Attiyah for pension scheme for expats - Qatar Tribune

WEDNESDAY 

MAY 1, 2013 

JUMADA AL-AKHIR 21, 1434 

VOL. 7 NO. 2431 QR 2 

First with the news and what’s behind it 

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WARRIORS BY 37 RUNS 

BANGLE MAN 

FROM INDIA 

PG23 PG29 CHILL OUT 

Attiyah for pension 

scheme for expats 

SATYENDRA PATHAK 

DOHA 

WHAT better than a pension 

plan to make Qatar even more 

attractive for expatriates? 

Administrative Control and 

Transparency Authority 

Chairman HE Abdullah bin 

Hamad al Attiyah recently floated 

the idea. 

Speaking at an event in Doha, 

Attiyah said, “It will promote a 

culture of savings among expats 

and provide a comfortable financial cushion 

once they retire.” 

This will allow employers to retain talent 

and attract fresh blood, while also promoting 

financial awareness among employees. 

“Incorporating pension plans into the benefits 

packages employees receive in Qatar 

will have a big impact on the efforts to 

improve employee retention in a very competitive 

market. Private companies should 

take steps towards providing 

their employees with private 

pension plans,” Attiyah averred. 

“The authorities concerned of 

various nationalities should hold 

talks with their Qatari counterparts 

to create such schemes,” 

Attiyah said. 

Exemplifying India, Attiyah 

said, “There are a large number 

of Indian expats in Qatar. But 

there are no pension schemes for 

them. The Indian embassy 

should take an initiative and hold 

talks with Qatari representatives to create 

pension funds for Indians in Qatar.” 

“This is true about other nationalities as 

well. Qatar is mostly inhabited by expatriates. 

Qatari nationals have pension schemes. 

On the same lines, expats should also have 

pension plans so that they can retire peacefully,” 


M-E peace likely with minor land swap: PM 

AP 

WASHINGTON 

HE Abdullah bin 

Hamad al Attiyah 

DETAILED REPORT ON PAGE 4 

ARAB countries endorsed a Middle East 

peace plan on Monday that would allow for 

small shifts in Israel’s 1967 border. 

Speaking on behalf of an Arab League delegation 

to Washington, Prime Minister and 

Minister of Foreign Affairs HE Sheikh 

Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor al Thani called 

for an agreement between Israel and a future 

Palestine, citing the possibility of “comparable,” 

mutually agreed and “minor” land swaps 

between the Israelis and the Palestinians. 

HE the PM spoke after his delegation met 

with US Vice-President Joe Biden and 

Secretary of State John Kerry. 

Israel welcomed the principle of land 

swaps. Israel’s chief peace negotiator Tzipi 

Livni hailed the move as “very good news” in 

an interview with military radio. “It’s definitely 

an important step — I welcome it,” she said. 

SEE ALSO PAGE 2 

SHEIKHA MOZA IN AMSTERDAM 

Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser at the inauguration ceremony of 

King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, in Amsterdam, on Tuesday. 

PAGES 16 & 20 

QUICK READ 

NHRC drive to target both 

workers, employers 

DOHA The National Human Rights Commission 

(NHRC) launched its annual campaign to raise 

awareness of workers’ rights under the slogan 

‘Heal your rights’. The campaign will continue 

till June 30. NHRC member Dr Mohammed bin 

Saif al Kuwari said that campaign’s goal is to 

make workers aware of their rights, in terms of 

health, housing, transport, vacations, and other 

rights. He stressed on the campaign’s need to 

particularly target employers, as the actual 

executors of those rights. NHRC is also readying 

a guide book about workers’ rights with regard 

to housing at construction sites and which is 

due to be launched soon and distributed to 

companies. (TNN) 

PAGE 4 

Ooredoo Q1 net profit rises 

13.6% to QR808 million 

DOHA Ooredoo reported a 13.6 percent rise in 

first-quarter net profit, as increased revenue 

from Qatar, Iraq and Indonesia offset a sustained 

profit slump at its Kuwait and Oman 

units. The telecom major made a net profit of 

QR808 million riyals till March 31. (TNN) 

Under-40 account for 30% 

of heart attacks in Doha 

DOHA 55 percent of the 1,000 new heart 

attack patients each year at HMC are under 50, 

and of those, 30 percent are under 40. HMC’s 

Dr Khalid A Saifeldeen said, “Many people suffer 

from hypertension, diabetes, and high cholesterol 

without knowing it. We personally think it’s 

related to lifestyle. People are not taking the risk 

seriously, of a combination of smoking, poor diet, 

and lack of exercise.” (TNN) PAGE 2

02 Wednesday, May 1, 2013 

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PM reviews ties with Egyptian leadership 

QNA 

CAIRO 

THE Prime Minister and 

Minister of Foreign Affairs 

His Excellency Sheikh 

Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor 

al Thani on Tuesday held 

talks with Egyptian Prime 

Minister Hesham Qandil and 

President Mohamed Morsi 

and reviewed bilateral ties 

between Qatar and Egypt. 

On Prime Minister’s arrival at 

Cairo International Airport, he 

was received by Egyptian Civil 

Aviation Minister Wael el 

Maadawy and Qatar’s Ambassador 

to Egypt Saif Muqaddam 

al Buainein, who is also his 

country’s permanent delegate to 

the Arab League. 

Later, the PM met with 

Egyptian Prime Minister 

Hesham Qandil on Egyptian 

cabinet premises and reviewed 

relations between the two 

countries and means of 

enhancing and developing 

them in all aspects. The two 

sides also discussed regional 

developments, especially the 

Palestinian issue and the situation 

in Syria. 

Prime Minister also visited 

Egyptian presidency headquarters 

and conveyed to 

President Mohamed Morsi 

greetings of the Emir His 

Highness Sheikh Hamad bin 

Khalifa al Thani and the Heir 

Apparent HH Sheikh Tamim 

bin Hamad al Thani, and 

their best wishes of progress 

and prosperity to the 

Egyptian people. 

For his part, the Egyptian 

president entrusted the PM to 

convey his greetings to HH 

the Emir and HH the Heir 

Apparent, and his wishes of 

welfare and prosperity to the 

Qatari people. 

During the meeting, the 

two sides reviewed relations 

between the two countries 

and means of enhancing and 

developing them in all 

aspects, in addition to the 

current developments. 

Later in the afternoon, PM 

wrapped up his short visit to 

Egypt and left Cairo. The PM 

was seen off upon departure 

at Cairo International Airport 

by Egyptian Civil Aviation 

Minister Wael el Maadawy 

and Qatar’s Ambassador to 

Egypt HE Saif Muqaddam al 

Buainein. 

Barwa City is available for tenants now 

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK 

DOHA 

IF you are looking for a rented 

house at reasonable rates, Barwa 

City is a good option. According to 

an Al Watan report, the rent ranges 

from around QR 5100 to QR 6,800 

for two and three bedroom flats 

respectively at the newly opened, 

self-sufficient City. 

The rents vary depending on the 

number of rooms and bathrooms 

per unit. For example, a house of 

two bedrooms will cost QR 4750 

plus QR 335 for gas per month; 

whereas, a three-bedroom flat with 

two bathrooms will cost QR 5750 

and with three bathrooms QR 6250 

plus 575 per month for gas. 

It is worth mentioning that monthly 

cost of gas consumption is temporary, 

until the installation of meters. 

As for tenants, those who have 

already submitted their requests can 

now complete the required procedures 

and get their houses within two 

weeks. Barwa City opened gates for 

individuals, who want to rent residential 

units there recently. 

Barwa City is a large-scale mixeduse 

residential development, a selfcontained 

community complete 

with state-of-the-art amenities and 

well-designed infrastructure. The 

project offers around 1,000 quality 

apartments distributed across 128 

residential buildings with studios, 

two and three-bedroom units. 

Amenities offered by Barwa City 

include, shopping centre and retail 

outlets in a commercial centre. The 

community also offers its residents 

two global schools and four kindergarten 

centres and a fitness club. 

55% of those suffering heart attacks 

aged below 50, says HMC director 

LANI ROSE R DIZON 

DOHA 

CASES of heart attacks as well as 

undiagnosed heart diseases are 

on the rise among young people 

in Doha. 

Of the 1,000 new cases of heart 

attacks, received by the Hamad 

Medical Corporation’s (HMC) 

Heart Hospital on an average 

annually, 55 percent are under 50 

years of age and 30 percent of 

them are under the age of 40, an 

HMC official has said. 

Talking to the media on Tuesday, 

Dr Khalid Abdulnoor Saifeldeen, 

director of HMC’s Hamad 

International Training Centre said, 

“Even 20-year-olds are getting 

heart attacks. We often come across 

cases in which a newly married 

person or a person who just became 

a father dies of heart attack.” 

“Also, many non-smoking patients 

with normal weight and without 

any symptoms of heart disease 

are admitted to the Emergency 

Department for sudden chest 

pains, heart attacks or angina. 

Besides, despite having no family 

history of the disease, the youngsters 

do suffer from heart attacks”, 

Saifeldeen said. 

According to Saifeldeen, in majority 

of the heart attack cases, patients 

are diagnosed with hypertension, 

diabetes, and high cholesterol. 

He added, “Many people suffer 

from these risk factors without 

them knowing it. And while it is 

true that globally, heart disease is 

most commonly seen in men and 

women over the age of 50, we’re 

now seeing more young people 

here having the disease, which 

causes concern. We personally 

think it’s related to lifestyle.” 

Saifeldeen said that people were 

not taking the risk seriously and 

were indifferent towards the impacts 

of smoking, poor diet, and lack 

of exercise. 

“People must be aware of the 

dangers of the lifestyle. They must 

not only think of themselves but 

also of their families and dependents”, 

he remarked. 

According to figures released as 

part of the Kulluna for Healthy Heart 

campaign, around 10,500 patients 

were seen at the Heart Hospital 

in 2012. Of those, 3,000 needed 

cardiac catherisation. And 50 percent 

of those (about 1,500) required 

interventions such as stenting. 

To combat the rising cases of 

undiagnosed heart disease, which 

is one of the leading causes of 

death in men and women around 

the world, Saifeldeen reiterated the 

importance of having routine 

health checks performed at least 

once a year. 

He also said that the first Kulluna 

for Healthy Heart campaign 

which will be launched by the 

HMC in partnership with 

ConocoPhillips Qatar towards the 

end of May will feature a one-stop 

Polyclinic in Doha. The 

Polyclinic will be set-up at the 

City Center Doha for 10-14 days 

and will provide free health 

checks to the public. 

Physicians, nurses and technicians 

from HMC will advise visitors 

on their health issues and 

provide tests for blood pressure, 

heart rate, ECG, sugar/glucose, 

and cholesterol levels. A separate 

booth will be used to check the 

visitors’ carbon monoxide levels 

and will advise them about the 

dangers of smoking and how to 

quit smoking. 

Other booths will check the visitors’ 

Body Mass Index to assess risk 

factors for obesity, while another 

stand will be used to advise the residents 

on proper diet and nutrition. 

Also, a specific stand will be in place 

to emphasise the importance of 

simple exercises for patients who 

suffer from heart disease. 

Heart patients will also be 

referred to HMC facilities or the 

primary healthcare centres.

Wednesday, May 1, 2013 

03


QUICK READ 

Emir receives message from 

Japanese PM 

THE Emir His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin 

Khalifa al Thani has received a written message 

from Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo 

Abe pertaining to bilateral relations and 

means of enhancing them. The message 

was handed over to Assistant Foreign 

Minister for Foreign Affairs HE Ali bin Fahd 

al Hajri during a meeting with Japanese 

Ambassador to Qatar HE Kenjiro Monji on 

Monday. (QNA) 

Heir Apparent meets 

US Central Command chief 

THE Heir Apparent and Deputy Commanderin-Chief 

of the Qatari Armed Forces His 

Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani 

met with Commander of US Central 

Command General Lloyd J Austin III and his 

accompanying delegation at the Emiri Diwan 

office on Tuesday. Talks during the meeting 

dealt with the mutual cooperation, especially 

in the military fields. (QNA) 

Chief of Staff receives commander 

of US Central Command 

CHIEF of Staff of the Armed Forces HE 

Major-Gen Hamad bin Ali al Attiyah met with 

Commander of US Central Command 

General Lloyd J Austin III on Tuesday. During 

the meeting, they discussed joint cooperation, 

especially in the military affairs. The 

meeting was also attended by the US 

Ambassador to Qatar HE Susan L Ziadeh 

and a number of senior army officers. (QNA) 

Nation 

NHRC launches campaign to 

promote workers’ rights 


DOHA 

THE National Human Rights 

Committee (NHRC) has launched 

its annual campaign to raise awareness 

of workers’ rights under the 

slogan ‘Heal Your Rights’. The 

campaign will run until June 30. 

Dr Mohammed bin Saif al 

Kuwari, a member of the National 

Human Rights Committee, said in 

a statement that the campaign’s 

goal was to make workers aware of 

their rights as guaranteed by the 

Qatari labour law. 

He said the country’s law does 

not leave any stone unturned in its 

articles and regulations in terms of 

health, housing, transportation, 

vacations and other rights that 

should be enjoyed by all workers, 

whether they work in government 

or private institutions. 

Dr Kuwari said the campaign 

particularly targets employers as 

the executors of workers’ rights. 

He said, “We want our campaign 

to reach all authorities concerned 

with the movement of expatriate 

workers to Qatar so that all parties 

National Human Rights Committee’s workers’ rights campaign board, in Doha. 

involved understand their rights as 

well as their duties because most of 

the cases received by the committee 

are caused by unfamiliarity 

with or lack of knowledge about 

Qatar’s labour law”. 

From this standpoint, he 

explained that the campaign 

directly targets the workers, 

employers as well as recruitment 

agencies to address most of the 

problems that may arise among 

them from time to time. 

He added that the commission 

has recently prepared and issued a 

guide about workers’ rights in the 

temporary housings on construction 

sites, pointing out that a group 

of authorities concerned participated 

in the preparation of the 

guide. According to him, the contributors 

included the representatives 

of the Ministry of Labour, the 

Supreme Council of Health and 

the Ministry of Interior’s General 

Directorate of Civil Defence as well 

as the Qatar Chamber of 

Commerce and Industry. 

“The guide enshrines the continued 

commitment to protecting 

workers’ rights and helping 

improve the standards of workers’ 

housing in line with international 

standards,” Dr Kuwari said. 

He also emphasised the responsibility 

of employers to provide 

workers’ accommodation that 

adhere to international labour 

standards when the nature of the 

project calls for sheltering workers 

on construction sites, taking into 

account the relevant recommendations 

of the International Labour 

Organisation (ILO). 

Dr Kuwari said the guide has 

been prepared in both Arabic and 

English and is due to be launched 

at a press conference in the next 

couple of days at the headquarters 

of the Committee before distribution 

to companies to assist them in 

the provision of technical specifications 

and standards for the accommodation 

of the workers. 

He said that the step comes in 

line with the annual campaign 

organised by the committee and 

the International Workers’ Day. 

Child literature 

award winners 

honoured 

QNA 

DOHA 

MINISTER of Culture, Arts 

and Heritage HE Dr Hamad 

Abdel Aziz al Kuwari honoured 

winners of the State Award for 

Child Literature on Tuesday. 

Kuwari said the award aims to 

encourage Arab writers to produce 

more both in terms of 

quality and quantity. 

The award for children’s 

books drawings was shared by 

Omayma Isa, Kuwait and 

Sahar al Sadq, Egypt, while the 

poetry award went to Obeid 

Abbas, Egypt. An award for 

theatrical writing went to 

Haimi al Mufti, Syria whereas 

another for electronic games 

was bagged by Muhannad Abu 

Nada, Palestine. 

Qatar produces 200kw 

solar power, says Sada 

QNA 

CAIRO 

MINISTER of Energy and 

Industry HE Dr Mohamed 

bin Saleh al Sada has said 

that Qatar produced 200 

kilowatt of electricity from 

solar energy. 

Speaking at the end of the 

10th Arab electricity ministers 

meeting in Cairo on 

Tuesday Sada said a factory 

producing materials used in 

manufacturing solar panels is 

almost complete. 

He said that Qatar has made 

big strides towards utilising 

new and renewable energy 

sources to be harnessed in the 

development process. 

Sada said Qatar supported 

Arab electricity networking 

and expediting its completion. 

Dr Mohamed bin Saleh al Sada 

He said the Cairo meeting 

focused on energy rationalising, 

increasing the use of natural 

gas in power production 

and utilisation of renewable 

energy sources. Kahramaa 

President Essa Hilal al Kuwari 

represented Qatar in the 29th 

session of the Executive 

Bureau. 

Attiyah moots pension schemes for 

expatriates to make Qatar ‘attractive’ 

SATYENDRA PATHAK 

DOHA 

CHAIRMAN of the 

Administrative Control and 

Transparency Authority HE 

Abdullah bin Hamad al 

Attiyah recently floated an 

idea to create pension plans 

for foreign workers in Qatar 

to “make the country more 

attractive and for better 

business”. 

Speaking to Qatar 

Tribune at a Woqod event, 

in Doha recently, Attiyah 

said, “There is a need to set 

up a scheme similar to provident 

fund. This will benefit 

thousands of expatriate 

workers in Qatar. It will promote 

the culture of savings 

among the expats and 

ensure financial stability 

when they are retired.” 

Attiyah believes this will 

allow employers to retain 

and attract talent and promote 

financial awareness 

among employees. 

“The authorities concerned 

of various nationalities 

should hold talks with 

their Qatari counterparts to 

create such schemes for the 

expatriates,” Attiyah said. 

Taking example of India, 

Attiyah said, “There is a 

large number of Indian 

expats in Qatar. But there 

are no pension schemes for 

them. The Indian embassy 

should take initiative to hold 

talks with Qatari representatives 

to create pension funds 

for Indians in Qatar.” 

“This is true of other 

nationalities as well. Qatar is 

mostly inhabited by expatriates. 

Qatari nationals have 

pension schemes. On similar 

lines, expats should also 

have pension plans so that 

they can retire peacefully,” 


“Pension schemes will 

enable employees to plan 

more effectively for their 

HE Abdullah bin Hamad 

al Attiyah 

future, allowing them a complete 

picture of where their 

finances are heading,” 


“Incorporating pension 

plans into the benefits packages 

employees receive in 

Qatar will have a big impact 

on the efforts to improve 

employee retention in a very 

competitive market. Private 

companies should take steps 

towards providing their 

employees with private pension 

plans,” Attiyah said. 

“Employee retention now 

dominates the agenda of 

almost every HR professional 

in Qatar where employment 

markets are expected 

to expand and companies 

prepare for steady growth. 

Compensation and benefits 

remain as the key influencers 

of employee turnover 

and attrition. Companies 

should recognise the importance 

of ensuring they stay 

competitive with their 

salaries and benefits packages,” 


Expats account for nearly 

85 percent of Qatar’s population. 

However, there is no 

pension scheme in Qatar 

similar to Singapore’s 

Central Provident Fund and 

Hong Kong’s Mandatory 

Provident Fund. 

Advisory 

Council meets 

on health 

insurance law 

QNA 

DOHA 

THE Advisory Council’s 

Public Utilities and Services 

Committee met at the White 

Palace in Doha on Tuesday 

under its Rapporteur Saqr 

Fahad Lmraikhi. 

The committee members 

continued studying the draft 

law on social health insurance 

system. 

The committee meeting 

was attended by the Public 

Health Minister HE Dr 

Abdullah bin Khalid al 

Qahtani, who is also secretary-general 

of the Supreme 

Council of Health (SCH) 

and Dr Faleh Mohamed 

Hussein, assistant secretary-general 

for policy 

affairs. 

Qahtani explained the 

SCH’s viewpoint concerning 

the aforesaid draft law and 

replied to all relevant 

inquiries of the committee 

members. The committee 

decided to refer its relevant 

report to the Advisory 

Council later.

Nation Wednesday, May 1, 2013 05 

QC’s $2mn aid for Myanmar Rohingyas 

DENISE YAMMINE 

DOHA 

QATAR Charity (QC) and 

United Nations High 

Commissioner for Refugees 

(UNHCR) signed a cooperation 

agreement to provide aid 

to Rohingya, Muslims, in 

Myanmar’s Rakhine state on 

Tuesday. 

Under this agreement, QC 

will donate $2 million (QR 

7,300,000) for the benefit of 

10,000 displaced people. The 

Qatari grant is only a part of 

UNHCR relief aid valued at 

$17 million for the implementation 

of shelter projects in 

Rakhine. 

In June 2012, Rakhine 

Buddhists in conjunction with 

the police, paramilitary forces 

and the military, began systematic 

ethnic cleansing of 

Muslims from central Arakan 

and Sittwe, Human Rights 

Watch stated in earlier 

reports. 

The Rohingya, an ethnic 

minority who have lived in the 

region since the 8th century, 

were forced to leave their 

homes after they were burnt 

down. Violence erupted once 

again in October with the 

immediate cause of the riots 

remaining unclear. 

The agreement signed by 

UNHCR Regional Representative 

to the GGC Imran Rida 

and Qatar Charity CEO Yusuf 

bin Ahmed al Kuwari will provide 

temporary shelters worth 

$1 million to the displaced in 

Rakhine as well as building 

kitchens in refugee camps at a 

cost of $500 thousand. 

Engaging the displaced 

Muslims in re-building their 

Qatar Charity CEO Yusuf bin Ahmed al Kuwari and UNHCR Regional Representative to the GGC Imran Rida exhange agreement copies, 

in Doha, on Tuesday. (HANSON K JOSEPH) 

own homes for a monthly 

salary, will also be part of the 

funding. 

“We are happy to sign an 

agreement with the UNHCR. 

The humanitarian situation in 

Rakhine state is very well 

known. That’s why Qatar 

Charity has sent a team last 

year to study the situation and 

determine the requirements. 

Now, the partnership with 

UNHCR responds to those 

needs,” Kuwari said, during a 

press conference at Qatar 

Charity offices. 

“Our aid aims to build 1,360 

housing units, to accommodate 

10,000 beneficiaries, in 

order to pass over the ongoing 

tragedy in the Rakhine state,” 

he added. 

Besides the UNHCR’s project 

of building 1,360 housing 

units, there will also be two 

multi-purpose buildings, 11 

clinics, 115 kitchens and 18 

stores. The agreement, which 

aims at providing services to 

Rohingya Muslims, has 

already come into effect and 

needs two to three months to 

be implemented, Rida noted. 

“It pleases the UNHCR to 

cooperate with Qatar Charity 

in responding to the humanitarian 

needs of the displaced in 

Rakhine state. This reflects the 

humanitarian commitment of 

Qatar Charity, which reinforces 

global solidarity,” Rida 

said. “There are huge needs for 

115,000 people displaced by 

the sectarian violence in 

Rakhine in June and October 

2012. Qatar Charity’s contribution 

provides aid to 10,000 

of the most vulnerable and displaced 

people,” he added. 

Talking to Qatar Tribune, 

Kuwari said that Qatar 

Charity members will undertake 

future visits to follow up 

on the project’s implementation. 

“We have selected an 

employee for Myanmar. The 

person will coordinate with 

the concerned authorities,” 

Kuwari added. 

Qatar Charity had signed an 

agreement with UNHCR in 

June 2012, where the charity 

provided QR 1,100,000 to aid 

Rohingya Muslims. The aid 

was provided after a field visit 

by a Qatar Charity team to 

Arkan province in North West 

Myanmar, to assess the 

humanitarian situation of the 

displaced people. 

Commenting on that visit, 

CEO of the local administration 

at QC Mohammed al 

Ghamdi said that Qatar 

Charity was the first Gulf 

charity organisation to reach 

there. “We hope that other 

contributors and donators 

from the world will also help 

in this process, especially 

since only $1,000 is donated 

per shelter where a family of 

five to six persons will be put 

up,” Ghamdi added. 

Qatar heads towards 

knowledge economy, 

MDGs forum told 

IHSAN YOUSSEF 

DOHA 

THE Millennium 

Development Goals (MDGs) 

forum, jointly held by Qatar 

Statistics Authority (QSA) in 

cooperation with the 

Diplomatic Institute at the 

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 

concluded on Tuesday. 

The forum discussed 

issues related to harmony 

and integration between the 

various initiatives and projects 

in Qatar and its close 

association with the Qatar 

National Vision 2030 and 

the National Development 

Strategy 2011-2016 – which 

are consistent with the eight 

Millennium Goals. 

The second day of the session 

was held under the title 

“Millennium Development 

Goals and Qatar in the 

Future”. The participants 

spoke about their projects 

and goals relevant to the 

eight MDGs and visions for 

Qatar post-2015. 

Addressing the gathering, 

Yousef al Dussari, a representative 

of the General 

Secretariat 

for 

Developmental Planning, 

said the panels and chapters 

which were part of the strategy 

were closely linked to 

the MDGs. Each chapter 

includes eight MDGs. 

Dussari’s presentation 

highlighted the ‘population 

policy’ launched by the 

Permanent Population 

Committee in 2009. This 

includes several plans 

linked to the millennium 

goals. He noted that the policy 

seeks to strike a balance 

between the population 

growth and the requirements 

of the sustainable 

development. This will 

ensure that Qatari people 

lead a prosperous life and 

effectively take part in elevating 

the community, he 

added. 

Talking about the future 

challenges, he noted that it 

was characterised by multiculturalism, 

overlapping 

and transformation as it 

include demographics and 

family structure along with 

economic diversity and 

inclusiveness for all sectors. 

For his part, Dr Hassan al 

Mohannadi, Director of the 

Diplomatic Institute highlighted 

the MDGs aims and 

achievements in Qatar. 

Dr Hamad Abdulrahman 

al Ibrahim, Director of 

Planning and Strategic 

Initiatives 

and 

Development and Research 

at Qatar Foundation (QF), 

presented QF’s efforts in the 

field of scientific research. 

Ibrahim noted that 

Qatar’s future depends on 

its success in the field of 

“knowledge economy”. 

“Qatar is heading towards a 

knowledge-based economy 

and seeks to lead the region 

in the field of scientific 

research,” he added. 

DARKNESS IN THE AFTERNOON 

PTI, GCC-CICCD sign pact 


DOHA 

An overcast sky in the afternoon at Al Waab area, in Doha reduced visibility, on Tuesday. The weather in the city has remained 

cloudy for the last few days. Qatar Meteorology Department has forecast likelihood of a thunderstorm accompanied by strong winds 

and rain on Wednesday. 

THE Police Training Centre 

(PTI) has signed a pact with 

the GCC Criminal 

Information Centre to 

Combat Drugs (GCC-CICCD) 

to collaborate in studies and 

research. 

The letter of intent was 

signed by PTI Director Brig Dr 

Mohammed Abdullah al 

Mahanna al Marri and CICCD 

Director Brig Saqr Rashid al 

Mraikhi. 

Brig Marri said that the 

Studies and Research Section 

of the Institute would put all its 

resources at the disposal of the 

centre. He added that the letter 

of intent was the result of the 

twosides keenness to strengthen 

cooperation between them 

in order to serve their common 

interests. 

Brig Mraikhi pointed out 

that drug scourge was not only 

injurious to the physical and 

mental health of the individual 

but also harmful for society as 

it destroys ambitions and the 

minds of the younger generations, 

leading to social disintegration 

and destabilisation of 

the national economy, security 

PTI Director Brig Mohammed Abdullah al Mahanna al Marri and 

CICCD Director Brig Saqr Rashid al Mraikhi sign an agreement, in 

Doha, recently. 

and order. 

“In view of the bad impact of 

drugs seen in the world, in general, 

and the GCC region, in 

particular, GCC member states 

were urged to make more 

efforts and take all appropriate 

measures to promote cooperation 

to address the issue,” Brig 

Mraikhi said. 

He further said that the centre 

would like to create a broad 

base to accommodate all 

organisations and relevant 

authorities in the field. 

He said the agreement was 

part of efforts to link the member 

states through continued 

cooperation with the 

Ministries of Interior of the 

respective the countries. 

Both sides agreed on the 

preparation, implementation 

and exchange of research and 

joint studies to combat trafficking 

in narcotic drugs and 

psychotropic substances, 

exchange of visits by experts 

and researchers in the field, 

participation in scientific 

activities, conferences, seminars, 

workshops and courses 

organised by either of the 

parties. 

835 students from 61 nationalities apply to CMUQ 


DOHA 

CARNEGIE Mellon 

University in Qatar (CMUQ) 

has received applications 

from a record 835 prospective 

students representing 61 

nationalities for the 2013- 

2014 incoming class. 

The institution recently 

hosted its annual Marhaba 

Tartans reception to provide 

an opportunity for the future 

students to interact with current 

students, alumni and faculty 

to get a sense of what is 

obtainable in the school’s 

community. 

Nora al Subai, CMUQ alumna 

and SAP senior business 

analyst at Qatar Petroleum, 

was among the alumni who 

attended the reception. 

A CMUQ official with students and parents, in Doha, recently. 

She shared her experiences 

in CMUQ in an address to the 

prospective students and 

their parents. 

“The Carnegie Mellon experience 

is a privilege that is 

paved with hard work, growth 

and success. “I am grateful to 

my mother for making me 

apply to CMUQ. It has honestly 

been one of the best 

decisions in my life. It was 

clear to my parents and to me 

that I came to CMUQ a child 

and walked out a confident 

and independent woman,” 

Subai said. 

Speaking at the event, 

CMUQ Dean Ilker Baybars 

congratulated the students 

enrolled and lauded their 

family members for their support. 

“Carnegie Mellon 

University has a proud tradition 

of excellence. We have 18 

Nobel laureates and more 

Turing Award winners in 

computer science than any 

other institution. You owe 

this opportunity to your parents. 

I hope you will join us 

and prosper,” Baybars said. 

The newly admitted students 

also learned about the 

five top-ranked programmes 

offered at the institution – 

biological sciences, business 

administration, computational 

biology, computer science 

and information systems. 

In addition, a panel of current 

students offered their 

personal insights into the 

courses as they answered 

questions from prospective 

students. The panel included 

Saleh al Raisi (business 

administration) Fahim Dalvi 

(computer science) Fatema 

Akbar (information systems) 

and Aya Abd Elaal (biological 

sciences). 

According to the school’s 

officials, the increase in the 

number of students is a 

reflection of the university’s 

focused student recruiting 

efforts in cooperation with 

Qatar Foundation’s promotion 

of the universities. 

Carnegie Mellon’s presence in 

the Middle East is also 

increasing among the international 

community through 

its outreach programmes, 

distinguished lecture series 

and growing alumni base. 

The university’s selective 

undergraduate programmes 

are known throughout the 

world for their academic 

excellence.


Nation 

Mowasalat launches first CNG taxi 

SANTHOSH CHANDRAN 

DOHA 

THE public transport company 

Mowasalat launched the 

first taxi running on compressed 

natural gas (CNG) in 

Doha on Tuesday. The new 

technology using CNG to fuel 

taxis was developed as part of 

Volkswagen’s new initiative 

called ‘Think Blue’ with the 

supportive technology provided 

by Q Auto – the dealer 

of Volkswagen and Audi. 

Speaking at a press conference 

Mowasalat’s Director of 

Taxi and Limousine 

Operation Ali Abdulla Bahzad 

said that the direct injection 

turbo engine for natural gas 

driving system will reduce carbon 

dioxide emission by up to 

23 percent compared to similar 

petrol models. 

Besides, CNG cars will be 

painted in green and decorated 

with images of green leaves 

and white flowers, which will 

give the cars and the city roads 

where they would be plying an 

eco-friendly image, Bahzad 

added. 

“The taxi introduced as an 

GOING GREEN Mowasalat’s Director of Taxi and Limousine Operation Ali Abdulla Bahzad (third right) with Volkswagen and Q Auto officials at the launching ceremony of 

Mowasalat’s CNG taxi, in Doha, on Tuesday. (SANTHOSH CHANDRAN) 

experiment will widely operate 

in Doha in future, according to 

the infrastructure development 

programme of the country. 

Mowasalat will gradually 

convert conventional vehicles 

into environment friendly 

vehicles by switching from 

conventional fuels to alternative 

sources of energy” Bahzad 

said. 

In a press note provided to 

media Mowasalat Chairman 

Jassem Saif al Sulaiti stated 

that the launch of CNG taxi was 

in line with the national strategy 

to promote natural gas in 

the transport sector. 

Al Sulaiti said, “Mowasalat is 

proud to introduce the very 

first CNG car in the country. 

Besides, we also plan to operate 

70 CNG buses this year in 

addition to the existing buses 

running under pilot project in 

conjunction with Qatar 

Petroleum”, al Sulaiti said. 

The engine features both a 

supercharger and turbocharger 

operating sequentially to 

provide relatively higher power 

outputs from a small capacity 

engine. The greater fuel economy 

and low emission vehicle 

has a top speed of 210 kmph 

and capable to accelerate from 

0 km to 100 kmph in 9.7 seconds. 

In normal conditions, 

the vehicle consumes 5.2 kg of 

natural gas every 100 km. 

Other dignitaries who 

attended the press conference 

were Business Development 

Manager of Volkswagen Brett 

Subritzky, Antonio Leal, 

General and Marketing 

Manager and General 

Manager of Q Auto Kevin 

Hughes. 

QDA hones volunteers’ skills 


DOHA 

A resource person addresses participants at a volunteers training programme organised by the Qatar 

Diabetes Association, in Doha, on Tuesday. 

QATAR Diabetes 

Association on Tuesday 

concluded a training programme 

to develop its volunteers’ 

skills in a number 

of aspects as well as to allow 

them to participate in its 

various activities during the 

year. 

The participants also had 

the chance to exchange 

experiences among themselves, 

as most of them are 

active in other voluntary 

institutions. 

QDA Executive Director 

Dr Abdullah al Hamaq said, 

“The implementation of 

such programmes comes as 

part of efforts to achieve 

QDA vision and mission, 

which seeks to educate all 

segments of society as well 

as activate the communication 

mechanism between 

the QDA and its volunteers. 

The programme also aims 

to allow the volunteers to 

gain new skill in order to 

make them more efficient in 

their activities.” 

He added, “I thank our 

distinguished resource persons 

Dr HossamSadek, 

human development coach 

at Qatar University, and Dr 

Mohammed Hassan 

Bahlool al Nuaimi, from 

SAC Training and 

Consulting, who provided 

great lectures that engaged 

the participants.” 

The three-day programme 

included many lectures 

and various workshops 

about the ‘Art of 

Communication’, ‘The 

Attraction Law’ as well as 

medical and workshops 

facilitated by the QDA 

health educators and dietitians 

team. 

On the last day, the volunteers 

participated in a 

medical workshop and a 

workshop on Diabetes, both 

in English, as well as a 

workshop entitled ‘Time 

Organising’ led by Dr 

Mohammed al Nuaimi. 

QFC authority fetes graduate 


DOHA 

THE QATAR Financial Centre 

Regulatory Authority recently 

honoured the latest Qatari 

Graduate who completed the 

one year bespoke Graduate 

Fellowship Programme (GFP). 

The GFP is a tailor-made oneyear 

programme for highlymotivated 

Qatari university 

graduates seeking a career in 

financial services. 

The programme offers firsthand 

experience of working in 

a world-class regulatory organisation, 

under the guidance of 

personal mentors having 

expertise in financial regulation. 

The most recent graduate of 

the programme is Mona 

Abdulla Ali. During the 12 

month programme, Mona was 

rotated through various functions 

within the Regulatory 

Authority’s Finance 

Department to gain work experience 

and a comprehensive 

understanding of the department. 

Michael Ryan, CEO of the 

QFC Regulatory Authority 

commented: “The QFC 

Regulatory Authority is committed 

to training and developing 

talented Qatari graduates 

to help them achieve their 

potential as they commence a 

career in the financial services 

industry. I am proud to celebrate 

Mona’s success in the 

GFP programme and I would 

like to thank her for her dedication 

and contribution to the 

Regulatory Authority.” 

The objective of the 

Regulatory Authority through 

the GFP is to recruit and train 

Qatari nationals to shape the 

future of the country, in line 

with the human development 

pillar of the Qatar National 

Vision 2030. 

Since its launch in 2006, 22 

graduates have participated in 

the GFP, many of whom have 

been absorbed into the 

Authority. 

Al Sulaiteen farm expands facilities to boost output 

Dignitaries on a tour of facilities after the inauguration of eight additional refrigiration rooms at Al Sulaiteen Agricultural Complex, in Doha, on Tuesday. 


DOHA 

CHAIRMAN of Qatar’s 

Chamber of Commerce and 

Industry HE Sheikh Khalifa 

bin Jassim al Thani on 

Tuesday inaugurated eight 

additional refrigeration rooms 

at Al Sulaiteen Agricultural 

Complex as part of the farm’s 

expansion programme. 

The new facilities are located 

over an area of 11,000 metresquare, 

extending the refrigerated 

area to a total area of 

26,000 metre-square. 

The opening ceremony was 

attended by Director of 

General Administration for 

Agricultural Research and 

Development at the Ministry 

of Environment HE Dr 

Sheikh Falah bin Nasser al 

Thani, Vice-Chairman of 

Qatar Chamber Mohammed 

bin Ahmed bin Towar al 

Kuwari, Director of the 

Agricultural Affairs at the 

Ministry of Environment 

Youssef Khalid al Khulaifi and 

a representative of Qatar 

Development Bank Ahmed 

Yousif al Sheeb. 

After the inauguration, the 

dignitaries had a tour of various 

areas in the farm, including 

greenhouses and germination 

room. 

Speaking at the event, 

Chairman of Al Sulaiteen 

complex Abdullah Salem al 

Sulaiteen said the farm has 

been witnessing remarkable 

developments since its inception 

more than 16 years ago. 

He noted that the farm 

management has adopted 

modern technology and 

techniques to keep pace 

with the tremendous development 

of the country. He 

said the complex uses modern 

techniques like 

Hydroponics (soilless agriculture), 

contributing to its 

production, saving more 

than 60 percent of water 

and making the farm pesticides-free. 

Some farm produce at Al Sulaiteen Agricultural Complex. 

He urged both private and 

public sectors to collaborate 

for better agricultural production 

in the country in 

order to achieve food security. 

“The wise leadership of 

the Emir His Highness 

Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al 

Thani has always provided 

many facilities and support 

to the private sector. Qatar 

Chamber also plays a vital 

role in promoting this sector. 

We need more agricultural 

projects to meet the growing 

needs of the country in the 

coming years. Therefore, private 

and public sectors must 

enhance their partnership in 

the agricultural field.” 

For his part, Director of the 

Agricultural Sector in Al 

Sulaiteen Complex Engineer 

Mahmoud Refaat said that the 

complex included many 

greenhouses that rely on 

Hydroponics technique greenhouses 

and 30 single ones, in 

addition to the opening of the 

eight new ones to ensure highquality 

vegetable production. 

He added that the complex 

produced up to 450 tons of 

vegetables per year and six 

million flower seedlings 

according to last year statistics 

with a plan to reach a production 

of 600 tons of vegetables 

after launching the new 

rooms.

Nation | Pakistan Prism Wednesday, May 1, 2013 07 

PEC showcases 

facilities at 

Educational 

Fair 2013 

L N MALLICK 

DOHA 

THE Pakistan Education Centre showcased its 

facilities in the Educational Fair 2013 organised 

by Supreme Education Council at Doha 

International Exhibition Centre from April 24 

to 27. PEC, which is affiliated to Islamabad-based 

Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary 

Education, also put-up a stall to promote the school. 

PEC is the largest Pakistani institution in Qatar and 

provides excellent learning facilities for boys and girls 

up to intermediate level. The stall was decorated with 

the artworks from the KG wing and Arts and Culture 

Department. 

Tasneem Javed and Mubarika Noman were 

responsible to take care of the stall and provide necessary 

information about the school to the visitors. 

PEC’s senior boys from grade 8 9 and 10 worked as 

volunteers for SEC under the supervision of Naeem 

Fakhar. Besides doing other jobs, they took care of 

the reception area and registered all the guests and 

participants of the exhibition. 

Visitors registered their remarks in comment book. 

Chocolates and handmade book marks and crape 

paper flowers were kept as takeaway gifts. The stall 

was loaded with newsletters, brochures, magazines 

and prospectuses. 

PEC Principal Nargis Raza Otho thanked SEC officials, 

specially Noor Dirham, Haya Mulk al Kuwari 

and Qudsiya for giving an opportunity to PEC to 

showcase its educational facilities. 

PEC’s senior boys in the reception area. 

A POET OF SUBSTANCE AND 

A MAN OF MANY PARTS 

L N MALLICK 

DOHA 

Abdul Razzaq Saddaf 

TALK of a self-taught poet, or look 

at Abdul Razzaq Saddaf, it’s all 

the same. With three collections 

of his poems already published, 

this man, who arrived in Doha in 

1976 in quest of a brighter future, is a 

living proof that formal education is 

not needed to pursue one’s indulge 

for literature. 

In course of his long stay in the 

city, Saddaf, who comes from a humble 

background in Pakistan’s Sahiwal 

district, has not only come to own a 

number of electronic equipment 

repairing workshops, but also carved 

out a niche for himself as a poet of 

substance. 

While one feat of the two would be 

enough for most to give a good 

account of their success in life, 

Saddaf has by dint of his work and 

wit been able to achieve both. 

Raja Ghulam Murtaza Abbasi, a 

blind linguist based in Rawalpindi, 

not only inspired him to study literature 

but also arranged his Qatari visa. 

“I am really indebted to Raja Ghulam 

Murtaza Abbasi for his love and 

affection,” said Saddaf, whose sons 

Fazal Saeed and Saboor are currently 

running the business. 

Having learnt the rudiments of 

Urdu poetry from late Wali Aasi 

Lakhnawi (a renowned poet of the 

subcontinent) Saddaf joined different 

literary organisations in Qatar 

including Bazm-e-Urdu Qatar, 

Pakistan Writer’s Forum and 

Pakistan Welfare Council, to purse 

his passion. He is currently president 

of Pasban-e-Adab. He is also a member 

of the Rotary Club, Sahiwal. 

Sadaf represented Qatar in an 

Indo-Pakistani Urdu Mushaira in 

Dubai, which was attended by noted 

poets from India, Pakistan, Saudi 

Arabia, Kuwait, and the UAE. During 

his recent visit to Pakistan, Sadaf, 

also attended poetic sessions as a 

special guest at Gujrat, Faisalabad, 

Mushairas have played 

a major role in 

propagating Urdu 

literature. Mushairas have 

an invisible element of 

entertainment, and that is 

why these are becoming 

increasingly popular even 

among those who cannot 

read and write Urdu. 

– Abdul Razzaq Saddaf 

Rawalpindi, Multan, and Sahiwal 

and received special coverage in 

Urdu magazines and newspapers. 

He also attended a mushaira held 

recently in Ajman, UAE, in connection 

with the celebrations of the 

Pakistan Day. “I am obliged to 

Chaudhary Noor-ul-Hassan Tanvir 

for inviting me to the function to represent 

Doha poets in the high-profile 

literary event,” he said. The function 

was organised by the UAE chapter of 

Pakistan Muslim League (N). 

Saddaf’s first book Azab-e- 

Aashnai, a collection of ghazals, a 

popular form of Urdu poetry, was 

published in 2001. Its revised edition 

was published in 2005. Saddaf dedicated 

his first book to his mentor, 

Raja Ghulam Murtaza Abbasi. It carries 

valuable comments by literary 

icons like Zia Jalandahri and 

Masoud Anwar. 

His second book titled Taloo-e- 

Noor has 144 pages and contains 

hamd, naat and salam. 

Saddaf dedicated his third collection 

of poems Deeda-e-Namnaak to 

Chaudhary Noorul Hassan Tanvir, a 

UAE-based Pakistani social activist. 

Noted literary personalities of 

Indian subcontinent have written 

reviews of Saddaf’s books and highly 

appreciated his poetry. They have 

called him a poet of substance and 

noted that Saddaf’s poetry is a welcome 

addition in the Urdu literary 

world. Pakistan’s well-known writer 

Ataul Haq Qasmi has written a column 

in a leading Urdu newspaper on 

the life and achievements of Saddaf. 

Asked if mushairas played any role 

in promotion of Urdu language, 

Saddaf replied in the affirmative and 

said: “Mushairas have played a major 

role in propagating Urdu literature. 

Mushairas have an invisible element 

of entertainment, and that is why 

these are becoming increasingly popular 

even among those who cannot 

read and write Urdu. Besides this, 

mushairas give a boost to poets writing 

in Urdu,” said Saddaf. 

BFPIS kindergarten student graduation event held 

L N MALLICK 

DOHA 

Agraceful graduation ceremony 

for kindergarten students was 

held at Bright Future 

Pakistani International School 

recently. 

Young toddlers were awarded 

graduation certificates on successful 

completion of their academic 

session 2012-2013. 

The ceremony was attended by 

the parents and the members of 

school’s board of trustees. The 

salient feature of award-giving 

ceremony was a spectacular and 

colourful display of the talents of 

toddlers through different 

songs and choir performances. 

BFPIS Principal Imran 

Young toddlers were 

awarded graduation 

certificates on successful 

completion 

of their academic 

session 2012-2013. 

Waheed presented annual 

school report and congratulated 

the parents on the performance 

of their children. He 

pledged to improve academic 

standards at the school by 

introducing latest pedagogical 

techniques and modern technology. 

The parents also expressed their 

satisfaction and gratitude to the 

teachers for the excellent grooming 

and personality building of 

their kids. 

Students singing a song in a chorus at a graduation ceremony, in Doha, recently. 

A student receiving graduation certificate as BFPIS Principal Imran Waheed (left) looks on. 

For events and press releases contact L N Mallick at email qatar.editor@gmail.com or call (974) 44422077.


Nation 

QU students teach primary school 

children environmental lessons 

HBKU hosts 

Earth Day 

events 


DOHA 


DOHA 

AN EDUCATIONAL campaign 

to promote a culture of 

environmental awareness by 

Qatar University College of 

Engineering (CENG) students 

recently ended with a 

number of activities aimed at 

several primary schools in 

Doha. 

The week-long campaign 

organised by student members 

of the Social Club of 

CENG’s Department of 

Architecture and Urban 

Planning, featured lectures 

on recycling and saving 

water, distribution of information 

material on conservation, 

discussions about global 

warming, carbon footprint 

and the greenhouse effect, 

and other related activities. 

The campaign targeted 4 to 

10 year-old students at 

Newton International School, 

Al Maha Academy for Girls, 

Al Khansa Independent 

Primary School for Girls, and 

Al Hekma International 

School. 

The programme was supported 

by the department 

under the supervision of 

Assistant Professor Dr Rania 

Khalil and teaching assistant 

Reham Qawasmeh, as well as 

the Health, Safety, Security 

and Environment and 

QU assistant professor Dr Rania Khalil (second right) at Newton International School, in Doha, recently. 

Logistics Department of 

Lusail City and Khazan Qatar. 

Lusail Environmental and 

Sustainability Manager Alf 

Ziegler and Khazan Qatar 

Sales Supervisor Ahmed 

Fawzy took part in the school 

rounds. 

A lecture on “What does it 

Mean to Go Green” was presented 

by Dr Khalil and Club 

members and included what 

sustainability means, as well 

as tips on recycling. This 

was followed by a Q&A session 

on how to save the planet’s 

resources, including 

advice on saving water, energy, 

and materials recycling. A 

set of interactive activities 

with the young students 

resulted in the winners being 

awarded green apples and art 

and craft supplies donated by 

the Club. 

Club members Juwana 

Darwiche and Basma 

Aboukalloub applauded the 

schools’ activities on environmental 

awareness where, 

teachers held discussions on 

recycling and other conservation 

issues with their students 

in preparation for their participation 

in the campaign. 

“It was an excellent and a 

pleasant experience to share 

with today’s primary students 

who will be tomorrow’s university 

students the importance 

of preserving our planet’s 

resources and contributing 

efforts to save our environment”, 

they said. 

At Al Maha School where 

the students were wearing 

green, the club members 

learnt that the school had 

already adopted a material 

recycling project and that the 

first and second graders were 

preparing to take part in the 

Earth Day celebrations. 

Same-age students at Al 

Khansa Primary and Al 

Hekma International School 

were fully aware of the subjects 

and topics being introduced 

and were very interactive 

during the discussions, 

the club members noted. 

In her presentation to students 

at Newton 

International School, Dr 

Khalil oriented them to the 

earth’s position in the solar 

system. She also explained 

the importance of water to 

humans and all living creatures 

and plants where water 

makes up 70 percent of the 

planet and oceans hold 97 

percent of all the Earth’s 

water. Students were also 

introduced to several pollutants 

that impact on the planet 

with a view to encouraging 

their collaboration in applying 

conservation techniques 

at home. Dr Khalil suggested 

ways to help save the planet 

such as turning off lights 

and computers when not in 

use, turning off the tap while 

brushing teeth, and cleaning 

up and collecting the trash. 

Khazan Qatar distributed 

water to the students who 

then learnt how to recycle the 

bottles. 

Lusail City handed out 

booklets and leaflets that carried 

more than 50 tips to help 

students and their families 

understand the environment 

and how to contribute to saving 

the planet’s resources. 

Dr Khalil said: “The campaign 

sent a message to all 

students, parents, and 

teachers about recycling 

unwanted and rarely-used 

materials. This is one of the 

activities that aim to draw 

our students’ attention to 

the value of the materials 

they use and the importance 

of sharing their knowledge 

with others. The campaign 

served to support class 

teachers in delivering the 

message of recycling and 

environmental conservation 

to their young students”. 

Alf Zeigler told the club 

members: “To bring the 

message of how to live more 

sustainably to the youngest is 

the absolute right way and it 

was wonderful to see how 

engaged you are in the topic 

of green living and sustainability. 

Lusail City having that 

same topic at the very heart of 

its vision, we were proud to 

support the campaign with 

educational and information 

material. We are looking forward 

to sharing more initiatives 

of this nature.” 

HAMAD Bin Khalifa 

University (HBKU) hosted 

several events recently to 

mark Earth Day which is celebrated 

annually on April 22, 

It aims to build awareness of 

the world’s responsibility 

towards the environment. 

This year, HBKU invited 

school teachers and university 

professors for a tour of its 

new student housing complex 

in Education City. The participants 

also had the opportunity 

to attend a discussion 

and provide feedback on the 

various educational tools 

available in the buildings 

which are available to members 

of the larger community. 

Built to achieve the 

Leadership in Energy and 

Environmental Design 

(LEED) Platinum certification, 

the new HBKU student 

housing complex will be the 

largest collection of buildings 

to achieve this certification in 

the world. 

The events showcased the 

work HBKU is undertaking to 

create enivronment-friendly, 

comfortable spaces for its students, 

as well as providing 

facilities that serve an educational 

purpose for the community. 

Educational tours of the 

facility will be open to the 

public and will be available 

soon, the university said in a 

statement. 

IIS students clean up Wakrah beach 


DOHA 

STUEDENTS of Ideal Indian 

School (IIS) observed Earth 

Day with a number of activities, 

recently. 

The theme of this year’s 

campaign was ‘Healing the 

Earth Ourselves’. 

Children displayed placards 

reading ‘Save the 

Environment’ and ‘Plant 

More Trees’. Some of them 

were dressed as “plants and 

flowers”, and were given 

worksheets. 

The junior students 

received a briefing on 

hygiene. A fancy dress competition 

was held on the 

occasion. 

Principal Syed Shoukath 

Ali administered oath of 

office to the students to 

mark the launch of Ideal Eco 

Club activities in the new 

academic year. 

Meanwhile, scout students 

of IIS took part in a beach 

clean-up drive at Al Wakrah 

area, recently. 

Around 40 scout volunteers 

participated in the campaign 

where 60 bags of garbage 

were collected from the area. 

Students of Noble International School plant saplings, in Doha, recently. 

Noble students spread 

‘save nature’ message 


DOHA 

A SPECIAL programme was 

organised by students of 

Noble International School to 

mark ‘Earth Day’ recently. 

Students of Grade-V spread 

awareness by sharing information 

on the significance of 

‘Earth Day’ and how the planet 

is being degraded on a daily 

basis by human activities. 

Students of Grade-VI, with 

the help of art and craft 

teacher Lal Kumar, prepared 

a model of the green earth at 

the fun-filled event. 

The students of lower 

grades were also involved in 

different motivational activities, 

such as making greeting 

cards, colouring posters, 

making albums of extinct animals 

and placards, which 

spread the message of 

‘reduce, reuse and recycle’. 

Ideal Indian School students take part in a special Earth Day fancy dress competition, in Doha, recently. 

Laughter, giggles run riot at launch of ‘laughter yoga’ 


DOHA 

THE Art of Abundant Living 

wellbeing centre resonated 

with laugher and giggles during 

the inaugural public 

launch of laughter yoga 

recently. 

The participants were 

amazed as the healthy education 

session unfolded before 

them its hidden wealth of 

wellness. The upbeat mood at 

the centre was rightly 

expressed by one of the participants 

who said, “It’s fabulous. 

I laughed my heart out. I 

feel lighter, happier and there 

is a feeling of complete harmony 

within me. Right now I 

am surrounded by positivity 

and hopefulness.” 

Laughter yoga as a physical 

exercise is a revolutionary 

discovery in health sciences. 

The physical system of the 

body which undergoes laughter 

engages the muscles of 

eyes, cheeks, mouth, breast 

and goes down to the belly 

and shakes the ribs. While 

other physical exercises cause 

fatigue, laughter leads to 

exhilaration. Fits of laughter 

generate fitness. 

The session started with 

basic breathing and yogic 

exercises, gradually the yoga 

teacher introduced the playful 

laughter exercises, eventually 

reaching a crescendo of 

excited belly laughter. There 

were no tricks, no tickling, 

and no jokes. The laughter 

came straight from the heart 

as pure joy. 

Following the successful session, 

the session organiser Art 

of Abundant Living CEO 

Participants at the laughter yoga class, in Doha, recently. 

Nicole van Hattem said with a 

smile, “Laughter is the spontaneous 

expression of happiness, 

healthy body and healthy 

mind. Where laughter echoes, 

depression melts away. 

Because of this we decided to 

be the pioneers of Laughter 

Yoga classes for public and 

corporates in Qatar. I know 

that the effort of bringing 

health through laughter to 

people in Doha will be well 

received and people will 

throng these sessions.” 

Gabi Pezo, laughter yoga 

teacher, added: “I am very 

grateful to be part of the Art of 

Abundant Living team. 

Together we are helping 

spread joy, laughter, and play 

in Qatar. Today’s audience 

was amazing. The laughter 

yoga room soon turned into 

what Madan Kataria will call 

a kindergarten for adults. We 

just couldn’t stop laughing. 

I hope that laughter becomes 

a healthy habit, just as you 

need to eat your veggies and 

drink eight glasses of water. I 

am hoping to see Doha people 

in full attendance at the 

upcoming classes. I am sure 

they are going to love the 

experience of Laughter yoga. 

They will find it an instant 

energy booster, stress buster, 

depression lifter, a weight loss 

supplement with no side 

effects and a complete mental, 

physical and spiritual 

workout.” 

Regular classes will start in 

May and be priced at QR50 

per class or QR450 for 10 sessions. 

The classes will be held at 

Al Ahmadani Centre, Najma 

Street, off C Ring road.

Philippines / East Asia Wednesday, May 1, 2013 09 

Anwar confident 

of winning polls 

in Malaysia 

Election campaign posters featuring Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and his ruling National Front, in a suburb of Kuala Lumpur, on Tuesday. (AP) 

Malaysia braces for closest 

elections, vote on May 5 

AFP 

KUALA LUMPUR 

WHEN Malaysian voters cast 

ballots in Sunday’s general 

election it will be the first time 

in the country’s history that 

they do so without knowing 

the eventual winner. 

The ruling coalition headed 

by the United Malays National 

Organisation (UMNO) is 

among the world’s longestserving 

governments, unbeaten 

since independence in 1957 

thanks to decades of economic 

growth and authoritarian 

rule. 

But the rising Pakatan 

Rakyat (People’s Pact) opposition 

alliance has tapped into 

UMNO fatigue with promises 

to end authoritarianism and 

corruption, and many 

observers say the vote is hard 

to predict. 

“It’s going to be really close. 

I think (the ruling coalition) 

will win but with a reduced 

majority. But there is a real 

chance Pakatan might do it,” 

said Wan Saiful Wan Jan, 

head of the Malaysian think 

tank IDEAS. 

Controlled by the Muslim 

ethnic Malays who make up 

55 percent of Malaysia’s population, 

UMNO’s Barisan 

Nasional (National Front) ruling 

coalition has vastly greater 

resources and a chokehold on 

traditional media. 

Premier Najib Razak can 

tout steady economic growth 

of 5.6 percent in 2012 and a 

torrent of populist handouts 

as he seeks his first mandate 

— he was installed by UMNO 

when it pushed out his predecessor 

over a 2008 polls setback. 

But the multi-racial opposition 

led by charismatic former 

deputy premier Anwar 

Ibrahim is no longer a 

pushover after seizing a third 

of parliament in 2008, 

tripling its seats and shocking 

the country with its best showing 

ever. 

With Anwar vowing a 

“Malaysian Spring”, the threeparty 

opposition can claim the 

momentum and point to success 

governing four states won 

in 2008. 

It pledges a national shakeup 

including reform of policies 

favouring Malays in business 

and education that irk 

the sizeable Chinese and 

Indian minorities and are criticised 

as a drag on national 

competitiveness. 

Anwar also promises to free 

state-controlled traditional 

media and break cosy ties 

between politics and business. 

Sensing the mood, Najib 

has made cautious reforms 

including replacing some 

repressive laws. But despite 

solid personal approval ratings, 

surveys show his government’s 

image has not 

improved. 

“The reality is that UMNO 

has not reformed in the key 

areas needed — corruption, 

arrogance of power, racial 

inclusion and a fundamental 

vision for where to take the 

country,” said Bridget Welsh, 

a Malaysia politics expert at 

Singapore Management 

University. 

The Barisan coalition has 

135 of parliament’s 222 seats 

to Pakatan’s 75, and a reduced 

Barisan majority is widely 

forecast. But dozens of seats 

are considered too close to 

call. 

The stakes are high for both 

sides. 

A Barisan loss threatens a 

Malay elite accustomed to 

political dominance and its 

rich business perks. 

Najib, meanwhile, is under 

pressure to improve on 

2008’s showing and could 

face a career-ending UMNO 

leadership challenge if he 

fails, party insiders say. 

If the opposition falls short 

it must confront life after 

Anwar, who says he would 

step aside as its figurehead in 

that event. 

Anwar was once UMNO’s 

heir-apparent but was ousted 

in 1998 and jailed for six years 

on sex charges after a power 

struggle with his boss, thenpremier 

Mahathir Mohamad. 

The episode altered 

Malaysian politics by giving 

the previously ineffectual 

opposition a formidable campaigner 

with top government 

experience. But Pakatan has 

no one else approaching his 

stature and pan-racial star 

power. 

AP 

KUALA LUMPUR 

MALAYSIAN opposition 

leader Anwar Ibrahim said 

on Tuesday that he believes 

his three-party alliance can 

win this weekend’s national 

polls and topple a coalition 

that has ruled for nearly 56 

years. 

Sunday’s general elections 

will pit Prime Minister 

Najib Razak’s National 

Front coalition against 

Anwar’s People’s Alliance, 

which has pledged to tackle 

what it considers deep-rooted 

problems like corruption 

and racial discrimination. 

Najib has repeatedly 

voiced confidence that his 

coalition will win and 

potentially regain a twothirds 

parliamentary majority 

that it lost in 2008. The 

National Front has governed 

since independence 

from Britain in 1957, but its 

grip on power has weakened 

in recent years amid 

complaints about a lack of 

government transparency 

and accountability. 

Anwar told AP on 

Tuesday that his alliance 

believes it can secure a 

“comfortable majority,” 

partly because of rising support 

among younger voters 

who want to see political 

change. 

“God-willing, we will succeed,” 

Anwar said in an interview 

at an opposition office 

in a Kuala Lumpur suburb. 

“People have enough of this 

semi-authoritarian rule, of 

complete (government) control 

of the media, of strong 

arrogance, of power and 

endemic corruption.” 

Anwar nevertheless reiterated 

the opposition’s concerns 

that the National 

Front would resort to electoral 

fraud to retain power. 

“We have to garner larger 

support and get everyone 

out to vote so this attempt at 

fraud will not alter the 

result,” Anwar said. 

The National Front has 

denied accusations that it 

plans to tamper with votes. 

It has sought to bolster its 

popularity in recent months 

by providing cash handouts 

to low-income households 

and offering other financial 

incentives. 

About 13.3 million 

Malaysians are eligible to 

cast ballots to fill 222 parliamentary 

seats and elect lawmakers 

for 12 state legislatures. 

Anwar, a former deputy 

prime minister who was 

fired in 1998 and jailed on 

sodomy charges that he 

claims were fabricated by 

his political enemies, said 

the opposition would 

ensure a peaceful transition 

of power if it wins the elections. 

“I have said no malice, no 

witch hunt,” he added. “Our 

preoccupation is to govern, 

govern justly.” 

Anwar nevertheless 

reiterated 

the opposition’s 

concerns that the 

National Front 

would resort to 

electoral fraud to 

retain power. 

The opposition’s goals 

include introducing policies 

that help Malaysians 

regardless of race and political 

affiliation, Anwar said. 

The National Front has 

been accused of favouring 

the well-connected elite 

among Malaysia’s ethnic 

Malay Muslim majority and 

discriminating against ethnic 

Chinese, Indians and 

other minorities in policies 

involving education, housing, 

jobs, business contracts 

and freedom of religion. 

“We want a policy that we 

can share and give a sense 

of confidence to all,” Anwar 

said. “More than half a century 

after independence, we 

don’t want poor Malays to 

be marginalized or Chinese 

to feel discriminated and 

Indians ignored.” 

Anwar reiterated that if 

his alliance loses, he will 

withdraw from active politics 

and focus on a teaching 

career, adding that he was 

not indispensable and that 

the opposition has many 

other capable leaders. 

SUMMER AMUSEMENT 

Teenagers living in a squatters area look on as youths jump from the railing of a bridge into the murky waters off Manila Bay to cool 

themselves from summer heat, in Tondo, Manila, on Tuesday. (REUTERS) 

US green card limbo: For 

one Filipino, a long wait 

Indonesian 

president 

eyes fuel 

price hike 

in May 

AFP 

JAKARTA 

INDONESIAN President 

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono 

said on Tuesday he hopes to 

lower fuel subsidies that are a 

risk to Southeast Asia’s top 

economy as soon as May, in a 

new bid to tackle the flashpoint 

issue. 

Yudhoyono gave the clearest 

sign yet the government wants 

to hike the price of petrol, 

which is one of the cheapest in 

Asia, but cautioned it would 

only happen once parliament 

approved compensation for 

those likely to be affected. 

He stopped short of unveiling 

the first price hike in five years, 

as some had expected, as his 

Democratic Party treads carefully 

after corruption scandals 

that have dented its popularity 

ahead of elections due in 2014. 

“Fuel subsidies are not 

healthy and present a risk for 

the economy,” he said of the 

payouts that gobble up a huge 

chunk of the state budget and 

have been blamed for widening 

the current account deficit. 

AFP 

WASHINGTON 

ARNULFO Babiera applied for 

a US green card a decade ago, 

in the hopes of reuniting with 

his sister, a naturalized citizen. 

But at the current rate, his wait 

could extend until 2027. 

Foreigners seeking to immigrate 

to the United States 

under a family reunification 

program may however see 

changes on the horizon, with a 

new reform seeking to resolve 

the four million cases in limbo, 

like that of Babiera. 

“That is my dream, going to 

the United States of America — 

to earn more, to support my 

family here. My income would 

be greater than it is here,” 

Babiera told AFP by telephone 

from his home in Davao, in the 

southern Philippines. 

Babiera, a 58-year-old 

employee of a recruitment 

agency, earned the right to 

come to the United States when 

his sister Elizabeth filed a green 

card application on his behalf in 

2003. 

But US law places a cap on 

the number of green cards each 

year granted to a specific country 

to seven percent of the total. 

There are so many requests 

from China, Mexico, India and 

the Philippines that the wait 

seems endless. 

Applications are handled in 

the order in which they are 

received. For Filipino siblings 

of US citizens, immigration 

authorities are now processing 

applications filed in October 

1989. Babiera could be waiting 

another 14 years. 

Babiera, a 58-yearold 

employee of a 

recruitment 

agency, earned the 

right to come to the 

United States when 

his sister Elizabeth 

filed a green card 

application on his 

behalf in 2003. 

For Mexican brothers and 

sisters, authorities are looking 

at cases dating back to 1996. 

For the unmarried children of 

US citizens, the backlog dates 

to April 2006, no matter what 

the nationality. “I’ll be retired 

before he comes here, I think!” 

said 56-year-old Elizabeth 

Babiera, a nurse who lives in 

the Washington suburbs. 

“I have nobody here. I see 

the other families, they have all 

their brothers and sisters here, 

and I envy them.” 

The Babiera family green 

card drama is the unfortunate 

consequence of a law that no 

longer corresponds to the reality 

of the flow of immigrants 

into the United States. 

Madeleine Sumption, an 

expert at the Migration Policy 

Institute, notes that between 

4.3 million and 4.7 million people 

have earned the right to live 

in the United States on a permanent 

basis, but have been 

unable to move here. 

But a draft immigration 

reform bill unveiled earlier this 

month by a bipartisan group of 

US senators includes a clause 

that would speed up the processing 

of the family green card 

applications. 

From late 2014, and by 2021, 

all pending green card petitions 

should be handled. 

“The backlog is just not an 

efficient way to run an immigration 

system, and yet because 

the law has not changed for so 

long, it’s become the defining 

characteristic of how the policy 

functions here,” Sumption said. 

For backers of immigration 

reform, it is inconceivable to 

even think about creating a path 

to citizenship for the 11 million 

undocumented migrants in the 

United States before dealing 

with those who followed rules 

and waited at home.


Opinion 

ESTABLISHED SEPTEMBER 3, 2006 

TO hear Senator John McCain of 

Arizona and Senator Lindsey Graham 

of South Carolina tell it, the way forward 

on Syria is clear. The United States should 

be doing more – directly arming the 

rebels seeking to overthrow President 

Bashar al Assad, establishing a no-fly 

zone. This is not a new line for these two 

legislators and others in Congress who 

share their views. But it has gathered force 

since the Obama administration disclosed 

last week that it believes Assad’s forces 

have used sarin gas against Syrians. 

For all their exhortations, what the senators 

and like-minded critics have not 

offered is a coherent argument for how a 

more muscular approach might be accomplished 

without dragging the US into 

another extended and costly war and how 

it might yield the kind of influence and 

good will for this country that the interventions 

in Iraq and Afghanistan have not. 

Graham and McCain to the contrary, the 

administration has not adopted a handsoff 

approach to Syria. Early on, it collaborated 

with the Europeans on a political 

solution to the war, which failed. It is the 

largest donor of humanitarian aid to 

Syrians ($400 million), and it just doubled 

its nonlethal aid to the opposition to $250 

million. With mixed success, Washington 

has also worked to organise fractious rebel 

groups into a more cohesive and effective 

whole, while delegitimising Assad. 

Unlike McCain and Graham, who have 

also faulted President Barack Obama for 

withdrawing troops from Iraq and tried to 

goad him into a more militaristic position 

on Iran, the president has been trying to 

disentangle the US from overseas conflicts 

and, as a result, has been very cautious 

about military involvement in Syria. 

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 

Assad & Sarin Gas 

Obama should only act if he has compelling evidence 

that the sarin gas was used by Syrian forces 

That may have to change now that 

Assad’s forces are accused of using chemical 

weapons. Obama backed himself into a 

corner when he warned the Syrian leader 

that using chemical weapons would constitute 

a ‘red line’ and be a ‘game changer’, 

suggesting strongly and perhaps unwisely 

that crossing that line would trigger some 

kind of American action. 

The failure to act now could be misread by 

Assad as well as leaders in Iran and North 

Korea, whose nuclear programmes are on 

America’s radar. But Obama should only act 

if he has compelling documentation that the 

sarin gas was used in an attack by Syrian 

forces and was not the result of an accident 

or fertiliser. The Financial Times reported 

the evidence is based on two separate samples 

taken from victims of the attacks. 

With the war now in its third year and 

the death toll at more than 70,000, the situation 

has deteriorated. Assad remains in 

power, sectarian divisions have intensified 

and fleeing refugees are destabilising 

neighbouring countries. Most worrisome 

of all, jihadis linked to Al Qaeda have 

become the dominant fighting force and, 

as Ben Hubbard reported in The Times, 

there are few rebel groups that both share 

the political vision of the US and have the 

military might to push it forward. 

There have never been easy options for 

the US in Syria; they have not improved 

with time. And Russia and Iran, both 

enablers of Assad, deserve particular condemnation. 

Without their support, Assad 

would not have lasted this long. Still, the 

country is important to regional stability. 

Obama must soon provide a clearer picture 

of how he plans to use American 

influence in dealing with the jihadi threat 

and the endgame in Syria. 

Bloomberg rethinks recycling 

ON recycling in New York City, Mayor 

Michael Bloomberg has come a long 

way. After taking office 11 years ago, 

Bloomberg eliminated a major chunk of 

the city’s recycling programme to save 

money. Many New Yorkers were outraged. 

He was, they said, littering the 

earth as well as missing a chance to convert 

waste to energy. 

He has since become a passionate convert. 

With about 20,000 tonnes of 

garbage hauled from the city every day, 

Bloomberg has been working hard 

recently to restore the city’s recycling programme 

to its pre-2002 levels. 

On Wednesday, he announced that 

any rigid plastics including toys, yogurt 

cups, food containers and such can finally 

go in clear recycling bags. It is the 

(NYT) 

(NYT) 

city’s biggest expansion in recycling in 

more than two decades. 

A day later, he announced that 100 

restaurants in the city, ranging from the 

sophisticated Le Bernardin to the boisterous 

Chipotle eateries, have promised to 

start reducing their food waste by 50 percent. 

Some of it will be donated to food 

kitchens or charities like City Harvest. But 

a lot will go to commercial composting 

centers outside the city. Green markets 

across the city accept bags of leftovers. 

The city’s recycling rate has yet to reach 

the pre-Bloomberg level of 20 percent. 

But the mayor wants the city to reuse 70 

percent of its waste by 2030. That’s a big 

challenge for his successors, but at least 

these latest efforts finally move in the 

right direction. 

Italy’s Political Class 

The new govt, a left-right alliance, is a historical compromise with 

the aim of salvaging a political class buffeted by public contempt 

ALBERTO TOSCANO | 

GUARDIAN NEWS SERVICE 

ON Sunday (April 28) a new 

government was formed in 

Italy. Led by Enrico Letta, a 

moderate member of the 

Partito Democratico (PD), it is 

the first ‘grand coalition’ the country 

has seen since the signing of the postwar 

constitution in 1947. Commentators 

have already pointed to other 

firsts: the youngest cabinet in Italian 

history (average age 53); that with the 

highest proportion of female ministers 

(a third); and the first black minister 

(Cecile Kyenge, the minister for 

integration). Yet despite the veneer of 

novelty, Lampedusa’s dictum from 

The Leopard still sums up Italy’s 

predicament: “If we want things to 

stay as they are, things will have to 

change.” To grasp why, a little history 

is in order. 

The new government was effectively 

imposed by Italy’s octogenarian president 

Giorgio Napolitano, who had 

already enabled the appointment as 

prime minister of Mario Monti. Far 

from a turnaround, this is in many 

ways the logical conclusion of 

Napolitano’s career: having joined the 

Italian Communist party after the collapse 

of fascism, he has always been a 

strong proponent of a ‘historical compromise’: 

an alliance between communists 

and Christian Democrats to 

overcome economic crisis and political 

turmoil. 

This was an ill-conceived idea in its 

own time, and today a left-right compromise 

looks like nothing but a ruse 

to salvage a political class buffeted by 

Beppe Grillo’s digital populism and 

widespread public contempt. 

The orchestrators of the coup in the 

PD that gave Napolitano the power to 

form a government clearly wished to 

see off the challenge of Grillo’s Five 

Star Movement, and chose to consolidate 

the implicit left-right alliance 

that already supported Monti’s austerity 

government. 

Berlusconi was recast as the lesser 

evil, even if for the bulk of the PD’s 

supporters - some of whom have 

taken to burning their membership 

cards - this is a pact with the devil. 

Berlusconi has effectively forced his 

opponents to acquiesce to his conditions 

- including appointing his second-in-command 

as minister of the 

interior. 

This government is the last stand of 

a political class that is unable to generate 

a legitimate vision of Italy’s path 

out of the crisis. Like the Monti government 

it could be termed a dictatorship 

of the bourgeoisie: a government 

with no popular mandate, whose principal 

task is kick-starting a recovery 

defined not in terms of social needs 

but ‘growth’: profit-making and 

exploitation. 

Though pious noises are made 

about youth unemployment and insecurity, 

it will no doubt continue with 

Like the Monti government 

it could be termed a dictatorship 

of the bourgeoisie: 

a government with no 

popular mandate, whose 

principal task is kick-starting 

a recovery defined not 

in terms of social needs 

but ‘growth’: profit-making 

and exploitation 

the recipe that has been rolled out 

over the past 20 years: privatisations 

and reforms that make capital more 

predatory and labour more insecure. 

The spread in government bond yields 

between Italy and Germany, which 

seems to have become the sole cipher 

of our political future, appears already 

to be decreasing, though, so all must 

be well. 

Fabrizio Saccomanni, the new minister 

of the economy - and an architect 

of the Maastricht treaty and former 

employee of the IMF - tells us, with 

unshaken economic idealism, that it’s 

all a matter of restoring ‘confidence’, 

and that his priority will be helping 

businesses and the weakest members 

of society. How he plans to square that 

circle is not clear. 

Will this government last? It’s difficult 

to say. The PD can barely face its 

own members and risks the fate of the 

Greek Pasok. Berlusconi has nothing 

to lose and will wield tremendous 

power. Grillo and the Five Stars may 

capitalise, now that the party system 

has proven itself as cravenly cynical as 

they had always claimed. 

Outside the walls of power, there is 

an angry and anxious country. 

Atomised rage has already manifested 

itself with a man shooting two carabinieri 

outside the prime minister’s 

residence during the swearing in. The 

only hope now lies in those movements 

that will be able to socialise that 

rage to fight for the public good and 

common needs, and not to reproduce 

a system that is so desperately and 

disastrously trying to reproduce itself. 

(Alberto Toscano teaches 

sociology at Goldsmiths, 

University of London.) 

Exiled, But Not Gone 

The inspiring story of the blind lawyer activist explains how he has caught the imagination of Western people 

MOST dissidents risk the fate 

of falling into obscurity and 

irrelevance after leaving 

China to live in exile. It happened 

to Wei Jingsheng, 

one of the most prominent Chinese dissidents, 

who moved to the United 

States in 1997. His calls for democracy 

once inspired so many in and outside of 

China. Not anymore. 

When my friend Chen Guangcheng, 

the blind lawyer activist, escaped house 

arrest a year ago and was finally 

allowed to leave for law studies in the 

United States, I worried that the curse 

of exile would befall him, too. 

But on my recent trip to Chen 

Guangcheng’s hometown in rural 

Shandong, I saw that his spirit lives on – 

not only in the memories of people he has 

helped, many of whom have now become 

activists themselves, but also through 

Chen’s regular Internet contact with local 

activists. It’s a different world from when 

Wei Jingsheng went into exile. 

Last month, I visited Chen Guangcheng’s 

brother Chen Guangfu, whom I 

had met in the summer of 2000 when 

he accompanied his brother to Beijing. 

At the time, Guangcheng was a medical 

student fighting for the closure of a polluting 

paper mill near his home and 

applying for a British grant to build a 

deep-well in his village for drinking 

water. Fascinated by the blind man, I 

became the first journalist to write 

about his single-minded quest for justice. 

I called him a “barefoot lawyer,” a 

term that caught on. 

At the train station in Linyi, the nearest 

city to Chen’s village, I was met by 

Chen Guangfu’s friend Lu Qiumei, 34, a 

talkative woman who is a ‘chaiqianhu’ 

(people whose houses have been 

demolished by the government). After 

Chen Guangcheng’s dramatic escape 

and exile to the United States, she 

became friends with his brother. She 

eventually established contact with 

Chen Guangcheng through Web-based 

video calls and sought his advice. 

“I’ll never forget what Guangcheng 

LIJIA ZHANG | 

IHT-NYT SYNDICATE 

More and more people in 

the area have turned to 

Guangcheng for help even 

though he lives on the 

other side of the world 

told me: When your rights are taken 

away from you, you must fight and get 

them back,” Lu said. The driver chimed 

in: “We Linyi people are more aware of 

our rights because of Guangcheng.” 

More and more people in the area 

have turned to Guangcheng for help 

even though he lives on the other side of 

the world. 

At Chen’s village, which I had visited 

several times some dozen years ago, I 

spent the day talking to Chen Guangfu 

and his family. He is being watched, he 

said, but he was determined to carry on 

his brother’s work. 

During my recent video call with Chen 

Guangcheng himself, he told me that he 

keeps in touch with people from all over 

the country. Chen was planning to videochat 

with a group of activists in Sichuan 

and give them his pitch about the importance 

of protecting their rights. 

“How do people find you?” I asked. 

He replied with a laugh. “In this 

Internet age, if you are willing to be 

available, people can find you easily.” 

Part of Chen Guangcheng’s ongoing 

appeal in China may have to do with his 

focus on practical matters that have an 

impact on the lives of ordinary people – 

like forced removals from homes – rather 

than on abstract principles that appeal 

more to a few high-brow intellectuals. 

On the international stage, Chen is also 

far from fading away. He has been honoured 

with many awards, including the 

annual award of the New York-based 

organisation Human Rights First. In 

January, he received the Lantos Human 

Rights Prize, presented by the Hollywood 

star Richard Gere. And the next day, he 

gave a keynote speech called “In Search 

of China’s Soul” at the Washington 

National Cathedral to a standing ovation. 

His inspiring story – the rise of a poor 

blind boy to an internationally renowned 

lawyer and rights activist; his daring 

escape; his passion for his cause and his 

charisma – explains how he has caught 

the imagination of Western people. 

Last summer, when I went to visit 

him at the New York University campus 

where he studies, I got slightly lost. A 

chess player in Washington Square 

Park, seeing my confusion, shouted to 

me: “Are you looking for the blind 

lawyer? He’s at the law school.” He 

asked me to pass on his regards. 

“I stayed relevant when I was in jail 

and later under house arrest,” Chen 

said to me. “I’ll find ways to stay relevant 

in America, this free country.” 

(Lijia Zhang is a Beijing-based 

writer and the author of 

‘Socialism Is Great! A Worker’s 

Memoir of the New China’.) 

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

Analysis Wednesday, May 1, 2013 11 

The Story Of Our Time 

Americans are still dealing with the aftermath of a once-in-three-generations 

financial crisis. This is no time for austerity. 

Have 

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Sea disputes 

Poverty of Economics 

PAUL KRUGMAN 

NYT NEWS SERVICE 

In the economy as 

a whole, income 

and spending are 

interdependent: 

My spending is 

your income, and 

your spending is 

my income. If 

both of us slash 

spending at the 

same time, both 

of our incomes 

will fall too. 

THOSE of us who have spent 

years arguing against premature 

fiscal austerity have just 

had a good two weeks. 

Academic studies that supposedly 

justified austerity have lost credibility; 

hard-liners in the European 

Commission and elsewhere have softened 

their rhetoric. The tone of the 

conversation has definitely changed. 

My sense, however, is that many 

people still don’t understand what this 

is all about. So this seems like a good 

time to offer a sort of refresher on the 

nature of our economic woes, and why 

this remains a very bad time for spending 

cuts. 

Let’s start with what may be the most 

crucial thing to understand: The economy 

is not like an individual family. 

Families earn what they can, and 

spend as much as they think prudent; 

spending and earning opportunities 

are two different things. In the economy 

as a whole, however, income and 

spending are interdependent: My 

spending is your income, and your 

spending is my income. If both of us 

slash spending at the same time, both 

of our incomes will fall too. 

And that’s what happened after the 

financial crisis of 2008. Many people 

suddenly cut spending, either because 

they chose to or because their creditors 

forced them to; meanwhile, not many 

people were able or willing to spend 

more. The result was a plunge in 

incomes that also caused a plunge in 

employment, creating the depression 

that persists to this day. 

Why did spending plunge? Mainly 

because of a burst housing bubble and 

an overhang of private-sector debt – 

but if you ask me, people talk too much 

about what went wrong during the 

boom years and not enough about 

what we should be doing now. For no 

matter how lurid the excesses of the 

past, there’s no good reason that we 

should pay for them with year after 

year of mass unemployment. 

So what could we do to reduce unemployment? 

The answer is, this is a time 

for above-normal government spending, 

to sustain the economy until the private 

sector is willing to spend again. The 

crucial point is that under current conditions, 

the government is not, repeat 

not, in competition with the private sector. 

Government spending doesn’t 

divert resources away from private uses; 

it puts unemployed resources to work. 

Government borrowing doesn’t crowd 

out private investment; it mobilises 

funds that would otherwise go unused. 

Now, just to be clear, this is not a case 

for more government spending and 

larger budget deficits under all circumstances 

– and the claim that people like 

me always want bigger deficits is just 

false. For the economy isn’t always like 

this – in fact, situations like the one 

we’re in are fairly rare. By all means let’s 

try to reduce deficits and bring down 

government indebtedness once normal 

conditions return and the economy is no 

longer depressed. But right now we’re 

still dealing with the aftermath of a 

once-in-three-generations financial crisis. 

This is no time for austerity. 

OK, I’ve just given you a story, but 

why should you believe it? There are, 

after all, people who insist that the real 

problem is on the economy’s supply 

side: that workers lack the skills they 

need, or that unemployment insurance 

has destroyed the incentive to work, or 

that the looming menace of universal 

health care is preventing hiring, or 

whatever. How do we know that 

they’re wrong? 

Well, I could go on at length on this 

topic, but just look at the predictions 

the two sides in this debate have made. 

People like me predicted right from the 

start that large budget deficits would 

have little effect on interest rates, that 

large-scale “money printing” by the 

Fed (not a good description of actual 

Fed policy, but never mind) wouldn’t 

be inflationary, that austerity policies 

would lead to terrible economic downturns. 

The other side jeered, insisting 

that interest rates would skyrocket and 

that austerity would actually lead to 

economic expansion. Ask bond 

traders, or the suffering populations of 

Spain, Portugal and so on, how it actually 

turned out. 

Is the story really that simple, and 

would it really be that easy to end the 

scourge of unemployment? Yes – but 

powerful people don’t want to believe 

it. Some of them have a visceral sense 

that suffering is good, that we must pay 

a price for past sins (even if the sinners 

then and the sufferers now are very different 

groups of people). Some of them 

see the crisis as an opportunity to dismantle 

the social safety net. And just 

about everyone in the policy elite takes 

cues from a wealthy minority that isn’t 

actually feeling much pain. 

What has happened now, however, 

is that the drive for austerity has lost its 

intellectual fig leaf, and stands exposed 

as the expression of prejudice, opportunism 

and class interest it always was. 

And maybe, just maybe, that sudden 

exposure will give us a chance to start 

doing something about the depression 

we’re in. 

THIS is with reference to the news 

report ‘UN arbitration in sea row to be 

last resort, says Manila’, published in 

Qatar Tribune on April 29. 

Amid heightened tensions in the sea 

disputes, a state-owned Chinese news 

agency has recently called the 

Philippines a ‘trouble maker in the 

region.’ I beg to disagree! The 

Philippines has been the calmest 

amongst the nations claiming ownership 

of the islands. I believe the longembattled 

Spratly islands row could 

have been settled if China would only 

cooperate and come to an agreement. 

Now the Aquino administration had 

sought UN arbitration saying it would 

be the ‘last resort’ since China had 

refused to withdraw its ship from 

Scarborough Shoal which is within 

Philippine territory. True, this move 

could be the best option and the last 

resort for a peaceful resolution after all 

political and diplomatic approaches 

have been exhausted, but yielded no 

positive results. With this international 

arbitration, it will clarify who owns 

what and will define maritime entitlement 

of each country... and disputing 

nations must respect whatever the decision 

will be. After all, all we want is to 

ease tensions and avoid what could be a 

costly armed conflict in the region. 

FORTUNATO C 

DOHA 

“Fail harder - but only do so if you 

are willing to learn when you do.” 

ROBERT KIYOSAKI 

Health is Wealth 

Cosmetic Procedures For 

Arms On The Rise 

HEALTHDAY NEWS | NYT SYNDICATE 

MORE women are getting arm lifts, 

according to newly released statistics, 

with the number growing from 

about 300 procedures in 2000 to about 

15,000 in 2012. This type of cosmetic 

procedure can include removal of fat by 

liposuction or surgery called brachioplasty, 

in which loose skin is removed 

from the back of the arms. 

There were nearly 15,500 arm-lift 

procedures done in the United States 

last year, an increase of 3 percent from 

2011. Women accounted for 98 percent 

of the arm lifts in 2012. 

Arm lifts are most popular among 

people over age 40. Last year, 43 percent 

of patients were aged 40 to 54, 

while 33 percent were over age 55. The 

average cost is nearly $4,000 and the 

total spent on arm lifts in 2012 was $61 

million, according to the ASPS. 

“Women are paying more attention 

to their arms in general and are becoming 

more aware of options to treat this 

area,” American Society of Plastic 

Surgeons (ASPS) president Dr Gregory 

Evans said in a society news release. 

“For some women, the arms have 

always been a troublesome area and, 

along with proper diet and exercise, 

liposuction can help refine them. 

Others may opt for a brachioplasty 

when there is a fair amount of loose 

skin present with minimal elasticity.” 

People need to carefully consider the 

pros and cons of having an arm lift, 

particularly a brachioplasty, said Dr 

David Reath, chairman of the ASPS 

public education committee. 

“It’s a trade-off. We get rid of the 

skin, but we leave a scar,” Reath said in 

the news release. “As long as there’s 

enough improvement to be made in the 

shape of the arm to justify the scar, 

then it’s a great procedure.” 

Another expert offered an explanation 

for the trend. 

“I’m not surprised by these numbers, 

given that I work in a bariatric practice 

(where we perform over 450 weightloss 

surgery cases per year),” said 

Sharon Zarabi, a nutritionist and fitness 

trainer at Lenox Hill Hospital in New 

York City. “Many patients lose over 100 

pounds, resulting in excess skin around 

their arms, waist and thighs. 

Bloggers’ Borough 

Overcome The Complexity 

Within You 

RON ASHKENAS | 

HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW 

ALTHOUGH it doesn’t show up explicitly 

in any personality test, some people 

seem to be more prone to creating 

complexity than others. Instead of cutting 

to the heart of an issue, they tangle 

it further; rather than narrowing down 

projects. These behaviours are characteristics 

of people that I call ‘complexifiers’. 

Complexifiers seem to leave complexity 

in their wake, making it more difficult 

for subordinates, colleagues, customers, 

and even family members to get 

things done. If this seems all too familiar 

to you, and you want to learn how to 

think more like a ‘simplifier’, here are 

four questions that you can ask yourself 

and/or discuss with your team: 

How much data is enough? 

Complexifiers always want more information, 

with the hope that the next bit or 

byte will answer all questions and hold 

the key to success. Simplifiers understand 

that there will never be complete 

data and that it’s necessary to create 

hypotheses and action plans based on an 

intuitive sense of how much is enough. 

Have we agreed on the key priorities? 

Complexifiers like to hedge their bets 

and not commit to a definitive course of 

action, particularly since some new 

information might surface that will 

change the plan. Simplifiers on the other 

hand narrow the focus to a few key things 

and give their people permission to stop 

doing things that don’t make the cut. 

Do we have an efficient process for 

rapid review and course correction? 

Complexifiers like to spend their time 

in long meetings, sorting through reports 

and analyses, and trying to manage lots of 

disparate and unfocused work streams. 

Simplifiers have focused reviews of the 

key priorities and hold people accountable 

for their commitments and results. 

Can we explain our plan to others? 

Complexifiers have a hard time communicating 

their plans to colleagues, relying 

on intricate charts and diagrams and 

convoluted slides rather than simple, 

straightforward messages. One of the key 

characteristics of a simplifier is the ability 

to tell stories that convey the situation, 

the goals, and the plans — in a way that 

helps people understand. 

GET HEARD! 

QT NOW MAKES 

YOUR LIFE 

SIMPLE 

ADVERTISING & PR 

Phone: 44666810, 44568918 

Fax: 44654975 

Email : advertising@qatar-tribune.com 

SUBSCRIPTION & 

CIRCULATION 

Phone: 44567689, Fax: 44660751 

Mobile : 55878073 

Email : circulation@qatar-tribune.com 

SUGGESTIONS & 

COMPLAINTS 

Phone : 44667908, Fax : 44660936 

Email : pa2director@qimqatar.com


Gulf / Middle East 

Yemen pipeline 

attacked, oil 

flow halts 

Syrian security officers at the scene where a powerful explosion occurred at the central district of Marjeh, in Damascus, on Tuesday. (AP) 

Blast kills 15 in Damascus 

AP 

DAMASCUS 

A BOMB blast in central 

Damascus killed at least 15 people 

and wounded 103 others on 

Tuesday, state media said, as 

US President Barack Obama 

voiced concern over the Syrian 

regime’s alleged use of chemical 

weapons in talks with his 

Russian counterpart. 

The bomb attack in the 

Marjeh district of Damascus 

came a day after Syrian Prime 

Minister Wael al Haqi survived 

a car bombing in an 

upscale neighbourhood of the 

capital. 

“The number of casualties in 

the cowardly terrorist blast targeting 

the commercial and historic 

centre of Damascus in the 

Marjeh district rose to 13 martyrs 

and more than 103 

injured,” state television reported, 

citing the interior ministry. 

The Syrian Observatory for 

Human Rights reported “14 

AFP 

GAZA CITY 

AN ISRAELI airstrike on Gaza 

City killed one person on 

Tuesday, Palestinian officials 

said, with Israel saying it targeted 

a militant involved in a 

rocket attack on Eilat. 

The military confirmed the 

strike saying it had targeted a 

“global jihad terrorist” who 

was linked to a rocket attack on 

Israel’s Red Sea resort of Eilat 

on April 17. “A man in his 20s 

was martyred and another 

injured in an Israeli air strike... 

in Shati refugee camp in western 

Gaza City,” health ministry 

spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra 

told AFP. It was the first deadly 

Israeli air strike since an 

Egyptian-brokered truce went 

into force on November 21. 

Witnesses named the victim 

dead, including nine civilians 

and five members of the security 

forces, in a car bomb attack 

near the old interior ministry 

headquarters.” 

Official channels broadcast 

footage showing smoke billowing 

over the site of the explosion, 

which blew out windows 

of cars, knocking off the 

bumpers of some and starting 

fires. The windows of the interior 

ministry building were 

blown out and a commercial 

complex, Burj Dismshiq, was 

devastated. Uniformed and 

armed plainclothes security 

forces could be seen running 

near the scene, as residents 

fled. “Internationally-financed 

and supported terrorism committed 

a terrible massacre 

against civilians,” state television 

said. 

Several mutilated bodies 

could be seen lying in the street, 

and at least one body wrapped 

in a white sheet was laid out 

alongside an ambulance. Fire 

as a 23-year-old member of a 

Salafi Islamist group, Haitham 

al-Mishal. The military confirmed 

Mishal was the target, 

saying he belonged to the Salafi 

group that claimed responsibility 

for firing two rockets at 

Eilat from the Egyptian Sinai. 

“A global jihad-affiliated terrorist 

has been targeted by an 

IAF (Israeli Air Force) aircraft 

in the northern Gaza Strip in 

response to rocket fire towards 

Israel,” the military said. 

“On April 17, Mishal was 

involved in the Mujahedeen 

Shura Council (MSC) organisation’s 

firing rockets at Eilat,” 

it added, without giving further 

details. The Gaza-based MSC 

claimed the April attack saying 

it was as a “response to the continued 

suffering of the downtrodden 

prisoners in Israeli 

jails”. Several days later, Israeli 

engines were at the scene with 

firefighters battling several 

blazes. “What mistake have we 

committed? I was going to 

work. Look at the bodies. Is this 

the freedom they want?” a 

bystander said to state media. 

On Monday, a car bomb targeted 

Haqi’s convoy as it passed 

through the capital’s Mazzeh 

neighbourhood, killing one of 

his bodyguards and five other 

people, according to the 

Observatory. Halqi, appointed 

PM in August 2012 after his 

predecessor Riad Hijab defected 

to the opposition, is the latest 

in a growing list of regime 

officials to be targeted for assassination. 

In July 2012, a suicide bomb 

attack killed Syria’s defence 

minister and deputy defence 

minister and seriously wounded 

the interior minister. 

Damascus has seen a wave of 

major bombings in recent 

weeks, including on April 9, 

when a massive blast in the 

PM Benjamin Netanyahu 

blamed Gaza militants for the 

attack and vowed Israel would 

“exact a price” from them. 

“Those who fired them are 

centre of the city killed at least 

15 people. As bloodshed continued 

unabated in Syria on 

Tuesday, Obama raised the 

issue of chemical weapons in a 

telephone call with his Russian 

counterpart Vladimir Putin. 

“President Obama and 

President Putin reviewed the 

situation in Syria, with 

President Obama underscoring 

concern over Syrian chemical 

weapons,” a White House 

statement said. Obama is under 

pressure because he warned 

last year that the use or movement 

of chemical weapons by 

President Bashar al Assad’s 

embattled forces would cross a 

US “red line.” 

Key political players in 

Washington are now saying his 

credibility is on the line, though 

the White House is seeking 

more detailed intelligence into 

exactly how and when such 

weapons may have been used. 

Washington has been deeply 

frustrated that Russia has 

apparently a terror squad that 

departed Gaza and used the 

territory of Sinai to attack an 

Israeli city. “We will not accept 

this and we will exact a price — 

blocked tougher action in the 

UN Security Council, including 

sanctions, against its long-time 

ally Syria. 

The Observatory said air 

raids on Tuesday killed 15 people 

on the outskirts of Mennegh 

airport, near the northern city 

of Aleppo, that rebels have been 

trying to capture for months. 

Warplanes also bombed the 

Jubar area of Damascus, and 

areas of Homs, Raqa and 

Latakia provinces. 

On Monday, at least 159 people 

were killed in violence 

across Syria, according to the 

Observatory. 

Underlining the dangers of 

covering the conflict in Syria, 

Italian daily La Stampa said 

one of its journalists, Domenico 

Quirico, has not been heard 

from since April 9. 

Media watchdog Reporters 

Without Borders says seven 

journalists are now missing in 

Syria, while 23 others have 

been killed. 

Israeli airstrike kills one in Gaza 

Palestinian relatives of Haitham Mishal, 29, grieve during his 

funeral in the Shati Refugee Camp, in Gaza City, on Tuesday. (AP) 

this has been our consistent 

policy the past four years and it 

will serve us in this case as 

well,” he said. 

He reiterated his warnings 

on Sunday, saying Israel would 

respond in “a very offensive 

way against any rockets or missiles” 

fired at the Jewish state. 

There has also been an uptick 

in rocket fire from Gaza on 

southern Israel over the last 

two months, despite three 

months of complete quiet following 

Egyptian-brokered 

truce deal which ended eight 

days of bloodshed in 

November. Army statistics 

show that since the start of this 

year, 16 rockets fired from 

Gaza have struck southern 

Israel, 90 percent of which 

were fired in March. Several of 

those attacks have been 

claimed by the MSC. 

AFP 

SANAA 

SABOTEURS on Tuesday blew 

up the main pipeline linking 

oilfields in Yemen’s eastern 

Marib province to an export 

terminal on the Red Sea, 

almost halting the flow of oil, 

officials said. 

The armed group attacked 

the pipeline in the Wadi Abida 

area of Marib, the local government 

officials told AFP. 

“Oil flow came to a near 

complete halt,” said one official, 

speaking on condition of 

anonymity. The same group 

late on Monday sabotaged 

Marib’s power lines, leaving 

the province in “total darkness” 

and bring the gas plant services 

to a halt, another official said. 

The pipeline that runs 320 

kilometres from Safer oilfields 

in the east to the export terminal 

in the western Hudaydah 

province frequently comes 

under attack in the Wadi Abida 

area. The last such act of sabotage 

occurred on April 8. 

In December, the army 

launched an offensive against 

tribesmen suspected of being 

behind the attacks, sparking 

clashes that left 17 people dead. 

Electricity Minister Saleh 

Sumai has repeatedly accused 

tribesmen loyal to former president 

Ali Abdullah Saleh of carrying 

out the attacks. 

“Those who support sabotage 

in Marib and attack power 

stations are remnants of the 

former regime supported by 

Saleh,” Sumai told local media 

in early April. Saleh was forced 

out of office following an Arab 

Spring-style uprising that 

began in 2011 against his rule. 

In November 2011, he signed 

a Gulf and UN-brokered power 

transfer deal by which he quit 

in return for immunity from 

prosecution for himself and his 

family. Although weakened, 

the ex-president, whose supporters 

still wield much influence 

in Yemen, seems reluctant 

to retire from political life. 

His opponents suspect him 

of trying to hamper the political 

transition. 

Yemen, an impoverished 

nation, produces about 

300,000 barrels of oil a day, 

mostly for export. According to 

official figures, lost production 

due to pipeline attacks in the 

east cost the government more 

than $1 billion in 2012, while 

oil exports fell by 4.5 percent. 

In July, Petroleum and 

Minerals Minister Hisham 

Abdullah said Yemen had lost 

more than $4 billion in revenue 

since February 2011 as a 

result of such attacks. 

A Yemeni soldier searches vehicles after saboteurs blew up the 

main pipeline, in Sanaa, on Tuesday. (AP) 

Egypt to hike Suez Canal 

toll tax to raise funds 

REUTERS 

CAIRO 

EGYPT will raise the fees paid 

by ships passing through the 

Suez Canal on Wednesday in 

an effort to boost revenue as 

the economy struggles to head 

off a currency crisis. 

The strategic waterway is 

one of the main sources of foreign 

currency, bringing around 

$5 billion a year at a time when 

the country faces political 

unrest and economic turmoil. 

The new toll fees will start 

after midnight on Tuesday, an 

official from the Suez Canal 

Authority said. They will rise 5 

percent on oil tankers and 

petrochemical products and 2 

percent for container ships and 

car carriers. Last year, tolls 

were raised by 3 percent for all 

ships passing through the 

canal. The 192-km canal is the 

quickest sea route between 

Asia and Europe, saving an 

estimated 15 days of journey 

time on average. 

Meanwhile, in a separate 

development, at least 161 students 

have been hit by food 

poisoning at Cairo’s prestigious 

Al Azhar University, in the second 

such incident this month, 

prompting President 

Mohammed Morsi to call on 

Tuesday for an investigation. 

The health ministry said the 

students had been hospitalised 

after eating tuna salad. Morsi 

called for a probe by the ministries 

of health the presidency 

said. Earlier in April, 561 Al 

Azhar students were hospitalised 

after eating contaminated 

food at the dormitory. 

8 Syrians held for Jordan camp riots 

Syrian refugees at Al Zaatri refugee camp, in the Jordanian city of Mafraq, on Tuesday. (REUTERS) 

AFP 

AMMAN 

EIGHT Syrian refugees were 

charged on Tuesday with 

“unlawful assembly” after 

rioting last week at the 

Zaatari refugee camp injured 

10 policemen, a judicial official 

said. 

A court in the northeastern 

city of Mafraq “charged the 

eight Syrian men today with 

unlawful assembly for taking 

part in rioting in Zaatari last 

Friday,” he told AFP. 

“It remanded them to 15 

days of judicial custody and 

decided to refer their case to 

the (military) state security 

court, which has the jurisdiction 

to try them.” 

If convicted, the suspects 

face up to three years in prison. 

Violence broke out on Friday 

night as 100 refugees held a 

protest against living conditions 

in Zaatari. As temporary 

home to more than 160,000 

Syrians, it is equivalent to the 

kingdom’s fifth largest city, 

according to the United 

Nations. 

Two of the policemen 

wounded are in serious condition. 

Since Zaatari opened in 

July in northern Jordan, 

refugees have protested several 

times against poor living conditions. 

Jordan says it is hosting 

more than 500,000 Syrian 

refugees and the United 

Nations High Commissioner 

expects the number to soar to 

1.2 million by the end of 2013 

— equivalent to one-fifth of the 

kingdom’s population. 

Meanwhile, in a new development, 

Jordan says that 

more 45,000 refugees in its 

territory who fled Syria’s civil 

war have chosen to return 

since last August. 

Col Zaher Abu Shihab, who 

directs Jordan’s largest 

refugee camp at Zaatari near 

the two countries’ border, 

says 45,865 Syrian refugees 

have so far been voluntarily 

repatriated. 

Some refugees have complained 

of the harsh environment 

at the camp. Sporadic 

protests have demanded 

improvements. 

About 300 to 400 Syria 

refugees ask daily to go back 

to Syria, Abu Shihab told the 

official Petra news agency late 

Monday. 

Jordan hosts more than 

half a million displaced 

Syrians, with about one-fifth 

inside Zaatari. 

Abu Shihab said the camp 

intends to improve conditions, 

installing more trailers 

to replace tents to house the 

refugees.

Gulf / Middle East Wednesday, May 1, 2013 13 

Libyan gunmen at the justice ministry to call for a purge of officials linked to ex-ruler Moamar Qadhafi, in Tripoli, on Tuesday. (AP) 

Anti-Qadhafi militiamen 

besiege another ministry 

REUTERS 

TRIPOLI 

DRIVING trucks mounted 

with anti-aircraft guns, dozens 

of militiamen surrounded the 

Justice Ministry in Tripoli on 

Tuesday, the third day of confrontation 

between the government 

and armed groups in the 

Libyan capital. It was the latest 

in a series of shows of force by 

militias, most of which have 

ended without bloodshed but 

interrupted the country’s political 

transition and created a climate 

of intimidation and a 

weakened state. 

Militias, some of which 

evolved out of the rebel groups 

that overthrew Moamar 

Qadhafi in 2011, say they are 

rising up to force officials from 

the deposed dictator’s regime 

from holding government 

posts, according to the stateown 

news agency LANA. 

However, Libyan democracy 

activists say that they are 

bullying the government of 

Prime Minister Ali Zidan, who 

has vowed to restore the 

authority of the state, to prevent 

him from disbanding 

them. On Tuesday, militiamen 

sealed off the roads to the 

Justice Ministry with their 

trucks, closed the building and 

turned away visitors. 

On Sunday, about 200 

armed men surrounded the 

Foreign Ministry and a day 

later, armed men stormed the 

Interior Ministry and a stateowned 

television station al- 

Wataniya TV, forcing its 

employees out and stopping its 

live broadcast. Journalists said 

they were beaten up and intimidated. 

The unrest comes as 

Libya’s legislature debates a 

draft law for “political isolation” 

which bans out those 

who held any post under 

Qadhafi from political life. 

An initial version of the law 

presented to the parliament 

would have banned a whole 

ruling class from politics, even 

though some had minor posts 

or left the government decades 

before the 2011 uprising 

against Qadhafi. One figure 

who might be targeted by the 

law, GNC head Mohammed el 

Megarif, was ambassador to 

India before defecting to the 

opposition in 1980. A second is 

Mahmoud Jibril, a former aide 

to Qadhafi’s son and the liberal-leaning 

head of the National 

Forces Alliance, the bloc with 

maximum seats in parliament. 

But the latest version of the 

draft law, posted on the official 

Facebook page of the GNC on 

Monday, included a new article 

that gives parliament powers 

to exempt some figures from 

the law, in apparent attempt to 

prevent removal of key figures. 

That version is unlikely to 

satisfy the protesting militias 

and others who want a thorough 

purge of Libya’s political 

class. The militias’ moves over 

the past days forced parliament 

to suspend its sessions 

until May 5. Politicians say the 

repeated shows of force have 

delayed the key process of 

drafting Libya’s post-Qadhafi 

constitution. Independent lawmaker 

Mohammed Somoud 

said on Monday that parliament 

is halting sessions 

because “there are people who 

want to turn against legitimacy,” 

in reference to the militias. 

“The situation is very dangerous 

and I am very saddened. 

I talked to those youth 

and told them you are playing 

with fire,” he said. The parliament, 

which has been criticised 

for incompetence and failure to 

pass key measures, has been 

further weakened by successive 

attacks by militiamen. 

One of the worst occurred in 

mid-March when the parliament 

met to discuss the political 

isolation law away from its 

usual venue. Militiamen 

stormed the building and fired 

gunshots in the air. MPs were 

trapped inside for several 

hours before they were allowed 

to leave. More than a year after 

Qadhafi’s ouster and death in 

an eight-month civil war, Libya 

is struggling to rebuild its state 

institutions, including an army 

and police that could keep militias 

under control. PM Ali 

Zidan said that the security situation 

continues to be perilous. 

He stopped short of saying 

which militias or armed groups 

might be behind the incidents. 

“If the situation persists, it 

will give Libya a bad reputation 

and lead to foreign companies 

pulling out and embassies closing 

down,” he warned. Zidan 

was himself besieged in his 

office last month by rebels over 

remarks he made threatening 

to call outside help to confront 

the armed groups. 

Saudi cops 

nab wanted 

Shiite activist 

AFP 

RIYADH 

SAUDI police arrested a Shiite 

activist wanted on securityrelated 

charges after a gunfight 

in the kingdom’s Eastern 

province, scene to sporadic 

protests since early 2011, the 

interior ministry said. 

Abdullah al Asreeh, one of 

23 Shiites on a wanted list for 

allegedly fomenting trouble in 

the eastern region, was arrested 

along with an unarmed man 

who faces charges of selling 

drugs and alcohol, the ministry 

said late Monday. 

Police exchanged fire with 

the two men in the village of 

Awamiya, wounding them in 

legs before they were captured, 

interior ministry spokesman 

General Mansur al-Turki said 

in a statement carried by SPA 

state news agency. 

Saudi Arabia’s estimated two 

million Shiites, who frequently 

complain of marginalisation in 

the kingdom, live mostly in the 

east where the vast majority of 

the OPEC kingpin’s huge oil 

reserves lie. 

They first took to the streets 

in protest in February 2011 

after an outbreak of violence 

between Shiite pilgrims and 

religious police in the holy city 

of Medina. 

The protests escalated after 

the kingdom’s intervention in 

Bahrain to support the country’s 

Sunni monarchy. 

Shiites complain of systematic 

discrimination against 

them in Saudi Arabia, which 

follows the puritanical 

Wahhabi school of Sunni 

Islam. Anti-government 

protests broke out in early 2011 

in the Qatif area of Eastern 

Province, centred on the village 

of al Awamiyah. Nearly 20 

people, including two police 

officers, have been killed during 

the unrest. 

Shiite activists accuse the 

government of using heavyhanded 

police tactics, torture 

and of shooting unarmed protesters. 

The government denies 

this, as well as the accusation of 

discrimination, and says the 

unrest is the work of a small 

number of malcontents and 

criminals. 

State media said the two 

men were wounded and taken 

to hospital, Saudi Press Agency 

reported, citing a statement by 

the Interior Ministry’s security 

spokesman. The arrest took 

place after the Muslim evening 

prayer on Monday, it added. 

Egypt to halt 

privatisation, 

says Morsi 

AFP 

CAIRO 

EGYPT’S President 

Mohamed Morsi said on 

Tuesday his government will 

no longer privatise state 

firms, in a break with a policy 

launched in the 1990s by 

his ousted predecessor 

Hosni Mubarak’s regime. 

There will be “no more 

sale of the public sector, 

that is finished... and we 

will no longer do away with 

workers,” he said in a televised 

May Day speech 

before workers in Helwan, 

south of Cairo. 

“Encouraging the private 

sector and private investments 

does not mean an 

alternative to the public sector, 

which must be developed,” 

said the Islamist president 

elected last June. 

“The public and private 

sectors complement each 

other,” he said, vowing to 

inject investments and a 

“new vision” to state enterprises. 

A privatisation programme 

launched in the 

1990s resulted in large 

scale job losses. 

The courts returned some 

of the firms to the state following 

alleged corruption in 

sales operations. 

A halt to privatisation raises 

fears over foreign investments, 

which have already 

collapsed due to insecurity in 

the wake of the 2011 revolution 

which toppled Mubarak. 

In economic crisis, Egypt’s 

foreign currency reserves 

have plunged to $13.5 billion 

from $36 billion in the past 

two years, key tourism revenues 

have declined and the 

budget deficit has widened. 

Talks between the 

International Monetary 

Fund and Egypt on a $4.8 

billion financing programme 

have bogged 

down, with the global crisis 

lender saying Cairo has to 

show its commitment to a 

broader reform plan. 

Egypt’s economy has 

slowed rapidly since the popular 

uprising that toppled 

President Hosni Mubarak in 

2011, and it is struggling to 

secure the external funding it 

needs to revive growth at a 

time of renewed unrest. 

The country has neither 

undertaken nor planned any 

major privatisations since 

2008, and courts have 

scrapped several sales that 

took place before then. 

In May 2011, a court 

annulled a 2006 deal to sell 

Egypt’s historic Omar 

Effendi department store 

chain to a Saudi investor 

after critics argued it was 

sold too cheaply. That ruling 

followed others scrapping 

transactions in which the 

state was found to have sold 

land at below market prices. 

In June 2008, Egypt cancelled 

the auction of stateowned 

Banque du Caire, saying 

the bids it received from 

foreign banks did not meet 

the reserve price. 

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi addresses a news 

conference at the Presidential palace, in Cairo, recently. (AFP) 

US rebel battles ex-comrades in Somalia 

AFP 

NAIROBI 

AN American extremist in 

Somalia is fighting former 

comrades in the Al Qaeda 

linked Shebab insurgent 

group, in what he says may be 

his final stand, he writes. 

Alabama-born Omar 

Hamami — better known as al 

Amriki — once fought alongside 

the hardline Shebab in 

Somalia, but last year fell out 

with the fighters who now want 

to kill him. He is also wanted 

by the US government, who 

have placed a $5 million bounty 

on his head and is listed on 

the FBI’s Most Wanted 

Terrorists list. 

Israeli minister welcomes Arab peace plan 

AP 

JERUSALEM 

ISRAEL’S chief peace negotiator 

on Tuesday welcomed 

the Arab League’s decision to 

sweeten a decade-old initiative 

offering comprehensive 

peace with Israel, hoping the 

gesture would help get peace 

talks back on track after years 

of standstill. 

Justice Minister Tzipi 

Livni’s latest comments 

revealed the beginnings of 

Omar Hammami 

“We were forced to fight in 

self defence and killed three 

and wounded others,” he wrote 

in a message on Twitter, posted 

late Monday. “May not find 

another chance to Tweet but 

Justice Minister Tzipi Livni 

what could become a rift in 

the Israeli Prime Minister 

Benjamin Netanyahu’s new 

government. 

Livni, a former foreign minister 

known to support broad 

concessions to the 

Palestinians, is eager to 

restart peace negotiations. 

Netanyahu says he wants to 

resume negotiations, but he 

has given no indication that 

he is prepared to make the 

concessions demanded by the 

Palestinians and the international 

community. The original 

2002 Arab peace initiative, 

first floated by Saudi 

just remember what we said 

and what we stood for. God 

kept me alive to deliver the 

message to the ummah (community).” 

Hamami, 28, moved 

to Somalia in 2006 and began 

to work for Shebab recruiting 

young trainees through his 

English-language rap songs 

and videos, but later split from 

the main wing of the Shebab. 

“They raided our houses and 

took our stuff, and said they 

found condoms, alcohol, and 

documents,” he added, writing 

from an undisclosed location 

in Somalia. “Their goal is to kill 

us regardless of reason.” 

Last week he claimed a 

Shebab gunmen tried to assassinate 

him while he was drinking 

tea in a cafe, posting a photograph 

of himself dripping 

with blood from where he said 

the pistol bullet grazed his 

throat. “They are sending 

forces from multiple directions,” 

he wrote last week. “We 

are few but might get back up.” 

Born in 1984 to a Syrian 

Muslim father and a white 

Protestant mother, Hamami 

was raised as a Christian but 

began to feel estranged from 

his upbringing as teenager 

before moving to Somalia. 

“‘I’m on a mission from God’, 

minus the blues music”, he 

wrote last week, an apparent 

reference to the 1980 Blues 

Brothers film, an American 

musical comedy. 

Arabia, offered Israel peace 

with the entire Arab and 

Muslim world in exchange for 

a “complete withdrawal” from 

territories captured in the 

1967 Mideast war. 

The Palestinians claim the 

West Bank, east Jerusalem 

and the Gaza Strip, all seized 

by Israel in 1967, for their 

future state. Israel withdrew 

from Egypt’s Sinai in 1982 

and Gaza in 2005. It also 

holds the Golan Heights after 

failed peace talks with Syria. 

Sudanese refugees need 

immediate help: HAC 

AFP 

EL RAHAD 

THOUSANDS of Sudanese 

need food, water and shelter, a 

source in an aid organisation 

said on Tuesday, after they fled 

a widening rebel offensive that 

swept through a previously 

peaceful area. 

The source in Sudan’s 

Humanitarian Aid 

Commission (HAC) told AFP 

that several thousand from one 

district alone, Abu Kershola, 

had converged on the North 

Kordofan town of El Rahad. 

“They are in a miserable situation,” 

said the source, asking 

for anonymity. 

He said a team from HAC is 

in the area to assess people’s 

needs. An AFP photographer 

reported that government 

vehicles were still ferrying people 

on Monday night to three 

camps for displaced people in 

the El Rahad area. Some of the 

homeless had sought shelter in 

schools. 

Abu Kershola, in the far 

north of South Kordofan state, 

was one of several areas in 

North and South Kordofan 

which the Sudan 

Revolutionary Front (SRF) 

rebel alliance said it attacked 

Displaced Sudanese from the district of Abu Kershola, gather at a 

camp, in the North Kordofan town of El Rahad, on Tuesday. (AFP) 

on Saturday. 

Insurgents on Tuesday 

claimed to still be in control of 

Abu Kershola, where they said 

they seized an army garrison. 

Villagers from that area earlier 

told AFP they were living 

rough under trees after fleeing. 

The rebels briefly occupied 

Umm Rawaba, the secondlargest 

town in North 

Kordofan. Residents complained 

their community had 

been left undefended as the 

insurgents shot up government 

buildings, hitting policemen. 

Government bombers and 

helicopters were in the air after 

the attack, they said. 

AFP’s photographer saw that 

the town’s power station had 

been left blackened and 

burned. The glass facade 

behind the colonnades of an 

official-looking three storey 

building had been shattered, 

while smaller buildings had 

been damaged by fire. 

Except for occasional rebel 

forays over the border from the 

conflict-plagued Darfur region, 

North Kordofan had been generally 

peaceful. 

SRF said they attacked as 

part of their strategy to reach 

the capital Khartoum and overthrow 

the 24-year regime of 

President Omar al Bashir.


World 

Tokyo governor regrets Islam gaffe 

AFP 

TOKYO 

THE governor of Tokyo apologised 

to the Muslim world 

on Tuesday after saying 

Islamic countries have nothing 

in common but Allah and 

“fighting with each other”. 

Naoki Inose, whose city is 

bidding for the 2020 Olympic 

Games, was forced into the 

climbdown after telling the 

New York Times that Islamic 

nations are belligerent and 

overly hierarchical. 

The comments were seen 

as a slight on Tokyo’s bidding 

rival Istanbul, which is 

vying to become the first 

city from the Muslim world 

to host the Games. 

“Islamic countries, the 

only thing they have in common 

is Allah and they are 

fighting with each other, and 

they have classes,” the governor 

was quoted as saying 

through an interpreter in the 

article published on Friday. 

After returning from New 

York, Inose initially defended 

his remarks, saying the 

article did not reflect his 

true opinions. 

“The story made it seem as 

if Tokyo was criticising the 

other bid cities, but my 

intention was not delivered 

correctly,” the author-turned 

politician said on his official 

Facebook page. 

“I had no intention of criticising 

the other candidate 

cities at all,” Inose said. “It 

was extremely regrettable 

that such an article whose 

context differs from that of 

the interview was published.” 

But on Tuesday, a chastened 

Inose appeared before 

television cameras to say 

that he is sorry. 

“There were remarks that 

can lead to misunderstandings 

among Islamic people,” 

he told reporters. 

“So now I clearly apologise. 

If there are remarks 

that can be misunderstood, it 

is the inadequacy of my 

expression. 

“I said (people) are fighting 

in some Islamic countries, 

but I think it was inappropriate. 

I want to correct 

it.” 

Inose’s comments come as 

Japanese Prime Minister 

Shinzo Abe is set to arrive in 

Saudi Arabia, on the first 

stop of a swing through the 

Middle East that will also 

include Turkey. 

He is expected to hold a 

summit with his Turkish 

counterpart in Ankara on 

Friday, amid speculation 

that a Japanese-French consortium 

is on the verge of 

signing a multi-billion dollar 

deal to build Turkey’s first 

nuclear power plant. 

Tokyo’s bid office had 

already moved to neutralise 

the impact of the gaffe, amid 

fears it may fall foul of 

Tokyo’s Governor, Naoki Inose (centre) speaks to the media at Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office, in Tokyo, on Tuesday. (AP) 

International Olympic 

Committee rules prohibiting 

criticism of other bid cities. 

In a statement submitted to 

the IOC headquarters in 

Lausanne, Tokyo 2020 said 

they had been taken by surprise 

by the article and said it 

may have given the impression 

that it had gone beyond the 

IOC rules preventing negative 

comments about other cities. 

“Tokyo 2020 fully respects 

and adheres to the IOC 

guidelines for the candidate 

cities. We have the utmost 

respect for all candidate 

cities and have always taken 

pride in bidding in a spirit 

based on the Olympic values 

of excellence, respect and 

friendship,” it said. 

Unlike many other developed 

countries, largely 

mono-ethnic Japan does 

not have a significant 

Muslim population, and 

there is little emphasis in 

the educational curriculum 

on cultural sensitivity. 

Chinese career 

boost can come 

with health risks 

AP 

BEIJING 

WHITNEY Foard Small 

loved China and her job as 

a regional director of communications 

for a top 

automaker. But after air 

pollution led to several 

stays in hospital and finally 

a written warning from her 

doctor telling her she needed 

to leave, Small packed 

up and left for Thailand. 

In doing so, the Ford 

Motor company executive 

became another expatriate 

to leave China because of 

the country’s notoriously 

bad air. Other top executives 

whose careers would 

be boosted by a stint in the 

world’s second-largest 

economy and most populous 

consumer market are 

put off when considering 

the move. 

There is no official data 

on the numbers leaving 

because of pollution, but 

executive recruitment companies 

say it is becoming 

harder to attract top talent 

to China, both expats and 

Chinese nationals educated 

abroad. The European 

Chamber of Commerce in 

China says foreign managers 

leave for many different 

reasons but pollution is 

almost always cited as one 

of the factors and is becoming 

a larger concern. 

If the polluted skies continue, 

companies may have 

to fork out more for salaries 

or settle for less qualified 

candidates. Failure to 

attract the best talent to crucial 

roles could result in 

missed commercial opportunities 

and other missteps. 

Poor air quality has also 

added to the complaints 

that foreign companies 

have about operating in 

China. Even though 

China’s commercial potential 

remains vast, groups 

representing foreign companies 

say doing business 

is getting tougher due to 

slowing though still robust 

economic growth, strict 

Internet censorship, limits 

on market access and intellectual 

property theft. 

China’s rapid economic 

development over the last 

three decades has lifted 

hundreds of millions out 

of poverty but also ravaged 

the environment as heavy 

industry burgeoned, electricity 

demand soared and 

car ownership became a 

badge of status for the 

newly affluent in big cities. 

Health risks from pollution 

of air, water and soil 

have become a source of 

discontent with 

Communist Party rule 

among ordinary Chinese. 

Foreigners regularly 

check the air quality readings 

put out by the US 

Embassy and consulates on 

their Twitter feeds when 

deciding whether to go out 

for a run or let their children 

play outside. 

Ford Motor Company official, Whitney Foard Small. 

Russian club 

owner found 

guilty over fire 

REUTERS 

MOSCOW 

AN OWNER of a Russian 

nightclub where a fire killed 

156 people was convicted of 

negligence on Tuesday, along 

with seven others including 

the organiser of a pyrotechnics 

show that caused the blaze. 

State prosecutors are 

seeking jail sentences of up 

to 10 years over the 

December 2009 fire at the 

Lame Horse nightclub in the 

city of Perm, 1,150 km (720 

miles) east of Moscow. 

The guilty verdicts came 

three days after a fire at a psychiatric 

hospital near Moscow 

killed 38 people, renewing 

concerns about safety standards 

in Russia. Sentences will 

be delivered on a later date. 

Club co-owner Anatoly Zak, 

the regional fire safety inspector 

and the head of the company 

responsible for the fireworks 

display were all convicted. 

A former co-owner of 

the club, Konstantin Mykhrin, 

was extradited to Russia from 

Spain and was sentenced to 

six and a half years in prison 

last May. 

The fire was caused by 

sparks setting fire to wicker 

coverings on the walls and 

ceiling during a party. Many 

of the victims choked and 

others were crushed as they 

tried to get out. 

Gender equity rise pushes divorce in Uganda 

AP 

KAMPALA 

MORE women are initiating 

divorces in Uganda, a conservative 

East African country 

where women are becoming 

empowered to leave a bad 

marriage in a way their mothers 

could not, rights activists 

and legal experts say. 

Has your marriage broken 

down beyond repair, That’s 

the question Ugandan magistrate 

David Batema asks 

women in divorce proceedings 

against men who often are 

reluctant to let their wives go. 

Whatever the husband has to 

say, according to Batema, a 

Zimbabwe PM’s party alleges 

voter list fraud ahead of polls 

AP 

HARARE 

ZIMBABWEAN state election 

officials are dramatically 

inflating the numbers of 

electors on new voters’ lists 

months ahead of crucial 

polls, Prime Minister 

Morgan Tsvangirai’s party 

alleged on Tuesday. 

It said lists in some voting 

districts swelled by more than 

10,000 names in a 48-hour 

period, or the addition of 

about 150 voters a second. 

“This is just impossible,” 

said party official Douglas 

Mwonzora. He said a copy of 

one Harare district list was 

obtained on a Monday earlier 

this month. Two days later, a 

revised copy showed an additional 

11,890 voters on the list. 

In other districts the names 

of active party members were 

missing or misspelled, making 

them ineligible to vote, 

raising fears of voting fraud 

being planned by officials 

loyal to President Robert 

Mugabe’s party, he said. 

The official voters’ registry 

has denied tampering with 

the lists and insists it is just 

collating data in batches. 

A new drive to register voters 

began on Monday, following 

weeks of campaigning by 

all political groups for eligible 

woman who wants to leave a 

failed marriage shouldn’t be 

encouraged to linger. 

“I usually turn my court 

into a learning classroom,” he 

said in an interview. “In this 

age of gender equality we are 

saying that, if marriage can’t 

be a bed of roses, it shouldn’t 

be a bed of thorns. The major 

aim of the lesson should be to 

point out to the man that 

marriage, as of now, is a partnership 

of equals.” 

Women’s rights activists 

say Batema’s position is a 

sign of changing times in 

Uganda, where it used to be 

extremely difficult for a 

woman to get a divorce. Such 

Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his wife Elizabeth attend the country’s 33rd 

independence celebrations, in Harare, recently. (REUTERS) 

voters not yet listed to have 

their details added to the 

nationwide roll containing 5.7 

million names in a population 

of 13 million, slightly less than 

half of whom are under the 

voting age of 18. 

Tsvangirai’s Movement for 

Democratic Change party, in 

a shaky coalition with 

Mugabe brokered by regional 

leaders after the last violent 

“It’s almost always 

the women who 

complain first”, a 

clerk at Uganda’s 

High Court said. 

proceedings almost always 

were initiated by men, a legacy 

of traditional beliefs that 

stress women should be submissive 

and of a now-unconstitutional 

divorce law. 

In 2004 a Ugandan court 

nullified a law that set the evidential 

bar impossibly high 

for women who wanted a 

divorce. At the time a woman 

was required to give evidence 

proving sodomy, desertion or, 

and disputed elections in 

2008, said even Theresa 

Makone, its co-minister of 

Home Affairs in charge of 

voter registration, saw her 

name was missing in her area. 

Under the coalition agreement, 

Tsvangirai’s party 

shares control of that ministry 

that is also responsible for the 

nation’s police dominated by 

Mugabe loyalists. Makone has 

perhaps most strangely, bestiality 

on the part of her husband. 

He, in turn, had to 

prove only that the wife committed 

adultery. 

Although Uganda’s bureau 

of statistics doesn’t compile 

national divorce figures, court 

clerks, activists and lawyers 

now say they are handling 

vastly more divorce cases now 

than a decade ago. 

“The numbers kept going 

up,” said Ismail Jjemba, a 

clerk at Uganda’s High Court, 

referring to the effect of the 

Constitutional Court’s ruling. 

“It’s almost always the 

women who complain first.” 

Divorce is still stigmatised 

had little influence over police 

commanders and senior government 

officials who have 

repeatedly vowed their allegiance 

to Mugabe. 

Makone has told her district 

supporters that irregularities 

in their voters’ list 

were actually “a tip of the 

iceberg” in what she suspected 

was happening countrywide 

to skew voting. 

in Uganda, where church officials 

complain that divorce is 

becoming rampant. But the 

fairer legal climate and 

increased educational opportunities 

for women are contributing 

to what one activist 

called “the normalisation of 

divorce” in Uganda. 

Ugandan lawmakers are 

considering legislation, 

expected to pass this year, 

which would make it clear 

that a man and a woman are 

equal in a marriage. The bill 

even proposes the offence of 

“marital rape” and a provision 

for the equal sharing of 

matrimonial property in the 

event of divorce.

India Wednesday, May 1, 2013 15 

No wealth tax 

on farm land: 

Chidambaram 

Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj (left) and other leaders arrive for BJP Parliamentary Party meeting, in New Delhi, on Tuesday. (PTI) 

SC raps govt over coal scam 

IANS 

NEW DELHI 

FROM the Supreme Court and 

the opposition, it was an 

embarrassing cleft-stick of censure 

for the Manmohan Singh 

government on Tuesday. 

While the apex court rapped it 

in the sternest terms for interfering 

in the CBI probe into 

coal block allocations, the BJP 

said in a no-holds-barred 

attack that the countdown to 

the end had begun. 

And to add to its discomfiture, 

Additional Solicitor 

General Harin Rawal 

resigned, a day after he 

blamed Attorney General G.E. 

Vahanvati for influencing the 

CBI probe into irregularities 

in the allotment of coal blocks. 

Earlier, an anguished 

Supreme Court said: “We 

believed you and trusted you.” 

ONGC finds 

more gas in 

KG basin 

PTI 

NEW DELHI 

STATE-OWNED Oil and 

Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) on 

Tuesday said it has struck natural 

gas in a block that sits next 

to Reliance Industries’ KG-D6 

area in the Krishna Godavari 

basin. 

ONGC found gas in an 

appraisal well drilled on the 

block KG-DWN-98/2, where 

the company had previously 

made 9 gas discoveries. 

“Exploratory/appraisal well 

KG-DWN-98-A#2 in NELP 

Block KG-DWN-98/2 was 

drilled to a depth of 2541 

meters... (It flowed) 3200 barrels 

per day of oil and gas at the 

rate of 113,760 cubic meters 

per day (during testing),” the 

company said in a statement. 

This was the second appraisal 

well on the block and “will 

give a very significant boost to 

ONGC’s efforts to monetise discoveries 

in Northern Discovery 

Area of this block,” it said. 

Block KG-DWN-98/2, 

which sits next to RIL’s KG- 

DWN-98/3 or KG-D6 block, is 

divided into Northern and 

Southern Discovery Area. 

Eight of the finds are in the 

northern part of the block. The 

Northern Discovery Area 

(NDA) consists of the 

Padmawati, Kanakadurga, 

Annapurna, D/KT, U, A, W 

and E gas finds in in water 

depths ranging from 594 

metres to 1,283 metres. 

The Southern Discovery 

Area consisting of the UD-1 

discovery falls in ultra-deepwater 

with a depth of 2,841 

metres. 

In a trenchant criticism of the 

UPA government, the court 

underlined the need to liberate 

the Central Bureau of 

Investigation from extraneous 

influences. 

The bench headed by Justice 

R.M. Lodha asked CBI director 

Ranjit Sinha to file an affidavit 

stating the changes made in 

the draft report vetted by Law 

Minister Ashwani Kumar. 

“Had we not passed the order 

for filing of an affidavit, nobody 

would have ever known of the 

vetting by the political executive,” 

the court said. 

“After all there is a question 

mark on the independence and 

impartiality of the CBI,” it added 

in an echo of what the opposition 

and civil society activists 

have long been alleging. 

“We are studying the 

Supreme Court observation and 

we will take appropriate action,” 

IANS 

HYDERABAD 

THE Andhra Pradesh High 

Court on Tuesday dismissed a 

petition urging it to supervise 

YSR Congress party president 

YS Jaganmohan Reddy’s disproportionate 

assets case. 

While dismissing the public 

interest litigation (PIL) filed 

by an advocate, the court 

observed that there was no 

reason for the court to intervene 

in the investigations. 

T Ranga Rao, the petitioner, 

pleaded that the entire 

investigation into the Jagan’s 

case should be done under 

the supervision of the high 

court. 

Alleging that the investigations 

were going on in a partial 

manner, the petitioner 

Prime Minister Manmohan 

Singh told reporters as the 

opposition sharpened its knives. 

“If the Supreme Court has 

made adverse remarks, then 

obviously these remarks are 

not pleasant,” said 

Parliamentary Affairs 

Minister Kamal Nath said 

somewhat euphemistically. 

As the question over the premier 

investigating agency’s 

independence came under the 

spotlight again, CBI chief 

Sinha said: “It is now for them 

(Supreme Court) to take the 

call as to what type of autonomy 

is to be given to the agency 

or under what circumstances 

the agency has to interact with 

the political masters.” 

The UPA II government, 

which is heading for elections 

next year, has found itself in a 

growing morass of allegations 

of corruption over allocations 

said the high court should 

supervise the Jagan case, just 

as the Supreme Court had 

done in the 2G spectrum case. 

The PIL had also sought 

direction to the government 

not to effect changes in the 

Central Bureau of 

Investigation (CBI) team 

investigating the case. Rao 

referred to the reports that 

in 2G spectrum and now coal. 

Last week, the CBI had told 

the Supreme Court that it 

shared its March 8 status 

report on investigations with 

Law Minister Ashwani 

Kumar and a senior bureaucrat 

in the Prime Minister’s 

Office. CPI leader D Raja said 

the prime minister must own 

responsibility. 

The BJP, which termed the 

UPA II government the most 

corrupt since independence 

and has been asking for 

Manmohan Singh’s resignation, 

said he could not escape 

accountability. 

“Each passing day reinforces 

that the prime minister 

is not coming out clean before 

the apex court. He cannot 

escape accountability,” said 

BJP spokesperson Ravi 

Shankar Prasad. 

Signifying a near-complete 

CBI Joint Director V V 

Lakshminarayana, who is 

heading the probe, will complete 

his deputation in the 

CBI by June end and will be 

sent back to his parent 

department in Maharashtra. 

The advocate claimed that 

only Lakshminarayana would 

be able to take the case to its 

logical conclusion. 

It was on the direction of 

the high court in 2011 that the 

CBI had taken up investigations 

into the allegations that 

Jagan amassed huge wealth 

through illegal means when 

his father Y S Rajasekhara 

Reddy was the chief minister 

from 2004 to 2009. 

Meanwhile, the high court 

adjourned to June 6 the hearing 

on another petition, seeking 

removal of Roads and 

breakdown, Leader of 

Opposition in the Lok Sabha 

Sushma Swaraj announced 

that her party would not be 

attending any meetings called 

by Speaker Meira Kumar or 

Parliamentary Affairs 

Minister Kamal Nath. 

She also attacked Congress 

president Sonia Gandhi for 

inciting MPs and ministers to 

disrupt her speech in the Lok 

Sabha in the morning. “It is a 

situation of total breakdown 

but the government is responsible, 

not me,” Sushma Swaraj 

said, adding that the “countdown” 

for the government’s 

fall had begun. 

“I was expecting the Lok 

Sabha speaker to come to my 

support as it was agreed upon 

at the all-party meeting on 

Monday that I could make a 

statement on reasons for BJP 

disrupting parliament. 

Andhra HC not to supervise Jagan case 

Buildings Minister Dharmana 

Prasada Rao for his alleged 

involvement in Jagan case. 

The court issued notice to 

the government to file its 

counter. The petitioner sought 

Dharmana’s removal on the 

ground that the CBI had 

named him as an accused in a 

chargesheet in VANPIC, one 

of the aspects of Jagan case. 

O M Debara, a resident of 

Hyderabad, also sought direction 

to the state government 

to accept Dharmana’s resignation. 

The petitioner pointed out 

that the minister had submitted 

his resignation after he 

was named in the chargesheet 

last year but his resignation 

was not accepted by Chief 

Minister N Kiran Kumar 

Reddy. 

PTI 

NEW DELHI 

INDIAN Finance Minister P 

Chidambaram on Tuesday 

ruled out levying wealth tax 

on agriculture land and roll 

back of the duty hike on SUVs 

but relaxed residency norms 

for investors from countries 

like Mauritius for the purpose 

of tax benefit. 

In order to attract investment 

for long-term infrastructure 

bonds, he said the 

interest payments on investments 

in government bonds 

and corporate debts will 

attract 5 per cent tax as 

against 20 per cent. 

In a short speech while 

moving the Finance Bill for 

passage in the Lok Sabha, 

Chidambaram ruled out withdrawal 

of the proposal to 

introduce Commodities 

Transaction Tax (CTT) saying 

that with the new levy commodities 

derivative trading 

would no longer be considered 

as a speculative transaction. 

With the government 

and the opposition having 

reached a limited understanding, 

the House passed 

the Finance Bill, demands for 

grants of all the ministries 

after applying the guillotine 

and the Railway Budget without 

any discussion. 

Before walking out as 

agreed earlier, the Leader of 

Opposition Sushma Swaraj 

and other leaders attacked 

the government on various 

scams calling it the “most corrupt” 

since independence. 

With apprehensions raised 

by farmers, especially those in 

Punjab and Haryana, and 

capitalised by Congress’ 

opponents, the Finance 

Minister took the first opportunity 

to clarify that there was 

no intention of levying 

Wealth Tax on agriculture 

land. 

Chidambaram gave credit 

to Haryana Chief Minister 

Bhupinder Singh Hooda and 

some other Congress leaders 

for drawing the attention of 

the Central government to the 

issue with infuriated Akali 

Dal members from Punjab. 

“There was apprehension 

that wealth tax was being 

imposed on agricultural land. 

Let me make it absolutely 

clear that the policy of the 

UPA government is not to 

impose wealth tax on agriculture 

land,” he said. The 

apprehensions arose on 

account of Punjab and 

Haryana High Court rulings, 

the Minister said, adding he 

had worked hard yesterday to 

prepare the amendment and 

obtain the approval of the 

President. 

“The matter should come to 

an end”, he said, adding 

urban land does not include 

agriculture land which is so 

declared in government 

records. 

However, Akali Dal member 

Harsimrat Kaur challenged 

the Minister saying 

the Income Tax Department 

has sent out notices to Punjab 

farmers asking them to pay 

wealth tax on agriculture land 

falling 8 kms from municipality 

limits. 

On the budget proposal 

putting stiff condition for Tax 

Residency Certificate (TRC) 

for foreign investment to avail 

benefits of tax avoidance 

treaties that triggered concerns 

among FIIs, the 

Minister said a TRC issued by 

a foreign government would 

be accepted as proof of residency 

for tax purposes. 

Court acquits Sajjan Kumar in 1984 anti-Sikh riots case 

Former Lok Sabha member Sajjan Kumar 

The high court 

adjourned to June 

6 the hearing on 

another petition, 

seeking removal of 

Roads and Buildings 

Minister Dharmana 

Prasada Rao 

for his alleged 

involvement in 

Jagan case. 

PTI 

NEW DELHI 

CONGRESS party leader 

Sajjan Kumar was on Tuesday 

acquitted of all charges by a 

Delhi court in one of the three 

1984 anti-Sikh riots cases, a 

verdict that evoked vociferous 

protests from victims’ families, 

one of whom hurled a 

shoe at the judge. 

District and Sessions Judge J 

R Aryan let off Kumar in the 29- 

year-old case in which he was 

accused of murder and of instigating 

a riotous mob that killed 

five Sikhs in Delhi’s cantonment 

area. Five others — Balwan 

Khokkar, an ex-councillor, 

Mahender Yadav, an ex-MLA, 

Kishan Khokkar, Girdhari Lal 

and Captain Bhagmal — were 

convicted today for their 

involvement in the riots that 

broke out after the assasination 

of then Prime Minister Indira 

Gandhi on October 31, 1984. 

Agitated over Kumar’s acquittal, 

a man hurled a shoe at the 

judge as protests erupted inside 

and outside Karkardooma court 

after pronouncement of the verdict, 

with police detaining him 

and several others. 

Kumar, a former Lok Sabha 

MP from Outer Delhi who was 

denied Congress ticket for 

2009 elections, still faces trial 

in another 1984 rioting case. In 

a third case, Delhi Police has 

filed a closure report, saying 

there was no evidence against 

Kumar to implicate him. 

Protesters in big numbers 

gathered at the Karkardooma 

district courts complex here 

and after Kumar’s acquittal, 

complainant Jagdish Kaur sat 

on protest inside the courtroom 

saying she would not 

leave until justice is done. 

One of the riots victims, who 

had lost her son, husband and 

other family members during 

the carnage, said, “There is no 

justice for us. “My son was 

killed, my husband along with 

his brothers were killed. There 

was reign of terror for three days 

(during the riots). People were 

burnt alive.” Expressing shock 

and anguish at acquittal of 

Kumar, Shiromani Akali Dal 

Chief and Punjab Deputy Chief 

Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal 

“There was apprehension 

that 

wealth tax was 

being imposed on 

agricultural land. 

Let me make it 

absolutely clear 

that the policy of 

the UPA government 

is not to 

impose wealth 

tax on agriculture 

land.” 

Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram at Parliament House, in 

New Delhi, on Tuesday. (PTI) 

attacked the Congress saying it 

would not be allowed to put a lid 

on the issue. 

Stating that the verdict had 

dashed hopes of people who 

waited for nearly three decades 

for justice, Badal hoped that the 

Supreme Court would take cognisance 

of the plight of the families 

of 3000 Sikh victims and 

order reinvestigation as done in 

the case of Jagdish Tytler. 

Balwan Khokkar, Girdhari 

Lal and Captain Bhagmal were 

held guilty for the offence of 

murder under section 302 

(murder) of the IPC which 

entails death penalty as maximum 

punishment while 

Mahender Yadav and Kishan 

Khokkar were convicted for the 

offence of rioting only.


UK / Europe 

Tymoshenko’s 

jailing unlawful: 

Europe court 

AFP 

STRASBOURG 

THE European Court of 

Human Rights on Tuesday 

ruled that Ukraine’s detention 

of former prime minister 

Yulia Tymoshenko was 

unlawful, in a decision the 

opposition leader’s camp 

saw as a key step towards 

her release. 

“The court considered 

that the detention had been 

arbitrary and unlawful during 

the entire period,” the 

judges of the Strasbourgbased 

court said. 

The European Union is 

mulling a trade and association 

accord with the ex- 

Soviet republic and has 

clearly said it wanted Kiev 

to release the charismatic 

Tymoshenko. 

Her daughter described 

the court’s decision as a 

“first victory” and her 

lawyer argued that her 

nemesis President Viktor 

Yanukovych now had no 

option but to release her. 

The judges also found 

that “the lawfulness of her 

detention had not been 

properly reviewed” by the 

Ukrainian judiciary “and 

that she had no possibility 

to seek compensation for 

her unlawful deprivation of 

liberty.” 

However they threw out a 

complaint over alleged illtreatment 

during her transfer 

to hospital last year. 

Tymoshenko, who lost a 

disputed presidential election 

to Yanukovych in 

2010, was jailed for seven 

years on what she says are 

trumped-up charges of 

overstepping her authority 

while premier to sign a gas 

deal with Russia. 

Western governments 

have condemned her jailing 

as the result of selective 

persecution by the authorities 

and it has led to a sharp 

Tymoshenko’s kin 

hails ‘victory’ 

KIEV/PARIS The daughter 

of jailed former 

Ukrainian prime minister 

Julia Tymoshenko 

has hailed as a “first 

victory” the finding by 

a European court that 

Ukraine’s detention of 

her mother was 

“unlawful. Today we 

are saying that this is 

the first victory, the first 

step to her full political 

rehabilitation and her 

immediate release,” 

Yevgenia Tymoshenko 

told a press conference 

in Kiev. (DPA) 

deterioration in ties with 

the European Union, 

which Kiev wants to join. 

“I urge president 

Yanukovych not to appeal 

this decision and to instead 

follow this ruling. The only 

thing left to do now is to 

free Mrs Tymoshenko 

immediately,” her lawyer 

Sergiy Vlasenko said. 

“The president is afraid 

of Mrs Tymoshenko 

because she is the only 

politician capable of defeating 

him in any election. 

That’s why she is in 

prison,” he said. 

The court gave that suggestion 

some level of backing 

by arguing in its ruling 

that Tymoshenko’s “right 

to liberty had been restricted 

for other reasons” than 

those permissible under 

the rights convention. 

“Today we are saying 

that this is the first victory, 

the first step to her full 

political rehabilitation and 

her immediate release,” 

said 

Yevgenia 

Tymoshenko, the daughter 

of the 52-year-old opposition 

leader. 

Senate confirms Italian govt 

REUTERS 

ROME 

ITALIAN Prime Minister 

Enrico Letta won a final confidence 

vote on Tuesday and 

left for Berlin to push his 

agenda of easing austerity to 

revive the economy with 

Chancellor Angela Merkel, 

champion of Europe’s 

increasingly unpopular belttightening. 

The 46-year-old Letta was 

sworn in on Sunday at the 

head of an uneasy right-left 

coalition government and 

won a confidence vote in the 

Senate after a similar victory 

in the lower house on 

Monday. 

He immediately came 

under pressure from coalition 

partners to negotiate budget 

leeway for Rome with its 

European Union partners, an 

uphill task in Germany at 

least. 

Before the Berlin visit, conservative 

German lawmakers 

warned Letta was unlikely to 

find Merkel a willing ally for 

easing debt rules only months 

before she faces an election 

herself, with voters strongly 

in favour of making heavily 

indebted eurozone states like 

Italy cut spending. 

“It is certainly not the 

moment for debt-financed 

growth programmes,” 

Norbert Barthle, a member of 

the lower-house budget committee, 

told Reuters. 

Letta took the helm of the 

euro zone’s third biggest 

economy in the middle of a 

severe crisis, with unemployment 

at 20-year highs and the 

recession, already matching 

the longest since World War 

Two, seen dragging on all 

year. 

In a sign of intense pressure 

he already faces, fourtimes 

Prime Minister Silvio 

Berlusconi threatened to pull 

his centre-right People of 

Freedom party out of the 

Italian Premier Enrico Letta at the Italian Senate, in Rome, on Tuesday. (AP) 

coalition if it does not abolish 

an unpopular housing 

tax. 

Berlusconi, who is not in 

cabinet but is playing a decisive 

role behind the scenes, 

added that the government 

must re-negotiate EU deficit 

commitments, echoing similar 

comments made earlier by 

two of Letta’s own ministers. 

But Foreign Minister 

Emma Bonino, a former 

European commissioner, 

responded that Italy could 

not alter its targets, a view 

repeated by a spokesman for 

the European Commission. 

“The targets, the objectives 

remain those that have been 

agreed,” commission 

spokesman Simon O’Connor 

said. 

Speaking in the Senate 

before the confidence vote, 

Letta argued that Italy’s need 

to ease austerity during the 

economic slump was shared 

by many European countries. 

“What is happening in Italy 

is happening all over 

Europe,” he said. “Either 

there is a common European 

destiny or each country will 

eventually decline on its 

own.” On Wednesday, he 

travels to Paris where he is 

likely to find a more sympathetic 

hearing from French 

President Francois Hollande, 

who is also pushing for a 

switch of emphasis towards 

growth rather than austerity. 

He will then go to Brussels, 

where he plans talks with 

European Commission 

President Jose Manuel 

Barroso. 

On Tuesday Industry 

Minister Flavio Zanonato and 

Regional Affairs Minister 

Graziano Delrio said Italy 

would seek to exempt public 

investments from budget calculations, 

which would in 

effect allow increased spending. 

Italy’s 2013 deficit target 

now stands at 2.9 percent of 

gross domestic product, just a 

notch below the EU ceiling of 

three percent. 

The country’s biggest 

labour unions on Tuesday 

said they would hold a joint 

protest on June 22 to push for 

more job creating policies. 

The danger from rising social 

tensions was highlighted on 

Sunday in a dramatic gun 

attack in Rome. 

An unemployed man shot 

two police officers in front of 

the prime minister’s office as 

Letta’s government was being 

sworn in at the presidential 

palace. He told investigators 

he wanted to strike at politicians 

before being stopped at 

a police cordon. 

To ease the pain of austerity, 

Letta has proposed freezing 

a planned increase in 

sales tax and suspending the 

housing levy opposed by 

Berlusconi, although he has 

not said he would scrap it 

altogether as the centre-right 

is demanding. 

Those two measures alone 

will cost about 4 billion euros 

($5.24 billion) in lost revenue 

this year, and labour unions 

are asking that the government 

set aside another billion 

euros to fund benefits for 

idled factory workers. Letta 

has not given details of how 

he would raise revenue to 

fund tax reductions. 

Regulator tells Heathrow airport to cut charges 

Yevgenia Tymoshenko, the daughter of jailed former PM Yulia 

Tymoshenko, in Kiev, on Tuesday. (AFP) 

REUTERS 

LONDON 

LONDON’s Heathrow 

Airport must cut the fees it 

charges airlines to reduce the 

substantial market power it 

has built up, the industry’s 

regulator said on Tuesday, in 

a move which could lead to 

lower air fares for travellers. 

The UK’s Civil Aviation 

Authority (CAA) said 

Heathrow, the world’s third 

busiest airport in terms of 

passenger numbers, should 

cut take off and landing 

charges by inflation minus 1.3 

percent between 2014 and 

2019. 

Controlled by Spanish 

infrastructure group 

Ferrovial, Heathrow’s 2012 

profits rose 12 percent to 1.3 

billion pounds in February 

largely driven by an increase 

in the fees it charges airlines, 

its largest source of revenue. 

Earlier this year Heathrow, 

which has raised airport tariffs 

by an average of 12.5 percent 

since April 2011, said it 

should be allowed to increase 

charges by 5.9 percent each 

year in real terms between 

2014 and 2019. 

This would see the fees, 

which are passed on to passengers 

by airlines, rising to 

27.30 pounds per person 

from the current 19.33 

pounds. 

However, the CAA said on 

Tuesday it had “found clear 

evidence of substantial market 

power” at Heathrow and 

“after a decade when prices 

have risen ... is now looking to 

encourage further investment 

whilst improving value for 

passengers in other ways.” 

Heathrow, which has 

invested 11 billion pounds 

over the last ten years in new 

terminals and facilities, 

argues that it needs to raise 

charges to help it better compete 

with rival hubs such as 

Amsterdam, Paris, Frankfurt 

and Dubai. 

Willie Walsh, the chief 

executive of British Airways 

parent IAG, said the proposals 

did not go far enough 

however. 

“Heathrow airport is overpriced, 

over-rewarded and 

inefficient and these proposals, 

which will result in an 

increase in prices, fail to 

address this situation,” the 

head of the largest airline at 

Heathrow said in a statement. 

The CAA said charges at 

London’s second largest airport, 

GIP-owned Gatwick, 

should rise by inflation plus 1 

percent for the five years from 

April 2014, despite Gatwick’s 

calls for the removal of what it 

calls the “regulatory barriers 

to growth”. 

At London’s Stansted airport 

the CAA said it would 

move away from setting a five 

year fixed price cap, and 

instead introduce a price 

monitoring regime. 

Stansted, which is predominantly 

a low-cost leisure and 

holiday airport, is based 50 

kilometres northeast of central 

London, and was bought 

by Manchester Airports 

Group last month. 

Beatrix relinquishes Dutch throne, Willem named king 

DPA 

AMSTERDAM 

THE Netherlands entered a 

new era on Tuesday with 

Willem-Alexander becoming 

the country’s first king in 

more than a century after his 

mother abdicated. 

“For 33 years she gave 

trust and never violated the 

trust given to her and that 

was the basis for her authority,” 

King Willem-Alexander 

said in his inauguration 

speech, a few hours after 

Queen Beatrix had signed 

her abdication. 

In his remarks, Willem- 

Alexander, 46, said the 

country and overseas parts 

of the kingdom “were privileged” 

to have had Beatrix as 

queen. 

He also mentioned the 

economic slowdown that has 

plagued Europe, and which 

has to a degree increased 

criticism of the costs that the 

monarchy generates. 

“It is no longer so self-evident 

as it was in the past, 

that children will be better 

off than their parents,” he 

said, adding that “our 

strength lies not in exclusion 

but in cooperation.” 

In addition to thanking his 

parents, he also thanked his 

Argentinian-born wife, saying 

“I am intensely happy 

with the support of Maxima. 

She has accepted this country 

and become Dutch 

among the Dutch.” 

With a stroke of a pen, 

Beatrix earlier relinquished 

the throne after 33 years and 

said she was making way for 

a “new generation.” She was 

the fourth queen since 1890, 

and will now be known as 

Princess Beatrix. 

“It was a very special, very 

emotional moment,” Prime 

Minister Mark Rutte said 

after witnessing the signing 

of the abdication act at the 

Royal Palace. 

A 25,000-strong crowd - 

Dutch King Willem-Alexander (left), Queen Maxima (right) and members of the royal household during 

his inauguration at Nieuwe Kerk, in Amsterdam, on Tuesday. (AFP) 

many wearing orange - 

assembled on central Dam 

Square by the Royal Palace 

and cheered during the ceremonies 

which were shown 

on big screens or when the 

royals appeared. 

“I am happy and thankful 

to present to you the new 

king - King Willem- 

Alexander,” an emotional 

Beatrix said of her eldest 

son, as they stepped onto 

the balcony of the Royal 

Palace. 

The king and his mother 

were accompanied by 

Maxima, 41, who is new 

queen. When Beatrix left the 

balcony, the royal couple 

were joined by their daughters 

Catharina-Amalia, 9, 

who is now crown princess; 

Alexia 7; and Ariane, 6. 

At the investiture ceremony 

at the nearby Nieuwe 

Kerk, the king pledged allegiance 

to the constitution 

and Dutch people. 

After the king’s oath, representatives 

from both 

chambers of parliament and 

members of the cabinet 

pledged to uphold the rights 

of the monarchy. 

The king wore a royal 

mantle from 1815 over his 

tails, and an orange sash. 

Royals from 18 countries 

were present, many who are 

in line to their respective 

thrones, including Britain’s 

Prince Charles - who was 

present when Queen Beatrix 

was inaugurated 1980, 

Japanese Crown Prince 

Naruhito as well as royal 

heirs from Belgium, Brunei, 

Denmark, Jordan, Norway, 

Qatar, Spain, Sweden and 

Thailand. 

A notable absentee was 

one the king’s two brothers, 

Prince Friso, who is in a 

coma after a skiing accident 

in Austria last year. 

The father of Willem- 

Alexander’s wife was also 

not invited due to his past as 

a civilian member of one of 

Argentina’s military-led 

governments. He did not 

attend their 2002 wedding 

either. 

The city’s airspace was 

closed on Monday, and an 

estimated 12,500 police officers 

were on duty. Bombsniffing 

dogs were deployed.

Pakistan / South Asia Wednesday, May 1, 2013 17 

Pakistan court bans Musharraf for life 

AFP 

PESHAWAR 

A PAKISTANI court moved 

on Tuesday to ban former 

military ruler Pervez 

Musharraf from contesting 

elections for the rest of his 

life, a step which his aides 

immediately vowed to challenge. 

The retired general has 

been humiliated since returning 

last month from selfimposed 

exile to contest elections 

and is currently under 

house arrest. 

He will spend the May 11 

general elections under lock 

and key, after an anti-terrorism 

court in the garrison city 

of Rawalpindi put him under 

house arrest for 14 days over 

the death of politician Benazir 

Bhutto in 2007. 

Just hours later, a court in 

the northwestern city of 

Peshawar dismissed an 

appeal against his disqualification 

from standing for election 

in the district of Chitral 

and banned him for life from 

running for parliament, 

lawyers said. 

The ban extended to the 

lower and upper houses of the 

federal parliament and to all 

provincial assemblies, lawyer 

Mohibullah Tarichvi told 

AFP. 

A spokesman for 

Musharraf’s All Pakistan 

Muslim League party, 

Muhammad Amjad, was circumspect. 

“We can challenge it,” he 

told AFP. 

A court in the eastern city of 

Lahore is scheduled to rule 

May 7 on separate appeals 

In 2010 a UN 

report said Bhutto’s 

death could 

have been prevented 

and accused 

Musharraf’s government 

of failing 

to give her adequate 

protection. 

against his disqualification 

for the current election in 

other seats. He applied to 

stand in a total of four constituencies. 

“If the court upholds the 

disqualification then we will 

go to the Supreme Court,” 

Amjad said. 

Musharraf had promised 

to “save” the country from 

militancy and economic collapse 

but was barred from 

running as a candidate over 

charges dating back to his 

1999-2008 rule. 

He will now spend polling 

day in his Islamabad villa, 

which has been designated as 

A poster (left) of former president and head of the All Pakistan Muslim League political party Pervez Musharraf with Muhammad Ali 

Jinnah, at a roadside shop, in Islamabad, on Tuesday. (REUTERS) 

a jail, making his chances of 

even voting remote. 

Musharraf’s lawyer 

Ibrahim Satti told AFP that 

his client could request a 

postal vote but said a government-facilitated 

visit to a 

polling station would be 

unlikely “because of security 

concerns”. 

The retired general is also 

under house arrest for sacking 

judges when he imposed 

emergency rule in 2007. 

Musharraf is accused of 

conspiracy to murder former 

prime minister Bhutto, 

whose Pakistan People’s 

Party was elected into power 

in 2008 on a wave of sympathy 

over her death in a gun 

and suicide attack. 

Besides the sacking of 

judges, he faces a third legal 

case over the 2006 death of a 

Baluch rebel leader and has 

been threatened with death 

by the Taliban. 

Nobody has ever been 

convicted or jailed for 

Bhutto’s assassination. 

Musharraf’s government 

blamed the killing on 

Pakistani Taliban chief 

Baitullah Mehsud, who 

denied any involvement and 

was killed in a US drone 

attack in 2009. 

But Bhutto’s son, Bilawal 

Bhutto Zardari, who is PPP 

chairman, has accused 

Musharraf of her murder. 

In 2010 a UN report said 

Bhutto’s death could have 

been prevented and accused 

Musharraf’s government of 

failing to give her adequate 

protection. 

Mosque, shops 

attacked in 

Myanmar 

AFP 

YANGON 

POLICE in central Myanmar 

fired warning shots to disperse 

a crowd after a mosque 

and shops were attacked on 

Tuesday, the president’s 

spokesman said, in the latest 

religious unrest to hit the 

country. 

The fighting was sparked in 

the small town of Oakkan, 

around 100 kilometres (60 

miles) north of Yangon, after 

a woman accidentally 

bumped into a young novice 

monk and knocked his alms 

bowl onto the ground, 

according to Ye Htut. 

It is the latest unrest to flare 

in the region north of Yangon, 

Myanmar’s main city, after a 

series of attacks by Buddhist 

mobs on Muslim homes, 

businesses and mosques in 

March. 

“According to the initial 

information received by the 

Myanmar Police Force, a 

mosque and shops nearby 

were attacked... The police 

force had to fire warning 

shots to disperse the crowd,” 

Ye Htut said in a post on his 

Facebook page, adding that 

the situation had been 

brought under control. 

AFP 

SARGHODA 

YOU can’t lead a revolution 

and hide behind bullet-proof 

glass — at least not according 

to Imran Khan, wildcard contender 

for power at the ballot 

box in Pakistan next week. 

Visibly tired by 15-hour 

days, frenetic flying and driving 

round the country to 

address tens of thousands in a 

campaign dominated by 

threats and fear of attack, the 

cricket legend is nothing if not 

focused. 

“This is a revolution taking 

place,” he told AFP after a 

couple of days of hard campaigning 

in Punjab, his home 

province and the political 

backbone of Pakistan which 

elects a little over half the 

seats in the national assembly. 

“When I came to politics 17 

years ago, I had already conquered 

my fear of dying 

because I knew I was going to 

challenge the status quo,” the 

60-year-old said. But security is 

clearly a major preoccupation. 

Khan says he’s on the “top 

five hit list”. He may not use 

the bulletproof glass screens 

used by other politicians at 

public rallies, but he travels in 

an armoured car with an 

armed police escort. 

Rescue workers attempt to find survivors from the rubble of the 

collapsed building, in Savar, near Dhaka, on Tuesday. (REUTERS) 

Imran sets poll trail on fire 

Cricket legend and chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf Imran 

Khan at a campaign meeting, in Murree, on Monday. (AFP) 

A rally in Karachi, Pakistan’s 

largest city, was cancelled on 

Sunday after attacks on rival 

parties killed more than 20 

people. Attacks targeting the 

election campaign have so far 

killed nearly 60 people ahead 

of the May 11 polls. 

“We couldn’t take a risk. It’s 

just too dangerous. I mean 

you can’t risk the life of other 

people,” the 60-year-old said. 

Khan has two sons by his exwife 

Jemima Khan, daughter 

of the late billionaire tycoon 

James Goldsmith, but they live 

in Britain and he has not seen 

them for several months. 

“My older son worries. You 

know he worries, obviously, 

because when he hears what’s 

going on in Pakistan,” he says. 

Khan and Nawaz Sharif, the 

two-time prime minister 

whose PML-N party is tipped 

to win, are the only two leaders 

addressing big rallies. 

The three main parties in 

the outgoing government, the 

PPP, the MQM and the ANP, 

have curtailed public gatherings 

in the face of direct 

Taliban threats. 

Khan’s campaign is about 

mobilising the masses, 

exploiting disaffection with a 

corrupt elite, tapping into 

anti-American sentiment that 

blames many of the countries 

woes on the United States and 

promising to fix a crippling 

power crisis. 

“If my politics is different... I 

can’t be standing behind a 

bullet-proof screen and connecting 

with the people,” he 

said. 

When he bounded up to the 

microphone in Sarghoda, a 

university and garrison town 

in the Punjab farm belt, he 

deliberately stepped in front, 

not behind the protective 

screen party workers had 

hauled onto the podium. 

To his supporters he is the 

hero who led Pakistan’s cricket 

team to World Cup victory 

in 1992 and then set up the 

best cancer hospital in the 

country. 

He went into politics in 

1996, founding his Pakistan 

Tehreek-e-Insaaf (Movement 

for Justice) party determined 

to break the stranglehold of 

dynastic politics. 

Bangladesh defends disaster effort as anger grows 

AFP 

DHAKA 

BANGLADESH defended on 

Tuesday its decision to snub foreign 

aid after the collapse of a 

garment factory complex where 

at least 388 people died as the 

UN revealed it had offered specialist 

help to find survivors. 

With the death toll from the 

country’s worst ever industrial 

disaster still rising, the government 

is facing criticism 

over its handling of the 

tragedy and the lack of regulation 

blamed for the loss of life. 

“The need for immediate 

foreign assistance was not felt 

because our rescue operation 

has been sufficient and exemplary,” 

Home Secretary 

Mustak Ahmed told AFP, 

adding the government was 

“grateful” for of help offers 

from Britain among others. 

The UN’s humanitarian 

advisor in Bangladesh Gerson 

Brandao said that he had 

offered emergency disaster 

teams based in Singapore and 

Abu Dhabi within hours of 

the accident on Wednesday 

morning last week. 

“These are a group of people 

who are experts. They 

have dogs, micro cameras 

and other equipment that we 

do not have in Bangladesh,” 

Brandao told AFP. 

Facing more angry protests 

near the accident site, where 

workers took to the streets 

brandishing sticks, the government 

also announced 

plans for another blitz of 

inspections as it came under 

pressure for an improved 

safety regime. 

Groups such as Britain’s 

“fast fashion” label Primark 

and Canada’ssupermarket 

giant Loblaw, whose clothes 

were found in the wreckage, 

have come forward to offered 

compensation to the dead 

and injured. 

Spanish label Mango and 

Italian group Benetton have 

also admitted their products 

were recently manufactured 

in the building and they are 

under pressure from campaign 

groups to contribute. 

Although the exact number 

of people still missing is not 

known, there were around 

3,000 workers on shift at the 

time of the disaster and more 

than 2,400 were rescued 

from the ruins. 

As heavy-lifting equipment 

and cranes moved in at the 

site on Tuesday, more bodies 

were expected to be found. 

The shocking accident has 

again focused attention on 

the safety record of the $20- 

billion Bangladeshi garment 

industry, the second biggest 

after China’s, following a fire 

in November that killed 111. 

Western brands which have 

moved manufacturing to lowcost 

and low-regulation countries 

such as Bangladesh as 

well as consumers who wilfully 

overlook the plight of workers 

have been criticised by 

campaigners. 

Afghans need 

more religious 

freedom: US 

AP 

KABUL 

DESPITE significant 

improvements since the 

hard-line Taliban ruled 

Afghanistan, religious freedom 

remains poor, especially 

for minorities, and 

Afghans still can’t debate 

religion or question prevailing 

Islamic orthodoxies 

without fear of being punished, 

a US commission 

said in a new report on 

Tuesday. 

As the country braces for 

next year’s presidential 

election and the planned 

withdrawal of most foreign 

combat troops by the end of 

2014, the panel urges the 

US government and its 

allies to work harder to promote 

religious rights in the 

war-torn nation. 

The environment for 

exercising religious freedom 

remains “exceedingly 

poor” for dissenting members 

of Afghanistan’s Sunni 

Muslim majority and for 

minorities, such as Shiite 

Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs 

and Christians, the US 

Commission 

on 

International Religious 

Freedom said in its report. 

“Individuals who dissent 

from the prevailing 

orthodoxy regarding 

Islamic beliefs and practices 

are subject to legal 

actions that violate international 

standards,” 

according to the commission, 

which was created in 

1998 to review violations 

of religious freedom internationally 

and make policy 

recommendations to 

the U.S. government. 

“The Taliban and other 

non-state actors continue to 

target individuals for activity 

deemed ‘un-Islamic,’ and 

the Afghanistan constitution 

fails explicitly to protect 

the individual right to 

freedom of religion or 

belief.” 

An Afghan government 

official disputed the findings. 

“The Afghan government 

is fully committed to ensuring 

religious freedom for 

followers of all religions in 

Afghanistan, something our 

constitution is very clear 

about,” Janan Mosazai, 

spokesman for the Afghan 

foreign ministry, said in an 

email to AP. 

Mosazai said that even 

though Islam is 

Afghanistan’s official religion, 

the constitution clearly 

states that “followers of 

other faiths shall be free 

within the bounds of law in 

the exercise and performance 

of their religious rituals.” 

In its 2013 annual report, 

USCIRF praises that clause 

of Afghanistan’s 2004 constitution, 

but notes that 

another part of the charter 

says these fundamental 

rights can be superseded by 

ordinary legislation. This 

Because of legal 

restrictions, 

“Afghans cannot 

debate the role 

and content of 

religion in law 

and society. 

shortcoming is compounded 

by “a vague, repugnancy 

clause” that says no law can 

be contrary to Islam and 

allows courts to enforce it, 

the commission says. 

In addition, the penal 

code discriminates against 

minorities by allowing 

courts to defer to Shariah, 

or Islamic law, in cases 

involving matters such as 

apostasy and conversion 

that are not explicitly 

addressed by the penal 

code or the constitution, 

resulting in those charges 

being punishable by death, 

the report says. 

Because of legal restrictions, 

“Afghans cannot 

debate the role and content 

of religion in law and society, 

advocate for the rights 

of women and religious 

minorities, or question 

interpretations of Islamic 

precepts without fear of 

retribution or being 

charged with religious 

“crimes’ such as apostasy, 

blasphemy or insulting 

Islam,” USCIRF says.


United States 

US seeks certainty on Syria chemical arms 

AP 

WASHINGTON 

PRESIDENT Barack Obama, 

who has said the use of chemical 

weapons by Syrian leader 

Bashar Assad would mark an 

unacceptable escalation of the 

country’s long-running civil 

war, said on Tuesday that the 

United States must be more 

certain of all the facts before he 

decides on how the country 

will intervene in the conflict. 

The president said, however, 

that if it is determined that 

the Assad regime used chemical 

weapons “we would have to 

rethink the range of options 

that are available to us.” 

With the US disengaging 

from the unpopular war in 

Afghanistan and still smarting 

from the difficult conflict in 

Iraq, Obama has been reticent 

to unleash American military 

power in the Syrian fighting, a 

civil war that has killed tens of 

thousands of people. The president 

said the conflict is a 

“blemish on the international 

community generally.” 

But he said he was not prepared 

to rush to respond to 

growing evidence that chemical 

weapons had been used in 

Syria, something he termed 

would mark the crossing of a 

“red line” and a game-changer, 

Obama said: “I meant that 

we would have to rethink the 

range of options open to us.” 

In the White House news 

conference marking the 

100th day of his second term, 

the president said he had a 

full range of such “options on 

the shelf” but he declined to 

enumerate them. 

Many critics of Obama’s 

disinclination to use the 

American military in Syria are 

calling for the president to 

establish safe zones for Syrian 

rebels, to protect them with a 

no-fly zone and begin sending 

arms to forces fighting to 

overthrow the Assad regime. 

The problem facing the US 

is that Syrian air defences are 

far stronger than NATO allies 

faced when they intervened 

with air power in Libya, and 

many of the rebel forces are 

now identified as Islamic radicals, 

many of them associated 

with al-Qaida and determined 

to establish a government 

based on a strict interpretation 

of Islamic law. 

Noting American humanitarian 

aid that has flowed into 

victims of the conflict, Obama 

said the civil war has been “a 

slowly unfolding disaster for 

the Syrian people, and this is 

not a situation in which we’ve 

simply been bystanders”. But 

when measuring additional 

action, Obama said, “I’ve got 

to know I’ve got the facts.” 

“We don’t know who used 

them. We don’t have a chain 

of custody that establishes” 

exactly what happened. He 

further declared that the 

international community has 

to be completely confident in 

the assessment that chemical 

weapons have been used. 

President Barack Obama answers questions in the Brady Press briefing room at the White House, in Washington, on Tuesday. (REUTERS) 

Asked about a topic that 

links terrorism and Obama’s 

legislative efforts, he said he 

would “re-engage with 

Congress” on the future of the 

prison for detainees at 

Guantanamo in Cuba. As a 

candidate for the White 

House in 2007 and 2008, 

Obama called for closing the 

base, which was set up as part 

of President George W. 

Bush’s response to the terror 

attacks on September 11, 

2001. Lawmakers objected 

and the facility remains open. 

Questioned about a hunger 

strike by some detainees, he 

said, “I don’t want these individuals 

to die,” and he said the 

Pentagon was doing what it 

could to manage the situation. 

Obama also noted that several 

suspected terrorists have 

been tried and found guilty in 

US federal courts, an answer 

to his congressional critics 

who maintain that detainees 

must be tried in special courts 

if the United States is to maximise 

its ability to prevent 

future attacks. 

On another topic, Obama 

responded with slight ridicule 

and humour when he was 

asked if he still had the political 

power to push his agenda 

through Congress after an 

early second-term defeat on 

gun control legislation. 

“Golly, I might just as well 

pack up and go home,” he 

parried his questioner. 

Paraphrasing American 

humourist Mark Twain, he 

said, “Rumours of my demise 

may be a little exaggerated at 

this point.” And he expressed 

confidence that Congress 

would approve sweeping 

immigration legislation that 

he is seeking. 

He also renewed his call for 

lawmakers to replace acrossthe-board 

federal spending 

cuts. The administration 

favours a comprehensive 

plan to reduce deficits 

through targeted spending 

cuts and higher taxes. 

Questioned about the 

response of authorities to the 

terrorist bombing at the 

Boston Marathon, Obama 

said a national security review 

will look at whether there is 

more the government can do 

to stop people within the 

United States who might 

become radicalised and plan 

terror attacks. 

One of the dangers the US 

faces now, Obama said, is 

people who might decide to 

attack because of “whatever 

warped, twisted ideas they 

may have.” 

SEC urged to bar 

forced Wall Street 

arbitration 

REUTERS 

WASHINGTON 

A GROUP of 37 federal 

lawmakers urged United 

States securities regulators 

to prohibit Wall Street brokers 

from forcing customers 

to sign away their 

legal right to sue. 

“If arbitration offers 

investors an efficient forum 

to resolve disputes, as some 

argue, investors may 

choose that option, but 

they should be given the 

choice,” the lawmakers 

wrote in a letter to 

Securities and Exchange 

Commission Chair Mary Jo 

White on Tuesday. 

Brokerages typically 

require customers to sign 

pre-dispute arbitration 

agreements when opening 

their accounts. Under such 

agreements, disputes 

between a brokerage and a 

customer go to arbitration; 

customers are prohibited 

from suing in court. 

The agreements have 

also been widely used by 

other types of firms, including 

credit card companies, 

who say they help reduce 

legal costs and prevent frivolous 

litigation. 

Critics say the agreements 

erode customers’ 

legal rights and often result 

in arbitration rulings 

against customers. The 

2010 Dodd-Frank Wall 

Street reform law gives the 

SEC the authority to scale 

back or prohibit the use of 

arbitration agreements, but 

the agency has not exercised 

that power. 

State securities regulators 

went to Capitol Hill 

earlier this month to lobby 

on the issue and help gather 

signatures for the letter 

to White. The issue came 

into the spotlight recently 

after Charles Schwab 

Corporation expanded the 

mandatory arbitration 

clauses in its customer contracts 

to include class 

action waivers. 

The Financial Industry 

Regulatory Authority tried 

to fight the Schwab move 

by filing a disciplinary 

action, saying that the 

class action waiver violated 

its rules. 

But a hearing panel 

upheld Schwab’s measure 

in February. FINRA is 

appealing the ruling to the 

National Adjudicatory 

Council, a FINRA appellate 

body that reviews disciplinary 

decisions. 

In the letter to White, the 

lawmakers said they were 

alarmed by the Schwab 

case and said it should be a 

catalyst for the SEC to act. 

“We are deeply concerned 

that the commission’s failure 

to respond to the dangers 

posed by widespread 

forced arbitration will 

weaken existing investor 

The lawmakers 

signing the letter 

were led by 

Democratic 

Senator Al 

Franken of Minnesota. 

Whether 

the letter will 

carry weight 

with the SEC 

remains to be 

seen. 

protections,” they wrote. 

“Given the uncertainty 

created by the recent 

FINRA decision, we urge 

the commission to act 

quickly to exercise its 

authority to prevent this 

practice and protect 

investor rights.” 

The lawmakers signing 

the letter, all of them 

Democrats 

or 

Independents, were led by 

Democratic Senator Al 

Franken of Minnesota. 

Whether the letter will 

carry weight with the SEC 

remains to be seen. White 

was sworn in as SEC chair 

earlier this month and has 

not yet publicly discussed 

many of her policy views. 

Earlier this month, one 

SEC commissioner, Luis 

Aguilar, called for the SEC 

to take steps to scale back or 

limit the use of mandatory 

arbitration agreements. 

Lower Massachusetts goes to 

polls to elect senator 

REUTERS 

BOSTON 

VOTERS in Massachusetts on 

Tuesday go to the polls to pick 

the Democratic and 

Republican contenders for 

the state’s open seat in the US 

Senate, after campaigns that 

were briefly suspended by the 

Boston Marathon bombings. 

All five candidates, two 

Democrats and three 

Republicans, took several 

days off campaigning after 

the April 15 attacks, which 

killed three people and 

injured 264 others, but they 

roared back into a more spirited 

debate last week. 

“The terrorist attack really 

focused people’s attention 

elsewhere,” said Peter 

Ubertaccio, professor of political 

science at Stonehill 

College in Easton, 

Massachusetts. “We’re looking 

at some very low turnout.” 

About 10 percent fewer 

absentee ballots, which can 

be a barometer of interest, 

have been requested by voters 

in each party than in a special 

Senate election primary in 

2009, according to Brian 

McNiff, a spokesman for 

Secretary of the 

Commonwealth William 

Galvin. 

The seat became available 

3 abalone divers drowned off California coast 

REUTERS 

SAN FRANCISCO 

THREE recreational abalone 

divers died in separate 

drownings over the weekend 

in a 24-hour period along 

northern California’s coast, 

police and coroner officials 

said on Monday. 

Diving for abalone, a prized 

mollusk, can be dangerous, 

but law enforcement officials 

said they knew of no other 

time when three people trying 

to catch them died in a single 

weekend. 

“It’s very unusual,” said 

Mendocino County Sergeant 

Scott Poma, the chief deputy 

Wendy’s District Manager (left) hangs an open sign on his restaurant, in Boston, recently. (REUTERS) 

when President Barack 

Obama said in December that 

he planned to name John 

Kerry the US Secretary of 

State. Democrat Kerry had 

served as US Senator from 

Massachusetts since 1985. 

Democratic Representative 

Ed Markey, who was first to 

enter the race, leads in opinion 

polls both against his 

party rival and all three 

Republicans. On the 

Democratic side, Markey 

faces fellow US Congressman 

coroner. 

The first death occurred on 

Saturday afternoon when 

Cedric Collett, 66, of the small 

northern California community 

of Pacifica, drowned off 

Shell Beach in Sonoma 

County, 85 miles (137 km) 

northwest of San Francisco, 

county coroner spokesman 

Sergeant Greg Stashyn said. 

On Sunday morning, 

Kenneth Liu, 36, of San 

Francisco, drowned diving for 

abalone in the waters off the 

town of Jenner in Sonoma 

County, Stashyn said. 

And also on Sunday morning, 

Henry Choy, 50, of the 

San Francisco Bay area town 

Stephen Lynch. 

The Republican candidates 

are former US Attorney 

Michael Sullivan, private 

equity executive and former 

Navy SEAL Gabriel Gomez 

and State Representative 

Daniel Winslow. 

The two party primary winners 

will contest a special 

election on June 25. 

Polls of Democratic voters 

in March and April showed 

Markey with a solid lead 

over Lynch. The Republican 

of San Bruno, drowned in the 

ocean off Fort Bragg in 

Mendocino County, just 

north of Sonoma County 

All three divers 

had travelled to 

the coastal region 

separately to dive 

for abalone with 

friends, but all of 

them were alone 

when they 

drowned. 

where the other two deaths 

occurred, Poma said. 

A low tide brought large 

numbers of abalone divers to 

Mendocino and Sonoma 

race has been more fluid, 

with Sullivan, one of the better-known 

candidates leading 

in a March poll by 

WBUR/MassInc Polling but 

the newcomer Gomez edging 

him out in an April poll 

by the Western New 

England University. 

All three polls showed the 

Democratic candidates 

handily beating their 

Republican rivals in theoretical 

one-on-one general election 

matchups. 

counties over the weekend, 

Poma said. 

But in a sign of how rough 

the waters were for divers, it 

was too dangerous for rescue 

teams to enter the ocean for 

Choy, prompting authorities 

to call in a helicopter in an 

unsuccessful effort to save 

him, he said. 

All three divers had travelled 

to the coastal region separately 

to dive for abalone 

with friends, but all of them 

were alone when they 

drowned, officials said. 

“People really should be 

diving with partners who can 

help them,” said marine biologist 

Carrie Wilson of the 

Ex-Justice 

questions 

Bush vs Gore 

case ruling 

REUTERS 

WASHINGTON 

RETIRED Supreme Court 

Justice Sandra Day 

O’Connor has voiced some 

regret about the court’s 

intervention in the hotly contested 

2000 presidential 

election that went to 

Republican George W. Bush 

over Democrat Al Gore. 

O’Connor, 83, told the 

Chicago Tribune’s editorial 

board that the high court 

“probably added to the problem” 

by taking up the case 

over a disputed Florida 

recount, which the high court 

in Florida had allowed to go 

ahead at Gore’s request. 

The Supreme Court’s 5-4 

ruling, with O’Connor in the 

majority, ended the recount 

and led to Bush’s election victory. 

O’Connor, appointed to 

the court by Republican 

President Ronald Reagan in 

1981, retired in 2006. 

In the remarks on Friday, 

she told the paper that 

although election authorities 

in Florida “kind of messed it 

up,” paving the way for the 

Bush campaign to ask the 

Supreme Court to intervene, 

the justices’ role in deciding 

the election “gave the court a 

less-than-perfect” reputation.” 

California Department of Fish 

and Wildlife. 

California state law prohibits 

abalone hunters from 

using scuba gear. As a result, 

they must either wade into 

the water or hold their breath 

while diving for abalone and 

their mother-of-pearl shells, 

Wilson said. 

“We’ve never allowed any 

scuba diving for abalone 

north of the Golden Gate 

Bridge, except for a short time 

during World War Two,” 

Wilson said. “That abalone 

population has survived 

because of that.” The rules 

make diving for abalone “a 

dangerous sport,” she said.

Nation Wednesday, May 1, 2013 19 

HEIR APPARENT MEETS LIBYA’S CONGRESS CHIEF 

The Heir Apparent His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani with Libya’s National 

Congress President Mohammed Magarief at the Doha International Airport on Tuesday. During 

the meeting, the two sides reviewed relations between the countries and means of enhancing 

them in all aspects. They also discussed several regional and international issues of mutual 

concern. Magarief and the delegation accompanying him arrived on an official visit in Doha. 

EAC, Vodafone 

Foundation in 

pact for mobile 

education 


DOHA 

THE Vodafone Foundation 

on Monday signed a memorandum 

of understanding 

(MOU) with the Educate A 

Child (EAC) Programme to 

bring quality primary education 

to millions of out-ofschool 

children. 

As part of the agreement, the 

Vodafone Foundation’s Instant 

Network, a mobile network packed 

into three suitcases, will 

be deployed in refugee camps 

around the world by a team of 

70 Vodafone volunteer engineers. 

Witnessed by Her Highness 

Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, 

the MoU was signed at a 

High-level Strategic Meeting in 

Doha focused on accelerating 

progress towards attaining the 

second Millennium Development 

Goal of universal primary 

education by the end of 2015. 

Outstanding projects honoured at 

CMUQ’s Meeting of the Minds 

AILYN AGONIA 

DOHA 

A PROJECT titled ‘Towards 

Computational Offloading in 

Mobile Clouds’ by Afnan 

Fahim won this year’s grand 

prize in the Meeting of the 

Minds event at Carnegie 

Mellon University Qatar 

(CMUQ) on Tuesday. 

The project, which proposes 

the use of ‘cloudlets’ or smaller 

clouds that would make 

mobile task offloading less 

expensive in terms of energy 

waste and time consumption, 

was named the best among 

the 27 research and projects 

presented at this year’s edition 

of the annual symposium. 

Noora J al Muftah’s astronomical 

data analysis application, 

which could lead to 

the development of a complete 

computer application to 

assist astronomers in finding 

exoplanets, earned the nod of 

the esteemed judges as the 

second prize winner in the 

competition. 

The third place went to 

Amna al Zeyara for her work, 

which attempts to identify 

and develop a suitable set of 

facial expression for a 3D 

agent hat with Arabic facial 

features. 

Meeting of the Minds is a 

CMUQ’s annual event aimed 

at bridging the gap between 

conducting research and presenting 

it to a wider audience. 

Meeting of the Minds First Prize winner Afnan Fahim (right) receives an award from 

CMUQ Dean Ilker Baybars, in Doha, on Tuesday. 

The list of judges this year 

included officials of various 

institutions in Qatar such as 

Vodafone, Shell, Qatar 

National Research Fund 

(QNRF), Qatar Mobility 

Innovations Center (QMIC) 

and Qatar Science and 

Technology Park (QSTP). 

Special awards were also 

given in recognition of extra 

efforts of the participating 

students. Jiyda bint Moussa 

and Sophie Qingjia Jiang’s 

poster on ‘Arab Spring 

Newspaper Coverage: A 

Comparative Analysis’ was 

named as the best poster. 

Five entries received special 

recognition for having a great 

social impact aligned with the 

Qatar National Vision 2030. 

The projects were Characterizing 

the Morphology by 

Pathogenic Fungi Isolated in 

the Qatari Health Setting 

Ridin Balakrishnan, Investigation 

of Legal and Regulatory 

Obstacles to Becoming 

an Entrepreneur in Qatar by 

Chaudry Anas and Shahid 

Raheem, Home-Based Business: 

A Growing Phenomenon 

by Abdulrahaman al 

Muftah, Maryam al Subaie 

and Maryal al Thani, What 

Affects Students’ Acceptance 

and Use of Technology? by 

Fatema Akbar and The QALB 

Project by Wajdi Zaghouni 

and Ossama Obeid. 

“This is what CMUQ is all 

about. Our goal is to create 

and disseminate knowledge. 

This event is a celebration of 

knowledge and science,” 

CMUQ Dean Ilker Baybars 

said on the occasion. 

CMUQ Associate Dean for 

Education Mark Stehlik underlined 

the role of the symposium 

in providing opportunities 

for students to showcase 

their works outside the classroom. 

“Research creates knowledge 

and knowledge drives 

education,” said Stehlik. 

QF urges support for Barca at FZ 


DOHA 

Football enthusiasts at the Fan Zone, in Doha. 

QATAR Foundation (QF) has 

urged members of the community 

to participate in the 

Qatar Foundation FC 

Barcelona (FCB) Fan Zone 

where they can watch the second-leg 

match of the UEFA 

Champions League semi-final 

between FCB and Bayern 

Munich on Wednesday. 

Last Tuesday, hundreds of 

supporters attended the Fan 

Zone to watch the first-leg 

contest between the two 

European giants. The game 

ended in disaster for FCB, 

going down 4-0 to their 

German rivals and leaving 

them with very little chance of 

reaching the Champions 

League final. 

Qatar Foundation’s Fan 

Zone always generates an 

exciting atmosphere as hundreds 

of enthusiastic supporters 

come together to watch 

FCB battle it out against some 

of Europe’s top football 

teams. Young fans are 

encouraged to derive inspiration 

from FCB’s perseverance, 

motivation and drive to 

get back into the tie. 

Tariq al Sada, head of 

Qatar Foundation’s Press 

Office, said, “This is one of 

the many sporting events 

which have been organised to 

foster the values of Qatar 

Foundation and FC 

Barcelona’s ‘Passion Drives 

Us All’ initiative. We are 

pleased with the level of participation 

in all our Fan Zone 

events. The community’s 

enthusiasm has contributed 

positively to the spirit of the 

partnership and to the mutual 

goals shared by both 

organisations.” 

He added, “Our aim is to 

encourage individuals and 

communities to engage in 

more sporting activities, 

given its crucial importance 

to the development of youth. 

The slogan ‘Passion Drives 

Us All’ reflects Qatar 

Foundation and FCB’s 

enduring commitment to 

encourage all members of the 

community to achieve their 

potential and overcome any 

challenges that arise on their 

path to success.” 

Visitors are encouraged to 

arrive as early as possible to 

the action-packed event, 

which will kick off at 8pm at 

Awsaj Academy’s football 

pitch at the main Qatar 

Foundation site. Before settling 

down to watch the live 

screening of the match on 

giant screens, Fan Zone visitors 

of all ages will be given 

the opportunity to participate 

in a selection of footballthemed 

competitions. There 

will be a number of great 

giveaways for fans. 

Qatar Academy choirs wow audience with concert series 

CATHERINE W GICHUKI 

DOHA 

QATAR Academy’s primary, 

secondary and staff choirs 

provided enchanting music 

to audience as the school 

concluded its concert series 

on Tuesday. 

Performances by their different 

groups were directed 

by senior school drama and 

choral teacher Stephanie 

Gravelle, orimary school 

music teacher Vic Vermaak 

and Grade 2 &3 music 

teacher Sylvia Antonides. 

To conclude the showcase 

the entire group performed 

the song “What a Wonderful 

World” together. 

The after-school activity 

was used to celebrate April 

which is regarded as the 

month of art in the school. 

Young voices from Grade 2 

& 3 enthralled the audiences 

with two songs ‘Responsible’ 

and ‘My personal Code’ by 

Teresa Jennings. 

Speaking to Qatar 

Tribune, Antonides said that 

(From left) Primary School Music Teacher Vic Vermaak, Senior 

School Drama and Choral Teacher Stephanie Gravelle and Grade 

2 & 3 Music Teacher Sylvia Antonides, in Doha, on Tuesday. Qatar Academy students and staff members perform at the Qatar Academy Concert Series, in Doha, on Tuesday. (MANEESH BAKSHI) 

the event was aimed at showcasing 

the students’ talents to 

enable them build confidence. 

Of the songs by Teresa 

Jennings, she said that they 

talked about character and 

behaviour. 

“The songs have a message 

about character. We have 

been preparing for this for 

the past two months. It 

offers the students an opportunity 

to build confidence. It 

also imparts to them the 

basic music skills. The students 

really enjoyed. I believe 

this performance will inspire 

those students who would 

love to pursue music as a 

career,” she said. 

Antonides further said that 

even though the arts month 

was over, the students would 

continue to perform in school 

assemblies. 

The primary school choir, 

with over 50 kids participating, 

enthralled the audience 

with songs such as “Chasing 

the Sun” and “What Makes 

You Beautiful”. 

Vermaak said that this was 

the first time the school was 

doing a choir showcase. 

“Through this we can develop 

a culture of singing,” he 

said. 

The senior school performed 

“Cantar” by Jay Althouse 

and “Homeward Bound” 

by Marta Keens. The staff 

choir showcased the song 

“Viva Lavida” by Cold Play. 

Gravelle said that the 

month of April was a celebration 

of different kinds of arts 

including music, art and 

drama. 

“Arts are used to communicate 

with people. The 

showcase was aimed at letting 

the students overcome 

fear while on stage,” she said.


The Last Word 

Sheikha Moza attends Dutch King’s coronation 

HH Sheikha Moza bint Nasser with other dignitaries at the crowning ceremony of King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands at the Royal Palace, in Amsterdam, on Tuesday. (POOL / HHOPL) 

QNA 

AMSTERDAM / DOHA 

HH SHEIKHA Moza bint 

Nasser attended on 

Tuesday the inauguration 

ceremony of King Willem- 

Alexander of the 

Netherlands, at the Royal 

Palace in Amsterdam. King 

Willem-Alexander, 46, 

became Europe’s youngest 

monarch after his mother 

Queen Beatrix abdicated 

after 33-years on the 

throne. 

Also present at the ceremony 

was King Willem- 

Alexander’s Argentine-born 

wife Queen Maxima, 41, 

and members of the government. 

The countrymen 

greeted the joyous occasion 

of the inauguration of their 

first king in 120 years with a 

massive orange-hued party. 

On this occasion, the 

Emir HH Sheikh Hamad 

bin Khalifa al Thani sent a 

cable of congratulations to 

King Willem-Alexander on 

his enthronement. A similar 

cable of congratulations 

was sent by the Heir 

Apparent HH Sheikh 

Tamim bin Hamad al 

The Dutch kids at an orange-hued party to celebrate the investiture ceremony, in Doha, on Tuesday. 

Thani to King Willem- 

Alexander. The Prime 

Minister and Foreign 

Minister HE Sheikh 

Hamad bin Jassim bin 

Jabor al Thani also sent a 

cable of congratulations to 

the new king of the 

Netherlands. 

Meanwhile, the Dutch 

community in Qatar celebrated 

on Tuesday the 

National Day of the 

Netherlands, which 

became extra special this 

year because of the investiture 

of King Willem- 

Alexander. 

The embassy of the 

Netherlands in collaboration 

with the Compass 

School organised festivities 

for the Dutch children living 

in Qatar, at the St Regis 

Hotel, in Doha. The festivities 

included traditional 

food, drinks and games. 

The children decorated 

cupcakes with orange 

icing, the national colour 

of the Netherlands, and 

made their own orange 

crowns. The children were 

given orange balloons and a 

small national flag at the 

end of the day. 

Dignitaries celebrate enthronement of King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, in Doha, on Tuesday.

Attiyah for pension scheme for expats - Qatar Tribune

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