Beirut                                                                                                                                                                                                  11 Nov. 2017                                                                                                                                                                                        (NNA)

Addressing participants in the Beirut Marathon event scheduled for Sunday, President of the Republic Michel Aoun called on them to run under the slogan of Prime Minister Saad Hariri's return to Lebanon, in a confirmed gesture of solidarity with their Prime Minister.

"Lebanon, with its people, politicians and athletes, does not accept that its Prime Minister is in a situation that contradicts the international agreements and the rules adopted in the relations between the countries," Aoun told a delegation from the Beirut Marathon Association who visited him at Baabda Palace on Saturday, headed by Mrs. May Khalil.

He called on Saudi Arabia "which shares deeply-rooted ties of brotherhood and friendship with Lebanon, to clarify the reasons that have so far prevented Hariri's return to Beirut to be among his people and supporters."

"Let the Beirut Marathon be a national sports event tomorrow, in solidarity with Prime Minister Hariri and his return to his homeland," Aoun underscored.

The President praised the efforts of the Beirut Marathon Association in annually organizing this unique sports event, which has become a "Lebanese, regional and international landmark," stressing that "sports bring people together, achieving the desired harmony."

Also within the sports framework, President Aoun earlier met with a delegation from the Homenetmen-Beirut Basketball Team, headed by Team Leader Hrair Khatshadurian and Youth Committee Chair Guy Manoukian, who presented him with the Arab Basketball Championship Cup that took place in the Moroccan city of Salé with the participation of 12 Arab teams.

The President welcomed the delegation and congratulated its members and dignitaries on "the achievements made in the name of Lebanon."

"Sports, in general, contribute to building human rights and establishing the foundations of honest competition and values of cooperation and peace," highlighted Aoun.

Beirut                                                                                                                                                                                                    11 Nov 17                                                                                                                                                                                                (National News Agency)

Najib Mikati, Former Prime Minister of Lebanon visited Saturday House Speaker Nabih Berri at his Residence in Ain Teeneh, with talks centering on the recent political developments.

On emerging, Mikati reiterated the dire need for the return of Prime Minister Saad Hariri to Lebanon, in order to get things organized and to clarify all the confusion that happened following his sudden resignation from Riyadh.

"Speaker Berri is keen on maintaining moderation and balance in the country, especially that the Prime Minister's post is the backbone of said composition," Mikati concluded

Karachi                                                                                                                                                                                                  11 Nov 2017

Mustafa Kamal, Former Mayor of Karachi and Chairman of Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) today on Saturday 11th Nov. 2017 alleged establishment for playing it's role in local politics. He announced that it was establishment on behest of Farooq Sattar, Chairman,  Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) asked  PS to form an alliance with MQM.

'Since, last eight months, on request of Farooq Sattar, establishment has been asking PSP to meet MQM-P. Mustafa Kamal said that where he was confirming of establishment role, he wanted to clarify that it is Farooq Sattar not him who is aligned with establishment. In our last joint press conference, Farooq Sattar along with his team was already present before our arrival at the venue which confirms MQM-P and establishment relation.

'It is a plan that started on Aug 22, 2016, when Farooq Sattar was arrested by Rangers on charges of treason and kept overnight and in morning, he appeared as Chairman of the MQM-P. He said that there were five FIRs registered against Farooq Sattar on treason charges and police was searching for him and other MQM leadership who were on hiding.

"I am not an agent of establishment, otherwise, I would not leave my Senator-ship in 2013, he told media.

He said that as far as he was concerned, he enjoys close relations with the Pakistani establishment and meets almost every day but to get support in locating missing youths of not his party but of MQM who were misguided and involved in crimes.

Mustafa Kamal told that PSP has been successful in getting freed 70 MQM missing persons which MQM was not able to.  He also said that there is no single PSP member missing or arrested in any criminal case since he does not tolerate such activities.

"I will end my party and ask my workers to return home, but I will not be a part of the MQM because the MQM was and still is Altaf Hussain's. He said that Altaf Hussain is a traitor and a Research and Analysis Wing agent. If he is working openly for RAW, he is not doing any work for his own country," he alleged.

He accused the MQM of still being close to the party's founder, saying that they had not once said a word against Hussain throughout the drama that unfolded this past week.

Kamal alleged that his party was accused of being establishment-backed, but it was MQM-P that was formed at the Rangers headquarters "under the supervision of then DG Rangers, Gen Bilal Akbar".

He alleged that MQM-P leaders had been feeding "half-lies" to the media that Sattar had been kidnapped and later made to address the press conference announcing his party's alliance with PSP. In fact, it was Sattar himself who was requesting the meetings, he said.

Mohajir Card

Mustafa Kamal referred to Farooq Sattar's yesterday press conference where Farooq Sattar had announced MQM reservations of pushing towards wall and for using Mohajir slogan in future and fighting for Mohajir's (immigrants) rights.

Mustafa Kamal rejected such slogans and asked Urdu language speaking community (Mohajir - Immigrants in 1947 to newly born Pakistan) that already MQM-P is holding almost all parliamentarian seats from majority settled areas in various parts of Sindh province mainly Karachi city, what MQM-P had contributed towards improving socio-economic conditions including cleaning, hygiene, water supply to drainage system - health and education  sectors. Mustafa Kamal said that creation of PSP has saved lives of the people of Karachi otherwise, MQM  slogan of Mohajir is not only creating hatred among various other communities living in Karachi but creating fear in other parts of the country if any Urdu speaking from Karachi visiting any part of the country seen as terrorist.

He said those exploiting the name of Mohajirs for their political goals are in fact the biggest enemies of Mohajirs.

The PSP chief said if he didn't talk about the welfare of all communities, the Mohajirs would get no benefit either.

He said that Farooq Sattar has started using now his mother card to hide his deeds.' If my mother had been alive, I would not have involved her in politics. "

Time online India                                                                                                                                                                           07 Nov 2017

The Indian government has launched an investigation into offshore assets and bank accounts of over 700 Indian individuals and entities disclosed in the Paradise Papers released by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).

The Indian names include Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan, liquor baron businessman Vijay Mallya, corporate lobbyist Niira Radia, film star Sanjay Dutt's wife Dilnashin (now known as Manyata) Union minister Jayant Sinha and Rajya Sabha MP RK Sinha.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) announced that the multi-agency group probing the Panama Papers leak will also monitor the investigations on the Paradise Papers on financial holdings abroad.

Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan has written a reflective blog post on how the media reports allegations against him and how he chooses to respond to them.

The post appeared just hours before media publications went live with the Paradise Papers leak.

The post began with a reference to recent reports that he had been served notices by Mumbai's municipal body over alleged illegal construction in the city, that the actor says he is 'yet to see'.

'If there is accusation, at times, I would prefer to correct the manner… at times it is prudent to remain quiet,' he said.

'On matters such as the one in question, it shall be the agency, the system that shall resolve it… not media.'

Bachchan also talks about the Bofors scandal and how the actor and his family were 'grilled, declared traitors, abused and humiliated for several years'.

He writes that 'we moved court in the United Kingdom' against a UK paper and won.

He says those who levelled allegations against him never approached the courts to 'verify or justify their allegation'.

'Almost 25 years later, one of the chief prosecutors of the country that was involved in the matter, stated through a public platform that our names were asked to be planted in the scandal,' the actor wrote.

theguardian  Dated 06 Nov 2017

Wilbur Ross denied on Monday that he had done anything wrong after revelations from the Paradise Papers that he has significant investments in a shipping company that does business with Vladmir Putin’s son-in-law and his sanctioned inner circle.

As one leading Democratic senator called for Ross to explain himself clearly or resign, the US commerce secretary blamed the media for making “a lot more out of it than it deserves”.

Speaking to the BBC on a visit to London, Ross said that he had declared his interests earlier this year when he joined Trump’s administration.

“There is nothing wrong with it. The fact that it happens to be called a Russian company doesn’t mean there is any evil in it,” Ross said.

Leaked documents show Ross holds a stake in a shipping company, Navigator, via a chain of offshore investments. Navigator has a lucrative partnership with Sibur, a Moscow-based gas and petrochemicals company, which charters Navigator’s vessels.

TIME reports  7th Nov 2017

A leak of more than 13 million documents pertaining to wealth stored in offshore tax havens has revealed information on tens of thousands of the world’s wealthiest companies and people, including high-profile figures from U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, to the Queen of England.

The documents — tagged as “Paradise Papers” — were obtained by German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and shared with almost 100 media partners around the world by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), an international consortium of journalists.

The scale of the leak rivals that of last year’s Panama Papers which laid bare 11.5 million financial documents for public scrutiny.  According to the ICIJ, that exposé resulted in an estimated $135 billion being wiped off the value of nearly 400 companies, the recuperation of over $110 million worth of unpaid taxes, and at least 150 inquiries, audits or investigations by police, customs, financial crime and mafia prosecutors.

Like its 2016 predecessor, the disclosure of the Paradise Papers sheds light on the complex structures the global elite use to obfuscate their financial dealings. While the use of offshore accounts is not in and of itself illegal, it is sometimes linked to money laundering and tax avoidance.

Here’s what else to know about the Paradise Papers:

What has been leaked?

The Paradise Papers comprise of 13.4 million files leaked from two offshore service providers and 19 tax havens’ company registries. In the eye of the storm is a law firm called Appleby, which has branches in Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands, the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey. Unlike Mossack Fonseca, the firm at the center of the Panama Papers leak, Appelby is a member of the reputed legal “magic circle” and says it has always operated within the law.

“Appleby has thoroughly and vigorously investigated the allegations and we are satisfied that there is no evidence of any wrongdoing, either on the part of ourselves or our clients,” the company said in a statement issued a fortnight before the papers were made public.

What are the biggest stories to emerge so far ?

Trump’s commerce secretary invested in a Russian firm with links to Putin: When President Donald Trump picked Wilbur Ross as his Commerce Secretary, the 79-year-old divested most of his business interests. But Ross maintains a stake in a NYSE-listed shipping company called Navigator, which has convoluted links to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Since 2014, Navigator — which Ross invests in through a chain of companies in the Cayman Islands — has collected more than $68 million for services rendered to Moscow-based gas and petrochemicals giant called Sibur. That company is part-owned by Russia’s youngest billionaire Kirill Shamalov, who also happens to be Vladimir Putin’s son-in-law. Shamalov is not under U.S. sanctions but his father Nikolai, a longtime friend of Putin, is. In 2014, the U.S. and the European Union penalized him in response to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and subsequent annexation of Crimea.

In short, the U.S. Commerce Secretary stands to benefit from the operations of a company closely connected to people under U.S. sanctions. Democrats are now saying Ross misled Congress about the nature of his investments.

In an interview with the Guardian, Daniel Fried, an assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs under George W. Bush said that Ross’s connections with “cronies of Putin” threatened to undermine U.S. measures to reign in Russian aggression. “I don’t understand why anybody would decide to maintain this kind of relationship going into a senior government position,” Fried said. “What is he thinking?”

The disclosure comes amid special counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing investigation into allegations of collusion between Russia and the Trump administration. In response to questions posed by the New York Times, a spokesman for Ross said the Commerce Secretary had never met the oligarchs behind Sibur and that he “recuses himself from any matters focused on transoceanic shipping vessels.” The spokesman added that Ross had been generally supportive the administration’s sanctions of Russian. In a later interview with CNBC, Ross said there was “nothing wrong with anything that was done” and called allegations that he had deceived his stake in Navigator “totally wrong.”

Russian state companies used a business associate of Jared Kushner to invest in U.S. social media: Two Kremlin-linked companies have funneled hundreds of millions of dollars into Facebook and Twitter through a business associate of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, according to the leaked documents.

The Paradise Papers show that the financial arm of state-run Gazprom, and Russia’s VTB Bank poured funds into two investment vehicles that in turn purchased about $1billion worth of shares in Facebook and $191 million in shares of Twitter in or around 2011. Those investment vehicles are owned by a Russian technology mogul named Yuri Milner, who also has an $850,000 stake in a startup co-founded by Kushner.

Milner — who has in the past advised the Russian government on technology — denies the U.S. social media giants were made aware the money for his funds’ investments came from Russian state-owned enterprises. In interviews after the publication of the papers he said that VTB Bank’s investment did not buy it influence at Twitter and that he was not aware Gazprom Investholding had backed the Facebook stake. He has also downplayed his relationship with Kushner, saying he had only met the U.S. President’s son-in-law once.

Before initially investing in Facebook in 2009, Milner worked a stint at the World Bank and then established the Russian social media service Mail.ru. The tech entrepreneur, who is a friend of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and attended his California wedding, has lived in the U.S. with his family since 2014.

Facebook and Twitter have pushed back against accusations of lapses in their due diligence. In a statement, Facebook noted that the investment vehicle Gazprom used had been a “passive investor” with no voting rights or board seat, and that its stake had been sold five years ago.

The leak comes amid an ongoing investigation into covert Russian meddling the run up to and after the U.S. Presidential Elections. A Senate intelligence hearing last week revealed that Russian electoral disinformation had reached 126 million people on Facebook alone. Senator Dianne Feinstein called the online manipulation of Americans the “beginning of cyberwarfare.”

The Queen of England has investments in a business the exploits poor families in Britain: The private estate of Great Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II has invested millions of pounds in previously undisclosed funds based in the Cayman islands and other offshore jurisdictions. Some of that money has boosted the coffers of a business that has been criticized for preying on financially vulnerable families.

The Paradise Papers show that through the Cayman Islands fund, the Duchy of Lancaster — the body responsible for managing the royal investment portfolio — invested an undisclosed sum in a company called BrightHouse. Britain’s largest rent-to-own retailer, BrightHouse supplies goods like TVs and refrigerators to families under a high-cost credit scheme. Earlier this year Britain’s financial regulator said the company had not acted as a “responsible lender” and ordered it to pay £14.8m ($19million) to almost 250,000 customers.

The Duchy of Lancaster invested in BrightHouse in 2005, before the retailer was criticized for exploiting poor families, and said it had no idea it had a stake in the company until it was approached by reporters, according to the Guardian. It also denies the British Monarch gained a tax advantage by investing in a Cayman Islands-based fund. Still, the level of oversight the royal estate applies to making sure its investments are ethical, and the use of offshore funds more broadly, is in question.

At the time of its most recent filing in March the duchy reportedly managed £519million ($678million) in assets.

Trudeau’s money man may have used tax havens: The latest disclosures reveal that the chief fundraiser to Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau might have shuttled millions of dollars between offshore jurisdictions to legally avoid paying taxes in the U.S., Canada and Israel.

Stephen Bronfman, a scion of one of Canada’s wealthiest families, is accredited with transforming the Liberal Party into a financial juggernaught and propelling Trudeau to its premiership in 2013. Promoted to chief fundraiser for the party, he was instrumental in helping Trudeau win Canada’s 2015 federal election.

But tax experts say that some transactions allegedly undertaken by Bronfman’s private-investment company Claridge may have breached tax rules in using a series of shell companies and other entities to move money around.

A lawyer representing the Bronfman family told the ICIJ and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that “none of the transactions or entities at issue were affected or established to evade or even avoid taxation” and that they “were always in full conformity with all applicable laws and requirements.”

Any “suggestion of false documentation, fraud, ‘disguised’ conduct, tax evasion or similar conduct is false, and a distortion of the facts,” the lawyer added.

A spokesman for Trudeau declined to comment but the revelations about Bronfman could be a political liability for the Prime Minister, whose electioneering platform of reducing inequality and going after tax dodgers had resonated with the Canadian public.

Daily The Telegraph (UK) reports dated 08 Nov 2017

When the Panama Papers were released in 2016, they thrust a spotlight on the tax affairs of the rich and powerful.

Some 18 months later, the so-called Paradise Papers have yet again brought the matter under global scrutiny - and feature high-profile players from much closer to home.

The disclosure of 13.4 million previously-secret documents ties major companies and political figures to secretive overseas arrangements.

09 Nov 2017                                                                                                                                                                                  (AlJazeera News)

Mohammed bin Nayef, Saudi Arabia's ex-crown prince who was removed as next in line to the throne in June, has reportedly become the latest royal family member to be targeted in the kingdom's expanding anti-corruption crackdown.

According to Reuters news agency and the Wall Street Journal, bank accounts linked to Mohammed bin Nayef and some of his immediate relatives were frozen by Saudi authorities.

Both reports on Wednesday cited sources "familiar with the matter". The Reuters report was also carried by Saudi state-owned media.

The freezing of Mohammed bin Nayef's accounts came as Saudi authorities launched a new arrest campaign as part of the widening purge that began on Saturday, according to Reuters.

Dozens of royals, government officials and influential entrepreneurs have already been detained, facing a number of allegations, including money laundering and bribery.

Meanwhile, the number of domestic bank accounts frozen as a result of the purge is more than 1,700 and increasing, according to the reports.

High-profile detentions

The steps were the latest in a series of policies widely seen as an effort by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to assert power over the country and its political and business elite.

On Saturday, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud announced that his son, the crown prince, would oversee a newly formed anti-graft commission that would purge the country of corruption.

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a billionaire businessman who owns investment firm, Kingdom Holding, was among those held. The list of detainees also included senior ministers who were recently sacked, such as Prince Mitaab bin Abdullah, the head of the National Guard, and Adel Faqih, the economy minister.

Mohammed bin Salman replaced his cousin, Mohammed bin Nayef, as the kingdom's crown prince in June.

Mohammed bin Nayef made his first confirmed public appearance since his removal at the funeral on Tuesday for Prince Mansour bin Muqrin Al Saud, deputy governor of Asir province, according to Saudi media.

Mansour bin Muqrin died in a helicopter crash on Sunday. No cause has been given for the crash.

'Rights concerns'

On Wednesday, US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a statement that the "mass arrests" carried out by Saudi Arabia raised human rights concerns.

Doha                                                                                                                                                                                                    08 Nov. 2017

The '1st Major Event Safety and Security Conference’ organized by the Security Committee of the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy in collaboration with INTERPOL winded up today on Wednesday, 8th of November 2017.

The conference held for two days, i.e., on 7^th and 8^th of Nov. 2017 was attended by 350 security experts from 65 countries with the aim of enhancing international partnership in the field of providing

under the patronage of the Prime Minister and Minister of Interior of Qatar H.E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani was attended by 350 security experts from 65 countries and international organizations in the conference with the aim of enhancing international partnership in the field of providing security and safety for major events.

During the closing ceremony of the conference, Maj. Ali Muhammed Al Ali, deputy executive director of the security committee at the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy announced the outcomes of the conference.

1. Launching of the “Stadia Knowledge Management System” to create a global platform for the exchange of knowledge, expertise, and support in relation to major event safety and security.

2. Qatar will progress towards signature of the Council of Europe relevant conventions in the field of anti-doping and promoting public safety and integrity in sports with the aim of joining in the convention.

3. Expansion of Project Stadia’s capability development program to include more training opportunities for the world’s major event policing and security community.

4. Qatar Police Academy and Interpol signed an MOU on police training.

5. All participants support the global major event policing and security community through sharing knowledge and expertise to the Stadia Knowledge Management System

6. All participants identify opportunities to contribute to and benefit from Project Stadia activities, including but not limited to : 1) Observation and debriefing programs,2) Experts groups, 3) Training activities, 4) Development of standards and guidance and 5) International networks of subject matter experts.

7. Interpol will continue to work with Major Events host countries to capture lessons learned and good practices.

In the first session of the second day of the conference, on the theme “Responding to Evolving Threat Environment”, former Head of Safety and Security of Euro 2016,  Ziad Khoury  presented a paper on the subject “Case study from Euro 2016”. The speaker focused on planning and delivery of safety and security during a period of significant change in the threat environment, while the head of Sports Conventions Unit at Council of Europe, Sergey Khrychikov delivered a speech on “Overview of the Council of Europe Convention on an integrated safety, security and service approach at football matches and other sports events and how it can assist in managing the evolving threat environment”.

Head of Security Department-TNP of Turkey 1st Degree Chief Superintendent Cüneyt Ünal spoke  in this session on the subject “Case study from the December 2016 attack on Besitkas Stadium in Istanbul, Turkey”, while another speaker of this session was Subprefecto Eduardo Cerna Lozano of the Chilean Police and the subject will be “Copa America 2015”.

“Mitigating security threats during major events” was the theme of the second session of the second day of the conference. The speakers were federal police commissioner of Brazil, Valdecy Junior Urquiza, Superintendent David Berston of Australian federal Police, Alexander Protasov, Head of Safety and Security of Russia 2018 LOC, and Jean-Pascal Mariani, Head of International Affairs at Counter Terrorism Unit in the Ministry of Interior of France.

The speakers  presented papers on :

1) “Case study from Brazil on the experiences of policing authorities regarding how good practices and opportunities for improvement identified from the 2014 FIFA World Cup were harnessed for the 2016 Olympics”, 2) “The Australian security planning approach focusing on lessons learned from recent major sporting events”, 3) “Russia’s Major Event Policing and Security Planning Approach for the 2018 FIFA World Cup” and 4) “Evolution of counter terrorism strategies for major events with case studies from France’s recent experiences with Euro 2016, Handball World Championships 2017 and preparations for Paris 2024” respectively.

The third session on the “Event Critical Infrastructure Resilience” hosted the head of Q-Cert Qatar Eng. Dana Yousef Al-Abdulla on the subject “Cyber Emergency Response Team Preparations for the 2022 FIFA World Cup”.

Other presenters of this session were senior representative of MITRE – Dr. Robert Coury and Dr. Fahad Al-Jaber – CEO of SOMOD (Qatar’s Infrastructure Development) on “Protecting national cyber infrastructure during major events” and “Event critical infrastructure resilience – The Qatar Approach” respectively.

The speakers of the fourth session on the theme “Decision Making in Response to Critical Incidents and Threats”  included Major General Arthur Denaro (Retd.), United Kingdom (UK) Armed Forces, former UK Special Forces and Middle East Advisor to the UK Ministry of Defense who spoke on “Military doctrine applied to major terrorist incidents” and Superintendent Luis Elias, Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of Portugal presented a paper on the subject “Portugese football policing and critical incident model”. The Deputy Chief Kevin Catalina, Commanding Officer, Intelligence Operations and Analysis Section of  Intelligence Bureau in the New York Police Department also spoke in this session on the topic “NYPD approach to planning for and responding to critical incidents during major events”.

In the last session of the conference on the theme “Technology in Support of Major Event Policing and Security”, the speakers were Chris de Silva, Vice President for Public Safety EMEA of NEC Europe, Jeff Muller, President / CEO of Muller Group International, Hong-eng Koh, Global Chief Public Safety Expert of Huawei and Lieutenant Colonel Jassim Al Saeed. They presented papers on the subjects titled 1) “Case study from the implementation of facial recognition technology at Estadio Atanasio Girardot Stadium and impact on reducing fan violence and improving the spectator experience”, 2) “Enhanced Security Through Integrated Technology For Major Events”, 3) “Harnessing communications technology to deliver major event policing and security with discussion of contemporary approaches and case studies from recent major events” and 4) Technical Security Systems in support of 2022, respectively.

Doha                                                                                                                                                                                                      08 Nov. 2017                                                                                                                                                                                        (MOFA)

The State of Qatar welcomed Wednesday the announcement by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) that it will close its 2014 complaint against Qatar.

Qatar's Government Communication office said in a statement today that the announcement was an acknowledgement of the important steps the government of Qatar has taken to develop a modern labor system that is fair to employers and employees alike.

The statement noted that Qatar National Vision 2030 recognized the need to improve the living and working conditions of its migrant labor force well before contractors broke ground on World Cup sites.

Recent years saw Qatar’s Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs initiated a sweeping new program to upgrade workers' housing by creating modern accommodations for the nations migrant laborers. A total of nine new labor accommodations that will house more than 340,000 guest workers are close to completion at sites throughout the country.

The statement highlighted that the government of Qatar also increased health care facilities with the construction of three modern hospitals and four new health centers for the nations migrant workers. Additionally, the government inaugurated a new labor contract system, with a Wage Protection System put in place to facilitate electronic transfer of workers' pay. The Government has also engaged with NGOs like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Trade Union Confederation to establish best practices for labor policies and has pledged to implement the highest standards for migrant labor in the region.

The Government Communication Office expressed appreciation to the insights of all those who have provided their international expertise and helped shape Qatars legal and procedural developments. Qatar will continue to work closely with them to ensure that workers rights are not only guaranteed but developed in parallel with international standards and best practice.

The statement then said that the State of Qatar developed a comprehensive programme of technical cooperation to ensure the reforms aligned with ILO best practice, in light of the latter's complaint. October of this year saw Qatar committed to the next stage of these reforms, and is developing a timeline for their full implementation.

The Government Communication Office expressed The State of Qatar's enormous gratitude to the millions of workers who have helped build the countrys infrastructure and who staff Qatar's service industries. The statement stressed that the Government will continue improving their living and working conditions in the years ahead, as Qatar pursues the goal of setting the highest standard for workers rights, and human rights in the region.

Doha                                                                                                                                                                                                  06 Nov. 2017

First major event Safety and Security Conference and the exhibition’ organized by the Security Committee of the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy in association with INTERPOL will begin tomorrow, Tuesday, 7th Nov. 2017 to be held at Saint Regis Hotel, Doha.

Representatives of 192  Interpol member countries, international organizations, high ranking officials  and participants from 65 countries will attend.

Jürgen Stock, Secretary General Interpol,  Hassan Al Thawadi, Secretary General, Supreme Committee for  Delivery and Legacy  will deliver the keynote speeches on the opening day. Capt. Falah Al Dosari, Senior Manager of Project Stadia, will introduce Project Stadia on the first day of the event.

Jürgen Stock said that the organizing of first major event on safety and security conference in cooperation between Interpol and Qatar is matter of pride as Qatar is organizing this conference in the context of its preparations for World Cup 2022. This conference is a best occasion to gather experts from various organizations and countries around the world for discussing the importance of strengthening creative cooperation in the field of organizing major events which is considered as a real challenge for the countries that will host major events in the future, whether they are sports or other fields.

Hassan Al Thawadi expressed his happiness in organizing the first major conference on safety and security in Doha in partnership with Interpol. He said that the relationship of the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy with Interpol started since last 5 years from the general assembly of Interpol held in Rome. Ahead of us, we have only five years to host the first world cup in the Middle East and during this period, we will be signing cooperation agreements with Interpol in order to carry out our activities and the operation in a good way for ensuring  the organization of the unprecedented World Cup in 2022, he said.

In First Session, Andrew Glazzard, Director of National Security and Resilience Studies at the Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies (RUSI),  London, will speak on 'Current security threat environment in the UK, the need for a step-change in approach when one considers preparation for major events'.

Filipo Dispenza, Director General of Public Security, Prefect of the Police of Cagliari, Italy, will present a paper on 'European perspective on the major event security threat environment'. Filipo has 41 years of experience in the police force and has served as director of major Italian police offices across the country.

In addition to this, Dr. Jolene Jerard, Deputy Head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research, Nanyang Technological University of Singapore, will address on 'Current and Emerging IS-centric threat landscape and its impact on major events'.

Major General Hazza bin Mubarak Al- Hajrey, Assistant Secretary General of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf for Security Affairs will address the audience on 'GCC perspective on current security threat environment'.

Brig. Ibrahim Al Mohannadi, senior member of the National Counter Terrorism Committee and Head of Consultancy Unit, Security Committee for 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar will present a paper titled 'Focus on preparations Qatar is making to understand, build out and mitigate threat' in the same session.

In the Second session, Helmut Spahn, Director of Security of FIFA, will speak on 'Models of Risk Based Policing and Security for Major Events'.

Spahn is also a former Director General of the International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS) and current president of the German football club Kickers Offenbach. He has spent over 20 years as a high-ranking officer in the German police force. Spahn was formerly Head of Security for the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany and Chief Security Officer for the German Football Association (Deutscher Fussball-Bund, DFB). He has been a UEFA Security Officer for the Champions League and Europa League as well as UEFA Euro 2012.

Geoff Smith, Commander Tasmanian Police, Australia will deliver a speech on 'Australia's new strategy for protecting crowded spaces from terrorism and its applicability to future major events' in Second session. Commander Geoff is presently working as Senior Advisor on Counter-terrorism to  Tasmania police Force.

David Garnett, former commanding officer at National Joint Operational Command of South Africa and Current Head of Security of South African Reserve Bank will be another speaker on the subject “South Africa’s experience in delivering safety and security for 2010 FIFA World Cup”.

Brig. Ibrahim Saad Al-Sulaiti, Head of the Risk Management Unit, Security Committee for the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar will speak on  “Qatar 2022 Risk Management Approach”.

In the third session,  Dr Eng. Ahmed Al-Sulaiti, CEO, Qatar National Broadband Network will speak on  “Overview of transport, training and stadium construction preparations for the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar”,  will present a paper on “Network Security and Fiber Optic Infrastructure”.

Among other Speakers include Ian Williams, transport operations Senior Manager at the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy, Ashish Jian, Senior Vice President of Group Safety and Security and Airport Security, Qatar Airways, Thani Zarraa, Project Manager of Al Wakrah Stadium and Maj. Fahad Al Subai, Head of Training Unit at Security Committee of the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy.

Mick O’Connell, Head of National Intelligence IOCCC, National Crime Agency of United Kingdom and Dr. Lou Marciani, Director of National Centre for Spectator Sports Safety and Security at University of Southern Mississippi, USA will be addressing last session on  ‘Project Stadia – Capability Development’ .

Ziad Khoury, former Head of Safety and Security of Euro 2016 will present a Case study from Euro 2016' in the first session of the second day of the conference with the theme of subject 'Responding to Evolving Threat Environment'. He will focus on planning and delivery of safety and security during a period of significant change in the threat environment.

Sergey Khrychikov, Head of Sports Conventions Unit at Council of Europe,  will deliver a speech on “Overview of the Council of Europe Convention on an integrated safety, security and service approach at football matches and other sports events and how it can assist in managing the evolving threat environment”.

Cüneyt Ünal, Head of Security Department-TNP of Turkey 1st Degree Chief Superintendent  will speak on the subject “Case study from the December 2016 attack on Besitkas Stadium in Istanbul, Turkey”.

Subprefecto Eduardo Cerna Lozano, of the Chilean Police will speak on  “Copa America 2015”.

“Mitigating security threats during major events” is the theme of the second session of the second day of the conference. The speakers include Federal Police Commissioner of Brazil, Valdecy Junior Urquiza, Superintendent David Berston of Australian Federal Police, Alexander Protasov, Head of Safety and Security of Russia 2018 LOC, and Jean-Pascal Mariani, Head of International Affairs at Counter Terrorism Unit in the Ministry of Interior of France.

The speakers will present papers on 1) “Case study from Brazil on the experiences of policing authorities regarding how good practices and opportunities for improvement identified from the 2014 FIFA World Cup were harnessed for the 2016 Olympics”, 2) “The Australian security planning approach focusing on lessons learned from recent major sporting events”, 3) “Russia’s Major Event Policing and Security Planning Approach for the 2018 FIFA World Cup” and 4) “Evolution of counter terrorism strategies for major events with case studies from France’s recent experiences with Euro 2016, Handball World Championships 2017 and preparations for Paris 2024” respectively.

The third session on the “Event Critical Infrastructure Resilience” will host the head of Q-Cert Qatar Eng. Dana Yousef Al-Abdulla on the subject “Cyber Emergency Response Team Preparations for the 2022 FIFA World Cup”. Other presenters of this session are senior representative of MITRE – Dr. Robert Coury and Dr. Fahad Al-Jaber, CEO of SOMOD (Qatar’s Infrastructure Development) on “Protecting national cyber infrastructure during major events” and “Event critical infrastructure resilience – The Qatar Approach” respectively.

The speakers of the fourth session on the theme “Decision Making in Response to Critical Incidents and Threats”  are Major General Arthur Denaro retd United Kingdom (UK) Armed Forces, and former UK Special Forces and Middle East Advisor to the UK Ministry of Defense speaking on “Military doctrine applied to major terrorist incidents”, Superintendent Luis Elias, Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of Portugal speaking on the subject “Portugese football policing and critical incident model” and Deputy Chief Kevin Catalina, Commanding Officer, Intelligence Operations and Analysis Section of  Intelligence Bureau in the New York Police Department on the topic “NYPD approach to planning for and responding to critical incidents during major events”.

In the last session of the conference on the theme “Technology in Support of Major Event Policing and Security’, the speakers are Chris de Silva, Vice President for Public Safety EMEA of NEC Europe, Jeff Muller, President / CEO of Muller Group International, Hong-eng Koh, Global Chief Public Safety Expert of Huawei and Lt. Col. Jassim Al Saeed.

They will present papers on the subjects titled

1) “Case study from the implementation of facial recognition technology at Estadio Atanasio Girardot Stadium and impact on reducing fan violence and improving the spectator experience”,

2) “Enhanced Security Through Integrated Technology For Major Events”,

3) “Harnessing communications technology to deliver major event policing and security with discussion of contemporary approaches and case studies from recent major events” and

4) Technical Security Systems in support of 2022.

Doha                                                                                                                                                                                                      06  Nov.  2017

New Qatar National Library (QNL) building in Education City will open its doors to the public for the first time on Tuesday, giving residents access to more than one million books, periodicals, and special collections, as well as the QNL Heritage Library.

Members can now check out books and other media from the main collection, access the Children’s and Teen’s Library, and begin using QNL’s creative and collaborative facilities, such as the Writing Center, Innovation Stations, and study rooms. The building is open to all members of the public, with free membership available to anyone with a Qatari ID.

“The opening of the QNL building is a landmark achievement for the cultural and education landscape in Qatar. QNL is a place where everybody can learn, collaborate, and create,” said Dr. Sohair F. Wastawy, Executive Director, QNL.

“With the Heritage Library at its heart and innovative technology throughout, the QNL building is truly a bridge between Qatar’s past and its future,” added Dr. Wastawy.

QNL has also launched its new website at www.qnl.qa, allowing users to register for membership, search the library’s collection, reserve meeting and event spaces in the building, and access the dozens of online digital resources available to members. QNL will celebrate the building’s opening with a range of events, all of which are open to the public. The full schedule of events is available on the QNL website.

Designed by renowned Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, the building is fully accessible to visitors with special needs. It features numerous custom-designed innovations, including an automatic book sorting system, several interactive media walls, and self-check-in and check-out machines that make borrowing books easier for members.

The Heritage Library, located in the center of the QNL building, includes rare and valuable texts and manuscripts related to Arabic and Islamic civilization. In addition to Arabic manuscripts, historical maps and globes, scientific instruments and early photography, the Heritage Library also contains writings by travelers who explored the Arabian Gulf region over the centuries.

QNL also features a dedicated children’s section containing more than 100,000 books in Arabic, English, and a selection of other languages, featuring picture books, chapter books, information books, easy readers, magazines, DVDs, databases, audiobooks, e-books, and e-magazines. Additionally, the children’s section will offer early literacy programs and workshops for families to develop reading skills from an early age. The QNL Children’s Library also has educational toys, arts and crafts materials, and innovative learning software, as well as its own team of dedicated librarians.

“One of QNL’s top priorities is fostering a love of reading from a young age, and our Children’s Library offers parents a range of resources to put their children on a path of learning,” added Dr. Wastawy.

Meanwhile, the Teen Library, aimed at visitors aged 13 to 18, includes more than 30,000 books, as well as magazines, computer labs, graphic novels, interactive learning tools, and a specially-tailored events space. It also includes school curriculum and college textbooks for students preparing for exams, including the ACT and SAT.

Visitors can utilize individual and group study spaces, computer labs, a writing center, and Innovation Stations offering a wide variety of creative tools, such as 3D printers and musical instruments. A full range of exhibitions and services will be launched at the official inauguration ceremony in 2018.

QNL is a member of the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development (QF). Five years in the planning, the facility was announced in 2012 by Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Qatar Foundation.