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Qatar’s NHRC
heads a key UN
Human Rights
sub-committee.
MONDAY 9 MARCH 2015 • 18 Jumada I 1436 • Volume 20 Number 6364
17
Opec should not
cut output to
‘subsidise’ shale,
says Al Badri.
www.thepeninsulaqatar.com
Crackdown on illegal
partitioned villas soon
Sport
| 27
Britain, Australia,
Kazakhstan
reach Davis Cup
quarter-finals.
[email protected] | [email protected]
Editorial: 4455 7741 | Advertising: 4455 7837 / 4455 7780
Emir meets South Korea President
Inspectors to verify violations before action
DOHA: The municipalities are
gearing up to clamp down on
illegally partitioned villas and
apartments in a fresh initiative aimed at ensuring people’s
safety.
Different departments of the
municipalities will be coordinating their efforts in the latest
push against illegally partitioned
houses for residential or any
other purpose.
Buildings in which modifications have been made without
seeking due approval from the
municipalities concerned will also
be covered in the crackdown.
But there must be a complaint,
with proof if possible, and that
would be verified first before a
suspected house is raided, local
Arabic daily Al Arab reported
yesterday.
Civic inspectors on the prowl
could, for instance, try to assess
if a villa or a building has been
illegally partitioned or structural
alterations have been carried out
inside it illegally, from its exterior,
by looking at the number of cars
parked outside or air-conditioners
fitted on its walls.
These things are visible from
outside a building and they can
give a clue as to the number of
people living in a villa or an apartment building.
This way it is easy to guess if
a particular building with apartments or a villa has been illegally
partitioned, the daily said quoting
civic sources.
The inspectors will, however,
respect the privacy of families
occupying these units, the daily
added without giving further
details.
Qatari law, for instance, doesn’t
allow government officials to raid
a house without permission from
the Public Prosecution.
The law regulating the safety
of buildings was issued last year,
apparently, to enable civic authorities to clamp down on illegally
partitioned villas and apartments
which have been mushrooming
all over due to rising demand for
housing and shortages.
The law amended a previous
such legislation that was enforced
some 31 years ago, in 1984.
Limited-income expatriate
families and individuals mostly
rely on illegally partitioned
houses due to skyrocketing rents
of independent residential units.
THE PENINSULA
Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani hosted a luncheon banquet
in honour of visiting President of the Republic of South Korea Park Geunhye and the accompanying delegation at the Emiri Diwan yesterday.
See also page 2
QR200,000 raffle draw prizes remain unclaimed
DOHA: The next time you fill
in a raffle coupon to win a prize
at a commercial outlet make
sure you have written your
name and contact number or
email correctly.
Prizes worth QR200,000
($55,000) that include items like
TV sets and phones, electrical
appliances and even gold coins
remain unclaimed by winners
Speed cut
reduced
accidents
DOHA: The controversial move
by the traffic authorities reducing the speed limit on February
22 Street from 100 kmph to 80
kmph has helped reduce traffic
accidents on this key artery, a
senior official has said yesterday.
Speaking on the sidelines of the
GCC Traffic Week which opened
at Darb Al Sai yesterday, Brig
Mohammed Saad Al Kharji, director of the Traffic Department said
that the decision was based on a
recommendation of the special
committee set up to tackle traffic
congestions.
The idea behind the proposal
was to facilitate entry of vehicles
to the main road from the service roads. Earlier it was risky for
motorists coming from various
service roads linked to the street
to enter the main road due to high
speed of the vehicles moving on
the highway.
He said the decision has a positive impact on traffic flow and no
major accident was reported on
the road since then. The official,
however, added that the move was
only on a trial basis and the original speed limit will be restored
when work on the Rayyan road
is completed. Al Kharji said mortality rate in traffic accidents in
Qatar has declined in general due
to the increased public awareness.
THE PENINSULA
in raffle draws held by different
commercial outlets.
The Ministry of Economy and
Commerce that conducted a raid
on outlets to know the results of
raffle draws they held as part of
promotion in recent times, discovered that items worth QR200,000
won by people lay unclaimed. The
Ministry has collected the items
from these outlets and will now
make sure that they are given away
to the local charities since there
are no claimants for them. The
prizes total 300 and they include
electrical and home appliances, TV
sets, mobile phone handsets, gold
coins as well as cash vouchers.
The prizes, according to the
Ministry, could not be collected by
many of the winners because they
wrote their names and contact
Messi with son
department has detailed record.
Its officials recently launched
an inspection campaign to see if
the prizes of those draws were
given away to the winners. The
Ministry said it is its job to make
sure that if a commercial outlet
holds a raffle draw it gives away
the prizes on offer to the winners.
Continued on page 5
THE PENINSULA
DOHA: A 69-year-old Qatari
man with a history of chronic
illness has tested positive for
the Middle East Respiratory
Syndrome
(MERS),
the
Supreme Council of Health
(SCH) said yesterday.
The patient remains admitted
at the Intensive Care Unit of the
Hamad General Hospital in critical condition, said the SCH.
This is the third confirmed
MERS case in the country since
the beginning of this year.
The patient had been suffering from fever for a few days and
later developed sore throat and
cough and referred to the Hamad
General Hospital.
The patient was diagnosed
with pneumonia and subsequently
MERS during tests conducted at
the national reference laboratory.
The SCH has urged the public to follow all the recommended
prevention and control measures
against MERS.
As a general precaution, people
visiting farms, markets, barns, or
other places where animals are
present have been advised to
practice general hygiene, including regular hand washing before
and after touching animals,
and avoiding contact with sick
animals.
People with diabetes, renal
failure and chronic lung disease,
and immunocompromised persons are considered to be at high
risk of severe disease from MERS
infection.
Therefore, such people should
avoid contact with camels, drinking raw camel milk or eating
meat that has not been properly
cooked, said the SCH.
THE PENINSULA
Saudi outpaces Yemen’s defence minister
India as top
flees Sana’a to Aden
defence buyer
Barcelona’s Argentinian forward Lionel Messi holds his son Thiago Messi
before the Spanish league football match FC Barcelona vs Rayo Vallecano
at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona yesterday.
See also page 28
Solar Impulse 2 trip today
ABU DHABI: Two Swiss pilots
are expected to embark today
morning on the first attempt to
fly around the world in a plane
propelled only by the sun.
Bertrand Piccard and André
Borschberg will take turns piloting
the single seater Solar Impulse 2
for 35,000km over 12 legs, including gruelling five- to six-day stints
across the Atlantic and Pacific
oceans. The entire journey will
take five months. The pilots will
endure roughly 250 hours each
details on raffle coupons wrongly.
In several other cases the
coupons had names and contact
numbers but the information was
incorrect, the Ministry said. It
has urged people to pay attention
and fill in the raffle coupons with
care. The Ministry has a department that provides approvals to
commercial outlets to hold raffle
draws as part of promotion. The
69-year-old
man tested
positive
for MERS
inside a narrow cockpit with no
oxygen or temperature control.
Temperatures outside will range
between -40C to 40C.
Falling asleep for long periods
will be impossible as the flight will
need constant attention. Piccard
and Borschberg will survive on
20-minute naps every two to four
hours. The pilots will practise yoga
to stave off the physical discomfort
of remaining confined to a seat for
days at a time.
See also page 16
THE GUARDIAN
LONDON:
Saudi
Arabia
overtook India in 2014 as the
world’s biggest importer of
defence equipment, according
to a study published yesterday by respected analysts IHS
Jane’s. Global defence trade
currently stands at $64.4bn,
said the report. The figure has
been driven by “unparallelled
demand from the emerging
economies for military aircraft
and an escalation of regional
tensions in the Middle East
and Asia Pacific,” IHS expert
Ben Moores said.
The report, which examines
the defence market across 65
countries, found that Saudi
Arabia spent more than $6.4bn
on defence kit in 2014, overtaking India on $5.57bn.
Saudi Arabian imports
increased by 54 percent over the
past year and the study predicts
that one out of every $7 spent
on defence exports in 2015 will
be spent by the kingdom.
Saudi Arabia and the United
Arab Emirates (UAE) together
imported $8.6bn of defence
equipment in 2014, more than
the imports of Western Europe
combined. The United States
maintained its position as the
top exporter, shipping $23.7bn
of equipment, ahead of Russia
on $10bn.
AFP
ADEN: Yemen’s defence minister was to resume his duties from
second city Aden yesterday after defecting from the Shiite militia
which controls the capital, a source in the president’s office said.
General Mahmud Subaihi’s overnight escape from Sana’a follows that
of Western-backed President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, who has called
on ministers to join him in the southern port city to reestablish the
government. The minister reached Aden unharmed but at least one
of his guards was killed in a firefight with Houthi militiamen during
the escape, a military source said.
The militia had named Subaihi head of a new security committee
when they completed their seizure of power in Sana’a in February. State
television in Aden broadcast footage of Subaihi later being greeted by
local authorities and tribal leaders in his home village of Huaireb, 20km
from Aden. The government in which Subaihi served tendered its resignation under militia pressure in January but it was never accepted.
Prime minister Khalid Bahah and most other ministers remain under
house arrest in the capital.
AFP
Progress in Iran N-talks: Obama
WASHINGTON: The United States and Iran have narrowed their
differences in nuclear weapons negotiations, President Barack
Obama said in the face of a renewed Republican warning yesterday
that any deal will face a tough congressional review.
“We have made progress in narrowing the gaps, but those gaps still
exist,” Obama said in an interview on CBS News’ “Face the Nation”
that was recorded on Saturday and broadcast yesterday.
He nonetheless repeated he was willing to walk away from negotiations, which are scheduled to reach a framework deal in late March, if
Tehran does not meet Washington’s demands. Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell, a Republican, cautioned the Democratic president
not to make “the bad deal we all anticipate he’s going to make”. He
said Obama “cannot work around Congress forever”. McConnell told
CBS he was hoping to get 67 of the Senate’s 100 members “to assert the
historic role of the Senate ... in looking at matters of this magnitude”.
Sixty-seven votes are needed to overturn any presidential veto of
legislation regarding an Iran deal. The same number of votes are needed
for Senate ratification of treaties negotiated by presidents with foreign
countries. See also page 2
REUTERS
02
MONDAY 9 MARCH 2015
www.thepeninsulaqatar.com
HOME
Emir, South Korea president hold talks
Both leaders witness signing of
four cooperation agreements
DOHA: Emir H H Sheikh
Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani
held talks with South Korean
President Park Geun-hye at the
Emiri Diwan yesterday.
Deputy Emir H H Sheikh
Abdullah bin Hamad Al Thani,
ministers and Park’s delegation
were present.
The Emir welcomed Park and
her delegation and expressed
delight over her visit and said it
represented a good opportunity
for the completion of talks held
during his visit to South Korea
last November.
The Emir stressed great interest in outstanding relations with
South Korea dating back to more
than 40 years and witnessing constant development which confirm
the common keenness to consolidate them and support the strategic partnership between both
countries. The Emir affirmed
keenness to promote cooperation
and enhance the bonds of friendship between the two peoples.
Park expressed gratitude and
appreciation to the Emir for the
warm hospitality and reception.
She also praised the Emir’s
keenness on Korean companies’
participation in joint ventures
and expressed confidence over
consolidation of cooperation and
Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani holds talks with South Korean President Park Geun-hye at the Emiri Diwan yesterday.
promotion of relations in various
fields to achieve more fruitful
results.
Talks also dealt with relations
between both countries and
means of developing them in various fields and regional and international issues of mutual concern.
The Emir and the president
witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU)
on cooperation on diplomatic
training between Diplomatic
Institute at the Foreign Ministry
and National Diplomatic Academy
at the South Korean Ministry of
Foreign Affairs.
Another MoU was signed
between the Ministry of Energy
and Industry and the Korean
Ministry of Science, ICT and
Future Planning on cooperation
on human resources development and research on peaceful
use of nuclear energy. An MoU on
tourism cooperation was signed
between Qatar Tourism Authority
and South Korean Ministry of
Culture, Sports and Tourism and
another in the field of education
between the Supreme Education
Council and the South Korean
Ministry of Education.
On arrival, President Park was
accorded an official reception at
the Emiri Diwan.
The Emir hosted a luncheon
banquet in honour of President
Park and her delegation at the
Emiri Diwan. Sheikhs, ministers
and businessmen were present.
President Park left Qatar following a three-day official visit.
Park and her delegation were
seen off at Hamad International
Airport by Minister of Energy
and Industry H E Dr Mohammed
bin Saleh Al Sada, Qatari
Ambassador to South Korea
Mohammed Abdullah Al Duhaimi
and South Korean Ambassador to
Qatar Chung Keejong.
QNA
NHRC heads UN accreditation sub-panel
DOHA: Qatar’s National Human
Rights Committee (NHRC) heads
a key United Nations Human
Rights sub-committee that provides accreditation to national
human rights committees around
the world.
The sub-committee is part
of International Coordinating
Committee (ICC) of National
Human Rights Institutions that
works under the UN Human
Rights (the Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights).
National
Human
Rights
Institutions are a global network of
national human rights committees.
NHRC has been accredited A
Grade by ICC, said Jaber Al Hwail,
Director, Legal Affairs Department,
NHRC, reports Qatar News Agency
(QNA).
Al Hwail said NHRC works independently and transparently at all
levels.
Addressing students of Omar Bin
Abdul Aziz Independent Secondary
School for Boys during their visit
to NHRC headquarters, he said the
committee works fairly and upholds
human rights values.
NHRC has received
A
Grade
accreditation from International
Coordinating Committee
of National Human Rights
Institutions and this reaffirms its commitment to
transparent and neutral
stance at local, regional
and international levels,
he said.
Al Hwail said NHRC’s
achievement is not only
limited to its accreditation of A Grade but now
it heads the international
committee tasked with
providing accreditation
to national human rights
committees around the
world.
This
global
panel
is
a
sub-committee of International
Coordinating Committee
(ICC), he told the students.
He talked of the objectives and mechanisms and
nature of cases received
by NHRC and said in
accordance to the decree
establishing it, the panel
attaches concern over
issues of everyone living in Qatar’s territories
— whether a citizen or a
resident and those who
visit the country until they
return home.
He explained NHRC’s
mechanisms and methods
for solving complaints and
providing legal advice.
Al Hwail said NHRC
organises workshops,
seminars and media campaigns to raise awareness
on workers’ rights and
obligations stipulated in
the Qatari labour law and
distributes leaflets and
pamphlets in expatriate
workers’ languages.
He praised the school
for its interest in educating students and raising
their awareness on value
of human rights, stressing
the committee’s readiness
to visit and hold lectures
for students on subjects of
their interest.
THE PENINSULA
04
MONDAY 9 MARCH 2015
www.thepeninsulaqatar.com
HOME
arrives
HIA wins strategic project award PM
in Algeria
to attend
DOHA: Hamad International
Airport
(HIA)
yesterday
announced that it had won
the Strategic Project of the
Year Award at the 2015 Global
Projects of the Year Awards ceremony in New York City late last
month.
The ceremony on February
26 took place during the eighth
Global Infrastructure Leadership
Forum organized by CG/LA
Infrastructure, with the winners
selected by industry executives
from around the world.
Out of five nominees shortlisted in the category of ‘Strategic
Project of the Year’, HIA was
announced the winner.
Badr Al Meer, Chief Operating
Officer, HIA, said: “The award is
one that makes HIA and Qatar
proud.
“As the world’s latest state-ofthe-art airport hub and gateway to
Qatar, HIA is a key part of Qatar
National Vision 2030.
“Following a decade of pioneering design, engineering and
construction work, HIA is a flagship national project and one of
meeting
Badr Al Meer, Chief Operating Officer,
Hamad International Airport and
(right) the state-of-the-art gateway
of Qatar.
the most ambitious and strategic
global projects undertaken, as has
been attested by the award.”
The forum had more than 400
executives participating from 40
countries with project presentations from 28 countries, including
Qatar.
The theme of this year’s
event was ‘Build, Build, Build:
Generating Global Growth’ and
focused on infrastructure as the
catalyst for the growth of key
economies around the world,
including Qatar.
“It is an honour to recognise
these project sponsors who are
systematically changing the economic, competitive and opportunity landscapes of their countries.
“Their innovative ways of
directing, designing and funding
infrastructure builds are changing
the way we think about infrastructure development and will leave
a lasting impact on the industry,” said Norman F Anderson,
President and CEO, CG/LA
Infrastructure. THE PENINSULA
SCH honours accredited
continuous professional
development providers
DOHA: The Qatar Council for
Healthcare Practitioners (QCHP)
at the Supreme Council of Health
(SCH) organised a special event
to honour the accredited continuous professional development
(CPD) providers who represent
different sectors of the healthcare system and are involved in
providing CME/CPD activities in
Qatar.
The QCHP has accredited seven
CPD providers so far: College
of Pharmacy-Qatar University,
Department of Health SciencesQatar University, College of North
Atlantic-Qatar, Weil Cornell
Medical College-Qatar, Primary
Health Care Corporation, Learning
and Development-Supreme Council
of Health and Al Emadi Hospital.
To facilitate the accreditation
process for other CPD providers,
accredited CPD providers shared
with a group of non-accredited ones
their experiences in the accreditation system and challenges they
faced during their accreditation
process.
During the event, new accreditation standards for CPD provider
organisations were presented.
The Accreditation Department
developed the standards in
ALGIERS:
Prime
Minister
and
Interior
Minister H E Sheikh
Abdullah bin Nasser bin
Khalifa Al Thani yesterday
arrived in Algiers to take
part in the 32nd session of
Council of Arab Interior
Ministers.
He and his delegation
were welcomed at Houari
Boumediene International
Airport by his Algerian
counterpart Abdulmalik
Sellal. Algerian Ministers,
Qatari Ambassador to
Algeria Ibrahim Abdulaziz
Al
Sahlawi,
Algerian
Ambassador to Qatar
Abdulaziz Saba and members of the Qatari embassy
were present.
The Premier said: “I
am pleased, at the outset of my visit to the sisterly Democratic People’s
Republic of Algeria, to
express happiness, pleasure and pride at relations
binding our countries and
meeting my brother Prime
Minister Abdulmalik Sellal.
My visit to Algeria reflects
keenness to enhance cooperation and develop relations in various fields to
implement directives of
Emir H H Sheikh Tamim
bin Hamad Al Thani and his
brother President of Algeria
Abdelaziz Bouteflika. There
is no doubt that this visit
will discuss and exchange
views on regional and international issues of common
interest.”
Al Attiyah meets
British envoy
Some of the officials at the event.
partnership with Royal College
Canada International (RCCI) and
stakeholders engaged in CME/CPD
from public and private healthcare
organisations and academic institutions in Qatar.
The Accreditation Department
plans to organise the event
annually. Its team also held the
‘Accreditation Summit 3’ workshop
in association with RCCI as part of
a series of workshops to educate
stakeholders on new standards for
the National accreditation System
and CPD Framework.
The workshop was led by
Professor Craig Campbell, Director
for CPD, RCCI, and Dr Samar
Aboulsoud, Manager, Accreditation
Department, QCHP.
DOHA:
Administrative
Control and Transparency
Authority
Chairman
H E Abdullah bin Hamad
Al
Attiyah
yesterday
met British Ambassador
Nicholas Hopton.
THE PENINSULA
QNA
College of Law seminar reviews challenges in energy dispute resolution
DOHA: A seminar on ‘Energy
Dispute
Resolution’
organised by Center for Energy and
Sustainability Law
at Qatar
University’s College of Law
addressed recent developments
and challenges in energy dispute resolution at national and
international levels.
It was the first in a series of
forums to provide tips to oil and gas
professionals on making an informed
choice on dispute resolution, and the
importance of a multi-tier approach
to resolving disputes.
The seminar was attended by leading legal and commercial organisations and companies, including Sheikh
Fahad Al Thani from Qatar Chamber
of Commerce; Sheikh Hamad bin
Saoud Al Thani from Qatar Woqod
Fuel; Sheikh Thani Al Thani from
Qatari Lawyers Association, Dr
Mohammed Abdulaziz Al Khulaifi,
Dean of the college; Dr Mohammed
Alramhi, Director of the centre,
faculty and students from QU colleges and departments. The event
was endorsed by Association of
International Petroleum Negotiators.
Dr Alramhi opened the event
which featured presentations by panellists,
including Dr Francis
Botchway, Associate Dean
for Research at the college; Victor P Leginsky,
Dubai-based Chartered
Arbitrator and Certified
Arbitraries Mediator;
and Salman Mahmood,
Partner, Doha-based law
firm Sultan Al Abdulla &
Partners.
He said: “The topic
under discussion is critical
for the oil and gas industry. The centre is wellplaced to present timely
issues and bring together
experts from industry and
academia to advance dialogue and put forward recommendations that can be
successfully implemented.
This underlines the centre’s commitment to being
a key partner in contributing to goals of Qatar
National Vision 2030 and
development strategies.”
Dr Botchway used a case
law to illustrate jurisdictional and enforcement
tensions and conflicts
between national courts
and international arbitral
tribunals and highlighted
areas where such tensions
can be manifested under
Qatari law.
He said the first step to
dispute resolution is dispute avoidance which will
involve incorporating dispute management units or
boards into contracts for
natural resource investment, construction and
long gestation projects.
Mahmood outlined contractual areas and avenues
open for energy disputes,
and said in order for the
arbitration clause in a contract to be effective under
Qatari law, it is necessary
that parties must authorise their signatories to
agree to arbitrate disputes.
THE PENINSULA
MONDAY 9 MARCH 2015
www.thepeninsulaqatar.com
HOME
05
Qatar’s first open-space AC
commercial mall next year
BY RAYNALD C RIVERA
Jaber Al Harami (left), Editor-in-Chief, Al Sharq, and Saleh Hamad Al
Sharqi, Deputy General Manager and Head of the Organizing Committee,
QC, exchange documents after signing the agreement at QC premises.
Al Sharq media sponsor
of ‘Made in Qatar’ expo
DOHA: Qatar Chamber (QC)
and Al Sharq newspaper signed
a media sponsorship agreement for the fourth edition of
‘Made in Qatar’ exhibition, at
the chamber premises.
Scheduled to begin on May 19
at Doha Exhibition Centre, the
exhibition is being organised by
QC under the patronage of Emir
H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad
Al Thani.
The four-day expo in cooperation with the Ministry of Energy
and Industry, aims to attract
investment in the manufacturing sector while promoting and
showcasing locally manufactured
products.
Saleh Hamad Al Sharqi,
Deputy General Manager
and Head of the Organizing
Committee, QC, signed the
agreement with Jaber Al Harami,
Editor-in-Chief, Al Sharq.
Al Sharqi thanked the newspaper for sponsorship and said it
emphasises the daily’s keenness
to support Qatar’s industry, particularly and the national economy in general.
He said Al Sharq is playing a
significant role in local media and
praised its keenness to pursuit
and publish all QC events and
activities and economic issues.
Al Sharqi also praised cooperation between both said,
highlighting the success of the
previous editions of the expo.
This year ‘Made in Qatar’
will focus on small and medium
enterprises (SMEs) which a
vital pillar for any industrial
nation’s progress.
Al Harami praised QC’s role in
enhancing the important sector
representing the private sector
and solving any obstacles facing
its development.
He also highlighted the exhibition’s achievements in showcasing and promoting national
industry products and manufacturers leading to the development of SMEs.
He said QC is exerting efforts
to support Qatar’s industry by
organising the expo which has
gained good reputation year after
year.
THE PENINSULA
DOHA: Qatar will have its first
open-space air-conditioned commercial mall when Katara Plaza
opens its doors next year, it was
announced yesterday.
Being built on a 38,000sqm area,
the multi-million-riyal project is
poised to become a major attraction at Katara, with its unique
features, including well-known
French department store Galeries
Lafayette, an exclusive evian Spa,
and a children’s mall, among
others.
Speaking at a press conference
to unveil the project, Dr Khalid
bin Ibrahim Al Sulaiti, General
Manager, Katara, said: “The
project is one of the mega investment projects to enhance the
strategy of making Katara a lucrative cultural and economic project.
“The project forms a unique
and distinguished experience. It
blends classical and traditional
architecture, reflecting the vision
and objectives of Cultural Village
Foundation as a cultural edifice
that combines Qatari identity and
global arts,” added Dr Al Sulaiti.
Nabeel Ali bin Ali, ViceChairman and EVP, Ali Bin Ali
Group which will operate the mall,
said Katara Plaza is set to be an
“iconic landmark for luxury, retail
Earlier Kahramaa had asked
independent companies in the
country to come up with proposals to increase water production.
After studying the offers, it found
the proposal presented by QEWC
the most effective in terms of cost
and technical means, and both
sides agreed to set up the plant.
However, the statement did not
mention the location where the
new plant will be set up.
Kahramaa and QEWC have
signed an offer letter to enable
the latter to start work and an
agreement for buying water will be
Continued from page 1
signed in the next three months.
It will be for 25 years.
Under the agreement, QEWC
will establish the plant. Mitsubishi
Company will be responsible for
preparing the design, importing
equipment and establishment
of the plant. Kahramaa will buy
portable water from the company
for 25 years. Kahramaa said it
is implementing projects across
Qatar to raise its strategic water
reserve and this project will be
followed by other agreements and
projects to improve supply and
services.
THE PENINSULA
Dr Mohammed Al Khulaifi, Dean, College of Law, with faculty at a press conference.
research and scholarship that will
advance the college’s position as
the only law college in Qatar and
boost its competitiveness with
peer colleges with similar programmes in the region.
Admission
requirements
include a bachelor’s law degree
from QU or equivalent from a
recognised university; a résumé;
motivation letter; academic recommendation letter; and a successful personal interview.
Admitted students are required
to complete 33 credit hours which
include six specialised and indepth subjects (18 credit hours),
and lifestyle.”
When it opens in September
next year, he said, it would house
leading brands and is poised to
“become an unparalleled destination for fashion, luxury, lifestyle,
art, wellness and entertainment for
adults and children year round.”
Galeries Lafayette is one of the
first tenants to ink an agreement
to put up a vast retail centre focusing on fashion.
Laurent Haynez, Senior VicePresident, Strategy and Business
Development, Galeries Lafayette
Group, said the store in the plaza
would be Galeries Lafayette’s sixth
branch abroad. Operating for 120
But its inspectors, during their latest campaign, discovered that several outlets that had
held the draws were still keeping the prizes
with them.
On enquiry, these outlets revealed that
their winners couldn’t be contacted due to
College of Law launches two
new Master’s programmes
DOHA:
Qatar
University
College of Law (QU-LAWC) has
launched Master’s programmes
in public law and private law
beginning Fall 2015.
Both programmes in Arabic are
the first of their kind in Qatar to
prepare law students with specialist skills to contribute to the
professional sectors within Qatar,
consistent with the growing needs
of the labour market and in line
with objectives and values of
Qatar National Vision 2030 and
development strategies.
They also aim to build an environment of high-quality legal
FROM LEFT: Laurent Houel, Evian Global Director; Katara General Manager, Dr Khalid bin Ibrahim Al Sulaiti;
Nabeel Ali bin Ali, Vice- Chairman and EVP, Ali Bin Ali Group; Laurent Haynez,, Senior Vice-President, Strategy and
Business Development, Galeries Lafayette Group, and Architect Bruno Moinard at the press conference yesterday.
years, the department store has
300 branches which witness one
million customers daily.
World-famous Paris-based
architect Bruno Moinard, who
designed Galeries Lafayette, said
by far it was his largest project to
date to recreate “the image of Paris
in Doha” and would be unique in
terms of design, materials and
large space.
Another tenant which has
secured space in the plaza is
French natural mineral water
brand evian which will open one of
its exclusive spas in the world. The
evian Spa Doha will offer wellness
experience that would literally
transport customers to an evian
universe and its French Alpine
birthplace.
Laurent Houel, Evian Global
Director, said the spa promises
a “complete experience that goes
beyond treatment” with the spa’s
architectural design which mirrors the story of the journey of
the water from the Alps combined
with sounds and sights.
A pioneering feature of the
plaza, the children’s mall’s design
depict two big gifts wrapped in red
and gold, reflecting an atmosphere
of joy and fun and innovation and
architectural design.
THE PENINSULA
Outlets warned over unapproved raffle coupons
New water plant deal signed
DOHA: The Qatar General
Electricity
and
Water
Corporation (Kahramaa) has
signed an agreement with Qatar
Electricity and Water Company
(QEWC) to establish a plant
for production and desalination
of water using reverse osmosis
(RO) technology.
The plant, the first of its kind
in Qatar, will have a capacity to
produce 36 million gallons of
desalinated water daily. It will cost
$500m and start operation in the
third quarter of 2016, Kahramaa
said in a statement yesterday.
38,000sqm Katara Plaza to open doors in September
three elective courses (nine credit
hours) and a thesis towards graduation (six credit hours).
Dr Mohammed Al Khulaifi,
Dean, College of Law, said: “The
college continues to deliver on its
mission and vision to provide programmes on a wide-range of legal
issues and questions to draw solutions for problems that face the
Qatari society. In launching these
Master’s programmes, the college
is bringing to bear its expertise in
legal education and commitment
to prepare the next generation of
highly-qualified law professionals
in Qatar.”
THE PENINSULA
the above-cited problems. The ministry said
in a statement yesterday that raffle coupons
for draws given away by commercial outlets
to people are approved by it.
One needs to fill in simple information such
as the name of the person and how he or she
can be contacted.
The ministry has warned commercial outlets not to distribute raffle coupons to the
people without their approval.
This is, apparently, to make sure that the
coupons have necessary columns for people to
fill in their names and contact details.
THE PENINSULA
06
MONDAY 9 MARCH 2015
www.thepeninsulaqatar.com
HOME
Community Police
felicitate Sheikh Thani
bin Abdullah Al Thani
DOHA:
Community
Police
officials, led by Lt. Col.
Ahmad Zayed Al Mohannadi,
Director, Community Policing
Department, visited Sheikh
Thani bin Abdullah Al Thani
and felicitated him on winning
international Dentons Award
2014 for Social Impact for his
social, humanitarian and charitable accomplishments around
the world.
Ameer Al Mulla, Executive
Director, Qatar Society for
Rehabilitation of Persons with
Special Needs, was present.
Lt. Col. Al Mohannadi extended
his greetings and expressed pleasure over the unique achievement
of Sheikh Thani in recognition
to his humanitarian and social
efforts that make all Qataris feel
proud as he put forward humanitarian services through his establishments reaching out to various
segments of society.
He said the Community
Policing Department at the
Ministry of Interior is committed to working in collaboration
with all stakeholders to ensure
security and stability through
community contribution and
cooperation.
Sheikh Thani praised the initiative of Community Police and
expressed pleasure over the ministry’s support for humanitarian
services and social works.
THE PENINSULA
Sheikh Thani bin Abdullah Al Thani (second left) with officials from the Community Policing Department at the event.
PHCC: Triaging system effective 24 CMC members
DOHA: Despite increasing complaints about the triaging system
being introduced at health centres, the Primary Health Care
Corporation (PHCC) has claimed
that the system has helped significantly reduce patients’ waiting
time.
At least 54 percent of patients who
visited health centres have been able
to see a doctor within 30 minutes.
Also 39 percent of patients have
seen a doctor within 30 to 90 minutes. And these patients included
those who required urgent care and
routine health issues, Dr Mariam
Abdelmalik, Managing Director,
PHCC, told a press conference
yesterday.
The triaging system is to reach a
quick evaluation of every patient at
health centres to identify those who
should be given priority to be referred
to doctors after their health condition has been assessed and classified.
Data analysis was based on information gathered in January and
February in Dhayen, Al Gharafa,
to seek re-election
Dr Mariam Abdelmalik (second left), Managing Director, PHCC, addresses the press conference in the presence
of other officials.
Omar bin Al Khatab and West Bay
health centres that have introduced
‘Cerner’ and the new appointment
system together with the triaging
system. The number of patients
classified according to this system
was 24,866. The number of patients
who were not able to see the doctor
during the specified time was 32 and
the number of patients who were able
to see the doctor within four to six
hours was 494. This was due to their
routine cases such as pre-marital,
medical and Medical Commission
tests and those where a
pre-booked appointment
through 107 Hayyak was
required.
“Before the introduction
of the triaging system in
health centres, there were
varied waiting times that
could sometimes be too
long. In the old system,
priority to see the doctor
was on the basis of firstcome first-serve regardless
of the urgency.
“ With the introduction
of this service, patients
with more urgent and critical needs are given priority,” said Dr Abdelmalik.
The analysis of data
gathered from ‘Patient
Satisfaction Forms’ at
health centres have indicated that 91 percent of
patients said they were
happy with the triage system or that it was good or
excellent.
“We consider the survey as
essential part of our work, therefore statistical data and patient
and staff feedback were collated
and assessed before and after
the experimental procedure and
changes to improve the system
had been identified. Evaluation
continues,” said Dr Abdelmalik.
However, due to increasing
number of complaints, PHCC is
conducting another survey to
gauge the level of awareness of the
new system, what people think of
it and how often they use the 107
hotline.
“We believe that a great number
of patients insist on coming to
health centres to receive any
medical service without booking
any appointments that could save
them a lot of time, particularly
if their health condition doesn’t
require immediate medical attention. This shows how important is
to raise awareness of this system,”
said Dr Abdelmalik.
THE PENINSULA
DOHA: Some 24 of the 29 sitting members of the Central
Municipal Council (CMC) will
be filing nominations to seek
re-election to the public representative body.
Many sitting councillors aspiring to re-enter the House argue
that they would like to complete
development work in their constituencies. Their poll plank in the
election (for the fifth term of the
CMC in May), will be the development work they have done in
their areas.
Based on interaction with a
cross-section of constituents in
different areas, it seems sitting
councillors vying for another
term, could flaunt work such as
lobbying with authorities and
getting a petrol station built or
sanctioned in their constituencies.
A school or a health centre or
a park project commissioned or
started in a particular constituency could help the sitting member from there have an edge over
rivals if he seeks re-election.
Next, if a member has lobbied
and got an Al Meera branch of
consumer stores chain set up
in his ward or even without his
effort the branch has been established, then that could be a plus
point during his canvassing.
These are some of the side
issues in an election that seems
to have little interest for the
electorate, many of whom see the
CMC as a body with no executive
powers.
The issues in the past CMC
elections, held every four years
since early 1999, have been basic
infrastructure development —
roads, sewage networks, schools,
playgrounds, parks, health centres — which now exist in abundance across the country unlike
1999.
An increasing number of citizens are coming forward seeking nomination, which closes on
Wednesday.
Among them are expected to
be 24 sitting members, including a woman, the lone member of
the CMC since 2003, Sheikha Al
Jefairi, representing Old Airport
locality. Other women will also be
in the fray but their names and
total number will be known on
April 7 when the election committee will finalising the list of the
candidates.
After the last date for nominations, the first list will
be announced on March 17.
Grievances, if any, will be heard
by the committee and the final
list will be announced on April 8.
A media committee of the poll
panel of the CMC at the Ministry
of Interior will give its nod to the
candidates to begin canvassing
anytime after April 7.
THE PENINSULA
QU offers early conditional admissions for Fall 2015
DOHA: Qatar University (QU)
has announced a new initiative
to attract high-achieving secondary school students to make
application for early conditional
admission to undergraduate
programmes for Fall 2015.
Nouf Al Kuwari, Director,
Department of Admissions, said
early conditional admission is
provisional admission pending
successful completion of the final
year of high school and submission
of all admission requirements.
Students granted early conditional admission will learn about
results on March 26, and will gain
placement in their first college of
choice, she said. “The initiative is
as exciting for us as students who
will gain early admission.
“It is our way of promoting
the qualities of perseverance and
determination to succeed among
students preparing for the next
phase in their academic journey.
“It is also a motivating factor
for them to work hard
and push for excellence in
their final scores. We look
forward to receiving their
applications and later welcoming them as the first
early admits to QU”.
Qataris as well as students of Qatari parents
in the 12th grade who
have earned a minimum
of 85 percent in 11th
grade and 85 percent in
the first semester of their
12th grade are eligible for
admission consideration
to the colleges of Arts and
Sciences, Business and
Economics, Education,
Engineering,
L aw,
Pharmacy and Shariah
and Islamic Students; and
95 percent for admission to
College of Medicine.
In addition to fulfilling
regular official requirements, applicants seeking
early conditional admission must also submit, by
March 19, a certified copy
of Grade 11 transcript,
Grade 12 transcript of the
first semester and a copy
of their Qatar ID.
The
department
stressed that applicants
who do not satisfy early
conditional admission
minimum requirements
will still be considered for
regular first-year admission upon submission
of required documents,
including final, official and
certified high school transcripts before July 7.
THE PENINSULA
MONDAY 9 MARCH 2015
www.thepeninsulaqatar.com
HOME
07
31st GCC Traffic Week begins THE 99 creator Dr Naif
DOHA: The 31st GCC Traffic
Week started at Darb Al Saai
yesterday, offering activities
under the theme ‘Your decision determines your destiny’.
Staff Major General Saad bin
Jassim Al Khulaifi, DirectorGeneral, Public Security, opened
the event in the presence of senior officials from the Ministry
of Interior and representatives
of participating companies and
organisations.
He praised active participation in the week and stressed
the importance of community
partnership in reducing accidents. He said the ministry is
keen to make security personnel
close to the public because their
role is to maintain safety and
security and community policing
is a clear example of the policy.
Some 44 companies, organisations and institutions are participating, along with various
departments of the ministry.
Activities include puppet
shows, camel shows, free driving tests, other cultural and
entertainment events, contests
for children and workshops on
traffic safety.
Brig Mohammed Saad
Al Kharji, Director, Traffic
Department, said the event
features special programmes
Al Mutawa to address
translation forum
Staff Major General Saad bin Jassim Al Khulaifi, Director- General, Public Security, opens event in the
presence of senior officials from the Ministry of Interior and representatives of participating companies and
organisations.
for children and competitions
to raise traffic safety awareness.
He urged the public to visit
exhibitions being held as part
of activities. He said increasing
traffic safety awareness has led
to a decline in accident mortality
rates. In 2013, the mortality rate
was 10 for every 100,000 which
fell to eight last year — below
the international average of 13.
The week includes a workshop
on ‘Your Safety is Your Choice’,
free art and workshop on traffic signals. Seminars on ‘Driving
decisions and their role in
reducing accidents’; ‘Common
traffic mistakes among communities’; and ‘Motorcycles hobbies and risks’ will he held
during the week.
Dr Eissa Al Hurr will give
a lecture on ‘Role of Family in
Reducing Accidents’. Speakers
from Qatar Lawyers Association
and Qatar Red Crescent are also
take part. Sheikh Saaban Al
Sinouhri from the Ministry of
Awqaf and Islamic Affairs will
speak on ‘Drivers’ behaviour’.
Hamad Hospital’s Injuries
Unit will present a lecture
and a representative of Qatar
Awareness Group will speak on
‘Rights of persons with special
needs’. Eid Charity, Mawater,
driving schools and other agencies will showcase programmes.
THE PENINSULA
French envoy
praises Qatari
women’s role
DOHA: French Ambassador
Eric Chevallier and his wife
hosted a lunch at their residence for prominent Qatari
women from the economic,
cultural, management, media
and other sectors to mark
International Women’s Rights
Day. The lunch was organised
in honour of prominent Qatari
women, along with Caroline
Carpentier, author of the book,
Qatar Success Stories, Inspiring
Women.
The ambassador reminded the
importance of women’s rights in
the world: “This issue should be
Dr Al Mutawa, Founder and CEO, Teshkeel Media Group.
French Ambassador Eric Chevallier and his wife with prominent Qatari women at the event.
a day to day commitment and
we still all have a lot of efforts
to do in this matter.”
He praised Qatari women’s
active role in society and said:
“I’m really impressed, since
I arrived in Doha, by Qatari
women’s dynamism and their
presence in all fields of activity, whether in public or private
sectors. “I’m convinced that
their role and their place will
be even more important in the
upcoming years.”
THE PENINSULA
Qapco marks World Cancer Day
DOHA: Marking World
Cancer
Day,
Qatar
Petrochemical Company
(Qapco)
welcomed
a
team from Qatar Cancer
Society (QCS) to its
Sports Club in Mesaieed
to raise awareness about
cancer and encourage its
prevention, detection and
treatment.
The team held informative sessions and workshops
in English and Arabic for
participants.
Qapco marked the day
under the theme ‘Show
you care, be cancer aware’
to increase the community’s understanding of
cancer and empower its
employees to take control
over their health. A highlight of the sessions was
the Survivor Experience
Sharing. The stories of
hope were an inspiration
for many and encouraged
them to fight cancer with
more determination.
QCS highlighted treatments
available
and
stressed the whole spectrum of support options.
Educational materials were
distributed and self-examination workshops held, in
particular for breast cancer.
Dr Mohammed Youssef
Al Mulla, Vice-Chairman
and CEO, Qapco, said: “At
Qapco, as a responsible corporate citizen, and in alignment with Qatar National
Vision 2030, we believe in
raising awareness about
cancer among our employees and community and
highlighting the importance of healthy lifestyles
to lower the risk of cancer.”
Mariam Hamad Al
Nuaimi, General manager,
QCS, said: “I would like to
express my deep appreciation to Qapco for efforts
towards fighting cancer
Participants attend one of the lectures.
by supporting our educational
mission”. The ‘Show you care, be
cancer aware’ initiative is part of
Qapco’s annual CSR campaign ‘Be
Fit, Be Healthy, Be Happy’.
THE PENINSULA
DOHA:
Translation
and
Interpreting Institute (TII) of
Hamad Bin Khalifa University
(HBKU) will host Dr Naif Al
Mutawa as a keynote speaker at
the Sixth Annual International
Translation Conference.
To be held at Qatar National
Convention Center on March 23
and 24, the theme of the forum is
‘Translating the Gulf: Beyond Fault
Lines’, with discussions on expanding the field of translation beyond
its traditional borders.
Dr Al Mutawa, Founder and
CEO, Teshkeel Media Group, is the
creator of THE 99, the bestselling
comic book featuring superheroes
based on Muslim culture.
The series was created after
September 11, 2001 to reinforce
positive messages of the Muslim
faith, and grew to be an animated
series now shown in more than 70
countries around the world.
Honoured by the Unesco Prize
for Children’s and Young People’s
Literature in the Service of
Tolerance, Dr Al Mutawa also
serves as a member of World
Economic Forum’s Global Agenda
Council on the Future of Media.
Dr Amal Al Malki, Executive
Director, TII, said: “Qatar plays an
important role globally as a place
to foster conversations on multiculturalism and tolerance. Translation
and interpreting have a key role in
cultural representation, identity
and dialogue between the East and
West.
“We are pleased to welcome Dr
Al Mutawa, a leading entrepreneur
and writer, in this space to share
his story on THE 99 at the intersection of language and culture.”
The conference has a line-up of
diverse topics, offering students and
community members the chance
to engage with translation studies scholars. Academic panels on
subjects such as gender and translation, literature and culture in
translation, and media translation
technologies will be held.
The conference will also offer
professional development workshops on sports translation or
media translation, similar to those
TTI’s Professional Services Centre
holds throughout the year.
Those interested could learn
more about events and speakers
online and register at http://www.
tii.qa/register_now
THE PENINSULA
08
VIEWS
MONDAY 9 MARCH 2015
www.thepeninsulaqatar.com
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Editorial
Lack of trust
Cartoon Arts International / The New York Times Syndicate
N INTERNATIONAL report on the disappearance of
Malaysia Airlines MH370 has been scoffed at by the
family members of the victims. The Boeing 777-200ER
was on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing when it
lost contact with air traffic control an hour into flight on March
8, 2014. What followed over a year were conspiracy theories,
claims by family members of the 239 victims, counterclaims by
Malaysian authorities and strained China-Malaysia relations.
Over two-third of those on board were Chinese.
The interim report has pointed out that the battery powering
the underwater locator beacon of the flight data recorder had
expired long ago. This could be one of the reasons why an
extensive probe hasn’t been able to trace the plane.
The response of the families of the 227 passengers and 12
crew members to the report shows an alarming level of mistrust
towards the authorities. The rejection of the report by the family
members is more a repudiation of the way Malaysia dealt with
the crisis in the immediate aftermath of the incident than a
verdict on the quality of the investigation.
The probe is being conducted by seven international air safety
organisations from Australia, Britain, Singapore, France, China,
the United States and Indonesia. The 19-member independent
safety investigation team has gone into multiple aspects of the
incident including airworthiness and maintenance,air traffic
control operations in the wee hours (local time) of March 8,
2014,cargo consignment, crew profile,
diversion from flight plan route,
Rejection of
organisational and management
the MH370
information, and satellite
interim report communication.
The disappearance of MH370
spawned wild conspiracy theories
by victims’
— from those that implicated the
families points North Korean regime to the ones
that held United States responsible
to a lack of
for the disappearance of the jetliner.
trust in the
Lack of information and clumsy
crisis management by the Malaysian
international
government fed rumours. Ties
between Malaysia and China suffered
probe.
as a large number of Chinese families
to which the victims belonged turned
desperate after weeks of waiting in a hotel.
The Chinese security apparatus was on alert yesterday for any
signs of trouble as family members of MH370 victims prayed at
a temple. There was a large protest at the Malaysian embassy in
Beijing that was virtually insulated from protesters by Chinese
policemen. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s comments
calling the search most complex and technically challenging in
aviation history reflect a sense of urgency by his government.
That he has vowed to continue the expensive search along with
Australian PM Tony Abbott bodes well for the investigation into
one of the most mysterious incidents in aviation history.
The interim report hasn’t come out with any startling facts
about the disappearance of the plane that changed course
and started flying west of the Malaysian peninsula. Thus, the
disenchantment with the report
A
.
Repressive clouds over
Russia’s civil society
BY ALEXEY SEMYONOV and
ALEXEY BAYER
HIRTY-FIVE years ago, on
January 22, 1980, Andrei
Sakharov was detained by KGB
agents on a Moscow street and
packed off to Nizhny Novgorod, then
called Gorky. The decision to send the
human rights defender and winner of the
1975 Nobel Peace Prize into internal exile
came as relations with the West deteriorated after the Soviet Union’s invasion
of Afghanistan a month earlier. Today,
history is being repeated as the Russian
government mounts a legal attack on
human rights and civic organisations
— including an institution created to
preserve Sakharov’s legacy — at a time
when Moscow’s
relations with the
world are strained
by its involvement
in a war in neighbouring Ukraine.
And with the
brazen murder of
opposition leader
Boris Nemtsov
last week within
sight
of
the
Kremlin, the need
for a vibrant civil
society in Russia
is all the more
urgent.
In December,
the Ministry of
Justice, acting on
an anonymous
denunciation,
carried out an
unscheduled
inspection of the
Sakharov Center,
one of the oldest and most
respected nongovernmental organisations in Russia (and, appropriately,
the venue of the memorial service for
Nemtsov). Along with 16 other independent NGOs, the centre was required
to register as a “foreign agent” under
a law passed in 2012. Some NGOs have
T
On paper, Russia
claims to have
broken with its
Soviet past. On
the surface,
it continues
to honour
Sakharov’s
memory and
has repudiated
the Soviet-era
persecution of
the physicist.
decided to shut down rather than admit
to or challenge this designation, which
in Russian carries clear connotations of
“spy” and “traitor.” The Sakharov Center
is contesting its designation as a foreign
agent and, in the meantime, faces heavy
fines that could endanger its survival.
The 2012 law designates as foreign
agents those NGOs that receive any
funding from abroad (regardless of the
source) and engage in political activity
(as arbitrarily defined by the Ministry
of Justice). The law has been central to
the government’s intensifying crackdown
on independent thought, and last year
Russia’s highest court found that the law
was not intended to persecute or discredit any group — even though it does
exactly that.
Founded in 1990, a year after
Sakharov’s death, the Sakharov Center
is a civic and cultural institution that
houses a permanent exhibition on the
history of repression in the Soviet Union
and puts on temporary exhibitions on
human rights. Its space is also used for
discussions, debates and performances
in the spirit of Sakharov’s principles of
openness, tolerance and unrestricted
debate. The centre recently served as
the venue for the play “Nadya and Osya,
a Love Story,” about the early-20th-century Russian poet Osip Mandelstam and
his wife, Nadezhda. A discussion in early
February addressed protection for freedom of speech.
Because of these and similar events,
the Ministry of Justice said the centre “systematically carries out political
activities.” In its inspection report, the
ministry cited the topics of those discussions, as well as statements by participants — who were not affiliated with
the centre — that were critical of government agencies and policies. In other
words, the ministry equated criticism of
the government with political activity, in
the same way that Sakharov’s activities
— his civic advocacy of human rights,
dignity and international disarmament
— were considered “anti-Soviet” and
brought about his persecution and exile.
The Sakharov Center does not accept
the ministry’s broad definition of political
The other side
Reducing risk vital in deactivation of Fukushima power plant
T
HE fourth anniversary of the
accident at Tokyo Electric
Power Co.’s Fukushima No.
1 nuclear power plant that
occurred in the wake of a huge tsunami
triggered by the Great East Japan
Earthquake is approaching.
Decommissioning operations have
made some progress, but many hurdles remain. The work will take as
long as 40 years to complete, and it is
essential to overcome challenges one
by one.
The cores of Nos. 1, 2 and 3 reactors were damaged in the accident, and
the No. 4 reactor building collapsed
in an explosion caused by hydrogen
that leaked from the No. 3 reactor.
The extraction of nuclear fuel from the
cooling pool of the No. 4 reactor was
completed late last month.
Now that the wreckage of the building that housed the No. 3 reactor has
been removed, the operation to extract
nuclear fuel will start. The work must be
carried out steadily to reduce the risk
of contamination.
The amount of radioactive contaminated water generated daily at the
plant has dropped from 400 tons to
300 tons in the past year. The amount
has declined because groundwater
from wells is being pumped up before
it flows into the reactor buildings and is
discharged into the sea.
In a bid to further reduce the generation of contaminated water, TEPCO has
been building a frozen-soil wall to prevent the inflow of water by freezing the
soil around the reactor buildings. There
is also a plan to purify the groundwater generated nearest to the buildings
before discharging it into the sea. This
must be realized quickly.
A series of unexpected problems
must be dealt with properly.
It came to light last month that radioactive rainwater was leaked into the
sea through a drainage canal. TEPCO
has come under heavy criticism for
not making public the related data,
and negotiations with the fishermen
concerned over additional discharging
of groundwater into the sea have hit
a snag.
The utility did not consider that the
data on rainwater generated in a natural phenomenon was subject to publication. In hindsight, it must be said
that TEPCO’s handling of the matter
was insufficient. The utility is urged
to check again whether there are any
undisclosed data. The disposal of contaminated water stored in the plant’s
compound has been delayed despite
the progress of measures to prevent
the generation of contaminated water.
The Yomiuri Shimbun
activity, which should properly cover only
actions and publications supporting specific political parties and candidates or
efforts that otherwise seek to exercise
influence over the state. Moreover, the
centre has not changed its mission or
its policies since the ministry investigated it in past years without labelling
it a foreign agent. Apart from the financial pressure — the centre could face
repeated fines of up to about $7,500 for
the same alleged transgression — being
classified as a foreign agent raises issues
greatly complicating the functioning of
the centre. Worse, a slew of new and
pending legislation would allow the government to ban any NGO classified as a
foreign agent as well as other “undesirable foreign organisations.”
As Rachel Denber, deputy Europe
and Central Asia director for Human
Rights Watch, noted, “Instead of targetting independent groups, the government
should be listening to what they have
to say.” On paper, Russia claims to have
broken with its Soviet past. On the surface, it continues to honor Sakharov’s
memory and has repudiated the Sovietera persecution of the physicist. A major
Moscow thoroughfare is named after
him. In Nizhny Novgorod, a monument
to Sakharov was placed in front of the
building where he and his wife spent six
years of their exile. But such honors are
meaningless while the principles that
Sakharov stood for are under siege.
“At certain periods of time in the life
of any nation, there will be people who
turn on the light, if you will. They show
a road for the nation to follow,” Russian
President Vladimir Putin said in a 2001
interview with NPR. “Andrei Sakharov
was one of those people: a visionary,
someone who was able not only to see
the future, but to articulate his thoughts,
and to do so without fear.” The road that
Sakharov showed us is indispensable for
any country to grow, develop and prosper
in the modern world. The Russian government can begin to follow it by ending
its persecution of the Sakharov Center
and other NGOs acting in the spirit of
the principles for which he stood.
WP-BLOOMBERG
Quote of
the day
The disappearance
of MH370 is without
precedent, and so too
is the search — by
far the most complex
and technically
challenging in
aviation history.
Najib Razak
Malaysian Prime Minister
MONDAY 9 MARCH 2015
www.thepeninsulaqatar.com
VIEWS
09
Can Pope prevent a ‘holy war’?
Pope Francis has long recognised the
honourable aspects of Islam. When he
expressed sympathy for Muslims who
defend the Quran as a Book of Peace and
prayed in the Blue Mosque of Istanbul
facing Makkah, he was drawing on long
ties with Muslim believers.
BY GARRY WILLS
iscussions ricochet
around Pope Francis’s
ability to reconcile
the Catholic Church’s
bureaucracy, theology and practitioners. But for a man of Francis’s
scope and skill, this is too narrow
an assignment. His real task, for
which he is ideally situated, is to
prevent the world’s descent into
religious war.
Many people want to make
our “war on terror” a war on at
least a segment of the Muslim
religion. Republican Senator
Lindsey Graham makes this
very clear: “We are in a religious
war.” Some think of this war as
being waged in revenge for the
attacks of 9/11 — to prove, as
former deputy undersecretary of
defence Lt Gen William Boykin
once put it, that their God is
greater than Islam’s.
But there are 1.3 billion followers of Islam scattered around the
world, and an ambitious Gallup
poll of Muslims in 35 heavily
Muslim countries found that
the vast majority of them did
not approve of the 9/11 attacks.
Significantly, those who condemned the attacks based their
opposition to violence mainly on
religion, while the 7 percent who
considered them “completely justified” relied heavily on political
D
arguments. How can we blame the
Muslim religion for this horror?
Pope Francis has long recognised the honourable aspects of
Islam. When he expressed sympathy for Muslims who defend
the Quran as a Book of Peace
and prayed in the Blue Mosque
of Istanbul facing Makkah, he
was drawing on long ties with
Muslim believers. As archbishop
of Buenos Aires, he visited the
Islamic Center in his city, wrote
a greeting in the visitor book
using the Muslim prayer-title for
God (“I give thanks to God, the
Merciful”) and became a friend
of the center’s president. He is a
man with deep personal connections to other religious leaders,
and he is able to discern the varying strands and historical stages
of their faiths.
It would be foolish and dangerous to limit our views of Islam to
what one group of fundamentalists sees when it looks at another
group of fundamentalists. This
creates a mirroring effect by
which enemies come to resemble each other. Graham summons us to a holy war against
Muslims whose supposed crime
is that they wage holy wars.
Since fundamentalists see only
their own and others’ fundamentalism, those who point to a
deeper message of peace present
on the other side are said to have
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reviews a guard of honour with Pope Francis during a welcoming ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Ankara
last year.
defected from their own tradition,
as when President Barack Obama
and Pope Francis recognise the
admirable parts of Muslim scripture, history and practice. When
Obama noted that our own religious tradition has had violence
in its history, former Arkansas
Gov Mike Huckabee intoned:
“Everything he does is against
what Christians stand for. . . .
The one group of people that
can know they have his undying,
unfailing support would be the
Muslim community.”
The pope has advantages in
this area that the president does
not. Huckabee was pandering to
those who have always considered Obama a Muslim, but even
crazy people do not claim that
Francis was born in Kenya. And
Francis, as a religious leader,
is better able to draw spiritual
conclusions about Islam. He can
unite all believers in the One
God — something other popes
could not or would not do. When
Pope Benedict XVI tried at the
University of Regensburg in 2006
to open a dialogue with Muslims,
he did it so clumsily that riots
and killings resulted. He lacked
the experience and personal ties
that Francis has developed with
Muslims.
All popes must be diplomats,
since Catholics exist in many
different cultures and nations.
But past popes had less room to
maneuver than Francis does.
Pope Pius XII had to deal with
fascists, who were racist nationalists; his relations had to be
uneasy (and he was criticised for
having any dealings with them
India’s Daughter: Since the Delhi
rape things have got worse
The documentary
had its faults, but our
society’s depravity
must be exposed if
we are to change its
attitudes.
BY JAYATI GHOSH
he day after the Indian
government banned
the BBC documentary
India’s Daughter, on the
horrific gang rape and killing of a
student in Delhi, a 10,000-strong
mob broke into a jail in a town in
Nagaland, dragged out an alleged
rapist, beat him to death and
hung his body up for public view.
Does this mean that people
in India are now so outraged by
violence against women that they
are seeking rough justice of their
own? Sadly, no: the patriarchy and
abuse of power that created the
conditions for that appalling act
in Delhi are alive and flourishing, and indeed are expressed in
both this lynching and in some
of the more aggressive reactions
to the film. Indeed, the notion of
rape as particularly bad because
it affects the “honour” of women,
rather than their basic personhood and physical security, is a
leading cause of such reactions.
The documentary, made by
a woman who is herself a rape
survivor, has surprisingly been
criticised by the government and
women’s activists, including some
who were at the forefront of the
widespread public protests after
the rape and murder of Jyoti
Singh in December 2012. The
banning of the film (because of
T
British filmmaker Leslee Udwin speaking about her documentary film India’s
Daughter.
shocking interviews with one of
the rapists and his lawyer, who in
effect argued that the woman had
asked for it by resisting and being
in public places at 9pm) has been
justified on the grounds that it
provides a platform for the most
appalling and regressive views,
and amounts to an incitement of
violence against women.
The Indian government’s
real concerns are less about the
safety of women than the international image of the country.
They worry that the documentary will continue to present
India in a bad light rather than
showcase its achievements and
new government. (The fact that
such achievements — especially
for women — are few and hard
to find is not really considered.)
Shoving unpleasant truths
under the carpet to display a shining facade to foreigners is an old
habit of many governments. But
some of the arguments against
the film are more thoughtful
and must be taken seriously.
Kavita Krishnan – one of India’s
strongest progressive feminist
voices, who was also interviewed
for this documentary – has
pointed out that there should be
restraint in airing the film while
the legal appeal is pending, so it
does not affect the case.
She also suggests there could
be a “white saviour” mentality
implicitly at work in the very
conception of the film that could
depict brutality against women as
a specific socio-cultural problem
of India; and she objects to the
title, which describes women as
daughters rather than people in
their own right. In the Guardian,
the author Nilanjana Roy has said
that providing such publicity to
a rapist and his obnoxious views
risks making him into a celebrity,
drowning out the voices of all
those who spoke up in the aftermath of the attack on Jyoti Singh.
It is certainly true that India
is not the only country where
women are routinely denigrated
and their rights to personal safety
are implicitly taken as contingent
upon their (“good”) behaviour.
at all). Pope John Paul II had to
deal with communists, who were
official atheists. But Islam, in its
true teaching, is neither racist
nor atheistic. Francis can condemn the violent minority of
Muslims (in the Islamic State,
for instance) while cultivating
the sophisticated and scholarly
Muslims he knows well.
As Francis said in his most
important papal statement so
far, “The Joy of the Gospel”:
“Authentic Islam and the proper
reading of the Quran are opposed
to every form of violence.” The
ability to recognise the better
angels of another religion is very
useful for recruiting help and alliances with the holy majority of
that religion. Those who dismiss
large numbers of Muslim believers
as “Islamofascists” make enemies
of people who would prefer to be
our friends.
All modern popes have called
for peace in the world. But
Francis has a special chance to
use religious office to prevent
religious war. Any war for religion conflicts with the peaceful traditions of Jews, Catholics,
Protestants, Muslims, Mormons
and others. Francis has earned
a special credibility in reminding
us of that important truth. At the
United Nations in 1965, Pope Paul
VI cried out, “No more war, war
never again.” Pope Francis’s deepest message may turn out to be
“No holy war, not ever.”
Wills is a Pulitzer Prize-winning
author and historian. His book “The
Future of the Catholic Church with
Pope Francis” is being published
this month.
WP-BLOOMBERG
Is Cuba on the verge of
major political reform?
BY NICK MIROFF
The case of the former IMF chief
Dominique Strauss-Kahn and
(within India) the allegations
against R K Pachauri, who headed
the UN Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change, suggest the
tendency to blame the victim is
rampant among the international
elite. The culture of patriarchy
is inextricably linked with global
capitalism.
Even so, there is a point in
exposing the depths of our societal depravity. We cannot escape
the reality in India that the huge
popular movement against that
particular atrocity and the subsequent moves to change the laws to
ensure more protection for women
have so far borne little fruit. If
anything, things have probably got
worse. And official lip service to the
cause of women has often added
more insult to injury.
In a kneejerk reaction after the
public outcry, a “Nirbhaya fund”
(Nirbhaya – “fearless” – was the
name used initially to conceal
Jyoti Singh’s real identity) was set
up by the government last April
to improve security for women.
That fund, paltry though it was,
has barely been used. The current government has been blatant in its complete disregard for
implementing safety measures for
women and girls. And the rapes
and physical attacks continue.
At least part of this is because
the attitudes displayed on film by
the rapist and his lawyer are not
unusual — they are widespread
across India (and many countries)
in all sections of society.
Trying to hide this, or prevent
others from knowing about it, is not
a solution. Instead, we have to confront this head on, precisely because
this extreme form of patriarchy is
so pervasive. Knowing our enemy —
within and without — means facing
all this, no matter how repulsive it
may appear, because only then can
we ever hope to change it.
n online forum published in Cuban state media this week
offers the most intriguing sign to date that communist
authorities may be preparing to make significant changes
to the one-party system Fidel and Raul Castro have controlled for 55 years.
A new “General Election Law” approved by the ruling Communist
Party was announced in state media last month, with few details given.
But in a Web forum on the site of Juventud Rebelde (Rebel Youth),
one of the two main state-run daily newspapers, Cubans this week
got a glimpse of what the changes might entail, with readers asking
openly for direct election of the country’s top leaders and the ability
to remove them through a recall vote.
To be clear, the readers’ questions do not amount to a formal
announcement, and the responses to them by Cuban election officials
revealed little.
Yet the mere publication of such proposals in Cuba’s tightly controlled state media is remarkable, and not likely a coincidence. Questions
and comments from readers on Cuban government sites are carefully
filtered, if not planted by editors and party loyalists.
There were several queries like this: “I’d like to know if the possibility of a direct vote for the top leadership positions in the country
is under consideration,” asked reader “GCR,” who added that “the
current system is (in my view) highly unpopular.”
President Raúl Castro has set the next Communist Party Congress
for April 2016, and the events are typically the occasion for reform
announcements. With Castro, 83, saying he’ll step down in 2018, next
year’s meeting would, in theory, set the stage for the formal transition
to a post-Castro era.
Next in line to succeed Castro is Cuba’s first vice president, Miguel
Diaz-Canel, 54.
Under the existing, complicated electoral system, Cubans vote among
pre-screened parliamentary delegates who in turn elect the government’s top executives, with a Castro always at the helm. There are no
political parties, no public debates and no dissenting views. No other
political model in the hemisphere is so rigid.
And with US-Cuba tensions easing, Raúl Castro may see a narrow
window to make major changes while he and his brother Fidel, 88,
are still alive.
Some of the reader questions in the forum seem unprecedented in
state media. One reader wanted to know about mechanisms to remove
the president or vice president through a recall vote “even before their
term is complete.” Another commentator, listed as Carlos Gutierrez,
asked for direct elections and for Cuba’s parliamentary sessions to be
broadcast live on radio and television.
It is possible that such queries reflect nothing more than a decision
by Juventud Rebelde’s editors to opt for less censorship and more
open engagement. But that’s unlikely in a country where so little is
left to chance. Raúl Castro has repeatedly insisted that the changes
to Cuba’s system he’s implemented are in response to pressure from
below, and this type of Web forum may be a way to create a perception
of democratic give-and-take.
After a near-fatal illness forced his older brother aside in 2006, Raúl
Castro organized public debates in Cuban neighborhoods about the
country’s economic model, then presented the reforms that followed
— “updates” is the official term — as an expression of popular will.
GUARDIAN NEWS
WP-BLOOMBERG
A
MONDAY 9 MARCH 2015
www.thepeninsulaqatar.com
10
Most Saudi
women prefer
female-only
workplace
DOHA: In Saudi Arabia less
than a third (31 percent) of
working women surveyed by
a regional job website say
they share their workplace
with men. While a majority said they work in either
segregated or female-only
environment.
Those who work in femaleonly environment comprise a
majority 36 percent, whereas
the remaining 33 percent are
engaged in segregated work
environment.
The survey is for the entire
Mena region. However, 34
percent of the respondents claimed their company
favored promoting men over
women. “This feeling is especially strong in Saudi Arabia,
Oman and Syria,” Bayt.com.
In Saudi Arabia, Bahrain,
Oman and Jordan, more than
a fifth of respondents believe
that it is easier for men to
get a job. Some 43 percent
of working women surveyed
in Mena region said they
believed they are paid less
than their male counterparts. However, the general
sentiment is that workplace
equality across the region has
grown to be on a par with
working environments in the
western world.
The survey titled ‘The
Status of Working Women
in Mena’ reveals that gender
equality in workplace is now
becoming a reality. Some 72
percent of women across Mena
work in mixed-gender environment.
THE PENINSULA
Israeli spy
chief visits US
JERUSALEM: Israel’s top
intelligence officer will visit the
United States this week, sources
with knowledge of the itinerary
said; a sign that security cooperation continues despite disputes
between the countries’ leaders
over strategy over Iran.
Major-General Herzi Halevy,
commander of Israeli military
intelligence, is scheduled to meet
US defence officials and attend
a pro-Israel fundraising event,
the sources said. It is his first
US trip since being appointed in
September.
Bilateral ties have been
strained by Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s
speech in the US Congress last
week against President Barack
Obama’s negotiations with Iran
over its nuclear programme.
MIDDLE EAST
US will walk away if Iran
deal not reached: Obama
Calling for more freedom
President cites progress in nuclear talks
WASHINGTON:
President
Barack Obama assured in a
taped television interview yesterday that the United States
was prepared to “walk away”
from nuclear talks with Iran
if a verifiable deal cannot be
reached with Tehran.
Obama made the comments as
US Secretary of State John Kerry
was in Paris to smooth over differences with France, which
has pressed for greater guarantees that an agreement will
stop Iran from gaining a nuclear
weapon, and a bruising speech to
Congress earlier in the week by
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu.
“If there is no deal then we
walk away,” Obama said in the
interview, which aired on CBS
News Sunday Morning and in
expanded form on the network’s
“Face the Nation” show.
“If we cannot verify that they
are not going to obtain a nuclear
weapon, that there’s a breakout
period so that even if they cheated
we would be able to have enough
time to take action — if we don’t
have that kind of deal, then we’re
not going to take it,” he said.
Netanyahu, who charged in an
impassioned speech to Congress
on Tuesday that a nuclear deal
would pave the way for an Iranian
bomb, showed no sign of budging
in an interview on the same “Face
the Nation.”
“I do not trust inspections with
totalitarian regimes,” he said.
“And so I’d be a lot more circumspect. In fact, what I’m suggesting is that you contract Iran’s
nuclear programme, so there’s
less to inspect.”
Obama said the Iranians have
negotiated seriously and progress
has been made “in narrowing the
gaps, but those gaps still exist.
“And I would say that over the
next month or so, we’re going to
be able to determine whether or
not their system is able to accept
what would be an extraordinarily
reasonable deal, if in fact, as they
say, they are only interested in
peaceful nuclear programs.
“And if we have unprecedented
transparency in that system, if
we are able to verify that in fact
they are not developing weapons
systems, then there’s a deal to be
had, but that’s going to require
them to accept the kind of verification and constraints on their
program that so far, at least, they
have not been willing to say yes
to.”
Obama said the negotiations on
Iran’s nuclear programme were
Bahrain to probe alleged waste
of $1.1bn of public money
DUBAI: Bahraini legislators plan to investigate alleged squandering of BD400m ($1.06bn) of public funds by government departments and state-linked companies, a Manama newspaper reported
yesterday.
The National Audit Court (NAC) produced the figure in its 2013/14
report, the Gulf Daily News said and quoted parliamentary economic
affairs committee member Mohammed Al Ahmed as saying that ministers would be quizzed and committees set up to investigate possible
tender violations.
The $1bn-plus would represent a significant proportion of the kingdom’s gross domestic product—pegged at $34bn by the International
Monetary Fund last year—at a time when the oil-producing Gulf
Arab state’s finances are under increased pressure because of a fall
in crude prices.
The National Audit Office told Reuters that the report was not
public and had been distributed to select people only. It declined to
provide more information.
The report by the NAC, set up set up in 2011 to fight corruption and
increase transparency in government, alleges that money was wasted
at state-linked companies including Bahrain Petroleum Co (Bapco)
and Aluminium Bahrain (Alba), the Gulf Daily News reported.
Alba declined to comment and Bapco did not respond immediately
to Reuters’ calls and an email seeking comment.
The newspaper did not give details of what violations might have
occurred but quoted Ahmed as saying that the government had not
addressed recurring violations and that government departments were
circumventing laws on tenders.
REUTERS
gaining “greater urgency because
we have been negotiating for over
a year.”
“And the good news is during
this period Iran has abided by
the terms of (an interim) agreement. We know what is happening on the ground in Iran. They
have not advanced their nuclear
programme.
“So we’re not losing anything
through these talks. On the other
hand, you get to a point in negotiations where it is not a matter
of technical issues any more, it is
a matter of political will.”
In Paris, Kerry also agreed with
the French that there were still
gaps to overcome in the “critical
weeks” ahead.
“We want an agreement that’s
solid,” Kerry told reporters after
meeting with French Foreign
Minister Laurent Fabius.
Fabius had expressed his concerns over the deal on Friday,
saying “as regards the numbers,
controls and the length of the
agreement, the situation is still
not sufficient.”
Iran has long denied seeking to
arm itself with an atomic bomb,
insisting its nuclear program is
for energy production and other
civilian purposes.
A Tunisian woman holds a cardboard cutout during a demonstration on
the International Women’s Day, in Tunis yesterday. About one hundred
women marched in the streets shouting slogans demanding more freedom for women.
AFP
Oman jails rights activist
who wrote letter to Obama
DUBAI: An Omani court jailed
a prominent activist for three
years on Sunday for a range of
offences including undermining
the state, a charge a newspaper said was related to an open
letter to US President Barack
Obama about human rights in
the country.
Western-allied Oman, which
experienced Arab Spring protests
in 2011, has tried to clamp down
on public dissent, arresting rights
activists who criticise authorities
on social media.
Lawyer Yaboub Al Harthi said
the Court of First Instance in
Muscat had found Said Jadad
(pictured), who took part in the
2011 protests, guilty of “undermining the prestige of the state”,
inciting the public to join an
illegal gathering and using the
Internet to publish materials
that disturb
public order.
As well as
the jail sentence, Jadad
was
also
ordered to pay
fines totalling
1,700 Omani
rials ($4,470).
The court set a 2,000 rial bail for
any decision to free him pending an
appeal.
The lawyer said Jadad intended
to appeal against the ruling.
Omani online newspaper
Mowatin www.mowatinoman.
net said the charge of undermining the state stemmed from
a 2013 open letter to Obama in
which Jadad had expressed “dismay” over US policies regarding
human rights in the Gulf region.
“We expect the United States,
being a superpower, to always
stand by the people and to support the principles of democracy
and human rights,” he wrote.
The newspaper said Jadad’s
lawyer had argued in court that
the message came under the right
to freedom of opinion and expression and that the accused had personally suffered from human rights
abuses, including being detained for
seven days without a warrant and
having his documents seized without a court ruling.
The Monitor of Human Rights
in Oman, in a report on human
rights abuses in 2014, said a
number of activists had been
detained. They included Talib alMaamari, a member of Oman’s
Shura council, a consultative body,
who was then jailed for four years
for undermining the state and
other offences.
REUTERS
AFP
Netanyahu challenger vows to end isolation
JERUSALEM:
Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s
main challenger in March 17
elections, the centre-left Zionist
Union, unveiled its platform
yesterday with an emphasis
on ending Israel’s “diplomatic
isolation”.
Its two planks for the legislative polls are “to end the diplomatic isolation of Israel” and halt
the rising cost of living, the alliance between the Labour party
of Yitzhak Herzog and Tzipi
Livni’s centrist HaTnuah said in
a statement.
The Zionist Union said it would
rely on Arab League support for a
meaningful resumption of peace
talks with the Palestinians that
ground to a halt in 2013.
It proposes “demilitarisation
of the Palestinian state”, major
Jewish settlement blocs in the
West Bank to stay under Israeli
sovereignty, Jerusalem to remain
“the eternal capital of the Jewish
people”, and increased economic
cooperation with the Palestinians.
Herzog and Livni also called for
a restoration of warm ties with
the United States, Israel’s key ally
but with whom ties have frayed
over Iran’s nuclear programme.
On the socio-economic front,
the Zionist Union would increase
the education and health budgets
and create a housing committee
to cap rent rises.
Herzog, at a news conference,
Tzipi Livni (left) and Isaac Herzog, heads of the centrist Zionist Union party, hold their party’s manisfesto for the
March 17 election during a news conference in Tel Aviv yesterday.
charged that Netanyahu’s rightwing Likud bloc lacked vision and
policies for the future.
“Israel needs a leader who
doesn’t just insist on what causes
fear. Israel needs a leader who
brings a vision,” said Livni, who
is supporting Herzog’s challenge
for the prime minister’s job.
Opinion polls show Likud and
the Zionist Union running almost
neck-and-neck.
But political analysts say
Netanyahu is better placed to
form a parliamentary majority
with support from ultra-nationalist and ultra-Orthodox parties,
or the two main blocs could form
a unity government in case of a
dead heat.
AFP
UAE to try ex-Kuwaiti MP
for ‘inciting sedition’
ABU DHABI: The United Arab
Emirates said yesterday it will
try a Kuwaiti Islamist ex-MP in
absentia for allegedly “inciting
sedition” in remarks he made
about Abu Dhabi’s powerful
crown prince.
Mubarak Al Duwailah has been
referred to the Federal Supreme
Court, the UAE’s top court, for
“allegedly abusing religion to incite
sedition, harm national unity,
(and) disturb social peace,” Wam
news agency reported Attorney
General Salim Saeed Kubaish as
saying. The former lawmaker was
also charged with “intentionally”
spreading “false news... rumours...
provocative and malicious propaganda”, Kubaish said.
Duwailah is a leading figure
in the Islamic Constitutional
Movement, an offshoot of the
Muslim Brotherhood in Kuwait.
The UAE on November 15 published a list of 83 “terrorist” groups,
topped by the Muslim Brotherhood.
The list was criticised by many
Sunni Islamists for not including
Lebanon’s powerful Shia Iranbacked Hezbollah militant group.
In a December television interview on the Kuwaiti parliament’s
Al Majlis channel, Duwailah
“falsely alleged” that the UAE
was against Sunni Islam, said
the statement on Wam. Asked his
opinion of the UAE’s anti-Brotherhood stance, Duwailah had said:
“I don’t think it’s the UAE... it’s a
one-man show.
“It’s Sheikh Mohammed bin
Zayed (Al Nahyan) who personally has this position (towards the
Brotherhood) and has managed to
impose it on the state.”
“We
don’t
know
why
Mohammed bin Zayed is against
Sunni Islam,” he said, criticising
the lengthy jail terms given to 69
activists in 2013 after they were
convicted of links to the Al Islah
Society, viewed as the UAE branch
of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Duwailah was questioned by
Kuwait’s public prosecution in
January on accusations that he
insulted the leaders of a friendly
country and that he endangered
diplomatic relations with the
UAE. He denied the accusations
and was released on KD5,000
bail. No charges have so far been
pressed against Duwailah in
Kuwait, where he lives.
The UAE has not seen any of
the pro-reform protests that have
swept other Arab countries since
2011, including fellow Gulf states
Bahrain and Oman. But authorities have stepped up a crackdown
on dissent and calls for democratic reform. Most of those targeted have been Islamists. AFP
MONDAY 9 MARCH 2015
www.thepeninsulaqatar.com
MIDDLE EAST
11
Troops, militia
make advances
near Tikrit
40 killed as
Kurds battle IS
for key Syria
town: Monitor
Flights from UAE to Erbil suspended
BAGHDAD: Iraqi security
forces and Shia militia fighting the Islamic State (IS) took
control of the centre of a town
on the southern outskirts of
Saddam Hussein’s home city
Tikrit yesterday, security officials said.
Sending in more troops and
fighting fierce clashes, the army
and militiamen were still struggling to drive out Islamic State
militants entrenched in buildings
in the western section of the town
of al-Dour, officials said.
Military commanders said the
army and militia, known as Hashid
Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation)
units, launched another offensive
late on Saturday to break into the
centre of Al Dour.
By yesterday they had succeeded in recapturing the central
area where government headquarters are located, but Islamic
State insurgents were still holding
positions in the west.
“Daesh snipers are still targeting our troops from some of the
high buildings. We should be able
to take them out with helicopter
attacks this evening,” said Ahmed
al-Yasiri, a Hashid Shaabi leader
fighting in al-Dour. Daesh is the
Arabic acronym for Islamic State.
Officials said security forces
and Shia militia fighters had also
captured about third of the village of Albu Ajil south of Tikrit
- hometown of the executed Sunni
president. Some Albu Ajil residents were accused by authorities
and Shia militia groups of taking
part in the killing of soldiers from
the nearby Speicher army camp
when Islamic State fighters overran Tikrit and northern Iraq last
June. Shia militia fighters have
described the advance on Albu Ajil
as revenge for the Speicher killings, although militia leaders say
all civilians in the Sunni Muslim
region will be well treated.
The campaign to retake Tikrit
is the biggest offensive so far
against Islamic State insurgents.
If successful, it would be the first
time the army and militia have
recaptured a major city from the
militants.
Progress in the offensive, which
was launched a week ago, could
also affect the timing and strategy for a wider offensive later this
year to retake Mosul, the largest
city under Islamic State control.
United Arab Emirates airlines
Emirates, flydubai and Etihad
Airways have suspended flights
to Erbil, the airlines said in separate statements yesterday, citing security concerns as Islamic
State razes ancient cities in Iraq’s
north.
Budget carrier flydubai, which
was involved in a security incident
in January when bullets hit one
of its planes landing in Baghdad,
temporarily suspended flights to
Erbil and Sulaimaniyah due to
“expanded military activity in the
north of the country,” it said in a
statement to Reuters.
Abu Dhabi-based Etihad
Airways said it had suspended
flights to Erbil effective March 6
until further notice, due to the
“deteriorating security situation
in Iraq.”
Emirates also suspended
flights to Erbil from March 7 and
deferred plans to resume flights to
Baghdad, which it said last month
would recommence on March 1
after the flydubai incident.
REUTERS
Iraqi officers inspecting a map on the outskirts of Al Alam yesterday. Security forces and Shia militia fighting the
Islamic State have taken control of the centre of a town on the southern outskirts of Saddam Hussein’s home
city Tikrit, reports said.
Escalating air war on IS not
the answer: US general
BAGHDAD: The US military’s
top officer yesterday defended
the pace of the air war against
IS, warning that escalating
bombing raids or sending in
more American troops would be
a mistake.
During a visit to a French aircraft carrier in the Gulf taking
part in the air campaign, General
Martin Dempsey appealed for
“strategic patience” in the fight
against the IS group in Iraq and
Syria.
Expanding the air war could
risk civilian casualties and play
into the hands of IS propaganda,
he said aboard the Charles de
Gaulle.
“So we have a responsibility
to be very precise in the use of
Ready to work
air power. And that means that
it takes time” to gather accurate
intelligence on possible targets,
the general said.
“Carpet bombing through Iraq
is not the answer.”
The tempo of military operations also depended on the
strength of the Iraqi army and
the Baghdad government’s willingness to reconcile with an alienated Sunni population, he said.
The conflict could be decided on
the battlefield relatively quickly,
but military operations were
only part of a broader effort, said
Dempsey.
“I do think it’s going to require
some strategic patience.”
Dempsey spoke in the carrier’s hangar alongside his French
counterpart, General Pierre de
Villiers, who said he shared the
American general’s view.
The coalition faced a “paradox”
as Western countries wanted
“quick results” but the Iraqi army
had to be rebuilt before it could
take back territory from the IS
extremists, de Villiers said.
Dempsey, chairman of the
US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said
there was no need to increase
the number of American troops
advising and training local forces,
as the Iraqi army was not ready
for a larger-scale effort.
“We’ve got trainers and advisers that are waiting for some of
the Iraqi units to show up,” the
general said of the 2,600-strong
US contingent.
AFP
AFP
Boy dies after teacher beating International
Yemen’s Defence Minister General Mahmud Subaihi (centre) is greeted upon his arrival in the province of Lahj
yesterday. Subaihi is set to resume his duties from second city Aden after defecting from Shia militia who
control the capital Sana’a.
CAIRO: A Cairo schoolboy died yesterday after being severely
beaten by his teacher who has now been suspended, Egypt’s education ministry said as an inquiry was launched.
Corporal punishment is common in Egyptian schools, where official
negligence has been blamed for the deaths in late 2014 of two children
in accidents because of badly maintained equipment.
The 12-year-old pupil died yesterday “after being beaten by a teacher
the previous day”, a ministry statement said.
It said the teacher has been suspended and an “urgent inquiry”
started to determine the circumstances of the boy’s death.
The child had head injuries and suffered a brain haemorrhage, forensics department chief Hisham Abdel Hamid said. The number of child
abuse cases in Egypt has reached alarming proportions.
Between January 2014 and the end of October, attacks on children
increased by 55 percent compared with the average over the previous
three years, the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood said
in December. It said 50 percent of the cases of violence against children
were registered in schools.
In September, the director of a Cairo orphanage was sentenced to
three years in jail for assaulting minors.
Video footage posted on the Internet show him beating children who
run away screaming.
Meanwhile, Karim Al Banna, who today could hear an appeal court
uphold his three-year jail term for insulting Islam with his atheism,
wishes he could live anywhere but his native Egypt.
“All I want now is to leave Egypt. Life is not possible for atheists
here,” the 23-year-old engineering student said from his home in the
AFP
Mediterranean city of Alexandria.
broadcast the audiotapes have
links to Mursi’s blacklisted
Muslim Brotherhood.
In the latest recording aired on
March 1, two aides of Sisi purportedly discuss how the United
Arab Emirates (UAE) gave
Egypt’s defence ministry funds for
the anti-Mursi protests which led
to his ouster.
In another tape released last
month, a man identified as Sisi
and an aide discuss how much
money Cairo wanted from Gulf
countries to help rebuild Egypt.
“We need 10 to be added to the
army’s account ... We need 10 like
them from the UAE, and from
Kuwait 10 like them,” said the
voice purported to be Sisi. “They
have money like rice.”
“The leaks are embarrassing with regards to the security
arrangements of communication
at these levels of government,”
One killed in
Alexandria blasts
CAIRO:
Separate
bomb
blasts yesterday in Egypt’s
port city of Alexandria,
including one near a branch
of a French supermarket
chain, killed one person and
wounded nine, police said.
One bomb went off just
metres away from a Carrefour
supermarket, killing a passenger on a minibus that was
driving past and wounding six
passers-by, police said.
said H A Hellyer, an expert with
the Washington-based Brookings
Institution.
“The questions people aren’t
really focusing on is how these
leaks managed to get out — and
who exists in such sensitive positions of the state that would be
willing to release them?”
Sisi has dismissed the tapes as
“information war,” saying that
“anyone could do what he wanted
thanks to technology,” suggesting the tapes were fabricated by
Mursi supporters to embarrass
his regime.
In an attempt to repair the
diplomatic damage, he spoke on
telephone to Gulf leaders and also
appeared on national television
in late February to declare: “Our
brothers in the Gulf should know
that we respect and love them.”
Saudi Arabia, the UAE and
Kuwait are the main financial
backers of Sisi’s government, having pledged around $12bn to Cairo
since he came to power.
“The strategic interests of
Egypt and Gulf countries are too
experts address
Dubai nutrition
symposium
important to be impacted by some
expression used by an official in a
private conversation,” said Gamal
Abdel Gawad Soltan, political professor at the American University
of Cairo (AUC).
“It will have no impact on their
relations,” he said, adding that
Egypt and its allies are working to
limit Shiite Iran’s regional influence, and to counter the Islamic
State (IS) group that has captured territory in Iraq and Syria.
Egypt’s ties with most of the
Gulf countries have flourished
since Sisi removed Morsi from
power. Underscoring the solid
relations, the Cairo-based Arab
League said this week it would
consider building a “unified Arab
force” to battle IS at its annual
summit later this month.
Sisi has called for such a unit
to confront the militants.
DUBAI: “Nutrition is one of the
most important factors in determining future health, and one of
the easiest that can be controlled by members of the community,” said Dr Ahmed Ibrahim
Kalban, Executive Director of
Hospital Services, Dubai Health
Authority, during the first
Early Life Nutrition Network
Middle East Symposium in
Dubai, hosted by Dubai Health
Authority (DHA) and supported by Danone Nutricia. The
event was attended by regional
and international experts in
early life nutrition.
The symposium focused on
early life nutritional programming (ENP), a concept that
explores how differences in nutritional experience at critical periods in both pre- and post-natal
life can programme an individual’s long term immunologic,
metabolic and microbiologicaldevelopment and health.
Dr Kalban said: “A wide range
of professionals and experts recognise the importance of proper
nutrition from the day a child is
born, but many do not realise that
nutrition is as important during
pregnancy as it is in the early
stages of a baby’s life, after they are
born. It gives us great pleasure to
see the high level of interest in this
topic amongst our colleagues, doctors and specialists from around
the region and beyond.
The first 1000 days of life, from
conception to the end of the
child’s second year, is a period of
very rapid growth and development. Nutritional requirements
in this period are crucial, as they
play a key role in the child’s early
development. The development of
the gastro-intestinal tract during
this period, for instance, is critical
for fine-tuning metabolism and
the immune system, and ensuring a healthy birth weight and
protecting the infant from illness.
AFP
THE PENINSULA
Egypt dodges diplomatic flak over Sisi tapes
CAIRO: Despite months of
embarrassment for Egypt over a
series of alleged leaks of sensitive
remarks including about Gulf
allies, President Abdel Fattah
Al Sisi appears to have avoided a
major diplomatic furore.
The tapes, aired by Islamist
television channels, purportedly
revealed conversations which
followed the military’s overthrow
of Islamist president Mohamed
Mursi in 2013 when Sisi was army
chief. The recordings, which have
not been authenticated, touch
on issues ranging from Mursi’s
ouster to development funds that
Cairo needs from Gulf allies.
Sisi, who toppled Mursi and
was elected in May to succeed
him, has overseen a brutal police
crackdown against supporters of
his predecessor that has left hundreds dead.
The television channels that
BEIRUT: At least 40 Kurdish
fighters and Islamic State (IS)
group militants have been killed
in clashes for control of a strategic town in north Syria, a
monitor said yesterday.
The Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights also reported
that 11 civilians were killed in a
government air raid on the rebelheld town of Irbin northeast of
Damascus.
The clashes that erupted on
Saturday as the IS launched
an offensive aimed at seizing
Tal Tamr in Hasakeh province
from Kurdish forces have killed
40 fighters on both sides, it said.
“Fierce battles broke out during the past 24 hours around Tal
Tamr... that killed 40 fighters,”
said Observatory director Rami
Abdel Rahman.
He said the fighting erupted
when IS advanced close to the
town, but the Kurds called in
reinforcements and were able to
repel the jihadists.
IS has been trying to capture
Tal Tamr because of its strategic
location.
Taking it would allow IS to
dominate a key road between
the eastern part of Hasakeh and
the town of the same name that
are held by the Kurds, and also
gain access to the Iraqi border
and the jihadist bastion in Mosul
beyond.
Yesterday’s raid on Irbin near
Damascus during which missiles were f ired at the town
also wounded 50 people, some of
them critically, the Observatory
said.
It also reported several civilians
wounded in regime-held areas of
Damascus by rebel rocket fire,
without giving a precise toll.
Elsewhere, clashes were still
under way around the Aleppo
province villages of Handarat and
Bashkoy between regime forces
and fighters from the Al Qaeda
affiliate, Al Nusra Front.
12
MONDAY 9 MARCH 2015
www.thepeninsulaqatar.com
EUROPE / AMERICAS
UK plans laws to stop
Britons from joining IS
Russian court
charges two
with killing
of Nemtsov
New airline rules France PM: 10,000 Europeans
in the offing
could be waging jihad by year-end
LONDON: Britain will introduce a package of new laws
next week to stop airlines carrying passengers who may be
travelling to join Islamic State
militants in Syria and Iraq,
the Sunday Times newspaper
reported.
Thousands of foreigners from
more than 80 countries have
joined the ranks of Islamic State
(IS) and other radical groups
in Syria and Iraq, including the
Briton known as ‘Jihadi John’,
who has appeared in multiple IS
beheading videos.
Britain’s interior minister
would be able to prevent airlines from carrying passengers,
including children, believed to be
travelling to take part in “terrorism-related activity” on known
routes, such as those into Syria,
the newspaper reported.
The Home Office (Britain’s
interior ministry) confirmed the
accuracy of the reports.
The rules, due to be included
in legislation being put before
parliament this week, would
require airlines to seek permission to carry such passengers. An
automatic system based on passenger lists provided by airlines
would flag high-risk travellers
PARIS: As many as 10,000 Europeans could be waging jihad in
Iraq and Syria by the end of this year, French Prime Minister
Manuel Valls warned yesterday, a three-fold increase on current
numbers. “There are 3,000 Europeans in Iraq and Syria today.
When you do a projection for the months to come, there could be
5,000 before summer and 10,000 before the end of the year,” Valls
told French television channel iTele.
“Do you realise the threat that this represents?” he asked.
He said there were around 1,400 people who were either already
in these conflict zones, who had come back from there or who were
planning to go. “There have already been nearly 90 French people
who have died out there with a weapon in their hand, fighting
against our own values,” Valls said.
France, along with Belgium, has seen the largest numbers of
volunteers leaving to join the Islamic State jihadist group, which
has seized large parts of Syria and Iraq.
Last month, France seized passports from six of its citizens and
banned 40 more from travelling abroad after they were allegedly
planning to travel to Syria and Iraq.
It was the first time the measure had been used in France following its introduction as part of a raft of new counter-terrorism
laws in November. “We have to face a particularly high threat level
in France, in Europe and in other countries,” said Valls.
AFP
and stop them boarding aircraft,
the report said.
The new powers are the latest
step in Britain’s efforts to stop
foreign fighters from entering
Syria via commercial flights and
come weeks after three London
schoolgirls fled Britain via Turkey
to join up with Islamic State.
Speaking in an online chatroom yesterday, Britain’s Senior
National Coordinator for Counter
Terrorism, Helen Ball, said that
at least 22 families in Britain
had reported young women and
girls as missing in the past year,
believing that they had travelled
REUTERS
to Syria.
Zaur Dadayev, charged with involvement in the murder of Boris Nemtsov,
is escorted in a court building in Moscow yesterday.
MOSCOW: A Russian court
yesterday charged two men
with the murder of opposition
activist Boris Nemtsov, including an ex-police officer from
Chechnya who confessed to his
involvement in what investigators said was a contract killing.
Four other suspects have
denied connection to the
February 27 killing of Nemtsov
who was shot four times in the
back while walking with his
girlfriend late at night along a
bridge outside the Kremlin, in
the most high-profile assassination of President Vladimir
Putin’s rule that has sent shivers
through the opposition.
Interfax news agency quoted a
law enforcement source as saying that a sixth suspect threw
a grenade at police who came
to arrest him in the Chechen
capital and killed himself with
another grenade Saturday.
In Moscow, masked, heavily
armed police marched the five
handcuffed suspects through
hallways packed with journalists and into two separate
courtrooms where they were
placed inside defendants’ cages
and ordered to be held for
around two months pending the
investigation.
Investigators said they were
still seeking others who may
have been involved.
AFP
Juncker calls for EU army to deter Russia CIA to make sweeping
BERLIN: The European Union
needs its own army to face up
to Russia and other threats as
well as restore the bloc’s foreign
policy standing around the world,
EU Commission President JeanClaude Juncker told a German
newspaper yesterday.
Arguing that NATO was not
enough because not all members
of the transatlantic defence alliance are in the EU, Juncker said a
common EU army would also send
important signals to the world.
“A joint EU army would show the
world that there would never again
be a war between EU countries,”
Juncker told the Welt am Sonntag
newspaper. “Such an army would
also help us to form common foreign and security policies and allow
Europe to take on responsibility in
the world.”
Juncker said a common EU army
could serve as a deterrent and
would have been useful during the
Ukraine crisis. “With its own army,
Europe could react more credibly
to the threat to peace in a member
state or in a neighbouring state.
One wouldn’t have a European
army to deploy it immediately.
But a common European army
would convey a clear message to
Russia that we are serious about
defending our European values.”
The 28-nation EU already has
battle groups that are manned on
a rotational basis and meant to be
available as a rapid reaction force.
But they have never been used in
a crisis. EU leaders have said they
want to boost the common security
policy by improving rapid response
capabilities. But Britain, along with
France one of the two main military
powers in the bloc, has been wary
of giving a bigger military role to
the EU, fearing it could undermine
NATO.
German Defence Minister
Ursula von der Leyen welcomed
Juncker’s proposal: “Our future as
Europeans will at some point be
with a European army,” she told
German radio.
REUTERS
Church of England’s first female bishop gets to work
LONDON: The Church of
England’s first female bishop
was to preach her maiden
sermon in the role yesterday
as she is installed in her
home diocese.
Libby Lane, born in 1966, is
saxophone player with a taste
for football who was appointed
in December as the new bishop
of Stockport, a town outside Manchester in northwest
England.
Her nomination came a month
after England’s state church gave
final approval to the dramatic
change to its hierarchy following
years of wrangling and division.
The move was hailed as an
important step towards greater
equality.
She was consecrated in York
Minster on January 26 but yesterday’s ceremony in Chester,
northwest England, marks the
formal beginning of her ministry
in her diocese.
WASHINGTON: The Central
Intelligence Agency will make
one of the biggest overhauls in
its nearly 70-year history, aimed
in part at sharpening its focus
on cyber operations and incorporating digital innovations,
CIA director John Brennan said.
Brennan said he is creating new
units within the CIA, called “mission centers,” intended to concentrate the agency’s focus on specific
challenges or geographic areas,
such as weapons proliferation or
Africa.
The CIA director said he also is
establishing a new “Directorate of
Digital Innovation” to lead efforts
to track and take advantage of
advances in cyber technology to
gather intelligence.
Historically, electronic eavesdroppers at the National Security
Agency have been at the cutting
edge of digital innovation within
the US government. But the CIA
felt that it had to reorganise to
keep up with the technological
“pace of change,” as one official
put it. Brennan said the new digital directorate will have equal
status within the agency with
four other directorates which
have existed for years. “Our ability to carry out our responsibilities for human intelligence and
national security responsibilities
has become more challenging” in
today’s digital world, Brennan said.
“And so what we need to do as an
agency is make sure we’re able to
understand all of the aspects of
that digital environment.”
Brennan briefed a small group
of reporters on the changes on
Wednesday, on the condition they
did not publish until he told CIA
employees on Friday.
Stepping up the CIA’s expertise
in cyberspace may help it counter technological innovations and
sophisticated use of social media
by militant groups such as Islamic
State.
REUTERS
Obama weighs in on Clinton emails
Man held after
night on British
parliament roof
LONDON: A man was arrested
yesterday after spending the
night wandering around on the
roof of the Briish parliament.
The 23-year-old man, who has
not been named, spent around
eight hours on top of the Palace
of Westminster in London after
first being spotted late Saturday.
Police, fire and ambulance
crews were called to the scene,
with police negotiators also in
attendance.
It is still unclear who the man
was and why he was on the roof.
“At 05:01am (0501 GMT) yesterday the man was detained,”
London’s Scotland Yard police
headquarters said in a statement.
“He was arrested on suspicion
of criminal damage and trespassing. He has been taken to
a central London police station
pending further enquiries.
“At this stage it is too early to
ascertain the reason as to why the
man was trespassing on the roof,”
the statement said.
The BBC said the man was on
his own, moving around a lot and
seemed calm, with his hands in
his pockets, staring down at the
onlookers on the ground.
AFP
She will be presented with her
pastoral staff and be welcomed
by the civic and faith communities in a service expected
to be attended by more than 1,500
people.
As bishop of Stockport, Lane is
a suffragan (assistant) bishop in
AFP
the Diocese of Chester.
changes, focus on cyber
An unidentified man is spotted on the roof of the Houses of Parliament in
London yesterday.
WASHINGTON: US President
Barack Obama cautiously threw
his weight behind his former
top diplomat Hillary Clinton, as
she battles a fallout over her use
of a private email account while
heading the State Department.
Obama told CBS News he only
learned this week, after a New
York Times report, of Clinton’s
practice of conducting her official
email business from a personal
account on a private email server
connected to her New York home.
But the president also stressed
the need for transparency. “The
policy of my administration is to
encourage transparency, which is
why my emails, the BlackBerry I
carry around, all those records are
available and archived,” Obama
said, in excerpts of an interview
aired on the “Face the Nation”
programme yesterday. “I’m glad
that Hillary’s instructed that
those emails about official business need to be disclosed.”
His comments came amid
mounting pressure, particularly
from Republican foes, for Clinton
to release all of her email correspondence, which she said she was
asking the State Department to
do. “I think that the fact that
she is putting them forward will
allow us to make sure that people
have the information they need,”
Obama said.
Bill Clinton defends foreign
donations to foundation
MIAMI: US ex-president Bill Clinton sought to fend off criticism of his family foundation for taking money from foreign governments, some with questionable human rights records.
The former president, who spoke at a University of Miami event,
was joined by his wife Hillary Clinton, who declined to discuss a
separate controversy swirling around her use of private email only
while working as secretary of state. “We do get money from other
countries. And some of them are in the Middle East,” Bill Clinton
said. “For example, the UAE gave us money. Do we agree with
everything they do? No, but they’re helping us fight ISIS,” the expresident added, referring to Islamic State fighters.
“You’ve got to decide, when you do this work, whether it will do
more good than harm when someone helps you from another country,” explained Bill Clinton.
He argued that the money was used for humanitarian campaigns,
and was well spent. “My theory about all this is: disclose everything,
and then let people make their judgments,” Clinton added.
“I believe we’ve done a lot more good than harm, and I believe
this is a good thing. So I am going to tell you who gave us money
AFP
and you are going to make your own decision.”
In the face of accusations that
her move was inappropriate,
Obama defended Clinton’s overall record.
“Let me just say that Hillary
Clinton is and has been an outstanding public servant. She was
a great secretary of state for me,”
he said.
The House of Representatives
panel investigating the deadly
attacks on the US mission in
Benghazi, Libya said it had
issued subpoenas for Clinton’s
emails, prompting accusations
by Democrats that Republican
leaders were “targeting secretary
Clinton for political reasons.”AFP
ASIA / AFRICA
MONDAY 9 MARCH 2015
www.thepeninsulaqatar.com
13
Aquino faces
crisis over raid
on militants
Niger, Chad
troops open new
front against
Boko Haram
remembrance in Kuala Lumpur
that included prayers and live
video links with other next of kin
around the world.
A temporary wall erected for
the occasion contained scrawled
messages such as “Never give up
hope” and “I miss you so much
brother and sister, please come
back.”
In Beijing, relatives who have
bitterly criticised Malaysia’s
national carrier and government
for their handling of the crisis,
held a small protest near the
Malaysian embassy to mark the
anniversary.
NIAMEY: The armies of Niger
and Chad yesterday launched
a major ground and air offensive against Islamist extremist
group Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria, a source from
the Niger government said.
The offensive opened up a new
front against the Islamists as
part of regional efforts to combat them and came after Boko
Haram leader Abubakar Shekau
pledged allegiance to the Islamic
State group in an audio message.
“An offensive is underway
against Boko Haram,” the source
told AFP. “Very early this morning, the troops from Niger and
Chad began an offensive against
Boko Haram... in the area of
Bosso and near to Diffa.”
A resident of Diffa, located in
Niger near the Nigerian border,
said he saw troops headed toward
the frontier early Sunday followed
by the sounds of heavy arms fire.
“After some time, the detonations grew further away, an
apparent sign that the troops
were moving inside Nigeria,” he
said.
Privately owned radio station
Anfani, based in Diffa, reported
more than 200 vehicles, including those equipped with machine
guns as well as tanks, ambulances, water tankers and transport trucks, in a convoy moving
toward the Nigerian border. It
also reported that aircraft had
targeted Boko Haram positions
on Saturday and early yesterday.
An aid worker said heavy
arms fire was coming from the
direction of the Doutchi bridge
connecting Niger to Nigeria on
yesterday morning.
On Friday, the African Union
endorsed the creation of a regional
force of up to 10,000 men to join
the fight against Boko Haram.
The force, the idea for which
was adopted at an AU summit in
January, will be based in Chad’s
capital N’Djamena, the panAfrican bloc’s Peace and Security
Council said. It will be mandated
“to prevent the spread of Boko
Haram activities and other terrorist groups” and “eradicate
their presence,” the body agreed
in a meeting earlier week.
Diplomats said Chad, Nigeria,
Cameroon, Niger and Benin had
committed to providing troops,
who would “operate freely” in a
still-undefined region.
Regional efforts have however already been underway
to fight Boko Haram for several weeks, particularly in the
Gamboru area of Nigeria on the
border with Cameroon. The borders of Nigeria, Chad, Niger and
Cameroon converge in the region
around Lake Chad.
AFP
AFP
Extent of US role under scrutiny
MANILA: A disastrous raid
on alleged Islamic militants has
ignited the worst political crisis yet for Philippine President
Benigno Aquino — and questions about the extent of any US
role in the operation are deepening his discomfort.
Some Philippine lawmakers
are asking whether the US military played a leading role in the
operation in January, which ended
with 44 police commandos dead in
a field in the country’s Muslimmajority south.
They point to reports that a US
drone was overflying the area at
the time, and said to be beaming
back real-time images to US commanders as the fiasco unfolded.
Senate President Franklin
Drilon, a powerful member of
Aquino’s ruling Liberal Party, is
one of at least five senators to
have raised questions about what
the United States knew.
“Did the FBI (Federal Bureau
of Investigation) know beforehand
about this operation?” Drilon
asked the head of the police commando unit Getulio Napenas, who
lost his job over the affair, in one
hearing.
“Or any US armed forces personnel, did they know about this
operation beforehand?”
Under the terms of an anti-terrorism training deployment, the
US is not permitted to engage in
combat in the Philippines.
A US government official said
that its troops helped evacuate
casualties, but that the operation
was “planned and executed by
Philippine authorities”, and
declined to comment further.
Philippine Foreign Affairs
Secretary Albert del Rosario,
meanwhile, declined to give a
direct answer when asked about
any US role, speaking only in generalities about American help to
Manila in suppressing militancy.
“With the United States, we
have very close counter-terrorism cooperation,” del Rosario,
who has repeatedly said elsewhere
that the operation was led by the
Philippines, said via text message.
The pre-dawn raid by police
commandos on a secluded farming village controlled by Muslim
rebels in the south was meant to
be a surprise attack to capture or
kill two men on the US government’s global list of “most wanted
terrorists”.
Even though one of the alleged
militants was reported killed,
hundreds of rebels quickly outnumbered the police, trapping
a big group in a cornfield and
slaughtering the 44 commandos
during a day-long battle.
The botched operation has seriously damaged Aquino, and also
forced his national police chief to
resign.
But many politicians, traditional media and netizens are
broadening the net to encompass
possible US involvement as they
probe the affair.
Both houses of parliament have
launched inquiries into the raid,
and those investigations have
Filipino relatives and supporters of the 44 killed elite Police Special Action Force members hold pictures and flags
during a sympathy walk in Quezon city, east of Manila, yesterday.
unsuccessfully sought to get specifics on US involvement.
In the hearings, broadcast live
on television, authorities have
declined to give a full explanation
on the extent of any US role, citing security issues.
In one instance, Napenas began
detailing some of the US involvement, stating that American
“counterparts” provided intelligence, training and maps.
But before he could elaborate,
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima,
who was at the hearing, quickly
intervened to silence him.
“May I interject? May I just
remind the officer that he is
already dwelling on matters of
diplomatic relations and military
intelligence,” she said.
In another hearing, Napenas
confirmed a US helicopter was
brought in to evacuate the casualties, although authorities have
refused to disclose where it came
from.
Philippine and US authorities
have also said the severed finger
from a corpse believed to be from
the killed militant, Malaysian
national Zulkifli bin Hir, was
given to the FBI.
The FBI said it did a DNA test
on the finger, which showed it was
likely from Zulkifli.
US military involvement in the
Philippines is not unusual, as the
two nations are longtime allies.
Until last month, the United
States had a unit of about 500600 special forces in the southern Philippines that trained local
troops to fight Islamic militants
but was itself not allowed to be
engaged in combat.
Senator Grace Poe, another
powerful Aquino ally and tipped
by some to succeed him as president next year, sought answers in
one of the congressional inquiries
about the reports that a US drone
monitored the battle.
Those reports said the drone
fed footage back to a Philippine
command centre in which US
authorities helped to direct the
police commandos into, and
through, the deadly battle.
“I am concerned because actual
participation, if any, of US forces
in the operation of a purely law
enforcement operation, like service of warrants to accused, albeit
known terrorists who are themselves wanted criminals in the
US, should not be allowed,” Poe
said via text message.
AFP
Tears for MH370 as mystery persists on first anniversary
KUALA LUMPUR: Emotional
families marked the first anniversary of the disappearance
of flight MH370 yesterday as a
new report said the battery on
its black box locator beacon had
expired, but shed no new light
on the cause of the disaster.
Prime Minister Najib Razak
said his nation remained committed to the search for the Malaysia
Airlines jet, believed to have
crashed in the southern Indian
Ocean, and was hopeful it would
be found.
Next of kin, many of whom have
criticised Malaysia’s handling
of the disaster, held ceremonies
Kathmandu warns
Tibetans against
anniversary protests
KATHMANDU:
Nepalese
authorities
have
warned
Tibetan groups against holding
protests to mark this week’s
anniversary of the 1959 rebellion against China’s rule in
Tibet, an official said yesterday.
Extra security will also be
deployed on the capital’s streets
to shut down any protests on
Tuesday for the 56th anniversary of
the failed uprising, Kathmandu’s
chief district officer Ek Narayan
Aryal said.
“We have told them (Tibetan
groups) that such activities will
not be allowed,” Aryal said. “It is
against Nepal’s commitment to
(the) one-China policy.”
Nepal, home to around 20,000
Tibetans, is under intense pressure from its giant neighbour
China over the exiles, and has
repeatedly said it will not tolerate what it calls “anti-China
activities”.
Karma Dawa, manager of
Kathmandu’s Tibetan Refugee
Centre, said it was not planning
any protests at this stage given
the security crackdown in recent
years.
“Security is tighter... right now
we are only planning a prayer
service for our martyrs in the
morning,” Dawa said.
AFP
in Kuala Lumpur and Beijing to
remember the missing and urge
authorities to never abandon the
expensive and arduous search.
“The only answer I want is
where is the plane, then only will
we know,” said Jacquita Gonzales,
wife of the flight’s cabin crew
supervisor Patrick Gomes.
“The whole world has heard
what he (Najib) has said, so they
can’t go back on their word.”
A report by an international
investigative team released
Sunday raised no red flags relating to the crew or the aircraft’s
condition to indicate any cause for
the disappearance.
But it said the 30-day battery
powering the underwater locator
beacon on the flight data recorder
was due to expire in December
2012.
Although the battery on the
plane’s cockpit voice recorder
was up-to-date, this could have
contributed to the failure to find
the plane, said Gerry Soejatman, a
Jakarta-based aviation consultant.
“My major worry is that (search
vessels) may have gone over the
aircraft but not heard the pings
because of this,” said Soejatman,
who added that the report otherwise largely restated what is
already known about MH370.
A year-long hunt in the deep
ocean far off Australia’s west
coast, where satellite data indicate the Boeing 777 crashed, has
yielded nothing yet.
“Together with our international partners, we have followed the little evidence that
exists,” Najib said in a statement.
“Malaysia remains committed
to the search, and hopeful that
MH370 will be found.”
The plane inexplicably veered
from its Kuala Lumpur-Beijing
route on March 8 of last year with
239 passengers and crew aboard.
Relatives and friends of the
missing held an emotional public
Women’s power
N Korea rejects links
to US envoy attacker
Activists march on to the presidential palace in Manila to mark International Women’s Day yesterday. They
were calling for Philippine president to resign, saying he had not done enough for women’s rights in the country.
SEOUL: North Korea hit out
yesterday at accusations that it
may be behind a shocking knife
attack on the US envoy to the
South, branding the claims a
“vicious” smear campaign by
Seoul.
Kim Ki-Jong slashed Mark
Lippert with a paring knife
Thursday in an assault that left
the US envoy needing 80 stitches
to a deep gash on his face.
Kim, 55, was immediately
arrested and charged with
attempted murder, and police are
investigating whether he has any
links to the communist North.
He has reportedly told police
that he had acted alone and denied
any links to the North, calling the
suggestion “outrageous”.
The profile painted of him —
based on past brushes with the
law and his blog postings — is that
of a lone assailant with strong
nationalist views who saw the
US as one of the main obstacles
to the reunification of the divided
Korean peninsula.
But Kim has also visited the
North seven times since 1999, and
once tried to erect a memorial in
Seoul to the late North Korean
leader Kim Jong-Il after his death
in 2011.
AFP
China defends island building in South China Sea
BEIJING:
China’s
foreign
minister yesterday defended
his government’s controversial
policy of reclamation on disputed isles in the South China
Sea which has sparked regional
concern, and said Beijing was
not seeking to overturn the
international order.
Last year, Chinese President
Xi Jinping tried to set Southeast
Asian minds at ease over the
country’s ambitions, but Beijing’s
reclamation work in the Spratlys
underscores its drive to push
claims in the South China Sea
and reassert its rights.
China claims about 90 percent
of the South China Sea, displaying its reach on official maps with
a so-called nine-dash line that
stretches deep into the maritime
heart of Southeast Asia.
Vietnam, the Philippines,
Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan
also have claims to parts of the
potentially energy-rich waters
that are crossed by key global
shipping lanes.
China has already undertaken
reclamation work on six other
reefs it occupies in the Spratlys,
expanding land mass five-fold,
aerial surveillance photos show.
Images last year appeared to show
an airstrip and sea ports.
The work on the islands has
become possibly the most visible
sign of Xi’s more muscular form
of diplomacy, even as he promises
more than $120bn in funds for
Africa, Southeast Asia and Central
Asia. Speaking at his annual news
conference on the sidelines of the
on-going meeting of parliament,
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi
said China was undertaking “necessary” construction that was not
aimed at any third party.
REUTERS
MONDAY 9 MARCH 2015
www.thepeninsulaqatar.com
14
PAKISTAN / AFGHANISTAN
Govt quietly waters down counter-terror plan
Three key points in National Action Plan excluded from implementation, says senior official
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s federal authorities have watered
down their counter-terrorism
strategy after quietly excluding from the implementation
process three key points in the
National Action Plan (NAP), a
senior official said yesterday.
These points are action against
proscribed outfits, reform of
madrassas (religious seminaries)
and the repatriation of Afghan
refugees.
The NAP was crafted following the December 16, 2014 deadly
Taliban assault on the Army
Public School in Peshawar that
killed over 150 students and staff.
As per the plan, the burden
would be shifted to the provinces
including countering the menace
of terrorism, the official said. Yet,
despite incidents of terrorism
and sectarian clashes, provincial
authorities have failed to devise
any framework to counter the
perpetrators.
Punjab remains the hub for
most of these groups. The provincial authorities are considering person-specific laws to bar or
discourage individuals from taking part in any activity using the
name of any changed platform.
Hamid Ali Khan, National
Coordinator for the National
Counter Terrorism Authority
(Nacta), confirmed that the
three points are “no more under
consideration of Nacta” as these
are time-consuming issues that
require long-term planning. But
the remaining 17 points are being
vigorously pursued as they are a
key part of NAP.
Earlier, there were assurances
in the counter terrorism strategy that ‘defunct’ outfits will not
be allowed to operate under any
other name.
On this count though, the
head of Nacta confessed failure
and said that no fresh action has
been taken against any proscribed
organisation and neither has any
mechanism been adopted to keep
any eye on activities of groups
working with changed names.
Experts cite absence of any
practical mechanism as the reason behind this failure. An expert
who was also a part of government’s experts group said that the
Taxation powers
to be returned
to civilians
ISLAMABAD: A bill regarding amendments to the cantonment laws is pending in
Pakistani
Parliament
since
September 2013 but could not
be passed to hold much awaited
local bodies elections in the 43
cantonments of the country.
Though, since 2001, the local
bodies elections have been held in
the entire country for at least two
times and provinces are heading
for a third local bodies election
(Balochistan already held 3rd LG
polls last year), the cantonments
have been deliberately kept away
from the election process.
Ex-Dictator Pervez Musharraf
promulgated confusing ordinances
regarding cantonment laws thus
deliberately depriving the residents of cantonments from electing their local representatives.
Sources say that the major
issue is of the taxation i.e. property tax and entertainment tax
which rests with the cantonments
whereas the provinces want these
taxes back because these taxes
were taken away from the provinces by General Ziaul Haw and
protected in fifth schedule, but
the 18th amendment nullified the
fifth schedule.
INTERNEWS
for local councils. Delimitation is
one of the key pre-requisites for
kick-starting the actual process.
On March 19, last year, the
Supreme Court had given the ECP
and the provinces five months to
hold LG polls. However, even one
year after the top court’s order,
the situation remains the same as
little progress has been made by
two the bigger provinces.
Earlier this week, the ECP asked
the Sindh government to provide maps and other data related
to delimitation — including the
number of seats in union councils,
union committees, wards in municipal committees and town committees — to mark their boundaries.
In its letter written on March 4,
the ECP asked the provincial secretary LG department to provide
the requisite information by March
10. This shows the ECP still does
not have even the basic information on its table to start the delimitation process in the province.
Similarly, the ECP on March 3
notified the schedule to conduct
delimitations in Punjab. Under
this schedule, the electoral body
would start the process on March
16 and complete it on July 28.
However, sources in the ECP
said they are still awaiting Punjab’s
data for Lahore and three other
bigger districts. This means the
delimitation process is unlikely to
complete within the schedule notified by the ECP this week.
Once the process of delimitations completes, the ECP would
have to reconcile the voters’
lists in accordance with the new
delimitations and print ballot
papers.
INTERNEWS
said. “I was feeling guilty. Why did
it happen to me? It was my fault.
And I said: ‘I wish my underwear
were made of iron’.”
Now in hiding in the suburbs of
Kabul, Khademi lamented: “These
things happen daily, every moment,
every hour in my city.” She added
she had received both insults and
death threats over email and had
been forced to leave her home.
A few days after Khademi’s
performance, some male activist
carried out their own unique form
of protest, donning the all-encompassing burqa to show solidarity
with women they said were being
oppressed by the garment.
AFP
AFP
Protest forces artist into hiding
said she found herself harassed
from all sides and was forced to
flee after jeers and stones were
hurled her way.
“It did go according to what
I was expecting. The crowd was
coming at me and sort of pushing me,” she said on International
Women’s Day, adding she had to
escape the area in a taxi.
Khademi said a painful event
from her early childhood had
evoked her bold protest.
“This piece is about what happened to me when I was four or
five years old. Somebody touched
me and then he just walked away.
I was just a female for him. He
didn’t care how old I was,” she
Plan for relocation of
embassy in Yemen
Afghan Police officials display explosives and detonators which were recovered from suspected militants in
Desho district of Helmand province. Afghan Border Police seized more than 1,000kg of explosives and other
materials after a clash with the militants.
PPP seeks MQM role in Sindh govt
Local Government Sharjeel
Inam Memon said.
After success of negotiations, it would be possible to
say whether MQM will join
the provincial government or
not, the minister said while
talking to media persons after
inauguration of Sarsabz Sindh
INTERNEWS
MAZAR-I-SHARIF: Rioting
prison inmates in northern
Afghanistan killed two policemen and set another on fire
after taking them hostage yesterday, in a dramatic episode
that left 20 others wounded
before they attempted to escape,
officials said.
The inmates attacked the
police as they were conducting a
search for knives, cellphones and
other contraband in a prison in
Shibirghan, the capital of Jawzjan,
provincial police chief Faqir
Mohammad Jawzjani said.
“They first took three officers
hostage and later killed two of
them and mutilated their bodies,” he said.
“They burned the third officer
alive. He was taken to the hospital with around 75 percent of
burns on his body and is in a very
critical condition,” Jawzjani said,
adding that five officers were
wounded trying to rescue their
colleagues.
He said one prisoner was also
killed and 15 were wounded after
the prisoners tried to escape the
compound. Abdulhai Hayat, the
head of Jawzjan’s provincial council confirmed the details of the
incident, and added that the local
council and elders intervened to
bring the crisis to an end.
“The situation is now calm,
but the prisoners are on hunger
strike,” he said. The prison compound holds around 800 inmates,
both criminals and the Taliban
from both Jawzjan and neighbouring Sari Pul provinces.
Members of the Afghan women’s volleyball team take part in an event to mark International Women’s Day in
Kabul yesterday. In Kabul and major cities in Afghanistan, enormous progress has been made in women’s
rights since the 2001 US-led invasion brought down the Taliban regime
KABUL: A young Afghan artist
who walked through the streets
of Kabul wearing a suit of
armour in protest against sexual
harassment has gone into hiding
after receiving death threats.
Kubra Khademi, 27, had walked
around in the costume in central
Kabul on February 26 hoping to
cast a spotlight on groping and
inappropriate touching of women
in public spaces in Afghanistan.
The suit was fashioned at a cost
of 500 Afghanis ($10) by a local
blacksmith, said Khademi.
She then decided to take it
out for a run. After removing
her coat in the street, the young
artist, who was wearing a hijab,
been given the task to work on
these aspects.
This is a lengthy process,
according to the counter terrorism body’s chief, and one that is
hard to monitor regularly.
Seven other ambitious goals
identified by the officials include
action against elements spreading sectarianism, leaving no room
for extremism in any part of the
country and taking concrete
measures against promotion of
terrorism through the Internet
and social media.
The goals include freezing all
funding sources of terrorists
and terrorist outfits, and working on political reconciliation in
Balochistan.
Afghan prison
rioters kill two
policemen, set
one on fire
Seized explosives
ISLAMABAD: The leadership of Pakistan Peoples Party
(PPP) has given a mandate to
Senator-elect Abdul Rehman
Malik to hold dialogues with
Muttahida Qaumi Movement
(MQM), convincing them to
join Sindh government, Sindh
Minister for Information and
the current hype in the media
about their return, the ministry
had not issued any policy notification for the purpose.
Officials pointed out that
huge numbers of CNICs had
been issued to these refugees
during military rule of Pervez
Musharraf.
Another challenging task is to
create a liaison between National
Database and Registration
Authority
(NADRA)
and
the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) to determine accurate data. Pakistan is also expecting funding from international
donors.
The Ministry of States and
Frontier Regions (SAFRON) has
Women’s Day game
ECP may miss court
deadline for LG polls
ISLAMABAD: Officials at
the Election Commission of
Pakistan (ECP) have cast fresh
doubts on their ability to meet
the Supreme Court-anointed
deadline (September 20) for
holding local government polls,
especially in Sindh and Punjab.
For the most part, they anticipate trouble from the bigger
provinces which are unlikely to
cooperate with them over the
issue.
On Friday, the Supreme Court
ordered the provinces and the
ECP to fulfil their constitutional
obligation and complete the
process of LG polls in Punjab,
Sindh, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa,
cantonments and Islamabad by
September 20, this year.
However, some top ECP officials
said on the condition of anonymity
that the September 20 deadline
is likely to be missed. The election supervisory body blames the
provincial governments for the
extraordinary delay in holding LG
polls. The previous local bodies’
system expired in 2009.
“Given the attitude of the provinces, we feel the matter might be
put off once again,” said one ECP
official as he attributed the delay
in the LG polls to non-cooperation from the provinces.
He said the preparatory work
for the L-G polls in K-P was
almost complete and polls might
be held there as per schedule.
However, the real issue is holding
elections in Punjab and Sindh, the
two biggest provinces in terms of
population, he added.
These provinces are yet to
provide the ECP with the data
needed to delimit constituencies
provinces had failed to devise any
practical procedure to achieve
these goals.
Similarly, point no 10 of the
plan reads “registration and regulation of religious seminaries.”
The government had not moved
forward in this regard, other than
a few symbolic actions, the official
said.
Goal number 19 incorporated in
the draft of the NAP assures of
the “formulation of a comprehensive policy to deal with the issue of
Afghan refugees, beginning with
registration of all refugees”.
Sources said that the interior
ministry was yet to devise any
viable strategy for repatriation of
Afghan refugees to their native
country. They added that despite
Campaign at Zoological Garden
(Rani Baagh) late Saturday
evening.
He said that negotiations with
MQM leadership are on-going.
“The people will soon witness
the expected successful results of
such dialogues.”
IANS
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan government is mulling over plans to
relocate its embassy in Yemen
from Sana’a to the southern city
of Aden. Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam, asked
about reports of shifting of the
embassy, said: “The situation
is being monitored. No such
decision.”
A source said Dr Irfan Shami,
Pakistan’s Ambassador to Yemen,
visited Aden a few days ago.
However, it was not clear if he
had met the team of beleaguered
Yemeni President Abed Rabbo
Mansour Hadi, who had resigned
in January, but later retracted his
decision.
Hadi was detained after his
resignation by Houthi militia
which has been in control of the
capital since late last year, but he
later escaped and based himself
in Aden, from where he is trying
to establish a rival government.
The Pakistani embassy in
Sana’a is manned by an eightmember team, including the
ambassador.
A number of western missions
have already closed down operations in Sana’a, citing security
concerns. Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia, have moved
their missions to Aden to show
that they still consider Hadi as
legitimate ruler of Yemen.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
earlier this week visited Saudi
Arabia, where he held consultations with the Custodian of the
Two Holy Mosques King Salman
bin Abdulaziz Al Saud over the
regional situation, including the
rise of Houthi militia in Yemen.
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia
agreed to cooperate on security
matters.
Riyadh perceives the takeover
of Sana’a by Houthi militia as part
of Tehran’s attempt to expand its
regional influence.
Saudi Arabia, according to
Longley Alley, senior analyst at
the International Crisis Group,
has lost hope in the political
process.
“It is aggressive in attempts to
diplomatically isolate the Houthis
and supports groups that will
confront them militarily. It looks
like Saudi Arabia is on the warpath,” he said in an interview with
Council on Foreign Relations.
Relocating Pakistan’s embassy
to Aden would be a clear signal on
the part of Islamabad that it had
decided to join the Saudi camp.
INTERNEWS
MONDAY 9 MARCH 2015
www.thepeninsulaqatar.com
INDIA
15
18 arrested
over lynching
of rape suspect
Togadia’s
entry banned
in Karnataka
coastal town
important schemes slashed in the
union budget this year.
In other events, over 30 organisations and NGOs came together
to “assert women’s freedom” and
asked the prime minister to take
action against those threatening
the rights of women.
The event, titled “Aath (8)
March, Saath (together) March”,
included street plays and interactions to empower the women residents of the national capital and
to inform them of their rights. It
was organised at Jantar Mantar.
Bollywood stars like Amitabh
Bachchan, Karan Johar and
Sonakshi Sinha and Shabana
Azmi also came together and
urged the society to treat women
as equals throughout the year and
not just assign them one day of
the year.
Veteran actress-social activist
Shabana Azmi said rather than
treating women like goddesses,
the society should treat them as
equals.
BENGALURU: Vishva Hindu
Parishad (VHP) International
Working
President
Pravin
Togadia’s entry into Udupi in
Karnataka’s coastal district has
been banned for a week from
yesterday to maintain peace
and law and order in the area,
police said.
“We have banned Togadia’s
entry into this temple town till
March 13 under section 144(3)
of the Criminal Procedure Code
(CrPC) to ensure peace and
social harmony,” Udupi district
Superintendent of Police K
Annamalai said.
The temple town is about 400
km away Bengaluru.
Though the ban sparked protests by right wing activists in
the coastal region, including
Mangaluru, the police were firm
on not allowing the controversial
leader from entering the district
or the pilgrim town.
“We have permitted the organisers of Hindu Samjotsava to hold
a rally in the city peacefully on
Monday, but barred Togadia from
entering the district, as we do
not want him to cause trouble
by making provocative speech
against anyone irrespective of
religion, castes and community,”
Annamalai said.
The district authorities also
stepped up vigil in the town and the
venue by deploying additional force to
regulate the crowds at the rally and
monitor their movement through
closed circuit television cameras.
Togadia’s entry into Bengaluru
was banned a month ago for a similar rally on an order from the state
government, which was upheld by
the Karnataka High Court.
The organisers, however, defied
the ban and screened a video clip
on Togadia’s fiery speech at the
fag end of the event on February
9 when most of the people gathered for the occasion had disbursed and the police was caught
off-guard.
“The organisation has gone
to the high court for lifting the
ban and allowing Togadia’s entry,
claiming that he did not create
any law and order during his earlier visits to the state, including
the coastal region,” Annamalai
added.
IANS
IANS
Riot police patrolling Dimapur streets
NEW DELHI: Police charged
18 people yesterday after a frenzied mob stormed a prison and
lynched a rape suspect in India’s
northeast, in an act of vigilante
justice condemned by rights
groups and political leaders.
Police arrested the men for
rioting in Nagaland state, but it
was unclear if they were directly
involved in stripping and beating
to death Syed Farid Khan, whose
body was then strung up to a
clock tower on Thursday.
Tensions had been rising in
Dimapur city ahead of the incident after Bengali-speaking Khan
was arrested on February 24 for
allegedly raping a 19-year-old
tribal woman multiple times.
“So far we have arrested 18
people for rioting and unlawful
assembly,” Inspector General of
Police, Wabang Jamir, said.
“We are now verifying if besides
being part of the mob they were
also directly involved in the lynching,” Jamir said by phone from
Dimapur, 1,660km east of New
Delhi.
“We have already identified
many more people (for arrest)
from videos and photos (of the
incident on social media),” he
added.
Hundreds of riot police have
been patrolling the streets of
Dimapur district since the incident amid heightened tensions.
Jamir said mobile phone and
Internet restrictions remained
in place but a round-the-clock
curfew would be partially lifted.
The lynching comes as India is
in the midst of a raging controversy over a government order to
ban the broadcast of a documentary about the December 2012
fatal gang-rape of a young student
in New Delhi.
India has seen an outpouring
of anger over frightening levels of
violence against women since the
2012 attack, which sparked shock
both within India and around the
world.
But the lynching is also linked
to ethnic tensions in Nagaland,
whose indigenous tribal groups
have for years accused growing
numbers of Muslim migrants
from neighbouring Assam state
and Bangladesh of settling
on their land and eating into
resources.
Several thousand people overpowered security at the Dimapur
Central Prison on Thursday
searching for rape suspect Khan,
whom Nagaland’s government
initially said was a Bangladeshi
immigrant.
Khan, who is from Assam,
was stripped and paraded on the
streets before the mob armed
with sticks beat him to death,
according to local media.
The chief minister of Assam,
Tarun Gogoi, on Saturday branded
the incident “barbaric, heinous
and inhuman” while Amnesty
International urged justice for
those responsible.
“Violence against women needs
to be tackled with swift and effective responses from the state, not
with barbarism by self appointed
vigilantes,” it said in a statement.
Khan’s brother, a sergeant in
the Indian army, has accused
police of falsely implicating his
brother in the rape to try to root
out non-tribals from Nagaland,
which is predominantly Christian.
The largest Naga tribe has
previously campaigned to evict
Bengali-speaking immigrants
from their territory.
The woman, who cannot be
named for legal reasons, said
Khan had given her 5,000 ($80)
rupees after the attack in return
for her silence.
“It was only after the incident,
he gave me the money to keep
silent, so I took the money and
gave it to the police station,” the
woman told the NDTV network.
Jamir said the woman’s initial
medical report “confirmed rape
and other ... injuries on her body”.
Thousands
bid farewell to
Karthikeyan
Modi begins Seychelles, Mauritius, Sri Lanka visit tomorrow
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
Thousands of people turned up
at various places yesterday to
bid goodbye to Kerala speaker G
Karthikeyan, who passed away
on Saturday after battling liver
cancer for the past few months.
His body was brought to
his official residence here on
Saturday from Bengaluru where
he died.
The compound of his official
residence which is next door to
the Kerala Legislative assembly
was thrown open to all and till
yesterday morning, thousands of
people from all walks of life came
to pay their last respects.
Yesterday morning, the body
was placed at the members’
lounge in the assembly as 66-yearold Karthikeyan became the first
speaker of the assembly to die
while the session is on.
The budget session of the 13th
assembly began on Friday with
the Governor’s address and the
state budget for the 2015-16 fiscal will be presented on March
13th.
Leader of opposition VS
Achuthanandan, political leaders
from various parties and the staff
of the legislature paid their last
respects and from there, the body
was moved to the Congress party
headquarters.
From there, it was taken to
the Durbar Hall in the state
Secretariat, the seat of power.
At the Durbar Hall, Kerala
Governor P Sathasivam paid
homage to Karthikeyan.
From there, his body was taken
to his assembly constituency in
the city suburbs near Aruvikara
for his electorate to pay their last
respects.
IANS
AFP
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister
Narendra Modi yesterday said
he was looking forward to
enhancing India’s ties with the
friendly Indian Ocean countries
of Seychelles, Mauritius and Sri
Lanka during his five-day visit
beginning March 10.
In a series of tweets from his
Twitter handle @narendramodi,
linked to the Facebook account,
Modi said the Indian Ocean region
“is a region of great inspiration
for us and India attaches paramount importance to strengthening relations with this region”.
On his first destination,
Seychelles, Modi said he was
Women applaud while others dance to Bollywood tunes during “International Women’s Day” celebrations in
Bangalore, yesterday.
President, premier call for end
to violence against women
NEW
DELHI:
President
Pranab Mukherjee and Prime
Minister Narendra Modi yesterday called for gender equity
and decried violence against
women as the government said
it has initiated one-stop crisis
centres that will provide assistance to women who face violence in any form.
In his statement on International
Women’s Day, Mukherjee termed
equality, liberty and dignity as
women’s “sacred rights”. He asked
the people to reaffirm their commitment to ensure gender equity
and empowerment of womenfolk
in India.
The president also presented
the ‘Stree Shakti Puraskar’
and ‘Nari Shakti Puraskar’ for
the year 2014 at a function in
Rashtrapati Bhavan here.
In a separate statement, Modi
said: “Our heads hang in shame
when we hear of instances of
crime against women.”
Modi said his government has
initiated several steps to help
“eagerly awaiting” his visit on
March 11. “I am very glad that I
am able to visit Seychelles early
on during my tenure and I look
forward to working with President
(James Alexis) Michel to
strengthen co-operation between
India and Seychelles,” he wrote.
He said India’s relationship
with Seychelles was “a very special one, built on the foundation of
mutual trust and shared values”.
“During my visit I hope to
achieve substantial progress in
areas ranging from the economy
to infrastructure and culture.
Am certain that my visit to
Seychelles, a land known for its
women who face violence and
abuse.
The prime minister said he
“salutes the indomitable courage
and stellar achievements of women.
We must walk shoulder-to-shoulder to end all forms of discrimination or injustice against women”.
He said the central government
is setting up ‘One-Stop Centres’
that will provide assistance, legal
advice and psychological counselling to women who face violence
or abuse.
Elaborating on the same, union
Women and Child Development
Minister Maneka Gandhi said the
centres would in the first phase
come up one in each state. “If they
are successful, then we will go in
for more such centres,” she said.
The minister said the centres
would be separate from police stations and hospitals and would also
have facilities where women can
stay for sometime if needed.
Gandhi also said she has asked
the finance minister to restore
some part of the allocations for
natural beauty and warm-hearted
people, will be a historic and productive one.”
On the second destination of
Mauritius, where he will be visiting on March 11 and 12, the prime
minister said it would be “very
special” visit.
“I am very happy to be there
with my sisters and brothers of
Mauritius as they celebrate their
National Day. Our relationship
with Mauritius has been strong
and I am committed to working
with Prime Minister Anerood
Jugnauth to strengthening our ties
further in a wide range of issues.”
He
said
he
will
be
addressing the National Assembly
of Mauritius. “I would be attending the programme to mark the
Commissioning of Coast Ship
Barracuda, which signifies the
deep level of friendship between
India and Mauritius.”
Modi will also attend a civic
reception and join the programme
for a new building at the World
Hindi Secretariat. “As you can
see, I would be attending a diverse
range of programmes and working closely with PM Jugnauth to
realize the full potential of IndiaMauritius ties,” he wrote.
On the final leg of his visit to
Sri Lanka on March 13-14, the
prime minister said: “I embark
on my first visit to Sri Lanka
with great joy and confidence
that this visit will make India’s
relations with Sri Lanka even
stronger, in the larger interest of
our people. Robust ties with Sri
Lanka signifies the importance
India attaches to the South Asian
neighbourhood.”
He said his visit comes after
President Maithripala Sirisena’s
visit to India “during which substantial ground was covered on
taking our ties forward. I am
eagerly looking forward to meeting President Sirisena once again”.
IANS
Modi meet Mamata’s
‘ghar wapsi’: CPM
Communist Party of India (Marxist) activists gather at brigade parade ground in Kolkata yesterday. The party
leaders and activists voiced their demands to save democracy and rights in West Bengal.
KOLKATA: The Communist
Party of India-Marxist (CPM)
yesterday
described
West
Bengal Chief Minister Mamata
Banerjee’s yesterday meet with
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
as ‘ghar wapsi’ (home coming) for
the Trinamool Congress chief.
Addressing at a CPM rally at the
Brigade Parade Ground here, the party’s Lok Sabha member Mohammad
Salim said there was a competition between Banerjee and her once
trusted lieutenant Mukul Roy on who
can lean more towards the BJP.
“While in Bengal she declared
war with Modi, she made sure
to deploy Mukul Roy and (Rajya
Sabha member) K D Singh to
build a bridge with the prime minister. Now that Roy has built his
own bypass towards the BJP, she is
forced to go to Delhi,” said Salim.
Salim said Banerjee’s meet
was aimed at saving herself and
the Trinamool several of whose
leaders have come under the
scanner of the Central Bureau of
Investigation which is probing the
multi-crore rupee Saradha scam.
With the Trinamool shutting all
doors on Roy and stripping him of
all party posts, there have been
speculations that Banerjee’s once
trusted lieutenant may join the
BJP, although the saffron party
has rubbished such a surmise.
“During Lok Sabha polls,
Banerjee had said she would drag
Modi to jail tying a rope round
his waist. The people now want to
know if you are carrying a rope
or taking a rakhi to solidify your
ties with Modi,” asked Salim on a
day when Banerjee left for Delhi.
IANS
MONDAY 9 MARCH 2015
www.thepeninsulaqatar.com
16
Solar plane set for global tour
PRAYER TIME
Fajr (Dawn)
4:34
Shorook (Sunrise)
5:50
Zuhr (Noon)
11:45
Asr (Afternoon)
3:08
Maghrib (Sunset)
5:41
Isha (Night)
7:11
WEATHER
Today
Tuesday
Wednesday
Clear
Clear
Clear
High: 25°
Low: 16°
High: 32°
Low: 19°
Weather
Conditions:
Misty to foggy
at places at
first becoming
moderate
temperature
daytime with some
clouds and hazy
by night.
High: 28°
Low: 19°
DOHA - SUN & SEA
SUNRISE | SUNSET
SUN
HIGH | LOW
SEA
WIND
05:50 17:41
06:45 & 19:30 00:30 & 13:15
03-12 KT
TIDE
TODAY
THE REGION
HI/LO WEATHER
30/21
Clear
33/21
Clear
39/25
Clear
39/24
Clear
KUWAIT
28/13
Partly cloudy
30/14
Clear
BAHRAIN
28/18
Clear
28/18
Partly cloudy
SANAA
26/10
Clear
26/10
Clear
RIYADH
33/18
Clear
31/14
Clear
DUBAI
33/21
Clear
28/17
Clear
BAGHDAD
28/13
Clear
29/13
Clear
TODAY
HI/LO WEATHER
12/08
Cloudy
13/07
Cloudy
13/07
Chance of showers
Chance of storm
29/20
Partly cloudy
LONDON
14/07
Cloudy
13/04
Partly cloudy
14/08
Cloudy
ISTANBUL
09/06
Mostly cloudy
10/05
Mostly cloudy
MANILA
31/22
Clear
30/21
Partly cloudy
DHAKA
34/19
Clear
flight time of around 25 days.
It will cross the Arabian Sea
to India before heading on to
Chance of showers
12/08
26/20
Partly cloudy
The Solar Impulse 2, a solar-powered plane, flies over Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh
Zayed Grand Mosque in preparation for round-the-world flight. The plane
has a wingspan of 72 metres, larger than that of a Boeing 747, but weighs
only 2.3 tonnes.
HI/LO WEATHER
SYDNEY
15/07
CLEAN ENERGY PETITION
TOMORROW
WASHINGTON
PARIS
and was the first person, in 1999,
to circumnavigate the globe in
a hot air balloon, clung to his
belief that clean technology and
renewable energy “can achieve
the impossible”.
The plane is powered by more
than 17,000 solar cells built into
wings that, at 72 metres (236
feet), are longer than a jumbo and
approaching that of an Airbus
A380 superjumbo.
TOMORROW
MAKKAH
THE WORLD
ABU
DHABI:
The
first
attempt to fly around the world
in a plane using solar energy
will be launched today in Abu
Dhabi, its pilots said, in a landmark journey aimed at promoting green energy.
The
t a ke o f f
of
S ol a r
Impulse 2, which was delayed
on Saturday due to high
winds, would cap 13 years of
research and testing by Swiss
pilots Andre Borschberg and
Bertrand Piccard.
“This project is a human
project, it is a human challenge,”
Borschberg, co-founder and chief
executive of Solar Impulse who
will fly the plane on the first leg,
told reporters yesterday.
The wingspan of the one-seater
plane, known as the Si2, is slightly
bigger than that of a jumbo jet,
but its weight is around that of a
family car.
It will take off from Abu Dhabi
this morning at 6:30 am (0230
GMT), landing first in Muscat,
Oman. From there, it will make
12 stops on an epic journey spread
over five months, with a total
HI/LO WEATHER
MUSCAT
ATHENS
MORNING BREAK
32/18
Clear
DELHI
25/12
Clear
27/12
Clear
ISLAMABAD
22/19
Partly cloudy
23/10
Mostly cloudy
The pilots of Solar Impulse 2, Bertrand Piccard (left) and Andre Borschberg
stand in front of their aeroplane at Al Bateen Executive Airport in Abu Dhabi
yesterday.
'SRRIGXMRK
[MXL
GSQQYRMXMIW
From Sunday, March 15,
The Peninsula Plus will
have a new name.
And we will reach
out to communities to
connect you better.
QMVT!QFODPNRBáXXXUIFQFOJOTVMBRBUBSDPN
Myanmar, China, Hawaii and
New York. Landings are also
earmarked for the midwestern
United States and either southern
Europe or North Africa, depending on weather conditions.
The longest single leg will see a
lone pilot fly non-stop for five days
across the Pacific Ocean between
Nanjing, China and Hawaii, a distance of 8,500km .
Borschberg and Piccard will
alternate turns at the controls
because the plane can hold only
one person. All this will happen
without burning a drop of fuel.
“We want to share our vision
of a clean future,” said Piccard,
chairman of Solar Impulse.
“Climate change is a fantastic opportunity to bring in the
market new green technologies
that save energy, save natural
resources of our planet, make
profit, create jobs, and sustain
growth.”
The pilots’ idea was ridiculed
by the aviation industry when it
was first unveiled.
But Piccard, who hails from a
family of scientist-adventurers
Thanks to an innovative design,
the lightweight carbon fibre aircraft weighs only 2.3 tonnes,
about the same as a family 4X4
and less than one percent of the
weight of the A380.
The Si2 is the first solar-powered aircraft able to stay aloft for
several days and nights.
The propellor craft has four 17.5
horsepower electric motors with
rechargeable lithium batteries.
It will travel at 50-100km per
hour, with the slower speeds at
night to prevent the batteries
from draining too quickly.
The Si2 is the successor to
Solar Impulse, a smaller craft
that notched up a 26-hour flight
in 2010, proving its ability to store
enough power in the batteries
during the day to keep flying at
night
It made its last successful
test flight in the United Arab
Emirates on March 2, and mission chiefs reported no problems.
It is scheduled to arrive back
in Abu Dhabi in July, flown by
Piccard. For him, “the project
should not finish in July, it should
start in July.” A petition was
launched on futureisclean.org
to campaign in favour of clean
energy.
The pilots will be linked to a
control centre in Monaco where
65 weathermen, air traffic controllers and engineers will be stationed. A team of 65 support staff
will travel with the two pilots.
Its progress can be monitored
via live video streaming at www.
solarimpulse.com.
AFP
Monday 9 March 2015
18 Jumada I 1436
Volume 20
Number 6364
Price: QR2
Doha Bank
plans to launch
ETF on QE
Business | 19
www.thepeninsulaqatar.com
[email protected] | [email protected]
Editorial: 44557741 | Advertising: 44557837 / 44557780
South Korea second largest trade partner of Qatar: Al Sada
DOHA: H E Dr Mohammed
bin Saleh Al Sada, Minister of
Energy and Industry, said yesterday that exports to South
Korea represented 20 percent of
Qatar’s total exports. Liquefied
Natural Gas represented a
third of those exports. Speaking
at the Qatari-South Korean
Economic Forum, the Minister
said that bilateral trade volume
was at $27bn in 2013, making
South Korea the second biggest
trade partner to Qatar.
Additionally, the Minister said
there were 34 Korean companies
operating in Qatar with a combined capital exceeding $1bn.
Joint Qatari-Korean companies
on the other hand are at a total
of 115 companies working with a
capital of $2bn.
He said that economic partnership was an important bridge
that brought bilateral relations.
On the forum, the Minister said
that having a host of business
personalities from both countries
meet will help expand the scope
of bilateral cooperation.
The President of South Korea,
Park Geun-hye, said that the
forum will be an important
opportunity to exchange ideas on
issues of common interest. The
president also highlighted the
distinguished bilateral diplomatic
ties that started in 1974 and are
reflected in the strong bilateral
economic cooperation today.
Geun-hye said the two countries
already have strong cooperation
in the energy and infra-structure
projects. She noted that Korean
companies are event present in
Qatari projects related to electricity production and sanitation.
On Qatar’s organisation of the
World Cup 2022, the president
stressed her confidence in Qatar’s
capabilities of producing a tremendous edition of the competition.
She added that South Korea has
a great experience after hosting
World Cup 2002, something that
can make the Far East country
of great help. She also said that
South-Korean companies are keen
to participate in preparing the
services, logistics and infrastructure as Qatar prepares for hosting
the World Cup.
The forum, organised jointly by
the Qatari Chamber of Industry
and Commerce and its Korean
counterpart, will work towards
enhancing cooperation between
the private sector of the two
countries.
Qatar Chamber of Commerce
and Industry (QCCI) Chairman
Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim Al
Thani praised the contribution of
Korean companies in the establishment of many development
projects not only in Qatar, but
also in other GCC states.
THE PENINSULA
H E Dr Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada, Minister of Energy and Industry, with South Korean President Park Geunhye, QCCI Chairman Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim Al Thani and Park Yong-maan, Chairman of the Korea Chamber
of Commerce during a meeting at Four Seasons in Doha yesterday.
ABDUL BASIT
Insurance market expands
Administrative regulations by QCB for insurance companies on the anvil
Ali Hamad Al Mesaifri, Chief of Human Resources and General Services at
QIIB, receiving the honourary award from the President of Qatar University,
Dr Sheikha Al Misnad.
International Islamic
honoured for its
CSR contribution
DOHA: International Islamic
(QIIB) was honoured for its distinctive role in Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) at a wellattended ceremony held at the
Qatar University. QU’s College
of Business and Economics
partnered with the Qatar CSR
Network in organising the event,
which also saw the launch of the
‘CSR Report Qatar 2014’.
The event was attended by
many dignitaries including the
President of the Administrative
Control and Transparency
Authority, H E Abdullah bin
Hamad Al Attiyah, who was honoured as the ‘CSR Person of the
Year’. Diplomats and senior officials also attended the ceremony.
Ali Hamad Al Mesaifri, Chief
of Human Resources and General
Services at QIIB, received
the honorary award from the
President of Qatar University, Dr
Sheikha Al Misnad.
Commenting on the honour,
Ali Al Al Mesaifri said: “We at
the QIIB are very pleased with
this award, especially that it is
given at an important venue at
the national academic institution
that we respect and appreciate a
lot, one that graduated many talents and is still graduating. And
this honour confirms that we at
the QIIB are moving in the right
direction in the area of community serving.”
He added: “We believe that social
responsibility is not about slogans,
but a real act that needs to be put
into practice by institutions and
organisations. This will have farreaching implications on the society and help develop communities
and create constructive cooperation between the various parties.
At QIIB, we believe that our first
role is to serve the society by offering Islamic products and services
of high quality, on appropriate and
equitable terms and conditions,
which will meet our customer
needs and add value to them.
“We consider ourselves responsible for developing these products and services on a permanent
basis to keep pace with the growing needs of the society in general and various segments in
particular. The primary focus is
on productive financing, especially
in the area of small and medium
projects, which provide numerous
opportunities for growth and are
beneficial to the society.”
Al Mesaifri noted that for long
QIIB had been engaged in corporate social responsibility initiatives in Qatar. The Bank has
cooperated and still is cooperating
with major and active institutions
engaged in community services at
various spheres such as health,
education, charitable and social
activities, and culture and sports.
THE PENINSULA
DOHA: The size of Qatar’s
insurance market is picking
up, though slowly, and has hit
an estimated $2bn. This represents one percent of the country’s GDP and 4 percent of the
total value of insurance market in the Mena region, Yousuf
Mohammed Al Jaida, Deputy
CEO, Qatar Financial Centre
(QFC) Authority, said yesterday.
Talking to the media here, Al
Jaida said the Qatar Central Bank
(QCB) is expected to come out with
fresh administrative regulations for
insurance companies soon.
Citing key finding in QFC
Authority’s 3rd Annual Mena
Insurance Barometer released
yesterday to mark the annual twoday MultaQa Qatar conference,
Al Jaida said confidence prevails
in the Mena insurance markets as
insurers expect regional premiums to outgrow GDP and rates to
finally stabilise or even start rising.
While the region’s average income
per capita is similar to the global
level, insurance penetration remains
extraordinarily low, with premiums
accounting for a mere 1.3 percent
of GDP, a fifth of the global average.
This gap is narrowing, however, as
Mena insurance markets outpace
regional GDP growth.
Between 2008 and 2013, total
non-life and life insurance premium volumes in the region
expanded from about $30bn to
more than $50bn. Going forward,
Swiss Re expects premiums to
grow at an inflation-adjusted 5.5
percent for 2015 to 2016, higher
than the International Monetary
Fund’s economic growth forecast
for the region.
Akshay Ranadeva, Strategic
Development Director, QFC
Authority, said the Mena Insurance
Barometer shows that the region’s
strong fundamentals remain intact.
Insurance penetration is on the rise,
demographics are favourable, and
the ability of most Gulf countries to
withstand short-term volatility in oil
pricing is strong.
The executives polled in the
Mena Insurance Barometer see
the region’s strong economic and
direct insurance market growth
as its most important current
strength, followed by a massive
pipeline of major infrastructure
and construction projects and a
relatively moderate natural catastrophe exposure.
The Barometer found that 86
percent and 34 percent of executives polled view current prices in
Mena commercial and personal
lines business, respectively, as being
below the average of the past five
years. 81 percent and 89 percent,
respectively, expect commercial
and personal lines rates to remain
stable or improve over the next 12
months, very similar to last year.
However, in commercial and
personal lines the share of those
expecting rate increases has
grown from 19 percent to 30 percent and 21 percent to 37 percent,
respectively. Rate expectations
remain moderately positive as
prices appear to have hit bottom
and regulators continue to take
supportive action.
Yousuf Mohammed Al Jaida
Akshay Ranadeva
9th edition of MultaQa
Qatar opens today
DOHA: The 9th edition of MultaQa Qatar, Mena region’s leading risk and insurance forum, will take place at St Regis Hotel
here beginning today. More than 700 senior insurance and reinsurance executives operating in the Middle East and Northern
Africa (Mena) plan to attend the conference and debate the current trends and developments in the marketplace.
The event, co-hosted by the Qatar Central Bank and the Qatar
Financial Centre (QFC) Authority, features a keynote address by
QCB Governor H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Saud Al Thani.
“The insurance and reinsurance industry is vital for the rapid progression and diversification of Qatar’s and the wider Mena region’s
economy,” said Shashank Srivastava, Chief Executive Officer and
Board Member of the QFC Authority.
Inga Beale, Chief Executive Officer of Lloyd’s; Karel van Hulle,
Associate Professor at the Faculty of Economics and Business at
the University of Ku Leuven and Former Head of the Insurance and
Pension Unit of the European Commission; Giles Ward, Regional
President, ACE Eurasia & Africa; and many distinguished panelists
from the industry will address the delegates.
THE PENINSULA
THE PENINSULA
Opec should not cut output to ‘subsidise’ shale: Badri
MANAMA: The Organisation of the
Petroleum Exporting Countries SecretaryGeneral said yesterday that the group’s
exporters should not cut output to “subsidise” higher-cost shale, an energy source
whose recent growth is blamed by Opec for
weakening oil markets.
Abdullah Al Badri added in remarks to a
conference in Bahrain that tight oil, a term he
has used for shale, was “not a challenge for us”
but the market should now be left to decide
which source of petroleum could survive at
current prices.
Oil prices have sunk to near six year lows
in recent months as a result of a large supply
glut, due mostly to a sharp rise in U.S. shale
production as well as weaker global demand.
The rapid decline has left several smaller oil
producing countries reeling and has forced oil
companies to slash budgets. “We welcome tight
oil... but this source of energy costs too much
to produce. You cannot produce it at $70-$80
or $90, you need $100 plus to produce, sell it
and make income out of it,” Badri said.
“Opec cannot subsidise another source
of energy — if we reduce (production) in
November we will reduce in January. We will
reduce in December. We will reduce maybe
for another four to five years,” he said. “We
cannot every time keep reducing our production, it (tight oil) is not a challenge for us ...
we welcome it, but let the market decide now.”
Badri also said that Opec and non-Opec
producers should work together to stabilise
markets, suggesting oversupply could amount
to two million barrels per day (b/d).
Since 2008, supplies from non-Opec producers had risen by almost 6m b/d, he said.
In contrast, Opec production had been fairly
steady at about 30m b/d.
Badri said the market’s “true picture” would
not be apparent until the end of June, adding
he had no doubt markets would return to balance in the second half of 2015.
The market was improving now, he said,
and “tremendous opportunity” in oil remained
despite recent market volatility and uncertainties. Energy demand would increase by
60 percent by 2040 and oil would remain a
central energy source, he said.
REUTERS
MONDAY 9 MARCH 2015
www.thepeninsulaqatar.com
18
BUSINESS
QE index edges up,
market cap rises
Most Gulf markets see slow trade; Egypt climbs
DOHA: Qatar Exchange index
gained 4.59 points or 0.04 percent when the bourse closed yesterday at 12,144.01 points from
Thursday’s 12,139.42 points. The
market capitalisation increased
to QR660.73bn compared to
QR660.51bn on Thursday.
The traded value today
decreased to QR251.1m with a
volume of 5,337,151 shares from
3,887 transactions compared to
QR336.41m with a volume of
6,251,803 shares from 3,918 transactions on Thursday.
The transport sector index
gained the most, up 1.25 percent
to 2,497.82 points. The insurance index gained 0.75 percent
(4,120.26 points), telecoms added
0.51 percent (1,418.62 points) and
industries was up 0.47 percent at
4,040.26 points.
The real estate index dropped
0.87 percent (2,390.77 points), the
banking and financial services lost
0.21 percent (3,207.73 points) and
the consumer goods and services
was down 0.19 percent (7,159.78
points). Of the 43 companies
listed, shares of 41 saw trading.
From these, 20 gained, 19 declined
and two remained unchanged.
Meanwhile, a continued
rebound by telecommunications
firm Mobily after its shock earnings restatements buoyed Saudi
Arabia’s bourse yesterday, while
Egypt rose after strong economic
data. Most Gulf markets moved
little because of uncertainty about
oil prices.
Cheap oil has dampened trade
in most Gulf markets for the last
several months, and the latest oil
price move was negative: Brent
crude fell 1.2 percent to below $60
a barrel on Friday, posting its biggest weekly loss since January.
But the spectacular recovery of
Drop in shale
output caused
oil rebound,
says Minister
DUBAI: A drop in shale oil
production has triggered a
rebound of global oil prices,
but prices will not rise sharply
as long as the world’s economy
stays sluggish, Kuwaiti Oil
Minister Ali Al Omair was
quoted as saying by state news
agency KUNA.
Many factors are affecting oil
prices, including violence in Iraq
and Libya, KUNA quoted Omair
as saying late on Saturday during
a visit to Bahrain for an energy
industry conference.
Reduction of output will not
have a major impact without a
global economic recovery that
would spur demand, he added.
He said projections showed
prices might improve this year,
but added that they might also
stay between $50 and $60 a barrel.
Brent crude oil closed Friday just
below $60, up from lows near $45
hit in mid-January.
Asked about Opec’s decision
last November to maintain output
instead of cutting it in an effort
to support prices, Omair said it
“was not a hostile resolution but
balanced”.
The issue of oil’s drop is the
collective responsibility of all oil
producing countries, both Opec
and non-Opec, he added without
elaborating.
Last week, Saudi Arabia’s
Oil Minister Ali bin Ibrahim Al
Nuaimi said he expected oil prices
to stabilise as supply and demand
balanced, and urged non-Opec
producers to help balance the
market.
Oil prices have slid sharply in
recent months as a result of a
large supply glut, due mostly to a
sharp rise in US shale production
as well as weaker global demand.
The rapid decline has left several
smaller oil producing countries
reeling and has forced oil companies to slash budgets.
REUTERS
shares in Mobily (Etihad Etisalat)
galvanised the Saudi market,
whose main index rose 0.7 percent
to 9,579 points in active trade,
breaking technical resistance on
the February peak of 9,544 points.
The index faces stronger resistance on its 200-day average, now
at 9,664 points; any break would
suggest the market’s longer-term
uptrend might be resuming.
Mobily jumped its 10 percent
daily limit to SR42.50, the highest level since it began plunging
in late January in response to
the company’s announcement of
a fourth-quarter loss. It had risen
by the same margin on Thursday
as trade in the shares resumed
after a week-long suspension.
Mobily faces an uncertain
future; it is the subject of a regulatory investigation over its earnings restatements and has said it
expects to breach loan covenants.
But some investors are betting
that its underlying business is
healthy and that the appointment
of Suliman bin Abdulrahman Al
Gwaiz as its new chairman will
ensure benign treatment from
bank creditors and the government. Gwaiz is also governor of
a huge state-owned fund, the
General Organisation for Social
Insurance.
Among other major gainers
were several second-tier petrochemical firms that had been
beaten down by oil price weakness
in recent months. Saudi Kayan
rose 3.4 percent and PetroRabigh
rocketed 10 percent in very heavy
trade - though the biggest firm in
the sector, Saudi Basic Industries,
was almost flat.
Makkah Construction and
Development rose 4.5 percent
after posting its quarterly earnings. The firm’s net profit rose 19.4
percent; investors had already bid
the stock up 25 percent this year
in anticipation of strong earnings.
Builder Abdullah Abdul
Mohsin Al Khodari and Sons
jumped 5.1 percent after the
company said it had completed
the signing of a contract with
the Ministry of Health for construction of a hospital valued
at SR313.2m ($83.5m). The
contract had originally been
announced in January 2014.
Qassim Cement Co dropped 4.0
percent as its shares no longer
carried the 2014 dividend of SR6.
Egypt’s market gained 0.7 percent in a broad rise after the government said on Saturday that
the economy had grown a robust
4.3 percent in the quarter ended
in December. Also, the government is continuing to announce
new projects that it plans to
present at its international investment summit on March 13-15. On
Saturday, the transport ministry
said it would present six projects
worth $2.5bn, according to the
Daily News Egypt newspaper.
The indexes of both Bahrain
and Oman were unchanged in
tiny turnover.
HIGHLIGHTS
SAUDI ARABIA: The index
rose 0.7 percent to 9,579 points.
DUBAI: The index edged down
0.2 percent to 3,741 points.
ABU DHABI: The index edged
up 0.1 percent to 4,594 points.
EGYPT: The index climbed 0.7
percent to 9,638 points.
KUWAIT: The index slipped 0.4
percent to 6,514 points.
OMAN: The index was flat at
6,526 points.
BAHRAIN: The index was flat
at 1,467 points.
QNA/REUTERS
Traders working on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
US investors brace for rate hike
NEW YORK: US stock investors may be bracing for further signs next week that the
Federal Reserve could increase
interest rates sooner rather
than later, with retail sales
expected to rebound after two
straight months of declines.
A pickup in retail sales could
show consumers are benefiting
from sharply lower oil prices, but
analysts say spending in February
was likely curbed by unusually
harsh weather in parts of the US.
Friday’s stronger-than-expected
jobs report boosted expectations of
a US rate increase as soon as June,
causing the market to sell off. The
S&P 500 ended the week more
than 2 percent off its March 2 closing record high, while the Nasdaq
was more than 70 points off the
5,000 mark, which it hit this week
for the first time since March 2000.
Comments from some Fed
officials underscored expectations of a June rate hike. Among
them, Richmond Federal Reserve
President Jeffrey Lacker repeated
Canadian gold projects regaining sheen
his view that the Fed should raise
rates in June. “The Fed is back
at the top of the circle” in terms
of the investor focus, said Kim
Forrest, senior equity research
analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group
in Pittsburgh.
“I think they’re feeling some
pressure to show that they really
are data driven. The economy has
been getting better, and what I
think they’re trying to do is overstay the party to make sure the
economy really is better.”
In the jobs data on Friday, unemployment dropped to a six-year low
of 5.5 percent last month, within
the range the Fed considers to be
full employment. A Reuters poll
conducted following the report
showed many of Wall Street’s biggest banks are more convinced the
Fed will raise rates in June.
While a stronger US economy
is better for the US stock market in the long run, investors have
worried that if the Fed raises
rates too soon, it could dampen
growth in an economy that has
been slow to recover.
Besides US retail sales, next
week brings the preliminary
March reading on consumer
sentiment from the University
of Michigan. Sentiment unexpectedly fell in February from
an 11-year high, adding to recent
worries about spending.
Apple, which rose 0.2 percent
on Friday after S&P Dow Jones
Indices announced the stock would
be added to the blue-chip index this
month, will remain in focus next
week when it is expected to unveil
the long-awaited Apple Watch in
San Francisco today.
Jeff Carbone, managing partner at Cornerstone Financial
Partners in Huntersville, North
Carolina, said: “You look around
the world and you’ve got a deflationary” environment in many
countries, he said. “A rise in interest rates is knocking at the Fed’s
door, but there still doesn’t seem
to be enough strength out there
to make it happen.”
REUTERS
Greece ups stakes ahead of
crucial debt deal meeting
Gold is poured at Agnico-Eagle’s Meadowbank mine near Baker Lake, Nunavut. Canadian gold projects once
shunned by miners in favour of more alluring opportunities overseas are regaining their sheen, as a weaker
currency, new tax breaks and greater security of tenure are wooing miners to return home.
ATHENS:
Greek
Finance
Minister
Yanis
Varoufakis
upped the stakes sharply ahead
of today’s crucial Eurogroup
meeting in Brussels by raising
the prospect of Greece holding
new elections or even a referendum on any debt deal.
If eurozone ministers fail to
accept seven major reforms
Greece has put forward to unlock
the next tranche of its muchneeded bailout, “there could be
problems”, Varoufakis warned in
an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera yesterday.
“We can go back to elections.
Call a referendum,” he told the
daily. “But, as my prime minister told me, we are not glued
to our seats yet.” The last time
Greece threatened a referendum
on its bailout in November 2011,
it sent global markets into panic,
infuriated its European partners
and led to the fall of then prime
minister George Papandreou.
Varoufakis dismissed reports
Greece was hoping to secure a
new loan in his interview with the
Italian media, given on the sidelines of a conference in Venice.
He said the country would “not
return to the mechanism of loans
in exchange for a programme to
be respected.”
Meanwhile, the ECB took a
hard line ahead of the Brussels
meeting, saying it would not allow
Athens to take out any more of
the short-term loans it has been
using to keep public services
going. Eurogroup chief Jeroen
Dijsselbloem as well as European
Commission head Jean-Claude
Juncker took a much more conciliatory line with the Dutch
finance minister responding “positively” to the reforms proposed
in a widely-leaked letter from
Varoufakis, according to Greek
government sources.
AFP
ECB to launch long-awaited €1.1trn QE gambit today
BERLIN: In what may be its best and
last chance to stimulate growth and
ward off deflation across the eurozone,
the European Central Bank today will
launch its long-awaited ¤1.1 trillion ($1.2
trillion) quantitative easing programme.
The kick-off was announced on Thursday
by ECB President Mario Draghi, who confirmed the eurozone central bank will begin
its programme of buying around ¤60bn of
public and private bonds each month starting March 9 — a policy it will apply until
at least September 2016.
The move comes as traditional efforts
to boost sluggish economic activity in the
19-nation eurozone have been exhausted
through rate cuts that have brought borrowing costs to nearly zero.
The policy known as quantitative easing
or QE is also being adopted as the eurozone faces growing threats of deflation, in
which falling prices lead consumers to put
off purchases in expectation they will drop
further, sparking a damaging cycle of falling production, job creation and prices.
The strategy behind the ECB’s QE programme is similar to that of earlier schemes
introduced by the US Federal Reserve and
the Bank of England to pump money into
the economy with massive purchases of
government bonds, aiming to foster easier
credit and rising economic activity.
Under QE, a central bank creates money
electronically and uses it to buy the debt
that countries issue to pay their bills. That
pushes down interest rates on bonds and
other financial assets, making it cheaper for
companies to borrow and invest, increasing
spending and employment.
To bring that about, the ECB will snap
up bonds issued by euro member states on
secondary markets used by private banks,
investment and pension funds, insurance
companies and other major investors of
sovereign debt. However, the bond purchasing and risk exposure under the ECB’s
controversial plan has involved a large dose
of political massaging.
In an attempt to address stiff opposition
to QE from Germany and several other
northern European nations, the bulk of the
debt security purchases under the scheme
will be made by national central banks.
And in another blow to the formerlytouted notion of debt mutualisation across
the eurozone, national central banks will
almost exclusively be buying bonds issued by
their own governments—placating Germany,
Europe’s paymaster, who then will be off the
hook to bail out another country.
As the 18-month-long ECB programme
is poised to begin, some observers warn
that US and British successes with QE do
not guarantee it will be a sure-fire remedy
for Europe. “(We) doubt very much that
the new policy will prompt a meaningful
economic recovery or counter the threat of
deflation as the ECB hopes,” said a recent
weekly report by Capital Economics.
“There is still a large degree of slack in
the labour market despite recent falls in
the number of unemployed and the business surveys remain consistent with only
weak growth, raising the chances of a sustained bout of deflation.”
On the positive side, Neil MacKinnon of
VTB Capital said that “the credit cycle is
turning up, admittedly from a low base, and
the QE programme might have some effect
in promoting money supply growth.”
He
added however that “the ECB faces a number
of economic challenges and monetary policy
might only be able to fix some of them.”
Draghi has dismissed those kinds of
doubts, and noted in his announcement on
Thursday that markets have already reacted
with some optimism to the approach of QE
in Europe. “We have already seen a significant number of positive effects from these
monetary policy decisions,” he said.
Draghi has similarly waved off concerns
that private banks facing increasingly stiff
post-crisis capital requirements may not
want to part with bonds the ECB will need in
huge quantities come today. In reply, Draghi
noted that those same banks did not hesitate to sell bonds on their books when the
Fed and BoE rolled out QE policies whose
success the ECB and entire eurozone now
desperately need to replicate.
AFP
MONDAY 9 MARCH 2015
www.thepeninsulaqatar.com
BUSINESS
19
Doha Bank plans to launch ETF on QE
IRL publishes
special issue
Amwal and The Group Securities to act as Fund Manager and Liquidity Provider respectively on SWFs
DOHA:
Doha
Bank
has
announced its plans to launch an
Exchange Traded Fund (ETF)
on Qatar Exchange (QE). Amwal
and The Group Securities are
set to act as Fund Manager and
Liquidity Provider respectively.
A signing ceremony to mark
the appointment of Amwal as
Fund Manager and the licencing
of the index benchmark from QE
was held yesterday in the presence of the Doha Bank Group
CEO Dr R Seetharaman, QE CEO
Rashid Al Mansoori and Amwal
CEO Fahmi Alghussein.
On the plans to launch the
product, Seetharaman said:
“The Qatar Index ETF, which
is pending regulatory approvals,
will track the QE Index. Once
approved by QFMA, the ETF
product would list on Qatar Stock
Exchange and provide investors
with exposure to the index benchmark with a single trade.”
“Doha Bank is delighted to have
already appointed and signed
with The Group Securities who
are the leading brokerage firm in
Qatar, as the Liquidity Provider
(LP) to the ETF. The Group
Securities will provide regular
bid and ask prices and interact
with the fund manager to manage
the supply of ETF units on Qatar
Stock Exchange. Amwal Asset
Management successful track
record in Qatar since 1998, will
ensure the ETF passively managed strategy is in line with global
ETF standards”.
Rashid Al Mansoori welcomed
the regulatory filing and congratulated the partners on being
the first to licence QE index for
use as an ETF benchmark. “The
Exchange Traded Fund, once
approved by regulators, enables
investors to trade the index as a
single security; it complements
the underlying 20 shares and provides an opportunity to look at
alternative trading strategies. The
growth in ETFs internationally is
unbridled and we have an exciting pipeline of ETFs being developed here in Qatar. The partners
here today should be commended
for taking these important steps
towards listing this new segment
on Qatar Stock Exchange.”
Commenting on this event,
Sheikha Hanadi Nasser bin
Khaled Al Thani, Founder and
Chairperson of Amwal, said: “
Since its inception, Amwal has
established new benchmarks
through pioneering initiatives in
investment and asset management within Qatar and the wider
Mena region. Our well researched
and disciplined approach has
helped position Amwal as an
organisation committed to financial excellence. We are excited to
collaborate with Doha Bank and
The Group on this new initiative
Commercial
Bank is exclusive
financial service
partner of Ikea
More firms adopting innovation strategy: GPCA
DOHA:
Commercial
Bank
yesterday announced that it
is exclusive financial services
partner of Ikea. Commercial
Bank customers can enjoy
an enhanced Ikea experience
through the Bank’s innovative
‘Shop Now, Pay Later’ interest
free payment offer when they
use their Commercial Bank
Credit Cards for shopping at
Ikea store located at Doha
Festival City.
The “Shop Now, Pay Later”
offer is available at zero percent
interest for up to 24 months on
all purchases of QR400 or more at
Ikea. All Commercial Bank Credit
Card customers can enjoy this
convenience at any time, with no
additional documents or approvals required.
Dean Proctor, Commercial
Bank EGM, Head of Retail
and Enterprise Banking said:
“Commercial Bank congratulates Ikea on reaching the milestone of two years of business in
Qatar. We are immensely proud
of our exclusive financial services
partnership with Ikea, and in the
last two years, we have provided
our customers with an affordable
and convenient way of purchasing their furniture items through
our innovative and first to market
“Shop Now, Pay Later” installment programme, which is available on all our credit-cards. The
partnership has been a huge success so far and we look forward
to a long and lasting partnership
that will benefit all our customers
in the future.”
Customers can furnish their
home with Ikea’s wide range of
innovative and affordable products and household accessories
while enjoying complete peace of
mind. All Commercial Bank credit
cardholders including Diners
Club, Visa or MasterCard holders
can make purchases using their
cards at Ikea and enjoy the benefit
of paying this back with interestfree monthly installments, comfortably spread over a period of
time. Commercial Bank also has
a dedicated kiosk in the Ikea store
where non CBQ customers can
apply for a Commercial Bank
Credit Card on-the-spot.
James McGowan, Regional
Brand Communication Manager,
Ikea — Qatar, UAE, Egypt &
Oman said: “Ikea entered Qatar
with an ambition to serve customers with affordable products
and solutions. Ikea products are
now even more affordable for
Commercial Bank customers with
‘Shop Now, Pay Later’ available
throughout the year.”
THE PENINSULA
DOHA: Nearly 80 percent of the
GCC region’s major petrochemical and chemical producers
have made innovation strategy
a key business priority, indicating that the advancement,
improvement and modernization of the sector is a top priority, according to a new survey
by the Gulf Petrochemicals and
Chemicals Association (GPCA).
According to the GPCA
Innovation Survey 2015, the
number of companies that have
formulated an explicit innovation
strategy has doubled from 21 percent in 2010 to 41 percent in 2015.
Additionally, 38 per cent of surveyed companies in the Arabian
Gulf ’s chemical industry are seriously considering implementing an innovation strategy and
expect it to remain a priority
THE PENINSULA
THE PENINSULA
FROM LEFT: Doha Bank Group CEO Dr R Seetharaman, QE CEO Rashid Al Mansoori and Amwal CEO Fahmi
Alghussein at a press conference yesterday.
and look forward to further
enhancing the regional offering
of investment products.”
Hamad Al Maadadi, Chairman
of The Group, said: “The Group
welcomes innovation in capital
markets and believes these products will capture the imagination
over the next ten years. “Over
the last four decades, the GCC’s
petrochemicals industry has
evolved from humble beginnings
into a multi-billion dollar industry, which has a more than 140
million tonne capacity that has
applications in host of sectors,”
said Dr Abdulwahab Al Sadoun,
Secretary General, GPCA.
“And as growth forecasts indicate stable progress, the latest
GPCA Innovation Survey shows
that the region’s petrochemical
producers are increasingly looking towards applying a meaningful innovation mandate to stay
relevant in the face of rising market competition.”
Now in its second edition, the
GPCA Innovation Survey tracks
the perceptions and priorities of
the region’s top petrochemical
of the investor in Qatar. The
products provide easy access for
those wishing to take long exposure to Qatar markets but will
also attract intra-day traders
looking for arbitrage. The Group
Securities has been appointed
for its considerable expertise in
producers. This year, the survey spoke to 24 manager level or
above executives in the Arabian
Gulf, representing 70 per cent of
GPCA full member companies.
In terms of investment,
the GCC’s chemical industry
invested an estimated $367m
on research and development
(R&D) in 2013, a figure that
is around 0.8 percent of global
R&D investment.
“R&D investments are traditionally seen as indicators to an
organisation or country’s openness to innovation,” explained Dr.
Sadoun. “While the GCC’s spending on R&D may be perceived as
low, implementing innovation
into operations is a long- term
program that requires careful
planning.
“Over the last five years, the
Job fair in Tokyo
the local stock market; having
acted as a liquidity provider in
the underlying stocks since 2008.
The Group is well placed to carry
out the important role of managing liquidity on exchange for these
exciting new products”.
THE PENINSULA
Drydocks World floats
2nd debt restructuring
Job seekers attend a job fair held for fresh graduates in Tokyo yesterday. About 50,000 students and
100 companies participated in the event.
Egypt targets FDI worth $60bn
CAIRO: Egypt wants to attract
foreign direct investments worth
$60bn and to get an average
growth rate of 7 percent over
the next four years, the country’s
planning minister said.
Ashraf Al Arabi also said Egypt
was targeting lowering unemployment — now at about 13 percent
— to below 10 percent over the
coming four years.
Egypt is gearing up for a muchheralded investment conference
in Sharm El Sheikh later this
week. It hopes to attract billions
of dollars in investments to lift
the economy. “We’re targeting
industry has implemented ambitious training programs, collaborated with countless universities
and unveiled five impressive
research institutions, signalling
that innovation is something that
top management takes very seriously. Innovation, after all, will
ensure that the industry can
weather the storm of oil price
fluctuations.”
The GPCA Innovation Survey
2015 will be unveiled at the
Research & Innovation Summit in
Dubai, UAE. From March 16-18,
the conference will host senior
executives from the petrochemical industry’s foremost companies, academia and research
institutions to share insights on
“Mastering the Research and
Innovation Challenges”.
DOHA: International Review
of Law Journal (IRL), has
published a special issue on
Sovereign Wealth Funds dedicated to the exploration of
emerging global legal sovereign
wealth funds. The IRL journal,
published on the QScience.com
online publishing platform of
Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation
Journals (BQFJ), is accessible
to all with free to read articles.
With Sovereign Wealth Funds
increasingly demonstrating their
global appeal, the need to understand legal and regulatory issues
has been the stimulus to publish
the document.
The IRL is a double-blind peerreviewed, international law journal that publishes contemporary
legal scholarship in international
law. It is also open to doctrinal,
context based, reformative or
comparative work, in all fields of
law and the authors retain copyright in their work.
The online publishing of the special issue supports the mission of
Qatar Foundation for Education,
Science
and
Community
Development (QF) in its quest
to enhance transfer knowledge.
BQFJ is a collaboration between
Qatar Foundation and Bloomsbury
Publishing that fosters scholarly
and research communication,
with QScience.com being one such
unique research environment.
Several legal questions that
are challenging, intricate and
novel have arisen with respect
to SWF investments. This special issue brings together eminent scholars who tackle these
complexities and offer insightful
analysis and suggestions.
Professor Joel Slawotsky, the
journal issue’s Guest Editor of
the International Review of Law
Special Issue: Emerging governance issues of sovereign wealth
funds, said: “This issue will serve
as a vibrant platform for further
scholarship and will also advance
the discourse in both the private
and government sectors.”
Dr Christopher Leonard,
Head of Academic & Journals
Publishing of QScience.com said:
“Some of the wealthiest nations
on Earth are ensuring their
future financial security through
the means of sovereign wealth
funds, and we are delighted to
offer this latest research into
SWFs for free, for all to read on
QScience.com.”
foreign direct investments worth
$60bn starting from 2015/16 to
the end of 2018/19,” Arabi said.
“Targeting an average 7 percent growth rate over four years
means reaching 10 percent in
2018/19 and this is a big challenge but we are working on it.
We’re working on decreasing the
budget deficit to below 10 percent
in the same period, as well as the
unemployment rate to below 10
percent,” he said.
Arabi said the government had
finished work on a new electricity law that will open the door to
private sector investment in the
new and renewable energy sector.
He expected the law to be issued
— by President Abdel Fattah Al
Sisi — within this month.
Arabi also said the government
had completed work on a new civil
service law, that gives public sector employees the option to retire
at 55 instead of 60 without losing any benefits. He said the law
had not been changed since 1978.
Egypt suffers from a bloated state
bureaucracy, with over 6 million
employees. Arabi said he expected
the law to be issued by presidential decree within days.
REUTERS
DUBAI:
Dubai’s
Drydocks
World, owner of the Middle
East’s largest shipyard, will ask
creditors to amend the terms
of its $2.3bn restructuring deal
originally signed in 2012, two
sources said yesterday.
The move comes as Dubai World,
a state-owned conglomerate which
is also Drydocks’ parent company,
is close to finalising a revision of
its own $14.6bn debt pile which
stems from loans renegotiated in
the wake of the emirate’s financial
crisis at the turn of the decade.
Drydocks may be hoping Dubai
World’s success in reshaping its
repayment schedule, combined
with Dubai’s resurgent economic
picture and ample liquidity
within the local banking sector,
will help persuade creditors to
grant it a revision.
“A second restructuring will be
about what is affordable — getting the company on a stable platform,” said one of the sources.
With Drydocks also considering
how to grow outside Dubai once
again, having fallen into difficulty
originally by over-leveraging as
part of a South East Asia gambit, it is keen to ease restrictions
placed on its overseas expansion
by the previous restructuring
deal, said a third source with
knowledge of the firm.
Drydocks World Chairman
Khamis Juma Buamim did not
respond to requests for a comment. Talks will focus on the
$800m tranche of Drydocks’
restructured debt, which is set to
mature in August 2017, according
to Thomson Reuters data.
Drydocks would pay off a portion
of the amount and would look at all
options for the remainder including extending the maturity and
securing a better interest rate for
the facility, said the second source,
adding official talks would start
towards the end of this year or the
beginning of next year.
Among the banks involved
in the previous restructuring
were DBS, HSBC, Mashreq and
Standard Chartered. The existing deal also includes a $1.5bn
portion due in 2027, according to
Thomson Reuters data.
McKinsey has been hired by
Drydocks to look at its business,
according to the first source,
although the source was unaware of the scope of the consulting firm’s mandate.
In October 2014, the company
also hired Duncan Sawyer, a
former PwC director who worked
in debt restructurings for the
professional services company.
His role is executive director of
strategy and change management,
according to his LinkedIn profile.
As in its first restructuring,
and Dubai World’s amended debt
deal, Drydocks will probably use
Dubai’s Decree 57, a law brought
in by the authorities in December
2009 to implement reorganisations of units within the Dubai
World umbrella in the absence of
effective local bankruptcy law.
This would be the first time a
Decree 57-administered restructuring would have to be reworked,
although the first source believed
there would be no legal issues hindering this.
REUTERS
MONDAY 9 MARCH 2015
www.thepeninsulaqatar.com
20
BUSINESS
China’s Feb
trade surplus
hits $60.6bn
Exports leap 48.3pc year-on-year
BEIJING: China’s monthly
trade surplus hit $60.6bn in
February, the government said
yesterday, a new record for the
world’s second-largest economy.
Exports leapt 48.3 percent yearon-year to $169.2bn while imports
fell 20.5 percent to $108.6bn,
Customs said on its website. The
country’s trade surplus, long a
source of tensions with its trading partners, rose above a previous all-time monthly high of $60bn
recorded in January.
The growth in exports last
month was well ahead of the
median estimate for a 14 percent
jump in a Bloomberg survey of
economists. But analysts were
pessimistic about the outlook for
exports and blamed the weak
imports reading on falling commodity prices, with stringent bank
financing for traders also a factor.
China is a key driver of global
growth but its economy grew 7.4
percent in 2014, its weakest for
almost a quarter of a century, and
recent indicators show signs the
slowdown is continuing.
Customs attributed the surge in
exports to a rise in outbound shipments ahead of the Lunar New
Year, which fell on February 19
this year. “Affected by the Spring
Festival factors, export companies in the country again rushed
to export ahead of the holiday and
only resumed working after it,”
the statement said.
The Lunar New Year fell on
January 31 in 2014, followed by a
week-long national holiday, leading to a low comparison base for
this February. For the first two
months of the year, China’s trade
surplus totalled $120.7bn, said
the statement. The figure stood
at $8.9bn in the same period last
year, Customs data showed.
“We still see strong headwinds
facing China’s exports this year,”
ANZ economists Liu Ligang and
Zhou Hao said in a research
note, pointing to a continuing
contraction streak in export
orders.
The high increase in February’s
exports was partly led by a low
base in the same month last year,
when authorities also cracked
down on over-invoicing by traders
seeking to disguise capital flows,
they added.
Premier Li Keqiang on Thursday
announced a lowered growth target
of “approximately seven percent”
for 2015, and — underscoring concern — the central People’s Bank of
China last weekend cut benchmark
interest rates for the second time
in three months.
Li also cut China’s trade growth
target for this year to “around six
percent”, after trade expanded 3.4
percent last year, below the 7.5
percent goal and the third consecutive year it had been missed
amid softened domestic and foreign demand.
China’s huge trade surpluses
were long a source of friction
with the United States as the
workshop of the world pumped
out manufactured goods and US
debt mounted, but the issue has
receded in more recent years.
In the January-February
period, China’s exports to the
European Union, the United
States and the 10-member
Association of Southeast Asian
Nations, the top three trade partners of the country, increased by
13 percent, 21.2 percent and 38.4
percent respectively.
But imports from all three
regions declined, falling 10.3 percent with the EU, 16.7 percent
with the US and 18.2 percent
with the Asean countries, indicating domestic demand in China
remained weak.
China’s exports to Japan, with
which it is embroiled in bitter
disputes over maritime territory
and wartime history, fell 4.1 percent in the two-month period,
while imports from the neighbour
decreased by 13.8 percent. AFP
People use Development Bank of Singapore (DBS) bank tellers at a branch in Singapore. Some banks are adopting stricter lending criteria for China’s stateowned enterprises, demanding collateral from some companies they used to deem as safe as government debt, as Beijing tries to reform its bloated firms.
Banks tighten lending rules for China SOEs
SHANGHAI/HONG KONG:
Some banks are adopting stricter
lending criteria for China’s
state-owned enterprises (SOEs),
demanding collateral from some
companies they used to deem
as safe as government debt, as
Beijing tries to reform its bloated
firms and the economy slows.
Singapore’s DBS Group, which
recently suffered a loss on a bad
loan to an SOE-related firm it
had assessed as risk-free, plans to
launch a ‘decision grid’ to assess
the creditworthiness of SOEs,
according to draft internal risk
guidelines.
A banker at Taiwan’s Chang
Hwa Commercial Bank said that
from the beginning of this year
his bank would only lend to stateowned Chinese companies that
provide collateral, in recognition
that SOEs were no longer risk free.
Such changes in policy suggest
some foreign banks are preparing
for a rise in defaults in the world’s
second-largest economy, which is
growing at its slowest pace in a
quarter of a century and where
Etisalat, Huawei in deal
Sheraton to open 20 hotels this year
more than 50 hotels and enter
another 14 countries by the end
of 2018,” said Hoyt Harper, Global
Brand Leader for Sheraton Hotels
& Resorts.
Sheraton will open more than
one-third of its new hotels in Asia
Pacific in 2015, driven by accelerating demand across China.
This year, Sheraton will open its
third hotel in Beijing, its fifth
in Shanghai and debut in five
new markets including Bengbu,
Chuzhou, Zhanjiang and Harbin.
Sheraton will expand its footprint in India with the debut of
Sheraton Hyderabad Hotel in
2016, and another two hotels in
development. It will also enter
Sri Lanka with the opening of
from the parents of SOEs are
subject to higher risks because
of the risk of policy and people
changes,” the document said. A
DBS spokeswoman declined to
comment publicly on the specifics of the policy change.
“It is still business as usual for
us in China. With slower regional
economic growth, we continue
to be disciplined and watchful of
risks in all the markets we operate
in,” she said. A spokeswoman for
Chang Hwa Commercial Bank did
not return calls seeking comment.
The changes at DBS and Chang
Hwa are evidence of a broader
trend to tighten lending in China
among foreign banks, and the
practice of demanding collateral
is likely to increase so they can
recover some value when loans
go bad.
Global bank Standard Chartered
Plc said on March 4 in its annual
results statement it had increased
the level of collateral it holds by 4
percent, in response to rising bad
loans in China, India and the commodities sector.
“The requirement for more
collateral is essential,” said Jiahe
Chen, chief strategist at Cinda
Securities. “As the economy falters
and SOEs become more marketorientated, there will be more
defaults.” “Perhaps for Chinese
banks the government still have
some arrangements, but for foreign
banks the impact of the market is
more severe,” he added.
About 70 percent of loans made
in the fourth quarter of last year
in China were collateralised, with
the borrower typically pledging
land or manufacturing plants,
according to a survey of 2006
industrial firms published by
Professor Jie Gan of the Cheung
Kong School of Business.
DBS’s decision to change its
risk assessment procedures for
loans to SOEs was galvanised in
part by a large loss it suffered on
a loan to Yantai Penghui Copper,
a company backed by the city of
Yantai in China’s Shandong province, sources said. Yantai Penghui
Copper declined to comment.
REUTERS
IBQ expands Qatari workforce
Etisalat Group and Huawei, a leading global ICT solutions provider, have confirmed plans to jointly research
and develop a more advanced category of fibre network technology that will help Etisalat to effectively meet
rising service demands from consumers and businesses throughout the region. The latest cooperative initiative will focus on the development of Single Carrier 400Gbps technology. A Memorandum of Understanding
to this effect was signed at the Mobile World Congress recently.
DOHA:
Starwood
Hotels
& Resorts Worldwide Inc
announced that its iconic
Sheraton brand continues to
power ahead across the globe
with at least 20 new hotel openings expected by year’s end.
Sheraton will enter Sri Lanka
and Romania this year, building upon the momentum of its
2014 debut in Tajikistan and last
month’s launch in Samoa. Strong
demand across Asia Pacific is
driving future pipeline growth,
putting Sheraton on track to
cross the 500th hotel milestone
in 2016.
“Boasting the largest and most
global portfolio of all of Starwood’s
brands, Sheraton expects to open
the government is trying to make
the state sector more efficient.
DBS will now lend more conservatively to SOEs seen as
receiving less government support, as China plans to prioritise
SOEs in strategic sectors.
The January-dated DBS document said: “Not all SOEs receive
the same degree of government
support. It is our further belief
that the differentiation of such
support will widen in the future
as the government continues to
pursue market economy.”
DBS will now divide SOEs into
tiers according to their likely level
of government support, with subsidiaries considered more risky
than top-level holding companies.
Group companies that are not
consolidated into the parent SOE’s
financial statements will be evaluated as an ordinary borrower, the
decision grid shows. DBS effectively
acknowledges that lenders can no
longer take for granted implicit
support from above.
“Compared to ordinary corporates, implicit support obtained
Sheraton Colombo Hotel in 2016
and will open its second hotel in
Samoa this year.
Sheraton is extending its reach
in Europe too. Key openings this
year include Sheraton Lake Como
Hotel, the brand’s eighth in Italy.
Sheraton will also enter Romania
this year with the opening of
Sheraton Bucharest.
It will expand its portfolio in Croatia with the debut of
Sheraton Dubrovnik Riviera, add
one more hotel in Russia, and
grow its portfolio in Turkey with
the opening of its second hotel in
Istanbul and its first in Samsun,
which celebrated its soft launch
early in the year.
THE PENINSULA
DOHA: International Bank of
Qatar (ibq) appointed Abeer
Al Emadi as Deputy Head of
Operations and Ahmed Hashem
as Deputy Head of Corporate
Banking. This recent senior
executive appointment strongly
underlines the bank’s commitment to developing and expanding its Qatari workforce in
senior positions.
Abeer Al Emadi has been
with ibq since 1999 .This promotion is a testament to her
strong leadership, her vast experience in Operations and her
unrelenting commitment to the
bank. In 2011, Abeer won the
‘Leadership’ Award at the Qatari
Businesswomen Awards. Abeer is
a role model to all ibq employees
and she plays an important role
as a mentor to many of the Bank’s
Qatari employees.
Ahmed Hashem’s career at ibq
started in 2003 with a number of
summer internships taken while
he was still studying economics.
Ahmed has filled various roles
and with over 10 years of experience in Corporate Banking with
the Bank, this promotion reflects
Ahmed’s consistently strong
performance and firm market
knowledge.
Jabra Ghandour, Managing
Director of ibq said: “We congratulate Abeer and Ahmed for
achieving such well-deserved promotions. At ibq, we recognise the
importance of encouraging promising young local talent to realise the nation’s vision for human
capital development”.
Saleh Al Kawari, Assistant
General Manager, Head of Human
Resources & Governmental
Affairs at ibq said: “Through our
Qatari Development Program, we
firmly believe that by attracting,
motivating and developing the
right talents, we ensure a promising future for ibq. Qatari employees are provided with training
and development so that, with
the right skills, they can enjoy a
rewarding long-term career and
professional development opportunities at the Bank”.
THE PENINSULA
Emirates eyes up to 70 long-haul jets
BERLIN: Emirates Airlines is considering the
purchase of up to 70 twin-engine Airbus A350s
or Boeing 787s, company president Tim Clark
said here yesterday, which would bolster the carrier’s long-haul fleet.
Clark remained vague on the number and maker
of twin-engine wide-body planes, but said the acquisition was part of Emirates’s efforts to increase its
share of the traffic on the world’s long-haul routes.
“Possibly it will be 50 to 70, but we still have to decide,”
Clark said during a visit to Berlin’s ITB tourism convention, adding many details on the planned purchase will
depend on development of Emirates’ principal Dubai
International Airport hub. The announcement represented more potential good news for Airbus, following
Clark’s earlier comments that Emirates may buy 100
to 200 A380s — the super-jumbo that Airbus received
no orders for in 2014.
If that order materialises, it would not only go a
long way to alleviate doubts over the future of the
A380 program, but also help Airbus partially recoup
business lost last June when Emirates cancelled its
2007 order of 70 A350s valued at $16.5bn.
Clark said the combination of increasing air travel
and plummeting oil prices means “the industry has
a huge opportunity to put itself back on to a profit
basis, generating cash and able to expand and to
reinvest” in new, more efficient aircraft.
But his moves to do so may provoke additional
objections from rival airlines in Europe and the
United States, which allege that Emirates and
Etihad Airways receive unfair financing from their
energy-rich, deep-pocketed state owners to capture
expanding stakes of long-haul markets.
Clark objected to those complaints, saying
Emirates is flying on competitiveness it has had to
develop relying on capital vested in it at its founding. “What we were given (then) was this: A clean
sheet of paper and a $10m check. We built this
through blood, sweat and tears — we had enormous
difficulties,” Clark said.
He added he’d be travelling to Washington soon
to meet with officials regarding a private report
Delta Air Lines, United and American Airlines
delivered to US officials that claims to detail unfair
subsidies the Gulf carriers receive to enhance
their competitive edge. “It’s up to the Americans
to revisit their international oversee strategy and
perhaps to look at what we are doing,” he said.
AFP
MONDAY 9 MARCH 2015
www.thepeninsulaqatar.com
BUSINESS VIEWS
China takes lessons from
Japan on slowdown, deflation
BY KAZUNORI TAKADA and LEIKA KIHARA
HINESE regulators are turning to Japan for lessons on economic history, determined to keep the world’s second biggest
economy from taking the same path of recession and deflation
that has blighted its neighbour for the past 20 years.
Beijing views Tokyo’s handling of the liberalisation of capital
flows and the yen over 30 years ago as key factors that led to the
creation and subsequent bust of the asset bubble in Japan in the
early 1990s, according to Japanese government and other sources
who are in direct contact with Chinese regulators.
“They aren’t a single bit interested in Japan’s successes. Their
biggest interest is in Japan’s mistakes,” one China-based source
who is directly in touch with Chinese regulators said on condition
of anonymity.
“Japanese and Chinese economies do share many similarities, so
I assume there is quite a lot to learn from our experiences.”
Chinese policymakers and analysts at government think-tanks
are already well versed in the experiences of Japan and other
countries, and the sources say two-way communication at both
government and private-sector level continued even through a chill
in diplomatic ties after a territorial spat in 2012.
But as economic growth slows and signs of deflation emerge,
China’s interest in Japan has increased notably around policy
details, according to the sources.
At an annual parliamentary meeting that began on Thursday,
China announced an economic growth target of around 7 percent
for this year, down from 7.4 percent in 2014, already the slowest
in 24 years.
China is carrying out three key financial reforms Japan undertook over the past decades — liberalising interest rates, internationalising its currency and opening up its capital account.
These reforms should help develop the economy, but mis-steps
could have huge repercussions.
Chinese policymakers see the 1985 Plaza Accord between Japan
and the Western powers, which effectively approved a stronger
yen and the opening up of the capital account during the 1980s
and 1990s, as pivotal events for Tokyo which ultimately led to the
Japan’s “lost two decades”, sources say.
The surge in the yen that followed the agreement hit the country’s main exports; Japanese auto makers, for example, started
shifting more production overseas. This started to hamper economic growth and prompted the Bank of Japan to ease monetary
policy.
However, much of the cash from the easing, along with hot foreign money that followed the liberalisation of the capital account,
flowed into stocks, property and other assets, often magnified
through leveraging.
“China is already applying lessons from Japan’s experience. Even
when growth is slowing, Chinese policymakers aren’t taking policy
measures that could heighten financial imbalances. That’s very
wise of them,” Bank of Japan board member Takahide Kiuchi told
a news conference in Maebashi, north of Tokyo, on Thursday.
He said that even when asset bubbles were forming, Japan wasn’t
able to tighten monetary policy because of the impacts it would
have on the United States, its biggest partner.
“One of the lessons from Japan’s experience is that achieving
domestic economic stability should be the top priority for policymakers (rather than international considerations),” Kiuchi added.
China has other challenges that echo Japan’s past.
Its property market has cooled since the government tightened
policy to prevent overheating and due to oversupply, and that,
coupled with economic slowdown, is raising fears of a rapid rise in
bad loans at banks and a further dent in local government finances.
Sources said regulators have also been asking how Japan dealt
with bank bankruptcies, and that could be a signal Beijing is preparing for a likely consolidation in the fragmented banking sector
once interest rates are liberalised.
“It makes perfects sense for them to look to Japan rather than
other countries since our financial systems are very similar,” said
another Shanghai-based source.
Like Japan, Chinese firms rely heavily on bank loans to meet
their financing needs as opposed to debt or equity issues. Also China
heavily regulates its banking sector, for example by limiting the
number and locations where banks can open branches, similar to
Japan in the 1970s and 1980s.
“The consolidation in the banking sector Japan saw in the 70s
and 80s was mainly a result of stronger banks rescuing weaker
ones so they could expand their network. It’s possible this kind of
move will happen in China,” the source said.
On the surface, government relations between Tokyo and Beijing
remain cool after Japan nationalised disputed islands in the East
China Sea in 2012, which triggered anti-Japan protests in China
and a boycott of Japanese goods.
C
21
Weight woes for US economy
as cost of obesity mounts
BY VICTORIA STILWELL
BESITY is weighing heavily on the
US economy. As a
panel of scientists
considers ways to
help Americans trim down,
unpublished research shows
medical expenses linked to being
extremely overweight have skyrocketed. Experts say the damage is augmented by reduced
productivity, wider gender and
income inequality and even
higher transportation costs.
While the biggest consequence
is still on an individual’s wellbeing, “there are some significant
economic costs associated with
obesity,” said Ross Hammond, a
senior fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution
in Washington. “Unfortunately,
it’s not an outcome that’s rare
anymore.”
Some 35.7 percent of
Americans 20 to 74 years old
were obese in the period from
2009 to 2012, according to the latest figures from the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention
in Atlanta. That’s up from 31.1
percent a decade earlier and 13.3
percent in 1960-1962. The CDC
considers adults obese when
their body mass index, which
O
takes into account weight and
height, is 30 or higher.
As a result, there is growing
urgency to come up with plans
to check the trend. The Dietary
Guidelines Advisory Committee,
the panel of scientists that counsels
government agencies, last month
recommended that sugary drinks
and foods be taxed to reduce their
consumption. The report, released
on February 19, went on to advise
that the revenue generated could
be used to promote healthier
behaviour or subsidise the cost of
fruits and vegetables.
“This really is a situation
that’s beyond business as usual,”
said Walter Willett, a professor
and chairman of the department of nutrition at Harvard
University’s T H Chan School
of Public Health in Boston,
Massachusetts. “We have to
think about serious interventions that go beyond the norm.”
Unaddressed, the costs could
continue to mount, with healthcare expenses being the most
direct economic consequence.
Widespread obesity raised
medical-care costs by $315.8bn
in 2010, according to John
Cawley, an economics professor
at Cornell University in Ithaca,
New York. That amounted to
about $3,508 a year for each
obese person, the latest available data showed. The expenses,
which include doctors’ appointments, hospital stays, prescription drugs and home health care,
were up 48 percent from 2005’s
$213bn after adjusting for inflation, the researchers found.
The findings, to be published
later this year in the journal
PharmacoEconomics, represent
the combined work of fellow
researchers Chad Meyerhoefer,
Adam Biener, Mette Hammer
and Neil Wintfeld.
Chronic illnesses linked to
obesity, such as diabetes and
heart disease, as well as stroke
and cancer, are expensive to
treat, Cawley said. Moreover,
the costs are usually paid by
private and public health insurance, meaning that leaner people
are subsidizing those with less
healthy diets, he said. “All of us
are paying these costs.”
While such spending doesn’t
directly reduce economic
growth, it does represent a shift
in priorities toward health care
and away from things such as
business investment in other
industries that could boost output down the road.
Obesity also poses problems
in less direct ways. Excessive fat
is correlated with an increase in
absenteeism from work because
of health issues, said Tatiana
Andreyeva, director of economic initiatives at the Rudd Center for Food
Policy and Obesity at the University
of Connecticut in Hartford.
That costs the nation about
$8.65bn a year, Andreyeva
found with fellow researchers
Joerg Luedicke and Y Claire
Wang. Obese employees miss an
extra 1.1 to 1.7 days of work a
year compared to their normalweight counterparts.
“The employee is most likely
getting paid for it, but there was
no work done on it, and there
was a cost to the employer,”
Andreyeva said. Diminished
productivity is a major source of
drag on the economy as it leads to
higher production costs and a less
competitive workforce, she said.
That could worsen a recent
slowing in efficiency as the 18month economic slump that
ended in June 2009 prompted
companies to curb spending on
more sophisticated machinery
and time-saving devices such as
faster computers that help boost
productivity. Output per hour has
climbed by an average 1.3 percent
a quarter since the recession
ended, compared with 3 percent
in the decade through 2005.
WP-BLOOMBERG
Cartoon Arts International / The New York Times Syndicate
REUTERS
Bank inspectors beckon Ireland’s shadow lenders into light
BY CARMEL CRIMMINS
and PADRAIC HALPIN
RESH from putting
the squeeze on banks
to behave themselves,
regulators are now
scrutinising so-called
shadow banks, alternative lenders like investment funds that are
doing big business out of countries
such as Ireland.
The third biggest shadow banking market in the eurozone behind
Luxembourg and the Netherlands,
Ireland has amassed ¤2.9 trillion of assets, according to data
from the European Central Bank
(ECB), by way of business-friendly
laws and tax exemptions.
It’s also the eurozone’s largest centre for what are known
as financial vehicle corporations,
holding companies for assets that
investors set aside with a view
to re-selling. These were used by
banks during the financial crisis
as a way to offload dangerously
creaky US subprime mortgages.
Non-bank lenders are a growing
source of credit in the wake of the
F
eurozone debt crisis, when banks
cut off lending to meet strict new
rules on risk and interest rates
plumbed record lows. While some
funds now make loans directly to
businesses, most buy loans and
securities from banks and companies as a way of passing on credit
to them.
The ECB is not unhappy with
the sector’s development and
indeed wants to develop more of
this US-style market-based funding to reduce the zone’s reliance
on banks.
But with shadow banking more
than doubling to ¤23 trillion over
the past decade and likely to outgrow the regular banking industry
within five years at that pace, the
ECB also needs to make sure that
it isn’t hiding any risky practices
that could destablise the financial
system.
As a result, Ireland has started
to probe an area hitherto largely
uncharted.
“We do have a team of economists that is looking at what I
would call the regulatory perimeter — activity that is not quite
in the regulatory spotlight but is
in the penumbra,” said Gareth
Murphy, head of markets supervision at the Irish central bank and
responsible for overseeing investment funds in the country.
“We are a good way down the
road in terms of understanding
the challenges of mapping this
area.”
Just defining the shadow banking industry is difficult.
Nearly half — around 44 percent — of what would be deemed
shadow banks in the euro zone
belong to institutions for which
there is no detailed balance sheet
information.
The ECB believes that a large
chunk of those institutions are
holding companies based in
Luxembourg and the Netherlands
that are unlikely to even be
involved in lending.
In continuing its efforts to better define the industry, European
regulators are also hoping to better trace risk between trading
partners. While it may be able
to quantify an entity’s assets, the
accompanying risk exposure can
still be hard to assess because
these lenders often filter that
through derivatives. They also
may have links outside the euro
zone to groups for which no information is available.
Yet even when financial entities
are compelled to report information, problems arise.
New rules for reporting derivative trades came into effect in
Europe last year with over 4.5 billion individual pieces of data collected in the first six months from
February, a source with knowledge
of the operation told Reuters.
But many of the data fields
were returned blank, the source
said, meaning regulators still don’t
have enough information to make
a thorough analysis.
ESMA, the regulator tasked
with implementing the reporting
regime for derivatives, declined to
comment. Another attempt at finding clarity is regulators’ demand
since last year that European
hedge fund managers report their
exposures and risk profiles.
And under more new European
rules, funds that lend securities or
cash via repurchase agreements
will have to report details of those
trades from 2017.
However, while Ireland’s central bank tries to sketch the
true profile of some 7,000 funds
and financial vehicle corporations already in the country, the
government continues to try to
attract more.
Over the years Ireland has
already adapted laws and taxes
to make itself a location of choice
for these types of lenders, which
can load up on debt with minimal
amounts of equity. Now it plans to
unveil a new strategy next week
to raise the numbers employed by
what’s known as the International
Financial Services Sector (IFSC)
by 10,000 over five years from
35,000 currently.
Simon Harris, the junior minister of finance who will make
the announcement, rebuffs any
suggestion that the presence
in Ireland of “brass plate” style
companies with no staff or offices,
makes it a weak link in global
financial stability.
“The type of stuff that we are
trying to attract into this country
I don’t believe there are any kind
of regulatory concerns with,” said
the 28 year old, Ireland’s youngest
member of parliament. “We are
talking about jobs with substance.
We are talking about well-regulated products.”
Other Irish politicians say more
needs to be done, and point to
the fact that Dublin-based offbalance-sheet vehicles were a key
link between Europe and the U.S.
subprime crisis.
IKB, a German small-business
lender became the first European
bank to topple due to losses accumulated in a Dublin-listed conduit
which invested in U.S. subprime
mortgages. SachsenLB, another
German bank, also ran aground
after failing to refinance a Dublinbased structured investment
vehicle.
IKB and SachsenLB were
regulated in Germany and cost
German taxpayers billions of
euros when they fell.
Since then, banks have been
forced to hold much more capital
to cover risky investments. But
tougher rules on what kind of
lending they can undertake have
encouraged money to flow into the
shadow banks instead.
REUTERS
MONDAY 9 MARCH 2015
www.thepeninsulaqatar.com
22
QE Indices Summary
QE Index
12,144.01
QE Total Return Index
18,571.66
0.04 %
QE Al Rayan Islamic Index
4,361.48
0.28 %
QE All Share Index
3,207.87
0.03 %
QE All Share Banks & Financial
Services
3,230.73
0.21 %
QE All Share Industrials
4,040.26
0.47 %
QE All Share Transportation
2,497.82
1.25 %
QE All Share Real Estate
2,390.77
0.87 %
QE All Share Insurance
4,120.26
0.75 %
QE All Share Telecoms
1,418.62
0.51 %
QE All Share Consumer Goods &
Services
7,159.78
0.19 %
Index
Change
%
YTD%
Volume
Value (QAR)
Trades
WORLD STOCK INDICES
0.04 %
QE Market Summary Comparison
Today
Previous day
08-03-2015
05-03-2015
12,144.01
4.59
0.04
1.15
5,337,151
251,101,773.29
3,887
12,139.42
9.17
0.08
1.19
6,251,803
336,414,501.04
3,918
Up 20 | Down 19 | Unchanged 02
MARKET
INDEX
All Ordinaries
Cac 40 Index/D
Day’s Close
5873.712
Pt Chg
2.223
% Chg
0.04
Year High
5962
Year Low
5248.5
4963.87
46.52
0.95
4951.48
4076.16
Dj Indu Average
18096.9
-106.47
-0.58
18288.6
15855.12
Hang Seng Inde/D
24193.04
-272.34
-1.11
25101.96
23312.5
Iseq Overall/D
5958.56
4.31
0.07
5993.92
5072.7
Karachi 100 In/D
33368.83
125.89
0.38
35055.94
32134.82
Nikkei 225 Index
18751.84
48.24
0.26
18939.17
16592.57
S&P 500 Index/D
0
0
0
2119.59
1814.36
Straits Times/D
3395.27
-20.26
-0.59
3458.14
3267.89
Straits Times/D
3290.99
-1.82
-0.06
3387.84
2953.01
Straits Times/D
3274.06
-8.82
-0.27
3291.83
2953.01
GOLD & SILVER
GOLD
QR141.0144
SILVER
QR 1.9036
EXCHANGE
RATE
Buying Selling
CRUDE OIL
BRENT
$ 61.06
DUBAI
$ 58.30
US$.......................... QR 3.6305
UK ........................... QR 5.5183
Euro ......................... QR 4.0030
CA$.......................... QR 2.9031
Swiss Fr .................. QR 3.7366
Yen .......................... QR 0.0300
Aus$ ........................ QR 2.8180
Ind Re ...................... QR 0.0580
Pak Re ..................... QR 0.0354
Peso ........................ QR 0.0819
SL Re....................... QR 0.0271
Taka ......................... QR 0.0464
Nep Re .................... QR 0.0362
SA Rand .................. QR 0.3067
QR 3.6500
QR 5.5953
QR 4.0587
QR 2.9601
QR 3.7898
QR 0.0306
QR 2.8733
QR 0.0591
QR 0.0363
QR 0.0835
QR 0.0277
QR 0.0473
QR 0.0369
QR 0.3129
QATAR EXCHANGE | DAILY TRADING REPORT | 08-03-2015
Weakness strikes as gold feels the dollar heat
NGLAND face a potential
banana skin when Eoin Morgan’s
beleaguered side play Bangladesh
in a make-or-break World Cup
clash in Adelaide today.
February may have marked a first rise
in eight months for commodities, but
it was back to type in the first week of
March with weakness across most sectors.
This was driven by the adverse impact
of the dollar rising to a fresh 11-year high
against the euro while China downgraded
its growth target for 2015 to just 7%, the
lowest in more than decade.
The resumption of dollar buying
occurred as the market prepared for the
beginning of quantitative easing from the
European Central Bank.
A move that has already seen bond
yields tumble across the euro area and the
governments in France and Netherlands
to Germany can now issue two-year government debt at negative yields.
The agriculture sector, not least the
grain sector, came under some renewed
selling pressure as a the rising dollar continue to erode US crops competitiveness
on the global market exacerbated by competitors in South America, the Black Sea
area and Europe all enduring significant
currency weakness against the dollar.
Chicago wheat took the brunt
of this selling, not least due to a
E
bigger-than-expected forecast
on 2015 production from the
UN FAO.
The soft sector is another
casualty of the rising dollar,
BY OLE S. HANSEN
not least sugar and Arabica
(Head of Commodity
coffee, considering Brazil’s
Strategy, Saxo Bank)
important role in the global
market for these commodities.
The combination of ample rain in Brazil
pipeline infrastructure will come to full
leading to raised production estimates and
capacity.
the continued weakness of the Real have
As a result, the potential upside for
seen both commodities remain under some
WTI crude remains limited at this stage
considerable selling pressure.
and at the start of the week the discount
Both WTI and Brent crude saw volatilto Brent crude reached $13/barrel.
ity drop to December levels as both conBrent crude, however, failed to hold
tinue to settle into a range. On the supply
onto this elevated premium on increased
side, US production continues to rise and
speculation that a deal with Iran over its
during the last week of February, inventonuclear programme could be reached.
ries rose by 10.3 million barrels to another
Iran has made it clear that once sancmulti-decade high at 444 mn barrels.
tions are eventually lifted, it will be ready
US refineries are yet to emerge from
to increase exports and reclaim some of
the annual slowdown in demand due to
the market share that has been lost since
maintenance and turnaround towards
Western sanctions were introduced back
gasoline production. Once they do, the
in 2012.
build in inventories will slow especially
State owned Saudi Arabian Oil
if we finally begin to see negativity filter
Company raised the prices that customthrough from the price slump.
ers in Asia, Europe and the US will have
These developments are still weeks
to pay for its crude oil during April. The
away so in the near-term inventories are
market took this as a sign that the marexpected to keep rising and this has raised
ket outside the US is slowly beginning to
some speculation and concerns about just
balance itself.
how close the US storage facilities and
Saudi oil minister Ali Al-Naimi warned
Weekly Commodity Update
nevertheless that it was not
the Saudi’s role to subsidise
high-cost producers and that
non-Opec producers would
have to help balance the
market.
US supplies will continue
to rise in the near term,
thereby putting some additional pressure on US storage
facilities while supply disruptions in countries like Libya and recently Iraq together
with the prospect of rising demand, will
help balance the market outside the US.
Brent should find some support on the
back of this but while we wait for news
from Iran, the upside seems limited.
Technically, the price of Brent is being
boxed into a tight range and a breakout is
expected soon. A break below $60/b, however, has the potential to cause a bigger
upset than a move above $63/b.
This scenario is being reflected in the
options market where the cost of protecting a downside move through puts remains
much higher than the cost of calls.
Precious metals came under some
renewed selling pressure as the dollar
resumed its ascent against most currencies. Against the euro, it reached a new
11-year high as the prospect for QE in
Europe and rising rates in the US left
both metals on the defensive.
The renewed focus on the adverse
impact of dollar gains was found in the
numbers with gold falling by more or less
the same percentage that the dollar rose.
Silver took out a technical support level
at $16.08/oz which led to some underperformance relative to gold.
Holdings in exchange traded products backed by physical gold jumped by
80 tonnes to 1,680 tonnes during January
and the subsequent $100 plus selloff has
so far only had a limited impact on these
holdings.
Negative bond yields on core government bonds in Europe have been adding some support and probably helps to
explain the recent resilience among ETP
investors with many private investors
balking at the prospect of negative yields
and getting into stock markets which have
seen strong gains already.
Following another strong US job report
Friday gold broke out of its recent $1,1901,223/oz range, and while the dollar continue to scale new highs, the focus will be
centered on the risk of further losses, not
least considering the continued expectation that the US Federal Reserve will raise
rates later this year. Amid a rising dollar
the near-term risk to gold is that it will
have to go lower with the next level of
support being the January low at $1168
followed by $1150.
THE PENINSULA
MONDAY 9 MARCH 2015
www.thepeninsulaqatar.com
SPORT
Steely Park seals win over Ko
Korean stays cool in Singaporean heat to register two-stroke victory
SINGAPORE: Nerveless Park
In-Bee sealed a wire-to-wire
victory at the HSBC Women’s
Champions yesterday in a clear
statement of her intent to win
back the number one ranking
from Lydia Ko.
On a day of iced towels and
umbrellas, the South Korean
stayed cool in the Singapore heat
for two-under-par 70 and a twostroke win over Ko as she finished
the week bogey-free.
Park’s scores of 66, 69, 68 and
70 and aggregate of 15-under 273
were too much for Ko, 17, golf ’s
youngest ever number one who
HSBC Women’s
Champions Scores
SINGAPORE: Final scores
from the HSBC Women’s
Champions at Sentosa Golf
Club in Singapore yesterday
(par-72):
273 Park In-Bee (KOR) 66-69-68-70
275 Lydia Ko (NZL) 68-70-67-70
277 Stacy Lewis (USA) 69-69-67-72
278 Ryu So-Yeon (KOR) 70-69-69-70,
Azahara Munoz (ESP) 70-67-70-71,
Feng Shanshan (CHN) 70-71-68-69
279 Caroline Masson (GER) 71-68-72-68
280 Carlota Ciganda (ESP) 69-66-74-71,
Lee Il-Hee (KOR) 72-72-71-65, Anna
Nordqvist (SWE) 69-70-68-73
was unable to erase her two-shot
overnight deficit.
“That’s a big accomplishment
for me,” said Park of her accomplishment of leading the $1.4m
tournament from start to finish.
“I think I’ve done that probably once before only, and to
have a pressure every day since
Thursday, I think it’s something
that I should be really proud of.”
New Zealand’s Ko, playing with
her left thumb strapped, missed
short par putts on eight, 12 and 13
but finished with a curling, 12-foot
birdie on 18 in front of a packed
gallery.
World number three Stacy
Lewis put her ball into a tree on
12 and then found water at the
last before finishing on 72, four
shots back in third at par-72
Sentosa Golf Club.
“She played great all week,” Ko
said of Park. “No bogeys around
here and on a course where you
can hit a good shot and you can
get bad luck.
“She made no bogeys, that’s
pretty phenomenal.”
Starting the day two strokes
adrift, Ko birdied four and five to
draw level with Park, whom she
demoted to world number two
when she seized the top ranking
last month.
But Ko’s bogey at eight
Park In-bee of South Korea poses with her trophy after winning the HSBC Women’s Champions Golf
Championships in Singapore, yesterday.
signalled a mid-round stumble
with three dropped shots, before
she recovered with a birdie on
15 and another at the last after
escaping from two bunkers.
Lewis had a helter-skelter final
day when she scrambled brilliantly on eight and then saw her
second shot on the par-five 12th
Maiden Euro
Tour triumph
for Fisher
EAST
LONDON,
South
Africa: Trevor Fisher junior
claimed his maiden European
Tour title yesterday in East
London and maintained a South
African monopoly of the Africa
Open tournament.
The Johannesburg-born and
based golfer closed with an eightunder 64 for a 264 total and a fiveshot victory in the co-sanctioned
European Tour-Sunshine Tour
championship.
Englishman Matt Ford, joint
first-round pacesetter and sole
second-round leader, finished
with a 69 for a 269 total and second place.
Spaniards Jorge Campillo (66)
and Eduardo de la Riva (66) and
Dane Morten Madsen (66) shared
third place.
Fisher follows Major-winning
compatriots Retief Goosen, Charl
Schwartzel and Louis Oosthuizen,
plus Shane Norris, Darren
Fichardt and Thomas Aiken as
Africa Open champions.
The 35-year-old started the
final round over the par-72, 6,108metre (6,679-yard) layout in the
tranquil Indian Ocean town with
a two-shot advantage.
Ford narrowed the gap to
a single stroke by the eighth
before the tournament took a
decisive turn over the following
two holes.
Fisher birdied the par-four
nine while Ford chipped his third
shot past the hole, missed a challenging par putt and a one-shot
AFP
lead changed to three.
nestle in the branches of a palm
tree. The American somehow
escaped with par and birdied 13
as she threatened to beat Ko into
second spot -- before dunking her
approach into the greenside lake
on the par-five 18th.
Meanwhile Park’s progress
was serene and she needed only
birdies on seven and 11 before
being doused with champagne as
she toasted her 13th LPGA win
and first of the year.
“I’ll probably play a lot more
with Lydia, a lot more often,”
Park said. “I just can’t believe that
I’m playing with somebody who
can’t even drink.”
AFP
Africa Open Scores
JB Holmes reacts
after missing a putt
on the eighteenth hole
during the third round
of the WGC - Cadillac
Championship golf
tournament at TPC
Blue Monster at
Trump National Doral,
yesterday.
EAST
LONDON,
South
Africa: Leading Africa Open
final-round scores yesterday at
the par-72, 6,108-metre (6,679yard) East London Golf Club
(RSA unless noted):
264 Trevor Fisher jnr 69-68-63-64
269 Matt Ford (ENG) 67-66-69-67
272 Jorge Campillo (ESP) 71-68-67-66,
Morten Madsen (DEN) 71-71-64-66,
Eduardo de la Riva (ESP) 68-66-72-66
274 John Parry (ENG) 68-69-69-68, Jaco van
Zyl 70-66-68-70
275 Maximilian Kieffer (GER) 74-63-71-67,
Julien Quesne (FRA) 70-72-66-67
276 Keith Horne 72-68-68-68, Mark Tullo
(CHI) 70-67-70-69, Moritz Lampert
(GER) 74-66-69-67
277 Magnus Carlsson (SWE) 74-67-71-65,
Mikko Korhonen (FIN) 73-69-66-69
Holmes seizes command at Doral
WGC-Cadillac at
Doral Scores
MIAMI: Leading third-round
scores yesterday at the World
Golf Championship Cadillac
Championship at Doral in
Florida (USA unless noted,
par-72):
205 JB Holmes 62-73-70
210 Dustin Johnson 68-73-69, Bubba
Watson 71-69-70
211 Ryan Moore 66-71-74
212 Bill Haas 74-73-65, Louis Oosthuizen
(RSA) 71-74-67, Henrik Stenson (SWE)
69-71-72
213 Lee Westwood (ENG) 71-72-70, Webb
Simpson 74-69-70, Sergio Garcia (ESP)
73-69-71, Adam Scott (AUS) 70-68-75
215 Shane Lowry (IRL) 71-74-70, Victor
Dubuisson (FRA) 72-73-70
MIAMI: JB Holmes fired a
hole-in-one and birdied four of
the last five holes to seize a fivestroke lead after yesterday’s
third round of the World Golf
Championships event at Doral.
Holmes, seeking his fourth
career US PGA title, birdied the
14th through 17th holes before a
closing bogey as he fired a twounder 70 to stand on 11-under
205 after 54 holes in the Cadillac
Championship.
“A win is a win, so if that happens, that would be great,” Holmes
said. “But I’m just going to go out
and control what I control and
do my routines and have fun and
whatever happens happens.”
Reigning Masters champion
Bubba Watson blasted a bunker
shot 43 feet for a birdie to finish
his round of 70 and grab a share
Executive Education course at Josoor Institute
Visiting faculty from Georgetown University are joined by delegates from the Qatar Stars League (QSL) and
the Qatar Football Association (QFA) on day one of a five-day Executive Education course in Doha yesterday.
Facilitated jointly with Josoor Institute – a centre of excellence for the sports and events industries in the
Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region – the course will enhance leadership and senior management
skills through a range of teaching and workshop sessions and bespoke training exercises. The various topics
that will be discussed in sessions spread across the week include business acumen, strategy, people and
leadership, entrepreneurship & innovation, management skills/communications, project management, financial
management, customer/client experience.
of second with fellow American
Dustin Johnson on 210 with compatriot Ryan Moore fourth on 211.
“Just trying to hit one close to
make an easy par, but for it to
actually fall in, obviously dinner is
going to taste really good tonight,”
Watson said.
Johnson aced the par-3 fourth
hole only to have Holmes match
his feat about 20 minutes later,
both of them using 7-irons to
solve the 227-yard hole.
“The wind was coming, kind
of down and hard off the right,”
Holmes said of his ace. “I was
actually aiming right at it. And
well, I was planning on the wind
moving it, and I thought if I hit
it perfect it would stay straight
and it did.
“So one of the rare times you
get a hole-in-one where you
actually hit it just like you want
to.”
There had not been an ace on
the hole in 25 years.
South
African
Louis
Oosthuizen, Swede Henrik
Stenson and American Bill Haas
were on 212 with England’s Lee
Westwood, Australian Adam
Scott, Spain’s Sergio Garcia
and American Webb Simpson
on 213.
World number one Rory
McIlroy fired a 72 and was 10
shots off the pace, but much happier than Friday, when he hurled
his 3-iron into a pond after plunking a shot into the water.
“It was all right,” McIlroy said.
“I felt like I hit it a little better.
Controlled my ball flight a little
better. Hit some shots that were
quite pleasing.
AFP
23
Cavs bounce
back as Hawks
grounded by
Sixers in NBA
PHILADELPHIA:
The
Atlanta Hawks, fresh off a victory over LeBron James and
Cleveland, saw their six-game
win streak snapped yesterday by
the NBA’s second-worst team,
Philadelphia, while the Cavaliers
ripped Phoenix.
Philadelphia’s Luc Mbah a
Moute and Hollis Thompson each
scored a game-high 19 points to
spark the 76ers to a 92-84 victory
over Atlanta, who opted to rest
three starters.
In Cleveland, Russian big man
Timofey Mozgov scored a gamehigh 19 points to power the Cavs
past Phoenix 89-79.
The Hawks, who solidified
their spot as the top team in
the Eastern Conference by beating Cleveland 106-97 on Friday,
squandered an 11-point lead after
the first quarter against the lowly
76ers, who had lost nine of their
prior 10 games.
Absences may have played a
part. Starters DeMarre Carroll,
Kyle Korver and Paul Millsap all
sat out for rest. Korver didn’t
travel to Philadelphia.
Pero Antic was sidelined by a
sprained left ankle.
But the Hawks were also hurt
by some sloppy play. They scored
just 31 points in the second half.
Jeff Teague scored 17 points
while Dennis Schroeder added 16
points off the bench for the Hawks,
but each had five turnovers.
“I was just making boneheaded
mistakes on the break,” Teague
said. “I just didn’t have it.”
The playoff-bound Hawks fell
to 49-13 and behind Golden State
(48-12) in the fight for the NBA’s
best overall record.
“It wasn’t our best night,” said
Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer.
“Sometimes you learn from those
just as much or more than your
good nights.”
At Cleveland, Mozgov connected on 6-of-8 shots from the
floor and 7-of-8 free throws in the
triumph.
Four-time NBA Most Valuable
Player James added 17 points
while Kevin Love had 13 points
and 10 rebounds and Tristan
Thompson came off the bench
to score 15 points and grab 12
rebounds.
The Cavaliers improved to
40-25, just ahead of Toronto and
just behind Chicago in the fight
for second place in the East.
James, who was sharply critical of himself after he coughed
up nine turnovers in the loss to
Atlanta on Friday, also had eight
assists yesterday, matching Mark
Price’s Cleveland club record of
4,206 careers assists.
“I think it’s a pretty cool feat,”
he said. The Cavs led by as many
as 32 points in the third quarter.
They scored just nine in the
final frame.
AFP
NBA Results
New Orleans
Cleveland
Miami
Indiana
Philadelphia
Minnesota
Milwaukee
Houston
95
89
114
92
92
121
91
114
Memphis
Phoenix
Sacramento
NY Knicks
Atlanta
Portland
Washington
Denver
89
79
109
86
84
113
85
100
Price stops 29 as
Canadiens shut
out Coyotes
GLENDALE: Carey Price gave
the Montreal Canadiens a lift to
close out a rough road trip.
Price made 29 saves for his seventh shutout, and the Canadiens
beat the slumping Arizona
Coyotes 2-0 yesterday.
“Pricer was Pricer,” Canadiens
coach Michel Therrien said.
“Again tonight he was really good.
He has a lot of confidence, and the
way he played gave the team a lot
of confidence, as well.”
“He’s an absolute treat to watch
in net,” Dale Weise said. “Even
being on his team you get amazed
by him every game. He’s so calm
in there, the way he handles the
puck.” Lars Eller and Brendan
Gallagher scored for the Eastern
Conference-leading Canadiens.
AGENCIES
Los Angeles Kings’ centre Tyler Toffoli (73) and Pittsburgh Penguins’ centre Nick Spaling (13) reach for the puck at Staples Center. The Penguins
defeated the Kings 1-0 in overtime.
24
MONDAY 9 MARCH 2015
www.thepeninsulaqatar.com
SPORT
Veteran Vettori sets up
crushing New Zealand win
Boult also captures three wickets as Afghanistan lose by six wickets
New Zealand’s Daniel Vettori celebrates after getting his 300th wicket,
at McLean Park in Napier yesterday.
NAPIER,
New
Zealand:
Daniel Vettori became the first
New Zealand bowler to take 300
one-day international wickets
as the Black Caps made short
work of Afghanistan to remain
unbeaten after five World Cup
matches yesterday.
Left-arm spinner Vettori
scythed through the Afghanistan
top order, using his guile on a pitch
producing no turn, to finish with
the remarkable figures of four for
18 in 10 overs as Afghanistan were
dismissed for 186.
Along the way he became the
12th player, and only the fifth
spinner, to take 300 ODI wickets.
On a run-laden McLean Park
pitch in Napier, New Zealand
needed only 36.1 overs to overhaul
Afghanistan’s total.
New Zealand, who had already
qualified for the quarter-finals,
have yet to be taken the distance
in the field and the 47.4 overs
bowled to Afghanistan is the most
they have sent down in any match
in the tournament.
But the result was never in
doubt when Brendon McCullum,
with his trademark aggressive
approach, blazed away at the top
of the New Zealand innings slamming 42 off 19 deliveries to get the
chase off to a rollicking start.
When he was bowled by
Mohammad Nabi, trying to
belt his opposing captain out of
the ground, New Zealand were
already a quarter of the way to
their target after fewer than six
overs.
The pace slowed from nine
to 5.19 runs an over after
McCullum’s dismissal as New
Zealand coasted to victory with
their middle-to-lower order not
getting the lengthy time at the
crease they wanted before the
knockout phase.
Kane Williamson, in his understated manner, contributed 33,
Scoreboard
AFGHANISTAN
34-3(w-2); D Vettori 10-4-18-4; A Milne 10-0J Ahmadi lbw Boult...................................... 1 38-1(w-4); C Anderson 6.4-0-38-2(w-3); G ElU Ghani b Vettori ......................................... 0 liott 1-0-10-0.
NEW ZEALAND
N Mangal b Vettori .................................... 27
A Stanikzai c Guptill b Boult ......................... 9 M Guptill (run out-Mangal, Shenwari) ......... 57
S Shenwari c Taylor b Anderson ................. 54 B McCullum b Nabi ................................... 42
M Nabi c Taylor b Vettori .............................. 6 K Williamson c Shenwari b S Zadran .......... 33
A Zazai lbw Vettori....................................... 0 R Taylor (not out) ....................................... 24
N Zadran c Vettori b Milne ......................... 56 G Elliott (run out-Nabi) ............................... 19
D Zadran c Ronchi b Boult ........................... 1 C Anderson (not out) ................................... 7
H Hassan c Milne b Anderson .................... 16 Extras (LB-2, W-4) ...................................... 6
S Zadran (not out) ....................................... 2 Total (for 4 wkts in 36.1 overs)............188
Fall of wickets: 1-53, 2-111, 3-143, 4-175.
Extras (LB-5, W-9) .................................... 14
Bowling: D Zadran 9-0-51-0(w-3); S Zadran
Total (all out in 47.4 overs) ..................186
Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-6, 3-24, 4-49, 5-59, 10-2-45-1; H Hassan 7-1-36-0; M Nabi 7.1-039-1(w-1); S Shenwari 3-0-15-0.
6-59, 7-145, 8-151, 9-166, 10-186.
Bowling: T Southee 10-0-43-0; T Boult 10-2- Result: New Zealand won by 6 wickets.
Martin Guptill reached 57, his
highest score of the campaign,
and Grant Elliott made 19.
Guptill and Elliott were both
needlessly run out when time
and runs were not an issue, leaving Ross Taylor (24 not out) and
Corey Anderson (seven not out)
to see New Zealand home.
It was never going to be easy
for Afghanistan who were already
jet-lagged having crossed the
Tasman Sea twice in the week to
meet their gruelling World Cup
schedule ahead of this game.
They won the toss, elected to
bat, and then had few answers to
the menacing attack that greeted
them.
Trent Boult dismissed Javed
Ahmadi in the second over,
Vettori removed Usman Ghani at
the start of the third and by the
time the 20th over was completed
they were 59 for six.
Nawroz Mangal was bowled for
27 to become Vettori’s milestone
dismissal and four overs later
Mohammad Nabi and Afsar Zazai
went in successive balls to give the
spinner have four wickets for five
runs.
Najibullah Zadran avoided the
hat-trick as he joined Samiullah
Shenwari to rescue the innings
with an Afghanistan record seventh-wicket partnership of 86.
For New Zealand, Trent Boult
joined Vettori in the impressive
bowling stakes with three for 34
off his 10 overs.
Although competition debutants Afghanistan were heavily
outclassed they can take credit
in knowing they pushed the tournament co-hosts closest to the
50-over limit.
AFP
Most wickets in ODIs
Read as player, matches played, wickets taken
M Muralitharan (SL), 350, 534
Wasim Akram (Pak), 356, 502
Waqar Younis (Pak), 262, 416
WPUJC Vaas (SL), 322, 400
Shahid Afridi (Pak), 396, 395
SM Pollock (SA), 303, 393
GD McGrath (Aus), 250, 381
B Lee (Aus), 221, 380
A Kumble (India), 271, 337
ST Jayasuriya (SL), 445, 323
J Srinath (India), 229, 315
DL Vettori (NZ), 291, 302
England on edge in
last chance saloon
ADELAIDE: England face a
potential banana skin when
Eoin Morgan’s beleaguered side
play Bangladesh in a makeor-break World Cup clash in
Adelaide today.
England lost to Bangladesh
by two wickets in the last World
Cup in 2011 — a match in which
Morgan made 63 — but still survived the shock defeat to qualify
for the quarter-finals.
There will, however, be no second chance this time as England,
with one win in four matches,
must beat both Bangladesh at the
Adelaide Oval and Afghanistan in
Sydney on March 13 to stay in
contention for the last eight.
Even that may not be enough if
Bangladesh, who have five points
to England’s two, upset co-hosts
New Zealand in Hamilton on
March 13 to squeak through to
the quarter-finals from Pool A.
Morgan will be expected to
lead from the front but the gifted
left-hander had scored just two
half-centuries in 16 World Cup
matches so far, nine of them playing for Ireland in 2007.
England have been defeated by
Bangladesh just twice in 15 oneday internationals, but a woeful
World Cup record over the last
20 years will have even their most
optimistic supporters worried.
England lost every game
against a Test-playing nation in
1996, were dumped out in the first
round at home in 1999 and again
in 2003, and failed to make the
semi-finals in the last two editions
in 2007 and 2011.
England’s lone win this time
has been against minnows
Scotland, but their most embarrassing moment came last Sunday
when Sri Lanka chased down
what seemed a reasonably challenging target of 310 with nine
wickets and 16 deliveries to spare.
In 2011, England had all
but wrapped up the match in
Chittagong when Bangladesh’s
ninth-wicket pair of Mohammad
Mahmudullah and Shafiul Islam
put on 58 off 56 balls to seal victory with six balls remaining.
There has been a hundred each
in the current tournament from
Moeen Ali against Scotland and
Joe Root in a losing cause against
Sri Lanka, but just two other
England batsmen have scored
half-centuries.
Morgan himself has managed
just 90 runs at an average of 22.50,
but his biggest worry will be the
ineffectiveness of his two pace
spearheads James Anderson and
Stuart Broad.
Anderson’s two wickets so far
have come at an unusually high
average of 91, while Broad averages 92 for his two wickets.
“We certainly are not taking
a win for granted,” said Morgan
of Monday’s game. “Bangladesh
have come a long way in the last
10 years.
“If we play well, I have every
confidence we can win this game.
The illusion of making it a bigger
game than it is, is probably the
wrong thing to do.”
Bangladesh, meanwhile, have
ensured that sharing points
with co-hosts Australia in the
rained-off match in Brisbane
has not been wasted. Having
beaten Afghanistan before losing
to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh came
up with what skipper Mashrafe
Mortaza described as their “best”
run chase when they overhauled
Scotland’s 318 for eight with 11
balls to spare for the lost of just
four wickets.
It was the second-best winning chase in World Cup history
following Ireland’s 329 to defeat
England in a Bangalore thriller
four years ago.
AFP
SYDNEY:
Former
South
Africa captain Graeme Smith
fears the Proteas’ hopes of a
maiden World Cup title could be
thwarted by the team’s inability
to chase down targets.
Their latest flop batting second
came at Eden Park in Auckland
on Saturday when they lost by 29
runs to Pakistan in pursuit of just
232.
They had also been bowled out
for a paltry 177 when trying to
catch India’s 307-7 in Melbourne
earlier in the tournament.
However, batting first, AB de
Villiers side had piled up 339-4
against Zimbabwe, 408-5 when
they took on the West Indies
and 411-4 facing Ireland — three
matches they won.
Writing in his ICC column
yesterday, Smith said he was
concerned by the Proteas’ record
when chasing targets.
“South Africa’s win-loss record,
when chasing 240 or more since
the last World Cup, is 3-10 whilst
they only have a 39 percent win
percentage when chasing in oneday internationals since January
2013,” wrote Smith.
“On the contrary, when batting first, South Africa has a 24-8
win-loss record, which is the best
among all Test playing nations
during the same period.
“If one were to examine this
issue more closely it would also
become apparent that in every
game in which the Proteas have
been knocked out of a World Cup
since 1992, they batted second
with the exception of the semifinal loss to Australia in 2007.”
Smith said he feared that
potential opponents in the knockout stages will exploit South
Africa’s nervousness to extend
their record of never having made
a World Cup final.
“They have a lot more work to
do in very little time. Even with
one pool game to go their attention would have shifted to the
likely quarter-final opponents of
either Sri Lanka or Australia who
would definitely have noted that
their chasing travails continued,”
the former South African skipper
said.
AFP
England’s
skipper
Eoin
Morgan
(right) bats
during a
training
session
at the
Adelaide
Oval
yesterday.
England
take on
Bangladesh
in a
do-or-die
encounter
for both
sides.
FACTBOX England
vs Bangladesh
Factbox on today’s World Cup
Pool A match between England
and Bangladesh in Adelaide:
ENGLAND
Captain: Eoin Morgan
Coach: Peter Moores
Squad: Morgan, Moeen Ali, James
Anderson, Gary Balance, Ian Bell, Ravi
Bopara, Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler, Steven
Finn, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Joe Root,
James Taylor, James Tredwell, Chris Woakes.
Results so far at 2015 World Cup: Lost to
Australia by 111 runs; lost to New Zealand by
eight wickets; beat Scotland by 119 runs; lost
to Sri Lanka by nine wickets.
Top performers: Moeen Ali (173 runs), Joe
Root (173 runs); Steve Finn (eight wickets),
Chris Woakes (five wickets)
Remaining Pool A match: vs Afghanistan
(March 13).
BANGLADESH
Captain: Mashrafe Mortaza
Coach: Chandika Hathurusingha
Squad: Mortaza, Imrul Kayes, Tamim Iqbal,
Mahmudullah, Arafat Sunny, Mominul Haq,
Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Nasir
Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Sabbir Rahman,
Soumya Sarkar, Taskin Ahmed, Taijul Islam,
Shafiul Islam.
Results so far at 2015 World Cup: Beat
Afghanistan by 105 runs; match abandoned
vs Australia; lost to Sri Lanka by 92 runs;
beat Scotland by six wickets.
Top performers: Mushfiqur Rahim (167
runs), Shakib Al Hasan (161 runs); Mashrafe
Mortaza (four wickets)
Remaining Pool A match: vs New Zealand
(March 13).
England vs Bangladesh head-to-head
Total played: 15
England won 13, Bangladesh won 2
Last match
March 11, 2011: Bangladesh won by two
wickets in Chittagong.
Smith fears
South Africa
will be trapped
in chase
Mortaza wary of English reaction
ADELAIDE: Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza cautioned his team against taking
struggling England lightly in
today’s World Cup clash at the
Adelaide Oval, saying it was
tough to predict the outcome of
a “pressure match”.
A win for the Tigers will see
them knock Eoin Morgan’s side
out of the tournament and move
into the second round for only
the second time since their World
Cup debut in 1999.
Mortaza acknowledged beating
England will be one of the biggest
wins for Bangladesh, but expected
the rivals to come hard in what
will be good batting conditions on
the drop-in pitch.
“We are not taking England
lightly at all,” the skipper said.
“They are a very experienced side
and know how to deal with pressure games like these.
“I am not thinking of the quarter-finals yet. The focus is to bat,
bowl and field well so that we can
trouble England. We should just
think about our cricket and not
worry about what England have
been doing.”
Mortaza said his team’s ability
to chase down a 300-plus target
in the last match against Scotland
had given them confidence to
tackle England.
“It was a good win and has
given the boys a lot of confidence,”
he said, adding it did not matter that the chase was achieved
against a winless non-Test playing nation.
Mortaza said the aim before the
tournament was to defeat one of
the top teams in the pool and the
opportunity had arrived to realise
the dream.
Bangladesh have beaten both
Mashrafe Mortaza speaks during
a news conference at the Adelaide
Oval yesterday.
Afghanistan and Scotland, lost to
Sri Lanka and shared the points
with Australia in a rained-off
match.
“The equation before we came
here was to beat Afghanistan
and Scotland and take a chance
against a big team,” said Mortaza.
“That chance has now come and
the real challenge is to see if we
can achieve that.
“We know 160m people back
home are praying for us to succeed. I hope we can give them that
joy because we are waiting to play
our best cricket.”
Mortaza, whose 14-year career
has been marred by at least seven
leg surgeries, said he was fit to
play after hobbling with an apparent hamstring strain against
Scotland.
“I am ready to play, I have to
play,” said the 31-year-old pace
spearhead who has taken 187
wickets in 147 one-day internationals. “It looks better.”
Bangladesh defeated England in
the 2011 World Cup but Mortaza
refused to read too much into the
two-wicket win in Chittagong.
“That was at home and four
years is a long time,” he said.
AFP
MONDAY 9 MARCH 2015
www.thepeninsulaqatar.com
SPORT
25
Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara celebrates after reaching his century at the Sydney Cricket Ground yesterday. RIGHT: Australia’s Glenn Maxwell plays a shot during his innings against Sri Lanka yesterday.
Maxwell’s century fires
Australia past Sri Lanka
Sangakkara scores third successive ton in brave chase by Islanders
SYDNEY: Australia stormed
into the World Cup quarterfinals with a 64-run victory over
Sri Lanka, fired by a spectacular
maiden one-day international
century from Glenn Maxwell
at the Sydney Cricket Ground
(SCG) yesterday.
Sri Lanka signalled that they
are also in fine form for the
knockout stages by having a good
crack at what would have been
a record run chase with Kumar
Sangakkara becoming the first
man to score three successive
centuries at a World Cup.
They were always up against it
after Maxwell’s 53-ball 102 had
helped Australia to 376-9, however, and it is the co-hosts who
are now almost certain to finish
second in Pool A and avoid champions India or South Africa in the
quarter-finals.
On a night when the 40,000
crowd were thrilled by a feast of
batting, it was Maxwell’s deployment of the full array of shots
in his prodigious armoury that
proved decisive.
His hundred came off 51 balls,
just one shy of the record for the
quickest World Cup century, and
he shared a 160-run partnership
with Shane Watson, who hit 67 to
celebrate his recall to the team.
Maxwell was dropped by a
back-peddling Sangakkara on
95 and there was a nervous wait
on 99, his chance of sharing the
World Cup record with Irishman
Kevin O’Brien disappearing when
the umpire ruled a leg bye off the
50th ball he faced.
The century came up soon
enough with two runs to mid-off,
though, and his emotional celebration after reaching the milestone in his 43rd one-day innings
was a graphic illustration of what
it meant to a player often dismissed as a show-pony.
Steve Smith (72) and skipper
Michael Clarke (68) had earlier steadied the innings with a
partnership of 134 after openers
Scoreboard
AUSTRALIA
A Finch st Sangakkara b Prasanna ............. 24
D Warner c Prasanna b Malinga ................... 9
S Smith c T Perera b Dilshan .....................72
M Clarke b Malinga ................................... 68
G Maxwell c Malinga b T Perera ...............102
S Watson c Chandimal b T Perera .............. 67
J Faulkner (run out-Mathews, T Perera) ........ 0
B Haddin c T Perera b Mathews ................. 25
M Johnson (not out) .................................... 3
M Starc (run out-T Perera, Mathews)............ 0
X Doherty (not out) ...................................... 0
Extras (B-1, LB-1, W-4) ............................... 6
Total (for 9 wkts in 50 overs)...............376
Fall of wickets: 1-19,2-41, 3-175, 4-177,
5-337, 6-338, 7-368, 8-373, 9-374.
Bowling: L Malinga 10-0-59-2(w-1); S Senanayake 9-0-59-0; A Mathews 7-0-59-1(w-2);
S Prasanna 10-0-77-1; T Perera 9-0-87-2(w1); T Dilshan 5-0-33-1.
David Warner and Aaron Finch
had been dismissed early.
Maxwell hit 10 fours and four
sixes in his innings and the
SRI LANKA
L Thirimanne c Haddin b Johnson ................ 1
T Dilshan lbw Faulkner ..............................62
K Sangakkara c Finch b Faulkner .............104
M Jayawardene (run out-Clarke) ................ 19
A Mathews c Haddin b Watson...................35
D Chandimal (retd hurt) .............................52
T Perera c Doherty b Johnson ...................... 8
U Tharanga c Warner b Faulkner .................. 4
S Prasanna b Starc ..................................... 9
S Senanayake c Doherty b Starc .................. 7
L Malinga (not out) ...................................... 0
Extras (B-2, LB-5, W-4) ............................. 11
Total (all out in 46.2 overs) ..................312
Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-135, 3-188, 4-201,
5-283, 6-293, 7-305, 8-307, 9-312.
Bowling: M Starc 8.2-0-29-2(w-1); M Johnson 9-0-62-2(w-2); S Watson 7-0-71-1; X Doherty 7-0-60-0; G Maxwell 6-0-35-0; J Faulkner 9-0-48-3(w-1).
pyrotechnics continued when
Sri Lanka came out to bat,
Tillakaratne Dilshan setting the
tone by spectacularly hitting six
fours off Mitchell Johnson’s third
over.
Johnson had already dismissed
Lahiru Thirimanne caught
behind for one in his opening over
to bring Dilshan and Sangakkara
together at the crease.
While their 130-run partnership continued, it looked like Sri
Lanka had a chance but once
James Faulkner (3-48) trapped
Dilshan in front for 62, it looked
like an uphill struggle.
Sangakkara had already
become only the second player
after Sachin Tendulkar to score
14,000 ODI runs and was not going
to be denied his century, which he
reached in as many balls with two
runs to backward square.
He departed soon afterwards for 104, leaving Dinesh
Chandimal, who hit 52 off 24 balls
before retiring hurt, and Angelo
Mathews (35) to lead the rearguard action.
They were finally dismissed for
312 after 46.2 overs. REUTERS
Centurion thanks Watson for help in tough times
Australia’s batsman Glenn Maxwell (left) hugs Shane Watson after scoring
a century at the Sydney Cricket Ground yesterday.
SYDNEY:
Glenn
Maxwell
praised Shane Watson for helping him break through for his
first one-day century which
drove Australia’s World Cup
win over Sri Lanka and a place
in the quarter-finals.
Maxwell, who smashed the
World Cup’s second-fastest century yesterday, said he had been
experiencing a tough couple of
weeks off the field without specifying the problems, but paid tribute to senior batsman Watson,
recalled after being dropped
the previous match against
Afghanistan.
“It was a massive weight (off
my shoulders) and obviously having ‘Watto’ there,” said Maxwell
after his 51-ball century.
“He’s been there for me over
the last couple of tough weeks off
the field, he’s been there with me
through thick and thin.
“I shared a little special
moment with him out there,
hopefully it’s going to open the
floodgates a little bit and I can
stop getting out in the 90s.
“He played beautifully and having chats to him off the field has
been really good for me. It was a
really special partnership we had
together, I think we put on 160
and it was a lot of fun.”
Maxwell, dubbed ‘The Big
Show’, put on a pulsating knock
replete with his audacious reverse
sweeps, flicks and powerful hitting
in an innings he has threatened
to unleash in his previous ODIs.
“It was nice having a good wicket
to play on and the top order set it
up absolutely beautifully for us,”
he said.
Spinner Sachithra Senanayake,
who played for the first time for
Sri Lanka in the tournament,
said it was difficult to contain
Maxwell. “Actually, I feel so bad.
The way Maxwell is hitting, the
players like Maxwell, AB de
Villiers, they are taking so many
runs,” said Senanayake, who went
wicket-less for 59 off nine overs.
“If they are playing 50 balls
they are easily getting 100 runs.
It’s a very bad point for us, so we
have to do something new for
them. It’s hard.”
Australia skipper Michael
Clarke said Australia were put
under pressure by Sri Lanka’s
stout-hearted batting response,
led by Kumar Sangakkara, who
scored his third consecutive century at the tournament with 104
and also went through the 14,000run barrier in ODIs.
“I thought they played really
well, the whole Sri Lankan
innings. We were under pressure,
no doubt about it,” Clarke said.
AFP
Porterfield
expects no
India favours for
Ireland
HOBART:
Ireland
captain
William Porterfield believes
there will be no let-up from
India when his side go in search
of another win over a Test
nation at this World Cup.
Defending champions India
have already qualified for the
quarter-finals while Ireland’s
thrilling five-run win over
Zimbabwe on Saturday left them
among several sides vying for one
of the three remaining last eight
places in Pool B.
Ireland, who started this tournament with a win over the
West Indies, next face India in
Hamilton tomorrow.
“No, I don’t think their guard
will ever be down,” said Porterfield
of India. “They’re a squad of 15, so
whatever they decide to do, they
decide to do.
“It’s a long tournament, and
they’re not going to look to lose
any momentum from their point
of view.
“Whatever they decide to do
is out of our control. Whoever
they decide to play, it doesn’t
really bother me. We’ve just got
to keep all the momentum going
and keep on improving at the little things we want to and keep
taking things forward
Ireland, the leading Associate
or non-Test nation, have now
beaten at least one member of
the elite at three successive World
Cups.
But defeating three in the pool
phase would be a real feather in
their cap and add further weight
to Irish efforts to be granted Test
status themselves.
Asked if he always thought that
was what it would take to reach
the quarter-finals, Porterfield
replied: “It’s very hard to say
when you come in at the start of
such a long tournament, what you
will need, what you won’t need,
whatever.
“We just tried to break it down
really and take each game as it
comes, and whatever we need
coming down to the last game, we
need, but as I said, we just take
this India game now and that’s all
we can look forward to.
“We’ve managed to deal with
the West Indies game and the
UAE game and not look past
them, and there’s so many things
that can happen in all our games
and so many things have happened.”
AFP
Waqar wants more balance between bat and ball in ODIs
KARACHI: Pakistani coach
Waqar Younis has urged the
International Cricket Council
and its member boards to sit
down and have a rethink on balancing the 50-over format for
the good of the game.
In an interview from Australia,
the former Test captain said he
had no doubts that bowlers are
suffering in one-day international
cricket due to the change in laws.
Improvement in skills, better bats and fielding restrictions
have all contributed to making it
a nightmare for bowlers, according to the 43-year-old former
Pakistan fast bowler.
He has no qualms about the
shortest Twenty20 format which
according to him was a “threehour cinema”.
“But for real cricket which is
one-day cricket there is a need
to balance the game,” Younis said.
“Bowlers are suffering as pitches
have gone very flat around the
world.
“Bowlers just have an opportunity in first six to seven overs
than it is a batsmen’s game. We
are seeing that in this World Cup.
“Cricket has changed since our
times but there is a real need to
balance it and the administrators
need to start thinking again.”
The former captain felt cricket
in Pakistan also needed to catch
up with changing times.
Younis and captain Misbahul-Haq have come under fire for
not playing wicketkeeper Sarfraz
Ahmed in the first four games of
the World Cup with allegations
of nepotism and favoritism in the
dressing room.
Younis said he was used to
such flak. “There is nothing new
and we are used to these sort of
things,” he added. “I know it is
an emotional time for the country and I guess everyone can’t be
happy.
“We are trying to do our best
and people who understand the
game will appreciate that.
“I am a patriotic Pakistani and
I will never do any harm to my
country or team and we are trying to do everything to make our
people feel proud of us.”
Pakistan have bounced back
at the World Cup with wins over
Zimbabwe, United Arab Emirates
and South Africa after losing
their first two games to India and
West Indies by big margins.
But he advised his countrymen
to temper their hopes.
“I don’t want to give big hopes
to anyone although I am hopeful
for good things to come,” Younis
said. “I don’t want to think too
far ahead but the last week has
been good for us and now we are
quietly confident, we have started
to get our self-belief back in the
dressing room and in players that
they have the ability to do well.”
There were no clear favourites
too for Younis and despite the
strong starts for co-hosts New
Zealand and holders India, he felt
the knock-outs will be the real
pressure time for teams.
Pakistan need to win their last
group-stage match against the
dangerous Ireland on March 15
to qualify for the quarter-finals.
REUTERS
Pakistani coach Waqar Younis
26
MONDAY 9 MARCH 2015
www.thepeninsulaqatar.com
SPORT
West dominates at fifth
round of Qatar Superbike
Australian wins both races of the fifth round at Losail
DOHA:
Antony
West
of
Australia continued his unstoppable form to win both the races
of the fifth round of the Qatar
Superbike Championship at
Losail International Circuit on
Saturday night.
“My start wasn’t as good as
the first race. It’s always fun to
be here, riding under the flood
lights is quite different; the way
you brake and judge the corners is
different to when you ride during
the day” said West after the races.
West’s compatriot, Alex Cudlin
clinched second in both races.
“To finish second in both races
is nice. Antony (West) has been
too strong this weekend. He is
really good at the beginning of
the races. Since I come from
Endurance background, I need to
pace myself to get more aggressive. It’s good to finish second in
both races with closed-up 8 points
on Meshal (Al Naimi), so I am
now 15 points behind him. I have
to keep winning or be in front of
him” said Cudlin.
Championship leader Meshal
Al Naimi who finished third in
both races extended his gratitude to his sponsor Ooreedoo for
its continued support.
“The race was difficult for
me because my bike was slow.
I pushed harder to tackle Alex
and get the second position but
his bike is way too powerful. I
retained my pace to at least finish third and be on the podium. I
am happy to still have the lead in
the championship” said Al Naimi
In the Super sport class, the
first and second positions of both
races were won by Saudi rider
Abdulaziz Binladen and Fahid Al
Sowaidi. Ali Al Shammari came
third in race 1 and Jassim Al
Thani in race 2.
Nasser bin Khalifa Al Attiyah,
Qatar Motor and Motorcycle
Federation (QMMF) President,
FIA and FIM Vice-President was
Antony West in
action during the
fifth round of the
Qatar Superbike
Championship at
Losail International
Circuit on Saturday
night.
happy to see the participation of
five women riders.
“I am happy to see increased
number of female-participants.
As portrayed in the QSBK standings, Nina Prinz’s is among top
five riders. Viktoria Kis is also
seen giving good results; securing the first position in the Losail
Asian road racing series championship. Finishing second and
third were Shelina Moreda and
Manca Katrasnik. I am really glad
to see women get to the top and
hope to see the numbers increase
in the nearest future” said Nasser.
Mark Holroyd championship
leader at Qatar Challenge dominated in round 6 and aims to finish on the top at the end of the
season. Talal Wehbe came second followed by Canadian Peter
de Vido.
Trophies were presented
by Sultan Zaher Al Moraikhi
(QMMF
Board
Member),
Rashid Al Sulaiti (QMMF Public
Relations Manager) and Omar
Zarour (Royal Motorcycle Club
of Jordan General Manager)
The sixth round of Qatar
Superbike will take place on
March 26 and 27.
From left: Shelina Moreda (second classified), Viktoria Kis (first
Classified), Manca Katrasnik (third classified), Ali Adiby (Rookie of the
year) competitors from the Losail Asian Road Racing Series (LARRS)
pose with their trophies at Losail International Circuit on Saturday night.
THE PENINSULA
Hamilton feeling ‘stronger than ever’
LONDON: Formula One world
champion Lewis Hamilton (pictured) says he is going into the
new season mentally stronger
than ever after learning to keep
his personal and professional
life apart.
Hamilton won 11 of the 19 races
last year on his way to a second
title. However, he and on-off girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger have
separated since she watched him
win the Abu Dhabi season-ender
and title last November.
“I think last year, I adapted ...
a mental attitude that was kind
of, I would like to say, impenetrable,” the Mercedes driver told
British reporters before heading
to Australia for the March 15
season-opener.
“In the previous years it has
been the case where it (personal
issues) has affected my life in general but I feel that I still carry
that kind of mentality from last
year.
“Having been in this position
before, I feel stronger than ever
so I don’t feel that it’s going to be
a problem.”
The Briton started the 2014
season, the first of the new V6
turbo hybrid era, with some pundits suspecting his team mate
Nico Rosberg might get the better of a man who so often wears
his heart on his sleeve and lives
in the public glare.
Instead, Hamilton won more of
the mind battles between the two
title rivals, stepping up a gear in
particular after they collided in
Belgium. Everything aligned for
the double champion last year and
he said that was a rarity.
“It’s like once in a blue moon
that it’s all in line but I still feel
like I’ve got enough in place to do
what I need to do and to be the
best I can be,” said the 30-yearold. “It’s not easy to better a
season like last year. In terms of
performance, it was the best year
that I think I’ve ever had, but it
doesn’t mean I can’t beat it so
that’s what I’m trying to do.”
Hamilton is also negotiating
his own contract extension with
Mercedes, with the existing one
running out at the end of the year,
and he said that was progressing
well.
AFP
Delegates at the first FIA Sport Regional Congress pose for a group
picture in Kuwait yesterday.
FIA Sport Regional
Congress ends
DOHA: The first FIA Sport
Regional Congress for the
Middle East and North Africa
Region (MENA), held in Kuwait
over a period of three days, concluded yesterday, with the adoption of recommendations and
studies that serve the best interest of motor sport and promote
future races and championships
in the MENA region.
The three-day meet saw the
attendance of a great number of
international automobile experts
and around 70 attendees representing 19 members’ states from
the MENA region, held under
the patronage of the Minister of
Information and State minister
for Youth Affairs and Sports,
Sheikh Salman Al Hamoud.
After deliberations held during the MENA meeting on Friday,
the representatives discussed the
major obstacles hindering the
development of motor sport in
the MENA countries, including
the organizational, technical and
logistical support provided by the
FIA to these countries in championships and races.
They also deliberated on the
mechanism used to define the
tracks of cross-country rallies of the Middle East Rally
Championship (MERC) in Dubai,
Qatar and Kuwait.
In fact, as these countries have
open desert spaces, the organizers will have to deploy additional
efforts to limit violations during
the race.
It was agreed to adopt the last
Qatar International Rally as a
positive model to be applied to
rest of the MERC rallies.
The attendees discussed as well
ways to prevent any attempt to
bypass the laws on the tracks of
cross-country rallies.
Furthermore, all the participants underscored the importance
of having a Baja Cross-Country
Championship organized particularly in the North Africa region
and the need to activate such a
championship by attracting a significant number of competitors,
so as to allow it to grow to reach
a size comparable to that of international championships.
They also agreed that all this
could only be achieved through
joint action by organizers, participants and media.
Attending the conference
were FIA President, Jean Todt;
the FIA Vice-President, Nasser
bin Khalifa Al Attiyah; the FIA
Deputy President for Sport,
Graham Stoker; and the CEO
of the Kuwait International
Automobile Club, Essa Hamza.
On Saturday, delegates took
part in workshops aimed at discussing ways to develop automobile clubs in the MENA region, at
the technical and administrative
levels.
THE PENINSULA
FIA President Jean Todt (centre), the FIA Vice-President, Nasser bin Khalifa
Al Attiyah (left) and the CEO of the Kuwait International Automobile Club,
Essa Hamza pose for a picture.
Stage set for World Schools Tennis Championship
DOHA: The World Schools
Tennis Championship 2015 will
get under way at the Khalifa
International
Tennis
and
Squash Complex with the participation of 28 school teams
from 16 different countries.
The matches of
the 7th
ISF Tennis World Schools
Championship will be played on
the 19 hard courts where the
qualifying rounds will take place,
while the final will be on the centre court.
Khalifa International Tennis
and Squash Complex is the
same venue which have hosted
severalo the past ATP and WTA
tournaments.
The championship will bring
together 16 nations, including
Belgium, Brazil, Chili, China
Taipei, UK, Australia, France,
Germany, Iran, Italy, Scotland,
South Africa, Thailand, Turkey
and hosts Qatar.
The ISC Tennis WSC is
designed so that all teams play the
same number of matches and a
classification will be made from
1 to 16 places. The matches will
be led by international referees
and under the leadership of the
ISF Tennis Technical Committee
headed by Pam Burrage from
England in collaboration with the
Qatar School Sports Association
and the Qatar Tennis Federation.
In 2013, the ISF Tennis WSC
was organised in Wodonga,
Australia.
In addition to the sporting aspect, all participants
will get acquainted with the
Doha Cultural visit, participants will be able to meet up
with each other on the ‘Night
of the Nations’ and also at the
‘Farewell Party’.
In addition to inter-school
rankings, the Fair Play Trophy
will be awarded to the team
that profiles itself the best at
the tournament, on and off the
playground.
The Championship’s Organising
Committee have made all managerial, technical and organisational arrangements to host the
event.
THE PENINSULA
Norbert Kever (second
left), Executive Director
of International School
Federation (ISF) and Pam
Burrage (right), ISF Technical
Committee President and
other Qatar Tennis Federation
officials during a press conference in Doha yesterday.
The 7th ISF Tennis World
Schools Championship is
hosted by Doha.
MONDAY 9 MARCH 2015
www.thepeninsulaqatar.com
SPORT
27
Qatar’s Nasser
takes massive
WRC2 lead
Hussain Akbar Al Baker (left), Senior Events and Marketing Manager of UDC, and Khalid Al Hajri, General Secretary of Qatar Equestrian Federation (QEF) exchange the signed sponsorship
contract during the signing ceremony at QEF yesterday. RIGHT: Khalid Al Hajri (right) shakes hands with an official of Abdullah Abdulghani & Bros in Doha yesterday. Abdullah Abdulghani
& Bros is the major sponsor of the Sword Festival.
Qatar’s Rio Games squad to
feature at Emir’s Sword festival
Show jumping: Intense competition on the cards at two-day event
DOHA: Qatar’s squad that qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games
last month will feature at the
Emir’s Sword festival at Qatar
Equestrian Federation (QEF)
Outdoor Arena this week, it was
announced yesterday.
Khaled Safar Al Hajri,
Secretary General of QEF, yesterday said more than QR800,000 is
up for grabs for those competing
at the two-day festival to be held
this Wednesday and Thursday.
“This is an important event
on our calendar. This will be the
last competition this season. This
week will be different in many
ways notable because Qatar’s
national equestrian squad that
has qualified for the Rio Games
will be seen in action,” Al Hajri
said.
Ali Yousef Al Rumaihi, Khalid
Al Emadi, Bassem Hassan
Mohammed and Sheikh Ali Bin
Khalid Al Thani won the second
leg of the Furusiyya 2015 series
in Abu Dhabi, United Arab
Emirates.
The win on February 19 helped
Qatar seal a berth at next year’s
equestrian competition at the
Olympic Games to be held in Rio
de Janiero.
“There’s going to be intense
competition because Emir Sword
title is always keenly fought for by
the riders,” Al Hajri said.
“The major sponsor of our festival is Abdullah Abdulghani &
Bros,” Al Hajri said.
“Qatari riders are leading the
show in the Arab world and in
Asia. The sport has seen growth
in many areas and obviously
equestrian is becoming hugely
popular,” he added. “You saw
show jumping competition at Al
Shaqab just last week. The world’s
top names presented a great show
over the week,” Al Hajri said.
“We are pleased that Qatar’s
national squad will be in action
this week,” he said.
“Only Qatari riders will feature
at the two-day event,” Al Hajri
said.
“Our squad is set to feature
at the World Cup where Sheikh
Khalid and Bassam will represent
Qatar,” Al Hajri said.
Two days after the Emir Sword
festival, QEF will organize Armed
Force Endurance Ride on March
14 at Marathon Village, Sealine.
The competitions will be staged
in four categories over the 110km
course.
Meanwhile,
United
Development Company (UDC),
a leading Qatari shareholding
company and master developer
of the Pearl-Qatar, signed a sponsorship agreement with the QEF
announcing the Company’s sponsorship of the Emir Sword Show
Jumping Championship 2015.
Al Hajri, Secretary General
of QEC said: “H H The Emir
Equestrian Sword tournament
continues to grow in stature and
in value benefiting from the generous support of sponsors such
as UDC whose involvement helps
the Qatar Equestrian Federation
maintain the prestige of this wonderful celebration of the horse
and equestrianism in Qatar.”
Hussain Akbar Al Baker,
Senior Events and Marketing
Manager of UDC, said: “We at
UDC look at this tournament as
one of the most valuable sporting events with Qatar emerging
as an exceptional sporting hub in
the region and equestrian sports
being part of Qatar and the Arab
world’s heritage. Horse racing is
also more than just a competitive
and popular sport; it is the true
embodiment of a long tradition
that brings us closer to our Qatari
roots. In this sense, it is an honor
to be able to contribute to the
preservation of this legacy and
to support professional Qatari
riders in showcasing their skills
and developing their immense
potential in addition to rewarding their season-long efforts and
achievements as they represent
the State of Qatar in various
sporting events, at regional and
international levels.”
THE PENINSULA
Britain, Australia, Kazakhstan
reach Davis Cup quarter-finals
PARIS: Andy Murray sealed
a quarter-final berth for Great
Britain in the Davis Cup yesterday as Australia and Kazakhstan
also joined already qualified
France and Serbia.
Defending
champions
Switzerland kept their quarterfinal hopes alive by drawing level
2-2 with Belgium in Liege.
Scot Murray, the world number
five, claimed a 7-6 (7/4), 6-3, 7-6
(7/4) victory over US number one
John Isner in Glasgow.
The win clinched a 3-1 triumph
and set up a final eight meeting in
July against last year’s runnersup France who advanced 3-2 past
Germany in Frankfurt.
Bob and Mike Bryan had kept
the United States in with a chance
of a dramatic fightback as they
held off a strong challenge from
Jamie Murray and Dom Inglot to
win 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-7 (8/10), 9-7
on Saturday.
Faced with a 2-0 deficit after
Friday’s singles matches, the
Bryan brothers knew another
loss would condemn the USA to
an embarrassingly quick defeat.
The world’s number one doubles team got the job done, but not
without a scare as Murray, the
brother of Davis Cup team-mate
Andy Murray, and Inglot recovered from two sets down.
Switzerland, missing big
guns Roger Federer and Stan
Wawrinka, drew level 2-2 in Liege
after Henri Laaksonen survived a
five-setter against Belgian Steve
Darcis 6-3, 3-6, 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-1.
Michael Lammer will bid to
seal the winning point for the
Swiss when he plays David Goffin
in Sunday’s final reverse singles.
The winner will face either
Canada or Japan.
Canada were in control in
Vancouver after Daniel Nestor
and Vasek Pospisil outlasted
Great Britain’s
Jamie Murray,
Liam Broady,
James Ward,
Andy Murray,
captain Leon
Smith and
Dominic Inglot
pose for a photograph as they
celebrate victory
over the USA in
the Davis Cup
World Group
at the Emirates
Arena, Glasgow,
Scotland,
yesterday.
Japan’s Go Soeda and Yasutaka
Uchiyama 7-5, 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
to put the hosts up 2-1.
That means 2014 US Open
runner-up Kei Nishikori, ranked
fourth in the world, will be fighting to keep Japan alive when he
takes on world number six Milos
Raonic in Sunday’s first reverse
singles match. Both Raonic and
Nishikori won singles matches on
Friday.
In Ostrava, Bernard Tomic
beat Lukas Rosol in straight sets
to give Australia an unbeatable
3-1 lead over the Czech Republic.
In a clash of the teams’
number-one players, Tomic, the
22-year-old world number 38, saw
off 29-year-old Rosol, ranked 31,
7-6 (7/4), 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) in two
hours and 13 minutes.
Australia now take on
Kazakhstan who squeezed past
Italy 3-2 in Astana.
Aleksandr Nedovyesov, 28,
sealed the winning point for the
Kazakhs, beating Fabio Fognini
7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 after
Mikhail Kukushkin earlier beat
Andreas Seppi 7-6 (10/8), 6-0, 6-4.
Serbia, who had advanced
unbeaten on Saturday, completed a 5-0 rout over Croatia
in Kraljevo with Filip Krajinovic
easing past Franko Skugor 6-4,
6-2 and Viktor Troicki beating
Mate Delic 6-4, 6-3.
World number one Novak
Djokovic and Nenad Zimonjic
had sealed a quarter-final berth
on Saturday by beating Franko
Skugor and Marin Draganja 6-3,
6-4, 6-1.
Djokovic had easily beaten
Mate Delic on Friday as the 2010
winners grabbed a 2-0 lead over
a Croatia team missing injured
US Open champion Marin Cilic.
Serbia will next face South
American opposition with Brazil
leading Argentina 2-1 in Buenos
Aires after Marcelo Melo and
Bruno Soares defeated Diego
Sebastian Schwartzman and
Carlos Berlocq 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 in
doubles.
In Frankfurt, hosts Germany
saved face by winning their final
reverse singles rubbers against
France -- Jan-Lennard Struff
beating Nicolas Mahut 7-6 (8/6),
6-3, and Philipp Kohlschreiber
sing off Gilles Simon 7-6 (7/5),
6-4.
France had assured themselves
of a quarter-final berth when
Julien Benneteau and Nicolas
Mahut posted a 6-4, 6-3, 6-2
doubles success over Benjamin
Becker and Andre Begemann on
Saturday.
Gilles Simon and Gael Monfils
had put France 2-0 up after
beating Jan-Lennard Struff and
Philipp Kohlschreiber respectively on Friday.
AFP
Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark
poses with the trophy after
defeating Romania’s Alexandra
Dulgheru during their women’s
singles final match of the 2015
BMW Malaysia Open in Kuala
Lumpur yesterday.
Wozniacki
triumphs in
Malaysian Open
KUALA LUMPUR: Danish
star Caroline Wozniacki won
the Malaysian Open after dispatching Romania’s Alexandra
Dulgheru yesterday.
The top-seed lost the first set,
but managed to overcome the initial setback and win the match
4-6, 6-2, 6-1.
“I kept making you (Dulgheru)
run because I knew that you would
eventually get tired, but well done
and good luck in your next tournament,” said Wozniacki.
With the win, she has managed to atone for her first-round
early exit last year in the same
Malaysian tournament.
Wozniacki qualified for the
final after beating Taiwanese ace
Su-Wei Hsieh in straight sets at
the semi-finals on Saturday.
She posted a selfie on Instagram
after collecting her trophy and
wrote that she “couldn’t be happier” with her 23rd title.
AFP
LEÓN Mexico: Qatar’s Nasser
Saleh Al-Attiyah moved into
a massive WRC2 lead through
the second Otates stage on the
second day of the 12th Rally
Guanajuato Corona.
Nasser’s challenger Ukrainian
Yuriy Protasov hit trouble.
The defending champion will
take an advantage of 7min 50.6sec
over Peru’s Nicolas Fuchs into the
closing three timed tests today
after the Peruvian incurred an
additional 30-second penalty
for changing a flat tyre between
stages and arriving late at the
control.
“I feel for Yuriy,” said Nasser.
“But, this afternoon, we had been
applying the pressure. Now we
need to be clever for the last few
stages.”
Finland’s
Jari
Ketomaa
dropped behind Fuchs with a
broken drive shaft and Qatar’s
Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari rounded off
the top four, although the quartet
of WRC2 drivers are all inside the
overall top 10.
Meanwhile there was no stopping Sébastien Ogier and Julien
Ingrassia as the Volkswagen Polo
R WRC crew extended their outright lead to a commanding 1min
15.2sec after 18 special stages.
The Frenchman began the
day with a lead of 13.5 seconds,
but he attacked from the outset.
Finland’s Jari-Matti Latvala blotted his copybook on the first run
through Otates, tore a rear wheel
off his Volkswagen Polo R WRC
and wrecked his chance of pushing Ogier for the outright lead.
From then on, it was plain sailing
for the World Champion and he is
now just three stages away from
a hat-trick of Mexican victories.
“I am so happy with the way
everything is going,” said Ogier.
“There is no need to push. I just
need to manage the car, take no
risks and stay out of trouble.
There is one long stage to go, but
I have a gap and can afford to
drive safely.”
The battle for second place
developed into an all-Norwegian
affair between Mads Østberg and
Andreas Mikkelsen. The Citroën
DS3 WRC driver managed to
stave off the Volkswagen challenge and heads into the final day
with a lead of 4.5 seconds.
Welshman Elfyn Evans appears
to have the perfect strategy for
success in Mexico. Fourth overall last year after a sensible and
trouble free drive, the M-Sport
World Rally Team driver remains
on course for a repeat performance in the lead Ford Fiesta RS.
A puncture cost Spaniard Dani
Sordo the opportunity to pressurise Evans, but Sordo leads the
way for a blunted Hyundai Shell
World Rally Team challenge in
fifth overall.
Czech driver Martin Prokop
holds sixth place for the Jipocar
Czech National Team.
Three special stages are
planned for today, before the official ceremonial finish in León.
The action gets underway with
the daunting 55.82km of the
Guanajuatito stage from 09.53hrs
and that precedes the 11.59km of
Derramadero.
The competitive action draws
to a close with the third run
through the television El Brinco
Power Stage at noon.
THE PENINSULA
Rally Guanajuato
Corona 2015
Positions after SS18
1. Sébastien Ogier (FRA)/Julien Ingrassia
(FRA) Volkswagen Polo R WRC 3hr 33min
27.4sec
2. Mads Østberg (NOR)/Jonas Andersson
(SWE) Citroën DS3 WRC 3hr 34min 42.6sec
3. Andreas Mikkelsen (NOR)/Ole Floene
(NOR) Volkswagen Polo R WRC 3hr 34min
47.1sec
4. Elfyn Evans (GBR)/Daniel Barritt (GBR)
Ford Fiesta RS WRC 3hr 35min 56.0sec
5. Dani Sordo (ESP)/Marc Marti (ESP)
Hyundai i20 WRC 3hr 37min 38.0sec
6. Martin Prokop (CZE)/Jan Tománek (CZE)
Ford Fiesta RS WRC 3hr 38min 07.0sec
7. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Matthieu
Baumel (FRA) Ford Fiesta RRC 3hr 44min
11.3sec
8. Nicolas Fuchs (PER)/Fernando Musano
(ARG) Ford Fiesta R5 3hr 52min 01.9sec
9. Jari Ketomaa (FIN)/Kaj Lindström (FIN)
Ford Fiesta R5 3hr 53min 06.9sec
10. Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari (QAT)/Marshall Clarke
(GBR) Ford Fiesta RRC 3hr 53min 16.5sec
Sport
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L A N K A D E E P A
M I D D L E
E A S T
Maxwell’s ton
fires Australia
past Sri Lanka
Monday 9 March 2015
18 Jumada I 1436
Volume 20
Number 6364
Price: QR2
FIA Sport
Regional
Congress ends
W E E K L Y
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Messi breaks hat-trick
record as Barca go top
Argentinian sets new Spanish bar as Suarez nets brace
BARCELONA: Lionel Messi
broke a Spanish hat-trick
record and Luis Suarez struck
twice as a rampant Barcelona
took over top spot in La Liga
with a 6-1 hammering of Rayo
Vallecano yesterday.
Messi came alive after halftime at the Nou Camp to net his
32nd treble for Barca in all competitions in the space of just 12
minutes.
It meant he eclipsed the
record of the most hat-tricks
ever recorded in Spanish football
that he had shared with Athletic
Bilbao striker Telmo Zarra.
The Argentine’s second half
tour de force against a side
reduced to 10 men with the dismissal of Tito — Barca themselves
had Dani Alves sent off late in the
game — included a goal scored
from a retaken penalty after he
had seen the first saved.
It helped put Barca back in
control at the head of La Liga,
after an equal amount of games
played, for the first time since the
start of November.
They moved on to 62 points, a
point clear of Real Madrid, who
were beaten by Athletic Bilbao
on Saturday, and are now in
pole position two weeks ahead of
Madrid’s visit to their Nou Camp
fortress in El Clasico.
Barca scored with their first
shot on goal after five minutes
with Xavi releasing Suarez, who
tucked a clinical shot into the corner with the outside of his right
boot.
Barcelona’s Lionel Messi celebrates after scoring a goal against Rayo Vallecano during a La Liga match at the
Camp Nou Stadium in Barcelona yesterday.
Four minutes after halftime,
the floodgates opened when
Gerard Pique knocked in from
close range following a Jordi Alba
header from a corner which came
back off a post.
When Suarez was felled in the
penalty area in the 56th minute
by Tito, who received a red card,
Messi’s penalty was saved by
keeper Cristian Alvarez but the
referee ordered a retake due to
encroachment in the area.
Inevitably, Messi made no mistake second time around and he
then knocked in a rebound after
63 minutes, before completing
his historic hat-trick, the 24th
of his La Liga career, five minutes later. He now has 32 Spanish
hat-tricks, compared to Cristiano
Ronaldo’s 27.
Alberto Bueno netted a consolation penalty for Rayo after he
had been fouled by Alves, who was
given his marching orders.
Messi then set up Suarez for
his second in injury time to complete the rout.
Later yesterday, third place was
at stake when Atletico Madrid, on
54 points, were scheduled to take
on Valencia.
REUTERS
Dogged Blackburn
frustrate Liverpool
LONDON: Liverpool were left
frustrated by Championship side
Blackburn Rovers who defended
heroically to draw 0-0 at Anfield
yesterday and force a replay in
their FA Cup quarter-final.
Kolo Toure headed against
a post, while Daniel Sturridge,
Philippe Coutinho and Raheem
Sterling failed to break down
their second tier visitors despite
relentless pressure.
Aston Villa — who beat West
Bromwich Albion 2-0 on Saturday
— are the only side to seal a semifinal spot so far while Manchester
United host holders Arsenal on
Monday.
Giant-killers Bradford City
travel to Reading on March 16
for a replay after their 0-0 draw.
“It’s been difficult here against
Championship teams, Blackburn
deserve credit,” Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers said.
“But my players also deserve
credit, they were missing sharpness but they kept going and tried
to create chances.”
While third tier Bradford had
captured the imagination with
their march to the quarterfinals, Blackburn had gone about
their business quietly in dumping out Premier League Swansea
and Stoke before they arrived at
Anfield.
Pre-match renditions of You’ll
never Walk Alone had barely
ended when Liverpool lost their
defensive rock Martin Skrtel.
The
Slovakia
defender
contested a header against
Blackburn’s Rudy Gestede but fell
heavily on his neck and, after an
eight-minute delay, was carried
off on a stretcher.
Liverpool had lost just one of
their previous 21 games in all
competitions but Blackburn coped
comfortably in the opening stages
Daniel Sturridge reacts during the
FA Cup quarter-final at Anfield in
Liverpool yesterday.
and led by the powerful Gestede
were carving out opportunities of
their own.
Craig Conway spurned the best
chance of the opening period,
blazing high and wide from
close-range.
Sturridge’s rasping shot in first
half stoppage time drew a smart
stop from Blackburn keeper
Simon Eastwood.
Immediately after the break the
hosts were indebted to goalkeeper
Simon Mignolet who produced a
wonderful save to palm away Alex
Baptiste’s header but thereafter
Liverpool were dominant.
Toure hit the post and
Sturridge became increasingly influential though he was
thwarted by Blackburn’s determined rearguard.
Liverpool laid siege to
Blackburn’s goal in the closing
stages but failed to force Eastwood
into many meaningful saves.
“It was 90 minutes of concentration because they had a lot of
the ball and they had some great
players out there,” said Blackburn
captain Matthew Kilgallon.
REUTERS
Marin and Chen scoop All-England singles titles
Spain’s Carolina Marin kisses her
trophy in Birmingham yesterday.
BIRMINGHAM:
Carolina
Marin of Spain staged a remarkable comeback to land the AllEngland Championships crown
yesterday as Saina Nehwal blew
the chance to become India’s
first female winner.
In the men’s final, world champion Chen Long captured the title
for the second time in three years
as he overcame charismatic Dane
Jan O Jorgensen 15-21 21-17 21-15.
It was China’s eighth men’s singles title in the event since 2005.
Olympic bronze medallist
Nehwal threw away a 6-1 lead
in the second game before world
champion Marin pressed the
throttle to triumph 16-21 21-14
21-7.
“It is an amazing feeling,”
Marin told reporters. “I was making too many easy mistakes and
was really nervous at the start
but I just wanted to enjoy it.
“In the second game and at 11-9
down I felt there was a change
and that I could win.”
Nehwal played down expectations before her final but interest
was such that former Indian
cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar
wished her luck on Twitter.
She was bidding to become the
first All-England singles winner
from India since her former coach
Pullela Gopichand won the men’s
title 14 years ago.
After a tentative start Nehwal
opened an 11-6 lead, offering stout
defence against Marin’s attacking
forays to the net.
She soon held eight game points
before Marin finally found some
rhythm to win four rallies in a
row, though Nehwal finished the
game with a smash from the net.
Marin’s game failed to materialise in the early throes of the second. At 3-1 down she saw a shot
from Nehwal land in, went wide
with a smash on the next point
before a fierce winner from the
Indian opened a five-point lead.
But Marin began to find her
rhythm and at 8-4 down secured
a run of eight successive points as
Nehwal ran out of ideas.
Chen said he was always confident of rallying after conceding
First Qatar International Taekwondo Open Championship
Winners of the First Qatar International Taekwondo Open Championship pose during the podium ceremony at the Qatar Women’s Sports Committee Hall in Doha yesterday.
the opening game to Jorgensen.
“I kept calm and didn’t rush,”
said the 26-year-old Chen. “I
played tighter and didn’t let in
distractions.”
The Dane, aiming to become
the first European to win the title
since 1999, proved an obdurate
opponent in a fluctuating match.
“Jorgensen is tough but Lin
Dan is right up there,” said world
number one Chen of the multiple record holder. “He is the best
rival. I really want to catch all his
records.”
REUTERS