UK’s new interior minister promises immigration reforms

LONDON: Britain’s new interior minister pledged Monday to create a “fair and humane immigration” system hours after being appointed as he tried to move beyond a scandal over moves to deport elderly legal immigrants that has rocked the government.

British Prime Minister Theresa May had earlier appointed Sajid Javid to replace Amber Rudd, who quit the key ministerial post of home secretary late Sunday after misleading lawmakers over deportation targets for illegal immigrants.

A rapid riser in the government, Javid’s first task was to answer an urgent question in parliament amid continued fallout from the so-called Windrush scandal — erroneous moves to deport legal but undocumented elderly immigrants from the Caribbean.

The scandal has prompted a wider debate about the government’s harsh methods against illegal immigration.

“I want to start by making a pledge to the Windrush generation,” he told lawmakers. “I will do whatever it takes to put it right.”

While interior minister between 2010 and 2016 May pioneered controversial policies intended to create a “hostile environment” for people in Britain illegally.

They are now under fire for unfairly ensnaring the Windrush generation — with fears EU citizens could be similarly targeted post-Brexit.

Read More: Sajid Javid, son of Pakistani bus driver, appointed UK’s new Home Secretary

A second generation immigrant to Britain, Javid signaled he would be adopting a new tone in the role.

“I don’t like the term hostile and I won’t be using it,” he vowed.

“It’s a phrase that’s unhelpful and doesn’t represent our values as a country. It’s about a compliant environment”.

– Son of a bus driver –

Rudd was forced from office after telling lawmakers last week that there were no targets for the removal of people deemed to be in the country illegally.

She felt it “necessary” to tender her resignation after the emergence of documents showing those goals were in place.

“I should have been aware of this, and I take full responsibility for the fact that I was not,” she said in her resignation letter to May, conceding that she “inadvertently misled” MPs.

Replacement Javid is the son of a Pakistani bus driver who had arrived in Britain in 1961 with one pound in his pocket.

The 48-year-old Javid was a senior investment banker at Deutsche Bank before being elected to parliament in 2010.

He joined the cabinet in 2014 as culture secretary before switching to business secretary in 2015 and communities secretary the following year.

He backed the losing Remain campaign in Britain’s 2016 referendum on its European Union membership, but his pro-EU position was lukewarm.

Read More: British interior minister Rudd resigns after immigration scandal

Explaining the thinking behind Javid’s appointment, May’s spokesman said he was “one of the most experienced ministers” in Cabinet who had “proved his drive, his ambition and his determination to get to grips with difficult subjects”.

Rudd, who was only appointed to the Home Office in 2016, was seen as a moderate on the EU and a balancing force in a cabinet containing several heavyweight pro-Brexit figures.

Her departure is unfortunate timing for May, whose centre-right Conservative Party faces potentially bruising local authority elections across England on Thursday.

Rudd was the fifth person to quit the cabinet since the June 2017 snap general election, called by May but which cost the Conservatives their majority in parliament.

James Brokenshire, who stepped down as Northern Ireland secretary in January to undergo lung operation, returned to cabinet to replace Javid in the housing, communities and local government brief.

– Clampdown –

Immigration control remains a hot topic in Britain and was a factor in the June 2016 vote to leave the EU.

May on Monday defended targets for the removal of illegal immigrants.

“If you talk to members of the public they want to ensure that we are dealing with people who are here illegally,” she said.

Her clampdown on illegal immigration, that began as a bid to identify those without papers, scooped up many elderly people from the Windrush generation — named after the ship that brought the first group of migrants from the West Indies in 1948.

Invited to Britain to help it rebuild after World War II, they were given a legal right to remain by a 1971 law.

However, many never formalised their status, often because they were children who came over on their parents’ passports and then never applied for their own.

Some have lost jobs and fallen into debt as they struggled to prove their status.

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Govt reverses decision to exempt tax on up to Rs1.2 mn annual income

KARACHI: The government has reportedly decided to reverse the decision of levying taxes on individuals earning Rs1.2 million annual income and impose tax on Rs0.4 million annual salary.

The ruling party has failed to implement upon the proposal made by its newly-elected Finance Minister Miftah Ismail on behalf of the prime minister while announcing budget 2018-19 in the National Assembly of levying tax on Rs1.2 mn salary a year.

According to the budget document, “Tax rates for individuals, as reduced in tax reforms package, has further been amended. Rs1,000 and Rs2,000 tax has been proposed to be introdced for incomes slabs Rs400,001 to Rs800,000 and from Rs800,001 to Rs1,200,000, respectively.”

Sources said about 1.2 million people were registered in the tax net all over the country and exemption in the taxes would mean exclusion of 44 percent tax-payers. Therefore, tax has been levied back on individuals having lower income to contain 0.52 mn people in the tax net.

 

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PPP will be fully prepared for next elections: Zardari

LAHORE: Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari on Monday said that the party will participate in the 2018 elections fully prepared and the workers will start being active from today.

Addressing a delegation from Sargodha division at Bilawal House Lahore, the former president said that under the current government, problems of the people have multiplied and the nation is troubled due to inflation, lack of jobs and economic mismanagement.

Zardari said that the PPP believes in the nation as it has always considered people being the source of power. “This is why, whenever the party comes into power, the first priority is to solve the problems of the people,” he said.

He said that in the past, there have been numerous allegations on Benazir Bhutto that she used her position as the prime minister to give people jobs.

He vowed the PPP will continue to provide jobs and will create job opportunities for youngsters once again. He said that the PPP’s manifesto is justice for the downtrodden masses.

Earlier, the spiritual custodians of Toba Tek Singh Khurram Gilani, Bari Imam Muqaddas Kazmi and Sang Jani Tahir Sajjad called on the former president at Zardari House Lahore and assured their support to the party.

PPP Punjab leaders Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmed, Amir Fida Paracha, Tasnim Qureshi, Aslam Madhyana, Mehreen Anwar Raja and Jahan Ara Watto were also present on the occasion.

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‘Simpsons’ breaks TV record but faces controversy

NEW YORK: “The Simpsons” has broken the record for the most episodes in a primetime scripted series on American TV, but the milestone came as the popular show finds itself accused of racism.

Fox’s 636th episode about the Simpson family, which aired Sunday night, pushed it past Western drama “Gunsmoke” which stopped at 635 episodes in 1975 after 20 years on the air.

Outside of primetime, some US soap operas have been running since the 1960s.

“The Simpsons” stars Homer, the family patriarch working for a nuclear power station, his wife and voice of reason Marge, and children Bart, Lisa and Maggie.

Since it first aired in 1989, the show has won more than 30 Emmys.

In its early years, the animated comedy regularly pulled in more than 15 million viewers and had double that — 33 million — for its most-watched episode in 1990.

It became so popular that references to “The Simpsons” have formed part of pop culture.

Declining audience figures had led to fears that it would not be renewed, but in 2016, Fox committed to continue “The Simpsons” until a 30th season in 2019.

After so many years, one character who has been part of “The Simpsons” since the beginning has in recent months become the subject of controversy.

Apu Nahasapeemapetilon is the manager of Kwik-E-Mart convenience store, a character of Indian ethnicity voiced by a white actor, Hank Azaria.

In the documentary “The Problem with Apu,” released last November, Hari Kondabolu, an actor and comedian of Indian origin, denounced the character’s marked accent and other stereotypes.

Both Azaria and “Simpsons” creator Matt Groening refused to appear in the documentary to answer questions.

Azaria, however, later told a reporter from the TMZ celebrity website that Kondabolu “made some really interesting points” and “gave us a lot at ‘The Simpsons’ to think about.”

In an episode on April 8, the show addressed the issue when Marge tried to remove any references that could offend anyone from a children’s book she had bought.

She reads the book to her daughter Lisa, who finds it boring.

“Something that started decades ago and was applauded and inoffensive is now politically incorrect,” says Lisa, turning towards a picture of Apu and winking.

“What can you do?”

“Some things will be dealt with at a later date,” says Marge.

“If at all,” says Lisa.

Following this exchange, Azaria said last week in an interview on “The Late Show” that he was “perfectly willing and happy to step aside, or help transition” the character to something new.

Groening, however, says he is “proud of what we do on the show. And I think it’s a time in our culture where people love to pretend they’re offended.”

Last May, a Russian cartoon channel said it would not air a “Simpsons” episode about playing a game similar to Pokemon Go in a church, following concerns raised by Orthodox clerics.

Well, that seals it. Matt Groening finally responded & sounds like every other troll on the internet who didn’t see the documentary. No one is offended by this character. It was, at times, insulting & was frustrating to many of us who were solely represented by that one image. https://t.co/AfYNAeaU7Z

— Hari Kondabolu (@harikondabolu) April 30, 2018

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Australia scientist, 104, heads to Switzerland for assisted dying

SYDNEY: Australia’s oldest scientist, who caused a stir when his university tried to vacate his office aged 102, will fly to Switzerland in early May to end his life, reigniting a national euthanasia debate.

David Goodall, who is now 104, does not have a terminal illness but his quality of life has deteriorated and he has secured a fast-track appointment with an assisted dying agency in Basel, euthanasia advocates said.

“I greatly regret having reached that age,” the ecologist told broadcaster ABC on his birthday earlier this month. “I’m not happy. I want to die. It’s not sad particularly. What is sad is if one is prevented.

“My feeling is that an old person like myself should have full citizenship rights including the right of assisted suicide,” he added.

Assisted suicide is illegal in most countries around the world and was banned in Australia until the state of Victoria became the first to legalise the practice last year.

But that legislation, which takes effect from June 2019, only applies to terminally ill patients of sound mind and a life expectancy of less than six months.

Other states in Australia have debated euthanasia in the past, but the proposals have always been defeated, mostly recently in New South Wales state last year.

Exit International, which is helping Goodall make the trip, said it was unjust that one of Australia’s “oldest and most prominent citizens should be forced to travel to the other side of the world to die with dignity”.

“A peaceful, dignified death is the entitlement of all who want it. And a person should not be forced to leave home to achieve it,” it said on its website Monday.

The group has launched a GoFundMe campaign to get plane tickets for Goodall and his helper upgraded to business class from economy and has so far raised more than Aus$17,000 (US$13,000).

Goodall, an honorary research associate at Perth’s Edith Cowan University, made international headlines in 2016 when he was declared unfit to be on campus.

After an uproar and support from scientists globally, the decision was reversed.

He has produced dozens of research papers and until recently continued to review and edit for different ecology journals.

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Missile strikes on Syria kill 26, mostly Iranian, forces

DAMASCUS: Missile strikes on central Syria killed 26 pro-regime fighters, most of them Iranians, a monitor said Monday, in a raid that bore the hallmarks of Tehran’s archfoe Israel.

The Syrian regime, which denounced a “fresh aggression” after the strikes, meanwhile continued to flush out armed groups from the capital with more deals to transfer fighters to the country’s north.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group, missile strikes hit two military targets in Aleppo and Hama provinces late Sunday.

The strike on Hama province hit a base known as the 47th Brigade where pro-regime fighters are stationed. Both hits destroyed surface-to-surface missiles, the monitor said.

“At least 26 fighters were killed, including four Syrians,” in the Hama strike, said Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the Britain-based monitoring group.

“The others are foreign fighters, a vast majority of them Iranians,” he told AFP. “Given the nature of the target, it is likely to have been an Israeli strike.”

Israeli Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz told army radio on Monday morning that he was “not aware” of the latest strikes.

Read More: Syria is death trap for civilians, UN refugee chief warns

But, he said, “all the violence and instability in Syria is the result of Iran’s attempts to establish a military presence there. Israel will not allow the opening of a northern front in Syria.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was due to speak later Monday about a “significant development” on the Iran nuclear deal, his office said.

His main US ally, which led an unprecedented wave of missile strikes on Syria’s chemical weapons infrastructure on April, is considering pulling out of the landmark deal.

Israel-Iran tension

Syria President Bashar al-Assad, whose main allies are Russia and Iran did not explicitly mention the overnight strikes but said that “hostile countries have shifted to a stage of direct aggression”.

Quoted by the official SANA news agency after meeting an official Iranian delegation, Assad said “escalating aggression on Syria will enhance Syrians’ resolve to eliminate terrorism”.

Syria remains technically at war with neighbouring Israel, which is concerned at the growing presence of Iranian forces and those of Tehran’s Lebanese ally Hezbollah on Syrian territory.

Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman vowed in an interview Thursday to strike at any attempt by Iran to establish a “military foothold” in Syria.

Iran has forces deployed in Syria to support Assad’s regime, as well as supervising the involvement of several militia groups it sponsors, some of them from other countries such as Iraq, Pakistan or Afghanistan.

There was no immediate comment from Tehran on the Sunday strikes, but the reformist-linked ILNA news agency quoted a security official who did not deny the strike and said any reports on the military situation in Syria should come from Damascus.

Read More: Saudi man killed in missile salvo from Yemen

“The Syrians must announce the statistics as they are responsible. We are present in this country at the request of the government of Syria,” said Hossein Naghavi Hosseini, spokesman for parliamentary national security and foreign policy commission.

Damascus transfers

The Syrian government has focused its efforts in 2018 on securing the capital Damascus, the heart of which was spared the worst of the seven-year-old conflict but was long surrounded by rebel-held pockets.

Backed by massive Russian military support, the regime took full control of the Eastern Ghouta enclave earlier this month.

The sprawling semi-rural area east of Damascus had been home to thousands of armed fighters, who were besieged for years but sporadically fired rockets and mortar rounds on the capital.

Pro-regime forces are now battling militants from the Islamic State group and other armed factions in southern neighbourhoods of Damascus.

After days of air strikes and heavy fighting, state media reported late Sunday that those areas would be evacuated under deals similar to those that emptied other enclaves around Damascus in recent weeks.

Buses started arriving Monday near Yarmuk, a neighbourhood once home to a Palestinian refugee camp and the main hub of IS forces in southern Damascus, state media reported.

The transfer deal does not include IS fighters, but other militants from a former Al-Qaeda affiliate who control pockets inside Yarmuk, Abdel Rahman said.

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Qatar to hike minimum wage ‘by end of year’

DOHA: Qatar could increase the minimum wage for migrant workers by the end of 2018, unions predicted on Monday, as the 2022 World Cup host seeks to push through labour reforms.

It would be the first change to the monthly wage since its introduction by the gas-rich Gulf state last November.

“By the end of the year we expect a new minimum wage to be set, that’s good news,” said Sharan Burrow, general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation.

Burrow did not name a figure but said the new wage would be calculated by assessing a “basket of goods”.

She was speaking after meeting Qatar’s labour minister, Issa al-Jufali al-Nuaimi, and other government officials in Doha over the past two days.

The minimum wage was set at 750 riyals a month ($206, 170 euro) on its introduction.

In addition to the salary, labourers receive free accommodation, food and healthcare plans, covered by employers.

The 750-riyal figure has been criticised as too low.

“We believe it is not good enough due to the cost of living,” said Burrows.

The introduction of a minimum wage was among a package of major changes announced last year by Qatar after signing a three-year programme of technical cooperation with the International Labour Organization (ILO).

That agreement headed off potentially embarrassing plans by the ILO to open an inquiry into Qatar’s treatment of workers.

The UN labour agency opened its first office in Doha on Sunday.

Among other proposed reforms is an end to Qatar’s “kafala” system preventing workers from changing jobs or leaving the country without permission from their employer under a contentious exit visa system.

An announcement on exit visas is expected within weeks.

Since being controversially chosen to host the World Cup, Qatar has been routinely accused of forcing workers to toil in conditions critics have likened to modern-day slavery.

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Petrol prices hiked by Rs 1.7 per litre for May

ISLAMABAD: The government on Monday increased the price of petrol by Rs 1.70 per litre with  effect from May 1.

The price of High-Speed Diesel (HSD) has also been increased by Rs 2.31 per litre, Light Diesel Oil (LDO) by Rs. 3.55 per litre, while the price of kerosene has been increased by Rs 3.41 per litre.

The new price of petrol will be Rs 87.70 per litre. The price of HSD has been increased to Rs 98.76 per litre and LDO at Rs. 68.85 per litre , while kerosene will be available at Rs 79.87 per litre.

The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) had proposed an increase in the petrol prices by Rs. 3.22 per litre, HSD by Rs. 5.02 per litre, LDO by Rs. 6.95 per litre, and kerosene by Rs 6.97 per litre.

However despite a tight fiscal environment, the prime minister declined to pass on the full impact of the increase in prices to the consumers and decided that the government will absorb almost fifty percent of the impact of increase.

The prices will be effective from May 1, 2018 till midnight on May 31, 2018, and is probably the last increase by the incumbent government which completes its tenure by end May.

In a summary sent to the government, OGRA maintained that the adjustment in prices of petroleum products was required to pass on the impact of hike in international oil prices and the rupee price against the US dollar during April.

Besides petroleum prices, an increase has also been recommended in the levy on petroleum products.

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Beneath a baobab, Prince Harry and Meghan’s love blossomed in Botswana

MAPULA LODGE, Botswana: In an exclusive Botswana safari camp where Prince Harry took Meghan Markle on a romantic getaway last year, guests wake to the sound of doves cooing in the trees and hippos splashing in the serene waters of the Okavango Delta.

Harry whisked the American actress away last year for a surprise holiday to celebrate her 36th birthday, hopping between luxury resorts in the sparsely populated southern African country renowned for its stunning wildlife and sweeping vistas.

The trip last August came a year into their relationship and a few months before they got engaged. Their wedding on May 19 is building up to be the social event of the year.

Harry sourced the diamond in Meghan’s engagement ring from Botswana, the world’s biggest producer.

The couple went to Botswana soon after they began dating in July 2016, a trip Harry described in a media interview last year as a “crucial” chance to get to know each other.

Their subsequent visit to the Okavango Delta last August has been kept a tight secret, with Kensington Palace and lodge managers declining to comment. But Reuters spoke to two local insiders who described the romantic escape.

At Mapula Lodge, an isolated $800-a-night retreat that translates as “mother of rain”, Harry and Meghan slept in a traditional thatched cabin with an outdoor shower, their carved wooden bed looking out over a pristine lagoon.

Read More: Meghan Markle ties the knot — but not with Prince Harry

The couple enjoyed a sunset cruise along the creeks that wind through the vast grasslands, stopping to try their hand at fishing. Harry caught a sharped-toothed catfish as he and Meghan shared a joke, one onlooker said.

“They are like regular guys. They were just relaxed,” the person said. “You could see they were very happy together.”

On an early morning game drive, the couple scoured the horizon for the wild animals that are the primary draw for wealthy clients visiting the Okavango, one of the largest inland deltas in the world.

In the most romantic offering at the camp, Harry and Meghan were driven out at twilight to a deserted area of the bush to the foot of an ancient baobab tree where they were served a three-course meal beside a glowing fire.

When they departed, Harry dealt out generous tips and one staff member shed a tear while waving the couple off from the resort’s private airstrip, the sources said.

RICH AND FAMOUS

Botswana is popular with the rich and famous because of the privacy and isolation its top end lodges offer. Other recent visitors include former U.S. President George W. Bush, Saudi princes, Hollywood stars and millionaire footballers.

“They all come to Botswana because it’s still a nice destination to go to where you’re not bothered about paparazzi because you’re far away from anything and everything,” said Eric Muizebelt, manager of the nine-room Mapula Lodge.

“The people from Botswana are not like: ‘I want to have an autograph or a picture’. People can come here and have their complete rest and peacefulness.”

Before venturing into the Delta, Harry and Meghan spent a night at Meno a Kwena – meaning “teeth of the crocodile” – a camp of luxury tents overlooking the Boteti river where guests often hear the roar of lions during the night

Harry brought his then girlfriend, Chelsy Davy, to the same camp in 2007.

“It’s an extremely romantic destination,” said Hennie Rawlinson, owner of Meno a Kwena, where chefs prepare food over an open fire and guests dine al fresco.

“Almost every night we have a spectacular sunset. You find you are the only person in the wilderness.”

Botswana, a country of around 2 million spread over an area the size of France, has always been a place of solace for Harry.

He first visited when he was 13, two months after his mother Princess Diana died, and he has returned several times for leisure and charity work. This year he became a patron of Rhino Conservation Botswana, a long-held passion of his.

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Imprisoned Bolivian ex-dictator Garcia Meza dead at 88

LA PAZ, BOLIVIA: Bolivian ex-dictator Luis Garcia Meza, who was serving a lengthy prison sentence for crimes committed after his 1980 military coup, died on Sunday in a La Paz hospital at the age of 88, his attorney told local media.

Garcia Meza died of cardiac arrest and respiratory failure at the Cossmil military hospital in La Paz, where the former general had spent more than a third of his 30-year prison sentence, attorney Frank Campero said.

Garcia Meza took power in a violent military coup in July 1980, near the end of the period of military dictatorships in Latin America.

Scores of people, including socialist leader Marcelo Quiroga Santa Cruz, were killed as his forces seized power. Quiroga’s body was never found.

A fierce anti-communist, Garcia Meza tortured opponents and launched a sweeping crack down on leftist dissenters. The regime even sought advice from Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie, who helped set up a death squad.

In one notable case eight leaders of Bolivia’s leftist MIR party were tortured and murdered by paramilitary operatives in the Sopocachi neighborhood of La Paz in January 1981. The sole survivor, Gloria Ardaya, escaped the slaughter by hiding under a bed.

‘Protected by the army’

The regime however was also characterized by rampant corruption and its close links to drug trafficking. The dictator’s interior minister, Luis Arce Gomez, was so closely linked with narcotrafficking that he was nicknamed the “minister of cocaine.”

Garcia Meza was deposed in August 1981, after 13 months in power.

In April 1993 the ex-dictator was sentenced to 30 years behind bars for the killings and abuses during his time in office, but he avoided prison by fleeing the country.

Authorities caught up with him in Brazil in March 1995. He was quickly arrested and extradited to Bolivia, where he was sent to a maximum security prison.

Arce Gomez, also sentenced to 30 years behind bars, first served time in a US prison on drug trafficking charges. In 2009 he was returned to Bolivia to serve the 30 year sentence.

With Garcia Meza’s death “we have lost highly valuable information to solve crimes against humanity,” said Julio Llanos, a representative of a rights group representing dictatorship victims.

Another rights group, Asofamd, posted an angry message on Facebook.

“We regret that JUSTICE has not been done!” the group said. Garcia Meza “died protected by the army, sheltered in the care of Cossmil,” the military hospital, the statement read.

‘Did not kill’

Attorney Campero said that in 2009 his ailing client left two letters, one addressed to his family and the other to the nation. Two reporters also filmed a documentary that was placed under embargo until his death.

The letters and the documentary state “that he did not kill, that he did not rob his country,” Campero said.

Garcia Meza and Arce Gomez were also among the defendants in a lawsuit filed in 2015 by an Italian judge against 30 Latin American ex-military and civilians for the death of 43 opponents of Italian origin.

In January 2017 eight of the defendants, including the two Bolivians, were sentenced in absentia to life in prison for their role in Operation Condor, the network that South American military dictatorships of the 1970s and 1980s set up to track down each others leftist dissidents.

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Pakistan Star wins Queen Elizabeth II Cup

Pakistan Star clinched the Queen Elizabeth II Cup for jockey William Buick in Hong Kong on Sunday, the highlight of three Group One spring races with a total purse of HK$58 million ($7.4 million).

Known for being unpredictable, the five-year-old stormed to victory by a large margin in the final strides and finished the 2,000m course in just over two minutes.

“He’s quite a famous horse for his antics so I was aware of him and I was aware of what he can do,” Buick said after the race, adding Pakistan Star “felt beautiful today”.

“When I found out that I was riding him, I took on board all of the information I knew about the horse and also thought it was quite important to ride him with a fresh mind and just be very positive about the horse,” the winning jockey said.

The prize money for the Audemars Piguet QEII Cup had been boosted up from last year’s HK$20 million to HK$24 million.

Italian jockey Alberto Sanna finished second on Gold Mount, while Australian Hong Kong-based jockey Brett Prebble rode Eagle Way to finish third.

Australian jockey Zac Purton was another star of the day, riding four-year-old gelding victory to triumph in the 1,200m Chairman’s Sprint race.

“I was fortunate enough to get on him and at the right time,” he said of Victory.

Purton claimed his first Hong Kong Cup last year in the city’s Longines International Races, one of the world’s richest race meetings.

Already on a winning streak, Purton snapped up the 1,600m Champions Mile with Beauty Generation, surging from a relatively slow start to seal its victory.

“He’s just so honest, he goes out and runs the same race every time. When he gets the circumstances to suit him, you get to see how good he is,” Purton said of the horse.

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Zidane aims to overcome Bayern in Champions League semis

Zinedine Zidane may have won two consecutive Champions League titles but he refused to admit a third would brand this his very own era at Real Madrid.

Real stand on the brink of a trio of finals ahead of their second leg against Bayern Munich in the last four on Tuesday, when they will carry a 2-1 lead, and two away goals, to the Santiago Bernabeu.

It makes them favorites to go through and, for many, heavy favorites to win the tournament after already beating Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus in the knock-out stages.

For Zidane, a third European crown as coach is now in sight, which would put him level with Carlo Ancelotti and Bob Paisley in the pantheon of successful managers.

Only the three triumphs of Paisley, however, came at one club, Liverpool, and over a single era, in 1977, 1978 and 1981. Ancelotti’s treble stretched across 11 years, with two clubs, Real and AC Milan.

“We cannot talk about this,” Zidane said on Friday.

“Coaches like this were given a lot of time, they did a lot of things.

“I am comfortable, we have done well, it is two and a half years that have been good but the rest, ‘Zidane’s Real Madrid’, let’s wait a bit.”

Even Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola have lifted Europe’s biggest prize only twice, all with more years in management under their belts.

But Zidane’s merits as a coach and tactician continue to be downplayed, at least in part because the Frenchman owns arguably the most talented squad in the world and, in Cristiano Ronaldo, the Champions League’s greatest ever player.

Zidane’s brave call

Ronaldo’s 15 goals in this year’s competition have certainly been key, but it was Zidane who made the brave call to leave out Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema at the Allianz Arena against Bayern.

The preferred but less established duo of Lucas Vazquez and Marco Asensio combined brilliantly for the winning goal, with the former also switched to right-back late on, where he held off the threat of Franck Ribery.

Bale, harshly treated in recent weeks, may not agree but the majority of Real’s first team are now regularly hailing Zidane’s man-management, his preparation and his tactics.

“When Zizou has to gamble, he does, because he is the boss,” captain Sergio Ramos said.

“We are very happy that he is steering the boat.” he added.

There is certainly work still to be done to overcome Bayern, who dominated large parts of the first match and perhaps deserved to emerge with a more flattering result.

“We earned a lot of extra credit for winning the match, But we cannot make the same mistakes again and I think on Tuesday we’ll have to go into the match with more determination than we’ve ever had before.” Zidane said.

Real are likely to be without Isco and Dani Carvajal, who sustained shoulder and hamstring injuries respectively during the first leg.

“We are always damaged losing two players but at the same time we cannot do anything about it,” Zidane said.

While Ronaldo was among a number of first-team players rested for Saturday’s win over Leganes, Bale started, a sign the Welshman is set for another snub in midweek.

Bale did not play a single minute against Bayern in Germany and, along with Benzema, has now lost his place in the side for Real’s crunch games in Europe.

“We need everyone,” Zidane said. “I will do everything possible to convince them they are important.

“The important thing is also the key message for Gareth, Karim and for everyone that we stay connected. We have a month and we have to give it all we’ve got.”

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Murad assigns Child Foundation to assess pediatric facilities at Mithi hospital

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Monday assigned Child Foundation the task to assess pediatric facilities at Mithi hospital and present him report in a week.

“I am worried about the children of Thar who still need special attention,” he said while holding a meeting with a delegation of Child Foundation here at the CM House.

He directed the Child Foundation to send their professional team to Mithi Civil Hospital to inspect their entire facilities and give him a report within a week on the missing facilities so that they could be provided at the earliest.

“We have equipped the Mithi Civil Hospital with the latest facilities and equipments but still there are child mortality reports which are quite disturbing for me.”

“I want you to survey the facilities and modus operandi at the Mithi hospital and then present a final report to upgrade it,” he said.

Read More: Infant dies of malnutrition in Mithi, pushes monthly death toll to 24

He said that he was trying to improve child health services, particularly in Tharparkar and other far-flung areas.

The chief minister said that he had a clear plan to provide best health services for children at every teaching hospital, District Headquarters Hospital, taluka headquarters hospital and basic health units. “This was motive of working in partnership with Child Foundation.”

Murad was told that that the special space or wards given to the Child Foundation at different district hospitals and teaching hospitals would be launched very soon.

The children ward to be operated by Child Foundation in Shaheed Benazirabad would be opened on May 18, in Jamshoro would be opened on June 18, in Sukkur on December 18, he said.

Murad Ali Shah also said that the pharmacy of the teaching hospitals and DHQ and THQ also needed to be improved properly. “I want to computerise the record of all the government hospitals and health facilities so that proper check could be established,” he said.

He said that the medicines were properly given to patients at all the government facilities all over Sindh but overall health services were comparatively better in those government hospitals where private sector was working in partnership with the government.

Murad Shah said that he had given special attention to National Institute of Child Health and its services, equipments were being improved and its satellites would be established all over Sindh.

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Messi’s hat-trick seals Barca’s 25th title in style

MADRID: Barcelona’s coach Ernesto Valverde was delighted that his side “finally” wrapped up 25th La Liga title with four matches to spare, thanks to Lionel Messi’s hat-trick that secured a thrilling 4-2 victory at Deportivo La Coruna on Sunday.

Valverde’s men completed a league and cup double after thrashing Sevilla 5-0 in last week’s Copa del Rey final, regaining the Spanish crown from Real Madrid and relegating Deportivo in the process.

“I feel very happy because in the end the league is very long, it starts in August and when spring arrives everything is decided, we have passed everything.

“We’ve been pursuing it since the beginning, we have been in the lead, we’ve finished well, with a big margin, It’s the first La Liga that I’ve won.” he told Spanish television.

The only blip on the Catalans’ season was the stunning Champions League quarter-final loss at Roma when they blew a 4-1 first-leg lead.

“The elimination by Roma marked us a little bit because it was unexpected, but out trajectory has been extraordinary,” added Valverde.

“There is always a small ‘but’, but we’ll try again next year.”

Barca knew they just had to extend their record unbeaten streak to 41 La Liga matches to seal the seventh title in 10 seasons, and Philippe Coutinho fired them into an early lead.

Messi’s 38th-minute volley made it two, but Lucas Perez pulled one back for Deportivo before half-time and Turkish winger Emre Colak stunned Barca with an equaliser midway through the second period.

Barca finally saw off their stubborn hosts, though, as Messi pounced after a brilliant one-two with Luis Suarez before slotting in to complete his 30th La Liga treble.

The Catalan giants now hold an unassailable 11-point lead over second-placed Atletico Madrid, who have just three games to play, and are closing in on becoming the first Spanish side to go through a top-flight season without tasting defeat.

“We have managed an almost perfect league campaign, without losing so far. I hope we can continue,” midfielder Sergio Busquets said.

Andres Iniesta was surprisingly left on the bench after the midfield great announced earlier this week that he will leave the club at the end of the season.

But it was his expected long-term successor Coutinho who broke the deadlock in the seventh minute, bending an exquisite finish into the top corner for his third La Liga goal for the club since signing from Liverpool in January.

Deportivo had to win to stave off relegation for another week, but Clarence Seedorf’s men were denied an equaliser when Perez was flagged offside after tapping in from close range.

Messi went close to doubling the advantage just before the half-hour mark, only for home goalkeeper Ruben to pull off an excellent one-handed save to turn his free-kick around the post.

Deportivo cause problems

Deportivo were causing Barca plenty of problems at the back, though, and centre-back Fabian Schaer should have leveled as he headed over when unmarked inside the six-yard box.

But Messi drilled a curling Suarez cross past Ruben at the keeper’s near post to score his 30th league goal of the campaign, before on-loan Arsenal striker Perez swept home to halve the deficit just two minutes later.

Despite the close scoreline, Barca were playing as if the second half was a pure title party, with centre-back Gerard Pique even performing a few ‘keepie uppies’ on the left wing.

Their complacency cost them in the 64th minute, as Celso Borges unselfishly squared for Colak to score.

Suddenly the champions-elect were desperately trying to hang onto their unbeaten record, as goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen made a smart stop from another Schaer header.

But Barcelona showed their class as Suarez and Messi combined to terrific effect with eight minutes to play — the latter clipping the ball in off the post.

Suarez again sent the Argentinian racing clear three minutes later, and the 30-year-old made no mistake to complete a hat-trick.

The 33-year-old Iniesta came on to a standing ovation in the 87th minute as Barca closed out a successful title-winning campaign in style.

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Political parties serious about mainstreaming FATA : PM Abbasi

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Monday assured that basic facilities will be provided to tribal people in FATA on priority basis.

Addressing a tribal Jirga in Miranshah, the headquarters of North Waziristan agency, the prime minister said FATA will be included in the national mainstream and all political parties are serious of about it.

He said Miranshah will be developed as it is the gateway to Central Asia. He also inaugurated a number of development projects in the area.

These include the newly constructed market, a bus terminal, and Ghulam Khan National Logistics Cell terminal. He said that these projects will promote trade and business activities in the agency.

Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Zafar Iqbal Jhagra and Corps Commander Peshawar Lt. General Nazir Ahmed Butt accompanied the prime minister on the ocassion.

 

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Trump suggests Korean truce village for Kim summit

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump suggested Monday that his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un be held in the truce village that straddles the border separating the two Koreas.

Trump has previously listed the number of locations under consideration for the historic summit — which would be the first between a sitting US president and a leader of North Korea — but this is his first public comment on a potential site.

“Numerous countries are being considered for the MEETING, but would Peace House/Freedom House, on the Border of North & South Korea, be a more Representative, Important and Lasting site than a third party country? Just asking!” Trump tweeted.

The Peace House in Panmunjom, the truce village in the Demilitarized Zone that separates the two Koreas, was where Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in met Friday for a historic summit.

ALSO READ: North and South Korean leaders made history today holding first ever summit

Kim, the first North Korean leader to set foot in the South since the 1953 armistice that halted the Korean War, walked with Moon to the Peace House on the southern side of the border for their meeting.

Preparations for a Trump-Kim summit have gathered momentum since the summit, which saw North and South Korea promise to pursue the complete denuclearization of the peninsula and a permanent peace.

Seoul says North Korea has pledged to shut down its nuclear test site within weeks and invite American weapons experts to verify its closure.

Kim also told Moon the North would have no need for nuclear weapons if the United States promised not to invade it, South Korean officials said.

High tensions to talks

Last year, Pyongyang carried out its sixth nuclear test, by far its most powerful to date, and test-launched missiles theoretically capable of reaching the US mainland.

Its actions sent tensions soaring as Kim and Trump traded personal insults and threats of war.

Trump has demanded the North give up its weapons, and Washington is pressing for it to do so in a complete, verifiable and irreversible way.

But Pyongyang views its nuclear arsenal as essential for the regime’s survival, and would likely make security guarantees a condition of giving it up.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in an interview with ABC’s “This Week” Sunday that the United States has an “obligation” to pursue the diplomatic track with North Korea, despite often-hawkish rhetoric from the Trump administration.

“We have an obligation to engage in diplomatic discourse to try and find a peaceful solution so that Americans aren’t held at risk by Kim Jong Un and his nuclear arsenal,” and there is a “real opportunity” for progress, Pompeo said.

ALSO READ: North-South Korea taking small steps towards reconciliation

The former CIA director also said he and Kim held in-depth talks about a denuclearization “mechanism” when they met over Easter weekend.

“We talked a great deal about what it might look like, what this complete, verifiable, irreversible mechanism might look like,” Pompeo said.

US National Security Advisor John Bolton said on Fox News Sunday that Libya’s decision to give up its nuclear program through diplomacy was a “model” for efforts to get North Korea to do likewise.

But Libya’s move to scrap its nuclear program also serves as a model of what North Korea fears will happen: its government was later overthrown by rebel forces supported by Western air strikes in 2011.

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Asian telecom stocks face minimal 5G risks: JP Morgan

Shares of Asian telecom players have already priced in the impact of investments for setting up fifth generation (5G) mobile networks and potential monetization uncertainty, J P Morgan Securities analysts said on Monday.

The Asian telecom sector has underperformed the broader market by 18 percent in the past 12 months due to investor concerns stemming from uncertainties related to 5G spending and potential monetization, JP Morgan analysts said.

They, however, believe it is now time to revisit the sector, with spectrum auctions due in Korea and Australia in 2018 and Japan and China in early 2019.

JP Morgan recommended investors buy telecom stocks in Japan, South Korea, China and Australia, saying these companies were unlikely to build significant standalone 5G networks until a business case emerges.

However, their rivals in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan face more competitive spectrum auctions, which are not expected until 2020, due to limited availability of 5G bandwidth, the analysts said.

The incremental costs of investments in 5G networks could be minimal as much of the improvements are currently being made under non-standalone (NSA) 5G networks, which build on the existing 4G infrastructure, JP Morgan wrote.

Read More: Huawei in early 5G trials with 30 telcos; CEO rejects US security fears

Standalone 5G network is likely to require substantially more capex when compared to NSA 5G, it added.

JP Morgan prefers South Korea’s LG Uplus Corp and Japan’s Softbank Group Corp, both rated “overweight.”

It remains cautious on China Mobile Ltd, as it sees the company as most likely to build a wide coverage of standalone 5G networks.

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Shehbaz evades Imran’s allegations, says responding to him wastage of time

LAYYAH: Evading the accusations levelled by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief, Chief Minister Punjab and President Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Monday said responding to the accusations of Imran Khan was a sheer wastage of time for him and a disrespect to honesty, ARY News reported.

Counting a number of allegations, he said, “Imran accused him of Rs27 billion embezzlement and said I offered him Rs10 bn to withdraw Panama Leaks case. He also alleged that I had done corruption in Multan Metro Project,” he said adding that he had no time to respond to his allegations as he had piled records of lies.

Shehbaz said the PML-N wanted in real sense to carve out Quaid-e-Azam’s Pakistan, while those chanting slogans of ‘Naya Pakistan’ only wanted devastation.

Read More: ‘Din Raat Dharna or Koi Kaam Na Karna’: Shehbaz takes a jab at Imran in Mardan

Commenting on “the historic” eleven points agenda laid out by Imran for Naya Pakistan, he said the PTI chairman presented eleven points agenda at Lahore’s public gathering but failed to deliver in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The president PML-N said the people stood by the ruling party which will secure victory in the next general elections as well.

Shahbaz Sharif said that he had also held public meetings in Karachi and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the people there were appreciative of the steps taken by the PML-N for restoration of peace and stability.

Earlier addressing the party leaders, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif said the PML-N addressed the challenges of terrorism and power outages in its present tenure of five years.

Separately, while inaugurating a state-of-the-art blood test laboratory in Layyah, Shehbaz said, “I invite those who accuse us of being urban-centric to come to Layyah to see what transformation has been brought about in health sector here. Visit to DHQ will give you a fresh perspective about our pervasive health reforms across the province irrespective of urban-rural divide,” he said.

Read More: Imran Khan gives eleven points agenda for ‘Naya Pakistan’

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Nisar to contest next elections from three constituencies

ISLAMABAD: Former interior minister and Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) stalwart Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Monday announced the constituencies from which he would contest the next general elections.

Nisar would contest from one National Assembly, NA-59 in Attock, and two provincial assembly constituencies, PS-10 and PS-14, in Rawalpindi.

The decision by made during a visit by a delegation led by Union council chairman and vice-chairman district Attock. Nisar also expressed his desire to contest the next election from NA-63 in Taxila.

The UC delegation appreciated Nisar’s services and expressed confidence in his leadership. They said that a politician like Nisar was a matter of pride for the people of Potohar region.

Nisar thanked the local government representatives for their support, and said he would made a final decision after consultation with the party representatives of Wah, Taxila. The delegation vowed to support Nisar irrespective of the constituency chosen to contest the next elections.

There was intense speculation on the constituency Nisar would select to contest the next election given his ongoing rift with the PML-N leadership.

This also gave rise to rumours that Nisar was likely to join the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and was even invited by chairman Imran Khan to join the party.

PML-N President and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has made several attempts to woo Nisar, who has reportedly said that PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif should instead visit him.

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Third day of Pakistan’s tour match against Kent washed out

CANTERBURY: Heavy overnight and early morning rain resulted in the abundance of play on the third day of the tour game between Pakistan and Kent without a ball being bowled.

It was the second successive day in this four-day fixture where play had been completely washed out.

But the umpires waited until lunch on Sunday before calling off play, the amount of rain taken by the Spitfire St Lawrence ground on Monday meant that this time they abandoned proceedings for the day at 9:00 am local time (0800 GMT) — two hours before the scheduled start.

Kent are 39-1 in reply to Pakistan’s first innings 168, a total in which Imam-ul-Haq’s 61 was the top score.

Uncapped at Test level, Imam’s inclusion in the tour squad generated debate because the 22-year-old left-hander is the nephew of Pakistan chief selector and former international batsman Inzamam-ul-Haq.

But there was no denying Imam’s talent or application as he struck nine fours in a 111-ball innings played in typically English overcast and swing-friendly conditions that favoured the bowlers, with medium-pacer Will Gidman taking five for 47.

Kent were one for one in reply when Hasan Ali, one of the stars of Pakistan’s one-day Champions Trophy tournament win in Britain last year, had Daniel Bell-Drummond lbw.

But Sean Dickson (24 not out) and Kent captain Joe Denly (12 not out) saw the hosts through to Saturday’s close without further loss.

After this match, Pakistan face Northamptonshire before providing the opposition for Ireland’s inaugural Test, in Malahide, from May 11-15.

Pakistan then recross the Irish Sea for a two-Test series against England at Lord’s (May 24-28) and Headingley (June 1-5).

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Pakistan condemns twin terrorist attacks in Kabul

ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office on Monday strongly condemned the twin suicide attacks killing and injuring scores of innocent people in the Afghan capital Kabul.

“We are distressed and grieved at the loss of precious human lives. We express our deepest sympathies and heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of those who have lost their lives and pray to Almighty Allah for early recovery of the injured,” said a statement by spokesman Muhammad Faisal.

The spokesman further said that the government and people of Pakistan express their support and solidarity with their Afghan brethren in this hour of grief.

“We are confident that the resolve of brave Afghan people to defeat terrorism cannot be weakened by such cowardly attacks,” he added.

Pakistan reiterates its condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and resolves to fight this menace till its elimination.

MUST READ: Twin blasts in Afghan capital kill at least 26, including nine journalists

Twin blasts in the Afghan capital Kabul killed at least 26 people including nine journalists who had arrived to report on the first explosion and were apparently targeted by a suicide bomber.

The attacks comes a week after 60 people were killed as they waited at a voter registration centre in the city.

The Afghan Journalists Safety Committee (AFJSC) said nine journalists were killed in Kabul, the worst toll for media workers in a single attack in the country.

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Italian climber dies on Nepal peak

KATHMANDU: An Italian climber has died on Nepal’s rugged Mount Dhaulagiri, officials said on Monday, the first fatality of the busy spring climbing season.

Simone La Terra, 37, was blown off the 8,167-metre (26,795-foot) mountain — the world’s seventh highest peak — by a strong gust of wind on Sunday. His body was found on Monday.

Dambar Parajuli of Prestige Adventure, which organised the Italian’s expedition, said La Terra was inside a tent at 6,900 metres when he was swept off the mountain.

His team members searched for him on foot while a rescue helicopter struggled against bad weather to search higher up the mountain, Parajuli said.

“His body was found this morning at 800 metres below the spot (where he had been camped),” he said.

Ram Prasad Sapkota, spokesman for Nepal’s tourism department which regulates all climbs in the country, also confirmed the death.

 

“His body has been retrieved and brought to Kathmandu,” Sapkota told AFP.

Dhaulagiri in central Nepal was first summited in 1960 by a Swiss-Austrian team. It has since been climbed 537 times and claimed the lives of 83 people.

Last year a 33-year-old Sherpa guide became hypothermic and fell to his death after reaching the summit.

The year before a Dutch climber disappeared on the mountain and an Indian climber died of altitude sickness as he attempted to reach the summit.

La Terra was an experienced climber who had summited at least five 8,000 metre peaks and attempted several others in Nepal, Pakistan and Tibet, according to his website.

The busy spring climbing season in Nepal, which begins in April when temperatures warm and winds are typically calm, attracts hundreds each year to the Himalayan nation which is home to eight of the world’s highest peaks.

This year the Nepal government has issued permits to 792 mountaineers to attempt summits of 26 mountains in the country from April to May, including 346 permits for the world’s highest peak, Everest.

 

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T-Mobile, Sprint say $26 billion deal would give US tech lead over China

T-Mobile US and Sprint said on Sunday they had agreed to a $26 billion all-stock deal and believed they could win over skeptical regulators because the merger would create thousands of jobs and help the United States beat China to creating the next generation mobile network.

The agreement capped four years of on-and-off talks between the third and fourth largest US wireless carriers, setting the stage for the creation of a company with 127 million customers that will be a more formidable competitor to the top two wireless players, Verizon Communications and AT&T.

US regulators, who have challenged in court AT&T’s $85 billion deal to buy US media company Time Warner, are expected to grill Sprint and T-Mobile on how they will price their combined wireless offerings.

Verizon has 116 million US wireless customers, according to a spokesman, while AT&T has 93 million branded customers, as of the first quarter.

Their first round of merger talks ended unsuccessfully in 2014 after the administration of then-US President Barack Obama expressed antitrust concerns.

The new deal will create the highest-capacity US network, lower prices, create jobs and improve service in rural areas, said John Legere, the chief executive of T-Mobile and the new head of the proposed combined company.

The combined company, which will be called T-Mobile, will invest $40 billion over the next three years to upgrade its networks to accommodate the next generation 5G wireless technology, which is expected to have the speeds necessary to power drones and self-driving cars, Legere said in a statement.

The companies said during a conference call with analysts that the recent US tax overhaul would have a positive impact, and the combined company would not be a significant taxpayer until 2025.

T-Mobile and Sprint said they expected to complete their deal no later than the first half of 2019, an ambitious goal given the intense US regulatory scrutiny it will be subjected to. T-Mobile will not be liable to pay Sprint a breakup fee should regulators block the deal, according to sources who asked not to be identified because that detail in their contract had not yet been made public.

The companies said they expected US regulators would see the benefits of the deal.

“This isn’t a case of going from four to three wireless companies – there are now at least seven or eight big competitors in this converging market,” Legere said, referring to cable companies as wireless competitors. Other companies also would be forced to accelerate their investments in the face of a combined T-Mobile-Sprint, the companies added.

A spokeswoman for Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai declined to comment on Sunday on the proposed merger. The FCC will decide whether to grant the deal regulatory approval if it is in the “public interest,” the spokeswoman added.

Read More: Sprint, T-Mobile call off merger after months of talks

CTIA, a trade organization that represents the US wireless communications industry, ranks the United States behind China and South Korea in 5G readiness. The Chinese government launched a plan targeting 5G deployment by 2020, with three carriers committed to the timeline.

Legere said the deal would likely lead to lower prices from AT&T and Verizon, as well as Comcast Corp (CMCSA.O).

AT&T declined to comment. Comcast could not immediately be reached for comment.

Verizon declined to comment on prices but said it remained committed to building a 5G network.

DEAL BREAKTHROUGH

The breakthrough in the companies’ negotiations, first reported by Reuters on Thursday, came after T-Mobile majority-owner Deutsche Telekom AG (DTEGn.DE) and Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp (9984.T), which controls Sprint, agreed on a structure that would allow Deutsche Telekom to continue to consolidate the combined company, which will have a market value of over $80 billion, on its books.

Deutsche Telekom will own 42 percent of the combined company, and will control the board of the combined company, nominating nine of the 14 directors. Legere will also serve as a director.

The implied equity valuation for Sprint is $6.62 per share based on T-Mobile’s closing share price on Friday. Sprint shares closed on Friday at $6.50.

The all-stock transaction is at a fixed exchange ratio of 0.10256 T-Mobile shares for each Sprint share, or the equivalent of 9.75 Sprint shares for each T-Mobile US share.

Tokyo-based SoftBank and Deutsche Telekom will sign a voting rights agreement that will give Deutsche Telekom access to voting rights for a total of 69 percent of T-Mobile shares.

The second round of talks between Sprint and T-Mobile ended in November over valuation disagreements.

Since then, Sprint’s shares lost about a fifth of their value amid questions about how the company can compete effectively under the weight of its long-term debt of more than $32 billion.

T-Mobile’s market capitalization is $54.7 billion, while Sprint is valued by the deal at $26 billion.

INVESTING IN 5G TECHNOLOGY

Even though Sprint’s customer base has expanded under CEO Marcelo Claure, growth has been driven by discounting. Analysts say that without T-Mobile, Sprint lacks the scale needed to invest in its network and to compete in a saturated market.

T-Mobile has fared better than Sprint, even if it remains a distant third to Verizon and AT&T. It has managed to score sustained market-share gains, as innovative offerings, improving network performance and good customer service attract new customers, according to Moody’s Investors Service Inc.

T-Mobile became the first major US carrier to eliminate two-year contracts, a shift quickly embraced by consumers and copied by competitors. The company has also badgered rivals with its unlimited data plans.

Both Sprint and T-Mobile are far behind Verizon and AT&T in upgrading their network to accommodate next generation 5G wireless technology. Even after their merger, the combined company’s budget to invest in 5G will be smaller than that of Verizon or AT&T.

Sprint and T-Mobile hope the deal will give them more firepower to participate in auction for spectrum to develop 5G. They plan to participate in a spectrum auction in late autumn and will request a waiver if the merger prevents the companies from participating.

PJT Partners, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and Evercore served as advisers for T-Mobile. The Raine Group, J.P. Morgan and Centerview Partners LLC advised Sprint.

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French museum discovers half of its collection are fakes

ELNA, FRANCE: An art museum in the south of France has discovered that more than half of its collection consists of fakes, in what the local mayor on Sunday described as a “catastrophe” for the region.

The tiny 8,000-strong community of Elne just outside Perpignan re-opened its Etienne Terrus museum, dedicated to the works of the local artist who was born in 1857 and died in 1922, on Friday after extensive renovation work.

But an art historian brought in to reorganise the museum following the recent acquisition of around 80 paintings, found that nearly 60 percent of the entire collection was fake.

“Etienne Terrus was Elne’s great painter. He was part of the community, he was our painter,” said mayor Yves Barniol on Friday.

“Knowing that people have visited the museum and seen a collection most of which is fake, that’s bad. It’s a catastrophe for the municipality.”

Eric Forcada, the art historian who uncovered the counterfeits, said that he had seen straight away that most of the works were fake.

“On one painting, the ink signature was wiped away when I passed my white glove over it.”

He alerted the region’s cultural attache and requested a meeting of a panel experts to confirm his findings.

“At a stylistic level, it’s crude. The cotton supports do not match the canvas used by Terrus. And there are some anachronisms,” Forcada said.

In all, out of the 140 works that make up the collection, 82 were fake.

Elne’s mayor Barniol insisted that the investigation would be continue until the culprits had been found.

“We’re not giving up,” he said.

Forcada said that prior to the scandal, paintings by Terrus could fetch up to 15,000 euros ($18,200) and drawings and watercolours would sell for up to 2,000 euros.

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Talk therapy may help soldiers combat insomnia: study

NEW YORK: Talk therapy for insomnia is effective at reducing insomnia, as well as mental fatigue, among military personnel, according to a new study.

For the new analysis, published online in Sleep, researchers recruited 151 active-duty U.S. Army personnel stationed at Fort Hood, Texas who had chronic insomnia and randomly assigned half of them to receive six weekly 60-minute sessions of a treatment cognitive behavior therapy for insomnia (CBTi).

All the soldiers had served at least one military deployment in or around Iraq or Afghanistan. The average age was about 32, and more than 80 percent were male.

CBTi is a short-term, goal oriented type of psychotherapy that tries to change destructive thinking and behavior. It has been successfully used since the 1960s in civilian populations to treat several clinical problems besides insomnia.

The soldiers’ CBTi program also included relaxation training and helpful tips on how to get a good night’s sleep, or sleep hygiene, such as avoiding activities in bed like using a computer, eating or watching TV.

Control group volunteers were contacted briefly every other week for six weeks.

About 11 weeks after the start of the study, participants receiving CBTi were sleeping longer and waking less during the night than control subjects.

CBTi also helped military personnel reduce their mental fatigue and improve their scores on assessments of their mental health.

Lead author Daniel J. Taylor of the University of North Texas in Denton told Reuters Health by phone that up to 20 percent of active military personnel have insomnia.

“If you want to keep your fighting forces as healthy as possible, you want to address modifiable risk factors like sleep as early and effectively as possible. We know that people with insomnia have comorbid depression, anxiety and PTSD. It’s possible that insomnia may exacerbate these conditions,” he said.

Based on the results, Taylor believes, “CBTi should be the first line treatment of insomnia in active duty military.”

Michael Twery, director of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute’s National Center on Sleep Disorders Research in Bethesda, Maryland, cautioned, however, that “while CBT is an evidenced-based therapy and has efficacy in the general population, it doesn’t work for everyone.”

He told Reuters Health by phone that people who feel they’re getting insufficient sleep or who have extensive daytime sleepiness that interferes with their ability to function during the day for about two weeks should discuss it with their primary care provider.

“In some cases insomnia can be an indicator of other medical problems like infection or cancer. Insufficient sleep is also a red flag for suicide ideation,” said Twery, who was not involved in the research.

Taylor said more studies are needed to determine whether treating insomnia could reduce depression, substance abuse and PTSD symptoms, as well as work safety and operational readiness. He also hopes to test the effect of CBTi in other military settings, including before and during deployment.

“My hope is that the outcome of this study is that the military massively trains more people who can provide CBTi for insomnia,” said Taylor.

 

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Malaysia convicts first person under fake news law

KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian court on Monday handed a Danish man a one-week jail term for breaking a law against “fake news”, the first person to be punished under the controversial legislation.

The law, passed in early April, makes the deliberate dissemination of false information punishable by up to six years in jail and a hefty fine. It has sparked outrage from rights groups, who believe it is aimed at cracking down on dissent.

Salah Salem Saleh Sulaiman, a 46-year-old of Yemeni descent, admitted making and posting on YouTube a video accusing emergency services of responding slowly after a Palestinian Hamas member was gunned down in Kuala Lumpur.

Fadi al-Batsh, said to be a rocket-making expert, was on his way to dawn prayers on April 21 when he was assassinated by motorbike-riding gunmen, a killing his family have blamed on Israel’s spy agency. The Jewish state has denied it was behind the murder.

The Dane, who did not have a lawyer and was wearing white robes and a green skullcap during a court appearance in Kuala Lumpur, said he was not aware of Malaysia’s laws.

“I agree I did a mistake because I didn’t ask what is the law of this country,” he said, speaking in English, his hands trembling.

‘Surprised, disappointed’

A clip of the video played in court, which lasted almost two minutes, showed him speaking in Arabic and complaining about what he claimed was the slow response of the police and ambulance service after the shooting. Authorities have disputed his claims.

Judge Zaman Mohamad Noor sentenced him to a week in jail, including time already served since his April 23 arrest, and fined him 10,000 ringgit ($2,500). If he cannot pay the fine, then he will have to serve another month in jail, the judge said.

The Dane, who had been on a 10-day visit to Malaysia when the crime was committed, said he did not have enough money to pay the fine. He said he had three wives and six children.

The law banning fake news has sparked concern the government is seeking to crack down on criticism, particularly with a general election looming on May 9.

Leading independent news portal Malaysiakini last week mounted the first legal challenge against the legislation, arguing in the Kuala Lumpur High Court that it breaches constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech.

Malaysian legal reform group Lawyers for Liberty said they were “surprised and disappointed” that Monday’s prosecution went ahead even though the law was being challenged in court.

“Bringing criminal charges against a person is a serious matter,” said N. Surendran, an adviser to the group, in a statement.

“Surely where the legality of the law has been a question of national debate, enforcement should await the authoritative decision of the courts.”

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