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THURSDAY 

JUNE 6, 2013 

RAJAB 27, 1434 

VOL. 7 NO. 2467 QR 2 

First with the news and what’s behind it 

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MODI MEETS 

RAJNATH, ADVANI 

AHEAD OF GOA MEET 

PG13 

CLASH OF 

THE TITANS 

ON FRIDAY 

PG24 

DOHA HAS 

PASSION FOR 

MUSIC 

CHILL OUT 

Traffic safety to 

be taught in 

Qatar schools 

from next year 

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK 

DOHA 

STARTING from the next academic session, 

six independent schools and two private institutions 

will begin teaching traffic safety. 

This was decided at a workshop titled 

‘General educational framework of traffic 

safety in the state of Qatar’, held recently in 

collaboration with the Supreme Education 

Council (SEC), Ministry of Interior (MoI) and 

Qatar Shell Company. 

SEC Education Institute Director Haya al 

Kuwari praised the efforts of the SEC, MoI 

and Shell in developing the general outline of 

the curriculum to be taught beginning with 

the 2013-2014 session. 

“12.5% of the deaths in Qatar are due to 

traffic accidents. It is necessary to focus on 

efforts in all sectors of society, including individuals 

and institutions to reduce mishaps 

and consequent losses,” she said. 

Qatar Shell Director (Government and 

Public Relations) Sultan al Nuaimi expressed 

happiness regarding “the general educational 

framework for traffic safety in Qatar” initiative, 

noting that Qatar Shell is proud to be part 

of the event. 

Education Institute Head (Scientific 

Research Department) Asma al Mohannadi 

said that the initiative is one of the projects of 

the National Committee for Traffic Safety, 

which aims at reducing road accidents. 

Mohannadi stressed that the initiative aims to 

disseminate traffic awareness in schools, to 

unify efforts of the state institutions, ministers 

and to strengthen the spirit of citizenship 

among students, involving their parents in 

traffic awareness process. 

DETAILED REPORT ON PAGE 5 

SHEIKHA MOZA WITH PRINCE CHARLES 

HH Sheikha Moza bint Nasser and Prince Charles witness the signing of an MoU between QF and the Prince of Wales’s 

Charitable Foundation, in London, on Wednesday. (MAHER ATTAR / HHOPL) 

PAGE 2 

QR30bn contracts given 

for Doha Metro Phase 1 


DOHA 

QATAR Rail has awarded four design 

and build contracts worth approximately 

QR30 billion for phase one of 

the Doha metro, it said on Wednesday. 

The project will include four rail lines 

and an underground section in the centre 

of Doha and will link stadiums for 

the 2022 World Cup. 

The Red Line North (RLN) project 

has been awarded to a consortium led 

by Italian construction firm Impregilo 

SPA and including Qatar’s Galfar al- 

Misnad Engineering and Contracting, 

it said. 

The Red Line South (RLS) project 

went to a consortium led by QDVC,and 

including South Korea’s GS Engineering 

and Construction Corp and Qatar’s Al- 

Darwish Engineering, it said. 

The Green Line (GRN) project was 

awarded to a consortium led by PORR 

Bau GmbH and including Qatar’s 

Hamad Bin Khalid Contracting Co. 

A consortium led by South Korean 

construction firm Samsung C&T Corp 

and including Qatar Building Company 

was selected to design and build the 

metro’s major stations (MS). 

DETAILED REPORT ON PAGE 15 

QUICK READ 

Gulf nationals urged not 

to travel to Lebanon 

KUWAIT CITY Gulf Arab countries issued a travel 

warning for Lebanon on Wednesday, after violence 

spilled over to the country from neighbouring 

Syria. Syrian government forces backed by 

Hezbollah fighters seized control of the Syrian 

town of Qusair, near the Lebanese border. The 

six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) told 

its citizens that the unstable security situation in 

Lebanon “makes the presence of GCC nationals 

there unsafe”, GCC Secretary-General Abdulatif 

al Zayani said in a statement. In Cairo, the Arab 

League condemned the military intervention in 

Syria by Hezbollah, Arab League Secretary 

General Nabil al Arabi said. Arab foreign ministers 

condemned all forms of foreign intervention, 

including by Hezbollah, Arabi said. (REUTERS) 

PAGE 6 

Sharif sworn in Pakistan 

PM for third time 

ISLAMABAD Nawaz Sharif took office on 

Wednesday vowing to revive Pakistan’s ailing 

economy and calling for an end to US drone 

strikes. Sharif has been elected to an unprecedented 

third term as the prime minister of the country. 

“I will do my best to change the fate of the people 

and Pakistan,” he said. (AP) PAGE 12 

Qatar ups efforts to raise 

foreign caps of firms 

DOHA Qatar said it is making “extensive efforts” 

to raise foreign ownership limits of companies listed 

on Qatar Exchange. The foreign ownership 

caps of “several large listed companies is near 25 

percent of their market capitalisation,” Minister of 

Economy and Finance HE Yousef Hussain Kamal 

said, on Wednesday. (TNN) PAGE 17

02 Thursday, June 6, 2013 

Good morning Doha 

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Qatar values ties with UK: Sheikha Moza 


LONDON 

CHAIRPERSON of Qatar 

Foundation for Education, 

Science and Community 

Development (QF) Her 

Highness Sheikha Moza bint 

Nasser on Wednesday met 

with the Prince Charles of 

Wales at Windsor Castle in 

the UK to foster new 

avenues of collaboration and 

promote cultural and educational 

partnerships. 

HH Sheikha Moza’s visit 

underscores the importance of 

the cultural and educational 

relations between Qatar and 

the UK and reflects the historic 

ties between the two nations as 

they celebrate the Qatar-UK 

2013 Year of Culture. 

The meeting with the Prince 

of Wales was intended to further 

bolster relations, while 

providing a platform from 

which both countries can continue 

to pursue innovation in 

the fields of science, technology 

and education and build strategic 

alliances. 

During the meeting, HH 

Sheikha Moza shared several 

of Qatar Foundation’s forthcoming 

initiatives within the 

realms of education, science, 

research, arts and culture. 

She also emphasised her 

commitment to dialogue and 

develop fruitful agreements 

that can enhance the two-way 

flow of knowledge. 

“Qatar greatly values its relationship 

with the UK as a longterm 

partner for mutual development, 

cultural partnerships 

and growth. Qatar Foundation 

is working to create a tangible 

legacy from the ‘Year of 

Culture’ by building strong 

bridges of cooperation with 

British institutions that can 

play a significant role in 

enhancing this legacy of common 

understanding.” HH 

Sheikha Moza said. 

After the meeting, QF 

President Dr Mohammad 

Fathy Saoud met with 

Executive Director of the 

Prince of Wales’s Charitable 

Foundation Andrew Wright 

and signed a memorandum of 

understanding that emphasised 

the importance of the 

working relationship between 

the two organisations in education, 

cultural awareness and 

community development. 

Dr Saoud commended the 

Prince of Wales’s Charitable 

Foundation for promoting 

understanding and fostering 

exchange of knowledge 

between organisations with 

Chairperson of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser at an 

event, in London, on Wednesday. (MAHER ATTAR/HHOPL) 

similar missions. 

“Qatar Foundation is committed 

to sharing knowledge 

and appreciates the breadth of 

work that is being undertaken 

by institutions like the Prince 

of Wales’s Charitable 

Foundation, which share common 

values for the advancement 

of quality education, culture 

and community development. 

Qatar Foundation plays 

a fundamental role by building 

upon partnerships that have 

been identified as central to 

developing the skills of youth 

and achieving the Qatar 

National Vision 2030,” he said. 

In the course of the flourishing 

bilateral relationship, both 

nations have reaped the 

rewards of advancements in 

multiple fields such as information 

and computing technology, 

health care and arts. 

Through its involvement in 

Qatar-UK 2013, Qatar 

Foundation is keen to continue 

promoting an awareness 

and appreciation of each 

nation’s culture, achievements 

and heritage. At the heart of its 

mission is the desire to develop 

the creative potential of 

youth and support their interests 

in a wide range of fields. 

By working with leading UK 

institutions to encourage 

greater cooperation in arts and 

culture, this mission can be 

further advanced. 

Within the sphere of science 

and research, QF supports 

a number of projects in 

collaboration with UK institutions, 

which also serve Qatar’s 

needs in developing human 

capacity and earning recognition 

as an generator of knowledge 

across the world. Both 

nations have a shared interest 

in developing excellence in a 

variety of fields, including 

museology and library and 

information studies. 

A number of activities will 

be held in the coming months 

to build upon Qatar 

Foundation’s relationship 

with UK entities. In 

September, a series of lectures 

will be presented by scholars 

and senior researchers from 

the Education City, who will 

discuss engaging topics that 

highlight advancements in the 

areas of computing, energy, 

environment, health care, 

medicine, architecture and 

urban planning. 

QMIC, MMUP launch Salamtek 

driver safety application 

RAMY SALAMA 

DOHA 

SALAMTEK, a free new android 

application designed to help drivers 

avoid undue distraction while 

driving, was unveiled by Qatar 

Mobility Innovations Centre 

(QMIC) and the Ministry of 

Municipality Affairs and Planning 

(MMUP) at a media briefing held 

at Qatar Science & Technology 

Park (QSTP) on Wednesday. 

Speaking about the motivation 

behind developing the app, 

Abdulaziz al Khal, Director of 

Masarak at QMIC said, “Salamtek 

is the beginning of an elaborate 

initiative to help support driver 

anti-distraction and road safety 

through which we hope to continue 

to contribute to reducing traffic 

fatalities and injuries caused by car 

accidents.” 

Salamtek (which means ‘your 

safety’ in Arabic) is an android 

application currently available in 

Google Play. It works by limiting 

the usage of the phone while driving 

so that the driver can focus on 

the road. The user can, however, 

set the speed and timing of the 

application according to his convenience. 

In addition, the user can set up to 

three numbers and three mobile 

applications which they can access 

even through the blocking criteria. 

The application will keep a log of all 

calls blocked and callers will be 

automatically notified via SMS that 

their call is being blocked because 

the call recipient is driving. 

Eng Ibrahim Abbas, Director of 

Transportation & Infrastructure 

Planning at MMUP, commented 

that “road safety is a complex 

issue, which calls for collaborative 

effort to tackle it. At the national 

level, we need more programmes 

to address the issue. We need to 

ensure that we have done all we 

can, and as such, are very pleased 

that our joint Masarak solution has 

begun to deliver applications and 

services that directly address the 

important road safety segment.” 

The Salamtek app is the first part 

of a smart mobility initiative 

intended to help improve road 

safety in Qatar, called Masarak. 

Jointly owned by QMIC and 

MMUP, Masarak is aimed towards 

keeping roads safe through driver 

performance management, antidistraction, 

incident detection, 

emergency/assistance supportive 

services, and intelligent school bus 

monitoring systems. 

Masarak is a comprehensive 

intelligent transport, logistics 

management, and road safety 

services and applications that are 

fully developed in Qatar and optimised 

for serving the needs of different 

sectors in Qatar and the 

region. 

Salamtek is not currently available 

for iPhones due to limitations 

placed on applications running on 

the platform. However, Dr Adnan 

Abu Dayya, Executive Director of 

QMIC said “innovation is really 

about continuous experimentation 

and we intend to have Salamtek 

keep evolving. Once we launch it, 

we’ll know more about the number 

of downloads and characteristics 

of usage, and we’ll receive user 

feedback. We would like to add 

more features, and some of the 

app’s parameters will be optimised 

as well.” 

Executive Director of QMIC Dr Adnan Abu Dayya, Director of Masarak at QMIC Abdulaziz al Khal and Director of 

Transportation and Infrastructure Planning at MMUP Engineer Ibrahim Abbas at a press conference, in Doha, on 

Wednesday. (HANSON K JOSEPH)

Nation Thursday, June 6, 2013 03 

1,300 staff to 

join PHCC 

workforce 


DOHA 

MORE than 1,300 employees 

will join the Primary Health 

Care Corporation (PHCC) 

team in the next five years 

with the launch of the 

National Primary Health Care 

Strategy 2013-2018. 

The five-year plan reads, 

“Primary health care at its simplest 

is the interaction 

between a patient and a 

healthcare professional.” 

Different working groups 

that designed the strategy have 

outlined changes to be implemented 

by each field of work. 

On this basis, new staff roles 

in the health promotion area 

will include community outreach 

workers to raise awareness 

and support change in 

public behaviour as well as 

more nutritionists to support 

people in healthy diets. 

According to a press release 

issued by the corporation, 

radiographers to carry out 

mammographies for screening 

and new staff to support NCD 

care, including specialist nurses, 

are also needed. 

“There will also need to be 

allied health professionals 

such as podiatrists and physiotherapists. 

Regarding home 

care, PHCC plans to create a 

multidisciplinary team comprising 

physician, home care 

nurse, social worker, dietitian 

and pharmacist. 

Health Promotion Manager 

at PHCC Yousra Hammad 

Bagadi emphasised the importance 

of the strategy. 

She said, “It will change the 

way care is provided in Qatar 

by focusing on prevention. 

Being a patient-centred plan, it 

will help employees to design 

implementation plans in the 

best possible way.” 

QC’S QR2MN PROJECTS IN SYRIA 

Qatar Charity recently carried out relief projects worth QR2 million in Syria, which included distribution of 11,100 food baskets, 1000 

bags of flour, and 5,000 blankets in different regions of Syria. The goal of these projects is to alleviate the suffering of displaced Syrians 

by providing them food and shelter. 

Qatar’s education 

future in spotlight 

at UK debate 


MANCHESTER (UK) 

QATARI students joined 

their peers, policymakers and 

educators in the United 

Kingdom on Tuesday for a 

debate and discussion on the 

future of education. 

Qatar-UK 2013, in conjunction 

with the British Council’s 

Going Global conference for 

leaders of higher education 

and Qatar Foundation’s World 

Innovation Summit for 

Education (WISE), convened 

leading experts at the 

University of Salford for a formal 

debate on, ‘Will the teaching 

profession as we know it 

become obsolete?’ 

The event was one of activities 

to celebrate Qatar and 

the UK educational ties and 

forge lasting partnerships 

for the future. 

The debate was co-hosted by 

Martin Davidson CMG, chief 

executive of the British 

Council and Stavros 

Yiannouka, CEO of WISE. 

On the premise that rapid 

technological innovation creates 

new methods of education 

and expands access to knowledge, 

three speakers supported 

the idea that teaching would be 

rendered obsolete in the future 

and three opposed it. 

Notably, Georgetown 

University Qatar student Bilal 

Shakir was among those 

opposing the idea that technology 

will replace teaching 

as a profession. 

Shakir presented a clear 

and concise case that technology 

should augment the 

learning process. Maintaining 

that problems with current 

education systems stem from 

the systems themselves and 

not with teachers, Shakir 

said those who argued for 

replacing teachers with technology 

mistook the prognosis 

for the diagnosis. 

“We need to find creative 

ways to fix the teaching system 

and invest in teachers not 

make teaching obsolete. 

Technology can and should 

augment learning – but it must 

never replace teachers,” argued 

Shakir, citing the work of the 

NGO BRAC across South Asia. 

Professor Martin Hall, 

vice-chancellor of the 

University of Salford, joined 

Shakir in supporting the 

value of traditional teaching. 

Proponents of the idea that 

technology will eventually 

replace teachers in the classroom 

pointed to the power of 

individual students in determining 

educational outcomes 

and rising costs of traditional 

education compared to those 

of emerging technologies. 

Qatari students studying at 

the University of Leeds, 

University of Huddersfield, 

University of Manchester and 

Manchester Metropolitan 

University in the UK joined the 

wider student community in 

the discussion and were given 

the opportunity to vote on the 

outcome of the debate. 

After a passionate hour-long 

debate, the audience voted 

against the motion. 

Jassim Mahmoud, 

University of Huddersfield 

student said, “I was extremely 

proud this evening to see my 

country, through the WISE 

debate, drive forward the 

global discussion on the 

future of education. I voted 

against the motion.” 

1st Malaysian Education Expo 

in Doha to open tomorrow 

AILYN AGONIA 

DOHA 

SEVEN top universities from 

Malaysia including Britain’s 

University of Nottingham 

(Malaysia Campus) and Universiti 

Teknologi Petronas, a whollyowned 

subsidiary of Malaysia’s 

national oil company Petronas, will 

take part in the Malaysian 

Education Exhibition (MEE 2013) 

to be held at Crowne Plaza Business 

Park from June 7. 

The two-day event, which is being 

organised for the first time in Doha, 

is aimed at showcasing to the students 

here world class higher education 

opportunities in Malaysia on 

par with what is offered in the UK, 

the US, New Zealand, Australia and 

in Singapore at an affordable cost. 

Malaysia has 21 public universities, 

five branch campuses of UK 

and Australian universities, and 

over 500 higher education institutions 

that provide a diverse 

range of courses in various areas 

of specialisation. 

Addressing a press conference at 

the Crowne Plaza on Wednesday, 

the Malaysian Ambassador to Qatar 

HE Dato’ Ahmad Jazri bin 

Mohammed Johar said, “The 

Ministry of Education ensures that 

the curriculum and educational 

programmes of Malaysia meet 

international standards. Malaysia is 

not only a top tourism destination, 

even among Qataris, but also an 

ideal academic destination.” 

The envoy added, “The reputation 

of Malaysia as a successful 

country integrated in all its sectors 

is among its selling points. The current 

population of foreign students 

in Malaysia stands at more than 

71,000 and is ranked 11th in the 

world by UNESCO in terms of the 

highest number of international 

students studying in the country.” 

According to him, of the total 

number of international students in 

Malaysia more than 25,000 students 

are from the Middle East and 

North Africa (MENA) region 

including students from Yemen, 

Sudan, Iran and Saudi Arabia. 

“However, till date, there are only 

24 students from Qatar who are 

studying in Malaysia and we are 

keen on attracting more Qatari students 

to Malaysia. It is part of 

Malaysian Government’s campaign 

to increase the number of foreign 

students in its universities”, the 

envoy remarked 

He also stressed the significance of 

the presence of Malaysia’s best universities 

in Doha to Malaysian government’s 

campaign of increasing 

the number of its foreign students. 

Marliza Malek of MY Aspiration 

Malaysia, a new Malaysian-incorporated 

agency specialising in the 

organising of education-based promotional 

events, reiterated the 

importance of MENA market to 

Malaysia by arguing that the top 20 

countries represented in their population 

of foreign students are from 

this region. 

In his presentation, Safuvan of 

APEX Qatar highlighted the cost 

effectiveness of studying in 

Malaysia. He said while an average 

cost of studying in a Malaysian university 

for three years is around 

$41,010 inclusive of tuition fees and 

living cost the average cost of 

worldwide universities for the same 

period and package is $97,330. 

Meanwhile, prominent among 

the exhibitors are famous technical 

and engineering institute Universiti 

Malaysia Pahang represented by its 

Director of German Academic & 

Career Centre Brian Trenaman, 

Asia Pacific University of 

Technology & Innovation, HELP 

University, SEGi University and 

Sunway University. 

Malaysia’s Ambassador to Qatar HE Dato’ Ahmad Jazri bin Mohammed Johar (centre) along with Marliza Malek (left) of 

MY Aspiration Malaysia and Brian Trenaman at a press conference, in Doha, on Wednesday. (MANEESH BAKSHI)


QT Spotlight on World Environment Day 

Ideal Indian School 

marks environment day 

with various activities 


DOHA 

THE Ideal Indian School 

hosted a series of activities to 

celebrate the World 

Environment Day. This 

year’s theme was ‘Think, Eat 

and Save.’ 

The tiny tots of the KG section 

dressed up as fruits and 

vegetables. Colouring sheets 

were given to the students as 

part of the celebration and the 

kids pledged to keep their 

environment clean. 

In the junior section, a 

poster-designing competition 

on the topic ‘Our Earth Our 

Home’ was conducted and 

the posters designed by students 

appealed to one and all. 

As part of the celebrations, 

an Anti-Tobacco Club was 

launched to create awareness 

among the students about the 

hazardous effects of tobacco 

consumption. The members 

of Anti-Tobacco Club and 

Ideal Eco Club took an oath to 

spread awareness about the 

hazards of tobacco among the 

people and to help their 

friends to get rid of this harmful 

habit. 

Speaking on the occasion 

the school president and 

chairman of the Anti- 

Smoking Society, Hassan 

Kunhi MP, said that smoke 

from cigarettes contain carcinogens, 

which contaminate 

the environment and harm 

people. 

Syed Shoukath Ali, the 

principal highlighted the 

importance of celebrating the 

day and appealed to the students 

to sensitise their friends 

and the community to protect 

the nature. 

The office-bearers of the 

Anti-Tobacco Club were 

appointed during the occasion. 

They are: Anirudha 

Mondal, president, Aqsa 

Patel, vice-president, 

Binshad, secretary, Crystal D’ 

Souza, student editor. 

An eco exhibition was also 

organised to mark the day in 

which models and exhibits 

related to environmental 

issues were displayed. 

Students and teachers of the Ideal Indian School celebrate the 

World Environment Day, in Doha, recently. 

My Qatar forum concludes with 

pledges to save the planet 


DOHA 

MY Qatar Annual Youth 

Forum on Environment and 

Sustainability concluded at 

Hilton Doha Hotel, marking 

celebration of the World 

Environment Day 2013, on 

Wednesday. 

Organised by The Youth 

Company in support of Qatar 

National Vision 2030 (QNV 

2030) and the strategy promoted 

by the General 

Secretariat for Development 

Planning and the Ministry of 

Environment, the two-day 

event aimed to gather youth 

of Qatar to contribute to 

shaping a sustainable future 

for the county. 

The My Qatar forum was 

officially opened on Tuesday 

by Yusuf Hayat, deputy executive 

director of The Youth 

Company, who highlighted 

the importance of environment 

protection as one of the 

four major pillars of QNV 

2030. 

After this, Noura Essa 

Abdullah from the General 

Secretariat for Development 

Planning, introduced to the 

audience Qatar’s commitment 

to sustainable development 

and the NDS 

2011–2016 Environment 

Sector Strategy. The presentation 

was followed by the 

speech of Nouf al Sulaity, 

who shared with the delegates 

various projects on 

environmental awareness 

prepared by the Ministry of 

Environment. 

“When we think of 

Egyptian civilisation, we 

remember about pyramids. 

The legacy of our civilisation 

A group of participants at My Qatar forum, in Doha, on Wednesday. 

will be the plastic,” said 

Shasanth Shanmadhuran 

from Adroit Events Solutions 

during his speech on ‘From 

Plastic Humans to Creative 

Humans’. 

“Fish doesn’t like plastic 

for breakfast, but this is what 

we feed them. It is our 

responsibility to take care of 

our planet and the easiest 

way to start is to plant a 

tree,” he said. 

In order to take actions for 

sustainable development it is 

important to understand the 

current state and a deep 

background research is also 

required to collect the necessary 

data. 

The delegates had a chance 

to get to know about the air 

quality research conducted 

by Margarita V. Shalaevand 

Teresa Spohn from Qatar 

Environment and Energy 

Research Institute. The first 

half of the day concluded 

with a workshop by Peter 

Moore, Entrepreneurial 

Mentor at CNA-Q, who 

briefed the participants 

about different stages of the 

project planning and management. 

“It’s responsibility of the 

youth to save the planet, 

which has been damaged by 

previous generations,” said 

Peter, underlying the 

urgency of action, and asking 

youth to take steps for the 

sustainable development. 

In the afternoon the delegates 

were split in four 

groups, covering different 

topics in the environment 

field. They worked in teams 

with the mentors on the 

development and planning 

of major projects, which aim 

to build a more sustainable 

future. 

A team from the Youth 

Engagement 

for 

Environmental Issues 

Committee, which was 

chaired by Khalid al 

Mohannnadi, co-founder of 

Doha Oasis, introduced a 

project, motivating the audience 

to plant trees and protect 

mangroves. 

The Energy and 

Environmental Resources 

Sustainability Committee, 

chaired by Vincent Stack, 

instructor of communications 

at CNA-Q, came up 

with the idea of the project 

‘Untapped Scrap,’ which 

aims to recycle parts of the 

abandoned vehicles in Qatar. 

The Environmental Health 

Committee, chaired by 

Abdulrahman Sajid, a youth 

leader at The Youth 

Company, presented a project 

on improving food standards. 

The awareness campaign 

‘Plant Your Health’ includes 

several stages to involve students, 

their families and 

teachers in practising healthy 

food habits. 

Finally, the Environmental 

Education Promotion 

Committee, chaired by Rania 

Khalil, assistant professor of 

Architecture and Urbanism 

at the Qatar University, 

talked about various ways to 

raise awareness about sustainable 

lifestyle among students 

of different age groups 

in schools. 

“It is a great pleasure to see 

so many young people who 

voluntary spent two days 

working together on projects 

for environment and sustainability. 

“We hope that the World 

Environment Day 2014 will 

be celebrated by recognising 

the outcomes of all these 

projects, which are to be 

implemented with the support 

of our partners and 

organisations involved in this 

forum,” said Aya Abu Issa, 

chief executive director of 

The Youth Company. 

Grand Heritage Hotel rewards staff 


DOHA 

The Grand Heritage Doha Hotel 

and Spa celebrated the World 

Environment Day on Wednesday. 

To commemorate the day the 

hotel launched an innovative 

employee reward programme a 

month prior to the event. The programme 

invited the hotel employees 

to go green by adopting environmentally 

healthy practices and 

lifestyles. 

The employees were invited to 

submit innovative approaches they 

can commit to at their workplace 

and at home, upholding the concepts 

of recycling, conservation and 

maintaining a minimal carbon footprint. 

The winner of the month-long 

contest is the hotel’s Human 

Resources Department employee, 

Fredrick Wijayasinghe. He took several 

innovative approaches at work 

to promote reusing paper products. 

He re-crafted thrown away material 

to produce useful items such as 

waste baskets made of cardboard 

boxes. He also led a concerted 

power conservation effort by switching 

off air-conditioners once a room 

was cool, used daylight instead of 

the artificial light, minimised the use 

of plastic and synthetic products 

and passionately promoted recycling. 

His colleagues say that his enthusiasm 

to promote environmentallsound 

practices has spread among 

other members of the staff. The 

management of the hotel has decided 

to continue to reward deserving 

members of the staff. 

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Thursday, June 6, 2013 

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Cabinet to take steps to amend labour law 

Emir congratulates Denmark, Seychelles leaders 

The Emir His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani 

on Wednesday sent a cable of congratulations to the Queen 

of Denmark on the occasion of her country’s national day. 

HH the Emir also sent congratulatory messages to the president 

of Seychelles on the occasion of his country’s national 

day. (QNA) 

PM receives message from UAE foreign minister 

Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs HE Sheikh 

Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor al Thani on Wednesday 

received a written message from the UAE Foreign Minister 

Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al Nahyan pertaining to relations 

between the two countries and means of boosting 

them. Assistant Foreign Minister for Foreign Affairs HE Ali 

bin Fahad Al-Hajri received the message during a meeting 

with the UAE Charge d’Affaires in Qatar Sultan al Theeb al 

Ketbi. (QNA) 

Chief of Staff meets British Special Forces director 

Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces HE Major-General Hamad 

bin Ali al Attiyah on Wednesday met with British Special 

Forces Director Major-General Mark Carleton-Smith. During 

the meeting, the two sides discussed a number of issues, 

particularly in the military areas. A number of senior army 

officers attended the meeting. (QNA) 

Istanbul governor, Qatar consul review bilateral ties 

Istanbul Governor Huseyin Avni Mutlu on Wednesday met 

with Qatar’s Consul in Istanbul HE Sultan bin Ibrahim al 

Mahmoud. Mutlu praised the efforts of the Qatari consul in 

enhancing bilateral relations and friendly ties between the 

two countries. During the meeting, they also reviewed a set 

of issues of mutual concern and means of boosting ties to 

better serve the interests of the two countries. (QNA) 

Tunisian minister confers with Qatari envoy 

Tunisian Industry Minister Mehdi Jomaa on Wednesday met 

with Qatar’s Ambassador to Tunisia HE Saad bin Nasser al 

Humaidi. During the meeting, the two sides reviewed 

aspects of cooperation between Qatar and Tunisia. They also 

reviewed a number of issues of mutual concern. (QNA) 

GCC official visits Qatar Aeronautical College 

A delegation of officials in charge of technical education and 

vocational training in the GCC states on Wednesday visited 

Qatar Aeronautical College as part of their visit to Qatar to 

attend the 20th meeting of the committee on technical education 

and vocational training in the GCC countries, organised 

by the Ministry of Labour. During the visit, the delegation 

was briefed on the college’s sections, curricula, nature 

of study, its approved programmes and role in providing markets 

in the region with qualified cadres in the field of aviation. 

Director of Academic Affairs and Registration at the college 

Dr Saeed Abdullah Suleiman briefed the visitors on the 

evolution of the college, the efforts of the country’s wise 

leadership and its keenness to support the educational centre 

and to promote it in order to keep pace with the current 

development in the country. The delegation also visited Qatar 

Technical Independent School where it got briefed on its 

educational programmes, sections, efforts in supporting 

vocational education and endeavour to continue the development 

of technological and applied sciences programmes to 

become a hub of excellence in the field of vocational education 

and vocational training. The 20th meeting of the committee 

on technical education and vocational training in the 

GCC countries concluded on Tuesday. It discussed a number 

of issues related to the development of vocational education 

and strengthening of cooperation in this area. (QNA) 

Qatar takes part in ACAC executive board meet 

The 43rd Arab Civil Aviation Commission’s (ACAC) executive 

board meeting started on Wednesday in Rabat. Qatar’s delegation 

to the meeting was led by Chairman of Civil Aviation 

Authority Abdulaziz Mohamed al Nuaimi. The two-day meeting 

will discuss a number of topics and recommendations 

related to air transport, safety and security in the aviation 

industry, along with the recommendations of the fifth meeting 

of the environmental committee and its future action 

plan. The executive board of the ACAC holds regular meetings 

twice a year and its membership includes Qatar, the 

United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Yemen, Egypt, 

Oman, Morocco and Tunisia. (QNA) 

N MALLICK 

DOHA 

AS many as 50 students from eight 

expatriate schools took part in the 

Inter-School Literary and Creative 

Arts Competitions organised by 

Pakistan Education Centre (PEC) 

on its campus in Mesaimeer area 

recently. 

The students showcased their talent 

in seven contest categories, in 

cluding humorous speech, poetry 

recital, story telling, essay writing, 

painting and drawing. The participants 

enthralled the audience with 

their innovative ideas, latent talent 

as well as writing and oratory 

prowess. 

The event saw cut throat contests 

in all the seven categories. The 

competitions were evaluated by 

independent judges comprising 

seasoned toastmasters, journalists, 

educationists and debate coaches 

from Qatar Debate. 

Speaking on the occasion, PEC 

Principal Nargis Raza Otho welcomed 

the students of the participating 

schools. She also expressed 

her gratitude to the judges for sparing 

their precious time and ensuring 

smooth and impartial conduct 

of the competition. 

QNA 

DOHA 

PRIME Minister and Minister 

of Foreign Affairs HE Sheikh 

Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor 

al Thani presided over the cabinet 

meeting on Wednesday 

where it was decided that steps 

would be taken to issue a draft 

law to amend some provisions 

of the labour law issued as Law 

No 14 of 2004. 

Deputy Prime Minister and 

Minister of State for Cabinet 

Affairs HE Ahmed bin 

Abdullah al Mahmoud said 

MIR BASIT HUSSAIN 

DOHA 

QATAR Olympic Committee 

(QOC) widened its campaign 

for a healthy lifestyle by partnering 

with Weill Cornell 

Medical College’s-Qatar 

(WCMC-Q) initiative ‘Sahtak 

Awlan’ (Your Health First). 

The QOC is already running 

health awareness projects like 

School Olympic Programme 

and now the inclusion of the 

Sahtak Awalan will bring sporting 

expertise to the initiative. 

The programme was 

launched in June last year to 

promote a healthy lifestyle 

among the people of the 

nation, including the expatriates. 

The five-year campaign 

also aims to reach out to the 

other GCC countries. 

The partnership was signed 

on Wednesday by Sheikh 

Saoud bin Abdulrahman al 

Thani, secretary-general, QOC 

and Dr Javaid Sheikh, dean, 

Weill Cornell Medical College. 

After the signing ceremony, 

Sheikh Saoud mentioned that 

the QOC has the same goals as 

the Sahtak Awalan. 

“Through this strategic partnership 

with the WCMC-Q, 

the QOC will be able to contribute 

to building a healthy 

Students take part in an art competition, in Doha, recently. 

‘Sahtak Awalan’ gets QOC’s support 

society. In fact, the QOC and 

Sahtak Awalan campaign have 

similar goals in that we both 

seek to promote the physical 

well-being of the individuals 

who are the future of this 

nation,” said Sheikh Saoud. 

He also pointed out that with 

this initiative, the QOC will 

reach to a much larger audience. 

“We are confident that by 

She congratulated award winners 

for their excellent performances. 

In the humorous speech contest, 

Faris Ibrahim (MES Indian 

School), Faizan Yousaf (PEC) and 

Aisha Abdul Quauddas (Bright 

that cabinet took the decision 

following the advisory council’s 

recommendation on the 

topic. 

He said that a decision was 

taken to issue a draft law on 

the organisation of exhibitions. 

The law would deal with 

the conditions and licensing 

procedures for exhibitions and 

the inadmissibility of establishing 

an exhibition or a market 

abroad or participating in 

it on behalf of the country 

without the approval of the 

cabinet. 

HE Mahmoud said necessary 

measures would be taken 

on the issuance of Deoxyribonucleic 

acid (DNA) following 

the advisory council’s recommendation 

on such a draft 

law. According to him, the 

draft law on regulating charity 

activities was approved as was 

a draft law on fireworks. 

The cabinet approved: 

● The setting up of the national 

committee for customs 

clearance. 

● Decision of the Minister of 

Business and Trade concerning 

the regulation of measures 

and patterns on issuing or 

Secretary-General of the Qatar Olympic Committee Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman al Thani (third 

left), with the Dean of Weill Cornell Medical College Dr Javaid Sheikh (fourth left) during the signing 

ceremony of ‘Sahtak Awalan’, in Doha, on Wednesday. 

working together we can reach 

more people in Qatar and bring 

them a better health, who in 

turn will contribute to the 

National Vision 2030.” 

In the agreement, the QOC 

has agreed to provide the 

WCMC access to sports facilities 

and participate in their community 

activities. Moreover, 

the QOC is also mulling the idea 

FIRE DOUSED IN AL THAMUMA AREA 

A fire broke out in Al Thamuma area on Wednesday. The Civil Defence extinguished the fire. (JALAL PATHIYOOR) 

Future Pakistani International 

School) clinched first, second and 

third positions, respectively. 

In poetry recital category, 

Muhammad Shaheen (MES Indian 

School), Athira Justine (DPS- 

renewing the licences of shipping 

cargo brokers, and conditions 

and qualifications for 

their employees. 

● A draft decision by the 

Ministry of Interior on the 

issuance of regulations of Law 

No 14 of 1999 on weapons, 

ammunition and explosives. 

● A draft regulation on terms 

and controls of educational 

certificates equivalency. 

● A draft Memorandum of 

Understanding in the field of 

residence and expatriate 

affairs between Qatar and the 

United Arab Emirates. 

50 school students showcase creative skills 

Modern Indian School) and 

Muhammad Kaamil (Birla Public 

School) won the first, second and 

third places, respectively. 

In essay writing competition 

(Senior), Soorya Narayan (MES 

Indian School), Arjun Sreekumar 

(Doha Modern Indian School) and 

Pooja Ramesh (Ideal Indian 

School) bagged first, second and 

third positions, respectively. In 

essay writing (Junior), Ria Elsa 

George (MES Indian School), 

Khadija Abdul Quddus (BFPIS) 

and Aditi Luthra (DPS-Modern 

Indian School) won first, second 

and third spots, respectively. 

In story telling, Osama Iqbal 

(PEC) stole the show by notching 

up top position. 

The champions in all the categories 

were presented with trophies 

and merit certificates by Otho, who 

was also the chief guest on the 

occasion. Representatives of participating 

schools lauded the efforts of 

PEC management in hosting the 

successful event. 

● A draft agreement on economic, 

trade and technical 

cooperation between Qatar 

and Granada. 

● A draft agreement in the cultural 

field between Qatar and 

Tajikistan. 

The cabinet also decided to 

endorse an agreement 

between Qatar and Ethiopia 

on double taxation and the 

prevention of fiscal evasion 

with regard to income tax and 

an agreement on joint cooperation 

in the field of news 

exchange between Qatar and 

Peru. 

of roping in top athletes of the 

country as ambassadors of the 

initiative in order to motivate 

others to follow suit. 

Dr Javaid Sheikh said that it 

was the college’s dream to 

become a pillar of health. “It 

was a dream of mine not only to 

establish a world-class college, 

but a pillar of health. We both 

have the same objective of providing 

this country with healthy 

individuals. So, we are targeting 

elementary and secondary 

school kids,” said Sheikh. 

He added: “Last year our 

initiative was in the pilot 

phase. We were campaigning 

and creating awareness. This 

year after collaborating with 

the QOC we have reached the 

second phase in which we will 

pay attention to what the kids 

eat, the kind of exercises and 

physical activates they are 

doing and need to do.” 

Moreover, Sheikh felt that 

by joining hands with the 

QOC, they will be able to pump 

in some Olympic spirit in the 

campaign. 

“The partnership will not 

only widen the boundaries of 

the campaign, but will also 

instil an Olympic spirit among 

the participants which will 

surely increase their motivation. 

We hope to take that spirit 

to other GCC nations,” 

hoped Sheikh. 

The other business and government 

organisations which 

are already supporting the campaign 

are The Supreme Council 

of Health, The Supreme Education 

Council, Qatar Petroleum, 

Occidental Qatar, ExxonMobil, 

and the Vodafone Qatar. 

8 schools to 

start teaching 

traffic safety 


DOHA 

SIX independent schools and 

two private schools are likely 

to start teaching traffic safety 

from next academic year. 

The decision was made 

during a workshop on 

“General educational framework 

for traffic safety in 

Qatar” on Monday. 

The workshop was organised 

by the Supreme 

Education Council, Ministry 

of Interior and Qatar Shell. 

Speaking on the occasion, 

Director of SEC Education 

Institute Haya al Kuwari 

praised the efforts of SEC, 

MoI and Qatar Shell in developing 

the general framework 

which would be taught from 

the 2013/2014 academic 

year. 

She said that it would be 

integrated into the curriculum, 

activities and various 

events of the schools. 

Kuwari said: “We all know 

that traffic accidents are a 

source of concern in Qatar. It 

is a dilemma that has taken 

the lives of many people and 

caused huge damage to public 

and private properties.” She 

added that with 12.5 percent 

of deaths in Qatar due to traffic 

accidents it was necessary 

for all sections of the society 

to make more efforts to 

reduce traffic accidents. 

Director of Government 

and Public Relations at Qatar 

Shell Sultan al Nuaimi 

emphasised that traffic accidents 

were a major cause of 

deaths in the country. He was 

happy with “the general educational 

framework for traffic 

safety” initiative, noting that 

Qatar Shell was proud to be 

part of the event.


Gulf / Middle East 

10 border cops 

among 15 Iraqis 

slain in ambush 

REUTERS & AP 

ANBAR 

GUNMEN ambushed a bus 

and executed 15 passengers 

on a remote desert road in 

Iraq on Wednesday, as 

growing sectarian violence 

raises fears of a return to 

civil war. 

Officials blamed Al 

Qaeda for the ambush in 

which, they said, 10 border 

police and five local residents 

were executed in 

between Anbar province 

and Kerbala. It was not 

immediately clear whether 

the victims were Shi’ite or 

Sunni Muslims. 

“Those terrorists hunt 

people along this road and 

kill according to religious 

sect,” said Jassim al- 

Khuttabi, deputy chief of 

Kerbala provincial council. 

“We know the al Qaeda 

cells are working 

there.”Nearly 2,000 people 

have been killed since April 

in an upsurge of bombings 

and attacks targeting Sunni 

and Shi’ite mosques and 

neighbourhoods in 

Baghdad and other cities. 

Invigorated by the Sunni 

rebellion in neighbouring 

Syria, al Qaeda’s local wing, 

Islamic State of Iraq, and 

other insurgent groups 

have stepped up their 

attacks to try to provoke a 

sectarian war. 

Since the last US troops 

left in December 2011, security 

officials say, al Qaeda 

has regained ground in the 

Sunni-dominated western 

provinces near Syria’s border, 

where the remote 

desert makes it hard for the 

Iraqi army to track them. 

The gunmen, apparently 

looking for Shiites to kill, 

struck near the town of 

Nukhaib, the site of a desert 

crossroads west of the 

Shiite holy city, Karbala, in 

the Sunni-dominated 

Anbar province. 

The gunmen at the fake 

highway checkpoint 

checked the identities of 

travelers, presumably to 

identify their sect based on 

their names, according to 

officials. Police said they 

found blood-stained IDs on 

the ground identifying 

some of the dead as coming 

from Karbala, 100 kilometers 

(60 miles) south of 

Baghdad. 

The officials spoke on 

condition of anonymity 

because they were not 

authorized to release the 

information to reporters. 

Mohammed al- 

Moussawi, a provincial 

councilman in Karbala, 

confirmed that four of the 

dead ambush were civilians 

from the province. 

Syrian army enters Qusair 

REUTERS 

BEIRUT 

A member of the forces loyal to Syria’s President Bashar al Assad rides a bike along a street piled 

with damaged buildings, in Qusair, on Wednesday. (REUTERS) 

SYRIAN forces and their 

Hezbollah militant allies 

seized control on Wednesday 

of the border town of Qusair, 

dealing a strategic defeat to 

rebel fighters battling for two 

years to overthrow President 

Bashar al Assad. 

Rebels said they had pulled 

out of Qusair, which lies on a 

cross-border supply route 

with neighbouring Lebanon, 

after two weeks of fierce battles 

which marked Lebanese 

Hezbollah’s deepest military 

involvement yet in Syria’s 

civil war. 

One Hezbollah fighter told 

Reuters that they took the 

town in a rapid overnight 

offensive, allowing some 

fighters to flee. “We did a 

sudden surprise attack in the 

early hours and entered the 

town. They escaped,” he 

said. 

Qusair had been in rebel 

hands for over a year and television 

images from the town 

on Wednesday showed widespread 

destruction, with 

buildings reduced to rubble, 

the streets torn up and no 

residents in sight. 

Assad’s forces fought hard 

to seize it to reassert control 

of a corridor through the central 

province of Homs which 

links Damascus to the coastal 

heartland of Assad’s minority 

Alawites, an offshoot of 

Shi’ite Islam. 

“Whoever controls Qusair 

controls the centre of the 

country, and whoever controls 

the centre of the country 

controls all of Syria,” said 

Brigadier General Yahya 

Suleiman, speaking to 

Beirut-based Mayadeen television. 

Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television 

showed a man climbing 

the bullet-pocked clocktower 

in the town’s central 

square to plant a Syrian flag, 

while tanks and troops 

moved through the streets. 

“Our heroic armed forces 

have returned security and 

stability to all of the town of 

Qusair,” a statement carried 

by Syrian state television 

said. 

It marked the latest military 

gain for Assad, who has 

launched a series of counteroffensives 

against mainly 

Sunni Muslim rebels battling 

to overthrow him and end his 

minority Alawite family’s 

four-decade grip on power. 

More than 80,000 people 

have been killed in the fighting 

and another 1.6 million 

Syrians refugees have fled a 

conflict which has fueled sectarian 

tensions across the 

Middle East, spilled over into 

neighbouring Lebanon and 

divided world powers. 

In the Hezbollah stronghold 

of southern Beirut, residents 

fired celebratory fireworks 

as news of Qusair’s 

capture spread. 

The capture of Qusair 

strengthens Assad’s hand 

ahead of planned peace talks 

which U.S. and Russian officials 

were due to discuss in 

Geneva on Wednesday, with 

the United Nations and Arab 

League envoy for Syria, 

Lakhdar Brahimi. 

The outgunned rebels said 

they had pulled out of Qusair 

“in face of this huge arsenal 

and of lack supplies and the 

blatant intervention of 

Hezbollah”. 

“Dozens of fighters stayed 

behind and ensured the withdrawal 

of their comrades 

along with the civilians,” the 

rebels said in a statement. 

Assad’s forces had opened 

an escape route into Debaa 

and the Lebanese border 

town of Arsal to encourage 

fighters to leave Qusair, once 

home to some 30,000 people, 

a security source with 

ties to Syrian forces said. 

The army had control of 

most of the town but was still 

sweeping the northern quarter 

where rebels had been 

dug in. 

A rebel commander in contact 

with the brigades that 

pulled out said the decision 

to withdraw was taken after a 

day of rocket fire from the 

Syrian army and Hezbollah 

that “leveled what had 

remained” of Qusair. “An exit 

remained open from the 

north and the fighters took a 

decision to leave from there.” 

The Britain-based Syrian 

Observatory for Human 

Rights, an anti-Assad group 

which monitors the violence 

in Syria, said it was concerned 

for the fate of 1,200 

wounded people in Qusair 

and called for immediate 

access to be granted to the 

International Committee of 

the Red Cross. 

A fighter from the pro- 

Assad National Defence 

Force said that after the fall 

of Qusair the military focus 

may move to the northern 

province of Aleppo, which 

has been largely in rebel 

hands for the last year. 

Jordan king’s 

uncle jailed 

for corruption 

AFP 

AMMAN 

A JORDANIAN court sentenced 

a fugitive uncle of King 

Abdullah II on Wednesday to 

37.5 years in jail with hard 

labour and a massive fine on 

two charges of abuse of office, 

a judicial official said. 

The court ordered Walid 

Kurdi, who was tried in 

absentia, to pay a 284.4 million 

dinars ($401 million/306 

million euro) fine, the official 

told AFP. 

Kurdi is married to Princess 

Basma, sister of Abdullah’s 

father, the late king Hussein. 

He is the former CEO of the 

Jordan Phosphate Mines Co, 

one of the world’s largest suppliers. 

“Kurdi, who is on the run 

now in Britain, was convicted 

of abuse of office in two cases 

related to sales and shipping 

deals, estimated at around 31 

million dinars,” the official 

said without elaborating. 

In January, the court 

ordered Kurdi’s assets frozen 

on suspicion of corruption. 

Last year, a court sentenced 

former spy chief Mohammed 

Dahabi to 13 years in jail with 

hard labour and ordered him 

to pay a 21-million-dinar fine 

after convicting of corruption. 

AFP & REUTERS 

SANAA 

TWO civilians have been 

killed in an all-out offensive by 

Yemeni forces on Wednesday 

against Al-Qaeda groups that 

recently seized villages in the 

southeastern province of 

Hadramawt, medics and officials 

said. 

Troops backed by tanks and 

helicopters launched a dawn 

operation in Ghayl Bawazir, 

some 30 kilometres (19 miles) 

east of the port city of 

Mukalla, a security official 

said. 

Witnesses said they saw 

military convoys heading in 

the direction of the area, 

which officials said was seized 

by Al-Qaeda gunmen last 

month. 

Medics at a hospital in 

Mukalla said two civilians 

were killed and five others 

were wounded, while seven 

soldiers were also injured. 

Army forces also targeted 

Al-Qaeda militants in the 

nearby town of Shihr and the 

village of Qara, a security official 

said. 

A convoy of 40 armoured 

vehicles headed to Shihr while 

other troops laid siege to 

Qara, where large numbers of 

militants are believed to be 

based, he said. Al Qaeda fighters 

have been regrouping 

since June 2012 in areas of 

Hadramawt after being driven 

out of the southern province 

of Abyan where they ruled 

major towns for about a year. 

Residents of Ghayl Bawazir 

told AFP last month the 

jihadists had taken advantage 

of an absence of security 

forces from the area to deploy 

in strength and had already 

distributed leaflets declaring 

their rule. 

In areas of the south they 

seized in 2011, taking advantage 

of a collapse of central 

government control during 11 

months of protests that eventually 

forced veteran president 

Ali Abdullah Saleh from 

power, the militants enforced 

a strict version of Islamic law. 

Punishments included public 

executions and amputations. 

Al Qaeda in the Arabian 

Peninsula, which is based in 

Yemen, is considered by 

Washington as the most dangerous 

branch of the jihadist 

network. 

Meanwhile, tens of thousands 

of Yemeni Shi’ite 

Muslims chanting “death to 

America” and “death to Israel” 

buried the remains of the 

founder of the armed Houthi 

rebel group on Wednesday, 

nine years after he was killed 

in fighting with government 

forces. 

Crowds braved sweltering 

temperatures and windy conditions 

in the rugged northern 

Yemeni mountains as they 

made their way to the burial 

site, where armed rebels were 

deployed in large numbers. 

The Yemeni government 

turned over the remains of 

Hussein al-Houthi to his family 

earlier this year as a goodwill 

gesture to bolster national 

reconciliation talks aimed at 

drafting a new constitution 

ahead of elections scheduled 

next year. 

The previous government of 

veteran leader Ali Abdullah 

Saleh, who stepped down last 

year after a popular uprising, 

originally buried Houthi at the 

central prison in Sanaa to prevent 

his grave becoming a 

shrine for the Zaidi sect from 

which he came. 

The Houthis are an important 

tribe belonging to the 

Shi’ite Zaidi sect, whose 

Hashemite line ruled for 

1,000 years before the 1962 

revolution, and which 

accounts for about 25 percent 

of Yemen’s population of 25 

million. 

It controls the northern 

province of Saada and parts of 

the neighbouring provinces of 

Omran, al-Jouf and Hajja bordering 

top oil exporter Saudi 

Arabia. 

At the re-burial, armed men 

in military uniforms similar to 

those worn by Iranian 

Revolutionary Guards carried 

the remains, wrapped in a 

green cloth inscribed with the 

words “the founding commander, 

Hussein Badr al-Din 

al-Houthi”. 

A representative of Yemeni 

President Abd-Rabbu 

Mansour Hadi attended the 

funeral. 

Iran’s Arak heavy-water reactor plan upsets US 

REUTERS 

VIENNA 

THE United States said on 

Wednesday it was “deeply 

troubled” by Iran’s plans to 

start a reactor in 2014 that 

could yield nuclear bomb 

material while failing to give 

UN inspectors necessary 

design information about the 

plant. 

The comments by a US 

envoy to a board meeting of the 

UN’s International Atomic 

Energy Agency (IAEA) highlighted 

deepening Western 

concern about the heavy water 

reactor which Iran is building 

near the town of Arak. 

Yemen launches offensive against Qaeda 

Tension over Iran’s nuclear 

course is rising with talks 

between Tehran and six powers 

stalled. Israel, widely 

assumed to be the Middle 

East’s only nuclear-armed 

state, sees Iran as the most 

serious risk to it and has threatened 

to bomb its nuclear sites if 

diplomacy and sanctions fail to 

restrain Tehran. 

Iran says the Arak plant will 

make isotopes for medical and 

agricultural use. But analysts 

say this type of facility can also 

produce plutonium for 

weapons if the spent fuel is 

reprocessed - something Iran 

says it has no intention of 

Armed men in military uniforms belonging to the Houthi group carry the remains of Hussein al-Houthi 

during his funeral, in the northwestern province of Saada, on Wednesday. (REUTERS) 

doing. 

Tasked with ensuring that 

nuclear material is not diverted 

for military purposes, the IAEA 

says Iran must urgently give it 

design data about Arak, warning 

that it would otherwise 

restrict its ability to monitor 

the site effectively. 

“We are deeply troubled that 

Iran claims that the IR-40 

heavy water reactor at Arak 

could be commissioned as 

soon as early 2014, but still 

refuses to provide the requisite 

design information for the 

reactor,” Joseph Macmanus, 

the U.S. ambassador to the 

IAEA, told the 35-nation Board 

of Governors. 

He cited IAEA rules that a 

member state must inform the 

Vienna-based UN agency 

about a nuclear plant, and give 

design details, as soon as it has 

decided to build one. Iran says 

it must only do so before loading 

nuclear fuel into the reactor. 

“Iran’s refusal to fulfil this 

basic obligation must necessarily 

cause one to ask whether 

Iran is again pursuing covert 

nuclear activities,” Macmanus 

said, according to a copy of his 

speech to the closed-door gathering. 

The West suspects Iran is 

seeking the capability to develop 

nuclear weapons behind the 

facade of an atomic energy programme. 

Western worries about Iran 

are focused largely on uranium 

enrichment plants at Natanz 

and Fordow, as such material 

refined to a high level can provide 

the fissile core of an atomic 

bomb. 

But diplomats and experts 

say Arak could offer Iran a second 

route to nuclear bombs, if 

it decided to build them. 

The Arak reactor “creates 

what is sometimes referred to 

as a plutonium path to potential 

weapons-grade material 

for a nuclear device,” 

Macmanus told reporters outside 

the board meeting. 

Experts say Arak could produce 

enough plutonium for 

one bomb per year, if Iran 

decided to pursue such 

weapons of mass destruction. 

But it would first have to build 

a facility to chemically separate 

the material from the spent 

fuel. 

The 27-nation European 

Union said Iran’s expansion of 

sensitive nuclear activities, 

including its Arak plans, and 

lack of transparency towards 

the IAEA “further aggravate 

the international community’s 

existing concerns”. 

Syria samples 

positive for 

sarin: UK 

AFP 

LONDON 

BRITAIN said on Wednesday 

that physiological samples 

from Syria had tested positive 

for sarin gas and there was 

growing information that the 

regime was using chemical 

weapons. 

“The material from inside 

Syria tested positive for 

sarin,” a government 

spokesman said. 

“There is a growing body of 

limited but persuasive information 

showing that the 

regime used — and continues 

to use — chemical weapons, 

including sarin. 

The European 

Union agreed 

last week to 

lift its embargo 

against arming 

Syrian rebels. 

“The room for doubt continues 

to diminish. This is 

extremely concerning. Use of 

chemical weapons is a war 

crime. Assad must grant 

immediate and unrestricted 

access to the UN investigation 

team.” 

He said Britain thought 

chemical weapons use in 

Syria was “very likely” to have 

been by President Bashar al 

Assad’s regime. 

“We have obtained physiological 

samples from inside 

Syria which have been tested 

at DSTL,” the Defence 

Science and Technology 

Laboratory on the government’s 

Porton Down military 

science park in southern 

England. 

“The material from inside 

Syria tested positive for sarin. 

We are not able to go into any 

further detail on the samples 

— beyond saying that they are 

physiological.” 

The European Union 

agreed last week to lift its 

embargo against arming 

Syrian rebels after tough talks 

that exposed sharp differences 

between Britain and 

France, champions of the 

move, and their more reluctant 

partners.

Philippines / East Asia Thursday, June 6, 2013 07 

Philippine 

senate 

president 

resigns 

MOTHERS PROTEST AGAINST ‘GOLDEN RICE’ 

Mothers hold masks made from baby bath tubs during a protest against a genetically modified rice variety called ‘Golden Rice’ to mark World Environment Day, in 

Quezon city, on Wednesday. Dozens of members of Green Moms, a nationwide coalition of mothers advocating for organic foods and breastfeeding practices, took to 

the streets to express their opposition towards the consumption of ‘Golden Rice’, which according to the group, has yet to undergo food safety tests. (REUTERS) 

AGENCIES 

MANILA 

PHILIPINE Senator Juan 

Ponce Enrile resigned as senate 

president on Wednesday 

as both houses of Congress 

wrapped up unfinished work 

during the last session day. 

Enrile announced that he 

resigns “irrevocably” from his 

post in his privilege speech, 

wherein he hit back against 

his critics that include 

Senators Alan Peter Cayetano 

and Antonio Trillanes IV. 

“Let me assure all of you, I 

can still see, read clearly the 

handwriting on the wall. I 

need not be told by anyone 

when it is time for me to go,” 

Enrile said in his speech. 

“The senate 

neither begins nor 

ends with Juan 

Ponce Enrile. This 

Chamber has its 

own honour to 

uphold, and its 

institutional 

integrity in the end 

means more to the 

people than all of 

us combined.” 

SENATE PRESIDENT JUAN PONCE ENRILE 

“Let us all be men and 

women worthy of being called 

‘honourable senators’ and let 

the chips fall where they may. 

As a matter of personal honour 

and dignity, I hereby 

irrevocably resign as senate 

president,” Enrile added. 

Cayetano had alleged that 

Enrile gave out supposed cash 

gifts to senators belonging to 

the majority block in a bid to 

retain his senate presidency. 

Trillanes, on the other 

hand, engaged in a verbal tussle 

with Enrile after accusing 

the former senate president of 

trying to railroad the passage 

of a local bill dividing 

Camarines Sur. 

The veteran lawmaker said 

he refuses to be “anyone’s 

scapegoat and everyone’s 

whipping boy” and let his 

“hard-earned name” to be 

attacked further. 

“I refuse to allow any body, 

whether in or outside the 

halls of this Chamber, to just 

freely trample upon the name 

that my late father, Alfonso 

Ponce Enrile, had so kindly 

allowed me to carry with 

pride,” he said. 

Enrile said the accusations 

hurled against him 

affected the candidacy of his 

son Jack Enrile, who lost in 

the elections. 

As he stepped down from 

his position, Enrile said the 

public will be the one to judge 

his storied career as government 

leader. 

“My entire record as a public 

servant, my performance 

as a senator of the Republic, 

and my conduct as senate 

president is all up for the 

nation to judge, whether fairly 

or unfairly,” said Enrile. 

He said the issues against 

him were never resolved 

with clarity as they were 

quickly overtaken by the 

campaign fever. 

“The truth or falsity of these 

accusations were lost and 

muddled in the wild frenzy of 

election rhetoric and propaganda,” 

Enrile said. 

He lamented that his fellow 

senators remained silent 

while he was “publicly pilloried 

and crucified.” 

“After all that howl and 

rage, I now ask: Must all 

these issues of propriety, 

transparency and accountability 

be forgotten? Have all 

these issues suddenly 

become irrelevant? Can we 

just “move on” as they say, 

and just bury these issues in 

the dustbin of the Philippine 

senate’s history? My answer 

is no,” Enrile said. 

“The senate neither begins 

nor ends with Juan Ponce 

Enrile,” he added. “This 

Chamber has its own honour 

to uphold, and its institutional 

integrity in the end means 

more to the people than all of 

us combined.” 

In a televised ambush interview, 

Cayetano said the solution 

is not for Enrile to resign 

but to face directly the issues 

thrown against him. 

Trillanes, meanwhile, said 

“We just heard some rants 

from a bitter man and we just 

gave him his moment.” 

Prior to Enrile’s resignation, 

reports have been surfacing 

that there will be changes in 

the leadership of the Senate 

since it has a new roster dominated 

by the administrationbacked 

coalition. 

AP 

KUALA LUMPUR 

THE Philippines’ largest 

Muslim rebel group won’t 

give up its armed struggle 

until a final peace settlement 

with the government to end 

one of Asia’s longest-running 

insurgencies is reached, its 

leader said on Wednesday. 

The government and the 

Moro Islamic Liberation 

Front signed a preliminary 

peace agreement in October 

in a major breakthrough to 

end more than 40 years of 

violence that has killed tens of 

thousands of people and held 

back progress in the 

Philippines’ resource-rich but 

poverty-wracked south. 

The accord grants minority 

Muslims in the south 

broad autonomy, but negotiations 

still face hurdles over 

the extent of power, revenue 

and wealth sharing by the 

two sides. 

Rebel leader Al Haj Murad 

Ebrahim said that negotiations 

on power and wealth 

sharing were “almost 95 percent 

done,” but that discussions 

on other issues, 

including security and the 

creation of a regional police 

force, were only 60 percent 

complete. 

He said peace would 

remain a “very precarious 

matter” until a final peace 

accord is implemented. 

“Every minute of delay in 

finishing (the agreement) 

poses a threat to peace,” he 

told a regional conference in 

Malaysia. “If there is no solution, 

then the armed struggle 

will continue. We are trying to 

avoid any delays.” 

The agreement says a 15- 

member Transition Commission 

will later draft a law 

creating a new Muslimadministered 

region, to be 

called Bangasamoro, in the 

predominantly Roman 

AFP 

BANGKOK 

Catholic country. It says the 

11,000-strong rebel army will 

be deactivated gradually, but 

does not specify a timetable. 

Teresita Quintos Deles, the 

Philippines’ presidential adviser 

on the peace process, 

said negotiations were expected 

to resume in Malaysia 

in the next two months. 

She said talks were delayed 

because of difficult issues 

such as taxation, budgetary 

allocation and revenue sharing 

from natural resources. 

THAILAND said on 

Wednesday that it had 

refused entry to Cambodia’s 

opposition leader-in-exile 

because of concerns he would 

criticise Prime Minister Hun 

Sen’s government ahead of 

national elections. 

Sam Rainsy, who lives in 

France to avoid an 11-year 

prison sentence which he 

contends is politically motivated, 

was turned away on 

Tuesday when trying to visit 

Thailand to launch his new 

autobiography “We Didn’t 

Start the Fire: My Struggle for 

Democracy in Cambodia”. 

“We have banned Sam 

Rainsy for using Thailand to 

launch his book and to attack 

a friendly country,” foreign 

ministry spokesman Manasvi 

Srisodapol said. 

“We do support democratic 

rule but on the other hand 

we do not support other people 

using our country to 

attack others for political 

gain,” he added. 

Prime Minister Hun Sen 

has led the country since 1985 

and Rainsy, his main challenger, 

is barred from running 

in the polls due to convictions 

including for publishing 

a “false map” that showed 

Vietnam controlling 

Cambodian territory. 

Cambodian opposition 

members last month 

“It is taking more time, but 

we are confident that the 

(agreement) will be able to 

pass the crucial tests of 

implementation,” she told 

the conference, adding that 

the delay was to “ensure a 

more doable and durable 

peace” in the region. 

The agreement says the 

new Muslim-administered 

region will replace an existing 

autonomous territory consisting 

of five of the country’s 

poorest and most violent 

provinces. 

That territory was created 

by a 1996 peace agreement 

with the Moro Islamic 

Liberation Front, but was 

considered a failure because it 

did not end the conflict, the 

rebels did not disarm and it 

did not improve the lives of 

Muslims. Corruption, political 

violence and crimes such 

as kidnappings and extortion 

persisted, and the current 

Moro group continued to 

fight for self-rule. 

Another preliminary accord 

in 2008 was struck down as 

unconstitutional because the 

Supreme Court ruled it would 

create a separate state. 

Western governments have 

long worried about the presence 

of small numbers of Al 

Qaeda-linked militants from 

the Middle East and 

Southeast Asia seeking combat 

training and collaboration 

with the Filipino insurgents. 

Thailand denies entry to exiled Cambodian leader 

Cambodia’s opposition leader Sam Rainsy poses for a portrait, in Washington, recently. (AFP) 

Philippine rebels refuse to give 

up arms until peace pact 

Rebel leader Al Haj Murad Ebrahim during peace talks between 

the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and representatives from the 

Philippine government, in Kuala Lumpur, on Wednesday. (AP) 

“We have banned 

Sam Rainsy for 

using Thailand to 

launch his book 

and to attack a 

friendly country,” 

foreign ministry 

spokesman 

Manasvi 

Srisodapol said. 

appealed for the help of the 

United Nations and the 

European Union to ensure 

free and fair elections. 

Hun Sen, who has friendly 

relations with the government 

of Thai Prime Minister 

Yingluck Shinawatra, recently 

said he would step down 

when he turns 74 — having 

previously said he would 

serve until 90. 

Hun Sen is now 60 but officially 

lists his age as 62 which 

he said was the result of a typing 

error. 

Thai immigration officials 

said they had been instructed 

not to allow entry to Rainsy 

until after the election. 

“Sam Rainsy can enter 

Thailand normally after that. 

We explained to him and he 

seemed to understand and 

he’s now in Singapore,” said 

Lieutenant General Panu 

Kerdlaprphol, commander of 

Thai immigration police. 

Malaysian 

court jails 

man over 

‘seditious’ 

letter 

AP 

KUALA LUMPUR 

A COURT sentenced a Malaysian 

social activist to 30 

months in prison on Wednesday 

for publishing what 

officials called a seditious letter 

accusing the government 

of oppressing the nation’s 

ethnic Indian minority. 

The charge stems from an 

open letter that P Uthayakumar 

wrote in 2007 to seek 

former British prime minister 

Gordon Brown’s help for ethnic 

Indians in Malaysia, 

where ethnic Malay Muslims 

are the majority. 

Uthayakumar 

has alleged the 

government does 

little to help 

impoverished 

ethnic Indians 

and condones the 

killing of Indian 

suspects by police. 

Authorities deny 

his claims. 

Uthayakumar was a key 

organiser of a major protest 

in 2007 that stunned authorities 

by bringing tens of thousands 

of ethnic Indians into 

Kuala Lumpur’s streets in a 

rare public display of anger. 

Uthayakumar has alleged 

the government does little 

to help impoverished ethnic 

Indians and condones the 

killing of Indian suspects by 

police. Authorities deny his 

claims. 

A Kuala Lumpur district 

court convicted Uthayakumar 

of sedition on Wednesday. He 

began serving the sentence 

immediately. 

In his 2007 letter, Uthayakumar 

alleged that many ethnic 

Indians had died in 

Malaysia because of “ethnic 

cleansing” policies, including 

suspects shot by police or 

killed in custody. 

Separately on Wednesday, 

prosecutors charged three 

police officers with murdering 

an ethnic Indian detainee 

who was found dead in a cell 

last month. The man, who 

was held in connection with 

a firearms case, apparently 

suffered severe bruises, 

according to his family and 

medical reports. 

The policemen face a 

mandatory penalty of death 

by hanging if convicted of 

murder.


ESTABLISHED SEPTEMBER 3, 2006 

HAMAD BIN SUHAIM AL THANI 

CHAIRMAN 

ADEL ALI BIN ALI 

MANAGING DIRECTOR 

DR HASSAN MOHAMMED AL ANSARI 

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF 

PRINTED AT ALI BIN ALI PRINTING PRESS 

Power Equations 

The United States and China are each other’s greatest strategic 

challenges but they are also invested in each other’s fate 

Opinion 

Erdogan’s Miscalculations 

Turkey’s prime minister must keep in mind the masses on Istanbul’s 

streets before making any decision of far-reaching consequences 

THIS week’s summit meeting between 

US President Barack Obama and 

President Xi Jinping of China is an 

important opportunity for the leaders of 

the world’s two largest economies to chart 

a smoother path and avoid the destructive 

conflicts that have historically afflicted 

relations between rising and established 

powers. 

Xi Jinping is still settling into his job as 

China’s political leader and is a relative 

newcomer on the world stage compared 

to Obama, now in his second term. But he 

seems to understand the stakes. He told 

one of Obama’s top aides last month that 

ties between the two countries stood at a 

“critical juncture” and it was time to 

explore “a new type of great power relationship.” 

The world is eager to hear just 

what he has in mind. 

The two presidents have agreed to an 

informal format for their talks in California 

on Friday and Saturday that affords far 

more time for serious discussion - at least 

six hours - than is usual for such encounters, 

which tend to be limited to carefully 

scripted talking points. This makes sense 

because there is a great deal of ground to 

cover, not just broad political and economic 

issues but specific points of contention. 

One fundamental question of great 

interest to Washington is how Xi intends 

to wield power. Tensions are inevitable 

between two big economic and political 

competitors, and some in this country 

have been too eager to cast China as the 

next great adversary. Still, Xi has displayed 

a disturbing nationalist inclination as well 

as a willingness to back the military in its 

increasingly dangerous attempts to assert 

primacy in the South China and East 

China Seas over Japan and other countries. 

With this mind, Obama’s task is to 

reassure Xi that his own efforts to refocus 

his foreign policy on Asia need not threaten 

Beijing. But he also needs to make clear 

that China’s aggressive approach to maritime 

disputes is unacceptable. 

(NYT) 

There is also the no less contentious and 

perhaps even more threatening matter of 

cyberwarfare. Amid growing tensions 

over claims that Chinese hackers are carrying 

out cyberattacks to steal US corporate 

and government secrets, the two governments 

recently agreed to hold regular 

talks on setting cybersecurity standards. 

The meeting will be Obama’s chance to lay 

out the evidence behind these claims and 

to make the case why such intrusions, 

especially in the commercial sphere, are a 

serious threat to relations between the 

two countries. Enlisting Xi’s personal 

commitment to curb them would be a 

major step forward. 

Xi has signaled an interest in reforming 

China’s state-managed economy, which is 

expected to provoke an airing of complaints 

on both sides about restrictive 

trade policies. Obama should welcome the 

recent $4.7 billion offer by a Chinese company, 

Shuanghui International, to buy the 

US producer, Smithfield Foods, as an 

illustration of healthy free trade that benefits 

both countries. But he would be 

remiss if he did not also point out that 

even as Chinese companies like 

Shuanghui expand overseas with relative 

ease, US and European companies face 

numerous obstacles in China. 

The agenda must also include North 

Korea. While Beijing recently has played a 

constructive role in persuading North 

Korea to calm its threatening rhetoric and 

urging a resumption of talks over its 

nuclear programme, it has resisted joining 

the United States and South Korea in figuring 

out how best to respond if North 

Korea implodes. 

The United States and China are each 

other’s greatest strategic challenges but 

they are also invested in each other’s 

fate. This requires continuing efforts to 

confront common problems and to manage 

differences honestly and transparently, 

a task that can be eased by a successful 

meeting. 

shows that if 

nations cannot manage to 

win all together, they are 

destined to lose all together,” 

declared Turkey’s “HISTORY 

prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, 

on the first anniversary of his 2007 reelection. 

“We defend freedom, justice, 

democracy and welfare for everybody.” 

Back then, he promised that his 

Justice and Development Party, known 

by its Turkish initials, AKP, would 

embrace all sections of society regardless 

of political affiliation. He even 

thanked those who didn’t vote for him. 

Five years later, Erdogan is facing 

growing criticism for disrespecting people’s 

lifestyles and interfering in their personal 

choices. His government has drafted 

and passed bills without public consultation. 

A law on restricting alcohol sales 

was passed on May 24 in Parliament via a 

last-minute amendment. 

And then, two weeks later, again 

without public consultation, he began 

the demolition of a popular park as part 

of a controversial urban renewal plan 

for Taksim Square. The small-scale sitin 

opposing the demolition morphed 

into mass nationwide public demonstrations 

after the police used excessive 

force against protesters. 

How could a skilled politician as 

smart and experienced as Erdogan, who 

has been able to overcome a number of 

political crises in the past, including a 

threatened military coup in 2007, fail to 

see the bigger political picture? 

In the past few days, Erdogan has 

claimed that those rallying against him 

were mobilised by the country’s opposition 

parties, especially the ultrasecular 

and ultranationalist bloc led by the 

Republican People’s Party (CHP). 

He said the issue was not the park 

but a concerted political campaign 

against him by those who opposed his 

policies on partisan grounds. This was 

understandable given that his opponents 

have ignored the AKP’s landmark 

achievements for the sake of partisanship 

in the past. 

SULE KULU | 

NYT SYNDICATE 

However, a quick look was enough to 

confirm that the opposition that took 

over Taksim last weekend was different. 

It was a largely nonpartisan movement 

made up of liberals, conservatives, independents 

and even likely AKP voters. 

Their cause was later overshadowed by 

some violent groups, who dealt a serious 

blow to the public image of the 

protests through vandalism, looting and 

attacking women wearing head scarves. 

Yet the initial sit-in group, as well as 

those participating in the broader 

protests that followed, represented a 

broad cross section of society. 

Erdogan has remained defiant, but 

there have been critics of his handling of 

the crisis within his own party. Among 

them was Deputy Prime Minister 

Bulent Arinc, one of the heavyweights of 

the AKP, who said authorities should 

have communicated with the protesters 

instead of tear-gassing them. He also 

openly praised a local administrative 

court that issued a stay on the Taksim 

project amid the continuing protests on 

Friday. And Turkey’s education minister, 

Nabi Avci, observed on Monday 

that the government had done what the 

secular opposition parties had not been 

able to achieve for years: within five 

days, the police crackdown brought 

together masses who had been incapable 

of uniting against the government. 

It even managed to unite the fans 

of three archrival Istanbul soccer teams, 

which were engaged in a fierce fight for 

a championship just a few weeks ago. 

The protests are hitting Erdogan at an 

inopportune time. He has been campaigning 

for a constitutional change 

that would give broad executive powers 

to the currently ceremonial presidency, 

raising concerns over how checks and 

balances in this system will be ensured 

if he runs for the post before his selfimposed 

three-term limit expires in 

2015. When the demonstrations erupted, 

he had not yet persuaded the nation 

to switch to an executive presidential 

system, but the Turkish public has 

learned in Erdogan’s more than 10 

years of rule that he sooner or later succeeds 

in whatever he plans to do. 

Now many people, including his supporters, 

opponents and prominent 

intellectuals, are voicing concerns over 

the proposed presidential system. The 

recent protests are likely to complicate 

Erdogan’s calculations for a presidential 

run, as it may be difficult for him to 

persuade and eventually garner the 

support of the crowds he has so far 

refused to listen to. 

In contrast to Erdogan’s dismissal of 

the protesters as “plunderers,” the 

Turkish president, Abdullah Gul, struck 

a different tone on Monday, telling 

reporters that “democracy is not just 

about elections” and that the protesters’ 

“message has been received. What is 

necessary will be done.” Deputy Prime 

Minister Arinc also adopted a conciliatory 

tone and apologised for the excessive 

use of police force while Erdogan 

was travelling abroad on an official visit 

to Morocco. 

Tensions have eased slightly, but 

nothing will be the same for Turkey after 

these protests. Although Erdogan still 

argues that the majority of the nation is 

behind him based on his party’s recent 

internal polls, he would be wise to keep 

in mind the masses on Istanbul’s streets 

before making any future decision concerning 

people’s personal lives. 

Erdogan was shown a yellow card in 

Istanbul; it is a warning to return to his 

reformist agenda and to open up channels 

of communication with all segments 

of society, including those who 

didn’t vote for him. Those in the opposition 

who wish to see him given a red 

card and ejected from office will have to 

wait until the next election in 2015 – 

unless Erdogan finds a way to ascend to 

the presidency before then. 

(Sule Kulu is the online editor of 

Today’s Zaman, an English-language 

newspaper in Turkey.) 

Monsoon Mania In India 

A good monsoon leads to bountiful crop and India must improve technology to provide sharper forecasts 

THIS is possibly the only time of 

the year in India when over a billion 

people await an unusual bit 

of news with bated breath. And 

so, this time the tidings are good 

and arrived over the weekend. 

“Monsoon hits Kerala, India ready to 

tap it,” announced a relieved Business 

Standard on Saturday. The newspaper 

said the southwest monsoon, ‘the lifeline 

for millions of farmers across the 

country’ had hit the southern state on 

its ‘usual onset date’. 

Even Bollywood’s biggest star 

Amitabh Bachchan joined the celebrations. 

“The monsoons have reached Kerala 

and the Lakshdweep islands... This is a 

good sign... A week later, traditionally, 

they should be over Mumbai... This is an 

indicator of a normal monsoon. We survive 

and depend on this rain phenomena 

and much of India’s produce depends on 

its performance - the monsoons I mean,’’ 

the actor wrote on his blog. 

SOUTIK BISWAS | 

BBC-NYT SYNDICATE 

As early as in 1925, 

the Royal Commission 

On Agriculture In India 

described the Indian 

economy as a gamble 

on the monsoon 

Monsoon rains are serious business 

in India. 

Editorials are written on it, weather 

experts talk about it on prime time 

news television, and people send up 

prayers when it’s delayed. Weather 

insurance policies with built in rainfall 

insurance are sold to farmers as a hedge 

against uncertain weather. 

A good monsoon leads to bountiful 

crop which raises farm incomes, boosts 

rural consumption and drives the economy. 

A weak monsoon – and droughts, in 

extreme cases – hurts farm workers, raises 

food prices, encourages hoarders and 

generally creates havoc in the economy. 

As early as in 1925, the Royal 

Commission On Agriculture In India 

described the Indian economy as a 

gamble on the monsoon. 

Some three decades later, in 1953, the 

prestigious The Economic Weekly in a 

long editorial simply titled ‘The 

Monsoon’ bemoaned the lack of proper 

meteorological tools to forecast monsoons 

and said: “Had the annual rainfall 

meant as much in the economic life 

of Europe as it does in this country, it is 

a permissible guess that some measure 

would have been found for it ere long’’. 

More than half a century later, the 

Business Standard reported over the 

weekend: “The rains, from June to 

September, are vital for the 55 per cent 

of farmland without irrigation in India, 

one of the world’s largest producers and 

consumers of food.’’ 

Consider the facts and you realise 

why over a billion people are obsessed 

with monsoon rains. 

India’s farms are mainly rain-fed. The 

country receives 75 per cent of its yearly 

rainfall between June and September. 

Some 70 per cent of Indians depend 

directly or indirectly on farming. 

Farming accounts for 14.5 per cent of 

India’s $1.83 trillion GDP, and though 

its share is declining, agriculture still 

accounts for a whopping 58 per cent of 

the total employment in the country. 

And then there’s the spectre of 

drought. 

Some 68 per cent of India, according 

to the Indian Space Research 

Organisation, is prone to droughts in 

varying degrees – a third of this area is 

actually ‘chronically drought prone’. 

Between 1801 and 2002, according to 

one estimate, India faced 42 severe 

droughts, many of them damaging 

crops and hurting growth. 

To rely less on the vagaries of the 

monsoon rains, India, say experts, 

needs to develop varieties of rice, pulses 

and oilseeds which are drought 

resistant, evolve early drought warning 

systems and improve meteorological 

tools to provide sharper forecasts. 

It also needs to ramp up its still 

scanty water conservation efforts. Too 

much water gets wasted. India also 

needs to manage its huge food stocks – 

over 60 million tonnes at the start of 

this year – much better. Too much food 

gets destroyed and damaged. That, 

many say, is a bigger tragedy than an 

imprecise monsoon forecast. 

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

Analysis Thursday, June 6, 2013 09 

‘Cancer’ In The US Army 

The scourge of sexual assaults cases in the military has been growing 

and there is yet no system in place to fix it 

Have 

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Workers’ rights 

Gender Bender 

MAUREEN DOWD 

NYT NEWS SERVICE 

Are women who 

want to join the 

military now more 

afraid of being 

raped by their 

brothers in arms 

than dying for 

their country? 

YOU see glistening mermaid 

sightings on Animal Planet 

more than you catch glimpses of 

vintage John McCain on Capitol 

Hill. But there he was on Tuesday, 

succinctly saying what needed to 

be said about the scourge of sexual 

assault cases in the military. 

Looking grimly at the ribbonbedecked 

white male heads of all the 

services, testifying before the Armed 

Services Committee, McCain scolded: 

“Just last night a woman came to me 

and said her daughter wanted to join 

the military and could I give my 

unqualified support for her doing so. I 

could not.” 

Are women who want to join the military 

now more afraid of being raped 

by their brothers in arms than dying 

for their country? 

The seven women on the committee 

are driving the mission to curb the 

plague of sexual transgressions in the 

military, with 26,000 service men and 

women assaulted in 2012. 

“Women are not going to be turned 

away on this one,” Senator Claire 

McCaskill, D-Missouri, told me. 

But men on both sides of the aisle 

were also pressing the top generals and 

admirals, even though some, like 

Senator Saxby Chambliss, R-Georgia, 

still seemed to be getting up to speed 

on the issue. 

“Several years ago, when we had the 

first females go out on an aircraft carrier 

that when they returned to port,” 

Chambliss said he recalled, “a significant 

percentage of those females were 

pregnant.” 

Was any investigation done, he 

asked, to determine whether those 

pregnancies were the result of ‘consensual 

acts’? 

The brass agreed there was a ‘cancer’ 

in the military, but their rigid, nonsensical 

response boiled down to: Trust us. 

We’ll fix the system, even though we 

don’t really believe it’s broken. 

They were unanimously resistant to 

the shift that several of our allies have 

made, giving lawyers, rather than 

commanders, the power to take cases 

to court. This even though they were 

having a hard time coming up with 

examples of any commanders who 

had been removed from their posts for 

allowing a toxic climate on sexual 

assault. 

In fact, the military honchos made it 

clear that, after months of public dismay, 

they hadn’t even gotten around 

to studying the systems our allies put 

in place to achieve objective decisionmaking, 

where commanders can’t protect 

buddies or Top Gun criminals. 

“Talking to people who have managed 

this problem longer than we have 

seems to me the very easiest place to 

start,” chided Senator Roy Blunt, R- 

Missouri. 

Eugene Fidell, who teaches military 

justice at Yale Law School, told me the 

arguments of the brass “boiled down 

to an almost mystical notion of the 

commanders’ responsibility. Why 

can’t we cut the strings to the British 

system we inherited from George III? 

The British are baffled by us. They 

gave control over major crimes to professional 

prosecutors years ago. It’s an 

institutional structure that has outlived 

its utility and credibility.” 

As Sarah Plummer, a beautiful ex- 

Marine who served in Iraq and says 

she was raped by a fellow Marine who 

was never prosecuted, explained to 

NBC News’ Jim Miklaszewski: 

“Having someone within your direct 

chain of command handling the case” 

is like “your brother raping you and 

having your dad decide the case.” 

The military big shots admitted 

that they had taken their eyes off the 

ball but blamed it on a decade of two 

wars. 

“Commanders having the authority 

to take a case to trial hasn’t gotten rid 

of the large number of sexual assaults 

and rapes or encouraged more people 

to come forward and report crimes,” 

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New 

York, told me. “In fact, it has had the 

opposite effect.” 

She told the military chiefs that “not 

every single commander can distinguish 

between a slap on the behind 

and a rape.” 

There’s no excuse for permitting a 

system to allow commanders to 

sweep things under the rug and allow 

threats of retaliation. The Naval 

Academy is reeling from a case of a 

female midshipman who reported she 

was raped by three Navy football players 

at an off-campus party last year. 

The men were not charged, but the 

woman was punished for underage 

drinking. 

West Point is roiled by two cases: A 

sergeant first class in charge of the 

welfare of some cadets has been 

accused of illicitly videotaping female 

cadets as they disrobed in the bathroom 

or shower; and the men’s rugby 

team was temporarily disbanded after 

players exchanged emails that were 

degrading to women. 

On the Hill, the brass argued that 

they could not retain ‘cohesion’ and 

‘order’ if commanders were not calling 

all the legal shots. But Nancy 

Parrish, the president of a victims’ 

rights group, told a chilling story 

about a young woman in a combat 

zone who had tried four times to 

report a soldier she says raped her. 

She saw him coming toward her truck 

as she got ready for a mission and 

recalled her feelings: “I shut down 

inside. I was lead driver in our convoy, 

and I kept hoping to hit an IED 

after that.” 

As Parrish sardonically asked, you 

call that “unit cohesion” and “good 

order and discipline”? 

APROPOS the news report ‘Maids must 

get their due, says QC CEO’, published 

in Qatar Tribune on June 5. 

The debate on the salaries of housemaids 

has been in the spotlight over the 

past few months due to the talks between 

the Qatari and the Philippine government 

over a much higher wage for Filipino 

house helps. I agree with Qatar Chamber 

CEO Remy Rowhani that it is important 

to understand that the country of origin of 

a worker has the right to set his/her minimum 

salary. It is up to the employers to 

determine the standard they wish to have. 

This is true… I had the chance to chat with 

a Western expatriate and she is willing to 

pay the minimum wage imposed, even 

higher, as long as she can hire a Filipina’s 

extra pair of hands. Employees, not just 

maids must get their due, yes, especially 

those with experience and great qualifications. 

Each employee must get what he or 

she deserves. 

I especially like the part of the report 

where Mr Rowhani said that if a person 

deserves a salary of QR1,000, it is unfair 

to give him or her QR500… that they 

might not do their work whole-heartedly 

and their productivity will be less. I am 

one of the employees who firmly believes 

that I am not well-compensated based on 

my performance and qualifications, but 

good for the company that I worked for… 

I still do my job whole-heartedly. 

BABY V 

“Maria Sharapova grunted her 

way to a fantastic comeback 

victory! She’s a charming lady 

when the audio is off and her 

grunts are not heard!” 

RONNIE NATHANIELSZ 

DOHA 

Health is Wealth 

Choosing A 

Paediatrician 

HEALTHDAY NEWS | NYT SYNDICATE 

YOUR child’s paediatrician will be 

your partner for many years in helping 

your child grow into a healthy adolescent. 

The American Academy of Paediatrics 

suggests these factors to consider 

when selecting a paediatrician: 

Find out background information, 

such as where he or she attended medical 

school and where he or she were 

residents. 

Consider where the paediatrician 

has hospital rights and where the office 

is located, as well as office hours. 

Ask about how after-hours emergencies 

are dealt with. 

Consider the friendliness of the staff, 

and the paediatrician’s interest in your 

child’s health. 

Ask about the likelihood of getting a 

same-day appointment in the event of 

an emergency, and the availability of 

other specialists if your paediatrician 

isn’t available. 

Ask about insurance participation, 

and managed-care programmes in 

which the doctor participates. 

Bloggers’ Borough 

A Simple Way To Reduce Suicides 

EZEKIEL J EMANUEL | 

NYT SYNDICATE 

EVERY year about a million 

Americans attempt suicide. More 

than 38,000 succeed. In addition, 

each year there are around 33,000 

unintentional deaths by poisonings. 

Taken together, that’s more than 

twice the number of people who die 

annually in car accidents. 

The tragedy is that while motor 

vehicle deaths have been dropping, 

suicides and poisonings from medications 

have been steadily rising 

since 1999. About half of suicides are 

committed with firearms, and nearly 

20 percent by poisoning. A good way 

to kill yourself is by overdosing on 

Tylenol or other pills. About 90 percent 

of the deaths from unintentional 

poisonings occur because of drugs, 

and not because of things like household 

cleaners or bleach. 

There is a simple way to make medication 

less accessible for those who 

would deliberately or accidentally 

overdose - and that is packaging. 

We need to make it harder to buy 

pills in bottles of 50 or 100 that can 

be easily dumped out and swallowed. 

We should not be selling big bottles 

of Tylenol and other drugs that are 

typically implicated in overdoses, like 

prescription painkillers and Valiumtype 

drugs, called benzodiazepines. 

Pills should be packaged in blister 

packs of 16 or 25. Anyone who wanted 

50 would have to buy numerous 

blister packages and sit down and 

push out the pills one by one. 

Turns out you really, really have to 

want to commit suicide to push out 

50 pills. And most people are not that 

committed. 

Sound ridiculous? Consider some 

data. 

In September 1998, Britain changed 

the packaging for paracetamol, the 

active ingredient in Tylenol, to require 

blister packs for packages of 16 pills 

when sold over the counter in places 

like convenience stores, and for packages 

of 32 pills in pharmacies. 

The result: A study by Oxford 

University researchers showed that 

over the subsequent 11 or so years, 

suicide deaths from Tylenol overdoses 

declined by 43 percent, and a similar 

decline was found in accidental 

deaths from medication poisonings. 

In addition, there was a 61 percent 

reduction in liver transplants attributed 

to Tylenol toxicities. (Although 

it was a long and detailed study, some 

studies got a different result. One in 

Ireland, for example, found no reduction 

in overdoses.) 

Not only can blister packs reduce 

suicide attempts by adults, but also 

poisonings of children. After the 

Food and Drug Administration 

required blister packaging for iron 

pills, which cause poisoning death in 

young children, the number of ironingestion 

calls to poison control centres 

in the country dropped by about 

33 percent and the number of deaths 

went almost to zero. 

Why haven’t we seen more blister 

packages? One reason is money. 

Manufacturers would have to 

redesign packaging, and the blister 

packaging would cost more compared 

with loose pills in a bottle. The 

other main reason is that some consumers 

- notably people with arthritis 

- might find it challenging to open the 

packages. 

But considering the tens of thousands 

of deaths and emergency room 

visits, these reasons seem a bit feeble. 

The packaging should be changed. 

GET HEARD! 

QT NOW MAKES 

YOUR LIFE 

SIMPLE 

ADVERTISING & PR 

Phone: 44666810, 44568918 

Fax: 44654975 

Email : advertising@qatar-tribune.com 

SUBSCRIPTION & 

CIRCULATION 

Phone: 44567689, Fax: 44660751 

Mobile : 55878073 

Email : circulation@qatar-tribune.com 

SUGGESTIONS & 

COMPLAINTS 

Phone : 44667908, Fax : 44660936 

Email : pa2director@qimqatar.com


Soldier pleads 

guilty in Afghan 

massacre case 

United States 

Obama picks Susan Rice as 

national security adviser 

AP 

WASHINGTON 

THE American soldier 

charged with killing 16 

Afghan civilians during 

night-time raids on two villages 

last year pleaded guilty 

Wednesday to avoid the 

death penalty. 

Staff Sgt Robert Bales 

pleaded guilty in a military 

courtroom to 16 counts of 

premeditated murder and 

other charges. He pleaded 

not guilty to one charge, 

impeding an investigation. 

Bales, 39, was charged in 

the March 2012 attacks on 

two villages near the remote 

base in south Afghanistan 

where he was posted. Most 

of the victims were women 

and children, and some of 

the bodies were burned; relatives 

have told AP they are 

irate at the notion Bales will 

escape execution for one of 

the worst atrocities of the 

Afghanistan war. 

A military judge will question 

the soldier about what 

happened before deciding 

whether to accept his guilty 

pleas. Bales’ attorney, John 

Henry Browne, has said he 

expects his client to admit to 

“very specific facts” about 

the killings at the hearing at 

Sketch of Staff Sgt Robert 

Bales at a court hearing. 

Joint Base Lewis-McChord 

south of Seattle. Bales was 

serving his fourth combat 

deployment when the rampage 

occurred, and had an 

otherwise good if undistinguished 

military record in a 

decade-long career. The 

Ohio native suffered from 

post-traumatic stress disorder 

and a traumatic brain 

injury and he had been 

drinking alcohol and snorting 

Valium both provided 

by other soldiers the night 

of the killings. 

The case raised questions 

about the toll multiple 

deployments were taking 

on US troops. For that 

reason, many legal experts 

believed it was unlikely he 

would receive the death 

penalty, as Army prosecutors 

were seeking. The military 

justice system hasn’t 

executed anyone since 

1961, but five men currently 

face death sentences. 

REUTERS 

WASHINGTON 

PRESIDENT Barack Obama 

chose close confidante Susan 

Rice as his new national security 

adviser on Wednesday in a 

shakeup that increases the 

White House’s control over 

foreign policy and brings a 

blunt-spoken voice to Obama’s 

inner circle. 

The hard-charging Rice, 

selected to replace low-key 

Tom Donilon in the post, is 

expected to play a high-profile 

role in defending Obama’s foreign 

policy, particularly on the 

civil war in Syria. Obama has 

come under fire for his cautious 

approach in response to 

mounting evidence that 

President Bashar al-Assad 

used chemical weapons against 

rebels seeking to oust him. 

Obama will nominate 

Samantha Power - a Pulitzer 

Prize-winning author, former 

White House aide and Harvard 

professor - to replace Rice as 

US ambassador to the UN, 

White House officials said. 

Obama will make the 

announcements in a 2:15 p.m. 

ceremony. The selection of 

Rice will likely anger 

Republicans who have sharply 

criticised her role in the handling 

of last September’s attack 

on a US compound in the 

President Barack Obama (right) with US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice (centre) at the 

UN headquarters, in New York, recently. (AP) 

Libyan city of Benghazi that 

killed four Americans, including 

US Ambassador 

Christopher Stevens. 

Obama had been expected to 

pick Rice, 48, as national security 

adviser since she withdrew 

last December from consideration 

to replace Hillary Clinton 

as secretary of state amid the 

criticism by Republicans about 

Benghazi. She had been 

Obama’s first choice to replace 

Clinton. The job instead went 

to John Kerry. 

Obama will avoid a congressional 

fight, though, because 

the post does not require 

Senate confirmation, unlike 

the job of secretary of state. 

Rice will replace Donilon in 

July as the official who coordinates 

US foreign policy from 

the White House. 

Republicans accuse Rice of 

playing down the Benghazi 

incident for political purposes 

by initially describing it as the 

result of a spontaneous protest, 

rather than a terrorist attack. 

Under Rice, the conduct of 

foreign policy is likely to be 

centralised out of the White 

House, raising questions about 

how much leeway will be given 

to Kerry, said Aaron David 

Miller, a foreign policy scholar 

at the Woodrow Wilson 

Center. 

“She’s very direct, very outspoken, 

very tough but 

extremely skilled and confident, 

which makes her formidable,” 

Miller said. “The fact 

that she’s close to the president 

makes her extremely formidable.” 

The shakeup comes as 

Obama grapples with a welter 

of foreign policy challenges, 

from Syria to China’s rise on 

the world stage, an issue that 

will be brought to the fore this 

week when Obama meets 

Chinese President Xi Jinping 

in California. 

Power’s selection for the UN 

post was a bit of a surprise. UN 

and US diplomats had anticipated 

that Obama would 

choose Deputy Secretary of 

State Williams Burns. 

This is a fresh chance for her 

after her discretion and diplomatic 

skills were called into 

question when she labelled 

then-Democratic presidential 

candidate Hillary Clinton - 

running against Obama at the 

time for the party’s White 

House nomination - a “monster” 

in 2008. The remark 

prompted her resignation from 

Obama’s campaign team. 

Rice’s critics were largely 

holding their fire. Republican 

Senator John McCain, a leading 

opponent of how Obama 

has handled the Benghazi controversy, 

tweeted that he disagreed 

with Rice’s selection but 

that “I’ll make every effort” to 

work with her. 

Building collapses in Philadelphia, 

rescuers search for trapped victims 

REUTERS 

PHILADELPHIA 

A BUILDING collapsed in 

downtown Philadelphia on 

Wednesday and rescue workers 

were searching for people 

trapped in the rubble, a fire 

department spokesman said. 

Local media reported that 

Philadelphia 

Fire 

Commissioner Lloyd Ayers 

said as many as 10 people 

were buried in the debris 

from the four-story building. 

The local ABC affiliate also 

said five people had been rescued 

and taken to area hospitals. 

Captain Jeffrey Thompson 

of the Philadelphia Fire 

Department confirmed crews 

were searching for victims 

and had made some rescues 

but declined to comment on 

any numbers. 

“We are checking the 

debris, looking for any victims 

at this time,” Thompson 

said. 

During the demolition of a 

building at 22nd and Market 

Street, at least one structure 

collapsed and was reduced to 

a mountain of concrete 

chunks and splintered wood 

around 10:45 a.m. EDT. 

Other buildings also may 

have been involved. 

Emergency personnel near the collapsed building, in Philadelphia, on Wednesday. (AP) 

Rescue workers rushed to 

the scene to investigate the 

damage and determine how 

many people were trapped. 

“It’s really difficult to give 

any details because it’s a fluid 

situation,” Thompson said. 

He said it was not immediately 

known who occupied 

the building, located in the 

heart of Center City in 

Philadelphia. Police urged the 

public to stay away from the 

area while rescuers dig 

through the rubble. 

Meanwhile, several people 

climbed from the rubble of a 

collapsed building on 

Wednesday in Philadelphia 

with the help of firefighters 

and were able to walk out past 

piles of bricks. A vacant, fourstorey 

brick building that was 

under demolition collapsed 

onto a one-storey building 

housing a thrift store, 

Philadelphia 

Fire 

Commissioner Lloyd Ayers 

said. 

More than 100 firefighters 

were working at the scene to 

free two people still known to 

be trapped in the rubble while 

12 people were transported to 

hospitals with minor injuries, 

he said. The people seen 

climbing out of the wreckage 

appeared to have been inside 

an uncollapsed pocket of the 

thrift store, where a religious 

charity sold used, donated 

goods. 

Govt targets 

leaders of 

street gang 

AP 

WASHINGTON 

THE government on 

Wednesday designated six 

leaders of the violent street 

gang MS-13 as international 

criminals, stepping up a 

crackdown on the sprawling 

US and Central American 

gang’s finances. 

The Treasury Department in 

October designated MS-13, or 

Mara Salvatrucha, as an international 

criminal organization. 

The Obama administration 

said that makes the gang subject 

to penalties by the Office of 

Foreign Assets Control and 

gives the U.S. an opportunity to 

hinder MS-13’s ability to funnel 

money to its leaders in El 

Salvador or launder criminal 

proceeds through otherwise 

legitimate businesses. 

Adding the names of six of 

the gang’s purported leaders 

allows the US to target their 

bank accounts individually. 

The men added to the 

transnational criminal organization 

designation are: Moris 

Alexander Bercian Manchon, 

28; Jose Misael Cisneros 

Rodriguez, 37; Marvin 

Geovanny Monterrosa- 

Larios, 39; Moises Humberto 

Rivera-Luna, 44; Saul 

Antonio Turcios Angel, 35; 

and Borromeo Enrique 

Henriquez Solorzano, 34. 

COME ON AMERICA! 

American country music singer & songwriter Justin Moore 

performs during Rodney Atkins’ 3rd annual Music City 

Gives Back, in Nashville, Tennessee, on Tuesday. Moore 

has released two albums for Big Machine Records. (AP) 

Jailed US filmmaker Timothy Tracy freed in Venezuela, expelled 

AP 

CARACAS 

A US FILMMAKER jailed for 

alleged espionage in 

Venezuela was expelled from 

the country and returning to 

the United States on 

Wednesday in a gesture that 

could signal a thaw in tense 

relations between the two 

countries. 

Timothy Tracy’s release 

was secured with the help of 

former US Rep. William 

Delahunt, who has long 

worked to improve often 

strained US-Venezuelan ties 

and was hired by Tracy’s family 

as an attorney in the case. 

“He’s been informally 

advising us since pretty much 

the onset and we retained 

him last week,” Tracy’s sister, 

Tiffany Klaasen, said of 

Delahunt, a member of the 

U.S. delegation at the March 

funeral of Venezuelan 

President Hugo Chavez. Both 

she and Delahunt also credited 

the US State Department. 

Tracy’s expulsion came just 

as Secretary of State John 

Kerry was to meet with 

Venezuelan Foreign Minister 

Elias Jaua on the sidelines of 

a regional summit in 

Guatemala to discuss strained 

relations between the two 

countries, which have been 

without ambassadors since 

2010. Delahunt acknowledged 

the coincidence of 

Tracy’s release but said “no 

conditions” were set by Kerry 

for the meeting with Jaua. 

He said he had intervened 

on Tracy’s behalf with officials 

in Venezuela ó who he 

said did not include President 

Nicolas Maduro ó but “I want 

to keep those discussions private.On 

both sides there is a 

desire to have an improvement 

in the relationship 

based upon respect, and 

that’s what’s important,” 

Delahunt said, suggesting it 

might help that Kerry, then a 

Massachusetts senator, met 

Timothy Tracy 

Maduro a decade ago when 

Delahunt took a delegation of 

Venezuelans including 

Maduro on a trip to his district 

in Cape Cod. 

The trip was part of efforts 

by the so-called “Grupo de 

Boston” in 2002-2003 to 

salve internal tensions in the 

socialist-run South American 

country after a failed coup 

against Chavez. Tracy’s expulson 

was tweeted Wednesday 

morning by Venezuela’s interior 

minister, Miguel 

Rodriguez, who described 

Tracy as having been “captured 

doing espionage in our 

country.” 

Family and friends say the 

35-year-old Hollywood producer 

and actor had been in 

the country since October 

making a documentary about 

Venezuelan politics when he 

was arrested on April 24 at 

Caracas’ airport as he tried to 

leave the country to attend his 

father’s 80th birthday in suburban 

Detroit. 

US President Barack 

Obama had deemed “ridiculous” 

allegations by 

Venezuela that he was a spy. 

Friends said Tracy hardly 

spoke Spanish and had been 

very open about his work as 

he met with Venezuelans on 

both sides of the country’s 

deep political divide. Tracy’s 

previous production work 

had included script consulting 

on a film about barbershop 

quartets. 

US-Venezuelan relations 

have been especially tense in 

recent months. Maduro 

expelled two US military 

attaches in March the same 

day Chavez died, accusing 

them of trying to foment 

instability, and Tracy’s arrest 

came amid domestic political 

turmoil over the opposition 

candidate’s claim that 

Maduro, Chavez’s handpicked 

successor, stole April 

14 elections. 

The Obama administration 

has backed opposition candidate 

Henrique Capriles’ call 

for a full recount. 

Klaasen said the family 

spoke frequently to Tracy 

while he was held. 

“He was treated very well,” 

she said. “I was never concerned 

for his safety.”

UK / Europe Thursday, June 6, 2013 11 

Activists present list of demands in 

Turkey; 25 held for inciting protest 

AP 

ANKARA 

ACTIVISTS on Wednesday 

presented a list of demands 

they said could end days of 

anti-government demonstrations 

that have engulfed 

Turkey, as police detained 25 

people they accused of using 

social media to stoke the outpouring 

of anger. 

In a move to defuse the tension, 

the deputy prime minister 

met with a group whose 

attempt to prevent authorities 

from ripping up trees in 

Istanbul’s landmark Taksim 

Square has snowballed into 

nationwide protests against 

what demonstrators see as 

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip 

Erdogan’s increasingly 

authoritarian rule. 

Police have deployed water 

cannons and teargas has 

clouded the country’s city 

centres. The Ankara-based 

Human Rights Association 

says close to 1,000 people 

have been injured and more 

than 3,300 people have been 

detained over five days of 

protests. 

The activist group denounced 

Erdogan’s “vexing” 

style and urged the government 

to halt Taksim Square 

redevelopment plans, ban the 

use of teargas by police, the 

immediate release of all 

detained protesters and the 

lifting of restrictions on freedom 

of expression and 

AFP 

LJUBLJANA 

FORMER Slovenian premier 

Janez Jansa was on 

Wednesday sentenced to two 

years in prison after being 

found guilty of giving and 

receiving backhanders in the 

eurozone country’s biggestever 

defence deal. 

Jansa, prime minister until 

February, was found “guilty on 

the charges of giving or receiving 

bribery or bribery promises 

in the acquisition of 

armoured vehicles” from 

Finnish defence firm Patria, 

judge Barbara Klajnsek ruled. 

Jansa, who has protested 

his innocence and has 

slammed the lengthy trial as a 

political witch-hunt, said he 

would appeal, meaning the 

54-year-old will not be put 

behind bars for now. 

“This is a show trial,” Jansa 

told reporters after the 

court’s decision. “This verdict 

is a disgrace for our country.” 

Via Twitter he vowed to use 

“all legal means” to contest 

the decision. 

Several hundred of his supporters 

held a demonstration 

outside the Ljubljana courthouse 

afterwards, brandishing 

banners slamming the verdict 

as “political vengeance”. One 

woman was seen weeping. 

Jansa’s centre-right 

Slovenian Democratic Party 

(SDS) called the trial a 

A Turkish protester holds a banner as thousands of trade union members march to Kizilay Square, in Ankara, on Wednesday. (AP) 

assembly. 

It also demanded that officials 

– including governors and 

senior police officials – responsible 

for the violent crackdown 

be removed from office. 

The protests appear to have 

developed spontaneously and 

remain leaderless. It was not 

at all certain that the tens of 

thousands of protesters 

would heed any call by the 

Ex-Slovenian PM 

gets two-year jail 

for bribery 

“scandal” and the verdict 

“without proof.” SDS parliamentary 

leader Joze Tanko 

likened it to something out 

of Belarus, the autocratic 

former Soviet republic. 

Jansa lost a confidence vote 

after only a year in office after 

allegations of tax irregularities 

by the national corruption 

watchdog and nationwide 

protests. 

The accusation added to 

public anger about a corrupt 

political elite just as the country 

of two million people 

struggles with recession and 

fights to avoid becoming the 

sixth eurozone member to 

need a bailout. 

Jansa’s successor Alenka 

Bratusek has launched an 

action plan of privatisations 

and structural reforms and has 

secured two more years from 

Brussels to bring Slovenia’s 

budget deficit under the eurozone 

limit. 

The All-Slovenian Uprising, 

which organised protests 

against Jansa’s government, 

welcomed Wednesday’s verdict, 

calling it a “landmark 

decision in the process of 

cleaning the Slovenian political 

landscape.” 

Jansa was also fined 

€37,000 ($48,350) at the 

end of the 21-month trial 

together with two other 

defendants, defence ministry 

official Tone Krkovic and 

middle man Ivan Crnkovic. 

Former Slovenian prime minister Janez Jansa during a press 

conference after his trial, in Ljubljana, on Wednesday. (AFP) 

group to cease. 

The group of academics, 

architects and environmentalists, 

known as the “Taksim 

Solidarity Platform,” was 

formed to protect Taksim 

Square from development, 

including the rebuilding of an 

Ottoman army barracks and a 

shopping mall. The protests 

were sparked by fury over a 

heavy-handed pre-dawn 

REUTERS 

BERLIN 

THE German government 

blocked legislation on 

Wednesday that could have 

granted dual citizenship to 

hundreds of thousands of 

immigrants even though it 

is trying to recruit skilled 

foreigners to alleviate a 

labour shortage. 

The left-wing opposition 

accused Chancellor Angela 

Merkel’s coalition of holding 

an antiquated world view and 

anti-Turkish sentiment verging 

on racism, setting up 

immigration as a campaign 

issue before a federal election 

in September. 

The bills would have had 

most effect on German residents 

of Turkish origin. 

“Merkel has said she wants 

a welcoming culture, and yet 

the current law on nationality 

doesn’t foster integration but 

rather forces people to give up 

their heritage,” said Thomas 

Oppermann, parliamentary 

floor leader of the Social 

Democrats. 

“We need to change this. 

AP 

PRAGUE 

AT LEAST 15 people have died 

and four others are missing in 

the floods that have ravaged 

central Europe, authorities 

said on Wednesday as swollen 

rivers surged downstream 

toward Germany. 

Firefighters said more than 

19,000 people were evacuated 

from the flooding in the Czech 

Republic. One raging flood 

that inundated parts of Prague 

was now heading north 

toward Germany, particularly 

the city of Dresden. 

The dead included eight people 

in the Czech Republic, four 

Germany needs immigrants.” 

But lawmakers from 

Merkel’s conservatives told 

parliament that lowering the 

hurdles for immigrants to 

work in Germany and integrate 

efficiently was the key. 

Giving them dual citizenship 

which risked creating parallel 

societies and giving 

Turkey undue political leverage 

over Germany. 

“For us, an expression of 

successful integration 

means that a person decides 

for Germany,” senior Conservative 

Ole Schroeder told 

the Bundestag lower house 

of parliament. “Social diversity 

is not dependent on 

people having several 

nationalities.” 

Germany does not allow 

anyone to hold two citizenships 

permanently although 

there are exceptions, such as 

for citizens from other 

European Union countries 

and Switzerland. 

Children of migrants who 

are born in Germany are 

allowed to keep both their 

German nationality and that 

of their parents until they 

in Germany, two in Austria and 

one in Slovakia. At least four 

other people were missing in 

the Czech Republic, according 

to its interior minister. 

Authorities are now concerned 

about the safety of 

chemical plants next to the 

overflowing rivers. Some 

plants have been shut down 

and their chemicals removed. 

More than 3,000 people had 

to leave their homes in the 

Czech city of Usti nad Labem 

on the Elbe River near the 

German border, where floodwaters 

were still on the rise on 

Wednesday. 

High water had already 

submerged parts of the city as 

police raid on Friday to roust 

activists camping out in an 

attempt to stop the plans. 

Protests appeared to calm a 

bit on Wednesday, even as 

thousands of trade union 

members on a two-day strike 

marched to Taksim and to 

central Ankara. 

Some demonstrations were 

largely jovial. In Ankara, protesters 

called themselves “looters.” 

A sign on a stall in Taksim 

providing free food and water 

read “Revolution Market.” 

But there were scattered violent 

clashes overnight on roads 

leading to Erdogan’s offices in 

Ankara and Istanbul, as well as 

in the city of Antakya, near the 

Syrian border, where a protester 

was killed on 

Wednesday from an apparent 

blow to the head. 

turn 18, when they have to 

choose between the two. 

“Dual citizenship is granted 

twice as often for those without 

Turkish roots as for those 

with,” said Sevim Dagdelen, 

daughter of Turkish migrants 

and an MP of the Left party. 

well many other towns along 

the Elbe, the biggest river in 

the country. 

Deputy Prime Minister 

Bulent Arinc, who is standing 

in for Erdogan while he is on a 

trip to Northern Africa, has 

offered an olive branch to protesters, 

apologising for what 

he said was a “wrong and 

unjust” crackdown on the sitin. 

Erdogan had inflamed protesters, 

calling them “looters” 

and extremists, and refusing to 

back away from plans to 

revamp Taksim. 

“The steps the government 

takes from now on will define 

the course of society’s reaction,” 

Eyup Muhcu, the head 

of a chamber of architects, 

told reporters after meeting 

with Arinc. 

Police meanwhile, detained 

25 people for “spreading 

untrue information” on social 

media and allegedly inciting 

people to join the protests, the 

state-run agency reported. 

They were detained on 

Tuesday in the city of Izmir, 

western Turkey, the Anadolu 

Agency said. Police were looking 

for 13 others, it added. 

The people were wanted for 

allegedly “inciting enmity and 

hatred,” the agency said. A 

lawyer for the suspects denied 

that claim. 

I have look at (their) files 

and examined the tweets,” the 

Radikal newspaper quoted 

lawyer Sevda Erdan Kilic as 

saying. “There is nothing there 

to provoke the people (into 

rioting). They are sentiments 

that we all share.” 

Merkel’s coalition rejects 

dual citizenship proposal 

Lawmakers 

from Merkel’s 

conservatives told 

parliament that 

lowering the 

hurdles for 

immigrants to 

work in Germany 

and integrate 

efficiently 

was the key. 

Turkish Prime Minister 

Tayyip Erdogan has criticised 

Germany’s immigration policy, 

saying it forced immigrants 

to suppress their culture 

and language. 

One of the immigration 

requirements he has taken 

issue with is that which stipulates 

people joining their 

spouses in Germany should 

already have some knowledge 

of German. Merkel’s 

coalition on Wednesday shot 

down a separate proposal 

from the Linke party to scrap 

this requirement. 

Immigration leapt to the 

forefront of German political 

debate in 2010 when central 

banker Thilo Sarrazin published 

a bestselling book that 

argued that German culture 

was at risk from Muslims, 

who he said were a drain on 

state coffers. 

The debate left raw nerves 

on both sides as German 

politicians initially closed 

ranks to condemn Sarrazin’s 

theories, but later shifted 

their tone rightwards as polls 

showed he enjoyed widespread 

support. Sarrazin 

stepped down yet Merkel 

went on to declare multiculturalism 

had failed. 

The chancellor’s rhetoric 

has become more positive 

towards foreigners in recent 

months, although more so 

towards skilled labourers 

from abroad than those foreigners 

already living in 

Germany and struggling to 

integrate. 

Flood death toll rises to 15 in Europe 

A view from Radobyl hill at a highway and the village Mlekojedy 

flooded by the river Elbe, northwest of Prague, on Wednesday. (AP) 

“It’s not over yet,” Czech 

Prime Minister Petr Necas 

said. “There’re tough 

Ex-Murdoch 

aide denies 

charges in 

London 

AFP 

LONDON 

REBEKAH Brooks, former 

chief executive of 

Rupert Murdoch’s British 

newspaper wing News International, 

pleaded not 

guilty on Wednesday to 

charges linked to the 

phone-hacking scandal 

that brought down his 

News of the World tabloid. 

Brooks, 45, denied five 

charges including conspiracy 

to hack phones, conspiracy 

to commit misconduct 

in a public office 

and conspiracy to pervert 

the course of justice. 

She appeared in a 

packed courtroom in 

London alongside several 

other former News 

International staff and 

her husband Charlie 

Brooks, who are also 

accused of conspiring to 

pervert the course of justice 

by hiding evidence 

relating to the hacking 

scandal. 

Brooks and 

her personal 

assistant Carter 

are accused of 

trying to remove 

boxes of 

evidence 

from the News 

International 

archive. 

All of the defendants 

denied the charges and 

were released on bail to 

face trial later this year. 

Australian-born media 

tycoon Murdoch was 

forced to shut down the 

News of the World in July 

2011, following a storm of 

allegations that its staff 

illegally accessed the 

voicemail messages of a 

murdered schoolgirl as 

well as hundreds of celebrities 

and public figures. 

Brooks was editor of the 

News of the World 

between 2000 and 2003 

before going on to edit its 

sister newspaper The Sun. 

She became CEO of News 

International in 2009. 

She and her personal 

assistant Cheryl Carter are 

accused of trying to remove 

boxes of evidence 

from the News International 

archive in the days 

before and after the fall of 

the News of the World. 

Like Brooks, former 

News of the World news 

editor James Weatherup 

and former managing 

editor Stuart Kuttner 

denied conspiracy to hack 

phones between 2000 

and 2006. 

Prosecutors claim the 

other defendants, including 

Brooks’ husband, former 

News International 

security chief Mark 

Hanna and chauffeur Paul 

Edwards, hid documents, 

computers and other evidence 

from police. 

moments still ahead of us.” 

He pledged more than 5 billion 

koruna ($250 million) for 

clean-up work. 

Czech public television said 

a barrier that protects one 

major chemical plant in 

Lovosice was leaking on 

Wednesday. Necas was 

scheduled to visit the plant 

later in the day. 

Downstream, hundreds of 

people were being evacuated 

in the German city of 

Dresden, where the Elbe was 

expected to crest on 

Wednesday evening. Early in 

the day it was running about 7 

metres (21 feet) over normal 

levels in the eastern city.


Pakistan / South Asia 

Sharif sworn in Pakistan PM for third term 

PTI 

ISLAMABAD 

NEARLY 14 years after being 

deposed in a military coup and 

forced into exile, Nawaz Sharif 

was on Wednesday sworn in as 

Pakistan’s Prime Minister for a 

record third term, as he vowed 

to revive the country’s ailing 

economy and called for an end 

to the controversial US drone 

strikes. 63-year-old Sharif was 

sworn in by President Asif Ali 

Zardari at a function at the 

presidency on Wednesday 

evening after being formally 

elected as PM by an overwhelming 

majority in 342- 

member National Assembly. 

Sharif is the 27th PM of 

Pakistan, which has witnessed 

three military coups in its 66- 

year history. He became the 

first person to serve as PM for a 

third term. Sharif, served as 

premier during 1990-1993 and 

1997-1999 but was ousted from 

office before he could complete 

his term on corruption charges 

and later because of a military 

coup led by Pervez Musharraf. 

After spending the past five 

years in the opposition, Sharif 

led his PML-N party to victory 

in the May 11 general elections. 

“The economic position is very 

bad and I will not present a 

fanciful image of heaven,” 

Sharif said while addressing 

the National Assembly after his 

formal election as the premier. 

He pledged that he would not 

“sit easy” or allow his “team to 

sit easy”. 

Pakistan’s new PM Nawaz Sharif addresses the National Assembly, in Islamabad, on Wednesday. (AFP) 

Foreign policy issues, including 

relations with India, did not 

figure in Sharif’s speech 

though he said that US drone 

strikes in Pakistan’s tribal belt 

“must stop”. 

Sharif was formally elected 

PM by the National Assembly 

after bagging 244 votes in the 

House. Makhdoom Amin 

Fahim, the candidate of the 

Pakistan Peoples Party that led 

the previous government, got 

42 votes. Veteran politician 

Javed Hashmi, the candidate 

of Imran Khan’s Pakistan 

Tehrik-e-Insaf party, got 31 

votes. The swearing in ceremony 

in an ornate hall in the presidency 

was attended by top 

leaders of the PML-N, several 

PPP leaders, including former 

premiers Yousuf Raza Gilani 

and Raja Pervez Ashraf, former 

ministers, parliamentarians, 

bureaucrats, and diplomats. 

The President warmly shook 

hands with Sharif, clad in a 

dark sherwani, at the conclusion 

of the brief ceremony as 

the new premier’s daughter, 

Maryam Nawaz, looked on 

with a smile. 

Sharif’s wife Kalsoom Nawaz 

and his daughter Maryam sat 

in the front row at a short distance 

from Zardari’s daughter 

Aseefa Bhutto Zardari. The 

three service chiefs, including 

powerful army chief Gen 

Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, and 

Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee 

chairman Gen Khalid Wynne 

too sat in the front row. 

Members of the interim government 

led by caretaker PM 

Mir Hazar Khan Khoso and 

Indian High Commissioner 

Sharat Sabharwal also attended 

the ceremony. Sharif’s elevation 

as PM marks the completion 

of the first democratic 

transition of power in 

Pakistan’s turbulent history. 

Sharif sought an end to the 

controversial US drone attacks 

targeting Al Qaeda and Taliban 

militants in safe havens in the 

country’s lawless tribal belts. 

“We respect the sovereignty 

of others and they should 

respect our sovereignty and 

independence. This campaign 

must come to an end,” Sharif 

told MPs. He called for all parties 

and stakeholders to be on 

the same page for tackling the 

country’s massive political and 

economic challenges. 

The country has remained 

stuck in a cycle of low growth 

and high inflation, unable to 

create jobs for the two million 

people who enter the employment 

market annually. “I will 

contact all parties and their 

leaders. Let’s sit together and if 

you share our vision, we are 

ready to share your vision. Let 

us sit and make a common 

agenda to pull the country out 

of problems,” Sharif said. 

Pakistan was facing serious 

problems that cannot be solved 

by any single political party, 

Sharif said. Besides a massive 

energy crisis that has resulted 

in power outages of 12 to 20 

hours a day across the country 

and an economic meltdown, 

the new PML-N government 

will have to contend with a raging 

Taliban insurgency that has 

claimed tens of thousands of 

lives over the past six years. 

Sharif said he and his aides 

had framed a plan of action to 

cope with Pakistan’s problems 

and he would soon inform the 

people about the steps the government 

intended to take. 

However, he cautioned the 

people that they should not 

expect any quick fixes or promises 

that are unrealistic. 

The PML-N will take on all 

challenges and focus on good 

governance in order to overcome 

problems like despair 

among the youth, corruption, 

extremism and lawlessness 

and Pakistan’s poor image in 

the world community, Sharif 

said. The PML-N’s plan for a 

“Roshan Pakistan” will include 

steps to boost economic and 

trade activities to help the 

country stand on its own feet 

and measures to create new 

infrastructure and investment 

opportunities. 

“We will not tolerate any 

form of corruption and there 

will be strong accountability,” 

he said. The new premier, 

however, did not outline how 

his government intends to deal 

with the banned Tehrik-e- 

Taliban Pakistan and other 

militant groups. In the past few 

weeks, Sharif has called for 

peace talks with the militants. 

The Taliban withdrew their 

offer of talks after its deputy 

chief Waliur Rehman was 

killed in a recent US drone 

strike. Strict security arrangements 

were put in place for the 

swearing in ceremony. 

Hundreds of security personnel 

were deployed around the 

Red Zone in Islamabad where 

the parliament and presidency 

are located. Helicopters were 

used for aerial surveillance of 

the area. 

3 Rohingyas killed 

in clashes with 

Myanmar troops 

AFP 

YANGON 

THREE Muslim Rohingya 

women have been shot dead 

in a confrontation with security 

forces at a camp for displaced 

victims of sectarian 

violence in western 

Myanmar, police said on 

Wednesday. Several episodes 

of deadly communal unrest 

have tempered international 

optimism about the country’s 

dramatic political reforms as 

it emerges from decades of 

harsh military rule. 

The latest bloodshed happened 

on Tuesday at a camp 

at Parein in Rakhine state 

after some Rohingya refused 

to move to new shelters provided 

by the authorities, local 

police officer Maung Maung 

Mya told AFP by telephone. 

“The three died as warning 

shots were fired,” he said, 

adding that four others were 

injured. 

“They think they will lose 

their own land if they are 

moved to the new shelters. So 

they don’t move.” 

The incident came as hundreds 

of world leaders, business 

chiefs and media began 

arriving in Myanmar for the 

World Economic Forum on 

East Asia — a chance for the 

former pariah to showcase its 

economic and political 

reforms. Up to 140,000 people 

— mainly Rohingya — 

were displaced in two waves 

of sectarian unrest between 

Buddhists and Muslims in 

Rakhine last year that left 

about 200 people dead. 

Myanmar views its population 

of roughly 800,000 

Rohingya as illegal 

Bangladeshi immigrants. 

They are considered by the 

UN to be one of the world’s 

most persecuted minorities. 

A government official in 

Rakhine confirmed the three 

deaths, accusing Rohingya 

camp dwellers of attacking 

security forces because they 

were unhappy with the new 

shelters. It was not possible to 

verify his account. 

“The security forces there 

had to fire back because they 

cannot control the violence,” 

he said. Thousands of 

Rohingya have fled Myanmar 

in rickety and overcrowded 

boats since the Rakhine violence 

erupted last year. Scores 

have died making the perilous 

journey south towards 

Thailand and Malaysia. 

Human Rights Watch in April 

accused Myanmar of “a campaign 

of ethnic cleansing” 

against the Rohingya, citing 

evidence of mass graves and 

forced displacement affecting 

thousands. The government 

has rejected the allegations. 

Religious unrest has also 

broken out elsewhere in the 

ethnically diverse country, 

with dozens of people dying 

in violence in central 

Myanmar in March that 

mainly targeted Muslims. 

Another outbreak of sectarian 

strife in the eastern state 

of Shan last month left at least 

one dead. 

President Thein Sein’s 

quasi-civilian government 

has surprised the world 

since coming to power two 

years ago with dramatic 

political and economic 

changes that have led to the 

lifting of most Western sanctions. 

Soldiers patrol the makeshift tents at a camp for Rohingya people, 

in Sittwe, on Wednesday. (AP) 

Myanmar courts investors at ‘Asia’s Davos’ 

AFP 

NAYPYIDAW 

MYANMAR touted its dramatic 

post-junta reforms on 

Wednesday in a bid to entice 

foreign investors as hundreds 

of world leaders and industry 

chiefs visited the long-isolated 

nation for Asia’s edition of the 

World Economic Forum. 

Some 900 delegates from 

more than 50 countries gathered 

in the capital Naypyidaw 

for the three-day WEF on East 

Asia — a regional version of the 

annual gathering of business 

and political luminaries in the 

Swiss resort of Davos. 

Foreign firms are queuing up 

to enter the country formerly 

known as Burma, tantalised by 

the prospect of a largely 

untapped market with a potential 

60 million new consumers 

in addition to Myanmar’s pool 

of cheap labour. 

They include Coca-Cola, 

which has returned to 

Myanmar after an absence of 

more than 60 years with a new 

bottling plant, as well as consumer 

products giant Unilever 

which will soon start production 

in the country. 

“This event is really going to 

raise the visibility of Myanmar 

to the economic community 

outside of the country,” Heang 

Chhor, partner at McKinsey & 

Co said. “Beyond the usual suspects 

such as agriculture, energy 

and mining and infrastructure 

most firms are still looking 

600 workers fall sick in Dhaka garment factory 

AFP 

DHAKA 

HUNDREDS of employees of a 

Bangladesh garment factory 

near the capital fell sick on 

Wednesday after drinking suspected 

contaminated water in 

their workplace, police and factory 

officials said. 

“Primarily we suspect the 

water supply of the Starlight 

Sweaters factory was poisoned 

or contaminated,” local industrial 

police officer Mahfuzur 

Rahman said. Based Ali, the 

administrative officer of the 

factory, told AFP the number 

of affected workers could be as 

high as 600. “The workers 

Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi (centre) speaks to reporters after attending the Energy 

Summit meeting at the 22nd World Economic Forum on East Asia, in Naypyitaw, on Wednesday. (EPA) 

at the potential of Myanmar. 

What are the opportunities 

lying out there in the next 20 

years?” he said. The interest 

works both ways, with 

Myanmar desperately short of 

jobs, skills and infrastructure to 

drive an economic revival and 

lift its people out of poverty. 

“Our country very much lags 

behind... we lack contact with 

the other markets,” said Wah 

Wah Maung of the national 

planning and economic development 

ministry, adding the 

forum is a chance to “market 

our nation”. President Thein 

Sein’s quasi-civilian government 

has surprised the world 

since coming to power two 

years ago with dramatic political 

and economic changes that 

have led to the lifting of most 

have been sent to different hospitals 

after they reported stomach 

pain and started vomiting. 

We estimate the number could 

be up to 600,” he said. The 

accident follows the collapse of 

a building housing five garment 

factories in April that 

killed 1,129 people. 

The tragedy, the industry’s 

worst ever, has led to renewed 

scrutiny of “made-in- 

Bangladesh” clothes which are 

commonly sold in the West. 

The factories in the doomed 

Rana Plaza building just outside 

Dhaka had made clothing 

for Western retailers including 

Italy’s Benetton, Britain’s 

Primark and Spain’s Mango 

Western sanctions. Hundreds 

of political prisoners have been 

freed, democracy champion 

Aung San Suu Kyi has been 

welcomed into a new parliament 

and tentative ceasefires 

have been reached in the country’s 

multiple ethnic civil wars. 

On the eve of the conference, 

former general Thein Sein said 

in a radio address to the nation 

that all remaining prisoners of 

conscience would soon be 

freed. Activists say some 200 

political prisoners remain in 

jail and accuse Myanmar of 

using a series of headline-grabbing 

amnesties for political 

gain. Both Thein Sein and Suu 

Kyi are scheduled to address 

the forum on Thursday, but 

many participants are eager for 

a chance to meet face-to-face. 

An official from 

Bangladesh’s Garment 

Manufacturers and Exporters 

Association, which represents 

“Many important people are 

trying to see the president,” a 

government official said. “But 

of course he cannot meet 

everyone.” After years lagging 

behind its more developed 

neighbours, Myanmar is now 

taking steps to revive its 

impoverished economy. 

The currency was floated last 

year, there are moves to give 

the central bank more independence 

and a new foreign 

investment law has been 

passed, catching the eye of foreign 

executives. 

At the same time some delegates 

struck a note of caution 

for Myanmar as it opens up to 

the outside world, urging 

authorities to harvest new 

knowledge but resist investment 

that exploits the country. 

Garment workers carry a colleague injured by rubber bullets fired by 

riot policemen during clashes, in Dhaka, on Wednesday. (REUTERS) 

4,500 garment plants, said the 

contamination could have 

been deliberate. “We are suspecting 

that it was poisoning of 

“Investors need to abide by 

the standards within the country 

or world,” Han Thar Myint, 

a spokesman for Suu Kyi’s 

National League for 

Democracy party, told AFP at 

the forum. “We have to welcome 

countries that abide by 

high ethical standards.” 

The former junta was 

accused by rights groups of 

plundering the country’s natural 

resources for personal gain. 

The new government has 

pledged openness in an effort 

to reassure investors over corruption 

concerns. Experts say 

businesses entering Myanmar 

also face major hurdles, including 

an opaque legal framework 

as well as a lack of basic infrastructure 

and of government 

and private-sector expertise. 

Several outbreaks of deadly 

religious violence have also 

cast a shadow over the reform 

process. The country’s “major 

challenge” is to persuade companies 

of the strength of its 

basic infrastructure and labour 

force as well as to build faith in 

its political stability, said 

Heang Chhor of McKinsey. 

A handout notice from the 

forum gives delegates some 

taste of the business challenges 

facing the country, noting that 

there will be no cash machines 

for international customers, 

credit cards are not accepted 

and the 3G network “is not 

available” for users of 

BlackBerry and other mobile 

phones. 

the water. It could be some sort 

of pesticide,” SM Mannan, V-P 

of the BGMEA, said. 

“This is an A-grade factory. It 

has its own water supply which 

comes from a deep tube well, 

so there is no scope for contamination. 

Someone might 

have mixed poison to the 

water,” he said. Earlier in the 

day police fired rubber bullets 

and tear gas at a protest by the 

families of missing garment 

workers presumed dead in the 

factory disaster. Officials in 

Savar, where the building collapsed 

on April 24, said a thousand-strong-crowd 

of garment 

workers gathered at the site of 

the wrecked building.

India 

Thursday, June 6, 2013 

13 

By-poll boost 

to Modi, blow 

to Nitish, Cong 

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (left) with Finance Minister P Chidambaram during the Chief Ministers’ Conference on Internal Security, in New Delhi, on Wednesday. (PTI) 

Country will have to pay price 

if NCTC does not come: Govt 

PTI 

NEW DELHI 

REJECTING Western Indian 

state Gujarat Chief Minister 

Narendra Modi’s contention 

that National Counter 

Terrorism Centre (NCTC) is a 

“poorly conceived” idea, the 

Centre on Wednesday said the 

country will have to pay heavy 

price if the anti-terror hub 

does not come into existence. 

Indian Finance Minister P 

Chidambaram, the architect 

of the NCTC, said it was 

“deeply regrettable” that a few 

chief ministers opposed even 

the modified version of the 

National Counter Terrorism 

Centre. 

“I am afraid, the kind of 

seriousness that we should 

give to NCTC, is lost. And I 

deeply regret that a couple of 

chief ministers opposed the 

NCTC even at the present 

modified version. 

Kerala CM 

seeks Centre’s 

help on 

Kuwait issue 

PTI 

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM 

CONGRESS-LED United 

Democratic Front government 

and opposition CPI(M) 

in southern Indian state 

Kerala have voiced concern 

over deportation of Indian 

workers from Kuwait as part 

of its indigenisation policy 

and sought the Centre’s intervention 

to ensure that those 

affected would not face 

harassment. 

In a letter to Prime Minister 

Manmohan Singh, state Chief 

Minister Oommen Chandy 

wanted the Centre to take 

immediate steps to address 

the problems faced by 

Indians, a majority of whom 

are Keralites. 

Chandy said a large number 

of Keralites in Kuwait faced 

the threat of deportation with 

the authorities there taking 

stringent measures to send 

those staying there without 

proper documents. 

He wanted the Centre to 

ensure that Kuwait authorities 

informed the Indian embassy 

details of the arrest of Indians. 

He suggested that the Centre 

explore possibilities such as 

urging the Kuwaiti 

Government to declare a sixmonth 

amnesty for affected 

workers or give them three 

months’ time to get proper 

documents. 

Meanwhile, in a statement, 

CPI(M) or Communist Party 

of India (Marxist) state secretary 

Pinarayi Vijayan also 

sought urgent central intervention 

in the matter. 

If this NCTC is opposed, I 

am afraid, as I said, the country 

will pay price from time to 

time,” he told reporters after 

Modi’s criticism of NCTC at 

the Chief Ministers conference. 

The Gujarat chief minister 

termed the NCTC as a “poorly 

conceived” idea which “tinkers” 

with old ideas rather 

than strengthening them. 

Modi said the proposed structure 

of the NCTC is not in 

congruence with the principles 

of federalism as it essentially 

tries to create a “federal 

police” which is an alien concept 

to the country. 

Chidambaram, who was 

present at the conference, 

said that had the central government 

brought NCTC along 

with amendment to the 

Unlawful Activities 

(Prevention) Act, National 

Investigation Agency Act and 

with the Multi Agency Centre 

PTI 

NEW DELHI 

AHEAD of the Lok Sabha 

elections and assembly polls 

in five states this year, Indian 

government on Wednesday 

said efforts are being made 

for expeditous implementation 

of 4.5 per cent minority 

subquota, a decision that was 

rejected by the apex court 

earlier. 

Minority Affairs Minister K 

Rahman Khan, who has been 

holding the view that the 

Supreme Court of India had 

not questioned the merit of 

the minority subquota decision 

and its objection was on 

technical grounds, on 

Wednesday said that 

in December 2008 after the 

26/11 terror attack, it would 

have got approval of the 

states. 

“Some chief ministers are 

talking about giving safeguards 

on NCTC. They are 

not opposing NCTC. I think 

opposing NCTC is unfortunate. 

I think it is wrong,” he 

said. 

Chidambaram said the 

present form of the NCTC was 

a modified version and no 

Congress chief minister 

opposed it. According 

to the February, 2012 executive 

order, which faced strong 

opposition from non- 

Congress chief ministers, the 

NCTC will work as an “integral” 

part of Intelligence 

Bureau and its director will 

report to the IB chief. 

Besides, the anti-terror body 

was given ‘power’ through the 

executive order to carry out 

operations, including arrest, 

Government is trying to get 

an early hearing on the issue 

so that the matter is resolved 

soon. 

“We stand committed to 

what we had promised in our 

party manifesto about resevation 

to backwards among 

Muslims. We are confident 

that 4.5 subquota for backward 

Muslims will see the 

light of the day. We are trying 

that the case comes up for an 

early hearing in the Supreme 

Court. Talks are on with 

Attorney General. We are 

hopeful that it will happen 

soon,” Khan said. 

He felt that there was no 

ground for rejecting the 

minority subquota as “it is not 

a new thing, we have added.” 

search and seizure, while 

keeping the state police concerned 

into the loop. 

However, the latest draft of 

the NCTC said it will work 

directly under the Home 

Ministry and not the IB. 

Besides, when a terrorist or a 

terror group is identified or 

located, operations against 

them would be carried out 

through or in conjunction 

with state police. 

“Where services of special 

forces are required to assist 

the state police for any operation, 

the NCTC shall have the 

authority to requisition the 

special forces,” the draft says. 

Commenting on Modi’s 

statement that the country 

lacks a strong anti-terror law, 

Chidambaram said UAPA has 

adequate provisions to deal 

with terror cases but what the 

country needed was instruments 

like NCTC to implement 

the law. 

“Backward Muslims are 

already getting reservations 

under BC reservation category 

of 27 percent as per the 

Mandal Commission recommendations. 

We are just creating 

a subquota within the 

OBC group as backward 

minorities were not being able 

to get their share,” Khan said. 

The Supreme Court has 

admitted the Centre’s petition 

against that verdict, but 

has asked for details on how 

the government arrived at 

the figure of 4.5 per cent. The 

minority subquota decision 

was announced in December 

2011 by the UPA (United 

Progressive Alliance) government 

ahead of the assembly 

elections in Uttar 

“One instrument is MAC. 

Today, The Chief Minister of 

Gujarat is praising MAC. 

MAC was operationalised by 

me after I took over (as Home 

Minister) in December 2008. 

That is one instrument. NIA 

is the second instrument. The 

third, and I maintain, the 

most important instrument, 

is NCTC. 

“He (Modi) wants an antiterror 

law or strengthening 

of anti-terror law. Actually 

he wants to bring back 

TADA and POTA. Why did 

not he say so...that I want 

POTA back. The Congress 

party is opposed to POTA, 

the UPA is opposed to 

POTA,” he said. 

The Finance Minister said 

in Parliament, in 2008, when 

he (as Home Minister) moved 

the amendments of UAPA, 

they (BJP) wanted two provisions 

of POTA but he rejected 

the proposal. 

Govt hopes to implement minority 

subquota soon, says minister 

Pradesh in 2012. 

The Minority Affairs minister 

was addressing a press 

conferece after the Union 

Cabinet on Tuesday modified 

certain criteria of Multi Sector 

Development Plans thereby 

expanding the reach of thenational 

scheme for the development 

of minority concentrated 

states. 

With the change of criteria 

from districts to blocks, six 

more states — Andhra 

Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, 

Gujarat, Punjab, Rajasthan 

and Tripura will also be covered. 

Of these, assembly elections 

are due this year in 

Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan 

and in Andhra Pradesh in 

2014. 

PTI 

AHMEDABAD/PATNA 

IN a major boost to Narendra 

Modi in the party’s prime 

ministerial race, the 

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) 

on Wednesday swept the six 

by-elections to Lok Sabha 

and Assembly seats in western 

Indian state Gujarat 

while his detractor Nitish 

Kumar suffered a blow in 

Bihar and Congress drew a 

blank in four states. 

Wresting all the six seats 

from Congress in Gujarat, the 

BJP won the Lok Sabha byelections 

in Porbandar and 

Banaskantha with a margin of 

over 1.28 lakh and 71,000 

votes respectively and bagged 

the Assembly seats of Limbadi, 

Morva Hadaf, Jetpur and 

Doraji by handsome margins. 

Interestingly, the BJP candidate 

Vithhal Radadia, who 

defected from Congress after 

a controversy last year when 

he brandished a gun at a toll 

booth, won the Porbandar 

Lok Sabha seat. 

Banaskantha went to 

Haribhai Chaudhry of BJP. 

The by-election results came 

as a boost to Modi in the race 

for prime ministership in BJP, 

whose National Executive will 

be meeting in Goa this weekend 

when he may be made the 

head of the party’s campaign 

committee for the next year’s 

Lok Sabha polls. 

The defeat of ruling Janata 

Dal(United) in northern 

Indian state Bihar was a 

major victory for RJD chief 

Lalu Prasad, whose party 

won the Lok Sabha by-election 

from Maharajganj with 

a margin of over 1.37 lakh 

votes. 

Maharajganj, held by RJD 

rpt RJD in 2009 general 

elections, was now secured 

by RJD’s Prabhunath Singh 

who polled over 3.81 lakh 

votes. JD(U) candidate P K 

Shahi got over 2.44 lakh 

votes and Congress candidate 

Jitendra Swami came a 

poor third with over 22,000 

votes. Prabhunath Singh was 

a JD(U) MP in the last Lok 

Sabha. 

In the lone Lok Sabha byelection 

in Howrah in eastern 

Indian state West Bengal, the 

ruling Trinamool Congress 

retained the seat with a margin 

of over 27,000 votes defeat the 

nearest CPI(M) rival nudging 

the Congress to the third spot. 

In New Delhi for a Chief 

Minister’s conference, Modi 

immediately latched on to the 

“100 per cent victory” and 

claimed it was symptomatic of 

the people’s anger against the 

Congress-led UPA at the 

Centre and a message to the 

Congress “pack up”. 

Endorsing his views, BJP 

President Rajnath Singh said 

people are angry with the UPA 

government. Today’s results 

would have a deep impact on 

the Congress which faces its 

worst defeat in the next elections, 

he said. 

Buoyed by his party victory, 

Lalu Prasad said this was only 

a semi final and that RJD 

would sweep all the 40 seats in 

the “finals” next year in the 

Lok Sabha polls. All sections of 

the people including women 

were angry with the Bihar 

chief minister and his government, 

he claimed. 

While Modi claimed the 

BJP victory was an “ultimatum” 

to the Congress, 

Finance Minister P 

Chidambaram said BJP had 

nothing to be proud of the victory 

in Gujarat where a candidate 

described by the chief 

minister as gun-toting defected 

to his party and has won. 

Vitthal Radadia’s son 

Jayesh, who too quit Congress 

to join BJP along with his 

father, won Jetpur assembly 

seat thumping Jagdish 

Pambhar of Congress by a 

massive 52,910 votes. 

BJP’s Kiritsinh Rana, a former 

state minister won 

Limbadi seat defeating 

Congress candidate Satish 

Patel by 24,787 votes. 

Modi meets Rajnath, Advani ahead of Goa meet 

Gujarat CM Narendra Modi (left) and BJP President Rajnath Singh 

share sweets, in New Delhi, on Wednesday. (PTI) 

PTI 

NEW DELHI 

NARENDRA Modi, riding a 

sweeping victory in the 

Western Indian state Gujarat 

by-elections, on Wednesday 

met BJP President Rajnath 

Singh amid indications that he 

may be made the head of the 

party’s campaign committee 

for next Lok Sabha elections at 

the National Executive meet in 

Goa this weekend. 

BJP’s impressive victory 

wresting the two Lok Sabha 

and four assembly seats from 

Congress formed the backdrop 

for the Singh-Modi meeting. 

Modi, who is here to attend 

the chief ministers’ conference 

on internal security, met 

Singh and discussed the forthcoming 

Goa conclave and the 

issue of formation of the campaign 

committee. While there 

is a clamour among the cadre 

and vast sections of BJP leaders 

for making Modi, Gujarat 

Chief Minister, the head of the 

committee, senior party 

leader L K Advani reportedly 

has some reservations. 

Modi also met Advani who 

congratulated him over the 

by-election victory. 

The top leadership is said 

to be mulling over whether 

two committees - an election 

management committee for 

the forthcoming assembly 

polls in five states and a campaign 

committee for the Lok 

Sabha polls should be formed 

or a single panel be constituted 

for both. 

With former BJP President 

Nitin Gadkari- whose name 

was proposed by Advani for 

the Assembly elections management 

committee- conveying 

to Singh that he is not 

interested in the job, the party 

may now constitute only the 

much-awaited campaign committee 

for the Lok Sabha polls. 

It is not yet clear whether 

The defeat of ruling 

Janata 

Dal(United) in 

northern Indian 

state Bihar was a 

major victory for 

RJD chief Lalu 

Prasad, whose 

party won the Lok 

Sabha bye election 

from Maharajganj 

with a margin of 

over 1.37 lakh 

votes. 

RJD Chief Lalu Prasad talks to the media after his party candidate 

Prabhunath Singh won Maharajganj Lok Sabha seat, in Patna, on 

Wednesday. (PTI) 

this committee will also handle 

the assembly polls. 

However, some roadblocks 

still remain for Modi to be 

annointed the head of the 

campaign committee. Modi 

drove to Advani’s residence 

after his meeting with Singh. 

Party sources said earlier 

in the day that Advani had 

called Modi to congratulate 

him on the by-poll victory. 

“Advani expressed his pleasure 

and satisfaction at this 

impressive victory in the two 

Lok Sabha and four assembly 

seats. All these were held 

by Congress earlier,” the 

sources said.


Renowned Quran reciter 

lauds QF education efforts 


DOHA 

Officials of Qatar Foundation with Sheikh Fahd al Kandari, in Doha, on Wednesday. 

SHEIKH Fahd al Kandari, a 

prominent Quran reciter, has 

commended Qatar 

Foundation for Education, 

Science and Community 

Development for the significant 

role and remarkable 

effort it has made to promote 

scientific research and learning 

across the Middle East 

region. 

During a visit to Qatar 

Foundation on Wednesday, 

Sheikh Kandari called on 

Arab nations to draw inspiration 

from the exemplary standards 

set forth by the organisation. 

He praised its steadfast 

commitment to educating 

youth and providing them 

with the highest standards of 

learning. 

He said, “I urge all those 

who are involved in the fields 

of education and science in 

the Gulf region to visit Qatar 

Foundation and learn from 

its admirable mission to 

achieve scientific prosperity. I 

also call upon them to gain 

inspiration from the organisation’s 

rich experiences and 

to adopt the clear focus it 

shows to developing human 

potential and capacity, 

because that is a real investment.” 

Rashid al Qurese, Qatar 

Foundation’s deputy director 

of communication, introduced 

Sheikh Kandari to the 

Foundation’s many educational 

initiatives, community 

development plans and scientific 

research programmes. 

The Islamic reciter was also 

briefed on Qatar 

Nation 

Foundation’s mission, as well 

as its many sustainability initiatives 

and climate action 

solutions. After the presentation, 

he was shown an 

impressive 3D scale model of 

the current buildings and 

construction projects that are 

underway at Qatar 

Foundation. 

Sheikh Kandari added, “I 

would like to thank Qatar 

Foundation for providing me 

with the opportunity to visit 

its outstanding and beautiful 

premises and, God willing, 

the organisation shall bring 

prosperity to the Gulf region. 

We are all very proud of this 

leading and unique institution, 

which will reap substantial 

benefits in the areas of science, 

education, sports, community 

development, among 

others.” 

Through his beautiful 

recitations, Sheikh Kandari 

has succeeded at delivering 

the peaceful message of the 

Islamic faith to a large segment 

of youth across the Arab 

and Islamic world. He is gifted 

with a distinct style of 

recitation that is characterised 

by the clarity and 

strength of his voice. 

At the end of the visit, 

Sheikh Kandari signed the 

visitor’s book and was presented 

with a commemorative 

gift from Qatar 

Foundation. 

Ooredoo helps firms 

fight cyber attacks 


DOHA 

OOREDOO and Arbor 

Networks have partnered to 

launch a new suite of network 

security solutions to help businesses 

of all sizes fight cyber 

attacks. 

Over the past year, Qatar’s 

growing international presence 

has led businesses to face 

increasingly sophisticated 

cyber attacks. Several highprofile 

organisations have had 

their computer systems, email, 

websites and social media 

accounts compromised. 

Increasingly, attackers are 

using Distributed Denial-of- 

Service (DDoS) which can be 

complex, hard-to-detect 

attacks that target firewalls and 

existing security infrastructure 

as well as applications. 

In response, Ooredoo has 

strengthened its DDoS prevention 

solutions to help businesses 

fight cyber crime and 

enhance their cyber-security. 

Ooredoo’s suite of solutions 

monitors, analyses and protects 

network operations 

through two major lines of 

defence, enhanced by Arbor 

Networks. 

Founded in 2000, Arbor 

Networks has been a leading 

provider of network security 

and management solutions 

for enterprise and service 

provider networks. The first 

line of defence is Ooredoo’s 

centralised DDoS mitigation 

platform, which is hosted 

within Ooredoo’s world-class 

infrastructure. This solution 

monitors and protects business’ 

WAN internet services 

against large-scale attacks. 

Ooredoo is also providing a 

second line of defence called 

an application-layer security 

service. This hardware-based 

solution sits within the enterprise 

environment and works 

with the hosted DDoS mitigation 

platform to detect internal, 

smaller-scale attacks and 

to actively monitor, alert and 

protect the enterprise IT environment. 

“Arbor Networks deliver 

world-class network security 

services and this partnership 

between Ooredoo and Arbor 

demonstrates our commitment 

of service excellence to 

our customers. DDoS attacks 

are a global threat that can 

cripple even the largest of 

enterprises, now our business 

customers of all sizes have a 

solution that can provide a 

safe harbour against such 

attacks,” said Jonathan 

Haysom, senior manager, 

Fixed Data Services, Ooredoo. 

2 Canadians get Queen Elizabeth 

Diamond Jubilee medals 


DOHA 

QATAR Airways has stepped 

up frequency on the Paris – 

Doha route to triple daily 

flights ahead of the peak 

summer travel season. 

Increasing from 18 to 21 

scheduled flights a week, the 

additional capacity means 

travellers to and from France 

will have even greater choice, 

improved connectivity, more 

flexibility and extra convenience 

when planning their 

holidays. 

The frequency increase is 

another step in Qatar 

Airways’ continued expansion 

strategy to grow and 

enhance its international 

network – both with new 

destinations and more 

capacity on existing routes, 

the airline said in a statement. 

Paris remains a highly 

popular and key destination 

in the carrier’s rising 

European network and by 

offering multiple daily services, 

travellers from across the 

network will benefit from 

QA increases Paris 

flights to 3 daily 

shorter transit times. 

An array of connecting 

destinations over the airline’s 

Doha hub include Muscat, 

Dubai, Cape Town, 

Kilimanjaro, Delhi, Goa, 

Mumbai, Hong Kong, 

Singapore, Shanghai, 

Bangkok, Melbourne and 

Perth. 

The French capital is currently 

number three on the 

global top 20 destinations list 

for 2013, according to 

research from the Global 

Destination Cities index. 

Qatar Airways Chief 

Executive Officer Akbar al 

Baker said: “Our announcement 

today reflects the 

importance we pay to one of 

the world’s top destinations 

offering French travellers 

and those from around the 

world with greater travel 

options. 

“We recognise that time 

savings are top of travellers’ 

minds when planning their 

journeys, which is why Qatar 

Airways is committed to 

always studying our route 

map and expanding to every 

corner of the globe, while at 

the same time adding frequencies 

on many of our 

existing routes. 

“The additional services 

enable families and business 

and leisure travellers alike to 

experience the award-winning 

signature service that 

Qatar Airways is so 

renowned for. 

“And what better way to 

show our commitment to the 

French market with our 

announcement coming just 

days before France yet again 

hosts one of the world’s 

biggest air shows at Le 

Bourget near Paris.” 

Qatar Airways Country 

Manager France & Benelux 

Eric Didier added: “I would 

like to take this opportunity to 

thank our corporate and travel 

trade partners for supporting 

us over the years, growing 

our Paris operations to our 

now thrice-daily services. 

“We look forward to providing 

yet more choice for 

our existing and new customer 

base with our Doha 

hub being a great gateway to 

many exciting cities we serve 

across different continents.” 


DOHA 

AMY Johnson, director for 

The Look Company in Qatar, 

and Robert Bruce Johnson, 

consultant and lawyer for 

Heenan Blaikie in Qatar have 

been awarded Queen 

Elizabeth II’s Diamond 

Jubilee Medal for their 

achievements in Qatar and 

their exceptional service to 

Canada, internationally. 

Amy’s family started the 

Look Company in 1998 in 

Canada, before opening their 

second manufacturing facility 

in the Middle East in Doha. 

“I’m very proud I was given 

this medal, to be recognised in 

Canada for my achievements 

in my home of Qatar; it is a 

great honor. This type of 

award isn’t possible without 

the support of the community 

and my family and I are very 

appreciative to be a part of the 

fabric of this country. We are 

grateful for the opportunities 

that have been provided to 

The Look Company and look 

forward to helping Qatar prepare 

for the next huge milestone, 

the Qatar 2022 World 

Cup,” Amy said. 

Dignitaries at a function at the Canadian embassy, in Doha, recently. 

The Look Company worked 

with the Qatar 2022 Bid 

Committee in support of the 

FIFA bid. Its 4,500 square 

metre digital textile printing 

facility is the largest in the 

Middle East and prides itself 

in its high quality workmanship 

by experienced local staff. 

Bruce has recently opened 

Heenan Blaikie’s regional rep 

office in Doha. He works 

closely with Canada’s Prime 

Minister Jean Chretien and 

facilitates Canadian and 

American businesses settingup 

and winning business in 

Qatar. His consulting and 

legal practice also focuses on 

international investments and 

advisory work, international 

M&A, assisting emerging 

countries with their nuclear 

power generation programmes 

as well as providing 

family office services to ultrahigh 

net-worth individuals. 

“I am very proud to be part 

of helping Qatar achieve its 

2030 vision by bringing 

Canada and Qatar closer. It is 

an honour to be awarded 

Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond 

Jubilee medal in part for this 

work,” Bruce commented. 

The Queen Elizabeth II 

Diamond Jubilee Medal is a 

new commemorative medal 

that was created to mark the 

2012 celebrations of the 60th 

anniversary of Her Majesty 

Queen Elizabeth II’s accession 

to the throne as Queen of 

Canada. The medal is a tangible 

way for Canada to honour 

the Queen for her service to 

the country. At the same time, 

it serves to honour significant 

contributions and achievements 

by Canadians all 

around the world. 

Maxime Bernier, Canadian 

minister of state (small business 

and tourism) decided to 

honour Amy Johnson and 

Robert Bruce Johnson with 

the medals for their exceptional 

service to Canada. 

Theatrical street show Stomp to debut in Doha tonight 

CATHERINE W GICHUKI 

DOHA 

THE stage is set for renowned 

theatrical street show Stomp 

to make its debut in Qatar on 

Thursday night at the Qatar 

National Convention Centre 

theatre. 

Showcasing the most 

dynamic, wild and vibrant 

stage shows, the Stomp will 

entertain the crowd with a 

hilarious mix of breathtaking 

dance choreographies, wild 

percussion outbursts and 

staggering acrobatics. The 

show will take place daily 

from June 6 to 8 at 8pm. 

Gates will open from 6pm. 

The two-hour show without 

intermission will feature acts 

where the performers will 

perform with items such as 

drums, bin, kitchen sink, 

water, match boxes, besides 

others. 

The first-of-a-kind event is 

organised by the Art of 

Business (an associate of 

AHB Group) and Premium 

Projects in association with 

Stomp Productions and 

Glynis Henderson productions. 

Speaking to Qatar Tribune 

after a press conference on 

Wednesday, Managing 

Director & Creative Director 

of Premium Projects Chris 

Van Kamp said that the show 

is expected to draw an audience 

of about 6,000 over the 

three days. He added that 

there were plans of bringing 

that kind of shows regularly 

to Qatar. 

“Our goal is to bring international 

entertainment on a 

regular basis like every other 

month or every two months 

to set up a structure where 

people are aware that there 

are constantly new productions, 

shows and concerts,” he 

said. 

Van Kamp, of the 

Germany-based company, 

explained that the show 

would feature 12 performers 

Chairman of AHB Group Ahmed Hassan Bilal with members with the members of Stomp cast, in 

Doha, on Wednesday. 

from the United States and 

Australia. 

According to him, “Stomp 

has no spoken words, therefore 

everyone can understand. 

It is all about rhythm 

which is universal to all cultures. 

We believe that rhythm 

can cross borders.” 

“The cast are all multifunctional 

performers. Stomp is a 

mixture of dance, acrobatics, 

and percussion. Children as 

young as five years and people 

as old as 80 years enjoy 

the performances. For the 

fact that the show is all about 

rhythm and percussion, the 

audience is mesmerised 

whether it’s pop, jazz, blues, 

or classical music. It brings 

them all together into this 

rhythm,” he said. 

Van Kamp reiterated that 

Stomp is also interactive. 

“When the show begins, people 

are reserved but when it 

goes on and on everybody is 

participating and clapping 

such that there is no separation 

between the performers 

and the audience,” he added. 

The event is supported by 

Qatar UK 2013, Grand Hyatt, 

and Virgin Megastore. 

Present at the press conference 

were Chairman of AHB 

Group Ahmed Hassan Bilal, 

General Manager of AHB 

Group Ifteqar Ahmed, 

Executive Director of the Art 

of Business Moona Masri- 

Whitice, Events Manager of 

AHB Priyanka Kafur, General 

Manager & Producer of 

Stomp Glynis Hall, Director 

of Strategic Cultural 

Relations for Qatar Museums 

Authority Miguel Blanco 

Carrasco and Grand Hyatt 

General Manager Christoph 

K Franzen. The performers 

staged a preview of the show 

during the press conference. 

In a statement, Director of 

Strategic Cultural Relations 

for Qatar Museums Authority 

Miguel Blanco Carrasco said, 

“Through musical collaboration 

and other initiatives, 

Qatar UK 2013 is connecting 

artistic talent in both countries 

– spurring creativity 

between artists and appreciation 

between communities. A 

product of the UK and a massive 

global hit bridging the 

language barrier, Stomp in 

many ways embodies the 

spirit of the Year of Culture,” 

he said. 

Tickets for the shows are on 

sale at Virgin Megastore outlets 

in Villaggio and 

Landmark Malls as well as at 

Grand Hyatt Hotel or online 

at www.qatar-live.com. The 

tickets are priced at QR299, 

QR399, QR599 and QR799 

for VIP. However, those who 

will purchase three platinum 

tickets (QR599) at Grand 

Hyatt’s tickets booth, will get 

the fourth one free.

Nation Thursday, June 6, 2013 15 

Doha Metro project in the fast lane 

Stations to be constructed 

Red Line North (RLN) to have 7 underground stations 

Red Line South (RLS) to have 6 underground stations 

Green Line (GRN) to have 8 underground stations 

Major Stations (MS) to have two key stations at Msheireb, Education City 

Salient features of Doha Metro 

Metro lines to connect Doha, Al Wakra, Al Khor and Al Rayan 

The lines connecting the four cities intersect at Msheireb Main Station 

QF, West Bay, Lusail, HBKU Airport, QNCC to be connected 

Local, international firms join hands for first phase of Doha Metro 

20 consultancy companies working on Metro projects 

Qatar Rail supervising the projects 


DOHA 

QATAR Railways (Qatar 

Rail), the company overseeing 

the construction of the muchanticipated 

integrated railway 

network, announced on 

Wednesday the award of four 

design and build contracts for 

Phase-I of the Doha Metro 

Project for a total of approximately 

QR30 billion. 

The contracts mark a key 

milestone in the development 

of Qatar Rail 

Development Programme, 

with the construction of 

Phase-I scheduled to begin 

later this year, and expected 

to be completed by 2019. 

The contracts comprise design 

and construction of four 

underground sections namely 

Red Line North (RLN), Red 

Line South (RLS), Green Line 

(GRN) and Major Stations 

(MS), which have been awarded 

to different consortiums of 

contractors. 

The Red Line North (RLN) 

project, for example, has been 

awarded to a consortium led 

by Impregilo SPA, and comprising 

of SK Engineering & 

Construction Co Ltd and 

Galfar Al Misnad Engineering 

& Contracting WLL. 

The Red Line South (RLS) 

project went to a consortium 

led by QDVC which includes 

GS Engineering and 

Construction Corp and AI 

Darwish Engineering WLL. 

The contract for the Green 

Line (GRN) project will be 

handled by a consortium led 

by PORR Bau GmbH. The 

group includes the Saudi 

Binladin Group Company Ltd 

and Hamad Bin Khalid 

Contracting Co WLL. 

The fourth contract for the 

Major Stations (MS) project, 

which includes two major 

stations – one at Msheireb 

and the other at the 

Education City – has been 

given to a consortium led by 

Samsung C&T Corporation, 

comprising Obrascon Huarte 

Lain SA (OHL) and Qatar 

Building Company. 

The scope of work for the 

Red Line North comprises the 

design and construction of 13 

kilometre twin bored tunnel, 

including seven underground 

stations, between the proposed 

Msheireb Underground 

Station and Doha Golf 

Course via Doha West Bay. 

For this, four tunnel boring 

machines are proposed to 

bore the required rail tunnels. 

The tunnels will be built at an 

average depth of 20 metres 

below the ground. 

Similarly, the scope of Red 

Line South contract comprises 

the design and construction of 

the underground works below 

central Doha, including six 

underground stations, between 

the proposed Msheireb 

Underground Station and the 

New Doha International Airport 

(now known as Sheikh 

Hamad International Airport). 

It incorporates the main depot 

and maintenance facilities. 

This package will approximately 

comprise 13.8 km twin 

bored tunnel at an average 

depth of 25 metres below 

ground level utilising five tunnel 

boring machines. The 

maximum depth point will 

approximately reach 50 

metres below ground level. 

As for the scope of the 

Green Line Contract, it comprises 

the design and construction 

of the underground 

works below central Doha and 

to the west of the city, between 

Doha Metro Phase I: Overview Map - Underground 

Doha Metro Phase I: Overview Map - Underground (Doha South West) 

the proposed Msheireb 

Underground Station and 

through to Al Rayyan Stadium. 

There will be eight underground 

stations, in addition to 

a 16.6-km twin bored tunnel. 

The rail tunnels will be built at 

an average depth of 20 metres 

below the ground. 

Major Stations are a standalone 

package to focus efforts 

for what is considered to be 

the two key stations for the 

whole integration of the 

metro project. 

The scope of work comprises 

the construction of two 

interchange stations. The 

excavation for Msheireb station 

of approximately 42 metres 

below ground level will be 

one of the deepest excavations 

within the project. 

A statement by the company 

said, “Qatar Rail is working 

hard to start construction by 

year-end, so that the first phase 

operations begin by 2019. 

This is a big step towards putting 

Qatar Rail into operations 

and moving forward with the 

work ahead of us as we build 

the future of Qatar.” 

“Doha Metro will be one of 

the most modern rail networks 

in the world. The four 

lines of the Doha Metro will 

connect major locations in the 

city, including the Education 

City, West Bay, Lusail, Hamad 

Bin Khalifa International 

Airport and the QNCC.” 

“The awarding of these contracts 

is a significant and 

essential stage for the development 

of Qatar Rail Development 

Program (QRDP),” 

the statement said. 

According to Qatar Rail, 

the tenders witnessed high 

competition which enabled 

the company to get competitive 

bidding. 

“All the technical and commercial 

committees worked in 

the past months diligently 

with full transparency to 

ensure the awarding of contracts 

for the best alliances 

technically and commercially,” 

the statement added. 

The contracts mark a significant 

step in the implementation 

of one of the largest infrastructure 

projects in Qatar. 

It aims to design, develop 

and operate an integrated and 

world class rail system as part 

of Qatar’s development plans. 

“Although the tunnelling 

and the construction of the stations 

are being executed for 

the first time in Qatar, Qatar 

Rail has succeeded in engaging 

Qatari contracting companies 

in all consortiums of the 

awarded contracts. 

“A joint venture between 

local and international companies 

like this will help Qatari 

companies to further enhance 

their skills and expertise,” 

Qatar Rail said. 

The entire project features a 

sustainable design that consumes 

fewer resources, generates 

less waste, costs less to 

operate, and achieves a reduced 

carbon footprint. There 

are currently 20 consultancy 

companies working on these 

vital projects under the supervision 

of Qatar Rail. 

Doha Metro Phase I: Overview Map - Underground (Doha North) 

Doha Metro Phase I: Overview Map - Underground (Doha South East) 

Qatar Rail is working 

hard to start construction 

by year-end, so 

that the first phase 

operations begin by 

2019. This is a big step 

towards putting Qatar 

Rail into operations


Nation 

30 women entrepreneurs graduate from 

Roudha Center’s Mashroui programme 

The US Ambassador to Qatar HE Susan Ziadeh (centre) with other dignitaries and graduating trainees of Roudha Center for Entrepreneurship 

and Innovation, in Doha, on Tuesday. 

Vice-President of ExxonMobil Qatar Alistair Routledge (left) honours contests’ winners at the Roudha 

Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation graduation ceremony, in Doha, on Tuesday. 


DOHA 

ROUDHA Center for 

Entrepreneurship and 

Innovation on Tuesday graduated 

30 women from its 

Mashroui programme, a 

training programme 

designed specifically for 

women entrepreneurs. 

The graduation ceremony 

served as a platform to honour 

participants’ hard work, 

share in their success, and 

motivate them to achieve 

their dreams of starting their 

own businesses. 

The event was attended by 

the programme participants 

and their families, members 

of the press, VIP guests and 

distinguished members of the 

community. 

Roudha 

Center 

Chairperson Sheikha Hanadi 

bint Nasser al Thani and 

United States Ambassador to 

Qatar HE Susan Ziadeh gave 

speeches applauding the 

efforts of the women entrepreneurs 

and encouraging 

them to apply what they have 

learned in the classroom to 

the real world as they work to 

open their own businesses. 

ExxonMobil, the diamond 

sponsor as well as Damas and 

Grand Hayat, the partner 

sponsors, were recognised for 

supporting for the event. 

The ceremony included 

presentation of awards for the 

‘Best innovative idea’ to Sarah 

Nasser al Saadi, ‘Best growth 

project’ to Mashael Alqattan 

and ‘Best business plan’ 

shared by Khaleda Mansour 

and Eman Salah al Din Ali. 

Vice-President of 

ExxonMobil Qatar Alistair 

Routledge honoured the contests’ 

winners. 

He said, “As Qatar continues 

with its remarkable 

efforts to realise the Qatar 

Dignitaries at the Roudha Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation event, in Doha, on Tuesday. 

National Vision 2030, it is 

programmes such as 

Mashroui that help accomplish 

this vision. At 

ExxonMobil, we believe in the 

power of opportunity, and for 

this reason, we strive to give 

people the skills and 

resources necessary to support 

their ambition. This is 

why we are proud to support 

the Al Roudha Center in its 

efforts to enhance women’s 

capabilities and empower 

them to fully participate in 

the economic and political 

spheres of society.” 

Roudha Center’s Cofounder 

and Director 

Shareefa Fadhel said, 

“Mashroui is a one of a kind 

programme being delivered 

in this region, enabling the 

women of Qatar to realise 

their potential and in turn 

contributing directly to the 

economy of the country. We 

are proud of our graduates 

and look forward to seeing 

great things from them in the 

near future.” 

Mashroui, which means ‘My 

business’ in Arabic, is Qatar’s 

first women’s entrepreneurship 

development programme. 

The six-month free training 

teaches current and aspiring 

women entrepreneurs the A- 

Z’s of how to start and develop 

a successful business. 

Throughout the last six 

months, 30 women entrepreneurs 

developed specialised 

skills in management, marketing, 

finance and accounting, 

strengthening their ability 

to build and manage effective 

and profitable organisations. 

Delivered by accomplished 

business consultant and lecturer 

Bader al Nasser, of 

Huminvest, the courses were 

tailored to produce a valueadding 

learning experience 

and to address the needs and 

challenges of women entrepreneurs 

in Qatar. Besides, 

guest speakers from the local 

business community visited 

the session to discuss topics 

such as time management 

skills and Qatari law. 

The initiative also included 

a business plan contest 

designed to encourage women 

to build a working plan for 

their business that will set 

them on the path to success. 

Roudha Center is the only 

not-for-profit organisation in 

Qatar that focuses on fostering 

and nurturing women 

entrepreneurs. In the last two 

years, the centre has reached 

over 6,000 women through 

its programmes that focus on 

entrepreneurship, innovation 

and leadership and empower 

women with the confidence, 

skills and ambition they need 

to succeed. 

Roudha Center provides 

innovative and effective programmes 

and advocacy 

efforts for women looking to 

open their own business.

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