ACD will lay foundations for harnessing diversity: Amir - Qatar ...

WEDNESDAYMAY 1, 2019

SHA’BAN 26, 1440VOL.12 NO. 4621 QR 2

Fuel prices go up in May

FUEL prices will go up in May, Qatar Petroleum (QP) an-nounced on Tuesday. A statement on QP website stated that premium grade petrol will cost QR1.95 per litre in May, 15 dirhams more than the price of April. Super grade petrol will be available at QR2 a litre, 15 dirhams more than the April price. Similarly, diesel will cost QR2 per litre, 5 dirhams more than the April price. (TNN)

HH Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Education Above All and UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Advocate, met Prime Minister of Malaysia Dr Mahathir Mohammed in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday. During their meeting, they discussed the efforts of Education Above All in supporting refugee children in Malaysia. (HHOPL)

SHEIKHA MOZA MEETS MALAYSIAN PM

QNADOHA

THE Amir HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani met heads of the delegations taking part in the 16th Ministerial Meeting of the Asia Co-operation Dialogue (ACD) at the Amiri Diwan on Tuesday.

The Amir hosted a dinner ban-quet in honor of the heads of the delegations participating in the ACD meeting.

In a tweet, the Amir said, “We are delighted with the launch of the ACD in Asia and we welcome the ministers and officials at this session, which will lay new foundations for harness-ing diversity and great potential of our continent in promoting integra-tion and positive competition among members of this important system.”

In a tweet, Deputy Prime Min-ister and Minister of Foreign Af-fairs HE Sheikh Mohammed bin

Abdulrahman al Thani said, “Asia has all the capabilities required to enhance the development of human resources and economic wealth in the world. We look forward to a suc-cessful #AsiaCooperationDialogue in #Doha #ACD.”

In a speech at the start of the pre-paratory meetings for the 16th Asian Ministerial Meeting, ACD Secretary-General Bundit Limschoon praised the role played by Qatar in reviving

the Asian Cooperation Dialogue.He said the endeavour launched

by Qatar to revive this dialogue aims to rebuild and establish the confi-dence and morale of the member states, especially after the postpone-ment of the meeting for the third time. He said the ACD meeting is very important as it was the first meeting in two and a half years since the meeting held in Abu Dhabi in 2016.

ACD will lay foundations for harnessing diversity: Amir

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORKDOHA

AL Mana Malls has unveiled plans for the grand opening of Doha Mall in February 2020.

Built on a plot of 125,000 square metres with a total of 270,000 square metres built up area with around 100,000 sqm of gross leasable area, Doha Mall will be the only su-per-regional mall in the south-ern part of Doha.

Doha Mall comprises a combination of targeted re-tailers over three levels, ser-viced with over 3,500 parking spaces.

It will be home to more

than 250 retail stores, with over 14 anchor stores, a new FLiK Cinemas concept, 10 cinema screens, world-class bowling centre, hi-tech family entertainment centre, tram-poline and adventure park for children, a wide range of din-ing options with more than 60 food and beverage units as well as well-lit ambience with natural sky light; making it a one-stop-shop destination.

Strategically located in Abu Hamour, Doha Mall will be one of the most highly ac-cessible shopping and enter-tainment destinations.

Doha Mall set to open in Feb next year

Strategically located in Abu Hamour, Doha Mall will be one of the most highly accessible shopping and entertainment destinations.

‘Qatar to reduce pedestrian mortality to 17% by 2022’

HISHAM ALJUNDIDOHA

QATAR is moving ahead with its strategies to reduce road fa-talities and complying with the World Health Organisation and UN sustainable development goals, Director General of Traffic Maj General Mohammed Saad al Kharji has said.

“Qatar has already imple-mented these recommendations, through a plan to reduce pedes-trian mortality from 32 percent in 2017 to 17 percent in 2022, as well as adding the United Nations goals for sustainable develop-ment to the objectives of the Na-tional Traffic Safety Strategy and establishing the National Traffic Safety Office to enhance imple-mentation requirements,” Kharji said during the Seventh Forum of the Coordinators for implement-

ing National Road Safety Strategy in Doha on Tuesday.

Kharji, Second Deputy Chair-man of the National Traffic Safety Committee, said Qatar is currently the leader in the field of “traffic safety management” in the Middle East and the third world countries, but it still faces a major challenge in reducing traffic fatalities.

Dr Mohammed bin Hamad

al Thani, Director of the Public Health Department at the Min-istry of Public Health, said the response time for emergency calls has been improved to five seconds or less.

The rate of arrival of ambu-lances to the accident site in Doha is seven minutes and outside Doha to eight minutes in 91 percent of cases. The department is work-ing for the development and ex-pansion of community initiatives to provide care for the patient in the home after receiving treat-ment. The healthcare profession-als visited 60 percent of the people resting in the homes after leaving the hospital to assess the home environment and their health. The department participated in scien-tific conferences and international workshops.

Qatar presents detailed submission to WTO against Saudi piracy


THE Ministry of Commerce and Industry has announced that it has filed and published its First Written Submission in Qatar’s chal-lenge to Saudi Arabia’s failure to protect in-tellectual property in accordance with its international obligations as a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The dispute, which is currently being considered by a WTO Panel, will evaluate the multiple claims brought by Qatar under the WTO’s Agreement on Trade-Related as-pects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement).

The ministry has stressed that Riyadh’s ac-tions constitute a flagrant violation of Saudi’s international and moral obligations, a posi-tion that Qatar will further demonstrate in the coming months during two oral hearings in Geneva, Switzerland, before the WTO Panel, as well as in additional written submissions. As detailed in Qatar’s 112-page submission, Saudi Arabia has taken actions that represent not only violations of its obligations to protect intellectual property rights of Qatari nationals, but also the rights of nationals from other trad-ing partners, including the US and the Euro-pean Union.

Maj Gen Mohammed Saad al Kharji.

Ambulances reach accident sites within 7 minutes inside Doha

Sidra Village opens gates to first occupants

from todayTHE Sidra Village — one of the largest residential housing developments in Qatar — will welcome its first occupants on Wednesday, offering 1,165 ready-to-move-in, fully-furnished apartments mostly for Sidra Medicine’s nursing staff. The complex is developed by Mazaya Real Estate Development Com-pany for the Qatar Founda-tion for Education, Science and Community Development (QF) under a build, operate and transfer scheme. —Rahul Preeth (PAGE 14)

We are delighted with the launch of the ACD in Asia and we welcome the ministers and officials at this session, which will lay new foundations for harnessing diversity and great potential of our continent in promoting integration and positive competition among members of this important system.

Emergency response rate less than five seconds

Vodafone Qatar Q1 net profit jumps 149% to QR44 mn (P 12)

Ashghal completes 68% of projects

to enhance safety around schools (P 2)More on page 14

Continued on page 2

AMIR MEETS PARTICIPANTS OF ASIA COOPERATION DIALOGUE MEETING

(PAGE 14)

The Amir HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani with participants of 16th Ministerial Meeting of the Asia Cooperation Dialogue at the Amiri Diwan on Tuesday. SEE ALSO PAGE 2

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Near Ahli Bank Al Meera Petrol Station Al Meera

Business 12Doha Bank posts Q1 net profit of QR307 mn

Sports 16Al Sadd’s Afif named Best Player of the Year at QFA Awards

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02 Wednesday, May 1, 2019

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Amir sends condolences to Mozambique president

THE Amir His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani sent on Tuesday a cable of condolences to President of Mozambique Filipe Jacinto Nyusi on the victims of Cyclone Kenneth that struck Mozambique’s northern coast, wishing the injured a speedy recovery. (QNA)

Deputy Amir commiserates with Mozambique president THE Deputy Amir His Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad al Thani sent a cable of condolences to President of Mozambique Filipe Jacinto Nyusi on the victims of Cyclone Kenneth that struck Mozambique’s northern coast, wishing the injured a speedy recovery. (QNA)

PM sends condolences to Mozambique counterpartPRIME Minister and Minister of Interior HE Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al Thani sent a cable of condolences to Prime Minister of Mozambique Carlos Agostinho do Rosario on the victims of Cyclone Kenneth that struck Mozambique’s northern coast, wishing the injured a speedy recovery. (QNA)

Culture minister meets Ukrainian Charge d’Affaires MINISTER of Culture and Sports HE Salah bin Ghanem al Ali met with Charge d’Affaires of the Ukrainian Embassy in Qatar Vasyl Bodnar in Doha on Tuesday. During the meeting, they discussed aspects of cooperation between the two countries in cultural and sports fields and means of developing them. (QNA)

Sulaiti meets Munich Security Conference COO MINISTER of Transport and Communications HE Jassim Saif Ahmed al Sulaiti met with Chief Operating Officer of the Mu-nich Security Conference (MSC) Dr Benedikt Franke in Doha on Tuesday. They discussed means of boosting cooperation between Qatar and MSC in the field of cybersecurity and regional security. They also reviewed coordination between the two parties on the MSC Cyber Security Summit that Doha will host in October. (TNN)

Qatar attends meeting of GCC ministers, heads of civil services QATAR attended the 16th meeting of the GCC ministers and heads of civil service bodies in Oman on Tuesday. Qatar’s delega-tion was led by Minister of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs HE Yousef bin Mohammed al Othman Fakhroo. The meeting discussed topics related to the civil service in the GCC countries and took appropriate decisions in this regard. The ministerial meeting was preceded by a meeting of undersecretar-ies of ministers on Monday. (QNA)

Ashghal completes 68% of project to enhance traffic safety around schoolsTRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA

THE Public Works Author-ity ‘Ashghal’ has completed 68 percent of the project to enhance security in and around schools, especially at the entry and exit points, Eng Yousef Abdulrahman al Ema-di, Projects Affairs director at Ashghal, said on Tuesday.

Speaking at the Seventh Forum of the Stakeholder Coordinators of the National Road Safety Strategy held under the patronage of Prime Minister and Minister of Inte-rior HE Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al Thani,

Emadi said, “Ashghal continues to implement its programme to streamline traffic around schools to en-sure safety of students, par-ents and staff. So far, we have covered 335 of 495 schools constituting 68 percent of the targeted schools.”

Highlighting traffic safety as one of Ashghal’s priorities, Emadi added, “Ashghal is col-laborating with its partners to implement projects aimed at achieving highest safety standards on Qatar’s roads and has completed many projects within the National Road Safety Strategy”.

He said, “Ashghal com-pleted maintenance and pavement of roads along nearly 200 kilometres in 2018. Ashghal has also com-

pleted installation of 15 dy-namic signs on important

highways and main roads such as Al Corniche St., 22

February St., C-Ring Road, Khalifa Avenue, Dukhan Road and Salwa Road. These boards display road status for road users regarding traf-fic, congestion, diversion and closures, etc.”

In addition, Ashghal has completed implementation of congestion management plan constituting an accident response team in close coop-eration with other emergency support services to attend to accident sites throughout Qatar. This plan includes in-vestigation of road accidents, measuring damages and de-termining causes.

Eng Emadi added that Ashghal has also implement-ed the road safety engineering

plan. It includes development of a pilot project for best road practices in terms of imple-menting reduced speeds, giving priority to pedestrian crossing facilities through bridges, especially in acci-dent-prone areas and near sport facilities being built for 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Through a field survey project designed for Street Assets and Elements in Qa-tar, Ashghal has established an integrated database of more than 22,000 km of road routes, which includes more than 800,000 originals and around 20,000 kilometres of longitudinal assets such as safety barriers, and more than 68 square kilometres of surface pavement.

It is worth mentioning that Ashghal’s five-year plan for the period (2018-2022) includes implementation of 25 action plans for road safety assessment and follow-up, including achievement of safety at work sites, traffic congestion management, in-telligent transportation sys-tem (ITS), road safety design, traffic safety, assets manage-ment and road maintenance.

This plan also involves an emergency response team for urgent maintenance work, study of signages, ensure pedestrian safety and traf-fic congestion management during hosting of FIFA World Cup 2022.

Minister of Transport and Communications HE Jassim Saif Ahmed al Sulaiti with other dignitaries at the Seventh Forum of the Stakeholder Coordinators of the National Road Safety Strategy in Doha on Tuesday.

MADLSA issues decision on setting up joint labour panels

QNADOHA

THE Ministry of Administra-tive Development, Labour and Social Affairs announced the issuance of ministerial decision No 21 of 2019 on joint labour committees within establish-ments subject to the provisions of the Labour Law.

The ministry said in a press release on Tuesday that the de-cision was issued in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 13 of the Labour Law prom-ulgated by Law No 14 of 2004 on joint labour committees in

establishments subject to the provisions of the Labour Law, whereby employers and work-ers choose their representa-tives.

The establishment of these committees will play an impor-tant role in creating an environ-ment conducive to production and bring many benefits to the Qatari labour market.

The joint committees will work to strengthen the atmos-phere of cooperation, improve working relationships and in-crease organisational efficiency within companies, and address complaints internally.

MoEHE begins third phase of land allocation for private sector

QNADOHA

THE Ministry of Education and Higher Education has launched the third phase of land allocation under the BOT system within the framework of stimulating the participa-tion of the private sector in the economic development projects.

This came during an intro-ductory workshop on the pro-ject, attended by a large number of investors, owners of private schools and senior officials of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education.

Khalid al Hajri, director of the General Services Depart-ment at the ministry and mem-

ber of the Technical Committee of the Ministerial Group for the Encouragement and Participa-tion of the Private Sector in the Economic Development Pro-jects of Qatar, presented an ex-planation of the third phase, the conditions of competition and requirements, specifications and the general guidelines for school buildings for each stage of study separately.

He noted that six land lots were allocated in the first phase and three others were allocated in the second phase, while the third phase will include the al-location of two government-owned land lots for the private sector to design, build and op-erate the buildings as private schools.

Education ministry trying to spread traffic safety culture’

DR Ibrahim al Naimi, under-secretary of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education and head of the Task Force for following up the implementation of the strategy, said the ministry is taking steady steps towards achieving the objectives of the National Traffic Safety Strategy.

Nearly 70 percent of the ministry’s tasks were com-

pleted within this strategic plan, he said. The opera-tions included preparation of plans according to a study of current and future activities, spreading traffic safety culture through field visits by the min-istry’s specialists to schools in a continuous way, meeting with the coordinators of traffic safety in public and private schools in addition to holding workshops.

Continued from page 1

THE Amir His High-ness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani met at the Amiri Diwan on Tuesday heads of the delega-tions taking part in the 16th Ministerial Meeting of the Asia Cooperation Dia-logue (ACD) in Doha. HH the Amir hosted a dinner banquet in their honour. (QNA).

AMIR MEETS PARTICIPANTS OF ACD MEETING IN DOHA

Nation 03Wednesday, May 1, 2019

“YOUR HEALTH FIRST”CONGRATULATES THE WINNERS OF PROJECT: GREENHOUSE

School rankings:1. Jawaan Bin Jassim Primary School for Boy2. Al-Khor Preparatory School for Girls3. Dokhan Primary Preparatory Secondary

School for Girls4. Qatar Leadership Academy 5. Al-kharsaa Primary school for Boys6. Abdullah bin Turkey Primary School For Boys7. Audio Education Complex for Boys 8. Ahmed Mansour Primary School for Boys 9. Zaynab Bint Jehesh Primary School for Girls10. Al Markheya Primary School for Girls

THE Public Prosecution, represented by the Department of Information Sys-tems, received the certificate of excellence awarded by the European Foundation of Quality Management (EFQM). King Abdullah II Center for Excellence in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan as a repre-sentative of EFQM, in collaboration with Areej Al-jazeera Technical Services WLL, awarded the certificate of excellence in accordance with the approved standards of institutional excellence to the Depart-ment of Information Systems. The certifi-cate of excellence awarded by EFQM is the highest certification as it adopts a model of institutional excellence consisting of world-class standards for performance evaluation and measurement of results. Accordingly, the Department of Informa-tion Systems of the Public Prosecution be-came the first government department in the State of Qatar to obtain this certificate from EFQM. (QNA)

QNA DOHA

THE Ministry of Endowments (Awqaf) and Islamic Affairs has an-nounced a number of programmes and events to be organised in dif-ferent parts of the country in preparation for the Holy Month of Ramadan.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Director of Mosques Department at the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Moham-ed bin Hamad al Kuwari stressed the readiness of the mosques in the country to receive all worshipers during the Holy Month, announc-ing that between the beginning of 2018 and mid-April of this year, the ministry received 88 new mosques and 67 plots of land allocated by the State to build mosques.

Kuwari pointed out that the number of Qatari imams reached 147 and the number of non-Qatari

imams is 906 imams.He said the ministry has sub-

mitted 15 tenders for cleaning 1,091 mosques at a cost of more than QR115 million.

On his part, Director-Gener-al of the General Department of Awqaf Dr Sheikh Khalid bin Mo-hammed al Thani spoke about the diverse activities of the Public En-dowments Department during the Holy Month.

Director of the Zakat Fund Department at the Ministry of En-dowments (Awqaf) and Islamic Affairs Jassem bin Mohamed al Kubaisi said the Zakat Fund’s plan for Ramadan will implement an awareness programme on Zakat for external areas, awareness of Zakat and the implementation of the annual course aimed at raising public awareness of Zakat and its provisions. It is expected that more than 100 participants will attend this course.

Awqaf announces array of activities for RamadanQNA

DOHA

QATAR celebrated the International Intellectual Property Day on April 26, which was marked this year un-der the theme “Reach for Gold: IP and Sports”.

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI), in cooperation with the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), organised an event in which several panel discus-sions on the theme of the event as well as an exhibition of various types of inventions were held.

Director of the MoCI’s Intel-lectual Property Rights Protection Department Amna Jaber al Kuwari addressed the relationship between sport and intellectual property, pointing out that the theme of the celebration is to highlight the im-portance of sport and the role of intellectual property in this field, and its contribution to motivating players to win and seek gold medals and achieve excellence. She added that the MoCI’s Intellectual Prop-

erty Rights Protection Department is keen to facilitate the processes and procedures for registration of owners’ rights, support them and provide advice and guidance on how to protect and enforce these rights in the State, including sports players and commentators working in the field of sports and others.

Kuwari pointed out that most of the manual or electronic sports de-vices and equipment are protected by one or more intellectual property rights, which cover patents issued to medical equipment and devices, and for which several specialized com-panies compete to win, each with its own distinctive brand that every player or trader in the field of sports is keen to buy their products to train players.

She noted that this sports equip-ment may have its beautiful design or manufacturing model, thus gain-ing protection for the exterior shape of the model or design, the design of the stadium that houses the sport-ing event itself, or the creation of a game and a description of the way it

is played in a booklet with drawing and photography explanation. All of which are protected under copyright for publication and commercializa-tion.

She tackled a number of other similar models, including a dis-tinguished computer program for sports, photography, or used in the analytical studio with audiovisual effects, as well as the protection of songs performed by an artist at the opening ceremonies or the end of the sporting event.

Kuwari pointed out that all of the above mentioned and others are intellectual property rights in the field of sport, and thus facilitates the acquisition of intellectual property rights and proof of their material and moral rights under the national laws and international treaties and conventions to which Qatar is a party. She added the MoCI is keen to modernize its legislation and to ad-here to the international treaties on the protection of the international rights as well as to protect the broad-casting rights of the beIN SPORTS

group from the current violations internationally.

She noted that Qatar’s organi-sation for the competitions of the world football cup in 2022 is what embodies the above, including the protection of many intellectual property rights that will be created on the occasion of this global sport-ing event, indicating the efforts of the Ministry to protect and enforce rights and stop infringements, if found immediately and effectively.

The Senior Advisor to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Dr Amir al Jazairi, said in his speech that World Intellec-tual Property Day aims to create a unique opportunity to understand the role of intellectual property in maintaining balance between com-peting interests, which embraces cultural innovation and creativity, as well as between the interests of the individual and the society, the in-terests of both the producer and the consumer, and the encouragement of innovation and the sharing of the benefits derived therefrom.

Qatar celebrates Int’l Intellectual Property Day

CARTOON CORNER By: Saad al Mohannadi

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defence Affairs HE Dr Khalid bin Moham-med al Attiyah met with the Senior Minister of State for Defence and Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Singapore Dr Mohamad Maliki bin Osman. They discussed the relations between the two countries and ways of enhancing them. The meeting was attended by Commander of the Amiri Air Force HE Major General (Pilot) Mubarak Mohammed al Kumait al Khayareen and senior officers at the Qatari Armed Forces. (QNA)

Attiyah meets Singaporean counterpart Public Prosecution gets EFQM award

04 Wednesday, May 1, 2019 Nation

QNADOHA

THE meeting of senior officials of Member States of the Asian Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) began on Tuesday as they pre-pare for the 16th ministerial meeting from today under the chairmanship of Qatar. The meeting of senior officials is discussing topics on the agenda of the ministerial meeting, as well as a number of topics re-lated to support for joint action among member states.

Speaking at the opening of the meeting, HE Secre-tary- General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dr Ahmed bin Hassan al Hammadi said that these meetings are aimed at continuing cooperation and

deepening ties to promote the objectives of the ACD, stressing that Qatar will work to ensure that the outcome of its chair of the ACD Session this year en-courages the process of joint action among member states.

Dr Hammadi thanked ACD Secretary- General Bun-dit Limschoon as well as the working group of the dialogue committee for their dedicated efforts to coordinate among Member States.

The 16th ACD ministe-rial meeting is taking place at a time when Asian countries are facing many challenges that have hampered progress in de-velopment paths. Asian socie-ties have been facing increas-ing challenges in all areas, which require us to intensify

Asian collective action to real-ize the aspirations of all peo-ples of the continent, he added.

In the belief that comple-mentarity between the Asian countries is important, this meeting is being held under the theme ‘partners in pro-gress’, within the framework of existing efforts to promote partnerships for integrated economic growth, with no country left behind, by de-veloping sustainable social, economic, environmental and development strategies, in line with the ACD vision 2030, which fully aligns with Qa-tar National Vision 2030 that aims to put programs into im-plementation and achieve sus-tainable and balanced growth at all levels, he said.

Dr Hammadi stressed Qa-tar’s full support for the pro-posals of the member states to encourage cooperation in the six main areas that have re-sulted from the 20 projects of cooperation, including energy, poverty alleviation, agricul-ture, transportation, biotech-nology, environment, tourism and other development pro-jects, which aim to intensify the process of positive inter-action and competitiveness of the continent.

He also affirmed Qatar’s firm belief in the importance of deepening economic and trade partnerships, enhancing ca-pacities and investing resourc-es to contribute to the creation of a sustainable and prosper-ous economy for all countries.

Preparatory meetings for 16th ACD Ministerial Meeting begin

QNABEIJING

QATAR pavilion at Beijing Inter-national Horticultural Expo 2019 witnessed a high turnout of visi-tors of all nationalities and ages who were impressed by the activ-ities and events at the pavilion on day two of the expo on Tuesday.

The pavilion offered visitors an opportunity not only to learn about Qatar’s experience in the field of gardening and agricul-ture, but also to look closely at the heritage and history of Qatar, expressing their admiration for Qatar’s heritage and traditional Qatari clothing worn by men, women and children.

A number of visitors ex-pressed their admiration for the unique design of the pavilion inspired by the Sidr tree, which opened up a wider horizon to learn about the trees and plants in the Qatari environment, in-cluding the Sidr tree.

The Ministry of Munici-pality and Environment and the organising and prepara-tion committee of the exhibi-tion gave importance to this aspect, as they told the visitors about this unique tree and its characteristics. A corner of the pavilion was also dedicated to displaying some of the products derived from the Sidr tree, as well as a number of products

such as soap, shampoo and oth-er products extracted from the Sidr trees.

Qatar’s pavilion at Beijing Expo 2019 also attaches great importance to children through the organization of special ac-tivities, which is in line with the State of Qatar’s sponsorship and interest in education and learning in all fields and in the environmental field in particu-lar.

Due to the children’s activi-ties organized by the pavilion, the Qatari pavilion received wide attention from the fami-lies and their children.

The Future section, one of the pavilion’s sections, has also provided visitors with an opportunity to learn about the country’s experience in the ur-ban development and to dis-cover the engineering designs of the stadiums that will host Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup, through the presentation of mini-models of stadiums, re-flecting the determination that characterise the Qatar govern-ment and people.

Souq Waqif section took the attention and curiosity of visi-tors and raised their questions about the country’s traditional costumes, expressing their ad-miration, as well as the popular professions that were presented in the section.

Dignitaries at the inauguration of the Qatar Pavillion at the Beijing Interna-tional Horticultural Expo 2019 in Beijing

More attractions as visitors throng Qatar Pavilion at Beijing Expo 2019

ACD secretary-general praises Qatar for reviving dialogue

QNADOHA

S E C R E T A R Y - G E N E R A L of the Asian Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) Bundit Lim-schoon praised the role played by the State of Qatar in reviv-ing the Asian Cooperation Dialogue.

In his speech at the start of the preparatory meetings for the 16th Asian Ministerial Meeting of the Asian Coop-eration Dialogue, Limschoon said that by trying to revive this dialogue, Qatar aims to rebuild confidence and boost morale of the member states, which has been lying low since the postponement of the meeting for the third time, leading to confusion and uncertainty regarding

the future of this meeting.He noted that the ACD

meeting in Doha is signifi-cant as it is taking place after a gap of two and a half years with the last one held in Abu Dhabi in 2016.

He added that the Chair of this dialogue Qatar worked closely with the secretary general to restore the confi-dence of member states by launching a number of activi-ties.

Limschoon expressed the hope that the Doha meetings will lead to fruitful results in terms of restoring and main-taining the confidence of member states, pointing out that there will be an oppor-tunity to listen to the ideas of foreign ministers on the guidelines and policies aimed

at reviving the ACD.He further pointed out

that the meeting provides an opportunity for dialogue in the region and hoped that this open dialogue would strengthen cooperation among member states to find solutions to issues and for their prosperity.

According to Limschoon, Qatar has agreed to host the business forum on Thursday with the participation of pri-vate sector, to develop links between the ACD countries and promote small and me-dium enterprises in the region to achieve sustainable growth.

“Small and medium-sized enterprises are considered the engine of growth and we need to reestablish new values for entrepreneurs”, he said.

WCM-Q honours winners of Project Greenhouse contest for boys & girlsTRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA

GREEN-FINGERED stu-dents have received awards for their schools after grow-ing bumper crops of fruit and vegetables.

The students participated in Sahtak Awalan’s Project Greenhouse Competition, which challenges schools and pupils to grow the biggest and best crops and teaches them about sustainability and healthy lifestyles at the same time.

This year the Sahtak Awa-lan panel of judges awarded first place to Jawaan Bin Jassim Primary School for Boys, with Al Khor Prepara-tory School for Girls coming second and Dukhan Primary Preparatory School for Girls in third place.

Khalifa al Derham, di-rector of School Affairs at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, and Hassan al Mohamedi, di-rector of Public Relations and Communications at the Ministry, presented the award for first place to Mrs Fawziya Abdullah al Kuwari, the principal of Jawaan Bin Jassim Primary School for Boys. The other schools to win awards were Al-Khor Preparatory School for Girls, Dukhan Primary Preparatory Secondary School for Girls,

Alkharsaa Primary School for Boys, Abdullah bin Tur-key Primary School for Boys,

Audio Education Complex for Boys, Ahmed Mansour Primary School for Boys, Qa-

tar Leadership Academy, Al Markheya Primary School for Girls and Zaynab Bint Jehesh Primary School for Girls.

Nesreen al Rifai, chief communications officer at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q), which launched the Sahtak Awalan cam-paign, said: “Since Project Greenhouse was launched in 2013, we have been teaching our young people about the vital importance of sustaina-bility, agriculture and healthy diets and encouraging them to eat the fruit and vegetables that they have grown.

“Thousands of children have now been through the scheme and everyone at

WCM-Q and Sahtak Awa-lan’s strategic partners - Qa-tar Foundation, the Ministry of Public Health, the Ministry of Education and Higher Ed-ucation, the Ministry of Mu-nicipality and Environment, and ExxonMobil - feel very proud that we have made such a difference to so many children’s lives.

“We hope that all the students who have partici-pated in Project Greenhouse this year take the lessons that they have learned about healthy lifestyles with them throughout their lives. In do-ing so, we can create a strong and healthy generation able to meet the challenges of Qa-tar National Vision 2030.”

Project Greenhouse has provided more than 130 schools across Qatar with greenhouses, plant pots, soil and seeds. The crops grown by Jawaan Bin Jassim Pri-mary School for Boys include tomatoes, cucumbers, on-ions, eggplants and parsley. The children prepared the pots, planted the seeds and watered and nurtured them as the plants grew. Project Greenhouse has allowed stu-dents to work independently and in small groups and has taught them a whole range of skills. Along with learning about healthy eating, sus-tainability and horticulture, the project feeds directly into

classes about science and the environment.

Teachers Fatma al Shu-mairi, Sarah al Naimi and Lina Saadi expressed their joy at receiving the first prize and encouraged other stu-dents to grow and eat their own organic fruit and veg-etables, alongside learning about self-reliance and self-sufficiency.

Student Ali Mubarak al Naimi said he had learned a lot from the initiative and had started growing fruit and vegetables at home. He add-ed that he had enjoyed the whole greenhouse experience and had used some of the produce grown to prepare a salad with his school friends.

Project Greenhouse has now been expanded into secondary schools under the Khayr Qatarna initia-tive. This has seen a variety of crops grown in large scale greenhouses which have been given the ‘Premium Produce’ designation by the Ministry of Municipality and Environment. The crops are then distributed to the com-munity through local super-markets, with all profits be-ing reinvested in the scheme.

The aim of the scheme is to support national sustaina-bility and food security, while teaching older students valu-able lessons about econom-ics, agriculture and logistics.

Jawaan Bin Jassim Primary School for Boys with their award in the Sahtak Awalan’s Project Greenhouse Competition in Doha.

Munich Security Conference chief hails Doha Conferences

QNADOHA

CHIEF Operating Officer at Munich Secu-rity Conference Dr. Benedikt Franke said that Doha has created a world-class venue for in-ternational events and conferences, noting that the Doha international conferences help the Munich Security Conference in dialogue, dis-cussions and common understanding.

In an interview with Al Sharq newspaper issued on Tuesday, Franke said that Qatar and the Munich Security Conference are friends and partners, pointing out that a strong part-nership between Qatar and the Munich Con-ference has emerged in various events.

Regarding the Gulf crisis, he said “for more than 50 years, we have been trying to bring to-gether the parties for discussion and to resolve their outstanding issues and differences. Of course, the Gulf crisis is one of those differenc-es that need dialogue between the parties,” he said, adding that it is important to take into ac-count that Munich Security Conference is not an entity that can make peace or impose it on anyone, but rather, it is a platform for dialogue between disputants which is what the Gulf and Arab region needs.

He underlined that the Gulf crisis will not be resolved under the calls of distance and iso-lation, stressing that the world is now in urgent need to strengthen cooperation on cybersecu-rity and energy security.

Dr. Franke hailed the large attendance of the Munich Conference at the 18th edition of Doha Forum which held in Doha in last De-cember, pointing out that 2011 witnessed the first direct meetings between officials in Doha and the officials of the Munich Conference, and in 2013, Doha hosted the first session of the conference to be held in an Arab capital. Since then, he said, the two sides decided to work to-gether in a more effective and vital manner.

Within the framework of this partnership, Doha will host the Munich Security Conference (MSC) Cyber Security Summit in next October, he said.

Qatar Pavillion at the Beijing International Horticultural Expo 2019 in Beijing.

Jawaan Bin Jassim Primary School for Boys with their award in the Sahtak Awalan’s Project Greenhouse Competition in Doha.

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HAMAD International Air-port (HIA) hosted an em-ployee appreciation event to commemorate staff’s hard work and recognise employ-ees’ contributions to the suc-cessful growth journey of the world’s fastest growing air-port described as ‘Best Airport Staff in Middle East’ by Skyt-rax 2019.

As part of the fun-filled occasion, HIA’s Bus Pavilion Garden hosted food trucks offering Doha’s famous street food and entertainment. Cup-cake and khanfaroush bake off

competitions brought excite-ment and engagement among staff members and winners were nominated by executive chefs along with volunteers from the HIA staff.

Abdulaziz al Mass, HIA vice-president of Market-ing and Corporate Commu-nications, said: “At HIA, we strongly believe in our or-ganisational capabilities. We

would not be here today with-out our talented people who place the wellbeing of passen-gers and staff first and epito-mise our culture of excellence and experiences.”

HIA’s core organisational values highlight the role of people as the main drivers of the airport success, which is reflected through every aspect of HIA’s corporate values and initiatives.

Qatar’s young and ambi-tious airport excels in harness-ing the power of teamwork to achieve the common shared customer-centric vision.

Just prior to these celebra-tions, HIA has retained its top position as the best airport in the Middle East for the fifth consecutive year and ranked as the fourth best airport in the world at the Skytrax World Airport Awards 2019.

HIA recognises employee achievements

Banana Island Resort unveils Ramadan offersTRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA

BANANA Island Resort Doha has revealed its offers during the Holy Month of Rama-dan, giving the opportunity for families and friends to be reunited during the blessed month.

In continuation of the ap-proach adopted by Banana Island Resort Doha in high-lighting the ancient herit-age of Qatar and the spirit of authentic hospitality, from May 16 till end of Ramadan, guests will enjoy the exclusive setting and unique designs of the old market theme dur-ing the iftar buffets at the re-nowned Azraq Restaurant.

Guests will be able to indulge in an assortment of Arabian cuisine, in addi-tion to Asian delicacies, live cooking stations offering selections of Italian, Indian platters, in addition to Sushi, Shawarma and Arabic Saj. All that can’t be completed with-out the assortment of Rama-dan traditional beverages, fresh juices and pre-made milkshakes and all displayed on antique carriage presented at the restaurant alongside the different types of tea and coffee, spearheaded by the authentic Moroccan tea and a wide selection of fresh fruits.

Andreas Haugg, execu-tive assistant manager in charge of Food & Beverage, said: “Our theme for this year’s Ramadan tent at Az-raq restaurant is inspired by the traditional old souq, which embodies the genuine spirit of the traditional Qatari hospitality during the Holy Month.

“Our Ramadan tent will offer, over iftar, a rich buffet with variety of oriental and

international platters served in an upscale setting on the beats of the resident Moroc-can musical band, allowing guests to enjoy the exquisite ambiance away from the bus-tle of the city. To enhance our guests’ visit to the island, we have provided a range of spe-cial offers for suhour, stayca-tion, spa and wellness treat-ments, to make their visit an exceptional experience to en-joy all our facilities.”

To enhance the Rama-dan experience, Banana Is-land Resort Doha launched stay offers with competitive prices on rooms starting from May 16 till the end of Rama-dan with amazing benefits, including complementary Suhour, 35 percent discount on iftar buffet at Azraq, one free game at the bowling lounge, luxury transportation to and from the island.

The resort also invites guests to enjoy suhour ex-perience at the Zest Café through an exclusive menu specially curated for this oc-casion, which includes a wide selection of oriental dishes prepared by the finest chefs.

To add an exceptional Ramadan atmosphere, Zen Garden offers its guests a se-lection of snacks, sweet de-lights and mocktails allowing them to enjoy a unique dining experience.


QATAR Airways celebrated World Day for Safety and Health at Work 2019, a global event sponsored by the Inter-national Labour Organization to help mark its centenary and supported by the airline to un-derline commitment to health and safety as its first priority.

Throughout the day, Qatar Airways emphasised the key sections of its Group Occupa-tional Health and Safety and Fire Safety Policy under the theme ‘A safe and healthy fu-ture of work’.

The key message of the day was ‘Take 5 for a safe and healthy future’.

In a new internal video launched to support the event, Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Akbar al Baker said,

“Our safety culture grows stronger because of the full par-ticipation of all staff in choosing safe behaviours. This ensures our continued health and safe-ty and that of our colleagues. I

am proud of our achievements in improving health and safety standards. As we look forward, we must all continue to choose positive actions, safe behaviours and strive to be safety leaders.”

Qatar Airways Senior Vice-President Group Safety and Se-curity Ashish Jain said, “At Qa-tar Airways, we consider safety to be our number one priority. We are happy to celebrate this

important event with the Inter-national Labour Organization, one of the most respected global bodies working to ensure safety in the workplace. Our continu-ous efforts throughout the year to promote safety demonstrate our dedication towards a safe working environment.”

In January 2019, Hamad International Airport (HIA) held an airport’s safety week campaign as part of a Qatar Airways Group Initiative in which they conducted multiple training sessions for stakehold-ers and agencies operating at the airport, attended by over 10,000 staff.

In 2018, Qatar Airways was recognised for its outstanding safety performance record at the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Safety and Flight Operations Conference in Montreal, Canada.

QA celebrates World Day for Safety and Health at Work


THE Westin Doha Hotel and Spa will offer a bespoke culinary experi-ence for iftar and suhour during the Holy Month of Ramadan.

The tent, which will be deco-rated in a magnificence theme from around the world, is brought to guests in partnership with Qatar Airways.

Inspired by the traditional Ram-adan themes from countries around the world with an Arabesque twist, the spacious 2,100 square-metre tent is located within the Grand Ballroom of the hotel and accom-modates up to 1,000 guests.

Special majlis will also be avail-able for families and friends to dine in an intimate corner.

During the whole Month of Ram-adan, guests can enjoy an abundant iftar and suhour buffet with a wide array of appetisers, soups and main courses of international and au-thentic Qatari dishes along with an variety of desserts. Additionally, the chefs will be demonstrating their expertise at more than 10 different live stations which will consist of a selection of daily grilles, shawarma, saj, manti, tandoori, sushi stations and many more.

Seasonal Tastes restaurant will be open for an exquisite iftar and suhoor under the stars with Arabic decoration, delectable food and des-serts.

“For the fourth consecutive year, we are honoured to offer our

guests a unique Ramadan journey through a culinary experience for both iftar and suhour. Our award-winning chefs will offer a variety of authentic and innovative interna-tional dishes,” said Gianrico Espos-ito, general manager of The Westin Doha Hotel & Spa.

He added, “Our events team can personalise corporate book-ings up to 500 guests for both iftar and suhour, and groups can choose from a variety of menu options or even customise the menu to fit their requirements. In addition, The Westin Lifestyle catering team will provide guests with private iftar and suhour at the comfort of their home.”

This year, Sabai Thai restau-rant will open daily from sunset until nidnight and guests can enjoy mouth-watering Asian cusine in a

pleasant ambiance all month long.Heavenly Spa by Westin is also

offering a summer package to max-imise the workout routine during the Holy Month of Ramadan with a special one-month membership that includes full access to the gym and pool facilities along with one service of the guest’s choice such as a manicure or a pedicure or two classes from the WestinWORKOUT for QR1,000.

The Spa will open from 7am un-til 11pm.

Iftar will start from sunset until 8:30pm and suhour will be served from 9:30pm until 1:30am. The price for iftar and suhour buffet at the tent is QR220 per person and QR169 at Seasonal Tastes, compli-mentary for kids under six years old and 50 percent savings for kids aged between six to 12 years old.

Celebrate Ramadan at The Westin Doha Hotel and Spa

Throughout the day, Qatar Airways emphasised the key sections of its Group Occupational Health and Safety and Fire Safety Policy under the theme ‘A safe and healthy future of work’.

Hamad International Airport Bus Pavilion Garden hosted food trucks offering Doha’s famous street food and entertainment.

Nation 05Wednesday, May 1, 2019



STUDENTS in their final year of undergraduate or postgradu-ate study are often required to submit a thesis or project as part of their university’s course curriculum. Most use this op-portunity to delve deeper into an area of interest related to their studies, or combine their newly-acquired knowledge with a hobby. But some – like Qatar Foundation (QF) student Ebet-sam AlHothi – come up with an innovative approach for helping people in need of support.

A senior studying the Bach-elor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design course at Virginia Com-monwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar (VCUarts Qatar), a QF partner university,

AlHothi has used her love of de-sign to develop a short anima-tion that aims to educate chil-dren about mental health. The animation is complemented by a website, also designed by Al-Hothi, addressing the same top-ic – depression – and both will soon be accessible to the public.

AlHothi’s inspiration for this idea came from her time as a graphic design instructor at one of the QF-organised com-munity classes held at VCUarts Qatar during summer. She no-ticed that one of her students was hesitant to socialise with the rest of the participants and learned that she struggled with depression. The episode made an impact on AlHothi and she wondered if she could reach out to young children who lived with such ‘silent’ challenges by

using the skills she had acquired at VCUarts Qatar.

“Adults find it easier to identify and seek help for their mental and physical health concerns”, says AlHothi. “But for children, it is harder; they are too young to identify what

they’re going through.“The short animation I have

developed provides a glimpse into the mind of a child with depression, through a character called Haultey and his sidekick, a cat named Kitta. The aim is to encourage children with de-

pression to understand that it’s fine to feel what they are expe-riencing and that they won’t be judged for it – that depression doesn’t take away your identity or your dreams, or make you a lesser person.”

AlHothi is herself no stran-ger to challenges. Growing up as a high-achiever in school, she had set her sights set on study-ing at VCUarts Qatar but, fac-ing societal pressure, she joined a four-year computer science programme at Qatar University.

Although she tried her best to enjoy the subject, she real-ised that her heart wasn’t in it and ultimately decided not to continue with the course. After a short stint at Community Col-lege of Qatar, she was accepted to study at VCUarts Qatar at the second attempt with a scholar-

ship from QF. Now, AlHothi says that QF has helped her re-alise her dream of studying arts and much more.

“QF taught me that success is a state of mind; it helped me realise that I could be anything I wanted to be,” she says. “I don’t need to be an engineer to help others build their lives, nor do I need to be a doctor to help someone feel better. That’s what allowed me to use graphic design to tackle a sensitive topic such as depression.”

AlHothi points out how her experiences at QF’s Education City shaped her outlook and gave her the confidence to rise above the feeling of uncertainty she had when she left a field of study that, to her family and friends, guaranteed a secure future – such as in computer

science – and joined a course that, though close to her heart, did not offer any specific career assurances – arts.

She cites an example where, as the president of the Qatari Students Association for VC-Uarts Qatar, she collaborated with representatives of other QF partner universities to or-ganise a community venture. During the planning process, they faced challenges that were difficult to solve. They wrote to Her Excellency Sheikha Hind bint Hamad Al Thani, vice chairperson and CEO of Qatar Foundation, seeking her advice. And, they received it.

For AlHothi, who is also the first Qatari instructor in QF’s summer community classes, this experience typifies the val-ue of being part of QF.

QF student’s animation to educate kids on mental health

UCL Qatar celebrates new graduatesTRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA

UCL Qatar hosted its fifth graduation ceremony recently to honour 30 students who are now ready to step into the professional world.

The university awarded an MA to 13 students in Library and Information Studies and 14 in Museum and Gallery Practice. In addition, one stu-dent attained a Postgraduate Certificate in Library and In-formation Studies, while two more received a Postgradu-ate Certificate in Museum and Gallery Practice.

The graduating class, 73 percent of which were women, represented 20 nationalities, including nine Qatari nation-als. Most graduates have al-ready secured employment in leading cultural organisations in Qatar or have chosen to fur-ther their studies elsewhere.

Professor Anthony Smith, UCL’s vice-provost, Education and Student Affairs, attended the event as a guest of honour, while Alumna Bouthayna Bal-taji, who graduated in 2015 with a Master of Art and is now head of Exhibitions at the National Museum of Qa-

tar, was the event’s keynote speaker.

UCL Qatar graduate speaker Abeer Saad Abdullah Ghanem al Kuwari said: “The

ceremony today announces our completion of a fasci-nating educational journey, which equipped each one of us with essential attributes that will contribute to shap-ing our future. After today, we will each move along our own individual paths. Yet I believe that we will always be tied together. The years we spent studying in UCL Qa-tar will strongly connect us throughout our professional lives, through friendships and through unforgettable memo-ries of hard work, dedication and success with our degrees in hand.”

Speaking to the graduat-ing class, Sam Evans, direc-tor of UCL Qatar said, “You have achieved a very signifi-cant milestone and we are all excited to see you embark on the next phase of your careers as active and proud members of UCL’s global alumni com-munity.”

The graduation ceremo-ny was held at Bin Jelmood House, as part of the ongoing successful collaboration with Msheireb Museums, who have kindly hosted many UCL Qa-tar events, including last year’s students’ exhibition ‘We are the Daughters of Qatar’.

University College London Qatar students at their graduation ceremony in Doha recently.

Qatar Academy Al Khor concludes student-led autism awareness driveTRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA

QATAR Academy Al Khor (QAK), part of Qatar Founda-tion’s Pre-University Educa-tion, has concluded its Autism Awareness Month campaign titled ‘You are Not Alone’.

QAK’s campaign, created by Grade 6 student Fatima al Mahanadi in collaboration with the QAK Librarian Islam El-Shahidi, ran through April and included a diverse range of educational opportunities, awareness-raising events and activities involving teachers, students and parents.

As part of the campaign, a banner was hung on the school’s facade highlighting the theme and students and parents could use a QR code to view a video of students ex-pressing the theme in seven different languages.

Poster and video compe-titions were run throughout the month, while badges were worn by students and staff alike, helping in increasing awareness and promoting ac-ceptance.

Autism awareness as-semblies were held at QAK’s

elementary and secondary schools, where Fatima told the story of her journey with a sibling with autism. The school also purchased ad-ditional library books and learning resources suggested by Fatima.

Aisha M al Megbali, di-rector of QAK, said: “It has been a great pleasure to see QAK students celebrate Au-tism Awareness Month by participating in our very own campaign run by our Grade 6 student, Fatima al Mahanadi.

“Dr Adrienne Robek, clin-ical director and psychologist from the Child Development Center, helped students un-derstand what it is like to live with challenges and to better understand autism. By under-standing and accepting dif-ferences, students learned to be more tolerant and caring towards others. The school will continue to educate its learners on autism by extend-ing our campaign and sharing what we know with the wider community.”

Fatima al Mahanadi, student of Qatar Academy Al Khor makes a presentation at the Autism Awareness Month campaign recently.

CSE keen to provide best training for students to serve society: Dean

AILYN AGONIADOHA

THE Dean of Hamad Bin Khal-ifa University (HBKU) College of Science and Engineering (CSE) Dr Mounir Hamdi has underscored their commitment to provide the best training for their students through their extensive programmes and top calibre faculty members.

Speaking at the opening of the HBKU CSE Annual Re-search Day at the Multaqa, Education City Student Center on Tuesday, he said the number of their applicants is increasing every year. The college’s accept-ance rate is between 10- 15 per-cent.

The college, according to Hamdi, has about 280 MA and PhD students of which 45 percent are Qatari nationals, about 20 percent international students, while the rest are residents. About 43 percent of its students are females, which is much higher than in typi-cal universities in the US in the field of science and engineering. On Saturday during the HBKU Graduation Ceremony, 12 PhD students of CSE will be among the graduates, the official added.

Similarly, he said their fac-ulty is also growing, currently at 27 coming from the best re-search institutes and universi-ties. The roster also includes four top Qatari faculty members with varying expertise.

“We give the best train-ing to our students to serve the community, and at the same time, be our best ambassadors. This is our third cohort of grad-uates this year. The number of our applicants is increasing eve-ry year and all our students are receiving a lot of awards, both national and international. So,

we are able to compete with the best out there”, he said.

With three divisions and eight research pillars, Dean Hamdi said that the CSE’s areas of research are in line with the needs of Qatar and the trends worldwide. The college’s re-search pillars include sensors, communication and network-ing; nanotechnology; cyberse-curity, artificial intelligence and data analytics; and water, food and environment.

Dr Amine Bermak, profes-sor and associate dean of CSE, added that the strategy of the college is striking the right bal-ance between basic and applied research.

The Annual Research Open Day 2019 which gathered ex-perts, scholars and students is aimed at advancing the cul-tural, intellectual and scientific activities taking place in Qatar. The event also aims to instill in the HBKU community a sort of collaboration for research ex-cellence, highlighting Qatar as a leading research and knowledge

hub in the region and the world. It was attended by HBKU top officials including HBKU Presi-dent Dr Ahmad M Hasnah and other guests.

During a panel discussion, HE Dr Mohammed bin Saleh al Sada said, “Research is not an option as far as Qatar is con-cerned. Research is the way for-ward and it is clearly stated in Qatar National Vision 2030 and beyond. Sustainable and diver-sified economy is Qatar’s objec-tive and research is the effective tool to do that.”

Qatar Foundation VP for Research, Development and In-novation and HBKU VP for Re-search Dr Richard O’Kennedy underlined the importance of striving for excellence including in attracting the best students and the best people.

Commenting on the direc-tions of HBKU CSE, HE Dr Hessa al Jaber, member of Shu-ra Council, said, “My assump-tion is you will continue as you are and you will be one of the best in the region.”

Dr Dena al Thani, associate professor at CSE, said: “This is a significant milestone for HB-KU’s CSE, and we’re immensely proud of the work of our stu-dents throughout the course of their studies at the university.

“The work presented here today is a microcosm of the tools, techniques and research they have been working on as they forge ahead with their de-grees. It is an opportune avenue for them to express their work and advance knowledge in key areas.”

Dean of Hamad Bin Khalifa University Dr Mounir Hamdi and dignitaries at the College of Science and Engineer-ing Annual Research Day in Doha on Tuesday. (HANSON K JOSEPH)

Dr Amine Bermak, Professor and associate dean of CSE.

At the UCL Qatar graduation ceremony.

Ebetsam AlHothi, an undergraduate student at VCUarts Qatar.

QU Public Health students share insight on eye health programmes in Bangladesh


FOUR public health students from the College of Health Sci-ences (CHS) at Qatar University (QU) recently visited Bangla-desh for five days to familiarise themselves with the Qatar Cre-ating Vision programme, an initiative of Qatar Fund for De-velopment (QFFD) in collabora-tion with Orbis.

The trip also aimed to ob-serve Qatar Charity funded pro-grammes based in Bangladesh.

During the visit, the students became acquainted with three partner hospitals in different areas in Bangladesh, Ispahani Islamia Eye Institute and Hos-pital in Dhaka, Chittagong Eye Infirmary and Training Com-plex and Cox’s Bazar Baitush Sharaf Hospital. The students and Associate Professor Dr Lily O’Hara from the Public Health Department in CHS visited the Rohingya refugee camps and a number of vision centres within the local host community.

Sahar Elsaleh, a senior Pub-lic Health Management student, shared her experience of the trip saying, “That moment when we captured the smiles on the chil-dren’s faces who got to see the world again after finally hav-ing prescription eyeglasses; we realised that there is no truer meaning of joy in life other than the one you feel when you help another person in need.”

Eman al Bahrani, also a sen-ior Public Health Management student, said: “In our trip, we had the opportunity to speak with health managers and the Rohingya refugee leaders to hear their points of view. Based

on these stories and the work done by Orbis, QFFD and their many partner hospitals, we learned that no global outreach program is successful without community engagement.”

Rodaina Hashem, a senior Public Health Education stu-dent, said: “Healthcare prac-titioners working in partner hospitals care about providing quality care for their patients without discrimination. Never-theless, the collaborative efforts of all stakeholders are essential to ensure health equity and to improve their quality of life.”

Sara Alsaffar, a senior Pub-lic Health Management stu-dent, expressed her deep grati-tude to QU, Orbis and QFFD.

“This programme was a

great opportunity to meet peo-ple and understand the real issues they are facing and to transfer the theoretical knowl-edge we learned at the universi-ty to the actual world. This life-changing experience altered my world perspective and opened my eyes to the humanity and perseverance of displaced peo-ple in the face of difficulty and injustice.”

Through active research agendas and community out-reach efforts, the Department of Public Health in QU and its team of experienced fac-ulty members work together in a student-centred environ-ment while contributing to the broader public health landscape inside the country and beyond.

After visiting Bangladesh the students shared their experiences on how they applied their knowledge in a real situtation

The QU team visits an eye institute in Bangladesh

Nation

Pakistan PrismReports by L N Mallick For events and press releases email [email protected] or call (974) 4000 2222

07Wednesday, May 1, 2019

Dr Firaqi and Ejaz, selected for this year’s award, are highly acclaimed Urdu writers, research analysts and literary critics who command great

respect in literary circles in Pakistan, India and beyond

Majlis-e-Frogh-e-Urdu Adab names winners of

23rd Aalmi Frogh-e-Urdu Adab AwardE

MINENT Pakistani litterateur Dr Tehsin Firaqi and prominent Indian writer and scholar of Urdu literature Feroz Sultan Ejaz will be the recipients of 23rd Aalmi Frogh-e-Urdu Adab Award, Qatar-based

Majlis-e-Frogh-e-Urdu Adab has announced. The awards will be presented to the two literary figures of the sub-continent in Doha in October.

The award carries a cash prize of Rs 150,000 and a gold medal for each winner. The award is given an-nually to two literary personalities, one from Pakistan and the other from India, for their contributions to the Urdu language and literature that includes creative fic-tion writing, research and / or criticism.

Dr Firaqi and Ejaz are highly acclaimed Urdu writers, research analysts and literary critics who command great respect in literary circles in Pakistan, India and beyond,’’ said Majlis Chairman Moham-mad Atiq while announcing their names.

The two were chosen by independent juries in India and Pakistan. The Indian jury was headed by Prof Gopi Chand Narang, renowned Urdu critic and intellectual, with Prof Shafey Kidwai and Prof Tariq Chhattari as members. The Indian jury meeting was held in Aligarh by skype tele-conferencing as its Chairman, Dr Narang, is currently in the US.

The Pakistani jury was headed by Prof Khurshid Rizvi, well-known poet, researcher and critic, and had Prof Fateh Mohammad Malik, Prof Dr Mazher Mahmood Shairani and Prof Dr Zahid Munir Amer as members.

Dr Firaqi, whose real name is Manzoor Akhter, was born in 1950, at Patoki in Kasur district of Pakistan. He is highly educated with a master degree in Urdu in first class, MEd in first class and PhD in Urdu from Punjab University, Lahore. He is one of the very few literary figures in Pakistan who have command over Urdu, Persian and English languages and studied deeply the literature of these languages.

Dr Firaqi started his teaching career in 1976 as a

Urdu lecturer in Government MAO College, Lahore. As of now, he is Director Majlis-e- Taraqqi-i-Adab, Lahore.

He has written 31 books and a number of articles on criticism, research and poetry. “Justjoo” is the first collection of his critical articles. “Maasir-e -Urdu Adab”

and “Ifadaat’ are other collections of critical essays. Recently, his book on NM Rashid, under the name of Hassan Kooza Gar has been published. In research, his PhD thesis on Abdul Majid Daryabadi is a big achieve-ment, which has been highly applauded in literary cir-cles. He has also edited Yousuf Khan Kambal Posh’s

travelogue. He has edited some articles written during Iqbal’s life-time on his personality and art, under the name of Naqd-e-Iqbal and Hayat-e-Iqbal. First collec-tion of Dr Firaqi’s poems and ghazals titled “Naqsh-e-Awwal” was printed many years ago. His second book on poetry came out in 2012. He is still very active in writing, and his seven books and articles are going to be published shortly.

Dr Firaqi has won many awards like Naqoosh Award in 1993, Prime Minister’s Literary Award in 1998, National Presidential Iqbal Award (1997-1999), Shaikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani medallion in 2008 for out-standing services in promoting the cause of ‘Iqbaliyat’ in the world, and Pride of Performance Award in rec-ognition of his literary achievements in August, 2010.

Ejaz, who is well known as Fay Seen Ejaz, was born in Delhi in 1948. He received his primary educa-tion at Fatehpuri Muslim High School, Delhi. He did matriculation from Presidency Muslim High School, Calcutta, in 1964 and graduation from St Xavier’s College, Calcutta, in 1969.

Ejaz is an active literary journalist and is engaged in printing and publishing business. Besides being a poet, critic and translator, he writes short stories and travelogues. He is the editor of monthly “Insha”, an Urdu magazine in publication since 1986.

He has brought out 25 special editions of “Insha” on Tagore, Mohinder Singh Bedi Sahar, Nisar Ahmed Fa-rooqi, Qamar Rais, Ahmed Saeed Malihabadi. He has written 26 books, which include creative fictions, col-lections of poems, ghazals, criticism, travelogue, trans-lations and also a rare translation of Tagore’s Rabinder Sangeet. “Pluto Ki Maut” is the collection of his fictions, which has been highly applauded across India.

Ejaz has been a recipient of a number of prizes and honours, including Sahitya Academy Award in trans-lation, Mir Award, Abdul Razzaq Malihabadi Award, Imdad Imam Asar Award, Nazir Akbarabadi Award and Ministry of Culture, Government of India’s, jour-nalism award for 2018.

Feroz Sultan Ejaz Dr Tehsin Firaqi

Pakistan Christian community celebrates Easter at embassy

MEMBERS of Pakistani Christian community in Qatar attended a function to mark Easter

at Pakistan embassy recently.Speaking on the occasion,

Pakistan Ambassador HE Syed Ahsan Raza Shah greeted the Christians of the world, in gen-eral, and the Christian commu-nity in Pakistan, in particular, on the joyous occasion, which commemorates the resurrec-tion of Jesus Christ. While highlighting the importance of this Christian festival, he ex-pressed unity with Pakistani Christian community. He said that the Christian community in Pakistan has always played a constructive role in the devel-opment of the country.

Senior representatives of the Christian community thanked the ambassador for hosting the event at the embassy.

They noted that the joy of

the celebration increased man-ifolds due to the presence of the ambassador among them. They thanked the ambassador for his support to Pakistani

Christians in Qatar who were true patriots and determined to work for the progress and pros-perity of their motherland. He said the occasion provided an

opportunity to Christian com-munity to exchange greetings.

It may be noted that Pa-kistan has always remained committed to the well-being and equal status of minorities as citizens of Pakistan, as en-shrined in country’s constitu-tion. Pakistani Christians have significantly contributed to the national development as edu-cationists, doctors, lawyers and businessmen.

Pakistan’s first non-Mus-lim Chief Justice of Supreme Court was Justice A R Cor-nelius. In Britain, the Bishop emeritus of Rochester, Mi-chael Nazir Ali, is a Pakistani Christian. Cecil Chaudhry, Peter O’Reilly and Mervyn L Middlecoat distinguished themselves as fighter pilots in the Pakistan Air Force. Paki-stan’s great batsman, Yousuf Youhana, was also a Christian who later converted to Islam.

Pakistan Ambassador to Qatar HE Syed Ahsan Raza Shah cuts a cake to mark the event

Participants with Pakistan Ambassador HE Syed Ahsan Raza Shah at the Pakistan embassy in Doha.

PAKISTAN International School Qatar (PISQ) students were among the over 300 participants drawn from 25 different na-tionalities who attended the 4th edition

of the Barcelona International Model United Nation (BIMUN) Conference held in the city of Sant Cugat, Barce-lona, Spain, between April 4 and 7. PISQ was the only school from Qatar that par-ticipated in the global conference.

A training ses-sion was arranged for the students on day one(April 4) at Casal Torreblanca, Sant Cugat, which was very informative and helped the par-ticipating students understand and get used to the BIMUN rules and proce-dures.

The conference started with exciting team building activi-ties held at Parc de la Ciutadella, which were both fun and challenging. The opening ceremony featured address by many prominent speakers. The session was addressed by the Secretary-General, Di-rector- General and the members of the ex-ecutive team

BIMUN 2019’s endeavour was “Working towards the successful completion of global cooperation”. During the conference, the par-ticipants engaged in a simulation of the UN,

taking on roles as diplomats to discuss and de-bate the issues of global cooperation and came up with many impressive solutions which can help in building bridges between societies.

The delegation of Pakistan International School Model United Nations (PISMUN)

consisted of Aruba Atif and Alyna Arshad who represented Sin-gapore in UNHRC and UNODC, respectively.

Aruba Atif pre-sented her policy statement and debat-ed on “The situation of women and children in refugee camps and the Rohingya crisis” in UNHRC committee.

Alyna Arshad dis-cussed “countering sex trafficking and “defin-ing response to indis-criminate attacks” in UNODC committee.

Director PISMUN Mubarika Noman also attended the confer-ence. She trained the students for the BI-MUN and noted that it was a great learn-ing experience for the students which has changed their vision and made them more

confident.“It is a milestone in the history of the

school that the school was invited to attend this international conference. I always be-lieved in the potential of my students and they did me proud by representing not only our school but our country in Spain,” said PISQ Principal Madam Nargis Raza Otho.

Alyna Arshad in UNODC committee session.

PISQ students participate in BIMUN 2019

Director PISMUN Mubarika Noman (middle) with Aruba Atif (right) and Alyna Arshad.

It Is Possible To Fight Sex Trafficking, And These Stories Give Us Hope

WHEN we think about a problem as terrible and widespread as sexual trafficking is in this world, we can be overwhelmed by the idea of confront-

ing it.It is so big and so awful, what can any

one of us do? As people who pay close at-tention to trafficking in our own region, we understand how a sense of despair can set in.

But we also know where to look for signs of hope and recognize that it is possible to make progress in this fight.

We thought of this recently after read-ing three separate news items about traf-ficking. Each of the stories is good news in its own way: a 14-year-old girl was rescued in Odessa from the clutches of two men ac-cused of selling her; 47 people were locked up after a massive sting in Katy involving 22 law enforcement agencies; and, finally, Attorney General Ken Paxton is fighting in federal court to uphold a law that has helped curtail the power of Internet sex trafficking.

Thinking about these three stories gives us a sense of the ways that our so-ciety is working to face this evil. And they give us ideas about how we can continue to improve this effort.

The first story reminds us of how im-

portant it is for each one of us to be alert to the signals someone is being trafficked. A 14-year-old girl was taken from Garland to Odessa. Two brothers, PJ Russell Proctor and Marshall Wayne Dillon Woolis, now stand charged with drugging and sexual as-saulting the child. Woolis’ girlfriend, Ashley

Jacobson, is charged with trafficking and other crimes related to the girl’s abuse.

The victim was rescued because some-one heard something and took action. Ac-cording to police, a person staying in an adjacent room to the one where the girl was stashed overheard men talking about sexu-

ally assaulting a 14-year-old. The lesson here it that we can’t be afraid to speak up, to con-tact law enforcement or the National Hu-man Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 if we see or hear something that isn’t right. We can looks for signs of trafficking that we have outlined before.

The second story demonstrates how crucial it is for law enforcement to continue coordinating on the local, state and federal level. “Operation Tri Point” in the Katy area led to the arrest of 20 men and 27 women in connection with human trafficking. The youngest of their alleged victims was a 16-year-old girl. Stings like this create real consequences. Because trafficking is a crime based in financial gain, such consequences go a long way toward deterrence.

There is another lesson here. Most of the victims were “recruited” into the life of sexual victimization primarily through social media. This is another reminder that, beginning very early, young people need to be educated about what is lurk-ing online. Families, schools, churches and more need to get smarter about ex-

plaining the dangers of the Internet.This brings us to the last piece of news.

Paxton has had to join a legal fight in order to protect some important changes to the law that have helped address prolific hu-man trafficking on the Internet. Paxton led a 21-state coalition in urging the US Court of Appeals in Washington to reject a con-stitutional challenge to the Allow States to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act. The 2018 act, also known SESTA, reformed the 1996 Communications Decency Act to allow civil liability claims against online platforms that host sex trafficking ads.

The bill forced online sex trafficking deeper into the shadows, protecting untold numbers of potential victims. The act must be protected. The fact that it needs legal de-fence shows how crucial it is for top elected officials like Paxton to be willing to face down powerful forces like big tech in the search for tools to address human trafficking.

These three stories are important exam-ples of the way human trafficking must be fought. At the level of policy, law enforce-ment and everyday people, work needs to be done and is being done.

Seeing that work, and supporting that work, gives us hope that we can continue to make progress against this darkness in our midst.

Three separate news items give us a sense of the ways that our society is working to face this evil, along with ideas about how we can continue to improve this effort

Opinion

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

RUSSIA’S meddling in the 2016 US presidential election was an attack on our sovereignty and can’t be ignored. But we shouldn’t allow it to distract us from the larger threat Russian

President Vladimir Putin poses to both the United States and the world.

To understand that threat, we have to examine Putin’s motivations. His policies are dictated by deeply held convictions and ambitions rooted less in Russian pat-riotism than in Soviet patriotism. In his mind, the end of the Soviet Union was a profound historical injustice, visited upon his country by plotters from without and traitors from within.

His self-imposed mission is to avenge this “tragic,” man-made disaster by recov-ering for Russia some of the economic, po-litical and geopolitical assets it lost when the Soviet Union collapsed. For Putin, as his policies have made clear again and again, the most important of these is to reoccupy the Soviet Union’s place as an existential alternative _ military and moral _ to the United States. In the most popular trope of state propaganda, he is “raising Russia off its knees” to make America pay dearly for the humiliation it dealt the Soviet Union.

Whether because of his rough child-hood in the slums of postwar Leningrad or his training in judo, Putin regards direct confrontation as the ultimate measure of manliness. He views victories in such bouts as proof of superior virtue _ for men as well as nations.

For Putin, Russia’s greatest geopolitical success in recent years was the occupation and annexation of Crimea. And the opera-tion’s success, he emphasized, was largely because of his hands-on approach. “Do you know what our advantage was?” He said during an interview. “The fact that I per-sonally dealt with (the operation)!” Putin’s aggression in Crimea paid off handsomely politically: His support among Russians skyrocketed from a record low of 61 percent at the end of 2013 to a record high of 86 per-cent in October 2014.

Russia is in “total confrontation” mode with the US, Putin’s chief of general staff, Valery Gerasimov, declared last year. Pu-tin’s policies match this assessment.

Russia’s president is never happier or more animated than when he describes Rus-sia’s nuclear hardware, aimed at the United States _ and invulnerable to US missile de-fence, as he emphasizes again and again. No Soviet leader ever bragged of his country’s

nuclear might the way Putin does. In his two most recent annual State of Russia address-es to the Federal Assembly, he concluded with triumphant tributes to Russia’s nuclear arsenal, modernized under his loving care and home to the world’s heaviest, fastest and longest-range missiles. He has also touted a new cache of futuristic weapons: underwa-ter nuclear drones, a hypersonic “meteor-ite,” a mighty ognennyi shar, or “ball of fire,” which Russian wits have called the “flying Chernobyl.” Putin has authorized two mul-tiyear “state armament programs,” costing about a trillion dollars. (Russia’s GDP last year was $1.6 trillion.) The biggest threat posed by Putin’s militarism, however, is to his nearest neighbours. He has resurrected the Western Military District, established in the Soviet era and abolished by Boris Yelt-sin, making it the largest and best-armed of Russia’s military districts. NATO mem-bers Latvia and Estonia today face between 350,000 and 400,000 troops just across the border in Russia, a tank army, more than 100 fighter jets, four squadrons of long-range bombers, and Russia’s most modern surface-to-air missiles. And they are worried about a Crimea-style annexation of parts of their territories.

Praising the Soviet Union for the way it nurtured patriotism in the young, Putin has created programs that mimic those of the former Soviet Main Political Directorate of the Armed Forces, which had responsibil-ity for propaganda and ideological control. As of last year, 380,000 children under the draft age of 18 were reportedly enrolled in the Yunarmiya (Young Army), created in 2016 to “instill patriotism” and “positive motivation toward military service.” Yu-narmiya members enjoy preferential treat-

ment in college admissions and their num-bers are expected to swell to 1 million in time for the 75th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War (better known as World War II) next spring.

The timing of Putin’s war preparations could hardly be worse. Economic growth is projected to be anemic for years to come, personal incomes are down for a fifth con-secutive year, and 68 percent of Russians believe that their country is in an economic crisis. According to a recent survey by the Russian State Statistical Agency, 80 percent of Russian families have a monthly income that leaves them unable to buy a “minimal assortment” of goods. Thirty-five percent cannot afford to buy two pairs of shoes for each family member.

Putin’s approval ratings have fallen to 64 percent, only a few percentage points higher than they were before he embarked on his Crimean conquest. While that may sound high to those living in a democracy, it is a troubling number for a politician who operates unchallenged within his country.

The Russian constitution bars Putin from running again in 2024. But if Putin, who clearly would like to rule Russia for life, wants support from Russians in doing so, he will need to boost his popularity before then.

How? Putin has recast himself as a war-time president defending the motherland, and he is determined to restore his country to a victorious superpower status. What better way to accomplish all his goals than to fight and win another military conflict.

(About the writer Leon Aron is a resident scholar and director of Russian studies at the American Enterprise Institute.)

There’s A Bigger Russian Threat Than Meddling

LEON ARON TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

For Valadimir Putin, end of the Soviet Union was a profound historical injustice, visited upon his country by plotters from without and traitors

from within, which ‘needs to be avenged’IT has become the new “normal” for Presi-dent Donald Trump to undercut his secre-taries of state and defence without warning.

On a whim. With a tweet or a phone call.But a recent example is truly extraordi-

nary: Trump’s adulatory April 15 phone call to a Libyan general who had just attacked the Libyan capital of Tripoli and upended sched-uled UN peace talks.

The call was made one week after Secre-tary of State Mike Pompeo issued a statement in which he denounced Gen. Khalifa Hifter’s assault. Pompeo insisted bluntly that there was “no military solution to the Libya conflict” and that “a political solution is the only way to unify the country.” So why would the presi-dent backhand a cabinet secretary who has bent over backward to support him? And why would Trump endorse a general who wants to plunge Libya back into civil war? The answer lies in the president’s personal affinity for strongmen _ on every continent. A faith that has proven woefully misplaced and in Libya could lead to disaster. But that doesn’t appear to dissuade Trump.

The Libyan tale is the latest example of how the president’s admiration for autocrats has prompted him to make sudden policy shifts that have backfired. (Think Trump’s abrupt decision to pull all US troops out of Syria, after a phone call request from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a move that has already soured).

But the Libya case is especially instructive.A bit of history: After longtime dictator

Muammar Qaddafi was killed in 2011, a frac-tured Libya became a haven for warring mili-tias, Islamist terrorists, and smugglers of ref-ugees. Eight years later, the country remains split between a UN-backed Government of National Accord and a Hifter-backed admin-istration in the east of the country.

So-called Field Marshal Hifter has gran-diose ideas. A onetime supporter of Qaddafi, he went into exile in Virginia and obtained US citizenship. Then he returned to Libya in 2011 to help overthrow the dictator. Now he com-mands a patchwork militia army, which has had some successes in winning control of oil fields and quashing terrorist groups in Libya’s east and south.

But Hifter has little purchase in Western Libya, home to most of the country’s popula-tion. So the best hope for Libya remains a ne-gotiated solution, in which Hifter could play a prominent role. Yet rather than exchange his military gains for a strong bargaining po-sition, he has held out to conquer the rest of Libya.

Claiming to be the man who can vanquish all Islamists, Hifter has won support from Egypt’s president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, along with the leaders of the United Arab Emirates

and Saudi Arabia. Ditto from Vladimir Putin. All autocrats whom Trump admires.

The problem is that Hifter can’t deliver. But I get ahead of my story.

First, let’s look at why Trump undercut a UN diplomatic process that was finally gain-ing momentum.

Two days after Pompeo denounced Hift-er’s assault on Tripoli, Egypt’s el-Sisi visited the White House. The widespread assump-tion is that el-Sisi urged Trump to back Hifter as the tough guy who could unite Libya by force.

Trump then phoned Hifter and praised his “significant role” and their “shared vi-sion,” according to a White House readout of the call. Trump’s praise encouraged the gen-eral’s assault which led to cancellation of the planned UN peace talks.

White House support for Hiftar went fur-ther: On April 18, the United States joined Russia in rejecting a UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Libya – a resolution drafted by the British.

Yes, you read that correctly, Trump plus Putin vs. Pompeo and Great Britain. In sup-port of a violent assault on Tripoli that could restart the Libyan civil war.

The problem, says the Brookings Insti-tution’s Jeffrey Feltman, is that “Hifter is not the saviour he claims. He is a strongman poseur.” Feltman, formerly a top State De-partment Mideast official and UN undersec-retary for political affairs, adds that “Hift-er’s army has a lot of Salafists. He claims he will bring stability but he will embolden extremists and marginalize moderates.” A long battle for Tripoli, says Feltman, “would be horrific, with the kind of civilian casual-ties and destruction we have seen in Syria.” Rather than unify Libya it would create fur-ther instability that increases the opportu-nities for terrorists.

And then there is the Russia angle. Mos-cow has provided Hifter’s forces “with all kinds of equipment, people, training, and the like,” Marine Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, head of US Africa Command, said in testimony to Congress. Probably the Kremlin has vi-sions of future naval basing rights in Libya to strengthen its position vis a vis NATO in the Eastern Mediterranean.

If Trump knew anything about Libya, he would have shied away from endorsing Hift-er, or pressed him to join the negotiations. In-stead Trump chose to support and flatter the big man.

So now we have the United States, hand in glove with Russia, urging on a general who dreams of becoming a new Qaddafi but will cause more chaos in Libya.

Another case of Trump autocrat envy that is bound to boomerang.

Libya Crisis Yet Another Example

Of Trump’s Lure For Strongmen

Trump’s adulatory April 15 phone call to a Libyan general who had just attacked capital Tripoli and upended scheduled UN peace talks shows how the president’s admiration for autocrats has prompted

him to make sudden policy shifts that have backfired

ESTABLISHED SEPTEMBER 3, 2006

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

THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS

(Tribune News Service)


NEW Delhi: Photos of “Yeti footprints” posted online by the Indian army triggered a social media storm on Tuesday, with us-ers ridiculing the military for propagating theories debunked by science. The army tweeted three images late on Monday showing a series of foot-shaped impressions, each almost a metre (yard) long in the snow in the Himala-yas near the Nepal-China frontier. (AFP)

Indian Army mocked for Yeti ‘footprint’ photos

KOLKATA: Two persons were injured in a clash between the Trinamool Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party activists in West Bengal’s Birbhum district on Tuesday as sporadic incidents of post poll violence were reported from various parts of the state. Eight parliamentary constituencies in West Ben-gal, including two in Birbhum, went to the hustings in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha polls on Monday. There was a clash between BJP and Trina-mool supporters in Birbhum’s Mallarpur. (IANS)

Stray incidents of post-poll violence in India’s Bengal

News in brief

AFPDHAKA

BANGLADESH’S main op-position has ended its boycott of parliament four months after failing to win power in an election tainted by wide-spread allegations of intimi-dation and fraud.

Five lawmakers from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) became the last to take their oaths this week, includ-ing four late on Monday, the fi-nal day for swearing-in of MPs.

BNP spokesman Rizvi Ahmed said Tuesday that the party’s acting head Tarique Rahman, the eldest son of for-mer Prime Minister Khaleda Zia who lives in exile in Lon-don, made the decision.

“Our party decided to join the parliament at this critical time of national politics as part of our struggle to restore de-mocracy, better treatment and release of Begum Khaleda Zia,” deputy leader Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said in a statement.

Zia, who has led the BNP since the mid-1980s, was jailed last year for a decade on cor-ruption charges that her sup-porters say are politically mo-tivated.

Her bitter rival for three decades, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, 71, was declared the landslide winner in the Decem-ber 30 poll. This gave Hasina, who has been accused of in-creasing authoritarianism and overseeing a crackdown on the opposition, a third con-secutive term in office.

Hasina and 290 other MPs –mainly from the ruling Awami League and its allies–took the oath days after the election.

Hasina was later named prime minister of the South Asian nation of 165 million peo-ple for a fourth time in total.

But opposition MPs boy-cotted the ceremony, calling for

a re-run of the elections –some-thing Hasina has ruled out.

Hasina–an erstwhile ally of Zia, before the powerful women fell out–insists she won fairly. Speculation in local media has claimed the BNP joined parlia-ment as part of a secret deal to free ailing Zia and let her fly to Britain for better treatment.

Zia was taken to hospital in Dhaka early this month from her prison cell after lawyers said her condition had dete-riorated in recent months. The

73-year-old, who is diabetic and suffers from arthritis, was also hospitalised in October for treatment.

Zia was found guilty in Feb-ruary 2018 of embezzling mon-ey intended for an orphanage, a charge her outraged supporters marched against in the streets. The sentence was later doubled by the High Court.

Zia is appealing the ver-dict which prevented her from running against Hasina in the election. She is also fighting dozens of other violence and graft-related charges.

Bangladesh opposition ends parliament boycott

AFPKABUL

AFGHANISTAN’S usually bus-tling capital Kabul slowed to a crawl Tuesday amid massive security for a high-stakes peace summit that has previously been a target for insurgent at-tacks.

Police flooded the city and authorities blocked off key roads around the west Kabul venue of the so-called “loya jirga”–where some 3,000 tribal elders, religious figures, and politicians from across Af-ghanistan are gathering over four days to discuss possible conditions for a peace deal with the Taliban.

Taliban suicide bombers armed with rockets and guns at-tacked a 2010 peace jirga at the same venue, and in 2011, two rockets were fired into Kabul during a two-day jirga.

Despite such past attacks, Kabul residents are infuriated with the scale of the lockdown, which has already been blamed for at least one death and has paralysed businesses in what would ordinarily be a busy week before Ramadan begins. Local media reported that a newborn baby died when the father, who was trying to take the infant to a hospital, was blocked by secu-rity forces.

“The little baby should not have died,” Afghanistan’s chief executive Abdullah Abdullah said. “We are actually here to serve the same people who die because of the roadblocks.” Adding to the slowdown, au-thorities have declared a week-long public holiday in Kabul.

“Yesterday, I could only take

two passengers from one part of the city to the other. It took me three hours to complete a 15-minute ride,” Nasrullah, a taxi driver who gave only his first name, said.

Shopkeeper Taj Moham-mad said poor people had been hit particularly hard. “It is good to provide security for the par-ticipants, but that should not cost people’s businesses,” Mo-hammad said. Siam Pasarly, an economics expert, estimated

the holidays were costing the business community $1 million a day. “Afghanistan is a devel-oping country and its economic engine should be running all day,” he said. “A week-long shutdown is like a poison to the economy.” The loya jirga –liter-ally “grand assembly” in Pashto –is being held as the US and Taliban are discussing a pos-sible foreign troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in exchange for a permanent ceasefire and various Taliban pledges.

The jirga is seen as an at-tempt by the Afghan govern-ment to influence the peace talks which so far have cut out President Ashraf Ghani.

An Afghan policeman frisks a passenger at a checkpoint in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Tuesday. (AFP)

Residents are angry with the scale of lockdown, which has already been blamed for death of a child

Kabul on lockdown as mega-meet discusses peace deal with Taliban

DPAISLAMABAD

PAKISTANI authorities placed emergency services on high alert Tuesday’s as the country’s most populous city braces for another potentially deadly heatwave.

The meteorological de-partment warned that from Wednesday the temperature would rise to 42 degrees Cel-sius in the port city, which has a population of 20 mil-lion people.

The cooling winds from

the Arabian Sea will cease, fur-ther aggravating the situation.

“This will take the humidi-ty to an unbearable level,” said meteorological official Sardar Sarfraz, adding that the heat-wave would last for three days.

The health department has advised people to stay indoors and avoid exposure to sun, lo-cal official Nasir Durrani said, adding that undertaking phys-ical activity might cause heat-stroke, which can be deadly.

The government has de-clared a state of emergency at hospitals and temporary clin-

ics were being set up to cope with the situation, another of-ficial, Akhtar Hussain, said.

In 2015, more than 2,000 people died in Karachi when a heatwave struck the city dur-ing the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when people fast from dawn to dusk. Ramadan starts next week this year.

Pakistan, sandwiched between highly the industri-alized nations of China and India, faces severe fallout of global warming in the form of frequent heatwaves, floods and land erosions.

Emergency services on alert as Karachi braces for heatwave

REUTERSSRINAGAR

BOTH the United Nations and the International Criminal Court consider the way civil-ians said they were used by the Indian army to search houses in south Kashmir to be illegal under international law, ex-perts said.

However, the soldiers in-volved were unlikely to have committed crimes under In-dian law, they said.

Many residents of Pinglan village in south Kashmir said they were used as shields for soldiers as they searched for militants during a crackdown in February. The UN’s Geneva

Convention states that “the presence of a protected person may not be used to render cer-tain points or areas immune from military operations”.

The ICC’s Rome Statute, that covers armed conflict “not of an international character”, states that “utilising the pres-ence of a civilian or other pro-tected person to render certain points, areas or military forces immune from military opera-tions” constitutes a war crime.

Human rights and legal experts said that taken as a whole, the army’s behavior in Pinglan was illegal under in-ternational law. The military denies the charge.

“These are extremely seri-

ous allegations,” said Aakar Patel, the head of human rights group Amnesty Interna-tional in India, in response to Reuters’ findings in Pinglan.

“Actions which deliberately endanger the life of ordinary persons - for example, by using them as ‘human shields’ - can amount to cruel, inhuman and

degrading treatment under in-ternational human rights law.” But India denies that the Ge-neva Convention, designed for international conflicts, applies to its operations in Indian-con-trolled Kashmir, and it is one of the few major countries not party to the Rome Statute.

Experts in laws governing Indian military operations said that soldiers were allowed to use a range of powers - includ-ing lethal force - with impunity in Kashmir.

“If it is used for the public (good) at large then it can be justified,” said Ajit Kakkar, a military lawyer who formerly served as a judge advocate gen-eral, one of the top legal roles

in the Indian armed forces, re-garding the army’s use of hu-man shields.

The laws, known as the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), have been the subject of furious debate in In-dia because they also protect soliders from arrest or any pro-ceedings in a civilian court.

Kakkar said any soldiers at the Pinglan encounter would likely be protected from pros-ecution by AFSPA.

“This law in Indian con-text has been through judi-cial scrutiny and upheld by Supreme Court of India,” said Dinkar Adeeb, a law-yer who has also served as a judge advocate general.

Human rights Vs ‘law of the land’ in Indian-controlled Kashmir

Asia 09Wednesday, May 1, 2019

Afghan operation to clear warring militants from eastKABUL: Afghan government forces have launched attacks in a bid to clear rival militants who have been battling each other for territory in fighting that has forced thousands of villagers from their homes, officials said on Tuesday. Taliban and Islamic State militants have been fight-ing for more than a week in the eastern border province of Nan-garhar, since Islamic State fight-ers seized six villages in an area where the mineral talc is mined. There has been no comment or information about casualties from either of the two militant groups but the clashes are some of the heaviest between the rival Islamist factions over the past year. Late on Monday, Afghan government forces launched attacks, including air strikes, to push the militants out of the area, officials said. (REUTERS)

Pakistan working to make peace process a success: FM

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi reiterated that peace in Afghanistan was imperative for regional connectivity and Paki-stan was making sincere efforts for the success of the Afghan peace process. Addressing the Seventh Round of Pakistan-Afghanistan Track-II Dialogue in Islamabad on Tuesday, Qureshi said Pakistan was help-ing the United States in bringing peace to Afghanistan but the Afghan people must decide their future. “I have visited different countries and held meetings with the US Special Representative for Afghanistan Rec-onciliation Zalmay Khalilzad to find a way for peace in the neighbouring country,” he added. “Pakistan-Afghanistan Track-II Dialogue between Pakistan and Afghanistan is an important forum as it is our priority to have cordial ties with Afghanistan.” (TRIBUNE.COM.PK)

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, 71, was declared the landslide winner in the December 30 poll

A security personnel takes position as he guards outside a polling station in Kund, south Kashmir’s Kulgam district, on Monday. (REUTERS)

Intricate cardboard city rises at Manila art show

AFPMANILA

A twisting maze of tiny build-ings crafted from discarded cardboard boxes is the heart of an eye-catching art piece in the Philippines highlighting the humble material’s value to millions of people.

In a nation where nearly a quarter of the population lives on less than $2 per day, card-board is a cheap and abundant material used for shelter, bed-

ding and furniture. While the installation was originally made in and patterned on the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu, the Filipino art-ists behind the work said the use of cardboard packs more meaning in Manila.

“The cardboard is very much important in the Phil-ippines. In other places, it’s discarded, it’s garbage,” said Isabel Aquilizan, who con-ceived of the piece along with her husband Alfredo.

Indian govt questions Rahul’s citizenship; Cong calls it a ‘stunt’REUTERSNEW DELHI

INDIA’S government has asked Rahul Gandhi, the president of the main opposition Congress party, to respond to a complaint by a lawmaker from Prime Min-ister Narendra Modi’s party ac-cusing him of holding dual Brit-ish citizenship against Indian law.

Gandhi, the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty that has dominated Indian politics for

much of its history since inde-pendence from Britain in 1947, is the main challenger to Modi in the 39-day general election that began on April 11. Results will be known on May 23.

Congress dismissed a no-tice sent to 48-year-old Gandhi, who has studied and worked in England, by the Ministry of Home Affairs on Monday as a “pathetic stunt that is not just frivolous but downright stupid”.

The notice was based on

a letter from Subramanian Swamy, an outspoken mem-ber of parliament from Modi’s nationalist Bharatiya Janata

Party (BJP). Swamy has for long cited what he calls an-nual reports and other docu-ments from 2005, 2006 and 2009 of a UK-registered com-pany, at which Gandhi was a director, as mentioning his nationality as British.

“You are requested to in-timate the factual position in the matter to this ministry within a fortnight of the re-ceipt of this communication,” B.C. Joshi, a director in the

Indian interior ministry, said in the notice to Gandhi. Fed-eral Home Minister Rajnath Singh, also a senior BJP lead-er, told reporters his ministry was following due process.

India’s constitution says that any person voluntarily acquiring a foreign passport automatically loses Indian citi-zenship. Congress said the BJP was making fake, personal at-tacks on Gandhi after sensing defeat in the election.

Congress chief Rahul Gandhi

Dog, owner detained for flouting Indian poll lawMUMBAI: A pet pooch was detained for flouting India’s election rules after it was spotted parading slogans supporting Prime Minis-ter Narendra Modi outside polling stations -- but “let off with a warn-ing”, authorities said Tuesday. Police seized the dog and its owner in the western state of Maharashtra on Monday just as voting was under way on the fourth voting day of India’s mammoth election that runs to May 19. “We detained the dog and its owner as it was a polling day and they were walking around promoting Modi and vio-lating election campaigning rules,” police official Ganpat Phil said. Campaigning is banned on voting days in areas that are casting bal-lots. A complaint was filed under India’s penal code against owner Eknath Chaudhary for the sticker and placards. (AFP)

‘Stay indoors’The health department has advised people to stay indoors and avoid exposure to sun, local official Nasir Durrani said, adding that undertaking physical activity might cause heatstroke, which can be deadly. The govt has declared a state of emergency at hospitals and temporary clinics were being set up to cope up

Israel cuts Gaza fishing limit after ‘rocket fire’

AFPJERUSALEM

ISRAEL reduced the offshore fishing limit it imposes for ves-sels operating out of Gaza from Tuesday following rocket fire from the territory by Palestinian militants, officials said.

A number of fishing boats came under Israeli naval fire early Tuesday, the fishermen’s union said, after the military said they breached the fishing boundaries.

The union statement did not report any casualties.

Gaza fishermen will now be able to operate no more than six nautical miles into the Medi-terranean, down from up to 15 nautical miles Israel had al-lowed since April 1.

COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry unit that oversees civil matters in the Palestinian terri-

tories, said the new limit would be in force “until further no-tice.” A COGAT spokeswoman said the decision was taken in light of a rocket launch from Gaza late on Monday.

A military spokeswoman said the rocket fell into the Med-iterranean, a few kilometres (couple of miles) off the Israeli coast. An army source said that the rocket was fired by Gaza’s second largest militant group, Islamic Jihad, an ally of the ter-ritory’s Islamist rulers Hamas.

The source alleged that in recent weeks Islamic Jihad had been “taking steps to harm” ef-forts to maintain a ceasefire be-tween Israel and Hamas.

But the source underlined that the evidence Islamic Jihad had fired the rocket would not affect Israel’s longstanding pol-icy of holding Hamas responsi-ble as Gaza’s de facto ruler.

AFPWASHINGTON

PRESIDENT Donald Trump is seeking to blacklist the Mus-lim Brotherhood as a terrorist group, a far-reaching step that would place the United States firmly on the side of its authori-tarian allies in the Middle East.

“The president has con-sulted with his national security team and leaders in the region who share his concern, and this designation is working its way through the internal process,” said White House Press Secre-tary Sarah Sanders. The Broth-erhood, a nearly century-old Is-lamist movement born in Egypt

with pockets of support across the Arab world, was designated a terrorist organization by Cairo after the military in 2013 ousted Mohamed Morsi, a democrati-cally elected president with roots in the movement.

Placing the Muslim Broth-erhood on Washington’s list of foreign terrorist organizations would make it a crime for any American to assist the group and would ban from the United States its members, who are ac-tive in political parties in several countries.

The move comes three weeks after Trump welcomed Egypt’s President Abdel Fat-tah al-Sisi, who has cracked

down heavily on the Muslim Brotherhood as well as other movements ranging from Is-

lamic State extremists to secu-lar activists. During their White House talks, Trump praised Sisi

for “doing a great job,” saying the United States and Egypt had “never had a better rela-tionship.” The terrorist designa-tion would delight Sisi as well as Saudi Arabia, which despite its ultra-conservative Wahabi ideology disdains the Muslim Brotherhood due to its support for political change in the king-dom, including over Riyadh’s alliance with Washington.

But targeting the movement would be a major new impedi-ment in US ties with NATO ally Turkey, where President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has pushed an Islamist foreign policy that in-cludes support for the Muslim Brotherhood inside Egypt.

Trump seeks to declare Muslim Brotherhood as a ‘terror’ group

REUTERSKHARTOUM

SUDAN’S military rulers said they were ready to negotiate with the opposition over the political future of the country but there should be no further unrest beyond Tuesday, a ref-erence to protests disrupting trains and bridges.

Opposition groups and protesters have been press-ing the Transitional Military Council (TMC) to speed up the move to civilian rule since the army ousted former president Omar al-Bashir on April 11.

“We are ready to negotiate but no chaos after today,” said the TMC’s deputy head Mo-hamed Hamdan Dagalo, who goes by the nickname Hemed-ti. “We told them, continue with the sit-in, but the train is connected to delivering fuel,” he added.

The main organisers of the protests - the Sudanese Profes-

sionals Association - called on Monday for civil disobedience and a general strike as meet-ings with the TMC failed to provide any breakthrough on the creation of a joint civilian-military transitional council.

At a press conference on Tuesday, the military said it would not disperse a protest

sit-in that has been taking place outside the defence min-istry since April 6.

The sit-in, the culmination of months of demonstrations against Bashir’s three-decade rule, carried on after the army removed him from power, as protesters demanded civilian rule. “We have no interest in

dispersing the sit-in but it’s in the interest of the Sudanese people to open the roads,” said Lieutenant General Salah Ab-delkhalek, a TMC member.

He also distanced the TMC from the previous govern-ment.

“We are part of the revo-lution and not part of the former regime as people view us.” During the press confer-ence, the TMC also said it had accepted the resignations of three TMC members.

The SPA had demanded that the three be dismissed over their alleged role in a crackdown that killed dozens of protesters.

One of the three members, who resigned last week, was Lieutenant-General Omar Zain al-Abideen who headed the TMC’s political committee. The other two were Lieuten-ant-General Jalal al-Deen al-Sheikh and Lieutenant-Gener-al Al-Tayeb Babakr Ali Fadeel.

Sudan’s military says it is ready to negotiate, warns no more ‘chaos’

DPANEW YORK

THE Israeli-Palestinian con-flict will worsen if there is no change in approach to the po-litical situation, the UN politi-cal chief warned on Monday, saying UN efforts were con-tinually being undermined.

Hopes for a two-state so-lution were being replaced by “rising fears of future annexa-tion,” Rosemary DiCarlo told the UN Security Council in a briefing, adding: “The possibil-ity of establishing a viable and contiguous Palestinian State continues to be eroded by facts

on the ground.” Shortly before his re-election last month, Is-raeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to annex West Bank settlements, which are regarded as illegal under international law by most of the rest of the world.

The Israeli leader has been boosted in his uncompromis-ing approach to the conflict by US President Donald Trump, who has cut funding to the Palestinians and moved the US embassy to Jerusalem.

DiCarlo said Israeli settle-ments in Palestinian territory continued to expand and were a “violation of international

law.” Conflict “cannot be managed in perpetuity,” she added, arguing that a failure to change political approaches would mean a further dete-rioration in the situation with “radicalization on all sides, more suffering and conflict.” She also noted that four of the seven Palestinians killed by Is-raeli forces in the first quarter of the year were children.

While condemning vio-lence on both sides she re-minded Israel that lethal force could only be used “in response to an imminent threat of death or serious in-jury as a last resort.”

UN: Israeli-Palestinian conflict will worsen without political change

Libya fighters press on in battle for Tripoli

AFPESPIAA, LIBYA

PLUMES of smoke rise from the plain south of Libya’s capi-tal as troops loyal to the UN-recognised government battle to fend off an assault on Tripoli.

On the roof of an aban-doned clinic, a fighter surveyed the dry landscape dotted with palm trees some 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the capital.

“Over there’s the airport,” he said, barefoot and dressed in shorts and a black t-shirt.

Tripoli’s international air-port was heavily damaged in 2014 clashes and has since been out of use, but nonethe-less remains a strategic site in the battle for control of the capital. “And there, is Espiaa” village, he added, after put-ting down a rocket-launcher on the rooftop strewn with bullet cartridges.

Men loyal to the Gov-ernment of National Accord (GNA) have been trying to take ground from forces of com-mander Khalifa Haftar, who launched an offensive on Trip-oli on April 4.

A coalition of Tripoli mi-litias and armed groups from western towns have since April 20 been slowly repelling Haf-tar’s self-styled Libyan Nation-al Army.

Around Espiaa, which they are fighting to control, the air echoed with the sound of rocket fire and the inces-sant barrage of gunfire.

Plumes of white and black smoke rose across the horizon, marking out where strikes had set the dry landscape ablaze.

”There!” shouted one of the fighters, as the engine of a plane is heard overhead and the men momentarily freeze.

“During the day, there are Libyan planes. At night, there are foreign planes, they’re more advanced, more pre-cise,” he said.

The GNA accuses foreign powers–the United Arab Emir-ates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt among others–of providing Haftar with military support.

At least 345 people have been killed and 1,652 wounded in the Tripoli offensive so far, according to the World Health Organization.

“But the planes can’t stop the fighting on the ground. And it’s fighting on the ground that can stop a war,” said Abdulha-mid, one of the leaders of Bat-talion 166.

The armed group from Misrata, east of Tripoli, claims to have 700 fighters and took part in the battle that ousted the Islamic State group from the city of Sirte in 2016.

Gulf / Middle East / World

A view of a mural painted by Palestinian artist Ali Al-Jbaly for his exhi-bition ‘dreamers among the rubbles’ between a rubble of a destroyed building damaged during the Israeli war against Gaza in summer 2014, in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, on Wednesday. (EPA-EFE)

Men loyal to the Government of National Accord (GNA) have been trying to take ground from forces of com-mander Khalifa Haftar, who launched an offensive on Tripoli on April 4.

KANO: Boko Haram fight-ers killed 21 people when they stormed into a village in northeastern Nigeria and set it on fire, residents said Tuesday. The militants, packed into four trucks and flanked by gunmen on motorbikes, swept into the village of Kuda in northeast Nigeria’s Adamawa state late on Monday afternoon, firing as they came. “They opened fire on residents, killing 21 people,” said commu-nity leader Maina Ularamu. “They burnt several homes.” Ularamu lost three brothers-in-law in the attack. (AFP)

Boko Haram kills 21 in Nigerian village attack

SEOUL: North Korea’s vice foreign minister said on Tues-day the United States will face “undesired consequenc-es” if it fails to present a new position in denuclearisation talks by the end of the year, state media reported. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has set a year-end deadline for the United States to show more flexibility after his second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump failed to produce a deal to end Pyongyang’s nuclear programme in return for sanc-tions relief. But Trump and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have brushed aside the deadline. (REUTERS)

North Korea warns of ‘consequences’ if US stance unchanged

NEWS IN BRIEF


Mohamed Hamadan Dagolo, also known as Himedti, deputy head of the ruling military council of Sudan, speaks to the Press in the capital Khartoum, on Tuesday. (AFP)

On Tuesday, the military said it would not disperse a protest sit-in that has been taking place outside the defence ministry since April 6

Military ‘not serious’ about handing power to civilians, says protest leaderKHARTOUM: Sudanese protest leaders on Tuesday accused the army of not being serious about handing power to civilians, after differ-ences emerged over the composition of a joint-military civilian ruling body. “The military council is not serious about handing over power to civilians,” Mohamed Naji al-Assam, a leader from the Sudanese Professionals Association, the group that is spearheading the ongo-ing protest movement, told reporters.

“The military council insists that the sovereign council (the joint one) should be military led with civilian representation,” Assam said. Speaking at a news conference, he said the military had been seeking to “expand its powers daily”. Assam said no new talks were scheduled on Tuesday, but the protest group would present its pro-posals to the army rulers “within hours”. The protest leader criticised the military council’s demand to open some roads and bridges near the sit-in area outside the military headquarters. (AFP)

Egypt hands down life sentence to senior Brotherhood figure and son CAIRO: An Egyptian court handed life sentences to Hassan Malik, a leader of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, as well as his son Hamza and five others on Tuesday after convicting them of terrorism offences. The charges included leading a terrorist organisation, supporting it financially and taking actions aimed at hurting the economy, based in part on a search of Malik’s home in which Muslim Brotherhood documents were found that allegedly outlined plots against the state, a judicial source told Reuters. The source said the documents outlined plans to dam-age Egypt’s economy by manipulating the value of the Egyptian pound against the dollar. (REUTERS)

Japan’s emperor prays for peace after first abdication in 200 years

REUTERSTOKYO

JAPANESE Emperor Akihito, in his final remarks as his three-decade reign drew to a close on Tuesday, thanked the people for their support and expressed hope for a peaceful future.

Akihito, 85, the first mon-arch to abdicate in two cen-turies, had sought to ease the painful memories of World War Two and bring the mon-archy closer to the people, in-cluding those marginalised in

society. The popular Akihito was the first monarch to take the Chrysanthemum Throne under a post-war constitution that defines the emperor as a symbol of the people without political power.

His father, Hirohito, in whose name Japanese troops fought World War Two, was considered a living deity until after Japan’s defeat in 1945, when he renounced his divin-ity. “To the people who ac-cepted and supported me as a symbol, I express my heartfelt thanks,” Akihito said.

Amid deprivation, Gaza youths skate in search of childhood fun

REUTERSGAZA

AT a Gaza beachfront skatepark, Palestinian youngsters on skateboards and rollerblades zip around curves and jump over concrete obstacles to the delight of onlookers.

Calling themselves the “Gaza skate team”, a group of about 20 youths hold weekly training sessions overseen by two coaches, who watch vid-eos on the internet to improve their skating skills.

Skating equipment is hard to come by in Gaza, where pov-

erty runs deep and Israel and Egypt, citing security concerns, maintain tight restrictions along the border. “We tour the mar-kets looking for second-hand stuff. We collect it and we make it fit for play,” said Mohammed al-Sawalhe, one of the coaches.

“I try to change their think-ing and turn it from thinking about the blockade, borders, and death, to thinking about sport,” he said about the skat-ers. Israel and Egypt imposed a blockade on Gaza for secu-rity reasons after the Islamist group Hamas took control of the territory in 2007.

UN raises concern over attacks on Syria health facilitiesHBEIT: Shelling of areas in northwestern Syria in the past three days has damaged a medical centre and put two hos-pitals out of service, the United Nations said on Tuesday.

“The UN is deeply disturbed by three separate reported at-tacks on hospitals and health facilities in northwestern Syria, depriving thousands of people of their basic right of health,” said David Swanson of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

“Such violence is complete-ly unacceptable,” he said.

The UN did not specify who was behind the attacks but the Britain-based Syrian Observa-tory for Human Rights blamed the Syrian government and its ally Russia. (AFP)

REUTERSBERLIN

GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel denied speculation on Tuesday that she would resign before the end of her term in 2021, quashing media reports suggesting she would announce her intentions at a conservative party meeting in June.

Merkel, widely seen as an anchor of stability in Europe for the last 14 years, handed

over the leadership of her Christian Democrats (CDU) in December in response to growing criticism of her han-dling of the migrant crisis and its consequences. Asked at

a news conference whether she planned to make any an-nouncement about her future at a June 2-3 party meeting, Merkel said she would “answer that with a clear no”.

The latest media specula-tion was triggered by the sud-den announcement of the CDU meeting, due to take place just days after European Parlia-ment elections in which the conservatives are expected to remain the biggest party.

Merkel rejects speculations of early exit

KIEV: Ukraine’s electoral authority officially named co-median Volodymyr Zelensky as the country’s new presi-dent on Tuesday, a week after he won a run-off vote against incumbent Petro Poroshenko. The 41-year-old won 73.22 per cent of the vote, elections administra-tor Tatyana Slipacuk said. A total of 13.5 million people gave him their vote. It is the best result any candidate in a Ukrainian presidential election candidate has achieved in the country’s history. Zelensky must be sworn into office by June 2.POROSHENKO, on the other hand, won 24.45 per cent of the vote, a total of 4.5 million people. More than 2 per cent of the ballots were not valid. Turnout stood at 61.37 per cent. (DPA)

Zelensky named Ukraine’s president with record vote share

BUECHEL: Protestors scaled the fence at a Ger-man Air Force base in the west of the country to hold a picnic in protest at the presumed presence of US nuclear bombs stored there. According to the protestors, 17 of their number aged between 22 and 76 made it over the fence of the Buechel base. Apart from holding a “nuclear-weapons-free picnic,” they put up signs reading, “Civilian security area! Entry desired. No use of nuclear weap-ons. Civil society.” A police spokesman from the nearby town of Cochem confirmed that “15 to 20 people” had gained access to the restricted military area. Officers took their details, issued an order to leave and initiated proceedings for trespass. (DPA)

Protesters scale fence at German base thought to hold nuclear bombs

News in brief

AFPCARACAS

VENEZUELA’S self-pro-claimed acting president Juan Guaido claimed Tuesday that troops had joined his cam-paign to oust President Nico-las Maduro, whose govern-ment vowed to put down what it called an attempted coup by the US-backed opposition leader.

An apparently carefully planned attempt by Guaido to demonstrate growing military support disintegrated into ri-oting as palls of black smoke rose over eastern Caracas.

The government said it was “deactivating” an at-tempted coup by a small group of “treacherous” soldiers.

And there was little early sign Maduro’s iron grip on the military -- which has kept him in power in a months-long standoff with Guaido -- had slipped.

On Twitter, he claimed the military chiefs had assured him of their “total loyalty”.

Confusion reigned in Ca-racas as a crowd that swelled to thousands, many waving Venezuelan flags, flocked onto

a highway near a Caracas mili-tary base.

Guaido had rallied his sup-porters with an early morning video message that showed him with armed troops he said had heeded months of urging to join his campaign to oust Maduro.

The 35-year-old National Assembly leader -- recog-nized as interim president by more than 50 countries -- was filmed outside the La Carlota air base, where he urged the armed forces in-side to join him.

Guaido claimed the move was the “beginning of the end” of Maduro’s regime, and there was “no turning back”.

But as the crowd swelled around the base, police fired tear gas to keep them away from the perimeter.

Later troops in riot gear, backed by armored vehicles and water tankers, lined up against the demonstrators on a highway wreathed in tear-gas.

Several of the vehicles ran into the crowd, injuring some of the protesters. Rioters later blocked the highway with a bus and set it on fire.

Rioting breaks out in Venezuela amid ‘attempted coup’

REUTERSLONDON

BRITAIN’S opposition Labour Party resisted calls to uncondi-tionally embrace a second ref-erendum on Tuesday, restating its support for such a vote only if the government refuses to change its EU deal or there is no new election.

With Britain’s delayed de-parture from the European Union far from clear, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has been under pressure from lawmakers and party members to throw his support behind a second refer-endum, or confirmatory vote, on any Brexit deal.

But the veteran Socialist, a long-time eurosceptic, has stuck firmly to his position that a second vote was an option to prevent what Labour calls a “damaging” Conservative Brexit or to stop Britain leaving without a deal.

The move could further infuriate Labour lawmakers, including deputy leader Tom Watson, who have pushed for an unconditional commitment on a second referendum.

The rift has spurred eight Labour politicians to form a new party called Change UK. After a meeting of Labour’s National Executive Committee, its gov-erning body, a party source said an agreement had been reached which “will be fully in line with Labour’s existing policy”.

That policy is “to support Labour’s alternative plan, and if we can’t get the necessary changes to the government’s deal, or a general election, to back the option of a public vote.” Nearly three years after

Britons voted to leave the EU by 52 to 48 percent, the main par-ties, and the country, are deeply divided over Brexit, leaving it unclear when, and even if, Brit-ain will leave the bloc.

The deal that Prime Min-ister Theresa May agreed with the EU has been rejected three times by parliament, forcing the Conservative leader to open talks with Labour to try to find common ground and win ap-proval to avoid taking part in the European elections. Af-ter nearly four weeks, Labour sources said Monday’s talks

with the government were bet-ter in tone than before and min-isters had shown some willing-ness to move, declining to offer specifics.

But with a new Brexit deadline set for Oct. 31, parties are readying themselves for the May 23 European Parlia-ment elections, offering those wanting to remain in the EU and others supporting a clean break another potential bat-tleground. Corbyn has tried to keep his party united by tread-ing a fine line on his position on a second referendum.

Pro-EU campaigners outside the British Labour Party’s national executive committee (NEC) offices in central London, Britain, on Tuesday. (EPA-EFE)

Corbyn remains under pressure to throw his weight behind a second referendum, or confirmatory vote

UK Labour sticks to conditions for a fresh Brexit referendum

REUTERSWASHINGTON

FEDERAL prosecutors on Tuesday opposed a bid by President Donald Trump’s longtime adviser Roger Stone to obtain unredacted portions of Special Coun-sel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 US election to help his defense against criminal charges brought by Mueller.

“The government does not intend to provide that por-tion of the report to counsel for Mr. Stone absent an order of the court to do so,” pros-

ecutor Jonathan Kravis told US District Judge Amy Ber-man Jackson during a hear-ing in the case due to go to trial on Nov. 5.

Jackson said she under-stood why Stone should not get a copy of the entire report but raised questions about why he might not be entitled to parts that relate to him directly, especially because some already is in the public version of the report.

Prosecutors oppose giving unredacted Mueller report to Trump advisor Stone

TCA/DPASAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA

US President Donald Trump has called for charging mi-grants fees in order to apply for asylum. In a memorandum re-leased late Monday afternoon, Trump instructed the attorney general and Homeland Secu-rity secretary to come up with regulations that would make several changes in the asylum system, including requiring those submitting asylum appli-cations to pay fees “not to ex-ceed the costs of adjudicating the application.”

Trump cited what his ad-ministration has character-ized as a “crisis” at the south-

west border as reason for the changes. The number of peo-ple caught crossing the border reached its highest count in a decade last month. Border of-ficials have said many of the migrants arriving at the bor-der in recent months have asked for asylum.

“The purpose of this mem-orandum is to strengthen asy-lum procedures to safeguard our system against rampant abuse of our asylum process,” Trump’s memo says.

While fees charged by US Citizenship and Immigration Services range from several hundred to more than 1,000 dollars depending on the type of immigration program that

a person is applying for, asy-lum applications - generally adjudicated in immigration court rather than by USCIS

officials - have not historically required fees. One program that immigrants can apply for in court, called cancellation of removal, charges 185 dol-lars, including a biometrics screening.

According to a 2017 report published by the Library of Congress, the vast majority of countries do not require asylum seekers to pay fees to request protection.

Trump also wants to charge filing fees for asylum seekers who apply for work permits while they wait for their cases to be heard, and he wants to bar those who cross the border illegally from be-ing able to get work permits

while their asylum cases are pending. Asylum seekers gen-erally don’t receive work per-mits right away.

They are not eligible to work until six months after they’ve filed their asylum ap-plications, which generally take several months after they arrive in the US to submit.

If they take certain actions that make their cases take longer, like asking for con-tinuances, that extends the amount of time they have to wait to request work permits.

While people who have won their asylum cases are el-igible for help getting on their feet through programs similar to refugee resettlement, asy-

lum seekers whose cases are still pending are not eligible for any such aid. Most rely on family or friends to help them until they’re eligible to work.

The president’s memo also calls for immigration courts to make decisions on asylum applications within six months and for asylum hearings to be more limited in scope than general immigra-tion hearings.

Because of a backlog in immigration court, asylum seekers often have to wait years before their final hear-ings. Trump gave the attorney general and Homeland Secu-rity secretary 90 days to put together the regulations.

Trump wants to charge migrants applying for asylum

Europe / Americas 11Wednesday, May 1, 2019

British govt wants cross-party Brexit talks over by next weekLONDON: Cross-party talks to resolve the Brexit crisis are reach-ing the end, PM Theresa May’s government indicated Tuesday, with reports suggesting she wants a conclusion by the middle of next week. Ministers held their latest talks on Monday with senior members of the main opposition Labour party. They are seeking a way through the political deadlock over how to leave the European Union, which has forced Britain to twice delay its intended exit. “There were serious and constructive discussions last night, and we will now look to hold further talks in the coming days,” May’s spokesman said. “Further talks will now be scheduled in order to bring the process toward a conclusion,” he added. (AFP)

Supporters of Venezuelan National Assembly President Juan Guiado confront Maduro loyalists in the Bolivarian Armed Forces during a protest in Caracas, Venezuela, on Tuesday. (EPA-EFE)

US President Donald Trump.

Prosecutor Jonathan Kravis told US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson during a hearing in the case due to go to trial on Nov. 5.

Trump has agreed to spend $2tn on infrastructure: Democrats

AFPWASHINGTON

DEMOCRATIC leaders emerged from White House talks with Donald Trump Tuesday saying they had reached agreement with the president to spend $2 trillion to improve America’s creak-ing infrastructure.

“We agreed on a num-ber which was very, very good: $2 trillion for infra-structure,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said,

in a sign the feuding sides are willing to work together on accomplishing a major bipartisan goal to upgrade the nation’s roads, bridges, airports, rail lines, water-ways and broadband inter-net access.

“Even the president was eager to push it up to $2 tril-lion,” the Democrat added. “There was goodwill in this meeting, and that was differ-ent than some of the other meetings that we’ve had, which is a very good thing.”

Serbia & Kosovo agree to resume talks after Macron, Merkel push

AFPBERLIN

SERBIA and Kosovo have agreed at a summit in Ber-lin to resume talks, after the leaders of France and Germa-ny warned the bitter foes that resolving their dispute was crucial to future ties with the European Union.

German Chancellor An-gela Merkel and French Presi-dent Emmanuel Macron host-ed the working dinner for the neighbours whose relation-ship has taken a turn for the worse in recent months.

Late Monday Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and Serbian President Alek-sandar Vucic said they had agreed to meet again in Paris in early July.

Merkel earlier said the recent breakthrough in a long-running conflict be-tween Greece and Macedo-nia over the smaller coun-try’s name could serve as a model for resolving Serbia and Kosovo’s thorny dispute.

France’s ‘yellow vest’ pledges

have reached €17 bn : Minister

PARIS: The total cost of measures announced by the French gov-ernment to ease taxes and boost spending power in response to months of fierce anti-government protests now stands at 17 billion euros ($19 billion), Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said Tuesday.

“The tax cuts will mainly by financed by lower public spending,” Le Maire told France 2 television.

President Emmanuel Macron last week unveiled tax cuts worth five billion euros ($5.5 billion) as he tries to quell nearly six months of protests by “yellow vest” demonstrators who say their living standards have plunged. He also promised to lift a freeze on pen-sion increases for low-income retirees, which the finance ministry expects to cost 1.4 billion euros. (AFP)

The latest media specu-lation was triggered by the sudden announce-ment of the CDU meet-ing, due to take place


VODAFONE Qatar has re-ported a net profit of QR44 mn for the first quarter (Q1) ending March 31, 2019, a re-cord 149 percent jump com-pared to the same period of 2018.

This is the highest quar-terly net profit in the compa-ny’s history, Vodafone said in a statement on Tuesday.

Vodafone Qatar main-tained its strong financial performance into the start of 2019 led by a contin-ued growth in its postpaid subscribers and expanding its cost optimisation pro-gramme.

Total revenue for the quarter increased year-on-year to reach QR535 mil-lion driven by higher post-paid and fixed revenues, the statement said.

EBITDA for the period increased by 34 percent year-on-year to reach QR181 million primarily due to higher revenue, lower costs and the application of In-ternational Financial Re-porting Standard (IFRS) 16, re-classing long term lease costs to below EBITDA.

Consequently, EBITDA Margin reached 33.8 per-cent. EBITDA excluding

the IFRS 16 adjustment, increased 17.9 percent or QR24 million year-on-year.

The mobile customers reached 1.7 million in Q1, re-flecting a 334,000 increase year-on-year, due to strong postpaid subscriber growth and from the positive impact of changing the definition of prepaid subscribers to align with the International Tel-ecommunications Union’s and Qatar Communication and Regulatory Authority’s definition.

Vodafone Qatar CEO Sheikh Hamad Abdulla Jassim al Thani, said, “The momentum gained in 2018 for delivering strong fi-nancial and operational performance has contin-ued through to 2019’s first quarter. This clearly shows

that we are executing on the company’s solid strategy.

“We are committed to lead the delivery of innova-tion in Qatar by building a digital ecosystem fuelled by a state of the art communi-cations infrastructure that will benefit consumers and businesses alike.

“In addition to expand-ing our portfolio of services and enhancing our network, we are proudly marking ma-jor technological milestones for Vodafone and Qatar such as the first live 5G mobile call using a 5G handset in the region.

He further said, “De-ployment of 5G and fibre continues and we have some exciting plans for maximis-ing the new growth opportu-nities that both technologies will bring.

Vodafone Qatar Q1 net profit jumps record 149% to QR44 million


THE Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) recently participated in ‘Qatar Day’, a unique fo-rum for senior representa-tives from the UK and Qatar to further develop the strong ties that exist between the two countries’ respective financial services sectors.

Hosted by the City of Lon-don Corporation in partner-ship with the UK’s Department for International Trade and Qatar Central Bank (QCB), the inaugural event saw approxi-mately 120 C-level executives and senior representatives from the UK and Qatar’s key

national and financial services institutions that included Qa-tar Development Bank, Qa-tar Central Bank and Qatar Financial Markets Authority come together in the city of London, QFC said in a state-ment said on Tuesday.

The event focused on asset management, capital markets, Fintech and the cyber security sectors of financial services.

QFC CEO Yousuf Moham-med al Jaida took part in one of the panel discussions titled ‘Turning Challenges to Com-petitive Advantages: Asset Management in the 21st Cen-tury’ which covered themes such as regulatory improve-ments and future opportuni-

ties for asset management in Qatar.

Discussions at the event highlighted Qatar’s strong

economic performance and the recognition of the Qatari capital market as “the best and most important” financial market in the Arab region and “one of the top 10 financial markets in the world”, accord-ing to The World Economic Forum’s Global Competitive-ness Report 2017-2018.

The QFC CEO also present-ed to students and academ-ics of the Warwick Business School on the Qatari economy and the QFC’s mandate.

Jaida said, “The UK is one of Qatar’s most valued strate-gic business partners, and the QFC’s mandate is an integral part of the country’s strategic initiative to build, develop and

diversify the business environ-ment to drive foreign invest-ment into the Qatari market. We are therefore very proud of our client base which includes close to 100 UK firms, who continue to benefit from our unique business ecosystem.”

Henk Jan Hoogendoorn, Managing Director of Finan-cial Sector Office, QFC, joined a panel discussion titled: ‘Promot-ing and Accelerating Fintech Adoption and the Opportuni-ties for Islamic Fintech’, where participants discussed how the UK and Qatar are accelerating the adoption of Fintech, and the mutually beneficial opportuni-ties for the two to collaborate on Islamic finance.

Qatar Financial Centre participates in ‘Qatar Day’ in UK

QFC CEO Yousuf Mohammed al Jaida takes part in a panel discussion at ‘Qatar Day’, in London recently.


DOHA Bank reported a net profit of QR307 million for the first quarter (Q1) ending March 31, 2019, the bank an-nounced in a statement on Tuesday.

Announcing the results, Doha Bank Chairman Sheikh Fahad bin Mohammad bin Jabor al Thani, said the bank has made significant progress in improving the cost manage-ment and efficient utilisation of resources.

The operating cost for the period decreased by 10.8 percent as compared to same period last year thus reduc-ing the cost to income ratio to 35.7 percent from 37.3 percent showing bank’s productive operational performance, the statement said.

The total assets increased by QR2.7 billion, registering a growth of 2.9 percent, from QR93.6 billion in 2018 Q1 to QR96.3 billion 2019 Q1.

Net loans and advances stood at QR58.7 billion com-pared to QR59.9 billion for the same period last year.

Customer deposits reached QR54.5 billion compared to 59.7 billion for the same pe-riod in 2018.

The total financial invest-ment portfolio increased by 5.9 billion, showing a signifi-

cant growth of 32.3 percent compared to the same period of the last year.

Sheikh Fahad said the drop in Q1 profit (QR307 mil-lion) as against QR381 mil-lion in 2018 Q1 was due to the bank’s focus on strengthening

the provisions base by taking significant loan loss provision as compared to the same pe-riod last year, which enhanced the provision coverage for non-performing loans.

Sheikh Fahad expressed his satisfaction with the growth of the interest income by 3.9 percent as compared to the same period last year.

Doha Bank Managing director Sheikh Abdul Re-hman bin Mohammad bin Jabor al Thani, said “The total shareholder’s equity stood at QR12.9 billion from QR12.4 billion for the same period last

year, registering a growth of 3.7 percent.

“The bank continued to strengthen its key capitalisa-tion ratios, where the total capital adequacy ratio of the bank increased to 17.1 percent from 16.6 percent for the same period last year.

“The bank, given the scale of its operations, has achieved a return on the average assets of 1.28 percent as at March 31, 2019”.

Sheikh Abdul Rehman lauded the performance of the QE Index ETF ‘QETF’ fund, where the fund achieved a total return of 20 percent in 2018, outperforming most ETFs in the world.

Commenting on the per-formance, Doha Bank CEO R Seetharaman said, “This achievement is the culmina-tion of untiring efforts of vari-ous parties who contributed to the QETF’s success in its first year of operations.”

He said, “We believe the QETF holds immense prom-ise and opens a gateway to the Qatari market for global inves-tors.

“Despite challenging mar-ket conditions, Doha Bank has been distinguished by its su-perior products and services, ongoing customer demand, and capitalising on market synergies in a challenging and competitive environment.”

Total assets increases by QR2.7 billion, registering a growth of 2.9 percent

Doha Bank posts Q1 net profit of QR307 mn

Doha Bank Chairman Sheikh Fahad bin Mohammad bin Jabor al Thani

The UK is one of Qatar’s most valued strategic business partners. We are very proud of our client base which includes close to 100 UK firms, who continue to benefit from our unique business ecosystemQFC CEO Yousuf Mohammed al Jaida


THE Ministry of Commerce and Industry has announced that it has filed and pub-lished its First Written Sub-mission in Qatar’s challenge against Saudi Arabia’s fail-ure to protect intellectual property in accordance with its international obligations as a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

The dispute, which is currently under considera-tion by a WTO Panel, will evaluate the multiple claims

brought by Qatar under the WTO’s Agreement on Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement).

The ministry has stressed that Saudi Arabia’s actions constitute a flagrant violation of Saudi’s inter-national and moral obliga-tions, a position that Qatar will further demonstrate in the coming months dur-ing two oral hearings in Geneva, Switzerland, be-fore the WTO Panel, as well as in additional written submissions.

As detailed in Qatar’s 112-page submission (and supported by 178 exhibits), Saudi Arabia’s actions rep-resent not only violations of its obligations to protect intellectual property rights of Qatari nationals, but also the rights of nationals from other trading partners, including (among many others) the US and the European Union.

Qatar has explained how Saudi Arabia has ac-tively and aggressively vio-lated its obligations under the TRIPS Agreement.

More generally, the sub-mission explains how such violations have exposed deep-seated and fundamen-tal flaws in Saudi Arabia’s

commitment to providing enforcement procedures consistent with the TRIPS Agreement.

In publishing this sub-mission, Qatar aims to bet-ter inform rights holders and countries around the world of the threat that this unchecked piracy creates for intellectual property rights, generally, and the global sports and media in-dustries, in particular.

In a global economy whose growth depends on innovation and creativity now more than ever, strong

intellectual property protec-tion is critical.

Saudi-based broadcast pirate named “beoutQ” has been pirating copyrighted media content of a Qatari company – beIN Media Group LLP – in Saudi Ara-bia and beyond, including through the sale of beoutQ subscriptions and set-top decoder boxes at numerous retail outlets across Saudi Arabia.

In addition to beIN’s proprietary and licensed content, the beoutQ boxes allow access to thousands of

pirated movies, TV shows, and TV channels from around the globe. Contrary to its obligations under the TRIPS Agreement, Saudi Arabia has, among other things, refused to take any effective action against beoutQ; restricted or other-wise frustrated beIN’s abil-ity to pursue civil actions before the Saudi courts; denounced beIN’s requests to investigate and prevent the pirate’s unauthorised broadcasts and sponsored public gatherings with beoutQ screenings.

Qatar files submission in WTO against Saudi’s failure to stop rampant copyright piracy

Key move Extensive evidence and

legal argument now available for public review

Unchecked Saudi-based piracy threatens rights holders from around the world

Strong Q1

QR535 mn- total revenue for Q1

1.7 mn- the number of mobile customers in Q1

Q1 growth Customer deposits

reached QR54.5 billion

Net loans and advances stood at QR58.7 billion

Vodafone Qatar CEO Sheikh Hamad Abdulla Jassim al Thani

WEDNESDAY, MAY 1, 2019

Doha Mall all set to make a spellbound entry into Qatar PAGE 14

Sidra Village opens gates to first occupants from today PAGE 14

DOW QE GOLD

SILVERWTIBRENT

26,580.00+25.61 PTS

1,285.70+0.33%

14.99+0.38%

10,376.80+17.06 PTS

39,031.55-35.78 PTSSENSEX

PRICE PERCENTAGE72.80 +1.05%

PRICE PERCENTAGE63.85 +0.55%

CementType

Cement Sales price after reduction delivery on basis of ex-works

Bulk Cement per ton Cement packed in bag 50kg

OP Cement QR 220 QR 10.50

SR Cement QR 240 QR 11.50

Slag QR 230 ------------

The company is pleased to announce on the occa-sion of the upcoming of the holy month of Rama-dan to its valued customers a seasonal reduction in its prices for the sale of OP & SR Cement on basis of delivery at the Plants in Umm Bab, the seasonal reduction on OPC and SRC prices will be effectives from today 01/05/2019 until 30/08/2019 while the reduction on the Slag price will be effective from to-day 01/05/2019 till further notice and in accordance with the new reduction prices mentioned herein below:-

The decision to reduction on the price is a gesture of support from the company and aimed to bolster the construction sector in the summer period and to fulfill the needs of its clients at best prices.We ask Allah the success and progress for all. With regards, Qatar National Cement Company (Q.P.S.C.).


THE Qatar Racing & Equestri-an Club (QREC) and one of Ka-tara Hospitality operating units have recently concluded an agreement under which Katara Hospitality will manage and operate the QREC Clubhouse.

The partnership reflects the two organisations’ plan for the optimum operation of the facility, a statement said on Tuesday.

The QREC Clubhouse will be a significant hospitality destination in Qatar in terms of the services provided at the Clubhouse through a host of facilities making it the ideal destination for those wishing to benefit from this partnership and enjoy a range of facilities.

The structural works are scheduled to be completed at QREC’s premises early next year. Then, the procedures re-lated to the start of the opera-tion will commence according to the schedule to be developed by one of Katara Hospitality’s operating units.

The operation of the Club-house has been delayed over the previous years due to tech-nical reasons.

The existing QREC Board of Directors reached agree-ment with Katara Hospitality, given its extensive experience in this field, and signed the recent agreement, which is re-lated to the outfitting and oper-ation of the facility in order to achieve the goals, which QREC looks forward to in the coming years, the statement said.

Issa bin Mohammed Al Mohannadi, QREC Chairman, said, “This agreement for the

outfitting and operation of the QREC Clubhouse will con-tribute to the realisation of

one of our key objectives by providing alternative finan-cial resources. This will partly enhance QREC’s efforts to de-velop Qatar’s equestrian sport and partly lessen the burdens of the government towards QREC, which is an ultimate

goal for us at QREC. “The agreement further

fosters QREC’s efforts to be a global equestrian leader, not only in terms of horseracing and technical aspects, but also through the optimum invest-ment and maximised offerings of this facility. The public will certainly have their share of these benefits as the Clubhouse goers will have first-hand expe-rience of the equestrian sport in Qatar and role played by QREC in this area, particularly as the QREC Clubhouse exists at the sole racecourse in the country.

“The Clubhouse will gener-ate revenues, mainly through the rental of the facility, mem-bership fees, the spa and the other facilities.”

Hamad Abdulla al Mulla, Chief Executive Officer of Ka-tara Hospitality said, “We are honoured with this partner-ship. The Clubhouse at the Qa-tar Racing and Equestrian Club will be managed through one of Katara Hospitality’s operating units to highlight and enhance this facility offerings, which will be set this project as one of the major and unique destina-tions in Qatar.”

Katara Hospitality is a global hotel owner, developer and operator, based in Qatar.

The QREC Clubhouse com-prises several sports and enter-tainment features and facili-ties, including a multi-purpose two-lounge banquet hall with the two lounges accommodat-ing 400 and 700 individuals respectively.

Katara Hospitality signs pact for QREC Clubhouse management

Officials of Katara Hospitality and Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club shake hands after signing a pact in Doha on Tuesday.

The QREC Clubhouse to be a significant hospitality destination in Qatar


QNB will be the gold sponsor of the 12th edition of Demo Day, and will participate in the judging commit-tee at the event, which will begin in Doha on May 1, the bank an-nounced in a statement on Tuesday.

The event, organised by the Qatar Business Incubation Center (QBIC), is held semi-annually at the end of an about 10-week long Lean-Startup programme for a number of select entrepreneurs in Qatar with start-up business ideas.

Throughout the programme, the participating entrepreneurs test the market viability of their intended

product or service by talking to cus-tomers, partners and suppliers to validate their ideas, then they pitch to investors and a judging commit-tee during the “Demo Day” event.

QNB said it is always keen to offer its annual sponsorship and support to Demo Day due to the im-portance of the event in aiding the launch of the creative endeavours of Qatari businesspeople.

Through its backing to this im-portant event, QNB contributes to encouraging and empowering a new generation of Qatari entrepre-neurs and SMEs and giving them a strong start in the market, since they are the driving force for the de-velopment of the Qatari economy,

as well as diversifying national in-come sources.

QNB said it is always ready to of-fer its full participation and support for the QBIC and all its partners in the SME sector, as well as exchang-ing the needed ideas and experience which the bank takes great care to constantly develop to keep up with the requirements of the national Qatari market and economy.

QNB’s efforts to develop SMEs and entrepreneurs go beyond spon-sorship to include the bank’s nur-turing and support of all workers in this important sector, and to the dedication of a corporate branch at the Al Shoumoukh Tower to fulfil all their needs.

QNB gold sponsor of Demo Day 2019


AUTO Class cars, the authorised general distributor of Maxus in Qatar and a subsidiary company of Nasser Bin Khaled Holding, re-ceived huge number of visitors at its dedicated space at NBK pavilion at Project Qatar 2019 exhibition, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

The 16th edition of Project Qa-tar began on Monday at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Centre.

In its space as part of NBK Group pavilion, the company wel-comed its visitors to explore the all-new Maxus T60 that was recently launched in Qatar.

The Maxus T60 pickup is alight duty truck that is known for its safety, capabilities and high per-formance, making it the ideal solu-tion for construction and building sector.

Hisham al Sahn, General Man-ager of Auto Class cars said, “We are pleased to welcome such huge num-ber of people willing to explore our company and vehicles. Auto Class Cars and Maxus are proud to take part in Project Qatar and support various national events and exhibi-tions. This is part of our social re-sponsibility and national mandate”.

Auto Class Cars is a subsidiary

of NBK Holding and the authorised distributor of MG and Maxus, both part of SAIC Motor and BAIC Mo-tors in Qatar.

Located at the commercial street on Salwa Road, Auto Class Cars pre-mium showroom displays the latest models of the three brands, offering

car enthusiasts a variety of options to choose one of the sedan, SUV cars, in addition to commercial vehicles including vans and pick-ups.

Auto Class Cars is well known for its reliable cars off affordable prices. Its focus is always to provide the best customer experience, start-ing from the showroom to the after sales services.

Established in the 1950’s, NBK Holding is one of the leading family businesses in Qatar, and widened its umbrella of businesses to include several new companies with various operations and partnered with key multi-national organisations.

Visitors explore Auto Class Cars’ all-new Maxus T60 at Project Qatar

The all-new Maxus T60 is displayed at the NBK pavilion.

QBWA, GAWBL sign MoU to boost business tiesTRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA

QATARI Businesswomen Association (QBWA) and German-Arab Women Business Leaders’ Sum-mit (GAWBL) have signed a memorandum of under-standing (MoU) to further strengthen Qatari-German business relations with a special focus on empowering and connecting women in both countries.

The MoU was signed by QBWA Vice Chairwoman Aisha Alfardan and GAWBL Chairwoman Gabi Kratoch-wil, in Doha, a statement said on Tuesday.

Since 2011 QBWA and GAWBL have been united by the common goal of fostering an environment for success-ful women leaders to boost business and create new links for innovation and col-laboration that lie at the very heart of their shared mission.

This year’s first joint pro-ject will be the “Young Wom-en Programme” study tour, a unique and tailor made landmark project that will allow young women from

Qatar to explore Germany’s high end business and edu-cational landscape, to learn from each other, grow to-gether and strengthen the joint vision to create a better future.

It will set the benchmark for impactful exchange by capacity building and train-ing, self-development, shar-ing best practices, mutual learning about sustainable human development that will empower young women, through partnership, in-creased connectivity, inno-vation and collaboration.

Aisha said, “This special project is part of a bigger plan that QBWA has developed to work with young women in Qatar. We are keen to work with young female leaders, incorporate their ideas, and create different opportuni-ties for them to grow and reach their full potential”

The project is imple-mented in close coopera-tion with Embassy of Qatar to Germany, German Em-bassy in Doha and the Ger-man Federal Association of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the statement said.

The QREC Clubhouse comprises several sports and entertainment features and facilities.

The Clubhouse will generate revenues, mainly through the rental of the facility, membership fees, the spa and the other facilitiesIssa bin Mohammed Al Mohannadi, QREC Chairman

The MoU was signed by QBWA Vice Chairwoman Aisha Alfardan and GAWBL Chairwoman Gabi Kratochwil, in Doha on Tuesday.

The Maxus T60 pickup is alight duty truck that is known for its safety, capabilities and high performance, making it the ideal solution for con-struction and building sector

Economy & Business 13Wednesday, May 1, 2019

Economy & Business14 Wednesday, May 1, 2019

Sidra Village opens gates to first occupantsThe 1,165-unit gated facility will be exclusively used for housing QF’s staff, primarily the nursing professionals at the Sidra Hospital

RAHUL PREETHAL RAYYAN

THE Sidra Village — one of the largest residential hous-ing developments in Qatar — will welcome its first occu-pants on Wednesday, offering 1,165 ready-to-move-in, fully-furnished apartments mostly for Sidra Medicine’s nursing staff.

The complex is developed by Mazaya Real Estate De-velopment Company for the Qatar Foundation for Educa-tion, Science and Community Development (QF) under a build, operate and transfer scheme (BOT).

As per the scheme, Mazaya will manage the building for the next 21 years, with an an-nual rental value of more than QR106 million, CEO Hamad al Hedfa has said in the com-pany’s annual report.

The gated facility will be exclusively used for housing QF’s staff, primarily the nurs-ing professionals at the Sidra Medicine, said Mohammed M al Qadi, the Communications and Investor Relations Man-ager at Mazaya.

Located in Al Gharaffa around 18 kilometres north-west of Doha, the complex is 4 km from the Sidra Medicine and 10 km from the Educa-tion City.

It sprawls over 145,000 square metres and comprises 659 one-bedroom and 506 two-bedroom homes. Of the two-bedroom apartments, 24 are two-storied independent villas.

Each one-bedroom apart-ment is 50 square metres

(sqm) in area, while t h e two-bedroom units range

from 85 to 100 sqm in area.

The village has 28 dif-

ferent blocks, with each block consisting of a mix of villas and one- and two-bedroom apartments. Each block is built around a manicured

lawn, complete with tiled walk ways, ornamental shrubs and stone benches. Green cover, spanning a total of 13,000 square metres, accounts for

nearly 25

percent of the whole village.Mazaya says all individual

units are furnished with top-quality furniture, with the interiors designed to evoke a typical European

home experience. Besides, five units are specially fitted out to accommodate the needs of the differently-abled.

At the centre of the com-

plex lie a mosque, a sports-complex building and a retail area. The mosque can accom-modate 200 worshippers at a time and is supervised by the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs. It is located next to a sports complex or the Club House, which has a roof-top heated swimming pool, mixed and women-only gymnasiums and a multi-purpose hall that

can host events such as ban-quets and games like basket ball. The front yard outside the Club House can double up as venues to host bigger events.

The retail area has two res-taurants, one café and a super-market, which is being devel-oped by the Al Rawabi group.

The village is powered by a combination of conventional and renewable energy sources, with nearly 25 percent of its electricity needs being met through solar panels. It uses Qatar Cool’s district cooling technology to cool the indoor air of its various buildings by delivering chilled water through underground insu-lated pipes.

The complex has a built up area of 123,000 sqm and con-sists of 1,100 parking spots, of which nearly 50 percent are covered. Besides, it has 133 underground long-term park-ing spots for those leaving on vacation.

Sidra Housing Village was completed and handed over to Qatar Foundation in the last quarter of 2018 — an year Mazaya witnessed several achievements.

The interiors of each unit in the Village is designed to evoke a typical European home experience.

There is a roof-top heated swimming pool in the Village’s Sports Complex.Mazaya says all individual units are furnished with top-quality furniture

Each one-bedroom apartment is 50 sqm in area. Each block in the Village is built around a manicured lawn, complete with tiled walk ways, ornamental shrubs and stone benches.

The village is powered by a combination of convention-al and renewable energy sources, with nearly 25% of its electricity needs being met through solar panels

Doha Mall gearing up for a grand opening in February 2020 TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA

WITH the consumers’ growing appetite for fashion, new age entertainment and choicest of global cuisine, Al Mana Malls unveiled plans for opening of Doha Mall in February 2020.

The only Super-regional mall in the Southern part of Doha is built on a plot of 125,000m2 with a total of 270,000m2 built up area to produce around 100,000m2 of gross leasable area (GLA). Doha Mall comprises a com-bination of targeted Retailers over three levels, serviced with over 3,500 parking spaces.

Strategically located in Abu Hamour, Doha Mall makes it one of the most highly acces-sible shopping and entertain-ment destination.

It is 2 minutes away from Doha Express Road on the intersection of F-RINGand Wholesale Street, 10 minutes from only Hamad Internation-al Airport.

Qatar Rail Metro station can be easily accessed within the mall vicinity. Doha Mall will also be catering the needs of 25% of Qatar population which resides within5km radi-us of Doha Mall. Once opened, Doha Mall expects footfall of over 1,000,000 visitors each month, owing to its location.

Rony Mourani, General

Manager of Al Mana Malls, said,“We take pride in present-ing this state-of-the-art shop-ping paradise to the people of Qatar.

“The decision of bringing this Mall to light was more than a strategic one as we felt a great void for choicest shop-ping destination with an all-en-compassing experience for the family and that idea planted the seeds of Doha Mall in this most opportune location.

“We are confident that the moment Doha Mall sees its of-ficial launch, it will be the most preferred mall for Qataris and expats in Doha boasting of many innovative never seen before features.”

Mourani furthersaidDoha Mall, which has a project cost of

over QR1.5 Billion, highlights Qatar status as “an extremely attractive market” for both lo-cal and international investors, and upon its opening,this new splendid property will easily establish its position on a re-gional level being a premium tourist attraction and locally as the ultimate leisure and enter-tainment destination.

“We believe the retail sec-tor will retain its strength and we perceive a positive forecast for 2020 and beyond.The Qa-tar National Vision 2030 was at the heart of our strategy and planning ever since the Doha Mall was still onthe drawing board. Right from the incep-tion stage of Doha Mall we have been working closely with the authorities to ensure we are

aligned with the country’s term strategy to diversify the econo-my and support the tourismin-dustry,” he added.

Appreciating the govern-ment’s thrust on enhancing infrastructure, Mourani said, “Qatar is an ever-growing market, thanks to the huge in-vestment the government is undertaking on infrastructure projects, and we are proud be play a modest rolein contribut-ing tothis growth.

The Doha Mall will be home to more than 250 retail stores, with over 14 anchor stores, a new FLiK Cinemas concept, 10 cinema screens, world-class bowling center, high-tech fami-ly entertainment center, Tram-poline and adventure park for children.

General Manager of Al Mana Malls Rony Mourani with other staff members.

Located in Al Gharaffa around 18 kilometres northwest of Doha, the Sidra Village is 4 km from the Sidra Medicine and 10 km from QF’s Education City.

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QATAR and Al Sadd star Akram Afif won the Best Play-er of the Year at the 2018/19 Qatar Football Association (QFA) Awards held at the Qatar National Convention Center on Tuesday.

The 22-year-old Afif fin-ished the season with 26 goals, becoming the first Qa-tari to reach such goalscoring milestone.

Afif’s teammate Baghdad Bounedjah bagged the Man-soor Muftah Award for Best Goalscorer after helping Al Sadd clinch a record-extend-ing 14th league title with 39 goals. Bounedjah’s goal tally shattered the single season goal record of 27 in the Qa-tari league set by Brazilian and former Al Gharafa striker Clemerson de Araujo in 2008.

Al Sadd further complet-

ed a treble of awards as head coach Jesualdo Ferreira be-came only the second coach to win multiple Coach of the Year award behing Jorge Fos-sati after he scooped the pres-tigious honour. Ferreira who was adjudged the best in 2016,

emerged winner ahead of Al Sailiya’s Sami Trabelsi and Al Shahania’s Pepe Murcia.

“I am delighted to be awarded the Best Coach of the Season this year,” said Fer-reira told Al Sadd website.

The Portuguese who led

the Wolves to their first title since 2012 also hailed Afif and Bounedjah for their awards.

“The best coach award re-flects the value of the effort I have made with the members of the technical staff as well as the harmony between the

management and the techni-cal staff,” Ferreira said.

“This award is also for the players and the administra-tive system. It’s not just my prize.

“The award gives us the motivation to win more

championships,” the state-ment added.

Al Duail’s Bassam al Rawi was voted the Best U-23 play-er after enjoying a successful season at the heart of the na-tional team’s defence and for the Red Knights.

Al Sailiya’s head coach Sami Trabelsi was also rec-ognised for his excellent job over the years and steering the Peregrines to their first AFC Champions League qual-ifiers after finishing third in the league this season.

Winners pose with their awards after the Qatar Football Asoociation (QFA) Awards ceremony for the 2018/19 Season at the Qatar National Convention Center in Doha on Tuesday.

Al Sadd’s Afif named Best Player of the Year at QFA Awards

WEDNESDAY, MAY 1, 2019

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

BARCELONA VS LIVERPOOL

Al Duhail’s Bassam al Rawi wins the Best U-23 Player award.Al Sadd’s Akram Afif with the Best Player of the Year award.Sami Trabelsi receives a Special Recognition Award for his work with Al Sailiya Club.

Rain washes out thriller, RCB knocked out of 2019 IPLIANS

BANGALORE

ROYAL Challengers Banga-lore’s (RCB) last hope of making it to the Indian Premier League (IPL) play-offs finally ended on Tuesday after their contest with Rajasthan Royals was aban-doned at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium due to continuous rain.

With the result, both the teams were awarded a point each. Chasing a 63-run target in a rain-hit contest, which was reduced to five over per side, the visitors were at 41/1 in 3.2 overs when rains washed out the match.

Opener Liam Livingstone

was unbeaten on 11 runs while Sanju Samson smashed a 13-ball 28 to keep his side on the hunt before falling to Yuzvendra Chahal (1/0) in the fourth over.

Earlier, despite a flying start, Bangalore could only manage to put 62/7 in the allot-ted five overs.

Shreyas Gopal was the star for the visitors after he claimed the second hat-trick of this year’s edition. The leg-spinner accounted for the wicket of RCB skipper Virat Kohli (25 off 7), AB de Villers (10 off 4) and Marcus Stoinis (0) in the sec-ond over to apply brakes on a fine start by Bangalore.

With the match being re-

duced to five overs per side af-fair, Kohli and de Villers started the Bangalore innings on a high as they clobbered Varun Aaron for 23 runs in the first over. The Bangalore skipper then ham-mered Gopal for 12 runs in his first three balls before becoming a victim of the leggie.

Kohli while trying to clear the fence handed a catch to Livingstone at long-on. Gopal then went on to add more sor-rows in the Bangalore camp as he scalped de Villiers and Stoinis in the next two deliv-eries to put the hosts in deep trouble, leaving them reeling at 35/3.

Just as Bangalore could add

another nine runs, Riyan Parag packed back Gurkeerat Singh Mann (6 off 3), who was fol-lowed by Parthiv Patel (8 off 5). While trying to go for the maxi-mum, Heinrich Klaasen (6) and Pawan Negi (4) also fell soon, leaving Bangalore at 61/7 in five overs. While Oshane Thomas (2/6) accounted for the wicket of Klaasen and Negi, Jaydev Unadkat (1/9) picked Parthiv in the fourth over.

BRIEF SCORES: Royal Challengers Bangalore 62/7 in 5 overs (Virat Kohli 25, AB de Villiers 10; Shreyas Gopal 3/12) vs Rajasthan Royals 41/1 in 3.2 overs (Sanju Samson, Liam Livingstone 11; Yuzvendra Chahal 1/0) Match aban-doned due to rain

Umpire and groundstaff run for cover as rain delays the start of the IPL match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals at The M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on Tuesday. (AFP)

Baghdad Bounedjah wins Mansoor Muftah Award after record- breaking season with 39 goals

Qatar qualify for ACC Western Region U-19 cricket semi-final PAGE 19

Messi’s motivation spurs Barcelona to want more, says teammate PAGE 18

REUTERSLONDON

GERHARD Berger can joke about how he plagued Ayrton Senna with frogs, and tossed the Brazilian’s briefcase out of a helicopter over Monza, but there comes a point in every tale where the laughter stops.

Triple world champion Senna died after crashing at It-aly’s Imola racetrack 25 years ago on Wednesday and Berger is wary of too much focus on the pranks that framed their friendship.

“We had bloody hard rac-ing at the time. Really hard,” the Austrian, a winner of 10 grands prix and survivor of a fiery crash at Imola in 1989, told reporters at a recent lunch.

“And then just to remem-ber frogs, you feel no good. I’m happy to tell (the story)

sometimes, but in general when I think about Ayrton I like to think about this era -- maybe the best era in Formula One.” The well-polished prac-tical jokes played by the pair, McLaren teammates from 1990-92, are very much part of the legend, however, and still raise a laugh when Berger relates them.

The Austrian once said he taught Senna how to laugh, and the Brazilian showed him how to drive.

An old favourite is the tale of how Senna’s passport pho-tograph was replaced with a pornographic image, then unwittingly presented to im-migration. Questioned later by police, Berger blamed Senna’s old rival Alain Prost.

The frogs appeared dur-ing a holiday in Australia with Senna, McLaren boss Ron

Dennis and then-wife Lisa.“I went running in the

evening and there was this golf course and these big things jumping around. So I went to the concierge, gave him $100 and said bring me some,” grinned Berger.

“He brought me a whole

bag full. I think 50. So I asked Lisa Dennis to help me. We had dinner and I picked up Ay-rton’s room key and we went to his room and put these bloody frogs everywhere.” Berger’s follow-up, when a furious Sen-na confronted him the next morning, was to enquire: ‘And

where did you find the snake?’.

Last eye contactThe Austrian was racing

for Ferrari at Imola, qualifying third with Senna on pole for Williams, on the fateful May 1.

The weekend was already a grim one, with the death of Berger’s compatriot Roland Ratzenberger in qualifying and Brazilian Rubens Barrichello crashing heavily on the Friday.

But Berger also remem-bers a smile in the midst of it. “As a Ferrari driver you always bring the big style in Imola and I remember the people were all shouting. I was out of the car and he (Senna) was still in the car, he was laughing under the helmet. So that was my last eye contact with him.”

After a safety car period, Senna crashed at Tamburello -- where Berger had his acci-dent -- while leading Michael Schumacher’s Benetton. Berg-er, driving past, saw nothing to worry about.

“When they stopped the

race, (former F1 supremo) Bernie (Ecclestone) came and said ‘well, he’s out of the car’ and in our language, ‘out of the car’ means he’s OK. So I didn’t even ask,” he recalled.

The race re-started and Berger retired soon after. Back at the garage, the Austrian was stunned to hear Senna was fighting for his life. He and fit-ness trainer Josef Leberer flew to the hospital in Bologna and were invited in to the operat-ing theatre.

“They were still doing something on his head so it was covered. Honestly I think he was dead already,” said Berger. “We stood in front of him for a while and then we left.”

Back on trackBerger considered his fu-

ture and was back on track in Monaco two weeks later.

“These things are all very hard. You lose a colleague and in this case I lost a friend. But on the other side we all know

that in our sport, at this time, this happens and you have to cope with it,” he said.

Williams, with star de-signer Adrian Newey, won the 1996 and 1997 championships. Berger has no doubt that had Senna lived, the record books would have looked very differ-ent.

“Racing is racing, and it went back to normal quite soon,” he said. “But some-times I would think and say ‘If Ayrton would be still in the Williams when the Newey time came... I don’t think you would see for five years any of the others winning’.

“His dream was always to go to Ferrari,” added the 59-year-old, who now over-sees the DTM German Tour-ing Car series that starts at Hockenheim this week.

“He always told me ‘Ger-hard, I want to be one day in Ferrari but I just have never seen the moment where they have been good enough that I know I can deliver’.”

The 25th death anniversary of Brazilian racing great today

Berger recalls hard racing and playing frogs prank on Senna

McLaren teammates Ayrton Senna (left) and Gerhard Berger chat after a race.

AFPLOS ANGELES

JIMMY Butler scored 30 points as the Philadelphia 76ers turned the tables on the Raptors in Toronto on Mon-day with a 94-89 victory that knotted their NBA playoff se-ries at one game each.

The 76ers, beaten 108-95 in the Eastern Conference second-round series opener, thwarted the Raptors’ second-half comeback bid, notching their first win in Toronto since November 2012 to head home for game three on Thursday all square.

Butler added 11 rebounds and handed out five assists for the Sixers, who led 51-38 at halftime despite 13 first-half turnovers.

The Raptors, who trailed by as many as 19 in the first half, closed the deficit to 61-60 late in the third quarter.

But they missed six of their first seven shots in the final pe-riod and the 76ers held on for the win.

Butler scored 12 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter. That included a three-pointer off an assist from center Joel Embiid that put the Sixers up 88-81 with 2:14 to play.

“My team had a lot of faith in me tonight,” said Butler, who scored just 10 points in

game one. “I told them I had to come out and redeem myself.

“More than anything we got back, we guarded,” Butler added, saying defense would be key going forward in the series.

“When we let our defense dictate our offense we’re such a great team,” he said. “We can’t let it be the other way around.”

Sixers coach Brett Brown praised Butler as the team’s “rock.”

“That was James Butler,” Brown said. “That was the adult in the gym.”

Embiid, battling a stomach ailment as well as the nagging knee pain that troubled him in the first round, scored just two baskets. The second couldn’t have been better timed as he drove to bank in a shot that put the 76ers up 92-89 with 24.3 seconds remaining.

Toronto’s Danny Green then missed a potential game-tying three-pointer and Philadelphia’s Tobias Harris grabbed the rebound.

Harris was fouled and sealed the win with two free throws.

Toronto’s Kawhi Leonard led all scorers with 35 points. Pascal Siakam added 21 and Kyle Lowry scored 20.

But the five total points for Toronto’s reserves were dwarfed by the production of Philadelphia’s bench: 13 points from James Ennis, 10 from Greg Monroe and three from Jonah Bolden.

Jokic leads NuggetsThe Denver Nuggets, two

days removed from their first-round, game-seven victory over the San Antonio Spurs, opened their Western Confer-ence second-round series with a 121-113 home victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.

Serbian center Nikola Jokic scored 37 points, pulled down nine rebounds, handed out six assists and blocked two shots.

Both teams came out fir-ing, the Trail Blazers connect-ing on 63.6 percent of their first-quarter shots and Denver making 61.9 percent of their shots as the first period ended tied 32-32.

Denver, up 58-55 at half-

time, pulled away after the break, taking a 93-84 lead into the final period.

Portland, led by 39 points from All-Star guard Damian Lillard, trimmed a 12-point deficit to 101-96 with 8:02 left in the game.

Denver responded with an 8-0 scoring run, ignited by Ma-son Plumlee’s dunk.

Portland’s CJ McCollum was then whistled for a fla-grant foul when he caught a driving Jokic in the face, and the Serbian made both free throws.

Plumlee then slammed home a miss by teammate Malik Beasley and Beasley rebounded another miss and made a layup as the Nuggets seized a 109-96 lead with 6:11 left to play.

Denver were in control from there, although Jokic and coach Mike Malone said they had plenty of room for improvement before they host game two on Wednesday.

“We kind of went into the game a little sloppy, slow, we didn’t play a lot of defense,” Jokic said.

Malone also felt the Nug-gets were lacking defensively, especially in the early going.

“We got the win, and when you know you haven’t played your best basketball that’s a good feeling,” Malone said.

Nuggets put it across Blazers as Jokic nets 37 points

Sixers overpower Raptors, level series

Philadelphia 76ers guard Jimmy Butler (23) controls the ball as Toronto Raptors forward Pascal Siakam (43) defends in game two of the second round of the 2019 NBA Playoffs at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Monday. The 76ers beat the Raptors 94-89. (USA TODAY SPORTS)

KINGSTON: Jamaica’s only international invitational athletics meeting has been cancelled for financial reasons, officials said on Monday, with one athlete’s agent concerned it could affect their preparations for this year’s world championships.

The meeting, where multiple-Olympic champion Usain Bolt ran his first sub 10-second 100 metres in 2008, had been scheduled for Saturday in Kingston.

“It is with regret that we inform you that due to budget is-sues the 2019 staging of the Jamaica International Invitational IAAF World Challenge Meeting has been cancelled,” a state-ment on the meeting’s website said.

Warren Blake, chair of the meeting’s organising committee and president of the Jamaica Administrative Athletics Associa-tion, told Reuters he was optimistic the meeting, held since 2004, would return next year.

Jamaica’s World Challenge meeting cancelled due to financial issues

LONDON: Wimbledon prize money will total 38 million pounds ($49 million) for this year’s championships, a rise of 11.8 percent, the All England Club announced on Tuesday.

The men’s and women’s singles champions will receive 2.35 million pounds each -- 100,000 more than in 2018.

Continuing a theme of recent years, organisers have again significantly raised the prize money for early-round losers.

Prize money for qualifying and rounds one to three in the singles will rise by 10 percent with 45,000 pounds now the compensation for a first-round singles exit.

Wimbledon’s total prize money for 2019 surpasses the 62.5 million Australian dollars ($44 million) at this year’s open-ing Grand Slam in Melbourne but is still lower than the $53 million prize pool at last year’s U.S. Open.

The French Open recently announced an 8 percent in-crease in prize money for next month’s event, taking it to 42.6 million euros ($48 million).

Wimbledon’s prize money has trebled in the last decade.This year’s Wimbledon Championships will see Court One’s

new retractable roof in operation for the first time.The completion of the three-year project, which includes a

new two-level public plaza, will increase seating capacity on the second-biggest show court to 12,345.

Wimbledon greats John McEnroe and Martina Navratilova will be among the players taking part in a test event for the new Court One roof on May 19.

The tournament will not feature “shot clock” this year, although it is likely to be rolled out in 2020, according to club CEO Richard Lewis.

Shot clock, an on-court display counting down the 25-sec-ond limit for a server to start the next point, has already been introduced at the U.S. and Australian Opens.

Tiebreaks will be employed at 12-12 in the deciding sets of all matches for the first time this year -- meaning all four Grand Slams have different deciding set formats.

Wimbledon hikes prize money by 11.8 percent

News in briefPopovich in

talks about returning

FIELD LEVEL MEDIANEW YORK

GREGG Popovich, the longest-tenured coach in the big four pro sports in the United States, hinted Monday he is in negoti-ations to return to the San An-tonio Spurs for a 24th season.

“I’ve never talked about my contract in all these years. I’ve never had an agent. I’ve never talked about the contract,” Popovich said seriously before ending the discussion of his contract with a joke.

“My contract is basically my business, but I’ll break the rule this time. I’m currently in negotiations, and I could very well end up with the Portofino Flyers or the Positano Pirates. I think it’s one-third Positano, one-third Portofino and one-third San Antonio.”

Popovich’s contract expired Saturday after the Spurs’ 90-86 Game 7 loss to the Denver Nug-gets in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs. But in speaking with reporters on Monday, the 70-year-old sounded like a coach very much looking ahead to next season. The Spurs have won five NBA titles during his tenure.

Donovan to coach Thunders for fifth season

Oklahoma City General Manager Sam Presti said that Billy Donovan will return for a fifth season as coach of the Thunder in 2019-20.

The Thunder have com-piled a 199-129 (.607) record in the regular season under Donovan, but they are just 4-12 in the past three postseasons. A 4-1 series loss to the Portland Trail Blazers this year marked Oklahoma City’s third straight first-round exit since Kevin Durant left for the Golden State Warriors in free agency in 2016.

Paul finedHouston Rockets guard

Chris Paul was fined $35,000 for “aggressively confront-ing and recklessly making contact with a game official” Sunday, according to Kiki Van-DeWeghe, the NBA’s executive vice president of basketball op-erations, but Paul will not be suspended.

Paul received his second technical foul and an automatic ejection when he argued with an official about a non-call with 4.4 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter of the Rockets’ 104-100 loss to the Warriors in Oakland, Calif.

Paul’s outburst came after James Harden appeared to be fouled by Draymond Green while attempting a 3-pointer. After a scramble for the ball ended up in a ruling of pos-session for the Warriors, Paul argued and made contact with an official.

Results from the second round of the NBA

playoffs on Monday (all series best-of-seven):

Eastern Conference

Philadelphia 94 Toronto 89 (Series tied 1-1)

Western Conference

Portland 113 Denver 121 (Denver leads series 1-0)

RESULTS

NBA TITBITS

Yates has unfinished business in Giro

AFPPARIS

FOR Simon Yates, the Giro d’Italia, which starts in Bolo-gna on May 11, is unfinished business.

“I’m going back to try to finish it,” the British rider told AFP on Tuesday from Andorra where he lives and works.

Last season finished with a breakthrough victory in the Tour of Spain in September. But that followed a spectacu-lar collapse in the Giro in May.

Yates had built a lead of al-most a minute with four days to go. Then the race returned to the mountains for three stages.

He faltered on the first, crumbled on the second and

faded on the third to finish 21st, more than an hour-and-a quarter behind winner Chris Froome.

“I felt I was close last year but ran out of gas,” he said.

In the run-up to this year’s race, his Mitchelton-Scott team tweeted a photo of Yates on the ground still wearing the leader’s pink jersey at the close of one of the stages that ended his Giro hopes.

“I’ve been working towards this all year,” Yates said.

Yates and Mitchelton-Scott did not falter in Spain.

“It came together beauti-fully,” Yates said. We had per-fect tactics.”

He said that winning his first grand tour was one of his long-term objectives.

Sports 17Wednesday, May 1, 2019

AFPBARCELONA

IVAN Rakitic has said Lionel Messi’s desire to win the Cham-pions League is proving an in-spiration for Barcelona ahead of their Champions League semi-final first leg against Liv-erpool on Wednesday.

At the start of the season, Messi stood on his home pitch and pledged to bring “that beautiful cup back to Camp Nou” after three consecutive years of Barca crashing out in the quarter-finals.

They will host Liverpool this week, four days after cel-ebrating winning La Liga on Saturday, and with a Copa del Rey final to come next month against Valencia. It means a treble is in their sights.

“Whenever our captain says something the rest of us follow,” said Rakitic at a press conference on Tuesday.

“Leo has been a La Liga champion 10 times in 15 years and of course, after seeing him lift the cup with such happi-ness, that motivates everyone.

“If Leo is happy to win eve-ry title, it makes us even more eager too. We know we’re Bar-ca, we have to give everything and following the best player in history gives us more confi-dence to do that.”

A domestic double last season could not make up for failure in Europe, after a 3-0 defeat by Roma ensured Bar-celona were left watching Real Madrid triumph again.

“We want to be in the final but we have to understand the last few years weren’t the best for us,” Rakitic said. “We have to learn from that.”

The pressure is particularly intense for Messi, whose four Champions League titles in-clude only one in the last seven seasons and still fewer than the five of Cristiano Ronaldo.

Asked if Messi has to win the Champions League this year, coach Ernesto Valverde said: “Nobody has to do any-thing. We embrace the chal-lenge to win but there is no ob-ligation. Every team that starts in September wants to play in

games like this.” Liverpool coach Jurgen

Klopp has caused a stir by dis-missing the idea his players could be intimidated at Camp Nou, which he described as “just a stadium”.

Rakitic believes Barcelo-na’s home advantage is signifi-cant. “I understand he wanted to take a bit of pressure off his players, he wants them to see it as another stadium. All I can say is playing at Camp Nou is a different thing, something special and you have to respect that.”

Valverde added: “Our fans can be decisive. We feel it, our

rivals have felt it and we hope it will be the same tomorrow.”

Liverpool have lost only once in the Premier League this term and are still fighting with Manchester City to win the title.

Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino already boast 68 goals this sea-son between them.

“We need to stop them run-ning at our defence,” Rakitic said. “We are going there to score but we mustn’t lose our heads.”

“We know how valuable a clean sheet is but our aim is to win,” said Valverde.

Barcelona players during a training session at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper in Barcelona on Tuesday ahead of their UEFA Champions League match against Barcelona. (REUTERS)

Messi’s motivation spurs on Barca, says Rakitic

L’pool upbeat over Firmino’s fitness to face Barcelona

AFPLONDON

LIVERPOOL are increasingly confident Roberto Firmino will be fit to face Barcelona.

The Brazil forward missed Friday’s 5-0 Premier League win over Huddersfield with a small muscle tear, but was still included in the 23-man squad selected by coach Ju-rgen Klopp and took part in team training on Tuesday before flying to Spain later in the day.

“We all knew from the beginning it would be a race,” Klopp told Liverpool’s website when commenting on Firmi-no’s fitness.

“We don’t have to make a decision today because there’s no game today, we can wait.

“It looked good so far, but I have until tomorrow to make that decision,” added the Ger-man.

Meanwhile Fabinho was passed fit after the midfielder missed the 5-0 thrashing of Huddersfield following a head injury sustained in the previ-ous game against Cardiff.

“Every human being needs time and he needed that time, but if the Huddersfield game had been a day later he could have played,” Klopp said.


OOREDOO have announced it is to repeat its sponsorship of the popular Amir Cup for the tenth year in a row, acting as Official Telecommunications Sponsor again this year.

The announcement was made at a press conference held at Ooredoo’s Headquarters in the presence of Mustafa Jameel al Qatami, Senior Director Mar-keting Communication at Oore-doo, and Khalid Mubarak al Ku-wari, Director of Marketing and Communication at QFA.

The prestigious Amir Cup pits Qatari football teams from the first and second divisions of the Qatari football league against one another.

Ooredoo is set to host two activations during the event; a Shop On Wheels at the final match at Al Wakra stadium, and a giant screen at Katara showing all the matches of the event. There will be a drive-through food festival – Ghabka Ramadan – along with the gi-ant screen, also sponsored by Ooredoo.

Speaking on the event, Mustafa Jameel al Qatami, Sen-ior Director Marketing Com-munication at Ooredoo – said: “We’re delighted to be sponsor-ing the Amir Cup for yet anoth-er year, and proud to be associ-

ated with the event as Official Telecommunications Sponsor for 2019. Supporting sporting events that promote a healthy, active lifestyle and benefit the communities in which we oper-ate is a key part of our corporate social responsibility strategy. We’re looking forward to some awesome football from Qatar’s top teams, and wish them all the best of luck in the competition!”

Meanwhile, Khalid Mubarak al Kuwari, Director of Marketing and Communi-cation, QFA, said: “There is no doubt that the partnership be-tween Ooredoo and the Amir Cup is a long-standing, mu-tually beneficial partnership,

with this being our 10th year of working together. Our pres-ence today reflects the impor-tance of the ongoing co-opera-tion between the two entities, and we are looking forward to extending the scope of our joint work, especially with the services Ooredoo is providing during this even, which will add value to the tournament from a commercial, marketing and media perspective.We are delighted to be continuing this partnership, and are looking forward to working with Oore-doo, not only for the Amir Cup but also for other local tourna-ments and our national team as well.”

Ooredoo announces sponsorship for Amir Cup for 10th straight year

Ooredoo Senior Director Marketing Communication Mustafa Jameel al Qatami and QFA Director of Marketing and Communication Khalid Mubarak al Kuwari.

Aspire concludes Football Skill Development Centre season


A large numbers of enthusiastic young footballers representing 16 independent and interna-tional schools in Qatar took part in a closing tournament and ceremony to mark the end of the end of the season for Aspire Academy’s Football Skill Devel-opment Centre (FSDC).

The tournament was organ-ised in partnership with the Su-preme Committee for Delivery & Legacy, the Ministry of Inte-rior (MoI), Community Policing Department at MoI and the Qa-tar Football Association (QFA).

The tournament provides a platform for the country’s pas-sionate young players to show-case their footballing skills and fulfill their sporting potential. It

reflects Aspire Academy’s com-mitment to supporting the de-velopment of local athletes.

In a series of closely fought, competitive matches young footballers from grades 1 and 2 took part in a series of matches.

Amongst the grade 1 age group, Simaisma Primary In-dependent School ran out over-all winners, with Abu Hanifa school coming second and Arab International school coming third.

Amongst the grade 2 age group, Simaisma Primary Inde-pendent School also triumphed, with Al Khor Independent school attaining second place and Compass International School coming third.

The ceremony was attended by a number of senior officials from Aspire Academy as well as

coaches from the Academy who refereed the matches and over-saw the students’ participation.

Commenting on the tourna-ment, Saeed Ali al Marri, Foot-ball Operations Manager, said; “This year’s tournament has reached a fantastic conclusion and this closing ceremony is the ideal way to celebrate the dis-tinguished footballing champi-ons of our 2018 – 2019 season. It provides young players with great opportunities to showcase their talents to the country’s top clubs.”

Bruno Pereira, Coach of the Football Skill Development Centre (FSDC) Administration said: “At Aspire Academy, we’re focused on providing young-sters with the best opportuni-ties to hone their competitive skills. We’re very pleased with

the standard of football and the success of all the teams this year. This year’s event has introduced us to a number of very talented young players. Participation and levels of in-terest continue to grow, and we had 120 schools compete in this year’s tournament – double last year’s number.”

Also commenting on their participation, Ahmed Abdulka-rim al Hammadi, a Captain from the Community Police Department at the Ministry of Interior said, “These types of events are ideal for young play-ers to develop their skills and experience a positive, competi-tive environment. I believe that it’s important too for parents to encourage participation in such events, as they are a great way to nurture talent in children.”

Participating young footballers with their trophies at the Aspire Football Skill Development Centre closing tournament.

Qatar youth team jet to Slovakia for training camp ahead of FIFA U-20 World Cup


THE Qatar youth team have left for Slovakia for a prepa-ration camp for the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Po-land starting from May 23 to June 15.

The team will play in Group D alongside Ukraine, Nigeria and the United States.

The 26-man team was se-lected by head coach Bruno Miguel.

The team includes: Ham-

mam al Amin Ahmed, Ab-dullah Saaie, Salah Zaka-ria, Khaled Walid Mansour,

Mohamed Khaled al Naimi, Shaheb Mamdouh al Leithi, Nasser Saleh al Yazidi, Ahmed

Mohammed Yasser al Sibai, Mohammed Emad Ayash Ab-bas, Issa Ahmed, Khalid Mo-hammed Salah and Yousef Ayman Farhat.

Other players include, Ab-dulrahman Ibrahim, Karwan Sherif Badr al Din, Muham-mad Wad al Bayati, Ahmed Suhail, Hashim Ali Abdullatif, Yousuf Abdul Razzaq Yousif, Andrea Siabutra, Nasser Ab-del-Salam al Ahraq, Bahaa Mamdouh, Abdullah Nasser al Mursi and Nayef Abdul Ra-him al Hadrami.

Former Napoli captain Hamsik struggling to adapt to Chinese league

AFPSHANGHAI

MAREK Hamsik says that he is struggling to settle in Chinese football and admitted he has problems communicating with his Dalian Yifang team-mates.

The 31-year-old, Napoli’s all-time leading goal-scorer, left Serie A for the Chinese Super League (CSL) in Febru-ary but has failed to find the net or provide an assist in six games.

Hamsik was dropped for Sunday’s 4-1 defeat at top-of-the-table Beijing Guoan and did not even make the bench.

“I am not particularly sat-isfied with my performances,” the Slovakian international midfielder told CCTV.

“I have always tried my best to help the team but I’ve not encountered a situation like this before.

“There are big differences between Chinese and Euro-pean football, but I will try to overcome this and adapt.”

Hamsik said that he was

surprised by the number of fouls in the CSL and how much playing time is lost because of that and disputes with referees.

Hamsik, who spent 12 years at Napoli including a stint as captain, said the big-gest problem he faces in China is the language barrier.

“Many times I want to communicate with my team-mates, for example on pitch, but because of the language I can’t, so I can only use ges-tures,” he said.

Dalian have won just once in seven CSL matches and there is uncertainty about the future of Yannick Carrasco, the Belgian international winger who was an unused substitute in the weekend’s heavy defeat.

Hamsik said that “every-one (at Dalian) has room for improvement, including my-self”, but he is determined to make the move to northeast China work.

“Loyalty -- whether on the football field or in life -- is very important so I will definitely do my best,” he added.

Marek Hamsik (left) in action during a Chinese Super League match.

Ex-Man United player O’Shea to retire at end of season

AFPLONDON

FORMER Manchester Unit-ed defender John O’Shea will retire at the end of the season, Championship club Reading announced on Tuesday. The Republic of Ireland international won five Premier League titles at Old Trafford, as well as the FA Cup and the Champions League.

On his 38th birthday, O’Shea announced his retire-ment, having spent the final

season of his playing career at Reading after a seven-year stint at Sunderland. As well as making nearly 400 ap-pearances for United, O’Shea

also played more than 100 times for Ireland.

“A fabulous playing career is coming to a close -- today, on his 38th birthday, John O’Shea has announced he is to retire at the end of the sea-son,” tweeted Reading.

“Just a very small part of his playing days have been spent with the Royals, but he has amassed a medal collec-tion that any player would be extremely proud of, winning almost everything possible during almost 20 years as a professional footballer.”

John O’Shea

Sports18 Wednesday, May 1, 2019


CCRC held off M Pallonji by eight runs in a thrilling end and won the 30th CDC Crick-et Tournament 2019 Division 1 title at the Losail Cricket Complex.

CCRC, who featured in six finals earlier, found their seventh one lucky as they emerged the champions for the first time.

Sanjiv Jain, Chief Finan-cial Officer (CFO), Kader at Construction Development Co. and Sai Manoj, General Manager at Millennium Trav-el, gave away the awards and trophies. Construction De-

velopment Co. (CDC) has the distinction of being the oldest sponsor of the Qatar Veteran’s Cricket League since the be-ginning in 1988.

After being asked to bat first, CCRC openers Magsi and Mohsin provided a brisk start with 16 in the first two over. After Mohsin’s departure for 13 out of 17 on the board, new man Asad and Magsi launched an onslaught on the rivals and the team raced to 66 in 6.4 overs.

Magsi was removed by Sadiq off a catch by Raziq at this stage and CCRC later reached 97 for three midway of the innings. But their hopes of a big total were dashed by Naveed (three for 11) and

Praveen (three for 17), who picked three wickets each and shot them out for just 141 in 18.5 overs. Sudesh got one scalp.

Magsi made 27, Asad got 38 runs and Muzammil hit 20.

In reply, M. Pallonji, who made 62 for three in eight overs, fumbled after a flour-ish. After Sajeev notched up 23, they started to lose wickets regularly and needed 20 runs off the last two overs.

Abbas conceded only four runs in a superb 19th over. Off the last over, M Pallonji required 16 runs but they lost Ayub and the match by eight runs.

Sajeev hit 23, Ayub cracked 41 runs in 26 balls with four sixes and one four. Sardar got two for 11 runs, Abbas grabbed two for 21 runs and Sameer accounted for two batsmen for just 12 runs.

Asad of CCRC was ad-judged the man of the final.

Special AwardsBest batsman – Mohsin of CCRCBest bowler – Sadiq of M.PallonjiBest all-rounder – Suraj of CCRCBest wicket-keeper – Neeraj of M.Pallonji.

CCRC clinch CDC cricket title first timeCDC Cricket Tournament winners CCRC and runners-up M Pallonji players with guests and officials after the prize distribution ceremony in Losail.

IANSNEW DELHI

MARCH 24, 2018 changed the face of Australian cricket for-ever. In what seemed to be an innocuous post-lunch session on the third day of the third Test between South Africa and Australia in Cape Town turned on its head as Australia opener Cameron Bancroft was caught on camera rubbing the ball with a yellow object which was later revealed to be sandpaper.

Following an initial ban by the ICC, Cricket Australia banned Bancroft for nine months while Australia skip-per Steve Smith and deputy David Warner were banned for 12 months each. The duo also had to miss the 2018 edi-tion of the Indian Premier League as the BCCI decided to keep them away from the com-petition taking into considera-tion the ban from CA.

Exactly a year later, Warn-er announces his IPL return with a bang. On March 24, 2019, the opener hit a match-winning 85 for Sunrisers Hy-derabad (SRH) against Kol-kata Knight Riders (KKR). But this was not just a one-off knock. In fact, this was just the teaser of what was going to be an amazing journey for the 32-year-old.

“There is a big difference because he (Warner) is a world class player. For us, as a franchise, we are so proud of what he has achieved for Sunrisers. He is not only a premier match-winner but his leadership skills are also un-matched,” SRH mentor VVS Laxman had said before the start of the IPL 2019.

And boy, didn’t Warner prove the legend right?

Match after match, Warner kept on piling runs and along-side England’s Jonny Bairstow

(a rare English-Aussie cama-raderie which can be seen only in IPL), won matches of Sun-risers Hyderabad.

“When someone like Warner bats like that, it’s very less margins for the bowler,” Ajinkya Rahane had said af-ter SRH had beaten Rajasthan Royals in March.

In a total of 12 matches that Warner has played in this edition, Warner has amassed 692 runs at a magnificent av-erage of almost 70, including a swashbuckling 81 in his final outing against KXIP on Mon-day. He scored eight fifties and a century, thus announcing his return to competitive cricket in a grand style.

This was third consecutive IPL season for Warner where he had scored more than 600 runs. In 2017, the Australian opener had scored 641 runs from 14 matches in and had collected 848 runs from 17

matches when Sunrisers won the IPL in 2016.

“I have had time off to work harder at my game. I put the bat down for 16-18 weeks and just worked hard on be-ing the best father and hus-band that has worked for me,” Warner said on Monday.

Off to Australia to prepare for the World Cup, Warner’s destructive form has rung alarm bells for all the nine other teams which are going to participate in the showpiece event starting from May 30 in England and Wales.

“This World Cup, you’ll see some high scores. Hope-fully the ball doesn’t swing as much. Obviously England are the home team and they’re great. We’re world champions. I’m sure it’ll be great. I am looking forward to it and this was a stepping stone to that,” he signed off from this edition of the IPL.

The local players rally to beat Maldives in last game

Warner fires warning shots ahead of WC

Sunrisers Hyderabad’a David Warner used the 2019 Indian Premier League Twenty20 Cricket Tournament to get into a rich touch ahead of the World Cup.

Ramesan bags Prime Sports badminton doubleTRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA

RAJATRAJ Ramesan of New Vision Badminton Sport emerged the winner in the Prime Sports Badminton Tournament under-14 cate-gory, defeating Arjun Shine at the Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiyah Arena.

The DPS-MIS eighth grade student defeated Arjun Shine in three sets 21-18, 11-21 and 21-19 to take sweet re-venge of his loss to the same player in the quarter-final stage of the under-16 cat-egory.

The match lasted for one hour and 15 minutes with Ra-jatraj, emerging on top.

He went on to complete a double in the tournament when he won the Under-16 doubles championship along with his partner Aman Ali.

Luck however ran out for him as he and his under-14 partner Austin Togi lost the doubles final.

The sub-junior and junior badminton championship was held in different age groups from under-10 to under-18.

Rajatraj is trained at New Vision Badminton Sport by former Qatar national coach Manoj Sahibjan. Ashif Ameerjan, Anurag Anirud-han, Bichu Sureshkumar, Ashwin P C and Nebu Joseph are assistant coaches in the

academy.New vision’s Head Coach

Sahibjan said: “The success for Rajatraj is due to his tough training and the hard work he does. All this has helped him achieve so much success in the tournament.”

The students at New Vi-sion Badminton Sport, Doha - Qatar, are now preparing to participate in the Sub-junior and Junior All-India Nation-als Ranking Tournament.

Wawrinka &Murray demand Gimelstob resignation

AFPPARIS

THREE-TIME Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka echoed on Tuesday Andy Murray’s calls for Justin Gimelstob to quit his role on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) board after the American was sentenced following assault charges.

“Players need to speak out. Justin Gimelstob has been con-victed of a violent assault. It simply can not be possible for anyone to condone this type of behaviour and worse support it. In any other business or sport we would not be discussing this,” the Australian Open, US Open and Wimbledon champi-ons tweeted.

“The council @ATP_Tour need to do something about this and finally end this conversa-tion and shameful period in our great sport,” the Swiss former world number three added.

Gimelstob, himself an ex-professional tennis player, pleaded no contest to felony battery charges and was given three years’ probation and 60 hours of community service by a Los Angeles court on April 22.

Murray told the UK’s Sun-day Telegraph newspaper last weekend: “I don’t see how, with everything that has gone on, how it’s possible for him to remain in a position of author-ity or management at the ATP right now.”

Qatar make it to ACC Western Region U19 cricket semi-finalsTRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA

QATAR will take on tough rivals the United Arab Emir-ates for a place in the final of the ACC Western Region Un-der-19 Cricket Tournament at the Dubai International Sta-dium on Wednesday.

Qatar finished second in Group B behind Kuwait with two wins in three matches and advanced to the last four stage, while the UAE won all their three contests and topped Group A.

The other semi-final pits Kuwait against Saudi Arabia. Kuwait also posted three wins in as many matches to finish on the top of their pool, while Saudi Arabia lost a match to the UAE and finished with two victories in three games.

Qatar have had an ex-citing progress to the best four bracket. In the opening match, Syed Yousuf Tameem played a brilliant knock of 78 in his team’s pulsating one-run triumph against Oman. Qatar, batting first, made 179 and Oman were restricted to 169 by Bismillah Khan and Shubh Agarwal, who picked

three wickets each. Qatar were under tremen-

dous pressure against Kuwait, who amassed 228 for five in 50 overs with Gukul Kumar

cracking 104 and Goving Ku-mar hitting 81, despite Shubh Agarwal’s another three-wick-et haul. Qatar collapsed dur-ing the chase and suffered a 126-run loss.

Qatar however staged a superb comeback in the last pool match and piled up 239 for eight after Tameem smashed 90 runs. Though Faruhath Azyan Yoosuf struck 131, Qatar contrived a splendid 28-run victory with Afsarullah Obaidullah grab-bing five for 49.

Qatar’s team in the ACC Western Region Under-19 Cricket Tournament in the UAE.

BRIEF SCORES

Qatar beat Maldives by 28 runs

Qatar: 239 for 8 off 50 overs (S.Tameem 90; M.Tholal 3-39)Maldives: 211 all out off 48 overs (F.Yoosuf 131; A.Obaidullah 5-49)Player of the match: Faruhath Azyan Yoosuf (Maldives)

Qatar lost to Kuwait by 126 runs

Kuwait: 258 for 5 off 50 overs (Gokul.Kumar 104, Govind.Kumar 81; S.Agarwal 3-38)Qatar: 132 all out off 37.2 overs (H.Khan 68)Player of the match: Gokul Sunil Kumar (Kuwait)

Qatar beat Oman by one run

Qatar: 170 all out off 49 overs (S.Tameem 78; M.Raza 3-35)Oman: 169 all out off 50 overs (N.Poojari 46; B.Khan 3-34, S.Agarwal 3-34)Player of the match: Syed Yousuf Tameem (Qatar)

Standings

GROUP A M W L Nr Pts NRR

UAE 3 3 0 0 6 +5.027Saudi Arabia 3 2 1 0 4 +0.713Bahrain 3 1 2 0 2 -1.129Iran 3 0 3 0 0 -4.605

GROUP B M W L Nr Pts NRR

Kuwait 3 3 0 0 6 +2.32Qatar 3 2 1 0 4 -0.647Oman 3 1 2 0 2 +0.213Maldives 3 0 3 0 0 -1.887

Wednesday’s fixtures

(Semi-finals)

SF1: UAE vs Qatar at DISSF2: Saudi Arabia vs Kuwait at SCS

Thursday (May 2): Rest day

Friday (May 3): FINAL: Winner SF1 v Winner SF2 at DIS

BRIEF SCORES

CCRC, who featured in six finals earlier, found their seventh one lucky as they emerged the champions for the first time.

Rajatraj Ramesan of New Vision Badminton Sport with his winner’s trophy.

Qatar finished second in Group B behind Kuwait with two wins in three matches and advanced to the last four stage, while the UAE won all their three contests and topped Group A.

Sports 19Wednesday, May 1, 2019

Chairperson of Qatar Foundation (QF) and Education Above All (EAA) Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser met with Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia and Minister of Women, Family and Community Development Dr Wan Azizah Ismail in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday. They discussed areas of cooperation in education with Qatar Foundation, as well as potential collaboration with Qatar Social Work on projects of mutual interest, and EAA’s efforts in successfully educating refugee children in Malaysia. The meeting was attended by representatives from Qatar Foundation, Qatar Social Work and Education Above All and their Malaysian government counterparts. (QNA)

SHEIKHA MOZA MEETS MALAYSIAN DEPUTY PM


FASHION enthusiasts, modest-wear aficionados, influencers, families and aspiring designers gathered for a modest fashion extravaganza during the 15th Heya Arabian Fashion Exhibi-tion (Heya 15), which convened for five days at the Doha Exhi-bition and Convention Centre.

The event showcased 250 brands from 11 different coun-tries and concluded in style with a grand finale awards presentation.

The awards, presented by Heya, acknowledge the efforts of the exhibitors across two main categories - the Visitor’s Choice Awards and the Exhibi-

tor’s Choice Awards. The awards went to Debaj

and Tahani al Otaibi, respec-

tively for their outstanding con-tribution during Heya 15.

Mashal Shahbik from

QNTC said, “We are delighted with the success of the 15th Heya Arabian Fashion Exhibi-tion and the attendance it has drawn with the wide variety of events held during the show. I would like to congratulate the winners of the Heya award, and to thank all the exhibi-tors and organisers who have delivered an exceptional edi-tion,” she said.

“At QNTC, we strive to diversify Qatar’s calendar of events and enrich it in a way that reflects Qatar’s positioning as a destination that provides curated experiences. We look forward to sharing with our audiences, whether visitors or residences, the experiences in store for the summer.”


VICE-CHAIRPERSON and CEO of Qatar Foundation (QF) Her Excellency Sheikha Hind bint Hamad al Thani on Tues-day attended the 14th gradua-tion ceremony of Awsaj Acade-my, part of QF’s Pre-University Education (PUE).

In the biggest graduating class to date, 47 students were honoured in the ceremony that took place at the Awsaj Acad-emy auditorium in Education City, bringing the total number of graduates to 206 since its es-tablishment.

Attendees included Buthai-na A Nuaimi, president of PUE at QF; members of PUE man-agement and the board of gov-ernors, distinguished guests, parents, staff, faculty members and other members of the QF community.

Nuaimi encouraged stu-dents to invest the knowledge they acquired during their time at Awsaj Academy to contrib-ute to the vision of Qatar, while forging a path for themselves in their careers:

She said, “Remember that the journey of learning does not end with receiving a certificate

or a degree. You should con-tinue to pursue knowledge and acquire skills at various levels and in different fields, through-out your life. It is necessary that you benefit from what you have learned during your time at Awsaj Academy, not only to build your futures, but also as citizens who seek to secure a bright future for the coming

generations. “You are now at a cross-

roads to decide the direction your life will take. Work hard, embrace your cultural ethics, obey the Prophet Moham-med (PBUH) and serve your homeland. Remember that with hard work, success will always follow you. Therefore, choose your path and set your

goals wisely in order to meet your country’s expectations, because Qatar deserves the best from its citizens.”

Fahad Al-Subaiey, chair-man of Awsaj Academy Board of Governors; Mark Hughes, director of Awsaj Academy; and William Vue, principal of High School awarded the diplomas to the students.

Hughes said, “That trapeze bar is called transition and to-day it has the names of all of you graduates etched onto it. Those transitional moments in our lives are incredibly rich places. They should be honoured, an-ticipated with joyfulness, hope and optimism, even with all the anxiety, uncertainty and the very natural fears that can ac-company them. These are pro-found moments of excitement, anticipation and hopefulness, because all things are possible in this magical and wondrous journey through life.”

Vue said, “The path has not always been smooth but you have learned to make the most of the opportunities, persisted through the difficult times, and are ready for what lies ahead.”

Sufyan Khan is this year’s valedictorian, while Areej al Kaabi and Ghanim al Shaabi are this year’s salutatorians.

Kaabi said, “Yesterday, we were all students and today we have the opportunity to become the leaders of tomorrow. Some of us will join the military, some will become engineers and some of us might start businesses in some very unique fields. I am very proud of what we have all accomplished.”

Sheikha Hind attends Awsaj Academy’s graduationForty-seven students receive diplomas, marking largest graduating class since establishment

Vice-Chairperson and CEO of Qatar Foundation HE Sheikha Hind bint Hamad al Thani with other dignitaries at the graduation ceremony of Awsaj Academy, part of QF’s Pre-University Education on Tuesday.


THE Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC) has opened its Artificial Intel-ligence Hackfest for govern-ment and semi-government entities until May 2 as part of its endeavours to empower digital transformation with AI.

This was announced dur-ing the Qatar Artificial Intel-ligence Event held under the theme ‘Empowering Digital Transformation with AI’ at-tended by more than 300 de-cision makers and interested companies.

During the AI Hackfest, the Qatar Digital Government Training Program (QDGTP) will train teams from govern-ment and semi-government entities over three days to develop solutions for 10 pilot projects that are expected to help address some of the chal-lenges those entities encoun-ter.

Work on these solutions is to continue for at least three more months to transform them into actual applicable business models.

The event hosted several AI experts who exchanged in-sight on how to use AI to accel-erate business development, increase customer interaction and engagement and improve products and services quality, particularly in the five priority

sectors of Smart Qatar Pro-gram TASMU, namely trans-portation, logistics, environ-ment, healthcare and sports.

MoTC’s Assistant Under-secretary, Digital Society De-velopment Affairs Reem al Mansoori said, “We, at MoTC, aim to keep up with all tech-nological advancements to achieve Qatar National Vision 2030 goals toward a knowl-edge-based economy.”

Country Manager of Mi-crosoft Qatar Lana Khalaf said Microsoft is committed to empowering organisations by providing them with AI tools and solutions and this helps boost their business, empower their workforce and increase productivity.

She said they are looking forward to continuing their support to MoTC on its initia-tives to raise awareness of AI and its positive impacts on all industries across the country.

The event hosted several AI experts who exchanged insight on how to use AI to accelerate business development, increase customer inter-action and engagement and improve products and services quality, particularly in the five priority sectors.

The event showcased 250 brands from 11 different countries and concluded in style with a grand finale awards presentation.

Heya fashion exhibition concludes with awards exhibitors, partners

QATARI EMIRI FORCES, TURKISH FORCES’ JOINT EXERCISE

MoTC launches AI Hackfest

The Last Word20 Wednesday, May 1, 2019

ACD will lay foundations for harnessing diversity: Amir - Qatar ...

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