SPORT | Page 1
South Korea’s Parasite
Australian legend Cahill joins
as official SC ambassador
GULF
Qatar Sport Day a great initiative: Geoff
Gulf Times Editor-in-Chief Faisal Abdulhameed al-Mudahka speaks with England’s 1966 World Cup hero Sir Geoff
Hurst in Doha yesterday.
ir Geoff Hurst, the only football-
er to score a hat-trick in a World
SCup final, has hailed Qatar’s Na-
tional Sport Day as a “great initiative.”
“It’s very apt that I am here during
Qatar’s National Sport Day when eve-
rybody is having fun with sports activ-
ities and not working. It’s a great idea
and a great initiative. I think sports is
huge here,” Sir Geoff, who was part of
the England team that won the FIFA
World Cup in 1966, told Gulf Times.
3 stadiums to be unveiled this year
By Joseph Varghese
Staff Reporter
H
ighlight-ing
Qa-tar’s ef-
forts to ensure
workers’ welfare,
about $30mn will
be reimbursed by
the contractors this
year to those
workers who had
paid recruitment
fee in their home Hassan al-Thawadi
countries, a top
official of Supreme Committee for De-
livery & Legacy (SC) told yesterday.
“By 2020, about 83% of our work-
force will have their recruitment fee
reimbursed amounting to $30mn. 50%
are our workers while the other 50%
Celebrating healthy lifestyle, Qatar marks Sport Day today
By Joey Aguilar
Staff Reporter
A varied programme of sport and other
physical activities aimed at promoting
active and healthy
lifestyles will take centre stage at vari-
ous locations in the country today
(February 11) to mark Qatar’s ninth Na-
tional Sport Day (NSD).
The one-of-its-kind event, held every
second Tuesday of February un-der
Amiri Decision No 80, encourages all
members of the society to take part in the
nationwide celebration.
Major NSD venues such as Aspire
Zone, Museum of Islamic Art (MIA)
Park, Katara – the Cultural Village and
Education City, are expected to attract a
large number of participants and
He added that he might even speak
to Prime Minister Boris Johnson about
having a National Sports Day in Brit-
ain.
“I don’t think in England we have a
National Sports Day. We have various
holidays but I don’t think we class one
as a National Sports Day.
“I might suggest that when I get
back because I think it’s a great idea.
I might speak to Boris Johnson if he
listens to me (laughs) and suggest we
are those enlisted to our projects by our
contractors,” SC secretary-general
Hassan al-Thawadi explained.
He was addressing the Education City
Speaker Series organised by Qatar Foun-
dation (QF). The session was moder-ated
by Michael Jabri-Pickett, editor-in-chief,
External Communications, QF.
Al-Thawadi pointed out that Qatar is
committed to worker’s welfare and has
applied universal minimum wage.
“It is unfortunate that many work-ers
had to pay exorbitant amounts as
recruitment fee in their home coun-tries
to get opportunities to work in our
projects. After we came to know of such
practice, we initiated a pro-gramme to
resolve this issue and the contractors
willingly took part in the programme,”
he recalled.
The SC official revealed that the in-
frastructure development for the 2022
FIFA World Cup is at an advanced
spectators with a varied programme of
activities.
At Aspire Zone, people of all ages and
level of fitness will have the op-portunity
to take part in more than 20 unique
events, including ‘Run&Bike’, obstacle-
course race, and foot-volley-ball. The
popular fun run will be open to all
members of the community: men,
women, families, children and persons
with special needs.
Those who want to burn more calo-
ries can join other set of activities such
as running, hammer throwing, and
plyometric challenges at the As-pire
Dome.
At MIA Park, Ooredoo has prepared
more than 45 activities such as basket-
ball, handball, volleyball and martial
arts, among others, for people of all ages
and abilities to celebrate the an-
TIMES
have a National Sports Day. It’s a great
idea for sure.”
Sir Geoff also said he will surely visit
Qatar in 2022 to watch the FIFA World
Cup.
The England great arrived in Doha
yesterday and attended several func-
tions. He will take part in the National
Sport Day celebrations across Qatar
today before heading back to the UK
tomorrow. (Read full interview in
tomorrow’s edition)
stage with many of the works to be
completed by this year.
“Three more stadiums will be com-
pleted this year, all the major express-
ways are to be completed by the end of
this year and Doha Metro - already
functional - will be fully operational this
year,” he stated.
“As part of the testing of the readi-
ness for the tournament, we will be
hosting the World Club Football
championship 2020 on the lines of the
same competition last year. We will also
be ready with other elements of the
tournament in the coming days,” noted
the SC secretary-general.
“The developments taking place for
the tournament are in line with the vi-
sion of the nation and fit in with the
needs of the country. The metro has a
huge potential for the country and the
World Cup is a catalyst for it.
To Page 20
Sport Day brings people together: UK envoy
British ambassador Ajay Sharma
described the National Sport Day
(NSD) in Qatar as a great initiative
which brings together lots of people
to exercise and promote healthy
and active lifestyles.
“It is really an interesting initiative
because we spend a lot of time
trying to encourage people to take
more exercise, live healthier
lifestyles, and I think Qatar is
probably one of the only countries in
the world that is really taken the
commitment so seriously in this
way,” the envoy said. “It is almost
like a national day in a sense, so I
think it is a great initiative and I will
Qatar LNG development
helps global shift to less
carbon-intensive energy
By Pratap John
Business Editor
N atural gas will be the only form of
hydrocarbons to increase its share
during the next 30 years
while fossil fuels will continue to dom-
inate the global energy mix during the
period, said HE the Minister of State for
Energy Affairs Saad bin Sherida al-
Kaabi.
“Today, the share of natural gas in the
global energy mix stands at about 22%.
By 2050, this is expected to rise to 27%,
according to the outlook, which is being
launched today,” al-Kaabi said during
the launch of ‘GECF Global Gas
Outlook 2050’ at the Sheraton Grand
Doha yesterday.
He said natural gas has a key role to
play in addressing the global concerns on
environmental pollution and cli-mate
change.
“It is versatile, flexible, economic and
clean. More and more countries are mov-
ing away from burning coal and nuclear
and are building infrastructure for clean-
er alternatives including natural gas.
Qatar Police champions
The Qatar Police Club volleyball team celebrate after winning the Gulf Club Championship in Kuwait yesterday.
They defeated Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal 3-0 in the final.
be like in previous years happy to
participate.”
“It is great that you see everyone,
doesn’t matter what job they do,
what role they play in Qatar that they
all take part. So I think it’s great from
a health and sport perspective but it
is also great from a society
perspective because you got lots of
different people all coming together
on one day,” the envoy said. Sharma
cited Qatar’s support for the British
Premiere and British teams, “That
shows the value of football, and we’ll
see in 2020 when it will create a
connection between Qatar and the
rest of the world,” he said.
TUESDAY Vol. XXXX No. 11455
February 11, 2020
Jumada II 17, 1441 AH
www. gulf-times.com 2 Riyals
HE Saad bin Sherida al-Kaabi
speaking at the launch of ‘GECF
Global Gas Outlook 2050’ at the
Sheraton Grand Doha.
“I am often asked about renewables
and whether we see them as a threat to
gas. The answer is ‘no’. We believe that
natural gas and renewables are com-
plementary. As the cleanest fossil fuel,
natural gas comes in handy when the sun
is not shining. And when the wind is not
blowing.
“Energy from natural gas can be dis-
patched quickly in a cost efficient and ef-
fective manner. I firmly believe the combi-
nual event. The main stage will feature
aerobics, boot camp and other ‘exciting
activities’ for families.
People will also have the chance to
take part in a number of challenges and
promotions during the celebration where
several prizes are at stake such as a
vouchers, smart watch, mobile data, and
Nojoom points.
At Katara, 54 public and private en-
tities will be taking part in the NSD
2020, which focuses on community
participation as part of the cultural vil-
lage’s goal of raising awareness on the
importance of sports and an active and
healthy lifestyle.
Katara, in partnership with 17 sports
federations, is offering an ar-ray of sports
activities such as box-ing, wrestling,
tennis, basketball, volleyball, football,
sailing, rowing,
COMMUNITY | Page 4
makes Oscar history
with best picture win
published
QATAR
since
in
1978
nation of natural gas and renewables offer a
reliable, flexible and cost-effective path-
way for a lower energy emission system.
“We in Qatar are moving forward with
implementing our mega projects that will
see our LNG production rise from 77mn
tonnes per year to 126mn tonnes per year
by 2027. This will not only enhance our
ability and flexibil-ity to meet additional
demand but also help the shift to less
carbon-intensive energy in many parts of
the world.
“In parallel, Qatar remains focused on
achieving the highest environmen-tal
standards in its LNG industry to sig-
nificantly reduce emissions by applying
the best available industry technology
and CO2 sequestration.”
Also, addressing to the audience,
composed of the Forum Member Coun-
tries’ representatives, members of the
diplomatic corps, experts and academia,
Dr Yury Sentyurin, secretary-general of
the GECF, highlighted the importance of
natural gas and its great potential as
energy source for sustainable develop-
ment due to the efficiency, availability,
and eco-friendly nature of the resource.
To Page 5, Business Page 1
table tennis and rugby, as well as
competitions and games for young
visitors.
At Education City, Qatar Founda-tion
will be hosting 80 events for NSD,
including general fitness, yoga, foot-ball,
basketball, high-intensity interval
training workouts, a large-scale obsta-cle
course for adults and a smaller one for
children, mind-stimulating activi-ties,
along with other special activa-tions by
Dogpound, and UN1T, among others. It
will also have a designated area for
women-only activities.
NSD will witness several government
ministries, as well as private compa-nies,
organising hundreds of sports activities
for their employees and the public.
QNA reported that women activities
are also set to take place at 12 venues.
2 Gulf Times
Tuesday, February 11, 2020

QATAR
Qatar-Azerbaijan ties reviewed Al-Mahmoud meets Azerbaijan official
Amir condoles
with Thai king
H is Highness the Amir Sheikh
Tamim bin Ha-mad al-Thani
and His
Highness the Deputy Amir Sheikh
Abdullah bin Hamad al-Thani
yesterday sent cables of
condolences to King Maha Va-
jiralongkorn of Thailand on the
victims of the attack in a shop-
ping centre in the city of Nakhon
Ratchasima in Eastern Thailand,
wishing the injured a speedy re-
covery.
HE the Prime Minister and
Minister of Interior Sheikh Khalid HE the Speaker of the Shura Council Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid al-Mahmoud met the
bin Khalifa bin Ab-dulaziz al- Chairman of the State Committee on Affairs with Diaspora of Azerbaijan, Fuad Muradov, and
Thani sent a cable to Thailand’s the accompanying delegation, in Doha yesterday. During the meeting, they reviewed
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o- HE the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sultan bin Saad al-Muraikhi yesterday met the parliamentary relations between Qatar and Azerbaijan and ways of supporting and developing
cha condoling the victims of the Chairman of the State Committee on Affairs with Diaspora of Azerbaijan Fuad Muradov, who is them. A number of topics of common interest were also reviewed. The meeting was attended
attack and wishing the injured a currently visiting Qatar. During the meeting, bilateral relations between the two countries and by HE the Chairman of the Qatar-Asian friendship group Rashid bin Hamad al-Maadadi and
speedy recovery. – QNA topics of common interest were reviewed. the ambassador of Azerbaijan to Qatar Rashad Ismayilov.

Minister al-Subaie stresses need to balance Shura Council approves draft

development with environmental challenges
QNA
Doha
E the Minister of Munic-
ipality and Environment
HAbdullah bin Abdulaziz
bin Turki al-Subaie has stressed
the importance of achieving a
balance between the require-
ments of the development proc-
ess in the country and address-
ing environmental challenges
and finding radical solutions to
them.
In his opening remarks at the
first environmental forum held
by the ministry yesterday HE al-
Subaie said protection of the en-
vironment is a priority for Qatar
and the Ministry of Municipality
and Environment attaches great
HE the Minister of Municipality and Environment Abdullah bin Abdulaziz bin Turki al-Subaie speaking at
the forum.
importance to preservation of
land and marine environment.
He said that the measures tak-
en to preserve the environment
include enacting legislation,
laws, initiatives, and community
projects, and ensuring co-oper-
ation of community members,
as protecting and preserving the and that a number of other au-
environment is a shared respon- thorities have competencies and
sibility of all individuals and in- tasks related to preserving the
stitutions. environment.
He pointed out that the min- He said that one of the goals of
istry plays an organisational, holding this forum was to act as
supervisory and executive role a link with the authorities con-
in various environmental issues, cerned and the various members
of society who specialise in the
field of the environment.
Responding to questions by the
participants, HE al-Subaie
affirmed that the ministry is
currently examining the proce-
dures that guarantee the provi-
sion of various types of support to
fishermen, adding that the
ministry has recently devel-oped
a mechanism for moni-toring the
marine environment by ships to
detect fishing viola-tions, among
others, in co-or-dination with
other authorities concerned.
On the support for livestock,
the ministry’s officials affirmed
that mobile veterinary clinics and
private markets for farms are
made available in co-operation
with Qatar Development Bank.
law on medical treatment
abroad for Qatari nationals
T
he Shura Council held its regular
weekly meeting under the chairmanship
of HE the Speaker Ahmed bin
Abdullah bin Zaid al-Mahmoud.
The Council discussed the
Services and Public Utilities
Committee’s report on a draft law
on organising medical treat-ment HE al-Mahmoud chairing
abroad for Qatari citizens. Under
yesterday’s session.
the draft law’s provi-sions, the
State will bear the cost of such traordinary Conference of Arab
medical treatment and Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)
other related expenses. on Saturday, held under the slo-
After the discussion, the gan “Supporting the Palestinian
Council approved the draft law Brothers in Their Just Cause (the
and decided to refer its recom- Issue of Arabs and Muslims)”.
mendations to the government. He also briefed the Council on
On the occasion, HE al-Mah- his meetings with heads of Arab
moud briefed the council on his parliaments on the sidelines of the
participation in the 30th Ex- conference. – QNA

NSD ‘celebration aims at investing in human capital’
D edicating a day to sport and
making it an official holiday strongly
reflect the desire of the country in pro-
moting investments in human
capital, making people the basis
and target of all development
plans.
This was highlighted by a
number of Shura Council mem-
bers while speaking to local
Arabic daily Arrayah.
They told the daily that Na-
Kahramaa Awareness Park
a beacon of awareness
By Shafeeq Alingal
Staff Reporter
T he Kahramaa Aware-ness Park
(KAP) contin-ues to retain the
tag of
the number one centre when it
comes to spreading awareness
about rational water and elec-
tricity consumption.
The park welcomed 60,000
visitors in 2019, according to
figures with the Qatar General
Electricity and Water Corpora-
tion (Kahramaa).
The visitors included students
from various educational insti-
tutions, public, officials from
various departments, employees
of various companies, members
of various clubs and field ex-
perts.
KAP educates visitors, espe-
cially children through games,
cartoon, audios and videos. Vis-
itors are educated about the life
QRCS, QSC
sign pact for
Imdad project
atar Red Crescent So-
ciety (QRCS) and Qatar
QScientific Club (QSC)
yesterday signed a co-operation
agreement to implement Im-
dad programme sponsored by
the Sports and Social Activities
Support Fund of Qatar Central
Bank.
The agreement was signed by
QRCS secretary-general Ali bin
Hassan al-Hammadi and Qatar
Scientific Club Executive Direc-
tor Hareb Mohamed al-Jabri.
Al-Hammadi welcomed the
Qatar Charity educates society on
winter essentials of refugees
Children during an activity event.
tional Sport Day (NSD) has
contributed to making people
change their ideas and adopt sport
as a healthy lifestyle op-tion over
the past few years. The state has
encouraged this and provided the
necessary in-frastructure and
equipment at various easily
accessible public places for all,
such as walking tracks along
different streets, clubs and sports
equipment on Doha Corniche.
The park welcomed 60,000 visitors in 2019.
cycle of water, wind energy, solar
power and kinetic energy.
There are models of gas turbine
and water recycling on display.
agreement and described Imdad
programme as one of the most
important social programmes
of QRCS, as it aims to train and
empower young people, one of
the most important segments of
the Qatari society.
He stressed that the QRCS
always seeks to guide young
people through psychologi-
cal support programmes and
behavioural and professional
guidance to help them adapt
and encourage them to start a
life full of hope, work and am-
The Shura Council members
stressed that the creation of a
National Sport Day is a unique
and unprecedented initiative in the
region and also reflects the
success of the country in many
related fields.
Nasser bin Rashid al-Kaabi,
one of the members, said the idea
of National Sport Day has proven
to be highly successful over the
past few years in mak-ing people
improve the way
At the theatre in KAP, visitors are
shown a short educational video
about the exciting journey from
concept to construction and the
QRCS and QSC officials at the agreement signing ceremony.
bition, adding that this is what
the programme aims for in terms
of encouraging young people to
practising useful professions to
they lead their daily lives and pay
more attention to being physically
active.
He added that people should
grab the opportunity and actively
participate in the various
activities held across the country
on this occasion in an atmosphere
of joy and festivity.
Abdulaziz bin Mohamed al-
Attiyah, another member, not-ed
that National Sport Day is
introduction to the exhibits and
attractions.
The Dana 3D Dome in KAP will
help visitors explore the history
live a decent life and overcome
difficulties.
The co-operation between the
two sides to implement the Imdad
Q atar Charity (QC) held various
activities at As-pire Park,
aiming to edu-
cate the society on the challeng-
ing conditions faced by refugees
and their winter needs.
This came as part of the con-
tinuation of activities accompa-
nying the ‘Warmth and Peace’
campaign launched by Qatar
Charity for the current winter.
The three-day event aimed at
easing the suffering of refugees
and workers by meeting their
winter needs, raising aware-ness
about the most significant winter
safety issues, marketing winter
and relief products for the benefit
of refugees, and sup-porting the
campaign, QC said in a statement.
The event included many ac-
tivities that allowed children to
take a picture with a model of a
happy child wearing a coat with
the logo of QC, which helped ex-
press the delight of the child at
having the feeling of warmth.
The event also had a tent re-
sembling a real refugee tent, in
which the lives of refugees were
explained through video, photo-
meant to spread the importance of
adopting an active lifestyle in
general and promote under-
standing and integration among
people.
He said the state considers the
health and well-being of the
country’s inhabitants among its
top priorities.
Another member, Mubarak bin
Saif al-Mansuri, said Qatar turns
into a massive open play-ground
during National Sport
of the universe and the fascinat-
ing story of water in immersive
3D experience while a descrip-
tion is given about energy cycle
through interactive exhibits at the
park.
Under the aegis of National
Programme for Conservation and
Energy Efficiency (Tar-sheed),
the ambitious initiative by
Kaharamaa to bring down carbon
emission by spreading the culture
of energy conserva-tion, the park
hosted various events.
These include awareness
programmes, workshops, dis-
cussions and training pro-
grammes attended by people from
various walks of the life. The
annual activities-oriented summer
camp, organised by Kahramaa, is
one of the attrac-tions of KAP.
Individuals and institutions can
visit KAP by registering on the
website.http://kap.qa/en.
programme began in 2012 through
holding several joint training
workshops, in different disciplines
for young people and students.
graphs and interactive games for
children, in addition to drawing
activities related to refugees and
their winter needs, the state-ment
noted.
The children, along with their
families, wrote letters in solidar-
ity with the refugee children.
They were also acquainted with
the bags of workers, orphans and
refugees.
Besides, the event included a
fire-extinguishing workshop
delivered by the General Direc-
torate of Civil Defence, in ad-
dition to educating people on
public and personal safety. The
children got acquainted with
firefighting and rescue vehicles,
equipment and services, and also
learnt how to extinguish fires
inside camps and homes.
“Our participation with Qa-tar
Charity in this event came as part
the national and societal
responsibility to make people
aware of safety requirements and
fire prevention,” said Lieutenant
Khalifa Issa Abdul Rahim, add-
ing that the workshop received an
overwhelming response from
children and their families.
QATAR
Day for all inhabitants to practise
their favourite sporting activi-ties
with families and friends. He
added that the activities con-
tribute towards the realisation of
Qatar National Vision 2030.
Khalid al-Kubaisi, one of the
members, felt that Qatar has had
great achievements in sports as
well as successes in various re-
lated fields at the local, regional
and international levels. He said it
is clear that the inhabitants of
Ambassador Sultan bin Salmeen al-Mansouri shaking hands
with Ghada Wali.
UNODC chief praises
co-operation with Qatar
QNA
Vienna
H
E the Deputy Prime Minister
and Minis-ter of Foreign
Affairs
Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdul-
rahman al-Thani sent a writ-ten
message to Ghada Wali,
director general, UN Office on
Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in
Vienna.
The message was deliv-ered
by Qatar’s ambassador to
Austria and its Permanent
Representative to the United
Nations and international
organisations in Vienna Sul-tan
bin Salmeen al-Mansou-ri,
during his meeting with Ghada
Wali.
First phase
of Tamheen
programme
concludes
T
he Ministry of Edu-cation
and Higher Education celebrated
yesterday the conclusion of the first
phase of Tamheen programme,
which aims at qualifying non-
pedagogical Qatari graduates to
work in the
teaching profession.
A total of 23 female trainees
attended the training.
Dr Ibrahim bin Saleh al-
Nuaimi, undersecretary at the
Ministry of Education and
Higher Education, congratu-
lated all those responsible for
the programme on the achieve-
ment they have made in attract-
ing the first group of female
trainees, and their success in the
first phase of the programme to
move to the field training.
Dr al-Nuaimi underlined that
the Ministry of Education and
Higher Education, repre-sented
by the Training and Ed-
ucational Development Center
(TEDC), is working hard to
provide support for the trainees
through providing the suitable
competencies to give them the
theoretical and practical train-
ing, as well as practising the
educational process at schools.
For her side, Hessa al-Ali,
director, Training and Educa-
tional Development Center,
praised the accomplishments
achieved in the first phase of
the programme, and the min-
istry’s support in this regard, as
well as the co-operation of the
partners - Mada Assistive
Technology Center and Teach
for Qatar Organisation- in ad-
dition to those responsible for
Gulf Times
Tuesday, February 11, 2020 3
the country display keen interest
in sport on a daily basis due to
such success.
Nasser al-Malki, another
member, added that the coun-try
has made excellent prepara-tions
to provide everybody with a good
opportunity to practise his or her
favourite activity on this special
occasion due to its belief that
healthy inhabitants are key to
development and prosperity.
Ambassador al-Mansouri
emphasised the importance that
Qatar attaches to the UNODC
due to its distin-guished role in
combating crime and drugs, and
Qatar’s keenness to provide all
forms of support necessary for
the new director-general to help
her in carrying out her duties.
Ghada Wali commended the
co-operation between Qatar
and the UNODC, especially the
continuous support from Qatar
for the programmes and
projects of the UN office in the
field of crime prevention and
criminal justice, and its sup-port
for the goals and princi-ples
upon which the UN was
founded.
the programme’s planning and
assuring of quality, training and
supervising.
She added that the Ministry
of Education and Higher Edu-
cation aims to enhance and
develop an effective workforce
with a high-level of qualifica-
tion and training in the edu-
cating field.
She believed that the trainees
will carry out a leading role at
schools, urging them to be armed
with scientific expertise which
will enable them to succeed in the
second phase of field training.
Meanwhile, Mada Center
chief executive office Maha al-
Mansouri reviewed the objec-
tives of Tamheen programme
which aims to spread aware-
ness on the necessity of educa-
tion and digital knowledge, as
well as keeping pace with the
industrial revolution’s require-
ments which includes each of
the student and the teacher, in
addition to the educational en-
vironment, and the strategies
and methods of teaching.
She stressed the importance
of focusing on the student as
the primary focus for the
educational process, and de-
veloping the student’s skills to
keep up with the technological
qualifications and skills that the
students of the 21st cen-tury are
distinguished with.
The Tamheen programme is a
pioneering initiative launched by
the Ministry of Education and
Higher Education, aiming at
qualifying Qatar University
graduates and attracting them to
the teaching profession. (QNA)
4 Gulf Times
Tuesday, February 11, 2020

QATAR

The CB Olympics Challenge was attended by a significant number of staff members and their families.

Commercial Bank marks Sport

Day with CB Olympics Challenge
C ommercial Bank organ-ised, for
the second con-secutive year, an
exciting event for its employees under
the name CB Olympics Chal-
lenge, on the occasion of Na-
tional Sport Day.
The event took place at CB
House of Fitness, the bank’s on-
site fully-equipped mixed gym,
yesterday.
The gym includes a ladies-only
area and offers employ-ees high-
quality facilities led by
professional staff who run fitness
classes such as Yoga, Zumba,
Aerobics and Reformer Pilates.
The CB Olympics Chal-lenge
required employees to form eight
teams and compete against each
other in rounds of athletic and
dynamic activities and challenges.
The challenge aimed to en-
courage staff to become physi-
cally active and lead a healthy
lifestyle as part of Qatar’s Na-
tional Sport Day, the bank said in
a statement. Sheikh Jassim Saud
al-Thani, senior AGM
— chief human capital officer of
Commercial Bank, said: “A
healthy lifestyle unlocks great
energy. At Commercial Bank, we
realise the importance of sports in
the social and economic de-
velopment of Qatar. Through our
many annually-organised and
sponsored activities, we continue
to play an active role in the
community by encourag-ing staff
as well as customers to adopt
healthy, active lifestyles.”
The challenge was attended by
a significant number of staff
members and their families, filling
the space with energy, cheers and
stamina, the state-ment added.
The event took place at CB House of Fitness, the bank’s on-site
Hussein Ali al-Abdulla, Com- fully-equipped mixed gym.
mercial Bank’s EGM and chief
marketing officer, commented:
“As we all know, Qatar National
Vision 2030 has sports activities at
the heart of its goals. Given that,
not only do we organ-ise such
events and challenges on this
special day, but we also sponsor
international tourna-ments such as
the Qatar Mas-ters and partake in
several local activities.
“At the bank’s level, the CB
Olympics Challenge and other
similar events bring our col-
leagues together and enhances
team spirit, thus reconfirming our
one-team-one-bank cul-ture.” The CB Olympics Challenge required employees to form eight teams and compete against
each other in rounds of athletic and dynamic activities and challenges.
The challenge aimed to encourage staff to become physically active and le ad a healthy lifestyle as part of

Qatar’s National Sport Day.

HBKU dean appointed vice-president of IPPA

Cold, windy conditions expected today: Met
C old and windy conditions are
expected to prevail around the
country today, according to a special
forecast issued by the Qatar Met
depart-
ment for National Sport Day. The
minimum temperature
will range from 8-13C and the
maximum from 14-17C today, the
forecast shows.
Also, the weather office has is-
sued a warning for strong winds in
both inshore and offshore ar-eas
today along with high seas in the
latter. Northwesterly winds may
blow at speeds of up to 28 knots in
some places at times. Offshore,
the wind (northwest-erly) speed
may go up to 36 knots today, with
the sea level rising to 12ft
occasionally.
In general, cold conditions are
expected along with scattered Dusty conditions in Doha yesterday. PICTURE: Shaji Kayamkulam
The dean of the College of Public Policy (CPP) at Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), Dr clouds and blowing dust at times.
Leslie A Pal, recently attended a meeting of the Executive Committee of the International Public There is also a chance of light rain tions yesterday, followed by light Doha and some other places. The pected in the country besides high
Policy Association (IPPA) hosted by KU Leuven University, Belgium. During the meeting, Dr Pal in some places in the early hours rain towards the evening. North- Met department had ear- waves and a significant drop in
was elected as vice-president of the IPPA, an organisation widely regarded as the main of the day, and it will be cold at erly fresh to strong winds were lier said northwesterly fresh to temperature, the report noted. Cold
international association of public policy scholars and researchers. As an institutional member of night. observed in some areas, the Met strong winds were expected to weather conditions would prevail
the IPPA, the CPP will participate in an International Workshop in Quito, Ecuador, this July, and The detailed forecast also says department tweeted, urging peo- continue affecting the country until
dusty and partly cloudy condi- around the country, es-pecially at
the main international conference in Barcelona, Spain, next year. CPP is HBKU’s newest ple to watch out for blowing dust the weekend due to the ex-tension night and early in the morning.
college, offering a much-demanded Master of Public Policy programme. The college’s mandate tions are also likely in offshore and low visibility in open areas. of a high-pressure sys-tem in the
is to expand HBKU’s research capacity while engaging in meaningful national and international areas and there could be light, Later, it reported cloudy region - reaching their peak on “Kindly take extra care, avoid
discourse. CPP appoints and retains faculty of the highest calibre, and its students are selected scattered rain at first. weather and scattered rain from Tuesday and Wednesday. all marine activities and put on
on the basis of academic excellence. Parts of the country, including the northeastern parts of the As a result, blowing dust and suitable winter clothes,” the Met
Doha, experienced dusty condi- country, along with light rain in low visibility at times are ex- department advised.
 Gulf Times
Tuesday, February 11, 2020 5

QATAR/ARAB WORLD
Halal Qatar Festival celebrates Qatari heritage

The ninth edition of Halal Qatar Festival concluded yesterday at Katara – the Cultural Village with a
large turnout of visitors and participants who were keen to be a part of the celebration of this key
aspect of Qatari heritage. The event also saw various competitions in different categories aimed at
promoting better breeds of sheep and goats and help livestock owners exchange knowledge on the
best practices, besides providing them with a platform to sell their produce at competitive prices. A
large number of children visited the festival to take part in the various activities on offer.

Strategic MoPH Pharmacy students visit Qatar Pharma

A
initiatives promote s part of its aim to integrate science and
practice, Qatar University’s (QU) College of
Pharmacy (CPH) organ-ised a visit for its pharmacy
students to Qa-
tar Pharma, the first pharmaceutical manu-

community health
QNA of the Health in the Workplace
Doha
programme and involving new
entities in the programme, and
continuing to implement the
cookbook containing more than 70
recipes for popular and other
foods on the healthy way will be
distributed along with the Qatar
facturer in Qatar. The visit, a part of ongoing
efforts to strengthen ties between industry and
academia, was within the scope of the
Pharmaceutics course, which is a science-led
subject for the application of scientific
knowledge to design medicines that im-
prove the quality of people’s lives.
Such visits allow students to learn how the
industry applies science to create a wide range
of essential medicines, according to a

T he Ministry of Public
(MoPH) imple-mented many
Health
important strategic initiatives with
many of its partners to contribute to
promoting the health of the Qa-tari
community, supporting the
population’s healthy lifestyles, and
encouraging them to do reg-ular
physical exercise, according to the
levels recommended by the
World Health Organisation. Qatar
National Nutrition and
Physical Activity Action Plan
comes among the most promi-
nent initiatives implemented by
the Ministry of Health in this
regard, as the plan achieved sev-
eral successes during the year
2019 through the implementa-tion
of its goals and recommen-
dations.
Among the most notable are the
‘Fat, Sugar and Salt reduc-tion
Initiative in Qatar” to cut such
content in food and bever-ages by
engaging the public and private
sectors and preparing a road map
for the next three years, continuing
the implementation
national programme for health-
promoting schools.
The plan also contributed to the
imposition of a selective tax on
soft drinks and energy drinks,
training and strengthening the
capabilities of healthcare provid-
ers on the nutrition guidelines for
the State of Qatar to standardise
nutritional messages for all mem-
bers of the Qatari community, and
continuing to implement the
school canteen guide to ensure the
availability of healthy food and
drinks for school students.
The implementation of the
guidelines for foods and beverag-
es in health facilities and work-
places is also being followed up to
ensure the availability of healthy
options, and the implementation of
the World Health Program on new
growth plans for schoolchil-dren
from 5-19 years old to mon-itor
obesity rates, overweight and
underweight.
Within the framework of the
recommendations and projects of
the National Plan for Nutrition and
Physical Activity in 2020, a
2021 report on the physical activ-
ity of children and young adults.
The MoPH and its partners are
working to implement the
National Health Strategy 2018-
2022, which set several goals to be
reached by 2022, in the frame-
work of promoting physical ac-
tivity and healthy lifestyles.
The goals of the National
Health Strategy include increas-
ing years of life by one year for
the population aged 65 years and
over, in addition to reducing the
tobacco consumption rate by 5%,
and achieving 100% of health
promotion and disease preven-tion
initiatives included in the National
Development Plan of
Implementation.
For the health care sector, and
55% of government and semi-
government organisations ben-efit
from occupational health and
wellness programs.The State of
Qatar, through adopting a ‘health
in all policies’ approach, will be
able to adopt at least one
community as a health city by the
World Health Organisation.
statement. It also strengthens their capabil-ity
to meet the challenges and demands of
practising in the community, hospital and
industrial settings.
Dr Ahmed al-Sulaiti, chairman of Qatar
Pharma, welcomed the student delegation
supervised by Prof Katerina Gorachinova,
Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at CPH,
and encouraged them to pursue ca-reers in
this highly productive and innova-tive sector
of the economy.
Qatar Pharma is the leading sterile dosage
forms manufacturer in Qatar committed to
providing local and international markets with
safe and effective small and large vol-ume
parenteral solutions, eye drops, and
haemodialysis solutions.
They also manufacture topical dosage
forms like creams, lotions, and solutions and
their future mission involves science-based
development of affordable, highly effective,
safe and high-quality solid dosage forms.
Dr Halim Jaffer, general manager at Qatar
Pharma and his team showed the students the
cleanroom facilities and explained the
terminal sterilisation and aseptic processing in
sterile products manufacturing.
The students were then shown the qual-ity
control laboratory, to view the finished
product quality control tests.
CPH students at Qatar Pharma.
CPH dean Dr Mohamed Diab pointed out
that one of the main goals of the college is to
integrate knowledge with practical expe-
riences to enhance students’ development and
career path.
“The role of pharmacists in Qatar, the
Middle East and the world has grown from
simply dispensing medications to becom-ing
valued providers of health care services.
Exploring Qatar’s pharmaceutical industry
through Qatar Pharma is a means to allow the
integration of knowledge and practice thus
engaging students and making their
experiences more comprehensible and
knowledge related. This lies under the main
objective of the MoU between Qatar Uni-
versity and Qatar Pharma in developing and
carrying out collaborative activities.”
Commenting on the fruitful visit, Prof
Gorachinova said: “In our contemporary so-
ciety, the role of the pharmacist is evolving
very fast. Only innovative teaching methods,
which integrate theory with practice, are pro-
ductive. Through the visit, students had the
opportunity to view the application of parts of
the Pharmaceutics II curriculum in an indus-
trial setting. They observed the implementa-
tion of sterile compounding and manufactur-
ing standards that support the best care of
patients. We hope for many more educational
trips to Qatar Pharma in the future.”
Second-year Pharmacy student Laila Shafei
said: “Qatar Pharma has shown us the journey
of each drug from being a chemical substance
to a proper medicine on the shelf in the
market, and what happens behind the scenes
for all these medications to be valid for
patients’ use.”
Another student, Halima Saadia added:
“During the visit to Qatar Pharma, we real-
ised how critical the role of a pharmacist is in
drug production.We also got more infor-
mation and insight on marketing and vari-ous
job opportunities.”
Pharmacy student Nebras Galal said: “The
Qatar Pharma visit allowed us to ob-serve the
application of pharmaceutics con-cepts from
our lectures in real-time systems and gave us
additional insights into IV med-ication
safety.”

MoI awarded ISO 28000 for Industrial Security UN vote on draft text condemning
QNA
Trump’s Mideast plan scrapped
Doha

T he Ministry of Interior (MoI), repre-sented by

DPA
New York

the General Directorate of Industrial Security, has

received the international accreditation certificate
ISO 28000 for quality in supply chain for indus-
trial security.
Director General of Industrial Security Lt
Col Khalifa Mohamed al-Attiyah affirmed
that this certificate is an international ac-
creditation for the level of security services
carried out by the directorate in securing oil
and gas production sources in the coun-try,
adding that obtaining the ISO 28000
certificate is an important milestone in the
way of developing the directorate in order to
improve the level of securing oil plants, in a
manner that achieves and enhances security
success in the tasks assigned to it.
After receiving the certificate from First
Secretary of the British embassy in Doha and
Director of Trade & Investment, De-partment
for International Trade Jinoos Shariati, Lt Col
al-Attiyah highlighted the stages of the
process of obtaining ISO certif-icate starting
from the study and evaluation phase, through
preparing for the application process phase,
followed by documentation of the quality
system phase, then the stage
of the system internal audit, and finally the
phase of external audit.
Jinoos Shariati said that the obtaining an
ISO 28000 certification is a major achieve-
ment that places Qatari industrial security at
an internationally advanced level, and makes
it reliable in terms of securing the
sources of oil and gas production at an in-
ternational level.
She also added that Qatar is one of the few
countries that have obtained this certificate,
which reflects the serious work that the Qa-
tar’s Ministry of Interior is doing to secure
this vital facility.
A planned vote in the United Nations
Security Coun-cil on a draft
resolution
to condemn US President Don-ald
Trump’s Middle East plan has
been called off following US
pressure, several diplomats told
DPA yesterday.
The 15-member council was set
to vote on the draft text today after
an address by Palestinian A boy looks at a rainbow in the sky above Rafah on a rainy day
President Mahmoud Abbas. at sunset in the southern Gaza Strip yesterday.
But the draft resolution now
appears to be on hold following a Moncef Baati was officially Middle East proposal and called for
pressure campaign by the United dismissed due to “the lack of a council meeting with Abbas.
States, which diplomats said in- coordination” between him and Trump unveiled his contro-
volved calls from Jared Kushner, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs versial plan last month, which he
Trump’s son-in-law and and one of as well as representatives of Arab said would end the bitter Israeli-
the architects of his Middle East and Islamic countries at the UN, Palestinian conflict.
plan, to Security Council members. TAP news agency reported. The plan would give Israel
Sources also suggested that the Tunisia and Indonesia, which control over Jewish settlements
sacking of Tunisia’s permanent are both currently Security Coun- on the West Bank and the strate-
representative to the UN last Fri- cil members, had circulated the gic Jordan Valley, while also call-
day was linked to US pressure on draft UN resolution on behalf of the ing for the creation of a Palestin-
the country’s government. Palestinians to condemn Trump’s ian state.

Qatar thrust to LNG development helps global shift to less carbon-intensive energy
From Page 1
In addition to these envi-
ronmentally sound features of
natural gas industry ecosystem,
the secretary-general informed
that the forum strives to prove
itself as an environmental learn-
ing and knowledge sharing hub,
in particular by implementing the
state-of-art practices. For
instance, it comes as a positive
development, that the current
edition of the organisation’s
landmark forecast was produced
at the highest environmental
standards – using recycled paper
and vegetable inks – for the first
time in the GECF history.
To address the Global Gas
Outlook key findings and advo-
cate vital importance of natural
gas in ensuring global energy
security and more sustainable and
resilient energy systems, the event
continued with a panel discussion,
where the GECF an-alysts
elaborated on the publica-tion’s
six main chapters.
Chapters I and II introduce key
global gas demand assumptions,
including economic, energy price
and policy assumptions, as well
as environmental policy devel-
opment. Chapter III highlights
energy and gas demand trends,
followed by supply assumptions
in Chapter IV, which include glo-
bal gas resources, upstream and
unconventional production.
Chapter V is dedicated to glo-
bal gas trade and investment
outcomes resulting from the
equilibrium between supply and
demand. It takes into consid-
eration gas market constraints, in
terms of supply infrastructure, in-
ternational supply contracts and
gas supply policies (e.g. the satis-
faction of domestic gas demand
as a priority for some countries).
The final chapter features two
alternative scenarios devised by
the GECF Secretariat: ‘Carbon
Mitigation Scenario’ and ‘Tech-
nology Advancement Scenario’. It
was specifically stressed,
that the results are quantified
through the use of the ‘Global
Gas Model’, which is a unique
energy model developed in-house
at the GECF Secretariat, and
which includes different sub-
models with each one fo-cused on
one segment of the gas value
chain (production, pipe-
lines, LNG, shipping, regasifica-
tion, contracts and demand).
The model endogenously cal-
culates gas demand curves and
gas production profiles coun-try
by country based on corre-
sponding assumptions and in-puts.
All of the sub-models have been
calibrated and based on 2018 as
the last available year of historical
data.
6 Gulf Times
Tuesday, February 11, 2020

ARAB WORLD/AFRICA
Iraq faction
Five Turkish soldiers killed hangs
in northwest Syria attack effigies
ahead of
z Ankara sent thousands
Soleimani
gents had also launched a mili-

govt pullback of Saraqeb, south of Taftanaz,

memorial
of troops, wants Syrian tary operation near the town
z Fighting has displaced with Turkish artillery support.

700,000 people since As the conflict escalated in

December Idlib, Turkish and Russian offi- AFP
cials met in Ankara for talks. Baghdad
Reuters The two countries back op-

Ankara/Amman posing sides in Syria, where

Moscow’s military intervention hardline Iraqi faction
in 2015 helped swing the war hanged effigies of US
yrian government forces decisively in Assad’s favour. APresident Donald Trump
killed five Turkish soldiers Celik said there were no con- in Baghdad yesterday, ahead of
Sin northwestern Syria crete results from yesterday’s a memorial for their commander
yesterday, Turkey’s defence meeting, the second in three killed in a US strike.
ministry said, after Turkey de- days, and the talks would con- Today, the Iraqi capital will
ployed thousands of troops tinue.Russia and the Syrian commemorate 40 days since
there to stem a Syrian govern- government say they are fight- Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy
ment offensive. ing terrorists in Idlib, which is head of Iraq’s powerful Hashed
The attack, on a newly es- largely controlled by militant al-Shaabi military network, was
tablished Turkish military base fighters. killed alongside top Iranian gen-
in Taftanaz in Idlib province, “This is a war of attrition eral Qasem Soleimani in a US
happened a week after eight between Moscow and Ankara drone strike in Baghdad.
Turkish military personnel were in which they are testing lim- An official memorial service
killed by Syrian army bombard- its,” said Galip Dalay, a visiting will be held in the morning in
ment. scholar at Oxford University. Baghdad’s high-security Green
The two incidents were While there was a risk that Zone, followed by a public com-
among the most serious con- the crisis could escalate further, memoration.
frontations between Turkish Dalay said it could be managed In preparation, Kataeb Hez-
and Syrian troops in the nearly with agreement between Anka- bollah — a hardline Hashed fac-
nine-year-long conflict in Syr- ra and Moscow on a buffer zone tion that Muhandis founded
ia, and Turkey has said it will on the Syrian side of the border — erected mock gallows at the
drive back Syrian forces if they with Turkey, where displaced entrances to the massive eastern
do not pull back by the end of people could shelter. district of Sadr City.
this month. But the challenge of meeting Hanged in nooses were cut-
“Their attacks against our the needs of the wave of up- outs of Trump with his tongue
posts have made an opera- rooted people is growing daily. protruding and soldiers in US
tion necessary,” Omer Celik, “Since December 1, some uniforms.
spokesman for President Tayy- 689,000 women, children Enormous portraits of Mu-
ip Erdogan’s AK Party, told re- and men have been displaced handis and Soleimani were also
porters in Ankara. from their homes in northwest erected elsewhere in the city.
The rapid advance by Syrian Syria,” said David Swanson, a “Our people hung the gallows
government forces in Idlib, the UN humanitarian spokesman. in preparation for the 40-day
last major enclave of insurgents “That’s more than 100,000 memorial service,” said an offi-
opposed to President Bashar A Syrian rebel fighter remotely-fires a rocket from a truck-mounted launcher at a position in the countryside of Idlib towards regime force people in just over a week.” cial from Kataeb Hezbollah, who
al-Assad, has driven nearly positions in the southern countryside of Aleppo province, yesterday. Swanson said the latest up- declined to give his name.
700,000 people from their halt the Syrian government ad- carriers and radar equipment to az, which also wounded five response was given. The targets heaval compounded an already Washington carried out a
homes towards the closed-off dire humanitarian situation in drone strike outside Baghdad
Turkish border. vances. bolster its existing military po- soldiers who were flown by hel- were destroyed and the blood of Idlib, where 400,000 people International Airport in the early
Turkey, which already hosts It has poured 5,000 troops sitions. icopter back to Turkey. our martyrs was not left on the were displaced between April hours of January 3, hitting the
3.6mn Syrian refugees, says it and convoys of military vehi- The defence ministry said “Targets identified in the re- ground,” the ministry said. and August last year by earlier two-car convoy in which Solei-
cannot absorb any more and cles across the border, carry- Turkish forces retaliated yes- gion were immediately targeted A Turkey-backed Syrian rebel fighting, many of them multiple mani and Muhandis were travel-
is ready for military action to ing tanks, armoured personnel terday for the attack in Taftan- intensively...and the necessary commander said the insur- times. ling.
Trump authorised the strike
CORRUPTION against Soleimani but had not
specifically targeted Muhandis,
East Guinea
leader’s son
Girl’s drowning sparks water riot in SA township US officials said.
picking up his longtime friend

The Iraqi commander was

and mentor Soleimani, Iran’s
fined in French
“It rains here all the time but burning things if we have to,” pointman on Iraqi affairs, who
embezzlement trial Reuters The little girl drowned in ing intermittent protests over had just landed.
Qwaqwa the stream, which is thick with water shortages into a full- they say there’s drought. Then John added. Officials fear riots The strike took place just
The playboy son of Equatorial Guin- sewage, mud and algae, prob- blown, week-long riot. how did that little girl drown like the one seen at Qwaqwa days after supporters of Ka-
ea’s leader was handed a 30mn-eu- ably pulled down by a strong Protesters torched shops, because that stream was full?” could be a sign of worsening taeb Hezbollah besieged the US
ro fine by a Paris court yesterday on ight-year-old Musa and underwater current. overturned government ve- said Malgas “Skinny” John, 39, climate-linked instability to embassy in the Green Zone in a
top of a suspended jail term and the her older sister Molebo- “We rushed down there. hicles and hurled bricks and who used rocks and burning come, as dams and water pipes rare breach of security for the
confiscation of his assets for embez- Eheng trudged down the She was still under the water... bottles at riot police who re- tyres during the January riot deteriorate further and the ur- enclave.
zling public funds. Teodorin Obiang, ravine with buckets and drum Two boys from the neighbour- sponded with rubber bullets. to barricade the road leading ban population continues to The US embassy in Baghdad
the son of Equatorial Guinea’s bottles to fetch water from hood went in and one carried South Africans have pro- into Qwaqwa in a face-off with mushroom. issued an alert to its citizens
leader Teodoro Obiang Nguema, a filthy stream because they her out,” Mbele said. “The tested for years over unreliable police. South Africa’s water minis- yesterday not to approach the
was found guilty in 2017 of having were thirsty and tired of wait- house is empty without her. supplies of water and power, “We have to strike and burn ter Lindiwe Sisulu has prom- facility due to the risk of more
plundered his country’s state cof- ing for trucks meant to deliver She was such a sweet, quiet but chronic mismanagement things, only then do we get wa- ised 3bn rand ($203mn) to end demonstrations or rallies.
fers to fund a jet-set lifestyle in Eu- emergency water that never child”. Musa’s death last month has been compounded by the ter,” said the unemployed fa- the shortages in Qwaqwa. Following the US killing of
rope. At the time, he was handed showed up. further enflamed the mood effects of last year’s drought, ther of two, as he queued with Its municipality owes half a Soleimani, Iran launched vol-
a three-year jail term as well as the But Musa never returned, among residents of Mandela the worst in a century, which neighbours to fill his container billion rand for water, out of a leys of ballistic missiles on a
30mn-euro ($32.9mn) fine — both her mother Phindile Mbele re- Park township on the edge of has been linked to climate from a water truck. national unpaid bill of nearly western Iraqi base where US
suspended. Obiang, who is also called, choking back tears. Qwaqwa in South Africa, turn- change. “We’ll do it again, we’ll keep 9bn rand. forces are stationed.
vice president, challenged that
penalty only to have the Paris
appeals court return a heavier
sentence on Monday by removing
on a range of laundering charges
fine. It confirmed his convic tion
War dominates Africa summit Militants kill 30 and
the suspended provision from the
— relating to embezzling of public
the lower court’s order for his

funds, misuse of corporate assets

as leaders vow Libya support abduct dozens in
northeast Nigeria
and breach of trust — and upheld
ill-gotten assets to be confis-

cated. The president’s son, fond Libya, and the UN-recognised

of fast cars and Michael Jackson AFP
memorabilia, was not in court Addis Ababa government in Tripoli. AFP the Islamic State West Africa
for the ruling, just as he had not Talks between Libya’s war- Province (ISWAP) have been
Auno
attended his initial trial. Prosecu- ring factions ended on Satur- active, mounting roadblocks
tors estimate he laundered 150mn frican Union lead- day with no deal on a ceasefire. to target security forces and
euros in misappropriate funds in ers vowed yesterday The UN has proposed a sec- ilitants killed at least 30 civilians.
France. The 50-year-old owns a Ato push peace efforts ond round of negotiations for people and abducted There was no immediate claim
six-storey, 107mn-euro mansion in in Libya, a sign of the bloc’s February 18. Mwomen and children in of responsibility for the attack.
an upscale part of Paris, complete desire to play a bigger role in Chergui said the AU could a raid in northeast Nigeria’s res- Witnesses said militants set
with a hammam, a disco and gold- resolving the continent’s con- support peace if a cessation tive Borno state, a regional gov- alight 30 vehicles in the raid, in-
plated taps. flicts. of hostilities agreement is fi- ernment spokesman said yester- cluding trucks that had stopped
nally signed, declaring the AU day. overnight on their way to Maid-
CONFLICT Palestinian PM wanted to be part of an observ- The attack Sunday evening uguri. “Many of the drivers and
er mission to ensure any deal is targeted the village of Auno on a their assistants who were sleep-
Cleric sentenced meets Qatar’s envoy African Union (AU)’s Peace and Security Council chief Smail respected. “This is an African key highway linking to regional ing in the vehicles were burnt
to 28 months Chergui gives a press conference on the current ongoing works problem, and we have a certain capital Maiduguri. alive,” said Babakura Kolo, a
Palestinian Prime Minister of the commission in different African countries to sustain peace sense that maybe others do not The militants stormed in on member of a state-backed anti-
An Israeli court yesterday sen- Mohamed Shtayyeh has met during the 33rd Ordinary Session of the African Union Summit, in have,” Chergui said. trucks mounted with heavy militant militia.
tenced a firebrand cleric to 28 with Qatar’s ambassador to Addis Ababa, yesterday. Despite AU optimism, ana- weapons, killing, burning and The militants combed through
months in prison for incitement in Ethiopia Hamad bin Mohamed lysts are sceptical. looting before kidnapping wom- the village, looting and burning
connection with deadly unrest at al-Dosari, on the sidelines of tion to an end... the two organ- the sidelines of the AU sum- TOUGH LINE en and children, state govern- shops and property before with-
a Jerusalem holy site in 2017. the 33rd Ordinary African isations should work hand in mit ended in deadlock. The ON SOUTH SUDAN ment spokesman Ahmad Abdur- drawing, he said.
Raed Salah had been convicted Union Summit in Addis Ababa, hand for that goal,” he added. AU leadership has complained Meanwhile, on South Su- rahman Bundi said. Kolo said the militants took
by Haifa magistrates’ court of QNA reported. The meeting Libya has been torn by about being overlooked in dan, leaders tried to bring They targeted travellers who away three buses carrying wom-
“incitement” in remarks made reviewed bilateral co-operation fighting between rival factions Libya-related peacemaking longtime rivals to reach a deal. had stopped for the night and en and children to Maiduguri
after fighters killed two policemen and issues of mutual concern. since a 2011 Nato-backed up- efforts, which have been led President Salva Kiir and torched vehicles. which had parked in the village
on the Haram al-Sharif mosque rising killed dictator Muam- primarily by the UN and heav- rebel leader Riek Machar face a AFP journalists saw the for the night.
compound. The deadly July 14, mar Gaddafi. ily involved European nations. deadline of February 22 to form smouldering wreckage of trucks, “We still don’t know how
2017 attack, at the Israeli-annexed As the 55-member group South African President UN Secretary-General An- a unity government — a mile- buses and cars lining the road at many women and children they
east Jerusalem site, was carried wrapped up a two-day sum- Cyril Ramaphosa, who took tonio Guterres on Saturday stone that was delayed twice the scene of the attack. took away but the number is
out by fighters from his home- mit, Smail Chergui, the AU’s over as AU chair on Sunday, said he understood the AU’s last year. The militants “killed not less huge,” he said.
town of Umm al-Fahm. Salah was Peace and Security Council has said Libya is one of two “frustration” at having “been Ramaphosa met separately than 30 people who are mostly Auno lies on the 120km high-
also found guilty of “supporting an chief, offered assistance to re- conflicts he wants to focus on put aside” when it comes to with Kiir and Machar on Satur- motorists and destroyed 18 ve- way linking Maiduguri to Dama-
illegal organisation” in Facebook vive Libya’s faltering UN-led during his tenure. Libya. day, and the rivals sat down in hicles,” Bundi said in a statement turu, a major regional city in
posts from 2015 and 2016. peace process. The other is South Sudan, The North African state re- the same room Sunday along- after visiting the scene. neighbouring Yobe state.
Salah, an Arab Israeli, can appeal “It’s (the) UN itself which where a civil war that began mains in chaos, mostly split side Ugandan President Yoweri The assault, some 25km The highway has been in-
the sentence within 45 days, the needs us now,” Chergui said. in 2013 has left hundreds of between strongman Khalifa Museveni and Sudanese Prime west of Maiduguri, occurred creasingly targeted by ISWAP
court said. “It’s time to bring this situa- thousands dead — but talks on Haftar, who controls eastern Minister Abdallah Hamdok. in an area where fighters from militants in recent months.
 Gulf Times
Tuesday, February 11, 2020 7

CRIME
China hackers charged
over 2017 data breach
The United States has charged four Chinese military
hackers in the 2017 breach of the Equifax credit
reporting agency that affected nearly 150 million
American citizens, Attorney General William Barr said
yesterday. “This was a deliberate and sweeping
intrusion into the private information of the American
people,” Barr said in announcing the indictments of
four members of the Chinese Liberation Army in
connection with one of the largest data breaches in US
history. The Chinese Embassy did not respond to a
request for comment. The announcement is the latest
in an aggressive campaign by American authorities to
root out Chinese espionage operations in the United
States.
POLITICS
‘Pro-hunting’ wildlife
board quietly shut down
The Trump administration has quietly abandoned a
wildlife advisory board that animal rights groups
said was illegally stacked with politically connected
donors and hunting enthusiasts, and designed to
promote trophy hunting. The US Department of
Justice said the International Wildlife Conservation
Council “ceased to exist” on December 21, 2019,
when its two-year charter expired. The Justice
Department said the board’s demise mooted and
justified the dismissal of an August 2018 lawsuit by
the Natural Resources Defense Council, the
Center for Biological Diversity, the Humane Society
of the United States and Humane Society
International against its composition and mission.
DEFENCE
Pentagon cuts cost, sells
old stuff, saves $6.5bn
Pentagon belt-tightening efforts identified and
redirected $6.5bn worth of bloated payments,
inefficiencies and overlaps last year. Pentagon’s Chief
Management Officer Lisa Hershman has said that the
savings, equivalent to 83 F-35A fighter jets, were
achieved through methods including the sale of
obsolete equipment, better software licensing fee
management and smarter purchasing of items such as
lumber. Since defence spending is capped at $741bn
this year, Pentagon has been looking for ways to do
more with the money it has. “We’re not just cutting
costs, we are transforming the way we are working.
We are changing the infrastructure to support it,”
Hershman said.
AMERICA
SHOWBIZ
Judging heats up at
Westminster Dog Show
Judging at New York’s Westminster Kennel Club
Dog Show began in earnest yesterday, the second
day of competition in the annual showcase for
pedigree canines, which culminates tonight with
the awarding of “Best in Show”. On Sunday, “Best-
of-Breed” competition began in the hound and
herding groups, when judges select dogs that best
exemplify the standards of his or her breed.
Yesterday was the start of the “Best-of-Group”
competition, in which the “Best of Breeds” were in
the fray to be named the sole winner of their
respective groups. The winners then compete for A dog competes in the Masters Agility
the top prize — the single “Best in Show” trophy, at Championship during the Westminster Kennel
Madison Square Garden tonight. Club Dog Show in New York on Sunday.

Klobuchar gains in NH;

More than 100 US
troops diagnosed
with brain injuries

Sanders stays favourite

from Iran attack
Reuters
Washington

Reuters Although she criticized Buttigieg in

Nashua, NH
emocratic presidential con-
tenders Bernie Sanders and
DPete Buttigieg yesterday
made their closing pitches to voters
as the front-runners in New Hamp-
shire, with an energised Senator Amy
Klobuchar gaining ground.
Buttigieg and Sanders, who
emerged first and second in delegates
in the debut nominating contest in
Iowa last week, face eight rivals in to-
day’s vote in New Hampshire, includ-
ing Klobuchar, who has pulled into
third place in two polls.
The man they are all seeking to take
on in the November election, Repub-
lican President Donald Trump, was to
try and command the national spot-
light with a campaign rally of his own
in Manchester late yesterday.
The large number of Democratic
candidates and the unsettled polling
makes the outcome of the New Hamp-
shire contest unpredictable, said Ray
Buckley, the chairman of the state
Democratic Party.
“This is anyone’s race to win,”
Buckley told reporters. “That makes
these final hours even more exciting.”
Sanders, 78, an impassioned pro-
gressive who represents neighbouring
Vermont in the US Senate, has long led
in opinion polls in New Hampshire.
But Buttigieg, a 38-year-old mod-
erate and military veteran who served
two terms as mayor of South Bend, In-
diana, has gained ground since Iowa.
In Plymouth, Buttigieg tried to
reach out to undecided voters, refer-
ring to “future former Republicans”
who he said were more than welcome
to back his campaign.
“It’s decision time,” Buttigieg said.
He took a shot at Sanders, saying
that the self-described democratic
socialist would have a hard time pull-
ing in moderate voters.
“Knowing how much depends on
bringing Americans together, we can-
not risk alienating Americans at this
critical moment,” he said. “And that’s
where I part ways with my friend Sen-
ator Sanders.”
In a separate event, Sanders aimed
his attacks at Trump.
“I know not everybody agrees with
everything I say, but I think what
we can agree about is that we can-
not continue having a president who
is a pathological liar,” Sanders told a
Nashua City clerk Susan Lovering looks inside one of the supply totes for election precinct moderators ahead of today’s
New Hampshire presidential primary election in Nashua, New Hampshire.
Scrutinising information ahead of 2020 election, including from Giuliani: Barr
US Attorney General William Barr
confirmed yesterday that the Justice
Department has received information
from President Donald Trump’s per-
sonal lawyer Rudy Giuliani ahead of the
November election, but that anything
originating from Ukraine should not be
taken “at face value.”
Barr spoke at a news conference a day
after Senate Judiciary Committee chairman
Lindsey Graham said on the CBS News
programme Face the Nation that the depart-
ment had created a process so that Giuliani
could provide information and the depart-
ment would see if it could be verified.
“We have to be very careful with
respect to any information coming from
the Ukraine,” Barr said. “There are a lot of
crowd at a sports club in Manchester.
A pair of polls released late on Sunday
and yesterday showed Klobuchar pull-
ing into third place behind Sanders and
Buttigieg following the party’s debate in
the New England state on Friday.
“We feel the surge, for me it’s been
a long time coming,” said Klobuchar,
agendas in the Ukraine. There are a lot of
cross-currents, and we can’t take anything
we receive from the Ukraine at face value.”
Last week, the Senate acquitted Re-
publican Trump largely along party lines
on impeachment charges that he had
abused his power by asking Ukraine to
investigate a political rival, former vice
president Joe Biden, and his son Hunter
Biden, who had served on the board of a
Ukrainian energy company.
Trump had based his demands on
unfounded allegations of corruption.
The Democratic-led US House of
Representatives said Giuliani, a former
prosecutor, sought information about
the Bidens in Ukraine.
Barr said yesterday that the Justice
a moderate from Minnesota, noting
that she had visited New Hampshire
23 times since she entered the presi-
dential race a year ago.
Klobuchar told a crowd of more
than 200 at Keene State College that
she was the candidate who could ap-
peal to independents and Republicans
Department has created an “intake
process in the field” that will be used to
assess the “provenance and credibility”
of any information.
“That is true for all information that
comes to the department relating to the
Ukraine, including anything Mr Giuliani
might provide,” he added.
Although the department acknowl-
edged yesterday it is receiving and
scrutinising such materials, the FBI’s No
2 official still stopped short of saying
whether it had led to a more formal
investigation into the Bidens.
“I am not going to talk about any
investigations as I never would. We do
not talk about open investigations,” FBI
Deputy Director David Bowdich said.
disenchanted with Trump’s divisive
policies and rhetoric.
“There are a bunch of moderate Re-
publicans and independents out there
who feel this and know just what I’m
talking about,” she said. “You need
a candidate with big coattails who
brings people with her.”
Friday night’s debate, Klobuchar re-
frained from mentioning any of her ri-
vals on the campaign trail, sticking to
her promise to unite the country, low-er
drug prices, improve infrastructure and
increase funding for treatment of drug
addiction and mental health is-sues.
A Boston Globe poll, conducted with
Suffolk University and WBZ-TV,
showed Sanders with 27%, Buttigieg
with 19% and Klobuchar with 14%
among 500 likely voters polled over the
weekend in New Hampshire. The
survey had a margin of error of plus or
minus four percentage points.
A separate poll by WHDH/Emerson
College also showed Klobuchar pull-
ing into third.
Deeply trailing in New Hampshire
polls, former Vice President Joe Biden
kicked off a rainy cold day by visiting
with unionised school bus drivers at a
depot in Nashua. One driver asked for a
picture, saying “My grandmother is
never going to believe me.” Biden then
had the driver call her grandmother, and
he spoke to her.
The candidate reminisced about
driving school buses to earn extra
money while a law student at Syracuse
University in the late 1960s.
He also won a late endorsement from
New Hampshire state Senate president
Donna Soucy, who said on Twitter, “Joe
has the experience, the tenacity and the
empathy that we need in the White
House.”
A similar wave of late endorsements
before Iowa’s vote didn’t save Biden
from a fourth-place finish.
The Iowa results are still not en-tirely
settled.
Jeff Weaver, senior advisor to Sand-
ers, said late on Sunday that the cam-
paign would make a formal request to
the Iowa Democratic Party to recan-
vass the results of between 30 and 40
caucus precincts.
The Sanders campaign expects to
draw a large crowd in Durham when
US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-
Cortez, a progressive star, and rock
band The Strokes join him for a rally.
US Senator Elizabeth Warren began
her day in the mountain town of North
Conway with a two-mile walk in the
snow to McDonald’s for breakfast.
She made phone calls, wearing a
black baseball cap emblazoned with:
“make Earth cool again.”
“It’s a beautiful day for democra-cy!”
Warren said.
T he US military is preparing to re-port a
more than 50% jump in cases of traumatic brain
injury stemming from Iran’s missile attack on a
base in Iraq last month, US officials told
Reuters yesterday.
The officials, who spoke on condition
of anonymity ahead of an announce-ment,
said there were over 100 cases of TBI, up
from the 64 previously reported last
month.
The Pentagon declined comment, but in
the past had said to expect an increase in
numbers in the weeks after the at-tack
because symptoms can take time to
manifest and troops can sometimes take
longer to report them.
No US troops were killed or faced im-
mediate bodily injury when Iran fired
missiles at the Ain al-Asad base in Iraq in
retaliation for the US killing of Revo-
lutionary Guard General Qassem So-
leimani in a drone strike at the Baghdad
airport on January 3. The missile at-tacks
capped a spiral of violence that had started
in late December.
Both sides have refrained from further
military escalation, but the mounting
number of US casualties could increase
pressure on the Trump administration to
respond, perhaps non-militarily.
Army General Mark Milley, chair-man
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said last month
that the service members suf-fering from
traumatic brain injuries had been
diagnosed with mild cases.
He added the diagnosis could change as
time went on.
Symptoms of concussive injuries in-
clude headaches, dizziness, sensitivity to
light and nausea.
Pentagon officials have repeatedly said
there has been no effort to minimise or
delay information on concussive inju-ries.
But the disclosures following Tehran’s
attack has renewed questions over the US
military’s policy regarding how it in-
ternally reports suspected brain injuries
and whether they are treated publicly with
the same urgency as loss of limb or life.
President Donald Trump appeared to
play down the brain injuries last month,
saying he “heard that they had head-aches
and a couple of other things” fol-lowing
the attack, prompting criticism from
lawmakers and a US veterans group.
Various health and medical groups for
years have been trying to raise awareness
about the seriousness of brain injuries,
including concussions.
Since 2000, about 408,000 serv-ice
members have been diagnosed with
traumatic brain injury, according to Pen-
tagon data.

Solar Orbiter sets off on 10-year-long mission to reveal Sun’s secrets

AFP Drawing on gravity assists from tember 1859, knocking out much radiation emitted from solar ex-
Earth and Venus, Solar Or-biter of the continent’s telegraph net- plosions.
Miami
will slingshot itself into a bird’s work and bathing the skies in an All but one of the spacecraft’s

T eye view of the Sun’s poles.
he US-European Solar Or-biter
probe launched Sun-day night
from Florida on a
voyage to deepen our understand-
ing of the Sun and how it shapes
the space weather that impacts
technology back on Earth.
The mission, a collabora-tion
between ESA (the European Space
Agency) and Nasa, suc-cessfully
blasted off from the Kennedy
Space Center in Cape Canaveral at
11.03pm and could last up to nine
years or even be-yond.
Scientists say the craft is ex-
pected to provide unprecedented
insights into the Sun’s atmos-
phere, its winds and its magnetic
fields, including how it shapes the
heliosphere, the vast swath of
space that encompasses our
system.
By journeying out of the eclip-
tic plane — the belt of space
roughly aligned with the Sun’s
equator, through which the plan-
ets orbit — it will acquire the first-
ever images of our star’s
uncharted polar regions.
“I think it was picture per-fect,
suddenly you really feel like
you’re connected to the entire
solar system,” said Daniel Muller,
ESA project scientist, shortly after
the launch. “You’re here on Earth
and you’re launching something
that will go close to the Sun.”
“We have one common goal and
that is to get the good science out
of this mission. I think we’re
going to succeed,” added Holly
Gilbert, director of Nasa’s helio-
physics science division.
Ten state-of-the-art instru-ments
on board will record myri-ad
observations to help scientists
unlock clues about what drives
solar winds and flares.
These emit billions of highly
charged particles that impact the
Earth, producing the spectacular
Northern Lights.
But they can also disrupt ra-dar
systems, radio networks and even,
though rarely, render satel-lites
useless.
The largest solar storm on
record hit North America in Sep-
aurora viewable as far away as the
Caribbean.
“Society increasingly relies on
what happens in space, and
therefore we’re more dependent
on what the Sun is doing,” said
Etienne Pariat, a researcher at the
CNRS observatory in Paris.
“Imagine if just half of our
satellites were destroyed,” add-ed
Matthieu Berthomier, a re-
searcher at the Paris-based Plas-
ma Physics Laboratory. “It would
be a disaster for mankind.”
The probe’s closest approach
will come every six months, when
Solar Orbiter will be nearer to the
Sun than Mercury, a mere 42mn
km away.
With a custom-designed tita-
nium heat shield, it is designed to
withstand temperatures as high as
500 Celsius.
Its heat-resistant structure is
coated in a thin, black layer of
calcium phosphate, a charcoal-like
powder that is similar to pig-ments
used in prehistoric cave paintings.
The shield will protect the in-
struments from extreme particle
telescopes will peep out through
holes in the heat shield that open
and close in a carefully orches-
trated dance, while other in-
struments will work behind the
shadow of the shield.
Just like Earth, the Sun’s poles
are extreme regions quite differ-
ent from the rest of the body.
It is covered in coronal holes,
cooler stretches where fast-
gushing solar wind originates.
Scientists believe this region
could be key to understanding
what drives its magnetic activity.
Every 11 years, the Sun’s poles
flip: north becoming south and
vice versa. Just before this event,
solar activity increases, sending
powerful bursts of solar material
into space. A Nasa handout photo of the Solar Orbiter lifting off from pad 41 aboard a United Launch Alliance
Solar Orbiter will observe the Atlas V rocket at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
surface as it explodes and record
measurements as the material goes “You can’t really get much After launch, the team will the Sun, in November 2021.
by the spacecraft. closer than Solar Orbiter is going conduct three months of testing It will work in concert with
The only spacecraft to previ- and still look at the Sun,” ESA’s to ensure systems are operating Nasa’s Parker Solar Probe, which
ously fly over the Sun’s poles was Muller said. properly before turning on the in launched in 2018 and will fly
another joint ESA/Nasa venture, The mission will be controlled situ instruments. much closer to the Sun, passing
the Ulysses, launched in 1990. But from the European Space Opera- The remote-sensing instru- through the star’s inner atmos-
it got no closer to the Sun than the tions Center in Darmstadt, Ger- ments will be activated on So- phere to see how energy flows
Earth is. many. lar Orbiter’s first approach of through its corona.
8 Gulf Times
Tuesday, February 11, 2020
ASIA
Indonesia seeks key role
in Pacific development
Reuters
Sydney
I increasingly becomes the focus
ndonesian President Joko
Widodo told Australia’s parliament
yesterday that he wanted to work
with the traditional Pacific power to
ex-pand influence in the region in the
face of China’s stepped-up
efforts to do the same. Aligning
with Australia and
not its giant Asian neighbour is a
major step for Indonesia, which
is the second-most pop-ulous
country in the region and has
been trying to provide aid and
build alliances with smaller
Pacific countries.
Indonesia last year said it
would establish diplomatic
relations with several Pacific
island nations, pursue trade deals
with Fiji and Papua New Guinea
and create a 3trn rupiah
($219.06mn) fund to provide
development aid or disaster
Grief swells as Thais mourn Maldives
29 killed in mass shooting apologises
AFP
Nakhon Ratchasima
rieving relatives of 29
people murdered by a
Grogue soldier in Thai-
land held tearful Buddhist
prayer ceremonies yesterday, as
fresh details emerged of shop-
pers cowering in terror while
the gunman stalked the mall.
Holding portraits of their rel-
atives and dabbing away tears,
families of the victims arrived
on Monday morning at a city
morgue in Nakhon Ratchasima,
better known as Korat, in the
morning to carry home coffins
bearing their dead.
The gunman – Sergeant-
Major Jakrapanth Thomma –
was shot dead by a commando
unit Sunday morning, ending a
rampage that left 29 dead and
scores more wounded.
The killer started his killing
spree on Saturday afternoon
with weapons stolen from a bar-
racks’ arsenal, where he gunned
down Mehta Lertsiri, 22, who
was guarding the depot.
“I don’t know what to do
next,” Mehta’s grief-stricken
grandfather, Udom Prapotsang,
said outside of the morgue
waiting to claim his body.
People put flowers and write memoirs in front of Terminal 21 shopping mall after a shooting in Nakhon Ratchasima, 260km from Bangkok, yesterday.
2 Russian children die in
Thai tourist boat crash
Russian siblings aged 12 and
six-years-old died yesterday
in a speed boat accident off
the tourist island of Phuket,
an official said, as two vessels
collided near a pier.
The accident took place 100m
off a privately-run pier in Phuket, the sharp slump in Chinese visitors
after the speed boat carrying
Russian tourists to an nearby island and the strong Thai baht.
crashed into an incoming vessel. Accidents at popular resorts
“The cause of accident was
speeding by both the drivers,”
a Phuket government official
relief to smaller countries.
The country wants a larger
role, Widodo said, as the Pacific
of diplomacy, aid and military
investment by Western powers
trying to counter China.
“Indonesia and Australia must
become the anchors for
developing partners in the Pa-
cific region. Indonesia under-
stands the development chal-
lenges,” Widodo said in his
speech.
Widodo said Indonesia and
Australia are both grappling with
climate change and natu-ral
disasters, giving them com-mon
ground with small Pacific
nations.
The low-lying Pacific islands
are on the front lines of global
climate change, threatened by
rising sea levels that have forced
some residents to move to higher
ground.
Many Pacific countries have
turned to China for financing,
“His four-year-old son
keeps asking why he can’t call
his dad.”
After seizing the weapons, the
shooter drove to a Buddhist tem-
ple, where blood splatters and
bullet holes attested Monday to
the horrors that unfolded.
Narissara Chotklang, a a sprint for the mall entrance
52-year-old Pharmacist, was
among nine people to die there.
Her funeral rites began late
Monday a few kilometres away,
where hundreds of mourners
lined up to pour water over a
jasmine garland placed deli-
cately over her outstretched
hand.
The attacker then moved to
the town centre mall, where a
terrifying siege unfolded late
Saturday.
Armed with automatic
weapons, the gunman held out
overnight as hundreds of shop-
pers sought refuge in toilets,
storerooms and under tables –
staying silent or making a break
for the exits when they could.
Pressed to the ground in an
office inside a Japanese home
goods shop, Partiya Aree, 29,
tried to control her breathing
as she watched the masked sol-
dier stop just yards away on the
shop’s own CCTV.
“He was carrying a gun,
looking left and right con-
said, requesting anonymity.
The brother and sister died
in the crash, while “21 other
Russians were injured, two
critically” he added.
Thailand’s tourist industry has
been hard hit by a combination of
since the coronavirus outbreak
are common in a kingdom
with lax enforcement of safety
rules. (AFP)
a relationship that Western of-
ficials fear Beijing can exploit.
Australia, which histori-cally
has carried considerable
influence in the Pacific, has in
the last couple of years rapidly
expanded its diplomatic pres-
ence and aid to the region in
response.
China says it is simply trying
to help smaller Pacific countries
with economic development.
Several Pacific nations have
backed calls for investigations
into allegations of violence by
security forces in Indonesia’s
easternmost region, Papua.
Vanuatu has openly voiced sup-
port for the independence of the
former Dutch colony Papua.
A separatist movement has
simmered in Papua since it was
incorporated into Indonesia in
1969 in a widely criticised UN-
backed referendum. There has
been a spike in violence since
August, with demands for a new
independence vote.
stantly,” Partiya said.
Alongside 21 others, they
disabled location services on
their phone fearing the social
media-obsessed gunman might
be able to find them.
Her group escaped several
hours later, flanked by police in
“which felt like forever.”
But others were not so
fortunate.
Flowers and messages of
condolences including one say-
ing “RIP Korat, we will not for-
get” piled up outside the bullet-
riddled mall.
A Buddhist monk in orange
robes led a prayer ceremony on
a grass verge outside the mall
for Peeraphat Palasan, shot
dead as the gunman sprayed
bullets into traffic, killing the
25-year-old engineer.
His father, Witoon, was
among a dozen mourners cry-
ing, kneeling, hands clasped
– some holding incense sticks
– in prayer.
“My son had just finished
work and came here to go
shopping,” Witoon said. “I
never thought I would lose him
so soon.”
As Korat – and the country
– mourned, there were grow-
ing questions about why the
gunman went on a killing spree
Vietnam culls tens of thousands of birds
Reuters
Hanoi
ietnam has so far this
year culled tens of
Vthousands of birds to
contain an outbreak of high-
ly pathogenic H5N6 bird flu
detected at several farms
in its northern provinces,
an agriculture ministry of-
ficial and state media said
yesterday.
Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo (left) and Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison react as
they give a joint statement at Parliament House in Canberra yesterday.
over an apparent private debt to
a senior officer and how he was
able to steal weapons, including
an M60 machine gun, and hun-
dreds of rounds of ammunition.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-
O-Cha was hammered on social
media for a tone-deaf response
to the crisis during a visit to the
city on Sunday where he posed
for selfies, high-fived a crowd
and smiled before shutting
down questions from the media
at a press conference.
“There should be no smiles,
joking around and touching
hands like people are your fan
club,” popular blogger Sorakon
Adulyanon, aka Noom Muang
Chan, said on Facebook.
Others drew unfavourable
comparisons with the digni-
fied response of New Zealand’s
Prime Minister Jacinda Ard-
ern to the Christchurch mass
shooting last year.
As criticism snowballed, the
gruff former army chief Prayut
was prodded into a rare act of
contrition late Sunday.
“We are all saddened by
what happened,” he said on his
official Facebook page.
“I intended to offer my
moral support... my expres-
sion may have been misunder-
stood or made many people
uncomfortable.”
The authorities have
culled the birds, mostly
chicken and ducks, at farms
in Nghe An, Thanh Hoa and
Quang Ninh provinces, said
the official, who declined to
be named because he was
not authorised to speak to
the media.
Thanh Hoa province,
170km (105 miles) south of
Hanoi, has culled 23,000
birds at 10 household
farms after they test-
to British
woman over
bikini spat
AFP
Malé
T
he Maldives’ speaker
parliament yes-terday apologised
of
to a British tourist after foot-
age of her arrest by several
policemen triggered a social
media storm.
Tourism is a major earner for
the Maldives, a tropical island
paradise in the Indian Ocean
popular with honeymooners
and celebrities.
Police said the bikini-clad
woman, who was walking on a
main road, was “inappropri-
ately” dressed and allegedly
unruly and drunk when she was
detained after refusing to
comply with requests to cover
up on Thursday.
The Maldives previously
confined tourists to resort is-
lets separate from the local
population, but in recent years
has allowed foreigners to stay
on inhabited islands.
Tourists can wear swimwear
such as bikinis in the resorts
but are subject to local dress
codes elsewhere.
Videos shared on social
media showed three men try-
ing to detain the traveller, while
a fourth person tried to cover
her with a towel.
The woman was heard
shouting “you’re sexually as-
saulting me” during the inci-
dent.
The speaker, Mohamed
Nasheed, told parliament he
was extending an apology to
the woman over the incident,
ed positive to the virus,
Thanh Hoa newspaper
reported yesterday.
“We are concerned that
the virus may spread fur-
ther, and are trying our
best to stop the outbreak,”
the official said.
Apart from culling the birds,
the authorities have also dis-
infected the farms and put a
ban on poultry transport from
the infected zones, the official
said.
which saw her detained by po-
lice for two hours before they
released her.
The tourist has since left the
nation of 340,000 Sunni
Muslims, but Nasheed said he
hoped tourism authorities
would invite her to return to the
luxury vacation spot.
Maldives Police Service
Commissioner Mohamed
Hameed said on Twitter after
the footage was shared online
that the incident “seems to be
badly handled”.
“I apologise to the tour-ist &
the public for this. The
challenge I have taken up is to
professionalise the police
service & we are working on
that. This matter is being
investigated.”
A police statement on Fri-day
called on tourists to re-spect
“cultural sensitivities and local
regulations”.
The video of the incident also
sparked anger among
Maldivians. Some took to social
media to criticise the tourist’s
behaviour after other videos
showed her grabbing the
sunglasses of a police officer.
Former foreign minister
Dunya Maumoon criticised
both the tourist and the police.
“She should have respect-ed
the religious and cultural norms
of the country in terms of
modest attire in a residen-tial
area,” Maumoon said on
Twitter.
“Condemn the man-handling
by the Maldiv-ian police. It
could have been handled better
and more professionally.”
H5N6 virus has also
been detected in poul-
try at a farm outside Ha-
noi, prompting the cull-
ing of more than 2,300
birds there, Kinh Te Do Thi
newspaper reported.
Vietnam has a poultry
herd of 460mn, and small-
sized bird flu outbreaks
have not been uncommon
in the country during the
past five years, the official
said.
Bangladeshi
worker tested
positive for
coronavirus
in Singapore
IANS
Dhaka
A Bangladeshi migrant worker
is among the 43 coronavirus cases
con-firmed in Singapore, it was
reported yesterday.
The 39-year-old Bangladeshi
was admitted in an isolation room
at the National Centre for
Infectious Diseases, bdnews24
reported citing the Singapore
Ministry of Health as saying.
He started showing symp-toms
on February 1, and went to a
general practitioner clinic two
days later, and then to the Changi
General Hospital on February 5,
according to The Straits Times.
He was admitted to the inten-
sive care unit at Changi Hospital
on February 7, the newspaper said,
adding that he was con-firmed to
have the disease on Saturday
afternoon.
He is the first Bangladeshi to
have been diagnosed with the
disease that has killed more than
900 people in China surpassing
the deaths in the 2002-03 Severe
Acute Respiratory Syndrome or
Sars.
Bangladesh has brought back
312 of its nationals from Wuhan,
the epicentre of the outbreak, said
the bdnews24 report.
The government has also
scrapped its plans to evacuate 172
others from the locked down
Chinese cities due to the author-
ities’ failure to arrange any flight.
But none of the Bangladeshis in
or from China have tested
positive.
Cambodia
garments
hit hard by
coronavirus
spread
Reuters
Phnom Penh
A
t least four textile fac-tories in
Cambodia may suspend operations be-
cause of delays to the supply
of raw materials from China
caused by the coronavirus out-
break, the labour ministry said
yesterday.
Ministry spokesman Heng Sour
said there had been delays in
deliveries of garments, yarn,
buttons and shoe soles. The gar-
ment industry is Cambodia’s
largest employer, generating $7bn
for the economy each year.
The European Union will de-
cide tomorrow whether or not to
suspend Cambodia’s special trade
preferences over human rights
concerns.
Cambodia benefits from the
EU’s “Everything But Arms” trade
programme, which allows the
world’s least-developed countries
to export most goods to the
European Union free of duties.
“If by the second week of
March, factories still don’t know
when they will be able to get the
materials from China, they may
suspend for two to three weeks,”
Sour told Reuters.
Sour said that four facto-ries,
which employ around 3,000
workers in total, had ex-pressed
their concerns to the government.
Sour declined to provide names
of the factories or which brands
they supplied.
Global clothing and shoe
brands, including Adidas, PUMA
and Levi Strauss, have written to
Cambodia’s longtime leader, Hun
Sen, saying the country’s record
on labour and human rights
threatens to bring down sanctions
on the garments industry.
Cambodia’s only confirmed
case of coronavirus, a Chinese
national in the coastal city of
Sihanoukville, had recovered and
left hospital yesterday, the
Ministry of Health said in a
statement.

Taiwan scrambles jets for second day in a row, tensions spike
Reuters
Taipei
T
aiwan’s air force scrambled for
a second day in a row yesterday to
intercept Chi-nese jets that approached
the is-
land claimed by Beijing as its
own, as tensions between the two
took on a potentially dangerous
mili-tary dimension.
Taiwan’s Defence Ministry said
Chinese jets, accompanying H-6
bombers, briefly crossed an unof-
ficial mid-line in the Taiwan Strait
that separates the two, prompting
President Xi makes rare visit
to meet virus patients, medics
AFP
Beijing
C hinese President Xi Jin-ping
donned a face mask and had
his temperature
checked yesterday while visiting
medical workers and patients af-
fected by the deadly coronavirus
that has killed more than 900
people.
The Chinese president, who
has called the virus a “demon”,
made a rare visit to meet frontline
medical staff at a hospital treat-ing
infected patients. Calling the
situation at the virus epicentre
“still very grave”, Xi urged “more
decisive measures” to contain the
spread of the epidemic, said state
broadcaster CCTV.
Xi has largely kept out of the
public eye since the virus out-
break spiralled across the country
from the epicentre in Hubei prov-
ince to infect more than 40,000
people. He appointed Premier Li
Keqiang to lead a working group
tackling the outbreak, and it was
Li who visited ground zero in Wu-
han last month.
Yesterday Xi donned a blue
mask and white surgical gown to
meet doctors at Beijing Ditan
hospital, observe the treatment of
patients and speak via video link
to doctors in Wuhan, state media
said. He then visited a residential
community in central Beijing to
“investigate and guide” efforts to
contain the epidemic, said CCTV.
Video footage showed Xi having
his temperature taken with an in-
frared thermometer, then speak-
ing with community workers and
waving at smiling residents lean-
ing out of their apartment win-
dows.
The outbreak has prompted
unprecedented action by the
Chinese government, includ-ing
locking down entire cities in
Hubei province as well as cutting
transport links nationwide, clos-
ing tourist attractions and telling
hundreds of millions of people to
stay indoors. The sweeping
Virus outbreak transforms daily
life on Hong Kong’s fearful streets
AFP
Hong Kong
H
unkering down in
cramped apartments and raiding
supermarket shelves for food and
masks, Hong Kongers are fretting
about the future as fear of the new
corona-virus sweeps one of the
world’s
most densely populated cities.
Many in the Asian financial
hub of 7mn — where the 2002-03
Sars outbreak killed 299 people
— are weighing up their options
against an unseen danger.
“I feel like I’m in a washing
machine with other pregnant
women trying to figure out what to
do,” says Natalie Belbin, 35, who
is expecting her first child and
frantically considering her
choices. Her baby is due in ear-ly
April, a period some experts warn
could be the peak of the outbreak.
Hong Kong’s already under-
pressure public hospitals have
asked partners and family not to
attend births to reduce pressure on
wards.
Some expectant mothers in
its air force to rush to intercept
and give verbal warnings to leave.
The Chinese aircraft then with-
drew to the western side of the
line, the ministry added, without
identifying the jets.
The H-6s were on a train-ing
mission in the Pacific having
passed through the Bashi Channel
that separates Taiwan from the
Philippines, the ministry added
and shared a picture of a Taiwan
F-16 accompanying one of the H-
6 bombers.
China has been flying what it
calls “island encirclement” drills
on-off since 2016 when Tai-
People in masks are seen at a railway station in Shanghai.
measures turned cities into ghost
towns - but there were some signs
of normality returning yesterday.
Roads in Beijing and Shanghai
had significantly more traffic and
the southern city of Guangzhou
said it would start to resume
normal public transport.
However, for those at work, it
was not an easy balance to strike.
“Of course we’re worried,” said a
25-year-old man surnamed Li in a
Beijing beauty salon that reo-
pened.
“When customers come in, we
first take their temperature, then
use disinfectant and ask them to
wash their hands.”
The Shanghai government
suggested staggered work sched-
ules, avoiding group meals and
keeping at least one metre away
from colleagues. Many were en-
couraged to work from home and
some employers simply delayed
opening for another week. State
media reported that passenger
numbers on the Beijing subway
were down by about half on Mon-
day compared to a normal work
day.
Large shopping malls in the
capital were deserted and many
banks closed. One bank employee
in Shanghai was heading to work
for a half-day, with other workers
due to take over in the afternoon.
her WhatsApp groups are scrap-
ing together cash to go private,
while others have travelled over-
seas or are considering it.
Belbin is leaning towards stay-
ing the course despite knowing her
partner may not be able to be
there. “I’ve accepted that,” she
said. “But my main concern now
is whether the baby will be safe in
the hospital.”
Many of Hong Kong’s inhab-
itants are having similar discus-
sions about life in a city that has
firsthand experience of a deadly
outbreak.
In 2002-03 Severe Acute
Respiratory Syndrome, or Sars,
swept through hospitals and
homes. The epidemic left pro-
found psychological scars and
saddled locals with a deep dis-
trust of authorities in Beijing who
initially covered up the out-break.
With 36 cases of the novel
coronavirus confirmed so far in
Hong Kong, one of whom died,
everyone fears a repeat. At the
most extreme end, fear and dis-
trust of authorities have sparked
extraordinary, and at times un-
necessary, scenes of panic. Su-
wan President Tsai Ing-wen first
took office. Beijing believes Tsai,
who won re-election last month,
wishes to push the island’s formal
independence.
Tsai says Taiwan is an inde-
pendent country called the Re-
public of China, its official name.
On Sunday too, Chinese jets,
including J-11 fighters, flew into the
Bashi Channel then out into the
Pacific before heading back to base
via the Miyako Strait, located
between Japan’s islands of Miyako
and Okinawa, to the northeast of
Taiwan. According to Taiwan’s of-
ficial Central News Agency, the F-
The rest of the day he would
work from home. “It makes our
work more difficult because we
need to access the systems in our
office,” he told AFP.
Schools and universities across
the country remained shut.
The toll has overtaken global
fatalities in the 2002-03 Sars epi-
demic when China drew interna-
tional condemnation for covering
up cases - though it has drawn
praise from the WHO this time.
Chief of the UN health body, Te-
dros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said
there had been some “concern-ing
instances” of cases overseas in
people with no travel history to
China.
“We may only be seeing the tip
of the iceberg,” he tweeted, as a
team of WHO experts departed for
China. In Hong Kong, thou-sands
of people stranded aboard the
World Dream cruise ship for five
days were allowed to disem-bark
Sunday after its 1,800 crew tested
negative for the coronavi-rus.
In China, the eastern city of
Wuxi said anyone trying to enter
from provinces with high num-
bers of cases would be “persuaded
to go back”, while Suzhou, near
the financial hub of Shanghai,
suspended all passenger trans-port
to surrounding counties. “I
permarket shelves in many dis-
tricts have been stripped of hand
sanitisers, toilet paper, rice and
pasta, spurred by false rumours of
shortages that the government has
condemned.
An acute paucity of surgical
masks is real however, with long
queues whenever a consignment
comes in. At one pharmacy last
week a crowd of 10,000 people
turned up, some camping out
overnight.
Kris Choi, a new mother, said
trying to find masks is all her
neighbours talk about these days.
One 70-year-old neighbour was
looking for ways to make her
dwindling stock last longer. “I
wanted to stop her from washing
the surgical masks, but I don’t
have more to share with her as I
have elderly parents and a child to
look after,” Choi told AFP.
Attitudes have hardened com-
pared to the city-wide solidarity
that permeated Hong Kong dur-
ing the Sars outbreak. Police have
clashed with protesters opposed to
arrivals from mainland China or
quarantine facilities in their
neighbourhoods. One planned
quarantine block was even fire-
16s scrambled on Sunday carried
live missiles.
There was no immediate com-
ment from China on yesterday’s
incident. This is only the second
time since 2016 that Taiwan has
said that Chinese jets had crossed
the strait’s median line. Their mil-
itary aircraft tend to keep to their
own sides.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office,
though, urged Taiwan’s ruling
Democratic Progressive Party
(DPP) “not to play with fire”.
The DPP have been “adopting a
stance that increases cross-strait
confrontation, intensifying new
Chinese President Xi Jinping wearing a protective facemask as a health official checks his body
temperature during an inspection of the novel coronavirus pneumonia prevention and control work
at the Anhuali Com-munity in Beijing.
People wearing protective face masks commute on a train in Shanghai yesterday.
just checked and it would take 18
hours for me to go to work by bi-
cycle,” wrote one frustrated com-
muter on China’s Twitter-like so-
cial media site Weibo.
Travel authorities said there
had been 11mn journeys by train,
bombed. Thousands of med-ics,
including frontline doctors and
nurses, went on strike last week
calling for the border to be sealed.
Hong Kong’s unelected pro-
Beijing leaders eventually closed
most land border cross-ings and
began quarantining an-yone
coming from the mainland from
Saturday.
But even before the current
health crisis, anti-government
sentiment was at an all-time high
after seven months of seething and
often violent pro-democracy
protests.
The perceived slow response
- and failure to stockpile enough
masks despite the city’s previ-ous
experience with Sars - has only
added to public anger. And the
outbreak is also changing daily
life in more mundane ways. With
schools closed, children are
cooped up in a city of notoriously
small apartments. Teachers are
trying to roll out online classes,
playgrounds are empty.
University students already
had months of classes disrupted by
the protests. Final-year stu-dents
now fret about whether they’ll
even graduate.
ASIA/AUSTRALASIA
moves for Taiwan-US collusion,
using the opportunity to seek in-
dependence and openly carrying
out dangerous provocations”, it
added. China’s Eastern Theatre
Command described Sunday’s fly-
by of military’s combat ready
patrol as a “completely legitimate
and necessary action aimed at the
current situation in the Taiwan
Strait and safeguarding national
sovereignty”.
The latest fly-bys came as Tai-
wan’s vice-president elect, Wil-
liam Lai, was returning from a
visit to Washington, where he at-
tended the high-profile National
road or plane Saturday -- 84%
down on the same day last year.
About 800 vehicles from “hard-
hit areas” have been denied en-
try into Shanghai over the last
month, according to state news
agency Xinhua. Beyond China,
Heavy rains bring relief and new
dangers to bushfire-hit Australia
Reuters
Melbourne
A James Jackson, a sheep and
four-day downpour across
Australia’s east coast has
brought relief
after months of devastating
bushfires and years of drought,
but also widespread storm
damage and forecasts of more
wild weather to come.
The weekend drenching rep-
resented the biggest sustained
run of rainfall in Sydney and
surrounding areas for 30 years,
dousing some bushfires and
replenishing depleted dams
across New South Wales, the
country’s most populous state.
Some rural areas received
more rain in recent days than
they had in the entirety of the
past year - a startling and swift
turnaround from the bushfires
that have killed 33 people and
ravaged large parts of the east
coast.
“It’s amazing what the smell
of the rain can do to people’s
spirits,” Ben Shields, the mayor
of the inland city of Dubbo, told
Reuters on the phone.
Like many other rural towns,
Dubbo has been beset by dust-
Prayer Breakfast, at which US
President Donald Trump spoke.
China denounced Lai’s trip.
Washington is Taipei’s most im-
portant backer and arms supplier,
despite the absence of official dip-
lomatic ties. China says Taiwan is
the most sensitive issue in its rela-
tions with the United States.
Relations between the Taipei
and Beijing have further soured
recently over the coronavirus
outbreak, with Taiwan accusing
China of preventing the island
from accessing full information
from the World Health Organi-
sation or attending its meetings.
the tourism industry remains in
the doldrums, with several coun-
tries banning arrivals from the
mainland and major airlines sus-
pending flights. Online rental site
Airbnb has suspended all book-
ings in Beijing until February 29.
storms and subjected to water restrictions
on the back of a
three-year drought.
cattle farmer in the drought-hit
Guyra district some 500km north
of Sydney, told Reuters the
region was starting to turn green
again. “This one event won’t
replenish the whole soil moisture
profile. We’ll need a couple of
these, but this is certainly a good
start for those people who got
it,” said Jack-son, who is also
the president of industry body
NSW Farmers. “I have two-year-
old sheep who are seeing green
grass for the first time.”
Bushfire warning signs were
almost swamped by floods in
several areas as the weekend
rainfall cut power to tens of
thousands of homes, caused
travel chaos in Sydney and
closed scores of schools for the
start of the week. Almost 400mm
of rain fell in the Syd-ney area
and surrounding areas. The
Warragamba Dam, which
supplies about four-fifths of
Sydney’s water, jumped from
about 40% to above 60% full in
just over a week, the state’s
water authority said, shoring
Gulf Times
Tuesday, February 11, 2020 9
China should focus on control-ling
the spread of the virus, rather than
threatening Taiwan, Tsai said
yesterday.
Taiwan’s China-policy mak-ing
Mainland Affairs Council said the
island’s 23mn people would not
bow down to threats. “In re-cent
years, Communist aircraft and
warships have frequented the
vicinity of the Taiwan Strait and
attempted to use arms to force
unification,” it said.
“Various provocative acts have
seriously damaged the status quo
of the Taiwan Strait and have in-
creased regional tensions.”
Japan cruise
ship now has 135
coronavirus
infections: govt
Another 65 people aboard the
quarantined Diamond Princess cruise
ship moored off Japan have been
diagnosed with novel coronavirus, the
health ministry said yesterday,
bringing the total number of known
infections to 135. The Diamond
Princess has been in quarantine
since arriving off the Japanese coast
early last week after
the virus was detected in a former
passenger who got off the ship
last month in Hong Kong.
“Test results from 103 people have
now come out and 65 of them are
confirmed positive for the new
coronavirus,” the ministry said in a
statement. Four of the 65 patients
had been sent to hospital, a min-istry
official told reporters, adding that
more test results were pending. The
official declined to comment on the
nationality of those infected, but said
that the ministry “aims to report them
by the end of tomor-row”. Authorities
have continued to test people for the
virus where “necessary”, the
statement added. The cruise ship
operator said 66 people had been
newly diagnosed,
mostly Japanese, but there were also
Australians, Filipinos, a Cana-dian, a
Briton and a Ukrainian. There was no
immediate clarity on the discrepancy
between that figure and the health
ministry. When the boat arrived off
Japan, authorities initially tested
nearly 300 people for the virus of the
3,711 on board, gradually evacuating
dozens who were infected to local
medical facili-ties. The number of
passengers and crew on board has
since declined to 3,622. In recent
days testing has expanded to those
with new symp-toms or who had
close contact with other infected
passengers or crew, and several
more cases were reported over the
weekend. Those who remain on the
ship have been asked to stay inside
their cabins and allowed only briefly
onto open decks. They have been
asked to wear masks and keep a
distance from each other when
outside, and given thermometers to
regularly monitor their temperatures.
The ship is expected to stay
in quarantine until February
19 - 14 days after the
isolation period began.
The quarantine has made life on
board the ship difficult, particularly for
those in windowless interior cabins
and a significant number of
passengers who require medication
for various chronic conditions.
up water supplies for the city of 5mn. The
NSW Rural Fire Serv-
ice’s Sydney headquarters has
been reconfigured to respond to
floods and storm damage
because of the rapid shift in the
weather threat.
Parts of northern and in-land
NSW, along with south-ern
Queensland, have been in
drought since 2016, severely
reducing river and dam levels
while also creating the tinder-dry
conditions that have fuelled this
season’s deadly bushfires.
The weekend rain extin-
guished some of the worst
bushfires in NSW, including the
Gospers Mountain ‘megafire’ in
the Blue Mountains and the
Currawon blaze on the south
coast. Each burned for months,
together razing more than 1mn
hectares (2.5mn acres) of bush-
land and destroying hundreds of
homes.
In contrast, flood evacua-tion
warnings have now been ordered
for parts of the Con-jola region,
authorities said, where deadly
fires razed dozens of homes on
New Year’s Eve. Thunderstorms
are forecast for NSW and
neighbouring Victo-ria state in
coming days.
 Gulf Times
10 Tuesday, February 11, 2020
BRITAIN/IRELAND
Govt ‘looking into’ PM’s Scotland-N Ireland bridge plan
Guardian News and
Media London
inisters are active-
ly looking into Boris
MJohnson’s idea of a
road bridge linking Scotland
and Northern Ireland, Downing
Street has said, rejecting scepti-
cism from engineers and criticism
of the prime minister’s mixed
Checks on
EU-bound
goods is
inevitable,
says Gove
London
Guardian News and Media
most everybody” who exports to
ichael Gove has told
businesses that they
Mneed to prepare for
“significant change” with “in-
evitable” border checks for “al-
the EU from next year.
In the first official confirma-
tion that the government is going
to impose trade barriers post-
Brexit, he warned there would be
checks on food and goods of ani-
mal origin, plus customs declara-
tions and mandatory safety and
security certificates required for
all British exports.
“You have to accept we will
need some friction. We will min-
imise it but it is an inevitability of
our departure,” he told delegates
at a Cabinet Office event held in
central London yesterday, enti-
tled Preparing Our Border for the
Future Relationship.
“I don’t underestimate the
fact that this is a significant
change, but we have time now to
make that change.”
Gove, who as chancellor of
the Duchy of Lancaster is de
facto deputy prime minister, also
warned delegates it could take five
years to get a smart border involv-
ing online processes up and run-
ning and said businesses had to be
ready for the change next January,
whatever the outcome of the next
phase of Brexit negotiations.
“In questions and answers his
officials talked of an ‘operational
border’ from the beginning of
2021 which they said was laying
the foundation for best borders
in 2025,” said one delegate, who
reported that Gove had warned
the UK must be ready for the
completion of Brexit on January
1 next year when the transition
period ends.
Echoing Boris Johnson’s com-
ments in a speech last week,
Gove spoke of pursuing a Canada
or Australian-type deal, which
EU trade commissioner Phil
Hogan has said was “code for no
deal” as the bloc does not have a
deal with Australia.
Fish fight clouds
Sturgeon’s EU visit
AFP
Brussels
S cottish leader Nicola Sturgeon
visited EU of-ficials in Brussels yester-
day, her usual warm welcome
partly overshadowed by the
upcoming dispute on fishing
quotas — and a Brexit Night
political stunt.
Scotland left the European
Union on January 31 with the
rest of the United Kingdom, and
the first minister was vis-iting to
underline it wants to come back
one day to rejoin as an
independent state.
There is sympathy for Scot-
land in Brussels — MEPs sang
Auld Lang Syne at the last par-
liamentary session attended by
British colleagues, and some
here have promised to “leave a
light on” for its return.
But in practical and legal
terms, future cross-Channel
record on delivering bridges.
“Government officials are car-
rying out work in relation to the
idea of a bridge linking the GB
mainland to Northern Ireland,”
Johnson’s spokesman said, add-
ing this was being done by a range
of officials reporting to No 10.
“There is a proper piece of
work being carried out into the
idea,” the spokesman said. “It is
reporting into No 10, but obvi-
Sinn Fein party leader Mary Lou McDonald throws oranges in the air as she stops at a fruit trader’s
stall during a walkabout in the centre of Dublin, Ireland, yesterday.
relations will be negotiated by
the EU’s Michel Barnier and
pro-Brexit UK Prime Minister
ously we will take advice from
wherever it is needed.” He gave
no details on when the work
would be completed.
Johnson, who as London mayor
spearheaded the doomed garden
bridge project which cost more
than £50mn without work even
beginning, first raised the idea of
the 20-mile-plus bridge to Larne
in Northern Ireland in 2018.
He called again for the link
Boris Johnson’s government.
Sturgeon said Scotland
would try to exert political in-
fluence on the process, and that
she favours close alignment be-
tween UK and EU rules to allow
trade to continue seamlessly.
But the very first item on the
trade agenda could show up
contradictions in the Scottish
stance.
While most Scottish voters
backed the “Remain” campaign
in the 2016 Brexit referendum,
Scotland’s fishermen are just as
keen as their English neigh-bours
to escape Brussels’ rules.
Johnson has vowed to “take
back control” of UK waters and
to negotiate access for EU ves-
sels as an “independent coastal
state” — presumably mean-ing
bigger catches for Scottish boats.
But France, Denmark, the
Netherlands and some other EU
members have urged Barni-er
not to proceed with trade talks
during the Conservative leader-
ship campaign, despite engineers
expressing scepticism at the idea
of building such a link over wa-
ters more than 300 metres deep in
places, parts of which were used
by the ministry of defence to
dump more than 1mn tonnes of
obsolete munitions.
The plan has been seen as a
concession to Northern Irish
unionists, especially given their
unless London continues to give their fleets access and “upholds” the
current system.
concern at new customs checks
between Northern Ireland and the
rest of the UK under John-son’s
Brexit plan.
Asked about the bridge by the
DUP MP Ian Paisley in the Com-
mons in December, Johnson called it
“a very interesting idea”, adding: “I
advise him to watch this space and,
indeed, to watch the space be-tween
the islands, because what he has said
has not fallen on deaf ears.”
Sinn Fein finds
its voice in
Ireland after
election gains
AFP
Dublin
inn Fein yesterday stood on
the threshold of a potential
Srole in Ireland’s govern-
ment after winning the popu-
lar vote in a weekend election,
a result shattering the political
landscape.
The result from Saturday’s
ballot broke the stranglehold of
two-party politics in Ireland,
opening up a possible role for a
nationalist party once shunned
because of its links to IRA para-
militaries.
Former leader Gerry Adams
and other party representa-
tives were even banned from the
airwaves in the UK as violence
raged over British rule in North-
ern Ireland over three decades to
1998.
But with two decades of peace
and a new leader under Mary
Lou McDonald, Sinn Fein’s left-
wing policies on tackling crises
in housing and health found fa-
vour with voters.
McDonald said the two main
parties — Fine Gael and Fianna
Fail — were “in a state of denial”
and had not listened to the voice
of the people.
On a walkabout in Dublin, she
said she had begun talks with
smaller left-wing parties to try
to “test” whether it was possible
to form a government without
the two main centre-right par-
ties.
“I may well be the next taio-
seach (prime minister,” she said
before chatting to supporters
and market traders.
“Sinn Fein won the election,
we won the popular vote... I’m
very clear that people who came
Johnson has long been an en-
thusiast for major infrastructure
projects, but his visions only some-
times become reality, and those
which do have had a tendency to
not fully deliver on his promises.
As London mayor, Johnson
pushed repeatedly for the garden
bridge across the Thames, de-
spite repeated warnings about its
economic unfeasibility and the
complication of securing plan-
Irish Prime Minister Leo
Varadkar reacts at a count
centre during Ireland’s national
election, in Citywest, near
Dublin, Ireland.
out and voted for Sinn Fein have
voted for Sinn Fein to be in gov-
ernment,” she added.
Prime Minister and Fine Gael
leader Leo Varadkar acknowl-
edged the shift to “a three-party
system” and said talks between
the parties could be protracted
and difficult.
After ballots in all 39 constit-
uencies were tallied on Sunday,
Sinn Fein received 24.5% of first
preferences in Ireland’s single
transferable vote system.
That outstripped the opposi-
tion Fianna Fail party on 22.2%
and Fine Gael on 20.9%.
“The Irish political system has
to react to it and probably ac-
cept that Sinn Fein will be part
of the next government,” Eoin
O’Malley, associate professor at
Dublin City University, said.
At 1600GMT yesterday, state
broadcaster RTE reported 123 of
Leadsom faces axe
after ‘dig at premier’
Daily Mail
London
On the one hand, Sturgeon
wants Britain to align with EU
rules to ensure continued mar-ket
access — and on the other her
government has also called for
reform of EU fisheries policy.
In Brussels, she said this was a
dilemma for Johnson to sort out.
Sturgeon was also quizzed
about a stunt that her Scottish
National party carried out on
Brexit night, when the words
Scotland and Europe and a red
love heart were projected onto the
wall of EU headquarters.
At the time, Sturgeon tweeted a
photo of the projec-tion, noting
that a single office window was
still illuminated. “The EU
Commission build-ing in Brussels
tonight (and if you look carefully
you’ll see that they do appear to
have left a light on for us!)” she
wrote. Some took this as a
suggestion that the commission
supports Scotland’s fight against
Brexit, but an EU spokeswoman
ning consents, wasting £53.5mn
of funds, £43mn of it taxpayers’
money.
An even more ambitious idea
for a new London airport in the
Thames estuary came to noth-ing.
As mayor, Johnson did de-liver a
£60mn cable car across the
Thames in east London, but a
supposed key transport link later
turned out to have just four
regular users.
the 159 seats in the Dail — Ire-
land’s lower house of parliament
— were filled.
Sinn Fein, whose flagship pol-
icy is uniting the republic with
Northern Ireland, had 37, with
Fianna Fail on 26 and Fine Gael
on 24. Turnout was 62.9%.
But because it ran just 42 can-
didates, even a strong perform-
ance in the popular vote may not
result in it becoming the biggest
party in the next parliament.
Fine Gael and Fianna Fail have
both ruled out any deal with
Sinn Fein because of its past as-
sociations under Adams, who
has long denied allegations he
had a leadership role in the IRA.
“The Troubles” saw the IRA
wage a campaign against un-
ionist counterparts and British
security forces over UK-rule in
Northern Ireland that saw more
than 3,000 killed on all sides.
McDonald’s policies on tack-
ling wealth inequality and hous-
ing shortages appear to have
appealed to younger voters in
the EU member state’s 3.3mn-
strong electorate.
Some 32% of voters aged 18-
24 and 25-34 backed the party,
according to an exit poll on Sat-
urday.
Dublin coffee shop manager
Darren Hart said it was time for
another party to try after dec-
ades of two-party dominance.
“Whether they have a troubled
past as a party or not, you know
they deserve a shot same as eve-
rybody else, so why not?” he said.
Fiach Kelly, deputy political
editor of The Irish Times, called
McDonald “the star of the cam-
paign” and said her attacks on
Fianna Fail’s support for Fine
Gael’s minority government
were “brutally effective”.
ever the motive, it came across as
lobbying in public to keep her job,
which has not endeared her
told reporters yesterday the
projec-tion was unauthorised.

Scotland’s First Minister, and
leader of the Scottish National
Party (SNP), Nicola Sturgeon,
delivers a speech on
Scotland’s European future
after Brexit, in Brussels
yesterday.
A ndrea Leadsom is facing the
axe in this week’s re-shuffle after
“lecturing” Boris Johnson on the
dangers of
a male-dominated Cabinet. The
business secretary,
whose position was already un-
der threat, sparked irritation in
Downing Street by insisting in a
newspaper article that gender
equality should be “the absolute
norm”.
Leadsom wrote about the
dangers of a “male-dominated
environment” and said diver-sity
should be the “watchword...
not for its own sake, but because
of the excellence that a diverse
range of views bring to decision-
making.”
Although the Daily Telegraph
article was ostensibly about the
need for more women in com-
pany boardrooms, it was seen in
No10 as a thinly-veiled warn-ing
to the prime minister not to
embark on a clear-out of senior
women.
One source said: “Leadsom’s
article was ill-advised. What-
to anyone.”
Another insider said: “Lec-
turing the prime minister about
sexism is not the way to keep
your job.”
Aides to Johnson have urged
him to sack a string of senior
women this week, including
Environment Secretary Theresa
Villiers, Trade Secretary Liz
Truss, Work and Pensions Sec-
retary Therese Coffey, Hous-ing
Minister Esther McVey and
Leadsom.
With Culture Secretary Bar-
oness Morgan already stepping
down, Johnson faces a challenge
to maintain the number of senior
women at his top table. No 10 is
acutely sensitive to allegations of
sexism.
Allies of Johnson acknowl-
edge that the number of female
cabinet ministers could fall this
week. But they say it is hard to
replace women at the top level
because of the failure of Theresa
May to promote more females to
mid-ranking jobs and the
departure of senior figures over
Brexit.

Judge rejects bid to stop Home Office deportation flight
Guardian News and
Media London
A high court judge has re-fused an
emergency ap-plication to halt a
charter flight scheduled to leave the
UK
today with about 50 Jamaican-
born people onboard.
Justice Mostyn refused an ap-
plication from Duncan Lewis so-
licitors on behalf of 13 Jamaican-
born men due to be put on the
flight leaving the UK at 6.30am.
Dunn family
criticise Raab
after Sacoolas
CIA revelation
Guardian News and
Media London
F oreign Secretary Dominic Raab
has failed in his “duty of
candour” by not disclos-
ing to the family of Harry Dunn
that Anne Sacoolas, the American
woman charged with causing the
19-year-old’s death by dangerous
driving, had previously been a
CIA agent, the spokesman for the
fam-ily, Radd Seiger, said.
He also disclosed that the con-
stituency MP and Business Secre-
tary Andrea Leadsom had not
been told Sacoolas’s status by
cabinet colleagues and was at a
loss for words when informed by
the fam-ily at the weekend.
Sacoolas has been charged by
the UK Crown Prosecution Serv-
ice with causing Dunn’s death by
dangerous driving in August, but
soon after the accident she was
flown out of the country along
with her husband and family. A
UK government request to
extradite her has been rejected by
the US state department.
It was revealed by the Mail on
Sunday at the weekend that Sa-
coolas had previously been a high-
ranking CIA officer, although at the
time of the accident, it was her
husband, also a CIA officer, that was
listed as a diplomat conferring
immunity on him, and his family.
Sacoolas and her husband were
both living at RAF Croughton
when the accident occurred, and
the Foreign Office said that as a
spouse of a CIA officer at the
base, she too enjoyed immunity.
The revelation that she had also
been a CIA officer, albeit not serv-
ing, helps explain the US govern-
ment’s refusal to grant the UK
government request for her to be
extradited to stand trial.
The Foreign Office has not for-
mally confirmed that Sacoolas
worked for the CIA, and it is likely
British officials would regard it as
improper to disclose the identity of
CIA agents to members of the
Charity boss sentenced
for pension fund theft
Guardian News and
Media London
T he former head of a charity has
been jailed for five years after
he admitted defraud-
ing a pension scheme for work-ers
with disabilities and using the
money to buy houses in England
and France.
Patrick McLarry took more than
£250,000 from the pension
scheme of Yateley Industries for
the Disabled and used it to buy
homes for himself and his wife
and pay off a debt for a pub lease.
The charity was so badly affect-
ed by the sophisticated fraud that
it came within days of closing and
service users and staff have been
left traumatised.
Sentencing him at Winchester
crown court, the judge, Andrew
Barnett, described the fraud as “an
appalling dishonesty and breach of
trust”. He said: “You quite de-
liberately and in a very calculating
way milked the fund of a consider-
able amount of money which was
The lawyers argued that the
Home Secretary, Priti Patel, had
acted unlawfully by forc-ing the
men on to the plane, had breached
human rights legisla-tion and
denied them adequate access to
legal advice.
Their application to the high
court to halt the flight added that
the Home Office’s announce-
ments in the media and in par-
liament about the charter flight
would make the men being de-
ported a “public spectacle” if they
were returned to Jamaica,
British public even in this highly
sensitive and unusual situation.
Seiger said the family had di-
rectly asked Raab whether there
was anything in Sacoolas’s back-
ground that could explain the US
government determination to
protect her, and according to
Seiger, he simply said she was a
former state department employ-
ee, a form of words that masked
the motive for the US government
determination to keep her out of
the courts.
Harry Dunn’s mother, Charlotte
Charles, sent Radio 5 Live a mes-
sage in which she said: “My life is
in pieces. Anne Sacoolas has de-
stroyed my life as I knew it while
she is carrying on with hers. It is
deeply deeply upsetting and to-
tally wrong.”
Seiger said: “The news had
floored the family since it was a
question they had been asking of
the Foreign Office directly. The
parents have looked Raab directly
in the eye and asked him across a
table: is she more than a spouse? I
am afraid he has failed in his duty
of candour.”
Seiger said Raab merely con-
firmed she had worked for the state
department, but he added “work-ing
for the state department and being a
CIA officer are in my mind two
completely different things, and
totally germane to the issue.
“For the foreign secretary not
to tell us what the true position is,
and to hear it from a newspaper is
just jaw-dropping because you are
trying to build a relationship with
the government. But relationships
are built on trust and trust is built
on truth. If the parents ask him a
question he is duty bound to an-
swer it openly and honestly.”
He accused the government of
trying to suppress information,
and so leave the anguished family
for months in the dark.
Seiger added: “The ministry of
defence is clearly not talking to the
Foreign Office and the Foreign Of-
fice is not talking to our constitu-
ency MP Andrea Leadsom.”
spent for your own needs and
your wife’s.”
Linda Matthews, the chief exec-
utive of the charity, said in a state-
ment read to court that the pension
scheme faced “significant difficul-
ties” because of the stolen funds and
had led to “immense stress and
anxiety” for staff and users.
Alex Stein, prosecuting, said
McLarry carried out the fraud by
setting up a new company to man-
age the pension fund, of which he
was one of only two directors and
in the habit of authorising
decisions. He also set up a third
company, which used the cover of
trading in antiques to transfer the
stolen money to France in order to
buy two properties abroad before
creating a fictional loss to explain
the missing funds.
Stein said outside court: “This
was a complex, sophisticated fraud
undertaken over a number of years
against vulnerable victims. McLar-
ry held himself out as a pillar of the
community, a legitimate business-
man and a man with an MBE.
“It took a persistent and tena-
and place them at risk.
The grounds for the refusal have
not yet been made public. Duncan
Lewis was making fur-ther
emergency legal applica-tions to
try to halt the flight.
Some individuals due to fly
have won the right to stay in the
UK for the time being, after a
separate application to the up-per
tribunal of the immigration
chamber. They include Akeem
Finlay, whose solicitor Naga
Kandiah welcomed the decision,
but condemned the Home Of-
Flooded street
Geese take advantage of the conditions as floodwater fills the streets of Hebden Bridge, northern England, as Storm Ciara swept over the country.
Coronavirus ‘imminent
threat’ as cases rise: govt
Reuters
London
T
he government yester-day
said the number of confirmed
coronavirus cases had doubled to
eight as the government declared the
virus a serious and imminent threat,
giving it additional powers to isolate
those suspected of being
infected.
Alarm over the coronavirus that
emerged in Wuhan, China, in
December is driven by its rap-id
spread and the fact that infec-
cious investigation to uncover one
of the most substantial pension
frauds prosecuted to date.”
Nicola Parish, the executive di-
rector of The Pensions Regulator,
which brought the prosecution,
said: “McLarry tried every trick
in the book to hide his actions and
squander the pension pots of those
he was responsible for but we were
able to uncover the truth and bring
him to justice.
“We will now work to seize
assets from McLarry so that as
much of the money as possible is
returned to its rightful owners,
who will rightly rely on it to de-
liver their pensions in retirement.”
McLarry, from Bere Alston village
near Plymouth in Devon, was also
previously convicted of failing to
disclose his bank statements to the
regulator’s investigators.
McLarry’s wife, Sandra, 59, was
initially charged with four counts
of money laundering but at an
earlier hearing the prosecution
said it would not proceed with the
charges and offered no evidence.
She was found not guilty.
fice’s plan to deport so many men
who would leave partners and
children behind. “It seems there is
an inherent disregard for the
integrity of the family unit and the
welfare of children,” he said.
A second judicial review was
lodged on behalf of the char-ity
Detention Action. It follows the
launch of the charity’s legal action
against the Home Office last
week, arguing that because the
phone network for O2 has been
down in the area imme-diately
next to Colnbrook and
tious disease experts cannot yet
know how deadly or contagious it
is.
It has killed more than 900
people, most of them in China,
and has spread to at least 27
countries and territories.
The two deaths outside main-
land China were in Hong Kong
and the Philippines.
The new cases in England were
all known contacts of a previ-
ously confirmed British patient in
France, and were identified by
public health officials working to
trace possible cases.
“We now know the new cases
Yvette Cooper: disappointed with Jenkyns
Harmondsworth immigration
removal centres near Heathrow,
detainees have been denied the
right to have five working days to
contact and instruct lawyers af-ter
they received notice from the
Home Office that they would be
removed on today’s flight.
Rishi Sunak, the chief secretary to
the Treasury, said those being
forcibly removed had committed
“very serious offences”. But 13 de-
tainees due to board today’s flight
described a range of less serious
offences they had committed.
announced today are all closely
linked to one another,” Public
Health England medical direc-tor
Yvonne Doyle said in a state-
ment. “Two of these new cases
are healthcare workers.”
“As soon as they were identi-
fied, we advised them to self-
isolate in order to keep patient
contact to a minimum. We are
now working urgently to identify
all patients and other healthcare
workers who may have come into
close contact, and at this stage we
believe this to be a relatively
small number.”
The BBC reported a doctors’
BRITAIN
More than 150 cross-party MPs
have called on Boris Johnson to
halt the flight, citing a range of
concerns.
Toufique Hossain, director of
public law at Duncan Lewis so-
licitors, said many of the people
on the flight had lived in the UK
for most of their lives and that
there needed to be a proper over-
view and consideration given to
how the Home Office approached
such individuals.
Bella Sankey, director of De-
tention Action, said: “Our infor-
practice in Brighton had been
temporarily closed after a staff
member tested positive for coro-
navirus.
Health Minister Matt Han-cock
declared the virus “a seri-ous and
imminent threat to pub-lic health”
to give doctors more powers to
isolate people.
“We are taking a belt and
braces approach to all necessary
precautions to ensure public
safety,” he said. “Clinical advice
has not changed about the risk to
the public, which remains mod-
erate.”
Arrowe Park Hospital, near
Patel apologises to
Cooper as man jailed
Guardian News and
Media London
P riti Patel has formally
apologised in parliament to
Yvette Cooper after a
Conservative activist was jailed
for sending messages threaten-ing
to pay “crackheads” £100 to beat
up the Labour MP.
Cooper used Home Office
questions in the Commons to seek
an apology after Joshua Spencer
was jailed last week for nine
weeks, and to ask why Tory MP
Andrea Jenkyns gave Spencer a
character reference at the court
case.
The 25-year-old was arrested in
April last year and stood for the
Conservatives in May’s local
elections.
He attended Cooper’s general
election count in December as a
representative of the Conserva-
tive party despite being under
investigation by West Yorkshire
police at the time.
Cooper told the home sec-
retary that she had received an
apology from the local Con-
servative association. She said:
Gulf Times
Tuesday, February 11, 2020 11
mation indicates that most have
been convicted of drugs-related
offences – often only once – and
several have been groomed into
county lines operations.”
The Home Office has not re-
sponded to recommendations from
the former prisons om-budsman
Stephen Shaw or to a leak from the
Windrush Lessons Learned review,
which suggested that foreign
national offenders who had lived
in the UK for most of their lives
should not face au-tomatic
deportation.
Liverpool, and Kents Hill Park, in
Milton Keynes, some 50 miles
north of London, have been des-
ignated as isolation facilities.
British nationals who have
been flown back from Wuhan are
being quarantined for 14 days
while travellers returning home
from other Asian countries have
been told to self-isolate if they
showed any of the coronavirus
symptoms.
The new cases in Britain are
linked to a Briton who had re-
turned from Singapore and stayed
at a French ski resort be-tween
January 24 and 28.
“But it is a concern to me that
there been, thus far, no similar
condemnation or sense of regret
expressed by the national party. In
a letter to me from the nation-al
chair in response to this issue, the
strongest it said was: ‘Intim-
idating behaviour has no place in
our politics.’”
Cooper said she was disap-
pointed that Jenkyns had chosen to
give a very positive charac-ter
reference for this individual,
without contacting her first.
Patel said: “Let me say this
right now, on the floor of the
house, that that is categorically
unacceptable and wrong. There is
no place for intimidation at all in
public life. In terms of the national
party response, she can take it
from me, right now, that I am
hugely apologetic for what she has
had to put up with.”
On the character reference by
Jenkyns, Patel said: “My under-
standing is that her comments
were in support very much of
giving the individual some help
and support that that individ-ual
needed in terms of access to
mental health.”
 Gulf Times
12 Tuesday, February 11, 2020
EUROPE
Merkel’s party in crisis
after ‘successor’ quits
Reuters
Berlin
T he woman expected to become
Germany’s next chancellor said
yesterday that she would not run for the
top job, succumbing to a scan-dal
involving the far-right and
blowing wide open the race to
succeed Angela Merkel.
Annegret Kramp-Karrenbau-er
is a protégé of the chancellor and
leader of their conservative
Christian Democrats (CDU), but
has faced growing doubts over
her suitability to replace Mer-kel,
who has led Germany for 15
years but plans to stand down at
the next federal election, due in
autumn 2021.
Last week, Kramp-Karren-
bauer’s inability to impose disci-
pline on the CDU in the eastern
state of Thuringia dealt a fresh
blow to her credibility – already
eroded by a series of gaffes.
The regional CDU branch de-
fied her by backing a local leader
helped into office by the anti-
immigrant Alternative for Ger-
many (AfD), thereby shattering
Storm Ciara wreaks havoc across Europe
AFP
Frankfurt am Main
ierce winds and heavy
rains claimed at least six
Flives across northern Eu-
rope yesterday as Storm Ci-
ara disrupted travel, grounded
flights, flooded roads and left
vast areas without power.
In one of the region’s most vi-
olent storms for years, one man
died and another was reported
missing in southern Sweden
when their boat capsized.
In the Czech Republic, one
man died when his car went off
the road trying to avoid a fallen
tree.
Several other people were also
injured in the country as winds
blew up to 180kph, leaving
100,000 people without power,
even toppling over a truck.
In Slovenia, a 52-year-old
man died yesterday when a tree
fell on his car as he travelled in
the northeast of the country.
In southern Poland, a
40-year-old woman and her
young daughter were killed by
roofing torn away by the storm-
force winds.
Police in London said that a
man was killed in his car on Sun-
day when a tree fell on to a mo-
torway southwest of the capital.
In the west of Germany, fall-
ing trees seriously injured three
people: two women in Sar-
rebruck – one of whom was
in a critical condition – and a
16-year-old boy in Paderborn.
The storm has swept across
the region since the weekend.
It caused extensive flooding in
England, cut power to 130,000
homes in northern France and
played havoc with air, rail and
Greece speeds up creation of migrant
detention centres to ease tension
Reuters
Athens
G reece plans to accelerate the
creation of detention centres on its
outlying islands in the Aegean Sea
after a backlash against overcrowded
camps by some migrants and
nearby residents.
Authorities said yesterday that
they would proceed with the
purchase of land on the is-lands
of Lesbos, Chios and Sa-mos,
and press ahead with plans to
create holding facilities on state-
owned land on Kos and Leros.
Thousands of migrants are
waiting on the islands for their
asylum applications to be proc-
essed, most of them in over-
Kramp-Karrenbauer with Merkel prior to a party meeting in
Berlin yesterday.
a post-war consensus among Merkel’s conservatives and the established
parties on shunning Social Democrats (SPD).
the far-right.
“I will not run for chancel-
lor,” Kramp-Karrenbauer, 57, mark over Germany’s future di-
told a news conference in Berlin,
adding that she had made her
decision “with the intention of
strengthening the CDU”.
“In my view, this has no im-
pact on the stability of the grand
coalition,” she said, referring to
the national coalition between
road travel in several countries.
The storm also cut power to
35,000 households in northern
Austria yesterday.
It forced more than 700 flights
in four German cities – Frank-
furt, Munich, Dusseldorf and
Cologne – to be cancelled.
In the Netherlands, around
220 flights were cancelled yes-
terday morning at Amsterdam’s
Schiphol airport – Europe’s
third-busiest – most destined
for other European cities.
Around 240 flights never took
off on Sunday.
And having closed one of the
big storm surge barriers as the
tempest approached on Sunday
night, Dutch police reported
more than 600km of traffic jams
yesterday.
Tiny Luxembourg cancelled
school classes, and in the Bel-
gian capital Brussels, morning
rush-hour traffic ground to a
halt due to street closures and
flooding.
In the German city of Frank-
furt, the winds toppled a crane
on to the roof of the cathedral,
causing extensive damage.
In France, 90,000 homes of
the 130,000 that suffered power
outages a day earlier were still
without power.
Britain’s newspapers and the
country’s Met Office described
Ciara as “the storm of the cen-
tury” in terms of the scale of the
destruction it wrought.
And Met Office meteorolo-
gist Alex Burkill warned: “While
Storm Ciara is clearing away,
that doesn’t mean we’re enter-
ing a quieter period of weather.”
Much of the initial damage
and disruption was along north-
ern Europe’s coastline.
Channel ferry services be-
crowded camps known as re-
ception centres.
Migrants on Lesbos protested
last week against poor living
conditions and residents of the
island took to the streets de-
manding the reception facilities
close.
“The government has de-cided
to close today’s anarchic facilities
and create controlled, closed
facilities,” government
spokesman Stelios Petsas said in
a statement.
Hundreds of thousands of
people crossed into Europe from
Turkey via Greece in 2015 and
2016 before a deal brokered by
the European Union limited the
flow.
There has been a resurgence in
arrivals since around Sep-tember
2019.
Her decision not to run for
chancellor leaves a big question
rection just as its economy, the
world’s fourth largest, flirts with
recession and as the EU strug-
gles to define itself after Brexit.
Merkel has loomed large on
the global stage since 2005,
helping to steer the EU through
the eurozone crisis and opening
The cathedral in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany, is damaged by a construction crane which collapsed during the passage of storm
Ciara.
tween the southern English port
of Dover and Calais in north-
ern France resumed yesterday
morning after being halted the
day before.
A whole Belgian offshore wind
farm was shut down as powerful
gusts caused the turbines to stop
Last year, more than 74,000
refugees and migrants arrived in
Greece, according to the United
Nations refugees agency UN-
HCR.
Most of them arrived on
Lesbos, Chios and Samos af-ter
crossing from Turkey and about
40,000 are now in effect trapped
on the islands.
Aid groups have described
living conditions in some of the
island camps as appalling.
“We need 20,000 people to be
transferred from the islands to the
mainland in the next weeks and
months to come,” Philippe
Leclerc, UNCHR’s head in
Greece, told journalists after a
meeting with Greek Migration
Minister Notis Mitarachi.
Greece’s conservative New
Democracy government, elect-
Germany’s doors to migrants
fleeing wars in the Middle East in
2015 – a move that still divides
the bloc and her country.
Merkel did not seek re-elec-
tion to the party chair in 2018,
allowing Kramp-Karrenbauer to
take the party helm with a view to
boosting her profile prior to
running for the chancellery.
But doubts about her leader-
ship credentials persisted.
“The separation of chancel-
lorship and party chair, the open
question around who will be-
come the candidate for chancel-
lor weakens the CDU at a time ...
(when) Germany needs a strong
CDU,” Kramp-Karrenbauer told
yesterday’s news conference.
Sigmar Gabriel, a former
leader of the Social Democrats
(SPD), said that he now expect-
ed a snap election, but analysts
played down that risk.
“This is largely a CDU internal
issue,” said Holger Schmieding at
Berenbank, putting the risk of the
SPD quitting the coalition early at
no more than 25%.
The far-right scandal in
Thuringia proved to be the last
straw for Kramp-Karrenbauer,
automatically for safety reasons. lines by morning yesterday.
And the Oresund Bridge link-
ing Denmark and Sweden was
closed for several hours.
The storm had also forced the
closure of large parts of the Ger- Belgium, England, France, Ger-
man rail network, but Deutsche many and the Netherlands.
Bahn had reopened some rail
ed last July, has taken a tougher
stance towards migration than
Syriza, the leftist party that led
the previous government.
The government has intro-
duced new regulations which it
says will simplify the asylum
process and launched a ten-der
for a floating fence in the Aegean
which it hopes will deter migrants
arriving from Turkey on rafts.
The new detention centres
would house new arrivals until
their asylum processes were un-
derway, as well as others show-
ing “delinquent behaviour” or not
entitled to asylum, Petsas said.
Entering and leaving the fa-
cilities would be strictly regu-
lated and they would be closed at
night, he added.
whose ratings plummeted last
year after a number of public
gaffes, including poking fun at
trans-gender people in a light-
hearted carnival speech.
Kramp-Karrenbauer said she
would remain party chair until
another candidate for chancellor
has been found. She will remain
defence minister.
But erstwhile rivals for the
party leadership – Friedrich Merz
and Jens Spahn – have been
circling with intent, while Armin
Laschet, premier of Ger-many’s
largest state and a Mer-kel ally,
did not rule out running.
Businessman Merz has quit
asset manager Blackrock to fo-
cus more on politics and Spahn,
now health minister, has cut a
dynamic figure during the coro-
navirus crisis, jetting to Paris and
London to coordinate the
European and G7 response.
“Now’s the right time to pro-
vide impetus via economic and
financial policy measures,” Merz
said yesterday in a tweet.
Being out of political office has
let Merz speak his mind, keeping
him in the news.
A flash Forsa poll found 27%
passengers flying British Air-
The weather also played havoc
with Europe’s sporting calen-
dar, causing the cancellation of
top-flight football fixtures in
But there was an upside for
BBC to make Thunberg series
AFP
London
he BBC said yesterday that
it will make a new docu-
Tmentary series with the
teenage Swedish environmental
activist Greta Thunberg, chart-
ing her life and exploring the sci-
ence behind climate change.
“The series will follow Greta’s
international crusade, which
takes her to the front line of cli-
mate change in some of the most
extraordinary places on Earth, as
she explores what actions could
be taken to limit climate change
and the damage it causes,” BBC
Studios said.
The series will see the 17-year-
old meet scientists, politicians
and business moguls, challeng-
ing them to make changes, the
broadcaster’s commercial con-
tent arm added.
“The films will also chart her
of the public thought him the best
candidate, followed by Las-chet
on 18%.
Spahn and Markus Soeder,
leader of the CDU’s Bavarian
sister party, the Christian Social
Union (CSU), both said they re-
spected Kramp-Karrenbauer’s
decision and stressed that the
cohesion of their conservative
alliance was now essential.
Laschet, who as premier of
North Rhine-Westfalia, a state of
17mn people, has executive
experience that other candi-dates
lack, was more forthcom-ing than
in the past.
Asked as he left a news con-
ference if he was trying to avoid
being asked about the Chancel-
lorship, he replied tersely: “I’m
not afraid of anything.”
Alexander Gauland, honorary
chairman of the far-right AfD,
said the CDU’s efforts under
Kramp-Karrenbauer to ostra-cise
his party had failed and that such
a stance was unrealistic in the
long-term.
“Its party base has long since
recognised this and has thrown
the CDU, with its policy of ex-
clusion, into chaos,” he added.
ways to London from New York.
The storm gave the plane a
strong tail wind, helping it fin-
ish in the sub-sonic flight record
time of four hours and 56 min-
utes, according to flight-track-
ing website Flightradar24.
This picture taken on Friday shows Thunberg during a Friday for
Future protest in Jokkmokk, northern Sweden.
own journey into adulthood as
she continues to be confronted
by the real world consequences
of inaction,” it said.
They will also “share some of
the quiet moments as she writes
the impactful speeches that are
now broadcast and analysed
around the world, as she lives a
teenage life like no other”.
Kazakh president
fires regional
leader, police chief
Kazakh President Kassym-
Jomart Tokayev has fired the
governor and police chief of a
region where deadly clashes
killed 10 and wounded more than
a hundred others, replacing them
with senior officials.
Dozens of homes were burned
down and at least 47 people
were arrested during the conflict
that broke out on Friday in the
southern Jambyl region.
The clashes are widely
believed to have pitted
Kazakhs, the majority ethnic
group, against minority
Dungans, a Muslim people.
The violence prompted
thousands to flee across the
nearby border with Kyrgyzstan.
The president dismissed Jambyl
regional governor Askar
Myrzakhmetov in a decree.
His replacement Berdibek
Saparbayev has served as deputy
prime minister and was earlier
appointed head of a commission
investigating the violence.
The appointment of such a senior
figure shows how seriously
the oil-rich Central Asian state is
treating the rare outbreak of
violence that damages its
reputation for stability. Tokayev
also replaced the region’s police
chief with a former deputy
interior minister.
Nearly 140 people were treated
for injuries and more than 30
remained in hospital yesterday.
Climate activists
invade BlackRock
office in Paris
Dozens of climate activists
invaded US asset manager
BlackRock’s office in central
Paris yesterday, calling for the
fund to pull out of fossil fuel
investments. Green activists
from the campaign groups
Extinction Rebellion and Fridays
for Future managed to enter the
building and to reach the fourth
floor, where they graffitied walls.
“This company has a lot of
influence in many sectors and we
are trying to convey what we are
asking for, we want to change this
capitalistic system”, Emilia,
a 15-year-old Fridays for
Future group member, said.
Activists wrote tags such as “I
want to live” or “Murderers” on
the walls and blocked the
entrance with ropes and
rolling office cabinets.
“We condemn in the strongest
possible terms the violent
intrusion and acts of vandalism
in our offices,” BlackRock, the
world’s biggest asset manager,
said in a statement.
Russia jails young
anti-fascists in
‘terrorism’ case
A Russian court yesterday
sentenced a group of young
anarchists and anti-fascists to
between six and 18 years in
prison on terror and other
charges, a lawyer told AFP. A
military court in the central
Russian city of Penza handed
down the verdict in the so-called
“Network” case, Sergei
Morgunov, a lawyer for one of
the seven defendants, told AFP.
All seven had denied the
charges. Dmitry Pchelintsev and
Ilya Shakursky were convicted of
creating a “terrorist organisation”,
among other charges, and
sentenced to 18 and 16 years in
prison respectively.
Five other men were found
guilty of participating in the
organisation.
Thunberg’s climate struggle
began in August 2018 when she
skipped school for the first three
weeks, and then on Fridays to
spend the day outside Sweden’s
parliament with a sign labelled
“School strike for climate”.
Her activism has since at-
tracted the attention of millions
of young people across the globe.
 Gulf Times
Tuesday, February 11, 2020 13

PEOPLE
Ex-CM Kumaraswamy’s
son gets engaged
Former Karnataka chief minister H D
Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil Kumaraswamy yesterday
got engaged to Revathi, the grand-niece of Congress
leader and realtor M Krishnappa. On February 6,
Nikhil shared a picture with Revathi on his official
Facebook account. Nikhil’s grandfather and former
prime minister H D Deve Gowda attended the event
along with several other politicians and influential
people at the Taj West End hotel in Bengaluru. In
the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Nikhil tried his luck in
politics. He lost to Sumalatha Ambareesh, widow of
former Karnataka actor Ambareesh, in the Mandya
constituency. Nikhil, 30, is a Kannada film actor who
made his debut in the bilingual movie Jaguar in
2016. Nikhil is also actively participating in politics by
Nikhil with Revathi. meeting people and visiting several places.
ALLEGATION
DCW seeks explanation
over college incident
The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW)
yesterday summoned the deputy commissioner of
police (DCP) and the principal of Gargi College
over alleged sexual harassment on the campus.
Calling it “mass molestation and sexual assault on
female students on Gargi College campus”, the
DCW has asked the principal and the DCP to
personally appear before it at 2pm on February
13.“The students have alleged a similar incident
had taken place during last year, but no action
was taken by the administration,” the DCW said.
The commission asked the DCP whether the
police have identified and arrested the suspects. It
also asked the college administration why it didn’t
intervene and allowed the culprits to leave the
campus.
INVESTIGATION
Actor Vijay summoned by
Income Tax department
The Income Tax department has summoned
leading Tamil actor Vijay. Last week, as a part
of search operations at AGS Group, IT
department officials had brought Vijay to
Chennai from Neyveli where he was shooting.
IT officials carried out a search operation at his
residences in Chennai. In a statement last
week, the IT department said Vijay’s investment
in immovable properties and remuneration
received from AGS Group for acting in the film
Bigil was the focus of the search. The tax
department also claimed to have detected
Rs3bn hidden income during searches at the
residence and office of Anbu Chezhiyan, a
movie financier who also owns a movie
production house, in Chennai and Madurai.
INDIA
CRIME
Sixth charge-sheet filed
against ‘cyanide killer’
Four months after the arrest of 47-year-old Jolly
Thomas, who allegedly killed six family members,
the Kerala police yesterday filed the sixth charge-
sheet, completing the first stage of the
investigation. The first to die in 2002 was Jolly’s
mother-in-law Annamma, a retired teacher. She
was followed by Jolly’s father-in-law Tom Thomas
in 2008. In 2011, their son and Jolly’s husband
Roy Thomas also died followed by the death of
Roy’s uncle Mathew, in 2014. The last one in the
extended family to die was Sily in 2016. The six
and last charge-sheet explains how Jolly killed her
mother-in-law, her first victim in 2002. Police says
Jolly used cyanide in eliminating five victims. In
Annamma’s case she used poison normally given
to kill rabid dogs.

India set to seal

$2.6bn US naval
helicopter deal
Reuters ing to address some of his con-
New Delhi
cerns.
Trade officials have pointed to

I
ndia is set to give final ap-proval to
a $2.6bn deal for military helicopters
from US defence firm Lockheed
Martin
ahead of a proposed visit by US
President Donald Trump this
month, defence and industry
sources said.
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi’s government is trying to
pull out all the stops for Trump’s
trip in a bid to reaffirm strategic
ties between the two countries,
which have been buffeted by
sharp differences over trade, to
counter China.
India’s defence purchases from
the United States have reached
$17bn since 2007 as it has
large-scale US arms purchas-es,
from surveillance planes to
Apache and Chinook helicop-ters,
as proof of India’s willing-ness to
tighten strategic ties.
The multirole helicopters will
be equipped with Hellfire mis-
siles and are meant to help the
Indian navy track submarines in
the Indian Ocean, where China is
expanding its presence.
Many of India’s warships are
without any helicopters because
of years of underfunding, and the
navy had sought their acqui-sition
as a top priority.
The government outlined only a
modest rise in its 2020/21 defence Demonstrators scuffle with police as they try to cross barricades during a protest against a new citizenship law outside the Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi yesterday.
spending to $73.65bn in the
budget on February 1, of which a

pivoted away from tradi-tional
supplier Russia, looking to
modernise its military and nar-
row the gap with China.
Modi’s Cabinet Committee on
Security is expected to clear the
purchase of 24 MH-60R Sea-
Anti-CAA protesters,
part will go towards making a
down payment on the helicopter
purchase, a defence official said.
“We expect a positive an-
nouncement soon on the heli-
copters,” the official said, speak-

police clash in Delhi

hawk helicopters for the Indian
navy in the next two weeks, a
defence official and an indus-try
source briefed on the matter
separately told Reuters.
“It’s a government-to-gov-
ernment deal, it is close,” said the
industry source.
To cut short lengthy negotia-
tions between Lockheed and the
Indian government, the heli-
copters that will be deployed on
India’s warships will be bought
through the US foreign military
sales route, under which the two
governments will agree details of
the deal.
Trump is expected in India
around February 24 on his first
official visit to the country, al-
though no formal announce-ment
has yet been made.
Both countries are separate-ly
working on a limited trade
agreement ahead of the trip, after
earlier imposing tit-for-tat tariffs
on each other’s im-ports.
Trump has called India the
“tariff king of the world” but the
Modi government has been try-
ing on condition of anonymity
because of service rules.
“There are limited resources,
but there is an allocation.”
The US State Department ap-
proved the sale of the choppers to
India last year along with ra-dars,
torpedoes and 10 AGM-114
Hellfire missiles.
The clearance came after the
Trump administration rolled out a
new “Buy American” plan in 2018
that had relaxed restric-tions on
sales, saying it would bolster the
American defence in-dustry and
create jobs at home.
The United States has also of-
fered India the armed version of
Guardian drones that were origi-
nally authorised for sale as un-
armed for surveillance purposes,
the first such approval for a coun-
try outside the Nato alliance.
India plans to buy 30 of these
unmanned aircraft for surveil-
lance of the Indian Ocean, at a
cost estimated to be about $2.5bn,
from General Atomics.
However, the defence official
said the deal is unlikely imme-
diately because of lack of funds.
IANS
New Delhi
A protest against the new citizenship
law turned violent yesterday in New
Delhi when demonstrators
clashed with police.
A scuffle ensued when police
confronted the protesters who
tried to march from Jamia Mil-lia
Islamia University to parlia-
ment. In the melee that ensued,
many from both sides fainted.
Coming up against four lay-ers
of barricades and massive
security deployment, some of the
protesters tried to climb over the
barricades. But they met with
stiff resistance from the police.
When shoes were hurled at
the police, the organisers of the
march quickly stepped in to tell
the protesters not to indulge in
violence.
The march began behind
schedule amid heavy security
deployment. The police had
earlier denied permission to the
protesters for the march.
Later a senior police officer
addressed the crowd and re-
quested them to call off the pro-
test but they refused.
“The protest event that you
were supposed to attend is now
over. There is no point in
standing here. Return to your
university now,” Joint Commis-
sioner of Police Devesh Chandra
Srivastava told them.
He appealed to the student
protesters to offer their evening
prayers on the road, followed by
the national anthem and return to
the campus.
“I would request you it’s time
for your evening prayers, please
offer your prayers then we will
have national anthem before you
proceed back to campus,”
Srivastava said.
“It is dark now, some miscre-
ants might enter in your protest
and create a ruckus, better you
call it off now,” he added.
But the protesters remained
unmoved and they continued
raising anti-CAA and anti-po-lice
slogans.
The march to parliament was
called by the Jamia Co-ordi-
nation Committee against the
Citizenship Amendment Act
(CAA) and the National Register
of Citizens (NRC).
A similar march on January
30 sparked a controversy after a
man raising pro-CAA slogans
opened fire injuring a protesting
student.
Meanwhile, the Supreme
Court yesterday told protesters at
New Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh
neighbourhood that they “can’t
block public roads indefinitely”
and that the “protests can’t con-
tinue like this in public places”.
Thousands of women are tak-
ing part in the protest against the
CAA, a law granting a new path
to Indian citizenship for refugees
of all religions except Muslims.
Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul
and K M Joseph issued notices to
the Delhi police and others and
scheduled the next hearing on the
matter for February 17.
Kaul said the protest at
Shaheen Bagh had continued for
many days.
“You cannot just block the
road. There cannot be an in-
definite protest in public areas.
Then, everybody will protest
everywhere,” he said.
The court, however, declined
to issue any order without hear-
ing the other parties, including
the police.
The court observation came
after Mehmood Pracha, a law-yer
for Bhim Army chief Chan-
dershekhar Azad, said the issue
was about balancing rights.
Justice Joseph agreed to the
observation and asked: “Can you
block a public road?” Jus-tice
Kaul observed that protests
cannot be held in parks too, and
there should be designated ar-eas
for holding protests.

Woman lecturer set on fire by 172 under observation

stalker dies in Maharashtra for virus in Karnataka
IANS In New Delhi, Minister for
Agencies be speeded up and the case as- Health and Family Welfare Harsh
Bengaluru
signed to a fast track court. We Vardhan gave a detailed account
Nagpur

T
will ensure that there are no de- in parliament of the action taken

A
college lecturer in Mahar-ashtra
died of her injuries yesterday after
being set on fire last week, allegedly
by a
stalker, officials said.
Ankita Pissude, 25, was going
to her college in Daroda village in
Wardha district last Monday when
Vikesh alias Vicki Nagrale used
petrol from his motorcycle to set
her on fire, police said.
She was admitted to a hospital
with serious burn injuries.
“We took all possible resusci-
tative measures but the patient
passed away and was declared
dead around 7am today,” Anup
Marar, director of the private
hospital where she was admit-ted,
told reporters.
“Her body has been handed to
police authorities for the post-
mortem,” he added.
The 27-year-old suspect was
arrested soon after the incident.
The victim’s relatives told the
police that he had been harass-ing
her for two years. Thousands of
grieving villagers joined her
funeral procession.
Ankita Pissude
The protesters demanded a
‘Hyderabad-style’ justice for Na-
grale where four suspects in the
gang-rape and murder of a wom-
an were killed in a police encoun-
ter when they tried to flee from
custody on December 6, 2019.
Pissude suffered extensive burns
on her face, head, respiratory sys-
tem, heart, and she remained criti-
cal throughout her treatment and
was placed on ventilator.
Earlier, Chief Minister Ud-dhav
Thackeray expressed grief and
reiterated that the guilty would be
given the most strin-gent
punishment.
“We have appointed Ujjwal
Nikam as the special public
prosecutor, investigations will
lays of any kind,” Thackeray told
reporters.
The Maharashtra government
also plans to study the ‘Disha’
Law of Andhra Pradesh which
envisages completion of inves-
tigations in a week, a trial in two
weeks and where there is suf-
ficient conclusive evidence, re-
duce the total judgment time to
three weeks, said an official.
Pissude, who fought 168 hours
for her life, was a postgraduate in
Botany and worked as a part-time
lecturer at the Matoshree Ashatai
Kumawar Mahila Mahavidyalaya.
Nagrale is married with a small
child and knew the victim as they
were from the same village.
Several locals, mostly women
and college students, held a pro-
test march in Wardha last week
demanding the death penalty for
the perpetrator.
Maharashtra Home Minister
Anil Deshmukh expressed his
condolences to the family.
In another case related to stalk-
ing in New Delhi last week, a police
inspector was accused of shooting
dead his female colleague.
he Karnataka government said
yesterday 172 people across the state
were un-der observation for
coronavirus
symptoms.
“We are monitoring 172 peo-
ple across the state, including in
Bengaluru for coronavirus
symptoms,” Prakash Kumar of
the Health and Family Wel-fare
Services Department told IANS.
However, there has been no
positive coronavirus case yet re-
ported from Karnataka though 22
people were added to the
monitoring list yesterday.
Under home isolation obser-
vation, the department is moni-
toring 168 people across the state.
Currently nobody is in hos-
pital for coronavirus symptoms,
Kumar said.
Five Karnataka districts bor-
dering Kerala - Dakshina Kan-
nada, Kodagu, Udupi, Chama-
Health officials wearing protective facemasks walk in a rajanagar and Mysuru - continue
corridor of an isolation ward opened as a preventative to be under surveillance after
measure against the coronavirus at the North Bengal Medical three positive coronavirus cases
College and Hospital in Siliguri. were reported in Kerala.
by his ministry to stop and contain
the virus in-fection in India.
The minister said that a to-tal of
1,818 flights had been screened
covering at least 197,192
passengers since Janu-ary 18.
“Teams of specialist doctors
were sent to all the airports to
ensure effective screening and
arrangement for isolation in the
attached hospitals,” he said.
He said a group of ministers has
been set up to monitor the
situation.
He said that the cabinet sec-
retary had been taking review
meetings on a daily basis with all
the officials of the concerned
ministries including the state chief
secretaries.
“Screening of passengers was
initiated on January 18. Initial-ly
airports at Delhi, Mumbai,
Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru,
Hyderabad and Kochi were cov-
ered and subsequently expanded
to a total of 21 airports,” the min-
ister said.
 Gulf Times
14 Tuesday, February 11, 2020
INDIA
Reform of customary laws urged to protect indigenous land
Reuters
Shillong
C
ustomary laws in the northeastern
states of In-dia are failing to
protect
indigenous lands and must be
reformed to safeguard the prop-
erty of women and poorer tribal
people, land rights analysts said.
Customs related to indigenous
tradition, including those on land
Tribute to Sikh warrior
Punjab police personnel salute as they pay tribute to Sikh warrior General Sardar Sham Singh Attari, on the occasion of his
174th Martyrdom Day, at the India Gate, on the outskirts of Amritsar in Punjab yesterday.
Will take appropriate steps
on SC ruling on quotas: govt
IANS
New Delhi
T
he government yesterday
it would take “ap-propriate steps”
follow-ing the Supreme Court’s ruling
on reservation in jobs and pro-
motions for Scheduled Castes
(SCs) and Scheduled Tribes af-ter
considering the issue at the highest
level.
It also attacked the former
Congress-led Uttarakhand gov-
ernment in 2012 for “snatching the
rights of deprived sections”
through a decision on the matter.
In its verdict on February 7, on
appeals that sought reserva-tion
for SCs/STs in promotions to
assistant engineer posts in the
Uttarakhand Public Works
Department, the Supreme Court
said the quotas and reservation in
promotions for government jobs is
not a fundamental right.
The court said it could not
compel states to provide quo-tas
and that states could not be forced
to make such provi-sions without
data showing an imbalance in
representation of
AAP deploys volunteers
to guard strong rooms
IANS
New Delhi
A
t any given time, at least
Aam Aadmi Party volunteers are
guard-ing the strong rooms across the
national capital to avoid any
mishandling of the voting ma-
chines ahead of counting today.
A strong room is the place
where the electronic voting ma-
chines are kept after the polling is
done and before counting takes
place.
The Election Commission has
established 21 strong rooms across
Delhi to keep the EVMs after the
polling for the 70 as-sembly seats
ended on Satur-day.
The AAP, the outgoing party in
power in Delhi, has alleged that
EVMs, used for polling on
Saturday, were being taken away
for tampering.
Speaking to IANS, a senior
party leader said at least 10
use, are protected by the Indian
constitution in four of the seven
northeastern states, where land is
owned and managed by tribal
communities and clans without
formal titles.
But some states have recently
introduced laws to promote in-
dividual ownership of land and
give governments greater power,
thereby weakening customary
laws and protections, accord-ing
to Walter Fernandes, a senior
certain communities in public
services.
Social Justice and Empower-
ment Minister Thawar Chand
Gehlot said that the central gov-
said ernment was determined to en-
sure the welfare of SCs and STs.
Calling the Supreme Court’s
Friday ruling on the issue as a
“very important subject”, the
minister said that the govern-ment
was “considering it at the highest
level”.
The minister said the central
government was not made a par-ty
nor was it asked for an affidavit in
the matter.
He clarified that the matter
cropped up after the then Utta-
rakhand government on Novem-
ber 5, 2012, decided not to allow
reservations in promotions in the
state, which was challenged in
court.
“There was a Congress gov-
ernment in Uttarakhand in 2012,”
Gehlot said in the Lok Sabha.
The minister’s statement comes
after the opposition, and even
some ruling party allies, at-tacked
the government.
Congress lawmakers staged a
walkout after they were not al-
AAP volunteers were guarding the
strong rooms across the city all the
time by working in shifts.
“There were reports that there
10 can be tampering of the EVMs.
Also, we are confident that the
results are in our favour and so the
party has decided to keep a close
watch on the strong rooms. We
have deployed at least 10 AAP
volunteers and workers outside the
strong rooms to keep a close
watch all the time,” the party
leader said.
A meeting was called by Chief
Minister Arvind Kejriwal at his
residence on the night of Febru-
ary 8 after the polling ended.
The meeting was called after
the party received inputs that the
EVMs were not being han-dled
properly.
“The decision of keeping a
close eye on the EVMs was tak-en
in the meeting with Kejriwal. Our
volunteers are also guard-ing the
strong rooms in night,” the leader
added.
fellow at the North Eastern So-cial
Research Centre, an Indian think-
tank.
While customary laws prevents
the sale or transfer of tribal land to
non-tribals, there is no ban on the
state acquiring such land, he added
at the sidelines of a conference in
Shillong in the northeastern state of
Meghalaya recently.
Power also rests with tribal
elites, who are usually men and
can pressure women and poorer
lowed to speak following Gehlot’s
statement.
The Congress said it will hold
a countrywide protest on Feb-
ruary 16 to expose the “anti-quota”
ideology of the Bharati-ya Janata
Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya
Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS).
Congress general secretary K C
Venugopal said “the BJP has been
systematically attacking the pro-
vision of reservations for SC, ST
and OBC through various state-
ments and actions for the last
many years.”
He said “carrying forward this
agenda, the BJP government now
has taken the unconstitutional
stand in the Supreme Court.”
Former finance minister and
senior Congress leader P there has been a threat to the res-
Chidambaram dared the BJP to
“own up” the Supreme Court
judgment.
Chidambaram said if the ruling
party did not agree with it “let it
say” and “spell out the corrective
measure”.
In a series of tweets,
Chidambaram said, “The gov-
ernment and the BJP cannot
distance themselves from the
The volunteers and party
workers are working in shifts to
ensure the EVMs are secured.
The 21 strong rooms are situ-
ated in nine of the 11 districts of
the city.
The districts with two strong
rooms are – North, South West,
South East, and Shah-dara. There
is one strong room each in New
Delhi, South, East, North East and
North West dis-tricts.
The party volunteers, guard-ing
the strong room at the
Commonwealth Games Village for
seven assemblies – Trilok-puri,
Kondli, Patparganj, Laxmi Nagar,
Vishwas Nagar, Krishna Nagar
and Gandhi Nagar, told IANS that
they were checking all the
vehicles coming and go-ing inside
the premises.
“We are scanning the cars
coming out and going in. We
cannot trust anyone. The oppo-
sition can do anything to tem-per
with the results,” said one of the
volunteers.
members to consent to commer-
cial projects, or sell their land,
Fernandes said.
“Customary law needs to be
reformed, as it does not ad-
equately protect the rights of
women or community members
from powerful members of their
own community,” he said.
“Without adequate protec-tion,
the formalisation of land tenure –
rather than the gradual evolution
of the informal – has
Supreme Court’s judgment on
reservation not being mandatory.
If the BJP does not agree with the
judgment, let it say so and spell
out the corrective measures.”
The Congress leader said the
current BJP government of Ut-
tarakhand put forward the argu-
ment that was accepted by the
court.
“BJP must own up to the judg-
ment and tell us if it will allow the
declaration of law to remain un-
challenged,” he added.
In Chennai, Dravida Munnetra
Kazhagam (DMK) president said
the central government should
take steps to protect reservation
and social justice.
In a Facebook post Stalin said
ever since the BJP came to power,
ervation policy.
He said the anti-reservation
utterances of central ministers and
right-wing groups have re-sulted
in confusion.
Hence, the central government
should take necessary steps to
protect the reservation for back-
ward and most backward classes,
Scheduled Caste and Scheduled
Tribes, Stalin said.
A woman shows her ink-marked finger after casting her vote
at a polling station in New Delhi on February 8. The results
of the Delhi assembly elections will be declared today.
led to conflict and alienation of
indigenous land,” he said.
The northeastern states are
among the most heavily forested
and resource-rich land in India, yet
these rural areas have greater
landlessness than the national
average.
Last year, the Supreme Court
ruled that indigenous people in
Meghalaya – which has consti-
tutional protections – have full
rights over the land and its re-
Omar’s sister
urges court
to overturn
his detention
Agencies
Srinagar
T he family of former Kashmir
chief minister Omar Abdullah went
to the Supreme Court yesterday in
a bid to overturn his detention
under a law allowing incarcera-
tion for up to two years without
charge.
According to police, the case
against Abdullah was mainly that
he has used “dirty politics” while
another former chief minister,
Mehbooba Mufti, held under the
law was a “daddy’s
girl”.
Abdullah and Mufti were
among hundreds of politicians
and activists detained after the
government stripped Kashmir’s
autonomy in August last year.
It imposed a tough security
clampdown with Internet and
phones cut for months.
Last week authorities ordered
the two held under the Public
Safety Act, condemned by rights
groups because those accused
can be held for up to two years
without appearing in court.
Abdullah’s sister, Sarah Ab-
dullah Pilot, moved a Supreme
Court petition against his de-
tention which listed the reasons
the former chief minister was
held.
He was accused of “resorting
to his dirty politics” and “in-
stigating and provoking gen-eral
masses” against the Indian
government.
The police dossier also said
Abdullah’s influence was a threat
because he was “able to
convince the electorate to come
out and vote in huge numbers
even during peak militancy and
poll boycotts.”
sources, and that only they can
grant permission for mining.
Yet Arunachal Pradesh state in
2018 passed a law that granted
individual ownership of land for
the first time.
Authorities said it would give
enable tribal communities to use
land as collateral for loans, and
earn higher incomes.
As land comes under increas-
ing pressure for highways, dams,
mines and factories, a maze of
Sara Abdullah termed the
February 5 order under PSA un-
constitutional, and said it also
blatantly violates fundamental
rights.
The petition filed by Kapil
Sibal on her behalf, said, “When
her brother’s release was immi-
nent, the petitioner has shock-
ingly learnt about his new de-
tention under the provisions of
the Public Safety Act (under
which their father also remains
detained), which could have no
application to one who has any-
way been in custody over sev-
eral months in a state that was
under a complete lockdown.”
“An overview upon the activ-
ities of Omar Abdullah suggests
that his ideology is favouring
radical thoughts which has also
turned into actions,” the dossier
said.
It states that despite the fact
that Abdullah has been a main-
stream politician, he has been
planning and projecting his ac-
tivities against India under the
guise of politics and while en-
joying the support of “gullible
masses” he has been successful
in executing such activities.
“After revocation of Article
370 and 35 A in order to secure
support of common people Omar
removed all covers and curtains
while resorting to his dirty
politics,” the dossier stat-ed.
It said that Abdullah has been
creating an environment of
public disorder across Kashmir.
“The conduct of subject has
resulted in fanning the emo-tions
of general masses against the
Union of India by way of
instigating public with Twit-ter
posts/Facebook against the unity
and integrity of the Na-tion,” it
stated.
Hardik missing since
Jan 24, claims wife
IANS
Ahmedabad
T
he wife of Congress leader Hardik
Patel yesterday claimed her husband was
untraceable since his release from jail
on January 24. He was
arrested on January 18.
Kinjal Patel said her husband
had not made any contact with the
family though he had tweeted
about his release.
“Has been released from de-
tention of dictatorship. But what’s
my fault,” he tweeted on January
24.
Blaming the “government
machinery” for Patel’s disap-
pearance, Kinjal said the family
was being harassed by the gov-
ernment.
“My husband was arrested and
sent to jail in many cases. On sev-
eral occasions, as soon as he came
out of jail, he was rearrested and
put behind the bars in some other
case. Don’t you think this is har-
assment,” Kinjal said.
Fearing for her husband’s life,
hundreds of federal, state and
customary laws are sparking
conflicts over land, according to
the Centre for Policy Research
(CPR), a think-tank in Delhi.
Tribal people are the worst af-
fected: they make up less than
10% of India’s 1.3bn population,
but account for 40% of people
who were uprooted from 1951 to
1990 due to dams, mines, indus-
trial development and wildlife
parks, according to the CPR.
The dossier justifying Mufti’s
extended detention calls her a
“Daddy’s girl”, referring to her
late father Mufti Mohamed
Sayeed, who was also a chief
minister.
Mufti was “a hard headed and
scheming person” whose action
ranged from “speeches glorify-
ing militants to creating fears
among (the) majority popula-tion
based on cheap politics.”
Mufti, who had ruled the state
in alliance with Prime Minister
Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP), was also
accused of working with
separatists.
The government faced new
criticism following the release of
the dossier.
“Since when has being a
‘Daddy’s girl’ and encouraging
people to vote become a crime
against the nation?” wrote
Congress leader Priyanka Gan-
dhi, on Twitter.
Abdullah and Mufti are among
scores of Kashmiris still held
under the PSA, which had
previously been mostly used
against militant separatists op-
posed to Indian rule.
Abdullah’s father, Farooq
Abdullah, a member of the
parliament and also former state
chief minister, is also held along
with politicians, business leaders,
lawyers and separatist activists.
Meanwhile, another group of
envoys from different geo-
graphical regions will visit Jam-
mu and Kashmir later this week.
Official sources said since the
last visit of envoys to the Union
Territory of Jammu and Kash-mir
last month, the government has
received several requests from
diplomats from around the world
for a visit.
Kinjal claimed the police often visited her
house at odd hours.
Responding to her allegations,
Gujarat Director General of Po-
lice (DGP) Shivanand Jha told
IANS: “Is this a topic to talk on? I
don’t think he (Hardik Patel)
deserves a comment. He is not
worth it.”
However, Kinjal’s claims have
created a ripple and are being
talked about in the police and
political circles – from Gu-jarat to
Delhi. The Ahmedabad police
have been maintaining a studied
silence on her allega-tions.
Patel had earlier tweeted “that
he will not bow down,” appar-
ently referring to the Bharatiya
Janata Party.
Meanwhile, the Patidar Ana-mat
Andolan sources said they were
unable to establish any con-tact
with Patel. “Nobody knows if he
has gone underground,” said a
leader.
The Congress has said the Gu-
jarat police were misusing their
powers and had charged the Pati-
dar leader in several cases.

OFFICIAL
UNHCR’s deputy high commissioner, Kelly
Clements (left), meets Costa Rica’s
President Carlos Alvarado at the presidential
house, in San Jose, Costa Rica.
PEOPLE
Pele depressed, reclusive
due to health issues: son
Brazilian soccer great Pele is depressed over
his poor health and reluctant to leave the
house because he cannot walk unaided, his
son Edinho said in an interview published in
Brazil yesterday. Pele, widely considered to be
one of the greatest footballers in history and
who will be 80 in October, has had hip trouble
for years and now needs a frame to walk.
Many of his recent public appearances have
been in a wheelchair. “He’s pretty fragile. He
had a hip replacement and didn’t have an
adequate or ideal rehabilitation,” Edinho told
TV Globo. “So he has this problem with
mobility and that has set off a kind of
depression.”
LAW AND ORDER
Murder suspect ‘was
working as Uber driver’
A far-right Spaniard extradited by Brazil for
murders committed in Madrid in 1977 was
working as an Uber driver in Sao Paulo when
he was arrested two years ago, Brazilian police
said. Carlos Garcia Julia had been on the run for
decades in South America, but Brazil’s Federal
Police acting on an Interpol notice located
him living under a false name in Sao Paulo in
2018. He was discovered not because he was
registered as a driver on the car hiring app with
a false Venezuelan ID, but because he went to
the Federal Police to request residence in Brazil
and his fingerprints gave him away, authorities
said. Julia, aged 67, was handed to Spanish
police and has arrived back in Madrid.
LATIN AMERICA
HEALTH
Morales heads to Cuba
for medical treatment
Ousted Bolivian leader Evo Morales has left
Argentina, where he fled in November as a
political exile, for Cuba for a medical procedure,
his spokesman said yesterday. Morales, a
South American socialist icon, left Bolivia after
officials there annulled his October election
victory following accusations of vote-rigging.
“Ex-president Evo Morales took an unscheduled
flight to Cuba for health reasons,” his spo kesman
told Reuters. “He’s expected to return this
weekend and will continue with his scheduled
agenda.” Since arriving in Argentina, Morales
has campaigned fervently for his Movement
for Socialism party ahead of an upcoming
presidential election in Bolivia on May 3.
Gulf Times
Tuesday, February 11, 2020 15
POLITICS
Moise lays out terms for
deal with opposition
Haiti President Jovenel Moise said he is
optimistic that negotiations with a coalition of
his political opponents will succeed in forging a
power-sharing deal to end months of deadlock
that have left Haiti without a functioning
government. Moise laid out his position in the
talks that began last week in the mission of the
papal envoy to Haiti with political opponents
and some civil society groups. He said he would
accept an opposition prime minister and a
shortened term in office, but only after adoption
of a constitutional reform strengthening the
presidency. He said he would serve only a single
term in office so he would not personally benefit
from the powers of a stronger presidency.

Lithium miner
seeks to monitor
water scarcity in
Chile salt flat
Reuters
Santiago
W ith residents and courts
ringing the alarm about
depleted
water supplies in Chile’s Ata-
cama salt flat, the world’s top
lithium miner Albemarle quietly
filed a proposal in December for a
network to monitor flows be-
neath the parched desert floor.
The previously unreported
move is an indication of how im-
portant it has become for miners
to prove their supplies of the so-
called “white gold” battery metal
are sustainable as they court au-
tomakers preparing for the com-
ing electric vehicle revolution.
Car companies have ratcheted
up scrutiny in the Atacama, by far
the biggest source of supply in
South America’s so-called “lith-
ium triangle,” where one lithium
producer is locked in a court bat-
tle over pumping of brine and a
copper miner has opted for pricey
desalination over drawing water
from local aquifers.
“What we’re seeing is a scru-
tiny of how lithium is being pro-
duced, and particularly, in the
Salar de Atacama,” Ellen Lenny-
Pessagno, Albemarle’s Chile
manager, told Reuters in an in-
terview in capital city Santiago.
“They want data.”
She said a team from Germa-
ny’s biggest car maker Volkswa-
gen — which expects to produce
1.5mn electric autos by 2025 —
visited the Atacama last month to
scope out the social and envi-
ronmental impact of mining op-
erations there.
A source at Volkswagen, who
asked not to be named, con-
firmed a recent trip had been
made to Chile to check on local
conditions.
The carmaker declined to
comment.
That came after a Chilean judge
sided with local indigenous
communities and knocked back an
environmental remediation plan
from top rival SQM in De-
cember, warning of “fragility” in
Peruvian woman
sues to end her life
Reuters
Lima
A fter spending months in a
hospital’s intensive care unit
four years ago to treat
her incurable and debilitating ill-
ness, Ana Estrada decided that at
some point she would want to die
before it got worse.
Estrada, 43, is bed-ridden with a
condition that has atrophied her
muscles. She does not want to
commit suicide and her body is
already very weak.
But under Peruvian law it
would be a crime to help her die.
Both assisted suicide and the act
of killing a terminally-ill pa-tient,
called “compassionate murder,”
are punished with prison time.
Now Estrada is suing the state,
hoping a judge will let her die,
what she calls “death with dig-
nity.” “I contemplated doing it il-
legally,” Estrada told Reuters from
her bed, where she was helped by
a nurse.
the Atacama’s ecosystem.
“Developing a greener world
can’t come at the cost of an en-tire
territory...and culture,” said Juan
Carlos Cayo, an attorney for
communities in Atacama, fol-
lowing that decision.
The battle for water in Chile’s
salt flats has intensified.
Residents and environmen-tal
groups worry that mining of
lithium and copper is damaging a
regional ecosystem home to an
ancient indigenous culture and
turquoise lagoons inhabited with
rare pink Chilean flamingos.
For Albemarle, the world’s
largest producer of lithium, re-
solving the water issue is a “busi-
ness decision”, Lenny-Pessagno
said, adding the firm was open to
working with other miners on the
matter including rival SQM.
“Whatever happens in the salar
will ultimately impact our
business,” she said, confirming the
plan for a two-decade moni-toring
network to get a fuller pic-ture of
the issue.
A government study intended to
provide similar information has
been repeatedly delayed since
2018, leaving a void.
A spokeswoman for Chile de-
velopment agency Corfo, which is
managing that process, said the
report was nearing completion.
Salt-rich brine holds in sus-
pension the lithium that auto-
makers covet.
Miners use freshwater beneath
the flats for industrial processes.
Both water and brine are scarce
commodities in the world´s dri-est
desert.
Last week miner BHP scrapped
plans to continue pumping water
from the Atacama basin to feed its
massive Escondida copper mine,
the world’s largest.
It said it would use desalinated
water instead.
Albemarle, too, shelved longer-
term plans to expand its operations
at Atacama follow-ing questions
from regulators in 2018 about
technologies that would allow the
company to produce more lithium
without pumping more brine.
“But there was risk... because I
cannot let someone help me die. I
cannot ask a relative to commit a
crime.”
Estrada and her lawyers see the
fight to allow her to die as a first
step to legalise euthanasia in Peru.
The battle to die, Estrada said,
has energised her life. Euthanasia
is not allowed in many countries,
and the Catholic Church remains a
staunch opponent.
In Latin America, Colombia has
allowed it under certain con-
ditions. Estrada has lived since
her teenage years with polymy-
ositis, an inflammatory disease
that atrophies her muscles and has
no cure.
She is bed-ridden and breathes
most of the time through a venti-
lator, so her voice is reduced to a
whisper.
Lawyers from Peru’s public
ombudsman’s office have taken up
Estrada’s case, arguing that not
letting her choose to die is un-
constitutional, violating her right
to live with dignity.
A constitutional court will now
Heavy rains lash Brazil
A man pushes a motorcycle through a flooded street after heavy rains in Butanta neighbourhood in Sao Paulo, Brazil, yesterday.
Mexico region uses guns,
children to fend off cartels
Reuters
Rincon de Chautla, Mexico
W
hen the 56-year-old
mother-in-law of David
Sanchez Luna was tortured and
killed after ven-
turing out of her small Mexican
community encircled by drug
cartels, he let his seven- and 10-
year-old daughters receive
military-style weapons training.
Unable to send their children to
school and too afraid to step out
of their enclave of 16 mountain
villages in the violence-plagued
southwestern Guerrero state,
residents say they have been left
with little choice.
examine her case, which was filed
last week.
“We mould the stories of our
lives with our decisions, and it
does not make sense that in the
last chapter of our life we are not
allowed to make the decision (to
die),” Peru’s public ombudsman
Walter Gutierrez said at a press
conference.
Estrada’s case gained promi-
nence from a blog where she
wrote about her illness, which she
typed out slowly, letter by letter as
her muscles lost strength.
She is not getting better and
most of the time cannot speak.
She does not know when she
will want to die, only that her
condition will keep worsening and
she would like to end her life
when she can no longer bear it.
“Why death with dignity? Be-
cause I want to avoid the suffer-
ing,” Estrada said. “But most of all
because this is about how I live
my life, about liberty. I do not feel
free right now.
“I don’t have the freedom to
choose over my own body.”
“They do this to prepare them-
selves to defend the family, their
siblings and defend the village,”
said Sanchez Luna, a corn farm-er
in a rugged region which five
years ago formed a self-defence
“community police” militia to
protect itself.
The move by the villagers to
offer arms training to school-age
children shocked the nation and
made global headlines last month
after local media broadcast im-
ages of children as young as six-
years-old toting guns and show-
ing off military manoeuvres.
While elders in the mainly in-
digenous community near the city
of Chilapa privately concede
young kids would not be used
Official visit
Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei (right) and
US acting assistant secretary for western hemisphere
affairs, Michael Kozak, attend a press conference at the
Culture Palace in Guatemala City.
to fight cartel gunmen, they say
their gambit to get the help of far-
away officials in Mexico City is
borne of desperation.
Ten musicians from the area
were ambushed and killed last
month by suspected Los Ardil-los
cartel members after stepping out
of the territory guarded by their
self-defence militia, known as
CRAC-PF.
Their bodies were burnt, of-
ficials said. The attack followed a
spate of murders in recent year,
including a beheading, that rat-
tled the 6,500 residents whose
lush land sits amid fertile pop-py-
growing farmland that feed
Guerrero’s heroin trade and sup-
ply routes to the US. “This is a
public cry for help by a commu-nity
that’s been cornered,” said Falko
Ernst, an International Cri-sis
Group (ICG) analyst. “They’ve
been trying to get assistance by
federal and state government,
unsuccessfully, so they’re trying to
escalate the language to try to
negotiate and get help.”
President Manuel Andres
Lopez Obrador said those who
arm children “should be ashamed
of themselves” and denounced the
use of children to grab atten-tion.
Lopez Obrador’s government
has struggled to get a grip on
gangs and violence, with a record
34,582 murders last year.
Residents remain deeply sus-
Rio councilwoman’s
murder suspect killed
AFP
Rio de Janeiro
A
suspect in the 2018 assas-sination
of an outspoken Afro-Brazilian member
of Rio de Janeiro’s city council was
shot to death after he fired on po-
lice sent to arrest him, Brazilian
authorities said.
Adriano Magalhaes da Nobre-
ga, who had been on the run for
more than a year, was located by
police in a rural area of the city of
Esplanada, 170kms north of Sal-
vador, the capital of the state of
Bahia.
“At the moment of his ar-rest,
he fired on officials and was
wounded in the shootout,” the
state’s security agency said in a
statement. “He was taken to a
hospital but died as a result of his
wounds.”
Magalhaes, a decorated former
captain in an elite Rio military
police battalion, was suspected of
organising the March 14, 2018,
murder of Marielle Franco, a
ground-breaking feminist on the
Rio city council known for her
denunciations of police brutality
picious of regional authorities and
the smattering of local po-licemen
in their villages, who they accuse
of being the eyes and ears of the
Los Ardillos.
Parents say their children are
forced to stop formal education
once they reach about 12 years of
age, as the middle schools are in
territory controlled by the cartel.
Abuner Martinez, 16, stopped
attending school a year ago after
his father was kidnapped outside
CRAC-PF territory, tortured, and
then beheaded.
“I got scared at that moment. I
didn’t want to go to school,” said
Martinez, who now wields a
shotgun as he guards a check-
point.
and extra-judicial executions. She
and her driver were shot
multiple times by occupants of
another vehicle as they pursued
her car in Rio de Janeiro.
Two former police officers —
Ronnie Lessa, 48, and Elcio de
Queiroz, 46, — were arrested for
the crime.
Suspicion on who ordered it fell
on a powerful paramilitary group
known as the “Office of Crime,”
which Magalhaes is believed to
have led. Franco’s Socialism and
Liberty Party issued a statement
demanding that the circumstanc-es
around Magalhaes’s death be
clarified.
“The militia he belonged to was
suspected of being implicated in
the assassination (of Franco) and
he was a key figure for shedding
light on a series of crimes,” it said.
According to the daily Estado
de Sao Paulo, Magalhaes had told
his lawyers he feared being killed
“to make evidence disappear.”
Magalhaes in 2005 received the
Tiradentes medal, the state of Rio
de Janeiro’s highest, at the ini-
tiative of then deputy and current
senator Flavio Bolsonaro, the son
of President Jair Bolsonaro.
 Gulf Times
16 Tuesday, February 11, 2020

PAKISTAN
PML-Q
Govt plans 50,000 shops leader
to sell subsidised goods Elahi says
with PTI

issues
class are confronting and have Minister for Planning, Devel- voirs, including Diamer-Bhasha

‘resolved’
Internews
Islamabad decided, come what may, my opment and Special Initiatives and Dasu, would be constructed
govt will be announcing various Asad Umar has also said that the to generate cheap energy besides
measures that will be taken to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) meeting the requirement of the Internews
he government plans to reduce prices of basic food items government is taking all possible agriculture sector. Islamabad
provide jobs and daily- for the common man in cabinet measures to provide relief to the Meanwhile, Special Assist-
Tuse items to people on on Tuesday,” he wrote on his masses. ant to the Prime Minister on
subsidised rates, with 50,000 Twitter account. Talking to local media, the Information and Broadcasting akistan Muslim League –
new retail shops to be opened. The prime minister also wrote minister said the government is Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan said that Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q)
Geo News, citing sources, re- that “at the same time all the rel- aware of the problems faced by Prime Minister Khan is honour- Pleader Chaudhry Pervaiz
ported that Rs25bn have been al- evant govt agencies have begun the masses. ing all the promises and political Elahi said yesterday that they
located for the programme in the doing an in-depth probe into the Umar added that there is a dire commitments made during his had discussed outstanding is-
first phase. flour and sugar price hikes. The need to bring down the prices of election campaign. sues with the government team
Citizens will get loans of up to nation should rest assured that wheat and other commodities. Addressing a press conference and clarified certain matters.
Rs500,000 to open retail shops, all those responsible will be held He said that inflation will be here, she said that the premier’s A negotiating team of the gov-
with 1,500 such shops to be accountable and penalised.” brought down this month, and struggle against the corrupt sys- ernment met with the Chaudhry
opened immediately. While chairing a meeting of that those involved in artificially tem and corrupt elements had brothers at their residence in La-
The sources said that the Util- his economic team on Sunday, raising prices will face strict ac- entered into the final phase, and hore for talks on issues of mutual
ity Stores Corporation (USC) Prime Minister Khan said his government will announce various the prime minister asserted that tion. that his dream of a corruption- interest.
will supply 60% of items to the measures to reduce the price of basic food items for the common a government without com- To a question on the shortage free Pakistan would come true Punjab Governor Mohamed
retail shops, while the shops man at a meeting today. passion has no right to stay in of wheat in different parts of the soon. Sarwar and Chief Minister Us-
owners will arrange for the rest power. country, Umar said that the fed- Awan said that a status quo man Buzdar were also part of the
of items from the open market. after which he directed the con- into hike in flour and sugar pric- Khan hinted at his willingness eral government had dispatched has been maintained in the government team that met with
The government is counting cerned ministries to make the es. to go to any extent to provide flour to Sindh and Khyber Pa- country for the past 72 years. the PML-Q leadership.
on this plan to provide jobs to necessary arrangements. In a series of tweets, Khan relief to the masses in terms of khtunkhwa as per their require- She said the corrupt politi- Members of the government
50,000 families. Meanwhile, Khan said his acknowledged the difficulties prices of essential commodi- ment. cians used the law for their per- team include federal ministers
Prime Minister Imran Khan government will announce vari- faced by the ordinary people, ties, including flour, rice, pulses, About development works, sonal gain in past, she said, add- Pervez Khattak, Shafqat Meh-
has also directed that a Rs7bn ous measures to reduce the price and said there would be an an- ghee, and sugar. the minister said the govern- ing no one was above the law in mood, and Asad Umar.
relief package to the utility of basic food items for the com- nouncement on a number of The prime minister has also ment would utilise all the funds “New Pakistan”. Speaking to reporters after
stores be extended until the end mon man at a meeting today. measures to provide relief to the has recently directed the prov- allocated in the budget for de- Awan said those who had ac- the meeting, Elahi said: “We had
of Ramadan. The prime minister also said masses. inces to take every possible step velopment of neglected parts of quired assets through unfair open discussions with the gov-
He was informed that the that the concerned government “I understand the difficulties to check profiteering and hoard- the country. means would be held account- ernment on outstanding issues.
utility stores need up to Rs10bn, departments have begun a probe ordinary people incl salaried ing of goods. The minister said water reser- able. We do not have any doubts about
the sincerity and leadership of
Prime Minister Imran Khan.”
“We have resolved certain

Pakistan student PPP voices concern over them

matters. In the future too, we
government. We can resolve is-
between ourselves,” he

hope to work together with the

in Wuhan misses sues amicably by discussing

universities’ money woes “There was a perception about

added.
ters into big ones.
the parties not being on the same

father’s funeral Internews pushed millions below the pov-

page. People turned small mat-
“We hope our alliance with

the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf

China ... we r intensely dis- Islamabad erty line, overseen sky-rock- (PTI) can stay intact till elec-
Reuters eting inflation and price hikes, tions,” Elahi said.

Islamabad cussing the situation @ high- unleashed unemployment, and Khattak also spoke to the
est level & will make the best akistan Peoples Party dragged the country into a so- media after the meeting, reaf-
decision in view of all factors (PPP) chairman Bilawal cial, economic and political firming that all misunderstand-
rom his dormitory in the with ref to devastating #coro- PBhutto Zardari has ex- quagmire,” he said. ings with the PML-Q had been
locked-down Chinese navirus potential global pan- pressed concern over the fi- The PPP chairman called for cleared, and that the two allied
Fcity of Wuhan, PhD stu- demic,” Special Assistant to nancial crunch faced by public the immediate release of funds parties were ready to move for-
dent Hassan spoke to his father Prime Minister Imran Khan on sector universities due to the re- required for the smooth func- ward.
in Pakistan for the last time on Health Dr Zafar Mirza wrote on duction in the budget for higher tioning of public sector univer- “We will move forward on
Thursday, as the 80-year-old Twitter on Sunday. education by the government. sities and expressed solidarity every matter with consultations.
begged him to come home. Hassan said he has contact- In a statement issued by the with the students, teachers and We will make mutual decisions
The next day, Hassan’s fa- ed his university, which sup- party, the PPP chairman “con- staff of the universities. keeping in view the national in-
ther died of a heart ailment. ported him leaving, and Paki- demned” huge cuts in the higher Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim terest,” he noted.
Hassan is one of the more stan’s embassy in Beijing. education budget, compelling League – Nawaz (PML-N) in- The minister further told the
than 1,000 Pakistani students He said he was later told by the public sector universities to formation secretary Marriyum media that any misgivings about
in China’s Hubei province, Chinese authorities in Hubei take loans from the private sec- Aurangzeb said in a statement the government and coalition
thought to be the epicentre that he could be evacuated if tor to run their affairs. that the only way to bring the partners not working together
of the coronavirus, who have Pakistan’s embassy in Beijing Bhutto Zardari noted that country out of the economic Bhutto Zardari: called for the Aurangzeb: urged the prime have been removed.
been told by their government contacted them. 104 universities are experienc- mess is for Prime Minister Im- release of university funds minister to resign. “The Muttahida Qaumi
that it has had to rule out their A Pakistani ministry of for- ing the worst- financial crisis in ran Khan to resign. She said that it had been 24 Movement (MQM), the PML-Q
return home for the moment. eign affairs spokeswoman did their history. “Now only Imran Khan’s res- this government,” she said. and the Baluchistan National
Hassan has since stepped not respond to Reuters’ request Of the required budget of Rs- ignation can pull the country Aurangzeb regretted that de- hours since she demanded the Party – Mengal (BNP-Mengal)
up his efforts to travel home as for comment. 158bn, the government “was not out of these one-after-the-oth- spite early warning by the PML- search of the mills, “but because will remain as allies for the next
his desperation grows, having Hassan said he was told by ready to allocate even half of it”, er crisis and economic disaster. N, the prime minister had not Imran Khan is implicit in this three years,” he added.
missed his father’s funeral, but a Pakistani official yesterday he said. If Imran had an ounce of empa- ordered any search of the mills crime worth billions, he has not Before the meeting with the
received conflicting informa- that they were planning to Bhutto Zardari pointed out thy for the poor and suffering owned by Minister for National done anything”. coalition partners, PTI leaders
tion from Pakistani officials. evacuate all students. that some of the country’s most Pakistanis, he must … accept his Food Security Khusro Bakhtiar Aurangzeb challenged the held an important session at the
“They need me at this time, However, students in Wu- prominent universities, includ- inability … and step down for and former Pakistan Tehreek- prime minister to search and Chief Minister’s House attended
my mother needs me,” said han told Reuters their hopes of ing the University of Peshawar, the welfare of the people,” she e-Insaf (PTI) secretary-general make public all records of sugar by the Punjab chief minister,
the PhD computer architec- returning were dashed after a are not even able to pay sala- said. Jahangir Tareen, alleging that exported from the sugar mills governor, Khattak, Umar, and
ture student, who asked to be video conference call between ries and pensions to their staff, Aurangzeb said that this “cir- this gave them enough time to owned by Tareen and Bakhtiar. Mahmood.
identified only by one name students and Pakistan’s health let alone funding research and cus of drama and lies” would move their “hoarded stocks, “In just 16 months, Pakistan Sources said that the meeting
in order to protect his family’s and overseas citizens ministers higher education. definitely damage the country wipe their records, and cover up has become the most expensive decided that they will continue
privacy. yesterday afternoon, in which “The government has demol- beyond repair. the tracks of their crimes and and most impoverished coun- to work with the coalition par-
His increasing anxiety is an imminent evacuation was ished the country’s economy … “Running Pakistan is beyond corruption”. try,” she said. ties.
shared by other Pakistani stu- ruled out.
dents in Hubei, some of whom Some of the students said
are increasingly critical of their Pakistani officials had sug-
government’s response to the
Many other countries, in-
gested that Pakistan did not
facilities.
Islamabad, Rawalpindi find their own superheroes
situation. have the necessary quarantine
cluding neighbouring In- A spokesman for Mirza said
dia and Bangladesh, evacu- in a statement the health min-
ated their citizens from Hubei ister had expressed concern Internews
province as the virus death toll for the welfare of students Karachi
rises, topping 900 yesterday. in the call and that Chinese
The Pakistani students and rules meant no one could leave
their families, including young Hubei, adding that the situa- he first issue of the superhero comic book series, Paak
children, are stuck indoors tion is being monitored. Legion, released in January is titled The Long Lost
most of the day. “After this call we don’t have TBrothers.
Four students told Reuters any hope from our government Contrary to what people would expect, the two newly-in-
that depression and anxiety are that they will evacuate stu- troduced superheroes, Shahvez and Shahnawaz, are siblings
growing, their feelings wors- dents,” said Sahil Hassan, an- who hate each other, but are forced to fight on the same team.
ened by fears of catching the other PhD student in Wuhan, Paak Legion is the brainchild of Islamabad-based artist
virus and uncertainty as to how who listened to the call. “We Umair Najeeb Khan and co-written by Iman Sultan.
long the conditions would last. are all completely disappointed The first issue introduces the brothers and gives their
“My very dear students in with our government.” background story, leading up them becoming heroes.
It is, however, just a five-minute read, without any villain
or superhero costumes.
Ski resort in Malala’s hometown, once The brothers sport unusual birthmarks, to which their
superpowers are attributed, raising the question of whether
under Taliban control, hosts event they are humans, androids, or possibly aliens.
Their birthmarks, coupled with the static visuals, imply
Pakistan hosted an international competition this weekend at a ski that their super powers are electric in nature.
resort in the hometown of Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai that had What makes the brothers’ storyline more intriguing is
once been under Taliban control. how different the brothers’ personalities are.
The Malam Jabba ski resort in Swat Valley, which has been dubbed Shahvez is more arrogant due to his hyper-privileged up-
the Switzerland of Pakistan by locals, in the Hindu Kush mountain bringing and accomplishments, while Shahnawaz appears to
range, was blown up by the Taliban when they controlled the region be more humble.
from 2007 to 2009. In terms of production values, there is a lack of consisten-
Thirty-six athletes from nine countries took part in the three-day cy in the artwork and speech bubbles in The Long Lost Broth-
competition, organised by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF). ers, making one confused about who is saying what first, and
This year’s higher number of participants is seen as a vote of who is who.
confidence in light of the country’s struggle to restore peace and For example, the characters mysteriously lose their jackets
stability. in the very next panel, along with an unexplained change of
British High Commissioner to Pakistan Christian Turner led the outfit.
team that competed alongside skiers from Canada, Greece, Ukraine, The comic book is priced at Rs650, plus shipping, and is
Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Timor Leste, and Turkey. Shahvez and Shahnawaz are siblings who hate each other but are forced to fight on the same team. available online.

Govt moves to shut
down top broadcaster
AFP
Manila
P hilippine government lawyers
moved yester-day to strip the
nation’s
biggest media group of its op-
erating franchise in what cam-
paigners branded a fresh attack on
press freedom under Presi-dent
Rodrigo Duterte.
Duterte has repeatedly pledged
he would stop the broadcast
operations of ABS-CBN, which
drew his anger during his rise to
power in the 2016 presidential
election campaign.
The solicitor general’s peti-tion
filed with the nation’s top court
alleges ABS-CBN vio-lated
provisions of its 25-year operating
franchise.
“We want to put an end to what
we discovered to be high-ly
abusive practices by ABS-CBN,”
Solicitor-General Jose Calida said
in a statement.
The move comes as the
broadcaster was working pub-licly
and privately to convince
lawmakers to renew its fran-chise,
which expires March 30.
Early in his term Duterte ac-
cused the network of failing to air
his 2016 campaign adver-
tisements and not returning the
payments, and has since singled it
our for ire in his speeches.
ABS-CBN, whose news and
11 drug suspects
killed, 247 held in
Bulacan sweep
Eleven suspected drug dealers
were neutralised, and 111 drug
suspects, 101 most wanted persons
and 35 illegal gamblers were arrest-
ed during a week long relentless
anti-crime drive by the Bulacan po-
lice’s Simultaneous Anti-Criminality
Law Enforcement Operations,
Manila Times reported. Col. Law-
rence Cajipe, Bulacan police acting
director, yesterday said the drive
was in line with marching orders of
Gen. Archie Gamboa, chief of the
Philippine National Police (PNP), to
step up the anti-criminality and anti-
insurgency campaigns of the PNP.
The fatalities identified during the
anti-illegal drug operations con-
ducted by the Drug Enforcement
Unit of the City of San Juan del
Monte, Norzagaray, San Ildefonso,
San Rafael, Sta Maria and Plaridel
were Jay-Ar Borromeo; Aaias Liit,
alias Jr; Jhodie Maglalang, alias
Roy; alias Jr Villanueva; Alfonza
Javier; Arnoli Omoso; Jerry Janoras;
Win Love Fogata; and Jose
Ragsag. Recovered from the
suspects were seven caliber .38
revolvers without serial numbers,
three improvised shotguns, one pen
gun, various ammunition and fired
cartridge cases.
Misamis Oriental bans ‘non-essential’ overseas travel over virus outbreak
By Nikki Delos
Reyes Manila Times
M isamis Oriental Gover-nor
Yevgeny Vincente Emano
has issued a
memorandum prohibiting pro-
vincial officials and employees to
travel outside the country, citing
the outbreak of the 2019 novel
coronavirus acute respiratory
disease (2019-nCoV ARD).
In his memorandum, Emano
said the ban was part of preven-
tive measures to ensure that no
provincial workers travelling
overseas would become carriers
of the 2019-nCoV upon their re-
turn to the country.
He, however, added that the
provincial government was not
saying its officials and employ-
ees going on foreign trips would
contract the virus.
If the workers have to travel
overseas for “emergency rea-
sons,” according to the governor,
they must first get permission
from the provincial health of-
ficer.
Emano encouraged provincial
residents who may have just ar-
rived from abroad to voluntarily
submit themselves to a 14-day
quarantine to make sure that they
are free of the coronavirus.
People attend a protest in support of broadcaster ABS-CBN in Manila, yesterday.
entertainment shows reach
tens of millions of Filipinos on-
line and via TV and radio, said
President urged to
reconsider US pact plan
Manila Times
Manila
T
he Senate yesterday adopted
a resolution urging President Rod-
rigo Duterte to reconsider his
plan to terminate the Visiting
Forces Agreement (VFA) be-
tween the Philippines and the
United States.
Senate Resolution 312, in-
troduced by Senate President
Vicente Sotto 3rd, Senate Mi-
nority Leader Franklin Drilon
and Sen. Panfilo Lacson, was
adopted with one abstention
— Sen. Ronald “Bato” de la
Rosa.
Duterte reiterated his call to
abrogate the VFA between
Manila and Washington after
the US the visa of dela Rosa
was cancelled.
But senators asserted that the
decision to terminate the
agreement must be reviewed
seriously such that it will not
affect the security and econ-
The regional office of the De-
partment of Health (DoH) in Ca-
gayan de Oro City said a total of
11 persons were admitted to vari-
ous hospitals in Northern Mind-
anao in January this year when the
virus was first reported on
suspicion that they might have
contracted the 2019-nCoV ARD.
Of the 11 patients, eight re-
mained in the hospitals, two were
considered patients under
investigation (PUIs) and one was
already discharged.
The Health department’s
regional office said Northern
Mindanao is still negative of the
2019-nCoV ARD and no death
from the virus had been report-ed.
The province of Mindoro Oc-
cidental PUI was reported to be
free of the disease.
There were 11 persons under
monitoring (PUMs), said the
Mindoro Occidental provincial
Health Office.
The 10 PUMs had reportedly
travelled to Japan, Taiwan, Sin-
gapore, South Korea and West-ern
Australia.
Provincial health officer Maria
Teresa Tan said even if there were
PUIs and PUMs in Mind-oro
Ocidental, the province re-mained
free of the coronavirus.
She said in case the 10 PUMs,
it has done nothing wrong.
“We did not violate the law.
This case appears to be an at-
omy of the Philippines and its
neighbours in the Asia Pacific
region.
They urged the president to
reconsider his plan to termi-nate
the VFA while the Senate is
conducting a thorough re-view
of the agreement.
“Fully recognising the au-
thority of the Chief Executive
and without intending to dis-
respect a co-equal body, pri-or
to unilaterally terminating the
VFA, the Senate should be
given the opportunity to conduct
a review and assess-ment of the
impact of the withdrawal on the
country’s security and economy,
spe-cifically with regard to
intel-ligence information
sharing, military aid and
financing and technical
assistance ex-tended by the US
relative to the continuing threats
posed by domestic and foreign
ter-rorist groups, and ultimately
to the stability and security in
the Asia Pacific region,” the
resolution said.
and possibly others, would test
positive for the virus, there are
isolation rooms ready in three
hospitals in the province —
Mamburao Provincial Hospital,
San Jose District Hospital and
Sablayan District Hospital.
Tan advised people to observe
personal hygiene and cough/
sneezing etiquette, wash hands
frequently and wear face masks if
they are not feeling well.
Mayor Romulo Festin of San
Jose, Occidental Mindoro ap-
pealed for a stop to the spread-ing
of fake news about supposed
coronavirus cases because doing
so, he said, causes panic among
the public.
Another appeal was made by
Baguio City health officer Dr Ro-
wena Galpo, this time addressed
to members of the Filipino-Chi-
nese community in the Summer
Capital, to help city officials led
by Mayor Benjamin Magalong in
monitoring members of the
community, particularly those
with history of travel to China,
especially Wuhan city in the last
10 to 14 days.
“Please report immediately if
anyone who came from those
places which exhibit any signs
and symptoms related to the
disease so that that we can take
measures and prevent transmis-
tempt to deprive Filipinos of
the services of ABS-CBN,” the
broadcaster said in a state-
Top Communist party
officials arrested in Bohol
Manila Times
Cebu City
uthorities arrested a
couple suspected as high
Aranking officials of the
Communist Party of the Phil-
ippines-New People’s Army
(CPP-NPA) in a joint military
and police operation in Getafe,
Bohol.
Lt Col Allan Tabudlo, com-
mander of the 47th Infantry
(Katapatan) Battalion based
in Tubigon, Bohol, said in a
statement that the couple, Rey
Camacho, 51, and his wife, Car-
melita, 48, were arrested by
virtue of a warrant of arrest for
murder issued by a Bohol re-
gional trial court.
Tabudlo said Rey, who car-
ries four aliases, namely Jeboy,
Teddy, Chad and Val, was the
finance staff of the CPP-NPA,
while Carmelita, alias Maureen
sion of the virus,” Galpo said.
A DoH advisory said symp-
toms to watch out for are runny
nose, headache, cough, sore throat
and fever.
Like Mindoro Occidental, the
Zamboanga Peninsula is dealing
with at least four PUMs suspect-
ed of carrying the coronavirus,
according to a local health of-
ficer.
“Please report immediately if
anyone who came from those
places which exhibit any signs
and symptoms related to the
disease
so that that we can take
measures and prevent
transmission of the virus”
Dr Joshua Brillantes, DoH-
Region 9 assistant regional di-
rector, said “two persons from
Zamboanga del Norte and one
each from Zamboanga del Sur
and Zamboanga City had been
placed under the PUM category.
Brillantes declined to identify
the four individuals, their ages
and their addresses “so as not to
violate their rights to private life.”
The PUMs were earlier re-
ported “to have visited countries
now infested with the nCoV vi-
rus and arrived last week in their
ment. Advocates said the gov-
ernment move was the latest
attack on press freedom under
Rey Camacho, 51, and his wife, Carmelita, 48, pose for a photo at the
Bohol Provincial Police Office after their arrest in Tulang, Getafe.
or Inday, was head of the Na-
tional Commission Special Op-
erations Group (NCSOG).
The joint forces cornered the
couple at a communist terrorist
group (CTG) lair in Tulang vil-
lage of Getafe when authorities
Region 9 residences.” According
to Brillantes, all
government hospitals in the
Zamboanga Peninsula had been
placed by DoH-9 on “blue alert
status” or on the watch for pos-
sible persons infected with the
virus.
In Barangay Pasonanca in
Zamboanga City, residents re-
portedly were thrown into panic
upon learning that a Chinese, who
owns a local fibre optic company
in the village, lately came home
from Wuhan, where the disease
that had killed hun-dreds in China
allegedly origi-nated.
Village Head Epifanio Julian
said the firm of the unidentified
Chinese employs some 50 work-
ers, “who were all wearing face
masks… because their manager is
a Chinese who just arrived from
China,” even as Julian no-ticed
the presence of many Chi-nese
owning business establish-ments
in this coastal city, which boasts
of 98 urban and rural vil-lages
populated by close to 1mn
inhabitants.
Julian quoted employees as
saying the company was equipped
with a machine that monitors
daily their body tem-perature.
City health officer Dr Dulce
PHILIPPINES
A woman walks outside the ABS-CBN Broadcasting Centre, the
office of the country’s top broadcast network, following a move
by the government to scrap its franchises, in Quezon City,
Metro Manila, yesterday.
Duterte, who has already tan-gled
with a top newspaper and a
website. “We must not allow the
vindictiveness of one man, no
matter how powerful, to run
roughshod over the constitu-
tionally guaranteed freedoms of
the press,” said the National Union
of Journalists of the Philippines.
Journalist Maria Ressa faces
years behind bars in a case that
she and press advocates say was
retaliation for the journalism of
her website Rappler.
Rappler, which has published
stories critical of Duterte’s ad-
ministration, is also battling a
government closure effort.
Both Rappler and ABS-CBN
stand accused of violating a
constitutional ban on foreign
ownership of mass media out-
served the warrant at 5.30 am
on Feb 8.
Camacho was the former
secretary of the Komiteng Re-
hiyon Central Visayas–Re-
gional Operational Command,
then later installed as its com-
Amor Miravite said local resi-
dents who recently visited China
were being monitored by her of-
fice.
In Tarlac, the Health depart-
ment, in co-ordination with the
Bases Conversion and Develop-
ment Authority and the pro-
vincial government of Tarlac on
Sunday said Filipinos who had
been repatriated from China were
well-accommodated and closely
monitored.
“All 32 repatriates landed
safely and free of any signs and
symptoms (of the coronavirus),
hence, they were all sent to New
Clark City (NCC) for close ob-
servation and monitoring for 14
days,” Health Undersecretary
Gerardo Bayugo said in a news
briefing.
If an individual, during his/ her
stay in a quarantine facil-ity in the
NCC, suddenly shows signs and
symptoms, the DoH has deployed
medical teams to immediately
assess and fa-cilitate transfer to
hospital for close monitoring.
“The DoH will be taking
charge of the management, co-
ordination and logistics of the
entire quarantine process. Rest
assured that repatriated overseas
Filipino workers will be attended
to and treated with
Gulf Times
Tuesday, February 11, 2020 17
lets. Both refute the allega-tions.
The solicitor general also accused
ABS-CBN of launching
a pay-per-view channel and
extending its franchise to other
entities without congressional
approval.
Duterte taunted the network in a
speech in December, tell-ing the
owners to sell it. “ABS-CBN, your
contract is about to expire. If I
were you, you’re better off selling
it,” Duterte said.
“I will make sure that you will
remember this episode of our
times forever.”
Duterte spokesman, Salvador
Panelo, said the president was not
involved in the petition. “It’s
Congress that has the au-thority to
grant or to renew, not the
president,” he said.
mander, before he became the
Regional Finance Tax Imple-
menting Group head for Ne-
gros, Cebu, Bohol and Siquijor.
His wife Carmelita became
NFC staff before she joined the
special operations group in
charge of the three regions of the
Visayas.
Recovered from the couple
were two laptop computers, three
handguns (two .38 cali-bre and
one .45 calibre hand-guns) and
ammunition, two hand grenades,
one hard case of various
explosives, detonat-ing cords and
blasting caps, 15 cellular phones,
several flash drives, subversive
propaganda documents, sacks of
butane and other camping
paraphernalia.
Tabudlo claimed that the ar-
rest of Camacho couple was a
result of the merging efforts of
the security forces and the lo-
cals who reported the latter’s
whereabouts in Bohol.
utmost care. Regular monitor-ing
will be conducted to ensure their
health and safety,” Bayugo said.
A similar assurance was made
by five hospitals man-aged by the
provincial govern-ment of Negros
Occidental that said they were
ready to admit PUIs for the 2019-
nCoV.
Leo Eusebio, head of Hos-pital
Operations Department, identified
the hospitals as the Teresita
Jalandoni Provincial Hospital in
Silay City with eight rooms and
eight beds; four beds and four
rooms in the Cadiz City District
Hospital; three rooms and three
beds in the Kabankalan City
District Hospital; and two rooms
and four beds in the Valladolid
Dis-trict Hospital.
The San Carlos City Hospital is
also ready, Eusebio said.
He added that the health fa-
cilities have isolation rooms, as
well as private rooms. Nurses who
will be assigned to the iso-lation
rooms would no longer be
assigned to attend to other patients
outside the rooms, Eusebio said.
The provincial government
earlier allocated P33.5mn for
prevention and control of the
virus.
 Gulf Times
18 Tuesday, February 11, 2020

COMMENT
CHAIRMAN
Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Attiyah
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Faisal Abdulhameed al-Mudahka
Deputy Managing Editor
K T Chacko

P.O.Box 2888, Doha, Qatar

editor@gulf-times.com
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GULF TIMES
Mitt Romney’s bold
stand earns him scorn
as a GOP traitor
Americans witnessed a historic moment in national
politics last Wednesday in the closing minutes of
President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial.
His acquittal was a foregone conclusion, not because
Trump deserved it but because Senate Republicans refused
to hear testimony and many had already made clear that no
amount of proof of Trump’s abuses would convince them

QBRI encourages residents to

to exercise independent thought.
Justice never stood a chance. Courage? No way. But then
came Utah Republican Senator Mitt Romney. Romney’s
remarks ahead of his vote were powerful, inspirational and
clearly driven by his deep concerns for the future of the
United States. One can (and should) read them in full.
He delivered his remarks fully aware that Trump and his
supporters would attack him. But Romney remained
steadfast and true to his principles. This is what courage is
all about. Some folks have it. Others – including Missouri
Senators Roy Blunt and Josh Hawley – choose cowardice
over country.
Romney’s bold
Romney’s centrist stand reminds one
approach serves of another inspiring
Republican figure,
as a model for the late Senator
politicians and John McCain, who
repeatedly stood
voters of both
up to Trump when
others wouldn’t.
parties to follow Trump, instead of
absorbing the truth behind McCain’s words, chose to attack
McCain’s military record and poke fun at the fact that he
spent 5 years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. Far too many
of McCain’s Republican colleagues cowered in silence or
stood in defence of the draft-dodging president.
Romney didn’t allow his historic antipathy to Trump
to sway his rationale. Rather, he studied the evidence and
testimony produced during the House impeachment inquiry.
Other senators tuned out and traded jokes during the mind-
numbingly repetitive Senate trial, but Romney studiously
listened and took notes.
He said his preference was not to convict Trump because
of the jolting implications of removing a sitting president
from office. Romney said he wanted to hear testimony from
former national security adviser John Bolton in hopes of
hearing something exculpatory that could justify a not-
guilty vote. But the evidence was indisputable that Trump
had abused his office by withholding military aid to
Ukraine in a bid to exact political favours.
stay active to improve their
health
As Qatar celebrates National
Sport Day, scientists from
QBRI stress the need to
exercise regularly and follow
a sensible diet to boost your
chances of avoiding cancer,
diabetes and neurological
disorders
Doha
N
ational Sport Day was first held in
Qatar in 2012 and it provides an
excellent oppor-tunity to unite the
country’s
residents to take part in fun sporting
activities.
But there is another essential aspect to
National Sport Day. It is the timely
chance to promote healthy living and
raise awareness of why an active and
sensible lifestyle is important in keeping
diseases at bay.
Qatar Biomedical Research Insti-tute
(QBRI), part of Hamad Bin Khalifa
University, was launched in the same
year as the first National Sport Day. The
similarity does not end there as QBRI
also actively encourages a healthy life-
style. It does so to improve and trans-
form healthcare through innovation in
prevention, diagnosis and treatment of
diseases affecting the Qatari population
and the region.
QBRI has three centres of excellence
– the Cancer Research Centre, Diabetes
Research Centre and Neurological Dis-
orders Research Centre – and all three
encourage staying active and eating well
to reduce the risk of disease.
The Cancer Research Centre focuses on
understanding the cellular and molecular
basis of cancer initiation and progression
with a focus on breast cancer, which is the
most common type of the disease among
females globally.
Dr Eyad Elkord, a Principal Investi-
gator at the Cancer Research Centre,
said: “Maintaining a healthy lifestyle
lowers the risk of cancer onset and dif-
ferent studies showed that significant
numbers of cancer deaths are due to
lifestyle-related risk factors. Exercise
controls tumour growth by mobilising
immune cells within the body and re-
leasing some factors from muscles with
anti-tumour properties.
“Moreover, regular exercise and
healthy eating habits maintain stability
within the body, known as haemosta-sis,
and could help to prevent cancer
initiation. Aerobic and cardiovascular
exercises, coupled with a balanced and
nutrient-rich diet, are highly recom-
mended for healthy individuals as well
as cancer patients undergoing treat-
ment.”
The Diabetes Research Centre serves
as a catalyst to promote in-novative
research on both Type 1 and Type 2
diabetes and related meta-bolic disorders.
Its primary goal is to gain fundamental
knowledge and enhance the
understanding of social, molecular and
genetic causes of the disease.
Dr Paul Thornalley, Director of the
Diabetes Research Centre, said: “Exer-
cise is good for the health of diabetics,
whether they have Type 1 or Type 2
diabetes. It helps to improve your health
and also decrease the risk of complica-
tions of diabetes.
“Patients with Type 1 diabetes
should check with their physician
before taking on a new exercise rou-tine
to plan how to best manage their blood
glucose and insulin injections
accordingly.
“For Type 2 diabetes, which is often
associated with being overweight and
obese, exercise is a good way to control
and improve body weight, the body’s
responsiveness to insulin and blood glu-
cose control. Particularly, in recently-
diagnosed Type 2 diabetes, exercise may
help along with a decreased calorie intake
to reverse the development of diabetes.
“In overweight and obese people,
doing more exercise and eating in mod-
eration to lose weight will help prevent
developing Type 2 diabetes. It is recom-
mended to do about two-and-a-half
hours’ exercise per week.”
The Neurological Disorders Re-search
Centre focuses on investigating neural
conditions of increasing preva-lence in
Qatar and the region. These ailments are
wide-ranging and include autism spectrum
disorder, intellec-tual disability, epilepsy,
Alzheimer’s
About Hamad Bin Khalifa University
Innovating Today, Shaping Tomorrow
Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU),
a member of Qatar Foundation for
Education, Science and Community
Development (QF), was founded in
2010 as a research-intensive university
that acts as a catalyst for transforma-
tive change in Qatar and the region
while having global impact. Located in
Education City, HBKU is committed to
building and cultivating human capac-
disease and Parkinson’s disease.
Dr Yongsoo Park, a scientist at
the Neurological Disorders Research
Center, said: “Neurological disorders
result from problems of the central and
peripheral nervous system but physical
exercises and activities can make our
nervous system active and healthy, and
therefore reduce the risk of neurological
disorders.
“Physical exercise leads to and
increases neurogenesis (creating new
neurons), neuroplasticity (improving
neural networks) and synaptic trans-
mission (enhancing neurotransmitter
release and improving brain function) so
the neurological benefits of exercise is
significant. For elderly people, yoga,
walking, running and swimming are
highly recommended, but a healthy diet,
good sleep and staying socially engaged
with friends and family is also
beneficial.”
We should be doing everything we
can to lead a healthy lifestyle. That
means eating well, exercising, avoiding
harmful things, getting enough sleep and
avoiding stress.
ity through an enriching academic
experience, innovative ecosystem, and
unique partnerships. HBKU delivers
multidisciplinary undergraduate and
graduate programmes through its
colleges, and provides opportunities
for research and scholarship through
its institutes and centres. For more
information about HBKU, visit www.
hbku.edu.qa

Romney said the president “is guilty of an appalling abuse

of the public trust. What he did was not ‘perfect.’ No, it was a
flagrant assault on our electoral rights, our national security
interests, and our fundamental values. Corrupting an election
to keep oneself in office is perhaps the most abusive and
destructive violation of one’s oath of office that I can
imagine.”
It’s amazing that Republicans would brand him a traitor
simply for exercising the exact due diligence and objective
analysis that was required in the pretrial oath sworn
by all senators. Romney’s centrist approach serves as a
model for politicians and voters of both parties to follow
– if only they can remove their blinders long enough to
actually read his words.

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Dr Eyad Elkord, Dr Paul Thornalley and Dr Yongsoo Park.
 Gulf Times 19
Tuesday, February 11, 2020

COMMENT

Is global climate solidarity impossible?

By Willem H. Buiter was a dismal failure, resulting in no new economies will bring massive increases
climate pledges or clear messages of in energy consumption and GHG
New York
intent for this year’s COP26 summit in emissions. In India, China, and many

D espite the buzz around climate

action at this year’s World
Economic Forum meeting in
Davos, Switzer-
land, the world’s current environmen-tal
prospects look grim. There are three
obstacles: climate-change denial; the
economics of reducing greenhouse-gas
(GHGs) emissions; and the politics of
mitigation policies, which tend to be
highly regressive.
According to the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change, global
carbon-dioxide emissions must be cut
by 45% from 2010 levels by 2030, and
then eliminated entirely by 2050, to
have even a reasonable chance of
preventing global warming of 1.5°C
above pre-industrial levels. “We need
quick wins,” warns the United Nations
Environment Program in its latest
Emissions Gap Report, “or the 1.5°C
goal of the Paris Agreement will slip
out of reach.”
That is an understatement. Even if
the current Nationally Determined
Contributions (NDCs) under the
2015 Paris accord are met, emissions in
2030 will be 38% above where they
need to be. Global average temperatures
will be on track to rise by a disastrous
2.9-3.4°C by 2100, with continuing
increases thereafter. The NDC targets
would need to be roughly tripled just to
limit warming to 2°C, and would have
to increase fivefold to achieve the 1.5°C
goal.
That is not going to happen. The only
time in recent history when CO2
emissions have looked as though they
might plateau was in 2014-2016, owing
to weak global growth. According to the
Global Carbon Project, emissions have
since increased again, by 2.7% in 2018
and 0.6% in 2019. Making matters
worse, the December 2019 UN Climate
Change Conference (COP25)
Glasgow.
Why is humanity so reluctant to save
itself? First, many people simply do not
accept the predictions issued by climate
scientists. But denialism is the least
serious of the three main obstacles.
There will always be a minority for
whom facts and logic are unwelcome
distractions. Yet even US President
Donald Trump must realise by now that
climate change will undermine the
future viability and profitability of Mar-
a-Lago.
As the real-world costs of climate-
driven disasters mount over time,
denialism will become less of an issue.
Indeed, a November 2019 Yale
University survey finds that 62% of
registered voters in the United States
already would support a president
“declaring global warming a national
emergency if Congress does not act.”
The second major challenge is that
GHG emissions are the quintessential
global economic externality. Climate
change doesn’t respect borders; GHGs
emitted anywhere will affect everyone
eventually. That means there is a massive
free-rider problem. Under current
circumstances, it will always be
individually rational to let others cut
back on their emissions rather than doing
so yourself. The only way to correct this
problem
is through collective rationality or
enlightened self-interest. But given the
current state of multilateralism,
expecting a truly global effort in
pursuit of the common good is a tall
order.
The third obstacle is that effective
policies to reduce GHG emissions
disproportionately hurt the poor (both
globally and within countries). The
International Monetary Fund recently
calculated that the current effective
global price of CO2 emissions is a mere
$2 per tonne. To limit global warming
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Swedish climate change activist Greta Thunberg at the 50th World
Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, January 21.
to less than 2°C, however, would
require an average effective price of $75
per tonne by 2030.
I agree with Harvard University
economist Kenneth Rogoff that a
uniform global carbon-emissions tax
is likely to be the best solution to the
climate challenge, at least from an
environmental perspective. But with
such a tax in place, average household
electricity prices over the next decade
would increase cumulatively by 45%,
and gasoline prices by 15%. Hence,
even within rich countries, the
distributional consequences would
be difficult to handle, as France’s
government found out after it tried to
introduce a modest fuel tax in 2018.
Worse, since the 1980s, effective
redistributive fiscal mechanisms in
most advanced economies have been
emasculated.
Moreover, the larger distributional
burden of a global carbon tax would fall
disproportionately on poor countries
that are hoping to pursue rapid
development in the coming decades.
Around 570mn people in Sub-Saharan
Africa alone lack access to basic
electricity; globally, the number is
closer to 1.2bn.
Needless to say, long-overdue
growth in developing and emerging
other countries, coal-fired power plants
will likely continue
to be built for years to come. Clean
and renewable energy from solar and
wind will complement, but not
displace, fossil fuels in these countries.
Despite the strides made in battery
storage technology, the intermittency
problems associated with wind and
solar imply a continuing role for fossil
fuels and nuclear power.
Consider India, which accounts for
7% of annual global GHG emissions,
making it the world’s fourth-largest
emitter, after China (27%), the US
(15%), and the European Union (10%).
That is despite the fact that India’s per
capita energy consumption is around
one-tenth of America’s. And even if that
figure doubles by 2030, it will still be
only half of what China’s was in 2015.
Countries like India and those in
Sub-Saharan Africa are not going to
sacrifice their economic development
for the sake of emissions reductions.
The only way to square the circle is to
extend financial aid to developing and
emerging economies undergoing
unavoidably energy-intensive
development, so that they can afford to
internalise the GHG externality through
an appropriately steep tax on emissions.
Unfortunately, sustained large-scale
international aid programmes are deeply
unpopular. And given that domestic
fiscal solidarity is already wanting,
cross-border fiscal solidarity seems like
a non-starter. Unless and until that
changes, an existential crisis of our own
making will only worsen. – Project
Syndicate
z Willem H Buiter, a former chief
economist at Citigroup, is a visiting
professor at Columbia University.

As nations bicker, a greener future evolves in finance Three-day forecast

AFP
London
A
a whose proceeds are devoted to
way from the toxic atmos-
phere at climate summit
talks, in boardrooms,
banks and trading houses,
transformation in green finance is
under way.
Its backers hope it could
profitably help save the planet.
Regardless of the politics of climate
change, there is real money to be
made today in the exploding market
for bonds and other instruments
invested in environmentally
sustainable projects.
But in the final analysis, uniform
regulation derived from collective
political action will be vital both for
the markets and for the planet itself,
observers acknowledge.
Hard-nosed US investors in
fields such as solar panels are not
necessarily driven by anxiety about
global warming, Climate Bonds
Initiative chief executive Sean
Kidney said.
“Most of them are Republicans
for god’s sake,” he said at a
conference on climate finance
organised by the European Bank of
Reconstruction and Development
(EBRD) in London.
“They care only about price,” he
added, predicting the transition
to a low-carbon future would
generate $90tn investment by
2050 in areas including low-energy
cooling, urban farming and greener
transport.
Kidney’s independent
organisation certifies “green
bonds” issued by governments,
municipalities and companies
sustainable development.
Notable issuers last month
included the Metropolitan
Transportation Authority in New
York, one of a slew of US cities
unwilling to wait on President
Donald Trump’s climate-sceptic
administration as they vie to adapt
their creaking infrastructures to a
low-carbon future.
The investment community more
broadly is running ahead of climate
politics, which have been stymied by
the refusal of the United States and
other major economies to chart a way
forward on the 2015 Paris accord.
BlackRock, the world’s biggest
asset management fund, shook the
industry last month by announcing
it would transition out of coal-
based investments.
“Climate risk has become
mainstream (for investors). It does
feel we have reached a tipping
point,” said Nick Anderson, board
member of International Financial
Reporting Standards, which is
crafting new climate guidance for
company accountants.
In 2019, the green bonds market
worldwide expanded by more than
half to about $258bn, and further
breakneck growth is expected this
year, according to the Climate
Bonds Initiative.
Departments at major banks in
charge of environmental, social and
governance (ESG) matters, once a
backwater in high finance, now have
real teeth as banks get serious about York mayor and now US presidential TODAY
profitable alternative investments candidate Michael Bloomberg, aims Maximum Temperature : 210c
Minimum Temperature : 130c
and their wider public image. to rationalise what companies must
Environmental finance is report to investors on their climate WEDNESDAY
“absolutely real and tangible”, said exposure. Maximum Temperature : 170c
Alexandra Basirov, global head of In the acronym-heavy field of Minimum Temperature : 120c
sustainable finance for financial climate finance, central banks are THURSDAY
institutions at French bank BNP also getting in on the act. Maximum Temperature : 190c
Paribas. One initiative derived from the Minimum Temperature : 130c
Banks such as BNP and ING have Paris accord is the Network for
Fisherman's forecast
pioneered lower-interest loans that Greening the Financial System
give greener projects an edge over (NGFS), a platform for central WARNING
more carbon-intensive ones. bankers to examine the global Inshore : Strong wind expected
at most places
But Basirov also cautioned at financial risks of climate change. Offshore : Strong wind and high
last week’s EBRD conference: A notable holdout has been the WEATHER sea
“Ultimately markets don’t operate US Federal Reserve, hobbled by
Inshore : Relatively cold daytime
efficiently without adequate data.” Trump’s vocal objections to climate and scattered clouds
Therein lies the rub for many action. Fed chief Jerome Powell with a chance of light
engaged in the ESG business: how hinted last month that it might soon rain at first and slight
dust to blowing dust at
to tally assets at risk from climate sign up. times, cold by night.
change, and how to quantify the risk Morgan Despres, head of the Offshore : Slight dust to dusty at
itself given the array of catastrophic NGFS secretariat and deputy chief times and partly cloudy
outcomes in store as temperatures of the financial stability department WIND with light scattered rain
rise. at the Banque de France, told Inshore : Northwesterly-Norther-
Credit risk agencies have been AFP that network staffers were in ly 13-23/28 KT
writing new models that seek to contact with Fed counterparts “on a Offshore : Northwesterly 19-29/36
KT
calculate corporate exposure, regular basis”. Visibility : 4-8/3 KM
such as the weight of assets “Any action does need to Offshore : 5-9/12 FT
that companies already hold be global,” he added, echoing
in potentially obsolete carbon environmentalists who say that
Around the region
investments. policymakers must in the end bury
Weather Weather
Green investments are already their differences and catch up with
today Max/min tomorrow Max/min
turning into greenbacks for firms, financiers on climate change.
according to James Leaton, vice- For investors, the EBRD Baghdad Sunny 08/-2 P Cloudy 12/04
president for climate risk at conference heard that the most Kuwait City Sunny 13/02 Sunny 13/04
Moody’s Investors Service. meaningful policy action would Manama Cloudy 17/10 Cloudy 15/12
Sustainable projects show a be for governments to agree a Muscat M Sunny 27/20 P Cloudy 23/16
“lower default rate” because true market price for carbon that Tehran S Showers -1/-7 Sunny 02/-2
investors see them as more future- properly reflects its climate impact.
proof and creditworthy, he said. “Without carbon pricing, you can
The Task Force on Climate- only go so far,” Eric Usher, head of
related Financial Disclosures, an the UN Environment Programme’s
initiative launched by former New finance initiative, said.

Live issues Around the world

Weather Weather

Deep learning computer system can predict weather changes Athens

today
M Sunny
Max/min
19/09
tomorrow
M Sunny
Max/min
19/09
Beirut S Showers 14/12 Rain 16/14
Bangkok P Cloudy 35/26 Sunny 33/27
QNA five-km height, and each pair shows in the American Geophysical Hassanzadeh, an assistant professor Berlin Cloudy 06/03 Cloudy 06/02
Washington those conditions several days apart. Unions Journal of Advances in of mechanical engineering and of Cairo P Cloudy 19/09 Sunny 22/11
The training includes scenarios Modeling Earth Systems, Pedram Earth, environmental and planetary

R
Cape Town Sunny 28/17 Sunny 28/17
that produced extreme weather, Hassanzadeh. sciences at Rice. Colombo M Sunny 32/25 S T Storms 32/26
extended hot and cold spells that The accuracy of day-to-day “But because we don’t fully Dhaka Sunny 27/14 Sunny 27/13
ice University engineers have
can lead to deadly heat waves and weather forecasts has improved understand the physics and Hong Kong P Cloudy 19/16 M Sunny 21/18
created a deep learn-ing winter storms. steadily since the advent of precursor conditions of extreme-
computer system that taught Istanbul S Showers 13/07 P Cloudy 12/05
itself to accurately Once trained, the system was computer-based numerical weather causing weather patterns, it is also Jakarta S T Storms 31/24 T Storm 30/24
predict extreme weather events, like able to examine maps it had not prediction (NWP) in the 1950s. possible that the equations aren’t Karachi M Sunny 28/16 Sunny 29/17
heat waves, up to five days in advance previously seen and make five-day But even with improved fully accurate, and they won’t London Cloudy 07/03 P Cloudy 09/04
using minimal information about forecasts of extreme weather with numerical models of the produce better forecasts, no matter Manila M Sunny 30/22 M Sunny 31/23
current weather conditions. 85% accuracy. atmosphere and more powerful how much computing power we put Moscow S Showers 02/0 Cloudy 02/-1
Ironically, Rice’s self-learning With further development, computers, NWP cannot reliably in.” New Delhi Sunny 22/10 Sunny 24/13
“capsule neural network” uses an the system could serve as predict extreme events like the “We decided to train our model by New York Rain 09/02 M Cloudy 07/04
analog method of weather an early warning system for deadly heat waves in France in 2003 showing it a lot of pressure patterns Paris M Cloudy 09/04 P Cloudy 10/05
forecasting that computers made weather forecasters, and as a and in Russia in 2010. in the 5km above the Earth, and Sao Paulo Showers 21/17 S T Storms 22/18
obsolete in the 1950s. tool for learning more about the “It may be that we need telling it, for each one, ‘This one Seoul M Sunny 13/-3 Rain 09/03
During training, it examines atmospheric conditions that lead faster supercomputers to solve didn’t cause extreme weather’.” Singapore T Storm 31/26 S T Storms 32/26
hundreds of pairs of maps. to extreme weather, said Rice’s the governing equations of the “Our immediate goal is to extend Sydney I T Storms 26/21 I T Storms 26/21
Each map shows surface co-author of a study about the numerical weather prediction our forecast lead time to beyond 10 Tokyo Clear 11/03 Clear 14/02
temperatures and air pressures at system published online this week models at higher resolutions,” said days,” he said.
 Gulf Times
20 Tuesday, February 11, 2020

QATAR

Industries Qatar reports net profit of QR2.6bn

M arket heavyweight In-dustries
Qatar (IQ) has reported net
prof-
it of QR2.6bn on revenues of
QR13.7bn in 2019 and recom-
mended cash dividend of QR0.4
per share.
The profitability and the reve-
nues had however fallen 49% and
16% respectively year-on-year,
reflecting the challenging macr-
oeconomic environment in 2019,
which was marked by weaker glo-
bal demand, lower global gross
economic growth, trade conflicts
and overcapacities, IQ said. This
led to increased pressure on the
prices of its product portfolio in
various markets, which negative-
ly affected the financial perform-
ance, it added.
“Despite a difficult business
climate, our operations were re-
silient and responded effectively
to regional and global market
challenges...Operational excel-
lence, cost efficiencies and a re-
lentless focus on HSE will be key
going forward towards maintain-
ing a lean organisation that con-
tinues to preserve shareholder
value,” said HE Saad bin Sherida
al-Kaabi, chairman and manag-ing
director.
Profits in the petrochemicals
segment remained under pres-sure,
with it plunging 47% to QR1.3bn
in 2019, mainly on sof-tening
demand for petrochemical
products in key markets, excess
capacities, new environmental
regulations in selected econo-mies
and declining prices.
Blended product prices in the
petrochemicals segment de-
clined 15%, and sales volumes fell
by 12%, on the back of weaker de-
mand and rising capacity, which
led to a decline in revenue by 25%
within the segment to QR4.4bn in
2019.
In the fertilisers segment, net
profit shrank 37% to QR873mn,
due to an overall decline in sell-ing
prices of 9%, amid supply-demand
imbalances.
This led to a decrease of 9% in
the segment revenues year-on-
year. In contrast, the group
maintained sales volumes at 2018
levels, despite pressure from both
the demand and supply sides.
Production remained stable, with
an increase of 2% in over-all
volumes compared with the last
year, and a new production record
was reached for ammonia and
near-record production lev-els
were achieved for urea.
The steel segment reported
revenue of QR5.1bn, a reduction
of 12%, driven mainly owing to
12% lower selling prices, which
was slightly offset by a marginal
1% increase in sales volumes.
Local demand for steel sof-
tened as many large infrastruc-ture
projects in Qatar neared or
reached completion. Neverthe-
less, near-to-medium-term
prospects for the steel segment
remain encouraging.
At the group level, the finan-
cial position remained robust, with
the liquidity position at the end of
the year reaching QR10.7bn in
cash and bank bal-ances, after
accounting for a QR3.6bn
dividend paid for 2018. IQ
Group’s net cash and bank
balance including proportionate
share of joint ventures reached
QR12.4bn as on December 31,
2019, a testament to its efficient
and effective cash-flow genera-
tion capabilities, which provide
confidence and sustainability in
turbulent times.
At the end of 2019, IQ was able
to settle its entire debt obligation,
making the group debt-free. Total
assets and total equity reached
QR35.9bn and QR34.2bn,
respectively, at the end of 2019.

Three more stadiums to

be launched this year
From Page 1
“Moreover research and innovation is

an integral part of the tournament to make

it the most advanced tournament,” he ex-
plained.
According to al-Thawadi, innovation is
at the core of the tournament and he high-
lighted a particular project by QF’s Hamad
Bin Khalifa University (HBKU).
“The HBKU project will be a ground
breaking one. I cannot disclose more de- QGBC’s Meshal al-Shamari.
tails, but it will be used beyond 2022 and
can have a great global impact. We have
applied several sustainable practices and
materials in the infrastructure develop-
ment for the tournament. Moreover, we
have committed to make the tournament a
carbon neutral event,” he pointed out.
Al-Thawadi highlighted that the World
Cup is an opportunity not just for Qatar
but for the entire region. He also noted
that SC in a few months’ time will be
launching a programme for volunteers in QF’s Khalifa al-Kubaisi.
preparation for the tournament.
“As for the tournament tickets, we are spirit of open dialogue and the exchange of
developing a ticketing strategy so that a perspectives”
significant portion goes for the local fans Meanwhile, Qatar Green Building
and at the same time another significant Council (QGBC) director, Meshal al-
part goes for the international fans,” he Shamari, commented “In the last quarter of
concluded. 2019 we saw mega sports, huge food
Khalifa Essa al-Kubaisi, media rela- festivals, conferences, exhibitions. QGBC
tions and press office manager, QF said: has developed a new Green Event Certifi-
“Our Education City Speaker Series hosts cation to ensure all of these events are en-
experts and thought-leaders from Qatar vironment-friendly, and we have started, as
and beyond to give their insights and share a first stage, with attempts to imple-ment
their experiences on a wide spectrum of and test this system with some of the sport
topics. It provides the community of Qa- events and exhibitions, and we hope in the
tar with an opportunity to both hear from, second stage that it will be applied to all
A section of the audience at the Education City Speaker Series organised by QF yesterday. PICTURE: Jayaram and engage with, these speakers in the events in Qatar before 2022.”

Calling all fitness enthusiasts

More options are now available for health, fitness and recreation enthusiasts in the country as the Supreme Committee for Delivery
& Legacy (SC) has called upon people to visit its new parks. “If you would like a new place to enjoy National Sport Day with your
family and friends, visit one of our newly inaugurated parks: Al Bayt Park, Al Janoub Park and Al Ersal Park,” the SC tweeted
yesterday. PICTURES: From SC Twitter page and by Ram Chand