for a positive statement
that would bring us all together,” Pereira later explained on
Twitter.
“That was my singular motivation when I said all lives
matter.”
The Tenors
Although the audio wasn’t
crystal-clear at the park,
many fans reacted with surprise. The Canadian anthem
wasn’t shown live on US television, but it aired in Canada,
where the decision to change
the words drew a firestorm of
criticism on social media.
The Juno Award-winning
group, which also includes
Clifton Murray, Fraser Walters and Victor Micallef, has
recorded multiple platinum
albums in Canada.
Major League Baseball was
also taken by surprise by the
lyric change. Spokesman
Matt Bourne told The Associated Press they “had no idea”
Pereira intended to make a political statement.
San Diego was also home to
another controversial rendition of an anthem in July 1990
when actress Roseanne Barr
delivered a shrieking, crotchgrabbing version of The Star
Spangled Banner.
Barr was roundly mocked
and ridiculed for her performance at Jack Murphy Stadium,
where the Padres played at the
time, and also drew a sharp
rebuke from then-president
George Bush.
The term “All Lives Matter”
was born in controversy into
the American political vocabulary last year. In the heat of a
debate over police shootings,
presidential candidate Martin
O’Malley uttered the phrase
at a Democratic party forum.
He was booed and later apologised.
Some viewed it as an innocuous statement. Conservatives ridiculed O’Malley
for apologising, and Donald
Trump called him a weak, pathetic baby.
Others saw that phrase
as anything but innocent —
critics said it was designed
to squash a nascent national
conversation about policerelated violence against African-Americans by switching
the subject.
Tuesday’s incident follows
a series of Black Lives Matter protests prompted by two
police shootings in the United
States that left two black men
dead and last Friday’s deadly
sniper attack on Dallas police
officers.
Gulf Times
Thursday, July 14, 2016
9
AMERICAS
Deportation drive
would ‘hit NY hard’
New York
Guardian
D
onald Trump’s proposal to deport
undocumented immigrants from the
US would cost New York City $2326bn, the city council’s speaker has said.
Deporting undocumented migrants from
New York City would result in a 3% drop in
the gross city product, said Melissa MarkViverito in a speech in Manhattan yesterday
morning.
“The city’s economy would shrink because of Donald Trump,” said Mark-Viverito,
a Democrat and surrogate for Hillary Clinton.
Trump’s deportation plans would cost an
estimated $400-600bn nationally, MarkViverito said, citing a May report from the
conservative thinktank American Action
Forum.
Economists from the city council ran calculations of the costs of Trump’s deportation
plan and his possible ban on Muslims entering the US “because numbers matter and
facts matter”, said Mark-Viverito, speaking
at a breakfast hosted by the Association for
a Better New York, a foundation made up of
businesses and nonprofits focused on NYC.
The city’s economists said that if the cost
to the federal government of deporting all
the undocumented immigrants was $600bn
(the higher end of the American Action Forum’s calculation), 8.2% of that — $49.2bn
— would be borne by New York state, because that is the usual proportion of its contribution to tax revenue.
Currently, tens of thousands of undocumented New Yorkers contribute around
$793m in state and local taxes, says MarkViverito, who was born in Puerto Rico and
has long pushed for immigration reform and
clemency for undocumented immigrants.
Her estimates show that deporting undocumented migrants would see a loss of
340,000 jobs in the city, higher than the
number of jobs lost in the 2001 and 2008 recessions.
“The closer we look, the more it becomes
apparent that — shockingly — a con man and
reality TV personality masquerading as a
policymaker would drive New York’s economy into a ditch,” said the speaker.
Trump “has run a campaign based on racism and xenophobia”, said Mark-Viverito.
Working out the cost of Trump’s proposed
ban on Muslims is a little more complicated,
as the American Community Survey, the
data used by the US Census Bureau, does not
collect information on religion.
It does, however, collect data about the
countries where people are born.
New Yorkers born in Muslim-majority
countries contribute $14.2bn a year to the
city, said Mark-Viverito, using data from
the census data and the Bureau of Economic
Analysis.
New York City is also the top destination
for big-spending Middle Eastern tourists,
who spend about twice as much on average
as other international visitors.
Mark-Viverito said 32,000 Middle Eastern tourists visited in 2014, spending $1.2bn
in the city on hotels, food,
shopping and Broadway tickets.
The city council has not run estimates of
the cost of any of Hillary Clinton’s policies
on New York, with Mark-Viverito saying it
was “not necessary”.
“She’s not talking about mass roundups
or deportations, she’s not talking about banning people of a religious background to this
country,” she told reporters after her speech.
“I find it abhorrent what he’s proposing,”
said Mark-Vivierito.
“We have a responsibility as a legislative
body for the city of New York, as we adopt
the budget of the city of New York, to figure
out what the economic implications would
be for any sort of public policies that are being proposed.”
Justice Ginsburg
must quit: Trump
Trump has lashed out at criticism
by judge Ginsburg
Reuters
Washington
U
S Republican presidential contender Donald Trump called
yesterday for the resignation
of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader
Ginsburg, describing her as mentally
unfit after she lambasted him in a series of media interviews.
“Justice Ginsburg of the US Supreme Court has embarrassed all by
making very dumb political statements about me,” Trump said in a
Twitter post.“Her mind is shot — resign!”
The New York businessman chided
Ginsburg, 83, for criticising him this
week and expressing concern for the
country’s future if he is elected in November.
Trump said it was inappropriate for
supreme court justices to weigh in on
political campaigns.
He told the New York Times on
Tuesday that he thought it was a disgrace to the court and that Ginsburg
should apologise to her colleagues on
the bench.
Trump was not alone in the rebuke.
In an editorial yesterday, the New
York Times urged Ginsburg to uphold
the court’s tradition of silence in political campaigns.
“Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg needs
to drop the political punditry and the
name-calling,” the editorial said.
The Times said there was no legal requirement that Supreme Court
justices keep silent on political campaigns, but it expressed concern that
Ginsburg would jeopardise her own
commitment to impartiality.
Ginsburg was not immediately
available for comment on Trump’s remarks and the editorial.
Calgary girl’s
father begs for
her return
The father of a Calgary child
abducted from the basement
suite where her mother
was found slain has issued
a statement to the media
through a friend, pleading for
anyone with information to
come forward.
An Alberta-wide Amber Alert
has been in effect for Taliyah
Leigh Marsmans, 5, since early
Tuesday, hours after she was
discovered missing and her
mother, Sara Baillie, found
slain in their rented basement
suite in Panorama Hills.
Investigators are treating
Baillie’s killing as a homicide,
but they have not revealed
the cause of death.
“With all my heart, please
allow her to come home to
her family,” said Taliyah’s
father, Colin Marsman —
who was Baillie’s estranged
common-law spouse — in
the statement sent out by his
friend Gabriel Goree.
“Those who know me best,
know the person and kind
of father I am, and know
more than anything, I just
want my baby girl back,” said
Marsman, 36.
A day earlier, inspector Don
Coleman of the Calgary Police
Service major crimes section
said there is a “limited” history
of domestic violence between
Baillie and Marsman, “both
reported and unreported”.
He said Marsman has been
co-operating.
Goree told CBC News he and
Marsman have been friends
for more than 25 years and
were very close growing up
together in Halifax.
Marsman is a hardworking
construction worker who has
another child — a teenaged
boy — and is distraught and in
shock about the abduction of
his little girl, said Goree.
Race against the clock Mount
Royal University criminologist
Scharie Tavcer says that
in the search for missing
children, the clock can be a
big obstacle.
“This is not a science, right,
we can’t pinpoint anything.
But police will tell you the
same thing.
The more time that passes,
the chances are slimmer that
we find her,” she said.
“And so it’s a race against the
clock and I know police, our
police service is phenomenal
and they’re doing everything
they can.”
Campaign supporters await the arrival of presumptive US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during a
campaign rally at Grant Park Event Center in Westfield, Indiana.
Ginsburg is among the liberals on
the Supreme Court, which has been
ideologically split with four liberals
and four conservatives since the sudden death of conservative justice Antonin Scalia in February.
In a CNN interview posted on Tuesday, Ginsburg called Trump “a faker”.
“He has no consistency about him,”
she said.“He says whatever comes
into his head at the moment. He really
has an ego.
“How has he gotten away with
not turning over his tax returns? The
press seems to be very gentle with him
on that.”
Earlier, Ginsburg joked about moving to New Zealand if Trump wins the
White House.
“I can’t imagine what this place
would be — I can’t imagine what the
country would be — with Donald
Trump as our president,” she said in
a New York Times interview published
on Sunday.
The supreme court, whose nine
justices are nominated by the US
president to lifetime appointments, is
in the spotlight this presidential election cycle after Scalia’s death.
The Republican-controlled US
Senate has refused to take up Democratic president Barack Obama’s
nominee to replace Scalia, Merrick
Garland.
Republicans have said the next
president should be allowed to nominate a replacement for the conservative Scalia.
The next president is likely to have
other opportunities to shape the court
as ageing justices retire or die.
Trump adviser Sam Clovis told
CNN yesterday that Ginsburg’s com-
ments were out of character for supreme court justices but should not
have been surprising.
“She has always been a firebrand,”
he said.
US senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who dropped his presidential
bid on Tuesday and endorsed rival
Hillary Clinton to be the Democratic
candidate for the November 8 election, told ABC’s Good Morning America he agreed with Ginsburg.
“I think that Trump is a total opportunist,” Sanders said.”I do not believe anything that comes out of his
mouth.”
Donald Trump met with Indiana governor Mike Pence yesterday
heightening speculation that Pence
could emerge as the Republican presidential candidate’s choice for vice
presidential running mat
10
Gulf Times
Thursday, July 14, 2016
ASEAN
Unemployed
man charged
with murdering
Cambodia critic
Reuters
Phnom Penh
A
Cambodian court yesterday charged an unemployed man with
murdering prominent government critic and activist
Kem Ley, who was gunned
down in broad daylight at a
shop in the capital Phnom
Penh.
Kem Ley’s death comes
amid rising political tensions
between veteran Prime Minister Hun Sen and an opposition hoping to challenge his
grip on power at local elections in 2017 and national
elections in 2018.
The Phnom Penh city
court charged Chuop Somlap, 38, with the premeditated murder of Kem Ley,
46, the founder of grassroots
advocacy group “Khmer for
Khmer,” deputy prosecutor
Ly Sophana told reporters.
He was also charged with
the illegal possession of a
weapon and another unidentified person was charged
with the illegal sale of a
weapon to Chuop Somlap, Ly
Sophana said.
Chuop Somlap was arrested shortly after the shooting
on Sunday.
In a police video he claims
to have killed the popular
political commentator over a
$3,000 debt.
Members of Cambodia’s
opposition and activists have
been jailed in recent months
on charges they say were
trumped up by the government as part of a crackdown
to mute critics ahead of the
elections.
Many of Kem Ley’s supporters said the murder was
political and were sceptical
of the reason given for the
killing.
Kem Ley’s family said the
activist did not owe money,
adding that they now feared
for their safety.
“If I continue to live in
Cambodia, it’s not safe,”
Kem Ley’s wife Bou Rachana
said.
Chuop Somlap’s wife said
her husband was a poor, unemployed man and would not
have had such a large amount
of money to lend.
“He has never had that
much money,” she said.
Kem Ley was a frequent
critic of Hun Sen, whose
more than 30 years’ grip on
power has been challenged
by the rise of the opposition
Cambodia Nation Rescue
Party (CNRP).
His most recent critique
was a commentary on a report by anti-corruption
pressure group Global Witness, which accused the
prime minister and his family
of having amassed $200mn
in business interests.
Indonesia to execute 2 foreign convicts
Indonesia plans to execute
this year at least two foreign
convicts, one from Nigeria
and another from Zimbabwe,
the attorney general said
yesterday.
President Joko Widodo
has pledged to increase
the number of executions
this year and next as part
of his crackdown on
drugs.
Asked if there were any
foreigners on the list of
convicts to be executed,
Attorney General H M Prasetyo
told reporters: “We have
foreigners, among them from
Nigeria and Zimbabwe.”
He did not elaborate on the
crimes of which they were
convicted.
Prasetyo added that no
convicts from the United
States, Europe or Australia
were on the list to be executed
this year.
A 59-year-old British women,
Lindsay Sandiford, was
sentenced to death after being
convicted in 2013 of trying to
smuggle cocaine worth $2.5mn
into the country.
A Philippine maid, Mary Jane
Veloso, got a last-minute
reprieve last year in response
to a request from Manila after
an employment recruiter,
whom Veloso had accused of
planting drugs in her luggage,
gave herself up to police in the
Philippines.
Last year Indonesia executed
14 people, mostly foreign drug
traffickers.
Prasetyo previously said at
least 16 prisoners would be
executed this year and more
than double that number next
year.
Volcanic eruption shuts down airport
Mount Bromo in Probolinggo in Indonesia’s East Java province spews ashes into the air during a volcanic eruption yesterday. The volcano spewed a column of ash by up to
1,200m into the sky and forced the closure of all activities at the nearby Abdurrahman Saleh airport in Malang district, according to local reports stating the national disaster
management agency. Bromo lies within Bromo-Tengger-Semeru National Park, a huge caldera containing several volcanoes.
Indonesia to strengthen
security after sea ruling
The military build-up will be
completed in less than a year,
says minister
Agencies
Jakarta
I
ndonesia
will
sharply
strengthen security around
its South China Sea islands
where there have been clashes
with Chinese vessels, the defence minister said yesterday, a
day after Beijing’s claims in the
waters were declared invalid.
Ryamizard Ryacudu said bolstering defences around Indonesia’s Natuna Islands would
involve deploying warships, an
F-16 fighter jet, surface-to-air
missiles, a radar and drones, as
well as constructing new ports
and improving an airstrip.
The military build-up, which
started in recent months, would
be completed in “less than a
year,” he said.
“This will be our eyes and
ears,” the retired general said.
“So that we can really see
what is happening in the Natunas and the surrounding area in
the South China Sea.”
His comments came after
a UN-backed tribunal in The
Hague ruled on Tuesday against
China’s expansive claims in the
South China Sea, finding in favour of a challenge from the
Philippines which has longrunning territorial disputes with
Beijing in the waters.
The surprisingly strong ruling
provided ammunition for Manila and other claimants locked
in disputes over the resourcerich sea but sparked fury from
Beijing, which warned its rivals
against turning the waters into
a “cradle of war” and threatened
an air defence zone.
Unlike several of its Southeast
Asian neighbours, Indonesia has
long maintained it has no maritime disputes with China in the
South China Sea and does not
contest ownership of any territory.
But Beijing’s claims overlap
Indonesia’s exclusive economic
zone - waters where a state has
the right to exploit resources around the Natunas, and there
has been an upsurge in clashes
between Indonesian patrol and
navy boats and Chinese fishing
vessels and coastguards.
The increase in high-seas
confrontations has been trig-
Ryacudu: calls for restraint
gered by Indonesian authorities’
aggressive crackdown on illegal
fishing in its vast waters.
After a clash last month,
President Joko Widodo visited
the Natunas on a warship with
his cabinet to send a message
to China that Jakarta is serious
about defending the remote archipelago.
As well as the military hardware, Indonesia will send special
air force and marine task forces
as well as an army battalion to
the Natunas, once barracks and
housing have been built, Ryacudu said.
He insisted that Indonesia
was not adding to the growing
militarisation of the South China
Robbery suspect
‘to be sent abroad’
Reuters
Bangkok
A
Canadian
suspected of robbing a
Singapore bank of
S$30,000 ($22,250) will be
sent abroad, Thailand’s police chief said yesterday, but
he did not say whether he
would be sent to Singapore
or Canada.
The rare bank robbery in
Singapore sparked a flurry
of debate about whether
the country has grown too
complacent about security,
with crime rates among the
lowest in the world.
Thai Police Commissioner General Jakthip
Chaijinda told reporters in
Bangkok that Singapore
had asked for the suspect to
be extradited to Singapore.
“Singapore is in the middle of asking for this suspect back but the decision
rests with the courts,” said
Jakthip. “We are waiting to
send him abroad.”
Thai immigration chief
Police Lieutenant General Nattorn Prohsunthorn
named the suspect on
Tuesday as 27-year-old Canadian David James Roach.
Thai police had earlier
said Roach was 26.
“We tried to interrogate
David but he would not
speak to us and asked to
speak to his embassy,” said
Nattorn.
“Yesterday the Canadian
embassy came to see him.
We think the Canadians
would like to send him back
to Canada but first we need
to follow Thai legal procedure.”
Thailand has an extradition treaty with Canada.
Reuters was unable to
immediately reach the Canadian Embassy in Bangkok
for comment.
Roach arrived in Bangkok on Thursday, hours after the Standard Chartered
Bank in Singapore’s Holland Village was robbed.
He was arrested at a hostel in Bangkok’s Pratunam
shopping district.
A man slipped the Singapore bank teller a note saying he was armed, a source
with knowledge of the matter said.
The teller pressed a silent alarm button and police arrived within minutes,
but it was too late, said the
source, who declined to
be identified as he was not
authorised to speak to the
media.
Standard Chartered said
the bank had taken “immediate actions to further
enhance” security.
It declined to comment
on the details of the robbery.
Sea, and suggested it had a right
to defend its borders.
“It is our front door, why is it
not guarded?” he said.
Authorities recently approved
a bigger defence budget, part of
which is to be allocated for the
islands.
The minister said that he
wanted the islands, in remote
waters between Borneo island
and peninsular Malaysia, to
become like a northern sentry
post guarding the country and
authorities were considering
building similar bases in other
parts of the vast archipelago.
After the tribunal handed
down its ruling, Indonesia’s foreign ministry issued a typically
cautious statement that urged
“all parties to exercise restraint
and not do anything that may
increase tension.”
Ryacudu echoed the call for
restraint and insisted that the
ruling would not lead to Jakarta
changing its traditional position
as a non-claimant state in the
sea disputes.
“Let’s avoid war,” he said,
adding Indonesia had good relations with all sides.
“If it is a squabble, a verbal
one, please go ahead - but let’s
protect this global maritime axis
because we have shared interest
there.”
Indonesia also said it wants to
send hundreds of fishermen to
Natuna to assert its sovereignty.
“We are aware that if we don’t
do this there could be many
claims that disrupt the integrity
of Indonesian territory,” Chief
Maritime Minister Rizal Ramli
said.
Ramli said he would seek cabinet approval this month for the
relocation of fishermen from the
crowded island of Java to Natuna.
Under the plan, the government would move about 400
wooden boats of 30 tonnes or
more to Natuna by the end of
October.
Fishermen who go could get
subsidised housing, while the
island’s ports, power supply and
internet will be upgraded.
The programme is expected to
boost fishing in Natuna waters
from 9.3% of sustainable catchment levels to 40% in less than
a year.
“We will build cold storage
there. We hope this will become
the biggest fish market in Southeast Asia,” Ramli said.
Gulf Times
Thursday, July 14, 2016
11
AUSTRALASIA/EAST ASIA
Furious China
warns against
‘cradle of war’
in sea dispute
AFP
Beijing
C
hina yesterday warned rivals
against turning the South
China Sea into a “cradle of
war” and threatened an air defence
zone there, after its claims to the
strategically vital waters were declared invalid.
The surprisingly strong and
sweeping ruling by a UN-backed
tribunal in The Hague provided
powerful diplomatic ammunition
to the Philippines, which filed the
challenge, and other claimants in
their decades-long disputes with
China over the resource-rich waters.
China reacted furiously to Tuesday’s decision, insisting it had
historical rights over the sea while
launching a volley of thinly veiled
warnings at the United States and
other critical nations.
“Do not turn the South China Sea
into a cradle of war,” vice Foreign
Minister Liu Zhenmin told reporters in Beijing, as he described the
ruling as waste paper.
Liu also said China had “the
right” to establish an air defence
identification zone over the sea,
which would give the Chinese military authority over foreign aircraft.
A similar zone set up in 2013 in
the East China Sea riled Japan, the
United States and its allies.
“Whether we need to set up one
in the South China Sea depends on
the level of threat we receive,” he
said.
“We hope other countries will
not take the chance to blackmail
China.”
The Chinese ambassador to the
United States, Cui Tiankai, was
even more blunt.
“It will certainly intensify conflicts and even confrontation,” Cui
said in Washington on Tuesday.
And the ruling Communist Party’s mouthpiece, the People’s Daily,
said that China was prepared to
take “all measures necessary” to
protect its interests.
China justifies its sovereignty
claims by saying it was the first to
have discovered, named and ex-
Beijing must accept ruling: Australia
China must accept a verdict declaring its South China Sea claims are
invalid, Australia said yesterday,
and needs to halt its artificial island
building in the disputed waters.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said
Beijing risked reputational harm
if it ignored the ruling by the UNbacked Permanent Court of Arbitration, on a case brought by Manila,
which said China had no title to the
waterway.
“We call on both the Philippines
and China to respect the ruling,
to abide by it. It is final and legally
binding on both of them,” Bishop
told national broadcaster ABC.
“This treaty, the Law of the Sea,
codifies pre-existing international
custom. It’s a foundation to maritime trade and commerce globally,
and so to ignore it would be a serious international transgression.
There would be strong reputational
costs.
ploited the sea, and outlines its
claims for most of the waterway
using a vague map made up of nine
dashes that emerged in the 1940s.
Those claims overlap with those
of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.
Manila, under previous president Benigno Aquino, launched the
legal case in 2013 after China took
control of Scarborough Shoal, a
rich fishing ground within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone
and far away from the nearest major
Chinese landmass.
China has also in recent years
built giant artificial islands capable of hosting military installations
and airstrips in the Spratlys archipelago, one of the biggest groups of
features in the sea.
Aside from stating that China’s
historical rights were without “legal basis”, the tribunal ruled that
its artificial island building and the
blocking of Filipino fishermen at
Scarborough Shoal were unlawful.
China has long wanted to negotiate directly, and analysts said dialogue rather than conflict was the
most likely scenario.
Fukushima reactor
makers ‘not liable’
AFP
Tokyo
A
Japanese court yesterday turned down a class action
lawsuit seeking damages from nuclear plant makers
Toshiba, Hitachi and GE over the Fukushima meltdown
disaster, the plaintiffs, one of the companies and a report said.
About 3,800 claimants in the suit, hailing from Japan and
32 other countries including the United States, Germany
and South Korea, had sought largely symbolic compensation
from the nuclear power plant manufacturers.
Under Japanese liability law, nuclear plant providers are
usually exempt from damage claims in the event of an accident, leaving operators to face legal action.
The plaintiffs’ lawyers, however, had argued that violated
constitutional protections on the pursuit of happy, wholesome and cultured livelihoods.
But the Tokyo District Court ruled that the law “is not unconstitutional”, according to lawyers for the plaintiffs.
“We knew it was difficult to win under the current legal system in Japan, but it’s clearly wrong that nuclear (plant) manufacturers don’t have to bear any responsibility for an accident,”
Masao Imaizumi, 73, one of plaintiffs, told AFP. “If they are
spared responsibility, it could lead to disregard for product
quality,” he said, adding that the plaintiffs will appeal.
Toshiba welcomed the decision. “The company recognises
the verdict as an appropriate ruling handed out by the court,”
it said in a statement. Hitachi and GE’s Japan office could not
be reached for comment.
Japan’s Jiji Press also reported that the suit was rejected.
The suit — which sought just 100 yen ($.96) per claimant
— was the first to be brought against nuclear power-plant
suppliers over the accident, Akihiro Shima, lead lawyer for
the plaintiffs, said previously.
The suit was first filed in January 2014 with just over 1,000
claimants, but more joined which saw the number nearly
quadruple. The plaintiffs had alleged that the companies
failed to make necessary safety updates to the Fukushima
reactors, swamped on March 11, 2011 by a magnitude 9.0
earthquake-sparked tsunami that lead to the worst nuclear
accident since Chernobyl in 1986.
Embattled plant operator Tokyo Electric Power is already
facing massive lawsuits and compensation costs.
“China seeks to be a regional and
global leader and requires friendly
relations with its neighbours.That’s
crucial to its rise.
“Australia has been calling on
China for some time to halt reclamation work and not to militarise its
structures,” Bishop said.
“We certainly urge all parties to
take steps to ease tensions, to refrain from provocative actions that
would escalate tensions and lead to
greater uncertainty.”
Bishop said Canberra also
reserved the right to sail ships and
fly planes close to some of the reefs
and islands claimed by China.
“As we’ve done for many decades, Australian ships and aircraft
will continue to exercise rights
under international laws of freedom
of navigation and over-flight,” she
said.
“We’ve already been doing that;
we’ll continue to do it.”
South Koreans hold up red banners reading “We absolutely oppose THAAD deployment”, during a rally against the planned
deployment of the US-built Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, THAAD, in Seongju town.
Seoul confirms THAAD site
Yet a military build-up in the sea
continued.
China launched naval drills in the
northern areas before the verdict,
while the US Pacific Command said
it had deployed an aircraft carrier
for flights to support “security” in
the sea.
China used deadly force to seize
control of the Paracel Islands from
South Vietnam in 1974, and Johnson Reef from Vietnam in 1988.
China faced immediate pressure
to abide by the ruling from Western powers, which insist they have
legitimate interests in the dispute
because of the need to maintain
“freedom of navigation” in waters
that host more than $5tn in shipping trade annually.
The United States emphasised
that China, as a signatory to the
United Nations Convention on the
Law of the Sea, should accept the
verdict.
“As provided in the convention,
the tribunal’s decision is final and
legally binding on both China and
the Philippines,” State Department
spokesman John Kirby told reporters in Washington. Page 20
AFP
Seoul
S
eoul said yesterday an advanced US
missile defence system will be deployed in a remote southern county
and will have the capacity to protect two
thirds of the country against feared attacks from the North.
The plan to deploy the powerful system, which fires projectiles to smash into
enemy missiles, came last week after the
United States placed North Korea’s “Supreme Leader” Kim Jong-Un on its sanctions blacklist for the first time.
The move prompted objections from
Russia and China, who accused Washington of flexing its military muscle in the
region.
Tensions have soared since Pyongyang
carried out its fourth nuclear test in
January, followed by a series of missile
launches that analysts say show the North
is making progress toward being able to
strike the US mainland.
The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, or THAAD, will be deployed
in Seongju county about 200km southeast of Seoul, as agreed by US Secretary of
Defence Ash Carter and his South Korean
counterpart Han Min-Koo, according to
the defence ministry in Seoul.
The deployment will be completed by
the end of next year and will be able to
cover up to two thirds of South Korea from
North Korean missiles.
It will also protect key industrial facilities, including nuclear power plants and
oil depots, the ministry added.
US military bases in the South will also
be protected by the missile system, but
Seoul and its surrounding areas will be
left out.
This could mean the military deploying
more US Patriot anti-air and missile defence systems in these areas, Yonhap news
agency reported.
There have been protests about the
system’s location, with residents fearing
harmful economic and environmental effects.
“We hope the people and residents in
Seongju...render support” for the decision, the ministry said in a statement.
But thousands took to the streets yesterday in Seongju town, carrying banners
reading “We absolutely oppose THAAD
deployment”, Yonhap news agency reported.
The head of the county Kim Hang-Gon
and some 10 others staged a hunger strike,
Japan emperor intends
to abdicate: media
Taiwan ramps
up training after
missile gaffe
AFP
Taipei
Reuters
Tokyo
T
J
apanese Emperor Akihito, who
has spent much of his time on the
throne trying to heal the wounds of
World War II, intends to abdicate in a
few years, public broadcaster NHK and
other domestic media said yesterday,
a step that would be unprecedented in
modern Japan.
The 82-year-old monarch, who has
had heart surgery and been treated for
prostate cancer in recent years, expressed his intention to the Imperial
Household Agency, NHK said.
It did not cite a reason and officials
at the agency could not immediately be
reached for comment.
Kyodo news agency, quoting a government source, said Akihito had been
expressing his intention to abdicate to
people around him for about a year, although in a separate report Kyodo quoted a senior Imperial Household Agency
official as denying that the reports were
correct.
Akihito has been cutting back on his
official duties, handing over some of
the burden to his heir, Crown Prince
Naruhito, 56.
Born in 1933, Akihito was heir to Emperor Hirohito, in whose name Japan
fought World War II.
The soft-spoken Akihito marked the
70th anniversary of World War Two’s
end last year with an expression of
“deep remorse”, a departure from his
previous remarks seen by some as an effort to cement a legacy of pacifism un-
cut their fingers and wrote slogans in
blood on banners at the yesterday’s rally.
“The THAAD deployment threatens
the livelihood of the country’s 45,000
residents, 60% of whom are engaged in
watermelon agriculture”, a group against
the deployment said in a statement.
North Korea has threatened to take
“physical action” against the planned
deployment of the powerful anti-missile
system.
The move has also angered Beijing and
Moscow, which both see it as a US bid to
boost military might in the region.
China on Friday said the move would
“seriously damage” regional security in
northeast Asia.
The US and South Korea began talks on
deploying the THAAD system to the Korean peninsula in February after the North
fired a long-range rocket.
South Korean authorities have scrambled to allay fears over possible trade retaliations from its largest trading partner
China.
Finance Minister Yoo Il-Ho told the
National Assembly Wednesday he believed China will separate politics from
economic affairs and is not likely to hit the
South with economic sanctions over missile system deployment.
A file photo of Emperor Akihito waving to well-wishers who gathered at the
Imperial Palace to mark his 82nd birthday in Tokyo on December 23, 2015.
der threat from conservative Japanese
nationalists.
“Looking back at the past, together
with deep remorse over the war, I pray
that this tragedy of war will not be repeated and together with the people
express my deep condolences for those
who fell in battle and in the ravages of
war,” he said.
While Akihito’s father was a controversial figure, Akihito “was the
first post-war emperor to embrace the
(pacifist) constitution and his role as a
symbol of national unity”, said Koichi
Nakano, a political science professor at
Sophia University in Tokyo.
“He cares a great deal about war issues and reconciliation (with Asian
countries). Naruhito has made clear
that he will carry on with that,” Nakano
added.
Akihito has sought to deepen Japan’s ties with the world through visits
abroad. In 1992 he became the first Japanese monarch in living memory to visit
China, where bitter memories of Japan’s past military aggression run deep.
Emperor Kokaku, who gave up the
throne in 1817, was the last Japanese
emperor to abdicate, NHK said.
Miiko Kodama, a professor emeritus
at Musashi University, said the Imperial Household Law would need to be
amended to allow Akihito to step down,
a process that could take time and debate in parliament.
aiwan said yesterday it was ramping up defence training and guidelines after a missile
was accidentally launched towards China,
killing one person and triggering a stern response
from Beijing.
The Hsiung-feng III (Brave Wind) missile flew
about 75km before hitting a trawler earlier this
month in waters off Penghu, a Taiwanese-administered island group in the Taiwan Strait.
It killed the boat’s skipper and injured three crew
on board.
The accident came at a time of deteriorating ties
between the island and China, which insists selfruling Taiwan is part of its territory even though
the two sides split in 1949 after a civil war.
It has not ruled out using force to bring about reunification.
The navy said the staff sergeant who launched
the missile had mistakenly chosen “war mode” and
“missile loading mode” during the practice drill.
“The incident caused a death and endangered
ties with the mainland,” Taiwan Defence Minister
Feng Shih-kuan said in a statement posted yesterday on social media.
“It also raised international concerns and upset
the morale and honour of the military.”
Feng said all units in charge of “precision weapons” must complete the new training by August 15.
The measures also call for improved operating
guidelines to be implemented and a disciplinary
code for relevant units.
Zhang Zhihjun, the head of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office in Beijing, issued a warning in response
to the accidental launch.
“At a time when the mainland repeatedly
stressed it wants to sustain peaceful development
of cross-strait ties...I felt the influence from the
event could be very severe,” he said.
12
Gulf Times
Thursday, July 14, 2016
BRITAIN
May takes over as prime minister
Reuters
London
T
heresa May became Britain’s new prime minister
yesterday, promising to
carve out a bold new future in
the world as she embarks on the
monumental task of leading the
country out of the European Union.
May, 59 assumed office after
an audience with Queen Elizabeth and drove straight to her
new home of 10 Downing Street,
vacated hours earlier by David
Cameron.
“We will rise to the challenge.
As we leave the European Union
we will forge a bold new positive
role for ourselves in the world,
and we will make Britain a country that works not for a privileged
few, but for every one of us,” she
said.
Cameron stepped down after
Britons rejected his entreaties
and voted to leave the EU in a
referendum last month, severely
undermining European efforts to
forge greater unity and creating
economic uncertainty across the
28-nation bloc.
May must try to limit the
damage to British trade and investment as she renegotiates
the country’s ties with its 27 EU
partners.
She will also attempt to unite
a divided ruling Conservative
party and a fractured nation in
which many, on the evidence of
the vote, feel angry with the political elite and left behind by the
forces of globalisation.
Acknowledging the struggles
faced by many Britons, May declared: “The government I
lead will be driven not be
the interests of the privileged few, but by yours.
“We will do everything we can to give you
more control over your
lives. When we take
the big calls we’ll
think not of the
powerful
but
you, when we
pass new laws
we’ll
listen
not to the
mighty but to
you, when it
comes to taxes we’ll prioritise not
the wealthy
but you.”
The US
congratulated May
and said
it
was
confident
in
her
ability
to steer
Britain
through
t h e
Brexit
negotiations.
“Based on the public
comments we’ve seen
from the incoming prime
minister, she intends to
pursue a course that’s
consistent with the prescription that President
Obama has offered,”
White House spokesman
Josh Earnest said.
An official photograph
showed May curtseying to a smiling Queen
Elizabeth, for whom
she is the 13th prime
minister in a line that
started with Winston Churchill.
She is also Britain’s second female head of government after
Margaret Thatcher.
EU leaders, keen to move forward after the shock of ‘Brexit’,
want May to launch formal divorce proceedings as soon as
possible to help resolve the uncertainty.
But she has said the process
should not be launched before
the end of year, to give time for
Britain to draw up its negotiating
strategy.
Although she favoured Britain
remaining in Europe, May has
repeatedly declared that “Brexit
means Brexit” and that there can
be no attempt to reverse the referendum outcome.
The shock vote partly reflected discontent with EU rules on
freedom of movement that have
contributed to record-high immigration — an issue on which
May, as interior minister for the
past six years, is politically vulnerable.
But EU leaders have made
clear that free movement is a
fundamental principle that goes
hand-in-hand with access to the
bloc’s tariff-free single market,
a stance that will hugely complicate May’s task in hammering
out new terms of trade.
“My advice to my successor,
who is a brilliant negotiator, is
that we should try to be as close
to the European Union as we can
be for the benefits of trade, cooperation and of security,” Cameron told parliament in his last
appearance before resigning.
Appearing later in Downing
Street with his wife Samantha
and their three children, he delivered his parting remarks to
the nation after six years
dominated by the Europe question and the
aftermath of the global
financial crisis.
“It’s not been an
easy journey and of
course we’ve not got every decision right,”
he said, “but
I do believe
that
today
our
country is much
stronger.”
May
is
seen by her
supporters as a
safe pair of
hands to
steer the
country
t h ro u g h
the disruptive
Brexit process.
Colleagues
describe her
as
cautious,
unflappable and
intensely private.
“I
think
around the Cabinet table yesterday the
feeling was that we have our
Angela Merkel,” said Jeremy
Hunt, health secretary in Cameron’s team which met for the
last time on Tuesday.
“We have an incredibly
tough, shrewd, determined and
principled person to lead those
negotiations for Britain,” Hunt
told Sky News television.
German Chancellor Merkel will be May’s most important counterpart on the
continent as the process
unfolds.
Both women are renowned for their firmness,
pragmatism and discipline.
Cameron leaves after speaking at 10 Downing Street with his son Arthur Elwen, daughters Nancy Gwen, Florence Rose Endellion and wife Samantha Cameron in central London yesterday.
I was the future once: Cameron
AFP
London
D
avid Cameron bowed out
of parliament as prime
minister yesterday with a
poignant echo on his own career,
leaving with the line: “I was the
future once.”
In his final appearance at
prime minister’s questions in the
House of Commons, Cameron
recalled his own famous line from
his first appearance in the theatrical weekly sparring session 11
years ago.
Then the newly elected Conservative opposition leader, he
taunted embattled Labour prime
minister Tony Blair: “I want to
talk about the future. He was the
future once.”
That vision of change launched
Cameron on his way to becoming prime minister in 2010 – the
youngest in 200 years.
Six years later, he left office
under the shadow of Britain’s impending exit from the European
Union - a career ending dramatically with his failure to keep Britain in the bloc.
The convivial atmosphere in
parliament contrasted sharply
with the divisions in the country
exposed by the referendum on
which he had staked his reputation.
“You can achieve a lot of things
in politics,” Cameron, 49, said,
before a packed lower house.
“And that, in the end – the public
service, the national interest –
that is what it’s all about.
“Nothing is really impossible if
you put your mind to it. After all,
as I once said, I was the future,
once.”
Corbyn likened to Monty Python’s Black Knight
A demob-happy David Cameron
used his last appearance in
parliament as prime minister to
taunt embattled Labour leader
Jeremy Corbyn, likening him
to the hapless Black Knight
comedy figure in the film Monty
Python who was unable to see
when he was beaten. To laughs
and roars of approval from government benches, a beaming
Cameron launched one last jibe
at the leader of the opposition
during a raucous valedictory
session of the weekly Prime
Minister’s Questions session.
In the film, the stubborn knight
suffers one major wound after
another as he fights King Arthur
to stop him crossing a small
stream, until both his arms
have been chopped off. “It’s
just a flesh wound,” insists the
knight, as Arthur goes on to
chop off his legs as well. “Alright,
we’ll call it a draw,” the limbless
knight finally concedes. Corbyn
Conservative backbenchers
stood to cheer and applaud him
as he left the chamber, turning
to wave to his wife Samantha and
children watching from the gallery.
Colleagues slapped him on the
back and hugged him as he left,
shaking hands with Speaker John
Bercow as he went.
The response from opposition
MPs was polite, but not warm.
“The prime minister’s legacy
will undoubtedly be that he has
taken us to the brink of being
taken out of the European Union,
so we will not be applauding his
premiership on these benches,”
has been doggedly refusing
to step down in the face of
mounting criticism since last
month’s referendum decision
to leave the European Union.
Labour lawmakers, dismayed at
what they saw as his lacklustre
performance during the referendum campaign have passed
a vote of no confidence in him
and two of them have declared
they will challenge him for the
party leadership. Corbyn insists
he has the backing of ordinary
party members. “I’m beginning
to admire his tenacity,” Cameron said. “He is reminding me
of the Black Knight. He’s been
kicked so many times but he
says ‘keep going it’s only a
flesh wound.’ I admire that.”
Corbyn took the joke in good
heart and Labour lawmakers
joined in a long round of applause as Cameron finally left
the chamber after six years as
prime minister.
said Scots Nationalist MP Angus
Robertson.
With his successor Theresa
May seated beside him, Cameron
told MPs: “I will watch these exchanges from the backbenches, I
will miss the roar of the crowd, I
will miss the barbs from the opposition, but I will be willing you
on.”
One of the set-piece occasions of parliament, Prime
Minister’s Questions is roughand-tumble political theatre at
its best - as Cameron himself
recalled.
He recounted how, when he
was the opposition leader, he
met mayor Michael Bloomberg in
New York.
“No one had a clue who I was
until eventually someone said,
‘Hey! Cameron! Prime Minister’s
Questions! We love your show!,”
Cameron said, attempting a US
accent.
Cameron said he would miss
Larry, the Downing Street cat
who will be staying on in the
prime minister’s residence.
He said he wanted to put to
rest “the rumour that I somehow
don’t love Larry. I do and I have
photographic evidence to prove
it”, holding up a picture.
“Sadly I can’t take Larry with
me: he belongs to the house and
the staff love him very much – as
do I.”
Amid the tributes, some MPs
made suggestions for his future
role, noting vacancies as England’s football manager, the presenter of BBC motoring show Top
Gear and the judge on a dancing
contest television show.
The final question was given to
Conservative heavyweight Kenneth Clarke, the 1990s finance
minister.
He urged Cameron to keep
speaking from the backbenches
as Britain negotiates its exit from
the European Union.
“We need his advice and his
statesmanship as much as we
ever have,” Clarke said.
To laughter, Cameron recalled that Clarke’s first act on
becoming finance minister was
to sack him as a Treasury special adviser.
Despite the often bloodsport
nature of PMQs, one of the beauties of the system is that the
prime minister always gets the
last word.
Brexit ‘does not mean
Brexit in Scotland’
Scottish First Minister Nicola
Sturgeon yesterday insisted that
Brexit should not apply to Scotland,
where a majority voted for Britain
to remain in the EU.
As David Cameron handed over
power to incoming premier
Theresa May, the leader of the
secessionist Scottish National Party
(SNP) said she would urge the new
prime minister to respect the vote
in Scotland.
“Theresa May said in her view
Brexit means Brexit.
I respect that she has a mandate
for that as England and Wales
voted for it,” Sturgeon told reporters in London.
However, “Brexit doesn’t mean
Brexit for Scotland because Scotland didn’t vote for Brexit”, she said.
“For us, Remain means Remain.”
Sturgeon said she had a mandate
to “to respect the wishes of the
people of Scotland to find a way
of keeping Scotland within the EU
or protecting our relationship with
EU”. Scotland voted to stay in the
United Kingdom in a September
2014 referendum.
Sturgeon has threatened to hold
another independence vote on
the back of the EU decision, saying
circumstances have changed
markedly since the last one.
She said yesterday that all options
were on the table.
She cited the cases of Jersey and
Guernsey — British crown dependencies off the French coast which
are not part of the UK or the EU,
but which are treated as part of the
European free trade zone.
“An outcome which is different for
Scotland than for the rest of the
UK is not beyond the wit of us to
come up with,” Sturgeon said.
In the June 23 referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU, 52%
of voters backed leaving, on a 72%
turnout. In Scotland, 62% voted for
Britain to stay in, on a 67% turnout.
Gulf Times
Thursday, July 14, 2016
13
BRITAIN
Family facing deportation say their case could be unique
Guardian News and Media
London
A
n Australian family battling deportation from
Scotland believes their
visa case could be the only one
of its kind in the UK, despite the
Home Office refusing to release
figures.
But Gregg and Kathryn Brain
also told the Guardian that they
feel “confident that we can put
together a complying application”,
as David Cameron responded
positively to their case during his
final Prime Minister’s Questions.
The couple gave evidence to
the home affairs select committee on Tuesday about how their
“relatively straightforward” visa
arrangement had resulted in “an
extraordinary betrayal of trust”.
The family, who live in Dingwall in the Highlands with their
Gaelic-speaking seven-year-old
son Lachlan, have attracted international sympathy after the
post-study work visa scheme that
attracted them to Scotland was
retrospectively cancelled by the
UK government.
Asked a question about the
Brains’ ongoing visa battle by the
SNP’s Westminster leader, Angus Robertson, yesterday in the
Commons, Cameron said he was
familiar with the case and that the
family had been given an extension until August 1 to “put in an
application in the normal way”.
The prime minister added: “I
very much hope that will happen.”
Speaking to the Guardian yesterday, Gregg Brain said dozens
of people with visa difficulties
had contacted him, but none
with precisely the same issue.
“As far as we are aware we are in
a unique position in the whole of
the UK. There are no floodgates
waiting to open behind us.”
The family’s local SNP MP,
Ian Blackford, has described his
frustration that the Immigration
Minister James Brokenshire had
refused to confirm whether this
was the case.
In his response to a parliamentary question tabled by Blackford
last month, asking how many foreign nationals who were granted
student visas before the removal
of the post-study work visa are
still accredited as students in the
UK, Brokenshire said the information was not readily available
and would incur a disproportionate cost to provide.
Following a series of 11th-hour
appeals at Holyrood and Westminster in May, the family were
granted leave to remain in the UK
until August but have been refused the right to work despite
both parents having been offered
jobs in the Highlands.
The family initially came to
Scotland in 2011 on Kathryn
Brain’s student visa while she took
a course in Scottish history at the
University of the Highlands and
Islands.
They intended to move on to a
two-year, post-study work visa
after she completed her course.
But the Home Office cancelled
the scheme, citing widespread
abuse, forcing them to apply for
the far more stringent tier 2 visa.
Armed forces’
families living
in appalling
conditions: MPs
Guardian News and Media
London
H
ousing for Britain’s armed
forces is so bad that families often have to live without such basics as heating and hot
water, according to a scathing report by a cross-party committee
of senior MPs.
The ministry of defence and
private contractor CarillionAmey
are “badly letting down service
families” and the failure to carry
out repairs “may be driving some
highly trained personnel to leave
the military, wasting the investment made in them”, it says.
The report by the public accounts committee describes CarillionAmey’s performance as “totally unacceptable” and says it is
right that the defence ministry is
considering terminating the contract.
“It is completely unacceptable
that families should have to move
into dirty houses with broken appliances, or be left to care for children in homes without hot water
or heating,” said Meg Hillier MP,
who chairs the committee.
“Forces families are suffering
because of poor service under a
contract agreed on terms that were
wrong-headed from the start.”
Liz Phoenix, wife of a Royal Marine, told the MPs: “We are still
seeing people with mouldy and
damp homes, rat infestations …
Families are moving into properties that are disgustingly filthy —
when I say filthy, I mean flea infestations and dog hairs on carpets.
These are absolutely horrendous
situations that people are moving
into.”
The committee heard evidence
about a military family who described how they had returned
from overseas to their allocated
house to find the property was
dirty and poorly maintained.
The family said CarillionAmey
was reluctant and slow to respond
to complaints, and that its representatives did not appear to be
aware of the company’s quality
standards.
Examples of poor maintenance
included fractured and detached
drainage pipes beneath the kitchen sink; the gas hob fractured and
unusable; oven dirty and light broken; shelves missing; exterior walls
caked in grass clippings; paved areas covered in weeds, flower beds
unturned and bushes overgrown;
entrance area filthy; and an active
wasps nest in the shed.
Another service family was left
without hot water and heating
for several weeks, despite telling
CarillionAmey that they had a
seven-week-old baby and a fouryear-old.
The contractor was slow to repair the boiler and failed to coordinate plumbers and roofers to
install the new one.
The serviceman said: “The impact on our family has been huge.
We have been constantly worrying
about keeping the baby warm, we
have not been able to clean bottles
properly.”
Another serviceman said he was
told his family would not have an
upstairs toilet or bathroom for up
to four weeks — it was suggested
his wife should wash the family,
including a disabled child, in the
under-stairs toilet.
It took the personal intervention of the Defence Secretary,
Michael Fallon, for CarillionAmey
to hire more staff and set out a plan
to improve the quality of its subcontractors’ work.
CarillionAmey told the MPs
it was not yet making a profit
from the contract, but anticipated it would do so in the future. “Responsibility for this lies
with both CarillionAmey and the
government. The MoD seriously
misjudged CarillionAmey’s capacity to deliver a service which
CarillionAmey accepts it was not
equipped to deliver,” says the committee’s report.
Angela Eagle (second right), leadership contender for the opposition Labour Party, attends an event in central London yesterday.
Owen Smith joins race
to topple Labour leader
AFP
London
A
second candidate yesterday joined the race to
try to unseat opposition
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn,
who is battling a party revolt in
the wake of the Brexit vote.
“I will stand in this election
and I will do the decent thing
and fight Jeremy Corbyn on the
issues,” Labour lawmaker Owen
Smith told the BBC.
He will join fellow MP Angela Eagle in trying to wrest the
party leadership from the veteran socialist, who has refused
to quit despite a major rebellion
by his MPs. The winner of the
contest, which will formally get
underway with an announcement of the timetable today, is
expected to be crowned in September.
Smith said he had decided to
stand after seeing a “dramatic
collapse of faith and confidence
in Jeremy” over the last couple
of weeks.
Many moderate Labour MPs
have never reconciled themselves to Corbyn’s election as
leader last September, secured
thanks to strong support among
ordinary party members.
They moved against him in
the wake of Britain’s shock June
23 vote to leave the European
Union — an outcome deplored
by most of the parliamentary
party.
Three-quarters of Labour
MPs backed a vote of no confidence in Corbyn on June 28,
accusing him of lacklustre
leadership in the campaign
which culminated with many
longtime Labour voters in underprivileged areas defying the
party line and backing Brexit.
Many party grandees also
fear he would be unable to win
a general election if one were
called early, although Prime
Minister Theresa May, who
took over from David Cameron
yesterday, has ruled out an early
vote.
P
arliamentary attempts to
revoke the Brexit vote in
favour of leaving the EU
have no chance of succeeding
and would run into a solid Conservative Party opposition, the
chair of Britain’s foreign affairs
committee said yesterday.
The parliament will debate
in September a petition signed
by more than 4mn members of
the public calling for a second
referendum on European Union
membership, although it will not
take a decision on whether to rerun last month’s vote.
However, with a large number
of lawmakers opposed to the referendum result, some of them
see a slender chance of being able
to overturn the vote through parliament.
“Down that road will lie disaster because 52% of electorate voted for this and the implications
of that would be catastrophic,”
Crispin Blunt, chairman of Brit-
ain’s foreign affairs committee,
told reporters in Paris.
“It would run into a brick wall
of a solid conservative majority
of parliament that will support
the decision of the electorate. In
that sense, parliamentary opposition is going nowhere,” said
Blunt, who backed the campaign
to leave the EU.
Blunt was in Paris with four
other members of the foreign
affairs committee, including opposition Labour Party and Scottish National Party members, to
discuss with French counterparts
how Britain’s breakaway from
the EU would pan out.
In a heated news conference
demonstrating how deep feelings are running over the shock
result last month, Labour MP
Mike Gapes, who campaigned to
stay in the bloc, said the government could not bypass the views
of parliament.
“The parliament has a responsibility to mitigate the damage
and make clear what we wish the
government to achieve before it
triggers Article 50.
We live in a parliamentary democracy and not a plebiscitary
democracy.”
Invoking Article 50 of the
EU’s Lisbon Treaty will formally
launch the process of separation
and start the clock ticking on a
two-year countdown to Britain’s
actual departure.
Blunt said he did not expect
that process to be triggered until
the end of the year.
Elisabeth Guigou, head of
France’s foreign affairs committee, underlined France’s official
stand on the issue, saying the
process should begin quickly.
“We can’t be left shunted by
pro and against decisions eternally. Things must now be settled.”
Blunt and fellow conservative
lawmaker Daniel Kawczynski,
who also supported the campaign to quit the EU, said Brexit
could ultimately create closer
ties with France.
“The relationship has been
neglected for far too long on a bilateral perspective,” Kawczynski
said. “There will be a renaissance
as a result of this referendum.”
special advisor to Paul Murphy, the Labour government
minister in charge of Wales and
then Northern Ireland, between
2002 and 2005.
After a stint working as a media advisor to pharmaceutical
group Pfizer, he became an MP
when Labour moved into opposition, and became its spokesman on Welsh affairs.
He appeared in a list of possible candidates to replace outgoing leader Ed Miliband following Labour’s second successive
general election defeat last year.
But he did not step forward
then and was named shadow
work and pensions minister under Corbyn in September 2015.
Weapons, drugs
seized in raids
Bid to overturn Brexit
will only fail, says Blunt
Reuters
Paris
Late Tuesday, Corbyn won a
first victory over his critics after
the party’s executive committee
ruled he would automatically be
included on the leadership ballot.
The decision means that —
unlike his challengers — he does
not need the required 51 nominations from Labour MPs or
members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to stand.
Smith, a former BBC radio
producer seen as more centrist
than Corbyn, has only been a
member of parliament since
2010, representing the Welsh
constituency of Pontypridd.
But the 46-year-old has
been a member of the Labour
party since he was 16, and was
London Evening Standard
London
P
Police seized knives and Class A drugs in a massive crackdown
on street dealing and violence yards from the home of mayor
Sadiq Khan.
olice seized knives and
Class A drugs in a massive
crackdown on street dealing and violence yards from the
home of mayor Sadiq Khan.
More than 100 officers raided
addresses in Tooting on Tuesday
night and yesterday, with support
from dogs and a police helicopter.
They arrested at least 29 people
for offences including possession
of knives and drug dealing.
In one raid, on a Caribbean cafe
in Mitcham Lane, police seized
knife-carrying suspects in the
street as they tried to flee.
The swoop on the One Link
cafe came three months after
the murder of trainee electrician Lewis Elwin, 20, who was
ambushed by a gang in nearby
Penwortham Road, yards from
the mayor’s home. Police say the
raids were in response to a rise in
open drug-dealing in the street,
anti-social behaviour and violence.
In a dramatic operation Territorial Support Group officers
burst out of the back of an un-
marked white van after it pulled
up alongside the cafe, in a row of
shops.
The officers rushed into the
restaurant and held customers
and staff while other suspects
were seized in the street as they
ran. One man was caught with a
large kitchen knife.
An array of weapons, including three large combat knives and
lock knives, were also recovered.
Passers-by and residents watched
as dozens of police swooped on
the address, described by one
detective as a “magnet for drug
dealing and violence”.
Jolanda Wlodek, 40, said:
“Suddenly all these police leapt
out of a van and ran into the shop.
They started chasing people in
the street, it was very dramatic,
I have never seen anything like it
before.”
Residents said the area around
the cafe had been plagued with
drug- dealing, drunks and violence. One neighbour, who did
not want to be named, said:
“There was always trouble here
with drug-dealing in the street,
drunken shouting and fighting at
all hours. It has been going on for
two years.”
14
Gulf Times
Thursday, July 14, 2016
EUROPE
Italy mourns victims
of deadly train crash
AFP
Andria, Italy
A
deadly train collision in Italy could have been caused
by a “risky” signalling
system in place on the line, Italy’s
minister of transport said yesterday, as sobbing relatives identified victims of the crash which
claimed at least 25 lives.
The system on the single-track
line by which station managers communicate directly with
train drivers was “one of the least
sophisticated and most risky”,
Graziano Delrio told parliament
a day after one of the country’s
worst rail accidents.
“Unfortunately, a system like
this means the controls lie with
humans,” leaving a window for
human error, he said.
Victims’ families attended
the Policlinico hospital morgue
in Bari to identify their loved
ones after Tuesday’s high-speed
head-on collision between two
busy passenger trains in the
Puglia region of southern Italy.
Cries rang out of “let us have
our dead!” as frustration rose
over a restriction on the numbers
allowed into the morgue, with
many left sobbing outside in the
scorching heat.
Red Cross workers had earlier
asked for distinguishing features
and other details to help identify
the most badly injured, from tattoos to scars and clothing.
One man described the necklace his sister-in-law had been
wearing, another the engagement ring on his fiance’s finger.
Vitangelo Dattoli, the hospital’s director general, told AFP
that 22 of the 23 bodies recovered
from the wreckage had now been
identified, and would be released
tomorrow in time for funerals
from Saturday.
He said 24 out of 52 people injured were still in hospital. The
death toll had earlier been put at
25 but was later revised down.
Officials said they had recov-
Officials inspect the train crash site near Corato, in the southern Italian region of Puglia as rescuers searched for missing bodies from the
wreckage of a head-on collision on Tuesday that claimed at least 25 lives.
ered the black boxes from both
trains following the collision
which happened in open countryside and left some carriages in
bordering olive groves.
One of the four-carriage trains
was supposed to have waited at
a station to let the other train
through, before heading down
the track between the towns of
Corato and Andria.
The trains were operated by
private railway company Ferrotramviaria — just one of the 30
or so private companies which
run on small lines criss-crossing
Italy in areas not covered by national operator Trenitalia.
About 55% of the rail network
in Italy is single track.
A pot of 150mn euros allocated
by the European Regional Development Fund in the 2007-2013 budget
to add second tracks went largely
unused, La Stampa daily said.
Delrio said the government
was immediately pouring 1.8bn
euros in investment into the regional networks.
He also said the national rail
network needed to be unified, as
the government currently does not
manage regional lines, which he
said should be brought up to speed
with the latest technologies.
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi
visited the site late Tuesday, saying it was “a time to cry, be close
to the families, show humanity in
our pain”, and vowing to “throw
light on what happened and who
is responsible”.
University students, farm
workers and office employees
were on the trains, as well as
grandparents and children.
The bodies of a mother and
child were pulled from the wreckage, while a trapped six-year-old
boy was found trapped, alive, next
to his dead grandmother.
He was given cartoons to watch
on a smartphone to calm him
down as firefighters cut him out.
One of the victims was a
farmer who had been working in
a field next to the crash and was
struck on the head by debris.
Hospitals tending to the
wounded had to turn blood donors away after a show of solidarity from thousands of Italians.
Ferrotramviaria said it was not
possible to say how many people
had been on board, as many passengers had season tickets.
The last major rail disaster in
Italy was in 2009, when a freight
train carrying liquid petroleum
gas derailed and exploded, killing 29 people at the station in the
town of Viareggio.
EU court split on headscarf bans
AFP
Luxembourg
T
he EU’s top court yesterday faced a dilemma after a top legal officer said
it was discriminatory for a firm
to tell an employee to remove a
Muslim headscarf, contradicting
an earlier opinion in a separate
case.
The latest case concerns a
woman, Asma Bougnaoui, who
was dismissed from her job as
an IT consultant in France after clients complained about
her wearing a headscarf.
The European Court of Justice
said one of its advocates general,
Eleanor Sharpston, “considers
that a company policy requiring
an employee to remove her Islamic headscarf when in contact
with clients constitutes unlawful
direct discrimination.”
The senior lawyer, whose opinion must be considered by the
court when it makes a final ruling at a later date, found “nothing to suggest that Ms Bougnaoui
was unable to perform her duties
as a design engineer because she
wore an Islamic headscarf.”
“Indeed, (her employer’s) letter terminating her employment
had expressly referred to her professional competence,” it added.
But the view by the advocate
general contradicts a separate
opinion on a similar case in May
in which a woman was fired by
a Belgian security firm after she
insisted on being allowed to go to
work in a headscarf.
The advocate general in that
case said companies may ban
Muslim headscarves if they are
enforcing a general prohibition
on religious symbols in the workplace.
The EU court will now examine the two cases and may give its
judgement in a joint decision by
the end of the year, a legal source
told AFP.
Opinions expressed by the EU
court’s advocates general are only
initial views and not binding rulings, but usually the court follows the senior lawyer’s advice
when eventually giving its judgement.
The court could decide to give
a general clarification on headscarf bans in Europe and how
they may work while still obeying
EU law.
The wearing of headscarves
and full-face veils has been
an increasingly contentious
debate in Europe between the
forces of secularism and sections of the continent’s Muslim
minority.
France brought in a ban on
full-face veils in 2010, despite
claims that the ban was discriminatory and violates freedom of
expression and religion.
Belgium and some parts
of Switzerland have followed
France’s lead and similar bans
have been considered in other
European countries.
AfD implodes
over Brexit
Reuters
Berlin
S
upport for the anti-immigrant Alternative for
Germany (Afd) has fallen
dramatically amid party infighting, racially-tinged criticism of Germany’s popular
national soccer team and even
a local backlash over Britain’s
vote to leave the EU.
Analysts said the unexpectedly rapid implosion of
the far-right AfD from 15% in
opinion polls two months ago
to a year-low of 8% yesterday
could make it easier for Angela
Merkel to retain power in next
year’s election.
Because Merkel’s centreright conservatives, their
centre-left Social Democrat
coalition allies and other parties reject any AfD alliance, the
populist party’s rise had cast
doubt on her hopes of finding a
partner big enough for a fourth
term.
“All of a sudden, the populists aren’t looking as attractive anymore,” said Hans Vorlaender, political scientist at
Dresden’s Technical University.
He said support was eroding due to bitter squabbling
among AfD leaders and second
thoughts on Brexit.
Britain voted in a referendum by a 52% to 48% margin
on June 23 to leave the European Union.
But several top leaders of the
“Leave” campaign have since
fallen by the wayside amid
infighting over candidacies
for top government posts and
suggestions that some of their
policy pledges were unrealistic.
“That Brexit leaders Boris
Johnson and Nigel Farage ran
away from responsibility so
quickly showed AfD supporters they were promising an illusion,” he added.
“Their flight exposed the
true colours and led to a lot of
disillusionment towards populists.”
Exacerbating the Afd’s troubles, deputy leader Beatrix von
Storch has drawn widespread
condemnation for suggesting the German soccer team’s
semi-final defeat in the Euro
championship tournament last
week was the fault of the many
players from immigrant families on the team.
Another AfD leader, Alexander Gauland, stirred outrage in
May by saying most Germans
would not want one of the
team’s black soccer stars, Jerome Boateng, as a neighbour.
Right-wing populist parties
in Germany have a history of
short shelf lives.
In 1993, the Statt Partei (Instead Party) won 5.6% in Hamburg and up to 16% in local
elections across Germany but
collapsed as it drifted to the far
right.
In 2001, the Schill Party
enjoyed success in Hamburg,
winning 20% of the vote. It
tried to turn itself into a nationwide party but plunged
into obscurity within six years.
“The AfD is being incredibly
stupid, just like other far-right
parties before it,” said Hajo
Funke, political scientist at
Berlin’s Free University.”Their
leaders are openly tearing each
other apart. The AfD is imploding faster than I expected.”
Merkel has vacillated between
trying to ignore the AfD, which
began as an anti-euro party in
2013 and won 4.7% five months
later in the last parliamentary
election, and fighting it.
Critics forecast it would
self-destruct.
The AfD nearly collapsed
in 2015 over another leadership battle but rebounded as a
public backlash arose against
Merkel’s open-door policy towards refugees that saw Germany take in more than 1mn
fleeing wars in Syria, Iraq and
Afghanistan.
Auschwitz museum says no to Pokemon Go
The Auschwitz museum said
yesterday it had asked the makers of the popular Pokemon Go
augmented reality game to block
players at the former Nazi death
camp out of respect for the dead.
The mobile game, which
involves collecting 250 cartoon
“pocket monsters” by physically moving around in real life,
has turned into a global sensation since appearing on July 5.
The museum in southern
Poland said it had asked the
studio Niantic Labs, which developed the game, to remove
Auschwitz from the application’s possible locations.
“We find this kind of activity
inappropriate.
It’s here that hundreds of
thousands of people suffered:
Jews, Poles, Roma, Russians
and individuals from other
nations,” museum spokesman
Pawel Sawicki told AFP.
“Generally speaking, we
want to raise awareness among
game developers regarding
respect for the memory of
the victims of this largest Nazi
death camp from World War II.”
Over 1mn European Jews
died at the camp set up by Nazi
Germany in occupied Poland in
1940-1945. More than 100,000
others including non-Jewish
Poles, Roma, Soviet prisoners
of war and anti-Nazi resistance
fighters also died there, according to the museum.
A record 1.72mn people visited the site in the southern city
of Oswiecim in 2015, the 70th
anniversary of the liberation of
the camp by the Soviets.
The wild success of the
online game — owned by Nintendo subsidiary the Pokemon
Company — has already seen
the Japanese game-maker’s
stock price rocket by 59%.
Questions over Macron as he nears French presidency bid
AFP
Paris
R
ising French political star Emmanuel Macron’s place in government was in question yesterday
after he strongly hinted at a presidential
bid in a speech to supporters of his new
political movement.
Macron, the 38-year-old economy
minister, stopped just short of throwing
his hat into the ring for next May’s election in the address to 3,000 supporters on
Tuesday night.
But the former investment banker’s
pledge to lead his En marche! (On the
move) grouping “to 2017 and to victory”
left little doubt about his intentions.
“From tonight, we have to be what we
are, which is the movement of hope,” he
told the audience.
In what Socialist colleagues saw as further proof of his disloyalty, Macron indirectly criticised President Francois Hollande by describing France as “a country
worn down by broken promises”.
And in an apparent dig at Prime Minister Manuel Valls — who has expressed
annoyance at Macron’s stance — he said
his vision for France had irritated some
because “it will upset the established order”.
Macron said that in his two years in the
government, “I realised how much the
system did not want to change.”
The timing of the speech, ahead of
Hollande’s traditional Bastille Day TV interview today, had raised eyebrows.
“It’s high time all this stopped,” Valls
said Tuesday in an exasperated aside to
TV cameras at the Senate.
Government spokesman Stephane Le
Foll called for unity, saying “we have to
avoid scattering in all directions”.Le Foll
said Macron’s speech was not even mentioned in a cabinet meeting yesterday, but
that Hollande is likely to refer to it today.
Other members of the government did
not hide their irritation.
“When you are a minister, you talk
about the present, you act, you don’t
think about the future,” Justice Minister
Jean-Jacques Urvoas said.
Housing Minister Emmanuelle Cosse,
an ecologist, said Macron’s criticism of
the political system was “a bit rich coming from someone who is totally from
within the system”.
The regional daily Alsace said in an editorial: “It will be difficult for Emmanuel
Macron to stay for much longer in a government from which he has uncoupled.”
Hollande’s response to Macron setting
up the party in April was clear — he “has
to be in my team, under my authority”, he
said.
As Macron edges towards throwing his
hat into the ring for the presidency, the
breadth of his appeal is also coming under
increased scrutiny.
An editorial in Le Monde newspaper
yesterday pointed out that his audience
were all “the winners from globalisation
— young, enthusiastic, entrepreneurial
and cosmopolitan”.
One of Macron’s key supporters, Lyon
mayor Gerard Collomb, has hinted that
Macron could launch his campaign in
September.
The problem facing the Socialists is
that while Macron refuses to rule out a
bid for France’s highest office, Hollande’s
abysmal poll ratings make it hard for him
to appear the natural candidate of the left
10 months from now.
Macron said earlier this month the possibility of primaries being held to decide
the candidates of both the Socialists and
the centre-right Republicans was “proof
of the weak leadership on both sides”.
Hollande has said he will decide by the
end of the year whether he will stand,
even though opinion polls currently show
he would be eliminated in the first round.
The president and the government
appear to have weathered the storm of
weeks of strikes and protests over their
attempts to reform France’s rigid labour
laws to make it easier to hire and fire employees and bring down the high unemployment that has dogged Hollande.
French Minister of Economy Emmanuel Macron waves at the end of a public meeting of his political movement ‘En
Marche’ in Paris on Tuesday night.
Gulf Times
Thursday, July 14, 2016
15
EUROPE
New rules
to prevent
migrants
moving
around
Reuters
Brussels
T
he European Commission yesterday
proposed more unified EU asylum
rules in a bid to stop people waiting
for refugee status moving around the bloc
and disrupting its passport-free zone.
In an unprecedented wave of migration
last year, 1.3mn people reached the EU and
most ignored legal restrictions, trekking
from the Mediterranean coast to apply for
asylum in wealthy Germany, prompting
some EU countries to suspend the Schengen system that allows free passage between most EU states.
“The changes will create a genuine common asylum procedure,” said EU Migration
Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos. “At
the same time, we set clear obligations and
duties for asylum seekers to prevent secondary movements and abuse of procedures.”
The proposal would standardise refugee reception facilities across the bloc and
unify the level of state support they can get,
setting common rules on residence permits, travel papers, access to jobs, schools,
social welfare and healthcare.
It would grant prospective refugees
swifter rights to work but also put more obligations on them, meaning if they do not
co-operate with the authorities or head to
an EU state of their choice rather than staying put, their asylum application could be
jeopardised.
The five-year waiting period after which
refugees are eligible for long-term residence
would be restarted if they move from their
designated country, the Commission said.
The proposal also spells out more cases
in which asylum-seekers could be detained,
something Jean Lambert, a British Green
Party member of the European Parliament,
said showed the EU was taking the wrong
attitude to people seeking sanctuary.
“The EU has justifiably come under fire
for its response to the refugee crisis but today’s proposals...
will do nothing to allay this,” she said,
accusing the Commission of seeking to
curb the rights of asylum seekers and “an
obsession with punitive measures”.
“People are fleeing because their lives
are threatened and homes being destroyed,
not because the EU’s asylum system is gold
plated — it’s not!”
The plan, which will be reviewed by EU
governments and the European Parliament,
comes after Brussels proposed in May a
system for distributing asylum seekers, an
idea opposed by eastern EU states which
refuse to accept refugees.
Only 3,056 people have so far been relocated under the scheme that was meant for
160,000 people, the Commission said.
Hungary and Slovakia have challenged
the system in the courts.
Asked whether Brussels would punish
countries, that also include Poland and
the Czech Republic, for not complying,
Avramopoulos said: “Were not here to punish, we are here to persuade.
“But if this persuasion doesn’t succeed,
then yes, we’re thinking of doing that.
“But we’re not there yet.”
Last year’s record arrivals triggered bitter political disputes in the EU, where the
wealthier states that ended up hosting most
of the people accused the newer members
in the east of showing no solidarity.
A deal with Turkey in March has since
cut the arrivals to Greece to a trickle but has
prompted concerns about human rights.
Unlike the Turkey route, however, which
mainly brought Syrians and other people
with a strong cases for asylum into Europe,
the bloc is now worried over a rise in arrivals from Africa through Libya.
Most people on that route do not qualify
for asylum and, under the EU rules, should
be sent back.
The Commission wants to draw up lists
of “safe countries” outside the bloc, which
would help EU states return people, after
Athens’ refusal to recognise Turkey as such
a place hindered deportations from the
Greek islands back to Turkey.
To discourage chaotic flows by facilitating legal migration, the Commission also
proposed an EU-wide system for resettlement directly from refugee camps.
It said Brussels would pay 10,000 euros
for each person EU states bring in.
But Slovakia, the current holder of the
EU’s rotating presidency, was sceptical on
chances for unified asylum system.
“We can only talk about real burdensharing when the quality of life is the same
in all EU states,” said Bernard Priecel, head
of Slovakia’s migration service.
“Otherwise we will always have secondary movements. How can you force them to
stay?”
German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen addresses a press conference in Berlin yesterday.
Germany mulls EU defence
union without Great Britain
AFP
Berlin
G
ermany and France want
to forge closer defence cooperation in the European
Union following the departure of
Britain, which has “paralysed” such
initiatives in the past, German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen
said yesterday.
Presenting a report on German
security policy, von der Leyen said
Germany and France would lead
talks with other countries to assess
their appetite for common projects
and with the long-term aim of moving toward a common security and
defence union.
“I can tell you from experience
that in the past Britain has said it
will not do these things,” she told a
news conference.
“This paralysed the European Union on the issues of foreign and security policy. This cannot mean that
the rest of Europe remains inactive,
but rather we need to move forward
on these big issues.”
Britain, where sentiment against
ceding sovereignty to EU-wide au-
thorities was always strong, voted in
a referendum on June 23 to leave the
bloc after 43 years of membership.
Von der Leyen suggested the construction of a European “civilianmilitary headquarters”, from which
EU missions could be deployed, as
well as a European medical force.
In the report on security policy,
the government said: “Germany’s
security environment has become
even more complex, volatile, dynamic and thus increasingly unpredictable”. The government highlighted the threat posed by Russia,
which it said was “openly calling
the European peace order into question” with a willingness to use force
to advance its interests and to redraw borders in Crimea and eastern
Ukraine.
“This has far-reaching implications for security in Europe and thus
for the security of Germany,” it said,
stressing the need for “increased resilience” in defence policy while cooperating with Russia on common
interests.
“Without a fundamental change
in policy, Russia will constitute a
challenge to the security of our continent in the foreseeable future.”
Hollande hairdresser ‘paid 10,000 euros a month’
AFP
Paris
S
hort on the sides and thinning on top, French President
Francois Hollande’s hair is
kept perfectly groomed at a cost of
almost 10,000 euros a month, the
Canard Enchaine weekly reported
yesterday.
The unpopular leader’s hair has
never been the topic of scrutiny, unlike other high-profile male politicians such as US presidential candidate Donald Trump or former
London mayor Boris Johnson.
However the publication of the
contract of his hairdresser, identified only as Olivier B, by the investigative newspaper had the French
bristling over such extravagant
Bull run
spending by a Socialist president.
“I can understand the questions, I
can understand that there are judgements,” said government spokesman
Stephane Le Foll, who confirmed the
hairdresser’s steep salary of 9,895
euros ($10,900) a month.
“Everyone has their hair done,
don’t they?” said Le Foll, his trademark thick grey mane flopping over
his forehead.
A lawmaker with the far-right
National Front (FN) referred to Hollande as “his majesty” on Twitter,
while other users superimposed
afros, mullets and other hairstyles
on pictures of the president, to
“help his hairdresser earn his salary”. The hashtag #Coiffeurgate was
trending on Twitter in France.
Some Twitter users also suggested other balding candidates for the
presidency in 2017, such as Alain Juppe of the opposition Republicans,
could save taxpayers money.
An image of Hollande with a beanie
photoshopped onto his head was captioned “budget cuts”. Hollande himself earns an annual wage of 179,000
euros a year or 14,900 euros a month.
The Canard Enchaine reported
that in addition to his salary, the
hairdresser was entitled to a “housing allowance” and other “family benefits”. He has been employed
since 2012 and travels with the president on most of his foreign trips.
The hairdresser’s contract states
that he must “maintain absolute secrecy about his work and any information he may have gathered both
during and after his contract”.
Hollande, who was elected in
2012, has always portrayed himself
Spanish political
gridlock goes on
Reuters
Madrid
S
A boy is chased by a toy bull as he takes part in the Encierro Txiki (Little Bull Run) during the San Fermin festival in Pamplona, Spain.
as “Mr Normal”, in stark contrast
to his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy
whose flashy lifestyle saw him
dubbed “President Bling Bling”.
A series of political and personal
scandals along with a moribund
economy and stubborn unemployment levels have driven Hollande’s
popularity rating to the lowest levels
ever seen in modern French history.
Critics on the left of his party accuse
him of betraying Socialist ideals and
cosying up to business with a series of
economic and labour reforms, despite
stating during campaigning that the
world of finance was his “enemy.”
Hollande has said he will decide
by the end of the year whether to
stand in next year’s presidential
election, but he has said a re-election bid would depend on his success in cutting unemployment.
panish Socialist leader yesterday reaffirmed his party’s intention to vote
against a government led by the conservative People’s Party (PP), potentially
extending a seven-month political deadlock.
The PP won the most votes in a June 26
election, the second in six months, but fell
short of a majority.
This left acting Prime Minister Mariano
Rajoy to convince other parties to join it or
at least abstain from blocking it in forming
a government.
“We will vote against (Mariano) Rajoy
as a prime ministerial candidate,” Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez said after a nearly
hour-and-a-half meeting with the acting
prime minister.
Sanchez also ruled out a “grand coalition” of the left and right, as has happened
in some other European countries such as
Germany, but added he would “do anything” to avoid sending Spaniards to the
polls for a third time after two inconclusive
elections.
Speaking after the meeting, Rajoy said
he was still aiming to organise a first parliamentary investiture vote by the end of
July or beginning of August to try and form
a government.
But he also said that if he was certain to
fail, he would instead wait until new discussions are held with all parties to see how
the stalemate could be broken.
“I want to govern...
but if I had the total certainty that my
investiture was impossible, I would open
a period of reflexion with the other parties
to find a way out of this situation,” he told
journalists.
The new parliament will be formed on
July 19 and King Felipe is expected to hold
a formal round of talks between parties as
soon as next week.
Spanish liberal party Ciudadanos said
earlier yesterday that it would abstain in
a confidence vote for a conservative government. Ciudadanos placed fourth in the
June election.
This put pressure on the Socialists, who
came second and who, if they also abstained, could allow a PP government.
Although many analysts believe the Socialists could change their mind and abstain,
Sanchez said they were too far away from
the conservatives in terms of economic or
social policy to consider such a move.
If Rajoy were to lose the vote, a twomonth deadline would be triggered to form
a government or call a third election.
16
Gulf Times
Thursday, July 14, 2016
INDIA
LIFESTYLE
NEGLIGENCE
MYSTERY
CRIME
FASHION
Three-year-old girl turns
host of online food show
Water leakage damages
books in National Library
One killed in blast
outside Bihar court
BSF seizes 21kg
heroin in Punjab
Designer pays ode to
Rajasthani culture
A toddler hosting a cooking series? ‘Time
Out Daria,’ an online food show, is making
it a reality. Daria, a three-year-old girl, will
host the show, which has been announced
by Qyuki, a multiplatform media company,
and Seher Bedi. The show is being launched
under the Starrin’ banner, a new digital video
network catering to a target audience of 6
to 18-year-old audiences across the world,
according to a statement. In the show, Daria
along with her mother Tina will take viewers
on a culinary journey that will not only be a
treat to all foodies but also to parents who
want to expose their children to wholesome
entertainment online.
Several new books and periodicals at the Bhasa
Bhawan (House of Languages) in Kolkata’s National
Library, the largest in the country, were damaged
following inundation due to water leakage from
an air-conditioning plant, an official said yesterday.
The National Library Staff Association blamed the
Central Public Works Department for negligence in
maintenance. “Books and periodicals were kept on
the floor while being processed. These are new books
and for us each and every book is valuable. I can’t say
how many books were damaged but we are restoring
them by drying them out,” staff association secretary
Saibal Chakraborty said. “We were fortunate that
this was a weekday and rare books and manuscripts
(stored in other sections) escaped damage.”
One person was killed and two injured in a
crude bomb blast outside a court at Sasaram
in Bihar yesterday, police said. The preliminary
investigation suggested that the bomb was
placed by unidentified criminals inside a
motorbike near the main gate of the court in
Sasaram, the headquarters of Rohtas district,
a police official said. The injured have been
admitted to a hospital, the police said. The
security in courts across the state has been
beefed up following the blast. Police have
lodged a case in this connection and have
begun an investigation into it. In March this
year, a bomb exploded in Sasaram court
premises.
Just a day after the Border Security Force shot
dead three Pakistani intruders in the Gurdaspur
sector, its troopers yesterday seized 21kg of
heroin in the Amritsar sector of the border along
with an Italian-made shot-gun and Pakistanmade ammunition. The seizure was made in
the area of operation of Border Outpost (BoP)
Narlie of Amritsar sector, BSF Deputy Inspector
General R S Kataria said. The heroin is worth
Rs1bn in the international market. “The BSF
personnel have successfully seized 21 packets
of contraband and one Shot Gun (Made in
Italy) with three rounds of ammunition (WAH
Industries, Pakistan) in the area of responsibility
of Border Outpost Narlie,” Kataria said.
Hyderabad-based designer Sailesh Singhania is
exhibiting in Bengaluru his new collection titled
‘Thakurayan’, showcasing the vastness and
depth of Rajasthan. ‘Thakurayan’ comprises Kora
kanjeevarams, paithani lehenga and organza saris
with a harmonious blend of colours, fabric and
embroideries, according to a statement issued on
behalf of the designer. Singhania has played with
colours like pink, yellow, purple and green with
intricate golden zari work. “I have tried to incorporate
tradition with modern sensibilities to create
contemporary saris, emphasising on global style
with a hint of luxury to it,” Singhania said. “As varied
as fashion is, each woman’s choice is not just limited
to the ongoing trends and new styles,” he added.
Maharashtra
poll panel
cancels
registration
of AIMIM
Protest against killing
Coal India is
accused of
bulldozing
human rights
IANS
Mumbai
T
he Maharashtra State
Election
Commission
(SEC) yesterday cancelled
the registration of 191 political
parties, including the Hyderabad-based All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), an
official said here.
State Election Commissioner
J S Saharia said the registrations
were cancelled as these parties
failed to provide their income
details and annual Income Tax
Returns and audit reports as required under the law.
The move would ensure a level
playing field for all parties, free
and fair elections and prevent
misuse of money-power during
elections, Saharia said.
At present, Maharashtra has 17
recognised parties and 342 others
which are unrecognised.
Among the unrecognised parties, the SEC had sent notices to
326 to comply with the statutory
requirements, but many failed
to respond, including the highprofile AIMIM with two elected
legislators and several at lower
levels like municipal corporators,
councillors and other bodies.
Finally, it was decided to strike
down the registrations of 191 parties, Saharia said.
Besides the AIMIM and Loksatta Party from Hyderabad, four
parties of other Indian states
have also lost their registrations.
They are: Socialist Party (India)
and Peace Party (Uttar Pradesh),
Republican Party of India (Khobragade) and Gondwana Republic
Party (Chhattisgarh).
The state poll panel took the
action against AIMIM as the party failed to file audited accounts.
The party plans to appeal
against the ban. Imtiaz Jaleel,
one of the two legislators of the
AIMIM in Maharashtra, said the
party will contest upcoming local
elections.
“Will appeal with Maharashtra
EC against ban on AIMIM for not
filing returns. Party will contest
local body elections due in a few
months,” he tweeted.
Sources in the party said it was
studying the ban. They said the
legal team of the party would study
the orders and take suitable action.
People evicted without
compensation as India
expands mining operations,
says Amnesty International
report
Agencies
New Delhi
I
Activists of the Communist Party of India stage a demonstration against the death of five
villagers during an anti-Maoist operation in Gumudamaha, a village in Baliguda of Odisha’s
Kandhamal district, in Bhubaneswar yesterday.
Kerala govt under fire
over political killings
Ashraf Padanna
Thiruvananthapuram
T
he
one-and-a-halfmonth-old Left Democratic Front (LDF) government yesterday came under fire in
the Kerala Legislative Assembly
over political killings.
Congress Party-led opposition
members protested “police inaction” against revenge killings by
Communist Party of India (Marxist)), which leads the LDF, and
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Two men belonging to the traditional rivals in Kannur were
killed on Tuesday in Payyanur
town in Chief Minister Pinarayi
Vijayan’s home district of Kannur.
O Rajagopal, the lone BJP legislator, joined a walkout by the
opposition. He said homes, vehicles and establishments of BJP
workers were under attack and
the police remained mute spectators.
Opposition leader Ramesh
Chennithala led the walkout after
Vijayan said the latest killing was
in retaliation for the murder of a
CPM worker, and the police had
identified ten BJP assailants.
However, he did not reveal the
identity of the alleged killers of
the BJP worker, an auto-rickshaw
driver, who was also a witness to
another BJP worker’s murder earlier.
“The morale of the police is
at the lowest ebb since you took
over,” alleged Chennithala, the
former home minister.
“The police in Kannur are now
taking orders from CPM secretary P Jayarajan in the district.
The parties that are in power at
the Centre and in the state have
turned the region into killing
fields.”
He cited shifting out experienced officers, including former
police chief T P Senkumar, who is
on an extended leave challenging
the decision, as one reason for the
current spate of violence, which
began immediately after the state
elections in May.
He asked the chief minister,
who also holds the home portfolio, to call an all-party meeting to
ensure peace in the region.
More than 200 CPM and BJP
cadres have lost their life here over
the last two decades, including a
schoolteacher who was hacked to
death in front of students in his
classroom.
Jayarajan is out on bail after being charged with the murder of a
local BJP leader last year allegedly
to avenge a 1999 attempt on his
life which left him partially crippled.
Vijayan, however, termed the
killings “isolated incidents” and
asked the opposition not to generalise things. He said the police
had taken the necessary steps to
bring the culprits to book, and the
situation was calm now.
ndia’s state-controlled coal
firm routinely violates the
rights of local communities
in the rush to open new mines to
meet the country’s growing demand for power, Amnesty International said yesterday.
A report from the human rights
group said Coal India, the world’s
largest coal producer, had failed to
consult the indigenous communities living near mines in central
and eastern India on acquiring the
land, or the environmental impact.
In some cases, it found, local
communities did not even know
that their land was being acquired
for mining purposes until it happened.
“Both the company and central
and state governments don’t seem
to care to speak or listen to vulnerable Adivasi (indigenous) communities whose lands are acquired
and forests destroyed for coal mining,” said Aakar Patel, head of Amnesty International India.
India’s indigenous communities form more than 8% of the
country’s 1.2bn people, according
to the latest census of 2011.
Many are illiterate and live in
extreme poverty, relying on the
land for food.
The report said the central government had acquired land in all
three Coal India mines its investigators examined, without directly
informing affected families, or
consulting them about their resettlement.
Perilous travel
One interviewee said he only
discovered the land was being acquired after the deal was signed.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is seeking to double coal production by 2020 to 1bn
tonnes annually to meet the needs
of its burgeoning economy.
Modi, who stormed to power
in 2014, wants to fulfil an election
promise to end crippling blackouts and bring power to more
than 300mn people living without electricity.
India sits on the world’s fifth
largest coal reserves and already
relies on coal for 60% of its power.
Activists have accused Modi’s
government of watering down
environmental rules after it allowed polluting industries to operate closer to national parks, and
said small coal miners could expand production by 50% without
seeking public approval.
Many coal reserves are located
in the central and eastern states of
Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha where more than a quarter of the
country’s Adivasi population lives.
“Coal is essential for our national security and we have to go
where the coal is,” said N Das, a
chief general manager at Coal India.
“We follow all the laws, work
closely with the local communities, provide jobs, set up welfare
initiatives and take steps to minimise the environmental impact of
mining,” he said.
Amnesty said in some cases legal requirements were adhered to
but carried out in a way that did
not help Adivasi communities.
For example, the intent to acquire land for the Kusmunda mine
in Chhattisgarh was announced
in the official government gazette
and in a newspaper, yet more than
a third of the residents near the
Prices of vegetables,
fruits soar in Mumbai
IANS
Mumbai
T
Children travel to school in a packed auto-rickshaw in
Ahmedabad, Gujarat, yesterday.
mine were not literate, Amnesty
said.
An environmental impact assessment hearing was poorly
publicised and monitored by security personnel, it said.
“We’ve lived next to this mine
for almost 30 years, and watched
our wells go dry, forests disappear
and fields become unproductive,”
Amnesty quoted a villager, Mahesh Mahant, as saying.
“What is the point of this environmental public hearing, except
to tell us that we’re not fit to live
here anymore?”
Amnesty also highlighted the
environmental damage, soil erosion and pollution caused by coal
mining in India, which is largely
open cast.
Among the 10 cities with the
most air pollution, four are in India, according to the World Health
Organisation, with the use of coal
in power generation a leading
source of pollution.
“We should be looking at ways
to increase the efficiency of existing mines, rather than open new
mines,” Sreedhar Ramamurthi at
the non-profit Mines, Minerals &
People, said.
“The very nature of coal mining
is so harmful,” he said.”We must
ensure stringent compliance of
laws and resolve the issues of rehabilitation and resettlement to
mitigate the damage.”
The Amnesty report was based
on interviews with 124 affected
people, government officials, Coal
India representatives and local
journalists, activists and lawyers
between January 2014 and February 2016.
Amnesty said it had submitted
its findings to state authorities
and the companies concerned for
comment, but had not received a
response.
he prices of most vegetables and fruits in Mumbai
crossed Rs100 a kg yesterday
as a strike by commission agents
crippled wholesale and retail markets leading to a severe shortage.
Virtually no vegetable was
available for less than Rs100 more than four times the regular
price - as supplies to the wholesale markets of Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee
(APMC) at Vashi in Navi Mumbai
dropped to a trickle on the third
day of the indefinite strike.
Leading activist Mohan Gurnani, a former president of the
powerful Federation of Associations of Maharashtra (FAM), said
against the daily average of 600
trucks, the supplies had fallen
to less than 10% - or around 50
trucks a day since Tuesday.
“The agents have been left
with no option. Though the strike
has hit the farmers, commission agents (arhatiyas), retailers
and consumers, the government
move would actually benefit the
big companies engaged in agromarketing,” Gurnani said.
The Maharashtra government
promulgated an ordinance on
Tuesday amending the APMC Act,
1963, deregulating vegetables and
fruits, to enable farmers get better prices and consumers cheaper
produce.
Simultaneously, the government made efforts to procure
adequate supplies from different
parts of Maharashtra to cater to
the demand in Mumbai, Thane,
Navi Mumbai and other areas
where the prices have soared.
Hoteliers and restaurants are
planning to drop most vegetables
from their menus if the situation
failed to improve soon.
Non-vegetarians too were hit
hard as the prices of chicken,
mutton, fish and eggs shot up:
eggs from Rs50 to Rs100 a dozen.
The representatives of commission agents have been called
for a meeting by the government
in an effort to sort out their grievances, mainly pertaining to the
move to stop them charging 8%
commission from farmers.
Gulf Times
Thursday, July 14, 2016
17
INDIA
Karnataka sounds flood alert as excess water is released in Krishna
IANS
Bengaluru
A
flood alert has been issued in many villages
of two border districts
of Karnataka after excess rain
water was released from Maharashtra into the Krishna river
that flows through the state as
downstream, an official said
yesterday.
“People living in villages on
the banks of Krishna and lowlying areas in Bagalkot and Belagavi districts have been put on
alert after Maharashtra released
excess water into the river following heavy rains in its catchment areas,” the official from the
state natural disaster monitoring
centre said here.
Bagalkot Deputy Commissioner P A Meghannavar advised the people in Jamkhandi and Bilagi to move to safer
places from the river banks to
avoid being affected in the
event of flooding.
“As 1.7 lakh cusecs of water
has been released from Koyna
Dam in Satara district in the
neighbouring state into the riv-
Kashmir calm
but tense;
curfew still on
in many places
IANS
Srinagar
T
he restive Kashmir Valley, battling the deadliest spell of violence in
years, appeared calm but tense
yesterday amid sporadic incidents of clashes. Large areas
continued to be under strict
curfew for the fifth day.
Two more men wounded in
street fighting in the past four
days died here early yesterday,
taking the death toll to 36 in
the violence triggered by the
death of a top militant on July
8.
Life remained paralysed almost across the valley due to
the restriction and a shutdown
called by separatists. South
Kashmir – the worst hit in the
latest bout of unrest – was
virtually cut off from the rest
of the state amid snapped mobile phone services and strict
prohibitory orders.
However, the state-owned
Bharat Sanchar Nigam’s mobile network was functional.
The Jammu-Srinagar highway, the only all-weather road
link to the valley that passes
through south Kashmir, was
blocked due to continuous
curfew. Private traffic to and
from Srinagar on the highway
is allowed only at night, officials said.
In Srinagar, roads were deserted while shops and other
businesses, banks and private
offices were closed. There was
a thin presence of employees
in the government secretariat.
People in the old city complained of hardships as supplies of essentials had begun
to dry up in the five days of
curfew.
The day passed off peacefully amid fears that separatist
leaders may stoke trouble.
They had called for a protest march to observe “Martyrs’ Day” in remembrance of
Kashmiris killed in police fir-
ing on protesters against the
Dogra rule on July 13, 1931.
Top separatists Mirwaiz
Umar Farooq and Syed Ali
Shah Geelani, in house detention for five days, defied the
restrictions and tried to walk
towards the martyrs’ graveyard in curfew-bound old Srinagar. Police detained them
briefly.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief
Minister Mehbooba Mufti,
however, visited the graveyard
under a heavy security cover
with her senior cabinet colleagues.
She paid tributes to the 1931
martyrs and made a fresh appeal for calm in the valley
where at least 35 civilians and
a policeman have been killed
in clashes between security
forces and protesters since the
killing of the militant commander, Burhan Wani. More
than 1,500 people have been
injured.
At least 100 of the 120 people admitted at the SMHS
Hospital in Srinagar had been
hit in the eyes by the rubber
bullets, a doctor said on condition of anonymity.
“We have 70 cases with very
serious eye injuries and they
are in danger of losing their
eyesight,” the ophthalmologist said.
He said there were not
enough specialists for the surgery these patients needed.
“Please send eye/trauma
specialists to Kashmir,” Omar
Abdullah, the state’s former
chief minister, said in a tweet
addressed to Prime Minister
Narendra Modi.
“This is the time to reach
out with a healing touch.”
Most of the injured were
young men and teenage boys.
Wani joined the rebels aged
15 and was active on social
media, which he used effectively to recruit young people.
He has often been called
the “poster boy” of the Hizbul
Mujahideen militant group.
er, measures are being taken to
prevent any untoward incident
if more water is released,” Meghannavar said in a statement.
As the fourth biggest river
(1,300km) in terms water inflows
and river basin area in the country, Krishna originates in the rich
biodiversity hotspot Western
Ghats near Mahabaleshwar in
Maharashtra and passes through
Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, flowing out into the
Bay of Bengal.
It is also a major source of irrigation in the four southern
states.
M
inister of State for External Affairs V K Singh
will lead ‘Operation
Sankat Mochan’ to evacuate Indians from South Sudan, which
has been rocked by violence that
has claimed hundreds of lives,
the government announced yesterday.
“We are launching OP
#SankatMochan to evacuate
Indian nationals from South Sudan. My colleague @Gen_VKSingh is leading this operation,”
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted.
She said Singh will be accompanied by Amar Sinha, Secretary (Economic Relations) in the
External Affairs Ministry, Joint
Secretary Satbir Singh and Director Anjani Kumar.
“Our ambassador in South
Sudan Srikumar Menon and his
team is organising this operation
on the ground,” Swaraj said.
She also thanked Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and extended her best wishes to the Indian Air Force (IAF) for providing
two C-17 Globemaster heavy-life
aircraft for the operation.
There are around 500 Indians
in the country.
South Sudan President Salva
Kiir on Monday evening ordered
a ceasefire after days of heavy
fighting between government
troops and forces loyal to Vice
President Riek Machar in Juba.
President Kiir directed all
commanders to cease all hostilities, control their forces and
protect civilians, Information
Minister Michael Makuei said
in a televised speech on the state
broadcaster SSTV.
The ceasefire took effect from
6pm local time on Monday any
member of the Machar-led forces who surrendered must also be
protected, Makuei said.
The latest bout of violence
started after a localised gunfight
erate to light rains are likely to
occur in the north interior parts
of the state during the next 24
hours, while one or two spells of
rain have been forecast for Bengaluru and its neighbourhood,
with strong surface winds under
a cloudy sky.
Chikkodi recorded 11cm
rainfall, followed by 7cm each
in Kadra in Uttara Kannada
district and Kudachi in Belagavi district.
Meanwhile, contrary to the
India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast of above
normal monsoon rains this year
in Bihar, the northern state has
recorded a deficit of 22% in rainfall so far, officials said.
It has triggered fears of
drought among millions of the
state’s farmers, the officials
said.
Poor monsoon in over a dozen
of Bihar’s 37 districts, as of the
second week of July, has also affected paddy sowing.
“Bihar has not received good
rainfall till date this season, it is
not a good sign for agriculture,
particularly paddy,” an official of
the agriculture department said.
According to the Met of-
fice in Patna, Bihar has received
236.9mm of rainfall against its
requirement of 304.2mm, a deficit of 22%.
“There is little doubt that so
far monsoon rainfall is poor in
Bihar. But we hope that the system will develop in the Bay of
Bengal for a good rainfall in the
coming days,” a Met department
official said.
Officials of the state disaster
management department said
that if the situation does not
improve, the fear of drought is
bound to worry all, including
farmers.
Sania’s biography launched
Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan and tennis player Sania Mirza pose during the release of Ace against Odds, a biography of Mirza during the book launch in Hyderabad
yesterday. The book is co-authored by Sania’s father Imran (right) and journalist Shivani Gupta (left) and covers all aspects of the player’s career.
SC restores Congress
govt in Arunachal
Opposition hails verdict as
judges quash governor’s
decisions
IANS
New Delhi
I
n a major setback to the
central government, the Supreme Court yesterday restored ousted Congress Chief
Minister Nabam Tuki in Arunachal Pradesh.
The opposition hailed the verdict as a victory for democracy.
In a unanimous verdict, a
Constitution bench of Justices
J S Khehar, Dipak Misra, Madan
B Lokur, Pinaki Chandra Ghosh
and N V Ramana ordered the restoration of the status quo ante as
it existed on December 15, 2015,
effectively bringing Tuki back as
chief minister.
The court quashed President’s
India to evacuate nationals
from violence-hit S Sudan
IANS
New Delhi
“Residents in villages along
the river course at Chikkodi
and Raibag in Belagavi district
have been advised to move away
from the banks to safer places,
as heavy rains in the region can
cause flash floods due to rising
water level in the tributaries,”
the official said.
Bridges across the river and its
tributaries in low-laying areas
are overflowing with rain water,
disrupting road traffic in the districts.
Though heavy rains receded in
coastal and south interior areas
of the state since Tuesday, mod-
outside Kiir’s residence in Juba
on July 7 when he was holding a
meeting with Machar.
Earlier yesterday, External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vikas
Swarup tweeted that the two C17s will take off for Juba today.
The Indian embassy in Juba
said in a statement said the aircraft were expected to land at
11am local time and Indian nationals with valid travel documents will be allowed to board.
The return flights will be only
up to New Delhi, the statement
said.
The UN has said 36,000 South
Sudanese civilians have fled
their homes due to the fighting.
Embassies and aid organisations in South Sudan are moving
to evacuate staff from Juba amid
the tenuous ceasefire.
The US military in Africa said
it has sent 40 additional soldiers
to Juba to help secure American
personnel and facilities in the
war-torn city, Fox News reported.
Rule imposed on the state and all
the decisions taken by Governor J P
Rajkhowa leading to its imposition.
On December 16, the Tuki government was dismissed in an assembly session called by the governor. The bench called the actions of
Rajkhowa as “illegal” and violative
of the Constitutional provisions.
Federal Law Minister Ravi
Shankar Prasad said the government will study the Supreme
Court judgment in detail before
making any reaction.
He said the court had ordered
status quo ante from December
15 and a lot of developments have
taken place after that, including
the withdrawal of President’s
Rule and swearing-in of a new
government under Kalikho Pul.
“What requires to be done requires detailed consideration,”
Prasad said.
He dismissed that “there was
any law mismanagement” by the
central government in the case.
Pul, who was in Guwahati, said
there was “no threat” to his government and he will file a review
petition in the Supreme Court.
He said a floor test would
prove the numbers backing his
government. “The government
runs only with numbers. There
is no threat to our government.
That will be decided on the floor
of the assembly.”
A visibly pleased Tuki described the Supreme Court
judgment as a “historic verdict”
and said the ruling would help
protect “healthy democracy” in
the country. “This is a historic
and remarkable judgment.”
“According to the judgment, our
government has been restored,”
Tuki said. “I’ll go to the state and
talk to all the 47 Congress MLAs.
We will call a meeting.”
It is the second such ruling by
the Supreme Court since May
Train service resumes
when it similarly restored the
ousted government of Congress
leader Harish Rawat in Uttarakhand.
Congress president Sonia
Gandhi, welcoming the Supreme
Court verdict, hoped the ruling
would deter the central government from further misusing its
power.
“The verdict will deter the
government from any further
misuse of power. Those who had
trampled upon constitutional
propriety and democratic norms
have been defeated,” she said.
Taking on the Modi government, Congress vice president
Rahul Gandhi thanked the court
for “explaining to the prime
minister what democracy is.”
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind
Kejriwal, who has been locked
in bitter turf battles with the
Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government, described the
Zakir Naik to address
media via Skype today
IANS
Mumbai
C
Passengers leave the Kolkata-Dhaka Maitree Express
after its arrival at the Kolkata station yesterday. This
was the first train from Dhaka following the resumption
of the direct service between the two cities which was
suspended by India in the wake of terrorist attack at the
Holey Artisan cafe in Bangladesh capital.
judgment as a “tight slap on (the)
dictatorial Modi government.”
“Hope Modiji would learn and
now stop interfering in democratically elected governments,” the
Aam Aadmi Party leader tweeted.
The Communist Party of India
(Marxist) urged the Modi government to “stop its growing authoritarian tendency of invoking
central rule in states” ruled by
non-BJP parties.
“Following the Uttarakhand
experience, this judgment poses
an irrevocable question of political morality and accountability
of this BJP-led central government,” the party said.
The BJP put up a brave front, saying the ruling was not a setback.
The Constitution bench also
quashed the direction of Governor Rajkhowa on the manner and
the order in which the advanced
session of the state assembly
conducted its business.
ontroversial televangelist
and
Islamic
preacher Zakir Naik,
who addresses audiences
around the world, has finally
found a venue for his media
interaction here today, an aide
said yesterday.
Naik will communicate with
the Mumbai media via Skype
at the Mehfil Hall, in Agripada,
south Mumbai, from a venue
abroad where he is currently on
a lecture tour.
Earlier yesterday, his Islamic
Research Foundation complained Naik was not getting
any venue to address the media
in Mumbai.
At least four venues, including three five-star hotels and the
World Trade Centre (WTC), had
declined permission for conducting his press conference via
Skype.
The WTC had confirmed
the venue for today’s media
interaction with Naik who is
abroad but cancelled it yesterday, an official spokesperson of the Foundation
said.
“It’s weird and unfair. What’s
going on? Apparently, hotels in
Mumbai have been told not to
give out venues for Naik’s press
conference,” the spokesperson
said.
Critics say Naik’s teachings are radicalising the
young.
Naik, at the centre of a
storm, is on a lecture tour
in Saudi Arabia, the United
Arab Emirates and Africa. He
is likely to return to Mumbai
after two weeks, the spokesperson said.
While the Shiv Sena and others have called for his arrest,
others like the Indian Union
Muslim League and the All India
Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen
have come out in support of
Naik, saying he was a victim of a
witch-hunt.
18
Gulf Times
Thursday, July 14, 2016
LATIN AMERICA
PROTEST
A Brazilian Indian from an indigenous ethnic group
takes part in a protest, OCCUPY FUNAI, that will
shut down FUNAI offices throughout Brazil, in
Brasilia. FUNAI, the National Indian Foundation, is
the government body that establishes and carries
out policies relating to indigenous peoples.
INDUSTRIAL ACTION
POLITICS
DATA
CRIME
Brazil customs’ workers to
strike ahead of Olympics
Rousseff can escape
impeachment, says Lula
El Salvador’s half-year
murder toll tops 3,000
Honduran police accused of
drug plot surrender to US
Brazilian customs workers will today start an
indefinite strike over wage increases, their union
said. The Sindifisco union of federal tax auditors,
who are in charge of customs and other tax
monitoring duties, voted on Friday for the strike
to pressure the government to honour its promise
to raise their wages by 5.5% starting in August,
union President Claudio Damasceno said in an
interview. Local authorities expect more than
500,000 foreign tourists to land in Rio de Janeiro
for the Olympics, which start on August 5. “If the
strike continues by then it will certainly disrupt
the Olympics,” said Damasceno, whose union
represents 10,400 tax auditors across the country.
Brazil’s suspended president Dilma Rousseff
could still wriggle out of a looming impeachment
vote, her ally and predecessor Luiz Inacio Lula
da Silva said. Lula, Brazil’s most prominent leftist
leader, told Radio Jornal that Rousseff’s case is not
hopeless, despite months of mounting pressure
on her to be removed from office. “To defeat the
impeachment is easier than before,” said Lula,
who was president from 2003-10 and founded
the Workers’ Party, which has been in power for
13 years. Lula said Rousseff, 68, needs to secure
support from a handful of extra senators to swing
the vote. The Senate must vote by 54 votes out of
81 for the impeachment to pass.
More than 3,000 people were violently killed in El
Salvador in the first half of this year, according to
official figures. The Central American government’s
Forensic Medicine Institute said there were 3,058
homicides between January and June, a 7%
increase over the same period last year. El Salvador
is considered one of the most dangerous countries
in the world, with a murder rate exceeded only
in nations suffering war. The pervasive violence
is a prime driver of emigration. According to the
institute, the bulk of the murders in the first half of
2016 occurred in the early months, followed by a
marked decline from April, when the government
launched a militarised crackdown on the gangs.
Five Honduran police accused of conspiring to
smuggle drugs have surrendered to US authorities
and been extradited to the US, authorities said.
The policemen, who were charged in Manhattan
federal court for planning to import cocaine
into the US, turned themselves in at Honduras’
Palmerola military base following a request for
their extradition last week, Honduran Security
Minister Julian Pacheco said. They were flown
to New York by the US Drug Enforcement
Administration. “The voluntary surrender of
five police officers accused of drug trafficking
is another blow to impunity in Honduras,” US
ambassador to Honduras James Nealon said.
10 Mexico
prisoners
on the run
Military
to the fore
as Maduro
struggles
AFP
Mexico City
T
en inmates escaped from
a prison in Mexico’s
Caribbean beach resort
of Cancun late Tuesday, in the
latest jailbreak to hit the country’s scandal-plagued penitentiary system.
The inmates beat a guard and
jumped the wall, the Quintana
Roo state government said in a
statement.
It cited witnesses as saying at least three of the escapees fled in a taxi in which they
changed their clothes.
“Personnel from all of the
security agencies of the state
are conducting an intense and
broad operation to catch the
prisoners,” state Governor
Roberto Borge said. Searchers
included police and soldiers.
A state public security spokeswoman said on condition of
anonymity that the escape took
place at around 9.10pm and that
some of the inmates are considered “highly dangerous.”
The city is a popular destination for American tourists
but the prison is away from the
hotel district.
It is located in a densely populated residential area, with
one wall facing a busy road.
The government said security
was stepped up around the prison as well as on highways and at
taxi stands and bus stations.
Local media reported that
the convicts belong to two drug
gangs and that they took advantage of confusion during a
prison fight to escape.
Two other prisoners escaped
from the Cancun penitentiary
in October 2015 while a fight
left four injured in June.
But Cancun has been spared
from the drug cartel violence
that has plagued other parts of
the country.
Mexican prisons are notoriously overcrowded, violent and
often controlled by gangs. A
report by the National Human
Rights Commission found that
inmates govern themselves
in 71 state prisons across the
country.
In February, 49 inmates were
killed in a massive brawl in the
northern city of Monterrey.
AFP
Caracas
V
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro walks with Venezuelan Defence Minister Padrino Lopez before
his TV programme in Caracas yesterday.
Rio mayor lashes out at
critics over Olympics role
Reuters
Brasilia
J
ust days before Rio de Janeiro hosts the Olympics,
the city’s mayor Eduardo
Paes has taken to Twitter to
slam critics of his role in preparing for the Games. Paes
tends not to pull punches with
critics, sometimes literally.
In 2013, he hit a constituent
in the face after the man lambasted the mayor as he dined
with his wife.
This week, Paes took to social media to engage opponents
in digital fisticuffs, responding
to profanity-laced tweets that
were sent his way.
On Sunday, Paes responded
to one tweet, saying the sender
should “Stop being so grumpy.
Go drink, play some soccer, go
to bed early, go to church, hang
out with your girlfriend.”
It was retweeted 191 times
and ignited a running conversation. “You drank a lot today,
didn’t you, mayor?” responded
one woman.
The mayor’s press team did
not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Paes has grown increasingly
irritated with the criticism of
Rio’s preparations for the Olympics.
The event begins August
5 as Brazil faces its worst recession since the 1930s, an
increase in crime, and fears
about the mosquito-borne
Zika virus.
Impeachment
proceedings will likely see suspended
President Dilma Rousseff
ousted just after the August 21
closing ceremony.
Additionally, federal prosecutors are investigating
several Olympic projects for
suspected corruption — the
mayor strongly denies any
graft — and the Rio state government has been blasted for
failing to clean the sewageinfested bay where Olympic
sailing events will take place.
Paes was defiant in the face
of science while responding to
a recent study that researchers had found drug-resistant
super bacteria on Rio’s most
popular beaches and in waters
where athletes will compete.
“If there were any super
bacteria, there would not be
a single Carioca alive,” he
tweeted, using the nickname
for citizens of Rio.
He pointed to Rio’s long history of successfully pulling off
big events as proof that all will
go well with the Olympics.
The city annually hosts
millions of visitors for Carnival, one of the world’s biggest
New Year’s Eve parties, and
was widely lauded by tourists
during the 2014 World Cup.
Amid the criticism, the
mayor at times retained a
sense of humour.
One man tweeted that
Paes’s suggestion that the
state
government
allows
the Flamengo and Fluminense soccer clubs to run Rio’s
famed Maracana stadium was
“the only decent thing you
have done during an awful
administration.” Paes cheekily replied: “Cheers! At least
there was one!”
enezuela’s military has
been put on the frontline
of a worsening national
economic crisis by taking charge
of food distribution and key ports
amid dire shortages and mounting
unrest.
President Nicolas Maduro, who
is trying to cling to power and avert
total collapse of his oil-dependent
country, announced that the
armed forces have taken control of
the country’s five main seaports.
On Monday, he greatly boosted
the authority of his defence minister — armed forces chief General Vladimir Padrino — by making
him responsible for distributing
food, medicine and basic goods, all
of which are running out.
The nation’s woes have accumulated with multinational firms
shutting up shop and, on Tuesday,
the US bank Citibank confirming it
has closed the government’s overseas payments account.
A Citibank insider said on condition of anonymity the decision
was due to the “reputational risk”
to the bank of continuing to do
business with the failing South
American country.
Maduro likened Citibank’s
move to a “financial blockade.”
His government had used the
account to make payments to
other accounts in the US and elsewhere in the world. Now it will
have to find another bank to deal
with, so as not to get closed out of
the international financial system
altogether.
Citibank’s move is the latest in
a string of closures or scaling back
of operations of foreign compa-
Colombia unrest
nies operating in Venezuela, such
as Coca-Cola, US food giant The
Kraft Heinz company, Clorox and
airlines Lufthansa, Aeromexico
and American Airlines.
The Maduro government made
good on Monday on a threat to take
over the facilities of companies
that shut down. A plant run by US
consumer products giant Kimberly-Clark has been turned over to
its workers.
The company said that it simply
could not get hold of hard currency
to buy raw materials in Venezuela.
In face of the mounting adversity, Maduro has been characteristically defiant in the same vein
as his late mentor and predecessor,
populist president Hugo Chavez.
“Nobody stops Venezuela,” he
said. “With Citibank or without
it, we are moving forward. With
Kimberly or without, we are moving.”
But the country’s economic
problems are crushing. An estimated 80% of food items, medicines and other basics — even soap
— are in short supply.
Inflation hit 180% last year and
the IMF has forecast it at 720%
this year.
The country imports just about
everything it consumes. But the
dollars needed to buy all that stuff
are also in short supply: both because of the drop in oil prices and
because of currency controls the
government exercises.
“Companies are leaving because they cannot get hard currency. They have nothing with which
to import raw materials, and stop
producing,” said economist Pedro
Palma of consulting firm Ecoanalytic.
“The response is to take over
plants. But what are the work-
Bolivia accuses Chile
of racist treatment
AFP
La Paz
B
Colombian truck drivers clash with riot police on the TunjaDiutama road, Boyaca Department. The violence left several
wounded, including a governor, as well as complaints about the
death of a protester. The truckers have been on strike for more
than a month.
ers going to use to produce?” he
mused.
Critics say the problem stems
from the leftist government’s
model of tight grips on the economy and currency controls in place
since 2003.
Maduro says he is being targeted
by US interests and local business
elites bent on stoking grassroots
anger and removing him from
power.
Under Maduro’s response, civilian ministers are now subordinate to the military. Maduro has
also named a new head of the National Guard.
Maduro says the goal is to end
corrupt practices, such as crooked
officials turning food deliveries
over to smugglers who resell the
items at much higher prices to the
few Venezuelans who can afford to
pay.
“We are seeing a major movement of pushing civilians to the
side in benefit of the military,
which is what is holding up the
Maduro government,” economist
Jesus Casique said.
“This, the Citibank issue and
the companies that are leaving
all affect the country’s image and
discontent within Venezuela,” Casique added.
Maduro says the military will
make things right, arguing that
the private sector controls 93% of
distribution of basic goods and is
killing the economy with hoarding
and scalping. Out of a total of 30
government ministries, the military is now in control in 10.
The decision has not gone
down well with critics of the Maduro government. The Venezuelan
Bishops Conference said the rise
of the military is a “threat to tranquillity and peace.”
olivia has accused Chile
of racism in a dispute
over treatment of La
Paz’s foreign minister, who is
an Aymara Indian.
The minister, David Choquehuanca, will leave on
Sunday for a four-day visit
to Chile during which he will
visit two ports on the Pacific.
Bolivian truck drivers have
complained they are mistreated at those ports, being
forced to make under-thetable payments and denied
access to some trucking facilities.
They say they are also
treated disrespectfully.
Choquehuanca wants to
inspect the ports, which are
Arica and Antofagasta.
Chilean Foreign Minister
Heraldo Munoz said that he
can certainly go to the ports,
but will be recognised not as
foreign minister but rather as
“a tourist.”
Bolivian President Evo
Morales, who is also Aymara,
blasted Chile on his Twitter.
The warning that Chile
will receive the minister as a
mere visitor at the ports “is
the most damning proof of
the neo-colonial racism that
reigns in Chile and which will
not recognise an indigenous
foreign minister,” Morales
said.
Modern-day Bolivia is
landlocked, but its territory
used to stretch west to the
ocean. It lost that land, which
included 400kms of coastline, in a war with Chile in the
late 19th century.
Under a 1904 peace treaty,
Bolivia is supposed to have
free access by land to Arica
and Antofagasta.
By denying Choquehuanca
permission to inspect the
ports, Chile is violating that
accord, Morales said.
To this day, the territorial
dispute is a hot one.
Bolivia filed suit against
Chile in The Hague in 2013
to try to regain access to the
Pacific. Since the late 1970s,
Bolivia and Chile have not
even had full diplomatic relations.
Gulf Times
Thursday, July 14, 2016
19
PAKISTAN/AFGHANISTAN
Kashmiris stage
anti-India rally
Internews
Karachi
P
AFP
Muzaffarabad, Pakistan
P
rotesters in Pakistan-administered Kashmir accused New Delhi of “genocide” yesterday, after days of
clashes left 32 people dead and
hundreds wounded on the Indian side of the heavily-militarised
frontier.
Up to 3,000 people gathered
at a rally in the Pakistani Kashmir capital Muzaffarabad, where
rebel leaders vowed to launch a
civil disobedience campaign on
the Indian side of the contested
territory.
Violence broke out there Friday after a Hizbul Mujahideen
(HM) commander named Burhan Wani – a 22-year-old poster
boy for the region’s biggest rebel
group – was killed in a gun battle
with government forces.
HM chief Sayed Salahuddin
condemned the clashes, which
are the worst in Kashmir since
2010.
If India’s “occupation” troops
continue “with the genocide
of Kashmiris then along with
armed struggle we will also start
a civil disobedience movement
in occupied Kashmir,” Salahuddin said, amid calls for jihad.
“People on both sides will
have to march and trample that
bloody line that divides them,”
he said referring to the de facto
Kashmir border between India
Edhi Foundation fears
drop in donations
Pakistani supporters of the banned organisation Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) gather in protest against the
killings in India-administered Kashmir, in Lahore.
and Pakistan, known as the Line
of Control.
Salahuddin, who also heads
the umbrella group the United
Jihad Council, which is widely
believed to have close links to
the Pakistani military, called on
Islamabad to raise the issue with
the international community.
Islamabad summoned New
Delhi’s envoy on Monday and
conveyed Pakistan’s “serious
concern” over the recent killings
in the disputed Himalayan state.
Police said most of those who
died were protesters killed by
gunshot wounds as Indian government troops fired live ammunition and tear gas to try to
enforce a curfew imposed across
the Kashmir Valley.
Those at the rally offered funeral prayers for Wani, while
around 150 HM fighters donned
commando-style uniforms with
headbands inscribed with the
words “Freedom of Martyrdom”.
HM is one of several homegrown groups that have for decades been fighting around half a
million Indian troops deployed
in the region, calling for independence or a merger with Pakistan.
Kashmir has been divided
between the two nations since
their independence from Britain
in 1947, but both claim the territory in its entirety.
hilanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi’s son, Faisal, fears
that the Edhi Foundation
may see a decline in donations
because some people have been
maligning his late father and
spreading rumours about him.
“There is a risk of lack of
donations for the organisation
because an active campaign
is run against the Edhi Foundation every year,” said Faisal
Edhi in an interview with BBC
Urdu on Monday.
“Many people contribute to
the foundation because of Edhi’s
personality and his work,” he
said, adding that there were
many rumours in Ramadan that
he had already passed away.
This, he explained, led certain elements to spread negative propaganda and rumours
in order to keep people from
donating to the foundation.
According to Edhi’s eldest
son, the rumours were spread by
“people who are backward, reactionary and hold extremist views”.
He said that maulvis and
capitalists had always detested
his father. “In their Friday sermons, many mullahs called him
Ahmadi, sometimes a kaafir, or
an Ismaili and urged people not
to donate or give charity to the
foundation,” he said, adding
that he failed to understand
what the motivation behind
this propaganda was as the
organisation always had less
in donations as compared to
A Pakistani woman holds an oil lamp during a candlelight vigil for
renowned social worker Abdul Sattar Edhi in Karachi.
mosques and seminaries.
Now, Faisal said, the only
thing he could do was pray and
request others to forgive him
and let his father be.
“He is dead now,” he said,
adding that there was no point
in issuing fatwas against him.
Edhi passed away at the age
of 88 in Karachi last week. A
state funeral was held for the
philanthropist at the National
Stadium Karachi amid tight
security. President Mamnoon
Hussain and all three chiefs of
the armed forces were present
alongside other top military
and civilian leadership.
The police had designated
separate entry points to the
venue for the public and VIPs.
Security personnel from the
army, Rangers and police commandos were deployed in and
around the stadium as well as on
all routes leading to the venue.
Faisal disagreed with criticism
that the state had hijacked his father’s funeral. “People said that
they faced a lot of difficulties in
reaching [the funeral venue], and
that they came out of their love
and support for Edhi,” he said.
“The state has a responsibility and a way of doing things.
Even if we disagree with them,
even if it might be flawed, I believe what the state did was for
the best,” he added.
Edhi, the father Faisal also
discussed the ideological underpinnings of the organisation
and his upbringing. He said
that Edhi was a man who held
socialist ideals and brought
him up with those principles.
“We will take the foundation
forward based on those principles, even if we have to run it on
the footpaths,” he said. “May
Allah grant me the courage and
strength to run the Edhi Foundation along the right path and
as well as my father did.”
School attack leader killed in drone strike
The alleged mastermind of the 2014 attack on a school in Pakistan in
which more than 150 people died, most of them children, has been killed
in an American drone strike in Afghanistan, the Pakistan military and
sources in the Pakistani Taliban said.
General Asim Bajwa, director general of the Pakistani army’s media
division, reported the death of Umar Narai, also known as Khalifa Umar
Mansoor or Khalid Khurasani, in a message on Twitter.
In Kabul, the US military confirmed it had conducted a counterterrorism
strike in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar on Sunday but gave
no details.
The Pakistani Taliban made no official comment.
IS radio station in Afghanistan destroyed
An Islamic State radio station was destroyed by a “foreign drone strike”
yesterday in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province, a statement
released by the governor’s office said.
The “strike was conducted before noon today in Kharwa area of Achin
district,” it said.
Strikes described as “foreign” by Afghan officials normally refer to those
carried out by US forces. Radio frequencies used by the extremist
militia to broadcast propaganda and calls to arms can be picked up in
Nangarhar and border regions of Pakistan, despite many stations having
already been destroyed. The province has become a key territory of
Islamic State since the militant group’s rise in Afghanistan last year.
Sindh province braces for new spell of rains
Internews
Karachi
W
ith a fresh warning
about a new weather system entering
the province, the government
of Pakistan’s southern Sindh
province has alerted all the relevant ministries from relief to
local government departments
to be ready to implement the
contingency plans they had
prepared in advance for the
monsoon season, officials said
yesterday.
“The ministries, including the health, education, local
government and relief departments have been put on alert.
The chief minister has asked
all of them to ensure that precious lives are saved and loss of
property should remain minimal,” said a senior government
official.
He added the government had
asked the education department to identify the number
and location of the schools
which could be turned into relief camps in case of heavy rains
and looming floods.
As the ministry declared a
‘health emergency’ in Sindh,
all the government hospitals have already been put
on high alert with the leave
of staff being cancelled and
life-saving drugs being made
available at district and taluk
headquarters hospitals.
In Karachi, the city administration has asked all the municipalities across the city to
cancel the leaves of the staff and
remain on high alert with maximum availability of manpower
and resources with them to deal
with rain emergency situation.
The KMC imposed a state of
emergency at all its hospitals
and healthcare centres during
monsoon rains.
It also established dozens
of rain emergency centres in
schools in Orangi, Keamari,
Lyari, Saddar, Jamshed, Gulberg, Korangi, Malir, Gulshan,
Shah Faisal, North Nazimabad
and Bin Qasim though they
have yet to start functioning.
Besides, a central control room
with ambulances was also established.
Officials in the areas conceded that none of the centres
was operational, the relevant
KMC authorities claimed otherwise. “We are on alert already
and every emergency situation
could be dealt with in a befitting
manner,” said an official.
Officials in the KMC education department said as schools
were closed for summer vacation, all the requirements had
been fulfilled to turn those
schools for emergency purposes. The teachers could be called
for duty if they were required,
they added.
The KMC also issued direc-
tives to ensure availability of
doctors, paramedics and medicines at all of its healthcare facilities. KMC officials claimed
that cleaning of 13 major storm
water drains of the city was
completed.
In addition, small nullahs
within the jurisdiction of district municipal corporations
were also cleaned to drain rainwater.
Officials in the provincial
disaster management authority
(PDMA) said the authority had
asked the district administrations to brace for the rainfall
warning that there were chances of urban flooding in Karachi
if nullahs were not properly
cleaned.
Where dreams take flight: Pakistan’s pigeon racers
AFP
Lahore
A
flock of pigeons takes off
from a Lahore roof-top
at dawn, rising above the
city’s Mughal-era minarets before disappearing out of sight.
Rather than being viewed as
pests, these birds are champions
of endurance who evoke a passionate following across Pakistan.
“It is a love affair,” says Akhlaq
Khan, a famous octogenarian pigeon-fancier and author
of the only book on the subject
in Pakistan.”You don’t see anything there, no difference between the birds,” he says, cradling a plump bird with a white
body and coloured head.
“But I can tell the worth of
each bird by looking at the eyes
and feathers.”
On his rooftop in a leafy district of Pakistan’s cultural capital, hundreds of birds are cooing
in massive light blue cages in the
sweltering Punjabi summer.
In film and folklore, pigeons,
or “kabootar” are associated
with love letters destined for
harems and for military orders
sent to champion warriors by
kings of yesteryear.
“Flying breeds in India were
introduced by the Mughals,” says
Khan referring to the Muslim
dynasty that ruled the subcontinent from the early 16th century
till the mid-19th.
Pigeon followers broadly class
the birds into those known for
their competitive flying ability,
and those prized for their looks.
Akbar the Great was renowned for his pigeon passion,
A Pakistani racing pigeon owner feeds his pigeon after a day of flying during the pigeon race national
championship in Islamabad.
and, according to one scholar of
the court “had 20,000 birds of
different types,” said Khan.
Millions of fans across the
country are enthralled by low
and high altitude flying competitions, and races in which opponents attempt to distract each
others’ birds, etc.
It is a rare pastime that brings
together people from different
social backgrounds – experts are
often illiterate and the owners
are rich.
A good pigeon can be valued
at hundreds of dollars, equivalent to several months salary for
many Pakistanis.
Bird cages and enthusiasts
can be found on rooftops in the
old districts of cities across the
country.
Pakistani pigeons and experts
have also been taken by Arab royals for tournaments in the Gulf.
For so-called “high-flying”
pigeons, the rules are simple:
at dawn, each team of seven or
eleven pigeons take off from
their perches, spend the day flying out of sight, and when they
return at nightfall, the flight
time of each pigeon is added up
and an average is calculated.
The winning team is the one
which has the longest average
flight time after a total of seven or
eleven flights held every two days.
“We fly pigeon around 5 in
morning after stamping them,
and if the pigeon comes back
around 4 to 5 in the evening we
consider them good,” explains
Syed Mehtab Shah, a participant in the Bahrain Cup, one of
a number of tournaments organised in spring and autumn.
“I love beating my competitors, it brings me joy and fame,”
explains the pigeon-fancier
from Islamabad, surrounded by
several friends who have come to
see his pigeons land one evening
following an endurance flight.
The conversation halts as two
birds, which spent the day flying
at 3,000 metres and are recog-
A Pakistani caretaker counts racing pigeons before their release on the final day of the pigeon race national championship in Islamabad.
nisable by the pink paint daubed
under their wings, come in to
land.
Grabbing binoculars, the audience admire the birds’ precision landing, which was guided
by flags.
The best champions, capable of flying for more than 12
hours without food or drink in
exhausting heat, are showered
with luxurious treatment often
reserved for humans.
The pigeon masters, known
as “ustads”, give their birds long
massages with a damp towel and
special concoctions to boost
performance.
In his book, Khan reveals his
diet plans for the winged athletes: crushed almonds, cardamom and Indian lotus seed
powder, as well a “water of life”
– laced with cumin, pepper and
other spices.
He speaks too of the benefits
of precious saffron and ginseng.
There is no governing body
regulating pigeon racing, so other less natural ingredients can
creep in to the diet.
“Anabolic steroids, calcium
tablets and sometimes sedative
tablets are used”, says Waqar
Haider, a student of Akhlaq
Khan, from Rawalpindi.
The victors can take home
mobile phones, motorcycles and
even cars – proving a winning
bird in hand can be worth more
than several in the proverbial
shrubbery.
In this way, the story of love
became a story of money. “It
fell into disrepute because people started gambling,” explains
Khan.
And it has become necessary
to deal with the inevitable jealousy.
Haider’s wife spends long
hours peeling almonds and
cooking for her husband’s guests
during each competition.
She concedes shyly: “He
spends more time with his birds
than with me.”
20
Gulf Times
Thursday, July 14, 2016
PHILIPPINES
Lawmaker
calls for
probe into
airport fee
Manila Times
Makati
A
The Japanese Coast Guard ship PLH02 Tsugaru is seen with a Philippine Coast Guard boat during their annual joint anti-piracy exercise in the waters off Manila Bay yesterday.
Manila ‘should enlist
allies on S China Sea’
The government has been advised
to form a group of allies to pressure
China
Manila Times
Makati
T
he Philippines may be holding the
upper hand now after getting a favourable ruling from the international arbitral tribunal but it needs to be
careful on how to play its cards, former
senator Leticia Ramos-Shahani said yesterday.
She advised the Duterte government
to enlist the country’s allies to join the
Philippines in pressuring China to stop its
reclamation projects in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).
“China is a big power, economically.
Find our allies because we cannot do it
alone,” Shahani said during a forum in
Quezon City.
She warned that the United Nations is
not a supreme court but a political body
that promises to protect small nations but
actually exists so that super powers will
rule.
China, the former senator noted, is a
permanent member of the UN Security
Council.
“President [Rodrigo] Duterte’s first
state visit should be in China and he
should bring with him well-versed Chinese-speaking advisers. Before that meeting, he has to use all diplomatic channels,
including backdoor negotiations,” said
Shahani, who headed the foreign relations
committee at the Senate.
De La Salle University political science
professor Richard Javad Heydarian shared
Shahani’s view, saying China is in a panic
mode because it could be branded an international outlaw if it will insist on rejecting the tribunal’s ruling.
He said even if Beijing is a global
maritime power, Duterte should issue a
strongly-worded statement following the
verdict.
Associate Justice of the supreme court
Francis Jardaleza, who led the Philippine legal team in the arbitration case in
Manila yesterday.
“China will offer him a lot of carrots. He
should stick to the game plan. Not relax
our claim just because they’re investing
a lot. Duterte has to be careful not to fall
into that trap,” Heydarian added.
Shahani said just like in a poker game,
Duterte is holding the winning card and he
just has to be careful.
Her stand is also espoused by other political scientists, among them,
Professor Aileen Baviera of the University of the Philippines Contemporary
China Studies Asian Center, professor Jay
Batongbacal of the UP College of Law Institute of Maritime Affairs and Law of the
Sea and former ABC Beijing bureau chief
Chito Santa Romana, who was a guest on
Tuesday at a forum held also in Quezon
City.
Baviera said China is in a dilemma but
the Chinese will never surrender their
9-dash-line policy.
“That mentality also is going to be very
difficult for everyone to accept. China can
insist on it and stand on that leg as long as
it wants to,” she added.
Santa Romana said the Communist
Party of China has been shaken by the
ruling and the leadership is at its lowest
point.
“They now have siege mentality, suspecting a Western conspiracy. They will
cling to their belief that Mischief Reef is
theirs legally. Watch carefully and use the
[UN arbitral court] award to leverage,” he
added.
Santa Romana cited border issues that
China had with Vietnam and Russia that
were settled after more than 30 years because the two governments did not go easy
on Beijing.
“There were changes of leaders in Vietnam before the settlement was reached. It
took Boris Yeltsin and Mikhail Gorbachev
to negotiate to solve the river border [issue]. Now, with Duterte, it is the most
opportune time to settle the issue. China
obviously did not like the Aquino administration,” he said.
Batongbacal said the issue of sovereignty remains undecided and the dispute
with China will remain.
He added that the Philippines, however, should strive to enter into provisional
practical arrangements like having common fishing grounds.
“China forces will remain on the disputed islands. Reclamation will continue. So the best is to reach some practical
sharing,” Batongbacal said.
Other political scientists believe that
China will not go to war even if other sea
claimants will follow the Philippines’ lead
and also file suits before the Permanent
Court of Arbitration.
Professor Rolando Simbulan of UP Manila said with the ruling, the Philippines
should strike a balance in dealing with the
US and China.
‘We now need to be very careful in
striking a balance in dealing with the US
and China because any wrong tip of that
balance throws us into a position where
we are caught in the middle and we become the battleground,” he added.
UN help
Senator Panfilo Lacson yesterday said
the Philippines can seek the UN’s help
so that Filipinos can safely fish in certain
areas in the West Philippine Sea (South
China Sea).
Lacson added that aside from holding
bilateral talks with China, Manila can go
to the UN General Assembly and ask if it
could send a peacekeeping contingent to
certain areas outside the 200-nautical
mile exclusive economic zone of the Philippines.
“We may opt to go directly to UN General Assembly and ask for their help. We
can expect China to campaign against it.
China won’t take it sitting down,” he said.
The senator believes that China will not
dare harass a UN contingent.
“I don’t think China, for all its bravado,
for all its military might, will drive away
the UN peacekeeping force. Otherwise it
will be going against the community of
nations,” he said.
The senator expressed optimism that
Manila and Beijing can reach an agreement.
“I have it on good information that
they [China] are open to negotiate a sharing agreement. They are willing to put up
capital,” Lacson said, adding that another
source told him that China is even offering
a 60-40 sharing arrangement.
The Philippines’ victory made Manila
as mighty as Beijing and gave the Philippine government the edge when and
if it will hold talks with China, Kabayan
party-list representative Harry Roque, a
former professor in international law at
the University of the Philippines, said.
“This is a huge win for us because the
UN tribunal specifically cited the West
Philippine Sea features which are within
our exclusive economic zone. This is important because under the United Nations
Convention on the Law of the Sea, only
a coastal state like the Philippines has
the right to put up reclamation projects
within its exclusive economic zone. This
means that China’s existing reclamation
projects and military bases there are unlawful,” Roque told reporters.
“This arbitration ruling made us a coequal of China when it comes to bilateral
talks. Before, it’s like having a gun to our
heads when talking with them. Now, we
have this leverage. The issues were narrowed down because the nine-dash line is
out of it,” he said. “This ruling means that
we will be free to benefit from fishing in
our seas and even search for natural gas.”
party-list
lawmaker
will push for investigation of the integration
of the P550 airport terminal fee
in airline tickets for all international passengers, including overseas Filipino workers
(OFWs).
ACTS-OFW party-list representative John Bertiz 3rd
announced his plan yesterday even as the Pasay City
Regional Trial Court Branch
119 had dismissed for lack of
merit a petition questioning
the implementation of the International Passenger Service
Charge (IPSC) integration in all
airline tickets last June 20.
“Without prejudice to a
possible motion for reconsideration that may be filed in
court, congress can look into
the implementation of the
IPSC integration program so
that the rights of the OFWs are
protected and their benefits are
safeguarded,” he said.
Bertiz, a former OFW himself, earlier filed house resolution (HR) 14, which seeks to
direct appropriate house committees to assess the implementation of the IPSC integration program that took effect
last February 1.
The IPSC integration programme, contained in Memorandum Circular No 8 issued by
the Manila International Airport Administration (MIAA)
under then-general manager
Angel Honrado, integrates the
P550 airport terminal fee in all
airline tickets.
The circular, however, does
not distinguish between exempt and non-exempt passengers when airline tickets
are bought online or abroad,
requiring even exempt passengers, OFWs included, from
paying the P550 airport terminal fee.
“In effect,” Bertiz said, “the
circular continues to violate
the intent of the law because
it practically reduces the benefits and privileges granted to
all OFWs even if our overseas
workers can refund the terminal fee upon showing of their
OEC [overseas employment
certificate].”
Under Section 35 of Republic Act 8042, as amended by
RA 10022, also known as the
Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipino Act, OFWs are
exempted from paying travel
tax, documentary stamp and
airport terminal fee.
In the past 16th Congress,
Honrado had promised lawmakers both in the House and
the senate that he will look into
a computer system that would
automatically exempt OFWs
from payment of the terminal
fee.
“Since its implementation,
the MIAA is yet to come up
with an appropriate computer
system as it has regarded the
matter as not urgent,” Bertiz
noted.
Two lawmakers face
charges for bank sale
Manila Times
Makati
S
enator Sherwin Gatchalian
and Surigao del Norte representative Philip Pichay,
among others, have been charged
with multiple counts of malversation, graft and violation of
banking laws before the Sandiganbayan.
The ombudsman filed the
charges in connection with the
sale of the Gatchalian familyowened Express Savings Bank
Inc. (ESBI) to the state-run Local
Water Utilities Administration
(LWUA) seven years ago.
Gatchalian is facing one count
of malversation, one count of
graft and one count of violating the Manual of Regulation for
Banks.
Pichay, the former LWUA
chief, was charged with three
counts of graft.
The ombudsman said the
Pichay-led LWUA approved
the acquisition of ESBI despite
substantial negative audit findings uncovered during the due
diligence stage and audit findings
made by a private firm showing that the bank was insolvent
after suffering substantial net
losses and capital deficits for five
straight years from 2005 to 2009.
Then-LWUA chairman Pichay
approved the transfer of almost
P780mn of LWUA funds to ESBI
in order to increase the bank’s
authorised capital stock–a transaction that was once again made
without regulatory approval from
the MB.
Of this amount, a total of
P80mn was paid to the Gatchalian family as bank owners.
“In view of the bank’s precarious financial standing at the time
of the sale, the windfall received
by herein private respondents
must be deemed unwarranted
benefit, advantage or preference,”
the ombudsman’s office said.
President Duterte’s trust rating at 84%, says survey
Manila Times
Quezon City
P
resident Rodrigo Duterte started
his presidency with a high trust
rating of 84% according to the
latest Social Weather Stations (SWS)
survey.
The poll, conducted from June 24
to 27 among 1,200 adults nationwide,
found that about 84% of those surveyed showed “much trust” in Duterte,
11% said they were undecided and five
percent had “little trust”.
This gave Duterte a net trust rating (percentage of “much trust” minus
percentage of “little trust”) of +79.
The SWS classifies net trust ratings of at least +70 as “excellent”; +50
to +69 as “very good”; +30 to +49,
“good”; +10 to +29, “moderate”; +9 to
-9, “neutral”; -10 to -29, “poor”; -30 to
-49, “bad”; -50 to -69, “very bad”; and
-70 and below as “execrable.”
The president’s score represents a 53
percentage point jump and three grade
surge from his May rating of 26%.
In December of 2015, the first time
the SWS took a poll on Duterte’s trust
President Rodrigo Duterte.
rating, he was rated a “moderate” +16.
By January to February 2016, Duterte
had a trust rating +13 to +17.
In March, the rating rose to +26, and
a “good” +30 by April.
Duterte’s predecessor, former president Benigno Aquino 3rd, got an “excellent” +83% when he won the presidential race in 2010.
The SWS attributed the 53-point
surge in Duterte’s net trust rating to
increases across geographical areas and
social classes.
Based on the survey, the President
posted “excellent” ratings in all geographical areas.
In “Balance Luzon”, Duterte’s trust
rating rose to an “excellent” +75 in June
from May’s “neutral” +9.
A similar improvement was seen in
Metro Manila where he got an “excellent” +78 from a +21 “moderate.”
In the Visayas, Duterte’s trust rating
rose from a +17 “moderate” in May to
an “excellent” +74 in June.
In Mindanao, it rose to an “excellent”
+90 from a “very good” +60.
President Duterte also got “ excellent” ratings in all social classes.
The survey, first published in BusinessWorld, had sampling error margins
of ±3 points for national percentages,
and ±6% each for Metro Manila, Luzon areas outside the nation’s capital,
the Visayas and Mindanao.
Malacanang welcomed the survey
result, saying it was a “positive sign.”
“It’s a positive sign and very encouraging to know that the people trust the
judgment, decisions and actions of the
president,” Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar told
reporters in a text message.
A list of new appointments by president Rodrigo Duterte containing the
names of 24 new and old hands in the
Bureau of Customs (BoC) and circulat-
ing in the agency has turned out to be
a hoax.
The office of Commissioner Nicanor
Faeldon yesterday immediately denied
the existence of such list, saying “it’s a
hoax.”
A check with Malacanang also
showed no such presidential appointments.
The list contained the names of five
new customs deputy commissioners,
13 district and sub-port collectors and
6 directors.
Among them were two former comrades of Faeldon in the former rebel
Magdalo group–former captains Milo
Maestrocampo and Gerardo Gambalo–
who were reportedly designated as directors for Port Operations and Finance
Services, respectively.
Faeldon, Maestrocampo and Gambala were among the 9 military junior
officers who were dismissed from the
service after they were convicted for
their involvement in the 2003 Oakwood
mutiny.
Also on the list was the former Western Mindanao Command chief, now retired lieutenant general Juancho Sabban
as deputy commission for intelligence.
Sabban, a decorated officer, retired in
March 2013.
The others were lawyer Arnel Alcaraz, deputy commissioner for enforcement group; lawyer Reynaldo
Nicolas deputy commissioner for
revenue collection monitoring group;
lawyer Edward James Dybuco, deputy
commissioner for internal administration group; Vladimir Reyes, deputy
commissioner for management information system and technology group.
Lawyer Jessica Mamuri, Cebu district collector; Joey San Andres, North
Harbor collector; lawyer Noah Dimaporo; Harbor Center collector; Artemio Ricarte, Batangas district collector; lawyer Aizza Gonzales, Manila
International Container Port district
collector; lawyer Kristen Banganan,
Subic district collector; Alfredo Cruz,
PEZA-Cavite collector; lawyer Kenji
Ameda, Clark district collector; Fidel
Villanueva, La Union district collector.
Lawyer Jelina Magsusi, Port of Manila district collector; Lilibeth Mangsal, Surigao district collector; lawyer
Ding So, Ninoy Aquino International
district collector; lawyer Adelina Molina, Davao district collector.
Former Southern Luzon command
spokesman colone; Neil Anthony Estrella, director, Customs Intelligence
and Investigation Service; lawyer Alvin
Ebreo, director, legal service; lawyer
Divina Hernandez, director, collection
service; and lawyer Julito Doria, chief,
X-ray field project.
Among the bureau old-timers on
the list were Nicolas, Dybuco, Mamuri, Gonzales, Villanueva, Dimaporo,
So, Molina Ricarte, San Andres and
Doria.
Dybuco, Molina and So were among
the 12 Customs district collectors
who resigned in July 2013, a day after
former customs commissioner and
now Muntinlupa City (Metro Manila)
representative Rozzano Rufino Biazon
ordered a massive reshuffle in the bureau.
Nicolas was terminated as customs
deputy commissioner for assessment
and operations group in 2011 for lacking the required career executive service eligibility.
The Civil Service Commission has
ordered the reinstatement of Nicolas in
a May 29, 2012 resolution but that order
was never implemented.
Gulf Times
Thursday, July 14, 2016
21
SRI LANKA/BANGLADESH/NEPAL
Maoists, opposition join
hands to try to unseat Oli
Nepal opposition lawmakers
file a no-confidence motion
against Prime Minister K
P Sharma Oli after former
rebel Maoists quit his
coalition, triggering fresh
political turmoil in the
quake-hit nation
Reuters
Kathmandu
N
epal’s former Maoist rebels joined forces
with the largest opposition party yesterday to lodge a
motion of no-confidence in the
prime minister, but the impoverished Himalayan country’s increasingly isolated leader vowed
to fight on.
Nepal has been plagued by
political turmoil for years and
the bid by the Maoists and the
Nepali Congress Party to unseat Prime Minister K P Oli and
form a new government has
ushered in another phase of
uncertainty.
Oli, who came to power in
October, is accused by the onetime insurgents of reneging on
promises and on Tuesday they
withdrew their support in parliament for his fragile coalition.
“We have registered a vote
of no-confidence against the
prime minister,” Pampha Bhusal, spokeswoman for the Maoist
party, said.
“With our party withdrawing support for the Oli government it is in a minority and must
resign.”
Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, centre, leaving the Parliament Building in Kathmandu yesterday.
A Nepali Congress spokesman confirmed that his party
had given the Maoists its backing so a no-confidence motion
could be formally registered.
The motion will be tabled in
parliament next week before a
vote is held.
Neighbours India and China
compete for influence in Nepal and are both likely to be
concerned by the prospect of
more instability in a country struggling to rebuild after a
devastating earthquake last year.
Oli is Nepal’s seventh prime
minister since it abolished its
239-year old monarchy in 2008.
The Maoists abandoned a bid
to unseat him in May after they
said he had agreed to work for a
national consensus and address
their concerns.
Oli’s press adviser said the
prime minister would remain leader and face the noconfidence vote.
“The prime minister will not
resign,” the adviser, Pramod
Dahal, said.
With the Maoists and Congress joining forces, Oli’s coalition in the 595-member parliament needs the support of other
smaller parties to survive.
Analysts said the arithmetic
was against Oli, particularly if
the motion was tabled in coming
days before he had time to convince other parties to back him.
“I really don’t see a chance for
his survival. He has faced this
challenge for a long time, only
now does it look successful,”
said Bipin Adhikari, a constitutional expert at Kathmandu
University.
However, ideological differences between the centrist Congress
and the Maoists made their pact
far from secure, Adhikari said.
Nepali Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba, centre, leaving the
Parliament Building in Kathmandu yesterday.
Maoist leader Prachanda, who
goes by the nom-de-guerre he
used in the insurgency, which
means “Fierce”, is the favourite
to replace 64-year-old Oli if he
loses the vote.
The Maoists accuse Oli of failing to resolve anger in the south
of the country over a new constitution, and of failing to rebuild
homes and roads destroyed in
last year’s earthquake.
Nepal adopted a new constitution in September. Its passing looked like a rare moment of
political consensus but protests
soon followed.
US hails Sri Lanka’s
reconciliation efforts
Reuters
Colombo
T
he United States has
praised Sri Lanka’s steps
taken under a UN resolution to address alleged human
rights abuses in the final phase
of a 26-year war with Tamil Tiger rebels, and said it would do
what it could to see through the
process.
Washington along with other
Western nations had long demanded an international investigation
into the alleged killing of thousands of ethnic minority Tamils in
the final weeks of the war, in 2009,
under then Sri Lankan leader Mahinda Rajapakse.
Man killed
while trying
to take selfie
with elephant
A man was killed in southern
Nepal as he tried to take a selfie
with a wild elephant, authorities
said yesterday, DPA reports.
The man had been driving a water
tanker when he stopped to take a
photograph with the animal.
The wild elephant attacked the
man and killed him, Parsa Wildlife
Reserve officials said.
The wild elephant was part of a herd
moving from the western to the
eastern part of the reserve, an annual
movement during the monsoon.
A herd of 21 jumbos made the
movement on Tuesday.
The elephants disrupted traffic on
the highway that passes through
the forest for several hours.
There are 65 elephants in the
Parsa Wildlife Reserve and around
170 total wild elephants in the
country.
About the same number are kept
as working elephants at tourist
resorts and government-run
breeding centres.
Deaths from elephant attacks are
not uncommon in southern Nepal’s
buffer zones near forest areas.
Two senior US State Department officials visiting
Colombo welcomed its steps
in implementing the UN resolution adopted in September
last year calling in part for an
inquiry into missing people and progress in post-war
reconciliation.
“We strongly commend the
government for working closely
with the United Nations and the
High Commissioner (for Human
Rights) Zeid (Ra’ad Al Hussein),”
Assistant Secretary of State Tom
Malinowski told reporters in
Colombo.
“The United States co-sponsored the resolution. As such we
feel we have a shared responsibility
to help see that process through.”
The visit of Malinowski, along
with Assistant Secretary of State
for South and Central Asian Affairs Nisha Biswal, came two
weeks after the United Nations
urged Sri Lanka to rein in its
military forces, prosecute war
crimes and win the confidence
of the Tamil minority.
Former president Rajapakse
rejected international intervention in addressing human rights
abuses and denied visas for top
UN officials who wanted to assess conditions in the South
Asian country after the war
ended in May 2009.
President
Maithripala
Sirisena, who unseated Rajapakse in January last year,
promised to implement the UN
A
group of mostly USbased fashion brands
and retailers pledged
yesterday not to turn their
backs on Bangladesh’s crucial
garment industry despite a series of deadly attacks by Islamist extremists.
The recent murder of 20 hostages at a cafe in Dhaka has cast
a big shadow over the industry’s
future, especially as the victims
included several Italians employed in the fashion trade.
But the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, which represents more than two dozen
The agitating Madhesi Morcha in
Nepal will support the new powersharing deal reached between
the Nepali Congress and CPN
(Maoist Centre) to topple the K P
Sharma Oli-led government and will
support Pushpa Kamal Dahal as the
country’s next prime minister, a top
Madhesi leader said yesterday.
After the CPN (Maoist Centre)
withdrew support to Oli on Tuesday,
the government has been reduced
to minority and will be facing no
trust motion in parliament.
“We support the bid to pull down the
government but will not be part of
the next government,” said Upendra
Yadav, one of the Morcha leaders.
Dahal is all set to become Nepal’s
next prime minister after toppling
Oli as per an agreement reached
between the opposition Nepali
Congress and the Maoists.
The NC and the Maoist alliance
is comparatively positive
in addressing the demands
raised by the Morcha which
spearheaded a five-month-long
agitation after the promulgation
of the new constitution in
September last year.
Despite 36 rounds of talks with
the Oli government, the demands
raised by the Morcha, including
change in demarcation of
proposed seven provinces and
making the new constitution
more inclusive and Madhesfriendly, remain in limbo.
A seven-point agreement reached
between NC and Maoist ahead of the
pulling out of support to Oli clearly
states that once the new government
is formed, the demands of the agitating
Madhesi Morcha will be looked into
seriously and the government will
address them with all seriousness.
“We will look into what kind of
approach the new alliance will have
towards us,” said Yadav, adding that
“accordingly we will extend support
or join the government”.
The first point of the deal reached
between the NC and Maoist that
is considered as the cornerstone
for the new political alliance was
committed to addressing the
dissatisfaction in the Madhes
region of the country.
Fears for two
Dhaka hostage
survivors
AFP
Dhaka
US assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian Affairs
Nisha Biswal gesturing after the meeting with Sri Lanka’s Minister of
Foreign Affairs Mangala Samaraweera in Colombo.
resolution. However, he and
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe rejected the resolution in one respect by saying foreign judges could not be
admitted into the country in
keeping with its constitution.
UN Secretary General Ban Kimoon said on a visit last year that
Colombo would not be compelled
to accept a role for international
judges in investigating possible
war crimes, but any process must
be impartial and independent.
US brands vow to stick with Bangladesh
AFP
Dhaka
Minority Madhesis, who live
mostly in Nepal’s lowlands near
India, imposed a four-month
border blockade to protest
against a proposal to carve Nepal
into seven federal states, which
they say would divide their
homeland and deprive them of a
fair say.
More than 50 people were
killed in clashes before protesters called off the blockade in
February.
Nepal has seen 23 governments since 1990 when parliamentary democracy was
introduced.
Madhesi Morcha
to support new NC,
Maoist coalition
North American fashion brands
and retailers, said its members
remained committed to buying
garments from Bangladesh.
“Despite these unspeakable
tragedies, the Alliance and our
member companies will continue to stay the course,” James Moriarty, country director for the
Alliance told a teleconference.
The alliance, which includes
major brands such as Gap and
Walmart, was set up to improve
safety standards at Bangladesh’s estimated 4,500 garment
factories in the aftermath of the
2013 Rana Plaza disaster.
More than 1,100 textile
workers were killed in April
2013 when a six-storey complex
of garment factories collapsed
near the capital Dhaka.
Moriarty, a former US envoy
to Bangladesh, said that “improving safety for the millions
of men and women who make a
living in Bangladesh’s garment
sector is a moral imperative.”
“As we review and update our
policies to help keep our staff
and contractors safe, our work
to improve safety in Bangladesh’s garment factories will
continue at full speed,” he added.
The Islamic State organisation claimed responsibility
for killing the mainly foreign
hostages in Dhaka earlier this
month although the government has blamed a homegrown extremist group.
Several leading exporters
have reported that some buyers
have postponed visits to Bangladesh in the wake of the attack
and have instead insisted on
meetings in alternative venues
such as Dubai or Bangkok.
However, officials from the
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) say they have received assurances from retailers
like H&M, which is the largest
buyer from Dhaka, that they
won’t shift orders.
Garment manufacturing is
Bangladesh’s largest industry, accounting for 80% of the
country’s annual shipments
and employing some 40 percent
of its industrial workforce.
F
amilies and rights groups
yesterday
expressed
fears for two survivors of
a deadly siege at a Bangladesh
cafe who are missing after being grilled by police over the
attack.
Amnesty International has
asked the authorities to establish “the fate and whereabouts” of Hasnat Karim who
survived the attack and has
been missing since being taken
in for questioning 11 days ago.
Family members of Tahmid
Khan also said that they were
in the dark about the 22-yearold Toronto University student’s whereabouts after he
was taken into custody as
part of a police probe into the
attack.
Suspected Islamist militants killed 20 diners and two
police officers when they raided the upscale Holey Artisan
restaurant on the night of July
1. Army commandoes stormed
the cafe the next morning,
killing all five attackers and
rescuing 13 people, including
Karim and Khan.
Police have said both were
initially interrogated as they
tried to piece together what
had happened during the
siege.
But police now say that the
pair are no longer under their
custody.
“We’ve questioned them
immediately after they were
rescued. But they are no longer with police custody,” Dhaka
police spokesman Masudur
Rahman said yesterday. A military spokesman said that the
two were not in their custody.
Fears for the pair’s safety
have been compounded after
a 18-year-old injured survivor, who was rescued during
the siege and was described
as suspect, died in hospital
after claims by his father that
he was tortured by security
forces.
Relatives of Karim and Khan
insist both men have no connection to the attack which
was claimed by the Islamic
State group.
Karim’s wife Sharmina
Parveen, who was also held
hostage along their two children, said she was afraid for
his well-being.
“My husband is innocent.
He has suffered enough. Please
let him come home to his family,” she said in a statement to a
local rights group.
Reports in local media said
both were being investigated
for suspicious activity during the siege. They said Khan
was seen holding a firearm
and Karim strolling with the
attackers on the roof.
“We understand it’s a national security issue ... But at
least they should say where
he is and allow our parents to
see him,” Khan’s brother Talha
Khan told AFP by phone from
Toronto.
‘Peace Schools’ under govt scanner after ban on TV channel
Schools in Bangladesh bearing
the name “Peace” came under
government scanner yesterday
following the ban on Mumbaibased controversial Islamic
preacher Zakir Naik’s Peace TV,
IANS reports from Dhaka.
The schools in the country were
allegedly being operated in line
with Naik’s ideology by adding
“Peace” to their names, bdnews24
reported.
The government banned Peace TV
after allegations that at least two
of the assailants in the July 1 terror
attack in a cafe in the upscale
Gulshan locality were inspired by
Naik’s speeches.
“Peace TV is not consistent
with Muslim society, the Qur’an,
Sunnah, Hadith, Bangladesh’s
constitution, our culture, customs
and rituals,” Information Minister
Hasanul Haq Inu said.
Naik, 50, is a qualified doctor
who left his profession and
founded the Islamic Research
Foundation, which runs the Islamic
International School and an NGO
United Islamic Aid.
The Bangladesh government does
not have any specific information
on how many schools were being
operated with the word “Peace” in
their name, bdnews24 reported.
The Dhaka education board said
it only approved temporarily an
English-medium school at Lalmatia
to operate under the name Peace
School. The others do not have any
such permission.
“First the authorities establish
an educational institution. They
apply for government approval
after reaching a certain stage. The
government then inspects the
institution and takes a decision on
whether to give it permission to
continue operating,” the official said.
None of these “Peace Schools” in
Dhaka had applied for permission
to the ministry or the board, an
education ministry official said.
Intelligence agencies were asked
to inquire into the 20 “Peace
Schools” so far detected by the
government.
“If these schools actually follow
Zakir Naik’s ideas, they will face
action,” the officials said.
22
Gulf Times
Thursday, July 14, 2016
COMMENT
Chairman: Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Attiyah
Production Editor: C P Ravindran
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editor@gulf-times.com
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GULF TIMES
Buzz around the
world as Amir
returns to Tests
There will be a palpable buzz of anticipation around
the cricketing world today when Pakistan’s Mohamed
Amir strolls across the hallowed turf at Lord’s to play his
first Test match after a six-year absence following the
spot-fixing scandal of 2010 that rocked the sport to its
foundations.
Cricket enthusiasts from Karachi to St Kitts and
London to Auckland would be glued to their television
sets to watch the fast bowler in action, fervently hoping
that he gets a few wickets in his first spell to bring
some romance back to Test cricket which has lost its
allure following the proliferation of lucrative Twenty20
leagues.
Six years ago, as an 18-year-old pace and swing tyro,
Amir seemingly had the world at his feet, his incisive
bowling spells mesmerising batsmen and eliciting
comparisons with the one and only Wasim Akram.
But alas, the impressionable teen fell victim to the vile
machinations of his captain Salman Butt and ended up
bowling no-balls deliberately for some extra money to
find himself in a correction home, his future uncertain
and the painful prospect of a lifetime label of a cheat
attached to his name.
Now, after serving out his ICC ban and earning the
trust of the Pakistan Cricket Board and his colleagues,
Amir’s life is about to come circle at the very venue where
he was outed as a spot-fixer along with fellow paceman
Mohamed Asif and then captain Butt.
Today, if the Pakistan
get to bowl first, Amir
would be the most
watched sportsman on
the planet. Some in the
crowd at Lord’s would
surely make it a point
to taunt him and rub it
in, but there is no doubt
that the vast majority of
the spectators at perhaps
cricket’s most civilised
venue would be wholly
supportive of his return.
Amir’s fast-tracking to Test cricket has been largely
welcomed across the world, although some members
of the Pakistani team had initially expressed their
opposition to the move.
Former England captain Michael Atherton said a few
days ago that Amir should be allowed “to move on”
having served out his punishment.
Legendary bowler Akram, who led the country to their
last Test series win in England in 1996, said he believes
Amir can weather the hostility.
“People want Amir to do well so there will be
enormous pressure on him but I am confident that he will
come out a winner,” he said.
Asif, one of Amir’s co-conspirators who is now playing
club cricket in Norway, also pleaded for understanding.
“I request to England players and fans to allow Amir to
play freely. He and two of us others committed a mistake,
were punished and now our bans are over so let us play,”
he said.
Legends like Sachin Tendulkar and England woman
cricketer Charlotte Edwards also hope he will do
something special.
“In the Pakistan system, seniority really counts, I
just felt that he was pressured into it, and you’re very
impressionable at that age,” Edwards said.
At 24, Amir is lucky to have age on his side and get
another chance at redeeming himself in the eyes of his
fans. It’s a chance he should not let slip out of his hands.
At 24, Amir is
lucky to have
age on his
side and get
another chance
at redeeming
himself in the
eyes of his fans
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Hundreds gathering for a Black Lives rally outside Los Angeles Police Department headquarters on Tuesday. The demonstration following recent police shootings in
the US of civilians amid concerns of frayed relations between police and minority communities.
Believe it or not, 1968
was worse for America
A nation of several hundred
million people, drawn from
all over the world, can never
exactly become a peaceable
kingdom, a beloved
community
By Maurice Isserman
Reuters
A
ccording to the Chinese
Zodiac, 1968 and 2016
are both the Year of the
Monkey. But maybe we in
the United States should call this the
Year of the Ghost Monkey of 1968.
From the presidential primaries to the
convention platform battles to bloody
mayhem in the streets, 1968 is the goto, default metaphor for what we seem
to be reliving.
This year, like 1968, is certainly
one of bitter conflict and wrenching
change. And why is that a surprise?
Some things don’t change.
A nation of several hundred million
people, drawn from all over the world,
can never exactly become a peaceable
kingdom, a beloved community.
Creeds differ, values clash; rival
factions, communities and priorities
compete.
Harmony would be nice – and an
end to bloodshed is a goal to which
most Americans can subscribe. But
bear in mind that it has always been
through conflict that Americans have
decided who they are as a nation,
discarding old assumptions and
redefining identity and mission.
I’ve been thinking about one
of my favourite 1960s writers,
the remarkable Vietnam War
correspondent Michael Herr, who
died two weeks ago. He covered the
Vietnam War for Esquire in 1967-68,
and his book, Dispatches, remains
one of the greatest works about
that troubled conflict. (Herr also
contributed to the screenplays of two
iconic Hollywood movies about the
war, Apocalypse Now and Full Metal
Jacket.)
Dispatches is more than a war
memoir, however.
It offers genuine insight into
American history and the American
character. “There was such a dense
concentration of American energy
there,” Herr wrote of Vietnam in the
late 1960s. “American and essentially
adolescent, if that energy could have
been channelled into anything more
than waste and pain it would have
lighted up Indochina for a thousand
years.”
I can’t think of any other American
writer who has managed to pack into
one sentence so much love for his
country – and so much disdain for the
folly in which, in that instance, it was
engaged.
Another passage in Dispatches
also came to mind last week. Herr
describes the first time he went on a
mission with a company of Marines,
and ended up caught in a fire-fight,
hugging the ground for hours,
“listening to it going on, the moaning
and whining and the dull repetitions
of whump whump whump and dit dit
dit, listening to a boy who’d somehow
broken his thumb sobbing and
gagging, and thinking ‘Oh my God,
this ... thing is on a loop!...’”
Here’s last week’s loop: Tuesday,
“whump whump whump”, black man
in Louisiana pinned to the ground by
police officers then shot to death.
Wednesday, “dit dit dit”, another
black man, this time in Minnesota,
shot and killed in the front seat of his
car as, his girlfriend said, he tried to
produce the driver’s licence demanded
by a police officer – she sat in the seat
beside him, her young daughter in the
back seat.
Thursday night, “dit whump dit”,
five Dallas policemen targeted and
murdered by a vengeful rooftop sniper,
seven others wounded.
Senseless death of innocent victims,
brought home in disturbingly graphic
detail via cable news and social media.
Is it apocalypse now in the streets of
America?
There is a far more
substantial black
middle class in the
US than in 1968
And all this in the context of recent
years of fervent protest over issues
of racial injustice, in a nation beset
by repeated acts of violence, both
random and targeted, in the midst
of a presidential campaign running
off the tracks, with one candidate
in particular displaying an ability to
stir up as much rancor and discord as
possible.
If history is on a loop, are we back in
the world of Dispatches? Is this 1968
redux? Do we really have to sit through
this movie again?
Not likely.
Fifty years have indeed changed
America. The country is more diverse,
ethnically, racially and religiously.
There is a far more substantial black
middle class than in 1968.(While at
the same time the problem of black
poverty, and for that matter white
poverty, seems more intractable than
ever.) Although it’s sometimes hard to
remember with all the noise generated
by polarising politicians, the United
States is more tolerant than it was
a half century ago – when the idea
that there would someday be a black
president seemed impossibly remote.
In 1968, the nation was still
adjusting to the US Supreme Court’s
wonderfully named decision “Loving
v Virginia”, issued the previous June,
which overturned laws that banned
interracial marriage. Until then, nearly
one-third of American states had such
laws on their books.
Today at least 12% of all new
marriages in the United States unite
interracial couples, and the trend is
expected to expand as millennials,
least concerned of all Americans about
race, reach marriage age.
Reminded by the Iraq invasion of
the consequences of national hubris in
international affairs, a lesson learned
and then forgotten after Vietnam,
Americans are again sceptical of
“boots on the ground” scenarios
for remaking the world in their own
image.
The fact that this scepticism, even
in the absence of a draft, is shared
across the generational spectrum –
and is, to some extent, bipartisan – is
another important difference between
1968 and today.
Americans are also asking
important questions about economic
policies and decisions taken in
Washington and corporate board
rooms, that have increased income
inequality to levels not seen since the
1920s.
Americans as a people, many of
them anyway, are more self-aware and
thoughtful in this second decade of
the 21st century than has been the case
for some decades.
It’s true that the presumptive
presidential candidate of the party
of Abraham Lincoln wants to make
America “great again” by turning
back the clock to the imagined
splendour of an era of racial and ethnic
homogeneity.
But come November, after all the
shouting and posturing, there will
come a great moment of clarity, when
the diverse population of America
votes.
Speaking of clarifying moments in
American history, in his first speech
as president in March 1861, the first
Republican president of the United
States beseeched his fellow countrymen
to listen to the “better angels of their
nature” and avoid the looming Civil
War. That did not, Lincoln assured
Southerners, mean the end of slavery, at
least in the short run.
His appeal fell on deaf ears.
But just two and a half years
later, in a November 1863 address
at Gettysburg, Lincoln proclaimed
a “new birth of freedom”, carrying
on and transforming the meaning of
the American experiment, in which
there no longer was a place for human
servitude. And, in doing so, changed
the nation.
History was not on a loop in the
1860s. Nor in the 1960s.
In a Memphis church on April 3,
1968, Martin Luther King Jr reflected
on the possibility of his own death.
He had been nearly killed by a
deranged assailant in 1958, and he
explained why he was glad to have
survived – and not just because he
loved life.
“I wouldn’t have been around
here in 1960,” King recalled, “when
students all over the South started
sitting in at lunch counters.”
What those students were doing,
he said, was making America great
again by setting out to challenge
and change its injustices: “They
were really standing up for the
best in the American dream, and
taking the whole nation back to
those great wells of democracy the
Declaration of Independence and the
Constitution.”
Lincoln and King lived in difficult
times, as we do.
It is in just such eras that Americans
have rediscovered and refashioned
the best traditions bound up in our
national experience.
Can we resolve in the years that
follow the tumultuous election year
of 2016 to listen to the better angels
of our nature, and turn the dense
concentration of American energy
away from waste and pain – and use it
instead to light our world?
zMaurice Isserman teaches history at
Hamilton College. He is the co-author
of America Divided: The Civil War of
the 1960s.
Police officers from around Texas waiting for the casket of Officer Brent Thompson to be escorted out of the memorial service in
Dallas yesterday. Thousands of police officers joined by ordinary citizens attended funerals yesterday for three of the policemen
shot dead in a racially motivated ambush attack last week that intensified America’s long-running debate on race and justice. At
the Dallas megachurch called The Potter’s House, officers by the thousands crowded into the funeral for Dallas Area Rapid Transit
officer Brent Thompson, who had married a fellow officer just two weeks before last Thursday’s attack.
Gulf Times
Thursday, July 14, 2016
23
COMMENT
My Alzheimer’s fight: Memory’s lost, but I’m not
This is the fourth instalment
of a series on Alzheimer’s
disease. The third part was
published in Gulf Times last
Thursday and the other parts
will run in the coming weeks
By Bill Lyon
The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS
I
remember... actually, I don’t.
That’s the trump card, isn’t
it? Of all the indignities that
dementia can lay upon us,
memory loss is the most familiar, and
the most mourned for it visits us in
disguises, hidden in the groping for
remote controls that have gone to who
knows where.
We rummage behind the sofa and
through empty purses in a fruitless
search for... well, what, exactly, and,
and hey, if I knew I wouldn’t be asking
you, moron.
We come into a room and wonder
why.
We turn in mincing little pirouettes
and ask ourselves: What am I looking
for? You start out calm and composed
but as whatever is eluding you remains
locked somewhere in your frontal lobe
– or is it your cerebral vortex, I forget
– your blood pressure rises and you
ask the questions that bedevil us all
sooner or later: Am I losing my mind?
Is it Al - my nemesis Alzheimer’s? Or
just something that comes naturally
with age?
How come I can remember the
lyrics from a long-forgotten ballad but
I, for the life of me, I can’t remember
what I had for lunch?
There’s long-term memory and
medium-term memory and the
ultimate indignity, the dreaded shortterm memory, which involves the
marching from room to room, fuming
and venting, and where-oh-where
hesitation, and now you are
dependent upon others and feel like
a moocher.
You can pass the time pouting and
sulking and immersed in self-pity
— my personal favourite for the first
couple of years.
I was reminded of an old saying:
With age comes wisdom... but
sometimes age comes alone.
Fortunately, I am not alone.
I have a deep pool of taxi service
from which to draw.
Family. Friends. Neighbours. Vans
for seniors.
You can always find something. And
they make this possible...
are my &(ASTERISK)#@ glasses, and
the answer, of course, is on top of your
head, you poor pathetic wretch.
Thanks, and what’s your name
again?
PARKING LOT ROULETTE
So there I stand, forlorn and
achingly alone, in the vast asphalt
jungle where acres and acres of cars
and vans stretch to the far horizon,
with a midwinter sleet storm pelting
me with ice daggers, feet numb,
grocery pushy cart mocking me: “Try
that row... no, the one over there...
told ya you’d forget.”
Well, of course, I forget.
It seems to be the one thing in life
that I can count on.
My plight makes for great sport for
Al.
It is for precisely nights like this
that someone, bless ‘em, invented
the clicker, that little fail-safe button
that blinks on your lights and emits
a chirping that sounds like frenzied
crickets making whoopee.
Never leave home without one.
Or two.
Or, better yet, let someone else do
the driving, because...
YOU’RE A MENACE
Without serious incident I managed
to drive for nearly 60 years, meaning I
was blessed 10 times over.
Then, when I entered my 70s, a slow
unravelling came calling.
Al, of course.
Although at the time I didn’t
recognise or suspect him.
After all, I was functioning on all
cylinders...
except...
Night driving.
Did you notice the glare from those
oncoming headlights? It’s enough to
blind you.
I don’t remember them that
dangerous.
RETURN TO LEARN
Bill Lyon at his desk: “My plight makes for great sport for Al,” he says.
And who moved those median strips
I keep bumping over? And I seem to
take up two spaces in the parking lot
and I need three passes to straighten
it out.
And here’s the crusher: I cut off the
car behind me and it was all he could
do to stay out of the ditch.
Horns blaring and tyres squealing,
my heart beating like a bongo drum, I
slowed to a crawl all the way home.
And then I did it again.
And again.
Narrow miss after narrow miss.
Here I was, nearing 75, with the
attendant decline in reaction time,
wearing trifocals, blasting down the
road in a four-ton missile, my mind
occupied on a dozen things, none of
which involves paying attention to the
clotted traffic, and hey, if I step on it
now I can just squeeze in behind those
two 18-wheelers...
The man in the white lab coat
sets his face in a worrisome scowl
and tells me in slow and emphatic
tones: “You should not be driving. I
repeat... you... should... not... be...
driving.”
The culprit in all of this is depth
perception.
We see openings that are not there,
or have been grievously misjudged.
We are one small miscalculation,
one squint away, from something
horrific.
So I gave up driving.
It sucked.
Still does.
It’s like being under house arrest.
You’ve spent most of your life
free to get up and go without
I’ve always thought that if I hadn’t
been a writer I would have liked trying
to be a teacher.
It’s such a noble profession and the
impact you have, both good and bad,
can last a lifetime.
For the last five years I have had the
best of both worlds: I teach a course at
a local community college.
Creative writing. Class lasts from
6:30 to 8:30.
The students, most of them, are
coming right from work, and range in
age from 18 to 80.
They have included a private
detective, an au pair from France, a
retired CIA agent, an Episcopalian
minister, a young man with MS — he’s
my hero.
There was an exchange student
from Ireland.
And another from Germany.
Some hair dressers.
Nurses – I have a soft spot in my
heart for them.
A plumber.
A contractor A landscaper.
An Eagle Scout.
Retired teachers.
All share the same yearning:
Somewhere along the way they
wondered if they could write.
They have come to the right place,
because my intent is to nurture and
encourage, to foster an abiding respect
for the English language (which is
under relentless siege from those little
handheld computers that limit social
intercourse to 144 characters, leaving
us with a bastardised vocabulary and
the slow erosion of literacy — please
forgive an old man his rant). The
course lasts 16 hours total, over eight
weeks.
It is limited to nine students, thus
ensuring that each student has a turn
every week.
The first class is orientation, a
couple of my readings, introductions,
and this assignment:
There’s a knock on the door, and it is
opened to reveal a fabled creature, the
Man from Mars.
Commence writing.
You have 20 minutes.
Each student, in turn, reads what
he, or she, has written.
The trepidation melts.
Turns out, much to their delight,
they are better than they imagined
they could be.
Over the next seven Tuesdays they
will bring what they have written - a
subject of their choosing.
Essay.
Short story.
Start of a novel.
There are no limits, no boundaries.
Remember the title of the course –
creative writing.
Unleash your imagination.
Such a wonderful opportunity –
you write seven pieces and read them
before a jury of your peers.
When it clicks, ah, really clicks,
and they are smitten, when they have
fallen in love with words, then it’s hard
to tell who has gained the most, the
Return to Learn brigade, or me.
Take that, Al.
zBill Lyon (lyon1964@comcast.net)
is a retired Philadelphia Inquirer sports
columnist.
Weather report
Letters
Three-day forecast
TODAY
Big relief for
parking crunch
Dear Sir,
It is good to know that the
Women’s Hospital has a new parking
facility now (Gulf Times, July 13). It
will bring much relief to the parking
crunch at the Hamad Medical
Corporation (HMC) complex. Until
now, it has been very hard to find
a parking space at the complex.
One hopes that the new multilevel parking facility will solve the
problem to a great extent.
Most patients going to Hamad and
Women’s hospitals are already worried
about their health problems and ways
to overcome them. But once they reach
the hospital complex, they are faced
with an additional challenge: where to
leave their car. Rarely can one find an
empty parking slot.
The new facility, which can
accommodate about 800 vehicles, will
ease the visitors’ tension.
The indicator board with digital
display at the new parking facility’s
entrance will help visitors find vacant
slots at each level.
But even now very few people know
about the new parking lot. The other
day, during a visit to the hospital, I
parked my car at a site opposite the
HMC complex, unaware of the new
facility. For my next appointment at
the hospital, I plan to park my car in
the new facility. The HMC should be
thanked for keeping the parking free
of charge.
Rajesh Nair
rajeshnair.it@gmail.com
Cycle of violence
must come to an end
of self-destruction. If we do nothing
about it, the next war will see the
end of the world where there will be
neither victors nor victims, only dead
bodies.
The history of mankind is a
continuous manifestation of man’s
greed, hatred, pride, jealousy,
selfishness and delusion. It is a
recorded fact that during the last
3,000 years, men have fought 15,000
major wars.
Man should not pander to his
High: 44 C
Low : 34 C
aggressive and intrinsic attitude. The
world cannot have peace until men
and nations renounce selfish desires,
give up racial arrogance and eradicate
crazy attitudes for possession and
power.
Today, more than at any other time
in history, peace seems remote and
has become the most unattainable
commodity in the world.
Hot daytime with slight dust at
places and some clouds becomes
humid to hazy by night
FRIDAY
High: 40 C
Low: 34 C
Sunny
SATURDAY
Farouk Araie
farouk.araie@telkomsa.net
High: 41 C
Low: 33 C
Sunny
Please send us your letters
Fishermen’s forecast
Dear Sir,
The cycle of violence in the Middle
East must come to an end. There
is no greater danger to political
thought than inertia. The world is
never static, and certainly history
is not.
The belief that the only way to
fight aggression is by applying more
aggressive methods has led to the arms
race between the great powers.
This competition to acquire and
increase the weapons of war has
brought mankind to the very brink
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Live issues
Still wishing for a long-lost apology?
By Gina Barreca
The Hartford Courant/TNS
W
hose
apology
do you
need
to hear? If that person accepted
responsibility for pain he or she
caused you and asked, in all sincerity,
for your forgiveness, what in your life
would change?
When I posed this question on both
my public and personal Facebook
pages, I knew I’d get interesting
responses. Friends from the United
Kingdom wanted apologies from those
who voted for Brexit. Americans want
apologies from members of Congress,
Dick Cheney (just in general) and
the writers of the TV series Lost (old
grudges remain in place). Ex-partners,
unsurprisingly, were also often
mentioned.
Perhaps my pal Deborah Bacon
Nelson most effectively explained
the desire to hear an apology from
a former spouse when she wrote: “I
wish I could say I’ve let it go, but an
apology from my wasband, who ended
a 35-year marriage but refused to talk
about it, would still be nice.”
What I didn’t expect was for as many
folks to say the person whose apology
they’d most need to hear was “my
mother’s”. Sure, that’s how I’d begin my
answer, but – despite realising that I’m
as generic as it’s possible to be without
needing a bar code – I didn’t believe
everybody else I happen to know felt
exactly the same way.
Many of the responses went
something like this: “My mother has
no idea of the pain she caused me by
loving me less than my siblings and
not even trying to hide it.” “My mom
made me feel fat, ugly and useless
because it helped her feel better
about herself.” “My mother, without
consciously wishing me harm,
wrecked my childhood by forcing me
to become everything she wanted to be
instead of taking into account what I
enjoyed. I failed her and we were both
miserable.”
What apology do I need from my
mother? I’d like to hear her say that
she was sorry about throwing away the
daily diaries I inscribed as faithfully as
a monk, from age 11 to 15.
She threw them away a few months
before she died, explaining that I
wouldn’t want to read them when I
was older because there was “nothing
important” in them and because they
were “depressing”.
At my worst, I still feel the same
sense of fingernail running down my
spine or of a sharp stick drawn across
the bottom of a bare foot that I felt
when I realised they were gone.
It’s a flaying, a peeling away of
layers of protection and of boundaries.
At my best, I imagine she didn’t want
me to revisit the last days of her illness
or the sadness of her life. But of course
I do, coupling them inevitably with
a selfish sense of loss, both of the
cheap notebooks and the irreplaceable
parent.
I’ve spent a lot of time forgiving the
dead.
Others wished to be asked for
forgiveness, not from anyone else, but
from themselves.
Kathleen Moore Broderick, a nurse
practitioner, says: “I need to apologise
to myself. For every time I settled for
less. Every time I avoided happiness
because I was afraid. For every time I
didn’t honour myself.”
My college friend Nicholas Newman
answered: “I can never forgive myself
for small missteps and grotesque
wrong turns.”
Because I’ve known him since our
first youth, I replied immediately
and with authority. I promised him
that the earlier Nick did what he
did for reasons that were right for
him at the time, just as the younger
Gina did stuff that now baffles me
but which she saw as the only thing
possible.
And because I do have the diaries
from my college days, I can prove it –
even if I can no longer explain it.
I received an in-person apology
from my brother, who was sitting
at the kitchen table as I started the
column. Hugo admitted that he
shouldn’t have shamed me into not
buying the 45 record of See You In
September in 1966. He thought it was
a dumb song but I loved it.
You know what? It felt surprisingly
good to accept his apology.
It felt so good that I am considering
what apologies I might be overdue
to make and even asked my brother
for suggestions, which feels like an
excellent start for some positive
change.
zGina Barreca is an English professor at
the University of Connecticut. She can be
reached at www.ginabarreca.com
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24
Gulf Times
Thursday, July 14, 2016
QATAR
French mark
National
Day today
By Joey Aguilar
Staff Reporter
T
he French embassy in
Doha will highlight the
various developments
in the France-Qatar bilateral
relations to mark the Bastille
Day today.
The French community in
Qatar, Qatari dignitaries, and
members of the diplomatic
corps are to attend the celebration at the Ritz-Carlton Doha.
“For this second National
Day, for me as ambassador
to Qatar, I can say I am extremely happy when I arrived
here due to the quality and
deeply rooted dimension of
the relationship between the
two countries,” French ambassador Eric Chevallier told
reporters recently.
“I thought it would be at the
same time easy to work here
because the relation is very
good but also not so easy because it was a challenge to see
how it can be improved,” the
envoy noted. “After two years,
I am extremely happy because
last year for example, and again
in the last month, we had many
developments in various sectors and domains of the relationship.
“This year is also developing
very well,” according to Chevallier citing the recent partnership signed in June between
Qatar Petroleum and Total to
jointly work for 25 years on Al
Shaheen oilfield.
He said the two countries
have also forged several partnerships in different fields, including sports, aimed at ensuring a safe and well-organised
FIFA World Cup in 2022.
The envoy noted that they
organised a cluster comprised
of more than 40 companies
called French Team for Sport,
which will cover events management,
communication,
ticketing, smart innovation
French ambassador
Eric Chevallier
programmes, and security,
among others.
“Many (French) companies
are proposing their service so
it is up to Qatar, the Supreme
Committee for Delivery &
Legacy (SC), and the different stakeholders to decide
when and how the support of
these French companies could
come,” he added.
Some 40 experts from Qatar
coming from the SC, Lekhwiya,
and the Ministry of Interior
also went to France recently
to watch and see how a major
sporting competition such as
the Euro 2016 is being hosted,
said Chevallier.
In partnership with Qatar’s
Public Prosecution, he said
they also started a programme
to train judges to deal with major sport events in Qatar.
Chevallier also cited their
iconic partnership with the
French football giants, Paris
Saint-Germain, a move that
could further boost tourism in
Qatar.
“On cycling, the famous
Tour De France, which is currently happening, I hope this
experience could benefit Qatar
for organising the World Cycling competition which will
take place here in the beginning
of October,” he said.
The envoy stressed that all
these sports activities, pro-
grammes, and partnerships
help enhance the relationship
between the people of Qatar
and France.
“We have a broad partnership with Qatar in sport,” he
said, adding: “Qatar knows
that we are providing full support for FIFA 2022, it could be
in construction, so many companies are supporting the process, there are many elements in
the organisation itself, as well
as for the security.”
Besides sport, he added that
the two countries also have
ongoing projects in the field of
culture in partnership with the
Doha Film Institute.
Three young Qatari filmmakers, including one female, will be
travelling to France this summer
to participate in a training programme at La Femis, considered
as among the best film academy
in Europe.
Chevallier said Qatar also
signed an agreement with Pasteur Institute, a world-class
institution dealing with health
and science, particularly in the
field of infectious disease.
“For the first time in the Gulf
region, Pasteur Institute decided to develop a partnership
with Qatar especially in the
field of infectious disease which
is very important,” he said.
The two countries are also
working together to tackle terrorism and other security
issues in the region.
About the celebration in
France, Chevallier said many
residents can be seen dancing
on the streets, playing music,
and watching the fireworks
display in many cities.
“Fire brigades organise in
their premises (fire stations)
big dancing activities. You have
old man, old woman, young
man and young woman, and
children, all of them gathering everywhere and of course
the impressive military parade
along Champs-Elysees,” he
added.
Fourteen students were accompanied by a six-member GU-Q team.
GU-Q students travel to
study living memory of
Zanzibar’s 1964 revolution
F
ourteen Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q)
students have returned
from a rigorous 10-day trip to
Oman, Zanzibar and Tanzania.
The students, who are enrolled in the university’s Zones
of Conflict, Zones of Peace
(ZCZP) programme, explored the
history, politics, and reconciliation efforts that continue even
today in the wake of the 1964
revolution in Zanzibar.
In each of the destination
countries, students, accompanied by six members GU-Q
team, met with key persons,
including politicians, journalists, community organisers, and
other change-makers, to understand their perspectives of the
ethnic conflict.
“Omanis had been living in
RasGas hosts HEC Paris Executive MBA students
R
asGas has hosted a group
of HEC Paris Executive
MBA students at its Ras
Laffan facilities. The students,
who are energy majors, were
able to observe the company’s
world-class
manufacturing process and management
systems applications.
In line with the subjects being taught in the Executive
MBA programme, students
were given an overview of RasGas’ operations and production
processes during their site visit
to the company’s main facilities
and LNG trains. This included
a review of RasGas’ key engineering initiatives, designed to
maintain surveillance of the facilities while maximising value
through process optimisation.
RasGas also gave students detailed presentations on the company’s role
within the LNG value chain,
its marketing and shipping
Zanzibar for about 150 years
before the revolution. Through
the ZCZP programme, we took
our students to Muscat to meet
people who grew up in Zanzibar before moving to Oman. We
also went to Zanzibar to meet
Arabs who stayed following the
revolution,” said Jacqui Snell,
GU-Q’s educational enrichment
manager and programme organiser. “These meetings and visits
spurred students to contemplate
whether the conflict was a genocide or revolution, and to learn
how genocide is constructed
and labelled in the international
community.”
Before the trip, the students
were briefed by an expert on the
Indian Ocean, Dr Rogaia Abusharaf, associate professor of anthropology at GU-Q.
functions, safety management, and key corporate
processes, such as strategic planning, risk manage-
ment, and cost optimisation
stewardship.
The visit underlines RasGas’
continuing commitment to de-
veloping relationships with the
education sector as a means to
support the socio-economic development of Qatar, RasGas said.
empires, Oman’s monarchical
rule was overthrown in January
1964. The island became a part
of Tanzania following an uprising that saw several thousand
unarmed ethnic Arab and Indian
civilians killed and thousands
more arrested or expelled from
the country.
Since 2008, GU-Q has been
taking students to zones of ethnic, political, social, and religious conflict, with the goal of
better understanding both the
causes of conflict, and the difficult process of reconciliation
through the ZCZP programme.
Past destinations have included
Rwanda, Germany and Poland,
Northern Ireland, East Timor
Cambodia, Cyprus, South Africa, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the
USA and more.
NRIs can now open
NPS accounts online
N
HEC Paris Executive MBA students visit the Ras Laffan facilities of RasGas.
For participating junior, Mariam Diefallah (SFS-Q ’17), the
ZCZP programme was an eye
opening experience. “I think
very few people are given the
opportunity to see and verify
for themselves the knowledge
they gain from books and articles. I gained a lot of knowledge
on a conflict that very few people know about. This knowledge
was enriched during the trip as
we met scholars, academics as
well as survivors, which gave the
conflict a human aspect added to
the academic one. This is why I
think the Zones programme is
essential for students,” she said.
In 1698, Zanzibar became
part of the overseas holdings
of Oman under the control of
the Sultan of Oman. Following
centuries of control by various
on-Resident
Indians
(NRIs) can now join and
subscribe to the National
Pension System (NPS) online
through eNPS, the Pension Fund
Regulatory and Development
Authority has said in a statement.
NRIs can now open NPS accounts online if they have an Aadhaar card or PAN (Permanent Account Number) card. Until now,
NRIs could open NPS accounts
only through paper applications
by approaching bank offices.
“Through eNPS, a subscriber
will be able to open an NPS account from the comfort of his
home. All he will need is an Internet connection and an Aadhaar/
PAN card,” the statement noted.
NRIs will be able to open NPS
accounts both on repatriable
and on non-repatriable basis.
“On a repatriable basis, an NRI
will have to remit the amount
through his/her NRE/FCNR/
NRO account. For the non-repatriable scheme, NRIs will be
able to join NPS through their
NRE/FCNR/NRO
accounts
and, at the time of maturity or
during partial withdrawal, the
NPS funds would be deposited
only in their NRO accounts,” the
statement explained.
Both repatriable and non-repatriable schemes will “greatly
appeal to NRIs who intend to
return to India after their employment abroad in view of their
attractive returns, low cost, flexibility and their being regulated
by the PFRDA, a regulator established by the central government”, the authority has said.
India has the second-largest diaspora in the world, with
around 29mn people living in over
200 countries. Of these, 25% live
in the Gulf countries, according
to the statement. “Most Indians
going to the Gulf and some other
countries go for employment
and return to India after having
worked abroad for a certain period. NPS can provide a long-term
solution to their old-age income
security. NPS has been available
to NRIs for some time through
bank offices and now, to further
ease the process of joining, eNPS
is being extended to non-resident
Indian subscribers.”
Teach For Qatar honours first group of fellows
T
each For Qatar (TFQ),
under the patronage of
HE Sheikha Hind bint
Hamad al-Thani, founder
and chairperson of TFQ, recently celebrated the graduation of the first group of
the fellows who successfully
completed their fellowship
during the 2014–2016
cademic years
The ceremony, held at
the Museum of Islamic
Art, was attended by Nasser
al-Jaber, CEO, TFQ, along
with a number of school
principals, alumni honourees
and their families.
HE Sheikha Hind said,
“This honorary ceremony
a
reflects Teach For Qatar’s
continued efforts and commitment to enhancing the
educational system throughout independent schools in
the state. It also marks an
important milestone in our
journey to achieve our mission to work as part of the
solution to help solve some
of the challenges Qatar’s
students are faced with.
“Today, as our fellows set
off on their path to serve and
elevate their nation, they will
take on the role of ambassadors of education, promoting a culture of excellence in
education, regardless of their
career choices.”
Speaking on behalf of
graduates, Sara Fayyad said,
“All of us leave today with
deep sense of gratitude towards our teachers and a
greater appreciation for the
teaching profession in general. We have a greater love
for our students and coworkers, and are extremely
motivated to work hard to
improve education in Qatar.”
During the ceremony, each
graduate was awarded a certificate of appreciation by a
student who they individually selected for being both
an inspiration, and playing
an instrumental role in
shaping their journey.
Throughout their leadership journey, graduates
contributed to the educational development of more
than 1,200 students in nine
schools across Qatar.
Focusing on self-development and leadership, the
Leadership Journey, which
is a two-year teaching and
leadership
development
programme, enabled fellows to take ownership of
their personal growth and
become effective leaders
while providing them with
a greater understanding of
their role in contributing
to positive change in their
communities.
Teach For Qatar team and graduates attending the graduation ceremony of first group of fellows.