Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/780138
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 1 FEBRUARY 2017 20 PRESIDENT Donald Trump has issued an executive order ban- ning individuals born in seven mainly Muslim countries - Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen - and all refu- gees from entering the US. The US is scheduled to host the IAAF World Championships for the first time in 2021 - in Eu- gene, Oregon - and the IAAF has asked for more information on the immigration order. It said in a statement: "We clearly need to understand the implications of this new US im- migration policy and will be seeking assurances that it will not adversely affect the IAAF World Championships in the USA in 2021." On Sunday, Sir Mo Farah, who won the 5,000 metres and 10,000m double at the World Championships in 2011 and 2015, expressed his relief after the Foreign Office said Trump's order did not apply to UK na- tionals. Farah, currently training in Ethiopia, is a British citizen but his ability to return to his fam- ily in the States was initially unclear because his country of birth, Somalia, was included on the banned list. However, irrespective of birth- place, British nationals are ex- empt from Friday's order, ac- cording to the Foreign Office, and will be allowed to enter the States. Farah will therefore be able to reunite with his family in Port- land, also in Oregon and where they have been based for the last six years, once he has finished his training camp. "Mo is relieved that he will be able to return to his family once his current training camp con- cludes, however, as he said in his earlier statement, he still fun- damentally disagrees with this incredibly divisive and discrim- inatory policy," said a spokes- person for Farah. The 33-year-old earlier in the day highlighted the situation many nationals born in one of the seven banned countries were facing. He said in a statement issued on Facebook: "On January 1 this year, Her Majesty The Queen made me a Knight of the Realm. On January 27, President Donald Trump seems to have made me an alien. "I am a British citizen who has lived in America for the past six years - working hard, contribut- ing to society, paying my taxes and bringing up our four chil- dren in the place they now call home. "Now, me and many others like me are being told that we may not be welcome. "It's deeply troubling that I will have to tell my children that Daddy might not be able to come home - to explain why the Presi- dent has introduced a policy that comes from a place of igno- rance and prejudice. "I was welcomed into Britain from Somalia at eight years old and given the chance to suc- ceed and realise my dreams. I have been proud to represent my country, win medals for the Brit- ish people and receive the great- est honour of a knighthood. My story is an example of what can happen when you follow policies of compassion and understand- ing, not hate and isolation." Sport SPORTTODAY OLYMPICS ATHLETICS Smokers face tighter rules as Japanese capital eyes smoke-free Olympics JAPAN must make public places in Tokyo smoke-free by the time it hosts the 2020 Summer Olym- pics or risk falling foul of Inter- national Olympic Committee (IOC) rules that call for a healthy games, activists said on Tuesday. Japan's health minister has said the government is eager to stamp out smoking in public by the time the capital hosts the Olympics. But smoking remains so en- trenched there is still a cigarette vending machine in a Health Ministry annex. The IOC requires "tobacco- free" games and all recent host cities have passed legislation to ban smoking in indoor and en- closed public spaces, including restaurants, bars and cafes. Japanese laws encourage res- taurants and other public areas to limit exposure to secondhand smoke by setting up barriers or separate smoking and non-smok- ing areas, but there are no pun- ishments for non-compliance. Smokers can even light up on the grounds of schools and hos- pitals. "The situation for preventing passive smoking in Japan is on a level with that in a developing na- tion," said Manabu Sakuta, chair- man of the non-governmental organization Japan Society for Tobacco Control. "We hope for improvement so there will not be lots of problems with passive smoking in all the parts of Tokyo that do not meet the Olympic standards, as well as the games venues after they are built." Health Minister Yasuhisa Shio- zaki told a news conference in January his ministry aimed to submit a bill on preventing pas- sive smoking during the current session of parliament. "According to the World Health Organization, Japan's measures to prevent passive smoking are among the world's worst," he said. But tightening up the rules fac- es strong opposition from restau- rant management organizations, which fear the impact on their business. Smoking rates have fallen in Ja- pan due to greater health aware- ness and higher cigarette prices, health ministry data shows, and about 30 percent of men and 7.9 percent of women smoke. Keisuke Kurimoto, a deputy di- rector of the ministry's Health Services Section, said it was too early to say what the contents of the proposed bill will be or if it would be ready before the current session ends, probably in June. "We're using this as an op- portunity, a goal," he said of the Olympics. "Of course, this isn't the only reason, the health impact is our main priority." IAAF demands clarification Athletics' world governing body is seeking assurances that the new immigration policy in the United States will not affect the 2021 World Championships Mo Farah will not be affected by the changes