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A2 UP FRONT
Wednesday 12 July 2017
US inks anti-terror deal with Qatar in press to end dispute

By ADAM SCHRECK and our homeland safe,” the fight against terror fi- til it became clear that Ku- Bahrain, the United Arab
MAGGIE HYDE he said following talks with nancing. wait-led efforts to resolve Emirates and Egypt.
Associated Press 37-year-old Emir Tamim bin The deal may also help Til- the crisis were stalled. The four nations broke off
DOHA, Qatar (AP) — U.S. Hamad Al Thani. lerson argue that Qatar is Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmed relations with Qatar and
Secretary of State Rex Tiller- Tillerson also gave be- making a good-faith effort Al Sabah, the Kuwaiti emir cut air, sea and land routes
son sealed a deal Tuesday sieged Qatar some politi- to address concerns and who is mediating the dis- with it more than a month
to intensify Qatar’s coun- cal backing ahead of his that Qatar’s neighbors pute, said Tuesday he is ago. They later issued a
terterrorism efforts, tackling talks in Saudi Arabia on need to do the same. “extremely concerned” 13-point list of demands to
a central issue in the spat Wednesday. “I think Qatar Ahead of Tillerson’s visit, about the crisis, and ex- restore relations and gave
pitting the besieged Gulf has been quite clear in its U.S. officials worked vigor- pressed “bitterness” over Doha 10 days to comply.
nation against four other The demands include
American allies lined up Qatar shutting down
against it. news outlets including Al-
Tillerson outlined the Jazeera, cutting ties with
agreement at the end of Islamist groups such as the
his first visit to Qatar since Muslim Brotherhood, limit-
its neighbors moved to iso- ing ties with Iran and expel-
late it over grievances, in- ling Turkish troops stationed
cluding what they allege in the country.
is its support for extremist Qatar strenuously de-
groups. nies supporting extremist
It was his second stop on groups and has rejected
a shuttle-diplomacy circuit the demands, saying that
that will take him next to agreeing to them whole-
Saudi Arabia, which has sale would undermine its
shut Qatar’s only land bor- sovereignty.
der and is the most power- It does, however, at least
ful of the countries oppos- indirectly support Islamist
ing it. groups that other nations
The centerpiece of the visit view as terrorist organiza-
was the signing of a mem- tions, such as the Palestin-
orandum of understanding ian militant group Hamas.
that lays out steps Qatar Qatar has hosted senior
can take to bolster its fight In this photo released by Qatar News Agency, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrives in Doha, Hamas officials and is the
against terrorism and ad- Qatar, Tuesday, July 11, 2017. Tillerson arrived in Qatar as he tries to mediate a dispute between largest financial patron
dress shortfalls in policing the energy-rich country and its Gulf neighbors. The visit is Tillerson’s second stop on a shuttle- to the Hamas-ruled Gaza
terrorism funding. diplomacy tour that is also expected to take him to Saudi Arabia, which shares Qatar’s only land Strip.
border and is the most powerful of the four countries lined up against it.
Tillerson said the deal, the (Qatar News Agency via AP) Underscoring that uneasy
details of which were not position, Qatari envoy Mo-
made public, has been in positions and I think very ously to lower expecta- what he called “unprec- hammed al-Amadi signed
the works for a while and reasonable,” he said ear- tions, insisting that he did edented developments,” an agreement Tuesday
included some steps that lier in the day. not expect an immedi- without elaborating. with a Palestinian contrac-
have already been taken. Though largely symbolic, ate breakthrough and Tillerson, a former oilman tor to build eight residential
“Together, the United the deal allows Tillerson to cautioning that a resolu- with years of experience buildings in Gaza. He said
States and Qatar will do show some progress in his tion could take months. in the region, began his his country would continue
more to track down fund- first major attempt at glob- Wary of letting the U.S. be Gulf visit Monday by meet- to support development
ing sources, will do more al mediation as secretary dragged into the middle of ing Kuwait’s ruler, who has projects in the seaside ter-
to collaborate and share of state, and also bolsters an intra-Gulf spat, Tillerson been acting as a mediator ritory — aid Qatar argues is
information, and will do President Donald Trump’s had avoided taking on a between Qatar and the for the Palestinian people
more to keep the region claim to be ramping up central mediating role, un- quartet of Saudi Arabia, rather than Hamas. q

Japan to host TPP Pacific Rim trade pact talks, minus the US

AP Business Writer the U.S. moves to pull back not include the U.S. be- the TPP’s combined GDP, sia, Mexico, New Zealand,
TOKYO (AP) — Members of from such arrangements. fore an Asia-Pacific sum- so it could not be imple- Peru, Singapore and Viet-
a Pacific Rim trade initia- Last week, Japan named mit in Vietnam in Novem- mented as it stands now. nam. Supporters of the TPP
tive rejected by U.S. Presi- a new chief negotiator ber. The administration of Japanese officials say they say it would set high stan-
dent Donald Trump are for TPP talks, Kazuyoshi President Barack Obama are hoping the TPP talks will dards for modern trade
to hold working-level talks Umemoto, a former am- helped lead the five-year get a boost from the Eco- rules, labor, environmental
Wednesday in the Japa- bassador to Italy. Trump effort that yielded a TPP nomic Partnership Agree- and intellectual property
nese mountain resort town pulled the U.S. out of the agreement in 2015. That ment reached with the protections. Critics say it
of Hakone, west of Tokyo. pact soon after taking of- deal has to be restruc- EU, which dismantles trade puts corporate interests
The three-day meeting fice, saying his “America tured since as originally barriers and eases tariffs on ahead of the public good
among envoys from the 11 First” policy favors one- agreed it can only take a wide range of products and national sovereignty.
remaining members of the on-one agreements with effect after it is ratified by for the two markets ac- In Asia, the U.S. withdrawal
Trans-Pacific Partnership other nations rather than six countries that account counting for almost a third is seen as a step back for
follows a breakthrough multinational pacts like the for 85 percent of its original of world economic activ- U.S. influence that leaves
last week on a Japan-Eu- TPP. Other TPP members members’ combined gross ity. The other TPP member wider leeway for Chinese
ropean Union trade deal hope to make progress on domestic product. The U.S. countries are Australia, Bru- geopolitical and business
seen as a repudiation of an alternative that does made up 60 percent of nei, Canada, Chile, Malay- interests.q