Sudan president warns aid groups

A defiant President Omar al Bashir, on his first visit to Darfur since an international warrant for his arrest, today warned peacekeepers and aid groups to obey Sudanese law or face expulsion. "I have a message to all the diplomatic missions in Sudan, the NGOs and the peacekeepers," he said. "They have to respect the rule of the country. If anyone goes further than the rule of the country, we will kick them out directly."

Mr al Bashir's trip to the North Darfur state capital of El-Fasher is seen as a calculated show of defiance in the face of mounting western criticism of his government's expulsion of 13 aid agencies. Khartoum's move followed the International Criminal Court's announcement of the warrant on Wednesday for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the western region. Mr al Bashir poured scorn on western criticism.

"They told us if we leave the NGOs to continue their work, we will freeze the ICC decision, but we reject that," he said, speaking from a high stage to a packed and cheering crowd of several thousand. He also rejected demands to hand over a minister charged by the ICC with orchestrating war crimes in Darfur. "They asked us to suspend Ahmed Haroun as a minister or make him resign, but I reject that also," Mr al Bashir said.

And he scoffed at efforts by The Hague-based court to bring him to trial, saying: "The ICC, the judges and the prosecutor are all under my shoes." As he travelled earlier in an open vehicle to the centre of town cheering supporters waving flags and pictures of Mr al Bashir chanted "Down, down Ocampo," referring to ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo. Wearing a safari suit and waving a stick, Mr al Bashir grinned back in delight.

The United Nations says the aid agency expulsions will leave 1.1 million people without food, 1.5 million without health care and more than a million without drinking water. * AFP

RESULT

Wolves 1 (Traore 67')

Tottenham 2 (Moura 8', Vertonghen 90 1')

Man of the Match: Adama Traore (Wolves)

UAE currency

10 tips for entry-level job seekers

Have an up-to-date, professional LinkedIn profile. If you don’t have a LinkedIn account, set one up today. Avoid poor-quality profile pictures with distracting backgrounds. Include a professional summary and begin to grow your network.
Keep track of the job trends in your sector through the news. Apply for job alerts at your dream organisations and the types of jobs you want – LinkedIn uses AI to share similar relevant jobs based on your selections.
Double check that you’ve highlighted relevant skills on your resume and LinkedIn profile.
For most entry-level jobs, your resume will first be filtered by an applicant tracking system for keywords. Look closely at the description of the job you are applying for and mirror the language as much as possible (while being honest and accurate about your skills and experience).
Keep your CV professional and in a simple format – make sure you tailor your cover letter and application to the company and role.
Go online and look for details on job specifications for your target position. Make a list of skills required and set yourself some learning goals to tick off all the necessary skills one by one.
Don’t be afraid to reach outside your immediate friends and family to other acquaintances and let them know you are looking for new opportunities.
Make sure you’ve set your LinkedIn profile to signal that you are “open to opportunities”. Also be sure to use LinkedIn to search for people who are still actively hiring by searching for those that have the headline “I’m hiring” or “We’re hiring” in their profile.
Prepare for online interviews using mock interview tools. Even before landing interviews, it can be useful to start practising.
Be professional and patient. Always be professional with whoever you are interacting with throughout your search process, this will be remembered. You need to be patient, dedicated and not give up on your search. Candidates need to make sure they are following up appropriately for roles they have applied.

Arda Atalay, head of Mena private sector at LinkedIn Talent Solutions, Rudy Bier, managing partner of Kinetic Business Solutions and Ben Kinerman Daltrey, co-founder of KinFitz

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets

Moon Music

Artist: Coldplay

Label: Parlophone/Atlantic

Number of tracks: 10

Rating: 3/5

MATCH INFO

Manchester United 1 (Rashford 36')

Liverpool 1 (Lallana 84')

Man of the match: Marcus Rashford (Manchester United)

England v South Africa Test series:

First Test: at Lord's, England won by 211 runs

Second Test: at Trent Bridge, South Africa won by 340 runs

Third Test: at The Oval, July 27-31

Fourth Test: at Old Trafford, August 4-8

Gender equality in the workplace still 200 years away

It will take centuries to achieve gender parity in workplaces around the globe, according to a December report from the World Economic Forum.

The WEF study said there had been some improvements in wage equality in 2018 compared to 2017, when the global gender gap widened for the first time in a decade.

But it warned that these were offset by declining representation of women in politics, coupled with greater inequality in their access to health and education.

At current rates, the global gender gap across a range of areas will not close for another 108 years, while it is expected to take 202 years to close the workplace gap, WEF found.

The Geneva-based organisation's annual report tracked disparities between the sexes in 149 countries across four areas: education, health, economic opportunity and political empowerment.

After years of advances in education, health and political representation, women registered setbacks in all three areas this year, WEF said.

Only in the area of economic opportunity did the gender gap narrow somewhat, although there is not much to celebrate, with the global wage gap narrowing to nearly 51 per cent.

And the number of women in leadership roles has risen to 34 per cent globally, WEF said.

At the same time, the report showed there are now proportionately fewer women than men participating in the workforce, suggesting that automation is having a disproportionate impact on jobs traditionally performed by women.

And women are significantly under-represented in growing areas of employment that require science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills, WEF said.

* Agence France Presse