Volume 23 | Number 7755 | 2 RiyalsSaturday 29 December 2018 | 22 Rabia II 1440 www.thepeninsula.qa

2019

BUSINESS | 14 SPORT | 16

Goal-machine Bounedjah extends Al Sadd contract

Spotlight on role of automated

trading amid Wall Street swoon

The year 2019 is also expected to deliver an estimated 10,000 residential units.

3.1%

5

7

QATAR’S REAL GDP is projected to grow by 3.1 percent. Inflation rate is estimated to remain modest and current account surplus is expected to reach QR4.3bn.

UPCOMING MALLS: Place Vendome, Boulevard Mall, Doha Mall, La Plage Mall and Marina Mall

UPCOMING HOTELS:Al Messila Resort, Dusit Doha, Mandarin Hotel, Zulal Wellness Resort, M Gallery Boutique Hotel, Pan-aroma Residences and Suites; and Plaza Rayhaan.

INDUSTRIAL SECTOR:Qatar’s two free zones - Umm Al Houl and Ras Bufantas are expected to start receiving foreign and local investors.

REAL ESTATE: Qatar real estate equities remained the lone gainer in the GCC in 2018, and gained by 11 percent YTD in Nov 2018

More malls and hotels set to open next yearSATISH KANADY THE PENINSULA

At least seven hotels and five malls are due to open in Qatar next year. The year 2019 is also expected to deliver an estimated 10,000 residential units.

Of the total residential units projected to deliver in 2019, 75 percent of the supply is expected to launch in Lusail and The Pearl -Qatar which might influence market rent in the area once projects are handed over.

Rents in Central areas of Doha are expected to stabilise, leading consulting and advisory firm ValuStrat Qatar noted in its 2019 Outlook.

The upcoming hotels are Al Messila Resort, Dusit Doha, Man-darin Hotel, Zulal Wellness Resort, M Gallery Boutique Hotel, Panaroma Residences and

Suites; and Plaza Rayhaan. Mid-market hotel segment might con-tinue to show improvement in occupancy in 2019.

Place Vendome, Boulevard Mall, Doha Mall, La Plage Mall and Marina Mall are among other malls expected to open next year.

According to ValuStrat, Lusail is expected to receive 80 percent of the projected office supply which could impose downward pressure on asking rental rates in order to maintain occupancy. Capital values of villas outside Doha may expe-rience downward pressure as a result of increasing competi-tiveness of villas in prime

locations. On the industrial sector, the report noted that Qatar’s two free zones — Umm Al Houl and Ras Bufantas are expected to start receiving foreign and local investors.

In a separate report on GCC real estate, KAMCO Research said Qatar real estate equities remained the lone gainer in the GCC in 2018, and gained by 11 percent YTD in November 2018, as the broader market in Qatar rallied in 2018.

The Dubai real estate and Construction index was the main laggard on the GCC as it plunged by 32.2 percent YTD. The real estate index in Saudi Arabia, which comprises of real estate developers, declined by 30.5 percent YTD. Aggregate credit to the real estate sector disbursed by GCC banks at the end of third quarter of 2018 grew 1.1 percent

on quarter-over-quarter to reach $195.4bn.

Qatari banks were the largest contributors in Q3, 18, as $1.39bn of net incremental credit was dis-bursed quarter-over-quarter.

Citing Qatar’s official data, the KAMCO analysts noted the country’s real estate transactions for the first nine months of 2018 were up 14.4 percent year-on-year to 3,148 transactions.

Qatar’s real GDP is pro-jected to grow by 3.1 percent. Inflation rate is estimated to remain modest and current account surplus is expected to reach QR4.3bn.

Ambulance Service creates widespread awarenessFAZEENA SALEEM THE PENINSULA

The ‘Know the 5 to save a life’ national campaign aimed at educating the public about the key actions to take when calling an ambulance in an emergency situation, which is being run by the Ambulance Service of Hamad Medical Corporation, has created widespread awareness in the country by reaching dif-ferent segments of the society, said a senior official.

The campaign was previ-ously run in 2013 and is being rerun in 2018 to highlight the messages to the public.

Each year the Ambulance Service receives more than 250,000 calls and many of these are requesting emer-gency support for life-threat-ening incidents.

“The Ambulance Service always sees the provision of providing emergency service is a team effort between us and

those who need our help. That is why we always stick to the philosophy of ‘help us help you’ and know the 5 to save a life,” said Brendon Morris, Executive Director, Ambulance Service.

“The campaign has been successful in creating awareness on the roads. We note that more people are making way for ambulances, so we can move through the traffic. The com-munity is concerned about those who are in need and making way for us,” he added.

Ambulance Service reaches to the emergency location within ten minutes in 93.29 percent of cases inside Doha. And this is within 15 minutes for 97.47 percent outside cases.

The major intersections of the country has Emergency Vehicle Preemption System (EVPS), a GPS based system on the traffic lights receives signals from the emergency vehicle unit. These devices request green lights hundreds

of meters ahead the arrival of the emergency vehicle.

But the Ambulance Service through some case studies and by revising incidents has found that some motorists are still unaware of giving way to ambulances in an intersections which are not compatible with a EVPS.

“We often find ambulances are in the intersection, and cars keep going. At intersections though it is a green signal for the motorists, they should stop so ambulance can move through the intersection and get to the emergency,” said Morris.

“Many new people keep coming here all the time. They are from different countries where different expectations are followed about how to react and response to an ambulance,” he added. Morris also urged the public to assist the ambulance service to identify and enter the premises when they arrive at a private location.

The ‘Know the 5 to save a life’ campaign’s messages are: Dial 999 immediately, Know your location, Answer all ques-tions asked, Follow all instruc-tions given and Give way to ambulances on roadways.

HMC’s Ambulance Service received 239,782 calls in 2016, the number was 269053 in 2017 and from January to November this year, it received 277, 553 calls.

At present HMC’s Ambulance Service has a strong fleet of emergency vehicles which are dispatched according to the need. It includes 165 urban emergency ambulances, 60 rural ambulances, a rapid responsive unit with 35 critical care para-medics and supervisory vehicles, 78 ambulances to transfer patients from one healthcare facility to another and 12 4x4 vehicles to respond any emer-gency in the desert. Also Life-Flights are dispatched to criti-cally patients by air.

Entertainment World Village beckons allA fascinating night view of the Entertainment World Village, the largest open-air amusement park in Qatar. Located at Al Qutaifiya beach, between Diplomatic Club and The Pearl Qatar, the Entertainment World Village provides visitors a chance to experience the latest international thrill rides brought from Europe to entertain both kids and adults. PIC: SALIM MATRAMKOT / THE PENINSULA

'Qatar’s LNG has a very dominant role in Mediterranean market' ANATOLIA ANKARA

Natural gas resources in the eastern Mediterranean are unlikely to be a game-changer given rising supplies in the global gas market, according to the Turkish head of the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Discoveries of new gas resources in the eastern Med-iterranean have put some countries in the spotlight, but feasibility, political challenges, and the presence of other major gas producers impose hurdles on projects that may fail to have a major impact on the gas market, Fatih Birol said yesterday.

“Qatar’s liquefied natural gas has a very dominant role in the Mediterranean market,” he told Anadolu Agency. With Qatar, American gas, and incoming supply from a couple of countries in the Middle East region, it looks very difficult economically to constitute a major project in the eastern Mediterranean, plus there are

some political issues as well.”Currently, Qatar is leading

liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports with 12 consecutive years under its belt, while the US is looking to raise its LNG exports with its abundant shale gas supplies.

“With those and political difficulties, it’s not right to expect a major game-changing role from eastern Mediterranean gas. We’re in the midst of gas abundance,” he added.

Birol said there are addi-tional natural gas reserves in the eastern Mediterranean as well, but added that there is an oversupply of gas in the global market. “A new major wave of production is coming in the LNG sector,” he said.

Global natural gas pro-duction rose steadily from 2.94 tcm in 2007 to 3.68 tcm in 2017, a 25.2 percent leap, while LNG imports climbed from 356.7 bcm in 2016 to 393.4 bcm in 2017, a 10.3 percent annual jump, according to BP’s Statis-tical Review of World Energy 2018 report. �P3

Qatar Visa Center to be opened in Karachi todayTHE PENINSULA DOHA

As part of implementing the first phase of overseas Qatar Visa Centers, another center will be opened today in Karachi.

The first Qatar Visa Center in Pakistan was opened on Thursday, in Islamabad.

The aim of opening these centers is to simplify and facil-itate procedures for employers, as well as to provide more pro-tection to expatriate workers coming to work in Qatar.

Fingerprinting and processing biometric data, medical exami-nations and signing employment contract are the key services that will be provided by the visa center in Karachi.

The first overseas Qatar Visa Center (QVC) was inaugu-rated in Colombo, Sri Lanka in October this year.

The project targets employment through 20 service centres in eight countries: Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Nepal, Tunisia, Pakistan, India, Bang-ladesh and the Philippines.

02 SATURDAY 29 DECEMBER 2018HOME

QF: A platform for global dialogueTHE PENINSULA DOHA

In a world facing the increasing polarization and entrenchment of views and standpoints, the importance of preserving and promoting constructive, open dialogue on a global scale is clear. Qatar recently provided the setting for such dialogue to happen, as the 18th edition of the Doha Forum brought together international experts, academics, politicians, and decision-makers to exchange ideas, build action-oriented networks, and guide policy-making processes.

Held under the theme of ‘Shaping Policy in an Intercon-nected World’, the event cen-tered around four key areas – Security; Peace and Mediation; Economic Development; and Trends and Transitions – and, as the first Doha Forum to be h e l d f o l l o w i n g t h e announcement of the illegal blockade on Qatar in 2017, included a special focus on the current diplomatic crisis in the region.

Central to the forum’s ethos is the desire to drive change, create action, and shape behavior – qualities which are reflected by Qatar Foundation (QF), one of the institutional partners for this year’s event, as well as the umbrella organi-zation for participating entities such as Hamad Bin Khalifa Uni-versity’s Qatar Computing Research Institute and Geor-getown University in Qatar, one of QF’s international partner universities.

Indeed, QF is dedicated to equipping men and women with

the tools to create solutions to some of the world’s most pressing issues. And through its many centers, programs, and initiatives, QF strives to provide opportunities to the local com-munity to become active global citizens.

A key component of this goal is engaging young people, and last month, ahead of the Doha Forum, QF member QatarDe-bates co-hosted the inaugural Doha Forum: Youth Edition. Designed to develop the debating skills of participants, the one-day event aimed to drive dialogue that focused on issues trending around the world, such as mass immigration and fake news.

As part of its belief in the capacity of Qatar’s youth to be change-makers and thought-leaders, QF – through its

Pre-University Education mission area – is currently pre-paring for the upcoming eighth annual THIMUN Qatar con-ference, taking place from January 22-25, 2019.

The Doha-based Model United Nations (MUN) con-ference – the largest in the Middle East – will bring together nearly 1,800 students from over 67 schools around the world to role-play as diplomats and ambassadors through imitation sessions of United Nations’ councils, commissions, and con-ferences, discussing and debating international issues to create purpose-led solutions to worldwide problems.

“At Qatar Foundation, we strive to create global citizens, who will become agents of meaningful change and, conse-quently, the leaders of

tomorrow,” said Fatima El Mahdi, Head of THIMUN Qatar.

“Today’s youth is the future of our world, and by providing opportunities for young people to discuss, negotiate, and debate, through initiatives such as THIMUN, we are helping to cat-alyze global change, and build a better world for generations to come,” says El Mahdi

This year, the theme of the conference is ‘Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions,’ inspired by UN Sustainable Development Goal 16 (SDG 16). The partici-pants will be debating a range of topics that fall under the SDG 16 – all of which have significant global relevance. Over the last few months, students have been conducting sessions and carrying out research in order to be able to represent their appointed countries.

Last year’s THIMUN Qatar conference, held at Qatar National Convention Centre.

QU biomedical science students showcase graduation projectsTHE PENINSULA DOHA

Eighteen biomedical science students of Qatar University (QU)presented their graduation projects recently covering various subject with the majority tackling diseases frequently encountered in Qatar.

Sara Jemmieh and Amira Kohil presented their research project entitled, “Epidemiological Surveillance and Molecular Epi-demiology of Viral Meningitis in Qatar”.

The project, which was developed under the supervision of Prof Asmaa Al Thani and Dr Hady Yassin, showed that among 2261 patients suspected to have meningitis during the period of September, 2018 – September, 2019, only 7.8% were diagnosed with viral meningitis with higher prevalence in males. Based on the molecular analysis done in the biomedical research center, the most common viruses circu-lating in Qatar were Echovirus-3, Echovirus-11 and EV-C105. This study, first of its kind in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, highlighted a strain that is associated with non-polio paralysis.

Moneera Nasir and Hissa Al Thani used a chick model embryo to investigate the effect of hyperglycemia on embryonic heart development. In this study, the two students found that hyperglycemis affected the blood

flow velocity and ejection throughout the developing heart. It altered the gene expression of KLF2 and changed grossly the heart structure. This study was supervised by Dr. Marwan Abu-Madi and Dr. Hussin Yalsin and aimed to develop a chick model of hyperglycemia to investigate congenital heart defects in babies of diabetic mothers.

On the molecular genetic field, two projects utilized data from Qatar Genome Projects supervised by Dr. Mashael Al-Shafi. The first study underpin glucose-6-phosphate deficiency in Qatar and was done by Shaza Malik and Roan Zaid, while the

second project was conducted by Samia Ahmed and Mariam Radi shed the light on some novel mutations that are believed to correlate with the pathogenicity of malignant hyperthermia in Qatar.

Another two projects studies were supervised by Dr Hatem Zaid had the recognition of being published in scientific journals. Hend Eldous and Zainab

Mahgoub studied a collection of missness mutations in GBA gene that is known to predispose patients with Gaucher’s disease to develop Parkinson’s disease. In this study, the most delete-rious mutations shared between the two genes were identified and proteins such as GBA2, GLB1 and GALC, which interact with the GBA protein, were mapped. The second project was done by

Maryam Niazullah and Sadia Tasneem to study the effec-tiveness of using computational tools in variants classification of patients with Pomp disease. Both projects may serve as a platform for potential development of therapeutic drugs.

Furthermore, Nahjeha Rizwan and Waad Elkhair under the supervision of Dr. Ibrahim Mustafa studied the effect of macromolecular iron chelator (Deferoxamine cova-lently attached to a starch backbone) on platelets aiming to find a manner to reduce the toxicity of iron chelators used in the thalassemia therapy. Sara

Abdelghaney and Somaia Abouzaid studied the sero-prevelance of Hepatitis E virus and compared between the detection methods of HEV anti-bodies using non-A-C- hepa-titis samples of patients in Qatar, while Hoda Najjar and Farah Alserr studied the tox-icity effect of semiconductor photocatalyst compounds (HH-rGO/TiO2 and H2-rGO/TiO2) on zebrafish. They found that HH-rGO/TiO2 compound has more sever toxic effect at high concentration than H2-rGO/TiO2 did. The last two projects, supervised by Dr. Gheyath Nasrallah.

Students presenting their projects.

Borders Directorate foils attempt to smuggle 28kg hashishQNA/DOHA

The General Directorate of Coasts and Borders Security has thwarted an attempt to smuggle ‘hashish’ into the country after the directorate received information indicating the presence of an unknown cruiser near the northern coast.

The security forces immediately seized the cruiser and arrested the passengers on board. The cruiser contained 28 kg of hashish drug.

Two Asian nationals were arrested and referred to the relevant authorities to complete their legal proceedings.

Two Asian nationals arrested during hashish smuggling.

Eighteen biomedical science students of Qatar University (QU)presented their graduation projects recently covering various subject with the majority tackling diseases frequently encountered in Qatar.

BMW X5 model of 2018 recalledTHE PENINSULA/DOHA

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry, in collaboration with Al Fardan Automobiles, dealer of BMW vehicles in Qatar, has announced the recall of BMW X5 model of 2018 over a malfunction in the vehicle camera system.

The Ministry said the recall campaign comes within the framework of its ongoing efforts to protect consumers and ensure that car dealers follow up on vehicle defects and repairs.

The Ministry said that it will coordinate with the dealer to follow up on the maintenance and repair works and will communicate with customers to ensure that the necessary repairs are carried out. The Ministry has urged all customers to report any violations to its Con-sumer Protection and Anti-Commercial Fraud Department.

Bazm-e-Urdu Qatar organises Tarahi MushairaTHE PENINSULA DOHA

Bazm-e-Urdu Qatar (BUQ) organised its Tarahi Mushaira (poets have to write complete ghazal on given Misra Tarha i.e. one line of stanza) at Skills Development Center Hall on December 20. Renowned Qatar-based Urdu Poet and Chairman, Bazm-e-Urdu, Shoukat Ali Naz, presided

over the function.Engineer Habib un Nabi,

Deputy Chief Patron Bazm e Urdu, was the chief guest, while Doha-based poet and HMC doctor Musheer Alam, attended the function as the Guest of honour. The pro-gramme commenced with the recitation of the Holy Quran by Qari Shamsul Rehman. BUQ Vice-Pres-ident Mansoor Azmi

welcomed the guests and Raquim Azmi convened the Mushaira beautifully.

Bazm-e-Urdu received poetry thru email/ whatsapp from outside Qatar poets. The Prominent local poets who presented their poetry included Shaukat Ali Naz, Dr. Nadeem Jilani Danish, Syed Shakil Akhtar, Musheer Alam, Ijaz Haider, Nadeem Mahir, Mansoor Azmi, Ahmad Ashfaq,

Dr. Wasi Bastawi, Qaisar Masood, Shakeeb Usmani, Tahir Jamil, Athar Azmi, Sadat Ali Sadat, Raquim Azmi, Zareef Baloch, Ittefaq Anmol, Asfandiar Ansari and Abdul Qadeer Shakir.

Shaukat Ali Naz in his speech said that such a gath-ering for promoting Urdu poetry was highly appre-ciated. Habib un Nabi said, “I enjoyed the session.” Participants at the Tarahi Mushaira.

03SATURDAY 29 DECEMBER 2018 HOME/MIDDLE EAST

Yemen govt to pay civil servants in rebel-held HodeidaAFP HODEIDA

The United Nations yesterday welcomed a decision by Yemen’s government to pay the salaries of civil servants in the rebel-held city of Hodeida starting this month.

For more than two years, the government has been unable to pay salaries and the riyal dropped sharply against the dollar, leaving Yemenis

unable to afford food and water.

“President (Abedrabbo Mansour) Hadi’s decision is an important step towards improving the economic situ-ation, and alleviating the human-itarian suffering of the Yemeni people,” the office of the UN special envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths tweeted.

“The (special envoy) hopes there will be more steps in this direction.” On Thursday, Hadi

instructed the government to “urgently work on paying the salaries of all civil servants in Hodeida province starting from December”, Saba state news agency reported.

Earlier this month, deputy central bank chief Shokeib Hobeishy said that Yemen’s central bank was expecting a $3bn cash injection from Gulf allies.

His statement came after a $2.2bn infusion by Saudi Arabia

to stem a slide in the Yemeni riyal. More than one million civil servants lost their jobs in 2016, when Hadi moved the central bank from the rebel-held capital Sanaa to Aden, controlled by the government. A ceasefire -- agreed at peace talks in Sweden earlier this month — went into effect in Hodeida city and its sur-roundings on December 18 but has remained shaky with the warring sides accusing each other of violations.

A correspondent said yes-terday gunfire was heard over-night in the south of the Red Sea city, whose port serves as an entry point for the majority of imports and humanitarian aid to the war-torn country.

“We heard the sounds of jets in the early hours of the morning for a brief 15 minutes, but it has been complete calm since then,” the correspondent said, adding that the situation on the ground remains “tense”.

Abocado: A hot spot for diners

FAZEENA SALEEM THE PENINSULA

Going out to the restaurant is always a little celebration. However, there are some spots that will make it an unforgettable experience. Being of its kind in Qatar and Middle East, the ‘Abocado’ restaurant has so much that makes it unique.

The National Tourism Council has recognised it as a touristic establishment.

Giving a different definition to ‘Meals on Wheels’, ‘Abocado’ is a restaurant inside two busses uniquely merged. Stationed at the Al Sadd Sports Club, it is quickly becoming a hot spot for diners. This is because ‘Abocado’ is not merely a Mexican restaurant.

The Peninsula spoke to Jassim Mohammed Al Hammadi, the brain behind creating ‘Abocado.’

“I wanted to open a Mexican restaurant in Doha. But I was

certain about giving authentic Mexican food at a unique venue. It took me almost two years to make that dream a reality,” he said.

“My main concerns were safety, comfort of customers and authenticity of the food,” he added. Jassim did not stop by just creating the restaurant. But he also obtained rights for the unique pattern from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. And working on gaining rights globally.

“The pattern includes mention of any two vehicles put on top of another,” he said.

The restaurant has been made with two modified busses. One flipped on the other. The reception, kitchen and cashier are located down stairs. Cus-tomers can dine upstairs in the bus which is actually upside down. It can accommodate around 10 people. Also, there is a spacious space for outdoor dining.

The interior is fully deco-rated with unique old number plates of vehicles collected from Mexico and around the world and hand-made furniture. Some tables are made of wood and others are decorated with Qatari and Turkish coins.

“I was very particular about every small detail of the res-taurant. It was difficult to find suitable busses. Finally I got them from the Sheikh Faisal

Museum. These buses were made in 1977 and 1978. Then con-verting the busses as per my requirement was the biggest challenge. I had to look in every single thing, especially the safety. We have adopted extra safety measures from an emergency exit to fire rated materials and electric connections,” said Jassim, a HR specialist by pro-fession now turned into an entrepreneur.

Abocado offers from tacos and nachos to other authentic Mexican cuisine. The name has been generated from Avacado, which is a common ingredient of Mexican cooking. But Jassim has given an Arabic twist to it.

“In Arabic we write as Abocado. And if you see the logo it is like a man with a seed. In Arabic Abo means father. So it also means father of the seed,” said Jassim.

The next challenge he had was how to bring the authentic Mexican taste to the table. Jassim has taken extra affords to hire Teodora, a Mexican chief. “To make the food taste authentic, I had to find a good chef,” he said.

With its uniqueness, Abocado also caters customers at their comfort, by even offering Mexican straw hats for those want to take photos to keep as a souvenir.

Abocado restaurant at Al Sadd Sports Club. PIC: QASSIM RAHMATULLAH / THE PENINSULA

The restaurant has been made with two modified busses. One flipped on the other. The reception, kitchen and cashier are located down stairs. Customers can dine upstairs in the bus which is actually upside down. It can accommodate around 10 people. Also, there is a spacious space for outdoor dining.

New FM: Saudi ‘not in crisis’ over Khashoggi AFP RIYADH

Saudi Arabia’s new foreign minister voiced defiance yesterday in the face of inter-national outrage over critic Jamal Khashoggi’s murder, rejecting the kingdom was in crisis and his predecessor was demoted.

“The issue of Jamal Khashoggi... really saddened us, all of us,” Ibrahim Al Assaf said, a day after he was appointed foreign minister in a government reshuffle.

“But all in all, we are not going through a crisis, we are going through a transfor-mation,” he added.

The crown prince, heir to the Saudi throne, has faced intense international scrutiny over the October 2 murder of journalist Khashoggi in the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate — which critics say has left the oil-rich Gulf nation dip-lomatically weakened.

Assaf, a former finance minister who was detained last year in what Riyadh said was an anti-corruption sweep, replaced Adel Al Jubeir as foreign minister in the sweeping government shake-up ordered by King Salman. Jubeir, who sought to defend the tainted gov-ernment internationally after Khashoggi’s murder, was appointed minister of state for foreign affairs, which was widely seen as a demotion.

Turkey welcomes Pakistan’s ruling on FETO terror groupANATOLIA ANKARA

Turkey yesterday welcomed a ruling by Pakistan’s top court to designate Fetullah Terrorist Organization a “terrorist outfit,” saying it should set a precedent for other countries.

FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016 in Turkey, which left 251 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.

Ankara accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, par-ticularly the military, police, and judiciary.

Two dead as bomb strikes tourist bus near Giza pyramidsAP CAIRO

A roadside bomb hit a tourist bus yesterday in an area near the Giza Pyramids, killing two Vietnamese tourists and wounding 12 others, Egypt’s Interior Ministry said in a statement.

It said the bus was travelling in the Marioutiyah area near the pyramids when the crude roadside bomb, concealed by a wall, went off. The wounded included 10 Vietnamese tourists. The other two wounded were the Egyptian bus driver and the guide.

The bus was carrying a total of 14 Vietnamese tourists, it added, saying only two of them escaped unharmed.

Egypt has battled Islamic mil-itants for years in the Sinai Peninsula in an insurgency that has occasionally spilled over to the mainland, hitting minority Chris-tians or tourists. However, this is the first attack to target foreign tourists in almost two years.

The attack takes place as Egypt’s vital tourism industry is showing signs of recovery after years in the doldrums because of the political turmoil and violence that followed a 2011 uprising that

toppled former leader Hosni Mubarak. It will likely prompt author-ities to further tighten securi ty around churches and asso-ciated facilities ahead of the New year’s Eve celebrations and next month’s Christmas cel-ebrations of the Coptic Orthodox Church, the dominant denomi-nation among Egypt’s estimated 10 million Christians.

Over the past two years, militant attacks against Christians in Egypt—usually tar-geting churches or buses carrying pilgrims to remote desert mon-asteries - have killed over a hundred people.

Officials visiting the scene of an attack on a tourist bus in Giza province south of the Egyptian capital Cairo, yesterday.. Two Vietnamese tourists were killed and 10 others wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near their bus as it travelled close to the Giza pyramids in Cairo.

‘Qatar’s LNG has a very dominant role in Mediterranean market’FROM PAGE 1

IEA’s Birol pointed to rising LNG production in the US, Qatar, and Australia, saying those three countries will become world

leaders in LNG exports in 2025.He also praised the Trans-Ana-

tolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) project, which is set to deliver 6 bcm of gas from the Shah

Deniz II field in Azerbaijan to Turkey, and an additional 10 bcm to Europe every year. Birol empha-sized that Turkey should focus on gas storage, which currently

constitutes 10 percent of its gas consumption. The world ratio of gas storage capacity to domestic gas consumption is around 25 percent, according to Birol.

QNA DOHA

The State of Qatar has strongly condemned the explosion that targeted a tourist bus in Egypt’s

Giza Governorate and left a number of people killed and injured. In a statement issued yesterday, the Ministry of

Foreign Affairs reiterated the State of Qatar’s firm position rejecting violence and terrorism regardless of motives and reasons.

The statement expressed the condolences of the State of Qatar to families of the victims, and wished the injured a speedy recovery.

Qatar strongly condemns attack in Egypt

04 SATURDAY 29 DECEMBER 2018MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

Palestinian protesters walk in the mud and through tear gas fumes during clashes following a demonstration in bad weather near the border with Israel east of Gaza city, yesterday.

Gazans continue border protests for 40th FridayANATOLIA GAZA CITY

For the 40th consecutive Friday, Palestinians converged along the Gaza-Israel buffer zone to take part in ongoing demonstra-tions against Israel’s decades-long occupation.

In a statement, Gaza’s National Authority for Breaking the Siege urged Gazans to take part in the ongoing rallies, staging Fri-day’s protest under the banner, “We will not forsake our right to live in dignity”.

In a separate statement, Abdul-Latif Qanoua, a spokesman for Hamas (which has governed Gaza since 2007), said: “Our people have insisted on taking part in the rallies for 40 weeks in a row. We will con-tinue these protests until we’ve met our objectives.”

Demonstrators demand the

right to return to their homes and villages in historical Pal-estine, from which they were driven in 1948 to make way for the new state of Israel.

They also demand an end to Israel’s 12-year blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has gutted the coastal enclave’s economy and

deprived its roughly two million inhabitants of many basic commodities.

Since the rallies began on March 30, more than 250 Pal-estinians have been killed -- and thousands more injured -- by Israeli troops deployed near the buffer zone.

ANATOLIA / RAMALLAH

The Israeli authorities demolished 538 Palestinian homes in 2018, according to an NGO affiliated with the Palestine Liber-ation Organization (PLO).

According to a Friday report issued by the PLO’s Abdullah Hourani Center for Studies and Documentation, the demolitions were carried out in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. The demolitions, the report stated, had left some 1,300 Palestinians — including 225 children — homeless.

The report goes on to note that Israeli demolitions of Palestinian property have increased by 24 percent this year compared to 2017.

AFP BEIRUT

Syrian troops deployed in support of Kurdish forces around a strategic northern city yesterday, in a shift of alliances hastened by last week’s announcement of a US military withdrawal.

Nearly eight years into Syria’s deadly conflict, the move marked another key step in President Bashar Al Assad’s Russian-backed drive to reassert control over the country.

Buoyed by its military vic-tories, the regime is also making progress in efforts to break its diplomatic isolation, with Thurs-day’s reopening of the Emirati embassy in Damascus.

The Syrian army announced that it had raised the flag in Manbij, a strategic city close to the Turkish border where Kurdish forces have been deployed since 2016 and where US-led coalition forces are also stationed. A military spokesman said in a televised announcement that the army would be bent on “crushing ter-rorism and defeating all invaders and occupiers”.

More than 300 government forces deployed in the Manbij area, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Nura Al Hamed, deputy head of the Manbij local authority, said that the regime deployment was the result of Russian-spon-sored negotiations.

“The regime forces will not enter the city of Manbij itself but will deploy on the demarcation line” with Turkish-backed Syrian groups, she said.

Hamed said that US and French coalition forces stationed there remained at their positions

and continued to conduct patrols. Their deployment creates a regime buffer arching across northern Syria that fully separates the Turkish army and its proxies from the Kurds.

Turkey reacted to the

deployment by warning “all sides to stay away from provoc-ative actions” while a large convoy of its Syrian auxiliaries were seen moving closer to the western edge of Manbij yesterday.

AFP/BEIRUT

The reopening of the United Arab Emirates embassy in Damascus is the most visible step so far of efforts to return Syria to the diplomatic arena. The drive to bring the regime of President Bashar Al Assad back in from the cold started months ago and the trend is likely to intensify in the coming weeks.

What has already happened - On September 29, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem

meets his Bahraini counterpart during the UN General Assembly. - On December 16, Sudanese President Omar Hasan Al Bashir

meets Assad and becomes the first Arab leader to visit Damascus since the start of the war in Syria in 2011.

- On December 22, Syrian intelligence chief Ali Mamluk, a key regime figure, visits Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials.

- On December 27, the UAE reopens its embassy in Damascus, the first Gulf country to do so, during a ceremony attended by diplomats.

All six Gulf states had decided in 2012 to close their embassies, accusing Assad’s regime of “massacring its people”.

- On December 27, Bahrain announces in a statement that it plans to follow suit and a Syrian airline organises its first direct flight to Tunis since the war broke out.

What we can expect - All eyes are on Saudi Arabia, which could announce it is

also reopening its embassy. Meanwhile Egypt could upgrade ties that are currently at charge d’affaires level.

- A report in Lebanon’s Al Akhbar newspaper yesterday said Jordan was in talks to appoint a new ambassador to Syria.

- On January 19-20, the Arab Economic Summit to be held in Beirut could see more high-level meetings between Syrian officials and their regional counterparts. Syria’s attendance is still being negotiated.

- The Beirut summit could act as a test run for the Arab League summit to be held in March 2019 in Tunis.

The regional body has said that, while no consensus had yet been reached, Assad’s attendance and Syria’s reintegration into the organisation were on the table.

Syrian army enters Manbij in new alliance with Kurds

Demonstrators walk near a road barricade during protests over their exclusion from the presidential election in Beni, Democratic Republic of Congo, yesterday.

Protests as Congo leader warns of Ebola vote ‘disaster’AP KINSHASA

Congo’s leader is blaming a deadly Ebola virus outbreak for the last-minute decision to keep an estimated 1 million voters from the polls in tomorrow’s long-delayed presidential election, claiming it would be a “disaster” if someone infects scores or hundreds of others. Protests exploded for a second day yesterday in response as health workers suspended efforts and warned that new cases could rise.

In an interview, President Joseph Kabila contradicted his own health officials and experts with the World Health Organi-zation, who have said precau-tions were taken in collaboration with electoral authorities so people could vote. Those include tons of hand sanitizer - Ebola is spread via infected bodily fluids - and the screening of all voters entering polling stations.

Kabila in his comments Thursday evening claimed that Ebola could spread as people use voting machines, which require tapping on a touchscreen to select candidates. A polling station could have 500 to 600 voters and “this assumes that a lot of people will be contaminated,” he said. Health officials have said voters would sanitize their hands before and after voting.

Until this week, the Ebola

outbreak declared on Aug. 1 had been a challenge but not a barrier to the election. Voting is now delayed in the cities of Beni and Butembo - but not in other communities with confirmed Ebola cases - until March, long after the inauguration of Kabila’s successor in January. Residents had largely supported Kabila in past elections but sentiment has turned in recent years amid per-sistent insecurity.

This latest delay in an election meant to occur in late

2016 has angered both residents and the opposition, which accuses the government of trying to ensure that Kabila’s preferred successor is elected. Many Con-golese believe Kabila will con-tinue to wield power behind the scenes and protect his assets in a country with vast mineral wealth.

Protests broke out in Beni again on Friday, with hundreds of people demanding the right to vote on Sunday with the rest of the country. Police and the

army used live ammunition and tear gas to disperse the marchers who barricaded streets.

Some protesters carried crosses displaying “RIP Kabila” and saying his preferred suc-cessor, Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, “will never be our pres-ident.” Beni’s civil society urged residents to turn out en masse on Sunday.

“We don’t fear Ebola,” one of the marchers, Claude Vianney, said. On Thursday, some pro-testers attacked an Ebola

response center and sent 21 patients fleeing. While the health ministry said most had tested negative for the virus and 11 people had already returned, the vandalism was the latest setback in efforts to contain the second deadliest Ebola outbreak in history. Nearly 600 cases have been reported, with more than 350 confirmed deaths.

The uproar over the voting delay has “badly disturbed” Ebola response work in Beni and Butembo, Congo’s health min-istry said. Health teams could barely deploy on Thursday and no Ebola vaccinations could be carried out, it said.

The Oxfam aid organization said it was forced to suspend its Ebola response work. Acting country director Raphael Mbuyi called the situation “extremely worrying” because previous sus-pensions have led to a spike in new cases.

Mbuyi added, however, “it’s not surprising that people who have had their votes taken away at the last minute are frustrated and going to the streets. These people deserve to have their say as well.” Protesters said life has continued in the outbreak zone, with schools open, people going to church and candidates holding campaign rallies. Congo’s pres-ident responded by saying such activities don’t involve voting machines.

Syria’s return to diplomatic scene

538 Palestinian homes razed in 2018

Extremists seize Nigerian town and key military baseAP MAIDUGURI, NIGERIA

Residents and military sources say extremists have seized a Nigerian town and a base for a multinational force fighting Boko Haram insurgents.

One military source said that reinforcements trying to retake the town have been repelled, with some casu-alties. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to reporters. The attack on the

northeastern town of Baga comes as President Muhammadu Buhari seeks a second term in February’s election.

He took office in 2015 vowing to defeat the Boko Haram extremists, who have

split as one faction pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.

One fleeing resident, Musa Hajaye, tells the AP that the extremists “have hoisted their flag and warned us of the evil fate of saboteurs.”

Turkey warns against provocation in northern SyriaANATOLIA ANKARA

Turkey’s Defence Ministry yesterday called on all parties to any move that will climb the instability in Manbij, northern Syria.

“We warn all parties to stay away from provocative actions and rhetoric that will make the region more unstable,” the ministry said in a statement.

“YPG/PKK terrorist organization that controls the region by force does not have the right and the authority to make a statement and invite other elements on behalf of people in the region,” it added.

The ministry said it closely monitors the issue.

The statement came after the Syrian regime forces reportedly entered Manbij in coordination with the YPG/PKK terror group.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK — listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU — has been responsible for the deaths of some 40,000 people, including women and children. The YPG is its Syrian branch.

Gunmen kill 10 gendarmes in Burkina FasoREUTERS / OUAGADOUGOU

Gunmen killed 10 Burkinabe gendarmes in a village near the Malian border this week, Burkina Faso’s security ministry said, in a further sign of deterio-rating security in a country once seen as one of the region’s more stable.

The assailants attacked and set fire to a school on Wednesday night in Loroni, a village about 250km northwest of the capital Ouagadougou, the min-istry said in a statement late on Thursday. Two patrols of gendarmes, or mil-itary police, were sent to arrest the attackers but ran into an ambush on Thursday morning that killed 10 of them and wounded an unknown number of others.

New Delhi has already set up three hydro-power projects in Bhutan with a total capacity of 1,416 MW, which are operational. About three-fourth of the power generated is exported to India and the rest is used for domestic consumption. “Work on other (hydro-power) projects are also progressing satisfactorily,” Modi said.

05SATURDAY 29 DECEMBER 2018 ASIA

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi (right), shakes hands with his Bhutan counterpart Lotay Tshering prior to a meeting in New Delhi, yesterday.

India announces Rs45bn assistance to BhutanIANS NEW DELHI

India yesterday announced that it will contribute Rs45bn to Bhu-tan’s 12th Five-Year Plan fol-lowing delegation-level talks headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bhu-tanese counterpart Lotay Tshering here as the two sides also reviewed the progress of various hydro-power projects in the Himalayan kingdom.

“I have assured the Prime Minister that India will continue to play the role of a trusted friend and partner in Bhutan’s devel-opment,” Modi said in a joint address to the media with Tshering following the meeting.

“India will make a contri-bution of Rs45bn for Bhutan’s 12th Five-Year Plan,” he said. “This contribution will be made according to Bhutan’s needs and priorities.” Bhutan’s 12th Five-Year Plan runs from 2018 to 2023. Stating that Tshering described his “Narrowing the Gap” vision in detail during their, Modi said that this matched his “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas” (Collective Efforts, Inclusive Growth) vision. He said that development of hydro-power projects is an important part of the long history of India’s aid to Bhutan.

“Today we reviewed our aid

for all related projects in this important sector,” Modi said.

Stating that that work on the 720-MW Mangdechhu hydro-power project in Bhutan will be completed soon, he said that both sides have also agreed on the electricity tariff rates from this project. India is a leading development aid partner for Bhutan. There are a number of institutional mechanisms between India and Bhutan in areas like security, border man-agement, trade, economy, hydro-electricity, development coop-eration and water resources.

New Delhi has already set up three hydro-power projects in Bhutan with a total capacity of 1,416 MW, which are operational. About three-fourth of the power generated is exported to India and the rest is used for domestic consumption. “Work on other (hydro-power) projects are also progressing satisfactorily,” Modi said, adding that both sides sought to add momentum to all such projects.

Stating that space science is a

new area of cooperation between the two countries, he said that a ground station will be soon be developed in Bhutan by the Indian Space Research Organisation to reap the benefits of the South Asian Satellite. “Once completed, this will help in weather infor-mation, tele-medicine and disaster relief work in remote areas of Bhutan,” he stated.

Expressing his gratitude at Bhutan’s decision to introduce the India-launched RuPay cards soon, the Indian Prime Minister said that this will greatly boost people-to-people ties between the two countries.

On his part, Tshering said that the main aim of his visit, taking place on the golden-jubilee year of India-Bhutan diplomatic ties, is to take the bilateral relationship to much greater heights. “We are very happy that Prime Minister Modi is personally committed to be with us, to support us and in that light we all heard that the government of India has again extended full support for our 12th Five-Year Plan,” he said.

He said that this will also help traders in Bhutan who have been affected by the Goods and Services Tax (GST) that has been introduced in India. Pointing out that hydro-power is the main source of revenue for Bhutan, Tshering appreciated India’s support during the negotiations for tariff of the Mangdechhu project and expressed the hope that work on the 2,560-MW

Sunkosh project will start soon.He also invited Modi to visit

Bhutan and inaugurate the Man-gdechhu project that will be completed in a few months.

Earlier, Tshering was accorded a ceremonial welcome at the Rash-trapati Bhavan here. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also called on the visiting dignitary. Tshering arrived yesterday on a three-day visit to India, his first official trip

abroad after assuming office in October. Tshering’s Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa (DNT) party, formed in 2013, won 30 of the 47 National Assembly seats in the elections in the Himalayan kingdom held in October. The country of 800,000 people, located between India and China, has chosen a different party to rule at each election since the end of absolute monarchy in 2008.

Pocso Act made stringent; death penalty for child abuseIANS NEW DELHI

The Union Cabinet has cleared a proposal to amend the Pro-tection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, 2012 to provide for the death penalty for aggravated penetrative assault on children.

Briefing the media on the decisions taken at the Cabinet meeting held on Thursday, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the Cabinet had cleared far-reaching amendments. “It is a very wholesome initiative by the government to strengthen and enlarge the scope of Pocso.”

He said apart from providing for death penalty in aggravated

offences, the amendments also provide for stringent punishment for the offence of administering hormones for making children “artificially major”.

The proposed amend-ments also provide for a jail term for propagating child pornography and fine for not reporting it. The Pocso Act defines a child as any person below 18 years of age.

Earlier in April, the gov-ernment had issued an ordi-nance to provide for the death penalty for those convicted of molesting girls below 12 years of age and life term for molesting a girl below 16 fol-lowing the outrage over the abuse and murder of an

eight-year-old girl in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir and similar crimes in other parts of the country.

“The modification is made to address the need for stringent measures required to deter the rising trend of child abuse in the country,” an official statement said.

“To discourage the trend of child sexual abuse by acting as a deterrent, Section-4, Section-5 and Section-6 are proposed to be amended to provide option of stringent punishment, including death penalty, for committing aggravated pene-trative assault crime on a child, to protect the children from abuse,” the statement said.

“The amendments are also proposed in section-9 to protect children from sexual offences in times of natural calamities and disasters and in cases where children are administered, in any way, any hormone or any chemical substance, to attain early maturity for the purpose of penetrative assault,” it added.

The government said that amendments to sections 14 and 15 are also proposed to address the menace of child pornog-raphy. “It is proposed to levy fine for not destroying or deleting, or (not) reporting the pornographic material involving a child. The person can be further penalized with jail term or fine or both for transmitting, propagating,

administrating such material in any manner except for the purpose of reporting as may be prescribed and for use as evi-dence in court,” it said.

“Penal provisions have been made more stringent for storing or possessing any por-nographic material in any form involving a child for com-mercial purpose.”

The government said the amendment is expected to dis-courage the trend of child abuse by acting as a deterrent due to the strong penal provi-sions incorporated in the Act. “It may protect the interest of vulnerable children in times of distress and ensure their safety and dignity,” it added.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi (right) and former prime minister Manmohan Singh shaking hands during the 134th Indian Congress Party Foundation Day function at the All India Congress Committee headquarters in New Delhi.

Congress celebrates 134th Foundation DayIANS NEW DELHI

India’s oldest political party, Congress celebrated its 134th Foundation Day yesterday by hoisting the national flag and remembering some of its iconic leaders and freedom fighters.

“Over the last 134 years of Congress history, we have stood for justice, equality, non-vio-lence, unity, freedom and, above all, dialogue. For all the years to come, we will continue to

uphold these values and stand with the people of our country,” the party said in a tweet.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi celebrated the day by cutting a cake with former prime minister Manmohan Singh, and other senior leaders of the party.

The party said it will stand by values of non-violence, quoting in another tweet words of Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel, the first Home Minister of India, where he said, “the measure of

our non-violence will be the measure of our success”.

In another tweet, it quoted the ideal of “love and sacrifice” for the country espoused by Sarojini Naidu, an eminent poetess, freedom fighter and Congress leader.

The Congress was founded in 1885 by a British civil servant Allan Octavian Hume. Hume was a celebrated orni-thologist and is considered to be “the Father of Indian Ornithology”.

Lok Sabha okays proclamation of President’s Rule in J&KIANS NEW DELHI

The Lok Sabha yesterday passed amid din a statutory resolution approving the proclamation of President’s Rule in Jammu and Kashmir even as the Opposition parties objected and termed it “unconstitutional”.

After the passage of the resolution moved by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan allowed a brief discussion, saying although it has been passed and already been adopted, she was allowing a discussion on it as a “special case”. Initiating the debate, Shashi Tharoor of Congress opposed the resolution saying the state was put under Governor’s Rule without any floor test.

“It was done despite the fact that Congress, the PDP and the National Conference had come together to form the government. Why did the Governor not conduct a floor test in the Assembly. The exercise (of the Governor) was improper and the act was unconstitutional,” he said.

He also sought to know from the government whether the Governor gave reasons in writing as required by the Supreme Court in the S.R. Bombai case and asked the government to share the reasons with the Parliament.

TMC’s Saugata Ray also opposed the President’s Rule terming it arbitrary and uncon-stitutional and demanded immediate election in the state.

NCP’s Supriya Sule said the government should explain the reason behind the imposition of its rule and sought to know the need of President’s Rule when there was a good percentage of the voting in panchayat elections as described by Prime Min-ister Narendra Modi himself.

“This in not the time for bullet, it is the time for election,” she said. CPI-M’s Mohammed Salim demanded establishment of a popular government in the state and hit out at government of its “ill-thought and misleading policy” with regard to Jammu and Kashmir.

‘Gaganyaan programme’ gets nod for manned flight to spaceIANS NEW DELHI

In major boost to India’s ambi-tious programme to send astro-nauts to space, the Union Cabinet has approved Rs10,000-crore “Gaganyaan Programme” that envisages two unmanned and one manned flights to the space.

Informing about the decision yesterday, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said: “Three Indian astronauts will be sent to space for up to seven days by 2022.” Announced by Prime Min-ister Narendra Modi on August 15, the total fund requirement for the Gaganyaan Programme is within Rs10,000 crore and includes cost of technology development, flight hardware realisation and essential infra-structure elements. Two unmanned flights and one manned flight will be undertaken as part of the programme.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will collab-orate extensively with various national agencies, laboratories, academia and industry to accomplish the Gaganyaan Pro-gramme objectives.

While the ISRO will be responsible for realising the flight hardware through industry, national agencies, lab-oratories and academia will participate in crew training, human life science technology

development initiatives as well as design reviews.

First human space flight demonstration is targeted to be completed within 40 months from the date of sanction. Prior to this, two unmanned flights in full complement will be carried out to gain confidence on the technology and mission management aspects.

The ambitious programme will also allow pooling in of diverse technological and industrial capabilities and enable broader participation in research opportunities and technology development. It is also expected to spur research and development within the country in niche science and technology domains and provide huge potential for tech-nology spinoffs in areas such as medicine, agriculture, indus-trial safety, pollution, waste management, and water and food resource management, among others.

The ISRO has completed the development of launch vehicle GSLV Mk-lll which has the nec-essary payload capability to launch a three-member crew module in low earth orbit. It has also tested the crew escape system which is an essential technology for manned space flight. The aerodynamic char-acterisation of crew module has been completed as part of GSLV Mk-lll X mission flight.

The PTI, despite its razor thin majority in the National Assembly, does not have any serious threat from the opposition.

06 SATURDAY 29 DECEMBER 2018ASIA

Imran Khan’s ruling PTI divides oppositionINTERNEWS ISLAMABAD

Nawaz Sharif’s latest conviction and the incriminating nature of JIT’s report on fake accounts against Asif Ali Zardari and others have benefitted the pol-itics of ruling PTI as the chances of two leading opposition parties — PPP and PML-N — getting united as ‘victim’ of ‘political witch-hunt’ are rare.

Both the PPP and PML-N are cautious not to give any negative reaction against each other over these latest developments tar-geting their topmost leadership but at the same time they are careful not to show each other’s leader as ‘victim’.

Sources said that despite even the recent conviction of Nawaz Sharif by the accounta-bility court, the PML-N in par-ticular does not want to be

bracketed with the PPP in defending Asif Ali Zardari in the light of what the JIT report has revealed.

The PML-N fears that joining hands with the PPP on the issue of corruption will further the PTI’s narrative that both parties are corrupt and their top leaders are looters and plunderers of nation’s wealth.

Officially, the PML-N view is that the JIT has given its report while notices have been issued by the Supreme Court to all con-cerned including PPP’s top lead-ership. The PML-N spokesperson Marryium Aurengzeb said her

party is awaiting to see how the PPP leadership responds to the accusations levelled against it in the JIT report.

The PPP as a political entity did not give any response to the latest conviction of Nawaz Sharif by the accountability court.

Farhatullah Babar when contacted confirmed that the PPP did not issue any formal statement on Nawaz’ conviction. He, however, said that the PPP is opposed to the political vic-timisation of the opposition.

In his personal capacity, however, Farhatullah Babar said that in Nawaz Sharif’s case, justice does not appear to have been done. He said that the top leaders of political parties are being targeted in the garb of accountability.

In his recent tweet, Babar wrote, “Info Min+ Accountability Adviser hold joint press

conference to explain Nawaz’ conviction and JIT report. If sen-tencing and conviction had any credibility, they wouldn’t have been screaming so loudly and let people judge for themselves.” There is no such voice heard so far from within the PML-N to defend Zardari in the backdrop of JIT’s report.

Instead in their background discussions the PML-N leaders take the JIT report against Asif Ali Zardari and others as severe and serious. “It is mindboggling and blatant,” a PML-N leader commented on condition of not being named.

The PML-N leader said that the N-league does not want to be compared with the PPP in corruption. He feared “we will be compared” if the PML-N joins hands with the PPP to protest the conviction of Nawaz and JIT’s charges against Zardari together.

In view of this situation, the PTI despite its razor thin majority in the National Assembly does not have any serious threat from the opposition. There is neither any deliberation going on between the PPP and PML-N about any joint agitation nor there is any consideration for in-house change as reflected in a statement of a PML-N leader.

Interestingly, the PTI is smartly playing the card of cor-ruption against both the PML-N and the PPP and portray their leaders as equal in corruption. This narrative of the PTI works well in making the PPP and PML-N hesitant to take a unified stance and go for agitation.

If they join hands against the government, the PTI knows it will further its narrative that both the PPP and PML-N are corrupt and are together to save their corruption.

Former PM Shahid Khaqan to spearhead PML-NINTERNEWS ISLAMABAD

Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is likely to supervise the party affairs in absence of ousted prime min-ister Nawaz Sharif and Oppo-sition Leader in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif who are both currently behind the bars as a result of the cor-ruption cases against them, the reliable sources said.

However, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said: “I am only a party worker but being one of the senior most party members, I am supposed to play my due role in absence of both Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif.

“But I must say that all members of the upcoming par-liamentary advisory board would have equal say in the decision-making process.”

The sources said ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif had also personally posed con-fidence in loyalty and com-mitment of Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and directed the party’s senior members during a meeting in Islamabad before his arrest to follow his advice in critical political matters.

“It was Shahid Khaqan Abbasi himself who was not interested in becoming head of the parliamentary advisory board because he was of the view that all the senior members should work jointly without getting any post in the interest of the party,” the sources said.

The sources said Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is now being considered as ‘acting head’ of the party as he would lead the efforts to formulate roadmap for 6-month-long mass contact

movement during which the parliamentary advisory board would focus mobilising the party workers at the grassroots level and strengthening the basic infrastructure of the party in all the federating units.

They said apart from Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, the parlia-mentary advisory board is likely to comprise senior party members such as Raja Zafarul Haq, Khawaja Asif, Ahsan Iqbal, Ayaz Sadiq, Pervaiz Rashid, Mushahidullah Khan, Rana Sanaullah, Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Rana Tanvir Hussain, Tahira Aurangzeb and Sardar Yaqoob Khan Nasir.

The sources said Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has also stated time and again that his hands are clean and if anyone wants to inquire into his tenures as the minister as well as the prime minister he would face the challenge at any forum.

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said: “No one would head the par-liamentary advisory board as all its members would play their due role in strengthening the party all over the country.”

Replying to a question he said: “At the moment parlia-mentary advisory board of the party would focus on three objectives including stronger contacts with the party workers, identification of weaknesses in the party structure and strength-ening of support base of the party during a mass contact movement that would start from December 30. The parlia-mentary advisory board has a clear-cut plan to achieve its targets within six months because the upcoming mass contact movement will come to an end on June 30 next year.”

Police frisk people ahead of the 11th general election, in Dhaka yesterday.

Bangladesh PM poised to win fourth termAP DHAKA

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is poised to win a record fourth term in tomor-row’s elections, drumming up support by promising a devel-opment bonanza as her critics question if the South Asian nation’s tremendous economic success has come at the expense of its already fragile democracy.

The polls, the 11th since Bangladesh won independence from Pakistan in 1971, pit 71-year-old Hasina against a united opposition helmed by Kamal Hossain, 82, an Oxford-educated lawyer and former foreign minister.

Notably absent is another septuagenarian: Former prime minister Khaleda Zia, 74, Hasina’s archrival and the head of the Bangladesh Nationalist

Party, who courts ruled was ineligible to run from her colonial-era Dhaka jail cell, where she’s serving a 17-year sentence for corruption.

Hasina and Zia have been in and out of power and prison for decades, vying to run the young Muslim-majority country of 160 million. The BNP boycotted the 2014 polls. As a result, voter turnout was only 22 percent, according to Bangladesh’s Election Commission. More than half of the 300 seats in Par-liament were uncontested.

This time, more than 104 million people are eligible to vote. Nearly one in 10 are young voters, including many first-time voters, in one of the world’s largest democratic exercises.

After a decade of rule by Hasina’s Awami League party and in Zia’s absence, Hossain, once a close aide to Hasina’s father,

Bangladesh’s founding president, has risen as the primary chal-lenger, attracting the interest of Bangladesh’s growing middle class and Western diplomats not wholly convinced Hasina’s devel-opment gains justify her increas-ingly heavy-handed rule.

The run up to the election has been marred by allegations from Hossain supporters of arrests and jailing of thousands of Hasina opponents.

About 600,000 security personnel including thousands of military soldiers and paramil-itary border guards have been deployed. State police have barred opposition marches and foiled rallies.

At least six people have been killed in campaign-related clashes that local media report were mostly perpe-trated by ruling-party activists backed by police.

Unique Friday marketPakistani vendors display their fighting chicken for sale during a Friday market in Rawalpindi.

Shehbaz Sharif to chair first PAC meeting

INTERNEWS ISLAMABAD

Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz President Shehbaz Sharif is chairing the first meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) today.

Shehbaz, who is in the custody of National Account-ability Bureau (NAB), was elected as PAC chairman unop-posed on December 21. He was issued with a production order to attend the meeting by National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser a day ago.

The PML-N president decided that he will not chair any session related to the pre-vious government’s rule.

Earlier this month, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government conceded the chairmanship of PAC to Shehbaz, almost three months after a stalemate over the key position. The PTI government had long stuck to its stance that the opposition should come up with any name other than Shehbaz’s for the chair-manship as he is accused in the Ashiana Housing scandal, but the opposition was of the view that past traditions of the National Assembly should be honoured.

278 skeletons found at mass grave in Sri LankaAFP COLOMBO

Some 278 skeletons have been found at one of the biggest mass graves uncovered in Sri Lanka since the end of the country’s civil war almost a decade ago, a top investigator said yesterday.

Dozens of women and children as well as men were buried at the site in Mannar where Tamil guerrillas fought security forces during the con-flict, said Samindra Rajap-akshe, senior judicial medical officer in the northern city. The mass grave was uncovered in March by construction workers preparing to build a cooper-ative store. More than 20 of the remains were of children.

He added that further forensics examinations would be needed to establish causes of death, but said that some of the victims appeared to have been bound.

Mannar was a key battle-ground in Sri Lanka’s four decade-long separatist con-flict in which the Tamil Tigers waged a bloody war against government troops. The war ended in 2009 after a major military offensive.

Taliban seek image makeover as Afghan peace talks gain momentumREUTERS KABUL/PESHAWAR

As moves towards peace pick up in Afghanistan, the Taliban are trying to show they have changed since the brutal days of the 1990s when they banned music and girls’ education and carried out public executions in Kabul’s football stadium.

“If peace comes and the Taliban return, then our return will not be in the same harsh way as it was in 1996,” Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told Reuters, referring to the year they took over in Kabul before their ouster by US-led troops in 2001.

“We want to assure Afghan nationals that there will be no threat to anyone from our side.” The comments come as moves towards peace negotiations have intensified, following a

series of meetings between US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and Taliban representatives over the past three months.

Expectations of a decisive shift have been heightened by reports that more than 5,000 US troops may be withdrawn from Afghanistan, in an abrupt about-turn from the previous US strategy of stepping up military pressure on the insurgents.

“Our opposition is with the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan. Once they are out and a peace deal is reached, then a nationwide amnesty will be announced,” said Mujahid.

“No one, police, army, gov-ernment employees or anyone, will face revenge behaviour from our side.” Reports of the withdrawal are unconfirmed but they have triggered alarm among many Afghans with bitter

memories of the Taliban’s ultra-hardline regime.

Mujahid said the Taliban were not against women’s education or employment but wanted to maintain cultural and religious codes. “We are not against women working in government organisations or against their outdoor activities, but we will be against the alien culture clothes worn by women, brought to our country,” Mujahid said.

Omaid Maisam, the deputy spokesman for Afghan Chief Executive officer Abdullah Abdullah, said the government protects human rights and the Taliban must accept the national constitution to shed their hardline image. “We have seen some signs of changes among them, but they have to show it in their actions that they have really changed,” he said.

07SATURDAY 29 DECEMBER 2018 ASIA

Gloria Arroyo acquitted in poll sabotage caseAFP MANILA

The last of a series of criminal charges against former Philippine president Gloria Arroyo (pictured) has been dismissed, a court said, capping a remarkable comeback for the controversial former leader and Duterte ally.

The Manila court ruling, which was released yesterday, said there was not enough evi-dence to support accusations that then-president Arroyo had con-spired with a local politician to rig the 2007 mid-term elections in favour of her senatorial allies.

“For failure of the prose-cution to prove the guilt of accused Arroyo beyond rea-sonable doubt and moral cer-tainty despite ample oppor-tunity...the charge of “Electoral Sabotage” against accused

Arroyo is hereby ordered dis-missed”, the court ruling said.

Ferdinand Topacio, Arroyo’s lawyer, said the ruling was a “vindication”.

Arroyo, 71, served as pres-ident from 2001 to 2010 but her

term was tainted by allegations of massive corruption and vote-rigging.

She was jailed on the charge of electoral sabotage in 2011 and in 2016 was hit with an addi-tional charge that she stole $6.8m in state lottery funds meant for charity programmes.

Benigno Aquino, a staunch critic of Arroyo, was elected president in 2010 and sought to make his predecessor a high-profile scalp of his anti-cor-ruption campaign.

But in 2016, Arroyo was allowed to post bail on the vote-rigging charge and was released later that year after the Supreme Court dismissed the plunder charge against her.

Despite the controversies, in 2010 she was elected as a con-gresswoman, representing her family’s home province north of Manila. She still occupies that post, and was sworn in to the influential position of House Speaker in July.

Arroyo’s change of fortune came after her ally, fiery city mayor Rodrigo Duterte, was elected president in 2016.

She has been a supporter of Duterte, whose controversial campaign against illegal drugs has claimed thousands of lives and been widely condemned by human rights groups.

The Manila court ruling said there was not enough evidence to support accusations that then-president Arroyo had conspired with a local politician to rig the 2007 mid-term elections in favour of her senatorial allies.

Seoul-Tokyo radar row intensifiesAFP SEOUL A row between Seoul and Tokyo escalated yesterday after Japan released a video it said backed up its claim that a South Korean warship had locked its weapons targeting system onto a Japanese plane.

South Korea condemned the release of the footage and reit-erated its rejection of the Jap-anese allegations.

Tensions have flared since Japan alleged that a South Korean destroyer last week aimed its fire-control radar at a Japanese maritime patrol plane in the Sea of Japan off the eastern coast of South Korea.

Seoul has denied the allega-tions, saying the ship was merely searching for a North Korean fishing boat that was drifting

near the inter-Korean sea border.

In a bid to defuse tensions, defence authorities from both sides held a video conference on Thursday and “exchanged opinions regarding the truth and technical analysis to remove misunderstandings,” the South Korean defence ministry said.

But the Japanese defence ministry yesterday released on its homepage a 13-minute video filmed by the aircraft which it said supported its allegations.

Tokyo said the footage con-tained scenes where the plane was hit multiple times by the fire-control radar.

“We express deep concern and regret” over the unilateral release of the footage, the South Korean defence ministry said in a statement yesterday.

“As we have stated

repeatedly, the Gwanggaeto destroyer was engaging in a normal rescue operation and it remains as a fact that the ship did not use” the fire-control radar, it said.

“Instead, it is very disap-pointing that the Japanese patrol aircraft conducted a low-altitude flight in a threatening manner against our ship which was involved in a humanitarian rescue mission,” it said.

It dismissed the footage as failing to stand up as evidence as it only shows scenes of the ship from the circling plane.

The spat has further com-plicated already tense relations between the neighbours who are tangled in disputes over Tokyo’s claim to a remote island controlled by Seoul and Japan’s denial of legal responsibility for wartime atrocities.

Over 40,000 evacuated in Indonesia after tsunamiAFP JAKARTA

The number of people evacuated after Indonesia’s deadly tsunami has nearly doubled to some 40,000 while more than 7,000 were injured in the disaster, offi-cials said yesterday, as they trimmed the official death toll.

Authorities said 426 people had been killed — down from a previous tally of 430 — with double-counting by different districts blamed for the change. Two dozen people remain missing almost a week after the disaster.

The fresh figures come a day after Indonesia’s disaster agency raised the danger alert level for an erupting volcano that sparked the killer tsunami at the weekend.

They have also warned that fresh activity at the crater threatened to trigger another deadly wave.

Previously, the number of displaced — including many left homeless — stood at 22,0000 but that figure has now jumped to just over 40,000, according to the latest tally.

Some 7,202 people suffered injuries, jumping from 1,495, while nearly 1,300 homes were destroyed as the waves crashed

into the coastlines of western Java island and south Sumatra, authorities said.

“We’re recommending that people who lived near the beach be permanently relocated,” national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told a press briefing in Jakarta. “But it’s a last-ditch option because it’s not easy with limited space and people reluctant to move away.”

A no-go zone around rum-bling Anak Krakatoa has been widened to five kilometres — up from a previous two kilometres — with residents warned to stay away from the coast.

The crater’s status has been raised to high alert, the second-highest warning on Indonesia four-point danger scale.

Flights are being redirected away from the area.

A section of the crater

— which emerged at the site of the Krakatoa volcano, whose massive 1883 eruption killed at least 36,000 people — collapsed after an eruption and slid into the ocean, triggering Saturday night’s killer wave.

Before and after satellite images taken by Japan’s space agency showed that a two square kilometre chunk of the volcanic island had collapsed into the water.

A damaged villa during a sunset following the December 22 tsunami, in Pandeglang, Banten province, yesterday.

Data of N Korean defectors leaked after hackingREUTERS SEOUL

The personal information of nearly 1,000 North Koreans who defected to South Korea has been leaked after unknown hackers got access to a reset-tlement agency’s database, the South Korean Unification Ministry said yesterday.

The ministry said it dis-covered last week that the names, birth dates and addresses of 997 defectors had been stolen through a computer infected with malicious software at an agency called the Hana centre, in the southern city of Gumi.

“The malware was planted through emails sent by an internal address,” a ministry official told reporters on con-dition of anonymity, due to the sensitivity of the issue, referring to a Hana centre email account.

The Hana centre is among 25 institutes the ministry runs around the country to help some 32,000 defectors adjust to life in the richer, democratic South by providing jobs, medical and legal support.

Defectors, most of whom risked their lives to flee poverty and political oppression, are a source of shame for North Korea. Its state media often denounces them as “human scum” and accuses South Korean spies of kidnapping some of them.

The ministry official declined to say if North Korea was believed to have been behind the hack, or what the motive might have been, saying a police investigation was under way to determine who did it.

North Korean hackers have in the past been accused of cyberattacks on South Korean state agencies and businesses.

North Korea stole classified documents from the South’s defence ministry and a ship-builder last year, while a cryptocurrency exchange filed for bankruptcy following a cyberattack linked to the North.

North Korean state media h a s d e n i e d t h o s e cyberattacks.

The latest data breach comes at a delicate time for the two Koreas which have been rapidly improving their rela-tions after years of confrontation.

The Unification Ministry said it was notifying the affected defectors and there were no reports of any negative impact of the data breach.

“We’re sorry this has hap-pened and will make efforts to prevent it from recurring,” the ministry official said.

Several defectors have dis-appeared in recent years only to turn up later in North Korean state media, criticising South Korea and the fate of defectors.

Daycare teacher jailed over ‘needle’ scandalAFP BEIJING

A Chinese kindergarten teacher was jailed for 18 months for abusing children with needles, a Beijing court said, sparking criticism online that the sentence was too short.

Liu Yanan, who was a teacher at the RYB Education New World kindergarten, pricked four children with needles in November 2017, the Beijing Chaoyang Court said. The scandal triggered national outrage.

An investigation into the kindergarten began when parents found needle marks on their toddlers who attended the high-end, bilingual Chinese-English school. There were also allegations that the children were made to take mysterious pills.

“The circumstances were vile. Her behaviour has seri-ously damaged the physical and mental health of minors,” the court said in a statement, adding that the abuse did not result in any lasting injury.

Liu has also been banned from working with minors for five years after serving her sentence.

RYB Education, a New York-listed company which runs the chain of kindergartens, apologised for the incident and stressed on their official social media account the abuse was carried out by an individual.

However, there was huge criticism of the sentence online, with many social media users angered that no officials have been punished.

Three Beijing education officials were under investi-gation for “lack of supervision” but the case has not progressed.

“The cost to commit a crime is too low! This is condoning crimes!” read one post on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like platform, saying that Liu should have been given a lifetime ban from working in education.

The incident prompted the State Council, China’s top administrative body, to call for an “immediate” investigation into all kindergartens across the country.

RYB Education owns some 500 kindergartens and nearly 1,300 learning centres across China for children up to the age of six, according to its website.

The scandal was not the first to hit the company.

South Korean Navy’s Gwanggaeto the Great-class destroyer DDH 971 is seen from Japan Self-Defence Force’s aeroplane in this undated photo released by Japan’s Ministry of Defense.

US govt issues travel warning to PhilippinesAFP MANILA

The United States has warned its citizens that security at the Philippines’ main airport does not meet international standards, urging travellers to exercise “increased caution”.

The US Department of Homeland Security issued a travel advisory saying security at Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport was not “consistent” with International Civil Aviation Organizat ion ( ICAO) standards.

“Exercise increased caution when traveling to or from Ninoy Aquino Interna-tional Airport,” the US embassy in Manila said on its website citing the advisory.

The advisory was based on an assessment by security experts from the Transpor-tation Security Adminis-tration (TSA), the US h o m e l a n d s e c u r i t y department said.

A statement on the US homeland security department website said that the agency had directed airlines issuing tickets for travel between the two nations to notify pas-sengers of the assessment.

It added that TSA repre-sentatives have been working with the Philippine gov-ernment “assist airport and transportation authorities in bringing (the Manila airport) up to international security standards”.

Israel’s offensive on the Gaza Strip on December 27, 2008, began with targeting a graduation ceremony for police cadets.

JAPAN NEWS-YOMIURI

08 SATURDAY 29 DECEMBER 2018VIEWS

Gaza 10 years after Op Cast Lead

It has been 10 years since Israel launched its massive offensive on the Gaza Strip, which sparked global outrage as the world’s fifth-strongest army pounded the tiny blockaded enclave and its 1.6 million residents.

The 22-day land, naval and air bombardment saw some 1,400 Pales-tinians killed, thousands injured, and massive damage to infrastructure, including the destruction of 3,540 homes, 268 factories and warehouses and 18 schools.

Thirteen Israelis were also killed in the offensive, including four in friendly fire.

White phosphorus, which is illegal in populated areas, was fired at a central United Nations com-pound in Gaza City, as well as at least two other hospitals. The first air raids targeted an outdoor

graduation ceremony for cadets at the Arafat Police Academy in Gaza City.

“At 11:25am, Israeli air jets violently bombed the academy as well as tens of police stations across the Gaza Strip at the same time,” Ayman al-Batniji, spokesperson for the Palestinian Police Force in Gaza, told Al Jazeera.

“I was only a few metres away from the scene where a number of new cadets were rehearsing for their graduation ceremony when the first strike hit,” he recalled. Around 251 policemen were killed in the first few hours of the attack and more than 700

injured, including those who lost their legs and other limbs and could never return to work, al-Batniji said.

Among the people killed was Tawfiq Jabber, the Gaza chief of police at the time. The bloody images are seared in the minds of the surviving police officers as they remember ambulances and private cars rushing to the site to evacuate the dead and wounded against a backdrop of fumes and rising dust.

Hanadi Karsou, 29, was among the first cohort of women hired as police officers at the time and the only female officer at the scene.

“I was in my office when the air attacks began,” she said. “I went outside to see that the entire place was burning. There were bodies of young officers on the ground, torn to shreds.”

“Those were unforgettable scenes,” she said. “Students and children running in the streets crying... families trying to enter the academy to see what happened to their sons.”

Karsou said she lost many col-leagues who treated her presence on the force with respect. Today, the academy has more than 200 police-women. Another police officer, Issa Abu Khater, was also present the day the academy was bombarded and recalled the sight of blood and torn body parts in the courtyard.

“Many of them took their last breaths in front of me,” he said.

The 35-year-old spent the rest of the day at Gaza’s Shifa Hospital where he saw his wounded colleagues and identified the bodies those killed.

“My family was looking for my body in the morgue,” he said. “My brother and uncle found me and held me tight, relieved to see I was alive.”

Abu Khater was in shock and had to take sedatives in order to “absorb the horrors of that day”.

The attacks on December 27, 2008, occurred a week after Egyptian authorities brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian armed factions in the Gaza Strip, following a short flare-up between the two sides.

The bombings occurred very close to an area that had university buildings and schools, al-Batniji said.

“I remember the sense of horror

that had prevailed among the students there,” he said. “F-16 warplanes and reconnaissance drones were firing missiles at the academy compound. They even targeted policemen at the entrances,” he said.

“They meant to kill more.”Al-Batniji stressed that the police

service, as a civil body, was unaffiliated to any of the Palestinian factions. “We provide civil services to people as a way to maintain security here and to maintain the execution of civil law,” he said.

“Why were we targeted in this way? I lost many of my friends and best colleagues in the blink of an eye. It was a haunting day and can never be for-gotten.” Various human ri