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Tuesday 13 August 2013

6 Shawwal 1434 - Volume 18

Number 5790 Price: QR2

C E R T I F I E D N E W S P A P E R

ISO 9001:2008

Murder victim’s friends recall camp horror‘Attackers were inebriated’DOHA: Sketchy details of how the young Indian man who was attacked in a labour lodging in Al Sailiya on Saturday midnight and died have come to light, and they reflect the state of affairs at some labour camps.

The deceased, Shameer, had been to the labour camp with his elder brother, Saleem, a lit-tle after midnight on Saturday to enquire about a distant relative, Jaffer, who stayed there.

The camp is managed by an Indian from the southern state of Kerala, who is said to be in manpower recruitment business.

The brothers as well as Jaffer who worked as a driver for the camp, all hail from Kerala.

Jaffer was brought to Qatar by Shameer, who was a heavy vehicle driver for a company.

Shameer had come to know earlier on Saturday, which was an Eid holiday, that Jaffer had a tiff with some Asians staying in the camp.

So he asked his brother, Saleem, to take him to the camp in his car. When they reached the camp it was a little after midnight.

Shameer’s intention was to find out what had gone wrong with Jaffer whom he knew closely and had brought him from his home town.

When the brothers reached the

camp, while Saleem was parking his car outside, Shameer got down and rushed inside the camp.

A few minutes later when Saleem followed Shameer and barged into a room he was sup-posed to have entered, he found him (Shameer) lying injured on the floor.

Horrified, he saw a group of Asians in the room who he sus-pected were drunk as he could see some liquor bottles there and some knives.

Saleem didn’t take time to real-ise that his brother was attacked — but fatally, he apparently didn’t know.

He gathered himself and some-how managed to take his brother out without being attacked by the group.

He put an injured Shameer in the car with the help of another Keralite from the camp and drove to the emergency unit of Hamad Medical Corporation.

And just as they were rush-ing to make sure Shameer was provided with emergency medical care in time, they called in police and paramedics for help.

The ambulance met them on the way and took Shameer in and rushed.

But he succumbed to injuries on the way to hospital.

THE PENINSULAContinued on page 3

Thrill on air

One of the paragliders taking part in a special Eid event being held daily from 4pm to 6.30pm at Ehtefalat Road (National Day Road), Area 11 until August 17. It is organised by Qatar Tourism Authority. Report on page 3

Aid for Sudan

Relief materials being loaded in a cargo plane for flood victims in Sudan. The Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani ordered urgent dispatch of two planes carrying about 80 tonnes of relief. Report on page 2

CAIRO: Egypt’s judiciary extended ousted president Mohammed Mursi’s detention yesterday as his supporters marched through Cairo in defi-ance of the expiry of a govern-ment ultimatum to dismantle their protest camps.

The judiciary said it was extending Mursi’s detention for a further 15 days pending an investigation into his collabora-tion with the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas which rules Gaza.

Overthrown by the military on July 3, Mursi was placed in deten-tion on July 26 over his links with the group.

He is to be questioned on

whether he collaborated with Hamas in attacks on police sta-tions and prison breaks in early 2011, when Islamist and other political inmates escaped during a revolution which overthrew Hosni Mubarak.

The court said on June 23 that Hamas facilitated the escape of prisoners. At the time, Mursi, then a senior Muslim Brotherhood leader and whose whereabouts are being kept secret, told a TV station that Egyptians had helped prisoners escape.

Meanwhile, hundreds of dem-onstrators waving Egyptian flags and carrying Mursi’s pictures marched through the central

neighbourhood of Ramses, as tensions rose over a threatened crackdown by authorities.

Mursi loyalists, led by the Brotherhood, have kept in place two sit-ins in the capital and staged almost daily demonstra-tions around Egypt against his ouster.

The army-installed interim leaders have repeatedly warned them to leave, offering the Brotherhood a return to politi-cal life in exchange for an end to protests. “There will be a series of gradual steps. We will announce every step along the way,” an Interior Ministry general said.

AGENCIES

Mursi’s detention extended

DUBAI: Bahrain’s prime min-ister said yesterday his gov-ernment would “forcefully confront” protests called for later this week, and warned those involved that they would be punished, state news agency BNA reported.

Protesters inspired by youth-led protests in Egypt that pushed the army to oust Islamist presi-dent Mohammed Mursi last month have called for rallies tomorrow, at a time of escalating clashes between police and pro-opposition demonstrators.

“The government will force-fully confront suspicious calls to violate law and order and those who stand behind them through decisive measures,” Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa said after a meeting to discuss preparations to confront anti-government protests.

“It will punish (those) who stand behind them in line with recommendations of the National Council (parliament), which rep-resents the will of the people of Bahrain,” he added.

Bahrain has banned protests in the capital Manama and tough-ened anti-terrorism laws, includ-ing imposing longer prison terms and stripping perpetrators of citizenship.

August 14 marks the day in 1971 when Bahrain gained inde-pendence from Britain.

“Tamarrod” (rebel) is a loose grouping of opposition activists who came together in early July to push for a free and democratic Bahrain through mass anti-gov-ernment demonstrations, accord-ing to social media.

REUTERS

LONDON: British warships began setting sail for the Mediterranean yesterday for a naval exercise that will see one vessel dock in Gibraltar, as ten-sions rise with Spain over the UK-held territory.

Helicopter carrier HMS Illustrious steamed out of Portsmouth, to be followed today by the type-23 frigate HMS Westminster set to arrive in Gibraltar, at Spain’s southern tip, in a week. Also heading for the drill codenamed Cougar ‘13 is amphibious vessel HMS Bulwark and HMS Montrose frigate and six supporting vessels.

The Ministry of Defence has stressed the deployment is

“routine” and “long-planned”.Madrid has agreed to allow

HMS Illustrious to stop at a naval base in Rota in southern Spain as part of the operation, but Spanish media have described the plan for HMS Westminster to put in at Gibraltar as an intimidation.

Britain and Spain are embroiled in an escalating diplomatic row over stringent car searches by Spanish guards at the Gibraltar border, causing tailbacks of hours.

The government of the tiny peninsula has accused Madrid of acting in retaliation after Gibraltar built an artificial con-crete reef which it says is aimed at stopping alleged incursions by Spanish fishing boats. AGENCIES

BY AZMAT HAROON

DOHA: Some South Korean university students who are visiting Qatar for the first time as part of a student exchange programme have said that they were ‘afraid’ to come here because of stere-otypes about the Gulf and Islam.

The group has men and women in their 20s, some of whom said they thought they would not even be able speak to Muslim women because it may offend them.

Many of their preconceived notions have, thankfully, changed after visiting Qatar, as they found people here to be friendly

and polite. Some here, surprisingly, were familiar with the Korean culture.

The black-coloured abayas, worn by women across the Gulf, seemed intimidat-ing to some students.

“I was a little scared because I had heard every woman wears hijab, and the black colour was overwhelming for me at first,” Heejune Lim, a student of psychology from Korea’s capital Seoul, said. She said the ‘abaya’ seems to have its own charm now that she had interacted with women wear-ing it.

Lim is among a group of students who has come here for the first time under a

student exchange programme organised by Sarang Plus, a South Korean Cultural Centre.

She said that when she began talking to people, her opinions about Qatar and Islam changed.

Q Kim, the group leader and a lecturer in Korea, said that he was surprised to see how groups in public places were always divided based on nationalities.

“I saw people from Iraq, India and Egypt in different places but they were always moving in separate groups. They didn’t seem to have integrated with one another well.” Kim said he was shocked to learn

that single working men were not allowed to enter certain public places here on cer-tain days of the week.

Recalling an incident on the first day of Eid Al Fitr, Kim said that his group visited a local souq where he found out that some Asians, among others, were not allowed to enter.

“I was hurt to see that because I think foreigners who come to work in your coun-try are like guests. We need to give them special treatment,” he said, adding that he had never heard of such division of groups before. THE PENINSULA

Continued on page 5

S Korea students on visit to Qatar discover a new reality

Bahrain Premier warns of tough action against demonstrators

UK warships head for drill amid Gibraltar row

US concerned over Israeli settlements WASHINGTON: The US said yesterday it had expressed “serious concerns” over Israel’s decision to allow settlers to con-tinue building on Palestinian land despite new peace talks.

Israel plans to issue tenders for 1,000 new homes in east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank, in the face of anger from Palestinian negotiators.

Peace talks are due to resume tomorrow in Jerusalem under a US-led initiative to revive moves towards resolving the longstand-ing Middle East dispute.

Talks are supposed to reach an agreement within nine months, and Washington fears that more settlement-building by its Israeli ally could derail the process.

UN arms experts delay Syria trip NEW YORK CITY: UN chemical weapons experts have delayed their mission to Syria because of differences with Damascus over how they will investigate alleged attacks, UN diplomats said yesterday.

The experts, led by Ake Sellstrom of Sweden, were sup-posed to have left over the week-end and have begun work this week. But “there has been a delay,” said a diplomat, adding the experts “wanted assurances on the modalities (of the investiga-tion) and haven’t received them.”

AGENCIES

Splash announces promotion winners

Fashion retailer Splash announced winners Mina R Briones and Rahmath Ali of its latest ‘Win 20 Holidays to Paris’ promotion. The winners were named by government official Mohammed and Splash officials. In association with Lama Tours, the promotion offers a family of four or four friends the chance to win from 20 Holiday packages to Paris.

A view of the Mövenpick Tower and Suites.

Mövenpick Tower & Suites gets Certificate of ExcellenceDOHA: Trip Advisor recently awarded Mövenpick Tower & Suites Doha with the 2013 Certificate of Excellence for the exceptional feedback the hotel has earned from travellers over the past few years.

The certificate is bestowed only on top performing busi-nesses ranking the top 10 percent worldwide traveller feedback on the review website.

Travel reviews are very

powerful and surveys show that 75 percent of customers are more likely to use a business with a vis-ible Trip Advisor endorsement, a press release issued by the hotel said yesterday.

The recognition serves as a driving factor to increase the hotel’s market presence and continuously provide excellent service to business travellers, the statement said.

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Qatar UAE Exchange inks pact with AquaparkDOHA: Qatar UAE Exchange’s Gold Card customers are offered an opportunity to beat the heat by indulging in some water therapy. The remittance major entered into an agreement with Qatar’s first water theme park Aquapark to offer a 20 percent discount on its entry fee. The agreement was signed by Edison Fernandez, Country Head, Qatar Operations of Qatar UAE

Exchange and Mohd Firdaus Raj, General Manager, Aquapark.

Fernandez said: “We, at Qatar UAE Exchange, have always thrived to deliver beyond customer satisfaction. Such initiatives are taken towards giving customers a unique experience for their con-tinued loyalty. Aquapark is one of a kind theme park in the coun-try and we hope our Gold Card Customers rejoice this summer by

treating themselves in this fun-filled place.”

Firdaus Raj said: “Delivering a great customer experience is the common aim that brought Qatar UAE Exchange and Aquapark together. We have state-of-the-art entertainment facilities and are sure our customers will not be disappointed. We are happy to have tied up with UAE Exchange.”

THE PENINSULA

Officials of Qatar UAE Exchange and Aquapark during the signing ceremony.

Visitors sweat it out for parking at DIAMajor portion of parking area demolished for double-deck facility at arrivals terminalBY MOHAMMAD SHOEB

DOHA: Visitors to Doha International Airport’s (DIA) arrivals terminal are facing parking problems as a major portion of the parking facil-ity has been closed due to an ongoing construction project to install a double-deck metal-lic parking area, the first of its kind in Qatar.

The average waiting time to find parking varies from 10-15 minutes, but during peak hours, it may go up to half-an-hour or even more. The problem may con-tinue until October-end, which is the tentative completion date of the parking enhancement project.

The terminal has a maximum parking capacity for about 650 vehicles, but the closure of a major portion for the erection of the make-shift parking project has resulted in an acute shortage of space.

“I came to receive my father in-law, but could not reach in time as I had to wait for 35 minutes in long queues to find a park-ing space. I felt bad as my guest had to wait for me instead of me waiting for him,” said a Pakistani national.

In addition to the parking problem, long walking distance in scorching heat is another con-cern. As the current parking bay, which is now open for use but will subsequently be demolished, is located a little away from the waiting lounge, the visitors as well as passengers are required to take a long walk (over 500 metres) with their luggage.

“Yesterday, I missed my flight, so I was asked to collect my lug-gage from the ‘lost and found’ counter at the arrivals terminal. Due to lack of parking space in the nearby, I had to park my car far away at a distance of over 700 metres that too at a wrong place … It is torturing to walk even 200

Construction of the new double-deck parking facility in progress at the arrivals terminal of Doha International Airport. (ABDUL BASIT)

metres in such a harsh weather condition,” said a young Indian, with his shirt half wet in sweat.

Earlier, DIA had urged people visiting the terminal to use taxis during the Eid Al Fitr holidays in view of the expected rush and inadequate car parking space.

According to reports, the tem-porary closure of the parking facility was an inevitable step, as the DIA was asked to relinquish a significant portion (area that

can accommodates nearly 250 vehicles) of its existing parking facilities by the Qatar Railways Company (Qatar Rail) to make way for the upcoming Doha Metro project.

Faced with space constraints, the management of DIA decided to hire the services of an Italian company that specialises in pro-viding innovative and speedy car parking solutions in countries witnessing rapidly changing

demographics and urbanisation.The two-storey parking project

is expected to ease parking prob-lems. It will double the parking capacity by optimising space uti-lisation. This will also enable DIA to handover a significant portion of its parking area to Qatar Rail without facing much problem.

The construction work started in mid-July, and expected to be completed by October-end. However, until the

new facility is ready for use, the problem is expected to continue as there seems to be no viable alternative.

“The facility is being erected by Fast Park, a leading provider of innovative and patented parking solution. And we are working in different shifts to complete the project within the given time-frame”, said a source associated with the company.

THE PENINSULA

Qatar’s aid for Sudan flood-hitDOHA: The Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, has ordered dispatch of urgent relief to Sudan, on board of two cargo planes, an official source at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said here yesterday.

The 80-tonne aid is an expression of Qatar’s stand along with Sudan and its people to counter the effects of the heavy rains and floods that swept through some of its areas recently, said the official source.

LNG tanker Bu Samra en route to UK: AISLONDON: Qatari liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker Bu Samra is sailing to one of Britain’s terminals, AIS Live ship tracking data showed.

The vessel can carry a maxi-mum of 256,000 cubic metres of the super-cooled fuel and was last seen on Sunday off the Libyan coast, the data showed.

The cargo is likely to arrive around August 27, according to calculations made using www.searates.com.

QE resumes trading todayDOHA: Qatar Exchange will resume trading today, as per its regular working hours, after the bourse remained closed for Eid Al Fitr holi-days from August 8.

The QE index was 9,847 points and the mar-ket capitalisation was QR539,344,402,340.65 when trading closed on August 7 before the Eid holidays.

AGENCIES

Emergency Department at HMC receives 1,500 casesDOHA: The Emergency Department of the Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) received more than 1,500 cases over the past two days including people injured in as many as 15 road accidents.

Most of those involved in road accidents had suffered minor inju-ries, local Arabic dailies reported yesterday.

The different pediatric emergencies in the country received about 1,000 patients on Sunday, according to a report. Al Sadd emergency saw 566 cases including a new born baby who died of some serious illness.

Doctors at HMC have advised people to take special care of newborns and rush them to the nearest clinic if found ill.

THE PENINSULA

02 HOMETUESDAY 13 AUGUST 2013

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03TUESDAY 13 AUGUST 2013

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Nine Al Ghanim accident victims leave hospitalDriver in police custodyDOHA: Nine of 13 commuters injured in the freaky Mowasalat bus accident at Al Ghanim bus terminus on Sunday were dis-charged from hospital after treatment for minor injuries yesterday.

Others with fractured legs or shoulder injuries are recuperat-ing in hospital, a source from the state-owned transport company said yesterday. They are believed to be Bangladeshi, Filipino, Nepalese and Indian.

The source said the driver hailed from Ghana and had been working with Mowasalat for about a year. “He is now in police custody and is being investigated.”

The shocking accident happened at around 5pm when the Karwa bus crashed into commuters in the waiting area of the terminus.

A large number of people were waiting for the bus because it was still an Eid holiday. Some of those

seriously injured were standing ready to board the bus while it was on its way. The driver acci-dentally stepped on the accelera-tor instead of the brakes which caused the mishap, sources said.

The bus zoomed at high speed, tearing down two steel benches where some victims were sitting and badly damaged the waiting shed.

This was the first time such an accident happened at the ter-minus since Mowasalat started public bus service eight years ago.

The No 11 bus on the Matar Qadeem area route was one of those running on compressed natural gas which Mowasalat recently launched.

The Peninsula tried to get a statement from Mowasalat on the incident but nobody was available for comment as it was still an Eid holiday, an employee at the Public Relations Department said.

THE PENINSULA

An acrobat performing during the Eid Al Fitr celebrations organised by Qatar Tourism Authority.

Still more to explore at QTA festivitiesDOHA: Paragliding adrena-line junkies still have until Saturday to enjoy the experi-ence offered by the Qatar Air Sports Committee as part of the Eid festivities organised by the Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA). This is the first time such aerial tours aboard paragliders have been organised by the QTA to offer residents and tourists alike a new experience during Eid Al Fitr.

The paragliding event is held every day from 4pm to 6.30pm at Ehtefalat Road (National Day Road), Area 11 until August 17.

For QR250, paragliding enthu-siasts aged 18 years old and above can experience the thrill on air while riding a powered paraglid-ing aircraft accompanied by a paragliding expert.

Another first at this year’s Eid Al Fitr festival activities is field training by the Qatar Shooting and Archery Association. The shooting training costs QR100 per session and runs until October 24, from 4pm to 8pm at the Lusail Shooting Club located on Al Khor coastal road.

QTA’s 2013 Eid Festival is liv-ing up to its promise of fun and

entertainment for families in Qatar and from around the GCC, having witnessed unprecedented attendance and interest during the first three days of Eid.

The Wanasa Entertainment City witnessed 20,000 visitors on the first day while activities at Souq Waqif saw at least 15,000 visitors on the first two days.

Activities continue at Doha Exhibition Centre through September 15 centred on the Wanasa Entertainment City. Shows and activities are also at City Center, Al Khor, Lagoona, Hyatt Plaza, Landmark and Villaggio malls. In addition, a wide number of activities have been arranged by Ministries, institutions, and the private sec-tor throughout Eid.

Families discovered a massive footprint of amusement rides, shows, a wide variety of food ven-dors and merchants to purchase household goods and speciality items at Wanasa open from 10am to midnight every day.

Through August 17, shows and performance artists are travel-ling to malls across Qatar, featur-ing acts from around the world. Featuring six performances per

day in each of the participating malls, thousands of shoppers have already experienced these shows.

The Monte Carlo Circus has seen packed shows, amazing hundreds of guests with incredible perform-ances. The acts continue with two shows each day until September 15 at Qatar Sports Club.

Tours of the State Mosque of Qatar, as well as museum tours at the Museum of Islamic Art and Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani Museum continue to draw large crowds looking for a taste of culture during the Eid holiday.

Zoo tours at the Al Dosari game reserve give families the opportunity to see some of Qatar’s wildlife up close and personal.

To beat the heat many families headed to Aqua Park for a break in the water and to be entertained. Activities at Katara Cultural Village included fireworks, laser lights and a musical water show that was viewed by thousands of people.

Residents and visitors to The Pearl-Qatar enjoyed activities such as face painting and enter-tainment, surrounded by the island’s magnificent views and food and beverage offerings.

THE PENINSULA

Aljazeera to air The Quagmire on ThursdayDOHA: The Aljazeera Arabic news channel will air a new epi-sode of its “Palestine under the Microscope” series titled The Quagmire on Thursday which probes into the diaries of third generation Israelis to draw a new portrait of Israel.

A section of third generation Israelis is today questioning the viability of occupation, of “secu-rity” and of even the Jewish state.

The series will be telecast at 14:05 GMT. The same episode will be aired by Aljazeera English at 20GMT on August 20.

The Quagmire investigates the identity crisis within Israeli soci-ety, especially among the youth, through the testimonies of young men and women who see them-selves living in a deeply divided society whose very existence is now seriously threatened.

Reverse migration conferences, which are being organised to encourage emigration out of Israel, provide clear evidence of the birth of new consciousness vis-à-vis the Israeli myth. According to the Quagmire, the land of promise has now shifted to locations such as India, Berlin and many cities and capitals around the world.

Having finished their military service, thousands of Israelis now head to India, specifically to Goa, where they hope to forget what they had done serving in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Thousands of young Israelis migrate to Berlin in Germany where they start a new life leaving the “Promised Land”. Many of them refuse to divulge the details of what they experienced inside army barracks or the details of the operations they took part in. They hope to forget that they had fallen in the quagmire.

Refusing to serve in the military is no longer an individual affair. Former conscripts and activists lobbying against conscription have set up NGO’s such as “Breaking the Silence” and “New Profile” to combat the militarisation of Israeli society.

THE PENINSULA

Expatriates celebrate Eid at RLCDOHA: Hundreds of expatri-ate workers based in northern parts of the country took part in Eid celebrations organised by the Management of Industrial Cities.

The events at Al Thakira Youth Centre and Al Kabaan Youth Centre were held under the Ras Laffan Industrial City Community Outreach Programme in collaboration with Community Policing.

The celebrations were named “Eid Sa’eed” meaning happy Eid.

It featured a family entertain-ment programme for three con-secutive days starting from the second day of Eid.

Programmes at Al Thakhira

Youth Centre included shows from an Egyptian circus and tra-ditional skirt dance “Tannorah” which went well with the gathering.

“The programme was unique this year and we are delighted that the more than 1,000 people took part in the celebrations, we thank the management of indus-trial Ccities and the Ras Laffan Industrial City Community Outreach Programme on their outstanding efforts and constant communication with the north-ern communities and for their participation in various events throughout the year.” Said Ali Lahdan Al Mohannadi, Director

of Al Thakhira Youth Centre.At Al Kabaan Youth Centre,

festivities were organised in a dif-ferent style. They included shows from the local folklore dance Al Arda” which ended by honouring the elderly on this special occa-sion. Gifts were given away to children participating in various competitions.

The Community Outreach Programme founding members are Qatar Petroleum (QP). Al Khaleej Gas, a project undertaken by ExxonMobil Middle East Gas Marketing Limited and is oper-ated by RasGas., Dolphin Energy Limited and Oryx GTL.

THE PENINSULA

Participants during the Eid celebrations organised by the Ras Laffan Industrial City Community Outreach Programme.

QA offers FC Barcelona packageDOHA: Qatar Airways Holidays, the leisure division of Qatar Airways, is now offering FC Barcelona fans throughout the GCC an exclusive pack-age that includes a flight to Barcelona, accommodation and a ticket to watch FC Barcelona play a match in Camp Nou stadium.

Fans can check Qatar Airways Holidays online to get more infor-mation on the packages available throughout the football season for upcoming matches, including

FC Barcelona versus Atlético de Madrid for the second leg of the Spanish Supercup Final on August 28.

The offer includes a return economy flight, three nights accommodation at the Catalonia Grand Hotel Verdi and one ticket to a match. The packages include single occupancy and double occu-pancy options.

Fans have the option to choose their preferred seats in the sta-dium. For those FCB fans travel-ling in groups, there is an option

to select VIP seats or a VIP box in the stadium, complete with lounge access and exclusive catering.

Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said: “The city of Barcelona has a charm like no other city in Europe, the cul-ture, the food, the people and of course one of the world’s most loved football clubs, FC Barcelona. We are excited to be able to offer our passengers, the opportunity to see FC Barcelona in action, on the pitch of Camp Nou.”

THE PENINSULA

Continued from page 1

It is not known if Shameer died while he was in the car with his brother or after he was transferred to the ambulance. According to reliable community sources, Shameer had suffered two major injuries allegedly after being stabbed — one in one of his hands and the other, the deeper one, on the ribs that is suspected to have proved fatal.

While the ambulance rushed with Shameer to the hospital, the police made their way to the

labour camp where the horren-dous incident was reported to have happened. The entire group of the Asians who had allegedly attacked Shameer was still there and they were understandably taken into custody. According to sources, not all in the group stayed in that labour camp. Some were guests and had joined them for revelry on a holiday. Shameer’s body will be flown home after the necessary formalities are complete. Shameer was here for over five years.

THE PENINSULA

Attackers in police custody

04 MIDDLE EASTTUESDAY 13 AUGUST 2013

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Rowhani defends cabinet choicesDUBAI: President Hassan Rowhani said yesterday he had chosen a cabinet to overcome Iran’s economic crisis and diplomatic isolation as parliament began debating whether to approve his proposed ministers.

A relatively moderate, mid-ranking Shia cleric, Rowhani took office on August 3 after scoring a landslide in the June 14 presiden-tial election over more conservative rivals.

He has promised to combat high inflation and unemployment, pursue a more “con-structive” foreign policy and allow greater social freedoms than hardline predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Rowhani, who won the support of centrist and reformist voters but who also has good ties to conservative insiders, said he had chosen a cabinet from across Iran’s factions on the basis of their experience rather than political loyalties.

“Your vote of confidence in the ministers is not just a vote for the individuals, it is a vote for the whole government and its plans,” the Iranian president told parlia-ment. Parliament is expected to vote on Rowhani’s cabinet choices tomorrow.

Many of his nominees are seasoned tech-nocrats who served under centrist former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and reformist ex-president Mohammad Khatami. But conservative factions in par-liament are likely to oppose some of his choices.

Though widely recognised as an expe-rienced and capable manager, proposed oil minister Bijan Zanganeh is, according to conservatives, too close to pro-reform opposition leaders who protested against what they called a rigged presidential vote in 2009.

Zanganeh and Mohammad Ali Najafi, a technocrat picked for education minis-ter, visited Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after the 2009 election to speak on behalf of the opposition leaders, who are now under house arrest.

Conservatives refer to the months of street unrest that followed the vote as a “sedition,” and reformists have been largely purged from powerful posts in the years since.

Ruhollah Hosseinian, a “principlist” conservative in parliament, predicted on

Saturday that 80 percent of Rowhani’s cabinet nominees would be approved, ISNA news agency said.

But he said the assembly would bar those “who made statements in parliament and did not distance themselves from the sedition”.

Hossein Shariatmadari, hand-picked by Khamenei to edit the influential hardline daily Kayhan, wrote in an editorial yesterday that “the place for those who were present in the sedition is prison and not the min-istry”. Conservative member of parliament Ahmad Amirabadi Farahani said the house could not ignore “the issue of the 2009 sedi-tion”. Facing Najafi, who along with other ministerial nominees was present during the debate, he asked: “Do you believe that what happened in 2009 was fraud or not?”

Ministers have not addressed the par-liament, but have been meeting with

lawmakers on the sidelines. In a possible measure of the support for the cabinet in parliament, Fars news agency said 148 law-makers had requested to speak in favour of Rowhani’s cabinet yesterday and 18 against.

In his speech, Rowhani said the oil ministry required “active diplomacy” and endorsed Zanganeh for the post.

Western sanctions imposed over Iran’s disputed nuclear programme have halved Tehran’s oil exports since 2011, and its age-ing oilfields need crucial upkeep.

In addition to repairing the economy, Rowhani has pledged to improve Iran’s image abroad, which was tarnished by Ahmadinejad’s bellicose statements against Israel and questioning of the Holocaust.

Yesterday, Rowhani said his government would pursue “threat prevention and alle-viation of tensions” in its foreign policy.

REUTERS

Iran’s new President Hassan Rowhani delivers the names of his proposed ministers to parliament in Tehran yesterday.

Rival women’s rallies planned in Tunisia todayTUNIS: Tunisia’s ruling Islamist Ennahda party and the opposition have called for rival rallies today to mark local women’s day, reflecting deepening divisions in the strife-torn North African country.

The country is in the grip of a political crisis sparked by the murder of an opposition politician last month, the second such killing this year.

Ennahda chief Rached Ghannouchi was due to meet Houcine Abassi, chief of the powerful UGTT unions organisation yesterday to discuss the crisis, although the time and loca-tion of the meeting have been kept secret so far.

Critics of the government are call-ing for demonstrations tonight to defend women’s rights followed by a march outside parliament, where the opposition has held nightly dem-onstrations since the July 25 assas-sination of opposition MP Mohamed Brahmi.

Today is the 57th anniversary of the Personal Status Code that was adopted on August 13, 1956, giving Tunisian women unequalled rights in the Arab world at the time.

Opponents of the ruling Ennahda party — including political parties and the powerful UGTT labour union — believe these rights are now under threat from Islamists in the country.

Najoua Makhlouf, a UGTT official hailed today’s planned protests.

“This will be a historic demonstra-tion given the difficult circumstances the country is going through: political killings, terrorism and attempts to roll back women’s rights,” she told a news conference. Amel Radhouani, from the Femmes Libres (Free Women) group said the march would send a clear message to the Islamists in power.

“This will not be a celebration but a march against terrorism, and Ennahda’s attempts to take back

women’s gains. There is a political will in this goal,” Radhouani said.

According to opposition groups, Ennahda has been too passive in dealing with radical imams who have called for the return of polygamy and marriages involving minor girls — traditions banned in Tunisia under the 1956 law.

Meanwhile, political parties have failed to reach a consensus on a pro-posed constitution, which makes no clear guarantee of the equality of the sexes.

Ennahda came in for heavy criti-cism last year when it tried to press through the idea of gender “complementarity”.

But the party has denied the alle-gations, and yesterday Ennahda urged its supporters to gather from 1500 GMT on Tunis’ Habib Bourguiba avenue, epicentre of the 2011 uprising that toppled the regime of veteran president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

It said the rally would be held under the slogan: “Tunisia’s women, pillars of the democratic transition and national unity”.

The slogan reflects the position of the Islamists who insist that “tran-sitional institutions” be kept in place in the absence of a consensus on the country’s new constitution.

Both sides hope to repeat the success they had early in August in bringing tens of thousands of their supporters to the streets, before four days of calm as people marked the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

But there seems to be no sign of a political breakthrough as the coun-try’s crisis deepens.

Although the National Constituent Assembly suspended work drawing up a new constitution last week to give Ennahda and the opposition time to resolve their differences, a timeta-ble for talks has yet to be set. AFP

57th anniversary of Personal Status Code

KASSERINE: Tunisia’s army yesterday bombarded suspected jihadist positions in a rugged mountain range near the Algerian border, as it kept up operations against Islamists following a deadly ambush on troops.

The offensive was launched on August 1, after eight soldiers were found with their throats cut after being ambushed by militants, and

at a time of deep political crisis in Tunisia.

Yesterday , troops bombarded the Sammama mountain near Mount Chaambi where Islamist militants, including veteran of a revolt in northern Mali, are believed to be hiding out, an AFP correspondent said. An Islamist militant named as Mohamed Amri was arrested dur-ing the operation. AFP

Tunisia troops bomb jihadist hideouts

Al Qaeda claims attacks in Iraq, warns of moreBAGHDAD: Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for a series of bombings in Iraq which killed dozens of people during the Eid holiday and warned the government to stop arresting suspected mili-tants or face more violence.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), formed ear-lier this year through a merger of Al Qaeda’s affiliates in Syria and Iraq, said on jihadist forums it was behind the attacks across Baghdad and southern prov-inces on Saturday.

“The Islamic State deployed some of its security efforts in Baghdad and the southern province and other places to deliver a quick message,” ISIL said, according to the SITE Monitoring group, which tracks jihadist websites.

Bombs ripped through mar-kets, shopping streets and parks late on Saturday as Iraqi fami-lies were out celebrating Eid Al Fitr, the end of the holy month

of Ramadan. Nearly 80 people were killed and scores wounded, police and medical sources said.

Yesterday, there was no res-pite from the violence. A road-side bomb close to a school killed two people and wounded 11, including children, in the town of Muqdadiya, 80km northeast of Baghdad, police said. It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack.

It has been one of the deadli-est Ramadan holidays in years in Iraq, where Sunni Islamist militants are waging an insur-gency against the Shia-led government.

July had the highest monthly death toll from attacks since 2008, with more than 1,000 Iraqis killed, according to United Nations statistics.

The renewed violence prompted a statement from Washington condemning the attacks and offering to work closely with Baghdad to confront Al Qaeda and other groups.

ISIL, which has also claimed responsibility for jail breaks in Iraq last month in which hun-dreds of convicts escaped, said a government campaign to arrest suspects and ramp up security in the capital had only made things worse.

“They will pay a high price for what they did, and they will not be secure day or night during Eid or other times,” the ISIL statement said according to the SITE translation.

“They should watch their footsteps and stop the detention campaigns and cease harming the Sunni clans, and ... expect more of what will harm them and what will bring them to their senses.”

The Interior Ministry, which said last month it was facing an “open war”, said on Sunday that media reports about the attacks had been exaggerated and that its recent security crackdown had been effective. REUTERS

DUBAI: The leader of Al Qaeda’s Yemen-based wing, Nasser Al Wuhayshi, said he would free jailed Islamist militants soon, days after the United States shut missions across the Middle East because of the threat of an attack, pos-sibly from Yemen.

Wuhayshi did not say in his Internet statement how he would free those jailed, but Al Qaeda militants staged at least two prison breaks last month.

Intercepted communication between Wuhayshi and Ayman Al Zawahri, who replaced Osama bin Laden as head of Al Qaeda, was part of intelligence that prompted the United States to close 19 US embassies and send some staff in Yemen home. Washington has also stepped up drone strikes targeting militants in Yemen.

“We ask God to make us a cause for unlocking your incar-ceration and relieving your agony,” Wuhayshi, head of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), said in the statement seen yesterday on a website used by Islamists.

“Your brothers are pounding the walls of injustice and the thrones of oppression. These walls and thrones are coming down every day and victory is but one step. Victory is one hour of perseverance,” said Wuhayshi, a former aide to Bin Laden who broke out of a prison in Yemen in 2006.

The authenticity of the state-ment could not immediately be verified.

The United States regards AQAP, formed by the merger of the Yemeni and Saudi branches of Al Qaeda, as one of the most dangerous militant groups in the Middle East.

Al Qaeda claimed responsibil-ity for simultaneous raids on two Iraqi prisons, setting more than 500 inmates free in July. On July 27, more than 1,000 inmates broke out of a prison on the outskirts of Benghazi in Libya, following what an official said was an attack on the facility. REUTERS

Al Qaeda in Yemen says to free Islamist militants

People splash each other with water during a water-splashing festival in Sulaimaniya province, 330km northeast of Baghdad. The festival was held for the first time in Azadi Park and was attended by hundreds of people.

HOME / MIDDLE EAST 05TUESDAY 13 AUGUST 2013

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Egypt thwarts Palestinians from GazaRAFAH, GAZA STRIP: Egypt has sharply cut the number of Palestinians allowed to enter from the Gaza Strip since its military ousted Islamist president Mohammed Mursi last month, the tiny enclave’s Islamist Hamas rulers said yesterday.

An Egyptian official said the curbs were “not a punishment” for Hamas’s Islamist leanings but an effort to reduce civilian traffic as Egypt has stepped up military operations against Islamist mili-tants in the Sinai region border-ing Gaza.

But the move compounds hard-ships for largely impoverished Gazans, for whom Egypt is the sole outlet to the wider world due to a blockade of Gaza’s other land and sea borders by Israel, which cites security concerns.

Ghazi Hamad, a deputy Hamas foreign minister, said Egypt was now permitting 300 Palestinians to enter daily, compared with 1,200 in the months before Mursi’s July 3 ouster after an eruption of mass unrest against his rule.

He cited a reduction in work-ing hours at Rafah crossing, the only border terminal between Egypt and Gaza, to four hours a day, often stranding thousands of travellers at a time.

“Such a policy does not help very much,” Hamad told Reuters in an interview. He said the restrictions particularly disrupted business travel and studies of young Gazans enrolled in higher education either in Egypt or in other universities abroad.

At Rafah, hundreds of Palestinians waited several hours in the sweltering desert heat for permits to enter Egypt yesterday.

Nahed Babrakh, 47, standing

by his wheelchair-bound daugh-ter whom he was accompanying on a trip to Cairo for treatment, said: “We do not know why (the restrictions were imposed). Maybe because (Mursi’s) Muslim Brotherhood has gone, everything has changed.”

Some travellers napped in the scant spots of shade they could find as restless children chased after each other, weaving their way around piles of luggage in games of tag.

Mohammed Abu El Fahem, a graduate student in Cairo, said he had been twice denied entry to Egypt since late July and was wor-ried about losing an entire year of academic study if he did not make it to an exam by September 1.

“I totally understand the secu-rity needs of Egypt but as a stu-dent I would be harmed very much if I cannot get to class,” Abu El Fahem told Reuters.

The Egyptian official, reached in Cairo, blamed the restrictions on “security conditions in Sinai” where Egypt’s military has been clashing for weeks with Islamist gunmen attacking security tar-gets. “We understand the needs of the people of Gaza and there-fore are trying our best to allow everyone who needs to travel to do so in accordance to security necessities,” the official said.

For Hamas, whose leaders were close to Mursi, his ouster has spelled an end to a spell of easier exit visas for Palestinians. Hamas has controlled Gaza since seiz-ing the territory from Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007. Hamas rejects Israel’s existence and objects to Abbas’s agreement to renew peace talks with the Jewish state. REUTERS

Officials cite Sinai security situation

General Salim Idriss (front, second right), head of the rebel Free Syrian Army, during a visit to the coastal province of Latakia in this grab taken from a video and posted on a social media website yesterday.

Rebel leader visits Assad’s home provinceBEIRUT: The head of the rebel Free Syrian Army has visited the coastal province of Latakia, according to video footage, a show of force in President Bashar Al Assad’s family’s home province.

Several villages in Latakia, which is a stronghold of Assad’s Alawite sect, have been overrun by Sunni Muslim insurgents over the past few days.

General Salim Idriss, who leads the rebel Supreme Military Council, was shown in a video uploaded to the Internet on Sunday wearing casual dress and a shoulder-strapped gun holster and standing outside with moun-tains in the distance.

Speaking to rebels, he said he

was in Latakia to see the “impor-tant successes and victories that our revolutionaries have gained on the coastal front”.

It could not be independently verified whether the reports were true due to severe security and reporting restrictions.

Idriss’ forces are backed by the West, but the Latakia offensive is being led by two Al Qaeda-linked groups who have killed hundreds of people this month and driven hundreds more to seek refuge on the Mediterranean coast.

Underfunded and fragmented, Idriss’ men have been overshad-owed by these hardline groups and some more moderate rebel leaders have been killed in power struggles with Al Qaeda affiliates

that include foreign fighters.Sixty killed in fightingNearly 60 Syrian soldiers and

jihadists have been killed in three days of fighting in Deir Ezzor, the largest city in eastern Syria, where rebels have made advances, an NGO said yesterday.

At least 33 fighters of the Al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) and Al Nusra Front have been killed since Saturday, according to the Syria Observatory for Human Rights.

The group, which relies on a network of activists, doctors and lawyers on the ground, said 25 regime forces were also killed in the clashes.

“The clashes are very intense,

the fighters are using several tanks they have, while the army is shelling pockets of jihadists, Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said.

The jihadist fighters are con-centrating their efforts on the district of Huweika, home to several government buildings and security headquarters.

Syria’s state news agency SANA said yesterday the army had “killed terrorists in the Senaa neighbourhood and other terror-ists were killed when a car they rigged with explosives detonated.”

On Saturday, jihadists seized the local headquarters of the ruling Baath party in Deir Ezzor, prompting regime shelling.

AGENCIES

Israel names 26 Palestinians to be released from prison JERUSALEM: Israel named 26 Palestinians yesterday it will free from jail this week under a deal enabling US-backed peace talks to resume.

But the goodwill gesture was clouded by new plans to expand Israeli settlements that the United Nations and European Union condemned as illegal and which the Palestinians said were aimed at provoking them to pull out of the negotiations.

The 26 prisoners are the first of a total of 104 that Israel has decided in principle to free as part of an agreement reached after shuttle diplomacy by US Secretary of State John Kerry to renew talks for Palestinian statehood.

Some Israelis reacted angrily to the release — scheduled for today or tomorrow — of the long-term Palestinian prisoners.

“Shame on the government and shame on the prime minister and his supporters,” Zvia Dahan, whose father, Moshe Becker, was killed while tending his orange grove in Israel in 1994, wrote on Facebook. One of Becker’s three killers is to be freed.

Israel sweetened the deal for far-right members of its gov-erning coalition on Sunday by announcing plans to build 1,187 new dwellings for Jewish set-tlers in the occupied West Bank and parts of the territory it annexed to Jerusalem after the 1967 Middle East war. Israel’s Channel 10 television said another 900 units were planned for the Beit Jallah area near Bethlehem. An official in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in response that the project was not yet under construction.

“Those who do these things

are determined to undermine the peace negotiations, are determined to force people like us to leave the negotiating table,” Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat told Reuters.

A spokesman for European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said: “Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law and threaten to make a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict impossible.”

Eduardo del Buey, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, said: “settlements in the occupied territories are illegal, they have been and continue to be illegal”. Mark Regev, a spokes-man for Netanyahu, said the new construction would take place in areas that Israel intends to keep in any peace agreement.

REUTERS

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle speaks to media representatives in Tel Aviv, Isreal, yesterday. Westerwelle is in the Middle East to support the new peace talks between Israelis and the Palestinians.

150,000 hit by floods in SudanKHARTOUM: The number of people affected by this month’s flooding in Sudan has climbed to around 150,000 and is expected to rise further, the United Nations said yesterday.

More than half the victims, 84,000, are in the area around the capital Khartoum, said the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

“More rains are expected in the coming days and the estimated number of affected people is likely to rise further as rains continue and as more information becomes available,” OCHA said in a press release. AFP

Arrest warrant for Algeria ex-ministerALGIERS: International arrest warrants have been issued for former energy min-ister Chekib Khelil and eight others in connection with a corruption case at energy firm Sonatrach, Algeria’s prosecutor general said yesterday.

Khelil’s wife, their two chil-dren, his right-hand man Farid Bedjaoui and the former head of his office Redha Hamche also face arrest, Belkacem Zeghmati told a news conference in Algiers.

He said the warrants were issued two weeks ago.

The suspects are wanted in connection with the award of contracts by flagship state-owned firm Sonatrach in return for commissions.

Khelil is also wanted by Italy in connection with bribes paid to high-ranking Algerian officials, including in Sonatrach, to obtain markets in the North African country for Italian oil service group Saipem.

The Italian justice authori-ties are trying to retrieve $123m which were allegedly deposited in bank accounts in Singapore and Hong Kong managed by Bedjaoui, who is said to be based in Dubai and a holder of a French passport.

Media reports in Algeria and Italy say that Bedjaoui is sus-pected of being the middle-man who paid the commissions in return for oil contracts granted to Saipem, a subsidiary of Italian energy giant ENI.

The Milan prosecution has issued international arrest war-rants for both Khelil and Bedjaoui.

Italian judge Alfonsa Ferraro, quoted by the Corriere della Sera newspaper, has said that Saipem won eight contracts in Algeria for a total value of ¤8m.

In return Saipem allegedly paid $197m in bribes which it declared as intermediary fees placed with the Hong Kong-based Pearl Partners Limited company con-trolled by Bedjaoui, the Italian paper reported.

Algerian Justice Minister Mohamed Charfi told parliament in July that an investigation into Sonatrach had revealed that cor-ruption was at an international level, and that France, Italy and Switzerland were helping in the probe since 2012.

Khelil was sacked as energy minister in May 2010 amid accu-sations of corruption within his team.

AFP

JERUSALEM: Four out of five Jordanian prisoners held in Israel have ended a three-month hunger strike against prison conditions, Israeli offi-cials said yesterday. “Four Jordanian prisoners ended their hunger strike of their own volition and without any conditions,” a source in the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) told AFP. “The prisoners’

move was not conditioned on receiving benefits,” the source stressed.

But Jordan’s National Committee for Prisoners in Israel said the inmates ended their strike after an agree-ment was made, through the Jordanian Foreign Ministry, to allow their families to visit them.

AFP

Jordan prisoners end hunger strike

Continued from page 1

Kim Woosung, meanwhile, said that he was pleasantly surprised to see that many people here were interested to learn more about the Korean culture.

“Most of the people I’ve met have never been to Korea but they love Korean music and its culture,” the 26-year-old, who is studying furniture design, said.

Woosung has been training in hip-hop for the last nine years. He said many young Koreans aspire to join the Korean entertainment industry because of the fame and wealth associated with the profes-sion. Ha An, a dentistry student, said Qatar was not as hot as she thought it would be.

“I thought it would be unbear-ably hot. But it’s okay, it’s not as hot as I imagined it would be,” she said. As part of their visit to Qatar, the students inter-acted with several youngsters in Qatar through cooking and dance classes. The cultural centre is being run by Jaehoon Hong and his wife Jiwon An, who will also teach Korean music at the centre.

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BY TAWAKKOL KARMAN

S OON after the military coup that deposed Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi, I announced

that I would join the pro-Mursi dem-onstration outside of Cairo’s Rabaa Al Adaweya square. My home is in Sanaa, Yemen, but all of us who placed our hopes in the Arab Spring have a stake in what happens in Egypt: I wished to protest the killing, forcible disappear-ance and jailing of coup opponents — crimes that have been met with terrible silence from human rights activists and political elites. Not only have such fig-ures refused to condemn such viola-tions of freedom, they have given their blessing and justified such measures.

I declared publicly that I was going to Rabaa Al Adaweya to defend the gains of the January 25, 2011, revolution. For my activism, I have been the target of a massive incitement campaign by the pro-coup media: Regime supporters

have threatened me with death, even to put me on trial for spying and interfering in Egyptian affairs.

On August 4, I arrived at Cairo airport with my friend Bushra Al Serabi, the executive direc-tor of Women J o u r n a l i s t s Without Chains, to fulfill my pledge. I had all the possi-ble scenarios in mind: I thought the Egyptian authorities might grant me entry and then attack

me later in the street, or worse, fulfil their threats by arresting, killing or prosecuting me. Upon arriving at the airport, I stood in line to complete the usual visa process. A few minutes later, one officer in the airport recognized me and asked me to go to a special counter where they complete the entry procedures for bearers of diplomatic passports.

At that moment, an unusual

commotion began: The officers’ phones would not stop ringing, and I heard one of them whispering on the phone about me. “Tawakkol came! Tawakkol came! We won’t let her in,” he said, as if I was a very dangerous person.

The Egyptian officers informed me that I would be denied entry, and I was soon deported back to Yemen on the same plane on which I had arrived.

Unfortunately, it is impossible for me to stand in person with the protest-ers outside Rabaa Al Adaweya square to echo their legitimate demands. We shouldn’t be ashamed of standing by people who dream of democracy, jus-tice and a life with dignity — this is our duty.

Egypt’s current regime has ousted the first elected president in the coun-try’s history, suspended a constitution that won 60 percent support in a ref-erendum, and completely excluded the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party from political life. There are limited options for those of us who care about Egypt’s future: We can either side with civil values and democracy, or with military rule, tyr-anny and coercion.

Mursi was not only Egypt’s demo-cratically elected president, he is now emerging as the Arab world’s Nelson Mandela.

The South African leader brought peace and democracy to his country; during Mursi’s one-year reign, Egypt enjoyed freedom of expression and the right to demonstrate peacefully, and not a single one of his political oppo-nents were jailed. Even when he was ousted by force, he killed no one, jailed no one, and never resorted to violent resistance. This is unparalleled in the region.

By maintaining this peaceful approach, Mursi and his followers will have a role not less than that of Mandela’s African National Congress. Despite being subjected to killing, arrest and oppression, Mursi’s sup-porters have held fast to the demo-cratic process and prevented Egypt from descending into civil war. The free world must recognise their positive role by supporting them and rejecting the crimes committed against Mursi, his party, and pro-democracy figures.

I am not blind to the shortcomings of the previous government: Before the

coup, I supported the June 30 rallies against Mursi.

But I had had my eyes set on one objective — ending the rift within Egyptian society, and building a coun-try led by partnership rather than narrow majority rule. The military takeover aims to uproot the Muslim Brotherhood and its partners, replac-ing them through brute force with the losers of a democratic ballot — namely Mohamed ElBaradei and the National Salvation Front.

Democracy can’t thrive under mili-tary rule — history is quite clear on this point. In Egypt, this is evident through the terrible violations against rights and freedoms since the coup. The police state is back, and it is even worse than Hosni Mubarak’s.

What is happening in Egypt today is very scary: The coup could lead society to lose its faith in democracy, which will give terrorist groups a chance to breathe again. As Al Qaeda chief Ayman Al Zawahiri said in his latest audio message, the Brotherhood won the elections — and still Mursi was deposed. He concluded that democracy was a dead end, an exclusive right in the West, but one that is not accessible to Islamists.

What happens in Egypt will not stay in Egypt — the implications of this coup will reverberate over 1,000 miles away, in my home country of Yemen. It is wrong to look at the Arab Spring as an unrelated set of events: The people of the Middle East all rose up against tyranny and justice, and have the same dream of freedom, dignity and democracy.

All the ousted regimes, as well as the oppressive regimes that have hung on during the Arab Spring, have now blessed Egypt’s coup. But it’s not too late to reverse this trend: Just as poli-cies of oppression can start in Egypt and then spread to other Arab coun-tries, a blossoming democracy in Cairo can easily spread throughout the Arab world.

This may be why so many regional and international powers are arrayed against a democratic Egypt. Those who support freedom and democracy in the Middle East, however, should resist the new tyranny in Cairo with all their might.

WP-BLOOMBERG

WE welcome the nomination of the incoming U.S. ambassador as indicating the great importance

that President Barack Obama’s administration places on its relations with Japan. This should be used as a step forward to build more mature Japan-US relations.

Obama has named Caroline Kennedy, a lawyer and the eldest daugh-ter of the late President John F Kennedy, as ambassador to Japan. Kennedy, 55, will be the first female US ambassador to this nation. She will assume the post as early as this autumn, upon her Senate confirmation.

Kennedy comes from one of the most distinguished families in the United States. Early in 2008, before the presi-dential election later that year, she gave her support to Obama, helping create the momentum that led to Obama’s selection as the Democratic nominee for president. She also contributed to Obama’s reelection in 2012. Hers is a political nomination, a reward for her outstanding contributions to the Obama administration.

People with various careers and backgrounds have been apppointed as U.S. ambassadors in the past. These include heavyweight politicians such as Mike Mansfield, scholars like

Edwin Reischauer and diplomats such as Michael Armacost. In recent years, the appointments have been based on strong personal relations with presi-dents, as in the cases of John Scheiffer and John Roos. Kennedy’s nomination can be said to be in this line.

Kennedy has no experience with diplomacy or politics, leaving her abili-ties as an ambassador unknown. On the other hand, she has strong connections with Obama and a close relationship with US Secretary of State John Kerry.

A big-name ambassador is expected to be able to get the president on the phone and explore ways to solve prob-lems when bilateral Japan-U.S. relations

reach a critical point. In this sense, Kennedy is equipped with an important “weapon.”

Yet another of Kennedy’s strong points is her oustanding name recogni-tion and popularity. As an iconic figure for stable Japan-US relations, she will be asked to boost both Japanese and Americans’ interest in each other.

Both Japan and the United States are facing various important challenges.

How should they face China, which is becoming an economic and military power, and how should they confront North Korea, which is pursuing nuclear and missile development programs?

The Washington Post

Mursi is Arab world’s Mandela

Egyptian people are looking toward achieving a modern democratic state that does not exclude any one and based on the rule of law and achieving full equality between the citizens.

Quote ofthe day

Nabil FahmyEgyptian Foreign Minister

The other side

Those who

support freedom

and democracy

in the Middle

East, however,

should resist

the new tyranny

in Cairo with all

their might.

C AIRO is on the verge of an explosion. The supporters of deposed president Mohammed Mursi are adamant that they would not abandon their protest camps. The new rulers have vowed to

disperse the crowds using force. The army hasn’t moved in yet, and when they do, Egypt will again plumb new depths of chaos. The international community will call for calm and restraint, which is likely to fall on deaf ears.

The army is said to be waiting for Eid Al Fitr holidays to be over. At the same time, there are conflicting pressures on the Army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. While hardline officers in his camp call for immediate action to end the sit-ins, Western and Arab envoys and some senior Egyptian government members have pressed the army to avoid using force. But given the obduracy of both sides, it’s unlikely that a peaceful solution will be found. Mursi supporters want their leader back in the president’s seat, while the new rulers will never let him do so.

Almost 300 people have been killed in political violence since Sisi deposed Mursi, including dozens of his supporters shot dead by security forces in two incidents.

There is an element of double standards in Western attitudes to the developments in Egypt. Western countries

are torn between the need to condemn a coup that has resulted in the overthrow of an elected president and a desire to see Islamists relinquish power. There is no wonder that it’s called a friendly coup, one that is supported by millions of Egyptians.

A continuation of the current crisis will cause instability in the country. The situation on Sinai peninsula is especially dire. In

the five weeks since Mursi’s ouster, the violence in Sinai has spiraled into something like an insurgency, with unknown gunmen attacking military and police facilities every night. The Sinai attacks have taken about 62 lives, not counting the 72 people Egyptian authorities claim to have killed.

The economy is in intensive care, though the liberal aid given by some Gulf countries has helped avert an immediate crisis. But easy availability of foreign will lull the rulers into a complacency, prompting them to postpone serious economic reforms which the country needs now.

Even optimists are unable to suggest a solution right now as both sides are sticking to their irreconcilable positions. While Brotherhood is not willing to compromise on its demand, opponents of Mursi argue that while he was elected democratically, he was uninterested in upholding wider democratic values and only served the interests of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Egypt has become a bad model for Arab Spring. But there is still time for a correction •

Another showdown

Egypt has become a bad model for the Arab Spring. But there is still time for a correction.

Editorial

06 VIEWS TUESDAY 13 AUGUST 2013

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Appointment of new ambassador chance to build Japan-US ties

Majority govt depends on UK minority voters

BY EZRA KLEIN

Everything you know about immigration — unauthorised immigration — is wrong. So says Princeton University’s Doug Massey.

Massey is one of the pre-eminent immigration scholars and thinks we’ve wasted a lot of money on immigration policy and are about to waste a lot more.

Massey slices the history of Mexico-to-US migration into five periods. Early in the 20th century, there was the era of “the hook,” when Japan stopped sending workers to the US and the mining, agri-culture and railroad industries begged Mexican labourers to replace them.

It’s called “the hook” because labour-ers were recruited with promises of high wages, signing bonuses, transportation and lodging, most of which never mate-rialised or were deducted from their pay.

During the Roaring Twenties, came the “flood tide” — almost 650,000 Mexican workers came legally, causing the number of Mexicans in the US to reach almost 750,000 in 1929, from 100,000 in 1900.

The Great Depression ended that. Jobless Americans took out their anger on jobless Mexicans and the “era of deportations” began. From 1929 to 1939, 469,000 Mexicans were expelled; by 1940, the Mexican-born population fell to 377,000.

Enter the Second World War. With so many Americans fighting over-seas, Mexican labour was again in high demand. The US and Mexico negotiated the Bracero Programme, which gave Mexican workers access to temporary US visas. That started the “Bracero era.” In 1945, the programme brought in 50,000 Mexican workers. By 1956, it was up to

445,000. Mexico was freed from quota limitations on legal immigration, so by 1963, more than 50,000 were immigrat-ing each year. With so many legal ways to enter the country, illegal immigration was virtually unknown.

In 1965, the US ended the programme and began to limit Mexican immigration. The number of guest-worker permits dropped to 1,725 in 1979, from more than 400,000 in 1959. The number of residence visas declined to 20,000. But the demand for Mexican labour remained strong. So the “era of undocumented migration” began. Border apprehensions rose to 1.7 million in 1986, from 55,000 in 1965. Even as millions of Mexicans arrived illegally, millions also returned to Mexico. About 85 percent of new entries were offset by departures. So the growth of the undoc-umented population was slow.

After a comprehensive immigration law in 1986, the US began militaris-ing the border with Mexico even as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and later the North American Free Trade Agreement strengthened ties with Mexico. From 1986 to 2000, trade with increased eight-fold.

Until this point, there isn’t much to dispute in Massey’s narrative. But here his immigration story takes a turn that confounds Washington’s conventional wisdom and makes a mockery of the current debate.

According to Massey, the rise of large undocumented population is a direct result of the militarisation of the bor-der. While undocumented workers once travelled back and forth from Mexico with ease, after the border was garri-soned, immigrants crossed the border and stayed.

“Migrants rationally responded to the

increased costs and risks by minimising the number of times they crossed the border,” Massey wrote in his 2007 paper ‘Understanding America’s Immigration Crisis.’

“But they achieved this goal not by remaining in Mexico and abandoning their intention to migrate to the US, but by hunkering down and staying once they had run the gantlet at the border and made it to their final destination.”

The data support Massey’s the-sis: In 1980, 46 percent of undocu-mented migrants returned to Mexico in 12 months. By 2007, that was down to 7 percent. As a result, the permanent undocumented population exploded.

The militarisation had another unin-tended consequence: It dispersed the undocumented population. Before 1986, about 85 percent of Mexicans settled in California, Texas or Illinois, and more than two-thirds entered through the

San Diego-Tijuana or the El Paso-Juarez entry point. As the US blockaded these areas, undocumented migrants found new ways in — and new places to settle. By 2002, two-thirds of undocumented migrants were entering at a non-San Diego-El Paso entry point and settling in a “nontraditional” state.

In recent years, the inflow of new undocumented immigrants from Mexico has fallen to zero partly due to the US recession and a falloff in construction, which employed a lot of migrant. But some is due to an improving economy in Mexico, where unemployment is 5 per-cent and wages have been rising. “I think the huge boom in Mexican immigration is over,” Massey said.

The political debate over immigration is stuck in 1985. Congress is focused on how to further militarise an already-militarised border — despite the fact that doubling the size of the Border

Patrol since 2004 and installing hun-dreds of miles of barriers and surveil-lance equipment appear to have been counterproductive. At any rate, the flow of unauthorised immigration has slowed dramatically. “Listening to the Republicans, you’d think waves of peo-ple are crossing the border. But illegal migration stopped four years ago and has been zero since,” ,” Massey said.

The debate is backward as Republicans are focused on militarising the border against people who are no longer cross-ing it, and loath to do anything about undocumented immigrants who are the legacy of the last build-up.

At best, we can hope to waste tens of billions of dollars on further enforce-ment in return for a lengthy and compli-cated path to citizenship. At worst, we’ll do nothing — in which case this will be known as the era of wasted opportunity.

WP-BLOOMBERG

US immigration debate stuck in 1985

A US Border Patrol officer on the streets of downtown Nogales, Arizona, with Nogales, Mexico, standing on the other side of the border fence.

Younger people who came of age after the worst of the conflict have become politically aware. BY MARCO AQUINO and MITRA TAJ

The biggest political protests in Peru’s capital in more than a decade have pressured President Ollanta Humala to clean up government and share

the benefits of the country’s decade-long eco-nomic boom.

Many of the protesters were left-leaning and middle-class youth who voted for Humala two years ago, but now they say he and other political leaders are dangerously out of touch.

A former military officer and one-time nationalist radical, Humala has pledged to ensure more Peruvians benefit from growth rates of around 6 percent a year, record reserves and solid fiscal surpluses.

Humala has largely pleased investors by continuing free-market policies, but detrac-tors say he has not made much progress on the “great transformation” he once promised.

With a quarter of Peruvians living in pov-erty, and crime and corruption still wide-spread, Humala’s approval ratings have slumped. The street protests peaked with a rally of around 8,000 at the end of July. They were small compared to other protest movements in Latin America, but the big-gest in Lima since 2000, when demonstrators took to the streets against president Alberto Fujimori. He was forced from power that same year and is in prison for corruption and human rights violations.

The recent protests spilled over from social media and into the streets last month after lawmakers in Humala’s party were caught on tape negotiating controversial appointments for judges and a human rights ombudsman in an under-the-table deal with other major parties. While recent demonstrations were directed against all of Peru’s political class, they highlighted Humala’s political isolation as he struggles to push through education, health, policing and civil service reforms. The government is clearly concerned. “If the political class in power does not change, this could become massive and the government is aware of that,” a senior figure inside the

Humala administration said. The source, who declined to be named, said the prime minister has been meeting with youth lead-ers to calm the “crisis of representation.”

Humala had a 65 percent approval rating shortly after taking office two years ago, but a recent Ipsos poll showed it had fallen to 33 percent. He had to shuffle his Cabinet twice after anti-mining protests in rural areas, although he is more popular than two former presidents at a similar time in office. Ex-president Alan Garcia has tried to ride the recent discontent to boost his own flagging popularity as he faces investiga-tions for alleged wrongdoing in handing out pardons to drug dealers during his 2006 to 2011 government.

Garcia’s APRA party was not part of the congressional bargain that triggered the protests. He says the appointments scandal shows the government is trying to usurp democratic institutions. A pro-business con-servative, Garcia is widely expected to seek a third term in office in 2016 elections. Humala can not seek a second consecutive term, but his charismatic wife, Nadine Heredia, is widely believed to have presidential ambi-tions. Some expect her to run as early as 2016, despite her denials.

Faced with the growing street protests and the prospect of more trouble, Congress quickly annulled its institutional appointments.

Echoing similar movements in Brazil, Chile

and Spain, Peru’s demonstrators have focused on corruption and back-room politics.

The demonstrations featured labour union members, a soap opera actor, gay rights activists in rat costumes, and a giant pan flute band that dedicated songs to a Peruvian socialist hero. They ended in clashes and police firing tear gas into the crowds.

Peru’s middle-class has largely shied away from political activism since the war between the state and the Shining Path rebel group in the 1980s and 1990s that claimed some 70,000 lives. “The Shining Path experience still weighs very heavily on Peruvian poli-tics,” said Levitsky. “Anything that smacks of protests... or violence or police crackdowns really raises the hair on the back of people’s necks.”

But that could be changing as younger people who came of age after the worst of the conflict become politically aware. “What’s new here is us — young people like me who have never protested before,” said 21-year-old university student Julio Salazar.

Analysts say the protests and a broader rejection of the traditional political parties could encourage outsiders to make bids for office. Political parties in Peru tend to be weak and centred around the personalities of current and former presidents, and many feel politicians are more interested in pos-turing for 2016 presidential elections than solving problems. REUTERS

Workers carry a fake coffin as they are escorted by police during a protest against the new civil service law that will require government employees to undergo work evaluations, in Lima, Peru.

BY SADIQ KHAN

The most recent census showed that the population under 18 is significantly more ethnically diverse than the rest of the electorate. This is filtering into the make-up of those who vote. Research published today by Operation Black Vote (OBV)

concludes that any future majority government will only be possible with the support of ethnic minority voters.

The Runnymede Trust’s authoritative study of political integration and ethnic minority voting behaviour in the 2010 general election found that two out of three black, Asian and minority ethnic voters supported Labour. Just one in six supported the Conservatives. These voters had the potential to decide 99 seats in England and Wales in the 2010 election. But OBV say this will reach 168 seats in 2015.

Whereas once political parties opted to tailor their policies to specific issues important to particular ethnic groups, it’s now about the range of different paths that parties must take to expand their support base. The importance of getting on the right side of demographic change was seen in last year’s US election. For the first time the turnout rate of “minority” voters exceeded that of white voters. While Mitt Romney won 60 percent of the white vote, this couldn’t compensate for his failure to engage with minorities. As in the US, the British electorate has changed, and it is vital that our politics changes to reflect this.

This isn’t about treating minority citizens as a bloc vote that auto-matically supports Labour. Their support must be earned. In fact, the level of support for Labour among ethnic minorities has been higher in the past. And the bad news for lazy politicians is that simply visiting a temple on Diwali, sharing a samosa on Eid or attending a community event in Black History Month won’t be enough. Nor will relying on community elders or gatekeepers to deliver the vote. Minority ethnic issues need to be mainstream issues.

The surge in successful applications from minority ethnic communi-ties for our Future Candidates Programme shows Labour’s commit-ment. But having chaired Labour’s inquiry into the Bradford West by-election defeat, it is clear that there are some parts of the country where politics is still letting down citizens. An exciting discovery has been that minority ethnic votes aren’t confined to inner cities or safe seats. They are spread around the country with significant numbers in seats key to Labour, the Conservatives and the Lib Dems. This means minority voters have never been more powerful and should demand more from political parties. I welcome an arms race for minority ethnic voters. This will ensure we all raise our game.

This year marked 45 years since Enoch Powell’s “rivers of blood” speech on the consequences of immigration. As an electorate we’ve come a long way. Attitudes that were once acceptable are long gone. Events such as Stephen Lawrence’s murder had a deep and lasting effect on society, not just particular ethnic groups. The recent public backlash against the Home Office’s “Go home or face arrest” campaign comes as a reminder that politicians can’t single out and scapegoat ethnic groups in the way they were able to in the past without offending society as a whole. Bearing in mind the track record of the Conservative strategist Lynton Crosby — he was, after all, responsible for the Tories’ “Are you thinking what we’re thinking” posters in 2005 — it’s curious that Conservatives think he will help them win over those voters at the next election they couldn’t win over in 2010. OBV’s research confirms that if the Tory tactic was to ignore minority ethnic voters, that will no longer be possible. They are one among many groups that parties need to win over — yet perhaps now one of the most important.

THE GUARDIAN

Peru protesters shake up politics

VIEWS 07TUESDAY 13 AUGUST 2013

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The debate is backward as Republicans are focused on militarising the border against people who are no longer crossing it, and loath to do anything about undocumented immigrants.

08 INTERNATIONALTUESDAY 13 AUGUST 2013

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HARARE: Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe told critics of his re-election to “go hang” yesterday, making clear he would brook no questioning of his disputed victory either from the West or his main rival, who is challenging the result in court.

In his first public speech since he and his ZANU-PF party were declared overwhelming winners of the July 31 presidential and parliamentary elections, Mugabe dismissed his defeated rivals as “pathetic puppets” and “Western-sponsored stooges”.

The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) of Mugabe’s rival Morgan Tsvangirai filed a court challenge on Friday against Mugabe’s announced landslide re-election, alleging widespread vote rigging and intimidation of electors by ZANU-PF.

The result extends by five years the 33-year rule of Mugabe over the southern African nation that was formerly known as Rhodesia. At 89, Mugabe is Africa’s oldest leader.

Pointing to multiple flaws in the vote cited by domestic observers, Western governments — espe-cially the US — have questioned the credibility of the election outcome and are considering whether to prolong sanctions against Mugabe.

In contrast, observers from African diplomatic groups broadly approved the Zimbabwe vote as orderly and free.

“We won so overwhelmingly that some people are hurting badly,” Mugabe told a rally in Harare to mark Heroes Day, an annual celebration of those who

fought to liberate Zimbabwe from white minority rule, leading to its independence in 1980.

“If they cannot stomach it, they can go and hang,” Mugabe said, drawing cheers from thousands of ZANU-PF supporters.

Tsvangirai’s MDC, which calls the July 31 vote a “monumental fraud”, boycotted the rally at the National Heroes’ Acre shrine, saying it did not want to associ-ate with “election thieves”.

Zimbabwe’s constitution says the country’s top court must rule within 14 days on the MDC challenge to the presidential election result. Analysts predict the challenge is unlikely to pros-per because they say Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party dominates the judiciary and state institutions.

In his own separate Heroes Day message, MDC leader Tsvangirai reiterated his charge that Mugabe and ZANU-PF had rigged the election, saying Zimbabwe was “mourning over the audacity of so few to steal from so many.”

He has said he in fact won the vote, not Mugabe.

In its arguments to the Constitutional Court calling for an election re-run, the MDC alleged hundreds of thousands of voters were turned away, and that the voters’ roll was flawed, con-taining at least 870,000 duplicated names.

A preliminary assessment by the leading domestic observers’ body, the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN), called the election “seriously compro-mised”, saying registration flaws may have disenfranchised up to a million people out of 6.4 million registered voters. REUTERS

Mugabe tells election critics to ‘go hang’West questions credibility of vote

Immigrants rescued

Fireworks contest

An African immigrant receives assistance from a Red Cross worker at the Port in Tarifa, Spain, yesterday. Maritime Rescue Services rescued 59 immigrants that were trying to reach the Spanish coasts in nine inflat-able makeshift boats.

Portuguese fireworks troupe ‘Grupo Luso’ performs at La Concha beach in San Sebastian, northern Spain, yesterday, during the International Fireworks contest to celebrate San Sebastian’s Big Week Feast.

BAMAKO: Vote-tallying was under way in Mali yesterday after a presidential election expected to provide a fresh start to the troubled west African nation following more than a year of political turmoil, war and a military coup.

An electorate of seven million had a choice Sunday between former premier Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and ex-finance minister Soumaila Cisse to lead Mali’s recovery, following last year’s coup that ignited an Islamist insurgency.

The election, the first since 2007, is seen as crucial for unlock-ing more than $4bn in aid prom-ised after international donors halted contributions in the wake of the coup.

Louis Michel, head of the European Union’s election

observation mission, said there was “absolutely nothing doubt-ful or suspicious to report” and that voting had taken place “in good conditions, in a serene, quiet atmosphere”.

“Whoever is elected will be elected with democratic legiti-macy. That is my belief,” he told reporters in the capital Bamako, adding that there had been “a leap forward in terms of democracy in this country”.

The government has until Friday to make public the result of the run-off -- called after none of 27 candidates in the first round on July 28 secured an outright majority -- but observers expect an announcement sooner.

Early signs were positive for Keita, with a Mauritanian camp for Malian refugees reporting that its vote had gone overwhelmingly

in his favour. A Mauritanian local government source said 76 per-cent of some 3,500 voters at the Mbera camp in the country’s southeast had chosen Keita over Cisse.

Keita, 68, and Cisse, 63, lost out in 2002 to Amadou Toumani Toure, who was overthrown by a military junta in March last year as he was preparing to end his final term in office.

The return to democratic rule will allow France to withdraw most of the 4,500 troops it sent to Mali in January to oust Al Qaeda-linked extremists who had occu-pied the north in the chaos that followed the coup.

Keita was more than 20 per-centage points ahead of his rival in the first round but Cisse had complained about widespread fraud. AFP

Mali vote count under way

PARIS: Muslim leaders in the French city of Lyon said yes-terday they feared a surge in attacks on mosques in the style of one averted last week in which a soldier was arrested on suspicion of planning a shooting during an Islamic feast holiday.

Anti-Muslim incidents have risen steadily in recent years in France, home to Europe’s largest Islamic minority, according to the Committee against Islamophobia in France (CCIF), which blames anti-Muslim rhetoric by far-right politicians.

A far-right activist said such violence had been provoked by government efforts to suppress “nationalist movements” that provided a legitimate outlet for discontent.

Kamel Kabtane, rector of the Grand Mosque of Lyon, called on local Muslims to gather for a show of solidarity at the subur-ban Minguettes Mosque, which police said the soldier arrested on Saturday planned to shoot at on the Eid Al Fitr holiday.

The 23-year-old, from an air force base near Lyon, was placed under formal investigation yes-terday, accused of “possessing category 4 ammunitions in rela-tion to a terrorist undertaking”. Described by the interior min-istry as holding extreme right-wing views, he was also accused of lobbing a Molotov cocktail at a mosque near Bordeaux last year.

“There is a clear will today to hurt the Muslim community,” Kabtane said, adding that two minor acts had been carried out against mosques in southeastern France over the weekend.

“These are no longer isolated acts. It feels like there is a whole organisation being put in place,” he said.

French media say such inci-dents have increased by 50 per-cent in the first half of 2013. The presence of far-right militants at anti-gay marriage protests highlighted half a dozen shadowy extremist groups the government has since shut down.

Alexandre Gabriac, the young founder of a now banned far-right group called the Revolutionary Youths, blamed the rise in anti-Muslim attacks on the clamp-down and said the government should take some responsibility.

“Dissolving nationalist move-ments drives people to carry out isolated, reckless acts,” he said. “Our groups enabled the anger that is rising to be channelled and transformed into a political foun-dation. These isolated acts will be more and more frequent.”

REUTERS

Muslims in France fear surge in attacks

MOSCOW: Russian prosecu-tors yesterday accused protest leader Alexei Navalny of break-ing the law in his campaign for Moscow mayor by receiving donations from foreign nation-als, adding to the legal woes of President Vladimir Putin’s top critic.

Navalny, 37, a star speaker at anti-Putin rallies who rose to fame through anti-corruption investigations, denied the claim

and said that all funding for the September 8 polls was being gath-ered in strict accordance with the law.

The charismatic lawyer is run-ning against a Kremlin-backed incumbent after being dramati-cally released from prison last month following his conviction on disputed embezzlement charges.

“A check has confirmed infor-mation about foreign financing of Alexei Navalny,” the prosecutor

general’s office said in a statement published on its website.

Under Russian law, it is illegal for a candidate to spend money donated by foreigners on a politi-cal campaign. The statement said 300 foreign nationals and anony-mous donors based in 46 countries including the United States gave Navalny money using a Russia-based Internet payment system.

Navalny, who is shaping up to be the main challenger to

pro-Putin mayor Sergei Sobyanin in the election, denied the claim.

“The financing of our campaign is carried out strictly according to the law and is legally absolutely impeccable,” he wrote on his blog.

“All the payments are checked by Moscow’s electoral commis-sion. If they tell us the payment is illegal, there’s a missing second name or a date of birth or espe-cially citizenship, then we return the payment. That’s it.” AFP

Russia probes protest leader over foreign funding

MILAN: Italy’s tax police said yesterday they are seizing houses, hotels and other assets totalling ¤250m ($336m) as part of an investigation into alleged false accounting and market manipulation by the former owners of insurer Fondiaria-Sai.

The investigation led last month to the arrest of Fondiaria’s former owner Salvatore Ligresti, members of his family and various managers.

The arrests related to a ¤600m hole found in the group’s claim reserves, which had not been disclosed to the market, police said at the time.

Police said in a statement yesterday the alleged crimes resulted in illicit profits of ¤251.6m, prompting the confis-cation of assets worth an equiv-alent amount situated across 25 Italian regions.

They said the seizures include the Ligresti family’s Milanese estate, along with upscale hotels they own in Turin, Sicily and the mountainous Dolomite region.

Fondiaria’s position as Italy’s leading motor insurer has been hit by increasing competition and a drop in the number of people buying car insurance in Italy’s longest recession since World War Two, leading to a complex takeover deal struck last year with peer Unipol.

The four-way tie-up with Unipol is expected to be com-pleted by the end of the year.

The chief executive of Italy’s largest bank Unicredit, which is the biggest creditor of Fondiaria and the Ligresti’s holding com-pany Premafin, said in July the arrests would not affect the deal.

No one at Fondiaria was immediately available for comment.

REUTERS

Italy police seize €250m assets in Fondiaria-Sai investigation

MARIKANA, South Africa: A female union leader was gunned down at Lonmin’s Marikana mine in South Africa yesterday, police said, almost a year after officers shot dead 34 strikers at the mine.

Amid a deadly inter-union bat-tle for supremacy, police spokes-man Thulani Ngubane said a person was shot dead at the mine’s Rowland shaft northwest of Johannesburg.

“Officers are still on the scene,” he said.

The powerful National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) confirmed the woman had been one of its leaders at the troubled mine.

“This morning she was fatally shot next to our offices,” said National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) spokesman Lesiba Seshoka.

“This shop steward woman was an important worker in the union,” he added.

A blanket covered the woman’s body where she was killed outside her house in the mine’s Western Platinum division at 10am (0800 GMT).

Police kept a car with weeping mourners from approaching the

cordoned-off scene close to where strikers clashed with authorities a year ago.

The victim was a mother of three and also fostered three more children, according to her niece Nbongile Madolo.

“Everybody’s scared of what has happened now. If you start talking, start doing anything, you don’t know what might happen to you,” Madolo said.

A neighbour said she was

“shocked” over the targeting of a woman leader at the mine. “It’s the first time they’ve shot dead a lady, all the time it’s the men,” she said.

“We don’t have any reaction from the police. Even now it’s not safe ... There is no security, we are not secure,” she added.

The latest murder precedes by just a few days the one-year commemoration of the Marikana bloodbath. AFP

Union official shot dead at South Africa Marikana mine

South African Police officers guard the house of a union leader who was gunned down at Lonmin’s Marikana mine, yesterday.

INTERNATIONAL 09TUESDAY 13 AUGUST 2013

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US rights group RootsAction co-founder Norman Solomon (centre) delivers boxes of over 100,000 signatures urging the Nobel Peace Prize to be awarded to Bradley Manning, to the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo yesterday.

OSLO: A US rights group has collected over 100,000 signa-tures urging the Norwegian Nobel committee to give this year’s Peace Prize to Bradley Manning, a US soldier convicted of leaking classified US govern-ment files touching on military policy.

Recognising Manning, the head of the RootsAction group said, would also help repair the Nobel panel’s reputation after it chose President Barack Obama for the Peace Prize in 2009, only a few months into his first term of office.

“There’s a cloud hanging over the Nobel Peace Committee,” Norman Solomon, co-founder of RootsAction said yesterday, as he prepared to hand his 5,000-page petition to the committee.

“In a sense, the Nobel Peace Prize at this point needs Bradley Manning more than Bradley Manning needs the Nobel Peace Prize ... There has now grown a question about the Nobel Committee’s commitment to human rights and peace in an even handed, independent way.”

Private First Class Manning was convicted earlier this month of charges that included espionage and theft for releasing more than 700,000 battlefield videos, dip-lomatic cables and other secret documents to the anti-secrecy

website WikiLeaks. He now faces up to 90 years in prison. Solomon argued that the disclosures short-ened the US military involvement in Iraq and made it more difficult for the country to engage in con-flict. A representative of the Nobel committee said the petition would not influence its decision.

“The Nobel Peace Prize is not a popularity contest and a large number of signatures will neither help nor hinder his (Manning’s) candidacy,” Asle Toje, the Norwegian Nobel Committee’s Research Director said.

“It will be reviewed on its merit, based on the principles laid out in the will of Alfred Nobel. It’s not unprecedented that we receive a large volume of supporting mate-rial for a candidate ... but these do not influence the committee.”

Manning, 25, was a low-level intelligence analyst in Iraq in 2010 when he was charged with leak-ing files including videos of a 2007 attack by a US Apache helicopter gunship in Baghdad that killed a dozen people, two of them Reuters news staff.

The Nobel committee, which also came under fire for awarding the Peace Prize to the European Union last year, has repeatedly rejected criticism over its selection of Obama before the first black US president had achieved anything notable in office. REUTERS

US rights group urges Nobel Peace Prize for Bradley Manning

LONDON: Britain warned Spain yesterday it might take legal action to try to force Madrid to abandon tighter controls at the border with the contested British overseas ter-ritory of Gibraltar in what it called an “unprecedented” step against a European ally.

The warning coincided with the departure of a British war-ship for Gibraltar, played down by the British and Spanish govern-ments as part of a long planned, routine exercise but which under-scored heightened tensions over the territory.

A spokesman for Prime Minister David Cameron said the Spanish border checks, imposed after Gibraltar created an artifi-cial reef which Spain said blocked its fishing vessels, were “dis-proportionate” and “politically motivated”.

Tensions over the rocky outpost at the mouth of the Mediterranean to which Spain lays claim have turned into one of the worst disputes in years between the two European Union members.

“The prime minister is dis-appointed by the failure of the Spanish to remove the addi-tional border checks this week-end and we are now considering what legal action is open to us,” Cameron’s spokesman said, argu-ing they breached EU law.

“This would be an

unprecedented step,” he added, saying that the British ambassa-dor in Spain would relay Britain’s message to Spanish officials later in the day.

Spain said it would not back down over the border controls which it said were a legal and proportionate step to prevent money laundering and smuggling of tobacco and other products from Gibraltar.

The territory, which has a population of 30,000 and relies on tourism, the gambling industry and offshore banking, has been a source of tension since Spain ceded it to Britain in the Treaty of Utrecht 300 years ago.

Spain’s tougher checks at the 1.2km border have caused long delays for thousands of tourists and local people. Madrid also aired the idea of imposing a bor-der crossing fee and of banning planes using its airspace to reach Gibraltar.

A Spanish foreign minis-try spokeswoman on Monday restated her country’s position that it was considering what international forum it could use to press its claim to Gibraltar.

A diplomatic source in Spain said on Sunday that Madrid may take its case to the United Nations, while a report in the El Pais newspaper said it would seek support from Argentina, which disputes Britain’s sovereignty of the Falkland Islands in the South

Atlantic Ocean. Gibraltarians were granted full British citizen-ship in 1981 and a referendum in 2002 backed Britain’s rule, with 98 percent of voters rejecting the idea of shared sovereignty with Spain.

Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy spoke with Cameron about the dispute last week and both sides expressed a desire to calm the row, but nei-ther backed down. Both politi-cians now run the risk of losing face in front of their domestic audiences.

Opposition politicians in Spain have accused Rajoy of using the situation to distract Spaniards from the country’s severe reces-sion and a corruption scandal damaging his political party.

In London, Boris Johnson, the city’s outspoken mayor, waded into the debate, telling Madrid to take its “hands off our Rock”, saying he hoped the planned arrival of British warships in Gibraltar was not a coincidence.

HMS Westminster, a Royal Navy warship set sail for Gibraltar yesterday as part of an annual Mediterranean military exercise which both Spain and Britain say has been long planned and is unrelated to the dispute.

It evoked the 16th century naval rivalry between the two countries in which the English repelled an attempt by the Spanish Armada to try to invade

England in 1588 and the Spanish defeated an English “Counter Armada” the following year.

A spokesman for the European Commission Jonathan Todd con-firmed yesterday that a team of Commission officials would travel

to Gibraltar in September. “They will be there to verify

compliance with EU rules on frontier controls,” he said, adding it wasn’t clear yet how many EU officials would be involved.

Writing in The Sun newspaper

on Monday, Britain’s Europe minister David Lidington said: “Britain and Spain matter to each other. We are Nato allies, key trading partners and millions of Brits travel to Spain every year.

REUTERS

UK warns Spain over Gibraltar border controlsMadrid says will not back down on border checks

Britain’s helicopter carrier HMS Illustrious leaves Portsmouth navy base in southern England, yesterday. British warships began setting sail for the Mediterranean for a naval exercise that will see one vessel dock in Gibraltar, as tensions rise with Spain over the British-held territory.

NEW YORK: A US judge ruled yesterday the New York Police Department’s “stop-and-frisk” crime-fighting tactic uncon-stitutional, dealing a sting-ing rebuke to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who had argued the practice drove down the city’s crime rate.

US District Judge Shira Scheindlin called it “indirect racial profiling” because it tar-geted racially defined groups, resulting in the disproportionate and discriminatory stopping of tens of thousands of blacks and Hispanics while the city highest officials “turned a blind eye,” she said.

“No one should live in fear of being stopped whenever he leaves his home to go about the activities of daily life,” Scheindlin wrote in her opinion.

As part of her ruling, Scheindlin ordered the appointment of an independent monitor and other immediate changes to police policies. Her “remedies” address two lawsuits, one brought by the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) and the other by the

Center for Constitutional Rights.“Today is a victory for all

New Yorkers,” the Center for Constitutional Rights said in a statement. “After more than 5 million stops conducted under the current administration, hundreds of thousands of them illegal and discriminatory, the NYPD has finally been held accountable. It is time for the city to stop denying the problem and work with the community to fix it.”

Bloomberg has resisted inter-ference in his police policies, espe-cially that of stopping, questioning and frisking anyone for “reason-able suspicion” in high-crime areas. The mayor has sought to preserve a legacy that includes a 30 percent reduction in violent crime since 2001, the year he was first elected.

The judge, who presided over the 9-week trial without a jury, ruled the effectiveness of “stop and frisk” was irrelevant.

“Many police practices may be useful for fighting crime -preven-tive detention or coerced confes-sions, for example - but because they are unconstitutional, they

cannot be used, no matter how effective,” the ruling said.

Police officers felt pressure to increase the number of stops after Bloomberg took office in January 2002 and brought in Raymond Kelly to be NYPD commissioner, the judge wrote.

As a result, officers often frisked young minority men for weapons or searched their pockets for con-traband before letting them go, in a violation of the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment that protects against unreasonable searches and seizures, the judge said in her 195-page decision.

The number of stops rose to 685,724 in 2011 from 160,851 in 2003, with about half resulting in physical searches, a 2012 report by the New York Civil Liberties Union showed. In 2011, there were more frisk searches of young black men than the total number of such men living in the city, the report found. Only 1.8 percent of blacks and Latinos searched by the police in 2011 had weapons on them, compared with 3.8 percent of whites, the NYCLU report said.

REUTERS

New York’s ‘stop-and-frisk’ unconstitutional, rules judge SAN FRANCISCO: The US

announced plans yesterday to reduce its use of mandatory sentences for drug offenses in order to tackle a cycle of poverty and incarceration in overcrowded jails.

In remarks to the American Bar Association, Attorney General Eric Holder was to call minimum jail terms “counterproductive,” accord-ing to excerpts from his speech released in advance.

Holder says the US should remain strict but be smarter about tackling crime.

And he warned that, while the total US population has increased by a third since 1980, the prison population has soared by 800 percent.

The US accounts for five percent of the world popula-tion but nearly a quarter of all people imprisoned, he said.

HRW says Ecuador trampling NGOs WASHINGTON: A promi-nent human rights group sharply criticised Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa yes-terday for a decree imposing restrictions on non-govern-mental organisations.

Human Rights Watch said the decree, issued in June, undermines Ecuadorans’ rights to free assembly and should be revoked. The decree sets forth new procedures for Ecuadoran and international civic groups to gain legal sta-tus and requires international groups like HRW to go through a screening process.

Colombia questions US Internet snooping BOGOTA: Colombian offi-cials will raise the issue of US electronic surveillance dur-ing a visit by US Secretary of State John Kerry, the American ambassador said.

A team of Colombian offi-cials visited Washington recently to discuss the snoop-ing, which came to light when fugitive intelligence leaker Edward Snowden revealed details of huge US telephone and Internet surveillance pro-grams. Kerry arrived in Bogota yesterday for his first tour of Latin America as America’s top diplomat. AGENCIES

US plans lower sentences for drug-users

LONDON: Authorities in London’s financial district yes-terday ordered a company using high-tech trash cans to collect smartphone data from passers-by to cease its activities, and referred the firm to the privacy watchdog.

The City of London Corporation, which manages the so-called “Square Mile” around St Paul’s Cathedral, said such data collection “needs to stop” until there could be a public debate about it.

The start-up company respon-sible, Renew, claims the technol-ogy could help advertisers tailor their marketing campaigns based on how often people pass a certain shop and how long they stay in there.

Chief executive Kaveh Memari said trials were at a very early stage and his company was only counting the number of people walking past — without collect-ing any personal details.

He dismissed as alarmist con-cerns that individuals were being tracked, saying: “We can’t really track people, we don’t see people — all we see is a device.”

But a City of London spokes-man said: “Irrespective of what’s technically possible, anything that happens like this on the streets needs to be done carefully, with the backing of an informed public.

“We have already asked the firm concerned to stop this data collection immediately and we have also taken the issue to the Information Commissioner’s Office.”

Renew installed its high-tech recycling bins around London during last year’s Olympic Games. The “pods” are bomb-proof and wi-fi-enabled and have digital screens showing real-time finan-cial information, adverts and local information.

They company hopes to expand to other cities including New York, Dubai and Rio de Janeiro, which

is hosting the 2016 Olympics.This summer, the firm began

testing if the pods could collect data from smartphones, and dur-ing one week in June registered more than half a million unique devices.

It recorded the brand and also hopes to map footfall around spe-cific areas, which it said “provides an unparalleled insight into the past behaviour of unique devices - entry/exit points, dwell times (time spent in a location), places of work, places of interest, and affinity to other devices”.

However, Memari said this was still in the future, saying: “The implications of where this tech-nology could go, got a lot more exciting than actually what our trial was.”

He compared the technology to websites which count the number of hits or unique visitors — they provide a measure of use but do not know who those people are.

AFP

London concerned over trash cans collecting smartphone data

JAKARTA: A volcano on a tiny Indonesian island that erupted at the weekend and killed five people spewed more clouds of red-hot ash yesterday, as hun-dreds of villagers were evacu-ated to safety.

Mount Rokatenda, on Palue island in East Nusa Tenggara province, was belching out col-umns of smoke up to 100 metres (330 feet) high, journalist on the nearby island of Flores said.

“The activity inside the volcano is still high,” said Surono, a gov-ernment volcanologist who like many Indonesians goes by one name, warning Rokatenda could erupt violently again.

On Saturday the volcano threw scorching ash two kilometres (1.2 miles) into the sky and unleashed molten lava onto a beach, killing three adults and two children as they slept.

Rescuers have been battling through roads blocked by ash to reach affected areas and persuade reluctant villagers to leave their homes. More than 500 have so far been taken off the island to a camp in Maumere, on Flores.

“There are a lot of people here who seem to be traumatised due to the eruption,” said Bakri Kari, a member of the rescue team from the local disaster agency.

“Many lost their homes after they ran in a panic. People are in despair.”

Six motor boats were being used to evacuate people and the government had sent aid to help those displaced, including masks and blankets, said national dis-aster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho.

“Since the eruption on Saturday, 511 people living near the Rokatenda volcano have been

evacuated from Palue island to Maumere,” he said.

Yosep Ansarera, head of Sikka district, of which Palue is part, said that those evacuated came from two villages.

However, he added: “Dozens of people remain in their villages, refusing to be evacuated as they don’t want to leave their livestock and homes.”

Many of those evacuated came from inside a three-kilometre exclusion zone around the crater.

Authorities had urged people to leave the exclusion area before the eruption and banned all activities inside but many had refused to abandon their homes.

Officials still hope to evacuate another 2,500 people but Kari said rescue efforts were proving dif-ficult as “a lot of infrastructure has been damaged”.

AFP

Indonesia volcano spews more ash

WELLINGTON: New Zealand yesterday rejected allegations from Sri Lanka that its dairy products were contaminated with a farm chemical, accus-ing industry rivals of exploiting fears stirred by a recent botu-lism scare.

Sri Lanka’s health ministry has recalled two batches of milk powder made by Auckland-based dairy giant Fonterra, saying it was concerned the product contained the chemical dicyandiamide.

The recall is unrelated to the global safety recall announced by Fonterra earlier this month after tests turned up a type of bacteria that could cause potentially-fatal botulism.

However, New Zealand Trade Minister Tim Groser said the bot-ulism scare had provided ammu-nition to Fonterra’s “enemies” in Sri Lanka, where it is the market leader.

“There are certain dairy

companies (in Sri Lanka) that have campaigned for years against New Zealand,” he told Radio New Zealand.

“I’ve been saying in the context of recent events (that) we do have enemies around the world and they have different faces. They’ll take advantage of an opportunity like this, we can’t be naive.”

Dicyandiamide, or DCD, is added to pastures to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases emit-ted by dairy herds.

New Zealand officials insist it is harmless, but say Fonterra’s farmers stopped using it earlier this year anyway.

“So all the milk going into Sri Lanka, by definition, cannot pos-sibly include DCD,” Groser said.

Sri Lanka’s courts have stopped Fonterra from advertising its products until August 21, when test reports from foreign labora-tories are expected to show if the initial findings were accurate.

Meanwhi le , Fonterra announced it had appointed former Air New Zealand and Commonwealth Bank of Australia chief Ralph Norris to head an independent inquiry into the botulism crisis.

While no infants fell ill after consuming tainted product, the scandal hurt Fonterra’s brand in the massive China baby formula market and dented New Zealand’s “100 percent pure” image.

Fonterra has faced criticism in the wake of the contamina-tion, which has been blamed on a dirty pipe in a North Island processing plant, for allegedly releasing information too slowly to customers.

The dairy industry accounts for 25 percent of New Zealand’s exports, and the government has already indicated it will conduct its own inquiry into how Fonterra handled the crisis.

AFP

Lanka’s milk scare dismissed

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s Muslim leaders closed down a new mosque in Colombo yester-day after attacks by a Buddhist mob revived simmering reli-gious tensions and sparked US concern.

The Sri Lanka Muslim Council said it had agreed to shut its mosque at Grandpass and move to an older place of worship which the government had earlier ear-marked for demolition as part of the capital’s development.

“We have a compromise deal worked out last night,” Council president N M Ameen said.

“The government will rescind the order acquiring the old mosque premises and will grant more land and help with renova-tions and improvements.

“From today, we are out of the new mosque.”

Buddhist-led mobs vandal-ised the new mosque, including pelting stones at the building on Saturday, wounding at least four people. Sporadic clashes also erupted on Sunday despite a heavy police presence in the neighbourhood.

The violence comes after Buddhist hardliners attacked several Muslim-run businesses outside Colombo in March, one of a series of incidents targeting the minority group.

The US, which in March initi-ated a UN Human Rights Council resolution against Sri Lanka over alleged war crimes against Tamil Tiger rebels in May 2009, also urged Colombo to ensure religious freedom.

Seventy percent of Sri Lanka’s 20-million-strong population are Buddhists, while Muslims are the second-largest religious group, making up just under 10 percent.

Buddhists had objected to the setting up of the new mosque near a Buddhist temple even though it was built to replace the older mosque earmarked for demolition in line with city works.

The government held lengthy talks with Muslim and Buddhist leaders on Sunday and announced what Technology Minister Champika Ranawaka described as a “just solution” acceptable to all sides.

As part of the deal, Buddhists agreed to cut down a Banyan tree, a key Buddhist symbol, that had overshadowed the old mosque and had originally prevented its expansion, residents said.

Hundreds of police, including elite Special Task Force comman-dos, guarded the area yesterday as workers used power tools to bring down the tree, also located in the Grandpass area.

AFP

Lanka mosque closed after Buddhist unrestJakarta detains alleged fundraiser of embassy plotJAKARTA: Indonesian police have arrested the alleged fun-draiser of a failed plot to bomb the Myanmar embassy in the capital Jakarta in May, an offi-cial said yesterday.

Authorities were also inves-tigating whether Muhammad Syaiful Sabani, detained in the central Javanese city of Yogyakarta on Friday, is linked to a recent bomb attack on a Buddhist temple in the capital, police said. Both the embassy plot and temple bombing high-lighted growing anger in Muslim-majority Indonesia at the plight of the persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar, where most of the population is Buddhist.

The police’s elite anti-terror squad arrested Sabani in a car park near a hotel in Yogyakarta, national police spokesman Ronny Sompie, said. Sompie said a sec-ond man was arrested along with Sabani and police were investigat-ing whether he was linked to the embassy plot.

Police foiled the plot on May 2 when they detained two men with a backpack holding five pipe bombs, who had allegedly been planning to launch an attack the following day.

AFP

Bangla garment worker dies DHAKA: A Bangladeshi garment worker who spent 108 days in a coma after being badly injured in one of the world’s worst industrial disasters has died, officials said yesterday.

Manwar Hossain, 22, was ironing clothes in one of the garment factories housed in the nine-storey building out-side the Bangladeshi capital when it collapsed on April 24.

Hossain was among several thousand people pulled from the rubble at the time of the accident and taken to hospital.

Oppn rejects poll resultsPNOM PEHN: Cambodia’s main opposition party yes-terday rejected official results showing the ruling party of Prime Minister Hun Sen won last month’s election, and called on the international community not to recognise the result.

Kem Sokha, the deputy head of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), told reporters his party would not accept the result because its allegations of widespread fraud had not been addressed.

The National Election Committee — a state body seen as dominated by the rul-ing Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) — announced earlier on Monday that the CPP had won a majority of votes in 19 out of Cambodia’s 24 provinces.

Police arrest suspected rebelJAKARTA: Indonesian police say they have arrested a suspected militant on the country’s main Java island accused of raising funds for an alleged plot to bomb the Myanmar Embassy.

Police spokesman Lt Col Agus Rianto said yesterday that 26-year-old Muhammad Syaiful Syahbani was arrested on August 9 in Yogyakarta province.

Another man with him was also held for questioning, but his connection to the suspect was not immediately clear.

AGENCIES

SEOUL: South Korea ordered govern-ment offices to turn off their air-con-ditioning as two power plants stopped operations yesterday, a day after a min-ister warned of an imminent national energy crisis.

The Dangjin III plant, with a capacity of 500,000 kilowatts, was taken offline by mechanical issues and will likely remain shut for a week, a spokesman for the state power distributor Korea Power Exchange (KPE) said.

Technical problems also shut down the nearby Seocheon power plant yesterday morning. Although operations resumed after an hour, the plant is only working at half its 200,000-kilowatt capacity, the spokesman said.

The timing could hardly be worse, with South Korea in the grip of an extended heatwave and a lengthy disruption in its nuclear power sector.

“We are facing potentially our worst power crisis,” Trade, Industry and Energy

Minister Yoon Sang-Jick said Sunday. “We may have to carry out a rolling

blackout... if one single power plant goes out of operation,” Yoon said, appealing to factories, households and shops to curb consumption over the next three days.

The last time the government was forced to resort to nationwide load shedding was in September 2011, when unexpectedly high demand pushed power reserves to their lowest level in decades.

If national reserves drop below 2.0

million kilowatts, it triggers an automatic alert requiring all government offices to turn off air conditioners, lights and any non-essential devices.

In a pre-emptive move yesterday, the energy ministry ordered such measures effective immediately, even though the key reserve mark had not been breached.

Describing the current situation as “extremely urgent”, the ministry also ordered government offices to turn off water coolers and staff to use staircases

where possible, rather than elevators.At the same time, South Korea’s

nuclear industry is struggling to emerge from a mini crisis which has forced the shutdown of numerous reactors -- either for repair or as the result of a scandal over forged safety certificates.

The country has 23 reactors which are meant to meet more than 30 percent of electricity needs. Currently six reactors are out of operation.

AFP

South Korea experiencing power crisis

Nepal festival

Nepalese women taking part in the Snake Festival at Nagpokhari (Snake pond) in Kathmandu yesterday.

Sri Lankan Special Task Force commandos patrol outside the vandalised mosque in Colombo yesterday.

NAYPYIDAW: Attempts to bring stability to Myanmar’s strategic northwest Rakhine State could be unravelling after police opened fire on Rohingya Muslims for the third time in two months, reviving tensions in a region beset by religious violence last year.

Villages outside the state capi-tal Sittwe remain volatile after a dispute over custody of a dead Rohingya quickly escalated into a day of clashes on Friday in which police raked Rohingya crowds with gunfire, according to witnesses.

The violence underscores the growing Rohingya despera-tion in the face of an increas-ingly unsparing police response. At least two people were killed

and more than a dozen injured, locals said. The renewed tensions come despite government efforts to bring calm to Rakhine State, after two eruptions of commu-nal violence with ethnic Rakhine Buddhists last year killed at least 192 people and left 140,000 home-less, mostly Rohingya.

The battered corpse of the fisherman washed ashore at Ohntawgyi village after Friday morning prayers, triggering a day of clashes in which police raked crowds of Rohingya with gunfire.

The clashes heap pressure on President Thein Sein as he strug-gles to contain nationwide reli-gious violence since taking power in March 2011 after nearly 50 years of military dictatorship.

AFP

Myanmar clashes signal growing Muslim despair

Six of 23 reactors necessary for meeting 30 percent electricity demand are not working: State distributor

10 ASIATUESDAY 13 AUGUST 2013

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PHILIPPINES 11TUESDAY 13 AUGUST 2013

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Deal signed for biggest solar power plantBAGUIO CITY: Officials from two towns in Ilocos Norte signed a memoran-dum of understanding with a Korean firm to build the coun-try’s biggest solar power plant to increase local energy needs in the northern province.

Badoc and Vintar town officials inked the deal with Korean firm EC Cobuy Philippines, Inc (ECCPI) for 20MW solar power plants to augment the electric power supply for Ilocos Norte.

Badoc town Vice Mayor Thomas Torralba and Stephen Chae, Chief Executive Officer and Vice President of ECCPI, signed the MOU in simple cer-emonies at the Badoc town hall witnessed by village officials and town employees.

Grenade blast near poll officeNORTH COTABATO: Another powerful explosion rocked Kabacan town in the province before dawn yester-day, the second bombing in the area since Friday night.

Investigators said a 40mm shoulder-fire grenade fired from a distance landed and exploded behind the office of the Commission on Elections near the mayor’s office in the town proper of Kabacan at around 4.05am.

No one was reported killed or injured in the bombing, but the incident triggered panic among villagers in the sur-roundings of the Kabacan Comelec municipal office.

Kabacan Mayor Herlo Guzman Jr, chairman of the municipal peace and order council, said he is certain that the 40mm projectile was aimed at his office where he sleeps, but fell short of its range and landed behind the building.

Abductors identifiedNORTH COTABATO: Army and police intelli-gence officials have tagged the group of Commander Eskak of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters as behind abduction of a 19 year-old son of a retired sol-dier in Midsayap town, last Saturday night.

Police investigators, on the other hand, said the group that snatched Mark Anthony Baya, a college student, was comprised of eight BIFF ban-dits, six of them initially identi-fied only as Akas, Bhuto, Dapz, Theng, Bedu and Apon, all eth-nic Maguindanaons from the towns of Northern Kabuntalan and Datu Piang. AGENCIES

Children walk through the coast in the province of Aurora as Typhoon Utor hit the Philippines yesterday.

Typhoon Utor strikes PhilippinesOne person dead, 23 missing as winds flatten homes, cause flash floods and trigger landslidesMANILA: The strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines this year flattened homes, caused flash floods and trig-gered landslides in remote towns yesterday, killing at least one person.

With gusts of 200km an hour, authorities said they feared many more people may have died as Typhoon Utor swept across coastal and mountainous regions of the northern Philippines.

“It looks like the death and damage toll is going to go up... with wind like this, you can expect a lot of damage,” Francis Rodriguez, a senior officer with the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, said.

Rodriguez said authorities would likely not receive reports from isolated villages that were in Utor’s direct path until today.

Hundreds of people die each year in the Philippines from the roughly 20 typhoons that strike the country.

The wind from Utor, which made landfall before dawn yester-day, was the strongest recorded

in the Philippines this year, while the typhoon also brought intense rain.

Rodriguez said the first con-firmed fatality was a man crushed by a landslide while trying to clear a mountain road in the northern Benguet province.

A local television cameraman in another northern province also filmed the horrifying ordeal of a woman who was swept down a swollen river on the thatched roof of her house.

The woman stood on the roof as if it was a surfboard, as people screamed out in alarm from high ground.

She quickly disappeared amid the crashing of the fast-moving water, and it was unclear if she survived.

Rodriquez said 23 fishermen were also still missing after they went out to sea as the storm approached.

Authorities said large areas of the coastal province of Aurora, where the storm made landfall, suffered heavy damage.

“Infrastructure, farms, homes were destroyed. Trees were

knocked down,” Elson Egargue, Aurora’s disaster management officer, said. He said the coastal town of Casiguran, home to about 20,000 people, was believed to have been hit particularly hard, although officials had yet to make contact with residents or authori-ties there.

“The roads in these areas are blocked because of landslides and overflowing creeks,” he said, add-ing mobile phone networks were also down.

He said there was also exten-sive damage to two other nearby towns, home to about 25,000 people.

In Manila, the nation’s capital, roughly 200km to the south of the storm’s path, there was heavy rain overnight and throughout yesterday but no major flooding.

Schools across the capital were closed yesterday in an automatic response to a government storm alert.

Such precautionary measures have become standard after the death tolls of storms in recent years have been exacerbated by poor preparations. AFP

Manila wants to use US military assetsMANILA: The Philippines said yesterday it would insist on being allowed to use more US military assets to protect its sea territories, when talks on expanding a defence pact start this week.

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said the longtime allies had already agreed in principle to allow a bigger US military pres-ence in the Philippines.

He said the talks would focus on the rules for the greater pres-ence, and the Philippines wanted to ensure the deal help build its defence capabilities.

“We stand ready to tap every resource, to call on every alliance, to do what is necessary, to defend what is ours, to secure the nation and to keep our people safe,” he said.

The Philippines has been seek-ing greater military help from its longtime ally and former colonial ruler, amid a deepening rift with China over rival claims to parts of the South China Sea.

While the United States has insisted it does not take sides in the dispute, it has been seeking to rebuild its military footprint in the Philippines as part of President Barack Obama’s stra-tegic “pivot” to Asia.

The Philippines had hosted tens of thousands of US soldiers at two bases north of Manila, but they were forced to leave in 1992 after the Senate voted to end their lease contracts amid strong anti-American sentiment.

A new agreement that went into force in 1999 allowed US troops to return to the Philippines

for joint military exercises, and thousands of American soldiers regularly flow through the coun-try during war games.

US special forces have also been rotating through the south-ern Philippines since 2002 to help Filipino soldiers against Al Qaeda-linked militants, with the maximum number there at any one time believed to hover at about 600.

Philippine authorities have said the new agreement will pave the way for more joint war games.

Philippine defence undersec-retary Pio Lorenzo Batino told reporters yesterday the new talks would also seek to allow the “prepositioning” of US military assets back on Philippine bases.

He said, in return, the Philippines wanted to use the assets to help defend its sea ter-ritory, although he did not spe-cifically mention the dispute with China.

“We believe that those US equipment to which we will agree to be temporarily deployed could supplement the (Filipino mili-tary’s) capability to perform its functions in key mission areas of maritime security, maritime domain awareness and humani-tarian response and disaster relief,” Batino said.

“We will insist on that,” he said, when asked whether the Philippines wanted to use the American military hardware.

The talks will begin in Manila on Wednesday.

Philippine officials said they wanted to finalise the agreement this year. AFP

‘Food-for-work’ in oil spill areas MANILA: Cavite fishermen who find themselves without work as a result of a massive oil spill are now getting emergency food rations from the local government.

To get rice and canned goods, however, they have to help clean up the shores by collect-ing spilled diesel using bottles and other improvised scooping implements.

Mayor Jose Ricafrente of Rosario, Cavite said he imple-mented an emergency ‘food-for-work’ programme that involved residents in the clean-up of the spill that contaminated Manila Bay and the waters near the coastal town.

Ricafrente said fishermen and their families would help in the clean-up in exchange for rice and sardines.

Dead fish floated on the water and some residents fell ill from

the fumes, as authorities said an estimated 500,000 litres of diesel oil cast a slick across 20 kilome-tres of the coastline of Rosario and the nearby towns of Naic, Tanza and Ternate.

Authorities said the slick was caused by either a leak at the submerged pipeline of the Petron Corporation oil terminal in Rosario or the tanker MT/Makisig that had unloaded diesel there last Thursday when the oil spill was discovered.

A four-litre bottle of diesel collected from the sea could be swapped for three kilos of rice and six cans of sardines.

The residents were collecting diesel from the water using bot-tles and other improvised scoop-ing implements.

Residents who clean the beach in front of their houses are paid one kilo of rice.

“Even the children are helping

out. We have asked them to wear face masks,” he said.

Locals said they feared for the immediate future of the bay’s vibrant fish and shellfish industry, which feeds millions of people in the capital and surrounding areas.

“Fish and shellfish are floating up dead. It could be months before the shellfish industry is revived unless the water is cleaned up soon,” Ricafrente said.

He said 40,000 people depend-ent on the fishing and shellfish industry in the bay were tempo-rarily without jobs.

Asis Perez, head of the gov-ernment’s fisheries and aquatic resources bureau, said the oil spill was impacting a vital section of the region’s fishing industry.

“Each boat here would typically haul in 30-40 kilos of fish a day, so definitely the impact is huge,” Perez said.

THE PHILIPPINE STAR

Sulu sultan claims followers killed eight soldiersMANILA: The Sultanate of Sulu claimed yesterday that its forces led by a veteran guer-rilla from Tawi-Tawi killed at least eight Malaysian soldiers in a shootout in Lahad Datu in Sabah.

Sultanate spokesman Abraham Idjirani said fighting broke out when a reconnaissance patrol of the Royal Sulu Sultanate Army chanced upon a squad of Malaysian Special Forces in the hinterlands of Felda, Lahad Datu.

“Rajah Muda (crown prince) told me that the Malaysian forces who were secretly deployed from Sarawak were sneaking towards their camp while they were con-ducting morning prayer,” he said.

Idjirani said the 50 sultanate fighters led by veteran guerrilla Oto Ubi spotted the 200 Malaysian soldiers and ambushed them.

The sultanate fighters opened fire as soon as the Malaysian sol-diers were exposed in an open field, he added.

No casualties were reported on the Sultanate army, he said.

Idjirani said the aborted sur-prise attack on the sultanate fighters was an indication that Malaysia has disregarded the holy month of Ramadan in run-ning after them.

“The Malaysians want to strike while Rajah Muda and his group were conducting their morning prayers,” he said.

Idjirani said the encounter was not reported in the Malaysian media so as not to contradict a government announcement that Lahad Datu was already cleared of the sultanate forces and supporters.

THE PHILIPPINE STAR

Group seeks Japan justice for ex-comfort womenTOKYO: A tearful Philippine woman recounted on Sunday how she was kidnapped by Japanese soldiers during the Second World War and coerced into slavery, as she and her supporters gathered to demand Japan do more to bring justice to former “comfort women.”

Estelita Dy, 83, and her supporters met in Tokyo as part of events by the group to commemorate the day the first victim of Japanese slavery came forward on August 14, 1991, and helped lay the groundwork for other victims, including Dy, to come out.

Dy’s supporters and rights groups are trying to gain international support to have August 14 become a United Nations-recognised memo-rial day, as a way to pressure Japan to do more to take responsibility for wartime sex slavery. The day falls just one day before Japan’s August 15 end-of-war anniversary.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has backpedalled from Tokyo’s past apologies, saying there’s no proof Japan’s wartime government coerced women into prostitution for the Japanese Imperial Army.

At Sunday’s meeting, Dy’s supporters, including rights activists, criticized Abe’s government for its rejection of a UN human rights panel’s recommendations earlier this year urging Japan to more seri-ously take responsibility for sex slavery, better educate the public and take steps to bring justice for the victims. Rechilda Extremadura, a Philippine member of Dy’s support group, said Dy and others are the “living witnesses” of sex slavery.

Historians say there were as many as 200,000 sex slaves from across Asia, most of them Koreans.

THE PHILIPPINE STAR

Militant arrested over ambushMANILA: Authorities have arrested a New People’s Army (NPA) leader who is being tagged as responsible in the ambush of former Vice President Teofisto Guingona’s wife, former Gingoog City Mayor Ruth de Lara Guingona, police said yesterday.

Police said joint police and Army personnel arrested Reynaldo Agcopra, known as Commander Tarik in the communist movement, in Sitio San Roque, Barangay Aposkahoy, Claveria town in Misamis Oriental province.

Agcopra’s arrest was based on an arrest warrant issued by Judge Mirabeau Undalok of Branch 43, Regional Trial Court 10, Gingoog City for two counts of murder and multiple charges of frustrated murder in relation to the ambush of the former mayor last April 20.

Guingona was returning from a town fiesta when her convoy was attacked by armed men in Barangay Binakalan in Gingoog City.

THE PHILIPPINE STAR

Soldiers from the Philippine Air Force plant a sapling near the interna-tional airport in Manila yesterday to protect the environment aside from safeguarding the country’s skies.

Protecting environment

ISLAMABAD: At least five Pakistanis feature in the top 20 list of British government"s "most wanted" tax fugitives. Her Majesty"s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) department has issued an updated list of tax dodgers and at least two of the top 10 wanted are believed to be hiding in Pakistan.

Azra Asghar, aged between 50 and 60, failed to appear in court but received a five-year jail sentence for Value Added Tax (VAT) offences in 2002. HMRC has not released the amount she owes but it has been confirmed that she is hiding in Pakistan. Muhammad Tanwir Khan, aka Muhammad Tanwir Akhtar Khan, faces accusations of submitting false VAT repayment claims totalling more than £800,000.

Khan, between 55 and 65 and who is of Pakistani origin, is thought to be in the UK after failing to appear at Manchester Crown Court in June. Hussain Asad Chohan, 44, is believed to be in Dubai or Pakistan.

He was convicted at Birmingham Crown Court in his absence and sentenced to 11 years for his part in fraud worth around £200m, which included importing 2.25 tonnes of tobacco worth £750,000 in duty. Chohan has also been served with a £33m confiscation order. Nasser Ahmed, 40, was convicted at Bristol Crown Court in 2005 of his role in VAT fraud worth around GBP156m. He fled before verdicts were given and was convicted and sentenced to six years in prison in his absence.

HMRC says that it has received "further intelligence" this year that that re-confirms he is in Pakistan. Zafar Baidar Chisthi, 33, was found guilty at Kingston Crown Court of his part in VAT fraud worth around £150m. He was sentenced to 11 years for conspiracy to defraud the public purse and one year for perverting the course of justice. He is thought to be in Pakistan. In the top 20 list of fugitives, several cheats are believed to be hiding abroad. INTERNEWS

PAKISTAN / AFGHANISTAN 12TUESDAY 13 AUGUST 2013

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Islamabad misses Eid festivitiesISLAMABAD: With the change of government in Islamabad, traditional fes-tivities that used to be the hallmark of the capital were not there this Eid as the president and the prime min-ister didn’t opt to stay in Islamabad on the auspicious day. The presidency and the prime minister’s office wore a deserted look on all three days of Eid where services chiefs, diplomats, elite, bureaucrats, leaders, scholars, and chil-dren used to visit to mark the occasion.

Province plans revenue bodyISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s northwest province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Revenue Authority, set up last week, will start collecting sales tax on services and receive returns from August 15. The KP Sales Tax on Services Act 2013, enacted earlier, author-ises the provincial government to administer the sales tax on services in the province.

4 rebels die in BaluchistanISLAMABAD: Pakistan police and other law enforce-ment agencies killed four militants and arrested ten others during an operation in southwestern Pakistani Balochistan province, said Pakistani security sources. The security forces also seized 20kg of explosives, a machine gun and two explo-sive devices.

More floods forecast ISLAMABAD: The Meteorological Office yes-terday said monsoon is likely to enter its active phase and produce widespread rains with scattered heavy falls in the country during the week. National Disaster Management Authority said some 84‚000 people were affected in terms of displace-ment and financial loss due to floods and rains in the coun-try, while 84 people died and 91 were injured.

AGENCIES

Independence Day sale

KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai will travel to Pakistan this month in the hope of breathing life into moribund peace process with the Taliban and mending a frayed relation-ship between the neighbours, Afghan officials said yesterday.

The role of Pakistan is seen as critical to efforts to get the Afghan Taliban to sit down to talks about ending the 12-year

war as most foreign troops pre-pare to pull out of Afghanistan by the end of next year.

Peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban in the capital of the Gulf State of Qatar, Doha, were announced in June only to be cancelled following Karzai’s anger over the Taliban displaying a banner and a flag, harking back to their repressive rule over Afghanistan from 1996

to 2001.“I can confirm that President

Karzai is travelling to Pakistan later this month,” Afghanistan’s ambassador to Islamabad, Omer Daudzai, told Reuters.

The trip will be Karzai’s first visit to Pakistan since Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was elected.

Many had hoped Sharif ’s elec-tion would lead to a reset in

the relationship. Those hopes were dashed after Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry accused Pakistan of having raised the idea of power-sharing between the Kabul government and the Taliban. Pakistan denied the accusation.

Karzai has made 19 trips to Pakistan since coming to power in 2002, and has come away with many promises, but few results.

Afghanistan has long accused Pakistan of playing a double game regarding the Taliban, with some Afghan officials say-ing their neighbour makes public pronouncements about peace but allows elements of its military and intelligence complex to play a spoiling role.

Karzai will visit Pakistan from Aug. 26 - 28. The leadership of the High Peace Council, the body

created by Karzai in 2010 to bro-ker peace with the Taliban, will also attend, a spokesman said.

The Taliban have been wag-ing an insurgency to overthrow Karzai’s government and oust for-eign troops. They say they want a political solution that would bring about a just government based on Islamic principles and the end of foreign occupation.

REUTERS

ISLAMABAD: Unidentified gunmen yesterday fired a gre-nade on the home of a local tribal leader in Quetta, Balochistan, southwest Pakistan.

Pakistani police said yester-day that the incident occurred in Kharotabad area of the provincial capital when unidentified gunmen fired a grenade at the house of tribal leader Inayatollah Khalaji.

Police said the gunmen also opened fire on the house after the launch of the bomb, and added that no one was injured

in the attack. In Peshawar, capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, in northwest Pakistan, police defused a roadside bomb planted near Carkhano market of Hayatabad.

Hayatabad police said that the bomb was planted outside the Alhaj market. The bomb disposal squad defused the paint can bomb placed at the roadside outside the market. Police said the bomb weighed one to one and a half kilogram.

AGENCIES

Gunmen attack home of Quetta tribal chief

People buy national flags at a roadside stall ahead of Pakistan’s Independence Day in Islamabad yesterday. Pakistan will celebrate 66th anniversary of independence from British rule on Wednesday.

Hooked to heroin

Afghan addicts smoke heroin in Jalalabad. Afghanistan is the source of over 90 percent of illicit opium in the world and faces the problem of rising domestic drug abuse with at least a million people addicted to heroin, according to International Narcotics Control Board .

Karzai to visit Pakistan for peace talks with Taliban

Five Pakistanis on UK list of tax fugitives

ISLAMABAD: Terror sus-pects in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa often succeed in securing bail from courts due to the failure of law-enforcement agencies to produce evidence, said legal experts.

A few weeks ago, Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan observed that

the court had directed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government time and again to constitute a high-level team to probe cases of terror suspects as they are being freed on bail for lack of evidence and improper inquiry.

On August 7, the court granted bail to a suspect charged with a bomb attack on an election office

of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf candidate Jehanzeb Khan before the general election in PK-8, Peshawar constituency and plant-ing another bomb near the elec-tion office of Arbab Akbar Hayat of the PML-N, now a member of the provincial assembly.

Justice Khan issued release order of suspect Matiur Rehman,

with an observation that police failed to produce evidence against the accused within three months after his arrest.

He granted a petition and directed the petitioner to submit two sureties worth Rs200,000 each. On July 10, 2013, Justice Khan freed suspects Tamheedullah and Sarfaraz on bail. He directed

additional inspector general for investigation and capital city police officer to form a commit-tee of investigators to probe the case. Officials of Chamkani Police Station on June 7, 2013 arrested two suspects and charged them with possessing 3,000kg of potas-sium chloride used in bomb mak-ing. INTERNEWS

Terror suspects get bail due to ‘lack of evidence’

MUZAFFARABAD: Pakistan summoned India’s deputy ambassador yesterday to pro-test over latest clashes in the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir that left one civil-ian dead.

The Pakistani Army said a civilian was killed and his sister injured after Indian soldiers shot them on Pakistani territories in the wee hours yesterday.

The army said Indian soldiers attacked the Pakistani border leading to an exchange of fire.

The latest incident took place when “Indian troops resorted to unprovoked firing in the wee hours on Monday” in three areas along the de facto border known as the Line of Control (LoC), a military official said.

“Pakistani troops effectively responded to Indian firing,” he said, adding that one civilian was killed and his sister injured.

Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry voiced concerns over what it called “continuous ceasefire vio-lations by Indian Border Security Force” across the LoC in recent days.

“The Foreign Office sum-moned the Indian Deputy High Commissioner this afternoon to raise this concern which has resulted in the loss of an inno-cent civilian life in Rawalakot,” the ministry said.

But the Indian Army accused Pakistan of violating the ceasefire.

“Our side responded to the unpro-voked firing from the Pakistani side with small arms. Intermittent firing went on for the whole night until Monday morning,” said Rajesh Kalia, a spokesman of the Indian Army in Kashmir.

The prime minister of Pakistan-administered portion of Kashmir, Chaudhry Abdul Majeed, led a 400-strong protest march to the UN observer mis-sion in Muzaffarabad to demand action to restore peace.

“It is the responsibility of the UN observer mission to keep peace in Kashmir,” he told pro-testers. “They should fulfil their responsibility by playing a role to stop shelling from India and restore calm in the valley.”

Atiq Ahmed, a policeman in Dounga Gambhir, a village that came under fire, said up to six animals had been killed and sev-eral houses damaged.

Villager Tahir Majeed, 37, said he hid in a bunker near his house when the shelling began around midnight. “We remained in the bunker until the morning because the shelling continued for the whole night. We are very scared and my children are unable to leave home.”

On Sunday morning, a paramil-itary border guard was injured in sniper fire from the Pakistani side of the LoC in Kashmir’s Kanachak area, the army said.

Pakistan Prime Minister

Nawaz Sharif has been vocal in his desire for better relations with India since his election in May, but recent flare-ups have tested resolve on both sides.

The Himalayan territory is divided between India and Pakistan by the UN-monitored LoC, but both claim it in full.

A deadly flare-up along the LoC in January brought a halt to peace talks that had just resumed following a three-year hiatus sparked by the 2008 attacks in Mumbai that killed 166 people. India blamed Pakistani militants for the attack.

Indian Defence Minister A K Antony earlier hinted at stronger military action along the LoC after Delhi accused Pakistan’s army of involvement in an over-night ambush that killed five Indian soldiers last week.

Sharif tried to ease tensions by urging both sides to work swiftly to shore up a 10-year ceasefire threatened by recent attacks.

On Sunday, Pakistan accused India of firing on border posts in Kashmir and neighbouring Punjab province. More than a dozen armed groups have been fighting Indian forces since 1989, demand-ing independence for Kashmir or its incorporation within Pakistan.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars since their independ-ence from Britain in 1947, two of them over Kashmir.

AGENCIES

Pakistan calls India envoy over killingCivilian dies, sister hurt in latest Kashmir clashes

Downpour

Commuters make their way through the downpour in Amritsar yesterday. The monsoon, which covers the subcontinent from June to September, accounts for about 80 percent of the country’s annual rainfall.

INDIA 13TUESDAY 13 AUGUST 2013

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KOCHI: India unveiled its first indigenously-built aircraft carrier yesterday, a landmark moment in the $5bn project that seeks to project the coun-try’s power and check the rising influence of China.

When the INS Vikrant comes into full service in 2018, India will join an elite club of nations that have designed and built their own aircraft carriers including Britain, France, Russia and the US but not China.

“It’s a remarkable milestone,” Defence Minister A K Antony said as he stood on a red carpet in the shadow of the giant ship which was launched from a dry-dock in the city of Kochi and later pulled out into the harbour by tug boats.

“It marks just a first step in a long journey but at the same time an important one,” he added before his wife Elizabeth officially launched the 40,000-tonne vessel by placing a garland on its hull.

INS Vikrant, which will be fit-ted with weaponry and machinery and then tested over the next four years, is a major technological and military advance for a country competing for influence in Asia, analysts say.

“It is going to be deployed in the Indian Ocean region where the world’s commercial and economic interests coalesce. India’s capa-bility is very much with China in mind,” Rahul Bedi, a defence expert with IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly said.

On Saturday, India announced its first indigenously-built nuclear submarine was ready for sea trials, which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called a “giant stride” for the nation.

“All these are power projection platforms, to project India’s power

as an extension of its diplomacy,” Bedi added.

The world’s biggest democracy is spending tens of billions of dol-lars upgrading its mainly Soviet-era military hardware to bolster its defences.

Successes in its long-range missile and naval programmes have been tempered by expensive failures in developing its own air-craft and other land-based weap-onry, leaving the country highly dependent on imports.

INS Vikrant is two years behind schedule after problems in sourcing specialised steel from Russia, delays with crucial equip-ment and even a road accident in which vital diesel generators were damaged.

Overall, India lags far behind China in defence capabilities, analysts say, making the suc-cess in beating its regional rival in the race to develop a domes-tically-produced aircraft carrier significant.

China’s first carrier, the Liaoning, which was purchased from the Ukraine, went into serv-ice last September.

Beijing is reportedly planning to construct or acquire a big-ger ship in the future and Jane’s claimed earlier this month that it has seen evidence that an indig-enous carrier was being assem-bled in a shipbuilding facility near Shanghai.

India has one aircraft carrier in operation — a 60-year-old British vessel acquired by India in 1987 and renamed INS Viraat — but it will be phased out in the com-ing years.

India’s ally Russia is also set to hand over a third aircraft carrier — INS Vikramaditya — later this year after a bitter row over the refurbished Soviet-era warship

Nation gets own aircraft carrierIndia joins elite club of countries that has built aircraft carriers

Indigenous Aircraft Carrier P-71 ‘Vikrant’, built for the Navy, leaves Cochin Shipyard after its launch yesterday. BELOW: Defence Minister A K Antony (second right), his wife Elizabeth Antony, Union Minister for Shipping G K Vasan (right) and Chief for Naval Staff, Admiral D K Joshi, during the launch.

caused by rising costs and delays.The INS Vikrant, which means

“courageous” or “bold” in Hindi, had a bare flight-deck decked out only with flags and yellow tassels but it will carry Russian-built MiG-29 fighter jets and other light aircraft when it goes into service.

While its hull, design and some of its machinery are domestically made, most of its weaponry will be imported as well as its propulsion system, which was sourced from GE in the US.

“Its primary role will only be to defend our naval fleet and it will not be used for ground attacks,” retired rear admiral K Raja Menon said.

“It’s a defence carrier so it will attack platforms that are coming to attack our (naval) fleet ...with-out air defence our fleet just can-not survive,” Menon said.

C Uday Bhaskar, a retired naval officer and former director of the National Maritime Foundation in New Delhi, said the ship would “enhance India’s credibility” — but it “would not alter the balance of power with China”.

“China’s nuclear expertise and ship-building capabilities are of a higher order,” he said.

The Indian navy is currently working on 39 ships and has begun planning to make another two aircraft carriers, Bedi said.

AFP

NEW DELHI: Some 279 Indian sports people have tested posi-tive for banned substances in the last two years, the sports minister said yesterday, adding weightlifters topped the list of drug cheats.

The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) had conducted 9,898 tests over the last three years, Jitendra Singh told par-liament, while naming all of the offenders in a written statement.

The national- and interna-tional-level athletes tested by the authorities are not well known.

“The government and NADA are working towards dope-free sports in the country to rid sports of this menace and create a clean and healthy environment for sports in India,” the minister said.

The Indian government has a zero tolerance policy towards drugs in sports and several workshops and educational pro-grammes have been conducted to create greater awareness about the issue, he said. The most recent high-profile cases of doping in Indian sports involved six ath-letes, including Ashwini Akkunji, who won gold medals in the 400m hurdles and the 4x400m relay at the 2010 Asian Games.

Akkunji, along with team mates Mandeep Kaur, Sini Jose, Jauna Murmu, Tiana Mary and Priyanka Panwar, tested positive for banned steroids such as stano-zolol and methandienone in June, 2011. NADA suspended the ath-letes for a year after the women blamed contaminated food sup-plements supplied by their former Ukrainian coach Yuri Ogorodnik for the positive results.

The Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) increased the ban to two years in July 2012, upholding an appeal by the International Association of Athletics Federations for stricter punishment. But the ruling came with a provision to include the period of suspension already served, meaning the athletes were eligible for competition from June this year. AFP

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court yesterday stayed the proceed-ings against 13 websites, includ-ing Facebook and Google, on a complaint which accused them of promoting “class enmity” and “undermining national integrity”.

Citing denial of assistance from the US authorities, Metropolitan Magistrate Jay Thareja stayed the proceedings against the websites, including Orkut, YouTube, Yahoo and Microsoft.

The court said recording of pre-charge evidence against other

accused websites would com-mence from September 28. The complaint was filed against the websites by transparency activist Vinay Rai for allegedly commit-ting offences like selling obscene materials to the youth and hatch-ing criminal conspiracy. IANS

279 athletes fail dope tests in two years

Proceedings against Facebook, Google on hold

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: If attendance at government offices is an indicator of success or failure of the indefinite siege by Left volunteers at the state secretariat here, the Kerala government appears to have had the last laugh as 67 percent employees reported for work yesterday, the first day of the blockade.

Thousands of Left protestors yesterday blocked three of the four gates of the state secretar-iat to press for Chief Minister Oommen Chandy’s resignation in the “Solar scam” case.

The secretariat is the seat of the Kerala government. The Left opposition had announced that starting yesterday, no one would be allowed to enter it until Chandy resigns for his alleged links to the “Solar scam”.

State Home Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan told reporters at the secretariat complex that the attendance yes-terday was similar to what it was on normal days.

“It was unfortunate that because of the siege, NCC cadets could not reach the practice venue for the Independence Day

parade. They had to practise on the roads. We thought CPI-M leaders would have allowed them,” said Radhakrishnan.

Chandy and his cabinet col-leagues held an emergency cabi-net meeting yesterday morning.

The protesters are staying within a 3km radius around the secretariat. At some places, skir-mishes occurred between police and the protesters. CPI-M state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan had to address the protesters to main-tain calm.

“Police should be credited for exercising restraint. CPI-M

leaders had said the protest would be peaceful,” said Radhakrishnan.

Inaugurating the protest, CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda asked Chandy to quit in the wake of the scam by taking moral responsibility as his office was allegedly involved in it.

“Former railway minister P K Bansal quit after his nephew was found taking a bribe for mak-ing appointments in the Railway Board. At the centre, the UPA government is engaged in corrupt deals, while here the Chandy gov-ernment is doing the same,” said

Karat. The Left’s action comes in the wake of the ‘Solar scam’, in which Saritha Nair and her live-in partner Biju Radkahrishnan allegedly defrauded people by offering solar energy solutions at huge discounts and not delivering.

They allegedly used their clout in Chandy’s office for duping people.

A total of 22 companies of cen-tral para-military forces, includ-ing the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), are in Thiruvanthapuram but are yet to be deployed. IANS

SILIGURI: Around 12,000 Buddhist monks and students living in pagodas and monaster-ies of northern West Bengal’s Darjeeling hills face an impend-ing food crisis with the pro-Gorkhaland GJM-sponsored shutdown continuing for the tenth day yesterday.

Already there is a food shortage in the monasteries and Buddhist educational institutions scat-tered across the three Darjeeling hill sub-divisions — Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong.

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) has announced that it would begin a public curfew (urg-ing the people to remain indoors) from today.

“The situation is grim. We will face a grave food crisis if normal life continues to be stalled for some more days,” said Himalayan Buddhist Cultural Association general secretary Sonam Lundrup Lama.

Between 12,000 to 15,000 Buddhist monks and religious students reside in the monaster-ies and Buddhist schools situ-ated in places like Ghoom, Dali, Pokhrebung, Sonada, Rimbik, Kurseong, Tindharia, Kalimpong and Labha of the three hill sub-divisions.

Some of the well-known mon-asteries are Sakya Monastery (Ghoom), Druk Thubten Sangag Choling Monastery, Yiga-Choling Buddhist Monastery and Bhutia Busty Monastery.

“There is some resentment against the shutdown. We are planning to make an appeal to the GJM for supply of food stocks. If need be, we will go to GJM presi-dent Bimal Gurung. We are keep-ing a watch on the situation,” said Lama. The monks live frugally, and do not keep stocks that last long.

“As per our religious practice, the monks and the bhikkhus live off alms and donations collected from disciples, going door to door. Pilgrims to the monasteries and pagodas also offer donations.

“Due to the shutdown, no vehi-cles are plying. The monks are unable to go to the villages. The pilgrims are also unable to visit the monasteries,” Lama said.

North Bengal Affairs Minister of the West Bengal government Gautam Deb said the state gov-ernment was closely monitor-ing the situation. “We will take a decision at the right time. The situation is such that apart from food, there will also be a short-age of medicines if the disruption continues,” he said. IANS

Attendance normal at Kerala secretariat during Left siege

Darjeeling Buddhist monks, students face food crisis

14 INDIATUESDAY 13 AUGUST 2013

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NEW DELHI: Three people have died in communal clashes in the Jammu region, Finance Minister P Chidambaram told the Rajya Sabha yesterday and added that the government would not allow a repeat of the 1990 exodus from the state.

His reference to 1990 related to the forced migration of Kashmiri pandits from the Kashmir valley due to insurgency.

Both houses of parliament were disrupted over the riots in Kishtwar town in the Jammu region on Friday even as the central government sought a report from the state government amid demands that Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah be sacked.

“So far, two Muslims and one Hindu have died in the clashes. All of us are Indians. Three Indian lives have been lost and that is a matter of great regret,” Chidambaram said in the upper house of parliament.

“We will not allow repeti-tion of 1990. We will not allow forced migration, we will not allow forced resettlement, eve-rybody will be protected in the area in which he or she lives,” Chidambaram said.

Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley of the Bharatiya Janata

Party (BJP) expressed fears that the violence in Jammu may lead to a situation similar to the one in the Valley in 1990.

As Jaitley questioned his detention at Jammu airport by the Jammu and Kashmir govern-ment, Chidambaram defended the move saying the time was not right for the opposition leader’s visit. Omar Abdullah hit out at Jaitley for terming the Kishtwar violence “a threat to India’s sovereignty”.

He called BJP leaders “hyp-ocrites” and pointed to the party-led Gujarat government’s response to the 2002 sectarian riots.

“Would Jaitley be so kind as to inform parliament whether the Gujarat home minister or MOS Home resigned or even offered to in 2002?” Abdullah tweeted.

Omar’s father and federal New and Renewable Energy Minister Farooq Abdullah raised the issue of the Gujarat riots in which over 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed.

“When the riots occurred in Gujarat in 2002, the army was not allowed inside. No one from outside was allowed to enter Ahmedabad. Gujarat is not a property of Modi.”

Jammu and Kashmir Minister

of State for Home Sajjad Ahmad Kichloo resigned after coming under attack over the communal violence in Kishtwar.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) accused the BJP and its ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) of provoking violence against Muslims in the Jammu region and urged the state to take firm steps against rumour mon-gers and rioters.

“There are reports that activ-ists of the BJP, RSS (and) VHP are fanning out and inciting peo-ple to attack houses and shops owned by the minority commu-nity,” a CPI-M statement said.

The central government sought a report from the Jammu and Kashmir government over the violence.

“We are in constant touch with the Jammu and Kashmir govern-ment and are seeking a report from them,” federal Minister of State for Home Affairs R P N Singh said.

Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati demanded president’s rule in Jammu and Kashmir, saying the state government had failed to handle the situation in Kishtwar after last Friday’s com-munal violence. The Samajwadi Party said Omar Abdullah should

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court yesterday granted bail to three accused in the `10 crore railway bribery case in which former railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal’s nephew Vijay Singla was also arrested.

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judge Swarana Kanta Sharma granted bail to

accused Rahul Yadav, Samir Sandhir and Sushil Daga on a personal bond of `5 lakh each, along with two sureties each of the same amount.

The CBI opposed the bail pleas of accused in the case allegedly involving payment of bribe for a top railway board post.

The probe agency filed a charge

sheet alleging that Yadav and Sandhir were involved in arrang-ing the bribe money that was to be delivered to Singla.

Daga was associated with the work of arranging, transporting and payment of bribe money on behalf of co-accused and then member (staff) of railway board Mahesh Kumar who wanted a

particular post, the CBI said.In its charge sheet filed July

2, the probe agency alleged that Singla demanded Rs.10 crore from Mahesh Kumar for his appoint-ment as member (electrical) in the board.

The agency said that it was decided between the accused that `5 crore would be paid before the

appointment and the rest of the money would be paid after the job was done.

All the 10 accused have been chargesheeted for the offence of criminal conspiracy under the penal code and relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. IANS

Two former BJP leaders join JD-UPATNA: A fortnight after he quit the BJP, former spokes-man Ram Kishore Singh yesterday joined the ruling Janata Dal-United (JD-U) in the presence of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Ram Kishore Singh resigned from the Bharatiya Janata Party 13 days after his removal as spokesman for question-ing Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity.

Yesterday, he joined the JD-U along with Ravinder Nandan, another former BJP leader. “We have joined the JD-U to strengthen the hands of Nitish Kumar for Bihar’s develop-ment,” he told the media here. Nandan said Nitish Kumar was the only hope for Bihar. Some JD-U leaders claim that more than a dozen BJP leaders will soon join their party.

BJP slams Delhi on costly onionsNEW DELHI: The Delhi unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) yesterday slammed the Congress gov-ernment for the rise in prices of onions and other food items in the national capital.

Onions in the capital were being sold at prices as high as Rs.60-70 a kg, the BJP said.

“Under the present Congress regime, even the regular items of kitchen are vanishing from the dinner table. Onions are being sold at a price up to Rs.70 here. The case is also similar with tomatoes,” said Shikha Rai, Delhi BJP general Secretary. According to the BJP, the Congress government had failed to control price rise.

The opposition party alleged the central government had decided to export onions to Pakistan at a time when peo-ple in the country were facing a shortage.

Case against Himachal plant after gas leakSHIMLA: A leading auto-motive parts manufacturing firm in Himachal Pradesh’s Parwanoo industrial unit was booked for negligence after leakage of gas from its plant, police said yesterday.

“A case against Federal Mogul Bearings India Ltd has been registered for alleged neg-ligence in leakage of ammonia gas from its plant Saturday,” investigating officer Raghubir Singh told IANS.

He said investigations have been initiated under Section 336 of the Indian Penal Code. IANS

Will not allow Jammu exodus: ChidambaramBJP fears violence may lead to repeat of 1990 situation

Policemen stop members of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front during a protest in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir, yesterday.

not be sacked. “Law and order has failed in Jammu and Kashmir and the state government has failed to control the situation. I demand that the state govern-ment be dismissed and president’s rule be imposed,” Mayawati said

in the Rajya Sabha. “The state alone cannot manage the situa-tion. But dismissing the (state) government is not a solution either,” Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav told the Rajya Sabha.

The finance minister was responding to a brief discussion in the upper house on last week’s riots in Kishtwar town. He made the statement as Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde was unwell.

IANS

Bail granted to three in `10 crore railway bribery case

Road deaths

Commuters hang on to the doors of a crowded city bus in New Delhi yesterday. The country has one of the world’s highest number of road deaths, with 131,834 people killed in 2011, government figures show.

NEW DELHI: The BJP yes-terday accused the Congress of failing to control the emo-tions of the people of Andhra Pradesh as far as the creation of a separate state of Telangana was concerned.

“I take part in this discussion with a heavy heart. My party had taken a principled decision after discussing the issue threadbare and also the various aspects of the division of the state and creation of Telangana,” Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader M. Venkaiah Naidu said during a discussion in the Rajya Sabha on the creation of Telangana.

Naidu said the government needs to understand the situation in Andhra Pradesh and should try and evolve some response to the current situation.

“I would like to know from the home minister whether the government and the Congress had done enough home work,” he asked.

Asserting that investment in Andhra Pradesh has suffered due to the statehood issue, he said: “We were marching forward. But in the last ten years there is no investment coming.”

“The Congress party not only

failed to control its leaders but also failed to control the emo-tions. The government should address the fears and concerns of the people,” he said.

Two more Andhra Pradesh ministers on Monday submitted resignations in protest against the decision to create Telangana by dividing Andhra Pradesh. Over 3.5 lakh state government employees are set to launch an indefinite strike in 13 Seemandhra districts in protest against the division of the state.

Participating in the discussion, TDP MP from Andhra Pradesh Y.S. Chowdhary said: “the manner in which this decision was taken is very different”.

“No legislators have been taken into confidence,” he said adding that when the division of the state was unavoidable, then why did the Congress not take all stakeholders into confidence.

Assam MP Biswajit Daimary, belonging to the Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), favoured a new state reorganization commission.

“The new report would be con-sidered for creating states. Then there can be a solution to this (demand for new states) prob-lem,” he said. IANS

Congress failed to control emotions on Telengana: BJP

Baby Blues by Jerry Scott and Rick Kirkman

C O O DSR S RW

Yesterday’s answer

Yesterday’s answer

How to play Hyper Sudoku:A Hyper Sudoku Puzzle is solved by filling the numbers from 1 to 9 into the blank cells. A Hyper Sudoku has unlike Sudoku 13 regions (four regions overlap with the nine standard regions). In all regions the numbers from 1 to 9 can appear only once. Otherwise, a Hyper Sudoku is solved like a normal Sudoku.

How to play Kakuro:

The kakuro grid, unlike in sudoku, can be of any

size. It has rows and columns, and dark cells

like in a crossword. And, just like in a crossword,

some of the dark cells will contain numbers. Some

cells will contain two numbers.

However, in a crossword the numbers reference

clues. In a kakuro, the numbers are all you get!

They denote the total of the digits in the row or

column referenced by the number.

Within each

collection of cells

- called a run - any

of the numbers 1

to 9 may be used

but, like sudoku,

each number may

only be used once.

HYPER

ACROSS

1 Vegas attraction

7 Catch a glimpse of

11 Prefix with dermal

14 Stadiums

15 Old home for Mr. Met

16 Actor Beatty

17 Gather momentum

19 “Spring ahead” hours: Abbr.

20 Parked on a bench

21 Meager fare for Oliver Twist

22 Greek “I”

23 Mel Tormé’s nickname

26 System of government

29 Ventnor and Baltic, in Monopoly: Abbr.

30 Soon, to a poet

31 Pageant headwear

34 Scottish headwear

37 Rolling Stones hit whose title follows the words “Hey you”

41 ___ de cologne

42 “___ my case!”

43 They may need refining

44 Root beer or ginger ale

46 Diamond-shaped pattern

48 “Hurry up!”

53 Radiator output

54 Perpendicular to the keel

55 “___ it something I said?”

58 CPR specialist

59 What airplanes leave in the sky ... or what 17-, 23-, 37- and 48-Across have?

62 Gorilla

63 Schoolmarmish

64 Certain wasp

65 “___ Your Eyes Only”

66 Tennis’s Novak Djokovic, by birth

67 Old saws

DOWN

1 Baseball headwear

2 Operatic selection

3 Religious faction

4 Toner, e.g.

5 Nothing ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE

F E S T I V U S A F F I R MO V E R R I D E V I E F O RG E T A R O O M E R A S E SG R A V E L I N N E R

E G A D O U T P D AD M V S I S T E R H O O DR E E F S S A S Q U A T C HE N L A I E C O C R A K ES A C K L U N C H K I T E RS C R E E N D O O R O D EY E O N G O T W I T

S T O W S A R O M A SB A S T E D P U N K R O C KI T G I R L U N D E R W A YT V T R A Y D E A D E N D S

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16

17 18 19

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26 27 28 29

30 31 32 33 34 35 36

37 38 39 40

41 42 43

44 45 46 47

48 49 50 51 52

53 54 55 56 57

58 59 60 61

62 63 64

65 66 67

6 Fish hawk

7 Cosmetics maker Lauder

8 Taco exterior

9 Pod item

10 Thanksgiving vegetable

11 “Nothing more to say”

12 Sauce with crushed garlic and basil

13 Item on a dog collar or suitcase

18 Chevrolet Equinox, e.g.

22 Suffix with meteor

23 Ex-Yankee

All-Star Martinez

24 Fluctuate

25 Emergency exodus operation, briefly

26 One of 15,490 in the first edition of the O.E.D.

27 Most eligible to be drafted

28 Daydreamer encountered by Odysseus

31 Stubbed digit

32 Conditions

33 Quantity: Abbr.

35 “The Clan of the Cave Bear” author Jean

36 Retailer’s inventory: Abbr.

38 Pal of Rex or Rover

39 Tarkenton of three Super Bowls

40 Lincoln ___ (building toy)

45 Choose to participate, with “in”

46 Christie who wrote “Ten Little Indians”

47 Muzzle-loading tool

48 Bundle of wheat

49 Speed kept by a metronome

50 Rhinoceros relative

51 Test ban subject, briefly

52 Suffix with ballad

55 Flier’s flapper

56 Sheltered, at sea

57 Retired fliers

59 No. 2s

60 “___ you serious?”

61 Coach Parseghian

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13:50 Test Case

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13:00 Hope & Faith

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Men

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11:00 Golden

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13:45 A.N.T. Farm

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Wood

16:00 3 Holiday Tails

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Babysitting

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Babysitting

13:45 Animal ER

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16:00 Dick ‘n’ Dom Go

Wild

16:30 The Most

Extreme

19:15 Going Ape

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20:35 Shamwari: A

Wild Life

22:00 Bondi Vet

22:55 Pit Bulls And

Parolees

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LIVE SHOWS Airing Time

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SPIRITUAL HOUR

6:00-7:00 AM

A time of reflection, a deeper understanding of the teachings of Islam.

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10:00 AM

The show takes you on a trip to different locations in Qatar.

INTERNATIO-NAL NEWS

1:00 PM The latest news and events from around the world.

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4:00 PM Is a show about ‘Spoken Word.’ The audience is introduced to a new artistic piece. Created by our very own Nabil Al Nashar.

FASHION NEWS 7:00PM Laura brings you a tidy package of the latest news and events from the world of fashion!

LEGENDARY ARTISTS

8:00 PM The show tells the story of a celebrity artist that has reached unprecedented fame. Throughout the episode, the artists’ memorable performances/songs will be played to put listeners in the mood.

DECADES 10:00PM A journey through time. The show reminisces at the music, the inventions, and the events that ensued during that era and defined modern history. Hosted by Ms. Laura Finnerty and Scotty Boyes.

MUSIC & INFORMATION

Listen in the whole day as we offer a wide array of music from Pop, to Classical, Reggae, Jazz, Funk, World/Ethnic and loads of information through QF Radio’s Factoid Series

MALL

1

Chennai Express (Hindi/Comedy)– 9.30am & 11.00pm

Pacific Rim (3D/Action) – 12.15 & 2.30pm

Despicable Me 2 (3D/Animation) – 5.00 & 7.00pm

El7aramy & Elabiet (2D/Arabic) – 9.00pm

2

Pacific Rim (3D/Action) – 9.30am & 11.15pm

The Smurfs 2 (3D/Animation) – 12.00 noon 2.00pm

The Lone Ranger (2D/Action) – 4.00pm

Red 2 (2D/Action) – 6.45 & 9.00pm

3

El7aramy & Elabiet (2D/Arabic) – 10.00am & 12.30pm

Left Right Left (Malayalam) – 2.30pm

The Smurfs 2 (3D/Animation) – 5.30pm

Thalaivaa (Tamil) – 8.00pm

Red 2 (2D/Action) – 11.15pm

LANDMARK

1

Chennai Express (Hindi/Comedy)– 9.30am & 11.00pm

Pacific Rim (3D/Action) – 12.15 & 2.30pm

Despicable Me 2 (3D/Animation) – 5.00 & 7.00pm

El7aramy & Elabiet (2D/Arabic) – 9.00pm

2

Pacific Rim (3D/Action) – 9.30am & 11.15pm

The Smurfs 2 (3D/Animation) – 12.00noon & 2.00pm

The Lone Ranger (2D/Action) – 4.00pm

Red 2 (2D/Action) – 6.45 & 9.00pm

3

El7aramy & Elabiet (2D/Arabic) – 10.00am & 12.30pm

Left Right Left (Malayalam) – 2.30pm

The Smurfs 2 (3D/Animation) – 5.30pm

Thalaivaa (Tamil) – 8.00pm

Red 2 (2D/Action) – 11.15pm

ROYAL

PLAZA

1

Chennai Express (Hindi/Comedy)– 9.30am & 11.00pm

Pacific Rim (3D/Action) – 12.15 & 2.30pm

Despicable Me 2 (3D/Animation) – 5.00 & 7.00pm

El7aramy & Elabiet (2D/Arabic) – 9.00pm

2

Pacific Rim (3D/Action) – 9.30am & 11.15pm

The Smurfs 2 (3D/Animation) – 12.00 noon & 2.00pm

The Lone Ranger (2D/Action) – 4.00pm

Red 2 (2D/Action) – 6.45 & 9.00pm

3

El7aramy & Elabiet (2D/Arabic) – 10.00am & 12.30pm

Left Right Left (Malayalam) – 2.30pm

The Smurfs 2 (3D/Animation) – 5.30pm

Thalaivaa (Tamil) – 8.00pm

Red 2 (2D/Action) – 11.15pm

MORNING BREAK16TUESDAY 13 AUGUST 2013

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

Odd construction

A Beijing rooftop apartment surrounded by imitation rocks that is the subject of controversy after it was declared ille-gal. An eccentric resident has built the huge house among what looks like a pile of rocks dotted with trees on top of a 26-storey apartment block in the Chinese capital. Neighbours have complained about China’s latest architectural oddity, which covers more than 1,000 square metres, saying they fear it could cause the structure to collapse on top of them.

NICE, FRANCE: The Emirati royal family has dethroned Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich in the race to own the world’s biggest mega-yacht, Yachts France magazine has reported.

The 180-metre (590-foot) Azzam built for H H Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahayan, the President of the United Arab Emirates and Emir of Abu Dhabi, has ousted Abramovich’s 163.5-metre (536-foot) Eclipse from the top of the yacht league table, the magazine said in its annual survey of the

world’s 100 biggest yachts.After holding the top spot

for three years, the Eclipse was pushed into second place by the Azzam after its delivery this year by German builder Lurssen Yachts.

The floating palace features six bridges and a 550-square-metre (6,000-square-foot) lounge deco-rated in the opulent turn-of-the-century Empire style, the magazine reported.

Despite its size, the behemoth can also move at a top speed of 31.5 knots (58 kilometres per hour),

making it the third-fastest yacht among the top 100.

The magazine did not divulge its price but previous media reports suggested the Azzam cost between $400m and $600m to build.

The race to build larger mega-yachts has been intense in recent years, with industry experts say-ing the trend is for ever-bigger and more luxurious ships.

The yachts are often available for charter — at costs of several million dollars per week — and frequently navigate along France’s Cote d’Azur between Monaco and Saint-Tropez.

Of the 100 top yachts profiled by the magazine, 31 were owned by people from the Middle East, 19 by Russians and 17 by Americans.

Among this year’s eight new entries to the top 100 was also Steve Jobs’ Venus -- a Philippe Starck-designed 78-metre superyacht ordered by the Apple co-founder before his death in 2011. It ranked 88th.

The Dutch-built yacht, which features a control panel made up of an array of iMac computers, was only allowed to leave Amsterdam in December after Jobs’s estate

paid a deposit to resolve a dispute with Starck over payment for the design.

The top-ranked American yacht on the list was the 138-metre (453-foot) Rising Sun owned by music and film magnate David Geffen, at 10th.

Director Steven Spielberg’s 85-metre Seven Seas was 54th on the list.

The biggest British-owned yacht on the list was the 91-metre (299-foot) Nahlin, belonging to inventor and entrepreneur James Dyson, which ranked 36th.

AFP

UAE president’s yacht ranked biggest in the world

10cc band still exploring darker side of human nature

French amputee’s wheelchair stolen PARIS: A French quadruple amputee who won fame by swimming across the English Channel has appealed for the return of his custom-made electric wheel-chair after it was stolen together with the trailer where it was stored.

“They haven’t just stolen my wheelchair, they have robbed me of my autonomy,” Philippe Croizon, a celebrity since his high seas exploits achieved with the help of paddle-like prosthetics, told local media.

Croizon, who lost his legs and arms after an electrical accident at age 26 in 1994, was staying with family at a house in northern France when thieves made off with the trailer that was hitched to a car parked outside. Inside the trailer was the wheelchair he said was worth more than ¤20,000.

“Keep the trailer as a gift if you like, since that’s what it seems you were after, but give me back the wheelchair,” he said on public TV channel France 3.

In 2010, Croizon became the first quad-ruple amputee to swim across the Channel between Britain and France. REUTERS

CROPREDY, ENGLAND: 10cc, the pop-rock band that produced hits such as I’m Not In Love, Rubber Bullets and The Wall Street Shuffle in the 1970s, is still bringing fans to their feet with its against-the-grain lyrics about the darker side of life.

But don’t expect new songs any time soon.

Co- founder Graham Gouldman, who has been on the road with a most of the current version of the band since 1999, is acutely aware that the lineup on stage now is not the original band that penned its most popu-lar tracks.

Although it has two members who joined 10cc in the 1970s, it is not enough for Gouldman to con-sider going into the studio to put together an album of new songs.

It would not be “moral”, Gouldman told Reuters, given that his main co-authors with 10cc are not there.

“We are very transparent about this Mark 3 10cc and who is in it,” he said. “I draw the line at recording new material under 10cc. It’s mainly a gut feeling that it’s wrong to do that.”

Gouldman, however, is happy to work with his old and new colleagues at events such as last week’s Fairport’s Cropredy Convention, a festival in England’s rural Oxfordshire that mixes the old with the new, and at which 10cc headlined.

“I am here to bring the music of 10cc to people,” he said, before taking the stage for a perform-ance that for many present was as nostalgic as it was slick.

10cc’s music is more complex than its pop-rock genre might suggest. Harmonies constantly change and rhythms switch throughout. But it is the lyrics that are often the standout.

REUTERS

Norway premier’s taxi passengers were paidOSLO: Some passengers were paid to take part in a buzz-generating video which showed Norway’s prime minis-ter undercover as a taxi driver probing voters’ concerns, his party admitted yesterday.

Just one month before Norway’s legislative elections that Prime Minister Jens Stoltenbeg’s cen-tre-left coalition appears likely to lose, a video was on Sunday released showing him wearing a taxi driver’s uniform and sun-glasses, sitting at the wheel as he drives passengers around Oslo.

The video quickly generated a lot of buzz on social networks and in the media.

In power since 2005, Stoltenberg explains at the begin-ning that he wants to get close to voters to hear their concerns.

But yesterday, tabloid Verdens Gang (VG) revealed that five of the 14 passengers filmed with hidden cameras fitted in the cab were in fact chosen during a cast-ing call.

“They’re five ordinary people who were asked if they wanted to take part in a video for the Labour Party and who knew nothing else, except that they were going to be picked up in a

taxi,” party spokeswoman Pia Gulbrandsen said.

“Their spontaneity was real when they realised that the driver was the prime minister,” she said.

Each of the five received 500 kroner ($85) “as a thank you”, the Labour Party said.

None of the passengers had to pay their fares either, since Stoltenberg does not have a per-mit to drive a taxi.

The owner of the public rela-tions firm that made the video, Kjetil Try — a friend of the prime minister’s — told VG the casting call was necessary to ensure that passengers were available at the right time and that they repre-sented a broad diversity.

The video was on the whole well-received for its humorous aspects, though several com-mentators remarked that it focused more on the passengers’ surprise than on the voter issues Stoltenberg said he wanted to explore.

Recent opinion polls show Stoltenberg lagging the right wing ahead of the September 9 election, and the success of the video was not expected to be enough to turn things around.

AFP

CHART: 1

Source : http://www.alasmakhrealestate.com/

News in Numbers

The favourable areas for villa development are Al Waab, Duhail, Ain Khalid, Madinat Khalifa, Al Hilal and so on. The average price of the land within these areas is in the range of QR 320 to QR 480 per sq ft. Within the proposed multibillion dollar futuristic Lusail City project, the land price in the Marina district is in the range of QR 1,250 to QR 1,800 per sq ft. Despite the project showing down, the demand for land among locals and overseas investors has not gone down.

10

Average Land Prices

Land Market Overview 2

QATAR REAL ESTATE REPORT

Prices are in QR/Sq Ft

Gra

nd H

amad

Stre

et

4000

3500

3000

2500

2000

1500

1000

500

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Fajr (Dawn) 3:44

Shorook (Sunrise) 5:06

Zuhr (Noon) 11:39

Asr (Afternoon) 3:08

Maghrib (Sunset) 6:12

Isha (Night) 7:42

PRAYER TIME

Weather Conditions:

Hot during the day and relatively humid with some clouds and hazy by night.

High: 40° Low: 33°

High: 38° Low: 33°

High: 39° Low: 33°

Partly cloudyPartly cloudy Partly cloudy

Today Wednesday Thursday

SUNRISE | SUNSET

05:09 18:07 09:30 & 20:30 03:00 & 14:45 05-14 / 18 KT

HIGH | LOW WIND

SUN TIDE SEA

TODAY TOMORROW

HI/LO WEATHER HI/LO WEATHER

THE REGION

TODAY TOMORROW

HI/LO WEATHER HI/LO WEATHER

THE WORLD

DOHA - SUN & SEA

WEATHER

MUSCAT 34/28 T-storms 32/28 Partly cloudy

KUWAIT 46/33 Clear 47/31 Clear

BAHRAIN 44/28 Clear 44/30 Clear

SANAA 27/18 T-storms 27/18 Chance of storm

RIYADH 46/31 Clear 45/32 Clear

DUBAI 41/33 Partly cloudy 43/33 Partly cloudy

BAGHDAD 45/29 Clear 44/29 Clear

ATHENS 33/25 Clear 33/25 Clear

WASHINGTON 29/19 T-storms 24/19 Partly cloudy

SYDNEY 23/08 Clear 25/08 Partly cloudy

LONDON 22/14 Chance of rain 23/16 Partly cloudy

PARIS 23/12 Mostly of rain 24/15 Partly cloudy

ISTANBUL 29/21 Clear 28/21 Clear

MANILA 31/25 T-storms 32/25 Cloudy

DHAKA 33/26 Chance of storm 32/26 Chance of storm

DELHI 31/25 T-storms 31/25 T-storms

ISLAMABAD 30/24 T-storms 27/21 T-storms

Japan growth slows in second quarter

Tuesday 13 August 20136 Shawwal 1434

Volume 18Number 5790

Price: QR2

editor@pen.com.qa | adv@pen.com.qa Editorial: 44557741 | Advertising: 44557837 / 44557780www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

Business | 19

Wind power storage woes

Wind turbines are seen in the distance, blackened by the Silver Fire near Banning, California. California, whose green ambitions helped spawn the solar and wind power businesses, is looking for more ways to store electricity as renewables become a significant piece of the power supply.

QE index to stay stable, say analystsMore liquidity flow into Qatar Exchange expected next month; call for new index positioningDOHA: Stock analysts and corporate circles do not expect a major correction to take place on the Qatari bourse at least over the short-term.

They cite a number of factors that they insist should keep the market stable, if not quite buoy-ant, over the days to come.

Companies have reported robust financials for the first half (H1) of this year, and then Ramadan is over and the long summer break is about to end after which trading should pick up, say some analysts and corpo-rate figures.

“I think from September the main index that basically reflects investor behaviour should main-tain an upward trend,” said

Nasser Al Khaledy. CEO of Qatar-Oman

Investment Company, a listed entity, Al Khaledy told this news-paper he expected more liquidity to flow into Qatar Exchange (QE) in September.

“I think that due to the emerg-ing market status having been conferred on the QE by MSCI, the market should look up. I, there-fore, don’t expect any major cor-rection to punctuate that trend until at least early 2014.”

The main index of the QE closed at 9,847.62 on August 7, the last trading day before Eid Al Fitr holidays began. The market reopens today after the Eid break amidst high investor expectations.

“We shouldn’t be surprised if

the index breaches the psycho-logical barrier of 10,000 points sometime in September itself,” said Al Khaledy.

This will not be the first time, though, that the index would breach the 10,000 points barrier.

The 20-share benchmark index had dizzied up to 10,671 points in mid-January 2008, and the QE was then known as the Doha Securities Market (DSM).

And, in early April 2005 after the DSM was thrown partly open to foreign investors, the index had even breached the 11,000 points barrier and had closed at 11,148.30.

However, according to Al Khaledy, by early next year there are chances of the index

breaching that barrier of 11,000 and even 12,000 points and the latter would be a record.

That might happen during the excited run-up to the time (May 2014) when the QE actually gets the emerging market status.

Some analysts say that they wonder how the QE index has been going up when liquidity indicators such as trading value remain stable at around QR300m, the daily average, and sometimes even less.

The index, they argue, needs a new positioning as it might not be reflecting the actual performance of stocks, especially after sector indices were recently introduced.

“I think that the main index needs a bit of new positioning and

should take into consideration the expanding investor base as well, aside from other key indicators like share price and perform-ance and capitalization,” argues Al Khaledy.

One analyst who didn’t want his name in print said the main benchmark sensitive index is based on 20 most highly liquid stocks, so doesn’t show the move-ment of smaller shares.

But stock analyst Bashir Al Kahlout disputes that argument and says that every six months those 20 shares are reviewed and some four to five are replaced based on their performance in that period. “So, I think there is no problem with the main index.”

THE PENINSULA

MSCI upgrade to bring more funds to QatarDOHA: Inclusion of Qatar in the MSCI Emerging mar-kets index would aid in inflow of institutional money into the country’s capital mar-ket, Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) noted in its latest report on “GCC Outlook for the second half of 2013”.

The report that looks at the performance of the GCC coun-tries in the first half of 2013 and provides an outlook for the rest of the year, for each individual coun-try cited sustained high oil prices, expansive fiscal and accommoda-tive monetary policies led to a strong rally in the first half of 2013.

All the GCC markets gained amply in the first half of 2013, reacting positively to high fis-cal surpluses and infrastructure expenditures, strong comeback in the real estate market, and improvement in tourism sectors. GCC heavyweight Saudi Arabia ended the first half with a 10.2 percent gain in the Tadawul index. Qatar, Oman and Bahrain recorded healthy gains in the range of 10 percent to 12 percent in 1H13. Abu Dhabi (+36.9 per-cent) and Dubai (+40.7 percent) markets posted the highest gains this half, due to improvements in corporate profitability.

The GCC countries contin-ued to invest heavily in the non-hydrocarbon sectors in a bid to diversify their economies. Construction and transport sec-tor contracts worth over $39bn have been awarded for projects

in the GCC, in the first half of 2013. Surge in lending and strong economic performance in hydro-carbon producing GCC countries, led to record performance in the Banking sector, in the first half of the year.

The highlight of the first half of the year was the long expected MSCI upgrade of UAE and Qatar to Emerging Market status. The move is likely to take effect in Q2 of 2014, with UAE accounting for 0.4 percent of the index and Qatar accounting for 0.45 percent.

Value traded continued its upswing in 2013 after bottoming out in 2010. Given the positive YoY growth in liquidity in 1H13, we have a Positive view for most GCC markets.

Subdued demand for oil glo-bally and the resultant slowdown in production levels, is expected to slowdown real GDP growth for the GCC to 3.7 percent in 2013. Prolonged recession in Eurozone, weak recovery in the US, and slow-down in emerging market econo-mies will lower commodity prices.

The report expects growth to be moderate in the region con-sidering the political develop-ments in Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait. Inflation in GCC is also expected to be moderate in 2013, due to weak global economy. Expansionary fiscal policy in the form of large scale infrastructure projects, generous subsidies and state sponsored welfare schemes are expected to bring down the fiscal surpluses in GCC countries.

THE PENINSULA

Russia stagnating, but outright recession avoidable, says ministerMOSCOW: Russia’s econ-omy minister said yester-day that dramatically slowing growth indicated the country had entered a period of pos-sibly prolonged stagnation but that an outright recession was avoidable.

Alexei Ulyukayev’s comments came after the first initial esti-mate on Friday showed that sec-ond-quarter growth had slowed to 1.2 percent in annual terms from 1.6 percent in the first three months of 2013.

The economy minister stressed that continuing exports of oil and natural gas would ensure that Russia would continue to enjoy

expansion — albeit at a fraction of the five-percent rate initially demanded by President Vladimir Putin.

“There is no recession and there will be none. Stagnation is probably the appropriate term,” Ulyukayev told the Kommersant business daily in an interview.

But “there are many factors that enable us to say that (sec-ond-half) results will be better than they were in the first,” he was separately quoted as saying by the RIA Novosti news agency.

The London-based Capital Economics consultancy and Moscow’s Higher School of Economics both estimated that

Russia had already entered a recession — defined as two consec-utive quarters of negative quar-ter-on-quarter growth — based on the January-June figures.

The formal announcement of a recession would deliver a pain-ful blow to Putin — his immense powers and popularity already tested by a wave of street protests in 2011-2012. Putin had managed to bolster his support by unveiling a vast social spending and rear-mament programme during his successful run for a third presi-dential term last year.

But analysts question how these commitments can be met should the economy continue to

stagnate and tax revenues fall short of their mark.

Moscow’s VTB Capital invest-ment bank lowered its 2013 growth forecasts for Russia to 1.7 percent from 2.4 percent — the downwardly-revised figure now favoured by the government.

The finance house also criti-cised the central bank for refus-ing to pursue an easing policy and instead keeping interest rates at 8.25 percent for the past 11 months in order to bring inflation down to 4.5 percent by next year.

Ulyukayev argued yester-day that an easing policy would in either case take six to nine months to take effect and was

therefore not the panacea sought by the market.

He instead prepared Russians for a more cautious approach that would see the government scale back spending over the com-ing three years — a policy that clashes directly with Putin’s elec-tion promises.

“We are going to review our budget forecast for the coming three years and also our long-term forecast, which looks at the budget strategy through 2030,” Ulyukayev told Kommersant.

“It seems that in all these doc-uments, we will have to make a more conservative assessment of future growth rates.” Russia

is suffering in particular from a sharp decline in investments and consumption as well as a continu-ing inability to solve corruption and economic mismanagement.

The resulting slowdown has turned the energy giant into one of the worst performers among the major emerging markets—its growth a shadow of the average 7.2-percent rate enjoyed by Putin during his first two terms as president.

The International Monetary Fund warned earlier this year that the economy was operat-ing at full capacity and required urgent structural reforms to achieve more sustainable growth.

AFP

New Economic Zones to spur non-hydrocarbon growth in QatarDOHA: Qatar’s ongoing policy to diversify its economy into non-hydrocarbon sector is expected to get a huge boost with the open-ing of three proposed Economic Zones scheduled in 2016-2017. With a projected 7.6 percent growth in the non-oil sector for the current year, Qatar is already ranked as the country with high-est growth rate in the real non-oil sector in the region.

The three economic zones com-ing up in various locations will be mainly dedicated to the start-ups, innovations and SMEs in the non-hydrocarbon sectors.

Covering an estimated four square kilometres Zone One, under development near the Hamad International Airport, is expected to target companies that produce high-value technol-ogy and manufacturing, as well as regional and domestic logistics services. This zone will also be assigned to air freight, electron-ics, pharmaceutical industries and global warehouses.

The nearly 12sqkm Zone Two, being planned in the south of Doha Industrial Area, and the 34sqkm Zone Three close to the New Port Project will have the massive pres-ence of maritime and logistics. These zones will also handle small to medium industrial companies in sectors such as maritime and other industries. Logistics will have a major presence in the new zone.

Ali bin Abdulatif Al Misnad, President, Qatar Association of Freight and Logistics (QAFL) told The Peninsula recently that Qatar’s existing estimated $150m logistic industry is set to grow in a big way in medium to long term. With over 32 major projects having been launched in Qatar, and many oth-ers in pipeline, the logistic sector is poised for a major growth, he said.

According to Qatar’s Economic Outlook 2013-2014, the country’s non-hydrocarbon (defined as all economic activity other than upstream oil and gas produc-tion) GDP is expected to grow by a robust 9.8 percent in 2013 and 10.3 percent in 2014. The serv-ices sector, the largest contribu-tor to growth in 2013 and 2014, is expected to expand by 10.0 percent in 2013 and 10.1 percent in 2014.

In 2012, manufacturing output grew by 11.8 percent. Construction grew by 10.6 percent and the Services sector expanded 9.2 per-cent and the transport and tele-communications sub-sector grew by 12.1 percent. The first of the three zones is likely to open by the end of 2016. The third one is expected to open by the middle of 2017.

THE PENINSULA

Brent crude falls below $108LONDON: Brent crude oil dropped below $108 per barrel yesterday after a sharp rally in the previous session as investors awaited US data this week for hints on when the Federal Reserve will scale back its stimulus.

Losses were checked, however, by supply outages in major pro-ducers Libya and Iraq.

Brent slipped 39 cents to $107.83 a barrel by 1338 GMT after sink-ing as low as $107.43 earlier. US crude was off 54 cents at $105.43.

On Friday both crude oil bench-marks had logged their biggest daily percentage gains in a week following unexpected strength in trade data from China.

“We remain sceptical as to whether the upswing can con-tinue,” said a Commerzbank research note. “The oil market also remains amply supplied in the medium term.”

In the near term, market play-ers were taking stock of protests in Libya that have cut exports to

less than half of normal rates of one million barrels per day (bpd) for two weeks running and by port work next month in Iraq that is expected to cut shipments there by 500,000 bpd.

“We remain constructive on prices this summer as seasonally stronger crude demand and sup-ply disruptions point to tighter balances (in the third quarter),” Morgan Stanley analysts said in a note.

REUTERS

Investment leap

A Jet Airways aircraft takes off from the western Indian city of Ahmedabad yesterday. Jet recently won a key regulatory approval for its deal to sell a 24 percent stake to Etihad for $379m.

BUSINESS18TUESDAY 13 AUGUST 2013

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

GCC inflation rates accelerate: QNB GroupInflux of expatriate workers drives up prices, rental inflation reaches 6.7pc in Qatar DOHA: Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation in the GCC has accelerated since mid-2012, although, at 2.9 percent in May 2013, it remains well below the double-digit levels reached in 2008. According to QNB Group, GCC inflation is likely to stabi-lise at a moderate level around the three percent mark in the near term as higher increases in housing costs are offset by lower food price rises. This compares with global inflation average 3.8 percent and Mena infla-tion of 9.3 percent in 2013-14. Historically, GCC inflation has been low until rising oil prices and an economic boom pushed inflation higher in the 2000s.

Housing costs (mainly rents) account for 27 percent of the CPI basket in the GCC and food prices for 20 percent. These items also tend to be relatively volatile and,

therefore, account for most of the change in the direction of inflation.

Overall, rent inflation has aver-aged 2.9 percent so far in 2013. It has picked up to high levels in some countries (Qatar and Bahrain) and remains low but has turned a corner in others (UAE). Food price inflation has remained low in most countries, with the excep-tion of Saudi Arabia, in line with global food price indices as the GCC imports most of its food needs.

Saudi Arabia accounts for almost half of the GCC econ-omy and rising inflation in the Kingdom has been the main driver of price increases in the GCC. Food price inflation aver-aged 5.8 percent in the first six months of 2013 as local supply constraints pushed up prices despite falling global food indi-ces. Relative to the rest of the GCC, Saudi Arabia meets more

of its food needs through domestic production. Housing inflation has slowed in Saudi Arabia as a major house building programme has been rolled out, alleviating tight supply. These market forces are likely to remain in place resulting in inflation remaining close to the current level of 3.9 percent.

The UAE currently has the GCC’s lowest rate of inflation (0.8 percent year-on-year so far in 2013), despite strong growth in private demand, suggesting that persistent overcapacity on the supply side is holding back prices. Rental inflation has averaged 1.3 percent so far this year as rents have stabilised in Abu Dhabi and begun to rise in Dubai and the other emirates. The new upward direction in housing costs and diminishing overcapacity should push overall inflation steadily higher to an average of 1.3 percent

in 2013 and two percent in 2014, according to QNB Group.

Inflation in Qatar has accelerated this year as an influx of expatriates (to work on the roll out of major infrastructure projects) has driven up prices. Rental inflation reached 6.7 percent in the year to June 2013 having been negative almost every month from early 2009 to mid 2012. Meanwhile, food inflation has remained relatively flat at an aver-age of 2.5 percent so far this year. QNB Group expects some further increases in rents as a number of major projects ramp up over the next year or so, resulting in slightly higher inflation at 3.6 percent in 2013 and 3.8 percent in 2014.

Rents in Bahrain have also increased rapidly, averaging 9.3 percent so far this year as they have bounced back from sharp falls in 2011 and 2012 when politi-cal instability shook the economy.

Inflation in Kuwait has been mod-erate so far in 2013 with rents rising by 3.2 percent on average and food prices by 3.3 percent. In Oman rent and food inflation have been relatively stable at 1.2 per-cent and 2.2 percent respectively.

Overall, inflation in the GCC is likely to stabilise at around three percent, according to QNB Group. Strengthening non-oil growth and expanding populations will give prices, particularly rents, some upward impetus. However, this is likely to be counterbalanced by falling global food prices, which will make food imports cheaper and hold back inflation. Additionally, oil prices are expected to be slightly lower in 2014, which tends to ease inflationary pressures in the GCC as it results in less oil revenue flowing into the economy, weakening demand.

THE PENINSULA

Deutsche, HSBC tussle with Saudi Telecom on $1.2bn loan DUBAI: Lenders including Deutsche Bank, HSBC and China Development Bank are resisting calls by Saudi Telecom (STC) to restructure a loan that could potentially leave them with losses of up to $600 million, banking and industry sources said.

The tussle over the $1.2bn loan highlights the risks banks face extending loans to state-owned firms in the Middle East, where billions of dollars of debt had to be renegotiated in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. It also shows banks, facing tougher capi-tal rules, are less willing to accept losses.

STC backed the Islamic loan for Axis Telekom, its Indonesian arm, in 2011. But Axis’ perform-ance has deteriorated and the company is now in breach of some of the loan’s terms, four sources aware of the matter said.

STC, which owns 84 percent of Axis, has asked banks to restruc-ture the debt to reflect its true value of between $600-$800m. The lenders, led by Deutsche Bank , have refused, and are con-sidering alternatives to recover their money, the sources added.

“On the one hand, you have a big exposure that you cannot let go and on the other side, you have to be careful of your business relationships in the kingdom,” one Dubai-based banker said.

The deadlock is complicating STC’s plan to sell Axis Telekom to its rival, PT XL Axiata .

STC needs the consent of the creditor banks before it can sell the business. STC in an emailed statement confirmed it was in talks to sell Axis as its financial performance has been poor. HSBC and Deutsche Bank declined to comment, as did XL Axiata CEO Hasnul Suhaimi.

REUTERS

Gold climbs for fourth dayLONDON: Gold climbed to its highest in nearly two weeks on Monday, shrugging off dol-lar strength, as US economic data pointed to sluggish growth and the world’s biggest gold exchange-traded fund recorded the first inflow in two months.

Holdings in SPDR Gold Trust grew 0.2 percent to 911.13 tonnes on Friday — the first increase since June 10. The fund has seen more than 14 million ounces in outflows this year, about $19bn at current prices.

Spot gold rose as much as 1.5 percent to $1,333.31 an ounce earlier in the session, its highest since July 31. It was trading up 0.9 percent at $1,326.30 by 1140 GMT, on track for its fourth straight day of gains.

US gold futures for December gained $13.20 to $1,325.50 an ounce. Traders reported some buying of gold by those who had agreed to sell at future dates in expectation of lower prices.

“The move above $1,300 last week has raised the risk of some additional short-covering, but the technical picture is quite neutral and it could only improve if we see gains pushing prices above the $1,350 level,” Saxo Bank senior manager Ole Hansen said.

“It is interesting to see some strength at a time when we are also seeing a stronger dollar, which is a wake-up call to those looking for much lower prices that there is going to be a bit of a fight,” he added.

REUTERS

India struggles to arrest rupee fall as industrial output shrinksNEW DELHI: India pledged yesterday to curtail some imports to narrow a record cur-rent account deficit and arrest a sliding currency as a sharp contraction in industrial out-put underlined the weakness of Asia’s third-largest economy.

Industrial output shrank by an unexpectedly large 2.2 percent in June from a year earlier, govern-ment data showed, outstripping market forecasts of a 1.2 percent drop.

“Weak domestic demand is weighing on manufacturing pro-duction,” said Moody’s economist Glenn Levine.

The figures came as the gov-ernment strove to put the once red-hot economy back on track, pledging new steps to narrow the gaping current account deficit —the broadest measure of trade —that has alarmed global ratings agencies and driven the rupee to record lows against the dollar.

The central bank has “taken a number of measures to increase short-end interest rates and this has contained the depreciation of the rupee to some extent”, Finance Minister P Chidambaram told parliament.

But “we have to do more to contain the current account defi-cit, to reduce volatility in the cur-rency market and to stabilise the rupee,” he said.

The Reserve Bank of India, the central bank, has said it can only ease high interest rates to spur economic growth once the rupee steadies.

Chidambaram said the govern-ment would impose additional measures to reduce imports of gold, silver, oil and some non-essential goods. Gold and oil are the biggest contributors to the current account deficit.

He added the government would allow state-run firms to raise funds abroad through

“quasi-sovereign bonds” to help finance the current account shortfall as well as make it eas-ier for non-resident Indians to deposit money in India.

Currency inflows from the steps would reduce the current account deficit this year to $70 billion or 3.7 percent of gross domestic product, down from a record 4.8 percent last year, he said.

But Chidambaram’s announce-ment failed to stem the fall in the currency which ended the day at Rs61.27 to the dollar, near its record closing low of Rs61.30 hit last week, as dealers complained about a lack of details.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Congress-led government is struggling to engineer an eco-nomic rebound before elections due in the first half of 2014. But the industrial output data high-lighted the depth of India’s eco-nomic slump.

AFP

Workers polish metal tiffin boxes at a workshop in an industrial area in Mumbai yesterday. India’s industrial production contracted 2.2 percent in June.

19BUSINESS TUESDAY 13 AUGUST 2013

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

*Periodic Distribution Amount

IMPORTANT NOTE: Published by HSBC Bank Middle East Limited, P O Box 57, Doha, Qatar which is licensed and regulated by Qatar Central Bank and Jersey Financial Services Commission. Information quoted is from publicly available sources or proprietary data and subject to change. HSBC accepts no liability for any loss or damage arising out of the use of all or part of this material. This information is general and does not take into account individual circumstances, objectives or needs. The price of bonds can and does fluctuate. The secondary market for bonds may not provide significant liquidity or may trade based on prevailing market conditions. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. You should consider these matters and consult your financial advisor prior to making any investment decisions.

QATARI MARKETBond Coupon Maturity Currency Mid-Price Yield Moody’s S&P

Qatar Govt 5.15% 4/9/2014 USD 103.13 0.38 % Aa2 AA

Qatar Govt 3.125% 1/20/2017 USD 104.63 1.73 % Aa2 AA

Qatar Govt 6.55% 4/9/2019 USD 119.75 2.76 % Aa2 AA

Qatar Govt 5.25% 1/20/2020 USD 112.63 3.07 % Aa2 AA

Qatar Govt 4.5% 1/20/2022 USD 106.50 3.60 % Aa2 AA

Qatar Govt 9.75% 6/15/2030 USD 158.00 4.72 % Aa2 AA

Qatar Govt 6.4% 1/20/2040 USD 115.50 5.30 % Aa2 AA

Qatar Govt 5.75% 1/20/2042 USD 107.00 5.27 % Aa2 AA

Qatari Diar 3.5% 7/21/2015 USD 104.13 1.34 % Aa2 AA

Qatari Diar 5% 7/21/2020 USD 110.13 3.35 % Aa2 AA

Comqat 5% 11/18/2014 USD 104.75 1.21 % A1 A-

Comqat 3.375% 4/11/2017 USD 103.25 2.44 % A1 A-

QIB 3.856% 10/7/2015 USD 104.75 1.60 % NR NR

QNB 3.125% 11/16/2015 USD 103.50 1.54 % Aa3 A+

QNB 3.375% 2/22/2017 USD 103.75 2.26 % Aa3 A+

Doha Bank 3.5% 3/14/2017 USD 103.25 2.55 % A2 A-

Qtel 3.375% 10/14/2016 USD 104.75 1.83 % A2 A

Qtel 7.875% 6/10/2019 USD 123.13 3.46 % A2 A

Qtel 4.75% 2/16/2021 USD 105.38 3.92 % A2 A

Qtel 5% 10/19/2025 USD 102.25 4.75 % A2 A

Rasgas 5.5% 9/30/2014 USD 105.75 0.41 % Aa3 A

Rasgas 5.832% 9/30/2016 USD 106.75 3.54 % Aa3 A

Rasgas 5.298% 9/30/2020 USD 108.50 3.92 % Aa3 A

SOVEREIGNSBond PDA* Maturity Currency Mid-Price Yield Moody’s S&P

Abu Dhabi Govt 5.5% 4/8/2014 USD 103.38 0.33 % Aa2 AA

Abu Dhabi Govt 6.75% 4/8/2019 USD 122.00 2.55 % Aa2 AA

Dubai Govt 6.7% 10/5/2015 USD 108.63 2.54 % NR NR

Dubai Govt 4.9% 5/2/2017 USD 106.00 3.18 % NR NR

Dubai Govt 7.75% 10/5/2020 USD 117.88 4.77 % NR NR

Dubai Govt 6.45% 5/2/2022 USD 108.88 5.17 % NR NR

Qatar Govt 4% 1/20/2015 USD 104.38 0.93 % Aa2 AA

Bahrain Govt 6.273% 11/22/2018 USD 113.75 3.40 % NR BBB

Bahrain Govt 5.5% 3/31/2020 USD 102.13 5.12 % NR BBB

Egypt Govt 5.75% 4/29/2020 USD 88.00 8.10 % Caa1 CCC+

Morocco Govt 4.5% 10/5/2020 EUR 103.75 3.89 % NR BBB-

Libya strikes hit oil export terminalsArmed guards reimpose closureTRIPOLI/LONDON: Striking security guards reimposed a two-week-old shutdown at Libya’s two biggest crude export terminals yesterday, hours after they had reopened, and more oil fields closed in a wave of protest that is propping up world oil prices.

The outages at ports and fields, caused by striking employees and jobless people demanding work, have brought the worst disrup-tion to the North African Opec member’s oil industry since the civil war in 2011.

A source at Arabian Gulf Oil Company (AGOCO) said output at the state oil company subsidi-ary had dropped below 60,000 bar-rels per day (bpd) due to strikes, down from levels of 375,000bpd before the disruption.

Meanwhile, loadings halted again at the Es Sider and Ras Lanuf terminals, with a combined export capacity of 600,000 bpd, due to actions by the armed guards whose job is to protect them, trad-ing and shipping sources said.

“The security guards have stopped the exports (from Es Sider),” said Mohammed El Hattab, Chairman of the federa-tion of oil workers and an employee at the port’s operator Waha Oil Company. “We are having dis-cussions now and hope to restart today or tomorrow,” he added.

In total, around 15 crude and oil product tankers were waiting outside the two ports, according to Windward, a maritime analyt-ics services company.

The blows to exports from Libya, Opec’s ninth largest pro-ducer, as well as the prospect of lower Iraqi shipments have lim-ited falls in benchmark Brent crude oil futures, traders said. Brent was 39 cents lower at $107.83 a barrel by 1338 GMT.

European refineries are having

to pay high prices for alternatives due to a shortage of light sweet Libyan crude oil as exports were below 500,000 bpd at the end of last week, less than half of its recent rate of about 1 million bpd.

One industry source with close ties in Libya estimated Monday’s output at around 540,000 bpd, adding that the Brega and off-shore Al Jurf and Bouri fields were among those operating.

Several trading sources reported, however, that the 130,000bpd El Feel field, shut since end-May, has started to ramp up production — a sign of the fast-evolving situation in the labour and social protests sweep-ing across Libya’s economy.

But AGOCO’s latest outages add to those at the Es Sider, Amna and Sirtica producing fields, which were closed early last week due to storage limits.

AGOCO’s Sarir, Nafoora and two small oilfields were shut while the Mesla field and Hamada fields were producing around 50,000bpd and 10,000bpd, so far.

“If the situation continues ... we could be forced to halt production completely at Mesla field when we reach maximum storage capacity,” an AGOCO company document showed. At the coast, the port Marsa Al Hariga, which handles the Sarir export grade of crude and feeds the oil refinery at Ras Lanuf, has also been closed, a company source said.

Trading sources said the port of Zueitina was still closed and that the Zawia port in the west and the major El Sharara field were still operating.

Operators of shut terminals had hoped that negotiations would lead to their reopening after the Eid Al Fitr holiday, and the stoppage was lifted on Sunday at Es Sider.

REUTERS

Steinway shares jump on expected bidding warNEW YORK CITY: Shares of Steinway Musical Instruments yesterday shot up after the 160-year-old piano maker announced it received a supe-rior takeover offer to the pend-ing $438m deal with Kohlberg &Co.

Steinway, the iconic builder of pianos and other musical instru-ments, said it would accept the second bid from an undisclosed firm unless Kohlberg sweetens its offer.

Steinway said “an affiliate of an investment firm with over $15bn under management” stepped for-ward with a bid of $38 per share, more than the $35 a share offered in July by Kohlberg, a private equity firm.

Steinway’s gains yesterday suggested investors expect a bidding war: the shares reached $39.33 in mid-morning trade, up 8.6 percent from Friday’s close.

Steinway “is prepared to nego-tiate in good faith with Kohlberg” if Kohlberg makes a better pro-posal to that of the unnamed bid-der, the company said.

Kohlberg has three days to respond.

Steinway has said a buyout would help it build its global business without diminishing the legendary quality of its pianos, renowned for their sound and touch.

Steinway pianos, under the original Steinway & Sons name, are built in New York and Hamburg, Germany.

They have been used by some of the world’s greatest musicians, including Arthur Rubinstein, Ignacy Paderewski, and Vladimir Horowitz, and are played by current luminaries Evgeny Kissin, Mitsuko Uchida and Lang Lang.

S t e i nw ay M u s i c a l Instruments, Inc. also controls a number of popular brands for other orchestra and band instruments, including Conn, Selmer, Leblanc, King and Yanagisawa.

AFP

A Japanese national flag at a port in Tokyo, Japan. According to data released by the government, the Japanese economy expanded from April through June at an annualised rate of 2.6 percent.

Japan growth slows in Q2, adds to sales tax uncertaintyTOKYO: Japan’s economic growth slowed more than expected in the second quarter, offering ammunition to those seeking to temper a planned sales-tax increase even as gov-ernment debt has risen past 1,000 trillion yen ($10.4 trillion).

But as the sharp slowdown was driven by an unexpected fall in corporate capital spending while personal spending remained hardy, the data may encourage Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to proceed with the tax hike and sof-ten the pain by offering tax breaks to boost business investment.

The sales-tax rise is meant as a first step toward tackling Japan’s enormous public debt.

The world’s third-largest econ-omy grew by an annualised 2.6 percent in April-June, govern-ment data showed yesterday, a third straight quarter of expan-sion but below both market expec-tations of 3.6 percent growth and a downwardly revised 3.8 percent

rate in the first quarter. Abe, whose top priority has been to spur growth and pull Japan out of 15 years of deflation, faces in coming weeks what he has called the tough decision of whether to go ahead with the tax increase.

Under a multi-party agree-ment last year, the tax is to rise to eight percent from five percent next April and to 10 percent in October 2015. But the government must certify that the economy is strong enough to withstand the pain of the fiscal tightening.

The premier is to decide by early October, and government officials have flagged the April-June GDP, and its revision on September 9, as key factors.

“The economy has been steadily rising since the inauguration of the Abe administration last year,” Abe told reporters.

“I’ll continue to take all possible care about the economy. I’d like to focus on the economy, including implementation of further growth

strategies in the autumn.” Abe’s government is divided on the sales tax, with reflationist advisers urg-ing him to delay or water down the increase and the Finance Ministry avidly urging him to proceed, given the nation’s dire finances.

Public debt exceeded 1 quad-rillion yen—or 1,000 trillion yen, about double GDP, for the first time in June.

The reflationist camp jumped on the weak GDP data. “There is no need to raise the sales tax in a hurry,” Koichi Hamada, an adviser to Abe and a professor emeritus at Yale University, said.

But economists noted that growth remains robust. Some, like Mari Iwashita at SMBC Nikko Securities, said GDP is more likely to be revised up than down because the two weakest elements, capital spending, are the ones that typically change the most.

REUTERS

iPhone launch report lifts Apple sharesNEW YORK CITY: Apple shares gained ground yester-day after a report saying the California tech giant was set to announce its next iPhone at an event September 10. In late morning trade, Apple shares were up 2.04 percent at $463.88.

The Dow Jones news web-site AllThingsD reported on Sunday that Apple scheduled an event next month where it will announce its newest iPhone in an effort to regain ground lost to Samsung and other smartphone makers.

Details were not clear, but speculation has centred around whether Apple would shift its strategy to include a lower-cost handset to appeal to more con-sumers, especially in emerging markets.

Trip Chowdhry, analyst at Global Equities Research, said Apple appeared to be preparing “to declare thermo-nuclear war on Android,” referring to the Google mobile operating system which has become dominant in the smartphone market.

Chowdhry said the launch “may be massively successful and prob-ably one of the most successful launches.”

“If Apple launches a cheaper iPhone, Apple will immedi-ately gain market share against Android, as in many parts of the world, consumers are not well informed and are buying Android phones thinking that they are buying a cheaper iPhone,” he said in a note to clients.

A recent IDC survey showed Apple’s share of the global smart-phone market slipped to 13.2 per-cent in the second quarter, from 16.6 percent a year ago, while Android’s share rose to 79.3 percent.

AFP

Greek recession eases to 4.6pcATHENS: The Greek econ-omy showed improvement in the second quarter of the year, shrinking by 4.6 percent from 5.6 percent in the first quarter, official data showed yesterday.

This first estimate from the statistics authority comes in the sixth year of recession since the country was overwhelmed by a debt crisis.

“According to available data, gross domestic product shrank by 4.6 percent in the second quarter of 2013 compared with the sec-ond quarter of 2012,” the author-ity said.

The latest figure shows that the recession in Greece drags on but that it is less severe on a 12-month comparison.

Last year the economy shrank by 6.4 percent from output in 2011.

The country has been bailed out by the International Monetary Fund and European Union in return for deep structural reforms to its economy, and its banking system is being under-pinned by refinancing from the European Central Bank.

The government has estimated that the economy will contract by 4.3 percent this year, but the forecasts for the state budget are based on an assumption that at the end of 2014 the economy will show growth of 0.2 percent.

The budget of the central gov-ernment, which does not include the cost of interest on the debt,

local authority spending and pen-sion budgets, showed a surplus of ¤2.6bn ($3.45bn) in the seven months from January to July, Deputy Finance Minister Christos Staikouras said yesterday.

He expressed satisfaction in a statement with what he called “the good results of the central government budget which dem-onstrates the improving trend of public finances.”

He said: “This performance proves that the target of achiev-ing a primary surplus on the gen-eral government budget by the end of the year is achievable.”

A primary surplus is a surplus excluding the cost of interest on the debt.

AFP

People make transactions at ATM machines outside a bank branch in Athens yesterday.

20 BUSINESS VIEWSTUESDAY 13 AUGUST 2013

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

BY PETER KELLNER

There are two ways to view Britain’s economy, and the next election could turn on which is uppermost in voters’ minds. After three years sorting out

the mess that Labour left behind, the econ-omy is starting to come right. Growth has resumed. More jobs are being created. The gloom of the past five years is beginning to lift.

Last month YouGov joined forces with CEBR, the Centre for Economic and Business Research, to publish a monthly consumer confidence index. Drawing on four years of YouGov data, this shows that people are more optimistic than at any time since David Cameron became prime minister.

Later YouGov data for the Times, gath-ered after the announcement of 0.6 percent economic growth in the second quarter of this year, suggests that the growth in confi-dence is accelerating, especially with regard to house prices. Of course, a jump in house prices is double-edged. It hurts first-time buyers while bringing joy to existing home owners. But not only is the number of home-owners far larger; their optimism aids the recovery by giving them the confidence to spend more, either by running down their savings or by adding to their mortgage.

If — and it certainly a big “if” — the Office of National Statistics continues to report steady growth over the next 18 months, then more and more voters are likely to believe that the worst is over.

Labour’s narrative is very different. It starts with some solid statistics about the course of the recession: That recovery started in 2009 and was well under way in the spring of 2010 — only to shudder to a halt when the coalition came to office. Since

then we have seen almost three years of flatlining and a succession of mixed gov-ernment targets — badly undershooting on growth and overshooting on government borrowing. That is not all. Labour will argue that, even if gross domestic product is grow-ing, living standards are not. It takes issue with George Osborne’s recent statement that “disposable incomes grew by 1.4 per-cent above inflation last year”. This is true at an aggregate level, because Britain’s pop-ulation is growing. However, it is not true for most workers, whether in the private or public sector, because their pay is failing to keep pace with inflation.

But do perceptions match the statistics? Earlier this month the Labour party asked YouGov to find out. We told respondents that official data showed that the economy was growing and asked people whether they thought “this improvement has or has not been benefitting people on middle and lower incomes”. Only 10 percent thought it has; 70 percent thought it had not.

Then we asked: From what you have experienced yourself, and what you have read or heard, would you say that household incomes have grown faster than prices over the last year or have prices grown faster than household incomes?

Just 3 percent thought household income had grown faster than prices, and 7 percent said both had grown equally. A huge major-ity, 81 percent, felt that prices had grown faster than household incomes. Pay freezes and the nature of many new jobs, often low-paid and part-time, mean that millions of people still struggle to make ends meet.

Overall, then, British voters think increasingly that the economy is on the up but living standards are not. Thus is set the scene for the central contest at the next election. Which narrative will prevail:

National cheer or personal pain? Who will we find more credible: The Tory minister, Peregrine Pangloss, or his Labour shadow, Carly Cassandra?

Were Britain to dive back into recession or, conversely, pay rates to accelerate past inflation, then the question would be easy to answer. At the moment, neither seems likely. The current pattern looks set.

If economic statistics don’t settle the mat-ter, politics might. What could shift public sentiment would be for one of the parties to rid itself of its most damaging negative. The big Tory negative is that it is widely thought to be led by out-of-touch toffs who don’t understand the daily lives of ordinary folk. If people think that their own take-home pay and public services will continue to suf-fer while fruits of economic growth all go to the well-off mates of the prime minister and their like, then further increases in GDP may not help the Conservatives.

Labour’s big negative is that it is still blamed more than the Tories for Britain’s problems. Its record — or, to be precise, pub-lic perceptions of its record — continues to blight its prospects.

It strikes a chord when it says that liv-ing standards are still falling, but that is only half the battle. To win the next election, Ed Miliband and Ed Balls must show that they will do better than David Cameron and George Osborne.

Can Cameron convince people whose incomes are failing to keep up with prices that the Tories are in touch with everyday life? Can Miliband persuade voters that Labour has learned from the recession and now knows how to generate greater pros-perity and spread it more widely? They, and we, have less than two years to find out if either can turn a gloomy “no” into a happier

“yes”. THE GUARDIAN

Two tales of UK economyBY MICHAEL WOLFF

The rising discussion about whether the Sulzberger family will sell the New York Times identifies two different media camps. One camp asks the question “will they?” as a way to reassure themselves that, even in the maelstrom, some

boats make it. We do not all drown. The treasure is preserved.The other asks the question “will they have to?” in a way that

is shaded by schadenfreude and that presumes some amount of inevitability. In the “will they?” view, the declaration by the paper’s publisher and the family head, Arthur Sulzberger, that the paper and the company is not for sale is determinative. Even though this is what is almost invariably said by every company before it is sold.

There are other hurdles to a sale of the Times, as well as excep-tions to the bleak fate of newspapers everywhere, that are regu-larly pointed out by those who see the continued ownership of the Times by the Sulzberger family as a Maginot line between established journalistic standards and relative free-market anar-chy. The company has a dual-class voting structure, which allows the family to own relatively little of the paper but vote as if they owned it all. Not only that, but there is also a complicated require-ment for a super-majority within the family itself.

While it’s true that a similar structure did not save the Post from being sold, the argument for the Times maintains that the Sulzberger family remains somehow more loyal and devoted and resolved. Then, there is the monumental burden, harsh light, and implicit threat waiting to greet anyone buying the Times. Who would want to have to justify their cultural and political worthiness and dependability that way? Who’d want that kind of scrutiny? You’d reap the whirlwind. This view assumes, of course, that the Times continues to represent the establishment in a way that would cause the establishment to defend it.

And then, there is, against the odds, the business argument. The Post was losing $50m a year, but the Times is actually eking out a few pennies. There is here a tremor of determined hope, even though most everyone making this argument about positive digital transformation would generally confess to having little or no idea what they are talking about. Still, despite many expecta-tions, the Times is selling online subscriptions, isn’t it? The traffic is good, isn’t it? The brand is, well, the brand: The Times, damn it.

The “will they have to sell it?” camp is trying to suggest the choice has all but slipped from the Sulzberger family. This camp is partial to and even excited by a sale, not least because of long-standing antipathy to the idea of family rule and, in particularly, to Arthur Sulzberger himself.

According to these partisans, the Sulzbergers have neverthe-less phumphered while Rome burned. Arthur Sulzberger, even though he has outlasted Don Graham, who was always reputed to be much brighter, is regarded by them as a lightweight — one of the inevitable mistakes of primogeniture and not up to the task of guiding the Times through a period of great technologi-cal and intellectual transformation. This group includes almost everybody who used to work for the Times, but no longer does so. Change, in this view, is long in coming. The group also includes traditionalists who believe the Times, in its phumphering, has turned into an ever-sloppier product, always trying to be some new idea which it never quite becomes or, in a variation on that theme, an old-news-cum-dopey-trends purveyor.

And here you’ll also find those who believe in the oppressive-ness of the Times’ traditionalism. Its writing is dull. Its culture coverage ossified. Its politics predictable. Its news sense parochial. Its point of view heavy-handed. Its favourites banal. Its enemies, those who have crossed it. Another subset of the “will they have to sell it?” group are the business gamers. For them, the Times is a sort of Sim City of media. The Times has this $918m on hand, in Tom McGovern’s lovely analysis in Capital New York, which is good news. But wait, it is carrying $694m in debt, and its pen-sions are underfunded by $150m. And with its recent sale of the Boston Globe, the NYT now has nothing left to sell. It’s reduced to its own fate: Can it grow its online revenue faster than it loses print advertising revenue? Most informed gamblers would say not.

And then there is the pressure, the crisis-driven vortex of the media industry. The Washington Post gone. Likely, the Financial Times next to go. A news class of media owners who will not be denied. Really, how can the Sulzbergers resist the obvious, the only intelligent call?

There it is: The former camp believes the New York Times should go on as always — and that it will, a symbol of standards and con-stancy, not to mention relative liberal goodwill. The latter camp believes much would be better, and certainly more interesting, if it didn’t — and that it can’t, anyway.

THE GUARDIAN

Mexico aims for growth boost from energy reformBY KRISTA HUGHES and MICHAEL O’BOYLE

Mexico’s plans to break a 75-year state monop-oly on energy could boost flagging growth

and double foreign investment, potentially providing the big-gest leg-up to its economy since the North American Free Trade Agreement two decades ago.

The government is finalising proposals to lure private inves-tors into the oil, gas and electric-ity industries in order to boost production and lower energy costs for manufacturers, which are up to twice as high as those paid by US companies. The plan is expected to be unveiled and sent to Congress this week. It is likely to include tweaking articles of the constitution that prohibit private ownership of Mexican oil.

The level of access to private firms, including foreign oil majors like BP and Exxon Mobil, will be crucial to the reform’s success.

A half-hearted effort could wreck high expectations that centrist President Enrique Pena

Nieto has the will to apply shock therapy to an ailing energy indus-try and beyond to other moribund sectors of the economy.

But a best-case scenario could add between 1 and 2 percent-age points to potential growth, economists say, a vital prop for an economy expected to grow just 2-3 percent this year while glo-bal demand for Mexican exports remains sluggish. In the decade after Mexico joined NAFTA in 1994, exports to the United States and Canada tripled and foreign direct investment quadrupled. Growth rates rose to 4.8 percent or more in four of the first five years of NAFTA, although the impulse then faded.

The energy overhaul is the cornerstone of a far-reaching reform package that Pena Nieto hopes will ramp up growth, boost credit and formal job creation and modernise Mexico’s oil, gas and electricity industries.

“We have a great opportunity to improve the economy, to generate more jobs and to generate com-petitiveness for Mexican industry through the energy reform,” said

Finance Minister Luis Videgaray, who is leading the design of the proposal.

There are three main options: To allow private companies the right to explore and extract at will with “concessions;” to grant them a share of oil produced - known as production sharing; or to allow them to share in oil sale profits, so-called risk-sharing contracts.

Mexico kicked foreign com-panies out of its oil industry in 1938; allowing them back in is an emotive issue for many Mexicans, including some in Pena Nieto’s own party. A radical push might not pass Congress, although the government argues that bold action is needed to save the oil industry. Mexico is a top crude exporter to the United States, but output has fallen by a quarter since hitting a peak of 3.4 million barrels per day in 2004. Private involvement would give the sec-tor a much-needed injection of expertise and technology to tackle tricky deep water projects.

Lawmakers say the govern-ment’s proposal will likely also

include constitutional changes to allow more private sector invest-ment in electricity generation.

If Mexico’s existing state-run electricity monopoly is dismantled and market forces spark more competition and increased sup-ply, experts say electricity costs could be halved. While households get subsidised power, costs for big business have more than doubled over the past decade. Large fac-tories pay the equivalent of 13 US cents per kilowatt hour compared to 6 cents in 2003. US industry pays less than 7 cents.

If the reform can bring gas and electricity costs in line with those of the United States, it could add 0.3 percentage points to potential growth, said Barclays economist Marco Oviedo.

The biggest potential gain, however, is in Foreign Direct Investment. Net annual inflows have averaged $20bn in the past five years and oil, gas and power has received just $360m since 2008. As a share of gross domestic product, or GDP, Mexico’s inflows are about a third of Brazil’s and a quarter of Colombia’s. Both those

countries have partially privatised their energy sectors.

BNP economist Nader Nazmi calculates that the combination of increased public and private investment from reforms to the energy sector and Mexico’s tax system could boost the ratio of investment to GDP by 2 percent-age points. Better energy supply will also encourage investment in factories and analysts such as CIBC’s Welch say FDI could hit $50bn in 10 years time.

“Even if you just focus on the investment side, it’s huge,” Nomura economist Benito Berber said of the outlook.

Still, if Mexico fails to keep up reform momentum through-out Pena Nieto’s term, it could fall into the same trap as Brazil, where big reforms boosted the economy for several years but growth then stalled due to a lack of further progress.

“It could be an initial impulse as inefficiencies are weeded out of the system. But then after that you lose the benefits, and you have to think about something else,” said Goldman Sachs economist

Alberto Ramos. It will be uncer-tain just how big an opportunity Mexico will offer until the gov-ernment unveils details such as royalty rates in a draft regulatory law which may not be presented until tax plans are being discussed later this year.

“A lot of the benefits depend on whether it’s the full thing. Half measures won’t get the results,” said Frances Hudson, global the-matic strategist at Standard Life Investments.

Mexico will need to show sub-stantial progress to have a hope of lifting its credit rating to the level of the most developed emerging markets, like Chile or Poland.

Moody’s and Fitch rate Mexico just short of the coveted A grade, while Standard & Poor’s is one step further down at BBB. S&P says it will not even consider an upgrade until it is clear that the planned reform will not be watered down in Congress.

“We need to see passage, not just a strong proposal,” S&P credit ratings analyst Lisa Schineller said.

REUTERS

Should the Sulzbergerssell New York Times?

Cartoon Arts International / The New York Times Syndicate

21SPORT TUESDAY 13 AUGUST 2013

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

Dufner clinches maiden major title with US PGA winThe American holds nerve to triumph by two shots in New York

Jason Dufner of the US kisses the Wanamaker trophy after winning the 2013 PGA Championship golf tournament at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York, yesterday.

ROCHESTER, New York: American Jason Dufner erased memories of his heart-breaking late collapse two years ago when he clinched his first major title by two shots in the 95th PGA Championship yesterday.

One stroke behind playing partner Jim Furyk overnight, the ultra-laidback Dufner produced some scintillating approach play on the way to a two-under-par 68 and a 10-under total of 268 on the challenging Oak Hill Country Club.

“It probably still hasn’t hit me yet,” Dufner said after being presented with the coveted Wanamaker Trophy which he hoisted high before kissing it. “I can’t believe this is happening to me.”

Dufner, 36, seized control with three birdies on the front nine and shut the door on his rivals with a steely display of precise shot-making, backed up by safety-first golf over the difficult closing stretch.

A stunning approach to a foot at the par-four 16th earned him his fourth birdie of the day and he could afford the luxury of bogeys at 17 and 18, two of the toughest holes on the course, as he secured his third victory on the PGA Tour.

After putting out on the last green, Dufner retrieved his ball from the hole before partially raising both his arms in celebra-tion with his eyes closed and a faint smile on his face.

He was warmly embraced by his wife Amanda, followed by his good friend Keegan Bradley, who won the 2011 PGA Championship after Dufner blew a five shot lead with four holes to play.

“To come back from a couple of years ago in this championship, when I lost to Keegan in the play-off, to win feels really, really good,” said Dufner, who paved the way for his victory with a record-tying 63 in Friday’s second round.

Only 23 other players have fired 63s in golf ’s elite championships and Dufner joined a select group of just six who went on to win the tournament - emulating Tiger Woods, Greg Norman, Raymond Floyd, Jack Nicklaus and Johnny Miller.

“The last two holes were a lit-tle unfortunate,” said Dufner, the 19th different winner in the last 21 majors.

“I wish I could’ve closed out with no bogeys but I am happy to get the job done. It’s a big step for my career.”

Former US Open champion Furyk, bidding at the age of 43 to win his first major crown in a decade, signed off with a 71 to finish alone in second place after struggling off the tee.

“I have no regrets. I played my heart out. I played a very, very solid tournament,” said Furyk. “He hit three iron shots within a foot of the hole where he had tap-ins for birdie, and he played

incredible. He played a great round of golf.”

Henrik Stenson, aiming to become the first Swedish man to land one of golf ’s elite titles, closed with a 70 and a seven-under tally, one stroke better than compatriot Jonas Blixt (70).

Rory McIlroy, who had played his way back into contention with a 67 on Saturday, effectively sank his title defence when he hit his second shot at the par-four fifth into water en route to a triple-bogey before winding up at three under with a 70.

Tiger Woods, seeking to end a five-year title drought at the majors, ended a forgettable week with a 70 to finish halfway down the leaderboard at four-over 284.

The year’s final major shaped up as a two-horse race for much of a warm, sunny afternoon as Dufner and Furyk duelled for the lead.

Dufner drew level at the top when he sank a five-foot birdie putt at the par-five fourth, then briefly claimed the outright lead after hitting a brilliant approach that spun back to two feet at the tricky par-four fifth to set up a tap-in birdie.

However, Furyk immediately rejoined Dufner at the top when he drained a slick, 35-footer to birdie the sixth and both players parred the seventh, despite end-ing up in the left rough.

Dufner, who become something of a cult figure earlier this year because of the ‘Dufnering’ craze, then countered with another bril-liant approach, this time a sand wedge to a foot at the par-four eighth, to reclaim the outright lead at 11 under.

While Furyk bogeyed the ninth after missing the green with his approach and hitting a poor chip to 15 feet, Dufner sank a clutch eight-footer to salvage par after ending up in rough off the tee and take a two-shot lead into the back nine.

Dufner missed a series of birdie putts from 10-foot range and just beyond early on the back nine as he continued to hit greens in regulation before he and Furyk each birdied the 16th.

As the shadows lengthened, Dufner maintained his two-shot cushion as he and Furyk both fin-ished bogey-bogey.

Woods, a heavy favourite after a dominant win last week recov-ered from a shaky outward nine as he came home in three-under 32 but his overall total of four-over 284 left him well off the pace.

“I put four good rounds (together) last week, unfortu-nately it wasn’t this week,” said Woods.

“Didn’t seem to hit it as good and didn’t make many putts until the last few holes today. But I didn’t give myself many looks and certainly didn’t hit the ball good enough to be in it.”

REUTERS

Fourth-round scores

ROCHESTER, United States / New York: Collates scores from yesterday’s final round of the $8m PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club (par 70):

270 Jason Dufner (USA) 68-63-71-68

272 Jim Furyk (USA) 65-68-68-71

273 Henrik Stenson (SWE) 68-66-69-70

274 Jonas Blixt (SWE) 68-70-66-70

275 Scott Piercy (USA) 67-71-72-65, Adam Scott (AUS) 65-68-72-70

276 David Toms (USA) 71-69-69-67

277 Jason Day (AUS) 67-71-72-67, Zach Johnson (USA) 69-70-70-68, Dustin Johnson (USA) 72-71-65-69, Rory McIlroy (NIR) 69-71-67-70

278 Graeme McDowell (NIR) 70-69-73-66, Boo Weekley (USA) 72-69-70-67, Marc Leishman (AUS) 70-70-70-68, Marc Warren (SCO) 74-67-68-69, Roberto Castro (USA) 68-69-71-70, Kevin Streelman (USA) 70-72-66-70, Steve Stricker (USA) 68-67-70-73

279 Keegan Bradley (USA) 69-72-72-66, Hideki Matsuyama (JPN) 72-68-73-66, Rickie Fowler (USA) 70-68-72-69

280 Michael Thompson (USA) 72-67-72-69, Matt Kuchar (USA) 67-66-76-71, David Lynn (ENG) 69-69-71-71

281 Kiradech Aphibarnrat (THA) 68-71-71-71, Robert Garrigus (USA) 67-68-74-72, Webb Simpson (USA) 72-64-73-72, Bill Haas (USA) 68-70-71-72

282 Miguel Angel Jimenez (ESP) 68-72-75-67, Rafael Cabrera-Bello (ESP) 68-75-69-70, Scott Jamieson (SCO) 69-72-70-71, Ryo Ishikawa (JPN) 69-71-70-72

283 Peter Hanson (SWE) 72-69-74-68, Martin Kaymer (GER) 68-68-78-69, Paul Casey (ENG) 67-72-74-70, Brendon De Jonge (ZIM) 71-71-71-70, Justin Rose (ENG) 68-66-77-72, Francesco Molinari (ITA) 72-68-70-73, Lee Westwood (ENG) 66-73-68-76

284 Matt Jones (AUS) 72-71-73-68, Thorbjorn Olesen (DEN) 71-70-74-69, J.J. Henry (USA) 71-71-73-69, Danny Willett (ENG) 73-70-72-69, D.A. Points (USA) 73-70-72-69, Tiger Woods (USA) 71-70-73-70, Charley Hoffman (USA) 69-67-73-75

Tiger’s major misery extended at Oak Hill ROCHESTER, United States/United States: Tiger Woods (pictured) says he is unconcerned about another year passing without another major win, but his bid to break the all-time record of Jack Nicklaus is clearly in jeopardy.

World number one Woods spent much of yesterday’s final round of the PGA Championship touring the trees and testing the thick rough at Oak Hill’s 7,163-yard layout on his way to a par-70 to finish 72 holes on four-over par 284.

Woods finished in a share of 40th to match his worst 72-hole professional result in a major from last year’s Masters, one spot worse than his share of 39th at the 2003 PGA Championship at Oak Hill.

The 14-time major champion, chasing the record 18 major wins by Nicklaus, has not won a major title since the 2008 US Open.

And while Woods shared fourth at the Masters and sixth at the British Open this year, he has not broken 70 in his past 16 weekend rounds at a major.

“I was close in the two of them,” Woods said of his year at the majors.

“Certainly had a chance to win the Masters and the British this year. The other two, I just didn’t hit it good enough. Just the way it goes.

“Is it concerning? No. I’ve been in half of them. So that’s about right. If you are going to be in three-quarters or half of them with a chance to win on the back nine, you have just got to get it done.”

Contending in only two majors a year being “about right” is a far cry form the dominance Woods once showed, having won four

majors in a row starting at the 2000 US Open.

Woods, who turns 38 in December, faces a crucial stretch in his pursuit of Nicklaus as he

has won major titles on courses where five of the next seven majors will be held -- two at Augusta National, one at next year’s PGA Championship venue Valhalla and one each at the next two British Open venues, Hoylake and St. Andrews.

And his drought will have stretched to

nearly six years before his next major opportunity comes again at the Masters next April.

“We have a long way to go to that and I have a lot of golf to play between now and then,” Woods said.

Woods said he plans on taking some time off before preparing

for the US PGA play-offs and the Presidents Cup in October.

He won’t be wanting to see Oak Hill again any time soon, having not cracked par this week or when he finished on 12-over 292 in the 2003 PGA at Oak Hill.

Woods is a combined 63-under par in 14 other PGA Championship appearances but 16-over for his eight rounds at Oak Hill.

“It’s a fantastic golf course,” Woods said. “It’s really tough.”

Yesterday marked the 11th time in his past 12 major rounds that Woods has failed to break par -- the lone exception being a 69 in the first round of last month’s British Open that was his only sub-70 major round of the year.

“It’s more frustrating not being in it,” Woods said. “Having a chance on the back nine on Sunday, I can live with that.”

AFP

No regrets for Furyk ROCHESTER, New York: Jim Furyk has endured his share of agonising close calls at the majors but said he would reflect on a week of positives after fin-ishing second to Jason Dufner at the PGA Championship yesterday.

The PGA Tour veteran had led by one shot going into the final round at Oak Hill Country Club but was outplayed by his fellow American Dufner, who carded a two-under-par 68 to claim his first major title by two strokes.

“I was going to have fun. I have no regrets. I played my heart out,” Furyk told reporters after duel-ling with Dufner for the lead over the first nine holes before being effectively shut out after the turn.

“I played a very, very solid tournament. If I could go back, I would love to make par on 17 and 18 and put some heat on him and I wasn’t able to do that.”

Dufner, whose approach play was in top order, held a two-shot lead after he and Furyk had bird-ied the par-four 16th and they both went bogey-bogey over the notoriously difficult finish at Oak Hill’s East Course.

“That’s the one thing, it’s a lit-tle bit of a thorn in my side, but he played well,” said Furyk, who had been seeking to add a second major title to his 2003 US Open victory.

“He hit it to a foot on five. He hit it to a foot on 16, and he hit it a foot somewhere else today, on eight.”

At last year’s US Open, Furyk squandered a golden opportunity

Jim Furyk (right), of the US, tousles the hair of Dufner of the US, on the 18th green after Dufner won the PGA Championship title.

to win a second major title when he bogeyed three of his last six holes to wind up in a five-way tie for fourth, two shots behind win-ner Webb Simpson.

“I don’t mean any disrespect to Webb, he played great,” Furyk reflected. “He played better than anyone down the stretch. But at the end of that tournament, I felt like I lost the tournament.

“Today, I feel like I got beat. I didn’t beat myself, I don’t think. I felt like I got beat by Jason.”

“My attitude is a little down now,” said the 43-year-old, a 16-times winner on the PGA Tour. “If I continued down the same road with the attitude I had 10 years ago, it wasn’t as much fun as it needed to be.”

REUTERS

Baseball ResultsCleveland 6 LA Angels 5

NY Yankees 5 Detroit 4

Oakland 6 Toronto 4

Cincinnati 3 San Diego 2

Atlanta 9 Miami 4

Minnesota 5 Chicago White Sox 2

Kansas City 4 Boston 3

Texas 6 Houston 1

St Louis 8 Chicago Cubs 4

Baltimore 10 San Francisco 2

Seattle 2 Milwaukee 0

Colorado 3 Pittsburgh 2

NY Mets 9 Arizona 5

Washington 6 Philadelphia 0

LA Dodgers 8 Tampa Bay 2

Thailand hails teen world champion BANGKOK: Thai media cheered teen star Ratchanok Intanon with a flurry of ecstatic headlines yesterday as the nation celebrated a first gold at the badminton world championships.

Ratchanok, who is just 18 and still has braces on her teeth, sprang a shock as she defeated China’s Olympic champion Li Xuerui 22-20, 18-21, 21-14 on Sunday in Li’s own backyard.

Pictures of the smiling teen-ager gripping her trophy after the showdown in Guangzhou adorned almost every front page as Thailand revelled in a rare ray of golden glory.

“Thai badminton roars, May swats China and collects the championship,” proclaimed the Thai language Thairath newspa-per, referring to Ratchanok by her nickname.

“May -- a historic champion. The whole nation is elated,” said the Siamsport newspaper.

Ratchanok’s unexpected vic-tory over Li, who was herself aiming for her first world title, breaks China’s stranglehold on the championship.

It is also a fairytale win for the teen, whose career started aged five when the owner of the factory where her parents worked sent her to train at a nearby badmin-ton academy.

The teenager, regarded as one of the best young players in women’s badminton, supports her family through her sporting career.

Kamala Thongkorn, who owns both the factory and the badmin-ton school, attended the final.

“This is another triumph -- we did not expect that success would be this fast,” she said.

“I am so proud of her,” said the 54-year-old Kamala, who is also Ratchanok’s godmother.

Ratchanok, who returned to her homeland on Sunday, was one of a host of young people to receive an award for being an exemplary child in a ceremony for Mother’s Day yesterday, which marks the birthday of Thailand’s Queen Sirikit.

She was also set to be honoured at the Badminton Association of Thailand.

Meanwhile, Malaysia’s coach has blamed an air conditioning cut-off for causing Lee Chong Wei to cramp up and pull out of yet another heart-breaking world badminton final.

National singles coach Tey Seu Bock lashed out over a decision to shut off the air conditioning during the second game of the final. The move followed earlier complaints that the venue was too drafty.

Lee was among those who men-tioned the draft earlier in the tournament.

“A defeat is a defeat. I can accept it but I cannot tolerate the organisers switching off the air conditioner in the second game,” Tey was quoted by Malaysia’s The Star newspaper yesterday as saying.

He said Lee became dehy-drated, causing him to suffer cramps.

“It was so hot inside... This is not right. The players were suf-fering. At one point, Chong Wei was struggling to breathe,” Tey said.

He also complained the tour-nament’s schedule gave Lee less rest before the final than Lin, the reigning world and Olympic champ. AFP

SPORT22TUESDAY 13 AUGUST 2013

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

Football: Qatar plan friendlies against Tanzania, Lebanon DOHA: Qatar is set to play friendlies against Tanzania and Lebanon early next month, the game’s ruling body announced yesterday.

‘Al Anabi’ will play against Tanzania on September 5 and then another friendly match on September 9 against Lebanon, the Qatar Football Association (QFA) said.

The two matches are part of coach Fahad Thani’s (pictured right) preparation plans ahead of the next phase of the 2015 Asian Cup qualifying matches. The national squad will resume training under coach Fahad on September 1, QFA con-firmed. The training camp to be held at Aspire Academy will last 10 days.

Qatar has played two 2015 Asian Cup qualify-ing matches so far - beating Malaysia in February in Doha before going to hosts Bahrain in March.

Qatar play Yemen on October 15 in Doha followed by a return match against the same opposition on November 15 (away game).

Four days later on November 19, Qatar will take on hosts Malaysia. The last qualifying match in Group D will see Bahrain visit Qatar

for a game on March 5, 2014. The 2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification matches will determine the

participating teams for the event to be held in Australia.A total of 16 teams will compete in the 2015 AFC Asian Cup.The last edition of the Asian Cup 0was held in Qatar in 2011. THE PENINSULA

Qatar’s Under-23 football squad yesterday arrives in Manama to take part

in the GCC Under-23 Football Championship which starts on August

15. A group of 22 players and a back-room staff of nine members are

travelling with the squad. Four Qatar Football Association (QFA)

officials are also part of the group. Qatar figures

in Group B alongside Saudi Arabia and Oman while Group A includes United Arab Emirates

(UAE), Kuwait and hosts Bahrain. RIGHT: A Qatari player pushes his trolley with training mats and

other equipment at Manama International

Airport.

Nadal bags Montreal titleThe Spaniard crushes home hope to seal his 8th title win this year

Williams hungry heading towards US Open TORONTO: Even though she did not drop a set in winning her eighth title of the season at the Rogers Cup on Sunday, Serena Williams (pictured above) believes she can play even better heading into the US Open.

“Definitely can do a lot more,” she said after her 6-2, 6-0 victory over Romania’s Sorana Cirstea in Sunday’s final.

“It’s always about constantly improving and never saying I did great and I can be satisfied.

“It’s like I did great but what can I do better? What can I improve on? That’s what I always strive for.”

Williams won the French Open in June and has lost just three matches all year but the 31-year-old said her defeats to young American Sloane Stephens at the Australian Open and Germany’s Sabine Lisicki at Wimbledon had reminded her she needs to man-age her on-court attitude.

“That could improve,” she said. “I get so intense and so emotion-ally charged, and I want it so bad that sometimes it works against me.”

Cirstea discovered first-hand just how motivated Williams is when she faced the ruthless world number one on Sunday and the unseeded Romanian said she was impressed by what she saw.

“She knows when to raise her level,” Cirstea said. “She knows when it’s enough to play and when she has to step it up.”

Williams rebounded from her shock loss to Lisicki at Wimbledon by winning a tournament in Sweden but was still unhappy at the way she played so returned to Florida to continue working with her coach, Frenchman Patrick Mouratoglou, and her father.

“I was really disappointed in how I played the last month,” she said. “Even though I won Sweden, I was not happy with the way I played. So I went home and was working with my dad a lot and just going back to the basics. I didn’t show it so much in (Toronto). Hopefully I can continue to bring that game out.”

Despite her incredible record, the American said she was still suffered from nerves and expected to have more when she starts her US Open defence last this month.

REUTERS

Milos Roanic of Canada and Rafael

Nadal of Spain poses for

photographers during the

trophy ceremony

after the final of the Rogers Cup at Uniprix

Stadium in Montreal, Quebec,

Canada. Nadal won 6-2, 6-2.

MONTREAL: Rafa Nadal thumped Canada’s Milos Raonic 6-2, 6-2 in the final of the men’s Rogers Cup yesterday to cap-ture his eighth ATP title this season and boost his confidence ahead of the US Open, starting later this month.

Playing in his first tournament since his shock opening-round loss at Wimbledon, Nadal showed he was back to near his best and his ailing body was ready for the gruelling demands of the North American hardcourt season.

Less than 24 hours after his hard-fought semi-final win over Novak Djokovic on Saturday, Nadal easily beat the dangerous Raonic in just over an hour, play-ing with all the conviction and freedom of a man near the peak of his powers.

“To win here, I had to be play-ing my top level,” Nadal told reporters.

“I’m very happy the way that I played almost every match in this tournament. It’s very important for me, this title.”

The Montreal victory provided Nadal with his third win at the Rogers Cup and his 25th career Masters title and the Spaniard rose to three in the world rank-ings when they were released yesterday.

Raonic will move into the top

10 for the first time after becom-ing the first Canadian man in more than half a century to reach the Rogers Cup final.

“The breakthroughs I’ve had this week, with everything, from ranking to results, it’s all great things to have happen, especially here at home,” he said.

“Even though I don’t have the time now, there will be a time when I can stop, reflect upon it, learn as much as I can from it.”

Nadal was ruthless from the outset and never allowed Raonic to settle his nerves in front of a partisan capacity crowd in Montreal.

The Canadian’s big first serve, normally one of his most reli-able weapons, was nullified by Nadal’s aggressive returns, with the Spanish left-hander twice breaking Raonic’s serve in the opening set.

By contrast, Raonic was unable to make any inroads on Nadal’s serve with the fourth seed giving up just one solitary point on serve in the entire first set, which lasted a mere 32 minutes.

Raonic fared better in the sec-ond set and earned three breaks points but was unable to convert any of them while Nadal capital-ised on the two opportunities to get the double break and secure the title after 68 minutes.

“At some points, I wasn’t mak-ing him play enough,” said Raonic, who enjoyed a hard-fought win over in-form Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro on his way to the decider.

“I think I was rushing a lot of the first set and a half.

“The top four guys, when they get ahead that much, it’s very hard to get back.”

While Nadal’s troublesome knees showed no signs of giving him problems this week, they remain under constant scrutiny, especially when he’s preparing for the US Open, played on the most physically demanding surface of the four Grand Slam events.

But Nadal also won the Indian Wells Masters on hardcourt ear-lier this year and said he was

steadily growing in confidence on the surface.

“I am doing things very well...on hard courts,” he said.

“Today is an important exam-ple that I can play this way in the future.

“That’s given me confidence, that if I keep working this way, I can have a good results playing very aggressive.” REUTERS

Players with most ATP Tour titles

MONTREAL: Rafael Nadal beat Canada’s Milos Raonic 6-2, 6-2 in the final of the men’s Rogers Cup yesterday for his 58th career title win. Here’s a list of players with most titles on the ATP Tour (read under as ranking, player, country and number of titles).

1. Jimmy Connors, US 109

2. Ivan Lendl, US 94

3. John McEnroe, US 77

3. R Federer, Switzerland 77

5. Bjorn Borg, Sweden 64

5. Pete Sampras, US 64

7. G Vilas, Argentina 62

8. Andre Agassi, US 60

9. Rafael Nadal, Spain 58

10. Ilie Nastase, Romania 56

Players with most WTA Tour titles

TORONTO: Serena Williams’ victory on Sunday was her 54th career WTA singles title triumph, elevating her to out-right fifth on the all-time list. Here’s a list of female players with most titles (read under as ranking, player, country and number of titles).

1. Martina Navratilova, US 167

2. Chris Evert, US 157

3. Steffi Graf, Germany 107

4. Lindsay Davenport, US 55

5. Serena Williams, US 54

6. Monica Seles, US 53

7. Venus Williams, US 44

8. M Hingis, Switzerland 43

8. Justine Henin, Belgium 43

10. E Goolagong, Australia 42

Jelena Jankovic (right) of Serbia

and Katarina Srebotnik of

Slovakia pose with the Rogers Cup following their

victory over Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany and

Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic in the doubles final

at Rexall Centre at York University

in Toronto, Ontario, yesterday.

Jankovic and Srebotnik won 7-6,

2-6, 10-6.

Alexander Peya of Austria (left) and Bruno Soares of Brazil posing for the media with the

trophy after their victory over Britain’s Colin

Fleming Andy Murray in the doubles final

match at the Uniprix Stadium during the ATP Rogers Cup in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Peya and Soares won 7-6,

6-4.

ATP Tour rankingsLONDON: ATP World Tour rankings yesterday (Last week’s positions in brackets):

1. (1) Novak Djokovic (Serbia) 11,400 points

2. (2) Andy Murray (Scotland) 8,610

3. (4) Rafa Nadal (Spain) 7,860

4. (3) David Ferrer (Spain) 7,130

5. (5) Roger Federer (Switzerland) 5,515

6. (6) Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) 4,865

7. (7) Juan Martin Del Potro (Argentina) 4,740

8. (8) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France) 3,470

9. (10) Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland) 2,925

10. (13) Milos Raonic (Canada) 2,645

WTA Tour rankingsLONDON: WTA rankings yesterday (Last week’s posi-tions in brackets):

1. (1) Serena Williams (United States) 11,920

2. (2) Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) 8,805

3. (3) Maria Sharapova (Russia) 8,765

4. (4) Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) 6,335

5. (5) Li Na (China) 5,330

6. (6) Sara Errani (Italy) 5,125

7. (8) Marion Bartoli (France) 4,365

8. (9) Angelique Kerber (Germany) 3,915

9. (7) Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) 3,710

10. (10) Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) 3,465

A man sits under the summer heat in the

nearly empty Luzhniki Stadium during the

IAAF World Athletics Championships in Moscow on

August 11, 2013. BELOW: Zuzana Hejnova (second left) of the Czech

Republic competes in the women’s

400m Hurdles heats, yesterday.

23SPORT TUESDAY 13 AUGUST 2013

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

Russia under pressure over paltry crowds at worldsAthletes and national media criticise low attendance numbers in Moscow

‘Coolest picture of the decade’

Jamaica’s Usain Bolt wins the 100 metres final at the 2013 IAAF World Championships at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on August 11, 2013. A streak of lightning is seen in the sky following the Jamaican’s 100m victory. Five remote-controlled cameras were set up by the side of the track in order to get a shot of the winner, with one of them capturing the photo. The photographer who captured the moment described the picture as ‘pure luck’. Britain’s The Guardian newspaper called it ‘an image that is almost certain never to be repeated’, the Huffington Post said the photo was ‘astounding’, and the Washington Post designated it the picture of the day. Irish sports site The Score went further -- calling it the ‘coolest picture of the decade.’

MOSCOW: The Russian authorities were coming under increasing pressure yesterday over sparse attendances at the World Athletics Championships in Moscow, which have been marked by banks of empty seats and a sometimes hollow atmosphere.

Top athletes including Britain’s 10,000m champion Mo Farah and US hurdler Aries Merritt have expressed disappointment over the turnout at the vast 84,745-capacity Luzhniki stadium, which hosted the boycott-stained 1980 Moscow Olympics.

Morning sessions for qualify-ing events have taken place in an almost empty stadium while there were rows of seats spare even to see Usain Bolt’s victory in the blue riband men’s 100m on Sunday night.

Russia’s hosting of the cham-pionships is seen as a litmus test for its ability to organise a string of sporting events that President Vladimir Putin has won for the country in the next years, includ-ing the 2014 Winter Olympics and the 2018 football World Cup.

Tatyana Lebedeva, a former Olympic women’s long jump champion and now vice-pres-ident of the Russian Athletics Federation, admitted there were teething problems but begged for patience as Russia was on a steep learning curve.

“Yes the stands are absolutely not full. Yes, tickets are being given away for free. And in the end the organisers are not getting by without mistakes,” she wrote in the Sovietsky Sport daily.

“But let’s be a bit indulgent. We just do not have experience of holding major athletics events. There are lots of things we do not know.

“We are learning and learning with pleasure.”

Athletics is by no means a wildly popular sport in the ice hockey- and football-mad coun-try -- and interest can be alarm-ingly dependent on the success of Russian sportsmen and women.

The failure of the highly-fancied women’s long jumpers -- including pin-up star Darya Klishina -- to get near the podium on Sunday night was a blow for Russia and there will be huge pressure on pole-vault legend Elena Isinbayeva to bring home gold on Tuesday night.

Russia’s Rossiya One state tel-evision channel yesterday led its news bulletin with sports -- but it was not the athletics but the victory of the Russian women’s epee team at the world fencing championships in Budapest.

“How can it be that the world athletics championships goes to

a country that is not behind ath-letics?” asked leading German decathlete Pascal Behrenbruch.

According to sources familiar with the situation, actual capac-ity at Luzhniki has been brought down to 50,000 after sections of the stands were covered, leaving just 33,000 tickets on sale for the general public once media and guests are discounted.

The failure to fill the stadium is particularly odd given that prices are hardly exorbitant in a notori-ously expensive city where a cup of coffee costs up to $10.

Prices start at just 100 rubles ($3), with plenty of seats avail-able at less than 1,000 rubles and rising to over 2,000 rubles for the best seats.

But there is a distinct lack of buzz in the city about the hosting of the championships considered to be one of the world’s biggest sporting events.

A sprinkling of modest posters are the only real evidence that something is up. The timing does not help -- Muscovites desert the city en masse in August to travel abroad or enjoy the brief Russian summer outside the city.

Sovietsky Sport said there was little tradition in Moscow of mass attendance at sporting events in recent years and it was hard to even fill the terraces in the city for big football matches.

“It seems most people are not willing to sacrifice their trip to the countryside for the sake of going to the athletics,” it added.

Critics of the cavernous Luzhniki -- a local landmark built partly by volunteer labour and opened in 1956 at the height of the Cold War -- will be grateful that after the athletics showpiece the stadium is closing down for a complete renovation ahead of the World Cup.

Luzhniki will be shut down for four years, opening in time to host the 2017 Confederations Cup and then the FIFA World Cup, includ-ing the final, in five years time in 2018. AFP

Nelson to host first ODI in West Indies tour of New Zealand WELLINGTON: Surprise 2015 cricket World Cup host city Nelson will stage its first men’s one-day international when New Zealand host West Indies on their tour later this year.

The city at the top of New Zealand’s South Island was one of seven venues chosen to host pool matches for cricket’s global showcase, which will be co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia.

Nelson had never hosted a men’s international match before it was included in the tournament schedule and the West Indies tour will give the city the opportunity to test the venue at Saxton Oval.

“To bring international cricket to our region has been a goal for many years and achieving this is a moment of real pride for all those involved in developing cricket and the facilities in the region,” Nelson Cricket Association

general manager Ed Shuttleworth said in a statement.

West Indies will play three Tests, five one-day internationals and two Twenty20 internationals on the tour. REUTERS

SYDNEY: Former Australian Test cricketer Nathan Bracken (pictured) yesterday said he will stand in next month’s national elections, where he will be joined by a one-time A-League football coach.

The lanky pace bowler will run as an independ-ent in the New South Wales seat of Dobell north of Sydney which is currently held by Craig Thomson, a dis-graced former Labor party member accused of misusing trade union credit cards to pay for prostitutes.

“I will be running as an inde-pendent for the seat of Dobell for the election and Lawrie McKinna will run in Robertson as an inde-pendent,” Bracken, who played five Tests and 116 one-day inter-nationals, tweeted yesterday.

Bracken and McKinna are being bankrolled by advertising guru John Singleton who said he was doing it “because I feel I

should, I can afford it, it can do no harm, and it can only do good”.

McKinna, the local mayor of Gosford in New South Wales, is a former footballer who has coached Australian A-League side

Central Coast Mariners and Chinese clubs.

Both Dobell and Robertson are consid-ered marginal seats in the September 7 polls at which every seat will count for Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd as he seeks to hold power against his conservative opponent Tony Abbott.

Bracken, 35, who is suing Cricket Australia report-edly for failing to adequately deal with a knee injury which ended his career, said he wanted to focus on local issues such as unemployment.

“I see that we’ve got to give ourselves the best opportunity and put ourselves in the race,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. AFP

Dhawan hits 248 as India A win run fest PRETORIA: Opener Shikhar Dhawan struck 248 runs yes-terday as India A made 433-3 to win a 50-over match against South Africa A.

His huge total at cool, sunny LC de Villiers Oval in Pretoria came off 150 balls and was spiced with 30 fours and seven sixes.

It was the second highest one-day score, falling 20 runs short of the 268 scored by Ali Brown of Surrey against Glamorgan 11 years ago.

Indian batsman Virender Sehwag holds the official one-day international run record with 219 against the West Indies two years ago.

A 194-minute spell at the crease for Dhawan ended when he was caught by wicketkeeper Dane Vilas off the bowling of Juan ‘Rusty’ Theron.

India A won by 39 runs after Reeza Hendricks and Vaughn van Jaarsveld centuries lifted South Africa to 394 all out after 48.4 overs. AFP

Former Aussie bowler Bracken to run for election

Morgan to captain England Lions against Australia

CHE STER-LE-STREET, United Kingdom: Test bats-man Eoin Morgan will captain England’s second-string Lions against Australia in a two-day tour match at Northampton starting on August 16, the England and Wales Cricket Board announced yesterday.

Northamptonshire were origi-nally due to play Australia at Wantage Road, but their quali-fication for English county crick-et’s Twenty20 finals day means the Lions now fulfil the fixture, which will serve as Australia’s warm-up match for the fifth and final Ashes Test at London’s Oval ground starting on August 21.

Morgan is one of several play-ers in the Lions team who’ve previously represented England at senior level including Somerset wicketkeeper/batsman Jos Buttler and Yorkshire paceman Liam Plunkett. AFP

Superstar Bolt still in legendary quest MOSCOW: No sooner did Usain Bolt happily pocket the 100m world gold than his focus was promptly switched to snagging two more golds in his never-dying quest to become a “real legend” of modern day track and field.

Bolt’s blistering, world record-setting performances at the Berlin worlds in 2009 followed treble gold at the Beijing Olympics.

A blip in the Daegu worlds in 2011 saw him lose his 100m crown to teammate Yohan Blake after a false-start disqualification, but he rebounded for two more golds there before sealing a unique dou-ble treble at last year’s London Olympics.

Bolt made no bones about his primary intention in the Russian capital: win back the 100m title.

And he did so in emphatic style, clocking a season’s best 9.77 sec-onds in heavy rain at the Luzhniki Stadium late Sunday, with American Justin Gatlin claiming silver in 9.85sec and Nesta Carter, also of Jamaica, taking bronze in 9.95sec.

“I feel a little tired, I need some rest,” said Bolt. “I continue to work on my aim to become a legend by collecting gold medals and athlete of the year titles.

“And the 200m and 4x100m relay are yet to come,” he added, with round one and semi-finals of the 200m on Friday and final on Saturday, followed by the cham-pionship-ending 4x100m relay 24 hours later.

Bolt said there was no added pressure to perform going into the race.

“It’s all about if you want to put yourself under pressure, I don’t do that because I know what I want,” he said.

“I go out there and compete, and compete at my best. Win, lose or draw, I’ll always be happy because I know I went out there and gave it my best.”

Bolt added: “Coming up to this race, it was a long season, I had a few setbacks, but had confidence in my coach (Glen Mills) that he was capable of getting me ready for the world championships.

“I’m looking forward to run-ning the 200m, I can’t promise anything (regarding a new world record). Hopefully everything will come together.

“My legs are sore right now, but I’ll get some ice bags, get the masseurs to work right and I’ll be okay.”

The Jamaican, also world record holder in the 100 and 200m, admitted that the race itself had been far from perfect, a slow start, tough track and heavy rain all conspiring to work against him.

“I knew there were going to be fast times,” he said.

“I had to get out there and get in my drive phase because the last 50 metres are the best part of my race.” he added. AFP

Tour itineraryDecember 3-7

First Test, Dunedin

December 11-15Second Test, Wellington

December 19-23Third Test, Hamilton

December 26: First ODI, Auckland

December 29: Second ODI, Napier

January 1: Third ODI, Queenstown

January 4: Fourth ODI, Nelson

January 8: Fifth ODI, Hamilton

January 11: 1st Twenty20, Auckland

January 15: 2nd Twenty20, Wellington

Sport Tuesday 13 August 20136 Shawwal 1434

Volume 18Number 5790

Price: QR2

editor@pen.com.qa | adv@pen.com.qa Editorial: 44557741 | Advertising: 44557837 / 44557780www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

Sport | 21 Sport | 22

Dufner clinches title at Oak Hill

Nadal claims eighth title of the year

Series victory for gutsy England

British cycling set to receive £77m from government LONDON: Prime minister David Cameron announced the largest injection of public money into cycling in Britain, with support from the nation’s most successful Olympian, Chris Hoy.

The £77m fund is designed to promote cycling in eight cities in an effort to put Britain on a level footing with countries known for higher levels of cycling such as Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands.

The cash will pay for upgrades and other improvements to help cyclists at 14 locations on the trunk road network where major roads have been identi-fied as posing an obstacle for bike journeys.

Flanked by six-time Olympic champion cyclist Hoy, Cameron said: “Following our success in the Olympics, the Paralympics and the Tour de France, British cycling is riding high - now we want to see cycling soar. Our athletes have shown they are among the best in the world and we want to build on that, taking

our cycling success beyond the arena and onto the roads, start-ing a cycling revolution which will remove the barriers for a new generation of cyclists.”

The £77m, divided between Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, Newcastle, Bristol, Cambridge, Oxford and Norwich, will help improve existing cycle net-works and pay for new ones.Greater Manchester (£20m), West Yorkshire (£18.1m) and Birmingham (£17m) will between them receive the bulk of the funding. Cameron said the gov-ernment “wants to make it easier and safer for people who already cycle as well as encouraging far more people to take it up”.

The government said it takes the total new funding for cycling, including local contri-butions, to £148m between now and 2015, and investment in the eight cities to more than £10 per head per year, the base figure recommended by the all-party parliamentary cycling group and national cycling charity CTC. GUARDIAN

Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron (left), the manager of Watford Cycle Hub, Kate Jenkins (second left), and Olympic champion track cyclists Victoria Pendleton, and Chris Hoy (right), are seen to promote a government initiative on cycling, in Watford, southern England, yesterday.

Pacer Broad takes six wickets in second innings; hosts take 3-0 unbeatable lead

Fraser-Pryce storms to 100m gold; Adams bags fourth title

Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce celebrates after winning the women’s 100m final at the 14th IAAF World Championships at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia, yesterday. INSET: Winner Valerie Adams of New Zealand reacts on the podium at the victory ceremony for the women’s shot put final.

MOSCOW: Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce held nothing back in producing a stunning performance to snatch a sec-ond women’s world 100m title yesterday.

The diminutive double Olympic gold medallist and 2009 world champion showed all her big-day experience by making up for a sluggish start with a dynamic drive section that saw her race clear of the field by 30 metres.

The 1.52m-tall (5”0’) Jamaican, whose team-mate Usain Bolt won the men’s blue riband event on Sunday, then kept her solid run-ning style through the finish line for an imposing victory in the season’s fastest time of 10.71sec.

“I had my obstacles - I was starting to feel pain under my left butt cheek,” said Fraser-Pryce, whose victory is a mas-sive boost for a Jamaican team hit by doping bans to sprinter Veronica Campbell-Brown and Asafa Powell.

“I am surrounded by great peo-ple. I came here and did my best and actually won. It was really hurting but I knew what I worked for.”

There was a first-ever African medal in the world sprints for Ivorian silver medallist Murielle Ahoure (10.93), while defending champion Carmelita Jeter of the United States took bronze (10.94).

Jeter just beat out team-mate English Gardner (10.97), with Jamaica’s Kerron Stewart fifth in a photo finish, the seven-time medallist in worlds and Olympics including a 4x100m relay gold in Berlin in 2009 unable to recover from an awful start.

With Veronica Campbell-Brown ruled out of the cham-pionships because of a doping infringement, Fraser-Pryce had been left as the country’s main contender for gold in the blue rib-and event.

Bronze for Jeter, 33, was bit-tersweet, as her medalling tied her with Jamaican sprint legend Merlene Ottey’s record of being a four-time world 100m medallist.

New Zealand’s Valerie Adams won a record fourth women’s shot put world title.

The 28-year-old two-time Olympic champion threw a best of 20.88 metres while Germany’s Christina Schwanitz took silver with a personal best of 20.41m.

China’s Olympic bronze medalist Gong Lijiao had to set-tle for third again at a major

championships with 19.95m. Adams, who only got promoted to Olympic champion last year after the original winner, Belarusian Nadezhda Ostapchuk, was stripped of the title for doping, was never behind, setting a high standard with her first effort of 20.41m.

Gong was in silver position until Schwanitz gave it her all in the sixth and final round, which also pushed American Michelle Carter out of the medals and into fourth.

Britain’s Christine Ohuruogu

snatched victory from defending champion Amantle Montsho with a desperate lunge to the line in the women’s 400 metres

Ohuruogu, world champion in 2007, has a reputation as a big race performer and did not dis-appoint the British fans noisily screaming her on in the half-empty Luzhniki Stadium, winning in a time of 49.41 seconds.

Botswana’s Montsho will despair the fact she did not dip at the end after being given the same time in second with Russian Antonina Krivoshapka taking bronze in 49.78.

Ohuruogu, notorious for leaving it late in races, was fourth com-ing off the final bend but charged down the home straight to catch Montsho on the line.

German tyro Raphael Holzdeppe rained on Renaud Lavillenie’s pole vault parade by claiming a shock gold ahead of the favoured Frenchman.

The 23-year-old German, a bronze medallist at last year’s London Olympics where Lavillenie won gold, kept his nerve as Lavillenie had three attempts at 5.96 metres that would have ensured his continuation in the event.

David Oliver of the United States won his first major title, claiming the 110 metres hurdles crown in Moscow.

The 31-year-old 2008 Olympic bronze medalist posted the fastest time of the year, 13.00sec, while compatriot Ryan Wilson took silver with 13.13sec and Russian Sergey Shubenkov won the bronze in 13.24sec.

Elsewhere, Poland’s Pawel Fadjek won the men’s hammer title.

Hungary’s Olympic champion Krisztian Pars took the silver (80.30m) while Lukas Melich opf the Czech Republic won the bronze (79.36m). AGENCIES

England’s Stuart Broad (right)

celebrates after taking

the last wicket to win the fourth Ashes cricket

Test match against

Australia at Chester-

le-Street at the

Durham cricket

ground in Durham,

north-east England,

yesterday.

England (I innings): ............................. 238Australia (I innings): ............................ 270England (II innings):A Cook c Haddin b Harris ........................... 22J Root b Harris ............................................ 2J Trott c Haddin b Harris ............................. 23K Pietersen c Rogers b Lyon ...................... 44I Bell b Harris .......................................... 113J Bairstow c Haddin b Lyon ........................ 28T Bresnan c&b Harris ................................ 45M Prior b Harris .......................................... 0S Broad c Smith b Harris ........................... 13G Swann (not out) ..................................... 30J Anderson c Haddin b Lyon ......................... 0Extras (B-4, LB-5, W-1) ............................. 10Total (all out) ........................................ 330Fall of wickets: 1-17, 2-42, 3-49, 4-155, 5-221, 6-251, 7-251, 8-275, 9-317, 10-330.Bowling: Harris 28-2-117-7; Bird 20.3-6-67-0; Watson 6.3-1-22-0; Siddle 17-4-59-0 (1w);

Lyon 22.1-3-55-3; Smith 1-0-1-0.Australia (II innings):C Rogers c Trott b Swann .......................... 49D Warner c Prior b Bresnan ....................... 71U Khawaja lbw Swann ............................... 21M Clarke b Broad ...................................... 21S Smith b Broad ......................................... 2S Watson lbw Bresnan ................................ 2B Haddin lbw Broad .................................... 4P Siddle c Anderson b Broad...................... 23R Harris lbw Broad .................................... 11N Lyon b Broad ........................................... 8J Bird (not out) ............................................ 1Extras (B-6, LB-5) ..................................... 11Total (all out) ........................................ 224Fall of wickets: 1-109, 2-147, 3-168, 4-174, 5-175, 6-179, 7-181, 8-199, 9-211, 10-224.Bowling: Anderson 16-1-73-0; Broad 18.3-3-50-6; Bresnan 13-2-36-2; Swann 18-6-53-2; Root 3-2-1-0.

Scoreboard CHE STER-LE-STREET, United Kingdom: Stuart Broad bowled England to a stunning 74-run fourth Test win over Australia with more than a day to spare as they took an unbeat-able 3-0 lead in the five-match Ashes series, yesterday.

Australia, set 299 to win at Chester-le-Street, were well-placed at 168 for two but slumped to 224 all out as paceman Broad took six wickets for 50 runs for a Test-best match haul of 11 for 121.

The victory means England, who had already retained the Ashes, have won three successive Test series against Australia for the first time since the 1950s.

Australia, looking for their first win in eight Tests, lost five wick-ets for 13 runs as 168 for two was transformed into 181 for seven.

Man-of-the-match Broad, who had taken five first-innings wick-ets, enjoyed a purple patch of six wickets for 20 runs in 45 balls, with Tim Bresnan taking two for eight in 24.

David Warner and fellow left-hander Chris Rogers gave Australia a solid platform with an opening stand of 109 before

first-innings century-maker Rogers edged off-spinner Graeme Swann to Jonathan Trott at slip on 49.

Swann then had Usman Khawaja lbw for 21.

Warner, who missed the first two Tests of the series, both of which Australia lost, after being

banned for punching home bats-man Joe Root in a Birmingham bar in June, looked in fine touch while making a 74-ball half-cen-tury that included a six off Swann.

But on 71, he was drawn for-ward to a Bresnan ball angled across him, and edged it to wick-etkeeper Matt Prior.

Broad then dismissed Australia captain Michael Clarke for 21 with a superb delivery that came into the star batsman and clipped the top of off stump, before get-ting Steven Smith to play on after bottom-edging a hook.

Shane Watson, like Smith, was out for two as he fell in familiar fashion, lbw playing across his front pad, to Bresnan.

He reviewed Aleem Dar’s deci-sion but, with technology indicat-ing the ball would have clipped leg stump, the Pakistani umpire’s call was upheld.

The collapse continued as Brad Haddin, the last of the recognised batsmen, was lbw, moving across his stumps, to Broad for four.

Australia, understandably, challenged but with the Decision Review System indicating the ball would have just hit the top of leg stump, New Zealand umpire Tony Hill’s original verdict was confirmed and Australia were 181 for seven, with both sides having used up their reviews.

And when Broad had Ryan Harris lbw, Australia were exactly 100 runs shy of victory with just two wickets standing. AFP

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