INDEX
QATAR
4, 5, 22 – 24
ARAB WORLD
INTERNATIONAL
ISLAM
6
7 – 18
19
COMMENT
BUSINESS
CLASSIFIED
SPORTS
20, 21
1 – 7, 9 – 12
8, 9
1 – 12
SPORT | Page 12
$45bn investments
seen in tourism-related
projects up to 2030
Sadd look for
�big reaction’
from players
after first
loss
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GULF TIMES
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BUSINESS | Page 1
FRIDAY
Vol. XXXV No. 9576
December 19, 2014
Safar 27, 1436 AH
www. gulf-times.com 2 Riyals
SC makes
strides in
improving
workers’
welfare
T
he Supreme Committee for
Delivery & Legacy (SC) has
released its п¬Ѓrst Semi-Annual
Workers’ Welfare Compliance Report outlining the organisation’s
goals, achievements, and challenges
in relation to the п¬Ѓrst six months of
implementing the SC Workers’ Welfare Standards (WW Standards).
Developed in consultation with
experts in labour and human rights,
the WW Standards are a contractually binding set of requirements
for all contractors working on SC
projects. The compliance report is a
self-assessment of the SC’s experience applying the WW Standards
in the six-month period after their
release in February 2014.
“The Supreme Committee continues to make important strides in
improving the welfare of workers,”
said Hassan al-Thawadi, Secretary
General of the Supreme Committee
for Delivery & Legacy. “This report
is an honest self-assessment, highlighting how complex this issue is
and the difficulties we have faced,
but also the significant progress we
have made.”
The report marks the п¬Ѓrst time
the SC has publicly disclosed compliance data on FIFA World Cup
projects. “Even though we are quite
early on in the process, we feel that
we have a responsibility to be transparent and update our stakeholders
on progress,” said Farah al-Muftah,
Chair of the SC Workers’ Welfare
Committee (WWC). “We hope that
by getting this information out in
the public domain, we can launch a
productive discussion about some
of the challenges we face and how
to scale up the solutions that have
been successful so far.”
The report, which contains anecdotes submitted by both contractors
and workers, outlines the SC’s key
achievements in the п¬Ѓrst six-months
of applying the WW Standards.
US won’t back
Palestinian
resolution
A view of the Qatar National Day parade at the Doha Corniche yesterday. PICTURE: Shemeer Rasheed
Qatar heritage,
patriotism on
show at parade
By Ramesh Mathew
Staff Reporter
P
atriotic fervour hit the pinnacle
while Qatar’s rich cultural heritage came to the fore at the impressive and colourful seventh National
Day parade taken out along the Doha
Corniche yesterday as the highlight of
the Qatar National Day celebrations.
HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, HH the Father Emir
Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani,
HH the Deputy Emir Sheikh Abdullah
bin Hamad al-Thani, HH the Emir’s
Personal Representative HH Sheikh
Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani, HH Sheikh
Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Thani, HH
Sheikh Mohamed bin Khalifa al-Thani
and the sons of the Father Emir were
among the dignitaries who witnessed
the parade.
HE the Prime Minister and Interior
Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser
bin Khalifa al-Thani, HE the Speaker
of the Advisory Council Mohamed bin
Mubarak al-Khulaifi and his deputy, as
well as a number of sheikhs, ministers
and guests along with heads of diplomatic corps accredited to the State and
a number of senior army officers and
senior officers of the Ministry of the
Interior, in addition to thousands of
citizens and residents were also present
on the occasion.
The parade started with the rendition of the national anthem and an 18gun salute to mark the National Day,
followed by a recitation of verses from
the Holy Qur’an.
Contingents from the Army, Navy
and Air Force, Emiri Guards, Internal
Security Force (Lekhwiya), Civil Defence, Heritage Police, coast and border security, traffic and personnel of
police college and national service and
students of Qatar Leadership Academy
were part of the parade.
Students belonging to schools, the
Shafallah Centre, Al-Noor Institute for
the Blind and children dressed in Emiri
guard uniforms in addition to classic vehicles and vehicles belonging to
Hamad Medical Corporation also took
part in the parade, taken out along the
nearly 2km route between the Qatar
National Theatre and the Emiri Diwan.
The colourful cavalcade of thorough-bred Arabian horses and camels
was among the other attractions. Parachutists belonging to the Armed Forces
and Lekhwiya thrilled the onlookers.
The event also included a procession
of armoured vehicles and equipment, a
fly past by air force fighter jets and helicopters and a naval parade and a display
of paragliding.
Battle tanks, personnel carriers,
rocket launchers, mine detectors, antiaircraft guns, п¬Ѓre extinguishers, infantry
vehicles, anti-pirate frigates, interceptors, monitoring sensors, surveillance
equipment, propellers and coastguard
vessels were among the attractions.
While the parade was progressing on
its regular course, several local dhows,
including some of those equipped with
advanced facilities sailed across the
Doha Bay. A number of patrolling vessels of the coastguard also joined the
celebrations.
At least two hours before the parade
began every inch of its route was п¬Ѓlled
by crowds, who flocked to the area from
across the country, starting from the
early hours.
HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and HH the Father Emir Sheikh
Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani with other dignitaries watch the parade on the Doha
Corniche to commemorate the National Day.
Men and women, old and young and
people of different nationalities waved
flags from the sidelines and cheered
the soldiers all along as they marched
to the tunes of patriotic slogans and
songs.
The musicians from the armed forces entertained the crowds with an array
of songs, popular among the citizens
until the start of the parade.
The sorties over the parade zone by
Airforce helicopters sporting Qatari
National Flags and aerial journeys by
parajumpers were loudly cheered by
the multitudes of spectators. The scintillating aerobatics of the п¬Ѓghter planes
across the Qatar skies and their deafen-
ing sound left them awestruck.
As the parade got over HH the Emir
and HH the Father Emir moved along the
route in a convoy of vehicles and waved
at the spectators along the Corniche.
Qatar celebrates December 18 as
its National Day to commemorate the
country’s founder Sheikh Jassim bin
Mohamed al-Thani assuming its reins
in 1878.
The country’s history attributes the
bringing together of different tribes
and sub-tribes to Sheikh Jassim before his army won a decisive victory against the Ottomans in a battle
somewhere near Al Wajbah in 1893.
Pages 4, 5, 22, 23 & 24
AFP
United Nations
T
he US will not support the
current resolution put forward by the Palestinians setting the terms of a peace deal with
Israel, a US official said yesterday.
Washington has seen the text of
a draft resolution circulating in the
UN Security Council and “it is not
something that we would support,”
State Department spokeswoman Jen
Psaki told reporters. “We think others feel the same and we are calling
for further consultations. The Palestinians understand that.”
She pointed to a statement from
Palestinian president Mahmoud
Abbas that he would support further
consultations, adding US Secretary
of State John Kerry had been holding
discussions with different parties.
Negotiations on the draft resolution will take time, Jordan said, indicating that a Security Council vote
was not imminent.
Jordan presented the measure
on Wednesday to the UN Security
Council on behalf of the Palestinians, who said they were open to negotiations on the text.
Fireworks light up the sky over the Doha Corniche
yesterday as part of the Qatar National Day celebrations.
PICTURE: Jayan Orma
HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani participates in Bani Tamim Arda, which was held at Al Wajbah Palace to commemorate the National Day.
4
Gulf Times
Friday, December 19, 2014
QATAR
HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and HH the Father Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani watching the parade at the Doha Corniche yesterday.
Emir, Father Emir attend National Day parade
QNA
Doha
H
H the Emir Sheikh
Tamim bin Hamad alThani and HH the Father
Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa
al-Thani attended Qatar’s 7th
National Day parade which was
held on the Doha Corniche yesterday morning.
HH the Personal Representative of HH the Emir Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani, HH
Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalifa alThani, HH Sheikh Mohamed bin
Khalifa al-Thani and the sons
of the Father Emir attended the
event.
HE the Prime Minister and
Interior Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa
al-Thani, HE the Speaker of the
Advisory Council Mohamed
bin Mubarak al-Khulaifi and his
deputy, as well as a number of
sheikhs, ministers and guests
along with heads of diplomatic
corps accredited to the State and
a number of senior army officers
and senior staff of the Ministry
of the Interior, in addition to
hundreds of citizens and residents were present on the occasion.
The parade started with a rendition of the national anthem
HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and HH the Father Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani shake hands with the people at the Corniche.
and an 18-gun salute to mark the
National Day, followed by a recitation of verses from the Holy
Qur’an.
The parade showcased thorough-bred Arabian horses and
camels, parachutists belonging
to the Armed Forces and the Internal Security Force (Lekhwiya)
and the infantry columns of the
Army, the police and the Emiri
Guard.
HH the Emir and HH the Father Emir wave to guests and visitors at the Corniche in Doha yesterday.
The event also included a procession of armoured vehicles
and equipment, a flypast by air
force п¬Ѓghter jets and helicopters,
a naval parade and a display of
paragliding.
The participants included
units of the armed land, air and
maritime forces as well as personnel of the Ministry of the
Interior’s civil defence, coast
and border security, traffic and
personnel of police college and
national service and students of
Qatar Leadership Academy.
Students belonging to schools,
the Shafallah Centre, Al-Noor
Institute for the Blind and chil-
A section of dignitaries watching the parade at the Corniche in Doha yesterday.
dren dressed in Emiri guard uniforms in addition to classic vehicles and vehicles belonging to
Hamad Medical Corporation and
a number of dhows also took part
in the parade.
Gulf Times
Friday, December 19, 2014
5
QATAR
HH the Father Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani watching the Arda dance at Al Wajbah Palace.
Emir, Father Emir take part in Arda
QNA
Doha
H
H the Emir Sheikh
Tamim bin Hamad alThani and HH the Father
Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani participated, for
the second day, in Bani Tamim
Arda, which was held at Al Wajbah Palace to commemorate the
National Day.
HH the Deputy Emir Sheikh
Abdullah bin Hamad al-Thani,
HH Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad
al-Thani, the Personal Representative of HH the Emir, as
well as HH Sheikh Abdullah bin
Khalifa al-Thani, and the sons
of HH the Father Emir also participated in the traditional Arda
dance.
Several sheikhs, ministers, dignitaries and citizens
also participated in the Arda
dance.
HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani participating in Bani Tamim Arda at Al Wajbah Palace yesterday.
Katara stages potpourri of events
A
wide range of events and
festivities marked the
second day of Qatar National Day celebrations at Katara
– the Cultural Village Foundation yesterday.
A large number of visitors
flocked to Katara to take part in
and enjoy the various educational, entertaining and cultural
activities on offer from 10am
until 10pm.
The National Day celebrations
are being held this year under
the motto “and I have dealt with
others with honesty, wisdom
and purity of heart” – words
from Qatar’s founder Sheikh Jassim bin Mohamed al-Thani.
On the occasion, Katara general manager Dr Khalid bin Ibrahim al-Sulaiti said: “Katara is
pleased to celebrate the National
Day of Qatar, our homeland,
where we live in welfare, safety
and security. The festivities are
a message of love and loyalty to
our wise leadership for the huge
efforts in raising Qatar’s profile
and rank among the world’s developed nations.”
Some 42 events and activities
are being held across different
locations, mostly along Katara’s
Corniche, and continue until today. Organised in collaboration
with over 20 public and private
institutions, the festivities include marine activities, military,
horse and motorcycle parades,
heritage tents and competitions,
in addition to power parachuting, awareness initiatives and an
all-new Katara FM radio station.
Visitors were thrilled by military shows performed by the
Qatar Amiri Guard at the amphitheatre, where they enjoyed
music played on a variety of instruments, in addition to a silent military parade and another
with army rifles and fire shots.
The Amiri Guard also showcased 14 horses in national costumes, eight of which toured
Katara’s Corniche, four were
available for photo shoots with
visitors and two toured the Cul-
Children taking part in an activity.
The �Book of Loyalty’.
Gift packs being distributed.
Classic cars on display.
Children participating in a cultural show.
Kids having a good time at Katara.
ety of audiences. It is open from
9am to 12 noon and from 5pm to
10pm.
Aspire Hospitality has also organised special events for children, including drawing and distribution of flags, in addition to
offering visitors free drinks and
snacks.
Among the key attractions
is the “Book of Loyalty’, a giant
book on whose pages visitors
from all walks of life jot down
words of love and gratitude in
different languages and dialects.
The initiative is being carried out
for the third year in a row.
“The tale of a homeland”
hunting and falcons festival is
also being provided to visitors.
The Cultural Village’s restaurants have been decorated with
Qatari flags, while all staff members are dressed in traditional
costumes and tables decked up
with flowers.
Meanwhile, the Qatari Cultural and Social Centre for the
Deaf has contributed to Katara’s
festivities with special contests
conducted in sign language as
well as showcasing a number of
drawings and products derived
from Qatar’s heritage.
The centre’s director, Moza
al-Mansouri, said their partici-
tural Village’s alleyways.
On the occasion, Katara’s
Public Relations Department
distributed gifts, comprising a
container for Arabic coffee along
with serving cups.
The gift package was accompanied by a booklet containing
an explanation of how to prepare
Arabic coffee and another titled
“Tarahib wa Salloum”, which includes a number of local terms
with Arabic and English commentary to introduce local heritage and culture to tourists and
visitors.
Katara has also launched the
Katara FM radio station on inter-
nal radio frequency 95.1, which
sheds light on all events, activities and programmes held in the
Cultural Village.
Currently, the radio broadcast
is focusing on National Day festivities by airing national songs
as well as a series of daily programmes, including a religious
programme during the time of
dawn prayers and “Black and
White”, which broadcasts traditional songs, “Oldies’, “Katara
in the eyes of visitors”, “Katara
Cinema” and “Katara in a week”.
Built in the style of traditional
Qatari houses, the Katara Cultural Market has attracted a vari-
Message from Kuwaiti Emir
pation shows the eagerness of
deaf people to play an active role
in national events and express
their feelings of loyalty and gratitude to Qatar.
As part of its National Day
celebrations, Katara has set up a
number of heritage tents along
its Corniche, while exhibitions
are another major highlight of
the festivities. There are special
attractions for sports enthusiasts as well.
Meanwhile, a mobile studio
allows visitors to have their photographs taken and then optionally printed on various memorabilia.
Qatar’s missions host National Day receptions
QNA
Doha
Q
HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani received a message from Emir of Kuwait Sheikh
Sabah al-Ahmed al-Jaber al-Sabah yesterday. The message was related to bilateral relations and
issues of common concern. Kuwaiti First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs
Sabah al-Khalid al-Hamad al-Sabah conveyed the message, during a meeting with the Emir
yesterday.
gives spectators the opportunity to witness the country’s
renaissance through an audiovisual display broadcast via
eight windows with attached
headphones.
With a traditional tent on the
Katara Corniche, the Qatari Society of Al Gannas continued to
participate in the celebrations
for the second day in a row.
The tent features a photo gallery of previous championships
as well as a number of preserved
deer, falcons, foxes and rabbits.
Posters of hawks and gifts are
being distributed at the tent and
information on the upcoming
atar’s missions abroad
held special events to
celebrate the country’s
National Day yesterday.
In Abu Dhabi, Qatar’s Ambassador to the UAE Faris bin Roumi al-Nuaimi held a reception
which was attended by Deputy
Prime Minister and Minister of
Presidential Affairs Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, who
said in a statement that the UAE
shares with brotherly Qatar the
joy of celebrating National Day
and wishes the government and
people of Qatar further progress
and prosperity.
Sheikh Mansour conveyed the
greetings of the UAE President
Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed alNahyan to the government and
people of Qatar coupled with his
wishes of prosperity, peace and
stability.
“The UAE and Qatar enjoy
strong relations of fraternity and
co-operation and links between
the two peoples are deep-rooted
and will remain so, thanks to the
common culture, belief and destiny,” he added.
Meanwhile, Qatar’s Consul
General in Dubai Ahmed bin Ali
Abdulrahman Altamimi held a
reception to mark Qatar’s National Day.
The ceremony was attended
by the Deputy Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohamed bin Rashid al-Maktoum,
the president of Mohamed bin
Rashid al-Maktoum Foundation
Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohamed bin
Rashid al-Maktoum, Chairman
of Dubai Media Incorporated
Sheikh Hashr bin Mohamed bin
Rashid al-Maktoum, the UAE
Minister of Environment and
Water Rashid Ahmad bin Fahd,
Chairman of Dubai Chamber of
Commerce and Industry Abdulrahman al-Ghurair and the
head of Dubai Protocol Department Khalifa Saeed Suleiman
in addition to a number of officials, eminent personalities, and
members of diplomatic consular
corps in Dubai.
In Muscat, Qatar’s embassy
in Oman held a reception ceremony at the Grand Hyatt Muscat hotel.
A number of Omani royal
family members attended the
ceremony along with ministers,
State Council and Shura Council
members, senior armed and police officers, foreign ministry officials, heads of diplomatic missions accredited to Oman, and
several businessmen.
The Omani TV aired a report
on Qatar after every news bulletin, covering the different
sides of development in Qatar,
its activity on the political and
economic fronts, and its status
in the regional and international
arenas.
Similar evennts were held
at Qatari embassies in Sudan,
Egypt, Croatia, Canada, El Salvador, Brunei Darussalam, Spain,
Panama, Uruguay, Turkey, Japan,
Iran, Ukraine, Malaysia, Singapore, Austria, Portugal, Bosnia
and Brazil to mark the National
Day.
6
Gulf Times
Friday, December 19, 2014
REGION/ARAB WORLD
Iran deal
�very close’,
says Putin
League hopes
US won’t veto
Palestinian
resolution
Agencies
Moscow
R
ussian President Vladimir
Putin said yesterday the
six world powers and Iran
were “very close” to reaching an
agreement on Tehran’s nuclear
programme.
He also told his annual endof-year news conference that
economic ties between Moscow
and Teheran would benefit if the
deal were clinched.
Iran meanwhile welcomed as
“useful” its first round of talks
with the major powers since the
two sides gave themselves another seven months to strike a
deal.
“We had intensive and useful
discussions,” Iran’s lead negotiator, Deputy Foreign Minister
Abbas Araqchi, told state television after a two-hour meeting in
Geneva on Wednesday.
“All issues were discussed.
We’ll have a new meeting in a
little under a month.”
Araqchi held two days of talks
with a US delegation headed
by Acting Deputy Secretary of
State Wendy Sherman ahead of
the plenary session with the six
powers.
The powers, which also include Britain, China, France,
Germany and Russia, held formal talks with the Iranians in Vienna last month.
They failed to meet a November 24 deadline for a comprehensive deal on reining in Iran’s
nuclear programme in exchange
for an easing of crippling Western sanctions.
All parties agreed to give
themselves seven more months
- until June 30 - to strike a deal,
although they said they hoped
to have the broad outlines hammered out by March.
A п¬Ѓnal agreement is aimed at
ensuring Tehran will never develop nuclear weapons under
cover of its civilian activities.
Iran denies that it is seeking
the bomb and insists its nuclear
programme is for peaceful purposes only.
zIran will hold widespread naval drills extending to the Gulf
of Aden this month, its navy
chief said, asking foreign forces
to “leave the area” to avoid incidents.
Iraq to defer
Kuwait war
reparations
Reuters
Geneva
I
raq can delay payment of a п¬Ѓnal $4.6bn in war reparations
for its 1990 invasion of Kuwait
because of the difficulties it faces
in battling the Islamic State insurgency, the UN said yesterday.
After holding a special session
in Geneva, the governing body of
the UN Compensation Commission (UNCC), which is handling
the reparations, said “extraordinarily difficult security circumstances” in Iraq had presented
“unusual budgetary challenges”.
It was the п¬Ѓrst time Iraq has
asked for a postponement in payments—collected as a levy on oil
revenues—since the scheme was
set up in 1991, and Kuwait had
agreed to the deferral, the commission said.
The payment, owed to the government of Kuwait on behalf of
the Kuwait Petroleum Corp, relates to oil production and sales
losses relating to the damage to
oil п¬Ѓelds that occurred during the
war.
It is the п¬Ѓnal tranche of $52.4bn
of reparations awarded to 1.5mn
successful claimants under the
UN scheme, and was due to be
paid by the end of 2015.
“The decision postpones Iraq’s
obligation to deposit п¬Ѓve% of oil
proceeds and п¬Ѓve% of the value
of any non-monetary payments
to service providers into the Compensation Fund until January 1,
2016,” the UNCC said.
The Iraqi economy has been
suffering because of the IS insurgency, with the International
Monetary Fund last week predicting a contraction of 0.5% this year.
This year’s contraction is lower
than the 2.7% predicted in October, however, with IMF officials
attributing the improved outlook
to higher oil production.
Kerry has said the resolution
will not present a problem
if it can avoid exacerbating
tensions in the region
Agencies
Cairo
T
A Palestinian supporter of former head of Fatah in Gaza, Mohamed Dahlan, holds a poster depicting
him during a protest against Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Gaza City yesterday. Dahlan,
who lives in exile, is a powerful political foe of Abbas.
he Arab League said yesterday it hoped the US
would not veto a draft UN
Security Council resolution laying out the terms of a п¬Ѓnal peace
deal between Israel and the Palestinians.
Jordan presented the draft on
Wednesday on behalf of the Palestinians, who have sought to
avoid a clash with Washington
by saying they are open to negotiations on the text.
It would set a 12-month deadline for wrapping up negotiations on a п¬Ѓnal settlement and
the end of 2017 as the time frame
for completing an Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian territories.
“We hope that the US will
not use its veto,” said the Arab
League’s deputy secretary general for Palestinian affairs, Mohamed Sobeih.
“The use of the American veto
will harm the Palestinian cause
and will be used by extremists
as an instrument to pursue settlement (of Jews in the occupied
territories) and ruin the peace
process,” he told journalists.
But Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu has said
“we will not accept attempts to
dictate to us unilateral moves on
a limited timetable.”
And the US, holding veto power as one of the council’s five per-
manent members, has repeatedly
vetoed resolutions seen as undermining its close ally Israel.
The US administration opposes moves to bind negotiators’
hands through a UN resolution
- particularly any attempt to set
a deadline for the withdrawal
of Israeli troops from the West
Bank.
But US Secretary of State John
Kerry has said the resolution
would not present a problem if it
can avoid exacerbating tensions
in the region.
The Palestinians had said they
wanted a quick vote but backed
away, apparently under pressure
from Arab countries including
Jordan, which is seeking a draft
that will be acceptable to the US.
A US veto risks angering key
Arab allies, including partners
in the US-led coalition carrying
out air strikes against the Islamic
State group in Syria and Iraq.
The latest round of IsraeliPalestinian peace talks, shepherded by Kerry, collapsed in
April amid mutual recriminations.
This summer’s war in Gaza
followed, and tensions have
boiled over in the West Bank
and east Jerusalem with a series
of deadly attacks on Israelis and
frequent clashes between security forces and stone-throwing
Palestinians.
In Jerusalem, Israel’s foreign
minister described draft resolution as a gimmick.
“Certainly this will not hasten
an agreement because without
Israel’s consent, nothing will
change,” Avigdor Lieberman said
in a statement.
Lieberman said the unilat-
eral move at the UN would only
deepen the decades-old conflict.
“It would be better if the Security Council dealt with matters truly important to the citizens of the world, such as the
murderous attacks this week in
Australia and Pakistan, or discuss events in Syria and Libya,
and not waste time on the Palestinian’s gimmicks,” he said.
The Palestinians began circulating a draft at the end of September, after President Mahmoud Abbas told the UN General
Assembly that it was time to
fast-track Palestinian statehood.
The text as it stood with a п¬Ѓrm
deadline of November 2016 as
the end of Israeli occupation had
no chance of approval.
But the threat of the draft
seems to have been enough to
jolt the international community
into action.
France stepped into the fray
last month and, with Britain and
Germany, began discussing options for a separate resolution.
Keen to head off a diplomatic
crisis, Kerry held a flurry of
meetings this week with Netanyahu, Palestinian negotiators
and European ministers.
The US was concerned that
a UN resolution could play into
the hands of Israeli hardliners as
the country heads towards elections in March and suggested it
could be delayed.
Frustration with the stalled
peace process has grown in Europe, where lawmakers in Britain, France and Spain have all
called in recent weeks for the
recognition of a Palestinian
state.
Jihadists claim murders in 2013 of Tunisia secularists
AFP
Tunis
J
ihadists who have joined the
Islamic State group claimed
yesterday the 2013 murder
of two secular politicians that
plunged Tunisia into crisis,
warning of more killings just
days before a presidential runoff
election.
“Yes, tyrants, we’re the ones
who killed Chokri Belaid and
Mohamed Brahmi,” Abou Mouqatel, a dual French national
wanted for their murders, said
in a video released on the Internet.
It was not clear where the
video was п¬Ѓlmed, but Abou
Mouqatel claimed they were
in an area under the control of
IS, which has seized swathes of
Syria and Iraq.
“We are going to come back
and kill several of you. You will
not have a quiet life until Tunisia implements Islamic law,”
added the militant, whose real
name is Boubakr al-Hakim.
Abou Mouqatel appeared
along with three other militants, all of them dressed in
combat uniform and carrying
arms, with black jihadist banners waving behind them.
“Our message to the tyrants
of Tunisia and to their soldiers
is this - between us there will
(only) be weapons.”
Interior ministry spokesman
Mohamed Ali Aroui responded by saying “Tunisians are
stronger than these terrorists.
They mean nothing to us.”
Abou Mouqatel, born in Paris
in 1983, is considered to be one
of the key people organising the
flow of foreign jihadists to Iraq,
where he himself has travelled
to п¬Ѓght.
He was jailed in France for
seven years in 2008, but given
early release in 2011.
The authorities in Tunis estimate that as many as 3,000
Tunisians have gone to Iraq
and Syria to п¬Ѓght with jihadist
groups including IS, and have
expressed concern that some
will return to carry out attacks
at home.
Belaid, a п¬Ѓerce critic of the
moderate Islamist party Ennahda then in power, was murdered
in February 2013, and Brahimi,
another opponent of the Islamists, in July of the same year.
The attacks, which had not
been previously claimed, were
blamed by the authorities on the
jihadist Ansar al-Sharia group.
The killing of Belaid triggered
deadly protests and a political
crisis that brought down Is-
lamist prime minister Hamadi
Jebali.
Brahmi’s murder intensified
the crisis, and threatened to derail Tunisia’s post-Arab Spring
transition until a compromise
government was formed in January this year.
On Sunday, Tunisians vote
in the second round of a presidential election, capping off
four years of a sometimes chaotic transition since the 2011 of
longtime ruler Zine El Abidine
Ben Ali.
Incumbent Moncef Marzouki
faces political veteran Beji Caid
Essebsi in the vote - the п¬Ѓrst
time Tunisians will be allowed
to freely elect their president
since independence from France
in 1956.
The п¬Ѓrst round, on November
23, saw Essebsi, an 88-year-old
who heads the anti-Islamist
Nidaa Tounes party, take 39% of
the vote.
In the video posted yesterday,
jihadist Abou Mossaab called on
Tunisians to boycott the polls,
saying the authorities “are
turning you into infidels with
these elections.”
The government, which has
been on alert since October, will
be deploying tens of thousands
of troops and police to guarantee security during the vote.
Many dead, wounded in
Yemen car bomb attacks
Agencies
Sanaa
T
win car bomb attacks in
Yemen’s western port
city of Hodeida targeting
Shia militiamen left dozens of
people dead and wounded yesterday, a security official said.
“The two explosions were
the result of two car bombs and
left dozens dead and wounded,” the official said, without
providing any precise п¬Ѓgures.
The п¬Ѓrst bomb detonated
close to the Hodeida headquarters of the Shia militia known
as Ansarullah which seized the
town at the end of September,
said the official.
The other bomb went off
close to another position of the
militia west of Hodeida University, not far from the site of
the п¬Ѓrst attack.
Yesterday’s attacks came
two days after 15 schoolgirls
were among 25 people killed in
a car bomb attack targeting a
Shia militia leader in the central town of Rada.
Yemen has been rocked
by instability since the Shia
п¬Ѓghters, who are also known
as Houthis, seized control of
the capital Sanaa on September 21.
The Houthis have since
expanded their presence in
central and western Yemen,
including Hodeida, but have
been met by п¬Ѓerce resistance
from Sunni tribes and Al Qaeda
militants.
In another development
yesterday, Prime Minister
Khaled Bahah’s cabinet won a
parliamentary vote of confidence, freeing it to tackle major
challenges facing the country, including dealing with the
Houthis.
Bahah’s government, com-
posed of technocrats and politicians drawn from a range of
parties, has the broad support
of the Houthis but relations
are not easy. Bahah suggested
on Wednesday his government
could resign after the rebels
raided state institutions and
sacked public officials.
“We will work with sincerity and seriousness to promote
the integrity of all sectors in
the government,” Bahah told
parliament yesterday.
“We will keep equal distance
from all political elements and
we will get through this current
period.”
Parliamentary sources said a
majority of lawmakers backed
Bahah’s 36-member cabinet in
the vote of confidence.
“A large majority of the parliamentary
representatives,
around 155, voted in favour of
the government by a show of
hands,” one lawmaker who did
Yemen’s newly-appointed Prime Minister Khaled Bahah arrives in the parliament ahead of a confidence
vote, in Sanaa yesterday.
not want to be named said. Only
п¬Ѓve lawmakers voted against, the
source added.
Lawmakers from former president Ali Abdullah Saleh’s General People’s Congress blocked
an attempt on Tuesday to stage
the confidence vote, in protest
against the authorities’ decision
to shut their party’s offices in the
southern city of Aden.
The UN Security Council last
month imposed п¬Ѓnancial sanctions on Saleh, accusing him
of working with the Houthis to
undermine political stability in
Yemen, which shares a long border with Saudi Arabia.
Saleh was forced to step down
after mass protests in 2011 after
30 years in power.
Gulf Times
Friday, December 19, 2014
7
AFRICA
�Boko Haram’ kidnaps
185 people in Nigeria
AFP/Reuters/DPA
Maiduguri
B
oko Haram has kidnapped
at least 185 people, including women and children,
in northeast Nigeria, the latest mass abduction in a region
where the military has repeatedly struggled to protect civilians, officials and witnesses said
yesterday.
The attack, conducted on
Sunday by well-armed Islamist
extremists in the town of Gumsuri, also killed 32 people. It recalled the April kidnappings in
Chibok, where more than 200
girls were taken from a school.
President Goodluck Jonathan,
who is standing for re-election
in February 14 polls, had pledged
that the Chibok attack would
mark the beginning of the end
of terrorism in Nigeria, but violence has escalated since.
The Islamists have a carried
out a series of abductions this
year, boosting their supply of
child п¬Ѓghters, porters and young
women who have reportedly
been used as sex slaves.
Boko Haram has not claimed
the Gumsuri attack, but multiple sources in the village blamed
the extremists whose п¬Ѓve-year
uprising has killed more than
13,000 people and forced more
than 1.5mn others from their
homes.
Northeast Nigeria has been
the epicentre of the conflict,
but unrest has also spread into
neighbouring Cameroon, where
the military claimed to have
killed 116 insurgents while repelling a Wednesday attack on
an army base in the border town
of Amchide.
A convoy of gunmen stormed
Gumsuri in Borno state on Sunday, throwing petrol bombs into
buildings and leaving much of
the village destroyed, two local
officials and a witness said.
The officials, who put the
death toll at 32, said the local government established the
number of those abducted by
contacting families, ward heads
and clerics.
A vigilante leader based in the
Borno state capital Maiduguri,
Usman Kakani, told AFP that
п¬Ѓghters who were in Gumsuri
during the attack provided a п¬Ѓgure of 191 abducted, including
women, girls and boys.
Gumsuri is roughly 70km (40
miles) south of Maiduguri and
falls on the road that leads to
Chibok.
Details of the Gumsuri attack
took four days to emerge because
the mobile phone network in the
region has completely collapsed
and many roads remain impassable.
Those who fled the village
said it was too dangerous to head
directly to Maiduguri. Instead,
they travelled several hundred
kilometres in the opposite direc-
Attacks, abductions: an upsurge in violence in Nigeria
Nigeria has seen an upsurge in violence since April
linked to the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram,
which was accused yesterday of kidnapping at least
185 people in the volatile northeast of the country.
The insurgency has left more than 13,000 dead and
1.5mn displaced people since 2009. Here is a list of
incidents since April up until Sunday’s abductions:
В„ April 14: 276 young girls are seized from their school
by Boko Haram gunmen in Chibok, a remote corner
of Borno state in northeast Nigeria. Fifty-seven of the
girls manage to flee, while 219 are still being held.
В„ April 14: At least 75 people die in a bomb blast in a
packed bus station on the outskirts of Nigeria’s capital
Abuja – the deadliest attack yet to strike the city. Boko
Haram claims responsibility.
В„ May 5: Boko Haram gunmen raze the town of Gamboru Ngala in Borno state, killing at least 300 people,
according to local sources.
В„ May 20: Twin car bombings in the central Nigerian
city of Jos, blamed on Boko Haram, kill at least 118 and
bring entire buildings down.
В„ June 3: Heavily armed gunmen raid four northeastern villages in Borno state, with local leaders putting
the death toll as high as 400-500.
В„ July 23: Two blasts rock northern Kaduna city killing
at least 42. A local official says former military ruler
tion to connect with the main
road that leads to the state capital.
Mukhtar Buba, a resident who
fled to Maiduguri, also confirmed that women and children
were taken.
“After killing our youths, the
insurgents have taken away our
wives and daughters,” he said.
The military and police were
turned opposition figurehead Muhammadu Buhari
was the target of the second attack but was unhurt.
В„ August 24: Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau
claims he has made the town of Gwoza in Borno
state part of an Islamic caliphate. On July 13, he had
proclaimed support for the Islamic State group that
controls part of Syria and Iraq.
В„ October 18: Around 60 women and young girls are
abducted around Chibok, according to witnesses. On
October 25-26, 30 adolescents are kidnapped in the
village of Mafa in Borno state.
В„ October 31: Shekau says the 219 abducted schoolgirls have been converted to Islam and married off,
ruling out talks with the authorities on a ceasefire.
В„ November 9: Shekau says that he has created a
caliphate in the more than 20 northeastern towns
conquered by the insurgents.
В„ November 10: A suicide attack kills at least 58 people at a boys school in Potiskum in Yobe state.
В„ November 28: Two suicide bombers blow themselves up and gunmen open fire during weekly prayers
at the mosque of the Emir of Kano, one of Nigeria’s top
Islamic leaders. At least 120 people are killed and 270
others wounded.
В„ December 1: More than 150 people, including 44
police and security troops, die in a Boko Haram raid on
the northeast Nigerian city of Damaturu.
not immediately available to
comment.
Witnesses said that the hostages were carted away on trucks
towards the Sambisa Forest,
a notorious rebel stronghold,
where the Chibok girls were also
reportedly taken before being
divided into smaller groups.
Vigilantes, who have the military’s backing, had defended
Gumsuri against waves of previous Islamist attacks but were
ultimately overpowered on Sunday, local officials said.
The military has left much of
the front-line п¬Ѓghting to vigilantes and hunters who have
inferior weapons and almost no
training.
An army court martial on
Wednesday sentenced 54 sol-
diers to death for mutiny after
they refused to deploy for an
operation against Boko Haram,
blaming a lack of weapons.
Their lawyer said that another
п¬Ѓve were acquitted and discharged in the secret trial.
They were the п¬Ѓrst batch of 97
soldiers being court martialed
for offences including mutiny,
assault, absconding, house
breaking and disorderly behaviour.
The case underscored the
struggles the military has faced
in challenging the rebels, with
soldiers on the ground claiming
they have been used as cannon
fodder in battles against militants armed with rocket propelled grenades and heavy artillery.
The defence ministry in Cameroon’s capital Yaounde said
Wednesday’s raid in Amchide
was carried out by several hundred Islamists who ambushed a
column of military vehicles with
explosives and simultaneously
attacked the army base.
Cameroonian troops retaliated instantly, the ministry said,
killing 116 insurgents while one
soldier has been confirmed dead
and another was missing.
Ministry spokesman Didier
Badjeck said that two soldiers
were killed and three vehicles
lost in the clashes.
The insurgents are reported
to recruit young Cameroonians
into their ranks.
Tough Kenya security law is approved
Reuters
Nairobi
K
enya’s parliament approved new anti-terrorism laws yesterday after
chaotic scenes in which opposition legislators, citing a threat
to civil liberties and free speech,
threw books at the Speaker,
shouted, chanted and sprinkled
water over his deputy.
Television footage showed
legislators exchanging blows
in the public gallery before the
vote.
President Uhuru Kenyatta
has faced mounting pressure to
boost security since a 2013 attack by Somali Shebaab rebels
on a Nairobi mall that killed 67
people.
The militant Islamist group
killed more than 60 people in
two attacks this month.
The new measures will allow suspects to be held without
charge for 360 days, up from 90
days, compel landlords to provide information about their
tenants and punish media organisations if they print material that is “likely to cause fear or
alarm”.
The proposals do not define
such material.
Journalists were barred from
Protesters struggle as riot police officers arrest them in front of the
parliament building in Nairobi. Meanwhile, inside parliament Kenyan
lawmakers exchanged blows during a parliamentary session that
turned chaotic over the new security bill.
the п¬Ѓnal vote and television
footage was discontinued during
the voting session.
Speaker Justin Muturi twice
suspended the morning session after opposition legislators
shouted him down.
During the afternoon session,
television footage showed an
opposition lawmaker sprinkling
water from a bottle on the deputy speaker Joyce Laboso, who
was reading out the proposed
changes to the existing security
law.
Land grab in Namibia
amid housing crisis
AFP
Windhoek
O
ver a thousand people
illegally occupied land
in Namibia’s coastal town of Swakopmund on
Wednesday, saying they were
tired of waiting for the government to give them plots.
The land grab comes weeks
after the South West Africa People’s Organisation
(SWAPO) won national polls.
A politician leading the
group said the people were demanding SWAPO make good
on campaign promises.
“We
are
tired,”
said
Gotthardt Kandume of the
Christian Democratic Voice
(CDV). “We also want to sleep
peacefully with our wives in
good structures.”
He told AFP the people were
desperate for land and that
over 5,000 had added their
names to a list requesting areas
be attributed to them by the local municipality.
The land they occupied is
earmarked for low-cost housing but has been vacant for
years.
The occupiers on Thursday
demanded a meeting with current Prime Minister and President-elect Hage Geingob, who
won the presidential election
by a landslide last month.
The governor of the region,
Cleophas Mutjavikua, told AFP
that the group was just vying
for publicity: “Let them grab
and they will see what will
happen to them.”
The country has a massive
housing and land crisis, which
has forced the government to
invest close to N$48 billion
($4bn, €3bn) over the next 15
years to п¬Ѓll a current shortfall
of 100,000 houses.
When Muturi took over the
reading of the proposals opposition legislators jeered and hurled
hard cover books at him, forcing
him to duck before asking orderlies to shield him.
The speaker read each amendment on the bill while lawmakers from both sides of the house
stood near him, voting by acclamation in chaotic scenes before
the bill was approved.
“The dignity, the integrity of
parliament is at stake. The cameras of the National Assembly
An image grab taken from a video by Kenya Television Network (KTN) shows scuffles breaking out in
Kenya’s parliament in Nairobi over a vote on controversial legislation that would give the authorities
sweeping powers to pursue terrorist suspects and curtail press freedoms.
will bear testimony to what I am
saying,” Aden Duale, the majority leader from Kenyatta’s Jubilee
coalition, said trying to calm the
legislators.
“This is autocratic leadership,” opposition MP John Mbadi
told Reuters via telephone.
Some legislators had torn up
parliamentary order papers that
set the official agenda and scat-
tered the pieces across the floor
as they hugged each other and
sang: “Msilale bado mapambano”, Swahili for “Do not sleep,
the struggle goes on”.
Muturi ordered parliamentary
guards to escort some opposition members out of the assembly, shouting “Order!, order!,
even as mapambano goes on,
there will be order”.
Consultant at Nigeria church says
collapsed building had no permit
AFP
Lagos
A
town planner who worked
for influential Nigeria
preacher TB Joshua told
an inquest yesterday that the
building which collapsed at Joshua’s church, killing 116 people,
did not have planning approval.
Bisi Adedire, who served as a
consultant for Joshua, said that
lack of approval did not mean
the building was unsound but
told the coroner that he warned
church officials they were ignoring regulations.
“I told the church they have
contravened the law in a way by
building without approval but
they said they could regularise
it,” he told the inquest into the
causes of the deadly accident.
Joshua, a self-proclaimed
prophet, has claimed the collapse in September may have
Six die in Nairobi building collapse
Six people died and 11 were injured in a central Nairobi building collapse,
with fears that the toll could rise as crews continued to dig through the
rubble, officials said yesterday.
The four-floor building came down early on Wednesday. At least 10 survivors emerged from the debris the same day, but it remained unclear how
many people could still be trapped.
“Two more bodies retrieved, death toll stands at six, casualties stand at
11,” the Kenyan Red Cross wrote in a tweet yesterday.
According to press reports, the building in the Makongeni area was erected without a permit on unstable public land. It housed mostly students
on its lower floors, while the upper storeys were still under construction.
Locals said they had alerted the government about problems at the
structure, but received no response.
been sabotage and has on three
occasions ignored summonses to
testify.
His followers include influential politicians and business
people in Africa and around the
world and his loyalists have suggested the collapse is part of a
conspiracy to undermine him.
Adedire stressed that having
planning approval does not guarantee the quality of a building
and argued the church’s failure
to follow protocol was an administrative issue which likely had
nothing to do with the collapse.
Lagos officials have said others
buildings at Joshua’s Synagogue
Church of All Nations compound
were shoddily built.
Armed police arrested activists protesting against the new
law outside parliament.
Nine foreign missions in Kenya, including those of the United
States, Britain, France, Germany, Canada and Australia, said in
a statement on Wednesday that
they supported plans to improve
security but said human rights
should also be respected.
African
leaders
consider
joint steps
against
militancy
AFP
Nouakchott
A
summit on security in the
sub-Saharan Sahel region
of Africa, where armed
Islamic extremists linked to Al
Qaeda are active, opened yesterday in Mauritania, attended by
п¬Ѓve heads of state.
The meeting was part of the
“Nouakchott Process”, named
for an initiative launched in
Mauritania’s capital in March
2013 to boost security co-operation among 11 participating
states.
The summit, whose theme
was “a space made for secure
for global development”, was
the п¬Ѓrst since Algeria, Burkina
Faso, Chad, Guinea, Ivory Coast,
Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger,
Nigeria, and Senegal signed up
to the process.
Host President Mohamed
Ould Abdel Aziz, who also currently chairs the African Union
(AU), told his peers from Burkina
Faso, Chad, Mali and Senegal,
along with the other delegates,
of a shared determination to carry out “a merciless fight against
terrorism and organised crime”.
Abdel Aziz stressed that national defence systems needed
to be better adapted “to the demands of the terrain and the nature of the enemy”.
Across a broad region, the
threat ranges from Boko Haram
jihadists in northern Nigeria,
said by local officials to have kidnapped at least 185 villagers in a
latest large-scale raid on Sunday, to the Islamists driven out of
Mali’s key northern towns by the
French army last year and now
holed up in the desert.
“The summit must define
the steps (to ensure) that AU’s
strategy for the Sahel, which has
three goals: governance, security
and development,” Abdel Aziz
said.
Experts attending the meeting said leaders would need to
consider measures for setting
up joint patrols by their security
forces.
Such “mixed units would
take the shape of groups of from
1,000 to 1,500 uniformed personnel”, including infantry units
and special forces, according to a
report drawn up by the experts.
Participants at the summit
will be discussing developments
in northern Mali, in Libya and
with regard to Boko Haram,
which has extended its bloody
activities beyond Nigerian soil,
notably into neighbouring Cameroon.
At the п¬Ѓrst International Forum on Peace and Security in
Africa, which ended on Tuesday
in the Senegalese capital Dakar,
the leaders of Chad, Mali and
Senegal called on Western states
to “finish the job” in Libya, by
attacking the jihadist sanctuary
in the south of the north African
nation, seen as a threat across
the Sahel.
Sierra Leone’s top
doctor dies of Ebola
Reuters
Freetown
S
ierra Leone’s leading
doctor died of Ebola yesterday, hours after the
arrival in the country of an
experimental drug that could
have been used to treat him,
the chief medical officer said.
Victor Willoughby was diagnosed with Ebola last week
after he treated a man with
organ-related problems. The
patient, a senior banker, was
later diagnosed with Ebola and
has since died.
The drug, ZMab, was transported in frozen form on a
Brussels Airlines flight that arrived overnight. But before it
could thaw, Willoughby’s condition deteriorated, said chief
medical officer Brima Kargbo.
His death brings to 12 the
number of Sierra Leone doc-
tors to have contracted the virus. Eleven have died.
In all, 142 health workers
have been infected with the
disease in the West African
country and 109 have died,
according to World Health Organisation (WHO) п¬Ѓgures.
Sierra Leone, neighbouring Guinea and Liberia are at
the heart of the world’s worst
recorded outbreak of Ebola.
Rates of infection are rising
fastest in Sierra Leone.
The overall death toll from
the epidemic has risen to 6,915
as of December 14, the WHO
said on Wednesday, adding
that the increase in cases in
Sierra Leone appeared to have
slowed.
Kargbo said Willoughby’s
death was the most tragic to hit
the country since the passing,
in July, of its only virologist and
Ebola specialist, Dr Shek Humar Khan.
8
Gulf Times
Friday, December 19, 2014
AMERICAS
Hackers trick their way into ICANN computers
AFP
San Francisco
T
he private agency that acts
as a gatekeeper for the Internet said on Wednesday
that hackers tricked their way
into its computers.
A “spearfishing” attack aimed
at US-based non-profit Internet Corporation for Assigned
Names and Numbers (ICANN)
hooked staff members with emails crafted to appear as though
they were sent from peers using
“icann.org” addresses, according
to a blog post.
“The attack resulted in the
compromise of the e-mail credentials of several ICANN staff
members,” the ICANN said.
It appeared that the attack
commenced in November.
Typically, spearfishing attacks
dupe people into clicking on links
to what appeared to be legitimate
e-mail log-in pages but aren’t
or open attached п¬Ѓles boobytrapped with viruses.
The ruse won hackers ICANN
e-mail user names and passwords, giving the intruders
control of accounts and keys to
reaching deeper, according to the
blog post.
User names and passwords
were used this month to access
a Centralised Zone Data System,
where hackers could get hold of
п¬Ѓles about generic top-level domains as well as names, addresses, passwords and other valuable
information about users, according to the ICANN.
Hackers were also said to have
used compromised passwords to
get into an ICANN wiki page; its
Sony blinks on
The Interview
Reuters
Los Angeles
S
ony Pictures has cancelled
the release of a comedy on
the п¬Ѓctional assassination
of North Korea’s leader, in what
appears to be an unprecedented
victory for Pyongyang and its
abilities to wage cyber-warfare.
Hackers who said they were
incensed by the п¬Ѓlm attacked
Sony Corporation last month,
leaking documents that drew
global headlines and distributing
unreleased п¬Ѓlms on the Internet.
The $44mn raunchy comedy,
The Interview, had been set to debut on December 25, Christmas
Day, on thousands of screens.
“Sony has no further release plans for the film,” a Sony
spokeswoman said on Wednesday when asked whether the
movie would be released later in
theatres or as video on demand.
Earlier in the day, Sony cancelled next week’s theatrical release, citing decisions by several
theatre chains to hold off showing the п¬Ѓlm.
The hacker group that broke
into Sony’s computer systems
had threatened attacks on theatres that planned to show it.
North Korea has denied it was
behind the hacking, but security
experts in Washington said it was
an open secret Pyongyang was
responsible.
“The North Koreans are probably tickled pink,” said Jim Lewis,
a senior fellow with the Centre
for Strategic and International
Studies. “Nobody has ever done
anything this blatant in terms of
political manipulation. This is a
new high.”
Sony came under immediate
criticism for the decision to pull
the movie.
“With the Sony collapse,
America has lost its first cyberwar. This is a very, very dangerous precedent,” said former
Republican House of Representatives speaker Newt Gingrich in a
Twitter post.
However, Sony’s shares closed
A security guard stands at the entrance of United Artists theatre during the premiere of the film
The Interview in Los Angeles in this December 11 file photo.
4.8% higher in Tokyo yesterday,
outperforming the 2.3% gain on
the Nikkei benchmark index, as
investors said there was hope the
movie’s cancellation would help
bring an end to the crisis.
“By not releasing the movie,
they won’t be hacked again. Investors think that from here on,
further damage probably won’t
be done,” said Makoto Kikuchi,
chief executive of Myojo Asset
Management. “Whether that
justifies a 5% jump in Sony’s
stock, I’m not so sure.”
Macquarie analyst Damian Thong estimated last week,
before the cancellation of The
Interview, that losses from the
hacking including online leaks
of other movies such as Fury and
Annie, would likely be around
ВҐ10bn ($84.41mn).
The worst case scenario, he
said, would be an impairment of
ВҐ25bn.
The п¬Ѓlm industry showed support for the п¬Ѓlm in various ways.
Hollywood п¬Ѓlmmakers and actors, many of them friends of The
Interview stars Seth Rogen and
James Franco, also criticised the
decision made by theatres and
Sony.
Texas cinema chain Alamo
Drafthouse said its Dallas-Fort
Worth theatre would show the
puppet-comedy Team America:
World Police in which a US paramilitary force try to foil a terrorist plot by late North Korean
leader Kim Jong Il.
The White House National
Security Council said the United
States was investigating the Sony
breach and would provide an update about who did it at the appropriate time.
“The US government is working tirelessly to bring the perpetrators of this attack to justice,
and we are considering a range of
options in weighing a potential
response,” NSC spokeswoman
Bernadette Meehan said, adding that the government was not
involved with Sony’s decision to
pull the п¬Ѓlm.
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) warned theatres
and other businesses associated
with The Interview on Tuesday
that they could be targeted in
cyber-attacks, according a copy
of the document reviewed by
Reuters.
Still, several US national security officials told Reuters that
the government had no credible
evidence of a physical threat to
moviegoers.
Sony said it was “deeply saddened at this brazen effort to
suppress the distribution of a
movie, and in the process do
damage to our company”.
The studio said it stood by the
п¬Ѓlm makers of The Interview.
blog, and a Whois index of registered owners of web addresses.
The blog and Whois did not
appear to have been tampered
with, according to the ICANN,
which provided no insight into
who was behind the attack.
The ICANN believed that security enhancements made earlier this year limited how deep
hackers could dive into its computers.
T
he
Boston
Marathon
bombing suspect, in his
п¬Ѓrst court appearance in
more than a year, told a judge
yesterday that he was satisfied
with his lawyers’ preparations for
the January start of his trial over
the deadly 2013 attack.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 21, was
dressed in a dark sweater and
wore his hair shaggy for his appearance at US District Court,
where he will be tried on charges
of killing three people and injuring more than 260 with two
homemade bombs at the race’s
crowded п¬Ѓnish line on April 15,
2013, as well as fatally shooting
a university police officer three
days later.
The defendant, who had
grown a light beard, appeared in a
courtroom packed with victims,
supporters and curious onlookers.
Tsarnaev looked alert and
healthy, showing no signs of the
injuries suffered during a gunbattle with police on the night
of April 18, 2013, that ended with
the death of his brother, Tamerlan, also accused with playing a
role in the attack.
In his prior court appearance,
in July 2013, Tsarnaev’s left arm
was in a cast and his face appeared swollen.
US District Judge George
O’Toole asked Tsarnaev if he was
satisfied with his defence attorneys in a series of questions
intended to avoid any post-trial
assertions that he was not provided a proper defence.
“Yes, your honour,” Tsarnaev
replied briefly to questions about
whether his attorneys were keeping him abreast of court developments.
He looked somewhat п¬Ѓdgety
during the 25-minute hearing.
O’Toole also said that many
of the court documents п¬Ѓled
under seal ahead of the trial will
be made public after the jury is
seated in January.
Tsarnaev faces the possibility
of execution if convicted in a trial
that is expected to run for three
months. The court plans to weed
through more than 1,000 people
to п¬Ѓnd 12 jurors and six alternates
to hear the case.
At the hearing’s conclusion,
Elena Teyer, 45, whose son-inlaw Ibragim Todashev was fatally
shot by FBI agents in Florida during an interview about his friendship with Tamerlan Tsarnaev
in the weeks after the bombing,
shouted support to Tsarnaev in
Russian.
Outside court, she translated her words for reporters as
“Dzhokhar, we know you’re innocent ... stay strong, son”.
A resident of Savannah, Georgia, Teyer said she had traveled to
Boston specifically for the hearing.
“You know how hard it is when
you have no one near you who is
going to support you,” Teyer said.
Yesterday’s hearing is the final pre-trial conference in Tsarnaev’s case.
In the weeks leading up to the
trial, prosecutors and defence attorneys are disputing a range of
issues including how much they
must disclose about the witnesses they plan to call.
The Tsarnaev brothers had
moved to the United States from
Russia’s restive Chechnya region
a decade before the attack.
Dzhokhar left a scrawled note
inside the dry-docked boat
where he was captured in Watertown, Massachusetts, a day after
the shootout, indicating that the
marathon attack had been motivated by US military campaigns
in Muslim countries.
Tsarnaev’s attorneys had asked
that the trial be held outside Boston, contending that since hundreds of thousands of spectators
attend the Boston Marathon, it
would be all but impossible to
AFP
Washington
A
judge in the southern
US state of South Carolina has thrown out the
conviction of a black teenager
executed 70 years ago for the
murder of two white girls.
George Stinney was 14 when
he became the youngest person
to undergo the death penalty in
the United States in the 20th
century.
He was so small, weighing 95
pounds (43kg), that he reportedly had to sit on a book in order to fit Old Sparky, the state’s
electric chair.
In a 29-page ruling on
Wednesday, South Carolina circuit court judge Carmen Tevis
Mullen said that “fundamental,
Constitutional violations of due
process” existed during Stinney’s prosecution.
“I can think of no greater injustice than a violation of one’s
Constitutional rights which has
been proven to me in this case
by a preponderance of the evidence,” she said.
Stinney was arrested after
Betty June Binnicker, 11, and
Mary Emma Thames, seven,
were found bludgeoned to death
in a ditch.
The girls had gone missing
while riding their bicycles in the
small, segregated lumber mill
town of Alcolu.
At his one-day trial, law enforcement claimed the teenager
confessed to their murder – although no written confession
exists in court records.
His white defence lawyer
summoned few or no witnesses,
conducted little if any cross-
George Stinney Jr is seen in an undated police booking photo
provided by the South Carolina Department of Archives and
History.
examination, and sought no
change of trial venue.
“It appears he did little to
nothing in defending Stinney,”
Mullen wrote.
An all-white jury convicted
Stinney in a matter of minutes,
yet his lawyer filed no appeal – a
move that would have stayed his
execution.
Trial documents don’t show
whether a murder weapon –
said to be a spike or an iron rod –
was ever entered into evidence,
Mullen noted.
As for Stinney’s supposed
confession, the judge said the
lawmen who grilled him “may
have been unduly suggestive,
unrestrained and non-compliant with the standards of criminal procedure”.
Stinney’s family had fled
town at the time, fearing retribution in a case that had in-
flamed local passions and ignited a blaze of publicity.
Stinney’s siblings, now in
their 70s and 80s, backed by a
team of lawyers, campaigned
for years for their brother’s case
to be reviewed.
“I’m just thrilled because it’s
overdue,” his sister Katherine
Stinney Robinson, 80, told the
Manning Times, which covers
the Alcolu area.
But the niece of Betty June
Binnicker told the newspaper
that she disagreed with the outcome.
“We all knew that Betty June
was murdered, how she was
murdered and who murdered
her. We kids grew up with that,”
Frankie Bailey Dyches said.
“They’re upset that he was
executed at such a young age,”
she said, adding: “That’s how
the law worked then.”
Canada seeks 50 millionaires
Reuters
Vancouver
C
anada is looking for 50
wealthy foreigners to
join a pilot run of an immigration programme for millionaires.
The federal government,
Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is shown in a
courtroom sketch during a pre-trial hearing yesterday at the federal
courthouse in Boston.
п¬Ѓnd an impartial panel of people
who had not been present the day
of the attack or known someone
who had been.
O’Toole had previously denied
that request, noting the court
had recently seated juries in other high-profile cases, including
the 2013 trial of former mob boss
James “Whitey” Bulger, who was
found guilty of racketeering and
murder.
On his way into court, one of
of US oversight late next year.
Washington said in March
that it might not renew its contract with the Los Angeles-based
agency, provided a new oversight
system is in place that ensures
the Internet addressing structure
is reliable.
The agency plans to submit a
proposal on oversight to the US
Department of Commerce next
year.
Seventy years on, US judge
clears executed black teen
Accused Boston bomber �satisfied’ with lawyers
Reuters
Boston
More defence measures have
been instituted since the hack,
according to the ICANN.
The organisation’s chief security officer is Jeff Moss, who
founded the notorious annual
DefCon gathering of hackers in
Las Vegas and has the hacker
name Dark Tangent.
The ICANN, which is in charge
of assigning Internet domain
names, is expected to break free
the bombing’s victims, Marc Fucarile, confronted a small group
of protesters who asserted the
evidence of the bombing was
fabricated.
Fucarile grabbed the prosthetic limb that replaced the right leg
he lost in the bombing, saying he
considered that proof enough.
Asked about the incident, Fucarile said, “They have a right to
their opinion, same as anybody
else.”
which scrapped its previous investor class visa earlier this year
amid criticism it was allowing
rich Chinese to buy their way
into Canada, will start accepting applicants for the new Immigrant Investor Venture Capital plan in January.
Under the new programme,
would-be immigrants will have
to invest a minimum of C$2mn
($1.7mn) in Canada for a 15year period and must have a net
worth of at least C$10 million,
the government said on Tuesday.
They must also meet a new
requirement that they speak
English or French, among other
criteria.
Doubts cast on cause of death for
suspect in Pennsylvania killings
The Iraq War veteran accused of killing his ex-wife and five of her
family members in Pennsylvania did not die of self-inflicted stab
wounds as had been previously reported, according to the county
coroner overseeing the autopsy.
Bradley William Stone, 35, of Pennsburg, Pennsylvania, was the
subject of a two-day manhunt after going on a killing spree that
spanned three towns outside Philadelphia.
His body was found on Tuesday.
“He was not stabbed, he was not shot, he was not beaten,” said
Montgomery County Coroner Joel Hoffman, who has not ruled out
a drug overdose as the cause of death.
Investigators say Stone used guns and cutting instruments to kill
his ex-wife, her mother, grandmother, sister, 14-year-old niece and
sister’s husband.
His ex-wife’s 17-year-old nephew survived the Monday attacks after
barricading himself in a bedroom, according to court documents,
but was severely wounded.
Shortly after his body was found, the Montgomery County district
attorney overseeing the investigation, Risa Vetri Ferman, said that
Stone died of self-inflicted cutting wounds.
Stone’s body was found in a wooded area in New Hanover
Township.
Uber driver in Boston charged
A driver for ride-sharing company Uber in Boston was charged with
the kidnapping and rape of a woman who used the service earlier
this month.
The driver, Alejandro Done, pleaded not guilty in Cambridge
District Court on Wednesday, the Boston Globe reported.
The incident allegedly took place on December 6, according to a
statement from the office of Middlesex district attorney.
The driver had passed a background check, Uber spokeswoman
Kaitlin Durkosh told Reuters.
“Uber has been working closely with law enforcement and will
continue to do everything we can to assist their investigation,” she
said.
Uber has been banned in several cities in India following an alleged
rape of a passenger who booked its service in New Delhi.
Gulf Times
Friday, December 19, 2014
9
ASEAN
Tsunami survivors
get a second chance
AFP
Aceh
Cambodia
probe into
mass HIV
infection
R
usli Abdul Rahman and Fardhiah
had been neighbours for years when
the Asian tsunami devastated their
small community in Indonesia’s Aceh,
killing both their spouses and their eight
children.
But they found a second chance at happiness by remarrying each other and having a son—one of the many new families
formed in the aftermath of a natural disaster that killed tens of thousands a decade ago. Fardhiah, 50, now lives in a house
surrounded by photos of her lost relatives,
said she grieved for months after the tsunami but then realised: “I must start a new
life.
“Perhaps God saved me so that I could
be useful to other people.”
The tsunami ripped apart the tightly
woven social fabric in Aceh province, killing husbands and wives, sons and daughters, and forcing survivors together in
ways that would have previously seemed
unimaginable.
Almost 170,000 people were killed in
Indonesia, the vast majority in Aceh, when
waves up to 35m high flattened coastal
communities following a monster undersea earthquake off Sumatra island.
In total, about 220,000 people were
killed in countries around the Indian
Ocean when the quake and tsunami hit on
December 26, 2004.
Muhamed Zubedy Koteng, who worked
with UNICEF on child protection in Aceh
after the tsunami, said that forming new
families was an effective way for many to
“cure their trauma” and help them “deal
with their loneliness and overcome the
sorrow of losing their loved ones”.
Some, such as labourer Syukri, helped
youngsters left orphaned by the disaster.
While wandering desperately round shelters looking for his missing brother, he
Prime minister Hun Sen.
AFP
Phnom Penh
Rusli Abdul Rahman and his wife Fardhiah.
spotted an abandoned baby boy lying in
the undergrowth.
“I saw him lying in the bushes, with a
swollen stomach and head, and scabs on
his body,” the 45-year-old, who goes by one
name, told AFP. He took him in and a decade
later, the boy remains part of Syukri’s family
with his other children and wife.
But his case also illustrates how the
trauma of the past can still come back to
haunt people—it was only during a recent
interview with AFP that Syukri revealed to
his son that he was adopted.
“I have kept this a secret because I was
afraid he might feel disappointed, but it’s
time he knows the truth,” he said, as the
youngster broke down in a flood of tears on
hearing the news.
Other cases show that forming new
families is not always straightforward,
and they risk being torn apart if survivors
somehow manage to п¬Ѓnd relatives who
were thought to have been killed.
Raudhatul Jannah was swept away by the
tsunami aged just four and was given up for
dead by her family. But in August, she was
spotted walking through a village by her
uncle, and reunited with her parents.
While her birth parents were delighted,
the development meant that an elderly
woman who had been raising her for the
past decade was suddenly left without her
adopted daughter.
For most however, new additions to the
family were welcome in the dark days after the tsunami when tens of thousands
were forced into overcrowded shelters for
months, often years, and had to rely on
handouts from international aid agencies.
“At that time, we lived day to day and
never thought we had a future,” said Anisah, who survived with her family, but
then found herself with three extra mouths
to feed when she took in her two teenage
siblings and orphaned niece.
And the vast majority are grateful for
the chance of a new start after such a devastating natural disaster.
“We have come so far,” said Wahidah, a
30-year-old housewife who remarried after her husband was killed and goes by one
name. “I just hope there won’t be another
tsunami to take away our second chance at
life with our new families too.”
Thai floods
C
ambodian prime minister Hun Sen yesterday
ordered a probe into an
apparent mass HIV infection
believed to have been spread
by contaminated needles, as
the number of suspected cases
passed 100.
Hundreds of panicked residents of the remote Roka village in western Battambang
province have flocked for testing since news of the infections emerged last week, with
health officials saying a total
of 106 people may have been
infected.
“I call for a thorough investigation into the issue,” Hun
Sen said in a televised speech,
urging tests of the equipment
used to verify the patients
have contracted HIV.
Teams from the kingdom’s
Ministry of Health and the
World Health Organization
(WHO) and UNAIDS have
been at the site since Tuesday
to review the alarmingly high
number of positive results and
offer free—and voluntary—
testing.
“I urge everyone to stay
calm and avoid listening to or
spreading rumours,” minister
of health Mam Bunheng said
in a statement.
“We should also fully respect the privacy of the affected families and ensure they do
not face stigma and discrimination.”
The outbreak, in the village of around 800 residents,
emerged in late November
when a 74-year-old Roka man
tested positive at a local health
centre for the virus, swiftly
followed by his grand-daughter and son-in-law, the ministry said.
The spotlight then moved to
all of the patients—including
teenagers—of an unlicensed
local doctor, whom villagers
suspect of spreading the virus
through contaminated needles.
Local media reports said
the self-appointed doctor
has been questioned by police.
Mean Chhi Vun, director of
the health ministry’s National
Center for HIV/Aids, Dermatology and STDs, said health
experts were double-checking
the results.
“We need to do more confirmation tests,” he told AFP.
Cambodia has been widely
hailed for its efforts in tackling
HIV/Aids.
The National Aids Authority says the rate of HIV infection among people aged 15 to
49 has declined from 0.6% in
2013 to 0.4 in 2014.
Currently, Cambodia estimates more than 73,000 people live with the disease.
The country is aiming for a
zero-percent HIV/Aids infection rate by 2020.
Indonesian police
kill hostage-taker
DPA
Jakarta
P
Thai women wade through floodwater after heavy rains triggered flash floods in the southern city of Narathiwat. Parts of southern Thailand have experienced floods in
recent days after heavy rains hit the region.
olice in Indonesia’s
East Java province
have shot dead a man
who took a young girl hostage and demanded military
protection from debt collectors, media reports said
yesterday.
Fuad Ahmad grabbed a
student from an elementary
school, held her at knifepoint and took her to a nearby military base in Gresik
district on Wednesday, the
Jakarta Post reported.
He demanded military
protection, saying someone
had threatened to kill him
unless he paid his debt from
an online football bet, the
report said.
The military agreed to
meet his demand, but while
driving to another location
the police were able to free
the hostage and shoot the
man twice, killing him instantly, the report said.
The girl was injured and
needed to be hospitalised.
Myanmar says workers are innocent of murder
Reuters
Yangon
M
yanmar investigators said yesterday they believe two Myanmar
men accused of murdering two
British tourists in Thailand are innocent,
but witnesses who might be able to prove
their innocence will not testify as they fear
the Thai police.
Hannah Witheridge, 23, and David Miller, 24, were found dead on September 15 on
a beach on the southern Thai island of Koh
Tao. Post-mortem examinations showed
both suffered severe head wounds and
Witheridge was raped.
The murders dealt a blow to Thailand’s
vital tourism industry, which is struggling
to recover after months of political unrest
and a May 22 coup, and the government
called on police to solve the case quickly.
Myanmar migrant workers Zaw Lin and
Win Phyo, both 21, initially confessed to
the murders but later retracted their confessions saying they had been beaten and
threatened by Thai police.
But Thai police deny those accusations
and say they have solid evidence, including
DNA evidence, against the two men who
were arrested in October.
A committee set up by Myanmar’s embassy in Thailand to investigate the case
said they had interviewed about 40 Myanmar nationals who were working on Koh
Tao at the time of the murders.
Some of those interviewed were “strong
witnesses” who might provide evidence to
exonerate the accused, said Kyaw Thaung,
who heads the committee, but they were
reluctant to testify and had returned to Myanmar for fear of being implicated in the
crime.
“If they go to court and speak as witnesses, they’ll have problems with the Thai police and Thai bosses,” Kyaw Thaung told re-
porters in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city.
Thai police major general Suwat Jaengyordsuk, defended the investigation, which
he led, and said Myanmar was welcome to
present witnesses.
The two pleaded not guilty on December
8 to charges including conspiracy to commit murder and rape. The п¬Ѓrst hearing in
the case will take place on December 26.
“Whatever the Thai government decides in this case, we believe these two
young people did not commit this crime,”
said Htoo Chit, the Myanmar committee’s
spokesman.
International rights groups urged the
Myanmar government yesterday to drop
criminal charges against an activist who
accused the army of killing his teenage
daughter.
Six organisations, including Human
Rights Watch, Amnesty International and
Fortify Rights, sent an open letter earlier
this month to president Thein Sein, urging
an investigation into 14-year-old Ja Seng
Ing’s death, Fortify Rights said in a statement.
“The authorities should punish soldiers
who commit crimes, not retaliate against
individuals like [Ja Seng Ing’s father] Brang
Shawng who seek truth and justice,” said
Matthew Smith, executive director of Fortify Rights.
The military says Ja Seng Ing was killed
by a mine belonging to the Kachin Independence Army, The Irrawadddy newspaper reported. Kachin groups say she was
shot by soldiers during a military incursion
into the area.
Prosecution was launched against Brang
Shawng in March 2013, several months after he sent a letter to the Myanmar Human
Rights Commission saying army soldiers
shot and killed his daughter on September
13, 2012. “The human rights commission
is duty-bound to address this injustice but
has so far remained silent,” Smith said.
Htoo Chit, Aung Myo Thant and Kyaw Thaung of a committee set
up by Myanmar’s embassy in Thailand to investigate the Koh Tao
murders address the media at Orchid hotel in Yangon.
10
Gulf Times
Friday, December 19, 2014
AUSTRALASIA/EAST ASIA
WEATHER
CRIME
DECISION
INQUIRY
LAW AND ORDER
Heavy snow kills five,
disrupts travel in Japan
TV actor charged with
103 child sex offences
Asylum-seeker babies
to stay in Australia
Policeman probed over
wrongful execution of teen
Police chief who let
off drunk son charged
At least five people have died in heavy snow
that has blanketed swathes of Japan, reports
said yesterday, with more than two metres lying
in some places and more forecast. Two elderly
women were killed on the northernmost island
of Hokkaido, Kyodo News reported, with one
hit by a snow-plough and another buried when
a warehouse collapsed under the weight of
fallen snow. Two men, meanwhile, died in traffic
accidents on snow-bound roads. Another man, 68,
was discovered dead outside his home in Niigata.
There was also widespread disruption to travel,
with around 100 domestic flights cancelled, adding
to the 450 that were grounded on Wednesday.
Australian actor Jeremy Kewley
was charged with 103 child sex
offences in a Melbourne court
yesterday. Kewley, 54, allegedly
invited boys for screen tests in
2011, where he touched them
inappropriately, news reports said,
citing police. He is best known
for roles in the popular Australian
soap opera Neighbours and crime series Janus.
Images of young boys were also allegedly found on
his computer, the broadcaster ABC reported, citing a
police statement to the court. The actor was allowed
bail and will appear in court again in March.
Thirty-one babies born to asylum-seeker
parents in Australia will be allowed to stay in
the country in a “one-off” arrangement, the
immigration minister said yesterday, stressing
the government’s hardline stance against boat
arrivals “remains in full effect”. Scott Morrison
said the babies and their families would not
be sent back to the government detention
centre on the Pacific island of Nauru while their
refugee claims are assessed. “Along with those
31 babies, I am also allowing their immediate
family members to have their protection
claims assessed in Australia,” Morrison said in a
statement.
Chinese authorities are investigating a senior
policeman in the Inner Mongolia region for
his role in the wrongful execution in 1996 of a
teenager, who was exonerated this week for
the rape and murder of a woman. Thousands of
people have in recent days urged the government
to investigate and punish the officials responsible
for the wrongful conviction of Huugjilt. A retrial
found that Huugjilt, then 18, was wrongly
convicted of raping and killing a woman. The
Xinhua state news agency said prosecutors
were investigating the deputy director of the
Hohhot Public Security Bureau, Feng Zhiming, on
suspicion of “crimes committed in duty”.
The former police chief of a Chinese city has been
charged with corruption, state media said, after he
was sacked for allowing his son to be set free after
attacking a policeman while drunk. Li Yali was the
top police officer in Taiyuan until last year, when
footage of his son’s drunken violence went viral on
the Internet. Police stopped the son, Li Zhengyuan,
on suspicion of driving while drunk in October
2012. He attacked one of the police officers who
then walked him home instead of arresting him.
A investigation found that Li Yali had abused his
power while handling his son’s case, and he had
been arrested and charged with accepting bribes,
the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Shame in
China as village
votes to expel
boy with HIV
AFP
Beijing
T
he plight of an eightyear-old Chinese boy
with HIV, reportedly
ordered to leave his village by
200 petitioners, sparked intense online soul-searching
yesterday in a country where
discrimination against sufferers remains rife.
The boy’s guardian, his
grandfather, was among those
in southwestern Sichuan province who signed an agreement
to expel the child to “protect villagers’ health”, the Global Times
reported.
The newspaper, which has
close ties to the ruling Communist Party, said the boy contracted the virus from his mother.
The case has highlighted the
stigma attached to the disease
in China, where many sufferers
face widespread discrimination.
“The villagers sympathise
with him, he is innocent,
and only a small child. But
his Aids is too scary for us”
Previous reports said the boy
- who was given the pseudonym Kunkun by Chinese media - was refused admission
to local schools and villagers
would avoid contact with him.
“Nobody plays (with me), I play
alone,” Kunkun said, according to a report Wednesday on
the website of the People’s Daily
newspaper.
The website also said Kunkun
was referred to as a “time bomb”
in the petition.
“The villagers sympathise
with him, he is innocent, and
only a small child. But his Aids
is too scary for us,” Wang Yishu,
party chief of Shufangya village,
told the website.
The Global Times said the
boy’s mother left the family in
2006, while his father “lost contact” after Kunkun’s condition
was diagnosed.
Kunkun sneaked into a specially-convened meeting held
earlier this month by villagers to
discuss how they would banish
him, the report added.
High ranking officials from
the township government said
“legally speaking” the boy could
not be expelled, and that he has
the same rights as other villagers, the newspaper said.
“Officials plan to visit the village and speak with the villagers”, it added, while the People’s
Daily website said “ideological
work” would be carried out in
the village. It was unclear late
yesterday whether Kunkun was
still in his village.
The case has sparked much
debate on China’s Twitter-like
Sina Weibo, where it was the
most widely-discussed topic
early yesterday, with many asking how people could be so coldhearted towards the child.
“Why was he ruthlessly neglected, it is so unfair to him,”
said a post by one user. “This is
because the Chinese population
cannot get enough education,
causing ignorance and panic,”
said another.
Figures released earlier this
month by China’s National
Health and Family Planning
Commission showed that a total
of 497,000 people in China have
been diagnosed with HIV/Aids
since the country’s first case in
1985.
China has a population of
1.36bn.
Discrimination against those
with the virus remains an issue
at schools, hospitals, workplaces
and other establishments across
the country, a factor that experts
say hampers efforts to diagnose
and treat it.
Knowledge of HIV/Aids in
worse in poor, rural areas, such
as the community Kunkun is
from, experts say. Attempts by
authorities to educate these
populations about discrimination often fail, a campaigner who
would only give his surname as
Tang said.
Bushfires in Victoria
Country Fire Authority (CFA) firefighters work to mop up a fire near Mia Mia in Victoria, Australia, yesterday. Bushfires have been burning in north Eastern Victoria
and are believed to have started from lightning strikes.
South Korea refuses to
service F-35s in Japan
Reuters
Washington/Seoul
S
outh Korea yesterday said
it will not send its F-35
fleet to Japan for heavy
airframe maintenance, one of
the two Asian hubs chosen by
the US to service the Lockheed
Martin stealth п¬Ѓghter.
Instead, it is likely to fly the
jets to Australia for maintenance, about eight times further away than Japan and well
beyond their operating range.
The three nations, all key US
allies, are the only countries in
the region to have ordered the
F-35s.
The F-35 programme has been
Brawl on plane prompts
debate on travel decorum
DPA
Beijing
T
wo women brawled on a
Hong Kong-bound flight
yesterday, local media reported, becoming the most recent in a series of airline travel
incidents that has sparked an
outpouring of self-scrutiny from
Chinese citizens and state media.
Prompted by an argument
among passengers on a China
Airlines flight about a noisy child
and seating arrangements, the
two women hit and shoved each
other and nearly forced an emergency landing.
The morning flight was en route
from Chonqging to Hong Kong,
and commenters on media sites
such as the Chongqing Morning
Post decried what they saw as a
pattern of rude behaviour.
On Sunday, a passenger on a
flight from Hangzhou to Chengdu
opened the emergency exit of a
plane preparing for takeoff because he wanted to get some fresh
air, according to news reports.
The airline decided not to
punish the man, who was re-
portedly a first-time flier.
In the worst incident in recent
weeks, a flight attendant on Thai
AirAsia airline was scalded after
noodles in hot water were flung
at her by a Chinese tourist, who
was angry about not getting a receipt for her purchase.
The tourist was accompanied
by three others, one of whom
later threatened to blow up the
aircraft because the group of four
could not be seated together.
A flight attendant on Thai
AirAsia airline was scalded
after noodles in hot water
were flung at her by a
Chinese tourist
Passengers on the flight endured a five-hour delay after the
pilot was forced to return to the
airport in Bangkok to make an
emergency landing.
Chinese state media condemned the Thai AirAsia incident, with the state-run China
Daily newspaper saying they
“behaved liked barbarians” and
urging the episode to serve as a
lesson for “all Chinese to behave
properly to get respect”.
Thousands of Internet users
joined in berating the passengers, calling the incident an embarrassment. One commenter
said on the microblogging site
Weibo that the group “made us
lose face from inside the country
to the whole universe.”
But another Internet user said
the unruly individuals shouldn’t
represent the image of all Chinese people. “However, we have
to face the impact caused by those
rude actions by a few Chinese, and
think about how to improve Chinese image through everyone’s efforts,” the commenter said.
Other commenters said chronic delays and flight traffic congestion as well as inexperience
with air travel could be reasons
for frequent reports of erratic or
dangerous behaviour on planes.
On Wednesday state media
reported that Beijing had won
approval to build a new airport
that will enable the capital to
handle 72mn more passengers
each year. The new airport will
be the third in the city and is
expected to help address rising
demand for air transport among
China’s growing middle class.
lauded as an example of the US
and its allies working together
to bolster inter-operability, but
in Asia the maintenance plan is
bringing traditional rivalry between Seoul and Tokyo to the
fore.
The three-star air force general who runs the F-35 programme for the US, Chris
Bogdan, told reporters on
Wednesday that Japan would
handle heavy maintenance for
the jets in the northern Pacific
from early 2018, with Australia
to handle maintenance in the
southern Pacific.
“There will never be a case
where our п¬Ѓghter jets will be
taken to Japan for maintenance,” said an official at South
Korea’s arms procurement
agency, the Defence Acquisition
Programme Administration.
“South Korea has the right to
decide where to conduct maintenance for its F-35 jets, and it
will decide whenever the need
arises.”
The plan at the moment is for
the 40 F-35s to be acquired by
South Korea to be serviced in
Australia, an Australian defence
ministry source said on condition he wasn’t identified.
South Korea will receive the
п¬Ѓrst of the stealth planes in 2018.
A source familiar with the
F-35 programme said South
Korea could, at a later stage,
negotiate with Washington on
the possibility of handling the
Poster trial
heavy maintenance of its own
F-35 jets.
Such a deal would require a
significant investment by Seoul,
including specialised equipment
used to test the jets’ stealth.
However, barring unforseen circumstances, the new jets would
not require much heavy maintenance until п¬Ѓve years after their
delivery, said the source.
Heavy maintenance involves
repairs that get into the structure of the airplanes.
“At the moment the regional
hub in Japan will deal with the
42 Japanese F-35s, we will discuss with the Pentagon what
others will be handled in Japan,”
Katsuyuki Komatsu,, the deputy director of the aircraft divi-
Counter-terrorism
raids across Sydney
AFP
Sydney
A
New Zealand citizen Philip Blackwood (centre) is escorted
by Myanmar policemen after his hearing at a court,
Yangon, Myanmar, yesterday. Two staff and a manager of a
Yangon bar were in court yesterday on charges of insulting
Buddhism a week after their bar was shut down for using an
image of the Buddha to promote an event.
sion at Japan’s ministry of defence said at a briefing in Tokyo.
That discussion, he said
would cover the F-35s to be operated by South Korea and those
to be flown by the US from bases
in northeast Asia.
Bogdan said the F-35 programme office would re-examine the maintenance assignments every two to three years,
providing opportunities for
other countries with F-35s to
benefit from a market valued
at billions of dollars in coming years. The $399bn weapons
programme, has already produced 120 jets with the US and
foreign militaries gearing up to
start operating the jets around
the world in coming years.
ustralian police late
yesterday
searched
several
properties
across Sydney, reportedly as
part of an ongoing counterterrorism investigation but
not related to the deadly cafe
siege earlier this week, officials said.
New South Wales police said
the raids were unconnected to
the 16-hour standoff at a Sydney cafe on Monday that left
the lone gunman, self-styled
cleric Man Haron Monis, and
two hostages dead, but would
not provide further details
about the operation.
“The Australian Federal
Police and New South Wales
police can confirm that they
conducted search warrants
yesterday in Sydney as part
of an ongoing operation,” a
spokeswoman said.
“As this activity remains
ongoing and to ensure the
safety and security of the
operation and members involved, it is not appropriate
to provide further details at
this time.”
The spokeswoman could
also not confirm local media
reports that one of the homes
raided had also been searched
by police during large-scale
counter-terrorism raids across
the country in September.
Australia raised its terror
threat level in September on
growing concern about militants returning from п¬Ѓghting
in Iraq and Syria.
On Monday, a 25-year-old
man was arrested as part of
ongoing investigations into
plans for an attack on Australian soil, the federal police
said. A 22-year-old already
facing a charge of preparing for a terrorist act was also
charged with funding terrorism. “Police will allege that
men were key facilitators in the
movement of funds that paid
for Australians to travel to the
Middle East to п¬Ѓght with the
Islamic State,” federal police
said. “Police allege the men
made available to a terrorist
organisation
approximately
A$15,000 (US$12,300) in funds
in August this year.”
Gulf Times
Friday, December 19, 2014
11
BRITAIN
OPINION
TRIAL
PROPOSAL
OFFBEAT
FINDINGS
Govt �disagrees’
with EU visas ruling
Mirror reporter spared
jail over phone hacking
May calls for police bail
to be limited to 28 days
Priest sorry for denying
Santa existence to children
Govt �sold Royal Mail too
cheaply, but not by much’
The government disagrees with a ruling by
the European Union’s Supreme Court which
yesterday said its visa system for the family
members of EU citizens was illegal, Prime Minister
David Cameron’s spokesman said. The European
Court of Justice said Britain could no longer
require entry visas in advance for non-EU citizens
who are family members of EU citizens and hold
a residence permit from another EU state. “We
argued against this in the court and so we clearly
disagree with the outcome,” the spokesman told
reporters. He said the government would wait
until a ruling on the issue from the British High
Court before deciding how to respond.
A former Sunday Mirror journalist avoided
prison yesterday over hacking the voicemails
of a soap star, after he came forward to confess
to police. Graham Johnson, 46, pleaded guilty
at the Old Bailey to listening to up to 30 of the
star’s messages in an attempt to investigate
whether she was having an affair with a gangster
in 2001. Since then, he has written to apologise
to the actress. He was sentenced to two months
imprisonment suspended for 12 month and must
pay ВЈ300 in prosecution costs. Johnson, from
Greenwich, who worked at the Sunday Mirror
between 1997 and 2006, told police he had been
instructed to hack phones by a senior colleague.
Theresa May has announced plans to put a 28day time limit on police bail, following concerns
that people were being left in legal limbo as
proceedings dragged on for months or years.
The home secretary said it В«cannot be right
that people can spend months or even years
on pre-charge bail with no oversightВ» as she
launched a consultation on the time limit. It
proposes that the 28-day limit could be extended
in exceptional circumstances only, through an
application to a magistrates› court. May said: «I
believe we need a statutory time limit in place
to ensure people do not spend months or even
years on bail, only for no charges to be brought.
An Anglican priest has apologised to parents
for telling schoolchildren there is no Santa
Claus at a church service. Reverend Margaret
McPhee asked children at St Mary’s Church
in the town of Stalham about the meaning of
Christmas during a choir concert. When one
child said “Father Christmas,” she replied that
he was make-believe and not real. “As soon
as the words came out of my mouth I knew
I’d made a huge mistake,” the Norfolk Eastern
Daily Press quoted McPhee as saying. “I really
regret it and the upset it has caused to those
who were there and whoever has since heard
about it.
Shares in Royal Mail postal service should have
been sold at a higher price when the firm was
privatised last year, but the lost revenue was
lower than previous estimates, a governmentcommissioned report said yesterday. Lord
Myners, a former Labour minister commissioned
to see if the government could improve the way
it sells public assets, said yesterday that Royal
Mail could have raised up to ВЈ180mn more for
the public purse. The high profile public offering
of a 60% stake in Royal Mail was trumpeted as a
success by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat
coalition, but it has drawn fierce criticism from
the opposition Labour party and trade unions.
Farage’s poll
ratings dive
after rows
and scandal
London Evening Standard
London
N
igel Farage’s personal
ratings have crashed
to a record low in the
п¬Ѓrst leader poll since Ukip was
rocked by a sex scandal and
dirty tricks rows.
Pollsters Ipsos MORI found
that net satisfaction with
Farage’s performance as party
chief has plummeted 14 points
since November, to minus 20.
It is the п¬Ѓrst sign that the
honeymoon between Ukip’s
leader and voters is being
harmed by infighting and vicious briefing wars in its high
command.
“Ukip has had a pretty
remarkable year. If we are
now ending on a slightly
softer note then it is
perhaps not surprising”
The public, who have previously scored Farage higher
than the leaders of the bigger
parties, are currently almost
as dissatisfied with him on
balance as they are with Prime
Minister David Cameron.
Ukip’s share of the national
vote has also slipped for the
second month in a row —
down from 16% in October to
13% now.
Farage shrugged off the bad
news, saying: “It’s a volatile
market.” But the anti-EU party has had a torrid time since
its historic double by-election
victories at Clacton and at Rochester and Strood.
Farage caused uproar by
suggesting that breastfeeding
mothers could be asked to “sit
in the corner” to avoid offending others. He also blamed M4
delays on immigration.
Ukip suspended general
secretary Roger Bird after
would-be candidate Nata-
sha Bolter claimed he propositioned her. However, her
claims were undermined by
intimate texts and a denial by
Oxford University that she had
been a student there.
In another fiasco, party
grandee Neil Hamilton withdrew from a selection contest at Basildon when a row
over his expenses claims was
leaked. Then the man who
replaced him, Kerry Smith,
quit when a tape of racist
remarks was passed to the
press.
Farage said: “Ukip has had
a pretty remarkable year. If we
are now ending on a slightly
softer note then it is perhaps
not surprising.”
Ukip’s setbacks will raise
hopes among Tory and Labour
MPs that their giant-killer rival has peaked. However, the
election battle remains a “war
of the weak”, with all three big
parties marooned on dismal
vote shares.
The Conservatives are unchanged on 32%, with Labour
still on 29% and the Liberal
Democrats again at nine. Ukip
are down a point on November.
The Greens are the biggest climbers, up two points
in a month to nine — the best
result recorded so far for Natalie Bennett’s party, which
achieved only 1% at the 2010
election.
Their rise will alarm Labour
leader Ed Miliband, who recently appointed senior lieutenant Sadiq Khan to oversee
the threat posed by the environmentalist party in key
marginals.
Ipsos MORI’s head of political research Gideon Skinner
said: “One of the themes of
the year has been the rise of
the �other’ parties as a mirror
to the weakness of the traditional three”.
Fracking protest
Fashion designer and activist Vivienne Westwood delivers a Christmas card to Prime Minister David Cameron to highlight how the dangerous effects of fracking are
compared to asbestos in London yesterday. According to activists, fracking bears unforeseeable risks when new technologies are applied too quickly, similar to asbestos and
others. Environmentalists are deeply hostile to fracking, contending that the bores are likely to release chemicals into aquifers and ruin them.
Child abuse inquiry
probing three murders
London Evening Standard
London
D
etectives investigating
an alleged VIP paedophile ring are examining
claims that three young boys
were murdered during a decade
of child abuse, police revealed
for the п¬Ѓrst time yesterday.
Scotland Yard said officers are
probing serious allegations of
abuse at locations across London and the Home Counties,
including “military premises”.
The claims are based on evi-
Comedian offers to buy
angry bank worker lunch
London Evening Standard
London
R
ussell Brand yesterday
apologised to an RBS
worker for ruining his
paella lunch when he tried to
storm the bank’s headquarters
in protest against its “shady
shyster” bosses.
The comedian activist was
labelled a “puerile prancing
multi-millionaire” after staging the “futile publicity stunt”
on Friday, which left staff
locked out of the building.
In an open letter to Brand
written after the incident,
business analyst Joseph Kynaston Reeves, 40, said the
only thing to suffer was his
paella, which went cold as he
could not get back to his desk
to eat it.
Brand, 39, has now offered
to buy him lunch to make up
for it.
But he renewed his attack on
RBS and the п¬Ѓnancial services
industry in a lengthy post on
his Facebook page.
He said: “I’d like to say sorry
for your paella getting cold.
It’s not nice to suffer because
of actions that are nothing
to do with you. I imagine the
disabled people of our country... hit with £6bn of benefit cuts during the period that
RBS received ВЈ46bn of public
bail-out money feel similarly
cheesed off.
“I can’t apologise for the
RBS lockdown though mate
because I don’t have the authority to close great big institutions — even ones found
guilty of criminal activity.”
He added: “Jo, I owe you
an apology and I’d like to take
you for a hot paella to make up
for the one that went cold though you could say that was
actually the fault of the shady
shysters who nicked the wedge
and locked you out, I’d rather
err on the side of caution.”
Brand had demanded an
audience with chief executive Ross McEwan, while being п¬Ѓlmed by director Michael
Winterbottom for a documentary.
Kynaston Reeves was п¬Ѓlmed
remonstrating with him, saying he and other “ordinary
admin” staff could not get into
the building in Bishopsgate
because the crew had sparked
a security alert.
Later, in the letter which
spread
online,
Kynaston
Reeves accused the comedian
of “bullying” tactics and attacking the wrong people. He
wrote: “What were you hoping to achieve? Did you think
a pack of traders might gallop
through reception, laughing maniacally as they threw
burning banknotes in the
air..?”
In his response, Brand added: “It’s hard to get to the men
at the top so we were forced
into door-stopping and inadvertent lunch spoiling.
“This film and... correspondence will reach hundreds
of thousands of people and
they’ll learn how they’re being conned by the financial industry... that’s got to be a good
thing, even if it makes me look
a bit of a twit in the process
and the national dish of Spain
is eaten sub-par.” An RBS
spokesman said Mr Kynaston
Reeves was a contractor rather
than a bank employee, and declined to comment further.
dence from a key witness who
says he was abused from the age
of seven till he was 16 between
1975 and 1984.
Police yesterday appealed for
other possible victims to come
forward. One senior officer said:
“I will believe you, support you
and do everything in my power
to п¬Ѓnd those responsible and
bring them to justice.”
Much of the abuse is alleged
to have taken place at an address
in Dolphin Square, Pimlico - a
luxury block of flats popular
with MPs. The allegations are
understood to relate to sexual
abuse by a paedophile ring with
links to government, spy chiefs
and prominent military п¬Ѓgures.
The key witness, known as
Nick, is said to have given details of three murders — including extraordinary claims that he
witnessed a boy being strangled
to death by a Tory MP. Another
child was said to have been deliberately run over and a third
killed in front of a government
minister.
Scotland Yard confirmed yesterday it was examining allegations of sexual abuse that were
linked to the murders of three
Lawrence wax figure
young boys. Police did not give
further details about the murders and said officers had not
recovered a body.
Detectives said they had spoken to the families of two boys
— Martin Allen and Vishal Mehrotra — who disappeared after being abducted in London,
though there was no evidence
their deaths were linked to the
new inquiry.
Police launched the probe,
Operation Midland, in November with a joint unit of detectives from the Homicide and
Major Crime Command and
Osborne claims on EU
budget row rubbished
Reuters
London
F
Wardrobe assistant Luisa Compobassi puts the finishing touches
to a new wax figure of US actress Jennifer Lawrence dressed
as the character Katniss Everdeen from the Hunger Games
film franchise as it is unveiled at Madame Tussauds in central
London yesterday.
the Child Abuse Investigation
Command. It stemmed from
an earlier inquiry examining
historical claims of child sex
abuse at the Elm Guest House,
Barnes.
Yesterday detective superintendent Kenny McDonald,
in charge of the investigation,
said: “I want to appeal directly
to those other young boys, now
men, who were also subject
to abuse at the hands of these
men. I know that there were
other boys who were abused,
or who were present while the
abuse took place”.
inance Minister George
Osborne was criticised
by the head of a parliamentary committee for claiming victory in a row with the
European Union over an unexpected bill that triggered a
diplomatic bust up with EU
officials.
In November a statistical review of national income
data generated a 2.1bn euro
bill that caught Prime Minster
David Cameron by surprise,
provoking a furious response.
The row inflamed tensions
with Cameron’s European
counterparts and agitated the
rebellious Eurosceptic wing
of his Conservative party at
a time when rising anti-EU
sentiment among voters has
forced Britain to contemplate
leaving the bloc.
Osborne later claimed success in the budget battle, saying Britain would pay only half
of what Brussels demanded,
but EU officials said payment
had not been reduced, only
offset, and domestic political
rivals accused Osborne of deception.
Osborne has now been criticised by parliament’s Treasury Select Committee, which
said the reduction was down
to a rebate that was due to be
paid anyway.
“It seems to me ... the bottom line didn’t change a
scrap,” said committee chairman Andrew Tyrie, a Conservative lawmaker and respected former Treasury
minister whose criticism will
come as an embarrassment to
Osborne.
Giving evidence to the session scrutinising his department, Osborne disagreed,
saying that it had not been
clear the rebate, which cut the
bill by around a billion euros,
was due to be disbursed. He
maintained that he had successfully fought to protect the
British taxpayer.
“Having looked at the papers it seems to me pretty clear,
and I’m surprised that you feel
... that it wasn’t really clear,”
Tyrie said to senior Treasury
official Mark Bowman who appeared before the committee
alongside Osborne.
12
Gulf Times
Friday, December 19, 2014
EUROPE
Eye on Russia, Ukraine
takes step to join Nato
AFP
Kiev
U
kraine’s president openly
challenged the Kremlin
yesterday by submitting
a bill allowing the former Soviet
republic to join Nato and make
the Western alliance its defender
from Russian threats.
The high-stakes decision is
certain to provoke a Kremlin
outcry and may further complicate the fate of delicate peace
talks between Kiev and Russianbacked gunmen tentatively
scheduled for Sunday.
President Petro Poroshenko’s
measure would revoke Ukraine’s
non-aligned status – a classification given to neutral states
such as Switzerland that refuse
to join any military alliance and
thus play no active part in wars.
Ukraine became such a country in 2010 under strong pressure from Russia.
It had sought Nato membership for parts of the early postSoviet era but – its once-mighty
army in ruins and riven by corruption – was never viewed as a
serious candidate.
Yet Poroshenko – his seven
months in power defined by a
separatist war and a Cold Warstyle standoff between Moscow
and the West – has made the
bloc’s military protection as one
of his top foreign policy priorities.
He and Nato both accuse Russian President Vladimir Putin of
not only funding and arming but
also backing up with elite troops
the militias who have been fighting Kiev’s forces in the industrial
east since April.
Moscow denies the charge and
claims Nato satellite imagery
purporting to show the movement of tanks and heavy weapons across its border into the war
zone is a fabrication.
Putin said at his annual press
conference yesterday that Russian soldiers in eastern Ukraine
were volunteers “answering the
call of the heart” who were never
sent their directly by the Kremlin.
He never answered a question
about how many armed Russians may be in eastern Ukraine
today.
Greece’s lawmakers
fail to elect president
AFP
Athens
P
olitical anxiety gripped
Greece yesterday with
early elections a step
closer after lawmakers failed to
elect a new president in the п¬Ѓrst
of three votes in parliament.
Greek stocks see-sawed as
the government set out to persuade at least 20 more deputies
over the next 10 days to vote
for their candidate, with other
parties publicly refusing to cooperate.
“Without a last-minute
change (in the political scene)
it will be difficult to avert early
elections,” argued political analyst Thomas Gerakis.
Only 160 deputies on
Wednesday supported the government candidate, former EU
commissioner Stavros Dimas,
far short of the 200 required.
The focus now shifts to December 23 when the parliament
will vote in a second round,
once again requiring 200 votes
for Dimas to win.
Should a third and п¬Ѓnal
round be required on December
29, Dimas would need just 180
votes.
However, a third failure
would trigger the dissolution of
parliament and early elections.
Greece’s stock market alternated between moderate gains
and losses that topped 3.0% in
early afternoon trading, before
balancing out shortly before
closing.
Last week it lost around
a п¬Ѓfth of its value when the
presidential election was announced.
The clock is ticking on the
government’s attempt to avoid
a political crisis that could in
turn derail painful economic
reforms aimed at putting one
of the European Union’s most
troubled economies back on
track.
According to reports, Prime
Minister Antonis Samaras has
rejected calls to hold elections
in late 2015 and has also dismissed calls from several lawmakers for a national unity government.
Opposition parties have likewise ruled out a national unity
government.
“Elections are the only way.
We will not give Samaras the
kiss of life,” said Panos Kammenos, leader of the small nationalist Independent Greeks
party.
The government had hoped
to win over half a dozen opposition deputies on Wednesday,
and a few more next week, before the deciding vote on December 29.
But a number of deputies it
had counted on voted the opposite way, or did not attend the
session.
Greece recently secured a
two-month extension from its
EU-IMF creditors to conclude
an ongoing п¬Ѓscal audit that will
determine the release of some
€7.0bn ($8.7bn) in loans.
This extension expires in
February.
International markets are
watching nervously, with Greek
bond yields rising and EU Commission chief Jean-Claude
Juncker recently warning the
nation against delivering the
“wrong” election result.
The centre-left Ta Nea daily
said the situation resembles a
“difficult crossword puzzle”
for the government, which will
need to do more to win support
from independent deputies –
with only п¬Ѓve of the 24 backing
Dimas in the п¬Ѓrst round.
“The race is on to find 20
lawmakers in 11 days,” wrote
the pro-government daily
Eleftheros Typos.
After Wednesday’s vote,
bookmakers in Greece lowered
the odds on parliament failing
to elect a president in all three
votes to evens.
The government brought
forward the election from February, when it will be locked in
delicate negotiations with its
creditors, the European Union
and the International Monetary
Fund (IMF).
The ruling coalition of conservatives and socialists was
hoping to settle the political
landscape ahead of those talks,
but the gamble may backfire.
With 155 deputies, the government only has a slim majority in parliament and is facing a growing challenge from
the radical leftist party Syriza,
which wants to end a four-year
austerity drive and re-negotiate
Greece’s EU bailout.
“I do not doubt that some
reserves exist, but they are too
small to achieve the required
result” and elect a president,
Syriza spokesman Panos Skourletis told Skai TV.
Syriza holds a steady lead in
opinion polls.
However, more than 50% of
Greeks also oppose early elections, which would be the second in two years.
Both Kiev and Nato put their
number at a few a thousand –
down from 10,000 a few months
ago.
Poroshenko said in a message to parliament that the bill’s
adoption was “urgent” and must
be put on the agenda of an emergency session.
“Ukraine’s non-aligned status ... proved to be an ineffective
means of ensuring the country’s
security from foreign aggression and pressure,” an explanatory note to the bill quoted on
the president’s website said.
“Ukraine’s long-term occupancy of a �grey’ buffer zone between powerful systems of collective security is an additional
threat.”
Pollsters at Kiev’s respected
T
wo
anti-government
Turkish media chiefs
arrested during controversial weekend raids that
have strained ties with the European Union are to be charged
with membership of a terrorist
group, reports said yesterday.
Ekrem Dumanli, the editorin-chief of the Zaman daily
newspaper and Hidayet Karaca, the head of Samanyolu TV
(STV), were being interrogated
by Istanbul judges to decide
whether to remand them in custody ahead of trial.
Early morning raids on Sunday resulted in the arrest of 30
journalists, scriptwriters and
police who are deemed loyalists of the exiled cleric Fethullah
Gulen, President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan’s number one foe.
Erdogan accuses Gulen,
who lives in exile in the United
States, of seeking to run a “parallel state” and of being the
source of sensational corruption
allegations that broke a year ago
on December 17.
Zaman, Turkey’s biggestselling daily, and Samanyolu,
which produces some hugely
popular TV dramas, are both
closely linked to Gulen.
Of the 30 arrested, prosecutors have asked for 16 to be
charged with the other 14 now
freed. Of the 16, prosecutors
want 12 to be remanded in custody and four released on bail.
The 16, including Dumanli
and Karaca, are being charged
with “becoming a member of an
armed terrorist organisation”,
the official Anatolia news agency reported, without specifying
which group.
They are also being charged
with
“using
intimidation,
A picture shows an art piece named La Carte du Monde (World Map) by Chinese artist Huang Yong
Ping, during a press preview at the Maxxi museum in Rome, yesterday. The exhibition will run until
May 24, 2015.
threats and deception to deprive
individuals of their liberty, as
well as slander”, it added.
The charges are set to be officially confirmed later in the day.
Dumanli had earlier been
filmed raising his arms in defiance as he was led in by plain
clothes officers to a hospital for
a check-up.
According to the Dogan news
agency, Karaca refused to answer the judge’s questions in the
hearing, complaining that he
was not impartial.
The European Union has
condemned the arrests as going
“against the European values”.
Dutch coalition at risk after health bill is blocked
Reuters
Amsterdam
D
utch Prime Minister
Mark Rutte pulled out of
an EU summit yesterday
to deal with a mounting political
crisis at home that is threatening to topple his centre-right
coalition government.
Talks throughout the day in
The Hague failed to resolve a
deadlock triggered by the blocking by coalition allies of a health
bill submitted by Rutte’s party.
The bill, a healthcare reform
pushed by the Liberals to reduce
government spending, was voted against on Tuesday by three
senators in the Labour Party, the
other coalition partner.
But a deal seemed far off after
the trio told Dutch broadcaster
non-alignment policy after
striking a lucrative lease agreement with Russia for its Black
Sea Fleet in Crimea – a peninsula seized by Moscow in March.
Putin had sought to pull
Ukraine into a new military and
political bloc that he is slowly
forging with other small former
Soviet republics and that he
hopes may one day be joined by
India and Iran.
That dream effectively shattered when Yanukovych was
ousted from power in a popular
February uprising that Putin has
branded “a coup”.
Putin has since made
Ukraine’s neutrality one of the
main conditions of any peace
deal Kiev may strike with the
eastern guerrillas.
World spiral
Turkey media bosses face �terror’ charges
AFP
Istanbul
Razumkov Centre showed support for Nato membership soaring to 45% in October from less
than 25% a year earlier.
Only 37% opposed joining the
alliance in the latest survey.
“Putin’s actions are the main
reason for the shift,” Razumkov Centre sociologist Andriy
Bychenko told AFP.
Nato
discussed
offering
Ukraine membership in the
wake of Russia’s 2008 war with
its southern neighbour Georgia.
But Brussels never outlined a
п¬Ѓrm timeline for the membership of either Ukraine or Georgia
out of fears that this might provoke Russia into even more hostile behaviour.
Former president Viktor
Yanukovych picked the new
RTL they were not willing to negotiate or guarantee they would
support a revised draft.
Rutte announced yesteray his
plans not to attend a European
Council meeting in Brussels,
highlighting the seriousness of
the situation.
People
living
longer on
average:
study
AFP
Paris
P
eople around the world
lived on average to a ripe
old age of 71.5 in 2013, up
from 65.3 in 1990, a study said
yesterday, noting the gains came
despite big increases in liver cancer and chronic kidney deaths.
Global life expectancy rose by
5.8 years in men and by 6.6 years
in women between 1990 and
2013.
The increase was attributed
to falling death rates from cancers (down by 15%) and cardiovascular disease (down by 22%)
in high-income regions of the
world.
In less affluent regions, it was
attributed to rapidly declining
death rates for diarrhoea, lower
respiratory tract infections and
neonatal disorders, the study
published in British health journal The Lancet said.
Only one region, sub-Saharan
Africa, did not benefit from the
upward trend with deaths from
HIV/Aids resulting in a drop in
average life expectancy of п¬Ѓve
years.
“The progress we are seeing
against a variety of illnesses and
injuries is good, even remarkable, but we can and must do even
better,” lead author Dr Christopher Murray, professor of Global Health at the University of
Washington, said.
“The huge increase in collective action and funding given
to the major infectious diseases
such as diarrhoea, measles, tuberculosis, HIV/Aids and malaria has had a real impact,” he
added.
The study found, however,
that death rates from some major chronic conditions were on
the rise, including liver cancer
caused by hepatitis C (up 125%
since 1990), drug use disorders
(up 63%), chronic kidney disease
(up 37%), diabetes (up 9%) and
pancreatic cancer (up 7%).
The Global Burden of Disease
Study 2013, funded by the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation, also
found that some low-income
countries such as Nepal, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Niger, the Maldives, Timor-Leste and Iran had
seen exceptional gains over the
past 23 years with life expectancy in those countries rising
by more than 12 years for both
sexes.
In India too, good progress
had been made on life expectancy, with a rise of almost seven
years for men and just over 10
years for women between 1990
and 2013.
But despite dramatic drops in
under-п¬Ѓve deaths from 7.6mn in
1990 to 3.7mn in 2013, the study
also noted that lower respiratory
tract infections, malaria, and diarrhoeal disease were still in the
top п¬Ѓve global causes of child
deaths, killing almost 2mn children a year.
EU cannot sign up to key
rights convention: court
AFP
Luxembourg
T
he EU’s top court ruled
yesterday that the bloc
cannot join the bedrock
European Convention on Human
Rights (ECHR) as planned because to do so would undermine
its own laws.
The ECHR is a key legal instrument, entirely separate from
the EU, which allows any citizen
from its 47 member countries to
take their case to the European
Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg if they believe their home
jurisdiction has failed them.
The European Union’s 28
states are all signatories to the
convention, but the EU itself is
not.
However, the 2009 Lisbon
Treaty, which established the EU
in its current form, set accession
as a goal and the bloc’s leaders
gave the green light in 2013.
As a п¬Ѓrst step, the European
Commission, the EU’s executive
arm, approached the European
Court of Justice (ECJ) to seek its
opinion on whether ECHR accession was compatible with EU
law.
“Accession is liable to upset
the underlying balance of the EU
and undermine the autonomy of
EU law,” the court said in its ruling.
If the EU joined the ECHR,
its member states would
be required to check each
other for rights violations
The European Commission
said it would “take note of the
ruling” and examine it in depth,
but recalled that it remained an
obligation under the EU’s treaties to seek membership of the
convention.
The European Convention on
Human Rights was drafted in
1950 by the Council of Europe, a
pan-European body set up after
World War II to promote rights
across the continent, which is
also separate from the EU.
In a complex argument, the
ECJ found several serious problems with the EU joining the
convention, especially in the
confusion it could create between the EU as an institution,
and the rights and duties of its
member states.
In practice, if the European
Union joined the ECHR alongside its member states all of them
would be required to fulfil a basic obligation – to check on each
other to ensure that all were observing fundamental rights.
That would effectively mean
they could take legal action
against each other, above and beyond the EU.
But EU law, which governs relations between the 28, “imposes
an obligation of mutual trust between member states”, the ECJ
said.
“In light of the problems identified, the Court concludes that
the draft agreement on the accession of the EU to the ECHR
is incompatible with EU law,” it
said.
Gulf Times
Friday, December 19, 2014
13
INDIA
Four get life
term for 1975
murder of
L N Mishra
IANS
New Delhi
F
our followers of Hindu
sect Anand Marg were
yesterday sentenced
to life imprisonment here
for criminal conspiracy and
murder of the then railway
minister L N Mishra in 1975.
District Judge Vinod Goel
awarded
life
imprisonment to Gopalji, 73, Ranjan
Dwivedi, 66, Santoshanand
Avadhuta, 75, and Sudevananda Avadhuta 79.
The maximum punishment under which the four
were charged entails the
death penalty.
They were convicted on
December 8 on charges of
murder, criminal conspiracy and voluntarily causing
grievous hurt by dangerous
weapon.
Santoshanand Avadhuta
and Sudevananda Avadhuta
were also convicted and
punished under the Explosive Substances Act.
The court also imposed
a fine of Rs40,000 on
Sudevananda
Avadhuta,
Rs30,000 on Santoshanand
Avadhuta and Rs20,000
each on Dwivedi and Gopalji.
The Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI) has alleged that Anand Marg followers carried out the attack
on Mishra to put pressure
on the central government
to release one of the group’s
leaders.
Awarding the life imprisonment, the court said the
case did not come under
the “rarest of rare” category
where the death penalty can
be given.
“I find this is not a cold
blooded murder and the
convicts do not bear trace of
any personal animosity with
the victim. They do not appear to be a menace to the
society,” the court said.
It added: “The crime was
committed during the prime
of their youth about 40 years
ago. Now they are elderly
п¬Ѓgures and this is a period
of self-introspection. There
is every possibility of their
reformation. Therefore, this
is not a rarest of rare case
where capital punishment is
invited.”
The four convicts were
present in the packed court
when the order was announced.
Defence lawyers said they
will challenge the verdict.
The grand nephew of
Mishra, Vaibhav Mishra said
he has doubt that the convicts were involved in the
case. “It was a big political
conspiracy. I believe they
(four convicts) were not part
of it (conspiracy and murder). Many other people were
involved who were not even
named. The CBI has dragged
the case for so long,” he told
reporters outside the court.
Mishra had gone to Samastipur on January 2, 1975
to inaugurate the Samastipur-Muzaffarpur
broad
gauge railway line. A bomb
explosion on the dais seriously injured him.
He was rushed to the railway hospital at Danapur
where he died the next day.
Two others died in the
explosion while 25 more,
including Mishra’s brother
Jagannath Mishra, were injured. Jagannath Mishra later became the chief minister
of Bihar - thrice.
The court also asked the
Bihar government to pay
compensation through the
District Legal Service Authority to people who died
in the explosion. It asked
the government to pay
Rs500,000 each to the family
of three deceased - Mishra,
Surya Narayan Jha and Ram
Kishore Singh Kishore.
It also directed that
Rs150,000 compensation be
paid to the families of each
of the seven grievously injured persons and Rs50,000
each compensation to 18
victims who suffered minor
injuries.
The court also directed
DLSA Patna to conduct
proper inquiry for the purpose of identifying legal
heirs to disburse within 60
days the compensation, as
the incident occurred almost 40 years ago and the
victims hail from different
places.
Santoshanand Avadhuta
and Sudevananda Avadhuta
have already spent over 12
years in jail while Gopalji
had remained behind bars
for 11 years. Dwivedi was in
jail for three years.
The Supreme Court had
transferred the case to Delhi
in 1979. The charges were
framed in 1981.
On the direction of the
apex court, the lower court
began hearing the final arguments daily since September 2012. Over 160
prosecution witnesses and
around 40 defence witnesses were examined.
Celebration time
Students dressed as Santa Claus distribute sweets among children during celebrations ahead of Christmas at a school in the northern city of Chandigarh yesterday.
Comic creates female
superhero to п¬Ѓght rape
Priya’s Shakti will tell story of
�a new hero for modern India’
who fights with goddess
Parvati’s help for education
and respect for women
By Alison Flood/ Guardian
News & Media
New Delhi
A
new superhero has arisen
in India in the wake of
the brutal gang-rape on
a Delhi bus two years ago: Priya,
a mortal woman who is raped
herself, but who п¬Ѓghts back
against sexual violence with the
help of the goddess Parvati and a tiger.
The rape by six men of the
23-year-old Delhi physiotherapy student, who later died of
her injuries, sparked national
protests and changes to India’s rape laws. For filmmaker
Ram Devineni, founder of the
publisher and п¬Ѓlm production
company Rattapallax, it also led
to Priya’s Shakti , a new comic
for teenagers which Rattapallax
says is “rooted in ancient matriarchal traditions that have been
displaced in modern representations of Hindu culture,” and
which is intended to support
“the movement against patriarchy, misogyny and indifference
through love, creativity and
solidarity.”
Illustrated by Dan Goldman,
the comic is about to be unveiled at Mumbai Comic-Con.
It tells the story of Priya, devoted to the goddess Parvati, and
as a young girl, full of dreams of
becoming a teacher. But she is
told by her father to stop going
to school, and to stay home and
take care of the house. As she
grows up, she is the victim of
increasing sexual violence, until
she is raped - and then thrown
out of the family home.
Parvati is horrified to discover what women on earth
go through, and inspires Priya
to speak out and spread a new
message to the world: to treat
women with respect, educate all
children, and speak out when a
woman is being mistreated. Priya, riding on a tiger, returns to
her village. She is, said Devineni, “a new hero for a modern
India.”
An augmented reality version
of the story, meanwhile, animates certain panels in the story
via the Blippar app to feature
documentaries telling the stories of real-life Indian women
who have survived sexual assault. The women have been
animated to protect their identities.
“I was in Delhi two years ago
and was involved in the protests.
I asked a Delhi police officer
what he thought about what had
happened on the bus. I’m paraphrasing here, but he basically
said �No good girl walks home
alone at night,’ which implies she
deserved it or provoked it. I immediately realised the problem
of sexual violence in India is not
a legal issue but a cultural problem,” said Devineni.
“I interviewed gang-rape survivors and they kept telling me
that they could not get justice
because they were discouraged
by their family, community and
even the police. The shame was
put on them. They lived in constant fear of being killed. This
caused a vicious circle, where
certain men could commit rape
with impunity because they
could get away with it.”
Devineni said he developed
the story while travelling around
India after the Delhi rape. “I grew
up reading popular Hindu myth-
ological comics and a common
motif was that a villager would
call on the gods in dire situations. What was more dire than
the problem of sexual violence in
India? So, this was the nucleus.
(Co-writer) Vikas Menon and I
worked on the story of putting
Priya, a rape survivor, as the hero
and she calls on the gods, but it’s
up to her to motivate and challenge society,” said the writer.
“Also Hinduism is about conquering your fears, so we wanted
to incorporate the philosophy
into the storyline.”
Priya’s Shakti - Shakti is “the
female principle of divine energy” - is available free online,
and Rattapallax has printed
6,000 copies in Hindi and English for the convention and for
educational distribution, as well
as painting several large murals
from the story on walls throughout Mumbai. Viewers will be able
to unlock animation and п¬Ѓlms
when they scan the murals with
their smart phones. Rattapallax said it is also open to working with a larger press to get the
comic out to more retailers, with
Priya’s Shakti intended to be the
п¬Ѓrst in a series.
“We made the story fun to
RS logjam over
conversion
persists for
fourth day
Man held for bomb threats,
says wanted to have fun
IANS
Gurgaon
A
29-year-old man was arrested yesterday for making bomb threat calls for
two consecutive days to police
control rooms in Gurgaon and
Delhi, police said. The man told
police he wanted to have some
fun.
Sunny Sharma, who hails
from Shiv Vihar area near Karala in northwest Delhi, worked as
a salesman at a dry fruits outlet at the Vyapar Kendra in the
posh Sushant Lok area of Gurgaon. He was living in a rented
apartment in Jharsa village near
Sector 32.
Sharma, who is married and a
father of two children, “wanted
to check police alertness and did
all this for fun,” Gurgaon Police
Commissioner Navdeep Singh
Virk said.
He was tracked down to Gurgaon’s Sushant Lok and arrested
yesterday afternoon.
Sharma had kept Gurgaon police on their toes for the second
day yesterday with a call about
a high intensity bomb planted at
a shopping complex. The threat
turned out to be a hoax.
The Arcadia shopping complex
in South City area was evacuated
after police received the call.
Hundreds of policemen, bomb
disposal and sniffer dog teams
along with п¬Ѓre п¬Ѓghters took part
in the search operation. After a
п¬Ѓve-hour search, police said the
call was a hoax.
Police on Wednesday received
a similar call about a bomb being
planted at the HUDA City Centre Metro station and a market in
Gurgaon which too were found to
be hoaxes.
Both calls were made from the
same number.
Police said the mobile number
used to make the call was issued
in Odisha in the name of Saroj
Kumar Malik. The phone was
lost on December 16 at the Vyapar Kendra.
Sharma, a high school graduate, on Wednesday made the call
to the Gurgaon police control
room and yesterday to the Delhi
police control room.
He said he visited his house in
Delhi to make the call and see the
police reaction.
“Gurgaon police was informed
by Delhi police about the bomb
threat. The caller used the same
mobile number he used for a
threat call on Wednesday,” a police officer said.
The caller’s location was found
to be in the National Capital Region (NCR), he said.
Metro services were affected
on Wednesday for over two-anda-half hours after a bomb threat
at the HUDA City Centre station.
The station was emptied after
police received a call from a man
who said a bomb was planted in
the station’s basement.
A bomb threat call also forced
police to clear out people from
the Vyapar Kendra and Galleria
Market in New Gurgaon.
Police commandos tried to
п¬Ѓnd the bombs as claimed in the
threats. The three-hour search
operation by over 400 policemen
revealed that the bomb scare was
a hoax.
The man said in the 20-second
phone call: “I have planted a high
intensity bomb in a car parked in
the basement of the HUDA City
Centre station. I have also done
so in two markets of New Gurgaon. �Bacha sako to bacha lo’
(Save if you can).”
read, even though it’s about
rape, and challenging patriarchal
views. It is perfectly designed for
teenagers,” said Devineni. “It can
be read in 15 minutes, but the
message takes you further and
lasts. It’s fully interactive.”
Rattapallax is also asking
readers to “stand with Priya”
and п¬Ѓght sexual violence around
the world by taking a photograph
with the character and sharing it on social media, tagging it
#standwithpriya . It is partnering on the project with Apne Aap
Women Worldwide , an NGO
which supports at-risk girls and
women in India and the US.
“Partnering with Apne Aap
will ensure our project will become a strategic platform to support the global movement against
gender-based violence, and that
our comic book will have maximum reach with youth in India,
the US, and around the world,”
said Lina Srivastava, the project’s
social impact director. “Through
this collaboration, we are working to build a movement around
Priya as a modern Indian hero
within the larger global movement by creating shared cultural
opportunities for education, dialogue, and social action.”
Police deployed outside the Arcadia shopping complex in Gurgaon after receiving a bomb threat
call yesterday.
The Rajya Sabha was
yesterday stalled for the
fourth consecutive day over
the conversion row, as the
opposition insisted Prime
Minister Narendra Modi
should reply to a debate on
the attack on the country’s
secular fabric, while the
government blamed them
for shying away from a
discussion. The upper house,
where the government is in a
minority, earlier lost nearly five
days of government business
over a row on minister
Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti’s
comments, and is lagging
far behind the Lok Sabha
in transacting government
business. Yesterday being
the fourth consecutive day of
disruptions, the upper house
now has just three more
working days left. However,
there is private members’
business after lunch today,
ruling out any significant
government work. Crucial bills,
including the insurance bill
which the government has its
focus on, are pending in the
upper house. The Rajya Sabha
has lost 37% of its time in the
winter session as of now, while
the Lok Sabha has functioned
for the entire time.
14
Gulf Times
Friday, December 19, 2014
INDIA
TRIAL
JUDCIARY
GOVERNMENT
ALERT
SEXUAL HARASSMENT
Supreme Court extends
Jayalalithaa’s bail
Maharashtra plea on
quotas dismissed
Medicine prices have
come down: minister
Goa police tighten
security in schools
SC quashes panel
probing judge
The Supreme Court yesterday extended by
four months the bail of former Tamil Nadu
chief minister J Jayalalithaa as it asked
the Karnataka High Court to decide on
her appeal challenging her conviction in a
disproportionate assets case within three
months. Chief Justice H L Dattu asked the
Karnataka court to set up a special bench that
will hear the appeal on a day-to-day basis and
complete the hearing within three months.
Jayalalithaa has challenged her conviction
by a Bangalore court. The top court had
granted bail to Jayalalithaa and three others
on October 17 on the condition that she file her
appeal on or before December 18.
The Supreme Court yesterday dismissed a
Maharashtra government plea challenging a
Bombay High Court order staying an ordinance
to provide reservation to Marathas and Muslims
in education and jobs. An bench headed by Chief
Justice H L Dattu, while declining to interfere
with the high court’s interim order, said it was
still seized of the matter. The previous Congress
government in Maharashtra had issued an
ordinance just before assembly elections
providing for 16% reservation to Marathas and 5%
for Muslims in jobs and education. However, the
Bomby High Court on November 14 stayed the
operation of the ordinance but retained the 5%
reservation for Muslims in education.
The government yesterday insisted that the prices
of medicines have come down in the last six
months and said it was committed to encouraging
the use of generic drugs. “In the last six months,
no prices of medicines have been hiked. There
is no question of sky-rocketing medicine prices,”
Chemicals and Fertilizers Minister Ananth Kumar
said in the Lok Sabha. “In fact, the prices of drugs
have come down under the Modi government,”
he said. The minister said that the government
has set up an integrated pharmaceutical database
system and price monitoring resource units for
drugs in each state. “The Modi government’s
aim will be to provide good quality affordable
medicines to people,” he added.
Goa police have started a security drive across
the state’s schools in the wake of the massacre
of students in Pakistan’s Peshawar city by
terrorists on Tuesday. The police will interact
with school managements, work out drills in
case of emergencies as well as step up security
arrangements near school campuses, Inspector
General of Police Sunil Garg said yesterday. He
said the drive was a part of a nationwide initiative
started by the federal home ministry in order to
keep schools safe from terror attacks. “The police
will interact with school representatives and urge
them to remain alert,” Garg said, adding that the
state police were also taking stock of security
lacunae near school campuses.
The Supreme Court yesterday quashed a
two-judge panel set up by the chief justice
of Madhya Pradesh high court to probe
allegations of sexual harassment made by
a woman district judge against the sitting
judge of the high court. The apex court bench
headed by Justice J S Kehar quashed the panel
saying that the chief justice of the high court
constituted it improperly as it was in violation
of in-house procedures put in place by the
Supreme Court to probe allegations of sexual
harassment by judges of the high court and
the Supreme Court. The court said the accused
judge will be divested of his administrative and
supervisory responsibility.
Chandigarh’s
Sukhna Lake
cordoned off
over bird flu
India tests
its heaviest
rocket, eyes
global market
IANS
Chandigarh
C
handigarh’s Sukhna Lake
was cordoned off early
yesterday after a sample
from a dead duck tested positive
for the H5N1 (avian or bird flu)
virus.
Police and paramilitary personnel with masks were stationed
at the lake complex since early
yesterday to cordon off the entire
area. Scores of morning walkers
who throng the lake every day
and other visitors were kept away
from the lake complex.
Police officials at the lake said
that the complex would remain
out of bounds for all visitors for
at least three days.
Wildlife and animal husbandry department officials are likely
to start culling ducks and geese
at the lake to curb an outbreak of
bird flu in the city.
Over 30 ducks and geese at the
lake had died under mysterious
circumstances in recent days.
The Sukhna lake has nearly 250
ducks and geese which are a star
attraction for visitors.
The presence of the H5N1 virus was confirmed in a sample
from one dead duck by the Bhopal-based National Institute of
High Security Animal Diseases
(NIHSAD) on Wednesday.
Ducks and geese have been
dying for the past 10 days and
officials initially thought the
deaths could be due to food poisoning or over-feeding.
“At present, there is no assessment regarding any outbreak
of bird flu in Chandigarh. The
situation is, however, being very
closely monitored,” a spokesman
of the Chandigarh Administration said.
While claiming that there was
“no alarm or alert issued for the
general public,” the authorities ordered the lake area where
the ducks and geese reside to be
fenced. “The movement of the
ducks and geese has been restricted,” the spokesman said.
“The public are requested not
to panic and co-operate with the
administration,” the spokesman
added.
The new rocket is a boost for
India’s attempts to grab a
greater slice of the $300bn
global space market
Agencies
Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh
I
The Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV Mark-III) lifts off from Sriharikota yesterday.
ndia yesterday successfully launched its biggest
ever rocket carrying an unmanned capsule which could
one day send astronauts into
space, as the country ramps up
its ambitious space programme.
The rocket, designed to carry
heavier communication and other
satellites into higher orbit, blasted
off from Sriharikota in a test mission costing nearly $25mn.
“This was a very significant
day in the history of (the) Indian
space programme,” Indian Space
Research Organisation (ISRO)
chairman K S Radhakrishnan
said from mission control as
fellow scientists clapped and
cheered.
ISRO scientists have been riding high since an Indian spacecraft successfully reached Mars
in September on a shoe-string
budget, winning Asia’s race to
the Red Planet and sparking an
outpouring of national pride.
Although India has successfully launched lighter satellites
in recent years, it has struggled
to match the heavier loads that
other countries increasingly
want sent up.
The new rocket, weighing 630
tonnes and capable of carrying a
payload of 4 tonnes, is a boost for
India’s attempts to grab a greater
Country’s largest, oldest
printing press shuts shop
IANS
Lucknow
I
ndia’a most authentic,
biggest, trusted and sustained connect for the
Hindu devout with its rich
past of religious literature is
faced with a strike and indefinite closure. Headquartered
in Uttar Pradesh and publishing religious works since 1923,
the Gita Press has shut down
indefinitely owing to labour
unrest.
The indefinite closure comes
at a time when Prime Minister
Narendra Modi has been gifting the Gita to foreign leaders
and External Affairs Minister
Sushma Swaraj has pitched for
declaring it a “national scripture.”
Gita Press, a unit of Gobind
Bhawan Karyalaya registered
under the Societies Registration Act of 1860 (presently
governed by the West Bengal
Societies Act, 1960) began
as an initiative to “promote
and spread the principles of
Sanatana Dharma, the Hindu religion among the general public by publishing the
Gita, Ramayana, Upanishads,
Puranas, discourses of eminent saints and other character-building books and magazines and marketing them at
highly subsidised prices,” a
member of the management
said.
Ruing the decision to close
down the press, located in
Gorakhpur district, the official
said three employees - Virendra Singh, Ram Jeevan Sharma
and Munivar Mishra - have also
been dismissed for instigating
fellow workers.
“Information about the dismissal of these employees and
of the indefinite closure has
been communicated to the district administration, the police
and the state’s labour department” the official said.
Over the years, the institution has made available more
than 370mn copies of religious
and other character-building
books in Sanskrit, Hindi, English, Gujarati, Tamil, Marathi,
Bangla, Oriya, Telugu, Kannada, and other Indian regional
languages at a low cost.
Kalyan in Hindi, with
300,000 subscribers and Kalyana-Kalpataru in English, the
monthly publications of the
institution, are counted among
the country’s most subscribed
religious magazines and are
preserved for their rich content.
Shrimad Bhagvad Gita in
different editions has sold
nearly 115mn copies, Shri
Ramcharitamanas and other
works by Goswami Tulsidas
92.2mn, Puranas, Upanishads
and ancient scriptures 22.7mn,
small books especially for
women and children 105.5mn
and books on Bhakta-Gathas
(biographies of saints) and
Bhajans (devotional songs)
124.4mn.
Overall, 582. 5mn copies of
Gita Press publications have so
far come out.
An employee leader, while
admitting that the decision to
go on strike was painful, accused the management of being autocratic and indifferent
to their demands.
“We demanded a 10% hike in
our wages every year, 30 days of
paid leave and 20% house rent
allowance,” the leader said,
adding that the workers had
gone on strike in 1982 and the
standoff continued for 44 days.
slice of the $300bn global space
market.
“India, you have a new launch
vehicle with you. We have made
it again,” said S Somnath, director of the mission.
“The powerful launch vehicle
has come to shape, which will
change our destiny... (by) placing heavier spacecraft into communications orbits.”
The rocket was carrying an
unmanned crew capsule which
according to an ISRO official
is the size of a small bedroom
which can accommodate two to
three people.
Just over п¬Ѓve minutes into the
flight, the rocket spat out the giant cup cake shaped crew module at an altitude of 126km.
The module then descended
towards Earth at a high speed.
The speed was moderated remotely manipulating its onboard motors until 80km above
the earth.
From here the ballistic reentry into the atmosphere began
while the on-board thrusters
were shut down.
The crew module’s heat shield
was expected to experience a
heat of around 1,600 degrees
centigrade. At an altitude of
around 15 km, the module’s apex
cover separated and the parachutes were deployed.
The module soft crashed in
Bay of Bengal near Andaman and
Nicobar Islands.
From here, the crew module’s
multi-modal and multi-state
transport journey would begin.
A naval ship tracking the signals from the module will pick
up the module and deliver it at
the Ennore Port near Chennai in
Tamil Nadu. From there it will be
brought to Sriharikota and then
it will be taken to the Vikram
Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvanthapuram in Kerala.
India’s manned spaceflight
programme has seen multiple
stops and starts in recent years,
and ISRO says the crew capsule
project would take at least another seven years to reach the
point where an astronaut could
be put into space.
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi hailed the test mission as
“yet another triumph of (the)
brilliance and hard work of our
scientists” in a post on Twitter.
Radhakrishnan said the next
step would be to develop a more
powerful indigenous engine, reducing India’s reliance on those
built in Europe, for the rocket,
which is officially named the
Geostationary Satellite Launch
Vehicle Mk-III.
“Our own cryogenic engine,
which is at development stage,
will be used in powering the advanced heavy rockets in the next
two years,” he said.
The experiment yesterday
also helped ISRO test the vehicle’s atmospheric stability and
its design. It was powered by two
engines while a third is under
development.
“We still need to put a heavier
third engine to ensure this vehicle can be used successfully for
manned missions and heavier
satellite launches,” said Mayank
Vahia, a scientist at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research.
Cold wave claims 24
lives in Uttarakhand
Agencies
Lucknow/Dehradun
I
Commuters travel on a cold foggy morning in New Delhi yesterday.
The national capital experienced a dense foggy morning for the
second consecutive day with the low visibility affecting road, rail
and air traffic.
ntense cold wave conditions
accompanied by snowfall
have left 24 people dead in
Uttarakhand, officials said yesterday.
Officials in the hill state said
two people died in Haldwani,
three in Nainital, six in Bhimtal
and Bageshwar, while 13 died in
Kumaon since Tuesday.
Snowfall was witnessed in
Bageshwar and Almora, both
districts on the foothills of
Himalayas. These places have
never experienced such a weather in mid-December.
Almora, Pithoragarh and other regions in Kumaon are witnessing temperatures between 1
and minus 4 degrees Celsius.
Icy winds from Uttarakhand
swept through the neighbouring
Uttar Pradesh; its capital city of
Lucknow was the coldest place
as it recorded 6.6 degrees Celsius on Wednesday.
Cold wave continued unabated in Kashmir too. Leh town recorded the season’s coldest night
at minus 14.6 degrees Celsius.
The minimum temperature
in Kargil was minus 14, while
Srinagar recorded an overnight
temperature of minus 4.2.
Gulmarg and Pahalgam recorded minus 2.2 and minus 6.6
degrees Celsius respectively.
The minimum temperature in
Jammu was 4.5.
Delhi meanwhile experienced
a cold and foggy morning. The
minimum temperature was 7.4
degrees
“There was fog in the morning, but the day will be clear. The
maximum temperature is likely
to hover around 20 degrees Celsius,” said an official of the India
Meteorological Department.
Meanwhile in the south, cold
conditions prevailed in Telangana, with Adilabad recording the
lowest minimum temperature of
4 degrees. Temperature in other
areas too was below normal.
Hyderabad recorded the season’s lowest temperature at 9.2
degree Celsius.
Adilabad in north Telangana
was the coldest place in Telangana.
The lowest temperature in
Adilabad was 5.2 on January 26,
2006, an official said.
The weather office has forecast that cold wave conditions
will prevail in Telangana for
three-four days.
Gulf Times
Friday, December 19, 2014
15
LATIN AMERICA
DECISION
MILITANCY
LEGAL
CRITICISM
DIPLOMATIC AFFAIRS
Panama food price
controls extended
Colombia oil pipeline
shut by bomb attack
Three charged with bid
to sell arms to rebels
Euro MPs slam Venezuela
opposition �persecution’
Sea boundary talks to
take years: Mexico
Panama will extend by six months food price
controls on 22 basic products in an effort to
keep inflation low and boost the purchasing
power of lower-income shoppers, the
government said. President Juan Carlos Varela
authorised the initial controls after taking
office in July. The move was widely seen as an
attack on his predecessor Ricardo Martinelli,
a one-time ally turned antagonist, who owns
one of Panama’s largest supermarket chains.
Varela’s trade and industry minister Meliton
Arrocha said the government would not
hesitate to add more products to the list if
“reasonable” prices do not prevail.
The Trasandino pipeline in southern Colombia
was suspended after a bomb attack by
leftist guerrillas caused a significant oil spill
on the damaged stretch, state-owned oil
company Ecopetrol said. Exports of crude and
production at fields that use the pipeline were
not immediately affected by the attack, one of
dozens the rebels carry out each year and have
trimmed the Andean country crude output this
year. The attack on the 306km pipeline took
place close to the port of Tumaco in Narino
province on the Pacific coast. The duct has
capacity to transport 85,000 barrels of oil a day
from fields in Putumayo province to Tumaco.
Three men were arrested in Europe this week on
US charges that they conspired to sell militarygrade weapons for use against Americans in
Colombia, federal prosecutors in New York said. All
three were charged with conspiracy to kill officers
and employees of the US and with conspiracy
to provide material support or resources to a
Colombian rebel group. Prosecutors charged
Cristian Vintila, 44, of Romania; Massimo
Romagnoli, 43, of Greece; and Virgil Flaviu
Georgescu, 42, of Romania. The three thought
they would be selling anti-aircraft weapons,
firearms and other items to the Colombian Farc
rebel group for use by Farc against the US.
The European Parliament yesterday strongly
condemned Venezuela for the “persecution” of
the democratic opposition and urged Caracas
to free political prisoners. Lawmakers at the
parliament in Strasbourg voted by 476 to 109 with
49 abstentions in favour of the motion, which also
slammed censorship and violations of free speech.
“MEPs strongly condemn the political persecution
and imprisonment of peaceful protesters and
opposition leaders in Venezuela,” the motion said.
It urged Caracas to “withdraw the unfounded
charges and arrest warrants against opposition
politicians” and “immediately disarm and dissolve
the uncontrolled pro-government associations”.
Joint talks among the US, Cuba and Mexico
to fix the maritime boundaries of the three
countries in the Gulf of Mexico are likely to be
complex and stretch beyond 2018, a senior
Mexican official said. Sergio Alcocer, the
Mexican deputy foreign minister responsible for
North America, said the process of assessing the
value and distribution of resources in the oil and
gas-rich Gulf of Mexico was complex and likely
to last several years. “We three countries are the
owners of the Gulf of Mexico, and the key thing
is to reach an agreement and establish the rules
under which we can exploit these resources in a
sustainable way,” Alcocer said.
World hails
announcement
on restoring ties
AFP
Havana
W
orld leaders welcomed
the groundbreaking
news that the US and
Cuba are moving to restore diplomatic relations and bury one
of the last vestiges of the Cold
War after more than 50 years of
hostility.
Celebrations broke out on the
streets of Havana as people living on a pittance per day in the
communist-run island savoured
the prospect of an end to the
crippling US trade embargo and
perhaps a brighter future.
From China to Chile, plaudits
rang out.
South American leaders holding a trade meeting in Argentina
interrupted their session and
broke into euphoric applause.
The gush of praise for the shock
announcement in Washington
and Havana - it emerged that
secret talks have been underway
for a year-and-a-half - featured
a plethora of terms like “turning
point” and “historic day.”
In making the announcement,
President Barack Obama said
decades of trying to isolate Cuba
and oust the communist regime
had failed, and it was time to
turn the page.
The US embassy in Havana
has been shuttered since 1961,
two years after rebels led by Fidel
Castro ousted President Fulgencio Batista.
“We will end an outdated approach that for decades has
failed to advance our interests
and instead we will begin to normalise relations between our two
countries,” Obama said. He said
he would urge Congress to lift
the trade embargo, imposed in
1960, while using his presidential authority to advance diplomatic and travel links.
“We are all Americans,”
Obama declared, breaking into
Spanish.
The White House portrayed
the US move as a bid to reassert
US leadership in the western
hemisphere.
Later, Obama even raised the
possibility - something utterly
unthinkable until now - of his
visiting the island not far from
the coast of Florida.
Cuba was ground zero of the
Cuban missile crisis of 1962 that
brought a nervous world to the
verge of nuclear war between the
US and the Soviet Union.
The European Union, which
is also moving to normalise ties
with Cuba, hailed the breakthrough as a “historical turning
point.”
“Another Wall has started to
fall,” said EU foreign affairs head
Federica Mogherini.
In Havana, Cubans were jubilant. “I have goosebumps all
over,” said Ernesto Perez, 52, who
works at a cafe in Havana’s historic city centre.
But Cuban-Americans in Miami, a hotbed of angry opposition to the Castro regime, expressed dismay.
Obama and President Raul Castro praised the help given by Pope
Francis, the п¬Ѓrst Latin American
pontiff, and the Catholic Church
in brokering better relations between the long-time enemies.
In response, the Vatican said
the pope warmly congratulated
both governments for overcoming “the difficulties which have
marked their recent history.”
Canada was also praised for
hosting secret talks between the
sides.
The breakthrough came after
Havana released jailed US contractor Alan Gross and a Cuban
who spied for Washington and
had been held for 20 years - one
of the most important US agents
in Cuba. Havana also agreed to
release dozens of political prisoners, a senior US official said.
The US in turn freed three
Cuban spies, and Obama said he
had instructed the US state department to re-examine its designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism.
US Republican lawmakers
quickly denounced the deal,
in a foretaste of the resistance
that Obama will face as he tries
to persuade Congress to back a
full end to the embargo. House
leader John Boehner called the
deal “another in a long line of
mindless concessions to a dictatorship that brutalises its people
and schemes with our enemies.”
Cuban President Raul Castro (third right) receives released Cuban prisoners Ramon Labanino (second left), Gerardo Hernandez (third left), and Antonio Guerrero (second
right), who were greeted also by Fernando Gonzalez (left) and Rene Gonzalez (right) upon their return from the US. Labanino, Hernandez and Antonio Guerrero, released after
more than 15 years behind bars in the US, arrived on Cuban soil following a prisoner exchange that paved the way for a historic breakthrough the Cold War standoff with the US.
Obama faces tough task
to lift Cuba embargo
AFP
Washington
U
S
President
Barack
Obama’s historic decision to renew ties with
Cuba was a diplomatic triumph
but he faces a tough battle with
Congress over lifting the embargo at the heart of the dispute.
As world leaders welcomed
the groundbreaking announcement, the harsh reality remained
that the embargo, a cornerstone
of US policy, is here to stay, at
least for the near future.
“This Congress is not going
to lift the embargo,” Republican senator Marco Rubio,
a Cuban-American seen as a
possible presidential candi-
Farc rebels declare
unilateral ceasefire
AFP
Bogota
C
olombia’s Farc guerrillas
have declared an indefinite, unilateral ceasefire
in the 50-year conflict, saying
they would only use weapons if
they came under attack by the
army.
The announcement - the third
year running the leftist rebels
have declared a ceasefire over
the holiday season - comes soon
after peace talks with the Colombian government resumed,
following a crisis triggered by
the capture of an army general
on November 16.
The move was noteworthy for
the lack of an expiration date,
but President Juan Manuel Santos has consistently refused to
reciprocate. “We have resolved
to declare a unilateral ceasefire
and end hostilities for an indefinite period of time, which
should be transformed into
an armistice,” said the rebels’
peace negotiators in Cuba,
where they are in talks with Colombian officials.
“This unilateral ceasefire,
which we hope will last a long
time, will end only if our guerrilla units have been the subject of attacks by the security
forces.”
The ceasefire will take effect
at one minute past midnight on
Saturday, said a statement posted on the website of the rebel
delegation to the peace talks.
The guerrilla group called for
international observers from
organisations including the Red
Cross to monitor.
The rebels have repeatedly
called for a bilateral ceasefire as
part of the ongoing peace process. But Santos, who has made
the peace talks his top political
priority, has rejected the demand, saying the guerrillas
could take advantage of a truce
to regroup, dragging out the
conflict.
However, the ceasefire announcement will put new pressure on the Colombian government to respond in kind, said
political scientist Jorge Restrepo,
the head of the Conflict Analysis
Resource Centre in Colombia.
“This obliges the government
to respond in one way or another
to this gesture,” he said.
The
Farc
(Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia) defended their capture of an army
general as a legitimate act of war,
but released him on November
30 in order to revive the peace
process.
Santos had suspended the
talks in the wake of the kidnapping. The rebels, in their statement, also criticised Santos for
what they said was his “putting
on display, once again, his delight on Twitter over the deaths
of some of our comrades in
arms.”
As part of the reopening of
the negotiations, the two sides
agreed to set up a “permanent
mechanism” to resolve any future crisis, to be overseen by
Cuba and Norway, the countries
shepherding the peace process,
Norwegian diplomat Dag Nagoda has said.
date in 2016, told reporters.
He blasted Obama’s moves as
“a victory for oppression” and
said he would “use every tool at
our disposal in the majority to
unravel as many of these changes
as possible.”
Experts agree that, in addition
to government agencies signing
off on rolling back the embargo,
congressional legislation would
be needed to repeal laws like
the Helms-Burton Act of 1996,
which tightened prohibitions on
US trade with Cuba.
Obama said he would urge
Congress to lift the embargo
imposed in 1960, while using
his presidential authority to advance diplomatic and travel links
and ease restrictions on п¬Ѓnance.
“We are all Americans,”
Obama declared, breaking into
Spanish. But the Republicans
will take full control of Congress
in January and, with anger still
pulsing over Obama’s unilateral
immigration action last month,
a swift repeal of the embargo is
unlikely.
While some backed Obama’s
move, key Democrats, including senator Robert Menendez
and congressman Eliot Engel,
expressed opposition. “I believe
that Congress must see a greater
political opening in Cuba before
lifting the embargo,” said Engel,
the top Democrat on the House
Foreign Affairs Committee.
Funding to re-open the US
mission in Havana would require congressional appropriation, and lawmakers like senator
Army presence flayed
Lindsey Graham say they would
seek to block it.
Meanwhile Zoe Valdes, one of
the best-known Cuban authors,
yesterday said the historic rapprochement was not likely to
improve the lives of people in the
communist-run island.
“It’s very important progress,
but for the Castro leaders, not
for the people,” Valdes, who has
lived in exile in France for close to
two decades, said adding she was
“very sceptical and pessimistic.”
“I don’t think this will improve the lot of the Cubans. We
will have to wait for the death of
both Castros, or even more, for
things to change.”
Raul Castro, 83, took over
from his ailing older brother Fidel in 2008 and set about toning
Colombia to print
�Gabo’ banknotes
Reuters
Bogota
C
Parents of the 43 �disappeared’ students and residents
participate in a protest in Ayutla de los Libres, Guerrero state,
Mexico. The protesters demanded the withdrawal of the
army from the area claiming that the military presence did
not guarantee them safety.
down the government’s antiAmerican rhetoric and taking
baby steps toward economic reform, helping to pave the way for
the rapprochement.
Castro and US President
Barack Obama made simultaneous speeches Wednesday in
Havana and Washington to make
an announcement that took the
world by surprise.
“There is already a bad sign:
Obama’s speech was not broadcast in Cuba,” said Valdes, who
was born in Cuba in 1959. “In his,
Raul Castro said: �we must begin
to behave in a civilised manner’.
Is he going to apply that inside
the country? I don’t think so.
And we don’t know the content
of discussions between the two
countries.”
olombia’s central bank
will print banknotes to
honour the country’s
most celebrated writer, Gabriel
Garcia Marquez, who died in
April and who is renowned as
the father of magical realism
storytelling.
The Congress passed a bill on
Tuesday instructing the bank to
feature a depiction of “Gabo”,
as he was affectionately known,
on the next bills it produces.
The law also requires that
certain sites in his native region be preserved for tourism.
The prolific writer, who
started out as a newspaper reporter, was best known for his
masterpiece “One Hundred
Years of Solitude”, which won
him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982.
He is credited with bringing
Latin America to life for millions of readers with his tales
of love and longing.
“Gabo left an extraordinary
literary and journalistic collection of work whose dis-
tribution, reading and study
should be actively promoted,”
Congressman Antenor Duran
was quoted as saying by the
newspaper El Espectador.
“This initiative, as well as
paying tribute to him seeks
to ensure future generations
know who this great Colombian, humanist, literary man and
democrat was,” he said.
Most Colombian notes feature portraits of notable п¬Ѓgures
in the country’s early 19th century struggle for independence
from Spain.
Romantic poet Jorge Isaacs
is pictured on the largest banknote in circulation, worth
50,000 pesos ($20.44).
The central bank has two
other runs of banknotes to
print before printing those featuring Garcia Marquez, so the
notes may not appear for many
months or possibly a few years.
Garcia Marquez died in April
at age 87 in his Mexico City
home after a bout of pneumonia. His archives, including
manuscripts, photo albums,
typewriters and computers,
were acquired by the University of Texas last month.
16
Gulf Times
Friday, December 19, 2014
PAKISTAN/AFGHANISTAN
Survivors of massacre vow to defy Taliban
AFP
Islamabad
S
tudents grieving for their
classmates massacred by
the Pakistani Taliban yesterday vowed to defy the militants and return to school as
soon as possible.
A team of gunmen stormed
the Army Public School in Pakistan’s northwestern city of
Peshawar on Tuesday, slaughtering 148 people including 132
children in the restive country’s
deadliest ever terror attack.
Schools in Islamabad beefed
up security yesterday and carried out safety drills amid fears
of a possible bomb attack targeting school buses.
As the nation observed a second day of official mourning,
at the school gates in Peshawar
there was defiance and a burning desire for revenge against
the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
(TTP), whose seven-year insurgency has killed thousands of
ordinary people.
Much of the school was devastated in the eight-hour rampage, with
walls peppered with bullets and
shrapnel from suicide blasts and
walls and floors awash with blood.
But officials pledged to clean
and restore the buildings and
reopen on January 4 – less than
three weeks after the attack.
There were emotional scenes
outside the school as hundreds
of students and parents gathered to light candles and leave
flowers for the dead.
Mohamed Billal, 14, said he
would defy his parents’ advice
to stay at home, and return to
school as soon as he can.
“I will come the moment it
opens because I am not scared of
terrorists. I know how to send a
message to them,” Billal said.
Moakal Jan, 13, lost nine of his
friends in the attack but told AFP
he too had no fears about returning.
“I study here in this school
and I want to continue here, I
will be back when it reopens. Life
and death is in God’s hands,” Jan
said.
Many of the school’s students
are the children of army personnel, and like many of his friends,
Jan said he wanted to punish the
Taliban for Tuesday’s bloodshed.
“I want to be an army officer because I have to take
revenge of my friends and
school fellows,” he said.
Eighteen-year-old Abu Bakar
agreed.
“Since my childhood I have
wanted to join the army but now
Army chief signs death warrants for six militants
Pakistan’s military chief
yesterday signed death
warrants for six militants on
death row after the government
ended a moratorium on capital
punishment in terror-related
cases, the military said.
“COAS (Chief of Army Staff)
today signed death warrants
of 6 hardcore terrorists
(pending execution) convicted
by FGCM in accordance with
law,” military spokesman
Major General Asim Bajwa
tweeted.
Security officials said the six were
convicted by a military court and
were awaiting execution. The
announcement came hours after
the government warned prison
officials of a possible jailbreak in
the restive northwest province of
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa following
the end of the moratorium. A
senior official said the six would
be hanged “within days”.
I am absolutely determined to
join up,” he said.
“I want to take revenge for my
friends, I want to fight the terrorists.”
More than 400 schools in Islamabad were warned of a possible plot to bomb buses carrying
students in the capital, Mohamed Tahir Bhatti, spokesman for
the Federal Directorate of Education said.
“We received information
from various sources that terrorists were planning to attack
buses by attaching magnetic
bombs and have alerted the
managements of institutions accordingly,” Bhatti said.
Officials of the directorate
were also holding meetings to
review security arrangements
and schools and colleges and
also visiting schools and colleges
to monitor them, Bhatti said.
One 11-year-old primary
school student said teachers had
drilled them in emergency exits
and routes to safe locations in
case of any danger.
“Teacher asked us not to panic
and silently follow instructions
in case of any dangerous situation,” he said.
“We are very scared since terrorist killed children in Peshawar.”
The TTP claimed Tuesday’s
assault as revenge for the killing
of its п¬Ѓghters and their families
in an ongoing military operation
against its strongholds in the
North Waziristan tribal area, and
warned more attacks would follow.
Man accused of
plotting Mumbai
attack gets bail
The alleged mastermind
of the attack on Mumbai in
2008 Zaki-ur-Rehman gets
bail; India urges Pakistani
government to appeal to the
upper court
Reuters
Islamabad
A
Pakistani court granted
bail yesterday to a man
accused of masterminding a deadly 2008 rampage
through the Indian city of Mumbai, lawyers said.
The decision to grant bail to
Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi drew
quick condemnation from India
and is likely to hinder attempts
to patch up relations between
the nuclear-armed neighbours.
The court ruling came as Pakistan was struggling to come
to terms its biggest ever militant
attack, the killing on Tuesday
of 132 school children and nine
members of staff in Peshawar
city. The Pakistani Taliban said
it was revenge for a military offensive against them.
India condemned the attack.
Lakhvi was arrested in Pakistan in 2009 in connection with
the attack on Mumbai by Pakistani militants in which 166 people were killed. The sole surviving gunman had identified him
Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi
as the mastermind.
Since then, he has been held in
jail in the city of Rawalpindi.
“Yes, the court has issued Lakhvi’s bail orders today, against a
surety amount of one million rupees ($10,000),” defence lawyer
Rizwan Abbasi told Reuters.
“Hopefully, he will be out on
Monday or Tuesday.”
Prosecutors could challenge
the ruling, one said.
“After reading through the
detailed order, we will be in a
position to decide if we are going to challenge the court’s decision,” said prosecutor Chaudhry
Azhar.
India blamed Pakistan-based
militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba
for the Mumbai attack. Ten gunmen spent three days spraying
Conviction rate
slow in Pakistan
anti-terror courts
Internews
Islamabad
T
he lack of progress on
tackling terrorism is evident from the fact that in
2014, the conviction rate in the
three ATCs of the twin cities of
Pakistan-Rawalpindi and Islamabad - remained low.
In the two ATCs of Rawalpindi, 205 cases were heard but
there were convictions in less
than ten. However, even this
was a success compared to the
Islamabad ATC which did not
convict a single accused.
The weakness of Pakistan’s
prosecution and judicial system
is once again in the limelight as
political leaders gathered in Peshawar in the wake of the heinous terrorist attack on the army
school.
In the hours that followed
the news of the attack, more
than one politician and analyst
spoke forcefully of the need to
reform the laws so that terrorists
would be held accountable in the
courts.
There is no simply one reason to explain why terrorists are
rarely convicted by the courts.
Be it the flawed investigation,
the lack of evidence or the fear of
the terrorists, all these reasons
lead to those accused of terrorism being freed by the courts.
Since 2007, over 2,000 alleged
terrorists, who have been accused of having been involved in
high profile terrorism cases, have
been freed by the Anti-Terrorism
Courts (ATCs) of the country.
And if the security agencies are
to be believed, a large number
of them have rejoined terrorist
outfits. Just take 2014.
More importantly, the ATC
Rawalpindi acquitted Lashkare-Jhangvi (LeJ) chief Malik Ishaq
from three cases of terrorism for
want of evidence.
Ishaq was facing three charges
under separate FIRs registered
under sections 9 and 11 of the
Anti-Terrorism Act (which deal
with whipping up sectarian hatred) and section 16 of the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO).
The three FIRs were registered
by the Attock, Chakwal and Jhelum police in 2012 and 2013.
Ishaq, originally a member of
the proscribed Sipah-i-Sahaba
Pakistan (SSP), broke away to
form the LeJ, which was banned
by the Pakistan government
soon after its inception in the
early 1990s.
bullets and throwing grenades
around city landmarks.
Indian investigators said Lakhvi was Lashkar-e-Taiba military chief.
Indian Home Minister Rajnath
Singh said his bail was deeply
unfortunate. He said Pakistani
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
had vowed to crush all militants
after this week’s school attack.
“I hope the Pakistan government will appeal to the upper
court so that Lakhvi’s bail is cancelled,” he said.
Relations between India and
Pakistan, who have fought three
wars since independence in 1947,
nosedived after the Mumbai attack and have not fully recovered. A dispute over the Kashmir
region periodically flares into
violence.
Sharif says reconciliation with
India is a priority but this year,
India elected Narendra Modi, a
hawkish nationalist whose party
is often accused of favouring India’s majority Hindus at the expense of religious minorities.
Sharif vowed this week there
would no longer be any distinction between “good” and “bad”
Taliban, an attempt to draw a
line under years of Pakistani
support for militants it saw as
useful in opposing India.
Pakistan insists the policy is
over.
Policeman killed
by suicide bomber
in Afghanistan
One policeman was killed
and two were injured on the
outskirts of the Afghan capital
yesterday, in a blast caused by
a suicide bomber attempting to
enter Kabul in a vehicle laden
with explosives, an interior
ministry spokesman said.
“A patrol was sent around 7am to
7:30am to look for the suicide car
bomber, but unfortunately the
bomber was able to detonate his
explosives,” the spokesman said.
Pakistani orphan children from Sweet Home hold pictures of children killed in the Peshawar School attack during a protest rally against the
Taliban in Islamabad.
Rage, tears and broken childhoods
Mehran Khan, a mild-mannered
14-year-old survivor of this
week’s massacre at a Pakistani
school, says he will not rest until
the meaningless deaths of his
classmates have been avenged.
Shot with three bullets - in the
hand, leg and back - Khan said
from his bed at Peshawar’s
Lady Reading Hospital that
cricket used to be his main
passion before the attack. His
life has changed forever.
“I am angry,” he said, his voice
weak from pain. “I’m a physics
student but now I don’t want to be
an engineer. I want to get out and
take revenge for all the deaths.
The ones who killed my friends. I
will not rest until I finish them.”
The dark day of Dec. 16, when
Taliban militants slaughtered
more than 130 pupils,
methodically gunning down
children, ended the childhood
innocence of the traumatised
survivors.
After the attack, the hardline
Islamist Taliban declared that all
of those children deserved to
die because they were part of
the military establishment.
Reuters interviews with young
survivors revealed the lives of
children deeply scarred by their
near-death experience.
Ahmed Tahir, 14, is head prefect
at his school. Speaking after the
funeral of one of his friends, he
said he and his mates managed
to hide and slip outdoors into a
nearby cemetery as soon as the
shooting began.
“I finally glanced back and
behind me there was a line of
dead bodies,” he said.
“Only when we stopped at the
graveyard to catch our breath
did we realise that we were
covered in blood. Not our own
blood but the blood of our
friends left behind.”
Wearing a perfectly ironed
shalwar khameez - a long
cotton tunic worn over a pair
of baggy trousers, Tahir said
his best friend had rushed back
to try to rescue his trapped
brother. Once inside, the friend
was shot dead by the Taliban.
“I went to the CHM (hospital)
yesterday and saw my principal’s
dead body,” Tahir went on. “She
was shot dead but the terrorists
also slit her throat. They wanted
to send a message to working
women, I guess.”
Before the massacre, Tahir
and his friends gathered every
morning before classes to play
basketball. Afternoons were
reserved for cricket and soccer.
Now, returning to the school
will be an ordeal.
“School is where we go everyday.
It’s like home, where we feel
safe. Now it is littered with the
memories of all those who died.
They were all my brothers. It will
be hard to go back.”
Pakistani political party workers, traders and students light candles
during a vigil in Islamabad yesterday, for the children and
teachers killed in an attack by Taliban militants on an army-run
school in Peshawar.
Terrorists played sadistic games with students
AFP
Islamabad
T
aliban
gunmen
who
stormed a school in
northwest Pakistan toyed
with captive students by suggesting some could be let go
before lining them up and gunning them down in front of their
classmates, according to a new
account by survivors.
Militants rampaged through
an army-run school in Peshawar
and killed at least 141 people on
Tuesday, almost all of them children.
Pakistan is in mourning over
the attack, the bloodiest in the
nation’s history, which brought
international condemnation and
promises of a stern crackdown
by political and military leaders.
Previous accounts by wit-
nesses have indicated a pattern of indiscriminate п¬Ѓring
on students with those fortunate enough to survive playing dead while the attackers
moved on.
But Shahnawaz Khan, a
14-year-old who was being
treated in a Peshawar hospital for two bullet wounds to his
shoulder, said the attackers also
engaged in sadistic games.
He said he and his class were
in the middle of English grammar lecture when they heard
gunshots, though their teacher
said it was a п¬Ѓrst-aid class and
the sound could be coming from
a demonstration.
“But after a while the sounds
of gunshots grew louder and we
were hearing screams of students,” said Khan, the son of a
former local government official.
“Our teacher opened the door
and suddenly rushed back to the
room and shouted get under the
benches, he was trying to lock
the door when someone pushed
it from outside and he fell to the
ground.
“Two men wearing armylike uniforms carrying AK-47s
barged into the room and told us
not to make any noise and do as
they say.”
Khan said the man asked for
eight students who wish to be let
go to raise their hands, with almost the entire class responding
to the call by doing so.
“They took eight students
of their choice and made them
stand in front of the class near
the blackboard facing the wall
and told us to watch the students,” he continued, as one of
gunmen, whom Khan described
as burly, forced the class teacher
on to a chair.
“He told our teacher: �Watch
as your loved ones die. Ours are
also being killed in the same
way.’”
The gunmen then opened п¬Ѓre
on the children who slumped
to the ground, some dead and
others writhing and moaning in
agony.
Khan continued: “The other
guy standing near the door said
�I want eight more students now
so whose turn is it to die first?’
Nobody raised their hands and
he tried to grab students and take
them in front of the class but the
students were grabbing each
other tightly refusing to go.”
As the students struggled,
Khan said one gunman turned
to the other and told him they
should leave because they could
hear troops arriving.
“Then they started spraying
bullets on us indiscriminately
and left, I got two bullets on my
shoulder. I took my tie and tried
to stop my bleeding but I fell
unconscious,” said Khan, adding that he awoke on a hospital
bed and did not know how many
others had survived.
His account was confirmed
by the class teacher, who also
survived and was being treated
in the same hospital for bullet wounds to his shoulder and
chest.
“I wanted to help them but
I was helpless,” the 46-yearold said who did not wish to be
named said as he wept.
TTP spokesman Mohamed
Khorasani claimed the school
attack as revenge for a military offensive against militant
strongholds, saying they wanted the army to “feel the pain”
they had felt at losing loved
ones.
Gulf Times
Friday, December 19, 2014
17
PHILIPPINES
Politics
behind
blackout
in Abra?
Manila Times
La Trinidad, Benguet
T
Filipino cadets parade during the Armed Forces of the Philippines 79th Anniversary celebration at Camp Aguinaldo headquarters in Quezon city, eastern Manila, yesterday.
Military told to stay
neutral in 2016 polls
Manila Times
Makati
P
resident Benigno Aquino 3rd yesterday appealed to members of the
Armed Forces of the Philippines
(AFP) to stay neutral and not to allow
themselves to be used by those with vested
interests during the 2016 elections.
Speaking at the 79th anniversary of
the AFP, Aquino reminded the troops to
“do what is right and just” and “not allow
yourselves to be tempted or led astray from
the straight path.”
He said with the approach of 2016, when
he steps down and elections for his successor will be held, “there will be those
who will insist on using your for their selfish interests”.
“The wish of the people: It is our duty
to ensure peaceful election(s). You are expected to remain on the side of the people,”
the president added.
Aquino told the troops to “promote an
Armed Forces that is the cornerstone in
defending democracy; an Armed Forces
that is an example of resolve in the face of
challenge, an armed forces that is a wellspring of inspiration for so many Filipinos”.
He gave assurances that the government would continue its commitment to
modernise the country’s military to ensure
peace and security.
Aside from ships, aircraft and other
materiel, Aquino promised to improve the
benefits and services available to soldiers
and their families, especially housing and
retirement programmes.
He also pledged to sign a bill that would
he Abra Electric Cooperative (Abreco) management sees “political
underpinnings” in Monday’s
power outage that left more
than 40,000 consumers without electricity for three hours.
Loreto Seares Jr, Abreco
general manager, explained
that the blackout, which affected the entire province,
came after supplier Aboitiz
Power Renewables Incorporated decided to stop providing the co-operative with
power despite the payment of
a P5.13mn obligation ahead of
the set deadline.
The power п¬Ѓrm earlier decided to part ways with Abreco
by terminating its Power Supply Agreement (PSA), citing unsettled debts and other
commitments “on time” as
reason.
“We are demanding an explanation. If it boils down to a
miscommunication or delayed
protocol between Aboitiz and
the National Grid Corporation
of the Philippines (NGCP),
then we ask you to give us an
official explanation to help
us straighten the record amid
the confusion and panic in
Abra,” Seares said, referring to
NGCP’s earlier act of intervening between the co-operative
and Aboitiz.
He believes that there are
“unseen hands” that led to the
power interruption.
Abra representative Ma
Jocelyn Bernos vowed to look
into the incident stressing
that “Abreco should continue
lighting the province” even
with the problems affecting
the co-operative, Aboitiz and
NGCP.
“Power supply is a basic necessity and I cannot sit and do
nothing with the present issue,” she said.
Earlier, Abra governor Eustaquio Bersamin, who is reportedly still in the United
States, belied insinuations
that he is dipping his п¬Ѓngers
into the co-operative intending to replace Seares with his
“anointed one”.
Seares insists Bersamin’s
intervention into the affairs
of Abreco is “clear as water”,
citing an incident where the
governor, even while in the US,
called to convince him not to
run in the cooperative election
held over the weekend.
In a letter to Aboitiz, Seares
said the power supplier should
give the Abreco membersconsumers an explanation on
what really happened as he
lamented how the power distribution facility is influenced
by politics. Abreco, like most
power cooperatives around the
country, has not also been successful in shielding itself from
local politics.
Ceza �is Cagayan’s
economic driver’
Manila Times
Santa Ana, Cagayan
A
President Aquino inspects troops during the 79th anniversary celebration of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
increase the subsistence allowance of all
soldiers.
“Your government will do everything in
its power so you can achieve higher levels
of service, deepen your capabilities and
strengthen the professionalism and integrity of your organisation,” the president
said.
According to him, the days when soldiers risked their lives with substandard
gear are over.
“The times when the defenders of the
country lacked weapons are over; the
times when government could not provide you even the most basic uniforms are
over,” Aquino said.
“The time when the purchase of Kevlar
helmets were turned into a racket at the
expense of our soldiers’ lives are over,” he
added.
At the same time, Aquino warned corrupt AFP officials against standing in the
way of reforms his administration is implementing in the military.
“To those who wish to return your institution to the old ways: Be ashamed, and be
afraid,” the president said.
“Reform will not stop, neither will our
efforts to make the corrupt accountable,”
he added.
Meanwhile, Aquino praised soldiers
who served in notable missions, which he
credited for the economic gains the country is enjoying.
“Because you have preserved peace and
stability, the administration has succeeded in planting the seeds of more reform,
and lured more investors to put down
stakes in our country,” the president said.
“The result of this is improved industries and economic progress that bring
more opportunities to deliver broader improvement to our people,” he added.
“As your commander-in-chief, I am
very proud of heading an armed forces
that reflects the best traits of our race: the
selflessness, compassion and loyalty to the
people and our flag,” the president said.
fter eight years of operation, the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (Ceza) has become the top
economic driver in Cagayan
Valley, a feat that comes from
the establishment of tourismrelated projects.
In his report, Ceza Administrator Jose Mari Ponce said
that tourism has grown from
only 4,604 in 2007 to 127,333 in
2013 owing to a vigorous tourism campaign that included a
state-of-the-art Cyber Park
for electronic gaming, which
is the п¬Ѓrst and only e-gaming
facility in Asia.
“Very soon, the Cyber Park
is going to be one of the top 10
best in the world,” Ponce said.
Smaller private operators
have also mushroomed in the
hotel and restaurant industry, contributing greatly to
the development of the zone.
Cagayan’s tourism industry boomed after a massive
promotions campaign for its
beautiful islands and beaches.
“Palaui Island here, was
recognised as among the 100
best islands in the world and
top three islands in the Philippines by CNN Travel Blog,”
Ponce claimed, adding that the
recent shooting of the Survivor
America on the island led to
tourist growth.
He also said that Ceza aims
to make the region the game
п¬Ѓshing capital of the country.
Ponce expects the arrivals
to continue growing after the
Cagayan North International
Airport becomes operational.
To further develop Cagayan’s tourism potential, Ponce
said that Ceza is looking into
Santa Ana town, and the islands of Fuga, Barit and Mabbag in Aparri town as among
the places that could be devoted to tourism.
Crime lord enjoys a rocking time in the jailhouse
AFP
Manila
C
rime lord “Herbert C” was
enjoying national fame
and growing iTunes success after reinventing himself as
a lovelorn balladeer from inside
the Philippines’ biggest jail—until police cut short his career.
Herbert Colanggo lost his recording studio and other bribeinduced musical privileges after
a raid on the secret prison villas
kept by 20 of the nation’s most
notorious robbery, kidnapping
and drug kingpins.
The Philippines’ prisons have
long had a reputation for graft, but
Monday’s raid shocked the nation
with the justice secretary expressing outrage that Colanggo and the
others were “living like kings”.
The raid at Manila’s Bilibid
prison uncovered high-powered
weapons, methamphetamines,
blow-up sex dolls, a jacuzzi, a
strip bar where prostitutes were
brought in—and Colanggo’s fully
equipped music studio.
Herbert C
“We are very angry because
they continue to live lives of luxury,” Dante Jimenez, chairman of
the watchdog group Volunteers
Against Crime and Corruption,
told AFP.
“It’s like they just transferred
from one mansion to another.”
Colanggo entered Bilibid in
2009 after a near decade-long
reign as the leader of a feared
bank robbery gang.
“His gang was so bold and daring that their presence alone literally swept the vaults of all banks in
all urban areas nationwide,” former
Bilibid prison head Venancio Tesoro said in a post on his blog.
Police say one of his gang’s
bank heists on the outskirts of
Manila left 10 people dead, making it one of the country’s bloodiest robberies. Colanggo was sentenced to 12 to 14 years in jail.
Bilibid is infamous for overcrowding and the brutal conditions—it was built to accommodate 8,900 inmates but currently
houses more than 23,000.
Colanggo, though, was able to
quickly buy his way into the privileged world of the prison’s top
criminal kingpins, some of whom
have previously even been caught
leaving the jail for short periods
of time.
With lots of time on his hands,
Colanggo decided to pursue his
long-held ambition of becoming
a music star, and rebranded himself “Herbert C”.
He had a music studio built inside his prison villa and recorded
a 10-song album of syrupy love
songs called “Kinabukasan”,
which means “Future”.
Colanggo, who is believed to be
in his late 30s, was picked up by
one of the Philippines’ big music
labels, Ivory Music and Video,
and his п¬Ѓrst album, released this
year, was a chart success.
In one of many clips about his
career posted on YouTube and
other social media, Colanggo appears at a concert in the Bilibid
gymnasium where he accepts an
Ivory “platinum” record award
for selling 15,000 albums.
He also celebrates being voted
“best new male recording artist” by a group of entertainment
journalists this year, an accolade
that garnered mainstream media
coverage.
“I’ve always dreamt of becoming a recording artist,” Colanggo, who portrays himself on
Facebook as a newly devout and
repentant Catholic, told local
broadcaster ABS-CBN in a recent
jailhouse interview.
“I was raised well. I am a victim who lost his way.”
Colanggo’s album can be bought
for $3.99 from Apple’s iTunes
store, and is also available on the
streaming music service Spotify.
AFP contacted Ivory yesterday to ask about its relationship
with Colanggo, but a staffer who
answered the phone said the person in charge of his career was on
leave and unavailable for comment.
In the album’s lead single,
which like his other songs are
posted on YouTube, Colanggo
sings in a raspy baritone of the
pain of not being able to profess
his love to a woman.
The song’s music video was
п¬Ѓlmed in his prison studio, with
him wearing lipstick and thick
make-up that fails to hide acne
scars.
Colanggo, in a long-sleeved
Bart Simpson shirt and auburntinted shades, sits on a bar stool
while singing, backed up by a full
band like a lounge singer.
Bureau of Corrections’ director Ferdinand Bucayu insisted
yesterday he had not known
about Colanggo’s music career
or special privileges, and pointed
the п¬Ѓnger at corrupt prison officials.
“I have nothing to do with
what was happening,” Bucayu
told AFP in a phone interview.
“We need more competent and
trustworthy prison guards.”
Jimenez, the head of the crime
watchdog, scoffed at Bucayu’s
professions of ignorance.
“That’s crazy. And (if true) it
only shows how rotten the system is, that the leadership can
be compartmentalised and not
know what is happening,” he
said.
“Everyone needs to be replaced
and there should be a separate island to keep prisoners like these.”
For the time being, Colanggo
and the other crime lords have
been removed from Bilibid and
taken to a high-security facility
of the justice department’s investigation unit.
Bucayu said Colanggo’s studio
would also be dismantled.
But Justice Secretary Leila de
Lima said this week that corruption in Bilibid was institutionalised and she could not immediately sack all the corrupt prison
officials. Which leaves open the
possibility of Herbert C or another crime lord doing the jailhouse rock once again.
18
Gulf Times
Friday, December 19, 2014
SRI LANKA/BANGLADESH/NEPAL
Sri Lanka leader asks
Tamils to �forget past’
AFP
Colombo
S
ri Lanka’s president asked minority Tamils to “forget the past” as he
campaigned for re-election yesterday, vowing not to allow another uprising
after decades of ethnic war.
President Mahinda Rajapakse, who is
seeking an unprecedented third term, told
a public rally in the former war zone of
Mullaittivu that Tamils should join him to
rebuild the battle-scarred region.
He made no reference to allegations that
his troops killed some 40,000 Tamil civilians in the п¬Ѓnal months of п¬Ѓghting, when
the leadership of the Tamil Tiger separatists was wiped out.
“Let us unite. Forget the past. Let us develop this country together,” he said in an
address broadcast live.
“We cannot let history repeat in this
country.”
Sri Lanka faces a UN-mandated international probe into war crimes. A report is
expected at the UN Human Rights Council
in March.
The UN has estimated that at least
100,000 people were killed in Sri Lanka’s
separatist war between 1972 and 2009.
Rajapakse included a few lines of Tamil
in his address in Mullaittivu, where government forces fought their п¬Ѓnal battles
with the separatist Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Local and foreign rights groups say despite the end of the war local Tamils are
under constant surveillance in a region
where the military still maintains a high
presence.
Tamils account for about 15% of the
electorate and could emerge as king-makers in January’s presidential election if the
majority Sinhalese are split between Rajapakse and his main rival.
The president faces an unexpected
challenge from his former health minister
and party general secretary, Maithripala
President Mahinda Rajapakse
Sirisena, who, like Rajapakse, is a member
of the majority Sinhalese community.
Rajapakse, 69, was seen as the favourite
when last month he called the January 8
snap election two years ahead of schedule.
But Sirisena has emerged as a formidable opponent after securing the support of
all main opposition groups.
The popularity of Rajapakse’s party
showed a 21 point decline at local elections
in September.
Rajapakse has announced hefty salary
increases for public servants, drastically
reduced water, electricity and fuel prices
in the run-up to the vote.
He has also offered subsidised motorcycles to hundreds of thousands of public
servants and granted free electricity and
water to police officers living in official
barracks.
Sri Lanka’s military yesterday rejected
opposition allegations that it had deployed
troops to campaign for president Mahinda
Rajapakse’s re-election.
Military spokesman Brigadier Ruwan
Wanigasooriya denied opposition claims
that soldiers were distributing material in
support of the president who is seeking an
unprecedented third term at the January 8
elections.
“The statement that the army has
employed soldiers for election-related
propaganda is baseless and extremely presumptuous,” Wanigasooriya said.
The main opposition United National
Party (UNP) yesterday accused army chief
Daya Ratnayake of deploying troops to
campaign for Rajapakse and said his conduct will be reported to the international
community.
“The deployment of soldiers for such
political work is destroying the dignity of
the uniform,” UNP spokesman Mangala
Samaraweera told reporters in Colombo
yesterday.
He accused the army chief of including election propaganda leaflets in
soldiers’ pay packets last month, an allegation denied by Brigadier Wanigasooriya.
Wanigasooriya told AFP they would investigate the claim if the opposition provided “information on any such instances”.
Rajapakse, who is also the commander
in chief of armed forces, faces allegations
that his troops killed at least 40,000 Tamil
civilians in the final stages of the country’s
Tamil separatist war in 2009. Colombo has
resisted international moves to probe Colombo’s war record.
Rajapakse called the snap election two
years ahead of schedule after his party’s
popularity dropped a sharp 21 points at a
local election in September.
The Brussels-based International Crisis
Group said in a report last week that Rajapakse was facing an unexpectedly strong
challenge from his former health minister
Sirisena, who has secured wide opposition
support.
“The sudden emergence of a strong opposition candidate caught many, including
President Rajapakse, by surprise,” the ICG
said.
It warned the election could turn ugly
and called for the international community to send monitors to observe the campaign and deter any violence.
Both the election chief and private
monitors have accused the government of
exploiting state assets as well as personnel
in support of the president.
Dhaka court issues warrant of
arrest against Khaleda’s son
By Mizan Rahman
Dhaka
A
Dhaka court yesterday
issued a warrant for the
arrest of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) senior vicechairman Tarique Rahman, now
in London, in a case filed for calling Bangladesh’s founding father
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman a �great Razakar’ (a collaborator with the Pakistan occupation army in 1971).
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate M Yunus Khan issued the
arrest warrant after M Mostafizur Rahman Dulal, a member of
Dhaka Bar Association, п¬Ѓled a
defamation case against Tarique
Rahman for his disparaging remarks on Bangabandhu.
Earlier in the morning, п¬Ѓve
separate defamation cases were
п¬Ѓled against Tarique in Dhaka,
Comilla, Chittagong and Natore
districts for the derogatory remark.
Earlier on Monday, BNP senior
vice-chairman Tarique Rahman
called Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
a “big Razakar”. He sought the
disbanding of the ruling Awami League calling it a “party of
thugs”, and claimed that Bangabandhu’s made no contribution
to the country’s Liberation War
in 1971.
According to a message received in Dhaka on December 16,
Tarique, addressing a discussion
marking the Victory Day in London on Monday said, “Awami
League claims that it’s a party
of War of Independence, but it’s
Sheikh Mujib who had banned
Awami League describing it as a
party of thugs. So, if it’s a party
of Liberation War, Sheikh Mujib
is a great Razakar for obliterating
Awami League”.
Meanwhile, п¬Ѓve defamation
cases were п¬Ѓled against Tarique
Rahman yesterday in Dhaka,
Comilla, Chittagong and Natore
for calling Bangabandhu Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman a “great Razakar”.
Hawkers League general secretary M Abdul Mannan п¬Ѓled a
defamation and a sedition case
against Tarique, also the eldest
son of BNP founder Ziaur Rahman and current chairperson
Khaleda Zia, with the court of
Dhaka metropolitan magistrate
M Maruf Hossain for his derogatory comments.
BNP adviser Mir Nasir Uddin,
its joint secretary Ruhul Kabir
Rizvi and its international affairs
secretary Majedur Rahman were
also made accused in the same
case.
Besides, M Mostafizur Rahman Dulal, a member of Dhaka
Bar, п¬Ѓled another case against
Tarique with the court of Dhaka
Metropolitan Magistrate M Yunus Khan for the same reason.
In Comilla, district Sheikh
Russel Krira Chakra (a pro-Awami League sports organisation)
president Sudhirnandi Babu п¬Ѓled
a case against Tarique with the
chief judicial magistrate court-1 .
The court ordered Tarique to
appear before it on March 1, 2015.
In Chittagong, city unit
Bangladesh Chhatra League
(student front) general secretary Nurul Azim Ronny п¬Ѓled
another defamation suit and a
sedition case against him with
the Chittagong metropolitan
magistrate court.
Meaanwhile, defending Tarique Rahman’s assertion, BNP
spokesman Mirza Fakhrul Islam
Alamgir said their leader’s factual remarks have caused heartburn in the ruling party men who
hardly care while making derogatory remarks against others.
Addressing a programme, he
also hit back at the prime minister for calling Tarique a “spoiled
son”, saying she and her party
men should exercise restraint.
“Do you lose your sense when
you (Awami League leaders) call
independence proclaimer Ziaur
Rahman and deputy chief of staff
of the Bangladesh Armed Forces
during the Liberation War AK
Khandaker Razakars? Now you
feel the heartburn after Tarique
Rahman revealed the historical
facts,” the BNP leader said.
Fakhrul, the BNP acting secretary general, was addressing a
convention arranged by pro-BNP
student leaders of Ducsu and All
Party Students Unity (Apsu) of
the 90s at the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh.
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina
on Wednesday advised BNP chief
Khaleda Zia to ask her spoiled
son to hold his tongue.
Without mentioning Tarique’s
name, Hasina said people across
the world, let alone Bangladesh,
will not believe what he is saying.
Elephants raid
village, three dead
By Mizan Rahman
Dhaka
T
hree persons were killed
in an attack by rampaging wild elephants
in Nayakhal area of Kheochhiya union under Satkania
sub-district in southeastern
Chittagong district, a report
reaching Dhaka yesterday
said.
The deceased are Mahbubul Alam Talukdar, 35, son
of late Abul Hossain Talukdar
of the area, Shakil, 15, son of
Md Forkan of Kaliaish area of
the sub-district and Shahadat Hossain, 30, son of Ameer
Hossain.
Sub-inspector (SI) of
Satkania police station Kazi
Golam Kibria said: “The incident took place near Cox’s
Bazaar-Chittagong highway.”
Some 14 elephants came
down to the crop п¬Ѓelds beside the highway at around
6:30pm. After people tried to
stop them from destroying the
crops, the elephants attacked
killing one man on the spot,
the SI said.
Two injured were taken to
a local clinic where the doctors declared them dead, he
added. Environmentalists say
the elephants are battling for
survival.
Loss of habitats and food
sources force the wild elephants to raid villages in
search of food, triggering a
conflict with villagers.
These
mega-herbivores,
that can consume a year’s
harvest in just a few days, raid
croplands and gardens.
According to officials, a
herd of about 15 to 20 wild elephants entered Bangladesh
from Meghalaya in India and
other states in 1997. They did
not go back as the hills offered
them abundant food and habitat.
However, things started being different as these
animals have bred and tripled their number over the
years while people have continued to encroach on their
habitat.
“How can we survive if they
(elephants) destroy all our
crops?” asked a farmer of Nakugaon village.
UN sends team to
clean up oil spill
AFP
Dhaka
T
he United Nations said
yesterday it has sent a
team of international
experts to Bangladesh to help
clean up the world’s largest
mangrove forest, more than a
week after it was hit by a huge
oil spill.
Thousands of litres of oil
have spilt into the protected
Sundarbans mangrove area,
home to rare Irrawaddy and
Ganges dolphins, after a tanker
collided with another vessel
last Tuesday.
A team from the United Nations Disaster Assessment and
Coordination (UNDAC) has
arrived in the capital Dhaka to
support Bangladesh’s “cleanup
efforts of the oil spill in the
Sundarbans”, a statement from
the UN said.
Experts have slammed
authorities for failing to organise a proper clean-up effort of the oil spill, which has
now spread 350sqkm inside
the delicate mangrove forest
area.
Until now, the forest department was relying on villagers
and п¬Ѓshermen to scoop up the
thick tar from the water and
river banks with sponges and
pans.
The UN team will help in the
“ground work in co-ordination
with the government” and
“will also conduct an assessment and advise on recovery
and risk reduction measures”,
it said, adding the team had
been sent in response to a request from Bangladesh.
The European Union and
United States, Britain and
France are supporting the UN
effort, it added.
The UN expressed concern
over the disaster, urging Dhaka
to impose a “complete ban”
on the movement of commercial vessels through the
10,000sqkm forest that straddles the border between Bangladesh and India and is home
to a number of rare animals including the endangered Bengal
tigers and Irrawaddy dolphins.
Encroachment rampant in Ramechhap
At least 50 huts encroaching on public land have been built in
Ramechhap, according to Nepal district authorities and locals.
Open land in Kukhure Aahal in ward 3 of the village has become a
congested market area now. More shanties are being constructed
in the area as authorities have failed to stop the encroachment.
Locals said some people are running businesses on the land and
others have rented huts for commercial purposes.
After the village was connected to road network, encroachment has
accelerated.
Local Lopsang Tamang said some persons outside the village have
also encroached on land there.
Some villagers have said authorities’ apathy has motivated them to
encroach land.
Meanwhile, a district administration office official said the office has
not been informed about the encroachment.
The office will begin monitoring soon, he added.
Tsunami survivor undeterred by broken promises
DPA
Colombo
A
bilash Jeyaraj, a 10-yearold boy living in an eastern
village in Sri Lanka, says
his only ambition is to become an
engineer when he grows up.
He was lucky enough to survive
the deadly tsunami waves that hit
Kalmunai, a coastal village 306km
east of the capital, when the Indian Ocean tsunami hit on December 26, 2004. He was 67 days old
at the time.
“I have been told by my parents
that my name was famous during
the tsunami, not only in Sri Lanka,
during that period,” says Abilash,
sitting in his three-roomed, partially built house.
Abilash attracted worldwide
attention not because of his miraculous escape, but because his
parents were involved in a 52-day
legal battle to regain custody of
their son.
Nine couples came forward
claiming the child was theirs after
he was washed away and found in
a banana plantation, so a DNA test
was used.
Abilash became known as Baby
81 after he happened to be the 81st
victim admitted to the hospital in
his hometown Kalmunai.
“I have been told about my
miraculous escape from the tsunami,” says Abilash, sitting with
his parents at home in Kurukkulmadam, 265 kilometres east of the
capital.
“I have been shown the pictures
and the articles about me.”
“I have always been interested
in finding out more about landslides, floods and natural disasters. Whenever they show pictures of floods and landslides, I
take an interest,” Abilash says.
The boy is keen on his studies and was successful at the п¬Ѓrst
public examination he sat in August.
“I want to study hard and become an engineer,” says Abilash,
who goes to the nearby state-run
school.
“My friends know that I was
one of them who escaped from the
tsunami.
They talk to me about floods
and their weekend visits to the
beach.
But I do not like the sea,” Abilash says.
He likes cricket and playing
with his 3-year-old sister Abisha
in their small compound.
Their father, Murugapillai
Jayararja, 40, a barber, decided to
move from Kalmunai to Kurukkalmadam, and they now live about
a kilometre from the coast.
Abilash’s friends are from the
surrounding houses in the village
that are mostly occupied by public
sector employees.
“He is a very quiet boy in school
and very keen in his studies. He is
very friendly,” says Mithil Kumar,
a classmate.
When Abilash’s story hit the
headlines of local and international media, domestic and foreign organisations offered gifts,
donations, foreign trips and
scholarships for the child’s education.
“Our child happened to be the
most popular child in Sri Lanka,”
says his father. “The child was
known not just within the country, but in many foreign countries.”
“Less than six months later, we
realised that most of the promises
were false or made on the spur of
the moment,” Murugapillai adds.
“We did make one trip to the US
organised by a television channel.”
“I was promised a job in South
Korea. Another offer was to produce a п¬Ѓlm on this incident. None
of these happened.”
“Like the tsunami waves haunt
our family, the broken promises
too haunt us today,” says Murugapillai.
Murugapillai and his wife Juanita Jeyaraja are devote Hindus and
strongly believe that their faith
helped them to recover from the
ordeal.
“We had faith that the gods will
stand by us and we will get back
our child. That helped us,” he said.
More than 30,000 others perished that day in Sri Lanka.
Abhilash Jeyaraj
Gulf Times
Friday, December 19, 2014
19
THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH
The
importance
of seeking
forgiveness
Contentment is bliss
S
a�d ibn Abi Waqqaas (may Allah be pleased with him) travelled
to Makkah after he had become
blind. Upon his arrival the people
hastened to him and kept on asking him to
make supplication for them, and he did,
as Allah always accepted his supplication. �Abdullaah ibn As-Saa’ib (may Allah
be pleased with him) said: “I came to him
when I was still a young boy and became
acquainted with him, so he knew me and
said to me, �Are you the one who recites the
Qur’an for the people of Makkah?’ I replied,
�Yes.’ Then I asked him, �You supplicate to
Allah for all the people, so why do you not
supplicate to Allah for yourself so that He
would cure you?’ He smiled, and said, �O
son! The decree of Allah is better for me
than my sight.’”
This is the satisfaction that the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) adjusted themselves to, and the decree of Allah The Almighty became more beloved to
them than their desires, and so they loved
nothing more than what Allah the Almighty
had decreed. �Umar ibn �Abd Al-�Azeez
(may Allah have mercy upon him) said: “I
do not want anything except what Allah
The Almighty decrees.” What confirms the
importance of this satisfaction is that the
Prophet sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam ( may
Allah exalt his mention ) would ask Allah
The Almighty to grant him satisfaction
with His decree, and it is well-known that
the Prophet sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam
(may Allah exalt his mention) only asked
Allah The Almighty for the highest ranks.
Satisfaction is sincerely giving precedence
to all that Allah The Almighty has ordained,
without being hesitant or objecting.
This is exactly what the righteous
predecessors sought and strived for. They
were fully content in matters pertaining to
their fate and what Allah The Almighty had
inscribed in the Preserved Slate and never
desired anything contrary to what He had
decreed for them. However, as for matters of religion that pertain to His orders or
prohibitions, one must always progress and
aspire to what is better.
The righteous predecessors may Allah be
pleased with them would advise each other
to be satisfied and get used to it as they
knew its high rank. �Umar (Al-Faarooq)
- may Allah be pleased with him - wrote
to Abu Moosa al-Ash�ari (may Allah be
pleased with him) saying: “All that is good
lies in satisfaction. If you are able to be satisfied, please do so, otherwise, be patient.”
Luqmaan (may Allah exalt his mention)
would advise his son, saying, “I advise you
to be endowed with certain characteristics
that would bring you closer to Allah The
Almighty and would keep you away from
His dissatisfaction: to worship Allah The
Almighty Alone without associating any
other deity with Him, and to be satisfied
with His decree in anything that you like or
dislike.” The one who adjusts himself to this
would lead a good life as distress and worries would not reach his heart. Indeed, how
could that be when Allah The Almighty has
become pleased with him, and he with Allah? Allah The Almighty Says (what means):
{Whoever does righteousness, whether
male or female, while he is a believer - We
will surely cause him to live a good life,}
[Qur’an 16:97] Some of the righteous predecessors may Allah have mercy upon them
interpreted “good life” as a life of satisfaction and contentment.
Once, �Umar ibn al-Khattaab (may Allah
be pleased with him) became angry with
his wife �Aatikah (may Allah be pleased
with her) and said to her, “By Allah, I will
upset you.” She said, “Can you drive me
away from Islam after Allah The Almighty
has guided me to it?” He replied, “No.” She
then said, “Then how can you upset me?”
She meant by that that she was satisfied
with the decree of Allah The Almighty, and
that nothing could have brought her distress except being driven away from Islam,
and there is no way �Umar (may Allah be
pleased with him) could ever have done
that.
There are three conditions for being truly
satisfied with Allah The Almighty:
First: Being content at times of both
blessings and afflictions alike, as one
believes that Allah the Almighty chooses
what is best for him. This is what happened
with some of the righteous predecessors
(may Allah have mercy upon them) as they
were patient and satisfied when they were
afflicted with hardship. When Sulaymaan
ibn Al-Ghaazi (may Allah have mercy upon
him) went to condole �Umar ibn �Abd Al�Azeez (may Allah have mercy upon him)
upon the death of his son, �Abd Al-Malik,
�Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said
to him, “I seek Allah’s refuge from wanting
something that is contrary to what He likes,
as this does not change the affliction and
His good treatment of me.” It was narrated
on the authority of Ibraaheem An-Nakhaa�i
(may Allah have mercy upon him) that
Umm al-Aswad was paralysed and her
daughter grieved, so she told her “Do not be
sad. O Allah, if this is something good then
please increase it.”
Second: Abandoning disputes unless they
are related to any of the rights of Allah The
Almighty or His Prophet sallallaahu `alaihi
wa sallam (may Allah exalt his mention).
Having conflict with others for the sake of
one’s desires drives satisfaction away, disturbs its purity and alters its sweetness.
Third: Refraining from continually asking of people. Allah The Almighty Says
(what means): {An ignorant [person] would
think them self-sufficient because of
their restraint, but you will know them by
their [characteristic] sign. They do not ask
people persistently [or at all]. And whatever
you spend of good - indeed, Allah is Knowing of it.} [Qur’an 2:273]
Regarding this trait, Thawbaan (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that the
Prophet sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam (may
Allah exalt his mention) said: “Who will
guarantee me this trait so that I will guarantee him Paradise?” Thawbaan said, “I.”
The Prophet sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam
(may Allah exalt his mention) replied: “Do
not ask people for anything.” After that, he
never asked anyone for anything, even if his
whip fell while riding, he would get off and
pick it up himself without asking anyone to
hand it to him. [Ahmad]
Satisfaction is the Peak of
Faith
Abu Ad-Dardaa’ (may Allah be pleased
with him) said: “There are four traits at the
peak of faith: patience, satisfaction with
destiny, sincerity in reliance, and submission to Allah The Almighty.” Ibn Al-Qayyim
(may Allah have mercy upon him) said:
“Satisfaction is one of the deeds of the
heart that is the equivalent of Jihaad, which
is one of the deeds of the limbs [body], for
each one of them is the peak of Faith.”
Deprivation is in fact a
Blessing from Allah The
Almighty
Sufyaan Ath-Thawri (may Allah have
mercy upon him) said that if Allah The
Almighty deprives His servant of something, it is in fact a blessing; when Allah
The Almighty deprives His slave, it is not
because He is miserly or unable to give, but
because He chooses what is best for His
believing slave, and for a certain wisdom.
Allah The Almighty never decrees anything
bad for His believing slave, whether that
decree brings happiness or misery to the
slave. Thus, even when Allah The Almighty
deprives His believing slave, it is in fact
a blessing, and the affliction is for his
well-being, even if it is in the form of an
affliction. Due to the ignorance of the slave
and his injustice, he considers that bliss is
the only thing to give him pleasure in the
worldly life. If man was truly knowledgeable, he would have considered all that Allah
The Almighty decreed as a blessing. This
was the state of the righteous predecessors.
The slave will never find the sweetness of
faith except through this. The Prophet sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam (may Allah exalt
his mention) said: “Whoever is content
with Allah as a God, Islam as a religion and
Muhammad as a messenger, has certainly
felt the sweetness of faith.”
O Allah! Make us satisfied with Your decree and bless our destiny so that we would
not wish to hasten something that You have
delayed or delay something that You have
hastened.
Article source: http://www.islamweb.
net/emainpage/
The benefits of hoping for the best
H
aving hope in Allah The
Almighty bears fruit to the
following:
It makes one strive
more and exert greater effort in performing acts of worship.
It makes one even more inclined
to be constantly obedient to Allah The
Almighty.
It makes one enjoy drawing
closer to Allah The Almighty, and
makes one experience the thrill of
supplicating to Him.
It makes one express his servitude to and need for his Lord, and
makes him realise that he cannot do
without the favours and kindness of
his Lord, even for a period that is as
rapid as the blinking of an eye.
Allah The Almighty loves that
His slaves ask favours of Him and
supplicate to Him; He is angered by
those who shun supplicating and asking Him. The one with hope usually
supplicates much more than others
who are not, and Allah The Almighty
is angry with those who do not harbor
any hope in the mercy and kindness of
Allah The Almighty. Thus having hope
rescues one from the wrath of Allah
The Almighty.
Hope is what makes the person
enjoy his journey towards Allah The
Almighty and the Hereafter; it makes
him steadfast upon the path because
had it not been that people hoped for
Paradise and that their rewards be
multiplied, then nobody would have
been able to continue on their path
towards Allah The Almighty and the
Hereafter.
It makes one increase in his love
for his Lord, because the more he gets
what he asked and hoped for, the more
his love for his Lord will increase and
the more grateful he becomes to his
Lord – which is one of the implications of the state of servitude.
Hope makes one reach the state
of being thankful; which is what servitude is all about.
Hope makes one research more
into the Names and Attributes of Allah The Almighty.
Hope is interconnected with fear
of Allah The Almighty, because the
one who hopes for the mercy of Allah
The Almighty and His Paradise will
fear that he may not be doing enough
to be worthy of them; this is indeed a
wonderful relationship between the
two different states of the believer’s
heart: hope and fear.
When one hopes for something
and Allah The Almighty grants it to
him, this encourages him to ask for
more and strive harder to please Allah
The Almighty, which consequently
increases his level of faith and brings
him close to the All-Merciful.
The more hope that slaves harbour during this life, the more they
will rejoice when attaining what they
have hoped for in the Hereafter, and
the best and highest of all causes for
rejoicing is seeing Allah The Almighty
and attaining His pleasure.
Furthermore, Allah The Almighty
wishes that His slaves fulfil the other
ranks of servitude, such as humbling themselves before Him, relying
on Him in everything, seeking His
support, fearing Him, persevering
through His decrees and thanking
W
e should never lose hope or stop
asking Allah The Almighty for
forgiveness for our sins and mistakes. The importance of seeking
forgiveness is shown to us in a narration of
the Prophet sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam (may
Allah exalt his mention ): O people! Turn to
Allah in repentance and seek His forgiveness,
for surely I make repentance a hundred times
every day. Repentance is such a great act of
worship that it can completely erase one’s sins
altogether, as the Noble Prophet sallallaahu
`alaihi wa sallam said: One who repents from
sins is like one without sin.
When a person commits a sin and then
sincerely turns to Allah The Almighty for forgiveness, he will п¬Ѓnd Allah The Almighty ready
to accept his repentance and to forgive him,
as this verse indicates (which means): {“And
whoever does a wrong or wrongs himself, but
then seeks forgiveness from Allah, he will п¬Ѓnd
Allah forgiving and merciful.”} [Qur’an, 4:110]
Everyone commits sins and mistakes, but
Allah The Almighty is always willing to forgive
and He always gives them a chance to repent
and seek His forgiveness. A believer should
never forget the fact that Allah The Almighty
is All-Forgiving. If Allah The Almighty had
willed, He could have held everyone accountable for his or her sins, but He has decreed
that He shall allow His servants to seek His
forgiveness and that He shall in fact forgive
whomever and whatever He wills. In fact, Allah
The Almighty commands His servants to seek
His forgiveness in the verse (which means):
{“And seek Allah’s forgiveness. Certainly, Allah
is Forgiving, Merciful.”} [Qur’an, 73:20]
Repentance is an act of worship which
purifies the soul and brings the slave closer to
His Lord. It puts the heart at rest from guilt. It
protects a believer from falling prey to desires
and lusts and increases his faith.
Allah The Almighty then says in the Hadith
Qudsi (sacred narration): O son of Adam, if you
were to come to Me with sins close to п¬Ѓlling the
earth and then you would meet Me without ascribing any partners with Me, I would certainly
bring you forgiveness close to п¬Ѓlling it. Look at
how great is the mercy, compassion and love
of Allah The Almighty! The least Allah The
Almighty asks for is that one not ascribe any
partners and gods with Him, for, He is alone
in His Sovereignty. After that if one commits
sins and seeks sincere forgiveness, Allah The
Almighty promises that He will forgive him and
shower His mercy upon him.
However, one is not forgiven if he seeks
repentance from Allah The Almighty at the
time of death when he sees the angels or when
the sun rises from the west at the approach of
the Day of Judgment. This is confirmed by the
following verse (which means): {And of no effect is the repentance of those who continue to
do evil deeds until death faces one of them and
he says, Now I repent, nor of those who dies
while they are disbelievers. For them, We have
prepared a painful torment.} [Qur’an, 4:18]
Allah The Almighty also does not forgive the
one who commits Shirk (polytheism), which
is the association of partners with Allah The
Almighty. Forgiveness will only come to those
who die while adhering to Tawheed (Islamic
Monotheism) and avoiding any form of Shirk.
This is stated in the following verses (what
means):
{“Verily, Allah does not forgive that partners
should be set up with Him, but He forgives
whatever is less than that for whomever He
wills. And whoever sets up partners with Allah has indeed invented a tremendous sin.”}
[Qur’an, 4:48]
{Verily, Allah forgives not the setting up
of partners with Him, but He forgives whom
He pleases whatever is less than that. And
whoever sets up partners with Allah has indeed
strayed far away.} [Qur’an, 4:116]
We must ask ourselves this question: Would
we be willing to forgive anyone who hurts us
and disobeys us constantly as easily as Allah
The Almighty is Able to forgive? Most probably, the answer would be no. However, our
Creator is the Most Kind and He is the Most
Perfect as stated in the verse (which means):
{“Lo! Allah is a Lord of Kindness to mankind, but most of mankind give not thanks.”}
[Qur’an, 2:143]
Article source: http://www.islamweb.net/
emainpage/
Him for His bounties. Thus, Allah
The Almighty decreed that people sin
in order for him to fulfil these ranks,
so His slaves seek the forgiveness
of Allah The Almighty and humble
themselves before Him in order to be
forgiven. If people did not sin, they
would not feel the need to humble
themselves before Him or seek His
forgiveness, nor would they repent to
Him; this is why Allah The Almighty
tests people with these sins, in order
to purify their hearts by this humility and seeking His pardon. Thus, a
very important aspect of servitude is
fulfilled.
After the slave sins, he humbles
himself before Allah The Almighty,
and then begins to have hope that
Allah The Almighty will forgive his
sin. This results in the slave’s heart
becoming more attached to his Lord.
There are three types of hope, two
of which are praised and one dispraised:
1. The hope of an obedient person
who hopes for the reward from Allah
The Almighty.
2. The hope of a sinful person who
hopes for the forgiveness of Allah The
Almighty.
3. The hope of a negligent person
who continuously sins and then hopes
for the forgiveness of Allah The Almighty, without exerting any effort to
attain His forgiveness. This is a false
hope and wishful thinking, which
deceives no one but the one who harbours it; it is by no means considered
to be real hope in Allah The Almighty.
Article source: http://www.islamweb.net/emainpage/
20
Gulf Times
Friday, December 19, 2014
COMMENT
Chairman: Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Attiyah
Editor-in-Chief : Darwish S Ahmed
Production Editor: Amjad Khan
P.O.Box 2888
Doha, Qatar
editor@gulf-times.com
Telephone 44350478 (news),
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Fax 44350474
GULF TIMES
Smith’s elevation as
Oz captain has a
lesson for India board
In sport, as in life, timing plays a crucial role. The
elevation of the young Steve Smith as Australia’s 45th
Test skipper, replacing the injured Michael Clarke and
leapfrogging vice-captain Brad Haddin, can be cited as
an example.
Considering Haddin’s experience, his role as deputy
and the way he led his troops in the 48-run win over
India in the п¬Ѓrst Test at Adelaide while standing
in for Clarke, the decision to appoint the relatively
inexperienced Smith can be considered a gamble. And
a bold one at that, as the 50-over World Cup is just
round the corner.
India, one feels, has a big lesson to learn from this
�gamble’, if one could call it that.
Their regular skipper MS Dhoni, who sat out of the
Adelaide Test because of injury, has taken over the
reins from Virat Kohli for the second Test in Brisbane.
There’s no doubting Dhoni’s experience or capabilities,
but one still can’t help but think that the Indian
cricket administrators should have taken a leaf out of
Australia’s book by retaining Kohli as captain for all the
four Tests in Australia.
In Adelaide, Kohli displayed all the qualities one
would like to see in a captain. He led from the front,
and played aggressive cricket. He even confronted
the Australian
players at times,
but only when
he felt it was
warranted. He
was also, for
the most part,
proactive with
his decisionmaking in the
п¬Ѓeld.
Additionally,
the added responsibility brought out the best in
his batting, as evidenced by his outstanding twin
hundreds.
But most importantly, he captained to win. And
that’s where the difference between him and Dhoni
comes out in the open.
Dhoni, many feel, would have played for a draw had
he been in the same position. It has happened many
times before, when India, even when a win looked very
much possible, have taken a defensive approach and
gone for a draw. On some occasions, the approach has
even cost them the match.
Kohli, on the other hand, went for the win on a
deteriorating п¬Ѓnal day wicket, despite being set a
challenging 364-run chase. He never shied away from
a п¬Ѓght, his captaincy was positive and inspirational,
with winning the only thing on his mind.
Dhoni’s is 33, Kohli is 26, and that perhaps gives a
clear indication of the way one approaches his game.
The timing was just right for the Indian board to
implement the succession plan, and what better place
to test one’s abilities than in Australia?
The BCCI had a golden opportunity to make the
change of guard a seamless one without any major
distraction or drama, a luxury not always afforded
during leadership changes. Dhoni can play on, and
provide strong support, guidance and experience for
Kohli to lean on as India move into the next phase
for their Test team. Kohli is the future, and that
future should have been now. Alas, the Indian cricket
administrators seem to have grassed that chance.
The primary importance
of secondary schools
Without opportunities
for secondary education,
children have little chance to
improve their livelihoods
By Kamal Ahmad and Joel E. Cohen
Dhaka
T
he world has made remarkable
progress in providing primary
education to children
worldwide. In the 1960s,
fewer than half of the developing
world’s children were enrolled in
primary school. Today, more than
90% are. In many regions, a higher
proportion of girls than boys enrol
in primary school. To be sure, too
many children remain out of school in
countries like Nigeria and Pakistan, but
the real problem lies in what happens
after the primary years are over.
Without opportunities for secondary
education, children have little chance
to improve their livelihoods, and the
progress the world has made could be
jeopardised. In September, speaking at
the Clinton Global Initiative, former
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham
Clinton recognised that “lack of
secondary education holds back the
aspirations of so many girls and their
families. It undermines prosperity and
stability around the world.”
Clinton announced a major
initiative in co-operation with more
than 30 organisations, including the
MasterCard Foundation, Intel, and
Microsoft. This group has pledged
more than $600mn over п¬Ѓve years
to enable 14mn girls to “attend and
complete primary and secondary
school.” It is a wise investment. In
addition to the obvious benefits that
education can deliver, increased
enrolment in secondary schools offers
advantages to all levels of society.
For example, requiring girls to
continue their education reduces child
marriage. In the developing world, one
girl in seven is married by the age of
15; nearly half become mothers by the
age of 18. Girls attending secondary
school, by contrast, are much less
likely to marry and bear children before
reaching adulthood.
Providing girls with secondary
education also reduces family sizes,
and, when they do become mothers,
it improves their children’s health and
chances of survival. One study found
that in developing countries where
one girl in п¬Ѓve received a secondary
education, women had, on average,
more than п¬Ѓve children. Where half of
the girls received secondary education,
the average was just three children, and
child and infant mortality were much
lower.
Access to secondary schools can also
boost enrolment in primary schools,
reducing the likelihood that parents
will keep their children at home to work
or, as is often the case with girls, to help
with domestic chores. If children have
no choice but to return from primary
school to the farm, why send them to
school at all?
Providing secondary education
need not cost a fortune. Poor
countries can move swiftly to expand
opportunities for education at a
much lower cost than is commonly
imagined. Most village primary
schools are used for education
only a small fraction of the time.
Appropriate modifications could
turn these into secondary schools for
part of each day, bringing secondary
education closer to children’s homes.
For girls, secondary education closer
to home would have the added benefit
of reducing the risks of sexual abuse
and violence. Every year, roughly 60mn
girls are sexually assaulted at or on
their way to school. Using facilities
that are more familiar and more
conveniently located could reduce this
barrier to attendance.
Likewise police stations, post offices,
and other existing public facilities
might, with modest adjustments,
provide space for secondary schools
for at least part of the day. Modular
classrooms, which can be built quickly
and inexpensively, could provide local
employment and supplement existing
school facilities.
Programmes in the US like “Teach for
America” and “Teach for All” can serve
as powerful new models for recruiting
the teachers that will be needed for new
secondary schools. Life expectancy
is rising, but retirement ages often
remain in the late 50s, implying that
pensioners could be encouraged to
become teachers.
Teachers will always remain essential
for students’ growth and maturity,
but new digital technologies can
enhance secondary education. Online
resources, such as the Khan Academy,
hold great promise for delivering broad,
inexpensive results in education.
The world stands at a crossroads.
American Corps donate about $7bn
annually to global health, but only
$500mn to education in developing
countries. Yet young people are
the fastest-growing segment of
the population in the developing
world. Uneducated, they could
become an unprecedented burden
as their societies age. But if they are
provided with secondary education,
they will be able to transform their
future – and ours – for the better. Project Syndicate
Kamal Ahmad is President and
CEO of the Asian University for Women
Support Foundation. Joel E. Cohen
is Professor of Populations at the
Rockefeller University and Columbia
University and the editor of Educating
All Children.
Indian cricket
administrators
should have taken a
leaf out of Australia’s
book by retaining
Kohli as captain
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A man sits on his taxi-bicycle with a US national flag as he waits for costumers in Havana yesterday. The US and Cuba have agreed to restore diplomatic relations after
more than five decades and plan to open embassies in each other’s capitals as soon as possible, leaders of both countries announced on Wednesday.
What pushed US and Cuba to their deal?
US relations with Latin
America have been rocky
at best, with increasing
pressure on President Barack
Obama to build bridges to
Cuba. Cuba, for its part, is
struggling economically
By Anne K Walters and Pat Reber/
DPA
Washington
T
he Obama administration is
the п¬Ѓrst to admit that growing
world pressure to make things
right with Cuba played a
role in Wednesday’s end to a 50-year
stalemate.
It was bad enough that regional
powers ganged up on President Barack
Obama two years ago at the Summit of
the Americas in Cartegena, Colombia.
Instead of discussing regional security,
trade and drug problems, they were
unrelenting in demands that the US
allow Cuba to attend the next summit.
Then there was the annual “show”
vote at the UN General Assembly, which
has routinely and overwhelmingly voted
for an end to the US embargo on its offshore neighbour.
The vote in October was 188 to 2, with
only the US and Israel dissenting.
“The rest of the world has moved
on from this set of policies,” a senior
administration official said in a
background briefing to reporters. “If any
US policy has passed its expiration date,
it is the US-Cuba policy.”
Julia Sweig, director of Latin
American studies at the Council on
Foreign Relations, predicted that Obama
will get an “enormous amount of
support” from leaders in Latin America.
She said the lobbying in Cartegena
helped convince the US that it needed to
preserve dialogue within the Americas.
“The pathway to do this is through
Cuba,” Sweig said.
Both Cuba and the US stand to benefit
from warmer diplomatic and economic
relations.
Cuba has learned п¬Ѓrst-hand the perils
of dependency on another country,
and is still reeling economically from
the collapse of the Soviet Union in the
early 1990s after decades of п¬Ѓnancial
support. Even now, the Caribbean island
is dependent, this time on ideological
partner Venezuela, for near-gratis oil
deliveries.
But Venezuela’s economy is in a
downward spiral.
“That 100,000 barrels per day
gift of oil is going to end very soon,”
Christopher Sabatini, policy director at
Council of the Americas, predicted to
the Bloomberg news agency.
The announcements on Wednesday
will not totally break the US commercial
embargo on Cuba. Only Congress can
lift the ban on US tourism, for example,
or allow import of Cuban cigars.
Obama pledged to ease restrictions
on exports ranging from building
materials to equipment for small
private entrepreneurs and farmers, and
has a deal with Cuban President Raul
Castro to allow US telecommunications
equipment and internet infrastructure
to be exported.
That dovetails with recent economic
reforms. Cuban private п¬Ѓrms can now
import and sell new cars. Some travel
restrictions have been lifted, and some
Cubans can get self-employment
licences and work independently.
In 2012, Castro ruled out the idea of
multi-party reforms - a deal-breaker
for US democracy advocates like
conservative Senator Marco Rubio, who
accused Obama of appeasing Havana
with nothing in return. The gains for
the US could come largely from greater
acceptance in the world community on
the issue.
One Obama administration official
said the White House believes the shift
will help would help US policy initiatives
and US influence in the Western
hemisphere on democracy and human
rights issues: “It’s not just about Cuba.
It’s about Latin America, broadly.”
Peter Schechter, director of the
Adrienne Arsht Latin America Centre at
the Washington-based Atlantic Council,
said the Obama-Castro agreement
means that “for all practical purposes
we have arrived at the beginning of the
end of sanctions on Cuba.”
Most importantly, he said, US allies
in Latin America and around the world
will now be able to talk about the lack
of freedom and reform in Cuba. It
signals that the time has come to look
at Cuba and see what Cuba is without
the “crutch of US embargo as an
excuse,” Schechter said.
Even more emphatically, Brazil
President Dilma Rousseff said the thaw
“signals a change” in the history of
civilisation. She said she hoped that
it will be “an example for the whole
world.”
22
Gulf Times
Friday, December 19, 2014
QATAR
Qatar marks 7th National Day
Above: Qatar residents and visitors from Saudi Arabia celebrating Qatar’s National Day on the Doha
Corniche.
Right: Men on horseback were part of the parade yesterday on the Doha Corniche.
Below: Dhows with the Qatari flag are seen from the Doha Corniche. PICTURES: Jayan Orma and Naushad
Thekkayil
Ashghal concludes National Day celebrations
T
he Public Works Authority
(Ashghal) has concluded
its four-day celebrations
in relation to Qatar National Day.
The main celebration took
place yesterday at Ashghal’s
Heritage Village with the participation of Ashghal president Nassir bin Ali al-Mawlawi along with
department managers and staff.
The celebration showcased
national folklore as well as “Al
Muradah” and “Al Arda Al Qatariyya” shows.
Ashghal’s National Day celebrations aims to demonstrate
the significance of loyalty to the
country and to reflect Ashghal’s
beliefs in the importance of taking care of Qatar’s heritage treasures, upholding inherited customs, and transmitting them to
future generations.
Ashghal’s Heritage Village depicted an old Qatari village with
its diverse cultural elements and
popular legacies such as Qatari
customs, traditions, crafts, and
businesses that were handed
down by ancestors.
The village also witnessed a
number of other activities including the “Classical Cars
Roadshow”, where employees
and consultants showcased their
cars, as well as a photography
Children at the Kahramaa pavilion at Darb Al Saai.
Good response at Kahramaa pavilion
T
he Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) is staging
plays highlighting the theme of
“optimal utilisation of water and
electricity” and other awareness
programmes through a photo-
graphic competition at its pavilion at Darb Al Saai.
It is being held as the corporation’s build up to the Qatar National Day celebrations.
The winners of photographic competitions will be given
awards at the end of the exhibition.
The picture shows some of the
schoolchildren who participated
in the competitions held as part
of the celebrations at the Kahramaa pavilion.
Al-Mawlawi and other Ashghal officials during the main celebration.
contest dedicated to Ashghal’s
National Day activities.
For this year’s celebrations,
Ashghal organised new initiatives and activities inspired by
the Qatari heritage and culture.
The authority launched a new
initiative under the slogan “Qatarna, Our Past and Present”,
which aims at creating the largest
album showcasing images of Qa-
tar’s past and present landscape.
The authority also organised
school visits to Ashghal’s headquarters under the “Ashghal in
the eyes of our children” initiative, which hosted a group of students from primary, secondary,
and high schools.
Visiting students were given
an overview of the Public Works
Authority through presenta-
tions and videos that provided a
detailed explanation on the authority’s departments, specialisations, and core projects, as well
as the different stages of projects
from its inception to implementation.
The students also viewed small
models of Ashghal’s projects as
well as the authority’s mobile
labs.
Sheikh Mohamed at the South Pole with the Qatari flag.
Al-Kuwari cutting a cake to mark the National Day at the Rumailah Hospital.
HMC events for patients, staff and visitors
T
he Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) is hosting a number of activities
and events for patients, staff and
members of the public as part of
its Qatar National Day celebrations.
The events held across the
HMC’s network of hospitals and
facilities celebrate Qatar’s culture, customs and traditions.
HMC
managing
director
Hanan al-Kuwari visited Hamad
General Hospital (HGH), the
Women’s Hospital, the Rumailah
Hospital, the Heart Hospital,
the National Centre for Cancer
Care and Research, the Human
Resources Department, and the
Transportation Department.
She also visited the HMC’s
booth at Darb al Saai, where she
interacted with visiting schoolchildren.
A traditional Qatari tent, featuring local artefacts, henna design and face painting will welcome patients and visitors to the
HGH’s Outpatient Department.
The ceiling of the depart-
ment’s lobby has been adorned in
burgundy and white stripes, the
colours of the Qatari flag.
A traditional sweets and juice
stall will serve visitors and a TV
screen will display the National Day celebrations across the
country.
Entrances to the paediatric clinics have been decorated
with colourful balloons and two
characters in traditional Qatari
garments will distribute gifts to
patients and visitors.
The Help Desk at the Women’s
Hospital, located in the main entrance, has been decorated and
a TV screen, showing historical
clips about Qatar and the National Day activities, has been set
up.
Traditional food and drinks, as
well as henna design, will also be
available.
Similarly, Al Khor Hospital, Al
Wakra Hospital, the Rumailah
Hospital, the Heart Hospital and
the Cuban Hospital will hold several festivities to mark the occasion.
Rota goodwill ambassador raises
the Qatari flag on South Pole
R
each Out to Asia (Rota)
goodwill
ambassador
Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdullah al-Thani has become the
п¬Ѓrst Qatari to reach the South
Pole, where he raised a Qatari flag
to commemorate Qatar National
Day.
As part of a two-week excursion entitled “Ski the last degree
to the South Pole, bottom of the
world”, Sheikh Mohamed skied
from the 89th degree to the 90th
degree – travelling approximately 60 nautical miles across wind-
swept terrain and below freezing
temperatures to the geographical
South Pole.
Sheikh Mohamed said: “I am
extremely proud to be the п¬Ѓrst
Qatari to raise the flag of Qatar
on the South Pole. Very few people have been privileged to visit
the South Pole. This milestone,
I hope, will continue to inspire
young people in Qatar as we celebrate our National Day.”
Rota executive director Essa
al-Manaai said: “Rota extends
its gratitude to our ambassador,
Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdullah
al-Thani, who became the п¬Ѓrst
Qatari to raise the flag of Qatar
on the South Pole. He is also the
first Qatari to raise the flag on
Mount Everest. I congratulate
not only Sheikh Mohamed but
Qatar’s extraordinary youth who
continue to inspire us as leaders
in the community.”
As a member of the Qatar
Foundation (QF), Rota contributes greatly towards the QF’s
mission to unlock human potential.
Gulf Times
Friday, December 19, 2014
23
QATAR
Al Rayyan Sports Club
sees cultural extravaganza
By Joey Aguilar
Staff Reporter
Schoolchildren performing the sword dance during the morning session of the celebrations.
Wakrah Stadium
comes alive with
celebrations
By Umer Nangiana
Staff Reporter
A
ttired in colourful costumes, children from Pakistani and Bangladeshi
community schools participated
in the Qatar National Day celebrations at Wakrah Stadium with
impressive performances.
Reflecting the theme of “One
Love”, denoting the bond between Qataris and expatriates,
the children presented a wellexecuted parade to kickstart the
day-long celebrations, organised
by the Ministry of Interior in collaboration with various community schools and organisations.
The day formally began with
the schoolchildren singing Qatar’s national anthem. A twominute silence was observed to
pay respect to the victims of the
Peshawar massacre in Pakistan
that left 132 schoolchildren and
10 others dead on December 16.
Soon after the national anthem, children dressed up in Qatar
Armed Forces and police uniforms
marched-past the podium where
Lt Col Ghanem Saad al-Khayarin,
Community Policing official, received the guard of honour from
the marching students.
All participating schools’ children took part in the parade. A
large number of people with their
families, particularly members of
the Pakistani and Bangladeshi
communities, flocked to the stadium to witness the celebrations.
Lt Col al-Khayarin officially
welcomed them and congratulated the community members
on organising such an elaborate
function and participating in
great numbers to make it livelier.
The п¬Ѓrst morning session of
the day witnessed multiple activities by children from Pakistan
Schoolgirls performing a song as part of the National Day
celebrations at Wakrah Stadium. PICTURES: Jayaram
Education Centre, Bangladesh
MHM School, Bhavan’s Public
School, Shantiniketan and TNG
Pakistani School.
They presented songs, thematic
and cultural shows and dances.
Later, the school teams participated in different competitions such
as football, tug of war, foot races
and other games alongside teams
from different companies and
other community organisations.
The songs competition included categories involving a general
song and a Qatar song besides a
thematic song competition between the schools. In between the
performances from schoolchildren, music groups and singers
from the two communities kept
entertaining the audience with
their performances.
In the morning session, the
Pakistani community held cultural performances, including
skits by comedians Masood Khawaja and Dildar Khan, English
song �We Love Qatar’, Urdu song
�Aay Qatar Payaray Qatar’, Qatar
folk song in Sindhi, a folk dance,
Pashto songs by Usman Bangash
and an Arabic sword dance, be-
sides performances by Balochi
singer Akhtar Chanal Zahri.
The Bangladeshi community
in the morning session presented English, Arabic and Bangla
songs by Tanjina, modern song
by Ahmed Sharif, sword dance,
orchestra songs and folk songs
by Faruk, patriotic Bangla songs
besides theme drama in English,
Arabic and Bangla.
The venue was provided with
arrangements for prayer areas,
resting areas for families, emergency medical services and other
necessary services for the public.
Volunteers from both communities
ensured the smooth flow of events.
Free blood and diabetes checkups
were also available at the venue.
A variety of cultural performances by Pakistani and Bangladeshi artistes kept the audience
entertained at Wakrah Stadium
throughout the day.
The schools winning the п¬Ѓrst,
second, third and fourth prizes in
the cultural festival were awarded QR7,000, QR5,000, QR3,000
and QR2,000, respectively. Similarly, the winners of other games
were awarded cash prizes.
S
tudents from various community and independent schools in the country
led cultural performances at Al
Rayyan Sports Club yesterday to
mark Qatar’s National Day celebrations.
Organised by the Ministry of
Interior (MoI) in collaboration
with various community schools
and organisations, the day-long
festivity attracted a large number
of spectators from Malaysia, the
Philippines and Indonesia to witness the thematic shows, parade
and song and dance competitions.
Dressed in colourful National
Day costumes, groups of young
performers from Doha Modern
Indian School, Noble International School, Philippine School
of Doha and Philippine International School Qatar (PISQ) entertained the crowd with their
presentations on stage.
Fun and excitement at Al
Rayyan continued with a number
of sports competitions and activities such as football, marathon and tug of war.
First Lieutenant Mohamed
Abdallah al-Shafi from the Community Policing department, who
was in charge of the event, told
Gulf Times that he was pleased
with the participation of the three
expatriate communities in this
year’s National Day celebrations.
He also lauded the performances of students, saying each
group enthralled the crowd with
their talent and skills.
“I’m very happy that many
communities are participating in
our cultural activities this year,”
said First Lieutenant al-Shafi.
“We hope they will all be here
again next year and in our upcoming activities.”
First Lieutenant Mohamed Abdallah al-Shafi (right) and a member of the National Day organising
committee watched the cultural activities in Al Rayyan.
Officials of the three expatriate communities also thanked the
Qatar National Day committee for
giving them the opportunity to
perform every year at the event.
Ismail Suboh, chairman of the
Malaysian Association of Qatar
(MAQ), said culture once again
proved to be a universal language,
especially in celebrating a special
and grand occasion such as the
National Day.
“In terms of performance, language is not a barrier, whether you
perform in Indian, Chinese, Malay
or in other languages, the message
is already there,” he stressed.
Like other organisations, MAQ
is always working hard to contribute and help Qatar achieve its
National Vision 2030, according
to Suboh.
The Philippines and Indonesia
also expressed gratitude to the
Qatar government, specifically
the MoI, for coming up with the
well-organised associated activities for the National Day.
Frank Jamandre, chairman of
the United Filipino Organisations
in Qatar (UFOQ), told Gulf Times
that the cultural performances
try to portray the beauty of Qatar’s culture and how it impacts
the Filipino community, especially its youth.
“It is very important that
we abide by and respect each
other’s culture in order to have
a harmonious relationship with
them,” he said. Jamandre also
stressed the importance of educating Filipino expatriates about
the tradition, norms and rules of
the host country.
He said such cultural activities
Students from PISQ perform in colourful costumes. PICTURES: Joey Aguilar
National Day marked with colourful parade, dazzling display of fireworks and widescale public participation
(From left) Armed personnel and military vehicles take part in the Qatar National Day parade on the Doha Corniche yesterday, with a large number of people attending the festivities. PICTURES: Noushad Thekkayil
Fireworks lighting up the evening sky above Doha Corniche yesterday. PICTURE: Jayan Orma
A stunning display in the sky during the parade yesterday morning. PICTURE: Noushad Thekkayil
enlighten the youth on the proper way of behaving and observing
the culture of another country.
“It will give them a good personality, good character for future
generations and even for their
own families,” added the UFOQ
chairman. “It is a good way of
learning different cultures.”
Jamandre’s statement was
echoed by Heri Kartono, chairman of the Indonesian Community Association in Qatar (ICAQ).
By participating in such
events, he said people gain a
deeper understanding of the cultures of other countries.
“It promotes and fosters unity
among expatriate communities in Qatar,” said Kartono, who
hopes to see other expatriate and
Qatari performers in next year’s
National Day celebrations.
24
Gulf Times
Friday, December 19, 2014
QATAR
Thousands attend community
festivities at West End Park
By Joseph Varghese
Staff Reporter
T
housands of residents
gathered at West End
Park yesterday to witness the cultural gala and
cricket carnival organised by
the Ministry of Interior in collaboration with various community schools and organisations on the occasion of Qatar
National Day.
The visitors included people
from all walks of life, including
women and children, from various parts of the country. They
also included thousands of labourers staying in the Industrial
Area, who enjoyed the musical
shows, dances, skits and other
programmes, along with cricket.
The cultural programmes held
at the amphitheatre were mainly
performed by students of selected community schools as well as
by elder members of different
communities.
The schools that participated in the cultural programmes
at the venue were Ideal Indian
School, Scholars International
School, Pak Shamaa School and
Sri Lankan School. Several cultural organisations from different communities also presented
a number of programmes at the
day-long event.
The programmes got off to
a colourful start at 8am with a
short opening ceremony. This
was followed by a thematic parade by students of the four
schools separately. There were
also free raffle draws in between
with attractive prizes.
The visitors included
people from all walks of
life, including women and
children, from various
parts of the country. They
also included thousands
of labourers staying in
the Industrial Area, who
enjoyed the musical shows,
dances, skits and other
programmes, along with
the cricket carnival
The programmes included a
number of dances by students,
depicting various traditions of
the countries as well as showcasing Qatari traditions. There
were also songs in various languages highlighting Qatar’s
progress and achievements
over the years. The skits and
dramas also linked to Qatar’s
relations with these countries
and the growing relationship
between them.
The
cricket
tournament
that was held on the adjoining ground at the same venue
involved six teams representing Qatar, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal.
They played in two groups of
three teams each and the best
four teams entered the semifinals. A large number of spectators could be seen right from
the morning, cheering for their
favourite teams.
Most of the cultural events
were held as inter-school competitions. The winners of the
competition in each category
were honoured at the end of
the event.
Hamad Medical Corporation
had arranged separate booths
for blood donation as well as
organ donation at the venue.
An official of the organ donation centre said many people
were coming forward to donate
organs. “We had a slight disturbance with the system in
the morning and could not get
people registered. However, we
started in the afternoon and a
large number of people have already shown willingness to donate organs. It is about 100 people and we expect many more to
register today.”
MoI distributes 43,500
food packets at venue
By Joseph Varghese
Staff Reporter
T
he Ministry of Interior
(MoI) has distributed a
total of 43,500 food packets in connection with Qatar National Day celebrations at West
End Park.
Several thousand spectators
gathered at the venue to watch
cultural programmes as well as
a cricket tournament organised by the MoI. Four community schools and six cricket teams
representing different countries
participated in the event.
Abdul Aziz, co-ordinator of
food arrangements, said food was
supplied to most of the people
who were present at the venue.
“We had set up a separate tent
for serving food. We served breakfast, lunch and dinner for most of
the visitors. We had 12,000 pack-
ets of food for breakfast, 15,000
for lunch and 16,500 for dinner.
We provided food for everyone,
including spectators, participants
of the programmes, teachers and
officials,” he explained.
Adil Hussain Abdulla from
the General Directorate of Traffic at the MoI said the event at
West End Park was a resounding
success. “We are happy about
the day and happy to see several
thousands of people attending
the event. This occasion is not
just for Qataris alone, but for all
residents of the country.
“People from all walks of life
are participating in the event.
The ministry and the traffic department are very happy to be
part of the team. Every community is organising their programmes and we are here to
show our solidarity with the
residents and support them in all
their activities,” he added.
Patriotic fervour on display, from land to sky
Participants of the parade that took place along the Corniche yesterday. PICTURES: Jayan Orma
Popular Qatari singer Fahad al-Kubaisi greets the crowd as he is
driven as part of the parade.
Children enjoying the festivities.
Fighter jets leave a striking trail in the Doha sky.
Personnel on horseback move along the Corniche.
A march-past in progress.
Men on camels take part in the parade.
ROUBLE ROUT | Page 3
2015 VIEW | Page 12
Putin awaits
rebound with
no remedy
Pimco sees
global growth
ramping up
Friday, December 19, 2014
Safar 27, 1436 AH
GULF TIMES
RESERVES BUFFER: Page 2
Oil plunge won’t
derail $500bn
infrastructure
boom in Gulf
BUSINESS
Investments up to $45bn
seen in tourism-related
projects in Qatar up to ’30
I
nvestments worth up to $45bn
are projected for Qatar’s
tourism-related projects up
to 2030, according to a senior official.
“There is a projected investment of $11.5bn in the tourism
sector alone up to 2030,” said
Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA)
chairman Issa bin Mohamed alMohannadi in remarks to Oxford
Business Group.
He said, “We are introducing
the National Tourism Strategy
2030 to continue to develop Qatar
as a destination while strengthening the tourism industry, which
will have many socio-economic
benefits on a national scale in addition to helping prepare for hosting the world cup.”
Gearing up for FIFA 2022
means, “Qatar will have to build
more rooms, but we have to create
a destination at the same time. We
are projecting the organic growth
in the sector from visitor numbers
and planning the amount of rooms
based on forecast demand.
“By doing so, we are giving the
local market and industry priority and we will bridge any gaps
regarding FIFA requirements. We
are exploring options for temporary accommodation, such as
cruise ships or floating hotels to
ensure that there is an optimal
balance between supply and demand for accommodation following the world cup.”
The growth in the number of
visitors a year in Qatar has been
one of the highest and the fastest
in the region, al-Mohannadi said.
“We are averaging an increase
of 11% to 13% in the number of
A Desert Caravan Challenge event in Qatar. The National Tourism Strategy 2030 aims to develop Qatar as a top destination while strengthening the
tourism industry.
visitors every year. The world
average is 3% to 4% and we are
achieving four times that. In line
with FIFA’s requirements, we anticipate having 50,000 to 60,000
rooms. However, we are developing the local industry in line with
demand. We have to ensure we do
not impact the private sector or
local investors, so we will develop
based on an organic demand in the
market.”
Currently, Qatar has 14,000
rooms with another 5,000 expected to come to the market in
the next four years. “This will
bring the total to 19,000 and based
on demand we will add an additional 11,000 to bring the total to
30,000,” he said.
“We will cover the remainder
for FIFA requirements through
alternative options, such as cruise
ships,” al-Mohannadi said.
As the regulator, QTA is encouraging and educating the private
sector on where best to invest, in
line with the objectives of the National Tourism Sector Strategy,
which considers a larger role for
Gulf markets surge on crude
rebound, Saudi spend plan
Reuters
Dubai
Stock markets in Saudi Arabia and the UAE
soared yesterday after the price of oil rebounded
and the Riyadh government eased investors’
fears by saying it would continue spending heavily on economic development.
Qatar’s bourse was closed for a national holiday.
Saudi Arabia’s bourse rose 8.9%, its biggest daily
gain in six years. Almost all traded stocks posted
gains and dozens were up 10%, the bourse’s daily
limit for price moves.
The benchmark had earlier plunged 35% from
its September peak due to oil’s sharp decline.
Investors across the Gulf dumped stocks fearing
that cheap oil would cause governments to cut
back spending.
But Saudi Arabian Finance Minister Ibrahim
Alassaf said on Wednesday that his government
would continue spending strongly on development projects and social benefits in its 2015
budget, expected to be announced on Monday.
UAE, Kuwaiti and Qatari officials have made
similar statements in recent days.
Meanwhile, Brent crude for February delivery
jumped 3% and traded above $63 per barrel.
“It’s a combination of stronger oil and US equity
markets as well as news from Saudi Arabia yesterday (Wednesday),” said Sebastien Henin, head
of asset management at The National Investor
in Abu Dhabi, said of Gulf markets’ rally. “Local
equity markets had been hurt unnecessarily in
the few previous sessions.”
Some analysts have started rerating stocks after
the sell-off made valuations more attractive.
“On the face of it, the market seems to have discounted 2015 pain in stock prices,” Saudi Arabia’s
Riyad Capital said in a note on the kingdom’s
petrochemicals sector.
While it cut target prices for all companies by 12
to 26%, Riyad Capital upgraded five stocks to a
“buy” and maintained the same rating for Saudi
Basic Industries.
Dubai’s equities benchmark ended 13.0%
higher, its biggest daily gain since the index was
launched in 2004. All traded stocks rose and
some surged by their daily 15% limits, including
heavyweight developer Emaar Properties .
Trading volume reached its highest since July, a
positive technical factor. The rebound followed a
steep decline: Dubai’s index had fallen 45% from
its May peak.
Shares in construction firm Drake & Scull was
among top gainers after it said its board would
consider buying back up to 10% of the company’s shares at a meeting on December 22.
The announcement, and buy-back activity
by Abu Dhabi’s Waha Capital and Abu Dhabi
Commercial Bank on Wednesday under existing
programmes, were signs that UAE companies
think their share prices are now too cheap.
Abu Dhabi’s index surged 6.7% in a broad rally.
Aldar Properties, the emirate’s largest listed developer, rose its 15% daily limit, along with Dana
Gas and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank.
Kuwait’s bourse added 1.9% and Oman jumped
3.7%.
Bahrain’s index edged up 0.9% to 1,390 points.
In the broader Middle East region, Egypt’s index
jumped 3.4% after suffering heavy losses in the
previous days as global investors pulled out of
emerging markets.
the private sector in developing
the industry.
For example, in the hospitality
sector, sporting events typically
do not cater to guests who use four
and п¬Ѓve star hotels, so the medium
to lower-end segment is where the
authority is encouraging private
sector investment, al-Mohannadi
said.
“However, as an authority we
are not directly investing and can
only advise investors on the statistical performance of segments,
while offering recommendations.
“It is important to note that
the investment in the one to
three-star segments is not just
for the world cup but is also in
line with our new strategy to
diversify our targeted tourism
market toward more budgetconscious regional visitors. To
encourage greater private sector
involvement, favourable investment laws have been enacted,
including laws that allow 100%
foreign ownership in most tourism-related projects,” al-Mohannadi said.
Oil decline may hit
GCC fiscal balance,
growth: StanChart
Gulf countries may see an impact on their fiscal balances
and growth from the drop in Brent crude oil prices and the
possibility of production cuts later in 2015, a new report
has shown.
According to Standard Chartered bank, “positive signals”
are seen in Mena (Middle East and North Africa) economies that have gone through political transitions, and are
now undergoing economic transitions and implementing
the right economic reforms.
“We see three important themes for the region in 2015.
First, the growth dynamics of the major oil exporters will
be adversely affected, while we see positive growth signals
from some oil importers that have implemented reforms
and are benefiting from investment inflows. Second, as
recent oil-price moves have shown, fiscal spending that
is heavily dependent on the hydrocarbon sector cannot
rise indefinitely. Finally, reducing high energy subsidies in
the Mena region may be crucial to giving economies the
fiscal leeway needed to meet growing investment needs,”
StanChart said.
“The growth outlook for the major oil exporters in 2015
looks challenging. Fiscal policy is likely to be tightened as
oil prices fall, and this will affect non-hydrocarbon growth.
Further, we expect oil output cuts to be required later in
2015, which will reduce headline GDP growth,” the bank
said in recent global economic outlook.
In the wider Mena region, reforms implemented in Jordan
and Egypt are leading to an “improved outlook” for 2015.
Both countries have made significant efforts to reform
energy subsidies under tense domestic conditions. This is
now paying off. Egypt has benefited from direct investments from the UAE and Saudi Arabia. The bank expects
other Mena countries to benefit from similar investment
flows in 2015 and beyond.
The report also said the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council)
credit markets have reacted little so far to the sharp
drop in oil prices. The bank attributes this resilience to
the strong local bid, which continues to anchor spreads;
and the fact that international investors still view the
region as defensive, particularly in the context of the
fundamental challenges facing other emerging-market
regions such as Central and Eastern Europe and Latin
America.
StanChart thinks the region remains vulnerable to a correction the longer oil prices remain at current levels, for
the following reasons. First, the spread cushion is limited,
with many credits trading at or close to their all-time tights.
Second, most credits in this space are quasi-sovereigns,
and oil remains the region’s primary credit driver. Pressure
on sovereigns’ revenue streams (and their perceived
ability to support quasi-sovereign credits) could lead to a
re-pricing of credit risk.
Third, lower liquidity in the banking system could affect
the local bid. And lastly, international investors might
consider diverting their investments to countries/regions
that benefit from low oil prices. Longer-dated bonds are
vulnerable given higher international investor participation, StanChart said.
Hard for Opec to give up
market share, says Saudi
Bloomberg
Riyadh
S
audi Arabia and Opec would find it “difficult, if not impossible” to give up market
share by cutting crude production, the
country’s oil minister said.
Global oil markets are experiencing “temporary” instability caused mainly by a slowdown
in the world economy, Oil Minister Ali alNaimi said, according to comments published
yesterday by the Saudi Press Agency. He reiterated the country’s intention to maintain output
amid plunging prices.
“In a situation like this, it is difficult, if not
impossible, that the kingdom or Opec would
carry out any action that may result in a reduction of its share in market and an increase of
others’ shares,” al-Naimi said, according to the
state-run news agency. Saudi Arabia, the largest producer in Opec, will stick to its oil policies, he said.
The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting
Countries decided on November 27 to keep
its production target unchanged at 30mn bpd,
ignoring calls from some members including
Venezuela to curb output to tackle a supply
glut. Crude prices, which had already fallen
30% for the year by the November meeting,
plunged after the decision, extending the drop
to 43%.
“The oil market is way oversold and due for
a rally,” Amrita Sen, chief analyst at London-
based consultants Energy Aspects Ltd, said
by e-mail. “Given the scale of the price drop,
demand growth could surprise significantly to
the upside.”
Increased supply from regions outside Opec,
where oil-production costs are higher, is affecting the market, al-Naimi said. Saudi Arabia’s crude output has remained stable as production in other regions rose, he said.
Opec’s decision to maintain output fanned
speculation that Saudi Arabia and other members want North American shale drillers and
other producers outside the group to be the
п¬Ѓrst to cut production because of falling prices.
Saudi Arabia and Iran this month cut the official price levels of their main light crude grades
for sale to Asia to the lowest in at least 14 years.
In November, the 12-member group pumped
30.56mn bpd of crude, exceeding its output
target for a sixth straight month, according to
data compiled by Bloomberg. The group’s own
forecasts show that world demand for its crude
next year will fall to 28.9mn bpd, the lowest
since 2003.
Saudi Arabia has large enough п¬Ѓnancial resources to resist the economic impact of the
current oil price fluctuations, al-Naimi said.
The decline in prices won’t last long, Suhail
al-Mazrouei, energy minister in the UAE, said
yesterday, according to that country’s staterun news agency. Opec won’t change its output
level and isn’t planning an emergency meeting
before the next scheduled gathering on June 5,
he said.
Al-Naimi: Sticking to current output levels.
2
Gulf Times
Friday, December 19, 2014
BUSINESS
Emaar Dubai realty chief �exits’ in management revamp
Bloomberg
Dubai/London
E
maar Properties’ head of
Dubai real estate has left
the company amid a revamp of top management, people with knowledge of the matter
said.
Robert Booth left the job
in the second half, the people
said, asking not to be identified
because the information isn’t
public. He may still act as an adviser to Emaar on some matters,
they said. Booth joined Emaar in
2001, according to the Dubaibased company’s website.
Emaar, led by chairman Mohamed Alabbar, has been changing its top management and
several former executives of
Dubai’s largest listed company
have started working at Abu
Dhabi-based developer Eagle
Hills, headed by Alabbar who is
a board member.
Eagle Hills announced plans
to develop a €4bn ($4.9bn)
project in Serbia. The Belgrade
Waterfront will include homes,
offices, a mall and a 200-metre
(656-foot) tower, Alabbar said in
June at a joint press conference
in Belgrade with Serbian Premier
Aleksandar Vucic. The start of
construction, originally set to
start in March, has been postponed to April or May, Vucic said
on October 13.
Low Ping, the former Emaar
Properties group CEO who left
the company last year, is now
chief executive at Eagle Hills,
according to the company’s
website. Salman Sajid, previously chief п¬Ѓnancial officer of sev-
eral Emaar units, is now CFO at
Eagle Hills, and Tom Bartridge,
who has been the firm’s executive director of human resources
since August, also previously
worked at Emaar.
Ayman Hamdy, Emaar’s executive director, legal and company secretary, was named on
the Eagle Hills website as general
counsel until Wednesday. Yesterday, his name no longer ap-
peared on a page listing nine top
executives. Haitham Fekry, who
was a director of development
and projects at Emaar’s Egyptian
unit, is holding the same title
at Eagle Hills, according to the
website.
A spokeswoman for Eagle
Hills in Abu Dhabi didn’t immediately answer calls seeking
comment.
Emaar didn’t respond to e-
Oil fall won’t derail $500bn
Gulf infrastructure boom
Reuters
Dubai
A computer-generated image of a Riyadh Metro station. Schemes like the Riyadh metro, costing $22.5bn, and the UAE’s first nuclear power plant, totalling $20bn, are
being fully or majority paid for by the state.
The International Monetary Fund
has also warned some Gulf nations
must reduce public spending to avoid
burning through their savings.
But governments are now prioritising infrastructure spending and some
have methods to avoid the budgetary
squeeze.
Saudi funds some of its large infrastructure projects off-budget from a
separate central bank account, which
contained 514bn riyals in October.
Both Kuwait’s finance minister and
the UAE’s economy minister were
quoted this week as saying reserves
would maintain spending on development projects despite falling oil prices.
Using savings for infrastructure
seems logical as surplus cash has been
put into sovereign wealth funds for
years, on the basis that hydrocarbon
riches need to last.
The meagre interest rate much of this
money attracts currently - Saudi is estimated to invest most of its reserves
in low-yielding US Treasuries - could
arguably be better spent on infrastructure.
“We have come across situations
where there was even a question of using bank п¬Ѓnancing for projects as they
were sitting on large amounts of money
getting no interest and so were thinking
�why pay banks?’” said Mario Salameh,
project п¬Ѓnance head for the Middle East
and North Africa at HSBC.
Running down reserves is controversial, with people acutely aware reduced
savings could jeopardise future living
standards.
For those without huge reserves,
namely Oman, Bahrain and Dubai,
the loan market has provided cheap
п¬Ѓnance, which should continue as re-
China ends near
decade of rising
Iraq crude orders
Reuters
Singapore
C
�Saudi
crude oil
exports
rise to
almost
6.9mn bpd
in October’
Reuters
Dubai
S
lumping oil prices will not halt a
massive ramp-up in Gulf infrastructure spending, as rich nations deploy huge reserves to maintain
a breakneck development pace and the
rest turn to buoyant funding markets.
However, states are being urged to
consider the most effective funding mix
for these schemes in the longer term,
especially against a backdrop of lower
oil prices.
The World Bank estimates up to
$500bn will be spent by Gulf countries
on infrastructure by 2020, as governments seek to improve the lives of citizens and create jobs.
With trillions of dollars of reserves
between them, Saudi Arabia, Abu
Dhabi and Qatar have been increasingly
by-passing banks due to frustration at
the time it takes to get funding.
In Qatar, “more reliance on self-financing supported by large fiscal surpluses” pushed outstanding credit to
the public sector down 3.7% between
January and August, according to the
Ministry of Development Planning and
Statistics.
“We fund infrastructure projects by
the state of Qatar and we try to give the
opportunity also to the private sector
on some of the opportunities,” HE the
Minister of Economy and Commerce
Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim bin Mohamed al-Thani told Reuters on the sidelines of an investment event in London.
Gulf infrastructure loans totalled
$8.94bn in the п¬Ѓrst nine months of
2014, compared with $16.12bn in 2013,
according to data from Project Finance
International, a Thomson Reuters unit.
In the past, large-scale projects such
as Qatar’s Barzan gas scheme and Saudi’s Sadara chemicals complex had most
of their total costs, worth $10bn and
$20bn respectively, covered by debt.
But now, schemes like the Riyadh
metro, costing $22.5bn, and the UAE’s
п¬Ѓrst nuclear power plant, totalling
$20bn, are being fully or majority paid
for by the state.
Such enormous burdens might seem
untenable when Gulf States may face
a sustained period of lower oil prices,
which have almost halved since June.
mails and calls seeking comment. Booth declined to comment when reached on his mobile
phone. Alabbar didn’t respond to
calls requesting comment.
Emaar may sell shares in its
hotels unit in the п¬Ѓrst half of
next year according to Alabbar.
The developer accounts for 17%
of Dubai’s benchmark index,
according to data compiled by
Bloomberg.
hinese oil п¬Ѓrms will keep the amount of
crude they buy from Iraq unchanged in
2015 for the п¬Ѓrst time in almost a decade,
as the need for imports falls and concerns over
the quality of the oil persist, п¬Ѓve sources with
knowledge of the situation said.
The varying quality of Basra Light, Iraq’s key
export grade, has been a concern for buyers, while
demand growth in China has also been slowing
allowing oil п¬Ѓrms to cherry pick purchases from
global suppliers.
Oil prices have fallen more than 40% since June
as a supply glut clashes with cooling demand,
putting producers under pressure as consumers
have more choice at lower costs.
“There is a lot of competition to supply,” IHS
consultant Victor Shum said. “China has a lot to
choose from.”
A drive by China, the world’s top energy consumer, to secure oil for its fast-growing economy
has seen its imports from Iraq soar. The Opec
producer has become China’s fifth-largest oil
supplier behind Saudi Arabia, Angola, Russia and
Oman.
China’s crude imports from Iraq rose in the
п¬Ѓrst ten months of the year by nearly a quarter to
23.49mn tonnes (566,387 bpd), compared with
the same period of 2014, Reuters data showed.
In contrast, China imported just 1mn tonnes of
oil from Iraq in 2006.
Four Chinese п¬Ѓrms with annual oil contracts
with Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organisation
(SOMO) will keep 2015 purchases steady for the
п¬Ѓrst time since 2006, the sources with knowledge
of the п¬Ѓrms trading strategies said.
Unipec, the trading arm of Asia’s largest refiner
Sinopec, will lift about 10mn barrels a month,
and Sinochem up to 6mn barrels, according to
sources. CNOOC, Zhenhua Oil and Chinaoil, the
trading arm of PetroChina, will each have about
2mn barrels per month, the sources said. These
volumes do not include equity shares from production sharing contracts held by Chinese п¬Ѓrms
in Iraq.
SOMO, PetroChina, CNOOC and Sinochem
did not respond to emails requesting comment,
while Sinopec declined to comment.
Iraq will give a higher discount for heavy crudes
it exports from its port of Basra over quality issues, sources have previously said.
Another factor behind slowing demand for
Iraqi oil is that China’s own import needs are not
rising as fast. China’s crude imports are expected
to post a rise of 400,000 bpd in 2015, compared
with 500,000 bpd this year, said Amrita Sen of
Energy Aspects.
gional banks are cash-rich. Upcoming projects include the $3.6bn Liwa
plastics plant in Oman and Aluminium
Bahrain’s $2.5bn expansion.
However, a December 2 note from
Morgan Stanley on Qatari banks highlighted how a lower oil price will cut the
amount of cash deposited in local banks
by governments, which will increase
loan rates.
Basel III considerations, as the
guidelines make it more capital-intensive to back long-dated loans often
used for infrastructure, will also affect
loan access.
Project bonds have been touted as
a potential source of cash, with deals
from Saudi and UAE in the last three
years.
Issuers have so far been reluctant to
take this route, given cheap bank lending and the lengthy process of struc-
turing such trades. Plus, even developed markets with a history of issuance
only use them for a small percentage of
overall funding.
Another option is attracting pension
funds and insurance companies, whose
investment strategy matches the longterm timespan of infrastructure funding.
Should Gulf nations wish to do both,
bankers argue they should be establishing relationships now from a position
of strength, thereby yielding better
terms, as opposed to when they may be
more desperate in future.
“There is little recognition of urgency in the market and that will only
come if it’s forced or from a bit of vision to say the current funding model
isn’t sustainable, much like our hydrocarbons,” said one senior project
п¬Ѓnance banker.
Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia
shipped more crude oil in
October than a month earlier
while volumes used by domestic refineries remained high
allowing more oil products
exports, official data showed
yesterday.
The Opec member exported
6.897mn bpd of crude in
October, up from 6.722mn in
September, data published by
the Joint Organisations Data
Initiative (JODI) showed.
Production was slightly lower
in October at 9.69mn bpd from
9.704mn, the data showed.
An industry source told
Reuters last week that crude
supplies from the kingdom
for both exports and the
domestic market inched
higher to 9.420mn bpd in
November, up 40,000 bpd
from October.
JODI has not yet made export
data available for November.
Oil products exports rose to
909,000 bpd in October from
787,000 bpd in September, the
data showed.
Domestic refiners processed
2.061mn bpd of crude in October, almost flat from 2.035mn
bpd in September, the JODI
data showed.
Saudi oil use for power generation fell to 512,000 bpd in
October from 648,000 bpd in
September as weather cooled.
Oil markets monitor changes
in output from Saudi Arabia,
which has enough spare
capacity to significantly
alter production according to
demand.
Its exports in September
edged up by around 59,000
bpd while volumes used by
domestic refineries remained
high.
Dubai sees realty, construction pacing 2015 growth
Construction workers build a waterfront apartment block on Palm Jumeirah artificial island in Dubai. Growth in Dubai’s gross domestic
product is expected at 4.5% in 2015, from about 4% this year, the emirate’s Department of Economic Development has said in its 2015
outlook, Bloomberg reported. The real estate sector is expected to grow 6%, construction more than 5% and manufacturing by 5%, the
outlook said. The drop in global oil prices, if persisting, “may have mixed effects on Dubai’s economy,” it said. “Ongoing capital spending
is expected to be steady in 2015, but changes may take place in 2016.” A crash in property prices in 2008 had brought Dubai to the brink
of default a year later.
Gulf Times
Friday, December 19, 2014
3
BUSINESS
Putin says economy will be
cured but offers no remedy
Reuters
Shanghai
Reuters
Moscow
C
P
resident Vladimir Putin assured
Russians yesterday that the
economy would rebound after
the rouble’s dramatic slide this year
but offered no remedy for a deepening
п¬Ѓnancial crisis.
In an assured performance at a
three-hour news conference, Putin
blamed the economic problems on external factors and said the crisis over
Ukraine was caused by the West, which
he accused of building a “virtual” Berlin Wall to contain Russia.
Putin even cracked jokes at times,
despite pressure to п¬Ѓx an economy that
is heading into recession and caught
by what his economy minister called a
“perfect storm” of low oil prices, Western sanctions over Ukraine and global
economic problems.
The rouble has fallen about 45%
against the dollar this year, and suffered
particularly steep falls on Monday and
Tuesday, but Putin said its eventual rise
was unavoidable and avoided using the
word “crisis”.
“If the situation develops unfavourably, we will have to amend our plans.
Beyond doubt, we will have to cut some
(spending). But a positive turn and
emergence from the current situation
are inevitable,” Putin said.
“The growth of the global economy
will continue and our economy will
rebound from the current situation,”
he said, sitting at a large desk before a
studio audience, with his comments
broadcast live to the nation.
Putin, 62, looked confident in front
of screens showing larger-than-life
close-ups of his face as he took questions, though at three hours and nine
minutes the news conference was
shorter than in previous years. On his
desk was a white mug with a presidential crest that he occasionally sipped
from.
The former KGB spy said Russia
must diversify its economy to reduce
dependence on oil, its major export
and a key source of state income. The
recovery could start in 2015, he said,
though economic problems might last
another two years.
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends his annual news conference in Moscow. Putin assured Russians yesterday that the economy would rebound after the rouble’s
dramatic slide this year.
But he stuck to broad promises rather
than going into details and announced
no major new proposals.
He has said many times during 15
years in power that he will reduce Russia’s reliance on energy exports but has
failed to do so.
The rouble slipped as he spoke, and
was about 1.5% weaker on the day. The
central bank increased its key lending
rate by 6.5 percentage points to 17%
on Tuesday, and has spent more than
$80bn trying to shore up the rouble this
year, but to little avail.
Although Putin said the central
bank and government had acted “adequately”, he chided the bank for not
halting foreign exchange interventions
sooner, suggesting more decisive action might have made this week’s big
interest rate rise unnecessary. “All this
implies pretty big divisions within the
administration as to how to react to
the crisis and pressure on the rouble,”
Timothy Ash, head of emerging market research at Standard Bank in London, said in a note, adding that heads
could roll.
Neil Shearing, chief emerging markets economist at Capital Economics
in London, said Putin had signalled no
change of government policy.
“Capital controls remain a measure
of last resort, and the п¬Ѓrst line of defence for the rouble will be continued
tight monetary policy. Whatever happens, a deep recession now looms,” he
said.
Opinion polls show Putin has had
high popularity ratings since annexing
the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine in
March, but the rouble’s decline could
erode faith in his ability to provide financial stability – an important source
of his support.
A prominent opponent, former
Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, said
Putin’s problems would increase as
prices are expected to surge next year
because of the rouble’s weakness and
the president should realise “he needs
an exit strategy” to leave power.
Despite this, Putin said he felt the
“support of the Russian people”,
though he had not decided yet whether
to seek a new six-year term in an election due in 2018 that could extend his
rule to almost a quarter of a century.
Asked about Ukraine, where Russia
has irked the West by backing pro-Rus-
sian separatists п¬Ѓghting in two eastern
regions, Putin said the West was to
blame for the months-long crisis.
He said Moscow wanted a political
resolution to a conflict that has killed
4,700 people and called for “political
unity” – suggesting he does not intend to annexe the Russian-speaking
regions that have rebelled. He avoided
describing those areas as “New Russia”,
a phrase he has used in the past.
But he blamed NATO for the worst
relations between Moscow and the
West in decades.
“Didn’t they tell us after the collapse of the Berlin Wall that NATO
would not expand eastwards? But it
happened immediately. Two waves of
expansion. Is that not a wall? ... It’s a
virtual wall,” he said.
Russia firms explore ways to ease pain of foreign debt payments
Reuters
Moscow
Russian firms are scrambling to repay
or restructure the terms of foreign
currency loans as the rouble’s loss of
value and an interest rate hike push up
the cost of debt servicing.
Many Russian companies increased
their share of rouble-denominated
debts after the 2008-09 financial
crisis yet some big businesses still
owe large amounts of dollars and
euros.
Russian corporate debt in hard
currency exceeds $600bn, of which
more than $100bn falls due over the
coming year, so some companies will
suffer even though the government
is unlikely to let a massive default
happen.
Exporters, such as world-leading nickel
China shows
stabilisation
in Q4, but
investment
is sliding
and palladium producer Norilsk Nickel,
which sell their goods abroad and
receive payment in foreign currency,
should have a ready supply of funds for
debt servicing.
But those with foreign debts and
revenues in roubles may be hard hit
as they borrow in the weaker Russian
currency, paying a high rate after the
central bank hiked its key rate to 17%, to
fund repayments in expensive foreign
currencies.
“The lending rate for a quality borrower
will be 20-21% – a level at which a
normal borrower will not take loans, it’s
too expensive. And to a poor quality
borrower banks will not lend,” a source
at a large Russian bank said.
This has forced some companies to
look for alternatives.
Pipemaker TMK which focuses on the
domestic market has 65% of its debt in
dollars and euros and is trying to find
better loan terms. “TMK is working on
debt optimisation, talking to all banks
about refinancing, studying various
options to reduce debt,” a spokesman
for the pipemaker said.
EuroSibenergo, a rouble-revenue power
firm owned by tycoon Oleg Deripaska,
said in 2012 that it owed $1.4bn to
Sberbank, due to be repaid by February
23, 2015.
A financial market source said the
company had since amended the loan
terms but still has to repay at least a
portion of it next year and is in talks
with Sberbank about pushing back
repayment date although it may have
to pay a higher rate.
Eurosibenergo declined to comment.
Sberbank is expecting borrowers in
the domestic transport and leasing
business to run into trouble in 2015 due
to debt repayments, one analyst who
attended a meeting with its executives
said. Analysts say worried exporters
have held on to as much of their forex
earnings as possible while others are
racing to convert roubles into dollars
or roubles, deepening the Russian
currency’s slide.
The central bank said on Wednesday
it would provide additional foreign
currency funds in a bid to reassure
companies worried about impending
debt repayments.
“If firms keep taking rouble loans to
service foreign debts, we will see the
dollar hit new highs to the rouble
(as they covert roubles),” said Denis
Poryvai, a fixed-income analyst at
Raiffeisenbank.
The rouble’s slide deepened early
this week on concerns that Russia’s
top oil producer Rosneft, which
recently issued a record 625bn roubles
($10.11bn) in rouble-denominated
bonds, was converting the money it
had raised into foreign currency to
service debt.
Rosneft, a major exporter but one
suffering from low oil prices, has denied
the money would be used to buy
dollars. It is expected to repay a $7.6bn
portion of a bridge loan that matures
on Sunday within days. Next year, it has
to repay $19.5bn.
If the environment for raising
money and foreign debt repayment
continues to deteriorate, large
companies such as Rosneft are likely
to be considered by the state as too
big to fail.
The announcement by the central
bank that it would accept Rosneft
bonds as collateral promptly after its
record bond issue, led to speculation of
preferential treatment.
The issue came after Rosneft had tried
and failed for months to get money
from the National Wealth Fund.
hina’s economy showed
mild signs of stabilisation
in the fourth quarter but
corporates remained cautious on
investment, a business survey
found, highlighting stubborn
resistance to efforts from Beijing
to reinvigorate growth.
“While the rebound is certainly not an impressive one,
sales, profits, and employment
have all improved a bit during the second half of the year,”
the China Beige Book said in
a research note distributed to
clients, citing п¬Ѓndings from its
quarterly survey of 2,000 Chinese companies.
It noted that wage and job
growth remained stable, and export orders picked up, helping to
offset weak internal demand.
“Still, Q4’s improvement defies Beijing’s claims of rebalancing toward stronger consumption,” it added in its report,
pointing out that strong service
performance was not accompanied by signs of rising end-user
demand.
The report set for publication
on Thursday follows a series of
disappointing macroeconomic
indicators in November, including a negative surprise from industrial activity, weak inflation
readings and slack output, although loan growth and foreign
direct investment have recovered slightly.
However, the survey showed
respondents were increasingly
wary of capital expenditure,
posting a fourth straight quarter
of decline.
Only 47% of respondents said
they intended to increase capex
– a third straight record low for
the poll – while 12% cut capex.
Declining investment intentions
were particularly negative for
services, with a 16 percentage
point decline, and real estate,
which saw a 26 percentage point
plunge.
The report said the majority
of the spending slowdown came
from the state sector, but noted
that both state-owned and private п¬Ѓrms had slower year-onyear capex growth.
The report also highlighted
the challenge the slowdown
poses for monetary policy, arguing that further easing measures
may do more harm than good
given the reluctance of business
leaders to increase spending.
Weak economic indicators
have led to widespread calls for
further stimulus, including a
potential cut to bank reserve
requirement ratios that could
create an estimated 2.4tn yuan
($387.8bn) in fresh liquidity after
applying the money multiplier.
The China Beige Book cast
doubt on assumptions that this
would necessarily trickle into
fresh productive investment.
Chinese stock markets rallied
strongly in November and early
December, which analysts now
attribute largely to a flood of new
credit entering the system.
Wall St can’t stop Stripping as inflation deemed dead
Bloomberg
New York
A
n obscure corner of the $12.4tn
market for US government debt
is providing one of the clearest
signs yet that bond investors are writing off the threat of inflation for years,
if not decades, to come.
Demand for Strips, created when
Wall Street banks separate the interest
payments from the principal of US debt
and sell each at a discount, has boosted
the amount outstanding to an average
$211bn this year, the most since 1999,
data from the Treasury Department
show. The securities, the most vulnerable to inflation of all US government
bonds, posted the biggest returns this
year by rallying almost 50%.
While forecasters say the world’s
largest economy will grow at the fastest
pace in a decade next year and expose
the securities to the deepest potential
declines, debt investors are signalling their scepticism as commodities
plunge and slowdowns in Europe and
Asia threaten the US recovery. Last
week, the bond market’s outlook for
inflation over the next three decades
fell below 1.9% annually, the lowest
in three years. “The marketplace feels
pretty comfortable that inflation is going to be contained,” Tom Girard, the
head of п¬Ѓxed-income investments at
NYL Investors, which oversees $200bn
and owns Strips, said by telephone
on December 11. There are still “some
headwinds that the economy is facing.”
Investors’ expectations for consumer-price increases are diminishing as
the Federal Reserve debates how soon
to raise its benchmark interest rate,
which has been held close to zero since
2008 to support demand in the economy.
The central bank’s policy makers will
meet over two days starting December
16 and discuss their pledge to keep
rates low for a “considerable time.”
The Fed’s preferred measure of inflation has also fallen short of its 2%
goal for 30 consecutive months, even
as the central bank inundated the US
economy with almost $4tn of cheap
cash since the п¬Ѓnancial crisis with
its bond- buying program known as
quantitative easing.
The lack of price pressures has
caused bond investors to pour into
Strips, short for separate trading of
registered interest and principal of
securities. That’s boosted the average
Demand for Strips, created when Wall Street banks separate the interest
payments from the principal of US debt and sell each at a discount, has
boosted the amount outstanding to an average $211bn this year
amount outstanding by about 20%
since 2009.
The longest-dated principal portions have returned 47.2% this year, index data compiled by Bank of America
Corp show. Only twice since 1997 have
they posted bigger annual gains. The
advance is also more than quadruple
the return for the Standard & Poor’s
500 Index, which has climbed 10.5%.
Because Strips are sold at a discount,
the longest-dated securities offer the
highest yields among US government
bonds.
For example, those due May 2044
trade at 43.1 cents on the dollar. The
buyer, who doesn’t receive any interest
payments, would receive full face value
at the end of 30 years for an annual return of 2.86%. That compares with a
yield of 2.74% for interest-bearing 30year US bonds.Their outperformance
this year shows bond investors still
aren’t sold on the notion the US economy is on the cusp of creating the kind
of wage growth that pushes up prices,
even as employers add jobs at the fastest pace since 1999.
While average hourly earnings rose
0.4% in November, the most since
June of last year, in п¬Ѓve of the prior
eight months they were flat or rose just
0.1%.
On an annual basis, growth in hourly
wages in the past п¬Ѓve years has been
the weakest over the course of any expansion since at least the 1960s, data
compiled by Bloomberg show.
In the bond market, that’s being
reflected in falling expectations for
inflation.Based on yields, the outlook
for consumer-price increases over the
next п¬Ѓve years has fallen almost a percentage point since its high in June to a
four-year low of 1.13%.
Inflation expectations over 30 years
fell below 2% on a closing basis last
month for the п¬Ѓrst time in three years.
“Until wages pick up, it’s going to
be harder” for inflation to accelerate,
Bill Irving, a money manager at Fidelity Investments, which oversees $35bn
in п¬Ѓxed income, said in a Dec. 10 telephone interview from Merrimack,
New Hampshire. “Demand will remain
strong for Strips.”
Buying the securities now isn’t
worth the risk, said Gerard Fitzpatrick,
the global chief investment officer of
п¬Ѓxed income at Russell Investments,
which oversees $275bn.
Inflationary pressures will rise as
unemployment drops and the economy gains more momentum, prompting the Fed to lift rates, he said. The
US economy will expand 3% next year,
which would be the most since 2005,
based on the latest Bloomberg survey
of economists.
“The best returns are behind us,”
he said by telephone on Dec. 10 from
Seattle.Any selloff would hurt Strips,
which are primarily created from 30year bonds, the most. The securities
due in May 2044, which yield 2.86%,
would lose about 21% if yields rose
as much as forecasters anticipate for
long-dated debt by the end of 2015,
data compiled by Bloomberg show.
That’s more than the losses that
comparable 30-year bonds would
suffer and about four times the 5.2%
decline benchmark 10-year notes
would incur.
4
Gulf Times
Friday, December 19, 2014
BUSINESS
Cautious Japanese п¬Ѓrms holding record assets: BoJ
AFP
Tokyo
J
apanese п¬Ѓrms are holding a record
amount of cash equivalent to almost half the country’s gross domestic product, Bank of Japan (BoJ)
п¬Ѓgures showed yesterday, despite
growing calls to open up those corporate coffers.
The currency holdings and deposits
of non-п¬Ѓnancial, private-sector companies jumped to ВҐ233tn ($1.96tn) at
the end of September, up 4.2% from
a year ago, according to the data. Japan’s GDP in the year to April 2013 the latest annual figure available—was
ВҐ483.1tn.
The п¬Ѓgures come days after Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe, fresh from a
weekend election victory, stepped up
pressure on п¬Ѓrms to hike wages as part
of his broader push to reinvigorate the
world’s number three economy.
Spring labour negotiations ushered
in the biggest pay increases in years,
but the rise was far outpaced by soaring profitability among many Japanese
firms that have benefited from a sharply weaker yen.
Abe has repeatedly said his “Abenomics” growth blitz, aimed at ending years
of deflation and tepid growth, would
only work if profitable big firms boost
their capital spending and put more
spending money in employees’ pockets—a call backed by labour unions.
But an April sales tax hike designed
to pare down a massive national debt
slammed the brakes on the economy,
which fell into recession during the
third quarter.
“The accumulation of savings is a
result of companies’ cautiousness in
spending on new investment and salaries,” said Tsuyoshi Ueno, senior economist at NLI Research Institute.
“Corporate performance is improving and if you compare corporate investment with the previous year then
spending is rising... but they’re not
spending at the pace that they’re earning.” Unleashing that nearly $2tn held
in corporate piggy banks would be a
“driving force behind an economic recovery”, he added.
“But you can’t force companies to
spend in the free market economy,”
Ueno said. “You have to create a business environment that makes them
think �now is the time to spend’.”
Convincing consumers to spend
more is another key challenge, highlighted by a BoJ report yesterday that
showed the rapidly ageing population’s
household assets rose 2.7% in the third
quarter to a record ВҐ1,654tn, partially
reflecting a domestic stock market rally.
The central bank’s report also
showed that the outstanding balance
of Japanese government bonds came
in at ВҐ1,015tn by September, up 3.6%
from a year earlier, with Japanese investors holding more than 90% of that
debt.
Last week, Fitch Ratings placed Japan’s sovereign credit on Rating Watch
Negative, warning that delaying another consumption tax rise next year
would put at risk the government’s bid
to bring down one of the world’s heaviest public debt burdens.
The warning came a week after
Moody’s downgraded Japan’s credit
rating, citing “rising uncertainty” over
the debt situation and Abe’s faltering
efforts to kickstart the economy.
The Bank of Japan report has showed that the outstanding balance
of Japanese government bonds came in at ВҐ1,015tn by September, up
3.6% from a year earlier, with Japanese investors holding more than
90% of that debt
Japan PM expected to tip BoJ
board closer to his views
Reuters
Tokyo
Reuters
Beijing
T
wo vacancies opening up in the
Bank of Japan next year give premier Shinzo Abe a chance to tip
the board’s balance in favour of further
monetary stimulus, removing a headache for his hand-picked central bank
head.
The board’s composition has taken
on greater significance after Governor
Haruhiko Kuroda won a tight 5-4 vote
in October’s surprise expansion of an
already radical monetary experiment
that pumps roughly $84bn each month
into the economy.
The October move exposed a board
rift, suggesting it would be difficult for
Kuroda to push forward with further
stimulus, which many analysts think
will be needed next year as the central
bank struggles to reach its 2% inflation
goal.
The п¬Ѓve-year term of two board
members, including one who voted
against October’s action, ends next
year.
“Abe will probably choose people
close to Kuroda’s reflationary view.
Whoever is chosen, the BoJ’s policy
stance would be pretty much in line
with what Kuroda wants,” said Takeshi
Yamaguchi, senior economist at Morgan Stanley MUFG.
Ryuzo Miyao, a 50-year-old former
academic and a policy dove who supported October’s policy easing, is due
to leave the board in March.
More importantly, the term of Yoshihisa Morimoto, who voted against the
expansion in policy, expires in June.
The 70-year-old former utility executive reluctantly voted for the introduction of the so-called quantitative
and qualitative easing (QQE) last April
and has been sceptical of the policy
since then. His concern is that by gobbling up so many government bonds,
the BoJ is moving dangerously close to
bankrolling public debt.
A more sympathetic board will ease
Kuroda’s task as some members have
openly raised doubts about the feasibility of QQE, even as Abe and the central bank chief have insisted that steady
progress is being made to jump-start
Japan’s economy and defeat years of
grinding deflation.
Critics say the BoJ’s huge asset-purchase programme has only had modest
success. Stocks have rallied and a tumble in the yen has boosted exporters’
earnings, but a sustainable pick up in
wages, business investment, inflation
and broad economic growth have yet to
take hold.
With the economy unexpectedly
C
Abe: Seeking a supportive central bank board.
having slipped into recession in the
third quarter, analysts say Abe will
need a central bank board broadly supportive of his reflationary strategy,
which includes massive government
spending and structural reforms.
The prime minister is usually presented with a list of candidates prepared by the Ministry of Finance (MoF)
in consultation with the BoJ. The prime
minister’s endorsement is usually a
formality.
Abe is likely to break with that tradition and intervene more heavily in the
personnel choices, and is seen as being
less receptive to the views of the MoF
bureaucrats.
Government nominees for BoJ posts
must be approved by both houses of
parliament. Opposition parties turned
down the ruling party’s nominees for
governor in 2008, leaving the position
vacant for three weeks.
However, Abe’s ruling coalition has a
majority in both houses of parliament,
so he does not have to yield to the opposition.
While a new line-up may make life
easier for Kuroda, the BoJ board will
remain divided because dissenters to
October’s decision are suspicious of
expanding QQE further, some analysts
say.
“The dissenters in October’s action
probably still feel they made the right
decision,” as consumer sentiment remains gloomy in a sign the latest stimulus did little to boost confidence, said
Izuru Kato, chief economist at Totan
Research Institute.
China cotton quota, subsidies may boost quality
By Clyde Russell
Launceston, Australia
China’s decision to keep its cotton
import quota unchanged at 894,000
tonnes has been taken by the market
as a bearish signal that will put further
downward pressure on global prices.
This is by and large the correct
response, but as usual there are some
devils in the details that may mean that
not everybody loses from the decision
by the world’s largest cotton consumer
to restrict imports.
The benchmark second-month cotton
contract on ICE Futures US ended
December 12 at 61.07 US cents a pound,
up from the five-year low of 58.53 cents
on November 24, but down almost 28%
since the start of the year.
China FX
regulator
says closely
monitoring
rouble slide
Chinese cotton futures on the
Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange
(ZCE) have also fallen by, dropping
32% from the start of the year to the
close of 13,070 yuan ($2,111) a tonne on
December 12.
This is largely a reflection of a change
in the subsidy system, with China
halting its previous policy of buying
from producers and putting the fibre
into stockpiles, and instead paying
money directly to the farmers.
In the main growing region of Xinjiang,
home to about 50% of the domestic
crop, farmers receive a subsidy
equivalent to the difference between
the market price and the target price of
19,400 yuan a tonne.
Meanwhile, producers in nine other
regions get 2,000 yuan a tonne,
placing them at a disadvantage to
Xinjiang farmers, who currently are
getting subsidy payments almost three
times as large. The likely outcome is
that Chinese cotton production will
decline, mainly outside of Xinjiang.
But this is unlikely to alter the market
balance significantly, given China will
still produce sufficient cotton and can
tap into stockpiles of more than 60mn
bales, or about 13.4mn tonnes.
What it does do is create demand for
imports, especially among east coast
mills and fabric manufacturers.
The current price of cotton on ICE
Futures is equivalent to about $1,350 a
tonne, which is about 8,356 yuan, about
36% below the price on the ZCE, and
less than half the subsidised price for
Xinjiang farmers.
With the quota for imports kept at
894,000 tonnes for 2015, it’s likely that
there will still be demand for cotton, even
at the 40% tariff for non-quota imports.
Effectively, the state of the market in
China is that the subsidy and tariff
regime is creating artificial import
demand, which can’t be met unless
global prices are low enough to still be
competitive once the duty is applied.
But it’s not as simple as that, with a
sliding scale for tariffs, with higher-cost
cotton attracting a lower tariff than that
for cheaper imports.
This means that quality is likely to play
an increasing role in cotton imports
into China, with higher volumes of
better quality coming in at the expense
of lower-value cotton.
Chinese cotton may also present
quality problems for some spinners,
given its inconsistent quality.
This may benefit producers of quality
cotton in Australia, which is already the
second-biggest supplier to China, and
may overtake the top-ranked US next
year. The restricted import quota may
also drive yarn and fabric makers to
other countries such as Vietnam and
Bangladesh.
While imports of raw cotton into China
will decline, there aren’t restrictions
on yarn, meaning imports of the
intermediate product could rise in
order to meet the demands of clothing
and fabric makers.
The winners from China’s quota
restrictions are therefore likely to be
farmers producing quality cotton and
possibly foreign producers of yarn that
are able to sell to China.
Clyde Russell is a Reuters columnist. The
views expressed are his own.
hina is closely monitoring
the slide in the Russian
rouble, the foreign exchange regulator said yesterday,
as the currency of one of its major energy importers struggles to
avoid a free-fall.
Wang Yungui, head of policy
and regulations for the State
Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), told a news conference that China was paying
attention considering the close
economic relationship between
the two.
“We haven’t seen a significant
impact on our cross-border capital flows,” he said.
Chinese Foreign Ministry
spokesman Qin Gang, speaking
at a later news conference, added that he believed Russia would
overcome its problems.
“Russia has rich resources,
quite a good industrial base. We
believe that Russia has the ability to overcome its temporary
difficulties,” Qin said.
China’s exports to Russia rose
an on-year 10.5% and imports
went up 2.9% in the п¬Ѓrst three
quarters of the year, with total
trade valued at $70.78bn.
Wang added that China was
not overly concerned about
signs of forex outflows in recent
months.
“Under the circumstance,
signs of capital outflows in certain months are normal. Overall,
we still see net capital inflows,”
Wang said, adding that many
companies have opted to park
export income overseas instead
of selling off hard currency to
banks, given the strong two-way
fluctuations in the yuan spot
market.
Xiao Lihong, another SAFE
official, said the government
was stepping up investigations
into fake trade deals, following widespread suspicions that
strong export figures in September and October were inflated by
manipulated invoices designed
to smuggle yuan into China in
order to speculate on the stock
markets.
However, she said recent unusual spikes in exports of jewellery and precious metals were
not closely linked to speculative
capital flows, addressing media
reports.
“There is no close link (between them) but we cannot say
there is no problem,” she said.
The yuan has been under
pressure in the last month due
to increased year-end dollar demand by some firms and
growing market expectations
of more policy easing after the
central bank made a surprise
cut to interest rates in November. Such easing is seen as negative for the yuan.
The central bank has signalled it does not want the yuan
to collapse, strengthening the
official guidance rate but traders said it has been intervening
less in the spot market, which
is allowed to trade 2% higher or
lower than the midpoint on any
given day.
Spot yuan weakened sharply
in the aftermath of the remarks,
falling to as low as 6.2215 per
dollar, after the central bank set
a weaker midpointyesterday. It
ended at 6.2163 per dollar.
Gulf Times
Friday, December 19, 2014
5
BUSINESS
Emerging stocks,
currencies rise
Reuters
London
E
A man walks in front of the head office of the central bank of Russia in Moscow. The Russian central bank has steadily bought growth-linked Australian and Canadian dollars, which
had a combined stake of 3.9% of global reserves at the end of the second quarter.
Global foreign exchange
reserves set for decline
Reuters
London
C
entral bank foreign exchange reserves may have
fallen last quarter for the
п¬Ѓrst time since the global п¬Ѓnancial crisis, halting a decade-long
shift out of dollars and threatening a key support for the euro
and Australian and Canadian
dollars.
Ever since the dollar’s rise
accelerated in July on expectations that the Federal Reserve
could start raising interest rates
next year, forex reserves held by
central banks have started to fall
from record highs.
And with Russia in crisis,
fears have grown that central
banks from South Korea to Turkey and Indonesia would have to
draw more from their reserves to
stem a flight of capital and prevent sharp local currency losses
feeding inflation and hampering
foreign-currency debt servicing.
Analysts at RBC Capital Markets estimate global reserves
are 2% lower in the third quarter compared with the previous
three months. The International
Monetary Fund is set to issue
reserves data at the end of December.
That would translate into a
$240bn drop in global reserves,
estimated at $12tn, and the п¬Ѓrst
fall since late 2008/early 2009.
Two-thirds of global reserves
are held by emerging market
economies, with China holding
the bulk.
“Central banks typically have
п¬Ѓxed ratios that they allocate to
dollars, euros and other currencies in their reserves,” said Neil
Mellor, strategist at Bank of New
York Mellon.
“So if overall reserves are
shrinking, you have to sell euros
and other currencies so that the
Sensex snaps losing
streak, rises 1.6%
Reuters
Mumbai
I
ndian shares rose 1.6% yesterday to snap a п¬Ѓve-session
losing streak as blue-chips
including ICICI Bank surged as
a rally in global markets and the
cabinet’s nod to a nationwide
sales tax bill led to unwinding of
short positions.
Asian share markets rose
yesterday after the US Federal
Reserve indicated it would wait
until at least two meetings before raising rates.
Investors were also encouraged after the Indian cabinet approved a constitutional
amendment bill on Wednesday
to rationalise state and central
indirect taxes into a harmonised
goods and services tax (GST).
The developments sparked
a recovery in domestic shares
that had been hit by concerns
about п¬Ѓnancial contagion from
the Russian currency’s drop to
record lows. “Progress on GST
is positive and recent correction is a good opportunity for
investors to increase their India
allocations,” said G Chokkalingam, founder of Equinomics, a
research and fund advisory п¬Ѓrm.
The NSE index rose 1.61% to
8,159.30, while the benchmark
BSE index ended up 1.56% at
27,126.57, both marking their
biggest daily gains since October 31.
Gains were spread across-the
board with all BSE sector indexes
ending positive. The BSE Consumer Durables index gained the
most, ending 5.3% higher, followed by the BSE Power index
which rose 3.3%.
Blue-chips led the gainers. ICICI Bank rose 4%, while
Larsen & Toubro ended up 2.6%.
Infosys rose 1.4% and HDFC
Bank gained 1.3%.
Shares of logistics companies
rose on hopes of lower taxes and
fast movement of goods after the
cabinet cleared the nationwide
goods and services tax bill.
Gateway Distriparks gained
2.2%, Snowman Logistics ended up 7.6%, Gati rose 5.3% and
Container Corp of India advanced 4.7%.
Rupee sees biggest gain in 7 months
Indian markets rallied yesterday,
with the rupee posting its biggest
single-day gain in seven months
and rebounding from a 13-month
low, after the US Federal Reserve
said it would take a “patient” approach in deciding when to raise
interest rates.
Reserve Bank of India Governor
Raghuram Rajan had called the
prospect of US rate hikes a risk to
emerging markets given expectations that overseas investors
may pare their bets on higheryielding debt of countries such
as India. Indian shares and bonds
also benefited as Russia’s rouble
stabilised after dramatic falls this
week, reducing some of the fears
of financial contagion to emerging
markets.
Bonds and the rupee were still
headed for their worst week since
August, when global markets were
roiled by rising tensions in the
Middle East and uncertainty about
Fed rate hikes.
The partially convertible
rupee ended at 63.11/12 per dollar
versus its Wednesday’s close of
63.6150/6250. It had touched 63.89
in the previous session, its weakest
level since November 13, 2013. On
the day, the rupee gained 0.8%,
its biggest single-day gain since a
similar rise seen on May 16.
ratios are maintained. The decade-long diversification process
which has helped the euro will
reverse and the euro will be the
hardest hit.”
The US dollar’s share of global
foreign currency reserves was
around 61% and the euro’s 24%
at the end of the second quarter,
based on IMF data.
That compared with 61.8%
and 23.8% respectively in the
same period of 2013. In 1999,
when the euro was introduced,
the single currency’s share was
17.8%, but that has steadily risen, mostly at the expense of the
dollar. During that time, the euro
has gained almost 20% against
the greenback.
“In the past, passive diversification by sovereigns has compressed volatility, boosted the
euro and high-yield G10 currencies,” said Geoffrey Yu, currency
strategist at UBS.
“With higher US rates, emerg-
ing market central banks will
probably be busier defending
their own currencies and drawing down reserves. As such, outflows from China and general
reserve declines across emerging
markets will likely become the
norm.”
Central banks, like that of
China, South Korea and Taiwan
are active and influential players in the $5.5tn a day currency
market. But they tend to conduct
their business as discreetly as
possible so as to minimise market volatility.
They rarely change the mix of
reserves they hold, but with the
most liquid currencies like the
US dollar and yen offering meagre returns given official rates
near zero, a few have diversified
into higher-yielding currencies.
The Russian central bank, for
example, has steadily bought
growth-linked Australian and
Canadian dollars, which had a
combined stake of 3.9% of global
reserves at the end of the second quarter. But with Russian
reserves tumbling to a п¬Ѓve-year
low, that demand will fall.
“Reserve accumulation in
recent years was mostly by oil
exporters in the Gulf, Russia,
Nigeria and obviously they have
been losing reserves and they
will continue to lose reserves,”
said David Hauner, head of п¬Ѓxed
income and economics for EEMEA at Bank of America/Merrill
Lynch.
Chinese FX reserves fell to
$3.888tn at the end of the third
quarter, a decline of $105.2bn in
the quarter.
“The overall trend remains
one of slowing global reserve
growth,” said Elsa Lignos, senior currency analyst at RBC
Capital. “The �recycling’ into
non-dollar currencies will no
longer be a source of support for
the rest of G10.”
merging shares rose
for a second straight
day yesterday while
most currencies strengthened, lifted by the Federal
Reserve’s show of confidence
in the US economy, though
Russia’s rouble eased after
two days of gains.
Emerging market stocks
rose 1.24%, the biggest daily
gains in a month, after the
Fed signalled it was on track
to raise interest rates sometime next year but would take
a “patient” approach.
That lifted US stock markets, and oil rose above $62
per barrel.
Bourses in oil exporters
Saudi Arabia and the United
Arab Emirates bounced back
strongly after dramatic falls
earlier in the week, with Dubai’s stock index closing 13%
higher. Major European and
African emerging currencies
followed their Asian peers
higher.
“A dovish Fed should bring
some calm to the markets, although oil exporters such as
Russia, Colombia and Mexico
will likely remain pressured,”
Merrill Lynch wrote in its
weekly note.
“Emerging market vulnerabilities have come back to the
forefront as 2015 approaches.”
The rouble and naira were
outliers, however.
The rouble lost 2.8% against
the dollar with traders saying President Vladimir Putin
had so far offered no concrete
measures at his end-of-year
news conference to pull Russia
out of crisis.
“Clearly the economic
situation is very grim,” said
Tatiana Orlova, a strategist at RBS, predicting more
rouble volatility. Yet Russian
markets appeared somewhat
calmer after a dramatic rout
at the start of the week.
Moscow’s dollar-denominated stocks gained 4.74% and
sovereign and corporate bonds
clawed back some of the losses
they suffered earlier in the
week.
Russian
dollar-denominated debt spreads over US
treasuries shrank to 629 basis
points, down around 100 bps
from the 5-1/2 year high they
hit earlier this week.
The naira traded 0.16%
higher to hit a record of
187.40 against the dollar after oil workers continued
the walk-out they started on
Monday.
The two major oil worker
unions are scheduled to meet
government officials later in
the day for talks on how to resolve the stand-off
The
Hungarian
forint
slipped 0.16% against the euro
following a news conference at
which central bank Governor
Gyorgy Matolcsy said the bank
felt no pressure to intervene
and had no exchange rate target. The forint has lost more
than 5% this year.
Wall St recovery lifts Asia markets
AFP
Tokyo
A
sian markets mostly rallied yesterday, with investors reversing
a recent selloff spurred by a Wall
Street recovery and indications the Federal Reserve will keep rates on hold until
mid-2015.
The dollar was boosted by comments
from US central bank policymakers,
which analysts said suggested they have
changed tack and will not start to lift rates
from record lows until the п¬Ѓrst six months
of next year.
Tokyo climbed 2.32%, or 390.32 points,
to 17,210.05 as the greenback advanced
against the yen, while Sydney jumped
0.95%, or 48.9 points, to close at 5,210.8.
Hong Kong gained 1.09%, or 246.37
points, to 22,832.21.
However, Seoul ended 0.14% lower,
dipping 2.66 points to 1,897.50, while
Shanghai lost 0.11%, or 3.50 points, at
3,057.52 following a four-day rally that
saw it hit a four-year high.
In other markets, Taipei rose 0.57%, or
50.27 points, to 8878.63; Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co rose 0.77%
to Tw$131.5 while Hon Hai was 0.59%
higher at Tw$84.8.
Wellington added 0.40%, or 21.89
points, to 5,518.48; Trade Me was up
0.57% at NZ$3.52 and Chorus gained
0.75% to NZ$2.69.
Manila added 0.91%, or 63.07 points, to
7,029.28; Philippine Long Distance Telephone added 0.72% to 2,790pesos and
Universal Robina Corp surged 2.04% to
189.80 pesos, but Ayala Land fell 0.45% to
32.85 pesos.
Kuala Lumpur added 1.07%, or 18.05
points, to 1,699.95; Malayan Banking rose
1.54% to 8.57 ringgit, while British American Tobacco fell 1.38% to 62.90.
Jakarta ended up 1.54%, or 77.70 points,
at 5,113.35; palm oil producer Astra Agro
Lestari rose 4.02% to 23,300 rupiah, while
Indah Kiat Pulp & Paper lost 0.47% to
1,065 rupiah.
Singapore rose 0.51%, or 16.42 points,
to 3,243.65; DBS Bank rose 2.36% to
Sg$19.53 while warehouse operator Global
Logistic Properties fell 3.21% at Sg$2.41.
Bangkok gained 2.47%, or 36.59 points,
Pedestrians are reflected on a share prices board in Tokyo. Japanese stocks climbed 2.32% at 17,210.05 points as the greenback
advanced against the yen.
to 1,516.79; giant oil п¬Ѓrm PTT Exploration
and Production soared 6.82% to 117.50
baht, while coal producer Banpu rose
5.26% to 26baht.
The Fed’s policy committee said it
“judges that it can be patient in beginning
to normalise the stance of monetary policy,” adding that the decision will depend
on economic data.
Policy, it said, was consistent with its
prior statement that it would only begin
raising rates “a considerable time” after
its massive stimulus programme ended in
October.
Although the change in language was
subtle, “it was nevertheless a modification consistent with the view that rates
are likely to rise in the п¬Ѓrst half of next
year,” said Omer Esiner, chief market analyst at Commonwealth Foreign Exchange.
The news sent US shares surging. The
Dow rose 1.69%, the S&P 500 soared
2.04% and the Nasdaq jumped 2.12%.
And on currency markets, the dollar gained in New York to ВҐ118.63 from
ВҐ117.07 in Tokyo earlier Wednesday. In
Asian trade yesterday, the greenback was
at ВҐ118.60.
The euro bought ВҐ146.34 and $1.2341,
compared with ВҐ146.43 and $1.2343.
News that oil supplies in top consumer
the US had dipped helped to push crude
prices up slightly Wednesday, providing
some respite from a recent plunge.
But yesterday in Asia, prices retreated
again. US benchmark West Texas Inter-
mediate for January delivery was 16 cents
down at $56.31 while Brent crude for February eased 28 cents to $60.90.
Meanwhile, analysts said Russian
moves to stabilise the rouble, which
touched a record low against the dollar
this week, seemed to be working.
Moscow said it would sell about $7bn
in foreign reserves to prop up its currency
and also implement other measures to
prevent a selloff—soothing fears about
Russia’s economic troubles spreading to
the eurozone.
The moves helped the rouble to 58
against the dollar in early Moscow trade,
well up from the 80 touched on Tuesday.
Gold was at $1,210.13 an ounce, compared with $1,197.34 late Wednesday.
6
Gulf Times
Friday, December 19, 2014
BUSINESS
SAUDI ARABIA
Company Name
QATAR
Company Name
Zad Holding Co
Widam Food Co
Vodafone Qatar
United Development Co
Salam International Investme
Qatar & Oman Investment Co
Qatar Navigation
Qatar National Cement Co
Qatar National Bank
Qatar Islamic Insurance
Qatar Industrial Manufactur
Qatar International Islamic
Qatari Investors Group
Qatar Islamic Bank
Qatar Gas Transport(Nakilat)
Qatar General Insurance & Re
Qatar German Co For Medical
Qatar Fuel Co
Qatar Electricity & Water Co
Qatar Cinema & Film Distrib
Qatar Insurance Co
Ooredoo Qsc
National Leasing
Mazaya Qatar Real Estate Dev
Mesaieed Petrochemical Holdi
Al Meera Consumer Goods Co
Medicare Group
Mannai Corporation Qsc
Masraf Al Rayan
Al Khalij Commercial Bank
Industries Qatar
Islamic Holding Group
Gulf Warehousing Company
Gulf International Services
Ezdan Holding Group
Doha Insurance Co
Doha Bank Qsc
Dlala Holding
Commercial Bank Of Qatar Qsc
Barwa Real Estate Co
Al Khaleej Takaful Group
Aamal Co
Lt Price
76.00
53.90
14.00
20.68
13.18
11.76
86.70
119.50
210.00
64.60
41.10
71.80
35.45
87.80
20.36
44.80
9.12
186.00
165.70
39.50
78.10
107.00
17.71
16.16
25.60
166.50
94.00
91.90
41.70
20.90
162.00
146.30
48.80
79.50
13.32
27.20
50.50
36.00
62.50
35.50
43.00
10.70
% Chg
-2.06
1.70
0.00
1.92
4.85
4.07
2.00
1.27
3.35
-6.78
0.24
0.00
1.29
2.33
0.05
4.19
0.22
1.36
-2.53
0.00
1.43
0.00
-0.51
1.64
-0.39
0.30
-2.08
-1.50
0.24
0.00
-0.12
-9.97
1.67
9.96
1.06
0.18
0.80
-7.93
-0.48
-3.79
0.12
0.94
Volume
7,840
17,935
2,389,767
370,114
533,142
281,982
218,584
6,165
343,171
2,600
3,300
172,509
21,970
155,939
663,430
1,000
28,893
66,409
258,143
631
177,766
116,199
732,563
458,826
64,970
112,296
12,931
980,838
203,652
357,553
41,539
147,257
819,828
1,098,304
9,200
254,377
255,723
905,410
1,645,691
6,807
132,936
SAUDI ARABIA
Company Name
Saudi Hollandi Bank
Al-Ahsa Development Co.
Al-Baha Development & Invest
Ace Arabia Cooperative Insur
Allied Cooperative Insurance
Arriyadh Development Company
Fitaihi Holding Group
Arabia Insurance Cooperative
Al Abdullatif Industrial Inv
Al-Ahlia Cooperative Insuran
Al Alamiya Cooperative Insur
Dar Al Arkan Real Estate Dev
Al Babtain Power & Telecommu
Bank Albilad
Alujain Corporation (Alco)
Aldrees Petroleum And Transp
Fawaz Abdulaziz Alhokair & C
Alinma Bank
Alinma Tokio Marine
Al Khaleej Training And Educ
Abdullah A.M. Al-Khodari Son
Allianz Saudi Fransi Coopera
Almarai Co
Saudi Integrated Telecom Co
Alsorayai Group
Al Tayyar
Amana Cooperative Insurance
Anaam International Holding
Abdullah Al Othaim Markets
Arabian Pipes Co
Advanced Petrochemicals Co
Al Rajhi Co For Co-Operative
Arabian Cement
Arab National Bank
Ash-Sharqiyah Development Co
United Wire Factories Compan
Astra Industrial Group
Alahli Takaful Co
Aseer
Axa Cooperative Insurance
Basic Chemical Industries
Bishah Agriculture
Bank Al-Jazira
Banque Saudi Fransi
United International Transpo
Bupa Arabia For Cooperative
Buruj Cooperative Insurance
Saudi Airlines Catering Co
Methanol Chemicals Co
City Cement Co
Eastern Cement
Etihad Atheeb Telecommunicat
Etihad Etisalat Co
Emaar Economic City
Saudi Enaya Cooperative Insu
United Electronics Co
Falcom Saudi Equity Etf
Filing & Packing Materials M
Wafrah For Industry And Deve
Falcom Petrochemical Etf
Gulf General Cooperative Ins
Jazan Development Co
Gulf Union Cooperative Insur
Halwani Bros Co
Hail Cement
Herfy Food Services Co
Al Jouf Agriculture Developm
Jarir Marketing Co
Jabal Omar Development Co
Al Jouf Cement
Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Co
Knowledge Economic City
Kingdom Holding Co
Saudi Arabian Mining Co
Malath Cooperative & Reinsur
Makkah Construction & Devepl
Mediterranean & Gulf Insuran
Middle East Specialized Cabl
Mohammad Al Mojil Group Co
Al Mouwasat Medical Services
The National Agriculture Dev
Najran Cement Co
Nama Chemicals Co
National Gypsum
National Gas & Industrializa
National Industrialization C
Maadaniyah
National Shipping Co Of/The
National Petrochemical Co
Rabigh Refining And Petroche
Al Qassim Agricultural Co
Qassim Cement/The
Red Sea Housing Services Co
Saudi Research And Marketing
Riyad Bank
Al Rajhi Bank
Saudi Arabian Amiantit Co
Lt Price
47.80
15.60
13.50
48.90
20.76
18.90
21.87
16.79
35.62
13.20
104.12
8.10
28.02
44.40
16.35
52.61
91.75
19.80
34.05
58.50
35.73
34.60
78.00
24.30
16.02
102.25
10.30
30.80
108.49
18.79
41.30
37.81
81.30
28.51
71.14
35.40
32.86
39.20
24.12
29.00
27.95
69.75
30.11
32.45
68.25
168.25
31.80
187.91
12.20
22.45
57.23
6.55
43.49
11.65
28.30
86.00
28.30
44.87
31.80
25.60
25.30
13.55
17.55
72.00
20.70
100.02
42.86
184.52
54.43
13.85
10.25
15.75
18.54
27.40
24.08
73.50
32.00
19.11
12.55
121.62
29.91
29.71
9.50
23.55
32.39
25.30
28.75
30.80
22.90
17.20
11.80
94.61
35.35
14.47
17.23
55.98
13.21
% Chg
9.83
9.78
0.00
9.99
8.35
9.76
6.11
7.15
8.83
9.91
5.31
9.61
7.94
9.98
9.88
7.02
9.88
9.94
7.99
9.86
6.94
9.70
6.92
0.00
9.65
9.95
9.57
8.26
5.32
7.00
9.93
9.47
5.20
5.09
9.65
9.90
7.63
9.90
9.44
9.97
9.44
0.00
7.96
6.67
9.81
9.92
9.92
9.88
9.71
9.89
6.42
9.53
6.38
9.70
9.90
9.76
9.27
9.57
9.69
9.40
9.57
9.81
9.41
9.67
9.81
9.70
5.28
6.79
9.06
9.75
9.74
9.68
8.36
9.86
8.71
9.80
9.97
9.76
0.00
1.24
9.40
5.54
9.95
9.94
9.50
9.95
9.52
9.69
9.88
9.97
9.97
5.98
9.04
9.54
9.54
9.59
8.99
Volume
208,461
1,152,684
172,855
769,212
2,979,021
1,442,160
698,436
501,836
1,376,888
101,500
31,119,790
1,735,139
1,013,557
1,356,906
744,717
256,119
22,967,315
399,489
131,000
2,202,132
315,993
1,799,387
559,370
297,717
1,413,187
607,407
513,069
2,718,824
1,088,457
425,851
617,055
3,073,334
983,684
315,701
2,395,066
273,141
901,711
691,191
531,222
5,630,134
1,888,671
200,794
260,375
181,466
264,287
3,896,304
952,837
885,066
4,445,076
18,255,002
6,374,169
302,226
107,441
545
650,738
728,422
594
563,984
1,402,854
1,330,155
58,910
1,799,697
61,873
1,221,272
193,664
13,122,980
7,605,942
13,735,735
2,382,598
3,168,497
12,934,021
8,179,849
123,360
1,127,089
7,203,280
312,248
337,902
781,125
4,210,854
754,751
381,186
1,961,928
1,877,200
3,842,491
418,473
4,117,275
2,142,272
88,681
770,568
421,038
9,299,116
10,614,483
4,020,402
Saudi British Bank
Sabb Takaful
Saudi Basic Industries Corp
Saudi Cement
Sasco
Saudi Dairy & Foodstuff Co
Saudi Arabian Fertilizer Co
Al Sagr Co-Operative Insuran
Saudi Advanced Industries
Saudi Arabian Coop Ins Co
Salama Cooperative Insurance
Samba Financial Group
Sanad Cooperative Insurance
Saudi Public Transport Co
Saudi Arabia Refineries Co
Hsbc Amanah Saudi 20 Etf
Saudi Re For Cooperative Rei
Savola
Saudi Cable Co
Saudi Chemical Company
Saudi Ceramic
Saudi Electricity Co
Saudi Fisheries
Al-Hassan G.I. Shaker Co
Dur Hospitality Co
Arabian Shield Cooperative
Saudi Investment Bank/The
Saudi Industrial Development
Saudi Industrial Export Co
KUWAIT
Lt Price
54.47
28.60
83.50
101.60
23.77
123.48
148.11
27.56
19.53
29.70
23.69
38.74
15.23
20.78
50.25
28.60
9.33
76.15
9.50
52.50
106.75
15.81
30.47
63.25
27.79
41.41
26.65
15.05
39.72
% Chg
9.44
9.96
9.80
6.54
9.49
7.71
8.42
6.00
9.66
9.96
8.22
7.02
0.00
7.45
9.55
9.58
7.00
9.43
9.95
9.67
9.76
8.59
0.93
9.64
9.54
4.10
6.60
9.77
9.63
Volume
425,437
657,393
3,267,171
318,744
1,188,668
52,443
635,191
954,422
1,212,758
504,690
268,413
3,183,957
8,571,635
513,410
27,602
7,431,602
1,198,882
1,827,701
617,345
266,150
6,324,924
3,160,046
211,760
526,171
434,370
872,103
1,381,561
527,916
KUWAIT
Company Name
Securities Group Co
Sultan Center Food Products
Kuwait Foundry Co Sak
Kuwait Financial Centre Sak
Ajial Real Estate Entmt
Gulf Glass Manuf Co -Kscc
Kuwait Finance & Investment
National Industries Co
Kuwait Real Estate Holding C
Securities House/The
Boubyan Petrochemicals Co
Al Ahli Bank Of Kuwait
Ahli United Bank (Almutahed)
National Bank Of Kuwait
Commercial Bank Of Kuwait
Kuwait International Bank
Gulf Bank
Al-Massaleh Real Estate Co
Al Arabiya Real Estate Co
Kuwait Remal Real Estate Co
Alkout Industrial Projects C
A’ayan Real Estate Co
Investors Holding Group Co.K
Markaz Real Estate Fund
Al-Mazaya Holding Co
Al-Madar Finance & Invt Co
Gulf Petroleum Investment
Mabanee Co Sakc
City Group
Inovest Co Bsc
Kuwait Gypsum Manufacturing
Al-Deera Holding Co
Alshamel International Hold
United Industries Co
Mena Real Estate Co
National Slaughter House
Amar Finance & Leasing Co
United Projects Group Kscc
National Consumer Holding Co
Amwal International Investme
Jeeran Holdings
Equipment Holding Co K.S.C.C
Nafais Holding
Safwan Trading & Contracting
Arkan Al Kuwait Real Estate
Gulf Finance House Ec
Energy House Holding Co Kscc
Kuwait Slaughter House Co
Kuwait Co For Process Plant
Al Maidan Dental Clinic Co K
National Ranges Company
Kuwait Pipes Indus & Oil Ser
Al-Themar Real International
Al Ahleia Insurance Co Sak
Wethaq Takaful Insurance Co
Salbookh Trading Co K.S.C.C
Aqar Real Estate Investments
Hayat Communications
Kuwait Packing Materials Mfg
Soor Fuel Marketing Co Ksc
Alargan International Real
Burgan Co For Well Drilling
Kuwait Resorts Co Kscc
Oula Fuel Marketing Co
Palms Agro Production Co
Ikarus Petroleum Industries
Mubarrad Transport Co
Al Mowasat Health Care Co
Shuaiba Industrial Co
Kuwait Invest Co Holding
Hits Telecom Holding
First Takaful Insurance Co
Kuwaiti Syrian Holding Co
National Cleaning Company
Eyas For High & Technical Ed
United Real Estate Company
Agility
Kuwait & Middle East Fin Inv
Fujairah Cement Industries
Livestock Transport & Tradng
International Resorts Co
National Industries Grp Hold
Marine Services Co
Pearl Of Kuwait Real Estate
Warba Insurance Co
Kuwait United Poultry Co
First Dubai Real Estate Deve
Al Arabi Group Holding Co
Kuwait Hotels Co
Mobile Telecommunications Co
Al Safat Real Estate Co
Tamdeen Real Estate Co Ksc
Al Mudon Intl Real Estate Co
Kuwait Cement Co Ksc
Sharjah Cement & Indus Devel
Kuwait Portland Cement Co
Educational Holding Group
Bahrain Kuwait Insurance
Kuwait China Investment Co
Kuwait Investment Co
Burgan Bank
Kuwait Projects Co Holdings
Al Madina For Finance And In
Kuwait Insurance Co
Al Masaken Intl Real Estate
Intl Financial Advisors
First Investment Co Kscc
Al Mal Investment Company
Bayan Investment Co Kscc
Egypt Kuwait Holding Co Sae
Coast Investment Development
Privatization Holding Compan
Kuwait Medical Services Co
Injazzat Real State Company
Kuwait Cable Vision Sak
Sanam Real Estate Co Kscc
Ithmaar Bank Bsc
Aviation Lease And Finance C
Arzan Financial Group For Fi
Ajwan Gulf Real Estate Co
Manafae Investment Co
Kuwait Business Town Real Es
Future Kid Entertainment And
Specialities Group Holding C
Abyaar Real Eastate Developm
Lt Price
110.00
82.00
300.00
114.00
210.00
490.00
65.00
212.00
40.00
73.00
610.00
400.00
630.00
820.00
610.00
248.00
280.00
68.00
38.50
49.50
0.00
87.00
21.00
1.52
112.00
33.00
73.00
910.00
400.00
63.00
0.00
12.50
0.00
98.00
36.00
150.00
52.00
0.00
0.00
31.50
70.00
100.00
86.00
0.00
104.00
23.50
89.00
0.00
255.00
0.00
24.50
0.00
90.00
460.00
55.00
77.00
90.00
67.00
405.00
138.00
176.00
218.00
76.00
144.00
100.00
140.00
58.00
184.00
240.00
0.00
28.00
0.00
14.50
60.00
310.00
98.00
670.00
46.50
71.00
148.00
33.50
170.00
100.00
12.00
108.00
180.00
55.00
144.00
130.00
480.00
21.00
450.00
64.00
340.00
90.00
1,260.00
164.00
0.00
46.50
144.00
475.00
700.00
25.50
290.00
64.00
35.50
0.00
27.50
54.00
180.00
55.00
43.00
0.00
63.00
39.00
57.00
44.50
242.00
44.00
40.00
55.00
32.00
114.00
130.00
30.50
% Chg
-8.33
1.23
0.00
5.56
0.96
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
7.35
-1.61
0.00
5.00
0.00
0.00
2.48
1.82
-5.56
5.48
3.13
0.00
4.82
13.51
0.00
9.80
4.76
7.35
5.81
5.26
8.62
0.00
8.70
0.00
-1.01
7.46
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
3.28
0.00
5.26
1.18
0.00
-7.14
11.90
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
11.36
0.00
-1.10
0.00
-8.33
1.32
0.00
3.08
0.00
-1.43
0.00
-4.39
0.00
0.00
0.00
6.06
9.43
0.00
0.00
0.00
7.69
0.00
0.00
3.45
0.00
0.00
4.69
0.00
5.97
0.00
8.06
2.41
-9.09
9.09
-8.47
1.12
10.00
7.46
3.17
5.49
10.53
1.12
3.23
0.00
-1.10
0.00
0.00
0.00
2.20
1.41
0.00
4.48
10.87
0.00
1.59
7.58
0.00
10.00
9.09
0.00
10.00
6.17
0.00
6.78
0.00
-5.00
5.95
0.00
3.53
6.67
0.00
1.59
0.00
3.17
7.02
Volume
5,612
98,300
20,000
58,888
9,500
31,598
10,000
790
70,500
173,200
54,568
60,000
215,115
7,528,429
20,000
1,606,150
2,227,624
11,540
714,559
1,878,031
100
276,973
2,505,080
25,510
1,390,114
505,728
2,689
873,000
38,826,098
177,344
25,000
13,001
117,390
82,766
230
891,540
197,491
2,183
50,421,445
100
17,550
11,748,435
973,333
4,695
549,020
179,916
15,000
84,970
1
64,867
1,200
21
1,280,038
890,967
10
128,021
3,816,111
10,000
4,000
12,695,798
1,167,743
2,113,350
19,950
77,295
2,470,826
384
805,750
250
403,555
2,694,635
25,797
19,592
4,329
100
3,544,733
1,000
17,364
4,898,753
13,305,360
396,880
771,501
1,989
176,450
14,775
5,000
101,128
179,000
1,715,751
2,975,680
3,935,520
5,880
17,380
7,688,654
4,142,235
4,525,495
13,146
9,211,663
2,120,552
28,000
26,100
340,000
4,420,706
318,546
868,418
136,307
280,000
6,140,197
500
27,250
2,203,576
Company Name
Dar Al Thuraya Real Estate C
Al-Dar National Real Estate
Kgl Logistics Company Kscc
Combined Group Contracting
Zima Holding Co Ksc
Qurain Holding Co
Boubyan Intl Industries Hold
Gulf Investment House
Boubyan Bank K.S.C
Ahli United Bank B.S.C
Al-Safat Tec Holding Co
Al-Eid Food Co
Al-Qurain Petrochemicals Co
Advanced Technology Co
Ekttitab Holding Co S.A.K.C
Kout Food Group Ksc
Real Estate Trade Centers Co
Acico Industries Co Kscc
Kipco Asset Management Co
National Petroleum Services
Alimtiaz Investment Co Kscc
Ras Al Khaimah White Cement
Kuwait Reinsurance Co Ksc
Kuwait & Gulf Link Transport
Human Soft Holding Co Ksc
Automated Systems Co
Metal & Recycling Co
Gulf Franchising Holding Co
Al-Enma’a Real Estate Co
National Mobile Telecommuni
Al Bareeq Holding Co Kscc
Union Real Estate Co
Housing Finance Co Sak
Al Salam Group Holding Co
United Foodstuff Industries
Al Aman Investment Company
Mashaer Holdings Co Ksc
Manazel Holding
Mushrif Trading & Contractin
Tijara And Real Estate Inves
Kuwait Building Materials
Jazeera Airways
Commercial Real Estate Co
Future Communications Co
National International Co
Taameer Real Estate Invest C
Gulf Cement Co
Heavy Engineering And Ship B
Refrigeration Industries & S
National Real Estate Co
Al Safat Energy Holding Comp
Kuwait National Cinema Co
Danah Alsafat Foodstuff Co
Independent Petroleum Group
Kuwait Real Estate Co Ksc
Salhia Real Estate Co Ksc
Gulf Cable & Electrical Ind
Al Nawadi Holding Co Ksc
Kuwait Finance House
OMAN
Lt Price
0.00
20.50
96.00
860.00
120.00
14.50
65.00
43.50
435.00
234.00
55.00
122.00
190.00
0.00
40.00
840.00
31.50
300.00
95.00
0.00
53.00
128.00
200.00
48.50
410.00
380.00
92.00
55.00
72.00
1,320.00
0.00
150.00
17.50
51.00
242.00
79.00
148.00
41.00
59.00
60.00
445.00
420.00
86.00
120.00
53.00
30.50
95.00
140.00
350.00
126.00
19.50
1,400.00
74.00
410.00
63.00
360.00
610.00
140.00
690.00
% Chg
0.00
13.89
1.05
0.00
-7.69
16.00
8.33
6.10
6.10
0.86
3.77
0.00
3.26
0.00
1.27
0.00
6.78
0.00
0.00
0.00
1.92
4.92
0.00
5.43
0.00
0.00
-1.08
10.00
4.35
-4.35
0.00
0.00
0.00
6.25
0.00
0.00
5.71
3.80
5.36
3.45
0.00
2.44
4.88
0.00
7.07
3.39
1.06
-6.67
1.45
1.61
11.43
7.69
0.00
0.00
6.78
4.35
0.00
0.00
2.99
Volume
13,652,360
642,031
20,600
15,569
2,628,341
989,414
1,549,516
992,318
1,512,785
330,100
500
174,423
1,515,748
50,000
24,730
167,796
27,000
555,502
700
750
764,474
10,501
3,500
16,000
47,477
771,886
3,009
100
4,680,763
1,716,083
5,000
384,000
10,190
9,829,260
380,781
922,700
200
215,434
54,337
5,000
159,329
417,111
726,111
534,000
347,782
1,226,853
17,022,190
76,421
3,515,755
500
6,991,230
50,000
184,046
50
4,781,867
OMAN
Company Name
Voltamp Energy Saog
United Finance Co
United Power Co
United Power/Energy Co- Pref
Al Madina Investment Co
Taageer Finance
Salalah Port Services
A’saffa Foods Saog
Sohar Poultry
Shell Oman Marketing
Shell Oman Marketing - Pref
Smn Power Holding Saog
Al Shurooq Inv Ser
Al Sharqiya Invest Holding
Sohar Power Co
Salalah Beach Resort Saog
Salalah Mills Co
Sahara Hospitality
Renaissance Services Saog
Raysut Cement Co
Port Service Corporation
Packaging Co Ltd
Oman United Insurance Co
Oman Textile Holding Co Saog
Oman Telecommunications Co
Sweets Of Oman
Oman Orix Leasing Co.
Oman Refreshment Co
Oman Packaging
Oman Oil Marketing Company
0Man Oil Marketing Co-Pref
Oman National Investment Co
Oman National Engineering An
Oman National Dairy Products
Ominvest
Oman Medical Projects
Oman Ceramic Com
Oman Intl Marketing
Oman Investment & Finance
Hsbc Bank Oman
Oman Hotels & Tourism Co
Oman Holding International
Oman Fiber Optics
Oman Flour Mills
Oman Filters Industry
Oman Fisheries Co
Oman Education & Training In
Oman & Emirates Inv(Om)50%
Oman & Emirates Inv(Emir)50%
Oman Europe Foods Industries
Oman Cement Co
Oman Chlorine
Oman Chromite
Oman Cables Industry
Oman Agricultural Dev
Omani Qatari Telecommunicati
National Securities
Oman Foods International Soa
National Pharmaceutical-Rts
National Pharmaceutical
National Packaging Fac
National Mineral Water
National Hospitality Institu
National Gas Co
National Finance Co
National Detergents/The
National Carpet Factory
National Bank Of Oman Saog
National Biscuit Industries
National Real Estate Develop
Natl Aluminium Products
Muscat Thread Mills Co
Muscat Insurance Company
Modern Poultry Farms
Muscat National Holding
Musandam Marketing & Invest
Al Maha Petroleum Products M
Muscat Gases Company Saog
Majan Glass Company
Muscat Finance
Al Kamil Power Co
Interior Hotels
Hotels Management Co Interna
Al-Hassan Engineering Co
Gulf Stone
Gulf Mushroom Company
Gulf Invest. Serv. Pref-Shar
Gulf Investments Services
Gulf International Chemicals
Gulf Hotels (Oman) Co Ltd
Global Fin Investment
Galfar Engineering&Contract
Galfar Engineering -Prefer
Financial Services Co.
Flexible Ind Packages
Lt Price
0.34
0.13
1.17
1.00
0.00
0.14
0.65
0.66
0.21
2.00
1.05
0.62
1.04
0.11
0.34
1.38
1.49
2.45
0.39
1.31
0.31
0.48
0.26
0.29
1.58
1.35
0.15
2.45
0.26
2.24
0.25
0.28
0.31
0.00
0.38
0.00
0.45
0.52
0.16
0.00
0.23
0.00
5.51
0.49
0.02
0.06
0.14
0.11
0.00
1.00
0.48
0.56
3.64
1.71
1.45
0.00
0.16
0.52
0.00
0.10
0.00
0.06
2.05
0.53
0.14
0.70
0.00
0.30
3.75
0.00
0.30
0.16
0.00
0.00
1.86
0.00
2.30
0.83
0.23
0.15
0.31
0.00
1.25
0.10
0.08
0.43
0.15
0.12
0.12
10.50
0.12
0.12
0.43
0.16
0.00
% Chg
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
7.77
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
5.35
0.00
3.03
0.00
6.69
0.00
6.04
0.00
0.00
0.62
0.00
0.00
0.00
8.70
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
9.15
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
6.67
0.00
7.84
0.00
0.00
1.70
0.00
0.00
2.70
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.38
0.00
0.00
0.00
2.42
0.00
0.00
4.91
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-0.22
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
8.79
0.00
0.00
0.00
6.25
9.26
0.00
0.00
9.35
0.00
0.00
0.00
Volume
118,000
1,189,000
692,606
704,427
3,674
29,806
1,232,590
912,561
7,130
627,016
781,272
283,980
1,941,893
262,815
43,466
92,900
576,604
39,400
21,000
89,798
349,400
2,877,600
1,512,836
262,652
-
Company Name
Financial Corp/The
Dhofar Tourism
Dhofar Poultry
Aloula Co
Dhofar Intl Development
Dhofar Insurance
Dhofar University
Dhofar Power Co
Dhofar Power Co-Pfd
Dhofar Fisheries & Food Indu
Dhofar Cattlefeed
Al Batinah Dev & Inv
Dhofar Beverages Co
Computer Stationery Inds
Construction Materials Ind
Cement & Gypsum Pro
Marine Bander Al-Rowdha
Bank Sohar
Bankmuscat Saog
Bank Dhofar Saog
Al Batinah Hotels
Majan College
Areej Vegetable Oils
Al Jazeera Steel Products Co
Al Sallan Food Industry
Acwa Power Barka Saog
Al-Omaniya Financial Service
Taghleef Industries Saog
Gulf Plastic Industries Co
Al Jazeera Services
Al Jazerah Services -Pfd
Al-Fajar Al-Alamia Co
Ahli Bank
Abrasives Manufacturing Co S
Al-Batinah Intl Saog
Lt Price
0.13
0.49
0.18
0.53
0.53
0.20
1.47
0.00
0.00
1.28
0.15
0.11
0.26
0.25
0.04
0.00
0.00
0.19
0.51
0.29
1.13
0.51
5.51
0.32
0.00
0.77
0.33
0.00
0.39
0.28
0.55
0.75
0.21
0.05
0.00
% Chg
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-7.45
8.91
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
9.77
2.39
0.34
0.00
0.00
0.00
3.23
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
9.23
0.00
0.00
8.72
0.00
0.00
Volume
252,874
79,100
632,354
857,000
3,317,200
31,725
23,950
1,000
23,000
474,299
-
UAE
Company Name
National Takaful Company
Waha Capital Pjsc
Union Insurance Co
Union National Bank/Abu Dhab
United Insurance Company
Union Cement Co
United Arab Bank
Abu Dhabi National Takaful C
Abu Dhabi National Energy Co
Sudan Telecommunications Co$
Sorouh Real Estate Company
Sharjah Insurance Company
Sharjah Cement & Indus Devel
Ras Al Khaima Poultry
Ras Al Khaimah White Cement
Rak Properties
Ras Al-Khaimah National Insu
Ras Al Khaimah Ceramics
Ras Al Khaimah Cement Co
National Bank Of Ras Al-Khai
Ooredoo Qsc
Umm Al Qaiwain Cement Indust
Oman & Emirates Inv(Emir)50%
National Marine Dredging Co
National Corp Tourism & Hote
Sharjah Islamic Bank
National Bank Of Umm Al Qaiw
National Bank Of Fujairah
National Bank Of Abu Dhabi
Methaq Takaful Insurance
#N/A Invalid Security
Gulf Pharmaceutical Ind-Julp
Invest Bank
Insurance House
Gulf Medical Projects
Gulf Livestock Co
Green Crescent Insurance Co
Gulf Cement Co
Foodco Holding
Finance House
First Gulf Bank
Fujairah Cement Industries
Fujairah Building Industries
Emirates Telecom Corporation
Eshraq Properties Co Pjsc
Emirates Insurance Co. (Psc)
Emirates Driving Company
Al Dhafra Insurance Co. P.S.
Dana Gas
Commercial Bank Internationa
Bank Of Sharjah
Abu Dhabi Natl Co For Buildi
Al Wathba National Insurance
Intl Fish Farming Co-Asmak
Arkan Building Materials Co
Aldar Properties Pjsc
Al Ain Ahlia Ins. Co.
Al Khazna Insurance Co
Agthia Group Pjsc
Al Fujairah National Insuran
Abu Dhabi Ship Building Co
Abu Dhabi National Insurance
Abu Dhabi National Hotels
Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank
Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank
Abu Dhabi Aviation
Lt Price
1.02
2.92
1.12
5.80
2.00
1.14
6.50
6.30
0.83
0.65
0.00
3.90
1.10
1.27
1.50
0.66
3.78
3.00
0.78
7.90
125.00
1.40
1.17
6.90
4.97
1.75
3.60
4.25
12.45
0.71
0.00
2.99
2.45
1.00
2.00
2.70
0.70
1.19
3.99
3.89
16.75
1.35
1.45
10.85
0.72
6.80
5.00
7.70
0.46
1.75
1.80
0.81
5.35
5.80
1.24
2.30
50.00
0.48
5.59
300.00
1.81
5.85
3.50
5.49
6.90
3.10
% Chg
5.15
8.55
0.00
13.06
0.00
-8.80
0.00
0.00
3.75
6.56
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
13.79
0.00
7.14
14.71
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-9.96
3.55
0.00
0.00
14.75
14.52
0.00
4.91
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
14.75
10.19
0.00
0.00
5.35
0.00
0.00
2.36
14.29
0.00
0.00
0.00
15.00
0.00
2.86
2.53
0.00
0.00
3.33
15.00
0.00
0.00
6.48
0.00
4.02
0.00
6.06
13.43
15.00
6.90
Volume
70,000
19,872,578
6,365,795
279,470
1,336,567
2,522,690
80,000
13,973,115
200,335
847,969
475,382
132,000
3,177,000
959,139
2,957,916
686,000
91,240
2,000
193,213
10,450,827
3,442,584
112,757,885
45,688,330
35,513
874,500
51,000
39,088,102
521,640
35,556
60,000
5,264,880
12,713,789
300,000
BAHRAIN
Company Name
United Paper Industries Bsc
United Gulf Investment Corp
United Gulf Bank
United Finance Co
Trafco Group Bsc
Takaful International Co
Taib Bank -$Us
Securities & Investment Co
Seef Properties
Sudan Telecommunications Co$
Al-Salam Bank
Delmon Poultry Co
National Hotels Co
National Bank Of Bahrain
Nass Corp Bsc
Khaleeji Commercial Bank
Ithmaar Bank Bsc
Investcorp Bank -$Us
Inovest Co Bsc
Intl Investment Group-Kuwait
Gulf Monetary Group
Global Investment House Kscc
Gulf Finance House Ec
Bahrain Family Leisure Co
Esterad Investment Co B.S.C.
Bahrain Duty Free Complex
Bahrain Car Park Co
Bahrain Cinema Co
Bahrain Tourism Co
Bahraini Saudi Bank/The
Bahrain National Holding
Bankmuscat Saog
Bmmi Bsc
Bmb Investment Bank
Bahrain Kuwait Insurance
Bahrain Islamic Bank
Gulf Hotel Group B.S.C
Bahrain Flour Mills Co
Bahrain Commercial Facilitie
Bbk Bsc
Bahrain Telecom Co
Bahrain Ship Repair & Engin
Albaraka Banking Group
Banader Hotels Co
Ahli United Bank B.S.C
Lt Price
0.00
0.00
0.37
0.00
0.22
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.19
0.00
0.10
0.00
0.00
0.82
0.17
0.04
0.14
0.00
0.21
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.20
0.87
`
1.55
0.22
0.00
0.44
0.00
0.83
0.00
0.66
0.16
0.83
0.40
0.70
0.45
0.33
2.10
0.85
0.00
0.79
% Chg
0.00
0.00
9.47
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-5.45
0.00
0.00
0.62
-0.59
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-1.20
0.00
0.00
0.00
2.61
Volume
5,000
30,000
50,000
484,596
1,850
118,812
95,000
119,509
30,000
9,087
9,000
18,500
96,000
97,000
20,000
20,000
36,834
15,009
34,000
4,851
89,560
9,000
21,752
7,870
10,000
105,467
LATEST MARKET CLOSING FIGURES
Gulf Times
Friday, December 19, 2014
7
BUSINESS
DJIA
WORLD INDICES
Company Name
Exxon Mobil Corp
Microsoft Corp
Johnson & Johnson
General Electric Co
Wal-Mart Stores Inc
Chevron Corp
Procter & Gamble Co/The
Jpmorgan Chase & Co
Verizon Communications Inc
Intl Business Machines Corp
Pfizer Inc
Coca-Cola Co/The
At&T Inc
Merck & Co. Inc.
Intel Corp
Walt Disney Co/The
Visa Inc-Class A Shares
Cisco Systems Inc
Home Depot Inc
United Technologies Corp
Mcdonald’s Corp
Boeing Co/The
American Express Co
3M Co
Goldman Sachs Group Inc
Unitedhealth Group Inc
Nike Inc -Cl B
Du Pont (E.I.) De Nemours
Caterpillar Inc
Travelers Cos Inc/The
Lt Price
89.02
46.99
105.42
24.87
85.40
106.38
90.95
60.91
47.06
154.77
31.66
42.17
33.28
58.63
36.63
92.06
261.95
27.31
99.97
115.64
92.47
126.96
92.11
163.03
189.34
100.46
95.27
70.99
91.16
104.94
% Chg
-0.00
2.73
1.30
0.85
1.39
0.34
0.28
1.91
1.32
1.87
1.72
1.49
1.86
1.73
1.06
0.74
1.11
1.86
1.04
1.53
0.89
1.52
1.84
1.51
2.33
1.33
0.81
1.04
1.57
0.51
4,587,042
8,877,602
1,755,298
13,126,848
1,754,918
2,971,047
1,602,646
3,502,959
4,382,631
1,883,931
6,108,481
3,736,926
7,954,738
1,651,979
6,349,512
1,475,530
681,613
8,545,177
1,080,278
970,705
2,570,553
1,080,073
883,388
571,483
1,146,567
602,187
1,447,360
758,865
1,550,827
406,614
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
1,301.00
3,636.00
170.50
4,626.00
1,860.00
224.00
914.50
2,617.00
394.30
437.60
1,834.00
174.70
403.30
912.10
793.50
1,645.00
682.00
1,085.00
1,078.00
4,688.00
2,011.00
2,643.00
234.80
445.20
3,377.50
440.30
405.00
2,156.00
2,101.50
380.70
855.00
2,799.00
1,078.00
5,200.00
4,218.00
1,493.50
724.50
1,532.00
1,191.00
189.80
6,525.00
906.50
1,027.00
498.10
458.90
2,209.00
75.20
240.90
1,142.00
324.10
3,348.00
209.70
330.80
460.00
2,307.00
2,561.00
2,824.00
1,237.00
596.00
982.00
602.50
290.00
1,376.00
340.40
272.80
363.00
713.00
1,078.00
1,644.00
445.60
288.10
1,822.50
1,513.00
1,084.00
1,220.00
270.40
2,819.00
1,085.00
1,618.00
1,726.00
399.90
0.00
751.50
3,446.00
401.50
1,327.00
869.40
234.00
460.50
1,059.00
481.20
4,566.00
3,125.00
1,145.00
976.00
719.00
1,167.50
1,498.00
1,316.00
430.80
437.00
0.00
% Chg
1.64
2.28
2.10
3.37
1.64
1.98
-0.38
2.15
-0.20
0.00
3.44
3.90
2.65
1.91
2.85
1.86
2.40
3.24
2.37
3.67
2.13
2.72
2.26
1.71
5.68
1.85
2.74
0.02
0.33
3.65
2.58
-0.09
2.08
2.56
2.45
2.51
3.50
1.46
2.94
5.62
1.95
2.26
2.29
2.91
0.24
3.66
-0.20
2.95
0.26
1.66
2.79
2.14
1.41
3.70
2.35
3.06
3.67
5.37
0.52
3.10
1.77
-0.84
2.15
3.37
2.13
3.71
0.78
2.96
2.49
1.34
2.86
1.76
3.14
2.46
-1.77
1.46
0.64
2.94
2.21
0.70
-0.47
0.00
1.90
2.41
0.99
-0.04
1.72
2.59
2.31
1.05
2.84
2.63
2.73
1.69
4.95
0.35
0.91
2.18
3.95
5.43
3.46
0.00
Volume
4,265,994
367,892
8,230,126
325,881
830,042
48,218,558
1,357,778
2,518,507
5,271,288
503,573
19,951,718
3,762,047
3,579,200
763,530
1,895,890
690,585
2,089,677
1,333,378
1,391,367
344,875
218,187
7,363,032
1,661,839
3,185,367
2,539,810
2,337,853
4,793,750
7,643,606
8,640,305
3,664,787
4,147,449
1,657,510
1,316,504
625,193
3,505,022
3,013,831
983,615
1,713,876
13,306,996
305,039
7,410,744
1,684,004
1,765,319
4,061,385
540,039
96,419,081
11,711,126
1,933,485
5,037,890
226,936
7,751,168
2,814,160
8,260,588
506,426
536,852
1,670,308
733,777
61,145,205
668,731
1,131,440
25,003,268
8,946,118
3,087,550
2,659,483
3,979,346
820,217
1,472,335
1,037,440
1,809,059
3,024,549
4,780,191
1,450,429
2,077,211
677,512
11,816,346
782,578
988,149
732,005
426,366
14,507,175
4,029,150
2,547,871
47,477,285
9,615,423
9,935,588
30,401,892
4,844,870
989,280
8,194,209
1,944,888
690,722
1,280,244
4,885,692
1,365,929
5,765,228
395,137
604,697
3,892,505
1,094,565
-
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
1,286.00
2,219.00
1,557.50
1,481.00
3,275.00
4,307.00
913.70
1,045.50
477.00
7,851.00
589.00
4,475.00
4,927.50
1,655.00
4,571.00
1,668.50
3,499.00
1,712.50
447.40
% Chg
3.42
3.96
2.57
3.57
5.41
2.77
0.64
1.26
3.25
1.55
1.73
-1.43
1.84
0.09
2.36
0.69
-1.16
-4.25
3.54
Indices
Volume
Volume
6,454,800
2,721,300
4,837,100
3,475,700
17,788,100
3,423,400
13,838,000
5,605,000
15,709,000
1,504,000
8,937,400
4,284,800
2,524,400
9,449,100
2,494,800
3,837,800
5,413,600
6,982,700
17,370,700
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
17,588.25
2,039.50
4,714.72
14,340.59
42,023.20
48,722.23
6,449.58
4,239.08
9,784.58
10,342.00
+231.38
+26.61
+70.40
+126.71
+1,018.76
+8.59
+113.10
+127.17
+240.15
+292.50
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
17,210.05
1,376.32
22,832.21
5,189.71
1,112.70
27,126.57
8,159.30
3,243.65
22,397.74
5,113.35
+390.32
+24.31
+246.37
+49.06
+4.10
+416.44
+129.50
+16.42
+98.62
+77.70
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
4,193.50
590.00
300.00
0.00
198.00
2,602.00
1,793.50
1,479.50
31,325.00
2,678.00
1,750.00
7,673.00
871.90
499.40
1,412.00
7,939.00
357.00
645.10
1,423.50
264.00
2,478.50
7,250.00
52,410.00
5,527.00
19,790.00
7,590.00
5,557.00
12,820.00
6,571.00
670.90
1,024.50
7,250.00
3,495.00
3,591.50
1,659.00
3,946.00
3,880.50
1,162.00
1,064.50
12,655.00
1,216.50
680.90
1,499.00
8,605.00
1,177.50
2,046.00
1,161.00
648.90
603.50
450.30
4,152.00
644.10
198.00
1,491.00
928.20
686.00
2,937.50
2,812.50
1,783.00
3,815.00
1,420.00
3,116.50
2,445.50
3,931.50
8,880.00
5,651.00
17,430.00
296.50
6,175.00
7,687.00
1,769.50
459.00
1,382.00
1,190.50
1,408.00
1,250.00
628.50
6,847.00
375.00
43,715.00
7,200.00
% Chg
2.69
2.97
1.90
0.00
2.59
3.17
1.61
2.32
1.49
1.23
0.34
1.58
1.03
0.67
1.44
1.55
1.42
0.45
1.50
-0.75
4.80
1.40
1.67
2.47
2.06
2.02
2.49
2.15
0.91
3.12
0.94
1.50
1.16
1.10
0.06
-0.67
1.72
-4.87
4.11
1.81
0.29
0.70
0.33
1.06
1.20
0.52
2.65
0.92
1.50
1.40
0.75
1.26
-0.15
2.90
1.83
0.57
0.00
1.35
3.09
0.77
2.01
1.66
0.68
1.71
2.80
2.75
4.18
2.42
1.63
2.62
0.97
6.74
1.13
-5.18
1.88
-0.08
2.23
3.59
2.74
3.91
1.22
Volume
4,571,400
5,168,000
36,092,000
31,373,000
3,821,400
4,693,000
3,034,900
303,500
5,522,300
6,721,000
1,376,900
21,480,000
34,123,000
8,754,000
1,796,400
16,468,000
15,399,000
10,342,000
37,573,000
14,321,200
1,583,800
150,600
1,888,400
1,399,200
853,800
1,638,400
1,116,500
1,345,300
24,811,000
17,613,300
13,818,300
8,984,800
2,141,600
4,433,400
2,230,800
5,478,400
3,697,900
3,712,000
813,800
11,774,500
14,777,100
13,633,700
1,954,300
6,340,100
9,038,800
5,339,300
80,225,100
13,916,000
24,271,000
7,075,500
5,427,000
219,409,000
7,313,000
10,573,000
30,695,000
2,642,100
2,106,800
5,623,900
4,447,800
2,174,700
7,007,000
7,437,000
3,282,000
1,342,900
763,800
743,600
20,545,000
2,213,400
2,773,500
8,745,200
98,404,400
2,503,200
11,642,000
2,065,100
4,529,800
12,477,000
1,102,600
7,586,100
945,700
7,549,600
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
376.30
537.95
2,446.55
2,549.40
401.60
81.40
484.90
2,460.70
812.00
307.10
203.75
880.10
226.00
131.60
344.95
132.95
139.40
3,385.30
1,212.25
1,425.55
1,506.40
1,252.05
138.60
374.85
1,965.90
773.50
154.60
345.75
1,098.20
765.95
152.95
3,065.45
934.05
1,554.25
3,330.25
434.00
3,151.25
135.90
367.55
625.35
239.40
348.20
653.30
257.35
1,055.15
2,503.15
487.95
744.95
223.95
1,379.95
% Chg
1.90
0.52
0.30
2.15
2.07
3.69
1.91
0.68
0.08
1.77
1.42
1.22
4.05
0.46
0.57
3.79
1.53
3.78
-0.57
2.37
2.58
0.59
7.48
0.82
1.41
1.79
1.68
4.03
0.85
-0.05
3.98
0.12
1.32
0.96
-0.77
4.16
-0.29
1.72
0.08
3.28
4.45
1.80
0.85
5.02
4.46
1.63
2.76
1.87
1.47
0.76
Volume
2,156,052
1,422,621
118,782
323,822
5,084,820
3,038,441
4,621,077
784,855
2,374,589
21,040,190
6,233,698
3,956,486
6,201,726
3,424,605
5,480,535
11,011,646
3,802,755
327,204
945,097
371,035
2,059,492
903,206
8,703,478
4,435,447
5,146,246
761,543
5,770,076
10,219,825
2,100,336
1,218,727
9,118,956
563,366
1,973,673
896,549
136,733
3,350,648
421,340
8,824,584
3,367,517
1,690,099
4,109,912
5,044,140
1,415,837
5,114,988
1,296,578
300,721
4,089,393
1,214,821
1,662,776
321,254
Electronic screens display the stock prices inside the Greek stock exchange in Athens. The Athens Composite Index erased
earlier losses to trade 1.5% higher after the leader of Greece’s radical leftist party Syriza, Alexis Tsipras, told Reuters he
wanted a negotiated debt relief solution with the European Union and to keep the country in the euro currency bloc.
European markets post
biggest rise in 3 years
Reuters
London
E
uropean stocks surged yesterday, with the market supported
by a rise in Greek shares after the leader of the main opposition
party said he was committed to keeping Greece in the euro should his leftist
party take power next year.
A tentative rebound in oil, a dovish
statement from the Federal Reserve
and relative calm in Russian markets
helped spur European shares to their
strongest daily gain in three years.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index of
top European shares closed up 3% at
1,356.23 points, its biggest percentage
rise since November 2011, extending
gains after Greek stocks reversed an
early fall.
Among major markets, London’s
benchmark FTSE 100 index rose 2.04%
to close at 6,466 points. In Paris CAC
40 surged 3.35% to 4,249.49 points,
while in Frankfurt the DAX 30 benchmark jumped 2.79% to 9,811.06 points.
The Athens Composite Index erased
earlier losses to trade 1.5% higher after the leader of Greece’s radical leftist
party Syriza, Alexis Tsipras, told Reuters he wanted a negotiated debt relief
solution with the European Union and
to keep the country in the euro currency bloc.
Greek markets have been knocked
by the prospect of a general election if
parliament fails to elect a new president by the end of the year, with the
prospect of a Syriza victory in a popular vote raising questions over the
country’s EU membership.
A poll on Wednesday showing that
Syriza had extended its lead over the
government party helped push the local equity index as much as 3% lower in
early trade.
“The Greek election is maybe the
elephant in the room over the festive
period but we have already seen a significant risk premium built into equities so any favourable outcome is likely
to be proceeded by a sizeable relief rally,” Jonathan Roy, partner at Londonbased Charles Hanover Investments,
said.
Oil companies benefited from a
short-lived rise in oil prices, as Brent
crude jumped to $63% per barrel before falling back after European markets had closed.
Norway’s energy services firm Seadrill closed up 9%. The STOXX 600 Oil
& Gas sector was up 2.7%, but remains
down more than 18% since the beginning of October. Many of the stocks in
the sector are heavily shorted and po-
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
sitioned for a squeeze higher, traders
said.
“Oil stocks have been hard hit, so
when sentiment on the sector starts
to turn around, the first place for investors to look is those stocks that
have been heavily beaten down,”
Chris Beauchamp, market analyst at
IG, said.
Financials added the most points to
the index, after Fed Chair Janet Yellen
told a news conference the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee
was unlikely to hike rates for “at least
a couple of meetings”, meaning April of
next year at the earliest.
“The statement was dovish, and the
rise in rates will not be as early as people had expected. Traders have pushed
out their expectations for the п¬Ѓrst rate
hike,” James Butterfill, global equity
strategist at Coutts, said.
Alcatel-Lucent rose 8.7% on a report
that it could merge with fellow telecom
equipment п¬Ѓrm Nokia.
Swisscom sank to the bottom of the
FTSEurofirst 300, down 7.9% after
news that French billionaire Xavier
Niel had agreed to buy rival, privateequity-owned Orange Switzerland.
It was the only Swiss blue-chip
stock in negative territory, with the
Swiss SMI up 2.7 after the central bank
unexpectedly cut interest rates.
Lt Price
3.37
29.65
4.14
6.63
8.56
25.25
16.80
127.70
4.77
6.06
27.60
25.50
89.35
21.85
6.05
15.22
19.30
19.74
22.35
10.34
13.12
64.85
10.10
10.60
8.63
3.61
21.35
125.60
51.15
% Chg
2.43
0.68
0.00
-1.34
1.90
-0.79
-0.24
1.43
1.06
-0.16
2.41
-1.35
1.65
0.92
1.17
0.00
0.63
1.65
2.29
0.78
-0.61
0.15
2.33
0.38
-0.58
-2.17
1.18
0.24
0.99
Volume
17,163,341
2,350,949
376,424,459
40,462,039
20,613,334
20,695,213
4,759,503
3,963,143
17,697,196
367,403,165
44,945,975
3,674,147
23,424,590
16,855,279
141,528,753
3,063,481
9,114,457
5,210,662
14,785,149
32,931,416
9,908,958
3,533,036
163,506,517
5,135,791
3,515,474
13,570,533
4,763,215
1,905,450
2,827,752
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
17.10
169.60
72.15
87.85
5.34
7.49
30.95
8.76
8.41
74.00
73.40
12.02
111.70
99.00
111.90
54.40
% Chg
-0.23
0.53
-0.55
2.09
0.56
-1.19
-0.48
0.81
1.94
0.89
2.44
-1.15
0.99
0.51
6.27
0.00
Volume
12,388,364
4,936,261
28,050,848
7,704,473
310,756,105
24,154,244
2,774,018
22,081,697
202,624,049
40,866,660
3,179,781
6,914,979
4,054,375
1,472,881
48,643,834
4,090,604
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
11,181.65
8,320.55
6,230.09
1,389.96
5,684.68
4,365.19
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Gulf Times
Friday, December 19, 2014
9
BUSINESS
Nigeria central
bank restricts
dollar holdings
to curb naira
speculation
Reuters
Lagos
Bottles of Coca-Cola travel along the production line at Coca-Cola Enterprises bottling plant in Sidcup, UK. Just this week, Atlanta-based Coca Cola, the world’s largest soft-drink maker, said currency movements
will cut its pre-tax profit by 5% to 6% next year.
Dollar topping most estimates
bodes ill for US company profits
Bloomberg
New York
T
he strongest dollar in more than
п¬Ѓve years is threatening to wreak
havoc with the earnings of US
companies for a second straight quarter and into 2015.
Just this week, Atlanta-based Coca
Cola Co, the world’s largest soft-drink
maker, said currency movements will
cut its pre-tax profit by 5% to 6% next
year. Pfizer, the biggest US drugmaker,
has said it “expects significant negative
sales and earnings impacts from foreign exchange” this quarter.
While a rapidly rising dollar can be
seen as sign of confidence in the health
of the US, it can also make the goods
made by American companies less
competitive and render hedges designed to protect against steep moves
less effective. The US Dollar Index is
poised to end 2015 more than 6% higher
than the median estimate of strategists
surveyed by Bloomberg on June 30.
“Corporations are going to have to
pay a lot more attention to currency
movements going forward,” Shaun
Osborne, the chief currency strategist at Toronto-Dominion Bank, Can-
ada’s largest lender, said by phone on
Wednesday. “The dollar will continue
to appreciate. It will also be a much
more volatile environment.”
The US Dollar Index, which measures the greenback against the euro,
yen and four other major currencies,
soared to 89.550 this month from as
low as 79.740 on July 1, and was at
89.227 at 8.13am New York time. The
median estimate on June 30 was for it
to reach 83.6 by the end of 2014.
Traders have sought the dollar as a
haven from global market turmoil, as
well as prospects that the Federal Reserve is moving closer to raising interest rates after keeping its benchmark
near zero since 2008.
With the Fed dropping a pledge to
keep rates low for a “considerable time”
at its December 16-17 meeting, traders are more confident than ever that
US borrowing costs will rise sometime
next year. That’s boosting the dollar’s
appeal, along with the market disruptions that wiped more than 40% off
the price of oil since mid-year and sent
Russia’s rouble tumbling beyond 80 per
dollar earlier this week.
FiREapps, a Scottsdale, Arizonabased company that advises on reducing the impact of currency swings,
shows how much corporations are
being hit. FiREapps monitored thirdquarter earnings calls of 846 North
American companies, and found 202
mentioned negative currency effects,
about 50% more than in the previous
quarter. More than 10% of those reduced their 2014 earnings guidance, by
an average 7 cents per share, according
to a December 8 report.
“Many companies have international
revenues as well as international expenses, both of which in a perfect storm
can have a negative impact from currency movements,” FiREapps chief executive officer Wolfgang Koester said by
phone on December 11. “With the moves
in oil, we’re going to see even bigger surprises in currency movements.”
Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble Co, the largest consumer-products
company, said in October that foreignexchange moves reduced core earnings
by 7 cents a share in the п¬Ѓrst quarter of
its п¬Ѓscal 2015 year. Overall its net sales
were $20.8bn, unchanged versus the
prior year.
Standard & Poor’s 500 Index earnings per share are forecast to increase
to $30.02 in the fourth quarter, up 3%
from a year earlier, according to data
compiled by Bloomberg. The full-year
estimate for 2015 is $125.70, up 7.3%.
Coca-Cola’s December 15 statement
followed its October earnings report,
when it said currency movements
contributed to a 14% decline in thirdquarter net income.
Pfizer, based in New York, has lowered its full-year sales and earnings
forecasts to reflect foreign-exchange
impacts as well as the anticipated effect
of generic-drug competition for Celebrex in the US. “The quarterly profile
of earnings will be heavily influenced
by the variation of foreign-exchange
impacts from period-to-period,” the
company said in October.
Retailer Costco Wholesale Corp said
on December 10 the stronger dollar was
hurting international same-store sales,
which grew 1% in the п¬Ѓrst quarter of its
п¬Ѓscal year 2015, ended November 23,
when the impact of currency fluctuations and gas-price deflation was taken
into account. They rose 7% without
those effects.
There’s little sign of relief for companies from either currency volatility
or dollar strength.
JPMorgan Chase & Co’s Global Volatility Index, a measure of anticipated
price swings, touched 10.09% yesterday, the highest since September 2013.
These gyrations can eat into profits and
add to the burden caused by the dollar’s
advance.
The Dollar Index is forecast to rise
to 94 by the end of 2015, according to
the median estimate of strategists surveyed by Bloomberg.
In its latest policy statement, the
Fed swapped out its usual reference to
keeping borrowing costs low in favour
of the assertion than it “can be patient”
in starting to normalise rates. Strategists saw it as an attempt by policy
makers to give themselves more flexibility to respond to economic data.
The effects of Fed tightening on the
US currency are amplified by the divergence with the euro region and Japan,
which are committed to further expanding the money supply. Strategists
surveyed by Bloomberg see the dollar
advancing against 12 of its 16 mosttraded peers next year, including gains
of more than 4% versus the euro and
yen.
“All the stars are lined up for the dollar, so it has more room to run,” Nick
Parsons, the head of research for the
UK and Europe at National Australia
Bank Ltd in London, said by phone on
December 15. “We’re going to increasingly see US corporates taking a hit.”
Nigeria’s central bank has
barred banks from holding
their own funds in dollars
in order to end speculative
pressure on the ailing naira
currency, the governor said
yesterday.
Godwin Emefiele told Reuters
in a phone interview that he
believed the current naira
band, set last month, was
“appropriately priced at this
time”, signalling a will to
defend the currency, although
it is currently trading below
the band.
“We do not want speculators
in this market any longer,”
he said. “The banks are not
supposed to hold any funds
(in dollars) of their own. They
are supposed to buy and
sell currency on behalf of
customers.”
The naira has been battered
in recent months by the
plunging oil price. Despite
heavy intervention in the
market, the central bank has
failed to keep the currency
in the new band it set on
November 25 when it
devalued the currency by 8%
in a bid to halt the slide in its
foreign exchange reserves.
Asked whether or not the
bank would devalue again,
Emefiele told Reuters: “As
the need arises, action will
be taken. But we believe the
currency is appropriately
priced at this time.”
The naira fell to a record low
of 188.85 to the dollar after
the governor’s comments,
well outside the bank’s target
band.
In its latest effort to try
and support the currency,
the bank issued a circular
overnight stipulating that
dealers had to reduce the
percentage of “shareholders
funds” that they could hold in
dollars from 1% to zero.
“We are seeing some
elements of speculation in the
market by some banks who
think the level will re-adjust
further, and that is not our
view,” Emefiele told Reuters.
On the day of the devaluation
the central bank also raised
interest rates by 100 basis
points to 13% to support the
currency. “We are maintaining
a tight monetary policy,” he
said.
Since devaluation the bank’s
target band has been 5% plus
or minus 168 to the dollar,
but some traders doubt the
devaluation went far enough
given the bleak outlook for oil
prices.
Despite the new restrictions
imposed overnight, Emefiele
said the bank wanted to
reassure the market that “if
there is genuine demand
... for dollars for legitimate
purposes ... it will be met.”
Brent crude recovered
3% to above $63 a barrel
yesterday, extending a
rebound from five-year lows
this week but it has nearly
halved since June, posing
problems for Nigeria, Africa’s
biggest oil producer.
10
Gulf Times
Friday, December 19, 2014
BUSINESS
Deutsche Bank to review strategy; may sell Postbank network
Deutsche Bank says preparing strategy
review in 2015; may sell
Postbank-branded retail unit, say
sources; shares underperform sector
in 2014; Deutsche says irresponsible to
speculate on sale of any unit
Reuters
Frankfurt
Deutsche Bank will review its strategy and profit
targets next year and may sell its Postbank-branded retail unit, in a major reversal as a hoped-for
turnaround in profitability slips out of reach.
The bank said yesterday it would update strategic targets in 2015 as its three-year-old plan came
to an end, heralding an overhaul of the roadmap
that aimed to make it Europe’s last investment
bank with a global footprint.
The bank’s comments come after Manager
magazine said Deutsche was considering a possible Postbank sale. Two people close to the bank’s
strategic thinking, who declined to be named, confirmed it was mulling the sale of the retail network.
Germany’s biggest lender said it would be irresponsible to speculate on the sale of any business
and declined further comment.
The magazine said big shareholders including
a Qatari investor, with 5.8%, had expressed displeasure with progress in the group’s turnaround
led by co-chief executives Anshu Jain and Juergen
Fitschen.
No-one could be reached for comment at the
public relations agency which deals with matters
relating to the Qatari investor.
Manager said the shareholder disquiet could
lead Deutsche to make changes including the sale
of its Postbank division, purchased between 2008
and 2009. Spain’s Banco Santander would be an
interested buyer, the magazine said.
Santander declined to comment.
A sale of Postbank, purchased as Europe reeled
under the financial crisis, would represent a major
reversal for the bank, which had sought to diversify
its earnings away from volatile investment banking.
Overhauling the group’s profit targets, unveiled
in 2012 and diluted once already in 2014, would
also represent a major setback for Jain and
Fitschen, who have had to contend with heavy
costs for fines and settlements for activities.
The targets have slipped increasingly out of
reach, leaving investors frustrated. They have
seen returns diluted by a $12bn rights issue this
year as Deutsche restocked its balance sheet
ahead of European stress tests.
Deutsche’s return on equity of less than 3% in
the first nine months of this year was well below
the 12% it aims to reach in 2016 and a far cry from
the 20% returns enjoyed before the crisis.
Deutsche’s investment banking strategy calls
for it to vacuum up activities abandoned by
retreating European competitors. But with interest
rates set to remain at record lows for some time
in Europe, the plan has turned into an expensive
waiting game for investors.
Shares in the bank, which dropped on Tuesday
to a two-month low and which in October fell to
their lowest since 2012, were up 3.3% by 1147 GMT
versus a 2.1% rise in the European sector.
But the shares have fallen 23% this year compared with a 4% fall in the sector.
A sale of Postbank, purchased as Europe
reeled under the financial crisis, would
represent a major reversal for Deutsche
bank, which had sought to diversify its
earnings away from volatile investment
banking
SNB announces negative
interest rates for the
п¬Ѓrst time since 1970s
Imposes interest rate of -0.25%
on sight deposits; expands
Libor target range to -0.75% to
0.25%; SNB’s Jordan says could
cut rates further; franc falls to
lowest level against euro since
mid-October
Reuters
Zurich
T
he Swiss National Bank announced a negative interest
rate for the first time since
the 1970s yesterday, hoping that
by forcing banks to pay to deposit
francs it can stem a flight to the
safe-haven currency sparked by
eurozone fears and crisis in Russia.
In a surprise statement, the SNB
said it would impose an interest
rate of -0.25% on the portion of
so-called “sight deposits” — cash
commercial banks and other financial institutions hold with the central bank — that exceeds a certain
threshold.
It will come into effect on January 22, when the European Central
Bank holds its next meeting.
Growing worries that plunging oil
prices may send the eurozone into
a deflationary spiral are expected to
push the ECB to buy sovereign debt
early next year, piling pressure on
the franc in recent weeks.
Fears a full-blown crisis in Russia
due to rouble weakness and political upheaval in Greece pushed the
franc up further, threatening Switzerland’s export-driven economy,
which sends the lion’s share of its
goods to the neighbouring eurozone.
“Rapidly mounting uncertainty
on the п¬Ѓnancial markets has substantially increased demand for
safe investments,” SNB Chairman
Thomas Jordan told a news conference in Zurich. “The worsening
of the crisis in Russia was a major
contributory factor in this development.”
The franc, the most liquid safehaven currency after the Japanese
yen, has stuck close to the 1.20 limit
against the euro in the past few
Thomas Jordan, chairman of the Swiss National Bank (SNB), addresses a news conference in Zurich yesterday. The
SNB said yesterday it would impose an interest rate of -0.25% on the portion of so-called �sight deposits’ — cash
commercial banks and other financial institutions hold with the central bank — that exceeds a certain threshold.
days, despite central bank intervention. Jordan said the bank remained
committed to buying up unlimited
quantities of foreign currencies to
defend its 1.20 per euro cap on the
franc set at the height of the eurozone crisis in 2011.
The SNB’s balance sheet is already bloated with around 460bn
Swiss francs ($474.81bn) in currency reserves, amassed during
heavy interventions in the foreign
exchange markets in 2012 to defend
the cap.
The charge will not be levied on
the п¬Ѓrst 10mn francs that п¬Ѓnancial
institutions deposit at the central
bank. For those banks required to
park minimum reserves at the SNB,
the threshold is 20 times this base
requirement, meaning that, for
some, billions of francs will be exempt.
The franc fell after the announcement to its lowest against
the euro since mid-October and
to its weakest against the US dollar since May 2013. By 1200 GMT,
the franc had pared some of those
losses and was trading 0.3% lower
against the euro, with some economists cautioning the effect of the
SNB’s measures could be limited.
“You can’t steer a currency with
interest rate moves alone,” said
Thomas Stucki, chief investment
officer at St. Galler Kantonalbank.
“The prospect of big profits if the
1.20 limit collapses is so great that
speculators won’t be deterred by
negative interest rates.”
Geoffrey Yu, a currency strategist
at UBS in London said the SNB’s
action should give it some breathing space in the short term. “If you
hold Swiss francs right now you do
have to bear a cost. New buyers will
be forced to think twice,” he said.
But Swissquote analyst Peter Rosenstreich described the moved as
“no silver bullet” and said the SNB
will face pressure in the long-term
to take more action.
“Clearly this was a signal to the
markets that despite growing pressure on EURCHF and expectations
that ECB actions will drive more
capital into Switzerland, the SNB
remains steadfast in defending the
floor. Even becoming proactive,”
Rosenstreich said.
The SNB also expanded its threemonth Libor target range to -0.75%
to 0.25% from 0.0 to 0.25% previously.
Jordan told the news conference
he expected the measures to remain
in place for the foreseeable future.
He said the SNB stood ready to take
further measures, including reducing interest rates further or reducing the threshold in which the negative deposit rate is charged.
Given the oil price and uncertainty on financial markets, inflation in Switzerland could be lower
next year than the -0.1% forecast
by the SNB last week, Jordan said.
Denmark’s negative interest rate
on certificates of deposits, which
ended in April, is widely viewed as
a success, allowing the Danish central bank to keep the crown stable
against the euro.
However, analysts estimate
the policy, which was in place for
nearly two years, cost Danish banks
around 250mn Danish crowns
($41.38mn) in total.
Economists have warned negative rates could be expensive for
Switzerland’s large banking sector
and would also have an adverse effect on pension funds and money
market funds.
Commercial banks held 313bn
Swiss francs in sight deposits with
the SNB at the end of last week around half the Swiss annual gross
domestic product.
Some rates in Switzerland are
already effectively negative. The
country’s two largest banks, UBS
and Credit Suisse, introduced a
form of negative interest rates on
bank clients’ franc accounts in 2012
to deter rivals from hoarding the
safe-haven unit by levying charges
on those accounts.
Switzerland last imposed capital controls in 1972, when money
surged in as the global п¬Ѓxed exchange rate regime broke down.
But the curbs failed, and in 1978 the
SNB capped the franc versus the
German mark.
EU agrees
deal to cap
bank card
payment fees
Reuters
Brussels
E
uropean Union governments have agreed to
cap the fees retailers pay to process debit and
credit card transactions in a move the EU parliament said should bring down costs for customers.
Negotiators from European governments and the
economic committee of the EU parliament agreed
late on Wednesday to cap charges across the 28
countries in the union following a long battle over
charges with payments groups, including Visa and
MasterCard.
The cap would apply to both cross-border and
domestic card-based payments which cost businesses across the EU around €10bn ($12.3bn) a
year. The fees are opaque and differ from country to
country.
Retailers are charged for every card transaction
and add the costs to the prices of the goods or services they offer. “This legislation is good for consumers, good for business, and good for Europe. It
will lead to lower prices and visibility of costs for
consumers,” said Margrethe Vestager, commissioner in charge of competition policy.
She said the interchange fee was a “tax” levied on
business by banks and the price cap should release
“the brakes that have so far held back innovation.”
Visa said clarity on the fees was welcome, but
warned it could hurt the cards industry and said
there was no guarantee that retailers would pass on
the savings to consumers.
“We continue to have serious concerns that the
regulation will have unintended consequences,
particularly for consumers, and that it could stifle
future innovation,” Visa said in a statement.
The European parliament said credit card fees
will be capped at 0.3% of the transaction value.
Cross-border debit card fees will be capped at
0.2% of the transaction value, and domestic debit card fees will be capped at 0.2% of the annual
weighted average transaction value of all domestic
transactions within the card scheme.
Fees charged by banks belonging to card schemes
such as Visa and MasterCard, so-called four-party
schemes involving the bank who issued the card,
the retailer, the retailer’s bank and the card user, will
be affected by the cap. They account for the lion’s
share of the market.
The price cap will not initially apply to the socalled three-party card schemes, such as Diners and
American Express, which involve only one bank.
Retailers will also be free to choose which cards
to accept, effectively ending the so-called �Honour
All Cards’ rule.
Visa said that could be bad for consumers if they
are unsure if their card will be accepted.
Commercial cards used only for business expenses would be exempt from the new price cap.
These caps will take effect six months after the
legislation enters into force. It п¬Ѓrst needs to be endorsed by EU governments and by the Economic
and Monetary Affairs Committee, before being put
to a vote by the full parliament next year.
Barclays keeps burning shareholders as analysts push stock
Bloomberg
London
Two years into the job, Barclays chief executive
officer Antony Jenkins has won over analysts with
pledges to cut costs and eliminate thousands of
investment banking jobs. He’s yet to convince
investors.
Even though at least two out of three analysts
have rated Barclays a buy since the start of the
year, the shares have tumbled 15% since January,
erasing about ВЈ6bn ($9.3bn) in market value. The
worst performing unit is the investment bank,
which has a return-on-equity of 4.9%, less than half
the bank’s 12% target and a third of its return from
Barclaycard.
“Jenkins has to demonstrate he’s getting control
of the costs and they can offer some decent returns
with a smaller capital markets business — and
hasn’t so far,” said Colin McLean, founder and CEO
of SVM Asset Management Ltd in Edinburgh, who
oversees more than $800mn in assets, including
Barclays shares. “There’s not much evidence costs
are being cut quickly and aggressively enough.”
A former retail banker, Jenkins, 53, has eliminated more than 8,000 jobs this year, helping to
cut costs by £1.7bn in an attempt to revive profitability. Even so, the London-based bank hasn’t
reduced its cost-income ratio this year and has the
lowest price-to-book ratio, a measure of market
price versus equity, among major British lenders.
Unsettled misconduct investigations also continue
to weigh on the shares, most notably allegations its
employees rigged currency markets.
Aurelie Leonard, a Barclays spokeswoman, declined to comment for this story. The stock rose 1.3%
yesterday to 230.95 pence at 11:38am in London.
Jenkins used an interview in the Financial Times
on Wednesday to say the bank is on course to meet
its targets for boosting capital and reducing its
debt a year ahead of schedule. The company will
also shrink its bonus payouts this year after profit
fell, he said. Barclays will need to set aside more
than the £500mn it’s already provisioned to settle
allegations it rigged currency markets, he told Sky
News separately.
The lender has been analysts’ most-favoured
British bank this year, with the proportion recommending buy never falling below 62%, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Yesterday, 72% of the 35
analysts who track the bank recommend buying
the stock, compared with 47% for Lloyds Banking
Group, 38% for HSBC Holdings, 34% for Standard
Chartered and 10% for Royal Bank of Scotland
Group. Only two of the 34 analysts tracked by
Bloomberg recommend investors sell Barclays.
Only Standard Chartered, which is down 34% this
year, has performed worse than Barclays among
the UK’s biggest banks.
The company posted an unexpected 39% drop
in third-quarter pretax profit at the investment
bank, led by a 25% decline in equities trading,
missing analysts’ estimates and underperforming
peers, including Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse
Group AG, which reported gains. Finance Director
Tushar Morzaria said the lawsuit alleging it lied to
customers about its dark pool US trading venue is
damaging revenue and having a broader impact on
the securities business.
Analysts are more comfortable with the volatile
performance of the investment bank than shareholders, which are more wary of its unpredictable
results, according to Ed Firth, an analyst at Macquarie Group Ltd in London. Barclays’s securities
unit contributes a larger proportion of the bank’s
earnings than any of its UK peers.
“If you don’t know what the business is going
to make next quarter to the nearest plus or minus
30%, it’s not considered to be particularly valuable,”
Firth said. “I am sympathetic to Jenkins as it’s been
a challenging time. But the question is whether he’s
strong and brave enough to take on the investment
bank: that’s the million-dollar question.”
At 0.6, Barclays has the lowest price-to-book
ratio of UK banks. RBS and Lloyds, which were both
bailed out during the financial crisis, have a ratio
of 0.67 and 1.16, respectively. Barclays comfortably
passed the Bank of England’s first stress test this
week, surviving a simulated crisis with a 7% capital
ratio, a measure of financial strength.
The lender hasn’t been able to reduce its costincome ratio. Excluding its bad bank, the measure remained at 63% in the first nine months of the year, the
same as in 2013. At the investment bank, the measure
increased to 78% from 69% a year earlier. Operating
expenses at the securities unit fell 5% to ВЈ1.31bn in the
third quarter compared with a year earlier.
“Investors have been more skeptical than
analysts at the profitability of investment banking,
particularly within universal banking models,” said
Sandy Chen, an analyst at Cenkos Securities in
London with a sell rating on the stock. “The signal
failure within Jenkins performance is his inability to
cut costs in the investment bank.”
Jenkins told the Financial Times the investment
banking unit has to “earn its returns” like any other
part of the business.
If returns at the investment bank don’t recover,
Barclays’s new chairman John McFarlane, 67, who
was made chairman of UK insurer Aviva Plc in 2012,
could push to spin off the securities unit, Chen said.
“McFarlane is coming in next year in April, and in
Aviva he did a lot of top-down restructuring at the
company to return it to profit,” he said.
Oxford-educated Jenkins took over the top job
in August 2012 after the scandal over the rigging
of the London interbank offered rate cost his
predecessor Robert Diamond, a former investment
banker, his job.
“If you buy shares, you expect it to do well, not
badly, so by its very nature we’re disappointed,”
said David Moss, head of European equities at F&C
Asset Management in London who helps to oversee £83.4bn, including Barclays shares. “We’re well
aware that it’ll take time to make the changes at
Barclays. They’ve made some really good progress.
There are lots of litigation issues out there, and
that’s why you get to buy it at a really good price.”
Deutsche Bank is also struggling to revive profit
at its corporate banking and securities unit. The
division posted a 6% pretax return on equity in the
third quarter, the lowest of its main businesses.
The bank’s price-to-book ratio is 0.48, the lowest
of any western European lender, data compiled by
Bloomberg show.
Forty-four percent of analysts recommend
buying the Frankfurt-based lender, compared with
18% who advise sell, even as its shares have plummeted 25% this year. “If you’re making a big bet on
investment-banking recovering, Barclays is caught
in between the well-capitalised big US players and
Deutsche Bank that are expanding their operations,
and RBS that’s shrinking it,” SVM’s McLean said. “It
lacks a clear reason to invest.”
Gulf Times
Friday, December 19, 2014
11
BUSINESS
Bulgarian regulator raps KPMG over Corpbank audits
Corpbank hit by run on deposits
in June; regulator criticises KPMG
audits; to decide on penalties in
early 2015
Reuters
Sofia
KPMG’s audits of troubled Bulgarian
lender Corporate Commercial Bank were
marked by “significant gaps and inconsistencies”, a regulator said, in findings that
put the country’s financial sector under
renewed scrutiny.
Corpbank, majority-owned by a Bul-
garian businessman now charged with
embezzlement, was hit by a bank run in
June that triggered the Balkan country’s
worst financial crisis since the 1990s and
raised concerns about banking supervision.
The auditing regulator’s findings come
a week after Standard and Poor’s cut
Bulgaria’s sovereign credit rating to junk,
citing weaknesses in its domestic banking
system.
The Commission for Public Oversight of
Statutory Auditors launched an investigation into KPMG’s audits between 20092013 following the collapse of Corpbank.
“Commitments for an independent
financial audit of the annual financial reports of Corporate Commercial Bank were
carried out in the presence of some significant gaps and inconsistencies with the
requirements of international standards
on auditing in connection with the bank’s
lending,” the regulator said in its decision,
taken late on Tuesday.
KPMG in Bulgaria declined comment on
the findings.
The regulator’s chairwoman Vanya
Doneva said it would decide early next
year what sanctions to impose and upon
whom. It could either sanction individual
auditors or KPMG’s Bulgaria unit, or both.
“This certainly is a serious blow to
KPMG’s image and reputation,” said
Georgi Ganev, an economic analyst with
Sofia-based Liberal Strategies Institute.
Bulgaria’s central bank seized control
of Corpbank during the run in June and
shut it down. It stripped the fourth-largest
lender of its licence in November and
asked a court to open insolvency proceedings after an audit pointed to a huge
capital shortfall and major failings in the
way Corpbank was run.
Corpbank’s books were audited by
KPMG at the end of the 2013 financial year.
It found less than 1% of the bank’s loans to
be non-performing, against an average of
17% for Bulgarian banks.
The regulator said KPMG had found
inconsistencies in how documents were
maintained at Corpbank, which could
have been assessed as indications of possible fraud. This should have prompted
the auditor to review the assessed risks at
Corpbank and change the way it audited
its books, the regulator added.
The regulator also cited “threats” to the
integrity and independence of a particular
auditor, which were not reported and assessed as such. It did not name the auditor
or elaborate on these threats.
Under Bulgarian law, the auditing regulator may impose a fine of up to 20,000
levs ($12,585) and ban an auditing firm or
�Black Friday’ discounts
lift UK’s retail sales
growth to 10-year high
Sales beat forecasts to rise
6.4% y/y in November; Black
Friday drives electrical and
department store sales; low
inflation, rising wages offer
positive 2015 outlook; some
economists see December
retracement; fear rising debt
Reuters
London
B
ritish retail sales surged at
their fastest annual rate
in more than a decade
last month, as US-style “Black
Friday” discounts drove record
sales growth at electrical and
department stores.
Strong economic growth and
a recent drop in the price of essentials such as food and fuel
appears to be п¬Ѓnally starting to
translate into higher spending
on big-ticket items by many
households, after years of falls in
disposable income.
Less than п¬Ѓve months away
from a national election, the
news is likely to be welcomed
by Britain’s ruling Conservative party after repeated attacks
from the Labour opposition
over a fall in living standards
since they were last in power in
2010.
The Office for National Statistics said the volume of goods
bought at British stores last
month jumped by 6.4% from
November 2013. That was the
biggest rise since May 2004,
comfortably outstripping economists’ forecasts of a 4.4% increase.
The ONS said the rise was
driven by electrical and department stores, which saw the
strongest annual rise in sales
since records began over 25 years
ago as they embraced “Black
Friday” discounts more widely
than before.
Retailers in the US offer big
discounts on the Friday after the annual Thanksgiving
holiday, and in recent years
the practice has become more
prevalent in Britain, as stores
try to kick-start pre-Christmas spending.
Dixons Carphone, Europe’s
second-largest consumer electronics retailer, said on Wednesday that “Black Friday” was now
its second-busiest day of the
year, and the strong sales helped
it get cheaper prices from suppliers.
The mood in Britain stands in
sharp contrast to that elsewhere
in Europe, where the economy is
Central bank to take
control of MKB
Bank of Hungary
Reuters
Budapest
H
ungary’s central bank is
to take control of government-owned MKB
Bank and reorganise the lossmaking lender while its problem loans may be hived off into
the country’s newly-created
bad bank.
Central Bank governor Gyorgy Matolcsy said yesterday
the bank would support MKB,
Hungary’s fifth-largest bank by
assets based on 2013 data, with
its own balance sheet while the
struggling lender undergoes a
12-18-month reorganisation.
Matolcsy did not provide an
estimate for the costs of the
shake-up. “MKB Bank’s capital
and liquidity position are satisfactory, however, the banking
group is making significant losses,” the central bank sai, adding
that it had taken control of MKB
for a period of up to one year.
Germany’s BayernLB sold its
Hungarian MKB arm to Prime
Minister Viktor Orban’s gov-
ernment in July, ending an illfated investment that cost it a
total of 2bn euros in losses over
the last 20 years.
The deal was part of Orban’s
efforts to boost state control
over key sectors of the economy,
such as energy and п¬Ѓnance. Earlier this month, Hungary agreed
to buy GE Capital’s Hungarian
business Budapest Bank.
The central bank said it
would begin a shake-up of MKB
that would include cost-cuts
and would also identify and
hive off non-performing assets.
The bank would not inject capital into MKB, but would clean
up the bad loans on its books.
The most likely way could
be a 300bn forint ($1.18bn) bad
bank the central bank launched
in November, which will start
buying up commercial real estate loans from commercial
banks in the п¬Ѓrst half of 2015.
The bad bank or asset manager is due to start buying up commercial real estate loans from
banks to help Hungary’s banks
get problem loans off their books
and get lending restarted.
barely growing. The data pushed
up the pound against the dollar
and the euro.
However, economists said
some of November’s spending was probably money which
in other years would have been
spent closer to Christmas.
“While the robustness of
these п¬Ѓgures provided a boost
to sterling today, they may just
represent a shift in the timing of
shopping patterns,” said Investec economist Philip Shaw.
That said, consumer spending has been robust throughout
2014, and many economists expect it to continue to support
rapid economic growth next
year.
A brighter economic outlook
means households have been
saving less and spending more,
and there is support from a big
slowdown in inflation and faster
wage growth, which has outpaced price rises for two consecutive months.
“Real wage growth is likely
to rise sharply, hence probably
recreating the pre-crisis conditions of externally driven disinflation and buoyant consumer
spending,” said Citi economist
Michael Saunders.
Annual consumer price inflation sank to a 12-year low of 1%
in November, and the measure
used in the retail sales data fell
by 2% — its biggest drop since
August 2002.
This reflects cheaper food
prices as supermarket chains
such as Tesco and J Sainsbury
battle for business against discounters Aldi and Lidl, as well as
a fall in the cost of a barrel of oil
to its lowest in п¬Ѓve years.
The ONS said food sales grew
just 1.5% on the year, in contrast
to department stores which saw
a 15.5% rise.
Moreover, some economists
fear consumers’ spending is rising faster than their financial
situation is improving.
“The concern for the economy
will be if the sense of increased
п¬Ѓnancial wellbeing amongst
households generates an unrealistic euphoria as we saw in the
2000s. A little п¬Ѓnancial caution
this Christmas would not be a
bad thing all round,” said Dean
Garrett, an economist at the
University of Warwick.
individuals from operating for up to two
years. Clients rushed to withdraw money
in June after media reports surfaced of
murky deals at Corpbank. At the time, the
bank’s main shareholder, Tsvetan Vassilev,
was feuding publicly with a powerful rival.
Vassilev says the bank run was a plot
hatched by his competitors.
The fallout from the Corpbank crisis
has continued to rumble. The central bank
governor said he was ready to resign, the
government has been forced to take on
new debt to pay out guaranteed depositors and Vassilev, who denies any wrongdoing, is awaiting extradition proceedings
in Serbia.
Australia’s NSW
state to sell power
network for $16bn
Reuters
Sydney
A
ustralia’s New South
Wales state said it plans
to raise $16bn by selling
just under half its electricity
network, using proceeds from
one of the country’s biggest privatisations for major rail, road
and other infrastructure upgrades.
State Treasurer Andrew
Constance said yesterday he
plans to sell electricity transmitter Transgrid, if the government wins an election
scheduled for March 2015, followed by half stakes in power
retailers Ausgrid and Endeavour Energy.
Country-based energy retailer Essential Energy will
remain 100% government
owned, Constance added. Local media had reported that
country-based state political
parties opposed selling that
business.
The sale — technically a
99-year lease — would create
more than 100,000 jobs and
boost the economy by almost
A$300bn over the next two
decades, Constance said.
Australian
governments
have earmarked for sale some
A$130bn of mature infrastructure to pay for much-needed
capital works in the next two
years, as they struggle to attract
revenue following the end of a
mining investment boom.
The so-called “poles and
wires” deal has been seen as attractive to large offshore investors like State Grid Corp of China, the world’s biggest utility,
as it looks to regulated markets
like Australia as reliable opportunities.
“State Grid are sitting on a
massive war chest of cash that
needs to be invested outside
the country,” said an Australian utilities analyst who could
not be named as he does not
formally cover the NSW assets.
“It’s a question (for State
Grid) of �what do we have to pay
to acquire it’ rather than �is this
a good acquisition’.”
The government of NSW,
Australia’s most populous
state, had said it wanted to sell
the electricity assets and hired
investment banks UBS and
Deutsche Bank to do a scoping
study into how to sell the business.
That study recommended
the sale as it was “likely to attract a broad range of domestic
and international investors”,
Constance said in a statement.
The sale of NSW
electricity network
will create more than
100,000 jobs and boost
the economy by almost
A$300bn over the next
two decades
The NSW network had been
widely expected to fetch about
A$20bn and Constance confirmed this figure yesterday.
NSW plans to sell Transgrid
privately but may “consider an
IPO for Ausgrid or Endeavour
Energy should market conditions indicate that this would
result in a better outcome for
the State”, he said.
An IPO would likely fetch
about 1.3 times the asset’s regulated asset value, less than a
trade sale which would fetch
1.5 times regulated asset value,
the analyst said, suggesting the
government would list the assets only if it cannot п¬Ѓnd a private buyer.
BlackBerry comeback needs earnings validation
Bloomberg
Toronto
BlackBerry unveiled a new phone that
harks back to the company’s glory days
of being the world’s leading smartphone
maker, capping a year dedicated to
stabilising finances and winning back
investor confidence.
Earnings today will shed light on how
successful the turnaround has been.
BlackBerry chief executive officer John
Chen showed off the new “Classic” phone
at an event in New York yesterday, touting
its qwerty keyboard and trackpad. It’s
a phone reminiscent of the devices
that were once status symbols among
constantly-connected, productivityfocused professionals.
When he first took the job a year ago,
Chen got reactions ranging from “Wow
you’re really brave to take on this job” to
“You really needed a job to escape from
home,” Chen said at the event. “A year has
gone by, the conversation has completely
changed,” he said.
A plan to take BlackBerry private had
just unravelled when Chen stepped in
last year, and the company’s share of the
global smartphone market had fallen
to less than 1%. While his strategy has
included new devices like the Passport
that cater to business users, Chen has
been more focused on providing software
and security for governments and Corps.
“The company’s on point with its
message; it still has to execute,” Colin
Gillis, a New York-based analyst at BGC
The new Blackberry Classic smartphone is shown during a display at the launch
event in New York on Wednesday. BlackBerry hopes the new smartphone will help
it win back market share and woo those still using older versions of its physical
keyboard devices.
Partners, said in a phone interview. The
earnings report will give investors an idea
of how both smartphone and software
sales have faired, said Gillis, who lifted
his rating on the stock to buy from hold
yesterday.
Gillis estimates hardware revenue in the
quarter will rise 8.8% to $518mn, buoyed
by the new square-screened Passport
phone, which BlackBerry began selling in
September.
“Let’s watch how the software line does,
and then, the big thing is if we can get a
little upside from Passport,” Gillis said.
BlackBerry said it pre-sold 200,000
Passports. No update has been given
since then but Gillis estimates 450,000
were sold during the quarter.
BlackBerry revenue is estimated to drop
22% to $932mn in the fiscal third quarter,
which ended November 30, according
to the average of analysts’ estimates
compiled by Bloomberg. The company is
projected to post a narrower loss of 5Вў a
share, on average.
It’s unlikely even blockbuster sales of the
Classic would be a big enough boost to
turn the company around, according to
Ehud Gelblum, a technology analyst at
Citigroup.
“For them to do well without selling
more devices means they’re getting
companies to adopt the 12 for the iPhone
and Android fleets,” Gelblum, said by
telephone, referring to BlackBerry’s latest
operating system. “I just don’t see that
happening.”
The new phone, which has a 22-hour
battery life and an eight-megapixel
camera, could give BlackBerry fans a new
reason to be excited about the company
without mimicking what other phone
makers have done. Shares of BlackBerry
rose 4.9% to $9.98 at the close in New
York today, its biggest gain in more than
a month.
Jennifer Richardson, a TV producer from
Phoenix, has stuck with her BlackBerry
for six years and wants to get a Classic.
Yet, she says she still uses an iPhone
for certain apps, like making mobile
payments at Starbucks.
Chen said he’s listening to customers like
Richardson.
“As much as I share the frustration with
you not having enough apps, like airline
apps, we are working on it,” Chen said in
an interview with analysts and reporters
after the event. “I need a little bit of time,
because I can’t fix everything at the same
time.”
Friday, December 19, 2014
BUSINESS
GULF TIMES
Italy’s digital future seen at stake in battle for Metroweb
Metroweb is part-owned by cash-rich
state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti but
CDP’s last €4.5bn nationwide broadband plan never really got off the ground
due to lukewarm political backing.
In recent months the government
has changed gear, putting contracts out
to tender to roll out п¬Ѓbre by tapping into
long-neglected European funds and
last month it published a game-changing plan for Italy’s digital development.
“The market is waking up to the fact
that the government is taking all this
very seriously,” said Stefano Pileri, the
former head of technology at Telecom
Italia and now CEO of telecoms equip-
ment supplier Italtel. While Rome’s
plan spells out which technology
should be used for Italy’s digital development, plumping for architecture
already adopted by Metroweb, it has
also indicated that the rewards for new
investments in п¬Ѓbre may be generous.
This would mark a departure for
telecoms regulation, which currently
champions competition and low consumer prices to the detriment of investments, with the change in attitude
making Metroweb all the more attractive.
As a result analysts now value the
firm at around €400mn.
Pimco sees global growth
ramping up in ’15 to 2.75%
Aer Lingus
rejects takeover
approach from
BA owner
Reuters
Milan
A
small company renting out optical п¬Ѓbre cables in Milan has
become the subject of a п¬Ѓerce
takeover battle between Telecom Italia
and global mobile giant Vodafone, with
a national high-speed п¬Ѓbre network
seen as the ultimate prize.
Both companies have set their
sights on buying a controlling stake in
Metroweb that infrastructure fund F2i
is selling.
But what should have been a
straightforward deal has turned into a
full-blown political and regulatory row
as deciding on the buyer of the stake
could determine who calls the shots in
a multi billion-euro plan to build the
nationwide п¬Ѓbre network.
When Telecom Italia said last month
that it was seeking to buy Metroweb
lawmakers from across the political
spectrum voiced concerns for competition. Vodafone then waded in, protesting to Italy’s competition watchdog
AGCM.
Metroweb generates sales of just
€60mn ($74mn) a year but what is at
stake goes beyond mere numbers as
players jostle for market position in a
country that is a European laggard for
fast internet access.
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has
pledged €6bn in public funds to cover
half the costs of an ambitious plan to
bring super-fast internet services to 85%
of Italy’s consumers in the next six years.
Italy is split by two mountain chains
and servicing households with п¬Ѓbre
optic cable is a tough and costly task
that has been put off for years.
But the pressing need to modernise
the country and shake off its economic
malaise has changed the landscape.
And Metroweb, a partly state-owned
company created 17 years ago, is now
seen as the right corporate vehicle for
realising Renzi’s project.
“Metroweb is the ideal candidate to
roll out a new network of п¬Ѓbre optic
cables across Italy,” its chief executive,
Alberto Trondoli, said.
“We can easily replicate what we’ve
already done in Milan on a national
scale, giving all players access on equal
terms”.
For Renzi, making Italy more digital
has turned into a top priority and the
39-year-old premier is now seeking to
pool public funds with money from telecoms operators.
Reuters
London/Dublin
A
Says it expects economic growth
in the US to grow between 2.75%
and 3.25% in 2015; view backed by
former Federal Reserve chairman
Ben Bernanke, it says
Reuters
New York
P
acific Investment Management
Co expects global growth to accelerate in 2015 to around 2.75%
from around plus 2.5% this year, on
expectations that supply-driven declines in oil prices were fundamentally
positive, the bond giant said yesterday
in its year-end Cyclical Forum outlook
report.
Pimco said its view that the outlook
for the US economy is incrementally
positive is backed by former Federal
Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, who
participated in Pimco’s Cyclical Forum
last week at its headquarters in Newport Beach, California.
Pimco, which has $1.87tn in assets
under management, said its view reflects “improving household finances
and confidence as well as increasing
evidence that the economic recovery is
becoming self-sustaining and broadbased.”
In addition, Pimco said, “Bernanke
suggested that monetary policymakers are likely to remain deliberate. They
will look past the drop in headline inflation in the US next year, and will remain
focused on the level and momentum
of real growth as well as the progress
of core inflation toward target in determining the proper future course of
monetary policy.”
Pimco said it expects economic
growth in the US to grow between
2.75% and 3.25% in 2015, up from an
average of 2.4% this year.
On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve
offered a strong signal that it was on
track to raise interest rates sometime
next year, altering a pledge to keep
rates near zero for a “considerable
time” in a show of confidence in the
US economy.
The Fed said that inflation remains
low, in part because of falling energy
prices, but expects it to rise “as the
transitory effects of lower energy prices
and other factors dissipate.”
Pimco’s energy market experts said
70% of the drop in the price of oil is
driven by upside surprises in supply
Pimco, which has $1.87tn in assets under management, says its view reflects “improving household finances and confidence as well as increasing evidence that the
economic recovery is becoming self-sustaining and broad-based”.
growth, and some 30% and 40% of the
reduction in demand growth is coming from increased energy productivity, such as via fuel-efficient vehicles,
rather than slower economic growth.
Pimco’s group chief investment officer, Dan Ivascyn, who succeeded Bill
Gross when he unexpectedly departed
in late September, said supply-driven
declines in oil are a boost for a majority of global economies, which is why
Pimco expects global growth to accelerate to around plus 2.75% in 2015 from
plus 2.5% this year.
“Declining oil prices will have a clear
downside impact on global inflation
readings next year,” Ivascyn said. “In
most developed economies, headline
inflation will likely go into negative
readings in the early part of 2015, only
to bounce back toward positive core inflation readings as we go into late 2015
and early 2016.”
Ivascyn said Pimco п¬Ѓnds Treasury
inflation-protected securities “attractively valued given their recent underperformance.
“Although we expect headline inflation (year-over-year) to trough below
the zero bound in the next few months,
this is more than reflected in TIPS valuations,” he said.
Last week, Gross, the co-founder
of Pimco and now portfolio manager
at Janus Capital Group Inc, said on a
webcast that said Treasury inflationprotected securities “are getting pretty
attractive” because there is now limited
downside in terms of price.
On currencies, Pimco’s dominant
cyclical view remains “the US dollar
overweight versus other G-10 currencies as a result of diverging economic
growth and, importantly, diverging
central bank actions.”
Ivascyn said he expects both the euro
and the yen to decline versus the dollar
over the cyclical horizon despite significant weakening already. “We feel this
decline in their currencies is a primary
tool by which these regions can boost
economic growth and also solidify inflation expectations.”
Pimco also remains favourable on
eurozone peripheral bonds. Given expected central bank support, combined
with improving earnings in Japan and
attractive valuations in Europe, Pimco
sees room for outperformance in those
equity markets, Ivascyn said.
He added that Pimco continues to
focus on the effectiveness of the Bank
of Japan’s expansion of its already loose
monetary policy and the ability of the
European Central Bank to deliver on
quantitative easing measures “versus
what are now high market expectations.”
er Lingus has rejected a
takeover approach from
the owner of British Airways, which is keen to gain control of the Irish airline’s slots at
London’s Heathrow Airport.
Shares in Aer Lingus surged as
much as 20% yesterday after the
Financial Times reported that
British Airways-owner International Consolidated Airlines
Group (IAG) was considering
a takeover bid. IAG later confirmed its approach, but gave no
details. “There can be no certainty that any further proposal
or offer will be forthcoming,” it
said in a statement.
Aer Lingus said the approach
undervalued its business, but
also did not give details. At 1615
GMT, its shares were up 8.8% at
€1.98, giving it a market value of
about €1.06bn ($1.30bn).
IAG shares were 4.2% higher
at 462.5 pence.
Buying Aer Lingus would give
British Airways more take-off
and landing slots at London’s
Heathrow Airport, a key hub for
profitable long-haul routes but
which is operating at close to
capacity, preventing the airline
from adding more flights.
IAG chief executive Willie
Walsh knows Aer Lingus well.
He started his career as a pilot
there and was the former national carrier’s chief executive
between 2001 and 2005. But any
acquisition of Aer Lingus would
need the backing of budget Irish
carrier Ryanair, which owns a
29.9% stake in Aer Lingus after
three failed takeover attempts,
and the Irish government which
owns 25% of the carrier.
Ryanair declined to comment
yesterday. The airline is currently appealing an order by Britain’s Competition and Markets
Authority to cut its stake in Aer
Lingus to 5%.
Ryanair
chief
executive
Michael O’Leary has said he
does not plan a fourth bid for
Aer Lingus, which Ryanair had
planned to use as a premiumeconomy brand to compete with
easyJet. However, Ryanair has
indicated it may take its appeal
to European courts, which could
freeze its stake for over a year.
Cuba ripe for capitalist overhaul as Obama eases US ties
Bloomberg
New York
Companies considering doing business in
Cuba will find a country ripe for a modern
communications system, lacking US
consumer goods like Coke and Pepsi, and
craving more hotels, earth-moving equipment and even aluminium cans for beer.
That’s the bounty potentially awaiting
US Corps as President Barack Obama
moves to thaw relations with the Communist country, loosening restrictions
on trade and travel. The bad news: Cuba
remains a poor country with an inefficient,
sometimes corrupt economy that could
dash capitalist dreams.
“The key word is potential,” said Bill
Lane, director of global government
affairs at Peoria, Illinois-based Caterpillar Inc. “Cuba doesn’t need to rebuild
its infrastructure. It needs to build an
infrastructure. Everything that we make in
US is needed in Cuba.”
Obama’s unexpected policy shift is just
a first step in allowing US companies to
do business in Cuba after a 50-year-long
embargo. He would let US businesses
export goods such as building materials,
farming equipment and communications
infrastructure to the island. Ending the
embargo totally would require congres-
sional approval. Easing travel restrictions
could aid the cruise and airline industries.
US financial institutions will be allowed
to open accounts with Cuban banks. The
thaw could mean new business for companies as varied as Carnival Corp, Nike
and Wal-Mart Stores.
US consumers also were thrown a
pleasurable benefit. American visitors to
the island can bring back as much as $100
of Cuban cigars, a treasure for those so
inclined. The US bans all Cuban tobacco
imports now.
Normalising relations with the island
nation about 90 miles (145km) from
Florida would open a market of about
11mn people — about the same size as a US
state like Ohio — that have been longing
for US products for decades, according to
John Kavulich, a senior policy adviser at
the US-Cuba Trade and Economic Council.
“What’s attracted US companies
from before the revolution, through the
revolution to today is there’s an incredibly high awareness for US brand names,”
Kavulich said in an interview. That means
the cost of entering the market would be
lower because not as much marketing is
needed, he said.
Coca-Cola Co would consider re-entering the Cuban market “at the appropriate
time and in accordance with the relevant
laws and regulations governing US rela-
tions with Cuba,” Ann Moore, a spokeswoman for Coke, said in an e-mail. Coke
sells its beverages in all countries except
for Cuba and North Korea.
PepsiCo Inc, which does business in
more than 200 countries and territories,
looks forward “to adding Cuba contingent on business relations becoming
normalised,” said spokesman Jay Cooney
in an e-mail.
Even before Obama’s announcement,
Cuba had been pushing to attract more
foreign investment. The government
issued a 168-page report in November
targeting the energy, agriculture and tourism industries as good areas for foreign
investment.
The plans would include more than 20
new hotels, golf courses and condos as
well as partners in oil drilling and making
aluminium cans for beer and soda.
If Cuba embraces political and economic
reform, the country “can become a significant market for Caterpillar,” said Lane.
One potentially big area for investment
is telecommunications. Only about 5% of
people in Cuba have access to the Web,
one of the lowest rates in the world. The
new rules allow US companies to export
equipment to build an Internet infrastructure.
“It’s a virgin market in relation to everything that has to do with telecoms,” said
Jose Otero, director of Latin America and
the Caribbean for 4G Americas, a telecommunications trade organization. “It could
be interesting to any US operator.”
Cisco Systems Inc, for instance, might
want to fund a plan to make Havana a
model for its “Smart Cities” initiative, in
which it deploys networks for the Internet
and city services, said Ray Mota, an analyst with ACG Research.
Cisco is exploring the implications of
the new trade rules, said spokesman John
Earnhardt.
Cruise ship operators have eyed Cuba for
years in the hope that normalized relations
would allow for greater travel to the country.
Many have already developed plans in
anticipation of loosened travel restrictions,
said Matthew Jacob, a cruise industry analyst with ITG Investment Research.
While limited infrastructure reduces
the near-term potential for port calls, the
prospect of vacationing in a little-seen
destination could appeal to travellers and
help jump-start previously weak demand
for Caribbean cruises, he said.
“Given the novelty of it, Cuba makes for
a compelling destination for cruise itineraries,” Jacob said. “This is a unique situation in that here is an island that people
used to visit but has been basically closed
off to US visitors for the last 50 years.”
Orbitz Worldwide Inc, a longtime critic
of the embargo, applauded Obama’s
moves on Cuba, saying it would hopefully
pave the way for travel between the two
countries.
“There are numerous economic, social
and cultural benefits that will flow from
free and open access and our customers
are eager to visit Cuba,” said Barney Harford, chief executive officer of Orbitz.
The administration rules will make it
easier for people to travel to Cuba under
any of 12 exceptions in the current law,
including for family visits, education and
research, officials said. Purely touristic
travel will still be against the law unless
Congress acts to lift the embargo.
Cuba may also be ripe for automakers because many of the cars in use are
decades old.
“Anyone who has been to Cuba can attest that in terms of cars, time stood still,”
Michelle Krebs, an analyst at researcher
AutoTrader.com, said in an e-mail. “Beatup classics from the ’50s and ’60s are on
the streets. But Cubans can’t afford today’s
cars until their economy is revived. This is
a first small step.”
Any excitement over the potential for
Cuba to become an outpost for global
brands like Nike Inc, McDonald’s Corp or
Wal-Mart Stores has to be tempered. It’s
a poor country and its people don’t have
enough access to credit to spend a lot on
discretionary goods. The government in
Havana, the nation’s capital, also has been
known to make moves toward opening up
to foreign firms, only to pull back.
“The only thing that works in Cuba
at the moment is the black market,”
said Jorge Salazar-Carrillo, professor of
economics at Florida International University in Miami. “It’s the most inefficient
economy in the world, with the exception
of North Korea.”
The World Bank, citing 2011 data, pegs
the island’s gross domestic product at
more than $68bn — about what the US
produced that year in a day and a half, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Cuba’s GDP is expected to increase
1.2% this year, according to the Economist
Intelligence Unit, which compiles data on
Cuba. That growth should accelerate to
4% over the next few years, even without
more trade with the US, the researcher
said.
While Cuba has some of the best
trained workers in Latin America, foreign
companies will have to overcome a lack of
infrastructure and corruption, said Irene
Mia, EIU’s director for Latin America and
the Caribbean.
“No one should be holding their breath
for the Havana-Mac,” Kavulich said. “Or
investing in McDonald’s today in anticipation of the Havana-Mac.”
FOOTBALL | Page 2
QSL | Page 12
Sterling double
lifts Rodgers’
and Liverpool’s
gloom
Sadd look for
�big reaction’
from players
after first loss
Friday, December 19, 2014
Safar 27, 1436 AH
CRICKET
GULF TIMES
SPORT
Hazlewood, Smith
lead Australia fight
back against India
Page 5
CYCLING
Lagab leads Algerian show
in Tour of Zubarah stage 1
Lagab, the winner of the International Cycling Tour of Algiers, is in good form this year
By Yash Mudgal
Doha
A
lgerian National Team dominated
day two of the second edition of
the 2014 Tour of Al Zubarah as
their leader Azzedine Lagab won
the 120.1km stage one yesterday.
The 28-year-old Algerian national
champion clocked 2:45.19 seconds to grab
the yellow jersey from Roman van Uden of
Qatar’s Carbon Wheels Cycling Club, the
winner of the prologue on opening day of
the tour on Wednesday. Uden п¬Ѓnished joint
fourth in a bunch of seven riders yesterday at Dukhan. The 19-year-old Abderrahmane Mansouri of Algeria came third,
while his compatriot and teammate Abdennour Yahmi п¬Ѓnished fourth. Per David
of Adria Mobil, who won the blue jersey
for the best young rider at individual time
trial, retained the jersey.
Now Uden is overall 30 seconds behind
the leader Lagab and will sport white jersey
during the 116.8km stage two (Al Shamal
Sports Club to Madinat al Shamal) today.
Lagab, who п¬Ѓnished at 25th position on
the Tour prologue – individual time trial —
was outstanding at the п¬Ѓnish line sprint to
beat Kristjan Fajt of Adria Mobile, who was
leading the race till the last 25m.
Lagab, the winner of the International
Cycling Tour of Algiers, is in good form this
year as he has won two stages at the Tour
of Rwanda and has been nominated for the
2014 Best African Cyclist Award for his exploits. The 32-year-old rider Fajt of Solvenia was in full control for the most part of
the race on a windy day, but he failed to finish ahead of Lagab. “I was controlling the
race almost throughout the day, but I am a
bit disappointed to п¬Ѓnish a few millimetres
behind the leader. However, I am happy
with my team’s performance on a windy
day and hope to keep up the good work tomorrow and day after,” Fajt said.
Adria coach Mrvar Bostjan also sounded
satisfied after the race, as he said: “I am
satisfied with results. It is always very important that the riders perform as a unit
and enjoy the outing. And when the results
are good is even better. I hope we will have
better results in the coming days.”
It was a bad day for the defending
champion Mohamed Yousif Mirza of team
Giant-GMS as he п¬Ѓnished 11th yesterday
and now is more than two minutes behind
the leader. Qatar’s National team rider Afif
Abdullah is at the 32 place in the general
classification, while in the team classification Adria Mobil is at the top and Algeria
National team is at the second spot after
the stage one. Qatar team is at eighth place.
Winner Azzedine Lagab (second left) of Algeria National Team, runner-up Kristjan Fajt (right) and third-placed Abderramane Mansouri (left) after stage one of the 2014 Tour of Al Zubarah at Dukhan
yesterday. Lagab clocked 2:45.19 seconds to grab the yellow jersey from Roman van Uden of Qatar’s Carbon Wheels Cycling Club. PICTURES: Anas al-Samaraee
RESULT
STAGE ONE
1. Azzedine Lagab (ALG) Algeria National
Team 2:45.19
2. Kristjan Fajt (Slov) Adria Mobil 2:45.19
3 Abderramane Mansouri (ALG) Algeria
National Team 2:45.56
4 Abdennour Yahmi (ALG) Algeria National
Team 2:45.56
5 David Per (SLK) Adria Mobil 2:45.56
6 Martin Weiss (AUT) Austria National Team
2:45.56
7 Wauter Sybrandy (Ned) SIG Sigmasport.
co.uk 2:45.56
8 Mario SCHOIBL (AUT) Austria National
Team 2:45.56
9 Roman van Uden (NZ) CAR Carbon
Wheels 2:45.56
10 Radoslav Rogina (CRO) Adria Mobil
2:45.56
JERSEY OWNERS
Yellow: Azzedine Lagab of Algerian team
White: Roman van Uden of Qatar’s Carbon
Wheels Cycling Club
Blue: Per David of Adria Mobil
Azzedine Lagab (left) pips Kristjan Fajt at the finish line.
Qatar team members take a break after the race.
2
Gulf Times
Friday, December 19, 2014
FOOTBALL
Reus gets hefty fine for
driving without licence
Guangzhou name Getafe’s
Contra as new coach
Don’t ask me about new
signings: Sunderland coach
New Bulgaria coach Petev
keen to lure Berbatov back
Second time lucky for
Llera in shootout record
Borussia Dortmund’s German winger Marco
Reus was fined more than half a million euros
on Wednesday for driving without a licence for
years. The 25-year-old, who has been involved in
advertising for the club’s car sponsor and a petrol
company, received speeding tickets at least five
times since 2011 before the authorities realised
he had been driving without a licence ever since.
“I decided back then to take that road but the
reasons I did it are something I cannot really
understand today,” Reus, a transfer target for
several top European clubs, said. “Today I know
that I was too naive and that it was stupid. I have
learned my lesson and this will not happen again.”
Dortmund’s prosecutor’s office said the 540,000
euros ($664,848) fine related to incidents from
2011 until this March.
Guangzhou R&F have secured the services of
Getafe’s Cosmin Contra as their new coach, the
Chinese Super League club said yesterday. Romanian Contra, 39, and other coaching staff will
arrive in Guangzhou soon to complete the deal.
According to a China Daily report, Getafe midfielder Michel, on loan at Getafe from Valencia, will
also join Guangzhou. Financially-troubled Getafe
had urged Contra to accept Guangzhou’s offer
and help the La Liga club to raise funds. “I’m the
only one at Getafe who has an offer, they want
to sell me in China,” Contra, who took over at the
Spanish club in March, said. “They suggested I
should help the club. I know the problems and I
would do that for the club which is going through
some pretty bad financial times,” said the former
Romania international.
Sunderland manager Guy Poyet appeared to
criticise the club’s transfer policy yesterday
when asked if he was going to strengthen his
struggling squad in the January transfer window.
“I want more quality. Do I think I’ll get it? I don’t
know,” Poyet, whose side face Newcastle United
in a Tyne-Wear derby on Sunday, told reporters.
“You know what is missing. It is clear what we
need to do. That is down to recruitment. So, if
you ever get the chance to speak to anyone on
the recruitment side and ask them about it,
you are lucky. If you don’t, don’t ask me.”
Sunderland are without a win in six games and
are 15th in the Premier League, two points above
the relegation zone. In those games, five of
which ended in draws, Sunderland have managed only three goals.
Bulgaria will try again to persuade prolific striker
Dimitar Berbatov to come out of international retirement to help revive their chances of reaching
the Euro 2016 finals, new coach Ivaylo Petev said
yesterday. The 33-year-old Monaco forward, who
is Bulgaria’s all-time leading scorer with 48 goals,
quit the Balkan country’s national team in 2010
with Luboslav Penev, Petev’s predecessor, failing
to tempt him back despite making an approach.
“I have the ambition to meet him and talk,” Petev
said. “We’ll see what will happen.” Bulgaria are
fourth in Group H with four points from as many
games, six adrift of leaders Croatia and Italy and
five behind Norway. The top two are guaranteed a
place at Euro 2016. In January, former Manchester
United and Tottenham Hotspur striker Berbatov
joined Monaco from Fulham on loan.
Scunthorpe United’s Miguel Llera had the unusual
distinction of missing and then scoring a penalty
in a record FA Cup shoot-out containing 32 spotkicks on Wednesday. Llera had the chance to put
the League One (third tier) side through when he
took Scunthorpe’s fifth penalty but was left with
his head in his hands as minor league Worcester
City keeper Nathan Vaughan made a save. He redeemed himself though when, after 16 successive
spot-kicks had found the net once the shootout
reached sudden death, Scunthorpe keeper Sam
Slocombe saved from Wayne Thomas and the
Spaniard stepped forward again to roll his second
attempt past Vaughan and give the visitors a 14-13
victory. The world record for the longest shoot-out
is the 48 kicks taken by KK Palace and Civics in a
Namibian Cup match in 2005, which KK won 17-16.
LEAGUE CUP
BUNDESLIGA
Sterling double
lifts Rodgers’ and
Liverpool’s gloom
�It doesn’t matter who we got in the draw, it was just important for us to get
there. To win this competition you have to win games against the big sides’
Naldo scores
late equaliser
to earn draw
for Wolfsburg
Reuters
Berlin
A
n 85th-minute equaliser by Naldo gave VfL
Wolfsburg a 2-2 draw
at Borussia Dortmund
on Wednesday, maintaining
their hold on second place and
leaving the hosts in the Bundesliga relegation zone.
Brazilian Naldo drilled in a
powerful header after he was
left completely unmarked
in the box with last season’s
runners-up Dortmund having
gone back into the lead with
a 76th-minute goal from Ciro
Immobile.
The Italian striker, under
mounting criticism as Dortmund made their worst start in
decades, set up Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the eighth
minute for the lead with the
Gabon international sliding in
to connect with the cross.
Wolfsburg equalised with
Kevin De Bruyne’s clever free
kick in the 29th and looked in
complete control with Vieirinha being denied at point-blank
range by keeper Mitch Langerak, who has been given the nod
ahead of п¬Ѓrst choice Roman
Weidenfeller in recent weeks.
Dortmund hustled possession back and Immobile came
close three times before rifling
in from the edge of the box but
they failed to hold on to their
renewed lead as Naldo grabbed
his fourth goal of the season.
Wolfsburg are on 31 points,
11 behind leaders Bayern Munich, who eased past Freiburg
2-0 on Tuesday.
Dortmund are in 16th place
on 15 but coach Juergen Klopp
heaped praise on the Italian
striker. “It has been a long
time that I have seen a striker
play like Ciro did today,” said
Klopp, whose team faces Juventus in the Champions
League round of 16.
“Our performance was good
in many ways and this is something we can build on.”
Borussia
Moenchengladbach climbed back up to third
on 27, four points behind
Wolfsburg, with a convincing
4-1 win over struggling Werder Bremen, who were left with
10 players midway through
the second half following Luca
Caldirola’s second booking.
Bayer Leverkusen striker
Stefan Kiessling scored on
his return to Hoffenheim for
the first time since last year’s
�phantom goal’ game for a 1-0
win that lifted them level with
third-placed Gladbach on 27.
Kiessling ended his goal
drought, ironically in the stadium where last season he
scored an infamous goal that
should never have counted
when his header slipped in
through a hole in the side netting and the striker was vilified by fans in Germany for not
telling the referee.
The goal contributed to the
top division clubs agreeing on
introducing goalline technology from next season.
Eintracht Frankfurt staged
a memorable comeback with
two late goals in two minutes
from Bundesliga top scorer
Alex Meier to draw 4-4 against
Hertha Berlin.
Hertha had led 3-0 and 4-2
before Meier’s late double
strike earned them a point and
took his league tally to 12.
Schalke 04 also got the three
points with a 2-1 victory over
Paderborn to move into п¬Ѓfth
place on 26 courtesy of Roman
Neustaedter’s 78th minute
winner.
Liverpool’s Raheem Sterling (left) surges past Brett Pitman of Bournemouth during their League Cup match on Wednesday. Liverpool won 3-1 and will face Chelsea in the semis. (AFP)
AFP
London
R
aheem Sterling eased the pressure on under-п¬Ѓre manager
Brendan Rodgers as Liverpool
swept into the League Cup semifinals with a 3-1 win over Championship
leaders Bournemouth on Wednesday.
Rodgers has endured stinging criticism in
recent weeks after Liverpool dropped down
the Premier League table and crashed out of
the Champions League in the group stages.
A dismal 3-0 defeat at arch-rivals
Manchester United on Sunday prompted
Rodgers to admit Liverpool’s squad lacked
the unity that almost carried them to the
English title last season.
In the circumstances, an embarrassing
defeat to second tier Bournemouth would
have been a major blow to the beleaguered
Rodgers’ hopes of holding on to his job,
but he was able to leave Dean Court with
his head held high as Sterling’s double
sandwiched a Lazar Markovic strike in a
one-sided quarter-п¬Ѓnal.
“I thought it was a brilliant performance. It was always going to be a difficult
job, but we controlled the game. We thoroughly deserved it,” said Rodgers, whose
side will face Chelsea in the two-legged
semi-п¬Ѓnals in January.
“Raheem Sterling has got some stick
recently which I п¬Ѓnd extraordinary. He is
a kid of 20 and he has been outstanding
for us. It doesn’t matter who we got in the
draw, it was just important for us to get
there. To win this competition you have to
win games against big sides.”
Despite their recent struggles, Liverpool had won at Dean Court in the FA Cup
last season and, after Bournemouth’s Callum Wilson missed a good chance early
on, the visitors took control.
England forward Sterling opened the
scoring with a glancing header from close
range after Jordan Henderson nodded
Markovic’s cross back across goal in the
20th minute.
Rodgers’ relief was clear to see as he
celebrated Sterling’s first goal since September by vigorously punching the air on
the touchline.
And, with the Reds cutting through the
Bournemouth defence at will, Rodgers
was on his feet again seven minutes later
to salute Liverpool’s second goal.
Philippe Coutinho ignored Bournemouth’s appeals for offside as he cut inside to test Artur Boruc with a low shot
and when the ball spun out to Markovic,
the Serbia winger kept his cool to sidefoot
home his п¬Ѓrst goal for Liverpool from the
edge of the penalty area.
With Liverpool’s supporters making
their support for Rodgers loud and clear,
Sterling ran clear to net their side’s third
goal in the 51st minute as he glided past
Tommy Elphick before slotting home.
Former Everton midfielder Dan Gosling
got one back for Bournemouth in the 57th
minute when his tame shot trickled past a
weak attempted save from Brad Jones.
In Wednesday’s other quarter-final,
Tottenham thrashed Newcastle 4-0 at
White Hart Lane as the Magpies suffered
more north London misery.
Five days after a 4-1 beating at Arsenal,
Alan Pardew’s side were on course for another heavy defeat from the 18th minute.
Jak Alnwick, a 21-year-old making just
his third appearance in goal for Newcastle,
made a hash of catching a corner and allowed the ball to slip out of his grasp to midfielder Nabil Bentaleb, who hooked home
from four yards for his п¬Ѓrst Tottenham goal.
Newcastle conceded again 36 seconds
into the second half when Nacer Chadli
drove a perfectly-placed shot into the
corner of Alnwick’s net.
Harry Kane put the result beyond doubt
when the Tottenham striker scuffed his
shot past Alnwick in the 65th minute and
Spanish forward Roberto Soldado added
the fourth п¬Ѓve minutes later.
Tottenham’s reward was a semi-final
tie against third tier Sheffield United, who
enjoyed a shock 1-0 win over Southampton on Tuesday.
“We have respect for Sheffield United.
They deserve to be in the semi-п¬Ѓnals. We
expect a tough game,” Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino said.
Also on Tuesday, Premier League leaders Chelsea had advanced to the last four
with a 3-1 win at Championship side
Derby.
VFL Wolfsburg’s Kevin De Bruyne (centre) celebrates his goal against
Borussia Dortmund with Naldo (left) and Bas Dost during their
German first division match in Dortmund on Wednesday. (Reuters)
Cameroonian footballer Ebosse
�killed by beating, not projectile’
The death of Cameroonian footballer Albert Ebosse in Algeria in
August was caused by a brutal post-match beating, not an object
thrown by angry fans as initially claimed, a new autopsy has found.
Refuting official Algerian findings that the striker was killed by a
sharp projectile thrown from the stands, the analysis by a Cameroonian pathologist claims the 24-year-old’s death was the result
of “brutal aggression” during a probable locker room attack.
Cameroonian pathologist Andre Moune said from Douala that
he found Ebosse had suffered upper body injuries that indicated
“signs of struggle”. The official Algerian version holds that Ebosse
died in hospital on August 23 from head injuries sustained as
he left the pitch under a hail of objects thrown from the stands
following the 2-1 loss of Ebosse’s JS Kabylie to visiting Algiers club
USMA. Algerian Sports Minister Mohamed Tahmi too had said at
the time that the death had been caused by him being struck by a
piece of sharp slate.
Gulf Times
Friday, December 19, 2014
3
FOOTBALL
FOCUS
British, German soldiers play soccer match to
celebrate 100th anniversary of Christmas truce
AFP
Aldershot
T
here were no trenches and the only
poppies were plastic stadium decorations. But the spirit of a World War I
Christmas truce lived on as the British
and German armies played a 100th anniversary
football match on Wednesday.
The friendly match between the old enemies
ended with a 1-0 victory for the British and
handshakes all round, safe in the knowledge
that they would not be taking aim at each other
the next day.
The game was inspired by a truce that took
hold on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day
1914, when troops from both sides emerged
from their trenches along the Western Front to
joke, share whisky and schnapps and kick a ball
about in no-man’s land.
It has come to represent a fleeting moment
of humanity in a four-year conflict that killed
more than 16 million troops and civilians.
“Thinking back to them days and us being
able to spend an hour and a half on the football
pitch to commemorate that is very special,” said
British defender Kev Haley afterwards.
The players, in modern kit and boots,
emerged from the tunnel led by actors dressed
in British and German World War I uniforms.
Before kickoff, a two-minute silence was
held and an opera singer performed the German
carol Stille Nacht or Silent Night, which, legend
has it, drifted up from the German trenches on
Christmas Eve 1914 as a sign of peaceful intent.
The match in the garrison town of Aldershot, southwest of London, drew a crowd of
some 2,500 people. Many of them were soldiers
in battle fatigues but guests included Bobby
British Army soccer team captain Sergeant Keith Emmerson (right) and his German counterpart, Bundeswehr captain Alfred Hess (left), stand with
match officials and mascots wearing World War I uniforms at Aldershot Town FC stadium in Aldershot, south England, on Wednesday, ahead of
their �Game of Truce’ match, commemorating 100 years since the famous peaceful interlude to fighting in World War I when members of the
opposing British and German forces played a game of soccer in No Man’s Land on Christmas Day 1914. (Reuters)
Charlton, part of the England team that beat
Germany to win the 1966 World Cup.
Haley said the two sides would be going
drinking together afterwards, echoing the sense
of comradeship across national lines shown
during the truce itself.
“There will be some sing-songs, exchanging
jokes but it’s good and it’s friendly,” he added.
For German player Milad Omarkhiel, disappointment at the result was mixed with a sense of
commemoration. “We have lost the game but it
wasn’t important today. Important today was the
people had a friendly game and they can read the
historical (significance) of this match,” he said.
Many watching the game either had military
backgrounds themselves or had relatives who
fought in World War I.
Jason Bate, 43, who serves in the Royal Navy
at the Faslane base in Scotland, travelled down
with his wife and 13-year-old son to be there.
“We have come down because it’s a piece of
history,” said Bate, whose great-great uncle was
killed at the Battle of the Somme.
“There was more gentlemanly conduct in
those days, you had respect for your enemy,” he
added, contrasting the situation with the insurgencies fought by today’s Western armies.
John Goddard, 48, visited the battlefields at
Ypres earlier this year and the game sparked
memories of that trip for him. “It was a hell of
a thing, wasn’t it?” he said, shaking his head
in awe. “To come out of the trench with your
hands up, it’s quite a leap of faith.”
The match came at the end of a year of commemorations to mark the centenary of the war,
including an installation of 888,246 ceramic
poppies at the Tower of London, one for each
British serviceman killed.
The mythology around a Christmas truce
football match has also grown in recent months.
In Britain, it has featured in everything from a
festive advertisement for supermarket giant
Sainsbury’s to a Yuletide Royal Shakespeare
Company theatre production.
UEFA president Michel Platini unveiled a
statue of a player in a п¬Ѓeld in what was the
Western Front in Belgium last week, while the
English Premier League held a commemorative
tournament for young players whose countries
fought in the war.
Experts say, though, that there is no hard evidence that a formal game ever took place during
the truce. Matt Brosnan, a curator at the Imperial War Museum in London, said the pause in
п¬Ѓghting was more useful as a chance for soldiers
to bury the bodies of dead comrades than to play
football. He estimated that fewer than 100 players probably took part in impromptu kickabouts.
“What was more typical was soldiers meeting, exchanging gifts and sharing a few moments,” he said.
PREMIER LEAGUE
Man City aim to close
gap on leaders Chelsea
�The next two or three weeks are really important in our season and we have to be up for it’
Reuters
London
R
ejuvenated Manchester City can
pile the pressure on Premier League
leaders Chelsea for the п¬Ѓrst time
this season if they beat struggling
visitors Crystal Palace tomorrow.
With Chelsea not playing at Stoke City
until Monday, a City victory at the Etihad
Stadium against a Palace side who have
failed to win their last four Premier League
matches would put the champions level on
39 points with Jose Mourinho’s men.
Having trailed leaders Chelsea by eight
points at one stage this season, City have
won their last п¬Ѓve league matches, with Frank
Lampard’s strike enough to give Manuel Pellegrini’s side a 1-0 victory at bottom club
Leicester City last weekend.
However, City will be without a recognised forward against 16th-placed Palace
as Sergio Aguero, Stevan Jovetic and Edin
Dzeko all have knocks, while captain and key
central defender Vincent Kompany limped
off at Leicester with a hamstring injury.
Despite a lack of attacking options, Pellegrini is confident his injury-hit squad can
п¬Ѓnd the perfect striking remedy within their
ranks against Neil Warnock’s Palace.
“We’ll work this week with the players
that can play in that position,” Pellegrini told
reporters. “At the moment we are trying to
recover all the players because we have no
strikers.
“David Silva, Samir Nasri and the rest of
the midfielders can all score so we must see
during the week which is the best way to play
in the future until we recover our strikers.”
Chelsea, who beat visiting Hull City 2-0
last weekend, have no striking woes but,
after allowing their healthy advantage over
City to be cut, midfielder Cesc Fabregas has
called on his teammates to keep improving in
their quest for the title.
“You can always get better,” the Spaniard told the club’s website (www.chelseafc.
com). “We know that and we are trying to
improve in training by doing what the manager tells us to do.
“Everyone is very focused and everyone is
very professional. Now the next two or three
weeks are really important in our season and
we have to be up for it.”
Third-placed Manchester United, buoyed
by a 3-0 demolition of arch-rivals Liverpool
at Old Trafford last weekend, travel to Aston
Villa tomorrow when fourth-placed West
Ham United host basement side Leicester.
On Sunday, Newcastle United fans will
give Sunderland a hostile reception in the
Tyne-Wear derby at St James’ Park, before
floundering Liverpool, perhaps lifted by their
3-1 Capital One Cup win at Bournemouth in
midweek, host sixth-placed Arsenal.
Manchester City will be
handicapped up front
against 16th-placed
Crystal Palace as
injured Sergio Aguero
will sit out of the match.
Unimpressive
PSG reach League
Cup last eight
Paris: French champions Paris
Saint Germain ended a run of
two defeats with a come-frombehind 3-1 win over second tier
AC Ajaccio to reach the French
League Cup quarter-finals on
Wednesday.
PSG, who had lost to Barcelona in their Champions League
group match last week and
then in the league to Guingamp
at the weekend, went behind
early on to a penalty by captain
Johan Cavalli.
A tense PSG coach Laurent
Blanc said, however, that going
behind had not worried him.
“Why do I have to always
explain my team’s problems?”
said the former France coach.
“I was satisfied with the
second-half performance and
at no stage was I worried. You
only worry if you are 1-0 down
with 10 seconds remaining.
“We are going through a
difficult spell and at those times
nothing makes you smile.”
The Paris side may have
been missing key players like
Zlatan Ibrahimovic but they still
had players of the experience
of David Luiz and Edinson
Cavani (pictured below) in the
starting line-up, players their
hosts could only dream about
buying.
However, they were held at
bay by a resilient Ajaccio outfit
until Cavani finally equalised
nine minutes into the second
half after being set up by Lucas.
Ivorian defender Serge Aurier
added a second with a header
from a corner 10 minutes from
time, and the last eight place
was ensured when Jean-Christophe Bahebeck slotted home
four minutes later with Lucas
once again the creator.
4
Gulf Times
Friday, December 19, 2014
FOOTBALL
Newcastle suffer ’keeper
crisis, mull emergency loan
Hopp gets green light to
take over Hoffenheim
Japan stick with Aguirre for
Asian Cup despite scandal
Arsenal’s Ozil likely to be
back in action in early 2015
Champions Germany top
year-end FIFA rankings
Newcastle United are facing a goalkeeping
crisis and manager Alan Pardew is considering
asking the Premier League about the possibility
of an emergency loan. Already without Dutch
international Tim Krul and Rob Elliott, both
injured, Pardew has been relying on 21-year-old
third-choice Jak Alnwick. Alnwick has conceded
eight goals in his last two games and injured his
shoulder in the 4-0 League Cup defeat at Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday. His only other
option is 17-year-old youth team keeper Freddie
Woodman. “It is something we might have to look
at because there is no way that a 17-year-old that’s
our fourth-choice should be allowed to go in goal
at this level. We will perhaps talk to the Premier
League about Jak’s situation,” Pardew said.
Billionaire Dietmar Hopp has been given the go
ahead to take majority control of Hoffenheim
next season after two decades of investment, the
German Football League (DFL) said yesterday. It
added that despite strict ownership controls on
Bundesliga clubs, Hopp, co-founder of the SAP
software company, fulfilled one of the exceptions to the rule, known as �50+1’. “Crucial in the
assessment of Hoffenheim’s request was that for
more than 20 years Dietmar Hopp has provided
considerable financial support for both the professional as well as the amateur teams of the club,”
the DFL said in a statement. Under current rules,
no individual or company can own a majority
stake in a Bundesliga club unless they have been
the major single investors for at least 20 years.
Japan will stick with coach Javier Aguirre for next
month’s Asian Cup, despite the former Mexico
coach being involved in a match-fixing scandal
which has rocked world football. Aguirre is due to
appear in a Valencia court in February following
a probe into match-fixing allegations dating back
to 2011 when he was manager of Spanish side
Real Zaragoza. Prosecutors in Spain allege that
Aguirre and 40 others were involved in rigging
a league match which saw Zaragoza defeat
Levante 2-1 to avoid relegation. The prosecutors
claim that Zaragoza paid a total of 965,000 euros
($1.2million) into the bank accounts of certain of
its coaches, staff and players who then gave the
money to Levante’s players as a “bribe”. Aguirre,
56, has vehemently denied any wrongdoing.
Arsenal playmaker Mesut Ozil said yesterday that
“it won’t be too much longer” before he returns
from a knee injury. The Germany international, 26,
has not played since suffering a partial rupture
of the outer band of the left knee joint during his
side’s 2-0 loss at Chelsea on October 5. Ozil was
pictured walking out for training at Arsenal’s Hertfordshire training centre last week and he says
that he is on schedule for a return in early 2015. “I
am working every day to get myself fit and I am
on the right path now. It won’t be much too much
longer before I am back on the pitch,” Ozil said.
“I hope to be back training with the whole team
again as soon as possible.” Arsenal are currently
sixth in Premier League, two points below the
Champions League places.
World champions Germany comfortably top the
pile of the FIFA national team rankings released
yesterday despite a slump in form since their
rampant campaign in Brazil. The top three remain
unchanged since September with Lionel Messi’s
beaten World Cup finalists Argentina second and
Colombia in third. Up-and-coming Belgium are
fourth ahead of their northern neighbours the
Netherlands while humiliated World Cup hosts
Brazil round off the year in a respectable sixth.
Euro 2016 hosts France are seventh as Didier
Deschamps’ solid team continue to impress
while World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo’s
Portugal are level with them. After years atop the
heap, Spain end 2014 in ninth, but look to be in
fine health with 2015 coming into view.
CLUB WORLD CUP
LA LIGA
San Lorenzo down
Auckland, to face
Real Madrid in final
�First things first: our great goal was to get to the final, and we have made it’
Barca aim to close
in on Real with win
over lowly Cordoba
DPA
Madrid
A
s the old adage goes:
when the cat is away,
the mice will play.
Barcelona will be
trying tomorrow to take advantage of the absence of leaders Real Madrid to move within
one point of them, by beating
Cordoba in the Camp Nou.
Real are currently at the
Club World Cup in Morocco,
trying to continue their astonishing run of 21 straight wins
and become world champions
in the process. Their home
match against Sevilla has been
put back to January 4.
Real’s winning streak has
taken them four points above
Barca atop La Liga, a lead that
the Catalans are keen to reduce
to just one.
“We simply cannot afford to
drop any more points,” veteran
playmaker Xavi said.
“The draw in Getafe (0-0
last Saturday) means that we
have to just win and win again
if we want to catch up with
Madrid...There have been a lot
of changes this season, starting with the coach. But I think
we are on the right track.”
Barca have no injuries at
all, now that Neymar—whose
spark and audacity were sorely
missed in Getafe—is fit again.
Cordoba are third from bottom, having scored only 11
goals in their 15 matches.
“We don’t have a (Lionel)
Messi or a (Cristiano) Ronaldo
to bang in the goals, that is
true,” midfielder Borja Garcia
admitted. “That is why we will
have to be very effective with
the few goal chances that will
come our way. We will have to
take advantage of all of them.”
Also tomorrow, п¬Ѓfth-placed
Valencia visit modest Eibar,
while Levante will host Real
Sociedad and Rayo Vallecano
will take on Espanyol.
The 16th round of matches
will kick off tonight with Celta
Vigo at home to Almeria.
Sunday’s big game will see
third-placed Atletico Madrid
away to Athletic Bilbao, whose
home form has been patchy
this season.
The same as Barca, Atletico
cannot afford to drop any more
points, after a 1-0 defeat at
home to Villarreal.
Atletico coach Diego Simeone will be sweating on the
п¬Ѓtness of wingers Arda Turan,
who has flu, and Alessio Cerci,
who has a pulled muscle.
Atletico are three points behind Barca and seven behind
Real.
Sunday will also see Villarreal against Deportivo Coruna,
Granada against Getafe and
bottom team Elche against
Malaga. Anything less than a
convincing win for Elche could
prove to be the п¬Ѓnal nail in the
coffin of embattled coach Fran
Escriba.
“I am not worried about my
own position, but I am worried about the team’s form. We
need a win to help us to believe
in ourselves again,” he said.
Real Madrid players warm up during a training session in Marrakech, Morocco, yesterday. Real will face San Lorenzo in the FIFA Club World Cup final tomorrow. (EPA)
DPA
Marrakech, Morocco
A
rgentinian club San Lorenzo
needed extra time on Wednesday to get past lowly Auckland
City in the FIFA Club World Cup
semi-п¬Ѓnals but eventually won the match
2-1 to set up a п¬Ѓnal against Real Madrid.
San Lorenzo, a Buenos Aires club famously supported by Pope Francis, pulled
ahead with a half-volley goal from midfielder Pablo Barrientos just before the
break in Marrakech.
Spaniard Angel Berlanga, a centre-back
who played in Spain’s fourth category at
Rayo Majadahonda, equalized for the New
Zealand club in the 67th minute, and the
match went to extra time.
Just three minutes into additional time,
however, veteran striker Mauro Matos
made things 2-1 for the South Americans,
who won the п¬Ѓrst Copa Libertadores in
their history earlier this year.
“First things first: our great goal was
to get to the final, and we made it,” San
Lorenzo coach Edgardo Bauza said.
He admitted, though: “We did not play
a good match.”
Indeed, the match was somewhat crazy.
Both teams hit the woodwork, and San
Lorenzo hardly seemed to be too far above
their opponents.
Bauza praised the New Zealand club,
most of whose players have another job
beyond football and which has an annual
budget of just 1 million dollars but is playing its fourth Club World Cup in succession.
“They held onto the ball well,” Bauza said.
Matos said he and his team-mates knew
the match would be tough, though they
had hoped to win it in 90 minutes. “Maybe we’re made for that, for suffering. Perhaps we enjoy it more that way,” he said.
Around 7,000 San Lorenzo fans were
cheering on site in Marrakech at the Grand
Stade, which was far from full.
Things will doubtless be tougher for
the Argentinian side tomorrow against
Real Madrid. The European Champions
League winners are on a 22-match winning streak and beat Mexico’s Cruz Azul
4-0 on Tuesday.
Earlier on Wednesday, Algerian club
ES Setif beat Sydney’s SW Wanderers in a
long penalty shoot-out to get п¬Ѓfth place in
the Club World Cup.
The 90 minutes of regular play in
Marrakech ended 2-2. Dutch winger
Romeo Castelen opened the score for the
Australian side just п¬Ѓve minutes into the
game, but an own goal from Daniel Mullen and a goal from Abdelmalik Ziaya in
the second half appeared to give Setif the
consolation prize.
However, Brazilian Vitor Saba’s late
free-kick was enough to send the match to
the penalty shoot-out. Each side needed
to take an unusual eight shots after they
each missed two of their initial п¬Ѓve efforts,
and the Algerian side prevailed 5-4.
RARING TO GO: Barcelona’s Brazilian striker Neymar is fit again.
BUNDESLIGA
Bremen and Dortmund scrap to avoid last place over winter
DPA
Berlin
T
wo of Bayern Munich’s biggest rivals of
recent Bundesliga history are battling
it out tomorrow to avoid going into the
winter break in the relegation zone—
and possibly bottom position.
While Bayern enjoy an 11-point lead at the
top on 42 points, Werder Bremen and Borussia Dortmund п¬Ѓnd themselves in trouble, with
Werder propping up the table on 14 points and
Dortmund third last, one point ahead.
Both sides have had a keen rivalry with Bayern over the past two decades, but Bremen are
in a process of reformation after the 14-year
spell under coach Thomas Schaaf and the glory
years of the late 1980s and п¬Ѓrst half of the 90s
under Otto Rehhagel.
Werder Bremen coach Viktor Skripnik
“We are in the cellar, are last, so of course
we’re all very dissatisfied,” coach Viktor Skripnik said. “It’s difficult to get out of there but we
have to give everything we have one more time
against Dortmund for three points.”
“We want to give something back to the fans.
Then thankfully we have the winter break in
which we can work in peace and prepare meticulously,” he added.
Former Bremen player Skripnik took over in
late October after the dismissal of Robin Dutt,
but the change has not achieved the desired results so far and Bremen go into the game off a
4-1 defeat at Borussia Moenchengladbach.
Relegation for only the second time in the
club’s history is a distinct possibility for the
four-time champions.
Bremen’s last league title in 2004 interrupted
a run of Bayern titles in 2003, 2005 and 2006,
while Dortmund’s Bundesliga win in 2002 came
in between four Bayern triumphs from 1999
and 2003.
More recently, Dortmund’s titles in 2011 and
2012 ended a spell of Bayern dominance, which
has been restored over the past two season and
looks set to continue with a third straight league
win this season.
Dortmund, who were runners-up for the past
two seasons, were expected to press again but
coach Juergen Klopp п¬Ѓnds himself with a relegation challenge, one for which his injury-hit
squad has so far not been equal.
Klopp at least takes heart from a 2-2 draw at
home to second-place Wolfsburg on Wednesday,
the coach detecting signs his players are prepared for the fight. “We are still alive,” he said.
Dortmund saw victory snatched away by a
late equalizer but Klopp said his players can
“take a lot of positives from the game” for the
trip to Bremen.
“We created some great chances and our
pressing was also very good at times,” he said.
“It was good to see that we were able to create
some chances from transition play, something
we barely did in the last weeks.”
With only п¬Ѓve points separating the bottom
nine, a lot of clubs will be desperate for points
for some respite during the winter break.
Bremen’s northern rivals SV Hamburg, on
16 points, have a difficult trip to п¬Ѓfth-place
Schalke tomorrow, while VfB Stuttgart, level
on points after beating Hamburg 1-0 away on
Tuesday, greet Paderborn (18 points). Freiburg,
level on points with Bremen, entertain mid-table Hanover Sunday.
Undefeated Bayern meanwhile could stretch
their lead to 14 points at the top with a win at
Mainz (18 points) today, before Wolfsburg’s
game at home to Cologne tomorrow.
Third-placed Moenchengladbach travel to
Augsburg tomorrow, while Bayer Leverkusen—
level on points with Gladbach—are at home to
Eintracht Frankfurt. Sunday’s other game sees
Hertha Berlin face visiting Hoffenheim.
Gulf Times
Friday, December 19, 2014
5
CRICKET
SECOND TEST
Hazlewood, Smith lead
Australia fight back
Debutant Hazlewood captured five wickets as Australia dismissed India for 408 on the second day
Australia’s debutant Josh Hazlewood (centre) shows the ball after taking his fifth wicket as his teammates applaud, during day two of the second Test against India at the Gabba in Brisbane. (EPA)
AFP
Brisbane
S
teve Smith again proved the elusive wicket for India as the new
captain fashioned an Australian
п¬Ѓghtback on day two of the second Test yesterday.
Smith, who was not dismissed by India in last week’s Adelaide Test win with
scores of 162 and 52, continued to be the
bane of the tourists with another defiant knock. He has scored 279 so far in
the series. His intuitive stroke-making
was again a delight and he danced down
the wicket to club spinner Ravichandran Ashwin for two sixes over long-on
in one over.
At the close, with a п¬Ѓerce electrical
storm about to break, Australia were
221 for four in reply to India’s 408 with
Smith unbeaten on 65 and Mitchell
Marsh on seven. “It’s not about Steve
Smith or any names that we want to
take out here, it’s going to be a couple
of wickets that we want to take tomorrow morning,” Ashwin said of India’s
chances.
“I think we are in front of the game at
this point of time. Our 400 is enough if
we can get a couple of wickets tomor-
row morning then we’re right in front.”
The Australians lost the wickets of
David Warner (29), Shane Watson (25),
Chris Rogers (55) and Shaun Marsh (32)
in the п¬Ѓnal two sessions. Shaun Marsh,
recalled as a replacement for injured
skipper Michael Clarke, had registered
six ducks in his previous 15 Test innings
but yesterday looked to have overcome
his series of poor starts.
He had a big let-off on 32 when
Ajinkya Rahane put down a sitter at leg
gully off Varun Aaron in the 45th over.
But he was out two overs later, caught
by Ashwin in the slips off Umesh Yadav
on the same score.
Rogers missed a chance to post a
much-needed big innings after a run
of failures when he was out in the over
before tea. The 37-year-old left-hander
dabbled at Yadav and gave a leg-side
catch to keeper M.S. Dhoni.
It was a good middle session for India,
who removed the dangerous Warner in
the ninth over. Warner, who scored twin
centuries in the Adelaide series opener,
attempted to pull Yadav only for the ball
to come off the top of his bat and pop up
for Ashwin to take a comfortable catch
running back from slip.
Watson looked at ease before losing
concentration on 25 and п¬Ѓnding Shikhar
FIFTH ODI
P
akistan coach Waqar
Younis feels a win in
the п¬Ѓfth and п¬Ѓnal onedayer against New Zealand in Abu Dhabi today will give
his team a boost for next year’s
World Cup.
New Zealand levelled the п¬Ѓvematch series 2-2 with a narrow
seven-run win in Abu Dhabi on
Wednesday, setting up an intriguing п¬Ѓnale to the tour after
the preceding three-match Test
and two-Twenty20 series were
shared 1-1.
Waqar said the series would
give Pakistan an idea on where
they stand before FebruaryMarch World Cup to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand. “We need to win the final
one-day,” said Waqar yesterday.
“This series is for us to utilise
and get the clear picture who are
the п¬Ѓnal 15 (players for the World
Cup) and besides that win this
series.”
Waqar praised veteran batsman Younis Khan who scored
INDIA I INNINGS (311/ 4 OVERNIGHT)
A. Rahane c Haddin b Hazlewood
81
R. Sharma c Smith b Watson
32
M. Dhoni c Haddin b Hazlewood
33
R. Ashwin c Watson b Hazlewood
35
U. Yadav c Rogers b Lyon
9
V. Aaron c sub (Labuschagne) b Lyon 4
I. Sharma not out
1
Extras (b4, lb1, w2, nb1)
8
Total (all out, 109.4 overs)
408
Fall of wickets: 1-56 (Dhawan), 2-100
(Pujara), 3-137 (Kohli), 4-261 (Vijay),
5-321 (Rahane), 6-328 (Sharma), 7-385
(Ashwin), 8-394 (Dhoni), 9-407 (Aaron),
10-408 (Yadav)
Bowling: Johnson 21-4-81-0, Hazlewood
23.2-6-68-5, Starc 17-1-83-0 (2w), M.
Marsh 6-1-14-1, Lyon 25.4-2-105-3, Watson
Dhawan in the deep, giving off-spinner
Ashwin his п¬Ѓrst wicket.
Debutant Josh Hazlewood captured
п¬Ѓve wickets and Brad Haddin equalled a
wicketkeeping record as Australia dismissed India for 408 at lunch.
Paceman Hazlewood led the way
with three scalps on the second morning as the Australians bounced back
14.4-6-39-1, Warner 1-0-9-0 (1nb), Smith
1-0-4-0
AUSTRALIA I INNINGS
C. Rogers c Dhoni b Yadav
55
D. Warner c Ashwin b Yadav
29
S. Watson c Dhawan b Ashwin
25
S. Smith not out
65
S. Marsh c Ashwin b Yadav
32
M. Marsh not out
7
Extras (lb1, w3, nb4)
8
Total (4 wickets; 52 overs)
221
Fall of wickets: 1-47 (Warner), 2-98
(Watson), 3-121 (Rogers), 4-208 (S.
Marsh)
Bowling: I. Sharma 9-0-47-0 (3nb, 1w),
Aaron 12-1-59-0 (1nb), Yadav 13-2-48-3
(2w), Ashwin 18-3-66-1
after Wednesday’s horror day in the
field in sweltering conditions. “Yesterday was a pretty tough slog out in the
heat,” Hazlewood said. “It wasn’t much
cooler today but we all came out well
and bowled to our plans and picked up
the last six wickets for about where we
wanted them.”
Haddin equalled the Australian
record of six dismissals in an innings
held by Wally Grout, Ian Healy and Rod
Marsh with two more catches on the
second morning. The Australians began
the day well with two wickets before
Dhoni and Ashwin regained the initiative with a belligerent seventh-wicket
stand.
The pair put on 57 in equal time before Ashwin became Hazlewood’s
fourth wicket, playing away from his
body and edging chest-high to Watson
at slip for 35. “I thought I batted at my
best, after a long time I got a chance to
bat in the middle so I batted really well
and felt disappointed to have given my
wicket away,” Ashwin said.
Dhoni cracked 33 off 53 balls with
four fours before he fell to the Hazlewood-Haddin combination. Hazlewood was far and away Australia’s best
bowler with п¬Ѓve for 68, while left-armer Mitchell Starc continued to struggle
with his line and length and went wicketless for 83 runs.
Hazlewood struck early enticing
an edge off Rahane for 81 with a late
outswinger. Smith pulled off a magnificent sprawling catch at second slip to
dismiss Rohit Sharma for 32 off Watson
in the 92nd over. Starc once again
proved ineffective.
Harare: Zimbabwe Cricket
have dismissed national team
coach Stephen Mangongo
following a poor show during
a recent tour of Bangladesh,
the union said yesterday.
Union chairman Wilson
Manase said Mangongo will
now work in talent identification and development.
“Mangongo is good at
identifying talent so the
board decided to send him
back to his area of strength,
while we get someone more
experienced to replace
him as national team head
coach,” Manase said.
Mangongo’s dismissal
came after the Zimbabwe
side lost all eight fixtures
during a tour of Bangladesh
and two months before the
2015 Cricket World Cup.
Manase said the Zimbabwe
Cricket board had not yet
found a replacement for him
and expected to have a new
head coach by the end of
the month. Mangongo has
not had many highlights as
Head Coach and he often
had a very confrontational
approach with the players.
One such example was when
one of the country’s best
players, Sean Williams was
left at home from the tour
of Bangladesh because of a
dispute with the coach.
One of the few highlights
under Mangongo’s coaching tenure was when they
beat Australia at the Harare
Sports Club, in a triangular
series involving neighbours
South Africa. Mangongo had
replaced Andy Waller, who
was was given an overseeing
role in ZC.
WARNE FEELS HEAT AFTER
CALLING STARC �SOFT’
Shane Warne was in damage
control yesterday after
Australia coach Darren
Lehmann threatened to confront him after the spin great
blasted fast bowler Mitchell
Starc as “soft”.
During a commentary
stint during the second Test
in Brisbane on Wednesday,
Warne demanded more
aggression from an Australian team wilting in blistering
heat during the second Test
against India, singling out
Starc. “He has to change his
body language, it needs to be
stronger—he looks a bit soft,”
Warne said on Channel Nine.
“He needs to puff his chest
out a bit, look harder.”
Lehmann was not
impressed when later told
of the comment. “Soft? He
used those words?,” he said.
“That’s very harsh. I will take
it up with Shane myself.”
Warne backtracked, saying:
“I never at any stage called
Mitchell Starc soft. What
I did do was say his body
language and his presence
gave the appearance of being
nonchalant and he needed
to improve on his body
language, it all was a bit nice
and soft and easy, not him. I
stand by what I said because
I agree with it.”
FIRST TEST
Waqar wants Pakistan
to win Kiwis series
AFP
Abu Dhabi
SCORECARD
Zimbabwe
fire coach
Mangongo
his п¬Ѓrst one-day century in six
years and stand-in skipper Shahid Afridi who smashed 25-ball
49. “Younis’s form was very
important, he has shown us his
true potential,” said Waqar of
the 37-year-old batsman whose
103 went in vain as Pakistan
fell seven short when chasing a
challenging 300-run target.
New Zealand were guided to
299-5 by skipper Kane Williamson’s 123. “Afridi also batted well
and showed fighting abilities.”
Williamson said good partnerships built his team’s total.
“It was just about executing the
plans we had, and just trying to
build partnerships and it was
great to come back with the ball
in the second part of the Pakistan innings,” said Williamson.
“Pakistan kept coming, they
showed consistently how good
they are. To have 300 on the
board on a wicket that was tiring,
they pushed us and it was nice to
pick up some timely wickets at
the end and close it out.”
Williamson hoped his team
improves further today.
“It’s nice to bounce back,” said
Williamson
Amla, debutant Van Zyl punish West Indies
AFP
Centurion
H
ashim Amla hit his third Test
double century and Stiaan van
Zyl made a hundred on his debut before South Africa declared their п¬Ѓrst innings at 552 for п¬Ѓve on
the second day of the п¬Ѓrst Test against
the West Indies at SuperSport Park yesterday. Amla declared half an hour before
the scheduled tea break but rain prevented the start of the West Indian reply.
Amla made 208 and the left-handed Van
Zyl hit an unbeaten 101 on another day
of suffering for a depleted West Indian
bowling attack.
Left-arm spinner Suleiman Benn took
the only two wickets to fall yesterday,
dismissing AB de Villiers for 152 and having Amla caught on the long-on boundary. In between, Amla and Van Zyl put on
155 off 37 overs for the п¬Ѓfth wicket. Benn
was forced to toil for 46 overs and conceded a total of 148 runs.
The West Indies were without fast
bowler Kemar Roach, who left the п¬Ѓeld on
Monday afternoon after injuring his right
ankle. A team spokesman said scans had
revealed no significant damage and it was
hoped he would be able to bowl later in
the match. Roach’s injury left the tourists
with only three front-line bowlers, with
Jerome Taylor and Sheldon Cottrell pro-
lodge a bail when his score was on 25, was
content to let Van Zyl play the dominant
role in their partnership.
He had a let-off on 180 when he flicked
Taylor to midwicket, where Blackwood
leapt high and got both hands to the ball
but could not hold on.
Amla’s two previous Test double centuries, including a South African record
311 not out against England at The Oval
in 2012, were made overseas. This was his
п¬Ѓrst home double century in his п¬Ѓrst Test
as captain in South Africa.
South African batsman Stiaan
Van Zyl celebrates after scoring
his maiden international
hundred in Centurion. (AFP)
SCORECARD
viding pace and Benn needing to tie up
one end with spin. Although Taylor and
Cottrell bowled with more control than
on the п¬Ѓrst day, the West Indies were unable to prevent the total from mounting
steadily, despite captain Denesh Ramdin
setting defensive п¬Ѓelds.
There was early success when De Villiers sliced a flighted delivery from Benn
to Jerome Blackwood at point, ending a
South African Test fourth wicket record
partnership of 308 with Amla. The pair
had come together at 57 for three after
all three wickets fell without a run being
added.
Van Zyl started cautiously and was
troubled by the tall Benn early on, giving
a sharp, low chance to Kraigg Brathwaite
at leg gully when he had two. But he
quickly settled in and played some handsome drives on the off side.
He went to his century off 129 balls,
with 15 fours to become only the п¬Ѓfth
South African to make a hundred on Test
debut. It was an impressive innings but
quality of the bowling and п¬Ѓelding was at
times was short of international standard. Amla, who had a remarkable escape
on Wednesday when a ball from Roach
brushed his off stump but did not dis-
SOUTH AFRICA I (OVERNIGHT 340-3)
A. Petersen c Smith b Roach
27
D. Elgar c Samuels b Cottrell
28
F. du Plessis c Ramdin b Roach
0
H. Amla c Taylor b Benn
208
A. de Villiers c Blackwood b Benn
152
S. van Zyl not out
101
Q. de Kock not out
18
Extras (b8, lb6, nb2, w2)
18
Total (5 wkts dec, 140.3 overs) 552
Fall of wickets: 1-57 (Petersen), 2-57
(Elgar), 3-57 (Du Plessis), 4-365 (De
Villiers), 5-520 (Amla)
Bowling: Taylor 26.1-5-108-0, Cottrell
28-1-124-1 (2nb, 1w), Roach 15.5-4-52-2
(1w), Benn 46-7-148-2, Samuels 20-0-89-0,
Brathwaite 1-0-2-0, Blackwood 3.3-0-15-0
6
Gulf Times
Friday, December 19, 2014
SPORT
SPOTLIGHT
WADA decides
against Sun
Yang appeal
Chinese swimmer star was banned unannounced for failing
a doping test, which has not gone down well with WADA
Di Montezemolo
returns to F1 board
FOCUS
Djokovic, Williams
named best of 2014
DPA
London
A
London: Former Ferrari chairman Luca
Di Montezemolo (pictured) is returning to the board of Formula One as a
non-executive director along with former
Diageo chief executive Paul Walsh, controlling shareholders CVC said on Thursday. Bernie Ecclestone has also rejoined
the board, after standing down during a
now-resolved bribery trial in Germany,
and will continue as chief executive.
Di Montezemolo, whose appointment is
effective from Jan. 1, was a non-executive
director as Ferrari’s representative from
1991 to 2014 but he left the Italian sportscar company in October after a major
restructuring.
CVC said Nestle chairman Peter BrabeckLetmathe, who has been unwell, will continue to serve as chairman of the board.
Walsh had been touted as a possible
replacement for Brabeck, and ultimately
Ecclestone, but media reports have
indicated he wanted more of a say in
running the business than Ecclestone
was prepared to agree to.
Christmas is a bit of a
trial for Ecclestone
TP and WTA number
one players Novak
Djokovic and Serena
Williams were yesterday named 2014 World Champions by the International Tennis
Federation.
The ITF honour takes into account season performances at
the Tour and grand slam level.
Both Djokovic and Williams п¬Ѓnished atop their respective rankings at the end of the just-concluded season - Djokovic for the
third time on four seasons.
The Serb also won Wimbledon
in a season of seven titles while
Williams lifted the trophy at the
US Open for a third successive
year.
“I’m so honored to be named
ITF World Champion for the п¬Ѓfth
time. This was a year of challenges and triumphs, so to win
another Grand Slam and retain
my year-end number one ranking is an accomplishment I’m
very proud of,” Williams said in a
statement.
“I’m grateful to have the support of the tennis community in
every way possible. I can’t wait
for 2015.”
The doubles honours went to
US twins Bob and Mike Bryan,
named ITF men’s doubles champions; Italians Sara Errani and
Roberta Vinci took the women’s
doubles honour for the third
straight year.
BOOST
ITF plans prize money
hike for younger players
DPA
London
T
he International Tennis
Federation (ITF) plans to
increase prize money for
young players in lower
categories on the men’s circuit.
ITF director Kris Dent told dpa
it was planned to raise prize money
in the Futures tournaments to up
to 25,000 dollars from the current
10,000 from 2016.
An additional 10,000 dollars
will be made available to help
players with accommodation
and other expenses.
“We will increase prize money
and make sure that the tournaments cover the costs of board
and lodgings,” Dent said.
The plans need to be agreed by
the ITF board but Dent said there
was “a consensus in this matter”.
The Futures tournaments allow players to win career titles
and win their п¬Ѓrst points in the
world rankings.
Dent said there were more
tournament and higher prize
money than 10 years ago but
most were in Europe.
“We want more tournaments
and more players in Latin America, Asia and Africa,” he said.
REACTION
Sun Yang failed a doping test in May and was banned for three months by the Chinese federation but it was only announced
in November after Sun had won more titles at the Asian Games in Incheon. (AFP)
AFP
Paris
T
he World Anti-Doping agency
said Wednesday that it will not
appeal against a three-month
ban imposed against China’s
controversial double Olympic swimming champion Sun Yang but will
warn China over the case.
WADA had considered action after
Sun failed a doping test in May and
was banned for three months by the
Chinese federation but it was only announced in November after Sun had
won more titles at the Asian Games.
“WADA has reviewed the full case
п¬Ѓle for the Chinese swimmer Sun Yang
and has decided not to appeal the decision by the Chinese Swimming Federation to impose a three month sanction,” WADA spokesman Ben Nichols
told AFP in a statement.
“WADA has written to CHINADA
however, raising its concern over the
delayed public reporting of the case,”
the spokesman added.
Nichols said no other comment on
the Sun case would be made.
The WADA code says violations
must be publicly reported within 20
days and that decisions have to be sent
to WADA in the same time-period.
The China Anti-Doping Agency
(CHINADA) said it had been too busy
with other cases to announce Sun’s
suspension, despite his high profile.
The 1,500 metres world recordholder received his suspension in July
but it was backdated to May, when
he tested positive at China’s national
championships for the stimulant trimetazidine.
Sun completed the unannounced
ban on August 17 and in September, he
starred with three gold medals at the
Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.
The case raised new suspicions
about China’s doping stance. Australia
barred Sun from training at one establishment. But Chinese officials insist-
ed they handled the case properly.
Sun, 22, said after the test was announced that he was “shocked and depressed” over his positive test, which
he maintains was an accident.
He told his doping hearing that
he did not know the substance was
banned, and that he took it as part of
prescription medication for heart palpitations, according to state media.
Trimetazidine is currently banned in
competition, but from January 1 will be
downgraded and effectively no longer
considered a banned stimulant.
Despite being a national hero, Sun has
had several brushes with authority that
has given him a wild child reputation.
He had a public falling out with a
coach who said that a relationship
with an airline flight attendant was
distracting him from swimming.
Sun was banned from swimming for
six months and briefly jailed after he
was found to be driving without a licence. He was caught after his Porsche
was hit by a bus.
London: Formula One supremo Bernie
Ecclestone (pictured) has revisited
his German bribery trial in a mischievous Christmas card depicting himself
handing over $100 million to a masked
highwayman pointing a pistol at him.
“This is not a robbery. I am collecting
for the Bavarian state,” says the cartoon
figure on horseback as Ecclestone holds
the sack of money.
In a further greeting inside the card sent
to Reuters, Ecclestone adds another
tongue-in-cheek comment: “Maybe now
we can have a Formula One race in the
really nice city of Munich, Germany.”
Ecclestone paid $100 million in August
under the terms of a settlement agreement with prosecutors to end the bribery
trial in Munich.
The agreement meant Ecclestone, now
84, preserved his innocence and was
spared the prospect of a lengthy trial. He
had one week to pay the money -- $99
million to the state and $1 million to a
children’s charity—and did so.
Ecclestone had been accused of channelling cash to jailed BayernLB banker
Gerhard Gribkowsky to smooth the
sale of a major stake in Formula One to
private equity fund CVC, now the largest
shareholder in the business.
AFP
Paris
F
ormer star player Yannick Noah has offered an
apology of sorts for criticising France’s defeated
Davis Cup team saying that he
would keep quiet in the future.
Noah, who earned legendary
status in France by winning the
French Open in 1983 and captaining Davis Cup triumphs in
1991 and 1996 lashed out at the
team after they lost the Davis
Cup final to Roger Federer’s
Switzerland in Lille last month.
At the time he criticised the
preparations carried out by captain Arnaud Clement and said
that he was ready to resume the
role if the players wanted him to.
Clement, who was given a
new two-year contract despite
the loss in Lille, said he was
“shocked” by the criticisms and
insisted that Noah had no idea
what he was talking about.
“Okay - there we go that’s an
end to it,” Noah, who now is bet-
ter known as a reggae singer, said
in an interview with beIN Sports
TV.
“Excuse-me, sorry, sorry, the
next time I will keep my mouth
shut, say nothing for several
years.”
Noah insisted that he had
nothing
personally
against
Clement and had just said what
he believed.
“I just expressed an opinion
that was shared by the majority of the people who were in
the stadium (in Lille). And when
I said that, I was not having a go
at anyone. I was just watching a
tennis match.
“I have no desire to become
captain again. That is not at all
what I am about.”
The French were favourites to
win the Davis Cup п¬Ѓnal with a
trio of top players in Jo-Wilfried
Tsonga, Gael Monfils and Richard Gasquet at their disposal.
But an arm injury hampered
Tsonga and they were overwhelmed by Swiss stars Federer
and Stan Wawrinka who swept
into a winning 3-1 lead.
HOPMAN CUP
BOXING
Stevenson puts title on line against Sukhotsky
AFP
Quebec City, Canada
Isner and Paire step
in as substitutes
DPA
Perth
H
ard-hitting Adonis Stevenson
(pictured) puts his World Boxing Council light heavyweight
title on the line today for a third
time when he faces tough Russian challenger Dmitry Sukhotsky in Quebec City.
Stevenson has held the crown since
snatching it from Chad Dawson in June
2013, and while it’s not the unification
bout with Russian Sergey Kovalev that
most п¬Ѓght fans would prefer, the Canadian
champion said he’d have to be on his guard.
“He’s not here as a tourist,” said the
37-year-old champion. “He’s a tough guy
who has trained for 12 rounds. He’s in top
condition, and I’ll definitely have to be
careful.”
But Stevenson, who was born in
Haiti, still thinks he can be the first to
knock out Sukhotsky, who is 22-2 with
16 KOs.
“I’m not going to rush in,” said Stevenson, a southpaw who boasts a record of 24-1
with 20 KOs. “I’m going to take my time to
work him over and then finish him off.”
Sukhotsky, 33, will be getting his second
title shot. He lost a unanimous decision to
Juergen Braehmer for the German’s World
Boxing Organization belt in 2009.
“I feel in great shape and I’m glad I
I’ll keep quiet in future,
says Yannick Noah
J
have the opportunity to п¬Ѓght for a world
title,” Sukhotsky said, adding that he
wouldn’t be intimidated by the fiercely
pro-Stevenson crowd.
“The better boxer will win,” said the
Russian.
Although he says he can’t afford to
look past Sukhotsky, Stevenson acknowledged that Kovalev is on his
radar. He wants a 2015 fight with the
Russian who owns the WBO, International Boxing Federation and World
Boxing Association light heavyweight
belts.
Kovalev is next scheduled to meet
former world champion Jean Pascal, another Haitian-born Canadian, in Montreal on March 14.
ohn Isner will make a
Hopman Cup return for
the US team, with the national number one replacing injured Jack Sock in the lineup, officials confirmed yesterday.
Isner, who ranks 14th on the
ATP, will be joined in a replacement role by Benoit Paire, who
will play in place of French defending champion countryman
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Sock, the Wimbledon doubles
winner, underwent surgery and
will not play again until February. Serena Williams makes up
the female half of the American
side in the eight-nation mixed
team event as she plays the event
for the п¬Ѓrst time since 2008.
Isner will be playing the tournament for the п¬Ѓfth time.
“I always like playing in Perth.
It’s the perfect start to the year
and I always have a great time on
and off the court,” he said. “It’s not
good to hear Jack is battling injury
and I hope he gets well soon.
“I’ve been working hard in my
pre-season training and I’m excited to team up with Serena. I
hope we can do well.”
Tsonga is out with an arm injury which п¬Ѓrst troubled him at the
Davis Cup п¬Ѓnal loss last month to
Switzerland. He then did not help
his medical case by playing in the
IPTL exhibition series.
“I’m disappointed I have to
withdraw from the Hopman Cup
as I was looking forward to returning to Perth to play with Alize (Cornet),” Tsonga said.
“But a persisting injury to my
arm has given me no choice but
to withdraw from the event. I
hope to be back in Perth soon and
wish Benoit and Alize the best of
luck. I hope they can win another
Hopman Cup trophy for France.”
The event, which begins in less
than a fortnight, also features
Andy Murray, Eugenie Bouchard,
Nick Kyrgios and Casey Dellacqua.
Poland, runner-up last January to the French, will be represented by Agnieszka Radwanska
and Jerzy Janowicz while Flavia
Pennetta and Fabio Fognini will
represent Italy.
Gulf Times
Friday, December 19, 2014
7
SPORT
SPOTLIGHT
FOCUS
Gay’s former coach
Drummond banned
for eight years
�Coaches have an inherent responsibility to protect athletes’
Bolt against
changes to
athletics
programme
Reuters
Kingston, Jamaica
S
ix-times Olympic champion Usain Bolt said on
Wednesday reports suggesting the 200 metres
is among п¬Ѓve athletics events at
risk of being cut from the Olympic programme is “ridiculous”
and must not happen.
Bolt was responding to an article from Australia’s Fairfax
Media which said the event he
has won at the last two Summer
Olympics is one of п¬Ѓve key disciplines at risk.
“Normally I’m not a controversial person, but I think that’s
just stupid. Personally, track and
field is the highlight of the Olympics every edition, that’s not
even a question,” the Jamaican
sprinter told Reuters.
“So when you’re going to try to
take events away from the track
and field event, it is just ridiculous and I don’t think the IAAF
should stand for that at all.”
The International Olympic
Committee voted last week to
approve a wide-ranging package of reforms that could radically change the face of the amateur sporting world, but it did
not mention specific sports and
events.
The world governing body for
athletics said earlier this week
that no credence should be given
to “unfounded speculation” regarding possible changes to the
athletics programme at the Olympic Games.
“While the Olympic agenda
2020 recommendations were
passed at last week’s session, no
details or specific proposals have
yet been made by the IOC as to
how they will be implemented,”
the International Association
of Athletics Federation said in a
statement.
Jon Drummond in action at an event in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in April 2004. Drummond, who won an Olympic 4x100m relay gold at the 2000 Sydney Games, was Tyson
Gay’s coach when the latter was suspended for testing positive in two out-of-competition tests. (TNS)
AFP
Colorado Springs, Colorado
J
on Drummond, former coach of
US sprinter Tyson Gay, has been
banned for eight years after arbitrators ruled he possessed, trafficked and administered banned drugs to
an athlete he coached.
The US Anti-Doping Agency on
Wednesday announced the ban is to begin on December 17.
The ban prohibits the 46-year-old
former sprinter from coaching, training or advising athletes and participating or coaching at any event sanctioned
by USA Track and Field or the sport’s
global governing body the International
Association of Athletics Federations
(IAAF).
“Coaches have an inherent responsibility to protect athletes - not to take advantage of them - but to ensure that they
receive the support, training and advice
they need to win fairly and in accordance
with the rules,” USADA chief executive
Travis Tygart said in a statement.
Drummond was Gay’s coach when the
athlete was suspended in June 2013 after
testing positive for a banned anabolic
steroid in two out-of-competition tests.
As part of his punishment, Gay also
returned the silver medal he received for
the 4x100m relay at the London Olympics.
The former world champion’s ban was
reduced from two years to one by USADA
due to Gay’s co-operation, which included information that contributed to the
agency’s case against Drummond.
US sprinter Marshevet Hooker and
Trinidad and Tobago’s Kelly-Ann Baptiste, both of whom worked with Drummond, also provided information.
Drummond, who won an Olympic
4x100m relay gold at the 2000 Sydney
Games and was part of the elite John
Smith stable that included former 100m
world record holder Maurice Greene and
Trinidadian ace sprinter Ato Boldon, had
denied involvement in Gay’s positive
drug test.
But the panel of independent arbitrators found that Drummond was instrumental in connecting Gay with a chi-
ropractor named Clayton Gibson who
provided Gay with the DHEA that resulted in Gay’s positive test.
The panel ruled that Drummond
“failed to act in the manner expected of
a coach of athletes in the Olympic movement.”
Based on testimony from parties involved, the arbitrators were satisfied that
Drummond, who learned of Gibson from
Hooker, recommended that Gay consult
Gibson as a last resort in his efforts to
train and compete without pain.
The arbitrators found that Drummond
failed to intervene sufficiently when
Gibson showed him and Gay cremes labeled “Testosterone/DHEA,” “HGH” and
“Progesterone Creme” which were later
sent to the athlete in Oregon.
Drummond, who earned the nickname
�Clown Prince of the Track’ during his
athletics career, argued he advised Gay
not to use the cremes, but the coach nevertheless removed the labels and took
them to Europe at the athlete’s request,
and Gay used some of the products in July
of 2012.
Coach must be �watchdog’ -
Although both coach and athlete had
concerns about the cremes, Drummond
testified that he didn’t believe they contained banned substances.
“I didn’t know,” he said. “And so I
didn’t process it to even, like, think about
it.”
However, the arbitrators found that
Drummond knew Gay had used the
cremes when, as a US Olympic team relay
coach in 2012 he put Gay on the 4x100m
relay team at the London Games, where
the Americans won silver.
And after the Olympics, Drummond
“continued to facilitate Gay remaining
in contact with Dr. Gibson, even though
Drummond knew that Gibson had given
Gay cremes labelled as containing prohibited substances.”
“A coach cannot lead an athlete into
the danger of using prohibited substances,” the panel concluded. “A coach cannot
simply take the word of a person who recommends cremes whose labels identify
prohibited substances but who says that
the labels don’t mean what they say.
“A coach must be a watchdog when it
comes to prohibited substances.”
BOTTOMLINE
Kenya’s Kiptanui wants tough doping laws
Reuters
Eldoret, Kenya
K
enya’s three-time world 3,000
metres steeplechase champion
Moses Kiptanui has called for
tough sanctions on athletes who
fail doping tests, saying “big money” was
behind the cheating.
Dozens of Kenyan athletes have failed
drugs tests in the past two years with
government officials blaming the growing number of doping cases on foreign
agents and Athletics Kenya’s (AK) failure
to educate its athletes properly.
AK said on Monday that Kenyan distance runners Viola Chelangat Kimetto
and Joyce Jemutai Kiplimo failed drugs
tests and will be banned for two years,
adding that tests from п¬Ѓve other Kenyan
athletes have aroused suspicion.
The 1996 Olympics steeplechase silver
medallist Kiptanui, who won gold medals in 1991, 1993 and 1995 world championships in the same event, said doping
cases had risen alarmingly, and called on
governments to make new laws to jail the
culprits.
“Officials, athletes and their managers
are conspiring to cheat. Money, big money, is changing hands to beat the course of
fairness,” Kiptanui, 44, told Reuters.
“When I raised the red flag a few years
ago, officials condemned me... I was a top
athlete and I knew what was going on. I
am being vindicated,” added Kiptanui at
his department store in the north western town of Eldoret, where he also runs a
chain of businesses including real estate.
In October, Kenya’s Rita Jeptoo, winner
of the Boston and Chicago Marathons for
the last two years, failed an out-of-competition doping test, and was suspended
from competition pending testing of a B
sample to be carried out this week.
Kenyan distance runner and winner of this year’s London and New York
marathons Wilson Kipsang also missed
an out-of-competition drugs test in November, AK said on Tuesday.
Kipsang missed the test on Nov. 13, and
was requested by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) to
provide an explanation, which he did on
Nov. 23.
In a statement on Wednesday, Kipsang
accused AK of professional misconduct
by disclosing the matter to the public.
Kipsang said he missed the dope test
while representing Kenya at a global athletics conference in South Africa.
AK officials were not immediately
available to comment.
Kenya’s Rita Jeptoo, winner of the Boston and Chicago Marathons for the last two
years, failed an out-of-competition doping test. (Chicago Tribune/TNS)
WRESTLING
Ex-Olympic champ
Guenot banned for
doping violations
AFP
Paris
S
teeve Guenot (pictured),
who won wrestling gold at
the 2008 Beijing Olympics, was banned for a year
by the French anti-doping agency
(AFLD) yesterday for missing doping controls.
The 29-year-old six-time
French national champion, who
also won bronze in the 66kg category at the 2012 London Games,
п¬Ѓrstly failed to give details of his
whereabouts, which resulted in a
warning.
The former security guard on
the Paris regional transport network was also absent from his
house for two early morning outof-competition tests when he
should have been present.
The sanctions will end on
July 30, 2015. Guenot, who has
never tested positive for doping, will not appeal the decision
the French Wrestling Federation
(FFL) said.
He will miss the inaugural European Games in Baku in June, which
could hamper his bid for a ticket to
the 2016 Olympic Games, but will
compete in the world championships in Las Vegas in September,
the first stage in the qualification
process for Rio.
“Steeve is the first victim of
these breaches and deserves appropriate help in the coming
months not to turn his sanction
into a double punishment,” the
FFL said in a statement.
The FFL had pleaded “administrative negligence” and pointed
out that Guenot, France’s first
Olympic wrestling champion,
had been “regularly tested since
Beijing”.
8
Gulf Times
Friday, December 19, 2014
SPORT
NBA
NHL
Grizzlies claw out
victory over Spurs
�They kept making runs and we kept battling. It was one of those win-in-the-mud games’
Zach Randolph Memphis Grizzlies
(right) and Tiago Splitter of San Antonio
in action during their NBA game.
AFP
San Antonio
T
he Memphis Grizzlies
followed up their victory over league-leading Golden State with a
117-116 triumph over reigning
NBA champions San Antonio
in a triple-overtime thriller on
Wednesday.
Zach Randolph scored all six
of the Grizzlies’ points in the
third overtime, п¬Ѓnishing with 21
points and 21 rebounds.
The Grizzlies’ Spanish centre Marc Gasol added 26 points
and nine rebounds, delivering a
three-pointer as time expired in
regulation to force the п¬Ѓrst overtime.
Vince Carter made п¬Ѓve threepointers en route to 18 points and
Mike Conley added 14 points,
10 assists and eight rebounds
for the Grizzlies, who beat the
short-handed Spurs despite
squandering a 23-point lead.
Memphis have won six in a row
to improve to 21-4 on the season.
On Tuesday they snapped the
Golden State Warriors’ winning
streak at 16 games. “It feels good
to finally beat them,” said Randolph, whose Grizzlies had lost
nine straight to the Spurs including playoff clashes.
“They kept making runs and
we kept battling. It was one of
those win-in-the-mud games fight, fight, fight,” he said.
Danny Green connected on
seven of 13 three-point attempts
and п¬Ѓnished with 25 points and
seven rebounds for San Antonio, who dropped their second
straight. Tim Duncan had 23
points, 16 rebounds and three
blocked shots. His fadeaway
jump shot bounced off the rim
before falling in to knot the score
at 111-111 as time expired in the
second overtime. But Duncan
made just п¬Ѓve of his 15 free-throw
attempts as the Spurs п¬Ѓnished
13-of-27 from the foul line.
The Spurs were without veteran French point guard Tony
Parker, who missed another
game with a strained left hamstring, and Kawhi Leonard, who
suffered a left hand injury late in
a loss at Portland on Monday.
RESULTS
Phoenix 111
Atlanta 127
Boston 109
Dallas
117
Utah
105
Toronto 105
Memphis 117
Portland 104
Charlotte 106
Cleveland
98
Orlando
92
Detroit
106
Miami
87
Brooklyn
89
San Antonio 116
Milwaukee 97
Manu Ginobili scored 21
points for the Spurs, but missed
a seven-foot jump shot at the
end of the п¬Ѓrst overtime and
came up short on a three-point
attempt in the waning seconds
of the п¬Ѓnal overtime.
Another win for Raptors, the
beasts of the East
Kyle Lowry scored 20 points
and handed out 12 assists
Wednesday to lead Toronto to a
105-89 NBA victory over Brooklyn that made the Raptors the
п¬Ѓrst Eastern Conference team to
20 wins this season.
Patrick Patterson and Lou
Williams contributed eight
points apiece in the fourth quar-
ter and Lowry scored six as the
Raptors out-scored the Nets 2916 in the п¬Ѓnal frame to pull away
for their fourth straight win.
Toronto improved to 20-6
and have enjoyed three winning
streaks of at least four games
this season. Mason Plumlee had
23 points to lead Brooklyn, Joe
Johnson scored 17 and Mirza
Teletovic added 14 in the п¬Ѓrst
meeting between the Atlantic
Division rivals since the Nets’
seven-game win in the п¬Ѓrst
round of last season’s playoffs.
While the Raptors’ star remained on the rise, the Cleveland Cavaliers and superstar
LeBron James endured an embarrassing 127-98 pounding at
the hands of the Atlanta Hawks.
The Cavs, expected to be instant contenders in the East
thanks to the return of James after four seasons in Miami, were
out-scored 30-15 in the third
quarter on their home floor as
the Hawks avenged a lopsided
loss to Cleveland earlier in the
season. Shelvin Mack came
off the bench to hit six threepointers and score 24 points for
FOCUS
J
apan has six months to hammer
out a plan for merging its two
national basketball leagues, or
risk not qualifying for the 2016
Rio De Janeiro Olympics, a senior
International Basketball Federation
(FIBA) official said yesterday.
During a visit to Tokyo, FIBA secretary general Patrick Baumann repeated calls for the Japan Basketball
Association (JBA) to usher in reforms
by June, after the body suspended Japan from international competition.
Agencies
Vancouver
A
weak second period,
marred by a soft
goal on Eddie Lack,
was all the Vancouver Canucks needed to extend their losing streak to п¬Ѓve
games.
Kari Lehtonen stopped 27
shots for his second shutout
of the season and the 29th of
his career as the Dallas Stars
defeated Vancouver 2-0 on
Wednesday night.
Lack, starting for the п¬Ѓrst
time since December 7 in place
of No. 1 goalie Ryan Miller, said
Dallas’ first goal -- off a weak
backhand shot from Colton
Sceviour at 2:53 of the second
-- helped sway the momentum
of the game.
“It’s a weak goal, what else
can I say?” said Lack, who
made 27 saves. “I was kind of in
between -- should I get it with
my stick or with my glove? -and it just screwed me.”
Sceviour’s goal deflected off
the back of Lack’s glove and
in to give the Stars (12-13-5)
the only offence they would
need. Antoine Roussel added
an empty-net goal with 26
seconds remaining in the third
period.
“I was just trying to throw it
out to the front to maybe get a
rebound,” Sceviour said of his
goal. “I was fortunate enough
to get a bounce and it went in.”
After a slow п¬Ѓrst period,
Dallas increased its pressure
throughout the second, forcing 11 saves out of Lack, while
Vancouver could only muster
four shots -- including a clear
breakaway from Alexandre
Burrows that Lehtonen denied.
Vancouver (18-11-2), which
hasn’t scored a goal on the man
advantage since a victory over
the Capitals on Dec. 2, were
blanked on the night as the
Stars’ goalie made some key
saves throughout the game.
“We got to at least get the
momentum in our powerplay,” said Henrik Sedin. “That
didn’t happen in the second, I
think that’s what turned the
momentum around for them.”
The Canucks’ best chances
RESULTS
Ottawa 2 New Jersey
0
Boston 3 Minnesota 2 (OT)
Dallas
2 Vancouver
0
came in the first and third periods as they peppered Lehtonen’s goal with shots.
A Chris Higgins breakaway
in the п¬Ѓrst period was denied
by the Stars’ netminder.
“I thought our third period
was good, created stuff on the
last power play but you know
our second period wasn’t a
good period for us and it probably cost us the game,” said
head coach Willie Desjardins.
Jannik Hansen had a great
chance for Vancouver seconds
before the Stars’ opening goal,
stripping Jyrki Jokipakka at
the Dallas blue-line before
Lehtonen stopped him with a
glove save. The Canucks came
out stronger in the third period with both Chris Tanev and
Linden Vey aiming one-timers
at Lehtonen.
Lack had to make a couple of
big saves to keep his team in it
as the period wound down, including a breakaway shot from
Curtis McKenzie, which Lack
stopped with his pads.
Vancouver pulled its goalie
with 1:35 left as the Canucks
piled on the pressure, but
Roussel scored into the empty
net with 26 seconds to go.
Unlike Saturday’s game
when the Canucks found
themselves down 3-0 after just
6:46 of the п¬Ѓrst period, they
came out stronger Wednesday. Radim Vrbata had the
п¬Ѓrst chance, forcing Lehtonen
to make a glove save just 36
seconds into the game before
Hansen hit the side of the net a
few moments later.
Lack was largely left alone
for the п¬Ѓrst period as the Stars
only managed п¬Ѓve shots, but
Tyler Seguin rang a shot off the
crossbar before Jamie Benn had
a good look from the slot that
the Canucks goalie snagged
with his glove.
“There’s still bumps in our
road where we know if they get
momentum it takes it away so
we got to п¬Ѓnd ways to be better
every shift,” said Desjardins.
Dallas Stars defenseman Jyrki Jokipakka (left) collides with
Vancouver Canucks forward Radim Vrbata during the first period
of their NHL game at Rogers Arena in Vancouver. PICTURE: USA
TODAY Sports
49ers release lineman McDonald
�Japan has 6 months to
merge domestic leagues’
AFP
Tokyo
Atlanta who improved to 18-7,
their best start since the 200910 season.
James had 21 points, Dion
Waiters added 21 points off the
bench and Kevin Love provided
13 points, 10 rebounds and six
assists for the Cavaliers, who
have dropped three of their last
four games.
“I really don’t have too much
to say,” Cavaliers coach David
Blatt said. “That was embarrassing how we played.”
Miami, whose efforts to rebuild in the wake of James’ departure have been hindered by a
spate of injuries, endured another tough defeat, falling 105-87 to
Utah. Gordon Hayward scored
29 points with seven assists and
six rebounds as the Jazz overcame a 42-point effort by Heat
star Dwyane Wade.
Dante Exum, the Australian
rookie who was the п¬Ѓfth overall
pick in the 2014 draft scored 10
points off the bench for Utah,
following up a 12-point performance in a loss to New Orleans for his п¬Ѓrst back-to-back
games in double п¬Ѓgures.
Lehtonen earns 2nd
shutout of season as
Stars blank Canucks
“It will be impossible for the athletes to try to qualify for Rio, so
we have a very short window of six
months,” he told a press briefing,
adding that it will be a “very difficult
task, but not impossible”.
Baumann said a task force made up
of seven or eight people, including
Japanese Olympic officials, would
meet the first time at the end of January in a bid to break the impasse.
FIBA, the sport’s global governing body, issued the ban last month,
saying the JBA, which oversees the
game domestically, had not met its
requirements.
The JBA had failed to come up with
a plan to merge the communitybased professional bj League and the
National Basketball League, comprising corporate-sponsored teams.
Talks over the integration of the
two men’s leagues have faced difficulties because of a divide between
the NBL, which hopes to keep corporate team names and the bj League,
which stresses ties with host communities, local media have reported.
The ban from international competitions will be applied to both
men’s and women’s national teams,
and threatens to lock Japan out of
next year’s qualifiers for the Rio
games.
The San Francisco 49ers announced that they have released defensive lineman Ray McDonald.
“This is about a pattern of poor behavior,” 49ers general
manager Trent Baalke said Wednesday. “We expect a lot
from our players, hold them accountable for their actions.”
Earlier in the day, local law authorities said they were investigating McDonald on suspicion of sexual assault.
San Jose Police Department Sgt. Heather Randol said
an area hospital notified police late Tuesday night that a
woman was seeking treatment and that detectives had
searched McDonald’s San Jose home.
“The victim alleged she was possibly sexually assaulted a
day prior,” Randol said. “Based on preliminary investigation,
detectives secured a search warrant and served it at the
alleged suspect’s residence in San Jose.”
No arrests have been made, nor have charges been filed.
Baalke said that CEO Jed York and coach Jim Harbaugh
were involved in the decision to release McDonald. The
49ers notified the NFL office of the allegations against
the defensive lineman, Baalke said, adding, “This is a team
decision.”
“It’s not a situation you want to hear about. Very unfortunate,” quarterback Colin Kaepernick said. “He’s a good
friend to a lot of people on this team. No one thought bad
of him. Hopefully it’s just a misunderstanding. ... I understand why the team did what it did. Other than that, it’s not
my business.”
The NFL confirmed that the alleged incident is covered by
its new conduct policy. The league will conduct its own
investigation but will not interfere with law enforcement.
An NFLPA source told ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” that no
determination has been made on whether McDonald will
file a grievance over his release.
This marks the second time in recent months that McDonald has been the subject of a police investigation.
Last month, the Santa Clara County district attorney’s office
announced that it declined to file charges against McDonald in a domestic violence investigation stemming from his
August 31 arrest.
Prosecutors cited conflicting versions of what happened, a
lack of verifiable eyewitnesses and a lack of cooperation by
the alleged victim, McDonald’s fiancée.
McDonald had played all season despite pressure on the
49ers to bench him.“If this was one incident, we would be
standing up here talking about due process, like we have
multiple times, in multiple other situations,” Baalke said.
“But this is just a pattern of decision-making that Ray has
demonstrated over a period of time that, once again, it’s no
longer going to be tolerated.”
Baalke said he had numerous conversations with McDonald
in the wake of the August arrest and had set forth criteria
for McDonald to “stay in good standing” with the club.
In light of the second issue this week, Baalke said, “We
weren’t willing to deal with [it] anymore.”
Gulf Times
Friday, December 19, 2014
9
FOOTBALL FEATURES
SPOTLIGHT
Odegaard tries Bayern but is it
a case of too much, too young?
Norway’s 16-year-old midfielder Odegaard has trained with or at least visited top clubs Liverpool, Arsenal and Bayern
By Jonathan Wilson
The Guardian
I
n November 2003, Lionel Messi made his
debut for Barcelona in a friendly to inaugurate Porto’s new stadium. He was 16 years
and 145 days old, and the third youngest
player to play for the club. The youngest had
been Paulino AlcГЎntara in 1912, the secondyoungest Haruna Babangida in 1998.
The contrasting fortunes of the three say
much about the difficulties of predicting which
players will make it. Messi has gone on to be one
of the greatest payers in the history of the game.
Alcántara was – until Messi came along – Barcelona’s record goalscorer (and he gave up the
game at 31 to become a doctor). Babangida never
played a competitive game for Barcelona, won
only one cap for Nigeria and ended up drifting
through Metalurh Donetsk, Olympiakos, Apollon Limassol, Kuban Krasnodar, Mainz, Vitesse
and the Austrian second-tier side Kapfenberger
before retiring in 2012.
So while there is considerable excitement
about Martin Odegaard, who looks set to sign
for Bayern Munich, it must be tempered by the
acknowledgement that being a great 16-yearold does not mean you’ll be a great 18-year-old,
never mind a great 20-year-old or 26-year-old.
His promise is immense: there may be something slightly disturbing about the Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge describing somebody who has just turned 16 as “a
beautiful bride” and hoping that his club will be
the “fortunate groom”, as though Odegaard were
some medieval princess being touted round the
courts of Europe, but it is easy to see why he has
the elite so excited. Odegaard is technically gifted, plays with great imagination and brio, and
seems remarkably mature.
In October, winning his second cap for Norway, Odegaard, then aged 15 years and 300 days,
became the youngest player in European Championship history when he came off the bench
in a qualifier against Bulgaria. He has already
started 15 games for Stromsgodset and made a
further eight substitute appearances. As yet, the
attention seems not to have fazed him.
Initially the stories were of a grounded kid
with supportive, devoutly Christian parents –
and there can be little doubt that Odegaard has
had an easier upbringing than, say, Nii Lamptey,
Tema-born and who was named player of the
tournament at the Under-17 World Cup in 1991.
He had been abused by his parents and had taken refuge with a club in Kumasi.
He ended up fleeing Ghana in the boot of a car
to join up with an agent in Lagos, who negotiated his move to Anderlecht. Naive and isolated,
he was exploited by a series of agents and officials before Ron Atkinson helped sort out some
of the issues at Aston Villa. By then, though,
Lamptey’s early sparkle was already beginning
to be dimmed by injury. He ended up retiring in
2008 having played fewer than 200 club matches in his entire career.
Norway’s youngest player,
Martin Odegaard (centre) tries
to get past Svetoslav Dyakov
of Bulgaria during a Euro 2016
qualifying match in Oslo.
Odegaard’s father, Hans Erik, was a footballer
himself, playing for Stromsgodset and Sandefjord. He is now assistant manager of Mjondalen,
who were promoted to the Premier League last
season for the п¬Ѓrst time in 22 years. Who better to guide a teenager through the professional
game?
More recently, though, there has been disquiet. The last six months have felt like an extended
marketing exercise. Odegaard has done at least
a dozen major interviews and has trained with
or at least visited Liverpool, Arsenal and Bayern
Munich. Perhaps that is a sensible move, ensuring he has as much experience as possible and
could make an informed decision as to where he
wants to go – the equivalent of going on university open days.
And, equally, if he is confident doing interviews, why not raise his profile? The complaint
that footballers live in a bubble and never actually engage with the world is common enough; if
one is seeking to connect with the public, should
he really be discouraged? The way his father
gave his permission for Martin to be included
in the databases of Football Manager, tweeting
a picture of himself holding a cardboard sign,
suggested an encouraging willingness not to
take things too seriously.
The only proof of whether Odegaard’s advisers have got it right will be how he performs over
the next п¬Ѓve years or so. What they have done is
ensure he will make his debut for the п¬Ѓrst team
sooner rather than later – he will not molder in
the reserves of a big club as so many young talents do – but at the same time they have inflated
the pressure on him.
In that regard, the most apposite analogy
is probably less Lamptey than another player
born in Tema, Freddy Adu. He was 14 when he
made his much-hyped debut for DC United, but
his career never ascended beyond the 11 games
he managed for Benfica. He was given every
chance, played 87 games for DC United before
the age of 18, but Adu has played only 87 more
in the eight years since he left for Real Salt Lake.
FOCUS
Sitting at the top table with Speroni
Reuters
London
F
rom regular Premier League
football to being turned
away from his own restaurant which is doing so well at
weekends there are no free tables, life
is good for Julian Speroni.
There are regrets for the Crystal
Palace goalkeeper like being overlooked by Argentina’s national team
but they are outweighed by the benefits of his loyalty to his club in a career in Britain now in its 14th year.
Speroni is not with an elite club and
had to be patient to get where he is at
35 -- п¬Ѓrst for his chance to hold down
his place in goal at the south London
club, then a seven-year wait for promotion to the top flight. “Maybe the
opportunity to be in one of the best
leagues in the world came a little later
than I thought and would have liked
but it came and now I’m enjoying it,”
Speroni told Reuters in an interview.
“Obviously, you want these chances to come as early as possible to have
even more time to get to play in the
best tournaments in the world, the
Champions League, a World Cup, a
Copa America, that’s a dream that at
35 you see fading.”
He is a long way from thinking
about retirement, though, and involvement in a restaurant named
Speroni’s in Purley, halfway between
Palace’s Selhurst Park ground and his
home in Westerham in Surrey, has
broadened his horizons.
Speroni was 21 with just two п¬Ѓrstteam matches for modest Buenos
Aires outfit Platense under his belt
when he joined Dundee in 2001. He
and his wife Marina adapted to a new
culture and language with the help of
Crystal Palace’s Argentine goalkeeper Julian Speroni is in his 10th year at the club.
other Argentines at the Scottish club.
“I never saw going there as an
impediment, like to say I won’t go
because I don’t understand the language, because it’s cold or because it
rains,” he said. “At that moment (the
move) was to carry on with a dream
to reach as high as possible. In 2004,
when we came to England when
Crystal Palace bought me, we already felt almost at home and nearly
14 years have already passed since we
left Argentina and I can tell you now
we feel England is our home.”
He waited two years at Palace for a
regular п¬Ѓrst-team place before playing a big part in the long п¬Ѓght back
into the Premier League when he
was widely regarded as the best goalkeeper in the second tier. “The three
occasions when I had to renew my
contract with Crystal Palace I found
no reason to leave, I was comfortable
enjoying what I did, playing at a very
high standard,” he said.
There was uncertainty about his
future when the club went into administration in 2010 but Palace
survived and Speroni’s ties became
stronger. Palace decided to name to
their restaurant at the ground after
him, the request coming in an email
from the club secretary when he was
on holiday in his native Buenos Aires.
“I replied saying �are you sure this
email is for me?’ and she told me yes,
in your honour they want to call the
restaurant Speroni,” he said at the
club’s training ground eatery after a
practice.
“Of course, I said. It would be an
honour for me,” said Speroni, voted
the Palace supporters’ player of the
year a record four times. His restaurant specialises in Italian and Spanish
cuisine with an Argentine touch.
“I enjoy it, it’s fun, a challenge, you
have to make decisions, sometimes
difficult ones,” he said. “I try to go at
least once a week, I like to chat with
the people who go to eat there. I have
even gone on a Saturday and found
there were no tables available.”
Speroni does not entirely rule out
a move away from England but that
would need careful consideration
with two British-born children, a sixyear-old son who has started school
and a daughter born last month. “You
never know with football what might
happen next year my contract ends
and (if) an opportunity comes up
to go and play in the United States
or who knows where and it’s good I
might have to take it.”
He is now failing to get a game at the Serbian
club Jagodina.
Is he a wasted talent, or was he just never
that good in the п¬Ѓrst place, a physically precocious and skilful teenager who never developed
a tactical intelligence? He is still only 25, promise unfulfilled.
From the outside, Odegaard looks to have all
the attributes to be extremely successful. He
may be a Messi or he may be a Babangida, although the likelihood is he will be somewhere
in between. Application and luck will play their
parts, but it is also simply the case that players develop at different rates. Those who come
through п¬Ѓrst are not necessarily the best.
RUSSIAN ROUBLE
COLLAPSE COSTS
ARSENAL’S
USMANOV ВЈ516MN
Moscow: An index of the world’s
richest people has claimed that
Arsenal’s second largest shareholder
Alisher Usmanov has been among
the hardest hit by this week’s
collapse of the rouble, with the
Uzbek-born businessman losing
$809m (ВЈ516mn) in the last 48 hours,
while Chelsea’s Roman Abramovich
lost nearly $450m (ВЈ287mn).
The Russian currency has fallen
to its lowest value in more than a
decade as a result of falling oil prices.
That has led to major losses among
some of the country’s oligarchs, with
a total of $10mn (ВЈ6.4mn) wiped
off their collective fortunes since
Monday night.
According to Bloomberg’s
Billionaires index, Usmanov – who
owns 30% of Arsenal’s shares –
suffered the most losses of $809m
to leave his personal fortune at an
estimated $13.4bn (ВЈ8.5bn). The
Chelsea owner Abramovich came in
third on the list and is now worth an
estimated $12.8bn (ВЈ8.2bn).
10
Gulf Times
Friday, December 19, 2014
FEATURE
GOLF YEARENDER
What made the greens
memorable this year
Proof that he was back arrived at
Sawgrass in May. He wobbled over the
closing stretch – holing a much-needed
and terrific putt for par on the iconic 17th
– in emphasising the nerves attached to
such a position. Kaymer was to win the US
Open at a canter in June; it was his Players
success which confirmed the German once
again as among world golf’s elite.
By Ewan Murray
The Guardian
1) Rory McIlroy claims the US
PGA Championship
M
cIlroy will cite the Open at Hoylake
as the highlight of his golfing year. At
Valhalla, though, onlookers were treated to
a new side of the McIlroy makeup. When
things got tough, he rose to a challenge
he would have struggled with in previous
years.
He looked a tormented п¬Ѓgure when stepping on to the 10th tee on Sunday, struggling for inspiration and trailing Rickie
Fowler by three shots.
The Northern Irishman was to roar back
to lift the Wanamaker Trophy for a second
time, thereby illustrating an ability to win
from entirely different situations. Fowler
and Phil Mickelson were swatted aside;
McIlroy was right to revel in the nature of
victory.
2) Phil Mickelson breaks
Ryder Cup rank
S
o much for anodyne, doom-ridden losing press conferences.
Phil Mickelson’s epic broadside towards
Tom Watson at the culmination of the
Ryder Cup provided easily the most newsworthy moments of an event which Europe
had once again won with consummate
ease. Never mind Watson, everyone in that
room was shellshocked.
Many people criticised Mickelson for
embarrassing Watson so publicly. In reality,
and in this world of monotone sportspeople, Mickelson should be praised for saying
precisely what he thought and caring sufficiently about defeat. Watson always looked
a questionable USA captaincy choice, a
theory only confirmed over three days at
Gleneagles. Mickelson only let himself
down by trying to deny the obvious intention of his words.
3) The rise and rise of Charley
Hull
8) The Royal & Ancient admits
women members
O
Alex Ferguson (left) with European Ryder
Cup captain Paul McGinley.
The former Manchester United manager
was Paul McGinley’s secret weapon – until
his appearance pacing the Perthshire
fairways. He motivated the European team,
teased caddies and revelled in his own reappearance in something akin to a management environment. Ferguson benefitted,
Europe benefitted and the Ryder Cup was a
better place for his involvement.
5) McIlroy ends his
engagement to Wozniacki
I
f it appears distasteful to raise such a
personal matter we must remember that
McIlroy’s break-up with the tennis star had
an immediate, positive and direct influence
on his professional life. Within days of the
news breaking, McIlroy claimed the PGA
Championship at Wentworth. He did not
look back from there.
McIlroy has since looked in a far happier, more relaxed place. He is without the
distraction of a celebrity relationship and
needn’t bother chasing around the globe
to attend tennis events although some may
debate whether his actions were heartless,
poorly timed or whatever.
6) Augusta National mourns
the death of Ike’s tree
W
omen’s golf should cherish its rising
star. So should the UK, where the
18-year-old Ladies European Tour order
of merit winner does not really gain the
attention and credit she is due.
Just as admirable as Hull’s golf is her
refusal to stand on ceremony. That much
was apparent in recent weeks, as Hull
visited the United States to play in qualifying school for the LPGA Tour. Even if she
had progressed through that stage, the
Kettering teenager made it clear she is not
yet of a mind to spend much time on the
other side of the Atlantic anyway. “I hate
Q-School,” Hull said. The good thing is,
she won’t need to bother with it for much
longer, if again.
ith apologies to nature lovers everywhere, there was something utterly
comical about Augusta National’s reaction
to the enforced removal of the Eisenhower
Tree, previously of 17th hole fame.
A serious Georgia storm had battered
the poor tree beyond the point of recovery.
It would have been a felony to mention
the thing actually looked unsightly in any
case. Or, indeed, to point out the complete
triviality of this incident.
Billy Payne, Augusta’s chairman, cut a
solemn figure in April. “The loss of the tree
is difficult news to accept,” said Payne. “I’ll
make a confession here; at the time it happened I was bone п¬Ѓshing in the Bahamas. I
received the emergency call and got back as
quick as I could.”
Yes, really.
4) Sir Alex Ferguson inspires
Europe to Ryder Cup victory
7) Martin Kaymer wins the
Players Championship
M
K
W
aybe it is a sad indictment on golf
that it takes a marquee name from
the world of football to stoke interest, but
Fergie’s appearance at Gleneagles was a
welcome case of boundary-breaking. It
added theatre.
aymer’s slide into the golfing doldrums
from an earlier position of No1 in the
world caused bemusement to many. It only
forced Kaymer, who was already one of the
most dedicated players in the game, to try
even harder.
K, so this may be akin to praising a
grown adult for tying their own shoelaces. But the R&A’s breaking down of ageold barriers – and discrimination – was
hugely significant. This passed without any
incident at all, which left you wondering
why on earth it had taken so long.
It also offered a positive legacy for
Peter Dawson, the departing chief executive of the R&A’s corporate wing. Owing
to nothing more than his prominence,
Dawson has been on the receiving end of
a fair bit of stick in relation to R&A policies and values.
In truth, he has done a considerable
amount of п¬Ѓne work for the organisation, which is more forward-thinking and
commercially orientated than ever before.
Dawson’s legacy should be a positive one.
9) Oliver Wilson wins at last
T
he scale of joy bestowed on Oliver
Wilson from across the spectrum said
everything that was required after the
Englishman won the Dunhill Links Championship.
Wilson was tipped as a star of world golf
before a slide into oblivion that left even
optimistic observers wondering if he would
ever justify the earlier hype. He required
an invite even to play in the Dunhill event;
having previously played in the Ryder Cup,
Wilson by his own admission got to the
place where he “couldn’t shoot 80 on the
Challenge Tour”.
At St Andrews, this entire dynamic
and Wilson’s prospects changed. Wilson
saw off the likes of McIlroy to win his п¬Ѓrst
European Tour event. He had played in 228
before that, п¬Ѓnishing second nine times.
The €625,000 first prize almost seemed
irrelevant in the wider scale.
10) Monty’s majors
P
lenty of people have plenty to say about
Colin Montgomerie but his boundless
capacity to provide plentiful news copy
shows no sign of abating. This was the year
in which Monty moved fully into senior
golf; winning two major championships
in the process. Both of them in the United
States, no less.
Typically, and wrongly, the Scot seemed
to class these awards as every bit as significant as the main four major championships. We should forgive him that; Monty’s
inability to prevail at the US Open, Open
Championship, Masters or US PGA Championship undermined what was otherwise
a terrific career.
Good on him for maintaining a competitive edge at the age of 51. Monty will be
prominent for a while yet.
Rory McIlroy dominated golf in 2014, winning two Majors, recapturing the
world number one spot and starring in Europe’s latest Ryder Cup triumph.
Gulf Times
Friday, December 19, 2014
11
SPORT
HIGHLIGHT
�Qatar chosen as the host of 2022 World Cup
is a real defining moment for Asian football’
“The continent loves the game
and we play it well, although of
course we need to improve. But
when the game is played on our
own continent, all of Asia will
rise and stand in support of each
other. I think that will be the
biggest contribution of the Qatar
2022 World Cup”
Qatar hosting the World Cup in 2022
will be catalyst for improvement of
Asian Football, says AIFF President
Praful Patel
By Sports Reporter
Doha
W
ith the Indian community
forming an important part
of Qatari society, football
in both countries is set
to benefit substantially from the 2022
FIFA World Cup Qatar, according to the
chief of the All India Football Federation (AIFF). Following recent successes
in raising the profile of the Indian domestic football league, AIFF President
Praful Patel has said that his country
has a major football dream – to qualify
for the FIFA World Cup in 2022.
Patel was in Manila recently for the
Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC)
60th anniversary, and took the opportunity to view the Supreme Committee
for Delivery & Legacy (SC)’s booth containing stadium models and information about the tournament. Clearly im-
AIFF president Praful Patel (left) viewing the Supreme Committee for Delivery &
Legacy’s booth containing stadium models and information about the tournament.
pressed by what he saw, Patel believes
the FIFA World Cup in Qatar will be a
catalyst for the improvement of Asian
football.
He told www.sc.qa: “In Qatar, as you
know, almost half the population is Indian. So if we qualify by 2022, it will be
a huge leap not only for India, but for
the Asian game.
“I am very happy that Qatar has
been chosen to host the 2022 edition
of the World Cup and I think this is a
real defining moment for Asian football,” Patel added.
“The continent loves the game and
we play it well, although of course we
need to improve. But when the game
is played on our own continent, all
of Asia will rise and stand in support
of each other. I think that will be the
biggest contribution of the Qatar
2022 World Cup.”
With the Indian Super League
(ISL) already one of the world’s most
watched leagues after only eight weeks,
the future looks bright for Indian football. Kushal Das, the AIFF’s General
Secretary, said before the AFC event
that by 2020, India’s principal league,
the Indian Premier League (IPL) and
the ISL would merge into one.
The AIFF chief thinks this would not
only help India’s chances of qualifying for major tournaments, but also
increase the culture and development of football in a country that FIFA
President Sepp Blatter has described as
“football’s sleeping giant.”
CLOSE HISTORIC TIES BETWEEN
QATAR AND INDIA
With both Qatar and India set to host
major football tournaments in the
coming years as India prepares to host
the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup, Patel
highlighted the close historic links between the two countries.
He said: “Qatar and India have historic and cultural ties, and that’s why
we believe that Qatar and India must
both work together to build up the
culture of football in our countries.
The fact that Qatar is hosting the 2022
World Cup means that we have now
started building up our own game. We
hope that by then [2022] we can qualify
for the World Cup, I think it will be a
great opportunity for India.”
Patel added that his country was also
readying further bids as it increases the
profile of the game in the coming years.
“We hope to bid for the FIFA Club
World Cup in 2017 and 2018, and we
want to prepare a successful bid for the
U-20 World Cup by 2020, in addition to
the U-17 World Cup which we will host.
All these are stepping stones. Small
steps, but important steps for developing football in India.”
With India already having participated in the 2011 AFC Asian Cup in
Qatar, another participation in 2022
would be a dream achievement for Indian football and the large community
living in the country.
2014 UIM F1 H2O WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Qatar’s Carella,Torrente
qualify second and fifth for
Sharjah title showdown
�Now the start is so important. Alex will need to try and hunt Philippe down at the first turn and try and get the lead’
By Our Correspondent
Sharjah
Results & Standings
Qualifying results:
1. Philippe Chiappe (FRA)
China CTIC Team
44.33sec
2. Alex Carella (QAT)
Qatar Team
45.12sec
3. Jonas Andersson (SWE)
Team Sweden
45.55sec
4. Sami Selio (FIN)
Mad-Croc Baba Racing Team
46.56sec
5. Shaun Torrente (QAT)
Qatar Team
47.15sec
6. Ahmed al-Hameli (ARE)
Team Abu Dhabi
47.53sec
T
he Qatar Team’s Alex Carella
and Shaun Torrente qualified in second and fifth positions for what promises to be
a fascinating showdown for the UIM
F1 H2O World Championship title at
today’s 15th Grand Prix of Sharjah on
Khaled Lagoon.
Outright victory in today’s race will
give Carella the title, but his teammate
needs to win and hope that pole position winner and series leader Philippe
Chiappe does not п¬Ѓnish second. Fractions of a second separated the leading six drivers throughout the three
qualifying sections and this sets up the
prospect of п¬Ѓreworks at the п¬Ѓnal race
of the season.
The lead in qualifying swapped all
afternoon, but Chiappe’s flying lap of
44.33sec in the Q3 shoot-out swung
the advantage in the Frenchman’s
favour heading into the race today.
Carella’s second place was sufficient
for the Qatar Team driver to secure the
UIM F H2O Pole Position Championship by a single point, but Torrente will
start the race from п¬Ѓfth after suffering
fuel problems in Q3.
“It is going to be very difficult for us
now. Philippe was fast out there and
this changes our strategy,” said Khalid
bin Arhama al-Kuwari, head of formula racing at the Qatar Marine Sports
Federation (QMSF). “Now the start is
so important. Alex will need to try and
hunt Philippe down at the п¬Ѓrst turn
and try and get the lead. I am sure that
Shaun will also be pushing hard and
trying to make up the time. He had fuel
feed problems in the Q3 qualifying and
was not able to push hard.
“On a positive note, the whole team
is delighted that Khalid (al-Kuwari)
secured his п¬Ѓrst win in F-4S and I am
sure he will be pushing hard again on
Friday. There is little damage to Mohammed’s (al-Obaidly) boat, so he will
be okay for the next race.”
Khalid Abdullah al-Kuwari and Mohammed al-Obaidly qualified on pole
position and in sixth place for the п¬Ѓrst
of the weekend’s two F-4S Trophy races. Al-Obaidly was sidelined after an
accident on the п¬Ѓrst turn after the rolling start lap, but al-Kuwari went on to
reach the chequered flag in front of all
his rivals to claim a maiden F-4S victory and the biggest result of his career.
Mike Szymura claimed the 2014
F-4S Trophy Championship title with
one race to spare.
QUALIFYING
Never had pole position been more important than at the 15th Grand Prix of
2014 UIM F1 H20 Pole Position
Championship – final positions:
1. Alex Carella (QAT)
63 pts
2. Philippe Chiappe (FRA)
62
3. Shaun Torrente (QAT)
54
4. Jonas Andersson (SWE)
48
5. Sami Selio (FIN)
44
6. Yousef al-Rubayan (KWT)
24
7. Ahmed al-Hameli (ARE)
14
8. Erik Stark (SWE)
12
9. Duarte Benavente (PRT)
9
10. Francesco Cantando (ITA)
5
10. Marit Stromoy (NOR)
5
Alex Carella of Italy of F1 Qatar Team at UIM F1 H20 Powerboat Grand Prix of Sharjah.
Sharjah yesterday. Chiappe and Carella
knew that an outright win would give
them the world title, but they had to
negotiate the Q1 session first – 20
minutes where the slowest four boats
would be eliminated on the 2.2km,
п¬Ѓve-pin course.
Carella set the early pace with a lap
of 47.97sec and that was matched by
Ahmed al-Hameli. Torrente surpassed
the time with a tour of 46.65sec to
virtually secure his place in Q2. Chiappe was quickest at the end of the
20-minute stint with a lap of 46.28sec,
but Bartak Marszalak did not start and
was joined by Duarte Benavente, Marit
Stromoy and Jesper Forss on the list of
eliminations.
Sami Selio laid down the gauntlet
with a lap of 46.92sec at the start of
Q2 and moved in front of Carella, alHameli and Torrente with 15 minutes
remaining. But Carella hit back with a
time of 46.18sec, as Torrente slipped to
seventh and needed to speed up in the
remaining 10 minutes to get back into
the top six.
Eventually won the Q2 session with
a last minute lap of 45.75sec and was
joined in the shoot-out by Chiappe, alHameli, Sami Selio, Jonas Andersson
and Carella. Ziwei Xiong, Yousef alRubayan, Filip Roms, Thani al-Qamzi,
Erik Stark and Francesco Cantando
failed to reach Q3.
Al-Hameli set the target time of
47.53sec on his only lap and that
was beaten by Selio’s second lap of
46.56sec. But Sweden’s Andersson was
even faster on his opening lap and improved still further on his second tour
to clock a 45.55sec.
The championship top three remained and Carella was п¬Ѓrst up. He
stormed to the top of the rankings with
an opening lap of 45.24sec and improved with a second lap of 45.12sec.
Chiappe was not to be denied and
the Frenchman slammed the door on
Carella with a tour of 44.33sec.
But Torrente struggled to an opening
time of 47.94sec and opted for a second run in a desperate attempt to claim
pole, but the disappointed Qatar driver
only improved to 47.15sec and settled
into п¬Ѓfth position.
The Qatar Team had made their
statement of intent as early as the official practice session yesterday morning. Torrente and Carella ran for 33
and 36 laps respectively and Torrente
topped the session times with a hot lap
of 45.33sec. It was the п¬Ѓrst psychological blow for the American, but Carella
and Chiappe were a mere 0.14sec and
0.16sec behind. The three were the
class of the 16-boat п¬Ѓeld.
F-4S RACE ONE
Khalid Abdullah al-Kuwari and Mohammed al-Obaidly continue to improve at every race they tackle and
al-Obaidly won the morning’s free
practice session with a quickest lap of
56.69sec. He couldn’t repeat the feat in
the time trials, however, and it was alKuwari who claimed pole position with
a lap of 57.18sec to head Bingchen Wu
and series leader Mike Szymura into
the 20-lap race. Al-Obaidly lined up in
sixth of the nine starters.
Al-Kuwari has struggled from the
start in recent races and he fell behind
his Chinese rival on the start lap. AlObaidly climbed to fifth, but the yellow flag was raised soon afterwards
after the Qatari flipped his boat out of
contention. Four laps later the green
flag was raised and al-Kuwari regained
the race lead from Wu, Szymura and
Briney Rigby.
The Qatari maintained a lead of
3.2sec over Szymura through lap nine
and retained his composure through
the middle of the race and into the latter stages to snatch his п¬Ѓrst ever F-4S
victory and the best result of his career.
Second place for Szymura was sufficient for the German to claim a second
successive F-4S Trophy title. Rigby
came home in third place.
Further free practice and F-4S time
trials are scheduled for today morning and the п¬Ѓnal F-4S Trophy race п¬Ѓres
into life at 14.30hrs. The Grand Prix of
Sharjah will bring down the curtain
on the season from 16.00hrs (15.00hrs
Qatar time).
2014 F-4S Trophy – Race 1 result:
1. Khalid Abdullah al-Kuwari (QAT)
Qatar Team
20 laps
2. Mike Szymura (DEU)
F1 GC Atlantic Team
@ 3.34sec
3. Briney Rigby (AUS)
Team Sweden
@ 8.26sec
4. Ronny Mathys (SUI)
Mad-Croc Baba Racing @ 33.37sec
5. Mickus Sigitas (LIT)
Team Nautica
@ 42.37sec
6. Mohammed al-Mehairbi (ARE)
Team Abu Dhabi
L1
7. Jan Andre Landsnes (NOR)
Motorglass F1 Team
L1
Bingchen Wu (CHN)
China CTIC Team
DNF
Mohammed al-Obaidly (QAT)
Qatar Team
DNF
F-4S Trophy – latest positions:
1. Mike Szymura (DEU)
134 pts
2. Briney Rigby (AUS)
106
3. Khalid Abdullah al-Kuwari (QAT)
68
3. Jan Andre Landsnes (NOR)
68
5. Mohammed al-Obaidly (QAT) 48
6. Bingchen Wu (CHN)
24
7. Ronny Mathys (SUI)
23
8. Joakim Halvorsen (NOR)
21
9. Jesper Forss (SWE)
20
10. Mickus Sigitas (LIT)
19
The Grand Prix of Sharjah will
bring down the curtain on the
2014 season.
Friday, December 19, 2014
SPORT
GULF TIMES
QATAR STARS LEAGUE - ROUND 15 PREVIEW
Sadd look for �big reaction’
from players after first loss
�After the defeat against Shahaniya we need a big reaction from our players. We lost because of the mistakes that we made’
Al Sadd players react after their 1-3 defeat by Al Shahaniya in the previous round of the Qatar Stars League, which was their first loss this season. (Right) Sadd coach Hussein Ammouta wants players to forget what happened and focus on winning again.
By Sports Reporter
Doha
T
he 15th round of the Qatar
Stars League kicks off today
and all teams will be looking to
restore some kind of normalcy
after the roller coaster results that the
previous two rounds have produced.
The team that was п¬Ѓrmly in the
limelight in those two rounds was Al
Wakrah, who embarrassed Al Gharafa
6-1 and then defeated El Jaish 2-1,
making everybody sit up and take notice. Gharafa who were at the receiving end against Wakrah, were involved
in another seven-goal thriller against
Umm Salal but ended up losing 3-4.
And then to make matters exciting in
the title race, Al Shahaniya produced a
strong counter attacking game to down
table toppers Al Sadd 3-1, making them
drop to second in the rankings.
“Strange” was how most of the
coaches described these results during
the pre-match press conferences and
that means teams will be looking to win
this round of QSL matches before going
into what will be a long, long break due to
the upcoming AFC Asian Cup.
Sadd, playing against Kharaitiyat,
will be hoping to put their п¬Ѓrst loss
this season behind them and will be
favourites going into this match con-
sidering that their opponents are currently 12th in the rankings.
“After the defeat against Shahaniya
we need a big reaction from our players. We need to forget what happened.
We lost because of the mistakes that we
made. This game needs 100 per cent
concentration. We need to continue to
create opportunities to score and convert them,” said Sadd coach Hussein
Ammouta during the pre-match press
conference.
“Our last game wasn’t bad but we
made some mistakes that gave the opponents chances to score. We were in
the opponent’s area 52 times against
their 17 times. We made more passes
than them. There was a big gap in the
stats but they were more efficient. We
still have a chance to come back strong,
we only need to concentrate and focus
during the game,” he added.
This will be the п¬Ѓrst game for
Kharaitiyat’s interim coach, Yasser alSibaei and he will be keen to start on a
good note. “The ambition of the team’s
management is to be in a good place
in the rankings. I will try to continue
working with the team in order to fulfil
that goal. This won’t be an easy game.
We are playing the joint leaders in the
table. We have the quality to stop Sadd
and end on a high before the break
comes.”
“Sadd is coming from a defeat
Fixtures
Today
Al Shahaniya vs Al Sailiya
Lekhwiya vs Al Khor
El Jaish vs Umm Salal
Al Sadd vs Al Kharaitiyat
4pm
4pm
6:30pm
6:30pm
Tomorrow
Al Arabi vs Al Gharafa
Al Shamal vs Al Wakrah
Al Ahli vs Qatar SC
4pm
4pm
6:30pm
against Al Shahaniya. We need to use
that situation and ensure we don’t
give them a chance to react against us.
They have lost п¬Ѓve points in the last
two matches so they will come at us
strongly. But we also have the ambition
to fight for the points,” he added.
The other team in a bit of a spot in
Jaish who will be playing their п¬Ѓrst
match after the exit of their coach
Nabil Maaloul. Their previous three
games have seen them lose two and
draw one. They will be playing Salal,
who are currently on a nine-match
unbeaten run, including their exciting
4-3 win over Gharafa.
Jaish’s Abdelkader Megaseeb, technical director for all the youth teams,
has been handed the reins and he is
confident that his team will bounce
back. “El Jaish have always had good
relationships with the Gulf countries.
When Nabil Maaloul was called for the
Kuwait post, the team management
agreed to release the coach because of
these good relations. And since I am
the technical director for the youth
teams, I was called in to lead during
this transitional period. “
“I am happy to work with these talented players. The team needs a bit of
tuning. We will work on this and try
and get more points. Last season too
we were in a similar state but came
back strongly. We hope to repeat that
this season too. The game against Salal
is very important for us. We need to get
back to winning ways before the break.
El Jaish will do everything it can to regain the position it deserves.”
Salal assistant coach Thamer Abdullah was aware that his team haven’t
won against Jaish in a long time but
was confident that the result would be
in his favour. “Salal hasn’t won against
Jaish in a long time but we are ready.
We have the confidence. We also know
that Jaish will be trying to come back
strongly but we will be ready for them.
We have a strong defensive unit, the
second best in the league right now but
we conceded п¬Ѓve goals in the last two
games. So we are trying to resolve this.
In the seven matches before that we
conceded only once.”
“We know where Umm Salal is in the
rankings. The QSL has been strange
these last two rounds. We won one
game and we came back to the top 4.
The game against El Jaish will be very
difficult but we need to win this game
and take three points in order to stay in
third place in the rankings. We want to
end on a high, especially because of the
break,” he added.
LEKHWIYA TAKE ON AL KHOR
The team that has benefitted from
Sadd’s loss is Lekhwiya who now find
themselves at the top of rankings. But
Lekhwiya coach Michael Laudrup is
wary of the lower ranked teams because of the results in the previous two
rounds. “At this point Sadd and us are
the two teams, side by side vying for
the title. Also at this moment there is
quite a gap down to the third and fourth
placed teams. We have however seen
some very surprising results in the last
two rounds. We have seen Sadd losing
points to two bottom teams. We have
seen Wakrah win big against Gharafa,
Sailiya winning against Jaish,” he said.
“And the team we are playing on Friday, Al Khor, have also got some good
results. I saw them against Umm Salal.
They came very close to a win but п¬Ѓnished 3-3. This shows that teams in the
lower half of the table are doing well at
the moment. It also shows that even if
you are the better team, if you are not
focused then you can end up on the
losing side.”
“The match between Shahaniya and
Al Sadd was definitely a lesson for us
too. Sadd had the ball all the time but
Shahaniya had a few counter attacks
and scored from them. If a team attacks like how Sadd or we do, then you
are always at a risk of conceding goals.”
Lekhwiya’s opponents, Khor, are
coming off a 1-0 win over Arabi but
know that Laudrup’s boys will be a
much tougher opposition.
“We are facing Lekhwiya, one of the
best teams in the QSL. We will do our
best to collect some points. It will be
hard but the league is a competition.
Every week you face the same challenges. We have to respect that and try
and reach our aims,” said Khor coach
Lazlo Boloni
“We have been through a slump but
we are recovering. When results start
to go your way, you start to feel better.
When you win one game you feel more
powerful, the jokes in the dressing
room increase.”
“At Al Khor, I never saw an atmosphere where it was difficult to work.
The players listen to me and listen to
our president even in very difficult
moments. This is a team with which
you can work easily. Of course winning
does make matters easy for everybody
in the team.”
LOSAIL MX CHAMPIONSHIP, ROUND 3
Kuwait’s Jaffar looks to extend championship lead
Barak al-Jasmi in action.
By Sports Reporter
Doha
T
he third round of Losail MX
Championship will be held at
the Losail MX track today.
In the MX1 category, the
Kuwaiti rider Mohamed Jaffar is leading the championship with 100 points,
after winning all the rounds of this
season. “I am really looking forward to
the Round 3 and I hope to get the good
results like in the previous rounds so
that I continue to lead the championship and increase the points gap to Meshary Abou Shaibah. For this round, the
level of competition will be higher as
more riders from outside are joining the
event but this is good for the championship,” said Jaffar.
Meshary Abou Shaibah with 88
points and Abdullah al-Shatti with 72
points, also both from Kuwait, are second and third respectively in the MX1
category.
In the MX2 category, Barak al-Jasmi
is leading his category with 92 points
and Abdullah al-Raqum is second with
74 points.
Kuwait’s Mohammed Jaffar in action during one of the previous races.
The action will start at 9:55am with
the Free Practice followed by the Qualifying Practice at 10:45am The п¬Ѓrst race
is scheduled at 1:00pm and the second
race at 3:00pm. It promises to be an exciting affair.

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