QATAR | Page 8

SPORT | Page 12

INDEX
QATAR

4 12, 32
13

REGION
ARAB WORLD

13 15

INTERNATIONAL 16 29

30, 31

COMMENT
BUSINESS

1 5, 12 16

CLASSIFIED

6 12

SPORTS

1 12

HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim

bin Hamad al-Thani, who is
the chairman of the Supreme
Council for Economic Affairs and
Investment, yesterday chaired
the councils fifth meeting in
2015 at the Emiri Diwan. HH the
Deputy Emir Sheikh Abdullah
bin Hamad al-Thani, who is the
council vice president, attended
the meeting along with HE the
Prime Minister and Interior
Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin
Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani, the
councils executive member, and
its other members. Page 4
QATAR | Programme

Right to health
campaign launch
The National Human Rights
Committee and Primary Health
Care Corporation are to launch
a campaign titled the right
to health and the obligation
to preserve it. The campaign,
which aimed at educating all
segments of society in Qatar
about their rights to health
while focusing on prevention
and quality in service delivery,
was announced during a press
conference at NHRC premises
yesterday. The campaign will be
launched on Wednesday which
coincides with Qatari Human
Rights Day.
WORLD | Outlook

Warning on effects
of climate change
Global warming could elevate
disease, ravage crops and push
100mn more people into poverty
without action to prevent it,
the World Bank warned in a
disturbing new report yesterday.
The problem of climate change
is already hampering efforts
to reduce poverty, the bank
said, and the poorest people
are already suffering more
than others from lower rainfall
and extreme weather tied to
warming.

INDIA | Elections

BJP alliance suffers

defeat in Bihar polls
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
yesterday suffered a heavy
defeat in an election in Bihar,
Indias third most-populous state,
signalling the waning power of a
leader who until recently had an
unrivalled reputation as a vote
winner. Modis second straight
regional election setback will
galvanise opposition parties,
embolden rivals in his own party
and diminish his standing with
foreign leaders amid concern he
may not win a second term as
prime minister. Page 25

nvestigators of the Russian plane

crash in Egypt are 90% sure the
noise heard in the nal second of
a cockpit recording was an explosion
caused by a bomb, a member of the
investigation team told Reuters yesterday.
The Airbus A321 crashed 23 minutes after taking off from the Sharm

44.29

-217.69
-1.90%

-0.91
-2.01%

MONDAY

HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani meeting with International Monetary
Fund (IMF) managing director Christine Lagarde who was in Doha to take part in
the joint conference of the financial and economic committee of the Co-operation
Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) and the committee for governors
of GCC central banks and monetary institutions. The Emir and Lagarde reviewed
relations between Qatar and the IMF during their talks at the Emiri Diwan. Page 7

Woqod to introduce
newly-designed fuel
dispensing machine
Q

atar Fuel (Woqod) will introduce a newly-designed fuel

dispensing machine with hoses
on the top in order to ll vehicles irrespective of whether the tanks are on
the right or left side.
The new machine will ease the
congestion at fuel stations considerably, Woqod CEO Ibrahim Jaham alKuwari told local Arabic daily Arrayah.
Since most of vehicles have their
tank on the left, the corresponding
lines at fuel stations are always longer,
compared to the bays for vehicles with
tanks on their right.
Station attendants earlier used to
haul the hose to the other side and fuel
vehicles whether the tank was on left
or right. But, of late, they have stopped
doing it, understandably on account of
instructions from Woqod.
Woqod is also set to introduce a
new automatic payment system Fill
and go system by the end of this year,
chairman Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman al-Thani revealed.
The company has already started
this e-pay system in an experimental
phase which will go on until the end
of this month. The system is meant to
ease congestion at fuel stations.
The e-pay system will link the vehicle plate number and the owners
mobile number to the vending machine. When vehicles linked to the system uses the machines, the system will
read the plate number and fuel the car
and simultaneously send a SMS to the
registered mobile number with
information about the quantity and price, Sheikh Saoud
said.
The new system is a good
opportunity for families to
plan their budget for fuel and
monitor their spending, especially when some families
have many cars. Besides,
it would a great saving for
companies and government
bodies, he explained.

Regarding the replacement of the

metal LPG cylinders with the new generation Shafaf cylinders, the chairman
said that Woqod was spreading awareness among the public that Shafaf was
safer and more secure, especially with
high quality regulators provided by the
company.
There is a campaign to compensate
those who replace the metal cylinder
with Shafaf by paying QR100 per cylinder.
Sheikh Saoud stressed that Woqod
had a well-studied plan to replace all
the metal LPG cylinders in the market
with Shafaf but on a gradual basis to
avoid any disruption in supply.
Last year, Woqod sold 6.5mn LPG
cylinders, some of them new and some
rell, including 5.1mn metal ones. By
the end of the third quarter of this year,
the number of cylinders sold was up to
5.3mn and it is expected to increase
further by the year end.
The chairman reiterated that Woqod
was going to introduce seven new fuel
stations by the end of this year, thereby increasing the number of Woqod
fuel stations by 50% in one year. As of
2014, there were only 24 Woqod fuel
stations.
Woqod is co-ordinating with the
Ministry of Transport to modify the
exits and entry points of its fuel stations to avoid spill over of queues of
vehicles on to the roads, he pointed
out.
Trucks are also assigned specic
timing to rell at fuel stations in
co-ordination with the Traffic
Department to ease the waiting
time. The company is currently
building 19 new fuel stations, including the seven set for opening
this year.
Woqod is using mobile stations as a temporary and urgent
solution to meet the demand of
consumers, especially in the
remote areas of the country,
the chairman added.

El Sheikh tourist resort eight days ago,

killing all 224 passengers and crew.
Islamic State militants ghting Egyptian security forces in Sinai said they
brought it down.
The indications and analysis so
far of the sound on the black box indicate it was a bomb, said the Egyptian investigation team member, who
asked not to be named due to sensitivities. We are 90% sure it was a
bomb.
His comments reect a much great-

er degree of certainty about the cause

of the crash than the investigation
committee has so far declared in public.
Lead investigator Ayman al-Muqaddam announced on Saturday that
the plane appeared to have broken up
in mid-air while it was being own on
auto-pilot, and that a noise had been
heard in the last second of the cockpit
recording. But he said it was too soon
to draw conclusions about why the
plane crashed. Page 15

Vol. XXXVI No. 9901

November 9, 2015
Moharram 26, 1437 AH
www. gulf-times.com 2 Riyals

Qatars realistic
budget to show
moderate decit
Qatar has undertaken fiscal
consolidation measures much
earlier than its Gulf neighbours,
says al-Emadi

Officials 90% sure bomb caused crash

Reuters
Cairo

11,221.61

+46.90
+0.26%

in

Emir chairs economic

council meeting

17,910.35

QATAR | Discussions

NYMEX

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In brief

QE

Latest Figures

GULF TIMES
Emir meets IMF chief

DOW JONES

pu

Robotic Olympiad
teams display
exceptional skills

Lorenzo
wins title
as Rossi
cries foul

By Santhosh V Perumal
Business Reporter

atars 2016 general budget will

be realistic but expected to
show a moderate decit,
HE the Finance Minister Ali Sherif alEmadi said yesterday.
Our new budget in 2016 will be realistic and it will reect the change in
oil prices, al-Emadi told reporters after his meeting with the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Christine Lagarde and other Gulf
Co-operation Council (GCC) nance
ministers and central bank governors.
Early this week, HH the Emir
Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani
had said Qatar would put together a
state budget for 2016 that avoids a big
decit despite lower revenues from
low oil and gas prices.
It will take the fall in oil prices into
consideration, so as to avoid a big budget decit that may cause harm, Sheikh
Tamim had told the Advisory Council.
Al-Emadi said he expected moderate decit but did not give details
on its size.
Sheikh Tamim, in his speech inau-

HE al-Emadi: says the new budget will

reflect the change in oil prices.
gurating the 44th ordinary session
of the Advisory Council, had also
warned of wasteful spending, overstaffing and a lack of accountability
in the country, and raised concerns
about dependency on the state to
provide for everything.
The IMF had, in April, this year
forecast that Qatar could slip in scal decit in 2016 and said the oil
price slump highlighted the need for
specifying a clear medium-term scal framework, including contingency
plans.
The annual budgeting process
should be aligned with this new medium-term framework so that spending
overruns are eliminated, it had said,
adding while there was no immediate concern about scal sustainability
under its oil price assumptions, ad-

ditional spending and revenue measures warranted over the medium term
to secure inter-generational equity in
the context of low oil prices.
In a reference to Lagardes call to
GCC countries to realign their scal policies in the wake of sustained
lower prices in the foreseeable future, al-Emadi yesterday said Qatar
had undertaken scal consolidation
measures much earlier than its Gulf
neighbours.
Prudent policies in the past and
higher oil prices had helped Qatar to
run scal surpluses in the last 15 years,
the nance minister said.
In June this year, the Ministry of
Development Planning and Statistics
(MDPS) had hinted that Qatar could
show the rst scal decit in 15 years
in 2016 itself against the previous
forecast of 2017.
Finding that the impact of lower oil
prices is seen most immediately in the
nominal gross domestic product (GDP)
estimates, the MDPS also said Qatar
could still post scal surplus of 1.4% of
GDP in 2015 but to show up decit of
4.9% in 2016 and 3.7% in 2017.
The considerable fall in scal surplus in 2015, against 12.3% in
2014, reects a relatively quick passthrough of lower oil prices on budget
revenues. It also factors in increased
spending restraint on current expenditures. Business Page 1

Gulf Times
Monday, November 9, 2015

QATAR
Official

Emir chairs supreme economic affairs council meeting

QNA
Doha

H the Emir Sheikh

Tamim bin Hamad
al-Thani,
Chairman of the Supreme
Council for Economic
Affairs and Investment,
chaired the Councils fth
meeting of 2015 at the
Emiri Diwan yesterday.
HH the Deputy Emir
Sheikh Abdullah bin
Hamad al-Thani, VicePresident of the Council, attended the meeting
along with HE the Prime
Minister and Interior

Minister Sheikh Abdullah

bin Nasser bin Khalifa alThani, executive member
of the Council, and members of the council.
HE the Minister of Finance Ali Sherif al-Emadi, the Councils Secretary- General, said the
meeting discussed topics
on the agenda and took
the necessary measures.
Speaking to QNA, alEmadi said the Council
reviewed the follow-up
terms of the previous
resolutions and procedures, the developments
of energy and investment
affairs.

Emir holds phone

conversation
with Erdogan
HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin
Hamad al-Thani received a telephone
call yesterday from Turkish President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Talks focussed on bilateral
relations and means to promote
them in addition to regional and
international developments.

Phone call from

Kosovo president
HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani chairing the fifth meeting of the Supreme Council for Economic Affairs and Investment yesterday.

Education Minister meets

Qatari students in Paris
QNA
Paris

E the Minister of
Education
and
Higher
Education and Secretary General of Supreme Education
Council (SEC) Dr Mohamed Abdul Wahed Ali
al-Hammadi met Qatari
students who are in France
on scholarships.
The meeting took place
on the sidelines of alHammadis
participation in the 38th session of
the General Conference
of Unesco which is being
held in Paris.
The Minister told the
students that his meeting
with them aimed at learning about their needs and
working together to deal
with the difficulties and

HE the Minister alHammadi

obstacles facing them,
wishing them success in
their academic studies.
Talking to the students
His Excellency said: Qatar is awaiting you and all
other students on scholarships in other countries.
Qatar cannot be built
without your efforts.
He cited the Emirs
speech at the opening of the
Advisory Council 44th session when he said: Qatars

economy cannot dispense

with foreign expertise and
labour, this is true, yet Qatar cannot be built without
you.
It cannot be built on a
limited number of professions and specialties that
are pursued by all. There
are vital sectors of the State
such as the eld of security,
army and police, and even
planning,
management,
engineering, medicine and
scientic research, where
we need Qatari youth, and
Qatari youth must turn to
all specialties and take their
homeland into account
when taking decisions.
The Education Minister
urged the students to excel
in their studies and represent their country better. Al-Hammadi also answered questions raised by
the students.

HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin

Hamad al-Thani yesterday held
a telephone conversation with
President of Kosovo Atifete
Jahjaga. They discussed bilateral
relations, as well as issues of
mutual concern.

Assistant FM
holds meetings
HE the Assistant Foreign Minister
for Foreign Affairs Mohamed bin
Abdullah al-Rumaihi met the Sri
Lankan Minister of Trade and
Industry Rashad Badi al-Din in
Doha yesterday.
Talks dealt with bilateral relations
between Qatar and Sri Lanka
and means of co-operation in
industry and trade sectors.
HE al-Rumaihi also met the
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs
of Argentina Eduardo Antonio
Zuain. They discussed bilateral
relations.

Speaker meets
Saudi counterpart
HE the Speaker of the Advisory
Council Mohamed bin Mubarak
al-Khulaifi yesterday met his
Saudi counterpart Dr Abdullah
bin Mohamed bin Ibrahim alSheikh and his accompanying
delegation in Doha.

Gulf Times
Monday, November 9, 2015

QATAR
PM, Transport Minister meet EU official

1,150 new
commercial
registrations
recorded

T
HE the Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani holding talks with EU Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc in Doha yesterday. They reviewed relations between
Qatar and the European Union as well as issues of mutual interest. Right: HE the Minister of Transport Jassim Seif Ahmed al-Sulaiti meeting the European Commissioner for Transport Violeta Bulc in Doha
yesterday. They discussed ways of enhancing bilateral relations in the transportation sector between Qatar and the European Union.

Corniche sh market regularly monitored: civic dept

T

he Health Control Section

at Doha Municipality has
stressed that it monitors
the condition and quality of sh
offered for sale in the Corniche
sh market, through constant
checks and inspections.
The market attracts a large
number of customers, comprising both citizens and expatriates, during the weekend.
Dr Waleed al-Sayed, a food
inspector, carries out a thorough
check of the sh kept on all display tables to conrm that they
are safe and t for human consumption. He makes necessary
remarks and issues warnings
on matters such as the required
quantity of ice and proper disposal of dead sh, among others,
to ensure the safety of the public,
according to a statement.
The inspector reports to the
sale area during the working
hours, which are from 7am to 1pm
and from 4pm to 10pm. According to him, the number of cus-

Inspection under way at the Doha Corniche fish market.

tomers is particularly high in the
morning on Thursdays, Fridays

and Saturdays, while the demand

is lower during the evening and

on other days of the week.

On the issue of hygiene, Dr

al-Sayed said he monitors the

cleaning of display tables prior

to and during transactions. Recently, as part of a collaboration

between the Health Control Section and the Insect and Rodent
Control Unit of the municipality,
the sh shed was sprayed in order to keep ies at bay. Stickers
were also put up for this purpose.
The market includes 29 display
tables, of which 17 are currently
in operation, he said, noting that
co-operation and co-ordination
are under way with the Ministry
of Environment and Ministry of
Economy & Commerce to run the
sh shed.
The Health Control Section
has said it is keen to implement
health regulations at all sh selling facilities and food establishments within the framework
of steps taken to guarantee the
safety and health of consumers.
The Ministry of Municipality and
Urban Planning receives comments/
complaints from the public on
44266666 or via social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter.

Court reviews fraud case

led by expat businessman

Doha court is reviewing a case led

by an Indian expatriate businessman against
a legal consultant accusing
him of fraud and deceit,
local Arabic daily Arrayah
reported yesterday.
The businessman, who
runs a number of contracting rms, used to have
some troubles from some
of his clients who did not
pay their debts in time. Due
to the large dues, estimated
in millions of riyals, he approached a legal rm to
help him collect the funds.
Accordingly, a lawyer

working at the rm suggested that he should sell

part of his business to another person who could
be in a better position to
collect the outstanding
amounts.
So, the lawyer found
him a buyer who offered
QR4mn for the business but paid only a small
amount promising he
would pay the rest upon
conclusion of the necessary procedures to register
the purchase deal. However, after the conclusion
of the procedures both the
lawyer and the new buyer

denied the businessman

any rights. He tried to settle the issue amicably but
nothing worked out.
Untimely, he resorted
to the court to claim his
rights accusing the lawyer
and the buyer of deceit and
fraud. The lawyer claimed
that he has some cheques
signed by the businessman
towards dues. The man
denied that he ever wrote
or signed such cheques
and his lawyer asked that
the documents be examined by the court to ensure
their authenticity, the daily added.

he Commercial Registration and Licences Department at the Ministry of

Economy and Commerce (MEC)
recorded 1,150 new commercial
registrations last month.
Another 236 registrations
were cancelled. The new registrations included 910 main
registrations and 240 sub-registrations while the cancelled registrations included 57 main registrations and 179 registrations.
The new commercial registrations include 409 main registrations and 90 sub-registrations
of companies with limited liabilities, followed by the one person
companies; 372 main registrations and 115 sub-registrations,
and single foundation rms; 118
main and 25 sub-registrations.
The most active commercial
registrations in October according to the activity included
contracting rms (25%), building material companies (10%),
eateries, and vegetable and fruits
shops (5%), factories (3%), detergents (4%) and other activities (53%).

Motorist ordred to
pay blood money

n Arab motorist has been

sentenced in absentia to
six months in jail, blood
money of QR200,000 and a ne
of QR10,000 for running over
a pedestrian, local Arabic daily
Arrayah reported yesterday.
A Doha court ruled that the
man was guilty of unpremeditated killing. The blood money
has to be paid to the legal heirs of
the victim in collaboration with
the insurance company concerned.
The court also ordered the
withdrawal of his driving licence
for a month. The court established that the defendant was
driving his vehicle recklessly
when he hit the victim, throwing
him about 25m away. He suffered
several injuries and fractures
which caused his death, the daily
added.

Dodge Caravan
vehicles recalled
The Ministry of Economy and
Commerce (MEC) has announced
a free recall campaign for Dodge
Caravan vehicles manufactured
during 2008- 2010 for a defect
which may cause the operation
switch to accidentally shift to
shut down the engine while
running. The campaign is jointly
conducted with the United Cars
Al-Mana Company.

Expat gets 5-year jail term for smuggling drugs

Doha Criminal Court

has sentenced a
Bangladeshi expatriate to ve years in jail after
he was convicted of smuggling illicit drugs worth
QR835,000, local Arabic
daily Arrayah has reported.
The court has also im-

posed a ne of QR300,000
on him and ordered his deportation upon serving the
sentence.
The man was travelling from his home country
when Customs officers at
the Doha airport detected
cannabis and amphetamine,

packed in two boxes, in his

luggage.
Later, he claimed that the
boxes were given to him
by one of his compatriots
at home, to be delivered
to a person from his native country who works in a
vehicle workshop in Doha.

The man said he did not

know what the boxes, which
weighed 3.34kg, contained
even as a blood test on him
revealed traces of amphetamine.
Eventually, the court established his guilt and sentenced him accordingly.

Gulf Times
Monday, November 9, 2015

QATAR
PM meets IMF managing director

HE the Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani holding talks with the
managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Christine Lagarde in Doha yesterday. They discussed
aspects of co-operation between Qatar and the IMF as well as issues of common interest. The IMF chief was in Doha
to participate in the joint meeting of the financial and economic co-operation committee of the GCC and the
committee for governors of GCC central banks and monetary institutions.

Yemeni foreign minister

hails relations with Qatar
QNA
Doha

emeni Foreign Minister Dr Riad Yassin

hailed the relations
between Qatar and Yemen,
describing them as frank
and transparent.
In an interview with Qatari daily Al Sharq, published yesterday, Dr Riad
Yassin praised the relief efforts provided by Qatar in
all Yemeni cities and the
wounded Qataris who were
ready to sacrice their lives
to rescue the Yemeni people.
He
underlined
the
strength of the YemeniGCC relations, saying:

We are now at a new stage

(1+6), which means Yemen
with the Gulf States, and
this idea was crystallised in
Saudi Arabia. We will move
forward from the 1+ 6 to be
fully integrated 7.
On the Yemeni affairs, he
said: We are committed to
the decision of President
Abd-Rabbu Mansur Hadi,
and we will go to Geneva.
The Yemeni Foreign Minister called on the Houthis
to respond to the demands
of the Yemeni people, implement the United Nations
Resolution 2216, reject violence and force, hand over
their weapons to the state
and to immediately release
all detainees, saying such

steps are in the right direction.

Regarding the possibility
of a political solution with
Houthi rebels and the ousted president Ali Abdullah
Saleh, Yassin said there is
no solution at the moment,
adding: When a militia
uses military force and takes
over the states institutions,
how to deal with it?
He added that the goal
is not to eliminate the
Houthis, but to eliminate
what they are doing - criminal violence.
Responding to a question whether he expects
Russias intervention in
Yemen, as in Syria, Dr Riad
Yassin said: We consider

Russias role in Yemen is

balanced among all parties, and I met the Russian
ambassador in Manama
who assured me that Russia respects the UN resolution, although it abstained
from voting, but did not
use veto, and will co-operate with the international
community for its implementation.
The Yemeni Foreign
Minister expressed concern
about the Russian intervention in Syria, because
this will deepen the crisis,
especially that Russia believes that it can succeed in
Yemen after failing in Afghanistan and Iraq and later
in Syria.

Gulf Times
Monday, November 9, 2015

QATAR

QU Alumni
Association
discusses
strategic plan
T
The Qatari team that lifted the Inspiration in Science award.

Robotic Olympiad teams

display exceptional skills
By Joseph Varghese
Staff Reporter

ore than 3,000 participants from 44 countries

took part in the World
Robotic Olympiad (WRO) that
concluded yesterday at Al Shaqab
Indoor Arena, Education City.
Held under the patronage of
HE the Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin
Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani, the
three-day science and technology competition was held with
the support of the Supreme Education Council (SEC), Maersk Oil
Qatar (MoQ), the College of the
North Atlantic-Qatar (CNA-Q)
and Qatar Petroleum.
The competition, a rst in the
country, featured 33 teams from
Qatar, participating alongside
some of the worlds brightest and
best young scientists and engineers.
This years WRO was one of the
largest held since the event began in 2004. It was a key part of
Maersk Oil Qatars commitment
to build Qatars Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths skills
and capacity for generations to
come.
Held under the theme Robot
Explorers, the competition was
represented by the very best young
science and engineering talent
from around the world, who im-

Indian officials including Ambassador Sanjiv Arora receiving the flag from Qatari officials.
pressed the judges with their exceptional ability to design, build
and programme robots capable of
performing a series of challenging
tasks in record time.
Another highlight of this years
event included the introduction of
the Maersk Oil Qatar Inspiration
in Science award, which was presented to a Qatari team from Khalid
Bin Ahamed Independent Middle
School. The team impressed the
judges by demonstrating their col-

lective passion for science, creativity and teamwork as well as their

ability to share their enthusiasm
and inspirational qualities with
others.
Lewis Affleck, managing
director of Maersk Oil Qatar,
said: It has been a huge pleasure and privilege to have witnessed so many of the brightest
and best science students from
Qatar and the rest of the world
take part in the 2015 World Ro-

bot Olympiad this year. The

enthusiasm and atmosphere
among the participants, students and teachers was incredible and it is clear that there is a
huge appetite for competitions
like these.
Fawziya al-Khater, director of the Education Institute,
SEC said: It was inspiring to
see so many bright and brilliant
students both from Qatar and
around the world demonstrate

he Qatar University
Alumni
Association
(QUAA) recently held
the seventh meeting of its
board of directors in which
new elected members were
welcomed and issues such as
the association agenda and
strategic plan discussed.
Attendees included QU
president Dr Hassan alDerham, QUAA president Dr
Saif Ali al-Hajari and board
members, alumni and partner
relations manager Rana AlFalasi, as well QU vice presidents, deans, associate deans,
and chapter leaders.
Discussion focused on
the necessary criteria in the
strategic plan to enhance the
connection between alumni
and their alma mater such as
the establishment of professional development workshops, and the holding of
various events such as Coffee with an Alumnus and the
rst conference of alumni associations in the GCC.
They also emphasised the
importance of supporting the
Associations fund, proling alumni for press coverage, and organising visits to
various companies and institutions where alumni hold
leadership appointments.
Dr al-Hajari welcomed the
new elected board members
for 2015 - Ministry of Foreign Affairs European Affairs
Department director Khaled
bin Rashid al-Mansouri, AlSharq Studies & Public Opinion Research Centre director
Dr Khalid al-Jaber, Al-Fursan
Centre Training and Consultations general manager Dr
Haya al-Madadi, journalist
Hassan AlSaeei, Qatar Womens Sport Committee president Ahlam al-Mana, Childhood Cultural Centre public
relations and communication
director Abdullah Hamed alMulla and Ahmad Bin Mo-

hamed Secondary Independent School for Boys principal

Hassan al-Baker.
The meeting also featured
a presentation delivered by
AlFalasi on the Associations
strategies and activities, and
in which she addressed the
importance of strengthening links with QU alumni and
supporting the Alumni fund.
Commenting on the event,
Dr al-Derham said: In keeping with its commitment
to strengthening links with
government and private organisations, Qatar University
continues to build collaborations and strategic partnerships with industry, government, academia, business
and civil society. In this regard, the alumni have an undeniable role as QU ambassadors within the society and
various sectors.
QU has had a long and
abiding relationship with its
graduates based on mutual
trust, condence and pride
and recognition of their invaluable link between the
university and the society.
Through its Alumni Association, the organisation
aims to leverage connections
with its graduates. The Association offers to the wider
community a wide range of
programmes, events, and
chapters that bring together
graduates with common interests which will contribute
to help them reach success
in their professional and
personal endeavours, and
to engage them in various
initiatives to give back to the
community.
Dr al-Hajari added that the
Association brings together
the distinguished alumni
who continue to be engaged
in the process of progress and
development in contribution
towards the aspirations of the
countrys wise leadership.

their programming and engineering skills. Building this level

of participation, enthusiasm
and engagement around these
vitally important disciplines has
been the focus for the various
progressive policies and practices adopted by the SEC.
The next WRO will be held
in India and the WRO ag was
handed over to Indian officials led
by Ambassador Sanjiv Arora at an
handover ceremony.
Dr al-Derham and Dr al-Hajari speak at the meeting.

Rain, thunder likely today

Rain and thunder, along with
strong winds, are expected
in the country today, the Met
office has said.
Doha is among the places
where rain is likely today,
besides Al Ruwais, Dukhan, Abu
Samra and Messaied, while Al
Khor will see cloudy conditions,
according to the forecast.
The wind speed will go up to
25kt in certain areas during the
thundershowers. In offshore areas, it will reach 18kt. Visibility,
meanwhile, may drop to 3km
or less in some places today.

Some of the students showcase their works at the competition. PICTURES: Jayan Orma

The winning teams and countries at the World Robot Olympiad

Regular Category Elementary Level
1st Place Storm Divers, India
2nd Place Thunder Divers, India
3rd Place Taiwan Legend, Chinese Taipei

Open Category Junior Level

1st Place ROBOTISTS, Malaysia
2nd Place Shadow Bots, India
3rd Place Schollibotics, Germany

Regular Category Junior Level

1st Place Dzeta, Russia
2nd Place TAIWAN Ba-Soulburn Ho Jia,
Chinese Taipei
3rd Place RoboTecnia Versus, Mexico

Open Category Senior Level

1st Place BURITOS, Russia
2nd Place Power, Chinese Taipei
3rd Place SILENT PRODIGIES,
Malaysia

Regular Category Senior Level

1st Place TAIWAN YES, Chinese Taipei
2nd Place robotics X, Japan
3rd Place Ninja, Japan

GEN II Football
1st Place ARAMAITEE FC, Malaysia
2nd Place RoboSpecialists, Greece
3rd Place DBS, Hong Kong

Open Category Elementary School

Level
1st Place YC EXPLORER RANGER, Malaysia
2nd Place Robofriends, Russia
3rd Place THE FISHERMENS FRIEND, Malaysia

University Regular
1st Place NCTU Robotics, Chinese
Taipei
2nd Place PML30, Russia
3rd Place AVRCB, Chinese Taipei

It will be hazy to misty in some

places at first, followed by
partly cloudy to cloudy conditions with scattered rain, which
may be accompanied by
thunder at times, the weather
office has said.
Hazy and partly cloudy conditions are expected in offshore
areas with a chance of scattered rain.
The minimum and maximum
temperatures in the country
are likely to be 22C and 31C,
with the forecast for Doha being 26C and 31C.

Gulf Times
Monday, November 9, 2015

QATAR

Kahramaa services now

available on WhatsApp
Q

atar General Electricity & Water Corporation (Kahramaa)

has announced that customers
can now avail of several of its services
through WhatsApp.
This initiative is part of the corporations efforts to provide enhanced
customer service and, through instant
messaging, it aspires to improve communication with users and get things
done as quickly as possible, it has said
in a statement.
Smartphone users can now interact
with Kahramaa 24x7 on WhatsApp by

adding 30303991 to their list of contacts.

The latest social media platform
can be used primarily to receive reports, complaints, feedback and grievances from customers and social activists, pertaining to the safety and
functionality of Kahramaas electricity
and water networks across the country, the statement notes.
Speaking on the occasion, Kahramaa public relations and communication manager Abdulla Anber alJassim stressed that the corporation
was doing its best to connect with us-

ers through all possible communication tools. This is being so that our
customers and members of the society
can connect to us easily, promptly and
smoothly, he said.
Further, he noted that social media was an important aspect of Kahramaas strategy to provide quality
customer service.
Kahramaa recently launched a range
of new electronic services on its website as part of its efforts to provide improved services and enhance customer
satisfaction, the statement adds.

Fath Al Khair 2 expected

to dock in Muscat today
T

he Fath Al Khair 2 dhow is expected to reach Muscat, Oman,

today on its way to Doha from
Mumbai, India.
The vessel had to cope with inclement weather and sustained some damage in the territorial waters of Pakistan
during the return journey. Two sailors
were also injured.
Equipment used to manage ropes
and control the movement of the sail
suffered slight damage in the incident,
according to a statement.
Hopefully, we will reach Muscat on
Monday. We have faced some difficulties due to climatic conditions, said
Hassan al-Kaabi, the ships captain,
stressing that the crew was well trained
to deal with such scenarios.
Al-Kaabi noted that all the sailors were
ne and the injuries suffered by two of
them were treated on time. The atmosphere is relatively calm now, compared to
an earlier spell in which we had to cope
with wind intensity and speed. The crew
expressed its readiness to take part in the

The crew aboard the Fath Al Khair 2 dhow.

journey, which will be remembered in the
years to come, he added.
The voyage to India was launched
from Dohas Katara beach on October
5 and the dhow arrived at Mumbai on
October 24. It left Mumbai a week later.
The Fath Al Khair 2 voyage has gained
considerable attention both locally and
internationally, including in Indian

media outlets, the statement notes.

Katara - the Cultural Village Foundation has thanked all media outlets, specically Qatar TV (the exclusive broadcaster of Fath Al Khair), in this regard.
Katara has also extended its appreciation and gratitude to Qatar Gas
Transport Company (Nakilat), the gold
sponsor of the voyage, for its support.

10

Gulf Times
Monday, November 9, 2015

QATAR

Paediatric Continuity
Clinic opens at HGH
H
HMC staff mark World Occupational Therapy Day.

World Occupational
Therapy Day observed
at Rumailah Hospital
R

umailah Hospital, a
member of Hamad
Medical Corporation (HMC), observed
World Occupational Therapy Day on October 27.
Highlights of the day
included lectures and
other educational activities focusing on raising
awareness about the role
of occupational therapy
services in patient care, as
well as services on offer at
HMC.
Dr Alaa al-Sheikh, occupational therapy specialist and deputy chairperson of the occupational
therapy department at Rumailah Hospital, said next
years event will highlight
all occupational health
services available in Qatar.
Services at the occu-

pational therapy department have undergone a remarkable transformation

in recent years in response
to increasing demand in
Qatar. New therapeutic
techniques and state-ofthe-art medical instruments and equipment
have been introduced at
the department to ensure
that patients are provided
the safest, most effective
and most compassionate
care, said Dr al-Sheikh.
He said that HMCs new
clinical information system has been implemented
at the department whereby patients records are
electronically
accessed.
In addition, new subspecialties have been introduced and staff training
sessions have been con-

ducted to cover new therapeutic disciplines such as

pediatric rehabilitation,
psychological rehabilitation, hand injuries, stroke
and acute care. Procedures
for expediting healthcare
services to patients as
soon as they are admitted to the hospital have
also been put in place, Dr
al-Sheikh added.
Husain Bohazza, psychological
occupational
therapist, said the psychotherapy unit participated
in the event to showcase
a display of artefacts produced by the patients. The
display showed how engaging in artwork can help
patients regain self-condence and the ability to reintegrate as active members
of the community.

amad Medical Corporation

(HMC) has opened a Paediatric Continuity Clinic
(PCC) at Hamad General Hospitals
(HGH) outpatient department.
The new clinic which was inaugurated by Hanan al-Kuwari, managing director, HMC, features eight
themed treatment rooms, provides
general outpatient continuity care
for children. It is staffed by a multidisciplinary team of nurses, paediatricians, and medical residents,
and compliments existing specialty paediatric clinics at the hospital. The PCC is open Sunday to
Thursday from 7 am 3 pm.
The new clinic is operated under a patient-centred care model,
according to Dr al-Kuwari. The
patient-centred care model at the
PCC means that patients will not
have to move around from place to
place. Instead, they are assigned a
treatment room, where the nurse,
doctor, paediatric specialist or
medical resident comes to them,
said al-Kuwari.
Children regularly visiting

Aljazeera
festival
jury to
review
lms on
Nov 20

ury members for

the 11th edition of
the Aljazeera International Documentary
Film Festival will start
reviewing on November 20 the 147 lms
categorised into short,
medium and long.
The jury panel includes Dr Rabia al-Kuwari (Qatar), Dr Khaled al-Zadjali (Oman),
cinematographer Rossella Piccinno (Italy),
renowned
director
Jose Sanchez-Montes
(Spain),
Jelena Mila
(Sweden), Hala Zuraiqat
(Jordan); Abdullah Abu
Awad (Morocco), Professor Tongdao Zhang,
Dr Maryse Gargour
(France), Kaveh Askari
(Iran), cinematographer
Chaker Ayadi (Tunisia),
producer Omar Olzabal Rodriguez (Cuba),
Dr Erkan Buker (Turkey), and Galina Krasnoborova (Russia).
The jury panel will
split into three subcommittees to oversee
the three categories of
the festival competitions and nominate the
winning lms for the
designated awards.
In this edition, the festival bears Horizons
as a motto, which represents the ambitious vision of the 11th edition.
It opens great horizons
before creative amateur
and professional directors and producers. This
edition will also witness
distinguished lms in the
three categories.
The motto of each festival theme resembles the
identity of each edition
of the festival that documents 11 years journey
in disseminating lms in
the realm of documentary
lms.
The administration of
Aljazeera International
Documentary Film Festival endeavours to encourage
co-operation
between
innovators
and directors, as well as
building a multi-spectrum humane culture.
It also tries to turn this
event into a meeting
place for lmmakers
from different countries
and cultures; innovative and talented youth,
and establishing for a
culture interested in
documentary lms.

the clinic will be seen by the same

multidisciplinary team over time,
creating a closer relationship between the patient, family and their
healthcare provider and fostering familiarity and accumulated
knowledge of a patients health
history, she added.
Parents and children who visit
the PCC will likely be seen by the
same medical team throughout
their association with the clinic.
Doctor and resident training is
also a feature of the new clinic, according to HMCs deputy chief
medical officer for medical education, Dr Abdullatif al-Khal.
We will be using the clinic as
a base for a number of our doctors and resident paediatricians,
who will gain valuable insight into
the high quality of multidisciplinary care that HMC provides, said
Dr al-Khal.
Prof Ibrahim al-Janahi, senior
consultant, paediatric pulmonary
division, led the development of the
PCC, and said the clinics services
will be developed in three stages.

One of the eight themed examination rooms at the new clinic.

The initial idea was for us to
trial a one-stop shop for children,
similar to the general practice medicine you see in other countries like
the United States. Development of
the clinics services will be in three
stages: rstly, general paediatric

medicine, the second stage will be

regular check-ups to track growth
and development, and thirdly, we
will move into complex cases that
require subspecialty medicine that
we will service over long periods of
time, said Prof al-Janahi.

100 Hassad Food people

screened for diabetes
A

ction on Diabetes (AoD), a

public-private partnership initiated and funded by Maersk
Oil Qatar, has successfully screened
more than 100 people from Hassad
Food as part of a major workplace
diabetes screening programme.
The activity is a key strand of AoDs
ongoing efforts to tackle diabetes in
Qatar both by educating members
of the community and those at risk
on the factors that contribute to the
condition, and empowering them to
avoid and manage it through early
detection and equipping them with
simple steps, tools and know-how to
safeguard their health.
The screening took place at the
companys headquarters in West Bay
over two days and was managed by 12
trained diabetes nurses and educators
from the Supreme Council of Health,
Hamad Medical Corporation and the

Nasser al-Hajri being screened for

diabetes.
Primary Health Care Corporation.
Nasser Mohamed al-Hajri, chairman and managing director of Hassad Food, said, The health of our
employees is a paramount concern
to us, so we are thankful to Action
on Diabetes for the valuable insight
that its workplace health campaign
provides both individual employees

and the company as a whole. Diabetes is one of Qatars greatest health

challenges and we are pleased to have
played a small part in ghting it.
Sheikh Faisal alThani, deputy
managing director, Maersk Oil Qatar, said: As a global conglomerate,
Maersk is ambitious and committed
to Qatar for generations to come. As
such, Action on Diabetes along with
our other social action programmes is
designed to deliver long-term, lasting
benets for Qatar and its people.
As well as screening employees for
diabetes, the nurses and educators
also provided recommendations on
how to reduce the risk of developing
diabetes in the future. Brochures and
educational information were also
distributed to provide people with
vital information on diabetes, the importance of early detection and tips
on living a healthy lifestyle.

Gulf Times
Monday, November 9, 2015

11

QATAR
Qatar hosting GCC nutrition committee meeting

Expert says GCC

should invest in
food production
By Peter Alagos
Business Reporter

conomic
diversication
through investments in food
production projects will help
Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC)
countries save an estimated $20bn
in food imports from the US, an expert has said.
International oil economist and
World Bank consultant on oil and
energy issues, Dr Mamdouh G
Salameh, explained that GCC countries should look to Sudan and in
thriving and futuristic industries
worldwide for food production
projects.
In the research paper Factors behind the steep decline in oil prices,
which he delivered in a forum recently, Salameh said: The proposed
mode of economic diversication
for the Gulf states is not industrialisation.

Dr Salameh: food prices could rival,

if not exceed, those of crude oil in
the future.
Salameh argued that Gulf countries would never be able to compete with the top industrial nations
in the world though some form of
industrialisation in petrochemicals
has been taking place, particularly
in Saudi Arabia.
He added: Nor does it mean investing in real estate, but rather in
food production projects, for instance in Sudan and also in thriving and futuristic industries worldwide.

Salameh warned that amid predictions of a global food shortage,

food prices could rival, if not exceed, those of crude oil in the future.
He said that pouring investments in Sudan could transform the
country into a breadbasket for GCC
countries.
It could also serve as a source of
food export revenues, which could
shave off $20bn worth of food imports from the US.
It is important for GCC countries
to invest in food production, however not as individual countries but
as one unit. They should invest in
Sudan because it has water from the
Nile River and it is the third biggest
arable land in the world, Salameh
told Gulf Times on the sidelines of
the forum.
He added: By investing in Sudans food production as a unit, the
Arab Gulf countries could be a formidable economic bloc. Whatever

Envoys lecture
Qatars ambassador to the United States, Mohamed Jaham al-Kuwari (right), is
pictured during a lecture entitled The Role of Tourism in the Development of Qatars
Economy at Georgetown University in Washington. He delivered the lecture to
professors and students in the universitys graduate Hospitality Programme as part of
efforts to introduce Qatar in the US. Ambassador al-Kuwari explained that investment
in the tourism industry is part of Qatars vision of sustainable development and
economic diversification.

extra food they can produce, they

can export these at a great price in
the coming years.
According to Salameh, it is also
advisable for Gulf countries to invest heavily on renewable energy,
particularly solar energy, which
could meet all the electricity needs
of the region.
Qatar can still diversify. While
it can use natural gas or oil for desalination, it can also invest heavily
in solar power and use the technology to fuel its desalination plants.
By doing so, Qatar can expand the
number of its desalination plants
and make sure it has enough water,
not only for drinking, but also for irrigation for many years to come, he
said.
Salameh estimates that Qatar is
using around 300,000 barrels per
day (bpd) of oil for desalination, fuel
consumption, and electricity generation, among many other energy
needs.

Qatar is hosting tomorrow the 7th meeting

of the GCC nutrition committee.
The two-day meeting will be inaugurated
by Sheikh Dr Mohamed bin Hamad al-Thani,
director of the Public Health Department at
the Supreme Council of Health (SCH), and
member of the executive body of the GCC
health ministers council.

Sheikha Dr al-Anoud bint Mohamed al-Thani,

director of Health Protection and Noncommunicable diseases at SCH, said that the
meeting will discuss a number of important
related topics such as the issues of nutrition
in the GCC region including overweight,
proper nutrition practices, school nutrition
programmes, and table salt consumption.

12

Gulf Times
Monday, November 9, 2015

QATAR

Rota completes rst phase

of leadership programme
R

each Out to Asia (Rota) has

completed the rst phase
of its Leadership Training
Programme in cooperation with
Msheireb Properties.
The programme, which ran
from October 29 to November 1,
has been created to develop and
enhance youth leadership and
communication skills. It provides know-how for youth to be
able to participate in the development of their communities
and engage in local and international humanitarian action,
according to a statement.
The Leadership Training
Programme is the rst phase of
Rotas three-phase Youth Challenges project that will be rolled
out over the next ve months
with an aim to develop leadership, communication and
community service skills. We
believe that youth empowerment, including building and
investing in their capabilities,
is a substantial contribution to
developing communities, said

Abdulla Albakri, community

development manager at Rota.
Noora Ali al-Rumaihi, public
relations and communications
supervisor at Msheireb Properties, said: We at Msheireb
Properties, believe in our Qatari
youths capabilities. We also believe in supporting and developing these capabilities to enable
them to take the lead and contribute to the realisation of the
national vision. We are proud
to support their thoughts and
visions and to be a contributor
that empowers them to turn it
into reality.
Participating in the programme were 45 youths aged 18
to 26 years, of whom more than
30 were Qataris. They were divided into six groups and each
group was responsible for the
development of an idea for a
community service project
and its implementation once
approved.
The youth showed creativity and knowledge of the Qa-

Interaction between participants and trainers during the programme.

tari communitys needs and
challenges.
Maha Kahmis al-Sulaiti, one
of the participants, said: We
want to give back to our local
community and this leadership
training is a great opportunity
to do that. As the youth of Qatar,
it is part of our responsibility to

improve our communities positively by utilising the knowledge

served to by institutions like
Rota.
Leadership Training is the rst
phase of the Rota Youth Challenges project. The second phase
will continue from this month
until March 2016 and involve

GU-Q panel hosts Nato team

A

panel of Georgetown
University in Qatar
(GU-Q) scholars and
experts led by the dean, Dr
Gerd Nonneman, hosted a visiting delegation of members
of the Nato Parliamentary Assembly Science and Technology Committee at a special
session on its campus.
The Nato delegation was
comprised of eight members
of parliament, hailing from
Germany, Norway, Italy, Romania and Estonia, and was
led by the chairman of the
Sub-Committee on Energy
and Environmental Security,
Jan Arild Ellingsen. At the
request of the Nato Parliamentary Assembly, Georgetown University assembled
the experts panel to provide
an academic and nuanced understanding of a wide variety
of topics relating to Qatars
economic, social, economic
and military situation both
domestically and within the
broader regional context.
Specic discussion points
included Qatar-Nato relations,
energy politics, cyber security,

GU-Q panel in a meeting with the visiting Nato delegation.

migrant issues, food and water
security, the work of the GCC
in regional conicts, as well as
education and job diversication in Qatars bid to move away
from overdependence on energy
resources.
Diversication has been a
buzzword in the region for two
decades, said dean Nonneman,
in response to questions on the
role of education in Qatars future development plans. Qa-

Etihad announces special fares

Etihad Airways has announced the launch of a new sales
promotion in GCC countries.
Under this, the airline is offering return business class and
economy class airfares to a range of worldwide destinations
for as little as QR1,080, according to a statement.
The promotion runs from today until November 12 and
covers more than 85 destinations in Europe, North
America, Africa and the Asia Pacific region.
Houssam Weiss, Etihad Airways general manager for
Qatar, said: This is great for our Qatar-based guests. With
such low fares to so many popular destinations on our
worldwide network, it is an ideal time to travel and take
advantage of this great promotion.
With Etihad Airways now flying four times daily between
Qatar and Abu Dhabi, travellers will be able to find many
convenient connections to the destinations on offer and
we look forward to our Qatari guests taking advantage of
these terrific value offers.
The special promotional fares, all via Etihad Airways Abu
Dhabi hub, start from QR1,970 for a return economy class
flight to European destinations that include places such as
London and Frankfurt.

QNB offers
remote cheque
deposit service

tar Foundations investment

in education is intended both
to make the country a regional
hub of excellence and to build
the critical skill levels they will
need to diversify the economy:
so it makes perfect sense that
it has become a key priority, he
explained.
Ellingsen said: We brought
high expectations with us to
the meeting, and Georgetown
fullled all of them. The knowl-

edge and expertise here at GUQ, including their ability to explain and share these complex
ideas in a way that we are able
to understand, is really what
makes their input so helpful to
us.
The delegation was also taken
to a tour of the universitys high
tech purpose-built campus and
facilities, including the largest library open for use by the
public.

Russian trade official at QC

Qatar Chamber (QC) vice-chairman Mohamed bin Tuwar received

Vladislav Lutsenko, director of the Russian-Arab Business Council,
at the QC office. The meeting reviewed bilateral economic and
business relations between Qatar and Russia and ways of
enhancing co-operation among businesspersons in all fields. The
meeting also discussed preparations for the upcoming
Russian-Qatari Business Forum. Some 30 Russian businessmen led
by Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak are expected to take
part in the forum, which will be held in Doha in mid-December.

QScience.com partners with Kudos

QScience.com, the online platform of
Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Journals
(BQFJ), is collaborating with Kudos,
a web-based service, to increase the
impact of published articles.
As a result of the partnership,
the new service aims to support
QScience.coms authors in utilising
digital communication channels
to maximise the global influence
of their research, according to a
statement.
Launched in July between QScience.
com and Kudos, the service will
provide researchers with a platform
to increase accessibility and aid
discoverability by simplifying and
explaining content, uploading
multimedia materials and distributing
on social networks and e-mail.
BQFJ is a collaboration between
Qatar Foundation for Education,
Science and Community
Development and Bloomsbury
Publishing, while Kudos is a webbased service that helps maximise
the visibility of published articles.

Arend Kster, managing director at

QScience.com, said: In todays digital
environment, researchers consume
information faster than ever before
and are keen to share their outcomes
and ideas. The world of academia is
part of this trend and our end-users
and authors now expect research
to be easily discoverable, accessible
and engaging. As a result, focusing
on traditional impact factor alone is
no longer enough as academics are
increasingly measured on their wider
influence.
The Kudos service provides an
excellent solution to help our authors
raise visibility, share research and
maximise article influence. We are
looking forward to collaborating with
Kudos and supporting our authors to
increase their impact.
Charlie Rapple, sales and marketing
director and co-founder of Kudos,
added: It is challenging for researchers,
and their institutions and publishers,
to keep track of efforts to increase
research visibility and impact.

the practical execution of the

approved projects.
The projects will culminate
with Empower 2016, where participants will share their results.
Rota is a member of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community
Development.

UCQ launches
programme for
healthcare
professionals
University of Calgary in Qatar
(UCQ) has launched its first
accredited Continuing Professional
Development (CPD) presentation.
UCQ is one of the nine institutions
authorised by the Supreme Council
of Healths Qatar Council for
Healthcare Practitioners to provide
CPD to healthcare professionals in
Qatar.
Eman Ahmed Tawash, director
of the undergraduate nursing
programme in the School of Nursing
and Midwifery in Bahrain, spoke at
UCQ to an audience of healthcare
professionals from across Qatar.
Her topic, the impact of culture on
recruitment of national citizens into
the field of nursing, addressed the
challenges of attracting national
citizens to the nursing profession in
GCC countries.
Tawashs talk was part of the
Distinguished Speaker Series
presented by the UCQ Centre for
Teaching and Learning (CTL), and
the first accredited CPD programme
presented at UCQ.
We are grateful that Ms Tawash
presented her very important work
with us at UCQ, said CTL director Dr
Mary Gene Saudelli. Her research is
of value to Qatar as nursing is vital
to the health and well-being of all
residents and this noble profession
is essential to the realisation of Qatar
National Vision 2030.
The CPD programme contributes
to the quality of care for everyone
in Qatar by licensing healthcare
professionals and providing ongoing
training to professionals in order to
continually build skills in line with the
National Health Strategy 2011-2016
and Qatar National Vision 2030.

NB is offering the remote cheque deposit

service, which allows
QNB First Members to deposit
cheques in a fast and efficient
way to their accounts.
The feature offers customers easy and convenient banking through QNBs
mobile banking.
By using the remote cheque
deposit service, QNB First
Members will be able to take
a picture of a cheque with
their smartphone or tablet
and directly deposit it to their
account.
The new feature will save
QNB First Members the time
and effort to visit a branch in
order to deposit QNB-issued
cheques, while maintaining
safety and security. QNB has
recently launched a new version of its mobile banking application, which has an easyto-use interface, offering a
variety of new features available for all QNB customers.
The new application, which
is available in English, Arabic
and French also allows QNB
customers and non-customers the ability to nd the closest ATMs, branches, and Life
Rewards partners, apply for
loans and credit cards, or book
an appointment with QNB, as
well as being able to read the
latest QNB-related news and
promotions.
The new version of QNB
mobile banking gives customers the ability to create
and modify fund transfer and
Western Union beneciaries. Customers are able to
view their accounts anywhere
in the world. They can pay

with cards and redeem their

Life Rewards loyalty points
for utility payments or convert them to Ooredoo Nojoom or Qatar Airways Qmiles
privilege points.
Customers will still enjoy
all the previous features offered by QNB mobile banking such as conveniently accessing their accounts, credit
card balances, transfers, bill
payments or request cheque
books.
As part of its commitment
to offer advanced banking
solutions and payment products, QNB focuses on providing its customers with the
markets leading offers and
services.
The QNB customer experience is enriched with the simplicity of making any banking
transaction from any location
in a few steps using the latest
mobile technologies. The registration is quick and easy for
QNB mobile banking and only
requires a QNB retail debit or
credit card.
QNB mobile banking can be
downloaded from Apples app
store or Google Play or tried
on one of QNBs innovative
mobile banking tablet kiosk at
QNB branches.
QNB Groups presence
through its subsidiaries and
associate companies extends
to 27 countries across three
continents, providing a comprehensive range of advanced
products and services. The
total number of employees is
more than 15,000 operating
through 635 locations with an
ATM network of more than
1,350 machines.

Security firm at expo

G4S Qatar participated in the fifth Civil Defence Exhibition

& Conference, held recently at the new Doha Exhibition and
Convention Centre, showcasing its top-of-the-line security and
safety products and services. Taking part in the exhibition
is proof that G4S Qatar vigilantly advocates the security and
safety of the community and the State of Qatar. It is important
for the company to promote best practices in this regard and
leverage technological advancement in order to provide the
much-needed protection everyone deserves, the company
said in a statement.

QU-CENG organises
Qatar BIM User Day
Q

atar University College of

Engineering (QU-CENG)
hosted the fth Qatar
Building Information Modelling
(BIM) User Day, aiming at providing an exchange platform in
Qatar and the Middle East to help
experts and researchers share
their knowledge, discuss new
technologies, and identify new
potentials for BIM in the regional
construction industry.
Themed Building Information Modelling Implementation and Management, the event
was organised in conjunction
with HOCHTIEF ViCon Qatar.
It brought together more than
300 local and international researchers and experts from the
academia and industry sectors
to network, exchange ideas, and
discuss a wide range of topics related to BIM implementation and
management.
Attendees included CENG
acting associate dean for Academic Affairs Dr Mohammed
Samaka, CENG Civil and Architectural Engineering Department Head Dr Ramzi Taha,
HOCHTIEF ViCon Qatar Man-

aging Director Christophe Weber, and Teesside University (UK)

Director of Technology Future
Institute (TFI) Prof Nashwan
Dawood, as well as CENG faculty
and staff.
The speakers presented a wide
range of topics focused on BIM
introduction from a students
perspective, BIM management
process planning and implementation, BIM in use: Towards
safer buildings and cities, The
SC approach to project BIM collaboration, BIM process implementation and management on
Qatar mega projects, Dening

Attendees at the event.

the role of the BIM Manager,

BIM Interoperability Issues:
Lessons learned from PLM, and
Development of a whole lifecycle information ow approach
enabled by BIM modeling protocols and technologies for Qatar
Construction Industry, among
many others.
The programme agenda also
featured workshop sessions and
presentations on case studies,
best practice examples, research
achievements and the current
national and regional developments in BMI implementation
and management.

Gulf Times
Monday, November 9, 2015

13

REGION/ARAB WORLD

US-led air campaign in Syria intensies after lull

Reuters
Washington

he US-led air campaign

against Islamic State
militants in Syria, which
ground to a near halt in late October, has intensied in recent days.
Coalition forces carried out 56
strikes against IS in Syria in the
eight days from October 30 to
November 6 after going the previous eight days with only three

strikes, according to US military

gures. The strikes have focused
on the towns of Mara, Al Hawl,
Al Hasakah and Dayr az Zawr.
The United States and its allies carried out a dozen strikes in
Syria on Saturday, the US military
said in a statement yesterday.
The jump in air and rocket
strikes in Syria coincided with
Washingtons shift in approach
to the conict after efforts to
train Syrian rebels to ght IS
collapsed. Russia also deployed

warplanes to Syria, adding pressure on Washington to take more

effective action.
The White House conrmed
on October 30 it would deploy
dozens of special operations
forces to Syria to advise and assist a coalition of rebels already
on the ground. Defence Secretary
Ash Carter also signalled his intent to intensify the air campaign.
US-backed forces in Syria have
renewed their drive to capture
the eastern town of Al Hawl and

to push IS away from the Turkish

border along the Mara line north
of Aleppo.
The US air campaign has been
criticised by Republican lawmakers and others who say the intensity of the strikes is insufficient to
reverse the advances of IS ghters, who overran large parts of
Iraq and Syria last year.
The air campaign reached a
peak in July, when warplanes carried out 887 air strikes - 518 in
Iraq and 369 in Syria, US military

data analysed by Reuters shows.

Since then, strikes in Iraq have
remained in the range of 500
per month, while in Syria they
dropped steadily each month,
reaching a low of 117 in October,
daily strike tallies show.
US military officials downplay
the signicance of the strike data,
saying they represent the ebb and
ow of battle and are affected by
things like bad weather, which
may prompt changes in targeting
on a particular day.

We are not focused on numbers of strikes. We are focused

on effects of our strikes, Army
Colonel Steve Warren, a US military spokesman in Baghdad, said
in an e-mail.
Coalition strikes since July in
Syria have been concentrated
around Al Hasakah, a town near
the northeastern frontier on the
route to Sinjar, Tal Afar and Mosul in northwestern Iraq. About
37% of US air strikes in Syria focused on that town.

More than 11% of US air strikes

have hit the area around Raqa,
ISs Syria headquarters, and more
than 10% have targeted the militants around Kobane, a city near
the Turkish border IS tried to
capture.
US bombing in Iraq has targeted Ramadi, Sinjar and Mosul.
Eighteen percent of US strikes hit
IS militants near Ramadi, while
14% hit the group in the Sinjar
area and 13% targeted it near Mosul.

Panic, deaths
as another
cyclone hits
Yemen island
A government source gives
a provisional toll of two dead
and dozens of injured
Agencies
Aden

nother cyclone made

landfall in war-ravaged
Yemens Socotra island
yesterday, causing panic as a
minister posted an urgent appeal to save residents from the
second tropical storm in a week.
At least two people were killed
and dozens injured, a government source said.
Heavy winds, rain and ash
oods swept through Socotra as
the storm, named Megh, hit the
island, already badly battered
by last weeks cyclone Chapala,
residents said.
Fisheries
Minister
Fahd
Kavieen, who is from Socotra
himself, urged the United Nations and neighbouring Oman to
urgently intervene with emergency teams to save residents
on the island which is now
facing a cyclone stronger than
Chapala.
The Arabian Sea island is
350km off the Yemeni mainland.
The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) spokeswoman Clare Nullis said on Friday
that Megh is not as powerful as
Chapala, which had killed eight
people in southeast Yemen.
But Socotra resident and humanitarian activist Abdulrauf
al-Juhaimali differed, saying
yesterday that this cyclone is

stronger than Chapala.

The government source gave
a provisional toll of two dead, a
man and a woman when their
homes collapsed, and said there
were also dozens of injured.
Many people who had returned to seafront homes already
destroyed by Chapala ed again
to government buildings on
higher ground as heavy ooding
hit once more, he said.
Tropical cyclones are extremely rare over the Arabian
Peninsula, and two back-toback was an absolutely extraordinary event, said Nullis.
Cyclone Megh is several
times worse than Chapala because it is passing directly over
Socotra, said Mohamed Alarqbi of the Socotra Environment
Office by telephone from the
islands stricken provincial capital, Hadibu.
The material damage is also
worse than before, as a larger
number of homes have been
destroyed and 5,000 more displaced people have ed the
northern shores of the island to
schools, universities and hospitals, he added.
Socotra is home to 50,000
residents who have long been
isolated from the mainland and
speak their own language, Socotri.
Sometimes likened to the
Galapagos islands, Socotra hosts
hundreds of unique plant species.
But Alarqbi said the storms
have damaged reefs, eroded soil
and uprooted many rare plants

including the already threatened

and otherworldly looking dragon blood trees, whose red sap
gives them their name.
The US Navys Pearl Harborbased Joint Typhoon Warning Center said the storm had
reached maximum gusts of
232km per hour, equivalent to a
category 4 hurricane.
The centre projected that the
storm would dissipate as it approaches cooler waters toward
the horn of Africa then veers
northward onto Yemens coast
and highlands.
The UNs humanitarian agency OCHA said on Friday that up
to 44,000 people had already
been displaced by Chapala,
which hit mainland Yemen on
Tuesday, triggering heavy ash
oods and mudslides.
Chapala had forced the evacuation of 18,000 people on Socotra and completely destroyed
237 homes, according to OCHA
spokesman Jens Laerke.
No one on the island was
killed, despite initial reports of
three deaths, he said.
OCHA had set up a special 11man support and response team,
based in Oman, to help relief efforts, Laerke added.
Planes bearing food and tents
from Oman, Kuwait, the United
Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia
have arrived on the island in recent days.
More than 900 UN staff are
already on the ground in Yemen
to help respond to the needs after
Chapala, but also because of the
conict plaguing the country.

Tribesmen from the Popular Resistance Committees, supporting forces loyal to Yemens President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, fire from an
armoured vehicle in the area of Sirwah west of Marib city yesterday.

Rebels retake positions in

bid to advance on Aden
AFP
Aden

ran-backed rebels retook

positions in southern Yemen
in a bid to advance on second
city Aden, military sources said
yesterday as a landmine blast
killed 16 soldiers east of Sanaa.
The rebels regained the positions they had lost in ghting
in recent months, including a
hilltop overlooking the strategic
Al Anad airbase in Lahj province which borders Aden, they
sources said.
The base currently houses
Sudanese forces from a Saudiled coalition that has been battling rebels across Yemen since
March.
The rebel deployment near
Al Anad poses a real danger to
pro-government and coalition
forces, a military source said.
Yemens
loyalist
forces,

Saudi executes
three Iranian
drug traffickers
Saudi Arabia yesterday executed
three Iranians convicted of drug
trafficking, the interior ministry
said, bringing to 145 the number
of death sentences carried out in
the kingdom this year.
The three convicts had attempted
to smuggle a large amount of
hashish by sea into Saudi Arabia,
the ministry said in a statement
published on the official SPA news
agency.
They were executed in the
eastern port city of Dammam, it
said.
Iran summoned the Saudi charge
daffaires in Tehran to protest over
the executions, according to the
Fars news agency.

US military drone
crashes in Kuwait
A pilotless US military drone
crashed in rural Kuwait yesterday,
causing no injuries, the Gulf
states defence ministry said in a
statement.
The incident occurred in Bir
Mutla, the ministry said, near the
Ali Al Salem air base which hosts
US air force personnel and planes.
Kuwait has provided intelligence,
funding and the use of airfields
for attacks by some members of
a Western-Arab coalition fighting
Islamic State militants based in
Syria and Iraq.

backed by coalition strikes, supplies and troops, had pushed

the rebels out of Aden, now the
temporary headquarters of the
Gulf-backed government, after
a July offensive.
Four other southern provincesLahj, Daleh, Abyan and
Shabwawere also retaken by
the loyalist forces.
Military sources said the
rebels also retook Damt, the
second city in Daleh province,
after besieging it for hours on
Saturday and clashing with loyalist troops.
At least 16 people, including
nine loyalists, were killed in the
clashes and many wounded, the
sources said.
Forces ghting in support of
President Abd-Rabbu Mansour
Hadi were forced to withdraw
from the city, one of the sources
said.
The rebels also seized a military base in the coastal city of

Dhubab, near the Bab al-Mandab strait, following clashes with

pro-government troops, another military source said.
Six loyalists and 11 rebels were
killed.
Pro-government
troops
seized Dhubab early last month,
giving them effective control of
Bab al-Mandab, through which
much of the worlds maritime
traffic passes.
Late yesterday, 16 pro-Hadi
soldiers were killed and six
wounded when a landmine exploded as their vehicle passed
in the city of Marib, east of the
capital Sanaa, a military source
said.
The blast took place on the
road to the Sahn military base
northwest of Marib, the source
added.
Loyalists are in control of
Marib while Sanaa is in the
hands of the Iran-backed
Houthi rebels who are also allied

Rouhani: local media

act like secret police
AFP
Tehran

Iranian foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham, seen speaking to the media in Tehran in this
file picture, has been appointed ambassador to Malaysia.

Iran appoints woman ambassador

AFP
Tehran

ran has appointed its rst

woman ambassador since
the 1979 Islamic revolution, naming foreign ministry
spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham
to head its embassy in Malaysia,
the foreign minister announced
yesterday.
Choosing Afkham as ambassador took a few minutes but
choosing her successor took four
months, Foreign Minister Mohamed Javad Zarif said at a ceremony in Tehran for the 50-year-

old career diplomat who will

be replaced at the ministry by a
man, Jaber Ansari.
Iranian media rst said back
in April that Afkham was lined
up for promotion to the rank
of ambassador, but the reports
were unconrmed.
Zarif paid tribute to Afkham,
who was also the rst woman in
the Islamic Republic to serve as
foreign ministry spokeswoman,
saying she had carried out her
duties for two years with dignity, bravery and particular insight.
In turn, the new ambassador to Kuala Lumpur, quoted by

state news agency Irna, praised

Zarif for the courage to take
such a decision and for his
trust in women.
After his 2013 election, Irans
President Hassan Rouhani called
on ministers to appoint women
to high posts and said his government would stand up against
discrimination, naming three
women to the countrys 11 vice
presidential positions.
While women may hold key
posts, including in parliament
and the cabinet, they cannot
serve as judges and have not
been allowed to run for president.

rans President Hassan Rouhani yesterday accused local

media outlets opposed to his
policies of behaving like a secret police.
Irans most conservative
newspapers have strongly criticised the moderate president
elected in 2013 whose foreign
policy in July led to Tehran signing a landmark nuclear deal with
world powers.
The accord seeks to curb Irans
atomic drive in return for lifting
sanctions that have crippled its
economy.
The media benets from a
permanent security margin... so
that not only can they say whatever they want, but they also
sometimes act like the secret
police, Rouhani told representatives of around 600 media outlets at a press event in Tehran.
You learn from some publications who will be arrested
tomorrow, what is going to be
closed down tomorrow, which
individuals reputation should
be damaged, he said, without
giving any names.
The speech came several days

after the arrest of three pro-reform journalists, one of whom

had recently been critical of
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei, according to news
agencies.
State television said the elite
Revolutionary Guards had arrested several members of an
inltration network linked to
hostile Western governments
who were working in the countrys media and social networks.
Rouhani told the press some
claim to be revolutionary but
being revolutionary means not
to lie ... it means not to accuse
others.
Being revolutionary means
giving hope to the people... reassuring people, he said.
Yet from one part of the establishment, we attack the other
part of the establishment.
The government must be
criticised, the judiciary must be
criticised, the parliament must
be criticised, the president said.
But criticising does not mean...
smearing, insulting or lying.
Also this week, state television reported the arrest of a Lebanese-American, Nezar Zaka, on
suspicion of having links to the
US intelligence community.

with forces loyal to ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The Houthis, a Shia minority from Yemens north, seized
Sanaa last year and then advanced south to Aden, forcing
Hadi and his government to ee
to Saudi Arabia.
Ministers from Hadis government returned to Aden
in mid-September after six
months in exile in the kingdom.
Hadi designated Aden as the
temporary capital of Yemen.
The United Nations says that
around 5,000 people have been
killed in Yemens conict since
it escalated in March.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon was
leaving for Saudi Arabia yesterday amid a new push by the
world body for peace talks in
Yemen.
The United Nations is hoping
to announce next week a date for
talks between the government
and the rebels.

Tehran to attend
next round of
Syria peace talks
Iran will attend the next round
of Syria peace talks, a top
adviser to Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was
quoted as saying on Saturday, a
week after Tehran threatened to
withdraw from the process.
World and regional powers
including Iran met in Vienna on
October 30 to discuss a political
solution to Syrias civil war. Days
later, Iran threatened to pull out
of the next round of talks.
Iran will be actively present
in (Syria peace) talks, while
announcing its standards and
preserving its red lines, Ali
Akbar Velayati, Khameneis
top foreign policy adviser, was
quoted as saying by the Tasnim
news agency.
We will support our ally, Syria,
not only in defence field, but
also in political arena, he
added. Iran supports Syrias
President Bashar al-Assad
against rebels.
Diplomats have said the next
round of international talks is
likely to begin later this week.
Iran has said it could support
Assads departure only if he is
ousted in elections held after
a ceasefire. Western and Gulf
Arab powers say the Syrian
strongman, whose crackdown
on initially peaceful protests
in 2011 triggered the war, must
leave power as part of any
credible peace process.

14

Gulf Times
Monday, November 9, 2015

ARAB WORLD

Netanyahu stresses defence aid ahead of US trip

AFP
Jerusalem/Washington

sraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday he planned to discuss defence aid with President
Barack Obama as he left for his
rst meeting with the US leader
in over a year.
Netanyahu is due to meet
Obama today in Washington as
the two leaders seek to set aside
their testy personal relationship and turn the page after a
sharp disagreement over the July
nuclear deal between Iran and
world powers.
The talks are to focus on US
defence aid to Israel in a bid to

assuage the Jewish state over

the security challenges it says it
now faces due to the nuclear accord, which Netanyahu rmly
opposed.
Israel already receives more
than $3bn per year in US military
aid in addition to other spending, such as on the Iron Dome
missile defence system.
The 10-year arrangement expires in 2017, and there have been
reports that Netanyahu will seek
a signicant increase.
I believe that this meeting is
important in order to clarify the
continuation of American aid
to Israel in the coming decade,
Netanyahu said at the start of a
cabinet meeting yesterday.
It will be another step toward

realising an understanding in
this direction.
The new 10-year defence deal
will not be nalised during the
Obama-Netanyahu summit, and
it would come into effect only
after the current accord expires,
US officials have said.
The Israeli premier argues that
the nuclear accord will not block
Irans path to atomic weapons.
He also contends that the lifting of sanctions will allow Tehran to further back proxy militants in the region.
Beyond defence talks, Netanyahu said he planned to discuss
with Obama the conict in Syria
and possible progress with the
Palestinians, or at least stabilising the situation with them.

A wave of violence since the

start of October, including gun,
knife and car-ramming attacks
by Palestinians, has raised fears
over the potential for a new Palestinian uprising.
Obama has previously criticised Netanyahu for sending
mixed signals over his commitment to a two-state solution and may press him on the
issue.
However, American officials
say the president has lost any
hope of a major peace accord being reached between the Israelis
and Palestinians before he leaves
office in January 2017.
Obama and Netanyahu are
known to have testy personal
ties, not least because of the

right-wing Israeli premiers

courting of Republicansthe
US presidents opponentsincluding in a speech to Congress
in March not co-ordinated with
the White House.
But analysts say the two seem
determined to turn the page
with a businesslike meeting and
signal that the two countries
long-lasting alliance remains
unshakeable.
They will not fall in love with
each other, said Zvi Raah, a
long-time consultant on US affairs and former congressional
specialist at Israels Washington
embassy.
However, Im sure (Netanyahu) understands exactly the
value of this visit and the value

of the United States.

The White House has sought
to downplay personal feelings,
with spokesman Josh Earnest
saying they were not nearly
as important as their ability to
work together to advance the
national security interests of
the two countries that they
lead.
At the same time, more controversy erupted ahead of the
trip over comments from Netanyahus newly appointed media
czar.
After his appointment was
announced on Wednesday, Israeli media dug up past comments from Ran Baratz accusing Obama of anti-Semitism
and saying US Secretary of State

John Kerrys mental age was

no older than 12.
Netanyahu condemned the
statements and said he would
meet Baratz after returning
from Washington. Kerry spoke
with Netanyahu about the comments that his State Department
spokesman called troubling
and offensive.
During his visit, Netanyahu
will receive an award from the
right-wing American Enterprise
Institute and is expected to meet
members of Congress.
He will also speak to the leftleaning Centre for American
Progress think tank in what
some analysts see as an attempt
to improve relations with Democrats.

Three Israel
spies held
in Lebanon
AFP
Beirut

ebanese authorities said

yesterday they had arrested two Lebanese nationals and a Syrian on allegations of spying for Israel.
In the framework of pursuing operations to combat
terrorism and espionage... the
directorate of General Security
arrested a spy network working for the Israeli enemy in the
south (of Lebanon), the security service said in a statement.
The statement said the
three arrested were a Syrian
man, his Lebanese wife, and
a Lebanese man. The three
were identied only by their
initials.
There were no details on exactly when or where the three
were detained.
The statement said the
three had confessed to the
charges against them, admitting they had gathered
information on individuals
and security and military
targets.
The three also allegedly

lmed sensitive roads and

other areas in southern Lebanon and sent the footage to
their employers to be used in
later attacks.
Lebanon and Israel remain
technically in a state of war,
with occasional skirmishes on
the ceasere line between the
two.
In 2006, Lebanons Shia
Hezbollah movement fought
a month-long war with the
Jewish state that devastated
parts of Lebanon.
That conflict killed more
than 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and
some 160 Israelis, most of
them soldiers.
Last December, Hezbollah detained a senior party
official on allegations of
spying for Israel and sabotaging security operations
abroad.
Between April 2009 and
2014, Lebanese authorities
detained more than 100 people accused of spying for Israel, most of them army members or telecommunications
employees.
But more recently, such arrests have been rare.

Serbian embassy employees

abducted in Libya: Belgrade
Two Serbian embassy
employees, a man and a
woman, were abducted in
Libyas coastal city of Sabratha
yesterday while they were
travelling in convoy to Tunisia,
the government in Belgrade
said.
Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic
said the convoy was carrying
Serbias ambassador to Libya
in a separate car during the
incident in the city about
100km from the main border
crossing between Libya and
Tunisia.
Some shots were fired, one
Libyan citizen was wounded

in a leg, according to first

reports, Dacic told the national
RTS broadcaster.
We have no information
about who the kidnappers
are. Nobody has contacted
us to demand anything. We
are following the situation,
he said, adding that a crisis
committee had been set up.
Dacic said he had alerted the
Serbian prime minister about
the missing employees.
A ministry statement identified
the abducted pair as Sladjana
Stankovic, in charge of
communications, and Jovica
Stepic, a driver.

Israeli soldiers stand near a covered body at the scene of a car-ramming near the West Bank Jewish settlement of Tapuach south of Nablus yesterday.

Two Palestinians shot

as violence continues
Unrest had appeared to be
declining over the past few
days, but several attacks
on Friday as well as clashes
between Israeli security
forces and Palestinians
shattered the lull
AFP
Jerusalem

ar-ramming and stabbing attacks wounded

six Israelis in the West
Bank yesterday while two alleged
Palestinian assailants were shot,
authorities said, the latest in a
weeks-long wave of violence.
While violence had waned
somewhat in recent days, the
new attacks signalled that knife,
gun and car assaults that began
at the start of October were set
to continue despite tough Israeli
security measures.
The latest unrest came as Is-

raeli Prime Minister Benjamin

Netanyahu left for Washington
yesterday to meet US President
Barack Obama.
In the rst incident, a Palestinian rammed a group of Israelis
with a car at a junction, wounding four of them, and was then
killed by security forces, police
said.
The alleged attacker was said
to have driven the car into an
area south of Nablus where Israelis typically gather to hitch
rides. A checkpoint is located
nearby and Israeli border police
opened re.
Israeli public radio said two
of the injured were in a serious
condition.
Later, a Palestinian woman
stabbed a security guard near a
West Bank settlement and was
shot by the victim, the Israeli
police and army said.
The incident occurred at the
entrance to the Beitar Illit set-

tlement south of Jerusalem.

A hospital spokeswoman described the womans condition
as serious and said she was being
treated in intensive care.
The third incident saw an Israeli settler stabbed while shopping in the West Bank village
of Nabi Ilyas, with two alleged
Palestinian assailants eeing
afterwards, the Israeli defence
ministry said.
The victim, aged around 50,
was stabbed in the stomach but
managed to drive to a nearby
checkpoint and was taken for
medical treatment, authorities
said. He lives in the Immanuel
settlement in the West Bank.
Attacks since the start of October have left 73 Palestinians
dead, around half of them alleged attackers. Nine Israelis and
one Arab Israeli have also been
killed.
Violent protests have also
erupted in East Jerusalem, the

West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Unrest had appeared to be declining over the past few days,
but several attacks on Friday as
well as clashes between Israeli
security forces and Palestinians
shattered the lull.
Much of the violence has been
in the West Bank city of Hebron,
where two Israelis were shot and
wounded on Friday at a ashpoint holy site.
Yesterday, there was also violence across southern Israels
border with Gaza.
A rocket fired from the Palestinian enclave slammed
into open ground in Israel, but
caused no apparent casualties,
the Israeli army said in a statement.
Netanyahus meeting with
Obama will be centred on US
defence aid to Israel following
the July nuclear accord between
major powers and Iran, but the
violence between Israelis and

Palestinians is also expected to

be discussed.
At the start of a cabinet meeting yesterday, Netanyahu said he
will discuss with Obama possible progress with the Palestinians, or at least stabilising
the situation with them, and, of
course, strengthening the security of the state of Israel.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that Netanyahu planned
to unveil measures to calm tensions in the West Bank during
his meeting with Obama, and
that these may include removing some checkpoints and easing
certain restrictions on movement.
Many of the attacks have been
carried out by young Palestinians fed up with Israels occupation and who appear to be acting
on their own. They have deed
calls for peaceful resistance from
Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas.

First family home rebuilt a year after Gaza war

AFP
Gaza City

or over a year Atef al-Zaza

and his family have been
waiting to move back into
their Gaza home, attened like
thousands of others in last years
devastating war with Israel.
Now it has become the rst
in the ravaged coastal strip to be
completely rebuilt, just in time
for the wet and windy Gaza winter.
The 50-day war in July-August 2014 killed 2,200 Palestinians, 73 people on the Israeli side,
and destroyed or damaged thousands of homes in the besieged
Gaza Strip.
Until now the only repairs had
been to buildings which were
partially damaged, while the
Zaza homein the particularly
hard-hit Shejaiya neighbourhood of Gaza Citywas completely obliterated.
Since then, Atef al-Zaza, 49,
and the 11 members of his fam-

A woman works inside her newly rebuilt house in Gaza yesterday.

ily have stayed with relatives
and for a while in a small rented
apartment.
Now he proudly shows visitors
the brand new, 160sq m house,

surrounded by the rubble of

neighbours homes yet to be reconstructed.
The best day of my life, his
wife Fatima says of the move

back home, while expressing

concern for his brothers-inlaw who are still waiting for a
house and for the whole neighbourhood which is destroyed.

In Gaza, violence is never far

away and a few hundred metres
from the Zaza home young Palestinian stone throwers clash
daily with Israeli soldiers on
the other side of the border
fence.
The UN Relief and Works
Agency, tasked with caring for
Palestinian refugees who make
up 75% of the strips population,
says 9,000 of their homes were
totally destroyed in the Israeli
bombardment and tens of thousands damaged.
Some of those now rebuilding
are doing so for the third time,
Unrwa spokesman Adnan Abu
Hasna said, referring to previous
Gaza wars in 2008 and 2012.
The task is fraught with obstacles; the Gaza Strip is subject
to blockades by both Israel and
Egypt, between which it is sandwiched.
Israel tightly controls the ow
of raw materials such as cement
and gravel into Gaza, fearing
they could be used by Palestinian militants to fortify bunkers

and tunnel under the border.

Money is also lacking.
Unrwa has only received
about $247mn when it needs
$720mn to rebuild or renovate
the 140,000 homes of refugees
affected by the war, Abu Hasna
said.
Tens of thousands of damaged
homes have been xed, but more
than 13,000 refugee families are
still homeless, he said.
NGOs estimate that with the
supply of materials and funding
at present levels, Gaza home reconstruction could take decades,
and that is not counting the need
to repair or replace infrastructure and hundreds of schools,
medical facilities and other public buildings.
Unrwa has so far won Israeli
agreement to allow in enough
materials to rebuild the homes
of 170 families and sees the completion of the Zaza home and the
169 to come as a small victory.
But in a territory where poverty and unemploymentat 45%
one of the worlds highest job-

less ratesare rampant, despair

and anger caused by the delay in
construction and the continued
blockade will cause an explosion, Abu Hasna said.
Israel imposed its blockade
on Gaza in 2006 after Hamas
captured an Israeli soldier, and
tightened it a year later when the
Islamist movement took control
of the strip.
Before then, Zaza worked in
the Israeli construction industry. Today he is unemployed and
needed Unrwa to build his house.
A descendant of refugees, he
knows how to temper his happiness at the new family home
with caution learned from history, starting with the foundation
of Israel in 1948 and the accompanying war in which so many
Palestinians became refugees.
In 1948 we had to go into exile, he said. During the (2008
and 2013) Gaza wars we left our
home and in the third (2014 war)
it was destroyed.
Every minute we say that a
new war may break out.

Gulf Times
Monday, November 9, 2015

15

ARAB WORLD

Frustration grows as Britons wait to leave Egypt

AFP
Sharm El Sheikh

tranded in the Egyptian

resort of Sharm El Sheikh,
British tourist Joanna
Baker is growing increasingly
frustrated despite her luxurious
surroundings.
Baker and her boyfriend were
scheduled to y out on Friday after a week of holidays in the Red
Sea town, but instead are stuck

like thousands of fellow holidaymakers after Britain suspended

ights to Sharm El Sheikh over
last weeks crash of a Russian
airliner.
Their airline has put them up
at a luxurious hotel, but the resorts private beach and Sharm
El Sheikhs warm, sunny weather are no longer an attraction.
We feel like we are grounded, Baker, 22, said as she played
a game of table tennis with her
boyfriend.

We had a great time until

Thursday, but now we are frustrated. The hotel is great, the
people are great, but we just
dont know when we are going.
Nearly 17,000 Britons are still
stranded in Sharm El Sheikh,
and London has warned that
some may have to stay on longer
before they can be own home.
About 2,500 travellers have
been repatriated to Britain since
Friday.
But Baker and her partner

have so far been unlucky.

All we do is get up early, pack
our bags and just wait, said her
boyfriend, Arjun Mehta, an accounting student at the University of Sussex.
We are tired of packing and
unpacking, Mehta said, as the
couple hoped to catch a ight
yesterday.
I have to go back to work on
Monday and he has to go back
to the university. And we dont
know when our luggage would

reach home, Baker said.

Under security measures imposed for the repatriations, passengers are allowed to travel only
with hand luggage, with checkin bags to be transported later.
At various hotels in the resort
town, stranded Britons mostly
stayed indoors or on private
beaches, ready to leave for the
airport at short notice.
Tour operators and airlines are
to reimburse them for extended
stays, but many tourists blamed

their airlines for mismanaging

the situation.
The hotel and its staff are
great, but the airline has not
called us, nor telephoned or emailed, Rob Ashford, 27, said as
he stepped out of the swimming
pool at a luxury hotel.
We have been told not to step
out of the hotel for security reasons.
Ashford and his girlfriend
were scheduled to return to
Manchester on Friday, but yes-

terday there was still no indication when they would take off.
We are living on a day-today basis. Nobody knows anything. Looks like we may be here
for another week, he said.
For 49-year-old software developer Paul, who gave only his
rst name, a few extra days on
holiday was not an issue.
Its not that stressful, and to
be honest its better to be stuck
in the hotel than get blown up,
he said.

Investigators
90% sure of
bomb aboard
crashed plane
An investigation team
member says analysis so far
of the noise heard on the
black box indicates it was a
bomb explosion
Reuters
Cairo

nvestigators of the Russian plane crash in Egypt are

90% sure the noise heard
in the nal second of a cockpit recording was an explosion
caused by a bomb, a member of
the investigation team told Reuters yesterday.
The Airbus A321 crashed 23
minutes after taking off from
the Sharm El Sheikh tourist resort eight days ago, killing all
224 passengers and crew. Islamic
State militants ghting Egyptian
security forces in Sinai said they
brought it down.
The indications and analysis
so far of the sound on the black
box indicate it was a bomb, said
the Egyptian investigation team
member, who asked not to be
named due to sensitivities. We
are 90% sure it was a bomb.
His comments reect a higher
degree of certainty about the
cause of the crash than the investigation committee has so far
declared in public.
Lead investigator Ayman alMuqaddam announced on Saturday that the plane appeared to
have broken up in mid-air while
it was being own on auto-pilot,
and that a noise had been heard
in the last second of the cockpit
recording. But he said it was too
soon to draw conclusions about
why the plane crashed.
Conrmation that militants
brought down the airliner could

have a devastating impact on

Egypts lucrative tourist industry, which has suffered from
years of political turmoil and
was hit last week when Russia,
Turkey and several European
countries suspended ights to
Sharm El Sheikh and other destinations.
It could also mark a new strategy by the hardline Islamic State
group which holds large parts of
Syria and Iraq.
Asked to explain the remaining 10% margin of doubt, the investigator declined to elaborate,
but Muqaddam cited other possibilities on Saturday including
a fuel explosion, metal fatigue
in the plane or lithium batteries
overheating.
He said debris was scattered
over a 13km area which is consistent with an in-ight breakup.
What happened in Sharm El
Sheikh last week, and to a lesser
extent with the ... (Germanwings)
aircraft, are game changers for our
industry, Emirates Airlines president Tim Clark said, referring to
the crash of a Germanwings airliner in the French Alps in March,
believed crashed deliberately by
its co-pilot.
They have to be addressed at
industry level because no doubt
the countriesUS, EuropeI
would think will make some fairly stringent, draconian demands
on the way aviation works with
security, he said at the Dubai
Airshow.
Clark said he had ordered a
security review but was not suspending any ights as a result of
the disaster. Emirates does not
operate regular ights to Sharm
El Sheikh.
British Foreign Secretary

Philip Hammond also said the

incident could lead to changes in
ight security.
If this turns out to be a device
planted by an ISIL operative or
by somebody inspired by ISIL,
then clearly we will have to look
again at the level of security we
expect to see in airports in areas
where ISIL is active, Hammond
told the BBC.
Islamic State, which wants to
establish a caliphate in the Middle East, is also called ISIS or
ISIL.
Islamic State militants ghting security forces in Egypts
Sinai Peninsula have said they
brought down the aircraft as
revenge for Russian air strikes
against Islamist ghters in Syria.
They said they would eventually
tell the world how they carried
out the attack.
If the group was responsible,
it would have carried out one of
the highest prole killings since
Al Qaeda ew passenger planes
into New Yorks World Trade
Center in September 2001.
Russia has returned 11,000
of its tourists from Egypt in the
last 24 hours, RIA news agency said yesterday, a fraction of
the 80,000 Russians who were
stranded by the Kremlins decision on Friday to halt all ights
to Egypt.
In St Petersburg, where the
ight was headed on October 31,
the bell of St Isaacs Cathedral
rang 224 times and a service was
held in memory of the victims.
Russia has sent specialists to
conduct a safety audit of Egypts
airports and to provide recommendations on additional measures, Arkady Dvorkovich, deputy
prime minister, was quoted as
saying by Russian agencies.

A tourist has his belongings checked by security forces in Sharm El Sheikh yesterday.

Britain seeks more security

at airports facing high risk
AFP
London

ritain will push for higher

security at foreign airports in risky areas even
if it means extra delays for passengers, foreign minister Philip
Hammond said yesterday.
Britain suspended ights to
Sharm El Sheikh after saying it
feared a bomb may have brought
down a Russian jet shortly after
it took off from the Red Sea resort on October 31 killing all 224
aboard, and that security at the
airport was lax.
What weve got to do is ensure that... airport security reects local conditions, Philip
Hammond told the BBC yesterday.

Moroccans protest
over utility prices
Reuters
Tangier, Morocco

undreds of demonstrators took to the streets in

the northern Moroccan
city of Tangier on Saturday to
protest over high prices for water and electricity, despite government assurances and calls to
end the rallies.
Saturday nights protest was
the latest in a series of rallies
that started three weeks ago. It
took place days after authorities said the government was
working with the French-owned
company running the services
to review the bills and called on
people to stop protesting.
Shame, shame, they sold
us out to colonialism, chanted
the protesters as they marched
through downtown Tangier.
Still, the rally was smaller
than last week in Tangier when
thousands protested in Moroccos largest street demonstration
since the 2011 pro-democracy
protests.

A statement from the government earlier this week warned

citizens to not follow those who
want to make mischief. It also
said the interior minister has
given strict orders to the company to execute the bill review
measures as soon as possible.
Water, wastewater and electricity businesses in the cities of
Tangier and neighbouring Tetouan have been operated since
2002 by Amendis, an affiliate of
Frances Veolia Environnement .
After the 2001 Arab Spring,
an Islamist-led government
took power for the rst time in
Morocco and made structural
reforms, in particular in public
nance, its top priority.
It started with reducing the
cumbersome subsidies which
led to rising prices of water and
electricity.
Amedis has blamed the governments programme to rescue
the state-run power utility that
imposed a new pricing structure
in 2014. It also pointed to peak
power and water demand during
the summer.

Where theres a local

higher threat, that will mean
higher levels of security are
required and that may mean
additional costs and may
mean additional delays at airports.
Efforts will be focused on
areas where Islamic State (IS)
militants are known to operate if news reports are confirmed that they were behind
the crash.
If this turns out to be a device planted by an IS operative,
or by somebody inspired by IS,
then clearly we will have to look
again at the level of security we
expect to see in airports in areas where IS is active, Hammond said.
The decision to suspend
flights with immediate ef-

fect came after a team of British security experts made an

initial security assessment in
the Egyptian resort of Sharm
El Sheikh, but the government
has yet to identify IS as the
perpetrators.
Around 3,300 of the estimated 20,000 Britons in Sharm El
Sheikh have been brought home
on jets laid on by airlines in conjunction with the government,
and a further 1,700 were expected home yesterday, according to
Hammond.
The ambassador is telling me
that the mood in Sharm is generally calm, people understand
what is going on, he told the
BBC.
Many people will want to
stay and complete their holiday, he added. At most people

will experience a delay of two or

three days.
Hammond pledged support
for those airports struggling to
deal with the extra demands.
Because our (British) airport
security is what it is, we have
been remarkably successful for
over 25 years in ensuring that
nobody has been able to get an
explosive device onto a plane,
he said.
What weve got to do is ensure that airport security everywhere is at the level of the
best.
If we believe an airport is unsafe we will say so. We will work
with local authorities, we will
support them where they need
support, he added. Its about
training, management, motivation and staff.

Egypt journalist sent

to army prosecutors
DPA
Cairo

Protesters shout slogans during the demonstration over water and

electricity prices in Tangier on Saturday.

n Egyptian journalist
who founded one of the
countrys most respected human rights organisations
was sent to military prosecutors yesterday, the editor of the
news site he works for said.
Hossam Bahgat was questioned for hours by military intelligence officials before being
referred to prosecutors, Mada
Masrs chief editor, Lina Atallah, wrote on Twitter.
Atallah said she spoke with
Bahgat by phone and he said
the initial charges against him
appear to be publishing false
information that harms national security.
He remained in custody,
awaiting questioning by prosecutors, she said.
Bahgat set up the pioneering
Egyptian Initiative for Personal

Rights in 2002. He headed it

until he resigned in 2013 to turn
his attention to journalism.
In October, he published an
article on Mada Masr investigating a hushed-up military
trial in which 26 army officers
were reportedly jailed over an
alleged Muslim Brotherhood
plot to overthrow President
Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
Atallah told DPA it was not
yet clear why Bahgat had been
summoned for questioning. It
was the rst time military intelligence had called in any of
the sites journalists, she said.
Under Egyptian law, offences involving the armed forces
are usually investigated by
military prosecutors and tried
before military courts even if
the accused are civilians.
Rights groups have repeatedly condemned the use of
military trials, arguing that
they are not fully independent
and lack the procedural guar-

antees that defendants enjoy in

civilian courts.
According to Human Rights
Watch, more than 2,000 civilians were referred to military
trials from October last year,
when Sisi empowered them
to try any cases involving attacks on state infrastructure,
to June.
Egypt has cracked down on
opposition media since Sisi,
who was then head of the army,
ousted Islamist president Mohamed Mursi in 2013.
Islamist television channels have been shut down, and
secular opposition gures are
rarely seen on television.
Three journalists with Al
Jazeeras
English-language
channel received pardons
from Sisi in September after
being jailed for allegedly publishing false news and collaborating with Mursis banned
Muslim Brotherhood movement.

16

Gulf Times
Monday, November 9, 2015

AFRICA
ASSASSINATION

TERRORISM

LUCRATIVE TRADE

DEMOCRACY AT WORK

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE

Somali lawmaker killed

in drive-by shooting

Boko Haram female suicide

bombers hit village in Chad

4 Chinese men nabbed in

Tanzania with rhino horns

Campaigning kicks off for

landmark Burkina vote

Angolan activists jailed

after anti-government rally

A Somali member of parliament has died hours

after he was shot and wounded when gunmen
sprayed his car with bullets, the prime minster
said yesterday. MP Mohamed Ahmed Gurhan
was hit by gunfire several times as he travelled
through the capital Mogadishu on the way to
parliament on Saturday. Gurhan died of injuries
sustained from a drive-by shooting by terrorists,
Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke
said. Such cowardly actions will not discourage
nor dissuade the progress and the ambitions
of the Somali people. No one has claimed the
attack, but Shebaab insurgents having claimed
previous killings.

Female suicide bombers killed at least three people

and wounded a dozen others yesterday in an attack
on a village in Chad, a police spokesman said.
Ngouboua is home to displaced Chadians as well
as Nigerian refugees who have fled the violence
in Islamist group Boko Harams strongholds in
northeast Nigeria, and the militants have attacked
it several times in the past year. The two bombers
also died in the twin blasts in Ngouboua, a fishing
village on the shores of Lake Chad. I can confirm
that there was an attack in Ngouboua, said national
police spokesman Paul Manga, who added that both
bombers were believed to have been women, but
gave no further details.

Tanzanian police said yesterday they had

arrested four Chinese men after finding 11 rhino
horns hidden beneath their car in one of the
largest seizures in the east Africa country. The
four were arrested on Friday in the southwestern
district of Mbeya after they crossed into
Tanzania from neighbouring Malawi, a police
statement said. An investigation is ongoing,
and the suspects will soon appear in court, it
said. African rhinos have two horns, meaning
the seizure represents the death of at least six
animals. Hundreds of rhinos are massacred
every year for their horn, used in East Asia for its
supposed medicinal qualities.

Campaigning kicked off yesterday in Burkina Faso

ahead of a crucial November 29 national vote,
which interim leader Michel Kafando said will be
key to consolidating democracy. The attempted
overthrow was derailed within days by a popular
uprising - much as street protests that toppled
former strongman Blaise Compaore at the end
of October 2014. The interim authorities have
ruled that nobody who backed Compaores bid to
keep power can stand for elected office. Whoever
wins the presidential race, which will be held
concurrently with a legislative poll on November
29, will be tasked to re-establish democracy in the
poor, coup-prone nation.

Eighteen Angolan activists arrested last week at

a rally in support of anti-government protesters
detained since June, have been sentenced to
two months in jail for distributing leaflets. The
18 however may be freed as early as today on
condition they pay fines of 55,260 kwanzas
(about $410) each, David Mendes said. The
detainees were sentenced for distributing antigovernment fliers in Lobito, capital of Benguela
province. Another charge of civil disobedience
was dropped. The rally last Saturday at which
the arrests took place was held in support of
detained rapper Luaty Beirao and 14 others on
charges of rebellion and a coup attempt.

Nairobi to boost
security for Pope

Nine killed
in Burundi
crackdown
AFP
Bujumbura

unmen executed nine people in Burundis capital, hours before police

launched house-to-house searches for
weapons yesterday, amid international fears of
fresh bloodletting in the central African nation.
Hundreds of police and soldiers ringed the opposition ashpoint Mutakura district of the capital Bujumbura yesterday morning to start a widely feared crackdown on enemies of the nation.
Residents said security forces carried out
house-to-house searches. City mayor Freddy Mbonimpa said police were searching for
hidden weapons, insisting the raids were
being done professionally, because the police
are using weapon detectors.
The mayor said seven people were killed in an
execution attack on a bar on Saturday night,
adding that a probe had been launched to track
the assassins. Two others later died of their
wounds. Witnesses said attackers stormed
into the bar, forcing those drinking outside to
enter and lie on the ground before opening re.
Police later displayed around a dozen ries
and grenades they said had been seized in the
raids, which officials said would continue in
coming days.
Burundi has been hit by waves of violence
since President Pierre Nkurunziza launched
his successful bid to win a third term, with
bodies found dumped in the streets on a nearly daily basis. People in largely opposition areas have ed Bujumbura, leaving key districts
that have seen some of the worst recent violence almost empty.
The security warnings have sparked intense fear. I was terried, I understood that
this time they would kill every last one of us,
said Marie, a secretary in her forties who ed
Mutakura on Saturday, taking her ve children to a relatives house in a calmer part of
the capital. But apart from the bar attack, the

Buhari team
to take oath on
Wednesday
Reuters
Abuja

igeria President Muhammadu Buhari

is to swear in members of his cabinet
on Wednesday, a presidency statement said yesterday, ending a ve-month
wait for a cabinet to be installed in Africas
most populace nation.
The 72-year-old former military ruler, who
was inaugurated in late May, has been criticised for waiting until September to name
his ministers, who then underwent a monthlong Senate vetting process. Portfolios will be
assigned after ministers have been sworn in.
President Muhammadu Buhari will ofcially inaugurate a new federal executive
council on November 11, said the emailed
statement from Buharis spokesman Femi
Adesina. Before the commencement of the
inaugural session of the council, the ministers-designate will take their oaths of office
in the Council Chambers of the Presidential
Villa, it said, adding that this would begin at
10am (0900 GMT).
Nigeria, Africas biggest economy and the
continents top oil producer, faces its worst
economic crisis in years brought on by the
sharp fall in crude prices since it relies on oil
exports for 70% of government revenue.
Critics of Buhari, who won March elections after campaigning to rid Nigeria of
widespread corruption, said the absence of
a ministers created a policy vacuum that exacerbated the economic problems brought on
by the fall in oil prices.
Buhari took his 36 ministers on a retreat on
Thursday and Friday during which they were
handed documents, seen by Reuters, which
outlined the state of the economy and the
governments policy goals.

AFP
Nairobi

city was otherwise reported to be largely calm,

the mayor said.
At least 200 people have died in turmoil
since April and 200,000 have ed the country, sparking fears that the violence could
spiral into mass bloodletting. Inammatory
rhetoric deployed in recent days by some government officials and President Nkurunzizas
planned security crackdown this weekend are
increasing the risk of an outbreak of mass violence, the US said on Saturday.
But the government dismissed the concerns, saying it wanted only to crush terrorism and comparing the ght to Somalias
struggle against Islamist Shebaab insurgents
that Burundi is ghting as part of an internationally-backed African Union force.
There will be no war or genocide, presidential communications chief Willy Nyamitwe told AFP. It is amazing to see that a government that wants to put an end to terrorism
is criticised instead of being encouraged.
The rising unrest has sparked fears Burundi
could slide back into conict after its 19932006 civil war, when some 300,000 people
died as rebels from the majority Hutu people
clashed with an army dominated by the minority Tutsis.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on
Friday that the discovery of bodies - many
apparently summarily executed - has become a regular occurrence in Burundis
capital Bujumbura.
Last week, the countrys Senate president
Reverien Ndikuriyo threatened to pulverise
regime opponents who do not lay down arms
before the Saturday deadline.
Today, the police shoot in the legs... but
when the day comes that we tell them to go to
work, do not come crying to us, he said.
The loaded term work was a euphemism
used in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide to
describe the mass killings of at least 800,000
mainly Tutsi people by extremist Hutu militias.

Armed policemen hold a position in the Musaga neighbourhood of Bujumbura.

Kagame slams massacres, blames hiding Burundian leader

Rwandan President Paul Kagame has accused
Burundis leaders of carrying out massacres on
their people in his most critical speech yet of the
crisis in the troubled neighbouring state.
People die every day, corpses litter the
streets... How can the leaders allow their population to be massacred from morning to night?
Kagame said, speaking in Kinyarwanda on
Friday, in a speech heard by AFP yesterday.
Relations between Rwanda and Burundi
are tense, with Bujumbura accusing Kigali of
backing those who oppose President Pierre
Nkurunzizas controversial third term.
In Kigali during an awards ceremony on
Friday, Kagame gave the speech before the end
of a Burundi government deadline for civilians
to surrender weapons, which has prompted
international fears it will trigger further violence.
Burundi has been rocked by violence since
April, raising fears it could slide back into
conflict after its 1993-2006 civil war, when some
300,000 people died as rebels from the majority Hutu people clashed with an army dominated by the minority Tutsis.
The people of Rwanda and Burundi have
close ties, and have taken turns sheltering in
their neighbour when trouble has spiked, including during Rwandas 1994 genocide, when at

least 800,000 mainly Tutsi people were killed

by extremist Hutu militias.
Kagame said the violence in Burundi reminded him a little of the horrors of 1994.
They (Burundi) should learn from what happened here, Kagame said.
Kagame also sharply criticised his counterpart Nkurunziza, an evangelical pastor who
believe he rules by divine will, but who he said
is now rarely seen and hides while Burundi is
in crisis.
Burundis leaders pride themselves on being
men of God, some are even pastors, Kagame
said. But what God do they believe? Is there
somewhere in the Bible where leaders are called
on to massacre their people?
The Rwandan capital Kigali has become a
refuge for many opposition and civil society
activists - as well as dissidents from Nkurunzizas
ruling party.
Burundi however goes a step further, claiming that rebel forces - set up by mutinous soldiers after a failed coup in May - are also there
and enjoying Rwandan support.
But Kagame said Burundi was responsible for
its problems. It is the Burundians themselves
who are responsible for their situation, he said,
warning of bad leaders who harm their people.

enya said yesterday it may deploy as many as

10,000 police officers to boost security during
a visit by Pope Francis later this month, as the
country readies for crowds of 1mn people.
Islamist rebels have staged a string of attacks in Kenya, including an April massacre at Garissa university
in which 148 people were killed, and a 2013 assault on
Nairobis Westgate shopping mall that killed 67.
Security agencies continue to ne-tune plans to
secure the city during a particularly busy period, and
when we expect Nairobis population to swell by an additional 1mn people, State House spokesman Manoah
Esipisu said in a statement.
Tentatively, some 10,000 police officers will be
deployed, Esipisu said, adding that another 10,000
members of the governments youth service would help
in crowd control.
The Pontiff will be in Kenya on November 25-27, before spending two days in Uganda and travelling to the
Central African Republic (CAR), where his trip will end
on November 30, according to a Vatican itinerary.
The three countries - which have signicant Catholic communities - have been troubled by civil conicts
and violence, leading to increased security concerns
surrounding the Popes visit.
In Nairobi, Pope Francis will tour the Kangemi district, home to some 100,000 people who live in shacks
without proper sewage systems and where some
20,000 residents belong to the local Catholic parish.
In July, Kenya hosted US President Barack Obama, a
visit that effectively shut down the capital of Nairobi,
with hundreds of American security personnel and
military helicopters deployed.
Kenyans were urged to stay at home during the visit,
with Nairobis normally traffic-clogged roads closed off
during the massive security operation.
But Kenyan organisers for the Papal visit said this
trip would be different.
Unlike the visit by President Barack Obama when
the government encouraged Kenyans to stay home, we
are encouraging Kenyans to ock into the city in their
numbers to cheer the Pope and celebrate mass with
him, Esipisu said.
Bishop Alfred Rotich, who is heading the churchs
preparations in Kenya, said they were planning for a
tenth of all Kenyan Catholics to see the Pope.
The church says almost a third of Kenyans are Catholic - some 14mn of 44mn people - although other estimates put the numbers of believers at around a fth.
We expect 10% of them, or 1.4mn from all over the
country, to attend the Papal high mass here in Nairobi,
Rotich said, adding that the church was also expecting up to 60 cardinals, archbishops and bishops from
across East Africa, with 9,000 extra priests drafted in
to help.

North Cameroon faces twin nightmares of Boko Haram, poverty

AFP
Yaounde

n the poverty-stricken far north

of Cameroon, the priority is the
ght against the Nigerian militants of Boko Haram, but experts say
a growing humanitarian crisis also
needs urgent attention.
Chased from their strongholds in
northeast Nigeria by a multi-national army offensive, the insurgents of
Boko Haram have increased the tempo of suicide attacks and bloody raids
on neighbouring Cameroon despite
the deployment of a huge military
contingent along the border.
Since early 2015, theres been an
intensication of attacks by Boko
Haram that have had catastrophic
consequences for the whole region,
said Najat Rochdi, UN aid coordinator for Cameroon.
In the town of Maroua, capital of
the Far North region, a huge military
presence has been deployed in a bid
to stem the jihadists attacks.
Enjoying the last of the greenery as
the dry season takes hold, locals try
to lead normal lives in a town where
motorbikes and mopeds ll the dusty
roads and a few 4X4s pick their way
through the potholes.
But a humanitarian crisis is building. Make no mistake - Maroua is
slowing down, said a local NGO
worker. The whole local economy is
a disaster.
The Far North combines one of
the biggest populations in Cameroon
with some of its most inhospitable conditions - a semi-arid, Sahel
desert climate with little infrastructure and few jobs or schools.
This region has been abandoned
by the government in the south for
years, said the NGO worker.

Locals ride a boat to cross a section of Lake Chad whose waters border Niger, Nigeria and Cameroon in the village of Guite.
Most eke a living as small-scale
farmers or artisans, but the violence
is taking its toll. Whatever tourism
existed has evaporated.
The closure of the border with
Nigeria has literally suffocated an already very weak economy, said Rochdi.
Prices for basic items have spiked,
and markets are shutting down.
Near the border, farmers are no
longer able to work, their cattle
are stolen or even abandoned, villages are deserted, unemployment is
through the roof, Rochdi added.

The local economy has also been

hit by slowing traffic along the road
from NDjamena, a vital artery that
cuts through the length of Cameroon
and up to Chad.
The last gures from the UN show
the region was hosting nearly 60,000
Nigerian refugees, with 49,000 in a
single camp in Minawao.
There are also 92,000 internally
displaced Cameroonians - most of
whom ed the violence along the
border, but also others affected by recent oods.
The UN says the number of people

facing food insecurity has leapt from

900,000 to 2mn.
The entire social cohesion of the
area is threatened, creating fertile
ground for recruitment by Boko Haram, Rochdi said.
The root of radicalisation here is
not jihadist, its economic and social.
Its the desperation and poverty that
throws people into the arms of Boko
Haram, she said.
She went on to add that there
needed to be a greater focus on humanitarian aid and not just security
issues.

That means seed programmes and

support for local markets, social programmes and conict prevention,
she said.
Visiting the region last week,
Frances minister for the Frenchspeaking world, Annick Girardin,
supported that view.
We must support the NGOs,
bring back economic activity to this
region, she said.
The ght against Boko Haram requires a real assessment of the economic failure of this region and support for the young, she said.

Gulf Times
Monday, November 9, 2015

17

AMERICA

Websites enable small-scale wagers on elections

DPA
Washington

ebsites that let people

bet on elections and
other political events
are capturing the imaginations of
ever more people in the US political landscape.
PredictIt.com, a year-old site
where people can bet on future
outcomes in politics, is one of the
portals that has drawn attention
in US media, which increasingly
cites its data as the presidential

election cycle ramps up.

PredictIt has been described as
a real-money political prediction
website - a sort of stock market
for politics. And there is real
money at stake, but nothing like
the real stock market.
So you think maybe you know
better than the rest of us? the
website asks. Sign up to test
your wits and be a part of this select group.
The non-prot website says its
job is to study the wisdom of the
crowd. It challenges users to test
their knowledge of politics and
trade predictions on the future.

Participants are encouraged

to choose something they know
about and see what other traders believe is the likelihood it will
happen.
The question of who will be the
Republican Partys 2016 nominee is the most obvious, with a
crowded eld of more than a dozen candidates actively vying for
the nod. This week, Florida Senator Marco Rubios shares were 48
cents, while those of real estate
mogul Donald Trumps cost 23
cents. Users can wager on other
questions such as which Republican will drop out next.

Do you think they have it

right? Or do you think you have
the knowledge to beat the wisdom of the crowd? the websites
introduction asks.
The key to success at PredictIt
is timing. Users who make their
predictions when most people
disagree can buy low. If it turns
out their view may be right, the
value of their predictions will
rise.
PredictIt.com is a project of
Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand, established
in October 2014 to research the
way markets can forecast future

events. In that short time it has

attracted 37,000 traders who
have wagered $9.4mn, according
to Time magazine. The amount
of money users can wager on
each prediction is limited to
$850.
In some ways it mimics a website started in 1988 at the University of Iowa. The Iowa Electronic
Markets was developed as an
Internet-based teaching and research tool that allows students
to trade in a variety of contracts.
The best-known of these are its
political markets.
The IEM, like PredictIt.com,

is a non-prot, and because of a

low maximum on wagering and
their academic sponsorship, both
have been given a pass by US regulators.
Another website active in the
predictions realm is PredictWise, but its not a gambling site.
PredictWise portrays itself as a
research project, with ties to Microsoft, that aggregates, analyses
and creates predictions on politics, sports, nance and entertainment.
PredictWise currently has lists
of predictions on the Republican and Democratic presidential

races, the 2016 UEFA Euro Cup,

the Eurovision Song Contest and
other upcoming political, sports
and entertainment contests.
The principle behind the site
is that theres no one individual
better at predicting things than a
diverse crowd of people.
This week, that crowd said the
likelihood that Rubio would win
the Republican nomination for
president was 44%, while Trump
was at 19%.
Unlike the other sites, it advises against gambling, saying betting money on sports, politics or
anything else is a bad idea.

Carson vows
scrutiny will
not derail
his 2016 bid
AFP
Washington

epublican
presidential
hopeful Ben Carson vowed
yesterday to forge ahead
with his campaign despite intense questions over discrepancies about the personal narrative
he has made central to his White
House bid.
Carson soared to the top of
the 2016 Republican presidential
heap - where he remains with
real estate mogul Donald Trump
- with an inspiring story about
his rise from a difficult childhood
in Detroit to a successful career as
a neurosurgeon.
But that retelling of his life featured in his biography and in
even in a made-for-television
movie - has been questioned,
as the US media challenged key
aspects about his troubled adolescence and a disputed military
scholarship.
The Wall Street Journal challenged coursework Carson says
he took at Yale University, and
said it could not corroborate

claims he sheltered white students during a riot over Martin Luther Kings assassination
while he was in high school.
Speaking to ABC television,
Carson rejected any suggestion
that he might make changes in
his campaign as a result of the
swirling controversy.
Absolutely not, he told the
networks This Week news programme.
Our campaign is the thing.
We tell the truth, we deal with the
issues, he said.
Carson told NBC News: Being
vetted and what is going on with
me... I have not seen that with
anyone else.
The 64-year-old Carson, who
is now retired from medicine,
stood by most of his story yesterday - but left room for the possibility of some inaccuracies in his
past accounts.
Show me somebody, even
from your business, the media,
who is 100% accurate in everything that they say that happened 40 or 50 years ago, he
told ABC.
Please show me that person.

I will sit at their knee and I will

learn from them.
Carson said that what he called
the political hit job by the
media has backred and is only
serving to shore up his support.
People are clearly able to see
whats going on, he said.
And in a tweet late Saturday,
Carson said the controversy has
led to a fundraising bonanza for
his campaign, saying he has received 10,000 donations each
day this week, raising $3.5mn this
week alone.
Thank you biased media, he
wrote on Twitter.
Trump - while saying yesterday that he hoped the situation
works out for Carson - did
not miss an opportunity to take
a swing at his opponent over
what Carson himself has called
his pathological temper and
numerous episodes of violence,
including trying to hit his mother
with a hammer.
When you write in a book
that you have pathological disease - pathological disease is not
cured, Trump told CBSs Face the
Nation. Page 30

Missile test sparks frenzy, spooks residents

A missile test off the California
coast sparked frenzy on social
media and spooked residents
on Saturday who believed they
had just seen a UFO.
The Twitter hashtags #Navy,
#comet and #UFO were
trending as social media users
uploaded videos and pictures
of the mysterious bright light
illuminating the night skies.
Theres a UFO in Los Angeles.

Im so excited. Im so ready,
tweeted Shane Dawson, well
known for his YouTube videos.
Los Angeles UFO? It was
not a comet. My son saw the
Unidentified Flying Object
in Hollywood, tweeted @
AnnieJacobsen.
But just when some were
predicting the end of the world,
officials moved to clear up the
mystery.

Beatles guitar sells

for record $2.4mn
AFP
Washington

guitar
beloved
by
John Lennon for writing Beatles hits such
as She loves you and All
my lovingsold for a record
$2.41mn on Saturday, a US
auction house said.
The 1962 J-160E Gibson
Acoustic guitar was bought by
the famous Beatle in Liverpool
in September 1962 for
161, Juliens Auctions
said.
John so loved this
particular guitar that
he would take it home
and wrote songs on it
with Paul McCartney,
the auction house said
in a release announcing
the sale.
Juliens
Auctions
said the guitar went
missing during the
Beatles
December
1963 Finsbury Park

Christmas Show in London and

was lost for over 50 years.
The auction house - which
said the sale shattered all
records for rock memorabilia did not provide any details on
how or where the guitar resurfaced.
Another item that went under the hammer at the Los Angeles auction house on Saturday
included the Ed Sullivan drum
head, billed as the most famous
of the seven known Beatles
drop-T logo drum heads
and the only one to be
featured on a Beatles album jacket.
It sold for $2.125mn.
Other items included
Elvis Presleys 24-carat
Gold Leaf Piano that
was snapped up for
$600,000.
Elvis bought the piano
for his mother in 1955 and
it was later kept in the
music room at the singers famous Graceland
home.

Navy Strategic Systems

Programs conducted scheduled
Trident II (D5) missile test flight
at sea from USS Kentucky, an
Ohio Class SSBN, in the Pacific
Test Range off the coast of
Southern California, Navy
Cmdr. Ryan Perry said in a
statement to US media.
The tests were part of a
scheduled, on-going system
evaluation test.

Members of Latino organisations march from the Trump Tower to NBC studios during a rally against Republican presidential candidate Donald
Trump on Saturday in New York City. Trump hosted NBCs Saturday Night Live defying protesters.

Trump dees protests to

host Saturday Night Live
AFP
New York

epublican
presidential
hopeful Donald Trump
hosted the sketch-comedy show Saturday Night Live,
defying protesters to make the
highly anticipated but controversial primetime television appearance.
Wearing a dark suit, white
shirt and red tie, Trump stepped
on stage to cheers and insisted
in a nearly ve-minute opening
monologue that saw him anked
by two lookalikes: People think
Im controversial, but the truth
is, Im a nice guy.
Its wonderful to be here.
This is going to be something
special, he said.
Trump, a billionaire real estate
developer who has never held
elected office, leads the polls
along with Ben Carson for the
Republican nomination for the
2016 race to the White House
and will be hoping that his appearance on the show will ce-

ment his status as frontrunner.

But the 69-year-old has
courted controversy for his
statements on immigration,
promising that if he becomes
president he will expel immigrants who are in the US illegally
and build a wall along the USMexico border.
He has also alleged that Mexico sends rapists and other criminals across the border.
That stance saw Latino community leaders hold a rally Friday in Los Angeles calling on
NBCUniversal to drop Trump
from Saturday Night Live.
And there were more protests
on Saturday in New York hours
before the show was broadcast,
with demonstrators marching
from Trump Tower to NBCs
studio in Rockefeller Plaza.
There were fears that audience
members might seek to heckle
Trump over his views and a Hispanic advocacy group had offered a $5,000 reward for anyone
that called Trump racist during his closely watched opening
monologue.

He indeed was interrupted

with a cry of youre a racist!
- but it turned out to be from
comedian Larry David, who coproduced Seinfeld.
Who the hell is - oh, I knew
this was going to happen,
Trump responded in what was
clearly a scripted sketch. Who
is that?
I heard if I yelled that theyd
give me $5,000, David said, to
laughter and applause from the
audience.
Other sketches saw Trump
poke fun at his own bombastic
personality and holding a cabinet meeting as president of the
US, during which he is told the
Islamic State militant group has
been defeated.
People in Trumps America
are just sick of winning, he is
told.
Prior to that, Trump - who has
admitted he vetoed some of the
skits for being too risque - said:
Many of the great have hosted
this show. Like me, in 2004.
A lot of people say: Donald,
you are the most amazing guy.

You are brilliant, youre handsome, youre rich, you have

everything going, the world is
waiting for you to be president,
so why are you hosting Saturday
Night Live? Why?
And the answer is: I really
have nothing better to do.
Trump got plenty of laughs
from a sympathetic audience,
but that was not enough to satisfy Maureen Ryan, a TV critic
with respected show-business
daily Variety.
The fevered lead-up to Donald Trumps Saturday Night Live
episode turned out to be more
exciting than the edition of the
show he hosted, she wrote.
Most of the sketches involving Trump were weak, timid or
predictable.
The racist sketch with David
was one of the few that worked,
said Ryan.
Hillary Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner, appeared on
Saturday Night Live last month,
playing a sympathetic bartender
in a skit that was well received by
critics and Clinton supporters.

Titanic menu, JFK limo plates sold at auction

Reuters
Dallas

menu from the last dinner served to rst-class

passengers aboard the
doomed Titanic before the luxury
ocean liner sank in 1912 fetched
$118,750 at auction on Saturday.
Meanwhile, a pair of licence
plates from the limousine that
drove President John F Kennedy
through downtown Dallas when
he was assassinated on Nov 22,
1963, sold for $100,000.
The Titanic menu was among
a rare collection of surviving
items from the sunken ship that
were up for bid at Dallas-based
Heritage Auctions sale of political and Americana memorabilia.
Both the menu and the licence
plates were sold to collectors who
requested anonymity.
Auction house officials said the
Titanic item was the only known
menu in existence from the April
14, 1912, dinner, where well-todo passengers were served oysters, let mignon, roast duckling
and other delicacies, topped
off with Waldorf pudding and

A pair of licence plates from the limousine that drove President

John F Kennedy through downtown Dallas when he was
assassinated on November 22, 1963. The plates were sold for
$100,000.

A menu from the last dinner served to first-class passengers aboard

the Titanic before the luxury ocean liner sank in 1912. The menu
was sold for $118,750.
peaches in chartreuse jelly.
An anonymous collector put
the menu up for auction.
Five businessmen wrote their

addresses on it while sharing a

dinner table the night before the
ship sank. Four of the ve survived the disaster.

The Titanic foundered in the

Atlantic Ocean on April 15, 1912,
after striking an iceberg during
its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York.
Some 1,500 people lost their
lives.
A recently discovered distress
telegram that Western Union
sent to the Titanics owner in
New York failed to sell.
Sinking fast - come to our
assistance, read the message,
which the company said never
arrived.
The licence plates from

Kennedys limousine had been

tossed in the trash at a Cincinnati company that retrotted the
vehicle after the assassination.
Company owner Willard Hess
retrieved them and stored them
between two books on a shelf.
Hess daughter, Jane Walker,
inherited the plates and kept
them in a kitchen drawer for decades.
I was aware of their signicance, said Walker, who offered
the plates for auction. On occasion, I would take them out and
show to friends.

18

Gulf Times
Monday, November 9, 2015

ASEAN
6.1-quake
rattles
Sumatra
province
AFP
Padang

powerful 6.1-magnitude
quake struck Indonesias
Sumatra yesterday, US
seismologists said, but no tsunami warning was issued and
there were no immediate reports
of damage or casualties.
The undersea tremor struck at
a depth of 75 kilometres, 111 kilometres south of the city of Sibolga, in North Sumatra province,
the US Geological Survey said.
Mochamed Riyadi, a senior
official from Indonesias meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency, said the quake
was felt strongly for 15 seconds
in Mandailing Natal district,
which is around 85 kilometres
from the quakes epicentre.
Moderate tremors were
also felt in Padang, the capital of
West Sumatra, he said.
We have no reports of damage or casualty so far. No tsunami alert was issued, he said.
An AFP correspondent in Padang said the earth swayed back
and forth for around 10 seconds,
but the majority of residents remained calm.

Campaign
to promote
self-service
facilities
Agencies
Singapore

campaign was launched

yesterday by the National
Productivity
Council to encourage Singaporeans to use self-service or DIY
facilities such as self-checkout
machines at supermarkets.
Called We Are InDIYpendent, the campaign hopes
to change consumers behaviour so that more businesses
will be encouraged to adopt innovative technologies, ChannelNewsAsia.com reported.
Manpower Minister Lim
Swee Say and Parliamentary
Secretary for Trade and Industry Low Yen Ling launched
the campaign yesterday at the
NTUC FairPrice outlet in NEX
shopping centre.
A survey commissioned
by the National Productivity
Council in July involving more
than 1,000 respondents found
that four in 10 were not aware
of self-service facilities.

Myanmars President Thein Sein casts his vote in Naypyidaw yesterday. Right: Myanmar voters queue at a polling centre in Yangon.

Suu Kyi supporters condent

after Myanmars historic vote
Isolated reports of
irregularities, big voting
scam foiled; Military
chief says will accept
outcome of the poll
Reuters
Yangon/Naypyidaw

upporters of Myanmars
Aung San Suu Kyi burst
into boisterous celebration yesterday after the country held its rst free nationwide
election in 25 years, the biggest
step yet in a journey to democracy from dictatorship.
Although the outcome of
the poll will not be clear for
at least 36 hours, a densely
packed crowd blocked a busy
road beside the headquarters of
Suu Kyis National League for
Democracy in Yangon as they
cheered and waved red ags.
The NLD is expected to win
the largest share of votes cast
by an electorate of about 30mn,
who chose from thousands of
candidates standing for parliament and regional assemblies.
But a legacy of rule by military junta means Suu Kyi, who
led the campaign for democ-

racy, cannot become president

herself. And whatever the result, Myanmar is heading into a
period of uncertainty over how
she and other ascendant parties
negotiate sharing power with
the still-dominant military.
A pariah state until a few
years ago, Myanmar has had little experience organising elections. Some 10,000 observers
were enlisted to scrutinise the
process. Early indications from
the monitors were that voting
was mostly trouble-free, with
only isolated irregularities.
From the dozens of people
we have spoken to since 6am.
today, everybody feels they have
been able to vote for whoever
they wanted to in security and
safety, said Durudee Sirichanya, one of the international
observers.
In the city of Mandalay, about
100 people were stopped from
voting after officials discovered
they were outsiders who had
been mysteriously added to the
register and then bussed to the
polling station.
The main concern about the
elections fairness arose before
the election. Activists estimated that up to 4mn people,

A Muslim Myanmar woman casts her vote at a polling station in Yangon.

mostly citizens working abroad,
would not be able to vote.
Religious tension, fanned by
Buddhist nationalists whose
actions have intimidated Myanmars Muslim minority, also
marred the election campaign.
Among those excluded from
voting were around a million
Rohingya Muslims who are effectively stateless in their own
land.
Still, there was excitement
among voters about the rst
general election since a quasicivilian government replaced

military rule in 2011, which was

widely seen as a referendum on
the countrys unsteady reform
process.
Ive done my bit for change,
for the emergence of democracy, said Daw Myint, a 55-yearold former teacher, after she
cast her vote for the NLD in
Yangon.
Suu Kyis car inched through
a scrum of news photographers
outside the polling station in
Yangon where the 70-year-old
Nobel peace laureate came to
vote. She was stony-faced as

bodyguards shouted at people

to move aside, but a jubilant cry
of Victory! Victory! went up
from the crowd of well-wishers
as she went inside.
Many voters doubted the military would accept the outcome
of the vote if the NLD wins.
But in the capital, Naypyitaw,
military Commander-in-Chief
Min Aung Hlaing said there
would be no repeat of the last
free vote in 1990, when Suu Kyi
won but the army ignored the
result. She spent most of the
next 20 years under house arrest
before her release in 2010.
If the people choose them
(the NLD), there is no reason we
would not accept it, the senior
general told reporters.
Results from the election
are expected to come in slowly,
with a clear overall picture not
likely to emerge until tomorrow
morning.
Suu Kyi is barred from taking
the presidency herself by provisions of a constitution written by the junta to preserve its
power.
But if she wins a majority and
is able to form Myanmars rst
democratically elected government since the early 1960s, Suu

Kyi says she will be the power

behind the new president regardless of a constitution she
has derided as very silly.
Suu Kyi started the contest
with a sizeable handicap: even if
the vote is deemed free and fair,
one-quarter of parliaments
seats will still be held by unelected military officers.
To form a government and
choose its own president, the
NLD on its own or with allies
must win more than two-thirds
of all seats up for grabs. The ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party would need
far fewer seats if it secured the
backing of the military bloc in
parliament.
However, many voters were
expected to spurn the USDP,
created by the former junta
and led by former military ofcers, because it is linked with
the brutal dictatorship that installed President Thein Seins
nominally civilian government
in 2011.
An inconclusive result could
thrust some of the 91 parties
contesting the election, including many representing Myanmars myriad ethnic minorities,
into a king-maker role.

From house arrest to polling booth, the democracy icons long ght
AFP
Yangon

Myanmars National League for Democracy (NLD) party leader Aung San Suu Kyi arrives to
cast her ballot during the general election in Yangon yesterday.

he last time Myanmar held

a nationwide election, Aung
San Suu Kyi languished under
house arrest while her partys landslide win was simply ignored by the
countrys brutal military rulers.
Twenty-ve years on, the democracy champion cast her ballot
yesterday morning at a Yangon polling station the culmination of an
exhausting few weeks of campaigning that has drawn large, jubilant
crowds hoping this will be Myanmars fairest vote in decades.
A vast media scrum greeted the
70-year-old as she swept into a
polling station, dressed in a red top
that matches the colours of her National League for Democracy party.
For Suu Kyi, the polls are a watershed moment in a life entwined with
the turbulent political struggles of
her homeland, shaped by decades of
brutal junta rule that only began to
ease in 2011.
The daughter of independence
hero General Aung San, Suu Kyi, 70,
has headed non-violent opposition
to the countrys military rulers in a
three decade role that has come at
great personal cost.
Detractors say her reputation as
a human rights icon has diminished
in recent years as she plunged herself into Myanmars febrile politics,

often choosing hard pragmatism

over the idealism of her house arrest
years.
But the Nobel Peace Prize winner
still commands huge loyalty among
supporters of her National League
for Democracy (NLD) party and she
remains a magnetic force for those
wanting to see Myanmar shake off
its military past.
But Suu Kyi has been here before
and knows well that an election victory does not guarantee power in
Myanmar.
Prior to her rst stint of house
arrest in July 1989, Suu Kyi spent
months on a tiring and often personally dangerous campaign trail.
The NLDs landslide victory the
following year was dismissed by a
junta that then jailed many of Suu
Kyis allies and kept her conned to
her lakeside Yangon home for much
of the next two decades.
Myanmar has since morphed
from a hermit state into a booming
economy open for business since
the military ceded power to a quasi-civilian reformist government in
2011.
But two big factors that havent
changed are the charismatic bonanza enjoyed by Aung San Suu Kyi
and the enduring grip of the military
elite, Nicholas Farrelly, director of
the Myanmar Research Centre at the
Australian National University, said.
For many Myanmar voters she is
the dening gure of their countrys

anti-authoritarian struggle. They

imagine that the democratic destiny
halted in the 1990s is now in reach.
Suu Kyi was born on June 19, 1945
in Japanese-occupied Rangoon
now called Yangon during the
closing stages of World War II.
Her father Aung San fought for
and against both the British and the
Japanese colonisers as he jostled to
give his country the best shot at independence.
That goal was achieved in 1948
but Aung San was assassinated
alongside most of his cabinet just
months before.
Suu Kyi spent most of her early
years outside of Myanmar, rst in
India after her mother was posted as
ambassador there and later at Oxford University where she met her
British husband.
After General Ne Win seized full
power in 1962 he forced his own
brand of socialism on Myanmar,
turning it from Asias rice bowl into
one of the worlds poorest and most
isolated countries.
Suu Kyis elevation into a democracy champion happened almost by
accident after she returned in 1988
to nurse her sick mother.
Soon afterwards protests erupted against the military, but were
crushed in a crackdown that left at
least 3,000 people dead.
The bloodshed was the catalyst
for Suu Kyi. A charismatic orator,
she found herself in a leading role

in the burgeoning pro-democracy

movement, delivering speeches to
crowds of hundreds of thousands.
During her house arrest years the
junta offered to end her imprisonment at any time if she left the country for good but Suu Kyi refused.
That decision meant not seeing
her husband before his death from
cancer in 1999, and missing her two
sons growing up.
The military eventually granted
her freedom in 2010, just days after
awed elections.
Two years later she entered parliament after the NLD swept a series
of by-elections.
But even if her party wins this
general election, she cannot become
president thanks to a junta-era constitution that forbids anyone with
offspring born abroad from taking
the top spot.
She towers over the NLD and
some observers question whether
her star power has eclipsed the efforts of younger party members to
emerge.
Suu Kyi has vowed to amend the
charter. On Thursday she went further, declaring that she will occupy a
position above the president if the
NLD win.
In so doing she issued a challenge
to the army as well as a reminder to
her supporters that she occupies
centre stage in Myanmars political
drama.
But rst she has to win.

Gulf Times
Monday, November 9, 2015

19

AUSTRALASIA/EAST ASIA

US warns of conict in
disputed S China Sea
The US is eager to head -off any
conflicts in the area
AFP
California

S defence secretary Ashton Carter on Saturday warned that land

reclamation efforts and a military
buildup in the South China Sea could lead
to conict between nations in the region.
Speaking at a defence forum at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California, the Pentagon chief also said America
was adapting its military posture to counter increased Russian aggression.
Appearing on the nal leg of an eightday trip that included meetings with defence ministers from several nations in
the Asia-Pacic region, Carter said his
concerns about the frantic pace of land
reclamation in the South China Sea were
broadly shared.
The United States joins virtually everyone else in the region in being deeply
concerned about the pace and scope of
land reclamation in the South China Sea,
Carter told an audience of senior defence
gures.
Carter added he was worried about the
prospect of further militarisation, as well
as the potential for these activities to increase the risk of miscalculation or conict among claimant states.
The Reagan National Defense Forum is
an annual event that sees dozens of Americas top defence gures -- including politicians from both political parties -- discuss Americas defence policies.
Carter used his platform to take a swipe
at recent Russian military moves.
At sea, in the air, in space and in cy-

mation efforts and military buildup in the

South China Sea.
On Thursday, he ew out to the USS
Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier as it
was sailing in the South China Sea.
The enormous supercarrier was accompanied by the guided missile destroyer the
USS Lassen, which last month sailed past
a series of islets in Subi Reef in the Spratly
Island chain.
There, China is using dredgers to turn
The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt reefs and low-lying features into larger
land masses for runways and other miliin the South China Sea.
tary uses to bolster its claims of sovereignberspace, Russian actors have engaged in ty in the region.
The Lassen conducted a freedom of
challenging activities, he said.
And, most disturbing, Moscows nu- navigation operation as a way to rebuff
clear saber-rattling raises questions about Chinas those claims.
Weve done them before, all over the
Russian leaders commitment to strategic
stability, their respect for norms against world. And we will do them again, Carter
the use of nuclear weapons and whether said of the sail-by.
Carter said he chose to talk about Russia
they respect the profound caution nuclear-age leaders showed with regard to the at the Reagan library as the Cold War was
a dening theme of the US leaders presibrandishing of nuclear weapons.
In an echo of some of Reagans own at- dency.
Still, he also made some conciliatory
tempts to use technology to counter a
Soviet nuclear threat, Carter talked up gestures to both China and Russia, sugsome of Americas new high-tech weap- gesting there potentially was room for
onry, including an electromagnetic railgun both countries to be part of broader interthat can re projectiles at an astonishing national security structure.
We do not seek a cold, let alone a hot
7,250kph.
The defence chief hinted at additional war with Russia. We do not seek to make
new weapons that would be surprising Russia an enemy, he said.
The US navy deliberately avoided miliones I really cant describe here.
Additionally, were updating and ad- tary drills or other actions that could
vancing our operational plans for deter- have further inamed tensions with Beirence and defence given Russias changed jing during a patrol last week near islands
China has built in the South China Sea, US
behaviour, Carter said.
Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and has officials said.
We wanted to assert our rights unbeen supporting a pro-Moscow separatist
der international law, but not to the point
conict in eastern Ukraine.
Carters trip was dominated by ques- where we were poking the Chinese in the
tions over Chinas continued land recla- eye, or where it would unnecessarily es-

calate the situation, said a US official,

speaking on condition of anonymity.
The official said the destroyer USS Lassen turned off its re control radars while
transiting within 12 nautical miles of Subi
Reef and avoided any military operations
during that time, including helicopter
launches or other drills.
Numerous experts said this cautious
approach could in fact reinforce Chinas
claim to sovereignty over the articial islands in the Spratly Islands archipelago.
But the official disputed that assertion.
It was a freedom-of-navigation operation that was not meant to iname the
situation, which is why they did the transit
the way they did, the US official said.
The Lassens commanding officer, commander Robert C Francis Jr, told reporters
on Thursday that his ship went within six
to seven nautical miles of the articial island.
He said the radar was operating normally at the time for situational awareness, and acknowledged the US Navy did
not y helicopters. He described it as both
a freedom-of-navigation and a transit
operation.
China reacted angrily to the patrol,
which followed months of US preparation,
despite its lack of military drills.
But analysts said that if the Lassen
failed to take such actions or even to loiter or collect intelligence within the zone,
the operation would have resembled what
is known as innocent passage, and could
have reinforced rather than challenged
Chinas claim to a territorial limit around
the reef.
Innocent passage occurs when one
countrys ship quickly transits anothers
territorial waters - and can only take place
in waters belonging to another country.

Educational visit

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un (C) attending a photo session with military education officers at the seventh Meeting of Military Education Officers of the Korean Peoples
Army (KPA) at the April 25 House of Culture in Pyongyang.

Republican past lurks as Kiwi PM

Turnbull greets Prince Charles
DPA
Sydney

ustralian prime minister Malcolm

Turnbull will try to put aside his
republican sentiments this week
when he welcomes the countrys future
king, Prince Charles.
In the 1990s, Turnbull led a bitter and
divisive campaign to throw out the British
monarch as Australias head of state and
turn the country into a republic.
As chairman of the Australian Republic
Movement, Turnbull pulled no punches. His 1993 book The Reluctant Republic slammed the royal family, saying that
Charles and his wife Camilla had engaged
in unashamed adultery and that Charles
would never be accepted as monarch.
In the book Turnbull described Charles
1988 bicentennial tour of Australia as a
year of shame, as the heir to the throne
was given more prominence than Australian leaders.
The push for a republic was soundly
defeated in a 1999 referendum, with 55%
voting against it.
Turnbull is unlikely to be stressing
this part of his political biography when
Charles, the Prince of Wales, and his wife
Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, arrive
in Adelaide on Tuesday.

Maori canoes salute Britains Prince

Charles and his wife Camilla, Duchess of
Cornwall during a visit to Turangawaewae Marae in Ngaruawahia yesterday.
Their ve-day visit will also take them
to Canberra, Sydney, Perth and the West
Australian town of Albany.
When he became prime minister in September, Turnbull said he would not pursue
his dream of Australia becoming a republic until after the reign of Queen Elizabeth.
Turnbull said he would be delighted
to welcome Charles to Australia and expected Australians to be eager to display
our countrys hospitality to the royal couple.
Even so, Turnbull recently announced

the scrapping of Australian knighthoods,

an honour reintroduced two years ago by
his predecessor and ardent monarchist
Tony Abbott, who had been criticised for
giving one to Charles father, Prince Philip.
Knights and dames, Turnbull told reporters, were anachronistic and out of
date, not appropriate in 2015 in Australia.
Tim Mayeld, national director of the
Australian Republic Movement who has
held talks with Turnbull, told DPA he was
condent the premier would be a good
host.
I am sure the republic and what was
said in the past wont come up in their
talks. We all have a past and Turnbull is in
a different position now, Mayeld said.
Turnbull knows there has to be a grass
roots support for a republic and that is
something we are building up.
Mayeld said crowds cheering the royals mean nothing. You can go and cheer
the royals and be thrilled to meet them but
still support the country becoming a republic, he told DPA.
In 2014 an opinion poll by the Sydney
Morning Herald found just 41% said Australia should become a republic, less than
the 1999 referendum and the lowest gure
in three decades.
Mayeld said his organisation did its
own poll in August and found support for
a republic at 47%.

Monarchists are not impressed with

this data. Mark Salmon, deputy director of
the Australian Monarchist League in New
South Wales, insists that despite having a
republican prime minister the majority of
Australians do want to keep the monarchy.
Turnbull is lucky that Charles is more
polite than the premier has been about him
in the past, Salmon said.
The prince would be very much aware
of what Mr Turnbull has said about him
in the past. The royal family are very well
informed about events and briefed before
they travel. But the prince would not show
he is affected, no matter how rude political
leaders may be.
Salmon believes the Turnbull government is deliberately keeping details of the
princes visit secret to try and reduce the
crowds who would turn out to see them.
They say its due to security, but the
prince wants to meet the people. Last time
he came he refused being ushered into his
vehicle insisting he would walk among
people and shake hands and say hello.
Salmon is a school teacher and says an
increasing number of young people want
to keep the monarchy and like the royals.
Prince Charles likes people, especially
young people, and we nd an increasing
number of young people want to keep the
monarchy. They represent stability, and
young people want that.

Ma-Xi meet
historic but
fails to heal
the schism
AFP
Taipei

he summit between the

presidents of China and
Taiwan promised warmer ties and was loaded with historic symbolism as both men
sought to secure their legacy
-- but there were few concrete
results in their bid to mend
decades of estrangement.
Chinas Xi Jinping and Taiwans Ma Ying-jeou shook
hands for more than a minute
to herald the start of a meeting
once unthinkable due to the
enmity between the two sides.
Xis rhetoric likened China
and Taiwan to part of the same
family, while Ma urged cooperation and harmony in a surprisingly cordial exchange.
It was the rst time leaders
had met since they split at the
end of a civil war on the mainland in 1949, with Taiwan now
a democracy with a erce sense
of its own identity.
But while the language and
gestures sought to reect a
message of burgeoning friendship, there were no agreements
announced.
Its historic, because its
the rst (meeting), but I would
not go as far as to say that its
very important because it was
engaged in generalities -- no
specic issues were addressed,
no promises were made that
we know of, and Ma Ying-jeou,
six months from now, will no
longer be president of Taiwan,
said J Michael Cole, a fellow of
the University of Nottinghams
China Policy Institute.
Ma will step down next year
with the China-sceptic opposition expected to win presidential elections in January as
public concern over closer ties
with Beijing grows.
The summit was a chance for
Ma to publicly seal the dramatic seven-year rapprochement
since he came to power and
to underline what he says is a
legacy of stability and peace for
the region.
For Xi, it was an opportunity
to reiterate his ultimate ambition of reunication.
Beijings desire is to emphasise interdependence between Taiwan and China, not
to reduce it. So it is in Beijings
interest to maintain as many
channels of communication
as possible, said Jean-Pierre
Cabestan political science professor at Hong Kong Baptist
University.
The meeting triggered protests in Taiwan where opponents accuse Ma of selling out
the island, while supporters
praised him for raising sensitive issues.
Ma said he had expressed
concern to Xi over missiles
aimed at Taiwan and had also
argued for an end to the marginalisation of the island internationally.
But there was no sign that Xi
had moved on either subject.
Xi... did not unilaterally or
voluntarily commit or promise some kind of international
leeway or space for Taiwan. He

could have done that, and he

did not, said Titus Chen, associate professor at the Institute of China and Asia-Pacic
Studies at National Sun Yatsen University in Taiwan.
The language of brotherhood and family would only
exacerbate fears in Taiwan,
Chen said.
This kind of narrative or
discourse is losing its popularity in Taiwan, he adds.
I dont want to be a subject
or citizen of China, that would
put myself at great risk or violate my own political values. I
think the divergence on political values - thats the biggest
obstacle.

The language and

gestures sought to reflect
a message of burgeoning
friendship, no agreements
were announced
Meanwhile Xis performance
received praise in China, with
several online commentators
predicting that reunication
could be achieved within 10
years. Analysts there hailed the
meeting as a success.
Under the circumstances
of political sensitivity and unresolved political differences,
disputes were put aside and
there was dialogue with mutual respect, said Zhu Songling, head of Beijing Union
Universitys Taiwan Research
Institute.
In terms of the timeline
of reunication, before the
two Germanys agreed, many
scholars and politicians were
very pessimistic, but thats just
the way of history - chance determines the turning points of
history, he added.
Others said Taiwans opposition Democratic Progressive
Party (DPP), who are expected
to win the presidency, would
have to follow Mas example if
they got into power -- historically the party has been proindependence.
For the mainland, curbing Taiwanese independence
depends on hard power, and
peaceful reunication on soft
power, said Li Fei, deputy director of the Taiwan Research
Institute of Xiamen University.
Consideration of the Taiwanese peoples wishes -- this
is an issue for the future.
But the fundamental historic
differences between the two
sides and the schism between
their political cultures is a rift
many still see as extremely difcult to bridge.
Taiwanese would accept
warmer relations if China respected the islands democratic culture and sovereignty,
says J Michael Cole -- but that
is vastly at odds with Xis unication message.
The biggest impediment to
what China is trying to achieve
is Taiwans democracy, says
Cole.
That is the rewall, in Taiwan, that is becoming increasingly consolidated.
It is the resistance to being
taken over by China.

Australian airports
strike starts today
DPA
Sydney

elays are expected at

Australian airports today as some 5,000 Immigration and Border Force
workers take part in a 24-hour
strike over pay and conditions,
a news report said.
Authorities warned travellers to arrive up to three hours
early for international travel
and proceed directly to passport clearance.
Passengers arriving at international airports may experience delays before they
can clear passport and cus-

toms controls that will be run

by management staff, Border
Force Assistant Commissioner
Clive Murray said.
Nadine Flood of the Community and Public Sector Union told broadcaster ABC yesterday that staff had had their
pay cut and working rights
reduced.
Counter-terrorism and security staff will not be affected
by the strike action.
Meanwhile some ights
between Australia and Bali
resumed after the volcanic
ash cloud over the island that
has prevented ying for the
past ve days began to recede.

20

Gulf Times
Monday, November 9, 2015

BRITAIN

TalkTalk customer reported data breach as early as 2013

Guardian News and Media
London

enior TalkTalk staff were

warned as early as 2013 that
fraudsters were accessing
customers personal details - two
years before the company became victim of an external cyberattack.
As further TalkTalk fraud vic-

tims came forward this week - one

losing almost 10,000 - it has
emerged that a manager in the
chief executives office was warned
of a suspected data breach in July
2013, more than a year before the
rst evidence emerged that part
of the rms database had been
leaked.
Customer Keith Aldridge
switched phone and broadband
to the company in 2013, but

within days he was called by a

fraudster on the new landline
number. The caller said he was
ringing from TalkTalk and quoted
details of his account - data that
he claims only someone working for the telecoms rm would
have had access to.
Aldridge lost 110 as a result of
the scam, but TalkTalks head ofce later told him it would be inappropriate for the company to

investigate the possible breach as it

was a police matter, he claims.
TalkTalk said there was no
evidence that a problem in 2013
was ignored, and has refused to
pay compensation. It argues that
Aldrige must have provided additional personal or nancial details
to the scammers for the fraud to
take place.
Fourteen months after Aldridge
was targeted by fraudsters,

AFP
Wellington

Reuters
London

Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, wearing traditional feather cloaks, are welcomed onto
Turangawaewae Marae in Ngaruawahia, south of Auckland, New Zealand, yesterday.

rime Minister David

Cameron will this week
give his strongest warning yet that he might back Britain leaving the EU unless other
European leaders agree to his
demands for reform of the bloc.
Cameron is due to outline
British demands for renegotiation of its European Union
membership terms in a letter
to the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, to
be published tomorrow.
In a speech tomorrow, he
will say that if no deal can be
reached, he could back a British exit when an in/out referendum is held before the end
of 2017.
If we cant reach such an
agreement, and if Britains
concerns were to be met with a
deaf ear, which I do not believe
will happen, then we will have
to think again about whether
this European Union is right
for us, Cameron will say, according to advance extracts of
his speech.
As I have said before - I
rule nothing out.
Cameron has faced criticism both at home and abroad
- including from his own eurosceptic backbenchers - for
not spelling out details of the
concessions he is seeking from
other European leaders with
detailed discussions expected
to accelerate before a summit
next month.
Camerons letter to Tusk is
expected to include demands
such as barring in-work benets for EU migrants for four
years, an exemption from any
closer EU integration, and more
powers for national governments to block EU legislation.

Scheme opposed

Britain letting down

allies with Syria stance
AFP
London

he head of the armed

forces yesterday said
the country was letting
down allies by not participating
in air strikes against Islamic State
group militants in Syria.
Britain is part of a coalition hitting IS targets in Iraq, but its parliament has yet to be convinced
of the need to join air strikes in
neighbouring Syria and an inuential committee of MPs recently
advised against action.
To an extent yes, we are letting our allies down by not being
a full player, General Nicholas
Houghton, the chief of the defence
staff, told Sky News yesterday.
The source of their power,
their command and control, their
logistics, their organisation, the
place from which they issue orders
to international terrorists is from
within Syria.
In the most simplistic way its
like being asked to win a football
match but not being able to go into

being contacted by fraudsters purporting to be from TalkTalk just

days before the company revealed
the latest cyber-attack.
Thomas Catherall was quoted all
his account details and promised a
250 refund. His computer was
taken over remotely and two payments were taken out of his bank
account. His bank, Santander, has
refused to refund him - as it has
other victims - on the basis that

he was tricked into handing over

security codes.
TalkTalk has repeatedly refused
to accept any liability for its customers losses. But fraud victims
planning to bring a class action
against the telecoms rm have
claimed that they were not properly warned that their personal
data was in the hands of fraudsters
after the 2014 breach, and therefore they should be compensated.

Cameron set to
give strongest
warning over
possible EU exit

War canoe
salute for
Charles
on visit to
Maori king
rince Charles received a
rousing salute from an armada of war canoes when
he visited the Maori King Tuheitia in New Zealands central
North Island yesterday.
Charles wore a kiwi feather
cloak as ve ornately carved war
canoes, or waka, paraded past
on the Waikato River, each carrying about 30 tattooed warriors
who raised their paddles in salute,
singing Maori chants as they went
by.
The heir to the throne, and his
wife Camilla, watched from a
riverbank barge as a conch shell
sounded, then continued formalities with an address to King
Tuheitia and a 1,000-strong
crowd. The ties between the British royals and the people of the
Turangawaewae marae, or meeting place, on the banks of the
Waikato, date back more than a
century. Im greatly honoured to
be returning again to the embrace
of this place, Turangawaewae,
Charles said.
The people of Waikato-Tainui
have extended your care, compassion and hospitality to my family
on many occasions.
Charles visit, which lasted an
entire morning, comes after King
Tuheitia refused to meet his son
Prince William during a trip last
year because the 90 minutes allotted was not long enough to
complete traditional welcoming
customs. At the time, Tuheitias
office said the Maori King was not
some carnival act to be rolled out
at the beck and call of anyone.
Tuheitia is descended from
the rst Maori King Potatau Te
Wherowhero, who was appointed
in 1858 by various North Island
tribes which wanted a single gure to represent them in the way
that Queen Victoria was felt to
represent New Zealands white
settlers.
The position does not have
any constitutional status or legal powers in New Zealand but
carries symbolic importance for
some Maori.

TalkTalk suffered the rst of series of data breaches, culminating

in the most catastrophic one last
month. Around a dozen people
are thought to have lost several
thousand pounds each after being
called by fraudsters who were able
to convince their victims that they
worked for TalkTalk.
This week, three further victims
emerged, including a Manchester
nurse who has lost 9,600 after

the opponents half, he added.

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond later denied that the government had given up on a parliamentary vote.
We are in exactly the same
place that weve been for months,
he told the BBC. When we think
its right to do so, when we think
we have a consensus, we will go to
the House of Commons.
Hammond said the government
was still in an exploratory phase
with the opposition Labour party,
which recently elected leftist Jeremy Corbyn as its leader, and was
yet to establish if it had the crossparty support required to win a
vote to extend the air strikes.
He admitted that Britains decision wasnt going to tip the
balance in Syria and called for a
political solution to bring about a
ceasere in the four-year civil war.
The government has argued
that it is illogical to conduct air
strikes in Iraq and not neighbouring Syria, saying the two countries
are a single theatre of conict.
But the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee - a cross-party

MPs body which scrutinises Britains foreign policy - said in a new

report that Prime Minister David
Camerons focus on joining air
strikes was incoherent and a
distraction.
However, the crash of a Russian passenger jet in Egypt, which
Britain believes was probably the
result of a bomb, has once again
thrust the issue centre stage.
Britain has suspended scheduled ights out of Sharm elSheikh as a result, and has sent
over aircraft to y home Britons
remaining in the resort.
Hammond yesterday warned
that air passengers worldwide
faced more security checks, additional costs and additional delays,
if it were proved that an IS bomb
was responsible.
In Iraq, Britain is currently part
of a coalition of more than 60
countries and has eight Tornado
jets ying missions plus an unconrmed number of Reaper drones.
This was approved by parliament in September last year, but
the government was defeated on a
vote to strike Syria in 2013.

Foreign Secretary Philip

Hammond said the letter
would draw together changes
the government has previously said it is seeking but would
not demand specific legislative measures.
We dont want to be excessively prescriptive at the
beginning of a discussion,
Hammond told the BBC, saying that there were a range of
ways to achieve most of Britains objectives.

If Britains concerns were

to be met with a deaf ear
then we will have to think
again about whether this
European Union is right
for us
This letter is not the end of
the process, its the beginning
of the process, he said.
The Vote Leave campaign,
which wants Britain to exit the
bloc, said Camerons reform
agenda lacked ambition, calling it a dishonest gimmick.
We expect Cameron to get
what hes asking for, but what
hes asking for is trivial, the
campaigns director, Dominic
Cummings, said.
Gabriel Siles-Brugge, a politics lecturer at Manchester
University, said Cameron had
always been a bit vague in his
demands because he is carrying
out a difficult balancing act.
He wants to appease eurosceptics in his own party
while avoiding Brexit (British
exit from the EU). But he is of
course now being pushed by
EU leaders to concretise his
proposals, he said.
That may lead to the
former being disappointed
because the proposals arent
intended to push Britain towards Brexit but rather to
allow him to proclaim a sym-

Councils alarmed at
40mn budget cuts
London Evening Standard
London

Hundreds of people joined a protest against Londons first

cycle-friendly Mini-Holland scheme, claiming the road
closures it entails are causing gridlock and suffocating
business. Waltham Forest is one of three boroughs,
alongside Enfield and Kingston, sharing almost 100mn
from Transport for London to pioneer the Dutch-inspired
vision. It aims to make town centres safer and more pleasant,
and encourage walking and cycling. But protesters claim
businesses have seen their profits cut by up to 50% since
two roads closed in Walthamstow Village in the first phase.

bolic victory over Brussels.

John Springford of the
Centre For European Reform
highlighted that Cameron
first promised a referendum
in 2013, when the anti-EU UK
Independence Party (Ukip)
was surging and his position
looked shaky.
Camerons office said that
Britain will begin a fresh
round of meetings as the renegotiation enters a new intensive phase, with senior representatives of member states
invited to Brussels to discuss
the letter along with European
Council officials.
While Cameron has never
ruled out campaigning to leave
the EU if he failed to secure
any agreement, the tone of the
speech will be his strongest
assertion to date that the status quo is unacceptable.
However, Cameron will also
repeat that he wants Britain to
remain in the 28-nation bloc,
which it joined in 1973, and is
confident a deal can be struck
to satisfy Britain and its partners. He will also deliver a
strong message to those on
both sides of the debate over a
British exit.
Those who believe we
should stay in the EU at all
costs need to explain why
Britain should accept the status quo. I am clear that there
are real problems with this,
he will say.
Those who think Britain
should just leave now also
need to think hard about the
implications ... What would
being outside the European
Union mean for our economic
security?
Opinion polls show most
Britons favour staying within
the EU although support for
remaining versus leaving has
narrowed in recent months.

own halls could be

forced to cut back on
immunisation
campaigns and work to prevent
teenage pregnancy and the
spread of diseases such as
HIV and TB after the government announced plans to axe
40mn from the capitals public health budget.
Council leaders, including Tories, said the move by
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt
was very disappointing and a
false economy.
The department of health
has announced it is going ahead
with plans to cut public health
grant allocations by 200mn
nationwide this year.
London Councils, which represents the capitals local authorities, warned that the cut to
its 578mn budget would disproportionately affect the poorest boroughs.
More than a fth of the national cuts will be made in London, with 30% higher cuts per
head for the average Londoner

compared with the rest of England. Seven of the 10 authorities losing the most are in the
capital.
The boroughs share responsibility for HIV prevention
more than 30,000 Londoners
are living with diagnosed HIV
and more than one third of new
diagnoses in 2013 were in the
capital.
They are also tasked with
halting the spread of tuberculosis London has one of the
highest rates of the disease in
western Europe.
Councillor Teresa ONeill,
London
Councils
health
spokesman, said: It is very disappointing to hear the government is going ahead with these
in-year cuts to public health
budgets. This will mean London
boroughs have to nd a further
40mn of savings within this
year.
Everyone agrees that more
focus and funding should go on
prevention helping people
to avoid ill health and thereby
reducing pressures on cashstrapped NHS and council services. It is a false economy to cut
these budgets.

Gulf Times
Monday, November 9, 2015

21

BRITAIN/IRELAND

Anti-depressants use in London soars, reveal gures

London Evening Standard
London

se of anti-depressants has
soared to more than 5mn
prescriptions a year in
London, official gures revealed.
GPs, hospital doctors, pharmacists and nurses in the capital
wrote out nearly 20% more prescriptions for drugs such as Pro-

zac in 2014-15 than three years

earlier. The total rose from 4.34mn
in 2011-12 to 5.21mn last year.
Labour mayoral hopeful Sadiq
Khan, who obtained the gures,
said: They reveal the true extent
of the growing numbers of Londoners being treated for depression.
Everybody knows a friend,
family member or work colleague
who has suffered and its great

that at long last were breaking

down the taboo of talking about
mental health.
The Tooting MP said support
for people with mental health
problems had been a Cinderella service for too long, adding:
Ministers dont seem to have
anywhere near the grasp of what
is needed to tackle the growing
problem in London and elsewhere. The biggest jump in the

number of prescriptions was in

Tower Hamlets, up 17,690 from
2013-14 to 2014-15 to more than
222,000.
They increased by 17,164
to 218,735 in Barnet, 15,867 to
169,405 in Bexley and by 15,106 to
179,969 in Newham.
There were also rises of more
than 10,000 in Croydon, Ealing,
Eneld, Greenwich, Haringey,
Lambeth, Southwark, Sutton

and Wandsworth. The gures

are likely to spark questions over
whether family doctors are overprescribing anti-depressants.
However, Dr Clare Gerada, a GP
in Lambeth and mental health expert, said: It could be that this is
an indicator of people being more
able to open up about their depressive illness and also how good
GPs are at identifying and appropriately treating depression.

But we also need to continue

access to talking therapies.
Vicki Nash, head of policy and
campaigns at mental health charity Mind, said the persistent
upward trend over many years
in the prescribing of anti-depressants showed no sign of slowing.
Its vital we better understand
exactly how many people are taking anti-depressants, for how
long, and whether they are re-

ceiving other treatment alongside

medication.
A spokeswoman for Newham
and Tower Hamlets Clinical Commissioning Groups said prescribing rates for anti-depressants
were lower in the capital than
elsewhere. She added that prescribing rates for Newham and
Tower Hamlets per head of population, are lower than other areas
in London.

Migrants arrest
in Ireland
prompts call
for protection
Arrest of Egyptian
fisherman raises fears that
undocumented workers
who may be victims of
exploitation could become
victims of state witch-hunt
Guardian News and Media
Belfast

uman Rights groups in

Ireland have called for
urgent action to protect
undocumented migrants in the
countrys shing eet after it
emerged that an Egyptian worker was arrested and detained by
police in the port of Union Hall,
County Cork, because he was
unable to produce his documents.
The arrest of Mohamed Elfallah follows a Guardian investigation that uncovered the
illegal use of some undocumented migrant workers from
Africa and Asia on Irish trawlers, in apparent breach of safety,
employment and immigration
regulations. The investigation
also found evidence that some
workers appeared to be victims
of human trafficking.
Following the Guardian revelations, the Irish cabinet swiftly
established an interdepartmental taskforce to look at the treatment of migrant shermen. Its
rst meeting, held on Thursday,
was chaired by Simon Coveney,
the minister for agriculture,
food and the marine. The body
will meet again today.
Coveney said on the Irish TV
station RTE that he wanted to
nd a way of regularising shermen working on prawn and
whitesh trawlers who lacked
immigration status, rather than
having a witch-hunt unfold
that could lead to their deportation.
The Irish Human Rights and
Equality Commission urged the
government to take steps to
regularise the status of vulnerable non-EU nationals in the
maritime sector. It said that the
system currently puts too heavy
a burden of proof on alleged vic-

tims of human trafficking and

called for the state to use NGOs
to help identify them rather than
relying on the police.
The involvement of the same
police officer investigating a
person under the criminal law
while also dealing with the application of that person for recognition as a victim of trafficking represents a conict, said
the commission in a statement.
The migrant support group
in Cork, Nasc, said it was appalled at the arrest of Elfallah.
The states rst official response to the investigation into
exploitation of migrant workers in the Irish shing industry
appears to have been to arrest a
vulnerable sherman. Minister
Coveney publicly stated that a
witch-hunt against these vulnerable workers should not
ensue but that now seems to
be the case, said Fiona Hurley,
Nascs senior legal officer.
The Migrant Rights Centre
Ireland, which said it had been
dealing with cases of exploitation of migrant shermen in the
country for more than 15 years,
added its weight to calls that
the victims should not be persecuted. It said there should be an
amnesty for those already in the
country.
However, Marian Harkin,
an Irish independent MEP, argued that surprise inspections
to eliminate any illegal activity
were vital to protect the reputation of the many boat owners in
the industry who were operating
honestly.
While the ministers taskforce has an important job in
devising a solution to the labour
and skills shortage in the shing
industry, he must recognise that
the immediate need is to identify
and eliminate any illegal activity
that may exist, she said.
This should involve surprise
inspections in the immediate
weeks ahead with penalties applied, commensurate with the
threat posed to the countrys
reputation and its valuable sh
export business. The honest
guys cant compete.

Queen Elizabeth II leads the Remembrance Sunday ceremony at the Cenotaph on Whitehall, London, yesterday.

Queen leads
silent tribute
to war dead
Agencies
London

ueen Elizabeth II led millions of Britons as they fell

silent to honour members
of the Commonwealths armed
forces killed in conict at the annual Remembrance Sunday service.
The 89-year-old monarch,
senior royals and politicians including Prime Minister David
Cameron laid wreaths at the
Cenotaph national war memorial
in London, as thousands of military veterans looked on.
King Willem-Alexander of the
Netherlands laid a wreath to mark
the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands after the
end of World War II.
Opposition Labour leader Jer-

Tycoons 500,000
watch collection stolen
London Evening Standard
London

ne of Britains most successful

businessmen
was the victim of a raid
in which burglars got away with
his 500,000 collection of rare
watches, the Standard revealed.
Two suspects who broke into
property magnate Sir John Ritblats multi-million-pound mansion are believed to have staked
out the Regents Park house rst.
The pair escaped with 47
watches including rare Rolex,
Patek Philippe and Jaeger-LeCoultre models.
Developer Sir John, 80, also a
well-known arts benefactor, is
not thought to have been at home
during the raid at about 9pm on
October 23.
Police have issued CCTV images of the suspects, who they
believe may have targeted the
property specically to steal his
collection. A family friend told
the Standard: They dont want

to shout about what happened.

These watches will not be sold on
the secondary market and hopefully will be recovered.
Another friend said: Sir John
has collected watches for a very
long time. We are doing everything we possibly can to help. Its
clear the perpetrators knew what
they went for. It seems targeted.
A neighbour said: Its very
scary. The handyman was in but
he didnt even hear anything.
Residents in the row of expensive properties fronting Regents
Park said they were shocked to
learn of the burglary.
One said: No one here had any
idea. I saw Sir Johns wife Jill last
week and she didnt mention a
burglary. The house next door to
them has been bought by fashion designer Tom Ford. Work has
been going on for months, with
workmen coming and going. It
would be the perfect cover for
robbers to stay inconspicuous.
Sir Johns love of vintage
watches dates back to the 1950s
when he was given a magni-

cent gold model with elaborate

moon phases on the dial. It is believed to have been among those
taken.
He said in a 2008 interview that
collecting watches was for him a
hobby that is a pleasure its not
an investment and its not a business.
Sir John did not respond to requests for comment.
He bought British Land for
1mn in 1970 and was chairman
for 36 years. He reportedly received 57mn for his stake in the
rm when he stepped down in
2006 and his personal net worth is
estimated at 180mn. Son Jamie,
48, is managing director of the
Delancey group, while Sir John is a
member of the advisory board.
Delancey bought Londons Olympic Village in 2011. The Ritblat
family were ranked No 539 in this
years Sunday Times Rich List.
Detective
constable
Alex
Caulkett of Westminster serious
crime unit, appealed to anyone
recognising the men in the CCTV
images to contact police.

emy Corbyn also laid a oral tribute. The long-time pacist wore
a poppy, and sang the national
anthem, having previously been
criticised for remaining silent
during its playing.
The Labour leader later attended a ceremony in his Islington constituency, where he read
a verse by the rst world war soldier poet Wilfred Owen. He chose
not the better known Dulce et
Decorum but a short poem, Futility, lamenting the death of a farm
boy, one among the hundreds
of thousands who would die in
France, including Owen himself,
killed in 1918.
The centrepiece of yesterdays
event was the two minutes silence at 1100GMT, observed by
millions of people across Britain
and marked in London by the ring of an artillery gun.

Thousands of veterans earlier

marched past the Cenotaph, Britains primary war memorial.
Later yesterday, a projection of
giant falling poppies - the ower
that has symbolised the nations
war dead since World War I was
projected onto the Houses of Parliament. Remembrance Sunday
is the Sunday nearest to Armistice Day on November 11, the
anniversary of the 1918 signing of
the peace that ended ghting in
World War I.
More than 1mn people from the
British empire died in the fouryear conict, but the day has become a time to remember all the
troops killed in wars since then.
It is thought there has been
only one year -- 1968 -- without
a British military fatality on active
service since the end of World
War II in 1945.

Just married

Prime Minister David Cameron lays a wreath of poppies at the

Remembrance Sunday ceremony at the Cenotaph.

Samantha Cameron (right) and Cherie Blair (left), watch the

Remembrance Sunday ceremony at the Cenotaph in Westminster.

Veterans walk toward the Cenotaph as they attend the

Remembrance Sunday ceremony.

Brother, sister ght

over mothers body
London Evening Standard
London

warring brother and sister

have begun a High Court
ght over their mothers

Newlyweds pose opposite the Houses of Parliament

during a wedding photo shoot in central London
yesterday.

body.
Justice Arnold is expected to
rule on the dispute between Susanna Levrant and David Freud.
The siblings mother Iris
Freud, who lived in Putney for 66
years, died on October 12 in West
Middlesex University Hospital.
Her body remains there in storage while her children ght over
her funeral and burial.
Cheryl Jones, for Susanna Levrant, said Iris Freud was born
Church of England but her husband was a practising Jew. Once
(he) died she ceased observing
Jewish rules, Jones added.
Susanna, 66, who lives in
Chiswick, was emotionally
close to her mother and followed her Church of England religious leanings.
She wants a Church of England
ceremony with familiar and
much-loved hymns and a rendition of If You Were The Only Girl

In The World, which her father

used to sing to the deceased.
But David Freud, a nancial
adviser from Oxford, is seeking
to respect his late fathers faith,
Jones said. The court heard he
wants an austere ceremony to
observe shloshim, a period when
a mourner is forbidden ... to attend concerts or listen to music.
Freud, who is also in his sixties, wants his mother to be buried in consecrated ground to protect her from any danger of being
exhumed for 999 years, in line
with Jewish practice.
He said Kensal Green cemetery
was suitable and has reserved
two plots there, so that his sister could be buried next to their
mother if she so wished. Susanna, however, views the burial
ground as run-down and unpleasant and favours East Sheen
cemetery.
Justice Arnold must rule urgently because Iris Freuds body
is decaying rapidly.
The judge said he would skirt
round the wider family dispute
between the siblings, which was
pretty bad already. The case
continues.

22

Gulf Times
Monday, November 9, 2015

EUROPE

Pope slams VatiLeaks,

vows continued reforms
DPA/Reuters
Vatican City

ope Francis has condemned as a deplorable

act the leaking of condential papers that revealed nancial misconduct and greed in
the Vatican, and vowed that the
scandal would not disrupt his
reform efforts.
Two books published this
week Merchants in the Temple by Gianluigi Nuzzi and Avarice by Emiliano Fittipaldi are
thought to be based on documents from a now-disbanded
committee that reviewed Vatican nancial affairs in 2013-14.
Stealing those documents
is a crime, a deplorable act that
does not help, Francis said during his Angelus Sunday address
to a packed Saint Peters Square.
I and my aides already knew
these documents well, and
measures have been taken which
have started to bear fruit, some
even visible, the Pontiff continued. This sad event certainly
does not divert me from the reform work I am pursuing with
my collaborators with the support of all of you.
This was the rst time Francis commented directly on the
scandal, and the sharp language
he used seemed to indicate that
he intended to take a tough line
over it.
The affair has been dubbed
VatiLeaks2, linking it to another
leak-based case from 2012 that
revealed alleged Vatican intrigues and is thought to have
contributed to Benedict XVIs
shock resignation a move no

Faithful gather at Saint Peters Square as Pope Francis addresses the crowd from the window of the
apostolic palace overlooking the square during his Sunday Angelus prayer.
pope had made in almost 600
years.
A Spanish Monsignor and an
Italian public relations consultant were arrested in connection
with VatiLeaks2.
Monsignor Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda is still in jail. Francesca
Chaouqui was released, but is
still being investigated.
Both were members of a commission Francis set up several
months after his election in
March 2013 to advise him on nancial and administrative reforms in the Holy See.
The commission completed

its work last year and handed its

report to the Pope, who subsequently made changes in Vatican
administration, including the
establishment of a new economic ministry and increased power
for Vatican nancial regulators.
The Vatican said that when
the arrests were announced the
leaks represented a serious betrayal of the trust bestowed by
the Pope on commission members.
If the case reaches a Vatican court, the suspects risk jail
terms of up to eight years.
Italian media say more people may be implicated, includ-

ing Chaouquis husband and a

former Vatican Radio journalist
who, amid the controversy, has
suspended himself from his current job as adviser to Italys deputy minister for EU affairs.
The new books suggest that
Franciss attempt to x the problems highlighted by the rst VatiLeaks scandal are meeting stiff
internal resistance, and accuse
some top prelates of living in
outrageous luxury.
In one egregious case, Italian Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone,
former Vatican number 2 under Benedict XVI, is said to
have made renovations worth

200,000 ($215,000) in his

300sq m at paid for by the
foundation of a Vatican hospital
for children.
Monsignor Nunzio Galantino,
general secretary of the Italian
Catholic Bishops Conference,
told SkyTG24 news channel
yesterday that he was surprised
and annoyed by the revelations.
But he stressed: The church
is not made up only of these
characters.
A Dutch magazine for the
homeless, Straatnieuws, on Friday published an interview with
the Pope in which he seemed to
take aim at people like Bertone.

If a believer speaks about

poverty, and leads the life of a
pharaoh this cannot be done,
Francis was quoted as saying.
Yesterday the leader of the
worlds 1.2bn Catholics reected
on similar themes, recalling how
Jesus in the Bible criticised religious leaders of his time for being arrogant, greedy and hypocrites.
Today there is also the risk of
behaving like this, Francis said.
For example, when we separate
prayers from justice, because we
cannot render honour to God
and cause harm to poor people.
Or when we say we love God,
but instead we put our narcissism, our interests before Him.
It was the third time this year
the Vatican has had to deal with
leaks.
In June, the Popes encyclical on the environment was
leaked before publication and
last month a private letter from
13 conservative cardinals complaining about a meeting of
bishops on family issues was
published by an Italian magazine.
Some Italian commentators
have said the leaks, combined
with a false report in an Italian
newspaper that the Pontiff had
a brain tumour, were part of a
move by conservatives to weaken Francis by purporting to show
he is not in control of the church.
Last weeks arrests were the
rst in the Vatican since Paolo
Gabriele, Benedicts butler, was
arrested in 2012 for stealing documents from the popes desk.
Nuzzis 2012 book His Holiness was based on leaked documents received from Gabriele.

Artists bid to wake Europes

conscience to migrant cause
AFP
Paris

t was as news came through

that another 11 children had
drowned trying to reach
Greece that Benedict Cumberbatch nally cracked.
F**k the politicians, the
usually painfully polite upperclass actor told a theatre audience in London last week after
playing Hamlet, before making
a despairing plea on behalf of
thousands of refugees arriving
daily on Europes beaches.
The Sherlock star has been
making impassioned speeches
in support of migrants from the
stage of the Barbican since August, raising 150,000 (212,000,
$230,000) for Save the Children
from nightly collections.
All across Europe, artists are
similarly rallying to the migrant
cause, determined not to let anger at governments squabbling
over the crisis drift into indifference or hostility towards refugees eeing war and misery.
An Austrian artist topped
the iTunes music charts with a
minute of silence to symbolise
deafness to their plight, performing it later in front of
150,000 people at an open-air
Vienna concert, while a theatre

backed by some of Britains leading directors has opened in the

Calais jungle to lift the spirits of those stuck in the squalid
camp on Frances north coast.
Austrias Nobel prize-winning
writer Elfriede Jelinek has even
updated her 2013 play The Wards
to castigate the smugness and
cynicism of Europes response
to suffering on its doorstep.
But with the crisis falling off
the front pages, Cumberbatch
felt they were raging against a
tide of apathy as he told the audience how 5,000 migrants a day
were arriving on Lesbos, in a video of the speech posted on social
media.
No one puts children in a boat
unless the water is safer than the
land, he said, quoting from a
poem called Home by the Somali
poet Warsan Shire.
Twenty more babies and
children have drowned in the
Aegean since Cumberbatch lost
his temper last week, according
to an AFP count, bringing their
number to an estimated 110 since
the pictures of Syrian toddler Aylan washed up on a Turkish beach
rst pricked the worlds conscience in September.
The Oscar-nominated British
actress Samantha Morton this
week offered to put up refugees
on land she owns, while James

Bond star Daniel Craig told AFP:

There is a human tragedy going
on. It is up to European governments to step forward and get
this sorted.
Morton said history will not
be kind to governments like Britains which has offered to take
only 20,000 refugees over ve
years a gesture Harry Potter
author JK Rowling slammed as
utterly shameful with the UN
expecting up to 1.35mn refugees
and migrants to have entered Europe by February.
People will look back and
they will judge, said Morton as
lm-makers led by Michel Hazanavicius, director of the Oscarwinning The Artist lobbied Brussels to act decisively, warning of
growing xenophobia stirred by
the EUs inability to tackle the
problem.
Europe seems to want to do
crisis management, we want a
Europe that shouts its values loud
and clear, Hazanavicius said as
he presented a petition signed by
some of cinemas biggest names
to officials last month.
The only way Europe can
hope to block the dangerous
progress of populism and demagogy is by remaining both political and human.
But it is not just the EU that
is failing the Arab world must

Malta to propose
global relocation
mechanism
Malta is to present an ambitious
proposal for the setting up of a
global relocation mechanism as
a long-term measure to address
the migration crisis, Prime
Minister Joseph Muscat said in an
interview published yesterday.
While in the short term there
must be efforts to rescue people
at sea, there must also be legal
channels for migration and
reception centres in African
countries to combat illegal
human trafficking, Muscat said.
In the long-term there must
be international institutions to
address this problem from a
global perspective, Muscat told
the Sunday Times of Malta.
He was speaking as Malta
prepares to host on Wednesday
and Thursday the EU-Africa
migration summit as well as an
emergency meeting.
We need to have a worldwide
relocation mechanism. If need be,
Canada has to take migrants from
Syria, for example. In this manner
the load would be reduced, and
be distributed according to set
regulations and mechanisms,
Muscat said.
The summit is expected to
discuss means of improving work
on promoting and organising
legal migration channels to tackle
more effectively the exploitation
and trafficking of migrants.
However, critics said the EUs
agenda remains focused on
the securing of borders and
containment, and fails to tackle
the root causes.

Terrorist among
boat migrants
Italian police caught a Tunisian
member of an Islamic terrorist
group among a group of boat
migrants rescued last month, and
promptly repatriated him, the La
Repubblica newspaper reported
yesterday.
Bar Nasr Mehdi, 38, was said to
have been picked up from the
Mediterranean on October 4 by
a navy rescue team along with
more than 200 people, and taken
to the Italian outpost island of
Lampedusa.
After fingerprinting, authorities
discovered he had given a false
name and was the man who
had been arrested in Italy in
2008, convicted to seven years
imprisonment for terrorism,
expelled and banned from
returning after serving his time.
The news was kept confidential
to avoid alarm, La Repubblica
wrote.
It is a confirmation of a worrying
hypothesis: that to enter Europe,
terrorists are also using the
boats of desperate people who
are coming from North African
shores, it added.

Germany urged to
secure EU borders

A child lies on the beach after refugees and migrants arrive on the Greek island of Lesbos, having crossed
the Aegean Sea from Turkey.
also shoulder the burden, conductor Daniel Barenboim insisted
this week.
Europe alone cant deal with
Syrian refugees ... the Arab world
should also take them, he told
reporters.
Not all artists however have
rallied to the pro-migrant banner.
Graffiti artist Dan Park last
month caused outrage in Sweden
which after Germany has taken
the largest number of migrants
with posters declaring, Ter-

rorist Welcome, bring your own

weapons.
And Swedish pop singer Christer Sandelin also questioned its
open-door approach in a post on
Facebook: Is there anyone who
believes we can help 2,000 refugees who enter our country daily
(but not Norway, Denmark, nor
Finland). What is going on???
However, singer Carola, who
won the Eurovision song contest
for the Nordic country in 1991,
claims they do not represent the
Swedes and has been putting mi-

grants up in her own home.

Fellow Eurovision winner,
bearded Austrian drag queen
Conchita Wurst a former choirboy has supported the Popes
call for Catholic parishes to take
in refugees and also appears with
Peter Gabriel in a video for a new
song called Do Something by
British singer Charlie Winston.
The video, supported by the
Red Cross, was shot in camps
including Calais jungle, and
warns: There is only so long this
can keep going on...

Germany needs to be tougher in

the migrant crisis and do more
to help secure Europes external
borders, European Council
President Donald Tusk said
yesterday ahead of a meeting
with Chancellor Angela Merkel.
While Tusk praised Germanys
leadership role as the most liberal
and tolerant in European history,
he urged Berlin to do more to
get the current situation under
control.
Leadership responsibility also
means securing Europes external
borders together with other
member states, Tusk told Die
Welt am Sonntag newspaper.
I understand why due to
historical reasons, Germany may
have difficulty setting up a strict
regime on its borders. But for
Germany, European leadership
responsibility also means
controlling Europes external
borders if necessary energetically
in a pan-European unit.

Nordic welcome chillier for asylum seekers as numbers snowball

AFP
Oslo

sylum seekers owing to

Scandinavia are nding
chillier welcomes as their
numbers surge and far-right
parties increasingly assert their
inuence on immigration policy,
analysts say.
Denmark, Norway and Finland
but also Sweden, heretofore
especially welcoming to migrants
have begun cutting back the
benets they offer to newcomers
while also hardening their asylum policies.
It seems theres a certain
amount of competition aimed at
not offering the most generous
social benets to asylum seek-

ers, said Asle Toje, a Norwegian

international relations expert.
Denmarks immigration policy
has grown tighter since 2001,
when the far-right Danish Peoples Party (DPP) began inuencing policy-making.
In July, soon after elections
made the DPP the countrys
second-largest party, Denmark
moved to slash benets to asylum
seekers in a bid to reduce the inux.
Under the new rules, which
came into effect in September, a
recently arrived immigrant without children now receives 5,945
kroner (797/$897) per month,
compared with the 10,849 kroner
they got previously.
The move seems to have had
the desired effect, since the

number of asylum seekers declined in September from a year

earlier while setting records elsewhere in Europe.
Syrians, Afghans and Eritreans
are still arriving en masse in Denmark, but they generally move on
to destinations considered more
hospitable.
Many of them say that the
conditions are better for them in
other countries, perhaps Sweden, and so they go there, said
DPP leader Kristian Thulesen
Dahl.
The DPP, an indispensable ally
of Denmarks minority liberal
government, is doing all it can to
make the country less attractive
to refugees.
Norway and Finland, both led
by governments with anti-im-

migration elements, are similarly

moving to cut back social services and toughen conditions for
uniting families and granting citizenship or permanent residency.
Its clear that the Nordic
countries have generous welfare
states, but we must ask ourselves
if we should share them with
those who come in, said Norwegians justice secretary of state,
Joran Kallmyr, of the right-wing
populist Progress Party.
Norway, an island of prosperity thanks to its hydrocarbons,
is becoming unsure of preserving its comfortable lifestyle as oil
prices decrease.
Even ultra-liberal Sweden,
despite taking in more asylum
seekers per capita than any other EU state expecting around

190,000 this year for a population of under 10mn has decided

to tone down its image of generosity.
In line with the rise of the farright Sweden Democrats party,
the kingdom is now demanding
that its European partners share
more of the burden, and it plans
to harden conditions for reuniting families.
Swedens Social Democrats
are worried about losing voters
to the anti-immigration Sweden
Democrats, who were capitalising on peoples fears over mass
migration to Sweden, said Magnus Hagevi, political scientist at
Linnea University.
Already weve witnessed a
rash of arson attacks on migrant
facilities across Sweden people

are also worried about the price

of immigration. Many people are
worried about what the future
will bring and how that will affect
the welfare state, he said.
Again on Saturday, a planned
refugee shelter was burned down
in Sweden, the latest in a string of
suspected arson cases targeting a
huge inux of migrants.
The Nordic countries are also
trying to use the media to help
them stop the migrant ow at its
source.
In September, Denmark took
out advertisements in the Lebanese press warning about new
asylum regulations in the hope of
discouraging Syrian refugees.
Norway and Finland have tried
to get the message across on Facebook, where the bulk of mi-

grants turn to compare possible

destinations.
Human traffickers spread rumours on social networks to sell
trips by making people believe
they should leave for Europe now
because the borders are open,
Kallmyr said. We should correct
these rumours ... and spell out
what awaits them less aid, difculty reuniting families and lots
of rejected requests.
Toje had a more nuanced view.
Refugees are not coming here
mainly to take advantage of the
welfare state, he said.
They are eeing countries
where there is war, conict and
hardship. So even if we reduce
services, I dont think that will
necessarily lessen the number of
asylum seekers.

Gulf Times
Monday, November 9, 2015

23

EUROPE
Death
toll from
nightclub
re rises
to 44

Italys right-wing parties

unite for anti-Renzi rally

AFP
Bucharest

Reuters
Bologna

talys divided conservative

parties joined forces for a
rally in the northern town of
Bologna yesterday, promising
to work together to oppose and
oust centre-left Prime Minister
Matteo Renzi.
The rally was organised by
the anti-immigrant Northern
League party led by 42-yearold Matteo Salvini, which has
eclipsed former prime minister
Silvio Berlusconis Forza Italia
to emerge as the largest force on
the right.
Berlusconi, 79, has kept a low
prole since he was convicted
of tax evasion and banned from
public office in 2013, but he attended yesterdays rally along
with Giorgia Meloni, the leader
of the small, far-right Brothers
of Italy party.
With this newfound unity,
staying together and ghting together, we will win the next elections, Berlusconi told tens of
thousands of marchers crammed
into Bolognas main square.
People
waved
Northern
League, Forza Italia and Brothers
of Italy ags and chanted slogans
against Renzi and his government.
Go home, Renzi! Lets free
ourselves, lets start again! read
one slogan.
In a blunt speech, Salvini took
aim at targets ranging from Italy
being too lax on immigrants, the
government allowing multinationals to buy Italian rms and
lay people off, to a lack of opportunities for the young.
Hundreds of police were de-

hree more people died

yesterday from injuries
suffered in a horric October 30 nightclub re in Bucharest that brought down Romanias government, putting the
death toll at 44, a hospital official
said.
The chief of Floreasca hospitals plastic surgery department
said two of the victims a young
Romanian woman and a Turkish tourist died a day after nine
other wounded lost their lives,
including two who had been
transferred to the Netherlands
for treatment.
A third person, a young Romanian man, died yesterday in
a hospital for burn victims, the
medical centres director Cristian Nitescu said.
The next seven days will be
the most difficult with regards
to treating the wounded, Health
Minister Nicolae Banicioiu said
on Saturday. We welcome any
help, any medical teams coming
from abroad.
Romanian media criticised the
authorities for failing to transfer
some of the wounded to hospitals abroad in time.
Why has Romania not asked
for international help before?
Gandul daily wrote, adding that
the countrys hospitals were
struggling to treat more than 140
people wounded in the tragedy
at the Colectiv nightclub.
Eighteen people were transferred abroad on Saturday
eight to Belgium, eight to the
Netherlands and two to Austria.
Two more will be own to
Britain and Hungary, the defence
ministry said.
Doctors say some 100 wounded remain hospitalised, among
them 44 in critical condition.
The re broke out when reworks let off during a rock bands
performance triggered a blaze
and a stampede as panicked revellers tried to ee.
The tragedy sparked mass
anti-government protests, with
many viewing compromised
safety standards at the club as
emblematic of Romanias wider
problem with rampant corruption.
Prime minister Victor Ponta,
who had been under pressure
for weeks as he goes on trial
on corruption charges, quit on
Wednesday, saying that it was
right for top officials to take responsibility for the tragedy.
Initial investigations suggest
numerous breaches of the safety
rules at the club, including a lack
of emergency exits and the fact
that ammable materials were
used for sound insulation.
The clubs three bosses, detained since Tuesday on manslaughter charges, did not have
the authorisation to host concerts, let alone pyrotechnic
shows.
Pontas resignation has not
stemmed the huge protests by
Romanians demanding a profound change in the way the
country is governed.

Burqa bomber
was just a man
A Turkish man detained as a
suspected would-be suicide
bomber in northern Turkey was
actually wearing a burqa to
disguise himself to meet a secret
lover from a dating site, local
media reported yesterday.
Locals in the Black Sea province
of Ordu alerted police of a
would-be suicide bomber on
Saturday after noticing that a
burqa-clad woman talking
on the phone at a bus stop was
wearing mens shoes, Dogan
news agency said.
A police team was despatched
to the scene and unmasked
the man, who was dressed in a
full-length, Islamic-style black
robe including a niqab covering
his face.
Authorities detained him for
inflicting fear and panic in the
public, Dogan reported.
The 33-year-old man, who is
married with two children, told
police that he had resorted to
the burqa disguise in order to
secretly meet a woman he had
met on an online dating site for
the first time.

Rail traffic disrupted before planned rally

Railway traffic in Bologna was disrupted for a few hours yesterday before
the northern Italian city and traditional left-wing bastion hosted a rally by
the far-right Northern League party.
Regional and high-speed trains suffered delays of 30-60 minutes and
some local services were cancelled, but by noon (1100 GMT) rail traffic
in Bologna [had] returned to normality, Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI),
Italys railtrack operator, said in a statement.
RFI said that its technicians had to fix rail traffic data transmission infrastructure damaged by arson that took place shortly before 4am near
Bologna station.
A similar act of sabotage took place in the area in December, it added.
Far-left groups enraged by the Northern Leagues presence were suspected of being behind the attack.
The Ansa news agency said a political message was scribbled near the
fire-damaged site.
8-11, lets sabotage a world of racists and of frontiers, it said in red writing.
The Northern Leagues leader Matteo Salvini, known for his blunt
rhetoric, commented on Facebook: An anti-racist fire??? These criminals
should be locked up, no b******t. Bologna, we are coming!
Salvinis party once advocated the secession of wealthier northern Italy
from the poorer south.
It is now campaigning against migrants and the European Union, and has
struck up an alliance in Europe with Frances National Front.

Berlusconi lashes out against EU

Northern League supporters hold a coffin with a banner during the rally in Bologna. The banner reads
Government thief.
ployed to keep order around Bolognas city centre throughout
the rally.
Television pictures showed
officers in riot gear charging
hundreds of left-wing protesters who threw recrackers and
rudimentary paper bombs.
The centre-right has often
been divided since shortly after
a 2013 parliamentary election.
The League has maintained
hardline opposition to the government while Berlusconi has
wavered between modest opposition and collaboration with
Renzi.
All Berlusconis three elec-

tion victories since 1994 were

in alliance with the League, and
the centre-right parties have
pledged to work together in parliament ahead of mayoral elections next year in Rome, Milan,
Naples and Bologna.
Opinion polls give the Northern League around 14% of the
vote, in third place behind Renzis Democratic Party (PD), on
around 31%, and the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, on
about 27%.
Forza Italia is polling at about
12% and the Brothers of Italy at
4.5%.
If all three centre-right par-

ties join forces they could be a

threat to the PD, which is the
only major party on the centreleft.
The next parliamentary election is due in 2018, but commentators speculate it could come
earlier as a result of instability in
Renzis ruling coalition.
Renzi suffered a potential setback on Saturday when a group
of former PD dissidents who
quit the party complaining he
had moved too far to the right,
formed a new movement called
Italian Left, which will hope to
lure left-wing voters away from
the PD.

Italys billionaire former leader Silvio Berlusconi lashed out at the European Union yesterday as he appealed to the populist right and called for
less Europe at a Northern League demonstration.
The 79-year-old controversial politician whose Forza Italia party ranks
fourth in polls addressed thousands of protesters during a demonstration in the northern city of Bologna.
Berlusconi proposed a programme with fewer taxes, less state involvement and less Europe as well as more help to those who need it, more
guarantees and more security.
The ex-prime minister and media tycoon tossed out a series of questions
to the crowd, asking them if they wanted a Europe that imposed taxes,
sanctions and austerity.
Are you still willing to support a Europe that imposes taxes and austerity? he asked, with the demonstrators giving a resounding no in
response.
The attack against Europe comes as a dramatic turnaround for Berlusconi who only three weeks ago participated in the European Peoples Party
congress in Madrid, where he met with German leader Angela Merkel in
what he presented as return to the international scene.

Croatia goes to the polls facing

migrant wave, economy woes
AFP
Zagreb

roatians voted in a general election yesterday

with conservatives aspiring to return to power as the
EU nation faces a wave of migrants and slowly emerges from
six years of recession.
Opinion polls predict a tight
race between the ruling centreleft alliance, led by Prime Minister Zoran Milanovics Social
Democrats (SDP), and the rival
conservative Patriotic Coalition, in Croatias rst parliamentary election since it joined
the European Union in 2013.
Neither camp is expected to
win an outright majority in the
151-seat parliament, making
it likely that the governments
make-up will be decided in
post-election talks with smaller parties.
We will prevail ... and form
the next government by gathering a majority, an upbeat Milanovic told reporters after voting in downtown Zagreb.
Analysts warned that support for the main opposition
Croatian Democratic Union
(HDZ) tends to be underplayed
in surveys, but that the centreleft bloc might have more potential to form a coalition government if votes are split.
The ruling coalition, in power since 2011, has been blamed
for failing to reform the countrys inefficient public sector or
improve the business climate in
Croatia, one of the EUs poor-

est-performing economies.
But the bloc, campaigning with the slogan Croatia is
Growing, has won back some
support thanks to a slight return to economic growth and
the governments introduction
of some populist measures.
Career diplomat turned premier Milanovic, 49, also appears to have been boosted by
his policy towards refugees
transiting through Croatia
to Slovenia, by both showing
compassion and pledging to
defend national interests.
Nearly 350,000 migrants
have passed through Croatia
since mid-September on their
way to northern Europe, after
Hungary closed its border with
Serbia.
The HDZ, which was buoyed by the election of its
presidential candidate Kolinda
Grabar-Kitarovic in January,
has accused the government of
lacking control since the start
of migrant inux.
The HDZ was ousted in 2011
amid a series of unprecedented
scandals involving its former
leader and former prime minister Ivo Sanader.
The party has dominated
Croatian politics since the
former Yugoslav republic proclaimed independence in 1991,
a move that sparked a four-year
war with rebel Serbs.
We will be the winners, you
will see tonight, assured HDZ
leader Tomislav Karamarko after voting in the capital.
The 56-year-old former spy
chief has run an electoral cam-

AFP
Berlin

A man casts his vote at a polling station in Zagreb while members of the media are focused
elsewhere.
paign heavy in patriotic rhetoric, glorifying his partys late
founder and Father of the Nation, Franjo Tudjman.
This is a battle for Croatia!
he declared at a 15,000-strong
rally on Thursday, intimating
that his SDP rivals, with communist roots in the former Yugoslavia, were anti-independence.
The government has meanwhile consistently accused the
opposition of corruption.
Analysts and many Croatians
say neither of the two main

blocs have provided comprehensive solutions to economic

problems.
Although a return to growth
of nearly one percent is expected this year, public debt stands
at nearly 90% of gross domestic product and unemployment
at 16.2% in September 43.1%
percent among youths.
The focus should be the
economy and employment,
said Maja Bacic, a 45-year-old
administrator, after voting in
downtown Zagreb.
She said she would vote for

the SDP although it is not an

ideal choice, adding that the
HDZ only talks about the past
and about the 1990s war, which
ended 20 years ago.
Lucija Matkovic, a 23-yearold economist, said she would
vote for the HDZ because the
current government did nothing.
Some fed up voters are opting
for smaller parties such as newcomer Most (meaning Bridge
in Croatian), which could end
up playing a key role in postelection negotiations.

Bulgarian police protest despite pledge on benet cuts

Reuters
Sofia

undreds of Bulgarian police officers,

reghters and prison
guards protested yesterday
against plans to slash their social benets despite the centre-

right governments pledge to

withdraw the proposed cuts.
Officers across the security sector in the EUs poorest
country have been protesting
since Tuesday over government
proposals to slash retirement
payoffs, length of paid leave
and other perks without prior
discussions with unions.

Lufthansa
cabin crew
resume
strike

Hours before officers from

throughout the Balkan country
were due to gather in front of
the parliament, Interior Minister Rumiana Bachvarova said
the proposed cuts would be
withdrawn.
We have agreed to withdraw
the proposed changes ... and
will only introduce measures

after discussions with the police unions, Bachvarova said.

Bulgaria
spends
about
90% of the budget of its
50,000-strong interior ministry on salaries and benets
and needs to reform its badlyequipped police force to ght
crime and widespread corruption.

Earlier this week, the government backed down on some

of the planned cuts, proposing
that the plan to halve lump sum
retirement payouts from 20
times net monthly salaries to 10
would only be applied to newly
appointed staff.
The offer failed to appease
officers.

erman airline Lufthansa

faced more aviation chaos today as cabin staff
said they would resume a strike
in a battle over cost cuts.
The stoppage part of rolling industrial action expected to
continue until Friday was due
to hit Frankfurt, Duesseldorf and
Munich airports today, the UFO
ight attendants union said.
Frankfurt, Germanys main
air hub, and Duesseldorf were
to be hit by work stoppages from
0330-2200 GMT, and Munich
from 0330-2300 GMT, the union said on its website yesterday.
UFO last Thursday said industrial action had become unavoidable after airline management failed to come up with an
improved offer in a dispute over
pay and early retirement provisions.
Not affected by the strike are
Lufthansas subsidiaries Germanwings, Eurowings, Lufthansa CityLine, SWISS, Austrian
Airlines, Air Dolomiti and Brussels Airlines.
The strike on Saturday forced
Lufthansa to cancel 520 ights,
leaving
58,000
passengers
grounded.
The stoppage affected all domestic and European ights
from Frankfurt and Duesseldorf,
Germanys busiest and thirdbusiest airports.
Flights resumed for one day
yesterday because on that day,
most ights are private, said
UFO.
UFO has said it plans to target
different airports over the course
of the week-long blitz of walkouts.
The union is demanding that
a current system of early retirement provisions remain unchanged.
The dispute with cabin staff
is separate from a long-running
battle between management and
pilots over the companys plans
to change the pilots early retirement arrangements.

24

Gulf Times
Monday, November 9, 2015

INDIA
Tamil Nadu
Roundup
By Umaima Shafiq

Customers opt
for healthier
Diwali sweets
People are opting for healthier
snacks like nutritional bars
made of millet, nuts, dates,
dry fruits and honey instead
of the traditional ghee and
sugar-loaded Indian sweets like
laddoos, jalebis and gulab jamuns
for the Hindu festival of Diwali
this year.
Other options are bakery
products like eggless and fatfree cakes, biscuits, biscottis
and millet-based south Indian
savouries. Some sweet shops are
selling goodies made with sugar
substitutes.
Customers in Coimbatore and
Chennai are choosing baklavas,
frozen puddings, bottled fudges
and chocolates.
Gifting sweet packs - either
homemade or commercially
produced - is an age-old tradition
during Diwali. However with
growing health concerns like
diabetes, hypertension and
blood pressure, customers have
become selective.
Meanwhile, villagers have
decided to abstain from
the customary bursting of
firecrackers for the festival to
protect hundreds of migratory
birds that visit their tank
at Nanalkulam in southern
Tirunelveli district.
Villagers said that birds like blackheaded Ibis, little Cormorant,
Indian Cormorant, oriental
Darter, Purple Heron, Grey Heron
and Spoon bill come to the
Vagaikulam tank to breed every
winter.
Appeals are also being made
in cities across Tamil Nadu to
prevent noise and air pollution.

Rising demands for cooling make it a hot topic

By Jason Burke
New Delhi

arendra Sharma dreads

the summer. Temperatures climb above 40C
even before the sun has hit the
pitted, potholed surface of the
streets through which he pushes his vegetable barrow day after
day. Even when dusk falls there
is little respite.
Its tough, even if you are
used to it. And the worst of all is
that I lose money, he said.
Sharma is out of pocket dur-

ing the summer months because his vegetables go bad in

the blinding heat. The more
they wilt and blacken, the less
he can charge. Even in the autumn, he has to throw away bags
of produce.
The produce comes from the
hinterland of Delhi, and is sold
and consumed less than 80km
from where it has been grown.
But at no stage on its congested,
convoluted journey is a single
turnip, pea or bean refrigerated.
The same is true of foodstuffs that come from further afield. None of the ap-

ples that Sharma occasionally

sells, from Kashmir, 800km to
the north, nor the late-season mangoes from fields almost 1,600km south, are ever
chilled. The only items on his
barrow that have been in a cold
store are the kiwis, flown in
from New Zealand.
Recent gures show India
to be the fastest growing of
all emerging economies, with
growth this year above 7%. The
population is still growing too,
and forecast to reach 1.4bn by
2030, greater than that of China.

Coin collectors

The chief minister is likely to

face the heat at the Congress
Partys review meeting in the
coming days
IANS
Thiruvananthapuram

Incessant rains flooded Erode,

Tiruchi, Namakkal, Dindigul,
Theni and other districts of Tamil
Nadu last week.
In Erode and Tiruchi several
low lying areas were flooded,
bridges submerged and canals
and embankments were broken.
In Namakkal, villages became
marooned and residents had
to use ferries, coracles and
makeshift boats to reach their
destinations.
In Theni and Dindigul districts,
uprooted trees and flooded
streets made traffic movement
difficult. Heavy inflow into the
Hogennakkal water falls near
Salem prevented tourists from
visiting.
As many as 12 trains were
delayed because of erosion of
stones and soil from the railway
tracks near Kalingarayan canal in
Erode. However no loss of human
lives was reported.

50 held after
beef eating
festival

Railway uses
bio-diesel to
cut pollution
The Southern Railway (SR) has
begun using bio-diesel in its
mainline diesel locomotives to
reduce pollution at three locations
in Erode and Tiruchi this year.
The bio-diesel is sourced from
private manufacturers and
stocked at Railway Consumer
Depots in the two cities. The SR
is also planning to commission
a bio-diesel plant at Tondiarpet.
Bio-diesel is cheaper by Rs3
and could save Rs1.2mn for the
railways everyday, said some SR
officials.

chain, said Paranesh Kohli, a

private sector specialist who
has been brought in to run the
Indian governments National
Centre for Cold Chain Development.
One problem is that there
are almost no chilled packhouses in India where produce straight out of the elds
can be sorted, cleaned and
readied for onward transportation. Officials estimate that at
least 70,000 pack-houses, each
equipped with a pre-cooler and
dispatch room, are needed. The
country only has about 250.

Then there is the lack of cold

storage facilities. India has
about 7,000 such units, with a
capacity of 33mn tonnes, but
few are in the right place, according to Kohli. Those that are
tend to be used primarily for
storing imported products such
as kiwi fruit as well as pears from
France and lychees from China.
Imports of apples have gone from
20,000 tonnes in 2001 to 250,000
tonnes this year.
We have built platforms to
access Indian markets but not
the back-end infrastructure,
said Kohli.

Kerala civic
elections an
eye opener
for Chandy

Heavy rains
flood several
districts in state

A festival to celebrate beef

eating organised by Tamil Nadu
Progressive Writers and Artists
Association ended with the arrest
of 50 people at Tiruvannamalai,
about 250km from Chennai, last
week.
Police reportedly became angry
that the organisers had served
beef against their specific orders.
The organisers also boldly
honoured local butchers with
poems and a beef pilaf or biryani
at the venue. They condemned
the federal governments beef
ban that has caused communal
tension and led to murders in
several states in recent months.
Irked policemen raided the venue
and beat up the slogan-shouting
crowd after the arrests.

The current 1.3bn inhabitants

are eating more every year too,
even if malnutrition remains a
serious problem. Over previous
decades, food demand has been
met largely by increasing farm
yields; production has more
than tripled from 87mn tonnes
in 1991 to 280mn today.
Now the new strategy is to
streamline the process of getting the produce to the consumer, and that means refrigeration.
There is actually plenty of
food for everyone to have. The
problem is moving it around
and that is where we need a cold

Workers collect coins which fell off a van of the Reserve Bank of India after it met with an
accident on the Mumbai-Hyderabad Express Way in Mumbai on Saturday.

he
Left
Democratic
Fronts win in Kerala civic
polls is an eye opener for
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy
as the ruling United Democratic
Front could only take the second
spot. The chief minister had earlier said the poll results would be
a referendum on his governance,
say analysts.
Chandy had said that for the
rst time in the history of the
state, an incumbent government
would be returned to power and
the civic polls would be a pointer
to that.
But as votes were counted on
Saturday, the Chandy-led ruling
front trailed right from the start.
When the nal results were
out, the LDF, led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist),
won the polls, often termed as
the semi-nal ahead of assembly elections scheduled for next
year.
Polling was held for 21,871
seats in 941 village, 152 blocks
and 14 district panchayats besides 86 municipalities and six
corporations.
The LDF won 10,338 seats
against 8,846 for the Congressled UDF and 1,244 seats for the
Bharatiya Janata Party.
In the 2010 civic polls, the
UDF won 65% of seats, and the
then ruling LDF government secured around 33% seats.

Chandy: blow
Chandy is likely to face the heat
at the Congress Partys review
meeting in the coming days.
State Congress president V M
Sudheeran is also staring at testing times ahead as he was elevated to the post by the Congress
high command only last year,
overlooking the names suggested by Chandy and Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala.
Our correspondent Ashraf
Padanna adds:
Tiny outts that used to grab
undue media space appear to
have fallen by the wayside in this
election.
The data with the State Election Commission shows that
very few of them have a panKerala appeal while others are
limited to their small pocket
boroughs. Some of them won
through opportunistic ties.
However, regional groups upholding causes concerning the
local community like the Penpillai Orumai in Munnar and
Twenty20 in Kizhakkambalam
scripted an emphatic victory
challenging the established political parties.
Among the minor players, the
Social Democratic Party of India
emerged the single largest winning 40 seats (seven of them in

municipalities and one in a corporation) followed by the Peoples Democratic Party (8), Welfare Party (7) and All India Anna
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
(6).
The Aam Aadmi Party, which
stunned everyone by winning a
by-election in Alappuzha last
year, drew a blank.
Independents will call the
shots in many places with a
record number of 1,344 seats
(villages 1,021, blocks 52, districts 4, municipalities 245 and
corporation 22) that could swing
either way.
The Indian Union Muslim
League, a key ally of the Congress in the UDF, was elevated
to the third place, pushing LDF
constituent Communist Party
of India to a distant fourth, winning 2,120 seats.
Kerala Congress (M) of Finance
Minister K M Mani has won just
630 seats (villages 456, blocks 75,
districts 12, municipalities 85 and
corporations two).
The Janata Dal (United), also
a UDF partner, has in its kitty 97
seats while the rival Janata Dal
(Secular) has 81.
The Revolutionary Socialist
Party of the UDF has 54 seats
closely followed by Nationalist
Congress Party (LDF) with 59
seats and 33 seats of Kerala Congress (J) (UDF).
The Kerala Congress (Secular)
of controversial UDF legislator P
C George, which switched sides
and joined the LDF in the elections, could win 32 seats.
However, Kerala Congress (B)
of R Balakrishna Pillai, another
new LDF ally, could win only 19
seats.

Many head out of Delhi to escape Diwali smog

IANS
New Delhi

mid increasing pollution in the national

capital, especially on
the eve of Diwali, many families, particularly those with
young children and those with
breathing problems, are on a
sojourn to the hills and wildlife sanctuaries to get a breath
of fresh air.
I cannot take the risk of
celebrating Diwali here. When
I feel like I am choking, what
will happen to my two-yearold kid? Warisha, a Supreme
Court lawyer, who is leaving
for Bharatpur bird sanctuary in
Rajasthan said.
She said pollution in the
capital has become more hazardous in the past two years.
It is growing by the day. Celebrating the festival is ne, but
people should not go to such an

extent that it becomes difficult

to breathe.
Last year, my son got very
ill after Diwali. I cannot afford
that again, the lawyer said.
The Supreme Court recently
refused to ban recrackers during Diwali, saying it was not
possible to issue an order that
cannot be implemented.
Many elderly and sick people are also leaving for places
where they feel pollution is
likely to be low on Diwali.
I and my wife are going to
Shimla to celebrate the festival
in fresh air rather than choke
myself here, said Narayan Das,
a retired doctor.
Last year, during Diwali,
we both fell terribly ill. We
could not breathe properly and
the illness remained for a long
time.
Apart from travelling to hilly
areas, people are also choosing
to take to meditation during the
festival.

I am taking my family to
Haridwar ashram this year on
Diwali. It is because I dont
want my old father to suffer from respiratory problems
again, said Ravi Sharma, a
businessman.
Last year, both my parents fell ill due to the unending
smog in the city, he said.
Gopal Shankar Narayan, one
of the lawyers who led the
petition in Supreme Court last
week, believes that the government has not taken any positive
step so far, in wake of the high
pollution level during Diwali.
The government has failed
to do something positive about
it. It would have been better if
the court had not rejected the
interim plea, he said.
A father of three children,
Narayan said: The larger pollution issues here beat the permissible limits. For a parent,
it is really a big risk to let our
children suffer.

A Hindu priest puts the finishing touches to a rangoli, or mural made out of coloured powders, at a temple
ahead of Diwali festival celebrations in Ahmedabad yesterday. The festival of lights will be celebrated
across India on November 11. The sign reads: Happy Diwali.

Gulf Times
Monday, November 9, 2015

25

INDIA

Nitish-Lalu alliance mauls BJP

Heartburn
for relatives
of leaders

Defeat for party could delay

Modis economic reform
agenda, say analysts
IANS
Patna

n a verdict that is bound to

have a national impact, Chief
Minister Nitish Kumar and
Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Lalu
Prasad Yadav yesterday trounced
the Bharatiya Janata Party to win
the bitterly fought Bihar assembly elections and deliver a major
blow to Prime Minister Narendra
Modi who led his partys challenge.
In contrast to what most exit
polls had said, the Grand Alliance of the Janata Dal-United
(JD-U), the RJD and the Congress was poised to sweep a
whopping 178 of the 243 seats,
leaving the BJP - which wanted
to oust Nitish Kumar - and its
allies with just 59 seats.
By late evening, the RJD and
JD-U had won 51 seats each and
were leading in 29 and 20 respectively. The Congress had
won 20 seats and was ahead in
seven. The BJP was the winner in
35 constituencies and was leading in 18.
The much-maligned RJD is
tipped to end up as the single
biggest party with 80 seats followed closely by Nitish Kumars
JD-U with 71 seats. The Congress would get 27 seats.
The BJPs three allies - the Lok
Janshakti Party (LJP), the Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM)
and the Rashtriya Lok Samata
Party (RLSP) - could together
bag only six seats.
This is a very big victory.
We accept it with humility,
Nitish Kumar said in his rst
comments. From the national
perspective, the result is signicant.
Yadav, who the BJP targeted
more viciously during the election campaign, was more emphatic. He called Modi an RSS
pracharak and vowed to mount
a nationwide campaign against
the BJP-led central government.
The RJD chief also made it
clear that although his party had
more seats than the JD-U, Nitish
Kumar would be the chief minister.
A sombre Modi telephoned
Nitish Kumar and congratu-

IANS
Patna

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar hugs RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav before
addressing a news conference in Patna yesterday.
lated him. So did a stream of opposition leaders from across the
country, indicating that the ramications of the Bihar outcome
were already being felt.
West Bengal Chief Minister
Mamata Banerjee said the BJPs
defeat was a victory of tolerance, defeat of intolerance. Delhi
Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi
Party leader Arvind Kejriwal
hailed Nitish Kumar on this historic victory.
Kejriwal also said the BJP-led
coalitions defeat was a referendum on Modis work and working style. He added: The results
prove that people do not approve
of the politics of hatred.
The Shiv Sena, the junior but
bitter ally in Maharashtra, said
the BJP must accept that the defeat was Modis doing. Calling
Nitish Kumar a political hero,
it said the Bihar result will be
a turning point in the countrys
political future.
Former Jammu and Kashmir
chief minister Omar Abdullah
too said that the verdict will
prove critical for the nation in the
days ahead.

Even as former BJP deputy

chief minister Sushil Kumar
Modi said his party would be a
constructive opposition, Bollywood veteran and BJP MP
Shatrughan Sinha - unhappy
over being sidelined by party
president Amit Shah - called the
defeat a victory for democracy
and the people of Bihar... The
writing was always on the wall.
The BJP conceded defeat.
This is not an outcome we expected, its general secretary
Ram Madhav said. This defeat
calls for serious thinking.
Federal Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar blamed
the defeat on BJPs alliance
arithmetic. Its vice president
Prabhat Jha said: We failed to
understand peoples mind. We
will have to change our election
strategy.
Compared to the number of
assembly segments it led in the
2014 Lok Sabha election, the BJP
lost every second seat.
JD-Us Pavan Verma targeted
Modi. It is a defeat for Modi and
Amit Shah.
Asaduddin Owaisi, whose Ma-

Supporters of Janata Dal (United) celebrate after the alliance led by the party trounced the BJP, in New Delhi
yesterday.
jlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen contested six seats and lost all, also
said: It is a personal defeat for
Modi as never before has a prime
minister campaigned so much in
a (state) election.
The JD-U, the RJD and the
Congress grabbed over 41% of all
the votes in the elections that began on October 12 and concluded
on November 5. The BJP alliance
got 38%.
As the vote count began at 8am
across Bihar, initially it seemed
that the BJP and its allies were
forging ahead. But the picture
changed soon as the Grand Alliance clawed back strongly.
Thousands of jubilant JD-U,
RJD and Congress activists then
celebrated even as gloom descended in the BJP camp. India
Inc welcomed the results.
It is the BJPs second straight
defeat in state elections since the
AAP routed it in Delhi in February.
Asked how the Grand Alliance
overcame the BJP, JD-U leader
Nawal Sharma said: Nitishs
glittering face and Lalus strong
base got us the numbers. All the

polarising (bids) of BJP - Dadri,

Pakistan, cow, beef - have hit
them hard.
The charismatic prime minister had turned the Bihar poll into
a test of his popularity, addressing dozens of rallies and promising voters billions of rupees for
development.
Analysts said the failure will
embolden the opposition and
increase concern among some in
Modis own party over his oncecharmed ability to deliver at the
ballot box.
The defeat is also a setback to
his plans to push major economic
reforms through the parliament
as the BJP lacks a majority in the
upper house.
As the contest tightened in recent weeks, the campaign shifted
to issues along religious and caste
lines which have traditionally
dominated the state of 100mn
people.
Mr Modi fronted the campaign and he couldnt manage to
pull it off. If anyone has to take
the blame, it has to be him and
Amit Shah, analyst Sanjay Kumar said.

But this is also a credit to Nitish Kumars record of development in Bihar, said Kumar, head
of the New Delhi-based Centre
for the Study of Developing Societies.
Nitish Kumar, a long-time
critic of Modi, has been praised
for kick-starting development
and attempting to quash corruption during his rst two terms in
office.

Party position
The following is the final
party position in the Bihar
assembly.
Total seats: ........................243
Results declared: ........................... 243
Janata Dal-United ..............................71
Rashtriya Janata Dal ....................80
Congress ....................................................27
Bharatiya Janata Party ...............53
Lok Jan Shakti Party ........................2
Rashtriya Lok Samta Party .......2
Hindustani Awam Morcha ......... 1
Communist Party of IndiaMarxist-Leninist-Liberation ......... 3
Independents............................................4

Grand Alliance victory proves quite a few exit polls wrong

IANS
New Delhi

s has been the case many

times in the past, quite
a few exit polls that predicted victory for the Bharatiya
Janata Party and its allies in the
Bihar assembly elections were
proven wrong.
Todays Chanakya, which gave
the maximum seats to the BJP

and its allies - 155 and 83 to the

Grand Alliance of three opposition parties - apologised for its
mistake.
We sincerely apologise (to)
all our friends and well-wishers
for not (being) able to predict
Bihar. Congratulations to the
winning alliance, it said in a
tweet.
The winning marker in the
243-seat assembly was 122 seats.
Axis Ad-Print-Media (India)

Ltd was the only exit poll survey

agency that gave 58-70 seats to
the BJP-led combine and 169183 seats to the Janata Dal-United
and its allies in the Grand Alliance.
According to an NDTV poll,
the BJP-led National Democratic
Alliance (NDA) was poised to win
120-130 seats in the 243-member assembly, while the Grand
Alliance comprising the Janata
Dal-United, Rashtriya Janata Dal

and Congress would win 105-115

seats.
Dainik Jagran survey gave 130
seats to the BJP combine and 97
to the JD-U and its allies.
Predicting similar trends, the
ABP News-Nielsen predicted 130
seats for the BJP and allies and
108 for the Grand Alliance.
India Today-Cicero predicted
120 and 117 seats to the BJP and
Grand Alliance respectively.
On the other hand, former

Aam Aadmi Party leader and

psephologist Yogendra Yadav
and a few other poll survey agencies forecast a clear majority for
the Grand Alliance led by Nitish
Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav.
I think the Grand Alliance is
headed for a clear, perhaps even
comfortable, majority. If my
reading is correct, its tally could
go well beyond the highest forecast of 130 seats, Yadav wrote on
Facebook.

MIM fails to repeat a

Maharashtra in Bihar
IANS
Hyderabad/Patna

The BJP office in New Delhi wears a deserted look after it emerged that the party was heading
for a huge defeat.

BJP office wears deserted look

The Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) headquarters in New
Delhi wore a deserted look
yesterday following the
partys resounding defeat in
the Bihar assembly polls.
Though no senior leader of
the party was present at the
office, a few spokespersons
and local leaders were heard
justifying the defeat.
Several leaders had come to
the office in the morning, in-

cluding Ravi Shankar Prasad.

But as the results started
moving against us, they left,
said Praveen Singh, a local
party worker.
Ladoos and several other
types of sweets were ordered
to celebrate. However, looking at the poll result trends,
all the orders were cancelled,
he said.
The party office at 11, Ashoka
Road in Lutyens Delhi also

had made several other

arrangements, including
dozens of large screens and
lunch, in anticipation of the
partys victory. These went
waste.
A few leaders, including
spokesmen Sambit Patra and
Rajya Sabha member Vijay
Goel, were speaking to the
TV channels over the defeat
but other leaders present in
the office avoided the media.

he
Majlis-e-Ittehadul
Muslimeen
(MIM) failed to open
its account in Bihar where
it contested just six of the
243 seats, and also fared
poorly in most constituencies.
Following an impressive
debut in the Maharashtra
assembly polls last year, the
party led by Hyderabad MP
Asaduddin Owaisi was hoping to bag a couple of seats in
Bihar.
The MIM confined its
fight to six seats in Seemanchal region, which
elects 24 members to the
assembly.
Among its six candidates, only Akhtarul Imaan, the president of the
partys Bihar unit, could
give some fight in Kocha
Daman.
Imaan polled 37,086 votes
and nished second. Mujahid Alam of the Janata
Dal-United won with 55,929
votes while Abdur Rahman
of the BJP nished third
(34,895 votes).
In Kishangunj, Taseerud-

din of the MIM came third

with 16,440 votes. Mohamed Jawaid of the Congress
was elected with 66,522
votes. Sweety Singh of the
BJP was runners-up (57,913
votes).
In Baisi, Ghulam Sarwar secured 16,723 votes
and finished fourth. In
Balrampur, Adil Hasan
finished sixth with 6,375
votes.
The MIM, which fielded
Amit Kumar, a Dailt, in
Ranigunj polled just 1,669
votes. In Amour, Nawazish
Alam polled only 1,955
votes.
MIM chief Owaisi, however, said he was not disappointed. He said the party
had made a beginning in
Bihar.
He attributed the defeat
to paucity of time to campaign but vowed to continue
efforts to strengthen the
party in Bihar.
Hailing the victory of
the Grand Alliance as a
vote against communalism, the MIM chief said
he had urged people to
vote for secular parties in
all constituencies where
the MIM was not contesting.

Similarly, Times Now-CVoter

(111 seats for BJP+, 122 seats for
JD-U+), News Nation (117 BJP+,
122 JD-U+) and the NewsX/CNX
(95 BJP+, 135 JD-U+) predicted a
majority for the Grand Alliance.
Ironically, a day before the Bihar vote count, the BJP cadres
were in a celebratory mode at
the partys 11 Ashoka Road headquarters here despite sharply
divided opinions on the election
results.

or many politicians in Bihar,

the results of the state assembly polls brought quite
saddening news with their beloved sons, sons-in-law or nephews
tasting defeat.
Former chief minister Jagannath Mishras son Nitish Mishra, a
former minister and the Bharatiya
Janata Party candidate, was defeated in Jhanjharpur assembly
constituency in Madhubani district.
Former chief minister and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM)
president Jitan Ram Manjhis sonin-law Devender Kumar Manjhi
was another. Contesting as an independent candidate, he lost the
Bodh Gaya assembly seat.
Senior HAM leader and former
minister Narendra Singhs son
Sumit also lost.
BJP MP Ashwani Kumar
Choubeys son Arjit Shahswat
Choubey was another name joining the list of losing candidates.
He lost from Bhagalpur.
Federal minister and Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswans younger brother Pasupati
Kumar Paras was also defeated in
Alauli in Kharagpur district.
Paswans nephew Prince Raj
too was defeated from Kalyanpur
assembly constituency in Samastipur district.
Paswans son-in-law Anil Kumar Sadhu was defeated from Bochaha assembly seat. BJP MP C P
Thakurs son Vivek Thakur tasted
defeat from Berhampur assembly
seat. State HAM president Shakuni Choudharys son Rajesh Kumar
joined him in defeat, losing from
Khagaria seat.
However, there were some
lucky ones too.
Both sons of Rashtriya Janata
Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav - Tej
Pratap and Tejaswi Yadav - won
from Mahua and Raghopur assembly seats, respectively, in
Vaishali district.
Manjhis son Santosh Kumar
won from Kutumba assembly
seat.
zA despondent BJP cancelled
an order placed for laddoos and
recrackers after trends showed
the Grand Alliance was set to form
the government while their party
was a distant second.
A BJP official said the orders
for laddoos and recrackers were
placed early in the morning after
initial trends showed they were
surging ahead.
However, the order was cancelled after the later trends
showed the party was slipping.
Most of the ags and recracker
remained unsold at the stall outside the BJP office here.

26

Gulf Times
Monday, November 9, 2015

LATIN AMERICA
DISASTER

ECONOMY

JUSTICE

COMMENT

VIOLENCE

One dead as quake

jolts Venezuelas west

Caracas withdraws
$460mn from IMF

Ex-Colombian paramilitary
leader sentenced in US

Santos sorry for armys

85 Bogota Palace attack

Bodies of five men found in

northern Mexican town

A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck mountainous

western Venezuela on Saturday, knocking out
power in some areas, damaging some buildings
and triggering rockfalls that killed one man,
authorities said. The quakes epicentre was
about 27km from the city of Merida near the
Colombian border, the US Geological Survey
reported. Some 12 aftershocks hit the area,
authorities added. We lament the death of
Edgardo Salas, a state government employee,
following a rock collapse due to the quake,
Merida Governor Alexis Ramirez said on Twitter,
adding that four other people travelling in the
car were unharmed.

With its cash reserves in sharp decline,

Venezuela withdrew $460mn from the
International Monetary Fund last month in its
third such operation this year. The IMF website
showed that Venezuela exchanged part of its
Special Drawing Rights - an international reserve
asset created by the IMF - account at the Fund
for greenbacks. Some countries often buy SDRs
to comply with their obligations at the IMF, and
in other cases sell them for hard currency to
raise their reserve level at home, the Fund said.
Venezuela depends almost exclusively on oil
exports and has taken a big hit from a drop in
crude prices.

A former Colombia paramilitary leader was

sentenced to 16 years in prison for conspiring
to import and distribute tonnes of cocaine into
the US, the justice department said. Rodrigo
Tovar-Pupo, known as Jorge 40, pleaded
guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute
5kgs or more of cocaine, knowing it would be
taken into the US in July 2009, the department
said in a statement. Tovar-Pupo, 54, formerly
of Barranquilla, Colombia, was arrested in
Colombia and extradited to the US in 2008 with
13 others. Tovar-Pupo was a leader in the United
Self Defence Forces of Colombia, or AUC, Justice
said.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos

has apologised for military actions during a
1985 assault on Bogotas Palace of Justice by
M-19 rebels, in which over 100 people died
including nearly half of the countrys Supreme
Court justices. In the name of the state, he
offered the apology to relatives of the victims
who died when the armed forces stormed the
building to end a 27-hour hostage-taking of
judicial employees by the leftist M-19 guerrillas.
Today I recognise the responsibility of the
Colombian state and I ask forgiveness, Santos
said standing outside the Palace of Justice with
relatives.

Unknown assailants tied up five men and shot

them in the head before laying their bodies
on a sidewalk in the northern Mexican border
town of Nuevo Laredo, the state prosecutors
office in Tamaulipas said. The men were tied
up and beaten before being shot, according to
the information released by the prosecutors
office. The Golf Cartel and the criminal
syndicate Los Zetas are fighting for control
in the region. Nueva Laredo borders on the
US state of Texas. The killers left a message
with the bodies that read, This is just the
beginning, according to the newspaper La
Reforma.

Surviving
attacks, Levy
aims to stay for
austerity plan
Reuters
Brasilia

hen he became nance

minister
10 months ago,
Joaquim Levy was an uncomfortable t in Brazils
left-leaning government an orthodox, University of
Chicago-trained economist,
a scal hawk with an affinity
for cutting spending.
Dogged by speculation
over his departure amid vocal opposition from the ruling
Workers Party, Levy and his
boss President Dilma Rousseff have told officials and
lawmakers he is staying to see
an unpopular scal austerity
plan get through Congress,
according to sources in the
government and party.
After that, he may be gone,
either because he is pushed
out or leaves on his own volition, they say. But the mission
he was hired for by Rousseff
- to help restore Brazils credibility with investors and x
past mistakes - will be at least
partially fullled.
It will be too costly for
Levy to leave now, said a
senior Workers Party lawmaker who has spoken with
Levy and Rousseff about the
ministers situation. He will
try to pass most of the package and very likely leave after that next year. He is very
frustrated and under a lot of
pressure.
Levy, who was compelled
to publicly state that he was
not quitting, declined to
comment for this article.
Rousseff believes that
ring Levy now could
deepen what is expected to be Brazils longest recession since the
1930s and would scare
off some investors who
see him as the
only credible
gure in her

economic team, a presidential

aide said.
Levy doesnt want to leave
and Rousseff doesnt want to
re him now, said the aide,
who asked for anonymity to
speak freely. But the constant speculation around his
resignation and friendly re
from within the party make
the situation increasingly unsustainable.
One Workers Party insider
suggests that the party leadership can hold its nose just
long enough for that plan
to be approved in Congress
some time next year.
Levy proposed an adjustment plan and he needs to
lead that to its completion,
said Jose Mentor, a veteran
party lawmaker. After that,
we will decide what to do.
Levy has sought to reduce
the government decit with
cuts in spending and social
benets while raising taxes.
It has not been enough to
generate budget savings due
to resistance to his plan in
Congress, prompting Standard & Poors to strip Brazil of
its prized investment-grade
credit rating. Other rating
agencies threaten to follow
suit if the accounts do not
improve.
The scal austerity plan
still requires congressional
approval of additional measures next year, including
Levys proposal to revive a
hated tax on nancial transactions called the CPMF to
make up for falling revenues.
The question is: can Levy,
54, withstand the pressure
that long?
After party leaders spoke publicly
about the need to replace him a few weeks
ago, saying he had an
expiry date, Levy
complained
privately
to Rousseff, according to the
presidential
aide.

A group of survivors of the mudslide that buried their village, Bento Rodrigues, in Mariana, Brazil, sit at a rescue centre. Rescuers spent a fourth day yesterday scouring for
survivors beneath an avalanche of mud and mining sludge that buried a village, killing at least two people and leaving 28 missing.

Hope fading for Brazil

mudslide missing
AFP
Brasilia

he avalanche of mud and

mining sludge that swallowed up a village in
southeastern Brazil more than
likely left at least 13 people dead,
with the fate of 15 others still unknown, the governor of Minas
Gerais state said yesterday.
The tragedy occurred on
Thursday when waste reservoirs
at the partly Australian-owned
Samarco iron ore mine burst
open, unleashing a sea of muck
that attened the nearby village
of Bento Rodrigues.

Haiti parliament headed

for no clear majority
AFP
Port-au-Prince

aitis notoriously unstable politics was

plunged into fresh uncertainty yesterday after preliminary results showed that
no party won a clear majority
in parliament.
It comes with the poorest
country in the Western hemisphere already on a knife edge
after one of the candidates in
the presidential runoff called
the rst-round results of the
October 25 elections a farce,
fanning growing opposition
protests.
Haiti suffers from chronic
instability and has struggled
to recover from a devastating
2010 earthquake that killed
more than 250,000 people and
crippled the nations infrastructure.
Its parliament was dissolved
on January 13 after lawmakers
terms were not extended, and
the legislative chambers have
remained empty.
The legislative elections,
held on August 9 and Octo-

ber 25, were more than three

years behind the constitutional
schedule because of a crisis
between the executive, led by
President Michel Martelly, and
the opposition.
Haitis 5.8mn voters were
tasked with choosing twothirds of their senators, or 20
posts, and all the 119 members
in the Chamber of Deputies.
But no single party gained
enough votes for a majority, ofcial results out late Saturday
showed.
Parties have 72 hours to
challenge the preliminary results.
Adding to the air of uncertainty, electoral authorities
had cancelled the rst round
of balloting in nearly a quarter
of constituencies because violence on the August 9 polling
day prevented a fair vote.
The nal results are scheduled to be published on November 22, but the nal composition of the Haitian parliament
will not be known until the end
of the year, after voting in those
constituencies hampered by
violence on August 9.
There are also fears about the

December 27 presidential runoff, which sees Jude Celestin,

of the Lapeh party, up against
ruling-party candidate Jovenel
Moise.
The 53-year-old Celestin
told a news conference on Friday that the rst-round results
were a ridiculous farce, after
his opponent garnered 32% to
his 25%.
The results are a ridiculous
farce, Celestin told a news
conference. The results of
the people have yet to be announced.
Speaking of the current government of President Michel
Martelly, he added: They have
put in place a repressive force
to crush the people, to kill the
people, but they wont be able
to kill all the people.
Celestins comments - met
with applause from supporters.
They dont respect young
people. They think they can do
whatever they want with us,
said one protester, Metelus Lafontant.
Meanwhile the Organisation
of American States announced
it was sending an observer
mission for the runoff.

We can say with certainty that

13 people were at the site at the
moment of the collapse, and it is
difficult to see how they could be
found alive. Regrettably, we have
to acknowledge that, Governor
Fernando Pimentel told reporters
as rescue operations resumed.
Pimentel said 15 people still
unaccounted for after the disaster might have been able somehow to escape the wall of mud
and ee to a neighbouring village,
but he conceded that that scenario was unlikely.
I dont want to take away anyones hope - it might be that we
nd someone alive, but as time
passes, hope is fading, he said.

The most recent official toll,

prior to Pimentels remarks, was
two dead and 28 missing.
Hundreds of reghters, soldiers and civil defence workers are
frantically combing through the
viscous mass that swallowed everything in its path for signs of life.
The increasingly desperate
search resumed as the tidal wave
of sludge continued its destructive advance, levelling a neighbourhood and the main plaza in
the town of Barra Longa, 60kms
away, but causing no loss of life
there, a spokesman for the mayors office said.
The cascade of debris began
with the collapse of a dike on

Mammoth journey

Thursday at a reservoir holding

mining waste, which spilled into
an adjoining valley.
A short time later, a water
reservoir broke, and the mass of
liquid sludge swept over Bento
Rodrigues, which has a population of about 620.
Mining giant BHP Billiton,
joint owners of the mine with the
Brazilian company Vale, said it
was offering support.
Words cannot describe the
impact of this tragedy on the
employees and contractors of
Samarco, their families and the
community, said BHP Billiton
chairman Jac Nasser.
Our thoughts are with the

Peru steps up border

dispute with Chile
AFP
Lima

Two wooden rafts of the Kon-Tiki2 expedition depart from Perus

Callao Naval Shipyard in Peru. A team of explorers left by raft
from Peru on an 8,000km journey destined for Easter Island
and Valparaiso, Chile. They expect the mammoth journey to take
approximately four months to complete with the first leg from
Lima to Easter Island to take about six weeks.

people of Samarco, the affected

community and with the people
of Brazil.
Besides levelling everything
in its path, the avalanche caused
enormous environmental damage, said Carlos Ferreira Pinto,
an investigator with the Minas
Gerais state prosecutors office.
The local Mariana miners union said the sludge was toxic, but
Samarco said it was inert and
contained no harmful chemicals.
The head of Samarcos emergency planning operations, Germano Silva Lopes, told a news conference the company had detected
a tremor, but found no anomalies
in the dams before they burst.

he frayed relations between Chile and Peru appeared to unwind further

after Peruvian President Ollanta
Humala officially recognised an
administrative district in a disputed border area.
The Chilean government
promptly sent a protest note to
Peru strongly rejecting the
law because it concerns unquestionably Chilean territory.
And Santiago said a planned
bilateral meeting of ministers
on social integration that had
been set to take place in December was cancelled.
Humala said the move aimed
to spur development in the disputed La Yarada-Los Palos area
on the border with Chile and
improve living conditions for its
inhabitants.
Moreover, he said it would
enable them to elect their own
representatives and create conditions for them to take part in
decisions involving their future.
The action effectively asserts
Peruvian sovereignty over a
tiny four-hectare wedge of land

within the district that Chile

also claims.
The arid region where the
district is located was the scene
of the 19th century War of the
Pacic between the two countries.
The current controversy has
surfaced less than two years
after the two countries had appeared to resolve their biggest
boundary dispute.
In January 2014, the International Court of Justice in the
Hague delineated the two countries maritime boundaries,
giving Peru rights over an additional 50,000 square kilometres
of sea.
But the two countries disagree on where the land boundary begins, with Peru insisting
it runs from the edge of the sea
and Chile arguing the starting
point is some 270 meters inland.
Tensions ared in October,
when the Congress voted to create the new district, prompting
Santiago to recall its ambassador for consultations and setting off a urry of diplomatic
notes.
On Friday, Chile claimed Peru
had sent troops to the disputed
area, a charge Lima has denied.

Gulf Times
Monday, November 9, 2015

27

PAKISTAN/AFGHANISTAN

Pakistan army chief to visit US, hold talks on Afghanistan

AFP
Islamabad

akistans army chief General Raheel Sharif is set to

visit the United States next
week to hold talks with top officials on security issues including
the stalled Afghan peace process, the military said yesterday.

The November 15-20 visit

comes weeks after a trip by Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz
Sharif, and is viewed by analysts
as a US attempt to deal directly
with the countrys powerful
military, which sets its defence
policy.
COAS (Chief of Army Staff )
will visit USA from 15-20 November. Will hold meetings with

military and political leadership

on wide ranging security issues,
military spokesman Lieutenant
General Asim Bajwa announced
on Twitter.
A senior Pakistani security ofcial told AFP that the two sides
would also discuss reconciliation in Afghanistan and Pakistans ongoing military operations against Taliban militants in

its northwestern tribal areas.

The US sees Pakistan as one
of the few states with inuence
over the extremists, and the new
Taliban leader Akhtar Mansour
is believed to have close ties to
Islamabad.
But some in Washington believe Pakistan has not done
enough to bring its inuence to
bear and to persuade the group

to renounce violence.
Islamabad organised the rst
set of direct peace talks between
the Taliban and the Afghan government in July. But another
round scheduled for later that
month stalled following the announcement of the death of Taliban founder Mullah Omar.
At home, General Raheel
Sharif is gaining a cult fol-

lowing because of his willingness to carry out military operations to clear militants from
the countrys tribal areas, and
he is also credited with bringing down levels of violence in
Karachi, the countrys biggest
city.
General Sharif visited the US
last year, where he met with Secretary of State John Kerry and was

awarded the US Legion of Merit.

The government of Nawaz
Sharif, who is not related to the
general, is widely seen as having
ceded more power to the military since Sharif was re-elected
in 2013.
Americas relationship with
Islamabad is a prickly one, born
of an inter-dependency peppered with mutual mistrust.

Fierce clashes
between rival
Taliban groups
AFP
Kabul

ierce clashes have erupted

between two rival Taliban groups in southern
Afghanistan, officials said yesterday, reportedly leaving dozens dead in the rst internecine
ghting since a breakaway faction of the Islamist movement
appointed its own leader.
The skirmish was taking place
in southern Zabul province between ghters loyal to the widelyrecognised Taliban leader Mullah
Akhtar Mansour and followers of
Mansour Dadullah, a deputy of
splinter-group leader Mohamed
Rasool who announced his own
faction on Tuesday.
The ghting started from
early Saturday morning in Khaki-Afghan and Arghandab districts of Zabul province. About
60 ghters of Mullah Dadullah
and 20 of Akhtar Mansour have
been killed, Ghulam Jilani Farahi the deputy police chief for the
province said, adding 30 others
were injured.
The two districts are under
Taliban control, and it was unclear how Farahi arrived at his
gures.
The ghters killed are mostly
from Mansour Dadullahs group,
including foreign ghters from
Uzbekistan, he said.
Islam Gul Seyal, the provincial governors spokesman, conrmed the battle and said ghting was still going on.

Chinese ambassador to Pakistan Sun Weidong briefs Pakistani Information Minster Pervez Rashid about the humanitarian supplies
donated by the Chinese government in Islamabad. China has provided humanitarian supplies worth 10mn yuan ($1.6mn) to Pakistan for
the relief of the earthquake affected people.
Mullah Akhtar Mansour

Mansour Dadullah

Mansoor Dadullah was appointed as second deputy for Rasool, who was named the leader
of the splinter group in a mass
gathering of dissident ghters on October 3, in the remote
southwestern province of Farah,
according to an AFP reporter
who attended the meeting.
It was unclear whether the

new group could rally wide support but its emergence poses a
fresh hurdle to potential peace
talks with the government.
It also exposes simmering rifts
within the movement since the
announcement in July of the death
of longtime leader Mullah Omar.
Also on yesterday, the bodies
of seven minority Shia Hazaras
who were kidnapped in October
from neighbouring Ghazni province by gunmen were found dead
in Zabul.
The seven Hazara bodies
three women and four men all
have been beheaded and were
brought by tribal elders to a hospital
in Shah Joy district, Jawad Waziri
district governor for Shah Joy said.
There has been a rise in sectarian killings in Afghanistan
this year, blamed by observers on
the growing inuence of foreign
Sunni ghters and the Islamic
State group in the country.

Six militants killed

At least six militants were
killed in a fire-fight that
erupted after Taliban rebels
attacked security checkpoints
in Kunar province yesterday,
the police said.Militants
attacked the security posts in
Marawara district yesterday.
The security forces fought
back, killing six militants and
injuring 15 others, Xinhua
quoted police as saying.

Factory collapse toll rises to 53

Agencies
Islamabad

he toll from collapse of

a four-storey factory in
Punjab province of Pakistan has risen to 53.
More bodies of victims of the
Sundar Industrial Estate tragedy were recovered on Sunday.
Rescuers said there are still
chances of survivors under the
rubble, Geo TV reported.
Rescue officials said over a
hundred survivors have so far
been pulled out from the debris
of the Rajput Polyester manufacturing factory near Lahore
city.
Injured survivors said the

factorys owner, who was adding a new oor to the building,

had ignored an advice from his
contractor to stop construction after cracks appeared in
the walls following a powerful
earthquake on October 26.
Of the 167 people trapped in
the building, 109 were rescued.
Most of them had minor injuries, rescuers said.
Meanwhile, an 18-year-old
youth, Shahid, was pulled out
alive from the debris of the factory 51 hours after the tragedy
struck on Friday.
Dr Zulqar Ahmad, the executive district officer health
Lahore, said it was unclear exactly how many people were in
the building when it collapsed,

although survivors estimated

between 150-200 people had
been inside.

Only the ground floor is

left ... It will take another
day to clear all the rubble
after which we will be in a
better position to tell the
final death toll ... We fear it
will increase
Now we are using sniffer
dogs to try to nd people, he
said. Only the ground oor is
left ... It will take another day to
clear all the rubble after which
we will be in a better position to
tell the nal death toll ... We fear
it will increase.
Survivors said the factorys

owner, who was adding a new

oor to the building, had ignored advice from his contractor and pleas from his workers
to stop construction after large
cracks appeared in the building
following last months 7.5 magnitude earthquake.
The owner was among those
killed in the collapse of the
factory, which manufactured
plastic bags 20 km south of the
eastern city of Lahore.
The accident will once again
raise questions over Pakistans
lax enforcement of safety and
building codes.
In September 2012, 289 people burned to death in a re at a
garment factory in the southern
city of Karachi.

For Afghan women, driving brings both fear and freedom

AFP
Kabul

ince Rokhsar Azamee began driving the streets of

Kabul last year, she has endured condescension, ridicule,
and even threats to her life with
some men deliberately causing
accidents to harass her.
But she will not be deterred.
The 23-year-old journalist
learned to drive to avoid aggravation from men in the street
as she waited each morning for
a taxi with a driver who would
not hassle her on the way to
work.
But even the purchase of her
own car has not shielded her
from condemnation in the maledominated, ultra-conservative
society of Afghanistan.
For many men, she says, it
is a new thing to see a woman
drive a car, they will harass you.
One way to do so is by causing an
accident.
Once as she was heading
home in her white 1997 Toyota
Corolla, she was followed by a
group of four or ve men driving
an SUV.
Her anxiety growing, she kept
driving until they blocked her in
a semi-deserted street in downtown Kabul, forcing her to pull
over.
But as the men began to clamber out of their vehicle, she saw
her chance to escape reversing
quickly then hitting the accelerator.
It was very horrible experience for me, she says.
It was not always like this. Up
until the 1990s Afghan women
were commonly found behind
the wheel even driving buses,

Afghan woman, Rokhsar Azamee, 23, gestures as she drives her car along the streets of Kabul.
in the big cities at least.
But in 1992, when the communist regime in Kabul collapsed and civil war broke out,
women drivers were slowly discouraged.
And as the extremist Taliban
group swept to power in 1996,
women were banned not only
from driving, but from even
leaving their homes without a
burqa or the company of a male
chaperone.
Change did not come again
until the US invasion toppled the
Taliban from power in late 2001
and a government backed by
Washington took over.
Gender equality was enshrined in the Afghan constitution, and millions of women

came out from the shadows to

attend schools and universities
and work in offices again.
Fourteen years on, however,
the idea of a woman driver is still
seen as controversial, provocative and even immoral.
Islam does not prohibit women from driving, but laws and
cultural norms vary throughout
the Islamic world, from Saudi
Arabia where women are
banned from driving entirely
to Iran and Pakistan, where
women drivers are more common.
In Afghanistan, woman drivers are seen as a Western imposition and a rejection of Muslim
values, Babrak, an Afghan man
in his fties, says.

Women, especially young

girls, driving can increase immorality and even lead to prostitution in Islamic societies, he
says.
These women driving encourage our devout Muslim sisters towards immorality. It is becoming intolerable.
His view is not uncommon
in Afghanistan where ultraconservative men fear such
freedoms increase womens independence and the lack of a
male chaperone will result in increasingly liberal behaviour.
But in big cities like Kabul
women are attempting to shift
change into high gear. The increase in the number of women
drivers has been growing at

An Afghan instructor teaches during a lesson at the Haidari Driving School in Kabul.
a steady rate: Kabuls traffic
department estimates show
that up to 1,000 women each
year now apply to join driving
schools in the Afghan capital
alone.
In the early years after the end
of Taliban rule that gure hovered around 50, Kabuls traffic
police chief General Asadullah
said.
The women have the right
to learn, they have the right to
drive, and we encourage them
for that, he says.
Social activist Sohaila Sama,
25, looks forward to driving her
own car to the green plains of
northern Afghanistan without
persecution.
I have felt better, more con-

dent since I learned how to

drive, she says.
When I see other women
drive their vehicles, I feel like
our country is moving forward
towards a better future, a more
civilised one.
The progress is promising, but
it may not be enough.
A Taliban resurgence in recent
months has UN officials and
rights activists fearing that the
fragile gains women have made
could be further eroded when
international forces eventually
leave.
Testimony from womens
rights activists who ed the Talibans recent brief capture of the
northern city of Kunduz revealed
harrowing stories of death

squads methodically targeting

womenan ominous blueprint
of what could happen should the
insurgents ever return to power.
Azamee who, bareheaded
and with the radio blaring, took
AFP on a ride through the streets
of the capital is frustrated but
determined she will not back
down.
I am proud, because when I
started driving, I think I set an
example for other women, she
says.
Yesterday one of my friends
called and said, You have to
come to my office.
I said, Why? She said, I
have bought a car and I will take
you around the city.
I was like, that is cool!

28

Gulf Times
Monday, November 9, 2015

PHILIPPINES

Court set to
declare US
defence pact
constitutional
By Jomar Canlas
Manila Times

he Supreme Court (SC)

is poised to declare the
controversial Enhanced
Defence Co-operation Agreement (Edca) between the
Philippines and the US constitutional, according to unimpeachable sources.
The Manila Times has gathered from several sources that
an 82-page draft decision upholding the constitutionality
of the defence agreement had
been circulated among the 14
magistrates.
The ponente of the case is
Chief Justice Maria Lourdes
Sereno.
In her draft decision, Sereno said Edca is not constitutionally inrm, the sources
told Manila Times.
According to the decision,
President Benigno Aquino, as
head of the executive department, has the power to sign
agreements on matters of foreign
affairs and national security.
An overwhelming majority of the justices are inclined
to agree with Sereno since no
dissenting opinion had been
issued. Some of the justices
who do not see eye to eye with
the Chief Justice, however, are
waiting for a magistrate to issue a separate opinion concurring with the constitutionality
of Edca and they will favour
that opinion, so that Sereno
will not gain credit from Aquino because she is the ponente
of the case.
A source said Sereno circulated her draft decision days
before the holding of the AsiaPacic Economic Co-operation (Apec) to please Malacanang and gain pogi points
(credit) from the president.
The Edca decision is seen

to be the Philippines gift to

US President Barack Obama,
who will be ying in to Manila to attend the Apec summit scheduled from November
17-19.
The high tribunal is set to
discuss and deliberate Serenos ponencia on November
10. If there will be no objections, the justices may vote on
the decision or reset the voting for November 16, the eve
of the Apec summit.
Upholding the legality of
Edca will shoot down petitions
led by former senators Rene
Saguisag and Wigberto Tanada
Sr, Mary John Mananzan, University of the Philippines Professor Pacico Agabin, Francisco Nemenzo, Harry Roque Jr
and Evalyn Ursua questioning
the constitutionality of the defence agreement.
Several groups also led
similar
petitionsBagong
Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), Gabriela Womens Partylist, ACT Teachers, Anakpawis
and Kabataan Party-list.
Named respondents were
Aquino, Executive Secretary
Paquito Ochoa Jr, Defence Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, Foreign
Secretary Albert Del Rosario,
Budget Secretary Florencio
Abad and the Armed Forces of
the Philippines (AFP). In her ponencia, Sereno maintained that
the Philippines needs friends
and that Edca will help keep the
peace in the archipelago.
She cited the case led by
the government against China,
now under arbitration by a UN
tribunal.Sources said the chief
justice dismissed as speculative claims that if the defence
agreement is put into force, the
US may bring in nuclear weapons. She pointed out that the
Constitution mandates that
the country be free of nuclear
weapons.

Troops kill three

suspected militants
DPA
Manila

hree suspected militants

were killed yesterday in
a clash with government
troops in the southern Philippines, the military said.
Three soldiers were also
wounded in the ght in Tuburan town, Basilan province,
900 kilometres south of Manila, said Colonel Rolando
Bautista, commander of a military anti-terrorism task force.
The slain militants included a
leader of the Al Qaeda-linked
Abu Sayyaf group in Basilan, he
said. The clash erupted when

Nine hurt
in air force
copter crash

police officers, backed by soldiers, tried to serve an arrest

warrant against Abdul Hassan Tanadjalun, alias Bullet,
for kidnapping. As the troops
were approaching the area, they
were red upon by Bullet and
his followers, Bautista said.
Abu Sayyaf has been blamed
for some of the deadliest terrorist attacks in the Philippines
as well as high-prole kidnappings involving foreign hostages.
The militants are holding
captive several foreign hostages
in the nearby island of Jolo, including two Canadians, a Norwegian, a Dutch man and an
Italian priest.

A family lights candles in front of a loved ones grave, at a mass grave for victims of Typhoon Haiyan in Tacloban City, Leyte province, central Philippines, yesterday, as the country
commemorates the second year anniversary of the devastation.

Nation marks second

anniversary of typhoon
AFP
Tacloban

he Philippines yesterday
marked the second anniversary of Typhoon Haiyan with the bodies of possible
victims of the disaster which
left at least 7,350 people dead or
missing still being uncovered.
Thousands
of
residents
marked the two-year milestone
in the city of Tacloban, which
was devastated by the huge
storm, as memorials were unveiled and masses held.
On Saturday authorities conrmed they found six new bodies.
The unidentified skeletal
remains were found by a man
scavenging for wood in the
outskirts of the city, according
to Tacloban fire chief Charlie
Herson.
These are possible victims
of the typhoon. They were buried by debris, in piles of wood,
he said.
Haiyan, the strongest typhoon ever recorded to hit
land, smashed into the central

Members of a fire department rescue team arranging body bags at the mass grave, containing the remains
believed to be that of Haiyan victims retrieved on Saturday.
Philippines on November 8,
2013. The once-thriving city of
Tacloban on the island of Leyte
suffered the worst damage with
hundreds of houses washed
away by a storm surge.
To mark the tragedy yesterday, special memorials were
unveiled and Roman Catholic

masses were said for the victims, including the more than
2,400
mostly-unidentified
bodies buried in a mass grave in
Tacloban.
Thousands of Tacloban residents are still living in makeshift temporary homes as
questions are raised about the

Santa directs traffic!

Quezon police arrest

notorious swindler
By Joel M Sy Egco
Manila Times

DPA
Manila

Philippine air force helicopter crashed on Saturday while on a medical

evacuation mission in a southern
province, injuring nine people
on board, the military said.
The UH-1D chopper was
about to land when it was buffeted by strong winds, causing
it to crash in Malapatan town in
Sarangani province, 1,068 kilometres south of Manila.
The chopper was on its way
to pick up ve army troopers
wounded in a clash with rebels in
the area, said Lieutenant General
Aurelio Balabad, a regional military commander.
Another aircraft was dispatched to evacuate the wounded soldiers from the ghting and
the crash, he added.

speed of reconstruction.
President Benigno Aquinos
spokesman Edwin Lacierda
said there would always be
discussions on the speed of
reconstruction, adding: We
understand such sentiments.
But he added despite local
critics, foreign agencies, in-

Night-time motorists and commuters find this five-foot tall man in Santa Claus suit amusing, as he directs traffic along the busy McArthur
Highway in Tarlac City. He may not be bringing gifts and goodies but he lessens tension on the road caused by traffic congestion.

cluding the UN, had said the

Philippines was rebuilding
faster than other developing
countries struck by comparable
natural disasters.
What befell us was massive
and we are continuing to provide assistance... always following our principle, to build
back better, he said.
However, local congressman,
Ferdinand Martin Romualdez,
said this is still not yet the old
Tacloban. This is still not the
old Leyte. It will still be a long
time before things get back to
normal.
Some Tacloban residents
are still clinging to hope their
missing loved ones are still
alive.
Single mother Angelina
Marquez, 17, said she hoped
Remegildo, the father of her
child, would reappear two years
after he went missing during
the storm.
I still believe that he may
have been washed away to a
different place and the time
will come, like in the movies,
when he will come back to me,
she said.

he Quezon City Police

District-Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit
(QCPD-CIDU) has arrested Ramon Barried Leonor, a suspected
notorious con man charged with
various criminal offences.
The CIDU head, Chief Insp.
Rodel Marcelo, said Leonor was
captured by virtue of a warrant
of arrest issued against him by
a Caloocan City (Metro Manila)
court for the crime of violation
against women and their children
(VAWC).
Upon checking, however, it was
found out that the detainee is facing similar warrants for other offences.
Hes detained for VAWC but
were still proling him, Marcelo
said, adding that the charge is a
bailable offence.
Leonor was slapped with the
VAWC complaint after allegedly

beating up his live-in partner in

January 2014, when the thenpregnant victim confronted him
for loaning the property of the
girls family without them knowing it. There is another VAWC case
led before a Quezon City Court
against the same respondent.
I started crying and asked him
what will happen to my brothers
and sisters and thats it. He just
slapped me and pushed me away
and told me to stop or else he will
not return the property. He even
threatened that he will tell my
siblings, so they will kick me out. I
had no choice but to follow his demand. I was nearly eight months
pregnant at the time, said the
victim, who spoke on condition
that she not be named for security
reasons.
Things got worse because
every time I asked him if he already xed the problem and had
redeemed the property, hed burst
out in anger and hurt me again until I experienced pre-term labour,
she added.

30

Gulf Times
Monday, November 9, 2015

COMMENT
Chairman: Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Attiyah
Editor-in-Chief : Darwish S Ahmed
Production Editor: C P Ravindran

P.O.Box 2888
Doha, Qatar
editor@gulf-times.com
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GULF TIMES
A deserving award
for Afghanistans
mother of education
In an age in which some celebrities are born or
created on account of trivial reasons, many real
heroes and achievers often go unrecognised or do
not receive the applause they deserve. In an era when
some awards and their winners vie to justify and
complement each other, an individual of Dr Sakena
Yacoobis calibre ought to be considered an exception.
The founder and CEO of the Afghan Institute of
Learning (AIL), who has either directly or indirectly
impacted the lives of more than 12mn people, in her
war and strife-torn country, may not have won a
Nobel Peace Prize despite being nominated. The 2013
recipient of the Opus Prize, a Kravis Prize, Gruber
Prize Awardee, a Skoll Social Entrepreneur, Schwab
Social Entrepreneur, and Ashoka fellow was bestowed
last week in Doha with the prestigious 2015 WISE
Prize for Education.
Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and
Community Development (QF), the force behind the
World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE),
chairperson HH Sheikha Moza bint Nasser and the
jury deserve a big salute for honouring Dr Yacoobi,
also the co-founder and vice president of Creating
Hope International.
Popularly known as Afghanistans mother of
education, Dr Yacoobi, 65, has spent two decades
working persistently to rebuild her countrys
education landscape,
devastated by war. She
has established four
schools, a hospital
and a radio station in
Afghanistan as part
of her mission. The
recipient of ve honorary doctorates from institutions
including Princeton University, launched her activities
in the early 1990s when she started working in Afghan
refugee camps in Pakistan. A passionate educator
herself, she trained teachers, opened schools for
children and learning centres for women.
The Taliban rule in the mid-1990s, during which
girls education was banned, did not deter Dr Yacoobi
from her mission to provide education and health
services to women and children, especially girls. She
launched the AIL in 1995, with the primary objective
to improve teacher training through innovation.
AIL was also the rst organisation to open learning
centres for women in the country and continues to
nd innovative ways to provide literacy and vocational
skills to girls and women.
Addressing the Summit, Dr Yacoobi urged world
leaders who are superpowers to spend their money on
books, schools and pens rather than on tanks, cannons
and other weapons of war. She said that world leaders
should follow in the footstep of HH Sheikha Moza for
investing heavily on education.
I believe what you are doing in WISE will help the
world. In giving recognition to education, you will
bring peace and we need peace because many people
suffer from war, conicts, poverty, and health issues,
Dr Yacoobi noted. She observed that every leader in
every nation should address the root cause of poverty
which is the lack of education. If every child goes to
school today, there will be no war in the world. Are
the leaders listening?

Serious reforms key to

strong European recovery
Simply put, the European
Unions stagnant economy
is conditioning its response
to the external pressures it
confronts
By Anders Aslund
Washington

uropes response to the

strategic challenges it is
facing Russian aggression
in Ukraine, refugees
eeing violence in the Middle East,
disorder in North Africa leaves the
impression that its leaders have no
idea what to do. And indeed, they
may not a reality that needs to be
acknowledged, not papered over.
Simply put, the European Unions
stagnant economy is conditioning its
response to the external pressures it
confronts; internal crisis has left EU
leaders little room for manoeuvre.
Fortunately, Europe has the means to
address this crisis, if it can summon
the wisdom and the political will.
The origins of the EUs problems
lie in its response to the 2008 global
nancial crisis: two years of largescale scal stimulus.
While this did little for growth, it
resulted in crippling pubic debt. Seven
years later, EU output per person is no
higher than it was at the start of the
crisis.
Meanwhile, average public debt
has soared to 87% of GDP, leaving
little space for policy exibility or
innovation.
In hindsight, it is all too obvious
what should have been done. Greece,
which carried out the biggest scal
stimulus, is the country whose
economy has suffered the most
damage. Its depression continues,
whereas countries like Latvia,
Lithuania and Estonia, which carried
out early, radical scal adjustments

and liberalised their economies, are

enjoying strong growth.
Furthermore, the slow pace of
European decision-making has
compounded Greeces troubles. When
it comes to economic policy, a fast,
faulty decision is often better than
inaction.
Instead of resolving the Greek
nancial crisis quickly, EU leaders
allowed it to crowd out discussion
of other issues for ve long years.
Meanwhile, Greece limped along,
never taking the decisive measures
that might have restored condence.
With its attention focused on
macroeconomics, the EU neglected
to take the measures that would have
put economic growth back on track:
freeing up markets, cutting spending
(rather than raising taxes), and, above
all, further developing its greatest
asset, the single European market.

There is nothing
inevitable about
Europes malaise
Little has changed since Italian
economists Alberto Alesina and
Francesco Giavazzi noted, nearly a
decade ago, that, Without serious,
deep and comprehensive reforms,
Europe will inexorably decline, both
economically and politically.
They warned that absent profound
change, in 20 or 30 years the share
of Europe (in world output) will be
signicantly lower than it is today,
and, perhaps more important, its
political inuence will be much
trimmed.
Indeed, a World Bank report on
European growth in 2012 summed
up the situation as follows: Ageing
Europeans are being squeezed
between innovative Americans and
efficient Asians.
The chief culprits for Europes
underperformance are well known:

high taxes, too many and bad

regulations, the absence of key
markets and high public expenditures.
And there is only one reason why
European governments spend so
much: excessive social protection.
As the World Bank observed:
Western European governments
spend about 10% of GDP more
than the US, Canada and Japan.
The difference in social protection
spending is 9% of GDP.
In order to fund this spending,
revenues must be raised. And, because
it is difficult to tax capital efficiently,
Europe has imposed exorbitant levies
on labour.
Across the continent, but
especially in southern Europe, taxes
and strict labour-market regulations
keep unemployment high, at 11%
of the labour force, and dissuade
Europeans from investing in their
education.
The natural consequences are
too little employment, too little
investment in sophisticated
education, too little innovation and
minimal increases in productivity.
Most striking is European
backwardness in high-tech
development and innovation.
By almost any measure, most of
Europe looks pitiable. Of the 50 best
universities in the world, according
to the Shanghai list and the Times
Higher Education Supplement list,
some 30 are American, six or seven are
British, and only a handful are to be
found in continental Europe.
A half-dozen northern European
countries can compete with the
US when it comes to research and
development spending and patents
granted, but the south and east of
Europe lag far behind.
Meanwhile, the EU has yet to open
its markets for business services and
digital trade, on which the American
economy thrives, even though services
account for about 70% of GDP in most
EU countries.

In 2006, the European

Commission issued a directive
on the liberalisation of trade in
services, but major countries
particularly Germany have refused
to implement it. The absence of
services and digital markets harms
the development of a modern
economy in Europe.
It is not by chance that American
giants like Apple, Amazon, and Google
rule the world of high-tech.
There is nothing inevitable
about Europes malaise, just as
there is nothing quintessentially
European about having excessive
social transfers. Serious European
governments from Ireland to Poland
have successfully addressed the
problem.
The rest of the EU should not only
follow suit; they should also cut
income and payroll taxes and liberalise
their labour markets.
Fundamental economic reforms
are usually implemented only after
a severe crisis, as was the case in
Britain in the late 1970s, in Sweden
and Finland in the early 1990s, and in
Eastern Europe after the collapse of
communism in 1989.
The EU has wasted the
opportunities afforded by the
2008 global nancial crisis and
the subsequent euro crisis. Rather
than making the difficult changes
that would enable strong recovery,
Europes policymakers have weighed
down the economy with more
spending and debt.
The EU will continue to ounder
until it recognises its mistakes and
begins to carry out the reforms its
economy needs.
Only by putting the continent
rmly back on the path of growth will
Europes leaders be able to address
the external challenges they now
confront. - Project Syndicate
zAnders Aslund is a senior fellow at the
Atlantic Council in Washington.

I believe what
you are doing in
WISE will help
the world

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Republican presidential hopeful Ben Carson: a retired neurosurgeon with no political experience, Carson is surging to the top of recent polls.

Americas second black president?

By Jonathan
Mann
CNN International

istory
repeats
itself and

sometimes it does
it fast. It took more
than 200 years for the US to elect its
rst African-American president.
Now, without much comment,
millions of voters are thinking of
electing another African-American to
succeed him.
Republican Ben Carson, a retired
neurosurgeon with no political
experience, is surging to the top of
recent polls, a Christian conservative
who preaches the merits of small
government, self-reliance and faith.
I love it when people come up to
me and they say, but youve never
been elected to public office, you cant
possibly know how to do anything,
Carson mused. But let me tell you

something. The Ark was built by

amateurs. The Titanic was built by
professionals.
As ships go, Carons has the wind in
its sails.
He has moved from the middle
of the crowded eld of Republican
candidates to a close second place
behind billionaire Donald Trump. In
more than one poll, the difference
between the two is within the
statistical margin of error, which
means its too close to call. But
Trumps numbers are steady and
Carsons have been rising.
Maybe the more interesting
comparison is with Barack Obama.
They have utterly opposing political
instincts - but one striking parallel in
their past.
Both Obama, 54, and Carson, 64,
were raised by strong-willed mothers
after their fathers abandoned them.
In Carsons autobiography, one of
eight books hes written, we learn that
his mother was one of 25 children and
married at age 13. She had two children
before she discovered her husband was

a bigamist with a second family and

then raised her boys on her own.
Carson describes his mother as nearly
illiterate but he studied hard enough to
enroll at prestigious Yale University and
become a celebrated paediatric brain
surgeon. Among his patients, conjoined
twins attached at the head. No one had
ever successfully separated children like
that until Carson.

Trumps numbers are

steady and Carsons
have been rising
Carson will be among the
candidates at the next Republican
debate. Its Tuesday night in the US,
early Wednesday in Qatar and Carson
alone might make it worth tuning
in. Hes soft-spoken and chooses
his words slowly, but he says some
startling things.
He called Americas new healthinsurance scheme, known as
Obamacare, the worst thing that

has happened in this nation since

slavery.
Carson insists he does want every
American to have access to healthcare
but to do it without state intervention,
which he says gives the government
life-and-death power over its citizens.
Whatever the policy he has in
mind, the slavery comparison was
an extraordinary one for an AfricanAmerican to make, especially one who
has rarely mentioned race during the
course of his campaign.
That may be one of the big surprises
of the Carson candidacy. Unlike
Obamas run for office eight years
ago, no one seems to be paying much
attention to the colour of his skin.
Obama has made the onceunthinkable idea of a black man in
the White House into a mundane and
familiar fact.
zJonathan Mann hosts Political Mann
on CNN International, airing on
Friday at 11:30pm GMT, repeated on
Saturdays at 11:30pm and Mondays at
10am GMT

Gulf Times
Monday, November 9, 2015

31

COMMENT

The new Trudeaus new Canada

Whatever direction
Canadian foreign (and
domestic) policy takes, it is
abundantly clear that the
policymaking process will
change dramatically under
Trudeau
By Mark Entwistle and Ulf Gartzke
Toronto

his week marks Canadas

rst change of government in
nearly a decade, following the
unexpectedly large victory
of Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus
Liberal Party in mid-Octobers general
election.
To understand what the change
will mean for Canadas relations with
the world requires taking stock of the
countrys international posture under
Trudeaus Conservative predecessor,
Stephen Harper.
Broadly speaking, the election of
Trudeau (whose father, Pierre, was
prime minister when he was born in
1971 and served from 1968 to 1979, and
again from 1980 to 1984) constitutes
a rejection of Harpers polarising
political agenda and antagonistic
leadership style.
Under Harper, Canada drifted
away from multilateral engagement,
shirking institutions such as the UN in
favour of a more aggressive, valuedriven foreign and security policy that
divided the world into friends and
foes.
Harpers tough talk on Russias
annexation of Crimea and intervention
in eastern Ukraine, and on Chinas
disturbing human-rights record won
him wide public support. But his
stance on climate change proved to be
more controversial.
By withdrawing Canada from the

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau: as Trudeau embarks on a hectic schedule of foreign visits, including four back-to-back
international summits, he will introduce himself to the world with a familiar message of hope and co-operation.
Kyoto Protocol and largely rejecting
the issues signicance (before nally
offering limited concessions to reduce
the countrys carbon footprint), he
diminished Canadas standing on one
of the premier global issues of our
time.
In the Middle East, Canadian
foreign policy was essentially

restricted to uninching support for

Israels government.
Such policy positions, and others,
explain why in 2010 Canada suffered a
major diplomatic defeat, when its bid
for a seat on the UN Security Council
failed, shocking the countrys foreignpolicy establishment.
Harper leaves a better legacy on

the trade front, where he provided

committed leadership in pursuing
ambitious accords with both the
European Union (the Comprehensive
Economic and Trade Agreement,
CETA) and Asia (the Trans-Pacic
Partnership, TPP).
For his part, Trudeau has already
signalled that he will press ahead on

ratication of both CETA and TPP

thus helping to lessen Canadas overreliance on trade with the US.
In particular, the new Liberal
government is committed to assisting
small and medium-size Canadian
businesses gain a foothold in the EU.
European governments and businesses
can expect to see very engaged
Canadian diplomacy on trade and
investment issues.
Canadas transatlantic partners, for
their part, have similarly high hopes
for Trudeau and his administration,
particularly owing to his commitment
to pursue more ambitious emissionreduction targets at the upcoming UN
Climate Change Conference in Paris.
And closer integration with
Canadas vast energy resources could
provide Europe with an attractive
alternative to its heavy reliance on
imports from Russia and the Middle
East.
Many in the Canadian energy sector
will follow Trudeaus climate agenda
with trepidation; but his push for
environmental reform may turn out
to be a blessing in disguise for the
countrys energy companies. Canada
has an opportunity not only to repair
its international reputation, but also to
highlight the signicant technological
and ecological advances made by
innovative oil producers in recent
years.
In terms of security and defence
policy, the Trudeau administrations
positions are more opaque. The day
after his election, Trudeau told US
President Barack Obama that he would
withdraw Canada from the antiIslamic State bombing campaign in
Syria and Iraq.
On the other hand, the Liberal
Partys stated commitment to
maintaining defence spending and
continuing Canadas Nato operations
in Central and Eastern Europe should
reassure the countrys strategic allies.
Moreover, Trudeau is making good

on his campaign promise to accept

25,000 Syrian refugees as soon as
possible. This should be viewed as a
welcome, if largely symbolic, show
of solidarity by Canada to help the
EU cope with its most severe crisis in
decades.
Perhaps most important,
whatever direction Canadian
foreign (and domestic) policy takes,
it is abundantly clear that the
policymaking process will change
dramatically under Trudeau.
Over the course of nearly 10 years
in office, Harper crafted a powerful,
highly centralised executive to get
things done and control the political
narrative, famously seeking a high
level of personal engagement in every
aspect of his government.
Trudeau, by contrast, has vowed
to be a very different type of leader,
promising to pursue an inclusive
approach to policymaking and to
allow his ministers to take much
greater responsibility for their
portfolios.
In many ways, his campaigns
message of change together with
enormous charisma and personal
condence recalled Obamas rst
run for the White House in 2008.
As Trudeau embarks on a hectic
schedule of foreign visits, including
four back-to-back international
summits, he will introduce himself to
the world with a familiar message of
hope and co-operation.
However, the challenges of
governing change him over the next
four years, it is already apparent today
that Canada will not be the same. Project Syndicate
zMark Entwistle, a former Canadian
diplomat, is a partner at Atlantic
Advisory Partners in Toronto. Ulf
Gartzke teaches at Georgetown
University and is a partner at
Atlantic Advisory Partners in New
York.

Weather report

Letters

Three-day forecast
TODAY

Testing times for

learner drivers
Dear Sir,
The report Tougher road for
trainees as driving test rates drop
(Gulf Times, November 7) highlighted
an issue that is of great importance
to Qatar residents, especially to the
newly-arriving expatriates.
Road safety is one of the
governments highest priorities and
several initiatives are being taken to
improve it. Accordingly, driving tests
have to be made tougher and learner
drivers need to learn all traffic rules
well to be eligible for the licence.
But tests should be conducted in
line with international standards and
a t and proper assessment should be
applied in selection procedures.
The Gulf Times report quotes a
supervisor as saying that earlier three
to four people out of 35 would pass the

driving test in a day. Now, the number

has come down to two out of 50. That
means 96% of learner drivers are
being disqualied now.
Generally in any examination, 1020% candidates or maybe more get
disqualied but is it normal for 96%
of people attempting the test failing to
make it? That gure is hard to believe.
If 96% of people attempting a test
fail, one can only assume that there is
a aw in their training and preparation
process. This could mean that the
trainers are not very good and not as
per the official requirements.
Authorities concerned must
conduct a comprehensive survey
to nd the cause and to resolve the
problem.
Many people, after being recruited
to work as drivers in Qatar, face major
problems because of the difficulties
in getting a licence after completing
all formalities and undergoing the
necessary training. This also upsets
those who have recruited them after

going through many processes.

For expatriates living with their
families, owning a vehicle is not a
luxury in Qatar, it is a necessity as
public transport is still in its infancy.

know this kind of promotion is quite

legal but if a store keeps a low stock
intentionally, then it isnt fair to
customers.

MH
(Full name and address supplied)

(Address supplied)

High: 31 C
Low : 26 C
Expected thundery rain at places associated with sudden strong wind

TUESDAY

Saqib Javed

Discount
offers
Dear Sir,
Over the weekend, a store ran a
one-day promotion for a high-end
smartphone, offering a huge discount.
The promotion stated the standard
line Until stock lasts. But the stock
was apparently so limited that around
10am it was nished. Many people
had found the huge discount very
attractive and ooded the store only
to be told that No more stocks. I

High: 34 C
Low : 26 C
Cloudy

Please send us
your letters

WEDNESDAY

By e-mail
editor@gulf-times.com
Fax 44350474
Or Post
Letters to the Editor
Gulf Times
P O Box 2888
Doha, Qatar
All letters, which are subject to editing, should have the name of the
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The writers name and address
may be withheld by request.

High: 31 C
Low : 24 C
M Sunny

Fishermens forecast
OFFSHORE DOHA
Wind: NW-NE 05-15/18 KT
Waves: 2-4/5 Feet
INSHORE DOHA
Wind: NW-NE 04-12/25 KT
Waves: 1-2 Feet

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To change bad habits, stop doing what doesnt work

By Judi Light Hopson, Emma H
Hopson and Ted Hagen
Tribune News Service

re you tired of never getting

what you want?
For instance, lets say that
you want to save for a down
payment on a house.
You earn enough to put money
aside, but you dont.
Why? Because you keep buying $50
worth of lottery tickets every week.
Or, you keep vowing youre going to
lose weight. But old eating habits die
hard.
Some of the human behaviour
experts we consulted, had these
tips for changing bad habits:
zTake pride in failing fast. In
other words, get busy changing
something, even if it turns out to be
wrong.
An expert on how to quit smoking
told us, Many people make seven or
eight attempts before they succeed
in quitting. Each failed attempt is
a lesson in whats going to work for
them or not work for them.
zTrack down the success methods
of other people. Do your homework
and research.
For example, we recently learned
that studies show we all tend to eat
the same physical weight of food every
day. The study said that by getting in
the habit of eating low-calorie foods
that are heavy in ounces - apples,

carrots, rice - you will satisfy hunger

faster.
Makes sense, doesnt it?
z Stop doing what doesnt work.
For instance, have you ever tried
to apply a failing method over
and over because you believed
that willpower was the missing
ingredient?
While willpower is important, it
cant support you if a given method
isnt right for you.

If you want to change

a habit, use logic to
analyse why you
keep failing over and
over
For example, a man who attended
one of our family workshops said hed
tried for years to improve his time
management. I was always in the
habit of being late for work, he told
the group.
What I nally gured out was that
I really do need eight hours of sleep.
Ive always gone to bed at midnight
and tried to get up by 6am.
But six hours of sleep makes me so
sluggish, it takes me until 7:30 to get
out the door. I need to leave my house
no later than 7:15.
This man told us that he nally
stopped trying willpower and

implemented a sleep schedule that

worked for him.
Im now in the habit of going to
bed at 10:30. Im up by 6:30 and gone
by 7:15. I feel terric and my mornings
go great.
The point is this: If you want to
change a habit, use logic to analyse
why you keep failing over and over.
There is a reason you are not getting
what you want, experts say.
Instead of beating yourself up, try
to create a plan that you know will
fly.
For instance, if you are wasting
too much money on lottery tickets,
try buying half as many. Sock the
rest of the money away the rest in
savings.
zIf nothing else gets you on the ball,
use fear to motivate you.
Write yourself a letter on what will
happen if you fail to change.
A nancial expert well call Donna
says that she changed both her career
and her spending habits out of sheer
fright.
Says Donna: I got motivated to
stop squandering money and become
nancially t when I saw a widow
spend $3mn.
Donna wasnt kidding. She told us
that she personally saw this wellto-do widow spend $3mn in eight
years on travel, clothes, junk and bad
jewellery.
In order to guide yourself to new
habits, put every factor possible on
your side.

Experts say these tips can help:

z Your habit must fit the rest of
your daily routine. For example, if
you cant find time to exercise for 45
minutes, try breaking this down into
three daily sessions of 15 minutes
each.
If you can make a new habit t
smoothly into your lifestyle, your
chances of success will be higher.
z Match your habit to the clock. For
example, if you want to get in the habit
of taking vitamins, plan to take them
with either lunch or dinner.
zAccept the fact that your new
habit change will get on your nerves.
At least, it will in the beginning.
It will be like an unwelcome visitor
knocking on your door, interrupting
your old routine.
The best way to stick with a
habit, pain and all, is to keep looking
at the long-term goal, says Bill, a
man in his 70s who runs marathons
in our region.
If the long-term goal excites you,
youll develop the habits you need
to get there. Youll invent them out
of sheer desire. But if you have good
habits in place, you can get anything
you want out of life.
zJudi Light Hopson is the executive
director of the stress management
website USA Wellness Cafe at www.
usawellnesscafe.com Emma Hopson
is an author and a nurse educator. Ted
Hagen is a family psychologist.

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32

Gulf Times
Monday, November 9, 2015

QATAR

From pearls to skyscrapers,

Alfardan sticks to family model
Jewellery shop became
multibillion dollar
business; interests include
automobiles, real estate,
banking services
By Tom Finn/Reuters
Doha

n the seventh oor of a

Doha tower block, in a
room lled with display
cases containing old coins, clocks
and Quranic manuscripts, Hussain Alfardan sits admiring a
pearl necklace he says is worth
$2mn.
These pearls are yakka, the
highest grade of natural pearl each piece is rare. Today the pearl
is the number one stone in the
world. The most expensive stone,
the most precious is the pearl.
The room, known as the Tawach Gallery - one of the largest private collections of natural
Gulf pearls in the world - is a
commercial showroom and museum for Qatars pearl industry
and the achievements of its owner, Alfardan.
The son of a pearl merchant,
Alfardan opened a small jewellery shop after World War Two
and over 50 years, grew it into
Alfardan Group Holding Co, a
multibillion dollar conglomerate that trades automobiles, develops real estate and provides
banking services.

While state rms developed

the Gulfs energy wealth, familyrun businesses such as Alfardan
Group built much of the rest of
the economy. They generate over
80% of non-oil gross domestic
product in the six-nation Gulf
Co-operation Council, consultants PwC estimate.
Now family businesses around
the Gulf face a more challenging
environment. The plunge of oil
prices since 2014 threatens slower growth.
Governments have started to
cut spending in some areas because of shrinking energy revenues. Last week, HH the Emir
Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad alThani cautioned citizens the
government could no longer
provide for everything.
But the shift may create opportunities for private business.
HH Sheikh Tamim said he would
reduce subsidies to some stateowned companies and wanted the
private sector to play a bigger role.
I have been advocating a
stronger push towards privatisation for a long time. I believe that
no country should be too reliant
on the government only for income, Alfardan said in an interview for the Reuters Middle East
Investment Summit.
As a boy in the 1940s, Alfardan
took boats out to the pearling grounds off Qatars coast,
watching his father buy from
the divers. He recalls walking for

hours because of a lack of motorised transport in Qatar, and using herbal remedies because of a
shortage of hospitals.
His business empire, now overseen largely by his sons Ali, Fahad
and Omar, includes the luxury St.
Regis Hotel, the 70-oor Kempinski Apartment Suites, which is
Qatars tallest building, and Commercial Bank of Qatar.
Alfardan,
wearing
steelrimmed glasses and a long white
robe with a black-corded cotton
headdress, indicated his group
was now conservative about expansion.
I have been focusing efforts
on what we currently have rather
than expanding too much and
then having to deal with the resulting complications, such as
recruitment of new managers
and numerous activities being
overseen at the same time. I believe its better to concentrate on
the things you can run well.
Governments around the region are pressing companies to
hire more local executives and
staff rather than foreigners. This
pressure may grow as low oil and
gas prices increase the urgency of
keeping non-oil income inside
the country.
Alfardan said he wanted to see
all his companies run by Qataris
one day, but that aside from his
family, lling senior positions
with locals had been difficult.
Around a quarter of his staff are

Qatari though at Commercial

Bank of Qatar, whose chief executive is Qatari, the ratio is closer
to a third.
Some other family groups in
the region have declined in the
past decade, hit by internal disputes or competitive pressures.
Alfardan said he knew the risks
but believed his diverse conglomerate could continue to
thrive in the traditional manner.
Many family-run businesses
start with a visionary and hardworking rst generation, followed by a second generation
that successfully sustains the
momentum, and then unfortunately ending up with a complacent third generation who just let
the business falter and eventually
fail. I have carefully considered
this common trend and have
made extensive plans to avoid
this from happening.
He dismissed solutions proposed by Western-educated
management experts in the region, including going public:
Once you convert to a shareholding company, then you have
to deal with the resulting pressures from shareholders and
board meetings.
Although I have brought
in managers and experts from
around the world to ensure operational excellence, my sons are
the only ones I trust to carry my
business forward as they are personally invested in its success.

Hussain Alfardan: Today the pearl is the number one stone in the world. The most expensive stone, the most
precious is the pearl.

Iraqi artists works

go on show at Katara
A

HE Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim al-Thani inaugurating the exhibition in the presence of diplomats and other dignitaries.

FBQ Museum puts rare

artefacts on display

n exhibition highlighting
the works of Iraqi artist Ahmad Alaway was
opened recently at Katara the
Cultural Village.
Katara general manager Dr
Khalid bin Ibrahim al-Sulaiti inaugurated the exhibition at an
event attended by artists and other guests. The exhibition, titled
Dancing Bodies and Letters, has
been organised by Qatar Fine Arts
Society in building 13, Katara.
The exhibition showcases an
assortment of artistic works in
the elds of engraving, drawing
and pottery. On the occasion,
Dr al-Sulaiti paid tribute to the
concept of the exhibition and the
notion put forth by the artist, incorporating different art genres.

We, at the Cultural Village

Foundation, are trying to contribute to creativity. We are also
pleased to host different artists to
show their creative works. Similarly, we tend to support different stakeholders at the Cultural
Village Foundation as we do with
Qatar Fine Arts Society, which
continuously work to open new
doors for creative and distinguished opportunities. This will,
in turn, enrich the local artistic
and cultural movement, Dr alSulaiti stressed.
Yousef Khalifa As-Sadah, director of Qatar Fine Arts Society, said: The exhibition is an
attempt to merge the technical
differences that tell artistic practices apart. This can be done by

heikh Faisal Bin Qassim

Al-Thani Museum (FBQ
Museum) at Sheehaniya
opened its doors to a conservation-themed-exhibition at
the newly furbished temporary
gallery.
HE Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim
al-Thani, founder of the museum, inaugurated the exhibition
and toured the exhibits along
with diplomatic heads from
over 25 countries.
Titled Recovered treasures
from the Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani Museum Collection, the exhibition will remain
open for visitors and general
public until December 31.
Organised by FBQ Museum
and co-curated by MSc Conservation Studies students at
UCL Qatar, the theme of the
exhibition is restoration of museum collection objects with
particular signicance given to
hidden information in the objects.
It features more than 60 rare
artefacts from Sheikh Faisal bin
Qassim al-Thanis extensive
private collection and includes
priceless Islamic art and artefacts of Qatari heritage. It will
also highlight the examination methods, analytical techniques, and treatments used by
the conservation students to
both investigate and preserve
the treasures of the museums
collection. The exhibition will
include interesting interactive
sessions with the MSc Conservation Studies students, who
will be present at the exhibition
during select weekends.

Some of the works displayed at the exhibition.

HE Sheikh Faisal explaining about an exhibit to a guest.

Sheikh Faisal explained that
the exhibits showcase the richness of culture, history and heritage from over the years.
The exhibits reect my fascination and passion for ancient
past, heritage and authenticity,
and the role of historical struggles and achievements in shaping contemporary culture and
identity, he said.
I have a passion for antiques

and collectibles since childhood, and hence I want every

visitor to the museum to carry
back useful information that
has historical value.
At the museum, we usually acquire antique and ancient
artefacts and explore them to
know more about their origin
and use. These are then displayed to the general public,
as we believe that the museum

plays a very important role in

educating the people.
The collaborative exhibition
project highlights the museums
objective to allow its collection
to be available to researchers
and students for educational
purposes. It also reects the role
of UCL Qatar in raising awareness of the importance of conservation of cultural heritage in
Qatar.

the various raw materials and

techniques used in employing
the letters as a constituent of the
shape and the body.
Alaway reected on his work,
saying: I have used the body
and other materials as papers on
which I draw my ideas; they are
my letters and dancing bodies.
I have tried to present a specic
notion through using different
materials. I focus on the exible
structure of the body and the
Arabic letter.
Alaway thanked Katara and Qatar Fine Arts Society for hosting his
works. Among the works displayed
is the 4m-high Leaves to the Sky.
It is a collection of engraved Arab
letters in stainless steel with tree
leaves pointed upward.

AL-NAIMI VIEW | Page 2

RUSSIA CRISIS | Page 15

Oil fall set to

spur growth
in demand

Recovery seen
on L-shape with
elusive growth

Monday, November 9, 2015

Moharram 26, 1437 AH

GULF TIMES

HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT: Page 16

BUSINESS

QFBA, QFCA complete

training for 3rd run of
Kawader programme

IMF sees $275bn export

revenue shortfall for GCC
By Santhosh V Perumal
Business Reporter

he Gulf Cooperation Council

(GCC) is expected to see a shortfall of $275bn in export earnings
this year on lower oil prices, substantially deteriorating scal and current
account balances. Overall growth in the
region is expected to slowdown to 3.2%
this year and further to 2.7% in 2016,
according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Although the GCC countries nancial buffers avoid them taking
sudden or disruptive scal policy
changes, IMF managing director
Christine Lagarde said with the oil
prices expected to remain low in the
foreseeable future, the Gulf countries need to strengthen scal policy
through higher non-oil tax and energy prices as well as control over public
sector wages.
With oil prices having declined
sharply since mid-2014, export revenues are expected to be nearly $275bn
lower in 2015 than in 2014, Lagarde
told the media after the meeting GCC
nance ministers and central bank governors in Doha.
She said the scal and current account balances in the region are deteriorating sharply with them expected
to show a scal decit of 12.7% of GDP
(gross domestic product) in 2015.
Growth is also expected to slow
with the IMF projection suggesting
3.2% in 2015 and 2.7% in 2016 compared to 3.4% in 2014, she said in the
presence of Finance Minister HE Ali
Sherif al-Emadi.
Highlighting that the GCC countries
face the challenge of lower oil prices
from a position of strength, Lagarde
said prudent policies over the past
decade have enabled them to build up
nancial buffers, which avoid the need
for a sudden or disruptive adjustment in scal policy.
Nevertheless, with low oil prices
expected to persist for a number of

Lagarde and HE al-Emadi addressing the media in Doha. Overall growth in the GCC region is expected to slow down to 3.2% this year and further to 2.7% in 2016,
according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
years, all GCC countries need to undertake some degree of scal adjustments,
although the size and urgency of this
adjustment varies across countries,
Lagarde said.
Although scal adjustment will depend on each countrys specic situation, she said the main elements are
common across the economies such
as expansion of non-oil tax revenues,
raising energy prices, which are still
below the international norms; rm
control over current spending, particularly on public sector wages; and a
review of capital expenditure.
Reforms to strengthen the scal

frameworks would support these consolidation efforts, she said.

On public sector wages, she said
there was no additional room for any
increases; given the scal constraints.
On the GCC banking sector, Lagarde was of the view that it generally appeared well-placed to weather
the impact lower oil prices, weaker
growth and higher US interest rates.
Nevertheless, as oil revenues decrease, external nancing conditions
tighten and government debt issuance
increases, central banks will need to
remain vigilant for stresses in the system and provide liquidity to the nan-

cial sector if needed, she said.

Macro-prudential policy can also
help manage any systemic stresses in
the nancial system if they were to
emerge, Lagarde added.
(The GCC) governments should continue to take steps to switch the focus
of growth away from the public sector
and towards the private sector, she suggested.
With some 2mn people likely to enter
the labour force in the GCC by 2020 and
given the scal constraints on further
increasing government employment,
private sector job creation needs to be
stepped up, she said.

Observing that the governments are

already implementing many policies in
this direction and important progress
being made; Lagarde said nevertheless, continued efforts are needed to
encourage nationals to seek employment in the private sector and for rms
to hire them.
Highlighting that the IMF would
continue to deepen its relationship with
the GCC through regular country visits,
technical assistance and training, Lagarde said we stand ready to support
the GCC countries in any way they see
appropriate as they address the challenges of lower oil prices.

NDIA committee
awards QR277mn
contract for HIA
expansion works
The New Doha International Airport
Steering Committee (NDIASC)
recently awarded a QR277mn
($76mn) contract to Consolidated
Engineering Construction Company
Qatar (CECC) for land reclamation
and revetment works to facilitate the
ongoing expansion of the Hamad
International Airport. The scope of
the project includes an enlargement
of the existing reclaimed platform on
the northwestern tip of the airport
by about 110 hectares to enable
the construction of new Western
Taxiways.
Elaborating on the award, NDIASC
chairman Abdulaziz al-Noaimi
said, We are gearing up for the
expansion of the Western Airfield as
necessitated by the growth of our
national carrier and the requirements
for the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar.
The main elements of the scope
include the reclamation of the
project site up to a level of 3.0m
QNHD (Qatar National Height
Data groundwater elevation), the
removal of existing rock revetments
along the eastern and southern
boundaries of the lagoon and the
construction of around 690m of new
rock revetments along the northern
boundary to afford the extended
reclaimed platform adequate
protection.
It is expected that the entire
reclamation will be complete by
the first quarter of 2017 in two
stages. For the 3,000,000 cu m of
fill material that will be required, the
project will make the maximum use
of available fill material from within
the wider HIA project area as well as
existing rock revetments to minimise
the import of materials.
The NDIASC has ensured that
all guidelines set by the Ministry
of Environment with regard
to mitigation of the impact on
marine environment have been
strictly adhered to. For a period of
four months in 2014, a specialist
environment team worked on
recovering and transplanting more
than 5,000 sq m of seagrass and 88
specimen of Pen Shell (Pinna Bicolor)
from the proposed project site to a
Ministry of Environment approved
location.

Qatar Airways displays nest of eet at Dubai Airshow

Q

atar Airways yesterday showcased the best of its ultramodern eet, with three of the
airlines latest generation aircraft on
display on the opening day of the Dubai Airshow.
The UAE Vice President and Prime
Minister and the Ruler of Dubai,
Sheikh Mohamed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, was led on a tour of the Qatar
Airways A380 by Qatars Minister of
Transport HE Jassim Seif Ahmed alSulaiti and Qatar Airways Group chief
executive Akbar al-Baker.
Abdullah bin Nasser Turki al-Subaey, Qatar Civil Aviation Authority
chairman, was also present.
A senior delegation of Dubai Government officials accompanied Sheikh
Mohamed on the VIP tour of the
state-of-the-art A380. Among the
delegation was the president of the
Dubai Civil Aviation Authority and
chairman and chief executive of Emirates Airline & Group, Sheikh Ahmed
bin Saeed al-Maktoum.
The Dubai Airshow, rst held in
1986, has evolved to become one of the
largest aerospace events in the world,
and takes place this week at Dubai
World Central (DWC), on a venue specically designed for the event.
Qatar Airways is displaying three of
its aircraft, the A380, A350, for which
it was the global launch customer, and
a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, its 25th of
this aircraft type, delivered directly
from Boeing to the show.
A large number of other notable VIP

dignitaries were present during the

rst day of the show, including Nathan
Deal, governor, State of Georgia, and
Mark Burns, president, Gulfstream
Aerospace Corp, who were provided
with an exclusive tour of the Qatar Airways aircraft on display.
Al-Sulaiti, said: Qatar is proud to
be home to one of the worlds fastest
growing airlines, Qatar Airways, and
to be here at one of the worlds premier
airshows displaying the very latest aircraft in the sky.
Al-Baker, said: The Dubai Airshow
enables Qatar Airways to showcase the
very latest advancements, product design and technology available across
our modern eet. It is a proud moment
to see the Qatar Airways livery on display this week on the worlds very latest generation aircraft and to showcase
our award-winning products and hospitality on board to our visiting guests.
With bespoke, highly-customised
interiors, the airlines range of aircraft
drew crowds to see the latest entrants
into the Qatar Airways eet, the A350
and the A380. The A380 entered service with Qatar Airways last autumn
and Qatar Airways received the A350
as global launch customer in December 2014.
The A350, which entered service
in January, now ies double-daily to
Frankfurt, triple-daily to Singapore
and daily to Munich. The business
class cabin has 36 seats in a 1-2-1 conguration featuring an 80-inch full
at bed and 17-inch HD in-ight en-

tertainment screen. Economy class

features 247 18-inch wide seats in a
3-3-3 conguration, each with a 10.6inch in-ight entertainment screen,
and more space at shoulder level for
passengers in window seats due to the
vertical side wall panel design.
The 517-seat A380 aircraft, comprising rst, business and economy
class over two decks, is the largest passenger jet in the world, and currently
ies to Bangkok, Paris and London
from Doha.
The new rst class A380 features a
seat with a 90-inch pitch that transforms into a fully-at bed and has up
to 2,000 entertainment options displayed on individual HD 26-inch television screens.
Qatar Airways Boeing 787 Dreamliner has a two-cabin conguration,
comprising 22 seats in business class
and 232 economy class seats with a
class-leading standard of comfort on
board, including individual 10.6-inch
television screens for all economy class
seats and an award-winning food and
beverage service.
Qatar Airways has seen rapid growth
in just 18 years of operation and currently ies a modern eet of 170 aircraft to 152 key business and leisure
destinations across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacic, North
America and South America. Qatar Executive, Qatar Airways private jet division, will receive its rst Gulfstream
G650ER shortly. This is the rst Gulfstream aircraft for its eet. Page 3

Sheikh Mohamed bin Rashid al-Maktoum with HE al-Sulaiti and al-Baker at the Dubai Airshow 2015.

Gulf Times
Monday, November 9, 2015

BUSINESS

Qatars Minister of Transport HE Jassim Seif Ahmed al-Sulaiti (third right) with Qatar Airways Group
chief executive Akbar al-Baker; Abdullah bin Nasser Turki al-Subaey, Qatar Civil Aviation Authority
chairman; Hadi Nassir Mansour al-Hajri, Qatars ambassador to the UAE, (left) Sheikh Jabor bin Hamad
al-Thani, director general of Qatar Aeronautical College, and Mohamed al-Hajri, director of the Office
of the Minister of Transport at the Dubai Airshow.

Qatar Airways
keen on $2bn
IndiGo stake
Doha-based carrier, excluded from
Indian IPO, could seek 49% holding;
sees case for bigger investment in
British Airways owner
Bloomberg
Dubai

atar Airways said its keen to take a

stake in Indian discount carrier IndiGo once shares start trading following an initial public offering, after plans for
a direct investment were frustrated by local
regulations.
The second-biggest Gulf carrier could
seek a maximum 49% of IndiGo - valued at
$2bn based on the IPO price - to boost its exposure to one of the worlds fastest-growing
travel markets, chief executive officer Akbar
al-Baker said yesterday in an interview at
the Dubai Airshow.
The sale of a 10% IndiGo stake in Octobers IPO raised about 30bn rupees
($456mn), valuing the airline at $4.2bn and
making it the third-largest low-cost carrier
in Asia, with a value ve times that of Jet
Airways and nine times that of SpiceJet, the
other two listed Indian airlines.
I couldnt take a stake in IndiGo because
the Indian authorities have restrictions on
airlines taking part in IPOs of an airline, alBaker said. The process to do it would have
taken a long time and they were in a hurry. If

An Indigo Airlines aircraft prepares to land in Mumbai, India (file). Shares of IndiGo, the only
Indian airline to have made a profit in each of the past seven years, are due to begin trading
tomorrow after the sale by owner InterGlobe Aviation.
we can go up to the 49% thats allowed, wed
like to go as much as that. Al-Baker said its
crazy that Qatar Airways faces having to
pay more for the same stock after the IPO,
adding: What difference does it make?
The variation in cost will be seen when and
if purchase happens, he added.
Shares of IndiGo, the only Indian airline to
have made a prot in each of the past seven
years, are due to begin trading tomorrow
after the sale by owner InterGlobe Aviation
Ltd. The IPO was priced at the top end of a
marketed range, with institutional investors
bidding for 17.8 times the stock reserved for
them, according to Indias National Stock
Exchange.

Al-Baker said in the interview that hes

also keen to lift his airlines 10% holding in
International Consolidated Airlines Group,
parent of British Airways. Qatar Airways
is very likely to increase the investment
but will take our own time, the CEO said.
Stakes in European Union airlines are limited to 49% for investors from outside the
bloc.
Qatar Airways is also evaluating the case
for buying a stake in Moroccan national carrier Royal Air Maroc to extend its reach into
the underserved travel markets of West Africa and the Sahara. The Gulf airline has a
code-share deal with RAM and would like to
bring it into the Oneworld alliance.

Dubai Airshow opens amid drop in new jetliner orders

The UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and the Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohamed bin Rashid
al-Maktoum (right) being taken on a tour of Qatar Airways A380 by al-Baker.

Reuters
Dubai
After three years of record jetliner orders,
planemakers are bracing for a slowdown
in new commitments at the Dubai Airshow
which opened yesterday under the shadow of
recently falling oil prices and conflicts in the
Middle East.
Barring traditional show surprises, delegates
attending the biennial November 8-12 event
predicted a drop in major commercial order
announcements as Gulf airlines take stock after
expansion.
The aerospace industry is putting a brave face
on the slowdown, saying the tally of more than
400 orders at the 2013 edition was never going
to be repeatable. But analysts will be scanning
the announcements for any evidence that the
dip is more than a return to normality.
Aerospace investors are concerned that a glut
of wide-body jets rolling off production lines

Al-Baker with the president of Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation, Mark Burns.

Wars, conicts to
spur demand for
Russian helicopters
Reuters
Dubai

onicts and militant attacks in the Middle East and

elsewhere will offset falling demand for helicopters
driven by softer oil prices, the head of Russian Helicopters said yesterday.
Russian Helicopters, part of state Corp Rostec, is unlikely
to see any negative effect of lower petroleum prices this year
due to committed orders and deliveries.
But the rm could see a decline in sales in 2016 and 2017
by about 10% to 15%, chief executive Alexander Mikheev
told Reuters at the Dubai Airshow.
The market for helicopters, which are used extensively in
the oil and gas industry, is dependent on oil prices that have
fallen signicantly in the last year, he said.
He suggested however demand spurred by security requirements looked robust. It is clear that local conicts
and terrorist attacks require helicopters more and more.
So if theres this demand, theres no problem for orders,
Mikheev said. We will also substitute decline in demand
with after sales service.
The companys M-17 and M-18 helicopters proved very
reliable in Afghanistan and can operate efficiently in very
hot climates.
Over 500 Russian helicopters are in operation in the Middle East and North Africa, Mikheev said.
Russian Helicopters plans to expand its production overseas in a joint venture in India.
We are still in talks, said Mikheev declining to give a
timeline. Talks are going on with Indias Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, Reliance Defence & Aerospace and Larsen &
Toubro for making KA-226 helicopters in India, he said.
Earlier this year Russian Helicopters signed an agreement
with Aviation Industry Corp of China (AVIC) on cooperation for heavy helicopter development.
Russian Helicopters also has a joint venture with Augusta
Westland for the development and manufacturing of single
engine helicopters.

towards the end of this decade could put pressure on aviation, just as doubts gather over the
pace of economic activity.
A lot of airlines have bought aircraft to
capture the same growth, said Ben Moores,
senior analyst at IHS Aerospace, Defence &
Security.
That does not mean the bazaar, where airliners
and arms buyers mingle at Dubais newest aviation hub, will be lacking in financial or military
firepower.
Major General Ibrahim Nasser al-Alawi, commander of the UAE Air Force and Air Defence,
said over $206bn in orders were booked at
the 2013 Dubai air show, adding: This years
air show is on course to be even bigger and
better.
Boeing said on Saturday it remained confident
about long-term jetliner demand, particularly
in the Middle East which is expected to need
more than 3,000 jets in 20 years.
Etihad Airways may emerge as the buyer of
10 777X jets listed anonymously on Boeings

website, Gulf sources said, though an announcement may not happen at the show. Both
companies declined comment.
The recent commercial order boom is expected to lead to deals putting parts manufacturing
back into the UAE and India at the show. And in
defence, at least four Gulf nations are negotiating new fighter purchases.
UAE officials told the Dubai International Air
Chiefs conference it would extend spending on
air power and other items, despite the cost of
fighting against insurgents in Yemen.
But executives see some Gulf countries pulling
back on military modernisation programmes,
even though IHSs Moores noted the regions
biggest buyers were most able to weather
lower oil revenues.
Qatar is seen likely to slow plans to acquire
Lockheed Martins THAAD missile defences,
but others like Saudi Arabia are accelerating
their orders.
Were anxious to see what happens to the
weapons projects, said one executive.

Gulf Times
Monday, November 9, 2015

BUSINESS
Dominica PM offers citizenship for investment on rare Asia trip
By Arno Maierbrugger
Gulf Times Correspondent
Bangkok
Roosevelt Skerrit, Prime Minister of the
Caribbean island state of Dominica, is
currently touring East Asia in a quest
to raise funds for rebuilding and reconstructing the islands infrastructure
after tropical storm Erika hit in August
this year. Apart from two charity diners in Bangkok and Hanoi, Skerrit is
also seeking to promote his governments Citizenship by Investment
programme at the Hong Kong Investment Immigration Summit today.
The programme, which grants
individuals a Dominican passport in
exchange for funding government
development initiatives or buying real
estate on the island, has been although sometimes controversially de-

bated in place since 1993 and targets

mainly high-net worth individuals from
countries whose passports are subject
to stricter visa requirements (including
the Middle East) to obtain Dominican
residence status and travel visa-free to
more than 100 countries worldwide,
including the UK.
As former chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the
Organisation of Eastern Caribbean
States (OECS), he also looks at promoting Dominica and the wider region for
other investments.
Gulf Times: How are the recovery
and reconstruction efforts going in
Dominica after this years tropical
storm?
Roosevelt Skerrit: When tropical
storm Erika hit on August 27, 2015, the
results were more than 30 fatalities,
1,032 destroyed or badly damaged
houses and a total damage of $484mn.

But reconstruction is making considerable progress. We have already rebuilt

574 homes and we are grateful for
international donors and aid supply.
In total, 49 countries supported us, as
well as non-governmental and charity

Gulf Times
Exclusive
organisations and Corps. So far, we
spent $10mn in emergency funds for
reconstruction. However, to cover the
entire damage of $484mn, it is still a
long way to go.
What is the background of the Citizenship by Investment programme and
are the effects on Dominicas economy?
The programme is designed to grant

Corporate boards deepening

involvement in strategy, risk
oversight as global volatility
increases, says survey

orporate boards are deepening their involvement in company strategy and refining their
oversight of the critical risks facing the
company, according to a recent KPMG
global survey.
Local and global volatility that were
seeing - swings in commodity prices,
uncertainty in geopolitical hotspots
and currencies, a decelerating China,
technology innovation, and disruptive
business models - are clearly causing
boards to sharpen their focus on strategy and risk, said Issa Habash of KPMG
in Qatar. The competitive landscape
and risk environment demand it, investors increasingly expect it, and bringing value to the boardroom dialogue
requires it.
53% of the directors and executives
surveyed globally said their board has
increased its involvement in the formulation of strategy alternatives, and 61%
said the board has sharpened its focus
on improving risk-related information.
Rather than an annual decision by
management and the board, strategy is
becoming an ongoing discussion, with
continual assessment, evaluation, and
adjustment as conditions change. Habash continued.
The survey responses - from more
than 1,000 directors and senior executives in some 28 countries - suggest
that while many boards are deepening
their involvement in strategy and risk,
significant challenges remain, including linking strategy and risk, and addressing growing cyber security risks.
Some 80% of survey respondents said
the board has deepened its involvement
over the past two to three years - in the
formulation of strategy and consideration of strategic alternatives, monitoring execution, devoting more time to

technology issues (including cyber security), and recalibrating strategy as

needed.
Only half of survey respondents are
satisfied that strategy and risk are effectively linked in the boardroom discussions. Risk-related decisions, many
said, would be most improved by more
closely linking strategy and risk, as well
as having a more-clearly defined risk
appetite, better assessment of risk culture, and giving greater consideration
to the upside of risk taking (versus
risk avoidance).
Many boards have recently taken
steps - or at least discussed ways to strengthen their oversight of risk,
mainly by improving risk-related information flowing to the board, but
also by hearing more independent
views and refreshing the board/recruiting expertise, coordinating (and
reallocating) risk oversight responsibilities among the boards committees,
and/or changing the boards committee structure.
Greater use of third-party expertise
and deeper technology expertise on the
board would most improve the boards
oversight of cyber security, survey respondents said. Nearly one in three
respondents said cyber security needs
to have more time on the full boards
agenda, and a quarter said formation
of a new committee to address technology/cyber risks would be beneficial.
Nearly half of survey respondents cite
room to improve the communication
and coordination among the full board
and its committees on oversight of the
companys key strategic and operational risks - e.g., strategy, CEO succession,
talent, regulatory compliance, cyber
security and emerging technologies,
and supply chain issues.

investors a second citizenship and

a Dominican passport in exchange
for foreign investment. This can be
done either by investing directly
into a government development
initiative or by purchasing property
on the island, be it a holiday home
or a fractional ownership of a hotel
or resort development. There are
different title deeds offered for such
investments. The government is
setting annual budget targets for it.
This year, we have planned $30mn
from less than 200 citizenships
granted.
How does Dominica rule out granting citizenship to people who for
a variety of reasons might not be
qualified for it?
Our screening of applicants is very
transparent. We are undertaking a
robust due diligence in any single
case, as well as do comprehensive

background checks. If, for example,

someone is on a sanctions list, then
Id say it would be difficult to receive a
Dominican passport.
Where is Dominica on its roadmap to
becoming a major offshore financial
centre?
We have started to develop Dominicas
financial service industry as part of a
diversification of our economy, based
on robust legislation. There might be a
misconception towards offshore financial centres of being tax havens, but
its a highly regulated industry. In fact,
we have been advised by the World
Bank to develop the sector in order
to diversify the economy. We are now
focusing on international business
corporations and other offshore companies and offshore banks. As long
as these services exist, international
corporations and wealthy people will
go for it.

Skerrit (43) is the youngest head of government in

the western hemisphere. In January 2004, aged 31, he
became Prime Minister of Dominica and has since also
serves as Minister of Finance, Minister of Foreign
Affairs and as the political leader of the Dominica
Labour Party. PICTURE: Arno Maierbrugger

Morocco sees $10bn

from auto industry
exports by 2020
Reuters
Rabat

orocco expects auto industry exports to reach

an annual 100bn dirhams
($10.2bn) by 2020 as a result of PSA
Peugeot Citroen starting production at its new 557mn ($630mn)
factory.
It will lift the overall industrial
component of gross domestic product (GDP) to 20%, Moroccos Industry Minister Moulay Had Elalamy told Reuters in an interview
last week, adding that the plant will
mean others may come to produce
too.
Unlike many countries in the region, Morocco managed to avoid a
big drop in foreign direct investments in the wake of the global nancial crisis and the Arab Spring
uprisings of 2011, partly by marketing itself as an export base for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
It has attracted a number of big
auto and aerospace investors in recent years, including Delphi, Bombardier and Eaton Corp.
Peugeot unveiled its plan last
June to build the 200,000-vehicle
capacity plant, following up rival
Renault which has two factories
making fully assembled cars in the
kingdom.

Industry as a whole in Morocco

accounts for only 16% of the countrys gross domestic product (GDP),
but this will jump to 20% once Peugeot starts production.
It will go even farther. We will
exceed the 100bn dirhams only in
auto exports by 2020, Elalamy said,
speaking as part of the Reuters Mid-

ready surpassed traditional Moroccan exports such as agriculture and

phosphates. At the end of September, total exports rose 6.2% from a
year earlier to 160.07bn dirhams,
including 35bn dirhams of auto exports against 34bn for phosphate
sales and 31bn of agricultural products.

Morocco expects
auto industry
exports to
reach an annual
100bn dirhams
($10.2bn) by
2020 as a result
of PSA Peugeot
Citroen starting
production at
its new 557mn
($630mn) factory
dle East Investment Summit. And
it is not excluded that Morocco will
attract other car and truck makers
in the near future and could double
these gures, he said.
Elalamy said his department has
been in talks with other foreign
auto industry companies and an announcement would follow. A Moroccan delegation recently met with
Italian carmakers in Turin.
Moroccos auto industry has al-

With Peugeot, we will be at

600,000 vehicles produced annually. That is a critical size and our
target is to reach 1mn vehicles annually in the coming years, the minister said.
The Peugeot plant is located near
the coastal city of Kenitra and will
begin assembling small and subcompact models for Africa and
the Middle East in 2019. An initial annual production capacity of

90,000 vehicles is expected to rise

to 200,000 as sales pick up.
It is a belated step for the Paris-based company to expand into
lower-cost vehicles and emerging
markets, reducing its exposure to
Western Europes relatively stagnant demand and high production
costs.
The plant, meanwhile, will source
60% of components locally, rising to 80% as the supply chain develops. It will have a 4,500-strong
workforce once at the 200,000-vehicle capacity.
We agreed also with Peugeot to
make engines and not only assemble
them in the Moroccan factory, Elalamy said.
The minister added that Peugeot
agreed on 1bn of annual purchases
of parts from local makers and the
opening of an engineering centre
with consulting rm Altran in Casablanca.
That centre has already around
750 Moroccan engineers and qualied technicians, but the gure is expected to rise to 1,500 jobs.
The Moroccan government sees
the countrys GDP growing by 3%
in 2016, slower than an estimated
5% in 2015 as agricultural output
fell from an exceptional 2015. However, non-agricultural activity will
increase by 3.1% in 2016, after 2.5%
growth in 2015.

UAE market regulator appoints acting CEO

Reuters
Dubai

he board of the UAE federal stock market

regulator has appointed Obeid al-Zaabi as
acting chief executive, three sources told
Reuters, suggesting he is the lead candidate to
take the role permanently.
Al-Zaabi is a reform-minded official expected
to push through plans including rules to allow
companies to give employees stock options and
to make it easier for strategic shareholders to

raise or reduce their holdings, one of the sources

said.
He was appointed as temporary head of the
Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) on
Thursday, three sources aware of the matter said
yesterday.
Al-Zaabi makes the move from his role as chief
executive for licensing, supervision and enforcement at the organisation and replaces Abdullah
al-Turi, who stepped down in October.
SCAs board is led by UAE Minister of Economy
Sultan bin Saeed al-Mansouri.
Typically at UAE federal government bodies,

Dubais Limitless said to hold

$517mn payment after pledge
Bloomberg
Dubai
Dubai-based developer Limitless hasnt paid banks about
$517mn it made from a land sale in Saudi Arabia, more
than four months after promising to make the payment
as it restructures debt, two people with knowledge of the
matter said.
The company is refusing to pay creditors until they agree
to a restructuring proposal for an additional $648mn of
debt, the people said last week, asking not to be identified
because the talks are private.
Banks dont agree with the terms of the new offer and are
refusing to approve the deal, leading negotiations to stall,
according to the people.
Government-controlled Limitless in June said it would
pay about 1.9bn dirhams ($517mn), or about 42% of the
companys outstanding bank debt of 4.45bn dirhams, to
lenders after selling a plot of land in Riyadh to Saudi Real
Estate Co. It also agreed to an additional 176mn dirham
payment to trade creditors.
A Limitless spokeswoman, who asked not to be identified,
said private discussions continue with creditors, without
giving further details.

when an appointment is made from within, a

draft circular is sent to all government bodies for
endorsement and is then submitted to the Presidents office to issue a decree for the appointment. It is very rare that government bodies will
not endorse the circular, the sources said.
Al-Turi, who had been in office since 2003,
conrmed his resignation for the rst time yesterday. The government has accepted my request to retire at my behest, he told Reuters.
Sources told Reuters on July 9 that al-Turi
was resigning from his post as chief executive at
the regulator.

Gulf Times
Monday, November 9, 2015

BUSINESS
SAUDI ARABIA
Company Name

QATAR
Company Name
Zad Holding Co
Widam Food Co
Vodafone Qatar
United Development Co
Salam International Investme
Qatar & Oman Investment Co
Qatar Navigation
Qatar National Cement Co
Qatar National Bank
Qatar Islamic Insurance
Qatar Industrial Manufactur
Qatar International Islamic
Qatari Investors Group
Qatar Islamic Bank
Qatar Gas Transport(Nakilat)
Qatar General Insurance & Re
Qatar German Co For Medical
Qatar Fuel Qsc
Qatar Electricity & Water Co
Qatar Cinema & Film Distrib
Qatar Insurance Co
Ooredoo Qsc
National Leasing
Mazaya Qatar Real Estate Dev
Mesaieed Petrochemical Holdi
Al Meera Consumer Goods Co
Medicare Group
Mannai Corporation Qsc
Masraf Al Rayan
Al Khalij Commercial Bank
Industries Qatar
Islamic Holding Group
Gulf Warehousing Company
Gulf International Services
Ezdan Holding Group
Doha Insurance Co
Doha Bank Qsc
Dlala Holding
Commercial Bank Qsc
Barwa Real Estate Co
Al Khaleej Takaful Group
Aamal Co

Lt Price
91.00
50.20
13.55
23.66
12.37
13.40
98.00
104.00
180.00
73.00
42.30
73.70
44.40
118.40
24.24
57.50
15.00
157.00
211.50
38.00
92.50
73.50
16.57
16.30
20.44
226.30
153.50
98.00
41.50
20.62
115.50
99.40
60.00
57.80
18.42
24.98
48.55
21.00
52.50
43.40
32.00
13.60

% Chg
0.00
-3.28
-2.17
-2.23
-1.59
-0.81
-1.11
-3.08
-0.72
-0.68
-0.47
-0.41
0.34
-1.17
-2.81
0.00
-5.84
-2.48
-0.24
0.00
-1.60
-3.29
-0.78
-0.24
-0.29
-2.29
-2.85
0.00
-2.01
-1.81
-2.94
-1.58
-3.23
-4.30
-2.90
0.00
-1.22
-2.78
-0.57
-2.25
-3.76
-2.37

Volume
16,980
309,526
66,982
165,523
43,451
28,897
14,659
179,702
2,029
4,519
23,516
18,547
80,390
367,703
100,797
52,629
80,238
31,377
39,970
50,908
1,065,972
185,538
5,554
1,200
9,484
616,450
1,848
293,652
4,731
15,310
479,911
307,552
64,512
71,127
148,930
209,573
13,500
54,745

SAUDI ARABIA
Company Name
United Wire Factories Compan
Etihad Etisalat Co
Dar Al Arkan Real Estate Dev
Saudi Hollandi Bank
Rabigh Refining And Petroche
Banque Saudi Fransi
Saudi Enaya Cooperative Insu
Mediterranean & Gulf Insuran
Saudi British Bank
Mohammad Al Mojil Group Co
Red Sea Housing Services Co
Takween Advanced Industries
Sabb Takaful
Saudi Arabian Fertilizer Co
National Gypsum
Saudi Ceramic Co
National Gas & Industrializa
Saudi Pharmaceutical Industr
Thimar
National Industrialization C
Saudi Transport And Investme
Saudi Electricity Co
Saudi Arabia Refineries Co
Arriyadh Development Company
Al-Baha Development & Invest
Saudi Research And Marketing
Aldrees Petroleum And Transp
Saudi Vitrified Clay Pipe Co
Jarir Marketing Co
Arab National Bank
Yanbu National Petrochemical
Arabian Cement
Middle East Specialized Cabl
Al Khaleej Training And Educ
Al Sagr Co-Operative Insuran
Trade Union Cooperative Insu
Arabia Insurance Cooperative
Saudi Chemical Company
Fawaz Abdulaziz Alhokair & C
Bupa Arabia For Cooperative
Wafa Insurance
Jabal Omar Development Co
Saudi Basic Industries Corp
Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Co
Etihad Atheeb Telecommunicat
Co For Cooperative Insurance
National Petrochemical Co
Gulf Union Cooperative Insur
Gulf General Cooperative Ins
Basic Chemical Industries
Saudi Steel Pipe Co
Buruj Cooperative Insurance
Mouwasat Medical Services Co
Southern Province Cement Co
Maadaniyah
Yamama Cement Co
Jazan Development Co
Zamil Industrial Investment
Alujain Corporation (Alco)
Tabuk Agricultural Developme
United Co-Operative Assuranc
Qassim Cement/The
Saudi Advanced Industries
Kingdom Holding Co
Saudi Arabian Amiantit Co
Al Jouf Agriculture Developm
Saudi Industrial Development
Bishah Agriculture
Riyad Bank
The National Agriculture Dev
Halwani Bros Co
Arabian Pipes Co
Eastern Province Cement Co
Al Qassim Agricultural Co
Filing & Packing Materials M
Saudi Cable Co
Tihama Advertising & Public
Saudi Investment Bank/The
Astra Industrial Group
Saudi Public Transport Co
Taiba Holding Co
Saudi Industrial Export Co
Saudi Real Estate Co
Saudia Dairy & Foodstuff Co
National Shipping Co Of/The
Methanol Chemicals Co
Ace Arabia Cooperative Insur
Mobile Telecommunications Co
Saudi Arabian Coop Ins Co
Axa Cooperative Insurance
Alsorayai Group
Weqaya For Takaful Insurance
Bank Albilad
Al-Hassan G.I. Shaker Co
Wataniya Insurance Co
Abdullah Al Othaim Markets
Hail Cement

Lt Price
23.39
28.23
6.39
29.46
14.19
27.35
16.28
25.42
25.79
12.55
22.74
40.15
37.03
79.01
17.14
53.35
23.52
34.34
43.37
11.88
57.83
15.08
43.57
18.69
13.50
26.57
45.49
82.50
158.39
25.63
40.92
47.56
9.41
41.88
29.26
20.91
8.55
55.45
66.93
215.67
14.52
56.71
79.96
8.39
5.69
78.58
20.85
13.09
18.50
22.72
22.07
17.85
113.75
71.25
26.45
34.23
15.30
37.19
17.19
15.48
12.35
72.45
13.38
16.42
10.49
40.32
11.61
69.75
12.40
32.61
75.15
14.29
34.80
14.92
39.17
8.34
31.83
18.06
20.99
19.43
33.28
37.99
21.99
134.65
42.64
8.82
55.88
8.95
18.08
16.32
14.96
19.39
23.24
31.56
63.60
85.97
15.19

% Chg
2.14
-0.67
-0.62
-0.14
-1.60
-0.80
-0.73
-0.55
-0.42
0.00
0.84
1.70
-1.80
-1.45
0.18
0.15
0.09
-0.61
9.41
-1.25
-2.71
-4.92
3.89
-0.74
0.00
-0.37
-3.03
-1.19
1.50
1.06
-0.94
-0.46
0.53
-1.71
2.63
-0.05
-1.61
-1.04
-1.57
-0.18
-2.42
1.69
-1.64
-0.12
4.40
0.47
-1.23
3.15
-0.16
0.53
-1.03
-0.11
-2.36
-1.38
0.38
-1.04
9.76
-2.64
-0.23
7.05
1.56
-0.41
2.14
-0.97
0.19
1.77
1.84
0.00
-2.05
1.91
-0.79
-0.28
0.09
8.91
3.35
2.58
-0.75
0.11
-0.24
-1.52
-0.33
2.59
0.09
-2.58
-2.16
-0.34
0.78
0.11
-0.71
0.74
2.54
0.00
2.70
0.73
0.02
0.06
-0.72

Volume
98,635
1,468,082
11,860,008
256,339
963,238
179,199
379,912
586,275
227,814
189,583
494,948
1,321,211
300,977
668,611
266,373
16,853
70,771
1,126,149
1,777,278
1,196,266
3,171,672
771,559
1,012,110
5,213,279
557,446
19,206
39,018
158,992
158,616
102,310
806,686
290,987
762,152
386,060
1,738,484
157,663
58,973
49,383
795,239
619,251
7,248,084
2,513,755
8,186,691
142,011
118,435
681,652
105,068
89,471
202,997
293,554
12,903
22,268
587,379
332,215
2,734,743
618,716
356,702
6,013,332
323,642
44,103
1,054,557
436,956
504,100
319,094
1,312,114
1,638,053
510,282
13,206
1,617,242
83,699
5,099,211
434,691
1,940,613
1,323,653
132,756
368,318
2,919,308
69,837
326,230
307,542
8,717
2,197,599
914,549
50,630
4,600,339
339,423
385,842
436,433
1,126,231
250,785
58,036
37,949
246,908

Saudi Re For Cooperative Rei

Solidarity Saudi Takaful Co
Amana Cooperative Insurance
Alabdullatif Industrial Inv
Saudi Printing & Packaging C
Sanad Cooperative Insurance
Saudi Paper Manufacturing Co
Alinma Bank
Almarai Co
Falcom Saudi Equity Etf
United International Transpo
Hsbc Amanah Saudi 20 Etf
Saudi International Petroche
Falcom Petrochemical Etf
Saudi United Cooperative Ins
Bank Al-Jazira
Al Rajhi Bank
Samba Financial Group
United Electronics Co
Allied Cooperative Insurance
Malath Cooperative & Reinsur
Alinma Tokio Marine
Arabian Shield Cooperative
Savola
Wafrah For Industry And Deve
Fitaihi Holding Group
Tourism Enterprise Co/ Shams
Sahara Petrochemical Co
Herfy Food Services Co

KUWAIT
Lt Price
7.53
8.35
9.02
30.40
20.25
15.23
17.96
14.27
75.06
24.50
49.21
30.10
16.20
23.50
11.39
17.84
50.05
22.18
46.73
17.63
21.17
17.10
30.32
50.75
25.03
17.15
36.26
11.79
101.20

% Chg
-0.13
0.97
3.92
-0.33
-10.00
0.00
-2.66
-1.52
2.28
-2.00
0.76
0.00
-2.82
0.00
-0.52
1.42
-1.40
-0.58
-1.77
-0.84
-0.24
0.88
0.76
0.48
2.16
1.66
3.81
-0.08
0.27

Volume
441,478
1,055,131
2,403,550
4,705
848,153
1,444,876
52,192,141
185,023
270,488
127,332
1,881,092
369,815
1,100,718
3,026,903
699,633
155,187
866,194
1,190,444
559,761
216,190
211,930
629,897
317,962
406,579
1,862,329
4,635

KUWAIT
Company Name
Securities Group Co
Sultan Center Food Products
Kuwait Foundry Co Sak
Kuwait Financial Centre Sak
Ajial Real Estate Entmt
Gulf Glass Manuf Co -Kscc
Kuwait Finance & Investment
National Industries Co Ksc
Kuwait Real Estate Holding C
Securities House/The
Boubyan Petrochemicals Co
Al Ahli Bank Of Kuwait
Ahli United Bank (Almutahed)
National Bank Of Kuwait
Commercial Bank Of Kuwait
Kuwait International Bank
Gulf Bank
Al-Massaleh Real Estate Co
Al Arabiya Real Estate Co
Kuwait Remal Real Estate Co
Alkout Industrial Projects C
Aayan Real Estate Co Sak
Investors Holding Group Co.K
Al-Mazaya Holding Co
Al-Madar Finance & Invt Co
Gulf Petroleum Investment
Mabanee Co Sakc
City Group
Inovest Co Bsc
Kuwait Gypsum Manufacturing
Al-Deera Holding Co
Alshamel International Hold
Mena Real Estate Co
National Slaughter House
Amar Finance & Leasing Co
United Projects Group Kscc
National Consumer Holding Co
Amwal International Investme
Jeeran Holdings
Equipment Holding Co K.S.C.C
Nafais Holding
Safwan Trading & Contracting
Arkan Al Kuwait Real Estate
Gfh Financial Group Bsc
Energy House Holding Co Kscp
Kuwait Slaughter House Co
Kuwait Co For Process Plant
Al Maidan Dental Clinic Co K
National Ranges Company
Al-Themar Real International
Al Ahleia Insurance Co Sak
Wethaq Takaful Insurance Co
Salbookh Trading Co Kscp
Aqar Real Estate Investments
Hayat Communications
Kuwait Packing Materials Mfg
Soor Fuel Marketing Co Ksc
Alargan International Real
Burgan Co For Well Drilling
Kuwait Resorts Co Kscc
Oula Fuel Marketing Co
Palms Agro Production Co
Ikarus Petroleum Industries
Mubarrad Transport Co
Al Mowasat Health Care Co
Shuaiba Industrial Co
Hits Telecom Holding
First Takaful Insurance Co
Kuwaiti Syrian Holding Co
National Cleaning Company
Eyas For High & Technical Ed
United Real Estate Company
Agility
Kuwait & Middle East Fin Inv
Fujairah Cement Industries
Livestock Transport & Tradng
International Resorts Co
National Industries Grp Hold
Marine Services Co
Warba Insurance Co
Kuwait United Poultry Co
First Dubai Real Estate Deve
Al Arabi Group Holding Co
Kuwait Hotels Sak
Mobile Telecommunications Co
Al Safat Real Estate Co
Tamdeen Real Estate Co Ksc
Al Mudon Intl Real Estate Co
Kuwait Cement Co Ksc
Sharjah Cement & Indus Devel
Kuwait Portland Cement Co
Educational Holding Group
Bahrain Kuwait Insurance
Asiya Capital Investments Co
Kuwait Investment Co
Burgan Bank
Kuwait Projects Co Holdings
Al Madina For Finance And In
Kuwait Insurance Co
Al Masaken Intl Real Estate
Intl Financial Advisors
First Investment Co Kscc
Al Mal Investment Company
Bayan Investment Co Kscc
Egypt Kuwait Holding Co Sae
Coast Investment Development
Privatization Holding Compan
Kuwait Medical Services Co
Injazzat Real State Company
Kuwait Cable Vision Sak
Sanam Real Estate Co Kscc
Ithmaar Bank Bsc
Aviation Lease And Finance C
Arzan Financial Group For Fi
Ajwan Gulf Real Estate Co
Manafae Investment Co Ksc
Kuwait Business Town Real Es
Future Kid Entertainment And
Specialities Group Holding C
Abyaar Real Eastate Developm
Dar Al Thuraya Real Estate C
Al-Dar National Real Estate
Kgl Logistics Company Kscc
Combined Group Contracting
Zima Holding Co Ksc

Lt Price
120.00
73.00
232.00
108.00
182.00
495.00
44.00
208.00
27.50
51.00
580.00
370.00
530.00
840.00
520.00
230.00
275.00
48.50
34.00
42.00
0.00
82.00
29.50
106.00
0.00
54.00
870.00
410.00
58.00
0.00
37.00
0.00
26.50
62.00
0.00
700.00
0.00
0.00
63.00
69.00
162.00
330.00
110.00
42.00
47.50
0.00
206.00
0.00
25.50
90.00
410.00
39.50
87.00
80.00
47.50
390.00
108.00
170.00
99.00
102.00
116.00
0.00
100.00
84.00
0.00
390.00
31.00
65.00
29.00
46.00
310.00
96.00
510.00
33.00
75.00
138.00
34.00
146.00
110.00
112.00
178.00
55.00
84.00
0.00
370.00
0.00
510.00
37.00
380.00
88.00
1,120.00
216.00
0.00
40.50
108.00
395.00
600.00
53.00
300.00
50.00
34.50
67.00
36.50
39.00
190.00
37.50
54.00
22.00
76.00
27.50
44.50
47.00
224.00
41.00
28.50
64.00
41.50
0.00
87.00
30.50
0.00
30.00
80.00
790.00
99.00

% Chg
0.00
1.39
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-5.38
0.00
0.00
-5.56
5.45
0.00
-1.85
1.20
0.00
0.00
3.77
0.00
0.00
1.20
0.00
2.50
1.72
0.00
0.00
0.00
-2.25
0.00
0.00
0.00
-1.33
0.00
1.92
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
1.47
0.00
0.00
0.00
-1.18
2.15
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
2.60
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-3.33
0.00
0.00
1.20
0.00
-6.02
-1.59
0.00
3.57
-1.08
0.00
0.00
0.00
4.76
0.00
2.99
0.00
1.39
5.77
1.82
1.14
-1.79
0.00
0.00
1.37
0.00
-1.92
-1.33
1.33
0.00
-3.45
0.00
0.00
5.19
-1.82
-1.25
0.00
0.00
0.00
-1.96
0.00
1.52
4.29
0.00
0.00
7.14
0.00
0.00
0.00
-3.51
5.95
0.00
0.00
-2.38
1.79
8.47
0.00
0.00
0.00
-3.17
0.00
-1.64
1.27
1.28
5.32

Volume
158
58,412
30,000
60,000
1,005
10,012
10,100
2,119
8,250
7,391,627
838,626
32,000
150,982
2,455,537
271,178
222,237
107,000
171,895
622,200
211,000
114,200
14,669,888
524,500
2,882,818
95,870
3,110
70,000
178,490
627,700
35,000
571
548,440
1,031,217
245,000
9,750
30,000
4,403,987
6,500
50
6,840,761
6,750
2
5,000
13,100
40,000
8,540
20,554
258,191
1,334,371
300
275,800
62,104
52,553
1,161,500
166
2,002,640
8,010
875,800
870,441
40,000
2,166
3,155,316
27,284
1,500
100
1,000
55,940
23,251
2,986
520,609
463,059
200,000
1,134,649
6,000
1,097,000
11,590
500,000
179,623
5,000
1,178,286
130,000
1,718,453
1,064,392
2,440,766
49,630
40,000
2,062,869
100
2,335,400
1,268,800
100
3,225,045
88,496
10,000
1,647,100
216
1
2,066,701
100,200
137,510
13,360
399,289
1,468,844
150
5,011,229
8,008,421
1,900,801
15,000
2,308,104

Company Name
Qurain Holding Co
Boubyan Intl Industries Hold
Gulf Investment House Ksc
Boubyan Bank K.S.C
Ahli United Bank B.S.C
Osos Holding Group Co
Al-Eid Food Ksc
Qurain Petrochemical Industr
Advanced Technology Co
Ekttitab Holding Co Sak
Kout Food Group Ksc
Real Estate Trade Centers Co
Acico Industries Co Kscc
Kipco Asset Management Co
National Petroleum Services
Alimtiaz Investment Co Kscc
Ras Al Khaimah White Cement
Kuwait Reinsurance Co Ksc
Kuwait & Gulf Link Transport
Human Soft Holding Co Ksc
Automated Systems Co Kscc
Metal & Recycling Co
Gulf Franchising Holding Co
Al-Enmaa Real Estate Co
National Mobile Telecommuni
Al Bareeq Holding Co Kscc
Housing Finance Co Sak
Al Salam Group Holding Co
United Foodstuff Industries
Al Aman Investment Company
Mashaer Holdings Co Ksc
Manazel Holding
Mushrif Trading & Contractin
Tijara And Real Estate Inves
Kuwait Building Materials
Jazeera Airways Co Ksc
Commercial Real Estate Co
Future Communications Co
National International Co
Taameer Real Estate Invest C
Gulf Cement Co
Heavy Engineering And Ship B
Refrigeration Industries & S
National Real Estate Co
Al Safat Energy Holding Comp
Kuwait National Cinema Co
Danah Alsafat Foodstuff Co
Independent Petroleum Group
Kuwait Real Estate Co Ksc
Salhia Real Estate Co Ksc
Gulf Cable & Electrical Ind
Al Nawadi Holding Co Ksc
Kuwait Finance House
Gulf North Africa Holding Co
Hilal Cement Co
Osoul Investment Kscc
Gulf Insurance Group Ksc
Kuwait Food Co (Americana)
Umm Al Qaiwain Cement Indust

OMAN
Lt Price
7.00
36.50
37.00
435.00
212.00
80.00
0.00
190.00
0.00
37.50
540.00
27.00
280.00
102.00
600.00
74.00
102.00
0.00
49.50
940.00
325.00
65.00
94.00
65.00
1,060.00
104.00
33.50
44.00
140.00
62.00
110.00
33.50
73.00
42.50
200.00
475.00
85.00
114.00
64.00
28.50
82.00
146.00
325.00
83.00
13.50
970.00
88.00
265.00
61.00
340.00
405.00
80.00
570.00
35.50
144.00
39.00
0.00
2,300.00
81.00

% Chg
-6.67
0.00
0.00
1.16
0.00
0.00
0.00
1.06
0.00
-1.32
-6.90
1.89
1.82
0.00
-1.64
0.00
0.00
0.00
3.13
0.00
0.00
0.00
-6.00
1.56
-3.64
0.00
1.52
0.00
0.00
-1.59
0.00
0.00
4.29
0.00
0.00
0.00
1.19
5.56
-1.54
0.00
0.00
2.82
0.00
2.47
-3.57
0.00
1.15
0.00
0.00
4.62
-1.22
0.00
0.00
2.90
0.00
1.30
0.00
1.77
0.00

Volume
338,600
1,175,925
1,383,429
251,156
305,100
256,022
78,732
8,501,524
149,100
101
50
285,000
2,000
2,000,200
68,375
93,000
247
5,000
2,090
1,500
547,281
3,202
40,000
450,500
4,429,074
30,000
643,000
54,915
848,787
4,264,456
100,000
2
57,568
180,516
8,750
85,010
455,000
199
95,600
25,495
47,664
2,444,650
3,400
2,075,184
794
64,109
35,100
21,587
170,000
346,309
3,370,081
1
11,260
2,700
2,740

OMAN
Company Name
Voltamp Energy Saog
United Power/Energy Co- Pref
United Power Co Saog
United Finance Co
Ubar Hotels & Resorts
Takaful Oman
Taageer Finance
Sweets Of Oman
Sohar Power Co
Sohar Poultry
Smn Power Holding Saog
Shell Oman Marketing - Pref
Shell Oman Marketing
Sharqiyah Desalination Co Sa
Sembcorp Salalah Power & Wat
Salalah Port Services
Salalah Mills Co
Salalah Beach Resort Saog
Sahara Hospitality
Renaissance Services Saog
Raysut Cement Co
Port Service Corporation
Phoenix Power Co Saoc
Packaging Co Ltd
Ooredoo
Ominvest
Oman United Insurance Co
Oman Textile Holding Co Saog
Oman Telecommunications Co
Oman Refreshment Co
Oman Packaging
Oman Orix Leasing Co.
Oman Oil Marketing Company
Oman National Engineering An
Oman Investment & Finance
Oman Intl Marketing
Oman Hotels & Tourism Co
Oman Foods International Soa
Oman Flour Mills
Oman Fisheries Co
Oman Fiber Optics
Oman Europe Foods Industries
Oman Education & Training In
Oman Chromite
Oman Chlorine
Oman Ceramic Com
Oman Cement Co
Oman Cables Industry
Oman Agricultural Dev
Oman & Emirates Inv(Om)50%
Natl Aluminium Products
National Securities
National Real Estate Develop
National Pharmaceutical
National Mineral Water
National Hospitality Institu
National Gas Co
National Finance Co
National Detergent Co Saog
National Biscuit Industries
National Bank Of Oman Saog
Muscat Thread Mills Co
Muscat National Holding
Muscat Gases Company Saog
Muscat Finance
Majan Glass Company
Majan College
Hsbc Bank Oman
Hotels Management Co Interna
Gulf Stone
Gulf Plastic Industries Co
Gulf Mushroom Company
Gulf Investments Services
Gulf Invest. Serv. Pref-Shar
Gulf International Chemicals
Gulf Hotels (Oman) Co Ltd
Global Fin Investment
Galfar Engineering&Contract
Galfar Engineering -Prefer
Financial Services Co.
Financial Corp/The
Dhofar University
Dhofar Tourism
Dhofar Poultry
Dhofar Intl Development
Dhofar Insurance
Dhofar Fisheries & Food Indu
Dhofar Cattlefeed
Dhofar Beverages Co
Construction Materials Ind
Computer Stationery Inds
Bankmuscat Saog
Bank Sohar
Bank Nizwa
Bank Dhofar Saog

Lt Price
0.44
1.00
2.77
0.12
0.13
0.11
0.13
1.34
0.38
0.21
0.76
1.05
2.00
4.59
2.70
0.65
1.49
1.38
2.50
0.17
1.11
0.16
0.15
0.48
0.77
0.50
0.25
0.37
1.63
2.48
0.28
0.14
2.00
0.26
0.18
0.52
0.24
0.48
0.47
0.06
5.26
1.00
0.19
3.64
0.53
0.45
0.45
1.94
1.45
0.11
0.23
0.17
5.00
0.10
0.06
2.05
0.33
0.15
0.70
3.75
0.32
0.13
1.86
0.83
0.14
0.22
0.52
0.12
1.25
0.11
0.39
0.39
0.10
0.12
0.28
10.50
0.10
0.09
0.39
0.17
0.11
1.47
0.49
0.18
0.40
0.21
1.28
0.22
0.26
0.04
0.26
0.54
0.18
0.08
0.24

% Chg
0.46
0.00
0.00
-1.60
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-0.74
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-0.59
-0.45
0.00
-0.65
0.00
0.00
0.00
-0.80
-1.60
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-1.08
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-1.15
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-2.78
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00

Volume
10,309
266,533
6,888
12,125
595,000
61,000
104,433
8,000
530
188,827
598,000
37,272
1,330
10,000
3,000
100,000
45,270
5,000
285,890
65,500
2,271,505
539,775
220,000
100,000

Company Name
Areej Vegetable Oils
Aloula Co
Al-Omaniya Financial Service
Al-Hassan Engineering Co
Al-Fajar Al-Alamia Co
Al-Anwar Ceramic Tiles Co
Al Suwadi Power
Al Shurooq Inv Ser
Al Sharqiya Invest Holding
Al Maha Petroleum Products M
Al Maha Ceramics Co Saoc
Al Madina Takaful Insurance
Al Madina Investment Co
Al Kamil Power Co
Al Jazerah Services -Pfd
Al Jazeera Steel Products Co
Al Jazeera Services
Al Izz Islamic Bank
Al Buraimi Hotel
Al Batinah Power
Al Batinah Hotels
Al Batinah Dev & Inv
Al Anwar Holdings Saog
Ahli Bank
Acwa Power Barka Saog
Abrasives Manufacturing Co S
Asaffa Foods Saog
0Man Oil Marketing Co-Pref
#N/A Invalid Security
#N/A Invalid Security
#N/A Invalid Security
#N/A Invalid Security
#N/A Invalid Security
#N/A Invalid Security
#N/A Invalid Security

Lt Price
5.51
0.53
0.31
0.09
0.75
0.34
0.22
1.04
0.12
1.96
0.45
0.09
0.07
0.31
0.55
0.18
0.41
0.07
0.88
0.21
1.13
0.10
0.19
0.20
0.81
0.05
0.86
0.25
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00

% Chg
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
1.42
0.00
-2.52
0.00
0.00
0.00
6.25
0.00
0.00
0.00
-0.97
-1.35
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-1.58
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00

Volume
6,000
40,000
35,825
603,434
7,000
135,786
539,700
-

UAE
Company Name
Waha Capital Pjsc
United Insurance Company
United Arab Bank Pjsc
Union National Bank/Abu Dhab
Union Insurance Co
Union Cement Co
Umm Al Qaiwain Cement Indust
Sharjah Islamic Bank
Sharjah Insurance Company
Sharjah Group
Sharjah Cement & Indus Devel
Ras Al-Khaimah National Insu
Ras Al Khaimah White Cement
Ras Al Khaimah Ceramics
Ras Al Khaimah Cement Co Psc
Ras Al Khaima Poultry
Rak Properties
Ooredoo Qsc
Oman & Emirates Inv(Emir)50%
Nbad Oneshare Msci Uae Etf
National Takaful Company
National Marine Dredging Co
National Investor Co/The
National Corp Tourism & Hote
National Bank Of Umm Al Qaiw
National Bank Of Ras Al-Khai
National Bank Of Fujairah
National Bank Of Abu Dhabi
Methaq Takaful Insurance
Manazel Real Estate Pjsc
Invest Bank
Intl Fish Farming Co Pjsc
Insurance House
Gulf Pharmaceutical Industri
Gulf Medical Projects
Gulf Cement Co
Green Crescent Insurance Co
Fujairah Cement Industries
Fujairah Building Industries
Foodco Holding
First Gulf Bank
Finance House
Eshraq Properties Co Pjsc
Emirates Telecom Group Co
Emirates Insurance Co. (Psc)
Emirates Driving Company
Dana Gas
Commercial Bank Internationa
Bank Of Sharjah
Arkan Building Materials Co
Alkhaleej Investment
Aldar Properties Pjsc
Al Wathba National Insurance
Al Khazna Insurance Co
Al Fujairah National Insuran
Al Dhafra Insurance Co. P.S.
Al Buhaira National Insuranc
Al Ain Ahlia Ins. Co.
Agthia Group Pjsc
Abu Dhabi Ship Building Co
Abu Dhabi Natl Co For Buildi
Abu Dhabi National Takaful C
Abu Dhabi National Insurance
Abu Dhabi National Hotels
Abu Dhabi National Energy Co
Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank

Lt Price
2.12
2.00
5.38
5.30
1.20
1.14
1.08
1.52
3.85
1.35
0.99
4.10
1.30
3.48
0.83
1.60
0.52
74.00
1.38
6.26
1.08
4.51
0.72
4.50
3.10
6.63
3.05
8.52
0.77
0.60
2.10
6.95
0.81
2.50
2.50
1.12
0.73
1.35
1.71
4.00
11.95
2.22
0.58
15.05
6.72
5.00
0.43
1.55
1.55
0.90
2.45
2.28
4.50
0.30
300.00
4.80
2.50
60.00
7.60
2.80
0.51
4.73
3.15
2.75
0.46
4.15

% Chg
-1.40
0.00
0.00
-1.85
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-1.98
0.00
0.00
-0.57
-5.68
0.00
-5.45
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-0.30
0.00
-0.93
-6.10
-1.64
-6.67
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-10.00
0.00
-1.65
0.00
-3.33
-0.99
0.00
0.00
-4.44
0.00
0.00
8.43
0.00
-5.79
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-2.56
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-2.13
-1.43

Volume
200,000
98,747
130,556
1,600
1,324,000
26,485
1,835,315
494,259
277,241
2,962,884
548,324
100,504
39,632
511
3,385,888
5,121,132
2,443,434
10,417,733
38,000
12,930,748
11,326
328,071
608,266
918,307

BAHRAIN
Company Name
Zain Bahrain Bscc
United Paper Industries Bsc
United Gulf Investment Corp
United Gulf Bank
Trafco Group Bsc
Takaful International Co
Taib Bank -$Us
Seef Properties
Securities & Investment Co
National Hotels Co
National Bank Of Bahrain Bsc
Nass Corp Bsc
Khaleeji Commercial Bank
Ithmaar Bank Bsc
Investcorp Bank -$Us
Inovest Co Bsc
Gulf Monetary Group
Gulf Hotel Group B.S.C
Global Investment House Kpsc
Gfh Financial Group Bsc
Esterad Investment Co B.S.C.
Delmon Poultry Co
Bmmi Bsc
Bmb Investment Bank
Bbk Bsc
Bankmuscat Saog
Banader Hotels Co
Bahrain Tourism Co
Bahrain Telecom Co
Bahrain Ship Repair & Engin
Bahrain National Holding
Bahrain Kuwait Insurance
Bahrain Islamic Bank
Bahrain Flour Mills Co
Bahrain Family Leisure Co
Bahrain Duty Free Complex
Bahrain Commercial Facilitie
Bahrain Cinema Co
Bahrain Car Park Co
Arab Insurance Group(Bsc)-$
Arab Banking Corp Bsc-$Us
Aluminium Bahrain Bsc
Albaraka Banking Group
Al-Salam Bank
Al-Ahlia Insurance Co

Lt Price
0.18
0.00
0.00
0.39
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.20
0.00
0.00
0.70
0.14
0.06
0.15
650.00
0.17
0.00
0.83
0.00
0.17
0.21
0.00
0.86
0.00
0.43
0.00
`
0.00
0.32
0.00
0.42
0.59
0.10
0.00
0.00
0.85
0.70
1.40
0.00
0.42
0.50
0.43
0.62
0.11
0.30

% Chg
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-0.71
-5.48
1.79
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-0.93
0.00
-4.55
0.00

Volume
10,000
12,457,235
29,100
3,000
31,506
639,621
445,000
100
37,782
100,000
50,000
200,000
5,000
5,000
25,119
4,000
10,000
102,958
30,000
3,555
50,000
25,000
20,000
42,000
11,752
108,332
22,748

LATEST MARKET CLOSING FIGURES

12

Gulf Times
Monday, November 9, 2015

BUSINESS

Meet worlds most confident

consumers flush with credit
Bloomberg
Mumbai
As China champions a transformation in
its economy toward domestic demand,
it could do with the type of sentiment
burst that its biggest neighbour is now
enjoying.
Consumers in India - now the fastestgrowing big economy - are the worlds
most confident, according to Nielsen.
Surging personal wealth is pushing an
unprecedented number of Indians to tour
the globe, and companies are offering
ever more exclusive attractions such as
homes sold by invitation only. Indians
are also taking on more credit, helping
to bolster spending power as the festival
season approaches.
Higher consumption in a retail sector that
accounts for about half the economy will
help Prime Minister Narendra Modi get
companies to invest more and create jobs
for a burgeoning population. Spending
could rise further following four interest
rate cuts and a scheduled pay hike for
state employees.
Consumption will provide a kick-start,
said Devendra Kumar Pant, chief economist at New Delhi-based India Ratings and
Research, the local unit of Fitch Ratings.
This will lead to higher demand that will
boost capacity utilization, and eventually
push companies to expand, he said.
The continuing challenge of a global
economic slowdown means it will take
time to use up Indias manufacturing
slack - about 1.5 years until capacity
utilisation reaches around 85%, Pant said,
from 71.5% now. Price competition means
it may take time for consumption gains to
be reflected on corporate balance sheets,
he added.
Cheaper fuel amid a global commodity
slump and sliding inflation has left more
cash in the hands of consumers. As average household incomes triple to $18,448
over the decade through 2020, Indias

retail sales will double from current levels

to $1tn, the Boston Consulting Group
estimated in a February report.
Indias benchmark equity index rallied
27% in dollar terms last year following
the election of the most stable government since 1984. That was one of the top
five performances among more than 90
indexes tracked by Bloomberg. Rupee
bonds have earned investors 11.4% over
the past 12 months, the highest in Asia.
The number of rich Indians rose a worldbeating 26% in 2014, according to a report
from Cap Gemini and RBC Wealth Management. They also borrow a lot - second
only compared with their peers in the
Netherlands - and among their baubles
are homes in gated communities they can
buy only if invited to.
The market for ultra-exclusive, by
invitation only homes may be small, but
it is growing, Ashwinder Raj Singh, chief
executive officer for residential services
at Jones Lang LaSalle India, wrote in a
September report.
Its too early to reach a conclusion on
whether the consumption surge will be
sustainable, said Rupa Rege Nitsure, chief
economist at L&T Financial Services Ltd.
Credit going toward durable consumer
products such as TVs and smartphones
remain far from their peak levels - while
picking up for the Diwali-to-Christmas
festival season, she said. Loan-growth
numbers also are flattered by lower levels
from last year.
In rural areas - which still make up most
of the population - spending could be impaired by below-average monsoon rains
that have hurt agriculture.
The state of the economy, deficit monsoons and volatility in the job market are
prevailing issues, Roosevelt DSouza, senior vice president for Nielsen India Region,
said in the November 3 report. That said,
the belief in the fundamental prospects of
Indias economic future appear unshaken
and the proportion of consumers who see
brighter days ahead are growing.

Advertisements for a Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) store are displayed in the Select Citywalk mall in the Saket area of New Delhi last month. Consumers in India - now
the fastest-growing big economy - are the worlds most confident, according to Nielsen.

Gulf Times
Monday, November 9, 2015

13

BUSINESS

China trade fall signals more

stimulus measures coming
Bloomberg
Beijing

A man walks past a partly empty container terminal in Hong Kong. Chinas exports fell for a fourth straight month and imports matched a record stretch of declines,
signalling that the mounting drag from slower global growth will push policy makers toward expanding stimulus.
the rst 10 months from a year earlier, while those to the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations increased
4.2%. Shipments to India rose 8.9%.
Output this year is on pace for the
slowest expansion in a quarter century.
The worlds second-largest economy
grew 6.9% in the three months through
September from a year earlier, the slowest quarterly increase since the rst
three months of 2009. Fourth-quarter
growth will be at the same 6.9% pace,
according to economists surveyed by
Bloomberg.
The International Monetary Fund
last month cut its outlook for global

growth this year to 3.1% from a July

forecast of 3.3%. The world economy
will expand 3.6% next year, the IMF
said, less than the 3.8% it projected
in July.
Chinas imports declined for a 12th
month, matching a record losing streak
from 2009. Sundays report showed
the value of imported iron ore, crude oil
and coal all slumped more than 40% in
the rst 10 months of 2015 from a year
earlier, highlighting lacklustre demand
from Chinese factories and construction sites.
Imports from all 10 of the major
trade partners listed by the customs

administration declined in the rst 10

months. Imports from Australia, a major source of Chinas iron ore during the
real estate boom, plunged 25.7%.
Top leaders have signalled that they
wont tolerate a sharp slowdown. President Xi Jinping said last week that average annual growth should be no less
than 6.5% in the next ve years to realise the nations goal to double 2010
GDP and per capita income by 2020.
China still has ample ammunition,
with a relatively small scal decit and
a central government with a light debt
load. The central bank still locks up
17.5% of bank deposits from the big-

gest lenders as required reserves, even

after recent reductions. The record
trade surplus helped spur a surprise
increase in foreign-exchange reserves
in October despite an erosion of holdings after the PBoC intervened to boost
the yuan. The central banks stockpile
rose to $3.53tn last month from $3.51tn
at the end of September, the PBoC said
Saturday.
The large trade surplus could offset
capital outow and curb expectations
for the yuans depreciation, Liu Ligang,
chief Greater China economist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group in
Hong Kong, wrote in a note.

China to resume IPOs by year-end as stocks enter bull market

Bloomberg
Hong Kong

hina will lift a ve-month freeze

on initial public offerings by the
end of the year, removing one
of its key measures of support for the
stock market as equities recover from a
$5tn rout.
New share offerings will restart after improvements to the listing system,
Deng Ge, a China Securities Regulatory
Commission spokesman, said at a briefing in Beijing. SGX FTSE China A50 Index futures dropped 0.7% in Singapore
amid concern that new offerings will divert funds from existing equities.
The resumption suggests authorities

Bloomberg
Mumbai

hinas exports fell for a fourth

straight month and imports
matched a record stretch of declines, signalling that the mounting
drag from slower global growth will
push policy makers toward expanding
stimulus.
Overseas shipments dropped 6.9%
in October in dollar terms, the customs
administration said yesterday, a bigger
decline than estimated by all 31 economists in a Bloomberg survey. Weaker
demand for coal, iron and other commodities for Chinas declining heavy
industries helped drag imports down
18.8% in dollar terms, leaving a record
trade surplus of $61.6bn.
The report signals that policy makers may need to unleash more scal
stimulus to support growth even after
the Peoples Bank of China cut the main
interest rate six times in the last year to
a record low and devalued the currency.
The government has already relaxed
borrowing rules for local authorities,
and the top economic planning body
has stepped up project approvals.
The October trade data keep pressure on for more domestic easing, said
Louis Kuijs, head of Asia economics
at Oxford Economics in Hong Kong.
Measures are likely to continue to focused on shoring up domestic demand
rather than weakening the currency.
And over time the role of scal policy
expansion should rise.
Fiscal stimulus this year includes
more infrastructure spending and expanding the lending capacity for the
China Development Bank and other
policy banks. The PBoC has also made
repeated reductions to the amount of
reserves required of lenders.
Exports to Japan slumped 9% in
the rst 10 months from a year earlier,
while those to the European Union declined 3.7%. Shipments to Hong Kong
dropped 11.7% during the same period.
Exports continue to face structural
headwinds, said Rajiv Biswas, AsiaPacic chief economist at IHS Global
Insight in Singapore.
With recent economic data continuing to indicate some moderation in
Chinese economic growth during the
second half of 2015, the Chinese government may utilise additional monetary and scal stimulus measures to
boost gross domestic product growth
in 2016.
Exports to the US, Chinas largest trading partner, jumped 5.8% in

VW valuation
without
scandal
makes Tata
a top pick

are becoming more condent the stock

market can stand on its own after the
Shanghai Composite Index rallied back
into a bull market this week. The move
will also help Chinese companies tap
into an important source of nancing
as they seek to cut debt levels from near
record highs.
There will be short-term damage to
sentiment in the market, said Ronald
Wan, Hong Kong-based chief executive officer at Partners Capital International. But the government has to
proceed with market reform and the
timing for IPOs will be better now than
next year as the market seems to have
some strength.
The rally in China follows an unprecedented state campaign to prop

up share prices, along with increased

monetary stimulus to combat an economic slowdown.
While the support has helped revive condence among local investors,
foreigners have been selling mainland
equities through the Shanghai-Hong
Kong exchange link for four straight
weeks. The Shanghai Composite
climbed 1.9% to its highest close in 11
weeks on Friday before the CSRC announcement, taking gains since its August 26 low to 23%.
Unlike in most major stock markets,
Chinese regulators control the timing
and pricing of new listings. While policy makers have pledged to loosen their
grip on the process, almost all of this
years deals have been priced at levels

below 23 times earnings. The valuation

cap has led to nearly guaranteed gains
once new shares start trading, spurring
investors to place bids worth hundreds
of billions of dollars during each round
of new listings.
Ten of the 28 companies that were in
the process of listing when the freeze
began will restart the process after
November 20, said another CSRC ofcial at the same brieng, who asked
not to be identied because of agency
rules. It will take two weeks for the 10
to complete the process, while the remaining 18 will sell shares by the end
of the year, Deng said. Separately, the
CSRC suspended Shenwan Hongyuan
Group and China Galaxy Securities Co
from opening new investor accounts.

Before the stock market started tumbling in June, Chinese authorities had
endorsed the use of equity nancing as
an alternative to debt, which becomes
more difficult for many companies to
repay as economic growth slows. The
aggregate debt- to-equity ratio for
companies in the Shanghai Composite rose to the highest level since 2005
in January, while the McKinsey Global
Institute estimates corporate liabilities
reached 125% of gross domestic product in 2014.
IPOs have to be resumed given
that the stock market should be functioning for companies to raise capital
and that should help the economy,
Wenjie Lu, a Shanghai-based strategist at UBS Group.

ata Motors, the worlds

most-loved automaker by
equity analysts, is trading in the stock market like its
scandal-hit Volkswagen.
The Indian manufacturer
of the Jaguar and Land Rover
brands is the top-rated stock
among the 26 biggest automakers worldwide, with a recommendation consensus of 4.8 on
a Bloomberg scale where 5 is a
unanimous buy.
Yet its shares have tumbled 19% this year, dragging
valuations to the same level as
Volkswagen - which is recalling
millions of vehicles after cheating on diesel emissions.
Investors are underestimating
Tatas potential to boost earnings from new products, which
will offset falling Chinese demand for luxury vehicles, according to Credit Suisse Group.
The company trades at 8 times
projected 12-month earnings,
the third-cheapest level among
members of Indias benchmark
S&P BSE Sensex index.
The Jaguar Land Rover unit
has a very strong product cycle
in the coming months, said Jatin Chawla, an analyst at Credit
Suisse in Mumbai.
The volume trend, which has
been attish overall, is likely to
start improving to double-digit
growth from November.
Chawla has an outperform
rating on the stock, which he
predicts will climb 24% over the
next 12 months from Fridays
close.
The shares fell 1.9% to
Rs396.2. Tata has 47 analyst
ratings equivalent to buy, three
neutral recommendations and
two sells.
Investors are starting to turn
more bullish. Franklin Templeton Asset Management India
bought more than 2mn shares
of Tata Motors in September,
when the stock reached a twoyear low, while ICICI Prudential
Asset Management Co acquired
1.8mn shares the following
month.
Tata Motors is the top-performer on the 30-member
Sensex this quarter with a 33%
gain.
US sales at the Jaguar Land
Rover division, which brings
about 83% of Tata Motorss revenue, surged 76% in October,
boosted by demand for Range
Rover and Evoque sport- utility
vehicles. New models include
the Jaguar XE and Discovery
Sport.
The economic slowdown in
China, which contributes about
29% of revenue, has dragged
down prot for four straight
quarters.
Tata Motors reported an unexpected net loss of Rs4.3bn
($65mn) in the September
quarter, compared with a
Rs32.9bn profit a year earlier,
the company said after trading
hours on Friday.
Jaguar Land Rover suffered
a 92mn loss, and Tata Motors took a one-time charge of
Rs24.93bn on damages to the
vehicles of its luxury unit from a
blast at Tianjin port where they
were stored.

Will Japan Post IPO teach US post office to privatise?

Bloomberg
New York
Japan Post went public last week and
managed to raise $12bn, making a
national mail carrier responsible for
this years most successful initial public
offering. Thats a lot of money at a time
when mail is disappearing and the
US Postal Service, the worlds largest
deliverer of letters and parcels, is awash
in red ink.
Much of the American commentary
about the Japan Post Holdings IPO has
noted how differently the Japanese
run their postal service. In 2014, for
instance, mail delivery accounted for
only 12% of Japan Posts revenueand
74% came from such nondelivery
businesses as life insurance sold at
24,646 post offices.
Another 14% flowed from banking
operations. Japan Post sold shares
in the three businesses and plans
eventually to spin them off as separate
companies.
By contrast, 95% of USPS sales come

from transporting mail. And unlike their

Japanese counterparts, American letter
carriers make their appointed rounds
in ageing white trucks rather than red
scooters.
But there is an important similarity
between the Japanese and American
postal services: Both organisations
have endured sharp declines in their
mail volume. In the fiscal year ended
March, Japan Post delivered 18bn
piecesor 3bn fewer than in 2007
and that helps explains its ongoing
transformation into a package delivery
company. Earlier this year, Japan
Post paid $4.6bn for Toll Holdings, an
Australian logistics company, which
made the postal service more attractive
to investors.
Thats a proven strategy. In the first
major postal privatisation, Deutsche
Post conducted a successful IPO
after purchasing 50% of DHL, the
international parcel delivery company.
Deutsche Post shares went on to attract
considerable attention for investors
during the 2000 IPO.
At the time, USPS also talked about

going private. But postal worker

unions and their allies in President Bill
Clintons White House didnt want to
hear about it.
And theres been no talk of privatizing
the American postal service.
Perhaps the successful Japan Post IPO
will get people in Washington thinking
more adventurously again. Last year,
the USPS delivered 155bn mail pieces,
or 27% fewer than the peak reached in
2006.
The package segment was the only
part of the business that increased by
volume, up by a healthy 8%.
Naturally, the USPS is trying to morph
into more of a package delivery
operation too.
But its white trucks are 25 years old,
and they were designed when the
USPS transported more letters than
anything else. The USPS hopes to
replace its fleet of 190,000 vehiclesat
a likely cost of $5bn.
The government agency, which had a
$5.5bn net loss last year, just doesnt
have that kind of money.
Congress has to come up with a plan to

Pedestrians walk past a post office in Tokyo. Much of the American commentary about the Japan Post IPO has noted how
differently the Japanese run their postal service.
upgrade the postal fleet, but perhaps
this is a moment to think bigger.
Maybe its time for the USPS to pair up
with an airfreight company and turn

itself into a global package delivery

business, just as Deutsche Post and
Japan Post have done. This time around
the American postal worker unions

may not be a problem. Declining mail

means fewer jobs. Since 2006, the
USPS has eliminated 30% of its full-time
employees.

14

Gulf Times
Monday, November 9, 2015

BUSINESS

Banks still struggling to make money in the bond market

Reuters
London

anks struggled again to make

money trading bonds, currencies and commodities in the
third quarter, as regulatory changes
squeezed liquidity and intensied the
pressure to cut costs, staff and activity.
Revenue and prot fell for most of
the worlds major trading banks in the
three months to September, and the
outlook for next year points to further
declines, especially in Europe.
Revenue plunged at some major US
institutions, too, but most are in better
shape than their European counterparts. They are expected to continue

gaining market share in xed income,

currency and commodities (FICC).
FICC trading revenue at 13 of the
worlds biggest banks was $16.8bn in
the third quarter, according to data
analysis rm Tricumen. That was
down almost 20% from $20.86bn the
same period a year ago.
The conundrum they face is how
much further they can cut before losing market share.
Cost cuts are likely to target specic
areas of their trading.
Traders life was made easy for a
long time. Those days have come to an
end. The question is who wants to be
market maker to all men, said Peter
Hahn, senior lecturer in nance at Cass
Business School.

Investment banks main trading

partners over the last 20 years have
been other nancial institutions. So
the revenue potential has been reduced. The landscape has changed, he
said.
According to Morgan Stanley analysts, FICC revenues this year across
US and European banks will be $82bn,
down from $88bn last year, and they
expect the trend to continue. Weakness in Europe will lead to a decline
to $80bn next year and $77bn in 2017.
In 2009, global FICC revenues were
$157bn.
Post-crisis regulatory changes are
forcing banks to hold more capital and
liquidity, effectively making them less
able to trade.

The reduction in market-making

is drying up broader market liquidity.
Against this backdrop, banks are unlikely to expand FICC trading anytime
soon.
Seven years after the crash, banks
are still struggling to adjust, although
US banks are a few years ahead of Europeans in cleaning up balance sheets
and operations, analysts say.
The three-decade bull market in
bonds could be near an end, too. Global interest rates and bond yields are
at all-time lows and in some cases
negative and the Federal reserve is
close to raising US rates for the rst
time since June 2006.
Even at banks where FICC trading
held up in the third quarter, the outlook

isnt rosy. Deutsche Banks FICC revenue rose 20%, but it is exiting some
products, including market making in
uncleared Credit Default Swaps, certain legacy rates products and agency
residential mortgage-backed securities.
Germanys biggest lender recorded
a 6bn loss in the quarter, scrapped its
dividend for the rst timer and said it
would axe 15,000 jobs.
Credit Suisse said it will shed 1,600
jobs in Switzerland over the next three
years and cut investment banking staff
in London. It will also reduce activities
in its macro business effectively
FICC trading by the end of this year.
Standard Chartered said it would
slash 15,000 positions, and last year

Interest rate decision

in October was a close
call, says Fed official
Bloomberg
Washington

he US economy has reached at least

one measure of full employment
and the decision to keep interest
rates near zero in October was a close one,
said John Williams, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
To my mind, the decision was a close
call, in part reecting the crosscurrents
were navigating, Williams said in the
text of a speech delivered Saturday at an
education event in Tempe, Arizona. On
one hand, the US economy continues to
grow and is closing in on full employment.
On the other, in large part due to developments abroad, ination has remained
lower than wed like.
Williams told reporters later that hes
waiting to see incoming data before making predictions about a rate increase at the
December 15-16 Fed meeting in Washington. His remarks come at a time when investors and economists globally are scrutinizing Fed officials public statements
for any sign that the rst rate increase
since 2006 is imminent.
Investors became more convinced that
the increase will take place in December
after remarks from Fed Chair Janet Yellen
and other central bank speakers over the
past week signalled condence in US economic momentum.
The October payrolls report, released
Friday, showed a gain of 271,000 jobs the strongest monthly hiring pace all year
- and a drop in unemployment to 5% from
5.1% in September.
The Feds October post-meeting statement also encouraged market expectations for a December liftoff, in part because it specically referenced the next
meeting. Williams told reporters today
that the mention was a little bit of a step
back toward date-based guidance.
The Fed inserted a reference to its next
meeting in response to a view in markets
that December was no longer on the table, he said.
The public or market perceptions were
that we had completely moved off 2015,
and I dont think that was accurate, he
said. I think were okay now, but I think
this is hard. This is going to continue to be
hard. Everybody wants clarity.
Williams was optimistic about the jobs

Williams: Optimistic about jobs recovery.

recovery during his prepared remarks.
With the unemployment rate now
at 5%, weve reached my estimate of full
employment based on that measure,
Williams said, adding that the US should
reach or exceed full employment across
a broad set of measures by the end of this
year or early next year.
Williams also said that once the economy is at full strength, were only going
to need between 60,000 and 100,000 new
jobs a month to keep up with the growing
labor force.
In the footnotes to his speech, Williams
cited a Chicago Fed paper on the longterm trend of declining labour force participation.
Speaking to reporters later, he said
that in the near future - possibly for six

months or a year - job gains should exceed

that pace to diminish remaining slack in
the labour market.
The Fed has a dual mandate of achieving maximum employment and stable
inflation, and has kept its benchmark
lending rate near zero since 2008 to help
guide the economy toward those goals.
Williams, a voting member of the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee this year, said that the inflation
side of the mandate remains a concern
as the Feds preferred gauge hovers just
above zero.
Still, he said that his own preferred ination measure, the Dallas Feds trimmed
mean PCE index, shows price pressures
closer to the Feds 2% target. That index
strips out certain volatile price compo-

nents that may reect temporary factors.

I see ination moving back up to our
2% goal within the next two years, said
Williams, adding that the central bank
cant wait until we see the whites of inations eyes before acting on rates.
The decisions we make today have to
aim for where were going, not where we
are, and the economy is a moving target,
said Williams.
An earlier start to raising rates would
allow for more gradual policy normalisation, Williams said, repeating comments
he has made recently. He also said that
experience shows that an economy that
runs too hot for too long can generate
imbalances that ultimately lead to either
excessive ination or an economic correction and recession.

Barclays said it would shed 19,000

jobs. However, FICC losses are likely to
be mostly back office and support jobs,
not front-line trading, said George
Kuznetsov at nancial industry analytics rm Coalition in London.
Further pruning would render many
desks unable to support client demand
for trading services.
European banks in particular are
aware of this and how aggressive the
big US banks have been in grabbing
FICC market share.
Banks especially Europeans
are soul-searching around businesses
which arent core to their client franchise and product strengths, or fail to
meet increasingly stringent capital requirements, Kuznetsov said.

Doubters question
strange stock
market rebound
Reuters
London/Milan

he double-digit stockmarket rebound after

a bruising summer has
put European shares back into
positive territory for the year,
but sentiment around the
central-bank-fuelled rally remains fragile.
Weak trading volumes, a
so-far disappointing earnings
season and a focus on reliable
dividend payouts rather than
blockbuster growth have all
contributed to the view that
investors are being sucked into
a market updraft rather than
enthusiastically betting on a
cyclical upturn.
Even with European shares
getting a fresh lift from a
weaker euro on Friday - after
US data smashed expectations
and fuelled bets on tighter US
rate policy in contrast with
the European Central Banks
dovish stance - growth hopes
remain fairly muted.
We can observe that the
market continued to be really driven by what is going
on with the central banks. If
we just look at the fundamentals of the economy its very
difficult to be very optimistic about equities, Jrme
Schupp, Head of Research at
SYZ Asset Management, said.
We had a very strong
month of October after two
weak months. I dont expect
this positive trend to continue.
There are a few reasons to be
fearful. On the investor side,
European hedge funds have
actually been reducing exposure to stocks while the market
has rallied, according to strategists at Morgan Stanley.
This is in contrast to what
is happening in the US, they
suggest, adding that the exposure data usually tracks equity
performance relatively closely.
Volumes have also been
weak. While Augusts falls
were partly attributed to low
volumes, October saw even
less trade.
The corporate landscape is
mixed at best. Third-quarter
earnings are expected to decline 4.3% from 2014, and
44% of companies on the
STOXX 600 that have re-

ported results have beaten expectations. Typically, 49% of

rms beat expectations.
Strategists at Barclays also
nd that the recent market
rally has been not been backed
up by a outperformance in the
economically sensitive cyclical stocks.
Even as bond markets are no
longer pricing in deation, the
defensive parts of the equity
markets are the ones outperforming.
Frustratingly for us, while
the overall market continues
to closely track the outlook for
ination, style and sector performance has not, the strategists wrote in a note, adding it
was different to the rally in the
rst half of the year.
This time round, although
we have had the rally in the
market, we have not experienced the same pro-cyclical
rotation within the market.
Strange indeed.
Even against this underwhelming backdrop, however,
there is an overriding feeling
that equities may still remain
the only game in town especially for those in search of
yield.
High-yielding defensive
stocks like drugmakers or utilities are especially in favour
for their bond-like properties
in a low-interest rate environment.
With macro conditions unpredictable and a possible Fed
rate rise on the table before the
year is out, the bond proxy
play could be under threat
if investors switch back into
bonds.
Faced with this possibility, Citi recommends buying
rms that return money to
shareholders while remaining
insensitive to swings in bond
yields, such as Novo Nordisk,
Diageo and Vivendi.
Bullish notes from the likes
of Citi and Bank of America/
Merrill Lynch have cited policy support from the European
Central Bank and the generally cautious sentiment as a
reason to keep the faith and
carry on with a Buy Europe
strategy.
And many are continuing to
believe in European equities,
even if they are sceptical over
how long the rally will last.

Former Rabobank traders convicted in US over Libor rigging

Reuters
New York

federal jury found two former

traders at Rabobank guilty of
fraud last week in the rst US
trial arising from a global investigation
into manipulation of Libor, the leading
benchmark for pricing nancial transactions around the world.
Anthony
Allen,
Rabobanks
former global head of liquidity
and finance, and Anthony Conti, a
former senior trader, were convicted
in district court in Manhattan on
every count of conspiracy and wire
fraud they faced.
The verdict marked a victory for the
US Justice Department, which brought
charges against the British citizens a
year after the Netherlands-based bank
in October 2013 reached a $1bn deal
resolving related US and European
probes.
Todays verdicts illustrate the departments successful efforts to hold
accountable bank executives respon-

sible for this global fraud scheme,

Leslie Caldwell, head of the Justice Departments criminal division, said in a
statement.
Allen, 44, slumped over a table in
court as the jury foreman read the
verdict, while Conti, 46, held his head
up. Lawyers for both men said they
planned to appeal.
This is just round one, Michael
Schachter, Allens lawyer, said. Tony
Allen looks forward to pursuing all
available options. He is disappointed
with the verdict.
Libor, or the London interbank offered rate, is a short-term rate nancial
institutions charge each other for loans
that is calculated based on submissions by a panel of banks.
Hundreds of trillions of dollars in
short-term interest rates, swaps and
other nancial products are pegged to
Libor.
The case was the rst by the Justice Department to go to trial following global investigations into
whether banks submitted articial rate
estimates to bolster prots on trading

Anthony Conti (centre), a British citizen and former senior trader with Rabobank,
exits the US federal courthouse in Manhattan. Two former Rabobank traders,
Anthony Allen and Anthony Conti, were found guilty of fraud last week in the first
US trial arising from a global investigation into whether banks sought to
manipulate the interest rate known as Libor.
derivatives tied to Libor. Those investigations resulted in charges against 22
people in the US and United Kingdom
and around $9bn in regulatory set-

tlements with nancial institutions.

Their trial follows an earlier one in
London involving yen Libor manipulation that led to the conviction of Tom

Hayes, a former UBS AG and Citigroup

trader who was sentenced in August to
14 years in prison.
Another trial is meanwhile ongoing
in London for six former brokers accused of manipulating yen Libor rates.
They have pleaded not guilty.
Among the 13 people charged by the
Justice Department were seven former
Rabobank traders, including Allen and
Conti, who earlier this year waived
their right to extradition to ght the
charges.
Prosecutors said Allen, 44, and
Conti, 46, participated in a ve-year
conspiracy at Rabobank to rig US dollar and yen Libor rates in order to gain
an unfair advantage trading derivatives
linked to the rate.
Prosecutors relied on testimony by
three former Rabobank traders who
pleaded guilty as part of co-operation
deals, as well as e-mails and instant
messages they sent at the time.
Libor was supposed to be an impartial market tool, Paul Robson, one
of the traders, testied.
But we were biasing submissions or

shading it to help the traders, he said.

Lawyers for Allen and Conti countered that while others at the bank
may have been trying to rig Libor, their
clients had submitted honest rate estimates.
They argued prosecutors took documents out of context, and that cooperating witnesses lied about their clients
role in the scheme in hopes of getting
lenient sentences.
Allen opted to testify in his own defense, telling jurors he rarely was involved personally in submitting numbers used to calculate Libor and that he
in those few instances ignored traders
requests to bias the rate.
The jury of six men and six women
included an architect, a nurse practitioner, and a T-Mobile sales representative, and delivered its verdict on
the second full-day of deliberations in
the fourth week of trial.
Howard Wasserfall, a retired letter
carrier on the jury from Manhattan,
said jurors concluded the evidence
showed they attempted to discreetly
manipulate Libor.

Monday, November 9, 2015

BUSINESS

GULF TIMES
BANKING ON KNOWLEDGE

Dollar regains strength on Fed interest rate hike hopes

By Dr R Seetharaman
In the last week-end, the US non-farm
payrolls data reflected that it had rose
by 271,000 in October, while the jobless
rate eased to 5.0% from 5.1%. This is the
largest gain since last December.
The robust report has improved the
chances of the Fed raising rates before
years end, which would be the first
increase in almost a decade and end
seven years of easing monetary policy.
Earlier last week Janet Yellen, chair
of the Federal Reserve, said the US
economy was performing well and that
Fed might consider raising rates at their
meeting next month. The dollar index
regained strength and hit a high of
99.345 last week and ended last week
at 99.168, its strongest since mid-April.

It was near 90 levels at the beginning of

the year and is up by close to 10% YTD.
The euro was at $1.0741 by end of last
week, it was near $1.21 at the beginning
of the year and had weakened by more
than 11% YTD. The euro has already
been under pressure in recent weeks
on expectations the European Central
Bank will beef up its stimulus next
month. ECB President Mario Draghi
has said the bank is considering more
bond purchases or further rate cuts at
its December meeting. The Pound was
at $1.5053 by end of last week, it was
near $ 1.5580 at the beginning of the
year and has weakened by more than
3% YTD. The pound had fallen last week
after the latest Bank of England inflation
report indicated it was unlikely to raise
rates soon. It also fell after better than
expected US jobs data in October 2015.

Al-Kawari: To leverage investment opportunities across the GCC.

QInvest Q3 net
prot jumps 69%

Invest, Qatars leading

investment group and
one of the most prominent Islamic nancial institutions globally, has reported
a 69% jump in net prot to
$33.8mn in the third quarter of
this year.
The banks revenues were up
37% to $78.7mn in the review
period, a QInvest spokesman
said. With our commitment
to drive growth and innovation
across the business, we have
continued to source new opportunities, strengthen our brand
and deliver positive returns,
according to Tamim Hamad alKawari, QInvest chief executive.
Expecting on-going market
volatility and economic challenges to remain present, he
said the bank is condent on
the outlook for the business.
We have an exciting active pipeline of deal ow and a
unique market position to leverage investment opportunities across the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) region and
selected markets in Europe,
Asia and the US, he added.
The investment banking division maintains a strong asset
growth prole on its innovative Islamic structured nance
book with transactions across
multiple sectors in Europe and

emerging markets. The banks

principal investments unit
continues to deploy and reinvest in a range of transactions
across the real estate sector in
particular. These transactions
included a blend of income
generating property assets in
Europe (Germany and the UK)
and the US, repositioning of
a commercial property asset
in Luxembourg, and private
rented sector/ multi-family
accommodation in the UK.
Beyond the real estate sector,
QInvest has successfully exited
one of its investments in Qatar
and deployed capital in selected direct co-investments, preinitial public offerings and fund
investments across Europe and
emerging markets.
The third quarter was a
busy period for its asset management division. A further
capital guaranteed note was
launched through Qatar Islamic Bank, its main and largest shareholder.
The bank also concluded its
debut ve-year $200mn murabaha facility with a syndicate of
local and international banks.
This facility demonstrates the
strength of QInvests balance
sheet and its part of our funding diversication and capital
efficiency plan.

Correction
Qatar First Bank (QFB) has
informed that Ahmed Meshari
Muhaidi is no longer its chief
executive.
Its name has also been
changed from Qatar First Investment Bank to Qatar First

Bank a few years ago.

A Gulf Times report headlined Eight prominent people
from Qatar figure in Islamica
500, published on November 5
had erroneously stated Muhaidi
as QFB chief executive.

The Japanese yen was 123.13 against

the US dollar by end of last week,
it was 119.84 against the US dollar
by beginning of the year and had
weakened by close to 3% YTD. The
Bank of Japan recent meeting minutes
expressed worries that the recent
drop in crude oil prices could delay
2% CPI and blamed firms for a slow
rise in wages amid record profits.
Apart from the US jobs data, the slow
growth in Japan and inflation pressures
weakened the yen.
The Swiss franc was 1.0054 against the
US dollar, it was at 0.9943 against the
US dollar and had weakened by more
than 1% YTD. It had climbed last week
to 1.0076 against the US dollar, after the
strong US Jobs data, which is strongest
since mid-March. The Australian dollar
was at $0.7043 by end of last week, it

was at $0.8165 at the beginning of the

year and had weakened by more than
13% YTD. The slowdown in Chinese
economy had weakened the Australian
dollar this year, also fell last week on

Dr R Seetharaman is Group CEO of Doha

Bank. The views expressed are his own.

atar Finance and Business Academy (QFBA) and Qatar Financial

Centre Authority (QFCA) have
completed the training part of its agship
programme, Kawader 2015, which is on
its third run.
QFCA chief executive officer Yousuf alJaidah congratulated the participants on
their completion of the internationallyrecognised certications, and encouraged
them to start their internships that will
support their career path.
Kawader programme aims at growing
Qatars human capital to match the development seen in the countrys rapidlyprogressing nancial sector by providing
them with the right tools and trainings,
al-Jaida added.
Charles Carlson, CEO of Standard
Chartered, said: We encourage you to
take advantage of the internship opportunities that the programme provides. This
is a learning chance to widen your knowledge and skills, and to learn from industry
best practices inside and outside Doha.
The Kawader programme is an innovative learning initiative by QFCA and
QFBA, which believe in investing in the
future of the potential business leaders
and decision-makers of Qatars emerging
industry of nancial services sector.
The programme endeavours to equip
participants with internationally-recognised professional certications, along
with enhanced personal development
skills, which will drive their growth in the
industry.
This year, QFBA has enrolled 33 young
Qataris, who are either in their fourth year
of university or are fresh graduates.
QFBA chief executive officer Dr Abdulaziz al-Horr added: These certications extend a slew of full-force launch
successes for our bespoke programmes
and collaborative efforts with key industry leaders.
Kawader, KAFAA, our champion
Training and Competency framework,

HE Sheikh Faisal with SAP and Clariba officials.

has operations across a range of
key vertical industries, including
hospitality, property, construction, trading, transport, entertainment, education and services.
Al Faisal Holding selected
SAPs BPC solution as it combines planning and consolidation modules, eliminating the
need for separate software licences. The BPC solution will
be soon implemented, providing
Al Faisal Holding with increased
control over planning and budgeting activities across separate
companies in the Group and al-

slowdown in Chinese economy. The

Indian rupee was at 65.7625 against
the US dollar by end of last week, it
was at 63.0437 against the US dollar
by beginning of the year and had
weakened by more than 4% YTD on
account of Chinese yuan devaluation
and uncertainty over Bihar elections.
The dollar index had touched an alltime 100.33 in March 2015 this year and
it needs to be seen whether this dollar
rally can continue to that level. The
emerging economy currencies may
feel some pressure in the near term on
expectations of fed rate hike increase.

QFBA, QFCA complete

training for 3rd run of
Kawader programme

Participants of the Kawader programme during a session.

and our pioneering partnership with the
Global Management Challenge (GMC)
slated for this month all share unrelenting focus on industry professionals
starting career point: bridging the wide

Al Faisal Holding selects SAP and Clariba

to deploy business software solutions
atars leading private
company Al Faisal Holding has selected SAP and
Clariba to deploy business software solutions to support its expansion plans.
Recently, Al Faisal Holding
signed a ve year agreement
with SAP, to deploy SAP business solutions, which will enhance the integration of its operations as the group continues
its strategic expansion across a
number of different sectors.
Under the agreement, Al Faisal
Holding will deploy business
planning and consolidation (BPC)
solutions and business intelligence (BI) solutions from SAP.
The project is being implemented by Clariba, one of SAP
MENAs leading business partners specialising in analytics.
Clariba designed the bespoke
solutions package through a
step-by-step consultation process with Al Faisal Holding.
Established in the 1960s, Al
Faisal Holding has played a major
role in the development of Qatars
economy and infrastructure, and

account of better than expected US jobs

data.
Brazil real was at 3.7688 against the
US dollar by the end of last week, it
was at 2.6576 against the US dollar
at the beginning of the year and had
weakened by more than 41% YTD on
account of slowdown in Brazil economy.
The Russian rouble was at 64.5050
against the US dollar by end of last
week, it was at 60.7355 against the US
dollar by beginning of the year and
had weakened by more than 6% YTD
on account of slowdown in Russian
economy.
The Chinese Yuan was at 6.3535
against the US dollar by end of last
week, it was at 6.2077 against the
dollar by beginning of the year and
had weakened by more than 2% YTD
on account of devaluation of yuan and

lowing it to optimise operations.

Once the BPC solution has
been deployed, Al Faisal Holding will next year implement the
BI solution, allowing the Group
to create dashboards for better
business insight, including support for mobile users.
HE Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim
al-Thani, chairman and CEO of
Al Faisal Holding said, As we expand our business operations and
continue to play a key role in the
development of Qatars economy
in line with the 2030 National Vision, we need even greater insight

into our business operations and

to enhance the integration of the
many different and successful
companies that now make up Al
Faisal Holding. By partnering with
a global technology leader such as
SAP and its partner Clariba, we can
be condent that we will obtain the
level of clarity needed to achieve
these objectives and to maintain
our market-leading position.
Gergi Abboud, managing director, Gulf & Pakistan SAP MENA,
said, Al Faisal Holding is a key
player in Qatars economic growth
and its leadership team believes
in leveraging a solid digital platform to execute on their growth
plans. SAPs solutions will give Al
Faisal Holding real-time insight
and control over its business operations, allowing faster decisionmaking and timely action around
market opportunities in Qatars
growing economy.
Luca Spinelli, Clariba general
manager (Qatar) said, SAPs solutions will give Al Faisal Holding increased control over budgeting and planning across its
operations.

gap between financial educational and

knowledge and the job markets evolution and needs. We hold a firm belief
that this gap is tackled at the very entry
level stage.

The aim of Kawader is to resource

the future of the financial services sector with young talented Qatari professionals having the right set of skills and
qualifications.

Majority of Qatar-based survey respondents

prefer to be entrepreneurs if given a choice
A majority of residents in Qatar interviewed
as part of a survey would prefer to be
entrepreneurs if given the choice, according to
Bayt.com and YouGov.
Small and medium enterprises are the thriving
force for any economy and are considered one of
the main drivers for innovation and employment
generation, and in Qatar, the vast majority of
residents (66%) would like to be entrepreneurs.
The new survey entitled Entrepreneurship
in the Mena 2015 has revealed that 82% of
respondents from Qatar personally know at least
one entrepreneur in their country of residence;
98% of whom are believed to have been
successful in their endeavour.
In Qatar, both private and public sector
employees think of starting their own business.
In fact, 67% of all employees are currently
thinking of starting their own business, while 19%
have tried in the past but cite they have failed or
could not do so for different reasons. Only 8%
of the workforce in Qatar have never thought of
starting their own business.
Perceptions vis--vis ease of starting up a
business vary, with 13% of Qatar respondents
indicating they believe that setting up their own
business is somewhat easy or even extremely
easy, while 59% of general respondents believe
to varying extents that entrepreneurship in Qatar
is somewhat difficult or very difficult.
The main difficulties cited by those who have
started their own business in Qatar include the
unavailability of finances (59%) and strict rules
and regulations laid out by the government

(45%). More than half (55%) of Qatar respondents

believe that one should gain some experience
before starting their own business, while 37%
believe that any time is a good time to start a
business.
Among the top concerns for starting a business
in Qatar, according to respondents are procuring
finances (62%), and the need to put in a lot of
time and energy (42%).
Almost one quarter of the respondents from
Qatar (24%) think that architecture and
engineering is the most appealing industry
for entrepreneurs in their country, followed
by hospitality and leisure (14%); advertising,
marketing and public relations (12%);
finance, insurance and real estate (12%); and
communications and information technology
(8%).
Close to three quarters of respondents from
Qatar (71%) perceive entrepreneurs as people
who think primarily about profit, and 88% of
respondent see entrepreneurs as opportunitydriven.
84% of respondents in Qatar strongly agree
or somewhat agree that entrepreneurs help
in creating new jobs, while 71% agree that
entrepreneurs truly benefit the society by
creating new products and services.
The best pieces of advice offered to budding
entrepreneurs by respondents in the Mena
region, including Qatar, is to not be afraid of
failure (38%); have a great business plan (13%);
and have a great and well-researched business
idea and marketing plan (both 11%).

To Advertise here
Call: 444 11 300, 444 66 621

FOOTBALL | Page 4

GOLF | Page 11

City, Arsenal
held as Klopp
suffers first
defeat

Knox
speechless
after historic
WGC-HSBC win

Monday, November 9, 2015

Moharram 26, 1437 AH

TENNIS

GULF TIMES

SPORT

Djokovic dominates
Murray to clinch 4th
Paris Masters title
Page 10

HORSE RACING

Kalino wins in Abu Dhabi

Peslier rides
Sheikh Abdullah
bin Khalifa
al-Thanis horse to
victory in 1.2mn
Pure Arabians race
Agencies
Abu Dhabi

alino, owned by HH Sheikh

Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Thani, won the Shaikh Zayed
bin Sultan Al Nahyan Crown
Jewel at the Abu Dhabi Race Course
yesterday.
With French jockey Olivier Peslier
at the helm, Kalino picked up the win
in what is the worlds richest race for
Purebred Arabians with a total purse of
1.2 million euros.

Jean-Marc De Watrigant-owned
Sahabba and Thakif, owned by Sheikh
Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, rounded the top three in the race.
It is a great win especially because
it comes amidst all the best jockeys
and horses as well as apprentice jockeys here. Im so happy to come and win
here tonight, an elated Peslier said after winning the Group 1 PA race.
There was disappointment for
American jockey Kelsi Purcell and her
ride Paddys Day, who nished 15th in
yesterdays race. Purcell, who was the
only female jockey at yesterdays race,
was looking to draw inspiration from
the Melbourne Cup-winning jockey
Michelle Payne but was always at the
rear of the eld. This was the rst time
that Paddys Day had travelled outside
the United States and on turf.
Alban de Mieulle-trained Kalino
tracked Manark, the Kahayla Classic
winner of Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid
al-Maktoum, who led the eight furlong
race off the gates.
Erwan Charpys charge was overhauled by Kaolinos progeny 500m out

before being threatened by Sahabba,

ridden by Jean-Baptiste Hamel, 50m
from the post. The six-year-old, however, held on for a short head win.
Kalino and Sahabba had left competition far behind with Thakif, piloted by
Wayne Smith, nishing third ve and a
half lengths behind.
This was Kalinos rst victory since
his win in the Al Huwaila Cup, a conditions race for Purebred Arabians at Dohas Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club
in April last year.
Since then, Peslier had ridden it to a
second-place nish behind Al Mourtajez in Doha Cup, another Group 1
race for Purebred Arabians, Deauville,
France, in August 2014.
It was massive leap for Kalino 35 days
after nishing 19th in the Qatar Arabian World Cup, which was won by Al
Mourtajez at Longchamp over the Qatar Prix de lArc de Triomphe weekend
last month.
In this April 3, 2014, picture, Marvin
Suerland rides Kalino (left) to a thrilling
win in the Al Huwaila Cup at QREC.

Gulf Times
Monday, November 9, 2015

CRICKET
REPORT

SPOTLIGHT

Williamson
underlines class
with defiant innings

Kiwis hope for a

miracle after
Williamsons exit

Reuters
Brisbane

Williamson had looked up to the task and efficiently dissected the Australian field with his crisp
strokeplay. The bowlers were unable to get him to play a false stroke up until his dismissal

ew Zealand endured
another miserable day
at the Gabba on Saturday but Kane Williamson provided at least one brilliant ray of sunshine to penetrate
the Brisbane gloom for the Black
Caps.
Underlining his status as one
of the best young batsmen in the
game, the 25-year-old kept his
cool in the most trying of circumstances to score his 11th test
hundred and frustrate Australias
vaunted pace attack with a deant innings of 140.
That Australias openers then
ran rampant to re the hosts to
an unassailable lead of 503 by
the end of the third day of the
rst test should not detract from
what was a superb innings from
Williamson.
He was, of course, by no means
an unknown quantity coming
into the three-Test series against
Australia. He is one of six players to have scored 10 Test centuries before the age of 25 and the
names of the other veDonald Bradman, Gareld Sobers,
Sachin Tendulkar, Graeme Smith
and Neil Harveyindicate that it
is an extremely select group.
New Zealand greats Richard
Hadlee and Martin Crowe, Yorkshire coach Jason Gillespie and
Black Caps batting coach Craig
McMillan are among those who

have predicted Williamson will

become the best batsman his
country has ever produced.
His 140 at the Gabba took
him to 3,339 career runs in 42
Tests with, injury notwithstanding, a good few years left
yet to overhaul New Zealands
most prolific test Tatsman
Stephen Fleming, who scored
7,172 in 111.
Williamsons last visit to Australia as a 21-year-old in 2011 was
not a great successhis top score
was a 34 but Saturdays century gave him a hundred against
eight of the Test-playing nations. It was the calmness of his
Gabba innings that impressed
as much as the undoubtedly ne
footwork, the powerful drives
and the 24 fours, though. There
were no histrionics when he
reached the magic milestone
for the 11th time in Test cricket,
merely a doff of the helmet and a
handshake from his batting partner.
Given the circumstances, his
job was to eke out New Zealands
innings for as long as possible
and he stuck to his task manfully, depriving himself of runs to
farm out the strike and building a
succession of partnerships with
tailenders.
It was only when he looked
like running out of partners that
he nally succumbed to the second new ball, an inswinger from
Mitchell Starc catching an inside
edge which Peter Nevill claimed
behind the stumps.

FOCUS

Pietersen fails to hit

third straight ton
Durban: Kevin Pietersen
failed to score a third consecutive South African Twenty20
Challenge ton after being dismissed for 68 in Durban yesterday.
The former England skipper
and batting star slammed an unbeaten 115 for Durban franchise
Dolphins last Wednesday followed by an undefeated 100 two
days ago.
South Africa-born Pietersen
was caught by Warriors Basheeru-Deen Walters off the
bowling of Colin Ackermann
at Kingsmead Stadium after a
knock including six fours and
four sixes.
It was the fourth appearance

New Zealand batsman Kane Williamson walks off after being given out following a DRS (Decision Review System) verdict in Brisbane yesterday.

AFP
Brisbane

ew Zealands hopes of stonewalling an Australian victory

took a massive blow with the
contentious dismissal of leading batsman Kane Williamson on a rainhit fourth day in the rst Gabba Test yesterday.
The accomplished Williamson took up
where he left off after his 140 in the rst
innings to reach his 50 off 55 balls but fell
to a marginal leg before wicket decision
nearing tea.
The Black Caps were 142 for three off
53 overs chasing an improbable 504 runs
for victory with Ross Taylor on 20 and
skipper Brendan McCullum not out four
when a combination of bad light and rain
prevented any play after tea.
English umpire Richard Illingworth
gave Williamson out after he was struck
high on the back leg from spinner Nathan
Lyon and the Kiwi batsman called for a
review. Replays showed the ball clipping
the very top of the bails and the umpires
decision stood.
Williamson had looked up to the task
and efficiently dissected the Australian
eld with his crisp strokeplay. The Australian bowlers were unable to get him to
play a false stroke up until his dismissal.
Rain twice intervened on the fourth
day with no play after tea and there will

be an earlier start to todays nal days

play.
Much will hinge on McCullum and
former captain Taylor to keep the Kiwis
in the contest, but the Black Caps are still
holding hopes of pulling off an astonishing victory.
Were in with a chance. That rst
hour in the rst session is going to be
crucial for us, opening batsman Tom
Latham said.
Those two boys that are in at the moment can set a platform for us. Its important Brendan goes out and plays his
natural game.
If he goes out and bats for an hour or
two, we could certainly be a long way to
winning the match.
Lyon did not discount New Zealands
remote chance of scoring 362 more runs
to win, but said the winning odds were
rmly in Australias favour.
If we dont bowl well and they get
away they have two very dangerous
batsmen at the crease, so its denitely a
chance, Lyon said.
But I would like to say that the odds
are more in Australias favour, thats for
sure. If we bowl well then we win this
Test match. McCullums a world-class
player, hes dangerous, but I love challenges and I am looking forward to it, so
bring it on. New Zealand have scored
the highest losing total in the fourth innings of a Test with 451 when chasing 550
against England at Christchurch in 2002.

for Dolphins in eight days by

the T20 batsman-for-hire, who
came to South Africa from the
Caribbean and will play in the
Australian Big Bash League this
month.

BRISBANE SCORECARD
Australia 1st innings: 556-4 declared
(U. Khawaja 174, D. Warner 163)
New Zealand 1st innings: 317 (K. Williamson 140; M. Starc 4-57)
Australia 2nd innings:
J. Burns c Taylor b Craig ......................................129
D. Warner c Boult b Craig ................................... 116
U. Khawaja not out ..........................................................9
S. Smith c Williamson b Boult .............................. 1
M. Marsh c McCullum b Craig ............................2
A. Voges not out .................................................................. 1
Extras (lb1, w1, nb4) .......................................................6
Total (4 wickets declared; 42 overs) 264
Fall of wickets: 1-237 (Warner), 2-254
(Burns), 3-258 (Smith), 4-263 (Marsh)
Bowling: Boult 8-0-61-1, Bracewell 11-1-630(4nb), Neesham 9-0-61-0 (1w), Craig 140-78-3

New Zealands highest successful

run chase was 324 against Pakistan in
Christchurch in 1994.
The West Indies hold the Test record
for a successful run chase of 418 against
Australia in Antigua in 2003.
Martin Guptill gave two chances and
survived a leg before wicket review, before he was caught at slip off Lyon for 23.
Guptill was dropped before he had
scored and again on seven.
Joe Burns had two fumbles at short
leg to catch Guptill off Mitchell John-

New Zealand 2nd innings:

T. Latham lbw b Starc ...............................................29
M. Guptill c Smith b Lyon ......................................23
K. Williamson lbw b Lyon.......................................59
R. Taylor not out ..............................................................20
B. McCullum not out ......................................................4
Extras (b3, lb3, w1) .............................................................7
Total (3 wickets; 53 overs) ................................142
Fall of wickets: 1-44 (Latham), 2-98 (Guptill), 3-136 (Williamson)
Bowling: Starc 13-4-24-1, Johnson 13-542-0 (1w), Hazlewood 10-3-24-0, Marsh
6-3-13-0, Lyon 11-0-33-2
Play abandoned (bad light) at 5:30pm
local time.
Toss: Australia
Umpires: Nigel Llong (ENG) Richard
Illingworth (ENG)

son before Lyon got his ngers to a hot

chance above his head at point, again off
Johnson. Fellow opener Latham was dismissed in the morning session, leg before
wicket to Mitchell Starc for 29.
Latham had looked assured and
hooked Josh Hazlewood for six before
he fell to Starc, only minutes before bad
light stopped play.
Latham did not seek a referral after
consulting with Guptill and television
replays projected the delivery would have
hit leg-stump.

GEARING UP

Sri Lankan cricketers Chamara Kapugedera (R) and Jeffrey

Vandersay play football during a warm-up session at the
Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Pallekele yesterday.

BOTTOMLINE

Pak, England tune up with warm-up victories

AFP
Abu Dhabi

akistan and England tuned up

for their four-match one-day
series with comfortable wins
against minnows Nepal and
Hong Kong respectively in Abu Dhabi
yesterday.
Pakistan beat Nepal by 121 runs

while England thumped Hong Kong

by 163 runs in 50-over games to gear
up for the bigger challenge starting
later this week.
Pakistan put up a strong 326-6 in
50 overs with half-centuries from
skipper Azhar Ali (73) and Shoaib
Malik 63 while Mohammad Hafeez
chipped in with 49 and Babar Azam
notched a 29-ball 43 not out.
Younis Khan (38) and Ahmed She-

hzad (35) also made useful contributions.

Ali and Hafeez put on 103 for the
second wicket before Ali, who hit seven boundaries and two sixes retired to
give other batsmen some practice.
Hafeez knocked three sixes and as
many boundaries against some inexperienced Nepalese bowling.
Malik also smashed ve boundaries
and two sixes.

In reply Nepal could manage 2055 in their allotted 50 overs with Anil
Mandal (61) and Gyanendra Malla (41)
making some useful runs.
England rode on aggressive 36-ball
71 by Moeen Ali and 56-ball 64 by
opener Alex Hales to post a big 342-8.
Hales and Jason Roy (42) put on a
brisk 63 before Joe Root (39) and Jos
Butler (38) cashed in on some weak
Hong Kong bowling.

But it was Ali who hit the minnows

hard, smashing ve sixes and four
boundaries in a ery knock.
Hong Kong were bowled out for
173 in 40.2 overs with paceman David
Willy grabbing 4-43.
Babar Hayat 78 and Christopher
Carter 34 put up some resistance.
Hong Kong is preparing for the
World Twenty20 to be held in India in
March-April while Nepal is tuning up

for Inter-Continental Cup.

Pakistan take on England in the rst
of four one-day internationals in Abu
Dhabi on Wednesday followed by the
second match, also at the same venue
on Friday.
The third one-day will be in Sharjah (November 17) and the fourth in
Dubai (November 20). The sides will
also play three Twenty20 internationals.

Gulf Times
Monday, November 9, 2015

CRICKET
SPOTLIGHT

Pakistan cricket: pure and

sporting in a glorious way
instead squeezed to the margins. In the
next few days the fate of Indias tour of
UAE in the new year will be decided.
Most likely it will be cancelled because
of ideological pressures, unsurprisingly given there is probably as much
chance of Pakistan and India having a
nuclear war as there is them playing in
each others backyards.
The upshot of which is that brilliant, passionate Pakistan dont have a
Test scheduled for eight months. Most
likely they wont make it to the ICC
World T20 in India in the spring. England aside, New Zealand are the only
other major nation in the diary for the
next year. This despite the fact the ongoing carve-up between the Big Three
governing bodies was sugared with the
promise of a larger role, even the suggestion India-Pakistan series would be
revived.
Not to mention the fact that rather
than some dying, cold moon, Pakistan
cricket still burns with feverish life
and also ambition. The rst Pakistan
Super League T20 is pencilled in for
February, replacement for the Cool &
Cool Presents Haier Super8 T20 Cup.
The PSL will take place in the Emirates, but within the country too there
is still a profound sense of sport as a
distillation of the wider mass experience, a collection of unpasteurised
players from the same world, same
streets, same clubs, same elds as
those who watch and follow them.
Hence the wonderful allure of a
bowler such as Zulqar Babar, ageing
country boy left-armer, or the two
Peshawar seamers, Imran Khan, who
was in this series, and Imran Khan (1),
a late 20s left-armer from nowhere,
with a handful of T20 games under
his belt who is now zzing away at the
edge of the international cricket. Plus,
of course, the indestructible Younis
Khan, who looks these days like hes
been carved out of stone, some great
grinning, backslapping cricketing
warrior-god striding to the crease.
Hence also the temptation to wonder what exactly we would be cheering, were England to go to the Gulf
and beat Pakistan? What would be
the message here? Transform your
team into a semi-detached blue lycra
juggernaut. You still get to thrash the
outsiders. Because make no mistake,
when it comes to the struggle for
crickets soul, its heavily monetised
future, England are not the ewoks
here. Whereas Pakistan cricket, for all
its aws and wonky structures, retains
at least a breath of something gloriously pure and gloriously sporting.

In a wider sense Pakistan remain more than

ever crickets own uppity, brilliant, flawed
outsiders, a nation that has fallen out with the
governing nations pretty much from the
moment it was called into being. Exiled,
underpaid, excluded in any kind of
cricket-against-the-enemy narrative, Pakistan
emerge as underdogs. They are in a sense a
kind of anti-England, a nation that has
everything talent, charisma, a vibrant public
sporting life except money and influence
By Barney Ronay
The Guardian

akistan won 2-0 with players

who are from the same streets
and elds as those who watch
and follow them, which is the
exact opposite of England
There was something particularly striking, and indeed particularly
beautiful, about the moment it became clear, beyond even the bounds
of sallow, sleepless, toast-crumbed,
pyjama-clad, mid-morning existential delusion, that Englands cricketers
were going to lose the nal Test against
Pakistan in Sharjah.
Ten minutes into the fth days play
Yasir Shah trapped Joe Root lbw playing back to his fourth ball of the day
and Englands faint hopes of chasing
down an unlikely target duly evaporated. It wasnt so much the ball itself
that stood out, a weird, skiddy fullpitched leg-break that rapped Root on
the ankle as he jabbed his bat down,
bent double in that familiar attitude
of betrayal by the grubber, the look of
a batsman who strode to the crease expecting a handshake and found himself kneed in the guts instead.
It wasnt just the pedigree of those
involved either: the worlds most brilliantly alluring overgrown cartoon
mouse of a leg-spin bowler getting one
through the No1-ranked batsman. It
wasnt even the reaction of the bowler who, like a few of Pakistans best
cricketers, seems to spend quite a lot
of time ghting back the urge to burst
into laughter, whose cricket is essentially humorous in nature, a matter of
misdirection and stump-shattering
punchlines. Even the wicketkeeper
Sarfraz Ahmeds huge grinning appeal was basically a round of applause
for an excellent, if slightly accidental
piece of comedic timing.
Really, though, the best thing about
Yasirs dismissal of Root was the realisation that to refuse to celebrate it, to
maintain that there was any level on
which this was not a wonderful thing,
would be absurd.
This wasnt just a ne individual
duel, but a moment of international
sport in its pure form, a genuine clash
of systems: on one side England, surely one of the most expensively micromanaged teams in cricket history; at
the other the roving pirate ship, the

unstyled outsider that is Pakistan

cricket.
Root is a wonderful, lively player.
But he is also arguably the most carefully groomed international cricketer
England has ever produced, a batsman
whose every signicant innings from
junior levels up is stored within the
ECB digital archive, whose personal
and technical qualities have been rened at every age level, a pure talent
that has owered from within a ercely contained environment.
Yasir is a wilder ower, a boy who
took up bowling aged 10 after seeing Shane Warne on TV and remains
largely self-taught, a product of cousins and club and scratch cricket. He
grew up in the beautiful but troubled
north-west, a place of Taliban atrocities and military tension that has
nonetheless become something of a
centre for Pakistan domestic cricket
in recent times. Yasir plays for Abbottabad, which you might also remember as the place Osama bin Laden
was killed by US navy seals a few years
back.
Meanwhile in a wider sense Pakistan remain more than ever crickets
own uppity, brilliant, awed outsiders, a nation that has fallen out with
the governing nations pretty much
from the moment it was called into
being. Exiled, underpaid, excluded
in any kind of cricket-against-theenemy narrative, Pakistan emerge as
underdogs. They are in a sense a kind
of anti-England, a nation that has everything talent, charisma, a vibrant
public sporting life except money
and inuence.
Heres an odd thing, though. Pakistan are better at cricket than England
right now. Theyre ranked higher. In
the conditions the majority of world
cricket is actually played in they have
more extreme, more effective players. They have a greater passion for
the sport at home, a nation of 200m
for whom cricket is a central strand in
everyday life, as opposed to the lucrative but largely invisible sport it has
become in England.
A ruling body with any real interest in the purity and good health of
its sport would be plugged right into
this priapic sense of passion, milking
it for all its worth, smoothing the way
for Pakistan, preserving this priceless
energy. And yet the politics of money
and inuence dictate that Pakistan are

Yasir is a wilder
flower, a boy who
took up bowling aged
10 after seeing Shane
Warne on TV and
remains largely
self-taught, a product
of cousins and club
and scratch cricket

Pakistans Yasir Shah

delivers a ball against
England in Sharjah.

BOTTOMLINE

Shane and Sachin content as cricket looks for liftoff in New York
Ponting, Muttiah
Muralitharan and
Virender Sehwag star
as Warnes Warriors
defeat Sachins
Blasters by six
wickets at Citi Field
By Steve Brenner
New York

t was sport but not as America

knows it.
There was loud, vibrant noise
emanating from the stands of Citi
Field. The action was fast-paced and
enjoyably engaging. Big hits boomed
off the bat, acrobatic catches were
held.
This, however, wasnt the World Series. It was cricket. Legends-style.
Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne,
two of the all-time greats, were attempting to stride where no superstar
cricketer had dared venture before.
The International Cricket Council
(ICC) sees the potential of creating
cash-rich revenue streams in the US
while, so they claim, attempting to
seriously establish the sport on these
shores.

Sachin Tendulkar and teammates Mutthiah Muralitharan, Graeme Swann and

Wasim Akram wave to the crowd after the inaugural match of the Cricket AllStars Series at Citi Field in New York on Saturday.
Globalizing the game is also on the
agenda.
But despite a crowd of 30,000plus, who ensured Queens was
transformed into a cross between
Mumbai and Karachi, the notion
of getting your average New York
sports fan excited about Ricky Pon-

tings cover drive is fanciful to say

the least.
Special cricket clinics for children have
been held in the New York area, although
American involvement has reportedly
been minimal.A quick trawl between innings proved local cricket virgins were
hard to nd at Citi Field on Saturday.

I saw one American here, said an

English supporter. But she was with
her Australian boyfriend.
The feverish shrilling every time
Tendulkars face appeared on the huge
TV screens clearly proved who the real
main attraction was. The vast swathes
of India and Pakistan fans were having a blast. Sachins Blasters were their
team.
And why not? Living in the US
means seeing the likes of the Little
Master and his glittering array of retired friends don their multi-coloured
sporting pyjamas was as unlikely as the
New York Mets staging an exhibition
game at Lords next summer.
Obviously being called Shane or
Sachin gives you the chance to get
some of the greatest names in cricket
history to dust off their boots and enjoy a couple of weeks traipsing around
the US.
There are two more Twenty20
matches to follow in Houston and Los
Angeles, and with a three-year deal
hoping to be struck, this wont be the
last time this grand old game graces
Americas baseball stadiums.
Warne and Tendulkar naturally
talked an excellent game in the exhaustive media build-up.
The same lines were trotted out. How
this could be a great start for cricket in
the US. How the next time they come
back it would be wonderful to see an
American child holding a cricket bat

rather than one which thumps baseballs.

Warne, sticking to the script, cited
David Beckhams arrival in MLS as an
example to prove building a new sport
can indeed be done.
He was perhaps slightly drunk on
optimism. Soccer has been played and
watched in the US for decades. Cricket,
however, is effectively starting from
scratch. But there is something resembling a cricket culture in New York and
beyond.
Naturally, ex-pats, whether from
Asia, England, Australia, South Africa
or the Caribbean are in the majority.
Earlier this summer the United States
attempted and failed to qualify for
the Twenty20 World Cup in March.
Cricket is trying to grow here though
progress has stalled following the suspension of the United States of America
Cricket Association (USACA) from the
ICC.
An investigation uncovered a number
of serious concerns over USACAs
funding, and how the association was
being governed. Non-existent leagues
had been created allowing those who
really should know better to skim precious dollars from the pot.
That sorry scenario, and some of the
ridiculously high ticket prices (the top
price of $175 was far too expensive, and
ensured the casual walk-up fan stayed
away) has left a bad taste with some in
the cricket community.

Yet the majority with no gripes to

bear were treated to an enthralling
trip down memory lane. Tendulkar
stroked a classy 26, while Virender Sehwag reminded everyone of his power
and crispness of hitting by whacking a
quickre 55.
Warne produced too, three wickets from four overs helped his side, the
Warriors, rack up 140 for eight off their
20 overs, which included a stunning
world rst, when South African Shaun
Pollock was caught by fellow Protea
Jaques Kallis off the bowling of their old
international teammate Allan Donald.
The chase was keenly contested on a
drop-in pitch cultivated in Indianapolis.
Ponting superbly held the innings
together, with Warnes side needing 37
from the last six overs, a target which
was ultimately reached with 16 balls to
spare thanks to an audacious reverse
sweep for six from Jonty Rhodes.
The two gureheads were left delighted with their days work.
People from different nations came
to join the sport, it got nations together
to celebrate, and to globalize cricket.
I went to watch the Mets in the World
Series and the atmosphere felt like
that, said Tendulkar.
It was a proud moment to see a
baseball stadium packed for cricket,
added Warne. Anyone who didnt
know the game would have seen this
and enjoyed the experience. Its baseball meets rocknroll.

Gulf Times
Monday, November 9, 2015

FOOTBALL
SPOTLIGHT

TENSION

City, Arsenal held

as Klopp suffers
first defeat
They (Villa) had one shot in the whole game. I was happy with the way we played,
especially in the second half but we were unlucky not to score

Mourinho in suspense
after Stoke setback

File picture of Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho.

AFP
London

Arsenals Kieran Gibbs scores their first goal during his teams English Premier League match against Tottenham Hotspur at the Emirates Stadium.
AFP
London

remier League leaders Manchester City and nearest challengers

Arsenal were both held to draws
yesterday as they each dropped
points in the title race.
City, surprisingly, could only manage a goalless draw away to bottom-ofthe-table Aston Villa, the Birmingham
club marking new French manager Remi
Gardes rst match in charge with a point
that owed much to a ne display by goalkeeper Brad Guzan.
Arsenal, who kicked off later yesterday, knew that if they beat arch-rivals
Tottenham Hotspur in the North London
derby they would leapfrog City, who they
still trail on goal difference, at the top of
the table with a victory at the Emirates
Stadium.
But instead they had to make do with
a 1-1 draw.
Meanwhile Liverpool suffered their

rst defeat in seven games under new

manager Jurgen Klopp with a 2-1 loss at
home to Crystal Palace.
Manuel Pellegrini lost the services of
Wilfried Bony to a hamstring injury and
then watched in frustration as City failed
to make their second-half domination
count in a match where Villa ended a dismal run of seven successive defeats.
City had to operate without a recognised frontman for more than an hour,
although Raheem Sterling, Kevin de Bruyne and Fernando all wasted gilt-edged
chances to secure victory in the closing
stages at Villa Park.
A delighted Garde, appointed after
Villa sacked former manager Tim Sherwood, told the BBC. It was a nice experience and a fantastic atmosphere. It was
a tough game. I can be very happy with
my team today.
Making sure we were well organised
defensively was my priority, the former
Arsenal and France midelder added.
City were left ruing the missed chances, and the continued absence of Sergio

Results
Aston Villa .......................... 0 Manchester City ......... 0
Arsenal......................................1 Tott. Hotspur .....................1
Liverpool ................................1 Crystal Palace................. 2
Saturday
Bournemouth ................ 0
Leicester City................... 2
Manchester United ... 2
Norwich City ......................1
Sunderland ....................... 0
West Ham United .........1
Stoke City...............................1

Newcastle .............................1
Watford ....................................1
West Brom ........................ 0
Swansea City.................. 0
Southampton ...................1
Everton ....................................1
Chelsea................................. 0

Aguero.
Of course were frustrated, said City
manager Pellegrini. We deserved to win
the game.
They (Villa) had one shot in the whole
game. I was happy with the way we
played, especially in the second half but
we were unlucky not to score.
At the Emirates, Arsenal fell behind to
a 32nd-minute goal from Spurs Harry

Kane, who got on the end of a clever ball

over the top from Danny Rose and went
past Laurent Koscielny, mistakenly trying to play the England forward offside,
before rolling a shot across Petr Cech.
At that stage, Arsenal hadnt managed
a single shot on target and they had to
wait until the 77th minute to draw level
when substitute Kieran Gibbs bundled in
a volley at the far post from Mesut Ozils
cross, although Spurs goalkeeper Hugo
Lloris ought to have saved the shot.
In the mid-table clash at Aneld, visitors Palace went ahead when Yannick
Bolasie scored from 12 yards in the 21st
minute.
Liverpool, however, were level shortly
before the interval through Brazil playmaker Philippe Coutinhos close-range
effort.
London club Palace bounced back to
score the winner eight minutes from time
when Liverpool-born Scott Dann saw his
header from a corner blocked by Reds
goalkeeper Simon Mignolet, only for the
Eagles defender to nod in the rebound.

ose Mourinho enters the

international break with
his future as Chelsea manager under closer scrutiny
than ever before following his
teams 1-0 defeat at Stoke City.
The outspoken Portuguese
was not even present at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday as he
served a one-match stadium ban
for his verbal onslaught on match
officials during the recent defeat
at West Ham United.
But as he watched Chelseas
attempts to nd an equaliser zzle out on television at the team
hotel, he will have known that
two weeks of intense speculation
and analysis now await him.
It is the rst time in 16 years
that Chelsea have lost three consecutive league games and billionaire owner Roman Abramovich has never seen such a
sequence in his time as owner of
the London club.
The three coaches who stood
in for MourinhoSteve Holland,
Silvino Louro and Rui Fariadeclined to speak to the media after
the game, which left the champions in 16th place after seven defeats in 12 games.
But goalkeeper Asmir Begovic
insisted that the clubs players remain rmly behind the
52-year-old Portuguese, as do
the supporters who chanted his
name throughout the game.
That is out of our hands. We
are behind the manager. You can
see that from our performances,
said Begovic when asked about
the managers future.
We think he is the right man
and someone we work hard for.
Jose did the pre-match talk
at the hotel and that was it. We
wanted to get a result for him.
His spirit and his presence is always there.
Mourinhos opposite number
Mark Hughes, whose team
knocked Chelsea out of the
League Cup in a penalty shootout last week, admitted that
overseeing a game against a dugout without a manager was a rst
for him.
Its difficult to say whether it
made a difference, said Hughes.

But its a rare occurrence when

the opposition manager isnt
standing there. Ive not experienced it before.
TRIES TO BULLY YOU
He added: Most of your work
is done at half-time. Sometimes
you can affect it in the correct
manner. Its dependent on the
manager. A manager like Jose,
yes, they would have missed him,
giving him credit for his standing.
Theyre going through a surprising period for them, but not
for anybody else. I read words
from Jose this week saying maybe the top teams will lose more
games this season.
The middle group of teams in
the Premier League are a challenge for the top teams this year
and I have to agree.
Hughes also praised Chelsea
substitute Loic Remy, who chose
not to go down in search of a
penalty despite Stoke goalkeeper
Jack Butland hurling himself at
his feet late in the game.
Credit to Remy at the end, he
didnt look for a penalty, said the
Welshman.
Time and time again you see
Premier League players leaving a
leg behind them just to get contact, but he didnt do that.
He hurdled Jack and looked to
score a goal when he could have
been more cynical and looked for
a penalty.
Mourinho was given a further
headache after the game when
it emerged that a Stoke steward
had accused Chelsea striker Diego Costa of deliberately treading on his foot as he looked to
retrieve the ball for a throw-in.
Costa was involved in a running battle with Ryan Shawcross
throughout the game, but the
Stoke skipper said he relished the
tussle.
Diego Costa is a great striker
and is always going to give you a
challenge, Shawcross said. Its
brilliant for me to play against a
player like that. Its the kind of
match I like.
Hes old school, in your face
and tries to bully you. Hes always on the line, but to keep him
quiet is a great performance from
all of us. You have to stand up and
be tough to beat.

HIGHLIGHT

Qatar U23 thrash UAE 5-2 in friendly

BOTTOMLINE

United cant be shackled: van Gaal

United have still scored just
once from open play in their last
four domestic xtures and there
remains a question mark about
their attacking intent, a shortcoming recently criticised by
former United midelder Paul
Scholes.
And van Gaal concedes Uniteds attacking play must be netuned if they are to overhaul
Manchester City and Arsenal,
who are both a point ahead of
the Old Trafford outt before
they both play on Sunday.

AFP
Manchester

ouis van Gaal claims

Manchester United will
not be shackled at Old
Trafford after they kept
their patience to grind out a 2-0
win over West Bromwich Albion.
Van Gaals side have found
goals hard to come by of late and
they initially found it difficult to
break down an Albion team that
defended in numbers.
But Albions plan was shattered seven minutes into the second half on Saturday when Jesse
Lingard scored his rst United
goal to break the deadlock.
Juan Mata wrapped up the
points for United with a stoppage-time penalty after defender Gareth McAuley had been
sent off for bringing down Anthony Martial.
And van Gaal insisted Uniteds victory, which followed a
1-0 midweek success against
CSKA Moscow in the Champions League, may change how

United manager Louis van Gaal talks with Ander Herrera.

opposition managers view trips
to Old Trafford.
We have to attack better
against these defensive organisations but it is the most difficult
way you can play as a team, van
Gaal said.
But it is good we have won
because the next manager shall
not choose so easily this strategy.

We have also won against

CSKA Moscow and they have the
same strategy. It is good we send
a signal that you can do that but
you lose.
We have won a very difficult
game. Last year we lost against
this opponent and probably because of that Tony Pulis chooses
this strategy again. Now we have
won and so we are improving.

SIGNS OF FRUSTRATION
There was signs of frustration
amongst the home supporters
before Lingard broke the deadlock against West Brom, who
missed a great chance to make it
1-1 in the 74th minute when substitute Saido Berahino headed
wide from close-range.
But van Gaal, who had asked
the supporters to direct any anger at him, had no complaints.
I am always pleased with the
crowd. I was also pleased with
how they reacted against CSKA

Moscow because you have to accept fans have their own opinion, he said.
But I think they were very inuenced by Paul Scholes and all
the criticism and what the media
has written about that. But then
you to have analyse the game.
When you are yelling attack,
attack, attack and you attack for
85 minutes, you have to think as
a fan; is it alright to yell?
They know they have to
score. My mother knows that
and my grandmother knows
that.
Lingards rst goal for the club
was perfectly timed on his rst
start in the Premier League since
van Gaals rst game in charge in
August 2014.
A knee injury sustained in that
game set back the 22-year-old
midelder, who was then loaned
out to Derby County at the end
of last season.
West Broms defeat was only
their second away from home
this season as boss Tony Pulis
was left to rue the missed chance
for Berahino.

Qatar U23 team produced a strong performance to thrash UAE

5-2 in a friendly match played here yesterday. PICS: Anas Khalid

Gulf Times
Monday, November 9, 2015

FOOTBALL
LA LIGA

SCOTTISH PREMIER LEAGUE

Neymar double
downs Villarreal,
takes Barca top
I am happy with what I am giving the team, but I still think I can improve more. As a
team we all have to keep growing, but now we can rest and think about El Clasico

Griffiths double helps

Celtic beat County

Celtics Leigh Griffiths celebrates scoring their second goal.

AFP
Glasgow

eigh Griffiths scored

twice in two second half
minutes to help Celtic to a
4-1 win over Ross County
that restores their six-point advantage at the top of the Scottish
Premiership.
Australian international Tom
Rogic had opened the scoring
for Celtic in the 39th minute
with a superb strike from the
edge of the box after County had
spurned a couple of chances at
the other end.
Celtic top scorer Griffiths added to his already impressive haul
for the season with a curling leftfoot strike in the 54th minute before slamming home another 30
seconds after the restart as the
County defence oundered.
Tony Dingwall pulled one
back for the home side in the
59th minute before Nir Bitton
killed off their hopes with a 75th
minute header to nish the scoring.
The win eases the pressure on
Celtic manager Ronny Deila who
had come in for heavy criticism
following his sides 2-1 defeat to
Molde on Thursday which has
left the Hoops bottom of their
Europa League Group.
The match, played in torrential
rain in the Highlands, took some
time to settle but it was Ross

County who had the rst opportunity to open the scoring when
Liam Boyce somehow headed
wide from eight yards after being
picked out by a Richard Foster
cross.
A lack of composure saw
County spurn another chance
as unmarked midelder Martin
Woods blasted his shot wide as
he met a corner at the back post.
Griffiths almost made Ross
County pay when they failed to
properly clear a Rogic cross but
he ashed his snap shot wide.
The Hoops were getting closer and an excellent strike from
Rogic saw Celtic make the breakthrough.
The Socceroo took a couple of
touches on Mikel Lustigs pass
to work the ball on to his left foot
before sending a erce dipping
drive into the far corner of the
net.
Two quick-re second half
goals helped Celtic move out of
sight of their hosts.
Griffiths got his rst in the
54th minute as he took advantage
of a slip from Scott Boyd in the
box to collect the ball and send a
curling shot into the bottom lefthand corner of the net.
The striker sealed his double
just 30 seconds after the restart
when James Forrest sped past
Boyd before cutting the ball back
from the by-line for Griffiths to
send a composed nish high into
the empty net from 12 yards.

EURO

Barcelonas Neymar celebrates a goal against Villarreal during their Spanish first division match at Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, Spain.
AFP
Madrid

eymar and Luis Suarez once

again shone for Barcelona in
Lionel Messis absence as Barcelona beat Villarreal 3-0 to
move three points clear at the top of La
Liga yesterday.
The European champions were frustrated by a solid rst-half display from the
visitors, but nally made the breakthrough
on the hour mark when Neymar slotted
home Sergio Busquetss through ball.
Neymar then stood aside to let Suarez
seal the three points from the penalty
spot after Munir El Haddadi had been
brought down by Jaume Costa.
And the Brazilian rounded off a sensational display as he volleyed home a
stunning third ve minutes from time.
Barcas next outing comes against
Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu on November 21.
I am happy with what I am giving

the team, but I still think I can improve

more, Neymar told Canal Plus.
As a team we all have to keep growing,
but now we can rest and think about El
Clasico.

Results

NO MESSI, NO PROBLEM
Between them Suarez and Neymar have
compensated for Messis injury layoff
with knee ligament damage by scoring all
of Barcas last 17 league goals as the Catalans have dropped just three points since
the Argentine went off injured against
Las Palmas six weeks ago.
Villarreal managed to limit the supply
to the star South American duo for the
rst 45 minutes as Jeremy Mathieu had
Barcas best chance when his low drive at
the end of a owing counter-attack was
well saved by Alphonse Areola.
The visitors also had their chances on
the break as Roberto Soldado puled a shot
just wide when well-placed on the edge
of the area before Claudio Bravo made a
brave save at the feet of Samu Castillejo
in the nal action of the half.

Saturday
Celta Vigo .........................1 Valencia ..............................5
Levante ..............................1 Deportivo ...........................1
Eibar ......................................3 Getafe ....................................1
Rayo Vallecano..........2 Granada...............................1
Malaga ...............................0 Real Betis............................1
Friday
Las Palmas .....................2 Real Sociedad .............0

Torino ..................................0
Athletic Bilbao.............2
Barcelona.........................3

Inter Milan .........................1

Espanyol ............................1
Villarreal .............................0

Both Neymar and Suarez were booked

within the rst two minutes of the second-half for taking their protestations
towards referee Clos Gomez too far as
nerves began to spread around the Camp
Nou.
However, they nally found a way
through when Busquets intercepted Bruno Sorianos pass and freed Neymar to
re home at the near post.

Only another great save from Areola

prevented Andres Iniesta from doubling
Barcas advantage moments later.
However, the French keeper was helpless when Costa dived in on Munir and
Neymar, who had taken Barcas last four
penalties, allowed Suarez to score his
13th goal of the season.
The best was yet to come from Neymar, though, as he collected Suarezs
pass and lifted the ball over Costa before
turning to re home on the volley.
Earlier, Athletic Bilbao moved into the
top half of the table with their fth consecutive win in all competitions thanks to
Inaki Williamss wonder goal in a 3-1 victory over Espanyol.
The 21-year-old striker opened the
scoring with his fth goal in a week as he
icked the ball over Enzo Roco before unleashing a spectacular volley into the top
corner.
Hernan Perez levelled for the visitors
just after half-time before Raul Garcia
headed home the winner 26 minutes
from time.

File picture of England manager Roy Hodgson.

AFP
London

SERIE A

Dzeko, Gervinho help Roma win

AFP
Rome

oals by Edin Dzeko and

Gervinho in a 2-0 win
over Lazio handed title
contenders Roma the
bragging rights from the Rome
derby yesterday as Rudi Garcias
men moved up to second place in
Serie A.
Against the backdrop of a fans
protest that saw the Stadio Olimpico only half full for the ercest city derby in Italy, hosts Roma
made light of the thousands of
empty seats to further underline
their scudetto credentials.
Roma were in command from
the outset and were rewarded in
the ninth minute after a dubious
penalty decision.
Despite Lazio defender Santiago Gentilettis challenge on
Dzeko appearing to be just outside the area, it was enough to
convince the referee to point to
the penalty spot.
Dzeko made no mistake, stepping up to slam the ball past Fed-

Hodgson warns
England strike duo
over fitness

Romas forward Edin Dzeko kicks the ball during the Serie A match.
erico Marchetti to claim just his
second league goal for Roma but
second in a week after hitting the
net in a 3-2 Champions League
win over Bayer Leverkusen.
Lazio, stunned 3-1 at home by
AC Milan last week, were creating little but when Senad Lulic
sent the ball over the heads of
the Roma defence and into the
path of Antonio Candreva it cre-

ated panic.
Roma keeper Wojciech Szczesny rushed all outside the area
and just managed to clear the
ball to safety.
Minutes later, the Pole was
well and truly beaten but saved
by the woodwork when Brazilian Felipe Anderson deftly nutmegged William Vainqueur to
unleash a superb drive from dis-

tance that rattled the crossbar.

Lazio were beginning to
make inroads and Szczesny was
left exposed again when defender Stefan Radu got a shot
away from a tight angle inside
the area, only for Vainqueur
to come to the rescue with a
clearance that saw him slam
into the post.
Despite those scares, Romas
well-oiled mideld, superbly
marshalled by Belgian international Radja Nainggolan, were
virtually untouchable on the
offensive but spurned several
chances to build on their lead
before the interval.
When Gervinho galloped into
the area to deliver for Dzeko on
38 minutes the Bosnians shot
skewed wide of the far post.
Lazio were let off the hook
again when Nainggolan unleashed a low shot that came
back off the far post.
Roma suffered a blow when
Mohamed Salah was forced off
just before the hour, and replaced
by Alessandro Florenzi, after he
came down under a challenge that

Results
Torino ......................... 0
Empoli ........................1
Frosinone ................2
Palermo ......................1
Roma ...........................2
Sassuolo .....................1

Inter Milan .............. 1

Juventus ..................3
Genoa ........................2
Chievo .....................0
Lazio ...........................0
Carpi ...........................0

Saturday
Verona ....................... 0 Bologna ....................2
AC Milan .................. 0 Atalanta ...................0

saw his right ankle bend inwards

as he and Gervinho charged down
mideld.
Roma were quieter in the second half and it took until the
hour mark for Gervinho to fashion the hosts rst real chance
but Dzekos rst-timer from 25
metres sailed over.
The Ivorian, however, was not
to be denied.
Moments later Gervinho sent
the majority of the 35,252 crowd
wild when he ran on to Nainggolans incisive through ball
and held off Dusan Basta to beat
Marchetti at his near post.

ngland manager Roy

Hodgson has warned
Daniel Sturridge and
Danny Welbeck they
must prove their tness if they
are to be included in his squad
for next years European Championship.
Arsenal striker Welbeck has
not played since April due to a
knee injury, while a succession
of thigh, calf, hip and knee problems has restricted Sturridge to
15 Liverpool starts since the beginning of last season.
Welbeck, 24, began Englands
Euro 2016 qualifying campaign
up front alongside Wayne Rooney and Sturridge, 26, has started
regularly when t, but with Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy having
both emerged over the course of
the last 12 months, the England
manager is not short of alternatives.
If you want a philosophy,
I wouldnt be happy to really
take players with us in the hope
that they will become t during the tournament, Hodgson
told journalists at Wembley this
week.
I would rather have 23 players who are all t and ready to go
and capable of playing from the
very rst minute when I name
the squad.
Hodgson nonetheless remains
hopeful that both Welbeck and
Sturridge will have enough
games under their belts to be legitimate candidates for selection

by the time he reveals his 23-man

squad for the tournament.
Sturridge is closing in on a
return to action after taking a
knock to the knee in training last
month, while Arsenal manager
Arsene Wenger has predicted
that Welbeck will make his
comeback around Christmas.
They must be devastated to
have lost so much football, but
who knows what its going to
bring? Hodgson said.
We hope theyre going to be
back. Daniel before Danny. We
know Danny will be back in the
New Year. Maybe a break from
football will have done him some
good.
ROONEY FLAK
Hodgson added: We always talk
about winter breaks. Theyve
certainly had their winter breaks.
They are players we think have
great potential to be future England stars.
We can only hope that we get
them back and they come back in
the form that they were in when
we got to know them so well and
got to belive in them so well.
In the meantime, hopefully
the competition for places will
be cranked up by the guys Im
using now. Because there wasnt
a Kane and a Vardy and a (Danny)
Ings in contention in the same
way as regulars in the team.
Rooney remains Englands
attacking fulcrum and despite
criticism from fans and media
pundits after some sluggish recent displays for Manchester
United, Hodgson refuses to be
swayed by outside opinions.

Gulf Times
Monday, November 9, 2015

FOOTBALL
BUNDESLIGA

WORRY

Batman strikes
again as Dortmund
edge tense derby
Aubameyang joined Bayern striker Lewandowski as leagues top scorer by netting
Dortmunds third after Kagawa and Ginter had netted for the home team

German FA boss
faces crisis meeting
AFP
Berlin

erman Football Association (DFB) boss Wolfgang Niersbach faces

tough questioning at a
crisis meeting today over claims
that bribes were paid in order to
host the 2006 World Cup.
Niersbach faces a grilling from
the football officials and presidents of the 16 regional associations which make up the German
FA when the governing bodys
extraordinary meeting in Frankfurt begins at 2:30 pm local time
(1330 GMT).
German football has been
plunged into crisis since magazine Der Spiegel alleged last
month that the DFB made a 6.7
million euros ($7.4 million) payment to FIFA in order to buy the
votes of four Asian members of
the executive committee in order
to host the 2006 nals.
At the vote in July 2000, Germany saw off South Africa by
12 votes to 11 to win the right to
stage the tournament nals, remembered here as the summer
fairytale.
Niersbach has vehemently
denied the claims, saying there
was no slush fund, there was no
vote buying, and claimed instead that the sum was used to
secure 170 million euros of funding from world footballs governing body.
However, some 50 police ofcers swooped last Tuesday
on the DFBs headquarters,
as well as well as at homes of
three accusedthe DFB president, former DFB president and
former general secretary.
The three are understood to be
Niersbach, his predecessor Theo
Zwanziger and ex-general secretary Horst Schmidt.
Prosecutors said they were
launching a tax probe against the
three football bosses, and that
they only refrained from pursuing accusations of corruption
because the statute of limitations
on graft had expired.
The scandal has left 64-yearold Niersbach under intense
pressure to resign.
Zwanziger
has
accused
Niersbach of lying, saying it was

clear that there was a slush fund

in the German World Cup bidding process.
German daily Die Welt said
the DFB plans to set up an ethics
committee, but both its members and the general public want
answers now.
I hope that the DFB will shed
light on the matter as soon as
possible, because this affair irritates many people, said German
politician Volker Bouffier, premier of central Hesse state.
Rumours of who might succeed Niersbach are already circulating, with Reinhard Rauball,
president of the German Football League (DFL), and Oliver
Bierhoff, manager of the German national team, mentioned
among the likely candidates.
Despite ongoing investigations by both German authorities
and FIFAs Ethics Committee,
Niersbach still enjoys support in
the DFB, but he needs to come up
with convincing answers.
Among the questions is how
long he knew about the dubious
payment of 6.7 million euros,
what was the money used for and
where did it go.
Observers have also wondered
why football legend Franz Beckenbauer, who led Germanys bid
to host the 2006 World Cup and
was head of the organising committee, has left his long-time
friend Niersbach in the cold and
refused to clarify the scandal.
Niersbach wants to stay in ofce and plans to travel with the
world champions to play France
in a friendly in Paris on Friday.
But todays meeting promises to
be the toughest test yet of his three
years in charge of Germanys most
powerful sporting body.

File picture of Dortmunds Gabonese striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang celebrating after scoring during a UEFA Europa League match.
AFP
Munich

abon striker Pierre-Emerick

Aubamenyang claimed his 14th
Bundesliga goal of the season as
Borussia Dortmund edged past
arch-rivals Schalke to win a tense Ruhr
derby 3-2 yesterday.
Aubameyang joined Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski as
the leagues top scorer by netting Dortmunds third after Japan midelder
Shinji Kagawa and Germany defender
Matthias Ginter had netted at Borussias
Signal Iduna Park stadium.
Schalke are now winless in their last
six matches, but the Royal Blues fought
to the nal whistle as Netherlands striker
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar kept his side in the
game with goals in each half following
mistakes in the Dortmund defence.
The result leaves second-placed Dortmund ve points behind Bundesliga
leaders Bayern, and eight points clear of
third-placed Wolfsburg, while Schalke

remain fth.
After Kagawa gave Dortmund a 30thminute lead with a rare header, Huntelaar equalised three minutes later after
Borussia captain Mats Hummels gave the
ball away.
The hosts then netted twice as Ginther
was left unmarked at a corner on 43 minutes as it nished 2-1 at the break.
Aubameyang then slotted what proved
to be the winning goal after a superb nal
pass from Gonzalo Castro, who started
on the left wing in place of injured Germany star Marco Reus.
CAPED CRUSADER
Aubameyang received a yellow card after
pulling off his shirt in celebration to reveal a T-shirt bearing the text Do you remember? under the Batman logo, having
donned a Caped Crusader outt in the
derby last February when he also scored
in a 3-0 win over Schalke.
But Huntelaar grabbed his second
when Dortmund centre-back Sokratis tried to back-heel a cross, but the ball
landed at the feet of the Dutch player who

Results
Borussia Dortmund ........3 Schalke.............................. 2
Saturday
Bayern Munich ....................4
Leverkusen ............................... 1
Mgladbach..............................0
Hoffenheim.............................0
Mainz ..............................................2
Darmstadt .................................. 1

Stuttgart.......................... 0
Cologne............................ 2
Ingolstadt ...................... 0
Eintracht Frankfurt0
Wolfsburg...................... 0
SV Hamburg .................1

Friday
Hanover........................................ 1 Hertha Berlin .............. 3

slotted home on 71 minutes.

Schalkes Pierre-Emile Hoejbjerg hit
the post with ten minutes to go, then
cleared a Dortmund shot off the line in
the dying stages.
Aubameyang is again the leagues joint
top-scorer alongside Lewandowski, who
netted his 14th league goal in Bayerns
4-0 win over VfB Stuttgart on Saturday.
The Bavarian giants star-studded attack ran riot with Arjen Robben, Douglas

Costa and Thomas Mueller also getting

on the scoresheet as defeat pushed Stuttgart back into the bottom three.
Bayern have turned the Allianz Arena into a fortress by scoring 28 goals in
their last six home games, conceding just
three, and have now claimed 34 points
from 36 and are the only unbeaten team
in Germanys top ight.
Wolfsburg, last seasons runners-up,
are now 13 points adrift of Bayern after
crashing to a 2-0 defeat at Mainz as Pablo
de Blasis and Yunus Mali scored.
Wolfsburg also had Germany midelder Julian Draxler sent off early on.
Fellow Champions League side Bayer
Leverkusen were also beaten as they suffered a 2-1 defeat at home to neighbours
Cologne in the Rhine derby as defender
Dominic Maroh scored the visitors goals
while Javier Hernandez scored for the
sixth match running.
His Leverkusen team was reduced to
10 men when defender Kyriakos Papadopoulos was shown a red card for bringing down Cologne striker Anthony Modeste when he was through on goal.

BOTTOMLINE

Bayern keen to retain Guardiola

DPA
Berlin

he only question for

Bayern Munich now is
will he or wont he?
After moving a step
closer to a record fourth straight
Bundesliga title with another
demonstration of strength in the
Allianz Arena, Bayern hope they
have done enough on the pitch
at least to persuade coach Pep
Guardiola to commit to the club
with a new contract.
The 44-year-old Spaniard
again deected questions about
extending his current deal,
which ends at the end of the
season, but club chairman KarlHeinz Rummenigge spoke of a
Christmas present after talks in
the winter break.
Im relaxed, as is the coach,
he said. Well discuss it after
the rst half of the campaign.
Well then come to a decision
and well announce it, whatever
the outcome.
Guardiola has spoken of the

File picture of Bayern Munichs Spanish head coach Pep Guardiola.

team now being his own in his
third season in Munich after
feeling for the rst two years
that it still belonged to his predecessor Jupp Heynckes.
The 4-0 victory over VfB
Stuttgart Saturday, with all four

goals coming in the rst half,

takes Bayern on to a record 34
out of 36 points at the top of the
Bundesliga.
It was yet another impressive performance in a season so
far dominated by the Bavarians

- and Rummenigge feels that

now that Guardiola now has his
signature on the side he will now
want to continue the project.
What the team is delivering here week in week out - you
dont need any more arguments
in favour of Bayern, Rummenigge said.
Guardiola made four changes
to the team that thrashed Arsenal 5-1 in the Champions League
midweek, with Joshua Kimmich,
Ranha, Arjen Robben and Arturo Vidal returning in place of
Philipp Lahm, Javi Martinez,
Thiago and Xabi Alonso.
Defender Holger Badstuber
meanwhile made an appearance in another boost for Bayern when he came off the bench
in the 59th minute for Thomas
Mueller for his comeback following injury after exactly 200
days on the sidelines.
It was one-way traffic from
the start from a team that has
now scored 28 goals in their last
six home matches in the league
and Champions League. Bayern
had 21 shots in the rst half and

33 in all, while enjoying 74.3 ball

possession to 25.70 per cent.
I like teams with this mentality, Guardiola said. Many
thanks to my players. Its difficult to play with this mentality
every three days.
So far theyve done very well
in all competitions. I hope our
players return in good health
from international duty so we
can keep up this mentality until
the Christmas break.
While there were smiles all
round in Munich, Wolfsburg
were left frustrated after a 2-0
defeat at Mainz and an unfortunate red card for midelder Julian Draxler in the 14th minute.
The Germany international
caught Gonzalo Jara with his
foot high while attempting to
bring down a ball over his shoulder, but with his eye on the ball
he probably did not see the
Mainz player.
The red card was a a very,
very hard decision, keeper Diego Benaglio said. You could
see Julian is turning and cant
see the opponent.

THE UGLY SIDE

Nepal players charged

with treason over
match-fixing: official
AFP
Kathmandu

epal has charged ve

footballers, including
its national captain and
goalkeeper, with treason over alleged match-xing in
World Cup qualiers in 2011, an
official said yesterday.
The government has charged
the ve footballers arrested last
month with treason and has
sought a life sentence as punishment, Bhadrakali Pokharel,
Registrar at the Special Court in
Kathmandu, which is hearing the
case, told AFP.
Skipper Sagar Thapa and goalkeeper Ritesh Thapa were among
ve players taken into custody
last month as part of a coordinated series of arrests in the
capital.
Detectives said the arrests
came after investigations found
signicant sums of money deposited in the players bank accounts from suspected matchxers based in Southeast Asia.
The footballers were found
involved in match-xing... accepting money to lose matches,
Pokharel said.
Pokharel added that they were
charged under a 1989 act, which
says that anyone causing or attempting to cause disorder with
the intention of jeopardising
Nepals sovereignty, integrity or
national unity, shall be liable for
life imprisonment.
The Special Court will record
the players statement tomorrow
and hold a hearing on whether to
grant them bail or keep them in
custody, he said.
Police earlier told AFP the
footballers are suspected of involvement in match-xing over
a period of eight years, including
several games played in 2011 as
part of Nepals unsuccessful bid
to qualify for the 2014 World Cup
in Brazil.
Officials are investigating

several matches including one

against Jordan that Nepal lost
9-0 as well as games with Bangladesh and Afghanistan, played
as part of a regional competition.
In addition to the skipper and
goalkeeper, defender Sandip Rai
and former players Bikash Singh
Chhetri and Anjan KC were also
detained after police uncovered
banking transactions between
the footballers and international
match xers, including those
based in Malaysia and Singapore.
According to investigators,
sums ranging from $1,000 to
$1,500 had been deposited in
the players accounts allegedly
courtesy of the overseas betting
syndicates.
Nepals football association
suspended the playersincluding KC, who was serving as a
coachpending the outcome
of the police investigation and
vowed to hold their own inquiry
into the allegations.
The scandal is the latest blow
to the Himalayan nations sporting reputation after All Nepal
Football Association (ANFA)
president Ganesh Thapa was
forced to step aside last year over
allegations that he embezzled
millions of dollars and accepted
bribes during his 19-year tenure.
The ethics committee of footballs world governing body FIFA
launched an investigation last
year into Thapa, a former Asian
Football Confederation vice
president and brother of Nepals
Deputy Prime Minister, Kamal
Thapa.
The outcome to that inquiry is
still pending.
FIFA has itself been rocked
by a series of corruption scandals and allegations in recent
months, leading to the suspension of its president Sepp Blatter.
Nepal is currently ranked 190
in FIFAs world rankings and has
already been knocked out of the
qualiers for the 2018 World Cup
in Russia after losing a two-leg
qualier to India 2-0.

Gulf Times
Monday, November 9, 2015

SPORT
NBA

Warriors push past Kings

to remain unbeaten
Curry wasnt the only Golden State player struggling from long range as the Warriors missed 16 of their first 17 shots
Reuters
Sacramento, California

tephen Curry cooled off but that didnt

stop the NBA champion Golden State
Warriors from reeling off their seventh
straight win to open the season, a 10394 triumph over the Kings in Sacramento on
Saturday. Curry came into the contest riding a
wave of four straight games of 30 points or more
but settled for 24 in his worst shooting night of
the edgling season.
The reigning Most Valuable Player missed his
rst eight shots from three-point range, but his
rst three-pointer proved key, putting the Warriors ahead 81-79 with 5:43 to play. He nished
by connecting on eight of 18 attempts from the
oor, two of 10 from three-point rangehis
80th straight game with at least one threepointer, the third-longest such streak in NBA
history.
Curry wasnt the only Golden State player
struggling from long range as the Warriors
missed 16 of their rst 17 shots from beyond the
arc. But they beneted from 21 Kings turnovers
that led to 29 Warriors points as Sacramento
again felt the absence of All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins, who missed his fourth game with a
strained right Achilles tendon.
Despite their shooting woes the Warriors
held off two second-half Kings rallies. Forward
Marco Belinellis three-pointer with 6:48 left in
the third quarter capped a 23-7 scoring run that
put the Kings up 55-53. But Warriors guard Klay
Thompson responded with a three-pointer to
start a run of 14 straight Golden State points.
The Kings came back again, with forward
Omri Casspi draining two three-pointers and
Belinelli adding another as the Kings out-scored
the Warriors 24-11 over the next seven minutes.
A jump shot from Rajon Rondo put Sacramento
up 79-78 with 6:37 to play.
Rondo nished with a triple-double of 14
points, 15 assists and 12 rebounds, but Currys
three-pointer with 5:43 left gave the Warriors a
lead they wouldnt relinquish.

ROCKETS 109, CLIPPERS 105

Guard James Harden scored a season-best 46
points to spark the Houston Rockets to a 109105 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers at the
Staples Center.
Center Dwight Howard nished with 20
points and 20 rebounds for the Rockets (4-3),
who posted their fourth consecutive win. Forward Marcus Thornton chipped in 16 points.
Forward Blake Griffin had 35 points, 11 rebounds and ve assists to lead Los Angeles
(4-2), which lost its second straight game and
played without point guard Chris Paul (sore
right groin).
BUCKS 94, NETS 86
Greg Monroe scored 20 points and Jerryd Bayless added 19 off the bench as Milwaukee extended its winning streak to four games with a
victory over Brooklyn at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.
Monroe hit 8-of-16 shots and was 4-for-5
from the free-throw line but failed to record a
double-double for the rst time this season,
nishing with eight rebounds.
Bayless scored 14 of his points in the second
half, as the Bucks broke a 55-55 halftime tie with
a 23-point third quarter and took a 78-72 lead
into the fourth.

Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose (right) is

blocked by Minnesota Timberwolves guard Zach
LaVine during the first half of the NBA game at
the United Center. (USA TODAY Sports)

MAVERICKS 107, PELICANS 98

Despite the season being less than two weeks
old, both Dallas and New Orleans took the oor
with a sense of desperation.
The Mavericks avoided a winless opening
homestand by pulling away in the nal period
to top the injury-ravaged Pelicans at American
Airlines Center.
TIMBERWOLVES 102, BULLS 93 (OT)
Guard Andrew Wiggins scored 31 points as the
Minnesota Timberwolves outlasted the Chicago
Bulls for a 102-93 overtime win.
Rookie center Karl-Anthony Towns scored 17
points and grabbed 13 rebounds to post his third
double-double in ve games. Forward Nemanja

Bjelica added 17 points and 11 rebounds off the

bench for Minnesota.

MAGIC 105, 76ERS 97

Guard Elfrid Payton scored 12 of his season-high
20 points in the nal 7:45 as the Orlando Magic
held off the Philadelphia 76ers.
Payton led seven players in double gures for
Orlando, with forward Evan Fournier scoring 17,
Victor Oladipo (15), Dewayne Dedmon (12) and
guard Mario Hezonja 11.
HAWKS 114, WIZARDS 99
Forward Kent Bazemore had a career-high 25
points and the Hawks pulled away with a nishing kick after a cold shooting start for a 114-99

victory over the turnover-plagued Washington

Wizards.
Forward Paul Millsap added 21 points as the
Hawks forced 25 turnovers.

SPURS 114, HORNETS 94

Small forward Kawhi Leonard scored 23 points
as the San Antonio went berserk offensively in
the third quarter of a 114-94 win over the Charlotte Hornets.
The Spurs shot 55.6 percent for the game, but
it was not until their 42-point explosion in the
third quarter that they took control.
Guard Manu Ginobili knocked down three
three-pointers and point guard Patty Mills added another one in the middle of a 24-2 run late in

the third that turned a six-point decit into an

89-73 advantage.

JAZZ 89, GRIZZLIES 79

Guard Trey Burke led all scorers with 24 points
and sizzled with six three-pointers while the
Utah Jazz defense stied the struggling Memphis Grizzlies in a 89-79 victory.
Forward Gordon Hayward had another solid
outing after a slow start to the season, scoring 18
points on 6-of-10 shooting while Derrick Favors
contributed 12 points and 16 rebounds.
Guard Mike Conley led the Grizzlies with 20
points while centre Marc Gasol, who has been
dealing with a neck strain, totalled 13 points and
10 rebounds.

NHL

Desharnais last minute winner sends Canadiens past Bruins

The rst three players for each team missed
their shots before Ovechkin took his time and
shot past Toronto goalie James Reimer. Capitals goalie Braden Holtby then stopped center
Nazem Kadri to seal the win. Backstrom forced
overtime when he scored with eight-tenths of
a second left in regulation off a pass from right
winger Justin Williams.

Reuters
Montreal

enter David Desharnais scored late in

the third period to lift the Montreal
Canadiens to a 4-2 come-from-behind
win over the Boston Bruins at the National Hockey League on Saturday.
Goaltender Mike Condon stopped 29 shots
for Montreal, while Jonas Gustavsson made 29
saves for the Bruins. Center Tomas Plekanec
and left wingers Lars Eller and Max Pacioretty
also scored for the Canadiens. Left winger Loui
Eriksson and center Frank Vatrano scored for
Boston.

SABRES 3, CANUCKS 2
Defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen scored his
second goal of the game with 16.8 seconds remaining to lead the Buffalo Sabres to a 3-2 win
over the Vancouver Canucks. Left winger Jamie
McGinn also scored for the Sabres, who got 35
saves from goalie Linus Ullmark.
Center Henrik Sedin and left winger Chris
Higgins scored for the Canucks. Vancouver
goalie Ryan Miller, playing in his rst game in
Buffalo against his former team, made 19 saves.

scored for the Panthers.

KINGS 4, PANTHERS 1
Defenseman Drew Doughty and center Anze
Kopitar scored goals less than a minute apart
late in the second period as the Los Angeles
Kings defeated the Florida Panthers.
Center Jeff Carter and left winger Milan Lucic also scored for Los Angeles, while Jonathan
Quick made 18 saves. Center Nick Bjugstad

FLYERS 3, JETS 0
Philadelphia goalie Michal Neuvirth posted his
third shutout of the season as the Flyers beat
the Winnipeg Jets. Neuvirth blocked 27 shots as
the Flyers halted a six-game losing streak.
Flyers center Brayden Schenn red a power
play goal in the rst period, before right winger
Wayne Simmonds scored his second goal of the

Montreal Canadiens David

Desharnais scores a goal
against Boston Bruins. (Reuters)

season at 9:44 of the third period. Right winger

Matt Read scored his third goal of the season
into an empty net with 1:35 remaining.

CAPITALS 3, MAPLE LEAFS 2 (SO)

Nicklas Backstrom tied the score with less
than one second left in regulation before Alex
Ovechkin scored the only goal in the shootout
as the Washington Capitals rallied to defeat the
Toronto Maple Leafs.

HURRICANES 3, SENATORS 2 (OT)

Jeff Skinner scored with 3.3 seconds left in
regulation on Carolinas 43rd shot against Andrew Hammond before Jordan Staal won it in
overtime. Hammond was under siege in the
nal 2-1/2 minutes of regulation with Cam
Ward pulled for an extra attacker and then Staal
scored his third goal of the season with 2:09 left
in overtime. Alex Chiasson and Chris Wideman
scored 4-1/2 minutes apart in the second period as the Senators took a 2-1 lead into the third
period but could not hold it.
WILD 1, LIGHTNING 0
Minnesotas Devan Dubnyk won a goaltending
battle in a game in which a defenseman scored
the lone goal as the Wild escaped with a 1-0
victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Dubnyk made 30 saves to earn his 16th career shutout and second of the season while
defenseman Jared Sprurgeons second-period
goal stood up. Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop
made 24 saves.
BLUES 4, PREDATORS 0
Colton Parayko and Alex Pietrangeolo scored
power-play goals and goaltender Jake Allen
posted a shutout, leading the St. Louis Blues to

a 4-0 win over the Nashville Predators. Allen

made 46 saves for Nashville.

RANGERS 4, COYOTES 1
New York backup goaltender Antii Raanta nished 4.6 seconds short of his second shutout
in three starts this season while his team mates
scored three goals in the second period for a 4-1
victory over the Arizona Coyotes.
Center J.T. Miller, left winger Chris Kreider and right winger Kevin Hayes scored goals
11 minutes apart in the second period for the
Rangers, who stretched their winning streak to
ve games.
DUCKS 1, SHARKS 0
Backup goalie Anton Khudobin stopped all 31
shots San Jose red as Anaheim recorded a 1-0
victory. Ducks right winger Corey Perry scored
the games lone goal in the rst period when he
beat Sharks goalie Martin Jones with a wrist
shot from the inside edge of the left circle for
his second goal of the season.
FLAMES 5, PENGUINS 2
Sam Bennett and Sean Monahan both scored
highlight-reel goals to lead Calgary past Pittsburgh. Bennett made a nice toe-drag move
around Pittsburgh defenseman Ian Cole before
ipping the puck just over goaltender MarkAndre Fleurys left pad to put the Flames up 3-1
late in the rst period. Monahan extended Calgarys lead to 4-1 at 9:05 of the second period
when he batted the puck out of mid-air past
Fleury. Left winger Johnny Gaudreau, who also
scored twice, set up the goal by also batting it
out of the air over to Monahan.

Gulf Times
Monday, November 9, 2015

SPORT
NFL

DeMarcus Ware still has place

in his heart for Cowboys
I was part of the Cowboys organisation for nine years and put in a lot of sweat and tears there
By Charean Williams
Fort Worth Star-Telegram

espite wearing orange and navy with

a bronco on the side of his helmet,
DeMarcus Ware always will consider
himself a Cowboy. The Cowboys drafted him 11th overall in 2005, and he spent the rst
nine years of his career in Dallas.
Ware kept his house in Tarrant County (Texas)
and plans to retire there when he nishes his career. He also promises to retire a Cowboy.
Thats where everything started for me,
Ware said in a phone interview. I was part of
the Cowboys organisation for nine years and
put in a lot of sweat and tears there. Jerry Jones
is a great owner, and its a great organization.
Coming back there and maybe being able to be
in the Ring of Honor and being able to do some
things for the community, itll be awesome. Its
home for me and for my kids.
Ware, though, isnt planning on quitting anytime soon.
The Cowboys released Ware before the 2014
season, saving them $7.4 million against the cap.
The pass rusher was coming off his worst season, making only six sacks in an injury-plagued
2013 campaign.
Denver signed him to three-year, $30 million
deal, and Ware has proved the past two years
that he wasnt damaged goods.
A lot of people probably said, You know
what? Hes been dinged up, and hes been hurt,
Ware said. I always look at a guy and see how
he plays through the hurt. If he still can be consistent through the hurt, imagine if he can get
healthy and get ahead of the injury curve, he can
bounce back, and I think thats what I did.
Ware has provided a perfect complement to
former Texas A&M star Von Miller. Ware, 33,
made 10 sacks last season, his eighth doubledigit sack season, and already has 5.5 this season. I am seeing a lot more one-on-one blocks,
because when Von comes from the other side,
they have to be aware of him, Ware said. If
its third-and-8, youve got me and him coming, plus another couple of guys, so youre able
to get the one-on-one matchups to where you
can beat guys, or maybe even mismatches where
youre maybe on a tight end or a running back,
and youre able to make plays.
Ware, reunited with defensive coordinator
Wade Phillips, plays on the leagues top-rated
defense. The Broncos were allowing only 261.1
yards per game heading into Sunday. They already have drawn comparisons to some of the
leagues best-ever units.
I played on a lot of great defenses in Dallas,
Ware said. Here in Denver, its a lot different.
You have a couple of extra athletes playing on
the team, and guys are playing really well and
playing consistent. I think this is probably one
of the best defenses Ive played on in my career.

DeMarcus Ware, now

with Denver, still owns
the Cowboys team sacks
record with 117.

Ware owns the Cowboys team sacks record

with 117, and his 132{ career sacks have him
within one sack of joining the leagues career
top 10. He is within nine sacks of the top ve of
all time.
Ware appears well on his way to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. There are a lot of great players in the Hall of Fame, Ware said. You never
sort of look at yourself and think about yourself

having that bronzed head. You just keep working hard and keep biting at the bit, and hopefully
youre able to be enshrined in something like
that that lives forever.
Ware was thrilled to see Charles Haley get
his due with Haleys induction into Canton in
August. Oh, man, that was awesome, Ware
said. As hard as he fought and how he played,
he deserved it. He was just an unbelievable

pass-rusher. When I rst came in, I had some

big shoes to ll. There was a lot of pressure. You
know how Charles is. I got there, and he said,
Youre wearing 94. Now, youve got to prove
something to me week in and week out. He really stayed on me about that.
Haley seeks the one thing missing from his
resume and his hand _ a Super Bowl ring. The
Broncos stand as one of four undefeated teams

in the NFL. You think about all the things players play for, the biggest thing is the Super Bowl,
Ware said. Thats the pinnacle of what a team
is about. Guys coming together at adverse times
and getting in the playoffs and now being able
to say, Now weve made it. Weve arrived, and
we did it. No matter what we went through, this
team did something special. It would be something really big for me.

BASEBALL

Alderson tasked with keeping Mets at National level

By Marc Carig
Newsday

he annual general managers

meetings signal the unofficial
beginning of baseballs hot
stove season. And with the
meetings officially starting on Monday, the Mets nd themselves with options as they begin retooling a roster
that brought home the franchises rst
pennant in 15 years.
Despite their rst successful season
on the eld in years, there has been little indication that the payroll will grow
signicantly past last Opening Days
$103 million. So the Mets could take
a straightforward path, making a few
modest additions via free agency to
augment a roster that is anchored by a
brilliant young pitching staff.
Thats the foundation of our team
right now, GM Sandy Alderson said
this past week.
Or the Mets could entertain trading Zack Wheeler, who could bring in
an impact player without the kind of
long-term free-agent deals that Alderson has long been averse to giving.
Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Noah
Syndergaard and Steven Matz essentially are off-limits. Were fairly resolute about what were going to do and
not do with regards to those four, but
well see what happens, Alderson said.
But in Wheeler, the Mets could tap
into a market of teams in search of a
potential top-of-the-rotation starter,
even if it means taking a risk on a player
recovering from Tommy John surgery.
Juan Lagares signed a backloaded
ve-year, $23.6-million extension last
spring, a contract that also could be
moved in the right circumstance.
Whether through free agency or
trades, the Mets enter the offseason
with clear goals: nd a platoon partner to combat right-handed pitching
and to pair with Lagares in center eld,

add a shutdown arm for the back of the

bullpen, and acquire a versatile utilityman to help ll a void at second and
serve as insurance at third.
The Mets must nd enough offense
to help endure the losses of Yoenis
Cespedes and Daniel Murphy, both of
whom almost certainly will nd greater riches elsewhere via free agency.
Yet in some ways, the Mets have relatively little work to do. David Wright,
Lucas Duda, Curtis Granderson and
Travis dArnaud are locks at their
spots, and the Mets appear content at
shortstop.
Even if Cespedes and Murphy are
gone next season, the Mets have inhouse options such as Michael Conforto and Dilson Herrera to ll in the
gaps in the outeld and at second base.
Conforto will play every day next
season and highly regarded prospect
Herrera could be ready by Opening Day.
Both would help to make up for some of
the production theyll be missing when
Cespedes and Murphy walk.
If thats not enough, the Mets again
could get aggressive at the trade deadline, just as they did last season when
injuries ravaged the lineup.
As has been the case in recent years,
the Mets dont appear to be in the mix
for top-shelf talents such as Justin Upton or Jason Heyward, both of whom
almost certainly would demand large
multiyear deals. Said Alderson: Its
not something we like to do.
However, early indications are that
the Mets will target free-agent centerelder Denard Span, who was not
given a qualifying offer after an injuryplagued year with the Nationals. That
means if signed, he will not cost his
new team a draft pick.
The Mets also have their eye on Gerardo Parra, whom they nearly traded
for at last Julys trade deadline, and
Dexter Fowler. Span, Parra and Fowler
appear to be preferred internally over
other potential ts in centereld such

Yet in some ways, the Mets have

relatively little work to do.
David Wright, Lucas Duda,
Curtis Granderson and Travis
dArnaud are locks at their
spots, and the Mets appear
content at shortstop

New York Mets general manager Sandy Alderson announced a two-year contract extension for Mets manager Terry Collins
during a press conference at Citi Field.
as Colby Rasmus and Will Venable.
The club has interest in sidearming
righty Darren ODay, who is coming off a
dominant season for the Orioles in which
he posted a 1.53 ERA in 68 appearances.

ODay, 33, ts a clear need for the

Mets, whose shaky bullpen was exposed during the postseason. But he is
perhaps the best option in a relatively
thin market for back-end arms, mean-

ing hell command a hefty multiyear

deal.
Because the Orioles did not extend
him a qualifying offer, the team that
signs ODay wont be required to part

with a draft pick, which will make his

market even more competitive.
At the very least, the Mets have plans
to round out the rest of the bullpen.
In a change of course, they intend to
bring back setup man Addison Reed,
who is due a raise via arbitration. He
pitched well after his acquisition from
the Diamondbacks. There is mutual
interest in a reunion with lefty specialist Jerry Blevins, who missed almost all
of last season with arm injuries.
At shortstop, the Mets likely will
stick with the combination of Wilmer Flores and Ruben Tejada, partly
because the free- agent market is
short on clear upgrades. Ian Desmond leads the free- agent market.
But hes coming off a down season
with the Nationals in which his defense took a step back. He made 27
errors and hit .233.
Desmond, 30, could command a
multiyear deal and would require the
Mets to forfeit a draft pick _ all for a
higher-priced, arguably lesser version
of what the Mets already have in Flores.
Ben Zobrist, a Mets target at the
trade deadline, also is on the free-agent
market. Hes coveted for his versatility.
But the Mets could go with a less costly
alternative by simply retaining Kelly
Johnson.
Internally, the Mets have discussed
re-signing Johnson, who would provide a bridge for Herrera in case hes
not ready to begin the season in the big
leagues. Johnson also has enough defensive versatility to serve as an insurance policy for Wright, who will begin
his rst full season managing his spinal
stenosis.

Gulf Times
Monday, November 9, 2015

SPORT
BEACH VOLLEYBALL WORLD TOUR

Two Qatar teams to take part in Doha Open

By Sports Reporter
Doha

im Holler and Jonas Schreiber will be out to repeat

their heroics of last year
when the 2015 FIVB Beach
Volleyball Doha Open begins today
at the Al Gharafa Stadium.
The tournament is the nal Open
of 2015 and the last World Tour
tournament of the year. It is the
second time Doha is hosting the
tournament and it will run November 9-13.
Qatar has elded two teams
Jefferson Parreira-Cherif Younnouse and Mahmoud Assam-Ahmad Tijan in the tournament,
which was originally scheduled to
be held from November 17 to 21.
It was brought forward as per
the request of the Qatar Volleyball
Association (QVA) which wanted it
to nish one week earlier and on a
Friday.
Its for the second year in a row
that were hosting the FIVB event.
The QVA has an agreement with

FIVB to host the World Tour event

till 2016. Were even exploring the
option of hosting a Grand Slam
event in future, said QVA general
secretary Mohamed Ali al-Mohannadi.
In 2014, the German pair Tim
Holler and Jonas Schreiber won
their only gold medal of the World
Tour after they went from the qualiers all the way to the top of the
podium, defeating Canadas Joshua
Binstock and Sam Schachter in the
gold medal match.
Since then their best result was
a quarter-nal nish at the Antalya Open in Turkey and this year
they have been put straight in to
the main draw. Standing in their
way are the formidable pairing of
former Olympic champions Phil
Dalhausser and Nick Lucena, who
will aim to continue the strong
start to their partnership.
The American duo teamed up
earlier in 2015 and has already enjoyed some notable success on the
World Tour.
They began with silver at the
Long Beach Grand Slam, added an-

other silver at the Sochi Open and

then won their rst gold together at
the Xiamen Open. Since then the
Americans have won silver at the
World Tour Finals and another gold
at the Puerto Vallarta Open.
Adrian Carambula and Alex
Ranghieri are likely to push them
hard for the right to top the podium. The Italians have enjoyed a
stellar 2015 season and they go into
the tournament in great form having won gold at the most recent
tournament, the Antalya Open.
Another podium nish would
cap the duos breakthrough year
which began by them winning gold
at the inaugural Lucerne Open in
May.
Edouard
Rowlandson
and
Youssef Krou will aim to add to the
bronze medals they won in 2014.
The French pair have not yet enjoyed the same consistency that
they enjoyed last year, but they
will be aiming to end the year as
they started it, with a place on the
podium having won bronze in the
season-opening Fuzhou Open in
China.

Members of the Qatar teams with their

coach Pedro Paulo Costa on the eve of the
2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball Doha Open.

FOCUS

BOXING

We face long road

to redemption,
says IAAF chief Coe
I was in clear shock and a great deal of anger and a lot of sadness
Reuters
London

SEBASTIAN COE

orld athletics president Sebastian Coe

has stepped up his
review aimed at
cleaning up the sports battered
reputation after the latest allegations of bribery, extortion and
doping cover-ups left athletics
facing a long road to redemption
Briton Coe, who was elected
president of the sports IAAF
governing body in August on a
manifesto promising reform,
said yesterday that he reacted
with shock, anger and sadness
when French authorities this
week placed his long-serving
predecessor Lamine Diack under
formal investigation on suspicion of corruption and money
laundering.
Senegalese Diack, 82, who Coe
once described as the sports
spiritual president, is alleged
to have received more than one
million euros ($1.1 million) in
bribes in 2011 to cover up positive doping tests of Russian athletes. His son Papa Massata Diack, along with three others, has
also been charged with various
alleged breaches of the IAAFs
Code of Ethics.
Diacks family has dismissed
what they described as excessive
and insignicant accusations.
Coe told BBC Radio Five Live
yesterday: I was in clear shock
and a great deal of anger and a lot
of sadness. These are dark days
for our sport, but Im more determined than ever to rebuild the
trust in our sport.
Its not going to be a short
journey and the day after I got
elected I started a massive review, and understandably in
light of the allegations that were
made this week that review has
been accelerated.
Im determined to rebuild
and repair the sport with my
council colleagues, but this is a

long road to redemption.

The IAAF this year vigorously
defended itself against allegations of widespread doping in
the sport and that it had failed to

properly investigate thousands

of dubious drugs test results between 2001 and 2012. Before being elected, Coe described those
allegations by Britains Sunday

Times newspaper and German

broadcaster ARD as a declaration
of war on athletics.
Despite being an IAAF vicepresident for half of Diacks 16-

year reign, he said on Sunday

that he had no inkling of any
wrongdoing until the allegations
surfaced this week.
If these allegations are proven, then clearly bad people have
manipulated the system and we
will need a system of checks and
balances to make sure bad people dont get into those positions
in future, Coe said.
In hindsight those systems
should have been in place. My
task now is to make sure they
are and build a sport that is accountable, responsible and responsive, but its going to be a
long road and we should not kid
ourselves here.
Coes comments came as one
of the three co-authors of a report by the World Anti-Doping
Agency (WADA) into wrongdoing within athleticsto be published on Mondaysaid that the
sport is dealing with a whole
different level of corruption to
that which has plagued soccers
governing body FIFA.
Richard McLaren, a Canadian
law professor and sports lawyer,
told the Sunday Times: Here
you potentially have a bunch of
old men who put a whole lot of
extra money in their pockets
through extortion and bribes
but also caused signicant
changes to actual results and
nal standings of international
athletics competitions.
This is a whole different scale
of corruption than the FIFA
scandal. This report is going to
be a real game-changer.
Soccers world governing body
FIFA has been in turmoil since 14
officials and sports marketing
executives, including two FIFA
vice-presidents, were indicted
by the United States in May.
FIFA President Sepp Blatter
and his European counterpart
Michel Platini have since been
suspended while Swiss authorities investigate the Zurich-based
federations activities. Both have
denied wrongdoing.

Bradley batters
Rios to keep
welterweight belt
AFP
Las Vegas

imothy Bradley battered Brandon Rios en

route to a ninth-round
technical knockout on
Saturday in a lopsided welterweight bout that had a dejected Rios announcing his
retirement.
Bradley retained his World
Boxing Organization world title, improving to 33-1-1 with 13
wins inside the distance with
the triumph at the Thomas &
Mack Center in Las Vegas.
Fighting for the rst time
under the guidance of trainer
Teddy Atlas, Bradley was quick
and aggressive against a challenger who struggled to make
the 147-pound weight limit.
Bradley, 32, was fast off the
mark, landing a series of combinations in a big rst round.
Rios, a former World Boxing Association lightweight
champion, absorbed a big right
in the second, but responded
in a battling exchange.
He was doing good work in
the third before a body shot
from Bradley clearly rattled
him.
I hurt him early to the
body, Bradley said. I kind of
wanted to get him not thinking
about it for awhile, and then I
went back downstairs.
Bradley sent Rios to the canvas with a left to the body in
the ninth. Rios beat the count,
only for Bradley to unleash a
barrage that had him down
again and referee Tony Weeks
calling a halt at 2:49 of the
round.
Thats the best Bradley
Ive ever seen, promoter Bob
Arum said of the ghter who

has been mentioned as a possible foe for Manny Pacquiao

next year in what will likely
be the Philippine legends last
ght.
The two fought twice in
2012, when Bradley took a
controversial split decision
before losing the rematch by
unanimous decision.
Rios, 29, wasnt contemplating any future in the ring
after falling to 33-3-1, with 24
knockouts.
I think its time to get out,
he said.
Lomachenko KOs
Koasicha
Meanwhile, Ukrainian Vasyl Lomachenko knocked
out Romulo Koasicha in the
10th round to retain his WBO
featherweight world title.
Lomachenko
dominated throughout, punishing
the Mexican with an array
of punches before landing
a string of body blows that
brought Koasicha (25-5) down
for the count at 2:35 of the
10th.
I was just having fun in
there, said Lomachenko, an
Olympic gold medallist in
2008 and 2012 who lost only
once in a fabled 500-ght
amateur career and captured
his world title in just his third
pro bout. If I really wanted
to knock him out I would have
done it earlier.
The
27-year-old
Lomachenko improved to 5-1
with three knockouts and
could be in line for a ght with
Guillermo Rigondeaux in a
clash of former amateur titans.
Cubas Rigondeaux also won
two Olympic titles, in 2004
and 2008, and is unbeaten in
15 pro ghts.

Greek Amateur wins Athens classic marathon

Greek amateur Christoforos Merousis
won the 33rd Athens classic marathon
yesterday, which this year excluded
professionals.
The 33-year-old runner finished the 42
kilometre (26 mile) course in two hours,
21 minutes and 22 seconds, almost six
minutes faster than the runner up.
Because of financial issues the Greek
athletics federation SEGAS decided last
August to exclude elite runners from this

years competition so as to remain within

budget. With an economic crisis in full
bloom the government has cut down
drastically on overspending at sports
federations. Last years competition was
won in a course record 2:10.37 by Kenyas
Felix Kipchirchir Kandie followed by three
of his countrymen.
Second behind Merousis in this years
race was Dimitrios Theodorakakos
in 2:27.03 and third was Dimosthenis

Evangelidis in 2:27.28. The first non-Greek

across the finish line was 40-year-old
Stefan Colaes of Belgium in 2:45.32 in 21st
place while the womens race was won by
Japans Minori Havakari,43, who clocked
2:52.06 and was 37th overall.
With bright, sunny conditions 14,728
people took part, around half the number
from those who ran last year.
The race began just a short distance from
the tumulus erected for the Greek dead of

the battle of Marathon and finished at the

all-marble Panathenaic Stadium, site of
the first modern Olympics in 1896.
According to legend, the distance from
Marathon to Athens was first run by Pheidippides, an Athenian messenger who
in 490 BC dashed to the democratic city
states of Athens and Platea to announce
victory of the citizen soldiers of Athens
over forces from the Persian empire, before keeling over and dying of exhaustion.

WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley celebrates his

victory over challenger Brandon Rios at the Thomas & Mack
Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. (AFP)

10

Gulf Times
Monday, November 9, 2015

SPORT
TENNIS

RUGBY

Djokovic dominates
Murray to clinch 4th
Paris Masters title
He fully deserves the number one spot, hopefully I can get a little bit closer next year

Japan beat Hong

Kong to secure
Olympics ticket
AFP
Hong Kong

apans men completed

a second-half rally to
book a berth at the 2016
Olympic rugby sevens
tournament with a 24-10 victory over hosts Hong Kong in
the nal of the Asian qualifying event yesterday
Tries from Teruya Goto,
Lemeki Lomano, Kazuhiro
Goya and Katsuyuki Sakai allowed Tomohiro Segawas team
to book their ticket for Rio and
ensure the rugby fever sweeping Japan since the Brave Blossoms good showing at the recent World Cup continued.
Sakai also chipped in with
two conversions.
In a far tighter nal than
many had anticipated, Alexander McQueen and Max Woodward gave the hosts a 10-0
halftime lead as Japan conceded their rst points of the
weekend.
Goto eventually crossed
three minutes into the second
half as Japan started to erase the
errors that had plagued them in
the rst half.
Lomano and Goya then
touched down in the space of a
couple of minutes, the latter the

result of some great handling by

Lote Tuqiri. Sakais try sealed
the win.
Hong Kong, South Korea and
Sri Lanka, who nished from
second to fourth, still have a
chance of making it to Brazil as
they will take part in a 16-team
cross-continental repechage
tournament with one ticket up
for grabs.
Japans women are on course
to join the men in Brazil but face
an anxious wait before they can
start dreaming of Rio.
The womens competition
is a two-legged affair, unlike
the one-off tournament for the
men, and reaches its conclusion in Tokyo on Nov. 29 with
the winner determined by the
points accumulated during the
two events.
A 22-0 victory over Kazakhstan allowed Keiko Asamis
team to pick up six points as the
rst-leg winners but an earlier
12-5 loss to China means they
cannot rest on their laurels,
knowing there are other sides
capable of beating them.
The sides nishing second to
fourth in the womens competition also have one more shot
at making it to the Olympics,
which welcomes rugby back to
the fold for the rst time since
1924.

Serbias Novak Djokovic poses with

the trophy after winning the Paris
Masters in Paris yesterday. (AFP)

AFP
Paris

ovak Djokovic won his

sixth Masters title of the
year yesterday when he
defeated Andy Murray
6-2, 6-4 in Paris to put the nishing touches on one of the greatest
years in tennis history.
The top seed won the seriesclosing title for an unprecedented
third straight year and a fourth time
in all as he dominated the Scottish
second seed from start to nish in
1hr 32mins.
The win brought Djokovics nal
regular season win-loss record to a
stunning 78-5 and took his unbeaten run, stretching back to August
23, to 22 matches.
He will now go on to the World
Tour Finals in London having won
three out of four Grand Slam titles
and six out of nine Masters 1000
series titles in 2015.
It was a tough match today and I
wish Andy all the best for the rest of
the season both in London and the
Davis Cup nal. I know you want to

to do well, Djokovic said.

In what was the rst Paris Masters nal since 1990 featuring the
top two seeds, Djokovic stamped
his authority on the match from the
start.
He won eight straight points
from the end of the rst game to
move clear and pile the pressure
on Murray, who had lost nine out
of the last 10 matches between the
two.
The Scot looked increasingly
tight and edgy, electing to play a
series of drop shots to avoid a baseline battle with Djokovic which he
was so far losing comprehensively.
Another dropped serve by Murray in the seventh game saw the
Serb then pocket the set 6-2 in 42
minutes.
When a rampant Djokovic broke
again in the third game of the second set it looked all over, but out
of the blue Murray broke to love to
revive his hopes.
Playing for the rst time in the
Paris nal, the Scot moved 3-2 up
and had pressure on Djokovics next
serve. But as he has done all year,
the Serb dug deep to level and then

break again in the following game

as Murray faltered.
Two games later it was all over,
Murray stabbing a backhand wide
as Djokovic raised his arms in triumph over what he had achieved.
At just 28, it was his 26th Masters Series title, just one shy of Rafael Nadal in rst place.
It was a pleasure to play here
this week in the beautiful new stadium, said Murray during the trophy ceremony.
Its been a great year for him
again. He fully deserves the number
one spot, hopefully I can get a little
bit closer next year, Murray said.
Its been a great week for me,
the rst time past the quarter-nals here. Its progress and Ill try
next year to go one better.
Murray made it clear before Paris
that his priority for the year was the
Davis Cup nal against Belgium in
Ghent in late November when he
will try to win the trophy for Britain
for the rst time since 1936.
Murray was the rst British nalist at the BNP Paribas Masters
since Tim Henman won the title in
2003.

HIGHLIGHTS OF DJOKOVICS 2015 SEASON

Russias Enisei make history

with European debut

Grand Slams finals (3 out of 4, won 3)

Australian Open
Novak Djokovic bt Andy Murray 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (4/7), 6-3, 6-0
French Open
Stan Wawrinka bt Novak Djokovic 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.
Wimbledon
Novak Djokovic bt Roger Federer 7-6 (7/1), 6-7 (10/12), 6-4, 6-3
US Open
Novak Djokovic bt Roger Federer 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4
Masters 1000 finals (8 out of 9, won 6)
Indian Wells (hardcourt)
Novak Djokovic bt Roger Federer 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-2 Miami
(hardcourt)
Novak Djokovic bt Andy Murray 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 6-0 Monte
Carlo (claycourt)
Novak Djokovic bt Tomas Berdych 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 Rome (claycourt)
Novak Djokovic bt Roger Federer 6-4, 6-3 Montreal (hardcourt)
Andy Murray bt Novak Djokovic 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 Cincinnati
(hardcourt)
Roger Federer bt Novak Djokovic 7-6 (7-1), 6-3 Shanghai
(hardcourt)
Novak Djokovic bt Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-2, 6-4 Paris (hardcourt)
Novak Djokovic bt Andy Murray 6-2, 6-4
Overall win-loss record 78-5
Titles: 10

Rugby union will break new ground in the Siberian city of

Krasnoyarsk this weekend when local team Enisei-STM become
the first Russian club to play in the group stages of a European
competition.
Enisei will host Irish side Connacht in the continents second-tier
Challenge Cup on November 14, some 6,000 kilometres (3,700
miles) east of Ireland, after overcoming the odds to get among
the big boys of Europes club game.
As the harsh Siberian winter sets in, Enisei will then switch their
next two home group games against French club Brive and
English side Newcastle Falcons to the considerably warmer
climes of the resort city of Sochi, far to the west on Russias
Black Sea coast.
Its the life-long dream of any rugby player to try his skills at the
top level against the European elite, club captain Yury Baranov
told AFP. To win a place in the Challenge Cup is already a great
achievement for our team but now we all want to be competitive and not just whipping boys.
Despite first coming to Russia in the 1880s with foreign workers
building the trans-Siberian railway, rugby has struggled to take
off in the vast country after a sometimes testy relationship with
the authorities. The sport was briefly banned under Communist
dictator Joseph Stalin due to being cosmopolitan and despite
the launch of a national championship in 1966, the game is still
a rarity even after an uptick of interest in recent years.
Even in Krasnoyarskconsidered the centre of rugby in Siberiathe club admits that it may struggle to fill its 25,000-seater
stadium for its European debut.

FOCUS

Venus wins title to return to top 10 ranking

DPA
Zhuhai

enus Williams will return to the top 10 in the

rankings for the rst
time in half a decade
as the 35-year-old defeated an
opponent a dozen years her junior to win the WTA Elite Trophy
yesterday, the 48th title of her
career.
The seven-time grand slam
winner will end the season
among the elite once again
thanks to a 7-5, 7-6 (8-6) defeat
of Czech Karolina Pliskova in the
nal of the second-tier event
featuring ninth through 19th
placed nishers on the WTA.
Williams lifted her third title
of the season, taking just over
two hours to claim the title in
the southern Chinese coastal
metropolis, It was her second
trophy in a month in China after
winning Wuhan and was added

to her Auckland honour from

January.
Its a great thing to be Top 10
now with the level of the game,
but Im still very hungry. Im
ready for more, said Williams,
Ive had so many experiences
in tennis that I still expect a lot
from myself.

Williams rode a 4-1 lead

to claim the first set as she
fought off Pliskovas comeback attempt at 4-all
Im very happy to be moving
forward, but I want to continue,
and not stop here.
The experienced veteran kept
the pressure on her 23-year-old
opponent, forcing Pliskova playing in her sixth nal of the
season - to save 10 of 13 break
points.
The Czech ends the season on
a 13th ranking, losing ve nals.
Even if I didnt make it today,
it was a great week, Pliskova said.

Venus played an unbelievable match today. But Im

proud of how I played this week
and hopefully well have more
matches like this.
Williams rode a 4-1 lead to
claim the first set as she fought
off Pliskovas comeback attempt at 4-all. In the second
set, the Czech challenger led
4-2, forcing Williams into a
successful fightback including
a set point salvaged in the 11th
game.
Williams nished the job with
back-to-back forehand winners.
Seven weeks here in Asia and
now I feel like its my home, said
Williams.
Im so excited to win the rst
trophy in Zhuhai.
Congratulations to Karolina.
She deserved to win too - I was
really lucky to win at the end.
Williams concluded her best
season in recent memory. Its the
rst time she has won three titles
in a season since 2008.

Venus Williams of the US (L) and Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic pose with their trophies after final of the WTA Elite Trophy in Zhuhai
yesterday. Venus won 7-5, 7-6 (8-6). (AFP)

Gulf Times
Monday, November 9, 2015

11

SPORT
FOCUS

SPOTLIGHT

Knox speechless
after historic
WGC-HSBC victory

Indias Chiragh
Kumar wins
Panasonic Open

Scot is first player in history to win on his World Golf Championships debut
AFP
Shanghai

n emotional Russell Knox said

he was speechless yesterday
after becoming the rst player
in history to win on his World
Golf Championships debut.
Winning any professional tournament is a massive accomplishment,
Knox told a news conference after his
two-stroke victory against a world-class
eld in the $8.5 million WGC-HSBC
Champions in Shanghai, also his maiden
victory in a US PGA Tour event.
Youre never quite sure if youre ever
going to (win) because therere so many
incredible players. To come and be on top
this week is a dream come true, and I still
cant quite believe Im here.
His nal four-under par 68 gave him a
total of 268, 20 under par. Kevin Kisner of
the US was second on 270, while English
pair Danny Willett and Ross Fisher tied
for third a further stroke behind.
It was a week of rsts as Knox became
the rst Scotsman ever to win one the
four big-money WGC events, which rank
second only to the majors in prestige.
The victory also came on the Americabased 30-year-olds rst trip to Asia following his appearance in the PGA Tours
CIMB Classic in Malaysia last week,
where he tied for 21st place.
As a kid I dont know if I ever would
have guessed I would have been on the
PGA Tour winning a huge tournament
like this, he said. Im speechless. This is
going to take a long time to sink in.
Ten years ago, Knox moved from his
native Inverness to college at Jacksonville
University, Florida, to pursue his golng
dreams. He paid an emotional tribute to
his coach and mentor there Mike Flemming, who died two years ago.
TEARING UP
I thought about him (Flemming)
throughout the day to be honest. I
thought about him on the 18th when I had
to tap in to win, and my eyes started tearing up. I probably will now, said Knox,
his voice cracking.
I owe him everything. He was my
coach for eight years, and he passed away
a couple years ago. Hes been my inspiration and he taught me everything I know.
It nally paid off.

AFP
New Delhi

I
Fans take pictures of Russell Knox (right) after he won the WGC-HSBC Champions golf tournament in Shanghai yesterday. (Reuters)

Leading scores
268 - Russell Knox (SCO) 67-65-68-68
270 - Kevin Kisner (USA) 64-66-70-70
271 - Danny Willett (ENG) 65-74-70-62, Ross Fisher (ENG) 69-69-65-68
272 - Branden Grace (RSA) 63-71-70-68, Dustin Johnson (USA) 65-71-65-71
273 - Matthew Fiztpatrick (ENG) 68-69-69-67, Patrick Reed (USA) 65-70-68-70, Li
Haotong (CHN) 66-69-66-72, Jordan Spieth (USA) 68-72-63-70
274 - Daniel Berger (USA) 68-71-69-66, Rory McIlroy (NIR) 68-72-68-66, Henrik Stenson (SWE) 69-72-66-67, Marc Leishman (AUS) 69-72-65-68, Thongchai Jaidee (THA)
72-68-66-68, Sergio Garcia (ESP) 68-70-68-68
275 - Rickie Fowler (USA) 68-72-68-67, Bernd Wiesberger (AUT) 70-66-69-70
277 - Hunter Mahan (USA) 68-68-71-70, An Byeong-Hun (KOR) 69-68-68-72, Thorbjorn Olesen (DEN) 64-74-66-73, Scott Hend (AUS) 68-69-67-73
278 - Paul Casey (ENG) 67-72-71-68, Thomas Pieters (BEL) 67-71-71-69, Gary Woodland (USA) 69-71-73-65, Harris English (USA) 67-71-70-70

With superstars such as Jordan Spieth

and Dustin Johnson breathing down his
neck Sunday at Sheshan International
Golf Club, Knox remained remarkably

composed to card six birdies and just two

bogeys en route to the $1.4 million winners chequethe biggest pay day of his
career by some distance.

I was quite calm, actually, way more

than normal to be honest, Knox said.
But at the same time, it was the most
nerve-racking thing Ive ever done.
I tried not to watch Dustin (Johnson)
play, especially the front nine, just because we are in two different worlds. Hes
hitting it 50, 60 yards past me off the tee.
The victory propelled Knox to third in
the US PGA FedEx Cup standings and almost certainly would have caught the eye
of European Ryder Cup captain Darren
Clarke.
Knox is not a member of the European
Tour and so would be ineligible for next
years showdown at Hazeltine unless he
joins the tour.
Obviously its going to be a goal of
mine to make the European Ryder Cup
team, said Knox. But I have no idea
where I stand or what I need to do to make
the team. But I look forward to nding out
and giving it a run.

South Korean Ahn breaks LPGA duck with playoff win

outh Koreas Ahn Sun-Ju

displayed nerves of steel to
capture her rst LPGA title yesterday by winning the $1.5 million TOTO Japan Classic in a three-way
playoff.
The 28-year-old calmly sank a vefoot birdie putt on the rst playoff hole
after nishing the 54-hole tournament
tied with a 16-under-par total of 200

alongside fellow Korean Lee Ji-Hee and

American Angela Stanford.
A superb six-iron approach from 165
yards set up Ahns coup de grace on the
rst extra hole after ring a nal-round
67 in drizzly conditions at the Kintetsu
Kashikojima Country Club in Mie prefecture, western Japan.
I didnt think I could win the tournament but its a nice surprise, said Ahn

after her 27th professional win, the bulk

of them coming on the Japanese tour.
Im so happy.
Stanford, who also closed with a 67,
narrowly missed a 30-footer at the 18th
in the playoff but paid tribute to Ahns
clutch approach shot.
Sun-Ju hit a really good shot in
there, said the American after coming
up just short in her bid for a sixth LPGA

victory. If you stick it on 18, with this

hole, you deserve birdie and you deserve
to win.
Overnight leader Jenny Shin carded
a round of 70 to take fourth place
and miss the playoff by a single shot
while, Thailands Aryia Jutanugarn
nished fth after shooting the
round of the tournament, an eight-under-par 64.

ndias Chiragh Kumar (pictured) emerged victorious

at the Panasonic Open India
yesterday after ring a twounder par 70 in the nal round,
clinching his rst Asian Tour title.
Kumar, 31, hit three birdies
against a lone bogey to end the
tournament with a four-day aggregate of 13-under 275, three
shots ahead of Thailands Thaworn Wiratchant and Bangladeshs Siddikur Rahman.
Namchok Tantipokhakul of
Thailand and Indias Jyoti Randhawa led the charge on the nal
day, ring rounds of 66 and 67 to
nish joint fourth with Sri Lankas Mithun Perera and Shubhankar Sharma at the Delhi Golf
Club.
Winning an Asian Tour event
means a lot to me, Kumar said.
It is like a dream come true.
This is the best thing that can
happen to me. Everybody knows
me at this club so it is very spe-

cial to win.
Kumar, who secured his Asian
Tour card after nishing tied
second at the Venetian Macao
Open three weeks ago, parred the
rst four holes before a bogey on
the fth.
But he made amends with a
birdie at the eighth hole to make
the turn at even par.
On his way back, the Delhi
golfer picked up a couple of
strokes on the 11th and 13th holes
to hold on to his overnight lead.
LEADING SCORES
275 - Chiragh Kumar (IND) 67-6672-70.
278 - Thaworn Wiratchant (THA)
68-72-69-69, Siddikur Rahman
(BAN) 68-70-68-72
279 - Namchok Tantipokhakul
(THA) 71-71-71-66, Jyoti Randhawa
(IND) 69-72-71-67, Shubhankar
Sharma (IND) 70-73-67-69, Mithun Perera (SRI) 66-70-73-70
280 - Manav Jaini (IND) 72-71-6968, Shankar Das (IND) 69-71-71-69,
Vikrant Chopra (IND) 71-68-71-70
281 - Rashid Khan (IND) 71-7169-70

Rain-sodden PGA Tour event headed

for Monday finish
The PGA Tours Sanderson Farms Championship is headed to a
Monday finish after only 39 minutes of play in the second round in
Mississippi on Saturday.
Torrential rain left the already soggy Country Club of Jackson in
an almost unplayable condition.
American Roberto Castro, who shot a 67 on Friday for a 15-underpar 129 total, holds a four stroke lead over compatriot Bryce
Molder (67) and Venezuelan Jhonattan Vegas (67).
Second-round play was halted at 11:09am local time on Saturday
with 76 playersmore than half the 132-man fieldstill to complete the round.
Play is scheduled to resume at 7am local time on Sunday, and a
favourable forecast suggests there will be no more delays.
We should be able to start round three somewhere around 12.45
... play a couple of hours before sunset and then come back on
Monday morning to finish round three, PGA Tour rules official
Steve Carman told Golf Channel.
We will keep them in the same groups so will start round four
before we finish round three.
Last group will hopefully tee off in round four somewhere about
11 oclockish (on Monday) and five hours later well be done.

2nd National Showjumping Championship

Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club board member Saeed al-Shafi poses with the Class 3 winners of the 2nd National Showjumping
Competition at the outdoor arena of the Qatar Equestrian Federation. PICTURES: Mustafa Pattambi

Sheikh Mohamed bin Nasser al-Thani hands over the trophy to the class 2 winner of the 2nd National
Showjumping Competition at the outdoor arena of the Qatar Equestrian Federation.

Monday, November 9, 2015

SPORT

GULF TIMES
FOCUS

MOTOGP

Lorenzo wins title

as Rossi cries foul

Mouton applauds
QMMFs work

In another kind of race they would have tried to overtake which they didnt this time
AFP
Valencia, Spain

orge Lorenzo claimed his third

MotoGP world title at the Valencia
Grand Prix yesterday amid acrimony and accusations of collusion
from his vanquished Yamaha teammate
Valentino Rossi.
Rossi went into the season-closing race
seven points clear of Lorenzo, but the
Italian legend was left with a Herculean
task starting from the back of the grid as
punishment for pushing Marc Marquez
off his bike in Malaysia.
Rossi surged dramatically through the
pack to nish fourth but Lorenzo led from
pole to ag, despite intense pressure from
his Spanish compatriots, Honda duo
Marquez and Dani Pedrosa.
All eyes were on Marquez to see if he
could overtake Lorenzo after his spat with
Rossi who accused the two-time world
champion of conspiring to help Lorenzo
win the title.
And after losing out on a 10th world
title Rossi railed to Marca: Incredible
work by Honda eh?
I knew it would be like that and so it
was in the end.
He accused Marquez of turning into
Lorenzos bodyguard.
It has never happened in sport and it
has been embarrassing for our sport, he
said. At least the fans have seen what
was Marcs plan and I dont want to comment on his behaviour. I suppose in the
coming months he will understand what
he has done, it is an ugly end to the championship, a disappointment on the track.
Lorenzo deserves the title, but he is
not a real champion because something
has happened in this sport that had never
happened before and Lorenzo cant be
happy.
In a bizarre twist, Lorenzo appeared to
support Rossis claim in an interview with
Movistar MotoGP channel
Whilst denying that any pact existed
between him and Marquez he intimated
that his compatriots had helped him win
the title by not passing him.
They knew what I had in play, Lorenzo said. The fact they are Spaniards like
me helped me. That helped me because
for sure in another kind of race they
would have tried to overtake which they
didnt this time.
He added: If Valentino had been in my
position and with Italians behind they
would have done exactly the same.
The title had to be for Spain.
With 110,000 fans watching Lorenzo
claimed his third MotoGP title and fth
overall by ve points from Rossi with outgoing champion Marquez in third.
He received his trophy from Spains King
Juan Carlos, but not before giving Spains
former head of state a warm bear hug.
Marquez meanwhile brushed aside any
suggestions he and Pedrosa had helped
Lorenzo.
Dani and I tried 100 percent and that
was shown whether it was here, in Malaysia, in Australia, in other races, we always
gave 100 percent.

FIA Women in Motorsport president Michele Mouton (left) and FIA

vice president Nasser Khalifa al-Attiyah during the commissions
meeting in Doha on Saturday.
By Sports Reporter
Doha

Movistar Yamahas Spanish rider Jorge Lorenzo (centre) celebrates on the podium after winning the Valencia Grand Prix and the
2015 MotoGP title as Repsol Honda riders Marc Marquez (left) and Dani Pedrosa look on yesterday. (AFP)

he
week-long
FIA
Women in MotorsportQMMF Womens Cross
Country Selection culminated with the Women in Motorsport Commission meeting on
Saturday in Doha.
Chaired by president Michele
Mouton and in the presence of
Qatar Motor and Motorcycle
Federation president and FIA
vice president Nasser Khalifa alAttiyah, the members reviewed
the cross country selection
programme and applauded the
highly-professional organisation
by QMMF and its team. Everyone
was in agreement that the programme had been a great success and plans are now underway
to help the winners with their
on-going physical and practical
training ahead of the 2016 Sealine Cross Country Rally.

Once again our hosts in Qatar

have welcomed and supported
our work and for this we thank
them, said Mouton.
The week has seen success
beyond our expectations and we
are all very excited about next
years event. As part of our regular Commission meeting, we
have started to formalise our Action Plan for the next three years
and everyone leaves Doha full
of enthusiasm for the months
ahead. As always, there is a lot
of work to do, but when you see
such progress, it is great motivation for the future.
Al-Attiyah added: We have
just nished the rst FIA Women
Cross Country Selection and I am
very happy for the good results
that we have achieved but we have
to keep on working together with
the FIA and all the different members of the women commission
to see how we can strengthen the
participation of women in all the
areas of motorsport.

SPOTLIGHT

Cudlin and Bin

Ladin dominate
QSBK, QSS

Movistar Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi is congratulated on arrival to his pit garage after yesterdays race. (AFP)
When asked about Rossi fans thinking
he had colluded to help Lorenzo Marquez replied: For a winner, accusations
of letting another person win is a lack of
respect and an insult because we always
go out to win.
Earlier, Danny Kent became the rst
British motorcycling world champion for

38 years after sealing the Moto3 title.

Kent needed just a point in Spain to
ensure he couldnt be overtaken by Portugals Miguel Oliveira and climbed from
18th on the starting grid to nish ninth.
Barry Sheene was the last British
champion back in 1977.
Oliveira won his third consecutive race

ahead of Spains Jorge Navarro and Jakub

Kornfeil of the Czech Republic.
In Moto2, Spains Tito Rabat claimed
his third win of the season.
Compatriot Alex Rins nished second
to conrm second in the championship to
already crowned world champion Johann
Zarco down in seventh.

Qatars al-Tamimi reaches Qatar Circuit Squash semi-finals

By Sports Reporter
Doha

Qatars Abdullah al-Tamimi (left) in action against Egypts Mazen Gamal during their match yesterday. PICTURE: Thajudheen

atars
Abdullah
al-Tamimi fought
back from two
games down to
reach the semi-nals of the
Qatar Circuit Squash Championship at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash
Complex yesterday.
The third seed won a vegame thriller against Egyptian seventh seed Mazen
Gamal 9-11 8-11 13-11 11-4
11-9 to make it to last four.
This was al-Tamimis
second ve-game match
in as many days after he
was pushed to another hourlong match by Spains Iker
Pajares Bernabeu on Saturday.
Al-Tamimi will now face
Egyptian second seed Mohamed Reda, who beat Joel
Makin of Wales 11-9 11-9
11-9.
In the other matches of
the day, top seed Jen Schoor
had a straight-forward 11-8
11-8 11-8 win over sixth seed
Nathan Lake. Schoor will
now face eighth seed Ammar
Altamimi, who also rallied
from two games down to beat
fourth Lance Beddoes 9-11
9-11 11-7 11-4 11-8.

Australias Alex Cudlin (centre) won the first QSBK race ahead of
Qatars Mishal al-Naimi (left) and Germanys Nina Prinz on Saturday.
By Sports Reporter
Doha

efending
champion
Alex Cudlin had another perfect weekend
winning both the Qatar
Superbike Championship races
at Losail International Circuit on
Saturday night.
Pole-sitter Mishal al-Naimi of
Qatar nished second in the rst
race behind the Australian, who
has now raced to six victories in
as many races.
First race was nice. I was able
to control the pace, I think from
lap ve I was able to get into the
lead and from there I pushed very
hard for ve laps to create a gap
and was able to control it. I think
in the end I won by 10 seconds, so
it was a dominant win. I feel good
on the bike this year and I am
condent, and when I am condent I am fast, Cudlin said.
The second race I was able to
control again. I watched Saeed
and Mishal early on and then
in the lap four I decided to go
for the lead. I then created a big
gap and slowed down to avoid a
crash. The bike is perfect at the
moment, it is working really well
and I think I am riding the best
I have for many years. It is the
most dominant start of the season I ever had, so I hope to keep
on going, added Cudlin.
Al-Naimi was fourth in the
second race after problems with
his bike didnt allow him to compete at 100 percent.
I am lucky to nish both the
races because I dont know what
is the problem with my bike. I
think it is the clutch and the engine. I have too much vibration
in the bike after around 4 laps. I
cannot control the bike. I hope

to nd the problem and be ready

for the next round as I have lost
too many points. I want to thank
Ooredoo and QMMF for the support, said al-Naimi.
German rider Nina Prinz was
back on the podium as she nished third in both the races.
Prinz had some problems in
the free practice and podium
nishes must have denitely delighted her. In the rst race I had
a really good start. I was third in
the rst corners and then I made
a mistake and Rapini and Mishal
passed me but at the end it was
perfect. I could go faster and
end in the third place. I am very
happy to be on the podium. The
free practice was not so perfect
with clutch problems and didnt
feel condent. Now that I have
podium nishes after all those
problems, it is great, Prinz said
after the two races.
Indian rider Rajini Krishnan
nished second in the second
race. In the second practice, I
had a big crash and I managed
to qualify in fourth place. In the
rst race I was doing good but
crashed in the 11th lap. But in
the second race, I wanted to be
on the podium and here I am. I
am very happy with this. I want
to thank my mechanic, my team
and QMMF, Krishnan said.
In the veterans category, British rider Ian Maund won both the
races.
In the Qatar Supersport (QSS),
championship leader Abdulaziz
Bin Ladin won both the races
without giving any chance to
Ahmed al-Muyini and Fahad alSowaidi who were second in rst
and second race respectively.
In the rst QSS race, Victoria
Kis won the womens cup whereas Manka Katrasnik won in the
second race.