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egion region 6 OMANDAILYOBSERVER TUESDAY l DECEMBER 13 l 2016 Rewarding for act of bravery US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter gives a medal of courage to Peshmerga officers during his visit at Erbil Airport, Iraq. SYRIAN ARMY IN ‘FINAL STAGES’ OF ALEPPO OFFENSIVE ON THE RUN: Rebels on brink of defeat in the city as army said to make advances ALEPPO/BEIRUT: The Syrian army and its allies are in the “final stages” of recapturing Aleppo after a sudden advance that has pushed rebels to the brink of collapse in a shrinking enclave, a Syrian general said on Monday. A Reuters journalist in the government-held zone said the bombardment of rebel areas of the city had continued non-stop overnight, and a civilian trapped there described the situation as resembling “Doomsday”. “The battle in eastern Aleppo should end quickly. They (rebels) don’t have much time. They either have to surrender or die,” Lieutenant General Zaid al Saleh, head of the government’s Aleppo security committee, told reporters in the recaptured Sheikh Saeed district of the city. Rebels withdrew from all districts on the east side of the Aleppo river after losing Sheikh Saeed in the south of their pocket in overnight fighting, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. It meant their rapidly diminishing enclave had halved in only a few hours and Observatory director Rami Abdulrahman described the battle for Aleppo as having reached its end. “The situation is extremely difficult today,” said Zakaria Malahifji of the Fastaqim rebel group fighting in Aleppo. The rebels’ sudden retreat represented a “big collapse in terrorist morale”, a Syrian military source said. Syrian President Bashar al Assad, backed by Russia, is now close to taking back full control of Aleppo, which was Syria’s most populous city before the war and would be his greatest prize so far after nearly six years of conflict. The Russian Defence Ministry said that since the start of the Aleppo battle, more than 2,200 rebels had surrendered and 100,000 civilians had left areas of the city that were controlled by militants. “People run from one shelling to another to escape death and just to save their souls... It’s doomsday in Aleppo, yes Airbus in Iran to finalise deal TEHRAN: Airbus delegates have arrived in Tehran for talks aimed at finalising a deal to sell around 100 planes, an Iranian official said on Monday. The representatives of the European aerospace giant arrived on Sunday just hours after national carrier Iran Air concluded a $16.6-billion deal with US firm Boeing to buy 80 planes. “An Airbus delegation has arrived in Tehran,” said Asghar Fakhrieh Kashan, Deputy Minister for Transport. “We have started negotiations and if there are no problems, we will sign the agreement within a week for the purchase of around 100 planes,” he said. Meanwhile, some officials in Iran reacted angrily to news of the deal with Boeing, which comes at a time when lawmakers in Washington have recently doomsday in Aleppo,” said Abu Amer Iqab, a former government employee in the Sukkari district in the heart of the rebel enclave. State television footage from Saliheen, one of the districts that had just fallen to the army, showed mounds of rubble and half-collapsed buildings, with bodies still lying on the ground and a few bewildered civilians carrying children or suitcases. While Aleppo’s fall would deal a stunning blow to rebels trying to remove Assad from power, he would Turkey detains 235 over Kurdish militant links after Istanbul blasts ISTANBUL/ANKARA: Turkey detained 235 people over alleged links to Kurdish fighters in nationwide raids on Monday, two days after twin bombings killed 44 people and wounded about 150 outside an Istanbul soccer stadium. Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu vowed those responsible for Saturday’s attacks, claimed by an offshoot of the PKK militant group, would be “wiped from this geography”. “Our people expect us to defeat and eliminate this terrorist organisation, which has attacked our nation for 40 years,” Soylu said while paying a condolence visit to a riot police headquarters in Istanbul. “We want everyone to know that they will not get anywhere by hiding behind political parties, behind politicians, behind those media outlets protecting them,” Soylu said. Most of those killed in the bomb blasts were riot police. Funerals were held for a second day on Monday, the victims’ coffins draped in the Turkish Women react as they wait outside a government military police centre to visit their relatives, who were evacuated from the eastern districts of Aleppo and are being prepared to begin their military service, in Aleppo. — Reuters voted for renewed sanctions on the country. Iran says the renewal of sanctions, which President Barack Obama is expected to approve in the coming days, is a breach of the nuclear deal it signed with world powers last year. “60 trillion tomans: Iran’s gift to the US for violating the JCPOA (nuclear deal),” read Monday’s headline on the Javan newspaper. But Iran has been desperate to access new planes and parts after decades of economic isolation has left it with one of the world’s worst aviation safety records. Both Boeing and Airbus, which manufactures some of its parts in the United States, were granted special permission from the US Treasury in September to go ahead with deals in Iran. — AFP Interior minister vows revenge as mostly police officers killed in the blast flag. A cabinet meeting was postponed to enable government ministers to attend. The PKK, which took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984 and is fighting for Kurdish autonomy, is deemed a terrorist organisation by the United States and European Union, as BOOST TO TIES Relatives mourn in Diyarbakir, during the funeral ceremony of Velat Demiroglu, a taxi driver killed in twin bombings in Istanbul. — AFP well as by Turkey. Saturday’s attack was one of the deadliest claimed by Kurdish fighters for decades. Turkish warplanes carried out air strikes on PKK targets in northern Iraq, destroying a PKK headquarters and surrounding gun positions and shelters, an army statement said. — Reuters still be far from restoring control across Syria. Swathes of the country remain in rebel hands, and on Sunday IS retook Palmyra. Tens of thousands of civilians remain in rebel-held areas, hemmed in by everchanging front lines, pounded by air strikes and shelling, and without basic supplies, according to the Observatory, a British-based monitoring group. In the Sheikh Saeed district on Monday, an elderly couple stood lamenting their fate. “May every son return to his mother. I have suffered that loss. May other women not endure the same,” said the woman, her arms raised to the sky. “I have lost my three children. Two died in battle and the third is kidnapped,” she added, as an army officer attempted to calm her. Rebel groups in Aleppo received a US-Russian proposal on Sunday for a withdrawal of fighters and civilians from the city’s opposition areas, but Moscow said no agreement had been reached yet in talks in Geneva to end the crisis peacefully . The rebel official blamed Russia for the lack of progress in talks, saying it had no incentive to compromise while its ally Assad was gaining ground. “The Russians are being evasive. They are looking at the military situation. Now they are advancing,” he said. — Reuters Iranian Minister of Science, Mohammad Farhadi with French Minister of State for Higher Education and Research, Thierry Mandon in Tehran. — AFP EU sends aid plane for Mosul BRUSSELS: The European Union said it had sent a plane on Monday carrying aid for people in Mosul affected by the offensive to take the Iraqi city from the IS group. The aircraft carrying 40 tonnes of supplies landed in Erbil in northern Iraq and will be the first of several aircraft sent by the 28-nation bloc this week, it said. “These airlifts filled with urgently needed help are a tangible expression of European solidarity with the Iraqi people,” EU Aid Commissioner Christos Stylianides said. “The fighting continues to cause enormous suffering among the population in Iraq,” he added. The first plane carried 268 family tents capable of sheltering up to 1,400 people, and 3,000 blankets as well as sleeping mats, maternity kits and hygiene supplies, the EU said. Iraqi forces launched the Mosul offensive on October 17 to drive out IS but progress has slowed in recent days. The UN says some 90,000 people have been displaced by the fighting. — AFP Bashir vows to crush opposition protests KHARTOUM: Sudanese President Omar al Bashir vowed on Monday to brutally crush anti-regime protests, warning the authorities will crack down on demonstrators as they did in 2013 when dozens were killed during clashes. Bashir’s warning came as opposition activists issued a new call to hold a two-day nationwide strike next week against a government decision to cut fuel subsidies that has led to rising prices for goods including medicines. “In the past few days we have heard some people, who are hiding behind their keyboards, calling for the overthrow of the regime,” Bashir told supporters gathered in the eastern town of Kasala. “We want to tell them that if you want to overthrow the regime, then face us directly on the streets. I challenge you to come out onto the streets. “But we know you will not come because you know what happened in the past... This regime will not be overthrown by keyboards and WhatsApp,” Bashir said in a speech broadcast live on state television. In 2013, dozens of people were killed in a government crackdown on street protests against to a similar round of subsidy cuts. Rights groups say about 200 lives were lost in that crackdown, while the government puts the death toll at less than 100. In recent weeks, groups of people have staged sporadic demonstrations against the latest cuts, but they were swiftly dispersed by anti-riot police. Opposition activists have now taken to social media networks like Facebook and Twitter as well as WhatsApp messenger to call for a new nationwide “sit-at-home” strike on December 19 and 20, urging the people to stage street protests in Khartoum and other cities to “overthrow the regime”. A similar three-day strike in late November saw a mixed response, with some private sector employees abstaining from work but government employees reporting for duty. Sudan’s powerful National Intelligence and Security Service, or NISS, has already arrested several opposition leaders and activists in a bid to prevent protests. — AFP SISI: BOMBER BEHIND CHURCH ATTACK, FOUR CAPTURED CAIRO: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al Sisi said on Monday that a bomber carried out an attack that killed 24 people at Cairo’s main cathedral and security forces had arrested three men and a woman in connection with the bombing. Speaking at a state funeral for the victims, Sisi identified the suicide bomber as 22-year-old Shafik Mahmoud Mohamed Mostafa. He said security forces were seeking another two fugitives believed to be involved in the attack. He called for tighter laws to help deter future attacks. Meanwhile, mourners packed an Egyptian church on Monday for the funeral of 24 people killed in a bomb attack at Cairo’s Coptic cathedral and angry survivors said police had failed to protect the Christian minority. Tearful relatives gathered at the Virgin Mary and St Athanasius Church in Cairo where Coptic Pope Tawadros II prayed over the wooden coffins of victims of Sunday’s bombing, one of the deadliest to target Christians in recent memory. On the walls hung banners bearing the names of the dead, many of them women. Speaking after the funeral service, during which he shed tears, Pope Tawadros called the dead martyrs and sought to heal any friction caused by the attack, saying it “is not just a disaster for the church but a disaster for the whole nation.” He also condemned attacks against the security forces.“Those who commit acts such as this do not belong to Egypt at all, even if they are on its land,” he said. At least 24 people died and 49 were wounded when a bomb exploded in a chapel adjoining St Mark’s Cathedral, Cairo’s largest church and seat of the Coptic papacy, where security is normally tight. The blast was caused by a bomb containing at least 12 kg of TNT detonated on a side of the church used by women. The chapel’s floor was covered in debris from shattered windows, its wooden pews blasted apart, its pillars blackened. Here and there lay abandoned shoes and patches of blood. Dazed church officials wondered around in their black robes. Several hundred people gathered in the Madinat Nasr area furious at being denied entry to the funeral Several hundred people gathered in the Madinat Nasr area furious at being denied entry to the funeral ceremony, where admittance was by invitation only. Police, concerned over mounting anger, detained at least 25 youths ceremony, where admittance was by invitation only. Security sources said police, concerned over mounting anger, detained at least 25 youths. “They beat them up because they were chanting. Now they switched off their phones and we can’t find them,” said Atef Kamel, whose brother and cousin were taken away by police. “They came to attend the funeral, so they got arrested... Isn’t it enough what has already happened to us?” There was also anger at hospitals treating the wounded. Five survivors at Dar al Shefa Hospital said police did not conduct the usual checks as the cathedral was particularly busy for Sunday’s mass, which took place on a public holiday marking the Prophet Mohammad’s birthday, just weeks before Christmas. “There were large numbers so people entered without being searched,” said Mina Francis, who was at the mass with his mother, who was killed. President Abdel Fattah al Sisi, who announced three days of mourning and promised justice, is to attend a public ceremony later on Monday. Sisi is fighting battles on several fronts. His economic reforms have angered the poor, a crackdown on the Brotherhood has seen thousands jailed and an insurgency rages in Northern Sinai, led by IS’s Egyptian branch. The group has also claimed attacks in Cairo and urged its supporters to launch attacks around the world as it goes on the defensive in its Iraqi and Syrian strongholds. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but exiled Brotherhood officials and other fighter groups condemned the church attack. — Reuters
IN BRIEF China fighter jet claim ‘untrue’: Japan TOKYO: Japan has lashed out at China over claims its fighter jets obstructed Beijing’s military aircraft, saying the allegation was “clearly untrue”. China’s defence ministry said two Japanese F-15s launched “decoy flares” in international airspace over the East China Sea on Saturday, actions it called “dangerous and unprofessional”. Tokyo denied anything was fired during the encounter, and said it had protested to Beijing over the allegation. “It is extremely regrettable that the Chinese defence ministry one-sidedly made a clearly untrue announcement,” Japan’s top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters on Sunday. — AFP School bomb kills nine-year-old PESHAWAR: A nine-year-old girl was killed and three other children were wounded on Monday when a bomb exploded near their school gate in a tribal region in northwestern Pakistan. The bombing took place outside a village school in the tense North Waziristan region where the Pakistani military has been battling Taliban militants since June 2014. “A nine-year-old girl was killed and three other children between eight to 10 years old were wounded when explosives planted close to their school gate exploded when they opened it,” a local government official said. A local security official also confirmed the blast. — AFP Pakistani carrier grounds ATR planes ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s national carrier on Monday grounded its entire fleet of ATR planes, in the wake of a fatal crash last week that killed all 48 people on board, officials said. “It has been decided to keep all 10 ATR aircraft grounded till they are cleared after thorough examination,” Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) spokesman Danyal Gilani said in a statement. The decision to ground the ATR fleet was prompted by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) after another ATR-42 aeroplane encountered technical issues at take-off on Sunday night. The flight was cancelled. The airline denied media reports suggesting that one of the engines caught fire. — dpa Seoul bans poultry transportation SEOUL: South Korea’s agriculture ministry said on Monday it will issue a temporary nationwide ban on the transportation of poultry to contain the spread of bird flu, with 43 outbreaks recorded in the country. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said in a statement that the movement control order will be effective for 48 hours, from 1500 GMT on Monday or midnight in Seoul. Since the first outbreak of a severe strain of bird flu known as H5N6 was reported on November 18, South Korea ramped up quarantine measures to stop a wider spread of the virus, including issuing a 48-hour nationwide standstill order three weeks ago. — Reuters RELIGIOUS FERVOUR Pakistani residents take part in a march marking Eid-e-Milad-un-Nabi, the birthday of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), in Lahore on Monday. — AFP Beijing warns Trump over One China policy THREAT: State media said the Asian giant could back ‘forces hostile to the US’ if the president-elect follows through with threats to drop policy BEIJING: Beijing issued its first clear warning on Monday over Donald Trump’s fiery rhetoric, as state media said the Asian giant could back “forces hostile to the US” if the president-elect follows through with threats to drop Washington’s One China policy. It was the strongest signal yet from Chinese authorities that abandoning the One China policy, which guides relations with self-ruling Taiwan, would upset decades of carefully managed Sino-US relations and end cooperation between the world’s top two economies. Beijing has not controlled Taiwan for more than 60 years but foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said it considered the island a “core interest” that affected China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The One China policy was the “political bedrock” for relations with the US, he added, and if it was “compromised or disrupted”, sound and steady growth in China-US relations and cooperation in major fields would be “out of the question”, he told reporters. The comments came in response to Trump’s remarks in an interview on Sunday that he did not see why Washington must “be bound by a One China policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade”. He vehemently defended taking a call earlier this month from Tsai Ing-Wen, the democratically elected president of Taiwan, which Beijing regards as a rogue province awaiting unification. Although the United States is Taiwan’s main ally and arms supplier, Washington has not had official A magazine featuring US President-elect Donald Trump is seen at a bookstore in Beijing on Monday. — AFP diplomatic relations with Taipei since 1979, when it switched recognition to Beijing. Trump’s decision to take the call broke with protocol, and seemed to catch China’s Communist Party leadership by surprise. The official response was initially muted, and state media largely blamed Taiwan for the phone call and advocated a wait-and-see response. But the remarks on Monday were more pointed, and a commentary in the nationalistic Global Times offered a more menacing warning to Trump, calling him “as ignorant of diplomacy as a child”, in its Chinese-language version. If the US openly supports Taiwan’s independence and ramps up arms sales to the island, it threatened, China could aid “forces hostile to the US”. “In response to Trump’s provocations, Beijing could offer support, even military assistance to US foes,” it said. “China would introduce a series of new Taiwan polices, and may not prioritise peaceful reunification over a military takeover.” Despite the escalation in official rhetoric, many Chinese analysts still offer a note of restraint, emphasising Trump’s background in business, not politics, and the possibility his actions in office will take a softer line. “I think this could be his negotiating technique because he knows the Taiwan issue is an extremely sensitive issue, an issue China is very concerned about,” Wu Xinbo, director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, said. Trump was playing the card in hopes of winning concessions on trade, he said, adding that China should not be “too nervous” nor should it react “too fiercely”. — AFP asia asia OMANDAILYOBSERVER 7 TUESDAY l DECEMBER 13 l 2016 King pardons prisoners in ‘first show of mercy’ BANGKOK: Thailand’s new King Maha Vajiralongkorn has issued a mass prisoner pardon, a first act of “mercy” as monarch as he reaches out to his subjects following the death of his beloved father. Revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej died in October aged 88 after a seven-decade reign, leaving the politically febrile nation without its unifying figure. His only son, 64-year-old Vajiralongkorn, was proclaimed king in early December. But the thrice-divorced monarch is yet to draw the same level of devotion from a public well-versed in rumours over his private life. The prisoner pardon was Vajiralongkorn’s “first chance since he succeeded the throne to show the king’s mercy”, according to a statement published on Sunday in palace mouthpiece the Royal Gazette. Pardons were annual events under Bhumibol. Women jailed for first offences, some inmates who have served one third of their sentences, and prisoners with disabilities or serious illness were among those pardoned. The decree did not say how many prisoners will be freed. Ritual, propaganda and law underpin the status of Thailand’s monarchy. TUGBOAT CREW ZAMBOANGA: Abu Sayyaf militants in the southern Philippines have freed two Indonesian hostages, the military said on Monday, as the army mounted an offensive against the insurgent kidnapping group. The two were among seven crew seized from a tugboat off the southern Philippines in June. The others have already been released. They were undergoing medical checks and would later be turned over to Indonesian government representatives, the military said in a statement. It said the Abu Sayyaf handed the two over to the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), another armed group in the strife-torn island of Jolo, who in turn passed them to a local official. They were then handed over to the military on Monday, the statement added. “Indonesian (hostages) Mohammad Nazer and Robin Peter were released by the (Abu Sayyaf) captors to MNLF Commander Tahir Sali... after being Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn Thai schoolchildren are taught the primacy of the institution, while huge portraits of key royals adorn virtually every main street. Like his father, Vajiralongkorn is shielded from criticism by a harsh royal defamation law that carries up to 15 years in jail per charge. That has embedded a culture of self-censorship across the media, academia and the arts. The prisoner pardons follow a slew of public appearances by the new king, whose four decades as designated heir were characterised by publicity-shyness and long trips overseas. Since he was proclaimed King Rama X, the new monarch has offered flood relief, opened a town hall and been honoured in a video tribute played in cinemas. — AFP Philippine militants free 2 Indonesian hostages pressured by non-stop operations of (military joint task force) Sulu and pressure by the MNLF,” a military statement said. The MNLF is a former separatist rebel group that has forged a truce with the government to negotiate an autonomous region in the south of the country. Meanwhile, Philippine troops killed 10 suspected militants in an offensive against the Abu Sayyaf group on Jolo, the military said on Monday. Air strikes were launched against about 150 members of the group on Saturday in the town of Patikul, 1,000 kilometres south of Manila, according to Major Filemon Tan, a regional military spokesman. Three soldiers were also killed and 21 were wounded in the operation, he said. Abu Sayyaf is holding several hostages captive on Jolo, including a 70-year-old German man who was abducted from his yacht off the southern province of Tawi-Tawi on November 5. — AFP/dpa Hwang has sought to calm anxiety over national security and to reassure financial markets while Park’s presidency is in limbo S Korea PM gets official briefings after Park impeached SEOUL: South Korean Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-Ahn began getting official briefings from aides of President Park Geun-Hye on Monday, having assumed presidential authority in a caretaker role following her impeachment by parliament last week. Hwang has sought to calm anxiety over national security and to reassure financial markets while Park’s presidency is in limbo pending the outcome of a Constitutional Court review of her impeachment, which may take up to 180 days. Until then, Park will remain in the presidential Blue House a few blocks north of the main government complex where Hwang’s office is located. Eight of the Constitutional Court’s nine judges met on Monday to discuss how to proceed with the case but has not set dates for public hearings, its spokesman, Bae Bo-Yoon, told a briefing. The ninth was away from the country on business. At least six of the nine judges have to concur for the motion to be upheld. The court will next week decide on the date for the two sides’ lawyers to appear for a preliminary hearing, he said. Park, whose father ruled the country for 18 years after seizing power in a 1961 coup, has been accused of colluding with a friend and a former aide, both of whom have been indicted, to pressure big businesses to donate to foundations set up to back her policy initiatives. She has denied wrongdoing but apologised for carelessness in her ties with her friend, Choi Soon-Sil. Park has yet to announce her defence team, which is expected to be made up of at least four lawyers, including an attorney she had retained last month. Park’s term was set to end in February 2018. If the court upholds her impeachment, she will become the first elected South Korean leader to be ejected from office in disgrace. If that were to happen, a new election would be held within 60 days to pick a successor who will serve a full five-year term. Hwang will get briefings from senior presidential secretaries on foreign policy, judicial, personnel and economic affairs on Monday and Tuesday, the Blue House said, giving no further details. Hwang has chaired a National Security Council meeting, met the cabinet twice and visited the military headquarters since assuming presidential powers late on Friday. Hwang was expected to keep Finance Minister Yoo Il-Ho to ensure continuity of policy instead of replacing him with the head of the financial regulator, who Park last month had designated as his replacement, Yonhap news agency reported. On Sunday, state prosecutors charged two more former senior officials as part of their investigation of a corruption scandal that has led to Park’s impeachment and the indictment of former aides and a friend, Choi Soon- Sil. Park herself has immunity from indictment while she is in office but could face prosecution if she is removed. — Reuters
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Page 25 and 26: @climatechange Arafat’s UN speech
Page 27 and 28: @environment Nasa launches Relay 1

Crude at $45 may cut deficit

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