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Call to recognise
Palestinian state
Three leading Christian clerics in
the Holy Land appealed yesterday
for more European governments to
recognise a Palestinian state with
East Jerusalem as its capital. The call
from the Catholic, Greek Orthodox
and Lutheran prelates - all of them
Palestinian - came after EU member
Sweden last week announced its
intention to recognise Palestinian
statehood, to the anger of Israel.
“From Jerusalem, our occupied
capital, we send our urgent message
to the whole world and particularly to
Europe - we are yearning for justice
and peace,” the three churchmen said
in an open letter. Pages 3, 18
SYRIA | Unrest
UN warns
of massacre
Thousands of people “will most
likely be massacred” if Kobane falls
to Islamic State fighters, a UN envoy
said yesterday, as militants fought
deeper into the besieged Syrian
Kurdish town. UN envoy Staffan de
Mistura said Kobane could suffer
the same fate as the Bosnian town
of Srebrenica, where 8,000 Muslims
were murdered by Serbs in 1995,
Europe’s worst atrocity since World
War Two, while UN peacekeepers
failed to protect them. “If this falls,
the 700, plus perhaps the 12,000
people, apart from the fighters,
will be most likely massacred,” de
Mistura said. Pages 4, 18
October 11, 2014
Dhul-Hijja 17, 1435 AH
www. gulf-times.com 2 Riyals
Pakistani teen and
Indian activist win
Nobel Peace Prize
Yousafzai, aged 17, becomes the
youngest Nobel Prize winner and
60-year-old Satyarthi the first
Indian-born winner of the accolade
Reuters
Oslo
P
akistani teenager Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head by
the Taliban in 2012 for advocating girls’ right to education, and Indian
campaigner against child trafficking
and labour Kailash Satyarthi won the
2014 Nobel Peace Prize yesterday.
Yousafzai, aged 17, becomes the
youngest Nobel Prize winner and
60-year-old Satyarthi the п¬Ѓrst Indianborn winner of the accolade.
They were picked for their struggle
against the oppression of children and
young people, and for the right of all
children to education, the Norwegian
Nobel Committee said.
The sharing of the award between
an Indian and a Pakistani came after a
week of hostilities along the border of
the disputed, mainly Muslim region of
Kashmir - the worst п¬Ѓghting between
the neighbours in more than a decade.
“The Nobel Committee regards it
as an important point for a Hindu and
a Muslim, an Indian and a Pakistani,
to join in a common struggle for education and against extremism,” said
Thorbjoern Jagland, the head of the
Norwegian Nobel Committee.
Kristian Berg Harpviken, head of the
Peace Research Institute in Oslo, described the joint award “an innovative
prize that brings attention to the problems of the young”.
Satyarthi said he hoped to work with
Yousafzai for peace.
“I will invite her to join hands to
establish peace for our subcontinent,
which is a must for children, which is
a must for every Indian, for every Pakistani, for every citizen of the world,”
he said at the New Delhi office of his organisation, Bachpan Bachao Andolan,
or Save the Childhood Movement.
Yousafzai later told reporters in the
English city of Birmingham where she
now lives that she had already spoken
WORLD | Epidemic
Ebola toll passes
4,000 as fears grow
The death toll from Ebola has passed
4,000, the World Health Organisation
(WHO) said yesterday, while a
Madrid nurse was fighting for her
life and authorities worldwide tried
to prevent panic over the deadly
disease spreading. The WHO said
4,033 people have died from Ebola
as of October 8 out of a total of 8,399
registered cases in seven countries.
Beyond west Africa, where almost all
of the deaths have occurred, fears
grew about the worst-ever Ebola
epidemic. Pages 6, 7
ASIA | Rally
Thousands join
renewed protests
Thousands of people gathered
near Hong Kong’s financial district
yesterday, resuming pro-democracy
protests after the government called
off talks with student leaders. “If
short-term protests won’t work we
will have a long term protest. Bring
your sleeping bags to the streets
and we will stay until the end,”
17-year-old leader Joshua Wong told
the crowd.
in
ARAB WORLD | Appeal
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In brief
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bl TA 978
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GULF TIMES
SATURDAY Vol. XXXV No. 9507
Indian children’s right activist Kailash Satyarthi waving to the media at his office in
New Delhi yesterday.
by telephone with Satyarthi and they
had agreed to invite the prime ministers
of India and Pakistan to the ceremony
in December.
“The tension that is going on is really
disappointing and I’m really sad because
I want both countries to have dialogue to
have talks about peace,” she said.
Yousafzai said she had found out about
winning the Nobel Peace Prize yesterday
from a teacher during a chemistry lesson,
adding that the news had come as a big
surprise.
“This is not the end of this campaign
which I have started. I think this is really
the beginning. I want to see every child
going to school,” she said, adding she felt
“really honoured”.
Yousafzai was attacked in 2012 on a
school bus in the Swat Valley of northwest Pakistan by masked gunmen as a
punishment for a blog that she wrote for
the BBC’s Urdu service as an 11-year-old
to campaign against the Taliban’s efforts
to deny women an education.
Unable to return to Pakistan after
her recovery, Yousafzai moved to England, setting up the Malala Fund and
supporting local education advocacy
groups with a focus on Pakistan, Nigeria, Jordan, Syria and Kenya.
Her former teacher, Ahmed Shah,
said the peace prize was wonderful
news for Pakistan.
“This is a breath of fresh air, a gift
for Pakistan, at a time when we are embroiled in terrorism and violence and
wars,” Shah told Reuters by telephone
from the Swat Valley.
Yousafzai addressed the UN Youth
Assembly last year at an event Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called
“Malala Day”. This year she travelled
to Nigeria to demand the release of 200
schoolgirls kidnapped by the Islamist
group Boko Haram.
“To the girls of Nigeria and across
Africa, and all over the world, I want to
say: don’t let anyone tell you that you
are weaker than or less than anything,”
she said in a speech.
“You are not less than a boy,” Yousafzai said. “You are not less than a child
from a richer or more powerful country. You are the future of your country.
You are going to build it strong. It is you
who can lead the charge.”
Satyarthi, who gave up a career as
an electrical engineer in 1980 to campaign against child labour, has headed
various forms of peaceful protests and
demonstrations, focusing on the exploitation of children for п¬Ѓnancial gain.
“It is a disgrace for every human being if any child is working as a child
slave in any part of the world,” Satyarthi said. “I feel very proud to be an
Indian that in India I was able to keep
this п¬Ѓght on for the last 30 years or so.
This is a great recognition and honour
for all my fellow Indians.”
In a recent editorial, Satyarthi said
that data from non-government organisations indicated that child labourers could number 60mn in India
Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan delivering a statement in Birmingham in Britain
yesterday.
- 6% of the total population.
Satyarthi joins a handful of Nobel
Peace Prize winners with ties to India
- even though the most famous peace
activist of them all and father of independent India, Mahatma Gandhi, never
received the honour.
Mother Theresa, an Albanian-born
nun, was recognised in 1979 for her
work with the poor in the Indian port
city of Calcutta. The Dalai Lama, the
exiled Tibetan spiritual leader who won
the prize in 1989, resides in India.
Many commentators say that the
omission of Gandhi from the list of lau-
reates is the biggest error in the history
of the Prize, п¬Ѓrst awarded in 1901.
“Maybe there is a little nod to Gandhi
there,” Harpviken said of the award to
India’s Satyarthi.
The prize, worth about $1.1mn, will
be presented in Oslo on December 10,
the anniversary of the death of Swedish
industrialist Alfred Nobel, who founded the award in his 1895 will.
The previous youngest winner was
Australian-born
British
scientist
Lawrence Bragg, who was 25 when he
shared the Physics Prize with his father
in 1915. Pages 12, 15, 18
A victory for human dignity, says Obama
US President Barack Obama yesterday
congratulated Malala Yousafzai and
Kailash Satyarthi for winning the
Nobel Peace Prize, calling it a victory for
those who uphold human dignity. The
“announcement is a victory for all who
strive to uphold the dignity of every
human being”, Obama, himself a Nobel
Peace Prize winner, said in a statement. “In
recognising Malala and Kailash, the Nobel
Committee reminds us of the urgency
of their work to protect the rights and
freedoms of all our young people and
to ensure they have the chance to fulfil
their God-given potential, regardless of
their background, or gender, or station in
life. Malala and Kailash have faced down
threats and intimidation, risking their
own lives to save others and build a better
world for future generations,” Obama said.
“Even as we celebrate their achievements,
we must recommit ourselves to the
world that they seek - one in which our
daughters have the right and opportunity
to get an education; and in which all
children are treated equally.”
Passengers reiterate demand for fully-covered bus shelters
By Ramesh Mathew
Staff Reporter
T
he country’s bus services will
complete a decade in a little more than a year from now.
However, the wait for fully-covered
bus shelters continues even today in
most parts of Doha and its neighbourhood.
The public bus services, launched
in October 2005, have grown significantly over the years. This has been
accompanied by a jump in the number
of passengers as well. Yet, a basic facility like covered shelters is yet to be
provided in most places, forcing passengers to wait under scorching conditions, say residents.
Only a small fraction of bus stops
has covers to protect passengers from
the heat. This has prompted many
commuters to reiterate the demand for
covered bus shelters.
“If there is a proper transparent
cover on all four sides, we can sit and
wait inside the shelter even if there
is no air-conditioner,” said a newlyarrived expatriate who relies on buses
for his commute.
“There is a crying need for more
covered bus shelters. Ideally, they
should be air-conditioned but even if
A bus stop on the Salwa Road near the Jaidah flyover, where passengers are seen
standing behind the shelter to protect themselves from the sun.
PICTURE: Shemeer Rasheed
they are not, they should at least be
fully covered,” said another resident.
While some stops have a roof, there
are several others without any such
protection. Often passengers stand
under shaded areas adjacent to bus
stops in commercial neighbourhoods.
It has been found that bus stops have
been done away with after the widening of the Corniche road. Passengers
are now seen waiting on green spaces
along the road and even on pavements.
In front of City Center Doha, where
a large number of passengers could often be seen, there is no shelter to protect them from the sun even though
the place is served by a number of cir-
cular buses besides the usual public
transport services.
When the matter was raised with
Mowasalat officials, it was explained
that more covered bus shelters were
in the company’s plans, though no one
could confirm when these would be
provided in adequate numbers.
Mowasalat has been repeatedly
highlighting the need to support and
strengthen public transport services in view of the congestion on the
country’s roads, especially in the peak
hours. However, as pointed out by
many, a lot more still needs to be done
at different levels to improve the situation.
2
Gulf Times
Saturday, October 11, 2014
QATAR
Qatar for strengthening
non-proliferation treaty
QNA
New York
Q
atar has underlined the
importance of the multilateral framework in
addressing disarmament and
non-proliferation and renewed
its commitment to co-operate
with efforts to strengthen global
peace and security and to rid humanity of weapons of mass destruction in general and nuclear
weapons in particular.
This came in a statement of
�Qatar on disarmament and international security’ delivered
by Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed al-Thani, third secretary
of the Permanent Mission of the
State of Qatar to the United Nations, at the 69th session of the
п¬Ѓrst committee of the UN General Assembly debate on agenda
items relating to disarmament
and international security.
Sheikh Ahmed said that despite the importance attached
by the international community to address the issues
of disarmament, the stalemate and the inability of the
Conference on Disarmament
since 1996 on adoption of the
agenda of the conference, re-
flected a lack of political will.
He noted that the proliferation of small and light arms and
weapons constituted one of the
challenges facing the world in
the field of disarmament “which
requires from all parties, especially those that manufacture
and export weapons, п¬Ѓrm restrictions and an adequate control to prevent the proliferation
of such weapons, as well as full
compliance and optimal implementation of the United Nations
programme of action to prevent,
combat and eradicate the illicit
trade in small and light arms and
weapons in all its aspects”.
Sheikh Ahmed said Qatar
believed that the only way to
prevent an arms race in outer
space and the maintenance of
international peace and security
required a multilateral treaty,
stressing that the Conference on
Disarmament had the primary
role in this regard, as the sole
multilateral negotiating forum
on disarmament.
He said that Qatar was keen
on strengthening the treaty on
the non-proliferation of nuclear
weapons and the pillars on which
the treaty was based, including
the non-proliferation, disarmament and the peaceful uses of
nuclear energy, stressing in this
regard the right of states parties
to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, in accordance with
the provisions of international
law.
The goal of building a world of
stability and security could not
be achieved without the political will of member states, as the
only way to achieve that goal, he
said, adding that there was no
doubt that reducing budgets for
acquisition of arms and military
equipment and to materialise
all international obligations in
the п¬Ѓeld of disarmament, would
achieve the objective we all seek.
Motorists
demand
widening
of B Ring
Road
M
otorists in Doha have
called for a comprehensive development
plan for B Ring Road, which is
considered one of the country’s
key routes and commercial areas, local daily Arrayah reported
yesterday.
Hamad al-Mannai, a citizen,
pointed out that many motorists
use B Ring Road to avoid delays
caused by traffic congestion on
other major routes, particularly
during rush hours.
He said that the width of both
lanes along B Ring Road is no
longer capable of accommodating the increasing number of vehicles passing through the area.
Al-Mannai added that commercial establishments along the
road do not have adequate parking spaces forcing motorists to
leave their vehicles in non-designated areas, which have led to a
number of road accidents.
Mabkhot al-Marri, another
citizen, on the other hand, has
called on authorities concerned
to study development plans as
he stressed that B Ring Road is
a vital route for travel and the
delivery of basic services.
A considerable number of road
users and locals have also criticised the dilapidated portions
of the road, saying that long
stretches of the top asphalt layer
are cracked and peppered with
potholes.
According residents, the multiple exit and entry points along
the road could be a cause of more
accidents. It was also suggested that authorities concerned
should consider installation of
speed cameras and traffic lights
along congested areas of the
road.
Spectators at an Indian expatriate football tournament held last year.
Football lovers rue absence
of practice grounds in city
By Ramesh Mathew
Staff Reporter
M
any residents of Doha
and its neighbourhood may be passionate about football, but there are
not enough grounds and open
spaces in the city where they
could practice the game, they
claim.
While the city has a number
of quality football stadiums,
ordinary lovers of the game say
a number of public grounds and
yards where people used to play
or practice in the evenings have
gradually been taken over for
the construction of commercial
or residential complexes.
“With lot of construction
work going on, there is hardly
any place where we can train
and sharpen our skills in the
evenings,” said an organiser of football tournaments
in the Indian expatriate
community.
While lauding the generosity
of the local football association
in giving some of the city venues free of cost for tournaments
featuring expatriate teams, the
organiser has appealed to the
local authorities to allot at least
three grounds at either the local
schools or other institutions for
expatriates without levying any
fee for the six months between
October and March.
Football enthusiasts say
though some of the local clubs
are willing to provide grounds
for their daily practice sessions,
reported “delays” in the com-
Pharmacy students organise
breast cancer outreach activity
Q
atar University College
of Pharmacy students
held their п¬Ѓfth annual
cancer community outreach
activity recently in support of
the Breast Cancer Awareness
Month.
The activity was launched
by the newly-elected executive members of Qatar Pharmacy Undergraduate Society
(QPhUS) alongside п¬Ѓrst-, second- and third-year pharmacy
students.
Faculty, staff and students
visited the breast cancer booth
to learn about the disease, its
detection and prevention.
The programme included the
communication of key messages
on the latest survival rates, reducing risk factors and the pharmacist’s role in disease awareness and prevention, as well as a
screening of a video on “Muslim
Women and Breast Cancer” that
co-related breast self-exams and
performing “wudhu”.
Visitors were also encouraged to leave a pink п¬Ѓngerprint
in support of cancer survivors.
Faculty, staff and students visited the breast cancer booth to learn
about the disease, its detection and prevention.
“Today is an opportunity
directed at young females to
learn more about cancer and
its prevention in a comfortable environment where they
can ask personal questions,”
said QPhUS president Shorouk
Abdelkader. “This is also our
chance to encourage students
to perform self-exams and take
this learning home to discuss
with their family members.”
pletion of formalities discourage applicants from seeking
their facilities.
An organiser, who is involved
in the promotion of a league for
different communities, said: “If
there is no problem in sanctioning grounds for month-long
expatriate tournaments, could
a similar decision also be taken
for allotting some city grounds
for the daily practice sessions of
football lovers?”
Football enthusiasts feel
that if some grounds, including those at local and expatriate
schools that are not used in the
evenings through most of the
year, are provided free of charge
for a few hours daily, a number
of sport lovers in the city will
benefit.
Another organiser of a popu-
lar expatriate football tournament in the Indian community
said though there is enormous
interest and enthusiasm among
football buffs to practice before each event, there are not
enough grounds for their teams
to do so.
Meanwhile, some schools
outside Doha are willing to allot grounds for free to soccer
enthusiasts in the expatriate communities. However,
the time taken to reach these
places due to traffic congestion
discourages many from using
them, it is learnt.
“The response to tournaments played at city venues is
significantly better than that
seen for events held outside
Doha,” said a soccer lover in an
Asian expatriate community.
$7.2bn allocated
for education
Q
atar has allocated $7.2bn
to education, which is
up 7.3% over the previous year; while the Gulf region
as a whole is expected to spend
more than $90bn on educationrelated construction projects by
the end of 2014, according to
a report.
This high spending makes
the education sector one of
the biggest for contractors
and suppliers with the population in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) forecast
to increase from 50.6mn in
2014 to 55.8mn by 2018, said
the Big 5 report by Ventures
Middle East.
Saudi Arabia is the biggest investor in education
with an expected spending of
$56bn. It will construct 465
new schools and refurbish
1,500, alongside 1,544 existing
school construction projects.
It is also building eight new
colleges and new vocational
and technical facilities.
In the UAE, $2.6bn (21% of
its 2014 budget) is being spent
on schools and all new buildings meet the country’s green
construction Estidama rating.
Oman is initiating a process
to provide free basic education to all its nationals spending $6.8bn, which is 18.6% of
the total public expenditure.
Kuwait will spend $10.5bn or
14.2% of its annual budget for
the year (2013-2014) and Bahrain has allocated $2.2bn to
continue to improve the education process for the п¬Ѓscal
years 2013-2014.
Ventures prepared its education sector report in advance of The Big 5 construction exhibition in Dubai in
November, where opportunities for developers to meet the
region’s demands for schools
will be highlighted.
“There are huge business
opportunities for suppliers
who understand the education
sector...The GCC has a young
demographic and governments are investing heavily in
education,” said Andy White,
event director for The Big 5.
“Governments of each GCC
nation are investing significantly in construction of new
schools and refurbishment of
existing schools which is expected to drive the construction opportunities in the education sector in the region,”
the report said, adding the total number of students in the
GCC region is slated to grow
from 11.1mn in 2014 to 11.6mn
by 2016.
Finding that GDP (gorss domestic product) per capita income in the GCC is estimated
to grow from $45,184 in 2011
to $51,286 in 2016, benefiting
education; the report said “the
increase in income will have a
positive effect on the willingness to spend on education,
especially for private sector
education.”
Women forum to
hold conference
on job market
Q
atar has increasingly
become home to educated and professionally qualified women, yet they
are unable to join the mainstream workforce, according to Global Women Qatar
(GWQ).
In view of this, GWQ is
holding a major conference
�How Women Find Work’ on
Monday at Grand Hyatt, offering inspiration, motivation
and practical tools to achieve
success in Qatar’s job market.
With its steady growth and
development, Qatar has now
increasingly become home to
educated women, who are either nationals or expats who
have followed their spouses to
build a new life here. However,
owing to lack of understanding
of the local job market, many
of these, though equipped
with relevant, transferrable
skills, are unable to join the
workforce, a spokesperson of
GWQ said.
She
said
preparations
are currently underway for
the third How Women Find
Work Conference (HWFWC),
which will be held next week.
Tajmeel - Qatar International
Beauty Academy - has agreed
to sponsor the conference this
year.
“We support How Women
Work (HWW), because we
think HWW is doing a great
job in providing and guiding
women from all levels and nationalities, in pursuing their
careers here in Qatar,” Danielle
Duttenhofer, managing director, GWQ, said.
The HWFWC was founded
to empower this talent powerhouse of women who are either not working currently, are
between jobs or in the process
of reinventing their career.
The conference aims to provide insight into п¬Ѓnding work,
getting noticed by employers and tapping into Qatar’s
job market. This is delivered
through hands-on workshops
to explore strategies like goal
setting, developing confident
interviewing skills, networking
opportunities; forum discussions on relevant topics and
advice on how to tap into one’s
strengths, among others.
Nursing departments attend cardiac meet
T
he department of nursing
at the Heart Hospital and
the department of nursing and midwifery education
and research at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) have
held a grand round under the
title: “Journey of Challenges in
Modern Cardiac Technology”.
Professor Ann-Marie Cannaby, HMC’s executive director
of corporate nursing, and Linda
Peters, assistant executive director of nursing at Heart Hospital, gave the opening remarks.
The speakers were comprised
of a multidisciplinary team of
professionals involved in heart
patients’ care, as well as others
from nursing, cardiac rehabilitation and perfusionists.
Dr Abdulaziz al-Khulaifi,
HMC’s chairman of cardiac surgery at the Heart Hospital, informed attendees that in 2008,
HMC had launched a comprehensive programme to provide
care for patients with cardiac
failure at the hospital. “This
programme starts by classifying
patients through continuous and
precise follow up, in addition to
researching causes of their heart
failure.”
He explained that patients’
treatments are conducted by a
professional and highly specialised medical team making use
of modern cardiac technology
including implanting artificial
heart pumps called left ventricular assist device (LVAD).
“The artificial heart pump circulates blood to all parts of the
body and these kinds of modern
pumps have saved many lives.”
Dr al-Khulaifi said that HMC
had been performing the surgery
on patients who need it since the
start of the programme.
Peters explained that to determine if a patient would benefit
from the device, clinical п¬Ѓndings must show that their heart
is unable to pump blood effectively. “There are measurements
such as the ejection fraction that
we use to measure how effective
the patient’s heart is. The LVAD
is used to support the heart while
the patient waits for a heart
transplant, which is known as
�bridge to transplant’, or it might
be used as �destination therapy’
in place of a transplant.”
She said: “A patient who has
had an LVAD п¬Ѓtted will not have a
pulse, which means the nurse has
Prof Ann-Marie Cannaby
Dr Abdulaziz al-Khulaifi
to listen to their heart, and their
blood pressure will need to be
taken through a different method.
The patient is also always at risk
of infection because the device is
placed directly into the bottom
of the heart, or the left ventricle, that pumps the blood to the
aorta, which is the main artery
supplying blood to the body.”
Peters also said the duration a
person can live on an LVAD will
depend on many things, with
one being the patient’s engagement in their own healthcare,
which they can do by following
the exercise routine and diet as
advised, adhering to prescribed
medication and attending regular follow-up appointments
with their medical team.
She stated that some 20% of
patients diagnosed with congestive heart failure (CHF) will die
within the п¬Ѓrst year after their
initial hospitalisation. “When a
patient receives an LVAD, there
is a reduction in their symptoms,
which gives them an overall better
quality of life,” she added.
Gulf Times
Saturday, October 11, 2014
3
REGION/ARAB WORLD
Cairo to host donor conference for war-hit Gaza
AFP
Cairo
E
nvoys from dozens of countries will gather tomorrow
for a conference that aims to
raise billions of dollars to rebuild
conflict-battered Gaza, despite
fears of renewed violence and “donor fatigue”.
The United Nations’ Palestinian refugee agency has described
the financial needs as “unprecedented” ahead of the Cairo meeting, which follows the Gaza Strip’s
third war in six years.
But it is unclear how generous
the world is willing to be given the
intractability of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and other priorities in the region such as the fight
against militants in Syria and Iraq.
About 50 countries will be represented in Cairo for talks that will
include UN Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon, US Secretary of State
John Kerry, 30 foreign ministers
and various international monetary and humanitarian bodies.
The Palestinians have called for
more than $4bn in aid, and the
Palestinian refugee agency Urnwa
for $1.6bn.
Other estimates suggest up to
$8bn will be needed to repair damaged infrastructure and homes,
and ensure healthcare, education
and clean drinking water.
The 50-day conflict between Israel and Gaza militants left almost
2,200 Palestinians dead along with
73 on the Israeli side.
The war, which ended with a
ceasefire on August 26, also left
100,000 Gazans homeless.
More than a quarter of Gaza’s
population of 1.7mn was displaced.
Tehran says
nuclear deal
deadline may
be extended
Iranian and Western
diplomats say significant
differences remain over
the future scope of Iran’s
uranium enrichment
activity
Reuters
Ankara
T
alks over Iran’s nuclear
programme might be extended if disagreement
over remaining issues cannot be
resolved by a November deadline,
Iran’s top negotiator was quoted
as saying yesterday, in the п¬Ѓrst
hint an extension was being contemplated.
“Iran and the P5+1 (major
world powers) are very serious on
resolving the remaining disputes
by November ... but everything
including an extension is possible
if we cannot reach an agreement,”
Abbas Araqchi was quoted as saying by the semi-official Fars news
agency.
Iran and the six—the United
States, France, Germany, China,
Russia and Britain—hope that resolving the more-than-decadelong nuclear standoff with Iran
will reduce regional tensions and
alleviate the risk of another war in
the Middle East.
Israel has repeatedly threatened
to use military force against Iranian atomic sites if diplomacy fails
to defuse the standoff.
Iran rejects allegations from
Western powers and their allies
that it is seeking a nuclear weapons capability, but has refused to
halt uranium enrichment, and
Video shows
Khamenei on
post-op hike
Iran released a video yesterday
showing Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on
his first outdoor walk since
undergoing prostate surgery, as
part of a more open policy on his
health.
In an unprecedented step last
month, the Islamic Republic
publicised Khamenei’s hospital
treatment, which followed years of
widespread rumours that he had
prostate cancer.
His surgery on September 8
was described as successful
and since being released he has
been pictured in official meetings
but not as prominently as in
yesterday’s two minutes and 35
seconds video.
“This was the first time I could
go for a hike after my surgery
and it was recommended by my
doctors,” Khamenei was quoted as
saying on his khamenei.ir website.
Wearing white training shoes and
a short coat over his robes as he
trekked on a hill road, the supreme
leader was accompanied by
several aides in the early morning
in hills in northern Tehran.
The 75-year-old cleric, who has
ruled since the death in 1989 of
Islamic Republic founder Ayatollah
Khomeini, is a keen hiker and has
encouraged others to spend time
in the outdoors.
been hit with US, European Union
and UN Security Council sanctions as a result.
Top diplomats of the United
States, Iran and the European Union will meet in Vienna next week
to work on a comprehensive deal
ahead of a November 24 deadline,
aimed at curbing Tehran’s sensitive nuclear activities in exchange
for gradually lifting sanctions
against Iran.
“Iran and Western powers are
very determined and serious to
reach a result. Issues like enrichment and lifting of sanctions will
be discussed in Vienna,” Araqchi
said.
“We are still optimistic about
meeting the deadline.”
Iranian and Western diplomats
say significant differences remain
over the future scope of Iran’s
uranium enrichment activity. Enrichment is a process of purifying
uranium for use as fuel for power
plants or, if enriched to a very high
purity, for bombs.
A series of meetings have been
held since early this year to try to
narrow the gaps. A US State Department spokeswoman said this
week Washington still believed a
deal was possible by the agreed
target date. In addition to enrichment, the speed of lifting sanctions is another point on which
Iranian and Western delegations
have sharp differences.
The United States and Europeans are prepared to lift their unilateral sanctions very quickly in
the event of an acceptable agreement, Western diplomats say, but
UN measures would be ended
gradually based on Iran’s compli-
ance with any future deal.
Araqchi hoped that substantial
progress could be made in narrowing disagreements when Iran
and the six powers meet next
week.
“If we cannot reach adequate
results this time (in Vienna) we
will surely miss the (November)
deadline,” Araqchi said. “Therefore, the West (P5+1) should use
this opportunity and п¬Ѓnd proper
solutions.”
Some analysts believe meeting
the deadline is impossible.
“It’s become increasingly clear
that a deal will not be struck by the
24 November deadline,” said Mark
Fitzpatrick, director of the nonproliferation programme at the
International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) think tank.
“But rather than a return to
more sanctions and more centrifuges, another extension of the
interim deal is the best fallback
alternative for both sides. Iranian
officials are wise to start preparing
their public for this outcome.”
Last year in Geneva, Iran and
the six powers reached an interim
agreement under which Tehran
won some easing of sanctions in
return for halting its most sensitive nuclear work.
But they failed to meet a July 20
target for a comprehensive agreement and they set a new deadline
of November 24. “Reaching a fullfledged agreement by 24 November no longer appears possible.
What is possible is a breakthrough
that could justify adding more
time to the diplomatic clock,” said
Iran analyst Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group think tank.
Even so, a Western diplomat,
speaking on condition of anonymity, warned there was “considerable donor fatigue”.
“We have seen infrastructure
projects that we have contributed
to which have been destroyed,” the
diplomat said, adding that scepticism had existed even before the
recent conflict.
Money raised in Cairo will also
go towards getting Gaza’s economy back on its feet.
Gross domestic product is expected to be down 20% in the п¬Ѓrst
three quarters of 2014 compared
with the same period last year.
Unemployment stood at 45%
before the war, and 63% among
young people who make up a large
part of the population.
Without immediate action to
revive the economy, a return to
violence “will remain a clear and
present danger”, the World Bank’s
Palestinian territories director
Steen Lau Jorgensen warned last
month.
The Palestinians sought to
present a united front ahead of the
meeting to assuage donor concerns that reconstruction mate-
rials might fall into the hands of
militants.
The unity government on
Thursday held its п¬Ѓrst cabinet
meeting in Gaza, months after a
reconciliation deal between rivals
Fatah, which dominates the West
Bank-based Palestinian Authority, and Hamas, which is in de facto
control of Gaza.
Palestinian Foreign Minister
Riyad al-Malki was confident the
message was enough.
“Our initial predictions are that
the conference will be a big success,” he said this week.
Hitting back
Malki also suggested Palestinian moves to seek further recognition at the UN, including joining
the International Criminal Court
so they could sue Israel for alleged
war crimes, would not cause Israel’s allies such as the US to hold
back donations.
But a second diplomat, who also
did not want to be named, said the
Gaza cabinet meeting was “not
enough to reassure donors”.
The EU, a chief aid supplier to the
Palestinians, has welcomed “positive developments” while stressing
that a lasting peace is needed.
Recognise
Palestinian
state, urge
Christian
clerics
AFP
Jerusalem
T
A Palestinian protester throws back a teargas canister towards Israeli soldiers and border
policemen during clashes following a protest against the nearby Jewish settlement of
Qadomem, in the West Bank village of Kofr Qadom near Nablus yesterday.
hree leading Christian
clerics in the Holy Land
appealed yesterday for
more European governments
to recognise a Palestinian state
with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The call from the Catholic,
Greek Orthodox and Lutheran
prelates—all of them Palestinian—came after EU member
Sweden last week announced its
intention to recognise Palestinian
statehood, to the anger of Israel.
“From Jerusalem, our occupied capital, we send our urgent
message to the whole world and
particularly to Europe—we are
yearning for justice and peace,”
the three churchmen said in an
open letter.
“Recognising Palestine and defining Israel’s borders is a first step
towards that goal.”
Signing the letter were the
former Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Michel Sabbah, the Greek
Orthodox archbishop of Sebastia,
Atallah (Theodosios) Hanna, and
Lutheran World Federation president Bishop Munib Younan.
The current Latin patriarch,
Fouad Twal, was not among the
signatories.
“We are tired of calls for resumptions of negotiations while we can’t
reach our churches due to a foreign
power and our people continue to
be humiliated by an undesirable occupation,” the letter said.
“Europe has a moral, legal and
political duty to hold Israel accountable and support Palestinian
non-violent initiatives to end the
Israeli occupation, including the
recognition of the State of Palestine on the 1967 border with East
Jerusalem as its capital.”
Other EU member countries
that have recognised a Palestinian state are Bulgaria, Cyprus, the
Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta,
Poland and Romania.
Al Qaeda claims Sanaa suicide bombing
Reuters
Sanaa
A
People inspect the site of Thursday’s suicide bombing in Sanaa yesterday.
l Qaeda’s wing in Yemen yesterday claimed
responsibility for a suicide bomb attack on the powerful Shia Houthi group that
killed at least 47 people.
On Thursday, a suicide
bomber detonated a belt
packed with explosives at a
Houthi checkpoint in the centre of the capital Sanaa where
Houthi supporters were preparing to hold a rally.
Body parts were scattered
across Tahrir Square and pools
of blood formed on the asphalt
after the blast, which also
wounded at least 75 people.
The bomb attack was carried out by a man called Abu
Mouwaia al-Sanaani, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
(AQAP), the Yemeni branch of
the movement, said in a statement on its Twitter account.
Thursday’s bombing occurred just hours after a showdown between the Houthis
and President Abd-Rabbu
Mansour Hadi forced prime
minister-designate
Ahmed
Awad bin Mubarak, whose appointment on Tuesday under a
power-sharing deal signed last
month had angered Houthi
leaders, to turn down the post.
The Houthis have emerged
as Yemen’s main powerbrokers since their paramilitary
forces seized the capital on
September 21, following weeks
of anti-government demonstrations.
AQAP, which has targeted
state institutions, including the armed forces, sees the
Houthis, who are members
of the minority Zaidi sect, as
heretics.
A southern secessionist
movement and the AQAP onslaught on security forces have
already stretched the resources of Yemen, an impoverished
country of 25mn, and alarmed
neighbouring Saudi Arabia
and other Gulf Arab states.
Western and Gulf Arab
countries are worried that
instability in Yemen could
strengthen Al Qaeda and have
supported a UN-backed political transition since 2012 led
by Hadi meant to shepherd the
country to stability after decades of autocracy.
4
Gulf Times
Saturday, October 11, 2014
ARAB WORLD
Erdogan accuses Assad of waging �state terror’
AFP
Istanbul
T
urkish President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan yesterday
accused Syrian President
Bashar al-Assad of waging “state
terror”, equating the crimes of
the Damascus regime with those
of Islamic State (IS) militants.
Ankara is concerned that the
focus of the US-led coalition on
п¬Ѓghting IS extremists will take
attention away from Turkey’s
long-standing aim of toppling
the Syrian leader.
In a speech to thousands of
supporters in the Black Sea city
of Trabzon, Erdogan said the Assad regime and IS were both terror groups who should be dealt
with accordingly.
“We cannot leave their fate
into the hands of the murderer
Assad who is waging a state terror,” said Erdogan, referring to
the 1.5mn Syrian refugees that
Turkey has taken in during the
conflict.
“We have always displayed
a principled stance towards all
terrorist organisations. We are
not discriminating against terror organisations, saying this
one is good or this one is bad,”
he said in the televised speech.
“We have adopted the same
stance towards ISIS,” he said using a variant of the name for IS.
“But other terrorist organisations pose a threat to us too.”
Ankara has vehemently opposed Assad during the threeand-a-half-year Syria conflict
but has been criticised for not
showing greater involvement in
the п¬Ѓght against IS extremists.
Earlier, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said: “Turkey is
against ISIS just the same way
that it is against Assad.”
“Assad and ISIS are both responsible for all these events and
tragedies,” he told reporters in
Ankara.
He added: “No one can prove
that Turkey is supporting ISIS.”
Turkey has been reluctant
to intervene militarily against
IS militants trying to take the
mainly Kurdish town of Kobane
just across the border, despite
having parliamentary authorisation for military action in
Syria.
Ankara has been accused of
encouraging the rise of IS with
its support for Islamist-tinted
rebel groups in Syria seeking to
oust Assad and is now seeking
a commitment from the West
to move against the Syrian
leader.
Davutoglu ridiculed Turkey’s
main opposition leader Kemal
Kilicdaroglu, who suggested that
parliament should issue a separate mandate for Turkish military action in Kobane.
“Are we going to issue a separate mandate for each province
or district? It’s such a ridiculous
proposal,” Davutoglu scoffed.
Allow town’s
defenders to
get weapons,
Turkey urged
AFP
Suruc, Turkey
T
he head of the main Kurdish political party in Syria
yesterday called on Turkey to allow its territory to be
used for passing weapons to
Kurdish п¬Ѓghters defending the
key Syrian town of Kobane.
Salih Muslim, the leader of the
Democratic Union Party (PYD),
said Turkey should understand
that the Kurds are not a “threat”
for Ankara.
“We are in an urgent need of
help from Turkey,” Muslim told
AFP in a telephone interview,
speaking in Turkish.
“It would be very good if Turkey urgently opens its soil for the
passage of military weapons, not
Turkish soldiers, for Kobane,” the
leader, now based outside Syria,
said by phone from Brussels.
Beleaguered Kurdish п¬Ѓghters
are waging a desperate resistance to stop militants from taking Kobane, and they need extra
ammunition, not just air strikes
from the US-led coalition,
Kurdish officials have said.
Muslim welcomed Ankara’s
involvement in the US-led international coalition to defeat
the Islamic State (IS) militants,
and urged it to take action.
Turkey has so far been reluctant to take robust action against
IS militants, who have made
gains in large swathes of both
Syria and Iraq.
The Turkish government got
a green light from parliament
authorising its army for military
action in Syria. But Ankara has
yet to commit its well-trained
forces to the п¬Ѓght.
It has also prevented Kurds
from moving across the border
to join the fight against the militants, angering Turkey’s Kurdish
population.
But last weekend, Muslim
made an unannounced visit to
Turkey for a rare meeting with
officials in Ankara.
He said he was told that Ankara would do “what was necessary for Kobane not to fall”,
adding that IS militants were a
threat for Turkey the same as for
Syrian Kurds.
Muslim called for “dialogue”
between Syrian Kurds and the
international community for
any operation against militants
in northern Syria.
Turkey, which has fought
a 30-year insurgency against
Kurdish rebels in its southeast,
has also hesitated to act for
Kobane over fears it could embolden Kurdish forces.
“Kurds want to take their
place within a democratic pluralistic Syria with their own
identity. They do not want anything else,” said Muslim.
“Turkey has its own policies toward the Kurdish region. We have
no problem if Turkey does not object to this.” He said Turkey had
no reason to fear a strong Kurdish
presence on its border with Syria.
“These are empty fears, and
are in vain. We have never posed
a threat to Turkey,” said Muslim.
“We have our people on both
sides of the border. The two
sides of the border must be protected well,” he added.
Muslim said “good relations”
were always important.
“The eyes of all Kurds are on
Kobane,” he said.
“If Turkey adopts a positive
stance, it will win the sympathy
of Kurds in Rojava,” he added,
using the Kurds’ term for the
Kurdish-populated part of Syria.
He said the IS militants could
be п¬Ѓnished if air strikes cut off
their supply routes.
“Air strikes are very effective,
facilitating the job of the People’s Protection Units (YPG),”
he said, referring to the Kurdish
п¬Ѓghters battling the militants.
But Muslim called for “more
intensive air raids” because the
IS п¬Ѓghters were getting help
through the parts of northern
Syria they control. “If those
routes are cut off, they cannot
resist more,” he said.
Muslim said there were more
than 10,000 civilians still in
Kobane, staying in the centre
and trying to protect themselves
bearing weapons.
Other Kurdish officials in the
town, however, have said that all
civilians have left, and Kobane
has been declared a military
zone by the YPG.
Asked about Ankara’s reluctance to let YPG members in
Turkey cross into Syria, Muslim
said: “Turkey should clear itself
of such concerns. Turkey must
understand that we are not a
threat.”
Turkish Kurds look towards the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobane from the top of a hill close to the border between Turkey and Syria near the Mursitpinar border gate yesterday.
IS seizes Kurdish HQ in
Kobane, carnage feared
UN envoy for Syria Staffan de
Mistura warns that 12,000
or so civilians still in or near
Kobane “will most likely be
massacred” by IS if the town
falls
AFP
Suruc, Turkey
I
slamic State militants captured the headquarters yesterday of Kurdish п¬Ѓghters defending the Syrian border town
of Kobane, with a UN envoy
warning thousands would likely
be massacred if it falls to them.
Outgunned Kurdish п¬Ѓghters
were struggling to prevent the
militants closing off the last escape route for civilians still in the
area, prompting an appeal for
urgent military assistance.
US-led warplanes have intensified air strikes against
IS, which has been attacking
Kobane for three weeks, but the
Pentagon has warned that, without a ground force to work with,
there are limits to what can be
done.
Neighbouring Turkey has so
far refrained from any action
against the militants on its doorstep, despite four straight nights
of protests among its own large
Kurdish minority that have left
31 people dead.
The militants’ advance has
brought the frontline to just
1.3km from the border.
IS now controls 40% of
Kobane, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory
for Human Rights.
“The capture of the headquarters will allow the jihadists to
advance on the border post with
Turkey to the north of the town,”
its director Rami Abdel Rahman
said.
“If they achieve that, they will
have the Kurdish forces inside
Kobane completely surrounded.”
As п¬Ѓghting raged, an IS militant carried out a suicide car
bomb attack to the west of the
Kurdish headquarters that killed
two defenders, and 10 Kurds
were killed in an IS ambush on
the south side of town, the Observatory said.
US planes conducted nine new
air strikes in Syria on Thursday
and yesterday, the US military
said.
And the Observatory said four
strikes hit in the vicinity of the
Kurdish headquarters yesterday
afternoon.
UN envoy for Syria Staffan
de Mistura warned that 12,000
or so civilians still in or near
Kobane, including 700 mainly
elderly people in the town centre, “will most likely be massacred” by IS if the town falls.
Kobane was “literally surrounded”, except for one narrow
entry and exit point to the border, de Mistura said.
The envoy called on Turkey,
“if they can, to support the deterrent actions of the coalition
through whatever means from
their own territory”.
“We would like to appeal to
the Turkish authorities in order
to allow the flow of volunteers at
least, and their equipment to be
able to enter the city to contribute to a self-defence operation,”
he said in Geneva.
The statement marked an
unusual one by the United Na-
tions, which usually strives to
stay neutral in conflicts, but de
Mistura explained the rare appeal by the precarious situation
in the border town.
The co-ordinator of the USled campaign against IS, retired
US general John Allen, was to
hold a second day of talks in Ankara after the Nato ally insisted
it could not be expected to take
ground action against the militants alone.
Kobane activist Mustafa Ebdi
said the IS militants were using
civilian cars with Kurdish flags
to avoid coming under attack by
coalition aircraft.
He said the risk of Kobane falling was high, and described the
town as a “symbol of resistance
to IS in Syria”.
“Every Kurdish fighter is willing to die,” he said.
With the world media gathered just across the border, the
conquest of Kobane would be a
highly visible symbolic victory
for the extremists.
The situation is complicated
by the close ties between the
town’s Kurdish defenders and
the outlawed Kurdistan Workers
Party, which has waged a threedecade insurgency for self-rule
in southeastern Turkey.
Ankara has been deeply reluctant to allow weapons or Kurdish
п¬Ѓghters to cross the border.
But Salih Muslim, leader of
the main Kurdish political party
in Syria, the Democratic Union
Party, said the Kurds are not a
threat to Turkey and called for
urgent help.
“It would be very good if Turkey urgently opens its soil for the
passage of military weapons, not
Turkish soldiers, for Kobane,” he
said.
More than 180,000 people
have been killed in Syria since
an uprising against President
Bashar al-Assad’s regime began
in 2011, escalating into a multisided civil war that has drawn
thousands of militants from
overseas.
Bombardment and air strikes
by the Syrian regime killed at
least 21 civilians, eight of them
children, in the south and northeast of the country yesterday, the
Observatory said.
Grief, fury at funeral of �martyrs’
AFP
Suruc, Turkey
C
Mourners gather for the funeral of seven Syrian Kurdish fighters at a
cemetery in Suruc on Thursday.
lutching a bloodstained
napkin used by her brother just before his death, a
young Syrian Kurdish woman
mourned for the 23-year-old
killed while defending the key
town of Kobane from Islamic
State insurgents.
The young man was killed
fighting alongside People’s Protection Units (YPG) against Islamic State (IS) militants for
control of the mainly-Kurdish
Syrian town, just over the Turkish border.
“We heard he was injured after a bullet hit him in the head,”
26-year-old Berivan Seyhahmet said, looking at the grave of
her brother buried in the Turkish town of Suruc overlooking
Kobane.
“At first, his injury was not
life-threatening, but he kept
bleeding after he was held at the
Syrian-Turkish border for four
hours by the Turkish army,” she
said in fury.
Turkey has tightened security
of its porous Syrian border after
the escalating п¬Ѓghting in Kobane
sparked the exodus of 200,000
refugees across the frontier.
Many civilians fled Kobane
which was declared a battle
zone following the start of street
clashes between YPG п¬Ѓghters
and IS insurgents who seized
control of a third of the town,
despite air raids by the United
States and coalition forces.
Turkey also fears the standoff
around Kobane could lead to the
creation of a Kurdish п¬Ѓghting
force overlapping the Turkish
and Syrian borders.
The Syria-based Kurdish
п¬Ѓghters of the YPG battling IS
militants have links to PKK militants who have fought the Turkish state for the last three decades in an insurgency that has
claimed 40,000 lives.
The funeral of seven fallen
Syrian Kurdish п¬Ѓghters in the
Turkish border town united
Kurds in Suruc. The crowd,
drawn from across Turkey, vented their fury at lack of support
for the defenders of Kobane.
“Kurdistan will be a grave
for fascism!” the Kurds shouted, wearing yellow-red-green
scarves as they attended the funeral.
Gathering around the grave
to bury their dead in a cemetery
just 10km from Kobane, the
mourning group surrounded
an imam speaking in Kurdish
through a loudspeaker.
“Many lives were lost. The heroes of Kurdistan will not give up
on Kobane,” the imam said in an
address to the cheering crowd.
“We salute the martyrs. We
will leave the enemy deaf and
dumb.... I am calling on all Kurds.
Now is the time for unity!”
The funeral ceremony was
also attended by pro-Kurdish
politicians.
Seyahmet said she last spoke
with her brother the night before
he died.
“The sound of gunfire was
clearly audible from the other
end of the phone. It was around
11pm. It was like he felt that he
was going to die,” she said.
“He called to receive our
blessing the last time.”
His mother, who looked about
to faint during and after the funeral, could barely be carried to a
car by her relatives.
“He was speaking boldly in
our last telephone conversation
when he said �All the bloodshed
is not in vain and God willing,
Kobane will not fall,’” said the
mother, who fled to Turkey three
weeks ago.
“I told him to be brave,” she
said with a desperate look on her
face. She said she had another
son, 18, п¬Ѓghting for Kobane.
Another Syrian Kurd from
Kobane, 31-year-old Ahmed, had
come to bury his cousin who he
said had also died in the battle.
Until his death, the cousin had
given the family daily updates
about the battle for Kobane, he
said.
“He told us in an uplifting
voice that they were resisting to
push back IS.”
Ahmed, who crossed the border after being wounded, said
he wanted to go back but that he
was not allowed to join the п¬Ѓghting because of his injury.
“Civilians were packed in the
western part of Kobane near the
Turkish border. Turkish soldiers
are not helping at all, (they are)
accusing us of being terrorists,”
he said.
“Kobane is sacred to us,
Kobane is Kurdistan of the Kurds
and the freedom of all Kurds. No
matter what happens, I will get
back,” he said.
“Life is not good in Turkey. It
is not our soil.”
Gulf Times
Saturday, October 11, 2014
5
ARAB WORLD
Libya clashes force 287,000 to flee: UN agency
AFP
Geneva
A
spike in clashes between
rival militias in Libya has
pushed the number of
people driven from their homes
to an estimated 287,000, the UN
refugee agency said yesterday.
UNHCR spokesman Adrian
Edwards told reporters that some
100,000 people had fled over the
past three weeks from Warshefana, on the outskirts of the capital
Tripoli.
Another 15,000 people were
estimated to have been displaced
around Libya’s eastern city of
Benghazi, he said.
The nation has been in turmoil
since an uprising toppled longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi
three years ago, with interim authorities facing powerful militias
that fought to oust him.
A total of some 287,000 people are estimated to have fled
conflict and are scattered in 29
towns and cities countrywide,
many of them in dire straits, he
said.
“The need for healthcare,
food, and other basic commodities—plus for shelter ahead of
winter—has become critical,”
said Edwards.
He said aid agencies were
working flat out to help those
in need but faced “major constraints in funding for the internally displaced, while the security situation over recent months
has posed challenges in reaching
those in need”.
Most displaced people are living with locals who in some cases
have opened their homes to several families at a time to meet
the growing need for shelter, Edwards said.
Those unable to stay with rela-
tives or host families were sleeping in schools, parks and nonresidential buildings converted
into emergency shelters.
Host communities were п¬Ѓnding themselves swamped, Edwards said, giving the example of
the small town of Ajaylat, some
80km west of Tripoli.
The community of around
100,000 people had taken in
16,000 more who fled fighting, placing a massive strain on
health facilities.
“As well as the impact on the
local population, the п¬Ѓghting is
also affecting refugees, asylumseekers, and migrants in Libya—
many of them from Middle Eastern countries and Sub-Saharan
Africa,” Edwards noted.
Lawlessness and spiralling
food prices have made some of
them desperate to leave.
“Libya’s policy of detaining refugees and migrants has
pushed many to put their lives in
the hands of smugglers to try to
get to Europe,” said Edwards.
The majority of the more than
165,000 people who have arrived
on Europe’s shores so far this
year, risking their lives to cross
the Mediterranean, came from
Libya.
Half of those leaving Libya
were from war-torn Syria or
people escaping the iron-п¬Ѓsted
regime in Eritrea.
S Sudan rape
levels �worst’
UN envoy
has ever seen
AFP
Bentiu, South Sudan
T
he levels of rape in wartorn South Sudan are
the worst the UN special envoy on sexual violence
has ever seen, she said yesterday, after meeting scores of
survivors of attacks.
“In all my life and experience of nearly 30 years in
public service and in the UN
and as a government minister, I have never seen what I
have seen today,” Zainab Bangura, Special Representative
of the Secretary General on
Sexual Violence in Conflict,
told AFP.
“I have travelled around
the world and I come from
a conflict country, but I
have never seen what I saw
today”
Bangura, who comes from
Sierra Leone, said she had
witnessed brutal violence
during the civil war there, but
conditions in South Sudan after almost 10 months of conflict were worse in terms of attacks on women and girls.
She said she had been in the
Sierra Leone capital Freetown
when it fell. “We picked bodies from streets and buried
them.”
Speaking in the South Sudan town of Bentiu, which has
repeatedly changed hands in
the war, she said both government troops and rebels were
committing rapes.
Thousands of people have
been killed and almost 2mn
have fled fighting between
government troops, mutinous
soldiers and ragtag militia
forces divided along tribal
lines.
Almost 100,000 people
are sheltering in squalid UN
peacekeeping bases fearing
they will be killed if they leave
the barbed wire protection.
“It’s unbelievable. It’s painful. It’s challenging to see the
conditions under which these
women live, the harassments
and sexual violence that take
place at checkpoints, and
when the women go out to get
food, and when they go out
to get firewood. It’s really extremely distressing,” Bangura
said.
“These are not conditions
and circumstances under which
women can live. I heard a story
of a woman who had just given
birth who had been raped, I
heard a story of an old woman
who was raped, children as
young as 10 or 11 years who are
being raped on daily basis.”
Fighting broke out in the
oil-rich country, also the
world’s youngest nation, in
December 2013 following a
clash between troops loyal to
President Salva Kiir and his
former deputy Riek Machar.
The war spread rapidly
across the country and has
been marked by widespread
human rights abuses and
atrocities by both sides.
Bangura is visiting South
Sudan in a bid to persuade both
sides to end the violence and
rekindle stalled peace efforts.
“I have travelled around the
world and I come from a conflict country, but I have never
seen what I saw today,” she
said, adding it was worse than
conditions she had seen in
many countries including Bosnia, Central African Republic,
Democratic Republic of Congo,
Liberia and Somalia.
“This is the worst case scenario for me, it is extremely
difficult to deal with.”
Rached Ghannouchi, head of the Islamist party Ennahda, speaks during an interview with Reuters in Tunis.
Ennahda ready to work
with Ben Ali ministers
Ennahda chief Rached
Gannouchi says the Islamist
party can work within a
coalition government with
its main secularist rival and
other parties which include
former Ben Ali ministers
Reuters
Tunis
T
unisia’s main Islamist party
is ready to form a coalition
government with secular rivals including former officials who
worked with President Zine alAbidine Ben Ali before he was toppled in 2011, the party’s chief said.
Tunisians go to the polls later
this month for legislative elections in one of the last steps to full
democracy after approving a new
constitution last year and ending
a political crisis between Islamists
and secular opposition.
Rached Ghannouchi, head of
the Islamist party Ennahda, said
the country still needed a consensus to keep its fragile transition
on track following the parliament
vote on October 26. A presidential
ballot follows in November.
Three years after protests ousted Ben Ali, Tunisia is being hailed
as a model for the region after
overcoming the kind of political
polarisation and infighting suffered by Egypt and Libya following
their 2011 revolts.
“Tunisia still needs a consensus
between the Islamists and secularists because after elections we
will not be in a stable democracy,
but a transitional democracy. We
need unity government to face all
the challenges in our troubled region,” Ghannouchi told Reuters in
interview.
Ennahda, whose leadership
spent years in exile or jailed under Ben Ali, can work within a
coalition government with its
main rival secular party, Nida
Tounes, and other parties which
include former Ben Ali minis-
ters, Ghannouchi said.
Ennahda won about 40% of
seats in Tunisia’s transitional parliament after the first free election
in 2011 and governed in a coalition
before a crisis erupted over the
assassination of two opposition
leaders by militant gunmen.
Critics blamed Ennahda for being lax with Islamist extremists.
After months of protests and talks,
a consensus agreement emerged
for Ennahda’s government to cede
power to a non-partisan cabinet to
end the deadlock.
Political compromise has more
than once pulled Tunisia back
from the brink, and helped keep
it from the type of chaos now engulfing neighbouring Libya, where
armed factions and their political allies have set up rival governments.
Both in Libya and Egypt, bitter
debate continues over the role of
former regime officials.
But in Tunisia, former Ben Ali
officials will have a strong pres-
ence in the parliamentary elections and analysts expect them to
have ample chance in the elections
in regional cities and towns where
they still retain influence.
“All these parties are legal, so we
are ready to work with them. We
have no veto on any legal party,”
Ghannounchi said.
For the п¬Ѓrst time since the 2011
“Jasmine revolution”, former officials from Ben Ali’s regime will
be running for office again by representing various secular parties
participating in the electoral race.
They were temporarily banned
from the п¬Ѓrst election.
Ennahda is confident it can repeat its last win in the legislature
and hopes to secure 40% of seats
in the next parliament, according
Ghannouchi.
Most analysts expect Ennahda,
one of the country’s most organised political movements, and
Nida Tounes to turn out the election winners.
Ghannouchi said Ennahda was
well aware of the tough decisions
needed to keep Tunisia’s economy on track, including subsidy
cuts, new investment incentives
and the restructuring public institutions.
“We have become more realistic
and able to form a consensus with
our rivals... We became part of the
state and understand the problems and priorities of the country,”
he said of his party’s two years in
power.
During that time, critics blamed
Ennahda for mismanaging the
economy and trying to hold onto
power. Still, the Islamist party remains a main contender.
Beji caid Essebsi, the head of
Nida Tounes, said this week at the
beginning of campaigning that
Tunisians must choose between
the party of the 21st century, which
supports the values of modernity,
and forces seeking to take Tunisia
back, in a reference to Ennahda.
Ghannouchi called for an end to
divisive rhetoric.
Spa of the desert: Saharan sands offer therapy
AFP
Merzouga, Morocco
A
s the morning sun rises over
the golden dunes of Erg
Chebbi in the Sahara, men
and women dig holes for tourists
who want to bury themselves in
the sand.
Decades ago, tribal nomads settled here, living a traditional desert
existence that has now had to
adapt to changing circumstance.
The dunes of Merzouga tower over the small community in
southeastern Morocco, where the
Berber Ait Atta tribe now makes a
brisk living from tourism.
The formerly nomadic tribesmen have for years been running
hotels and restaurants in Merzouga, a key stop on the Moroccan
tourist trail on the edge of a sea of
sand dunes.
Now they’re even turning to the
sands themselves to attract visitors.
For around 10 minutes visitors
are buried neck-deep in the hot
sand for therapy said to cure those
who suffer from rheumatism,
lumbago, polyarthritis and some
skin disorders.
The therapy has the same effect
as a sauna session, helping purge
A tourist takes a sand bath in the dunes of the Merzouga desert in southeastern Morocco.
the body of poisonous toxins, according to tribesmen such as Abdessalam Sadoq who now work in
wellness tourism.
“We offer every type of tourism
here, but especially for health,” he
said. Making a living was not always easy for the descendants of
the Ait Atta nomads, and over the
decades the sons and daughters of
those who roamed the desert on
camels have had to attune themselves to more modern ways.
The Ait Atta once accumulated
riches from trans-Saharan com-
merce, but now all that remains
of this past is a road sign pointing
towards Timbuktu, a mere 52 days
away by camel.
Their way of life ended after
Morocco became a French protectorate in 1912, with the development of mining in the region, the
emergence of urban centres and
demarcation of the nearby border
with Algeria.
Once-nomadic tribes had to
п¬Ѓnd a new livelihood, and turned
to cultivating date palms and tourism in the second half of the past
century.
Visitors in search of a cure do
not come only from abroad: many
Moroccans also п¬Ѓrmly believe in
the power of the desert.
“I really feel much better, and
each year I come back here to
spend a week,” said sciatica sufferer Ali Kallamouche from the
central town of Beni Mellal.
A sand bath at Merzouga costs up
to $13, and when “patients” shake
off the sand they are wrapped in hot
towels to avoid the shock of a sudden cooling of the body.
Many come not just for the cure
but also for the breathtaking sunsets over Merzouga’s shifting sand
dunes.
Camel safaris and stays in the
desert under canvas with the region’s Berber and Arab tribes are
still a tourist staple, but with the
economy biting, industry workers had to look elsewhere to attract
business.
“People come for sand baths...
and to taste the local dishes we
make using medicinal plants and
herbs,” said Sadoq, who also heads
an association to promote tourism
in the Sahara.
Tourism is a cornerstone of Morocco’s economy—contributing
10% of gross domestic product.
According to market experts, it
is also growing, thanks to the development of wellness tourism.
In September, Morocco hosted
the Global Spa and Wellness Summit where industry experts said
the sector expanded globally last
year by 12.5%, generating almost
$500bn.
Morocco topped the Middle
East and North Africa list in health
tourism, with the industry growing more than 67% since 2007.
In Merzouga, more and more
people are signing up for a hot sand
soak at the height of summer and
other businesses, including those
rooted in the recent past, are thriving as a result.
Ali sells camel milk which he
insists does wonders for diabetes,
anaemia and digestive tract problems.
“People come from all over the
world to Merzouga for sand baths,
and that helps us promote other
products,” he said.
6
Gulf Times
Saturday, October 11, 2014
AFRICA
41 UN staff in Liberia quarantined
AFP
Monrovia
T
he United Nations said
yesterday that it had quarantined 41 personnel from
its Liberia mission, including
20 soldiers, following a second
infection among its staff of the
deadly Ebola virus.
The measure came two days
after the mission, known as UNMIL, announced an “international staff member” working in
its medical department tested
positive after complaining of
symptoms consistent with the
Ebola virus.
“Following the discovery on
October 5 that an UNMIL medical staff member was symptomatic for Ebola, the mission conducted robust contact tracing to
ensure all people that came into
contact with the staff member
while they were symptomatic
are assessed and isolated as necessary,” the world body said in a
statement.
“As a result of the rigorous
contact tracing, 41 staff members
who were possible contacts are
under close medical observation,
including 20 military personnel,”
the statement added.
UNMIL, which has 6,000
troops and police in Liberia, said
that the personnel would undergo “precautionary” observation
for the 21-day incubation period
of the virus, although none had
shown symptoms.
The mission has not revealed
the condition or nationality of
the Ebola patient but said they
were receiving treatment.
The announcement of the infection came a week after UNMIL said a Liberian employee had
died of probable Ebola.
The mission said it would
extend a review of its actions
launched after the п¬Ѓrst case to
investigating the circumstances
of the latest infection.
Liberia, the hardest-hit country in the west African Ebola outbreak, has seen more than 2,200
deaths since it announced the
virus had spread from Guinea on
March 31.
UNMIL chief Karin Landgren
said last week the mission had
taken steps since then to educate
personnel and help them protect
themselves against Ebola, describing staff safety as her “top
priority”.
She described the outbreak as
“Liberia’s gravest threat since the
civil war”, referring to the backto-back conflicts from 19892003 that left at least 250,000
people dead.
Journalists banned
from Ebola centres
AFP
Monrovia
L
iberia said yesterday that
it is banning journalists
from Ebola clinics, defying
media rights campaigners who
have warned panicked African
governments against “muzzling”
reporters.
Government spokesman Isaac
Jackson made the announcement
as he was questioned on a radio
phone-in show about reporters being barred from covering a
strike at a Monrovia Ebola treatment unit (ETU).
“Journalists are no longer allowed to enter ETUs. These journalists enter the ETUs and cross
red lines,” Jackson, the deputy
information minister, told listeners to commercial station Sky
FM. “They violate people’s privacy, take pictures that they will
sell to international institutions.
We are putting an end to that.”
Journalists had earlier been
denied access to the Island Clinic
in Monrovia to cover a nationwide “go slow” day of action by
healthcare workers demanding
risk bonuses for treating Ebola.
The minister said he would
insist that journalists report his
statements from now on rather
than what they saw for themselves.
Sources from global aid agency
Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF,
Doctors Without Borders), which
runs a unit of around 250 beds in
Monrovia, said that it would be
writing to the government to ask
to be excluded from the ban.
Liberia is ranked 89th out of
180 countries in the 2014 press
freedom index produced by Reporters Without Borders.
The media rights campaign
group warned that panicked governments п¬Ѓghting the epidemic
were “quarantining” reporters to
prevent them covering the crisis.
“Combatting the epidemic
needs good media reporting but
panicked governments are muzzling journalists,” the organisation, known by its French initials
RSF, said in a statement.
Liberia’s announcement came
after soldiers prevented the media in Guinea from investigating the murders in September
of eight people, including three
journalists, during an Ebola education visit.
In Liberia, medics have been
banned from communicating directly with the media, RSF said,
while Sierra Leone has threatened to adopt draconian measures against journalists criticising its Ebola response.
The Island Clinic, Liberia’s
largest government Ebola treatment centre, is run by the World
Health Organisation (WHO) and
opened in September.
Like all units run by NGOs, it
is under-resourced and overrun
by demand, forced to п¬Ѓll in for a
public health infrastructure that
has been decimated by 14 years
of civil war and grinding poverty.
Although a “go slow” campaign was officially due to start
yesterday, the clinic has been
crippled by staff protests all
week.
“Most of the workers are no
longer coming to work. The few
ones who come don’t work. We
don’t have the manpower needed
to do the work here at the cen-
S
even people accused of
witchcraft
have
been
burned alive in Tanzania,
police said yesterday, adding that
they have arrested 23 people in
connection with the crimes.
“They were attacked and burnt
to death by a mob of villagers
who accused them of engaging
in witchcraft,” the police chief
for the western Kigoma region
which borders Burundi, Jafari
Mohamed, told AFP. “Five of
those killed were aged over 60,
while the other two were aged
over 40.”
Among those arrested on suspicion of carrying out the killings
was the local traditional healer,
or witch doctor.
Relatives of those killed described horrific scenes, with the
bodies of family members hacked
with machetes or burned almost
beyond recognition.
“When I returned home in the
evening, I found the body of my
mother lying 10m away from our
house, while the body of my father was burnt inside the house,”
said Josephat John, according to
Tanzania’s Mwananchi newspaper.
The attack in the village of
Murufiti took place on Monday
but reports only emerged after
police announced the arrest of
the suspects.
“We are holding 23 people including local leaders in connection with the attack,” Mohamed
said. “They will appear in court
to face murder charges.”
Belief in witches and black
magic remains strong in many
parts of Tanzania.
A local rights group, the Legal and Human Rights Centre
(LHRC), has estimated as many
as 500 “witches” are lynched
Z
ambia’s former air force
commander Andrew Sakala was jailed yesterday for
п¬Ѓve years with hard labour after
he was convicted of graft.
Sakala was found guilty of
pocketing around $250,000 that
was earmarked for covert security ahead of 2011 elections.
In handing down the sentence
in Lusaka, Magistrate Wilfred
Muma said Sakala needed to be
punished as the state had lost resources because of his act.
First African Ebola
vaccine trial starts
T
Students hold signs bearing a picture of Naticha Forh, a student who died after medical staff refused to
treat her without a note indicating that she was not infected with Ebola, during a protest to demand an
improvement of the service at the JFK hospital in Monrovia.
tre,” director Atai Omoruto told
reporters before the government
clampdown.
Omoruto said the centre had
been designed for a maximum
capacity of 150 beds but had been
forced to take in 300 patients.
Alphonso Wesseh, representing the clinic’s healthcare workers, told AFP that the government had refused to pay benefits
for dealing with Ebola and salaries were as low as $250 a month.
“We cannot work under these
conditions. We are risking our
lives every day and the govern-
every year, based on reports
that counted some 3,000 people
killed between 2005 and 2011.
Many of those who were killed
were elderly women, the centre
said.
The rights group said some
are targeted because they have
red eyes – seen as a feared sign
of witchcraft, even if they in fact
that is the result from the use of
dung as cooking fuel in impoverished communities.
The centre said that many local people believe that witchcraft is behind every misfortune
– from infertility and poverty to
failure in business.
Past attacks have included a
series of bloody assaults against
albinos, as well as against young
children.
In Tanzania, albinos are killed
and dismembered because of a
widespread belief that charms
made from their body parts bring
good fortune and prosperity.
Former air force chief imprisoned
AFP
Lusaka
Right: The �cAd3-EBO-Z’ vaccine.
DPA
Bamako
Seven witchcraft suspects
burned to death in Tanzania
AFP
Dar es Salaam
A volunteer receives the Ebola
vaccine �cAd3-EBO-Z’ at the
vaccines centre in Bamako.
Human trials of the Ebola
vaccine have started in Africa
after being trialed in the US and
Britain. Three employees of
the health department in Mali
were the first people in Africa to
receive the vaccine.
However, the former high
ranking official escaped the
maximum sentence of 15 years in
prison.
His co-accused Zambia Army
commander Wisdom Lopa and
Anthony Yeta of the Zambia National Service were earlier found
innocent of the same charges.
ment remains insensitive to our
plight. This is not human.”
Ebola, which spreads through
contact with bodily fluids, has
infected around 8,000 people
and killed almost half of them.
Liberia, the country hit hardest by the outbreak, has seen
more than 2,000 deaths – including 94 healthcare workers
– from the haemorrhagic fever
which the virus causes.
The government announced
on Wednesday that it was postponing nationwide senatorial
elections which had been due on
Tuesday next week, with no new
date yet announced.
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
and her counterparts in Sierra
Leone and Guinea pressed the
heads of the International Monetary Fund, UN and World Bank on
Thursday for a more rapid rollout
of support to п¬Ѓght the epidemic.
“This will also require support
for compensation to healthcare
workers who, for fear of the risk
involved, have refused or are reluctant to return to work,” she
told the Washington conference
via video link.
hree people in Mali were
injected with an experimental Ebola vaccine in
the п¬Ѓrst such trial in Africa, as
the condition of a Spanish nurse,
Europe’s first human-to-human
transmission case, deteriorated.
The vaccine volunteers are
among 40 Malian health workers who agreed to participate in a
trial of the cAd3-EBO-Z vaccine,
which was developed by the US
National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases, the Malian
health ministry said yesterday.
Depending on its outcome,
the trial could represent a glimmer of hope in an outbreak that,
according to the World Health
Organisation (WHO), has led to
more than 8,000 infections in
West Africa.
A Spanish nurse – the first
transmission of the virus in Europe – is in critical condition because of respiratory failure after
being diagnosed earlier in the
week.
She is being kept in quarantine
in Madrid alongside 14 others.
She was part of a team treating
Spanish missionaries who were
flown to Spain after contracting
Ebola in Liberia, and her infection prompted a rash of protests
from Spanish health workers
dissatisfied with hospital safety
precautions.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy tried to quell concerns about
Ebola during a visit to the hospital where the nurse is receiving
treatment.
“The risk of Ebola propagating
is very low,” Rajoy was quoted by
the daily El Pais as saying.
Spanish authorities are still
investigating how the transmission took place, while EU organisations have issued harsh warnings about the need to follow
protocol.
The trial vaccine being tested
in Mali is part of an international
push to stem the epidemic.
It was previously tested on
chimpanzees and was found to
stimulate an immune response in
the apes against the Ebola virus.
“We should be able to have
very preliminary safety results
and even some immunology results by the end of November,”
said Samba Sow, director-general of the Centre for Vaccine Development in the Malian capital,
Bamako.
It is expected to take several
months before small amounts of
the vaccine will be available, Sow
said.
One volunteer, a 37-year-old
paediatrician, said he decided
to participate in the trial to help
save lives.
He was hoping to become immune to the Ebola virus, the unnamed doctor said, “because if
we have a case of Ebola in Mali,
I would want to be called to be
involved in treating that person”.
Initial trials of the vaccine
started in September on healthy
individuals in the US and Britain and 40 people are also to take
part in Gambia.
A trial for a second vaccine
developed by Canada’s health
agency is being conducted in the
US.
See also page 11
French forces launch raid
in Niger against militants
Reuters
Paris
F
rench forces destroyed
a convoy in Niger transporting weapons from
Libya to Mali and captured
п¬Ѓghters linked to Al Qaeda, the
presidency said yesterday as
France steps up efforts to stop
militants crisscrossing the Sahel-Sahara region.
Paris, which has led efforts
to push back Islamist п¬Ѓghters
in the region since intervening
in its former colony Mali last
year, started redeploying troops
across West Africa in July to
form a counter-terrorism force,
leaving UN peacekeepers to deploy across Mali’s north to secure the country.
However, there has been a
marked increase in attacks in
recent months in the north,
culminating on Tuesday in the
death of a Senegalese UN peacekeeper being killed after a joint
French-UN military camp in the
northern Malian town of Kidal
was hit by rocket п¬Ѓre.
“At a time when in Algiers negotiations for a peace deal and
a lasting reconciliation in Mali
are about to re-start, the armed
terrorists ... are threatening
peace and security in the entire
region,” the French president’s
office said in a statement, referring to talks between the Malian
government and Tuareg separatists that are due to take place
on October 17. “That is why
the president has asked French
forces to hunt down the armed
terrorist groups behind these
attacks.”
The statement said that on
Thursday night French forces,
with support from Niger, intercepted and destroyed a convoy
of armed vehicles in northern
Niger belonging to Al Qaeda’s
North African arm AQIM that
were transporting weapons
from Libya to Mali.
It is the п¬Ѓrst time Paris has
announced such an operation in
Niger.
“The intervention enabled
a large quantity of weapons
to be seized and to neutralise
a number of those in the convoy, including some who were
captured,” the statement said,
without giving further details.
Mali’s prime minister told Reuters on Monday that Islamist
п¬Ѓghters had been given the opportunity to return to the north
There has been a marked
increase in attacks in north
Mali, culminating in the
death of a UN peacekeeper
in the town of Kidal on
Tuesday
of the country after France redeployed its troops and urged
French and UN forces to go on
the attack to stop their resurgence.
France is setting up a base in
northern Niger as part of its new
counter-terrorism operation.
About 3,000 French troops
are now operating out of Mali,
Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad
– countries straddling the vast
arid Sahel band – with the aim
of stamping out Islamist п¬Ѓghters across the region.
The
French
operation,
dubbed Barkhane after the name
of a kind of sand dune formed
by desert winds, has set up
its headquarters in the Chadian capital N’Djamena, but also
placed an outpost in northern
Chad about 200km from the
Libyan border.
French officials have repeated
for several months they are concerned by events in Libya, warning that the political void in the
north is creating favourable
conditions for Al Qaeda-linked
п¬Ѓghters to regroup in the barren
south of the country.
Diplomatic sources estimate about 300 п¬Ѓghters linked
to AQIM, including a splinter
group formed by veteran Islamist commander Mokhtar
Belmokhtar, are operating in
southern Libya, a key point on
smuggling and trafficking routes
across the region.
US reaches $30mn settlement with Equatorial Guinea vice-president
A federal judge in California announced
a $30mn settlement yesterday between
the United States and a vice president of
Equatorial Guinea that requires him to forfeit
his US assets, including a collection of six lifesized statues of late singer Michael Jackson.
Teodoro Nguema Obiang, the Central
African country’s second vice-president,
used his position of power to amass more
than $300mn in the United States through
corruption and money laundering, US
prosecutors said in court documents.
Obiang must also sell his mansion in Malibu,
California, and his Ferrari, which the Justice
Department said were bought with money
looted from the impoverished country.
The United States was blocked from forcing
the vice-president to forfeit his assets
in Equatorial Guinea, which included a
Gulfstream jet and Jackson’s famous white,
crystal glove.
The profits of Obiang’s forfeitures will go to
charities that provide assistance for people in
Equatorial Guinea.
Gulf Times
Saturday, October 11, 2014
7
AMERICAS
Chinese
student
stabbed
�55 times’
Reuters
Montreal
A
Chinese student who was
killed in Canada in May
2012 was stabbed 55 times
and then dismembered, a forensic pathologist told a Montreal
court on Thursday.
Canadian Luka Magnotta, 32,
has admitted to killing and dismembering Chinese student Jun
Lin, videotaping the acts and
mailing parts of the body to elementary schools and to two political parties. He is pleading not
guilty due to mental illness.
Pathologist Yann Daze, who
conducted a п¬Ѓve-day autopsy on
the body of Lin, told the court
he could not say whether the
university student was still alive
when he was decapitated since
his head, found in July 2012 in
a Montreal park, was in such an
advanced state of decay.
“The victim lost a lot of blood
before his death,” Daze told the
court, adding that a toxicology
report found the presence of a
sleeping pill and allergy medicine in Lin’s system.
The pathologist had to put
the body together in early June
after recovering Lin’s hands and
feet, which had been mailed to
schools in Vancouver and to the
Ottawa offices of two political
parties.
While Daze did not provide
an exact cause of death, he said
Lin’s neck was cut and the left
side of his skull and cheekbone
was fractured.
The prosecutor in the case
says Magnotta planned the killing for at least six months before
the crime was committed, and
that he had e-mailed a British journalist in 2011 saying he
planned to kill a human being
and videotape the act.
A publication ban imposed
by the court at a preliminary
hearing has barred media from
reporting certain details of the
case.
Explicit details were publicised during the international
search to capture Magnotta, but
cannot be repeated until they are
presented at trial. The jury was
not being sequestered.
New York on alert
for Ebola threat
New York is on alert against the
deadly Ebola virus, rolling out
tough new airport screening
measures and introducing
strict rules at hospitals while
simultaneously warning the
public there is no cause for panic.
The first death from Ebola on US
soil in Texas on Wednesday sent
concern rippling through major
cities, which are now ramping up
efforts to prevent an American
outbreak of the disease that
has claimed 3,900 lives in West
Africa.
New York’s John F Kennedy
International will become the
first airport in the United States
to start new screening measures
today, aimed at halting the
disease in its tracks should more
cases emerge.
Travelers from Ebola-affected
nations of Guinea, Liberia and
Sierra Leone will be screened
by border agents checking for
signs of illness such as high
temperatures, even if they’ve
already been checked upon
departure.
Actress Jolie an
honorary �Dame’
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II
made actress Angelina Jolie
an honorary Dame at a private
ceremony at Buckingham Palace
yesterday in recognition of her
campaigning to end sexual
violence in war zones and for
services to UK foreign policy.
The queen presented
Oscar-winning Jolie, who is
special envoy to the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR), with the Insignia of an
Honorary Dame Grand Cross of
the Most Distinguished Order of
St Michael and St George.
Jolie, 39, co-founded the
Preventing Sexual Violence
Initiative with former foreign
secretary William Hague in 2012.
Jolie is not a British citizen and
therefore cannot be addressed as
Dame. She receives the award on
an honorary basis.
Republicans fume over
report on Gitmo closure
AFP/Reuters
Washington
P
resident Barack Obama
is considering shutting
Guantanamo and transferring its terror-suspect detainees to US soil, according
to a US news report that raised
the ire of Republican lawmakers
yesterday.
The report in the Wall Street
Journal (WSJ) said that Obama
is mulling moving the Guantanamo inmates to US soil without п¬Ѓrst obtaining congressional
consent.
While administration officials
say Obama prefers a legislative
solution rather than overriding Congress through executive action, a senior official told
the daily that the president
remained “unwavering in his
commitment” to closing the
prison, and wants all options on
the table.
But House Speaker John
Boehner warned that Obama
would be making a “dangerous”
mistake to shift the detainees to
US prisons.
“An overwhelming majority
of the American people and bipartisan majorities in the House
and Senate oppose importing
the terrorists imprisoned at
Guantanamo Bay into the United States, yet the White House
continues to move forward with
its plan,” Boehner said in a statement.
“Even as Islamic jihadists are
beheading Americans, the White
House is so eager to bring these
terrorists from Guantanamo Bay
to the United States that it is
examining ways to thwart Congress and unilaterally re-write
the law,” he said.
Republican Senator Pat Roberts threatened to bring legislative action to a standstill should
Obama seek to shift “a Gitmo
terrorist” into the United States.
“If he tries it, I will shut down
the Senate,” Roberts told supporters in Kansas, according to
Roll Call.
Other
Republicans
also
sounded off.
“Any action by the president
to close Guantanamo Bay by
overriding Congress is blatantly
illegal,” House Republican Mark
Meadows warned on Twitter.
And Republican Senator Tim
Scott tweeted: “They should
stay right where they are ... far
away from our schools and families.”
The US Naval facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba currently
holds 149 detainees linked to the
post-9/11 war on terrorism, but
Obama made closing Guantanamo a campaign promise but he
has been thwarted by domestic
and international obstacles.
Congress in 2010 banned the
transfer of Guantanamo detainees to US soil after the administration proposed relocating
them to a maximum-security
prison in Illinois.
Yesterday’s expressions of
outrage by Republican lawmakers come on the heels of moves
to sue the president over what
they consider abuses of executive power, including delays
to key provisions of Obama’s
healthcare law.
Republicans also have voiced
exasperation at Obama’s threats
to take executive action on other
issues like minimum wage and
immigration.
Complaints grew louder in
June when the administration
revealed it bypassed Congress
and released п¬Ѓve Taliban Guantanamo detainees for the return
of a US Army sergeant held for
п¬Ѓve years in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, the White House
has denied the WSJ report.
“Since the president came
into office in 2009 the administration has been examining all
possible ways we could get to
closure of the facility, but we are
not drafting options to override
the law,” White House spokes-
woman Caitlin Hayden said.
“We are continuing to work on
transfers (of prisoners) and calling on Congress to lift restrictions.”
The White House said it
would continue to make efforts
to repatriate or resettle detainees or prosecute them through
federal courts or military commission proceedings.
The administration would
also proceed in talks with foreign governments to negotiate
possible prisoner transfers.
“The administration will also
continue to call on members of
both parties to work together to
ensure that Congress lifts the
remaining restrictions and enables the closure of the detention
facility at Guantanamo Bay,”
Hayden said.
Obama: Republicans committing
political suicide on immigration
Reuters
Santa Monica, California
U
Obama at the town hall meeting at Cross Campus in Santa Monica, California. Cross Campus is a
collaborative workspace that brings together freelancers, creative professional, entrepreneurs and other
start-ups.
S President Barack
Obama said on Thursday that Republicans are
committing political suicide by
resisting immigration reform
and vowed to go ahead with his
plans to loosen some migration
rules on his own after November 4 elections.
Obama’s comment came as
he began a two-day West Coast
trip centred mostly around
raising money for Democratic
congressional candidates in Los
Angeles.
His п¬Ѓrst such event is scheduled to be at the Los Angeles
home of actress Gwyneth Paltrow on Thursday night.
Speaking to tech start-up
executives at a town hall event
at Cross Campus, an organisation devoted to helping entrepreneurs create jobs for young
Americans, Obama repeatedly
attacked his political opponents
as he tries to fend off a Republican takeover of the US Senate in
the upcoming elections.
On immigration, Obama said
he would proceed with plans
after the elections to do what
he can within his constitutional
power to help undocumented
workers in the United States.
He said that he would specifically make the H1B visa system
more efficient “to encourage
more folks to stay here”.
Obama held back from issuing executive actions on immigration at the end of the
summer because of public discontent with how he was handling a surge of child migrants
who swept across the US southern border.
Obama suggested this problem was largely under control.
He said that a failure to act on
comprehensive legislation by
Republicans will damage them
with an important voting bloc.
“If they were thinking longterm politically, it is suicide for
them not to do this, because the
demographics of the country
are such where you are going
to lose an entire generation of
immigrants” who feel that the
Republican Party “does not care
about me or my life”, Obama
said.
“I think the smarter Republicans understand this,” he said.
Obama said Tea Party conservatives are pressuring the
Republican rank and п¬Ѓle not to
take action in the short run, but
that he believes reform legislation will eventually pass during
the remaining two years of his
presidency.
“I think it’ll happen over the
next two years that eventually
Congress will see the light because the logic of it is too compelling,” Obama said.
Obama’s fundraiser at Paltrow’s home was the 56th such
event he has attended this year.
He has largely been relegated
to raising money for Democratic
congressional candidates rather
than appearing with him out of
concern that his unpopularity
could damage them.
Still, the huge amounts of
money he is raising is helping
pay for campaign advertising
that Democrats are using in the
last weeks of the campaign.
US president to declare LA-area mountains national monument
Reuters
Los Angeles
P
resident Barack Obama is
due to declare a swath of
the San Gabriel Mountains
near Los Angeles as a national
monument, the White House
said, following an 11-year effort
that got caught up in politics.
Along with the designation,
the US Forest Service will dedicate $1mn in educational staff,
graffiti removal and other longdeferred maintenance work, and
non-profit foundations have
committed an additional $3.5mn
for restoration and stewardship
of mountain areas.
The declaration is being made
at the request of Democratic
Representative Judy Chu, whose
legislation to protect the area is
stuck in Congress along with
other wilderness bills as Republicans and Democrats feud.
The 540sq mile section of the
Angeles National Forest to be
protected under the order attracts 3mn visitors a year, but
graffiti mars the landscape, and
the US Forest Service has little
money for signage or even restroom repair, said Chu, whose
district includes part of the area.
Legislation to protect the
mountains has been introduced
twice in Congress, once in 2003,
leading to a 10-year-study by
the US Park Service, and then in
June 2014, when Chu submitted
a bill to designate them a national recreation area.
After her bill became stuck
in a subcommittee, Chu asked
Obama to use his executive authority to declare part of the area
a national monument.
That angered some local officials and many Republicans,
who said it was an end-run
around Congress.
Judy Nelson, mayor of the
foothill city of Glendora, said
naming the area a national
monument instead of a national
recreation area could invoke different environmental protection
rules and affect businesses.
Obama’s declaration will affect only land already designated
as a national forest, and will not
include San Bernardino County,
whose governing body voted to
oppose the action.
Microsoft chief angers women over �karma’ pay comment
AFP/Reuters
San Francisco
M
icrosoft chief executive
Satya Nadella triggered
uproar on Thursday after suggesting working women
should trust “karma” when it
comes to securing pay raises.
Nadella was speaking during
an on-stage discussion at the
Grace Hopper Celebration of
Women in Computing conference in Arizona, when he made
the remarks.
Asked about advice for women interested in advancing careers but uncomfortable asking for pay increases, Nadella
was quoted as responding they
should just trust “that the system will actually give you the
right raises as you go along”.
He reportedly went on to contend that women who don’t ask
for pay raises have a “superpower” in the form of “good karma,
that’ll come back”.
Moderator Maria Klawe, a
college president and a member
of Microsoft’s board of directors,
pointedly disagreed with Nadella, triggering applause from the
audience.
Studies have consistently
shown women get paid less than
men doing the same jobs.
Klawe advised women listening to “do your homework” to
make sure their pay is on par
with that of male counterparts.
Nadella later scrambled to
damp down the controversy in a
response on Twitter.
“Was inarticulate re how
women should ask for a raise,”
Nadella said in a message п¬Ѓred
off at his @satyanadella Twitter account. “Our industry must
close gender pay gap so a raise is
not needed because of a bias.”
Nadella also reportedly sent
a memo to Microsoft employees apologising for suggesting
women rely on good karma instead of asking for raises, saying
his reply to the question earlier
was “completely wrong”.
Yet Nadella touched a nerve at
a time when Silicon Valley faces
renewed scrutiny over the gender pay gap, and a lack of diversity in both the workforce and
top management.
“The tech sector is still a
non-traditional
occupation
for women,” said Ariane Hegewisch, study director at the
Washington-based Institute for
Women’s Policy Research, which
monitors issues on women and
employment. “There’s not a lot
of evidence that karma has been
friendly to women in this area.”
Research earlier this year by
Joint Venture Silicon Valley, a
California think tank, found
that men in the region who hold
graduate or professional degrees
earn 73% more than women
with the same educational qualifications. The gap was 40% for
those with a bachelor’s degree.
An “Equal Pay Project” campaign launched this week calculated that American women
over the course of their careers
are paid $435,000 less than male
counterparts, adding up to a
staggering $29tn in aggregate.
In recent weeks, major tech
п¬Ѓrms have been looking at the
issue with “diversity reports”
that examine the composition of
the workforce.
Microsoft reported earlier this
month that its staff was only
29% women.
At Google, the п¬Ѓgure was
30%. For Facebook, the percentage of women was 31%, but just
15% in technical jobs.
According to research from
the National Centre for Women
and Information Technology,
citing census data, women obtained 18% of computer science
degrees in 2012, down from 37%
in 1985.
The report said women held
25% of jobs in the technology industry, down from 37% in 1990.
Some blame the male-dominated geek culture.
Researcher Catherine Ashcraft of the University of Colorado said that despite “a wealth of
educational efforts to promote
girls’ participation in computing”, there has been little increase in the number of women
in the п¬Ѓeld.
She said these programmes
often fall short because they
“take a narrow view of their purpose, ignoring important factors
that shape girls’ identities and
education/career choices – not
least broader narratives around
gender, race, and sexuality”.
The tech sector has its share
of well-known female CEOs –
Marissa Mayer at Yahoo!, Meg
Whitman at Hewlett-Packard,
and co-CEO Safra Catz at Oracle
– despite the small proportion in
the industry overall.
Hegewisch said that the tech
sector has become in some ways
Nadella: quickly backtracked.
more difficult for women since
the 1980s.
“The geek culture has gotten
stronger and the work-all-night
culture has gotten stronger, so
this might be pushing women
out,” Hegewisch told AFP.
She said women remain underrepresented in just about
every segment of the tech industry, in contrast to some other
п¬Ѓelds like п¬Ѓnance.
“Women might study math or
science, but they might go into
general business, because the
working conditions and culture
(in tech) are not that welcoming,” she said.
Nadella’s comments at the
Grace Hopper Celebration of
Women in Computing conference in Arizona was particularly
unfortunate.
But Hegewisch said that the
fact that Nadella made the slipup at a conference for women in
computing suggests he lacks a
grip on the issues.
“It shows he doesn’t really
have a clue about the debate,”
she said. “And it shows just how
far we have to go.”
Gulf Times
Saturday, October 11, 2014
8
ASEAN
Widodo seeks to ease fears
over political gridlock
Widodo, who takes
office on Oct 20, has
said the Indonesian
parliament’s leadership
has agreed to back
his plans to resolve
the fuel subsidy problem
as well as to improve
infrastructure
Reuters
Jakarta
P
resident-elect
Joko
Widodo yesterday sought
to reassure Indonesians
and foreign investors that his
relationship with parliament
over the next п¬Ѓve years would
be one of co-operation, not antagonism.
Stocks and the rupiah have
come under pressure this month
due to fears that Southeast
Asia’s largest economy would
face political gridlock after opposition lawmakers won control
over parliament.
Widodo, who takes office on
Oct 20, said parliament’s leadership agreed to back his plans
to resolve the fuel subsidy problem, improve infrastructure and
streamline government bu-
File photo shows Indonesian president-elect Joko Widodo run on the stage after delivering a speech in front of his supporters at Gelora Bung
Karno stadium in Jakarta.
reaucracy. “I don’t want there
to be any more questions about
obstruction,” Widodo told a
news conference which had
the attendance of the heads of
parliament.
“I believe (parliament) will
support fully what we will do
as a government in the future.
There are no problems.”
Setya Novanto, speaker of
the House of Representatives,
said they agreed that both sides
wanted “synergy between the
government and all chambers of
parliament”.
Following his inauguration,
Widodo said he will decide
as quickly as possible on how
best to confront the costly fuel
subsidy problem, the main
driver behind the country’s
current account deficit.
“I only have four bits of
homework - how to solve the
problem of fuel subsidies, infrastructure like roads, railways
and (ports) ... and bureaucratic
reforms, which means business
licenses, permits and regulations,” Widodo told Reuters after the news conference.
Opposition lawmakers led by
losing presidential candidate
Prabowo Subianto won parliament’s top jobs this month, and
with it control of the legislative
agenda.
Rising hostility from the opposition towards Widodo and
his coalition raised concerns
among investors and Indonesians that the president-elect’s
reforms could be blocked.
On
Tuesday,
Prabowo’s
brother and senior aide Hashim
Djojohadikusumo said his coalition would investigate alleged
wrongdoing when Widodo was
governor of the capital, Jakarta,
and mayor of the city of Solo.
Anniversary celebration
Unhealthy
levels
of haze
cover KL
DPA
Kuala Lumpur
U
nhealthy levels of smoky
haze yesterday covered
the Malaysian capital and
outlying areas due to fires in Indonesia’s provinces of Sumatra
and Kalimantan, government
data showed.
The Department of Environment recorded unhealthy levels
of air pollution in Kuala Lumpur,
the federal capital of Putrajaya
and several areas in the nearby
states of Selangor and Negeri
Simbilan.
Eight other states in the country have also registered moderate
levels of haze, the agency’s data
showed.
The agency’s air pollution index of between 0 and 50 is considered good; 51 and 100 moderate; 100 and 200 unhealthy; 200
and 300 very unhealthy. A reading of more than 300 is considered hazardous.
The latest data from Malaysia’s Meteorological department
showed there are 170 hotspots in
Sumatra and 170 hotspots in Kalimantan.
Smoke from land-clearing
п¬Ѓres in Sumatra and Kalimantan
is a perennial problem afflicting
the South-East Asian nations of
Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia during the dry season.
Malaysia
moves
event after
objections
DPA
Kuala Lumpur
M
alaysia moved a threeday Oktoberfest to a
smaller indoor venue
yesterday, amid hardliners’
calls to ban the annual Munichinspired beer event, organisers
said.
The last in a series of Bavarian-style events held by brewers
Carlsberg was to be held in front
of a shopping mall outside Kuala
Lumpur, but was moved the indoor car park to comply with
regulations.
Several religious groups this
week called for the Oktoberfest
parties to be banned altogether,
saying they tarnish Malaysia’s
Islamic image.
Nasrudin Hassan, a central
committee member of the Islamist opposition party PAS,
said the event “challenges the
sensitivities.”
The other parties in the series running since September 24
were held indoors.
“We would like to reiterate
that all Carlsberg Malaysia’s
events are strictly for nonMuslim consumers aged 18 and
above only,” Carlsberg said on its
Facebook page.
Performers dance during the 60th anniversary of the Hanoi Liberation Day celebrations in Hanoi, Vietnam yesterday.
Thai PM stands by probe into murders of British tourists
Reuters
Bangkok
T
hai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha defended
a police investigation into
the murder of two British tourists yesterday, amid criticism of
shoddy forensic work and concern that two arrested Myanmar men may have admitted the
crimes under duress.
Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Htun,
both 21, were arrested last week
for the murders of British backpackers Hannah Witheridge, 23,
and David Miller, 24.
The bodies were found on a
beach on the southern island of
Koh Tao, or Turtle Island, famous for its coral reefs and diving. Post-mortem examinations
by Thailand’s forensics department showed that Miller died
from drowning and blows to the
head while Witheridge died from
severe head wounds.
The killings have hurt Thailand’s vital tourism industry,
which accounts for 10% of gross
domestic product. The country
is under martial law after a May
coup and tourism is struggling to
recover from months of political
protests
“I would like the media to stop
speculation and let investigators do their work,” Prayuth told
reporters after landing back in
Bangkok following a two-day
visit to Myanmar.
“We must build foreign confidence and make Britain and other foreign nations understand.
They might be a little surprised
why the criminals were caught
so quickly. I myself was excited.
“I want all Thais to stop and
think that authorities have procedures in place. Nobody would
dare catch the wrong person because this is a case of big international interest.”
Police said the arrested men
had confessed to the crime - de-
Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha tours the grounds of Shwedagon Pagoda during his official visit
to Myanmar, in Yangon yesterday.
spite the fact that the two had
yet to appear in court to face any
charge and speak for themselves.
Around 10 protesters gathered
in front of City Hall in Myanmar’s capital Yangon yesterday
during Prayuth’s visit to the city
calling for a fair trial.
“I would like to urge our government to put pressure (on
Thailand) and get help from the
international community so that
the real story can be found out,”
said rights activist Nay Myo Zin.
Myanmar President Thein
Sein met Prayuth on Thursday
and urged him to offer the suspects as much protection as pos-
sible. “The entire people, the
media and the civic society in
this country are watching this
issue very attentively,” Thein
Sein said, according to an official
in the president’s office.
“I would like to ask for justice and fairness in handling this
case. It is also concerned with
our bilateral relations. Of course
they should be liable to punishment if they are really guilty, but
the trial should be based on fairness and justice.”
Responding to Thein Sein,
Prayuth said: “They are not the
culprits yet. We will handle this
case with special attention, very
fairly, so that we can win the
trust of Myanmar people and the
international community.”
The inquiry has been dogged
from the outset by contradictory
statements by officials.
Police were widely accused of
bungling the investigation, including chasing the wrong leads
and failing to seal off the crime
scene quickly enough, and pressure grew for them to solve the
crime quickly.
The suspects’ lawyer, Aung
Myo Thant, has called the case
a “set-up”. He was not available for comment. On Thursday
Khunying Porntip Rojanasunan,
director-general of the Central
Institute of Forensic Science,
questioned methodology used in
the case. “The weak point (in the
investigation) is that police do not
understand that the case requires
a forensic pathologist,” she was
quoted as saying by the Bangkok
Post English-language paper.
Police have strongly denied allegations of abuse during the investigation and have stressed the
importance of DNA evidence in
the case. DNA found on Witheridge matched samples taken
from the two men, police said.
Thai national police chief General Somyot Poompanmuang
has called the investigation “a
perfect job”.
Gulf Times
Saturday, October 11, 2014
9
AUSTRALASIA/EAST ASIA
TRAGEDY
ENVIRONMENT
INTERNET
CORRUPTION
SCIENCE
Coastguard shoot dead
fishing boat skipper
Days of heavy air pollution
blight northern China
Group threatens Beijing
with website blackout
Incentives offer to criminals
to give themselves up
Govt to fund more Antarctic
research over 20 years
The South Korean coastguard shot and killed
the Chinese skipper of a fishing boat yesterday
in a confrontation in the Yellow Sea, triggering
an angry protest from Beijing. A coastguard
spokesman said shots were fired as the vessel
was boarded for illegally fishing in South Korean
territorial waters, around 130 kilometres off the
western island of Wangdeung. “Dozens of Chinese
sailors attacked our officers with knives and beer
bottles,” said Choi Chang-Sam, chief of the Mokpo
Coastguard Station. “It was a dangerous situation.
One officer fired a warning shot but they did not
stop. So he fired several more rounds,” Choi said.
Days of heavy smog shrouding swathes of northern
China pushed pollution to more than 20 times
recommended limits yesterday, despite government
promises to tackle environmental blight. Visibility
dropped dramatically as measures of small pollutant
particles known as PM2.5, which can embed themselves deep in the lungs, reached more than 500
micrograms per cubic metre in parts of Hebei, a
province bordering Beijing. The World Health Organisation’s recommended daily maximum average exposure is 25. In the capital buildings were obscured
by a thick haze, with PM2.5 levels in the city staying
above 300 micrograms per cubic metre.
Anonymous, the nebulous online activist group
that uses hacking to further causes it supports,
has threatened a major blackout of Chinese and
Hong Kong government websites, and to leak
tens of thousands of government email address
details. The group, under the banner of �Operation Hong Kong’ or �#OpHongKong’ and �#OpHK’
on Twitter, said yesterday it will launch a mass
effort against Chinese government servers to
bring down their websites via Distributed Denial
of Service (DDoS) attacks today. DDoS attacks attempt to cripple networks by overwhelming them
with Internet traffic.
Corrupt Chinese officials who have fled abroad are
being offered reduced sentences and other incentives to give themselves up and return home, state
media said yesterday, as the government continues
its sweeping campaign against graft. Beijing has
long grappled with the issue of so-called “naked
officials” -- government workers whose husbands,
wives or children are all overseas -- who use foreign
family connections to illegally shift assets out of
China or to avoid investigation. Some estimates put
the number of Chinese officials and family members
moving assets offshore at more than 1mn in the
past five years.
Australia is to invest more on scientific research in
Antarctica over the next two decades and broaden
funding initiatives to include commercial and philanthropic partners, the government said. Environment
Minister Greg Hunt unveiled the 20-year Strategic
Antarctic Plan in Tasmania some 240 kilometres
south of the mainland and some 5,300kms from
the icy continent. He said Australia will acquire a
new icebreaker and promote Tasmania as an international gateway to Antarctica as part of the plan,
broadcaster ABC reported.“Along with the Bureau
of Meteorology super computer, the investment will
approach 500mn (Australian) dollars,” Hunt said.
HK protesters
digging in
for long haul
AFP
Hong Kong
T
Participants in co-ordinated colours wave national flags during Taiwan’s National Day celebrations in front of the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday.
Taiwan’s president voices
support for agitators
AFP
Taipei
T
aiwan’s President Ma
Ying-jeou
yesterday
called on Beijing to “let
some people go democratic
first” as he expressed support
for protesters who have paralysed parts of Hong Kong for
nearly two weeks.
Taiwan has been watching closely the events in Hong
Kong, where democracy activists are planning a fresh show
of force yesterday evening after
talks with the city’s government collapsed, deepening the
political crisis in the Asian п¬Ѓnancial hub.
Ma, in a speech marking
Koreas trade
border fire as
Kim fails to appear
The two Koreas traded heavy
machine-gun fire across their
border yesterday, as “missing” North Korean leader Kim
Jong-Un’s failed to attend a key
political event, fuelling further
speculation about his physical
health and political future.
No casualties were reported
in the exchange of fire which
South Korea said was triggered
by the North Korean military
trying to shoot down balloons
carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets
that were launched by activists
in the South around 2:00pm
(0500 GMT). Some rounds fell
on the South side which then
responded with high-calibre
machine gun fire “towards the
North’s guard posts,” a defence
ministry spokesman said.
There was a further exchange of
fire 10 minutes later, he added.
Local residents of Hwangsan-ri
township in the border area of
Yeoncheon were evacuated to
shelters as a precaution. While
naval confrontations along the
Koreas’ disputed maritime border
occur from time to time, any
military engagement across the
heavily-militarised land frontier is
extremely rare. In 2010, the North
shelled the South Korean border
island of Yeonpyeong, killing four
people and briefly sparking fears
of a full scale conflict.
Taiwan’s National Day, urged
Beijing to “convert a crisis into
opportunity” by fulfilling its
promise to grant civil liberties
in Hong Kong when former colonial power Britain handed the
city back in 1997.
“Thirty years ago, when
Deng Xiaoping was pushing for reform and opening up
in the mainland, he famously
proposed letting some people
get rich first. So why couldn’t
they do the same thing in Hong
Kong, and let some people go
democratic first?”
Ma said that in so doing,
“China would simply be making good on a pledge made 17
years ago, when they said that
for 50 years they would allow
rule of Hong Kong by the people
of Hong Kong, a high degree of
autonomy, and election of the
chief executive through universal suffrage”.
This would definitely be a
“win-win scenario” for both
China and Hong Kong, as well
as a huge boost for the development of relations between Taipei and Beijing, Ma added.
Taiwan in particular is concerned about the situation in
Hong Kong, as China wants to
reunite the island under a “one
country, two systems” deal
similar to Hong Kong.
Ma has sought to boost ties
with China since he took office
in 2008, but has rejected reunification under a Hong Kongstyle arrangement.
He recently renewed the re-
Australian tests
negative for Ebola
AFP
Sydney
I
nitial Ebola tests on an
Australian woman suffering from a fever following her return from a
month working with patients of the virus in Sierra Leone have come back
negative, officials said yesterday.
Queensland state chief
health officer Jeanette
Young said the 57-year-old
volunteer Red Cross nurse
would remain in observation in hospital in Cairns,
northeast Australia, for at
least 24 hours as a precautionary measure.
“For the sake of her
health and to follow due
diligence, we want to be
sure she is clear of Ebola
virus disease as well as any
other disease,” Young said
in a statement.
Queensland
Premier
Campbell Newman said the
result was encouraging but
that the World Health Organisation required three
full days of negative tests.
“Let’s keep our fingers
crossed for the patient involved,” he told reporters in
Canberra. The woman had
developed a “low-grade fever” on Thursday morning
and was put into isolation
at Cairns Hospital.
Named as Sue-Ellen Kovack by local media, she
had returned to Australia at
the weekend.
Kovack had been at home
in line with government
policy that anyone who
may have had contact with
Ebola patients must abide
by a 21-day incubation period alone at home.
Australia has seen a
handful of people displaying symptoms of Ebola following trips to Africa, but
none have so far proved
positive.
Ebola is not contagious
until symptoms appear.
The world’s largest outbreak of the disease has
killed 3,865 people out of
8,033 infected so far this
year, mainly in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, according to the World Health
Organisation’s latest count.
jection after Chinese President
Xi Jinping told a visiting Taiwanese delegation that “one
country, two systems” was the
best way to realise reunification.
In yesterday’s speech, Ma
said that “now is the most appropriate time” for China to
move toward constitutional
democracy, as the mainland
experiences rapid economic
growth and its people lead affluent lives.
“Now that the 1.3bn people
on the mainland have become
moderately wealthy, they will of
course wish to enjoy greater democracy and rule of law. Such a
desire has never been a monopoly of the West, but is the right
of all humankind.”
housands of pro-democracy supporters took to
Hong Kong’s streets last
night after protest leaders implored them to dig in for the long
haul following the collapse of
talks with the government.
The mass rally attracting an
estimated 15,000 drew the biggest crowd of the week, with
numbers swelling as the night
progressed and some demonstrators arriving with food, tents
and bedding as the protests
moved into their third week.
Crunch negotiations between
protesters and Beijing-backed
city officials were scheduled for
yesterday but fell apart Thursday
after the government pulled out,
blaming protesters for threatening to expand their campaign.
Demonstrators are calling for
Beijing to grant the former British colony full democracy and
for the city’s Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying to resign.
Under plans unveiled by China
in August, Hong Kong’s citizens
will be able to vote for Leung’s
successor in 2017, but only twoto-three vetted candidates will
be allowed to stand — something
detractors have dismissed as a
“fake democracy”.
As yesterday evening progressed the crowd of demonstrators grew from around 7,000
to 10,000 and then to more than
an estimated 15,000 at the main
protest site, a stretch of highway
opposite the city government’s
headquarters, an AFP reporter
on the scene said.
During the rally pro-democracy leaders gave speeches, protesters chanted “Keep occupying” and sang the Cantonese
version of a revolution anthem
from hit musical Les Miserables
“Do You Hear The People Sing?”.
Activists are banking on mus-
Pro-democracy protesters block a main road during a rally outside the
government headquarters in Hong Kong yesterday.
tering significant numbers over
the weekend and also potentially
expanding their sit-ins to keep
pressure on the government.
“I miss my bed at home but to
struggle for democracy I call for
everyone here to continue staying here,” Occupy Central cofounder Benny Tai said.
The crowds were smaller than
the tens of thousands attending last week but the protest has
begun to take on an air of permanence, with tents, portable
showers and even the occasional
bed.
“I will continue to stay here
until the government talks to us,”
Yuki Law, a 21-year-old nursing
student said.
“The government has never
responded to the citizens so we
want to support the movement
until the government has a real
response for us,” 27-year-old
human resources officer Vincy
Chan said.
She said the government’s
refusal to engage had backfired
and brought more people out to
protest.
Student leaders yesterday
insisted they were still open to
п¬Ѓnding a middle ground with
the government but vowed no let
up in their occupation of parts
of Hong Kong despite growing
public anger over the disruption
they have caused.
Hong Kong Federation of
Students general secretary Alex
Chow told the crowd: “A lot of
people tell us to give up and to go
but when we look back at history
10 to 20 years from now we will
see that Hong Kong people are
making a new history.”
“Come to occupy the road
outside the public headquarters,
come bring your tents to show
our persistence on long term
occupy action,” student leader
Joshua Wong told supporters.
But if Hong Kong’s leadership were rattled by the prospect of renewed large-scale
protests they showed little sign
of it.
City officials said yesterday
Chief Secretary Carrie Lam
-- who had been due to lead
the talks with students -- will
leave for Guangzhou today on
official business while Leung
will head there Sunday.
Analysts warned that the
collapse of the talks pushes the
confrontation between democracy protesters and the government into a dangerous phase,
with neither side willing to
back down.
Japan braces as super typhoon
Vongfong heads to Okinawa
Reuters
Tokyo
J
apan was bracing yesterday
for its strongest storm this
year, a super typhoon powering north towards the Okinawa
island chain that threatens to
rake a wide swathe of the nation
with strong winds and torrential
rain.
Typhoon Vongfong, which
at one point rivalled last year’s
devastating Haiyan in strength,
was weakening slightly as it
moved across the open ocean,
but still packed winds gusting as
high as 259 kph (160 mph).
“There is no question that it
is an extremely large, extremely
powerful typhoon,” said an official at Japan’s Meteorological
Agency (JMA).
“It’s the strongest storm we’ve
had this year, definitely, although it has lost some strength
from its peak.”
The storm, which will be Japan’s second typhoon in a week,
was south of Okinawa, and moving north at 15 kph (9 mph) with
Huge waves generated by typhoon Vongfong hit the coast in
Tamagusuku, Nanjo city, on the island of Okinawa yesterday.
sustained winds of 185 kph (114
mph) as of yesterday afternoon,
the agency said.
The typhoon is moving extremely slowly, which raises the
danger of landslides and flooding.
It was likely to be closest to
Okinawa, an island chain 1,600
km (1,000 miles) southwest of
Tokyo, and the home of the largest contingent of US troops in
Japan, late today or early tomorrow.
Television broadcast images
of residents of Minami Daitojima, an island southeast of
Okinawa, boarding up windows
ahead of the storm.
Government officials were set
to meet to co-ordinate their response, Chief Cabinet Secretary
Yoshihide Suga told a regular
news conference.
“We are calling on all citizens
to pay close attention to weather
reports and respond promptly if
the authorities advise them to
evacuate,” Suga said.
The typhoon was expected
to weaken as it moved north,
however, and likely to hit land
on Sunday on the westernmost
main island of Kyushu, before
moving northeast towards Japan’s largest main island of Honshu, where it is likely to weaken
into a tropical storm. Tokyo was
set for heavy rain, at the worst.
Tropical Storm Risk, which
tracks typhoons, labelled Vongfong as a Category 4 typhoon,
set to weaken to Category 2 before hitting Kyushu.
There are no nuclear plants
on Okinawa, but there are two
on Kyushu and one on Shikoku
island, which borders Kyushu
and may be hit. All are currently halted in line with national
policy. The Fukushima Daiichi
nuclear plant, crippled by an
earthquake and tsunami in 2011,
is on the other side of the country, which is likely to see rain at
the worst.
10
Gulf Times
Saturday, October 11, 2014
BRITAIN
CRIME
LEGAL
CONTROVERSY
OFFBEAT
STUNT
Former air force officer
convicted of sex abuse
Defendant in closed-doors
terror trial admits charge
Ofsted chief hits
back at critics
Cafe serving discarded
food opens in Bristol
Brands Hatch rogue
driver could face jail
A court martial has convicted a former air force
officer of a range of sex offences committed
while he was based in Germany in the 1980s.
Former Royal Air Force (RAF) technician Eddie
Graham pleaded guilty to 16 offences, and was
found guilty of seven more. Graham committed
the crimes in RAF Gatow in Berlin between 1981
and 1989, and the investigation centred around
11 possible victims. He left the RAF a decade
ago. He was convicted of indecency with a child
and six counts of indecent assault on men, and
will return to be sentenced on November 10.
The RAF said a number of investigations into
historical sexual offences were ongoing.
A judge lifted reporting restrictions on a court case
in which a British man had admitted possessing
a bomb-making document on a memory card.
Mounir Rarmoul-Bouhadjar, 26, had entered the
guilty plea at the Old Bailey on Tuesday. He was
cleared of the charge of possessing an improperly
obtained passport. He was arrested along with Erol
Incedal, also 26, who is charged with terrorismrelated offences. The Crown Prosecution Service
had asked for the trial to be held without media
reporting, on grounds of national security. But the
Appeal Court turned down that application and
also ruled that the two suspects - previously known
only as AB and CD - could be named.
Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw has insisted he
did not take up the role to “curry favour” following
reports that ministers and senior government
officials considered replacing him amid frustrations
over his performance. Wilshaw said he would not
allow the school’s watchdog to be politicised, and
would not be swayed from making tough decisions
to raise education standards. His comments come
after a leaked department for education memo
revealed that discussions had been held about
the “serious and growing problem” of Ofsted and
Wilshaw’s abilities. The document was signed by
Dominic Cummings, then special adviser to former
education secretary Michael Gove.
A cafГ© dishing up meals made from thrown-away
supermarket food rescued from waste skips has
opened in Bristol. Discarded food from some of
the city’s restaurants is also being recycled at
Bristol’s newest eatery, Skipchen, a play on the
word kitchen, Xinhua reported. Eager diners are
happy to munch their way through thrown-away
food, especially as they themselves will decide how
much, if anything, they should pay for their meals.
Skipchen is being run as a not-for-profit cafe by
campaigners who want to highlight the amount
of edible food thrown away every day. The menu,
which changes daily, has already included lobster,
gorgonzola omelettes and seafood platters.
A labourer faces jail after pleading guilty to
driving a Volkswagen Polo at high-speed on to the
Brands Hatch circuit during a race. Jack Cottle, 22,
hit speeds of up to 100mph with two passengers
on board after gatecrashing an endurance race
at the famous track in Kent on June 14. Maidstone
Crown Court heard he performed the stunt after
being dared by friends in a “foolish prank”, putting
the lives of racers in danger. Cottle, dressed in a
navy suit, pleaded guilty to “causing a nuisance
to the public by driving on to the race track at
Brands Hatch whilst an endurance race was in
progress”. Defence counsel Ailsa Williamson said
Cottle was “an immature man.”
Questions
raised
on Ebola
screening
Ukip gains
п¬Ѓrst elected
MP with
Clacton win
Agencies
London
Q
uestions have been raised
about government plans
to introduce enhanced
screening for Ebola at major airports and terminals, after Gatwick said it knew nothing about
the measures.
The move has also been criticised by health experts, with
one describing it as a “complete
waste of time”.
Further details of what the
screening would involve were
not available from Public Health
England yesterday.
Checks are to take place at
Heathrow, Gatwick and Eurostar terminals, but a spokesman
for Gatwick said yesterday that
the airport had not been given
any instructions about how the
screening should be carried out.
“We’ve not had anything at
all,” he said. “We’re still waiting
for Public Health England (to let
us know).”
David Mabey, professor of
communicable diseases at the
London School of Hygiene and
Tropical Medicine, said the
screening was a “complete waste
of time”.
“Firstly, there won’t be anyone
coming from these (West African) countries because all direct
flights have been cancelled,” he
said. “Are they going to screen
everyone from Brussels, Paris,
Frankfurt and Amsterdam? That
would lead to a lot of delays and
disruption.
“Secondly, why would anyone admit that they have been
in contact with someone when
they’re in a hurry to get through
immigration control when they
arrive at the airport? “People
will have been screened before
getting on flights and may seem
to be healthy if they’re not yet
showing symptoms.
“And then what will they do if
they think they do have Ebola?
Lock them up in solitary confinement?”
Mabey said that instead, the
government should be concentrating on increasing awareness
of what people should do if they
think they might be at risk.
Reuters
Clacton-on-Sea
B
Newly-elected UK Independence Party MP Douglas Carswell and party leader Nigel Farage pose for
pictures outside the party’s local office in Clacton-on-Sea yesterday.
Jimmy Page brings rock
era to life in new book
Reuters
London
T
ruth be told, it will take a
pretty strong fan of Jimmy
Page and his erstwhile band
Led Zeppelin to buy the celebrated
rock guitarist’s new book.
Weighing in at just shy of
3kg (more than six-and-a-half
pounds) and containing some 650
photographs, “Jimmy Page” is appropriately heavy for the man who
popularised the hard-rock guitar
riff.
It is also quite costly at a recommended ВЈ40 in Britain and $60 in
the US.
But fans are fans and when a farpricier limited-edition was published a few years ago, it sold out
quickly.
It is clear, in an interview with
Reuters, that Page is proud of the
new, updated book, which begins with a picture of him singing
sweetly as a choirboy and ends
with him greyed and beaming,
clutching his favourite guitar.
“It’s an awful term, but it’s a
journey,” said Page, now 70. “You
see the changes in fashion, you see
the changes in guitars, you see the
changes in attitude. You see this
man growing and gaining years as
he goes on this journey.”
The book is far from a typical autobiography. There are few
words and those that are there are
used primarily to link hundreds of
pictures tracing Page’s life from
skiffle-playing youngster through
The Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin to
his solo career, the performance on
a London bus at the 2008 Beijing
Olympics and his 2012 Kennedy
Center culture award.
“It just goes to show a career in
music,” he said. “When I see autobiographies or biographies of musicians I always look to see what
photographs they have chosen.”
This does, perhaps unintentionally, allow the book to skim
over some of the wilder sex, drugs
and rock �n’ roll episodes in his
history.
But the pictures of frenzied
stage performances interspersed
with quite exhausting world travel
do not suggest a bunch of choir-
boys on a church outing.
All the famous gigs are there
such as Wembley in 1971, Knebworth in 1979 and the 2007 reunion, but there are many more obscure moments, such as meeting
Andy Warhol, playing in a Danish
club in 1968 as The New Yardbirds, and jamming with rapper
Puff Daddy.
Belying the stereotype of a
hard-living rock legend, Page is
now a slim, healthy-looking nondrinker who calls a quiet Thamesside English village home. He says
he gave up drinking because he did
not want his young children to see
him drunk, and then never have
done.
Page is quite sentimental about
some things. Pointing to the Gibson Les Paul Standard guitar he is
holding in the book’s last picture,
he says: “I got that guitar in 1969
and I played it all the way through.
Most people, they substitute it
with another one, but even at the
O2 (reunion concert) I was playing that. If I was going out playing
next year, I would be playing that
guitar.”
ritain’s anti-EU UK Independence Party (Ukip) won
its п¬Ѓrst elected seat in parliament yesterday by a landslide
and came a close second in another vote, proving it poses a threat to
the country’s two main parties in a
national election next year.
Ukip, which wants a British EU
withdrawal and strict curbs on
immigration, was expected to do
well in both votes. But the unexpectedly wide margin of its victory in the seaside town of Clacton and its strong performance in
an election in northern England,
which it almost won too, came as
a surprise.
In Clacton, it won 60% of the
vote after the sitting parliamentarian for Prime Minister David
Cameron’s Conservatives defected to Ukip, which didn’t put up a
candidate for the area when it was
last contested in 2010.
In Heywood and Middleton, in
northern England, a traditional
stronghold for the opposition Labour party, Ukip got almost 39%
of the vote, up from less than 3%
in 2010.
“There is nothing that we cannot achieve,” Douglas Carswell,
Clacton’s new Ukip member of
parliament, told supporters.
Quoting Abraham Lincoln’s
Gettysburg Address, Carswell
said he backed “government of
the people, by the people, for the
people.”
“The governing can no longer
presume to know what is right
for the governed,” he said immediately after he was declared the
winner.
Art installation
“Crony corporatism is not the
free market. Cosy cartel politics
is not meaningful democracy.
Change is coming.”
There is little prospect for now
of Ukip winning more than a half
a dozen of 650 seats in a national
election in May next year. But
its success threatens to split the
centre-right vote and chip away at
the traditional left-wing vote too
making it harder for any one party
to win an outright majority.
That increases the likelihood of
a hung parliament, another coalition government, and potential
political instability in the world’s
sixth largest economy.
Grant Shapps, the chairman
of the Conservatives, said Ukip’s
success, if repeated next year,
would hand victory to Labour
leader Ed Miliband.
“This is an alarm clock moment. This is a stark message,” he
told BBC radio. “If what has happened on Thursday night were
repeated in 210 days at a general
election and you saw Conservative become Ukip seats what you’d
have is Ed Miliband in government.”
Farage calls for ban on immigrants with HIV
HIV campaigners yesterday said
Ukip leader Nigel Farage should
be “truly ashamed” after calling
for an immigration ban on people
carrying the virus. The Terrence
Higgins Trust, Britain’s oldest HIV
and Aids charity, said comments
made by the leader of the anti-EU
UK Independence Party as polls
were closing in the Clacton byelection—won by his candidate
Douglas Carswell - displayed a
“new level of ignorance”. “The
idea that having HIV should be
used as a black mark against
someone’s name is ridiculous
and shows an outrageous lack of
understanding of the issue,” said
the charity’s Rosemary Gillespie.
“In bracketing those living with
the condition with murderers,
and suggesting there is no place
for them in his vision of Britain,
Farage has stooped to a new
level of ignorance. He should be
truly ashamed,” she added.
May defends Top Gear
in number plate row
Agencies
London
T
Chelsea pensioner Albert Willis plants a ceramic
poppy amongst other poppies that form part of the art
installation called “Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red”
at the Tower of London. The evolving art installation,
which will be completed on November 11, will create a
commemoration for the centenary of World War I.
Ukip’s success is likely to
raise pressure on Cameron
to become more Eurosceptic,
three years before a referendum on EU membership which
he has promised to hold if reelected.
Douglas Carswell, a Eurosceptic, defected from the Conservatives in August, triggering
Thursday’s Clacton vote.
He switched allegiance because he said he doubted the
prime minister’s determination
to reform the EU.
Cameron has promised to try
to renegotiate Britain’s EU relationship before offering voters
an in/out membership referendum in 2017. But some of his
own lawmakers are sceptical
about his resolve to push for real
change, viewing his promise as
a tactical move to try to hold his
divided party together.
With a population of 53,000,
Clacton, once a thriving seaside resort, began to decline as
Britons turned to cheap foreign
package holidays in the 1980s. It
now earns its keep from retirees
and day trippers from London.
op Gear presenter James
May said the show would
never “mock people
about their war casualties” and
insisted a controversial number
plate which sparked protests in
Argentina did not refer to the
Falklands War.
The show’s crew had to
leave the country during filming after trouble erupted when
it emerged they were using a
Porsche with the registration
number H982 FKL, which some
people suggested could refer to
the Falklands conflict of 1982.
May told Absolute Radio’s
Christian
O’Connell
they
bought the car - complete with
the number plate - in the UK
because it was the best available vehicle of its type and he
said he had not even noticed
the plate until it was mentioned
online.
He said: “How could we have
done it deliberately? All we’ve
done is buy some secondhand
cars.
“It’s actually meaningless if
you look at it. You have to want
to see the meaning.”
The team from the BBC2 show
were in South America п¬Ѓlming
a special on a remote highway
passing through Chile and Argentina.
May said: “We do mess about
but we weren’t going there to
mock people about their war
casualties.” He said they decided
to change the plate once they had
finished filming on the country’s
roads, but it had not been possible to do it earlier.
He said: “Go outside and
change the number plate on your
car and then see what happens
the next time you meet a policeman. You just can’t do that.”
The programme has already
run into problems this year, with
one edition found to be in breach
of Ofcom’s broadcasting code
for the use of a racially-offensive
term during a two-part special
п¬Ѓlmed in Burma, following a
complaint from a viewer.
And presenter Jeremy Clarkson apologised after footage, that
was never broadcast, emerged in
which he appeared to use the nword, although he denied actually saying it.
Gulf Times
Saturday, October 11, 2014
11
EUROPE
Health workers
heckle Rajoy at
Ebola hospital
Reuters
Madrid
S
panish health workers
angry about the government’s handling of an Ebola
outbreak jeered Prime Minister
Mariano Rajoy and pelted his car
with surgical gloves yesterday at
a Madrid hospital where a nurse
lay seriously ill with the virus.
Recriminations are growing
over how nurse Teresa Romero
became the п¬Ѓrst person to contract the virus outside West
Africa, but Rajoy said it was extremely unlikely that the disease – which has already killed
more than 4,000 people – would
spread in Spain.
Seven more people were admitted to a specialist isolation
unit at the Carlos III hospital
on Thursday, taking to 14 the
number of people now under observation or being treated there,
including Romero’s husband.
“Our first priority is Teresa
Romero – she is the only person
that we know has the illness,” Rajoy told reporters on the steps of
the hospital.
Tempers are fraying over the
case, with labour unions accusing the government of trying to
deflect the blame onto the nurse
for the failings of its health system.
The health workers who have
been protesting outside the hospital this week heckled Rajoy as
he left the news conference in a
motorcade.
The seven new admissions late
on Thursday included two hairdressers who had given Romero
a beauty treatment before she
was diagnosed, and hospital staff
who had treated the 44-year-old
nurse after she was admitted on
Monday.
All had come voluntarily to
be monitored for signs of the
disease, although none of those
tested positive so far for except
Romero, whose condition was
described by the hospital as serious but stable.
Rajoy said he had set up a committee headed by the deputy
prime minister to handle the
crisis, п¬Ѓve days after news п¬Ѓrst
broke of Romero’s infection.
Romero was infected in the
hospital as she treated two Spanish missionaries who caught the
fever in West Africa and subsequently died, and she remained
undiagnosed for days despite reporting her symptoms.
Yesterday the nurse’s husband
could be seen staring out of the
window of his hospital room,
dressed in a blue surgical robe.
Concern has risen elsewhere
in Europe after Macedonia said
it was checking for Ebola in a
British man who died there on
Thursday, although authorities
said alcohol, not Ebola, may have
killed the man.
A Prague hospital was testing
a 56-year-old Czech man with
Health workers shout and throw gloves at Rajoy’s convoy after his visit to Madrid’s Carlos III hospital.
symptoms of the virus.
The Ebola virus causes fever, vomiting and diarrhoea and
sometimes internal bleeding, and
is spread through direct contact
with body fluids.
About half of those infected in
West Africa have died.
The European Union has asked
Spain to explain how the virus could have been spread on a
high-security ward.
The top regional health official
in Madrid, Javier Rodriguez, has
said that Romero took too long to
admit she had made a mistake by
touching her face with the glove
of her protective suit while taking it off.
“She has taken days to recognise that she may have made a
mistake when taking off the suit.
If she had said it earlier, it would
have saved a lot of work,” he said
in a radio interview.
El Mundo newspaper published a cartoon yesterday showing Rajoy and other officials of
his People’s Party pointing at the
nurse under the caption: “Protocol for passing on blame.”
“They will find any way to
Russian paper
receives warning
31 killed in Turkey
violence: minister
AFP
Ankara
A
t least 31 people have been
killed and 360 others injured in demonstrations
during a four day “spiral of violence” led by pro-Kurdish protesters against Turkey’s policy
on Syria, officials said yesterday.
But Turkish President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan pledged that despite the violence, the authorities would press on with efforts
to make peace with Kurdish
rebels who have a waged a 30year insurgency for self-rule in
eastern Turkey.
Interior Minister Efkan Ala
told reporters that 31 people
had been killed in the demonstrations, which left a trail of
destruction and prompted the
army to impose a curfew in parts
of southeast Turkey.
In addition, two police officers
were shot dead in the southern
city of Bingol late on Thursday
while inspecting the scene of a
demonstration, he confirmed.
Bingol province’s police chief
was seriously wounded in the
attack.
Five “terrorists” suspected of
gunning them down were them-
Erdogan: I have risked my own
neck in the peace process.
selves killed by the security forces, Ala added.
“This spiral of violence should
immediately be stopped,” he
said in a statement in Ankara.
“Everyone should do their part
to put an end to these incidents.
We should all stand in solidarity
with each other.”
Ala said that clashes broke out
in 35 cities, and 221 civilians and
139 security officials including
police were wounded.
More than 1,000 people were
detained and 58 people have formally been arrested for their involvement in the protests which
caused damage to 212 schools, he
said.
The violence, which has been
concentrated in southeastern
Turkey but also flared in Istanbul
and Ankara, has been among the
worst rioting seen in the country
in years.
The official toll has already
well exceeded the number of
eight people confirmed to have
been killed in the May-June 2103
nationwide protests against the
ruling party.
According to the official Anatolia agency, most of the deaths
occurred in Diyarbakir, Turkey’s
main Kurdish city, where 11 people were killed.
The fatalities were mainly
concentrated in the southeast
of Turkey but one person died in
protests in Istanbul, it said.
The latest deaths happened
late on Thursday in the southeastern province of Gaziantep,
where at least four people died
in clashes between rival groups
armed with rifles, pistols and
axes, the Dogan news agency reported.
The demonstrators responded
to a call late on Monday by Turkey’s main pro-Kurdish party
for protests against the government’s lack of action to stop the
Syrian border town of Kobane
falling to jihadists.
But Erdogan said the govern-
A relative cries yesterday during the funeral ceremony of Atif Sahin, a police officer who was killed in
eastern Turkish city of Bingol on Thursday, in Ankara. Two officers were killed and a provincial police
chief was wounded in an attack in Turkey’s eastern province of Bingöl on Thursday in what is reported
to be an attack targeting the police chief. The three policemen came under attack in the city center
where they were inspecting the shops damaged in protests that swept through Turkey’s predominantly
Kurdish southeast earlier this week over the government’s policy on Islamic State (IS) militants.
ment would continue efforts to
make peace with the outlawed
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK),
whose supporters were heavily
involved in the recent violence.
Erdogan said that he would
work for an agreement to make
peace with the Kurds until “my
last breath”, blaming the protests
on “thugs and terrorists” who
wanted to disrupt the process.
“I have risked my own neck in
the peace process,” Erdogan said
in a speech in the Black Sea city
of Trabzon.
“I have put my mind and heart
to it. And I will keep п¬Ѓghting for
it until my last breath. Because I
know that this nation is standing
behind us,” he added in the televised speech.
The PKK has largely observed
a ceasefire since March 2013 and
the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has kept up
contacts with Kurdish politicians even amid the protests.
The PKK’s armed wing, the
People’s Defence Force (HPG),
said in a statement that its forces
Poroshenko replaces Donetsk governor with general
AFP
Kiev
U
kraine’s president has
п¬Ѓred a millionaire businessman who failed to
stop the advance of pro-Russian
rebels while governor of wartorn Donetsk and replaced him
with a hardline nationalist general.
Sergiy Taruta was one of several pro-Western tycoons put
in charge of restless Russianspeaking provinces after the revolution that ousted a Kremlinbacked president in February.
The office of President Petro
Poroshenko said Taruta has been
replaced as Donetsk governor by
former troop commander Oleksandr Kykhtenko.
Some analysts speculate the
ex-general’s appointment means
Poroshenko is planning a tougher
approach to dealings with the
rebels and the Kremlin.
“Poroshenko
now
needs
someone who can establish stability,” said Kiev political analyst
Volodymyr Fesenko. “The oligarch failed. Now its the strongman’s turn.”
Taruta has faced a tough time
in as governor, having been
booted out of his seat of power
in Donetsk in April by rebels who
proclaimed independence and
allegiance to Russia.
This handout picture taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service shows President
Poroshenko visiting the Ukrainian defence line near the town of Kurahovo in the Donetsk region.
Poroshenko has fired a millionaire businessman who failed to stop the advance of pro-Russian rebels
while governor of war-torn Donetsk and replaced him with a hardline nationalist general.
The 59-year-old oil and metals magnate – valued at $600mn
(€475mn) by Forbes magazine
last year – tried repeatedly to
mediate an end to the conflict.
But he reportedly angered Poroshenko by criticising his decision to grant limited autonomy
to the rebels in a ceasefire agreement last month.
Taruta demanded that martial
law be proclaimed in Donetsk
and the neighbouring rebel-run
region of Luhansk – decision
Poroshenko resisted because it
would have automatically frozen
the delivery of an urgent IMF rescue loan.
Various Kiev media speculated that Poroshenko made up
his mind earlier this week when
Taruta overstepped his authority by urging Russian President
Vladimir Putin in a birthday
greeting to halt his “artificial”
war on Ukraine.
The Kremlin has repeatedly
denied masterminding the conflict as payback for Ukraine’s decision to leave Russia’s orbit and
blame her,” Romero’s brother,
Jose Ramon, told the daily El
Pais. “Basically, my sister did her
job ... and she has become infected with Ebola.”
One union representative said
yesterday that health workers
from doctors to ambulance drivers were worried about their lack
of training in how to deal with
Ebola patients.
“Finding staff to work voluntarily (in the isolation unit) is
very difficult,” said Jose Manuel
Freire, spokesman for a health
workers’ union.
tie its future to the West.
But Poroshenko has said he
must keep his relations with Putin civil in order to stem bloodshed that has claimed 3,400
lives.
Kykhtenko will immediately be
tasked with making sure the industrial province can safely open
polling stations for October 26
general elections.
The rebels have vowed to disrupt the vote and intend to stage
their own election next month.
Kiev and its Western allies have
denounced the move as illegitimate and in violation of the
shaky September 5 peace deal.
Kykhtenko has developed a
reputation as a respected commander who fought the endemic
graft that brought the former
Soviet state’s once-proud armed
forces to its knees.
His units were charged with
protecting sensitive state facilities and fighting the mafia bosses
who infiltrated the coal mines
and steel mills that have been
fuelling Ukraine’s economy for
more than a century.
The 58-year-old currently
heads the parliamentary election
list of a small nationalist party
called Strength and Honour.
His party colleague Igor
Smeshko was recently named
the president’s surveillance and
intelligence adviser – seen as another sign of Poroshenko trying
to project an image of strength
ahead of the election.
“Today, the region needs a
military commander rather than
an administrator,” said political
consultant Taras Berezovets.
“In my opinion, Ukraine has
lost control over the area for the
next п¬Ѓve or 10 years, and now
(Poroshenko) needs to make sure
it does not turn into another
Chechnya,” he said in reference
to a separatist southern region of
Russia that remained lawless for
nearly 20 years.
had no link to the attack on the
security forces in Bingol.
The PKK’s jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan had given the
government until October 15 to
set out a roadmap for the peace
process and there were no plans
for attacks, it said.
Some of the deadly violence
has also been blamed on clashes
between PKK supporters and
backers of the Kurdish Sunni
fundamentalist group Huda-Par
which is sympathetic to Islamic
State jihadists.
Russia’s media watchdog has
accused opposition newspaper
Novaya Gazeta of violating antiextremism laws and issued it with
a formal warning, the paper said
yesterday.
Novaya Gazeta, founded by
former Soviet leader Mikhail
Gorbachev and renowned for
its hard-hitting investigations
and critical attitude towards the
Kremlin, had been among the
favourites to win the Nobel Peace
Prize awarded yesterday.
Media in Russia, especially
television broadcasters, are
tightly controlled, and President
Vladimir Putin has been
consolidating the state’s grip
on print and the Internet, where
some dissenting opinions can still
be expressed.
The paper’s editor, Sergei
Sokolov, said he was worried that
the move might be part of a coordinated state crackdown.
Under Russian law, the paper
could be closed if it receives a
second warning within 12 months.
“In principle it all could have
been funny, if not for that strange
judicial system that Russia has.
Because if it turns out to be some
co-ordinated campaign then
it will be very difficult for us to
defend,” he said.
Novaya Gazeta said on its website
that its lawyers were studying the
letter closely.
The warning comes a few weeks
after lawmakers approved a
Kremlin-backed law that will
sharply curtail foreign ownership
in the media industry.
Kiev to launch purge
Reuters
Kiev
U
kraine will soon begin
mass firings of state officials who served under disgraced Moscow-backed
leader Viktor Yanukovych and
feathered their nests through
corruption, the government said
yesterday.
Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk, with an eye to an October
26 parliamentary election that
Ukraine’s pro-Western leaders hope will turn a new page in
the country’s murky post-independence history, unveiled plans
for a “full clean-out” of government, law enforcement, the
courts and state security.
The so-called “lustration”,
which could lead to up to 1mn
civil servants being sacked,
would begin to bite within the
next 10 days, Justice Minister
Pavlo Petrenko said.
“We are 20 years late with this
law, but better late than never,”
Yatseniuk said, referring to the
years since independence from
the Soviet Union in 1991 which
have been tainted by endemic
corruption.
“It almost seemed that the
main way of getting rich in the
country was to get into power,”
he told a government meeting.
The lustration follows the
models of other east and central
European countries such as the
Czech Republic, Poland and Germany which used similar methods to purge vestiges of communist rule after the end of the Cold
War.
On the eve of a crucial election, with a separatist conflict in
eastern Ukraine still unresolved,
it also meets the rallying calls of
“Euromaidan” activists whose
protests chased Yanukovych and
his allies from power in February.
The Euromaidan movement
commands moral authority,
enhanced by the fact that 100
demonstrators were shot dead by
police.
So although opinion polls
show President Petro Poroshenko’s bloc will perform strongly in this month’s election, he
wants to be sure of its supporters’ votes.
The latest poll by the GfK research group suggested his bloc
would win 29.9% of the vote,
far ahead of the second-placed
party of former prime minister
Yulia Tymoshenko and the Radical Party, led by a populist politician, Oleh Lyashko.
Justice Minister Petrenko said
those targeted by the law, which
Poroshenko signed on Thursday,
would include officials at minister and deputy minister level who
had served under Yanukovych for
more than one year.
12
Gulf Times
Saturday, October 11, 2014
INDIA
CRIME
PROBE
HEARING
PEOPLE
CHARITY
Five women gang-raped
at gun-point in Bihar
NIA takes up Burdwan
blast investigation
Court asks CBI if it intends
to quiz Chidambaram
Software engineer goes
missing in Hyderabad
Five Tamil stars to
work in film for free
Five women have been allegedly gang-raped
at a gun-point by three men in Bihar’s Bhojpur
district, police said yesterday. Two of the three
accused have been arrested so far, police said.
The incident took place at Kurmuri village
in Bhojpur and a case has been registered.
Bhojpur is located about 60 km from Patna.
All the victims were rag-pickers, residents of
Dumaria village, and went to Kurmuri to sell
their scraps to a dealer on Wednesday evening.
According to police, the victims had decided to
stay back in Kurmuri as it was late. “Three men
with pistols raped them and threatened them
not to inform anyone about the incident,” a
police official said.
Formally taking over the probe of the October 2
explosion in West Bengal›s Burdwan district, the
National Investigation Agency (NIA) yesterday
registered a case under relevant anti-terrorism
laws. The union home ministry on Thursday
directed the NIA to take over the probe of
the explosion, which took place in a house in
Burdwan›s Khagragarh, killing two suspected
militants and injuring another. The case will
be investigated by its Kolkata branch. The NIA
said the two people killed В«are believed to be
members of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen BangladeshВ».
An NIA team also held a meeting at the
headquarters of the West Bengal CID (Criminal
Investigation Department)
The Supreme Court yesterday asked the Central
Bureau of Investigation (CBI) if it proposed to
examine former finance minister P Chidambaram
on the clearance given to the Aircel-Maxis deal
over which charges had been filed some time
ago. BJP leader Subramaniam Swamy told the
court that while charges on deal had already
been been filed, there seemed to be no progress
on CBI’s part to seek clarifications on the nod
given by the Foreign Investment Promotion
Board (FIPB) at Chidambaram’s behest. The
apex court bench asked senior counsel K.K.
Venugopal, appearing for the CBI, to apprise the
court on this count at the next hearing, fixed for
October 16.
A software engineer has gone missing after
leaving for office and special teams have been
formed to trace her, police in Hyderabad said
yesterday. Bhavya Sri Charitha, an employee
of Open Texts located in Hitec City, had left
for the office from her house at KPHB Colony
on Thursday morning. Her husband Kartik
Chaitanya lodged a complaint with police after
she did not return home till late night and her
mobile phone was found switched off. He made
inquiries at the office, which revealed that she
did not turn up for duty. Bhavya’s husband told
police that she left for office in a private cab.
Bhavya and Kartik, who hail from Vijayawada,
Andhra Pradesh, had a love marriage in 2012.
Tamil film actors like Vishal Krishna Reddy, Arya,
Karthi, Jiiva and Jeyam Ravi will join hands to
work in a yet-untitled Tamil film free of cost. The
profits earned through the film will be invested
in the construction of a new building for South
Indian Film Artistes Association (Sifaa) aka
Nadigar Sangam. “Arya, Karthi, Jiiva, Ravi and I
have decided to work free of cost in a multistarrer. The money earned will be spent for
the construction of a new building for Nadigar
Sangam,” Vishal said. Sifaa was to get a new
building a few years back, but the Madras High
Court stayed the construction after complaints
that the association’s premises was being rented
out to a multiplex.
Nobel winner
at forefront of
п¬Ѓght against
child slavery
Satyarthi said he was
“delighted” by the Nobel
award, according to
the Press Trust of India,
and described it as
“recognition” for the fight
for child rights
Agencies
New Delhi
K
ailash Satyarthi, named
co-winner of the Nobel
Peace Prize yesterday,
has freed tens of thousands
of Indian children forced into
slavery by businessmen, landowners and others.
Born on January 11, 1954, Satyarthi has been at the forefront
of the drive against child labour
in India where the practice is
rife.
Satyarthi, who was trained as
an electrical engineer, founded
the Bachpan Bachao Andolan or
Save the Childhood Movement
in 1980.
He lives modestly and keeps a
low profile except for his causes.
The activist, born in Madhya Pradesh, said he was “delighted” by the Nobel award,
according to the Press Trust of
India, and described it as “recognition” for the fight for child
rights.
Satyarthi began his work by
staging raids on Indian manufacturing, rug-making and
other plants where children
and their parents often work as
bonded labour.
Under bonded labour, families often borrow money and
have to work till the funds can
be repaid. But often the money is too much to be paid
back from meagre earnings
and people are sold and
resold.
Building on his
initial
activism,
Satyarthi organised the Global March
Against
Child Labour in the 1990s dedicated to freeing the millions
of children abused worldwide in
a form of modern slavery.
“To employ children is illegal
and unethical,” Satyarthi said
on the Global March Against
Child Labour website. “If not
now, then when? If not you,
then who?
“If we are able to answer
these fundamental questions,
then perhaps we can wipe away
the blot of human slavery,” Satyarthi said.
The activist is also founder of
RugMark, a widely known international scheme that tags all
carpets made in factories that
are child-labour free.
He described the plight of
children forced into the worst
kinds of abusive work in a 2010
interview with the Robert F
Kennedy Centre for Justice and
Human Rights. “If they cry for
their parents, they are beaten
severely, sometimes hanged
upside down from trees and
even branded or burned with
cigarettes,” he said.
Satyarthi also spearheads the
South Asian Coalition on Child
Servitude or SAACS, among
other groups, and helps oversee
a transition centre in Rajasthan
where newly freed labourers
learn fresh skills.
Satyarthi has said his social
conscience was awoken when
he was six and noticed a boy
his age on the steps outside the
school with his father, cleaning
shoes. Seeing many such children working instead of being
educated, he felt an urge as he
grew older to solve the problem
- launching him on his career
of activism.
“I think of it all as a test.
This is a moral examination that one has to pass.
... to stand up against
such social evils,”
he said in the
Kennedy
Centre interview.
Just another day’s work
A man carries empty water pitchers for sale in a market in Bangalore.
Report on Sunanda’s
death �inconclusive’
IANS
New Delhi
T
he latest forensic evidence
available in the death of
Sunanda Pushkar, wife of
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, is
“not conclusive”, the Delhi Police said yesterday.
“The forensic report at the
moment is not conclusive, our
inquest status is pending,” Delhi
police commissioner B S Bassi told
reporters here.
Pushkar’s latest post-mortem examination report, leaked
Thursday, stated “poisoning” as
the cause of her death.
The police chief said investiga-
Cyclone Hudhud due
to slam east coast
AFP
Visakhapatnam
A
uthorities were setting up
relief camps and stockpiling food yesterday as they
braced for a “severe cyclone” due
to slam into the country’s east
coast this weekend.
Cyclone Hudhud, building
over the Bay of Bengal, was set
to make landfall at Visakhapatnam on Andhra Pradesh state
coast by midday tomorrow, the
Indian Meterological Department said.
“We’ve already set up rescue
camps and arranged for food
and other necessities,” Parakala Prabhakar, communication
advisor to the Andhra Pradesh
government, said by telephone
from Hyderabad.
Packing winds of up to 155kms
per hour, Hudhud was expected
to also smash into neighbouring
Orissa where Cyclone Phailin last
October killed at least 18 and left
a massive trail of destruction.
The navy said in a statement
it has “assumed a high degree
of readiness” as “the severe
cyclone Hudhud is poised to
strike”.
Naval ships are standing by
equipped with “divers, doctors,
inflatable rubber boats, integral
helicopters and relief material,”
the statement said.
Hudhud could cause widespread damage to flimsy housing and other structures and
disrupt power and communications in low-lying coastal areas.
India has two categories of
tropical storms based on wind
speeds.
Cyclones like Hudhud have
wind speeds up to 167kph. The
second, like Cylone Phailin,
has winds of up to 220kph and
is capable of causing extensive
damage.
Disaster officials in Andhra
Pradesh and Orissa said they
were not taking any chances
and were fully prepared for
whatever happens.
“A special relief commissioner
has already been appointed to
look into prevention, rescue and
rehabilitation in north coastal
Andhra Pradesh,” Prabhakar said.
In Orissa, where more than
8,000 people were killed in a
1999 cyclone, the state government was set to conduct a mock
evacuation drill today.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has also asked federal Defence Minister Arun Jaitley for
the army to be deployed in four
districts likely to suffer from
the storm.
Residents in Orissa’s Ganjam
district, which bore the brunt of
the 2013 cyclone, were dreading
a repeat of the devastation. “We
have made all the arrangements
this time because of the scale of
devastation that we saw in 2013
and 1999,” Prabhat Ranjan Mahapatra, the deputy relief commissioner of Orissa, said.
The weather office has urged
fishermen to stay ashore until
the storm is over. India’s eastern
coast and neighbouring Bangladesh are routinely hit by bad
storms between April and November that cause deaths and
widespread damage to property.
tors would draw their conclusion
once they get conclusive evidence.
“We believe in the quest for
truth and whatever is required
in the quest for truth... We have
been doing and will continue doing,” Bassi said while answering a
question about the role of the investigating officer.
“We are competent to carry out
the probe...Inquest is pending...
And whatever is required will be
done,” he added.
Despite being harried by the
media, Tharoor, who was recently
named by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to be one of the ambassadors of the Clean India campaign, refused to comment on the
fresh autopsy report.
Health Minister Harsh Vardhan
distanced himself from the controversy, saying it was a “medicolegal” case.
“It is a medico-legal case. This
has nothing to do with the health
ministry. It has nothing to do with
me, I have no comments to offer,”
he said.
The revelation came around
10 days after the post-mortem
examination report of the Central Forensic Science Laboratory
(CFSL) was submitted to Delhi
Police by the All India Institute of
Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
Pushkar, 52, was found dead in
mysterious circumstances in her
room at a п¬Ѓve-star hotel in south
Delhi on January 17. At the time of
Promo event
her death, Tharoor was minister
of state for human resource development.
The leaked report said that
the AIIMS medical board “had
thoroughly pursued the various
documents that were submitted
to them by the investigating officers along with the post-mortem
report and histopathology report of viscera after which it was
concluded the cause of Pushkar’s
death is poisoning”.
“Viscera are positive for ethyl
alcohol, caffeine, acetaminophen
and cotinine,” it said.
The report also revealed that
the medical report reserved comment on the specific poison or
chemical responsible since there
Sanitation drive
ineffective: study
IANS
Washington
T
Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan poses for a
photograph during a promotional event for the
Chennaiyin FC football team in Mumbai.
were a lot of limitations on the
viscera report.
The п¬Ѓrst autopsy report, submitted to the sub-divisional magistrate on January 20, had said that
Pushkar had died of “drug overdose”. The autopsy, carried out
by three-members of the AIIMS
forensic department, had also
found over a dozen injury marks
on Pushkar’s body.
Later, Sudhir Kumar Gupta, who
was the head of the forensic team,
had alleged that he was pressured
to show that Pushkar’s death was
“natural.” The allegation was denied by AIIMS. At that time, Gupta
was the head of AIIMS forensic department but was removed in the
wake of his allegation.
otal Sanitation Campaign - the world’s largest sanitation initiative
in India - provided almost
25,000 individuals in 100 rural villages in Odisha access
to toilets but it did not reduce
exposure to faecal pathogens or
decrease the occurrence of diarrhoea or child malnutrition,
says a study.
Moreover, many householders do not always use the latrines, added the study funded
by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and reported by the prestigious journal The Lancet.
“This, combined with continued exposure from poor hygiene, contaminated water, and
unsafe disposal of child faeces
may explain the lack of a health
impact. The programme is effective in building latrines but
not all households participate,”
explained lead study author
professor Thomas Clasen from
Emory University in Atlanta and
London School of Hygiene and
Tropical Medicine in Britain.
The cluster-randomised trial
involved 9,480 households with
a child younger than four years
or a pregnant woman.
Households in 50 villages
were randomly assigned to receive the sanitation intervention
in early 2011 while control villages received the intervention
after a 14-month surveillance
period.
The intervention increased
the average proportion of
households in a village with a latrine from 9% to 63% compared
to an increase of 8% to 12% in
control villages.
However, researchers found
no evidence that the intervention protected against diarrhoea
in children younger than п¬Ѓve
years.
Seven-day prevalence of reported diarrhoea was 8.8% in
the intervention group (1,919
children) and 9.1% in the control
group (1,916 children).
“What is more, the intervention did not reduce the prevalence of parasitic worms that
are transmitted via soil and can
cause reduced physical growth
and impaired cognitive function
in children,” the authors wrote.
Gulf Times
Saturday, October 11, 2014
13
INDIA
DECISION
ORDER
LEGAL
OPINION
POLITICS
Nothing wrong with
Modi’s radio address: EC
Court asks Chautala
to surrender today
Dhaula Kuan gang-rape
case verdict deferred
BJP �will form govt in
Maharashtra, Haryana’
Decision soon on Delhi
govt formation, SC told
The Election Commission yesterday said Prime
Minister Modi’s radio address to the nation
ahead of assembly elections in two states did not
violate the model code of conduct. The Congress
party, in a complaint to the Election Commission,
accused Modi of misusing state machinery ahead
of the polls in Haryana and Maharashtra when he
addressed people through his programme �Man
Ki Baat’ on All India Radio. A statement from the
commission said: “The audio of the speech under
reference and its script have been heard and
perused in the commission... the commission did
not find anything in the broadcast matter which
constituted violation of model code of conduct”.
The Delhi High Court has directed former Haryana
chief minister Om Prakash Chautala to surrender
before Tihar Jail authorities today. Justice
Siddharth Mridul also asked the jail authorities to
take Chautala to AIIMS, if it considers necessary,
as he complains he has fractured his leg. Chautala,
who is the Indian National Lok Dal chief, appeared
before the court yesterday. The court on
Thursday sought his personal appearance after
the CBI moved court for cancellation of his bail
and bringing forward his surrender date, which
was earlier fixed for October 17. “Now that he is
discharged from hospital, he should surrender,”
the court remarked.
A Delhi court yesterday deferred its verdict in a
2010 abduction and gang-rape case in Dhaula
Kuan, to October 14. Additional sessions judge
Virender Bhat deferred the verdict saying the
order was not prepared. Shamshad, Usman,
Shahid, Iqbal and Kamruddin are being tried
for the abduction and gang-rape of a 30-yearold call centre executive in Dhaula Kuan area
of south Delhi. According to the police, the five
men abducted the woman, who hailed from the
northeast, on November 24, 2010, while she was
walking home with a friend after her shift ended.
The abductors took her to Mangolpuri, gangraped her, and left her on an isolated road there.
BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu yesterday said
that his party will form the government in both
Maharashtra and Haryana on its own after
the October 15 assembly elections. Speaking
to mediapersons here, Naidu maintained that
the BJP had nothing against its estranged
partner Shiv Sena, and the Congress was its
main opponent in Maharashtra. The 25-year-old
political alliance between the Bharatiya Janata
Party and the Shiv Sena ended last month over
seat-sharing. “We did not stab Shiv Sena in
the back nor did we break the alliance,” Naidu
added. Naidu said the BJP never demanded
more seats in Maharashtra.
The Supreme Court was informed yesterday
that a decision on the political stalemate over
government formation in Delhi would be taken
soon as Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung’s
report on the prevailing political situation is under
consideration of the government. The Delhi
assembly is under suspended animation from
February 17 following a Presidential proclamation
after the resignation of Arvind Kejriwal’s
government on February 14. While quitting,
the Kejriwal government had recommended
dissolution of Delhi assembly. The apex court in the
last hearing of the matter had given the centre a
month’s time to decide the government formation.
Onus on
Pakistan to
de-escalate
conflict,
says govt
Government
dash to clear
projects alarm
green groups
Agencies
New Delhi
T
he government yesterday
squarely blamed Pakistan
for the tensions along the
border, saying “de-escalation is
entirely in Pakistan’s hands” and
also scoffed at Islamabad trying
to term India the aggressor as
“allegations without any basis”.
A day after Defence Minister
Arun Jaitley said the neighbouring country will have to pay a
heavy price if it did not stop its
“adventurism” at the border and
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
said the “enemy has realised
that times have changed”, external affairs ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin spoke in
equally strong terms.
He said the new government
has been very serious about
peace moves with Pakistan,
and had also taken the п¬Ѓrst step
to engage with Islamabad in a
peaceful manner.
Pakistan’s response “is there
for all to see - from a media
spectacle before exploratory
talks between foreign secretaries, hostile propaganda against
India at the international level,
continued terrorism against
India and more recently violence against our citizens on
the International Boundary”,
he said.
Akbaruddin said India is thus
in “a mode that we will respond
appropriately, it is for Pakistan
to either escalate or de-escalate.
We will respond in as appropriate to what will be their efforts in
this regard”.
Akbaruddin’s
comments
came as п¬Ѓring along the border
showed signs of de-escalation
after more than a week. It has
left eight people dead on the Indian side so far.
Prime Minister Modi “has
directed that people who have
been displaced from the border
villages of Jammu and Kashmir
due to shelling over the last few
days, be suitably compensated”,
the government said in a statement.
Reuters
New Delhi
I
Border villagers have a meal at an Indian army relief camp in a government school at Deoli village,
about 25kms from Jammu yesterday.
Insurance п¬Ѓrms ordered
to pay flood-hit victims
IANS
New Delhi
T
he Supreme Court yesterday said that the rules
and regulations governing payment of insurance
claims should not come in the
way of people of Kashmir who
lost their properties in the recent devastating floods that
had hit the state.
A bench of chief justice H L
Dattu, justice S A Bobde and
justice Abhay Manohar Sapre
declined to interfere with the
Jammu and Kashmir High
Court’s order directing the insurance companies to pay 95%
of a claim up to Rs2.5 million
and 50% in respect of claims
above Rs2.5mn.
“Sometimes we have to ignore the rules and regulation
(for paying insurance claims) in
the interest of the people suffering from natural calamities,”
the court said.
It refused to accede to repeated submissions by attorney general Mukul Rohatgi and
senior counsel M N Krishnamani seeking a month’s time
to carry out the survey of the
insurance claims by the people
who lost their belongings in the
unprecedented floods that hit
the state.
“The chief justice of the high
court has personally seen the
tragedy and he is justified in
passing the order. Not one shop
can be opened at Lal Chowk.
There is no shop in Lal Chowk,”
chief justice Dattu said, justifying the high court order on the
payment of the insurance claims
without carrying out mandatory
verification of the claims.
“We are not going to change
even a word of the high court
order,” he said, brushing aside
all submissions seeking a hold
on the high court order.
Attorney General Rohatgi
told the court that over 5,000
surveyors were working on the
verification of the insurance
claims. However, the court said
this was not true.
“We can’t accept your statement,” the court told Rohatgi as
he sought time till November
30 to verify claims. “We will
settle all claims by November
30, but it has to be after certain
verification,” he added.
Krishnamani, who appeared
for four general insurance companies, pleaded with the court
that the high court’s order may
be watered down to allow the
п¬Ѓrms to pay 50% of the claims
up to Rs2.5mn and 30% of the
claims above Rs2.5mn.
The court was told that up
to Thursday, the four insurance companies - United India, National, Oriental India
and New India - have received
9,917 claims of an estimated
amount of Rs9.80bn and have
already made 983 cheques of
total amount of over Rs.251mn.
While declining to interfere with the order of the high
court, which is operating from
a makeshift accommodation,
chief justice Dattu told Jammu
and Kashmir advocate general
Mohamed Ishaq Qadri to take
all the steps to ensure that the
high court operates fully from
October 13 with the supply of
electricity.
n late August, the environment ministry rejected
a proposal to build what
would be the country’s largest
hydropower plant in a remote
and pristine part of the country’s northeast because of the
potential damage to an area rich
in biodiversity.
Less than a month later and,
according to two environment
ministry officials, after pressure
from Prime Minister Narendra
Modi’s office, permission was
granted for the 3,000 megawatt
Dibang plant, the construction of which will mean clearing
some 9,900 acres of forest.
The plant is one of hundreds
of projects, many of which were
repeatedly rejected in the past,
that have been approved since
Modi came to power in May.
That trend has alarmed environmentalists, who say the
country’s natural habitat is under assault in the name of industrial development.
“The floodgates are open,”
said Sunita Narain, director general of the Delhi-based Centre
for Science and Environment
(CSE).
“We were in trouble with the
last government and we are in
even more trouble with this government. Rather than try and reform the system, they are picking at the edges.”
In the п¬Ѓve months since it
came to power, Modi’s government has relaxed several environmental rules to make it easier for companies to build new
projects.
Star turnout
Small and mid-sized coal
miners can now expand production by 50% without public consent, and polluting industries
can operate closer to national
parks.
Other decisions have been
devolved to state governments,
which tend to be more open to
polluting projects than New
Delhi.
Consecutive Indian governments have been blamed for
neglecting the environment and
prioritising industrial projects,
but critics say they see signs that
Modi has at best an ambiguous
attitude to environmental issues.
His government has tightened
controls on funding for Greenpeace and reduced the number
of independent members on a
committee charged with assessing projects that lie in or close to
protected wildlife areas.
In its defence, the government says it is not sacrificing
India’s natural habitat but approving projects which are necessary for the country’s development, while ensuring proper
checks and balances are put in
place.
Modi won elections on a
Top court pulls up environment ministry
Taking exception to the
central environment and
forest ministry “sleeping”
over its order to submit the
environment and ecological
impact of each of the
24 projects proposed or
underway on Bhagirathi and
Alaknanda river basin, the
Supreme Court said that unless
its orders were complied with,
it would not lift the stay on
them. Describing the response
of the ministry as one like that
of sleeping “Kumbhakarna”
(giant), a bench of justice Dipak
Misra and justice Rohinton Fali
Nariman asked it “when will
you wake up” and comply with
the court’s order.
Nine jailed for Kerala
youth’s murder
By Ashraf Padanna
Thiruvananthapuram
A
Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan attends the Star Box Office
Awards in Mumbai.
pledge to revive the economy and
bring electricity to 400 hundred
million Indians not connected to
the grid.
Hydropower
plants
like
Dibang could provide more electricity to local people, as well as
help tackle the country’s chronic
energy shortages.
The push to fast-track development comes as “India Inc.”
looks for Modi to make good on
pledges to reform the system for
clearances, which they complain
has long held up construction of
roads, factories and mines and
stymied economic growth.
“There is no doubt that things
(clearances) should be sped up,”
said Isaac George, chief п¬Ѓnancial
officer at GVK Power & Infrastructure, which operates mines,
power plants and airports.
“But there should be a proper
balance between industrialisation and the environment.”
At the end of June, 298
projects were awaiting environmental approval, a backlog that
Environment Minister Prakash
Javadekar said last month he
had subsequently cleared. Only
a handful of those projects were
rejected or deferred for further
analysis.
Kerala court sentenced
nine people to life terms,
including 18 months of
rigorous imprisonment, for killing a youth in what the prosecutors described as moral policing.
Convicted of killing Shaheed
Bava of Kodiyathur village in
the northern Kerala district
of Calicut, the men were also
asked to pay п¬Ѓnes ranging from
Rs 15,000 to Rs25,000 of which
the victims’ father would get Rs
200,000.
Prosecutors said Bava, 27, was
beaten to death with rods and
planks three years ago by a gang
of 15 after he was tied to a street
post. The gang accused him of
having an affair with a woman
whose husband worked in the
Gulf.
Bava died in hospital four days
later, on November 13, 2011, due
to injuries sustained during the
assault.
The gang also threatened
those who protested against the
assault.
Special judge S Krishnaku-
mar acquitted five other defendants for lack of evidence
while one of the accused is still
absconding.
The judge found the nine punishable for “rioting, armed with
weapons”, “assault or criminal
force to deter public servant
from discharge of his duty” and
“criminal conspiracy” under
IndiaВґs penal code.
“If people punish wrongdoers according to their whims and
fancies, it has to be stated that
they are acting as moral police,”
the judge observed.
“If such a practice is accepted
by modern society it will lead to
anarchy and failure of the rule of
law in the country”.
“I was expecting some of them
to be sent to the gallows,” said
Bava’s father who was present in
court to hear the judgment.
Though the prosecutor argued
that it was the п¬Ѓrst such case reported from the state, the judge
refused to treat the case as a �rarest of the rare’ which deserved
the death penalty.
According to the police, the
group had warned Bava a month
before the attack if he frequented the woman’s house.
14
Gulf Times
Saturday, October 11, 2014
LATIN AMERICA
Morales set to cruise to third term in Bolivia vote
AFP
La Paz
E
vo Morales, Bolivia’s first
indigenous president, is expected to win a third term
against a fragmented opposition
tomorrow, with a large Congressional majority to continue pushing through his leftist reforms.
Morales, who has blended
leftwing economic policy with
nationalist rhetoric and a focus on
indigenous rights and the environment - all while presiding over
an economic boom - is polling at
59% heading into the election.
That puts him more than 40
points clear of his nearest rivals,
business magnate Samuel Doria
Medina with 18% and conservative former president Jorge Quiroga with nine percent.
Morales, 54, stands to extend
his time in office to 14 years, until
January 2020, after Bolivia’s Supreme Court ruled last year that
his п¬Ѓrst term was exempt from a
new constitution adopted in 2009
that imposed a limit of one reelection for sitting presidents.
“El Evo,” as he is often called in
Bolivia, looks virtually guaranteed
to win in a single round. To avoid
a December 7 run-off, he needs to
Nicaragua
canal project
�will damage
ecosystem’
Guardian News and Media
Managua
S
hipping п¬Ѓrms should pressure the Nicaraguan government and the Chinese
backer of a proposed canal to
ensure that the project does not
force indigenous people off their
land and inflict massive environmental damage on the country’s
ecosystem, an environmental advocacy group has urged.
The proposed 178-mile waterway seeks to rival the Panama
canal by offering an alternative
Atlantic-Pacific passage which
cuts voyage times.
Construction is scheduled to
begin in December with $50bn
funding from the Hong Kong
Nicaragua Canal Development
Investment Company (HKND),
which is owned by Chinese lawyer Wang Jing.
But Danish NGO Forests of the
World has accused the Nicaraguan government and HKND of
failing to involve indigenous people in the planning process, saying the canal will wreak havoc on
forests and force people to move.
“The canal is to be built straight
through the Rama and Kriol territory, fragmenting it into two
parts,” said Claus Kjaerby, central
America representative at Forests
of the World.
“It’s just like if someone wanted to build a bicycle trail through
your garden and they do not consult with you.”
The Nicaraguan government
said it has shared information
about the canal with indigenous
people, but conceded that no formal discussions had taken place.
Paul Oquist Kelley, executive
secretary of the Nicaragua Grand
Canal Commission, said: “Inasmuch as there was no definition of
the canal route in 2013 there were
no formal consultations with the
communities to be affected, but
informative presentations on the
canal project were made throughout the country.
“After the presentation they
were asked if anyone opposed the
canal project. Not one person objected. Their concerns were about
inclusion, participation and receiving their fair share if the canal
were to traverse their territory.”
Nicaragua’s indigenous groups
have appealed to the Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights for legal counsel, citing
violations of Nicaraguan law and
international labour standards,
according to Kjaerby. They say
they will be forced to relocate under the current plan, with little
support from the government.
The course of the canal will slice
through the Reserva Natural Cerro
Silva and then cross Lake Nicaragua close to the island of Ometepe,
which is formed of two volcanoes;
one of them, Concepcion, is active.
But Nicaragua’s government
said business and political leaders
considered п¬Ѓve different routes
before settling on the least destructive course. “Route four that
runs from Punta Gorda on the
Caribbean Sea to Brito on the Pacific Ocean was chosen precisely
because it was the route with
the least environmental and social impact. Despite the fact that
route four was not the lowest cost
option, it was chosen because it
has the lowest environmental and
social impact,” Kelley said.
The canal will plough through
two Unesco-established biosphere reserves, which are inhabited by endangered species.
“The list of potential environmental threats is long and
includes negative impact on protected wetlands vital to migratory birds, the Central American
biological corridor, destruction of
freshwater habitat, deterioration
of drinking water reserves and the
inevitable pollution of Lake Nicaragua,” Kjaerby said.
take more than 50% of the vote, or
win more than 40% and п¬Ѓnish at
least 10 points clear of his nearest
opponent.
His Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) is meanwhile on track
to win a two-thirds majority in
the Senate and possibly in the
Chamber of Deputies, as well, according to opinion polls.
Morales, who rose to prominence as a union leader п¬Ѓghting
for the rights of the country’s
coca growers, has brought sweeping changes since taking office in
2006.
His government has nationalised a broad range of sectors in-
C
olombian guerrilla leader
Rodrigo Londono has
made secret government-authorised trips to Cuba
several times in the last year to
meet with his team of negotiators as part of peace talks to end
50 years of civil war, Colombian
officials said. Defence Minister
Juan Carlos Pinzon confirmed
persistent rumours about Londono showing up in Havana,
saying he has been there at “different times”.
A senior military intelligence
source said Londono, whose nom
de guerre is “Timochenko”, has
gone to Havana several times on
non-commercial flights from
Venezuela, where Colombian
sources say he has been hiding for
years.
If true, it suggests Londono is
guiding talks from the front in-
stead of staying in a remote jungle
hideout, lending a more serious
tone to the negotiations between
his Revolutionary Armed Forces
of Colombia, or Farc, and the government.
The government authorized
Londono’s travel to Cuba, another government source said,
but the rebel did not appear at the
negotiating table. His visits were
facilitated by Cuba and Venezuela, which are acting as guarantor
countries at the talks, the source
said, adding he did not know how
many times Londono had travelled to Havana.
Previous efforts at reaching
a peace deal in Colombia were
undermined by the absence of
Manuel Marulanda, who led the
Farc for decades. He died of a
heart attack in 2008.
Colombia’s government has repeatedly said it would kill or arrest
Londono if it could п¬Ѓnd him but it
has also staked its reputation on
winning a peace deal.
ence in 1825 and remains one of the
region’s poorest countries.
Morales has also aligned himself with Cuba, Venezuela and
Iran and had an antagonistic relationship with the US over drug
policy. He has shielded coca
growers from the US push to eradicate the plant.
Besides being the base ingredient for cocaine, coca leaves
are widely chewed in Bolivia and
brewed as a tea - uses Morales has
vigorously defended as part of the
country’s cultural heritage.
In 2008 he kicked the US Drug
Enforcement Agency out of the
country, along with the Ameri-
can ambassador, accusing them
of conspiring against his government.
Morales, a member of the Aymara ethnic group, grew up in
poverty with no running water or
electricity and he never п¬Ѓnished
school.
Political analyst Carlos Toranzo
said poor and indigenous voters
п¬Ѓrst warmed to him because he
came from the same background
as them. But the “Evo” phenomenon has evolved and spread
among the country’s 6mn voters.
“Nine years into his administration, people don’t identify with
him because he’s like them or
has the same skin,” said Toranzo,
co-ordinator of the Latin American Institute for Social Research.
“There are economic and social
reasons. There has been an increase in social inclusion, which
people view favourably, and that’s
why they think they must keep
voting for Evo Morales.”
Morales is even polling at more
than 50% in business hub Santa
Cruz, once a bastion of opposition
against him. With such strong
poll numbers, he has little use for
presidential debates, and has answered his opponents’ challenges
by saying: “They can go debate
their grandmothers.”
Protest over education reforms
A barricade is set on fire during a demonstration against the Chile government to demand changes and an end to profiteering in the education system in Santiago.
Mexico nabs boss of
Juarez drug cartel
Reuters
Mexico City
M
exican security forces have captured the
leader of the oncefeared Juarez Cartel in the country’s restive north, the second
drug kingpin to fall in just over
a week.
Vicente Carrillo, 51, long-time
head of the Juarez Cartel, was a
fierce rival of Joaquin “Shorty”
Guzman, the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel and the world’s
most wanted drug boss until his
capture in February.
A turf war between the two
cartels in 2009-11 unleashed a
bloodbath in Ciudad Juarez, in
Chihuahua state on Mexico’s
border with Texas, making it one
of the most violent places in the
world.
Carrillo, alias �The Viceroy,’
Farc chief present at
Cuba talks: minister
Reuters
Bogota
cluding oil, gas, mining, telecommunications and water, rolled
out welfare grants for the elderly,
children and expecting mothers,
and moved to empower previously marginalised groups, including
the 65% of the population that is
indigenous.
Defying opponents’ dire warnings of economic catastrophe,
Bolivia has instead seen a boom.
GDP grew 6.8% last year and is
forecast to grow more than 5%
this year, one of the fastest rates in
Latin America.
The economic and political stability are welcome in Bolivia, which
has had 160 coups since independ-
“There is a peace process and
obviously the government has
a negotiating team that has the
authority to permit or facilitate
certain types of situations,” Pinzon told Radio Caracol in discussing Londono’s presence in
Havana.
A Farc negotiator in Havana,
Jesus Emilio Carvajalino, said
Pinzon’s comments on Londono’s
presence were incorrect. “No, not
at all, not at all. The news out of
Colombia has no truth to it. We
are all here on the same point on
the agenda and there’s nothing
more. There are many rumours in
Bogota,” he said.
A representative at Venezuela’s
interior ministry would not comment and government officials in
Cuba could not immediately be
reached for comment.
The two sides in Havana are
working through a п¬Ѓve-point
agenda aimed at ending a conflict
that has killed more than 200,000
people since it began in 1964.
was captured after identifying himself with a false name
at a checkpoint in the northern
city of Torreon, national security commissioner Monte Rubido said in a press conference.
No shots were п¬Ѓred in his arrest,
Rubido said, adding that Carrillo
was wanted on п¬Ѓve charges related to organised crime and drug
trafficking.
“The criminal organisation
that he led up until today led to
the strengthening in Chihuahua
of various groups that at one
time contributed to Juarez being
considered one of the most violent cities in the world,” Rubido
said.
The US had put a $5mn bounty
on Carrillo’s head, while Mexico had offered a 30mn peso
($2.24mn) reward.
President Enrique Pena Nieto
took office two years ago pledging to end a wave of violence that
has killed around 100,000 people
since the start of 2007.
Although homicides have
fallen on his watch, other crimes
have increased, including extortion and kidnapping.
Pena Nieto has been under
п¬Ѓre over the past week over the
apparent massacre of dozens of
trainee teachers in southwest
Mexico at the hands of gang
members and police.
He hailed the capture on Twitter.
A keen horseman who used a
network of cattle ranches in the
northern state of Chihuahua to
store shipments of Colombian
cocaine, Carrillo took over the
Juarez Cartel in 1997 after his
brother Amado, known as “The
Lord of the Skies,” died during
plastic surgery.
Carrillo’s capture comes just
days after Hector Beltran Leyva,
one of the most notorious Mexi-
Wooing voters
can drug lords still at large, was
captured by soldiers in a picturesque town in central Mexico
popular with American retirees.
It also comes as the government
is grappling with public outrage
at an apparent massacre of trainee teachers by police in league
with gang members, which has
triggered mass anti-government
protests.
Alejandro Hope, an independent security consultant who used
to work for Mexican state intelligence, said Carrillo and the Juarez Cartel were not as powerful as
they used to be.
Nonetheless, he added, the
capture of Carrillo was part of
larger phasing out of the era of
the Mexican drug kingpin. Guzman was arrested in February,
and most of his longtime business partners and enemies are
now either dead or jailed.
“In lots of ways, it’s the end
Colombia banker
sees rate steady
Reuters
Cartagena
C
Brazilian President, Dilma Rousseff greets supporters
during an election campaign rally in Salvador, Bahia
state, Brazil. Brazil will hold a presidential run-off vote on
October 26.
of the era of the narco,” Hope
said, adding that international
drug smuggling is now no longer
controlled by large, hierarchical
organisations like Guzman’s Sinaloa cartel, but rather by smaller, more violent groups with less
clear organisational structures.
Carrillo was seen as more discreet than his flamboyant brother, but his position was weakened
by the violence in Ciudad Juarez
that claimed nearly 12,000 lives
between 2008 and 2012 alone.
The government said his organisation was dealt a major
blow in 2009 when soldiers in
Mexico City arrested his nephew,
Vicente Carrillo Leyva, accused
of being the No 2 of the Juarez
Cartel.
Drug experts say Carrillo, who
had a secondary role in the Juarez
Cartel when his brother was in
charge, once ran about a п¬Ѓfth of
the drug business in Mexico.
olombia’s benchmark interest rate is approaching
a neutral level and there
is little reason to alter it, central
bank board member Carlos Gustavo Cano said, adding there is
room to cut the rate again if necessary.
The board held the rate steady
at 4.5% for a second month in
September, leaving behind a period of monetary tightening to
ward off inflationary pressure
that followed strong economic
growth in the п¬Ѓrst quarter.
“To make an additional adjustment in the short term
would be imprudent. I don’t see
reasons for that,” Cano said in
Cartagena. “There’re no reasons
to think differently from maintaining the rate at its current
4.5%, hopefully for the longest
time possible.
“In my personal opinion we’re
now in the normalisation zone of
neutrality in the rate,” said Cano.
“If it becomes necessary to return
to an expansionary phase, we
have room.”
He stressed that under current circumstances there are no
reasons to cut the rate. A neutral
interest rate is one that does not
affect the economy, as it occurs
when growth is at its potential
and inflation is on target.
The bank began a tightening
cycle in April, lifting the rate from
3.25%, where it had remained for
11 months to bolster the $370bn
economy.
Colombia’s economy expanded
less than expected in the second quarter, slowing to 4.3% and
shrinking compared with the п¬Ѓrst
three months of the year. First
quarter expansion was an unexpectedly fast 6.5%.
Gross domestic product will
likely grow by 4.8% to 5% in 2014,
Cano said.
Policymakers have expressed
concern about Colombia’s revenue stream as crude output
begins to decline and an economy-driving oil boom wanes.
The government last week unveiled tax reform to bolster revenue.
Gulf Times
Saturday, October 11, 2014
15
PAKISTAN/AFGHANISTAN
Pakistanis celebrate
Malala’s Nobel win
AFP
Islamabad
J
oyful Pakistanis from the
country’s
insurgencywracked northwest yesterday celebrated Malala Yousafzai’s Nobel Peace Prize win with
music, dance and cake, hailing
her award as a victory for girls’
education over Taliban violence.
Tributes for the 17-year-old,
the youngest ever Nobel laureate, were led by Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif who called her the
“pride of Pakistan”, while dozens
of people from her hometown
Mingora gathered at the main
intersection to chant slogans and
exchange sweets.
Marjan Bibi, 11, cut a white
pineapple cream cake donated
by a local bakery as onlookers
clapped and cheered: “Long Live
Malala”. Bibi said: “Malala is a
source of pride for us. I will also
write like Malala and will raise
my voice for girls’ education
when I will grow up.”
Ayesha Khalid, who was at
school with Malala, said: “It’s
not Malala alone winning this
award, the girls of Pakistan have
won it ... (she) is the light of our
eyes and the voice of our heart.
“She has proved that you
can’t put a halt to education by
blowing up schools.”
The teenager, who entered the
public eye after writing a blog for
the BBC’s Urdu service about life
under the Taliban during their
2007 - 2009 rule over the Swat
Valley, was shot in the head by
militants two years ago while on
her way to school.
Since recovering, she has addressed the UN General Assembly, written a best-selling autobiography, and pushed Nigeria’s
Goodluck Jonathan to do more to
free hundreds of girls kidnapped
by Islamist militants.
Yesterday’s jubilant celebrations at the Mingora intersection stood in stark contrast to
the Taliban’s period of rule when
girls were prevented from going
to school and people accused
of breaking Sharia law were beheaded at a roundabout a few
hundred metres away.
In the city of Peshawar, the
capital of the northwest KhyberPakhtunkwa area that has borne
the brunt of a decade-long Is-
German
aid worker
freed in
Kabul
AFP
Kabul/Berlin
A
German aid worker who
was kidnapped in Pakistan over two years ago
has been released in neighbouring Afghanistan, Berlin said
yesterday.
“The government is very relieved that a German national
who was kidnapped more than
two years ago in Pakistan has
been freed in Afghanistan,” a
foreign ministry spokeswoman
said.
He was now in the care of the
German government, receiving
counselling and was “doing well
under the circumstances”, said
the spokeswoman, adding that
an international “partner” had
helped set him free.
Newspaper Bild said that
Germany’s KSK special forces
were involved in the handover
of the aid worker for the group
Welthungerhilfe (World Hunger
Aid), who was identified only as
Bernd M.
He was taken in January 2012
in Pakistan, and handed over at
a mosque on the outskirts of the
Afghan capital Kabul, after his
kidnappers had forced him to
march through regions of eastern Afghanistan, the report said.
There was no word on the fate
of an Italian who was kidnapped
in the same incident on January
19, 2012, at a house in Multan in
Punjab province.
lamist insurgency against the
state, some 200 people gathered
at the press club to distribute
sweets and dance to a powerful
drum beat.
“The award given to the
daughter of this soil Malala Yousufzai is not only a recognition of
her achievements for the peace
but it is also an acknowledgement of our sacrifices in the war
against terror continuing for the
last ten years,” said provincial
governor Mehtab Ahmed Khan.
Malala — who won along with
Indian Kailash Satyarthi — is Pakistan’s second-ever Nobel prize
winner after Abdus Salam, who
won the physics prize in 1979
but was widely shunned for being a member of the country’s
persecuted Ahmadi minority.
She was awarded the EU’s prestigious Sakharov peace prize last
year, angering the Taliban who issued a fresh threat to murder her.
“She is getting awards because
she is working against Islam,”
Taliban spokesman Shahidullah
Shahid told AFP at the time.
Last month, Pakistan’s military said they had arrested 10
suspected Taliban militants accused of being involved in the
murder attempt against her.
The Taliban are not alone in
their opposition to Malala, with
many critics from Pakistan’s
conservative and hyper-nationalist middle-classes accusing
her of being a Western puppet
who was damaging Pakistan’s
reputation abroad.
Since rising up against the
state in 2004, Islamist militants have blown up hundreds
of schools in the northwest
and the restive tribal areas that
border Afghanistan, partly out
of opposition to secular and
girls’ education, and partly
because the buildings were
used as bases by the army.
The Pakistani Taliban’s advance has halted in years following a series of military offensives,
the latest of which began in June.
Education activist Mosharraf
Zaidi said Pakistan’s government
should use the goodwill around
Malala’s win to prioritise the
country’s long-neglected public
school system.
“There are 52mn children aged
п¬Ѓve to sixteen in this country,
of whom about 25mn are out
of school,” he said, adding the
breakdown was some 14mn girls
and 11mn boys.
“If Pakistan cannot take advantage of this moment of a Pakistani winning the Nobel Prize
because she is a campaigner for
education and because she is so
incredibly brave, then it’ll represent yet another missed opportunity and also a tragedy,” he
added.
Peres hails Malala
Israel’s former president Shimon
Peres, one of the oldest Nobel Peace
Prize laureates, congratulated Pakistan’s Malala Yousafzai on her award
for the same honour yesterday.
“The decision to award Malala the
prize is a worthy one,” Peres, 91, said
in a statement.
“She is a symbol to women and girls
across the world and an example to
all of us,” he said, paying tribute to
the youngest Peace Prize laureate.
“Malala, you defeated those who
tried to silence you and your victory
is a victory for peace. We are all
proud of you.”
Peres was awarded the 1994 Nobel
Peace Prize as foreign minister
jointly with prime minister Yitzhak
Rabin and then Palestinian leader
Yasser Arafat for Israel’s 1993 Oslo
Accords with the Palestine Liberation Organisation.
Malala Yousafzai speaking during a press conference in Birmingham,
Britain, yesterday.
Campaigner
dedicates
award to
�voiceless’
children
AFP
Birmingham
E
A girl holding a photograph of Malala Yousafzai as she cuts a cake in celebration of Malala winning the Nobel Peace Prize, in Malala’s hometown
Mingora in northwestern Swat valley yesterday.
Aafia allowed to end US plea
Reuters
New York
A
Pakistani neuroscientist whom Islamist militants have tried to free
in proposed prisoner swaps
with the United States was
allowed on Thursday to withdraw what could be the last
appeal of her conviction on US
charges of attempted murder.
US District Judge Richard Berman in Manhattan said that Aafia
Siddiqui, who is serving an 86year sentence in a prison medical
centre in Texas, had “clearly and
unequivocally” stated her intent
to end the appeal.
The judge ordered the case
closed and said that, even if
the appeal had continued, he
likely would have ruled against
Siddiqui. She was represented
at trial by an able team of п¬Ѓve
lawyers, Berman wrote. He
declined to hold a hearing to
question Siddiqui further.
In May, a new lawyer п¬Ѓled
the appeal on Siddiqui’s behalf, but in July Siddiqui wrote
a letter to Berman saying she
had no faith in the US legal
system and refused to participate in it.
Islamic militants in Syria,
Algeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan have made Siddiqui’s
release a condition for freeing
certain foreign hostages.
Islamic State proposed swapping American journalist James
Foley for her, but they executed
him after their demands, which
included an end to US air strikes
in Iraq, were not met.
A jury convicted Siddiqui in
2010 of attempting to shoot
and kill a group of FBI agents,
US soldiers and interpreters
who were about to interrogate
her in Ghazni, Afghanistan, for
alleged links to Al Qaeda.
None of them were wounded, but Siddiqui was shot in
the abdomen when they returned п¬Ѓre.
Siddiqui likely would not
be allowed to п¬Ѓle another appeal except under extraordinary circumstances, such as
newly discovered evidence,
and might not understand the
consequences of a withdrawal,
the new lawyer, Robert Boyle,
wrote in a letter to the judge
last month.
Boyle did not immediately
respond to requests for comment on Thursday.
A 42-year-old mother of
three, Siddiqui was educated
in the United States and has
degrees from the Massachu-
setts Institute of Technology
and Brandeis University.
Siddiqui was likely unaware
of the Islamic State proposal
and its actions should not be
held against her, Boyle said in
an interview last month.
Islamist militant groups
have called her case an example of the worst excesses of
the US war on terror, citing
her family’s allegation that she
was raped and tortured at the
US military’s Bagram Air Base
in Afghanistan. US officials
have said they found no evidence of that.
At trial, Siddiqui’s legal
team urged an acquittal because there was no evidence
the rifle had been fired.
An appeals court in 2012
affirmed her conviction and
sentence, rejecting arguments
that her trial was unfair.
Ministers barred from campaigning
50 couples marry in group ceremony
Election authorities in
Pakistan have barred federal
and provincial ministers
from taking part in election
campaigns in NA-149 where
by-polls are due to be held on
October 16.
Under election laws, the
incumbent prime minister,
chief ministers and cabinet
members cannot participate in
campaigns for any candidate
in the constituency. Election
Commission of Pakistan (ECP)
has also asked the contesting
candidates to conclude their
election campaigns 48 hours
before the polling day, as per
rules.
The national assembly seat
NA-149 in Multan had fallen
vacant after former Pakistan
More than 50 orphan and poor
couples have been married
under a collective marriage
ceremony in Hatheji town in
central Pakistan by a Karachibased Faiz Al-Qaim Trust in a
big gathering of local dignitaries
including parliamentarians from
Bahawalpur district.
The couples were selected
through a lucky draw. All the
couples were given necessary
domestic appliances by the
trust.
Faiz Al-Qaim Trust chairman
Agha Afzal Ali Fazal while
congratulating the newly-wed
couples said that the trust
started this collective marriage
programme for the men and
women, who were orphans or
were from poor families, in year
Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) president
Javed Hashmi resigned from
the seat. He subsequently
announced that he would
contest the seat as an
independent candidate. It is
believed that ruling PML-N
is backing Hashmi in the byelections.
ECP further said that a
candidate is allowed to
convene or attend any public
meeting 48 hours before
voting is due to start, while the
election campaign will end at
midnight between October 14
and 15.
The ECP on Thursday
released the list of contesting
candidates from NA-149. A
total of 18 candidates are
contesting the by-election.
1999 in view of backwardness
and poverty of Ahmadpur East
area, particularly Hatheji.
So far the trust has solemnised
weddings of 500 men and
women who are poor and from
downtrodden families, he added.
He vowed that the trust would
also arrange for 1,000 more
collective marriages for the
deserving boys and girls of this
part of the country during the
next 16 years.
He also revealed that the
trust was also striving for the
promotion of education in this
underdeveloped area of south
Punjab and had established
schools where computer
education was being imparted
to the children from poor
families.
ducation rights campaigner Malala Yousafzai
dedicated her Nobel peace
prize yesterday to “voiceless”
children around the world, and
called on the Indian and Pakistani prime ministers to attend
the award ceremony for the sake
of peace.
The 17-year-old, who heard
the news while she was in a
chemistry lesson at school in
Birmingham, central England,
said she was honoured to be
the youngest person and the
п¬Ѓrst Pakistani to receive the
accolade.
“The award is for all the children who are voiceless, whose
voices need to be heard,” Malala
told a press conference, held at
the end of the school day so she
wouldn’t miss class.
Malala arrived in Britain from
Pakistan for medical treatment
after being shot in the head by a
Taliban п¬Ѓghter in October 2012,
an attempt to silence her vocal
advocacy of the right of girls to
go to school.
Standing on a box so she could
reach the podium at Birmingham’s main library, the teenager
joked that winning the Nobel
would not help her upcoming
school exams.
But she told an audience that
included her parents and two
younger brothers: “I felt more
powerful and more courageous
because this award is not just
a piece of metal or a medal you
wear or an award you keep in
your room.
“This is encouragement for
me to go forward.”
The Norwegian Nobel Committee gave the award to Malala
and Indian activist Kailash Satyarthi for their struggle against
the repression of children and
young people and “for the right
of all children to education”.
Malala said she had already
spoken to Satyarthi—she joked
that she could not pronounce
his name—to discuss how they
could work together, and also try
to reduce tensions between their
two countries.
To that end, she urged Indian Prime Minister Narendra
Modi and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to attend
the Nobel award ceremony in
December.
Former British prime minister Gordon Brown, the United
Nations special envoy for global
education, voiced delight at the
Nobel victory for Malala and
Satyarthi.
“They are two of my best
friends and two of the greatest
global campaigners who deserve
the Nobel Peace Prize for their
courage, determination and for
their vision that no child should
ever be left behind,” Brown said
in a statement.
After visiting her in hospital, Brown took up Malala’s cause with a petition for
universal primary education
handed to the Pakistani government on a day he named
Malala Day, and later arranging for her to speak at the
United Nations.
Britain’s International Development Secretary Justine
Greening also congratulated the
joint winners saying the prize
was “richly deserved”.
The reaction in the streets of
Birmingham, which has a large
minority population of Pakistani
origin, was also overwhelmingly
positive.
“I like her. She’s confident,
speaking up for herself, for
women,” said 30-year-old Zara
Hussain as she waited at a bus
stop in Birmingham holding
a baby.
“She could be president (of
Pakistan) if she carries on.”
Imam Usman Mahmood of
Birmingham central mosque,
which with 6,000 followers is
one of the biggest in the city
and was visited by Malala and
her family, also expressed his
delight.
“It means that any person
who puts their mind to something, they can achieve their
goals. We wish her the best when
she carries on with her life and
that she keeps on going the way
she is,” he said.
But local estate agent Basharat
Hussain, 30, said: “I personally
think she shouldn’t have got it.
“She’s inspiring but I think
they’re using her for political motives, she’s been used
by different organisations and
governments.”
The global spotlight has provoked a backlash in parts of
Pakistani society, with some
accusing Malala of acting as a
puppet of the West, while the
Taliban have renewed the threat
to her life.
There have also been concerns
about exposing a child to such a
level of public exposure.
“I used to say that I think I
do not deserve the Nobel peace
prize. I still believe that,” Malala
said.
“But I believe it is not only an
award for what I’ve done but an
encouragement for giving me
hope, for giving me the courage
to go and continue this.”
16
Gulf Times
Saturday, October 11, 2014
PHILIPPINES
Philippine health
workers’ help
sought for
Ebola-hit areas
AFP
Manila
T
he Philippines is considering deploying substantial numbers of health
workers to West Africa amid a
global appeal to deal with the
Ebola virus, Health Secretary
Enrique Ona said yesterday.
The US and United Kingdom
have both specifically asked
Manila to provide “human resources”, Ona said, adding that
the nation’s high number of
qualified health professionals
make it well-placed to provide
help.
The UN has meanwhile
called for a 20-fold increase in
the world’s response to the Ebola epidemic, which has killed
nearly 3,900 people in West
Africa since the beginning
of the year. “I think it is also
something of a responsibility
for our country... to respond
to that global call for assistance,” Ona said at a joint news
conference with World Health
Organisation Western Pacific
director Shin Young-soo.
“We (Philippine officials)
are meeting on this issue and
should be able to make a firm
decision... maybe in a week or
so.”
The Philippines is expected
to decide after President Benigno Aquino meets key officials to discuss the specific US
and UK requests, Ona added.
Shin said the Philippines was
in a unique position of having “so many qualified health
workers” and wanting to express its gratitude for the global rescue and rehabilitation
effort after it was struck by
super typhoon Haiyan last year.
Other Asia-Pacific countries
have also offered support including medics from China, financial support commitments
from Australia and South Korea, and laboratory experts
from Japan, Shin added.
The health secretary said
the Philippines would only be
sending volunteers, and noted
it had a potentially large pool.
The health department has
fielded queries from Filipino
health workers wanting to
work in West Africa, he added.
“The human resources that
may be needed (may) not necessarily be working only in
the Ebola-affected facilities,”
Ona said when asked about
the potential size and composition of the Philippine contribution.
“(There) may also be workers
Shin Young-soo (right), regional director of World Health Organisation (WHO) for western Pacific at a press conference with Philippine health
secretary Enrique Ona in Manila yesterday.
needed, for example, in public
health, or taking care of hospitals where the usual non-Ebola
patients go,” he added.
Security forces on �high alert’
after Metro Manila terror threat
By Anthony Vargas
Manila Times
Members of a bomb squad and police officers stand guard outside the US Embassy in Manila yesterday.
threats exist. The mayor said the
police was still checking alleged
bomb threats on two schools,
one in Quezon City and the other
in Manila.
A source in the police intelligence community said Ayeras
is a member of the RSM, a group
that has ties with the Khilafa Islamiya Movement (KIM), which
has pledged loyalty to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has tried to douse
apprehensions over the US ad-
visory and has assured that foreigners are safe in Metro Manila.
Armed Forces Chief of Staff
Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang yesterday said they were in close coordination with the US Embassy
as military intelligence units
continue to verify reports on the
alleged terror plot.
“Maybe the US has other
sources. We will ask the US
where they got the information, we will check. But right
now we’re still verifying, and
follow-up operations are ongo-
ing,” Catapang said. The Department of National Defence (DnD)
meanwhile is taking seriously
the alleged terrorist plot to bomb
Metro Manila, despite the lack of
hard evidence.
“We are currently evaluating
all our information and there are
no indications at this time that
the foiled bomb plot is part of a
greater scenario. We are treating every report with the utmost seriousness, nonetheless,”
defence spokesman Peter Paul
Galvez said.
volunteer health workers, Ona
added.
Ona said about 3,000 Filipinos already work in worst-hit
Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. About 150 Filipino soldiers
also serve as peacekeepers under UN command in Liberia.
Aquino says authoritarianism is
�tempting but would not succeed’
By Joel M Sy Egco
Manila Times
P
T
he Philippine National Police (PNP) is on
“heightened alert,” but
maintained it was not in response to a terror threat in Metro
Manila.
The alert was raised on Thursday, the same day the US Embassy in Manila issued a travel
advisory warning its citizens of a
possible terror attack by militant
groups in the metropolis.
The PNP’s chief information officer, Senior Supt. Wilben
Mayor, said at a press briefing
in Camp Crame yesterday the
heightened alert “is part of protocol whenever the president
leaves the country.”
President Benigno Aquino left
for Bali, Indonesia on Thursday
for a two-day forum on democracy.
The US travel advisory, the
mayor said, “is a procedural action of a foreign government to
protect their own citizens. We
also do the same.”
The US issued the advisory
following the reported arrest of
three men, one of whom is believed to be a member of the Rajah Solaiman Group (RSM).
The mayor confirmed the arrest of Ricardo Ayeras, alias
Abdul Karim Ayeras, Andrecio
Valdez Manuel and Ricky Macapagal in Quezon City on October
5.
“They were arrested for simple violation of the law,” the
mayor said.
He said the PNP has not monitored any terrorist plot to plant
bombs in Metro Manila, but
it does not discount that such
The United Kingdom has
specifically offered financial
assistance that could potentially cover the salaries of Filipino
resident Benigno Aquino yesterday said he
п¬Ѓnds authoritarian rule
“tempting” because “this
might promise immediate
gains” but quickly clarified
that such method of governance will not succeed without
the “consent and support of
the governed.”
Speaking at the opening session of the seventh Bali Democracy Forum on the Evolving
Regional Democratic Architecture held at the Bali International Convention Centre in
Indonesia, Aquino said some
leaders are tempted to take
such a route out of frustrations and for other reasons that
hinder the realisation of their
plans.
“As leaders, all of us here
have had our share of frustrations borne of the many factors that sometimes hinder the
realisation of our vision. This
breeds the temptation to consider an authoritarian method,
as this might promise immediate gains,” the president told his
audience, including Indonesian President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono and other leaders
of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (Asean).
“Sitting down and reflecting
on this idea, however, we realise that, with the lack of consensus and consent from the
people, such a model, which
offers quick, short-term gains,
may be detrimental to society
in the long-run,” he added.
Aquino, who has expressed
“openness” to a term extension
if there is public clamour for
it, also explained that without
clear popular support, an authoritarian rule is doomed to
fail.
“That lack of consensus,
combined with the great degree of dissatisfaction that inevitably arises, leads to instability and the eventual collapse
of that particular system,” he
stressed.
He made the remark as he
narrated an incident during
his recent trip to the US when
he was asked by a student if he
“missed the good old days, particularly the stability fostered
by authoritarianism.”
“As you might know, my
family and I lived in exile in
Boston for a good three years,
and obviously, as a member of
a family victimised by an authoritarian regime, I could not
share the sentiment. Instead
I wondered: What were good
about those days? The discussion with that member of our
youth gave me the impetus to
reflect even more on the matter,” said the president.
As being experienced in the
Philippines and other countries, he noted that in a totalitarian regime, things get done
faster, whether they are right
or wrong, because there are no
checks and balances in place.
“Very often, the consent and
support of the governed are
neither sought nor attained.
Naturally, such a regime, one
divorced from the desires of its
people, will have weak foundations. In that kind of regime,
might I point out, the opinions
and wishes of the governed are
only second to the objective of
staying in power,” Aquino said.
He claimed that these regimes failed primarily because
political survival becomes
the “end all and be all” of the
government. “And as we have
seen in history, all authoritarian regimes, regardless of the
cause of their coming to power,
will at one point make political
survival the end all and be all of
government,” he said.
Only recently, a survey п¬Ѓrm
reported that majority of the
people do not favour an extended term for Aquino. I also
found that majority do not
agree that the powers of the judiciary, an instrument of check
and balance, should be clipped.
Aquino expressly opposes
the fact that “judicial reach”
has been “abused.” He lamented that the Supreme Court, for
one, has stepped on the toes of
the executive.
The president publicly ridiculed the court for ruling that
several provisions of the Disbursement Acceleration Programme (DAP) were unconstitutional.
In his speech, the president
underscored the benefits of
a democratic state which, he
maintained, “presents a more
stable, more solid foundation for
equitable advancement.”
“In a democratic state, which
is the opposite of an authoritarian regime, government is systematically attuned to the voice
of the people; it represents the
people and works towards the
betterment of its people. And
while consensus building, which
is the foundation of such a state,
may be a long and complicated
process,” he said.
“Democratic institutions, after
all, seek to free and enable its citizens, and the п¬Ѓrst freedom should
always be from hunger, as my father once thought. In turn, that
empowered citizenry becomes
capable of nurturing and fostering
democracy,” Aquino said.
Group proposes low-cost vote counting system
By Robertzon F Ramirez
Manila Times
A
group opposed to the use
of the Precinct Count
Optical Scan (PCOS) machines in the 2016 presidential
elections has proposed what it
claims is a more efficient and less
expensive electoral method.
Nelson Celis, the spokesman for the Automated Election
System (AES), said their alternative system involves the use
of tablets, iPads and laptops in
encoding results from votes cast
manually.
Speaking at a forum at the
Manila Times office on Thursday, Celis claimed that the government spends P21,274,218,632
for warehousing fees, maintenance, logistics, project management, training and ballots for
the 80,000 PCOS machines left
over from previous elections.
The AES system will cost not
more P2mn, he said.
In the group’s proposal, the
voting and tabulation will be
done manually, but the results
will be encoded into mobile devices and laptops.
The encoded votes will be
transmitted for canvassing. The
Board of Election Canvassers
(BEC) in the municipal or city
level will transmit the votes for
provincial canvassing.
The same process will apply to
the national board of canvassers.
Augusto “Gus” Lagman, a
former Commission on Elec-
tions (Comelec) commissioner,
said the process that AES is proposing “is a bit different from the
proposal from a year or two years
ago. What we (were) proposing
in the past is that we should have
manual counting and then the
results should be encoded in the
laptop and then the laptop will
transmit the results to the п¬Ѓrst
step in canvassing, but today we
are proposing a different set-up
because of the gain in popularity
of tablets, iPads (and) laptops.”
Celis said the Comelec is not
yet ready to implement automated elections as provided for
in Republic Act 9369.
He added that Smartmatic,
the п¬Ѓrm that owns the PCOS
machines, had violated the
Terms of References (TOR) pro-
vided by the Comelec.
“What we can do is implement
manual (elections) and electronic transmission (of votes). That’s
the only thing that we can do,”
Celis said.
He added that a combination
of “manual and electronic transmissions” is the best system for
2016.
Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr has rejected appeals
to do away with the PCOS machines in 2016.
He said the Comelec had issued a resolution adopting recommendations of the Comelec
Advisory Council to use the
PCOS machines.
Brillantes said the Comelec
does not have the budget for replacing the PCOS machines.
System expert Nelson Celis explains a point during the roundtable discussion.
Gulf Times
Saturday, October 11, 2014
17
SRI LANKA/BANGLADESH/NEPAL
Lanka to implement most
of post-war proposals
IANS
Colombo
T
he Sri Lankan government yesterday said it
will not fully implement
the recommendations of a postwar commission despite calls
to do so by the international
community.
Government cabinet spokesman and minister Keheliya
Rambukwella said that of the 180
recommendations made by the
Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), the
government will implement 144
recommendations.
The minister said the government has already implemented
45 recommendations and is
in the process of implementing the others stage by stage,
Xinhua reported.
A committee headed by the
secretary to the president is
engaged in monitoring the implementation of the 144 recommendations of the LLRC
contained in the National Plan
of Action, out of which, 45 are
deemed to be completed, 89 are
ongoing and 10 are in the early
stage of implementation.
The minister said a proposal
made by President Mahinda Rajapakse to establish a special bureau for reconciliation to function under the secretary to the
president and to carry out tasks
entrusted to it for the purpose
of facilitating the committee’s
work in monitoring the implementation of the LLRC recommendations, was approved
by the cabinet yesterday.
Rambukwella noted that
the implementation of some
recommendations
requires
Constituent
assembly
extends term
of committee
IANS
Kathmandu
T
he constituent assembly (CA) responsible
for drafting Nepal’s
constitution has extended its
committee’s tenure for second
time to settle all the disputes
with stakeholders and submit
the report by October 17.
Constitutional
political
dialogue and consensus committee (CPDCC) led by senior Maoist leader Baburam
Bhattarai is mandated to hold
discourses with political parties and other stakeholders
and include their views in its
report.
As per the CA’s new directives, the CPDCC should settle the remaining disputes by
October 16, an extension of
one week, and п¬Ѓnalise its report by October 17, according
to sources.
Forms of governance, state
restructuring, judicial system
and electoral system are the
four contentious issues on
which political parties are yet
to agree before п¬Ѓnalising the
draft of the new constitution.
The political parties, however, have not deferred the
January 22 deadline of drafting the constitution despite a
change in the working schedule of constitution drafting
process.
Earlier, the CPDCC had
failed to resolve disputed
matters of new constitution
within the extended deadline
which expired on October
7, after it failed to resolve it
within the original deadline of
September 6.
The committee had managed to settle around two and a
half dozen thorny issues during the п¬Ѓrst extended period.
Meanwhile, constitutional
expert Nilambar Acharya has
warned that the political parties are unlikely to meet the
January 22 deadline of drafting
the constitution.
The present working style
of the political parties cannot
accomplish the task of drafting the constitution as per
the stipulated deadline, he
pointed out.
Keheliya Rambukwella
constitutional changes.
“More than one-third of the
proposals have been implemented. There are certain recommendations which require
constitutional
amendments.
That’s a long process,” he noted.
The minister noted that a
parliament committee was also
appointed to address some of
the issues related to constitutional changes, but the main
minority Tamil party in Sri Lanka - the Tamil National Alliance
has so far boycotted the process.
He noted that even India has
urged the Tamil National Alliance to join the parliament
committee.
Energy prices slashed: Sri
Lanka’s president has slashed
gas prices by 10% after making
hefty cuts to fuel and electricity tariffs that have been widely
seen as sweeteners ahead of
snap elections.
President Mahinda Rajapakse
ordered treasury chief Punchi
Banda Jayasundera to reduce
gas prices by just over 10%, the
government information department said late on Thursday.
Speculation that Rajapakse
will call a snap presidential poll
has mounted, after his party
opened an election campaign
office last month.
The move came after the ruling United People’s Freedom
Alliance saw its vote plummet
by over 20 percentage points in
local elections.
Rajapakse gained popularity
among the majority Buddhist
Sinhalese-speaking community
by crushing Tamil separatists
in May 2009, but rising hate
attacks and human rights issues have alienated minority
communities.
The president has the power
to call an election before completing his second six-year
term, which is due to end in
November 2016.
Ruling party seniors have privately argued that it would be advantageous for him to do so before
his popularity wanes further.
The government on Tuesday brought forward the 2015
budget by a month to October
24, in a further indication it is
preparing to go to the polls in
January.
But at a conference in Colombo, Jayasundera denied the
budget would contain “election
goodies”, saying that it would
be “a development-oriented
budget”.
If held in the п¬Ѓrst half of
January, the elections would
come just before a visit by Pope
Francis, who has announced
he will be on the island from
January 13 to 15.
The Roman Catholic Church
in Sri Lanka has asked all politicians not to use the papal visit
as a political tool in their campaigning to secure votes from
the 7.5% of the population that
is Christian.
Nepal’s indigenous people
T
he speaker of the Bangladesh parliament, Shirin
Sharmin Chaudhury, has
been elected chairperson of the
Commonwealth Parliamentary
Association (CPA).
She was elected for the prestigious post at the 60th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference in the Cameroonian
capital of YaoundГ© on Thursday,
parliament secretariat officials
said in Dhaka yesterday.
Chaudhury will lead the
35-member executive committee
for the next three years.
Juliana O’ Connor-Connoly,
speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Cayman Islands, was
the only rival of the Bangladesh
speaker in the election race.
Earlier, on October 3, Speaker
Chaudhury left Dhaka for Cameroon to take part in the 60th
Commonwealth Parliamentary
Conference.
The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association promotes
parliamentary democracy in
Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury
the erstwhile British colonies.
Chaudhury received 70 votes
while Connor-Connoly bagged
67, SM Manzur, director of
public relations wing of the
parliament secretariat, said.
Out of the total 321 votes, 137
voters from 175 members of the association turned up at the general
assembly which is the lone authorised body to elect the chairperson
of the CPA executive committee.
According to the CPA charter, the national and state legislatures are the members of the
association. The voters must be
present at the general assembly.
Soon after the election,
Chaudhury chaired a meeting of
the new executive committee at
the conference venue.
Reuters
Colombo
S
ri Lanka has lifted a temporary ban on the sale of some
Anchor milk powder made by
New Zealand-based Fonterra after
local tests showed it did not cause
illness in children, a government
official said yesterday.
The government last week
halted the sale and distribution
of Anchor powder from three
batches after some children who
consumed the product fell ill.
“The director general of health
today said that the sample tests
have not found any negative reports and asked to release the
three batches held,” Senerath
Bandara, secretary of Sri Lanka’s public health inspectors’
association, said.
Fonterra had said last week its
independent investigations into
the three batches with a total
weight of 76 metric tonnes proved
they were safe to consume.
The latest ban came after
Fonterra, the world’s top dairy
exporter, suspended its Sri Lanka
operations in August last year
after facing product bans, court
cases and angry demonstrators
over its sale of milk products in
the country.
It later resumed operations after
a court order removed the ban.
Sri Lanka is a top-10 importer
of New Zealand dairy products,
with roughly $196mn of the
country’s total milk powder imports of around $300mn coming
from New Zealand in 2012. The
majority is supplied by Fonterra.
Worker strike hits
railway services
Nepalese indigenous women attending a programme in Kathmandu. The indigenous people constitute 37.2% of total Nepal’s
national population.
Bangladesh house speaker Sleuths in New Delhi to probe
JMB link with blast: minister
elected CPA chairperson
By Mizan Rahman
Dhaka
Ban on
some
Fonterra
products
lifted
Chaudhury is the 21st chairperson of the CPA executive
committee since the association
was established in 1967.
Political
observers
say
Chaudhury’s win will surely
brighten the image of the 10th
parliament, which many countries do not appreciate much
internationally.
Considering her excellent academic career and contributions
to women empowerment and democracy, the western countries,
including the British parliament,
in August suggested that Chaudhury should contest the votes.
The CPA, UK is one of the
175 branches of the association. The speakers of the House
of the Lords and the House of
Commons are the presidents of
the CPA, UK.
The vice-presidents of the
CPA, UK are the prime minister,
leader of the opposition, secretary of state for foreign and
commonwealth affairs, secretary of state for international
development and those members of the house of parliament
who have previously held some
prestigious posts in the UK.
By Mizan Rahman
Dhaka
A
team of Bangladesh’s
National Security Intelligence (NSI) is now
in New Delhi to help the Indian intelligence agencies
dig any link of the Burdwan
blast in West Bengal with any
militant group in Bangladesh.
However, State Minister for
Home Affairs Asaduzzaman
Khan Kamal yesterday said
there are no bases of Jamaatul
Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB)
or any existence of militant organisation in the country.
“Bangladesh is always
against terrorism and it will
allow none to use its land for
conducting militant or terrorist activities on its soil or
in the neighbouring friendly
country of India,” he said.
Kamal was speaking to
journalists during a visit
to the zero line at Banglabandha Land Port (BLP)
under the border district of
Panchagarh yesterday. He
also visited Fulbari Border
Security Force (BSF) camp
on the other side in India.
He said India has not yet officially informed Bangladesh
about nationality of the two
persons killed in blasts while
preparing bombs in Burdwan
district of West Bengal state
as published recently in the
media.
“Bangladesh is always
against terrorism and it will
allow none to use its land
for conducting militant or
terrorist activities on its
soil or in the neighbouring
friendly country of India”
The minister’s comments
came as Indian police arrested
two more in connection with
the blast at Burdwan district
in West Bengal.
They were caught from
Ketugram of the Burdwan
district, Indian police said in
Kolkata yesterday.
With this, six persons have
been arrested in connection
with the blast so far.
Meanwhile, Indian National Investigating Agency (NIA)
п¬Ѓled a п¬Ѓrst information report
(FIR) yesterday in connec-
tion with the recent blast at
Burdwan.
The central government of
India issued notification on
NIA probe into the incident in
which two persons were killed
while allegedly assembling
bombs at Kharagarh in Burdwan on October 2. The home
ministry of India took the decision to hand over the probe
considering the international
ramification of the case.
West Bengal state government earlier initiated CID probe
over the incident which faced
lot of criticism from different
circles including opposition
parties. They demanded NIA
probe over the whole episode.
The state government has
termed the centre’s decision
as unilateral. The secretary
general of the ruling Trinamool Congress and state education minister Partho Chatterjee said in Kolkata yesterday
that the centre’s step is against
federal structure of the country, since the law and order is a
state subject.
He said that the role of
CID to investigate the case is
praiseworthy.
The trade unions of Sri Lanka’s
postal department said yesterday
that more than 500,000 letters
had been accumulated due to a
railway workers’ strike ahead of
World Postal Day.
More than 200 employees of
the department travelled to the
northern town of Jaffna for the
World Postal Day celebrations on
Thursday and senior officials had
also focused on the train strike,
local media reported yesterday.
Thousands of Sri Lankan train
commuters were stranded on
Thursday and yesterday as
workers of the Professional
Railway Trade Union Alliance
(PRTUA) launched a country-wide
strike for pay hike from midnight
Wednesday.
All the night mail trains have been
cancelled, paralysing the mail
service around the country as
letters piled up at the central mail
exchange.
Trade unions urged the
department officials to take action
to deliver these backlogs using
alternate transport methods.
The situation will worsen if
the strike continues. So far all
attempts to resolve salary hike of
the workers have failed at talks.
Banks asked to
provide account
data of UK citizen
The Bangladesh Bank (BB) has
directed all banks in the country to
provide information on accounts or
transaction by Amin Ruhul, a British
citizen of Bangladesh origin.
The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU)
of the country’s central bank has
issued the order, BB officials said.
Police in the UK says Amin, 25,
who holds dual nationality, is
linked to the radical Islamic State
of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
They say Amin is possibly moving
funds to help organise terror
attacks in the UK.
The UK police have found Amin in
an ISIS camp from a video now in
their possession.
They say Amin has possibly two
more aliases - Amin Abdul Rakib
and Bara Al-Hindi.
These aliases have been furnished in
the Bangladesh Bank letter seeking
any detail available about his
banking transactions in the country.
The letter has sought within the
next seven working days any
detail about financial transaction
available in the name of Amin
Ruhul or any of the two aliases he
is known to use.
Amin, born in 1989, is said to hail from
Moulvibazar district of Bangladesh, if
one goes by his passport. He lives in
Aberdeen in Scotland.
18
Gulf Times
Saturday, October 11, 2014
COMMENT
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GULF TIMES
Nobel prize carries
a peace message for
India and Pakistan
The guns on the India-Pakistan border had barely fallen
silent when the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced
the names of the Indian and Pakistani winners of the
peace prize - a choice that has raised hopes of nudging
the two neighbours to end their confrontation.
Heavy gunfire and mortar shelling rocked the
international border that separates the disputed
Himalayan region of Kashmir over the past nine days,
killing 19 people on either side, most of them civilians. It
has been the worst violence between the neighbours since
a 2003 ceasefire.
In awarding the prize to teen education advocate
Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan and children’s rights activist
Kailash Satyarthi of India, the committee reflected on the
future of children in young countries such as India and
Pakistan where most of the population is under 25 years.
“The Nobel Committee regards it as an important point
for a Hindu and a Muslim, an Indian and a Pakistani,
to join in a common struggle for education and against
extremism,” the committee said.
“There could hardly be a better time for a Pakistani and
an Indian to share the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize,” said
Hussain Soherwardi, a political analyst who teaches at
Peshawar University in north-western Pakistan.
He said the award is seldom free of “global politics”
and there could be a message for the two South Asian
countries to follow a path of peace. “The combination of
Malala and Kailash
could be an effort to
tell their countries to
move towards peace.”
A peace dialogue
has been largely
suspended since the
2008 terrorist attack
in Mumbai in which
166 people were
killed.
There were hopes
that ties would improve when Indian Prime Minister
Narendra Modi invited his Pakistani counterpart, Nawaz
Sharif, to his inauguration in May. But those soon soured.
In August, India cancelled talks after the Pakistani
ambassador met Kashmiri separatist leaders in New
Delhi. The escalation of border skirmishes in the
Himalayan region in the following weeks further
deteriorated relations.
Geir Lundestad, non-voting secretary of the Nobel
Committee, said the prize was primarily for ending
violations against children, but it could have “some
effect” on nudging the neighbours closer.
“If it can improve the relationship between India and
Pakistan, however marginally, that would of course be
appreciated. But we should not expect this prize to really
have a major impact in that respect - I mean the Nobel
Peace Prize is not a magic wand,” he said.
Malala joined Satyarthi in appealing for the political
leaders of India and Pakistan to come together and be
there in Norway in December when the peace prize is
presented to them.
“We’ll try to build a strong relationships between
India and Pakistan,” she said. “It’s very important for
both the countries that they have peace and have good
relationships.”
Right moment for UK to
recognise Palestinian state
The Palestinians who
practise non-violence and
security co-operation with
Israel need encouragement
to maintain their stance
By Vincent Fean
Guardian News & Media
L
ast week the prime minister
of Israel announced yet more
illegal settlements in the West
Bank, cutting off Bethlehem
from Jerusalem - a wholly negative
act. Later in the week, the prime
minister of Sweden announced that
his government recognises the state of
Palestine - a positive step that will help
bring forward the day when genuine
negotiations between the parties take
place.
On Monday, British MPs will vote
on recognition. It is the right time
to support the two-state solution by
validating the second, Palestinian,
state.
Fifteen years ago the EU agreed the
Palestinian right to self-determination.
Britain and Sweden were part of that
consensus. Recently, and during my
years in Jerusalem, Israeli policy on a
negotiated peace has been accelerating
in the wrong direction.
The Palestinians who practise nonviolence and security co-operation with
Israel - the PLO and the Palestinian
Authority, under President Abbas need encouragement to maintain their
stance. They have engaged in fruitless
talks on and off for 20 years, to the
scorn of Hamas, while the illegal settler
enterprise brought more than 600,000
Israelis into East Jerusalem and the
West Bank.
The illegality of settlements, the
separation barrier and the demolition of
Palestinian homes in Jerusalem and the
West Bank is incontestable. UK foreign
secretary Philip Hammond “deplored”
the latest Israeli move, just as he found
“ill-judged” Israel’s expropriation of
1,000 acres of Palestinian land near
Bethlehem two months ago. We have
deplored frequently, to no avail. What
to do?
A one-state outcome
is no solution
Sweden is the 135th state of 193 in
the UN to recognise Palestine, and its
validation does nothing to undermine
the legitimacy of Israel. It is wrong
to argue that recognition precludes
negotiations, or makes them harder.
The past 20 years show that there
must be greater equity between the
parties in order for negotiations to
succeed, in addition to strong US,
EU and Arab engagement under UN
Security Council auspices. Recognition
of Palestine begins to level the ground
somewhat for those essential talks.
But only somewhat: physically, Israel
continues to control the land, air
and sea - even bandwidth, denying
Palestinians access to 3G for “security”
reasons.
Bilateral recognition of Palestine by
Britain - our sovereign decision - should
be accompanied by a reaffirmation of
UK and EU policy on the framework
for agreement, starting with Israel’s
inalienable right to live in peace and
security. President Obama said last
month that the status quo in the Holy
Land was not sustainable. He is right. It
is not peace. Nor is it just. The US should
guarantee the safety of both peoples
with US or Nato troops during the full,
phased withdrawal of Israeli forces from
Palestine, endorsed in a unanimous
Security Council resolution.
If the US elects not to go to the UN,
for domestic political reasons, it is
back to us, working with France and
all willing EU partners, to shape the
international effort to achieve peace
with justice for both peoples.
The Commons debate matters. The
motion, by Labour MP Grahame Morris,
is to recognise Palestine. That is right,
and timely. An amendment tabled by
both the main parties’ Friends of Israel
groups would make UK recognition
contingent on successful peace talks.
This is well-intentioned, but mistaken.
Adopting that amendment would give
Israel a veto over British policy decision
to recognise another state. That is
wrong in principle and practice. It’s our
call, not Israel’s.
The amendment also contradicts
current UK policy: “We reserve the
right to recognise a Palestinian state
bilaterally at a moment of our choosing
and when it can best help bring about
peace,” the foreign minister William
Hague told the House of Commons in
November 2011. Now is that moment.
It would be an action which others
will emulate, and would stimulate US
re-engagement. We know that the US
cannot do it alone, and that Britain can
do things that the US cannot.
Some contend that UK recognition
would be a catalyst for violence. Not so.
To become the 136th state to recognise
Palestine is no incitement. Britain
matters because of our historical role,
our permanent membership of the
Security Council, and our partnership
with 27 EU states.
We can take a decisive political step
to break a political impasse for which
we have a bigger share of responsibility
than all the 135 put together.
The recognition of Palestine would
help to preserve the two-state solution
which is, after all, the policy of the three
main political parties. It would reward
and encourage moderation in both
states. It is something that is overdue. If
not now, then when?
Imagine the alternatives - yet more
of what we have become used to, or the
one-state outcome to which this Israeli
government’s actions on the ground are
leading.
A one-state outcome is no solution.
Without equal rights, it would mean
further discrimination in what would,
in effect, be an apartheid-style system
and, yes, it would also mean violence but this time with no way out.
In saying yes to Palestine, our
parliament can say a decisive no to that
disastrous scenario.
zVincent Fean served as British
consul-general in Jerusalem from
2010-2014
“The combination
of Malala and
Kailash could be
an effort to tell
their countries
to move towards
peace”
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Israeli security forces firing tear gas at Palestinian demonstrators during a protest near the West Bank city of Ramallah against Israeli restrictions at the Al Aqsa
Mosque compound yesterday. The Israeli government has restricted access to the Al Aqsa mosque compound to men under 50 years.
Anger and confusion as Kurds battle IS militants
By Arwa Damon
CNN
T
he two women did not want
to talk. Exhausted, they
dumped their loads wrapped
in blankets on the ground.
It’s all they could carry. Now, it is all
that they have.
The children gulp water, their
faces coated in a layer of dirt, hair
matted from days of suffering through
relentless sandstorms as they waited
to cross the border into Turkey.
Overcome with emotion, the
women break down, unable to hold
back their tears any longer.
That was the day after the US-led
coalition airstrikes. There was still
the sense among this new and massive
wave of refugees that perhaps the
indignity they would have to endure
would be short lived.
But whatever blow America and its
allies intended to deliver has barely
thrown ISIS off balance. We watched
the surreal scenes as ISIS (Islamic
State of Iraq and Syria, now often
referred to just as IS – Islamic State)
and the YPG (Kurdish People’s
Protection Units) – the Kurdish
fighting force – traded artillery fire
between two hilltops. The Kurds
gathered on the Turkish side of the
border cheering each time ISIS was
hit.
That elation would be short lived.
As the ISIS stranglehold on Kobane
tightened, the crowds watching
swelled, at times trying to storm the
border.
On Monday morning, we watched as
ISIS continued to relentlessly pound
Kobane. Nearby a small crowd of men
passed around their binoculars.
“Did you see it? Look, the ISIS flag
Kurdish people standing on a hill at the Turkish-Syrian border as smoke rises
from the Syrian town of Ain al-Arab, known as Kobane by the Kurds, in the
southeastern village of Mursitpinar, Sanliurfa province.
is on that building.” One said. “You
can also see their tank, it’s right there.”
They invite us to lunch. The men
are Turkish Kurds from Cizre, about
a six-hour drive away, and say they
came to show their solidarity with
their Kurdish brethren in Syria.
Sitting in the shade, sharing
watermelon and white cheese, with
artillery strikes echoing across the
field, they repeated the question we’ve
been hearing over and over for the last
two weeks: Why isn’t the coalition
striking? Why are they letting ISIS
enter Kobane?
A few hours later, ISIS had made
another strategic gain, planting its flag
on a hill just outside of Kobane.
“We didn’t choose this war, but we
are obliged to fight.” Idriss Nassan, a
Kurdish official inside Kobane told us.
We keep asking him if he’s going to
leave, and his response is always the
same: No.
Coupled with the anger on both
sides of the border is confusion.
How can the world watch and let this
happen?
zArwa Damon is a senior
international correspondent for CNN
Gulf Times
Saturday, October 11, 2014
19
COMMENT
Time to debeak the vultures
Investors who acquire
defaulted sovereign debt at
huge discounts should not
expect repayment in full
By Joseph E Stiglitz and
Martin Guzman
New York
I
n the midst of the ongoing
dispute between Argentina and
the “vulture funds” that hold
its bonds, a broad consensus
has emerged concerning the need
for sovereign-debt restructuring
mechanisms (SDRMs).
Otherwise, US Federal Judge Thomas P Griesa’s ruling that Argentina
must pay the vultures in full (after
93% of other bondholders agreed to a
restructuring) will give free rein to opportunistic behaviours that sabotage
future restructurings.
Most recently, the International
Capital Market Association (ICMA)
recommended new terms for
government bonds.
Though the ICMA’s proposal leaves
unresolved the hundreds of billions
of bonds written under the old terms,
the new framework says in effect that
Griesa’s interpretation was wrong,
and recognises that leaving it in place
would make restructuring impossible.
The ICMA’s proposed contractual
terms clarify the pari passu clause that
was at the heart of Griesa’s muddleheaded ruling.
The intent of the clause – a standard
component of sovereign-bond
contracts – was always to ensure
that the issuing country treated
identical bondholders identically. But
it has always been recognised that
senior creditors – for example, the
International Monetary Fund – are
treated differently.
Griesa did not seem to grasp
the common understanding of the
clause. After Argentina defaulted on
its sovereign debt in 2001, vulture
funds bought defaulted bonds in the
secondary market at a fraction of
their face value and then sued for full
payment.
According to Griesa’s interpretation
of pari passu, if Argentina paid the
interest that it owed to creditors that
accepted the restructuring, it had to
pay the vultures in full – including all
past interest and the principal.
The vultures’ business was enabled
in part by litigation over the so-called
champerty defence – based on a
longstanding English common-law
doctrine, later adopted by US state
legislatures, prohibiting the purchase of
debt with the intent of bringing a lawsuit.
Argentina is simply the latest victim
in the vultures’ long legal battle to
change the rules of the game to permit
them to prey on poor countries seeking
to restructure their debts.
In 1999, in Elliot Associates, LP v.
Banco de la Nacion and the Republic
of Peru, the Second Circuit Court of
Appeals determined that the plaintiff’s
intent in purchasing the discounted
debt was to be paid in full or otherwise
to sue.
The court then ruled that Elliot’s
intent, because it was contingent, did
not meet the champerty requirement.
Though some other courts accepted
the Second Circuit’s narrow reading of
the champerty defence, the vultures
were not satisfied and went to the New
York state legislature, which in 2004
effectively eliminated the defence
of champerty concerning any debt
purchase above $500,000. That decision
contradicted understandings according
to which hundreds of billions of dollars
of debt had already been issued.
Investors who acquire defaulted
sovereign debt at huge discounts
should not expect repayment in full;
the discount is an indication that the
market does not expect that, and it is
Pedestrians walking past a man who holds up a sign that reads “Vanoli: Be careful! (Central Bank) reserves are not to
be touched” in front of Argentina’s Central Bank headquarters in Buenos Aires. Alejandro Vanoli, who served as head of
Argentina’s market regulator Comision Nacional de Valores (CNV), was named last week as the new head of the Bank Central.
only through litigation that one could
hope to receive anything close to it.
An important change in the legal
framework, such as the elimination
of the champerty defence, is de facto
a change in “property rights,” with
the debtors losing, and creditors who
purchase the bonds intending to sue if
they are not paid what they want – the
vultures – gaining. The vultures were
thus unjustly enriched, doubly so with
the novel and unjustified interpretation
of the pari passu clause.
Will so-called collective-action
clauses (CACs) – another aspect of the
ICMA “reform” aimed at debeaking
the vultures – save the day? In many
countries, CACs stipulate that if,
say, two-thirds of the investors
accept a company’s (or a country’s)
restructuring proposal, the other
investors are bound to go along.
This mechanism prevents
speculative holdouts from holding
up the restructuring process and
demanding ransom. But CACs do not
exist for sovereign debt written in many
jurisdictions, leaving the п¬Ѓeld open for
the vultures.
Moreover, CACs are no panacea.
If they were, there would be no need
for domestic bankruptcy law, which
spells out issues like precedence and
fair treatment. But no government has
found CACs adequate for resolving
domestic restructuring. So why should
we think that they would suffice in
the much more complex world of
sovereign-debt restructurings?
In particular, CACs suffer from the
problem of “aggregation.” If a CAC
required, say, 75% of the holders of
each bond class, vultures could buy
26% of only one bond class and block
the entire restructuring. The recent
Greek debt restructuring had to
confront this issue.
The ICMA’s new framework seems to
provide a way out: The supermajority
would be defined by the acceptance
of the aggregate principal amount of
outstanding debt securities of all of the
affected series.
The supermajority’s decisions would
be binding on all other investors.
But this, too, poses a problem: The
more junior creditors could vote to have
themselves treated in the same way as
more senior creditors. What recourse
would the senior creditors then have?
In bankruptcy court, they would have
grounds for objecting, and the judge
would have to weigh the equities.
These issues are especially important
in the context of sovereign-debt
restructurings, because the claimants
to a country’s resources include not
only formal creditors; others, too – for
example, pensioners – might not be
paid if bondholders are paid in full.
Chapter 9 of the US Bankruptcy Code
(which applies to public entities)
recognises these rights – unlike Griesa
and the vultures.
Today, the international community
faces two challenges. One is to deal
with the hundreds of billions of dollars
of debt written under the old terms,
which cannot be restructured under
Griesa’s ruling. The second is to decide
on the terms that should be imposed in
the future.
The investing community has
made a serious proposal. But changes
of this magnitude must be based on
discussions among creditors and debtor
governments – and more is needed than
tweaking the terms of the agreements.
An initiative at the UN to
encourage the establishment of
SDRMs is receiving the support of
prominent academic economists and
practitioners.
Global efforts are good п¬Ѓrst steps to
remedy the damage to international
п¬Ѓnancial markets that the US courts
have inflicted. For the sake of a healthy
global economy, the vultures must be
grounded. - Project Syndicate
zJoseph E Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate
in economics, is university professor
at Columbia University. His most
recent book, co-authored with Bruce
Greenwald, is Creating a Learning
Society: A New Approach to Growth,
Development, and Social Progress.
Martin Guzman is a postdoctoral
research fellow at the Department of
Economics and Finance at Columbia
University Business School.
Weather report
LEGAL HELPLINE
Three-day forecast
TODAY
Workplace injuries and employer’s obligations
Under Article 109, the
worker who sustains
a work injury shall be
entitled to receive medical
treatment at the cost of the
employer
By Nizar Kochery
Doha
QUESTION: I had an accident
while on duty, injuring my ankle. I
was rushed to the Hamad hospital
where a surgery was carried out
on my ankle. Thirteen screws
were installed in my leg. I paid the
hospital bill myself. My company
never paid me during the time I was
in the hospital and for four months
after that. Please advice on my
rights and duties of my employer.
CF, Doha
ANSWER: If the worker sustains
a work injury while on duty, the
employer shall immediately notify the
police and the Labour Department
of the incident. The notification
shall include the circumstance of the
incident where it took place and the
actions taken for aiding or curing the
worker among other details.
Under Article 109, the worker who
sustains a work injury shall be entitled
to receive medical treatment at the cost
of the employer and shall receive his
full wage during the treatment period
or the period of six months whichever
is shorter.
If the treatment continues for a
period exceeding six months the
worker shall be paid half of his
wage until his recovery or proof of
his permanent disability or death
whichever is nearer.
Contract
termination
Q: I would like to terminate my
employment contract. The written
contract, attested by the Labour
Department, mentions that
termination is allowed as per Law.
What does the Law say on this? I
have seven years of service. What
are the duties of my employer when
I terminate the contract? Can I get
a discharge certificate, stating my
service details?
PS, Doha
A: An employment contract of
indefinite duration is terminable by
any of the parties by notice and when
the period of service exceed п¬Ѓve years,
a notice of two months to be given.
Article 57 stipulates that the employer
shall, at employer’s cost, repatriate
the employee. It is obligatory on the
part of the employer to complete the
proceedings of returning the nonQatari worker within a period not
exceeding two weeks from the expiry
date of the contract.
Regarding experience certificate, at
the desire of the employee, employer
is under legal obligation to issue the
same without any charges indicating
the period of engagement, salary and
nature of work.
Payment delay
to sub-contractor
Q: We are sub-contractors to a
project. Our main contractor is
not releasing any payment, saying
contract is back to back. Because
of this we п¬Ѓnd it difficult in paying
salaries to our staff. Can we take
any action to collect money from
the employer of the project?
Can our workers claim from the
employer?
TH, Doha
A: Under Article 702, a sub-contractor
and workmen working for a contractor
in the execution of a contract have
a direct right of action against the
employer but only to the extent of such
sums as are due by the employer to the
main contractor on the date that action
is commenced.
Workmen of a sub-contractor
likewise have the same right of action
against the main contractor and the
employer to the extent of the claims in
question.
The rights of a sub-contractor and
workmen provided have priority over
those of a person to whom the main
contractor has assigned sums due to
him by the employer.
High: 37 C
Low: 27 C
Hazy to Misty at first becoming relatively hot daytime and a chance of
local rainy clouds maybe thundery at
times at places
deposit document against the receipt
of the bill of exchange and the holder
may receive the amount from the court
under this document.
If the debtor did not submit the
deposit document to the holder, he shall
pay the value of payment of the holder.
SUNDAY
High: 36 C
Low : 29 C
Clear
MONDAY
Repayment
procedure
Remuneration
of arbitrators
Q: I owe money to a fellow national,
with me signing a bill of exchange.
There was a delay in repaying it
initially. I have enough funds now to
clear the debt but the creditor is not
reachable. I have no idea whether he
has already п¬Ѓled any case or not. I
want to leave Qatar now. How can I
make the payment?
RT, Doha
Q: We are in a contractual dispute
and arbitration is the mode
of settlement in the contract.
Arbitrators will be appointed
mutually or by the court but no
payment for arbitrators has been
agreed. How will this be done? The
counter party is not responding.
AT, Doha
A: As stipulated under Article 512 of
the Commercial Law - Law No.27 of
2006, if the bill of exchange was not
submitted for payment on the date
of maturity, the debtor thereby may
deposit its amount in the treasury
of the court and the deposit shall be
charged to the holder of the bill of
exchange and for his liability.
The court shall grant the depositor
a document wherein it shall state the
deposit of the amount, date of bill of
exchange and date of maturity and
name of the person for whose interest
the bill of exchange was executed.
If the holder asked the debtor for
payment, the debtor shall deliver the
A: File a petition to the court for
appointment of the arbitrator and to
get the remuneration п¬Ѓxed. Article 210
of the procedure code provides that
remuneration of arbitrators shall be
specified by agreement of the litigants
thereof in the arbitration agreement or
in a subsequent agreement, otherwise
they shall be specified by the court
primarily competent in hearing the
dispute, in virtue of a motion of one of
those concerned, in the presence of the
rest of them or in their absence after
being served summons to appear. The
decision of the court shall be п¬Ѓnal.
High: 35 C
Low : 28 C
Clear
Fishermen’s forecast
OFFSHORE DOHA
Wind: NE-NW 05-15/18 KT
Waves: 2-4/5 Feet
INSHORE DOHA
Wind: NE-NW 05-15/KT
Waves: 1-2/3 Feet
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zPlease send your questions by
e-mail to: leges@qatar.net.qa
LEGAL SYSTEM IN QATAR
Article 1058 define Mortgage as a
contract by which a creditor acquires,
over an immovable appropriated to
the payment of his debt, a real right
by which he obtains preference over
ordinary creditors and creditors
following him in rank, for the
repayment of his claim out of the
price of the immovable, no matter
into whose hands the immovable has
passed.
A mortgage can only be constituted
by an official document. The costs
of this official document are, in
the absence of an agreement to the
contrary, borne by the mortgagor.
The mortgagor may be the debtor
himself or a third party who consents
to mortgage his property in the
interest of the debtor. If the mortgagor
is not the owner of the mortgaged
property, the contract becomes valid
if ratified by the true owner of the
property by an official deed. In the
absence of ratification, the mortgage
is only effective from the time that the
immovable becomes the property of
the mortgagor.
A mortgage constituted by an
owner whose title to the property is
subsequently annulled, abolished or
ceases to exist for any other reason,
remains a valid mortgage in favour
of the mortgagee creditor if he has
acted in good faith at the time of the
conclusion of the mortgage.
Generally, a mortgage can only be
constituted on immovable property.
The mortgaged property must be
marketable and capable of being sold
by public auction.
It must be specifically and precisely
described both as regards its nature
and location, and such description
must be contained either in the deed
constituting the mortgage or in a
subsequent authentic document,
otherwise the mortgage is void.
A mortgage extends to the
accessories of the mortgaged property
which are considered to be immovable
accessories. In the absence of an
agreement to the contrary and without
prejudice to the privileges of sums due
to contractors or architects, a mortgage
includes particularly, buildings and
trees that exist in the mortgaged
property at the time of the mortgage
or erected thereafter, servitudes and
properties created by allotment, all the
improvements and other constructions
in the mortgaged property.
According to Article 1066, the
owner of constructions erected
on land belonging to a third party
may grant a mortgage on these
constructions. In such a case, the
mortgagee shall have a preferential
claim for recovery of his debt on
the price of the breakup value of the
constructions if they are demolished,
and on the compensation paid by
the owner of the land if he keeps the
constructions.
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20
Gulf Times
Saturday, October 11, 2014
QATAR
Women singers in traditional attire perform at Souq Waqif yesterday. PICTURES: Jayan Orma.
Souq Waqif
concludes
festivities
Eid-related revelries at the
souq, held in collaboration
with the Qatar Tourism
Authority, enthralled both
residents and visitors
S
ouq Waqif has concluded
its line-up of colourful
festivities yesterday with
a large crowd, consisting mostly
of children and their families,
making the most of the last day
of its Eid al-Adha celebrations.
Eid-related revelries at the
souq, held in collaboration with
the Qatar Tourism Authority
(QTA), enthralled both residents
and visitors with a variety of
games, an art exhibition dubbed
“Eid Colours”, and entertainment programmes that showcased Qatari songs and performances.
The cultural activities featured a group of female artistes,
an all-male folk band, and another group of performers that
entertained visitors in vari-
ous parts of the area during the
opening ceremony.
At the northern portion of
Souq Waqif near the Arab Bank
roundabout, visitors and tourists were entertained by a group
of performers while male Qatari
singers serenaded audiences
walking along Al Souq Street.
Children, on the other hand,
could not contain their excitement as they bounced from one
inflatable playground to another,
dozens of which were set up at
The Village Games in front of the
Gold Souq, dedicated to families.
Despite the long queues,
children waited for their turn
to sample other activities like
games, water rides, and circus
attractions such as the Flying
Trapeze, Russian Swing, Fire and
Pyrotechnics, Illusionists, The
Amazing Cycles, Wheel of Death
and clown shows.
A musical play of Cinderella at
the Al Rayyan Theatre also continued to be a consistent crowddrawer until its last curtain call
yesterday. Souq Waqif has also
distributed gifts to some 25,000
children over the last six days.
Aside from Souq Waqif, the
QTA also concluded its Eid festivities in six other venues: City
Center Doha, Lagoona Mall,
Landmark Mall, The Mall, Al
Khor Mall, and Hyatt Plaza.
The six other malls showcased
children’s attractions such as
Adventure Time, Tannoura and
Steve Kaos, Dora’s Dancing Adventures, Fritters, face-painting,
Dandruff Circus Show, Football Freestyler, Arda traditional
show, Mr Potato Head, Shaun
the Sheep, Bubbelz and Balloonz, Noureddine Speed Painter, and Sweets for Kids.
But the QTA said some Eid-
related programmes will continue at Katara – the Cultural
Village until the end of October
and November.
Among them are the Angry
Birds exhibition which will run
until October 31 between 9am
and 1pm from Sunday to Thursday, and between 1pm and 11pm
on Friday-Saturday, and Dream
on Ice which will run until November 30.
SHARES BUY | Page 2
BIGGEST MARKET | Page 4
Vodafone wins
$530mn tax
case in India
VW extends
China JV
by 25 years
Saturday, October 11, 2014
Dhul-Hijja 17, 1435 AH
JOBLESS RATE FALLS : Page 8
GULF TIMES
Fed officials keep eyes
on mid-2015 rate rise
BUSINESS
Oil price drop shouldn’t
disrupt govt spending
in Mideast, says IMF
Reuters
Washington
T
he drop in global oil prices should
not affect the spending plans of
oil-producing countries in the
Middle East in the near-term given their
large п¬Ѓnancial reserves, the head of the
IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia Department said yesterday.
The official, Masood Ahmed, told reporters that every oil producer in the
region outside of the Gulf Co-operation
Council and Bahrain were running п¬Ѓscal
deficits, and that the drop in prices would
push those budget gaps even wider.
However, he said their sizable п¬Ѓnancial
reserves would allow those countries to
continue with their spending plans in the
short-term, although the price drop has
raised a longer-term issue.
The world’s economic policy elite kept
up pressure on the eurozone yesterday to
п¬Ѓght off stagnation, with Germany under the gun to support more spending to
spark growth.
But Berlin continued to fend off pressure to allow a loosening of budget constraints across the struggling euro area,
saying it would be “foolish” to sacrifice
the gains made in improving government
п¬Ѓnances.
Finance ministers and central bank
chiefs from around the world, in Washington for the annual meetings of the
International Monetary Fund and World
Bank, voiced strong worries that growth
in the eurozone economy was stalling, on
the edge of a new recession.
It was seen as one of the biggest challenges confronting the global economy,
along with turmoil in Ukraine and the
Middle East, and the still-uncontrolled
Ebola epidemic in West Africa, which has
killed about 3,900 people in just a few
months.
And it was expected to be a key topic in
Ahmed: Positive view.
a low-key meeting of the п¬Ѓnance chiefs of
the Group of 20 leading economies, also
taking place in Washington later yesterday.
“The European economy, especially the
eurozone, is facing stronger headwinds
than we had expected during our spring
meetings,” said Poul Thomsen, head of
the IMF’s European department.
“Domestic demand is recovering too
slowly and external demand has also disappointed,” he said.
“An extended period of very low inflation... will make it much more difficult
for those countries that have to reduce
still-excessive public debt burdens, and
households and companies to clean their
balance sheets.”
Saudi Arabia tells Opec it raised
output in Sept despite oil slump
Reuters
London
Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia told
Opec it raised its oil production in
September by 100,000 barrels per day,
adding to signs it has yet to respond
to a drop in prices well below $100 a
barrel by trimming output.
In a monthly report issued yesterday,
the Organisation of the Petroleum
Exporting Countries (Opec) said Saudi
Arabia reported September production
of 9.704mn barrels per day (bpd), up
from 9.597mn in August.
The lack of a Saudi cut could add to
perceptions of traders and analysts
that the kingdom is looking to defend
market share, not prices. Oil in
September fell below $100 a barrel, a
level endorsed by Saudi Arabia, for the
first time in 14 months and hit $88.11
yesterday, its lowest since 2010.
Opec’s report said the more than
$20-a-barrel price fall since the end
of June reflected weak demand
and ample supply, but it echoed the
view of core Gulf Opec members in
saying winter demand would revive
the market. “This increased demand
would lead to a higher crude intake
by refineries, thus also supporting
the crude oil market in the coming
months,” the report from Opec’s
Vienna headquarters said.
Opec meets on November 27 in
Vienna for what will be one of its most
important meetings in years. The
group has not cut output collectively
since the 2008 financial crisis and so
far comments from officials suggest it
is no closer to any collective steps to
support the market.
Iran’s oil minister this week, in a
comment that appeared to be a
reference to Saudi Arabia, said Opec
would tolerate the price fall until “Opec
majors” cut their output.
Following those remarks, an Opec
delegate said it looked unlikely Opec
would agree to reduce supply in
November and that it was up to the
Saudis to cut.
“The question should be posed to
Saudi Arabia,” the delegate said.
Saudi officials could not be reached
this week for comment due to the Eid
holiday.
Saudi Arabia, supported by Kuwait
and the UAE, has boosted supply
informally to cover for unplanned
outages in other Opec members in
recent months including in Libya,
which is now seeing its production
recover.
No sign of a significant throttling back
of the extra crude and Saudi Arabia’s
decision to lower the official selling
price of its oil have sparked talk of a
change of tack. “The Saudis are not
responding to lower prices. They’re
defending market share,” Gary Ross,
chief executive of PIRA Energy Group,
who has been consulting with Opec
members for decades, told Reuters on
Thursday.
Opec also issues production figures
from secondary sources, a legacy
of past Opec disagreements about
countries’ reported output figures.
The sources include consultants and
industry media.
According to these, Saudi Arabia cut
output by 50,000 bpd to 9.60mn bpd
in September but overall Opec output
rose to 30.47mn bpd, due to a recovery
in Libya and higher exports from Iraq.
Details on the amount of oil that Saudi
Arabia supplied to the market, which
may differ from production depending
on the movement of barrels in and
out of storage, in September is not yet
available.
The supply figure is watched by
traders. In August, Saudi production
fell but supply was little changed,
according to figures in Opec’s report
last month and industry sources in
Saudi Arabia.
In the report, Opec left its forecasts
for global oil demand growth
unchanged in 2014 and 2015. It still
expects an acceleration of demand
growth in 2015.
In a statement to the IMF yesterday,
European Central Bank President Mario
Draghi admitted that slowing demand
was now a factor in pulling down inflation, which now at 0.3% is seen as a clear
indicator of the risk of the eurozone returning to recession.
Most attention has turned to Germany, with Berlin being urged to ease
its objections to greater spending on
growth- and job-producing activities
like infrastructure development even if
it means higher debt loads for eurozone
governments.
Traditionally a backer of strong government budgetary discipline, even the
IMF this week stressed that more borrowing and deficit-spending by states
aimed at strengthening growth is desirable.
But German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said it would be “foolish”
to put at risk the gains made in stabilising
public п¬Ѓnances across the eurozone.
“And anyway there is not much to be
achieved” in terms of strengthening longterm growth, he told journalists in Washington.
But Germany appeared to allow some
ground for stimulus. Jens Weidmann, the
president of the Bundesbank, said that
public investment “could be increased”
in Germany, though he cautioned against
sacrificing budget discipline.
The focus on Europe underpinned
worries expressed by IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde that the world
could sink into a “new mediocre” of tepid
growth, not enough to generate jobs to
lower unemployment or satisfy the needs
of growing populations.
She also cautioned against giving up
the gains made strengthening government п¬Ѓnances since the 2008 п¬Ѓnancial
crisis.
“At the same time, fiscal policy must be
as growth- and jobs-friendly as possible,”
she stressed.
Air Berlin dealt blow as
Germany rejects some
Etihad codeshare flights
Reuters
Berlin
Germany is blocking Abu
Dhabi-based airline Etihad
from selling tickets for some
flights operated by partner Air
Berlin, meaning the German
airline could lose out on
passengers it needs to fight its
way back to profit.
Air Berlin, in which Etihad
owns a 29% stake, said
yesterday that 34 so-called
codeshare flights with Etihad
for its winter schedule had
failed to win the approval of
the German federal aviation
authority (LBA), despite
having been cleared in the
past. The flights account for
around 46,000 bookings.
Etihad and Air Berlin have
in the past shared codes
on flights to around 60
destinations, meaning their
number of shared flights will
more than halve. By putting its
number on the German airline’s
flights, Etihad can sell those
connections to its customers
and thus help loss-making Air
Berlin to fill its planes.
Etihad is under investigation
by German authorities over
whether it exercises too
much control over Air Berlin.
For Air Berlin to maintain its
European operating licence, it
must be majority controlled by
European investors.
The LBA checks codeshare
deals every time airlines
submit winter and summer
schedules for flights to and
from Germany.
A spokesman for the transport
ministry said the 34 codeshare
requests were rejected based
on the traffic rights agreement
that exists between the
Germany and the UAE.
Under that agreement, UAEbased airlines may operate
flights and codeshare services
to four airports in Germany
— Frankfurt, Duesseldorf,
Munich and Hamburg — and
they may operate codeshare
services from those four
airports to Berlin, Stuttgart
and Nuremburg.
The two airlines have shared
flight codes since 2012.
Air Berlin said it could not
understand the decision
because the LBA had
approved all six previous
schedule proposals involving
the codeshares.
“This decision does not reflect
our legal position and will
shake the trust of passengers
in these flight connections,
which have been available for
a long time,” Air Berlin chief
executive Wolfgang ProckSchauer said in a statement.
Air Berlin made its first annual
net profit in five years in 2012,
but only after Etihad bought a
majority stake in its frequent
flyer programme.
Etisalat eyes debut sukuk: bankers
Abu Dhabi-based telecoms firm Emirates Telecommunications Corp
(Etisalat) is planning its first ever sukuk issuance in a follow-up to its
debut conventional bond earlier this year, bankers told IFR.
The firm, rated Aa3/AA-/A+, is in talks with banks for the potential
Islamic bond issuance, proceeds of which are set to go towards
infrastructural improvements of its telecommunications network.
The company will have the documents ready in the coming weeks,
but the deal is more likely to be launched in early 2015, added the
bankers.
The initial indications are that the company will not raise much more
than US$500mn from the trade, said one Dubai-based debt capital
markets banker. “It is going to be a small deal, probably around
benchmark. Certainly nothing like the last trade,” he said.
The telecoms firm completed a $4.25bn-equivalent dual-currency
four-tranche deal in June, a trade that was launched to support the
acquisition of a majority stake in Maroc Telecom.
Fast-growing E Timor creates
specialised investment agency
By Arno Maierbrugger
Gulf Times Correspondent
Bangkok
E
ast Timor, the small Southeast
Asian country that became independent from Indonesia in
2002, is seeking to attract global investors to push growth and diversify
its economy away from the dominating oil and gas sector.
A specialised agency called “Invest
Timor-Leste” is currently in the setup process after it received approval
from the government in September
this year. The agency will be responsible for issuing investor certificates
and will process foreign investments
in the country, a government statement said.
So far, East Timor has been far off
the radar of international investors,
with a few exceptions. Its economy is
widely dependent on income from oil
and gas production from a п¬Ѓeld off the
southern coast which it shares with
Australia. Revenue from the proceeds
of oil and gas make up 90% of the
country’s budget and around 60% of
exports, which has triggered the International Monetary Fund to label
East Timor as the “most oil-dependent economy in the world”.
The current government is eager
to change this and wants foreign investors to look into opportunities in
the agricultural, infrastructure, construction and energy sectors. East
Timor is in dire need for infrastructure investments, while it boasts
sizeable natural resources such as
coffee, wood and marble. Another
sector cited by the government for
private investments is solar energy.
Recently, large bamboo plantations
have been set up in some provinces,
and steps have been undertaken to
provide solar energy to the rural population using a microfinance scheme.
The government also encourages
foreign investment in the textile and
furniture industry, as well as mining
and telecommunication, while п¬Ѓshing and ecotourism are also seen to
have potential.
What could entice foreign investors
to look at East Timor is the fact that its
economy grew an averaged 10% since
2007 due to the country’s political
stabilisation, albeit from a low level.
On the other hand, around 40% of
the population lives below the poverty
line and a dismal education system
still leaves half of its people illiterate
despite the country’s sovereign wealth
fund, the Timor-Leste Petroleum
Fund, has reached a value of $16.6bn
by 2014. Foreign direct investment
(FDI) has been growing steadily over
the past years, with Indonesia, Australia, the US, Singapore and China
topping the list. However, the overall value is still low, with the entire
current FDI stock being estimated at
$240mn.
It is little known that — with regards to Middle East investors — Kuwait was one of the first countries
investing in East Timor. Relations
between the two nations reach back
as early as 2006 when Kuwait agreed
on infrastructure investments in East
Timor, also funded a water desalination plant and provided humanitarian
aid.
Main obstacles for large-scale investments in East Timor remain limited availability of skilled labour, an
underdeveloped legal framework for
investors and poor infrastructure.
However, the investment environment could improve once the country joins the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (Asean), a target East
Timor pursues since 2011 when it officially applied for membership. Despite initial opposition, the request is
now supported by all ten Asean nations and a membership could come
true — in an optimistic scenario — as
early as in 2015.
2
Gulf Times
Saturday, October 11, 2014
BUSINESS
China and
EU aim
to reslove
telecom
dispute
Reuters
Berlin
C
hina and the European
Union aim to end a longrunning telecoms row
next week, the EU’s trade chief
said yesterday, potentially easing tensions between two of the
world’s top trading powers.
Reuters reported exclusively
this week that Europe was close
to a deal with Beijing on defusing
the issue of what Brussels says
are illegal subsidies to Chinese
makers of equipment for mobile
telecom networks.
De Gucht confirmed the
progress, telling reporters at an
event in Berlin: “We are confident that the subsidy proceedings against the network providers can be resolved next week.”
He gave no details but the
EU and China are understood
to have prepared the draft of a
deal ahead of a meeting between
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and
senior EU officials at a summit in
Milan on October 16-17.
According to a Europen
Union document, the
Commission says the
swift rise of Chinese
manufacturer Huawei in
the EU telecoms equipment
market to a 25% market
share from 2.5% in 2006,
could only have been
achieved with state aid that
global trade rules say are
illegal
Imports of such telecoms
equipment into the EU are
worth an annual €1bn ($1.3bn)
and bring Chinese companies
into competition with European
companies including Ericsson,
the world’s biggest mobile telecom equipment maker, Nokia
Siemens Networks and AlcatelLucent.
According to an EU document
seen by Reuters, the Commission says the swift rise of Chinese manufacturer Huawei in
the European telecoms equipment market to a 25% market
share from 2.5% in 2006, could
only have been achieved with
state aid that global trade rules
say are illegal.
Beijing is considering a deal in
which China promises to limit its
export credits to Huawei, China’s No. 2 telecoms equipment
maker, and smaller ZTE, people
close to the talks told Reuters.
Both sides would also agree
to monitor the market share of
Chinese telecoms companies in
Europe and European companies
in China. They would also cooperate on industrial research and
standardisation in the telecoms
sector.
Resolving the telecoms issue
could dramatically change the
tone of the bilateral relationship.
Europe is China’s most important trading partner and for
the EU, China is second only to
the US. A successful telecoms
agreement could pave the way
for a wider free-trade accord.
Vodafone wins $530mn tax
case over outsourcing arm
IANS
Mumbai
B
ritain-based global telecom major Vodafone got a major verdict in its favour, with
the Mumbai High Court ruling yesterday
that it need not pay the tax claim of Rs32,000mn
($530mn) slapped on it for buying shares in its Indian arm.
The case pertains to Vodafone’s outsourcing arm
in Pune issuing shares to its parent. The IT Department had demanded the amount from Vodafone’s
outsourcing unit, with taxes plus interest, which
the company had challenged. The authorities said
the funds were infused by the parent company into
its Indian arm at a discounted share premium.
Accordingly, the authorities said, this transaction had resulted in Vodafone paying a much lesser
amount to get more shares in its Indian arm, which
they said was subject to taxes under what is called
transfer pricing.
“We feel that there is no taxable income on the
share premium received on the issue of the shares,”
a division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and
Justice MS Sanklecha ruled.
“Vodafone has maintained consistently
throughout the legal proceedings that this transaction was not taxable. We welcome the decision
yesterday in the Mumbai High Court,” the company said in a statement. The verdict could prove
to be a major setback to the Income Tax Department (ITD), which is expected to challenge the
high court ruling in the Supreme Court. On the flip
side, it spells hope for at least 20 other companies
involved in similar tax disputes.
“Any share premium that is received on issue of
shares is never taxable,” said Harish Salve, senior
counsel for Vodafone, adding that such a demand
was an untenable attempt by Indian authorities to
tax hypothetical, non-existent income.
Vodafone is involved in another tax dispute with
the Indian authorities. This pertains to Vodafone’s
$11.2bn deal with Hong Kong-based Hutchison in
2007, on which the government has slapped a capital gains tax with retrospective effect.
The amount claimed is around $1.8bn. This
matter is sub-judice. In fact, the Supreme Court in
Britain-based global telecom major Vodafone got a major verdict in its favour, with the Mumbai High Court ruling yesterday that it need not pay the tax claim
of $530mn slapped on it for buying shares in its Indian arm.
2012 had ruled in favour of Vodafone, holding that
such a deal was not taxable in India. But to counter
this, the government amended the law with retrospective effect to bring such transactions under
S
ome key regulators involved
in setting up a landmark stock
trading link between Hong Kong
and China have told market participants they expect the scheme to be free
of any capital gains tax, people with
knowledge of the discussions said.
However, it is not yet clear if a п¬Ѓnal
decision has been made, these sources
said. The trading link, hailed as a milestone to open up China to global investors, is expected to start on October 27,
Reuters has reported. Hong Kong does
not impose capital gains tax. However,
China applies a 10% capital gains tax
on foreign institutional investors who
trade Chinese shares.
“We have had a lot of verbal reassurances that there won’t be a tax,
but nothing official,” said a senior executive who attended a meeting with
senior officials of the China Securities
Regulatory Commission (CSRC), the
to allay the fears of the global investing community on this saying the government will not raise
any fresh tax claims on them with retrospective
effect.
America Inc to bolster US-India trade ties
IANS
New Delhi/Washington
T
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama shake hands after briefing the
media in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington recently. The US-India Business Council
members have committed to making $41bn investment in India.
No capital gains tax on HK,
Shanghai stock scheme
Reuters
Hong Kong
the capital gains tax net. This has been a major
sour point with global investors.
Both Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman have sought
main Chinese regulator of the scheme.
“The uncertainty is causing concern.”
CSRC officials said privately at an
investor meeting in Beijing two weeks
ago and at a similar gathering in Shenzhen last month that China would
not levy the tax on profits made from
trading Chinese stocks through the
scheme, individuals with knowledge
of the meetings said.
The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission said in a separate
meeting that the scheme would not
be subject to China’s capital gains tax,
another person said. The п¬Ѓnal decision does not rest solely with the CSRC
because several other state agencies are
involved, the sources said. The process
for coming to a п¬Ѓnal decision is not clear.
The CSRC is worried that a capital
gains tax would reduce potential trading volumes in the scheme. It is at odds
with the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, which favours a tax, one
source said. The State Administration
of Taxation is also involved in the talks,
another source said. Its position is not
clear. Officials at the Chinese government agencies did not respond to requests for comment. The Hong Kong
regulator declined to comment. The
sources declined to be identified because the matter is confidential.
Unveiled in April, the ShanghaiHong Kong stock connect scheme allows international investors to trade
Shanghai-listed shares via the Hong
Kong stock exchange. It will also allow
mainland investors to trade Hong Kong
listed shares via the Shanghai Stock Exchange, subject to quotas both ways.
Although China’s 10% capital
gains tax is relatively low compared
with other major п¬Ѓnancial centres,
the complexity of the stock connect
scheme will make collecting any tax
tricky. The current rules of the scheme
imply any tax would have to be collected by foreign brokers, the sources
said. They say calculating a client’s
tax liability though will be practically
impossible because institutional investors typically channel their investments through many brokers.
he US-India Business Council (USIBC) has
reaffirmed its faith and hope in the future
of the US-India trade relationship with its
members committed to making $41bn investment
in India.
“There’s never been a better nor a more vital time
for the US and India to work together than right
now. Let us seize a defining moment in a defining
partnership,” USIBC chairman Ajay Banga said at
its 39th Anniversary Leadership Summit in Washington on Thursday.
“The admiration for India is today being matched
by a renewed optimism about India in the US and
around the world,” said Banga, who is also President
and CEO of MasterCard, to a packed house in the
Hall of Flags at the US Chamber of Commerce.
The premier trade advocacy organisation comprised of 310 of the top-tier US and Indian companies hosted the summit in the wake of Indian Prime
Minister Narendra Modi’s historic visit to the US.
Entitled “A New Chapter: Fast Tracking Growth,” it
brought together industry and government leaders
from both India and the US.
In his opening address Indian ambassador to the
US, S Jaishankar, thanked Modi for generating so
much enthusiasm about US and India during his
recent visit.
US Trade Representative Michael Froman, in a
closing keynote, spoke about helping India become
“a key part of global supply chains” in manufacturing and other arenas.
“One of the great strengths of this relationship is
that you do have very active business communities
in both places,” working to strengthen economic
ties, he said.
Noting that “our leaders hope that our bilateral
trade will grow five-fold,” US Commerce Secretary
Penny Pritzker said it will take “tough work” and a
willingness to “get down to specifics, that’s how you
make progress.”
The event also featured special remarks by Under
Secretary of Defence Frank Kendall on the US-India
Defence Trade & Technology Initiative and a second
closing keynote by State Bank of India Chairman
Arundhati Bhattacharya.
Also during the Summit, USIBC presented its
prestigious Global Leadership Awards to Steven A
Kandarian, CEO, MetLife Inc and to Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman Aditya Birla Group for their
companies’ outstanding contributions to the USIndia growth story.
USIBC Acting President Diane Farrell hoped that
in a few years’ time people will say that India and US
are not only the world’s oldest and largest democracies, but “also the world’s strongest partners in
trade where they celebrate democracy.”
The USIBC will participate in the India-US Technology Summit in New Dehli next month as also
lead a CEOs Mission to participate in Vibrant Gujarat summit in Gandhinagar next January.
Beijing plans fund to help
recycled lead producers
Reuters
Hong Kong
China is considering setting up a fund to subsidise some
refined lead makers that use recycled lead-acid batteries
to produce the metal, three industry sources said.
Beijing hopes that by offering subsidies to larger, wellequipped processors it can reduce environmental damage
caused by recycling the toxic metal at smaller firms.
China’s government this year launched a “war against
pollution”, trying to reverse the damage of decades of
untrammelled economic growth.
Chinese authorities including the finance and industrial
ministries as well as the National Development and Reform
Commission are seeking views from industry bodies on a
possible fund, the sources said.
The country is the world’s top producer and consumer
of lead, with recycling accounting for nearly 30% of its
refined output in 2013.
The fund would be mostly financed by a new fee paid by
makers of lead-acid batteries, commonly used in electric
bicycles and vehicles.
One of the sources, Zhang Weiqian, an analyst at statebacked research firm Antaike said the subsidies would
likely be given to large recycled lead producers currently
not running at full capacity due to high prices for used
lead-acid batteries. A senior executive at a large leadacid battery manufacturer in the southern province of
Guangdong said the government was highly likely to set
up the fund. He did not want to be identified due to the
sensitivity of the matter.
The China Battery Industry Association wants the
government to give more information about how other
countries handle used lead-acid batteries and how the
fund would work, said Cao Guoqing, vice general secretary
of the industry body.
It was unclear when any fund would start.
Many refined lead producers have been hit as growth in
demand for electric bicycles eases as the economy slows,
said trading sources and Zhang at Antaike.
“Demand (for lead) is going through something of a winter
at the moment. Appetite from electric bicycle producers
is very bad,” said a manager at a large lead producer. He
added that weak demand was forcing some lead plants to
close.
Chinese production of electric bicycles may start falling in
2015 after rising rapidly in the past few years, said Zhang
at Antaike.
Official data showed medium to large factories produced
12.27mn electric bicycles in the first half of 2014, down
1.5% from a year earlier. About 181mn electric bicycles are
estimated in China, according to a report on the China
Bicycle Association website.
Gulf Times
Saturday, October 11, 2014
3
BUSINESS
DJIA
WORLD INDICES
Company Name
Exxon Mobil Corp
Microsoft Corp
Johnson & Johnson
Wal-Mart Stores Inc
General Electric Co
Procter & Gamble Co/The
Jpmorgan Chase & Co
Chevron Corp
Verizon Communications Inc
Coca-Cola Co/The
Intl Business Machines Corp
Pfizer Inc
At&T Inc
Merck & Co. Inc.
Intel Corp
Walt Disney Co/The
Visa Inc-Class A Shares
Home Depot Inc
Cisco Systems Inc
United Technologies Corp
Mcdonald’s Corp
American Express Co
3M Co
Boeing Co/The
Unitedhealth Group Inc
Goldman Sachs Group Inc
Nike Inc -Cl B
Du Pont (E.I.) De Nemours
Caterpillar Inc
Travelers Cos Inc/The
Lt Price
91.70
45.20
102.06
78.61
24.31
84.89
59.13
113.60
49.18
44.66
186.59
29.19
34.40
59.67
32.23
86.43
207.32
92.98
23.62
100.02
92.85
85.65
136.93
121.93
86.34
181.55
87.30
67.21
92.80
94.51
% Chg
-0.13
-1.42
-0.02
0.96
-1.90
1.47
0.08
-0.79
0.50
1.80
0.09
0.70
-0.75
0.78
-4.15
0.84
-0.19
-0.10
-2.36
0.08
0.14
-0.28
-1.23
-0.68
1.65
0.15
0.08
-0.15
-0.75
0.66
7,196,065
14,676,228
4,384,285
4,042,112
21,328,004
4,946,824
7,278,393
3,926,560
7,890,944
10,571,486
1,793,683
9,816,007
14,878,775
4,073,060
46,672,230
4,570,371
978,720
2,726,609
21,164,674
2,762,704
2,033,906
1,616,851
2,021,430
1,579,060
1,552,783
1,225,928
1,407,974
3,215,314
2,669,350
778,410
FTSE 100
Company Name
Wpp Plc
Wolseley Plc
Wm Morrison Supermarkets
Whitbread Plc
Weir Group Plc/The
Vodafone Group Plc
United Utilities Group Plc
Unilever Plc
Tullow Oil Plc
Tui Travel Plc
Travis Perkins Plc
Tesco Plc
Standard Life Plc
Standard Chartered Plc
St James’s Place Plc
Sse Plc
Sports Direct International
Smiths Group Plc
Smith & Nephew Plc
Shire Plc
Severn Trent Plc
Schroders Plc
Sainsbury (J) Plc
Sage Group Plc/The
Sabmiller Plc
Rsa Insurance Group Plc
Royal Mail Plc
Royal Dutch Shell Plc-B Shs
Royal Dutch Shell Plc-A Shs
Royal Bank Of Scotland Group
Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc
Rio Tinto Plc
Reed Elsevier Plc
Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc
Randgold Resources Ltd
Prudential Plc
Petrofac Ltd
Persimmon Plc
Pearson Plc
Old Mutual Plc
Next Plc
National Grid Plc
Mondi Plc
Meggitt Plc
Marks & Spencer Group Plc
London Stock Exchange Group
Lloyds Banking Group Plc
Legal & General Group Plc
Land Securities Group Plc
Kingfisher Plc
Johnson Matthey Plc
Itv Plc
Intu Properties Plc
Intl Consolidated Airline-Di
Intertek Group Plc
Intercontinental Hotels Grou
Imperial Tobacco Group Plc
Imi Plc
Hsbc Holdings Plc
Hargreaves Lansdown Plc
Hammerson Plc
Glencore Plc
Glaxosmithkline Plc
Gkn Plc
G4s Plc
Friends Life Group Ltd
Fresnillo Plc
Experian Plc
Easyjet Plc
Dixons Carphone Plc
Direct Line Insurance Group
Diageo Plc
Crh Plc
Compass Group Plc
Coca-Cola Hbc Ag-Cdi
Centrica Plc
Carnival Plc
Capita Plc
Burberry Group Plc
Bunzl Plc
Bt Group Plc
British Sky Broadcasting Gro
British Land Co Plc
British American Tobacco Plc
Bp Plc
Bhp Billiton Plc
Bg Group Plc
Barclays Plc
Bae Systems Plc
Babcock Intl Group Plc
Aviva Plc
Astrazeneca Plc
Associated British Foods Plc
Ashtead Group Plc
Arm Holdings Plc
Antofagasta Plc
Anglo American Plc
Aggreko Plc
Admiral Group Plc
Aberdeen Asset Mgmt Plc
3I Group Plc
#N/A Invalid Security
Lt Price
1,149.00
3,125.00
154.40
3,958.00
2,206.00
193.90
791.50
2,509.00
526.00
343.80
1,610.00
185.25
385.50
1,098.00
673.00
1,494.00
577.00
1,200.00
991.00
5,215.00
1,887.00
2,200.00
228.80
350.10
3,290.00
465.00
398.50
2,258.00
2,191.00
357.00
929.50
2,965.00
963.50
5,130.00
4,197.00
1,359.50
974.00
1,291.00
1,155.00
170.80
6,440.00
870.50
956.50
428.30
387.10
1,814.00
74.68
220.30
1,029.00
291.50
2,743.00
195.90
316.20
325.40
2,497.00
2,195.00
2,613.00
1,142.00
620.30
884.00
559.00
312.25
1,375.00
286.50
255.50
298.30
749.00
937.00
1,348.00
362.40
276.00
1,729.50
1,290.00
948.50
1,308.00
293.40
2,207.00
1,135.00
1,477.00
1,567.00
369.50
886.50
680.00
3,427.00
428.15
1,613.50
1,025.00
223.90
444.70
1,048.00
490.50
4,300.00
2,488.00
912.00
842.50
661.50
1,325.50
1,454.00
1,255.00
396.00
357.40
0.00
% Chg
-1.29
-0.26
-3.32
-0.85
-4.09
-1.75
-1.68
-1.26
-7.88
-3.67
0.25
-0.78
-1.15
-0.23
-2.04
-1.52
-2.12
-1.64
-1.00
-2.71
-0.53
-1.52
-0.61
-0.31
-0.23
0.43
-0.85
-2.67
-2.43
-0.39
-1.33
-2.88
-0.26
-1.63
-2.35
-2.26
-2.45
1.18
-1.53
-2.84
-0.54
-0.63
0.05
-1.59
-1.78
-0.44
-0.78
-1.30
0.10
-1.79
-0.80
-2.10
-0.19
-2.28
-0.99
-0.14
-2.02
-2.89
-0.88
-4.17
0.45
-2.95
-1.43
-0.97
-0.23
-1.81
-2.73
0.00
0.52
-1.25
-0.79
-1.26
-2.49
-0.78
-0.83
-2.98
-2.69
-1.39
-1.01
-0.25
0.14
-0.67
0.29
-1.54
-1.61
-3.12
-2.47
-0.91
0.41
-1.13
-1.76
2.14
-2.55
-2.88
-3.44
-3.57
-2.25
-1.36
-0.32
0.69
-0.06
0.00
Volume
4,810,749
1,248,641
13,702,039
551,790
1,202,286
79,572,574
2,323,612
3,318,715
7,290,980
11,542,434
968,925
40,783,135
6,083,470
5,399,691
1,703,320
3,050,304
1,775,720
1,100,820
2,190,885
1,455,446
744,777
430,257
13,035,179
2,839,420
3,054,558
4,486,864
3,726,790
5,003,605
5,649,474
9,686,997
5,180,020
5,690,871
3,983,424
1,268,232
619,444
4,070,158
2,572,923
1,752,373
2,725,257
13,085,409
499,642
7,204,793
1,731,739
3,295,362
6,718,061
513,434
141,326,794
13,259,423
2,460,275
6,886,663
610,174
20,947,667
1,488,569
13,430,053
503,386
1,023,091
2,244,229
1,629,501
38,951,931
2,270,192
2,814,968
62,173,555
10,271,808
7,442,863
4,365,896
3,784,327
2,245,565
2,675,488
2,727,025
4,211,700
6,794,769
4,220,691
2,608,222
3,684,738
371,201
17,120,551
1,272,785
2,205,167
1,679,857
581,039
19,228,261
3,783,740
3,071,859
2,850,586
34,685,971
10,642,257
6,832,342
38,199,252
6,601,496
1,675,022
13,228,831
5,362,719
1,126,608
4,549,725
7,327,706
4,097,567
12,241,484
909,557
1,157,042
4,922,485
2,097,189
-
TOKYO
Company Name
Inpex Corp
Daiwa House Industry Co Ltd
Sekisui House Ltd
Kirin Holdings Co Ltd
Japan Tobacco Inc
Seven & I Holdings Co Ltd
Toray Industries Inc
Asahi Kasei Corp
Sumitomo Chemical Co Ltd
Shin-Etsu Chemical Co Ltd
Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings
Kao Corp
Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd
Astellas Pharma Inc
Eisai Co Ltd
Daiichi Sankyo Co Ltd
Fujifilm Holdings Corp
Shiseido Co Ltd
Jx Holdings Inc
Lt Price
1,343.50
1,921.00
1,267.00
1,397.00
3,493.50
4,058.00
695.00
892.10
358.00
6,704.00
511.30
4,160.50
4,586.50
1,601.00
4,240.00
1,639.50
3,315.50
1,788.50
481.30
% Chg
-4.88
-0.18
1.32
-0.85
-2.07
-1.64
-0.95
-0.66
-1.38
-2.74
-1.65
-0.60
-0.47
-0.71
-1.05
-0.91
-2.23
0.45
-1.37
Indices
Volume
Volume
9,096,600
3,412,800
6,587,900
4,614,700
4,398,300
3,935,900
7,023,000
6,215,000
14,602,000
2,110,600
5,350,000
2,358,500
3,044,900
10,025,600
1,994,900
3,423,500
7,720,400
3,865,300
10,722,400
Lt Price
Change
Dow Jones Indus. Avg
S&P 500 Index
Nasdaq Composite Index
S&P/Tsx Composite Index
Mexico Bolsa Index
Brazil Bovespa Stock Idx
Ftse 100 Index
Cac 40 Index
Dax Index
Ibex 35 Tr
16,674.28
1,920.56
4,335.38
14,253.39
43,619.53
56,051.71
6,339.97
4,073.71
8,788.81
10,150.50
+15.03
-7.65
-42.95
-207.21
-462.64
-1,215.82
-91.88
-67.74
-216.21
-123.20
Nikkei 225
Japan Topix
Hang Seng Index
All Ordinaries Indx
Nzx All Index
Bse Sensex 30 Index
Nse S&P Cnx Nifty Index
Straits Times Index
Karachi All Share Index
Jakarta Composite Index
15,300.55
1,243.09
23,088.54
5,185.73
1,056.73
26,297.38
7,859.95
3,223.87
22,080.38
4,962.96
-178.38
-17.69
-445.99
-107.61
-7.10
-339.90
-100.60
-35.38
+149.46
-30.92
TOKYO
Company Name
Bridgestone Corp
Asahi Glass Co Ltd
Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Meta
Sumitomo Metal Industries
Kobe Steel Ltd
Jfe Holdings Inc
Sumitomo Metal Mining Co Ltd
Sumitomo Electric Industries
Smc Corp
Komatsu Ltd
Kubota Corp
Daikin Industries Ltd
Hitachi Ltd
Toshiba Corp
Mitsubishi Electric Corp
Nidec Corp
Nec Corp
Fujitsu Ltd
Panasonic Corp
Sharp Corp
Sony Corp
Tdk Corp
Keyence Corp
Denso Corp
Fanuc Corp
Rohm Co Ltd
Kyocera Corp
Murata Manufacturing Co Ltd
Nitto Denko Corp
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
Nissan Motor Co Ltd
Toyota Motor Corp
Honda Motor Co Ltd
Suzuki Motor Corp
Nikon Corp
Hoya Corp
Canon Inc
Ricoh Co Ltd
Dai Nippon Printing Co Ltd
Nintendo Co Ltd
Itochu Corp
Marubeni Corp
Mitsui & Co Ltd
Tokyo Electron Ltd
Sumitomo Corp
Mitsubishi Corp
Aeon Co Ltd
Mitsubishi Ufj Financial Gro
Resona Holdings Inc
Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdin
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Gr
Bank Of Yokohama Ltd/The
Mizuho Financial Group Inc
Orix Corp
Daiwa Securities Group Inc
Nomura Holdings Inc
Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Holdin
Ms&Ad Insurance Group Holdin
Dai-Ichi Life Insurance
Tokio Marine Holdings Inc
T&D Holdings Inc
Mitsui Fudosan Co Ltd
Mitsubishi Estate Co Ltd
Sumitomo Realty & Developmen
East Japan Railway Co
West Japan Railway Co
Central Japan Railway Co
Ana Holdings Inc
Nippon Telegraph & Telephone
Kddi Corp
Ntt Docomo Inc
Tokyo Electric Power Co Inc
Chubu Electric Power Co Inc
Kansai Electric Power Co Inc
Tohoku Electric Power Co Inc
Kyushu Electric Power Co Inc
Tokyo Gas Co Ltd
Secom Co Ltd
Yamada Denki Co Ltd
Fast Retailing Co Ltd
Softbank Corp
Lt Price
3,451.00
551.30
260.00
0.00
162.00
2,015.50
1,432.00
1,471.00
27,680.00
2,369.00
1,524.00
6,304.00
781.20
456.00
1,289.00
6,787.00
346.00
675.30
1,213.00
286.00
1,882.00
5,630.00
45,170.00
4,710.00
18,175.00
6,050.00
4,709.50
11,265.00
5,615.00
638.70
982.70
6,220.00
3,473.00
3,191.00
1,491.50
3,372.50
3,379.00
1,113.50
1,020.00
11,185.00
1,223.50
690.40
1,597.50
6,758.00
1,136.00
2,068.50
1,093.50
589.40
590.80
425.60
4,120.00
570.30
189.30
1,390.00
793.70
615.00
2,470.50
2,233.00
1,484.50
3,279.00
1,277.00
3,041.50
2,235.00
3,625.00
8,075.00
4,945.50
14,235.00
242.90
6,312.00
6,456.00
1,718.50
354.00
1,216.50
945.00
1,151.00
1,060.00
586.40
6,232.00
335.00
37,890.00
7,100.00
% Chg
-1.43
-1.31
-2.03
0.00
-2.41
-1.20
-3.05
-1.61
-3.18
-1.48
-1.10
-0.43
-1.29
-1.87
-2.72
-1.31
-3.35
-0.01
-2.53
0.00
-0.03
-1.57
-1.85
-2.45
-2.63
-3.20
-2.35
-1.66
-1.56
-1.63
-1.58
-0.32
-1.49
-1.02
-0.13
-2.03
-1.20
-1.02
-2.39
-1.24
-1.85
-1.13
-1.48
-2.06
-0.18
-1.10
0.51
-2.03
-1.40
-1.64
-2.98
-1.54
-1.92
-1.45
-1.60
-0.42
-1.71
-1.15
-2.21
-0.79
-3.66
-1.09
-0.47
1.23
-0.12
0.81
-1.08
-0.82
-1.61
-1.42
0.06
-1.67
-2.64
-1.68
-0.69
-1.21
-0.53
-0.35
-0.59
1.70
-1.84
Volume
4,094,800
5,915,000
49,194,000
50,357,000
3,381,200
4,824,000
3,538,600
347,800
7,103,800
5,951,000
2,378,600
23,816,000
31,044,000
12,220,000
1,702,000
23,249,000
14,857,000
10,300,500
24,133,000
9,638,800
1,801,400
161,100
2,755,000
2,288,600
1,229,000
3,636,400
1,120,900
2,053,000
21,457,000
20,624,300
10,640,400
6,196,800
3,411,200
4,876,700
1,743,800
7,245,400
5,202,300
3,232,000
518,700
13,238,600
14,398,400
13,344,700
1,477,300
10,785,600
8,591,400
6,555,700
62,870,700
14,334,000
24,286,000
11,941,700
4,750,000
195,771,000
8,788,600
13,241,000
29,640,900
1,457,400
2,021,600
5,921,500
4,610,400
4,970,400
5,917,000
8,150,000
4,811,000
1,634,900
1,361,900
445,500
22,609,000
3,238,800
4,844,000
7,257,200
7,818,300
2,634,600
2,174,400
1,511,400
2,329,600
10,208,000
1,576,700
26,781,800
1,687,300
14,714,900
SENSEX
Company Name
Zee Entertainment Enterprise
Wipro Ltd
Ultratech Cement Ltd
Tech Mahindra Ltd
Tata Steel Ltd
Tata Power Co Ltd
Tata Motors Ltd
Tata Consultancy Svcs Ltd
Sun Pharmaceutical Indus
State Bank Of India
Sesa Sterlite Ltd
Reliance Industries Ltd
Punjab National Bank
Power Grid Corp Of India Ltd
Oil & Natural Gas Corp Ltd
Ntpc Ltd
Nmdc Ltd
Maruti Suzuki India Ltd
Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd
Lupin Ltd
Larsen & Toubro Ltd
Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd
Jindal Steel & Power Ltd
Itc Ltd
Infosys Ltd
Indusind Bank Ltd
Idfc Ltd
Icici Bank Ltd
Housing Development Finance
Hindustan Unilever Ltd
Hindalco Industries Ltd
Hero Motocorp Ltd
Hdfc Bank Limited
Hcl Technologies Ltd
Grasim Industries Ltd
Gail India Ltd
Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories
Dlf Ltd
Coal India Ltd
Cipla Ltd
Cairn India Ltd
Bharti Airtel Ltd
Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd
Bharat Heavy Electricals
Bank Of Baroda
Bajaj Auto Ltd
Axis Bank Ltd
Asian Paints Ltd
Ambuja Cements Ltd
Acc Ltd
Lt Price
318.90
584.70
2,481.35
2,339.05
448.05
82.80
492.70
2,678.50
821.35
2,451.20
249.75
960.65
899.90
136.05
404.20
141.25
152.00
2,966.20
1,317.40
1,328.05
1,461.70
1,002.90
155.90
353.10
3,888.65
623.25
139.95
1,458.95
1,006.40
720.35
150.15
2,841.00
867.30
1,737.50
3,424.30
444.00
2,998.85
152.65
335.25
592.40
285.80
392.30
670.25
221.60
859.10
2,353.65
379.20
663.25
211.45
1,403.30
% Chg
-1.85
-0.43
-3.48
0.11
-4.17
-2.01
-5.36
-1.02
0.81
-1.14
-4.62
0.63
-0.55
-1.45
-1.76
-1.15
-5.35
-1.33
-3.64
-0.77
-1.69
-1.99
-5.91
-3.39
6.63
-0.46
-0.57
-1.98
-3.48
-2.54
-4.88
0.78
-2.29
2.48
-2.07
-0.63
0.41
-0.13
-2.36
0.12
-4.27
-3.12
-0.22
1.16
-1.38
-0.94
-2.12
1.24
-2.02
-1.80
Volume
1,248,625
4,364,212
280,771
1,225,755
6,080,274
4,857,821
8,096,778
1,329,146
1,826,394
1,444,544
8,094,981
3,961,593
1,150,632
6,644,756
2,819,866
6,256,465
2,813,452
272,778
657,997
498,657
1,825,709
809,528
7,413,669
3,733,416
6,383,662
766,817
5,537,270
1,741,678
1,424,833
548,041
10,847,800
511,546
1,146,161
1,088,942
50,666
1,485,143
338,398
13,506,658
2,641,288
2,518,296
3,134,422
2,783,527
1,415,865
13,396,736
917,684
154,370
3,102,031
1,695,505
1,576,255
345,769
Traders working at their desks at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange yesterday. The DAX index tumbled 2.4% to close at 8,788.81
points yesterday.
Growth gloom knocks
Euro stocks back a year
AFP
London
H
eightened anxiety that the eurozone could slump into another recession sent European
equities reeling yesterday to levels unseen for a year.
London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index dropped 1.43% to 6,339.97 points
and Frankfurt’s DAX index tumbled
2.4% to 8,788.81 points to close at year
lows.
Meanwhile in Paris the CAC 40 shed
1.64% to 4,073.71 points, its lowest
level in 2014.
Madrid lost 1.20% and Milan fell
0.94%.
The euro dropped to $1.2630 from
$1.2691 late on Thursday in New York,
while global oil prices came under further pressure from weakening demand
growth for crude against a backdrop of
a solid supply situation.
“It now looks as though investors are nervous about a confluence
of factors ranging from worries of a
global economic slowdown, an economic crisis with German economic
data especially poor, deflation, an
unwillingness on the part of German
policymakers to adopt fiscal reflation, the impact of Ebola and lurking
geopolitical risks,” said Neil MacKinnon, economist at VTB Capital financial group.
US stocks moved even lower yesterday as the negative sentiment from
Thursday’s rout carried over, with the
Dow Jones Industrial Average slipping
0.08% to 16,646.21 points in midday
trading.
The broad-based S&P 500 eased
0.25% to 1,923.38, while the tech-rich
Nasdaq Composite Index fell 1.21% to
4,325.55.
In the currency markets, the dollar
continued its climb against the euro. It
had paused this week on signs the US
Federal Reserve was worried about the
greenback’s 10% gain over the past five
months, which could yet hurt the US
recovery and thereby hold back a rise
in interest rates.
“Just when the dollar looked as if it
HONG KONG
HONG KONG
Company Name
Aluminum Corp Of China Ltd-H
Bank Of East Asia
Bank Of China Ltd-H
Bank Of Communications Co-H
Belle International Holdings
Boc Hong Kong Holdings Ltd
Cathay Pacific Airways
Cheung Kong Holdings Ltd
China Coal Energy Co-H
China Construction Bank-H
China Life Insurance Co-H
China Merchants Hldgs Intl
China Mobile Ltd
China Overseas Land & Invest
China Petroleum & Chemical-H
China Resources Enterprise
China Resources Land Ltd
China Resources Power Holdin
China Shenhua Energy Co-H
China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd
Citic Ltd
Clp Holdings Ltd
Cnooc Ltd
Cosco Pacific Ltd
Esprit Holdings Ltd
Fih Mobile Ltd
Hang Lung Properties Ltd
Hang Seng Bank Ltd
Henderson Land Development
was going to roll-over for a breather,
better than expected claims data came
along, together with further pledges
from ECB President Draghi to expand
stimulus measures should conditions
warrant,” said Simon Smith, chief
economist at FxPro.
News on Thursday that US jobless claims have fallen to an 8-year
low helped reassure investors on
the strength of the US recovery, and
Draghi’s comments reinforced the belief that the ECB will be expanding its
easy money policies.
“The weaker euro versus the US dollar in combination with bigger percentage falls in European indices has
seen the flow of funds is decidedly out
of Europe and back to the US,” said
analyst Jasper Lawler at CMC Markets
UK.
The euro, meanwhile, edged up to
78.77 British pence from 78.73 pence
on Thursday, while the pound fell to
$1.6034 from $1.6118.
The price of gold fell to $1,219 an
ounce on the London Bullion Market
from $1,226.75 on Thursday.
Lt Price
3.22
31.10
3.47
5.43
8.92
24.55
14.38
130.50
4.74
5.49
21.55
23.80
92.35
21.05
6.67
18.82
17.42
20.25
21.60
11.48
13.28
63.70
12.92
10.42
10.50
3.97
23.10
126.60
50.30
% Chg
-3.59
-1.43
-1.70
-1.81
-2.51
-1.01
-1.51
-1.44
1.07
-1.61
-1.60
0.42
-2.74
-1.17
-1.62
-0.84
-0.68
-6.25
0.23
-1.88
-2.21
-1.24
-4.01
-0.57
-2.96
-1.73
-0.43
-1.40
-2.42
Volume
16,573,988
1,238,384
215,455,236
20,813,975
14,074,418
7,716,422
5,921,000
2,046,794
33,515,061
152,763,789
18,495,137
3,397,814
16,660,868
14,602,032
118,940,133
3,490,000
8,592,845
15,222,978
18,276,609
25,887,170
11,402,500
1,722,013
103,542,112
4,568,501
5,686,395
7,747,197
3,838,270
1,208,828
3,772,022
Company Name
Hong Kong & China Gas
Hong Kong Exchanges & Clear
Hsbc Holdings Plc
Hutchison Whampoa Ltd
Ind & Comm Bk Of China-H
Li & Fung Ltd
Mtr Corp
New World Development
Petrochina Co Ltd-H
Ping An Insurance Group Co-H
Power Assets Holdings Ltd
Sino Land Co
Sun Hung Kai Properties
Swire Pacific Ltd-A
Tencent Holdings Ltd
Wharf Holdings Ltd
Lt Price
17.52
169.90
78.40
97.05
4.89
8.97
30.65
9.22
9.68
58.85
70.00
12.24
111.60
99.75
115.70
55.40
% Chg
-0.23
-2.24
-1.75
-1.42
-1.61
-0.44
-0.97
-1.28
-2.52
-1.75
-1.13
-1.77
-1.50
-0.45
-1.87
-1.51
Volume
15,227,865
9,287,313
24,027,491
6,026,381
191,852,080
8,397,642
2,570,721
14,661,824
106,951,606
8,585,148
2,016,420
3,874,912
2,886,680
753,293
13,597,200
4,739,446
GCC INDICES
Indices
Doha Securities Market
Saudi Tadawul
Kuwait Stocks Exchange
Bahrain Stock Exchage
Oman Stock Market
Abudhabi Stock Market
Dubai Financial Market
Lt Price
13,830.90
10,851.48
7,647.98
1,471.20
7,479.57
5,077.43
4,942.89
Change
+72.35
+1.87
+13.71
+2.51
-4.51
-6.18
+43.27
“Information contained herein is believed to be reliable and had been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. The
accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed. This publication is for providing information only and is not intended
as an offer or solicitation for a purchase or sale of any of the financial instruments mentioned. Gulf Times and Doha Bank
or any of their employees shall not be held accountable and will not accept any losses or liabilities for actions based on
this data.”
CURRENCIES
DOLLAR
QATAR RIYAL
SAUDI RIYAL
UAE DIRHAMS
BAHRAINI
DINAR
KUWAITI
DINAR
4
Gulf Times
Saturday, October 11, 2014
BUSINESS/LEISURE
Adam
VW extends China JV by 25 years
in bid to capture global auto throne
Reuters
Berlin
V
olkswagen extended its joint
venture with China FAW
Group Corp by 25 years, as
the German manufacturer steps up
its bid for the global autos throne by
targeting an increasing share of the
world’s biggest car market.
European and US carmakers are
keen to raise their presence in China,
but have been confined to owning
50% or less of joint venture companies run together with Chinese
enterprises.
Although Chinese demand is
slowing somewhat, car sales in the
world’s No. 2 economy have still
been up over 10% this year, helping
global players such as VW cope with
a fragile recovery in its European
home market after a six-year slump.
VW, one of the п¬Ѓrst global automakers to establish production facilities in China during the 1980s,
has the biggest manufacturing output and has been working with FAW
for over two decades.
By extending the joint venture
from 2016 to 2041, VW and FAW will
expand their R&D activities and step
up work on fuel-saving technology,
VW said.
“Enhancing ties with its Chinese
partners is a must for VW, which is
overly dependent on the market,”
Frankfurt-based Bankhaus Metzler
analyst Juergen Pieper said.
Wolfsburg-based VW, which also
has a joint venture with China’s
SAIC Motor Corp, last year sold almost 3.3mn cars in China, its biggest
market, about a third of its record
global deliveries of 9.73mn.
The German behemoth, whose 12
brands include ultra-luxury marque
Bentley and heavy-trucks manufacturer Scania, has enjoyed a period of sustained growth, boosted
by emerging market buyers. It is set
to hit a 10mn sales target in 2014 –
four years early – underscoring its
Pooch Cafe
Garfield
Bound And Gagged
Royal Plaza Cinema Palace (1): Maya: The
Bee Movie (3D) 2.30pm; Decoding Annie
Parker (2D) 4pm; Al Harb Al Alamia (Arabic)
5.45pm; Villali Veeran (Malayalam) 7.45pm;
Bang Bang! (Hindi) 10.45pm.
Royal Plaza Cinema Palace (2): Space
Pirate Captain Harlock (2D) 2.30pm; Bang
Bang! (Hindi) 4.45pm; The Guest (2D)
7.30pm; Beyond (2D) 9.30pm; The Prince
(2D) 11.30pm.
Royal Plaza Cinema Palace (3): Dracula
Untold (2D) 3 & 9.30pm; Space Pirate Captain Harlock (2D) 5pm; A good Man (2D)
7.30pm; Annabelle (2D) 11.30pm.
Cinema Landmark (1): Beyond (2D)
2.30pm; Space Pirate Captain Harlock
(2D) 4pm; Al Harb Al Alamia (Arabic) 6pm;
Cryptic Clues
Sudoku
Sudoku is a puzzle
based on a 9x9 grid.
The grid is also
divided into nine
(3x3) boxes. You are
given a selection of
values and to complete the puzzle,
you must fill the
grid so that every
column, every row
and every 3x3 box
contains the digits
1 to 9 and none is
repeated.
Weekly’s Solutions
ACROSS
4. English man gets Edward
ejected (7)
8. Possibly rail at the rope (6)
9. Man with a French coin and
one shilling (7)
10. Please get out when
dormant (6)
11. Pull a bird going to church
(6)
12. Putting wire on a
motorway is friendly (8)
18. Love to get about the
town at speed (8)
20. Country hat (6)
21. Bird with small back found
in the mine (6)
22. Eastern European country
is right to love madness (7)
23. Book right on the shelf (6)
24. Waiting - in a waiting
room? (7)
Volkswagen, one of the first global automakers to establish production
facilities in China during the 1980s, yesterday extended its joint venture
with FAW Group by 25 years.
bid to eclipse global sales champion
Toyota.
Nine-month group deliveries in
China, including the Audi luxury
brand and sports-car maker Porsche, jumped 15% to 2.72mn autos,
VW said yesterday in a separate
statement.
The contract extension with FAW
was signed yesterday on the occasion of talks between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese
Premier Li Keqiang in Berlin.
The length of the extension appears customary. VW’s second joint
venture with SAIC was extended in
2002 by 28 years until 2030. BMW in
June extended its partnership with
Brilliance China Automotive Holdings until 2028.
Europe’s largest carmaker said in
July it would invest €2bn ($2.53bn)
with FAW to build two more assembly plants. The German group currently operates eight car-making
factories and nine component plants
in China.
VW said it would spend about
100mn euros with SAIC on a new
test site and proving ground near
the northwestern town of Urumqi
where the carmaker opened a factory last year. The German group has
also been in talks with FAW for some
time about a possible increase of its
40% holding in the venture.
Many industries in China have
come under the spotlight as authorities step up efforts to bring
companies into compliance with an
anti-monopoly law enacted in 2008.
The car sector has been under particular scrutiny amid accusations by
state media that global carmakers
are overcharging customers.
Still, Keqiang, in a guest commentary for German newspaper
Die Welt published on October 8,
said Chinese authorities would “favourably examine” VW’s quest for
a larger stake in FAW. In return, his
government hopes Germany will
allow Chinese companies to bid for
German high-speed rail projects.
Separately, German automaker
Daimler and Beijing Automotive Industry Corp agreed to deepen a strategic partnership that will include
further localisation of luxury cars
by the German manufacturer worth
about 1bn euros, Daimler said yesterday.
7.30pm; The Prince (2D) 11.30pm.
Mall Cinema (2): Dolphin Tale (2D) 3pm;
Space Pirate Captain Harlock (2D) 5pm;
Haider (Hindi) 8pm; Bang Bang! (Hindi)
Revenge Of The Green Dragons (2D)
10.45pm.
730pm; A Good Man (2D) 9.30pm; AnCinema Landmark (2): Revenge Of The nabelle (2D) 11.30pm.
Green Dragons (2D) 3pm; Dracula Untold Mall Cinema (3): Maya: The Bee Movie
(2D) 2.30pm; Decoding Annie Parker (2D)
(2D) 5.15 & 9.15pm; A Good Man (2D)
4pm; Beyond (2D) 5.45pm; Villali Veeran
7.15pm; The Prince (2D) 11.15pm.
(Malayalam) 7.45pm; Bang Bang! (Hindi)
Cinema Landmark (3): Maya : The Bee
10.45pm.
Movie (3D) 2.30pm; Decoding Annie
Global Cinemas, West End Park (1):
Parker (2D) 4pm; Villali Veeran
(Malayalam) 5.45 & 8.45pm; Annabelle (2D) Mannariyippu (Malayalam) 2.30, 5,30, 8.30
& 11.30pm.
11.30pm.
Global Cinemas, West End Park (2):
Mall Cinema (1): Villali Veeran (MalayPeruchai (Malayalam) 2.45, 8.45 & 11.45pm;
alam) 2.30pm; Dracula Untold (2D) 5.30
Vanavarayan Vallavarayan (Tamil) 5.45pm.
& 9.30pm; Al Harb Al Alamia (Arabic)
Quick Clues
DOWN
1. Calendar girl can return (7)
2. Tell sir about the climbing
frame (7)
3. Approached an artist with a
photographic device (6)
5. Extremely healthy or just all
right (4,4)
6. Run in a trance, perhaps (6)
7. Show the English man (6)
13. A German boy without a
girl (8)
14. Large hairpieces worn by
important people (7)
15. Seafood found in different
storeys (7)
16. Father bringing an animal
back to the temple (6)
17. Get a sausage as mail is
sorted (6)
19. Old boy looked at and
followed (6)
ACROSS
4. Irony (7)
8. Tremble (6)
9. Narrative (7)
10. Overseas (6)
11. Wriggle (6)
12. Powerless (8)
18. Begin (8)
20. Diversion (6)
21. Hit (6)
22. Current (7)
23. Swamp (6)
24. Long (7)
DOWN
1. Muslim (7)
2. Breach (7)
3. Leave (6)
5. Habituate (8)
6. Refrain (6)
7. Various (6)
13. Intrude (8)
14. Brutal (7)
15. Hungry (7)
16. Shed (6)
17. Advent (6)
19. Movement (6)
Weekly’s Solutions
QUICK
Across: 1 Pessimistic; 9 Own; 10
Diagnosis; 11 Tacky; 13 Routine;
14 Ornate; 16 Pliant; 18 Extreme;
19 Wrest; 20 Stanchion; 21 Loo;
22 Anaesthetic.
Down: 2 Eon; 3 Sadly; 4
Meagre; 5 Sensual; 6 Instigate;
7 Controversy; 8 Ostentation; 12
Constrain; 15 Treacle; 17 Resist;
19 Wince; 21 Lei.
CRYPTIC
Across: 1 Impressions; 9 Hoy; 10
Lethargic; 11 Essay; 13 Fritter; 14
Warned; 16 By-laws; 18 Imagine;
19 False; 20 Helvetian; 21 Hit; 22
Stately home.
Down: 2 May; 3 Rally; 4 Set
off; 5 Inanity; 6 Nightfall; 7
Wheelwright; 8 Score-sheets; 12
Streamlet; 15 Evident; 17 Menial;
19 Finch; 21 Hem.
6
Gulf Times
Saturday, October 11, 2014
BUSINESS
Venezuela must pay Exxon
$1.6bn for nationalisation
Bernanke takes
stand in AIG
bailout trial
Award lower than Exxon
wanted; govt hails �victory’;
PDVSA source says
Venezuela sees final
amount at $1bn
Reuters
Washington
F
Reuters
Caracas
A
World Bank arbitration
tribunal on Thursday ordered Venezuela to pay
Exxon Mobil Corp about $1.6bn
to compensate for oil nationalisation in 2007, though state
oil company PDVSA expects to
eventually pay closer to $1bn.
Venezuela’s socialist government hailed the long-awaited
decision as a victory for its “sovereignty,” given the US multinational’s hope for a much larger
award in a compensation case
typical of the sweeping nationalisations under the late Hugo
Chavez’s 14-year rule.
Still, the decision by the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes’
(ICSID) comes at a delicate time
for cash-strapped Venezuela,
already struggling with a sluggish economy, rampant inflation and looming bond payments.
Venezuela said it would pay
the award, only after deducting
a previous Exxon award from
the Paris-based International
Chamber of Commerce (ICC) of
$908mn.
A source at state oil company
PDVSA familiar with the case
told Reuters that, factoring interest into the ICSID-ordered
compensation, the п¬Ѓnal amount
would be reduced to roughly
$1bn. PDVSA took over Exxon’s
operations under the nationalisation.
“The award is a triumph,
without doubt,” said the source,
adding PDVSA would pay as of
November, after servicing its
roughly $3bn 2014 bond. The
source asked not to be identified
because he is not authorised to
speak publicly.
Exxon also claimed the upper
hand.
In a brief statement, the
world’s largest publicly traded
Venezuela said it would pay the award to Exxon Mobil Corp, only after deducting a previous Exxon award from the Paris-based International
Chamber of Commerce (ICC) of $908mn.
oil company said the decision
vindicated its view that Venezuela failed to compensate it
fairly at the time. The company
had been seeking roughly $10bn
in compensation.
Exxon added it held extensive
discussions with PDVSA and the
government but was unable to
reach agreement on fair compensation.
The ICSID decision relates to
the expropriation of the Cerro
Negro project, the La Ceiba
project, as well as “production
and export curtailments” imposed on the Cerro Negro development in 2006 and 2007.
“The Tribunal has found that
the expropriation was conducted in accordance with due process,” ICSID said on its website.
“The most important part of
the decision is that the arbitration tribunal rejects the alleged
�illegal’ nature of the expropriation,” said Carlos Bellorin, petroleum analyst at IHS, meaning
the compensation only reflects
the value of the assets, not alleged damages and prejudice
caused.
“However, it is presumed the
calculation method was not the
one Venezuela suggested,” he
said.
Each party will cover its own
costs and counsel fees, ICSID
said. The tribunal said it had
no jurisdiction over “the claim
arising out of the increase in
the income tax rate for the participants to the Cerro Negro
Project.”
Venezuela is facing more than
20 arbitration cases over the
Chavez-era nationalisations.
Many of the companies nationalized deemed the takeovers unlawful expropriations.
Proponents of the nationalisations argue commodities-rich
Venezuela should have the
right to administer its own resources to try to improve living
standards.
Several analysts said Venezue-
la had mostly dodged the bullet
this time, but that other cases
may prove trickier.
ConocoPhillips has brought
the biggest case to date against
Venezuela, in 2007, seeking
$30bn in compensation.
A partial decision in 2013 determined Venezuela failed to act
in good faith or properly compensate ConocoPhillips for three
big oil assets. A п¬Ѓnal decision is
expected soon.
Cash-strapped PDVSA appears to be seeking to sell Citgo
Petroleum Corp, its US refining
unit which would be a welcome
injection of liquidity for the
company and the government.
ormer Federal Reserve
Chairman Ben Bernanke
took the stand on Thursday to defend the US government’s bailout of American
International Group in 2008,
in a fourth day of testimony by
former top government officials
looking to convince a federal
judge that the rescue of the insurance company was legal.
On Thursday afternoon Bernanke responded with a terse
“yes, sir,” to multiple questions
about the extreme conditions
in the fall of 2008 that led to
an initial $85bn bailout loan for
AIG, including a run on money
market funds and a commercial
paper market that was in shock.
Former AIG chief executive
Hank Greenberg, who was also
the company’s largest shareholder, sued the government in
2011 over the terms of the bailout’s loan, which included an
interest rate of at least 12% and
a nearly 80% stake in the company. The terms amounted to
an illegal taking of the company
from AIG shareholders, Greenberg charged.
To make their case, Greenberg’s lawyers have pushed
officials to confirm that the
situation was so dire that the
government would have moved
to save AIG even if the company
had refused the initial offer.
When asked on Thursday
by Greenberg’s lawyer, David
Boies, if officials had concluded
that AIG’s collapse could have
catastrophic consequences for
the broader п¬Ѓnancial system,
Bernanke responded: “We were
very concerned about that possibility, yes.”
Bernanke also testified that
he did not know at the time the
loan terms were drafted what
the exact basis was for the interest rate or other fees added
to the loan were.
His testimony is expected to
continue later on Thursday.
Earlier on Thursday, former
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner wrapped up
Former Chairman of the
Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke
arrives at US Court of Federal
Claims to testify at the AIG
trial in Washington, DC, on
Thursday. The trial is the
result of a class action lawsuit
brought against the US
government by shareholders
of AIG claiming that the
government violated their
rights by grabbing a majority
stake in the company as part
of the bailout of AIG in 2008.
two and one-half days on the
stand, sparring with Boies over
whether the loan posed substantial risks to the government.
Boies has sought to portray
the New York Federal Reserve
bank, which Geithner led at the
time, as making AIG a low-risk
loan with undeservedly high
terms.
Just before wrapping up his
questioning of Geithner, Boies
asked him about his impression
of Greenberg, who had argued
that AIG’s insurance businesses were highly valuable and said
that he had been refused a seat
at the table during the AIG bailout negotiations.
“I found his confidence and
optimism, uh, unique,” Geithner said.
AIG п¬Ѓnished repaying the full
$182.3bn bailout in December
2012, leaving taxpayers with a
nearly $23bn profit.
Gulf Times
Saturday, October 11, 2014
7
BUSINESS
German
Bund
yields
resume
decline
Reuters
London
B
und yields fell towards
new lows yesterday, after
poor industrial data from
Italy and a report saying Germany will cut its economic forecast.
The prospect of economic
slowdown has dominated the
eurozone bond market for much
of the week, beginning with
weaker- than-expected German
industry data and continuing
with the International Monetary
Fund’s lowering its economic
forecasts.
Yields on German, French,
Spanish, Austrian and Belgian
bonds all reached record lows
on Thursday after minutes of
the US Federal Reserve’s latest
policy meeting suggested it was
in no hurry to raise interest rates.
They rose early yesterday, after Fed officials played down the
minutes. But they resumed their
decline after data showed Italy’s
industrial output rose only 0.3%
in July, versus a 0.5% forecast.
Two German government
sources said Germany would cut
its economic growth forecasts
for 2014 and 2015 next week.
German Bund yields, the
benchmark for eurozone borrowing costs, were 2 basis points
lower on the day at 0.88%, just
off a record low of 0.859%.
They traded as high as 0.92%
earlier.
“There are concerns over global growth, and if Germany is
going to struggle then the whole
Europe is going to struggle,” said
Alan McQuaid, the chief economist at Merrion Stockbrokers.
The Fed minutes, which said
the central bank would wait for
a “considerable time” before
raising rates after its bondbuying programme ended,
prompted some investors to bet
the first rate increase would not
come until the third quarter of
next year.
Fed Vice Chairman Stanley
Fischer later said “considerable
time” meant somewhere between two and 12 months. And
San Francisco Fed President John
Williams said a mid-2015 rate
rise was “a reasonable guess.”
“We thought it was a dovish
Fed meeting, but then there was
a feeling it wasn’t like that,” said
Jan von Gerich, chief fixed income analyst at Nordea. “Most
surprising was vice chair Fischer
... his main point was to play
down the minutes.”
Spanish and Italian 10-year
yields were flat to slightly higher
at 2.06% and 2.32%, respectively. Portuguese yields were up 1
bps at 2.97%.
Some analysts expect Fitch
to lift Portugal’s credit rating to investment grade, when
ratings agencies may publish
revisions of their views on a
swathe of eurozone countries,
including France, Finland,
Spain and Italy.
Russia’s rouble spirals
lower as central bank
interventions top $3bn
Reuters
Moscow
R
ussia’s rouble plunged
again yesterday, and
traders said the central
bank intervened heavily to slow
its slide, as oil prices dropped
and Russian companies locked
out of international capital
markets drove demand for dollars.
The central bank says it has
spent $3.3bn defending the
rouble between last Friday
and Wednesday, but the total
amount over the past week is
likely to be far larger since it
releases its intervention data
with a two-day lag.
Early yesterday the bank
said it had shifted the rouble’s
floating corridor on Thursday, the 12th 5-kopeck shift
since last Friday, but the currency breached the new limits
within the opening minutes of
trading.
The rouble has been pressured for months by a plunge
in prices for oil, one of Russia’s
chief exports, as well as Western sanctions over the Ukraine
crisis and dollar strength linked
to speculation over a rate hike
by the US Federal Reserve.
“The pressure on the rouble
is unlikely to subside today.
The market is being driven by
demand for foreign currency,
which is being unconvincingly
countered by the central bank
shifting the boundaries of its
currency corridor,” Vladimir
Evtisfeev, a п¬Ѓnancial analyst at
Bank Zenit in Moscow, said in a
note.
Sanctions over Ukraine
An exterior view of the Russian central bank building in Moscow. The apex bank of the country said yesterday it had shifted the
boundaries of its floating rouble corridor 15 kopecks higher to 36.00-45 against a dollar-euro basket as of October 9.
mean dollars and euros are in
short supply as major Russian
п¬Ѓrms are shut out of Western
capital markets but still need
foreign currency to service
their overseas debts.
The rouble has lost 18%
against the dollar this year,
and the central bank has spent
more than $40bn in interventions, the bulk of which came
in March when the Ukraine
crisis escalated.
The central bank said early
yesterday it had shifted the
boundaries of its floating rou-
ble corridor 15 kopecks higher
to 36.00-45 against a dollareuro basket as of October 9 and
had spent $1.5bn in interventions on Wednesday.
The rouble broke through
those new boundaries straight
after trading began, later hitting
a low of 45.20 against the basket
and was last trading at 45.19.
The central bank automatically intervenes to defend the
rouble once it crosses the
boundaries of its trading band
and moves the band by 5 kopecks once it has spent $350mn
in forex interventions, implying that the bank spent around
$1bn in additional forex interventions on Thursday.
Traders said the central bank
continued to intervene heavily
in the currency market yesterday and had likely shifted its
rouble corridor by another 20
kopecks.
By 0905 GMT, the rouble
was 0.5% weaker against the
dollar at 40.35 and lost 0.36%
to trade at 51.11 versus the euro.
Weaker oil prices were a major drag on both the currency
and stocks yesterday, with
Russia’s two main share indexes down more than 1%. Futures
for international crude benchmark Brent tumbled over $1 to
below $89 a barrel yesterday,
their weakest since 2010.
The
dollar-denominated
RTS share index was down
2.1% at 1,065 points, while its
rouble-based peer MICEX was
1.4% lower at 1,364 points.
Russia’s top lender Sberbank was down 1.2%, while the
country’s largest oil producer,
Rosneft, fell 2.2%.
Orange
weighs IPO
of Africa,
Middle
East units
Reuters
Paris
F
rench telecom operator
Orange is studying whether to float its African and
Middle Eastern units as a way to
raise money to cut debt and reinvest in Europe, the company said
yesterday.
The news was п¬Ѓrst reported on
Thursday by п¬Ѓnancial newspaper
Agefi. Orange, which has 91.8mn
customers in about two dozen
African and Middle Eastern
countries, said in a statement the
fast-growing regions remained a
“key part” of its strategy.
“No decision has been taken
regarding the exact details of any
such project and no calendar has
been defined,” it said.
Revenues in Africa and the
Middle East climbed 7.4% to €
2.1bn ($2.65bn) in the п¬Ѓrst half
of this year, compared with a
decline of 4.6% to €9.6bn in
France.
Sales also fell in Poland and
Spain, Orange’s second and
third-largest markets in Europe.
In addition to a source of
growth, Orange has used Africa as
a launch pad for a successful mobile money service, which allows
people without bank accounts or
credit cards make payments or
transfers with their phones.
Orange in mid-September
agreed to buy Spanish broadband company Jazztel for around
€3.4bn to complement its mobile business in the country.
The all-cash deal is to be п¬Ѓnanced through borrowing and
a capital increase, and the company maintained a target for net
debt of no more than 2 times operating profit by year end.
The shares of Europe’s fifthlargest telecom operator by
market capitalisation have risen
21% this year through Thursday’s close.
Sensex falls 1.3%; rupee snaps winning streak
Reuters
Mumbai
Indian shares posted their biggest
fall in 2-1/2 weeks yesterday, as bluechips continued to be hit by concerns
that weaker global markets would
dent demand from foreign investors,
although Infosys surged after earnings
beat estimates.
Global shares, as measured by the
MSCI All-Country World index, fell to a
six-month low as investors worry about
the prospect of a widespread economic
slowdown while US monetary stimulus
nears its end.
This led India’s indexes to their third
consecutive weekly falls, with banking
and metal stocks leading the decline
yesterday.
Investors will now focus on consumer
inflation data due on Monday, with a
Reuters survey expecting inflation to
have risen 7.2%, according to a poll of
28 economists, weaker than 7.8% in
August.
The benchmark BSE index closed down
1.28% at 26,297.38, declining for the
fourth session in the past five. The index
fell 1.02% for the week.
The broader NSE index fell 1.26% to
close at 7,859.95, falling 1.1% in the week.
“The fall has more to do with
international markets. This has given
better entry valuations as our market
is still a �buy-on-decline’ market,” said
Deven Choksey, managing director, KR
Choksey Securities.
Foreign investors have played an
integral role in the record-setting rally
in Indian shares this year, buying a net
$13.8bn worth of stocks till Thursday.
“We have seen Infy earnings and I
expect positive earnings surprises from
corporates. We believe earnings growth
will accelerate in the second half of this
fiscal,” Choksey said.
Infosys surged 6.6% after its JulySeptember earnings beat estimates,
triggering a rally in the sector.
However, yesterday was more about
falls, with financial stocks leading the
decline. State Bank of India, which
gained 2.8% in the previous session,
closed down 1.14%, while ICICI Bank
ended 2% lower. The stock gained 2.8%
on Thursday.
Among metal stocks, Hindalco
Industries, which gained 6.1% in the
previous session, closed down 4.9%,
while Tata Steel ended 4.2% lower.
Vedanta Group companies plunged
after shares of its British-listed parent,
Vedanta Resources, fell 8% after
reporting lower quarterly output at its
oil and gas, zinc and Zambian copper
businesses.
Sesa Sterlite ended 4.6% lower, while
Hindustan Zinc closed down 4.2%.
Heavyweight consumer stocks have
also witnessed selling pressure. ITC
closed 3.4% lower, while Hindustan
Unilever ended down 2.5%.
Meanwhile the rupee fell yesterday,
snapping four sessions of gains as
tumbling global markets raised fears
about foreign investments while caution
also prevailed ahead of key inflation
data due next week.
Global shares fell to a six-month low
yesterday as investors worried about
the prospect of a widespread economic
slowdown just as US monetary stimulus
nears its end.
That dented what had been a good
week so far for the rupee, which rose to
a 2-1/2 week high against the dollar in
the previous session. The unit ended up
posting its first weekly gain in five.
Traders said global factors and data will
remain key for the rupee, with India set
to post industrial output data after the
close of markets and consumer inflation
data on Monday.
“I do not see the rupee gaining beyond
the 60.80 level on a sustainable basis,”
said Param Sarma, director and chief
executive officer at NSP Forex, a
consultancy firm.
“Also, the dwindling portfolio flows
could limit the rupee’s rise,” he added.
The partially convertible rupee closed
at 61.34/35 per dollar compared with
61.04/05 on Thursday.
For the week, the rupee gained 0.4%, its
first weekly gain in five.
But yesterday the rupee was hit by
tumbling global shares, with domestic
indexes falling 1.3%, their biggest falls in
2-1/2 weeks.
Foreign funds have been sellers of
equities worth $128.34mn so far this
month, though they remain net buyers
of $13.76bn in 2014. They have bought
$20.65bn in debt.
In the offshore non-deliverable
forwards, the one-month contract was
at 61.65 while the three-month was at
62.27.
Asia markets tumble on renewed global concerns
AFP
Tokyo
A
Pedestrians in reflection walk past a share prices board in Tokyo. Japanese stocks closed down 1.15% yesterday.
sian shares and the dollar sank
yesterday on growing concerns
about the global economy while
the head of the IMF warned the eurozone could slip into recession if governments do not act.
Investors took their lead from a
heavy sell-off on Wall Street, which
wiped out the previous day’s Federal
Reserve-fuelled gains. Fears of a falloff in demand also sent oil traders fleeing, pushing Brent crude prices to a
four-year low.
Tokyo tumbled 1.15%, or 178.38
points, to 15,300.55, Sydney shed
2.05%, or 108.38 points, to 5,188.3 and
Seoul slipped 1.24%, or 24.33 points, to
1,940.92.
Hong Kong shed 1.90%, or 445.99
points, to 23,088.54 while Shanghai eased 0.62%, or 14.83 points, to
2,374.54. Taipei was closed for a public holiday. In other markets, Bangkok
lost 0.51%, or 7.89 points, to 1,552.72;
giant oil company PTT dropped 2.93%
to 364baht, while Airports of Thailand
fell 1.79% to 219baht.
Malaysia’s main stock index ended lower 10.03 points or 0.55% at
1,808.88; CIMB shares fall 4.6% to
6.66 ringgit, Malayan Banking lost
1.52% to 9.70 while Telekom Malaysia
added 0.29% to 6.85 ringgit. Singapore
closed 1.09%, or 35.38 points, lower at
3,223.87; property developer Wing Tai
Holdings fell 0.29% to close at S$1.75
and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp
lost 1.02% to end at S$9.74.
Jakarta ended down 0.62%, or 30.92
points, at 4,962.96; auto company Astra International fell 3.35% to 6,500
rupiah, while cigarette maker Gudang
Garam gained 1.43% to 56,600 rupiah.
Wellington fell 0.78%, or 40.90
points, to 5,224.14; Fletcher Building
was down 1.69% at NZ$8.72 and Chorus slipped 0.52% to NZ$1.92.
Manila closed 0.48% lower, dipping
34.54 points to 7,167.35; Ayala Corp
gained 0.3% to 33.55 pesos while GT
Capital was unchanged at 1,080 pesos.
Philippine Long Distance Telephone
fell 1.12% to 3,010 pesos.
Markets surged after minutes released Wednesday from the Fed’s most
recent meeting indicated policymakers
could refrain from hiking US interest
rates any time soon as global economic
and geopolitical woes were offsetting a
domestic recovery.
That came as a relief to dealers who
had come to expect a rise before the
bank’s mid-2015 timetable.
However, that elation was erased
late Thursday after another round of
negative eurozone data, including a
5.8% slump in German exports in August. Leading German think tanks also
slashed their growth forecasts for the
eurozone’s largest economy.
“Overriding everything is just the
concern that European growth is weak
and getting weaker,” said William
Lynch of Hinsdale Associates.
On Wall Street the Dow tumbled
1.97%, the S&P 500 shed 2.07% and
the Nasdaq sank 2.02%.
The dollar, which touched a six-year
high above ВҐ110 last week, was struggling at ВҐ107.80 in Asia yesterday, compared with ВҐ107.84 late in New York. The
euro fetched ВҐ136.86 against ВҐ136.87 in
US trade and well down from the ВҐ137.70
seen earlier Thursday in Tokyo.
The Japanese currency, a safe haven
investment, has spiked as traders look
to protect their cash.
The euro also bought $1.2670
against $1.2691. Oil prices were hit by
demand worries. US benchmark West
Texas Intermediate for November delivery was down $1.92 at $83.85, its
weakest since June 2012. Brent crude
fell $1.65 to $88.40, levels last seen in
November 2010.
Saturday, October 11, 2014
BUSINESS
GULF TIMES
EU’s new rules seek to aid securitisation revival
Reuters
London
The European Commission published
new rules yesterday to encourage more
securitisation of assets such as car and
consumer loans and small business
loans as part of a drive to channel
more funds into the flagging European
economy.
The new rules form part of laws
designed to make banks better able to
withstand shocks, and to keep insurers
solvent.
Reviving securitisation –where loans
are pooled to underpin a security which
pays out money from repayments
of the loans – is part of the EU’s new
flagship capital markets union project
to encourage fledgling companies
to turn to markets for funding rather
relying too much on banks.
Banks have long dominated funding for
companies but lenders have become
more cautious as they must comply
with new rules to increase their capital
levels so that taxpayers won’t have to
bail them out again in another crisis.
The European Commission, the EU’s
executive body has included the new
rules as part of two so-called delegated
acts, one on insurance solvency and the
other on bank liquidity.
Combined they represent the EU’s
first regulatory action to revive and
restructure asset-backed securities
(ABS), a sector tainted by ABS linked
to poor quality US home loans turning
toxic in 2007, sowing the seeds of the
global financial crisis.
“They show that Europe is serious
about creating a framework to
support investment in the economy,
particularly through promoting safe
and transparent securitisation and
encouraging insurers to invest for the
long term,” EU financial services chief
Michel Barnier said in a statement.
The European Central Bank (ECB) is
also planning to buy chunks of ABS in
coming months as a way of injecting
money into the weak euro zone
economy and giving the ABS market a
confidence boost.
The EU, along with the ECB and the
Bank of England, also wants to promote
a high quality market segment that
would benefit from lower capital
charges for banks that originate the
security, and for insurers and others
that buy it.
Banks have cautioned that the
demarcation line between top quality
ABS and the rest must be handled
sensitively to avoid a sizeable chunk of
the market being sidelined.
The delegated act on insurer solvency
comes into force in January 2016 to
allow a lighter capital treatment for top
rated ABS bought by insurers.
The European Commission said it would
incentivise insurers, acting as investors,
to channel more funds into safe,
simple and transparent securitisation
markets in Europe, contributing to their
development and liquidity.
“This is the first attempt in the
European Union to define high quality
securitisation,” said Cristina Mihai, a
policy adviser at Insurance Europe,
which represents the bloc’s insurance
companies.
Top quality securitisation includes only
the most senior tranches of simple,
top rated ABS and excludes complex
varieties such as collateralised debt
obligations.
The second delegated act details
the assets banks can hold in new
mandatory buffers by January 2018 to
withstand rocky markets unaided for up
to month. It aims to encourage issuance
by endorsing a wide range of ABS that
can be included in a bank’s liquidity
buffer.
Allowing pooled debt based on car and
consumer loans, and loans to small and
medium sized companies, will breach
globally agreed rules known as Basel III
which limit ABS to residential mortgage
backed securities in a bank’s liquidity
buffer.
As expected, a much larger chunk of a
bank’s liquidity buffer can also be in the
form of covered bonds - an asset similar
to ABS but seen as safer - than allowed
under Basel III.
Denmark, which has a large covered
bond market, had pressed Brussels
hard for this concession.
The Commission said Basel failed
to give adequate recognition to
certain specific assets which have
demonstrated high liquidity in the EU,
such as auto loan-backed ABS.
A broader pool of securitised assets
will reduce the risk of excessive
concentration on one type of ABS, the
Commission said.
There is no global law to make Basel
legally binding.
“It is imperative that Europe gets a high
quality liquid securitisation framework
working. This will free up more lending
capacity and will be essential when
central banks exit from quantitative
easing,” said Patricia Jackson, head
of financial regulatory advice at
consultancy EY.
The Commission also published a third
delegated act that details how banks
must comply with a new leverage
ratio, a measure of a bank’s assets in
relation to all of its assets. A decision on
whether or not to introduce a binding
leverage ratio will only be made in 2016,
the EU executive said.
UK construction
output slumps
Reuters
London
B
The US Federal Reserve building in Washington. The Fed will probably start raising interest rates around the middle of next year, according to two top officials.
Fed officials keep eyes
on mid-2015 rate rise
Reuters
Las Vegas
T
he Federal Reserve will
probably start raising interest rates around the
middle of next year, two top
officials at the US central bank
said on Thursday, although both
said the exact timing will depend on the economy.
“What we think now is that
the capital markets have it more
or less right but we don’t ourselves know when we’re going
to do it,” Fed Vice Chairman
Stanley Fischer said in Washington.
“On the basis of our forecasts
of the data ... it looks like markets more or less have it right somewhere in the middle of the
year.”
The Fed has kept rates near
zero since 2008 and has nearly
quadrupled its balance sheet to
more than $4tn through a series of bond purchase programs
in an effort to push borrowing
costs down further and boost
hiring.
With the US jobless rate at
5.9% and closing in on what the
central bank sees as consistent
with full employment, officials
plan to wrap up their bond buying this month.
Now, investors are rushing
to place bets on when rates will
rise. Minutes of the Fed’s September policy meeting, released
on Wednesday, showed several
officials worried that troubling
global growth and a stronger
dollar could undercut the US
recovery.
Investors took that to mean
the Fed would bide its time on
rate hikes, and they sent the
dollar down and bid stocks up.
Futures markets shifted to point
to a September hike from July.
The central bank’s only official guidance on the timing is
that it would wait a “considerable time” after bond-buying
ends, a phrase that Fed Chair
Janet Yellen indicated earlier this year meant something
along the lines of six months.
Fischer took a step that essentially downgraded the value
of the phrase, saying it meant
somewhere between two to 12
months, putting investors on
notice that it will be economic
data, not the passage of time,
that will drive policy change.
Speaking in Las Vegas, the
president of the San Francisco
Federal Reserve Bank, John Williams, declined to put any timeframe on the phrase, but did say
a mid-2015 rate rise is “a rea-
sonable guess to my mind.” “If
the economy or inflation heat up
faster than I expect, we should
lift rates sooner,” said Williams,
who will rotate into a voting spot
on the Fed’s policy-setting panel
next year, adding that if progress
on those fronts slow, the liftoff
should be delayed.
He said any difference between the market’s view and
his own of the timing of liftoff is
“small.”
William Dudley, the head of
the New York Fed, earlier this
week also pointed to mid-2015
as the likely rate-hike date.
But James Bullard, president
of the St. Louis Fed, delivered a
warning to investors on Thursday, saying that financial markets were making a “mistake”
in betting that borrowing costs
would only rise later in 2015.
Bullard, citing strengthening
ritish construction fell
sharply in August, hit by a
fall in house-building and
adding to signs of a slowdown in
other areas of the economy, official figures showed yesterday.
Separate data showed Britain’s
goods trade deficit narrowed in
August but only because imports
fell more sharply than exports.
Construction output slid 3.9%
on the month and fell year-onyear for the п¬Ѓrst time since May
2013, by 0.3%, the Office for National Statistics said.
It revised July output to a 1.9%
rise on the month, from an original estimate of no change.
The biggest drag on the August headline п¬Ѓgure came from a
fall in house-building which was
down 5.5% from July. Infrastructure and commercial building
also fell.
Data earlier this week showed
industrial production was flat
in August compared with July,
adding to signs that the pace of
Britain’s economic recovery may
have slowed in the third quarter
from growth of 0.9% in the second quarter.
Yesterday’s figures contrast
with a Markit purchasing managers’ survey last week which
showed that the construction
sector grew at one of the fastest
rates on record in September.
“Whether we trust the num-
bers or not, it is what it is and
this will affect GDP,” said Alan
Clarke, an economist with Scotiabank in London. “Depending on the scale of the bounce
next month, this could subtract
around 0.1 percentage point
from overall GDP growth.”
Britain’s deficit in its trade
in goods narrowed in August
to ВЈ9.099bn from a revised
ВЈ10.414bn in July, which was the
biggest on record.
August’s deficit was the narrowest since April, the ONS also
said yesterday.
Economists in a Reuters poll
had forecast a gap of ВЈ9.6bn.
Including Britain’s surplus in
its trade in services, the overall trade deficit narrowed to
ВЈ1.917bn from ВЈ3.079bn in July.
The improvement in the
headline п¬Ѓgures was tempered
by signs of continued weakness
in Britain’s trade performance.
Volumes of goods exports fell
2.3% while imports were down
6.2%, largely due to erratic
goods as well as chemicals and
oil, the ONS said.
Economists said the trade
weakness added to signs that the
British economy would struggle
to keep up its pace in the JulySeptember period.
“If the volume of exports and
imports then held steady in September, net trade would probably be a drag on growth in the
third quarter,” said Paul Hollingsworth, an economist with consultancy Capital Economics.
gauges of labour markets and
inflation, wants the Fed to start
raising rates in the п¬Ѓrst quarter
of next year. “When there is a
mismatch it doesn’t end well,”
he said at a conference in St.
Louis sponsored by his regional
Fed bank.
However, Jeffrey Lacker, chief
of the Richmond Fed, speaking in Asheville, North Carolina, said he wasn’t particularly
alarmed by any mismatch in the
outlook for a rate hike. “The gap
is most likely accounted for by
differences in views on how the
data is going to come in,” he said.
Lacker, among the most
hawkish of Fed policymakers,
said he probably is on the “early
side” among his colleagues in
terms of expectations for when
rates should rise.
Still, he said, it’s “too soon to
draw conclusions.”
Chipmakers’ warnings point to economic slowdown
Reuters
Frankfurt
D
emand for electronics devices
is weakening, according to
circuit makers at the base of
the industry’s food chain, suggesting
a long-predicted slowdown in global
economic growth may be coming to
pass.
September, the peak month for
shipping tiny chips used to build
everything from appliances to cars
to phones and office equipment if
they are to reach consumers and
businesses by year end, has not seen
its typical pickup after the summer
holidays.
In recent weeks, a series of US semi-
conductor makers with global operations have begun to paint a worrying
picture of a broad-based slowdown in
markets including autos and network
equipment in regions ranging from
Asia to Europe.
The weakness is centred in China,
which functions as the electronics
workshop for many п¬Ѓnished products
destined to ship worldwide.
It may also be a sign of how pessimistic Europe’s retailers are feeling
ahead of the key Christmas trading
season, with the eurozone in danger of
sliding back into recession.
On Thursday came the remarkably
blunt warning from diversified chipmaker Microchip of a broad-based industry downturn, or correction, suggesting worse may be in store as the
latest corporate earnings season gets
underway. “We believe that another
industry correction has begun and
that this correction will be seen more
broadly across the industry in the near
future,” Microchip Chief Executive
Steve Sanghi said of the sales fall-off in
its latest quarter.
Semiconductor analysts struggle to
п¬Ѓnd chipmakers which might be insulated from signs of a wider economic
downturn.
“Any place to hide?” asked BMO
Capital Markets analyst Ambrish
Srivastava in a note to clients. “For the
time, it appears not.”
Shares in major European chipmakers suffered sharp declines yesterday,
led by Germany’s Infineon Technologies, which was off 5.8%.
STMicroelectronics lost 5.4% and
ASML Holding gave up 3.5%. Meanwhile, financial analysts who track
inventory levels up and down the
electronics industry supply chain
have grown concerned by signs of
a year-over-year build-up in inventories among sales distributors,
contract and component manufacturers.
While some stockpiling is inevitable in the current busy manufacturing
season, the worry among investors is
that this may be disguising even weaker demand for п¬Ѓnished products.
Warnings have also come from niche
semiconductor companies including
EZchip Semiconductor, which cited
weak orders from telecom equipment
maker customers, and O2 Micro, which
said several of its notebook PC customers were suffering weak demand.
Microchip is considered a proxy
for broader demand across the global
semiconductor industry because it is
a highly diversified supplier of electronic components to some 80,000
customers, which in turn use its digital and analogue devices in finished
products.
The company is also an early indicator because it recognizes revenue when
its distributors book sales to customers
rather than simply when Microchip itself ships its products, meaning there is
less lag in seeing fundamental shifts in
market demand.
China suffered a sales decline during the last three months where normally it would enjoy strong sequen-
tial growth compared with the June
quarter, Microchip said in a statement.
Microchip responded by cutting
back production levels in its wafer
fabrication and test and assembly facilities, it said.
The company expects to return
to sequential revenue growth in two
quarters, assuming that the current
imbalance in supply and demand follow normal industry recovery patterns,
it said.
Ahead of Microchip’s warning late
on Thursday, the semiconductor industry was enjoying an upbeat year,
overall.
The 30-stock Philadelphia Semiconductor Index had gained 13.8% in
the year to date.
FORMULA 1 | Page 3
Marussia
withdraw
Bianchi’s car
from Sochi race
Saturday, October 11, 2014
Dhul-Hijja 17, 1435 AH
TENNIS
Djokovic and
Federer to clash in
Shanghai semis
GULF TIMES
SPORT
Page 4
FOCUS
CRICKET
Foreman, Christie
confirm presence
at Doha GOALS
�Sport improved my life and I want to help it improve the lives of others’
Australia beat
Pakistan to
seal one-day
series in Dubai
AFP
Dubai
A
ustralia continued their dominance over Pakistan with a
hard fought п¬Ѓve-wicket win
in the second day-night international, taking an unbeatable 2-0
lead in the three-match series.
Pakistan blew an opening stand of
126 through openers Sarfraz Ahmed
(65) and Ahmed Shahzad (61) and
were bowled out for 215 in 49.3 overs
with paceman Mitchell Johnson taking
3-40.
Glenn Maxwell then punished the
sloppy Pakistan п¬Ѓelding with an 81-ball
76 as Australia reached the target in
43.2 overs for their fourth consecutive
one-day series win over Pakistan.
Maxwell added an invaluable 85 for
the fourth wicket with skipper George
Bailey (28) steadying the chase after
Pakistan dismissed Aaron Finch (14),
David Warner (29) and Steven Smith
(12) to leave Australia wobbling at 72-3.
But Pakistan spurned a good chance
of dismissing the dangerous Maxwell
on п¬Ѓve when Umar Akmal dropped him
in slip off debutant Raza Hasan.
Hasan was also unlucky in the early
overs when Fawad Alam let off Warner
on ten, making Pakistan’s defence of a
modest target tough.
Maxwell took advantage of the let
off, reaching his eighth half-century
off 56 deliveries.
Maxwell continued to punish the
bowlers after Bailey was run out. With
38 needed off 81 balls, he holed out off
Zulfiqar Babar.
He hit nine boundaries and a six to
anchor the chase.
James Faulkner (26 not out) and Brad
Haddin (17 not out) ensured Australia
didn’t lose trackand secured the win.
It was Johnson who derailed Pakistan’s innings with some fiery bowling.
Ahmed and Shahzad who put on
a rare 126-run stand for the opening
wicket but Australia hit back to take
the last nine wickets for a mere 89 runs.
Johnson, who took 3-24 in Australia’s 93-run win in the first one-day, put
the brakes on the innings dismissing
Ahmed, Umar Akmal (п¬Ѓve) and Shahid
Afridi (two) in a destructive 10-over
spell.
Pakistan, who won the toss and batted, cruised to their п¬Ѓrst century stand
in 44 innings as Ahmed and Shahzad
batted with authority against a spincum-pace attack.
Ahmed, promoted to open the innings in this series, reached his maiden
half-century off 60 balls while Shahzad needed 63 balls for his eighth such
50. He hit п¬Ѓve boundaries and a six off
72 balls.
Shahzad hit п¬Ѓve boundaries in his
82-ball knock.
Pakistan’s last opening stand century
in a one-dayer was between Mohamed
Hafeez and Nasir Jamshed against India at Kolkata in January 2013.
As Pakistan tried to build on the
opening stand, out-of-form skipper
Misbah-ul Haq was run out by a brilliant throw from covers by Maxwell after making just 15.
Pakistan couldn’t recover from the
jolt as Asad Shafiq (29) and Fawad Alam
(20 not out) laboured through their innings. Pakistan managed just 29 runs in
the п¬Ѓnal ten slog overs.
The third and п¬Ѓnal one-day match
will be played in Abu Dhabi tomorrow.
Former world heavyweight champion and 1968 Olympic gold medallist George Foreman will be one of the speakers at the Doha GOALS Forum 2014. (MCT)
By Sports Reporter
Doha
F
ormer World Heavyweight
Boxing Champion and 1968
Olympic gold medallist George
Foreman, Jamaican triple Olympic gold medallist Veronica Campbell-Brown, former Olympic Champion and US Track & Field director
Jackie Joyner-Kersee, 1992 Olympic
gold medallist Linford Christie, tennis
player and 2013 Wimbledon champion
Marion Bartoli, and retired German
international footballer Christoph
Metzelder have confirmed to appear at
this year’s Doha GOALS Forum, which
is held under the patronage of HH the
Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad alThani.
The event is scheduled to run from
November 3-5, 2014, at the Aspire
Academy in Doha.
These champions will be joined by
two-time Olympic gold medallist and
chairman of the London Organizing
Committee for the 2012 Olympic Games
Sebastian Coe, three-time Paralympic
gold medallist Hou Bin, and former tennis world number one Boris Becker at
the Doha GOALS Forum.
Doha GOALS Forum executive director HE Sheikh Faisal bin Mubarak
al-Thani said: “Each year at the Doha
GOALS Forum we aim to invite a combination of global leaders, sporting
heroes, business leaders and students
to give us a diverse group of participants that in turn allows for wide
Confirmed speakers
HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin
Hamad al-Thani
Marion Bartoli, tennis player
and 2013 Wimbledon champion,
France
Boris Becker, former tennis
champion and coach of world no.1
Novak Djokovic, Germany
Titi Camara, former professional
footballer, former Sports Minister,
Guinea
Veronica Campbell Brown, triple
Olympic gold medallist, Jamaica
Burcu Г‡etinkaya, World Rally
Championship driver, Turkey
Linford Christie, former Olympic
100 meter gold medallist, UK
Lord Coe, two-time Olympic gold
medallist, International Association of Athletics Associations vice
president; former Chairman of Local
Organizing Committee for the 2012
Olympic Games, UK
Jonathan Edwards, chair of the Athletes’ Commission, London 2012, and
range of opinions and creates hundreds of ideas for positive change. It
is for those reasons that we’re thrilled
to be welcoming some of the greatest
names in sport to Doha GOALS 2014.”
China’s triple Paralympic cham-
Triple Jump world record-holder, UK
Sir Ronald Flanagan, International Cricket Council Anti-Corruption &
Security Unit chairman, UK
George Foreman, former world
heavyweight boxing champion and
Olympic gold medallist, US
Hou Bin, triple Paralympic champion, China
Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Olympic
champion, Track & Field USA director, US
Wilson Kipketer, three-time
world champion 800m runner,
Denmark
Tegla Loroupe, Goodwill Ambassador and champion marathon
runner, Unicef, Kenya
Sir Craig Reedie, International
Olympic Committee vice president,
UK
Yasmian al-Sharshani, professional golfer, Qatar
Christoph Tobias Metzelder,
former footballer, Germany
pion Hou Bin said: “I know first-hand
how sport can help improve your life.
When you are on the п¬Ѓeld, everyone
is equal…it doesn’t matter what race
you are, the language you speak – you
strive towards a similar goal as your
competitor and you carry the same
concerns. It is a reminder of our similarities, struggles and strength when
we work together. Sport improved
my life and I want to help it improve
the lives of others. I am excited to attend, and continue the fantastic work
of Doha GOALS towards making a real
global difference.”
Participants at Doha GOALS 2014
will address four touchstones: engaging youth, innovation and creativity,
empowering people, and the role of
sport in the Middle East and North Africa. Packed with a fast pace agenda to
inspire creative and dynamic dialogue,
these touch points are also reflected in
the selection of speakers.
Doha GOALS Forum has again invited 400 students from across the
globe to engage with the forum as
part of the Student Ambassadors programme.
Executive producer Richard Attias
said: “These outstanding young leaders are selected for their academic,
leadership and athletic abilities and
for their proven involvement in their
communities. This year’s programme
will have even greater geographical
reach, with a focus on the emerging
world and the Middle East.
“Leading up to the Doha GOALS Forum, these young men and women will
be asked to come up with their own initiatives to implement in their communities. Select students who have launched
exciting initiatives will be invited to
speak about their projects in front of an
audience of global thought leaders.”
Australia’s George Bailey plays a shot during their second One Day International
match against Pakistan in Dubai yesterday. (AFP)
Scorecard
PAKISTAN
A Shahzad c Smith b Doherty
61
S Ahmed c Maxwell b Johnson
65
A Shafiq c Johnson b Lyon
29
Misbah run out
15
U Akmal c Smith b Johnson
5
F Alam not out
20
S Afridi c Smith b Johnson
2
W Riaz b Richardson
2
R Hasan run out
0
Z Babar c Maxwell b Faulkner
6
M Irfan run out
0
Extras
(lb2, w8) 10
Total
(all out, 49.3 overs) 215
Fall of wickets: 1-126 (Shahzad),
2-130 (Sarfraz), 3-159 (Misbah), 4-168
(Akmal), 5-185 (Shafiq), 6-199 (Afridi),
7-203 (Riaz), 8-204 (Hasan)
Bowling: Johnson 10-0-40-3 (3w),
Richardson 9.3-0-43-1 (4w), Doherty
10-0-44-1, Faulkner 7-0-27-1, Lyon 100-40-1 (1w), Maxwell 3-0-19-0
AUSTRALIA
D Warner c Irfan b Hasan
29
A Finch c Ahmed b Irfan
14
S Smith c Ahmed b Babar
12
G Bailey run out (Shehzad)
28
G Maxwell c Shafiq b Babar
76
J Faulkner not out
26
B Haddin not out
17
Extras
(lb 3, w 12) 15
Total
(5 wickets; 43.2 overs) 217
Fall of wickets: 1-22 (Finch), 2-39
(Smith), 3-72 (Warner), 4-157 (Bailey),
5-178 (Maxwell)
Bowling: Hasan 10-0-68-1 (2w), Irfan
9.2-0-42-1, Babar 10-1-52-2 (3w), Afridi
10-0-36-0 (2w), Riaz 2.2-0-7-0 (1w),
Shehzad 1.4-0-9-0
2
Gulf Times
Saturday, October 11, 2014
CRICKET
Looking to
improve our
death bowling:
Dhawan
Opening batsman Shikhar
Dhawan yesterday acknowledged India’s bowling in the
death overs as a tender spot,
an area where they are currently working on.
“We are looking to improve
our bowling towards the
end of the innings. We have
improved our death-bowling
since the England tour. Mohammed Shami took three
wickets towards the end in
Kochi. Things will get better,”
said Dhawan on the eve of
the second One-Day International (ODI) to be played
at the Ferozeshah Kotla here
today.
“But we are not overtly concerned by it since it was the
first game of the series. The
spinners did give away runs,
but it is part and parcel of the
game. Sometimes they get hit
but it’s not that it happens in
every match.”
India lost the first of the five
ODIs at Kochi Wednesday
by a massive 124 runs. Apart
from medium pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar and spinner
Ravindra Jadeja, all other
bowlers went for more than
six an over.
However, Dhawan expressed satisfaction with
his present form. The left
hander was the lone bright
spot among the Indian
batsman in Kochi where he
scored 68 runs.
“Last one year has been a
learning experience for me as
I have seen both success and
failure. But if you don’t know
what failure is, you won’t be
able to enjoy success. I am
learning everyday. Those six
innings that I failed in the
India-England Test series will
probably help me to play 50
good innings,” the 28-year-old
said.
The Delhi lad added that
his poor form in England
has made him a more matured batsman and praised
Mahendra Singh Dhoni for
the role his skipper has
played in his batting form
reversal.
“I have learnt more about
my batting, identified my
strengths and weaknesses.
I am constantly learning
new things and adding to
my game. It’s very important for a player to have
his captain’s backing him
during a lean patch. I have
received a lot of support
from the captain,” said
Dhawan.
“Dhoni has been the skipper
for so long and he knows
what a player needs. Even the
support staff backed me to
play my natural game.”
PREVIEW
�Stunned’ India look to
hit back in second ODI
�We are a strongly-knit bunch of players and one loss doesn’t affect our morale’
IANS
New Delhi
H
aving suffered a humiliating
defeat
against the West Indies in the п¬Ѓrst OneDay International (ODI) of the
п¬Ѓve-match series, hosts India
will look to regain some pride
and turn the corner in the second ODI at the Feroz Shah Kotla
here today.
India began the series as the
overwhelming favourites but
were comprehensively beaten
at Kochi Wednesday by a Caribbean side beset by off-п¬Ѓeld pay
disputes.
India lost by a massive 124
runs at the Nehru Stadium,
succumbing to their second
biggest margin of loss against
a visiting team, nine runs less
than their biggest loss of 135
runs in 2002.
“We are positive despite the
defeat and are working hard.
Our focus is to play smart
cricket to win the match. We
are a strongly-knit bunch of
players and one loss doesn’t affect our moral,” opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan said at a
press conference here yesterday.
The West Indies did and still
do have problems of their own.
The build-up to the match was
dampened by an unwanted yet
longstanding dispute over a
payment agreement that once
raised the possibility of the п¬Ѓrst
ODI being boycotted by the visiting team.
But timely intervention by
the Board of Control for Cricket
in India (BCCI) neutralised that
possibility.
Sanjay Patel Thursday said
the BCCI will be happy to help
the WICB as a “mediator” once
the series ends but denied that
BCCI paid the disgruntled players or WICB prior to the Kochi
ODI.
In these circumstances, it
should have been relatively easy for India, the world
champions, to begin the series with a thumping victory,
which should have set the
tone for the remainder of the
series.
India look to regain some pride in the second ODI at the Feroz Shah Kotla in New Delhi today.
But they began the series on a
wrong foot.
Guilty of being a little complacent, the Indian bowling
were smashed all over the park,
chiefly by Marlon Samuels who
helped himself to a stroke-п¬Ѓlled
unbeaten 126.
He was particularly severe towards the end of their innings,
dispatching to the boundary
anything loose offered by Indians.
India’s much vaunted batting
line-up too floundered, getting
bowled out for a mere 197 runs
with only opener Shikhar Dhawan getting among runs.
The poor batting form that
plagued Virat Kohli in India’s
tour of England stretched to
home soil.
He managed to score only
two while the Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) Champions
League Twenty20 winning duo
of Mahendra Singh Dhoni and
Suresh Raina also failed to get
going.
“We analysed several games
of the India-England series to
study some India players. We
are trying to expose their weakness. We are aware that beating
India at home is difficult and
there’s a long way to go in the
SPOTLIGHT
Pietersen accepts England
career may be over
AFP
London
K
evin Pietersen conceded yesterday he
may
“potentially”
have played his last
match for England as the controversy surrounding his autobiography continues.
During an intensive publicity
campaign, South Africa-born
batsman Pietersen—England’s
all-time leading run-scorer—
has indicated a wish to resume
an international career abruptly
cut short in February following
the team’s return from their 5-0
Ashes thrashing in Australia.
That has long appeared a slim
hope while England and Wales
Cricket Board (ECB) chairman
Giles Clarke and managing director Paul Downton remain in
post, with Pietersen admitting
as much Thursday when he said
“Clarke would have to go” if he
was to play for England again.
Allegations in his book of a
“bullying” culture led by senior
England bowlers such as James
Anderson, assisted by wicketkeeper Matt Prior and severe
criticism of the methods of
former coach Andy Flower are
one thing, but given Pietersen
did not play County Championship cricket for Surrey last
season, there is no way of his
returning to the England set-up
Kevin Pietersen
on form grounds any time soon.
However, in an interview
on with BBC television chat
show host Graham Norton,
to be broadcast later Friday,
Pietersen asked how likely it
was he would play for England
again, said: “Potentially not,
no. I’ve got to accept that.”
The former England captain
added: “What I’ve been lucky
to achieve, I’ve got to be grateful for and happy with.
“There’s more to life now,
and I just get on and do what I
need to do.”
Meanwhile Pietersen insisted
even he had been surprised by
the scale of the media storm generated by a book which only went
on sale on Thursday but which
was widely publicised before-
hand, saying “it’s gone mad”.
One area in which Pietersen,
often accused by his detractors
of being unwilling to accept
his mistakes, acknowledges
he erred was in sending “provocative” texts concerning
then England captain Andrew
Strauss to opposition South
African players during a home
series against the Proteas in
2012.
Pietersen, who had not long
been told at the time that some
of his England teammates were
involved in a parody Twitter
account mocking him, again
expressed his regret on the
Norton programme for an incident that saw him briefly
dropped from the England side.
“We all make mistakes, and
I certainly made them,” Pietersen said.
“One of the biggest mistakes I made was with Andrew
Strauss just before he played his
100th Test match.
“I was involved in the text
messaging scandal, and there
was a bit of mix-up that meant
one of my best friends—who
was a fantastic captain and
great cricketer—had his whole
week tarnished, a week that
should have been one of the
great moments of his career.
“I regret that and am so sorry
for that.”
Meanwhile
fast-medium
bowler Anderson, in an interview with yesterday’s Daily
Telegraph, urged all concerned
with the England set-up to focus on the upcoming pre-World
Cup tour of Sri Lanka rather
than rake over the past.
“We’ve got cricket to play—
more important things to worry
about than someone’s book,”
said Anderson, who admitted
to being perplexed by the depth
of Pietersen’s feelings.
“The issues that have been
brought up are sad really—the
dressing room for the last seven
or eight years when we’ve been
winning has been amazing.
“You don’t achieve what we
have without guys pulling in
the same direction. I can’t get
my head round it - he seems
like he’s just not enjoyed it for
series but we are ready for it,”
West Indies captain Dwayne
Bravo said.
“This is the best all-round
West Indies team I have
played in. We are missing
Chris Gayle and Sunil Narine but the team is still very
confident. I am particularly
glad to see Samuels among
runs”.
For the Caribbeans, injured Lendl Simmons remains
doubtful and Bravo, who
stepped up to open at Kochi,
said he will take a п¬Ѓnal call Saturday morning, as to who will
open their innings.
I’d like to hug
Strauss and
patch up row,
says Pietersen
Kevin Pietersen wants to hug
Andrew Strauss and resolve
his differences with his former
captain, the controversial
ex-England batsman said on
Thursday.
Amid the furore that has followed this week’s release of his
new book, Pietersen’s biggest
regret is the fallout from his
row with the retired Strauss.
“I made lots of mistakes,” the
swashbuckling batsman told
Talksport Radio.
“I’ve been crucified publicly
for them and I’ve apologised
for them but my biggest
regret is getting involved in all
that messaging stuff at a time
when Andrew Strauss was just
about to finish his career.”
The South African-born duo
featured in one of England’s
most successful teams but
the pair have endured a frosty
relationship in recent years.
In 2012 Pietersen sent disparaging texts about his thencaptain to members of the
South African team during a
test series between the two
nations. Strauss later wrote in
his book that his former team
mate had “crossed the line”
with his messages.
Earlier this year Strauss,
now a Sky Sports television
commentator, was recorded
making an offensive comment about Pietersen when
he believed he was off-air.
“Straussy and I were incredibly good friends, we’ve got
a patchy relationship at the
moment, and I just wish I could
give him a hug and say, �man,
can we just put this behind us’?
Ishant replaces injured Mohit Sharma
Indian pacer Ishant Sharma has
been roped in for the injured
Mohit Sharma, who has been
ruled out of the remainder of
the five-match One-Day International home series against the
West Indies. “Mohit Sharma
has aggravated his bilateral
shin pain, and has therefore
been ruled out of the ongoing
Micromax Cup, India vs West
Indies ODI series, 2014,” said a
BCCI statement yesterday.
“The All-India Senior Selection
Committee has named Ishant
Sharma as his replacement in
the Indian squad.”
Ishant Sharma last played an
ODI in January against New Zealand and is making a comeback
after missing matches against
Bangladesh, the Asia Cup and
the ODI series in England.
India trail the West Indies 0-1
in the series after suffering a
humiliating 124-run loss in the
first ODI in Kochi. Mohit Sharma
failed to get any wickets in that
match, giving away 61 runs off
his nine overs.
OFF- FIELD DISPUTE
Supporting each
other during
dispute: Bravo
IANS
New Delhi
W
est Indies skipper Dwayne Bravo
yesterday admitted that his team
is in the midst of a distracting
off-п¬Ѓeld dispute but the entire
squad is supporting one another to ensure that it doesn’t
affect their performance on the
ground.
“Everyone is providing support to each other. The balance of the side is great. As a
captain, it is important for me
to stay calm and keep the team
members relaxed, particularly
when things are not going well
off the field,” said Bravo ahead
of their second One-Day International (ODI) against India
at the Ferozeshah Kotla here
today.
The start of the five-match
ODI bilateral series has been
dampened by a dispute over a
payment agreement between
the West Indies Cricket
Board (WICB) and the West
Indies Players’ Association
(WIPA).
The dispute had raised the
possibility of the п¬Ѓrst ODI at
Kochi Wednesday being boycotted by the visiting team.
But timely intervention by the
Board of Control for Cricket in
India (BCCI) neutralised the
issue.
The BCCI played the role of
a �mediator’ between the West
Indies players and their two
cricket bodies to ensure that
all went according to schedule.
The all-rounder admitted
that playing India in their
own backyard is a “big test”
but he is satisfied with the
team’s form after defeating
the home side by 124 runs at
Kochi.
“This is a big test. I am very
happy with the performance of
the team so far. We hope to п¬Ѓnish well after a good start. We
must be consistent and work
as a team,” the Chennai Super
Kings player said.
“We are prepared to play in
all conditions. We are taking
one step at a time and are mentally ready to play a long tour
here. Players are willing to get
accustomed to the conditions,
adapt and adjust according
to the demands of the playing
conditions,” the 31-year-old
concluded.
Meanwhile, West Indies
Players’ Association (WIPA)
president Wavell Hinds said
he will not resign in the wake
of a fall-out with the cricketers who are currently on tour
to India.
The players, led by skipper
Dwayne Bravo, have demanded
Hinds’ resignation with other
WIPA officials because of conflict of interest, reports CMC.
Gulf Times
Saturday, October 11, 2014
3
FORMULA ONE
DOMINANT
FOCUS
Marussia withdraw
Bianchi’s car
Dazzling Hamilton
back on top in
second practice
Reuters
Sochi
M
arussia will race
with only one car
in
tomorrow’s
Russian Formula
One Grand Prix after withdrawing the other out of respect for their severely injured
French driver Jules Bianchi,
the team said yesterday.
Bianchi remains in a critical but stable condition in
a Japanese hospital after he
crashed into a recovery tractor
at Suzuka during last Sunday’s
rain-soaked Japanese Grand
Prix and suffered a traumatic
brain injury.
Team sporting director
Graeme Lowdon, in the п¬Ѓrst
public comments by team
management since the Suzuka
accident, thanked the Formula
One community for their support after �an incredibly difficult week’ for all.
“Everybody in the team, and
I know much wider than that,
is with Jules at this moment,
and also with his family,” he
told reporters after British
driver Max Chilton had completed the day’s practice in the
sole Marussia.
“Jules is an exceptional Formula One driver, but he is also
an exceptional human being.
I don’t know a single person
who doesn’t like him...Jules
has so many friends it’s really
hit home hard, very hard, to a
lot of people.”
Along with Chilton, Marussia had provisionally entered
American reserve Alexander
Rossi for tomorrow’s race.
Lowdon said the decision
to п¬Ѓeld a single car had been
a difficult one to take but the
team felt it was the right one in
the circumstances.
“We are lying ninth in the
world championship, which is
a very important position for
us, and we’re largely in that
position because of Jules,” he
explained.
The highly-rated 25-yearold scored struggling Marussia’s first and only Formula One points to date when
against the odds he п¬Ѓnished
ninth in Monaco, his home
race, last May.
“He is a racing driver and he
would want us to do the best
we can, so we thought the right
thing to do was to come here
and take part in the event,” said
Lowdon, whose team are Russian registered despite being
�It wasn’t easy to get into the car this morning’
based in Britain.
“As a mark of support for
Jules, and a mark of respect to
his mum and dad and his family, we decided to withdraw the
second car.”
Mechanics had assembled
both on Thursday but left Bianchi’s, race ready and with
his name and numbers on it,
sitting in the garage throughout practice.
“We found that was something we could do. It’s also
been useful for the people in
our team because they want to
give an expression of support
for Jules,” said Lowdon. “So I
hope people understand what
we’ve done and why we’ve
done it.
“Even if it makes a small difference, it makes a difference
in the right place.”
Lowdon thanked the team’s
engine supplier Ferrari, for
whom Bianchi was a test driver, and Formula One supremo
Bernie Ecclestone for their
support.
“In these situations it’s incredibly reassuring to know
people care, and if I can sum
up the support we’ve had from
Bernie, it’s that he cares. It has
been extremely valuable and
useful,” he said.
Bianchi’s name also remained over the team’s garage
and all the other drivers carried stickers declaring �Tous
Avec Jules #17’ on their helmets in a gesture of support.
Bianchi’s injury is the most
serious suffered by a Formula
One driver during a race since
Brazilian Felipe Massa was hit
on the helmet by a bouncing
spring at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix while racing for
Ferrari.
Massa, now at Williams,
suffered life-threatening head
injuries and remained in a
coma for several days. The
sport has not had a driver
fatality since Brazil’s triple
champion Ayrton Senna died
at Imola in 1994.
“I don’t know how to put
into words how truly devastated I am by what has happened
to Jules,” said Chilton, ahead of
what will be difficult weekend
for the Briton.
“The support from the F1
family has been incredible and
all we can do is be there to support Jules’ family at this difficult time. It is going to be a
very emotional weekend for
the whole Team, but we will
try to get through it and keep
praying for Jules.”
British Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes AMG GP in action during yesterday’s second practice session at the Sochi Autodrom circuit, in Sochi, Russia.
AFP
Sochi
C
hampionship leader Lewis Hamilton put aside his concerns for
Jules Bianchi and produced a dazzling lap to top the times in yesterday’s second free practice session ahead
of this weekend’s inaugural Russian Grand
Prix.
The 29-year-old Briton, who was second fastest behind his Mercedes teammate
and title rival German Nico Rosberg in
the morning’s opening session, wound up
quickest in the afternoon with a dominant
lap in one minute and 39.630 seconds.
This was eight-tenths of a second faster
than the chasing pack led by Danish rookie
Kevin Magnussen of McLaren and made
Hamilton the only man to break the 1:40
barrier at the newly built track in the Ol-
ympic Park close to the Black Sea resort.
“It wasn’t easy to get into the car this
morning,” he said, referring to his and the
paddock’s sombre mood and feelings for
injured Frenchman Bianchi, who remained
in intensive care in hospital in Japan. “But
this afternoon, I felt more comfortable.”
Two-time champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso was third for Ferrari ahead of
Rosberg, Finn Valtteri Bottas of Williams
and Briton Jenson Button in the second
McLaren.
Five days after Bianchi’s shocking accident at the rain-lashed Japanese Grand
Prix, where he suffered severe head injuries when his Marussia car collided with
a recovery vehicle, all of the drivers wore
�Tous Avec Jules’ stickers on their helmets
in support of the absent Frenchman.
Bianchi, 25, remained in intensive care
in hospital in Yokkaichi.
“Of course, it is tough,” added Ham-
ilton. “But it was good. It felt good and
the grip improved as the track �rubbered’
in. The car felt good today and for me the
track had a nice flow. I really enjoyed it.”
Brazilian Felipe Massa, who had described last Sunday’s Japanese event as
“the worst race of my life”, was seventh in
the second Williams ahead of Red Bullbound local hero Russian Daniil Kvyat of
Toro Rosso and the man he is due to replace, four-time champion German Sebastian Vettel.
Job-hunting Frenchman Jean-Eric
Vergne was 10th for Toro Rosso, turning in
another impressive day’s work as he seeks
a new seat for 2015 after being released by
his current outfit.
The session was interrupted with seven
minutes remaining when Australian Daniel Ricciardo suffered an engine failure on
his Red Bull car. He п¬Ѓnished 13th.
Bottas also survived an extraordinary
early setback before recovering to п¬Ѓnish up
п¬Ѓfth fastest for Williams.
The tyres on the Finn’s car burst during
the morning’s opening practice session
due to a malfunction with the use of tyre
�blankets’.
He said: “It’s the first time that’s happened,
but I suppose those things can happen.
“It didn’t hurt, as a whole day, as I still
got a lot of laps in FP2.
“In fact we drove more in that session
because of the problems in the morning
and we completed the same number of
laps for the whole day as planned.
“But I think we still need to investigate
it a bit more.”
Team-mate Massa had a more straightforward day and п¬Ѓnished seventh.
“I think it was a good Friday for us,”
Massa said. “The car showed to be competitive, showed to be consistent, I was
pretty happy with the balance.”
Family members of injured Marussia driver Jules Bianchi of
France, (L-R) father Philippe Bianchi, brother Tom, mother
Christine and sister Melanie, arrive at the front yard of the
Mie General Medical Centre in Yokkaichi yesterday. Horrifying
footage has emerged showing the moment Jules Bianchi’s
speeding Formula One car smashed into a stationary tractorcrane, leaving him fighting for his life in a Japanese hospital with
serious head injuries.
BOTTOMLINE
Formula One faces calls for cockpit change
Reuters
Sochi
F
ormula One is facing fresh calls
to consider closed cockpits after French driver Jules Bianchi’s
accident in Japan last weekend,
though opinions are mixed about the
potential benefits.
Cockpit covers were tested by the
governing International Automobile
Federation (FIA) after Brazilian Felipe
Massa suffered severe head injuries
when he was hit by a bouncing spring in
Hungary in 2009.
In 2012, tests were carried out using
a forward roll hoop—a metal structure
placed right in front of the driver—after
other experiments with a jet п¬Ѓghterstyle canopy and windshields.
None were developed beyond the
testing stage, but drivers and teams
suggested at the Russian Grand Prix
they could be revisited after Bianchi
suffered a severe brain trauma when his
Marussia crashed into a recovery tractor
at Suzuka.
The Frenchman remains �critical but
stable’ in hospital.
“I probably tend to agree to at least
check and try or test the idea,” Ferrari’s
Fernando Alonso, a good friend of Bianchi, said of the closed cockpit idea.
“I think we are in 2014, we have the
technology, we have aeroplanes, we
have had many other examples that they
use in a successful way so why not think
about it?
“All the biggest accidents in motor sport over the last couple of years
have been head injuries so it’s probably
one part where we are not at the top of
safety,” added the Spanish double world
champion.
Alonso gave as an example the 2012
Belgian Grand Prix, where Romain
Grosjean’s Lotus flew into the air and
skimmed over his car, missing his head
by a matter of centimetres.
“I could probably have died there in
corner one if it had been 10cms closer to
my head. If the technology is there and
available, and there is the possibility, I
would not exclude it, for sure,” he said.
The problem with canopies, apart
from aesthetics which offend purists in
a series that has always had open cockpits, has been ensuring good visibility
in poor conditions and the risk of a driver becoming trapped if a car overturns.
Red Bull’s quadruple world champion
Sebastian Vettel, who has a keen sense
of the sport’s history and traditions,
said he had mixed feelings.
“I think it (open cockpits) is one of
the things that are very special about
Formula One,” the German told reporters. “On the other hand, as Fernando
touched on, there’s a lot of reasons why
we should look into closed cockpits for
the future.”
Such a cover would have probably allowed Massa to escape unscathed from
his injury, with the Brazilian lucky anyway that the spring hit the helmet just
above his eye rather than the plastic visor.
Whether it would have helped Bianchi, whose car had the rear rollbar
ripped off in the impact with the tractor and who appears to have suffered
extreme G forces, remained an open
question.
“It’s a difficult one,” said 2009 champion Jenson Button when asked his
opinion on the cockpit debate.
“As Seb said, there are positives obviously, in terms of the safety point of
view but this is Formula One that’s been
open cockpit since the start of time.
“So it’s a very big change for the sport
to make. Safety is something that we
can always improve on so I’m sure it will
be looked at whether it is possible to
change or not for the future.”
AlecSirotkin
Stewart makes strong debut
Russian rookie
(left) and Kevin
Pietersen.
Sochi: Teenage Russian
rookie Sergey Sirotkin made his
Formula One debut for Sauber
in yesterday’s opening free practice and immediately said he felt
ready for a full-time seat.
Sirotkin, 19, replaced Mexican
Esteban Gutierrez to the delight
of his compatriots in the crowd
at the inaugural Russian Grand
Prix and completed 22 laps on
his way to the 17th best lap time.
“It was a surprise to me that it
was a bit easier than I thought,”
he said. “I feel myself more than
ready for this step—I just need
the chance. “Motorsport in
Russia is progressing quite well.
This weekend made a big step
forward and it helps to attract
the people and make them inter-
ested. “We’re working to get the
seat next year. There’s nothing I
can say now officially, but we are
working...”
He added: “It took a bit of time
to get into it, but after that we
took it easy. I didn’t try to beat
any records, just to build the lap
time slowly.
“Unfortunately on my quick run
I was really unlucky with the
traffic. The quickest lap was the
last one in the run so the temperature of the tyres was quite a
bit too hot.” Sirotkin’s compatriot Daniil Kvyat has impressed
with Toro Rosso this year and
last weekend was confirmed as
successor to four-time champion German Sebastian Vettel at
Red Bull in 2015.
4
Gulf Times
Saturday, October 11, 2014
SPORT
Mayweather’s
father says
Pacquiao fight
will happen
The long anticipated fight
between unbeaten American
Floyd Mayweather and
Filipino ring icon Manny
Pacquiao will “definitely”
happen, Mayweather’s father
predicted in an interview.
Speaking to fighthype.com
this week, Floyd Mayweather
senior voiced confidence
that the bout that has been
many times in the making
but never actually materialized would eventually occur.
“That fight’s going to happen, trust me,” he said. “That
fight’s definitely going to
happen. It’s a fight for the
world, man, right there.”
Ring fans the world over
have been baying for a
mega-fight between two of
the world’s greatest boxers
of their generation, but
previous talks have always
broken down before a deal
could be signed.
Pacquiao, 35, has held world
titles in eight separate
weight divisions.
He is training to defend his
World Boxing Organization
welterweight title against
another undefeated American, Chris Algieri, in Macau in
November.
Mayweather junior, the
World Boxing Council and
World Boxing Association
super welterweight champion, pushed his record to
47-0 with a lopsided points
victory over Marcos Maidana
in a rematch in Las Vegas
last month.
Mayweather senior acknowledged that he hadn’t
received any special word
from his son on a potential Pacquiao fight. But he
believes public interest is so
high that it must eventually
happen.
“It needs to happen,” he said.
“The world wants to see
it—and they’ll want to see
it again when Floyd beats
Pacquiao.”
TENNIS
Djokovic and Federer to
clash in Shanghai semis
�It’s really a big challenge for both of us. We need to take the best out of us’
AFP
Shanghai
W
orld number one
Novak
Djokovic and 17-times
Grand Slam winner Roger Federer will battle for
a place in the Shanghai Masters
п¬Ѓnal after they powered through
their quarter-п¬Ѓnal matches
yesterday.
Gilles Simon of France and
Spaniard Feliciano Lopez will
also meet in Saturday’s semi-finals as the tournament reaches
its dramatic climax.
Federer won his evening
match against Julien Benneteau
of France, taking the п¬Ѓrst set at
the tie-break, before demolishing his opponent in the second
to п¬Ѓnish with a 7-6 (7/4), 6-0
scoreline.
The third seed in Shanghai
last faced Djokovic in the Wimbledon п¬Ѓnal, a game he lost
6-7(7/9), 6-4, 7-6 (7/4), 5-7,
6-4.
The Swiss player is marginally ahead in their previous
meetings, winning 18 times,
compared to 17 for seven-times
Grand Slam winner Djokovic
“I think every time we play
against each other, it’s a thriller,” Shanghai top seed Djokovic
said, ahead of the mouthwatering semi-п¬Ѓnal.
“It’s really a big challenge for
both of us. We need to take the
best out of us. We need to bring
our �A game’ in order to win.”
Federer has been in stunning
form this season, and is set to
overtake world number two Rafael Nadal in the rankings on the
back of his run in Shanghai.
z�Given a scare’ -Djokovic
marched into the semi-п¬Ѓnals by
overcoming David Ferrer 6-4,
6-2 as he vies for his third successive title.
The Serb broke his Spanish opponent’s serve in the first
Roger Federer of Switzerland celebrates after winning his quarter-final match against Julien Benneteau of France at the Shanghai Tennis
Masters in Shanghai, China, yesterday.
game, but was given a scare as
he was serving to take the п¬Ѓrst
set with the scores at 5-4 in his
favour.
Ferrer, who dumped out Britain’s Andy Murray in the quarters, saved three set-points
against the reigning champion
in Shanghai before earning two
break points.
But Djokovic snuffed out the
challenge and п¬Ѓnally closed the
marathon 12 minute game at the
net, pumping his п¬Ѓsts with relief
as the crowd roared.
He was more dominant in the
second set, breaking п¬Ѓfth seed
Ferrer again at his п¬Ѓrst attempt
before gaining a 5-2 lead with
his next break and closing out
the match in one hour 24 minutes.
Meanwhile, Simon continued
his great run in Shanghai, overwhelming Tomas Berdych in a
scintillating п¬Ѓnal set to claim
his second top-10 scalp in three
days.
The world number 29 won
7-6 (7/4), 4-6, 6-0 to enter his
second successive semi-п¬Ѓnal,
after also making the last four in
Tokyo last week where he lost to
Milos Raonic.
Simon, 29, is yet to win a
Masters title but he is in a rich
vein of form and overpowered
Australian Open champion Stan
Wawrinka on Wednesday in
Shanghai.
Berdych, meanwhile, reached
last week’s China Open final
and he arrived at the Shanghai
quarter-п¬Ѓnals without even
facing a break point.
But the tournament’s sixth
seed, ranked seventh in the
world, was given a rude awakening when Simon broke his
serve in the п¬Ѓrst game.
Berdych broke back in the
third game to draw level, but Simon clinched the set at the tiebreak with a powerful crosscourt groundstroke.
Berdych drew boos when he
appeared to berate a ball-girl
for being slow to bring his towel
with the scores level at 4-4
in the second set. But he then
seized the break and closed the
following game, and the set,
with an ace.
z�I feel stronger’-However,
he went missing in the decider
as Simon took it effortlessly
6-0.
“I feel my tennis is coming
back from the last, I would say,
two months,” Simon said after
his victory.
“I’m finding a better rhythm.
I feel also physically stronger. I
have less injuries. So, I mean, it’s
a bit easier to go on the court.
“But still Tomas is a great
player. He’s always hard to beat.
I think I almost played the perfect match today.
The 29-year-old will fancy
his chances against Lopez of
Spain in the semi-п¬Ѓnals.
The world number 21 beat
Mikhail Youzhny of Russia 5-7,
6-4, 6-4 in a thrilling match
between two thirty-something
players.
Lopez appeared to he heading
for defeat a set down and losing 4-2 in the second set, but he
came back brilliantly, breaking
Youzhny in his п¬Ѓnal two service
games to set up a decider.
The 33-year-old was then
forced to endure a horror game
as he appeared in control, serving for the match at 5-3 ahead.
His 32-year-old opponent
forced two break points before
sealing the game at his third attempt in the most unlikely circumstances—with Lopez double-faulting.
But Lopez quickly regained
his composure to win the next
game and overcome his 35thranked opponent, much to his
relief.
“I went very aggressive,”
Lopez said, explaining his double fault. “The game after I
made the break. I break him
back. I was a little bit lucky.”
A host of big names are already out, including Nadal and
Murray.
GOLF ROUND-UP
Korea’s Ryu grabs two-stroke lead in Malaysia
AFP
Kuala Lumpur
S
So Yeon Ryu of South Korea watches her shot from the fairway
on the second hole during the second round of the Sime Darby
LPGA Malaysia 2014 golf tournament at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and
Country Club in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
o Yeon Ryu birdied п¬Ѓve
of her п¬Ѓrst seven holes en
route to a six-under-par
65 and a two-stroke lead
at the half-way point in the Sime
Darby LPGA Malaysia tournament yesterday.
The South Korean added two
more birdies on the back nine
before suffering the only blemish
on her card at the Kuala Lumpur
Golf and Country Club, a bogey
on the par-four 14th hole, leaving her at 11-under for the event.
Hot on her heels were a hardcharging trio tied at 9-under, led
by Japan’s Ayako Uehara, who
orchestrated a bogey-free 63.
England’s Jodi Ewart Shadoff and
17-year-old phenomenon Lydia Ko
of New Zealand stayed level with
Uehara after both shot 64.
South Korea’s Eun-Hee Ji
joined them 9-under, while three
golfers—Shanshan Feng of China, Azahara Munoz of Spain, and
Thailand’s Pornanong Phatlum—
were a further stroke back.
World number one Stacy Lewis,
who held the п¬Ѓrst-round lead,
surrendered it after the American
posted an uncharacteristic four
bogeys on the front nine on the
way to an even-par 71, leaving her
п¬Ѓve strokes off the lead.
Last year’s winner Lexi
Thompson of the US saw her
hopes of a repeat suffer a blow as
she struggled yesterday to a 73,
putting her at two-over for the
tournament, well off the pace.
The $2mn tournament is part
of a multi-event swing through
Asia by the US LPGA.
Chinese teen Li Haotong
dazzles at China Masters
Chinese teenager Li Haotong
set a course record with a sixunder-par 65 to take the second
round lead at the Nanshan China
Masters yesterday.
Li, who is only 19, leapt to the
head of the pack in the $1mn
OneAsia event at Nanshan International Golf Club, three
shots ahead of New Zealand’s
Nick Gillespie and American
Garrett Sapp.
“I had many good putts today,” said Li, who has been part
of China’s national team since
he was 14. “I will not think about
the result because every time I
do, I get thirsty to win and then
I don’t win.”
Daniel Woltman of the US had
shared the lead after the п¬Ѓrst
round, but his tournament fell
apart with a п¬Ѓve-over-par 76.
His fellow overnight joint leader,
Australian Rhein Gibson, also
slipped back with a 70 but remained in fourth place.
The Nanshan International
Golf Club hosts the training centre for the Chinese team.
Bae, Gonzales share US PGA
lead
South Korea’s Bae Sang-Moon
п¬Ѓred seven birdies with one bogey in a six-under 66 on Thursday to join American Andres
Gonzales atop the US PGA Tour
Frys.com Open.
In the п¬Ѓrst event of the US
tour’s 2014-15 season, Bae and
Gonzales topped a tightly packed
leaderboard. They were one shot
in front of Scotland’s Martin
Laird, who had п¬Ѓve birdies with
no bogeys in his п¬Ѓve-under par
66 at the Silverado Resort’s
North Course.
Gonzales, starting his third
year on the PGA Tour, has just
one top-10 п¬Ѓnish in 44 career
starts. He has won on the Web.
com developmental tour, and
believes he has the game to succeed on the PGA Tour.
“I’ve always felt that I’ve
been good enough to be at
this level, whether or not I’ve
proven that each year,” said
Gonzales, whose seven birdies
included two in a row to finish.
“I’ve felt that each year I have
improved each year.”
Bae, owner of one PGA Tour
title, birdied his last three
holes—and four of his last five—
to grab his share of the lead in the
afternoon.
RUGBY
Singapore wants to host British Lions, Tests and Sevens
Reuters
Singapore
S
ingapore is in discussions
on staging a British and
Irish Lions tour match,
international tests and a
leg of the rugby sevens series at
its new $1bn Sports Hub as part
of efforts to become a �home
away from home’ for the sport’s
biggest names.
International Rugby Board officials gathered in the wealthy
Southeast Asian city-state this
week for their annual meeting,
with IRB President Bernard Lapasset leading the praise of Singapore’s new 55,000 National
Stadium.
The facility, which can host
cricket, rugby, soccer and athletics events, is the centrepiece
of a project which Singapore
hopes can transform it into a
sporting capital.
The Brazilian football team
will play Japan in a glamour
friendly here on Tuesday, while
the top eight women’s tennis
players will compete in Singapore at the WTA Finals for the
п¬Ѓrst time later this month.
Rugby also wants a piece of
the pie.
“Our role now is to open the
door for Asia, with more expansion for rugby,” Lapasset told
a small group of reporters this
week. “Singapore is a fantastic
city and they already have a lot of
big events and rugby should be a
part of that.
“Whether it’s the Sevens
World Series, Olympic qualifiers
or World Cup warm-up games,
there are many opportunities in
the coming years for Singapore
to be a major player in the rugby
world.”
Singapore and Japan will п¬Ѓnd
out next month who has been
selected to become the 18th team
to join Super Rugby, with the IRB
“very excited” that two Asian
bids are being considered by the
competition’s governing body,
SANZAR.
Japan appears to be ahead in
the race after making a concession to host some matches in
Singapore should they win the
bid..
�TERRIFIC DESTINATION’
But that willingness to share
does not extend to the 2019
rugby World Cup, IRB CEO Brett
Gosper said, dampening speculation that Singapore or Hong
Kong could host games when Japan stages rugby’s biggest tournament.
“It would have been nice on
a number of levels but it’s been
brought back into being an allJapan operation ... but I would
say its a terrific destination for
warm-up matches ahead of
2019,” the Australian said.
Singapore will showcase itself as a destination next month
when it hosts a п¬Ѓxture between
the Asia Pacific Dragons and the
New Zealand Maori.
The Dragons are an invitational side, made up mainly of
Pacific Islander players, which
Singapore is proposing for the
18th Super Rugby berth.
Singapore also hosted an international rugby 10s tournament in June, the п¬Ѓrst event at
the National Stadium, but it
wants to play a bigger role in
world rugby.
It is in the hunt to host the
2018 World Cup rugby sevens
tournament, while discussions
were held this week on the possibility of hosting one of three
new stops proposed on the sevens series, as well as a Lions п¬Ѓxture.
The Lions played the opening
match of their 2013 tour of Australia in Hong Kong, the Asian
home of main sponsors HSBC
and also the headquarters of the
Asian Rugby Football Union.
The Lions next tour is not until 2017 in New Zealand.
John Spencer, tour manager
for the New Zealand trip, was in
Singapore along with 60 other
delegates for the IRB meetings.
The Straits Times reported
that the possibility of hosting a
one-off Lions п¬Ѓxture in Singapore ahead of the 2017 tour was
discussed.
The ever-increasing size and
costs of a Lions tour means they
need to be able to generate funds
wherever they go, therefore
wealthy Singapore is a plausible
option.
South Africa and other nations have also looked at playing
lucrative matches in the citystate.
South African Rugby Un-
ion President Oregan Hoskins
pointed to the All Blacks test
in Chicago against the US next
month, and a previous Bledisloe
Cup encounter between New
Zealand and Australia in Hong
Kong, as rugby’s acceptance that
it needs to go to different markets to generate money.
“New Zealand, Australia and
South Africa might be seen as
the three strong playing brands
but we are certainly not the
wealthiest,” the IRB vice chairman said.
“Teams are willing to play
wherever the sponsors put
money up. Its a global game, a
professional game and gone are
the days that you are confined
to your own back yard, you go
where your sponsors take you.”
Gulf Times
Saturday, October 11, 2014
5
SPORT
MotoGP
Marquez struggles, Dovizioso
leads in Japan GP practice
�Today we did some runs with a good pace, but we have to work harder to improve our lap times’
AFP
Motegi, Japan
W
orld championship
leader Marc Marquez struggled to
regain his top shape
yesterday during practice ahead
of tomorrow’s Grand Prix of Japan, as his team scrambled to
п¬Ѓnd the correct set-up.
The Spaniard’s first matchpoint for this season’s title began
on a rocky footing, as he went
through a minor crash early in
practice when he attempted to
turn a corner with issues also
with shaking of his machine.
The 21-year-old Honda man
got up quickly after the fall and
hopped on a scooter to confer
with his team before going out
again to Motegi’s Twin Ring circuit, known for its stop-and-go
design with lots of hard braking
and acceleration points.
“I was not able to work well
with the set-up,” Marquez said
after practice.
Marquez can retain his MotoGP title with a victory at Motegi, home to Honda.
Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso
submitted shining performance yesterday, benefiting from
an extra soft rear tyre to set
the best time of the day with
a 1min45.140sec, leaving a
0.440sec gap ahead of former
world champion Jorge Lorenzo,
winner at Motegi last year.
They were followed by Stefan Bradl on LCR Honda, Dani
Pedrosa on Honda, and Yamaha
rider Valentino Rossi.
Marquez
clocked
sixth,
0.799sec slower than the leading
Italian.
Dovizioso also marked faster
practise time than Marquez in
Grand Prix of Aragon two weeks
ago.
Marquez complained about
shaking of his machine during
the morning practise session,
when he could not brake in time
at turn п¬Ѓve.
“When I arrived at the braking point, there was no brake,
zero. Then I tried to brake in two,
three, four times. But it was becoming too late,” he said.
Ducati Team rider Andrea Dovizioso of Italy (right) leads Energy T.I. Pramac Racing rider Yonny Hernandez of Colombia during the second MotoGP-class free practice session of the MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix in
Motegi, yesterday.
“In the end, I was able to brake
a little bit. But I saw that the wall
was coming, and I fell down,” he
said with a chuckle.
“I hope tomorrow we will improve a little bit,” he said.
With a margin of 75 points
over second-place teammate
Pedrosa, Marquez could use the
Motegi race to lock the championship with a win or even worse
depending on the п¬Ѓnal place-
ment of his rivals.
Pedrosa, who Marquez has to
beat in order to claim the season
crown in Motegi, showed off superb braking moves and said he
was happy with the practice.
SPOTLIGHT
“Today we did some runs with
a good pace, but we have to work
harder to improve our lap times
and be very focused on setting a
good time in qualifying,” Pedrosa
said.
Teams were watching local
weather carefully as another typhoon approaches southern Japan, days after a horror crash left
a Formula One driver п¬Ѓghting for
his life.
The typhoon might bring
some rain tomorrow although
largely overcast sky is generally
expected for the race day.
The storm was expected to hit
the Japanese mainland on Monday.
OLYMPICS
Schoolgirl fencer’s dream Costs and bidding
begins with a sponge sword process scare off
European hopefuls
AFP
Tokyo
S
choolgirl fencer Misaki Emura (pictured)
became hooked on the
swashbuckling sport after picking up a sponge sword
as a toddler. Now, as Tokyo celebrates the 50th anniversary
Friday of the п¬Ѓrst Asian Olympic games, she has her sights on
2020.
These days cutting a more
fearsome sight swishing a metal
blade, the 15-year-old has little
doubt she will win a gold medal
for Japan at the Tokyo Olympics.
“Fencing is my whole life,”
Emura told AFP in an interview.
“My dream was to win an Olympic gold but after Tokyo was
named 2020 host that dream
became even clearer. To get the
chance to win a gold medal in Japan makes me even more determined. I’m confident I’ll do it.”
Tokyo’s first Olympics, in
1964, opened 50 years ago to the
day, and marked Japan’s emergence as an economic power.
However, nostalgia has little
place in modern sport and Japan is banking on its fresh-faced
stars of tomorrow to trigger a
rush of gold in six years’ time.
Japanese Olympic bosses have
set a target of 30 gold medals and
third place overall behind superpowers the US and China, investing heavily in youth as they hope
for the Midas touch in 2020.
They have already begun
identifying future gold medallists—many of whom, like Emura, whose parents both represented Japan at fencing, live and
train at Tokyo’s elite National
Training Centre under the close
supervision of scientists and nutritionists.
“There are things you have to
live without,” said Emura, who
won team gold at the Youth Olympics in August and whose father, Koji, fenced for Japan at the
1988 Seoul Olympics.
“Playing with friends, eating
what you want. I’ve put on muscle so I can’t wear fancy clothes.
I have to be careful not to eat too
many sweets.
“My dad competed at the Olympics but he didn’t win a medal
so I want to win gold for him—
and for my mum, who has given
up so much to support me.”
Japan п¬Ѓnished third in the
medals table behind the US and
the Soviet Union as hosts of
Asia’s first Olympics in 1964,
which were overshadowed politically by the removal of Nikita
Khrushchev as Soviet leader and
China’s first nuclear weapons
test.
The Japanese government’s
unveiling of the iconic Bullet
Train for the Games symbolised the country’s rise from humiliating defeat in World War
II to its emergence as a major
international player, and future
heavyweight boxing champion
Joe Frazier was among those who
shot to fame in Tokyo.
For Japan to replicate third
place, however, and to win 30
gold medals in 2020, will take a
Herculean effort after п¬Ѓnishing
a disappointing eleventh—with
just seven golds—at the London
Games two years ago.
“If you don’t set yourself
those goals, you have no hope
of achieving them,” Kozo Tashima, vice chief of Japan’s Asian
Games delegation, told AFP.
“We want to win a medal in every
Olympic sport.
“We will analyse the results of
the Asian Games and study proposals from every sports federation before allocating budgets.
“If there are areas we think require more investment, we will
distribute extra funds. The system has been in place for some
time with the aim of winning
medals at the 2020 Olympics.”
Japan п¬Ѓnished third behind
powerhouse China and hosts
South Korea at the Asian Games,
the regional multisport gathering that п¬Ѓnished earlier this
month.
It is an event in which they
have had athletes such as marathon runner Naoko Takahashi
and swimmer Kosuke Kitajima
break through before going on
to achieve Olympic success and
superstardom.
Kitajima’s namesake Kosuke
Hagino, still just 20, won seven
medals in the pool, including
four golds, to be named athlete
of the Games, but Tashima insisted he could be the tip of the
iceberg for Japan.
“There might be even stronger athletes coming through six
years from now,” he said. “The
elite academy is producing
world-class athletes in fencing,
wrestling, table tennis, shooting, swimming and diving.”
Reuters
Berlin
W
hat do European
cities Stockholm,
Oslo,
Krakow,
Lviv, St Moritz and
Munich have in common?
They have all turned down
or pulled out of bidding for the
Winter Olympics in 2022 and
triggered alarm bells at the International Olympic Committee.
The withdrawals, with Oslo
pulling out as recently as last
week, have highlighted the need
for what IOC President Thomas
Bach has said was an overhaul of
the bidding process.
But as it stands now, the
Alps, Europe’s traditional winter sports hub, will be without
the Games for at least a generation, until 2026 at the earliest.
Italy’s Turin hosted the event
in 2006 before the Games went
to Vancouver in Canada for
2010 and Russia’s Sochi in the
Caucasus mountains this year.
For 2018 the Winter Olympics will travel to South Korea’s Pyeongchang, with Kazakhstan’s Almaty and Beijing in
China the only candidates left
for 2022.
Whether scared off by what
potential bidders see as massive
costs, like Sochi’s $51bn price
tag, doubtful п¬Ѓnancial returns
or strong local opposition, Europe has been turned off the
winter Games for now at least.
“Norway’s Lillehammer in
1994 staged the most successful
winter Games ever,” sports marketing expert Michael Payne,
the IOC’s former longtime marketing chief, told Reuters.
“If Lillehammer had to go
through the existing bid process,
it would have scared them off
immediately and you would not
have had those Games,” he said.
Payne said it was the IOC
who have failed so far to communicate the message of the
winter Games properly, instead
building up a bidding process
that is long, exhausting and at
times superfluous.
The nail in Oslo’s Olympic bid coffin seemingly came
when 7,000 pages of the host
city contract and other manuals were released with details about the IOC members’
desired room temperatures,
cocktail protocols and obligatory stocked minibars.
Norwegian Olympic Committee general secretary Inge
Andersen told Reuters the IOC
was scaring off western countries with a long, complicated
and bureaucratic process that
these countries had trouble
pitching to their own citizens.
That in turn was also fuelling opposition in possible host
cities. “It is important the IOC
goes through these manuals,
which for the п¬Ѓrst time were
made public, to make them in
a way a country in western Europe, Canada or the US can understand them,” Andersen said.
Payne agrees the IOC process has become overwhelming
for a product he says is still a
money maker, even for European cities.
“I don’t believe the product
is in any way broken for Europe,” he said, adding that European cities could keep costs
down and maximise profits as
they have more existing venues
than newcomers like Almaty,
Beijing or even the 2018 hosts
Pyeongchang or Sochi.
“The bidding process has got
to be simplified,” Payne said.
“The IOC, wanting to de-risk
everything, has loaded more
and more demands into the
bidding phase. “
“The manuals used to be 50
pages. After each Games you
look to п¬Ѓx things so these grow
and grow and grow. From a
strategic point of view it makes
sense but it scares the living
daylights out of them.”
6
Gulf Times
Saturday, October 11, 2014
RUGBY
FOCUS
CONTROVERSY
Wallabies coach
denies affair as
texts row deepens
McKenzie rejects rumours about his relationship with business manager Di Patston
AFP
Sydney
A
ustralia coach Ewen
McKenzie denied having an affair with a staff
member as a row over
allegedly offensive texts sent by
Kurtley Beale took an unexpected
twist yesterday.
A stony-faced McKenzie rejected rumours about his relationship with business manager
Di Patston, who is on stress leave
following a mid-flight argument
with Beale during last week’s
trip to Argentina. Beale was suspended from the Argentina game
over the argument, and was later
barred from selection indefinitely after the emergence of “deeply
offensive text messages” concerning a member of staff.
“I’ve got a professional relationship with her. And I refute
that,” McKenzie told reporters,
when asked if he had an “intimate” relationship with Patston.
“There are people out there
and that there’s some sort of
campaign to impugn, that’s (not)
the situation,” said McKenzie,
who is married with children.
“I’ve got a professional relationship with her and I refute that.”
Beale is under investigation
by the Australian Rugby Union
(ARU) over both the argument
and the text messages, and is expected to face a hearing early next
week. Australian media reports
said the situation had become
divisive in the Wallabies camp,
which is also reeling from last
week’s 21-17 defeat—Argentina’s
п¬Ѓrst win in the Rugby Championship. But McKenzie said:
“I don’t think I have a divided
camp. I know there’s been lots of
talk in the newspapers and everyone’s got an opinion, but I know
the playing group.”
He defended Patston’s appointment, which was made
during his tenure, and said he
didn’t believe it had caused
“angst” in the team. “She came
in as the business manager and
she came in with a specific role to
take the team to a new level,” he
told a press conference in Sydney.
Cooper back for
Wallabies, Beale
suspended
Reuters
Sydney
M
ercurial
fly-half
Quade
Cooper
earned a recall to
the Australia setup but Kurtley Beale was sidelined as he awaits a hearing
into claims he sent offensive
texts about a staff member.
Cooper, 26, was included
in Ewen McKenzie’s 32-man
squad for next week’s third and
п¬Ѓnal Bledisloe Cup Test against
New Zealand, who have already
retained the trophy.
But there was no place for
Beale, who missed last week’s
loss to Argentina following a
mid-air bust-up and was later
suspended pending the hearing
into the text message claims.
Cooper has not played for
Australia this year after he suffered a shoulder injury in May
and lost his place to Bernard
Foley in the starting line-up.
“You’re always searching for
the right balance of experience
and youth in a squad, so it’s
pleasing to see Quade Cooper
available once again,” coach
McKenzie said in a statement.
“This will be his first involvement in the squad environment
this year, so we’ll look forward
to assessing where he is up to
when we assemble in Brisbane
on Sunday,” he added.
The Queensland Reds playmaker was a significant inclusion along with uncapped Fijiborn winger Henry Speight,
who was named even though he
is in the п¬Ѓnal stages of rehabilitation from a hamstring injury.
Team officials said Speight
would use the week to further
familiarise himself with the
Wallabies environment ahead
of their п¬Ѓve-game European
tour next month.
Speight is one of four uncapped members in the squad,
alongside Western Force tighthead prop Tetera Faulkner and
centre Kyle Godwin, and Melbourne Rebels winger Tom
English.
Rebels backrower Luke Jones
also received a call-up after
making his debut for Australia in the second Test against
France in June.
Centre Matt Toomua was
not considered after receiving
a head knock in Australia’s 2117 Rugby Championship loss in
Argentina last weekend.
Western Force backrower
Ben McCalman, meanwhile, is
unavailable for the remainder
of the year after injuring his
shoulder against South Africa a
fortnight ago.
Other players on the injury
list include Stephen Moore
(knee), Tatafu Polota-Nau (ankle), Nathan Charles (pectoral),
Scott Sio (ankle), Wycliff Palu
(head), David Pocock (knee),
Ben McCalman (shoulder) and
Dave Dennis (knee). McKenzie
will п¬Ѓnalise his 23-man match
day squad next Tuesday.
AUSTRALIA SQUAD
Forwards: Ben Alexander, Tetera
Faulkner, Sekope Kepu, Benn
Robinson, James Slipper, Saia
Fainga’a, James Hanson, Josh
Mann-Rea, Sam Carter, James
Horwill, Rob Simmons, Will
Skelton, Scott Fardy, Scott Higginbotham, Matt Hodgson, Michael
Hooper (capt), Luke Jones, Jake
Schatz. Backs: Will Genia, Nick
Phipps, Nic White, Quade Cooper,
Bernard Foley, Kyle Godwin, Tevita Kuridrani, Christian Leali’ifano,
Adam Ashley-Cooper, Tom
English, Israel Folau, Rob Horne,
Henry Speight, Joe Tomane.
Australian rugby union coach Ewen McKenzie speaks during a press conference to announce his 32-man squad for the third Test against the
All Blacks, in Sydney yesterday. (AFP)
“She’s got extraordinary skills
and she had made a massive difference to the business side of it
and that’s what she’s done.”
McKenzie was also frustrated
that the Wallabies were being
sidetracked ahead of their п¬Ѓnal
Bledisloe Cup Test with New
Zealand in Brisbane next week.
“I am annoyed because in the
end we are trying to run a football programme and it’s got side-
tracked and it’s been sidetracked
in many different ways,” he said.
“It’s frustrating but there is
a challenge to try and put that
back on track. I can’t stop people
speculating. It’s me this week, it
will be someone else next week,
that’s the way it is. I accept that
it’s the life in the public domain
but you just get on with it.”
Beale has been suspended indefinitely while the ARU inves-
tigation plays out. The 47-Test
back was last year forced to undergo counselling and rehabilitation for his struggles with alcohol. McKenzie said he only found
out about the text messages,
which reportedly contain lewd
pictures and date back to June,
last week.
“I became aware of the existence of the text messages in Buenos Aires. I know the content, I
SPOTLIGHT
haven’t seen the photos,” McKenzie said.
“When I became aware of it I
forwarded the information on,
then she (Patston) obviously left
because of stress and the way she
felt about the environment and
then it was left to the integrity
unit as we advised at the time.”
Patston flew home early from
Argentina and she has been on
leave ever since.
Kurtley Beale was sidelined as he awaits a hearing into claims he
sent offensive texts about a staff member. (AFP)
PREVIEW
Uruguay host Russia in crucial Pride at stake in
play-off for final World Cup spot Parisian derby
AFP
Montevideo
AFP
Paris
U
apital pride will be at stake in
Top 14 action this weekend
as Stade Francais take on
cross-Paris rivals RacingMetro, while table-toppers Toulon
host struggling Toulouse today.
While lacking the verbal jousts
since Max Guazzini left Stade Francais, his successor as chairman
Thomas Savare and Racing counterpart Jacky Lorenzetti continue in
their bid to sell rugby in the hardest
of markets, albeit with the highest number of registered players
(48,000) in France - the Parisian region of Ile de France.
“Stade Francais are at home and
they will want revenge,” Lorenzetti
said in reference to his team’s victory
over Stade last season.
A Parisian derby maybe, but unlikely to be a sell-out at the magnificent Jean-Bouin stadium, host of the
recent Women’s Rugby World Cup
finals. “It’s a problem of choice with
all other activities Parisians can do
when they’re there at the weekend,”
said Savare.
“It’s up to us to attract them, to
show them that it’s a high-quality
show in a beautiful stadium.”
Lorenzetti’s Racing play their
rugby in the somewhat delapilated
surrounds of the Yves-du-Manoir
stadium in Colombes, where there
was an average attendance п¬Ѓgure of
ruguay host Russia in the п¬Ѓnal
qualifier for the 2015 Rugby
World Cup today, with the
winners to be parachuted into
the toughest pool at next year’s showpiece tournament. Russia travel to
Montevideo with a narrow one-point
lead after beating Uruguay 22-21 in the
п¬Ѓrst leg in Krasnoiarsk.
The winners of the second leg in Estadio Charrua, which will be streamed
live globally via irb.com, will become
the 20th and п¬Ѓnal country to qualify for
the World Cup. After three years, 203
matches involving 83 teams and around
3,000 players, it comes down to 80
minutes for the final qualifier spot, the
winning minnows earning the dubious
privilege of lining up in Pool A alongside
Australia, England, Wales and Fiji.
“We didn’t expect anything less from
Uruguay. We knew they were going
to come out firing,” Vasily Artemyev,
the Irish-raised former Northampton
winger/full-back, said of the п¬Ѓrst leg.
“Uruguay are really fired up for qualifying for the World Cup. We got just what
we expected.”
Raphael Saint-Andre’s Russia showed
more ambition with ball in hand, but
only managed one try, through prop
Grigory Tsnobiladze. The rest of the
points in the tension-п¬Ѓlled п¬Ѓrst leg came
from the boots of respective fly-halves
Yury Kushnarev and Felipe Berchesi.
Artemyev added: “We weren’t quite
C
Yuri Kushnarev helped Russia to a slender 22-21 win over Uruguay in the first leg.
precise enough on a couple of occasions.
We could have scored a couple of more
tries. We looked quite dangerous with
the ball when we had it, but we were still
lacking a bit of discipline. At some point
of the game we were two men down because of yellow cards.
“It’s going to be a tough away fixture
in Montevideo. We’re excited to go away
to South America to play our rugby over
there. It’s going to come down to the
spirit at the end of the day, whoever
wants it more.”
Russia are seeking to qualify for their
second World Cup after competing in
New Zealand in 2011, while Uruguay
took part in 1999 and 2003. “For everyone who’s supported rugby in Uruguay,
it would be of the utmost importance to
qualify,” said Klappenbach.
“It would be very good for Uruguay to
have a team in the tournament because
it brings п¬Ѓnancial support, publicity
and everything needed so that a sport
as beautiful as rugby continues to grow
around the country.”
Uruguay and Russia remain minnows alike on the world stage. But the
winners of today’s match face a daunting prospect in Pool A, playing Wales at
Cardiff ’s Millennium Stadium on September 20, Australia at Villa Park a week
later, Fiji at Stadiummk on October 6
and п¬Ѓnally England at the Manchester City Stadium four days later. IRB
chairman Bernard Lapasset praised the
qualification process as “fantastic”. “We
have seen some incredible matches at
all levels of the international game with
every IRB member union having the opportunity to win a place in England next
year,” Lapasset said.
7,900 last season, just 56 percent of
capacity. Located in northwest Paris,
the stadium is not easily accessible,
Lorenzetti bemoaning: “It’s hellish
to get there. We have a very good rate
in getting fans in, but unfortunately
they don’t come back often because
they’re discouraged by the transport
system, the welcome and parking
around the stadium.”
Champions Toulon, at the head
of the Top 14 on 28 points after six
victories in eight outings, entertain
former four-time European title
winners Toulouse in a late kick-off
tomorrow. Wales full-back Leigh
Halfpenny п¬Ѓnally make his Toulon
debut following his switch from Cardiff Blues in the off-season.
The British and Irish Lions kicker
has suffered a frustrating start to life
in the south of France and even had
to listen to club president Mourad
Boujellal threaten to tear up his contract over his injury problems.
Toulouse, 19-time French champions, last week ended a п¬Ѓve-match
losing streak with a 22-10 win over
Stade Francais, sitting fourth from
bottom, but still just two points
ahead of last-place Oyonnax.
Under-п¬Ѓre Toulouse coach Guy
Noves will have to watch the match
from the stands, however, after picking up a one-game ban for having
bad-mouthed a touch judge in last
month’s loss to Bayonne.
Better news for Toulouse came
when ex-All Black hooker Corey
Flynn was cleared to play.
All Blacks
pick Pulu
for Aussie
Test squad
Welington: The All Blacks
drafted promising scrumhalf Augustine Pulu into the
squad for next week’s Test
against Australia yesterday
to replace the injured Tawera
Kerr-Barlow. The 24-year-old
received the call-up following
confirmation earlier this
week that Kerr-Barlow will
be out for up to nine months
after tearing a knee ligament
in New Zealand’s 27-25 loss to
South Africa last Saturday.
With Ben Smith also
unavailable as he takes a
break ahead of the All Blacks
trip to the United States and
Europe next month, coach
Steve Hansen needed cover
in the number nine position.
“The selectors have been
watching Augustine for a
while, he is an exciting young
player and we think the next
obvious choice at half-back,”
Hansen said.
Pulu, who plays his Super
15 rugby with the Waikato
Chiefs, is likely to be third
choice behind TJ Perenara
and Aaron Smith for the
scrum-half role in the Test
against Australia in Brisbane
on October 18. The Test is
the third and final fixture
of the Bledisloe Cup series,
although New Zealand have
already retained the trophy
after drawing the first match
12-12 then smashing the Wallabies 51-20 in the second.
Gulf Times
Saturday, October 11, 2014
7
SPORT
NFL
Colts need luck, late
fumble to beat Texans
It was the Colts’ fourth win in a row and took them to 4-2 for the season
Indianapolis Colts running back Ahmad Bradshaw (left)
tries to score a touchdown as Houston Texans linebacker
Brian Cushing attempts to stop him at the NRG Stadium
in Houston. PICTURE: USA TODAY Sports
Reuters
Houston
A
late fumble by Houston quarterback
Ryan Fitzpatrick allowed the Indianapolis Colts to escape with a 33-28 road victory over the Texans on Thursday.
The Colts bolted to a 24-0 lead on the back of
three п¬Ѓrst-quarter touchdowns and an Adam
Vinatieri п¬Ѓeld goal and looked set to romp to an
easy win. The 24 points were the most scored by
the Colts in a п¬Ѓrst quarter since 1958, and also the
most allowed by Houston in a п¬Ѓrst quarter in franchise history.
But Houston found their feet and fought back
with two touchdowns in the second quarter before
closing the gap to 33-28 in the fourth.
In the п¬Ѓnal minutes, Houston looked poised for
a late drive but Fitzpatrick was sacked by Bjoern
Werner and the Colts recovered the ball and ran
down the clock to close out the win.
It was the Colts’ fourth win in a row and took
them to 4-2 for the season, earning them sole possession of п¬Ѓrst place in the AFC South. Houston
fell to 3-3. Indianapolis quarterback Luck, back in
the city where he went to high school, had another
strong game. He completed 25 of 44 passes for 370
yards and three touchdowns, though he had one
fumble that led to a Houston touchdown.
Wide receiver T.Y. Hilton had nine receptions
for 223 yards, just one yard shy of the most in franchise history, and one touchdown for the Colts.
“We knew it was going to be a grind. They all
are,” Colts head coach Chuck Pagano told reporters. “Defense finds a way to come up with two late
turnovers. I’m really proud of the guys.”
Luck, meanwhile, said his team had a shown
“lot of backbone” to stave off the Houston comeback. “It’s only week six. It’s not a super bowl. It’s
not anything too special but everyone is big in this
league and to beat a darn good team like that is
huge for us,” he said.
SEAHAWKS OFFER COWBOYS
SEARCHING TEST, SAYS ROMO
Dallas can’t afford to make mistakes when they
seek a п¬Ѓfth straight NFL victory on Sunday at
reigning Super Bowl champions Seattle, Cowboys
quarterback Tony Romo says.
“Ultimately, you’ve got to play a very sound, error-free type of football game,” Romo said of what
it will take to beat the Seahawks at CenturyLink
Field, where they are 17-1 since the start of the
2012 season. “You’ve got to be aggressive, you’ve
got to do some things to counter what they would
do and give yourself a chance.”
After dropping the п¬Ѓrst game of the season,
the Cowboys have won four straight and are tied
atop the NFC East division at 4-1 with Philadelphia, who host division rivals the New York Giants
tomorrow. Although the game will undoubtedly
provide a measuring stick of just where the injurydepleted Cowboys are, Romo doesn’t want to put
too much emphasis on one mid-season game.
Cowboys running back DeMarco Murray has
posted п¬Ѓve 100-yard games with п¬Ѓve rushing
touchdowns to start the season, while explosive
Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch is sixth
in the league with 306 rushing yard in Seattle’s
four games to date.
The Cowboys are 15-1 when Murray carries
the ball 20 or more times in a game, but in Seattle they will be up against a Seahawks defense
ranked number one against the run, allowing
just 62.2 yards per game. Philadelphia will also
be up against it as they host a Giants team riding
a three-game winning streak in a key NFC East
NHL
Baltimore: The Baltimore
Orioles and shortstop J.J.
Hardy have finalized a threeyear extension worth $40
million. The deal also include
a fourth-year option.
Hardy was expected to
generate a lot of interest
from numerous teams looking for a quality shortstop,
including the New York
Yankees who will have a gaping hole with Derek Jeter’s
retirement.
The 32-year-old Hardy
batted .268 with 28 doubles,
nine home runs and 52 RBIs
this season. He went 3-for10 with a home run in the
American League Division
Series as the Orioles swept
the Detroit Tigers.
The contract, which comes
with an option for 2018, goes
into effect after his current
deal expires at the end of
this season. The deal is worth
$40 million, according to
media reports.
Executive vice president
Dan Duquette said he figured
there was no time like the
present to lock up a two-time
Gold Glove winner at a key
infield position.
“Why not now, really?”
Duquette said. “When we
looked at the market, we
thought the best chance to
sign J.J. was before he went
to free agency because he’s
distinguished himself as one
of the top shortstops in the
league. And J.J. let us know
that he wanted to continue
his career here in Baltimore.”
Hardy has been a fixture
at shortstop for the Orioles
since 2011, playing solid defense and providing decent
hitting in a lineup filled with
sluggers. Although he hit
only nine homers this season, Hardy totaled 77 long
balls over the previous three
years and won Gold Gloves in
2012 and �13.
Free agency was tempting, but in the end, Hardy
said, he wanted to stay with
the Orioles. “It crossed my
mind, but at the same time,
this is where I wanted to be,”
he said. “There’s a lot of uncertainty in free agency. You
don’t know what’s going to
happen. I knew that I liked it
here and I liked playing with
all my teammates. Bottom
line, it comes down to winning, and I think we’ve got a
good thing here.”
Hardy is a two-time AllStar, in 2007 with Milwaukee
and last year as a member of
the Orioles.
Team-mate Adam Jones
welcomed the signing before
the team had formally announced it. “J.J. has been
one of the best shortstops in
baseball the last three, four
years, and he’s deserving,”
Jones said.
“He could have gone to
free agency and gotten more
money, but it’s not about the
money. He’s still going to be
eating good, and he’s happy
here. And happiness, at the
end of the day, will make you
happy.”
NBA
Red Wings edge Bruins in opener
Reuters
Detroit
J
ustin Abdelkader and Gustav Nyquist
scored to lead the Detroit Red Wings
to a 2-1 win over the Boston Bruins in
their season opener at the National
Hockey League on Thursday.
Boston, who eliminated Detroit in п¬Ѓve
games in the п¬Ѓrst round of the Stanley Cup
playoffs last season, were playing their second game in two nights after winning their
season opener.
After having a pair of third-period goals
disallowed, Montreal got a goal from Tomas
Plekanec that sent the game into overtime,
and Brendan Gallagher won it in a п¬Ѓve-round
shootout, giving the Canadiens 2-1 victory
over the Washington Capitals.
Dainius Zubrus scored the go-ahead goal
7:13 into the third period to lift New Jersey
to 6-4 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers
as the Devils began their п¬Ѓrst season in two
decades without goaltender Martin Brodeur.
RPascal Dupuis had four points and Sidney
Crosby recorded two goals as the Pittsburgh
Penguins beat the Anaheim Ducks.
The win was the п¬Ѓrst in the NHL for new
Penguins bench boss Mike Johnston, while
Anaheim’s Corey Perry tallied a hat-trick of
power-play goals in the defeat.
Rick Nash scored his second goal of the
match-up. At 3-2, the Giants go into the contest
one game behind the Cowboys and Eagles.
The sixth week of the season features a number
of tasty division match-ups. New England, coming off a statement victory over previously unbeaten Cincinnati, visit Buffalo in a battle for the
AFC East lead.
Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has long dominated the Bills, compiling a 22-2 record against
Buffalo as a starting quarterback and throwing for
5,817 yards and 54 touchdowns in those games.
In other division clashes, Cleveland host AFC
North rivals Pittsburgh, NFC North leaders Detroit visit Minnesota and Jacksonville—in search
of a first win of the season—visit AFC South rivals
Tennessee.
AFC West leaders San Diego will try to improve
their 4-1 record when they host 0-4 Oakland and
on Monday, St. Louis host San Francisco in an
NFC West duel.
Other games see Baltimore at Tampa Bay, Carolina at Cincinnati, Green Bay at Miami, Chicago at
Atlanta, Washington at Arizona and Denver at the
New York Jets—where Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning will try to close in on another NFL
record.
Orioles,
Hardy sign
three-year
extension
Oilers left wing Taylor Hall celebrates his
game tying goal against the Calgary Flames.
PICTURE: USA TODAY Sports
game with 1:50 to play, giving the New York
Rangers 3-+2 victory over the St. Louis Blues
in the season opener for both teams.
The left winger’s late goal enabled goalie
Henrik Lundqvist to defeat the Blues for the
п¬Ѓrst time in his NHL career. Lundqvist was
0-4 in his nine years against the Blues, the
only team he had never defeated.
Tampa Bay opened the season with a 3-2
win over the Florida Panthers as defenseman
Victor Hedman scored the Lightning’s third
power play goal 1:11 into the extra period.
Third-period goals by Craig Smith, Shea
Weber and Eric Nystrom made Peter Laviolette’s coaching debut a success as the Nashville Predators beat the Ottawa Senators 3-2.
Minnesota Wild left winger Zach Parise
scored a goal and set up two more as his team
made an emphatic season debut, blasting
past the Colorado Avalanche 5-0.
The Calgary Flames, led by a hat-trick
from Mason Raymond, spoiled the party by
beating Edmonton 5-2 on a night when the
Oilers celebrated the 30th anniversary of
their п¬Ѓrst Stanley Cup.
After a rousing opening ceremony, Calgary
scored on its second and third shots of the
game to send a sold-out crowd into stunned
silence.
Winnipeg winger Blake Wheeler scored
two goals 15 seconds apart during a п¬Ѓrstperiod barrage, helping the Jets beat the Arizona Coyotes 6-2.
Beasley signs one-year
deal with Shanghai Sharks
Reuters
Miami
F
orward Michael Beasley’s (right) NBA
career never panned out like he or many
others thought after he was drafted as the
second overall pick in 2008 by Miami.
On Thursday, his NBA career came to a halt
when the 25-year-old Beasley was waived by the
Memphis Grizzlies. But his playing career continues. Beasley has signed to play for the Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association.
The Sharks are owned by former Houston Rockets star Yao Ming.
Beasley had been trying to earn a spot on the
Memphis Grizzlies’ roster after spending last
season with the Heat. Illness during the pre-season had limited his playing time and made Beasley a long shot at Memphis.
His best season came while a member of the
Minnesota Timberwolves in 2010-2011 when he
averaged 19 points per game. But his production
decreased every year since. Last year with the
Heat, he averaged just 7.9 points and 3.1 rebounds
per game. Meanwhile, The Indiana Pacers picked
up the 2015-16 option on forward Solomon Hill’s
contract. Per club policy no details of the contract
were released. Hill, entering his second season
with the Pacers, averaged 1.7 points and 1.5 rebounds per game last season.
FARIED SIGNS CONTRACT EXTENSION
Forward Kenneth Faried, a member of the goldmedal-winning U.S. team at the FIBA World Cup
this summer, signed a multiyear contract extension with the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday.
The Nuggets did not reveal the contract particulars, but the Denver Post reported that Faried
received a four-year deal that could max out at
$52 million if all incentive clauses are reached.
Faried, 24, averaged a career-best 13.7 points and
8.6 rebounds per game last season.
8
Gulf Times
Saturday, October 11, 2014
FOOTBALL
SPOTLIGHT
New Indian league brings
glamour, also scepticism
�They are has-beens, definitely not at the pinnacle of their careers. You can’t wheel out a well-known player for the last 20
minutes of a game and let them kick the ball a bit. It has to be top-level sport, fiercely competitive, to attract the crowds’
AFP
Kolkata
W
ith Bollywood stars, cricketing greats and a slick
marketing campaign, India’s new football league
is gunning to become the next big thing
in sport.
But just days before tomorrow’s
kick-off in the eastern city of Kolkata,
the Indian Super League (ISL), which
has lured a host of former international
stars, is facing scepticism.
Some question the calibre of the
league’s top players, who include veterans like the controversial French
striker Nicolas Anelka and ex-Arsenal
midfielder Freddie Ljungberg.
Others say the tournament cannot hope to gain traction in a cricketobsessed country whose sporting authorities have long failed to cultivate
passion for the “beautiful game”.
“They are has-beens, definitely not
at the pinnacle of their careers,” said
Dave Chattaway from British-based
Brand Finance, referring to the marquee players.
“You can’t wheel out a well-known
player for the last 20 minutes of a game
and let them kick the ball a bit,” added Chattaway, who evaluates sports
leagues worldwide.
“It has to be top-level sport, fiercely
competitive, to attract the crowds,” he
said, adding that he hoped the league
would be a success.
Modelled on cricket’s glitzy Indian
Premier League, the eight-team citybased franchises have famous frontmen, including former Italy great
Alessandro Del Piero, 39, for the twomonth long competition.
Co-owners include cricketing icon
Sachin Tendukar, Bollywood A-listers
Salman Khan and Ranbir Kapoor, as well
as Atletico Madrid of Spain’s La Liga.
Cricket captain Mahendra Singh
Dhoni announced this week he has
also signed as a co-owner, because he
wanted to help create “world-class
football” in India.
ROOM FOR FOOTBALL
Rupert Murdoch’s Star TV is showing
the tournament, which is also being
backed by sports management giant
IMG and Indian billionaire Mukesh
Ambani’s Reliance Industries.
Owners and organisers are eyeing India’s 1.25 billion population, especially
its rising middle class and huge numbers
of youth, for a windfall in the long term.
Not only are they hoping crowds will
flock to stadiums, but also buy merchandise and lure more sponsors.
Although cricket dominates the back
pages, the English Premier League and
other football competitions in Europe
are a major driver behind the growth of
satellite TV here.
Former Manchester City and Sunderland boss Peter Reid, who is managing the Mumbai team, said the
potential for football’s popularity in
India was huge, pointing to the game’s
French football striker Nicolas Anelka participates in a training session of Mumbai City Football Club team at Cooperage Ground in Mumbai.
An Indian man bats during a game of cricket at the Maidan area in Kolkata. With
Bollywood stars, cricketing greats and a slick marketing campaign, India’s new
football league is gunning to become the next big thing in sport. But can it get
the cricket-crazed nation to follow the beautiful game is the pertinent question.
growth in the US.
“I know India’s a cricket-mad nation
and so am I (cricket-mad), but there’s
room for football as well without a
doubt,” Reid told reporters last week.
Ljungberg, 37, who announced he
was coming out of retirement to lace
up for the Mumbai team, said he hoped
to help cultivate the game at the grass
roots level.
“How they sold it to me is that young
children, they so much want to play
football but at the same time it’s difficult to find facilities etc (in India),” said
the Swede.
The ISL cannot compete with the
English Premiership for quality, “but
we (will) try to play as good as we can,”
said Ljungberg, who has also played in
Japan’s J-League.
The format—attracting Bollywood
and cricket stars and marquee players—has proved successful in the IPL
and in home-grown sport kabaddi, and
to a lesser extent India’s hockey league.
But some think the task this time
around is much tougher. Passion for
football has long existed in pockets of
India, including in former Portuguese
colony Goa, and domestic competitions
have attracted some reasonable crowds.
On a visit to India in 2007, FIFA
president Sepp Blatter said India was
the sleeping giant of world football.
But India’s national side languishes
in the world rankings at 158, below
even war-torn Syria and Afghanistan,
and few can name its captain.
�WE PLAY CRICKET’
Novy Kapadia, the country’s best
known football writer, blamed a lack
of funding for stadiums and training
grounds, and for youth development to
harness the sport’s potential.
“There will be initial curiosity for
sure (for the ISL) but whether that curiosity turns into popularity and can be
sustained is the big question,” Kapadia
told AFP.
India played Palestine this week in an
international friendly on the subconti-
nent, which saw the home side lose and
the national coach later quit. But the
match received scant media attention.
“No one would telecast the match.
India the sleeping giant remains sleeping,” Kapadia said.
In the heart of Kolkata this week,
the ISL brought a mixed response from
groups of youths playing cricket on
green п¬Ѓelds.
Nadir Akhtar Khan, 18, said he was
looking forward to tomorrow’s Kolkata
versus Mumbai opener, although he
couldn’t name any of the players.
“Kolkata has a history of football.
We hope this ISL will grow the game,”
Khan told AFP, of the one-time former
British colonial capital.
“We watch Barcelona and (Lionel)
Messi on TV,” the student added, in
between п¬Ѓelding.
But the ISL drew blank faces from
Mohammed Mahaboob Alam, 15, and
his friends playing another match
nearby. “No, never heard of it. We play
cricket,” Alam said.
BOTTOMLINE
The British football fans who fly local flag
comes one in their voices.”
AFP
Aldershot, UK
A
ldershot Town may be a world
away from the Premier League
glamour of English football giants Chelsea nearby, but for the
small band of diehards who call its rundown stadium home, loyalty cannot be
bought by billionaires or trophies.
Amid the giant flags and banners
waved by the hardcore supporters behind the goal on the club’s concrete terraces, fans talk of belonging to a family
and not to a brand.
AFP visited the 85-year-old, 7,100-capacity ground as the team, known as
“The Shots”, took on local bitter rivals
Woking in a п¬Ѓxture that is four divisions
below the Premier League.
The true fanatics chant their allegiance in the East Stand, a standing
terrace for those who enjoy 90 minutes
of jumping around and profane singing
led by a battery of drummers going by
exotic names such as “Rock’n’Roll Steve” and “Elvis”.
“Supporting Aldershot has never
been about silverware,” explained
drummer Ben Blundell at half time. “I
People walk underneath an Aldershot football team billboard near The Electrical
Services Stadium in Aldershot. Aldershot Town may be a world away from the
Premier League glamour of English football giants Chelsea nearby, but for the
small band of diehards who call its run-down stadium home, loyalty cannot be
bought by billionaires or trophies. (AFP)
feel one with the club, I feel I’m wanted
here, I’m part of the family.”
Shots head coach Andy Scott told
AFP: “When it’s a small attendance,
everyone knows everyone else.
“They drink in the same pubs and
they stand in the same place and it becomes a gang that gets together and be-
�HUB OF COMMUNITY’
Any tragedies in the tight-knit community are felt by all.
When East Stand fanatic Steve
Chapman, 33, a Gulf War veteran, committed suicide shortly after Christmas
2011, he was honoured at the club’s next
home game with a minute’s silence.
His former East Stand comrades
sang a lengthy rendition of “There’s
only one Stevie Chapman,” an honour
usually reserved for star players.
A touching tribute to Chapman can
still be found in a small but well-tended
memorial garden for fallen Shots located behind the main stand.
Chapman was one of many soldiers
in Aldershot, the home of the British
army—even the nearby corner shops
are run by former Gurkhas, Nepaleseborn British soldiers.
As their shops struggle to survive
in the age of giant supermarkets, local
football clubs also face an existential
threat from globalisation and the dominant glamour of the Premier League.
Aldershot were only saved from going out of business last year when they
were bought by a consortium headed by
local businessman and philanthropist
Shahid Azeem, who made his millions
in computers.
In total, seven leading non-league
clubs have either entered administration or have been wound up over the
last п¬Ѓve years. However, as with the
rise of pop-up shops, craft brewing and
the resurgence of independent record
shops, a new generation of football fans
are discovering the rewards of localism.
“You feel you’re more connected
to the players and the fans are much
more loyal,” explained 15-year-old Alfie Caudwell in the beer garden at The
Crimea Inn. “There’s a much better
atmosphere, lots more chanting. I’ve
been to Stamford Bridge and they don’t
sing much,” he added.
“I can have a chat with my favourite
centre-forward out there, not a problem,” added drummer Blundell.
“You wouldn’t even be able to shake
Didier Drogba’s hand,” he said of the
Ivorian star player for Chelsea.
“Our support makes a big difference,” said Martin Choularton.
“The money we put in the turnstiles
helps bring the players in,” he said, referring to the gates at the stadium.
“We are the hub of the community,”
chairman Azeem told AFP in a postmatch interview on the sacred turf.
Tribal unity is sharpened by well
choreographed shows of hatred for
whomever happens to be on their patch
this week, but an especially hot reception is reserved for neighbouring clubs.
So with sparks set to fly for the game
of Woking and with police on edge,
supporters are kept apart by a “noman’s land” inside the stadium.
Uniformly dressed in the denim, designer shirts and pristine white trainers
favoured by British football fans since
the 1980s, the hardcore rivals trade
inventive insults and abuse rival goalkeepers.
“There’s an inherent need to have rivals to focus hatred on,” explained Geoff Pearson, an expert in football crowd
behaviour. “It adds the value of what
that club means to them.”
After a hard-fought defeat, it was an
especially despondent set of fans that
trudged out through the exit gates and
under a banner imploring: “See you at
the next game”.
For the fans, this is a matter of family
duty and civic pride. For Aldershot Town,
and hundreds of small clubs like it around
the country, it is a matter of survival.
Gulf Times
Saturday, October 11, 2014
9
FOOTBALL
SPOTLIGHT
DIVIDE
Qatar off to a flying
start in AFC U-19
Championship
Three goals in the final 16 minutes gave Qatar a stunning 3-1 comeback win over
three-times champions DPR Korea in their AFC U-19 Championship opening match
Barcelona express
support for Catalan
independence vote
Barcelona’s Camp Nou stadium
DPA
Madrid
S
panish league leaders
Barcelona have come out
in support of the proposed November 9 referendum on Catalan independence, according to radio station
RAC1 yesterday.
The referendum has been
called by Artur Mas, head of the
Catalan regional government
but has been ruled to be illegal
by Spain’s Constitutional Court,
on the request of Prime Minister
Mariano Rajoy.
It is still not clear if the referendum will go ahead or not.
RAC1 said that Barca president
Josep Maria Bartomeu has sent
a latter to the organisers of the
referendum promising the club’s
“unequivocal support.”
According to the Catalan language station, the letter stated:
“This club will always be on the
side of our country (Catalonia).
We support the right to self-determination because this is one
of the fundamental rights of the
people.”
Barca had been criticised by
Catalan separatists earlier this
week for not coming out clearly
in favour of the referendum. The
club has traditionally been regarded as a pillar of Catalan nationalism and a defender of the
Catalan language and culture.
Online polls have suggested
that most Barca fans would vote
for independence if the referendum was held.
On Tuesday Javier Tebas, the
president of the Liga de Futbol
Profesional, which organizes the
Spanish Liga, said that Barca and
crosstown rivals Espanyol would
not be able to play in La Liga if
Catalonia became an independent state.
Espanyol have not said whether they are in favour of the referendum or not.
Barca defender Gerard Pique
raised eyebrows last week by
saying that he was in favour of
the referendum. No other Barca
player or director has come out
publicly in favour of the independence vote.
Pique was jeered and told to
leave the Spanish national team
by some fans when training with
La Roja in Madrid on Monday,
before Spain travelled to Slovakia
for Thursday’s Euro 2016 qualifying match which they lost 2-1.
CHANGE
Blatter calls for end
to away goals rule
Qatar players celebrate a goal during their match against DPR Korea yesterday at the Wunna Theikdi Stadium in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar.
By Our Correspondent
Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar
T
hree goals in the п¬Ѓnal 16 minutes gave Qatar a stunning 3-1
comeback win over three-times
champions DPR Korea in their
AFC U-19 Championship Group D opener at Wunna Theikdi Stadium yesterday.
DPR Korea had been leading until the
74nd minute of the game courtesy of Jo
Kwang-myong’s fifth minute goal, but a
penalty-kick from Almoez Ali and strike
from Ahmed al-Sadi on 79 minutes
flipped the tie on its head.
And with just four minutes of the game
remaining DPR Korea conceded a second spot-kick which substitute Akram
Afif successfully converted to ensure his
side moved up alongside Iraq at the top of
Group C after the 2012 runners-up defeated Oman 6-0 in the day’s earlier fixture.
Korea DPR raced into a quick lead just
inside five minutes through midfielder
Kwang Myong, who headed home from
the game’s first corner to cut short the
introductory phase of the contest.
Qatari heads did not drop after going
behind, though, and they began to take
control of the game as DPR Korea looked
to defend and maintain their lead.
Qatar had to wait for 25 minutes before
threatening their opponents, Ahmed alSadi could have improved his п¬Ѓnal effort
which bounced off the chest of the Korean keeper before it was cleared.
In the second-half the flow of the game
remained, with DPR Korea content to allow the Qataris the bulk of the possession
and look to the counter-attack as an attacking outlet.
But just past the hour-mark, the Koreans were themselves almost caught on
the break as substitute Afif broke through
into the penalty area but after beating
Cha his shot crashed off the right-hand
upright and deflected to safety.
PRESSURE PAYS OFF
And with Qatar continuing to attack, the
pressure п¬Ѓnally paid off with 16 minutes
remaining as al-Sadi cross was handled
by Jon Kum-dong to concede a penalty,
which al-Sadi himself took, coolly sending Cha the wrong way to bring the scores
level.
Qatar then took the lead themselves
after п¬Ѓve more minutes had passed on the
clock when al-Sadi burst into the penalty
area before cutting the ball back for Ali
who slotted home.
A shell-shocked DPR Korea side then
conceded a third goal on 86 minutes as
al-Sadi again got the better of Jon, as the
defender rashly brought the Qatar forward down inside the area for another
penalty which Akram Afif fired home to
cement all three points for Qatar.
An equally tough test lies ahead for
Felix Sanchez’s players, as they will next
take on Iraq, who opened the group with
an emphatic 6-0 win over Oman.
QATAR LINE-UP: Yousif Hassan (GK),
Abdullah al-Ahrak, Sergine Abdou, Abdulaziz al-Kholasi, Ahmed Moin (C),
Jassim al-Jalabi, Jassim Mohammed,
Ahmed al-Sadi, Assim Omer, Moiz Ali
and Fahad Shanin.
AFP
Zurich
F
BOTTOMLINE
Qatar thrash Lebanon in friendly
By Sports Reporter
Doha
S
easoned striker Meshaal
Abdullah netted a brace
as Qatar defeated Lebanon 5-0 in an international friendly at the Lekhwiya
Stadium on Thursday.
The Ahli forward opened the
account in the 30th minute to give
the hosts a one-goal cushion at
half-time. He found the target a
second time in 59th and Ahmed
Maksoud added another a minute
later, as Qatar virtually killed the
game by the hour mark.
Lekhwiya midfielder Hussein
Ali Shihab made the most of a
defensive blunder to slot home
in the 75th while defender Abdulrahman Akbar completed the
rout by heading home a corner in
the 84th.
Qatar could have won by an
even bigger margin had they
capitalised on all their chances
they created in the second half.
The match was a part of Qatar’s preparations for the Gulf
Cup (in Riyadh) and Asian Cup
(in Australia), to be held in November and January, respectively.
Qatar will also host Australia
in a friendly on October 14.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter
IFA president Sepp Blatter yesterday called for
an end to the away goals
winner rule in clashes
with two matches.
Blatter said the rule favours
clubs who play away in the second leg because extra time can
give an extra opportunity to get
a goal with double value.
“It is time to rethink the system,” Blatter said in a column for
the FIFA publication The Week.
Away goals are notably used in
the Champions League knockout stages and other European
club competitions where it was
introduced in 1965.
Where two sides are level after two legs, the team which has
scored more goals away from
home go through.
“The idea dates back to a time
when away games were often an
adventure, involving journeys
that could be long and arduous,” said the 78-year-old FIFA
leader.
“As well established as the
rule is, it can be viewed critically today,” because it favours
the team playing away in the 2nd
leg.”
The system is no longer used
in the semi-п¬Ѓnals of promotion
play-offs in the English League.
US Major League Soccer and the
CONCACAF Champions League
in the Americas only count goals
scored in the 90 minutes of regulation time.
“Football has progressed since
the 1960s so the away goals rule
may now be questioned,” said
Blatter, who did not propose an
alternative.
Japan beat �Reggae Boyz’ to give Aguirre first win
Clockwise from top: Qatar’s Meshaal Abdullah (centre) in action during the friendly match against Lebanon. The Ahli striker being
congratulated by his teammates after scoring a goal. A big crowd had turned up at the Lekhwiya stadium to support Qatar and they were
rewarded with a big victory. Qatar national coach Djamel Belmadi follows the proceedings closely during the match. Pictures: Mamdouh
JAVIER AGUIRRE scraped his
first win in three games as
Japan coach, after an own goal
by Jamaica gave the Asian
champions a 1-0 victory at
home yesterday.
The Blue Samurai squandered
several chances against the
“Reggae Boyz”, but an own goal
from Nyron Nosworthy in the
16th minute proved decisive.
Japan were beaten 2-0 by Uruguay and were held 2-2 by Venezuela last month in their first
two games under the Mexican,
who took charge following the
side’s World Cup flop in Brazil.
“I feel calm, relaxed as always,”
Aguirre told reporters after the
game in Niigata, which was
watched by 39,000. “We cre-
ated five or six more chances to
score, which was pleasing.”
Japan, who have one eye on the
defence of their Asian Cup title
in January, will need to improve
before a friendly against Brazil
in Singapore on October 14.
“We won’t get as many opportunities against Brazil as we did
today,” added Aguirre. “We will
have to be more clinical when
chances come our way.”
Japan talisman Keisuke Honda
clipped the bar in the 33rd
minute while playmaker Shinji
Kagawa was lively on his return,
blazing wide on two occasions
as the home side continued to
press, but once again a lack of
end product will have given
Aguirre plenty to ponder.
10
Gulf Times
Saturday, October 11, 2014
FOOTBALL
SPOTLIGHT
HIGHLIGHT
Shocks warning
for England, says
coach Hodgson
�If you happen to be called Spain, Russia or England, we can’t expect we can go and
beat whoever because we have more people in our country than them’
Bellarabi set for
Germany debut
after meteoric rise
German national player Karim Bellarabi attends the team’s training
session in Frankfurt/Main, Germany. (EPA)
AFP
Munich
K
England’s Wayne Rooney (centre) celebrates after scoring the second goal during their Euro 2016 qualifying match against San Marino at Wembley Stadium in London.
AFP
London
E
ngland manager Roy Hodgson
warned of hidden dangers in Euro
2016 qualifying after his side galvanised their position atop Group
E with a straightforward 5-0 win over
San Marino.
England top the group on goal difference from Lithuania after Thursday’s
stroll at a quiet Wembley Stadium, with
chief rivals Switzerland six points off the
pace following an unexpected 1-0 loss
away to Slovenia.
Spain were stunned by Slovakia on
Thursday, while Portugal have already
lost at home to Albania, and after a World
Cup dotted by shock results, Hodgson
says the big teams cannot take victories
for granted anymore.
“I suppose they’re surprising (results),
but maybe not,” said Hodgson, whose
side play away to Estonia tomorrow.
“I think we should stop being sur-
prised in international football. If you
happen to be called Spain, Russia or England, we can’t expect we can go and beat
whoever because we have more people in
our country than them.
“San Marino were better this year, better
than they were last year. Albeit as an amateur team, it’ll be a long time before they
can beat the likes of us at Wembley, I hope.”
Phil Jagielka headed England into a
25th-minute lead at Wembley, but San
Marino held out until Wayne Rooney
doubled the hosts’ advantage with a penalty two minutes prior to the break.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain teed up
Danny Welbeck for England’s third goal
early in the second half, with a low strike
by substitute Andros Townsend and an
Alessandro Della Valle own goal completing the scoring.
England have now scored 31 goals in
their п¬Ѓve games against San Marino, conceding only once.
Hodgson dismissed suggestions that
he had withdrawn Raheem Sterling and
Jordan Henderson at half-time to mol-
lify Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers, with whom he became embroiled in a
pre-game row about the п¬Ѓtness of striker
Daniel Sturridge.
DIAMOND FOREVER?
“To be fair to Brendan, when I spoke
to him about Daniel and we knew he
wouldn’t be ready, we spoke about Daniel and Glen (Johnson),” Hodgson told his
post-match press conference.
“He told me neither would be ready.
We didn’t talk at all about the other two.
It was our decision.
“With the wealth of talent we have in
attacking areas, it was nice today (Thursday) to take people like Sterling, Henderson and Welbeck off who might play an
important role for us on Sunday.”
England once again deployed a diamond midfield system and Hodgson reiterated his belief that it suits the players at
his disposal.
“I’ve been pleased with it in the last
two games,” he said.
“We have those right-side and left-
side wing-halves—Henderson and (Jack)
Wilshere today, and (James) Milner and
Oxlade-Chamberlain in the second half.
We have people who can do that job.
“(Adam) Lallana and Sterling can, too.
Lallana, when he came on for Raheem,
was every bit as dangerous and inventive
and creative as Raheem could be.
“That’s nice to know. And James Milner can also go in and play that deeper
central role that Jack did in Switzerland.”
Ranked 208th and joint-last in the
FIFA ranking, San Marino have never
won a competitive match, but having
seen his side frustrate England in the п¬Ѓrst
half, coach Pierangelo Manzaroli believes
better days may lie ahead.
“We hope to get a result from the rest of
the qualifying campaign,” said Manzaroli,
whose team host Switzerland on Tuesday.
“Obviously getting a result against
teams like England is very hard, but there
are other teams like Estonia, Slovenia or
Lithuania where we can hopefully get a
historic draw or even a more historic win
for our nation.”
BOTTOMLINE
INSPIRED
Poland looking for
historic win over
champions Germany
Poland’s head coach Adam Nawalka (left) talks with player Robert
Lewandowski during his team’s training session in Warsaw, Poland.
Fallen giants Spain desperate
for revival in Luxembourg
DPA
Madrid
T
itle holders Spain are
desperate to win in
Luxembourg tomorrow
after surprisingly crashing 2-1 at Slovakia in Euro 2016
qualifying.
When the draw for the Euros was made, reigning champions Spain seemed to have an
easy road to the п¬Ѓnals in France.
However, Thursday’s defeat has
however shown that it could
turn out to be a difficult path in
Group C.
Vicente del Bosque’s troubled
team are joint second in the group
with Ukraine with three points
each. Slovakia are top with a maximum six from two games.
Worryingly, it was La Roja’s
fourth defeat in six games, the
others being against the Neth-
arim Bellarabi is set
to cap a meteoric rise
by making his debut
for Germany against
Poland in a Euro 2016 qualifier
amidst the world champion’s injury problems.
The 24-year-old was relegated from the Bundesliga in May
while on loan at Eintracht Braunschweig and watched Germany
win the World Cup in July as a fan
before starting pre-season training when he returned to Bayer
Leverkusen.
A series of eye-catching displays, including the fastest goal
in Bundesliga history, and Germany’s lengthy injury list has
catapulted Berlin-born Bellarabi
into the national squad.
He has been called up for the
qualifiers against Poland in Warsaw and Tuesday’s visit of the Republic of Ireland in Gelsenkirchen.
He turned down the chance to
play for Morocco, the country of
his father, and having played for
Germany’s junior sides, is set for
his senior cap at Warsaw’s National Stadium.
“It was a decision of the heart,”
he admits. “My mother is German and I was born here.
“I spoke to my family a lot
about it and decided to play for
Germany. I hope it’s the right
decision for me. Germany is my
homeland, even if I love Morocco
just as much.”
With striker Miroslav Klose
retired, plus Marco Reus, Mesut
Ozil and Mario Gomez all injured, Bellarabi and Borussia
Moenchengladbach’s Max Kruse
have their chance to shine.
“His development is remarkable, he is incredibly fast and
had made a strong start to the
season,” said Germany coach
Joachim Loew of Bellarabi.
“He is very strong in one-onone situations.
“I like how he works with the
ball, I am sure he can be a good
option for us.”
Bellarabi made a big start to
the season, which was just nine
seconds old when he scored for
Bayer Leverkusen in their 2-0
win at Borussia Dortmund—a
new league record.
His contract expires in June
2016 and Leverkusen will have to
make him a substantial offer to
extend his stay having become a
cornerstone of Roger Schmidt’s
attack in just a matter of weeks.
“We have had him on our list
for some time,” said Loew with
Germany second in Group D on
goal difference to Poland after
the opening games.
“Karim Bellarabi has earned his
chance after several outstanding
performances for his club.
“In the games against Poland
and Ireland we have the chance
to increase our lead at the top of
the table and move away from
the competition.”
Bellarabi says he is ready to
make his debut whether he starts
against Poland or comes off the
bench. “I accept the challenge
and will give my best,” he said.
Spain’s Gerard Pique reacts during his team’s match against Slovakia.
erlands and Chile in the group
stage exit as defending champions at the World Cup, and in an
August friendly against France.
“The team is getting used to
losing, like a poor boxer gets
used to hitting the canvas,”
commented AS.
Spain lost a qualifier for the
first time since 2006, and confirmed suspicion that the glory
days with Euro titles 2008 and
2012, and the World Cup success
in 2010, are over.
“A Ridiculous Display” was
the headline in Sport, while El
Pais said “Spain Go From Bad to
Worse.”
Two men were singled out for
special criticism: veteran keeper
Iker Casillas - who was to blame
for Slovakia’s first goal - and
striker Diego Costa, who has still
to score after six appearances for
La Roja.
Neither player would speak
after the defeat. Instead, veteran
Andres Iniesta said “Let’s hope
everything is different in the
next match.
“We didn’t deserve to lose
tonight. I think we did enough
to win, with all the chances we
created ... Now we must get back
on track by winning on Sunday.
There is still a long way to go.”
Iniesta added that he was
“not worried at all” by Costa’s
poor form for his adopted country, and denied that the Chelsea
striker was struggling to adapt
to the team’s “tiki-taka” short
passing game.
However, Del Bosque is now
considering dropping Costa
against Luxembourg, in order
to make room for the tandem of
young Valencia strikers Paco Alcacer and Rodrigo.
It was Alcacer who scored
Spain’s lone goal, after coming off the subs’ bench. He has
scored twice in three appearances, and is in excellent form for
Valencia - the same as Rodrigo.
“I am trying to take advantage of the chances I am been
given,” said Alcacer. “There
are still many games left in this
group. We have to learn from
the mistakes that we committed tonight.”
Another youngster likely to
come in for the Luxembourg
date is Real Madrid right-back
Dani Carvajal, for Atletico’s
Juanfran, while the uncapped
Bayern Munich player Juan Bernat might come in for left-back
Jordi Alba.
AFP
Warsaw
P
oland are chasing an historic п¬Ѓrst win over world
champions Germany in
Warsaw with top spot in
their Euro 2016 qualifying group
at stake.
Adam Nawalka’s Poland top
Group D on goal difference by virtue of their 7-0 rout of minnows
Gibraltar in their opening match.
But Joachim Loew’s Germany are hard on their heels after
seeing off Scotland 2-1 in their
opener in Dortmund last month.
Poland are searching for a
maiden win over their neighbours at the 19th attempt, while
the Germans are rebuilding after
several key retirements in the
wake of their World Cup triumph
and a host of injuries.
Both veteran defenders Philipp
Lahm and Per Mertesacker
have retired, while Loew has a
mounting injury list to contend
with including new captain Bastian Schweinsteiger, plus Sami
Khedira, Marco Reus, Mesut Ozil
and Mario Gomez.
Germany still boast an impressive recent international record.
They are unbeaten in 18 com-
petitive matches and have not
lost any of their last 33 qualifiers
since a 3-0 home defeat to the
Czech Republic in October 2007.
Staggeringly, Germany’s last
away defeat in a qualifying match
was a 3-0 loss against Portugal in
June 2000.
Poland have scored just once
in their six competitive meetings
against either Germany or West
Germany, but the visitors are
taking nothing for granted.
“Poland are the sort of team
who will put up a п¬Ѓght, they have
good technical players, they have
evolved and are more compact,”
said Germany’s assistant coach
Thomas Schneider.
“They are certainly a team
who will demand a lot from us.”
Bayern Munich striker Robert
Lewandowski is hoping to trouble
Germany’s goalkeeper and standin captain Manuel Neuer, his
teammate at the Bavarian giants.
The Polish hot-shot wants
the hosts to catch their powerful guests cold after he scored
four goals in last month’s rout
of Gibraltar.
“Maybe they will be too confident after winning the World
Cup. Maybe they will oversleep a
little and we will be able to take
advantage,” Lewandowski.
Gulf Times
Saturday, October 11, 2014
11
POSTER
Sebastien Loeb
French rally and racing driver
|
78 World Rally Championship (WRC) race wins
| Nine WRC titles
Saturday, October 11, 2014
FOOTBALL
GULF TIMES
EURO QUALIFIERS
Spain stunned by Slovakia,
England thrash San Marino
�I really did not expect this result. We didn’t play well, but we should at least have got a draw’
Miroslav Stoch of Slovakia (centre) celebrates his goal against Spain with teammates during their Euro 2016 qualification match at the MSK stadium in Zilina. (Reuters)
DPA
Berlin
E
uropean champions Spain fell
to a 2-1 defeat against Slovakia
while England cruised to a 5-0
win over San Marino in Euro
2016 qualifiers Thursday.
Spain went behind to a 17th-minute
Juraj Kucka free-kick in Zilini, his
swerving shot in the 17th minute deceiving keeper IIker Casillas who could
only deflect it into his net.
Spain fought back and thought they
had rescued a point when substitute
Paco Alcacer equalized with eight
minutes remaining.
But Miroslav Stoch headed in an
87th-minute winner as Slovakia made
it two wins out of two in Group C and
ended Spain’s eight-year, 36-match
unbeaten qualifying run going back to
October 2006.
“I really did not expect this result.
We didn’t play well, but we should at
least have got a draw,” Spain coach Vicente del Bosque said.
“They caught us with a mortal
counter right at the end. This sometimes happens in football.”
Beshart Abdurahmi struck a superb
last-gasp winner for Macedonia for
a 3-2 defeat of Luxembourg to move
to three points, level with Spain and
Ukraine who scored two late goals for
2-0 win in Belarus.
Macedonia went ahead through Aleksandar Trajkovski but Luxembourg
stunned the home side with a Stefano
Bensi free-kick and David Turpel goal
before half-time, before Adis Jahovic
scored from the penalty spot in the
66th to level at 2-2.
In Group E, Phil Jagielka put England
on the way against San Marino, heading in from a corner in the 25th minute,
and Wayne Rooney doubled the tally
from the penalty spot two minutes before half-time.
Danny Welbeck soon made it three
after the break and was followed by
England’s Danny Welbeck (left) celebrates with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain after
scoring his team’s third goal during their Euro 2016 match against San Marino.
Andros Townsend with a shot from
outside the area and an Alessandro
Della Valle deflection into his own net
from a Rooney cross to complete the
scoring at Wembley.
“We did what we had to do,” England
midfielder Jack Wilshere said. “We
knew we would win, it was just a matter of keeping going. Once we scored
we knew we could get a few.”
England manager Roy Hodgson said
the victory was a “job well done.”
“We won very comfortably and
added п¬Ѓve goals to the tally. We had no
space to play in the п¬Ѓrst half but kept
plugging away and it would always
open up,” he said.
“When San Marino tired we created some very good occasions. What
was learned was that the players have
the ability to do the right thing for 90
minutes. At 5-0 when we lost the ball
we had three or four players sprinting
back to win the ball back. That type of
desire is very commendable.”
Switzerland, beaten 2-0 at home
by England in their п¬Ѓrst match, went
down 1-0 at Slovenia, with Milivoje
Novakovic scoring from the penalty
spot 11 minutes from time after Johan
Djourou brought down Kevin Kampl.
Lithuania earned a 1-0 win over Estonia, who had Ken Kallaste sent off
following a second booking four minutes from time, to stay level with England on six points from two games.
BOTTOMLINE
POSITIVE THINKING
Pressure mounts on Spain’s
Casillas after latest blunder
Reuters
Madrid
O
nce lauded as a goalkeeper who could do
no wrong, Spain captain Iker Casillas’s
tarnished reputation suffered
another blow when his error
helped Slovakia claim a shock
2-1 win in Euro 2016 qualifying
on Thursday.
Holders Spain had been looking to continue a rebuilding
process after their failure at the
World Cup п¬Ѓnals in Brazil, where
Casillas made a series of howlers.
However, they were undone
in Zilina by a battling Slovakia
side, who patiently waited their
chance and struck on the counter attack three minutes from
time.
Casillas, who led Spain to
continental titles in 2008 and
2012 with a debut World Cup
triumph in between, gifted
the Eastern Europeans a 17thminute lead when he flapped at
Juraj Kucka’s swerving free kick.
In Group G, Russia took the lead
after 10 minutes against Sweden in
Stockholm when Aleksandr Kokorin
ran at the defence before п¬Ѓnding the
net with a shot outside the area.
Sebastian Larsson had a penalty
saved by Igor Akinfeev but Ola Toivonen, in for Zlatan Ibrahimovic - a substitute following an injured heel - had
the home side level four minutes after
the break.
Austria’s David Alaba scored from
the penalty spot in the 12th minute at
Moldova, who were back on level terms
15 minutes later when Alexandru Dedov converted from the spot.
Marc Janko headed Austria’s back
in front with what turned out to be
the winner early in the second half but was shown a red card with eight
minutes remaining after tangling with
keeper Ilie Cebanu.
Liechenstein and Montenegro were
goalless in the group. Russia, Montenegro and Austria all have four
points, with Sweden on two.
Spain’s goalkeeper Iker Casillas reacts during Euro 2016 qualifing
football match between Slovakia and Spain. (AFP)
Despite dominating possession in customary fashion, Spain
did not manage to breach the
massed Slovakian lines until the
82nd minute through Paco Alcacer but were ultimately scuppered by Miroslav Stoch’s late
header.
It was La Roja’s first defeat
in a qualifier for the European
Championship or World Cup
since they were beaten by Sweden in October 2006.
It would be harsh to place the
blame solely on the shoulders of
Spain’s most capped player for
the defeat, particularly since he
pulled off a brilliant one-handed
save early on.
However, the captain’s prob-
lems appear to be part of a wider
malaise in a team that swept all
before them under coach Vicente del Bosque over the past six
years.
They looked toothless and
predictable going forward, with
Diego Costa, enjoying prolific
form for Chelsea, again failing to
score. The Brazil-born forward
has yet to п¬Ѓnd the net for his
adopted country in six appearances.
Questions may also be asked
as to why Spain committed so
many players forward after Alcacer’s leveller, leaving themselves exposed at the back,
rather than settling for the point
they probably deserved.
Del Bosque decided to stay on
as coach after the humiliation in
Brazil and has brought in several
new faces but the impression remains that he needs to do more
if Spain are to return to the kind
of form that made them close to
unbeatable.
The former Real Madrid coach
predictably defended Casillas but calls will grow for young
pretender David De Gea, who
has performed well for Manchester United, to be handed the
gloves.
“He (Casillas) saved us from
a possible Slovakia goal,” Del
Bosque told a news conference
after the Group C defeat.
“I didn’t see the goal all that
well but the ball definitely did
something strange and deceived
the keeper.”
Slovakia’s victory, which
prompted wild celebrations
among their players and fans,
put them top of the group with
a maximum six points from two
matches, with Spain, Ukraine
and Macedonia all on three in
joint second.
Spain’s next match is in Luxembourg tomorrow and three
points would put them back
on track as they seek to secure
a place in the tournament in
France in two years’ time.
“We are only at the second
matchday and there is nothing
decided yet,” Del Bosque noted.
“Slovakia are top of the group
but there are plenty of matches left to turn the situation
around,” he added.
Not on downward
spiral, says Del
Bosque after defeat
Reuters
Zilina, Slovakia
C
oach Vicente del Bosque
denied
Spain
were
caught in a downward
spiral after the holders
slumped to a shock 2-1 defeat in
Slovakia in Euro 2016 Group C
qualifying on Thursday.
Del Bosque decided to stay on
after his team were knocked out in
the п¬Ѓrst round of the World Cup in
Brazil in June and, although he has
brought in a number of new faces,
it was a familiar story at the MSK
stadium in Zilina.
Spain dominated possession
but conceded when goalkeeper
Iker Casillas was deceived by
Juraj Kucka’s swerving free kick
in the 17th minute and again
three minutes from time when
substitute Miroslav Stoch п¬Ѓnished off a п¬Ѓne counter attack.
Paco Alcacer had levelled for
the visitors in the 82nd minute
but Spain couldn’t hold on for a
draw. It was Spain’s first defeat
in a qualifier for the European
Championship or World Cup
since they were beaten by Swe-
den in October 2006.
“I think that we at least deserved a draw and I don’t think
we are on a negative run,” Del
Bosque told a news conference.
“We should have scored more
goals but then came a lethal
counter attack.
“We cannot have any complaints about the players. We
showed patience but we were
not effective and their keeper
was superb.”
The home side defended doggedly and took what was probably their only genuine chance
of the second half to prompt wild
celebrations among the crowd.
“We tried to go on the attack and freshen things up,”
Del Bosque said. “Pedro for his
speed, Alcacer to have someone
else in the area and Cazorla for
his passing ability. The whole
team tried. Nobody likes to lose.”
Slovakia, 40th in the world
rankings, top the group with a
maximum six points from two
matches, with Spain, Ukraine
and Macedonia all on three in
joint second.
Spain’s next match is in Luxembourg tomorrow.

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