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Qatari group aims to get Syrians into higher educationThe Hague AP

ORGANIZATIONS from Qatar and the Netherlands are joining forces to get 6,000 Syrian refugees into higher education courses, a move aimed at helping them integrate in the countries where they live now and rebuild their own nation if they are able to return.

The organizations, Al Fakhoora and Spark, announced yesterday that their partnership is scaling up from 600 students at the start of the academic year in Sep-tember. Executive Director of Al Fakhoora, Farooq Burney, says the programme will assist Syrian youngsters in Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and parts of Syria.

Saudi to get US arms worth $110bnWASHINGTON: US officials say the Trump administration plans to announce $110bn in advanced military equipment sales and training to Saudi Arabia this weekend as Pres-ident Donald Trump visits the country.

QNA

Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani patronised yesterday the inauguration of Khalifa International stadium and announced it in the name

of every Qatari and Arab citizen as ready to host World Cup 2022. The Emir cut the ribbon afterwards to officially announce the inauguration of Khalifa International Stadium.

Emir also watched the final of HH the Emir Cup between Al Sadd and Al Rayyan at Khalifa International Stadium. Al Sadd lifted the tropy with 2-1 win. The Emir awarded the cup and gold medals to Al Sadd club, and the Silver medals to Al Rayyan club

The Deputy Emir H H Sheikh Abdul-lah bin Hamad Al Thani and President of Burkina Faso Roch Marc Christian Kabore attended the inauguration of the stadium as well as the final match. Per-sonal Representative of the Emir H H Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani, H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalifa Al Thani, H H Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Thani, H E Sheikh Jassim bin Khalifa Al Thani, Speaker of the Advisory Coun-cil H E Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khulaifi, and President of Qatar Olym-pic Committee H E Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani have also attended the events.

Representative of H M the King,

for Charity Works and Youth Affairs, Chairman of the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports and President of Bahrain Olympic Committee, Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Presi-dent of Asian Football Confederation, Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khal-ifa, FIFA President Gianni Infantino, President of Union of Arab Football Associations, Prince Turki bin Khalid Al Saud, as well as a number of head of Arab and international sports fed-erations were also present.

→ See also pages 18 & 19

Sheikha Moza: Education used as 'instrument of war'The Hague

QNA

H H Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, member of the Group of Sustainable

Development Goals (SDG) Advocates, yesterday took part "Law, Education and the SDG’s" seminar as part of The Hague Institute for Global Justice's Distinguished Seminar Series.

The event was also attended by H M Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, in her capacity as the UN

Secretary-General's Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development, political leaders, NGO chiefs and the diplomatic community.

In her Speech delivered before the seminar, Sheikha Moza issued a stark warning t o t h e i n t e r n a t i o n a l community, saying that education is being used as "an instrument of war" and unless we "break the vicious cycle of violence" the 2030 sustainable development agenda will not be delivered.

Speaking as a UN Sustainable Development Advocate and founder of Education Above All (EAA), Sheikha Moza argued that education is a vital tool in peace-building and conflict prevention. "Now, more than ever, we need to reassert our common goal —to protect

education during war and provide education even in conflict and insecurity. This is when it is most difficult, and yet most urgent, to build sustainable peace."

Sheikha Moza also argued that peace and security will only be possible when all nations adhere to international law. She stated that the UN Security Council — the body charged with ensuring international peace — is "broken in exactly those situations where it is needed most – to hold to account those who commit grave violations of international law."

Sheikha Moza urged the world to recognise the 'human horror' and 'lifelong trauma' inflicted on millions of children when education is attacked and schools are destroyed.

→ Continued on page 2

Sanaullah Ataullah The Peninsula

The winter vegetable mar-kets operating in Al Mazroua, Al Khor-Dakhira

and Al Wakra will be closed down from today for three months as the season ends, said Yusuf Khalid Al Khulaifi, Direc-tor of Agriculture Affairs at the Ministry of Municipality and Environment.

This is the last week of the season, the next season is expected to start after three

months from September 2017, Al Khulaifi told The Peninsula.

“This season was very suc-cessful like previous ones as many new agricultural farmers participated. The popularity of winter markets is growing year by year. They received over-whelming response from the customers this year as well. Therefore, we have planned to open two new markets at Al Sha-haniya and Muaither next season," said Khalifi.

“Now we are at end of the season, the production of

vegetables in open farms has declined due to soaring temper-ature," said Mohamad, a vendor at winter market in Al Mazrouah.

“We were told by the author-ities that this is the last week of the season. With decreasing produce and increasing temperatures, the market has started losing charm for the past few weeks. But still we have some loyal customers who used to wait the weekend to buy the vegetables in large quantity,” said Mohamad.

“Today, we showcased

tomatoes, pumpkins, and water melons produced in farms and cucumber, spinach, capsicum and mint from greenhouse. I sold about 50 boxes of vegetables. In the peak season when we have verities of vegetables, the sale would reach 300 boxes in a day at a single market at Al Mazrouh.”

“We produced about 10 per-cent more vegetables this season compared to previous seasons and we are preparing more lands to increase the produce next sea-son.” Mohamad said that during

summer, they would focus on greenhouse as the production continued throughout the year. "When the winter market is closed, we take our all products to Central Market at Abu Hamour."

All three markets offer a variety of vegetables, and poul-try products from Qatari farms at attractive prices. The prices are less compared to the central fruit and vegetable market. It provides an opportunity to farm-ers to sell their products directly to the customers without inter-vention of the middlemen.

Winter vegetable markets to close today for three months

Emir declares Khalifa Stadium ready to host World Cup

Cafes expect boom in business→ Page 2

Special story on Ramadan

Emir meetsFIFA PresidentEMIR H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani met last night at Khalifa International Stadium with FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who was visiting Qatar to attend the inaugu-ration of the stadium and the final of the Emir Cup.

The FIFA President praised the facilities of Khalifa International Sta-dium, which will be one of the stadiums hosting World Cup 2022. The meeting also reviewed bilateral cooperation as well as the latest preparations for hosting World Cup 2022. Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani cutting the ribbon to officially announce the inauguration of the

refurbished Khalifa International Stadium, yesterday.

←H H Sheikha Moza bint Nasser with H M Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, at the Hague Institute for Global Justice, in Hague, yesterday. Pic: AR Al-Baker

02 SATURDAY 20 MAY 2017HOME

→ Continued from page 1H H Sheikha Moza added:

"A child's future takes years to build. But when conflict breaks out, and when a school is bombed, it is not only bricks that crumble. For bricks can be replaced. What can never be replaced is the hearts and futures of children."

"So when you see on your screens the horrors of war, the destruction of schools, please, look beyond the piles of bricks. See children who no longer fill those classrooms. See children who are left on the streets. Imagine their trauma, their anger, their sense of injustice." Following her address, Her Highness took part in a panel

discussion with International Criminal Court Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda; Founder and President of the Foundation for Community Development (FDC), and Founder of the Graca Machel Trust, Graca Machel and the Founder and CEO of the Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative (WPDI), UNESCO Special Envoy for Peace and UN SDG Advocate Forest Whitaker.

The event marks the start of a renewed roadmap, bring-ing together leading figures from across the development sector to build a programme aimed at strengthening inter-national law to better protect children.

Sheikha Moza attends panel discussion

H H Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, member of the Group of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Advocates, at the 'Law, Education and the SDG’s' seminar, part of The Hague Institute for Global Justice's Distinguished Seminar Series. Pic: AR Al-Baker

Sidi MohamedThe Peninsula

Several customers have urged the authorities concerned to streng-hten the monitoring of service fees charged by

air conditioner mechanics.“Two days ago I brought my

window AC to a maintenance shop who asked me QR180 for refilling gas, adding that earlier, this job was done for only QR150,” said Adnan, a customer.

He also said: "The problem is that the repair costs have increased by 30perent and the fault with my AC still exits. When they fix a problem, it reoccurs after a few days."

Another customer said that earlier, AC maintenance shops were asking only QR150 to QR200 but now they are start-ing from QR300 as minimum

price while they are giving guar-antee of repaired ACs only for one day.

"The consumer protection department must monitor the repairing charges of the shops. Otherwise, they will continue to increase prices and we have nothing to do except sit without ACs in this hot summer," he added.

This reporter visited several shops and confirmed that the costs of gas refill were from QR150 to QR180 while costs of repairing varied from QR200 to QR300.

The price of used compres-sor is from QR500 to QR600, while the new one is QR1,200 depending on the type of AC and its tonnage.

“Yes, the repairing cost has increased due to high demand and this is a normal thing. We have hired shops and workers. The charges increased only by QR100 for repairing and QR30 for gas refill and even this difference var-ies from one shop to another. At many shops, the prices are still the same,” said an operator of AC maintenance shop.

He also said that the most of

the ACs brought to their hops for repair work were old ones. "This is the reason that the problems with them resurface again. For the used compressors, we give four months guarantee".

On how many customers they get daily, he said: "We are receiving about seven to eight customers daily and most of the problems are related to window ACs." With the beginning of the summer, the prices of AC repairs are going up and most of the ACs which have problems are the windows ACs, said the mechanics.

Akhil GeorgeThe Peninsula

The holy month of Ram-adan is a boon for cafe owners as their business

tends to flourish during this time of the year. The steady rise of the café culture over the years is said to have contributed to this boom.

"The cafe almost stays open all night and our sales increase by a huge margin. Most of them come to our cafes and spend hours chatting with their friends and relatives. We get almost thrice the amount of business during Ramadan as compared to a normal day," said an employee at a cafe in Doha.

Ramadan is usually the most pleasant time for business, he said.

One of the main reasons for the boom is that at this time of the year, people prefer spending their time with their friends and relatives at traditional coffee/tea cafes rather than modern coffee shops," he added.

According to a resident, the country has seen a steady rise in the cafe culture over the years. The sudden rise in business dur-ing this time of the year is also due to the socializing aspect of the holy month, he added.

"We go to cafes, have a cup of coffee and watch Ramadan programmes that are being screened on TV after the iftar

and chat with our friends. We end up spending a large part of the night at these places. It has been a tradition for years. We do this because we like to use this opportunity to maintain our relationship with our old friends and, moreover, these cafes are very lively and give the vibe of the festival. I've been meeting up with my friends in the same cafe for the past five years," a resident said.

Small restaurants also report a surge in their sales during the holy month. The increased sale is a result of affordability to some. These restaurants also offer spe-cial meal packages for Ramadan that contribute to their increased sales.

"A large number of our cus-tomers are working men who want to break their fast after a long day. Our parcel and home delivery services also see an increase at this time of the year. Our affordable prices are also a key reason of our increased sales," a restaurant owner told this daily.

Call to monitor AC repair costs

Cost increase

With the onset of summer, costs of AC repairs are going up and window ACs have maximum problems.

Tthe costs of gas refill were QR150 to QR180 while costs of repair varied from QR200 to QR300.

Air-conditioner mechanics at work in Doha. Pic: Salim Matramkot / The Peninsula

Cafes expect boom in business in Ramadan

Irfan BukhariThe Peninsula

As various government organisations are adopt-ing green practices to

promote sustainable develop-ment, a private Qatari company is helping people get rid of waste paper by placing around 1,000 recycle cages across the country.

Elite Paper Recycling, a mod-ern factory located in the New Industrial Area, is the largest paper factory in Doha which enjoys an aggregated production capacity of 4,500 tonnes per month.

The company is not only col-lecting old waste paper from a number of shopping malls and other companies but has also placed around 1000 recycle cages across the country, which are helping residents and in par-ticular shopkeepers get rid of waste paper and cartons with the assurance of it that they are being recycled locally.

“We are the only factory in Qatar that recycles all types of paper from A4 to carton boxes even folders and laminated

paper,” Amr Rageh, Director of Elite Recycling Paper Director, told The Peninsula.

“We manufacture Kraft paper with this paper and card-board waste which may be used for many products such as card board boxes, tissue boxes, inner layer of beds, core rolls of toilet paper etc. We are providing this recycled paper to a number of companies here in Qatar and the rest is exported to the GCC coun-tries,” Amr Rageh added.

Rageh said that the waste paper was not only being col-l e c t e d f r o m v a r i o u s organizations and through recy-cle cages but Elite Paper Recycling also used to collect it from landfills, dumpsters, garbage-and-waste-baskets.

He said that the owner of Elite Paper Recycling factory, Abdulla Ibrahim Al Sowaidi had a go green initiative. “Caring about the cleanliness of the country, EPR will do its part by keeping waste paper and carton out of the street and will help protect the environment by reducing the number of trees being cut down.”

Rageh said that recycling of waste paper and cardboard boxes would help reduce pollu-tion in the country. “It helps keep an ecological balance and gives strength in the global war against warming.” He said that currently factory was recycling 70-80 tonnes of paper per day but it had the capability to recycle 150 tonnes of waste paper per day which amounts to 4500 tonnes per month.

The Director of EPR said that the export of waste paper and carton was causing a problem.. “Owing to this export of waste paper, we are compelled to import it to fulfill our require-ments. I will ask the authorities to stop export of waste paper from Qatar,” he added.

Highlighting other eco-friendly benefits of paper recycling, Rageh said: “Recycling paper conserves natural resources, saves energy, reduces greenhouse gas emissions and keeps landfill space free for other types of trash that can’t be recy-cled. Paper that is produced from virgin raw material uses far more energy and water than if it is

manufactured using recycled paper. If paper and card are sent to landfill, it rots and in the proc-ess emits methane.”

He said that a number of companies were recycling their paper-waste through EPR like Al Meera, Galaxy Carton Factory, Grand Hypermarket, Hempel

Paints, Ooredooo, Quality Hyper-market etc. As many as 150 companies and 70 schools are currently availing EPR services.

Rageh told The Peninsula that EPR was also providing a secure destruction/disposal and processing of all confidential or

sensitive paper through a guar-anteed mechanism.

On future plans of the com-pany, he said that EPR had the plan to establish another big recycling facility in Qatar that would be able to recycle all recy-clable goods like plastic, glass etc.

Company places 1,000 paper recycle 'cages' across country

The 'recycle cage' placed across the coutnry to collect waste paper and cartons.

03SATURDAY 20 MAY 2017 MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

Saudi and US blacklist Hezbollah leaderDUBAI: Saudi Arabia said yesterday it had black-listed Hashem Safieddine, a prominent leader of the Lebanese Shia group Hezbollah that is a close ally of Riyadh’s arch-regional adversary Iran. The US Treasury Department also added Safieddine to its counter-terrorism blacklist yesterday, a day before US President Donald Trump travels to Saudi Arabia. Riyadh is the first stop on Trump’s maiden international trip since taking office in January, and he is expected to conclude important security and trade agreements there with Saudi officials.

“The Saudi government today designated a leader of Hezbollah, whose name is Hashem Safied-dine,” Saudi state news agency SPA said. Safieddine’s name was posted on the counter ter-rorism blacklist on the US Treasury Department website. Safieddine was working in the interest of Hezbollah in the Middle East and provided advice to launch “terrorist operations” and support the Syrian regime, SPA said. Safieddine is president of Hezbollah’s executive council, which oversees the group’s social and economic activities. Hezbollah is regarded by Washington as a terrorist organisa-tion. The group, which was formed in the 1980s to fight Israel’s occupation of southern Lebanon that ended in 2000, is now fighting in Syria alongside President Bashar Al Assad’s forces against rebels backed by Sunni Gulf Arab states.

Sudan president will not attend Saudi summit with TrumpCAIRO: Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al Bashir will not attend an Islamic Summit in Saudi Arabia this weekend in which President Donald Trump is a guest of honor, citing private reasons, Sudanese state media reported yesterday. Al Bashir has instead assigned his Minister of State Taha Al Hussein to represent him at the summit held in Riyadh, the Suna news agency said. The summit will bring together more than 50 leaders from Muslim and Arab countries. Saudi Ara-bia is holding the event under the slogan "Together We Prevail" in hopes of fighting extremist ideologies and cooperating with American and Islamic allies to strengthen economic relations.

Nearly 23,500 cholera cases, 242 deaths in Yemen in three weeksGENEVA: Nearly 23,500 suspected cases of chol-era have been registered in war-ravaged Yemen in the past three weeks, including 242 deaths, The World Health Organization said. "The speed of the resurgence of this cholera epidemic is unprece-dented," WHO country representative for Yemen Nevio Zagaria told reporters in a conference call, warning that there could be as many as 250,000 cases in the country within six months.

Over 70 escape in second Congo prison break this weekKINSHASA: More than 70 inmates broke out of a prison in southwestern Democratic Republic of Congo, a local activist said, two days after thou-sands escaped from the capital’s main penitentiary. Prison breaks are relatively common in Congo, but the latest series of large-scale escapes points to deepening disorder in the wake of President Joseph Kabila’s refusal to step down from power after his mandate ended in December.

Dubai

Reuters

Millions of Iranians queued up to vote yesterday, showing strong turnout in an unexpectedly

tight election pitting President Hassan Rowhani, who wants to normalise ties with the West, against a hardline judge who says he has already gone too far.

Voting was extended by at least four hours to 10pm (1730 GMT) because many voters were still queued to cast their ballots, state television reported.

Rowhani, 68, who swept into office four years ago promising to open Iran to the world and give its citizens more freedom at home, faces an unexpectedly strong challenge from hardliner Ebrahim Raisi, a protege of supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

The election is important “for Iran’s future role in the region and the world”, Rowhani, who struck a deal with world powers two years ago to curb Iran’s nuclear programme in return for the lifting of most economic sanctions, said after voting.

The initial signs of strong turnout could be good news for Rowhani, whose backers have long said their biggest worry was apathy among reformist-lean-ing voters disappointed with the slow pace of change.

Raisi has blamed Rowhani for mismanaging the economy and has travelled to poor areas holding rallies, pledging more welfare benefits and jobs.

He is believed to have the backing of the powerful Revolu-tionary Guards security force, as well as the tacit support of Khame-nei, whose powers outrank those of the elected president but who normally steers clear of day-to-day politics. “I respect the outcome of the vote of the people and the result will be respected by me and

all the people,” Raisi said after vot-ing, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.

In the last election, Rowhani won more than three times as many votes as his closest chal-lenger. But this time the outcome might be much closer, as other

conservative rivals have backed out and thrown their support behind Raisi.

The Guards and other hard-liners hope that a win for Raisi, 56, will give them an opportu-nity to safeguard economic and political power they see

as jeopardised by the lifting of sanctions and opening to foreign investment. During weeks of campaigning the two main can-didates exchanged accusations of graft and brutality in unprec-edentedly hostile television debates. Both deny the other’s

accusations. Some 350,000 members of the security forces were deployed around the coun-try to protect the election, state television reported. The interior ministry said at mid-day that it had no reports of electoral offences so far, state television reported.

Beirut

AP

A Syrian military official said yesterday that an aerial "aggression" by the US-led

coalition on a government military position near the border with Jordan the day before killed several soldiers and caused material damage.

The strike was the first such close confrontation between U.S. forces and fighters backing President Bashar Assad and the development is likely to increase tensions in the war-torn country. The unnamed offi-cial's comments were carried by Syrian state TV a day after the strike.

The US-led coalition said Thurs-day that a US airstrike hit pro-Syrian government forces it said posed a threat to American troops and allied rebels operating near the border with Jordan.

The attack comes at a time when the US presence in Syria is becom-ing more visible, mostly in the northern parts of the country where American troops are backing Kurd-ish-led forces fighting the Islamic State group.

This "flagrant aggression launched by the International coa-lition exposes the falsity of its allegation about fighting terrorism and undoubtedly demonstrates the reality of the Zionist-American project in the region," the Syrian offi-cial said.

In Geneva meanwhile, Bashar al-Ja'afari, the head of the Syrian delegation to the peace talks under-way in the Swiss city, told reports

there that he discussed the airstrike during a meeting Friday with the UN Special Envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura, describing the attack as "state terrorism."

"In every meeting we remind the attendees that there is terrorism by terrorists and also terrorism by states committed against our country," Al Ja'afari said.

He was referring not only to Thursday's strike but also to others carried out by the U.S.-led coalition in recent months that have claimed the lives of civilians in areas held by the Islamic State group.

Russia, a main backer of Assad, also denounced the airstrike.

"Whatever the reason for the US strike was, it was illegitimate and marked another flagrant violation of Syria's sovereignty," Russian For-eign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on a trip to Cyprus.

"We are deeply worried about the erosion of the emerging under-standing of the need to combine efforts of all those who confront ter-rorists" such as the IS and al-Qaida's branch in Syria, Lavrov said.

But Syria's opposition delegation to Geneva lauded the airstrike, say-ing it helps curb Iran's influence in his country. He railed against Iran, for its support of the Syrian government.

"Any real effort to combat ter-rorism and to limit the Iranian influence ... is in the interest of the Syrian people and the people of the region and international peace and security," said Nasr Hariri, who rep-resents the opposition at the Geneva

talks. De Mistura's separate meet-ings with Syrian opposition and government representatives have yielded little outcome after four days of talks. Hariri said the government is not serious about discussing the political process of transition.

The Syrian government, which has launched an offensive in the country's south backed by its allies — militias such as Iranian paramil-itaries and the Lebanese Hezbollah group — has vowed to reach the bor-der area with Iraq.

That'ss likely to be opposed by the United States and its allies who back rebels fighting IS in the same area. A road between Iraq and Syria would facilitate the flow of assist-ance from Iran, which is a strong backer of Assad.

The coalition said "apparent" Russian attempts to stop pro-Assad forces from moving toward Tanf, as well as warning shots and a show of force, had failed. American officials and Syrian activists said the strike took place in the desert near the

border with Jordan, although it was unclear if it struck the Syrian army or just militias allied with the government.

The Syrian military official said yesterday that the area attacked was a military position along the Tanf highway in the desert, close to where the borders of Jordan, Syria and Iraq meet. The area has been considered a de-conflicted zone under an agree-ment between the US and Russia earlier this month.

Asked if the airstrike increases the US role in the Syrian war, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said America will defend its troops in case of "aggressive" steps against them.

The Syrian military official said attempts to justify the attack by claiming the toops did not respond to a warning not to advance are "cat-egorically rejected." The official did not give a number for how many sol-diers were killed and insisted that no other power has the right to decide in which areas the army can carry out operations.

Several soldiers dead in US airstrike near Jordan: Syria

Iranians vote as Rowhani faces strong challenge

Bangui

AP

Gunmen looted humanitarian compounds as fighting gripped the Central African

Republic town of Bria while more than 20,000 people have fled to a nearby U.N. peacekeeping base, authorities said yesterday.

Concerns are mounting that sec-tarian violence is again spiraling out of control in the country, even in places that previously were spared during the conflict that began in late 2013.

Clashes erupted in Bria again on

Friday and the situation was wors-ening, according to the UN humanitarian agency. At least five people have been killed and several dozen wounded since the unrest began Tuesday.

"Armed groups came to human-itarian compounds and pillaged a warehouse," the agency's chief of office for the country, Joseph Inganji, told The Associated Press. "There's fighting taking place but we don't know who's fighting who."

Attacks also have targeted places of worship and government build-ings, the medical charity Doctors Without Borders said in a statement,

adding that at least 44 casualties had been treated at the local hospital since Monday. "These are stirring up ethnic and religious divides."

The central town in November was the site of fierce clashes between two splinter groups of the mostly Muslim rebel movement called Seleka that has battled with Chris-tian militia fighters. Human Rights Watch said at least 14 people were killed over 11 days of fighting in Bria.

Other previously calm parts of the country have seen deadly fighting in recent days. Since May 8 more than 150 people, including six UN peace-keepers, have been killed in attacks in

the southeastern town of Bangassou, the southern town of Alinadao and in Bria, according to the UN, which has warned the death toll may rise.

In the capital, Bangui, tensions were running high. People spoke of the fighting in Bangassou and Bria in hushed tones, turning up the radio whenever the names of the towns came on. Businesses in the Muslim neighborhood of PK5 were closed in protest of the violence in Bangassou, where Muslims reportedly were tar-geted. The humanitarian community's appeal for aid for Central African Republic, one of the world's poorest countries, is only 16 percent funded.

Fighters loot aid compounds in Central African Republic

Syria's main opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC) leader Nasr Al Hariri gestures during a press conference in Geneva, yesterday. Syria's warring sides entered a final day of UN-backed talks with little sign of progress towards ending the conflict and with negotiations overshadowed by swelling tensions on the ground.

Iran's President Hassan Rowhani casting his ballot during the presidential election in Tehran, yesterday. RIGHT: Presidential candidate and Rowhani's main rival, Ebrahim Raisi, casting his vote.

Voting was extended by at least four hours to 10pm (1730 GMT) because many voters were still queued to cast their ballots, state television reported.

04 SATURDAY 20 MAY 2017ASIA

India wants peaceful life in Kashmir: JaitleySrinagar

IANS

Defence Minister Arun Jait-ley yesterday said the government wanted

peaceful lives for the ordinary people of Jammu and Kashmir, but asserted that the security forces will act "very tough" against the militants.

The Minister complimented the Indian Army for its prepar-edness, and said soldiers were confident not to allow infiltra-tion from across the border, and to give an adequate response to ceasefire violations from across the Line of Control.

Jaitley, who arrived in Sri-nagar on Wednesday afternoon, reviewed security situation in the state.

He visited the Army's for-ward positions on the Line of Control (LoC) in north Kashmir's Baramulla district yesterday. He later said that all security agen-cies were on high alert to deal with militants.

"We will go very tough on

the militants, especially those who have crossed over from the other side (Pakistan), because they are responsible for the sit-uation (in the Kashmir Valley)," he said.

He said the government's priority was to "restore nor-malcy" and law and order in the Kashmir Valley.

"There is a section which will have to be dealt with by security measures and there is a section which will have to be

dealt by with citizen-friendly measures," he said.

"Terrorism and militancy are both aimed against the Indian state, its sovereignty and also against the people of Jammu and Kashmir," he said.

"Violence eventually impacts security and life of ordi-nary residents of the valley; therefore, the violence is not only against security forces but also against innocents who are losing their lives."

The Minister said those who have taken to arms will not be spared.

"With an average citizen, irrespective of their political views, we'd like them to be on the Indian side in this debate. But as far as those who are kill-ing people -- we can't extend the same facility to them. They will have to be treated as serious insurgency problem and dealt with accordingly," he said.

"Those who have taken to violence of this magnitude will certainly be (held) accountable for their actions," Jaitley said.

Six lynched over child abduction rumoursNew Delhi

IANS

Angry villagers beat to death six men in east-ern India after rumours

spread that they were oper-ating a child kidnapping ring, police said yesterday.

The killings took place in the remote state of Jharkhand state earlier in the week.

Deputy police superin-tendent Animesh Nathani said the attackers were angered by a WhatsApp video warn-ing local people a kidnapping gang was operating in the area.

"The incidents happened over two days in neighbour-ing districts which are populated by tribals," he said. "They lack awareness and took the WhatsApp video to be true."

India's indigenous tribal communities have tradition-ally been at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder, with some of the worst rates of poverty, malnutrition and life expectancy.

Child trafficking is a major problem in India, par-ticularly in rural areas. Victims are sold off to work in factories or as prostitutes or beggars. No arrests have yet been made over the lat-est killings.

Former top official convicted in coal block case

Thousands stranded after Badrinath landslide

Travellers and motorists gathering after a landslide blocked their route along the national highway in Uttarakhand, yesterday.

Troops ready

The Minister complimented the Indian Army for its preparedness, and said soldiers were confident not to allow infiltration from across the border, and to give an adequate response to ceasefire violations from across the Line of Control.

New Delhi

IANS

In the first conviction of a pub-lic servant in a coal block case, a court here yesterday

convicted former Coal Secretary H.C. Gupta (pictured) and oth-ers in a case involving Kamal Sponge Steel and Power Lim-ited (KSSPL).

Central Bureau of Investiga-tion special Judge Bharat Parashar convicted Gupta, two former coal ministry officials K.S. Kropha and K.C. Samria, accused firm KSSPL and its Man-aging Director Pawan Kumar

Ahluwalia, under various charges involving criminal con-spiracy and under provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act.

However, the court acquit-ted Gupta under section 409 (criminal breach of trust by pub-lic servant) of the Indian Penal Code. The court will deliver order on quantum of sentence on May 22. Chartered Account Amit Goyal, who was also fac-ing trial in the case, was acquitted of all charges.

The court was hearing a case pertaining to alleged irregulari-ties in the allocation of Thesgora-B Rudrapuri coal block

in Madhya Pradesh to KSSPL. The CBI had lodged an FIR accusing the company and others of alleg-edly misrepresenting facts, including inflated net worth, to acquire the coal block.

Later, CBI filed a closure report saying it did not find suf-ficient evidence against the firm and its director to proceed with the case. But, it was rejected by the court which ordered a probe agency to conduct further probe.

Thereafter, CBI filed an investigation report against the accused person.

On August 16 last year, Gupta broke down inside the court and sought to withdraw his bail plea saying he intended to face trial from jail since he was going through financial difficulties. The court asked the former officer to rethink his plea and

thereafter, Gupta withdrew his application. Besides this, Gupta is also facing trial in nine cases relating to the allocation of coal blocks.

He along with other accused have denied the charges.

It was the third judgement by the special court exclusively dealing with coal block alloca-tion cases. Besides this case, over 20 other cases investigated by the CBI and Enforcement Direc-torate are pending before the court. Earlier, the special court dealing with coal block alloca-tion cases, delivered its judgments in two cases.

Goa bridge collapse leaves three deadPanaji

IANS

The body of one more per-son was fished out of the Sanvordem river in South

Goa yesterday, following the collapse of a dilapidated foot-bridge late on Thursday, taking the death toll to three.

District administration offi-cials told IANS that a third body was fished out yesterday after-noon. "The deceased has been identified as Santosh Wandal, 26," an official supervising the relief operation said.

Wandal, incidentally, had jumped off the Sanvordem bridge in a bid to commit

suicide late on Thursday. Soon, nearly 40 persons gathered on the dilapidated bridge to wit-ness efforts being made to rescue a struggling Wandal from the river, which led to a part of the bridge to collapse under the crfowd's weight, trig-gering a melee.

According to Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, most of those who fell into the river swam to the bank. The recov-ery of Wandal's body could soon lead to the search opera-tion being called off by multiple government agencies, includ-ing district administration, state police and fire services, the Indian Navy.

New Delhi

IANS

Tamil Nadu farmers, who had suspended their 41-day-long protest in

the national capital last month, are set to meet some farmers' unions here on Sun-day and may resume their protest.

After the meet, the farm-ers would decide the next course of action, informed sources said yesterday.

According to people close to the development, at least 15 farmers including their leader P Ayyakannu would hold discussions with other unions which may culminate in resumption of the protest.

These farmers had sus-pended their protest on April 23 for a month after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palan-iswami promised to take up their demands, including that of loan waiver, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

However, they claimed that nothing has been done and with few days left for the deadline to end, the farmers are in a mood to resume their protest again. The farmers had grabbed headlines for their unusual and shocking ways of protests, which involved stripping outside the Prime Minister's Office, drinking their own urine, wearing skeletons and con-ducting mock funeral.

Politicians overstaying to get evicted in 3 daysNew Delhi AFP

India has redrafted a law to allow politicians to be forcibly removed from

official homes within three days of leaving office, to end the practice of squatting by powerful figures.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet approved an amendment to an existing law Wednesday permitting authorities to use force to remove former ministers, lawmakers and retired bureaucrats from official

premises in the Indian cap-ital. Politicians and officials have for decades routinely refused to leave their plush government houses in New Delhi's leafy, colonial-era government zone designed by British architect Edwin Lutyens.

The government said the amendment was made to ensure that "unauthorised occupants are evicted in a speedy and smooth manner" to accommodate new incumbents, a process which has otherwise stretched to months or even years.

Poll body to hold EVM demonstrationNew Delhi

IANS

The Election Commission will today hold a demon-stration on the working of

EVMs and VVPATs to allay fears that these can be tampered with in favour of a particular candi-date/party. It will also announce dates for a EVM-hacking chal-lenge in the wake of opposition concerns over the reliability of EVMs.

As per an Election Commis-sion announcement, the live demonstration of the function-ing of the EVMs and VVPATs will be followed by a press confer-ence. The poll panel had announced after an all-party meeting on May 12 that it will hold the challenge to let

opposition political parties prove their contention that the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) used in the February-March assembly elections were, or could be, tampered with.

It had also announced that all future elections will be held using VVPAT (Voter-verifiable paper audit trail).

A VVPAT slip allows a voter to verify if his vote has been rightly recorded by the EVM.

Several opposition politi-c i a n s h a d a l l e g e d EVM-tampering in assembly polls but the commission ruled out such a possibility.

Representatives of the Bahu-jan Samaj Party, Congress, Aam Admi Party, and Trinamool Con-gress had raised concerns over EVMs at the all-party meeting.

The AAP had welcomed the poll panel's announcement of hold-ing an EVM challenge but insisted on the 'hackathon'. The party said given a chance, it can prove that the machines can be hacked.

The Trinamool Congress had demanded a return to paper bal-loting in the country.

There were, however, some parties whose representatives said their faith in the machines has eroded and the EC should revert to the old ballot paper system.

While the BJP, CPI, CPI (M), AIADMK, DMK, NCP and JD(U) clearly supported the use of EVMs, provided paper trail machines are attached to it, BSP, AAP, Trinamool Congress said the paper ballot system was bet-ter and more transparent.

Rescue workers looking for survivors near the foot bridge collapse site in Curchorem, Goa, yesterday.

Dehardun

IANS

More than 25,000 pilgrims en route to the Badrinath shrine in Uttarakhand

are reportedly stranded after a landslide blocked a highway, officials said yesterday.

A major portion of a hill col-lapsed on the highway near Hathipahad, blocking the road and leading to hundreds of vehi-cles being stuck on both sides.

Officials said the road will be cleared by today afternoon. Hathipahad has become a major trouble spot for pilgrims going

to the Badrinath shrine as rains in the hilly region trigger land-slides every year.

An official told IANS that as a matter of abundant precau-tion, vehicles on both sides have been told not to move ahead. A major boulder has damaged about 65 meters of the road.

Tamil Nadu farmers to resume protest

05SATURDAY 20 MAY 2017 ASIA

Hero's welcome for N Korea's missile developers

Seoul

AFP

Thousands of men in their Sunday best and women in colourful traditional dress lined the streets of

Pyongyang to give the scientists and workers behind North Korea's latest missile test a hero's welcome, state media reported yesterday.

"People's enthusiastic

welcome for defence science warriors," ran a front-page headline in the Rodong Sinmun newspaper, the official mouth-piece of the ruling Workers' Party, alongside pictures of the developers of what appears to be its longest-range ballistic missile.

The paper praised those responsible for the Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile for showing the world "the strength of the powerful self-reliant nuclear state".

Photos showed hundreds of

developers wearing military garb saluting giant statues of late leaders Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il that dominate the centre of the capital.

Others showed residents waving red flags and artificial flowers as they turned out to greet a convoy of buses carry-ing the developers.

"Streets of the capital city of Pyongyang were full of festive atmosphere to greet the scien-tists of national defence," the official Korean Central News Agency said.

"Hundreds of thousands of people from all walks of life and school youth and children were waiting for the merited persons along the streets," it reported.

North Korea on Sunday test-fired what analysts say was its longest-range rocket yet as it accelerates efforts to develop an intercontinental ballistic mis-sile (ICBM) capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the con-tinental United States.

Pyongyang has long had missiles that can reach targets

across the South -- the 500km Scud -- and Japan, the 1,000-1,300km Rodong. But with an imputed range of 4,500km the Hwasong-12 puts US bases on Pacific island of Guam within reach.

Leader Kim Jong-Un over-saw the launch and warned of "the worst-ever disaster" if the US provoked the secrative state, claiming it is in "range of (nuclear) strikes", according to

Rodong Sinmun on Monday.But there are questions over

whether Pyongyang can minia-turise a nuclear weapon sufficiently to fit it onto a mis-sile nose cone, or has mastered the re-entry technology needed to ensure it survives returning into Earth's atmosphere.

The North has carried out two atomic tests and dozens of missile launches since the beginning of last year.

Beijing

AP

Chinese President Xi Jin-ping said yesterday he's willing to help ties with

South Korea return to a "nor-mal track" amid a rift over Seoul's deployment of a high-tech US missile-defence system to guard against North Korean threats.

China "is committed to resolving any issues through dialogue and coordination, which is in the fundamental interests of both countries and

the region," Xi was quoted as saying by China's official Xin-hua News Agency.

Earlier in the day, Lee met with State Councilor Yang Jiechi, Xi's senior foreign pol-icy adviser, and on Thursday with Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

They were believed to have held talks on prospects for containing North Korea's missile and nuclear weapons activities as well as the eco-nomic fallout over the deployment in South Korea of the US missile defense system called THAAD.

Emperor Akihito: Japan approves abdication billTokyo

AFP

The Japanese government yesterday approved a one-off bill allowing ageing

Emperor Akihito to step down from the Chrysanthemum Throne, in the first such abdica-tion in two centuries.

The bill is likely to receive swift final approval in parlia-ment, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet signed off on the legislation.

Abdication must take place within three years of the bill becoming law.

Earlier this year, reports sug-gested that 83-year-old Akihito could step down at the end of December 2018 and be replaced by Crown Prince Naruhito on January 1, 2019.

Reports of his desire to retire surprised Japan when they emerged last July.

In August, he publicly cited age and declining health, which was interpreted as his wish to hand the crown to his eldest son.

But current Japanese law has no provision for abdication, thus requiring politicians to craft leg-islation to make it possible.

The status of the emperor is highly sensitive in Japan given its 20th century history of war waged in the name of Akihito's father Hirohito, who died in 1989.

Akihito has won plaudits for seizing upon the constitution-ally-prescribed role of national symbol and there is wide sym-pathy for his wish to retire.

He has been treated for pros-tate cancer and also had heart surgery.

And though he has cut back on some of his duties, he still maintains a busy official sched-ule, including occasional overseas visits.

A majority of the Japanese public supports a permanent law on abdication and they have also expressed support for the cur-rent bill to help enable Akihito's smooth transition from the throne.

"He hasn't had a way to retire, but I think he should be able to and enjoy his golden years," 75-year-old Seio Ichijo told AFP as he strolled outside the Imperial Palace with his wife.

The leading opposition Dem-ocratic Party has argued the law should be permanently changed to ensure stable future succes-sions, but has reportedly agreed to the current one-off bill after talks with the ruling bloc.

Some scholars and politi-cians have argued that changing the law to allow any emperor to

abdicate would risk Japan's monarchs becoming subject to political manipulation.

Human remains discovered on Sewol ferrySeoul

AFP

A set of human remains retrieved from the salvaged Sewol ferry wreck has been identified as one of four students who remained unac-counted for following the 2014 disaster, officials said yester-day.

The 6,800-tonne ship sank off the country's south-western coast in one of its worst maritime accidents, claiming more than 300 lives, mostly high school students on an excursion.

Nine victims were left unaccounted for, and the 145-metre Sewol was raised in March to search for them.

"Bones retrievedon Tues-day from the third floor of the salvaged ship matched X-rays and dental records from Huh Da-Yun" the maritime min-istry said in a press statement yesterday.

She is the first of the miss-ing students from Danwon high school to be identified following the raising of the wreck.

Seven others still unac-counted for including the other teacher, three students a n d t h r e e o t h e r passengers.

Thailand's obese monkey on dietBangkok

AP

A morbidly obese wild monkey who gorged himself on junk food and soda left behind by tourists has been rescued and placed on a strict diet of lean protein, fruits and vegetables.

Wildlife officials caught the chunky monkey — nick-named "Uncle Fat" by locals — after photos of the animal started circulating on social media last month.

Wild monkeys roam free in many parts of Thailand, attracting tourists who feed and play with the animals. Most of the monkeys are macaques like Uncle Fat, and they typically weigh around 9kg.

Uncle Fat weighs three times that, tipping the scales at around 26kg.

"It was not easy to catch him," said Kacha Phukem, the wildlife official who con-ducted the capture and rescue on April 27.

"He was the leader of his pack, and when I tried to go in, I had to fight off a flock of them with sticks."

The subordinate monkeys fed into Uncle Fat's bad habits.

Chinese military jets intercept US aircraftWashington

AFP

Two Chinese fighter jets intercepted an American military plane over the

East China Sea, the US Air Force said yesterday.

"The US aircraft, a WC-135 Constant Phoenix, was conduct-ing a "routine mission" in

international airspace on May 17 (Wednesday) when it was inter-cepted by two Chinese Sukhoi SU-30 fighter aircraft," the Air Force said in a statement.

The WC-135 is a so-called "sniffer plane" designed to scan the atmosphere for signs of nuclear activity.

"The WC-135 was operating in accordance with international

law. While we are still investi-gating the incident, initial reports from US aircrew characterised the intercept as unprofessional," the Air Force said.

The United States was addressing the issue with China through "appropriate diplomatic and military channels."

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying

said that she had no information about the incident, and the country's ministry of defense did not respond to request for comment.

Mid-air interceptions occur routinely in international air-space, but the US military will often call out foreign pilots if it judges the manoeuvres to be risky or unprofessional.

Myanmar jails widow over servant abuse caseYangon

AFP

A Myanmar widow who threw boiling water on a 14-year-old servant leav-

ing her with horrific burns has been jailed for seven years, a rare flicker of justice for the country's legion of child domes-tic workers.

Aye Aye Soe was arrested late last year for pouring two flasks of boiling water on the girl -- one for each orange she was accused of stealing.

The attack left her victim, Khin Khin Tun, with severe burns across her back.

The widow was also accused of routine physical abuse of Khin

Khin Tun's younger sister, who also worked for her.

The sisters were among tens of thousands of youngsters who support their families through domestic work for the growing urban elite in Myanmar's boom-ing cities. But invisible and without any legal protection, they are vulnerable to exploita-tion and abuse.

"On Thursday, a judge in Mawlamyine township, a few hours south of Yangon, jailed Aye Aye Soe for seven years on charges including grievous bod-ily harm," the victim's lawyer said.

"The judgment was suitable and fair under the powers of the court," lawyer Yin Min San said,

explaining tougher child abuse and trafficking charges were not brought limiting the judge's sen-tencing powers.

In February this year, reporters visited Khin Khin Tun who showed the extensive burns to her body, explaining she was abused over three years as a vir-tual slave for Aye Aye Soe.

The sisters were frequently accused of stealing, beaten with burning wood and forced to hit each other until they bled.

The sentence was met with anger from the local activist who uncovered the abuse.

"The victims are still afraid," Thi Thi Nwe from the Myitta Sone Zee rights group in Maw-lamyine said.

The Rodong Sinmun newspaper praised those responsible for the Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile for showing the world "the strength of the powerful self-reliant nuclear state".

The official Korean Central News Agency said, streets of Pyongyang were full of festive atmosphere to greet the scientists of national defence.

Celebration

Developers of the ballistic rocket Hwasong-12 visiting the statues of President Kim Il Sung and leader Kim Jong Il on Mansu Hill, in Pyongyang.

China willing to endrift with South Korea

File photo of Japan's Emperor Akihito (left) and Empress Michiko wave to well-wishers during celebration of their 50th wedding anniversary in the Imperial Palace compound.

File photo of 14-year-old Khin Khin Tun displaying deep scars on her arms and neck in Mawlamyine.

06 SATURDAY 20 MAY 2017ASIA

Manila calls for 'gentlemen's deal' between Asean & China on sea codeManila

Reuters

SOUTHEAST Asian nations and China should start with a "gen-tleman's agreement" on the busy South China Sea waterway because no mechanism exists to legally enforce any deal, the Philippine foreign minister said yesterday.

The Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) and China on Thursday finished a draft framework for negotiating a code of conduct, despite regional scep-ticism whether Beijing will commit to rules likely to restrain its maritime ambitions.

Philippine Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano played down the importance of a legally bind-ing contract.

"If it's legally binding, which court can the parties go to? And the countries that do not comply, will they respect that court?" he asked reporters.

"Let's start with it being bind-ing, gentlemen's agreement. We have a community of nations that signed it."

A code of conduct is the key objective of a 2002 Declaration on Conduct, large parts of which China has ignored, particularly a commitment not to occupy or reclaim uninhabited features.

China threatened of war: DuterteManila

AFP

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said yesterday that China's leaders told him they were prepared to go to

war over competing claims in the South China Sea.

Duterte, who met with Chi-nese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang in Beijing this week, said he was making the threat public in response to domestic criticism he was being too weak with China over the dispute.

"I really said it to their face. That is ours and we intend to drill oil there," Duterte said, revealing his previously unre-ported plans to explore for natural resources in disputed areas.

"And they told me: 'Well, we're friends. We do not want to quarrel with you. We want to maintain the present warm rela-tionship. But if you force the issue we'll go to war.'"

The competing claims to the sea, which is believed to sit atop vast oil and gas deposits, have for decades made it one of Asia's potential military flashpoints.

An international tribunal ruled in July last year that Chi-na's claims to most of the sea were without legal basis, in a case filed by the Philippines

under Duterte's predecessor, Benigno Aquino.

But China vowed to ignore the ruling and warned the Phil-ippines against trying to use the verdict as leverage.

Duterte, who began his six-year term in June last year, agreed to take a soft stance with China, claiming that if he did it might lead to war.

Duterte has also sought closer ties with China to win bil-lions of dollars of Chinese investments and loans, while loosening the Philippines' long-standing alliance with the US.

That change of tack earned Duterte a state visit to China in October last year, when he met with Xi.

Duterte returned to China this week to take part in a sum-mit on a Chinese plan to expand its trade and infrastructure links around the world.

On his return to Manila on Tuesday, Duterte said that he was open to exploring the sea's natural resources with China and Vietnam, but he did not mention the other claimants.

The president also reiterated on Tuesday that he had no immediate plans to pressure

Beijing over the arbitral tribu-nal's ruling.

China claims most of the energy-rich South China Sea, through which about $5 trillion in sea-borne trade passes every year. Brunei, Malaysia, the Phil-ippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims.

Philippines okays public smoking banManila

AFP

Philippine President Rod-rigo Duterte has signed an executive order that

will impose a wide-ranging ban on smoking in public, rein-forcing some of the toughest anti-tobacco measures in Asia.

Smoking and selling ciga-rettes will be banned in all enclosed public places, as well as within 100 metres of schools, parks and other areas where children gather, according to

the order published late Thurs-day and which takes effect in 60 days.

Duterte had promised immediately after becoming president last year to introduce the smoking ban as part of a range of measures to impose more order on society.

Other measures included a ban on singing karaoke at night and a 2:00 am curfew on drinking alcohol in public, although these have yet to be implemented.

The Philippines already has

a ban on tobacco advertising and smoking in indoor public places, as well as a law that requires graphic images of smoking health hazards to be printed on cigarette packaging.

There are also hefty taxes on smoking.

Philippine's ban on smok-ing in public places received broad support, with anti-tobacco activists hailing it as a victory and some smokers say-ing they were now prepared to kick the habit.

Philippines to reject aid with conditionsManila

AP

The Philippines' top diplo-mat said yesterday that the government's new policy

of rejecting aid with conditions applies to all donor countries, not just the European Union.

Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano made the statement a day after officials confirmed that Manila had declined about $280m in EU grants for 2017 to 2020 because the aid "would involve review of our adherence to the rule of law."

Asked by journalists what other donors are covered by the aid boycott, Cayetano replied, "All countries."

"We are just telling them very respectfully that we believe

in our independence," Cayetano said.

"We know our problems better than you."

Cayetano, a former senator and staunch Duterte ally who was sworn in as foreign secre-tary on Thursday, earlier this month defended the govern-ment's human rights record in the UN Human Rights Council's review of the Philippines.

Cayetano said the decision to end EU development assist-ance — one of the biggest amounts for the country, par-ticularly in supporting the peace process with Muslim rebels in the southern Philippines — con-veys a strong message to Europe that the Philippines has an inde-pendent foreign policy.

"We have good relations

with the EU but it's going through a rocky period or a roller-coaster ride," he said.

"We are all in this ride together."

He said he will meet with the EU's envoy to Manila to discuss the issue and iron out some "miscommunication" after he returns from Russia, where he will accompany Duterte on a trip next week.

The EU is a leading foreign investor in the Philippines, the only member of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations to enjoy duty-free exports under the EU's incen-tives for developing countries. The Philippines' duty-free exports to the EU were worth around $1.78m in 2016, accord-ing to EU delegation data.

Eleven dead in Afghanistanroadside bomb Kabul

AFP

ELEVEN members of an Afghan family, mostly women and children, were killed yes-terday when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb while they were travelling for an engagement ceremony in the country's vol-atile east.

The attack occurred in the Mohammad Agha district of Laghman province but no militant group has so far claimed responsibility.

"The bomb struck their Toyota sedan when they were going for an engagement cer-emony," Logar Governor Mohammad Halim Fidai said yesterday.

"The victims included five women and five children."

Provincial authorities blamed the Taliban, who launched their annual "spring offensive" last month, for the killings.

The Taliban were not immediately reachable for comment, but roadside bombs have been the mili-tants' weapon of choice in their war against foreign and Afghan security forces.

Sri Lanka marks end of civil war anniversaryColombo

AP

Sri Lanka marked the eighth anniversary of the end of its bloody civil war yester-

day with much of the legacy and divisions created by more than quarter-century of vio-lence still intact.

Families are still looking for their missing relatives, others demanding their land back from military occupation, fish-ermen asking for sea access blocked by the navy, widows heading families and handi-capped persons are struggling without jobs. Rehabilitated ex-rebels are shunned by a society that once glorified them.

Tamil lawmaker Abraham Sumanthiran yesterday said that "a sense of uncertainty is

hanging over the people."People hoped for better

times with the election of Pres-ident Maithripala Sirisena, who in 2015 overwhelmingly defeated strongman leader Mahinda Rajapaksa.

"More than Mahinda Rajapaksa, the people are angry with the current government because the people did not expect him to do any good," said T. Paranthaman, who works with the war affected in the Tamil-majority north. "People are getting fed up. There is a lot of mistrust that the Sinhalese-dominated government is not going to give them anything."

Despite promises, the gov-ernment has not provided answers on the fate of tens of thousands of people who went missing.

Kabul to launch TV channel for womenKabul

Reuters

A new TV channel dedi-cated to women is set to begin broadcasting in

Afghanistan, the first of its kind in a country whose media indus-try, like many areas of society, remains dominated by men.

Zan TV ("Women's TV") launches on Sunday with a staff of all female presenters and pro-ducers, following a high-profile marketing campaign on bill-boards in Kabul and on social

media. Female newsreaders appear regularly on many Afghan channels, but an entire station for women is a novelty.

Its arrival highlights the fact that behind the daily stories of violence, change is taking place in Afghanistan, even if it is often slow and patchy.

"I am so happy that this TV station has been created for women because there are women in our society who are not aware of their rights," said 20-year-old Khatira Ahmadi, a producer at the station. "So this station represents

women and we work to raise the voice of women so they can defend their rights".

Women's rights and educa-tion as well as media freedom are often cited by the govern-ment and foreign aid organisations as among the big-gest achievements in the country since the Taliban was toppled in 2001.

Still, Afghanistan is one of the most difficult places in the world for women in the media, and in a war-ravaged country there is no guarantee of success.

On his return to Manila on Tuesday, Duterte said that he was open to exploring the sea's natural resources with China and Vietnam, but did not mention the other claimants.

Duterte said he was making the threat public in response to domestic criticism he was being too weak with China over the dispute.

Sea row

3 workers shot dead in QuettaQuetta

Reuters

SUSPECTED militants yes-terday gunned down three Pakistani workers building a Chinese-funded "Silk Road" highway in the country's south-west, officials said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but previous attacks in Balu-chistan have been unleashed by separatists who fear the construction projects are a ruse to take over their land.

"The men killed yesterday were part of a team working on a major highway linking the port-city of Gwadar to Quetta," said Sarmad Saleem, a regional official.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (left) during the 33rd National Convention of the Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary (PCGA) in Davao City, Philippines, yesterday.

Women pay their respects at a memorial for fallen soldiers during a commemorative ceremony in Colombo, yesterday.

Zan TV station (women's TV) employees attending morning meeting in Kabul.

Party to debate euro after parliamentary elections: Le PenPARIS: France’s National Front (FN) leader Marine Le Pen said yesterday the far-right party would start debating its trademark anti-euro stance after next month’s parliamentary elections, fuel-ling disagreement among her closest aides and allies.

In a rare acknowledgment that its plans to ditch the euro may be a problem for the FN’s prospects, with a majority of French vot-ers in favour of keeping the currency, Le Pen said on Thursday the party would have to discuss its stance. Yesterday, launching her bid to be elected to parliament representing the northern France constituency of Henin-Beaumont, where she narrowly lost in the 2012 legislative elections, Le Pen said the debate would be opened up after the two-round ballot on June 11 and 18.

Stockholm/London

Reuters

Swedish prosecutors dropped an investiga-tion of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange yesterday over a rape

allegation, but British police said he would still be arrested if he left the Ecuadorean embassy in London where he has been holed up for five years.

Assange, 45, took refuge in the embassy in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden after two women made rape and sex-ual molestation allegations against him, which he denies.

He feared Sweden would hand him over to the United States to face prosecution over WikiLeaks’ publication of swathes of classified military and diplomatic documents in one of the largest information leaks in US history.

Earlier Swedish Chief Pros-ecutor Marianne Ny said the rape investigation could not proceed because of legal obstacles.

“We are not making a state-ment about his guilt,” Ny said, adding that the investigation could be reopened if Assange came to Sweden before the stat-ute of limitations deadline for the rape allegation in 2020.

However, police in London said they were still obliged to arrest Assange if he left the embassy for skipping bail. They said this was a much less serious offence than rape, but he could still face up to a year in jail if

convicted. Assange is a cyber hero to some for exposing gov-ernment abuses of power and championing free speech, but to others he is a criminal who has undermined the security of the West.

The former computer hacker enraged Washington by publish-ing hundreds of thousands of secret US diplomatic cables that laid bare often highly critical US appraisals of world leaders from Russian President Vladimir Putin to the Saudi royal family.

He always denied the rape allegations in Sweden and said they were a ploy to get him whisked off to the United States.

In January, Assange said he

stood by an offer to go to the United States providing his rights were upheld and if former mili-tary intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, who was responsible for a 2010 leak of classified materials to Assange’s anti-secrecy group, were freed.

Manning was released on Wednesday after spending seven years in a US military prison for passing the documents to WikiLeaks.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said yesterday it would be “an operational mat-ter for the police” to decide whether to arrest Assange if he left the embassy.

Asked if she would support

Britain extraditing Assange to the United States, she said: “We look at extradition requests when we receive them on a case-by-case basis.”

Last month CIA Director Mike Pompeo called WikiLeaks a “hostile intelligence service”, and Attorney General Jeff Ses-sions, responding to a question about Assange, said the admin-istration was stepping up its efforts against all leaks of sensi-tive information.

“Whenever a case can be made, we will seek to put some

people in jail,” Sessions said.During last year’s US presi-

dential election campaign, WikiLeaks published emails from Hillary Clinton’s staff and the Democratic National Com-mittee which some believe helped to lose her the election. The mails were allegedly stolen by Russian hackers.

While Assange may still not be able to leave Ecuador’s embassy in the upmarket Knightsbridge area of London, the prosecutor’s decision to stop the investigation into allegations

of rape brings to an end a seven-year stand-off with Sweden.

The case has raised questions about the Swedish justice sys-tem, with a United Nations panel saying Assange had been subject to “arbitrary detention”.

Prosecutors have been accused of vacillating, first drop-ping the prel iminary investigation and then re-open-ing it and of dragging their heels over questioning Assange.

Prosecutors first interviewed Assange in November last year in the Ecuadorian embassy.

Rome

Reuters

Italy’s cabinet approved a law yesterday obliging parents to vaccinate their children

against infectious diseases as politicians spar over a spike in measles cases.

Children up to six years old will now need to be immunised to be eligible for nursery school, and parents who send their children to school after that age without vaccinating them first will be liable for fines.

Vaccines against measles, mumps, rubella, chicken pox and meningitis, which were previously only recommended, will now become mandatory, Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said.

“The lack of appropriate measures over the years and the spread of anti-scientific the-ories, especially in recent months, has brought about a reduction in protection,” Gen-tiloni told a news conference in Rome.

The law will also oblige inoculation against polio, diph-theria, tetanus, hepatitis B, whooping cough, and haemo-philia B.

Italy’s Higher Health Insti-tute warned in April that a fall-off in vaccinations had led to a measles epidemic.

The United States warned visitors to Italy about exposure

to the potentially fatal disease.

The institute has recorded some 2,395 measles cases so far this year compared with some 840 in all of 2016 and 250 in 2015.

The website of the Euro-pean Commission, the European Union’s executive, says it encourages all member states to “ensure that as many children as possible receive the main childhood vaccines”.

Gentiloni’s centre-left gov-ernment has accused the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement of sowing fear among parents by questioning the safety of some vaccines and the scruples of multinational pharmaceutical firms.

5-Star members, who run Rome’s city hall, abstained on Thursday from a vote on obliging schoolchildren in the capital to be vaccinated, stok-ing fresh controversy over their stance.

“5-Star is riding the wave of disinformation, nourishing fear and favouring a position that is anti-science and danger-ous for the whole community,” said Federico Gelli, a deputy from the ruling Democratic Party. Paola Ferrara, 5-Star’s leader in city hall, said the party had abstained because of the pending vote in parliament, and considered vaccinations “essential”.

Italy passes law obliging parents to vaccinate kids

Moscow

AP

While their country has become a daily source of headlines and polit-ical intrigue in the United States,

most Russians are watching the drama over President Donald Trump's relationship with Moscow with resignation, even indifference.

Russian media, state-owned and private, chronicle Trump's troubles matter-of-factly. Regular citizens generally care little about them. Many share the view that what's unfolded in Washington has dimmed pros-pects for the mended Russia-US ties his candidacy represented here and thus have lost interest.

"I live in Russia, and that's why I'm not so much interested in what's going on in the United States," musician Artem Burnat said. "Yes, the president is a controversial and unpredictable person. But this is their coun-try and their president."

Opinion surveys have indicated that ini-tial expectations of a thaw have given way to apathy, and perceptions of Trump have

become more negative. Although many Rus-sians attribute his travails to Democrats' anger over losing the election, they don't see the billionaire businessman as someone to stand up for.

"The vote was split nearly in half, and he didn't even have the majority of votes," man-ager Andrei Tereshkovich, 56, said on the streets of Moscow. "There is a strong desire to change things, people are upset, and the situation is unstable. Trump lacks resources to put an end to that."

The Justice Department's decision to appoint a special counsel to investigate pos-sible collusion between Russia and the Republican campaign also was widely seen in Russia as part of relentless efforts by Trump's foes to weaken and sideline him. The reports this week that the president shared highly sensitive classified informa-tion with Russia's foreign minister and ambassador to the United States were viewed as more of the same.

"Anyone with his kind of persona would draw attacks," poultry farmer Oleg Matvey-enko said, referring to Trump's combative ways.

Matveyenko, 54, said that he sup-ported Russia's liberal pro-Western Yabloko party during the 1990s, but added that Western-style democracy had since lost its appeal.

"Neither Europe, nor the United States can serve as an example for us," he said. "There is a crisis of democracy there, a sys-temic crisis."

The Kremlin has staunchly denied med-dling in the U.S. election. Russian state television and other media have offered detailed coverage of the U.S. political infight-ing and developments such as the ouster of FBI Director James Comey, maintaining a neutral tone.

Tereshkovich predicted that Trump won't face impeachment proceedings as long as Republicans have the majority in the U.S. Senate. Yet despite his sophisticated knowl-edge of American politics, he confesses to having only passing curiosity about the big-gest political scandal in modern U.S. history interest

"I don't really care about the develop-ments in the United States and the rest of the world," Tereshkovich said.

Gao, Mali

AFP

PRESIDENT Emmanuel Macron visited French troops fighting militants in conflict-torn Mali yesterday and urged faster progress on a peace accord signed in 2015. At the end of his first week in office, Macron flew into Gao, a city in Mali's deeply-troubled north, where he was met by his Malian counterpart Ibrahim Boubacar Keita before sitting down for talks.

Macron was keen to display his defence and security creden-tials with around 1,600 French soldiers stationed in Gao at France's largest foreign base, part of the larger "Barkhane" counter-terror force operating across the Sahel region.

The operation comprises around 4,000 soldiers who are deployed in five countries

-- Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Chad and Burkina Faso.

Macron made clear his desire for greater action by the Malian government in imple-menting the 2015 peace deal,

which has repeatedly faltered in the face of inaction and ongoing rivalries between the patchwork of armed groups operating in the north who signed the accord.

"My wish is for

us to accelerate" the deal's implementation, Macron said at a press conference, describing the so-called Algiers Accord as the top priority to ensure Mali's security.

Sweden drops Assange probe; UK adamant on arrest

SATURDAY 20 MAY 2017 07EUROPE

I will not forgive or forget: AssangeLONDON: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said yesterday he would not forgive or forget those behind a long-running Swed-ish rape investigation that he said had prevented him seeing his children while they grew up. Assange, 45, took refuge in the Ecua-dorean embassy in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden over the rape allegation, which he denies. Sweden dropped the inves-tigation into the rape allegation. “Detained for 7 years without charge by while my children grew up and my name was slan-dered,” he said on Twitter. “I do not forgive or forget.”

Grant Assange 'safe passage': EcuadorQUITO: Ecuador urged Britain yesterday to "grant safe passage" out of the country to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange after Swe-den dropped a warrant that drove him to take refuge in Ecuador's London embassy. "The European Arrest Warrant no longer holds. The UK must now grant safe passage to Mr Julian Assange," minis-ter Guillaume Long wrote on Twitter. Swedish prosecutors earlier announced they had dropped their rape probe against Assange, 45.

Macron visits French troops in Mali base

Russians increasingly indifferent to Trump

Journalists are seen outside the Ecuadorian embassy in London where WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is taking refuge, in London, yesterday.

French President Emmanuel Macron (centre) visits the troops of France's Barkhane counter-terrorism operation in Africa's Sahel region in Gao, northern Mali, yesterday.

08 SATURDAY 20 MAY 2017VIEWS

E S T A B L I S H E D I N 1 9 9 6

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Detained for seven years without charge by [sic] while my children grew up and my name was slandered. I do not forgive or forget.

Julian AssangeWikiLeaks founder

In November I was arbitrarily detained in London’s Heathrow airport. The police asked me to hand over the passwords to all my electronic devices. Not wanting to breach client confidentiality, I declined.

This was not the first time that I have been stopped at an airport. On previous occasions, I had not given my passwords and had been permitted to go on my way. So after refusing to give my passwords, I was expecting the police to let me go. I thought I was operating within the law and in line with my rights to privacy.

But this time I wasn’t allowed to go on my way. I am now facing three months in prison if found guilty of an offence under a counter-terrorism power called Schedule 7.

On the day that I was stopped in Heath-row airport, I was placed in a very difficult position: I was either going to hand over pass-words to my devices or I was going to risk ending up in prison.

I decided to risk ending up in prison.At the time, there were two reasons

behind my decision. First, if I handed over my passwords I knew that I would be in breach of client confidentiality. Everyone recognises the need for trust in professional relationships between doctors and patients, lawyers and clients, teachers and students. My profes-sional relationship with my clients also requires trust and confidentiality.

Had I been asked to disclose my personal information only, I could have made a differ-ent decision. However, I was being asked to surrender information that may be related to others - many of whom are vulnerable people seeking legal remedies to abuses they may have suffered. I felt I couldn’t agree to hand over information about my clients without their consent.

Second, if I had handed over my pass-words, it would have resulted in a breach of confidence in a particularly sensitive case that my organisation, CAGE, is currently investi-gating. This case can lead to the prosecution of perpetrators of torture and link a number of authorities with abuses. By confiscating my devices, the police have already interfered with this ongoing investigation and if this is not resolved, it could lead to the suppression of crucial information that could bring accountability in torture cases.

Schedule 7 to the Terrorism Act 2000 is a draconian legislative measure implemented at UK airports, where individuals are stopped, searched and questioned about their lives and views, in an exercise designed to gather intel-ligence on them. Though it is currently applied in the framework of the so-called “War on Terror”, its reach can easily be expanded more broadly, as we have wit-nessed through the David Miranda case.

What is clear from my experience is that authorities are trying to get a sense of an indi-vidual’s beliefs. Not only is this a violation of the fundamental right to freedom of thought and belief, but there is no link between an individual’s political and religious views and “terrorism”. Yet this information is recorded and connections are drawn.

I am willing to go to prison for privacy for us allMuhammad Rabbani Al Jazeera

There is no transparency at all about how the information gathered under Schedule 7 will be used. We don’t know if it will be used to profile certain com-munities, or to design and develop policies, or to assist the state in criminal trials, or as secret evidence. We also do not know whether this information is shared with other agencies. For this rea-son, and because the powers given to the police under Schedule 7 lead to situa-tions that resemble an interrogation and detention-without-charge, this legisla-tive measure is a violation of the rule of law and our basic rights.

Schedule 7 is one law in a broader web of counter-terrorism measures that complement one another to criminalise ordinary people, and which can, owing to the broad language used in these texts, also be used to criminalise innocent peo-ple beyond the Muslim community.

The evidence threshold for the imple-mentation of Schedule 7 is so low that it gives police the right to stop you without having any reason to be suspicious of you. The wording of the measure is vague and broad - for example, it doesn’t say you can be stopped if you are “suspected of” terrorism. It doesn’t even say if you are “involved with” terrorism, it says you can be stopped and interrogated under this act if you are someone “who appears to be a person who is or has been concerned in terrorism” (pdf).

Now “concern” - what does that word mean in this context? I mean, I could be an academic studying conflict, and I could be concerned in terrorism. I could be a journalist investigating some sort of a crime and I could be concerned in terrorism. I could be anybody.

During a Schedule 7 detainment a person may be shown photographs of other individuals and asked to give information about them. They often have to face unfounded, fearful allega-tions of being linked to “terrorism”. It is nothing short of injustice and intimida-tion. This has broad implications for people who need to protect their data

This case is not only about me or CAGE. If I give in, this has broad implications for others who want to protect simi-lar relationships and

ethics in the face of an encroaching security state. For this reason, my case will set a crucial precedent not just for Muslims, but for all society. But beyond the effects on the individual, it is aston-ishing that this law has been in power, with little challenge, for 15 years. Authorities have been gathering data on individuals for this long, at the rate of between 20,000 and 50,000 people a year. Such excessive surveillance and intimidation must be challenged. This is affecting the lives of thousands and thousands of people.

The presumption of innocence is a basic right and Schedule 7 needs to be brought in line with the rule of law. I am disappointed that not more has been done. Sometimes the right thing to do is to say the law is wrong. Therefore the only correct thing to do is to resist.

Privacy is something that lies close to my heart. As a Muslim, I know that pri-vacy is much valued in Islam and we are commanded not to spy on others. The presumption of innocence before guilt is also a founding principle of my religion.

With everything digitalised now, and with increasing threats to individual rights around the world, we have a right to demand and protect our privacy, especially responsible for protecting the rights of others in the face of oppressive authority. This notion goes to the heart of British values. Yet, it is those values that are being destroyed. We have to ask ourselves how much we value these principles. This is about taking a risk to protect the rule of law. This is everything I have learned from CAGE.

The 20th-century philosopher John Rawls imagined a scene in his book, A Theory of Justice, where a group of peo-ple would be required to design laws for the benefit of a future society - the catch being that they would die at the end of the process and be woken up not know-ing what their position in the new society would be.

The reality of counterterrorism pol-icy is that the people who are making the laws would never allow for themselves to be subjected to the same treatment - no one would wish to wake up one day with all the suspicion that accompanies being a Muslim.

I mentioned earlier that I refused to give my passwords to the police for two reasons: to protect my clients’ confiden-tiality and to protect a torture survivor. Those were the two things in my mind when I was arrested. Now, after having gone through the experience of being treated like a criminal, I feel differently.

The experience has made me think that the problem is more fundamental than that: password protection should be a basic right and no one should be required to reveal their passwords if they have not been formally accused or charged with a crime. I hope by taking this stand, I will inspire others to follow my lead. When the rule of law is disre-garded or applied selectively to only a few, we need to ask ourselves what we are willing to risk for a more equal and just society - for the sake of all.

There is no transparency at all about how the information gathered under Schedule 7 will be used. We don’t know if it will be used to profile certain communities, or to design and develop policies, or to assist the state in criminal trials, or as secret evidence. We also do not know whether this information is shared with other agencies.

E S T A B L I S H E D I N 1 9 9 6

CHAIRMANSHEIKH THANI BIN ABDULLAH AL THANI

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFDR. KHALID BIN MUBARAK AL-SHAFI

editorinchief@pen.com.qa

ACTING MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED SALIM MOHAMED

msalim@pen.com.qa

The decision of Swedish prosecutors to drop an investigation of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange over a rape allegation has a brought a new twist to the long-running

Assange saga. It’s an interesting twist because Assange will not be able to walk away from the Ecuadorian embassy, where he has been holed up for five years, as the British police are threatening to arrest him. According to them, an arrest warrant is still in force against Assange for breaching bail conditions after he failed to appear in court to accept his extradition. The 45-year-old former computer hacker jumped British bail by entering the Ecuador embassy and claiming asylum, saying he feared he would eventually be extradited to the United States. Swedish prosecutors said that they were dropping the investigation because there was no reason to believe he would be brought to Sweden in the foreseeable future, whereas Assange had always maintained that the charges against him were fabricated and a ruse to finally extradite him to the US.

Assange hailed the Swedish decision as a vic-tory, but spoke of the problems ahead. “The road is far from over. The war, the proper war is just com-mencing,” he told supporters and reporters after raising a clenched fist in a gesture of victory.

As he claimed, the dropping of charges is defi-nitely a victory, but he has to cross several hurdles

before walking into freedom. He can leave the embassy and face the British legal system after his arrest, and the legal process will either proceed very quickly or he will be in British jail for several months. According to reports, he could get a prison sen-tence of a maximum of one year for his offence. After serving the term, he will be free to con-

tinue his work at WikiLeaks. But the US authorities can still pursue him. US Attorney General Jeff Ses-sions said last month that “we will seek to put some people in jail” when asked if arresting Assange was a “priority” for Washington.

While Assange’s WikiLeaks has spilled several truths which shocked the world, his actions have elicited mixed reactions. He is a cyber hero to some for exposing government abuses of power and championing free speech, but to others he is a crim-inal who has undermined the security of the West. Even in the West where freedom of speech is respected and protected, many people think that he has crossed the red line. During US presidential election campaign,

WikiLeaks published emails from Hillary Clin-ton’s staff which some believe helped the election of Trump.

Anyway this is a war which Assange has to fight alone, with a few of his supporters.

Relief for Assange

The dropping of investigation by Swedish prosecutors brings a new twist in the Assange saga.

ED ITOR IAL

09SATURDAY 20 MAY 2017 OPINION

So great is our dependence on China that, like hostages held by a kidnapper, all previous administrations developed a sort of Stockholm syndrome, coming to believe that China was doing everything it could to help solve the prob-lem, when it manifestly could do more. After 25 years, we should not assume that more hector-ing, promises or threats will persuade China to act in ways it believes contrary to its interests.

In the absence of good military options or a Chinese deus ex machina, the remaining options for eliminating the threat are limited. We’ve tried them all, and all have failed. Bill Clinton pursued engagement, which lasted until North Korea was caught cheating on its commitments to us. George W. Bush switched to confrontation, until North Korea tested its first nuclear weapon. Then he reverted to engagement, but Barack Obama found the results so disappointing that he shifted to ignoring the problem (or, as his administration called it, “strategic patience”).

The Trump administration can pick any of these options, but there’s no reason to expect dif-ferent results. North Korea has repeatedly demonstrated that it can withstand sanctions and

A crisis Trump can’t manage with tweet or taunt

President Donald Trump is facing a crisis he can’t manage with a tweet or a taunt. The appointment of former FBI Director Robert Mueller as special counsel overseeing the federal government’s Russia investigation

has dramatically raised the legal and political stakes and put Trump’s young presidency in dangerous ter-ritory just four months after he was sworn into office.

White House and campaign records may be sub-poenaed, and Trump’s presidential privilege to keep West Wing conversations private could be chal-lenged. Current and former staffers probably will have to hire pricey lawyers and sit for interviews. Trump himself may have to answer questions.

And even if Trump’s campaign is ultimately cleared of wrongdoing, the shadow of an investiga-tion will hang over the White House for months or even years.

“They will govern with constant fear of bomb-shell news being around the corner,” said Julian Zelizer, a history professor at Princeton University.

Trump has long maintained that he and his asso-ciates had no nefarious ties to Russia. In a written statement shortly after Mueller’s appointment was announced, Trump said a thorough investigation will confirm “there was no collusion between my cam-paign and any foreign entity.”

The Justice Department’s decision to put Mueller in charge of the investigation comes as the White House was already reeling from a series of self-inflicted controversies.

Last week, Trump stunningly fired FBI Director James Comey, who was overseeing the Russia probe. In a brazen warning to Comey, Trump suggested he

may have tapes of their conversations. Undeterred, Comey’s associates then revealed that the former FBI chief has a memo of a meeting with Trump in which the president asks for the investigation into ousted national security adviser Michael Flynn to be stopped.

Controversy is nothing new for Trump.As a candidate, Trump often careened from one

crisis to the next, including the release of a video in which he was heard making predatory comments about women. His response often followed a familiar pattern: blaming the media for peddling “fake news,” lashing out at his rivals and creating provocative dis-tractions, often with a well-timed tweet.

He’s tried to use that same playbook when it comes to Russia. He’s blamed Democrats for levelling allegations of Russian collusion as a way to explain their crushing defeats in last year’s elections. He’s urged not only his supporters, but also the FBI, to focus more on the leaks about the investigation that have deepened questions about possible Russia con-nections. And on Thursday morning, he took to Twitter to call the investigations “the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history!

Presidential historian Douglas Brinkley said Trump is “not going to be able to jive his way out” of the Mueller-led investigation.

“He wanted to make it out as media and Demo-cratic warfare,” Brinkley said. “But now, with Mueller being chosen and the GOP backing the Justice

Department decision, Trump is truly going to be held to the standards of justice.”

In his statement on Wednesday night, Trump said he planned to focus on “fighting for the people and the issues that matter most to the future of our coun-try.” But the snowballing Russia matter has overshadowed much of his agenda and raised ques-tions about whether Republican lawmakers will be willing to take tough votes supporting a president under the cloud of investigation.

As special counsel, Mueller will have all the same powers as a US attorney, though he will still ulti-mately report to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Still, he is not subject to the day-to-day supervision of the Justice Department.

The situation is similar to the investigation into whether officials in President George W Bush’s administration leaked the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame to reporters. Comey, who was then serving as deputy attorney general, tapped Patrick Fitzgerald to head the review, which led to the con-viction of a top White House official.

In the 1990s, President Bill Clinton was engulfed by an independent counsel investigation that started as a probe into failed land deals but ultimately exposed his affair with a White House intern. He was impeached by the House, but acquitted by the Senate.

Jennifer Palmieri, who worked in the Clinton administration and later on Hillary Clinton’s

Last Sunday, North Korea successfully demonstrated for the first time that it could strike US territory in the Pacific. After more than 25 years of wrestling with the North Korean

nuclear threat, it’s time to recognize that North Korea is not merely seeking to gain bar-gaining leverage against us. Rather, it is determined to possess nuclear weapons, and we need to develop a realistic strategy for containing, defending against and deterring what will be a persistent and growing nuclear threat.

There’s every reason to continue pursuing sanctions and diplomacy, but we should not premise our policy on the expectation that such efforts are going to succeed in persuad-ing North Korea to change course. We must also recognise that there is no acceptable military solution to the problem.

Even before the North produced its first nuclear weapon, the United States calculated that the potential cost for any military strike was too great for America and South Korea. Now that North Korea has nuclear weapons, as well as missiles that can reach Guam and beyond, this logic is even more compelling.

It is indeed true, as the Trump administra-tion has concluded, that China has the wherewithal to compel North Korea to aban-don its nuclear weapons. But China is a great power that has had plenty of time to think through its policy. It is concerned, but clearly not panicked. More important, it perceives plenty of downsides to overreacting, including the potential collapse and absorption of its ally, North Korea, into America’s ally, South Korea.

It’s time to treat North Korea as a nuclear threat

Senetor Dick Durbin speaking after Deputy US Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s classified briefing for the full US Senate on President Donald Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey in Washington, yesterday.

that it will pocket whatever inducements we offer without abandoning its nuclear weapons programme.

It’s time to take North Korea’s words and actions at face value: North Korea is a nuclear-armed state and is determined to remain one. The deployment of the Termi-nal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, missile defense system to South Korea is a welcome first step to contain the threat, allowing us to shoot down short- and intermediate-range missiles fired from North Korea.

As North Korean missile capabilities grow, THAAD needs to be augmented with more robust missile defense systems, including the ship-borne Aegis system, the Aegis Ashore system now being deployed in Romania, expanded interceptor capabilities in Alaska and the cor-responding sensors necessary to maximize the effectiveness of all these systems. But purely defensive systems will not suffice in deterring North Korea. We need new offensive capabilities that match North Korea’s. For starters, because of US pressure, the range of South Korea’s ballistic missiles has been limited by mutual agreement since 1979. Such limitations make no sense in the face of North Korea’s growing missile threat and should be lifted immediately.

At the same time, additional offensive strike options need to be made available to our allies in the region, including long-range strike aircraft, aerial refuelling capabilities and precision-guided munitions.

President Donald Trump was ridiculed during his campaign for suggesting that South Korea and Japan may want to consider deploying their own nuclear weapons. But Trump did not invent this idea. Polls show that roughly two-thirds of South Koreans believe their country should have its own nuclear weapons.

As an alternative, the United States should be pre-pared to return its own tactical nuclear weapons to the Korean Peninsula. The withdrawal of those weapons was announced by President George H.W. Bush in 1991 as North and South Korea were finalizing an agreement to denuclearise the peninsula. North Korea has never respected that agreement, so we need not defer to it, either.

None of these ideas represent a preferred response to the North Korean nuclear threat. They are, instead, a last recourse. But the past quarter-century teaches that we have no realistic alternatives.

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presidential campaign, offered a dire warning for Trump aides on what could come in a White House facing the pressures of an investigation.

“It’s all the pressures of life in the White House with this weight hanging over you that could bring untold trauma at any point,” she said.

Julie Pace AP

Stephen Rademaker The Washington Post

As a candidate, Trump often careened from one crisis to the next, including the release of a video in which he was heard making predatory comments about women. His response often followed a familiar pattern: blaming the media for peddling “fake news,” lashing out at his rivals and creating provocative distractions, often with a well-timed tweet.

There’s every reason to continue pursuing sanctions and diplomacy, but we should not premise our policy on the expectation that such efforts are going to succeed in persuading North Korea to change course. We must also recognise that there is no acceptable military solution to the problem.

10 SATURDAY 20 MAY 2017AMERICAS

Workers prepare for delivery of President Donald Trump's FY2018 budget at the Government Publishing Office in Washington, US, yesterday.

Budget books

Washington

AP

When President Donald Trump sits down for dinner in Saudi Arabia, cater-

ers have ensured that his favorite meal - steak with a side of ketchup - will be offered along-side the traditional local cuisine.

At Nato and the Group of 7 summits, foreign delegations have gotten word that the new US president prefers short pres-entations and lots of visual aids. And at all of Trump's five stops on his first overseas trip, his team has spent weeks trying to build daily downtime into his other-wise jam-packed schedule.

It's all part of a worldwide effort to accommodate Ameri-ca's homebody president on a voyage with increasingly raised

stakes given the ballooning con-troversy involving his campaign's possible ties to Russia. For a former international business-man, Trump simply doesn't have an affinity for much international.

Even before Trump's trip morphed from a quick jaunt to Europe into a nine-day

behemoth, White House aides were on edge about how the president would take to grueling pressures of foreign travel: the time zone changes, the unfamil-iar hotels, the local delicacies. Two officials said they feared that a difficult trip might even lead the president to hand off future traveling duties to Vice President Mike Pence.

Trump's final itinerary hardly eases him into the delicate world of international diplomacy on foreign soil. After departing Fri-day on an overnight flight on Air Force One, Trump will hopscotch from Saudi Arabia to Israel to the Vatican. He'll close his trip with a pair of summits in Brussels and Sicily, often-staid affairs that require leaders to be locked in lengthy plenary sessions.

"The chance of something going wrong - you insult the hosts, you get sick, your boss gets sick, you miscommunicate with your

hosts, you make a scheduling error, you need to change the schedule just hours before a meet-ing, the motorcade get stuck in traffic, or the plane is stranded due to bad weather - is extremely high," said Julianne Smith, who served as a foreign policy adviser to Vice President Joe Biden and is now a senior fellow at the Center for New American Security.

"Personally, I think they should cut it back now before they regret it," she said of Trump's long jaunt.

The trip marks the first time since taking office that Trump has spent a night away from the White House at a property that doesn't bear his name. And it's not just the bragging rights Trump gets when he goes to his own properties: Staffers know his meal preferences and the exact temperature he likes a room set at. He's often sur-rounded by long-time friends

and acquaintances who have memberships to the commander in chief-owned retreats.

The only overnight trip Trump took abroad as a candidate was to mark the opening of a new golf resort in Scotland. He led journal-ists on a roving tour of the course and said his property would ben-efit if Britain's currency tanked following its decision to leave the European Union. He also made a daytrip to Mexico.

The stakes will be far higher as President Trump makes his debut on the international stage. He's the first president since Jimmy Carter to not travel abroad during his first 100 days in office. And he'll depart under a cloud of controversy, much of it of his own making, including the White House's botched handling of FBI Director James Comey's firing.

Nearly all of Trump's senior White House officials are traveling with him. First lady

Melania Trump will also be on the trip, headlining her own events on each stop.

The Slovenian-born Mrs. Trump is the more seasoned international traveler in the rela-tionship. She lived and worked as a model in Paris and Milan before moving to New York, and speaks multiple languages.

Before the couple married, they flew to Slovenia so the New York real estate mogul could meet his bride-to-be's family. The day trip marked the only time Trump has set foot in his wife's home country.

"At least I can say that I went," Trump told The New York Times last year.

Foreign travel has never been high on Trump's list of pri-orities. During his first marriage, he usually stayed behind when wife Ivana took his children for visits to her home country, the former Czechoslovakia.

Bogota

AP

The US imposed a new round of sanctions on high-level Venezuelan officials, this

time targeting eight Supreme Court judges that Washington accused of damaging their nation's democracy by steadily stripping the opposition-control-led congress of any authority.

The executive order issued Thursday marked the second time the US has sanctioned lead-ers of Venezuela's socialist government since Donald Trump became president this year. In February, the U.S. announced it was freezing the assets of Vice President Tareck El Aissami,

accusing him of playing a major role in international drug trafficking.

Those blacklisted under the latest decree include Maikel Moreno, the president of the gov-ernment-packed Supreme Court, as well as all seven justices who signed a ruling in late March nul-lifying congress.

The ruling was later partially reversed amid a surge of inter-national criticism, but it sparked a protest movement that has seen almost daily street demon-strations for nearly two months — sometimes violent unrest that recorded its 45th death Thursday.

"By imposing these targeted sanctions, the United States is

supporting the Venezuelan peo-ple in their efforts to protect and advance democratic gov-ernance in their country," US Treasury Secretary Steven T Mnuchin said.

Venezuelan Foreign Minis-ter Delcy Rodriguez decried the US sanctions on Twitter as "out-rageous and unacceptable." She said the order was one more example of US attempts to desta-bilize Venezuela's government, adding that Maduro strongly backs the Supreme Court mag-istrates who are "victims of U.S. imperial power."

Trump's administration has repeatedly raised concerns that Maduro is moving toward one-party, authoritarian rule.

Sao PauloAP

Brazil's president is vowing to remain in power despite a damaging new

corruption allegation, but Latin America's largest nation could very well be rudderless as long as he stays at the head of what one analyst is calling a "walk-ing dead administration."

President Michel Temer struck a defiant note Thursday, promising he would be found innocent in a Supreme Court investigation into allegations that he endorsed a scheme to pay hush money to a former influential legislator who is now in prison for corruption.

But Brazil and his adminis-tration will not shrug off the incendiary allegations so easily. Stock prices and Brazil's cur-rency were pummeled as investors digested the allegation first reported by the newspaper Globo late Wednesday. Two small allied parties pulled their support for his agenda in Con-gress and one Cabinet minister resigned amid talk that others might follow.

As long as Temer stays in power, the political turmoil could leave the country adrift, just as it needs a strong hand to pull its economy out of a deep and protracted recession. Bills making their way through Con-gress that would loosen labor

laws and shore up the pension system — two measures Temer has said are vital to restoring investor confidence in Brazil — have now stalled. "If Temer doesn't fall, he will lead a walk-ing dead administration," said Claudio Couto, a political sci-ence professor at Fundacao Getulio Vargas, a Sao Paulo-based university and think tank.

Globo reported that Temer was recorded endorsing pay-ments to former House of Deputies Speaker Eduardo Cunha. Cunha has been convicted and jailed in the sprawling cor-ruption probe into kickbacks at Petrobras, but many believe he could still give damning testimony about dozens of politicians.

Efforts to keep Trump happy on first foreign trip High stakes

The trip marks the first time since taking office that Trump has spent a night away from the White House.

The stakes will be far higher as President Trump makes his debut on the international stage.

New YorkReuters

The US Navy recruit who drove his car along a crowded Times Square

sidewalk, killing a young woman and injuring many oth-ers, is due to appear in court in Manhattan yesterday to face charges of murder, attempted murder and vehicular homicide.

Richard Rojas, 26, knocked pedestrians into the air as he sped for three blocks in his bur-gundy Honda sedan through one of the city's busiest areas on Thursday before crashing into a metal stanchion, the New York Police Department said.

Rojas, who is from the Bronx area of New York City, had been arrested twice for drunken driving, in 2008 and 2015, and once this month on a charge of menacing for threat-ening another man with a knife, police said.

Police said Rojas was evi-dently intoxicated on Thursday. He was initially taken to a nearby hospital after he was detained.

"We know he had some-thing in his system, but we haven't had the toxicology back yet," said police department spokesman Adam Navarro

City officials do not consider the incident an act of terrorism, Mayor Bill de Blasio said dur-ing a visit to the scene on Thursday.

Police said the young woman killed on the sidewalk was Alyssa Elsman, 18, who was on vacation with her family from Michigan.

Twenty-two people were injured.

Rojas was due to appear in Manhattan's criminal court yes-terday to be arraigned on one count of second-degree mur-der, five counts of aggravated vehicular homicide and 20 counts of attempted murder.

Although only one person was killed, a driver can face multiple counts of vehicular homicide under New York law if other people are seriously injured. It was unclear if Rojas has a lawyer.

Navy records show Rojas enlisted in September 2011 and was based in Illinois and Flor-ida, working as an electrician's mate fireman apprentice.

He was arrested a year later at a naval base in Jacksonville, Florida, where officials said he attacked a cab driver, shouted "my life is over," and threatened to kill police, according to court records. Rojas was charged at the time with misdemeanor battery and resisting an officer without violence, but it was unclear how the case was resolved.

Navy records show he spent two months in a military prison in Charleston, South Carolina, in the summer of 2013, but did not say why. He left the Navy in May 2014.

Boy found dead in stolen car in MississippiGluckstadt

AP

Three young Mississippi men were arrested hours after a 6-year-old

boy was found shot dead in his mother's stolen car and the suspects will be charged with capital murder, author-ities said.

Madison County District Attorney Michael Guest announced at a news confer-ence Thursday that authorities plan to charge Byron McBride, D'Allen Washington and Dwan Wakefield in the death of the child.

Authorities found King-ston Frazier shot at least once in the back seat of his moth-er's stolen car, which Jackson Police Cmdr. Tyree Jones said was abandoned in a muddy ditch about 15 miles north of the city.

Frazier had gone missing after 1 a.m. Thursday when a man was seen on video tak-ing the car from the parking lot of a supermarket in Jack-son, the state capital, authorities said. About nine hours later, following a child-abduction alert and widespread publicity, a man reported the missing Toyota Camry was beside a dead-end road in the northern suburb of Gluckstadt.

Authorities publicly dis-closed the boy's death Thursday morning while sur-rounded by grieving family members.

Venezuelan Supreme Court judges hit with US sanctions

Venezuelan opposition activists clash with the riot police during a rally against the government of President Nicolas Maduro, in Caracas, yesterday. Opposition leader Henrique Capriles said authorities confiscated his passport and prevented him from travelling to New York to discuss his country's deadly political crisis with the United Nations officials.

Brazil's president vows to stay in power

Motorist who mowed down Times Square pedestrians due in court

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Yesterday’s answer

15SATURDAY 20 MAY 2017 BREAK TIME

Yesterday’s answer

SHOWING ATVILLAGGIO & CITY CENTER

HAGA

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ALL IN THE MINDACCELERATOR, AUTOMOBILE, AXLE, BATTERY, BRAKE, CARBURETOR, CLUTCH, CRANKSHAFT, CRUISE CONTROL, CYLINDER, DASHBOARD, DIFFERENTIAL, DISTRIBUTOR, ENGINE, EXHAUST, FUEL LINE, GEARS, HALF SHAFT, HEADLIGHT, IGNITION, MUFFLER, PISTON, RADIATOR, SHOCK ABSORBER, SPARK PLUG, STEERING, SUSPENSION, TAILPIPE, TRANSMISSION, WHEELS.

7:30 Talk To Al Jazeera

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23:00 Al Jazeera World

09:20 Lost In

Transmission

11:00 Shipping Wars

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11:50 Ice Road

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12:40 Ax Men

13:30 Lost Worlds

16:00 Gold Hunters:

Legend Of The

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17:40 American

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18:30 Shipping Wars

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19:20 American

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20:10 Forged In Fire

21:00 Alone

21:50 Mummies

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22:40 Pirate Treasure

08:40 Meet The

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10:05 Speed Of Life

11:00 Wild Ones

11:25 Wild Ones

11:55 Bondi Vet

12:50 Cats 101

13:45 Dogs/Cats/Pets

101

14:40 Dogs/Cats/Pets

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15:35 Dogs/Cats/Pets

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16:30 Dogs/Cats/Pets

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17:25 Cats 101

18:20 Racing

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20:10 Dr. Jeff: Rocky

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21:05 Pit Bulls &

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22:00 Into The Lion's

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22:55 Saving A

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14:25 Jessie

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15:15 Austin & Ally

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17:25 Harriet The Spy:

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19:05 Stuck In The

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Stratton (Action) 11:30am, 1:30, 3:30, 5:30, 7:30, 9:30 & 11:30pmAlien Covenant (2D/Thriller) 11:00am, 1:30, 4:00, 6:00, 6:30, 9:00, 11:30 & 11:40pm King Arthur: Legend of The Sword (2D/Action) 11:00am, 1:30, 3:00, 4:00, 6:30, 8:45, 9:00 & 11:30pm Don’t Hang Up (2D/Horror) 10:00am, 2:00, 6:00 & 10:00pm All Nighter (2D/Comedy) 12:00noon, 4:00, 8:00pm & 12:00midnight Fast & Furious 8 (Action) 10:00am, 3:00 & 8:00pm Everything, Everything (Drama) 1:00, 6:00 & 11:00pm Akhlaa El Abib (2D/Arabic) 10:30am, 3:00, 7:30pm & 12:00midnight Bank Alhaz (2D/Arabic) 12:30, 5:00 & 9:30pm Spark: A Space Tail 10:00am, 12:00noon, 2:00 & 4:00pm The Zookeeper’s Wife (2D/Drama) 6:00, 8:30 & 11:00pm The Boss Baby (Animation) 10:00, 11:00, 11:50am, 1:00, 1:40, 3:30, 5:20 & 7:10pm Guardians of The Galaxy 2 (2D/Action) 9:00 & 11:45pm Alien Covenant (2D IMAX/Thriller) 11:30am, 2:00, 4:30, 7:00, 9:30pm & 12:00midnight

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The Boss Baby (2D/Animatoin) 2:15pm Half Girlfriend (2D/Hindi) 2:30pmYokai Watch The Movie (2D/Animation) 2:30 & 4:15pm Sakhavu (2D/Malayalam) 4:00pm Don’t Hang Up (2D/Horror) 5:00pmEverything, Everything (Drama) 6:00 & 9:15pm Colossal (2D/Action) 7:00pm The Zookeeper’s Wife (2D/Drama) 7:00pm Alien Covenant (2D/Thriller) 7:45pm Alien Covenant (2D/Thriller) 9:00pmKeshava (2D/Telugu) 9:00pm Rakshadhikari Baiju (2D/Malayalam) 11:00pmSangili Bungili Kadhava Thorae (2D/Tamil) 11:15pmStratton (2D/Action) 10:00pm All Nighter (2D/Comedy) 11:45pm

Yokai Watch The Movie (2D/Animation) 2:15 & 4:00pm The Boss Baby (2D/Animation) 2:15 & 5:45pm Sakhavu (2D/Malayalam) 2:30pm Rakshadhikari Baiju (2D/Malayalam) 4:00pm Colossal (2D/Action) 5:30pm Everything, Everything (Drama) 7:00 & 9:15pm Alien Covenant (2D/Thriller) 7:30pm Stratton (2D/Action) 7:30pm The Zookeeper’s Wife (2D/Drama) 8:45pm Don’t Hang Up (2D/Horror) 9:45pm Sangili Bungili Kadhava Thorae (2D/Tamil) 11:00pm Hindi Medium (2D/Hindi) 11:15pm All Nighter (2D/Comedy) 11:30pm

Georgettan (Malayalam) 4:00 & 10:00pm Baahubali 2 (Hindi) 7:00pm & 01:00am Sakhavu (2D/Malayalam) 12:30, 2:45, 5:30, 8:15 & 11:00pm

Rakshadhikari Biju (Malayalam) 1:00, 3:15 & 9:00pm Keshava (Telugu) 12:00noon Sangili Bungili (Tamil) 12:30 & 6:15pm

Spark: A Space Tail 2:00, 4:00 & 6:00pm Half Girlfriend (Hindi) 2:00, 4:45pm & 12:30am Alien (Horror) 2:00, 4:30, 7:00, 9:30pm & 12:00midnight Sakhavu (Malayalam) 2:00& 5:00pm The Expendables 2 8:00, 10:15pm & 12:30am Rakshadhikari Biju (Malayalam) 8:00 & 11:15pm Keshava (Telugu) 7:30 & 10:00pm

Sakhavu (2D/Malayalam) 11:30am, 2:30, 8:30 & 11:30pm The Boss Baby 11:00am

Baahubali 2 (Hindi) 11:45am Rakshadhikari Biju (Malayalam) 5:30pm

Alien: Covenant 1:15, 3:45, 6:15, 8:45 & 11:15pm Half Girlfriend 2:45, 5:30, 8:15 & 11:00pm

20 SATURDAY 20 MAY 2017MORNING BREAK

FAJRSHOROOK

03.21 am

04.47 am

ZUHRASR

11.30 am

02.56 pm

MAGHRIBISHA

06.16 pm

07.46 pm

PRAYER TIMINGS

HIGH TIDE 13:00- 00:00 LOW TIDE 07:30 - 16:30

Hazy at places at first becomes hot

daytime with slight dust.

WEATHER TODAY

Minimum Maximum

Courtesy: Qatar Meteorology Department

34oC 43oC

Cannes

Reuters

A technical glitch yesterday halted the screening of Netflix's first movie to compete

at the Cannes Film Festival, but "Okja", starring Tilda Swinton and Jake Gyllenhaal, which opened to boos, ended to hearty applause.

One of the most keenly anticipated films of the fes-tival, because of its stellar cast and director as well as the video streaming compa-ny's decision to give it only a limited theatrical release, opened to a packed press screening.

As the Netflix logo hit the screen, sections of the crowd booed, and the opening scene was difficult to hear due to heckling and slow handclap-ping - apparently due to the film being projected in the wrong aspect ratio.

The projection was stopped, the screen adjusted and the

movie then restarted, with the Netflix logo again being booed, but the rest of the film watched in respectful silence.

"This incident was entirely the responsibility of the Fes-tival’s technical service, which offers its apologies to the director, his teams, the pro-ducers and the audience at the showing," the festival said in a statement.

Directed by Korean Bong Joon-ho, known for "Snow-piercer" and "The Host", "Okja" is the story of a little girl's rela-tionship to an intelligent giant pig-like animal which has, unknown to her, been bred by a US biotech company to pro-duce cheap meat.

The animal is saved, but also used, by activists from the Animal Liberation Front (ALF).

With elements of "King Kong", British magazine Sight and Sound said the "snazzy sci-ence fiction succeeds as both a critique of the modern meat industry and a bittersweet tale of the bond between a girl and

a mighty beast".Gyllenhaal made light of

speculation the screening glitch had been sabotage, pos-sibly by Netflix's opponents in the French movie industry angry at its refusal to release the film in theatres, saying: "It

was the ALF I guess."French rules mean that

movies cannot be streamed online until three years after their theatrical release, and Netflix has ruled out any such release in France - cre-ating a controversy that has

been hard to avoid at the festival.

Pedro Almodovar, the head of the jury that will award this year's big prize, said he did not think a film not shown on the big screen should get the Palme d'Or.

Big-beast thriller Okja impresses at Cannes

Carla Bruni 'stands by man' in new English cover albumNew YorkAFP

Carla Bruni, the French pop star turned first l a d y , y e s t e r d a y

announced an album of Eng-l ish-language covers -- including the legendary

country ode to husbands, "Stand By Your Man." Bruni's first album in four years, "French Touch," will come out on October 6 and aims at reaching an English-speaking audience as she interprets well-known songs with her breathy yet raspy voice.

She released a first track -- a cover of Depeche Mode's "Enjoy the Silence," with the English group's electronic style stripped back for an inti-mate sound more in line with pop standards.

The Italian-born singer, who married Nicolas Sarkozy

in 2008 while he was presi-dent of France, told US music magazine Billboard that the album will also include Tammy Wynette's hit "Stand By Your Man."

Released in 1968 amid cultural tumult around the world, the country song -- the

lyrics include, "Be proud of him / because after all he's just a man" -- enraged feminists with its expectation of tradi-tional roles. Asked if the song was about Sarkozy, Bruni told Billboard: "It's a homage to any husband in the world. It's the husband song. "

Director Bong Joon-ho and cast members Tilda Swinton, Seo-Hyeon Ahn and Jake Gyllenhaal pose during the photocall for the film Okja.

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