Deputy Emir to open 8th World Chambers Congress ... - Qatar Tribune

TUESDAY 

APRIL 23, 2013 

JUMADA AL-AKHIR 13, 1434 

VOL. 7 NO. 2423 QR 2 

First with the news and what’s behind it 

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Deputy Emir to open 8th World 

Chambers Congress today 

5-point WTA agenda 

for WTO meet 

finalised 

SATYENDRA PATHAK 

DOHA 

(From left) ICC Vice-Chairman Harold McGraw III, ICC Secretary-General Jean-Guy Carrier, Qatar Chamber Director-General 

Remy Rowhani, ICC Honorary Chairman Victor K Fung and International Chamber of Federation Chair Peter Mihok, in Doha, 

on Monday. 

THE Deputy Emir and Heir Apparent 

His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin 

Hamad al Thani will inaugurate the 

ICC World Chambers Federation 

(WCF) 8th World Chambers 

Congress, in Doha, on Tuesday. 

The event is being held under the 

patronage of the Emir His Highness 

Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani. 

Chamber leaders from more than 

120 countries will discuss different 

issues at a series of plenary and workshop 

sessions organised under the 

theme ‘Opportunities for All’. 

Held for the first time in the Middle 

East, the Congress is a unique international 

forum for chambers and 

their business leaders to develop and 

strengthen partnerships, exchange 

insights and share best practices. 

During the three-day event, 18 

practical workshops will showcase 

innovations and services, with additional 

sessions designed to provide 

practical peer-to-peer expertise on 

how to improve operations, as well as 

the types of new services. The final of 

the World Chambers Competition 

will also take place during the congress. 

For chambers and business executives 

wanting to build new business 

relationships and learn about business 

opportunities in the Middle East 

and Africa, the Qatar Chamber has set 

up a business programme, to be held 

within the Congress. Qatar Chamber 

will also put in place a business 

match-making system to allow delegates 

access to an exclusive B2B network 

booth. 

Qatar Chamber is also holding the 

largest exhibition this Congress has 

witnessed to date with over 10,000 sq 

m, which will serve as a unique platform 

for B2B interaction. 

One of the highlights of the 2013 

Congress was the day-long 

International Chamber of Commerce 

(ICC) World Trade Agenda Summit, 

which brought to the table months of 

consultations held around the world 

as part of ICC and Qatar Chamber’s 

joint efforts to shape a new trade 

agenda for the 21st century. 

At the meeting on Monday, business 

leaders from across the world, 

gave their stamp of approval to a final 

set of business priorities that would 

provide a debt-free stimulus to the 

global economy. 

The initiative threw up five recommendations 

that could achieve tangible 

outcomes by the end of 2013, to 

harvest gains from the WTO’s Doha 

Development Round. 

These five recommendations are to 

conclude a trade facilitation agreement, 

to implement duty-free and 

quota-free market access for exports 

from least-developed countries, to 

phase out agriculture export subsidies, 

to renounce food export restrictions 

and expand trade in IT products 

and encourage growth of e-commerce. 

Recommendations from this event 

will be delivered to G20 leaders and 

WTO ministers ahead of the next G20 

Summit in Saint Petersburg and the 

WTO ministerial conference in Bali 

later this year. 

“ICC has consulted with business 

around the world to develop these set 

of practical steps for reaching a new 

trade consensus,” said ICC Chairman 

Gerard Worms. 

“As the actors of trade in the daily 

marketplace, we are well placed to 

shed new light on stalled talks. We 

will mobilise CEOs around the world 

to make the case to national governments 

for this new trade agenda,” he 

said. 

SEE ALSO PAGE 28 

RUNAWAY WORKERS 

Two gangs busted: 

37 held; 132 maids, 

drivers found 

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK 

DOHA 

THE Search and Follow-up 

Department at the Ministry of 

Interior has busted two gangs 

engaged in human trafficking 

and harbouring runaway 

domestic workers. 

The first group of 18 persons 

from East Asia ran 22 houses 

in different areas of the country. 

After raiding the houses in 

question, 49 maids and 30 

drivers were found there, who 

had been reported absconding. 

The second group comprising 

19 people of different 

nationalities was headed by 

an Arab, who ran six houses 

to harbour maids and reemploy 

them illegally. 

In the consequent raid, 

authorities found 29 maids 

and 24 workers, who had 

fled from their sponsors and 

had been reported to the 

police. 

The members of both 

groups confessed to their 

crime that they helped, harboured 

absconding people for 

some money. They also 

admitted that they agreed 

with the fugitives to accommodate 

them in different 

houses so as not to be caught 

by the security agencies. 

The Department had 

received information indicating 

the presence of more than 

one group engaged in trafficking 

and harbouring runaway 

domestic workers. A dedicated 

team was formed and raids 

conducted at various places in 

the country. 

Search and Follow-up 

Department Director Nasser 

Issa al Sayed said that the 

Department will tackle all 

such acts that violate the laws, 

traditions and customs of the 

country. 

He added that these acts 

are related to human trafficking 

that is rejected and prohibited 

by all members of 

society, noting that the State 

is keen to combat such behaviour 

by all means. 

He stressed that sheltering 

a fugitive, or even not rsharing 

knowledge of one with the 

authorities, is a serious crime. 

He urged people to report any 

escaped worker immediately 

and announced that the 

Department will be carrying 

out raids continuously. 

He also called upon citizens 

and residents not to employ 

runaway workers. 

DETAILED REPORT ON PG 2 

QUICK READ 

IQ profits rise 37% 

to QR2.6bn in Q1 

DOHA Petrochemicals and metals 

company Industries Qatar lifted first 

quarter net profit by over one third, 

beating analyst forecasts in posting 

broadly positive earnings. The 

Gulf’s second-largest chemical producer 

by market value reported net 

profit up 36.8 percent at QR 2.55 

billion for the first three months of 

2013. It did not give any explanation 

for the increase. “We continue 

to consider IQ our top pick among 

Qatari equities,” QNB Financial 

Services said after the announcement. 

(REUTERS) PAGE 21 

PICK OF THE DAY 

First model green 

building opens 

DOHA Qatar’s first green building, the 

‘Passivhaus’, was formally inaugurated 

on Monday, coinciding with Earth Day 

celebrations. It is the result of a collaborative 

project, ‘Baytna’, between 

Qatar Green Building Council (QGBC), 

Barwa Real Estate Group and 

Kahramaa. Speaking on the occasion, 

QGBC and Qatar Tourism Authority 

Chairman Issa al Mohannadi said, 

“This is a landmark day for Qatar’s 

construction industry. With the opening 

of Qatar’s first case study Passivhaus, 

we have paved the way for a more 

sustainable future.” (TNN) PAGE 5 

A Sotheby’s auction in progress at Katara, in Doha, on Monday. The 

auction registered sales of $15.2 million from 47 works. 

(MANEESH BAKSHI) 

PAGE 20 

Qatar, Vietnam 

discuss trade ties 

DOHA Minister of Business and 

Trade HE Sheikh Jassim bin 

Abdulaziz bin Jassim bin Hamad al 

Thani met with Vietnamese Labour 

Minister Bam T-Hai on the sidelines 

of Qatar-Vietnam Trade Committee 

meeting, in Doha, on Monday. 

During the meeting, they discussed 

the work of Qatar-Vietnam joint 

trade committee. The contribution 

of Vietnamese manpower to the 

implementation of plans for sustainable 

development in Qatar for the 

period 2011 - 2016 was also highlighted. 

(TNN) PAGE 3 

George Sabra named 

interim SNC chief 

BEIRUT The Syrian National 

Coalition named veteran dissident 

George Sabra as caretaker leader 

of the main opposition grouping on 

Monday, following the resignation 

of Ahmed Moaz al Khatib. Sabra 

“was assigned today to carry out 

the functions of the head of the 

Coalition until elections for a new 

president,” one of the Coalition’s 

main constituent groups, the 

Syrian National Council, said in a 

statement. The announcement 

came a day after the widely 

respected Khatib submitted his 

resignation for a second time, officially 

in protest over the failure of 

the international community to 

stop the conflict in Syria, which 

has killed at least 70,000 people. 

(AFP) 

PAGE 12

02 Tuesday, April 23, 2013 

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Qatar-European Friendship 

Association team to visit Doha 

HEAD of Qatar’s Mission to the 

European Union HE Sheikh Ali bin 

Jassim al Thani on Monday met with 

Head of the Qatari-European 

Friendship Association at the European 

Parliament Tokia Saifi in Brussels. The 

meeting came in preparation for a 

week-lon visit of a delegation of the 

Qatari-European Friendship Association 

to Doha on Friday. The association was 

launched last year in the presence of 

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs HE 

Khalid bin Mohammed al Attiyah. 

Some 30 deputies representing the 

majority of European countries are 

members of the association. The association 

was the first of its kind for GCC 

countries, with Qatar taking the lead in 

cementing its relation with European 

countries. (QNA) 

Qatar, Haiti discuss relations 

QATAR’S Ambassador to the US HE 

Mohammed bin Abdullah al Rumaihi 

on Monday met with Canada’s former 

governor-general, who is also the special 

envoy of UNESCO to Haiti 

Michaelle Jean, Haiti’s Minister of 

Tourism Stephanie Villedrouin and 

Haiti’s Minister of Finance Wilson 

Laleau. The meetings discussed Qatarfunded 

projects for the reconstruction 

of Haiti as well as investment projects, 

which the Haitian government plans to 

launch in the fields of infrastructure 

and tourism. Issues of common interest 

and ways of boosting bilateral relations 

between Qatar and Haiti were 

also discussed. (QNA) 

SDF busts two gangs trafficking 

runaway workers, housemaids 


DOHA 

IN what appears to be one of the 

biggest crackdowns on runaway 

workers in Qatar so far, the Search 

and Follow up Department (SDF) of 

the Ministry of Interior has busted 

two gangs involved in trafficking 

and harbouring runaway workers in 

the country and arrested as many as 

143 persons in this regard. 

The crackdown, which was carried 

out in different parts of the 

country, assumes special significance 

in the wake of MoI’s new rules 

to deal with runaway workers. 

According to the new rules, the 

employer of a runaway worker will 

have to pay a fine to the tune of up 

to QR100,000 and can be awarded 

jail term for up to 15 years if found 

guilty of repeat offence. 

The SDF recently received information 

that more than one group in 

the country is involved in smuggling, 

harbouring and employing 

domestic workers. 

Following the tip off, the department 

formed a team of police personnel 

to launch a manhunt for the 

The crackdown assumes special significance in the wake of MoI’s new rules to deal with runaway workers. 

culprits. Subsequently, the SDF 

team sought the permission from 

the Public Prosecution to conduct 

the raids. The raids were conducted 

in different parts of the country 

leading to the arrest of the accused. 

The first gang consisting of 18 

members of different East Asian 

nationalities was accused of housing 

49 runaway housemaids and 39 

drivers in 22 houses in different 

parts of the country. The second 

gang comprising 19 members of 

diverse nationalities and headed by 

an Arab national was found to have 

housed 29 housemaids and 24 

workers in six houses in different 

areas. 

On further investigation, it was 

found that sponsors had filed complaints 

about absconding runaway 

workers at different police stations. 

Brig Nasser Eissa al Sayed 

During the interrogation, the 

gangs confessed to trafficking in 

runaway housemaids and drivers 

and also admitted charging a hefty 

amount and housing them in different 

localities to avoid security agencies 

taking notice. 

SFD Director Brig Nasser Eissa al 

Sayed said that the department will 

spare no efforts to curb such crimes, 

which are related to human trafficking. 

He said that the arrested, will be 

referred to the concerned court after 

completion of the legal procedures 

by the Public Prosecution. 

The SFD director warned companies 

and individuals against harbouring 

the violators of law urging 

them to report absconding cases to 

the authorities. He stressed that the 

department will continue the 

inspection drives regularly to nab 

violators of Residence Law 

No.4/2009 that regulates entry, 

exit, residence and sponsorship of 

expatriates. 

He urged the residents not to 

cooperate with violators and absconding 

workers or employ them.

Nation Tuesday, April 23, 2013 03 

Lack of support a challenge 

for entrepreneurs: EQ CEO 

CATHERINE W GICHUKI 

DOHA 

ENTREPRENEURS in the 

region face many challenges 

because of lack of support, 

according to CEO of Enterprise 

Qatar (EQ) Noora al Mannai. 

Mannai was speaking at the 

launch of new Arab enterprise, 

QHackathon Challenge 2013, an 

event for entrepreneurs and 

stakeholders in association with 

Enterprise Qatar and in partnership 

with Techwadi. 

The Challenge is designed to 

connect the “Qatari entrepreneurship 

ecosystem to the international 

community and meet 

global standards”. 

This year’s Hackathon 

Challenge is aimed at developing 

apps based on mobile payment 

solutions. The participants 

were divided into 20 groups to 

develop a telecom app. Fifty participants 

were from Qatar while 

the rest belong to other parts of 

the Arab world. 

Participants at the 

QHackathon represent the culmination 

of the 2013 Al- 

Fikra/MIT Enterprise Forum for 

the Pan-Arab region, bringing 

together 130 young qualifiers 

selected from 13,000 entrants 

across 20 Arab countries for the 

finals of the MIT-Enterprise 

Forum for the Pan-Arab region 

competition (MIT-EF). 

Alongside the MIT-EF finalists 

are 20 Qatar-based entrepreneurs 

who have reached Al 

Fikra finals, Qatar’s National 

Business Plan Competition 

organised by EQ. 

Speaking on the occasion, 

Mannai said that entrepreneurs 

in the region face many challenges 

due to lack of support. 

She said that they wanted to create 

an ecosystem where “entrepreneurs 

can collaborate with 

right partners”. 

“Entrepreneurs in the Middle 

East face challenges hindering 

efforts to grow their own business. 

This is due to the absence 

of funding, lack of better opportunities 

and technical support. 

EQ has now partnered locally 

with Silatech and globally with 

Silicon Valley and MIT-EF to 

create a new SME support system 

in Qatar,” Mannai said. 

Mannai further said that this 

exercise was to help entrepreneurs 

to “think out of the box”. 

“This exercise is taking place 

for the first time in Qatar and we 

want to introduce it to big companies. 

We chose a telecom 

theme so that such companies 

can enhance their services and 

also customers’ services. The 

Young entrepreneurs participate in a programme organised by Enterprise Qatar, in Doha, on Monday. (HANSON K JOSEPH) 

competition will help the entrepreneurs 

to come up with a 

product that can be adopted by a 

company,” she said. 

According to Mannai, this 

exercise will be held twice a year 

and a comprehensive calendar 

about the lineup of programme 

will be released on Thursday. 

The partnership between EQ 

and TechWadi helps in building 

bridges between Silicon Valley 

and the Arab world, where 

Qatar can act as a powerful link 

between local, regional and 

global stakeholders. 

MIT Enterprise Forum for the 

Pan-Arab region programme 

manager Joelle Yazbeck said, 

“We are happy to welcome the 

50 participating teams in Doha. 

They are from Palestine, 

Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, 

Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, 

Morocco and the UAE.” 

Qatar, Vietnam 

discuss trade & 

investment 

Minister of Business and Trade HE Sheikh Jassim bin Abdulaziz bin Jassim bin 

Hamad al Thani with Vietnamese Labour Minister Bam T-Hai, in Doha, on Monday. 

SATYENDRA PATHAK 

DOHA 

MINISTER of Business and Trade 

HE Sheikh Jassim bin Abdulaziz 

bin Jassim bin Hamad al Thani 

and Vietnamese Labour Minister 

Bam T-Hai discussed ways of promoting 

investment opportunities 

between both countries on the 

sidelines of Qatar-Vietnam Trade 

Committee meeting in Doha on 

Monday. 

During the meeting, they also 

reviewed topics related to the work 

of Qatar-Vietnam joint trade committee 

in addition to several issues 

of common interest. 

Qatar and Vietnam have signed a 

number of trade agreements. 

The bilateral trade between the 

two countries was estimated to be 

above QR1.1 billion in 2012. While 

exports from Qatar was QR737 million, 

imports from Vietnam was 

valued at QR416.5 million. 

The Qatar-Vietnam Business 

Forum meeting also discussed 

ways to boost bilateral trade 

between the two countries. 

The meeting also highlighted the 

contribution of Vietnamese manpower 

in the implementation of 

plans for sustainable development 

in Qatar between 2011 and 2016. 

“Qatar Airways launched direct 

flights from Doha to Ho Chi Minh 

ity to ease travel opportunities 

between the two countries. 

The direct flight is also aimed at 

providing opportunities for the 

business sector in the two countries 

to exchange visits and information 

as well as open new 

avenues for investments in the two 

countries,” said a senior official of 

the Ministry of Business and Trade. 

“Our goal is to diversify the 

national economy by freeing it 

from dependence on oil and gas as 

the main source of revenue of the 

country. We hope that Vietnam can 

play a big role in achieving this 

goal,” the official said. 

DGPS attends Gulf MoI meet in Bahrain 


DOHA 

DIRECTOR-GENERAL of Public 

Security Staff Maj Gen Saad bin 

Jassim al Khulaifi led the Qatari 

delegation at the fifth meeting of 

Ministry of Interior 

Undersecretaries for GCC countries 

held in Bahrain on Monday. 

The meeting discussed many 

security-related topics which will 

be submitted at the 14th consultative 

meeting of GCC Interior 

Ministers. 

QCRI to conduct research 

to combat cyber security 

RAMY SALAMA 

DOHA 

IN a step towards launch of research 

into cyber security and raise awareness 

of the risks involved in breaches 

of the security of computer systems, 

Qatar Computing Research 

Institute (QCRI) organised a presentation 

on ‘The Future of Cyber 

Espionage’ on Monday. 

The speakers at the event were 

President and CEO of ZanttZ Eric 

Winsborrow and ZanttZ’s Vice- 

President for Security Research Dr 

Craig Schultz. ZanttZ Incorporation 

is a private company developing 

stealth cyber security technology 

solutions for governments and private 

institutions. 

Winsborrow has played a part in 

shaping the industry as an executive 

at cyber security companies, 

including McAfee, Symantec and 

Cisco. Dr Schultz is a leading 

authority on methodologies, models 

and applications to detect, identify, 

assess and counter existing and 

emerging illicit threats. 

In his presentation, Winsborrow 

underlined the urgent need to 

respond to cyber threats, which 

have reached the level of trillions of 

attacks per year worldwide. 

Referring to the US as an example, 

he said, “There has been more intellectual 

property stolen from the 

United States in the past year than 

there has been in the entire history 

of computing up to that point. 

“A lot of this is caused by 

nation-states, which have recently 

started to get involved in organising 

cyber threats. What is going on 

Eric Winsborrow gives presentation at a programme, in Doha, on Monday. 

now is that countries are creating 

what are known as advanced persistent 

threats.” 

He defined advanced cyber threats 

as a kind of internet-enabled espionage 

which uses a variety of intelligence 

gathering techniques to access 

sensitive information with the intent 

to persistently and effectively target a 

specific entity. 

Winsborrow provided an overview 

of the history and evolution of malware, 

which includes viruses, worms 

and other programmes designed to 

compromise the performance of a 

computer system from its origin to 

the current state-sponsored 

advanced techniques. 

He noted that the first virus originated 

over twenty years ago in the 

early 90s, adding that the virus, written 

into a video game and propagating 

slowly through physical floppy 

disks, took about three years to go 

around the world. 

Contrasting this with the latest 

generation of malware, which can be 

transmitted from anywhere in the 

world and could take as few as three 

days to traverse the globe, 

Winsborrow emphasised the immediate 

need to pay attention to malware 

and cyber threats. 

Craig Shultz gave a presentation on 

the best practices for managing cyber 

risks. In addition, he surveyed the different 

categories of advanced persistent 

threats (APTs) from basic criminal 

attacks to cyber espionage and 

military weapons. 

It is worth mentioning that Qatar 

has recently witnessed some 

instances of cyber terrorism, one of 

the most recent of which affected 

Qatar Foundation, of which QCRI is 

also a member.


Nation 

QUICK READ 

Emir sends message to president 

of Libya’s General National Congress 

PRESIDENT of the General National Congress of Libya Dr 

Mohammad Yousef Almagarief on Monday received a 

message from the Emir His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin 

Khalifa al Thani, pertaining to bilateral relations and issues of 

mutual concern. The message was delivered by Charge 

d’Affaires of Qatar’s embassy in Libya Nayef Abdullah al 

Emadi during a meeting with Almagarief at the Presidential 

Palace in Tripoli. (QNA) 

Deputy Emir appoints ambassadors 

DEPUTY Emir and Heir Apparent His Highness Sheikh Tamim 

bin Hamad al Thani on Monday issued Emiri Decision No 25 

of 2013 appointing Abdulrahman Ali Rabaih al Ajaj al Kubaisi 

as ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to Mauritania. 

HH the Deputy Emir and Heir Apparent also issued Emiri 

Decision No 27 of 2013 appointing Hussein Ahmed Mohamed 

al Humaid as ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to 

Cyprus. (QNA) 

PM receives phone call from US Secretary of State 

PRIME Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs HE Sheikh 

Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor al Thani received a telephone call 

from US Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday. Discussions 

during the call dealt with bilateral relations as well as the situation 

in the region, particularly the developments in Syria. (QNA) 

Advisory Council reviews law 

on Hajj and Umrah services 

THE Advisory Council at its meeting on Monday reviewed a 

draft law regulating Hajj and Umrah services, and decided to 

refer it to the Legal and Legislative Affairs Committee to study 

and submit a report to the council. The council also reviewed a 

draft law regulating nurseries, and decided to refer it to the 

Services and Public Utilities Committee. (QNA) 

Advisory Council’s Services and 

Public Utilities committee meets 

THE Advisory Council’s Services and Public Utilities Committee 

on Monday held a meeting during the council’s 41st regular 

session under its Rapporteur Saqr Fahd al Meraiki. The committee 

continued its examination of the draft law on social 

health insurance system and decided to invite Minister of 

Public Health and Secretary General of the Supreme Council of 

Health HE Abdullah bin Khalid al Qahtani to the next meeting 

to listen to its views on the draft law. (QNA) 

Indian embassy to remain close tomorrow 

THE Indian embassy will remain closed on Wednesday in 

observance of Mahavir Jayanti. (TNN) 

GORD announces region’s biggest 

expo for sustainable solutions 


DOHA 

GULF Organisation for 

Research and Development 

(GORD), the authority for 

knowledge on sustainability 

in the MENA region, will lead 

global dialogue on the best 

practice in green building 

during a sustainable solutions 

expo to be held from January 

28 to 30, next year. 

The event ‘Green Buildings 

Expo 2014’, the region’s 

biggest conference & exhibition 

for sustainable solutions 

in the built environment will 

take place at the Doha 

Exhibition Center. 

GORD has announced IFP 

Qatar as the official organiser 

for the event. 

The programme will provide 

a global platform for construction, 

infrastructure, 

engineering, education and 

research institutions to 

exchange products and ideas 

in the sustainability sphere to 

collaboratively address the 

specific needs of the region. 

The Green Buildings Expo 

2014 will feature sustainable 

built environment conference 

(for academics), sustainable 

built environment forum (for 

practitioners), green buildings 

exhibition and sustainability 

awards. 

Announcing the event, 

GORD Founding Chairman 

Dr Yousef al Horr said, “Qatar 

has shown firm commitment 

towards sustainability in line 

with the Qatar National 

Vision 2030. The expo is yet 

another initiative in our pursuit 

to position Qatar as the 

capital of green. It will reinforce 

Qatar’s global role in 

promoting sustainability. 

GORD Founding Chairman Dr Yousef al Horr with George Ayache, in Doha, recently. 

Opening an international dialogue 

on green-building practices 

will influence the business 

decisions pertaining to 

the planning, procurement 

and implementation phases 

of any project.” 

He added, “Qatar has 

demonstrated a solid commitment 

to sustainability in 

line with Qatar National 

Vision 2030 that outlines a 

shift from a hydrocarbonbased 

economy to a knowledge-based 

model. 

Connecting academia with 

businesses promises such a 

grassroots change that will 

bring in sustainability right 

from the outset and provide 

megaprojects with sustainable 

foundations.” 

The green buildings exhibition 

will showcase industryleading 

product portfolios 

and technologies for sustainable 

design, construction and 

the built-environment, 

including energy and water 

saving equipment and products, 

waste management 

methodologies, pollutioncontrol 

and safety, security 

& disaster prevention 

among others. Experts will 

provide information, comparative 

analysis and 

demonstration of the products 

at the exhibition. 

Through the expo, in addition 

to setting benchmarks 

for sustainable building best 

practices, GORD is also establishing 

a platform for industry 

stakeholders to learn more 

about both locally developed 

and global green solutions. 

The sustainable built environment 

conference for academics 

will encapsulate global 

best practice in sustainability. 

The conference will provide 

a platform featuring policy 

makers, professors and 

authors providing thought 

leadership and promoting 

sustainable business strategies, 

products and practices. 

Submissions of papers are 

welcomed on the Elseiver 

website to contribute to the 

International Journal of 

Sustainable 

Built 

Environment that currently 

covers many categories 

under GSAS. 

Before the inclusion in a 

journal, an editorial board 

comprising 32 professors 

from leading universities in 

Saudi Arabia, Denmark, New 

Zealand, Singapore, United 

States, United Kingdom, 

Serbia, India, Italy, Spain, 

Brazil and Norway, will peerreview 

the papers with 

Managing Editor Dr Esam 

Elsarrag and Editor-in-Chief 

Dr Yousef al Horr. 

The sustainable built environment 

forum targeted at 

project management consultants, 

contractors and developers 

will see sustainability 

practitioners based in Qatar 

and from leading global companies 

share successes, 

exchange new solutions and 

cutting–edge concepts. 

Dr Horr said, “We invite 

academics, scientists, industry 

practitioners and the student 

community to collaborate 

and share knowledge and 

expertise in sustainability to 

develop effective solutions 

that address key environmental 

challenges. Further to the 

last edition that centred on 

GSAS, we have made several 

advancements in the construction 

sector, especially 

around the processes surrounding 

procurement and 

installation of sustainable 

products.” 

He added, “Following the 

government mandate on 

Global Sustainability 

Assessment System (GSAS) 

and the wide reach of our 

training workshops, we are 

proud to have achieved as 

much as 95 percent 

GSAS–Certified Green 

Professionals’ (GSAS-CGP) 

accreditation in Qatar’s active 

construction developments. 

Vodafone extends offer 


DOHA 

VODAFONE has advised its postpaid customers 

that from May 14 onwards, to continue 

enjoying the local calling rate of 25 

dirhams/min, an opt-in short code *200*25# 

needs to be sent. The rate will be available to 

customers at no additional fees. 

The short code is free and will only be available 

from May 14. Vodafone postpaid customers who 

do not opt-in will be charged 35 dirhams/min for 

local calls outside their in-bundle minutes 

offered with their plan. Vodafone reduced the 

rate for local calling on postpaid from 35 dirhams 

to 25 dirhams/min on March 13. 

Nasr to focus on power of 

persuasion at interfaith meet 

QNA 

DOHA 

UN HIGH Representative for 

the Alliance of Civilisations 

HE Nasser bin Abdulaziz al 

Nasr has said that his paper 

to be presented at the 10th 

Doha Interfaith Dialogue 

Conference will focus on 

issues reflecting his vision on 

using the Alliance as a tool of 

persuasion and preventive 

diplomacy as stipulated in 

the UN Charter. 

Nasr said in a statement 

that he would announce during 

his presentation his 

desire to strengthen cooperation 

between the UN 

Alliance of Civilisations and 

the Doha International 

Centre for Interfaith 

Dialogue (DICID), through 

an agreement that will 

enable the two entities to 

work as partners during his 

tenure. 

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Qatar’s first model green 

building opens on Earth Day 

Senior representatives from the MoE, QGBC, BRE and Kahramaa at an inauguration of a green project, in Doha, on Monday. (Right) A model of the green building. (MANEESH BAKSHI) 

RAMY SALAMA 

DOHA 

QATAR’S first green building 

called the ‘Passivhaus’, the 

result of a collaborative project 

between Qatar Green Building 

Council (QGBC), Barwa Real 

Estate Group (BRE) and 

Kahramaa titled ‘Baytna’, was 

formally inaugurated on 

Monday, coinciding with the 

Earth Day celebrations. 

Senior representatives 

from the Ministry of 

Environment, QGBC, BRE, 

Kahramaa and more than 50 

partners, who were involved 

in constructing the villas and 

equipping them with green 

technologies, attended the 

opening ceremony of Baytna 

villas including a model 

green villa and a conventional 

villa. 

Speaking on the occasion, 

Eng Issa al Mohannadi, QGBC 

Chairman and the Chairman 

of Qatar Tourism Authority 

said, “This is a landmark day 

for Qatar’s construction industry. 

This successful partnership 

with a host of local partners 

is a testament to what can 

be achieved with clear vision, 

collaboration and a will to 

make a positive change to the 

country’s carbon footprint. 

With the opening of Qatar’s 

first case study Passivhaus, we 

have paved the way for a more 

sustainable future for generations 

to come.” 

Under the Baytna project, 

two 225 square metres villas 

have been constructed side by 

side in Barwa City for a comparative 

study on the benefits 

of the Passivhaus design in 

Qatar’s hot and arid climate. 

The Passivhaus villa has been 

designed with the comforts of 

modern living while consuming 

at least 50 percent less 

energy and water and causing a 

sharp fall in carbon emissions. 

The project was opened 

after months of planning, 

design and construction. 

The Passivhaus (passive 

house) villa is an ultra-low 

energy building, derived 

from a super insulated airtight 

building envelope, that 

requires little energy for 

cooling, reducing its environmental 

footprint. 

Eng Ahmad al Abdulla, 

Deputy Group CEO at Barwa 

Real Estate Group, said “today 

our ambitions are translated 

into actions on the ground. It 

is a pleasure and a great success 

for Barwa and all the partners 

in Baytna to be launching 

Qatar’s first Passivhaus, a pilot 

for more environment-friendly 

and energy-efficient real 

estate around Qatar.” 

Speaking about the origins 

of the project, al Abdulla said 

“I had been a member of the 

MENA Green Building Council, 

and they’d agreed that 

the MENA region would build 

a passivhaus. Qatar took the 

initiative and through coordinating 

between the QGBC, 

Barwa and Kahramaa, we 

decided to go ahead and build 

the passivhaus here.” 

Work on the project began 

in August of 2012, and after 

eight months of construction, 

Baytna has successfully limited 

additional capital costs in 

construction of the Passivhaus 

to approximately 16 percent 

more than the conventional 

villa. The project’s initial 

aim was to keep the additional 

capital costs for the 

Passivhaus within 15 to 20 

percent above the conventional 

villa’s costs. A six 

month period of testing and 

commissioning will now commence 

to compare the villas’ 

base line performance without 

occupants. 

As a vehicle for advancing 

sustainable building research 

for the region, the project will 

also serve as a platform for 

comparative studies on cutting-edge 

sustainability technology 

and practice in a variety 

of areas including converting 

sunlight to electricity 

with a photovoltaic array, 

alternative irrigation systems, 

localised water recycling, and 

sustainable soft-landscaping 

using local species of trees 

and shrubs. 

QGBC, BRE and Kahramaa 

have established a scientific 

working committee to collaborate 

on the project’s many 

experiments, and conduct 

extensive monitoring of the 

passive house principles and 

low-carbon technologies 

being implemented. 

Following this testing and 

commissioning period of six 

months, the two villas will be 

occupied by two similarlysized 

families, with at least 

one child, where further monitoring 

will take place for one 

year, as a real life demonstration 

of environmental principles 

in practice. The two families 

are expected to move into 

the three-bedroom demos by 

autumn 2013. 

The partners involved in 

the construction of the villas 

include the Ministry of 

Municipality & Urban 

Planning, GORD, GE Energy, 

Texas A&M University Qatar, 

Qatar Solar Technologies, 

Qatar Project Management, 

among others. 

Minister to 

inaugurate 

‘Education 

for All’ expo 

QNA 

DOHA 

MINISTER of Education and 

Higher Education and 

Secretary-General of 

Supreme Education Council 

(SEC) HE Saad bin Ibrahim al 

Mahmoud will inaugurate the 

‘Education for All’ exhibition 

on Wednesday. 

The exhibition will take 

place at the Qatar National 

Convention Center. 

The Ministry of Interior, 

Kahramaa and a host of independent 

and private schools 

in the country will take part in 

the exhibition. 

Officials in the Ministry of 

Education, in addition to 

experts and professionals in 

the education field, will participate 

in the event. Director 

of the Communication And 

Media Office at SEC Aisha 

Jassim al Kuwari called on 

students to attend the exhibition 

as it would provide them 

with the opportunity to find 

out about the requirements 

they would need to be admitted 

in a particular school or 

university. 

It will also help the students 

to decide on their educational 

preferences, Kuwari said. 

The exhibition will also 

allow teachers to communicate 

with the Supreme 

Education Council and the 

public to discuss educational 

services and how they could 

be improved. 

‘Education for All’ will take 

place on Wednesday, 

Thursday and Saturday from 

10 am to 8 pm. 

The SEC has invited all 

families and students to visit 

to get details of the educational 

services available in 

the country. 

TAMUQ’s innovative research 

MOODY TALAT 

DOHA 

THE 2nd annual Research- 

Industry Partnership, organised by 

Texas A&M University at Qatar 

(TAMUQ), was held at the Qatar 

National Convention Center on 

Monday. Celebrating its 10th 

anniversary, TAMUQ highlighted 

the role of research and development 

in meeting the Qatar National 

Research Strategy (QNRS) objectives 

and realising the Qatar 

National Vision 2030. 

Addressing the opening session, 

Dr Mark Weichold, Dean and CEO 

at TAMUQ, said, “Beyond teaching, 

our mission includes research activities 

and generating new knowledge 

by conducting such research and 

disseminating the results. In doing 

so, we believe in serving the need of 

Qatar as the country pursues its 

2030 vision.” 

By holding 36 technical sessions, 

along with a ‘poster session’ that 

showcased research projects and 

discussing how the QNRS plans to 

overcome the “grand challenges” of 

QNV, the event demonstrated the 

steady path that Qatar is currently 

undertaking to transform itself 

from a carbon-economy to a 

knowledge-based society by 2030. 

Unveiling the latest innovations in 

research and development to the 

industry stakeholders was the 

other highlight. 

Speaking to Qatar Tribune, Dr 

Ahmed Abdel-Wahab, Chair of the 

Organising Committee, “We hope 

(this event) will serve as an ideal 

platform for our faculty and stakeholders 

to engage in an atmosphere 

of sharing knowledge, exchange of 

experience and ideas, among stakeholders 

and policy-makers.” 

Abdel-Wahab further said, “The 

University has taken the QNRS 

very seriously and has reviewed the 

QNV 2030 aggressively. We 

aligned our research areas to pursue 

this vision.” 

The QNRS specifies research and 

development actions which are 

required to address the four main 

pillars of the 2030 vision. 

Research-Industry relationships 

are meant to serve as a catalyst for 

increased collaboration among 

stakeholders. “What we are trying 

to do is to give exposure to our 

research and industry stakeholders. 

So, as an outcome of this event, 

we expect to have joint projects, 

collaborating with the industry,” 

Abdel-Wahab added. 

Dr Ahmed Abdel-Wahab, Chair of the Organising Committee, at a TAMUQ 

programme, in Doha, on Monday. 

According to Faisal al Suwaidi, 

president of Research and 

Development at Qatar Foundation, 

“The QNV 2030 consists of four 

inter-related pillars – human, 

social, environmental and economic 

development.” 

With regard to the QNRS, 

Suwaidi said, “The QNRS guides 

Qatar’s investment in research, 

development and innovation. It 

outlines the vision and mission for 

Qatar’s research and development 

enterprise and sets the national 

research objectives. To this end, 

the leadership has committed to 

spend 2.8 percent of government 

revenue to research, technology 

and innovation.” 

The Qatar National Research 

Fund (QNRF) is entrusted with the 

implementation of the QNRS, 

which funds most of the research 

and development projects in the 

country. 

“During the past 10 years, 

TAMUQ at Qatar has achieved significant 

success in terms of 

research excellence. There are 

many ongoing researches. The 

research is directly related to the 

need of the country. The majority 

of this research is funded by the 

QNRF, and is of direct relevance to 

the industry stakeholders,” Abdel- 

Wahab said. 

The ‘poster session’ showcased 

several university research programmes, 

including a project on 

‘Odour Control and Air Pollution’ 

and a project that studies tyre safety, 

import and inspection. “We have 

more than 90 posters. All of them 

focus on research projects that are 

directly relevant to the utilisation of 

natural resources in Qatar,” Abdel- 

Wahab explained. 

“We need water security, we 

need energy security, we need 

good human hands, we need clean 

environment. All these research 

areas are covered by the faculty 

here. So, each aspect of these 

research projects will directly benefit 

the people of Qatar,” Dr Abdel- 

Wahab said about the impact of 

modern innovations in research, 

adding, “We also recruit people 

and train them. This further boosts 

the country’s human capacity 

building,” he concluded.


Nation 

‘Qatar’s master plan to be updated soon’ 

AILYN AGONIA 

DOHA 

Dignitaries at the Arab Future Cities Summit 2013, in Doha, on Monday. (MANEESH BAKSHI) 

ANOTHER update on Qatar 

National Master Plan, the 

country’s strategic blueprint 

for infrastructural developments, 

which has been revised 

time and again since it was 

first drawn in 1972, is likely to 

be announced in six to nine 

months, an official from the 

Ministry of Municipality and 

Urban Planning has said. 

Speaking to Qatar Tribune 

on the sidelines of the Arab 

Future Cities Summit 2013, 

which opened at St Regis 

Doha on Monday, Ministry’s 

Senior Urban Planning 

Researcher Ali al Khayat said 

the Master Plan, which was 

last updated about 10 years 

ago, will focus on building an 

infrastructure that contributes 

to sustainable environment. 

“There are a lot of projects 

lined up for the coming years 

but the priority for us now is 

to prepare the regulation and 

zoning maps, which will help 

determine what types of 

buildings are to be built 

including commercial buildings,” 

al Khayat said. 

He added, “The latest 

update will focus on sustainable 

designs in every sphere of 

infrastructural development, 

be it roads, transportation system 

or other public utility systems. 

It will cover developmental 

plans until 2017, 

which will be subject for 

review every five years.” 

With regards to the anticipated 

volume of land acquisitions 

in connection with the 

Master Plan, al Khayat said 

that measures will be adopted 

to minimise ‘unnecessary 

acquisitions’. He said, 

“Acquisition of land cannot be 

avoided, but we will see to it 

that unnecessary acquisitions 

do not take place.” 

“The government has done 

a lot of acquisitions in the past 

such as the Musheireb property, 

Lusail City and The Pearl 

Qatar. We still have some specific 

areas to develop in the 

future. These are all still under 

negotiation”, al Khayat pointed 

out. 

He also underlined that 

given the resources available 

to the country, they are opting 

for ‘very ambitious projects.’ 

The Arab Future Cities 

Summit 2013, the Middle 

East’s most anticipated smart 

city event, gathered over 500 

senior level city stakeholders 

and some of the biggest 

names in the smart city technology. 

The event is being held 

under the patronage of the 

Qatar’s Ministry for 

Municipality and Urban 

Planning which has earmarked 

more than US$140 

billion for mega projects 

across the energy, transport, 

education, health and tourism 

sectors, many of which are 

expected to be completed in 

time for the 2022 FIFA World 

Cup. 

Organised by Expotrade 

Global, the two-day event was 

Ministry’s Senior Urban Planning Researcher Ali al Khayat. 

inaugurated by Rashed Saed 

al Naimi, Director of Al 

Rayyan Municipality. Among 

the companies represented at 

the event include IBM, 

Philips, Thales, Schneider 

Electric, Microsoft, SAP and 

Barwa Bank. 

“Whether you call it smart 

cities, best-run cities or competitive 

cities, ultimately there 

are two things we are trying to 

do. We are trying to improve 

the lives of people on the one 

hand and drive economic 

growth in those cities on the 

other. The concept of smart 

cities is about living in the 

economy. I think it is relevant 

for this region, which has 

large expatriate population 

and a thriving economy”, said 

one of the speakers Sean 

Patrick O’Brien, vice-president 

for Urban Matters & 

Public Security at SAP. 

ILPG celebrates anniversary 

with Sri Lankan flavour 

Ooredoo offers QR300,000 

for free medical camp 


DOHA 


DOHA 

THE International Ladies’ 

Potluck Group (ILPG) celebrated 

its 9th anniversary at 

the Al Jazi Gardens Club 

House, West Bay recently. 

The event was hosted by Sri 

Lankan members, who 

received guests with traditional 

greetings and a serving of short 

eats by the White Oceanic Sri 

Lankan Restaurant. 

S Khan, deputy chief of 

Mission of the Sri Lankan 

embassy, was the guest of honour. 

Sheikha al Ansari, Sheikha 

Fatma, wives of ambassadors 

of Belgium, China, Gambia, 

Kazakhstan, Peru, South 

Africa, South Korea and 

Poland, Founder of the potluck 

group Hasnah Jumat 

McCauley, President Ruth 

Serene Sabry, chief organiser 

Shriani Burley and Fawzan 

Fareid, Sri Lankan Airlines 

Country manager, also attended 

the event. 

Khan led the honour of 

lighting the traditional oil 

lamp followed by the rest of 

Members of the International Ladies’ Potluck Group at an event, in Doha, recently. 

the VIP guests. 

Tamara Simmons gave a 

talk regarding the significance 

of the Sri Lankan New 

Year which is celebrated on 

April 13th and 14th. Akash 

Anthony of Sri Lankan 

Airlines gave a presentation 

about Sri Lanka. 

Fareid briefed the ladies on 

the outreach mission being 

carried out by their programme 

‘Srilankan Cares’. 

He thanked the members 

and guests for their donations 

for the underprivileged 

children specially the 

Montessori schools in 

Killinochchi and Vavunia. 

Dancers from Dinu Ranga 

Kalayathanaya Dance School 

entertained the guests and 

members with their performance. 

A brunch consisting of traditional 

Sri Lankan dishes 

was served by the Grand 

Mercure Hotel. 

The chief organiser Shriani 

Burley thanked the Sri Lankan 

Team Aruna Perumal, Milhan 

Hashim, Sachithra de Zoysa, 

Nadeeka de Silva, Tamara 

Simmons, Mano Fonseka, 

Trudy Soertsz and Anoja 

Sugathapala along with 

Kumudu Fonseka and Fawzan 

Fareid for their assistance during 

the event. 

A member of the ILPG, 

Anu Vye, won a return airline 

ticket to Colombo, during 

a raffle draw. Sabry and 

Burley thanked the sponsors 

on the occasion. 

OOREDOO on Monday 

presented the organisers of 

the 12th Free Medical Camp 

with a cheque of 

QR300,000 to support the 

costs of the 2013 event and 

to ensure that the camp can 

be held again in the future. 

Organised by the Indian 

Islamic Association Qatar 

(IIAQ), the Indian Doctors 

Club (IDC) and the Indian 

Medical Association’s Qatar 

Chapter (IMA), the camp 

was attended by more than 

5,000 low income workers, 

who do not have easy access 

to healthcare facilities. 

Thousands of people 

received free consultation, 

diagnostic tests, eye tests 

and health education at the 

Free Medical Camp, which 

was organised at the Tariq 

Bin Ziyad Independent 

School for Boys recently. 

Sponsored by Ooredoo, 

the camp was held in coordination 

with the Supreme 

Council of Health (SCH), 

Hamad 

Medical 

Corporation (HMC), and 

the Primary Health Care 

Fahad Esmaeil Darman from Ooredoo(centre) presents a donation 

cheque to members of the Free Medical Camp organising 

committee at a function, in Doha, recently. 

Corporation (PHCC). 

Fatima Sultan al Kuwari, 

Director, Public Relations, 

Ooredoo, said: “Ooredoo 

sponsors a wide range of 

community health initiatives 

to support every section 

of society. The Free 

Medical Camp has become 

an important annual fixture 

that protects the health of 

low income expatriates in 

Qatar, and we’re delighted 

to work with the network of 

volunteers and healthcare 

organisations that make it 

possible. We hope our 

sponsorship will enable the 

camp to continue in the 

future.” 

Ooredoo works on a wide 

range of corporate social 

responsibility initiatives 

throughout the year, 

including a wide range of 

healthcare programmes. 

QMA launches shuttle bus between MIA & Mathaf 


DOHA 

QATAR Museums Authority 

(QMA) on Monday launched 

the Mathaf Shuttle Bus 

Service, a free public transport 

service that will operate 

between the Museum of 

Islamic Art (MIA) and 

Mathaf: Arab Museum of 

Modern Art. 

Sponsored by Occidental 

Petroleum of Qatar (Oxy 

Qatar), the service aims to 

increase awareness and 

patronage of Mathaf, while 

adding value to the MIA 

experience. 

Mathaf Acting Director 

Michelle Dezember said, 

“We are thrilled that Oxy has 

supported this unique initiative. 

Qatar’s cultural landscape 

is developing at a 

rapid pace and this free 

transport service will facilitate 

the discovery of the rich 

and diverse offerings of 

Officials of Qatar Museums Authority, Museum of Islamic Art, Mathaf and Occidental Petroleum of 

Qatar at the launch of shuttle bus service, in Doha, on Monday. 

QMA’s contribution to this 

growth.” 

She added: “This iconic 

bus will connect two of the 

greatest highlights that 

tourists and residents have 

at their fingertips. We are 

looking forward to welcoming 

new, first time visitors as 

well as repeat guests.” 

President and General 

Manager of Oxy Qatar 

Stephen Kelly said, “One of 

the focus areas of Oxy’s 

social responsibility programme 

is to promote the 

arts and culture in Qatar. 

Our support to the Mathaf 

Shuttle Bus Service exemplifies 

that commitment. Oxy 

is proud to play a role in 

expanding access to the collections 

and educational 

activities at both Mathaf and 

the Museum of Islamic Art. 

We congratulate QMA on 

this exciting endeavour.” 

MAKING TOURISM FUN: The newly-launch buses to transport visitors between the Museum of Islamic 

Art (MIA) and Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art 

The complementary shuttle 

bus service project consists 

of two light buses of 25- 

35 seats each that will pick 

up tourists, visitors as well 

as patrons of the MIA and 

MIA Park from allocated bus 

stops at the MIA and 

Mathaf. The buses will operate 

in both directions from 

Wednesday to Sunday from 

11am to 5pm. 

Schools may also benefit 

from the service. 

The new service will allow 

Qatar’s tourists and residents 

to connect the two 

world-class museums 

through a shuttle bus. The 

free service will also highlight 

and connect the incredible 

cultural developments 

taking place in Qatar, facilitate 

the discovery of two of 

the country’s cultural landmarks, 

and encourage public 

engagement.

Nation | African Panorama Tuesday, April 23, 2013 07 

MAMBO JAMBO SHOWCASES 

AFRICAN ACROBATICS IN DOHA 

Members of Mambo Jambo enthral visitors at the recently held African Festival at Katara, in Doha. 


DOHA 

THEIR journey as acrobats began with 

leisurely performances on the beaches of 

Mombasa, a Kenyan coastal city. Having 

gone a long way since, they have performed 

in far off places including various 

locations in Europe. 

So when the Kenyan acrobatic troupe called 

‘Mambo Jambo’, which in Swahili means ‘things 

are fine’ (not to be confused with the English 

mumbo jumbo, which means words or activities 

that are unnecessarily complicated or mysterious 

and seem meaningless), performed for the 

first time in Middle East at the recently concluded 

African Festival at Katara Cultural Village, 

they were a confident lot. 

The confidence and virtuosity of the six-member 

troupe that includes Ken, Kimani, Wonder, 

Isaac, Henry and Kazungu was well rewarded 

with applause by the audience amazed by their 

on-stage display of talent. 

The spectators, present in their hundreds, and 

belonging to diverse nationalities, found their 

acts such as limbo dance, rope skipping, ring 

jumping, human pyramids gymnastics and 

trampoline very entertaining. Their flexibility, 

balance and expertise left the audience mesmerised. 

On a daily basis, the group held foureight 

minute shows during the festival. 

Speaking to Qatar Tribune, Ken, who is the 

manager of the group, said that the members 

had been performing together for a long time 

before officially launching the group in 2004. 

They now live in Europe and travel to various 

parts of the world. 

According to him, although they all dreamt of 

performing in theatres before a mammoth 

crowd, they never thought that this skill would 

get them this far. They considered it as a hobby, 

which could earn them a few more coins and 

make life easier. 

“We have been performing together for long. 

We met in Mombasa and we felt that we all had 

similar aims. We came together to entertain as 

well as earn a living. Although we have performed 

in various parts of the world especially 

France, this is the first time we are performing in 

the Middle East,” said Isaac. 

Ken further said, “We are happy to come to 

Qatar. The environment is pleasing. The event 

was well organised. We always feel happy to see 

our fans excited,” he said. 

According to Isaac, another group member, 

the troupe began performing even when they 

didn’t have any professional training. They later 

got training to sharpen their skills. When they 

started, they did it as a hobby but later they 

realised it could be a way to earn a living. “We 

love it as a hobby. Although, we do it as a part 

time activity, it’s a way of adding to our earnings,” 

he said. 

According to Isaac, though the members live 

in different parts of Europe, distance has never 

been a limiting factor. “Since we have worked 

together for a long time, we know one another 

very well. We do warm-ups separately, but we 

do rehearsals prior to every performance,” he 

said. 

But what keeps their bodies so flexible? “We 

exercise a lot and eat a balanced diet. To be able 

to do these acts, you have to be healthy as well,” 

said Isaac. 

Isaac has never regretted being into this form 

of art. “I got opportunities to go to Europe and 

travel a lot because of acrobatics. I have also 

mingled with many people from various cultures 

because of this skill. My life has become better,” 

he said. 

Giving advice to those who would like to purse 

any form of art, Isaac said, “Go ahead and do it. 

It does not matter what people will think about 

you.” 

Isaac further said that the African Festival 

provided a platform for the artistes of the group 

as well as others to showcase what they could 

offer. He said, “The African Festival has really 

helped us. It has really showcased us. We were 

thrilled by the response of our audience. We 

hope to come back again,” he said. 

The group will be performing in France in 

December but they have various other shows in 

the pipeline between now and then. 

Nigerian expatriates excited over the opening of embassy 


DOHA 

WITH the much-awaited 

opening of the Nigerian 

embassy in Doha remaining 

just a matter of a few 

days, excitement runs high 

among the expatriates from the west 

African country. 

The announcement about opening 

of the embassy was made by 

the first Nigerian Ambassador to 

Qatar HE Shuaibu Adamu Ahmed, 

recently. He said the embassy 

would be able to offer consular 

services very soon. 

Bolanle Famakinwa, a Nigerian 

expatriate said she was excited that 

the embassy was opening soon and 

that it will be able to address the 

issues related to issuance and 

renewal of passports as well as 

human trafficking. At present, if 

Nigerian expatriates need to renew 

their passports, they have to 

approach the Nigerian consulate in 

Dubai or travel back home. 

“The embassy will be able to help 

us in a lot of ways. First, we have 

been facing a lot of challenges in 

renewing our passports. We have 

to access consular services through 

the Dubai consulate or travel back 

home which is so inconveniencing,” 

she said. 

Famakinwa further said, “Besides, 

there is a lot of human trafficking. 

Some Nigerian expatriates come 

here furnishing false information. I 

hope that the embassy will be able to 

curb this practices as well as save 

Nigerians from unscrupulous agents 

back home who offer fake contracts,” 

she said. 

Tinuke Oyeladun, another 

Nigerian expatriate said, “Once the 

embassy opens attestation of our 

documents will become easier.” 

“When we need document attestation 

we need to travel to either 

Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia or even all 

the way to Nigeria. We believe that 

the embassy will be able to offer 

these services to the Nigerian expatriates 

right here at affordable 

prices. Besides, we will have a place 

where we can assemble to raise our 

issues,” she said. 

According to Ekene Osunwoke, 

the embassy will also provide a platform 

for unity. The embassy will 

help in uniting Nigerians living in 

Qatar. Osunwoke also said that they 

have been waiting for the embassy 

for a long time. 

Osunwoke further said that the 

embassy will be able to “strengthen 

the relationship between Qatar and 

Nigeria besides creating more 

opportunities.” 

Another Nigerian, Balogun 

Oluwapo said that the presence of 

the Nigerian embassy in Qatar, is 

going to boost economic, trade and 

investment opportunities for both 

countries. 

“Since both Qatar and Nigeria are 

oil and gas producing countries, 

they might also look for ways to collaborate 

in this sector,” he said. 

A Nigerian cultural group performs at a function at Katara, in Doha, recently. 

For events and press releases contact Catherine W Gichuki by email qatar.editor@gmail.com or call (974) 44422077.


Nation 

Lectures, shows mark Bihar Divas celebration 

President of World Bihar Organisation Shakil Kakvi gives a speech 

during the celebration of Bihar Divas, in Doha, recently. 

MANEESH BAKSHI 

DOHA 

MEMBERS of the World Bihar 

Organisation (WBO) and 

Qatar Chapter of Bihar 

Foundation celebrated 101 

years of Bihar Divas (bifurcation 

of Bihar from Bengal 

province under the British 

rule) at Copthorne Hotel on 

Friday. 

Indian expatriates from the 

state of Bihar celebrate Bihar 

Divas as ‘Ek sham Bihar ke 

naam’ to commemorate the 

creation of state. 

“Keeping with the old tradition 

of learning and knowledge 

Bihar has been known for 

through the ages, we decided to 

celebrate Bihar Divas this year 

by hosting lectures on diverse 

topics presented by Bihari 

scholars working in various 

research institutes of Qatar,”, 

said Aqueel Ahmed, general 

secretary of WBO. 

Members of the World Bihar Organisation during the celebration of Bihar Divas, in Doha, recently. (MANEESH BAKSHI) 

Speaking at the event attended 

by about 300 people, WBO 

President Shakil Ahmed Kakvi 

said: “The best service our overseas 

Bihari brothers and sisters 

could render for their home 

state is by adopting their home 

villages and serving the inhabitants 

in the best possible way.” 

The event witnessed the 

launch of Parwaaz 2013, an inhouse 

magazine highlighting 

major activities undertaken by 

WBO and BF in the past. Many 

members of the governing 

body of WBO witnessed the 

launch. 

Noted scientist Atif Iqbal of 

Qatar University gave an 

informative presentation about 

the importance of renewable 

energy sources in the context of 

the power supply scenario in 

Bihar and suggested appropriate 

solutions whereby the 

power situation in the state 

could improve. 

Anwar Karim, who is one of 

the zealous foot soldiers of 

WBO, gave a video presentation 

about the recent industrial 

development in Bihar. 

Linguistics scholar at Qatar 

University, Rizwan Ahmad 

gave an engrossing talk on 

‘Language, collective memory 

and its social identity’. His 

presentation explained the 

meandering changes, which 

have taken place over the years 

in the meaning of words in the 

day-to-day use of language. 

The last presentation came 

from Sajid Atique, a medico 

from HMC, who did a comparative 

study on medical facilities 

available in the state of Bihar 

and elsewhere. 

After the presentations, 

some cultural events staged by 

the student wing of Kinat 

Foundation enlivened the 

atmosphere. “It was a wonderful 

enriching evening,” said 

Sohail, a staff of Qatar 

Aluminium who came with his 

family to celebrate Bihar Divas. 

The World Bihar 

Organisation came into existence 

through the efforts of 

like-minded Bihari professionals 

in Qatar who wanted to 

offer a platform to those who 

share the vision of projecting 

Bihar on the global map. 

RasGas awards eco-fair 

colouring contest winners 


DOHA 

RASGAS Company Limited 

(RasGas) on Sunday presented 

prizes to the winners of the 

colouring competition of the 

7th Qatar Petroleum (QP) 

Environment Fair. 

Set to raise awareness 

about green buildings, the 

competition engaged young 

visitors across different age 

groups. The winners were 

selected from three age categories: 

under 6, between 6-11, 

and above 12. 

Under the fair’s theme of 

‘Clean Energy for a 

Sustainable World’, the 

RasGas stand focussed on 

green buildings and different 

methods by which companies 

and individuals can reduce 

consumption of water and 

electricity, as well as minimise 

waste, to mitigate the 

environmental impact of their 

buildings. The stand highlighted 

RasGas’ new headquarters 

building in West 

Bay, which received Qatar’s 

first LEED (Leadership in 

Energy and Environmental 

Design) gold certification for 

commercial interiors. 

A scene from the play ‘Shoo Fi Bil Jazeerah?’ sponsored by Sasol at the QP eco-fair, in Doha, recently. 

Sasol hosts play at QP fair 

RasGas officials with the winners of the environment fair colouring competition, in Doha, recently. 


DOHA 

SASOL, an international integrated 

energy and chemical 

company, hosted an Arabiclanguage 

environment play 

‘Shoo Fi Bil Jazeerah?’ (What 

is Happening on the Island?) 

recently. 

The play was performed for 

free during the annual Qatar 

Petroleum environment fair 

which took place from April 

14 to 16 at the Doha 

Exhibition Centre. 

Written and directed by 

award winning Nazih 

Youssef, the play is for children 

aged 4 to 12. It gives a 

message of protecting the 

environment by familiarising 

children with recycling and 

factors that contribute to pollution. 

It also shows that protecting 

the environment is a 

collective responsibility, 

regardless of age, gender or 

nationality. 

President of Sasol Qatar 

Marjo Louw said, “Sasol is 

pleased to bring this educational 

and entertaining play 

to Doha, in line with Sasol’s 

corporate commitment to 

environmental protection. 

We also thank the Minister of 

Energy and Industry and 

Chairman and Managing 

Director of Qatar Petroleum 

HE Dr Mohammad bin Saleh 

al Sada for his leadership on 

the shared importance of 

Qatar Petroleum and Sasol. 

Encouraging children at an 

early age regarding the 

responsibility for the planet 

can inspire a lifetime of environmental 

consciousness.” 

The plot of ‘Shoo Fi Bil 

Jazeerah?’ centres around an 

environmental problem on an 

island, isolated from the rest 

of the world. Everyone on the 

island has an idea on how to 

address the problem, but 

nothing seems to work. With 

the help of an expert, characters 

in the play solve the problem 

through recycling which 

made their island beautiful 

again. The performance combines 

music, dance and dialogue 

to tell the story in an 

entertaining way for children 

and adults alike. 

WCMCQ expert highlights dangers of shisha 


DOHA 

SHISHA smokers are at a 

higher risk of developing cancer, 

respiratory illness, and 

periodontal disease compared 

to non-smokers, Weill Cornell 

Medical College in Qatar 

(WCMCQ) Associate 

Professor of Public Health Dr 

Ziyad Mahfoud said at a community 

health forum recently. 

Shisha smoking has also 

been linked to low birth 

weight, he said. 

Dr Mahfoud was addressing 

the monthly Medicine & U 

health outreach programme at 

WCMCQ campus in 

Education City with a talk 

titled ‘The Health Risks of 

Smoking Shisha: Facts and 

Fiction’. 

“Tobacco use and tobacco 

smoke produced during shisha 

smoking contain similar toxic 

substances and known carcinogens; 

generally in stronger 

concentrations than found in 

cigarette smoking. The charcoal 

and aluminum foil used in 

burning the tobacco produce 

high levels of carbon monoxide 

and heavy metals that are 

also dangerous to health,” Dr 

Mahfoud said. 

Shisha, also known as 

hookah, narghile, arghile, hubble-bubble 

and water pipe, is a 

device that people use to 

smoke tobacco. New forms of 

flavoured tobacco including 

apple, pineapple, and chocolate, 

specially made for shisha 

emerged more than 20 years 

WCMCQ’s Dr Ziyad Mahfoud addresses a seminar, in Doha, recently. 

ago and spread shisha smoking 

rapidly among people in 

the Middle East and around 

the world. Its origins can be 

traced to more than 400 years 

ago in India and Persia. 

“There is a misconception 

that it is less harmful than cigarettes 

due to its fruit content 

and water filtering and it has 

growing social acceptability 

compared to cigarettes, especially 

among women and 

youth,” Dr Mahfoud said. 

“Because it is not being included 

in smoking bans in many 

countries, or even regulated as 

much as cigarettes, is also a 

problem.” 

He urged parents to play an 

important role by communicating 

and addressing the 

health dangers of shisha 

smoking with their children. 

He encouraged schools to 

develop education campaigns 

and teach young people how to 

deal with peer pressure when 

urged to participate in shisha 

smoking. 

Dr. Mahfoud also called for 

the implementation of public 

health campaigns that warn 

about the dangers of shisha 

smoking and replace myths 

with facts. 

“A lot can be done to educate 

the public about the dangers of 

smoking,” he said. “There is a 

need to improve and enforce 

comprehensive tobacco control 

laws that include shisha 

smoking. And we need to provide 

de-addiction services 

especially tailored for shisha 

smokers.”

Philippines / East Asia Tuesday, April 23, 2013 09 

SE Asian leaders aim to resolve maritime rifts 

AFP 

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN 

SOUTHEAST Asian leaders 

will focus on rebuilding unity 

when they meet in Brunei this 

week after unprecedented 

rifts over how to handle territorial 

disputes with an 

assertive China. 

The summit of the 10- 

member Association of 

Southeast Asian Nations 

(Asean) convenes against the 

backdrop of China’s increasingly 

aggressive stance in 

claiming sovereignty over 

nearly all of the resource-rich 

South China Sea. 

Asean members Brunei, 

Malaysia, the Philippines and 

Vietnam, as well as Taiwan, 

also claim parts of the sea, 

which lies at the heart of the 

region. But a push last year by 

the Philippines and Vietnam 

for Asean to join forces and 

stand up to China crumbled 

amid resistance from 

Cambodia, a close Chinese 

ally that held the rotating 

chair of the bloc in 2012. 

Indonesian Foreign 

Minister Marty Natalegawa 

emphasised ahead of the twoday 

summit beginning on 

Wednesday in Brunei’s capital 

Bandar Seri Begawan that 

Asean must put up a united 

front on the South China Sea. 

“Asean can only influence 

developments if we are 

strong... we need to be on the 

same page,” Natalegawa said. 

Brunei has said one of its 

priorities as this year’s Asean 

chair is to see a legally binding 

code of conduct on the sea 

agreed between the group 

and China by the end of year, 

more than a decade after it 

was first proposed. 

Philippine President 

Benigno Aquino III will push 

at the summit for an “early 

conclusion” of the code, foreign 

ministry spokesman 

Raul Hernandez told 

reporters in Manila last week. 

Natalegawa said earlier this 

month that foreign ministers 

from Asean and China will 

hold a special meeting to hasten 

progress on a code of conduct, 

but no further details 

have been announced. 

Indonesian Foreign Minister 

Marty Natalegawa 

Asean can only 

influence developments 

if we are 

strong... we need 

to be on the same 

page. 

MARTY NATALEGAWA 

But analysts said an agreement 

was highly unlikely this 

year, given stalling from 

China which prefers to negotiate 

directly with individual 

countries rather than a united 

Asean bloc. 

“No one should be expecting 

any kind of breakthrough 

on the code of conduct at the 

coming meeting,” Ian Storey, 

a fellow at the Institute of 

Southeast Asian Studies in 

Singapore, told AFP. “China’s 

position is that it is not ready 

to talk with Asean about the 

South China Sea... if China 

does not want to move forward, 

nothing will as far as the 

code of conduct is concerned.” 

Feuds over how to deal with 

China overshadowed most 

senior-level meetings last year. 

The highest tensions came at a 

foreign ministers’ meeting in 

Phnom Penh in July, which 

ended for the first time in the 

bloc’s 45-year history without 

a joint communique. 

Philippine foreign ministry 

spokesman Hernandez said 

Asean had put last year’s rifts 

behind it, but observers said 

the dynamics that led to the 

infighting had not changed. 

“The wounds from last year 

have yet to fully heal,” a 

Southeast Asian diplomat who 

asked not to be named, said. 

The Philippines and 

Vietnam are the most vocal 

critics of China, while Laos 

and Cambodia are regarded 

as Beijing’s staunchest allies 

in Asean. The South China Sea 

has immense regional and 

global importance because it is 

believed to sit atop huge 

deposits of oil and gas, while 

also being home to some of the 

world’s busiest shipping lanes. 

China insists it owns nearly 

all of the sea, even waters 

approaching the coasts of the 

Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia 

and Brunei. 

The rival claims have for 

decades caused tensions, with 

China and Vietnam involved 

in deadly military confrontations 

in 1974 and 1988 over 

islands in the region. 

The temperature has risen 

again in recent years as China 

has become increasingly 

assertive in staking its claim. 

Rebels warn 

Philippine poll 

candidates 

Four soldiers killed in 

bomb blast in Thailand 

Endangered 

orangutan 

gets baby in 

Indonesia 

AFP 

SEMARANG 

AFP 

MANILA 

PHILIPPINE communist 

rebels warned politicians 

on Monday to seek permission 

before campaigning in 

their strongholds following 

an ambush that wounded a 

town mayor and killed two 

of her aides. 

Jorge Madlos, a 

spokesman for the New 

People’s Army (NPA), told 

AFP it would continue to 

man checkpoints to 

“impose revolutionary policies” 

on candidates for the 

May 13 local elections. 

The military has 

accused the communist 

guerrillas 

of extorting 

money from 

politicians in 

exchange for letting 

them campaign 

but President 

Aquino’s 

spokesman 

Edwin Lacierda 

said this would 

not be tolerated. 

The NPA launched an 

attack with grenade 

launchers on a convoy carrying 

town mayor Ruth 

Guingona on Saturday, 

killing two of her aides and 

leaving her and two policemen 

wounded. 

“They should secure permission 

and coordinate 

with our local forces when 

entering our area, and they 

should also not have armed 

escorts,” he added. 

Madlos said the 

ambush was unfortunate, 

but added that Guingona, 

a member of President 

Benigno Aquino’s ruling 

party, had been previously 

warned that entering 

rebel areas with armed 

escorts could touch off 

violence. 

“Our fighters are calling 

politicians on the phone to 

inform them we are serious 

in implementing our policy,” 

Madlos said. 

“They are free to campaign 

in our areas, but they 

should first coordinate with 

us.” 

Aquino’s spokesman 

Edwin Lacierda said the 

latest attack further 

dimmed the prospects of 

peace with the NPA and its 

leadership, the Communist 

Party of the Philippines 

(CPP). 

“It’s obvious that the 

CPP-NPA is not interested 

in pursuing peace talks 

with us. Certainly, we 

would like to pursue peace 

talks with them but the 

burden is on the CPP- 

NPA,” he said. 

He said the military 

and police would secure 

any campaigning politicians 

and break up any 

checkpoint set up by the 

rebels. 

The military has accused 

the communist guerrillas of 

extorting money from 

politicians in exchange for 

letting them campaign but 

Lacierda said this would 

not be tolerated. 

More than 18,000 posts 

are at stake in the May local 

elections, from town mayors 

and governors to members 

of congress. 

In 2011, the military said 

the rebels earned at estimated 

300 million pesos 

($7.3 million) in illegal 

“revolutionary taxes” collected 

from individuals and 

businesses. 

The military estimates 

the rebels have about 

4,000 fighters nationwide, 

down from more than 

26,000 at their peak in the 

1980s. 

Thai hospital workers attend to an injured soldier, in Bacho district, Narathiwat, on Monday. (AFP) 

AFP & AP 

NARATHIWAT 

FOUR soldiers were killed 

and another four seriously 

injured while attempting to 

defuse a bomb at an army 

base in Thailand’s unrestplagued 

south on Monday, 

police said. 

The blast happened after 

troops moved the device, 

which was hidden in a gas 

tank and placed under a 

bridge, to a base in 

Narathiwat, one of several 

provinces in southern 

Thailand where a bloody 

nine-year insurgency has 

claimed thousands of lives. 

“They were inspecting and 

defusing the civilian-made 

bomb” when it exploded, 

said local police lieutenant 

colonel Sanit Suwanno. 

Captain Somkiat Ponprayun 

says officers also found 

a banner with a message 

against ongoing peace talks 

between the government 

and the insurgents. 

Somkiat said the marines 

took the bomb to their base to 

study it, and it then exploded. 

He said it may have had a second 

triggering device. 

More than 5,500 people 

have been killed in 

Thailand’s Muslim-majority 

south since 2004, with shadowy 

insurgent groups 

blamed for near-daily bombings 

and shootings. 

Security personnel and 

those connected with the 

government are regularly 

targeted, as well as Muslims 

perceived to be collaborating 

with the authorities. 

Thailand held its first official 

peace talks with southern 

insurgents at the end of 

March, during a one-day 

Captain Somkiat 

Ponprayun says 

officers also found 

a banner with a 

message against 

ongoing peace 

talks between the 

government and 

the insurgents. 

meeting with representatives 

of the Barisan Revolusi 

Nasional (BRN) in Malaysia’s 

capital Kuala Lumpur. 

While talks were said to be 

cordial — and a further 

round was set for April 29 — 

attacks have continued in the 

region, leading to questions 

about the BRN’s influence. 

The latest deaths come as 

more than 100 large banners 

denouncing the negotiations 

appeared strung near roads 

and other public places 

across the region. 

National Security Council 

chief Paradorn Pattanatabut, 

who is heading negotiations, 

said those behind 

the banners “still believe 

that violence is the way”, 

and were sending a message 

to authorities that talks 

would not be successful 

without their agreement. 

“We basically know who 

they are, because we can 

check the security cameras. 

They did it quite openly so 

we could see their faces,” 

Paradorn told AFP. 

A BORNEO orangutan has 

been born at a zoo on 

Indonesia’s main island of 

Java, providing a glimmer of 

hope for the endangered primates, 

a zookeeper said on 

Monday. 

Belia, a female, arrived on 

Saturday in the first successful 

birth of an orangutan at 

the zoo in Semarang, Central 

Java province. 

The fourth orangutan at 

the zoo, she was born naturally 

to Bella, 18, and Billy, 

20, zoo head Kusyanto, who 

goes by one name, told AFP. 

The couple had another baby 

in 2007 but it died an hour 

after being born. 

There are estimated 

to be 45,000- 

69,000 Borneo 

orangutans left in 

the wild. 

“The baby is a girl, giving us 

hope that when she grows up, 

she could give birth to more 

of the endangered primates,” 

Kusyanto said. 

There are estimated to be 

45,000-69,000 Borneo 

orangutans left in the wild. 

They are native to the vast 

island of Borneo, which is 

shared among Indonesia, 

Malaysia and Brunei. 

Destruction of Indonesia’s 

lowland rainforest and peatlands 

to open the way for 

palm oil and agriculture has 

led to a dramatic decline in 

the numbers of orangutans, 

Asia’s only great ape. 

Mother Bella and baby Belia 

Indonesia’s democracy a success, says Yudhoyono 

Singapore’s President Tony Tan (right) confers an honourary doctorate 

to Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, in Singapore, on 

Monday. (REUTERS) 

AGENCIES 

JAKARTA 

INDONESIAN President 

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono 

says that democracy and economic 

growth can work hand 

in hand, despite criticisms 

saying that the two are not 

mutually exclusive. 

“There was a time decades 

ago when Indonesians felt 

that we had to choose between 

two critical objectives, either a 

lot of democracy but little economic 

growth or a lot of economic 

growth but little political 

freedom,” Yudhoyono said 

in Singapore on Monday during 

a ceremony at Nanyang 

Technological University, 

where he received an honourary 

doctorate from the 

university. 

Yudhoyono explained that in 

Indonesia’s case, such stereotypes 

did not exist, adding that 

Indonesia’s economy was 

growing steadily at a rate of 6 

percent and public participation 

in the country’s general 

and local elections were high. 

“We have become a solid 

democracy with three periodic 

elections in 1999, 2004 and 

2009, while at the same time 

attaining high economic 

growth around 6 percent,” 

Yudhoyono said. 

“Thus we have demonstrated 

that democracy and economic 

growth can be mutually 

reinforcing.” 

Yudhoyono praised his 

four-track development strategy 

— pro-growth, pro-job, 

pro-poor and pro-environment 

— for the country’s economic 

development. 

“I have also emphasised the 

need for a development framework 

based on the principle of 

‘sustainable growth with equity,’ 

where the expanding economic 

pie does not produce 

larger inequity but leads to 

greater equity,” he added. 

The president also stressed 

the central government’s 

efforts to promote a resilient 

and vibrant domestic market, 

which contributes to strong 

economic growth. 

“I am pleased that these 

strategies have proven effective 

in keeping the 

Indonesian economy afloat in 

the midst of a global economic 

slowdown,” he said. 

Yudhoyono also tackled the 

global perception that Islam 

and democracy could not 

work together. The president 

said that he believed 

Indonesia was a good example 

to highlight how democracy, 

modernisation and Islam 

worked hand in hand. 

“Muslims in Indonesia are 

very comfortable with democracy 

and with modernity. 

Thus, the Indonesian democracy 

may well offer valuable 

lessons to Arab Spring countries 

who are now facing similar 

challenges,” Yudhoyono 

said, adding that the country’s 

Islamic political parties 

played a significant role to 

promote democracy.


Opinion 

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 

Handling Terrorism Suspect 

The Boston blast suspect must be dealt with 

according to established laws 

SENATOR Lindsey Graham of South 

Carolina apparently has a thermalimaging 

device for detecting the motivation 

of the man arrested on suspicion of 

bombing the Boston Marathon. He and 

three other Republican lawmakers 

declared that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev should 

be considered an enemy combatant, not a 

criminal, and should be held by the military 

without access to a lawyer or the fundamental 

rights that distinguish this 

country from authoritarian regimes. 

Graham’s reckless statement makes a 

mockery of the superb civilian police work 

that led to the suspect’s capture, starting 

with a skillful analysis of video recordings 

of the marathon. The law enforcement system 

solved the case swiftly and efficiently, 

led by the FBI and local police, and as 

shocking as the attack was, there is no reason 

civilian prosecutors, defence lawyers 

and courts cannot continue to do their 

work – especially since they have proved 

themselves far better at it than the military. 

Tsarnaev is a naturalised US citizen, an 

inconvenient fact for the pressure-him-at- 

Gitmo crowd. He cannot be tried in a military 

commission, a legal system reserved 

for aliens. Even to be held by the military 

without trial would require a showing that 

he is associated with a declared enemy of 

the United States, such as Al Qaeda or the 

Taliban. So far there isn’t any visible connection 

between the Tsarnaev brothers 

and anyone more malevolent. Their 

Islamic or Chechen heritage alone is hardly 

proof of jihadist intent. 

Fortunately the Obama administration 

has ignored the posturing and declared 

that Tsarnaev, like all citizens and even 

alien terrorists captured on American soil, 

will be tried in the federal courts. He will 

soon be charged with terrorism under federal 

statutes, and will be represented by 

the federal public defender’s office. 

Federal and local officials intend to take 

their time, however, in giving a Miranda 

warning to the suspect, advising him of 

his right to remain silent. There is a public 

safety exception to the Miranda requirement, 

allowing investigators to question 

suspects about imminent threats, like 

bombs or specific terror conspiracies, 

before the warning is given and then use 

that information in court. In 2010, unfortunately, 

the administration improperly 

told agents that they could expand that 

exception for terror suspects even when 

threats were not imminent. 

It is not clear whether that expansion, 

which has yet to be tested in court, is being 

employed in this case. But the Obama 

administration, no less than Republicans, 

should not allow the raw emotions associated 

with a terrorism case to trample on 

the American system of justice. 

Visa Reforms For Skilled Workers 

(NYT) 

(NYT) 

THE immigration reform bill introduced 

by a bipartisan group of senators last 

week would make it easier for skilled 

workers to come to this country while 

toughening rules to prevent abuse in temporary 

work visas. 

Many skilled workers and their families 

spend a decade or more waiting for 

employment-based green cards, which are 

capped at 140,000 a year and are subject 

to per-country limits. The bill addresses 

this problem by temporarily raising limits 

to clear a backlog of 234,000 applications 

for employment-based permanent visas. 

It would also exempt spouses and children 

of workers from the limits, which should 

free up nearly 80,000 visas a year. 

It also creates a “merit based” category 

of green cards while getting rid of permanent 

visas for siblings of citizens and for 

people from countries with low rates of 

immigration to the United States. These 

new visas would be given to people on the 

basis of points granted for factors like the 

college degrees they have earned; whether 

their siblings are citizens; how highly they 

score in an English proficiency test; and 

whether they are from an underrepresented 

country. This proposal is deeply troubling 

because it appears to buy into the 

zero-sum thinking that pits employmentbased 

immigration against family-sponsored 

and diversity immigration. America 

should welcome both groups of people, 

not choose between them. 

The senators also want to expand the 

popular H-1B category of work visas to 

135,000, from 85,000 – a quota that is 

often reached in a matter of weeks or 

months every year. The new, higher limit 

would be allowed to increase or decrease 

by as many as 10,000 visas a year based 

on demand for them and government 

unemployment data. In an important 

provision, people on such visas will be 

able to switch employers more easily, 

making it harder for companies to pay 

workers below-market salaries. 

Another provision would clamp down 

on abuse by imposing higher fees and 

other restrictions on employers who have 

a large percentage of their work force on 

such visas. While some provisions need to 

be improved, the bill sets the right tone 

for making America more hospitable to 

skilled and hardworking immigrants. 

Russia Is No Country 

For Idealists 

After decades of authoritarianism and crony capitalism, Russians 

have developed strong cynicism towards democracy and reforms 

VADIM NIKITIN | 

GUARDIAN NEWS SERVICE 

SOMETHING doesn’t make 

sense about Alexei Navalny, 

and it’s not just the trumpedup 

charges against him. The 

Russian corruption whistleblower 

and opposition leader, who 

will be formally arraigned this 

Wednesday for allegedly embezzling 

half a million dollars from a stateowned 

timber company in 2009, is in 

a peculiar bind. “The case against 

Navalny is a case against us all,” chant 

his admirers. But if that is true, why 

are people who seem to otherwise 

trust Navalny’s anti-corruption work 

apparently so reluctant to support his 

political bid? 

Recent polls show Navalny’s name 

recognition rising steadily over the 

past three years, to nearly 40 percent 

in March 2013. And of those who have 

heard of him, more than half trust his 

muckraking exposes of the corruption 

endemic among Russia’s elite. 

Yet the number of people who say 

they would definitely vote for him 

should he run for office has fallen 

from 5 percent in 2011 to a mere 1 percent 

today. Last week, just 1,500 people 

turned up at a Moscow protest 

organised in solidarity with the 

detained dissident. Meanwhile, significantly 

more people said they would 

vote for the liberal-leaning oligarch 

Mikhail Prokhorov, despite nearly half 

(wisely) suspecting him to be a 

Kremlin plant. 

The public’s strangely lukewarm 

attitude towards Navalny certainly 

appears to have little to do with the 

patently false accusations he faces. 

The ludicrousness of the charges is 

evident to all, not least the Kremlin 

itself, which accused Navalny of the 

same crime back in December 2010, 

only to be forced to close its own 

probe for lack of evidence. 

On the contrary - Navalny’s greatest 

problem might be the public’s fear 

that he may actually be innocent. For, 

as a result of Russia’s ignominious 

history, its citizens have come to view 

politics as so inherently corrupt, dirty 

and cruel that anyone who comes in 

attempting reform is viewed with 

utmost suspicion. 

After so many repeated disappointments 

with democracy, Navalny’s 

countrymen may have simply become 

resigned to the fact that might is right 

and politics is little more than a strategy 

for direct personal enrichment. 

It’s one reason why voters may be 

more likely to support a self-interested 

ruler backed by the power of the 

state, such as Prokhorov: at least there 

are no illusions - and, who knows, 

In a country where a casual 

smile at a stranger connotes 

either idiocy or 

threat, where everything is 

about money and everyone 

has a price, what kind 

of person would do something 

as dangerous as 

Navalny’s brand of political 

protest for nothing? 

something good might even get done 

amid the usual plunder. 

Navalny, with his big-city middleclass 

supporters and western-style 

volunteerism, remains a mystery to 

many Russians. In a country where a 

casual smile at a stranger connotes 

either idiocy or threat, where everything 

is about money and everyone 

has a price, what kind of person would 

do something as dangerous as 

Navalny’s brand of political protest for 

nothing? Even if he’s not guilty of 

embezzlement, goes the popular logic, 

he’s sure as hell guilty of something. 

Otherwise, he’s just plain crazy. 

The last time Russians allowed 

themselves to be carried away by 

hopeful promises was in the heady 

post-communist euphoria of the early 

1990s. And their faith was brutally 

dashed by the Yeltsin government’s 

rapacious capitalism masquerading as 

liberal democracy. As Victor Pelevin 

put it in his cult novel Generation P, 

in those days, the only use for the 

word ‘parliamentarianism’ was to flog 

Parliament-brand cigarettes. 

Alexander II, Khrushchev, 

Gorbachev: the country’s history is littered 

with failed reformers and idealists 

of all stripes, whereas the leaders 

it most reveres have been its cruellest 

ones: Ivan the Terrible, Peter the 

Great, Lenin, Stalin and now Putin. If 

Russia reserves its biggest punishments 

for the well-meaning, Navalny’s 

biggest crime is to be the candidate of 

hope in a land that has long since 

given it up. 

(Vadim Nikitin is a 

Russian journalist.) 

HK Shows China’s Complex Reality 

Free speech is thriving and politics is fair game at Hong Kong universities 

THE Goddess of Democracy, a 

sculpture resembling the Statue 

of Liberty that has become a 

protest symbol, is holding court 

at the City University of Hong 

Kong, which is host to an exhibit about 

the 1989 crackdown near Tiananmen 

Square, an event that cannot be discussed 

openly in mainland China. 

Last year, the university displayed 

photographs by Liu Xia, the wife of the 

imprisoned Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo. 

PEN America, an organisation that 

works to defend freedom of expression, 

called the Hong Kong exhibit its first on 

‘Chinese soil’. 

While that is true – this former 

British colony was returned to Chinese 

rule in 1997 – the complex reality is that 

Hong Kong operates under its own 

laws, which allow students, academics 

and universities more freedom than 

they would have in the rest of the country, 

particularly at schools of media, 

communications and journalism. 

On the Web site of the University of 

Hong Kong’s Journalism and Media 

Studies Center, students can read about 

a talk that the US filmmaker Alison 

Klayman gave about her documentary 

on Ai Weiwei, an artist who was detained 

for two months in 2011 in Beijing and is 

barred from leaving the country. 

The China Media Project, which is 

affiliated with the university’s journalism 

school, has a regular column called 

the ‘Anti-Social List’ that tracks, translates 

and reprints posts that the Chinese 

authorities have censored from Sina 

Weibo, a domestic Twitter-like service. 

Yuen Ying Chan, founding director of 

the Journalism and Media Studies 

Center, said by e-mail that she had never 

felt pressure to avoid controversies. 

Also at the University of Hong Kong is 

the Public Opinion Project, whose polls 

have long been a thorn in the authorities’ 

side. (The project has bounced 

between the Media Studies Center and 

the Faculty of Social Sciences.) 

Robert Ting Yiu Chung, who since 

1991 has run HKU POP, which studies 

JOYCE LAU | 

IHT-NYT SYNDICATE 

The complex reality is 

that Hong Kong operates 

under its own laws, 

which allow students, 

academics and universities 

more freedom than 

they would have in the 

rest of the country, particularly 

at schools of 

media, communications 

and journalism 

public opinion, made headlines in 2012 

when his team held a mock election for 

the city’s chief executive, who is chosen 

by a committee with government ties. 

Amid broad calls for universal suffrage 

to be implemented in the city, 223,000 

people participated, despite a cyberattack 

that disabled a voting app for smartphones 

developed by the university. 

At the Chinese University of Hong 

Kong, a student magazine celebrated its 

20th anniversary with a series called 

‘Hong Kong’s Coming Culture War’, 

which included an article illustrated with 

a colonial-era Hong Kong flag – a controversial 

image sometimes used at protests. 

According to government figures, 

every year Hong Kong’s universities 

attract about 9,000 mainland Chinese 

students, who find themselves on campuses 

that are more free and more 

politicised than those back home. 

Meanwhile, cross-border collaborations 

between mainland and Hong 

Kong academics are becoming more 

common, even when they touch on 

prickly topics like the media or politics. 

Hong Kong Baptist University’s 

School of Communication is holding a 

workshop next month called ‘Social 

Media, Regulation and Freedom of 

Expression’. While the subject is seen as 

sensitive on the mainland – where 

access to Twitter and Facebook is limited 

– the event is being held with the cooperation 

of the Center for Journalism at 

Tsinghua University in Beijing, as well as 

a foundation in Taiwan. 

“Since the topic includes Hong Kong, 

the mainland and Taiwan, we felt it was 

best to have input from all three 

places,’’ said Dr Yik Chan Chin of 

Baptist University’s Department of 

Journalism. She said that some of the 

event’s partners were initially concerned 

with the use of the term ‘freedom 

of expression’ in the title. But, “in 

the end, the workshop is in Hong Kong, 

not the mainland, so we can choose to 

say what we want,’’ she said. 

“Sure, there are concerns, but the 

speakers from Beijing know what they 

can say or not say,’’ she said, adding 

that “Hong Kong is quite liberal and 

people here have even radical views on 

freedom of expression. I’ve never felt 

any pressure myself.’’ 

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

Analysis Tuesday, April 23, 2013 11 

The Jobless Trap 

The fears of debt and long-term spending cuts are producing 

a corrosive effect of persistent unemployment in the US 

Have 

your say 

Is there an issue you feel strongly 

about, or an article you want to comment 

on? QT will carry your voice to the 

public and to places where it matters. 

Write to us at 

ADDRESS: PO BOX 23493, 

DOHA, QATAR 

TELEPHONE: +974.44422077 

FAX: +974.44416790 

EMAIL: LETTERS@QATAR-TRIBUNE.COM 

No panic! 

Poverty of Economics 

PAUL KRUGMAN 

NYT NEWS SERVICE 

Even as the case 

for debt hysteria 

is collapsing, our 

worst fears about 

the damage from 

long-term unemployment 

are 

being confirmed. 

FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT 

told us that the only thing we 

had to fear was fear itself. But 

when future historians look 

back at our monstrously failed 

response to economic depression, they 

probably won’t blame fear, per se. 

Instead, they’ll castigate our leaders for 

fearing the wrong things. 

For the overriding fear driving economic 

policy has been debt hysteria, 

fear that unless we slash spending we’ll 

turn into Greece any day now. After all, 

haven’t economists proved that economic 

growth collapses once public 

debt exceeds 90 percent of GDP? 

Well, the famous red line on debt, it 

turns out, was an artifact of dubious 

statistics, reinforced by bad arithmetic. 

And America isn’t and can’t be Greece, 

because countries that borrow in their 

own currencies operate under very different 

rules from those that rely on 

someone else’s money. After years of 

repeated warnings that fiscal crisis is 

just around the corner, the US government 

can still borrow at incredibly low 

interest rates. 

But while debt fears were and are 

misguided, there’s a real danger we’ve 

ignored: the corrosive effect, social and 

economic, of persistent high unemployment. 

And even as the case for debt 

hysteria is collapsing, our worst fears 

about the damage from long-term 

unemployment are being confirmed. 

Now, some unemployment is 

inevitable in an ever-changing economy. 

Modern America tends to have an 

unemployment rate of 5 percent or 

more even in good times. In these good 

times, however, spells of unemployment 

are typically brief. Back in 2007 

there were about 7 million unemployed 

Americans – but only a small fraction of 

this total, around 1.2 million, had been 

out of work more than six months. 

Then financial crisis struck, leading 

to a terrifying economic plunge followed 

by a weak recovery. Five years 

after the crisis, unemployment remains 

elevated, with almost 12 million 

Americans out of work. But what’s really 

striking is the huge number of longterm 

unemployed, with 4.6 million 

unemployed more than six months and 

more than 3 million who have been jobless 

for a year or more. Oh, and these 

numbers don’t count those who have 

given up looking for work because there 

are no jobs to be found. 

It goes without saying that the explosion 

of long-term unemployment is a 

tragedy for the unemployed themselves. 

But it may also be a broader 

economic disaster. 

The key question is whether workers 

who have been unemployed for a long 

time eventually come to be seen as 

unemployable, tainted goods that 

nobody will buy. This could happen 

because their work skills atrophy, but a 

more likely reason is that potential 

employers assume that something 

must be wrong with people who can’t 

find a job, even if the real reason is simply 

the terrible economy. And there is, 

unfortunately, growing evidence that 

the tainting of the long-term unemployed 

is happening as we speak. 

One piece of evidence comes from 

the relationship between job openings 

and unemployment. Normally these 

two numbers move inversely: the more 

job openings, the fewer Americans out 

of work. And this traditional relationship 

remains true if we look at shortterm 

unemployment. But as William 

Dickens and Rand Ghayad of 

Northeastern University recently 

showed, the relationship has broken 

down for the long-term unemployed: A 

rising number of job openings doesn’t 

seem to do much to reduce their numbers. 

It’s as if employers don’t even 

bother looking at anyone who has been 

out of work for a long time. 

To test this hypothesis, Ghayad then 

did an experiment, sending out 

resumes describing the qualifications 

and employment history of 4,800 fictitious 

workers. Who got called back? 

The answer was that workers who 

reported having been unemployed for 

six months or more got very few callbacks, 

even when all their other qualifications 

were better than those of workers 

who did attract employer interest. 

So we are indeed creating a permanent 

class of jobless Americans. 

And let’s be clear: This is a policy 

decision. The main reason our economic 

recovery has been so weak is that, 

spooked by fear-mongering over debt, 

we’ve been doing exactly what basic 

macroeconomics says you shouldn’t do 

– cutting government spending in the 

face of a depressed economy. 

It’s hard to overstate how selfdestructive 

this policy is. Indeed, the 

shadow of long-term unemployment 

means that austerity policies are counterproductive 

even in purely fiscal 

terms. Workers, after all, are taxpayers 

too; if our debt obsession exiles millions 

of Americans from productive 

employment, it will cut into future revenues 

and raise future deficits. 

Our exaggerated fear of debt is, in 

short, creating a slow-motion catastrophe. 

It’s ruining many lives, and at the 

same time making us poorer and 

weaker in every way. And the longer we 

persist in this folly, the greater the 

damage will be. 

THIS is with reference to the news 

report ‘Qatar safe from major quakes’, 

published on April 22. 

I’ve been here in Qatar for just a year, 

and coming from a country where 

earthquake is a ‘normal thing’, I was a 

bit surprised when panic spread last 

week as mild tremors were felt twice 

across the country. Facebook is flooded 

with tips on how to stay calm and focus, 

and for everyone to pray and stay safe. 

A friend who has been staying here 

for almost eight years now told me that 

although mild tremors were reported in 

2010 and 2011, there have been no 

recent earthquakes in Qatar, and the 

fact that the earthquake with magnitude 

6.3 occurred near Bushehr, Iran, where 

the country’s only nuclear facility is situated… 

who would not be scared? 

Your report stated that Qatar is out of 

harm’s way as it’s far away from the 

earthquakes foci… this will definitely 

bring joy and assurance to everyone 

knowing that the country we love is situated 

in a stable area and is safe from 

major earthquakes. It is also nice to 

know that in the country, real estate 

projects undergo several tests by 

experts and competent authorities 

including soil testing before allowing a 

construction as well as after the project 

was complete… very impressive! 

NAKITA K 

DOHA 

“Let your past be your past so that 

the future is your own.” 

ROBERT KIYOSAKI 

Health is Wealth 

Resolve To Meet 

Your Exercise Goals 

HEALTHDAY NEWS | NYT SYNDICATE 

DON’T sit idly by as your New Year’s 

resolutions about exercise slip away 

with the passing months. The American 

Council on Exercise suggests how you 

can meet your fitness goals all year long: 

• Make sure your goals are attainable 

and realistic, and that you include 

short-term goals. 

• Resolve to make a series of small 

changes that add up to big results. 

• Make sure your goals are based on 

your personal, strong desire to make 

changes for yourself, not someone else. 

• Get creative in finding ways to exercise, 

such as walking more during 

errands. 

• Plan for obstacles, and remember 

to reward yourself when you succeed. 

• Create a support system to help you 

stick with your goals. 

Bloggers’ Borough 

Why We Need Comedy After Tragedy 

LIANNA CARRERA | 

HUFFINGTONPOST.COM 

AS a comic I spend a lot of time thinking 

about how comedy fits into the 

greater scheme of life. How laughter has 

been proven to aid in the healing 

process, how laughter is contagious, how 

people, when they’re feeling down and 

out, will still always want to laugh. But 

on days like the Boston explosion, when 

it gets hard to see the good in anything, I 

wondered how comedy fits into a 

tragedy — if it belongs there at all. I 

believe it does, and only because I believe 

comedy is more than punch-lines. 

Comedy is the voice of an undercurrent 

that is constantly asking us to do better. 

Caroll Burnett once said that, 

“Comedy is tragedy plus time.” And for 

the most part I’ve found that to be true. 

The most tragic moments in my life 

have provided me with the best material, 

whether for the stage or writing or 

for my personal growth. 

Somewhere along the way we grow 

past our youthful insecurities only to 

replace them with adult fears. We start 

to experience really big and heavy 

things like life and death. We start to 

see tragedy all around us and each and 

every time we experience tragedy going 

forward, we hit a moment where we 

are overcome by grief like we had forgotten 

before. 

It’s easy to be overwhelmed. 

It’s easy. 

We are explaining to kids why there 

are broken adults who have decided to 

kill them en masse, while simultaneously 

communicating to them that they 

are the most precious and loved beings 

in our country. 

It’s not easy. 

Violence that is usually reserved for 

our Xbox games, explosions that we 

have become numb to when it occurs 

in other countries has just happened 

on our very own soil. Explosions causing 

real blood and carnage on our own 

streets, for many, in front of their own 

eyes and the loss of their own limbs. 

And we start to ask, Why? We cry from 

the depth of our despair and we ask, 

Why? And in that moment, we are 

hurting is an understatement. 

It’s not easy. 

Moments after the explosion there 

was a community of fellow comics on 

my Twitter feed. And like so many others, 

there was collective breath and 

then instant reaction, only on my feed 

it was by people who curate laughs for 

a living. It was remarkable to see people 

offer up their words of healing. 

To an outsider it may seem like they 

were taking a “break” from comedy — 

but what I saw was a community that 

was continuing to do what comedy has 

always done. Comedy is what moves us 

along, what causes us to stop and to 

think, and when we are ready, it’s what 

gives us space to laugh again. 

I know life is not Steel Magnolias. 

But I remember the moment I shared 

such despair with Sally Field’s character 

and then the moment that a joke breaks 

the tension between M’Lynn and Clairee. 

I’d like to think, that in our deepest 

tragedy, there sits an entire community of 

real-life Clairees, Annelles, Truvys, and 

Ouisers ready to help us restore a bit of 

ourselves when it gets so dark that we 

can’t see through to the hope; on Patriot’s 

Day they were Pattons, and Barrs and 

Crutchfields and Murphys and Kalings 

and Kushners, but they’re out there every 

day, comics who keep working, artists 

who keep pushing to reminds us that even 

if the here and now is tense and terrible 

and unthinkable; there will be a commitment 

to create so long as there a commitment 

to heal. 

GET HEARD! 

QT NOW MAKES 

YOUR LIFE 

SIMPLE 

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Email : pa2director@qimqatar.com


Gulf / Middle East 

Activists fear heavy toll in Damascus clashes 

AP 

BEIRUT 

SIX days of fighting near 

Damascus has killed at least 

100 people and possibly many 

more, activists said on 

Monday, in what both sides 

say may be a dramatic spike in 

the Syria’s civil war death toll. 

The reports came as 

President Bashar Assad’s 

forces pressed an offensive 

against rebels closing in on 

parts of the Syrian capital, and 

government troops moved to 

encircle the contested town of 

Qusair near the Lebanese border. 

The exact number dead in 

the Jdaidet Artouz and Jdaidet 

al-Fadel districts could not be 

confirmed. The two adjacent 

neighborhoods are about 15 

kilometers (10 miles) southwest 

of Damascus. 

The Britain-based Syrian 

Observatory for Human 

Rights said the death toll, 

mostly from shelling, could be 

as high as 250. Rami Abdul- 

Rahman, who heads the 

Observatory, said the group 

has documented 101 names of 

those killed, including three 

children, 10 women and 88 

men, but he thought the toll 

would be much higher. The 

dead included 24 rebels, he 

said. 

The Local Coordination 

Committees, another activist 

group, put the death toll at 

483. It said most of the victims 

were killed in Jdaidet Artouz. 

State-run news agency 

SANA said Syrian troops 

“inflicted heavy losses” on the 

rebels in the suburbs. 

A government official in 

Damascus told The Associated 

Press that rebels were behind 

the “massacre” in Jdaidet al- 

Fadel, saying they sought to 

blame government forces who 

entered the area after the 

killings. 

“The army discovered the 

massacre after entering the 

area,” the official said on condition 

of anonymity in line 

with regulations. The corpses 

were already decomposed, he 

said. 

Jdaidet al-Fadel is inhabited 

mostly by Syrians who fled 

the Golan Heights after the 

area was captured by Israel in 

1967. Jdaidet Artouz has a 

large Christian and Druse 

population two minority 

communities that have generally 

stood by Assad or on the 

sidelines. 

The killings appeared reminiscent 

of violence in the 

Damascus suburb of Daraya in 

August. At the time activists 

said days of shelling and a 

killing spree by government 

troops left 300 to 600 dead. 

Mohammed Saeed, an 

Free Syrian Army fighters move through a hole in a wall during an infiltration operation, in Aleppo, on Sunday. (REUTERS) 

activist based near Damascus, 

said rebels withdrew as soon 

as the government offensive 

began last week. After that, he 

said via Skype, troops and progovernment 

gunmen stormed 

the area and over several days 

killed about 250 people. 

“The situation is very tense,” 

Saeed said, noting that the 

area has no electricity, water, 

or mobile phone service. 

“There is widespread destruction 

in Jdaidet al-Fadel, 

including its only bakery.” 

Reports of death tolls in 

Syria’s civil war often conflict, 

especially in areas that are difficult 

to access because of the 

fighting. The government also 

bars many foreign journalists 

from covering the conflict. 

The main opposition group, 

the Cairo-based Syrian 

National Coalition, described 

the killings as “the latest 

heinous crime committed by 

the Assad regime.” It complained 

in a statement that 

“the deafening silence of the 

international community over 

these crimes against humanity 

is shameful.” 

British Foreign Secretary 

William Hague said the 

reports of the massacre underline 

the urgent need to bring 

Syria’s war to an end. 

“I am appalled by the 

reports of the killing by Syrian 

Government forces of dozens 

of people, including women 

and children, in the town of 

Jdaidet Al-Fadel, a suburb of 

Damascus,” Hague said in a 

statement. “This is yet another 

reminder of the callous brutality 

of the Assad regime and the 

terrible climate of impunity 

inside Syria.” 

Russian Foreign Minister 

Sergey Lavrov said on Monday 

he shared with US Secretary of 

State John Kerry “a disposition 

to seek a political outcome 

as soon as possible and look 

for ways to transfer this situation 

into a channel of negotiations 

between the government 

and the opposition” in Syria. 

The two spoke on Saturday. 

Lavrov said he and Kerry 

would discuss what the US 

and Russia could do to “induce 

those who are currently resisting 

the peace process to 

change their position” at the 

NATO-Russia summit in 

Brussels on Tuesday. 

Main battle on 

in Qusayr area, 

says Assad 

AFP 

BEIRUT 

SYRIA’S “main battle” at 

present is raging in the 

Qusayr area, close to the 

Lebanese border, President 

Bashar al Assad reportedly 

told Lebanese politicians 

this weekend. 

Speaking to a delegation 

of Lebanese backers of his 

regime, Assad said his 

forces were determined to 

succeed in the area “at any 

“The United 

States is pragmatic 

and ... 

when they see 

we are strong, 

they will change 

their position 

and drop those 

they are currently 

betting on.” 

cost,” according to Abdel 

Rahim Mrad, a former MP 

who spoke to AFP after the 

meeting in Damascus. 

“The main battle is taking 

place in Qusayr,” he quoted 

Assad as saying. “We want 

to finish it at any cost and 

we want to do the same in 

Idlib,” a province on the 

Turkish border in the northwest 

which is a major rebel 

stronghold. 

Syrian regime forces, 

reportedly backed by fighters 

from the Lebanese 

Syrian President Bashar al Assad 

Shiite Hezbollah movement, 

are engaged in fierce 

battles in the Qusayr area. 

Government forces 

reportedly retook a string of 

strategic villages in the area 

over the weekend, raising 

concerns that the town of 

Qusayr — a rebel stronghold 

— could itself fall too. 

The area is strategic 

because of its proximity 

both to the Lebanese border 

and the main road connecting 

Damascus to the coast. 

The As-Safir daily also 

reported the meeting, quoting 

Assad as mocking 

Lebanon’s official policy of 

neutrality in the conflict in 

Syria. 

“What is this policy of 

neutrality, I don’t understand 

it,” it quoted him as 

saying. 

“Is Lebanon going to 

move to Africa until the end 

of the Syrian crisis and then 

return to its normal place? 

Lebanon can’t be on the 

border and separate itself.” 

Mrad told AFP that Assad 

also voiced confidence that 

US support for the rebels 

fighting his rule would 

eventually dwindle. 

“The United States is 

pragmatic and, with time, 

when they see we are 

strong, they will change 

their position and drop 

those they are currently 

betting on.” 

3 Saudis jailed 

for plot to kill 

Americans 

AFP 

RIYADH 

A SPECIAL anti-terror court 

has sentenced three Saudis to 

six years in jail each for a plot to 

kill US nationals at the height of 

a campaign of Al Qaeda attacks 

in the kingdom between 2003 

and 2006, a witness said. 

The court in Riyadh issued its 

ruling late on Sunday, said a 

witness at the hearing during 

which two other men were 

acquitted. 

The three convicted were 

found guilty of having “supported 

the actions of the 

deviant group and planned the 

assassination of seven 

Americans in the kingdom,” the 

court ruled, using the official 

term to designate Al Qaeda. 

It said they also planned to 

enter Iraq “to carry out terrorist 

acts”. 

Saudi courts started in July 

2011 to try hundreds of suspects 

for the wave of Al Qaeda 

attacks which rocked the country 

from 2003 until 2006 when 

authorities launched a massive 

campaign of arrests targeting 

the jihadist network. 

Around 3,000 suspects are 

being tried or due to go on 

trial, according to Saudi 

authorities. 

AP 

BAGHDAD 

MANY of Iraq’s Sunni Muslim 

minority held a day of civil disobedience 

on Monday to 

protest what they see as discrimination 

by the Shiite-led 

government. Many schools, 

markets and government 

offices shut down in the 

provinces of Salahuddin in the 

country’s center, Anbar in the 

west, and Ninevah in the 

northwest. Sunni areas in the 

Iraqi capital, Baghdad, did not 

join the action however. 

Organisers described the 

protest as a warning to the 

government, which they say 

has failed to meet demands of 

Sunnis, who have been staging 

weekly protests in various 

areas since late last year. 

They are calling on the government 

to release Sunni 

detainees, cancel a tough 

counter-terrorism law they say 

EU set to ease Syria oil 

embargo to bolster rebels 

AP 

LUXEMBOURG 

THE European Union is set to 

lift its oil embargo on Syria to 

provide more economic support 

to the forces fighting to 

oust President Bashar 

alAssad’s regime, officials said 

on Monday. 

The decision will allow for 

crude exports from rebel-held 

territory and the import of oil 

production technology. It 

marks the first relaxing of the 

EU’s sanctions in two years as 

governments try to help ease 

shortages of vital supplies in 

areas held by the opposition in 

the civil war-struck Arab state. 

Ahead of a meeting of the 

EU’s 27 foreign ministers in 

Luxembourg, Germany’s chief 

diplomat, Guido Westerwelle, 

said the move aims at “granting 

stronger economic support” 

for the rebels. 

“We wish for good economic 

development in the areas 

controlled by the opposition, 

therefore we lift the sanctions 

that hinder the moderate 

opposition forces’ work,” the 

German foreign minister said. 

“That is very certainly a 

targets them unfairly, and 

repeal the so-called De- 

Baathification law that led 

many of them to lose their government 

jobs because of past 

ties to former dictator Saddam 

Hussein’s Baath party. 

“The large-scale response by 

our people is a clear message 

to Baghdad officials that they 

Organisers described 

the protest as a warning 

to the government, 

which they say 

has failed to meet 

demands of Sunnis. 

Catherine Ashton at the EU headquarters, in Luxembourg, on 

Monday. (EPA) 

strengthening of the democratic 

opposition because it 

makes people realise that 

there is a true alternative to 

the Assad regime.” 

The oil exports could open 

an important revenue stream 

for Syria’s opposition, even 

though it is still unclear when 

and how much crude could be 

exported. 

“The security situation is so 

difficult that much of this will 

be difficult to do, but it is 

important for us to send the 

signal that we are open to 

should stop targeting and 

killing Sunnis,” said 

Mahmoud al-Badr, a protest 

organiser in Mosul. 

Omar Abdullah, a government 

employee in the same 

northern city, said he and his 

colleagues in the pension 

department decided to stay 

home from work today in solidarity 

with the protest. 

“It is true that we are government 

employees,” said 

Abdullah, “yet we are part of 

the Mosul people who want to 

see their demands implemented 

sooner than later.” 

Government officials in 

Baghdad did not immediately 

comment on the issue. The 

Shiite-led government offered 

some concessions by releasing 

some detainees, but Sunni 

protesters said that this was 

not enough. 

In the western city of 

Fallujah, Sunni cleric and 

protest organiser Khalid 

Mohammed warned that 

more steps would be taken by 

the protesters if the government 

continues to ignore their 

demands. He said that there 

are plans to close the vital high 

way linking Iraq with Jordan 

and Syria or even taking over 

the Iraqi border crossings 

with these two countries. 

helping in other ways, in all 

the ways possible,” British 

Foreign Secretary William 

Hague said. 

Syria’s oil industry has faltered 

as the rebels have captured 

many of the country’s oil 

fields, with wells aflame and 

looters scooping up crude. 

That has deprived Assad’s 

government of much-needed 

cash and fuel for its war 

machine as it fights the twoyear-old 

uprising. 

The conflict in Syria has left 

more than 70,000 people 

dead, according to the United 

Nations. 

Before the uprising, the oil 

sector was a pillar of Syria’s 

economy, with the country 

producing about 380,000 

barrels a day and exports ó 

mostly to Europe ó bringing in 

more than $3 billion in 2010. 

Oil revenues provided around 

a quarter of the funds for the 

national budget. 

The government has not 

released recent production 

figures, but exports have 

ground practically to a standstill, 

and Assad’s regime has 

been forced to import refined 

fuel supplies to keep up with 

demand amid shortages and 

rising prices. 

Imports of fuel or crude to 

Syria have not been targeted 

by the sanctions. 

Some EU members, such as 

Britain and France, are also 

pushing to lift the bloc’s arms 

embargo against Syria to 

allow weapons shipments to 

the rebels. But other major EU 

players, such as Germany, 

remain opposed to that step, 

fearing it might set off a 

regional arms race and deepen 

the conflict. 

Iraqi Sunnis stage civil disobedience 

Iraqi soldiers stand guard, in Baghdad, on Monday. (AP)

Gulf / Middle East Tuesday, April 23, 2013 13 

Israel, Turkey discuss flotilla compensation 

AP 

ANKARA 

SENIOR officials from Israel 

and Turkey on Monday discussed 

compensation payments 

for the victims of a 

deadly 2010 Israeli raid on a 

Gaza-bound aid flotilla ó a 

key Turkish demand as the 

two former allies try to 

restore ties. 

Eight Turks and one 

Turkish-American were killed 

and several other pro- 

Palestinian activists were 

wounded when Israeli commandos 

stormed the ship 

Mavi Marmara while stopping 

an international flotilla trying 

to breach a blockade of the 

Gaza Strip. The incident, 

which also wounded seven 

Israeli soldiers, increased tensions 

between the two countries 

that were once close 

allies and led to a freeze in ties. 

Last month, US President 

Barack Obama brokered a 

rapprochement between the 

two countries, both of which 

Washington regards as strategic 

partners in the turbulent 

Middle East. Israel offered an 

apology for the May 31, 2010, 

raid, and the Turkish and 

Israel leaders agreed to normalise 

ties. 

Turkish Prime Minister 

Recep Tayyip Erdogan has 

since warned, however, that 

the restoration of full-fledged 

diplomatic ties would be 

dependent on compensation 

for surviving victims of the 

flotilla raids the relatives of 

the dead, as well as on Israel 

ending all commercial restrictions 

on the Palestinians. 

A delegation led by the Israeli 

prime minister’s national security 

adviser Yaakov Amidror 

and by Turkish Foreign 

Ministry Undersecretary 

Feridun Sinirlioglu met in the 

Turkish capital, Ankara, for 

talks that could help start the 

process of restoring full diplomatic 

relations and exchanging 

ambassadors between the two 

countries. 

In a move that could complicate 

the diplomatic efforts, 

victims’ relatives have objected 

to talks between Turkey 

and Israel until all restrictions 

Israeli National Security Council chief Yaakov Amidror (left) with an 

official, in Ankara, on Monday. (EPA) 

imposed on Gaza are lifted. 

Although Israel lifted most 

restrictions on the import of 

goods into Gaza following the 

flotilla incident, restrictions 

on some construction materials 

and most exports remain 

in effect. 

The families also vowed not 

to drop lawsuits filed against 

former Israeli military commanders 

Turkey holds 

responsible for the deaths ó 

despite a Turkish pledge to 

withdraw legal action against 

the Israeli soldiers. Turkish 

prosecutors have demanded 

life in prison for the officers, 

although it is unlikely that 

any sentence could be carried 

out. 

The Hamas militant group 

controls the Gaza Strip, while 

the Western-backed 

Palestinian Authority governs 

autonomous areas in the 

West Bank. The territories 

have been divided since 

Hamas seized Gaza in 2007. 

Mahmoud Abbas, the 

Palestinian Authority president, 

was to hold talks 

Monday with Erdogan, who 

plans to visit the Hamas-controlled 

Gaza Strip at the end 

of May. The planned visit, 

which is seen as a move that 

could strengthen Hamas, has 

raised concerns in 

Washington. 

Both Israel and Abbas, 

whose Palestinian Authority 

is based in the West Bank, 

also oppose the Turkish 

leader’s planned visit to Gaza. 

Abbas, the internationally 

recognised leader of the 

Palestinians, is locked in a 

rivalry with Hamas, while 

Israel opposes any international 

recognition or support 

for the militant group. 

IAEA seeks to 

resume talks 

with Iran 

US committed to Israel’s 

military edge: Hagel 

REUTERS 

VIENNA/DUBAI 

THE UN nuclear agency is 

talking with Iran to set a date 

for discussions on resuming 

an investigation there, it said 

on Monday, as Washington 

stressed the importance of 

diplomacy in ending a 

standoff over Tehran’s 

nuclear programme. 

The International Atomic 

Energy Agency (IAEA), 

which wants to restart a 

long-stalled inquiry into suspected 

atomic bomb 

research, issued a brief statement 

after Iranian media 

reported that talks were set 

for May 21. 

The IAEA has been trying 

for more than a year to coax 

Western powers 

suspect Iran is 

trying to develop 

the capability to 

produce nuclear 

weapons. 

Iran into granting IAEA officials 

the access they want. 

Western diplomats accuse 

Iran of stonewalling and 

some say the IAEA may soon 

need to get tougher with the 

Islamic Republic. 

Asked about the Iranian 

media reports, IAEA spokeswoman 

Gill Tudor said in an 

email: “I can confirm we are 

discussing possible dates of a 

meeting with Iran.” Iran’s 

Mehr and ISNA news agencies 

initially reported that 

the meeting would be held 

on May 21, but ISNA later 

quoted an unnamed official 

as saying this was only a 

“preliminary agreement” 

and that the date could be 

moved by one or two days. 

The IAEA-Iran talks are 

separate from, but have an 

important bearing on, diplomatic 

negotiations between 

Tehran and six world powers 

aimed at a broad settlement 

to the decade-old dispute 

and reduce the risk of a 

new Middle East war. 

Western powers suspect 

Iran is trying to develop the 

capability to produce 

nuclear weapons under the 

guise of a declared civilian 

atomic energy programme. 

Iran denies this, saying it 

seeks only electricity and 

medical applications from 

uranium enrichment. 

But its refusal to curb sensitive 

nuclear activity with 

both civilian and military 

applications and its lack of 

openness with IAEA inspectors 

have drawn UN and 

Western sanctions. 

Israel, widely believed to 

be the only nuclear-armed 

power in the Middle East, 

has long hinted at possible 

air strikes to deny Iran any 

means to make an atomic 

bomb. 

But the Jewish state suggested 

on Monday it would 

be patient before taking any 

military action against Iran’s 

nuclear sites, saying during a 

visit by US Defense 

Secretary Chuck Hagel there 

was still time for other 

options. 

Thomas Countryman, US 

assistant secretary for international 

security and nonproliferation, 

told reporters 

in Geneva that the prospect 

of a nuclear-armed Iran was 

“a threat to the entire region 

and an impetus for greater 

proliferation,” but he 

stressed the value of diplomacy. 

“The fact is that it is concerted 

international diplomatic 

action with the full 

range of diplomatic tools, 

including strong economic 

sanctions, that have 

brought Iran to the negotiating 

table,” Countryman 

told a news conference. 

AP 

TEL AVIV 

US DEFENCE Secretary 

Chuck Hagel assured Israel 

on Monday that the Obama 

administration is committed 

to preserving and improving 

the Jewish state’s military 

edge in the Middle East. 

Hagel, on his first visit to 

Israel as Pentagon chief, also 

declared that it is Israel’s 

right to decide for itself 

whether to attack Iran to stop 

it from building a nuclear 

bomb. 

Those two messages 

appeared to form the foundation 

of Hagel’s effort to 

improve US relations with 

Israel, which have been 

strained in recent years by 

obstacles to reviving Israeli- 

Palestinian peace talks and by 

the threat of an Iranian bomb. 

Later, Hagel was flown in 

an Israeli Army UH-60 Black 

Hawk helicopter over northern 

Israel to view the Golan 

Heights, an area along the 

Syrian border that Israel captured 

during the 1967 Six-Day 

War. 

The flight appeared to be 

aimed in part at impressing 

upon Hagel the narrow reaches 

of Israel and its vulnerability 

to troubled areas like 

Syria, which is in the midst of 

civil war. 

An Israeli Defense Forces 

information packet provided 

to those who took the flight 

with Hagel noted that “the 

State of Nebraska is nine 

times the State of Israel.” 

Hagel is a former two-term 

Republican senator from 

Nebraska. 

At a joint news conference 

with Hagel prior to their 

flight, Israeli Defense 

Minister Moshe Yaalon, said 

security in the Golan Heights 

is one of Israel’s chief worries 

about Syria’s turmoil. He also 

appeared to refer to an Israeli 

military operation in 

US Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel (right) and his Israeli counterpart Moshe Yaalon look out of the window during a helicopter tour of 

the Israeli annexed Golan Heights, on Monday. (AFP) 

response to a violation of 

what he termed an Israeli 

“red line” with regard to the 

Syrian conflict. 

Yaalon said Israel has 

declared it will not “allow 

sophisticated weapons to be 

delivered or to be taken by 

rogue elements like 

Hezbollah and other rogue 

elements that are operating 

now in Syria. And we proved 

it; when they crossed these 

red lines we operated, we 

acted.” He did not elaborate 

on what action Israel took. 

In his appearance with 

Yaalon, Hagel was asked 

whether he believes it would 

be advisable for Israel to 

attack Iran on its own. 

“That calculation has to be 

made by” Israel, he replied 

after noting, “Israel is a sovereign 

nation; every sovereign 

nation has a right to defend 

itself.” 

Hagel did not mention a 

concern that US officials have 

voiced in the past, namely, 

that an Israeli strike would 

run the risk of igniting a wider 

war that could draw in the 

United States. 

As evidence of 

Washington’s commitment to 

preserving Israel’s so-called 

qualitative military edge in the 

Mideast, Hagel said the US 

will permit Israel to buy various 

new weapons, including 

US missiles and advanced 

radars for its strike aircraft. 

“We are committed to providing 

Israel with whatever 

support is necessary for Israel 

to maintain military superiority 

over any state or coalition 

of states and non-state 

actors,” Hagel said. 

Yaalon was asked about 

reports that the Syrian government 

has used chemical 

weapons in its struggle 

against rebel forces. 

He did not specifically say 

whether Israel believes such 

weapons have been used, but 

he said that Syria must not 

cross the “red line” of allowing 

any chemical weapons to fall 

into the hands of what Yaalon 

called “rogue elements.” 

He said that “red line” has 

not yet been crossed, adding, 

“but we are ready to operate if 

any rogue element is going to 

put their hands (on chemical 

agents) or chemical agents 

are going to be delivered.” 

Hagel also was meeting 

Monday with Israeli 

President Shimon Peres, and 

on Tuesday with Prime 

Minister Benjamin 

Netanyahu. 

Israeli airline strike strands travellers for 2nd day 

AFP 

BEN GURION AIRPORT 

ISRAELI airline workers were 

on strike for a second day on 

Monday to protest at the government’s 

approval of an 

Open Skies deal with Europe, 

leaving frustrated travellers 

stranded. 

Sunday’s vote prompted 

Israel’s three privately owned 

airlines — El Al, and charter 

firms Arkia and Israir — 

launched an open-ended 

strike, cancelling nearly all 

their domestic and international 

flights. 

At Ben Gurion airport near 

Tel Aviv, the sense of frustration 

was palpable among travellers 

who were unable to find 

seats on alternative airlines. 

Many looked haggard after 

spending the night at the airport’s 

Terminal 3, some in 

sleeping bags, an AFP correspondent 

said. 

Some said they had not even 

received food coupons from 

the strike-hit airlines. 

“We have tried to sleep here 

but it’s very hard, and now we 

are waiting for a flight to 

Paris,” said a French student 

called Zacharie. 

“This is very, very difficult 

for us.” 

“We were supposed to leave 

at 3:00 pm yesterday (1200 

GMT on Sunday), and we are 

still at the airport,” fellow student 

Vincent Natural said. 

A spokesman for the Israeli 

flights authority told AFP that 

48 Israeli flights carrying 

6,800 passengers had been 

scheduled for the day but that 

only three or four of them had 

taken off after receiving special 

permission. 

He said the Israeli carriers 

had made efforts to find alternative 

flights for those booked 

to fly with them. 

The Histadrut Labour 

Federation, which supports 

the strike said it would shut 

down Ben Gurion for four 

hours from 0200 GMT on 

Tuesday in solidarity with 

Israeli airline workers. 

But the Manufacturers 

Association of Israel filed a 

petition to the national labour 

court, demanding it prevent 

the shutdown and order an 

end to the strike. 

“The Israeli economy is 

dependent on imports and 

exports, which rely in part on 

airport services,” the petition 

stated. “The strike damages 

the industry, since merchandise 

cannot be freely brought 

in and out of Israel.” 

Stranded passengers sleep at Ben Gurion Airport, near Tel Aviv, on Monday. EPA


United States 

Boston bombings suspect awaits charges 

REUTERS 

BOSTON 

THE badly wounded Boston 

Marathon bombing suspect 

faced federal charges as early 

as Monday and the city of 

Boston planned tributes to 

the dead after a week of 

blasts, shootouts, lockdowns 

and one of the largest manhunts 

in US history. 

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, an 

ethnic Chechen college student 

suspected of carrying out 

the attacks with his older 

brother, lay in a Boston hospital 

under armed guard. He 

was unable to speak after he 

was captured with throat 

injuries sustained during 

shoot-outs with police. 

Police declined to comment 

on media reports he was communicating 

with authorities 

in writing. “There have been 

widely published reports that 

he is (communicating silently). 

I wouldn’t dispute that, 

but I don’t have any specific 

information on that myself,” 

Boston Police Commissioner 

Ed Davis told CNN. “We’re 

very anxious to talk to him 

and the investigators will be 

doing that as soon as possible,” 

the official said. 

The FBI said on Monday 

morning that Tsarnaev 

remained in serious condition 

at Beth Israel Deaconess 

Medical Center. 

Tsarnaev’s capture on 

Friday night ended a manhunt 

that virtually shut down 

greater Boston for some 20 

hours. His older brother, 

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, died 

after a gunfight with police 

early Friday morning. 

The city of Boston crawled 

back to normal on Monday, a 

week after twin bombs 

exploded at the crowded finish 

line of the city’s famous 

marathon road race, killing 

three people and wounding 

176. Ten of the injured lost 

their limbs. 

The crime scene around the 

blasts was still closed but was 

expected to reopen within a 

day or two. Signs declaring 

“Boston Strong” hung about 

the city. 

Memorial services were set 

on Monday for two of those 

killed in the bombings: 

Krystle Campbell, a 29-yearold 

restaurant manager, and 

Chinese graduate student 

Lingzi Lu. An 8-year-old boy, 

Martin Richard, was also 

killed. 

The city also planned to 

pause at 2:50 p.m. EDT to 

mark the moment a week ago 

when the two bombs made of 

pressure cookers and packed 

with nails and ball bearings 

tore through the crowd 

watching runners complete 

the Boston Marathon. 

In the days that followed, 

investigators examining 

thousands of images from 

surveillance video, media 

coverage and spectators taking 

pictures were able to pick 

out two men as suspects, later 

Mourners at St Joseph Catholic Church after the funeral service for a victim of the Boston Marathon blasts, in Medford, Massachusetts, 

on Monday. (AFP) 

identified as the Tsarnaev 

brothers. 

On Tuesday, the day after 

the attack, the younger 

Tsarnaev was working out in 

the gym at the University of 

Massachusetts-Dartmouth, 

listening to music on his iPod, 

when he struck up a conversation 

with fellow sophomore 

Zach Bettencourt. 

Bettencourt said he and 

Tsarnaev chatted about the 

bombings. “It’s crazy this is 

happening now,” Bettencourt 

recalled Tsarnaev telling him. 

“This (these bombings) is so 

easy to do. These tragedies 

happen all the time in 

Afghanistan and Iraq.” 

Police said the Tsarnaev 

brothers made enough additional 

bombs for them to 

believe that more attacks 

were planned. They were also 

armed with handguns. A 

shootout with police in the 

Boston suburb of Watertown 

early Friday morning left 

more than 200 spent shell 

casings in the street. 

Neither Tsarnaev brother 

was licensed to own guns in 

the towns where they lived, 

Cambridge, Massachusetts, 

authorities said on Sunday. 

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev could 

be charged with several 

crimes including use of 

weapons of mass destruction, 

terrorism and bombing of 

places of public use in addition 

to homicide, said former 

federal prosecutor and 

University of Notre Dame law 

professor Jimmy Gurulé. 

Because death resulted, each 

statute authorizes the death 

penalty, he said. 

Though the case is likely to 

involve officials at the highest 

levels including Attorney 

General Eric Holder, the 

prosecutor in charge will be 

Carmen Ortiz, the U.S. attorney 

for the district of 

Massachusetts. 

Ortiz has faced criticism for 

coming down too hard on 

some defendants, but that 

approach may become a legal 

asset for the biggest case of 

her career, said attorneys who 

have faced off against her. 

The Tsarnaev brothers emigrated 

to the United States a 

decade ago from Dagestan, a 

predominantly Muslim region 

in Russia’s Caucasus. 

Rio Tinto case 

returned to 

lower court 

REUTERS 

WASHINGTON 

ONCE again showing keen 

interest in whether multinational 

corporations can be 

sued in US courts for alleged 

human rights abuses 

abroad, the US Supreme 

Court agreed on Monday to 

hear Daimler AG’s appeal 

involving its alleged conduct 

in Argentina in the 1970s. 

In a related case, the court 

asked a lower court on 

Monday to take a second 

look at human rights claims 

against Rio Tinto. Both cases 

were on hold for a major 

human rights case that the 

court decided last week. 

In that unanimous decision, 

the high court limited 

the ability of human rights 

plaintiffs to invoke the 1789 

Alien Tort Statute when 

suing companies over 

alleged collusion with violent 

foreign governments. 

In the Daimler case, 

workers or relatives of 

workers at an Argentinabased 

plant operated by 

Mercedes-Benz, a wholly 

owned subsidiary of 

Daimler, sued over its 

alleged conduct. 

They claimed the company 

had punished plant 

workers viewed by managers 

as union agitators 

and that it had worked 

alongside the Argentinian 

military and police forces. 

Both the Daimler and 

Rio Tinto cases feature 

Alien Tort Statute claims, 

and both companies are 

likely to benefit from last 

week’s decision. But the 

Daimler case allows the 

court to examine other 

issues that were left open. 

Both companies deny the 

allegations against them. 

The court held in Kiobel 

vs Royal Dutch Shell last 

week that a federal court in 

New York could not hear 

claims made by 12 

Nigerians who accused 

Anglo-Dutch oil company 

Royal Dutch Shell Plc of 

complicity in a crackdown 

on protesters in Nigeria 

from 1992 to 1995. 

The ruling is expected to 

make it harder for plaintiffs 

to bring human rights 

claims against corporations 

in US courts if the activity 

took place overseas. 

The legal question in the 

Daimler case is different. It 

focuses on whether a US 

court has the authority to 

hear a case against a foreign 

corporation “solely on 

the fact that an indirect corporate 

subsidiary performs 

services on behalf of the 

defendant” in the state 

where the federal lawsuit 

was filed, which in this 

instance was California. 

The plaintiffs said 

California was a suitable 

In a related case, 

the court asked a 

lower court on 

Monday to take a 

second look at 

human rights 

claims against 

Rio Tinto. 

place to file the lawsuit 

because Mercedes-Benz 

USA, an indirect subsidiary 

of Daimler, distributes 

Daimler cars to dealerships 

in the state. A federal judge 

in the Northern District of 

California said the relationship 

between Daimler and 

the subsidiary was not sufficient. 

The San Francisco-based 

9th US Circuit Court of 

Appeals disagreed, outlining 

in its decision the ways 

in which the companies 

worked together on such 

issues as signage, prices and 

vehicle servicing standards. 

Because the subsidiary’s 

activities “were sufficiently 

important” to Daimler, and 

Daimler also had “the right 

to substantially control” the 

other company’s activities, 

the appeals court concluded 

that there were “pervasive 

contacts.” 

Obama to 

attend Texas 

blast memorial 

AFP 

WASHINGTON 

US PRESIDENT Barack 

Obama will attend a memorial 

service in Waco on 

Thursday for 14 people 

killed in a huge blast at a 

Texas fertilizer plant last 

week. 

Obama and first lady 

Michelle Obama will take 

part in the event at Baylor 

University after they attend 

a dedication ceremony for 

ex-president George W. 

Bush’s new library in 

Dallas, the White House 

said. 

Around 200 people were 

injured in Wednesday’s 

blast in West, a small town 

of 2,800 people located 80 

miles (130 kilometers) 

south of Dallas. 

Homes near the blast site 

were flattened, a 50-unit 

apartment complex was 

blown to bits and a nursing 

home and several schools 

were also badly damaged as 

fire spread from building to 

building. 

Obama told Texans on 

Friday they were not forgotten, 

despite media coverage 

dominated by fallout the 

Boston marathon bombings 

and the manhunt for two 

suspects, one of whom was 

killed while the other was 

captured. 

5 dead in apartment firing 

near Seattle, say police 

AP 

FEDERAL WAY 

GUNFIRE erupted at an 

apartment complex in a city 

south of Seattle and five people 

were shot to death, including 

a suspect who was shot by 

arriving officers, police said 

on Monday. 

Officers responding to an 

emergency call at 9:30 pm on 

Sunday at the apartments in 

Federal Way encountered a 

chaotic scene, with bullets flying. 

“When officers arrived 

there were still shots being 

fired,” said Federal Way police 

spokeswoman Cathy Schrock. 

Investigators found two 

wounded men on the ground 

in a parking lot. One of the 

men reached for a gun as 

police moved in to assist the 

two, she said. At that point, 

officers opened fire. The suspect 

died but police said it 

wasn’t immediately clear if it 

was from their gunfire. The 

other man on the ground and 

a third man in the parking lot 

were found dead. 

In a search of the complex, 

police found a fourth man 

dead in one apartment and a 

slain woman in another unit. 

Schrock said police were trying 

to determine if the woman 

was hit by a stray bullet. 

A total of eight officers fired 

their weapons, Schrock said. 

All have been placed on 

administrative leave, which is 

standard policy, as the investigation 

continues. 

There was no immediate 

word what set off the shooting. 

Police scheduled a briefing 

for late Monday morning. 

“We still don’t have any idea 

what started this disturbance 

tonight,” Schrock said. 

After police flooded the area 

and carried out searches, 

authorities said they were confident 

there were no more 

casualties from the shooting. 

Flooding, barge mishap halt Mississippi traffic 

Residents and members of the National Guard build a flood wall 

against the rising Mississippi River, in Clarksville, Missouri, on 

Sunday. (REUTERS) 

Police officers talks to a woman at the scene of the shooting, in Federal Way, on Monday. (AP) 

REUTERS 

CHICAGO 

BARGE shipping on the 

Illinois River and parts of the 

Mississippi River was at a 

standstill on Monday as 

flooding forced the closure of 

numerous locks and as crews 

worked to recover dozens of 

barges that broke free in 

flood-swollen currents. 

The US Coast Guard closed 

the Mississippi between river 

mile markers 155 and 170 

near St. Louis after 114 

barges broke free from a 

fleeting area late on Saturday 

and 11 of them sank. 

All of the barges are 

They said they did not think 

another shooter was on the 

loose or that there was an 

immediate threat to the public. 

By dawn, a county medical 

examiner’s office truck 

arrived at the scene to pick up 

bodies. Crime scene investigators 

continued working. 

One officer was seen carrying 

books and a gun to what 

appeared to be an evidence 

van. There were no reports of 

any officers being injured. 

The names of the five people 

killed were not immediately 

available. 

Meanwhile, a US soldier 

accounted for and two salvage 

companies were working 

to raise the sunken 

barges and recover the rest. 

The Coast Guard did not 

have an estimate for when 

navigation may resume. 

The river had been fully 

closed between mile markers 

415 and 436 near 

Vicksburg, Mississippi, after 

27 coal barges and 3 grain 

barges broke free from a tow 

and at least one struck a railroad 

bridge, the Coast Guard 

said. 

The river reopened to 

southbound traffic on 

Monday morning, with 12 

vessels pushing about 120 

pleaded guilty to murder on 

Monday for shooting dead 

five fellow servicemen at a 

military counseling center in 

Iraq, after his defense attorneys 

reached a deal with 

Army prosecutors to avoid 

capital punishment. 

Army Sergeant John 

Russell is accused of killing 

two medical staff officers and 

three soldiers at Camp 

Liberty, adjacent to the 

Baghdad airport, in a 2009 

shooting spree the military 

said at the time could have 

been triggered by combat 

stress. 

barges awaiting passage. A 

northbound queue of 16 vessels 

pushing about 230 

barges would be cleared 

through the area once the 

southbound queue had 

passed, the Coast Guard 

said. 

The Illinois River and the 

Mississippi River north of St. 

Louis were also effectively 

closed as high water forced 

the closure of numerous 

locks. 

Most of the locks could 

reopen by the end of April or 

early May, shippers said, citing 

the latest river crest forecasts 

from the National 

Weather Service.

India Tuesday, April 23, 2013 15 

Delhi top cop refuses to quit over rape 

PTI 

NEW DELHI 

DELHI Police Commissioner 

Neeraj Kumar on Monday said 

he won’t resign over sex crimes 

in the city, adding that his exit 

wonít help remedy the situation.“If 

my resigning will prevent 

(such crimes), then I am 

prepared to resign a thousand 

times. But that is not going to 

address the problem,” he told 

the media. 

He said the factors responsible 

for the rising crimes against 

women in the city were mental 

depravity, psychopathy and 

mental sickness. “And that 

wonít be sorted out by anyone 

resigning, least of all the leader 

of the police force,” he said. 

Earlier, asked if he would 

quit, Kumar shot back: “For 

any misreporting that you do, 

does your editor resign? If you 

do wrong reporting, does your 

editor resign? This is my 

counter question.” 

Incidentally, for the last 

four days, BJP and members 

of the Aam Aadmi Party had 

been staging massive protests 

at the police headquarters 

and near the parliament 

demanding the resignation of 

Neeraj Kumar and Delhi 

Chief Minsiter Shiela Dikshit 

in the wake of the brutal rape 

of a five-year-old girl. They 

Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar (centre) during a press conference, in New Delhi, on Monday. (PTI) 

had also been demanding 

death penalty for the rapists. 

Meanwhile, the ruling 

Congress party spokesperson 

Renuka Chaudhury came out 

in the defence of Kumar, saying 

that he could continue and 

termed it as “personal opinion” 

the reported demand of another 

party spokesperson Sandip 

Dikshit that the state top cop 

should go. “This could be his 

personal opinion. He said what 

he felt. What is there for me to 

say on it?...If it could be so simple 

that you remove some one 

and get the action, we would do 

it...but it is not so simple...the 

issue of resigning or not resigning 

is different... “Will we 

always be looking for somebody 

else to take responsibility 

in all issues?...Are we going to 

give cops the right to peep into 

our houses all the time?...It is a 

collective responsibility that we 

all need to take,” Chowdhary 

told reporters in response to a 

volley of questions inluding 

whether the Kumar will be 

asked to resign. She also said 

“chemical castration is one of 

the ways to check such incidents” 

but hastened to add that 

“no such opinion has been 

finalized at the party level”. 

Meanwhile, in a bizarre 

statement, Union Home 

Minister Sushilkumar Shinde 

on Monday made a statement 

in Parliament wherein he 

sought to underline that rapes 

were happening not only in 

Delhi, but also in other parts of 

the country. 

Making a statement in the 

Lok Sabha amid noisy protests, 

Shinde apprised the MPs of the 

early breakthrough in the case, 

resulting in arrest of the two 

accused. While Manoj, the 

main accused, was arrested on 

Saturday from Bihar’s 

Muzaffarpur district, another 

co-accused, Pradeep, was 

apprehended from Lakhisarai 

on Sunday night. 

Incidentally, Shinde’s written 

statement released to the 

media said that “such incidents 

(of rape) have been reported 

from other parts of the country 

also.” The reference was apparently 

to the alleged rape of a 

four-year-old girl in Seoni, 

Madhya Pradesh. The purpose 

behind underlining that child 

rapes were not Delhi-centric 

may have been to counter the 

opposition’s attempts to use 

the latest incident for political 

mileage ahead of assembly 

polls due later this year. Both 

Delhi and Madhya Pradesh go 

to polls in November. 

Shinde said medical examination 

of the first accused has 

been conducted for DNA. Both 

accuseds are presently under 

judicial custody, he said. 

Justice Verma 

dies at 80 

AGENCIES 

NEW DELHI 

JUSTICE Jagdish Sharan 

Verma, who headed the 

anti-rape law panel, passed 

away on Monday. He died 

due to multiple organ failure. 

He was 80 years old. 

Justice Verma, a former 

Chief Justice of India, was 

approached by the central 

government to head the 

panel which was set up to 

recommend measures to 

improve laws dealing with 

sexual offences. 

The other members of the 

panel were former 

Himachal CJ Leila Seth and 

former solicitor general 

Gopal Subramaniam. The 

Verma panel submitted its 

report in January 2013. 

While submitting it, he had 

said the failure of governance 

was the root cause of 

crime against women. He 

also said it was “equally 

shocking” that there was 

total apathy of everyone 

who had a duty to perform. 

Sonia asks 

Cong workers 

to fight back 

PTI 

NEW DELHI 

WITH Indian Government 

under intense Opposition 

attack on various issues, ruling 

party Congress President 

Sonia Gandhi on Monday 

asked partymen to fight back 

by not allowing opponents 

“to get away with propagating 

negative impressions”. 

“Why should we allow our 

opponents to get away with 

propagating negative 

impressions? You should ask 

them: “what have you or 

your party done to change 

things in our country ?” I 

have no doubt that they have 

no credible answer,” Gandhi 

said addressing an alumni 

meet of the NSUI. 

In the meeting, which was 

also attended by party Vice- 

President Rahul Gandhi, 

who was earlier incharge of 

the organisation as AICC 

general secretary, the 

Congress chief lauded him 

for initiating a process of 

transformation in the student 

body. Asking the student 

wing members of the 

party to communicate to the 

people regarding the 

achievements since independence, 

Gandhi said, “it is 

the Congress Party that has 

worked hard and devoted 

itself to improve the lives of 

our people.” 

“That is why I want to stress 

your responsibility in actively 

educating your fellow students 

about the tremendous 

effort that has gone into 

nation building.” She said 

that it “pains” her when she 

hears young people complain 

about the state of our 

country even after 66 years 

of independence. “It seems 

that we have not been fully 

able to communicate the 

great transformation that 

has taken place. I am aware 

that much still needs to be 

done and that young people 

have very high expectations. 

Yet, how can any one deny 

the tremendous achievements 

that our country has 

made?,” Gandhi said. Listing 

the “achievements” of the 

country since independence, 

she said that democratic 

institutions have been set up, 

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi 

strengthened and sustained 

and lakhs of scheduled caste 

and scheduled tribe people 

have been empowered 

through reservation. 

Earlier anguished over the 

rape of a five-year-old girl, 

Sonia also held consultations 

to work out an action plan 

with quick response system 

to check such incidents. 

Noting that the govermnent 

moved with extra speed and 

brought legislative reforms 

after last December’s incident 

of gangrape, the 

Congress chief said it looks 

“that is not enough”. 

“Today, there is a call for 

more. Gandhi also reiterated 

that we need to talk less and 

do more. “We will come out 

with a future action plan. Till 

then, I cannot elaborate,” 

she said. 

Meanwhile, in a related 

development, her party-led 

UPA government rejected 

Opposition demand for resignation 

of Law Minister 

Ashwani Kumar in the wake 

of allegations that he tried to 

influence CBI’s status report 

on the coal block scam investigation, 

submitted to the 

Supreme Court. 

“I don’t think that is a relevant 

demand to make,” 

Parliamentary Affairs 

Minister Kamal Nath said, 

adding that CBI had made it 

clear that it had not been 

pressurised. “If CBI says 

they were not 

pressurised...there has been 

a statement by CBI. And 

somebody stands up and 

says they were pressurised, 

the person supposed to be 

pressurised is not saying 

that. So, how can you move 

on that,” Nath said outside 

parliament to a query on the 

Opposition demand. 

Raja hits back 

Delhi Police chief has links with 

at PM over 2G 

Navy war case accused: AAP 

PTI 

NEW DELHI 

INDICTED in the draft JPC 

report, India’s former Telecom 

minister A Raja on Monday hit 

back maintaining that “every 

major decision”, including 

entry fee and non auction of 

spectrum, was taken after consulting 

PM Manmohan Singh 

and P Chidambaram and 

Pranab Mukherjee. 

“I took no unilateral decisions. 

Every major decision of 

mine was taken after consultation 

first with the DoT officers 

and thereafter with the 

Hon?ble PM, FM (Finance 

Minister P Chidambaram) and 

EAM (then External Affairs 

Minister Pranab Mukherjee 

who was heading a GoM on 

vacation of spectrum). 

“All issues including entry fee, 

non auction of spectrum, FCFS 

(first-come-first-served), processing 

of applications were 

personally discussed by me 

with the Hon’ble PM and the 

DoT proceeded only thereafter,” 

he said. In his over 100- 

page statement to JPC chief P 

C Chacko written after the 

draft report was circulated, 

Raja strongly rebutted the 

charge in the draft report that 

he had misled the PM when he 

took decisions. 

Violinist Lalgudi 

passes away 

PTI 

CHENNAII 

VIOLINIST Lalgudi G 

Jayaraman passed away in 

Chennai on Monday evening. 

He was 82 and died in a city 

hospital after having a cardiac 

arrest. 

Jayaraman, who was born 

in Lalgudi in Trichy in 1930, 

has been a Carnatic musician 

for more than 60 decades. He 

was trained by his father, the 

late V R Gopala Iyer, and went 

on to accompany the biggest 

names in Carnatic music like G 

N Balasubramaniam, Madurai 

Mani Iyer, Musiri Subramania 

Iyer and Maharajapuram 

Santhanam. 

AFP 

NEW DELHI 

DEMANDING his ouster in 

the wake of rape of a five-yearold 

girl, Aam Aadmi Party on 

Monday alleged Delhi Police 

commissioner Neeraj Kumar 

has links with Navy war room 

case accused Abhishek Verma, 

a charge vehemently denied by 

the police chief who said he is 

“initiating” legal action. 

Kumar rubbished the allegations 

as “baseless, unfounded 

and ludicrous” with the sole 

intention of “besmirching my 

personal integrity, reputation 

and competence” and said necessary 

legal action is being initiated 

against AAP leader 

Prashant Bhushan in this 

regard. Addressing a press 

conference on a day when 

angry protesters, including 

those belonging to AAP, were 

demanding Kumar’s removal 

from the post, Bhushan 

claimed Verma’s close associate 

Edmonds Allen had written 

to government earlier that 

Kumar has links with the 

alleged arms dealer. 

Reacting to the allegations, 

Kumar said, “Prashant 

PTI 

CHENNAI 

Aam Aadmi party leader Arvind Kejriwal during a press conference, 

in New Delhi, on Monday. (PTI) 

Bhushan has made several 

false, scurrilous and defamatory 

allegations against me, 

which are baseless, unfounded 

and ludicrous, with the sole 

intention of besmirching my 

personal integrity, reputation 

and competence.” 

“These allegations are at the 

behest of persons who have 

been arrayed as accused in 

investigations conducted 

under my supervision during 

my tenure in the CBI,” he said 

in a statement. Kumar said he 

had already issued a legal 

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa with her UP counterpart 

Akhilesh Yadav (left), in Chennai, on Monday. (PTI) 

IN the midst of Samajwadi 

Party (SP) chief Mulayam 

Singh Yadav’s campaign for a 

third front to fight the next Lok 

Sabha polls, Uttar Pradesh 

Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav 

on Monday met Jayalalithaa 

and pleaded for the same . 

Though he declined to 

respond to questions after a 

30-minute meeting with 

Jayalalithaa, at an event earlier 

in the day, Yadav made a 

strong pitch for a ‘third force’ at 

the national level. 

“Yes, there should be a third 

force. We, Samajwadi Party 

believe that there should be a 

third force at the National 

level”, he told reporters on his 

maiden visit to the city after 

taking over as UP Chief 

Minister in March last year. 

His visit comes against the 

backdrop of his father intensifying 

efforts to forge an alternative 

to the BJP and the 

Congress ahead of the 2014 

elections. “They - Congress and 

BJP have not fulfilled their 

promises. Their policies are not 

pro-poor. Congress and BJP 

and their allies have failed on 

many fronts. Opportunity is 

there for a third force. There 

notice to retired bureaucrat M 

G Devasahayam, who had 

raised similar allegations. 

Devasahayam’s writ petition in 

this regard was entertained by 

the Delhi high court. 

“Prashant Bhushan is now 

acting at the behest of the same 

vested interests, i.e, accused 

persons and particularly those 

whom I had investigated during 

my tenure at the CBI and 

who have thereafter filed several 

petitions against me, as I was 

not willing to bend or compromise 

in his case,” he claimed. 

Kumar said he is a highly 

decorated officer and have 

received medals from 

President, commendations 

from various state governments, 

successive Directors of 

CBI in recognition of meritorious 

service. 

“The allegations levelled by 

Bhushan are clearly with 

oblique motives and are being 

made for vested political interests. 

Necessary legal action is 

being initiated against him in 

this regard. “I will continue, at 

all times, to put the interests of 

the country, its citizens and of 

the Police Force above my own 

interests and those of my family,” 

Kumar said. 

Referring to the security 

cover provided to business 

tycoon Mukesh Ambani, 

Kejriwal said the government 

is more interested in providing 

such facility to these people 

forgetting that it is the common 

man who badly needs it. 

Bushan also described the 

action against eight persons 

following the death of Delhi 

Police Head Constable 

Subhash Tomar as an attempt 

by the government to malign 

AAP. 

Akhilesh backs third front 

should be a third force”, he 

said. To a query on whether his 

party would pull out of the 

UPA government, Akhilesh 

remarked “there are good and 

there are bad (things in relations 

between SP and 

Congress). We are with the 

government. We are co-operating 

with the Government. 

But Government is not cooperating 

with us. My father will 

take a decision (on pulling out 

from UPA)”. 

The 22 member Samajwadi 

Party extends outside support 

to the United Progressive 

Alliance (UPA) government. 

During his brief visit to the city, 

Yadav inaugurated PMK’s 

“Vanniar Youth Cultural 

Festival” and later called on 

Jayalalithaa at the Secretariat. 

Yadav urged the youth to 

extend support to his party to 

lead the nation. “Without your 

support we might not be able 

to get that strength (of leading 

a nation)”, he said. He condemned 

the rape of a five-yearold 

girl in Delhi, saying “safety 

of women should be the priority. 

Whichever government is 

there, there has to be strong 

action against those committing 

crimes against women. It 

should be the priority of the 

government.”


Napolitano to 

strive for new 

govt in Italy 

UK / Europe 

Serbian govt approves deal 

with Kosovo amid protests 

AP 

ROME 

PRESIDENT Giorgio 

Napolitano headed on 

Monday into his unprecedented 

second term with 

the daunting task of trying 

to find a candidate 

who can form a government 

two months after 

national elections left 

Italy with no clear winner 

and an increasingly discredited 

political class. 

The 87-year-old 

Napolitano was taking 

his oath of office later in 

the day and also addressing 

the nation, presumably 

about the need to 

bring recession-mired 

Italy out of its political 

paralysis and the eurozone’s 

third-largest economy 

back on the path of 

financial reforms and 

growth. 

He was re-elected on 

Saturday after politicians 

failed to find a new presidential 

candidate who 

could win a majority of 

Parliament and regional 

voters. 

The divisive process 

resulted in the implosion 

of the center-left 

Democratic Party, whose 

leader resigned. It also 

galvanised the antiestablishment 

5-Star 

Movement, which has 

campaigned on sending 

Italy’s entire political 

class packing. 

Investors were relieved 

by the re-election of the 

widely respected 

Napolitano. 

The main stock index 

in Milan rose 1.8 percent, 

the strongest gain in 

Europe. Italy’s government 

borrowing rates fell 

in bond markets, suggesting 

greater investor 

confidence in the country’s 

financial future. The 

benchmark 10-year bond 

rate fell 0.13 percentage 

points to 4.05 percent. 

“We can now celebrate 

the unblocking of the situation,” 

said Edoardo 

Luini, a market analyst at 

Trading Room Roma. 

“It is not the best solution, 

but it was the only 

possible one — or at least 

the most convenient.” 

Analysts suggested 

Napolitano’s hand is 

stronger now than when 

he first asked Democratic 

leader Pier Luigi Bersani 

to try to form a government. 

That initial overture 

came after Bersani’s 

forces won control the 

Chamber of Deputies, but 

not the Senate, in 

February 24-25 elections. 

Bersani failed, leading to 

the current stalemate. 

With a new seven-year 

mandate, Napolitano can 

dissolve Parliament and 

call new elections, something 

he couldn’t do in 

the final months of his 

first term. It’s a threat 

that could help him as he 

sounds out political parties 

to try to find a viable 

premier who can form a 

government and win a 

mandatory Parlimentary 

vote of confidence. 

“The election of 

Napolitano is good 

news,” said Unicredit 

analyst Luca Cazzulani in 

a statement. Napolitano 

has the skills and standing 

to mediate, he said, 

and his election “makes 

the timely formation of a 

new government more 

likely.” 

Bersani’s center-left, 

however, is in shambles 

after its members failed 

to rally behind Bersani’s 

initial choices for president. 

Eventually, they 

closed ranks to re-elect 

Napolitano, along with 

the center-right People of 

Freedom party of ex- 

Premier 

Silvio 

Berlusconi. 

The 5-Star Movement 

of comic Beppe Grillo 

denounced Napolitano’s 

election as a “coup.” 

Grillo’s populist movement 

won 25 percent of 

the February vote, giving 

voice to Italians fed up 

with Italy’s political class. 

Ethnic Serbs, citizens of Northern Kosovo, at a rally against the Brussels Agreement, in Mitrovica, Kosovo, on Monday. (EPA) 

AP 

BELGRADE 

THE Serbian government on 

Monday approved a landmark 

agreement to normalize relations 

with breakaway Kosovo, 

but thousands of Kosovo Serb 

demonstrators — chanting 

“Treason, Treason” — rejected 

the deal. 

Up to 10,000 flag-waving 

protesters gathered in the 

divided northern Kosovo 

town of Mitrovica, demanding 

that the EU-brokered agreement 

be annulled and branding 

the Serbian officials who 

endorsed it “traitors.” 

The Serbian government 

approved the deal unanimously 

at an extraordinary 

session and ordered ministries 

to implement it, said 

government spokesman 

Milivoje Mihajlovic. The 

agreement could end years of 

tensions and put the Balkan 

rivals on a path to European 

Union membership 

The prime ministers of 

Serbia and Kosovo reached a 

tentative EU-mediated deal in 

Brussels on Friday that would 

give Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian 

leadership authority over 

rebel Kosovo Serbs. In return, 

the minority Serbs would get 

wide autonomy within 

Kosovo. 

After the Serbian approval, 

the EU’s executive 

Commission recommended 

on Monday that the bloc 

should start membership 

negotiations with Serbia. The 

Commission said in a report 

that “Serbia has taken very 

significant steps towards visible 

and sustainable improvement 

in relations with 

Kosovo.” 

Kosovo, which is considered 

by nationalists to be the 

medieval cradle of the Serbian 

state and religion, declared 

independence in 2008. Serbia 

has vowed never to recognize 

it, and Serbian officials insist 

that the latest agreement does 

not mean Belgrade has defacto 

recognized Kosovo’s 

statehood. 

It is not clear how the deal 

will be implemented on the 

ground in northern Kosovo 

where hardline Serb leaders 

vehemently reject any authority 

coming from Pristina’s ethnic 

Albanians and consider 

the region a part of Serbia. 

In Mitrovica, hardline 

Kosovo Serbs said they will 

prevent the implementation 

of the agreement and form 

their own, self-ruled region in 

the north. 

On Sunday, Kosovo’s parliament 

voted in favor of a resolution 

to support the initial 

agreement. The Serbian parliament 

is expected to do the 

same later this week. 

The influential Serbian 

Orthodox Church on Monday, 

however, denounced the deal 

as a “clear surrender” of “our 

most important territory,” 

and urged the country’s lawmakers 

to reject it. 

Strike grounds most Lufthansa flights 

The official convoy of newly re-elected Italian President 

Giorgio Napolitano, in Rome, on Monday. (AFP) 

AFP 

FRANKFURT 

GERMAN airline Lufthansa 

cancelled most of its domestic, 

European and long-haul 

flights to and from airports 

across the country on 

Monday as thousands of staff 

walked out in pursuit of higher 

pay. 

Out of nearly 1,800 

planned flights on Monday, 

“we will operate 20 short and 

medium-range flights and 12 

long-distance services,” a 

spokesman said. 

At Lufthansa’s main hub in 

Frankfurt, Germany’s biggest 

and Europe’s third-biggest 

airport, just six out of a total 

50 flights would go ahead, 

and three from 17 at Munich. 

Services union Verdi called 

the 24-hour warning strike 

after three rounds of pay talks 

with management ended 

without any agreement. 

Verdi is demanding a 5.2- 

percent pay increase for 

33,000 Lufthansa ground 

staff, plus employees of various 

subsidiaries as well as 

cabin crew members who are 

Verdi members. 

The escalating pay dispute 

comes a month after 

Lufthansa was forced to cancel 

nearly 700 out of a total 

1,800 flights due to half a day 

of warning strikes. 

Lufthansa board member 

Stefan Lauer has described 

the action as a “de facto an allout 

strike” that was “a completely 

excessive measure 

that can in no way be justified 

in view of the current state of 

negotiations.” 

Verdi has accused management 

of “playing with 

employees’ fears about their 

future and their jobs” in 

refusing to make any concrete 

guarantees. 

The union has complained 

that the offer tabled by management 

represented an 

increase of 0.4-0.6 percent 

over a period of 12 months. 

But Lufthansa insists its 

offer represents a pay 

increase of 2.3 percent for 

Lufthansa Technik, 2.1 percent 

for staff at Lufthansa 

Cargo and Lufthansa Systems 

and 1.7 percent for employees 

at the main company. 

The situation at airports 

was nevertheless far from 

chaotic as the airline had published 

its contingency flight 

timetable at the weekend, 

informing passengers in 

advance which flights would 

be cancelled. 

Tickets for the cancelled 

flights can be reimbursed or 

exchanged for an alternative 

flight and for services within 

Germany, passengers can 

switch to rail under an agreement 

with rail operator 

Deutsche Bahn, which also 

laid on extra trains and staff. 

Businesses back Cameron’s call for new UK role in Europe 

REUTERS 

LONDON 

PRIME Minister David 

Cameron won the support of 

500 business leaders on 

Monday in his campaign to 

renegotiate Britain’s ties with 

the European Union, a political 

gamble that has infuriated 

some of the bloc’s biggest 

members. 

Business for Britain, a new 

lobby group, said it backed 

Cameron’s plan to repatriate 

powers from Brussels and 

hold a referendum on 

Britain’s EU membership, 

provided his Conservative 

Party wins the next election. 

France and Germany have 

attacked Cameron’s stance, 

saying they will block any 

attempts by London to “cherry 

pick” EU policy. The 

United States has said it 

wants Britain to remain 

inside the EU. 

Other business groups say 

the referendum pledge risks 

creating uncertainty that will 

deter investment, isolate 

Britain and stifle the stagnant 

British economy. 

However, the new lobby 

group said cutting regulation, 

scrapping a planned financial 

transaction tax and allowing 

looser ties between its 27 

members would benefit 

Britain and boost growth 

across a continent shaken by 

a debt crisis. 

“Many would have you 

believe that business doesn’t 

want politicians to try and 

renegotiate a better deal from 

Europe,” said Alan Halsall, 

British Prime Minister David Cameron, in Long Eaton, England, on Monday. (REUTERS) 

the group’s co-chair and 

chairman of Silver Cross, a 

company that makes baby 

products. “Jobs and economic 

growth depend on a more 

flexible, looser relationship 

with the EU.” 

Since Cameron came to 

power in 2010, the long and 

bitter debate over Britain’s 

place in Europe has resurfaced. 

Groups on both sides of 

the argument have begun 

drawing up battle lines before 

an election due in 2015. 

Cameron, who wants to 

stay inside the EU, trails the 

Labour Party in the polls and 

is threatened by the UK 

Independence Party, an 

increasingly popular anti-EU 

group wooing disgruntled 

Conservatives. 

The British leader is under 

pressure to appease 

Conservative lawmakers who 

want him to take a tougher 

line with Brussels, seen by 

euro sceptics as a wasteful, 

interfering bureaucracy eroding 

British sovereignty. 

On the other side of the 

debate, the pro-EU camp says 

close ties with the EU, 

Britain’s biggest trading partner, 

are vital at a time of 

intense global competition. 

Among the 500 signatories 

of a letter sent by Business for 

Britain to newspapers to 

launch its campaign were 

Simon Wolfson, chief executive 

of retailer Next Plc ; 

Stuart Rose, chairman of 

online retailer Ocado Group 

Plc, and Richard Burrows, 

chairman of British American 

Tobacco Plc .

Pakistan / South Asia Tuesday, April 23, 2013 17 

Bangladesh elects 

House speaker as 

new president 

AFP 

DHAKA 

THE speaker of 

Bangladesh’s parliament 

Abdul Hamid was elected 

unopposed as president on 

Monday, a potentially crucial 

role as the restive country 

heads for elections next 

year, officials said. 

Hamid is a 69-year-old 

stalwart of the ruling 

Awami League party who 

has been serving as acting 

president of the Muslimmajority 

nation after the 

death of his predecessor 

Zillur Rahman on March 

20 this year. 

Although the 

president’s role 

has been largely 

ceremonial since 

1991 when the 

country switched 

to a parliamentary 

system of 

government, the 

leader has 

immense power 

during the 

transition of 

government. 

“We found only one 

nomination paper, filed on 

behalf of Abdul Hamid for 

the presidency, and he is 

the next president of the 

republic,” Chief Election 

Commissioner Kazi 

Rakibuddin Ahmad told 

reporters. The ruling 

Awami League party has an 

overwhelming parliamentary 

majority and nominated 

Abdul Hamid on 

Sunday. The ballot by the 

350-seat Parliament, normally 

required for the 

largely ceremonial position 

of president and planned 

for April 29, would not take 

place given the absence of 

another candidate, he said. 

“Abdul Hamid has won 

the election uncontested. 

The chief election commissioner 

declared him as the 

winner today (Monday),” 

said SM Asaduzzman, a 

director of the Election 

Commission. 

The post of president, 

which is elected by parliament, 

fell vacant last 

month after Rahman died 

of old age complications in 

a hospital in Singapore. 

Although the president’s 

role has been largely ceremonial 

since 1991 when the 

country switched to a parliamentary 

system of government, 

the leader has 

immense power during the 

transition of government. 

Known for his friendly 

ties with the opposition 

parties, Hamid could be 

thrust into the role of a 

mediator as the country’s 

two major parties are on a 

collision course ahead of 

the next elections due by 

January 2014. 

The date of his swearingin 

and start of his five-year 

term has yet to be fixed. A 

former lawyer, Hamid was 

elected to parliament seven 

times for Kishoreganj, 100 

kilometres north-east of 

Dhaka, and is currently 

serving his second mandate 

as speaker of parliament. 

He was born on January 

1, 1941 in Kishoreganj, and 

began in politics when he 

was a student in the late 

1950s. He joined the Awami 

League in 1969. He was 

given the Independence 

Award for his role in 

Bangladesh’s 1971 liberation 

war against Pakistan. 

The main opposition 

Bangladesh Nationalist 

Party and its smaller 

Islamist allies have threatened 

to boycott polls if they 

are not held under a neutral 

caretaker government. 

Hamid has been acting 

president since March 14, 

when Rahman went for 

medical treatment to 

Singapore, where he died 

of respiratory problems at 

the age of 84 on March 20. 

The government of 

Prime Minister Sheikh 

Hasina has rejected the 

opposition demand, saying 

the polls will be held under 

the incumbent government. 

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed (left) with 

new president Abdul Hamid (right) at the parliament house, 

in Dhaka, recently. (AFP) 

Pakistan govt refuses to 

try Musharraf for treason 

AFP 

ISLAMABAD 

PAKISTAN’S caretaker government 

on Monday refused to 

put former military ruler 

Pervez Musharraf on trial for 

treason, telling the Supreme 

Court that it was beyond its 

mandate. The move will give at 

least temporary breathing 

room to Musharraf, who is 

already under house arrest in 

connection with one of three 

other cases dating back to his 

1999-2008 period in office. 

The cases are being heard in 

lower courts. He has been 

threatened with death by the 

Taliban and barred from running 

in next month’s general 

election, a humiliating blow to 

the retired general who 

returned home in March 

promising to “save” Pakistan 

after four years in exile. 

“The caretaker government 

should avoid taking any controversial 

step and should not 

commit any process that is not 

reversible by the incoming 

elected government,” the 

administration said in a statement 

read out in top court. 

The Supreme Court is hearing 

a petition from lawyers 

demanding that Musharraf 

face trial for treason for subverting 

the constitution. In 

AFP 

COLOMBO 

SRI Lanka’s Tamil-dominated 

northern region will hold 

its first elections for a provincial 

council that will grant 

limited autonomy to the former 

war zone, the president’s 

office announced on Monday. 

President Mahinda 

Rajapakse told newspaper 

editors that conditions were 

right to hold the northern 

provincial council elections in 

September more than four 

years after fighting there 

ended, his spokesman Mohan 

Samaranayake said. 

“The president said that the 

environment was conducive 

for holding the NPC elections 

in September, but he did not 

give a specific date,” 

Samaranayake said. “It will be 

some time in September.” 

Rajapakse’s remarks were 

the first public announcement 

that the government was gearing 

up for council elections. 

Provincial councils were 

established in 1987 under a law 

that turned Sri Lanka into a de 

facto federal state, but the 

Tamil-dominated north has 

Pakistan’s former president Pervez Musharraf (centre) at an anti-terrorism court, in Islamabad, on Saturday. (AP) 

Pakistan only the state can initiate 

charges of treason, which 

can carry the death penalty. 

The interim administration, 

which took office last month, is 

tasked with guiding the 

nuclear-armed country of 180 

million towards the May 11 

vote, which will mark a historic 

democratic transition of power 

in a country used to periods of 

military rule. The administration 

will step down after the 

new elected government takes 

office and as a result said it had 

Lankan Tamil 

region to hold 

elections in Sept 

Rajapakse’s 

remarks were the 

first public 

announcement 

that the government 

was gearing 

up for council polls 

never elected such an administration 

although it has had 

elections for less important 

bodies. The government has 

governed the northern 

province, whose capital is 

Jaffna, through direct presidential 

rule even after troops 

crushed Tamil separatists in 

May 2009 in a military campaign 

that sparked allegations 

of war crimes. 

Sri Lanka is under international 

pressure to hold council 

elections to allow the ethnic 

Tamil minority a degree of 

autonomy and a greater say in 

the day-to-day administration 

in areas where they are 

concentrated. 

The US, which led international 

censure against Sri 

Lanka at the UN Human Rights 

Council in Geneva last month, 

has said it was looking forward 

to early council elections in the 

former war zone and a speeding 

up of reconciliation. 

no mandate to order a trial of 

Musharraf for treason. With 

less than three weeks to go, it 

said overseeing the vote was a 

full-time job, not least given 

the threat level against candidates. 

The Taliban have 

claimed a series of deadly 

attacks on politicians. 

The government cautioned 

there was “no urgency” to try 

Musharraf and said it needed 

“to confine their work to dayto-day 

routine matters” and 

“maintain the status quo” for 

the incoming elected government. 

Musharraf is serving his 

two-week arrest order in his 

luxury villa in the upmarket 

suburb of Chak Shahzad on the 

edge of Islamabad. His arrest 

was ordered by an anti-terrorism 

court on Saturday in connection 

with the sacking of 

judges when he imposed emergency 

rule in November 2007. 

On Sunday, his party 

spokesman said he had been 

confined to two rooms and 

stripped of his staff, with his 

BRIDAL COUTURE 

A model presents a creation by Pakistani designer Nadia 

Mistry, during the Bridal Couture Week, in Karachi, on 

Monday. The event drew huge response. (EPA) 

lawyers also denied access. 

Musharraf faces separate 

charges of conspiracy to murder 

Benazir Bhutto in 2007 and 

over the 2006 death of a Baluch 

rebel leader. The Supreme 

Court adjourned hearing the 

treason petition until Tuesday 

and ordered the authorities to 

allow Musharraf’s lawyers to 

meet him. Presiding Judge 

Jawad S Khwaja told the court: 

“It appears that the government 

is determined not to take 

any legal action in this matter.” 

Pakistani 

court allows 

ex-PM to run 

in elections 

DPA 

ISLAMABAD 

A PAKISTANI court on 

Monday cleared the way for 

former prime minister Raja 

Pervez Ashraf to contest the 

May 11 parliamentary election, 

media reports said. 

An election tribunal had on 

Apirl 15 upheld Ashraf’s earlier 

disqualification by 

Pakistani election officials 

because of the alleged misuse 

of development funds while 

in office. 

Ashraf, however, challenged 

the ban in the Lahore High 

Court, where a panel of 

judges ruled in his favour by 

declaring the disqualification 

invalid, Geo News television 

reported on Monday. 

Ashraf is a nominee of 

President Asif Ali Zardari’s 

Pakistan People’s Party and 

contesting a national parliament 

seat from Gujar Khan in 

the eastern province of 

Punjab. 

Incidentally, Ashraf stepped 

down last month after the 

PPP-led coalition government 

completed its full, fiveyear 

term. 

Ashraf faces several corruption 

allegations relating to his 

time as premier and minister 

for power and water. 

EU to lift Myanmar sanctions, open ‘new chapter’ in ties 

AFP 

LUXEMBOURGE 

THE European Union plans to 

lift the last of its trade, economic 

and individual sanctions 

against Myanmar on Monday 

as it embarks on “a new chapter” 

with the once pariah state. 

“The EU is willing to open a 

new chapter in its relations 

with Myanmar/Burma, 

building a lasting partnership,” 

said the draft of an EU 

foreign ministers’ statement 

obtained by AFP. 

A year after first suspending 

sanctions against Myanmar in 

reward for its historic reforms, 

EU foreign ministers meeting 

in Luxembourg will announce 

a definitive end to restrictive 

measures but leave in place an 

arms embargo. “In response to 

the changes that have taken 

place and in the expectation 

that they will continue, the 

Council (of ministers) has 

decide to lift all sanctions with 

the exception of the embargo 

on arms,” the statement added. 

It warns however that “there 

are still significant challenges 

to be addressed”, in particular 

an end to hostilities in Kachin 

state and appeasement of the 

tensions regarding the 

Rohingya people. 

New York-based Human 

Rights Watch said on Monday 

A cop fires at protesters during ethnic violence, in Sittwe, Rakhine State, recently. (AFP) 

that Myanmar has waged “a 

campaign of ethnic cleansing” 

against Rohingya Muslims, citing 

evidence of mass graves 

and forced displacement 

affecting tens of thousands. 

To help Myanmar on the 

economic front, the foreign 

ministers will offer to look at 

the feasibility of a bilateral 

investment agreement, as well 

as more development assistance. 

To help it deal with 

inter-communal violence, the 

EU is studying the possibility of 

assisting the reform of the 

police service, in partnership 

with its parliament, the statement 

adds. 

On April 23 last year, the 

ministers agreed to a one-year 

suspension of measures targeting 

almost 500 individuals and 

more than 800 firms to bolster 

a reform process which the 

same month saw opposition 

leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s election 

to parliament. 

Among the sanctions, hundreds 

of people were targeted 

by a travel ban and asset freeze, 

while on the economic front 

the EU had barred investments 

and banned imports of the 

country’s lucrative timber, 

metals and gems. 

During a visit to Brussels last 

month, the first by a Myanmar 

head of state, President Thein 

Sein urged the EU to lift sanctions, 

saying “we are one of the 

poorest countries in the 

world.” He received pledges of 

EU economic assistance coupled 

with calls to protect his 

country’s ethnic minorities.


World 

Frustration rises from rubble of 

China’s deadly earthquake 

REUTERS 

LUSHAN 

HUNDREDS of survivors of a 

6.6 magnitude earthquake 

that hit southwest China, 

killing nearly 200 people, 

pushed into traffic along a 

main road on Monday, waving 

protest signs, demanding 

help and shouting at police. 

“We are in the open air 

here. No place to sleep, nothing 

to eat. No one is paying 

any attention to us,” said 

Peng Qiong, 45, a farmer in 

Chaoyang village on the outskirts 

of Lushan, near the 

epicenter. 

China has poured 

resources into Sichuan since 

the early Saturday quake, 

including 1 billion yuan 

($161.9 million) from central 

coffers for disaster relief and 

compensation. About 18,000 

troops are in the area. The 

earthquake killed at least 186 

people and injured more 

than 11,000, state media 

said. 

But while many have 

praised the government for 

its swift response, growing 

anger among some underscores 

the government’s challenge, 

magnified by the fact 

that Sichuan bore the brunt 

of a 7.9 earthquake in 2008 

that killed nearly 70,000 

people. 

In some cases, roads closed 

AP & AFP 

LAGOS 

THE Nigerian Red Cross says 

at least 187 people have been 

killed in fighting between soldiers 

and Islamic extremists 

in a fishing community in 

northeast Nigeria. Nwakpa O 

Nwakpa, a Red Cross 

spokesman, said on Monday 

that another 77 people were 

receiving medical care following 

Friday’s violence in Baga. 

Nwakpa said some 300 

homes had been burned 

down as well. 

Nwakpa said authorities had 

yet to grant the Red Cross access 

Gun battles broke 

out in the remote 

northeastern town 

of Baga on Friday 

after troops surrounded 

a mosque 

allegedly housing 

Islamist insurgents. 

to the town, which sits along the 

shores of Lake Chad in the 

nation’s extreme northeast. 

The military said fighters 

with the Islamic extremist 

network Boko Haram used 

rocket-propelled grenades 

and heavy machine guns in 

the fighting. Local residents 

told the AP on Sunday that 

soldiers intentionally set fires 

in neighborhoods where civilians 

were hiding. 

Gun battles broke out in the 

remote northeastern town of 

Baga on Friday after troops 

surrounded a mosque 

allegedly housing Islamist 

insurgents. The town on Lake 

Chad lies in Borno state, the 

home base of Boko Haram 

Islamists who are blamed for 

carrying out scores of attacks 

across northern and central 

Nigeria since 2009. 

The fighting “killed dozens 

of people”, said a state government 

official who refused 

to be named. Various officials 

Chinese earthquake survivors line up to get free food, in Lushan, southwestern China’s Sichuan province, on Monday. (EPA) 

to non-emergency traffic 

have been clogged with all 

kinds of government vehicles. 

On the way to Baoxing, a 

heavily damaged area about 

40 km (25 miles) from 

Lushan, idling ambulances, 

troop transporters, construction 

vehicles and tour 

buses for relief workers 

blocked both lanes of the 

187 killed, 77 

hurt in Nigeria 

violence 

contacted have been reluctant 

to discuss the scale of the violence, 

saying only the military 

was authorised to provide 

casualty figures. 

A rescue official with contacts 

in Baga said that “many 

residents are still unaccounted. 

It is assumed that they 

fled into the bush”. “From 

information reaching us from 

Baga, 40 percent of the town 

has been gutted by fire,” 

added the official who asked 

not to be named. 

Borno state military 

spokesman Lieutenant 

Colonel Sagir Musa told AFP 

that media reports that some 

180 people could have died in 

the clashes were “extensively 

inflated”. “There could have 

been some casualties, but it is 

unthinkable to say that 185 

people died,” Musa said. “On 

my honour as an officer, 

nothing like that happened,” 

he added. Musa, as well as 

the defence and army spokesmen 

have refused to provide 

details of the fighting. 

Local residents reported 

deaths among the insurgents, 

soldiers as well as civilians, 

according to an official who 

toured the area on Sunday 

with regional governor 

Kashim Shettima. 

Locals also told the governor’s 

delegation that the 

clashes started when troops 

surrounded a mosque that 

was allegedly sheltering 

insurgents. 

A shootout ensued and 

there were reports from residents 

of the Islamists using 

heavy weapons including 

rocket propelled grenades, 

but the nature of the fighting 

could not be confirmed and 

details were slow to emerge. 

Mobile phone network coverage 

in some parts of Borno 

was crippled last year after 

Boko Haram burned down a 

series of telecommunication 

masts. 

road, making access possible 

only on foot or by weaving 

motorcycles. 

Tian Kuanqian surveyed a 

winding fissure that split the 

upper level of his house. For 

more than two days, the 40- 

year-old farmer has watched 

as emergency vehicles passed 

their wrecked village by. “If 

they continue to ignore us 

like we are trivial, we will 

AFP 

MOSCOW 

A GUNMAN described as a 

former convict on Monday 

killed six people, including 

two teenage girls, in a broad 

daylight shooting at a hunting 

shop in the southern Russian 

city of Belgorod, horrifying 

residents in the usually quiet 

provincial centre. 

The police Investigative 

Committee, Russia’s equivalent 

of the FBI, named the 

assailant as Sergei Pomazun, a 

resident of Belgorod who had 

a theft conviction and was 

released from prison in 2012. 

The former convict, born in 

1981, fled the scene of the 

shooting in a dark BMW 

which he then abandoned, 

officials said. Police had determined 

where he was in the 

city and officers were moving 

in to attempt to seize him. 

A police spokeswoman 

declined to release any other 

details.”So far, the criminal 

has not been caught,” the 

spokeswoman said. 

The man, apparently armed 

with a hunting rifle, killed 

have no choice but to 

protest,” he said. 

The back room hung of 

Tian’s house was torn from 

the building and perched on 

a steep slope. Inside, a poster 

of former revolutionary 

leader Mao Zedong hung 

above a collapsed wall. Tian’s 

family including elderly parents 

sleep on the ground. “It’s 

been three days and we 

three salespeople at the shop 

and two passers-by, including 

a 14-year-old girl, outside the 

premises in the city close to 

the border with Ukraine, 

police said. 

Another victim, a 16-yearold 

girl, was wounded in the 

head and died later in intensive 

care, the regional authorities 

said. Other than the girls, the 

four other victims were men 

between 28 and 45 years old. 

Police refused to speculate 

on the possible reasons for 

haven’t seen noodles or 

water. What we need are 

tents,” Tian said. 

A police officer in 

Chaoyang trying to clam protesters 

on the road said the 

authorities were doing all 

they could. “Our leaders have 

visited and we’re working 

getting these people food and 

water,” said the officer, who 

declined to give his name. 

the shooting. “We do not 

know whether it was a conflict 

because there’s no-one we 

can ask: everyone’s dead,” a 

regional police spokesman 

told AFP. 

Television footage showed 

several covered bodies lying 

on the street and a crowd of 

onlookers looking shellshocked. 

Police warned that 

Pomazun might be armed, 

possibly with a carbine and a 

gas pistol. 

Authorities also searched 

AFP 

PARIS 

THE Australian government 

said on Monday it would 

contribute 386,000 euros 

($500,000) to help renovate 

a trail and a French museum 

commemorating the hundreds 

of thousands of its 

nationals who died in the 

conflict. 

The money would pay for 

new interactive exhibits in the 

northern French town of 

Peronne where Australians 

fought, including in the 

town’s Museum of the Great 

War, the Australian minister 

for Veterans’ Affairs, Warren 

Snowdon, said during a visit 

Mountainous terrain and 

poor infrastructure have 

made reaching victims difficult. 

The Xinhua news 

agency said aftershocks had 

triggered landslides that 

blocked a main road. 

The damage to listed businesses 

in the area appeared 

limited. Toll road operator 

Sichuan Expressway said none 

of its roads were damaged, 

while motor-maker Dongfeng 

Electric said the quake did not 

cause any losses. 

China Lumena New 

Materials Corp said none of 

its equipment in Sichuan had 

been damaged, while department 

store owner Maoye 

International said its subsidiary, 

Chengshang Group, 

whose principal business is 

in Sichuan, said all stores 

were operating normally. 

In Zhongba village, part of 

Baoxing, residents said it 

took two days for help to 

arrive. When it did, supplies 

and tents were in short supply. 

Almost all buildings are 

damaged and many have collapsed. 

Zhang Zhenghua, a 41- 

year-old farmer, said officials 

drove through the village on 

Monday and stopped briefly 

to apologize for the delay in 

help. “The secretary mentioned 

subsidies to rebuild 

our homes. We hope they do 

what they say,” Zhang said. 

Gunman kills six at hunting 

shop in provincial Russia 

the apartment of the suspect’s 

father where the shooter presumably 

kept weapons, police 

said. The brazen shooting 

shook Belgorod, a city of just 

under 360,000 people located 

around 700 kilometres 

(450 miles) south of Moscow. 

Officials said the crime was 

unprecedented. “For us it is a 

first. We are in shock,” 

spokeswoman for the regional 

authorities, Yekaterina 

Zimina, told AFP. “We have 

never had this before. It’s a 

quiet town,” added regional 

police spokeswoman Tatyana 

Kireyeva. 

President Vladimir Putin 

was informed of the crime, 

his spokesman said. The governor 

of the Belgorod region, 

Yevgeny Savchenko, called on 

residents to be vigilant and 

cooperate with police.”This 

unprecedented and inhumane 

act cannot be justified,” 

he said in a statement. “Only 

a non-human is capable of 

such an evil doing.” 

Belgorod mayor Sergei 

Bozhenov called an emergency 

meeting to address the 

shooting. 

Australia to give $500,000 to French museum 

An artist poses in front of the building of the Monnaie de Paris, on 

Monday. (AFP) 

Residents look at a portrait of the shootout suspect, in Belgorod (some 

750 kilometers south-west of Moscow), Russia, on Monday. (EPA) 

N Korea 

set to go 

for nuclear 

test: China 

AP 

BEIJING 

CHINA’S top general said 

on Monday that a fourth 

North Korean nuclear 

weapons test is a possibility 

that underscores the 

need for fresh talks 

between Pyongyang and 

other regional parties. 

Chief of the General 

Staff Gen Fang Fenghui 

said Beijing firmly opposes 

the North’s nuclear 

weapons programme and 

wants to work with others 

on negotiations to end it. 

He said Beijing’s preference 

is for a return to 

long-stalled disarmament 

talks involving the two 

Koreas, China, Russia, 

Japan and the US. 

“We ask all sides to 

work actively to work on 

the North Koreans to stop 

nuclear tests and stop 

producing nuclear 

weapons,” Fang told 

reporters. “We believe 

that dialogue should be 

the right solution.” Fang 

offered no indication as to 

when Beijing thought a 

test might happen or give 

other details. 

His comments followed 

a meeting with Gen 

Martin Dempsey, chairman 

of the Joint Chiefs of 

Staff, whose first visit to 

China in that position 

comes amid heightened 

tensions between 

Pyongyang, South Korea 

and the US. 

North Korea has ratcheted 

up tension on the 

divided peninsula in 

recent weeks, threatening 

to attack the US and 

South Korea over recent 

military drills and sanctions 

imposed as punishment 

for its third nuclear 

test in February. 

Pyongyang calls the 

annual drills a rehearsal 

for invasion. South 

Korean officials have said 

the North is poised to 

test-fire a medium-range 

missile capable of reaching 

the American territory 

of Guam. 

China is North Korea’s 

most important diplomatic 

ally, main trading 

partner, and provides a 

key source of food and 

fuel aid. Yet while Beijing 

signed on to tougher U.N. 

sanctions following the 

February test, it says it 

has limited influence with 

Pyongyang and Fang 

declined to say whether 

Beijing would adopt 

tougher measures to pressure 

the North into reducing 

tensions. 

In other remarks, Fang 

also sought to reassure 

Dempsey over recent 

reports of Chinese military-sponsored 

hacking 

attacks on US targets, 

saying China opposed all 

such activity. 

to Paris. 

France will match the contribution, 

which goes towards 

an “Australian Remembrance 

Trail” that spans much of the 

200-kilometre (120-mile) 

Western Front where 

Australians served. 

The trail expands on previous 

efforts by France and 

Belgium to honour Australian 

servicemen in the war — the 

“diggers” — by allowing visitors 

and hikers to see the 

main battle zones. 

Some 400,000 Australians 

went to Europe to fight with 

the Allied forces, and 60,000 

of them died and a further 

200,000 were injured. 

The casualties badly depleted 

Australia’s population, 

which was just 3.5 million at 

the time — especially among 

men of military age. 

“Our history is relatively 

new. We were only made a 

nation in 1901. Less than a 

decade and a half later, we 

formed an army and we 

were at war,” Snowdon said 

at the Australian embassy in 

Paris. 

“We don’t have the florid 

history of the French and the 

Germans and the English, 

and the wars that have been 

fought over centuries. And 

even though this war was a 

monumental disaster, it had a 

tremendous impact on the 

nation.”


DEPUTY EMIR RECEIVES CREDENTIALS OF AMBASSADORS 

QNA 

DOHA 

THE Deputy Emir and Heir 

Apparent His Highness Sheikh 

Tamim bin Hamad al Thani 

received credentials of 10 new 

ambassadors to Qatar at the 

Emiri Diwan office on Monday. 

HH the Deputy Emir and Heir 

Apparent received the credentials 

of Ambassador of Gabon HE 

Ismail Galama Lingono, 

Ambassador of Fiji Islands HE 

Robin Nair, Ambassador of 

Jamaica HE Audley Rodriques, 

Ambassador of Guyana HE 

Mohammed Ali Odeen Ishmael 

and Ambassador of HE South 

Korea Su Chang-sik. HH the 

Deputy Emir and Heir Apparent 

also received the credentials of 

Ambassador of Burkina Faso HE 

Mansa Aontana, Ambassador of 

Mongolia HE Sodnom Enkhbat, 

Ambassador of Kosovo HE Rajab 

Boya, Ambassador of Burundi HE 

Moussa Soleimani and Ambassador 

of the European Union delegation 

HE Adam Colakh. 

Their Excellencies the new 

ambassadors conveyed to HH the 

Deputy Emir and Heir Apparent 

greetings of the leaders of their 

respective countries and their 

good wishes for more progress 

and welfare to the Qatari people. 

For his part, HH the Deputy 

Emir and Heir Apparent welcomed 

the new diplomats and 

wished them more success in 

their future assignments and further 

development and growth to 

the relations between Qatar and 

their respective countries. Their 

Excellencies the new ambassadors 

arrived at the Emiri Diwan 

earlier, before presenting their 

credentials where they were 

accorded a red-carpet reception. 

Don’t panic in case of 

new influenza virus 

outbreaks: Health expert 

DENISE YAMMINE 

DOHA 

THREE viruses, which have hit 

headlines for their devastating 

impact in recent times across the 

world – the SARS Coronavirus, the 

newly discovered sporadic Coronavirus, 

and the down but not out 

H1N1 virus – were the focus of the 

lecture at the Center for 

International and Regional Studies 

(CIRS) on Monday. 

The lecture, titled ‘Global Travel 

and Virus Outbreaks 2003-2013’, 

was delivered by US health expert 

Dr Daniel Lucey. 

Dr Lucey, American physician 

and Professor of Microbiology and 

Immunology at Georgetown 

University Medical Center, discussed 

these viruses in the larger 

context of infectious diseases and 

public health and also its spread 

through travel with special reference 

to China and the Middle East. 

Tracing the viruses’ origin in animals, 

to its transmission into 

humans followed by its spread in 

the air in recent times, the expert 

urged people not to panic in case of 

outbreaks of such viruses. 

“The reappearance of the virus 

depends on the type of virus itself. 

For example, influenza viruses circulate 

all the time in the Northern 

and Southern Hemisphere. H1N1 is 

part of the routine influenza viruses 

(Influenza A and B). They are 

here to stay until a new type of 

influenza replaces them. If we are 

not hearing about people getting 

infected with H1N1 and, it’s 

because we have become immune 

to it,” he told Qatar Tribune. 

It is worth mentioning, that Doha 

witnessed the death of a Qatari 

US health expert Dr Daniel Lucey during a lecture session at CIRS, in Doha, 

on Monday. (HANSON K JOSEPH) 

The lecture, titled 

‘Global Travel & Virus 

Outbreaks 2003-2013’, 

was delivered by 

US health expert 

Dr Daniel Lucey. 

youth, who was infected by the 

H1N1 Influenza a few weeks ago. 

Dr Lucey added, “There is no 

need to panic in the case of an outbreak 

of a virus and concerned officials 

must launch an awareness 

campaign to prevent panic among 

people at such critical junctures. In 

Qatar, the Supreme Council of 

Health (SCH) does the same by 

educating people on how viruses 

spread and how to prevent it.” 

According to the expert, wars, 

violence, lack of clean water, bacteria 

and lack of hygiene, were some 

of the main factors responsible for 

viruses’ spread. Lucey emphasised 

the need for regular immunisation 

against the viruses annually to protect 

people from the infections and 

prevent spread of the disease. 

SARS virus was a severe acute 

respiratory syndrome that caused 

the death of 300 patients in 29 

nations globally. The virus found in 

bats was transmitted to humans 

through the air and reached the 

Middle East in 2003. It was contagious 

with no antiviral therapy, 

while nurses and doctors in 

Guangzhou hospitals were also 

infected. SARS virus outbreaks 

came from travellers flying out of 

the Hong Kong airport hub. 

Flu H1N1 was a novel Influenza in 

2009 and spread rapidly by air travel. 

“Pandemic” was declared in 2011 

by the World Health Organisation. 

As for the new virus in the 

Middle East since it appeared first 

in Jordan in April 2012, reports 

stated that the Gulf nations were 

affected including two deaths each 

in the UAE and Qatar, and nine 

deaths in Saudi Arabia. 

VCUQ presents ‘6:3:1’ 


DOHA 

THE Gallery at Virginia 

Commonwealth University in 

Qatar (VCUQ) has unveiled ‘6:3:1’ 

– an exhibition that brings together 

the works of six invited alumni 

from three major design disciplines 

at VCUQ and VCUarts. 

Fashion design, graphic design 

and interior design are represented, 

and a cross-campus curatorial 

collaboration has provided the 

opportunity for a dynamic 

exchange of ideas. The result is an 

exhibition that celebrates the creative 

process and the achievements 

of each individual designer. 

“However, it also highlights their 

shared connection to VCU, their 

drive to succeed, and their exciting 

professional journeys. This is what 

unites 6:3:1 as an exhibition and 

what, it is hoped, will inspire 

future design graduates of VCU,” 

says Caitlin Doherty, exhibition 

and speaker curator at VCUQ. 

The six alumni exhibiting their 

work are VCUQ alumni Hamzah 

Abdelal, Nayla Ahmad al Mulla 

and Reem al Thani and VCUarts 

alumni Donwan Harrell, Jung 

Kwon and Eleanor Barton. 

Mixing Arabic calligraphy with 

digital art has become Abdelal’s 

trademark. Abdelal, who graduated 

with a BFA in graphic design in 

2011, says, “As a passionate 

Palestinian artist I seek to embody 

human rights values and the 

essence of freedom through digital 

art, a form of expression relatively 

new to the Middle Eastern region.” 

Abdelal presently work as a 

designer at Fitch. 

Class of 2008 fashion design 

graduate Mulla’s first ready-towear 

collection showcased in the 

exhibition is used by her to explore 

the design and production process. 

“The intention of the collection 

is to start a conversation, an everyday 

garment that is comfortable 

and simple yet intriguing enough 

for a stranger to stop the wearer to 

compliment or inquire about the 

garment. Friendships can be made 

that way. I have learned a lot making 

this collection and look forward 

to many more,” she says. 

Mulla currently works as alumni 

relations coordinator at VCUQ. 

‘6:3:1’ will run at the Gallery 

till April 25. The event is open to 

the public. 

Designers Eleanor Barton, Hamzah Abdelal, Donwan Harrell, Jung Kwon and Nayla Ahmad al Mulla at the VCUQ 

Gallery, in Doha, on Monday.


The Last Word 

Sotheby’s Doha auction fetches $15.2 mn 

Sotheby’s auction in progress, in Doha, on Monday. 

An art lover enjoys Chant Avedissian’s Icons of the Nile, in Doha, on Monday. (PHOTOGRAPHS MANEESH BAKSHI) 

MANEESH BAKSHI 

DOHA 

INTERNATIONAL auction house 

of Sotheby’s raised a record sale of 

$15.2 million during a public auction 

of contemprary art works of 

leading Arab and Iranian artists 

along with few international ones 

held at Katara, in Doha, on 

Monday. 

Reacting excitedly to the exceptional 

response by the Doha art 

buyers who created nine new world 

records with their bids for some 

outstanding paintings, Lina Lazaar 

Jameel, Sotheby’s art specialist, 

said,“I am absolutely thrilled with 

the overwhelming response of the 

Doha’s art lovers during this auction,” 

she said. 

“I didn’t expect to achieve such 

marvelous results with sales worth 

$15.2 million. I think we probably 

achieved highest results anywhere 

in the Middle East sales so far. We 

were able to achieve fantastic 

results with a very tightly curated 

sale of a relatively small lot of 47 

works and that is absolutely phenomenal,” 

Leena added. 

Donald Judd’s untitled work of 

Stakes. made out of aluminum with 

clear Plexiglass, registered a record 

value of $3.5 million while the painting 

of Ethiopian-born artist Julie 

Mehretu called Rising Down 

received a hammer value of $3.2 

million, a world record for the artist! 

A massive 120 panel installation 

titled Icons of the Nile by an 

Armenian artist Chant Avedissian 

achieved a sale of $1.3 million, yet 

another record for any living artist 

in the Arab world! Other works 

such as Ya’illahi (Dear Lord) by the 

Donald Judd’s work of art 

Lebanese artist Ayman Baalbaki 

was sold for $ 310,000, twice of its 

Julie Mehretu’s Rising Down 

estimated value. Paintings of 

Egyptian artists Mahmoud Said 

and Hamed Nada also evoked 

favourable responses by the connoisseurs 

as their sales recorded 

much higher prices than their estimated 

value. 

Another Lebanese artist Marvan 

Rechmaoui whose work titled 

Beirut Caoutchouc scored a sale 

value of $120,000, much higher to 

its estimated value which ranged 

between $30,000 – 40,000. The 

Saudi artist Manal Al Dowayan’s 

Suspended Together, a fiberglass 

work, was sold for $270,000. 

The auction, considered “highly 

successful” in terms of its sales, 

could find no buyers for just four art 

works out of a total 47 on display. 

“Doha has definitely registered 

itself as a new cultural capital of 

Middle East with this auction,” said 

Lina, adding that, “And why not, 

with so many new museums being 

created in such a short time, it has 

every reason to claim so,” she said.

Deputy Emir to open 8th World Chambers Congress ... - Qatar Tribune

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