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Tuesday 12 March 2013

30 Rabial II 1434 - Volume 18

Number 5636 Price: QR2

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

ISO 9001:2008

Business | 22 Sport | 32

Qatari bourse index rises by 0.28 percent

Rahim leads Bangladesh run-spree

‘China Town’ to come up near Al WakraBY SATISH KANADY

DOHA: Qatar will soon have a ‘China Town’ in Al Wukair near Al Wakra as a large number of Chinese expatriates are set to arrive here with the opening of the massive Dragon Mart at the Barwa Commercial Avenue.

A leading developer is busy with plans to build a dedicated ‘village’ in Al Wukair for the Chinese community to live in, sources told The Peninsula yesterday.

There already are some 6,000 Chinese expatriates based in Qatar, according to sources at the Chinese Embassy here.

And an estimated 2,500 to 3,000 more Chinese men and women are expected to join as staffers in over 200 shops and retail outlets to be opened at the Barwa Commercial Avenue later this year.

Most of them would arrive in the country with their families.

“A highly reputed developer is already working on our plans. The proposed ‘township’ will have Chinese restaurants, super-markets, playgrounds, recrea-tion clubs and salons,” a senior executive of Qatar Dragon Mart Group said.

The Qatar Dragonmart Chinese Community, described as

‘China Town’ by the Group, will be managed by Qatar Dragonmart Property Management Co.

The ‘township’ will be large enough to accommodate 3,000 residents with all the facilities.

It is expected to become the largest gathering place for Chinese in Qatar, the executive said.

Apart from the community town, the Qatar Dragonmart is also developing a huge ‘logis-tics village’ with a total area of 200,000 square metres that would have various warehouses such as a common warehouse, vertical warehouse, constant temperature warehouse, cold stores, special purpose ware-house, a large distribution cen-tre and a dormitory area which could accommodate 500 workers at a time.

The ‘logistics village’ will also have an outdoor container yard, a separate outdoor platform which can accommodate more than 100 engineers, parking facilities for heavy vehicles, equipment repair centre and a distribution processing centre, in addition to a huge ‘supply chain facility’ to support the Dragonmart’s regular customers.

THE PENINSULA

Plan to house 3,000 Chinese expats

Metrash2 simplifies visa rulesBY SANAULLAH

DOHA: Issuing of exit per-mits and 42 other key Interior Ministry services, including renewal and issue of visas, have been made simpler with the launch of an innovative elec-tronic service by the Ministry yesterday.

Now, a Qatari sponsor with a smartphone and one who is reg-istered for the Interior Ministry’s new service (Metrash2) can issue an exit permit for his foreign employee here from anywhere in the world in seconds. To register for Metrash2, one must have a smartphone and provide his Qtel — Ooredoo — mobile number using a smart ID card that can

be bought for QR100 from the Immigration Department at Al Gharafa or any of the 15 service centres of the Interior Ministry. Those keen to use the e-gate service at the Doha International Airport can get the card for QR100 for a year, QR150 for two years and for QR200 for three years. One can register for Metrash2 through self-service kiosks installed at 10 locations in Doha and out-side, including at the Qatar Post headquarters, Landmark Shopping Mall, Villaggio Mall, Royal Plaza, passport department at the airport (visa section), Lulu Hypermarket (airport branch), Traffic Department in Madinat Khalifa, Al Meera (Al Wakra),

the Museum of Islamic Art and Qatar Foundation.

Senior officials of the Information Systems Department of the Interior Ministry held a press conference yesterday to explain about the services offered by Metrash2.

Assistant director of the Department, Colonel Abdul Rahman Al Malki, Head of Visa Section at the General Directorate of Borders Passports and Expatriates Affairs (GDBPEA), Colonel Abdullah Ahmed Al Ansari, and an official from the technical division of GDBPEA, Lt Abdullah Al Muhannadi, were present at the briefing.

THE PENINSULAContinued on page 6

Col Abdulrahman Al Malki (right), Deputy Director at the Information Systems Department of the Ministry of Interior Affairs, shows the use of Metrash2 after a press conference in Doha yesterday. Lt Abdullah Khalifa Al Muhannadi (left), Technical Officer, General Directorate of Border Passport and Expatriate Affairs, and Col Abdullah Ahmed Al Ansari, Head of Visa Section at the Directorate, look on. (SALIM MATRAMKOT)

Qatar strives for AAA credit ratingDOHA: Qatar is striving to raise its credit ratings to “AAA”, two levels high on par with a selected few advanced economies. Currently, the country is rated “AA” with sta-ble outlook.

Opening the 7th edition of ‘Multaqa” here yesterday, the Minister of Economy and Finance H E Yousuf Hussein Kamal said: “The current rating of Qatar is ‘AA’. We are working on for ‘AAA’. The history of our economy is very strong. Qatar’s economy has advanced over the past few years to reach internationally competi-tive.” Full report on page 17

Qtel formally named Ooredoo

Bahrain crown prince named deputy premier

DUBAI: The King of Bahrain named his son Crown Prince Salman, a reputed moderate, as deputy premier, yesterday, as a promised national dia-logue stalled between the coun-try’s Sunni regime and its Shia majority. Prince Salman has repeatedly called for dialogue to resolve the political deadlock in the kingdom. Full report on page 10

DOHA: Qtel’s new name was formalised yesterday with the company announcing the launch of ‘4G LTE’ at an event held at Katara.

4G LTE is a mobile broadband network, which is expected to appear in the market next month, Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed Bin Saud Al Thani, Chairman, Ooredoo, said.

Full report on page 2

02 HOMETUESDAY 12 MARCH 2013

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

Ooredoo comes alive with 4G LTE launchMedia campaign begins todayBY AZMAT HAROON

DOHA: Qtel’s new brand iden-tity was formalised yesterday with the company announcing the launch of ‘4G LTE’ at an event at Katara.

4G LTE is a mobile broadband network, which is expected to appear in the market next month, Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Saud Al Thani, Chairman of Ooredoo, said.

The Minister of Economy and Finance H E Yousuf Hussein Kamal launched Ooredoo in the presence of ministers, ambassa-dors and other dignitaries.

More than 2,000 people, a majority of them staff members of Ooredoo, attended the event, which was broadcast live on Qatar TV.

The new brand name is expected to appear on all Ooredoo services and products in a roll-out phase, which began last evening.

“Qtel has thousands of assets and it will take time before the new brand name begins to appear on all of them,” Fatima Al Kuwari, Director of Public Relations at Ooredoo, said.

A nation-wide media campaign of the new brand name is set to begin today. The launch of the new brand was celebrated by a multimedia and theatrical show.

“We have always put our cus-tomers at the heart of our busi-ness, and this new name shows that we want to be closer to our customers and engage with them in everything that we do,” Saud Al Thani said.

“We are proud that Qatar, where the business was born, is the first

country in Ooredoo’s international network to integrate with the new global brand,” he added.

Al Kuwari said re-branding has had more positive reactions than negative ones.

The new brand name had mixed reactions in Qatar with many people expressing their opinions on social networking sites earlier. “People usually have different reactions and it’s not easy to change their minds but we have had more constructive feedback,” she said.

“The circles in the unique logo represent the communities. The red colour represents warmth, energy and youth, and is recog-nisable in both advertising and retail shops. Altogether these ele-ments reflect confidence, energy and empathy,” the company said in a statement.

Since the first telephone exchange was installed in Qatar in 1949, the organisation has been a community-based Qatari com-pany that provides life-enhanc-ing communications products and services to a wide range of

customers. In 1994, it was the first company in the region to intro-duce GSM services and in 2007 it launched Mozaic TV, the pioneer-ing IPTV service.

In 2012, Ooredoo rolled out the Ooredoo Fibre network and launched business services like the Cloud and Mobile Money.

Concluding the ceremony, a large group of children holding red balloons entered the amphi-theatre, with an amazing ballet performance.

Each of Ooredoo’s operating companies in the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia will adopt the new brand during 2013 and 2014. These companies, in which Ooredoo has a control-ling interest, include brands such as Indosat in Indonesia, Wataniya in Kuwait, Nawras in Oman, Tunisiana in Tunisia, and Nedjma in Algeria.

THE PENINSULA

Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Saud Al Thani, Chairman of Ooredoo Group, along with other VIPs cutting a cake during the official re-branding ceremony at Katara yesterday. BELOW: Artists presenting a theatrical show at the function. ( SHAIVAL DALAL)

The circles in the unique logo represent the communities. The red colour represents warmth, energy and youth.



A Werewolf Boy screening

The Korean embassy and the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Korea organised a screening of A Werewolf Boy, the most successful Korean melodrama of all time, at the Qatar National Convention Centre yesterday. (ABDUL BASIT)

‘Made in Qatar’ coach unveiled by MowasalatFirm plans bus assembly unit in OmanDOHA: Mowasalat launched its first bus that was fully assem-bled in Qatar by the company’s technicians.

The technical team at the Karwa Services Unit (KSU) assembled the 41-seat “Made in Qatar” coach from a complete set of imported spare parts.

This is the first of a series of prototypes being developed by Mowasalat as part of its plans to enter bus assembling and manu-facturing industry in a big way.

The company is working on a project to establish a large-scale facility in Oman to assemble buses for the Arab and GCC markets.

“This marks a major achieve-ment for us in terms of tech-nology transfer. We will develop more bus models locally as we prepare to establish our

assembling and manufacturing unit in Oman,” Jassim Saif Al Sulaiti, Mowasalat’s Chairman and Managing Director, said in a press conference yesterday.

“We will develop two or three new models every year but we have no plans to assemble buses locally on a large scale,” he added.

He said that the proposed facility in Oman once ready will assemble 2,000 buses every year to meet the requirements of the local and GCC markets.

“We are in the final phase of preparations to establish the facility. We have also plans to enter bus manufacturing industry in a later phase,” said Al Sulaiti.

He said the locally assembled buses are more cost-effective compared to the imported ones.

The first “Made in Qatar” bus

Mowasalat officials during the launch of the ‘Made in Qatar’ coach (background).

has joined the fleet of Mowasalat buses that are available for pri-vate hire.

Assembled from Complete Knockdown (CKD) units, the bus offers the same comfort, safety

features, stylish looks and versa-tile body of the imported Karwa buses.

The bus is designed to meet various requirements such as transportation of schoolchildren

and company staff, feeder services and for tour and travel.

The bus took shape in-house, with strict inspection and quality checks during assembly, ensuring stability.

The CKD-assembled bus passed test conditions successfully and was rolled out as a new in-house- built coach bus in December last year.

THE PENINSULA

Qatar University forum to discuss transformation in societiesDOHA: Qatar University will host an international conference on transformations taking place in societies around the world and how these are recorded, par-ticularly in the Gulf and Middle East.

The conference will take place at the university’s library from March 18 to 20.

The three-day conference — The Rise in Public Engagement: The Region and The World — is organised by QU’s Social and

Economic Survey Research Institute (SESRI) in collab-oration with Arab Barometer and the World Values

Survey. Experts will present findings of

a range of new surveys on issues, including identity, democracy and governance, economic development and cultural change, women and gender issues and religion.

The conference will be opened by QU President Professor Sheikha Al Misnad and SESRI Director Dr Darwish Al Emadi.

Topics which are particularly relevant to local society include

‘Qataris’ attitudes towards for-eign workers’, ‘What does the Arab public think about democ-racy’, ‘Does economic satisfaction really breed political apathy among Gulf citizens?’ and ‘Qatari attitudes towards gender role’.

Al Emadi, who will talk on topics including ‘Why we need surveys in the Gulf ’, said: “Society is chang-ing fast, particularly in the Middle East since the Arab Spring.

“It is vital that we engage with

the public in these countries — to find out what they think about these changes and document how they impact all areas of life — to help shape public policy.

SESRI regularly conducts research on issues related to the social, economic and cultural devel-opment of society in Qatar, which is used to inform decision-maker for guiding policy planning and formulation.

THE PENINSULA

Advisory Council holds meeting

DOHA: The Advisory Council held its weekly session under its Deputy Speaker Issa bin Rabiah Al Kuwari yesterday.

The council reviewed a draft law amending some provisions of the Layers Law issued by Law No. 23 of 2006 and decided to refer it to the Legal and Legislative Affairs Committee to study it and furnish a report.

QNA

Greeting cables sent to Czech PresidentDOHA: The Emir H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani sent a cable of congratulations to President Milos Zeman of the Czech Republic on his inauguration.

The Heir Apparent H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister H E Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabor Al Thani also sent similar cables to Milos Zeman on the occasion.

Minister leaves for SaudiDOHA: The Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage H E Dr Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al Kuwari left here yesterday after-noon for Saudi Arabia at the invitation of Saudi Minister of Culture and Information Dr Abdul Aziz bin Mohieddin Khoja to participate in the opening ceremony of Al Madina Al Munawarah Capital of Islamic Culture for 2013.

The Minister said this event is important and should receive our atten-tion in Qatar due to the status of the City of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and its Islamic history.

He also pointed out endeavours of the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage to organise cultural events in Doha on the occasion, in coordina-tion with officials of the Saudi Ministry of Culture and Information.

Arab health ministers’ meet DOHA: Qatar will par-ticipate in the 39th ses-sion of the Council of Arab Health Ministers at the headquarters of the Arab League in Cairo tomorrow and Thursday.

Minister of Health and Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Health (SCH) H E Abdullah bin Khalid Al Qahtani will chair the Qatari delegation in the session.

The council will discuss health conditions of Syrian refugees and the condition of the health sector in Palestine.

The meeting will also look into a potential uni-fication of health-related legislation in the Arab world.

QNA

TUESDAY 12 MARCH 2013

www.thepeninsulaqatar.comHOME 05

Qatar Rail bags Visionary Project of the Year Award

DOHA: Qatar Railways Company, the organisa-tion overseeing the construction of an integrated railway network, received the ‘Visionary Project of the Year Award’ at the 6th Global Infrastructure Leadership Forum in New York City recently, a press statement said yesterday.

Organised by CG/LA Infrastructure, the forum focuses on infrastructure projects locally, regionally, and globally and identifies real opportunities in the dynamic global infrastructure market.

“Qatar Rail is one of a number of transformational projects that aim to continue the progress of Qatar through the National Vision 2030, the Qatar National Strategy, the Qatar National Development Framework 2012-2032 and the Transport Master Plan for Qatar,” Saad Al Muhannadi, CEO of Qatar Rail, said.

He added: “The State of Qatar has a very clear vision and strategy for the future of the country; at Qatar Rail, we support the four pillars of this national vision: Economic, social, human and environmental development, including the significant benefits of reducing congestion and emissions and leading to more efficient movement of people and goods.”

He said the integrated rail system will be an essen-tial part of Qatar’s urban infrastructure and will be recognised as one of the most successful, safe and environmentally-friendly railway systems in the world.

THE PENINSULA

Saad Al Muhannadi receiving the award.



IKEA ‘cuts the log’ to open Doha storeAmbassador sees bilateral trade boostBY MOHAMMAD SHOEB

DOHA: The Swedish home furnishing giant, IKEA’s first store in Qatar attracted an overwhelming response from visitors on the first day of its opening. The multi-million dol-lar commercial complex at the Doha’s Festival City formally opened yesterday.

To mark the occasion, Omar Al Futtaim, Vice-Chairman, Al Futtaim Group, the representa-tive of IKEA in the UAE, Qatar and Egypt, led the traditional ‘log-cutting ceremony’ in the presence of Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim Al Thani, Chairman of Qatar Chamber.

The Swedish Ambassador to the UAE, Qatar and Bahrain, Max Bjuhr; Qatar Islamic Bank Chairman Sheikh Jassem bin Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabor Al Thani; Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker and many other digni-taries from Qatar and the UAE were present.

IKEA was founded in Sweden in 1943 by 17-year-old Ingvar Kamprad, who later became one of the richest people in the world.

The company’s name is an

acronym comprising the initials of Ingvar Kamprad (the founder’s name), Elmtaryd (the farm where he grew up) and Agunnaryd (his hometown in Smaland, South Sweden).

Despite being a working day, a large number of people came to view the vast product range of innovative ideas and smart solu-tions, drawing inspiration for their home furnishing needs.

Families enjoyed Swedish delicacies at the 550-seat IKEA restaurant.

IKEA’s trademark Smaland children’s play area provided fun activities to keep youngsters entertained.

With the opening of the store at Doha Festival City, IKEA boasts of its presence in 41 countries across the globe.

The store is the largest in the Middle East, which fea-tures showrooms of bed, chairs, sofa sets and an exhaustive list of other household items and kitchen appliances.

Meanwhile, Sweden’s exports to Qatar surged 40 percent in 2012 compared to the previous year, and with the opening of IKEA’s store in Qatar, the Scandinavian

Swedish Ambassador Max Bjuhr, IKEA Doha Store Manager Adosh Sharma and Managing Director John Kersten during the log cutting ceremony yesterday.

country is looking forward to enhancing its trade relations with Qatar, Ambassador Bjuhr said in his address on the occasion.

“Qatar, the host of upcoming ICC WCF 8th World Chamber Congress with the theme ‘Opportunities for All’, is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Swedish companies see exciting opportunities in the country and want to be part of it. The trade figures for 2012 are a proof in itself. Exports from Sweden to Qatar increased 40 percent compared to the pre-vious year, and exports from Qatar to Sweden increased 29

percent,” he said.The spacious self-serve area

optimises the overall customer experience providing a pleas-ant environment. Customer waiting time is kept to the minimum, thanks to the store’s 33 cash tills. Other facilities include a dedicated parking are which can accommodate 1,300 vehicles.

“Visiting an IKEA store is a great day out for the whole fam-ily, an experience which is lived by nearly 780 million people who visit our 340 stores across 40 countries every year,” said John Kersten, Managing Director, IKEA-UAE,

Qatar, Egypt and Oman.“The opening of this store is a

major milestone in IKEA’s his-tory in the Middle East and coin-cides with the 70th anniversary of the brand’s inception. Qatar’s impressive economic achieve-ments, development outlook and rapid population growth, coupled with IKEA’s unique offering, are the pillars that assure our com-mercial success. IKEA is set to change the furniture retail land-scape in Qatar the same way it has done in each of the 40 coun-tries it is present around the world,” he said.

THE PENINSULA

Heart Hospital introduces cryoballoon ablationDOHA: The Heart Hospital has introduced a new technology- cryoballoon ablation- for treat-ment of atrial fibrillation, the most common type of irregular heart beat.

The hospital conducted the first successful surgery using this technique, in what is said to be a first in the region.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) causes the upper chambers of the heart to beat too fast, inhibiting the movement of blood in and out of the heart. It diminishes a person’s overall quality of life with symp-toms like fatigue, shortness of breath and chest pain, while also significantly increasing their risk of stroke and heart failure.

AF is often treated with drug therapy, but for many patients drugs alone are not sufficient to ease the suffering.

During this minimally invasive procedure, doctors insert a bal-loon catheter into a blood ves-sel in the upper leg and snake it through the circulatory system until it reaches the heart. Once in place, the balloon is inflated and extremely cold energy flows through the catheter, freezing the heart tissue that is causing the irregular heart beat.

In cryoablation, the balloon freezes the whole vein at once rather than burning several points of the vein, as is done during radiofrequency ablation, another common treatment for AF.

THE PENINSULA

Katara to present immersive 3D experience at Cannes expoDOHA: The Katara Cultural Village stand will offer an immersive 3D experience to visitors as they tour its site and new aspects of the development, at the MIPIM, the largest prop-erty market event in Cannes which opens today.

Katara, the Cultural Village, in collaboration with Aspire Katara Investment (AKI) yesterday announced the partnership with EON Reality, the world’s leading interactive 3D software provider.

Katara will use the unique

ICube mobile solution at the four-day property market event to reveal the next phase of the Cultural Village.

The complete development site will include commercial and pri-vate properties, and a large area of cultural facilities such as thea-tres, concert halls and exhibition galleries.

Khalid bin Ibrahim Al Sulaiti, General Manager of Katara, said: “We are thrilled to collaborate with AKI to use the EON ICube mobile system at the world’s

leading event MIPIM. This high- tech interactive 3D solution allows our future customers, part-ners and investors to visit Katara, the Cultural Village, virtually and experience it in its entirety.

“We are proud to unveil new aspects of this exciting develop-ment which include residential, commercial and retail units. Katara has quickly become the metropolis for arts and culture in the GCC and we look forward to seeing visitors enjoy our other facilities,” he added.

This marks the first time that the unique EON ICube mobile system is used for a large prop-erty market event.

The system will offer visitors the ability to virtually visit the area, interactively in a 3D plat-form, and walk through existing and new developments, includ-ing exteriors and interiors. This offers a unique way of experienc-ing property development projects months and years before comple-tion, enabling crucial planning and investment decisions to be

made in a more informed way. In 2008, Katara, the Cultural

Village, opened phase one of the development, which consists of an Opera House, Drama Theatre, open air Amphitheatre, several art galleries, restaurants and cafes. The next phases will include a commercial complex, residential villas, hotels, and several other retail and hospitality facilities. The development is expected to be fully operational and complete by 2018.

THE PENINSULA

Access MoI services from home, office

Continued from page 1

Now, one can avail of most of the ministry’s services using Metrash2 from the home or office. More than 6,000 people have reg-istered for the Metrash2 service till now and more than 12,000 exit permits have been issued through the service. Most users have been companies, Al Malky said.

The smart ID card can be bought from Al Gharaffa head-quarters of the immigration department or from one of the service centres at Mesaimeer, Al Wakra, Industrial Area, HMC, Q-Post, Shahhaniyya, Souq Waqif, Al Khor, Shamal, Zubara, Mesaieed and Umm Sulal.

Issuing of exit permits for those under personal and company sponsorships and exit permit for ‘visit visa’ holders under personal and company sponsorships can be done through Metrash2.

Renewal of residence permits (RPs) under personal and corpo-rate sponsorships, cancellation of RPs, changing entries in the passport of expatriates and sepa-ration of dependants’ names from expatriates’ passports can also be availed of using Metrash2.

Other services include renewal of driver’s licence, issuing of replacement for a lost driver’s licence and vehicle permit, issu-ing of exit permits for vehicles, transfer of vehicle ownership, transfer of easy-to-remember number plates, issuing of vehicle clearance certificate, certificate of cancelled vehicles, certifi-cate of exported vehicles as well as certificate for pre-owned vehicles.

Registered traffic violations can be viewed using Metrash2 and fines for traffic violations can be paid through it. Services related to ‘visit visa’ under personal and corporate sponsorships can be completed through ‘Metrash2’ and follow up of applications and approvals can be done.

Enquiries about the status of a visa application, visa validity, vio-lation of visa rules, visa fees, fines for delayed arrival, extending visit visa validity (from within Qatar), payment of visa fee and renewal of a visa which has lapsed can also be done using Metrash2.

Besides, a Metrash2 user can locate the nearest service centres of the Ministry of Interior on his smart phone and can communi-cate with the Ministry through this service.

THE PENINSULA

Veteran drivers honoured at Traffic Week celebration DOHA: Under the patronage of the Director General of Public Security, Staff Major General Saad bin Jassim Al Khulaifi, the Traffic Department of the Ministry of Interior (MoI) hon-oured veteran drivers as part of GCC Traffic Week celebrations at a tent in the Darb Al Sai ground.

Directors of several departments of the ministry, GCC delegates par-ticipating in Qatar’s Traffic Week celebrations, officers and section heads at the Traffic Department and veteran drivers were present.

The programme started with the recitation of verses from the Holy Quran followed by a speech by Major Muhammed Raadhi Al Hajri on behalf of the Director of Traffic Department Brigadier Mohammed Saad Al Kharji.

“In March every year, the min-istry honours veteran drivers con-sidering them as exemplary drivers for the new generation, who adhere to traffic rules and regulations, fol-low road discipline and protect the lives of people and the properties.”

Staff Major General Al Khulaifi honoured the veteran drivers. They are: Muhammed Saif Muftah, Hamad Abdullah Ahmed Al Baker, Muhammed Ali Al Ahbabi, Muhammed Omer Al Kubaisi, Sultan Saadoon Al Hajeri, Rashid Muhammed Rashid Al Murri, Jaber Ahmed Eisa Al Kuwari, Ahmed Yousuf Al Suwaidi, Ali Muhammed Al Kuwari, Ali Muhammed Al Buraidi, Ali Salih Al Murri, Hamad Saqr Al Muraikhi and Fares Jassim Al Muhanndi.

THE PENINSULA One of the veteran drivers honoured at the event.

Mowasalat showcasesseat belt simulatorsDOHA: Mowasalat is par-ticipating in the GCC Traffic Week under the theme ‘Your Safety is our Goal’.

Mowasalat’s pavilion is show-casing seat belt simulators to educate the public on the impor-tance of wearing a seat belt.

Visitors get practical experi-ence on the difference between using and not using a seat belt. They see the consequences for themselves.

Mowasalat is providing infor-mation and education on the transportation of dangerous goods by road and offers bro-chures on traffic guidelines.

Karwa Transportation

Training and Development Centre (KTTDC) is showcasing its products and services to the public and potential customers.

It is providing information on how to obtain a driving licence through simple steps from Karwa Driving School.

Karwa’s role includes theo-retical classes and classes on defensive driving and provides the opportunity to apply for training for a local or interna-tional driving licence through its stand at the exhibition.

The company has also dis-played its most prominent training tools.

THE PENINSULA Visitors at Mowasalat’s stall at the Traffic Week exhibition.

MIDDLE EAST 07TUESDAY 12 MARCH 2013


Gul in Stockholm

FROM LEFT: Sweden’s Princess Madeleine, Prince Carl Philip, Queen Silvia, Turkey’s First Lady Hayrunnisa Gul, Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul, King Carl XVI Gustaf, Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel at the Stockholm Palace, yesterday.

Kuwait coast guards shoot dead suspected Iranian smuggler KUWAIT CITY: Kuwaiti coast guards shot dead yester-day a suspected drugs smug-gler as they chased a boat in the emirate’s territorial waters, the interior ministry said. The ministry did not reveal the iden-tity of the dead man but a secu-rity official said that he was an Iranian. The ministry said that at dawn a Kuwaiti coast guards patrol spotted a boat inside the emirate’s territorial waters and ordered it to stop by “firing warning shots”. After a brief chase, the boat stopped and the coast guards found that one of the two men onboard had died of gunshots, the ministry said. The coast guards arrested a sec-ond man.

Bahrain court acquits Shia rights activist DUBAI: A Bahrain court yesterday acquitted leading Shia rights activist Yousif Al Muhafda who was on trial for spreading false news, his lawyer Mohammed Al Jishi wrote on his Twitter account. Muhafda, who is the acting deputy head of the local non-governmental organisation, the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, was last month released on bail of BD100 ($265/¤198). He was arrested on December 17 in Manama for tweeting a picture of an injured protester after he clicked photo-graphs of clashes between police and demonstrators.

Iraq attacks kill seven, wound 165 KIRKUK, IRAQ: A suicide bomber killed three people and wounded 165 in northern Iraq yesterday, while four people were killed in shootings else-where in the country, security and medical officials said. The bomber struck at a police sta-tion in the town of Dibis, north-west of the ethnically mixed oil city of Kirkuk, district official Abdullah Al Salehi said. Many of the wounded were pupils at an adjacent Kurdish girls’ sec-ondary school, Salehi added. Sadiq Omar Rasul, the head of the Kirkuk health department, said the bombing killed three people and wounded 165.

AGENCIES

CAIRO: Toppled presi-dent Hosni Mubarak, await-ing trial over his role in the deaths of protesters, believes Egyptians should rally around his Islamist successor and end violent protests, his law-yer said yesterday. President Mohamed Mursi, twice jailed by Mubarak before he himself was overthrown on February 11, 2011, is the “elected presi-dent, people should rally around him,” the former strongman told his lawyer Farid A Deeb yesterday.

“Mubarak is sad and frus-trated” by recurring violent protests around the country targeting the Islamist presi-dent, Deeb said.

The 84-year-old had been sentenced to life in prison for his role in the deaths of pro-testers during the 18-day upris-ing in 2011 that ended his three decade reign. But a court over-threw that verdict and ordered a new trial which is set to start on April 13. Mubarak also spoke out against violent protests, although he believed Egyptians

have the right to peaceful dem-onstrations, Deeb said.

“He still considers those who attacked police stations in 2011 were thugs and criminals,” Deeb added, referring to protesters who torched police stations across the country during the 2011 revolt. Roughly 850 people were killed in the uprising.

Mubarak has suffered a number of health scares in prison that prompted his trans-fer to a military hospital. Deeb said his health has “improved.”

AFP

BRUSSELS/DAMASCUS: The European Union split over whether to supply arms to Syrian rebels at talks yesterday where UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi called for a political rather than a military settlement to the two-year con-flict. “The military solution is out of the question,” Brahimi said after meeting the EU’s 27 foreign ministers.

“I came to ask them to use whatever means they have to reach a peaceful solution for this case. I believe there is no way except the peaceful solution,” he told reporters.

As the crisis which has sent a million Syrians fleeing the coun-try and left some 70,000 people dead goes into its third year, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton too said “the best way to stop the violence is to find a politi-cal way forward.”

But ministers were sharply divided, with Britain, France and Italy tipping in favour of eventual military aid for the opposition while Germany and others see that as too risky.

“I don’t think the bloodshed in Syria will decrease should we engage in an arms race,” said Germany’s Guido Westerwelle. Sweden’s Carl Bildt warned that a military solution carried the risk of “the devastation of the region.”

France disagreed, with Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius saying the bloc may need to rethink its Syria arms embargo to help insurgents fighting the Damascus regime. “It seems obvious to me that the question of lifting the

arms embargo will be increas-ingly on the table due to the evi-dent imbalance between Bashar Al Assad, who is being supplied with powerful weaponry from Iran and Russia, and the National Coalition, which does not have such weapons,” Fabius said.

The EU late last month amended its arms embargo on Syria to allow member nations to supply “non-lethal” equipment as well as training to the opposition

Syrian National Coalition but stopped short of lifting the embargo entirely.

The United States last week said for the first time that it would provide direct but non-lethal aid to rebel fighters battling Assad, and $60m in extra assistance. The EU is the largest humanitarian donor for the Syrian crisis, with more than ¤428m sent to help distressed Syrians inside and out-side the country.

Turkish security forces arrested yesterday four Syrians linked to President Bashar al-Assad’s regime over a deadly bomb attack on the volatile bor-der last month, the interior min-ister said.

“Our security forces arrested four Syrian nationals and one Turkish citizen” over the minibus bombing which killed 14 people, Muammer Guler said in televised remarks. “We proved their links

with the Syrian intelligence and army.”

The minibus exploded in the buffer zone between Turkey’s Cilvegozu border crossing and Syria’s Bab Al Hawa post on February 11, the latest spillover of violence from Syria’s civil war.

The Cilvegozu crossing is one of seven functioning border posts along Turkey’s 910km frontier with Syria.

It is a major gateway into Syria, with hundreds of trucks lining up every day to take humanitarian aid into the war-torn nation.

Turkey, a one-time Syria ally now vehemently opposed to Assad’s regime, has taken in some 190,000 refugees registered in several camps along the bor-der and 100,000 more across the country.

Meanwhile, President Michel Suleiman called yesterday for international action to help Lebanon cope with a deluge of refugees from the war in neigh-bouring Syria which he said threatened to set his volatile country ablaze.

In an interview with Reuters at the presidential palace over-looking Beirut — and just 25 miles from the Syrian-Lebanese border — Suleiman compared Syria’s civil war to a conflagration breaking out next door.

“When there is a fire next to your house, you have to assume that it will spread and you have to try to stop it reaching you,” Suleiman, a former army chief elected president as part of a peace deal to end sectarian clashes in Beirut in 2008.

AGENCIES

TUNIS: The party of assas-sinated Tunisian politician Chokri Belaid will ask the UN Human Rights Council to investigate his killing because it lacks confidence in the judi-ciary’s handling of the case, its leaders said yesterday.

The secular opposition leader’s assassination on February 6 pro-voked the biggest street protests in Tunisia since the overthrow of strongman Zine Al Abidine Ben Ali two years ago.

“We agreed ... to go to the Human Rights Council in Geneva to request an investigation into the killing of Belaid because we have doubts in the Tunisian judi-ciary,” Zied Lakhdar a leader in

the Democratic Patriots Party, said. “We believe that the inves-tigation was not serious and there is a lot of ambiguity and doubts,” he added.

Mohamed Jmour, another leader in the party, said the Tunisian office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights had already been informed of the group’s concerns. Tunisian authorities say they have arrested four hardline Salafi Islamists in connection with the killing, but that the gunman who fired the fatal bullets is still on the run.

Tunisia’s moderate Islamist ruling party Ennahda has denied accusations by some of its oppo-nents, including Belaid’s brother,

that it was involved in the assassination.

Meanwhile, Tunisia’s parlia-ment started debating on plans to set April 27 as the deadline for the finalisation of the new consti-tution and October 27 as the date for the next elections, as part of efforts to resolve a political crisis.

The deputy speaker of the National Constituent Assembly, Mehrezia Labidi, gave the dates in a posting on her Facebook page, as deputies met to draw up a cal-endar for the adoption of the con-stitution, as well as for elections.

Labidi, who belongs to the rul-ing Islamist party Ennahda, did not give a precise timetable for the adoption of the constitution

as each article must be approved by an absolute majority of MPs before the entire text is put to a vote. Unless it is approved by a two-thirds majority, it must be put to a referendum. Several political timetables drawn up since Ennahda’s sweeping election victory in the first post-revolution poll have not been respected.

More than two years after mass protests that toppled former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and inspired revolutions in other Arab Spring countries, Tunisia is still without a fixed political sys-tem due to a lack of consensus between the main parties.

Ennahda is pushing for a pure parliamentary system while

others are demanding that the president retain key powers.

Assembly speaker Mustapha Ben Jaafar has called for an end to the tug-of-war, with the politi-cal uncertainty in Tunisia exac-erbated by social tensions and the growing influence of militant Islamist groups.

“We must abandon narrow party interests even if that means making sacrifices, retreating. It is in the interests of Tunisians,” Ben Jaafar, whose secular Ettakatol is one of Ennahda’s partners in the outgoing three-party coalition, said at the weekend. “Our people are patient but their patience has its limits, we must attend to their problems,” he added. AGENCIES

Slain Tunisian leader’s party to ask for UN probe

EU split on arms to Syrian rebels Britain, France and Italy tipping in favour of eventual military aid for the opposition

The site where a mortar shell fell in Teshrin stadium in the district of Baramke in Damascus, yesterday. Four people, including a sports journalist, were wounded when the shell fell during a football match.

Assad regime uses militias for mass killings: UN GENEVA: The Syrian gov-ernment is reportedly using local militias known as Popular Committees to commit mass kill-ings which are at times sectar-ian in nature, UN human rights investigators said yesterday.

“In a disturbing and dangerous trend, mass killings allegedly per-petrated by Popular Committees have at times taken on sectarian overtones,” the UN commission of inquiry on Syria, led by Brazilian Paulo Pinheiro, said in its latest report to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

“Some appear to have been trained and armed by the govern-ment,” they said.

The independent investigators, who cited accounts from wit-nesses and victims, said people were being harassed or arrested by government-allied militia because they came from regions perceived as being supportive of the revolt.

Popular Committees have been documented as operating across Syria, “where at times they are alleged to be participating in house-to-house searches, identity checks, mass arrests, looting and acting as informants,” they said in a 10-page report. The conflict is mired in a “destructive stalemate” amid heavy shelling and air raids by government forces, they said.

Both sides have committed vio-lations against civilians, the UN investigators said. They were pur-suing probes into about 20 cases of massacres, including three in Homs at the start of the year, despite their lack of access to the country. The bodies of some of those killed in massacres have been burned or dumped in rivers, they said. REUTERS

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BY MICHAEL BOYLE

W HEN the US invaded Iraq in March 2003, the Bush administration estimated

that it would cost $50-60bn to over-throw Saddam Hussein and establish a functioning government. This estimate was catastrophically wrong: the war in Iraq has cost $823.2bn between 2003 and 2011. Some estimates suggesting that it may eventually cost as much as $3.7tn when factoring in the long-term costs of caring for the wounded and the families of those killed.

The most striking fact about the cost of the war in Iraq has been the extent to which it has been kept “off the books” of the government’s ledgers and

hidden from the American people. This was done by design. A funda-mental assump-tion of the Bush administration’s approach to the war was that it was only politi-cally sustainable if it was portrayed as near-costless to the American public and to key constituencies in

Washington. The dirty little secret of the Iraq war – one that both Bush and the war hawks in the Democratic party knew, but would never admit – was that the American people would only support a war to get rid of Saddam Hussein if they could be assured that they would pay almost nothing for it.

The most obvious way in which the true cost of this war was kept hidden was with the use of supplemental appro-priations to fund the occupation. By one estimate, 70 percent of the costs of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan between 2003 and 2008 were funded with sup-plemental or emergency appropriations approved outside the Pentagon’s annual budget. These appropriations allowed the Bush administration to shield the

Pentagon’s budget from the cuts other-wise needed to finance the war, to keep the Pentagon’s pet programs intact and to escape the scrutiny that Congress gives to its normal annual regular appropriations.

With the Iraq war treated as an “off the books” expense, the Pentagon was allowed to keep spending on high-end military equipment and cutting-edge technology. In fiscal terms, it was as if the messy wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were never happening.

More fundamentally, the Bush administration masked the cost of the war with deficit spending to ensure that the American people would not face up to its costs while President Bush was in office. Despite their recent discov-ery of outrage over the national debt, the Republicans followed the advice of Vice-President Dick Cheney that “deficits don’t matter” and spent freely on domestic programs throughout the Bush years. The Bush administration encouraged the American people to keep spending and “enjoy life”, while the government paid for the occupation of Iraq on a credit card they hoped never to have to repay.

Most Americans were not asked to make any sacrifice for the Iraq war, while its real costs were confined to the 1% of the population who fought and died there. As a result, the aver-age American was never forced to con-front whether pouring money borrowed from China into the corrupt Iraqi secu-rity services was worth it, or whether it made more sense to rebuild infra-structure in Diyala, rather than, say, Philadelphia.

One consequence of the way that the true costs of the Iraq war was hidden from the American people was an explosion of fraud, waste and abuse. The recent final report of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (Sigir) estimates that the US lost to corruption or waste at least $8bn of the $60bn devoted to reconstructing Iraq.

Much of the reconstruction expense had no useful political effect: as Spencer

Ackerman has pointed out, Iraqi offi-cials cannot point to a single completed project that the US managed dur-ing the course of the occupation. The hundreds of ill thought-out projects and half-baked ideas that marred the American reconstruction effort pro-vides a powerful explanation for why the US campaign for “hearts and minds” never worked, and why Iraq is hardly a pro-American bastion in the Middle East today.

An occupation conducted through under-scrutinized emergency appro-priations enabled dozens, if not hun-dreds, of private companies to act like pigs at the trough – wasting taxpayer dollars on frivolous expenses while the insurgency raged around them. These private companies were able to behave so rapaciously because they were so des-perately needed by the US government to run the Iraq war without revealing its true cost to the American public.

Another factor that was kept hidden from the American public was the sky-rocketing costs of deploying US troops abroad. According to a Congressional Research Service estimate, the average annual operational cost per US soldier in Iraq was $462,000 between 2005 and 2009. To control costs and avoid impos-ing a draft, the US resorted to a parallel army of private contractors, numbering 100,000 people or more at the height of the war. Yet, this policy backfired, as private contractors cost nearly as much and wasted millions – by one estimate, losing $12m a day between the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The only advan-tage they had was that they allowed the American people to be lulled into think-ing that the Iraq war had cost them nothing.

The extent to which the US hid the costs of the war by relying on private contractors has left a disastrous legacy within Iraq itself. Many of these con-tractors behaved recklessly; sometimes, they even shot at crowds when they felt trapped or threatened. Thus private military contracting help to turn the population even more against the US and the occupation. THE GUARDIAN

CHILDREN are the future of the Tohoku region, which was devastated by the Great East Japan Earthquake. We hope

their educational needs will be restored as quickly as possible in disaster-hit areas.

After the March 11, 2011, disaster, the government has dispatched a rela-tively generous number of teachers to support children at schools in the three disaster-hit prefectures in the Tohoku region.

In the classrooms, special pro-grams have been launched to have children learn traditional crafts of the areas and think about the future of

their hometowns. Educating them on the places they hail from is expected to deepen the children’s love for their communities and have a long-term effect in helping restore devastated areas. The government should continue offering support through the dispatch of teachers and other school staff. It also should improve educational con-tent and further develop the education system.

However, many schools have seen a decrease in students. This is most seri-ous in municipalities around the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co.

For instance, the town of Namie,

Fukushima Prefecture, has moved its administrative functions to the city of Nihonmatsu in another part of the pre-fecture. Namie Primary School has con-tinued classes in a building of a defunct school in Nihonmatsu.

However, many of the school’s chil-dren have transferred to other schools. Namie Primary School had more than 500 students before the earthquake and tsunami, but the number has dropped to only 30. No new students will enroll in the school in April.

Even if residents who evacuated to other areas returned to their home-towns, the situation would remain dif-ficult. Hirono Primary School, run by the

town of Hirono, Fukushima Prefecture, resumed classes at its old school build-ing in August. But only 20 percent of its previous student body has returned to the school. Municipal governments apparently want to maintain the foun-dation of their communities and retain bonds with their residents by keeping local schools operating.

However, parents tend to be anx-ious about having their children return with them to their own homes in areas where radiation is still too high for them to do so in the foreseeable future or where the foundations for their liveli-hood have not yet been fully restored.

THE WASHINGTON POST

How US public was defrauded by the hidden cost of Iraq war

This gas pipeline (linking Pakistan and Iran) is a sign of show of resistance against domination.

Quote ofthe day

Mahmoud AhmadinejadIranian President

The other side

George Bush sold the war as quick and cheap; it was long and costly. Even now, the US is paying billions to private contractors.

T HE latest verbal skirmishes between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and US officials illustrate the new depth in relations between the two sides. Karzai leveled a harsh accusation at the US on

Sunday – that it’s trying to destabilize his country. Coming from the leader of a country which the US has helped liberate from the Taliban, the statement is surprising. Not because the statement is true, or false, but because it comes at a difficult juncture in Afghanistan’s history.

All eyes are on the Nato pullout from Afghanistan scheduled for next year. As the US is busy preparing for an exit, questions are being asked about the future of Afghanistan – whether the government of Karzai will be able to govern the country on his own, whether the Taliban will wreak havoc and undo the gains the US and Nato forces have made, and whether Afghan forces are capable of taking on the insurgents.

Karzai has been very critical about what he sees as doomsday reports his country’s future. The president sees it as pure propaganda, spread by the Western media and picked up by the rest of the media with the goal of undermining the confidence of Afghan people and undermine faith in his government. Karzai’s accusations need to be taken seriously. Even if there are serious doubts about the ability of the

government to face the Taliban threat after 2014, there is no need for leveling such allegations as if it’s a certainty. What Karzai needs is words of support, measures which will boost his confidence.

Karzai accused Americans of sending contradictory messages about the Taliban: on the one hand claiming to see them as enemy and on the other reaching out to them for negotiations. The opening of a

Taliban office in Doha is meant for bringing the two sides together, and comes from the realization that a negotiated settlement with the Taliban is easier than victory in the battlefield. There is nothing wrong with talking with the Taliban, but if Karzai accuses Washington of double standards, it’s because he has been left out of the negotiation process. A peace deal with the insurgents is impossible without the cooperation of the government in Kabul.

Karzai-US relations have been strained for some time and are showing no signs of an improvement. Both are divided on a number of issues, like the civilian deaths in US airstrikes, accusations of abuses by American forces, and most recently, the refusal of American forces to fully hand over the Bagram Prison to Afghan control due to differences over American role.

Kabul and Washington are engaged in tense negotiations over the role of US forces after 2014. But the current war of words will only help Taliban. Or, by accusing the US and Taliban of being in collusion, Karzai could be trying to win the confidence of Afghans •

A tense transition

As Karzai-US relations remain strained, Taliban could emerge as the winner.

Editorial

08 VIEWS TUESDAY 12 MARCH 2013


Children also need ‘restoration’ after disaster (Tokyo)

VIEWS 09TUESDAY 12 MARCH 2013


BY PETER BERGEN

Which Asian country has seen its life expectancy go up an astounding 18 years in just one decade, while turning

from one of the world’s most rural coun-tries into one of its fastest-urbanising? Oh, and the country’s GDP increased tenfold in that same period.

No, this isn’t Japan in the 1960s, Singapore in the 1970s, South Korea in the 1980s or India in the 1990s. It is Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban.

What went wrong in Afghanistan since the American invasion is painfully clear, from the grotesque levels of official cor-ruption to the worrisome rise of insider attacks against Nato forces by Afghan soldiers and police. Nobody is claiming all is coming up roses in a country dev-astated by decades of conflict. But not everything has gone wrong, either. So perhaps the more interesting question — and certainly a more underexplored one — is this: What went right?

Afghanistan just after the November 2001 fall of the Taliban resembled Germany after the Second World War: The country had been utterly destroyed, around a third of the population had fled, and more than one in 10 of its citizens had been killed in the previous two decades of war. Much of Kabul resembled postwar Dresden, so utter was the destruction of the capital.

When you flew into Kabul’s airport, you were greeted by the disquieting sight of teams of de-miners clearing the air-field. This scene was repeated all over Afghanistan, which was then one of the world’s most heavily mined countries. Those few visitors who travelled would find village after village empty. What were once houses now lay in fallen-down baked-mud ruins, like the remnants of some long-gone civilisation. Many Afghans had fled for Pakistan and Iran during the 1980s and 1990s — some six million out of a population of 15 million.

As a result of the US-led occupation of Afghanistan and the enterprising spirit of the Afghans themselves, Kabul is now rebuilt, villagers are back, the once-ubiq-uitous de-miners have all but disappeared and millions of Afghans have voted with their feet. Since the fall of the Taliban, more than five million have returned home. By way of contrast, some two mil-lion Iraqis left their country during the recent war there. Only a tiny fraction of those refugees has gone back.

The country to which those millions of Afghans have returned is in fundamental respects very different from the one it was before the 9/11 attacks. Let’s start with the most obvious point: The Taliban are removed from power. This was a movement that gave sanctuary not only to Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda, but also to pretty much every jihadi militant group from around the Muslim world.

Thanks to the US invasion of Afghanistan, Al Qaeda (“the base” in Arabic) lost the best base it ever had: a country in which it ran something of a parallel state, with training camps churning out thousands of recruits and from which bin Laden and his hench-men conducted their own foreign policy, attacking US embassies and warships, and planned the deadliest mass murder in American history.

Al Qaeda has never recovered from the loss of its Afghan base. Its last suc-cessful strike in the West was the July 2005 series of suicide attacks on London’s transportation system. Meanwhile, the war against Al Qaeda continues to be fought from Afghanistan. The SEAL team that killed bin Laden in 2011 took

off in stealth helicopters from an airfield in Jalalabad, in eastern Afghanistan. And the drones that have inflicted heavy losses on other Al Qaeda leaders continue to deploy from Afghan bases.

Forget what you hear from some of the more vocal critics of US President Barack Obama’s drawdown plans — the chances of the Taliban coming back to run Afghanistan are now vanishingly small. Favourable views of the Taliban in polling across Afghanistan over the past several years are consistently no more than 10 percent. There is nothing like experiencing life under the Taliban to convince Afghans that the group can-not deliver on its promises of an Islamist utopia here on Earth. And if the Taliban have scant chance of returning to power, their Al Qaeda buddies have even less chance of returning to Afghanistan in any meaningful way. Few Muslim countries harbour a more hostile view of Al Qaeda and its Arab leaders than Afghanistan.

Afghans have good reasons to fear the Taliban. The group imprisoned half the population inside their homes, preventing women from having jobs and girls from attending school. Although Afghanistan today remains a deeply conservative Muslim society, proportionately more women are now serving in the Afghan parliament than in the US Congress. And while only fewer than one million chil-dren, almost entirely boys, were in school under the Taliban, now more than eight million children are in school, more than a third of whom are girls.

One of the most common questions pollsters ask is, “Is your country going in the right direction?” A poll by Rasmussen at the end of December found that 33 percent of American voters believed their country was going in the right direc-tion. By contrast, a poll of some 6,000 Afghans conducted by the well-regarded Asia Foundation found that in 2012, 52 percent of Afghans thought their country was on the right track.

This finding isn’t so surprising when you consider what remained of the Afghan economy under the Taliban. There were just six commercial banks in the entire country, and, according to

the IMF, they were “largely inactive.” There was virtually no phone system. Once-bustling Kabul was a city of ghosts, its population down to half a million. Businesses were shuttered, just a few cars drove on the streets, and the 9pm curfew was rigorously enforced by young Taliban foot soldiers wearing distinctive black turbans, their eyes rimmed with black kohl eyeliner, which gave them a look that was both feline and fierce. Radio Voice of Sharia was one of the only sources of Afghan news, and it blared Taliban propaganda. Taliban cabinet ministers huddled around stoves in their offices during the bitter Afghan winters, lecturing visitors like myself about that great Muslim leader, Osama bin Laden.

When I visited Kabul in the winter of 1999, I was the sole guest at the Inter-Continental, the only hotel where the Taliban would allow foreigners to stay. What once passed for a glamorous hotel in 1970s Kabul was now not much more than a bombed-out shell. As the sole guest, I was lucky to get one of the few rooms with still-intact windows to ward off the frigid Afghan winter. The staff at the hotel besieged me with requests for money, which was understandable as the economy was then so bad that even doctors were earning only $6 a month.

Afghanistan’s GDP in 2001 was some

$2bn — about the size of Burkina Faso’s. In a decade, GDP has gone up to $20bn (though much of it is attributable to for-eign aid). Today, one in two Afghans has a cell phone, which they use for every-thing from getting their salaries wired to them to making utility payments. There are also now dozens of newspapers and TV channels. Where once Kabul’s streets were largely silent, they are now a bedlam of traffic and thriving small businesses.

Yes, a good deal of aid to Afghanistan has ended up lining the pockets of corrupt Afghan officials or gone back west in the form of large salaries and perks for expa-triates. Less well known is that one of the world’s most successful aid programmes has been implemented in Afghanistan, funded by organisations such as the US Agency for International Development and the World Bank. Known as the National Solidarity Program, the cost-efficient and popular program gives modest grants to local self-elected village councils to do with as they will. Around 30,000 councils have been set up, and they have disbursed some $1bn for some 60,000 specific projects since 2003. As a result, thousands of schools and countless irrigation networks have been built, positively affecting the lives of some two-thirds of the rural population.

Or consider this: At the time of the Taliban, only a tenth of the popula-tion had access to basic health care, a situation made more complicated by the Taliban’s medieval view of women. Now, almost all Afghans have access to more and better health care. As a result, in just one decade Afghan life expectancy has gone from 45 years to 62 years for men and 64 for women. This kind of dramatic increase in longevity took four decades to accomplish in the US between 1900 and the beginning of the Second World War.

In the West, the general hopelessness of Afghan President Hamid Karzai is a staple of news stories that rightly decry his tolerance for his rapacious family and cronies who feed at the public trough. But let’s judge Karzai not against the mayor of a Scandinavian city, but rather the leaders in his immediate neighbourhood. To Karzai’s west is the Holocaust-denying theocratic autocracy of Iran. To his north

is the Soviet-style dictatorship of Islam Karimov in Uzbekistan, where dissi-dents have been boiled alive. To his east is Pakistan, where four military coups have taken place since the country’s inde-pendence six and a half decades ago.

Karzai should also be judged by his immediate predecessors. Let’s recall Taliban leader Mullah Omar, a dimwitted religious fanatic who turned his country into an international pariah; the war-lords who preceded him; and before them Mohammad Najibullah, the communist puppet who replaced the Soviet occupiers when they retreated in 1989 and ended up being hanged from a Kabul lamppost seven years later.

By both regional and Afghan historical standards, Karzai is a reasonably com-petent leader who — despite his feckless image in the West and despite being in office for 11 years — retains consider-able popular appeal. In the last Afghan presidential election, when the votes were finally correctly tallied, Karzai had received 49 percent of the vote against dozens of challengers. By contrast, Obama prevailed in the 2012 election against one challenger with 51 percent of the vote. And Britain’s David Cameron leads Britain despite his Conservative Party only receiving 36 per-cent of the vote in the 2010 election that made him prime minister.

Many Westerners have a skewed assessment of the scope of the war in Afghanistan, bracketing it with the war in Iraq. But the conflicts in the two countries are quite different. At the height of the Iraq war in 2006, 100 civilians were dying every day. Today in Afghanistan, around six civilians are dying daily in a war in a country that has a population roughly on par with Iraq’s. And who is causing most of those casualties? The Taliban. US and other Nato forces have taken care to ensure that their soldiers do not con-tribute to the civilian death toll. Indeed, some American cities are today more vio-lent than Afghanistan. In New Orleans, residents are now around six times more likely to be murdered than Afghan civil-ians are to be killed in the war.

That war is not going as badly as you think, either: In 2012, for instance, Taliban attacks dropped as much as a third compared with the year before. Is this just Nato cooking the books? Nope: These figures come from the Afghanistan NGO Safety Office (ANSO), an organi-sation that has collected data about vio-lence in Afghanistan for many years and is far from a cheerleader for the military. In a 2012 report, ANSO stated that the sharp drop in violence is “the first reliable indicator that the conflict may be enter-ing a period of regression after years of sustained, and compounded, growth by all actors in the field.” In January, three US soldiers died in Afghanistan — the lowest monthly American casualty count in four years. In short, the war is wind-ing down, and the “surge” of 30,000 US soldiers into Afghanistan that was com-pleted in September has indeed blunted the Taliban’s momentum.

The US and Afghanistan have negoti-ated the Enduring Strategic Partnership Agreement, which ensures America will continue to play a supporting role there until 2024. The exact details of what that agreement means in practice are still being hammered out, but they are likely to include not only significant US aid but also several thousand American soldiers stationed in Afghanistan for many years into the future as a guarantor for the country’s stability. Other countries are also likely to continue to work with the Afghans in areas like training the army and police well past the end of the Nato combat mission in December 2014.

WP-BLOOMBERG

What went right in Afghanistan after Taliban

An Afghan national interpreter and a US soldier talk to an Afghan boy during a patrol at a bazaar in the Zabul Province, Afghanistan.

BY GABY HINSLIFF

There is a giant clock hanging at Tory head-quarters, installed by the party Chairman, Grant

Shapps, in more optimistic times, counting down the minutes to the next election. It was designed to focus minds on the campaign, but lately it’s taken on a more omi-nous meaning: Rather like the timer ticking away on a bomb.

Recently, a Tory MP with deep pockets hired a leading pollster to conduct a strictly private bespoke survey on his chances of keeping his seat. The verdict: His 1,500 majority would vanish in a landslide, leaving Labour 7,000 votes ahead. When he shared the figures with a gaggle of col-leagues, reports one rebel Tory, “one of them pointed to himself and about four others and said they were doomed. I’m starting to wonder now if this could be as

bad as 1997 again.” Tick, tick, tick.The idea of a Labour landslide

in 2015 may stretch credulity to breaking point, but the grow-ing consensus at Westminster is that the writing’s on the wall for David Cameron. The Conservative Cassandra, Lord Ashcroft, pre-dicts a bloodbath if the election were tomorrow. Only 7 percent of Tory voters think they can win outright, according to a poll ConservativeHome presented to its optimistically titled “Victory 2015” conference.

No wonder Liam Fox, who is to leadership crises as cuckoos are to spring, was tub-thumping about tax in yesterday’s papers. More interestingly, Theresa May is now openly limbering up in the wings, boldly unveiling her own personal growth strategy at the weekend and pitching herself as a champion of unloved blue-col-lar Conservatives. Tumbrils roll, knitting needles click. Taxi for the

prime minister, surely?One of the hardest things to

understand about politics is why it doesn’t quite work like this. What looks screamingly obvi-ous from the outside is almost always less clear-cut from the inside, which is one reason why ousting any leader tends to be a maddeningly slow process. You’d surely be mad to bet on David Cameron lasting. But you might also be right.

It’s the rebels who naturally hog the media limelight, but the boring truth is that large numbers of Conservative MPs remain either resolutely loyal to Cameron or fairly easily bought. Some want a lurch to the right, some to the left — easing up on austerity, doing more for the low-paid — and some would frankly settle for a lurch to competence. “I was feeling pretty down but more and more now, this feels like it’s going to be another 1992,”

says a bright young minister, con-vinced Labour will blow it at the last minute.

Some in Labour, it should be said, fear the same. “We need to actually go out and win it, not just assume everything’s falling into place,” says a shadow cabinet min-ister worried his party’s poll lead is far softer than it looks.

But the biggest obstacle to regime change is psychological, not psephological. The old cliche that lingering guilt about ditching Margaret Thatcher holds Tories back from regicide is outdated, with much of the new intake too young to remember that collec-tive trauma. It’s more that some-times the knowledge of impending doom doesn’t galvanise a party into action, but makes it curl up into a ball. Those Tories who have discreetly swapped notes with Labour friends about the grim creeping paralysis of Gordon Brown’s final years hear much

that sounds familiar.The truth is that a party

losing faith in its leader often resembles not so much a gang of crazed assassins as a bunch of embarrassed commuters on a late-night train, all studiously not looking at the drunk squar-ing up to his unfortunate neigh-bour, silently praying someone else will do something so they don’t have to.

It’s true that the camp around Adam Afriyie is if nothing else pushing the pace, forcing May and others to advance what had been relatively vague prepara-tions for any post-2015 contest. And there is intriguing talk of Boris Johnson finally moving to tackle his key perceived weak-ness, the perception that he’s too erratic and too lazy for the top job, by seeking to form a joint ticket with Michael Gove. The education secretary is not only one of Boris’s surprisingly few

close friends, but is the kind of sober, industrious and long-suffering individual Johnson has needed as his deputy in any job he’s done. All this creates a growing risk that Cameron could be challenged before 2015.

But if he isn’t, that will have less to do with numbers and plots and reading of runes from the spring’s council elections than with two simple human factors. The first is that hope springs eternal: Politicians like to believe something will turn up to save them, and surprisingly often it does — as with Nick Clegg, mirac-ulously resurrected by Eastleigh. But the second is that most MPs are natural bystanders, rubber-necking the crash as they pass but convincing themselves someone else is best placed to help. And managing not to see the oncom-ing juggernaut on their side of the road until it’s too late.

THE GUARDIAN

Cameron may last even as he leads his MPs to their doom

Kabul is now rebuilt, villagers are back,

the once-ubiquitous de-miners have all

but disappeared and millions of Afghans

have voted with their feet.

10 MIDDLE EASTTUESDAY 12 MARCH 2013


Saudi Arabia frees women protestersRIYADH: Saudi authorities have freed all but two of a group of women arrested early this month while staging a sit-in to demand the release of Islamist prisoners in the city of Buraida, police said yesterday.

“All women arrested have been freed, with the exception of two of them who refused to leave even after all procedures for their release were completed,” a police spokesman in the northern Qassim province said in a state-ment carried by the SPA news agency.

“Contacts are ongoing with their families to convince them to implement the judicial order,” said the spokesman. SPA had pre-viously reported that Saudi police arrested 176 people on March 1 for holding a protest.

Authorities have accused the protesters of acting on behalf of “deviant groups” — a term they usually use to refer to the Al Qaeda jihadist network.

During a Thursday tour of Buraida, Qassim’s main city, inte-rior ministry spokesman Mansur Al Turki said that all prison-ers had been released “with the exception of 19 women, 55 Saudis, and an Egyptian who had imper-sonated a Saudi.”

Small groups of women have gathered almost daily in Buraida, north of Riyadh, to demand the release of imprisoned Islamist relatives, and dozens of protest-ers held a rare sit-in outside the Buraida prison in September.

Court hears Islamists accused of plot in UAE ABU DHABI: The Federal Supreme Court of Abu Dhabi yesterday heard the lawyers of 94 Islamists accused of plotting to seize power in the United Arab Emirates before schedul-ing the next sessions to March 18 and 19.

Eighty-five Islamists including 12 women appeared in court, for the second hearing in the largest trial in the history of the UAE, state news agency Wam reported quoting the justice ministry.

It said the session was held in the absence of international media and human rights groups, adding that 21 local journalists and six representatives of pro-government NGOs were present in court. AFP

ABU DHABI: Bahrain appointed moderate Crown Prince Salman Al Khalifa as first deputy prime minister yes-terday, a sign the government could be softening its stance as it holds talks with the opposi-tion to end two years of political unrest.

The kingdom, the base for the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, has been in turmoil since protests erupted there in 2011, led by major-ity Shias demanding an end to the Sunni monarchy’s political domination and full powers for parliament.

The appointment would allow the crown prince “to develop the performance of the apparatus of the executive branch”, the state news agency BNA reported, citing a royal decree.

The addition of Prince Salman to the Bahraini cabinet will be seen as a part of efforts to bal-ance the influence of figures the Shias see as hardliners, such as his great uncle, the prime minister.

“This is the beginning of change in the executive authority to implement Bahrain’s commit-ments on the political and legal front,” said Abdul Jaleel Khalil Ebrahim, a leader of the Shia-led opposition bloc Al Wefaq.

He was referring to recommen-dations made by an international inquiry that investigated the gov-ernment’s handling of protests mainly by the country’s Shia majority in 2011, and to demands by the opposition for a constitu-tional monarchy in which govern-ments are chosen by an elected parliament.

Crown Prince Salman was instrumental in pushing for a first round of talks between the gov-ernment and the opposition after pro-democracy protests erupted in Bahrain in February 2011, at the height of the Arab Spring that ended in failure.

This latest attempt at a national dialogue, launched just

last month, was also seen as largely due to his efforts.

“This is pushing new blood into the cabinet, the new generation. I am very happy with the appoint-ment. I think it is good for strong progress and change in Bahrain,” said Sameera Rajab, Bahrain’s information minister.

Bahrain remains bitterly divided and there are still almost daily demonstrations on the small island that often end in violent confrontations between police who fire birdshot pellets and tear gas at stone and petrol bomb-throwing youths.

Rights and political activists accuse the government of persist-ent police brutality. The authori-ties point to what they describe as “terrorist” attacks on security patrols.

The government says 35 people died during the unrest in 2011 and two months of martial law that followed, although the opposition puts the toll at more than 80.

At least two protesters and one policeman have died in the past few weeks as the unrest has taken a more violent turn.

REUTERS

JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN: The armies of South Sudan and Sudan yesterday said they were pulling troops from contested border areas, in the latest attempt to set up a buffer zone after fighting last year.

Defence ministers from Juba and Khartoum agreed last Friday on steps to implement the demil-itarised zone, which was never put into effect despite commit-ments by their presidents last September. A regional political expert expressed doubt that the latest effort will succeed, calling the deal poorly drafted and dif-ficult to monitor.

South Sudan’s army spokes-man, Philip Aguer, said soldiers would take around two weeks to withdraw southwards from a series of flashpoint border areas.

Troops must “start moving to the designated areas, 10km away from the buffer zone,” Aguer told reporters, reading a letter with orders from the army chief of staff.

In Sudan, a statement yes-terday from Defence Minister Abdelrahim Mohammed Hussein said his forces were committed to the timetable signed under African Union mediation last Friday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

“From yesterday our troops started withdrawing from the buffer zone,” he said.

President Omar Hasan Al Bashir and his South Sudanese counterpart Salva Kiir committed in September to “immediately” implement the demilitarised area as part of key agreements they hailed as ending conflict, after battles along their undemarcated frontier in March and April.

The September pacts also called for an opening of the frontier for trade and passage, and a resump-tion of South Sudanese oil exports through northern pipelines.

None of those measures took effect because of Khartoum’s accusations that South Sudan supports rebels north of the bor-der. Juba denies the charge and in

turn says Khartoum backs insur-gents on its soil.

“It’s very difficult to monitor, to verify,” a regional political expert said of the demilitarised zone, which is supposed to be monitored by observers from Sudan, South Sudan and abroad.

The expert, who asked not to be named, said the pact is vague on some points including who would provide a battalion of troops to protect the monitors.

“This agreement is very bad,” he said, adding that some people in both Sudan and South Sudan have no interest in a troop pullout.

“This process will stop, for sure,” the expert said. “This cur-rent position between peace and war is suitable for them.”

Troops are to be withdrawn to their respective sides of the buffer by March 24.

South Sudan won independence in July 2011 after a referendum set up under a 2005 peace agree-ment that ended more than two decades of civil war. AFP

Egypt sacks Misr Petroleum head over fuel shortages CAIRO: Egypt’s oil minister Osama Kamal has dismissed the head of state-owned Misr Petroleum and another top official due to a crisis in distributing fuel used by buses and trucks, state news agency Mena said.

He also ordered the supply of an additional one million litres of die-sel to military-run filling stations to ease shortages which have been dragging on for months.

Kamal appointed Saeed Mostafa, head of state-owned refiner and distrib-utor Petrotrade, to replace Nasr Abu Al Saud as Misr Petroleum chief on Sunday, Mena reported.

He also dismissed Egypt ian General Petroleum Co’s head Amro Mostafa, and appointed deputy chief executive Tarek Al Mallaat in his place. Egypt, which has endured two years of political instability since the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak, is trying to control a soaring budget deficit and secure a $4.8bn loan from the IMF.

It is working on an eco-nomic programme where it plans to cut back on subsidies of fuel. Last year it eliminated subsidies on 95-octane gasoline, the highest grade available, and it raised fuel prices in many sectors last month.

REUTERS

TRIPOLI: At least 51 peo-ple have died in Libya since Saturday after drinking home-made alcohol, with another 378 suffering from alcohol poison-ing, the Libyan health ministry said yesterday.

It said 38 people died in Tripoli hospitals while 13 others per-ished on their way to neighbour-ing Tunisia, where their families were hoping to provide them with medical care.

At least 378 people were poi-soned after drinking homemade alcohol containing methanol, the ministry said, urging Libyans

to stop consuming alcoholic beverages.

Interior Ministry spokes-man Houssine Al Ameri said an investigation had been launched to determine who was responsible for the killer booze.

A security official, who declined to be named, added that the authorities were preparing to crackdown on suppliers and traf-fickers of alcohol, whose sale and consumption is banned in Libya although it can be found on the black market.

Tripoli medical centre’s health chief Youssef Al Wafi said on

Sunday that “preliminary tests revealed the symptoms of poi-soning from the consumption of homemade alcohol containing ethanol.”

Wafi said the health risks included kidney failure, blindness, seizures and possible death, with those thought to have consumed the toxic drink ranging in age from 19 to 50.

With its porous borders, Libya has seen a significant increase in drug and alcohol trafficking since the now-slain dictator Moamer Gaddafi’s regime was ousted in 2011. AFP

Homemade alcohol kills 51 in Libya

Bahrain names crown prince as deputy PMMove raises hopes on crisis talks

Sudan, South start pulling troops from tense border

Crown Prince Salman Al Khalifa

Women Shura members

Saudi women members attending the Shura Council in Riyadh, yesterday. Thirty women took seats in the council for the first time in the kingdom’s history, after being sworn in before the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, at his Palace in Riyadh on February 19.

Cairo market rush

People are seen at a market amidst traffic jam in downtown Cairo, yesterday.

Kerry with Sultan of Brunei

US Secretary of State John Kerry (right) with Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah, addresses the media before a private bilateral meeting at the State Department in Washington, DC, yesterday.

Falkland Islanders vote on last day of referendum

A vehicle decorated with a Falkland Islands flag and the Union Jack passes by in Stanley, yesterday. Falkland Islanders voted yesterday on the final day of a two-day referendum to make clear their desire to remain British despite Argentina’s increasingly bellicose sovereignty claims.

INTERNATIONAL 11TUESDAY 12 MARCH 2013


Rivals exchange barbs ahead of Venezuela voteCARACAS: Presidential can-didates Nicolas Maduro and Henrique Capriles have begun Venezuela’s election race with scathing personal attacks even as mourners were still filing past the late Hugo Chavez’s corpse.

Maduro, who was sworn in as acting president after Chavez suc-cumbed to cancer last week, is seen as the favourite to win the April 14 election, bolstered by an oil-financed state apparatus and a wave of public sympathy over Chavez’s death.

Chavez made it clear before his fourth and last cancer operation in December that he wanted Maduro to be his Socialist Party’s candidate to succeed him if he died.

Maduro promises to continue the socialist policies of Chavez’s 14-year rule, including the popular use of Venezuela’s vast oil revenues to finance social programmes.

But Capriles is promising a tough fight. “Nicolas, I’m not going to give you a free passage ... you are not Chavez,” Capriles said in a combat-ive speech late on Sunday. He also accused Maduro of lying to minimise Chavez’s medical condition while he prepared his candidacy.

“Nicolas lied to this country for months,” Capriles said. “You are exploiting someone who is no longer here because you have nothing else to offer the country ... I don’t play with death, I don’t play with suffer-ing, like that.”

Within minutes, in a late-night address to the nation, Maduro said his rival was playing with fire, offending Chavez’s family and risking legal action.

“You can see the disgusting face of the fascist that he is,” a visibly furious Maduro said, alleging that

the opposition was hoping to stir up violence. “His aim is to provoke the Venezuelan people.”

At stake in the election is not only the future of Chavez’s socialist “revolution,” but the continuation of Venezuelan oil subsidies and other aid crucial to the economies of left-wing allies around Latin America, from Cuba to Bolivia.

Venezuela, a member of Opec, boasts the world’s largest oil reserves.

Both Maduro and Capriles were to formally register their candidacies with Venezuela’s election authority yesterday.

Shaken by Chavez’s death and now immersed in the ugly election campaign, Venezuelans saw some semblance of normality return yes-terday as most schools and shops reo-pened after being closed for most of last week.

The official mourning period for Chavez ends today.

Several million have paid their respects at his coffin at a military academy in a dramatic outpouring of grief.

Though criticised by many for his authoritarian tendencies and han-dling of the economy, Chavez was loved by millions, especially the poor, because of his own humble back-ground, plain language, attacks on global “imperialists” and the domes-tic “elite,” as well as his welfare poli-cies in Venezuela’s slums.

In death, he is fast earning a near-religious status among supporters, perhaps akin to that of Argentina’s former populist ruler Juan Peron and his deeply loved wife Eva Peron.

State television has been playing speeches and appearances by Chavez over and over, next to a banner say-ing “Chavez lives forever.” REUTERS

Official mourning for Chavez ends today

Queen misses Commonwealth Day serviceLONDON: Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II missed yesterday’s Commonwealth Day service in London as she is still recov-ering from the symptoms of gastroenteritis, Buckingham Palace said.

The 86-year-old was admitted to hospital for the first time in 10 years last week due to the illness. She was discharged last Monday after an overnight stay in a private London hospital.

The monarch, who is the head of the 54-member Commonwealth of Nations, was “regrettably” unable to attend the service at Westminster Abbey, “as she continues to recover following her recent illness,” the palace said in a

statement. Her 91-year-old hus-band Prince Philip represented her at the service, which was attended by Commonwealth ambassadors, or high commis-sioners, from around the world and featured an address from Virgin tycoon Richard Branson.

“This time last week she was in hospital but she’s in great spirits and apart from this is in good health and will be going to the reception in the evening,” a Buckingham Palace spokes-woman said. “It’s just the tail end of the symptoms, her con-dition has not worsened at all.”

At the evening recep-tion at the organisation’s Marlborough House headquar-ters, the queen will sign the new

Commonwealth charter, a doc-ument that includes commit-ments to rights of the “queer” among other issues.

She also hopes to undertake some other official engage-ments planned later this week, Buckingham Palace added.

The BBC, Britain’s publicly-funded national broadcaster, reported that doctors had rec-ommended it would be best for the queen not to sit through an hour-long church service.

It is the first time the queen has missed a Commonwealth Day Observance service for 20 years, the last occasion being when she had flu in 1993.

Last week the queen had to cancel a visit to Rome and other

engagements after she was hos-pitalised with the stomach bug.

The queen celebrated her dia-mond jubilee marking 60 years on the throne last year and has been known for enjoying robust health and rarely miss-ing engagements.

The 16-point charter being signed by the Commonwealth later yesterday was adopted in December by all nations in the group. It aims to protect democ-racy, the rule of law, interna-tional security and free speech.

“We are implacably opposed to all forms of discrimination, whether rooted in gender, race, colour, creed, political belief or other grounds,” the document reads. AFP

LONDON: Disgraced former British energy minister Chris Huhne was jailed for eight months yesterday for lying to police about a speeding offence in a bizarre tale of adultery and revenge that gripped the British public.

Huhne’s ex-wife Vicky Pryce, a prominent economist, also was jailed for eight months for her role in the deception.

Prior to the scandal, Huhne, 58, had been seen as a potential leader

of the Liberal Democrats, junior partners of the Conservatives in Britain’s ruling coalition govern-ment. The pair falsely informed police that Vicky Pryce was driv-ing Huhne’s car when it was caught by a speed camera, so that he could avoid a driving ban.

The incident remained a family secret for years but came back to haunt Huhne after he left Pryce for his mistress, Carina Trimingham, in 2010. REUTERS

Ex-UK minister jailed for eight months

REYKJAVIK: Iceland’s cen-tre-left government survived a no-confidence vote in parlia-ment yesterday, with a close vote underlining the weakness of the coalition as it faces an election next month.

Parliament voted 32 to 29 against the motion of no confi-dence with one lawmaker abstain-ing and one absent.

“I am very pleased with this out-come,” Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir told Reuters. “It is very valuable for the government to get this statement of trust as we still have to conclude some important matters.”

The vote was called by an opposition member, Thor Saari, to protest at the government postponing constitutional reform, even though a referendum backed changes last year. “I am disap-pointed,” Saari said. “The nation wanted a new constitution and a small section of MPs has worked against that.” REUTERS

Nigeria Islamists post video of killed foreign hostagesLAGOS: A Nigerian Islamist group that killed seven for-eign hostages it had been holding since February has posted a video of what it said were their bodies on the Internet.

Italian and Greek authori-ties confirmed on Sunday that a Briton, an Italian, a Greek and four Lebanese construction workers abducted in northern Nigeria’s Bauchi state last month had been killed by their captors.

The killings — the deadliest single attack on foreigners in Nigeria since the 1960s Biafra war — underscored the grow-ing risks to Western interests posed by Islamists in Nigeria,

who intelligence officials say have forged ties with Al Qaeda-linked groups in the Sahara desert.

Attacks by Islamists in northern Nigeria, most promi-nently Boko Haram, have become the main threat to the stability of Africa’s top oil producer after militants in the southeastern oil fields agreed to silence their guns under a 2009 amnesty.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said it was “likely” the hostages were dead, calling it “an act of cold blooded murder”. Nigerian police declined to comment and Interior Minister Aba Moro told the BBC Hausa service

yesterday there was no confir-mation the hostages were dead.

“As long as it remains uncon-firmed, efforts will be made to ensure their rescue and secu-rity,” he said.

A spokesman for Nigeria’s Ministry of Defence said that since this was a diplomatic incident, the presidency would have to make a statement on it. The official spokesman of President Goodluck Jonathan was not immediately reachable.

The silent video published by the Al Qaeda-linked group Ansaru and dated March 9 shows a gunman standing next to a pile of bodies, then close-ups of their faces lit up by a torch. REUTERS

Judges order medical tests on Berlusconi

MILAN: Italian judges ordered checks to be made on former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi yesterday to verify his claim that health problems meant he was unable to attend his trial on charges of paying for sleeping with a minor.

The 76-year-old media bil-lionaire, who faces a series of court hearings in separate trials this month, has been in hospital since Friday because of an eye problem that he says has forced him to cancel a number of public appointments.

However, prosecutors believe that his stay in hospital, which falls in the middle of a politi-cal crisis caused by last month’s inconclusive elections, may only be a delaying tactic. REUTERS

Iceland government survives trust voteCyber threat from

China a challenge to ties: Obama aideNEW YORK: Cyber security has become a growing challenge to the economic relationship between China and the United States and Beijing should rec-ognise the scope of the problem, White House national secu-rity adviser Tom Donilon said yesterday.

US businesses have been increasingly concerned about the targetted theft of confidential business information and propri-etary technologies through cyber intrusions emanating from China, Donilon said in a speech to The Asia Society.

“The international community cannot afford to tolerate such activity from any country,” he said, noting that President Barack Obama had vowed last month to protect the US economy against cyber threats. REUTERS

WASHINGTON/TOKYO: The earthquake that sent a devastating tsunami barrelling into Japan two years ago on Monday was so big it could be heard from space, a study has said.

A specially fitted satellite cir-cling the Earth was able to detect the ultra-low frequency sound waves generated by the massive shift in the planet’s crust, when the 9.0-magnitude quake struck.

Nearly 19,000 people died because of the tsunami it caused, which crushed settlements and swamped the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, sparking melt-downs that displaced tens of thou-sands of people.

“The atmospheric infrasounds following the great Tohoku earth-quake... induced variations of air

density and vertical acceleration of the GOCE platform,” said a report in the US-published jour-nal Geophysical Research Letters.

In Ishinomaki, people all over Japan bowed their heads in silence as they remembered the victims.

Ceremonies were held in towns and cities throughout the disas-ter zone and in Tokyo, where Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko led tributes to the victims.

Akihito said: “I am always deeply moved by seeing how so many people lead their daily lives without complaining... and hope.... to be able to share their suffering, if only a little.”

Police in Miyagi prefecture were continuing their search for those still listed as missing, with a 50-strong team scouring the

coastline. “We haven’t found any bodies for a year,” they said.

“But there are still 1,300 miss-ing people in Miyagi alone and the feelings of families haven’t changed. That’s why the police need to keep looking for remains.”

Meanwhile, hundreds of peo-ple affected by the Fukushima nuclear crisis filed a class action lawsuit, demanding greater efforts to clean up the contami-nated region.

Some 800 plaintiffs filed the case with the Fukushima District Court, demanding 50,000 yen ($520) a month each from the government and Tokyo Electric Power Co until the area is restored. The plaintiffs are mostly from Fukushima, but include some residents of neighbouring prefectures. AGENCIES

SEOUL: North Korea yester-day cut off the inter-Korean communication hotline that runs through the truce village of Panmunjom following its threat to do so last week, South Korea’s Unification Ministry said.

The ministry said the North seems to have disconnected the emergency link set up to ensure prompt two-way communication to deal with any developments along the demilitarised zone that separates the two Koreas. It said attempts to contact the North by telephone failed.

Pyongyang’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the

Fatherland earlier said the link will be cut along with all channels of communication. The North had also severed the hotline in 2008 and 2010.

Meanwhile, South Korea and the US launched joint drills involving thousands of troops, defying North Korea’s apocalyptic threat to repudiate the 60-year-old Korean War armistice in retaliation. The start of the two-week ‘Key Resolve’ exercise fol-lows a week of escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula, with North Korea also threatening nuclear war over UN sanctions adopted after its third atomic test last month. AGENCIES

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian authorities have rescued at least 136 people believed to be ethnic Rohingya Muslims fleeing strife in Myanmar aboard a leaking boat with no food or water, an official said yesterday.

The rescue brings the number of boats intercepted this year to 11, marking a “big increase” in refugee arrivals, said Tan Kok Kwee of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, following deadly sectarian violence in Myanmar.

The boats have typically car-ried at least 120-240 people, added Tan, the agency’s northern region enforcement chief, but could not provide a total figure for the year so far. The latest boat was inter-cepted off the northern state of Penang on Sunday with at least 96 adults and 40 children aboard, he said, adding that he was awaiting a final tally.

The passengers said they were at sea for 25 days in the rickety and overcrowded wooden ves-sel and had run out of food and water, Tan said.

Among them were 10 children less than a year old, including a two-month-old infant. They will be sent to an immigration deten-tion centre.

A wave of violence in Myanmar’s western state of Rakhine last year has accelerated an already steady flow of refugees, typically Rohingya who increasingly have sought haven in Muslim-majority Malaysia.

The Rohingya have been described by the United Nation as one of the world’s most perse-cuted minorities. About 800,000 are estimated to live in Myanmar, which denies them citizenship, rendering them stateless.

The United Nation said in January that about 13,000 boat people, including many Rohingya, fled Myanmar and neighbouring Bangladesh last year with hun-dreds dying at sea.

Malaysia does not grant Rohingya refugee status but has turned a blind eye to the steady arrivals in recent years, allowing them to stay.

AFP

136 Rohingyas aboard leaking boat rescued

Pyongyang cuts hotline with South as drills start

‘Japan quake was heard from space’

People light candles during the commemoration and marking of the second anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami which killed and left missing about 20,000 people in northern Japan, at Arahama in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan, yesterday.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian police said yesterday they had cleared a remote village at the heart of a month-long incur-sion by Filipino Islamists as another gun-man was killed, raising the toll in the crisis to 63.

But the remaining followers of a self-styled Philippine Sultan were still being hunted in a neighbouring village and surrounding farm-land a week after Malaysia sent in the army to root them out.

The armed group landed on the coast of the Malaysian state of Sabah on Borneo island early last month in a bizarre bid to assert the “sultan’s” historical claim to the areas.

Surrounded by security forces, they dug in for a standoff in the sleepy village of Tanduo amid vast palm oil plantations until a deadly shoot out prompted a military attack that scattered the militants.

Sabah state police chief Hamza Taib said security forces had now secured Tanduo but

were pursuing the remaining fighters in the village of Tanjung Batu and surround-ing areas. He added that another gunman was shot in Tanjung Batu on Sunday, bring-ing to 54 the number of militants killed in Malaysia’s worst security crisis in years.

Eight police officers were killed in earlier shoot outs and security forces also shot dead a teenager at the weekend. It has not been made clear whether the teen was a local or one of the militants.

Supporters of Manila-based Jamalul Kiram III, whose supporters call him the heir to the defunct southern Philippine sultanate of Sulu, have said about 235 people took part in the mission.

The incursion has created a delicate situ-ation for the two neighbours, with Manila under pressure to prevent the deaths of the Philippine nationals, while Malaysian public sentiment has strongly back the tough army action. AFP

Malaysia clears standoff-hit village

Policemen check woman’s papers in an outpost in Lahad Datu yesterday.

BEIJING: A senior Chinese politician whose brother defected to the US in a spy scandal was yesterday elected as chairman of the country’s highest-profile advisory organisation, state media said.

Yu Zhengsheng, No. 4 in the Communist Party’s ruling seven-mem-ber Politburo Standing Committee, was made head of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the official Xinhua news agency said. He is regarded as one of the party’s “princelings” but has had to overcome major setbacks during his career.

As well as the 1985 defection of his brother Yu Qiangsheng, an intelligence official, his father Yu Qiwei was also once married to Mao Zedong’s fourth wife, Jiang Qing, who was blamed for many of the horrors of the Cultural Revolution.

A 700-word biography of Yu put out by Xinhua mentioned neither his father nor his brother, but said he graduated from the Harbin Military Engineering Institute and specialised in ballistic missile control sys-tems. The CPPCC is holding its annual meeting in Beijing, in parallel with the National People’s Congress, China’s rubberstamp parliament.

The CPPCC is an advisory body but is given a high profile as part of the ruling party’s efforts to appear consultative and democratic rather than hierarchical. AFP

Defector’s kin elected to top China committee

MANILA: The 21 Filipino peacekeepers seized in the Golan Heights and later freed by Syrian rebels will return to duty as members of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) today, officials said.

Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesman Col Arnulfo Burgos last Sunday said the 21 Filipino soldiers would complete their tour of duty as UN peace-keepers despite being held hos-tage by rebels for three days.

Burgos said the incident would not discourage the 21 from per-forming their duties as UN peacekeepers.

“This is a global commitment. However, there would be adjust-ments in the light of what hap-pened,” Burgos said.

The Filipino peacekeepers, members of a UN force moni-toring a 1974 ceasefire between Syria and Israel, were freed last Saturday, three days after they were taken hostage by Syrian rebels in the Golan Heights.

The Filipino troops were handed over by the rebels to Jordanian officials in Tabarbour who waited to receive them.

Burgos said the peacekeepers were then turned over to the Philippine embassy in Jordan early morning and were brought to a hotel in Amman.

Officials said the soldiers even had a “boodle fight” in the hotel to celebrate their release. A boodle fight is a communal way of eating using the hands.

“They (peacekeepers) are prop-erly accounted for and they are in good shape,” Burgos said.

“The release of the 21 Filipino peacekeepers is a big sigh of relief for their families,” he added.

The Philippine government and the UN welcomed the release and expressed appreciation to the Jordanian government.

“The Philippine government and its people express deep appre-ciation to the Jordanian govern-ment and military officials on the successful safe passing over to the Jordanian side of all our 21 Filipino peacekeepers,” a state-ment said.

Burgos said the peacekeepers’ battalion commander and one of the freed officers had personally confirmed by telephone that they were in Jordanian custody.

“The 21 peacekeepers are in

the custody of the Jordanian border patrol headquarters. The Philippine ambassador is coor-dinating directly with Jordanian authorities and is ready to receive the 21 peacekeepers,” he said.

Burgos said the group’s com-mander had already met with the freed men, adding that they would be staying in a hotel in Amman for two days before being trans-ferred back to the UNDOF.

The 21 Filipino troops had been on duty under UNDOF since November. They have until May to complete their six-month tour before sent home.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) also stressed the impartiality of the UNDOF the men were serving with and called on all parties to respect their freedom of movement and safety.

“The Philippines stresses the impartiality of UNDOF and its mandate to monitor the Disengagement of Forces Agreement between Israel and Syria and strongly reiterates its call on all parties to respect the freedom of movement and safety and security of peacekeepers in UNDOF,” the DFA said.

THE PHILIPPINE STAR

Freed Filipinos back on UN duty

Remaining followers of self-styled sultan still being searched in neighbouring town

12 ASIA / PHILIPPINESTUESDAY 12 MARCH 2013


Software tycoon to contest by-electionSEOUL: South Korean soft-ware mogul Ahn Cheol-Soo, 51, whose candidacy enli-vened last year’s presidential election, yesterday vowed to run for parliament in a by-election on April 24. He ran as an independent, champi-oning political and economic reform but dropped out weeks before the December 19 vot-ing day to support the main opposition party candidate. Ahn said he would run on the same platform of “new poli-tics” he promoted last time.

Balloon crash bodies arrive in Hong KongHONG KONG: The bodies of nine Hong Kong people — five women and four men — who were among the 19 killed in a hot air balloon tragedy in Egypt last month, arrived in Hong Kong yesterday and will be transferred to mor-tuary, officials said. The bal-loon was carrying 21 people at an altitude of 300 metres (1,000 feet) during a sunrise flight over Luxor on February 26 when it caught fire. The other victims include Japanese, British, French and Hungarian nationals, while two people jumped out of the basket before the balloon hit the ground.

Bangladesh cracks down on opposition DHAKA: The deputy head of Bangladesh’s main oppo-sition party and top officials were detained in a crackdown after clashes rocked the capi-tal yesterday. The arrests came after police fired rub-ber bullets to disperse opposition demonstrators, turning the streets of central Dhaka into a battleground for nearly an hour. Police stormed the headquarters of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and took into custody Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, act-ing secretary general, and dozens of officials and activ-ists. “They attacked police and created panic and anar-chy,” police said.

Hun Sen a coward: Opposition chief PHNOM PENH: Cambodia’s opposition leader Sam Rainsy yesterday branded Prime Minister Hun Sen a “coward” for barring him from run-ning in a key general election later this year. Rainsy, Hun Sen’s main rival, lives in self-imposed exile in France to avoid prison for convictions critics contend are politically motivated. In November, the 63-year-old was told he could not take part in polls because of his convictions by the National Election Committee he says is a tool of the pre-mier. He accused Hun Sen of using the panel to block his election bid, which the pre-mier has repeatedly denied.

S Korean generals face golf probe SEOUL: South Korea is probing reports that top military officials played golf last weekend instead of tend-ing to surging tensions with North Korea, a presidential spokesman said yesterday. Newspapers reported that a military golf course in Seoul was crowded with senior officers, including generals, on Saturday and Sunday. The office of the senior civil affairs secretary has launched a probe to find out what hap-pened regarding the reports,” Yoon Chang-Jung said.

Govt, Kachin rebels renew peace talksYANGON: Myanmar’s gov-ernment met Kachin rebels for renewed peace talks in China yesterday, an ana-lyst said, as both sides seek to resolve a festering eth-nic conflict that has under-mined reforms. Officials from Kachin Independence Organisation and its armed wing KIA met a government team, led by President’s Office Minister Aung Min.

AGENCIES

Polio vaccine

An Afghan health worker gives polio drops to a child in Herat, Afghanistan, yesterday. Hundreds of thousands of Afghan children under five years are given drops as part of the government’s drive to eradicate the disease.

KABUL: Two American sol-diers were killed in a so-called insider attack when a person in an Afghan military uniform turned his weapon on US and Afghan forces at a joint base in the restive east of the coun-try, coalition forces said on yesterday.

Three policemen and two Afghan army officers were also killed in the attack, said a senior police official.

The attack took place as a deadline expired for US special forces to quit the eastern prov-ince of Wardak, after Afghan President Hamid Karzai accused them and Afghans working for them of overseeing torture and killings in the area.

An Afghan interior ministry official said the attack occurred in Jalriz district of Wardak. It was not immediately clear if it was directed at US special forces.

US Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel, who left Afghanistan early yesterday after a three-day visit, raised the sensitive issue of Wardak when he met Karzai.

US forces have denied involve-ment in any abuses in the area of Wardak.

Hagel sounded hopeful that a deal could be reached on their continued deployment, but acknowledged no breakthroughs were made in his talks with Karzai.

Afghans are divided over their expulsion, saying the departure of the US special forces could leave a vacuum for insurgents to fill, which would pose a security risk for nearby Kabul.

Officials data said that inci-dents involving Afghan security forces turning their weapons on the Nato-led forces who train them and fight Taliban insurgents have increased sharply over the past year.

The insider, or green-on-blue, attacks have seriously eroded trust between coalition and Afghan forces.

Nato troops are under mount-ing pressure to contain the insurgency before most foreign troops leave by the end of next year.

REUTERS

CHABAHAR: The presidents of Iran and Pakistan yesterday inaugurated the construction of a much-delayed section of a $7.5bn gas pipeline linking the two neighbours, Iranian media reported.

The project was launched at a ceremony on the Iran-Pakistan border attended by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari, the reports said.

The two leaders jointly unveiled a plaque before shaking hands and offering prayers for the successful conclusion of the project, which involves the laying of a 780km section of the pipeline on the Pakistani side, expected to cost some $1.5bn.

“The completion of the pipe-line is in the interests of peace, security and progress of the two countries... it will also consolidate the economic, political and secu-rity ties of the two nations,” they said in a joint statement.

Qatar was represented, on behalf of the Emir H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, at the ceremony by the Minister of Energy and Industry H E Dr Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada.

The Minister conveyed the greetings of the Emir to his brother the Iranian President, and his best wishes for lasting health and safety, and for the

LAHORE: Pakistani Christians closed missionary schools yes-terday in protest after a Muslim mob torched more than 100 Christian homes following alle-gations of blasphemy.

The schools are considered among the best in Pakistan and are extremely popular with wealthy Muslim families, with pupils taught in English in a disciplined and effective learning environment.

More than 3,000 Muslims ram-paged through Joseph Colony, a Christian area of the eastern city of Lahore, on Saturday after allegations that a Christian had made derogatory remarks about the Prophet Mohammed (Peace be Upon Him) three days earlier.

No one was killed but the inci-dent triggered protests around Pakistan from Christians, a tiny minority in overwhelmingly Muslim Pakistan, demanding bet-ter protection. “Missionary schools of Lahore will remain closed on account of massacre in Joseph colony,” Bishop Sebastian Shaw, chairman of the Catholic board, told reporters.

Sadiq Daniel, Bshop of the Church of Pakistan in Sindh said

all missionary schools in the prov-ince, including those in Karachi, would be closed.

In Southern Punjab, where many Christians live in the main city Multan and many others are settled in villages to work in agriculture, the local bishop also announced the closure of mission-ary schools.

“All educational institutions of Christian community remain edclosed yesterday to express soli-darity with the affectees of Joseph Colony,” Bishop Leo Rodrick Paul said. Police in central Multan city said they have deployed officers to protect sensitive Christian places, including churches and schools.

Authorities in Lahore arrested 150 people on charges of riots and arson over the rampage, which was triggered by allegations that a Christian sanitary worker had made derogatory remarks about the Prophet Mohammed.

Rights campaigners argue the country’s strict blasphemy laws, which include the death penalty, are often abused to settle personal scores and should be reformed.

Police and locals said a drunken row between the Christian and his

Muslim friend lay at the root of Saturday’s violence, which high-lights the religious tensions affect-ing Pakistan as it prepares for a general election in May.

Already this year more than 250 people have been killed in a spate of bloody attacks on the minority Shia Muslim community.

AFP

Delay feared in caretaker set-upISLAMABAD: Constitutional experts in Pakistan fear delay in the selection of caretaker premier if Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan don’t agree on a name.

They argue that if both fail to reach an agreement on the caretaker prime minister, some-one may seek intervention of the Supreme Court for interpretation of Articles 224 and 224-A of the Constitution.

Under Article 224, after the dissolution of the National Assembly the prime minister and the leader of opposition will have three days to conclude consulta-tions on the caretaker prime min-ister. In case of an agreement, one name will be sent to the president for appointment. But in case of disagreement, Article 224-A will come into play.

Under it, an eight-member parliamentary committee will be constituted by the National Assembly Speaker. It will com-prise four members each from the treasury and opposition benches to be nominated by the leaders of the house and the opposition.

INTERNEWS

Imran Khan beginselection campaignPESHAWAR: Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) launched its election campaign yesterday with a violation of law and elec-tion code of conduct by putting up hoardings much larger than legally permitted in different parts of the provincial capital of Peshawar.

While other major political parties have been flagrantly vio-lating the code by displaying huge billboards on major roads, the PTI proved to be no different despite its slogan of change.

Party chief Imran Khan had engagements in Peshawar for two consecutive days, with supporters, mainly aspirants for party ticket, put up hoardings on major roads through which he was scheduled to travel, to catch his attention.

Khan laid the foundation stone of Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital in Hayatabad Township on Saturday and his supporters had put up big hoardings on the University Road, the route lead-ing to the venue.

Most hoardings on that road are displayed by activists who hope to get the party ticket for provincial assembly constituency of PK-5. INTERNEWS

Gas pipeline project launchedPresidents of Iran, Pakistan unveil plaque; work to continue despite US pressure

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari during the ceremony marking the start of work on the pipeline as Qatar’s Minister of Energy and Industry H E Dr Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada (right) and other officials look on.

Christians close schools over riots

A Christian woman, Anzila Semeul, cries while sitting with her daughter in front of their home, after it was burnt by a mob two days earlier, in Badami Bagh, Lahore.

Two US soldiers die in Wardak insider attack

PAKISTAN / AFGHANISTAN 13TUESDAY 12 MARCH 2013


EU offers observers for Islamabad vote BRUSSELS: The European Union yesterday offered to send observers to Pakistan’s historic elections in May to ensure a “peaceful, credible” vote that will be “accept-able” to all. The vote for the first time would enable the transition of power from one elected government to another, marking the first time a democratically elected government would have seen out a full term. “The EU looks forward to upcoming elections that are peaceful, credible, transparent, inclu-sive and acceptable to the Pakistani people,” EU foreign ministers said in a statement after talks. The ministers said they looked forward to re-energising ties with the next government and hoped quick contacts could lead to a third EU-Pakistan summit.

Nato chief responds to Karzai’s remarksKABUL: The commander of the Nato-led forces in Afghanistan, General Joseph Dunford, has taken exception to Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s remarks hinting that Washington has ben-efited from Taliban attacks. “We have fought too hard over the past 12 years. We have shed too much blood over the past 12 years. We have done too much to help the Afghan security forces grow over the last 12 years to ever think that violence or instability would be to our advantage,” he said. On Sunday, after a week-end bombing in Kabul that killed nine people, Karzai said there are “ongoing daily talks between Taliban, American and foreigners in Europe and in the Gulf states.”

Roadside bomb kills three in Kurram PESHAWAR: A roadside bomb attack yesterday in northwest Pakistan’s res-tive tribal region killed three soldiers and wounded two others, officials said. A cap-tain was killed along with two soldiers when their vehi-cle hit an improvised bomb in Masuzai area of Kurram tribal district. The troops had been patrolling around 30km (18 miles) east of Parachinar, a major town in Kurram dis-trict. Kurram also suffers from sectarian violence.

Monastery, rare coins excavatedISLAMABAD: A team of scholars and students from the Taxila Institute of Asian Civilization (TIAC) discov-ered rare objects, including coins and a monastery, dur-ing excavations near Taxila. “The discovery of the mon-astery dating the 3rd to early 4th century would add a new chapter to the archaeologi-cal history of the site and the Gandhara civilisation,” said Prof Dr Mohammad Ashraf Khan, Director of TIAC. The team also recovered a head-less Buddha in mediation, made of stucco; 10 pots, pot-tery items, iron nails, animal bones, knives, iron pieces and bangle pieces. The materials bring to the fore fresh facts relating to the Gandhara cul-ture, necessitating to rewrite the history of Taxila, officials said.

Dismissed chief minister to returnISLAMABAD: Two months after being booted out, Nawab Aslam Raisani’s gov-ernment is likely to return to Baluchistan this week. According to officials in the Presidency, the restoration of Raisani’s government seems certain, given that President Asif Ali Zardari’s proclama-tion of governor’s rule in the province expires on Thursday. “Baluchistan’s emergency will automatically end when its legality expire on Thursday,” said an official. The decision not to put the matter before the joint sitting of parliament was taken by the president, he added.

AGENCIES

bilateral relations continuous progress and prosperity.

Ahmadinejad hailed the fact that work on the new section of pipeline was going ahead despite US sanctions against Iran’s oil and gas sector imposed over its controversial nuclear programme.

“This gas pipeline is a sign of show of resistance against domi-nation,” Ahmadinejad said.

“There are some nations who are against the progress of people, and so they are using the nuclear issue as a pretext to hinder the progress of the nations.” he said.

“This pipeline has nothing to do with the nuclear issue, you can not build a nuclear bomb with natural gas,” he said, speaking alongside Zardari in comments broadcast live on state television.

“This pipeline is peacemaker, so if those countries are not

cooperating, then they should not get in the way.” Although the pipeline on the Iranian side has almost been completed, Pakistan has run into repeated difficulties, both in financing the project and over the threat of US sanctions.

Like the European Union, Washington has slapped crippling unilateral sanctions on Iran over and above UN sanctions imposed over its refusal to suspend ura-nium enrichment.

Iran agreed to finance a third of the costs of the Pakistani part of the pipeline, with the work to be carried out by an Iranian com-pany. Pakistan says it plans to gen-erate 20 percent of its electricity using Iranian gas from the pipeline.

The visit was Zardari’s second to Iran in a fortnight and came after officials said a consortium would start work on the pipeline on Pakistani territory despite the US sanctions threat.

Analysts said Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party was likely to seek to exploit its defiance of Washington over the pipeline to boost its popu-larity ahead of a general election in May. Iran has promised $500m to help Pakistan with the cost of building its side of the pipeline, but it is unclear where Islamabad — grappling with a weak economy — will find the remaining $1bn it needs to complete the work.

AGENCIES

14 INDIATUESDAY 12 MARCH 2013


Marines won’t return to face murder trial ROME: Two Italian marines charged in India with killing two fishermen while on anti-piracy duty will not return there from a home visit granted to allow them to vote in last month’s election, the Italian Foreign Ministry said yesterday.

The ministry said India had not responded to Italian requests to seek a diplomatic solution to the case and there was now a formal dispute between the two countries over the terms of the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea.

“Italy has informed the Indian government that, given the formal initiation of an international dispute between the two states, the marines Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone will not return to India at the end of their home leave,” the ministry said in a statement.

Italy was ready to seek a set-tlement of the dispute through arbitration or an international court decision, it said.

The two sailors, part of a military security team pro-tecting the tanker Enrica Lexie from pirates, were accused of shooting the two fisher-men after mistaking them for pirates off the southern Indian state of Kerala in February last year.

The incident has caused a serious diplomatic dispute between Italy and India, which have traditionally had good relations.

An Indian foreign ministry spokesman said the govern-ment would study the message from Italy’s ambassador in New Delhi before commenting.

India’s Supreme Court said in a long-awaited ruling in January that India had juris-diction to try the marines but Italy has challenged that deci-sion, arguing that the shoot-ing took place in international waters.

The sailors arrived back in Italy on February 23, a day before the country’s election, after India’s Supreme Court granted their request to exer-cise their right to vote. They were allowed to remain in Italy for four weeks. REUTERS

BANGALORE: Karnataka’s ruling BJP yesterday put up a brave face over its rout in the urban local bodies polls held on Thursday.

The Bharatiya Janata Party was far behind the Congress by winning over 900 of the 4,900 seats of 207 urban local bodies.

The Congress bagged more than 1,900 seats. The Janata Dal-Secular was locked in a neck-and-neck race with BJP for the second place.

The BJP’s performance was worse than in 2007 when it won over 1,100 seats. At that time, the party was not ruling Karnataka.

A consolation for the party, perhaps, is that the JD-S too fared badly this time.

The Congress was the major gainer. In 2007, it won around 1,600 seats.

Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, leading the party in any election since taking office in July last year, told reporters here that the results were “satisfactory”.

He pointed out that the results should be seen in the context of the infighting and formation of two rival outfits by two former BJP men.

One of the outfits, Karnataka Janata Party (KJP), is led by BJP’s first chief minister in the state, B S Yeddyurappa, who quit the party in November. Another is headed by B Sriramulu, a former BJP minister and a close asso-ciate of jailed mining baron G Janardhana Reddy.

Both parties failed to make any impact. KJP won only around 270 seats and Sriramulu’s party about 80. However, Shettar’s pred-ecessor D V Sadananda Gowda expressed shock over the rout and said the party had been taught a lesson for its squabbles.

The drubbing could not have come at a worse time for the BJP as it not only casts a shadow over its prospects of retaining power in the assembly elections due in May but complicates the ongoing efforts to find a new head for the

Karnataka unit. The party fared poorly in coastal Karnataka, considered its stronghold as well as in north Karnataka town of Dharwad, the home district of Shettar.

Three main contenders for the state BJP president’s post, to succeed K S Eshwarappa who quit on Thursday, are from these two areas. They are Sadananda Gowda and Lok Sabha member Nalin Kumar Kateel from the coastal part and another Lok Sabha member Pralhad Joshi from Dharwad.

The Congress emerged a clear winner in the 60-member Mangalore City Corporation bagging 35 seats while BJP got 20 seas. The rest were taken by JD-S, Communist Party of India-Marxist and independents.

Mangalore is the main town in the coastal Karnataka.

In the 67-member Hubli-Dharwad city corporation, the BJP bagged 33 seats while the Congress took 22, the JD-S 9, KJP one and independents two.

Hubli and Dharwad are twin cities, 20 km apart. Dharwad is the administrative headquarters while Hubli is a major commercial centre.

The BJP also fared badly in Eshwarappa’s home district of Shimoga, about 280 km north of Bangalore, coming fourth.

Shimoga is also political base of Yeddyurappa.

Yeddyurappa gained the satis-faction of doing better than BJP in Shimoga as his KJP won 34 of the 176 seats for municipal bodies in the district.

The BJP was a poor fourth with just 24 seas while the Congress was a major winner with 64 seats followed by JD-S with 40 seats. The rest were taken by independents.

With such dismal performance in its strongholds as well as in areas where the state unit leaders hail from, the BJP is in a catch-22 situation in selecting a new state party chief. IANS

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court yesterday issued notice to the central and state gov-ernments asking them about steps taken to bring about police reforms and questioned Punjab Police for beating a Dalit woman.

The court also issued notice to former Uttar Pradesh police chief Prakash Singh, on whose petition it issued in 2006 direc-tion for effecting police reforms.

The apex court bench of Justice G S Singhvi and Justice Kurien Joseph also asked the Punjab police chief to file an affi-davit detailing the action taken against police officials for beat-ing a woman in Tarn Taran near Amritsar March 3.

The court also sought details of the responsibility fixed on senior police officers in the matter. The police chief was given a week’s time to file his affidavit.

The judges also sought an affi-davit from the senior superin-tendent of police Tarn Taran on the beating of the woman. The incident was captured on camera.

The court asked Bihar police chief and police commissioner of Patna to explain the rationale for beating women teachers partici-pating in protests seeking a pay hike.

Fixing April 1 as the next date of hearing, the court wondered what had happened to the sensi-bility of the people who witnessed the beating of the Dalit woman in Tarn Taran, but remained mute spectators.

Referring to the “we the peo-ple” in the preamble of the con-stitution, Justice Singhvi asked: “What is the accountability of the citizens who were stand-ing nearby and around the place (where police was thrashing the women in Tarn Taran)? Where have we come to? Have we lost everything? Have we become a senseless society? Where are our sensitivities?”

The Supreme Court had last week taken suo motu cognizance of the beating by policemen of the Dalit woman in Tarn Taran and of women teachers agitating for higher salary in Patna.

While asking Attorney General G E Vahanvati to assist the court, the judges March 6 appointed senior counsel Harish Salve and U U Lalit as amicus curiae in the matter.

Describing the woman in Tarn Taran who suffered police lathis as “brave heart”, Justice Singhvi mocked at the “judicial inquiry” instituted by the Punjab government.

“If government was sincere it should have taken prompt action within 24 hours,” Justice Singhvi said, asking Additional Advocate General of Punjab Ajay Bansal: “was that lady a terrorists that you were beating her on the high-way. What was the occasion to beat her?”

“It is happening everyday in different parts of the state,” the court told Bansal.

“These cops will be reinstated after three months. They will be declared brave and awarded. This is the story of the last 40 years,” Justice Singhvi said as Bansal told the court that guilty policemen were suspended. IANS

BJP puts up brave face over election routCongress wins in Karnataka

Selling candy

A vendor selling candy floss crosses a road in Kolkata yesterday.

Apex court questions Punjab police on woman’s beating

COIMBATORE: Crippling power cuts in Tamil Nadu are shutting factories and threat-ening an industrial debt crisis that is wrecking its second-largest city’s plan to become the country’s next business Makkah.

Electricity shortages are emerging as one of the biggest brakes on India’s ambitions to rise up the ranks of the world’s major economies, and match regional rival China as a manu-facturing powerhouse.

Nowhere is this clearer than in Coimbatore, a city of 3.5 mil-lion people which once seemed to offer investors looking for the ‘new Bangalore’ everything they wanted: a long history of man-ufacturing, an educated work-force and the vision to attract global firms.

But bad policymaking has allowed one of the country’s most promising regions to run into a brick wall, and now Coimbatore businesses selling everything from car parts to IT services are struggling with blackouts that last up to 14 hours every day.

Failure to invest in genera-tion and distribution meant that when growth hit double digits and drove up demand during the booming Noughties, the grid was pushed beyond its limit. On average India suffers a 9 percent peak-time power deficit, but in Tamil Nadu state the average is twice as bad, at 18 percent.

The grid’s inadequacy is forc-ing firms to rely on expensive back-up power that drives up export costs at a time they should be reaping the benefits of a weaker rupee currency.

Many business owners say

they are thinking of mov-ing to one of the handful of Indian states that has reliable electricity.

K Ramasamy owns a com-pany that sells car horns to Mercedes-Benz. Coimbatore is his hometown and, with its agreeable climate and cheap land, was a natural location for his first factory 43 years ago.

For years Ramasamy flour-ished as Coimbatore grew, open-ing eight subsidiaries. In keeping with the hill town’s casual char-acter, he founded a yoga centre. Now he is thinking of leaving for distant western states like Gujarat and Maharashtra.

Every day for 15 months, elec-tricity cuts lasting many hours have hit Ramasamy’s Roots Group, so to keep working he

must power his horn factories using on-site diesel generators that cost him nearly three times the price of grid energy.

“I don’t think this is going to be solved in a year or two,” Ramasamy said, noting he was “seriously considering” offers from officials in Gujarat who guarantee 24/7 electricity.

“We can’t be waiting all the time, we need to make a move.”

Last year, though the number of new investment projects begun in Coimbatore and nearby district Dharmapuri increased marginally, the figure for aban-doned projects rose five-fold, according to data provided by the Centre for Monitoring the Indian Economy (CMIE), an independent research group.

Fabric manufacturer VTX

Textiles Ltd, whose interna-tional clients include Macy’s Inc, fears it may soon join the ranks of failed projects after half a century in Coimbatore.

The lights flickered off as VTX Chairman and Managing Director A L Ramachandra sat in his plush office explain-ing how his energy costs have doubled.

Downstairs, in one of his four factories, the power stayed on because VTX has spent close to $90,000 on battery systems to ensure a seamless transition to generators at his plants when the grid gives out.

Even with this makeshift solution, blackouts have cost the company a tenth of its custom-ers and pushed it to restructure its debt. REUTERS

Blackouts dim prospects for ‘next Bangalore’

Workers at a small scale factory read newspapers during a power cut in Coimbatore.

NEW DELHI: Ram Singh, the alleged mastermind of the Delhi gang-rape that shook India, reportedly committed suicide in the Tihar Jail here yesterday morning. His family alleged he was murdered.

According to jail officials who refused to speak on record, Ram Singh, 35, was seen hanging at 5.45am by a Tamil Nadu police-man in the prison’s Jail No. 3 — 84 days after the horrendous gang-rape.

Ram Singh, who drove the bus in which the 23-year-old was bru-tally raped, used a part of a bed linen to hang from an iron grille eight feet high in his 15x12 rec-tangular cell, official sources said.

While three others in his cell were asleep in the rear portion, Ram Singh apparently killed him-self nearer to the entrance where the ceiling is only eight feet high. The rear of the cell is 10 feet high.

This enclosure has a transpar-ent asbestos sheet on the roof — to let in natural light. Underneath it was the iron grille.

Ram Singh reportedly reached the iron bars by standing

on a bucket. Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde called the death “a major security lapse” but refrained from using the word “suicide”. Delhi Police made no comment.

The rape victim’s 20-year-old brother expressed shock.

“Ram Singh should have faced the gallows. He should have been hanged publicly. Ram Singh was aware that there was strong evi-dence against him and he could get the death penalty,” the brother said.

The Tihar Jail put out a brief statement.

“The matter is being inquired into by the judicial officer. The exact cause of death would be known after (the) report which also includes post-mortem exami-nation,” it said.

Ram Singh’s father alleged he was murdered and demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry.

“He was killed and hanged in the jail. He told us several times that he was threatened in the jail. We lodged a complaint... It was not suicide,” a stunned Mange Lal

told reporters outside Tihar Jail.V K Anand, his lawyer, also

alleged foul play and demanded an impartial inquiry. He said that Ram Singh was not depressed as was being made out by prison officials.

Ram Singh’s death led to sev-eral versions until the home minister spoke to the media. An earlier report claimed he hung himself from a window using his pyjama.

Shinde said Ram Singh used a ‘durri” (rug) to hang. He said a magisterial inquiry had been ordered.

Jail officials refused to identify the three men who shared his cell.

Ram Singh was arrested from a Delhi slum where he lived on December 17 — a day after he and five others, including a juvenile, raped the physiotherapist trainee, a crime that shook the collective conscience of the country and made for shocking news across the world.

Ram Singh, known to suffer from deformity in his left hand, was the bus driver which the young woman and her male friend

boarded on December 16 night in a south Delhi neighbourhood.

While the woman was brutally raped, her friend was thrashed. Both were flung out of the bus, bleeding and without clothes. The woman died 13 days later in Singapore.

The incident sparked off wide-spread protests in India.

Tihar officials had earlier said that Ram Singh was on “sui-cide watch”, after he and the other accused reportedly became depressed. The watch was lifted later, they said.

Ram Singh, who had confessed to the crime, had been charged on 13 counts. One of the five accused is his younger brother Mukesh. All are being tried in fast-track court.

Lawyers said Ram Sing’s death would not affect the trial. He was supposed to go to court yesterday.

The others accused in the case are Pawan, 19, and Akshay, 29, who are held in Tihar Jail No. 4, Vinay, 20, and Mukesh, 26, both in Jail No. 7. The sixth accused is a juvenile, lodged and being tried separately. IANS

Long winter break

Kashmiri students greet each other as schools and colleges in the valley re-opened yesterday after days of protests and shutdowns against the February 9 hanging of Parliament attack convict Mohammed Afzal Guru in Delhi’s Tihar Jail. With at least four protesters killed and hundreds injured in street violence, educational institu-tions scheduled to re-open on March 1 following the winter vacation, remained closed for a further 10 days.

INDIA 15TUESDAY 12 MARCH 2013


Did Ram Singh really kill himself?NEW DELHI: The suicide by prime Delhi gang-rape accused Ram Singh, as alleged by police, sprung a spate of questions yesterday, such as how he got hold of the accessories for com-mitting the act and the ignorance of his cell mates, with the silence of the authorities fuelling further doubt and speculation.

Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said: “I can’t come to a conclusion now... Let us wait... The details would come (out) in the magisterial inquiry”.

What has raised doubts is whether a “rug” — or a durri in Hindi — can be used to commit suicide by hanging. Are not rugs a bit too thick for making a noose. Else, did Ram Singh shred the rug to make a rope? This would have taken him a few days at least and it would have been difficult to hide it.

The fundamental question dogging the public mind is how could his three cell mates sleep through the entire incident, which came to light at 5.45am, Tihar Jail officials said

The authorities refused to identify his fellow prisoners.Also, police sources said they got a call about the hanging at 7am.The question is why was the police called so late when the inci-

dent occurred at 5.45am — the time given by the Tihar officials in a statement.

According to the jail schedule, the daily prayer is at around 6.30am and breakfast is served at around 7.30am.

If the morning prayer is at around 6.30am how come no one noticed Ram Singh was missing as that’s the time when the inmates get up and ready for the morning chores.

Police sources said Ram Singh’s body was hanging till then. Why the delay? IANS

Family cries foul over death of rape accusedAlleged mastermind of Delhi gang-rape found hanging in Tihar Jail; Shinde says death ‘a major security lapse’

Policemen stand guard as an ambulance leaves the main entrance of Tihar Jail yesterday. RIGHT: Mange Lal Singh (left) and Ram Bai, parents of Ram Singh, sit inside their house at Ravi Das camp in New Delhi.

CHANDIGARH: A court here yester-day sentenced a senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer and his aide to 13 years in jail in a case of pilfering seized contraband.

The IPS officer, Saji Mohan, 44, who was arrested with 12kg her-oin in January 2009 in Mumbai’s Oshiwara sub-urb, was also slapped a fine of `300,000 by the court.

A 1995 cadre IPS officer and a former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) zonal director in Chandigarh, Saji Mohan was accused of pilfering contraband, seized from various places in Punjab and Jammu, with the help of his subordinate Balwinder Singh during his tenure in the region.

Balwinder Kumar, a constable with the NCB here and in-charge of the store, was also sentenced to 13 years’ rigorous imprisonment and a fine of `300,000.

The duo were booked by Chandigarh police in March 2009, subsequent to Saji’s arrest by the Mumbai police January that year.

Two others were also sentenced by the court of additional district and sessions judge Shalini Nagapal. IANS

NEW DELHI: Work was para-lysed at the Delhi High Court yesterday after lawyers joined a strike to protest against police action against colleagues in Jaipur and registration of a first information report (FIR) against 20 others in Chandigarh earlier this month.

“Work in all courts including high courts will remain para-lysed on March 11, as lawyers throughout the country have decided to observe strike against

the unwarranted lathi-charge by police on lawyers in Chandigarh and Jaipur who were protesting peacefully in support of their demands,” said Rajiv Khosla, spokesperson of the Bar Council of Delhi.

The strike was also observed in the city’s six district courts. In the high court, only proxy counsels appeared before the court to get next hearing dates in their cases.

Police used batons and lobbed teargas shells against lawyers in

Jaipur while they were protesting March 6 outside the Rajasthan assembly demanding better pay and cheaper homes. Nearly 30 lawyers were injured in the inci-dent. In Chandigarh, an FIR was registered against former additional advocate general of Punjab Rupinder Singh Khosla and 19 other high court lawyers for thrashing a police constable and ransacking a security room inside the court premises March 4. IANS

IPS officer and aide get 13 years jail for pilfering drugs

Lawyers join strike paralysing Delhi HC

MORNING BREAK16TUESDAY 12 MARCH 2013


For Akshay, bike stunt in Keemat most memorableGURGAON: Bollywood star actor Akshay Kumar yes-terday said that he did his best bike stunt was in Hindi movie Keemat, which was released in 1998.

“I have performed too many action roles with motorcycles but a stunt scene in Keemat will always be memorable,” Akshay told reporters

“It was a dangerous scene, in which I had to jump the bike from a height, which was almost as high as a three storey building. There was a door near my landing point and I was not even aware of exactly where to land. I prac-ticed almost a day and finally the scene was done,” said the 45-year-old who recently did high voltage action in “Rowdy Rathore”.

In Keemat, Akahay played a petty thieve and Saif Ali Khan was his partner. In real life, Akshay owns five bikes and often uses them. “Traffic congestion and jams are big problems and matter of con-cern in Mumbai. To counter that I often use my bikes while going for film shootings. The distance covered by car in one-and-a-half hour can be done in 15-20 minutes on a bike,” he said. IANS

News in Numbers

Ratio of girls to boys in primary, secondaryand tertiary education (1989 to 2011)

Source : http://www.qsa.gov.qa/

As for university education, female enrollment exceeded that of the males as it reached its highest level in 1999 by 259 female students compared to 100 male students. Although the ratio of female to male undergraduates declined in recent years, it has remained high with 179 female students compared to 100 male students.

LITERACY RATE

University

The current average ratio of females compared to males (university education) is

132 to 100

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Complementary and Secondary Primary

Akshay Kumar in a scene from the 1998 movie Keemat.

MOSCOW: It’s a process described as “not a pretty sight” that involves the extraction of all the blood from a corpse. But if Venezuela needs help embalming Hugo Chavez then Russia has expertise stretch-ing back to Soviet revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin.

Authorities in Caracas announced last week that Chavez’s body will be embalmed “like Lenin” whose mummified relics have been on public dis-play in the Moscow Red Square mausoleum since the Bolshevik Revolution leader’s death in 1924.

It is not, however, clear whether Venezuela — which under Chavez forged a close partnership with Vladimir Putin’s Russia — has sought Russian specialists’ help or will do so in future.

Approached yesterday by AFP, the Moscow laboratory in charge of Lenin’s body declined to give any official comment on the matter.

But a member of its team, Yuri Denisov-Nikolsky said that although no official request has been made so far by Caracas, the Russian specialists were ready to help if need be.

Another Russian specialist who helped preserved Lenin’s body in Soviet times told the ITAR-TASS news agency on Friday that “the Russian technologies for embalm-ment are absolutely first rate”.

“We never disappoint our cus-tomers,” Denisov-Nikolsky said adding, however, that Venezuelan authorities might opt to use Cuban experts, who embalmed the body of the Argentinian president Juan Peron’s wife Eva in 1952.

Now called the Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, the laboratory owns the method-ology which was used to embalm the bodies of a string of pro-Mos-cow leaders during and after the Cold War.

These included Bulgaria’s Communist leader Georgy Dimitrov (1949), the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin and the Czechoslovak president Klement Gottwald (both dead in 1953), the Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh

(1969), the Angolan president Agostino Neto (1979), Guyana’s president Forbes Burnham (1985), and North Korean leader Kim Il-Sung (1994).

After the death in 2011 of the latter’s son, Kim Jong-Il, the Moscow institute specialist Pavel Fomenko, described the embalm-ing procedure in detail.

“It is not a pretty sight,” he said in a rare interview to the Moskovsky Komsomolets daily.

To begin, a team of three to seven specialists “remove all internal organs, fill veins with a solution, and extract blood from tissues,” he said.

“The body is placed in a glass bathtub filled with the embalm-ing solution, covered with a lid, and wrapped in a white cloth” as precise temperature and humidity conditions are maintained in the room, Fomenko explained.

To ensure decades-long pres-ervation, the process requires constant upkeep, including invari-able temperature and humidity regimes.

Lenin’s body is also protected from bacterial threat by a glass sarcophagus. Twice a week it is inspected and every 18 months it is immersed in an embalming solution for a month.

Lenin’s mausoleum is cur-rently closed for restoration and is covered by a huge white awning spoiling the historic view across Red Square.

The head of Russia’s federal bodyguard service (FSO) Sergei Devyatov which is responsible for protecting the mausoleum told ITAR-TASS that it would remain closed until April although Lenin’s body was inside and itself under-going “precautionary work”.

According to Moskovsky Komsomolets, of those who were embalmed by the Russian spe-cialists, only the bodies of Ho Chi Minh and Kim Il-Sung are now preserved “in their original state,” like Lenin.

According to a poll in 2012 by the FOM research group, 56 percent of Russians favour the burial of Lenin’s body, 28 percent are against and the rest remain undecided. AFP

Need to embalm a world leader? Call Russia

LONDON: With a range spanning the cardigan-clad sweetheart in the hit musical Grease and the leotarded gym instructor in the raunchy sin-gle Physical, no one could accuse Olivia Newton-John of playing it safe in 40 years of singing country, pop and rock.

The Australian, who was born in England and is touring there for the first time in 35 years, admits to being terrified at some of the choices she made in a career boasting four Grammy awards and a lead role in the biggest musical movie hit in US history. “I like a challenge,” Newton-John, 64, said in an interview before starting a six-concert tour that ends on March 17 in Manchester.

“I was always afraid of these changes but I did them anyway, kind of ‘face your fears’ ... because I felt you also had to challenge yourself a little bit. But I was terrified.”

The 1981 release of Physical, a song from the album of the same name, was banned by some radio stations in the US banned for raunchy lyrics.

“I remember calling (manager) Roger Davies right after I’d fin-ished it ... and going ‘Oh, I’m not sure we should put this out, it’s a little too risque’. He said: ‘It’s too late, love, it’s gone to radio’.”

“I look back now and it’s hilari-ous, because that was so naughty in its time,” she recalled. “That was another challenge that worked, thank goodness. It was either going to be a big success or nothing. There was no in-between with that song.

“It was banned in Utah and I did my television special for the Physical Tour in Utah. I remem-ber I was probably so terrified I got sick right before the shoot.”

In fact, Physical proved to be the pinnacle of Newton-John’s solo career, topping the US pop charts and becoming one of the best-selling singles of the decade.

By then, Newton-John had already left her comfort zone more than once. She recalled

pursuing a career as a performer despite resistance from her par-ents, who wanted her to finish school.

She comes from an academic background — her grandfather was Max Born, a German-British Nobel Prize-winning quantum physicist.

“My grandfather apparently used to play music with Einstein, they used to play chamber music together, so it (the musical gene) goes back,” Newton-John said.

She left Australia for Britain in the 60s to make it as a pop star. By the early 70s, she had featured in the charts and on television before representing the United Kingdom at the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest, finishing fourth behind winners ABBA.

Then came a move to the United States, where Newton-John broke into the country music scene despite being considered an outsider. Her hit “Let Me Be

There” won her a country vocal Grammy.

The next gamble came with Grease, the hit 1978 film adapta-tion of the Broadway musical that would turn her into a household name.

“Grease itself was a bold enough move — playing the second char-acter in Grease, and for that to be so successful, I mean, who knew?”

Her character’s transforma-tion from clean-cut “Sandy 1” to spandex-clad “Sandy 2”, out to snare John Travolta’s Danny, was one that she took into real life, ditching the safety of soft pop and country for an edgier image and sound.

The name of her next album? “Totally Hot”.

“The raunchy kind of image that Sandy 2 had, it gave an opportunity to change my direc-tion a little bit and do something a little more fun,” she said.

REUTERS

Grease sweetheart in Britain after 35 years

Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta in a scene from Grease.

TORONTO: A new iPad app enables budding designers and artists to create their own dolls that are made overnight with 3D printing technology.

The London-based company MakieLab, which also offers cus-tomized toys and games, said it seeks to encourage creativity and crafting. With the Makies Doll Factory, children can design the doll’s facial features, hairstyle and clothing.

“The technology means we can make dolls with individual faces, or dinosaurs with unusual markings, or cars with specially-designed trims,” said Alice Taylor, the company’s founder and CEO. “That’s something that mass pro-duction can’t do, and 3D printing can do.” When the digital version is finished in the app, it is sent to 3D printers that manufacture the body parts, which are assembled and dressed so the 10-inch (25.4 cm) dolls can be shipped within 24 to 36 hours after ordering.

The 3D technology prints objects from computer designs by adding plastic layer-upon-layer until an object is formed.

The dolls, which are manufac-tured in Amsterdam and London, can also feature flashing eyes and cheeks by inserting an electronic chip into the doll’s head.

The basic dolls sell for £59.99 ($89). Hair, skin and clothing can each be added for additional fees ranging from £7 to £30. The company said it is working on iPhone and Android apps and a game that will allow the dolls to co-exist in the digital world.

Taylor said with 3D printing toys can be manufactured locally and quickly, but she doesn’t expect the technology to replace traditional toy manufacturing methods.

“A lot of people ask, ‘Is this going to replace injection mold-ing?’ And the answer is of course not because injection moulding is cheap and we’re always going to need mass produced stuff,” she said. Other 3D printing apps include 123D Create by Autodesk, which allows users to create 3D characters. REUTERS

App lets kids create 3D printable dolls

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Tuesday 12 March 201330 Rabial II 1434

Volume 18Number 5636

Price: QR2

BY SATISH KANADY

DOHA: Qatar is striving to raise its credit ratings to “AAA”, two levels high on par with a selected few advanced economies. Currently, the country is rated “AA” with stable outlook.

Opening the 7th edition of ‘Multaqa” here yesterday, the Minister of Economy and Finance H E Yousuf Hussein Kamal said: “The current rating of Qatar is ‘AA’. We are working on for ‘AAA’. The history of our econ-omy is very strong. Qatar’s economy has advanced over the past few years to reach internationally competitive.”

He said Qatar would go ahead with the plans to establish the $1bn Regional Islamic Bank. Qatar will have 30 percent stake in it. Last April, Qatar signed a MoU with the Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank, a multilateral lender, and Saudi Arabia’s Dallah Albaraka Group to establish the bank with initial capital of $1bn.

Yousuf Hussein also said that Al Koot would be re-launched as a re-insurance company in which non-Qatari companies would be given opportunities to make stake.

Qatar’s non-hydrocarbon sec-tor’s contribution to GDP began to rise and is expected to maintain

its last year’s growth rate of 9 percent. “The growth of Qatar’s non-hydrocarbon sector is in line with the National Vision 2030, which aims to create a strong, sustainable and diverse economy based on the reinvestment for the state’s wealth accumulated from the hydrocarbon sector,” he said.

The most significant seg-ments of the non-hydrocarbon sector are infrastructure, which is expected to see investment of $140bn between now and 2019. The services sector is expected to contribute 60 percent of the total growth in the country’s economy. Building and construction sec-tors are expected to register a 10

percent growth. Transport and communications are expected to register a 15 percent growth rate dur-ing the current year, he said.

On the insurance sec-tor, Yousuf Hussein said the industry’s contribu-tion to the country’s GDP is just 0.5 percent, which is an indication of the huge opportunities and the possibilities the future holds for this sector. Qatar believes that the insurance sector can greatly con-tribute to the GDP in the light of the stability of high average per capita income and the volume of planned investments to achieve the

National Vision 2030. The fact that the general economic outlook for the next five years strong is another positive indicator.

Qatar’s economy has advanced over the past few years up the ranks of the world’s economies to become internationally com-petitive. The country’s economic growth accelerated to teach an average 13 percent during the period from 2008 to 2012. Then high international ratings given to the country’s economy confirms that a healthy financial climate exists in Qatar coupled with a stable economic outlook, he noted.

THE PENINSULAMore stories & pictures on page 21

Qatar eyes AAA ratingInsurance sector’s contribution 0.5pc of GDP: Minister

The Minister of Finance and Economy H E Yousuf Hussein Kamal delivering the opening keynote speech at the seventh edition of the annual Multaqa Qatar Conference jointly organised by Qatar Financial Centre Authority and Global Reinsurance at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Doha, yesterday. SALIM MATRAMKOT

21BUSINESS TUESDAY 12 MARCH 2013


The Minister of Finance and Economy H E Yousuf Hussein Kamal (second left), Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) Authority Managing Director Abdulrahman Al Shaibi (second right), Shashank Srivastava (right), CEO and Board Member of QFC Authority, and other dignitaries at the seventh edition of the annual Multaqa Qatar Conference at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Doha, yesterday. RIGHT: A section of the audience. SALIM MATRAMKOT

DOHA: The Mena region’s insurance premiums will grow faster than the region’s gross domestic product (GDP), despite challenges arising from geo-political tensions. The Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) Authority’s first annual Mena Insurance Barometer released on the opening day of Multaqa conference here yesterday noted that the confidence in the future of the region’s insurance sector remains strong.

In 2011, the Mena insurance market was worth about $42bn in annual premiums, up from $26bn in 2007. Non-life markets, which accounted for $35bn in 2011, grew at an average annual growth rate of 7.5 percent, while the life markets, accounting for $6.6bn, expanded by 10.1 percent per annum, adjusted for inflation. Insurance markets in the Mena region mirror the macroeconomic dynamics of the region as well as the market’s low insurance pen-etration - premiums account for just 1.3 percent of GDP, a fifth of the global average. However, this gap is narrowing as Mena insur-ance markets have outpaced GDP growth recently.

In light of these strong eco-nomic fundamentals, it comes at no surprise that interviewees consider economic growth as the main strength of the Mena region. In addition, the young, growing and increasingly more affluent population is viewed as another key strength, along with the region’s low catastro-phe exposure, which contributes to risk diversification strategies pursued by international insurers and reinsurers.

In terms of weaknesses, the barometer confirms that the Mena insurance markets are charac-terised by fierce competition and an abundance of (re)insurance capacity, putting pressure on technical results and driving up acquisition costs. Furthermore the region’s insurance regulations are still perceived as inadequate by the majority of survey partici-pants (56 percent). In particular, a lack of consistency in supervi-sory oversight across the region is criticized.

The Mena region’s low insur-ance penetration is perceived as a major opportunity. Given the average GDP per capita the region’s penetration levels should be significantly higher. Therefore, personal lines are expected to benefit most from the rising afflu-ence of the population, supported by compulsory schemes, for exam-ple in medical insurance. In terms of threats, political instability and geo-political risks rank high-est with the Barometer’s inter-viewees, followed by continued pressure on rates and a further erosion of profitability.

The barometer also found that only a minority (36 percent) of respondents expects the Mena insurance market to consolidate over the next 12 months as aver-age levels of capitalisation are solid and cultural reasons remain a major obstacle to mergers and acquisitions. Further, some 50 percent of interviewees expect that foreign insurers will gain market share over the next two years, on the back of superior cus-tomer focus, distribution know-how and technical skills.

The prospects of Takaful

insurance are viewed critically. Only 38 percent of respondents expect this market segment to outgrow total insurance premi-ums. Business models for Takaful insurance are believed to be in need of a thorough review.

Shashank Srivastava, CEO and Board Member of the Qatar Financial Centre Authority, said: “The Mena region exhibits above average GDP growth, even faster insurance premium growth, a young and rising population, low levels of insurance penetration and, in most countries, a rather limited natural catastrophe expo-sure. In sum, the Mena region is an attractive emerging insurance market which any aspiring inter-national or regional insurer and reinsurer should have on its stra-tegic agenda.”

Akshay Randeva, Director Strategic Development of the Qatar Financial Centre Authority, added: “The Mena Insurance Barometer is our fourth regu-lar survey of the insurance and reinsurance markets, first cover-ing the Gulf countries and now the wider Mena region. The study highlights the tremendous growth dynamics as well as the multi-faceted opportunities and challenges presented by Mena insurance markets. It provides some key market data and intel-ligence and is designed to help improve the transparency of the sector and facilitate more robust decision-making.”

In all, 35 senior executives from international and regional insurers, reinsurers and brokers operating in the Mena region par-ticipated in the study.

THE PENINSULA

Mena insurance sector to grow faster: QFCAFirst annual Mena Insurance Barometer released

DOHA: Abdulrahman Al Shaibi, Managing Director and board member of the QFC Authority, has said that a vibrant insurance sector is key for a strong economy.

Addressing the opening session of 7th Annual Multaqa Qatar con-ference here yesterday, he noted this is particularly important to Qatar and its long-term vision of building a broadly diversified knowledge economy.

Insurance can be viewed as a prerequisite to effective corpo-rate lending through the bank-ing system because it can prevent businesses from suffering life-threatening liquidity and solvency problems in case of major insured losses. The risk pooling properties of insurance effectively facilitate commercial transactions and the economically vital provision of

credit by mitigating losses. Al Shaibi said insurance sector

helps accumulate huge amounts of capital and, therefore, is a core element of any modern economy’s funding system. Their usually long-term investment horizon makes insurers a particularly beneficial player in financial mar-kets and indispensable sources of long-term finance for both pri-vate businesses and governments. This crucial role in financial inter mediation is particularly relevant to countries which are in the process of developing broader and deeper domestic capital markets. Against this backdrop, the QFC Authority’s aspirations in insur-ance fit well with our vision of Qatar becoming a leading asset management hub.

The management of funds set aside to meet future policyholder

claims makes the insurance industry one of the world’s larg-est institutional investor groups. In addition, more recently, reinsurers have started investing third-party funds in insurance-linked activi-ties such as property catastrophe underwriting, Al Shaibi said.

The QFC Managing Director said more than 170 international and local companies have been awarded licences to operate in and from the QFC to date. Among those are local, regional and global leaders such as Allianz, AIG, Aon, AXA, Daman Health Insurance, Marsh,QIC International, SEIB Insurance and Reinsurance, Zurich, Barclays, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Emirates NBD, EFG Hermes, Goldman Sachs, Qatar Holding and Qatar First Investment Bank.

THE PENINSULA

Vibrant insurance sector key to strong economy: QFCA chief

DOHA: Qatar Islamic Insurance Company (QIIC) Chairman Sheikh Abdulla bin Thani Al Thani has said that firm would consolidate its mar-ket position and create new business opportunities in Qatar and abroad and continue its success in 2013 and beyond.

Addressing the ordinary general assembly of the com-pany on Sunday, the chairman said that the company recorded good results in 2012 by generat-ing a premium of QR206m and aggregate net profit of QR74m, of which net policyholders’ surplus amounted to QR16m.He noted the shareholders’ profit reached QR58m, constituting earnings per share of QR3.5.

“The board will pursue, with unwavering determination, the company’s strategic plans for the Years 2013-2015 to ensure its continued growth and pros-perity. Our approved three year strategic plan and goals will permit us to increase our share of insurance business in Qatar, maximise our insurance

underwriting capacities, reten-tion and profit efficiency, re-engineer our motor insurance operations, maximize the effi-ciency of our investment assets diversification and profitability, rise the Qatarisation percent-age,” the chairman said.

The Board of Directors, in co-ordination with the Shariah Supervisory Board, has decided to reimburse policyholders with cash surplus equaling 20 percent of the premiums written in 2012, still the highest so far.

The general assembly approved the company’s nine-point agenda, including its financial statements for the year 2012 and election of two people in the current QIIC Board of Directors.

The Shariah Supervisory Board of QIIC reviewed the practices, contracts and documents of the company executed during 2012 and found them it total compli-ance with the rules and principles. The board noted that the alloca-tion of profit and charging of losses relating to investment accounts conform to the basis that has been

Qatar Islamic Insurance Company (QIIC) Chairman Sheikh Abdullah bin Thani Al Thani (centre), Chief Coordinator Dr Sheikh Khalid bin Thani Al Thani (second right), Vice Chairman Abdul Rahman A Abdul Ghani (second left); Chairman of Shariah Supervisory Board, Ali Moehi El Din Al Gura Daghi (left) and Chief Executive Officer Ali Ibrahim Al Abdul Ghani at the AGM of the QIIC at Ezdan Hotels and Suites in Doha, yesterday. SALIM MATRAMKOT

approved by it in accordance with Shariah rules and principles.

It also observed that the com-pany has maintained separate accounts for the sharehold-ers and policyholders, and the

shareholders’ profits and poli-cyholders’ surplus for the year ended December 31, 2012, have been determined in accordance with the approved rules a and properly reflected in the financial

statements for the full year. “The distribution of investment

profits, based on the principals of Mudharaba and the determina-tion of Wakala Fees are in com-pliance with the Shariah rules

and guidelines approved by the Shariah Supervisory Board,” the Dr Ali Moehi El Din Al Gura Daghi, Head of Shariah Supervisory Board, said.

THE PENINSULA

QIIC to consolidateits market position this year: Chairman

Dr Schanz, Alms and Company Chairman and Pr incipal Partner Dr Kai Uwe Schanz addressing dignitaries during the annual Multaqa Qatar Conference at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel yesterday.

22 BUSINESSTUESDAY 12 MARCH 2013


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.

*Periodic Distribution Amount

QATARI MARKETBond Coupon Maturity Currency Mid-Price Yield Moody’s S&P

Qatar Govt 5.15% 4/9/2014 USD 104.63 0.80 % Aa2 AA








Qatari Diar 3.5% 7/21/2015 USD 105.25 1.24 % Aa2 AA

Qatari Diar 5% 7/21/2020 USD 114.75 2.77 % Aa2 AA

Comqat 5% 11/18/2014 USD 105.63 1.60 % A1 A-

Comqat 3.375% 4/11/2017 USD 104.69 2.17 % A1 A-

QIB 3.856% 10/7/2015 USD 104.63 2.00 % NR NR

QNB 3.125% 11/16/2015 USD 103.63 1.73 % Aa3 A+

QNB 3.375% 2/22/2017 USD 104.69 2.13 % Aa3 A+

Doha Bank 3.5% 3/14/2017 USD 104.56 2.30 % A2 A-

Qtel 3.375% 10/14/2016 USD 105.63 1.75 % A2 A

Qtel 7.875% 6/10/2019 USD 130.69 2.53 % A2 A

Qtel 4.75% 2/16/2021 USD 111.50 3.10 % A2 A

Qtel 5% 10/19/2025 USD 110.50 3.94 % A2 A

Rasgas 5.5% 9/30/2014 USD 106.88 1.00 % Aa3 A

Rasgas 5.832% 9/30/2016 USD 108.13 3.38 % Aa3 A

Rasgas 5.298% 9/30/2020 USD 111.38 3.57 % Aa3 A

SOVEREIGNSBond PDA* Maturity Currency Mid-Price Yield Moody’s S&P

Abu Dhabi Govt 5.5% 4/8/2014 USD 105.38 0.44 % Aa2 AA

Abu Dhabi Govt 6.75% 4/8/2019 USD 126.25 2.12 % Aa2 AA

Dubai Govt 6.7% 10/5/2015 USD 110.63 2.40 % NR NR




Qatar Govt 4% 1/20/2015 USD 105.75 0.87 % Aa2 AA

Bahrain Govt 6.273% 11/22/2018 USD 115.69 3.23 % NR BBB

Bahrain Govt 5.5% 3/31/2020 USD 110.13 3.85 % NR BBB

Egypt Govt 5.75% 4/29/2020 USD 92.50 7.11 % B3 /*- B-

Morocco Govt 4.5% 10/5/2020 EUR 106.00 3.59 % NR BBB-

Al Meera sales jump

Al Meera Consumer Goods Company Chairman H E Abdulla bin Khalid Al Qahtani and Vice Chairman Dr Saif Said Al Sowaidi, attending the ordinary general assembly meeting of the company in Doha, yesterday. In 2012, Al Meera’s sales jumped to more than QR1.5bn, and gross profit totalled about QR256m, compared with QR175m in the previous year, representing an increase of nearly 46 percent. Operating income increased by about 40 percent, and rental income rose by almost 6 percent. The company achieved a net profit of almost QR106m compared with QR77m in 2011. SALIM MATRAMKOT

DOHA: Qatar Exchange pur-sued its upward trend, adding 23.47 points (or 0.28 percent) yesterday to advance to 8,544.41 points from 8,520.94 on Sunday. Among the top gainers were Qatar National Bank which was up 0.23 percent to QR133.20, Industries Qatar rose 0.65 percent to QR171.20, Ooredoo gained 1.61 percent to QR113.40 and Qatar Navigation was up by 1.85 percent to QR66.

The banking and financial sec-tor index lost 0.09 points, the consumer goods and services sector index fell 0.04 points, the industrial sector gained 1 point while the insurance sector rose 1.77 points.

Meanwhile, Dubai’s measure rose to a one-week high, extend-ing gains as investors flocked to property stocks while all other regional markets also gained. Dubai’s Emaar Properties, the exchange’s largest listed stock by market value, rose 1.6 percent to a fresh 52-week high.

Deyaar Development jumped 6.8 percent. The mid-cap is a usual target for local retail inves-tors. Courier Aramex advanced 4.2 percent. The emirate’s index climbed 1.1 percent to its highest close since March 3.

Abu Dhabi’s measure added 0.4 percent, extending gains since Thursday’s two-week low.

Elsewhere, Egyptians bought back battered shares, helping lift Cairo’s index by 0.2 percent. The

market rose for a fourth con-secutive session since slumping to an 11-week low last Tuesday. Shares in Telecom Egypt edged up 0.6 percent, despite posting a 12.8 percent drop in 2012 profit.

Egyptians were net buyers against other Arab sellers but investors remain concerned about a currency crisis and a deterio-rating economy amid a negative political backdrop.

In Saudi Arabia, the index advanced 0.2 percent, up for a third session in four, but the mar-ket is trapped in a tight trading range. The petrochemical sector supported gains with Saudi Basic Industries Corp up 0.5 percent and Saudi Kayan Petrochemical added 0.4 percent. The kingdom’s two heavyweight sectors, banks and petrochemicals, have been largely ignored by investors after fourth-quarter earnings.

Elsewhere, Kuwait’s meas-ure rose 0.6 percent to a fresh 25-month high and saw its elev-enth straight gain. Small-caps dominated trade as retail inves-tors look for high-liquid stocks to trade, which are easier to enter and exit. “We expect the market to continue its cautious uptrend rally — the market is in need of a healthy fundamental correction after the continuous increase in order for new entrants in the market,” said Fouad Darwish, head of brokerage at Global Investment House.

QNA/REUTERS

DOHA: Capital Intelligence (CI), the international credit rat-ing agency, has affirmed Qatar National Bank (QNB)’s Financial Strength Rating at ‘AA-’. The affirmation reflects the bank’s very strong credit metrics, its dominant franchise in Qatar, its growing international presence in Mena and Asia, as well as the robust and supportive operating environment in Qatar.

The Long- and Short-Term Foreign Currency (FC) Ratings are also affirmed at ‘AA-‘ and ‘A1+’, respectively, at the same level as the Sovereign Ratings for the State of Qatar. The Bank’s Support Rating of ‘1’ (affirmed) reflects ownership by the State of Qatar through Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and the Bank’s

increasing role as the financial arm of the Qatari Government. The Outlook on all Ratings is ‘Stable’, the CI said yesterday.

The ratings are supported by the bank’s fine asset quality, comfortable capital adequacy, and good profitability.

The ratings agency noted that QNB has demonstrated sound risk management and maintains a low non-performing loan (NPL) ratio, together with more than full loss reserve coverage of a high quality loan portfolio. Although the Bank’s profitability weakened in 2012 due to pressure on net interest mar-gins, it is underpinned by a very strong cost to income ratio, which allowed it to produce the highest net profit among GCC banks.

The ratings are constrained by

the small size in terms of geogra-phy and population of the Qatari banking market. As is the case for most Qatari banks, there is very high dependence on the government sector for business, which leads to high concentration risks. Banking system liquidity in Qatar can be volatile, reflect-ing variations in the volume of Government deposits in accord-ance with QIA’s foreign invest-ment activities.

QNB’s capital adequacy, which improved significantly following a substantial increase in equity capital in 2011, is a key source of balance sheet strength, underpin-ning the Bank’s growth poten-tial. However, the acquisition of National Societe Generale Bank in Egypt, expected to be completed

by H1 2013, would bring that ratio down noticeably including through the impact of goodwill. It would also expose QNB’s opera-tions to country risk and its capi-tal base to a substantially higher level of forex translation risk.

Although CI notes that at the current level, ratings would begin to be pressured on capital adequacy, CI is also of the opin-ion that more capital would be forthcoming from the Qatari Government through QIA as nec-essary. The acquisition would also represent a shift to a more bal-anced business profile (in terms of a higher share of retail and com-mercial business), and a major step forward in QNB’s interna-tional expansion.

THE PENINSULA

Capital Intelligence affirms QNB’s ‘AA-’ ratings

DOHA/DUBAI: Commercial Bank International (CBI), a grow-ing UAE bank, has announced the beginning of a new chapter in its history, following the revela-tion of a new brand that reflects the strategic partnership with Qatar National Bank (QNB), the leading financial institution in Qatar and the Mena region.

“The new brand embodies our thinking into a future of growth and prosperity as CBI, backed by the international reach of QNB Group,” said CBI Chairman Mohammad Sultan Al Qadi. CBI’s new brand would benefit from QNB’s brand profile, given that it ranked 120 on the list of the world’s top 500 banking brands in 2013, according to an annual survey car-ried out by “Brand Finance”.

In tandem with the new brand identity, CBI is expanding its cur-rent branch network in the UAE with the addition of four new

branches that reflect the new brand and a personalised bank-ing experience providing top qual-ity service, advanced and secure technology, an expanded product range and an increased interna-tional reach through the associa-tion with QNB.

CBI customers can now (effec-tive from March 10) bank at Dubai Mall, Dubai Festival City, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Boulevard, and Ras Al Khaimah’s Julphar Towers, where they can see first-hand what the future holds for them.

Kris Babicci, CEO of CBI, said: “Our new brand stands for our strength going forward. Our part-nership with QNB, the experience and strength of our management team and their cohesion with the board of directors, all supported by proactive staff, are key factors to our aim of becoming a leading bank in the UAE.”

New identity for CBI

CEO Kris Babicci and Chairman Mohammad Sultan Al Qadi posing for a picture.

Sustaining its growth and development momentum, CBI plans to launch a range of prod-ucts, including a re-launch of auto loans, credit card enhance-ments and salary transfer cam-paigns, and more, over the coming months.

The new identity is the culmina-tion of the efforts by the CBI team led by a strong and highly compe-tent management team over the last two years, to ensure a best-in-class service experience for retail and corporate customers.

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Geospatial Media & Communications, in association with the Centre for GIS, MMUP, State of Qatar, is hosting a two-day conference and exhi-bition on geospatial technology and applications. The Middle East Geospatial Forum 2013 (formerly Map Middle East) is to be held at Qatar National Convention Centre, Exhibition Hall 1 on March 13-14.

To be held under the patron-age of H E Sheikh Abdul Rahman bin Khalifa Al Thani, Minister of Municipality and Urban Planning, the forum is one of the most anticipated events in the geospa-tial arena. With Trimble as its strategic sponsor, the conference boasts of Kahramaa as the gold sponsor; Mannai Corporation and Ideal Solutions as silver sponsors and Qatar University as knowledge partners.

The highlight of the conference will be its exhibition and plenary sessions. Based on varied themes,

Geospatial forum begins tomorrow

the sessions will witness speak-ers from around the globe talk about the application of geospatial technologies in various spheres. Besides, the exhibition will have the latest trends and technologies in the geospatial domain on dis-play. The conference will serve as an ideal meeting point for various

sections of the geospatial industry including defence, municipalities, oil & natural gas, military survey agencies, civil aviation authorities, electricity & water authorities, geological and meteorological departments, planning and land departments, construction com-panies, contractors and surveyors.

Exhibition Timings: Wednesday: 9.30am–6pm. Thursday (March 14): 10am-5pm. For more infor-mation, visit www.megf.org. For conference/exhibition related que-ries, contact Abhishek Kotangale at [email protected] +974 30236484.

THE PENINSULA

Qatari bourse index rises by 0.28 percentRegional markets gain

23BUSINESS TUESDAY 12 MARCH 2013


• Bullion - Mumbai Gold (10 gm) Standard Rs. 29425

Silver (1 kg) Rs. 55260

• Indian Rupees QR1 = 14.81• Sensex BSE 19683.23

NSE 5945.70

• Short-term investment plan from LIC International upto 6.4 percent return

p.a. (in dollar)

• Housing loan from HDFC LTD• Mutual Fund: Buy & Sell: SBI MF, HDFC MF, UTI MF, Birla Sun Life MF,

Tata MF, Reliance MF etc.Contact: Investec, Tel: 44325060/44365060 email: [email protected]

DUBAI: Qatar’s plan to issue local currency government bonds every quarter should help it tackle three key issues at once: Managing liquidity in the banking system, developing as a financial centre, and financing huge infrastructure projects.

Managing liquidity is the most press-ing need, as the $185bn economy gears up to spend about $140bn on infrastructure projects in the run-up to Qatar’s hosting of the 2022 World Cup soccer tournament.

Big flows of project-related money through the banking system could desta-bilise banks and push up inflation. Qatar is vulnerable to inflation partly because it pegs its riyal currency to the US dollar, limiting how much it can raise interest rates without attracting speculative money.

The country of 1.9 million people is no stranger to economic overheating; before the global credit crisis struck, a boom fuelled by expanding gas output and ris-ing property prices drove its inflation rate to a record 15 percent on average in 2008, the highest among Gulf states.

“It is pretty critical that Qatar does develop the local debt market in order to deal with the local liquidity that has been building up in the banking sector,” said Farouk Soussa, Citigroup’s chief

economist for the region. “That liquid-ity throughout last year has seen a very fast growth.”

REGULAR PROGRAMMEOn Sunday, Qatar’s central bank issued

QR1bn ($300m) of local currency sukuk (Islamic bonds) and QR3bn of local cur-rency conventional bonds. A senior com-mercial banker said the debt was allocated directly to local banks, comprising a three-year tranche yielding 2.75 percent and a five-year tranche at 3.00 percent.

Qatar had issued local currency debt to drain excess money from the banking system in the past; in January 2011, the central bank issued a QR50bn, three-year bond directly to local banks.

In addition, the central bank launched monthly auctions of 91-, 182- and 273-day Treasury bills in May and August 2011 to soak up excess funds; it now drains 4 bil-lion riyals a month through this method.

But Sunday’s medium-term debt sale broke new ground because it was designed as part of a regular programme of bond issues, putting Qatar at the fore-front of wealthy Gulf states in developing its local currency debt market.

The central bank said in a statement that local currency debt would now be

issued every quarter, half with three-year maturities and half with five-year. It did not give specific dates or sizes for future issues, saying they would be announced later. “The aim of issuing these bonds is to develop monetary policy and the imple-mentation of a mechanism of coordination between monetary and fiscal policy, and support the strength of the banking system and financial and market tools,” it said.

A more active monetary policy is likely to be needed in coming years. In the wake of the 2011 interventions in the money market, total available liquidity dropped to a mere QR5.8bn at the end of that year from QR73.2bn a year earlier, the central bank has said.

But excess liquidity has begun building again. Funds parked by banks at the cen-tral bank’s low-yielding deposit facility climbed to QR151.3bn last December, the highest level since April 2011; their aver-age level in May-December 2012 was dou-ble the level in the previous eight months.

Loose liquidity pushed the average three-month interbank lending rate down to 0.76 percent in November, the lowest since June 2011. It rose again to 1.05 per-cent in December but is still well below the March 2012 peak of 1.75 percent.

In January, the International Monetary

Fund said Qatar’s central bank needed to start managing liquidity fluctuations more finely through more flexible open market operations. The central bank told the IMF that its ability to engage in open market operations was limited by a shal-low interbank market and the lack of an active secondary market in T-bills.

OPEN MARKET OPERATIONSThe new bond issue programme takes

a step towards remedying this deficiency by providing banks with instruments that they could trade with each other and with the central bank.

Ultimately, the central bank could buy and sell the bonds in short-term repurchase deals - a common way which authorities use to adjust money market liquidity in developed financial centres.

“You want these bonds to be traded regularly to have a liquid market so that you can use them for repo and reverse repo purposes, so that the central bank can actually carry out open market oper-ations,” Soussa said. For now, issuance is unlikely to be enough to stimulate much secondary market trade.

“Just one issuance at the moment on a standalone basis is not enough to sup-port trading, and this issuance will most

likely be held by banks as assets,” another Qatar-based commercial banker said.

But in the long term, a deeper debt mar-ket will give the central bank additional options in adjusting liquidity and mar-ket interest rates. It will also help Qatar develop as a regional financial centre, pro-viding foreign financial institutions with more instruments to park funds.

The central bank’s statement on Sunday noted local banks could use the new bonds to meet Basel III bank-ing standards that are being phased in around the world, requiring banks to hold minimum amounts of safe, liquid instru-ments. A lack of such instruments is a concern for many banks in the Gulf.

And by developing a local currency mar-ket in government debt, Qatar is creating a potential source of funding as it prepares to finance its infrastructure plans. With massive reserves and a big budget surplus, the government is expected to be able to finance the projects comfortably, but the local debt market could make a significant contribution. “I see that as a very positive step forward. The economy is growing and there is a huge amount of infrastructure financing needed for the local economy,” said a Doha-based economist.

REUTERS

Qatar’s quarterly debt issues expand policy arsenalMove will help manage liquidity, develop yield curve; excess liquidity building up among banks

DOHA: “Investor appetite is pushing Sukuk into main-stream,” Standard & Poor’s said in a report published yester-day. “Global issuance expanded for the fourth year in a row in 2012, growing 64 percent to about $138bn, and we expect another strong few years,” said Standard & Poor’s credit ana-lyst Paul-Henri Pruvost.

Despite increased growth, the market for sukuk, the Islamic equivalent of bonds, is still a small segment of the global fixed-income world. Sukuk comply with Shariah law, meaning they do not technically pay interest; rather, they are structured to provide sukuk holders a profit margin. While still considered an alter-native investment, we believe the sukuk market has the potential to grow and join the mainstream.

Largely dominating issuance are sovereign and sovereign-related issuers from Malaysia, and, to a lesser extent, from the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council. “Funding needs and large infra-structure investments in Malaysia and the GCC, combined with better global investor sentiment, is behind today’s momentum in the sukuk market,” said Pruvost.

S&P believes that GCC issu-ers are likely to come to market with bigger issues that are more commensurate with the potential suggested by their asset size.

Yields in the region have been declining, and even fell under those on conventional debt. “We believe that a number of banks, particu-larly, will come to market, needing to refinance their existing debt and seeking larger amounts to match the credit needs of their corpo-rate clients, especially in project finance,” the ratings agency said.

THE PENINSULA

DUBAI: The British govern-ment launched a campaign to promote London as a centre for Islamic finance, seeking to coun-ter growing competition in that industry from rising centres such as Dubai and Kuala Lumpur.

A task force including Britain’s Financial Secretary to the Treasury Greg Clark, ministers of state and private sector executives will advertise London around the world, the British Foreign Office said yesterday.

The group will try to attract foreign investment to Britain

by facilitating Islamic financial business, including investment in British infrastructure by Islamic sovereign wealth funds, the Foreign Office said in a statement.

Because of its status as a top global financial centre, London has attracted a large amount of Islamic business; more than $34bn worth of sukuk, Islamic bonds which are structured under religious princi-ples such as a ban on interest pay-ments, have been issued through the London Stock Exchange.

But competition from cities where Islamic funds originate

is increasing. Kuala Lumpur is building its credentials as a cen-tre for foreign companies to issue sukuk outside their domestic markets, while Dubai announced in January that it would revise regulations to attract sukuk issu-ance and trading.

Britain has introduced legisla-tion facilitating Islamic finance, and in 2009 it came close to issuing Europe’s first sovereign sukuk. The issue was ultimately postponed indefinitely because the government felt it would not provide value for money, Farmida

Bi, European head of Islamic finance at law firm Norton Rose in London, said.

The World Islamic Economic Forum, a conference of Islamic financiers to take place in London this October, will be an early opportunity for the new British task force. It will be the first time the forum is held outside of an Islamic city or Asia. Some other parts of Europe are also show-ing increased interest in Islamic finance as much of the conven-tional financial industry struggles.

REUTERS

CAIRO: Egypt is studying an IMF offer of a bridging loan, a finance ministry source said yesterday, as Cairo tries to weather a currency and budget crisis deepened by political uncertainty and violence on the streets of its cities.

In Washington, the International Monetary Fund said Egypt needed bold and ambitious action to tackle its economic problems urgently and it could get temporary IMF funding while it negotiated a long-delayed full loan programme.

Egypt’s Islamist government faces daunting problems two years after the fall of Hosni Mubarak. Violent protests and feuding with the opposition have ravaged eco-nomic confidence, sending its cur-rency down sharply - even though the central bank has spent almost two thirds of the dollar reserves left by Mubarak in trying to prop the Egyptian pound up.

President Mohammed Mursi has seemed reluctant to accept reform and austerity measures that would come with a full IMF deal before parliamentary elec-tions. However, the budget deficit is also soaring and his options for foreign help are narrowing.

In Cairo, the finance ministry source said short-term funding under the IMF’s “Rapid Financing Instrument” programme was on the table. “We are studying the possibil-ity of a temporary loan but no deci-sion has been made yet,” he said.

On Sunday, Planning Minister Ashraf Al Araby said Egypt did not need stop-gap funding. “The cure for the budget deficit needs broad structural measures and the help we are requesting from the IMF is not quick fixes,” he said.

Al Araby did not say explicitly whether the IMF had offered such funding, which would come with fewer of the unpalatable con-ditions that would accompany a full deal. Egypt agreed a $4.8bn loan in principle with the IMF last November but requested a delay during violent unrest the

following month. Egypt also faces political chaos.

Last month Mursi called par-liamentary elections to start in April, only for a court to cancel his decree. Now no one knows when voting will begin.

In Washington, IMF spokes-woman Wafa Amr said the Rapid Financing Instrument was designed to provide rapid, but limited, assistance to member countries facing urgent balance of payments needs. “Use of the RFI could be an option if there is a need for interim financing while a strong medium-term policy programme is being put in place,” Amr said.

“Ultimately, this is a decision the authorities will have to take,” she said, adding: “The IMF remains fully committed to supporting Egypt at this critical time.” The stop-gap measure could amount to about $750 million. However, the sum is dwarfed by the budget defi-cit, which is growing rapidly as a slide in the Egyptian pound pushes up the cost of subsidising energy and food, much of which has to be imported using scarce dollars.

In its reform programme, the government targeted a deficit for this financial year of 189.7bn Egyptian pounds ($28bn) or 10.9 percent of annual economic out-put. Even this assumes economic reforms are made, and the defi-cit would hit 12.3 percent of GDP without such action, it forecast.

Tensions are rising on the streets of Egyptian cities, with protests and violence frequently erupting over a variety of griev-ances. Behind the immediate causes lies a general malaise as Egyptians struggle with falling living standards. Egyptians want Mursi’s government to be more honest with its people.

Inflation jumped to 8.2 per-cent in the year to February from 6.3 percent the previous month, with an even greater rise in food and drink prices particu-larly hurting the poor.

REUTERS

Egypt studies IMF bridging loan as crisis deepens

LONDON: European stock markets closed yesterday with mixed but mainly weaker results as disappointing Chinese economic data offset positive job numbers out of the United States, analysts said.

London’s FTSE 100 index of leading companies gained 0.31 percent to 6,503.63 points while Frankfurt’s DAX 30 fell by a slight 0.03 percent to 7,984.29 points and the CAC 40 edged down by 0.10 percent to 3,836.27 points in Paris.

In Madrid the Ibex 35 was off by 0.85 percent and Milan’s FTSE Mib gave up 0.69 per-cent. The euro stood at $1.3016, up from $1.3004 late on Friday in New York. Gold prices eased to $1,579.00 an ounce on the London Bullion Market from $1,581.75 Friday.

“Chinese inflation data contrib-utes to the risk-off environment, at its 10-month high it sparkles concerns of an upcoming tight-ening that could put a break on Chinese growth, impacting demand from the world’s second largest

economy,” Gekko Global Markets trader Anita Paluch noted.

At CMC Markets, Michael Hewson added that a “slower than expected pickup in economic activity set against a backdrop of rising prices could well make it difficult for Chinese authorities to be as proactive at stimulating growth as they would like in the coming months.”

Back in Europe meanwhile, Italy’s economy shrank by 0.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012 from the previous one, data showed, confirming a previ-ous estimate that underscored a deeper recession in the eurozone’s third largest economy.

The data came after the inter-national ratings agency Fitch on Friday said it had downgraded Italy’s sovereign debt by one notch to “BBB+” from “A-“ and added that the outlook was negative.

In New York, US stocks were mixed but mainly stronger in mid-day trading on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up by 0.17 percent at 14,422.11, while the broader S&;P 500 had gained

0.12 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite had slipped by a slight 0.05 percent.

On Friday, the Dow topped 14,400 points for the first time after the Labor Department reported the United States gen-erated a net 236,000 new jobs in February, far more than expected.

The US unemployment rate fell to a four-year low of 7.7 per-cent. The report reinforced views that the US economy was now in a solid recovery, though analysts said that underlying figures and upcoming spending cuts meant the Federal Reserve was unlikely to take its foot off its monetary easing anytime soon.

In Asia, stock markets had also closed with mixed results, with Shanghai dipping on disappoint-ing economic data that fuelled concerns about China’s economy.

Chinese inflation hit a 10-month high in February while growth in industrial production and retail sales slowed, official data showed, complicating policy-makers’ efforts to boost recovery.

AFP

European stocks end mixed

Stockbrokers monitor share prices during a trading session at the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) in Karachi, yesterday. Pakistan stocks slumped almost 2.5 percent on fears of possible US sanctions following the groundbreaking ceremony of a much-delayed $7.5bn gas pipeline from Iran, traders said. The benchmark KSE-100 index shed 441.62 points, or 2.46 percent, to close at 17,522.56 points with 173.03 million shares traded.

Strong years ahead for sukuk market, says S&P analyst

Brent crude dropsNEW YORK: Global oil prices were mixed yesterday as sup-plies remained firm. In New York trade, the benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery edged up to $92.06. Brent North Sea crude for April dropped to $110.22 a barrel.

AFP

UK govt promotes London as Islamic finance hub

BRENT

$109.92

DUBAI

$107.38

QATAR EXCHANGE | DAILY TRADING REPORT | 11-03-2013

INTERNATIONAL MARKETS A List of Shares from the worldCOMPANY CLOSE NET VOLUME NAME CHG TRADED

COMPANY CLOSE NET VOLUME NAME CHG TRADED





A B G Infra-B/D 74.85 -3.3 1544

A C C-A/D 1266.45 3.7 24898

Aarti Drugs-B/D 193.4 1.4 7957

Aban Offs-B/D 292.55 7.55 113742

Ador Welding-B/D 121.9 -0.15 1699

Aegis Logis-B/D 140.45 1.75 8034

Alembic-B/D 18.55 1.45 126187

Alok Indus-B/D 8.94 -0.02 1088897

Andhra Paper-B/D 186.55 7 34855

Apollo Tyre-A/D 88.9 -2.25 169564

Asahi I Glass-/D 52.2 -0.6 14064

Ashok Leyland-/D 23.6 -0.35 340920

Ballarpur In-B/D 18.75 0 14864

Bata India-A/D 776.7 -7.45 28686

Bayer Crop-A/D 1128.35 5.15 1890

Beml Ltd-B/D 206.5 -1.55 75833

Bh Electronic-/D 1238.95 7.2 1885

Bhartiya Int-B/D 218.2 -1.05 6555

Bhel-A/D 205.4 -1.9 251847

Bom.Burmah-B/D 122.35 3.6 31823

Bombay Dyeing-/D 100.4 1 183721

Camph.& All-B/D 181.05 29.05 18536

Canfin Homes-B/D 166.25 10.35 17914

Caprihans-B/D 45.65 -1.55 2291

Castrol Ind-A/D 332 4.05 23210

Century Enka-B/D 115.1 2.8 6867

Century Text-A/D 332 -0.85 112426

Chambal Fert-B/D 56.85 0 127192

Chola Invest-B/D 290.55 1.5 2308

Cimmco-B/D 31.6 -1.25 2678

Cipla-A/D 391.3 0 62495

City Union Bk-/D 56.15 -0.65 11706

Colgate-A/D 1315.15 -17.1 9139

Container Cor-/D 1058.4 8.1 19515

Dai-Bichi Kar-/D 44.85 3.1 3007

Dcm Financia-B/D 1.45 -0.02 2231

Dhampur Sugar-/D 49.6 2.15 35860

Dr. Reddy-A/D 1814.45 -4.3 9071

E I H-B/D 63.15 -0.8 7096

E.I.D Parry-B/D 164.05 3.95 6729

Eicher Motor-A/D 2764.3 -31.65 2088

Eimco Elecon-B/D 167.35 14.1 9064

Electrosteel-B/D 19.65 0.45 51576

Emco-B/D 23.2 -0.1 29471

Escorts-B/D 59.65 -0.65 93286

Essar Oil-A/D 88.95 2.2 1384863

Eveready Indu-/D 17.8 -0.65 98167

F D C-B/D 92.6 -0.1 9126

Federal Bank-A/D 496.1 3.1 48539

Ferro Alloys-B/D 6.36 0.38 170026

Finolex-B/D 96.8 3.7 169511

Gail-A/D 344.9 3.3 47794

Gammon India-B/D 26.8 -0.7 20184

Garden P -B/D 54 0 2031

Goodricke-B/D 137.5 0.65 5974

Goodyear I -B/D 281.65 -3.65 3089

Hcl Infosys-B/D 38.85 2.15 312376

Him.Fut.Comm-B/D 9.64 1.35 1816723

Himat Seide-B/D 31.95 -0.6 15536

Hind Motors-B/D 10.31 -0.11 468762

Hind Org Chem-/D 13.32 -0.41 23103

Hind Unilever-/D 439 0.75 160395

Hind.Petrol-A/D 307.15 -3.35 82804

Hindalco-A/D 100.7 -0.5 1080286

Hous Dev Fin-A/D 828.8 15.55 253309

I F C I-A/D 28.95 -0.3 2161612

Idbi-A/D 92.6 -0.15 152556

Ifb Ind.Ltd.-B/D 89.75 -2.4 4060

India Cement-B/D 85.8 -0.9 51811

India Glycol-B/D 148.05 3.2 21149

Indian Hotel-A/D 58.15 0.7 69015

Indusind-A/D 436 -0.5 109798

J.B.Chemical-B/D 81.9 -1.2 8025

Jagatjit Ind-B/D 52.35 1.05 2000

Jagson Phar-B/D 10.8 -0.44 2657

Jbf Indu-B/D 106.8 -1.05 28490

Jct Elect P -B/D 0.45 -0.03 9000

Jct Ltd-B/D 1.13 0.01 104368

Jenson&Nich.-B/D 3.65 0.55 69873

Jik Indust-B/D 1.41 0.05 9633

Jindal Drill-B/D 225.15 -0.2 1592

Jktyre&Ind-B/D 105.2 -0.55 3182

Jmc Projects-B/D 89.95 1.95 4463

Kabra Extr-B/D 30.25 1.9 3306

Kalpat Power-B/D 86.25 -0.85 25625

Kalyani Stel-B/D 44.45 -1.05 12271

Kg Denim-B/D 15.62 -0.38 5972

Kilburnengg-B/D 12.78 0.26 15170

Kin.Motor-B/D 8.76 -0.46 9357

Klg Systel-B/D 15.14 0.04 1582

Kopran-B/D 16.07 0.23 199302

Lakshmi Mach-B/D 2043.8 -18 1557

Lloyd Steel-B/D 11.71 -0.16 30625

Lloydsfin.-B/D 0.9 -0.01 5623

Lok.Hous&Con-B/D 19.95 0.95 117087

Lumax Ind-B/D 344.5 -4.3 12700

Lupin-A/D 600.65 -3.75 46822

Lyka Labs-B/D 10.44 0.2 2249

Mafatlal Ind-B/D 115 0 2631

Mangalam Cem-B/D 144.55 -1.4 2498

Mastek-B/D 132.85 -1.7 3044

Max India L-A/D 224.25 -7.65 179398

Mrpl-A/D 55.2 -0.65 69939

Nagreeka Ex-B/D 21.05 2.05 10656

Nagreeka Ex-B/D 21.05 2.05 10656

Nahar Spg.-B/D 82.4 5.9 41019

Nation Alum -A/D 45.3 0.4 75129

Navneet Pub.-B/D 62.8 1.3 96551

Nepc India-B/D 2.07 -0.05 2387

Nrb Bearings-B/D 32.85 0.75 2947

O N G C-A/D 324.4 -1.3 227360

Ocl India-B/D 150 0 3179

Oil Country-B/D 43.2 1.65 4701

Onward Tech-T/D 42.7 0.2 4041

Orchid Chem-B/D 86.8 6.35 4416164

Orient.Carb.-B/D 101.9 -0.1 9690

Orient.Carb.-B/D 101.9 -0.1 9690

Patspin India-/D 5.99 -0.01 36501

Radico Khait-B/D 135.9 -1 5244

Rallis India-B/D 125.05 2.7 46496

Rallis India-B/D 125.05 2.7 46496

Reliance Indus/D 370.65 1.8 65897

Ruchi Soya-B/D 60.7 -0.5 2453

S Bk Bikaner-B/D 432.1 0.6 6067

Salora Inter-B/D 16.05 -0.3 2450

Tanfac Indust-/D 15.31 0.81 2618

Timexgroup-B/D 17.5 0.4 19412

Tinplate-B/D 43.85 0.55 15948

Ub Engineer-B/D 27.5 -1.4 107186

Ub Engineer-B/D 27.5 -1.4 107186

Ultramarine-B/D 56.05 0.75 4541

Unitech P -A/D 28.15 0.6 3531199

Univcable-B/D 33.25 0.4 1965

3I Group/D 317.8 -5.1 765005

Assoc.Br.Foods/D 1876.845 8 218990

B Sky B/D 875.08 15 852026

Barclays/D 310.9513 -7.6 15046511

Bg Group/D 1171 2 1447363

Bp/D 454.3 3.6 6928342

Brit Am Tobacc/D 3598.6392 36.5 608442

Bt Group/D 271.238 4.3 5611922

Centrica/D 353.2 1.1 3272400

Gkn/D 278.97 -4.1 2959050

Hsbc Holdings/D 733.6 -3.4 3242005

Imperial Tobac/D 2355 0 338407

Kingfisher/D 290.4 0.6 1418049

Land Secs Grou/D 837.5 -10 720631

Legal & Genera/D 167.325 0.9 4028917

Lloyds Bnk Grp/D 49.4422 -0.62 54631053

Marks & Sp./D 362.3 0 1090556

Next/D 4156 -17 66711

Pearson/D 1182.64 18 676264

Prudential/D 1024.1 9 1252470

Rank Group/D 163.6 -1.4 2711

Rentokil Initi/D 90.75 -0.6 578833

Rolls Royce Pl/D 1051 -1 1451252

Rsa Insrance G/D 119.073 -1 3496827

Sainsbury(J)/D 345.872 3.9 2004799

Schroders/D 2111 -17 163224

Severn Trent/D 1644.16 24 217833

Smith&Nephew/D 729.5 4.5 355710

Smiths Group/D 1285 -5 126835

Standrd Chart /D 1796 -4 1666287

Tate & Lyle/D 824 -6 259627

Tesco/D 376.464 -3.55 5016943

Unilever/D 2744 0 400426

United Util Gr/D 722 10.5 1131291

Vodafone Group/D 186.471 2.1 34177521

Whitbread/D 2572.28 -7 74642

LONDON

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GOLD & SILVERWORLD STOCK INDICES

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QE Market Summary Comparison Today Previous day

11-03-2013 10-03-2013

Index 8,544.41 8,520.94

Change 23.47 14.72

% 0.28 0.17

YTD% 2.22 1.94

Volume 7,422,018 4,589,941

Value (QAR) 291,600,127.58 237,097,797.89

Trades 3,401 3,025

Up 24 | Down 10 | Unchanged 04

INDEX Day’s Close Pt Chg % Chg Year High Year Low

24 MARKETTUESDAY 12 MARCH 2013


GOLDQR185.4376

SILVERQR 3.3918

US$ ..........................QR 3.6305 QR 3.6500

UK ...........................QR 5.3837 QR 5.4588

Euro .........................QR 4.7074 QR 4.7728

CA$ ..........................QR 3.5093 QR 3.5784

Swiss Fr ..................QR 3.8097 QR 3.8632

Yen ..........................QR 0.0376 QR 0.0383

Aus$ ........................QR 3.6912 QR 3.7635

Ind Re ......................QR 0.0664 QR 0.0677

Pak Re .....................QR 0.0369 QR 0.0376

Peso ........................QR 0.0887 QR 0.0905

SL Re .......................QR 0.0285 QR 0.0291

Taka .........................QR 0.0458 QR 0.0467

Nep Re ....................QR 0.0417 QR 0.0417

SA Rand ..................QR 0.3939 QR 0.4017

All Ordinaries 5160.045 22.592 0.44 5160.045 4664.6

Cac 40 Index/D 3824.62 -15.53 -0.4 3849.87 3600.81

Dj Indu Average 14397.07 67.58 0.47 14413.2 12035.1

Egypt Cma Gn Idx 1026.29 32.57 3.28 999.95 312.38

Hang Seng Inde/D 23090.82 -1.13 0 23944.74 22445.34

Iseq Overall/D 3856.86 31.46 0.82 3885.68 3396.67

Karachi 100 In/D 17522.56 -441.62 -2.46 18312.65 16036.31

Nikkei 225 Index 12349.05 65.43 0.53 12283.62 10398.61

S&P 500 Index/D 0 0 0 1552.48 1266.74

Straits Times/D 3292.97 3.44 0.1 3319.19 3160.83

Straits Times/D 2989.31 24.69 0.83 3035.78 2657.77

QE Indices SummaryQE Index 8,544.41 0.28 %

QE Total Return Index 11,930.28 0.48 %

QE Al Rayan Islamic Index 2,581.69 0.31 %

QE All Share Index 2,128.81 0.56 %

QE All Share Banks & Financial Services

2,030.87 0.09 %

QE All Share Consumer Goods & Services

5,021.81 0.04 %

QE All Share Industrials 2,842.05 1.00 %

QE All Share Insurance 1,984.46 1.77 %

QE All Share Real Estate 1,621.11 0.44 %

QE All Share Telecoms 1,151.47 1.53 %

QE All Share Transportation 1,452.86 2.60 %

27SPORT TUESDAY 12 MARCH 2013


Heat earn 18th straight winMiami beat Indiana 105-91; Thunder and Lakers register victories

Miami Heat forward LeBron James (left) is guarded by Indiana Pacers’ forward Paul George during their NBA game at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida, yesterday. RIGHT: Chicago Bulls’ Joakim Noah (left) challenges for a rebound with Los Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Bryant during their NBA game in Los Angeles.

MIAMI: The Miami Heat extended their franchise-best winning streak to 18 games by beating mistake-prone Indiana 105-91 yesterday, avenging two one-sided losses to the Pacers earlier this season.

Dwyane Wade had 23 points and a half dozen steals and Chris Bosh shot 11-of-15 from the field and finished with 24 points for the Heat, who lost by double-digits in both previous contests to Indiana this season.

Miami’s 18-game winning streak ties the sixth-longest run in National Basketball Association history and they can match the 2008 Boston Celtics’ 19-game win streak with a victory over the Atlanta Hawks today.

Mario Chalmers had a game high 26 points and nailed five-of-six three pointers and LeBron James added 13 points and seven assists in the win.

David West scored a team-high 24 points for the Pacers, who committed 18 turnovers.

Paul George struggled, shoot-ing just two-of-11 from the field for Indiana, which were the last team to defeat the Heat back in the beginning of February.

Chalmers made it 15-14 by sinking three free throws in the opening quarter to give the Heat a lead they would keep for the rest of the contest.

Miami finished the half on a 10-2 run to lead 56-46 going into the break.

Indiana closed out the third quarter on a 9-0 run of its own to make it 79-65 going into the fourth.

But then Miami found their scoring touch again in the fourth as the Heat cruised to its 14th win in a row at home.

Meanwhile, sfter two huge comebacks in a week, the Los Angeles Lakers lived easy in a 90-81 win over the visiting Chicago Bulls.

As they push toward a playoff berth that at one point seemed a faint possibility - moving into the Western Conference No. 8 seed, a half-game better than idle Utah - the Lakers could use the relaxation.

Four days after a 25-point comeback in a win at New Orleans and two days after a 15-point comeback against the Toronto

Raptors, Los Angeles glided to the win behind a balanced offensive effort and the defence of Dwight Howard.

Six Lakers scored in double-figures, led by Kobe Bryant’s 19, and Howard scored 16 points, grabbed 21 rebounds and blocked four shots.

Elsewhere, Kevin Durant scored 23 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as Oklahoma City beat Boston 91-79 at Chesapeake Energy Arena.

Trailing by 14 with 2:45 left in the game, Boston tried to make

one last run. Jason Terry drained consecutive 3-pointers to cut lead to 87-79 with 2:10 on the clock.

The Celtics (34-28) came up with another defensive stop and set Jeff Green up for a 3-pointer. But with a defender flying at him, his shot was off the mark.

The Thunder (47-16) got the rebound and Russell Westbrook ran the clock down to 37 sec-onds of the match before feed-ing Serge Ibaka for an easy layup that pushed the deficit back to 10 points and sealed a Thunder vic-tory. AGENCIES

NBA ResultsOklahoma City 91 Boston 79

LA Lakers 90 Chicago 81

Toronto 100 Cleveland 96

Orlando 99 Philadelphia 91

Miami 105 Indiana 91

New Orleans 98 Portland 96

Dallas 100 Minnesota 77

Milwaukee 115 Sacramento 113

LA Clippers 129 Detroit 97

We took drugs for an ‘adventure’: Indian boxerFATEHGARH SAHIB (Punjab): Boxer Ram Singh, who is under deten-tion in the multi-million dollar drug racket, has said that he and Olympics bronze medallist boxer Vijender Singh had tried drugs, but just for the sake of “adventure”.

He has also admitted that he and Vijender Singh were in constant touch with drug smuggler Anoop Singh Kahlon, who was arrested March 7, police said.

“We had taken very small quantity of drugs, less than two gm each. But we are

not habitual takers of drugs and had tried it just for adventure. We did not intend to improve our stamina or performance by taking it,” Ram Singh said over the phone to reporters yesterday.

The police had recovered 26 kg heroin, worth Rs.130 crore in the international market, from the possession of Kahlon and arrested him Thursday.

He had reportedly told the police that Vijender Singh and Ram Singh were his “clients”.

“Vijender was in touch with some

Mumbai celebrities, who were regular in rave parties and took drugs. Therefore we also tried it. However, we did not pay anything to Kahlon for drugs,” Ram Singh said.

As Ram Singh has confessed before the Punjab Police about taking drugs, officials of the National Institute of Sports (NIS), Patiala, have expelled him from their hostel.

A three-member committee of coaches also searched his hostel room but did not find anything objectionable.

Ram Singh and Vijender Singh are very close friends and they were roommates at NIS for nearly six years.

Vijender Singh had allegedly promoted Ram Singh in various platforms by using his influence.

The police maintained that they could summon Vijender Singh for questioning tomorrow.

“I have nothing to do with drugs. I am ready to join investigations at any point of time and am also ready to undergo any kind of dope test,” Vijender said. IANS

USA, Dominicans win WBC pools LOS ANGELES: The United States and the Dominican Republic both posted come-from-behind victories yester-day to win their respective pools and advance to the second round of the World Baseball Classic.

Adam Jones belted the go-ahead two-run double in the eighth and pitcher Heath Bell earned the win as the USA ral-lied to beat Canada 9-4 in a winner-take-all contest.

Robinson Cano had three hits and blasted a fifth-inning home run to help lift the Dominicans to a 4-2 win over host Puerto Rico in a battle for first place in Pool C.

“It was like a game seven and we don’t need to get pumped up for a game seven,” American outfielder Jones said. “We were just fortunate to get bigger hits.”

The USA finished first in Pool D and will play Pool C runner up Puerto Rico in one of two second round games today in Miami. Pool C top seed Dominicans will face reigning European champi-ons Italy in the other.

The USA fell into a 2-0 hole early and trailed 3-2 after seven innings, but Jones’ dou-ble off Canada pitcher Jimmy Henderson put the Americans ahead to stay in front of a crowd of 19,413 at Chase Field in Phoenix.

Jones finished with three RBI for the USA who eventu-ally broke the game open with another four runs in the ninth.

US catcher Jonathan Lucroy had an RBI single in the final inning before Eric Hosmer cleared the bases with a double.

Bell, who plays in the

major leagues for the Arizona Diamondbacks, posted the win with a scoreless seventh inning and then pitcher Steve Cisek got out of a bases loaded eighth-inning jam by getting Canadian Tim Smith to ground out to end the inning.

Prior to yesterday’s game, officials announced that there would be no further disci-pline against the Canadian or Mexican players who were involved in a ninth-inning bench-clearing brawl the day before.

Mexico, which appeared to start the fight, had four players ejected. Three Canadians were tossed during Team Canada’s 10-3 romp which resulted in Mexico being eliminated from the tournament.

Miguel Cabrera smacked four RBIs as Venezuela scored

six runs in the fourth inning to beat Spain 11-6 in a Pool C con-test earlier Sunday at San Juan, Puerto Rico.

National pride was the only thing on the line Sunday as Venezuela lost any chance of advancing to the second round by losing its first two games to the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.

Winless Spain will have to go through the qualifying rounds to try to return to this tournament the next time around in 2017.

Spain scored two runs in the fifth on a single by Salomon Manriquez to make it 6-5.

But Venezuela tackled on five more runs -- two in the sixth and then three in the eighth as Cabrera and Pablo Sandoval blasted back-to-back homers in front of a crowd of 13,290 at Bithorn Stadium.

As opposed to the round-robin format in the first round, the next round will be double-elimination, meaning the teams to win two games each advance and the teams which lose twice are out.

The WBC semi-finals are March 17 and 18 at San Francisco’s Park. The final game is also in San Francisco on March 19. AFP

Adam Jones (10) of USA hits a two

RBI double against Canada during the

eighth inning of the World Baseball Classic First Round

Group D game at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona, yesterday. USA

defeated Canada 9-4.

World Baseball Classic Results

Pool C

Dominican Republic 4 Puerto Rico 2

Venezuela 11 Spain 6

Pool D

USA 9 Canada 4

Second Round

Netherlands 7 Cuba 6

Oilers hand Blackhawks another lossCHICAGO: The combination of being shut out the last two games and an opponent that looked like imposters rather than the NHL’s top team for part of the game allowed the Edmonton Oilers to roll to a 6-5 win over the Chicago Blackhawks yester-day at United Center.

Edmonton came into yester-day’ game having been shut out and outscored 9-0 in its last two games, suffering a 3-0 defeat at Detroit and 6-0 at Nashville. But led by a pair of goals by Sam Gagner, the Oilers looked like world-beaters on Chicago’s home ice.

The Oilers improved to 9-11-5 with the win, while the Blackhawks suffered only their second loss in regulation time this season, dropping to a 21-2-3.

Elsewhere, the Canadiens closed out their season-long five-game roadtrip with a 5-2 vic-tory over the Panthers to remain atop the Eastern Conference standings.

Montreal (17-5-4) struck quickly on center David Desharnais’ eighth goal of the season just 1:46 into the game.

Defenceman Alexei Emelin handled the puck behind the Montreal net and found Desharnais, who skated into the Florida (7-13-6) zone. His slap shot beat Jacob Markstrom’s glove side. Right winger Brendan Gallagher also earned an assist.

In another game, the Penguins played without star center Evgeni Malkin, but Chris Kunitz and Sidney Crobsy picked up the slack, each enjoying a five-point night as Pittsburgh manhandled the New York Islanders 6-1.

Kunitz finished with three goals and two assists, and Crosby added five assists. Crosby has recorded at least one assist in eight straight games, one shy of his career high.

REUTERS

NHL ResultsNY Rangers 4 Washington 1

Columbus 3 Detroit 2

Montreal 5 Florida 2

New Jersey 3 Winnipeg 2

Pittsburgh 6 NY Islanders 1

Edmonton 6 Chicago 5

Philadelphia 3 Buffalo 2

Minnesota 4 Vancouver 2

Colorado 3 San Jose 2

Anaheim 4 St Louis 2

SPORT28 TUESDAY 12 MARCH 2013


SOP Paralympic Day at Qatar Sports Club

Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Secretary General of Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) and Saad bin Ibrahim Al Mahmoud, (first right) Minister of Education speak to young students with special needs at the opening of the Paralympic Day at Qatar Sports Club yesterday. CENTRE: Sheikh Saoud greets a young student in a wheechair. RIGHT: Participants compete in a race. The Paralympic Day featured 362 students with special needs from different centres and schools. Multiple sports events took place including table tennis, athletics and shot-put. The Paralympic Day was organised by the organising committee of the Sixth Schools Programme (SOP) under the banner ‘Sport and Investment’. SOP is an annual programme jointly organised by the QOC and the Supreme Education Council with all schools taking part in sporting activities. PICTURES BY: ABDUL BASIT

Dominant Woods claims 17th WGC title in MiamiThe 37-year-old registers his 76th PGA Tour victory

Tiger Woods poses with the Gene Sarazen Trophy after winning

the 2013 WGC-Cadillac Championship PGA golf

tournament in Miami, Florida, yesterday.

MIAMI: Tiger Woods cap-tured the WGC-Cadillac Championship at the Blue Monster course yesterday with a closing round of one-under 71 for a two-shot victory over fel-low American Steve Stricker.

Woods earned his 76th career PGA Tour win and posted his sec-ond victory of the year as he steps up his game ahead of the upcom-ing Masters tournament in April.

Woods improved to 40-2 with the outright lead going into the final round on the PGA Tour, fending off a star-studded lea-derboard yesterday to finish at 19-under 269.

The 14-time major champion-ship winner Woods sank his final putt, picked up the ball and put it in his right pocket before wav-ing his black cap to the crowd on No. 18.

“I played well this week,” said Woods, who collected $1.5m in prize money. “It was one of those weeks where I felt good about the way I was playing and I made some putts. I pretty much got it rolling.”

The 37-year-old Woods posted his 17th career WGC victory, though it was only his first in four years. He has not won a major title in almost five years but hopes to change that with a win in the 77th Masters running April 11-14.

Woods has won a handful of PGA tournaments over the past two years but this was his first in some time against an elite field with most of the top 50 players in the world competing.

Woods made it interesting at the end by making bogey on two of his last three holes.

He needed just 100 putts over the four rounds.

“It feels good, especially to

play that well this entire week on a difficult set up,” Woods said. “The greens got really quick out there today. If you left the ball in the correct spot, you could be pretty aggressive and shoot a good number.

“If you didn’t, boy you had to putt so defensively. The wind was moving the balls on the greens,” he added.

Stricker closed with a four-under 68 to finish at 17-under-par 271. Despite the impressive rally, he couldn’t make up the differ-ence between himself and Woods and finished runner-up for the second time this season.

Woods’s playing partner

Graeme McDowell, of Northern Ireland, posted a double-bogey on the final hole to finish at even-par 72. He was joined in third place at minus-14 by Sergio Garcia (69), Phil Mickelson (71) and Adam Scott (64).

McDowell blamed his putting for his downfall.

“I can’t fault my ball striking this weekend,” McDowell said. “Tee to green I did everything I had to do.

“But as these greens got firmer, faster and crustier, my pace and my speed got slower and slower. I wasn’t putting with the same authority I had on Thursday and Friday.”

American Keegan Bradley had a 71 to end alone in seventh at 12-under 276. World number one Rory McIlroy fired a seven-under 65 to finish in a tie for eighth at minus-10. He was joined by 2012 champion Justin Rose (68), Peter Hanson (70) and Michael Thompson (73).

McIlroy said he feels much bet-ter about his play after admitting recently he made a mistake by pulling out of the Honda Classic tournament earlier this month.

“I was pretty down about my game coming into this week,” McIlroy said. “A few days like I’ve played, it does my confidence a world of good.” AFP

Stricker’s generosity helps Tiger MIAMI: Steve Stricker could be forgiven for regretting he helped Tiger Woods with his putting before the WGC-Cadillac Championship, but after losing to him by two shots yesterday, Stricker said he sim-ply did what golfing buddies do.

Woods had been unhappy with his putting at the Honda Classic last week, complaining of his inability to find the touch he had displayed in his January victory at Torrey Pines. But a 45-minute session with leading putter Stricker put that right.

Asked how many strokes he thought he may have saved Woods over the week, Stricker replied: “I have no idea. Who knows? He might have putted just as well without my help.

“But he is happy, he feels really good about what he is doing on the greens and that’s a good thing, even though he clipped me by a couple of shots,” he said.

REUTERS

Cycling: Jalabert seriously injured in accident

TOULOUSE: Former cyclist Laurent Jalabert was seriously injured in a road accident yes-terday morning, French police said.

Jalabert, who won the Tour of Spain in 1995 and was world time trial champion in 1997, was on his bike when he was hit by a car travelling in the opposite direc-tion near Montauban, a town in the south of France.

“He is not in danger,” a spokes-man said.

The vehicle suddenly turned left, cutting across Jalabert who had the right of way, the police said.

The 41-year-old suffered sev-eral fractures and was briefly unconscious when the emergency services arrived.

He was transferred to hospital to undergo surgery, a source close to the former rider told French radio RTL. REUTERS

WGC-Cadillac Championship

MIAMI: Leading finishers yesterday after the fourth round of the $8.5m WGC-Cadillac Championship (USA unless noted, par 72):

269 Tiger Woods 66-65-67-71

271 Steve Stricker 67-67-69-68

274 Adam Scott (AUS) 72-70-68-64, Sergio Garcia (ESP) 66-72-67-69, Phil Mickelson 67-67-69-71, Graeme McDowell (NIR) 66-67-69-72

276 Keegan Bradley 68-68-69-71

278 Rory McIlroy (NIR) 73-69-71-65, Justin Rose (ENG) 68-72-70-68, Peter Hanson (SWE) 67-71-70-70, Michael Thompson 69-69-67-73

279 Richard Sterne 70-71-71-67, Charles Howell 68-71-69-71, Jason Dufner 69-69-69-72, Dustin Johnson 68-69-70-72

280 Freddie Jacobson (SWE) 66-69-71-74, Charl Schwartzel (RSA) 71-65-69-75

281 Nicolas Colsaerts (BEL) 71-71-67-72, Bubba Watson 66-69-71-75

282 Alexander Noren (SWE) 69-70-72-71, Webb Simpson 72-67-71-72, John Senden (AUS) 69-69-70-74

Puerto Rico Open Scores

RIO GRANDE, Puerto Rico: Final scores yesterday after the fourth round of the $3.5m PGA Tour’s Puerto Rico Open (USA unless noted, par 72):

268 Scott Brown 68-63-67-70

269 Jordan Spieth 69-66-67-67, Fabian Gomez (ARG) 69-64-65-71

270 Justin Bolli 67-69-68-66, Brian Stuard 67-69-66-68

271 Andres Romero (ARG) 65-65-75-66, Peter Uihlein 67-65-72-67

272 David Hearn (CAN) 68-67-71-66, D.J. Trahan 72-65-69-66, Boo Weekley 71-67-66-68

273 Dicky Pride 68-67-72-66, Robert Streb 71-65-70-67, Brendon de Jonge (ZIM) 70-69-65-69

274 Cameron Percy (AUS) 65-70-71-68, Vaughn Taylor 69-68-69-68, Morgan Hoffmann 67-68-68-71, Matt Jones 71-69-64-70

Al Rayyan take semis series to deciderAl Rayyan’s

Jeremeo Davidson shoots a basket during his side’s match

against Al Gharafa in the Heir Apparent

Cup semi-final at Gharafa Sports Hall yesterday.

RIGHT: Al Gharafa’s Robin

Amoke and Omar Salem

try to challenge Davidson.

PICTURES BY: KAMMUTTY VP

BY DANOTZKI SANTOS

DOHA: Al Rayyan thrashed Al Gharafa 71-52, yesterday to set up a deciding match for a place in the Heir Apparent Cup final.

Coach Brian Rowsom and the black shirts came to the game wanting to extend the series and accomplished the task virtually in three quarters.

Al Rayyan took a 56-36 advan-tage even before the final quar-ter had begun in the best-of-five semi-final match.

With their backs against the wall being down 1-2 following an 80-75 debacle in the hands of Al Gharafa in the previous match, the Al Rayyan squad fought like wounded warriors from opening buzzer.

Al Rayyan dominated the hoops at every opportunity and shack-ling their opponents with swarm-ing defence on the other end.

Relentless throughout the match, Targuy Ngombo and company led their rivals in all

departments, patrolling the boards better with 59 rebounds as against Al Gharafa’s 41, and lording it inside the paint with 36 markers versus the white shirts’ 12.

Rowsom beat his opposite number Al Gharafa’s coach Koussay Hatem with his nine-man rotation this time, drawing 42 points from his starters and 29 from the rest of his bench with each fielded dribbler chipping in 4 points or more.

The sweet-shooting and vet-eran internationalist Ngombo paced Al Rayyan with 14 points.

Mohammed Has san Mohammed added nine points while Mousa, Suleiman Braimoh and Malik Saleem Abdullah con-tributed had with eight points each.

Earl Calvin Cage Al led Gharafa with 19 points.

The decider will be played at the Al Gharafa Indoor Arena tomorrow, which will begin at 7:00pm. THE PENINSULA

Brown wins in Puerto RicoRIO GRANDE: American Scott Brown birdied the final hole, where his playing partner Fabian Gomez bogeyed, to clinch his maiden PGA Tour title by one shot at the Puerto Rico Open in Rio Grande yesterday.

Co-leader overnight with Argentine Gomez, Brown closed with a two-under-par 70 for a 20-under total of 268 at the Trump International Golf Club to claim a spot at this year’s PGA Championship.

Brown, who had tied for fifth here 12 months ago in his rookie season on the PGA Tour, also earned a winner’s cheque for $630,000.

Gomez led by a shot playing the par-five last but fell back with his late bogey as he signed off with a 71. REUTERS

Emir Cup Show Jumping

29SPORT TUESDAY 12 MARCH 2013


A participant takes part in the Emir

Cup Show Jumping competition in New Al Rayyan

yesterday. BELOW: Qatar Equestrian

Federation President Hamad bin Abdulrahman al Attiyah (right)

along with an official watch the action. The competition concludes today.

PICTURES BY: JUHAIM

Djokovic, Murray battle through at Indian WellsTsonga, Almagro and Haas progress to the third round INDIAN WELLS, California: Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic and third seed Andy Murray both had to work much harder than expected to book their places in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open yesterday.

Top seed Djokovic lost his bearings in the second set before beating Italy’s Fabio Fognini 6-0, 5-7, 6-2 while Murray had to dig himself out of an early hole on the way to a 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 win against Russian Evgeny Donskoy.

“It was definitely a difficult challenge today (yesterday),” Serbian Djokovic said courtside after breaking the feisty Fognini in the fourth and eighth games of the third set to claim victory.

“Fabio played very well towards the end of the second set but it was all my fault,” said the world number one, who squandered one match point in the 10th game of that set before being broken in the 11th when he netted a forehand.

“I had a very bad game at 4-2, made a couple of unforced errors, got him back in the match. Next thing you know we’re one set all and a couple of tight games. I’m just happy to get through.”

Djokovic, who had stormed through the opening set in just 19 minutes, wrapped up his fourth win in four matches against Fognini when the 36th-ranked Italian netted a backhand.

The Serb, a perfect 14-0 this year after winning the Australian Open in January and the Dubai Championships last week, will next meet Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, a 6-4, 6-4 win-ner against Australia’s Matthew Ebden.

“My confidence level is high obviously because of the run I had this year,” Djokovic said. “Game-wise, everything works. I feel good about myself.”

US Open champion Murray, showing signs of rust in his first tournament on the ATP circuit for six weeks, lost a wildly fluc-tuating opening set, where he trailed 1-5 at one point, before seizing control of the match.

In blazing desert sunshine at

Andy Murray of Britain scratches his head after he challenged a line call during his match against Evgeny Donskoy of Russia at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, yesterday. RIGHT: Novak Djokovic of Serbia talks to the chair umpire during a changeover after he was warned of a time violation while serving against Fabio Fognini of Italy during their match.

Indian Wells ATP Masters and WTA

ResultsINDIAN WELLS, California: Results yester-day from the fifth day of the ATP Masters and WTA BNP Paribas Open (x denotes seeded player):

Men’s Second Round: Marinko Matosevic (AUS) bt Juan Monaco (ARG x14) 7-5, 6-0; Marin Cilic (CRO x12) bt Albert Ramos (ESP) 7-6 (9/7), 6-2; Milos Raonic (CAN x17) bt Michael Llodra (FRA) walkover; Mardy Fish (USA x32) bt Bobby Reynolds (USA) 6-3, 3-6, 6-4; Andy Murray (GBR x3) bt Evgeny Donskoy (RUS) 5-7, 6-2, 6-2; Lu Yen-Hsun (TPE) bt Martin Klizan (SVK x26) 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/5); Bjorn Phau (GER) bt Jeremy Chardy (FRA x25) 6-2, 2-6, 6-4; Carlos Berlocq (ARG) bt Alexandr Dolgopolov (UKR x22) 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3; Juan Martin del Potro (ARG x7) bt Nikolay Davydenko (RUS) 6-3, 6-4; Nicolas Almagro (ESP x11) bt Daniel Gimeno-Traver (ESP) 7-5, 6-1; Tommy Haas (GER x19) bt Pablo Andujar (ESP) 6-3, 7-6 (7/0); Kei Nishikori (JPN x16) bt Philipp Petzschner (GER) 6-3, 6-2; Novak Djokovic (SRB x1) bt Fabio Fognini (ITA) 6-0, 5-7, 6-2; Sam Querrey (USA x23) bt Ivo Karlovic (CRO) 6-3, 6-4; Grigor Dimitrov (BUL x31) bt Matthew Ebden (AUS) 6-4, 6-4.

Women’s Third Round: Klara Zakopalova (CZE x19) bt Dominika Cibulkova (SVK x12) 6-4, 7-5; Maria Kirilenko (RUS x13) bt Mallory Burdette (USA) 6-3, 4-6, 6-2; Sara Errani (ITA x6) bt Johanna Larsson (SWE) 6-3, 6-1; Maria Sharapova (RUS x2) bt Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP x25) 7-5, 6-3; Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino (ESP) bt Roberta Vinci (ITA x14) 2-6, 6-4, 6-4; Agnieszka Radwanska (POL x3) bt Sorana Cirstea (ROM x27) 6-7 (3/7), 6-3, 6-4; Petra Kvitova (CZE x5) bt Lesia Tsurenko (UKR) 6-2, 7-6 (7/5); Marion Bartoli (FRA x9) bt Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) 6-4, 6-3.

Indian Wells, the 25-year-old Scotsman broke Donskoy’s serve twice in the second set and also in the third before sealing victory after two hours 17 minutes when his opponent sent a backhand service return long.

“I’ve struggled here the past couple of years, I haven’t won a match,” said Murray, who had not played competitively since losing to Djokovic in the Australian Open final.

“I was a little bit nervous in the beginning and he started very, very well ... he came up with some unbelievable shots. I just tried to hang in there and was hitting the ball much better by the second set.”

World number three Murray, a runner-up at Indian Wells in 2009 and a losing quarter-final-ist in 2010, said he had initially

struggled against the 83rd-ranked Russian’s style of play.

“I never saw him play before, so you don’t know the patterns particularly well,” he added. “He’s pretty smart on the court, too. He doesn’t kind of go for shots that aren’t on and doesn’t make many mistakes.

In other matches, American Mardy Fish made a triumphant return to the ATP Tour after being sidelined since last year’s US Open because of a heart con-dition, battling past compatriot Bobby Reynolds 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.

Eighth-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat American wildcard James Blake 7-6, 6-4, Nicolas Almagro swept past fel-low Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver 7-5, 6-1 and Germany’s Tommy Haas beat Spaniard Pablo Andujar 6-3, 7-6. REUTERS

Fish thrilled to make winning ATP returnINDIAN WELLS, California: Simply being back on the tennis court felt like a victory for Mardy Fish yesterday after the American returned to action following a lengthy recovery from a heart condition.

The fact that he was able to fight back from a break down in the third set to seal a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 win against compatriot Bobby Reynolds.

Rhe 31-year-old Fish won the last four games to book his place in the third round.

“It’s been a tough few months, for sure,” said Fish, who was embraced at the net by qualifier Reynolds at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden after the match.

“You sort of feel like it was a win just to get back out there. There are a lot of people that have dealt with what I’ve dealt with and not come back,” he told reporters.

“It’s nice to just play, first and foremost, and then you get out there and you want to win. I certainly didn’t expect to win so soon. REUTERS

Qatar’s Al Kuwari claims WRC 2 victoryLEÓN, Mexico: Qatar’s Abdulaziz Al Kuwari was in a class of his own in win-ning the WRC 2 category in the 10th Rally Guanajuato Mexico in León, yesterday.

The Ford Fiesta RRC driver finished 12th overall on his Mexican debut and a stag-gering 9min 14.6sec ahead of Peruvian WRC 2 runner-up Nicolás Fuchs.

“I thought that it would be difficult but we started well,” said Al Kuwari.

“Thanks to Seashore and to M-Sport. All was okay and I am very happy to do 400km with no mistakes.”

Elsewhere, Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia to record their second successive FIA World Rally Championship victory.

The Frenchman’s huge win-ning margin of 3min 28.9sec also marked the first gravel success for Volkswagen’s new Polo R WRC and the ninth WRC win in Ogier’s relatively short career – his first came with Citroën in Portugal in 2010.

Ogier was able to slow his pace through the final stages, but he did manage to claim the maximum three extra points on the Power Stage to extend his lead. THE PENINSULA

Testing problems no worry for RaikkonenBARCELONA: Kimi Raikkonen shrugged off Lotus’s pre-season testing problems yesterday and said his new car felt better than last year’s going into Formula One’s Australian season-opener.

“We had some problems in testing but we still completed quite a few laps. Of course, you always want more laps, but it is what it is,” Raikkonen said in a team preview for Sunday’s race in Melbourne.

“I’m not really concerned about reliability or anything like that as it was the same problem which caused us the biggest problems in testing and we’re on top of that now,” the Formula One driver added. REUTERS

Doha to host World 9-Ball Championship in SeptemberDOHA: For the fourth straight year, Doha will host the Men’s World 9-Ball Championship in September.

Hosted by the Qatar Billiards and Snooker Federation, the tournament will be held from September 2 to 13.

Great Britain’s Darren Appleton is the defending cham-pion, after the Briton beat China’s Li Hei Wen, to claim his first World 9-Ball crown.

THE PENINSULA

WPA sanctioned events for 2013

World 8-Ball Championship - May 5 to 11 Dubai - UAE

China Open - May 13 to 19, Shanghai - China

World 10-Ball Championship - 8 to 15 June, Oslo - Norway

Ultimate 10-Ball - 17 to 20 June, Mississippi, USA

World Artistic Championship - 18 to 21 July, USA

World 9-Ball Championship - 2 to 13 September, Doha - Qatar

World Cup of Pool - 17 to 22 September, Venue TBA

Nicaragua Open - 1 to 6 October, Managua - Nicaragua

International Challenge of Champions - 15 to 18 October, Connecticut - USA

World Pool Masters - 25 to 27 October, Venue TBA

All Japan Championship - 18 to 24 November, Tokyo - Japan

Mosconi Cup - 2 to 5 December, Las Vegas - USA

SPORT30TUESDAY 12 MARCH 2013


Australia sack four playersVice-captain Watson and three others dropped for breach of disciplineCHANDIGARH: Australia yesterday dumped four crick-eters, including vice-captain Shane Watson, for a breach of team discipline thus leaving them out of reckoning for the third Test against India starting March 14.

The decision was announced here by coach Mickey Arthur and team manager Gavin Dovey as Australia continued their prepa-rations for the third Test starting here March 14. Australia trail the four-match series 0-2.

All the four cricketers -- vice-captain Shane Watson, James Pattinson, Usman Khawaja and Mitchell Johnson-- had a strong chance of featuring among the eleven in the third Test.

Arthur said the players were sideline from selection because they failed to deliver a presenta-tion, which the management had asked all the players to do fol-lowing the team’s heavy defeats in the first two Tests in Chennai and Hyderabad.

The players were given five days to submit three points on what they bring in the team either by mail or in person. But the four players failed to meet the deadline.

Arthur said the team manage-ment took the harsh decision to maintain high standards in team discipline.

“We pride ourselves on atti-tude. We did give the players a huge amount of latitude to get culture and attitude right. Be we believe that those behaviours are not consistent with what we want to do with this team and how we want to make this team the best in the world again,” Arthur told reporters here.

The South African said the four players didn’t meet the require-ments and won’t be available for selection.

“We believe that these four players unfortunately did not meet the requirements and so they are not available for selec-tion for this Test match,” said Arthur, adding that the quartet would be available for the final

Test in Delhi. Arthur said after the defeat in Hyderabad that he had asked the players to give an individual presentation.

“I asked them to give me three points from each of them techni-cally, mentally and team as to how we were going to bounce back in the next couple of games,” Arthur said.

The coach said though the incident may seem very small in isolation, but “this is a line in the sand moment for us”.

“We have given these guys absolute clarity, we have given this team a huge amount of time to buy in with what we want to do for the Australian cricket team. We have given a vision to these guys, we’ve given an expectation that is spelt out,” he said.

Arthur said it was the tough-est decision for him, manager Gavin Dovey and captain Michael Clarke.

“It’s a tough, tough decision. The message that it sends to all involved in Australian cricket is that we are pretty serious about where we want to take this team,” he said.

Meanwhile, wicketkeeper-bats-man Brad Haddin could replace Wade in the Australia squad in the upcoming third Test match at Mohali against India.

Cricket Australia (CA) announced that Wade’s scans have confirmed a sprained right ankle. Given the uncertainty of Wade’s availability, Haddin will fly from Australia to Mohali to join the squad.

Australian team physiothera-pist Alex Kountouris said: “Matt has a complex ankle injury which has been confirmed by the scans and at this stage is in doubt for the third Test starting on Thursday.

A final decision on whether he will be available for the third Test will be made closer to the match.

India currently lead the four-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2-0 with the next two matches to be played at Mohali (March 14-18) and New Delhi (March 22-26). IANS

Australian batsman David Warner and Shane Watson in action in the first Test match of the four-match Test series against India in Chennai in this file picture of February 22, 2013.

Watson contemplating retirementCHANDIGARH: Sacked from the team for breach of discipline, Australian vice-cap-tain Shane Watson said he was contemplating retiring from Test cricket. An angry Watson said he was shattered with the team management’s decision.

“Any time you’re suspended for a Test match unless you do something unbelievably wrong, and obviously everyone knows what those rules are - I think it is very harsh,” Watson told media persons here.

Watson, along with James Pattinson, Usman Khawaja and Mitchell Johnson were dropped for the third Test for breach

of discipline. The players were given five days to submit three points on what they bring in the team either by mail or in per-son. But the four players failed to meet the deadline.

The Australian vice-captain packed up his bag and left for home, saying he needed to be with his pregnant wife Lee. Watson and his wife are expect-ing their first child later this month.

Watson, 31, said he is at the stage of his career where he was weighing up his future.

“I’m at a stage where I’m sort of weighing up my future and what I want to do with my

cricket in general to be honest. I do love playing, there is no doubt about that but I’m going to spend the next few weeks with my family and just weigh up my options of just exactly what direction I want to go.

“There are a lot more impor-tant things in life - I certainly do love playing cricket and that passion is still there and I feel like I’m in the prime years of my cricket career.

From that perspective I still feel like I’ve got a lot to give. But from a holistic perspective I’ve got to sit down with my family and decide which directions they are,” he said. IANS

Zimbabwe hope to make up for lost time in Test arena BRIDGETOWN: Zimbabwe’s stuttering return to Test cricket continues in Barbados today when they start their first series in more than seven years against West Indies.

Zimbabwe ended a six-year hia-tus from Test cricket two years ago but have played just four sin-gle Tests over the last 19 months, leaving them with sparse experi-ence ahead of the Caribbean trip.

The two-Test series against the Windies is their first since India toured Zimbabwe in September 2005 after which a player dispute over political interference led to a rapid decline in their fortunes.

The opening encounter in Bridgetown is followed by a sec-ond Test in Dominica, starting on March 20. It is the last for Zimbabwe under coach Alan Butcher, who departs his post after the trip, leaving the team’s future direction unclear.

Captain Brendan Taylor was critical last month of a decision to leave home several key support staff from the tour party, includ-ing batting coach Grant Flower and bowling coach Heath Streak.

The West Indies will not be eas-ing up on Zimbabwe despite their relatively easy success in the pre-ceding limited overs series, head coach Ottis Gibson has warned.

The regional side encoun-tered little resistance as they blew away the Zimbabweans 2-0 in the Twenty20 series and also swept the three-match One-Day International series.

With the first Test of the two-match series bowling off in a matter of days, Gibson said he expected his side to take fresh guard.

“The interesting thing is we play three different formats with some new players coming in, so hopefully those players will bring a new focus,” Gibson told a media conference yesterday.

AGENCIES

QFA, Qatar Shell launch Il’Ab We’Yana programmeDOHA: Qatar Football Association (QFA) and Qatar Shell yesterday officially launched Il’Ab We’Yana, an extra-curricular school pro-gramme based on the FutbolNet methodology created by FC Barcelona Foundation, which uses football as a means to develop healthy habits and posi-tive behavioural change, provid-ing children with an extra four hours of non-competitive physi-cal education per week.

Il’Ab We’Yana, which is part of the broader Koora Time initia-tive announced by the QFA and Qatar Shell in February, has been launched with three kick-off fes-tivals in Doha and Al Khor.

The festivals were attended by 1,000 children aged 7 to 12 years from 33 schools across Qatar.

Il’Ab We’Yana will run for 40 weeks. Sessions will be two hours in length and will be held twice a week after school at 14 different venues across the country ensur-ing sessions are easily accessible within each community.

The programme will therefore provide each child with an addi-tional 160 hours of physical activ-ity over its 40 weeks duration.

“Following the very success-ful launch of Koora Time, we are thrilled to introduce this proven programme Il’Ab We’Yana, as part of our broader initiative. This will further our ultimate goal of moti-vating, facilitating and educating Qatari youth to pursue an active and healthy lifestyle through foot-ball,” said Saoud Al Mohannadi, General Secretary, QFA.

“These are exciting times for us and our partner the QFA. Il’Ab We’Yana gives children across the country access to more football which in turn will lead to health-ier youth, and a better future for Qatar.

This programme carries for-ward the Koora Time movement, through which we aim to inspire

behavioural change towards health and fitness through foot-ball in line with our support to Qatar’s National Development Strategy and Qatar National Vision 2030,” said Wael Sawan, Managing Director and Chairman of Qatar Shell Companies.

“It is so great to see this pro-gramme kicked off in Qatar – from the immense energy we have seen on the pitch today, Il’Ab We’Yana has had an extremely positive start. We are proud to join hands with QFA and Qatar Shell for this programme, and look forward to transferring the positive impact that we have seen with this progamme in the past to Qatar’s youth through this football activation,” said Ramon Cierco, FC Barcelona Foundation Vice President.

The key to FutbolNet is dia-logue said the Barca official.

“Through this tool (FutbolNet), players not only enter into a rela-tionship of mutual respect and understanding, but also gain self-confidence and a sense of respon-sibility,” added Cierco.

The FutbolNet project was put into practice last season in 20 cit-ies of Catalonia, in collaboration with their councils.

The project beneficiaries are groups of children and young people aged between 8 and 16 years, selected by regional organi-zations that collaborate in the implementation.

“FutbolNet is also implemented in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), and together with Shell in Oman, Qatar and Iraq,” in formed the official.

Il’Ab We’Yana will provide participants with six teaching modules, focusing on water and hydration; fruits, vegetables, and grains; harmful effects of fast food and snacks; fat and sugar; break-fast and sleep; and tobacco, as well as footballing tips for a healthy lifestyle. THE PENINSULA

Saoud Al Mohannadi, General Secretary of QFA, during the launch of the Il’Ab We’Yana in Doha, yesterday. RIGHT: Ramon Cierco (left), Wael Sawan (second left), Managing Director and Chairman of Qatar Shell Company, Sheikh Thani bin Thamer Al Thani (third right), Deputy Managing Director of Qatar Shell, Saoud Al Mohannadi (second right), and Rob Sherwin General Manager Corporate Affairs & Deputy Country Chairman, Qatar Shell Company speaking to journalists during the launch ceremony.

Officials of Qatar Football Association (QFA), Qatar Shell, and FC Barcelona Foundation during the launch of the Il’Ab We’Yana, an extra-curricular school programme based on the FutbolNet methodology created by FC Barcelona Foundation, in Doha yesterday. RIGHT: Ramon Cierco, Vice President of FC Barcelona Foundation, during the launch. PICTURES BY KAMMUTTY VP

31 SPORT TUESDAY 12 MARCH 2013


Barca bids for comeback over Milan in Champions LeagueArsenal face tough task against Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena LONDON: Barcelona face a crossroads in their season today when they attempt to overturn their Round of 16 first leg defeat at AC Milan and stay on course for a fourth Champions League final in eight seasons.

Anything less than a quick return to form after their 2-0 defeat in the first leg in Milan on Feb. 20 will probably see Barcelona follow Manchester United, who they beat in the 2009 and 2011 finals, through the exit door. Arsenal, who lost to Barcelona in the 2006 final, are also expected to be eliminated unless they can overturn their 3-1 defeat against German champions-elect Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena.

The Round of 16 will be com-pleted this week with Schalke 04 going into their home leg against Galatasaray as favour-ites to advance after drawing 1-1 in Turkey and Malaga seeking to maximise home advantage in their attempt to overturn their 1-0 defeat at Porto in the first game.

If Barca are to join arch-rivals Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund,

Juventus and Paris St Germain, who all made it through to the quarter-finals last week, they need to rediscover the kind of football that has been the envy of Europe for the last six years.

Many observers though, have written off their chances with the Sunday Times in London say-ing: “Barcelona will presumably secure the Spanish league cham-pionship... but the sense grows that the light has dimmed, the magic has faded and the era of glory is over.”

That obituary may be a little premature but two defeats to Real Madrid, in the King’s Cup and La Liga while coach Tito Vilanova undergoes treatment for throat cancer, has not strengthened the belief that Barcelona can see off Milan.

Barca’s assistant coach Jordi Roura rested Lionel Messi and five of his Spain internationals for their 2-0 win over bottom-of-the-table Deportivo La Coruna in La Liga on Saturday, but Messi showed he had not lost his touch when he came off the bench and scored for a world record 17th successive league match.

The resurgent Alexis Sanchez had nodded Barca in front in the 38th minute.

“The team played very well defensively,” Roura told a news conference.

“We managed to keep a clean sheet and for us that’s important. It helps us ahead of the match on Tuesday.”

Milan, the seven times European champions, are on the crest of a wave following their surprise win over Barcelona in the first leg although they are stretched upfront for the trip to

Ronaldo double sees Madrid past Celta VigoMADRID: Real Madrid reg-istered their sixth consecu-tive victory in all competitions as two goals from Cristiano Ronaldo led them to a 2-1 win over Celta Vigo.

Despite dominating for long spells in the first-half, Madrid couldn’t find a way past Celta goalkeeper Javi Varas until just after the hour mark when Ronaldo swept home a loose ball from close range.

The lead lasted barely two minutes as Iago Aspas’ deflected effort wrong-footed Diego Lopez to bring Celta level.

However, for all his good work in the first-half, Varas was at fault for the winner as he clipped Kaka inside the area and Ronaldo stepped up to smash home the penalty for his 42nd goal of the season.

Jose Mourinho again rested a number of first-team regulars as he made seven changes from the side that defeated Manchester United in midweek.

Pepe was one of those recalled to the line-up and he stressed that it is important for Real to continue winning in the league, even if the Champions League and Copa del Rey are now their primary targets.

“We missed quite a lot of chances in the first half, but the team knew how to get through the difficult moments, fought hard and in the end the victory was deserved,” he said.

“As Real Madrid players we are very concentrated on what we have to do.

“It will be very difficult to fight for the league but any player that puts on the Madrid shirt always has to be motivated and honour the jersey.”

The changes did seem to have an effect early on as Celta started the stronger, but Madrid slowly started to take control and only a host of saves from Varas pre-vented them going into the break with a comfortable lead.

Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Marcelo were all denied by Varas before Jose Maria Callejon also fired wastefully at the ‘keeper when clean through on goal and Ronaldo hit the bar with a header from close range.

Xabi Alonso was introduced for Sami Khedira at the break and with the Spanish interna-tional orchestrating the midfield, Madrid finally went in front 16 minutes into the second-half.

Callejon’s shot from the edge of the area after a corner had been punched clear by Varas was blocked, but Ronaldo was on hand to sweep the loose ball into an empty net.

However, Celta levelled with their next attack as Aspas spun inside the area and saw his shot deflect off Pepe into the net with Lopez stranded.

Ronaldo came to the rescue again, though, with 19 minutes remaining as he converted his second of the evening from the penalty spot after Kaka had been felled by Varas.

Real’s win took them into sec-ond place as Atletico Madrid suffered their first home league defeat of the season against Real Sociedad. AFP

Qatar’s Eljaish looking for first victory in ACLDOHA: Iran Pro League runners-up Tractorsazi will be looking to build on their impressive home win over Al Jazira last month when they take on Qatar’s Eljaish in the AFC Champions League (ACL) Group A match here today.

Roared on by a 70,000 crowd at Yadegar Emam Stadium, Mehdi Seyed-Salehi, Javad Kazemeyan and Masoud Ebrahimzadeh scored as Antonio Oliveira’s side made the ideal start to their maiden continental campaign.

Oliveira will be without Mohammad Ebrahimi today after the striker was sent-off against Al Jazira, although midfielder Ghasem Dehnavi is available after missing the win in Tabriz due to suspension.

“Our aim is to get a second vic-tory, but this doesn’t mean that the match will be easy as we will be playing away and Eljaish will be trying to make a good come-back after their defeat against Al Shabab,” said Oliveira.

“Winning against Al Jazira gave us a lot of motivation, but the match will be very hard against El Jaish who have good players and they will start the match with an attacking plan and we must be ready to face such a performance.”

Eljaish head into the contest after beating Al Wakra 1-0 in the Qatar Stars League (QSL) at the end of last week, although coach Razvan Lucescu will be without striker Abdulqadir Ilyas due to a hamstring injury.

“We are ready for the match although we are going to play against a team who haven’t lost in their last 10 matches. Tractor (sazi) have good organisation and we must play very well against them and have a better perform-ance to win the match,” said Romanian coach Lucescu.

“We have a lot of motivation to get a good result and we learnt a lot from the first match against Al Shabab (Saudi Arabia) as our players gained some experience

of the competition and we must start the game well if we want to get a good result,” he added.

Eljaish lost 2-0 to Al Shabab, Saudi Arabia in their first match of the group.

In today’s other match, QSL defending champions Lekhwiya take on Al Ettifaq of Saudi Arabia in the Group B encounter in Dammam.

The Eric Gerets coached side will be looking to consolidate their position in the group having won the first match 2-1 against Al Shabab Al Arabi of UAE in the home match.

The Saudi Arabian side on the other hand began their campaign on the losing note going down 1-0 to Pakhtakor of Uzbekistan.

Two other Qatari clubs, Al

Rayyan and Al Gharafa will be in action tomorrow.

In Group C, Al Ahli embark on their 2013 campaign with a home match against Qatari side Al Gharafa tomorrow at King Abdulaziz Sport City in Sharayea.

In other match involving a Qatari club tomorrow, Al Rayyan host Esteghlal in a repeat of their opening fixture a year ago when the Iranian side won 1-0 at the Al Rayyan Stadium thanks to a stoppage-time winner by Goran Jerkovic.

Among other fixtures this week, 2006 winners Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors play Guangzhou Evergrande in Jeonju, and 2007 champions Urawa Reds host Muangthong United, both today.

THE PENINSULA

the Nou Camp. Mario Balotelli is ineligible after playing for Manchester City in the group stage and Giampaolo Pazzini is out after limping off with a leg injury in Friday’s 2-0 win over Genoa.

Stephan El Shaarawy is likely to lead the line for a side who have rocketed up to third place in Serie A after a superb run of form and fancy their chances of progressing on aggregate against

mighty Barca. “We are going to have to play better in Barcelona than we did at home,” Milan boss Massimiliano Allegri told report-ers. Another team enjoying a two-goal advantage going into the deciding leg are Bayern Munich, last year’s runners-up, will also carry a two-goal cushion into the deciding leg after outplaying Arsenal in London.

Manager Arsene Wenger, recognising the enormity of the

task his men face, said Arsenal would have to “gamble a little bit” tomorrow. His observation was something of an understate-ment as they need to score at least three goals in order to save the tie. With Borussia already through and Bayern virtu-ally there, Schalke, who will be without the suspended Jermaine Jones, can make it three German teams in the last eight if they see off Galatasaray. REUTERS

Schalke’s head coach Jens Keller attends a press conference in Gelsenkirchen, western Germany, on the eve of their Champions League match against Galatasaray Istanbul. RIGHT: Barcelona’s defender Gerard Pique gives a press conference at the FC Barcelona Sports Center in Sant Joan Despi, near Barcelona, on the eve of the Champions League match against AC Milan.

AFC Champions League Fixtures

SHANGHAI: AFC Champions League fixtures this week:

Playing Today

Group A

At Doha

El Jaish (QAT) vs Tractorsazi Tabriz (IRI) at 6:30 pm (1530 GMT)

At Abu Dhabi

Al Jazira (UAE) vs Al Shabab (KSA) at 7:30 pm (1530 GMT)

Group B

At Dubai

Al Shabab Al Arabi (UAE) vs Pakhtakor (UZB) at 7:15 pm (1515 GMT)

At Dammam

Al Ettifaq (KSA) vs Lekhwiya (QAT) at 7:45 pm (1645 GMT)

Group E

At Buriram

Buriram United (THA) vs FC Seoul (KOR) at 6:00 pm (1100 GMT)

At Nanjing

Jiangsu Sainty (CHN) vs Vegalta Sendai (JPN) at 7:40 pm (1140 GMT)

Group F

At Jeonju

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors (KOR) vs Guangzhou Evergrande (CHN) 7:00 pm

(1000 GMT)

At Saitama

Urawa Red Diamonds (JPN) vs Muangthong United (THA) at 7:30 pm (1030 GMT)

Playing Tomorrow

Group C

At Doha

Al Gharafa (QAT) vs Foolad Mobarakeh Sepahan (IRI) 6:15 pm (1515 GMT)

At Dubai

Al Nasr (UAE) vs Al Ahli (KSA) at 8:00 pm (1600 GMT)

Group D

At Tehran

Esteghlal (IRI) vs Al Ain (UAE) 7:00 pm (1530 GMT)

At Riyadh

Al Hilal (KSA) vs Al Rayyan (QAT) at 8:35 pm (1735 GMT)

Group G

At Beijing

Beijing Guoan (CHN) vs Sanfrecce Hiroshima (JPN) at 7:30 pm (1130 GMT)

At Tashkent

Bunyodkor (UZB) vs Pohang Steelers (KOR) at 5:00 pm (1200 GMT)

Group H

At Kashiwa

Kashiwa Reysol (JPN) vs Central Coast Mariners (AUS) at 7:00 pm (1000 GMT)

At Suwon

Suwon Bluewings (KOR) vs Guizhou Renhe (CHN) at 7:30 pm (1030 GMT)

Spanish La Liga Results

MADRID: Spanish La Liga results on Sunday:

Athletic Bilbao 1 (Muniain 79) Valencia 0

Levante 0 Getafe 0

Celta Vigo 1 (Aspas 63) Real Madrid 2 (Cristiano Ronaldo 61, 71-pen)

Atletico Madrid 0 Real Sociedad 1 (X. Prieto 53)

Monday

Real Zaragoza vs Grenada

Saturday

Rayo Vallecano 2 (Dominguez 9, Piti 77) Espanyol 0

Valladolid 1 (Manucho 41) Malaga 1 (Demichelis 8)

Barcelona 2 (Sanchez 38, Messi 88) Deportivo La Coruna 0

Real Mallorca 2 (Alfaro 16, 66) Sevilla 1 (Negredo 61)

Friday

Real Betis 2 (Molina 19, Ruben Castro 79) Osasuna 1 (Silva 73)

Champions League Last-16 Fixtures

Champions League last-16, sec-ond-leg fixtures (all matches 1945 GMT, first-leg score in brackets).

Playing Today

Schalke 04 vs Galatasaray (1-1)

Barcelona vs AC Milan (0-2)

Playing tomorrow

Malaga vs Porto (0-1)

Bayern Munich vs Arsenal (3-1)

FIFA suspends Executive Committee memberManilalPARIS: Sri Lankan Fernando Manilal, a member of world gov-erning body FIFA’s Executive Committee member, has been provisionally suspended from all football-related activities for 90 days, FIFA said yesterday.

Without going into details of Manilal’s alleged transgressions, FIFA said in a statement it was suspending him in the wake of an investigation opened in October 2012 “in order to prevent inter-ference with the establishment of the truth” regarding ethics proceedings.

“The proceedings relate to for-mal ethics charges brought in a final report filed by the chairman of the investigatory chamber with the chairman of the adjudica-tory chamber. This report is the result of investigatory proceed-ings opened in October 2012,” FIFA stated.

Manilal, 63, represents the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and has sat on FIFA’s Executive Committee since 2011.

His suspension is thought to be related to the ban on scandal-hit ex-AFC chief Mohamed bin Hammam.

Bin Hammam, 63, was accused of trying to buy votes in FIFA’s 2011 presidential vote as he chal-lenged Sepp Blatter to lead the global body, and was banned from football.

The businessman formally resigned as AFC head in December, shortly after FIFA’s ethics committee launched a new probe into corruption claims against him and remains suspended from football, despite having a FIFA life ban overturned last year.

Fernando accompanied Hammam on a trip to garner support from Caribbean nations ahead of FIFA’s 2011 presidential poll. AFP

Dame Traore (left) of Qatar’s Lekhwiya fights for the ball with Hassan Safar of UAE’s Al-Shabab during their AFC Champions League match at the Abdulla Bin Khalifa Stadium in Doha, in this file picture of February 27, 2013. Lekhwiya won 2-1.

Tuesday 12 March 201330 Rabial II Safar 1434

Volume 18Number 5636

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Heat burn Pacers for 18th straight win

Barca bids for comeback over Milan

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Rahim leads Bangladesh run-spree Skipper becomes first Bangladesh player to score double ton; Sri Lanka reach 116-1 GALLE, Sri Lanka: Mushfiqur Rahim yesterday became the first Bangladeshi to crack a dou-ble-century while Nasir Hossain hit a maiden ton as the tourists gained a 68-run lead in the first Test against Sri Lanka.

Skipper Rahim hit a solid 200 and Hossain an impressive 100 as Bangladesh were bowled out for 638, their highest total in 76

Tests, in reply to Sri Lanka’s first-innings total of 570-4 declared.

The hosts reached 116-1 in their second innings at stumps on the penultimate day of the Test, which appears to be heading for a draw in Galle. Opener Tillakaratne Dilshan was unbeaten on 63 and Kumar Sangakkara 49 not out.

Rahim’s memorable moment came in the second over after

lunch when he pushed pace-man Nuwan Kulasekara for a single to the covers on a day when Mohammad Ashraful (190) missed out on his own Test double-hundred.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Rahim, 24, was trapped leg-before by Kulasekara in the same over, but not before helping Bangladesh surpass their previous highest Test total of 556 against the West Indies in Dhaka last year.

“I am feeling great,” said Rahim.

“It was my dream to score a Test hundred and thought if I get a chance to bat long I will probably go for a long innings. Ashraful really batted well and also Nasir. We are really happy with our overall batting performance.

“Tomorrow is day five, so anything can happen. If we can manage to draw it will be a huge relief for us. Our main target in Test matches is to play consistent cricket.”

Bangladesh, who dominated the match for a second successive

day with their solid batting, also became only the third team after India and Pakistan to score 600 or more in a Test innings in Sri Lanka.

Rahim, 152 overnight, hit one six and 22 fours in his bril-liant 321-ball knock. He put on a record 267 for the fifth wicket with Ashraful and 106 for the next with Hossain.

Bangladesh’s previous high-est stand for any wicket in Tests was 200 between Tamim Iqbal and Junaid Siddique against India in Dhaka in 2010.

Hossain was caught at mid-wicket by Sangakkara off part-time spinner Dilshan after hitting nine fours.

Ashraful, playing his first Test in more than a year, added just one to his overnight score when he went for a rash drive off left-arm spinner Rangana Herath and edged a catch to captain Angelo Mathews at first slip.

He occupied the crease for more than a day, hitting one six and 20 fours in his marathon 417-ball knock. AFP

Bangladeshi captain Mushfiqur Rahim raises his bat and helmet in celebra-tion after scoring a double century during the fourth day of the opening Test match at the Galle International Cricket Stadium in Galle, yesterday.

Sri Lanka (I innings): ................ 570-4 declBangladesh (I innings):Jahurul Islam c Chandimal b Eranga ........... 20Anamul Haque b Mendis ........................... 13Mohd Ashraful c Mathews b Herath .......... 190Mominul Haque c Mathews b Kulasekara ... 55Mohd Mahmudullah st Chandimal b Herath .. 0Mushfiqur Rahim lbw Kulasekara ............. 200Nasir Hossain c Sangakkara b Dilshan ...... 100Sohag Gazi c Vithanage b Mendis .............. 21Abul Hasan (not out) .................................. 16Elias Sunny c Chandimal b Dilshan............... 0Shahadat Hossain b Eranga ....................... 13Extras (B-2, LB-1, NB-7) ........................... 10Total (all out) ........................................ 638Fall of wickets: 1-23, 2-65, 3-170, 4-177,

5-444, 6-550, 7-581, 8-618, 9-618, 10-638.Bowling: Kulasekara 27-3-94-2 (nb1); Eranga 34-4-122-2 (nb6); Herath 62-11-161-2; Mendis 36-3-152-2; Mathews 9-2-18-0; Dilshan 26-5-75-2; Thirimanne 2-0-13-0.Sri Lanka (II innings):D Karunaratne c Hasan b Hossain ................ 3T Dilshan (batting) ..................................... 63K Sangakkara (batting) .............................. 49Extras (NB-1) .............................................. 1Total (for 1 wkt) ................................... 116Fall of wicket: 1-17.Bowling: Hossain 5-1-18-1 (nb1), Hasan 5-0-15-0, Gazi 9-1-37-0, Sunny 5-0-14-0, Mo-minul 3-0-13-0, Ashraful 1-0-10-0, Mah-mudullah 2-0-9-0.

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