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The Syrian people are building great hopes on the peace conference, as the opposition prepares itself to take part and likewise the Syrian regime prepares to take part in this conference.

UN-Arab League Envoy for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi

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Emir meets Senegal President

The Emir H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani with the President of Senegal, Macky Sall, in Doha yesterday. They discussed relations and means to bolster them.

Oman calls for ban on veiled women drivers

DOHA: Traffic chiefs from GCC countries have concluded a two-day event to discuss a unified strategy to improve road safety and prevent accidents, with Oman proposing that women with face veils should not be allowed to drive. Women who cover their faces with only their eyes seen should be prevented from driving since it is difficult to identify them in case of accidents or traffic violation, Oman said, Saudi Arabia’s Al Watan Arabic daily reported in its online edition. The meeting in Jeddah was to discuss a draft of a set of unified traffic guidelines that, if approved, would be incorporated into traffic laws of member-countries. GCC interior ministers met in Abu Dhabi in 2011 and decided that the draft be referred to all GCC countries for feedback. However, the Jeddah meet of traffic chiefs from the member-countries that ended recently, lamented that so far only Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain had given feedback. As a result, the draft guidelines which contain Oman’s proposal to ban veiled women from driving, couldn’t be approved, alwatanonline.com said. Plans are also afoot to allow nationals and expats holding the driver’s licence of a GCC country to convert it in another without undergoing a test. Additionally, the draft talks of unifying technical inspection of vehicles for road permits throughout the region. People would be able to buy cars from one GCC state and bring it to another once the draft is approved and enforced. However, to sell a vehicle in a GCC state where it is not registered, an owner would need approval from the GCC country of origin. Also, a motorist who has committed a traffic violation in a GCC country should be allowed to pay the fine in another member country, suggests the draft. The traffic chiefs also discussed plans to unify the car insurance system, Saudi Arabia-based news website Aliqtesadia.com (aleqt.com) said. Qatar was also represented at the Jeddah meet, which among other things, discussed to link the traffic departments of the states electronically. The proposal was made by the UAE, which suggested that the electronic link would be handy in enabling uniform policies for driving licences, road permits, motor insurance, as also in having a regional database of traffic violations, accidents, injuries and deaths. The Peninsula

Kanun Concerto: QPO premieres Marcel Khalife’s Kanun Concerto

Unesco Artist for Peace Amine Kouider will conduct the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra in the world premiere of Unesco Artist for Peace Marcel Khalife’s Kanun Concerto tomorrow, at 7.30pm in Katara Cultural Village Opera House. Gilbert Yammine will be the guest soloist in a program that includes Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Third Symphony and Smail Benhouhou’s Rihla. Marcel Khalifé is a Lebanese music composer, oud master and singer. Completely committed to fair humanitarian issues, his revolution against oppression, violence and war, he transcends the struggle to a deeper essence to seek the liberation of man from all restrictions. His name was associated with the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish. He also played a fundamental role in the establishment and development of Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra as an artistic consultant, composer and board of directors’ member. For the orchestra he has composed the Arabian Concerto, Symphony of Return, the Rababa Concerto and many other works. The Lebanese composer wrote about the kanun saying: “The kanun reminds me of Al Farabi (or Alpharabius, a scientist of the Islamic Golden Age). Arabs back then used to welcome newcomers devoted to thought, philosophy, science and music. The sound of the kanun embraces me today, resembling a piece of diamond in that old time when a wise instrumentalist entered a place full of people and started playing music that enthralled them, then made them cry, then left them in a warm beautiful somnolence, sharing nostalgia, and left. Today, we borrow that beautiful melody to cry, laugh and rejoice within the Arab blowing imagination.” Born in Algiers in 1967, Amine Kouider studied violin at the Algiers Conservatoire, then conducting in Marseille and in Paris. He continued his training at the Copenhagen Royal Conservatoire with Michel Tabachnik. At the same time he got a bachelor’s degree in musicology. After, that he studied with maestros Manuel Rosenthal in Paris and Ilya Moesin in Saint Petersburg. For two seasons, he was Valery Gergiev’s conductor assistant in the Kirov Opera House in Saint Petersburg, the Baden-Baden Festival, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, and New York Philharmonic. Gilbert Yammine began his studies in kanun and music at the age of 10 at the National Higher Conservatory of Music in Beirut, Lebanon. In 2000, he graduated with excellence and became a member and a soloist of the National Lebanese Orchestra for Arabic-oriental music. In 2003, he was named professor of kanun at the National Higher Conservatory of Music, Beirut. Influenced by the Turkish technique of playing the kanun, which involves using ten fingers, he is credited as the first kanun player in Lebanon to have evolved the instrument’s technique by introducing the Turkish method into the Arabic-oriental style of playing. The Philharmonic’s next concert will be conducted by music director-designate Han-Na Chang, with Dmitri Shostakovich’s Eighth Symphony and Maurice Ravel’s Piano Concerto, on June 1 in the Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC). The Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra promotes and performs western and Arabic music with the goal to inspire the children and adults of Qatar and the Arab world to create and enjoy music. In blending these cultures the Qatar Philharmonic extends a message of peace to the world. The Philharmonic was founded in 2007 as a centre in the Qatar Foundation. It is composed of 101 professional musicians chosen in international auditions from 29 countries. The Philharmonic’s first music director, Nader Abbassi, was succeeded by Michalis Economou, while Han-Na Chang will become music director in September 2013. The orchestra has also worked with conductors such as David Afkham, James Gaffigan, Dmitri Kitajenko, Lorin Maazel and Marc Minkowski. While the Philharmonic sows the seeds of symphonic music in the Arab region, it is a platform for music from the entire world. World premieres in the last year included Marcel Khalifé’s Return Symphony, Jean-Charles Gandrille’s Violin Concerto, Abdalla El-Masri’s Oud Concerto, Rami Khalifé’s Chaos for Piano and Orchestra and Houtaf Khoury’s Angel of Light Piano Concerto. It is an integral part of the Philharmonic’s work to host new and established composers, soloists and conductors of the Arab world. The Qatar Philharmonic gives on average two performances per week at their home in the Katara Opera House, which it opened in December 2010 with the world premiere of Marcel Khalifé’s Rababa Concerto. Touring performances have included the Royal Albert Hall in London, the Kennedy Center in Washington, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, the Konzerthaus in Vienna for the 50th anniversary of OPEC and the Syrian Opera House in Damascus. Other performances in 2011-2012 included the United Nations General Assembly, the opening of the Katara Cultural Village Amphitheatre with music by Vangelis and the voices of Angela Gheorgiu and Roberto Alagna, as well as the 2011 World Petroleum Congress. The Peninsula

Qatar looks at future with QR360bn fund

Picture courtesy: The Texas A&M University website DOHA: Qatar’s plan to set up a QR360bn health and education fund is to make sure that spending on the two basic sectors that are the key to socio-economic development is not jeopardised by volatile oil and gas prices in future. The capital for the proposed fund is to be built over a period of 10 years with a portion of budgetary surpluses to be earmarked every year. Once in place, the corpus would intervene only when there is a shortfall in the annual budgetary allocations for the health and education sectors. The said fund would be authorised to spend only up to 65 percent of returns on its invested assets in a previous year with a view to ensuring that its capital grows and doesn’t erode over time. The corpus would operate in close coordination with the state’s sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA). Just what portion of yearly budgetary surplus is to be put aside for the corpus is to be decided by the Emir, H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. This was disclosed by Dr Hassan Lahdan Al Mohannadi, head of legal affairs at the Emiri Diwan, while taking part in discussions on the issue at the Advisory Council last Monday. The said fund is to be set up by a law whose draft was recently approved by the State Cabinet at its weekly meeting and forwarded to the Advisory Council for approval and feedback. The Cabinet urged the Council to send back the draft with their recommendations as early as possible — a hint that the proposed legislation might see the light of day soon. The draft law provides for setting up an autonomous corporation that would set up and manage the said fund under the direct supervision of the Emir. A committee to be set up with a three-year term would frame the necessary policies, rules and regulations and manage the said corporation. However, all investments are to be made by the fund through the QIA after approval from the Emir. The corporation could launch its own companies or take shares in global pharmaceutical companies and commercial educational institutions, including universities. The fund to be headquartered in Doha would be authorised to open branch offices here as well as overseas. The State Audit Bureau would monitor the said fund and submit annual reports to the Emir directly. The committee has to take a vote of its members on all its decisions in a democratic manner and in the case of a tie, the chairman would have to cast his ballot. The Advisory Council has approved the draft law. The Peninsula

Syria regime, rebels brace for talks in June

A handout picture released by the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) yesterday, shows people gathering in a market in in the northwestern province of Idlib CAIRO: Syria’s opposition and government are preparing to take part in an internationally-sponsored peace conference, the United Nations-Arab League mediator Lakhdar Brahimi said yesterday. “The Syrian people are building great hopes on the conference, as the opposition prepares itself to take part and likewise the Syrian regime prepares to take part in this conference,” he told reporters at the Arab League. “The United Nations is working to organise the conference in the best way possible.” The talks are due to take place in the Swiss city of Geneva in June. US Secretary of State John Kerry is due to discuss current planning for the conference at a meeting in Jordan today of the “Friends of Syria” club of countries. Brahimi said: “There are many problems in the preparation for this conference, the first of which is the formation of the delegations of the regime and the opposition.” He added: “The Geneva 2 conference is a great opportunity, and we hope that the brothers in Syria and the regional and international parties will cooperate to make it succeed.” REUTERS

Survivors pulled from tornado debris

Residents remove their belongings from a neighbourhood in Moore, Oklahoma, yesterday after a massive tornado struck the area on Monday. MOORE: Emergency workers pulled more than 100 survivors from the rubble of homes, schools and a hospital in an Oklahoma town hit by a powerful tornado, and officials lowered the death toll from the storm to 24, including nine children. The 3km wide tornado tore through Moore outside Oklahoma City on Monday afternoon, trapping victims beneath the rubble, wiping out entire neighbourhoods and tossing vehicles about as if they were toys. About 237 people were injured and Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin said the death toll could rise from the deadliest tornado to hit the US in two years. “There may have been bodies that may have been taken to local funeral homes,” Fallin said. Seven of the nine children who were killed died at Plaza Towers Elementary School, which took a direct hit, but many more survived unhurt. “They literally were lifting walls up and kids were coming out,” Oklahoma State Police Sergeant Jeremy Lewis said. “They pulled kids out from under cinder blocks without a scratch on them.” The Oklahoma state medical examiner’s office said 24 bodies had been recovered from the wreckage, down from the 51 they had reported earlier. The earlier number likely reflected some double-counted deaths, said Amy Elliott, chief administrative officer for the medical examiner. “There was a lot of chaos,” she said. Thunderstorms and lightning slowed the rescue effort on Tuesday, but 101 people had been pulled from the debris alive, Oklahoma Highway Patrol spokeswoman Betsy Randolph said. The National Guard, firefighters from more than a dozen fire departments and rescuers from other states worked all night under bright spotlights trying to find survivors in the town of 55,000 people. Moore Fire Chief Gary Bird vowed at a news conference to search through every damaged building “at least three times,” as authorities urged people to stay away from the area to allow rescue workers to complete the search. President Barack Obama declared a major disaster area in Oklahoma, ordering federal aid to supplement state and local efforts in Moore after the deadliest US tornado since 161 people were killed in Joplin, Missouri, two years ago. “The people of Moore should know that their country will remain on the ground, there for them, beside them, as long as it takes,” Obama said at the White House. Glenn Lewis, the mayor of Moore, said the whole town looked like a debris field and there was a danger of electrocution and fire from downed power lines and broken natural gas lines. “It looks like we have lost our hospital. I drove by there a while ago and it’s pretty much destroyed,” Lewis told NBC. Yesterday morning, a helicopter was circling overhead and thunder rumbled from a new storm as 35-year-old Moore resident Juan Dills and his family rummaged through the remains of what was once his mother’s home. The foundation was laid bare, the roof ripped away and only one wall was still standing. They found a few family photo albums, but little else. “We are still in shock,” he said. “But we will come through. We’re from Oklahoma.” National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center meteorologist Rick Smith said the storm was about 17 miles long with maximum wind speeds of about 190 miles per hour. On the Enhanced Fujita Scale it was ranked EF4, the second most powerful category of tornado. Authorities warned the town 16 minutes before the tornado touched down just after 3pm, which is more than the average eight to 10 minutes of warning, said Keli Pirtle, a spokeswoman for the centre. The tornado cut a broad trail of destruction through the suburbs south of Oklahoma City, with the worst damage in Moore. The storm system threatened more twisters yesterday in several southern Plains states, especially northern and central Texas. Shelters were opened for families who lost their homes and universities offered to house people. US Representative Tom Cole, who lives in Moore, said the Plaza Towers school, one of five schools hit by the tornado, was the most secure and structurally strong building in the area. “And so people did the right thing, but if you’re in front of an F4 or an F5 there is no good thing to do if you’re above ground. It’s just tragic,” he said on MSNBC-TV. Miguel Macias and his wife, Veronica, had two children at the Plaza Towers school and found 8-year-old Ruby first after rescue workers carried the girl from the destruction. But their son, 6-year-old Angel, was nowhere to be found, said Brenda Ramon, pastor of the Faith Latino Church where the family are members. Ramon and several congregation members spent hours helping the family search for Angel and calling area hospitals. The boy was finally located at a medical center in Oklahoma City about five hours after the tornado hit. “It was heart-breaking,” Ramon said. “We couldn’t find him for hours.” The boy had wounds to his face and head, but was not badly hurt, Ramon said. “Their little bodies are so resilient.” Survivors of the storm suffered injuries ranging from minor cuts and bruises to open wounds, impalements and open fractures, said Dr Roxie M Albrecht, the director of trauma and surgical critical care at the Oklahoma University Medical Center, which cared for 51 children and 35 adults. Witnesses said Monday’s tornado appeared more fierce than the giant twister that was among the dozens that tore up the area on May 3, 1999, killing more than 40 people and destroying thousands of homes. That tornado ranked as an EF5 tornado with wind speeds of more than 200 mph. Reuters