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FRIDAY 11 SEPTEMBER 2020 www.thepeninsula.qa23 MUHARRAM - 1442
VOLUME 25 NUMBER 8377 2 RIYALS
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Sabah Al Ahmad Corridor project 75% completeQNA — DOHA
Prime Minister and Minister of Interior H E Sheikh Khalid bin
Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani inspected the Sabah Al Ahmad
Corridor project, as its first phase will be opened soon, during a
visit by His Excellency yesterday afternoon, to a number of the
project stations.
H E the Prime Minister reviewed the map of the project, which is
being implemented by the Public Works Authority (Ashghal), and
listened to a
detailed explanation of its latest developments, advantages, and
integration with the Doha Metro network and the project’s
land-marks, and its 32 bridges, including the longest bridge in
Qatar with a length of 2.6 km,
the first suspension bridge with a length 1.2km and nine
tunnels, including the longest and deepest two-way tunnel with a
length of 2.1 km long and depth of 25 metres.
The project also provides
access to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 stadiums.
H E the Prime Minister and Minister of Interior praised the
progress of the project’s work, appreciating the efforts of those
in charge of it, and their
keenness to adhere to the schedule set for it. Also, His
Excellency praised Ashghal’s dependence on local materials and
national companies in the implementation of the project.
H E the Prime Minister and
Minister of Interior was accompanied during the visit by a
number of senior officials and engineers at the Public Works
Authority and repre-sentatives of the implementing companies.
Afghan peace talks to start in Doha tomorrowQNA — DOHA
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that the A f g h a n i
s t a n P e a c e Negotiations will commence in Doha tomorrow.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that these
vitally important direct negotiations between the different Afghan
parties represent a step forward in bringing lasting peace to
Afghanistan. This opportunity is made possible by agreement, signed
between the United State and Taliban in Doha earlier this year.
Commenting on the announcement, the Minister of Foreign Affairs’
Special Envoy for Counterterrorism and Mediation in Conflict
Resolution, H E Dr. Mutlaq bin Majed Al Qahtani, said: “Qatar has
always placed great value in the power of diplomacy and direct
dialogue to resolve disputes. We will continue our role to create
stability in the region. We are thankful for the work and
cooperation of all parties and international partners involved and
their support in bringing about this historic moment.”
Prime Minister and Minister of Interior H E Sheikh Khalid bin
Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani being given details about the Sabah
Al Ahmad Corridor project which is being implemented by the Public
Works Authority (Ashghal), during his visit yesterday.
MoI unveils new police uniformsSIDI MOHAMED THE PENINSULA
The security personnel will sport a new look from Sunday as the
Ministry of Interior (MoI) unveiled yesterday new police uniforms
that blend modernity with Qatari heritage and culture.
In a press conference held yesterday at the Police Training
Institute, the Ministry said that the new uniforms are designed
taking into account the combi-nation of modern and classical
styles, in sync with the Qatari environment and nature of tasks
while reflecting its authentic Arab civilisation.
The press conference was attended by Brigadier General Ahmed
Jaber Al Hamidi, Chairman of the Committee for Approved Police
Uniforms, and Major Fahad Saeed Al Subaie,
Committee Member.“The newly introduced
police uniforms are approved based on the Minister of
Inte-rior’s Decision No. (41) of 2020 issued on July 16, 2020
regarding the renewal of the police uniforms and specifying the
badges of military ranks for officers and other ranks,” said
Brigadier General Al Hamidi.
He also said that the selection of police uniforms came as a
result of field studies of the movement and mobility mechanism, and
according to the nature of work of each unit and department.
It was taken into account in choosing the uniforms of women
working in the Ministry of the Interior to adhere to the Islamic
veil and to observe Islamic customs and traditions in their dress,
Al Hamidi said.
Regarding the uniform of senior military ranks, he said there is
a military uniform for senior military ranks, which will be used
for ceremonies and accompanying delegations coming to the country
to par-ticipate in major international forums.
For his part, Al Subaie said that special uniforms are designed
for Public Transport Security, Airport Security, Traffic Patrol,
and Stadium Security Department as well as for female police
officers.
According to the Qatar Police Military Uniform Manual, uniforms
are classified into “7” dress codes (ceremony uni-forms, official
uniforms, duty uniforms, field uniforms, spe-cialized field
uniforms, training uniforms, and special missions uniforms). There
are different summer and winter uniforms
as well. The new uniform design
includes special specifications for airport security, traffic
department, stadium security department, and public transport
security department, Al Subaie noted.
Major Al Subaie added that
the amendments included an update on the logo of the Min-istry
of Interior, and an update on all military accessories, which
include all the separate pieces that are used with the uniform
including military ranks, military insignia, scope, and cordon.
An MoI official explaining the details of the new uniforms.
SACHIN KUMAR THE PENINSULA
Qatar’s ports have maintained growth momentum in August in spite
of challenges posed by due to COVID-19 pandemic. Hamad Port, Ruwais
Port and Doha Port have registered increase in cargo handling in
August.
The movement of vehicles wit-nessed a rise of around 18 percent
last month as 4,091 were handled by the ports in August, compared
to 3,469 vehicles in July this year. Con-tainer volumes also grew
last month.
“Container volumes moving
through Mwani Qatar increased by approximately 4 percent in
August 2020 compared to the same period of last year,” said Mwani
Qatar on its official twitter account.
The ports handled 113,795 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs)
containers; 51,450 tonnes of general cargo and 27,883 tonnes of
building material in August.
A total of 263 ships docked at the ports last month, according
to data shared by Mwani Qatar on its twitter account.
The ports have delivered a
strong performance so far this year, demonstrating that the
ports are playing a vital role in ensuring smooth supply of goods
in these exceptional circumstances.
During the first six months of this year, Hamad Port, Ruwais
Port and Doha Port have registered 102 percent increase in general
cargo handling compared to the same period in last year.
The ports have remained busy in the first half of this year as
1,509 ships docked at Hamad Port, Doha Port and Ruwais Port during
Jan-uary-June period.�P2
THE PENINSULA — DOHA
The Ministry of Public Health has clarified that passengers
coming from low-risk countries will have to undergo swab test on
the sixth day after arriving in Doha.
It said that Ehteraz status will be yellow till they
complete
their seven-day quarantine and get a negative result in the swab
test.
“They (Passengers from low-risk countries) must perform a swab
test on day six and their Ehteraz status will not turn green until
day seven after the swab test has
been performed and a neg-ative result has been ver-ified,” the
Ministry said on its social media pages.
“Please note that returning passengers cannot have the swab test
earlier than day six,” the Ministry added.
The Ministry added that this
process helps to reduce the risk of returning travellers
bringing the virus back into Qatar and passing it on to other
members of the community.
In the latest list of low risk countries the Ministry has
included 41 countries.
� �P2
MoPH: Swab test for passengers on sixth day after arrival
The project has 32 bridges, including the longest bridge in
Qatar with a length of 2.6 km, the first suspension bridge with a
length of
1.2km and nine tunnels, including the longest and deepest
two-way tunnel with a length of
2.1 km and depth of 25 metres.
We have completed 75% of Sabah Al Ahmad Corridor... This road
represents a qualitative addition to the modern road network in
Qatar. Today I paid an inspection visit to the project site and
looked closely at the progress of work. I instructed to continue
work depending on local materials and national companies for the
remaining of this project and all other projects.
Cargo handling grows at Qatari ports in August
Cargo handling at Qatari ports
Qatar welcomes outcomes of inter-Libyan dialogue sessionsQNA —
DOHA
The State of Qatar welcomed the promising outcomes reached at
the end of the inter-Libyan dialogue sessions that were held in
Bouznika, under the auspices of the Kingdom of Morocco.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said this is a con-structive and
important step in the national political path for which Qatar has
always been calling, and this con-structive dialogue between the
Libyan parties is a continu-ation of the path paved by the Skhirat
Agreement. The statement said that Qatar expresses its deep
gratitude for the pioneering role played by Morocco, and wishes the
parties success in achieving territorial integrity, stability,
security and prosperity for the Libyan people of all sects.
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02 FRIDAY 11 SEPTEMBER 2020HOME
W ALRUWAIS : 29o → 36o W ALKHOR : 28o → 39o W DUKHAN : 28o → 42o
W WAKRAH : 28o → 39o W MESAIEED : 28o → 39o W ABUSAMRA : 26o →
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Misty at first becomes hot daytime with local clouds and chance
of rain maybe thundery by afternoon associated with blowing dust at
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WEATHER TODAY
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HIGH TIDE 12:38
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PRAYERTIMINGS
FAJRSUNRISE
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DHUHR 11.31 am
ISHA 07.13 pmMAGHRIBASR 02.59 pm
05.43 pm
PM meets British Defence Secretary
Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, H E Sheikh Khalid bin
Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani, met yesterday morning with UK
Secretary of State for Defence, H E Ben Wallace and the
accompanying delegation on the occasion of their visit to the
country. During the meeting, they reviewed the strategic
friendship, cooperation and relations between the two countries and
ways to develop them, especially the joint efforts in the field of
security and defence, in addition to discussing the most important
developments of common interest.
ACS Doha opens new campus in Al KheesaTHE PENINSULA — DOHA
ACS International School Doha has opened its doors to its
landmark new campus in Al Kheesa. Situated in an acces-sible
location off Al Shamal Road, the state-of-the-art campus continues
to remain well connected to the existing ACS Doha community, while
also serving the expanding Doha areas including Lusail and The
Pearl.
Spanning 60,000 square metres, the new campus is designed to
accommodate almost 2,500 students and boasts countless facilities
designed for inside and outside-the-classroom learning. It
fea-tures a FIFA-sized football pitch, an all-weather athletic
track, a large multi-purpose indoor gym and a 25-metre swimming and
learners’ pool.
The school enjoys
purpose-designed drama studios, music practice rooms, wellness
and warrior studios, among other amenities. It also supplies
well-equipped science laboratories and libraries to dedicated
Lower, Middle and High School buildings.
Robert Cody, Head of School at ACS, said: “We are excited to
welcome back the ACS com-munity to our new campus. The new ACS Doha
campus embodies the spirit of learning and I know our community
will embrace the outstanding facil-ities at the new school. The
inspiring atmosphere and addi-tional facilities created by our new
physical environment are designed to cater to our stu-dents’
various talents and cre-ative outlets, to promote their academic
growth. It has enabled us to add even more choices and options to
our curriculum for students.”
Sponsor of the new school, Muhammed Sultan Al Jaber, Chairman of
Al Jaber Group, whose companies are a leading provider of
construction and consulting, trading, production, hospitality and
other services in Qatar, said: “The new ACS Doha school is a
positive devel-opment for ACS, and for edu-cation in Doha. This
state-of-the-art campus will benefit the entire school community
and I am proud to have partnered with ACS and to have delivered
this exciting new development as part of its long-term vision
for Qatar. I believe this new campus is a benchmark in Doha,
contributing significantly to the city’s education provision, and
Qatar’s vision.”
Tim Cagney, Chief Exec-utive, ACS International Schools, added:
“Since we opened nine years ago, ACS Doha has distinguished itself
by delivering a rigorous academic education that respects the
diversity of its student body,
and the individuality of learning styles. The move to our
landmark new campus enables us to realise our vision and the future
of education in Qatar. By creating environments that are innovative
and nurturing, we can help our students as curious and confident
learners to pursue their dreams, and get ready for what comes
next.”
ACS Doha offers all IB pro-grammes and continues to develop ways
to enhance its stu-dents’ academic experience.
New campus of ACS International School Doha in Al Kheesa.
MoPH: 206 new COVID-19 cases and 232 recoveriesTHE PENINSULA —
DOHA
The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) yesterday announced
registration of 206 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country.
Among them, 12 were travellers returning from abroad.
Another 232 people have recovered from the virus, bringing the
total number of recovered cases in Qatar to 117,978.
All new cases have been introduced to isolation and are
receiving necessary healthcare according to their health
status.
The Ministry further said that measures to tackle COVID-19 in
Qatar have suc-ceeded in flattening the curve and limiting the
spread of the virus. The number of daily new cases and hospital
admissions has gradually declined over the
past few weeks.The Ministry also said that
Qatar has one of the lowest COVID-19 death rates in the world —
a result of Qatar’s young population; proactive testing to identify
cases early; expanding hospital capacity, especially intensive
care, to ensure all patients receive the medical care they need;
and protecting the elderly and those with chronic diseases.
However, the Ministry has emphasised the importance of taking
precautions against COVID-19. “Unless we follow all precautionary
measures, we may experience a second wave of the virus and see
numbers increasing — there are already signs of this happening in
other countries around the world. Now more than ever, we must be
careful and protect the most vulnerable,” the Ministry said.
The Qatari aid plane was received by Minister of Labour &
Social Development, who is also Chair of the High Government
Committee to Support the Affected by Floods, H E Lina Al Sheikh;
Commissioner General of Humanitarian Aid Abbas Fadlallah, and other
officials.
Qatar sends more aid to Sudan QNA — DOHA
In the implementation of the directives of Amir H H Sheikh Tamim
bin Hamad Al Thani, the State of Qatar’s aid continued to be
transferred to support the brothers in the Republic of the Sudan,
affected by the floods that swept through 16 states of the
country.
The Qatar Fund for Devel-opment, in coordination with the
Standing Committee for Rescue and Relief Works and Humanitarian
Aids for Afflicted Areas in Brotherly and Friendly Countries, sent
a new batch of aid amounting to 46 tonnes of various medical and
relief materials, bringing the total aid to 88 tonnes, carried by a
Qatari Amiri Air Force aircraft, accompanied by a team from the
Qatar International Search and Rescue Group (Lekhwiya).
About 3,500 abandoned vehicles removed since JulyTHE PENINSULA —
DOHA
The fifth joint campaign to remove abandoned vehicles was
launched in Um Salal yesterday.
The campaign comes within the framework of the con-tinuous
efforts of the Ministry of Municipality and Envi-ronment (MME) to
limit the number of abandoned vehicles and equipment that distorts
the aesthetic view of the State. Since the beginning of this year,
the committee has removed about 7,500 vehicles from all
municipalities.
The drive is being con-ducted by the Joint Committee for
Removing Abandoned Vehicles, in collaboration with Public
Cleanliness and Mechanical Equipment Depart-ments , and securi ty
authorities.
Marzouq Mubarak Al Mas-ifari, Assistant Director of the
Mechanical Equipment Department, who is also a
member of the joint committee, said the campaign was launched in
early July this year starting from the Industrial Area of Doha
Municipality.
He said the total number of abandoned vehicles removed by the
Joint Committee has reached more than 81,000 from
all regions in the country since the committee was set up in
2013.
“The campaign to remove abandoned vehicles was launched last
July, and started from Doha, Al Rayyan, Al Khor & Al Thakhira.
During the past week it focused on Al Daayen
municipality, and currently it is underway within the
geo-graphical area of Um Salal,” he said.
Al Masifari noted that about 3,500 abandoned vehicles have been
removed since the start of the campaigns in July.
The committee also receives reports about aban-doned cars on the
committee’s hotline number.
Mohammed Faraj Al Kubaisi, Assistant Director of the General
Cleaning Department at the MME and member of the committee, said
the committee seeks to intensify its efforts as required during the
coming period to remove all neglected vehicles and equipment from
all regions of the country. He also called on people to cooperate
with the authorities to accomplish this work. The drive is also an
implementation of Law No. (18) of 2017 on public hygiene due to the
health and environmental damage it causes.
A vehicle being loaded onto a truck during the drive to remove
abandoned vehicles.
MoPH: Swab test for passengers on sixth day after arrival
FROM PAGE 1
As per the travel policy announced by the Gov-ernment
Communications Office, arrivals to Qatar from low-risk countries
are required to take a COVID-19 test upon arrival at the airport,
and to sign a formal pledge to adhere to quar-antine at home for a
week, noting that the traveller’s status on the Ehteraz
appli-cation will be yellow, which means that they are required to
quarantine.
If there are accredited COVID-19 testing centres in one of these
low-risk coun-tries, obtaining a COVID-19 free certificate from one
of these centres exempts the traveller from taking the test at the
airport on arrival in the country, provided that the date of
obtaining the certif-icate does not exceed 48 hours before
travelling.
These passengers are also required to undergo a seven day home
quarantine upon arrival.
If the result of test done on the sixth day is positive, the
traveller will be transferred to isolation, and if it is neg-ative,
the quarantine period ends at the end of that week and the
traveller’s status on the Ehteraz application will change to
green.
Second round of Secondary School Certificate exam results
announcedQNA — DOHA
The Ministry of Education and Higher Education has announced the
results of the second round of the General Secondary School
Certificate tests for the 2019/2020 academic year, which were
approved by Minister of Education and Higher Education, H E Dr.
Mohammed bin Abdulwahed Al Hammadi.
Assistant Undersecretary for Evaluation Affairs at the Ministry
of Education and Higher Education Khalid Abdullah Al Harqan
confirmed that the success rate in day schools reached 66.84
percent, in adult education 47.42 percent, in the Religious
Institute Preparatory Sec-ondary school for Boys 50 percent, and in
Qatar Tech-nical Secondary School for Boys 90 percent. Whereas, the
pass rate in the Qatar Schools of Banking Sciences and Sec-ondary
Business Adminis-tration reached 100 percent.
The Ministry invited stu-dents and parents to visit the public
services portal to view the results via the following link:
https://eduservices.edu.g o v . q a / W e b P a r t s
/DisplayMarks/#/.
It added that the date of issuance and printing of the Secondary
School Certificate for successful students will be announced
later.
Cargo handling grows at Qatari ports in August
FROM PAGE 1
The ports handled 727,716 tonnes of general cargo in the first
six months of this year, compared to 360,644 tonnes in the same
period in 2019. The ports handled 32,779 units of vehicles and
305,504 livestock during January-June period.
Hamad Port, Qatar’ gateway to world trade, occupied a major
share in the total cargo handling. Hamad Port is helping in
diversifying country’s economy. Along with general cargo traffic,
the port handles a variety of specialist imports including
livestock, automobiles, and bulk grain.
Mwani Qatar has imple-mented series of measures to limit the
spread of coronavirus in the ports which has not only kept the
workforce safe but has also ensured uninter-rupted supply of goods
in the country. The ports had set the new volume and productivity
benchmarks in 2019. Hamad Port, Ruwais Port and Doha Port received
4,082 vessels and handled 1.34 million TEUs containers during the
year.
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03FRIDAY 11 SEPTEMBER 2020 HOME
Attorney-General meets Tunisia PMQNA — TUNIS
Prime Minister of the Republic of Tunisia, H E Hisham El
Mechishi, met Qatar’s Attorney-General (A-G), H E Dr. Ali bin
Fetais Al Marri, who is currently visiting Tunisia. During the
meeting, they discussed a number of issues related to combating
terrorism, joint action in the field of rule of law, and other
issues of common concern. The A-G also met Tunisian Minister of
Justice, H E Muhammad Busta. The two sides exchanged views on
strength-ening judicial and legal cooper-ation between the two
brotherly countries, exchange of experi-ences and joint work in
this field. Qatar’s Ambassador to Tunisia, H E Saad bin Nasser Al
Humaidi, also attended the meetings.
Mandarin Oriental, Doha presents natural Qatari honeyTHE
PENINSULA — DOHA Mandarin Oriental, Doha, has partnered with Bu
Saif’s Apiary to harvest its own natural Qatari honey called
Malika. Translated from Arabic, Malika means “queen” and the name
is inspired by the queen bee. By buying the honey and sweet-tasting
treats made with it, guests will be supporting Mandarin Oriental’s
efforts to protect biodiversity, which is a key part of its
sustainability strategy.
Made with nectar from the fragrant blooms of the indig-enous
Sidr tree, the aromatic honey will be harvested twice each year,
when the tree flowers between September and March. The iconic
symbol of Qatar, the highly resilient Sidr nurtures life in the
desert by providing comforting shade, medicinally potent leaves and
nutrition for living creatures, including bees.
With one-third of the world’s crops reliant on bee pollination,
Mandarin Oriental, Doha aims to encourage greater awareness of
bees’ vital role and to support bio-diversity through its own
bee-keeping. As part of the hotel group’s ‘Act with
Responsi-bility’ mission, the project reflects Mandarin Oriental’s
deeply ingrained sustainability values. Guests can indulge in
delicious treats made with Malika honey at the hotel by ordering
the Malika Honey gelato at Gelato or the beehive-inspired Honeycomb
Cake or chocolate pralines at Baraha Lounge and Mandarin Lounge.
Guests can purchase pots of pure Malika honey for QR70 each at any
of those three hotel outlets.
Doha Debates amplifies voices in youth-driven UN dialogueTHE
PENINSULA — DOHA In a special edition of Doha Debates’
#DearWorldLive programme, showcased as part of the United Nations’
75th anniversary Youth Plenary, young activists from Brazil,
Luxembourg, and South Africa have discussed lessons learned from
the world’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
The programme, a pro-duction of Qatar Foundation’s Doha Debates,
examined the successes and failures of world leaders and global
institutions in combating COVID-19, and identified changes that
must happen in our communities and nations, and throughout the
world.
Participants in the pro-gramme were Paloma Costa Oliveira, a
climate activist from Brazil; Obakeng Leseyane, founder of South
Africa’s EdConnect education initiative; and Félix Feider, a
conserva-tionist and environmental
activist from Luxembourg.Oliveira said that the coro-
navirus-related sanitary chal-lenges in the developing world are
enormous. “How can you not give access to water that is treated,
but at the same time say that you have to wash your hands?” said
Oliveira.
She said that in some parts of the world “society is still
filled with ego and individuality,” leaving many with a “failed
system” for coping with the pandemic.
Urging individuals to play their part in ensuring good
leadership during these chal-lenging times, Leseyane said, “A lot
of problems are deeply political, and they are deeply entrenched in
the systems. So if you are not happy about your particular
institution and if you are not happy with how your congress is
functioning, if you are not happy with how your local municipality
is func-tioning, engage. Part of engaging is not just voting;
it
means you spread electoral education.”
Feider called for a combi-nation of community activism and
international solutions and said, “This is a global problem and a
global problem needs a global solution — it all starts with local
activists on the ground. “We need system-wide transformative change
to move away from a system of decades of colonialism and
exploitation of nature and of the poor and then move towards a
system that promotes nature and pro-motes equality and justice and
fairness.”
The live programme was transmitted worldwide, with the top five
viewing nations being Brazil, India, Turkey, the US, and
Indonesia.
Doha Debates corre-spondent Nelufar Hedayat hosted the 30-minute
#Dear-WorldLive programme and moderated the entire three-hour
virtual UN75 Youth Plenary, including the opening
session with UN Secretary-General António Guterres; the
president of the UN General Assembly, Volkan Bozkir; and the UN
Secretary-General’s youth envoy, Jayathma Wickramanayake.
The recently concluded first season of #DearWorldLive focused on
the global response to the COVID-19 crisis. The
second season of the lives-treaming programme, debuting this
fall, will examine the struggle for racial equality around the
world.
#DearWorldLive episodes livestream on Doha Debates’ Twitter,
Facebook, and YouTube channels and at D o h a D e b a t e s . c o m
/DearWorldLive.
Moderator and speakers during the #DearWorldLive programme of
Doha Debates.
QRCS celebrates International Day to Protect Education from
Attack
THE PENINSULA — DOHA
Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) and other local and
international organisa-tions concerned with education and
humanitarianism celebrate the Interna-tional Day to Protect
Education from Attack, adopted by the United Nations General
Assembly to be observed annually on September 9.
Proposed by H H Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of
Education Above All (EAA) Foundation, it reflects the importance
attached by Qatar to edu-cation as an inherent right for all
children and reiterates the necessity of protecting this right
against any form of violation, abuse, or restriction.
The International Humanitarian Law prohibits assault on schools
and educa-tional institutions, being civilian entities that must be
protected during war. The Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the
Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War stipulates the
following: “The Parties to the conflict shall take the nec-essary
measures to ensure that children under fifteen, who are orphaned or
are separated from their families as a result of the war, are not
left to their own resources, and that their maintenance,
the exercise of their religion, and their education are
facilitated in all circumstances”.
As an auxiliary to the State of Qatar in its humanitarian and
social policies, and inspired by its underlying mission of saving
lives and preserving dignity, QRCS holds education as a major field
of its humanitarian action, both locally and internationally.
QRCS cherishes its partnership with EAA, in light of their
common goals of ensuring quality education and
improving the school environment for the children of vulnerable
communities affected by disasters or conflict. Edu-cation is
believed to be a vehicle to unleash society’s potential; trigger
devel-opment; raise the standards of living for individuals; and
promote the values of science, peace, and coexistence.
In Qatar, QRCS offers academic assistance to pay for the tuition
fees and living expenses for poor students, under the requirements
and criteria enforced by the Humanitarian Services Fund. In
cooperation with the Ministry of Edu-cation and Higher Education,
the QRCS School Program holds lectures and drills for school
students, teachers, and admin-istrative staff on three main areas:
health education and first aid, Safe School for Earthquake Risk
Reduction, and IHL.
As regards foreign operations, QRCS has many projects to back
all sorts of educational institutions: from basic to
university-level, from medical to voca-tional, and from
postgraduate to special. Examples include, but are not limited to,
support for education in remote areas (Afghanistan), rehabilitation
of damaged schools (Iraq), scholarships for Pales-tinian medical
physicians (Qatar), spon-sorship of MA and Diploma programmes
(Gaza), and reconstruction of university premises destroyed by the
2014 war in Gaza.A file photo of a QRCS project to support
education in remote areas of Afghanistan.
Deputy PM and Minister of State for Defence meets UK Defence
Secretary
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defence Affairs,
H E Dr. Khalid bin Mohammed Al Attiyah, met yesterday with
Secretary of State for Defence of the United Kingdom, H E Ben
Wallace, who is visiting the country. During the meeting, they
reviewed bilateral relations in the military and defence fields
between the two friendly countries, and ways to enhance and develop
them. The meeting was attended by a number of senior officers of
the armed forces, and the delegation accompanying the British
Secretary of State for Defence.
Qatar affirms pivotal role of youth in global peaceQNA — NEW
YORK
The State of Qatar affirmed the pivotal role of youth in
preventing conflicts and building and maintaining peace, and that
they are essential partners in this, calling on member states to
play a major role in facilitating youths’ participation and giving
them a leadership role in preventing conflicts and building
peace.
This came in a statement delivered by Qatar’s Per-manent
Representative to the United Nations, H E Ambas-sador Sheikha Alya
Ahmed bin Saif Al Thani, before the UN Security Council
Arria-formula meeting on the implemen-tation of the Council’s
resolu-tions on youth, peace and security by UN peace
operations.
Sheikha Alya expressed the State of Qatar’s welcome to host the
High-Level Global Conference on Comprehensive Peace Paths for
Youth, to be held in Doha on May 29-30, 2021, in cooperation with
Finland, Colombia, and the Office of the UN Secretary-General’s
Envoy on Youth.
H E said that the con-ference seeks to search for common ground
with the United Nations Department of Political and Peacebuilding
Affairs (DPPA), UN Women, United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the United
Network of Young Peace-builders (UNOY Peacebuilders). The
conference will be sup-ported by the Education Above All Foundation
(EAA), she added.
The Ambassador indicated that the conference will bring together
a large number of actors which are actively par-ticipating in peace
and peace-building processes, pointing out that the conference also
builds on the progress made since the adoption of UN Security
Council Resolution 2250 on Youth, Peace and Security in 2015 and on
the outcomes of the first Interna-tional Symposium on Youth
Participation in Peace Proc-esses that took place in Hel-sinki in
2019.
Qatar’s UN Permanent Representative expressed hope that the Doha
Global Con-ference would be a turning point for the youth, peace
and security agenda, not only by generating political commit-ments
at the national level but also by encouraging partici-pation in
sustainable and inclusive peace processes for youth, and by opening
the door for youth to formulate peace processes around the
world.
She also stated that the global conference will present a report
on Qatar’s progress, as young people contribute constructively to
formal and informal peace processes, noting that the report will
review progress made in the implementation of the main
recommendations of the global policy paper “We Are Here: An
Integrated Approach to Youth-Inclusive Peace Processes”, which was
developed in con-junction with the international symposium.
The Ambassador praised the recent report of the UN
Secretary-General and his rec-ommendations that encourage the
meaningful participation of youth in peace and security efforts,
saying that this is a path towards a new and compre-hensive
approach for youth to be engaged in peace and security and security
efforts, and a valuable contribution to a collective commitment to
building and sustaining peace and achieving the goals of the 2030
Agenda for Sustainable Development.
H E Ambassador Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif Al Thani affirmed
that the State of Qatar attaches great importance to the role of
youth in many con-flicts that it has mediated over the years and
that every medi-ation carried out by the State addressed important
issues related to the aspirations of youth and their role in
building peace, noting Qatar’s track record in launching innovative
project initiatives in cooper-a t i o n w i t h y o u t h
organisations.
Qatar’s Permanent Representative at the United Nations, H E
Ambassador Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif Al Thani, says High-Level
Global Conference on Comprehensive Peace Paths for Youth, to be
held in Doha on May 29-30, 2021, would be a turning point for the
youth, peace and security agenda.
Proposed by H H Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, the day reflects the
importance attached by Qatar to education as an inherent right for
all children and reiterates the necessity of protecting this right
against any form of violation, abuse, or restriction.
-
AP — BEIRUT
A huge fire broke out at Beirut’s port yesterday, raising new
panic among residents still struggling with the traumatic effects
of the catastrophic explosion at the same site last month.
Some sought safety in closed bathrooms or threw open their
windows to guard against shattering glass in case of another blast;
others piled into cars to flee the capital.
Dark smoke and the smell of toxic fumes enveloped Beirut in the
evening as army heli-copters circled and sprayed water over the
orange flames, helping firefighters on the ground.
It was unclear what caused the blaze at the port, which was
decimated by the August 4 explosion when nearly 3,000 tonnes of
ammonium nitrate blew up, sending out a shock wave that killed
nearly 200 people and caused widespread damage.
The Lebanese army said the fire started in the port’s duty free
zone amid containers of tires, oil and other flammable
materials.
Fabrizio Carboni, regional director for the International Red
Cross, tweeted that the warehouse on fire is where his organisation
stores thousands of food parcels and oil, risking the serious
disruption of
humanitarian operations.Port Director Bassem Al
Qaisi told Voice of Lebanon radio that the fire started in a
warehouse containing barrels of cooking oil and later spread to
where tyres were piled. He added it was too early to say if it
began as “the result of heat or some other mistake.”
In a sign of the ever-wid-ening gulf of distrust after the
explosion, many Lebanese accused politicians of deliber-ately
trying to destroy evidence at the port that led to the blast.
Yesterday’s fire was the second mysterious blaze there this week,
following a small fire on Tuesday that also caused some panic but
was quickly extinguished.
Lebanon is gripped by an
unprecedented economic crisis and financial collapse, blamed on
decades of mismanagement and corruption by an entrenched political
class. Last month’s blast is seen as the cul-mination of leaders
unable to manage the country’s affairs or protect its people. So
far, authorities have been unable to provide answers about the
explosion, and there has been no accountability for it.
For Dana Awad, a mother of two girls, the fire brought back
memories of the tremor that shook her Beirut neigh-bourhood before
the explosion.
“We opened all windows and are in the corridor right now,” Awad
said as they sought safety in a hallway. “I am still feeling the
earth shake. Living a flashback.”
Jennifer Moorehead, Save the Children’s Country Director in
Lebanon, said the fire will inevitably bring back distressing
memories to many Lebanese children who are still trying to recover
from last month’s blast.
“Children in Beirut have experienced a terrible shock and they
need time to recover; today’s fire and panic will only make things
worse,” she said.
Najat Saliba, a professor specialising in atmospheric chemistry
at the American Uni-versity of Beirut, tweeted warnings for the
elderly and children to protect themselves or even to leave the
city if pos-
sible until the smoke cleared.The raging fire and column
of smoke was eerily similar to the one that preceded the
dev-astating explosion.
Yesterday, panicked resi-dents cracked open windows and called
or texted warnings to each other. Local TV stations said companies
with offices near the port asked employees to leave the area. Some
hid in bathrooms, while others dropped what they were doing and
rushed home.
A video on social media showed port employees running from the
fire, a chilling reminder of the dozens of workers and 10
firefighters who were killed in the blast.
Lebanese troops closed the major road near the port and rerouted
traffic.
A highway that runs parallel to the port was blocked with cars,
some with terrified-looking women and children
trying to flee. “Get out of my way!” one woman screamed at
others blocking her path. A woman sitting in the car next to her
covered her ears with her hands, looking traumatized by it all.
04 FRIDAY 11 SEPTEMBER 2020MIDDLE EAST
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Lebanese firefighters trying to put out a fire that broke out at
Beirut’s port area, yesterday. Thick black columns of smoke rose
into the sky, as the army said it had engulfed a warehouse storing
engine oil and vehicle tyres.
Iran begins expansive annual war games amid tensions with USAP —
TEHRAN
Iran’s military yesterday began an expansive annual three-day
exercise near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, state TV reported,
with the manoeuvers taking place amid heightened tensions between
the Islamic Republic and the US.
Units from the navy, air force and ground forces are
participating in a nearly 2 million sq km area of the Gulf of Oman.
State television said Iranian submarines and drones were being
deployed.
State TV aired footage of the launching of various short range
surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles and of jet fighters
and airborne troops descending on vessels including a sub-marine.
One of the missiles hit a drone from a mock enemy.
“Marines and commandos... infiltrated at subsurface, surface and
air levels by using domestic equipment built by the defense
ministry and our scientific and industrial centers,” said Adm.
Shahram Irani, the military’s spokesman for the exercise.
O n W e d n e s d a y ,
Adm. Habibollah Sayyari, com-mander of the annual exercise
dubbed Zolfaghar-99, said the operation is aimed at “improving
readiness in con-fronting foreign threats and any
possible invasion.”Sayyari’s comments hinted
at the threat of military conflict amid tensions between Iran
and the US, which has sought to extend a years-long U.N.
weapons embargo on Tehran that is due to expire in October.
The US Navy’s 5th Fleet, which patrols Mideast waterways,
declined to comment on the exercise.
Last month, US Central Command published a black-and-white video
showing what appeared to be Iranian special forces fast-roping from
a heli-copter onto the oil tanker MT Wila, whose last position
appeared to be off the eastern coast of the United Arab Emirates
near the city of Khorfakkan.
Iranian state television later acknowledged the brief seizure,
referring to the operation as a routine inspection without
elaborating.
In July, Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard fired a missile
from a helicopter tar-geting a replica of a US aircraft carrier in
the Strait of Hormuz in an exercise aimed at threat-ening the
US.
In January, a US drone strike killed a top Iranian general at
the Baghdad airport and Tehran responded by firing ballistic
missiles at American forces in Iraq.
Iran’s navy operates in the Gulf of Oman on the eastern side of
the strait, through which 20% of all oil shipping passes.
Houthis say attacked ‘target’ in Riyadh with missile,
dronesREUTERS — DUBAI
Yemen’s Houthi group said it had attacked an “important target”
in the Saudi capital Riyadh yesterday using a ballistic missile and
drones.
A Saudi-led coalition, which has been at war with the
Iran-aligned group since 2015, did not confirm an attack on Riyadh,
but said it had inter-cepted and destroyed a number of ballistic
missiles and explosive drones launched towards the kingdom.
Yahya Sarea, a spokesman for the Houthi military, said the group
used a Dul-Faqqar ballistic missile and three Samad3 drones to
attack an important target in Riyadh, without giving more details.
The group have attacked Riyadh several times before.
“The attacks are a response to the enemy’s per-manent escalation
and its con-tinuing blockade against our country,” Sarea said in a
statement posted on Twitter.
A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition said Houthi forces had
launched the mis-siles and drones at civilian targets in Saudi
Arabia, without giving more details.
Iranian boats during a military exercise in the Gulf, near the
strategic strait of Hormuz in southern Iran, yesterday. The Iranian
navy began a three-day exercise in the Sea of Oman, deploying an
array of warships, drones and missiles.
Lebanese army shot down Israeli drone
AFP — BEIRUTLebanon’s president said yesterday a huge fire at
the Beirut port could have been an “intentional act of sabotage” or
an accident, and those responsible must be held accountable.
“Today’s fire could be an intentional act of sabotage, the
result of a technical error, ignorance, or negligence. In all
cases, the cause needs to be known as soon as possible, and those
responsible held to account,” President Michel Aoun said, according
to his office.
REUTERS — BEIRUT
Israel’s military said yesterday that one of its drones fell
inside Lebanon during “operational activity” along the frontier,
while the Lebanese army said it had shot it down.
“There is no risk of breach of information,” an Israeli army
spokesman said, offering no further details.
The Lebanese army said in a statement that the drone “penetrated
Lebanese air-space over the town of Aita Al Shaab and was shot down
by members of one of the army posts.”
Sabotage or accident, says President
ANATOLIA — BAGHDAD
Health authorities in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Libya, and Oman
yesterday confirmed additional fatalities due to the novel
coro-navirus pandemic.
Iraq’s Health Ministry said 82 more people have died from the
pandemic, bringing the country’s tally to 7,814.
The number of coronavirus infections in the country reached
278,418 with 4,597 new
cases reported in the last 24 hours. Saudi Arabia said with 24
more patients succumbing to the disease, the number of deaths has
reached 4,189, while recoveries neared 300,000.
The Gulf Arab country recorded 708 additional infec-tions over
the past 24 hours, raising the tally to 323,720.
In a statement, Libya’s National Center for Disease Control said
15 more people died from COVID-19 and 477 others tested
positive.
The country’s tally now rose to 20,939 cases, including 339
deaths, and 2,420 recoveries.
In Oman, the Health Min-istry recorded 11 additional fatalities
along with 398 infec-tions and 210 recoveries. The country’s total
cases now stand at 88,337, including 762 deaths, and 83,325
recoveries.
In Kuwait, the Health Min-istry said four more people died from
the pandemic, bringing the country’s tally to 556. The number of
infections reached 92,822 with 740 new cases reported in the last
24 hours.
Reports from Jordan said one died and five more people have
tested positive for the virus over the past 24 hours, taking the
total number of infections to 2,739, with the total number of
recoveries to 2,004. The country’s death toll currently stands at
20.
The Health Ministry in the Israeli-blockaded Gaza on Thursday
reported 195 new coronavirus cases and a death of a six-month-old
child from the virus.
Since March, the number of infections in Gaza has risen to
1,551, including 10 deaths and
114 recoveries.“The number of active cases
in Gaza rose to 1,427,” the min-istry said, calling on residents
to abide by health protocols to help stem the virus’ spread in the
strip.
The Hamas-led government imposed a lockdown in Gaza on Aug. 24
to help curb the out-break in the blockaded enclave.
Israel recorded 3,904 more coronavirus cases over the past 24
hours, its highest single-day figure since June, the Health
Ministry said yesterday.
The total number of cases stands at 142,582, including 1,054
deaths and 109,757 recov-eries, the ministry said in a
statement.
It added that 4,746 of the COVID-19 patients are in critical
condition and 158 in moderate condition.
Pandemic claims more lives in Iraq and Oman
Rocket hits Baghdad airport, no casualtiesREUTERS — BAGHDAD
A Katyusha rocket fell in the vicinity of Baghdad airport but
caused no casualties, Iraq state news agency INA said yesterday,
the second such attack on the airport this week.
On Sunday, three Katyusha
rockets landed within the perimeter of the airport. One of them
landed on an airport garage, damaging four civilian vehicles, but
caused no casualties.
Last week, in three sep-arate incidents several rockets landed
either near the airport
or inside Baghdad’s heavily for-tified Green Zone, which houses
government buildings and foreign missions. Those attacks also
caused no casualties.
Washington blames such attacks on Iranian-backed militia groups.
Iran has not directly commented on the incidents.
The Middle East came close to a large conflict in January after
a U.S. drone strike killed Iranian General Qassem Sole-imani and
Iraqi paramilitary chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis at Baghdad airport.
Iran-aligned militias have sworn to avenge their deaths.
Jordan reinstates compulsory national military serviceAFP —
AMMAN
Jordan announced the rein-statement of compulsory military
service for jobless men aged between 25 and 29.
Men will serve a 12-month stint, made up of three months of
military training and nine months of professional and technical
training.
Huge Beirut port fire raises panic among residents
Port Director Bassem Al Qaisi told Voice of Lebanon radio that
the fire started in a warehouse containing barrels of cooking oil
and later spread to where tyres were piled. He added it was too
early to say if it began as “the result of heat or some other
mistake.”
-
Salam: The greeting of all ProphetsPROF SHAHUL HAMEED
The Muslim greeting of s a l a m , a s s a l a m u alaykum in
Arabic means “peace be upon you”. It may be new to many that this
greeting was taught by Prophets Moses and Jesus (peace be upon
them).
The greeting of MosesThe language of Moses
(PBUH) was Hebrew: In Hebrew the greeting is: shalom aleichem.
This means the same as “assalam alaykum”.
Traditionally the pious Jews use the greeting shalom aleichem,
“peace be upon you!” And its natural response is: aleichem shalom,
“upon you be peace,” or the slightly more formal wa’aleichem
ashalom, meaning “and upon you be peace.”
This Hebrew response is paralleled by the Arabic response, “wa
alaykum salam.”
Hebrew, Aramaic, and Arabic belong to the Semitic family of
languages since they were derived from the same parent language.
The close kinship of the Semitic languages to one another can be
seen in the persistence of the same roots from one language to
another.
So the root s-l-m, for example, means “peace” in Hebrew,
Aramaic, Arabic, and other Semitic languages. Thus Hebrew and
Aramaic are lexi-cally, etymologically, as well as syntactically
kindred sister languages.
And for that reason, when Jews greet one another with “shalom
aleichem” it is almost the same as the Arabic “assalamu
alaykum“.
The greeting of JesusJesus (PBUH) taught the
same greeting to his disciples. See the following verses from
the Gospels:
And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this
house. (Luke 10:5)
And as they thus speak, Jesus himself stood in the midst of
them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. (Luke 24:36)
Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week,
when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for
fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto
them, Peace be unto you. (John 20:19)
And after eight days again his disciples were within, and
Thomas with them: Then came Jesus (PBUH), the doors being shut,
and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. (John
20:26)
Jesus (PBUH) spoke the Aramaic language, which is only a dialect
of the Hebrew lan-guage. So, the English expression, “peace be unto
you” given in the Gospels as the equivalent of what Jesus (PBUH)
taught, is a translation of the original Aramaic expression used by
Jesus (PBUH): “shalom aleichem“.
Islam and peaceThe word “Islam” is derived
from the same root as the Arabic word “salam“, meaning peace.
The name of the religion “Islam” means the peace one may attain by
submitting to the laws of God.
We know that peace is extremely valuable and essential for the
happy co-existence and healthy growth of individuals, families, and
societies.
History teaches us that if peace is absent for a long time, a
society would face death,
destruction, and even extinction.
And religions teach of eternal peace for the dead souls in the
hereafter. As sensible beings, it is our duty not only to seek
peace, but also to strive for its attainment in every sphere of
life.
Indeed, peace is a state of balance and harmony arising out of
our conforming to the laws of nature and our obe-dience to the
moral laws of religion.
Both these sets of laws are from God Almighty Himself. Muslims
believe that this is because it is God Who created the universe and
its laws.
Whether we want it or not, everything in the universe will-ingly
or unwillingly obeys God’s laws which are called Laws of
Nature.
In other words, everything in the universe submits to God
Almighty and is at peace with Him and the world around.
Islam — or “living in peaceful submission to God” — is at the
initial level, our sub-mission to the laws of nature; and we become
“Muslims” (=
those who submit) at this level, willingly or unwillingly.
And there is a second level of living in peace, that is what the
ancient prophets and their followers did, as is evident from this
verse:
Say: “We believe in God, and in that which has been bestowed
from on high upon us, and that which has been bestowed upon Abraham
and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and their descendants, and that
which has been vouchsafed by their Sustainer unto Moses and Jesus
and all the other prophets: we make no distinction between any of
them. And unto Him do we surrender ourselves. (3:84)
The English sentence at the end of the verse, “And unto Him do
we surrender ourselves” is a translation of the original Arabic,
“Wa nahnu lahu Muslimoon“.
This can also be rendered thus: “and we are Muslims”.
ConclusionThe purport of the verse is:
We believe in all the prophets of God and in all the
revealed
books of God — and we do not differentiate between one and
another of the prophets of God. Because, as Muslims, we give the
same respect and honor to all the Muslim prophets of God. This is
because all the prophets of God and their followers were living in
“Islam”.
And then there is Islam as the complete submission to God
Almighty, as revealed in the Last Testament called the Quran, to
the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH):
This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed My
favor upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion.
(5:3)
That is to say, Islam as taught by the earlier prophets was
completed and perfected by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
The foregoing underscores the fact that we cannot have a better
prayer than the prayer for salam — Islam — peace.
And the best greeting we can give to our fellow beings is
nothing but “peace be upon you” — “assalamu alaykum“.
(From Discovering Islam’s archive.)
Universal justice: Examples from Islamic historyABSAR HUSAIN
KAZMI
Most non-Muslims may not be aware of the fact that Islam
com-mands Muslims to contribute to society at large, regardless of
whether it be a predominantly Muslim or non-Muslim society.
Islam teaches its followers to work hand in hand with their
fellow citizens in order to bring about positive change, peace, and
justice in their society. This is evident from the story of Prophet
Yusuf (Joseph), peace be upon him, in the Quran.
After he was released from prison and declared innocent by the
king, he was honoured and offered a position in the Egyptian
government. Joseph, peace be upon him, himself requested:
Appoint me over the storehouses of the land. Indeed, I will be a
knowing guardian. (Quran, 12:55)
Prophet Joseph, peace be upon him, did not see any contradiction
in being Muslim and playing an important role in a non-Muslim
society.
Furthermore, God often refers to the Prophet Muhammad, peace be
upon him, as a mercy to all creation, not just for Muslims.
The obligation of promoting justiceAs part and parcel of
contributing
towards the improvement of society, Muslims are required to
promote justice in their communities, regardless of whether those
commu-nities are majority Muslim or non-Muslim. God commands
Muslims in the Holy Quran:
O you who have believed, be persist-ently standing firm in
justice, witnesses for Allah, even if it be against yourselves or
parents and relatives. (Quran 4:135)
A few examples from Islamic history
will help to demonstrate this fact…
The pact of chivalryAn interesting incident took place in
Makkah before the advent of Prophet Muhammad’s, peace be upon
him, prophethood, i.e. before he began preaching Islam. A
non-Makkan mer-chant came to Makkah to sell his goods. A Makkan man
took some of his goods and refused to pay for them. The mer-chant
approached various clans of the Quraish seeking help, but because
Makkah was a tribalistic society, all refused to help him.
Finally, the man went to the top of a mountain and began
shouting his griev-ances to all who could hear him. In response to
this, some of the leaders of the Arab tribes came together and
forced the Makkan man to pay the merchant what he was owed.
Furthermore, some of these leaders formed what is known as the Pact
of Chivalry (Hilf ul Fudool) where they committed to working
together to counter injustice and restore the rights of the weak
and oppressed in society.
Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon
him, witnessed this Pact of Chivalry and – even though it was
initiated by poly-theists – he remembered it approvingly. Much
later during his Prophethood he said:
‘I witnessed a confederacy in the house of ‘Abdullah ibn
Jada’an. It was more appealing to me than herds of cattle. Even
now, in the period of Islam, I would respond positively to
attending such a meeting if I were invited.’
The case of the falsely accusedDuring the Prophet’s rule in
Madinah,
a Muslim man stole some flour and weapons from the home of
another Muslim. When people became suspicious of him, he took the
weapons to a Jewish man and asked if he could store them in his
home for safekeeping. Furthermore, he made a trail of flour leading
from the home of the person he originally stole the items from to
the home of the Jewish man. Then he turned around and accused the
Jewish man of stealing both the weapons and the flour. The Jewish
man protested and claimed his innocence.
This caused confusion in Madinah
and due to the false evidence presented, even the Prophet, peace
be upon him, was inclining towards believing the accusation against
the Jewish man. At this point, God Himself intervened and revealed
nine verses of the Holy Qur’an (Qur’an 4:105 – 113) exonerating the
Jewish man and exposing the lies and deceit of the Muslim
thief.
Prophet and Jewish ManIn another incident, the Prophet
Muhammad, peace be upon him, once took a loan from a Jewish man
called Zayd ibn Sana’a. Before the repayment was due, Zayd came to
the Prophet and harshly demanded that he pay back the loan
immediately, claiming that his fore-fathers were known to be
defaulters. The Prophet’s close companion Umar, may God be pleased
with him, was with the Prophet at the time. He became extremely
upset at Zayd’s behaviour and was on the verge of beating him.
The Prophet, peace be upon him, managed to calm down the
situation. Addressing Zayd, he smiled and said: ‘There are still
three days to go before repayment is due.’ Then addressing Umar, he
said, ‘We would expect better treatment from you. You could have
advised me to be more careful about repaying loans and you could
have advised the Jewish man to be more cour-teous when demanding
repayment.’ He then asked Umar to repay Zayd with dates and to add
an extra amount of dates.
Upon this, Zayd revealed that he had actually staged the entire
incident because he wanted to test the character of the Prophet,
peace be upon him, in order to determine if he truly possessed the
noble manners befitting a prophet. He immediately accepted
Islam.
www.whyislam.org
The miracle of creationAHMAD ZAKI HAMMAD
Behold! in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the
alternation of night and day,- there are indeed Signs for men of
understanding. (Quran 3:190)
The human creation is a being of limitations that God has endued
with creative con-sciousness. This union of con-straint and ranging
imagination makes discovery an interesting part of our very
essence.
The instruments, tech-niques, and culture of curiosity we have
devised to satisfy this exploration instinct have vastly expanded
our awareness of the secrets of the physical world. Unseen
structures of matter are continually discerned at previ-ously
impregnable levels; forces, energies, and dimensions that shape
material existence are continually theorised, tested, and recast;
human under-standing of the invisible mech-anisms and connections
that bring the universe into seamless coherence are hypothesised,
debunked, and postulated again —such that steadily, inevitably
existence yields her enigmatic attributes to our mortal minds.
The scientific sensibility, for the most part, has evolved
enough (at least for peer review purposes, if for no higher reason)
to restrain researchers who would otherwise rush feck-lessly to
state the “last word” on the natural world.
There are, however, scien-tists who have grown too wise to deny
transcendent meaning and purpose in existence, and who have
realised that to allege the opposite, based entirely upon lab or
fieldwork, is to overreach the competence of empirical inquiry. One
of modern science’s most lauded breakthroughs in these early days
of the new millennium, for example, has been the declared
completion of the project to map out the human genetic code, or
genome.
This has enabled us for the first time to decipher in a rather
comprehensive manner the relationship connecting sequences of vital
molecules in our cells to our physical attributes and conditions.
Inter-estingly, one of the project’s directors heralded this
achievement with the words, “Today we celebrate the first glimpse
of our instruction book, previously known only to God.”
If one listens past the seeming arrogance of these words for a
moment, one hears a new tone that has slowly emerged among the
scientists our time; namely, a humbling recog-nition that the mere
proportion of what is unknown about cre-ation far outstrips all
human comprehension of it. However reluctant or incidental this
con-cession may be, it pointedly underscores the need for religion
(and philosophy within the realm of its competency) to recover the
right to contemplate the findings of science and relate them to
truths known to man only by way of revelation and informed
reflection.
Indeed, human discovery of the natural world deepens the
religious experience because it heightens our real-isation of the
existence of system, complexity, harmony, order, and magnitude in
cre-ation on a scale that seriously dents (if not outright
dismisses) the theories of an accidental universe. Natural inquiry,
unfettered by anthropological agendas, has the capacity to inform
and affirm the recog-nition of divine purpose in cre-ation -
recognition found in all human beings. Such an opti-mistic,
congruous, and innate view of existence is perhaps the antidote to
a terrible sense of alienation and the myriad per-sonal psychoses
and social turmoil that have resulted from this disaffection. What
truth or hope can possibly inhabit a view of ourselves as fleeting
organic luck adrift in endless space? The God-given impulse to
under-stand our surroundings serves to relocate our spiritual
selves and earthly purpose in a colossal universe. This impulse to
“know”, when guided by reve-lation, shall conduct us to the
eventuality we so crave - coming near to our sole and resplendent
Maker.
The word “Islam” is derived from the same root as the Arabic
word “salam”, meaning peace. The name of the religion “Islam” means
the peace one may attain by submitting to the laws of God. We know
that peace is extremely valuable and essential for the happy
co-existence and healthy growth of individuals, families, and
societies.
As part and parcel of contributing towards the improvement of
society, Muslims are required to promote justice in their
communities, regardless of whether those communities are majority
Muslim or non-Muslim. God commands Muslims in the Holy Quran: O you
who have believed, be persistently standing firm in justice,
witnesses for Allah, even if it be against yourselves or parents
and relatives. (Quran 4:135)
05FRIDAY 11 SEPTEMBER 2020 ISLAM
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Algeria parliament adopts constitutional reformsAFP —
ALGIERS
Algeria’s parliament yesterday adopted draft constitutional
reforms, a flagship initiative of President Abdelmadjid Tebboune
aimed at responding to the demands of the country’s “Hirak” protest
movement.
In a show of hands, the amended constitution was approved by 256
of the 462 members present in the Peo-ple’s National Assembly, said
speaker Slimane Chenine.
The reforms will now be put to a referendum on November 1, the
anniversary of the start of Algeria’s 1954-1962 war of
inde-pendence from France.
“The proposal is fully in line with the requirements of modern
state building and responds to the demands of the popular movement
(Hirak),” Tebboune said on Sunday after
the government gave the reforms the green light.
The government pledged the reforms would bring a “radical change
in the system of governance”, prevent
corruption and enshrine social justice and press freedoms in the
constitution.
The revision also sets out to reinforce the “principle of
sep-aration of powers, ethics in
political life and transparency in the management of public
funds,” so as to “spare the country any drift toward tyran-nical
despotism”, it added.
Tebboune had promised to press for reforms during elec-tions
late last year after the res-ignation of longtime leader Abdelaziz
Bouteflika under pressure from the Hirak movement, which widely
rebuffed the polls.
Algeria’s constitution has been modified several times since
independence and was tailored to Bouteflika, who
gained unlimited powers of appointment for top official
positions.
Since Bouteflika’s resig-nation in April last year, the
judiciary has handed down heavy prison sentences against former
officials and influential businessmen once close to him, mostly on
charges of corruption or nepotism.
But since the weekly Hirak protests were halted in March due to
the novel coronavirus pandemic, political opponents, independent
media and activists have also been targets of a crackdown.
The revised constitution has already been criticised by jurists
and rejected by a group of parties and associations linked to
Hirak, which has slammed it as a “laboratory constitution” and
described the referendum as “treachery”.
Algerian Prime Minister Abdelaziz Djerad addresses parliament
members during a voting session on constitutional reforms in the
capital Algiers, yesterday.
Chickens in a classroom converted into a poultry house because
of COVID-19 in the town of Wang’uru, Kenya, on August 28, 2020.
Chickens roost in empty Kenya classrooms amid COVID-19REUTERS —
MWEA, KENYA
Rows of spinach sprout in the sports field where the students of
Roka Preparatory school once played football, and clucking chickens
fluff their feathers in sawdust-covered classrooms where children
once sweated over their exams.
No students have thundered down these eerily quiet cor-ridors
since March, when Kenya abruptly closed its schools three days
after the first case of COVID-19 was detected.
The loss of income means some private schools will shut
permanently. “I had to think of how to use the classrooms
because they were haunting,” James Kung’u, the school’s director,
said as he tended veg-etables in the fields around 100 km northeast
of the Kenyan capital Nairobi.
“When you wake up in the morning, and you find the empty classes
looking at you — as an investment, (it’s) very discouraging.”
Kenya’s 11,400 private primary and secondary schools serve about
2.6 million stu-dents, the Kenya Private Schools Association
says.
They vary from bare class-rooms charging a few thousand
shillings a term to ultra-mani-cured campuses serving the nation’s
elite.
Peter Ndoro, the associa-tion’s chairman, said around 150
schools have already gone bust. Most of the 158,000 teachers
working in private schools are on unpaid leave, he said. While some
schools have been able to oversee distance learning, in others the
pupils — and the teachers — have no way to connect to the Internet.
They have to look for creative ways to make money.
Opposition predicts loss in Ethiopia’s regional pollsAFP —
MEKELE, ETHIOPIA
Opposition leaders in Ethiopia’s Tigray region yesterday
conceded they were unlikely to make significant inroads as
officials tallied results from regional elections that Prime
Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government has deemed illegal.
The ruling Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) has touted
the polls as evidence of its democratic credentials while accusing
Abiy, winner of last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, of running roughshod
over insti-tutions in an attempt to consol-idate power.
But it was unclear whether opposition parties would actually
gain seats in the regional parliament — known as the State Council
— against the TPLF, which has dominated Tigrayan politics for
decades.
“I am worried we may end up with having 100 percent TPLF in the
council, but let’s wait and see,” said Girmay Berhe, head of the
Tigray Inde-pendence Party. “I don’t see significant change in the
political culture. The TPLF will dominate the council and will
probably get 98 or 99 percent of the seats,” said Hayalu Godefay,
chairman of oppo-sition party Salsay Woyane Tigray. Ethiopia was
supposed to hold national elections in August, but the national
poll
body announced in March they would need to be postponed because
of the pandemic.
However leaders in the once-powerful Tigray region rejected the
extension of man-dates — which would have expired in October —
con-tending Abiy will have no legit-imacy after that.
Their decision to hold their own elections this week has rankled
federal officials, who have said they have “no legal basis” and are
“null and void”.
Voting proceeded peace-fully Wednesday, and the election
commission has reported turnout of greater than 97 percent.
Preliminary results could be released as soon as Thursday
evening but are more likely to come out Friday.
The TPLF led the armed struggle to topple the brutal Derg regime
in 1991 and went on to control the governing coalition that took
over.
Though the party has been sidelined under Abiy it remains in
command in Tigray, whose people make up six percent of Ethiopia’s
population of 110 million.
Election commissioner Muluwork Kidanemariam said yesterday it
was too soon to identify general trends in the results but
suggested he would not be surprised if the TPLF won handily.
Scientists look for cure for Sudan’s ‘silent death’ from
flesh-eating cutsAFP — KHARTOUM
It seemed little to worry about: Sudanese farmer Khadija Ahmad
was planting onions when she stepped on a thorn that pierced her
sandal and cut her foot.
But the thorn brought with it a flesh-eating infection, a
bac-terial and fungal disease called mycetoma, which rips through
the body causing severe deformities.
For Ahmad, a 45-year-old from El Fasher in western Sudan’s
war-ravaged Darfur region, the first she knew some-thing was wrong
was when her foot swelled.
“At first I didn’t have any pain, just a lump,” she said. “We
thought it would pass.” Myc-etoma, listed as a neglected tropical
disease by WHO, is all
too common in Sudan.“I waited nine years before
coming,” Ahmad said, as a doctor examined her at the Mycetoma
Research Center (MRC) in the capital Khartoum.
“When I arrived, it was too late,” she said, holding up her
prosthetic leg in her arms. “It had to be amputated.” She now has
to take medication for life.
Sudanese have another name for the disease; the “silent
death”.
While few cases are fatal, mycetoma destroys the lives of its
victims. Many infected are young farmers walking barefoot in the
fields, the WHO says.
For workers depending on manual labour to survive, the crippling
infections act as a life sentence. Mycetoma, caused by bacteria or
fungus and entering the body usually through cuts,
is a progressively destructive infectious disease of the body
tissue, affecting skin, muscle and even bone.
It is often characterised by swollen feet, but it can also cause
grotesque barnacle-like growths and club-like hands.
“The disease grows slowly and slyly inside the body over many
years,” said Ahmad Hassan Fahal, founder of the MRC clinic.
It can manifest itself any-where on the body, not just where the
entry cut was made.
“The organism goes inside the skin, and then it grows,” Fahal
said. “Disability is very common; almost 60 percent of people who
catch the disease end up with deformed limbs.” It thrives in the
humid heat of tropical climates. Sudan is par-ticularly affected by
mycetoma,
but it is endemic in a geo-graphical “belt” of some 40 countries
ranging from neigh-bouring Ethiopia and Chad, to India, Mexico and
Venezuela.
“In Sudan, we also call it the ‘silent death’, because it
creates different problems — disability, deformity and difficulties
— and it can kill the patient,” Fahal said. “People lose their
limbs and cannot work.” Since MRC was founded in 1991, it has
treated 9,000 patients free of charge from all over Sudan.
For a fifth of those arriving at the centre, the only option
left is amputation.
Yet those who reach the centre are “the lucky ones”, Fahal
said.
“Most of the people are in the villages in remote areas and
cannot come here,” he said. “They are the poorest of the
poor.” In MRC’s modern hos-pital, 30 specialist doctors treat
400 patients per week — including patients coming from other
mycetoma-affected nations.
But MRC’s focus is its cutting-edge laboratory, a unique global
research centre dedicated to the disease.
In a treatment room, 22-year-old Walid Nour Al Dayem lies with
his left foot wrapped in bandages.
“A year ago, I was cutting the wheat harvest when I stepped on a
thorn,” said Dayem, who comes from the farming village of Managil,
in central Gezira state.
“At the time, I didn’t feel much, but afterwards it got worse.”
The local hospital told him to seek help at MRC.
“Now I am waiting for my
fate to be decided,” he said morosely. Doctors took samples from
Dayem’s leg to see if his case is a bacterial or fungal infection,
or both. For myc-etoma, either is possible, com-plicating MRC’s
long search for drugs. Antibiotics help against bacterial
infections, but not for fungal cases.
“The difficulty in finding a cure for this disease is because it
is made of two different things, bacteria and fungus,” Fahal
said.
“So far, nobody has been able to create a medicine for the two
together.” But researchers are working with Japanese and Swiss
scientists on a new drug.
“Hopefully, next year or the year after, we will have a result,”
he said with a wide smile. “If we succeed it would be a great
first.”
The revised constitution has already been criticised by jurists
and rejected by a group of parties.
Clashes as Mali starts post-coup transition talksREUTERS —
BAMAKO
Police fired tear gas to disperse campaigners for civilian rule
before substantive talks over Mali’s political future began in
Bamako yesterday, a sign of a deep-ening rift over who should lead
the post-coup transitional government.
About 100 supporters of the M5-RFP coalition, which led months
of protests against now-deposed President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita,
clashed with police at the entrance to the conference centre in the
capital, delaying the start of talks.
The junta that toppled Keita on August 18 has said the
transitional government could be led by a military officer, while
the M5-RFP and regional leaders have called for a civilian to take
the role.
“They are trying to con-fiscate our revolution from us,” said
Bakary Keita, a senior M5-RFP member. “We were very clear from the
start. We want a civilian as president of the transition, not a
soldier.”
International powers fear the political uncertainty could
undermine the fight across West Africa’s Sahel region against
militants linked to Al Qaeda and Islamic State, as a
previous coup did in 2012.Supporters of the ruling
junta, the National Committee for the Salvation of the People
(CNSP), assembled across the street from the building hosting the
talks with political parties and civil society groups.
Some carried signs saying “Long live the CNSP” and por-traits of
CNSP president Colonel Assimi Goita.
“This is about diagnosing, without complacency, the problems
undermining our democratic system,” Goita said in opening the
three-day talks, but did not weigh in on who should lead the
transition.
West African leaders have said the CNSP must name a civilian
interim president and prime minister by September 15 if they are to
start easing sanctions imposed after the coup.
The talks were boycotted by the main alliance of
pro-inde-pendence Tuaregs in northern Mali, who complained that the
CNSP had cancelled a planned meeting with them last week.
The chaos unleashed by a Tuareg rebellion in 2012 led to
militants briefly taking over all of the desert north, before
French forces intervened the following year to push them back.
58 killed in DR Congo massacresAGENCIES — BUNIA, DR CONGO
Fifty-eight people have been killed in two massacres in the
eastern DR Congo province of Ituri, the province’s interior
minister said yesterday, attrib-uting the attacks to a notorious
militia.
Twenty-three people were killed in Irumu territory in southern
Ituri on Tuesday, fol-lowed by 35 yesterday, said minister Adjio
Gidi. He blamed the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), which
originated in the 1990s as a Ugandan Muslim rebel group.
ADF have killed more than 1,000 civilians since the start of
2019, according to UN figures.
"They finished off the poor civilians with knives and firearms.
People have been panicking since this morning and are already
fleeing," said Rachel Tarwayi, administrator of Irumu
territory.
The United Nations says violence attributed to the ADF has
soared since the start of the year, following the launch of a
large-scale army cam-paign to wipe out the militia.
As a result, the ADF aban-doned its bases, split into smaller
more mobile groups, and took revenge on civilians in an attempt to
divert the army's resources to protect vil-lages. On Wednesday
night fighters attacked the villages of Tsabi and Tondoli, around
120 km south of the city of Bunia, said Gili Gotabo, head of a
civil rights groups in Irumu. "Among the dead there are
unfortunately three village chiefs," Gotabo said by telephone.
Uganda to resume international flights on Oct 1AGENCIES —
KAMPALA
Uganda said yesterday it would reopen its sole interna-tional
airport to commercial flights on October 1, more than five months
after its closure as a measure to curb the spread of the novel
coronavirus in the East African nation.
The move is the latest in a series of steps by the gov-ernment
of President Yoweri Museveni to gradually lift one of Africa’s
tightest lockdowns and rejuvenate the economy, badly hurt by the
shutdown.
“We’re preparing to open for resumption of flights on October
1,” spokesman for the country’s state-run Civil Avi-ation Authority
(CAA), Vianney Lugya, said of Entebbe Inter-national Airport.
Lugya said a raft of new procedures to prevent the spread of
COVID-19 at the airport were being worked on ahead of re-opening
but that among them arriving pas-sengers would be required to have
a coronavirus-free cer-tificate from their countries of origin
obtained 72 hours before travel.
He said they had already notified all airlines that operate out
of the airport.
Uganda imposed one of Africa’s toughest anti-corona-virus
lockdowns, including sealing all borders, closure of nearly all
businesses and halting movement of both public and private
vehicles. Public gatherings were also banned.
Most of measures have since been removed but schools, churches
and bars remain closed.
The total number of people who have contracted the virus in
Africa has surpassed 1.32 million, while recoveries topped 1
million, according to the latest data from the Africa Centres for
Disease Control and Prevention Africa.
The death toll from the coronavirus in Africa has reached
31,902.
Southern Africa is the most affected in terms of both caseload
and death toll, with 642,431 infections.
06 FRIDAY 11 SEPTEMBER 2020AFRICA
-
07FRIDAY 11 SEPTEMBER 2020 ASIA
India hails ‘game-changer’ French jets as tensions with China
heightensAFP & BLOOMBERG — AMBALA
India’s defence minister hailed the formal commissioning
yesterday of the country’s first new French Rafale jets as a
“strong message” to its adver-saries, amid an escalating border row
with China.
The first five of a $9.4bn order for 36 Rafale aircraft
for-mally entered service following a ceremony in Ambala in
northern India.
“The induction of Rafale is a strong message for the world and
especially for those who challenge India’s sovereignty,” Defence
Minister Rajnath Singh tweeted, without mentioning China
directly.
“Our country will not take any step to disturb peace any-where.
We expect the same from our neighbours,” Singh added.
Earlier this week shots were fired for the first time in 45
years on the Himalayan border with China, after a medieval-style
battle in June that saw 20 Indians killed.
Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar is
set to meet his Chinese coun-terpart Wang Yi in Moscow
yes-terday for the first time since deadly tensions between the two
nations erupted in May along their disputed Himalayan border.
The two were due to meet in Moscow on the sidelines of the
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit organised by Russia,
India’s foreign min-istry spokesman Anurag
Srivastava said at a briefing in New Delhi.
India and China have been increasing their troop strength along
the 3,488km border known as the Line of Actual Control since May.
The military standoff, in which gun shots were fired this week for
the first time since 1975, remains unre-solved despite multiple
rounds of negotiations between military commanders and diplomats
and two phone calls between Wang and Jaishankar.
The latest skirmishes came just days after Rajnath Singh and his
Chinese counterpart, General Wei Fenghe, agreed to ease ten-sions
after “frank and in-depth discussions” in Moscow.
It’s led to deteriorating eco-nomic ties, with India limiting
Chinese investments, tightening scrutiny on visas and moving to
keep Huawei Technologies Co out of 5G networks. India last
Wednesday banned 118 Chinese apps including Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s
popular game PUBG Mobile Lite and payments service Alipay,
following up on its June ban of several applica-tions including
ByteDance Ltd’s
viral short-video service TikTok.Differences worsened after
India, in its first offensive move since the conflict began,
moved thousands of soldiers to mountain peaks to claim vantage
points along the south bank of Pangong Tso — a glacial lake roughly
the size of Singapore — to counter what it views as an intrusion by
Chinese forces.
The decision to capture high ground that was previously
unoccupied revived tensions that had cooled since June when
20 Indian soldiers and an unknown number of Chinese troops were
killed in brutal hand-to-hand combat.
Even before relations with China nosedived, India was moving
strategically closer to the West, deepening security cooperation
with the United States, Japan and Australia in the Asia-Pacific
region.
It has also embarked on a $130bn modernisation of its armed
forces — including ordering attack helicopters
from the United States and a missile defence system from
Russia.
Manoj Joshi, a defence and foreign policy expert at New Delhi
based think-tank Observer Research Foundation, said the new French
jets were a “morale booster for the coun-try’s defence forces”.
But he cautioned: “If you are China, you’re not going to take
few Rafales seriously. A handful of planes cannot bog down a
military power like China.”
French Defence Minister Florence Parly (left) listens as her
Indian counterpart Rajnath Singh speaks during a joint press
conference after attending an induction ceremony of Rafale jets
into the Indian Air Force at the Ambala Air Force Station in
Haryana, yesterday.
India and Japan call for strong partnership in post-virus
worldAP — NEW DELHI
Outgoing Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Indian
counterpart agreed yesterday that a strong part-nership between
their nations will be critical in charting the course for the
global community in the post-coro-navirus world, an Indian official
said.
Abe, who is stepping down because of a chronic health problem,
and Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed an agreement between the
armies of the two countries that will give them access to each
other’s bases for supplies and services.
“They concurred that the agreement will further enhance the
depth of defense cooperation between the two countries and
contribute to peace and security in the Indo-Pacific region,”
Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava said
in a statement.
In a telephone call, the two leaders also reviewed the status of
an India-Japan Special Stra-tegic and Global Partnership program,
including a high-speed rail project that is to link the Indian
cities of Mumbai and Ahmedabad.
In December, Abe canceled a meeting with Modi in the
northeastern state of Assam, where street protests erupted over a
new Indian law that grants citizenship based on religion and
excludes Muslims.
Abe was scheduled to travel to Assam and Manipur states to
discuss security and economic ties with Modi as part of annual
exchange of visits by the two leaders.
Myanmar army tries to discredit Rohingya abuse confessionsAFP —
YANGON
Myanmar’s milita