ARAB WORLD | Page 3
SPORT | Page 12
Iraqi Sunnis set terms for
joining unity government
Manchester
United start
afresh as
Premier
League begins
INDEX
2, 16
QATAR
ARAB WORLD
INTERNATIONAL
COMMENT
BUSINESS
1–4, 7, 9-12
3, 4
TV LISTINGS
5, 6
5–13
CLASSIFIED
8, 9
SPORTS
1–12
14, 15
DOW JONES
QE
NYMEX
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13,505.26
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pu
The Palestinian interior ministry in
Gaza accused Israel yesterday of a
cross-border shooting in violation
of a truce that has largely held
since getting off to a shaky start
on Thursday. An Israeli military
spokeswoman said: “We have no
knowledge of such an incident.”
The Palestinian ministry in the
coastal territory said Israeli troops
shot at houses east of the town
of Khan Younis. The ceasefire,
renewed on Thursday for five days
after a previous truce expired, has
largely halted more than a month of
fighting in which 1,945 Palestinians,
many of them civilians, 64 Israeli
soldiers and three civilians in Israel
were killed. Page 4
No cure or vaccine is currently
available for Ebola, with the WHO
authorising the use of largely
untested treatments in efforts to
combat the disease
AFP
Geneva
T
QATAR | Inspection
Bakery closed
after health check
Ukraine said yesterday it had
destroyed part of a Russian military
convoy that entered onto its territory
in an incursion that has sent crossborder tensions rocketing. Nato
accused Russia of active involvement
in the “destabilisation” of eastern
Ukraine, where pro-Kremlin
separatists have been fighting
against Kiev for four months. Page 9
INDIA | Economy
Modi scraps
planning body
Indian Premier Narendra Modi
yesterday announced an end to
Soviet-style economic planning in
an Independence Day speech as he
pressed ahead with modernising
the government’s cumbersome
policymaking apparatus. The
commission, set up in 1950, was a
relic of the socialist policies put in
place by India’s first prime minister,
Jawaharlal Nehru. Pages 10, 15
in
Israel accused of
violating truce
Ukraine �destroys
Russian armour’
d
PALESTINE | Charge
EUROPE | Tensions
Vol. XXXV No. 9451
August 16, 2014
Shawwal 20, 1435 AH
www. gulf-times.com 2 Riyals
Ebola
�moving
too fast’
In brief
The Doha Municipality director has
ordered the temporary closure of a
bakery at the Doha Jadeed area after
inspectors of the Health Inspection
Department spotted there “materials
harmful for health”. The law permits
the closure of such violating food
facilities for up to a maximum of
60 days for a single violation at one
time, according to estimation of the
administrative authority in charge
and the gravity of the violation.
he R
is
bl TA 978
A 1
Q since
GULF TIMES
SATURDAY
Fire raging in a warehouse on Street Number 2 of Doha’s Industrial Area yesterday evening. PICTURE: Jayan Orma.
Fire razes warehouse
in Industrial Area
Peter Alagos
Business Reporter
I
n a major blaze that broke out in
Doha for the second consecutive
Friday, the warehouse of a leading
soft drink brand was burned down on
Street Number 2 of the Industrial Area
yesterday evening.
There were no casualties.
The blaze, п¬Ѓrst spotted around
5.45pm, was brought under control
within an hour by firefighters from
the Civil Defence. But smoke was still
pouring out around 7.45pm.
Last Friday, a curtain showroom
near the Decoration Signal along the
Salwa Road was destroyed in a п¬Ѓre.
The owner claimed a loss of at least
QR1.5mn.
The warehouse that caught п¬Ѓre
yesterday was used to stock products
from a leading soft drink company.
Kenyan national Danson Karinga,
one of the security persons of the Gulf
Publishing and Printing Company
press, located across the warehouse,
told Gulf Times that he was alarmed
after noticing thick black smoke billowing around 5.45pm.
Five to 10 minutes after flames had
erupted from the building, two police
patrol cars were on the scene, followed
by Civil Defence vehicles, personnel
and ambulances.
Karinga, along with colleagues from
European Security, Diaa Gamal Mohamed Abdelhafez and chief security
Maamer Salaimi, assisted the police in
trying to cordon off the area to protect
passersby and onlookers.
“A huge crowd had gathered immediately just outside the warehouse. We
helped the police seal off the area to
avoid anyone getting hurt. There might
be gas tanks or other flammable materials inside the compound,” he said.
Police had diverted traffic going
towards Street Number 2 where the
warehouse was located.
Based on Karinga’s estimate, at least
six ambulances and eight п¬Ѓre trucks
responded to the scene. The firefighters were also assisted by more than 10
private trucks supplying drinking water in trying to control the blaze.
“I was impressed with the way the
authorities had responded to the incident. They were able to deploy the п¬Ѓre
trucks to the area in no time.”
Karinga said if authorities had not
responded immediately, the п¬Ѓre could
have spread easily to nearby facilities.
Last Friday’s fire at Al Shark Exhibition along Salwa Road had destroyed
the ground floor of the three-storey
building that housed the company’s
showroom and office space in the
mezzanine area, which was also used
as a workshop for upholstery projects.
The п¬Ѓre had also destroyed another
office housed inside the building and
damaged the nearby Studio Qatar.
Page 2
he Ebola epidemic is moving faster than the authorities
can handle and could take six
months to bring under control, the
medical charity MSF said yesterday.
The warning came a day after the
World Health Organisation said the
scale of the epidemic had been vastly
underestimated and that “extraordinary measures” were needed to contain the killer disease.
New п¬Ѓgures released by the UN
health agency showed the death toll
from the worst outbreak of Ebola in
four decades had climbed to 1,145 in
the four afflicted West African countries - Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and
Sierra Leone.
“It is deteriorating faster, and moving faster, than we can respond to,”
Joanne Liu, the chief of Doctors without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF, told reporters in Geneva.
She added that it could take six
months to get the upper hand.
“It is like wartime,” she said a day
after returning from the region. “I
don’t think we should focus on numbers. To really get a reality check,
we’re not talking in terms of weeks,
but months” to control the epidemic.”
Elhadj As Sy, the new head of the
International Federation of Red Cross
and Red Crescent Societies, painted
a similarly bleak picture, speaking of
a “fear factor” in affected countries
that was hampering medical assistance.
Also recently returned from the region, As Sy said he agreed with MSF’s
six-month timeline for bringing the
outbreak under control.
The WHO said on Thursday it was
co-ordinating “a massive scaling up
of the international response” to the
epidemic.
“Staff at the outbreak sites see evidence that the numbers of reported
cases and deaths vastly underestimate
the magnitude of the outbreak,” it said.
The epidemic erupted in the forested zone straddling the borders of
Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia earlier this year, and later spread to Nigeria.
Liu said while Guinea was the initial
epicentre of the disease, the pace there
has slowed, with fears now focused on
the other countries.
The last days of an Ebola victim can
be grim, characterised by agonising
muscular pain, vomiting, diarrhoea
and catastrophic haemorrhaging described as “bleeding out” as vital organs break down.
No cure or vaccine is currently
available for Ebola, with the WHO authorising the use of largely untested
treatments in efforts to combat the
disease.
Hard-hit nations are awaiting consignments of up to 1,000 doses of the
barely tested drug ZMapp from the
US, which has raised hopes of saving
hundreds.
Canada says between 800 and
1,000 doses of a vaccine called VSVEBOV, which has shown promise in
animal research but never been tested
on humans, would also be distributed
through the WHO.
But MSF’s Liu warned against focusing on drugs.
“In the short term, they’re not going to help that much, because we
don’t have many drugs available. We
need to a get a reality check on how
this could impact the curve of the epidemic,” she said.
The cost of tackling the virus is also
threatening to take a severe toll on the
economies of already impoverished
West African nations hit by the epidemic.
In Nigeria, in particular, a more serious outbreak could severely disrupt
its oil and gas industry if international
companies are forced to evacuate staff
and shut operations, rating agency
Moody’s has warned.
As countries around the world
stepped up measures to contain the
disease, the International Olympics
Committee said athletes from Ebolahit countries had been barred from
competing in pool events and combat
sports at the Youth Olympics opening
in China today. Pages 5, 6, 8
�999, what is the address of the emergency?’
R
aising awareness about health
issues and ensuring the wellbeing of the public are the inspiring forces that continue to motivate Amjad Abumaali, an emergency
medical despatcher working at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) for
the past six years.
“At the age of 25, I decided to take
up the profession as a call despatcher
for emergency services. I joined College of the North Atlantic - Qatar in
2005 and completed three years of
pre-nursing study. I joined HMC’s
Emergency Services in 2008 and
graduated from the university in
2011,” he recalled.
Abumaali said that becoming a
family man brought a big change to his
life and also strengthened his views
towards safety. “Every time I sit in my
car, I think about my family. Wearing
a seat belt and driving carefully are
the two basic precautions one needs
to observe on the road to avoid acci-
dents and endangering lives.”
Over the past three years, the
HMC’s Ambulance Service has grown
significantly to meet the changing and
evolving needs of Qatar’s population.
But the role of ambulances and critical
care paramedics is dependent on the
efficient performance of the emergency call despatchers.
“Every day, I come in to work 15
minutes before the start of my shift
to get a sense of how busy the earlier
shift was. Then, I settle into my shift,
preparing myself to answer emergency calls. When you answer a call,
you have to be prepared for any type
or scale of emergency. All calls have to
be answered within п¬Ѓve seconds and
every bit of training comes in handy
for you to deliver essential support
that relates to a patient’s life,” he explained.
“Each time I receive a call, I prepare
myself mentally as I don’t know what
level of emergency I might be present-
Abumaali: “Knowing that people are in distress and being able to get help to them as
fast as possible has been my source of joy and satisfaction since joining HMC as a
medical despatcher.”
ed with. Staying calm and communicating clearly is key as the person on
the other end of the line is often panicked and you have to process large
volumes of information being given
to you in a short space of time,” he explained.
He highlighted that as soon as the
emergency call despatcher received a
call, he or she began asking the caller
for information and enters the information into the specialised communication system.
This system provides the despatcher with a set of general entry questions such as “what is the address of
the emergency?”, “what is the phone
number you are calling from?”, “what
exactly happened?”, “how old is the
patient?”, “is he/she awake (conscious)?” and “is he/she breathing?”.
Abumaali explained that based on
the answers, the despatcher will instruct the caller to stay on the line
while he despatches the nearest am-
bulance to the site. “This is the most
critical part of the call and, during this
time, co-operation from the caller is
essential.”
The Ambulance Service’s Medical Communication Centre triages
all emergency medical calls and deploys the most appropriate resources in a standardised and consistent
manner.
“As soon as an emergency happens, people need to call 999 because even a few minutes can make
a difference in saving a life. It is also
important to be aware of where you
are, either by knowing the address or
being able to describe the surrounding area, as clear details will help
the ambulance reach you faster,” he
stressed.
“Knowing that people are in distress and being able to get help to them
as fast as possible has been my source
of joy and satisfaction since joining
HMC as a medical despatcher.”
Gulf Times
Saturday, August 16, 2014
2
QATAR
Fire at warehouse
Bangladesh
embassy
observes
mourning
T
A firefighter battling a fire that broke out yesterday evening at the warehouse of a leading soft drink brand on Street Number 2 of Doha Industrial Area. There were no
casualties. The fire, first spotted around 5.45pm, was brought under control within an hour by Civil Defence firefighters. PICTURE: Jayan Orma
HMC’s new service a
big relief for patients
with intestinal issues
T
he Home Total Parenteral Nutrition
Service, introduced recently at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), is
benefiting families of patients who are not
able to obtain proper nutrition orally.
“We are very grateful for the services
HMC is providing our daughter. It has
changed our life as a family,” said Hind
Mahmoud, mother of three-year-old
Kenzi Nader, who has been using the service for almost two years now.
The service was created specifically for
patients with intestinal function failure as
irregular or failed intestine function can
lead to mal-absorption of vital fluids and
nutrients.
It is often caused by a congenital disease
of the bowel or surgical sectioning of a significant length of the bowel, leading to a
condition called short bowel syndrome. As
a consequence, nutrients must be administered directly into the vein through the
placement of a special intravenous catheter. This form of nutrition is called Total
Parenteral Nutrition (TPN).
Dr Kamal Osman Hassan, paediatric
gastroenterology senior consultant and
head of the Paediatric Gastroenterology
Section at Hamad General Hospital (HGH),
explained that prior to the new homecare
service, patients requiring parenteral nutrition were required to spend a significant
Kenzi: homecare service
amount of their time at the hospital.
“With the Home Total Parental Nutrition Service, our patients can now stay
at home with their families and enjoy the
life that other children have. They can go
to school, shopping, outdoor parks and
travel with their families; things that
Lankan expat jailed
for drug dealing
A
Doha Criminal Court
has sentenced a Sri
Lankan expatriate to
three years in jail and п¬Ѓned
him QR 200,000 for dealing
in drugs, local Arabic daily Arrayah reported yesterday.
The man would be deported
on completing his sentence.
He was caughtle trying to sell
marijuana to an undercover
police agent. The Drug Prevention Department of the
Ministry of Interior (MoI) had
received a tip-off about suspicious behavior by the accused.
An undercover agent asked
him for the drugs and the accused told him that he would
give him the marijuana for
QR2,200 at a certain location.
Eventually, the undercover
policeman met the accused
at the agreed location and the
accused handed him a package containing the drug while
the policeman handed him the
money. All this took place while
police personnel watched from
a distance.
The accused was then arrested at which point he tried
to throw the money on the
ground but policemen caught
him and searched his accommodation. They found about
1,583gm of marijuana, as later
confirmed by the forensic evidence laboratory, and some
scattered pieces of magazine
papers used for folding, besides a scale believed to be used
to weigh the drugs.
However, the accused denied all charges and pleaded
innocence during investigation
by the Public Prosecution. Ultimately, the court found him
guilty and convicted him based
on the testimony of the policemen and the quantity of illicit
drugs found at his residence.
were very difficult before,” he explained.
Mahmoud recalled that Kenzi was admitted to the hospital shortly after birth
due to birth defects in the intestine which
prevented her from absorbing vital nutrients. She spent one year in the hospital
before being introduced to the homecare
service.
“During this period it was also very hard
for us to stay with her all the time because
of our commitments with work and our
other children. We are much relieved with
the home service,” she said.
Both doctors and patients’ families admitted that the long stay in hospital required to administer the parenteral nutrition adversely affected the quality of life
for patients and their families.
“Children who came for intravenous
nutrition at an early stage in their lives
showed very slow development compared
to other children of their age,” stated Dr
Hassan.
Mahmoud pointed out that during the
year Kenzi spent in hospital, her development was very slow; she wasn’t even able
to crawl.
“But after transferring to the home
service, she was able to walk in three
months only; we were very happy and surprised with the massive change.”
Prior to transitioning to the Home
Parenteral Nutrition programme, parents are provided with training explaining how to administer and connect the
parenteral nutrition bag to the intravenous catheter and how to clean it.
Nurses from HMC’s home healthcare
service visit the patients in their homes
regularly (usually once per week), to
perform checkups and provide any additional medical assistance. HMC also provides patients with all required equipment for the Home Parental Nutrition
programme.
Mahmoud added: “We are all happy
that we can now spend more time with
our daughter. HMC doctors and nurses
have been very helpful and responded
to all of our needs, answering our phone
calls even after their working hours. I’m
really grateful for that.”
Dr Hassan also explained that the benefits of the programme go beyond the patients enrolled in the service.
“Not only does this new system provide patients and their families with a
greater opportunity to live their lives like
any other family and to establish a better environment for their child to grow,
it also allows us to provide beds to other
patients that were once occupied for
years by patients needing parenteral nutrition,” he added.
he Bangladesh embassy
yesterday observed the
39th death anniversary
of the Father of the Nation
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman and National Mourning Day.
In the morning, the programme started with hoisting
of the National Flag at halfmast by ambassador Syed
Masud Mahmood Khundoker
at the embassy premises in
presence of officials and community members.
A minute’s silence was observed as a mark of respect to
the Father of the Nation and
the martyrs of August 15, 1975.
Messages from president, prime
minister and foreign minister of Bangladesh on National
Mourning Day were read out.
This was followed by a discussion on the life and works
of the Father of the Nation.
Speakers highlighted the contribution of Bangabandhu
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the
national life of Bangladesh.
They urged all to work whole
heartedly to fulfil his dream
of a prosperous Bangladesh.
They also emphasised on the
need for educating the younger generation about the life and
works of Bangabandhu.
In his speech the ambassador recalled the epic role
played by Bangabandhu in
Bangladesh’s emergence as
an independent country. He
mentioned that August 15 is
the saddest chapter in the history of Bangladesh.
“As a nation we must learn
a lesson here – our mourning should be turned into our
strength and we should work
hard to fulfill the dream of the
Father of the Nation – a golden
Bengal.”
He
thanked
expatriate
Bangladeshis in Qatar for their
hard labour and contribution
to the nation building towards
fulfilling the dream of Bangabandhu and for demonstration
of unity, fraternity, liberal and
moderate attitude.
A documentary on the life
and works of Bangabandhu
was also screened during the
event.
The Bangladesh ambassador hoisting the national flag on the
National Mourning Day at the embassy yesterday.
Emir and Malaysian
PM hold discussions
HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani yesterday held a
telephone conversation with Malaysian prime minister Mohamed
Najib Abdul Razak. Discussions dealt with bilateral ties and ways
to enhance them as well as a number of regional and international
issues, particularly the situation in the Gaza Strip.
Greetings
to India, Korea
HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and HE the Prime
Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin
Khalifa al-Thani have sent cables of congratulations to the Indian
president on the occasion of the anniversary of his country’s
Independence Day. HH the Emir and HE the Prime Minister
have also sent cables of congratulation to the Republic of Korea
president of the on the occasion of her country’s National Day.
Find alternative to diversions: experts
E
xperts and citizens have
stressed the importance
of п¬Ѓnding alternative solutions to help avoid the inconvenience caused by road diversions and closures while work on
big projects is under way, Arabic
daily Al Watan has reported.
Engineer Ahmed Jassim al-Jolo said temporary solutions such
as steel bridges are required as
road users cannot be expected to
remain patient for п¬Ѓve years, for
instance, before some big project
is completed, the report states.
Hamad Hadi al-Baridi, a
member of the Central Municipal Council (CMC), said temporary bridges should also be
installed and used in some areas
with traffic congestion, especially in the heart of Doha, according to the report.
Mohamed al-Yahri, a citizen,
believes that building temporary
bridges is the right solution rather than having traffic diversions
and road closures. He, however,
was critical of steel bridges with
single lanes as he argued that
these would be rendered useless
if a car broke down in the middle
of the bridge.
Members of the CMC and citizens have also highlighted the
importance of awarding contracts for the construction of
temporary solutions such as steel
bridges to experienced companies and that the cost of these
projects should not go up so as to
avoid waste of public funds.
Recently, CMC member Mushaal al-Dahnim said a temporary
steel bridge being built over the
Al Obaidly roundabout would be
completed within two months.
Al-Dahnim told Arabic daily
Arrayah that the bridge, being built for QR36mn, would
be a temporary solution to the
problem of congestion on ERing Road where vehicle queues
extend from the Al Thumama
roundabout to the Al Obaidly
roundabout.
Work is progressing on the temporary steel bridge over the Al Obaidly roundabout. PICTURE: Nasar T K
Gulf Times
Saturday, August 16, 2014
3
REGION/ARAB WORLD
IAEA chief to visit Iran before probe deadline
Reuters
Vienna
U
N
nuclear
watchdog
chief Yukiya Amano will
visit Iran tomorrow in
an apparent attempt to push for
progress in a long-running investigation into suspected atomic
bomb research by Tehran.
Amano’s trip comes ahead of an
August 25 deadline for Iran to provide some information relevant to
the International Atomic Energy
Agency’s inquiry into what it calls
the possible military dimensions
of the country’s disputed nuclear
programme. Iran dismisses Western accusations that it has been
working to develop a capability to
assemble atomic weapons.
The visit - announced by the
IAEA yesterday - will be Amano’s
п¬Ѓrst to Iran this year and the third
since 2012.
Western officials say Iranian
clarifications of the IAEA’s concerns would also advance efforts
by six world powers to negotiate
an end to a decade-old standoff
over Tehran’s atomic activities,
suggesting some sanctions relief
may depend on it.
With major gaps remaining
over the permissible future scope
of Iran’s uranium enrichment
programme, the talks between
Iran and the United States, France,
Germany, China, Britain and Russia were in mid-July extended until November 24.
Iran says it is enriching uranium
to generate electricity, and not
to accumulate п¬Ѓssile material for
a potential atomic bomb, as the
West suspects.
Tehran rejects such suspicions as based on false and
fabricated information from
its enemies but has promised,
since pragmatist Hassan Rohani
became president in mid-2013,
to work with the Vienna-based
UN agency to clear them up.
Under a phased co-operation
pact hammered out late last year,
an attempt to jumpstart the longstalled IAEA investigation, Iran
agreed in May to implement п¬Ѓve
nuclear transparency measures by
August 25, two of which directly
dealt with the nuclear bomb inquiry.
However, so far there have
been no public indications of any
movement by Iran on the agreed
steps.
A brief statement issued by the
UN agency yesterday said, without elaborating: “The director
general of the IAEA ... will visit
Iran for meetings on August 17
with Iranian leaders and senior
officials. The visit is part of the
efforts to advance dialogue and
co-operation between the agency
and Iran.”
Diplomatic sources said in
late July that the IAEA - which is
tasked with preventing the spread
of nuclear weapons in the world was concerned about Iran’s lack of
engagement with the investigation.
They said there was still time
for Iran to meet its commitments,
noting that Tehran had occasionally waited until the last minute to
make concessions in the past.
But the slow pace of co-operation may reinforce an impression
in the West about continuing Iranian reluctance to give the IAEA
the information and access to sites
and people that it says it needs for
its investigation.
“Unless Iran addresses the
IAEA’s concerns ... the chance is
reduced of successfully negotiating a long- term nuclear agreement between the (six powers)
and Iran,” the Institute for Science
and International Security think
tank said this month.
After years of what the West
saw as Iranian stonewalling, Iran
as a п¬Ѓrst step in May gave the IAEA
information it had requested
about its reasons for developing
Exploding Bridge Wire detonators. These can be used to set off
an atomic explosive device but
Iran says they are for civilian use.
Tehran agreed to clarify two
other issues by late August - concerning alleged work on explosives and computer studies related
to calculating nuclear explosive
yields.
They were among 12 specific
areas listed in an IAEA report issued in 2011 with a trove of intelligence indicating a concerted
weapons programme that was
halted in 2003.
Iraqi Sunnis
set terms for
joining unity
government
A spokesman for tribal and
clerical leaders says Sunni
representatives in Anbar and
other provinces have drawn
up a list of demands
Reuters
Baghdad
T
ribal leaders and clerics
from Iraq’s Sunni heartland
offered their conditional
backing yesterday for a new government that hopes to contain
sectarian bloodshed and an offensive by Islamic State militants
that threatens to tear the country
apart.
One of the most influential
tribal leaders said he was willing
to work with Shia prime minister-designate Haider al-Abadi
provided a new administration
respected the rights of the Sunni
Muslim minority that dominated
Iraq under Saddam Hussain.
Ali Hatem Suleiman left open a
possibility that Sunnis would take
up arms against the Islamic State
п¬Ѓghters in the same way as he and
others joined US and Shia-led
government forces to thwart an Al
Qaeda insurgency in Iraq between
2006 and 2009.
Abadi faces the daunting task of
pacifying the vast western desert
province of Anbar, where Sunni
frustrations with the sectarian
policies of outgoing Shia premier
Nuri al-Maliki have goaded some
to join the Islamic State insurrection.
Iraq has been plunged into its
worst violence since the peak of a
sectarian civil war in 2006-2007,
with Sunni п¬Ѓghters led by the Islamic State overrunning large
parts of the west and north, forc-
ing hundreds of thousands to flee
for their lives and threatening
ethnic Kurds in their autonomous
province.
Winning over Sunnis will be
vital to any efforts to contain the
violence marked by daily kidnappings, execution-style killings
and bombings.
Taha Mohamed al-Hamdoon,
spokesman for the tribal and
clerical leaders, said Sunni representatives in Anbar and other
provinces had drawn up a list of
demands.
This would be delivered
through Sunni politicians to
Abadi, a member of the same Shia
Islamist party but with a less confrontational reputation than Maliki, who announced on Thursday
he would stand down.
Hamdoon called for the government and Shia militia forces
to suspend hostilities in Anbar to
allow space for talks.
“It is not possible for any negotiations to be held under barrel
bombs and indiscriminate bombing,” Hamdoon said in a telephone
interview with Reuters. “Let the
bombing stop and withdraw and
curtail the (Shia) militias until
there is a solution for the wise men
in these areas.”
Iraq’s most influential Shia
cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, said the handover of power
offered a rare opportunity to resolve the crisis.
Sistani told the country’s feuding politicians to live up to their
“historic responsibility” by cooperating with Abadi as he tries
to form a new government and
overcome divisions among the
Shia, Sunni and Kurdish communities that deepened under Maliki. Abadi himself, in comments
online, urged his countrymen to
unite and cautioned that the road
ahead would be tough.
Sistani, a reclusive octogenarian whose authority few Iraqi politicians would dare openly challenge, also had pointed comments
for the military, which offered no
serious resistance when the Islamic State staged its lightning offensive in June.
“We stress the necessity that
the Iraqi flag is the banner they
hoist over their troops and units,
and avoid using any pictures or
other symbols,” Sistani said, in
a call for the armed forces to set
aside sectarian differences. Maliki
was blamed for blurring lines between the army and Shia militias.
Maliki endorsed Abadi in a televised late-night speech during
which he stood next to his successor.
The United States has asked
European countries to supply arms and ammunition to the
Kurdish forces, US and European
officials have said.
In Brussels, European Union
foreign ministers decided that
individual member states were
free to send weapons to the Kurds,
provided they had the consent of
Iraqi national authorities.
The EU said it would also look
at how to prevent the Islamic
State, which has overrun some
oilfields in Syria and Iraq, benefiting from oil sales.
Several European governments,
including France, Germany, the
Czech Republic and the Netherlands, have said they will send
arms to the Kurds or are considering doing so. In London, the British government also said it would
consider “positively” any request
for weapons from the Kurds.
Members of the Yazidi minority arrive at the Syria-Iraq border, in Fishkhabour, northern Iraq, yesterday.
Security Council blacklists
militants in Iraq and Syria
Reuters
United Nations
T
he UN Security Council took aim at Islamist militants in Iraq and
Syria yesterday, blacklisting six
people including the Islamic
State spokesman and threatening sanctions against those who
п¬Ѓnance, recruit or supply weapons to the insurgents.
The
15-member
council
unanimously adopted a resolution that aims to weaken the Islamic State - an Al Qaeda splinter group that has seized swathes
of territory in Iraq and Syria
and declared a caliphate - and
Al Qaeda’s Syrian wing Nusra
Front.
Islamic State has long been
blacklisted by the Security
Council, while Nusra Front was
added earlier this year. Both
groups are designated under the
UN Al Qaeda sanctions regime.
A
top Saudi cleric called
yesterday for a global code
of conduct for leaders,
scholars and young people to halt
a further slide into violence and
“terror” in the Middle East.
The kingdom has grown increasingly alarmed since militants from an offshoot of Al
Qaeda captured large areas of
neighbouring Iraq and Syria and
declared an Islamic caliphate.
At his Friday sermon in
Makkah, the imam and preacher
of the Grand Mosque, Sheikh Abdul-Rahman al-Sudais, decried
“mass massacres against humanity” in Gaza, Syria and Iraq.
“All of this happens under the
sight and hearing of the international community ... which raises
fear that a generation would
come to believe only in violence,
terror and the clash of civilisa-
tions,” Saudi state news agency
SPA quoted Sudais as saying.
He said “there was an urgent
need to prepare a global code of
conduct in which the leaders and
scholars would deliver their messages and in which the youths
would set their thoughts right
and the path of the new media is
set right”, SPA added.
The report did not go into details of the contents of such a
code of conduct.
Militant groups regularly use
websites to spread messages
from п¬Ѓrebrand clerics and publicise attacks.
The kingdom has kept a close
eye on sermons for evidence of
militancy since Al Qaeda staged
attacks that killed hundreds in
Saudi Arabia a decade ago.
The authorities are worried
that anger at the violence in Syria
and Iraq, coupled with hardline
teachings by some local religious
leaders, could inspire a new generation of militants.
former Algerian army officer who
escaped house arrest in France in
2013 and joined Nusra Front in
Syria, and Abdul Mohsen Abdallah Ibrahim al-Charekh of
Saudi Arabia, dubbed “a leading
terrorist internet propagandist”
who heads Nusra Front in Syria’s
Latakia district.
Hamid Hamad Hamid al-Ali
and Hajjaj bin Fahd al-Ajmi, both
from Kuwait, were sanctioned
for allegedly providing п¬Ѓnancial
support to Nusra Front - Ajmi’s
fundraising includes at least one
Twitter campaign, according to
UN experts - while Abdelrahman Mohamed Zafir al-Dabidi
al-Jahani of Saudi Arabia was
named because he runs Nusra
Front’s foreign fighter networks.
Britain initially aimed to adopt
the text by the end of August, but
accelerated its plan after a surge
by Islamic State, which poses
the biggest threat to Iraq since
Saddam Hussain was toppled by
a US-led invasion in 2003.
The resolution condemns the
recruitment of foreign п¬Ѓghters and expresses readiness to
blacklist people п¬Ѓnancing or facilitating travel of foreign п¬Ѓghters. It expresses concern that
revenue generated from oilfields
captured by both groups is being
used to organise attacks.
Islamic State militants are
selling oil from oilfields in Iraq
and refineries they control to local communities and smugglers,
augmenting their existing ample
п¬Ѓnances, US intelligence officials
said on Thursday.
The resolution condemns any
direct or indirect trade with Islamic State or Nusra Front and
warns such moves could lead to
sanctions. It asks UN experts charged with monitoring violations of the council’s Al Qaeda
sanctions regime - to report in
90 days on the threat posed by
Islamic State and Nusra Front,
and on details of their recruitment and funding.
Yemen Qaeda vows
revenge against US
Cleric seeks code of
conduct to stem terror
Reuters
Dubai
Yesterday’s resolution named
six people who will be subject
to an international travel ban,
asset freeze and arms embargo,
including Islamic State spokesman Abu Mohamed al-Adnani,
an Iraqi described by UN experts
as one of the group’s “most influential emirs” and close to its
leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
The Islamic State’s swift and
brutal push to the borders of
Iraq’s autonomous ethnic Kurdish region and toward Baghdad has sparked the first US air
strikes in Iraq since the withdrawal of American troops in
2011.
The Security Council resolution “deplores and condemns in
the strongest terms the terrorist
acts of ISIL (Islamic State) and
its violent extremist ideology,
and its continued gross, systematic and widespread abuses of
human rights and violations of
international humanitarian law”.
It also blacklisted Said Arif, a
AFP
Dubai
T
Artists paint graffiti on a wall in Sanaa on Thursday denouncing
the execution of 14 Yemeni soldiers by insurgents with
suspected links to Al Qaeda in the southern province of
Hadramout on August 8.
he Yemen-based Al Qaeda
in the Arabian Peninsula, considered the network’s most dangerous branch,
has threatened revenge attacks
against the United States for air
strikes on Islamic State jihadists
in Iraq.
In a statement posted on the
its Twitter account late Thursday, AQAP said US air strikes
on jihadist targets in Iraq were a
“declaration of war” by “Zionist
and Crusader” forces that will
not go unpunished.
“The declaration of war by
(US President Barack) Obama on
Muslims in Iraq and the subsequent targeting of the mujahedeen by American aircraft clearly
shows that the Zionist-Crusader
threat is still the most dangerous
to the Islamic ummah (world),”
the statement said.
IS has been disavowed by the
Al Qaeda leadership and AQAP
did not refer to it by name, talking instead of “our Muslim
brothers in Iraq”.
But the key Al Qaeda affiliate, born of a 2009 merger of
its franchises in Osama bin
Laden’s native Saudi Arabia
and ancestral homeland Yemen, expressed “solidarity” with
the group.
“Once we find a way to hurt
America, we will follow it, Allah
permitting, as jihad is the cause
of Allah,” AQAP said.
“We call on all Islamic groups
to support their brothers by
harming America and by making
it part of their jihad plans to hit
America militarily, economically
and in the media.
“We call on Muslims anywhere, especially those who
can enter America, to support
their brothers by waging war
against America in any way
they can.”
AQAP has been linked to a
string of attempted attacks on
the United States in the past,
including a botched bid to blow
up a Detroit-bound airliner on
Christmas Day 2009.
It has been a major target of
the US “war on terror”, sustaining repeated deadly drone strikes
on its leadership since 2002
matched only by those on Afghanistan and Pakistan.
This month, US drones and
jets have raided Islamic State
targets in Iraq, after the jihadists
seized swathes of territory north
and west of Baghdad, attacking
religious minorities, including
Christians.
4
Gulf Times
Saturday, August 16, 2014
ARAB WORLD
Palestinians
accuse Israel
of violating
Gaza truce
The Palestinian government
in Gaza says Israeli troops
shot at houses east of the
town of Khan Younis
Agencies
Gaza
T
he Palestinian interior ministry in Gaza accused Israel
yesterday of a cross-border
shooting in violation of a truce
that has largely held since getting
off to a shaky start on Thursday.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said: “We have no knowledge of
such an incident.”
The Palestinian ministry in
the coastal territory dominated
by Hamas Islamists said Israeli
troops shot at houses east of the
town of Khan Younis.
The ceasefire, renewed on
Thursday for п¬Ѓve days after a previous truce expired, has largely
halted more than a month of
п¬Ѓghting in which 1,945 Palestinians, many of them civilians, 64
Israeli soldiers and three civilians
in Israel were killed.
The truce got off to a rocky start
with Israel launching an air raid
early on Thursday in response to
rocket п¬Ѓre from Gaza in violation
of the earlier truce.
There were no reported casualties in any of these incidents.
The latest ceasefire, mediated
by Egypt, gave the parties an additional п¬Ѓve days, until late on
Monday to come up with a comprehensive agreement to end the
war in Gaza.
Negotiations hosted in Cairo
were expected to reconvene tomorrow.
Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu’s security cabinet debated the emerging deal at a meeting held behind closed doors yesterday, after a protest by 10,000
Israelis in Tel Aviv, angry at the
war’s inconclusive results and the
prospect of facing more rocket п¬Ѓre
from Gaza once the truce comes to
an end.
An Israeli official said after
yesterday’s meeting that any deal
struck in Egypt had to “provide
clearly for security arrangements”
for Israel. The official, speaking on
condition of anonymity, declined
to elaborate.
Few precise details of the indirect negotiations have emerged,
but the broad outlines are well
known: the Palestinians want an
end to Israel’s blockade of Gaza, an
extension of the strip’s maritime
and security boundaries and the
building of a sea port and reopen-
ing of an airport in the enclave.
For their part, the Israelis want
an end to rocket п¬Ѓre from Gaza,
the full demilitarisation of the territory, and for the Palestinian Authority headed by Western-allied
President Mahmoud Abbas to take
over responsibility for managing
Gaza’s 12km border with Egypt
at Rafah, an effort to prevent the
smuggling of weapons and other
military-use equipment.
For the п¬Ѓrst time since п¬Ѓghting
began between Israel and Hamas
on July 8, residents in Gaza City
were able to attend Friday prayers
without fear of being killed.
In the Shati refugee camp, a few
hundred men prayed in the rubble of one mosque, lining up their
prayer mats directly under the
teetering remains of the minaret
that looked as if it could collapse
at any moment, after around two
thirds of the mosque was pulverised.
Dozens of mosques have been
damaged in the п¬Ѓghting. The
imam at the mosque in the Shati
camp called during the sermon
for the destruction of Israel. “We
must do our prayers with or without the existence of a mosque,
and people are praying under the
rubble,” said Ismael Redwan, who
lives close by.
Palestinians pray yesterday underneath a toppled minaret during Friday prayers at a mosque that was targeted by Israeli army strikes in Gaza.
Dutch man returns Israeli
honour after family killed
AFP
The Hague
A
91-year-old Dutch man
honoured by Israel for
shielding a Jew from the
Nazis has handed back his medal
after six of his relatives were killed
in a Gaza air strike.
Henk Zanoli returned his Righteous Among the Nations award
to the Israeli ambassador in The
Hague this week after an Israeli
F-16 destroyed his great niece’s
Gaza home, killing all inside.
“It is with great sorrow that I
am herewith returning the medal I received as an honour and a
token of appreciation from the
State of Israel for the efforts and
risks taken by my mother and
her family in saving the life of a
Jewish boy during the German
occupation,” Zanoli said in a letter dated Monday.
According to Zanoli’s letter addressed to the Israeli ambassador,
the bomb dropped by the Israeli
military on July 20 during its mas-
sive Gaza offensive flattened a
four-storey building at the Bureij
refugee camp, killing all inside.
“The great-great grandchildren
of my mother have lost their grandmother, three uncles, an aunt and
a cousin at the hands of the Israeli
military,” Zanoli said in the letter,
published by liberal Israeli newspaper Haaretz and widely circulated in
the Dutch media.
“It is particularly shocking and
tragic that today, four generations
on, our family is faced with the
murder of our kin in Gaza. Murder
carried out by the State of Israel,”
Zanoli said.
The nonagenarian was too frail to
deliver the letter in person, but instead sent it, with the medal, to the
Israeli embassy in The Hague—the
same place he received the accolade
three years ago.
“For me to hold on to the honour
granted to me by the State of Israel
under these circumstances, would
be an insult... to those in my family,
four generations on, who lost no less
than six of their relatives in Gaza,”
Zanoli said.
UN envoy plans Libya
trip to negotiate truce
Reuters
Paris
T
he new UN special envoy to Libya plans to visit Tripoli as early
as next week to seek a ceasefire
between armed factions whose clashes have turned parts of the capital into
a battlefield, his office said.
Bernardino Leon aims to end п¬Ѓghting between brigades from Misrata
and п¬Ѓghters allied to the western town
of Zintan, whose rivalries erupted a
month ago into the worst clashes since
the 2011 uprising that ousted Muammar Gaddafi.
The battles, which involve brigades of
former rebels who once fought Gaddafi
together, have forced the United Nations and Western governments to
evacuate their diplomats, fearing Libya
is sliding into civil war.
A statement by his office said Leon’s
Tripoli visit for talks would be conducted with the United Nations as the only
international mediator accepted by all
Libyan parties.
“It is in this framework (that) I am
planning to travel to Tripoli as early as
next week to continue to support the
talks between the parties,” it said.
Most of the п¬Ѓghting has raged over
the international airport in Tripoli,
which п¬Ѓghters from Zintan have controlled since sweeping into the capital
during the 2011 war.
Misrata and Zintan forces have exchanged barrages of Grad rockets, artillery п¬Ѓre and mortars across southern
Tripoli, forcing hundreds of families
Demonstrators protest at Freedom Square in Benghazi yesterday against the
parliament’s decision to call for UN intervention to protect civilians and state
institutions in Libya.
from their homes and killing more than
200 people.
Libya’s fragile government still has
no national army and often put former
rebels on the state payroll as semi-official security forces, as a way to co-opt
them into the new state.
But the heavily armed rival brigades
are allied with competing political
factions and are often more loyal to
their region, city or local commanders than to the Libyan central government.
“In my personal opinion, there are
some urgent matters and a principle
that should be agreed. The principle is
that this should be a real ceasefire where
... I expect both sides to (both) talk in
good faith and not to use it for military
regroupment purposes,” Leon said.
He said talks should address conflicts
in other parts of Libya, the government
control of airports with UN support,
and the withdrawal of armed groups
and their allies from Tripoli.
Several thousand people rallied in
Tripoli, Benghazi, Misrata and other
cities against the Congress, which has
called on the United Nations to protect
civilians.
Gunmen attacked protesters in Martyrs Square in downtown Tripoli, and
police responded by opening п¬Ѓre. It was
unclear if there were any injuries.
Three killed as Mursi backers, foes clash
AFP
Cairo
T
hree people were killed as supporters and opponents of Egypt’s
ousted Islamist president Mohamed Mursi clashed after Friday
prayers, security officials said, a day after п¬Ѓve people died in sporadic violence.
Supporters of Mursi have attempted
to stage rallies since Thursday, the п¬Ѓrst
anniversary of a deadly police crackdown in Cairo that left hundreds dead,
but security forces have swiftly quashed
them.
On August 14, 2013, after then army
chief and now President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi had removed Mursi, Egypt’s
п¬Ѓrst freely elected president, police
cracked down on his supporters at protest camps in Cairo’s Rabaa al-Adawiya
and Nahda squares, leaving hundreds of
people dead.
Yesterday, two people were killed
when pro-Mursi supporters clashed
with their opponents after the weekly
prayers in Cairo’s western neighbourhood of Faisal, a security official said.
Clashes erupted when pro-Mursi
marchers set off п¬Ѓreworks close to shops
and residences in the area, the official
said, adding the two men were killed by
live ammunition and birdshot.
Riot police later intervened and also
clashed with pro-Mursi protesters.
Eight Mursi supporters were arrested
and a security officer and three conscripts were wounded in Faisal, the security official said.
The interior ministry said that “an
armed and masked Mursi supporter”
was killed by security forces south of
Cairo when they intervened to break up
a clash between the two groups.
Five people including a police officer
were wounded in a separate protest in
north Cairo.
Gulf Times
Saturday, August 16, 2014
5
AFRICA
Ghana cholera
outbreak at
�staggering’ level
A cholera outbreak in Ghana’s
capital has reached “staggering”
levels, an official said yesterday,
blaming poor sanitation and
overcrowded health facilities for
the rapid spread of the disease.
Cholera has killed more than 40
people in Accra since June and
infected 3,100 others, according
to the Ghana Health Service.
While the city has been hit by
cholera before, the director of
health services for the greater
Accra region, Linda Van Otoo,
said the current outbreak was
“staggering”.
“It is a total outbreak and the
cases in Accra keep increasing
daily,” Otoo said.
Cholera causes diarrhoea,
dehydration and death if left
untreated. It is transmitted
by ingesting food or drink
contaminated with human waste.
Otoo puts the blame for the
outbreak on poor sanitation
in Accra’s more impoverished
districts.
Media wronged
jailed dissident
Three Rwandan news outlets
were ordered yesterday to
apologise for accusing a jailed
opposition leader of witchcraft,
according to the head of an
independent media watchdog.
An article printed in a newspaper
and a news website, and then
repeated by a radio station,
alleged that Victoire Ingabire
tried to poison a child while in
prison.
“We found that it was a malicious
story,” Fred Muvunyi, head of
the Rwanda Media Commission
(RMC), told AFP.
Ingabire was sentenced in
December to 15 years in jail
on several charges including
terrorism.
Somalia soldiers battle
warlord in Mogadishu
AFP
Mogadishu
S
omali government and African forces battled a powerful warlord in Mogadishu
yesterday, with security forces
then storming a major radio station critical of the п¬Ѓghting and
arresting journalists.
Witnesses reported at least
п¬Ѓve dead in a gun battle lasting several hours, after the army
backed by African Union (AU)
troops launched a pre-dawn
assault on the base of warlord
Ahmed Dai in a bid to disarm his
militia.
There were bursts of intense
gunfire and heavy explosions
with rocket-propelled grenades
п¬Ѓred by both sides, witnesses
said, reporting at least п¬Ѓve dead.
“Fighting was very heavy,
both sides used heavy machine
guns and fired grenades,” said
Abidiweli Mohamed, a local
resident, adding he had seen п¬Ѓve
dead bodies, including three civilians.
But Dai escaped the attack and
is reported to be on the run.
After п¬Ѓghting calmed, security forces turned to one of
Mogadishu’s main radio stations, Radio Shabelle, arresting
20 staff and seizing equipment,
with a security official accusing it of “negative” broadcasts
about military operations.
Soldiers patrol in the Wadajir district, south of the capital, following the Somalia government’s operation
against warlord Ahmed Dai.
A Somali man carries the body of his child, who was killed during
heavy fighting in Mogadishu.
“They have arrested 20 members of staff, including the director, and equipment was also
seized,” said Mohammed Bashir,
a producer at the station. “I escaped only because I had gone to
pray.”
Somalia’s
government
launched a campaign to disarm
militias earlier this month, with
troops backed by the AU mission
in Somalia (AMISOM).
Boko Haram kidnaps scores in
northeast Nigeria, say witnesses
AFP
Maiduguri
B
oko Haram Islamists have
kidnapped scores of people
from п¬Ѓshing communities
in Nigeria’s extreme northeast,
hauling some of the hostages
away on boats across Lake Chad,
witnesses said yesterday.
Several people were also reportedly killed in the militant
raids on a number of villages in
the Kukawa Local Government
area in Borno state, a Boko Haram
stronghold.
The remote area has poor mobile phone coverage, and details
of the attacks that took place
on Sunday have taken days to
emerge.
A few survivors travelled to
Borno’s capital Maiduguri, where
they briefed reporters on the latest mass abduction by the insurgents, who caused global outrage
in April when they kidnapped
276 girls from their school.
They are still holding 219 girls.
“At first we thought (the attackers) were soldiers ... But
when they began shooting at
people and setting п¬Ѓre to homes
we realised they were Boko Har-
am,” Halima Alhaji Adam, from
the village of Doron Baga.
Adam said that the militants
kidnapped roughly 100 young
men aged between 15 and 30.
Her account was supported
by two other local women and a
man who also reached Maiduguri
as well as a leader of a vigilante
force which is helping the military in the counter-insurgency
п¬Ѓght.
Abubakar Jatau, from Baga,
said that 97 men and boys were
taken in the raid, which began
late on Sunday and continued
into the early hours of the following morning.
“They killed 28 people, including four they slaughtered
along the shores of Lake Chad.
The 24 others were shot dead
inside the village during the attack,” he said.
There was no official corroboration of the death toll or any
comment from the military.
The hostages “were forced
into motorboats and taken into
Chad”, Adam said.
Another woman who escaped,
Fatima Suleiman, said that locals feared the hostages would be
used as “foot soldiers” by the extremists, who regularly carry out
strikes on military and civilian
targets in the impoverished area.
Mohammed Gava, the Maiduguri-based vigilante leader, said
that a number of girls and women
were also taken.
Jatau said the multi-national
joint task force, made up troops
from Nigeria, Chad and Niger
and which is nominally responsible for security in the area, rescued 23 of the female hostages.
The others backed up his account, with Suleiman saying
about 20 people were rescued.
The force was formed more
than a decade ago – long before
Boko Haram became a threat –
to crack down on cross-border
smuggling.
The survivors who spoke to
AFP said soldiers from this force
deployed to the area after the
attacks and clashed with Boko
Haram п¬Ѓghters on Wednesday
when the insurgents returned.
The troops “gave them a good
fight”, said Suleiman.
Boko Haram, which says it
wants to create an Islamic state in
mainly Muslim northern Nigeria,
has been accused of kidnapping
hundreds of people in the northeast to use as conscripts, wives
and slaves.
Yesterday AU troops displayed
rockets and machine guns that
they had seized from the raid,
despite militia commander Dai
insisted the only guns he had
were a “few for self-defence”.
AMISOM said in a statement
that it had launched the raid
“following a tip-off that there
was an arms cache”, and arrested
20 gunmen.
Fighting took place in a neigh-
bourhood close to the heavilydefended airport zone, headquarters of the 22,000-strong
AU force.
War-torn Somalia is awash
with guns after more than two
decades of conflict, with several politicians and local leaders
commanding what are effectively private armies.
Such forces are not connected to Somalia’s hardline Shebaab Islamists, who are fighting to topple the internationally
backed government.
The clashes come just two
days after UN Security Council
envoys briefly visited a fortified zone within the dangerous
capital, where they promised
to support the п¬Ѓrst elections in
decades, scheduled for 2016.
The п¬Ѓghting comes as warnings grow of a humanitarian crisis in Somalia, three years after
more than 250,000 people, half
of them children, died in a famine.
UN aid chief for Somalia
Philippe Lazzarini told UN en-
voys on Wednesday that “all the
signs that we saw in the prefamine period in 2010 are here”.
Lazzarini said that the country is “at a critical crossroads”
in an appeal for more aid, saying
it would be “morally intolerable
for the world to let Somalia go
into crisis only a few years after
the devastating famine”.
A million people have fled
their homes inside the country,
and more than a million live in
neighbouring nations as refugees.
President Jonathan п¬Ѓres striking doctors
DPA
Kano
T
he death toll from the Ebola virus in Nigeria rose to
four yesterday as President Goodluck Jonathan reportedly п¬Ѓred thousands of doctors
who have been taking part in
weeks of nation-wide strikes.
Jonathan ordered the dismissal of around 16,000 doctors in an internal memo to the
health ministry, according to
newspaper Premium Times.
Health Minister Onyebuchi
Chukwu instructed that “letters
of termination” be issued immediately to all affected resident
doctors in hospitals.
The move allows the health
ministry to “make internal arrangements to get alternative
doctors to cater for patients”,
said ministry spokesman Isiaka
Yusuf.
Doctors and nurses in public
hospitals across the nation of
169mn people – according to
World Bank estimates – have
taken part in work stoppages
since July 1 and are refusing to
return to work until their working conditions and salaries improve.
The strike is severely hampering efforts to curb the epi-
demic in Africa’s most populous
state.
Also yesterday, the ministry
announced the death of nurse
Justina Obi Echelonu, who died
in quarantine at the First Consultant Hospital in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, as
well as a new confirmed Ebola
case.
Echelonu’s death raises the
number of people killed by Ebola to four in Nigeria, local newspaper Vanguard reported.
In all, 11 Ebola cases have been
confirmed so far, while 169 people are under surveillance.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) is warning that
West Africa’s Ebola outbreak
“continues to escalate”.
The WHO has said that a
“massive scaling up of the international response” is necessary to get the outbreak under
control.
By August 13, 1,975 cases and
1,069 deaths were reported
from Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria
and Sierra Leone.
In Liberia, the justice ministry has released 100 pre-trial
detainees with minor offences
to protect them from Ebola
in overcrowded prisons, local
newspaper Front Page Africa reports.
Ghana, meanwhile, has is-
President Jonathan using a hand sanitiser as a precaution against
contracting Ebola during an emergency meeting with state
govenors and their health commissioners in Abuja on Wednesday.
sued a travel alert to Ebola-affected countries and has placed
a ban on holding international
conferences for the next three
months.
The government is also
procuring protective gear for
10,000 people, after 37 suspected Ebola cases were reported
– although all tests came back
negative.
“Our strategy is to prevent the
disease from spreading to Ghana,” said Communications Minister Edward Omane Boamah.
Further afield, the International Olympic Committee
(IOC) said Liberian athletes
were no longer participating in
the Youth Olympics in Nanjing
due to the Ebola outbreak, Chinese news agency Xinhua reported.
Teams from Sierra Leone and
Nigeria also refused to participate in the games, saying that
the special health check-ups
ordered for athletes from Ebola-affected countries were discriminating.
6
Gulf Times
Saturday, August 16, 2014
AMERICAS
Ferguson protests call attention to �militarisation’ of local police
By Nick Carey, Reuters
Ferguson, Missouri
A
US military programme
that sends armoured cars,
camouflage and other battlefield equipment to police departments is under fresh scrutiny
following protests in Ferguson,
Missouri, over the death of an
unarmed black teenager.
The hundreds of people who
have gathered each night since
18-year-old Michael Brown was
shot and killed by an unnamed
police officer last Saturday have
been met with police clad in body
armour and using tear gas, smoke
bombs and stun grenades.
On Thursday, US AttorneyGeneral Eric Holder said it was
clear the scenes playing out in
the Saint Louis suburb “cannot
continue”.
And while he condemned acts
of violence and looting by some
protesters, he said it was the role
of law enforcement to reduce
tensions in the city, rather than
exacerbate them.
“At a time when we must seek
to rebuild trust between law enforcement and the local community, I am deeply concerned
that the deployment of military
equipment and vehicles sends
a conflicting message,” Holder
said.
Ferguson, along with many
other US communities, has taken part in the Pentagon’s Excess
Property Programme, known as
1033, which distributes surplus
military equipment to police.
The programme began in the
early 1990s to assist anti-drug
efforts and grew after the attacks
of September 11, 2001.
A report released in June by the
American Civil Liberties Union
(ACLU), titled War Comes Home:
The Excessive Militarisation of
American Policing, documents
the flow of armoured robots,
military-style rifles and tactical
vehicles to local police departments.
The programme has proved
popular with police forces across
the country, with local officials
saying that it saves them money
and offers valuable equipment to
protect police officers.
Through the programme,
Arizona’s Maricopa County has
amassed a stockpile of 120 assault rifles, five armoured vehicles and 10 helicopters, the ACLU
report found.
The city of North Little Rock,
Arkansas, obtained 34 automatic
and semiautomatic rifles, two
robots designed for Afghanistan
and ground troop helmets.
“What we’re seeing in Ferguson is a reflection of the militarisation of American policing,”
said Kara Dansky, senior counsel
with the ACLU’s Centre for Justice. “They’re trained to think of
what they do as going into battle.”
Asked about the programme
at a Defence Department news
briefing on Thursday, a spokesman said that the programme
This picture taken on Wednesday shows a police officer aiming his
weapon at a demonstrator protesting the shooting death of teenager
Michael Brown, in Ferguson.
had proven useful because it allows US law enforcement to reuse
military equipment that would
otherwise go to waste.
“That said, it is up to law enforcement agencies to speak to
how and what they gain through
this system. And I’m not going
to inject the Pentagon into this
discussion,” Rear Admiral John
Kirby said.
The police response in Fergu-
son to the protests has generally
been regarded as п¬Ѓerce.
Early on Wednesday, a protester was shot and critically wounded after police said he pointed a
gun.
The next night, two journalists covering the protests were
arrested at a McDonald’s – and
then quickly released.
President Barack Obama, in
an attempt to defuse tensions
in Ferguson, called on the police
authorities to respect peaceful
demonstrations.
“There is never an excuse for
violence against police or for
those who would use this tragedy as a cover for vandalism or
looting,” Obama said. “There’s
also no excuse for police to use
excessive force against peaceful
protesters or to throw protesters
in jail for lawfully exercising their
First Amendment rights.”
Veterans have taken to social
media to marvel, and in some
cases express dismay, at the tactical supplies used in Ferguson.
“I led foot patrols in downtown
Baquba, #Iraq in 2005-06 w/less
firepower than #Ferguson PD,”
tweeted Phillip Carter, the director of the Military, Veterans, and
Society Programme at the Centre
for a New American Security.
Local authorities initially defended the response.
However, facing a chorus of
criticism, Missouri Governor Jay
Nixon on Thursday said that the
town had come to resemble a war
zone, and he named a black Missouri Highway Patrol captain to
oversee security in Ferguson.
Meanwhile in Ferguson, people
described the police response to
the protests as unnecessary and
over the top.
“We can’t even protest peacefully in our own neighbourhoods
where we pay taxes without being subjected to tear gas and rubber bullets,” said Al Cole, 36, a
salesman.
“There was no need to treat
unarmed protesters that way.
None.”
Missouri names
officer in teen
shooting case
Reuters
Ferguson, Missouri
P
olice named Darren Wilson
as the officer who shot and
killed an unarmed black
teenager in Ferguson, Missouri,
and said that the youth was the
key suspect in a robbery that occurred minutes before the shooting, which sparked days of sometimes violent protests.
Wilson was the officer who
shot and killed 18-year-old
Michael Brown last Saturday,
police said, giving in to pressure
to identify the six-year veteran
officer with a clean record, and to
provide details about the investigation in order to ease tensions in
the largely black suburb outside
Saint Louis.
Days of protests had cast a
spotlight on racial tensions in
greater Saint Louis, where civil
rights groups have complained
in the past of racial profiling by
police, of the arrests of a disproportionate number of blacks and
of discriminatory police hiring
practices.
At a news conference yesterday, police released incident reports, video stills of the robbery
and provided a more detailed
timeline of the August 9 events.
The reports, based on video
surveillance and witness interviews, said that the events unfolded shortly before noon, with
a report of a robbery at a Ferguson convenience store.
Two men, Brown and 22-yearold Dorian Johnson, entered the
store and Brown became involved
in a “struggle or confrontation”
with someone else at the store,
apparently over a box of cigars, a
police report said.
One page of the report named
Brown as the “primary suspect
in this incident”, describing him
as being dressed in khaki shorts,
a white t-shirt and sporting a red
baseball hat.
It identified Dorian Johnson,
the friend who was with Brown
when he was shot, as a second
suspect.
That page of the incident report appeared to be written by a
police officer whose name was
redacted from the publicly released version.
The officer appears to suggest he or she was able to observe
Brown’s body – found in khaki
shorts and a white t-shirt – after
he was shot by Wilson.
“I responded to that scene and
observed Brown,” the officer’s report said. “After viewing Brown
and reviewing this video, I was
able to confirm that Brown is the
primary suspect in this incident.”
Ferguson Police Chief Tom
Jackson said at a news conference yesterday that Wilson came
upon Brown about 12.01pm,
walking down the street not far
from the convenience store, and
Wilson had shot the teenager by
12.04pm.
Jackson did not discuss details
of the actual shooting.
The police version that has
thus far been provided of Brown’s
shooting differs markedly from
witness accounts.
An incident in a store in Ferguson last Saturday is seen in these still images taken from a security camera
and presented to the media during a news conference by the Ferguson Police Department yesterday.
Captain Ron Johnson of the Missouri Highway Patrol addresses the
media following an announcement that Officer Darren Wilson had
been involved in the shooting of teen, Michael Brown, in Ferguson.
Police said that Brown reached
into the police car and struggled
with the officer, who shot and
killed him.
Wilson sustained a facial injury, which was treated in a hospital, they said.
Witnesses have said Brown
was trying to get away from the
officer, who tried to grab him
after telling him to move off the
street and onto a sidewalk.
Brown held up his hands in a
sign of surrender but was shot
several times, they said.
Some residents expressed outrage that police suggested Brown
was a robbery suspect when he
was killed.
“For them to say this is an
armed robbery makes me think
this is a cover up,” said Ferguson
resident Milton Jackson, 37. “I
don’t believe what the officer did
was called for. Even if there was a
robbery, it was unnecessary force
to shoot an unarmed black man.”
Arthur Austin, 39, another
resident, said: “This is how the
police operate here, they always
defame the name of the victim.
Michael Brown had never been in
trouble so it doesn’t add up. The
more I hear, the less I trust what
the police are saying.”
Police had held back naming
Wilson for nearly a week because
of fears that he could be harmed
amid a volatile and sometimesviolent week of angry protests
that followed Brown’s death.
The move to identify the officer comes after the American
Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
sued Saint Louis County and the
county police on Thursday, seeking copies of initial police reports
of the shooting.
Civil rights leaders from
around the country, community
Court asked if �No cops’ sign enough to ward off police
AFP
Ottawa
A
man prosecuted for selling marijuana has asked
Canada’s high court to
weigh in on whether posting
a “No Cops” sign should have
warded off police scrutiny.
The defendant operated a
small shop selling drug paraphernalia in Abbotsford, British
Columbia.
He posted a sign at the front
door warning police they were
not allowed on the premises
without a warrant, according to
court documents.
The man’s lawyer also wrote
to the market town’s police chief
advising officials they are not
welcome at the store.
Undercover police personnel
ignored the warnings and went
in to purchase marijuana from
the store owner, who was then
charged with trafficking of an illicit drug.
At trial the evidence was
Fraudulent Ebola drug warning
Reuters
Washington
T
he US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has
said that it has become
aware of products being sold
online that fraudulently claim
to prevent or treat Ebola.
The FDA’s warning comes on
the heels of comments by Ni-
geria’s top health official, Onyebuchi Chukwu, who reportedly
said earlier on Thursday that
eight Ebola patients in Lagos
will receive an experimental
treatment called nano-silver.
Erica Jefferson, a spokeswoman for the FDA, said she
could not provide any information about the product referenced by the Nigerians.
The FDA did not specify any
products in its warning.
Silver has been used as an antibacterial for centuries.
Silver particles known as nano-silver have been incorporated into consumer products such
as socks and bedding to help
block odours caused by bacteria
and mold.
The US Environmental Protection Agency considers nanosilver a pesticide.
thrown out on the basis that the
sting amounted to an unlawful
search.
But the man’s acquittal was
overturned on appeal.
The British Columbia Court
of Appeal ruled that the store is
a public place and so police may
enter to investigate criminal activities.
“An objectively reasonable
expectation of privacy in a retail store could not be achieved
simply by posting a sign excluding law enforcement officers,”
Justice Nicole Garson said in the
decision.
The Supreme Court of Canada is now considering whether
to hear the case.
Cargo ship loaded with trash undocks
from International Space Station
The privately operated cargo ship Cygnus undocked yesterday
after a month-long stay at the International Space Station, the US
space agency said.
It was loaded with rubbish from the station and was scheduled
to burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere tomorrow over the Pacific
Ocean, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa)
said.
The space freighter, whose name is the Latin word for swan, was
launched in mid-July from the eastern US state of Virginia.
It was loaded with 1,500kg of supplies for the station.
The mission was the second supply flight for the cargo ship
developed by the Virginia-based firm Orbital Sciences.
It is to fly at least eight more missions through 2016 as part of a
$2bn contract with Nasa.
activists and protesters also demanded that the officer be identified and be held accountable for
the killing.
Thousands of protesters, demanding justice for Brown’s
killing, had clashed with riot
gear-clad local police since
last Saturday, but there was a
marked shift on Thursday to a
calmer tone after the governor
put an African-American Missouri Highway Patrol Captain in
charge of security for the area.
On Thursday night, a small
number of police mingled with
the crowd, urging a healing to
the racially charged situation, in
marked contrast to the riot gear,
rubber bullets and tear gas that
had confronted protesters earlier
in the week.
Just three of Ferguson’s
53-strong police force are black,
while two-thirds of the town’s
population of 21,000 are black.
Missouri Highway Patrol
Captain Ron Johnson, who was
named on Thursday to oversee
security in the area, reported
yesterday that the near weeklong period of unrest and angry
confrontations between police
and protesters appeared to be
over.
Under his direction, roadblocks were lifted, and instead
of using teargas and intimidation, Johnson’s teams walked the
streets to talk with protesters and
listen to their concerns.
“Last night was a great night,”
he said. “People were talking ...
getting their voice out.
Mexico mayor held for
murder and extortion
AFP
Morelia
T
he mayor of a small city
in western Mexico was
arrested on Thursday on
charges of murder and extorting
money for drug cartels, the Michoacan state prosecutor said.
Dalia Santana Pineda, mayor of Huetamo, a small city of
41,000 people, is accused of
ordering the killing of Antonio
Granados Gomez in April.
She also “charged 20% salaries
of municipal employees, money
that ended up in the hands of
Servando Gomez”, leader of the
Knights Templar cartel, state
prosecutor Jose Martin Godoy
Castro said.
Pineda was arrested after a
judge ordered a warrant for the
murder of Granados Gomez, who
was ordered to be killed because
of personal differences.
In recent years, drug cartels
have penetrated into the highest levels of power in Michoacan
state.
In April, the state number two,
Jesus Reyna, was also arrested
for ties to the Knights Templar.
And a few weeks ago, the son of
former governor Fausto Vallejo
was arrested.
And the former municipal
president of Lazaro Cardenas, a
major Pacific port, was recently
detained for links to the cartel.
Last week, a video revealed
possible ties with another mayor
to the drug gang.
Michoacan, on Mexico’s Pacific coast, is a key trafficking area
in the drug trade to the United
States.
Farmers and other civilians in
the state took up arms in February 2013 claiming that the local
police was too incompetent or
corrupt to protect them from local criminal gangs.
Gulf Times
Saturday, August 16, 2014
7
ASIA
Pope warns
of �cancer’
of despair
AFP
Dangjin, South Korea
P
ope Francis has warned of a
“cancer” of despair in materially obsessed, outwardly affluent societies and urged
South Korean Catholics to reject
“inhumane economic models”
in a stark message to wealthier
Asian nations.
In an apparent reference to
South Korea’s high suicide rate,
he also warned 45,000 people at
a mass in a World Cup stadium in
Daejeon of the “culture of death”
that can pervade countries where
the quest for rapid growth marginalises the poor and vulnerable.
The message, delivered on the
п¬Ѓrst papal visit to the region in 15
years, was designed to resonate
not just with South Koreans, but
in other dynamic Asian economies where many are beginning
to question the social consequences of rapid growth and
rampant consumerism.
“It is almost as though a spiritual desert is beginning to spread
through our world. It affects the
young too, robbing them of hope
and even, in all too many cases, of
life itself,” he said.
And he returned to the theme
later in the day in an address to a
gathering of 10,000 young Asian
Catholics in Dangjin, when he
spoke of the “idolatry of wealth,
power and pleasure” and its unacceptably high human cost.
In a visit to a shrine near the
western city, where the young
believers were celebrating Asian
Youth Day, the Pope also touched
on the acrimonious relationship
between North and South Korea,
saying both sides should not lose
hope in an eventual reunification.
“Pray for our brothers in the
North, that, just as in a family,
there should be no winners or
losers,” he said, leading a moment’s silence for the unity of the
two countries.
“Korea is united by a common language. When in a family
More than 50,000 people attend the Pope’s first Mass at Daejeon stadium.
Francis speaking during his visit to the shrine of Solmoe.
visit by the “so-called Pope”.
Among the capacity crowd in
the stadium were 38 survivors
and relatives of victims of April’s
Sewol ferry tragedy in which
300 people died, most of them
schoolchildren.
Francis offered a special prayer
for the dead and their families
and, before the mass, held a brief
private audience with some of
the relatives.
“I’m a Protestant but I believe
the papal visit will help heal the
wounds from the Sewol disaster,”
Kim Hyeong-Ki, a father of one
we speak the same tongue there
is always hope,” he told a young
South Korean woman who expressed sorrow at the ongoing
hostilities.
The mass in Daejeon, some
160km south of Seoul, was the
Pope’s first public event following his arrival in Seoul on Thursday, which nuclear-armed North
Korea marked by п¬Ѓring a series of
short-range rockets into the sea.
The North, which split from
the South after the 1950-53 war,
rejected accusations that it had
timed the launches to upstage the
of the victims, told AFP.
The ferry tragedy has largely
been blamed on a corrupt culture of regulatory negligence that
placed profit over safety.
In his homily, Francis called
on South Korean Christians to
combat “the spirit of unbridled
competition which generates
selfishness and strife” and to
“reject inhuman economic models which create new forms of
poverty”.
He also warned of the “spirit
of despair that seems to grow like
a cancer” in societies where surface affluence hides deep inner
sadness.
“Upon how many of our young
has this despair taken its toll,” he
said.
Thousands without tickets for
the mass had cheered and waved
flags as the Pope rode to the venue in an open-topped car, stopping from time to time to give a
personal blessing to young children and infants held up by their
parents.
“I think this is the most important and unforgettable moment
of my life,” said Han Hye-Jin, 26,
an office worker in Daejeon.
The Pope’s visit to South Korea
is very much aimed at fuelling a
new era of growth for the Catholic church in Asia, and his address
at the youth event carried a clear
evangelical message.
God, he said, “is asking you
to go out on the highways and
byways of this world, knocking
on the doors of other people’s
hearts, inviting them to welcome
him into their lives”.
Although the church is making
some spectacular gains in Asia,
Catholics still only account for
3.2% of the continent’s population.
But expansion faces tough
challenges, especially in China
which prohibits its Catholics
from recognising the Vatican’s
authority.
According to various reports,
scores of Chinese Catholics were
prevented from travelling to
South Korea for Asian Youth Day,
and Beijing also warned Chinese
priests in attendance not to participate in any event involving
the Pope.
The centrepiece of the Pope’s
п¬Ѓve-day visit to South Korea will
take place today, when up 1mn
people are expected to gather in
downtown Seoul for an open-air
mass at which Francis will beatify 124 early Korean Catholic
martyrs.
H
ello Kitty has been sent on
her п¬Ѓrst space mission, as
Japan’s global icon of cute
celebrates its 40th birthday in
extraterrestrial fashion.
A Hello Kitty п¬Ѓgure is now circling the Earth aboard a small
satellite equipped with a digital
message board, part of government-funded project to attract
private companies into the space
business.
The initiative calls on fans to
come up with short messages that
will be flashed on the board sitting
above the 4cm (1.5”) cat, according to Kitty’s creator Sanrio.
The white feline with a red bow
sits by a window looking back at
Earth, with the board displaying
messages of up to 180 characters
in English and Japanese.
“It can be a message that you
want to send from space to some-
one special on Earth, or it can
be something more general,” a
spokesman for Tokyo-based Sanrio said yesterday.
The satellite was launched in
June from Russia.
The moon-faced mouthless
white cat п¬Ѓrst appeared in 1974 on
a coin purse in Japan.
It has since built up a worldwide fan base, appearing on tens
of thousands of products, from
handbags to aircraft, in some 130
countries.
China airline sued
for rejecting HIV
carriers: report
AFP
Beijing
The Hello Kitty under a scrolling display in front of a window
of the Hodoyoshi-3 satellite, is seen in what Sanrio Company
said is a still image from a video.
Australia’s federal treasurer sorry for insulting the poor
DPA
Sydney
A
ustralia’s Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey has
apologised over remarks
about the effect of changes to
the fuel tax that were perceived
as insulting to the poor.
“I am really genuinely sorry
that there is any suggestion at all
that I or the government doesn’t
care for the most disadvantaged
in the community,” Hockey said
on Mcquarie Radio. “I am sorry
about the interpretation. I am
sorry about the words.”
In a debate on the new national budget on Wednesday,
opposition parties opposed the
proposed indexation of the fuel
tax to inflation, saying that any
price increases would hit lowerincome households hardest.
But Hockey on Wednesday ar-
gued the reverse was true.
“The people that actually
pay the most are higher income
people, yet the Labor Party and
the Greens are opposing it,” he
told broadcaster ABC. “They
say you’ve got to have wealthier people or middle-income
people pay more. Well, change
to the fuel excise does exactly
that – the poorest people either
don’t have cars or actually don’t
drive very far in many cases.”
Despite a flurry of criticism
and ridicule, Hockey initially
stood by his remarks.
Australians on social media
accused the treasurer of being
out of touch with working-class
Australia.
A lawmaker from the state of
Victoria noted that residents of
rural Australia generally earn
less, have further distances to
travel and public transport was
limited.
“We can’t all hop on cows and
ride into town,” Ricky Muir was
quoted as saying in an ABC report.
Reporters asked Prime Minister Tony Abbott what he thought
of Hockey’s comments when he
returned from a trip abroad.
“Plainly I wouldn’t say that,”
Abbott told a press conference
in New South Wales.
Hockey went on Macquarie
Radio shortly afterwards.
Two held in Malaysia for �stealing from MH370 victims’
AFP
Kuala Lumpur
M
alaysian police have
arrested a bank officer
and her husband over
allegations they stole more than
$30,000 from the accounts of
four passengers aboard missing
flight MH370, an official said
yesterday.
The couple have been held in
police custody since Thursday
on suspicion of withdrawing
110,643 ringgit ($34,850) from
the accounts of two Malaysian
and two Chinese MH370 vic-
tims, said Zainuddin Ahmad,
a district police chief in Kuala
Lumpur.
Police are also looking for another suspect, a Pakistani man,
who is believed to have received
part of the money in his account
through an online transfer, he
added.
China’s leadership failed to receive an unprecedented message of goodwill sent by Pope Francis as he flew over the country, Vatican officials admitted yesterday, blaming technical problems for the mishap at a delicate
moment in relations with Beijing.
The Pope was offering his blessings in a message to China’s President Xi
Xinping on Thursday, taking advantage of protocol that sees him send a
note to nations’ leaders as he travels through their airspace.
But the message never arrived, the Pope’s spokesman Federico Lombardi
said, leaving China’s embassy in Rome in the position of having to request
the Pontiff’s words be retransmitted.
It was the first time that the Pope had been permitted to fly over China,
with the world’s media giving extra scrutiny to the papal dispatch, which
invoked “the divine blessings of peace and wellbeing on the nation”.
His words were later resent via the Italian embassy, as Beijing and the
Holy See have no formal diplomatic relations.
When pope John Paul II visited South Korea in 1989, Beijing refused to let
his plane fly over China.
A child looks at Francis, surrounded by bodyguards, at the end of his visit to a shrine in Solmoe.
Hello Kitty on space mission
AFP
Tokyo
China fails to receive Papal message after glitch
“We believe he is still in the
country. But as to the full particulars of the case – it’s all still
under investigation,” Zainuddin
told AFP.
Zainuddin declined to name
the bank, where the woman in
custody reportedly worked at for
the last 10 years.
The Star daily reported that
the four bank accounts were
with HSBC and quoted HSBC
Bank Malaysia Bhd saying in a
statement that the matter was
referred by the bank to the police, declining further comment.
HSBC officials could not immediately be reached.
T
wo HIV-positive passengers and a friend are suing
a Chinese airline for refusing to let them on board, in the
country’s first such lawsuit, state
media reported yesterday.
The pair planned to travel from
Shenyang in the northeast to Shijiazhuang, south of Beijing, but
were barred from the Spring Airlines plane after they informed
staff of their status, the Global
Times said.
The two, along with an HIVnegative travelling companion,
were told that their tickets had
been cancelled.
All three sued the budget airline, accusing it of discrimination and demanding an apology as well as compensation of
48,999 yuan ($8,000), the paper
said.
A Shenyang court accepted the
case, making it the п¬Ѓrst lawsuit
against an airline for discriminating against an HIV-positive
person in China, it added.
“The court’s acceptance of this
case signalled that HIV carriers
can protect their rights through
legal channels,” it quoted plaintiff Cheng Shuaishuai as saying.
China has a long history of
discrimination against those
with HIV.
It bans them from becoming
civil servants, and they face the
possibility of losing their jobs if
their employers discover their
status, while some have sought
hospital treatment only to be
turned away.
In recent years top officials
have begun speaking more
openly about HIV prevention
and control, but discrimination
remains an issue, with campaign groups and international
organisations saying widespread
stigmatisation has complicated
efforts to curb the spread of the
virus.
Under Chinese law air carriers
can deny transport to infectious
patients, people with mental illness or passengers whose health
condition may endanger others
or themselves.
Liu Wei, the plaintiffs’ lawyer,
said that did not mean Spring
Airlines had the right to reject
the trio, as there was no evidence
their presence on board would
infect anyone else.
The airline’s president Wang
Zhenghua told a Chinese media outlet on Tuesday that the
company did not discriminate
against HIV carriers, and blamed
the incident on staff anxiety.
However, he also blamed the
passengers, and said that the
company would not deny HIVpositive travellers transport in
future, as long as they did not
make themselves “overly noticeable” to avoid scaring other customers.
His comments provoked criticism online, with one user of
China’s Twitter-like Sina Weibo
posting: “This fundamentally
trampled on human rights.”
8
Gulf Times
Saturday, August 16, 2014
BRITAIN
Woman is
tested for
Ebola virus
in Scotland
It appears it is a matter of time before a case
tests positive
AFP
Scotland
A
woman who fell ill at an immigration facility centre in Scotland is being tested
for the Ebola virus, health officials said
yesterday.It is thought to be “highly unlikely”
that the woman, who British media reported
is from Sierra Leone, would test positive, a
Lanarkshire health authority spokesman said.
The woman was being held at the Dungavel House
south of Glasgow, which is used to house asylum
seekers before they are deported from Britain. The
facility has a capacity of up to 200 people.
“We are currently investigating a possible
case” of Ebola, the spokesman said.
“This is a precautionary measure and it
would appear at this stage to be highly unlikely
the patient will test positive for Ebola.”
The Ebola outbreak has so far claimed more
than 1,000 lives in Sierra Leone, Guinea,
Liberia and Nigeria.The medical charity MSF
has said the outbreak is moving faster than
aid organisations can handle while the World
Health Organization said the scale of the
epidemic had been vastly underestimated.
English health authorities said yesterday
they are investigating an outbreak of food
poisoning that has affected 156 people in
Britain and others in France and Austria.
Salmonella Enteritidis is a strain of bacteria
that causes gastrointestinal illness and is often
associated with poultry or eggs. Symptoms
include diarrhoea, stomach cramps and
sometimes vomiting and fever.
Public Health England (PHE) said that over
the past few months, 55 cases had been seen
in the southern county of Hampshire and 25 in
London while, further north, there had been 33
cases in Cheshire and 43 in the West Midlands.
In France, 49 people had been affected while
an unknown number of cases had also been
reported in Austria.
“In England, the cases occurred as isolated
clusters over several months and have been
managed locally, but are now being reassessed
as potentially linked under a national
investigation,” PHE said in a statement.
Tests had indicated that the cause of the
illness was from a single source.
“We will continue to monitor the situation
and, if there is any further public health action
necessary, then we will ensure that this takes
place,” PHE added.
Preview of Cinderella
Artists from the Mariinsky ballet rehearse, during the press preview, Cinderella at the Royal Opera House in London.
The п¬Ѓrst punch took my eye out,
says academic attacked at home
Evening Standard
London
A
n academic told today for the п¬Ѓrst
time how he tried to п¬Ѓght off a
group of men in a desperate bid to
protect his family despite suffering appalling injuries and being half-blinded.
Paul Kohler, a father-of-four, was left
unrecognisable by the savage beating and
spent two days on the operating table as
surgeons battled to rebuild his shattered
eye and forehead.
He spoke out as police today released
new CCTV footage of a suspect captured
just seconds after bloody eight-minute
attack at the ВЈ2m family home in Wimbledon.
Speaking from his bed at a south London NHS hospital, Kohler told the Standard: “The first punch in the hall took my
eye out, I thought I had lost the eye at that
stage because it stopped functioning.
“But I just kept thinking of my wife and
daughter and her boyfriend upstairs.
“They got me on the floor but I managed to stand up and at one stage and trade
blows with them.
“I got a few blows in, but these were
thumps like I never had in my life - they
could really punch.”
Police are investigating whether Monday’s attack was linked to Kohler’s ownership of a cabaret bar in central London.
One line of inquiry is that the four
masked men were looking for takings from
the Cellar Door in Covent Garden, which
hosts cabaret, burlesque and drag.
But Kohler said he believed the attack
Paul Kohler was left with potentially �life-changing’ injuries.
may have been a case of mistaken identity.
The head of law at the School of Oriental
and African Studies added: “I was thinking that they had the wrong house.
“English was not their first language,
but they were using the definite article
talking about �the money’, like there was a
particular stash, but there was no money
to give them.
“I’ve got a pretty graphic memory of it
all, I never lost consciousness and eight
minutes can last a long time.”
Kohler and his wife Samantha
MacArthur, 50, were playing a board game
with their eldest daughter, Eloise, and her
boyfriend when four men appeared at their
ВЈ2mn Wimbledon home at about 10pm.
Kohler said the men demanded money
and ransacked the house looking for valuables. MacArthur was pinned down on the
landing and Eloise locked herself in a bedroom and called 999.
CCTV footage released today, taken
about a minute after the attack, shows a
suspect fleeing through New Wimbledon
Theatre car park, off The Broadway, while
removing surgical gloves worn during the
incident.
He appears to be wearing a black coloured top with sleeves rolled up and a
watch on his left wrist, dark jeans, and has
dark short hair.
Two men arrested at the scene, aged 32
and 23, have appeared in court charged
with aggravated burglary and GBH. They
have been remanded in custody.
Police today issued the fresh images in
the hope of tracking down two men who
apparently fled after the attack, in King’s
Road.
One headed in the direction of Wimbledon town centre. Both are thought to be
between 20 and 30 and of Eastern European origin.
Officers are also asking for information
on anyone who saw a two-door cabriolet
style, silver Volkswagen car.
Detective Inspector Dan O’Sullivan
said: “This new piece of CCTV is crucial
in the identification of one of the suspects.
“It is my firm belief that this man and
his associate, would have been stained
with blood spatter from the violent attack
inside the house.
“Both were also wearing white surgical gloves when they fled. While they attempted a quick exit, I’m sure members of
the public would have seen them.”
Kohler added that the care he had on the
NHS “has been fantastic”.
“Yesterday I felt quite traumatised by it,
but I feel a lot stronger today.
“My sight straight ahead is now ok, but
the problem is turning the eye because
there’s damage to the socket.
“They are doing an operation once the
swelling has gone down.”
Irish Catholic leader
offers resignation
AFP
Belfast
C
ardinal Sean Brady,
the head of the Roman
Catholic Church in Ireland, confirmed yesterday that
he has offered his resignation
to Pope Francis.
The Archbishop of Armagh
and Primate of All Ireland,
who has faced criticism for his
handling of a clerical sex abuse
investigation, made the announcement the day before his
75th birthday.
“Last month I offered my
resignation to Pope Francis in
accordance with the requirement of canon law,” Brady said
in a statement.Under current Vatican practice, bishops
tender their resignation at 75,
then the pope decides when it
should take effect.
In recent years, Brady became embroiled in accusations
that he mishandled child abuse
allegations during an investigation into notorious paedophile father Brendan Smyth.
In 1975, as a young priest and
canon lawyer investigating the
actions of Smyth, Brady did
not report the allegations of
abuse to the police. Smyth
continued to abuse children
until his arrest and conviction
in the 1990s.
In 2012, Brady issued a public apology to the victims but
refused to step down.
During a private meeting
with Pope Francis last month,
clerical abuse victim Marie
Kane asked for Brady to be
removed as head of the Irish
Church due to his handling of
the 1975 inquiry.
On Friday, she said she was
disappointed Brady had not
stepped down earlier.
“He should have done this
a long time ago. He shouldn’t
be just doing it now because of
his 75th birthday,” she told RTE
state radio.
Brady became archbishop of
Armagh and primate of sll Ireland in 1996 and has led the Irish
Church at a time when a series of
damning reports and revelations
revealed the extent of clerical
sexual abuse in Ireland.
He is credited with playing
a key role behind the scenes
in the Northern Ireland peace
process.
In 2006, Brady became the
п¬Ѓrst Catholic primate to meet
with п¬Ѓrebrand Protestant
leader Ian Paisley, in groundbreaking talks.
Pope Benedict XVI elevated
Brady to the College of Cardinals the following year.
In January 2013, pope Benedict appointed Eamon Martin,
52, to succeed Brady as Archbishop of Armagh whenever he
steps down.
Brady said archbishop Martin will take up the role “as
soon as Pope Francis accepts
my resignation”.
Police to hand moped robbers �super Asbos’
Evening Standard
London
C
onvicted smash-and-grab raiders are set to be hit by so-called
“super Asbos” in a bid to halt
the plague of robberies in London.
Scotland Yard is drawing up an extraordinary set of orders aimed at preventing prolific convicted robbers from
re-offending after they are released
from jail.
The serious crime prevention orders
are usually reserved for the most hardened criminals and gangsters, such as
drug barons, people-traffickers and
money-launderers.
Now specialist detectives are drafting innovative curbs designed to prevent raiders using mopeds or motorcycles to target fashion and jewellery
stores and commit yet further crimes.
They include an order requiring convicted robbers to own just one motorcycle helmet, which they must present
to police so it can be photographed and
the image put on a database.
The move would mean someone
wearing the helmet could be easily
identified if they were caught on CCTV
committing a robbery. Another restriction would be to ban the criminals from
walking down a street carrying a helmet
— a bid to prevent them stealing bikes.
Further orders, lasting п¬Ѓve years,
would bar robbers from riding pillion
and associating with known accomplices.
They are being drawn up by detectives from the Met’s spec- ialist lifetime
offender management unit, which targets London’s most serious criminals.
The unit’s head, detective Insp Karl
Amos, said the orders are designed to
prevent serious crime, not impose a
further punishment on top of the court
sentence.
He said: “It would be unfair to ban
people from legitimately riding motorbikes or mopeds because they might
need one to get to work.
“These measures are designed to be
proportionate and our aim is to restrict
the ability of these people to commit
further crime. The helmet order will
restrict them from having something
which hides their identity.”
The unit is working with the Flying Squad and prosecution lawyers to
examine different ways of tackling the
scooter gangs targeting jewellery stores
and shops in the West End.
A small number of individuals could
be targeted with the orders, which have
to be approved by a judge.
Amos added: “These are individuals who are not subject to a live police
inquiry but they are potentially doing
something wrong. We want to make
sure they think twice about it. It’s about
getting them to look over their shoulder
all the time.”
If the orders are breached, offenders
can face prosecution and up to an extra
п¬Ѓve years in jail.
Smash-and-grab gangs have struck
hundreds of times at boutiques and
jewellery stores from Knightsbridge
to Kensington in recent years, stealing
millions of pounds of goods. One prolific gang was jailed last year after netting £1mn of valuables in raids on 48
stores within seven months.
The number of recent robberies led
one boutique owner to appeal to retailers to fund their own police patrols
in the West End. Security measures in
some stores now include bullet-proof
glass and steel shutters — but the criminals are constantly changing tactics to
elude police.
In recent weeks raiders have struck
twice at the Dorchester hotel in Mayfair, escaping with a haul of watches
and jewellery, as well as committing
robberies in Knightsbridge and St
John’s Wood.
“It would be unfair to ban
people from legitimately riding
motorbikes or mopeds because
they might need one to get to
work”
The Flying Squad, which traditionally targets armed robbers, has now been
tasked with investigating the most serious and violent of the raids.
So far the squad is investigating more
than a dozen attacks on stores and hotels in central London this year — and
officers say they have charged individuals in almost every case. Detective superintendent John Kielty, head of the
squad, said: “We are always looking
at ways of making it more difficult for
these people to commit these type of
crimes.”
He said talks are now taking place
with the Crown Prosecution Service to
submit the п¬Ѓrst application for a serious crime prevention order.
Police are also working with shops
and stores in an effort to improve
security. Detective superintendent
Caroline Barker, head of the Central Task Force, said detectives from
the Met’s organised crime command
worked with the offender management unit to monitor and enforce the
orders.
She added: “Karl Amos and his team
are constantly looking for fair but innovative approaches to remove opportunities that enable criminals to continue
with their offending. This is just one
example of those.”
Gulf Times
Saturday, August 16, 2014
9
EUROPE
Clinton: intercepted.
Media:
German
security
recorded
Clinton
discussion
Reuters
Berlin
G
erman security agents
recorded a conversation
involving Hillary Clinton while she was US Secretary
of State, media reported yesterday, a potential embarrassment
for Berlin which has lambasted
Washington for its widespread
surveillance.
Clinton’s words were intercepted while she was on a US
government plane, Germany’s
Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper and German regional public broadcasters NDR and WDR
said, without giving details of
where she was or when the recording was made.
The respected broadsheet
quoted German government
sources saying that the conversation had been picked up “by
accident” and was not part of
any plan to spy on Washington’s
top diplomat.
The fact the recording had not
been destroyed immediately was
“idiocy”, said one of the sources.
Both Germany’s government
and a spokeswoman for the National Security Council at the
White House declined to comment on the reports yesterday.
Relations between the United
States and Germany were hit last
year by revelations by former
US National Security Agency
(NSA) contractor Edward Snowden that Washington spied on
German officials and bugged
the phone of Chancellor Angela
Merkel.
The dispute was revived in
July when Germany’s Federal
Prosecutor arrested Markus R, a
31-year old employee of Germany’s foreign intelligence agency
(BND), on suspicion of spying
for the Americans.
Details of the German recording of Clinton’s conversation
were included in documents
that Markus R had passed on to
Washington, said the German
media reports, without citing a
source for that information.
The newspaper and the radio
stations said a joint investigation
had discovered the documents
also showed Germany’s government had ordered the BND to spy
on a Nato partner state, without
naming the country.
The media reports said US
authorities had brought up the
affair in recent discussions, including one between current
Secretary of State John Kerry
and German Foreign Minister
Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Merkel said in an interview
last month that the United States
and Germany had fundamentally different conceptions of the
role of the intelligence service,
and she stressed the Cold War
was over.
Ukraine army �destroys’
part of military convoy
Reuters
Kiev
U
kraine said that its artillery destroyed part
of a Russian armoured
column that entered its territory overnight and said its forces
came under shellfire from Russia
yesterday in what appeared to be
a major military escalation between the former Soviet states.
Russia’s government denied its forces had crossed into
Ukraine, calling the Ukrainian
report “some kind of fantasy”,
and in turn raised its own serious concerns about activity by
the US-led Nato defence alliance
near its borders.
Moscow accused Kiev of trying to sabotage aid deliveries to
eastern areas torn by п¬Ѓghting
between pro-Russian separatists and the Western-backed
government of Moscow’s former
satellite.
In a call to US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel, as reported by
Russia’s state news agency RIA,
Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu
said that Moscow was “seriously
concerned” by increased Nato
activity and called for a ceasefire
to get aid into Ukraine.
The agency did not specify
what Western military movements he meant.
Nato said that there had
been a Russian incursion into
Ukraine, which is not a member
of its mutual defence pact, but
it avoiding calling it an invasion.
Other European capitals accused the Kremlin of escalating
a conflict that has revived Cold
War-era animosities and chilled
the region’s struggling economies.
The United Nations said it
could not verify the reports from
the Ukrainian border but called
for an immediate de-escalation.
Ukrainian border guards patrol near the small Ukrainian city of
Novoazovsk in the Donetsk region, on the border with Russia. The
Ukrainian army �destroyed’ military vehicles that crossed from
Russia, it was reported.
Kiev and its Western allies
have repeatedly accused Russia
of arming pro-Moscow separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine,
and of sending undercover military units onto Ukrainian soil.
They have also expressed
concern Russia may use an aid
convoy it has assembled on the
border as a pretext for stoking
the conflict.
It was not clear whether the
armoured column was officially
part of the Russian army on active service.
But evidence of Russian military vehicles captured or destroyed on Ukrainian territory
would give extra force to Kiev’s
allegations – and possibly spark
a new round of sanctions against
the Kremlin.
Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman
for the Ukrainian military, told a
news briefing that Kiev’s forces
had picked up a Russian military
column crossing the border under cover of darkness.
“Appropriate actions were
undertaken and a part of it no
longer exists,” Lysenko said.
The situation in the conflict
zone was becoming increasingly
tense, he said, with Ukrainian
forces which are п¬Ѓghting proRussian separatists also coming
under artillery attack from Russian territory.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko briefed British Prime
Minister David Cameron on the
incident and told him a “significant” part of the Russian column
had been destroyed, according
to statement from Poroshenko’s
office.
But Russia’s defence ministry
said no such military force had
crossed the border into eastern
Ukraine.
State news agency RIA quoted
a ministry statement saying:
“There was no Russian military
column that crossed the Russian-Ukrainian border either at
night or during the day.”
It called the Ukrainian report
“some kind of fantasy”.
Britain summoned Russia’s
ambassador to ask him to clar-
I
taly said yesterday that it
wants to halt an operation to
rescue boat migrants in the
Mediterranean, urging the EU to
take it over as the number of people crossing from north Africa
surged past the 100,000 mark.
Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said Italy’s “Mare Nostrum”
operation – a large-scale naval
deployment launched after twin
shipwrecks last October- could
not continue for a second year
and must be taken over by the EU
border agency Frontex.
“We do not believe that Mare
Nostrum, which was a shortterm project, can go on for a second year. I will do my utmost to
make sure Frontex and Europe
take over,” he told a press conference in Rome. “If this does
ify reports of a military incursion into Ukraine, and European
Union foreign ministers said
any unilateral military actions
by Russia in Ukraine would be
a blatant violation of international law.
In a sign of efforts to unwind
the crisis, the Kremlin said that
the Ukrainian and Russian chiefs
of presidential staff met in Russia yesterday and the Ukrainian
foreign minister said he would
meet his Russian counterpart in
Berlin tomorrow.
Earlier yesterday, responding
to reports that a Russian column
had entered Ukraine overnight,
Nato Secretary-General Anders
Fogh Rasmussen said the alliance had seen what he called a
Russian incursion into Ukraine.
“It just confirms the fact that
we see a continuous flow of
weapons and п¬Ѓghters from Rus-
sia into eastern Ukraine and it is
a clear demonstration of continued Russian involvement in
the destabilisation of eastern
Ukraine,” the Nato chief said.
A spokesman for Russia’s border guard service was also quoted by Russian news agencies as
denying that any Russian military units had entered Ukraine.
In a statement issued by the
Russian foreign ministry, Moscow accused Ukrainian forces of
intensifying the п¬Ѓghting against
pro-Moscow separatists in eastern Ukraine in an attempt to
sabotage Russian efforts to get
aid into rebel-held areas.
A caravan of 280 trucks taking
Russian aid to eastern Ukraine
was parked on the Russian side
of the border yesterday.
The International Committee
of the Red Cross said it would
deliver the aid after Kiev ex-
pressed fear the convoy could
be used to help the rebels and
urged both sides yesterday to
agree quickly on how it should
be done.
After Ukraine reported the
clash, Russia’s rouble currency
weakened against both the dollar and the euro. Russian shares
were also dragged lower.
Global equity markets retreated and yields on benchmark
German government bonds – a
traditional safe haven for investors – plumbed record lows below 1%.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister
Pavlo Klimkin said in a Twitter
post that he would meet Russia’s
Sergei Lavrov and the German
and French foreign ministers tomorrow in Berlin.
“It can be at a square table or
a round table,” he said. “But we
have to talk.”
Hollande honours �southern D-Day’ veterans
AFP
Onboard the Charle De Gaulle
P
Hollande reviews troops during the ceremonies marking the 70th anniversary of the �Operation Dragoon’
landings in Provence, on the French aircraft carrier �Charles de Gaulle’, in Toulon.. Earlier the day, Hollande
and French officials attended a ceremony to pay tribute to the French resistance during World War II, at
the Mont Faron memorial in Toulon.
EU urged to take over migrant boat rescues
AFP
Rome
A Russian armoured vehicle with servicemen is seen on a road outside Kamensk-Shakhtinsky town in
Rostov region, about 30km from the Russian-Ukrainian border. Nato Secretary General Rasmussen has
confirmed media reports that Russian military vehicles have crossed the border into Ukraine, his office
says.
not happen, the Italian government will have some decisions
to make. Responsibility for the
Mediterranean’s borders must
belong to Europe.”
The Mare Nostrum (Our Sea)
operation is estimated to cost
€9mn ($12mn) a month.
Many of those rescued try to
avoid being registered on arrival
because they hope to travel on to
claim asylum in the richer countries of northern Europe.
“The migrants do not want to
come to Italy, but to Europe. Does
Europe want to defend its borders?” Alfano asked, saying that
sea and land borders “are just
the same” and must be given the
same priority.
“The EU has allocated €80mn
to Frontex, not just for Mediterranean borders but for all its borders.
“Now the new commission
must look again at its priorities,
establish defence and border
protection as a European priority
and allocate the necessary budget,” he said.
According to ministry п¬Ѓgures,
close to 117,000 migrants arrived in Italy by boat between
August 2013 and July 2014, with
Mare Nostrum rescuing 63,000
of them.
The UN refugee agency
this week said that more than
100,000 people had arrived in
Italy by sea since the beginning
of 2014, over half of them fleeing
war, violence and persecution.
Italy’s La Stampa daily ran
an interview yesterday with
the woman they said was the
100,000th person to arrive, Syrian mother Iftikar al-Daye.
“I left Damascus two years ago,
with my son, daughter-in-law
and grandchildren. We have been
in Egypt all this time, and left in
a boat from there,” she told them.
“I used to be a cook for the Syrian
rebels but left for fear of reprisals.”
Meanwhile, the arrivals continue as traffickers take advantage of calm summer seas.
On Thursday, more than 1,000
migrants were plucked from their
boats, two of them dying after
being rescued – one during an
airlift to hospital and another
aboard a Mare Nostrum boat,
according to the ministry, which
did not elaborate.
The arrival numbers are far
higher than the previous record
of some 60,000 arriving in 2011
at the height of the turmoil triggered by north Africa’s Arab
Spring revolutions.
Most of the migrants making
the risky and often deadly journeys come from Eritrea, Somalia
and Syria, but many others hail
from across Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
resident Francois Hollande and 15 African leaders paid tribute yesterday
to the hundreds of thousands
of troops who, 70 years ago,
launched the southern invasion
of occupied France that opened
up a second western front
against Hitler’s Nazis.
After a colourful military
ceremony on the aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle under
clear blue southern France
skies, Hollande said that Europe
“should never forget that its
salvation came from the south”.
Hollande was joined on
the carrier by 15 leaders from
France’s former African colonies, in recognition of the key
role soldiers from these countries played in liberating France,
two months after D-Day
smashed the first hole in Germany’s defences.
Around 240 veterans, many
in their 90s, also took part in
the commemorations on the
vast grey warship, anchored off
Toulon.
The actions of the troops
from Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia but also from former colonial possessions in sub-Saharan
Africa were “decisive”, Hollande
said.
“By their sacrifice, these men
bound our country to Africa
with a bond of blood that no
one can undo,” said Hollande.
“To the youth of Africa, I want
to say that we have not forgotten, even if France took too long
to learn the lessons in terms of
emancipation and recognition.”
And he pledged that Europe
owed the countries to its south
“what it gave us in 1944 – support, solidarity, development”.
After his speech, Hollande
warmly greeted veterans, resplendent in their military uniforms and medals, many confined to wheelchairs.
One veteran, 94-year-old
Armand Conan, told AFP:
“Seventy years after the liberation, our role as former Resistance fighters is to pass on to the
current generations the values
that inspired the national Resistance Council.”
Dieng Tidiane, a former Senegalese infantryman, said he
was “very emotional” to return
to the shores of the country he
helped liberate seven decades
ago.
Hollande’s
wide-ranging
speech, which covered global
crises ranging from Ukraine and
Iraq to the Ebola epidemic, was
followed by a naval parade of 19
warships from various former
Allied countries and a spectacular aerial display.
The southern landings –
much less well-known than the
Normandy landings on D-Day
on June 6 – were however pivotal in pushing the Nazi army
back towards Germany and
hastened the end of World War
II in Europe.
After the success of D-Day,
the Allies desperately needed to
secure the deep-water ports of
Toulon and Marseille to resupply troops for the eventual push
towards Berlin.
Following much debate between the Allied leaders – then
British prime minister Winston
Churchill preferred a Balkan invasion – “Operation Dragoon”
was launched on the beach-
es near Marseille on August
15, 1944, with a total force of
450,000 men.
In contrast with the Normandy landings, where there
was only a token French army
presence, more than half
(250,000) of the invading force
was French.
In turn, this French force
had a large number of troops
from what were then colonies
of France, mainly from Algeria
and Morocco, but also infantry
from Senegal and soldiers from
Pacific islands.
Facing the Allies was the German 19th army with 250,000
badly equipped and shattered
troops spread all along the
coast, poorly defended with
barbed wire, mines and heavy
artillery.
As a result of this mismatch,
the bloodshed seen on the Normandy beaches was largely
avoided as the Germans quickly
realised they could not defend
their position.
On the evening of August 15,
of the 100,000 men who had
successfully landed, around
1,000 had fallen, death on a
much smaller scale than D-Day,
which saw some 10,000 casualties.
“We underestimate the importance of these landings,”
historian Jean-Marie Guillon told AFP, adding that they
were less well-known than the
D-Day invasion because “they
went too well!”
For Adolf Hitler, coming two
months after the blow of DDay, it was a debacle.
He would later describe it as
“the saddest day of his life” and
it led 10 days later to the joyful
liberation of Paris.
Swiss investigate alleged cellar serial rapist
Swiss prosecutors said yesterday that they were
probing claims that a 60-year-old man raped and
tortured at least six women in a cellar, filming them
in the process.
First revealed by the tabloid Blick, the case was
later confirmed by prosecutors.
The alleged rapist, who has been remanded in
custody, is an engineer and a divorced father,
sources said.
He was caught by accident in March when
emergency services were called to deal with
flooding caused by a burst pipe at a building in the
small town of Hausen, northwest of Zurich.
Firefighters became suspicious when they found
a bed, video camera and television in a cellar, and
called the police.
Police officers who arrested him seized medication
and videos that enabled them to identify and
locate several victims. They also found an
underground plantation of 650 marijuana plants.
10
Gulf Times
Saturday, August 16, 2014
INDIA
PM vows to п¬Ѓx bureaucracy
Modi emphasises need
for better governance but
announces no major reforms
Agencies
New Delhi
P
rime Minister Narendra
Modi yesterdaty voiced
dismay at the government
in-п¬Ѓghting he found on assuming
office in May and vowed to п¬Ѓre up
the bureaucracy to deliver results
in a country desperately in need of
growth and development.
Delivering his п¬Ѓrst Independence Day speech, Modi emphasised the need for better governance but announced none of the
sweeping market reforms that
many who handed him India’s
biggest election mandate in three
decades have been awaiting.
Critics say that Modi, who
spoke for more than an hour from
the ramparts of the 17th-century
Red Fort, from where Mughal
kings ruled Delhi for two centuries, scores high on oratory but
has delivered on few of his election campaign promises.
He did, however, unveil an initiative yesterday to improve access to п¬Ѓnancial services for the
two-п¬Ѓfths of Indians who lack
a bank account and are often at
the mercy of moneylenders who
charge extortionate interest.
In a departure from precedent,
Modi did not speak from behind
bulletproof glass, or from a prepared speech.
He also announced that he
would replace the central Planning Commission that for decades guided the country’s socialist-style economy with a more
modern institution.
The 63-year-old prime minister, a newcomer to central government after running the industrialised state of Gujarat for more
than 13 years, bemoaned New
Delhi’s bureaucratic disarray.
“I saw that even in one government there were dozens of
governments. It was as if each
had their own fiefdoms,” he said,
touching on a key concern for
many Indians, who have come to
revile the layers of bureaucracy
and rampant corruption.
“The government is not an assembled entity but an organic
entity. I have tried to break down
these walls,” Modi said.
The government led by the
Congress Party that was ousted
in the election was seen as ineffectual and unable to carry out
reforms as departments from п¬Ѓnance to environment worked at
cross-purposes.
Modi promised in his election
campaign to revive economic
growth that has fallen below
5%, choking off job opportunities for the 1mn people who enter the workforce every month,
and dangled the prospect of new
roads, factories, power lines,
high-speed trains and even 100
new cities.
So far, there has been little
movement on any of these tasks,
which will require an overhaul of
land acquisition laws, faster environmental clearances and an end
to red tape.
Many of his supporters have
been disappointed that he has not
cut food aid and other costly welfare schemes to channel money
into more effective poverty reduction steps. However, economists said it was too early to expect dramatic initiatives.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort as children form the number 68 on the occasion of the
68th Independence Day in New Delhi yesterday. In a departure from precedent, Modi did not speak from behind bulletproof glass, or from a
prepared speech.
“Let’s get our expectations to
real, acceptable levels,” said Shubhada Rao, chief economist at YES
Bank. “For the first three years, it
is going to be a repair-and-mend
phase ... only then the economy
will be ready to take off. Until you
repair, these big bang announcements would go to waste.”
In his speech, Modi spoke of
the need to strengthen the manufacturing sector and appealed
repeatedly to investors: “Come,
make in India.”
The prime minister also restat-
ed his solidarity with the wider
South Asian region but held back
from mentioning Pakistan which
is also celebrating its independence 68 years ago.
He also spoke about violence
against women, saying his head
hung in shame to see incidents of
rape and sexual assault continuing unabated since the world was
stunned by the gang-rape and
murder of a young woman in New
Delhi in 2012.
He said that while the law will
take its course, Indian society
must itself be raising sons in the
best possible manner.
“After all, a person who is raping is somebody’s son. As parents,
have we asked our sons where he
is going? We need to take responsibility to bring our sons who have
deviated from the right path, to
bring them back.”
And there was widespread outrage in May when two teenagers
were found hanging from a mango
tree after being gang-raped in Uttar Pradesh.
The girls, who were aged 14 and
15, were attacked while going to
the toilet in п¬Ѓelds after dark as like hundreds of millions of Indians - they did not have a toilet in
their own home.
“We are in the 21st century
and yet there is still no dignity
for women as they have to go out
in the open to defecate and they
have to wait for darkness to fall.
Can you imagine the number of
problems they have to face because of this?” Modi told the assembled VIPs.
“People may criticise me for
Planning Commission to be
axed �as times have changed’
Agencies
New Delhi
I
Former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia
Gandhi and Defence and Finance Minister Arun Jaitely greet each
other at the Red Fort.
ndia’s national Planning
Commission certainly tried
to present a modern image, with a Twitter profile that
promised “Faster, More Inclusive and Sustainable Growth.”
But, on the 68th anniversary
of the country’s independence,
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
п¬Ѓnally condemned to oblivion
the lingering vestige of India’s
early attempt to mimic the Soviet command economy.
Its 12th Five-Year Plan, covering the period until 2017, will go
unfulfilled.
“Times have changed since
the Planning Commission was
created,” Modi said yesterday, in
a speech.
A new institution would be
set up “in a short span of time,”
added the 63-year-old leader,
who swept to power in a general
election in May.
Wearing a white kurta tunic
and saffron turban, Modi spoke
from the ramparts of the 17thcentury Red Fort in Old Delhi,
continuing a tradition begun by
independent India’s first prime
minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.
Yet while respecting one tradition, Modi broke with another.
It was Nehru, a socialist who
admired Josef Stalin’s drive to
industrialise the Soviet Union,
who in 1950 set up - and chaired
- the Planning Commission to
map out a development path for
India’s agrarian economy.
The collapse of Soviet communism in 1991 killed off Gosplan - as that country’s State
Planning
Committee
was
known. Yet its Indian counterpart survived the ensuing economic shock and cautious market reforms that followed.
Modi never had a high opinion of the Planning Commission
- as chief minister of the industrial powerhouse of Gujarat, he
stunned the panel last year by
turning up at a meeting with a
video that accused it of highhandedness and hobbling India’s states with one-size-fitsall policies.
This June, a governmentbacked report suggested replacing the Planning Commission
with a think tank more in line
with a US-style Council of Economic Advisers.
“Since the Planning Commission has defied attempts to
reform it to bring it in line with
the needs of a modern economy
and the trend of empowering
the states, it is proposed that the
Planning Commission be abolished,” the report said.
Arun Shourie, an influen-
tial member of Modi’s ruling
Bharatiya Janata Party, had derided the Planning Commission set in a hulking New Delhi building with 500-600 employees - as
a “parking lot” for political cronies and unwanted bureaucrats.
In 2012, it was pilloried for
spending $50,000 to renovate
two office toilets, and then it was
lampooned for suggesting that
citizens who consumed goods
worth Rs27 or more a day (44
US cents) were not poor - in a
country where millions struggle
to survive on less than $2 a day.
Modi’s announcement was
received with a positive spirit by
the industry.
“Creative thinking is required
for building a new India with
public-private partnership and
optimum utilisation of resources
and power to the states,” the Con-
federation of Indian Industry said.
But the Congress Party
slammed the announcement.
“This appears to be an attempt
to centralise powers in the hands
of one individual,” said senior
leader and former minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.
Modi has focused on bringing to order India’s unruly state
apparatus. He has beefed up the
prime minister’s office, ordered
bureaucrats to get to work on
time and - in a law passed this
week - restricted the power of
judges to appoint each other.
In so doing, Modi has taken
a leaf from the book of another
leader in Moscow - Vladimir
Putin. Following the chaos of
the 1990s, the Russian leader
established a centralised “vertical of power” that underpins his
power in the Kremlin.
Japan visit from Aug 31
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will
head to Japan at the end of the
month on his first bilateral visit
outside South Asia since coming
to power, officials said yesterday.
Modi will visit from August 31 to
September 3 and plans to meet
with his Japanese counterpart
Shinzo Abe and Emperor Akihito,
said a statement from the external
affairs ministry. “The Government
of Japan sincerely welcomes the
visit of the Prime Minister, which
will further strengthen the friendly
relations between Japan and
India,” said a separate statement
from the Japanese embassy. Modi
had been expected to travel to
Tokyo in early June but altered his
plans so he could be present for
the unveiling of his new government’s first budget.
talking about toilets from the Red
Fort. But I am from a poor family,
I have seen poverty п¬Ѓrst hand. For
the poor to get dignity, it has to
start from here.”
Modi said India should strive
to ensure that every household
should have a toilet within the
next four years and pledged to ensure that all schools had separate
toilet facilities for girls and boys.
The prime minister also called
for a change in mindset in a country where a baby boy is still sometimes seen as more of a blessing
than a girl - particularly in rural
areas.
Despite laws banning parents
from п¬Ѓnding out the sex of their
unborn child, Modi said only 940
girls were being born for every
1,000 boys.
“Who is responsible for this
imbalance in our society? I urge
the doctors and mothers not to
sacrifice their daughters for sons,”
he said.
He urged an end to caste and
communal violence, drawing a
critical response from his political
opponents who have accused his
Bharatiya Janata Party of inciting
social tensions for electoral gain.
Modi has been dogged for years
by allegations that he did too little
to prevent riots in Gujarat in 2002
in which more than 1,000 people, most of them Muslims, were
killed. He denies wrongdoing and
was exonerated by an investigation
ordered by the Supreme Court.
Abhishek Manu Singhvi, a senior п¬Ѓgure in Congress, praised
what he called “an inclusive, harmonious” speech while Yogendra Yadav of the anti-corruption
Aam Aadmi party lauded Modi for
speaking “spontaneously and with
some conviction.” Page 15, 16
IN BRIEF
PM pledges bank
accounts for all
Prime Minister Narendra Modi set
out plans yesterday to ensure all
Indians can have a bank account,
blaming the high level of suicides
among farmers on their inability
to pay back money-lenders. “Why
are our farmers committing
suicide? It’s because they have to
take money at huge interest rates
from the money-lenders,” he said.
“We will have a prime minister’s
people wealth scheme so that
even the poorest of the poor
can have a bank account of their
own.” Modi said the government
would set up a scheme to provide
farmers with special guarantees in
exceptional circumstances worth
up to Rs100,000.
Clean India
campaign
Modi said a clean India campaign
will be launched on October 2 this
year. “A vision will be launched
on October 2 to be accomplished
by 2019 on the 150th birth
anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi,”
Modi said. He emphasised
the government’s resolve for
“Swachchh Bharat” (Clean India)
and urged Indians to make the
country a clean and healthy place.
“Can our country not become
clean? If crores of Indians decide
to clean the country, no force in
the world can dirty our place,” he
said. “Do we want to live in filth,”
he asked.
Model village to
be developed
Electrifying speech, say people across the nation
IANS
New Delhi
I
ndians across the country yesterday heaped praise
on Prime Minister Narendra Modi after his stirring and
maiden Independence Day address - for capturing the nation’s
imagination.
In city after city, and on social media, the young and the
not-so-young universally hailed
Modi’s speech in Hindi, comparing it with the dour and dull
way his predecessor Manmohan
Singh spoke.
In his trademark style, the
63-year-old prime minister, who
took office in May, spoke extempore and with his usual confidence, taking a peep at his notes
only occasionally.
Most people were impressed
the way Modi communicated. A
few were overawed by what he
spoke.
“I am very much inspired. He
spoke from his heart. I will personally do whatever I can for the
country’s development,” engineering student Prafulla Sahu,
22, said in Bhubaneswar.
“It was really a great speech.
The prime minister tried to give
us a roadmap to take the nation
forward,” said Jitendra Singh,
42, a government employee, in
Jaipur.
Said K Srinivasan, a retired
bank employee in Chennai:
“The speech shows that India
now has a great leader. It is a
speech of a statesman and not a
politician.”
Added fellow Chennai resident C R Gopalrathnam, a senior executive in an IT company:
“The speech was extempore and
electrifying.”
Sahil Sharma, 26, a creative
A waiter arranges various food items prepared in the Indian tricolour at a hotel in Bangalore yesterday. The hotel management has
taken a unique approach to attract customers and also to celebrate
the 68th Independence Day by preparing several food dishes in
orange, white and green colours which represent the Indian flag.
copywriter with an NGO in New
Delhi, said: “It was an electrifying speech delivered with so
much confidence. That he described himself as the Pradhan
Sevak was highly impressive.”
In Agra, K C Jain, president of
the Real Estate Developers and
Colonisers Organisation, said:
“The speech touched the common man.”
Raghav Nehra, 20, an engineering student in Chandigarh,
said: “I was impressed that he
spoke impromptu. There was no
paper reading. The speech defi-
nitely had emotion and connect
with the people.”
Said Sunny Singh, 46, a businessman in Jalandhar: “The
speech was inspiring. It had
freshness. Earlier speeches by
prime ministers were a drag.”
Medical professional M Harris, 37, in Thiruvananthapuram,
said: “It is the best I have heard
so far. He was doing it extempore. He spoke very well. I never
thought I will hear it from start to
finish but I did that.”
M R Kaushal, a retired government employee in Shimla, said:
“I have never heard any prime
minister who repeatedly addressed himself as �Pradhan Sevak’.”
School teacher Banambara
Mishra said in Odisha: “His
speech will encourage people to
maintain cleanliness.”
Entrepreneur Rakesh Kandolkar, 30, said in Panaji: “Modi’s
speech was a fresh breath of air
after a decade of dour speeches
by Manmohan Singh.”
Anil Bhagawati, 72, a pensioner in Guwahati: “I could feel the
change the country is going to
witness in the days to come.”
Meenakshi Baruah, a teacher
in Morigaon in Assam said: “For
a change, I felt something as I
was listening to the speech... It is
a kind of fresh air.”
Umesh Mehta said on Twitter:
“After hearing inspiring, evocative and emotional speech, feeling really happy and charged. JAI
HIND!”
K P Sharma: “Modi’s speech
electrified Indians, young and
old alike.”
Sanjeev Sanyal: “Wow, what a
speech! Modi lays out a clear, actionable vision for India.”
Smita Barooah: “Our nation
has a roadmap. Our nation is in
safe hands.”
The prime minister yesterday
announced a new initiative under
which each MP would develop a
model village in his/her area. The
“Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojna” will
be launched on the October 11 birth
anniversary of social reformer
and political leader Jayaprakash
Narayan, Modi said. “If we have
to build the nation, we have to
start from the villages,” Modi said,
adding that each MP should select
a village in his/her constituency
and convert it into a “model
village” by 2016. “Every MP has to
develop one village in his or her
constituency into a model village
under this scheme,” Modi said.
Emphasis on
consensus
Modi said his government wanted
to move ahead on the basis of
consensus and not majority
in parliament and it had got
“unprecedented success” in taking
along opposition parties during
the budget session.
Gulf Times
Saturday, August 16, 2014
11
PAKISTAN/AFGHANISTAN
Security
forces
in talks on
deal with
insurgents
Clashes as
protesters
advance on
Islamabad
Reuters
Lashkar Gah, Afghanistan
A
fter months of intense
п¬Ѓghting in southern Afghanistan where hundreds of Taliban п¬Ѓghters have
battered Afghan troops in daily
attacks, the special forces commander in Helmand province is
seeking a deal with the insurgents.
Helmand province is the
source of about half of Afghanistan’s opium and some
areas have fallen under the
control of drug dealers and the
Taliban.
Hundreds of US and British
soldiers were killed and wounded there over years of п¬Ѓghting
but now it is the Afghans who are
in charge of security as most foreign troops prepare to withdraw
from the country by the end of
this year.
“Based on my contacts with
Taliban and tribal elders I have
already started talks,” Afghan
special forces commander General Asadullah Shirzad, told reporters on Thursday, referring
to his efforts in the province’s
Sangin district.
“Now security is much better
in Sangin but to have a peaceful
province we need more time to
talk.”
Shirzad declined to give details of his negotiations but said
he hoped to extend talks across
the province once calm had been
restored in Sangin.
Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi denied any negotiations with security forces in the
province, saying “we do not have
any plan to talk now.”
The battle for Helmand contributes to a troubling security
outlook for Afghanistan where
the hardline Taliban, in power
from 1996 to 2001, are seeking to
oust foreign forces and set up an
Islamist state.
In June, as many as 800 Taliban п¬Ѓghters were involved in
some assaults on government
offices and police outposts in
Sangin. Afghan forces say they
have killed 400 Taliban across
Helmand since then.
The government does not
provide figures for its casualties.
The deputy commander for
the army corps stationed in three
southern provinces including
Helmand, General Ghulam Farooq Parwani, said his forces
would continue п¬Ѓghting the Taliban, but he did not deny talks
had started.
At least 40 Taliban п¬Ѓghters
were killed and more than 50 injured in an operation launched
in northern Afghanistan, police
said.
Activists from Pakistan
Tehreek-e-Insaaf party
clash with supporters of
Pakistan Muslim League-N
in Gujranwala
Agencies
Islamabad
C
Supporters of cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan take part in a protest march to Islamabad, in the
eastern city of Gujranwala yesterday.
lashes broke out yesterday as protesters led in
convoys by cricketerturned-politician Imran Khan
and a populist cleric advanced
on the Pakistani capital to try to
topple the government they say
was elected by fraud.
Khan and preacher Tahir-ulQadri say the May 2013 general
election that brought Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif to power
in a landslide was rigged, and
are demanding he resign and
hold new polls.
They plan to rally in Islamabad to press their claims, at
the end of a “long march” - in
reality a motorised cavalcade
- which set off on Thursday
from the eastern city of Lahore,
around 300km away.
Police and witnesses said
activists from Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI)
party clashed with supporters
of Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim
League-N (PML-N) in the town
of Gujranwala, some 200km
southeast of Islamabad.
Khan said shots were п¬Ѓred on
his march, telling ARY television news: “They threw stones
at us while standing at police
vans. They fired bullets at us.”
However, police said there
were no shots and a news agency photographer at the scene
also heard no gunfire.
“Workers of PTI and PMLN clashed in Gujranwala and
threw stones at each other,”
a police spokeswoman said.
“There was no firing incident.”
The photographer said a
group of up to 40 youths who
were following the convoy and
shouting slogans clashed with
workers from Khan’s party before being dispersed by police.
Marvi Memon, a PMLN
member of parliament and
spokeswoman, said the events
Pakistani Taliban claim
Quetta airbase attacks
AFP
Islamabad
T
he Pakistani Taliban yesterday said they were
behind attacks on two
military airbases in the country’s
restive southwest which left 12
militants dead.
Gunmen armed with automatic weapons, grenades and
wearing suicide vests tried to
storm the Pakistan Air Force’s
Samungli airbase and Khalid
military airbase, both in the
Baluchistan provincial capital
Quetta, late on Thursday.
It was the third violent episode at Pakistani air facilities in
recent months, raising questions
about their security.
Security forces repelled both
attacks after more than nine
hours of п¬Ѓghting, Sarfaraz Bugti,
the home minister of the insurgency-hit province, said, adding
that the militants did not penetrate either base.
Two different factions of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)
claimed responsibility for the
attacks and said they were a response to the military’s ongoing
assault on militant hideouts in
North Waziristan tribal area.
The Fidaeen-i-Islam group
initially claimed responsibility
in a phone call from commander
Ghalib Mehsud.
“The attacks were in revenge
to military operation launched
against us in North Waziristan,”
Mehsud said.
“We will launch more and bigger attacks on government and
military installations.”
Later Azam Tariq, chief of
TTP’s South Waziristan chapter and a former chief spokesman for the umbrella group, also
claimed responsibility.
Lieutenant General Naseer
Janjua, the top army commander
in the region, told reporters 12
attackers were killed, raising the
overnight death toll of nine.
Reporters were shown nine
corpses and pieces of three bodies of attackers along with the
weapons and explosives recovered during the search operation
after the attackers were killed or
blew themselves up.
At least 11 security personnel
were wounded, Janjua said.
Ahmed said the attackers,
wearing suicide vests, arrived in
a pickup at the rear of the perimeter of Samungli base adjacent to
houses and markets and made a
hole in the wall. “When security
forces engaged the attackers and
fired bullets, they blew themselves up,” he said. Ahmed said
all the attackers appeared to be
of Central Asian or Uzbek origin.
A senior military official said
rockets were п¬Ѓred at Samungli
airbase, with two landing inside
the perimeter fence. He said no
damage was caused.
Quetta city’s police chief Abdul Razzaq Cheema said that militants first launched an attack on
Samungli airbase before targeting
Khalid military airbase around
an hour later. Police had defused
four bombs near the outer wall of
Khalid airbase, he said.
The Taliban have threatened a
bloody response to the military
offensive in North Waziristan
but since its launch in June there
have been no major TTP attacks.
Pakistan launched the offensive shortly after a brazen assault on Karachi airport that left
dozens dead and extinguished a
largely fruitless peace process.
Later that month, gunmen
opened п¬Ѓre at a plane landing at
Peshawar airport in the country’s
northwest, killing a passenger and
wounding two crew members.
in Gujranwala were “regrettable” but said there was no
shooting and her party’s workers had been provoked by what
she called Khan and Qadri’s
“violent speeches.”
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, the premier’s brother,
ordered an investigation into the
clashes and appealed for calm.
Supporters of PTI, which
came third in last year’s election, lined up to welcome the
convoy in towns along the
Grand Trunk Road which links
Lahore and Islamabad.
Exact numbers on the march
were difficult to judge, and
more people are likely to join
it as it passes through towns
along the route, but Khan already hailed it a success.
“I can only see that the monarchy is nearing its end,” Khan
said, referring to Sharif.
“The people have decided as
I had said that 1mn people will
come to Islamabad, and they
have come out.”
Both Khan and Qadri had
originally planned for their
marches to converge on Islamabad on Thursday, Pakistan’s
Independence Day, but it now
looks likely that neither will
reach the city before early today.
A spokesman for Qadri, the
head of his own Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) movement,
said that their convoy was further along the road to Islamabad than PTI’s, in the town of
Jhelum, some 120km south of
the capital.
“Our convoy is moving at a
very slow pace and we expect
our arrival in Islamabad very
late tonight,” he said.
Security in Islamabad has
been ramped up in recent days,
with more than 20,000 police and security forces on the
streets.
After days of speculation
that the authorities would seek
to stop marchers entering the
city, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said Thursday that both parties would be
allowed to hold rallies.
Almost all roads into the city
had been blocked with barbed
wire and shipping containers,
but many barriers were removed yesterday.
Government officials have
accused the march organisers
of trying to derail democracy
and Sharif said the marches
were a distraction from more
pressing issues.
PMLN spokeswoman Memon said Khan had ignored constitutional routes to address his
grievances, including an offer
by Sharif to set up a judicial
commission to investigate rigging allegations.
“All his efforts are undemocratic and unconstitutional and
an effort to derail democracy,”
she said.
Pakistan is waging a military
offensive against Taliban hideouts in the northwest, while
also trying to boost a sagging
economy and solve a chronic
power supply crisis.
Highlighting the fragile security situation facing the
country, militants attacked
two airbases in the southwestern city of Quetta on Thursday,
with 12 attackers killed by security forces.
Some members of Sharif’s
ruling party have suggested the
protests are secretly backed by
elements in the powerful military, which has had an uneasy
relationship with Sharif.
How far Khan and Qadri succeed in destabilising the government is likely to depend on
the stance taken by a military,
which has a long history of
mounting coups.
While few people think there
will be a coup many officials
fear the threat of unrest will increase the military’s hold over
the government.
The military has been frustrated with the government,
in particular over the prosecution of former army chief and
president Pervez Musharraf for
treason.
There was also disagreement
between the government and
the army on how to handle the
Pakistani Taliban with the army
favouring military action and
the government holding out
hope for peace talks.
Schools without
students, teachers
Internews
Karachi
I
Pakistani security officials display ammunition recovered from
militants after they attacked the Pakistan Air Force’s Samungli
airbase in Quetta, yesterday.
t is a mystery of the missing
students from the schools
in Pakistan’s Sindh province that even Sherlock Holmes
might п¬Ѓnd hard to solve.
What are three schools doing
in such close proximity in Long
Khan Brohi village in Ghand Tar
UC in Shaheed Benazirabad district and why was there not a
single student there?
“Well, what are students going to do without a teacher?”
said Syed Adnan Ahmed, the
drawing teacher appointed at the
middle school.
The school, in fact, had three
staff members - an office boy, a
sweeper and the art teacher. As for
the two primary schools, one on
the left for boys and the other for
girls, only a few feet from the middle school, they had no one there.
“If the primary schools get
a teacher or two, the students
will go there, of course. But right
now there is no one there to teach
children at the primary level and
what of this middle school when
no one here has passed class п¬Ѓve
to be promoted here?” the art
teacher said.
The three schools were es-
tablished on a request of Sumar
Khan, son of Long Khan Brohi
after whom the village has been
named.
“He’s our village elder, our
wadera, who visits the education
department every month with
requests for teachers so that the
schools should be able to fulfil
their purpose of imparting education,” said Ahmed.
“People at the education department always tell me not to
worry and that they will appoint
teachers for the schools. I tried
again during the summer vacation
and was again told that it would
happen soon. “Now the vacation
is also over and pretty soon the
school year will conclude with
no progress in the matter. These
schools were built in 2008.”
“This has been going on for six
years now. God alone knows for
how much longer our children
will have to remain without basic education,” said Sumar Khan,
the village elder.
According to the data available with Abdul Jabbar Bhatti,
executive director of the Institute for Social Change, a local
NGO researching education in
the interior of Sindh, there are
about 40 households in Long
Khan Brohi Goth and some 150
children of school-going age.
12
Gulf Times
Saturday, August 16, 2014
PHILIPPINES
Palace, MILF п¬Ѓnally
agree on draft BBL
The agreement has been saved by a
timely meeting
Manila Times
Makati
T
he government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) have
reached agreement on issues raised
in the drafting of the Bangsamoro Bill,
Malacanang said yesterday.
Citing a joint statement signed by executive secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr and MILF
chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal, palace
deputy spokesman Abigail Valte said both
parties “have concluded discussions on
the various issues involving the draft Basic
Bangsamoro Law (BBL)”, after a series of
“productive meetings”.
“The parties have agreed that the resolutions arrived at by both parties will be
incorporated into the п¬Ѓnal draft Basic
Bangsamoro Law that will be prepared and
submitted to president Beningno Aquino
3rd,” Valte told reporters in a news conference.
The Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC), the 15-member MILF-led body
in charge of drafting the BBL, submitted its
97-page, 18-article draft to Malacanang
on April 22. The palace reviewed the draft
and handed the MILF a copy of the review
with its comments and proposed revisions
on June 21.
Apparently, a substantial part of the
BTC draft was not acceptable to Malacanang. The revised provisions were also rejected by the MILF.
Mohagher Iqbal
President Benigno Aquino III
Shortly after the draft law was returned,
president Aquino also met with MILF
chairman Al Haj Murad Ibrahim in Hiroshima, Japan, in a surprise meeting. It was
also a surprise meeting between the two
principals that served as a turning point
in peace negotiations with the rebel group
under the Aquino administration back in
2011.
A series of discussions between the
panels had been held in Kuala Lumpur,
Manila and the latest, in Davao City, in an
attempt to bridge the gap between the BTC
and Malacanang versions of the proposed
law.
Both panels earlier declared that the
п¬Ѓnal draft of the Bangsamoro bill will be
submitted to the president by August 18.
Government chief negotiator Miriam
Coronel-Ferrer said the mutually-agreed
August 18 deadline for the completion
of the п¬Ѓnal draft of the BBL aims to show
to everyone that both panels have nothing else in mind but to pursue peace and
achieve it.
Once the peace panels submit the п¬Ѓnal
draft of the BBL to Aquino, the president
will in turn submit it to congress for passage into law.
Under the п¬Ѓnal peace agreement, the
Bangsamoro political entity replacing the
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao
is envisioned to enjoy greater п¬Ѓscal and
political powers.
The new autonomous government will
be parliamentary in form and is designed
to get block grants from Congress, which
means that it will get automatic appropri-
ations each year based on a formula that
will be outlined in the proposed law.
The MILF has been п¬Ѓghting since the
1970s for an independent or autonomous
homeland for the nation’s Muslim minority in a conflict which has claimed tens of
thousands of lives.
The Aquino government and the MILF
signed an accord in March that laid out a
roadmap for п¬Ѓnal peace by the middle of
2016.
The deal called for MILF control of a
new southern autonomous region, and the
rebels would lay down their arms.
However the process ran into difficulties
after a draft bill creating the autonomous
region was submitted to Aquino for review
in April by a joint commission of MILF and
government representatives that drew up
the document.
The president’s legal team later ordered
a series of changes that frustrated the
MILF, which last month accused the government of trying to renege on the terms
of the peace agreement.
The joint statement said Friday the resolutions arrived at by both parties since
the new talks began on August 1 “will be
incorporated into the п¬Ѓnal draft Basic
Bangsamoro Law that will be prepared and
submitted to” Aquino.
The statement did not discuss the details of these resolutions.
The deadline of mid-2016 was set since
Aquino must stand down by then after the
end of his single six-year term as mandated by the constitution. There are no guarantees his successor will want to proceed
with the peace plan.
Gaza protest
Militants
in pledge of
allegiance
to jihadists
AFP
Manila
H
ardline Muslim guerrillas in the Philippines
said yesterday they
have pledged allegiance to the
Islamic State, the extremist jihadists who now control large
swathes of Iraq and Syria.
Clips have been uploaded
in recent weeks on the video
sharing site YouTube showing
both southern Philippinesbased Bangsamoro Islamic
Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and
the Abu Sayyaf rebels pledging
support to the Islamic State
(IS).
“We have an alliance with
the Islamic State and Abu Bakr
al-Baghdadi,” BIFF spokesman
Abu Misry Mama told AFP by
telephone yesterday, referring
to the brutal jihadist group’s
leader.
Misry confirmed that a
YouTube video uploaded on
Wednesday, showing a purported BIFF leader flanked by
armed men reading a statement of support for the IS, had
come from his group.
BIFF split in 2008 from the
Philippines’ main Muslim
rebel group, the 12,000-member Moro Islamic Liberation
Front (MILF). The latter signed
a peace agreement with president Benigno Aquino’s government last March.
BIFF, which is believed to
have a few hundred п¬Ѓghters,
has rejected the peace talks
and pursued the decades-old
armed campaign to establish
an Islamic state in the southern Philippines which was begun by the MILF.
Abu Misry, described by the
Philippine military as a BIFF
spokesman, said his group had
no plans to impose the radical
IS brand of Islam in the Southeast Asian nation.
Beheadings, mass executions and the taking of child
brides have marked the IS
campaign across large parts of
Iraq and Syria.
Abu Misry said his group
had not sent any п¬Ѓghters from
the Philippines to help the IS,
nor was it recruiting people to
join the IS.
“But if they need our help,
why not?” he added.
Colonel Dickson Hermoso,
spokesman for a southern
Philippines-based army division, described BIFF as a “terrorist” group engaged in extortion to finance its activities.
“There’s no evidence that
Filipino п¬Ѓghters are being sent
there (to Syria and Iraq),” Hermoso told AFP, while adding
that both BIFF and IS followed
an “extreme” brand of Islam.
A purported Abu Sayyaf
video has also been uploaded
on Youtube showing one of the
group’s most senior leaders,
Isnilon Hapilon, mentioning
Al-Baghdadi as he read out a
statement that pledged allegiance to the IS.
He was п¬Ѓlmed linking arms
with more than a dozen men,
some with faces covered, as
they stood at a forest clearing
to pray and listen to his statement.
Hapilon carries an $5mn reward on his head by the United
States which considers his
group a “foreign terror organisation” engaged in beheadings,
bombings, and kidnappings.
Philippine military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Ramon Zagala dismissed the
video clips.
“This is propaganda and we
will not give these terrorists
the satisfaction by commenting,” Zagala told AFP.
Charges of illicit trade
in tobacco rejected
Manila Times
Quezon City
R
epresentative
Magtanggol Gunigundo of
Valenzuela City (Metro
Manila) has downplayed allegations of illicit trade in the
tobacco industry, saying these
were mere propaganda raised
by some disgruntled industry
players.
“All the data thus far on the
alleged illicit trade in the tobacco industry are those culled
from studies and surveys commissioned by a private company that holds a grudge against
a competitor. This can hardly
be considered a basis for any
kind of probe or review,” Gunigundo said.
“Corporate
battles
shouldn’t be a national concern unless laws are being
broken. But in the case of the
tobacco industry, we haven’t
seen any official document or
Filipino protesters during a protest rally in front of the US embassy in Manila, Philippines.
data to support the allegations
of illicit trade,” he said.
Guinigundo issued the
statement after a foreign manufacturer called for third party
monitoring of the production
facilities of tobacco companies
in the country.
“We shouldn’t even be entertaining these things. We
cannot and should not give
credence to such proposals. They are self-serving and
manipulative, and the people
pushing it must think we Filipinos are stupid,” the lawmaker said.
Bureau of Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim
Santos-Henares had rejected
the proposal outright, saying
there was no need for it. She
said the proposal violates the
country’s National Revenue
Code.
Gunigundo said the real issue is how to preserve the gains
of the sin tax reform law that
congress passed in 2012.
Rice, corn stocks falling, now at critical levels
Manila Times
Makati
T
he Philippines’ supply of rice
continued to drop to critical
levels at the beginning of July
this year, with rice stocks inventories barely enough to get past the lean
season, according to the Philippine
Statistics Authority-Bureau of Agriculture Statistics (PSA-BAS).
In a report, the PSA-BAS on Friday
said as of July 1, the country’s total
rice stock inventory was at 2.03mn
metric tonnes, or 12.2% lower than
the previous month’s 2.31mn MT and
7.7% below the 2.19mn MT of July
2013.
Compared with the previous
month, rice stocks in National Food
Authority (NFA) depositories, with
94.4% imported rice, increased by
12.1% as imported rice from Vietnam replenished the dwindling
stocks.
NFA chief Arthur Juan also yesterday quit amid accusations of extortion by a Bulacan-based rice trader
but his resignation was rejected by
presidential assistant for food security and agricultural modernisation
Francis Pangilinan.
PSA-BAS said stock levels in
households and in commercial warehouses decreased by 18.7% and 15.7%,
respectively.
Compared with last year, rice
stocks in the households and in the
commercial warehouses grew by
8.3% and 0.7%, respectively. On the
other hand, stocks in NFA depositories dropped by 34.6%.
Of the stock level at present, 43.4%
were with the households, 34.1%
in the commercial warehouses and
22.5% in NFA depositories.
“The total rice inventory for this
month [August] would be good for 59
days. Stocks in the households would
be sufficient for 26 days, in commercial warehouses for 20 days and in
NFA depositories for 13 days,” PSABAS said.
The NFA is required by law to have
at least 30-day buffer stock during
the lean months, which will end in
September.
Massive disbursements of government rice stocks, however, only de-
pleted further the already thin buffer
stocks in NFA warehouses, leaving
most of the current rice stocks at the
hands of commercial traders.
NFA chief Arthur Juan also
yesterday quit amid accusations
of extortion by a Bulacan-based
rice trader but his resignation
was rejected by presidential
assistant for food security and
agricultural modernisation
Francis Pangilinan
Commercial traders were able to
keep prices of rice higher despite
such disbursements of NFA rice in
major markets. This means that consumers will have to bear another two
months of high rice prices.
In an earlier report, PSA-BAS said
price upswings were sustained for
both well-milled and regular-milled
rice with two more months before the
end of the lean season.
Wholesale prices of well-milled
rice average P41.37 per kilogram, or
0.32% higher than last week’s level
and 16.83% than last year’s level.
Meanwhile, retail prices of P43.92 per
kg posted an increase of 0.39% from
last week and up by 18.19 % from the
previous year’s quotation.
Prices of regular milled rice in
wholesale markets averaged P38.47
per kg or a 0.29% spike from last
week and 19.81% higher than last
year’s level. Retailers sell their stocks
at P40.45 per kg, or 18.55% higher
during the same period in 2013.
For corn, stock inventory was
pegged at 161,800 MT as of July 1, or
14.2 % lower than last month’s level
of 188,500 MT. This, however, was
31.3% more than last year’s record of
123,200 MT.
Month-on-month, corn stock
levels in households increased by
0.7%. But stocks in commercial
warehouses and in NFA depositories decreased by 21.0% and 0.2%,
respectively. Corn stock levels in all
sectors increased compared with
last year’s record.
Around 63.0% of this month’s
total corn stock inventory were
with
commercial
warehouses,
33.4% were with households and
only 3.6% were with the NFA depositories.
Gulf Times
Saturday, August 16, 2014
13
SRI LANKA/BANGLADESH/NEPAL
AGRICULTURE
CARGO
RESTRICTIONS
EVENT
CONSTRUCTION
6th phase of �Divi Neguma’
programme to start in Oct
Eastern Terminal to
be operational by Dec
Bill seeks to ban land
sale to foreigners
Defence seminar to
focus on challenges
Landfill to dispose
of municipal waste
The Sri Lankan government will launch the sixth
phase of the “Divi Neguma” domestic agriculture
programme on October 20, the ministry
of economic development said. Minister
of Economic Development Basil Rajapaksa
said the time for the programme had been
selected under advice from the Meteorological
Department. He said the government is able to
control vegetable prices during festivals due to
the Divi Neguma programme which promotes
domestic agriculture projects. Under the sixth
phase, seed packets containing six varieties
of food crops will be distributed among 2.5mn
families in this crop season.
The construction of East Container Terminal
(ECT) under the Colombo Port Expansion project
(CPEP) will be declared open in December this
year, Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) officials
said. They said by the second quarter of the
year, 43.2% of the construction of the ECT has
been finished and it is expected to be completed
before the end of the year. With the construction
of the ECT, SLPA expects to have a deep draft
berth to cater to new generation deep draft
vessels, increase container handling capacity,
reduce ship waiting time in the port, increase
the efficiency with the latest equipment and to
have a green port facility.
Sri Lanka’s cabinet has approved a bill
restricting the transfer of island’s land to foreign
citizens. The Land (Restrictions on Alienation)
Bill proposed by President Mahinda Rajapakse,
in his capacity as the minister of finance and
planning, prohibits selling both private and
public land to non-citizens of the country.
The proposed bill has been prepared by the
Legal Draftsman and cleared by the Attorney
General. The decision has been taken due to
the increasing demand for foreign investments,
with the expansion of the government’s
development activities. However, the ban will
not be applied to foreign diplomatic missions.
The Sri Lankan Army’s annual Defence Seminar
this year will focus on the post-war challenges
and the country’s march to be the Wonder of
Asia, the Commander of the Army, Lieutenant
General Daya Ratnayake said. The fourth Annual
Defence Seminar - 2014 is scheduled to be held
from August 18 to 20 at the Galadari Hotel in
Colombo under the theme �Sri Lanka: Challenges
to a Rising Nation’. At least 20 speakers,
including 10 foreign scholars are will share
their views on the topic. Close to 200 foreign
participants, 35 defence attachГ©s and more than
40 diplomats representing 66 countries are
expected to attend this year’s sessions.
The Sri Lankan government, looking for an
environmentally acceptable and economically
feasible solution for the disposal of municipal
solid waste in the Metro Colombo Region, has
received approval to construct a landfill in the
northwest. The government plans to construct
a sanitary landfill in Aruakkalu in the Puttalam
district and transport the solid waste generated
in Colombo and its suburbs to the landfill by
train. According to the government, the current
collection of solid waste in Colombo is about
700 metric tonnes per day and with the other
urbanised local authorities in the Metro Colombo
Region, the collection is about 1,200 MT per day.
Seychelles govt
seeks Lanka
help to expand
health sector
Agencies
Colombo
S
eychelles has sought Sri
Lanka’s assistance in developing the country’s
heath sector.
The request came during a
meeting Seychelles Health Minister Mitcy Larue had with Sri
Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse on Thursday.
The minister was accompanied by the Chief Executive Officer of the Seychelles Health
Care Agency Dr Suresh Menon
and several other high-level
health officials.
Rajapakse, expressing his satisfaction of the recent strengthening of ties between the two
island nations, promised assistance.
“The changes and progress we
have seen (in Sri Lanka) is just
remarkable,” Larue said. “As island nations, we really need to
work together.”
The delegation, on a study
tour to explore the healthcare
sector in the country, earlier
visited both government and
private hospitals in Sri Lanka
and spoke highly of the services
available in the country.
“Your health indicators are as
good as any developed country,”
said Menon, while requesting
the president for assistance in
two specific areas: assistance in
developing primary health centres and in training doctors and
specialised nurses.
The delegation said there were
a number of Sri Lankan doctors
working in Seychelles, providing
excellent services to the people.
Menon also said his country’s
biomedical unit is almost entirely staffed by Sri Lankans.
During his visit to Seychelles
in June this year, Rajapakse held
bilateral discussions with leaders on strengthening collaboration in the health sector. The
president also declared open a
Nawaloka Medical Centre in the
country’s capital city Victoria.
At that time, Sri Lanka also
established branches of major
business institutions in Victoria.
They include branches of
Bank of Ceylon, Sri Lanka Insurance and Mihin Lanka.
Homage to Mujibur Rahman
Bangladeshi children lay a wreath at the Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Memorial in Dhaka yesterday. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh’s founding father, was killed along
with many of his family members in a military coup on August 15, 1975 by a group of disgruntled army officers.
BNP leader is charged
with money laundering
By Mizan Rahman
Dhaka
Seychelles Health Minister Mitcy Larue shakes hands with Sri Lankan
President Mahinda Rajapakse in Colombo.
Ferry owner’s son arrested
Bangladesh yesterday arrested
the son of the owner of a ferry
which sank earlier this month
killing at least 100 people. Omar
Farroque Limon was arrested by
Rapid Action Battalion members
from his relative’s house in
Dhaka’s Khilkhet area. Acting on
a tip-off, a team of RAB raided the
house and arrested Liomon, said
the battalion’s Legal and Media
Wing Director Mufti Mahmud
Khan. The ferry, which had over
200 passengers sank on August
4 in Padma River in Munshiganj
area. The ferry’s owner Abu
Bakkar Siddique was arrested
earlier this week. He blamed
the Bangladesh Inland Water
Transport Authority (BIWTA)
officials and lessees of launch
ghats (terminals) for the tragedy.
T
he
Anti-Corruption
Commission (ACC) has
п¬Ѓled a charge-sheet
against a top Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader for
allegedly siphoning off 95.4mn
taka to England.
ACC director Nasim Anwar,
who is also the case investigation officer, п¬Ѓled the chargesheet
against
Khandaker
Mosharraf Hossain at the Chief
Metropolitan
Magistrate’s
Court, commission spokesman
Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya
said.
The charge-sheet will be
placed before the magistrate on
Case п¬Ѓled against
garment factory
By Mizan Rahman
Dhaka
T
he Bangladesh government has filed a case
with the labour court
against a readymade garments
(RMG) factory for continuing
production in defiance of an
official order for evacuation
of the unit over safety concerns.
The Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE) п¬Ѓled the case
against Newtech Apparels Ltd
located at the southeastern
port city of Chittagong, officials said yesterday.
It is the п¬Ѓrst such case since
the launch of garment fac-
tory inspection programmes by
Western retailers.
DIFE Inspector General Syed
Ahmed said the case was п¬Ѓled
for the sake of workers’ safety
as the factory violated the government’s directive.
The
government
could
take action against more garment units found violating the
DIFE’s directive for evacuation,
sources said
The Accord, a group of European retailers, in the meantime
said Newtech is unsafe for production and occupancy in its
current state as its engineers
found that the concrete columns supporting the structure
were severely over-stressed.
Earlier, on June 17 last, the
Review Panel, based on the
п¬Ѓndings of the Accord engineers, recommended that all
floors of Newtech Apparels
above the ground floor be evacuated immediately.
The DIFE also issued an
evacuation order.
However, while inspecting the factory again in July,
the Accord engineers found
workers continuing their work
on the third, fourth and п¬Ѓfth
floors.
On August 6, the Accord
again found workers continuing to be present in the factory
above the ground floor.
The Accord then notified the
Inspector General who subsequently п¬Ѓled the case against
Newtech Apparels for violating
the law, the DIFE said.
Monday, following the weekend
and government holidays, court
sources said.
The commission on August
7 approved the п¬Ѓling of charges
against Mosharraf, who is a
former health minister, after
investigations into his assets by
the anti-graft body revealed irregularities.
Although the ACC interrogated the BNP leader’s wife
Bilkis Akhter Hossain, she was
not charged because she was
not found to be involved.
“During
interrogation,
Mosharraf confessed that he
transferred the money to his
wife’s account but that his
wife was not involved with the
laundering, so she was spared
from the charge-sheet,” ACC
Floods, landslides
toll rises to 40
The death toll climbed to 40
in Nepal following floods and
landslides caused by two days
of incessant rain, according to
news reports yesterday, while the
home ministry said dozens were
likely missing. Thirteen people
died in Surkhet district and six in
Dang district because of flooding.
Three people each were reported
killed in landslides in the districts
of Rukum, Rolpa and Gorkha,
among the fatalities in several
areas. Heavy rains have swept
away homes and damaged roads
across the country’s hilly western
region and along the eastern
plains bordering India, said home
ministry spokesman Laxmi Prasad
Dhakal. “The constant rain has
also forced us to close a bridge
along the East-West highway
after it cracked and caved in.” The
deaths come two weeks after the
worst landslide in more than a
decade slammed into hamlets in
northeastern Nepal, leaving 156
people dead. Scores of people
die every year from flooding and
landslides during the monsoon
season in the Himalayan nation.
Mosharraf Hossain: charged
director Anwar said.
According to the chargesheet, Mosharraf concealed
information about illegally
amassing over ВЈ800,000, by
abusing his power as health
minister during the 2001-
2006 BNP government.
The money was deposited in
a joint п¬Ѓxed-term deposit account of Lloyds TSB Offshore
Private Banking in the British
Crown dependency of Guernsey. The account was jointly
owned by Mosharraf and his
wife.
As the BNP leader had not
taken permission from Bangladesh Bank to open the account
abroad, it was a clear violation
of section 5 of the Foreign Currency Control Act, 1947, sources
said.
In the charge-sheet, it was
stated that the former minister
claimed that he had deposited
the money while residing with
his wife in the UK from 1969 to
1975 to study and work, but had
failed to submit any documents
authenticating the claim.
The ACC official said the
commission would take initiatives to repatriate the money
if the court found Mosharraf
guilty of money laundering.
The ACC director п¬Ѓled the
money laundering case with
Ramna police station against
Mosharraf on February 2.
After the case was п¬Ѓled, the
former minister secured advance bail on February 10 from
the High Court.
The anti-graft body then п¬Ѓled
a petition with the Appellate
Division, which later rejected
his bail.
Mosharraf was arrested on
March 12 and is now in jail in
connection with the case.
India gifts 20 ambulances
and four buses to Nepal
IANS
Kathmandu
in Birgunj to organisations under its consular jurisdiction.
I
Since 1994, the
government of India has
gifted 442 ambulances
to various organisations
across 73 districts in Nepal
ndia has gifted Nepal 20
ambulances and four buses
on the occasion of the 68th
Indian Independence Day to be
used by various hospitals, nonprofit charitable organisations
and educational institutions in
19 districts of the Himalayan
nation.
At a public function held
in the embassy premises in
Kathmandu to mark India’s
Independence Day, India’s Ambassador to Nepal Ranjit Rae
presented 19 ambulances and
four buses to various organisations from 18 districts. The
remaining one ambulance was
gifted by the Indian consulate
EarlierAmbassador Rae hoisted the national flag and read out
President Pranab Miukherjee’s
address to the nation on August 14, which stressed, among
other things, India’s support for
peace, stability and development in its neighbourhood.
At the function, the ambassador also presented books to
75 libraries and educational and
training institutions located in
different regions of Nepal, including remote districts.
Since 1994, the government
of India has gifted 442 ambulances to various organisations
across 73 districts in Nepal.
This has helped in bringing
healthcare services to the doorsteps of thousands of people.
India has also so far gifted 86
buses to various educational
and welfare institutions across
24 districts in Nepal, making
access to education easier for
thousands of students.
Gifting of ambulances and
buses is a part of the larger India-Nepal Development Partnership with an overall outlay
of over Rs40bn ($657.4mn).
The co-operation also includes over 490 large and small
projects in the sectors of health,
education and infrastructure
development.
14
Gulf Times
Saturday, August 16, 2014
COMMENT
Chairman: Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Attiyah
Editor-in-Chief : Darwish S Ahmed
Production Editor: C P Ravindran
P.O.Box 2888
Doha, Qatar
[email protected]
Telephone 44350478 (news),
44466404 (sport), 44466636 (home delivery)
Fax 44350474
GULF TIMES
Global tensions
darken Europe’s
economic outlook
Global tensions are taking their toll on Europe’s
economic outlook.
After grinding to a halt in the second quarter, the
region’s gross domestic product could fall back into
negative territory in the coming months, as the
economic Cold War between the West and Russia and
other global flashpoints hit economic sentiment and
consequently investment.
The second half of the year looks especially
challenging as severe tensions in the Middle East and
the Ukraine are likely to weigh on business activity.
Key indicators have already been sending out
warning signals, with the Munich-based Ifo institute’s
economic confidence index for the currency bloc
falling sharply for the third quarter.
The slowdown in the eurozone from 0.2% in the п¬Ѓrst
quarter to zero in the three months ended June is also
likely to fuel concerns that the currency bloc’s weak
economic activity could push the region closer to the
brink of deflation.
This in turn is likely to renew the pressure on the
European Central Bank (ECB) to step up its efforts to
spur economic growth and to head off deflation, which
also threatens to
derail the region’s
faltering recovery
from a protracted
recession.
The stagnation
of the eurozone
economy in the
second quarter
underlines the
need for the ECB to take bolder policy action to address
the continued weakness of the economy and the
associated risks of deflation, according to economists.
Figures released this week by the European Union
statistics office Eurostat confirmed that annual
eurozone inflation hit its lowest rate in more than five
years in July, slowing to 0.4% from 0.5% in June.
The darkening economic outlook came just as signs
of life emerged from the battered economies that have
been at the centre of the region’s long-running debt
crisis.
But dragging down the eurozone’s overall
performance was a slowdown in the region’s three
biggest economies - Germany, France and Italy.
While Germany contracted by a surprise 0.2% and
France posted its second quarter of stagnation, Italy
stumbled back into recession for the third time since
2008, just as Rome struggles to press on with an
ambitious reform agenda.
Hopes had been raised that signs of a pickup in the
world’s two largest economies - the US and China - as
well as a weaker euro might help to drive economic
growth in the eurozone in the run-up to the end of the
year.
But speaking at a press conference last week, ECB
chief Mario Draghi said that US growth would outstrip
the eurozone this year.
In addition, many eurozone states are still battling
on with tough п¬Ѓscal austerity programmes in a bid to
cut back high debt and deficit levels, as a result further
dampening economic growth.
Summer of our discontent
… now and 100 years ago
Long term, we need to
challenge the idea that every
problem can be solved by
military action
By Reg Henry
Pittsburgh Post-Ga zette/MCT
E
ven by its usual messedup standards, the world is
a big mess: Iraq is being
overrun by terrorists; Libya is
disintegrating; Afghanistan stumbles
to doom; Ukraine is battling Russiansupported separatists; and the Israelis
and Palestinians are pausing only to
reload.
Sorry to be so cheerful. In its excess,
the world situation is almost absurdly
bad. Has ever the world been so messed
up?
Funny you should ask. Although
it is little comfort to those currently
imperilled, the answer is yes. In fact,
the troubles of the present age are
almost always no worse than the crises
of the past. History, that stern old
school marm, has a way of teaching
perspective.
The summer of our discontent falls in
August 2014. As it happens, 100 years
ago this month World War I, one of the
worst tragedies in human existence,
was just getting underway. To mark
the occasion, I have been reading The
Guns of August, the 1962 classic by the
historian Barbara Tuchman.
She describes the п¬Ѓrst weeks of the
war, which was to drag on until 1918.
Today, when we think of World War
I, we think of the muddy stalemate of
the trenches, but that came later. In
its earliest weeks, huge armies were
manoeuvreing and п¬Ѓghting on vast
fronts.
If only righteous
violence could solve
all problems, life would
be much easier
Long before American participation,
the immense scale of this new
industrial-strength war - soon to
produce industrial-strength casualties
- was breathtaking.
The Russians massing today on
Ukraine’s border? They would not have
been enough to п¬Ѓll a sector back then.
The Israelis and Palestinians battling
each other in Gaza? In total, not nearly
the size of the relatively small British
Expeditionary Force sent to France in
1914.
History allows itself bitter little
jokes. Those who fought then believed
that this stupid conflict was “The War
to End All Wars”.
But an obscure German soldier
named Adolf Hitler didn’t take the
point. Just as in Greek myth, when a
dragon was killed and its teeth sowed
into the ground, the terrible seeds
sowed were to spring up as ferocious
warriors to cause further strife. Thus
did World War I lead to World War II.
All wars have unintended
consequences, even those that end
triumphantly for the cause of freedom
- which happened with World War
II, leaving the Nazis and the Japanese
militarists defeated but Soviet Russia
empowered.
If only righteous violence could
solve all problems, life would be much
easier. But the dragon’s teeth keep
being sowed and the violence keeps
happening. You’d think we’d learn.
Consider most of the current strife
in the world. For the dismemberment
of Iraq, especially, some blame
President Barack Obama for
indecisiveness, and he deserves his
share; it goes with the job.
But to blame this president you must
also blame his predecessor, He Who
Must Not be Blamed (according to his
apologists), for getting us into this
sorry mess in the п¬Ѓrst place. Sooner or
later this was bound to happen.
From the moment of the US
invasion, the only uncertainty was the
exact date of the eventual unravelling.
Soon it will be Afghanistan’s turn.
Those who say we, the Americans,
should stay in these countries have
missed the point. A policy of neverending occupation and war is not a
feasible policy; it is an admission of
policy failure. We could do that no
more than the German armies could
keep п¬Ѓghting in 1918.
I am no pacifist; in fact, one of my
favourite memories is reading a story
about a pacifist in London’s Hyde
Park who kept being interrupted by a
heckler, so got down from his soapbox
and punched the guy in the nose.
Yes, sometimes enough’s enough.
But there’s only so much we can do
for allies who expect us to do most
of the п¬Ѓnancing and п¬Ѓghting. Giving
emergency help to buy time is one
thing, but we can’t afford neverending military welfare.
The current guns of August will
cease eventually. Long term, we need to
challenge the idea that every problem
can be solved by military action when
war always seems to beget more of the
same. What we need is to dust off the
“just war” theory expounded by Saint
Augustine and others and treat war as a
matter of last resort.
What we have now is the notion that
war is a problem-solver of п¬Ѓrst resort,
just as the kaiser once believed.
It seems that in 100 years we have
learned nothing.
zReg Henrymay be contacted at
[email protected].
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gross domestic
product could fall
back into negative
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coming months
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2014 Gulf Times. All rights reserved
Journalist at Israel’s Haaretz newspaper, Gideon Levy, at his home in Tel Aviv. After Levy accused Israeli air force pilots of perpetrating “the cruellest (and) most
despicable deeds” against Gaza’s weakest and most helpless,” his employer hired him bodyguards.
Witch hunt against war critics in Israel
By Jennie Matthew
Jerusalem/AFP
I
n Israel, dissent against the war
in Gaza is bitterly quashed. The
few who speak out complain of
being harassed, intimidated or
even sacked. The once mighty left has
disappeared.
It has been Israel’s deadliest conflict
in years. More than 1,960 Palestinians
were killed and 64 Israeli soldiers
died п¬Ѓghting what some see as an
unwinnable war.
And yet the only significant protest
in Israel so far saw thousands late
Thursday demand an end to Hamas
rocket attacks, dissatisfied with the
status quo after ground troops pulled
out and a ceasefire was extended.
Liberal newspaper Haaretz decried
yesterday what it called a “witch
hunt” against leftists and civil rights
organisations after the director of
the national service administration,
Sar-Shalom Jerbi, told rights group
B’Tselem it was being blacklisted as an
employer.
“I feel obligated to exercise my
power and stop the state assistance
provided to an organisation that works
against the state and against soldiers
who are heroically giving their very
lives to protect the safety and wellbeing of all citizens,” Jerbi wrote in a
letter.
He accused B’Tselem of
disseminating lies and slander,
endangering the state and publishing
information that encourages Israel’s
enemies and leads to violent antiSemitic acts against Jews around the
world.
The rights group denounced
the move as an attack on Israeli
democracy, and asked supporters to
sign an online petition to support
freedom of expression and democracy.
Yizhar Beer of the Keshev Centre for
the Protection of Democracy in Israel,
says it has never been more difficult to
voice dissent in the country.
In Israel, as in most countries
during time of war, the local media
have been patriotic champions of the
offensive, uniting behind their boys on
the frontline, sending them presents,
highlighting the suffering of Israeli
citizens and downplaying suffering on
the other side.
The few who have spoken out of line
have been threatened or denounced as
traitors.
After Haaretz commentator
Gideon Levy accused air force pilots
of perpetrating “the cruellest (and)
most despicable deeds” against
Gaza’s weakest and most helpless”, his
employer hired him bodyguards.
Many readers cancelled their
subscriptions, people stopped in the
street to insult him and government
whip Yariv Levin denounced him as a
liar, a “mouthpiece of the enemy” who
should be put on trial for treason.
“I have never faced such aggressive
reaction, never,” Levy told AFP in his
cramped office at Haaretz in Tel Aviv,
away from the coffee shops where he
fears being insulted.
“Nobody cares here about the
suffering of Gaza. More than this, if
you dare to express empathy you are a
traitor,” he said.
Some Israelis who criticised the
offensive, even on private Facebook
pages, complained of being ostracised.
An Arab nurse was briefly
suspended then reinstated. Other
Arabs in Israel also complained of
being sacked.
“There’s a whole level of
intimidation that’s kept a lot of
people away,” said Steven Beck of the
Association for Civil Rights in Israel
when asked why there had not been
more protests.
He likened the atmosphere to
the period directly preceding the
assassination of prime minister and
Nobel peace laureate Yitzhak Rabin,
shot dead by a Jewish extremist in
1995.
“Things that were shocking back
then, really, really shocking have
become common place... now the
needle is moving to a whole new level
to the extreme,” Beck said.
“The question is, is it going to
boil over into something or will it
dissipate.”
Explanations are complex.
For Beer, it is rooted in the growth of
the religious right and ultra-Orthodox
communities, the powerful Jewish
settler movement and the ongoing
occupation of the West Bank.
“The extremist section of Israeli
society has kidnapped the state of
Israel,” he said.
But even Israelis who back peace
talks feel helpless.
Hamas, which rules the Gaza
Strip, does not officially recognise
the Jewish state’s right to exist, and
Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas is considered too weak to cut a
settlement.
“Pressure from the inside and
pressure from the outside makes our
society very broken,” said Beer.
Gulf Times
Saturday, August 16, 2014
15
COMMENT
�Outsider’ Modi berates India’s ruling elite
An unashamed nationalist,
Modi chose to use his
address to focus on subjects
that are often taboo in India
and certainly not aired at
such a grand occasion
By Christian Otton
New Delhi/AFP
H
e may be the most powerful
man in India but Narendra
Modi burnished his
credentials yesterday as
the establishment outsider as he used
his п¬Ѓrst Independence Day speech to
berate the ruling class on its failings.
Three months on from his stunning
win in the world’s biggest election, the
fledgling premier told the assembled
ranks of VIPs that he had been taken
aback by what he had found since
moving to New Delhi and India’s
achievements were thanks to the
common man, not its rulers.
Modi is the п¬Ѓrst Indian prime
minister to have been born since
independence from Britain in 1947 and
his style of leadership marks a sharp
break with the past.
While India’s leaders have usually
delivered keynote speeches in English,
Modi’s 45-minute address in Delhi’s
historic Red Fort was in Hindi.
And while his immediate
predecessors were shielded from the
crowds by a bullet proof glass, Modi
spoke both without a screen or a
script.
“The beauty of this country is
that the son of a poor family from a
poor city can rise through the ranks
and is able to salute the flag from the
ramparts of the Red Fort,” said the
63-year-old who used to help his
father serve tea on a railway station
platform.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inspecting a guard of honour to mark the country’s 68th Independence Day at the Red Fort in New Delhi yesterday.
“It was not the politicians or the
rulers who built this nation. No, it was
the farmers, the labourers, women,
youth, seers, scientists.”
An unashamed nationalist, Modi
chose to use his address to focus on
subjects that are often taboo in India
and certainly not aired at such a grand
occasion.
A spate of rapes had led Indians to
“hang our heads in shame”, he told
the crowds in a speech that included
appeals to end female foeticide and
communal violence.
And he also made a plea on behalf
of the hundreds of millions of people
who have to defecate in the open as
they have no toilets in their home something Modi said was intolerable
in the 21st century.
“People may criticise me for talking
about toilets from the Red Fort,” he said.
“But I am from a poor family, I have
seen poverty п¬Ѓrst hand. For the poor to
get dignity, it has to start from here.”
Before the election, Modi spent
nearly 13 years in charge of the
western state of Gujarat and had
never held office in Delhi. Since
he came to power, there have been
reports of tensions between Modi and
bureaucrats and judges who have been
rattled by his muscular style.
Civil servants who were rumoured
to have spent their mornings on the
golf course have been leaving their
clubs at home, fearful of being caught
out when Modi calls on their ministry.
“Should government officers
coming on time be news?” said the
prime minister as he spoke of some of
his shock at witnessing departmental
rivalries.
“I am an outsider to Delhi. But as an
outsider who has now got an insider’s
view, I have been surprised by what I
have seen.
“I have seen how even within
government there were different
governments. It is as if each has its
own п¬Ѓefdoms, with one government
department quarrelling against
another... How can we take India
forward like this?”
While Delhi’s main thoroughfares
were sealed off to allow the great and
the good to reach the venue in their
red-sirened Ambassador cars, several
thousand members of the public were
invited to attend this year’s speech.
K G Suresh, a fellow at Delhi’s
Vivekanand International Foundation
thinktank, said he was struck by
how Modi addressed some of India’s
biggest problems after criticism that
he has been too quiet.
“Usually you don’t see a prime
minister talking about his own
difficulties with the system and
administration but today he spoke
about the problems he’s facing being
an outsider, adjusting in Delhi,” he told
AFP.
“It seemed as though Modi was
trying to silence his critics because
after he took charge, people started
tagging him as a mute prime minister,
not taking action. But he dispelled that
in his speech. Modi was in his element.”
Weather report
LEGAL HELPLINE
Three-day forecast
Convictions over forgery
Under Article 206, anyone
who forges an official
document is convicted to no
more than 10 years in prison
By Nizar Kochery
Doha
QUESTION: We have come across
a number of cases over forging
educational credentials. To my
knowledge, some of the parties
charged are innocent. Please
explain forgery under Qatar Laws.
If an official document is tampered
what is the punishment? Please
explain.
BSN, Doha
ANSWER: Article 204 of the Qatar
Penal code defines forgery. Forging
a document means altering the
truth thereof by any of the following
methods so that such alteration
results in causing damage but with
the intention of using it as a genuine
document.
Following are methods of forgery:
1) Any amendment by way of
addition, deletion or otherwise in the
writing of the instrument, п¬Ѓgures,
pictures or signs contained therein.
2) Putting any forged signature
or false seal or altering any true
signature, seal or thumb impression
and also the misuse of a signature, seal
or thumb impression.
3) Obtaining by fraud the signature,
seal or signature of a person who is
unaware of the true contents of the
instrument.
4) Producing a counterfeit
document or imitating it.
5) Completing a document signed,
sealed or stamped in blank without
authority from the actual signatory or
holder of the seal or the person making
the thumb impression.
6) Falsely assuming the identity
of another person or altering such
identity in an instrument intended to
be executed.
7) Misrepresenting the truth in an
instrument once ii has been made with
regard or the subject-matter thereof.
Under Article 206, anyone who
forges an official document is
convicted to no more than 10 years in
prison. If a public employee commits
forgery during or due to his job, he is
convicted to no more than п¬Ѓfteen years
in prison. The penalty of forging an
unofficial document is no more than
three years in prison.
Employee want to
quit during probation
Q: I am on probation for three
months in a company at Doha. I
arrived from India on July 2 and
joined the company as its brand
manager the same day. My one
month is over. My questions are:
1) Can I resign without giving
any reason and leave before the
end of probation?
2) Do I need permission from
the owner for exit permit? If he
refuses to issue it, how can I leave
the country?
AB, Doha
A: Though the employer may
terminate the employment contract
by three days’ notice on unsatisfactory
probation, such right is not extended
to the employee. The employee should
follow procedures under Article 49 or
51 for termination of the contract.
Article 49 stipulates termination
notice of one/two months depends
on duration of service. However,
under Article 51, the employee may
terminate the service contract without
such notice or reasons if the employer
or his representative has misled the
worker at the time of entering into the
service contract as to the terms and
conditions of the work.
Also, the contract is terminable if
the employer commits a breach of his
obligations under the service contract.
Regarding exit, permission from your
employer is required. Seek assistance
from Labour Department.
Company general
assembly meeting
Q: I am a shareholder in charge of
management in a limited liability
company in Doha. Every year an
audit is conducted and profits are
shared among partners. Since
most partners are not in town, no
meetings are being held usually.
What is the law on this? I have
now received a registered letter
through a lawyer issued by one
partner calling for a meeting.
Please advice.
YUM, Doha
A: A company with limited liability
shall have a general assembly meeting
consisting of all shareholders through
an invitation from the directors/
managers at least once a year during
the four months following the end of
the п¬Ѓnancial year.
Each shareholder shall have votes
proportionate to shares held or
represented by them and have the
right to attend the general assembly
irrespective of the number of shares
held.
The general meeting discusses the
report on the company’s activity and
its п¬Ѓnancial position during the year
in addition to the auditor report,
balance sheet, profits and losses
account and approve them as well
TODAY
High: 40 C
Low: 31 C
Hazy to misty and partly cloudy to
fog at places by night
as the determination of dividends
distributed among shareholders.
SUNDAY
Probation is
not mandatory
P Cloudy
Q: Does Qatar’s Labour Law
make probation compulsory? In
my case no probation has been
agreed but the employer has
just issued a letter, confirming
probation after one year. Is the
period spent during probation
treated for calculation of
benefits?
AD, Doha
High: 38 C
Low : 33 C
A: Probation is not mandatory. The
parties to the contract may agree
to commence employment without
probation as probation is not
compulsory under the Law. If agreed
for probation, the maximum period
of probation is limited to six months.
Accordingly the confirmation
letter issued after one year is not
in compliance. However regarding
benefits, once completed, the
probation period is considered as
part of the overall employment
term and is taken into account
when calculating gratuity and other
terminal rights.
High: 40 C
Low : 33 C
MONDAY
Clear
Fishermen’s forecast
OFFSHORE DOHA
Wind: SE-NE 03-12 KT
Waves: 1-3 Feet
INSHORE DOHA
Wind: N-SE 05-15 KT
Waves: 1-2 Feet
Around the region
Abu Dhabi
Baghdad
Dubai
Kuwait City
Manama
Muscat
Riyadh
Tehran
Weather
today
Clear
Clear
Clear
Clear
Clear
Clear
Clear
P Cloudy
Max/min
43/33
47/30
45/33
47/36
37/32
31/27
46/30
35/23
Weather
tomorrow
Clear
Clear
P Cloudy
Clear
Clear
Clear
Clear
M Cloudy
Max/min
44/33
46/30
44/33
42/34
38/32
31/26
45/29
34
37/23
Weather
tomorrow
Clear
P Cloudy
P Cloudy
M Cloudy
P Cloudy
Clear
T Storms
C Storms
P Cloudy
P Cloudy
P Cloudy
Clear
P Cloudy
C Storms
M Cloudy
P Cloudy
C Showers
M Cloudy
C Storms
C Rain
C Storms
C Storms
Cloudy
Max/min
34/25
31/26
33/26
20/14
35/25
21/11
30/26
29/26
29/27
28/20
32/25
34/27
20/11
29/25
24/12
35/28
29/18
19/16
24/15
26/19
31/27
16/11
33/24
zPlease send you questions by
e-mail to: [email protected]
LEGAL SYSTEM IN QATAR
When, however, such constructions
or plantations have been made by the
purchaser after the notification of
pre-emption, the pre-emptor may
claim their removal. If he prefers to
retain them, he is only bound to pay
the value of the materials incurred by
the purchaser or the increase in value
of the pre-emption by reason thereof.
Any disposal by the purchaser
resulting in transfer of ownership or
creation of any other real right shall
not be effective towards the preemptor if it is made after the date
on which the letter of notifying the
intention becomes evidence towards
third parties.
The creditors whose rights are
restricted shall have priority in
respect of the price that has devolved
upon the purchaser.
The right of pre-emption is
forfeited if the pre-emptor renounces
his right to the pre-emption explicitly
or implicitly; if six months have
elapsed since the date of registration
of the deed of sale; and in all other
cases prescribed by law. According to
Article 934, the right to pre-emption
shall not be forfeited upon the death
of the pre-emptor but shall be
transferred to his heirs.
Possession is defined as the control
by one person, personally or through
another person, of a material thing
giving the impression that he is the
owner or holder of another right in
kind so as to do the acts normally
done by the holder of title thereto.
Possession does not result from
acts that are done by permission or
merely tolerated. Possession may
be exercised by an intermediary,
provided that he exercises it in the
name of the possessor. A legally
disqualified person or lacking
discretion may acquire possession
by the intervention of his legal
representative.
Article 940 stipulates that no one
can set up prescription contrary to
his title: that is to say that no one may
by himself and in his own interests
change the cause and origin of his
possession.
A person may, however, acquire a
title by prescription if the nature of
his possession is changed either by
act of a third party or if such person
sets up an adverse claim against the
owner; but in such case prescription
only runs from the date of such
change.
Possession obtained by acts of
violence, secretly or in a dubious
manner, has effect, as regards the
person against whom the violence,
secrecy or dubious means were
exercised only from the time that
such unlawful means have ceased.
Around the world
Athens
Beirut
Bangkok
Berlin
Cairo
Cape Town
Colombo
Dhaka
Hong Kong
Istanbul
Jakarta
Karachi
London
Manila
Moscow
New Delhi
New York
Paris
Sao Paulo
Seoul
Singapore
Sydney
Tokyo
Weather
today
Clear
P Cloudy
P Cloudy
T Storms
Clear
Clear
T Storms
T Storms
P Cloudy
Clear
C Storms
C Rain
P Cloudy
C Storms
M Cloudy
P Cloudy
P Cloudy
C Rain
T Storms
C Rain
C Storms
Rain
Clear
Max/min
35/26
30/25
32/26
21/13
35/25
19/11
29/26
29/26
29/27
30/23
32/25
34/27
23/13
31/25
23/13
34/28
28/18
20/14
23/15
30/20
32/27
16/12
35/24
16
Gulf Times
Saturday, August 16, 2014
QATAR
Ambassador Arora reads out President Pranab Mukherjee’s message at the Indian Cultural Centre celebrations.
Indian expats celebrate
68th Independence Day
By Joey Aguilar
Staff Reporter
H
undreds of Indian expatriates celebrated their
country’s 68th Independence Day with a flag-raising
ceremony at the Indian Cultural
Centre (ICC) yesterday.
Indian embassy officials, led by
Ambassador Sanjiv Arora, and officials of Indian schools attended
the ceremony.
After the flag hoisting, Arora
read out Indian President Pranab
Mukherjee’s message, which focused on education, the economy,
the environment and how to end
poverty.
“Economy is the material part
of development. Education is the
essential part of it. A sound education system is the bedrock of an
enlightened society,” the president said in his message.
“It is the bounden duty of our
educational institutions to provide quality education and inculcate the core civilisational values
of love for motherland; compassion for all; tolerance for pluralism; respect for women; performance of duty; honesty in life;
self-restraint in conduct, responsibility in action and discipline in
young minds.”
The president noted that nearly
one-third of India’s population
still lived below the poverty line,
although poverty had declined
from over 60% to less than 30% in
the last six decades.
“The decisive challenge of our
times is to end the curse of pov-
erty. The focus of our policies now
has to move from alleviation of
poverty to elimination of poverty.”
The president said that ancient
travellers such as Megasthenes, Fa
Hien and Hiuen Tsang had written
about India’s “efficient administrative systems with planned
settlements and good urban infrastructure”.
“What has gone wrong with us
now? Why can’t we keep our environment free of filth?” he asked.
“The prime minister’s call to
honour the memory of Mahatma
Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary, by making India a clean
country by 2019 is commendable,
but it can be achieved only if each
Indian converts this into a national mission,” the president said in
his message.
He described the general elections held in April as “remarkably
peaceful”, with an increase in voter
turnout from 58% to 66%.
The celebration also featured
cultural presentations by students
from various Indian schools in
Doha.
Ambassador Arora hoisting the national flag. PICTURES: Jayan Orma
Birla Public School students at the celebrations.
Patriotic fervour
at school events
M
ES Indian School,
Ideal Indian School
and Birla Public
School celebrated India’s 68th
Independence Day yesterday
in the presence of officials,
students, parents, teachers
and staff members.
At MES, chief guest P K
Mohamed, acting president
of the school governing board,
hoisted the national flag followed by rendering of the national anthem by the school
choir.
Students later sang an inspiring patriotic song celebrating the richness and diversity of Indian culture.
In his presidential address,
Mohamed paid tribute to the
freedom fighters who sacrificed their lives for independence.
Looking to the future, he
cited former president A P J
Abdul Kalam’s dream of a developed India by 2020.
“Kalam has always motivated the youth of India to dream,
dream and dream, because
dreams transform to thoughts
and thoughts lead to actions.
The youth is the strength of
the nation. Children should
work towards liberating India from the clutches of social
evils like poverty, corruption
and illiteracy.”
Acting general secretary
Kashif Jaleel, directors T K
Aboobacker, Hasmal Ismail,
Zubair, Anees Abu, Kunhu
Mohamed, and acting prin-
cipal Siraj Ahmed Geetay
were among those present.
The function was compered
by Sufera Ashraf, a teacher.
At Ideal Indian School, acting principal S Vidhyashanker
unfurled the tricolour and the
school choir sang the national
anthem.
Vidhyashanker urged students to uphold the principles
of the leaders of India’s independence struggle. He also
urged them to п¬Ѓght the challenges posed by corruption,
terrorism and oppression of
women.
School nurse Vernisha welcomed the gathering and administration official Firoze
Vanimel proposed a vote of
thanks.
At Birla Public School,
chairman C V Rappai hoisted
the flag in the presence of vice
chairman Lukose K Chacko,
management
committee
member Gope Shahani, life
members K M Varghese and M
S Bukhari, and administration
manager Joseph K.
Rappai recounted the sacrifices made by those who
fought for independence and
stressed the need to safeguard
it. He reminded the students
that the future of the world’s
largest democracy was in their
hands.
Participants of an ongoing summer camp presented
a cultural programme on the
occasion, featuring patriotic
songs, dances and speeches.
Ideal Indian School officials, teachers and staff at the
flag hoisting.
Mohamed speaking at the celebrations at MES Indian
School.
REAL ESTATE | Page 3
117-YEAR-OLD | Page 9
China issues
registration
rules draft
Silver market
reboots price
benchmark
Saturday, August 16, 2014
Shawwal 20, 1435 AH
FULL-YEAR FORECAST CUT: Page 10
GULF TIMES
Finnair posts
$27mn loss in
second quarter
BUSINESS
US investors switch
out of Europe as
recovery bet sours
Hefty outflows from US funds
invested in European shares;
dollars flow into cheaper
emerging markets; ECB
stimulus seen needed
to reverse trend
Reuters
London
U
S investors are withdrawing billions of dollars from
European stocks as signs
of a stalled economic recovery,
compounded by the Ukraine crisis,
halt the past year’s scramble to buy
back into the region.
The switch out of Europe into
emerging markets or the US is not
yet a wholesale exit, with several
large asset managers trimming
rather than axing their exposures
to the region — a far cry from the
panic of 2011 at the height of the
eurozone debt crisis.
But the rapid pace of outflows
from easy-to-trade vehicles such
as exchange-traded funds, often
seen in the past as an indicator of
future investor sentiment, may derail Europe’s two-year equity rally,
with investors growing impatient
for the European Central Bank to
act more radically to spur growth.
Lipper data for 106 US-domiciled funds invested in European
equities shows their longest streak
of consecutive weekly outflows
since 2011 in the nine weeks to August 14.
The rapid pace of outflows from easy-to-trade vehicles such as
exchange-traded funds may derail Europe’s two-year equity rally, with
investors growing impatient for the European Central Bank to act more
radically to spur growth.
Over that period, investors withdrew $3.25bn from the funds’ nearly
$50bn assets, mostly held in ETFs.
“People had been expecting a
quicker recovery in Europe and now
are realising it’s not happening,”
said Dan Morris, global investment
strategist at New York-based TIAACREF Asset Management, which
manages assets worth $613bn.
“Then you add on top of that what’s
going on in Russia and Ukraine and
people are saying: �There have got
to be better opportunities in other
parts of the world’.”
As investors pulled out of European equities, the Lipper data
showed US funds invested in
emerging markets recorded inflows
of $5.7bn over the same period,
taking their total assets to $289bn.
Morris said he now prefers
shares in emerging markets to European stocks in light of the eurozone’s enervated economy and
valuations which no longer look
appealing.
The Europe-focused funds
had attracted inflows over a year
when US investors were betting
on economic revival in the eurozone, where stock valuations
were cheaper and the market was
underpinned by the ECB’s pledge
to save the euro. Now the focus is
shifting to high unemployment,
sluggish reforms and tit-for-tat
sanctions imposed by the West
and Russia, the EU’s second-largest source of imports and fourthlargest export market.
“US bought Europe big last year
because of ECB, reform and value,”
said Michael Hartnett, chief investment strategist at Bank of America
Merrill Lynch in New York. “All
three are less compelling today.”
Germany, home to Russianexposed companies ranging from
Adidas, the world’s second-largest
sportswear п¬Ѓrm, to airport operator
Fraport and defence п¬Ѓrm Rheinmetall, was hit hardest by US investors.
The US-listed iShares MSCI
Germany ETF, which tracks largeand mid-sized companies, saw
outflows of $1.4bn in the first
seven months of the year, equal to
30% of its current total assets.
The German fund’s return over
the period is a negative 5.21%,
under-performing 97% of all European-focused ETFs listed in US,
according to Lipper data.
“Expectations were for a modest
recovery but it has been particularly
shallow and it has been compounded by not only a strong currency but
also tensions between Russia and
Ukraine, as well as, more recently,
the sanctions,” said Charles Shriver,
portfolio manager at Baltimorebased T Rowe Price, which manages
assets worth $738bn.
Shriver has reduced his equity
Kurds sell 3rd major oil cargo, 4th heads to Croatia
Reuters
London
Iraqi Kurdistan has delivered its third major
cargo of crude oil out of a Turkish port and a
fourth is sailing to Croatia, showing the autonomous region is finding more buyers despite legal
pressure from Baghdad and setbacks in the US.
The Kurdish Regional Government (KRG),
whose peshmerga forces are being supported
by US airstrikes in their battle against the Sunni
fighters of Islamic State, has been in a long constitutional fight with Baghdad over independent oil sales.
But while some shipments have been tied up
by diplomatic and legal pressure from Baghdad,
an increasing number are now finding buyers.
Around $350mn in oil sales have been completed or are under way from shipments sent
via the KRG’s new pipeline to Turkey, a Reuters
analysis of satellite tracking data shows. The
first vessel of pipeline crude sailed in May.
“The sales process is standardising and our
order book is growing,” a senior official in the
Kurdistan Regional Government said when
asked about the sales. “While we are fighting a
war with the Islamic State we’re also facing an
economic war from Baghdad.”
Baghdad has cut the KRG’s budget since
January over the oil sales dispute, saying it has
sole authority to export crude from the country.
One cargo of Kurdish crude aboard the United
Kalavrvta tanker has been sitting off the Texas
coast since late July after Baghdad asked a court
to seize the vessel. The ship remains in international waters off the US coast, unable to unload.
The KRG is appealing against Baghdad’s request.
Another vessel carrying Kurdish crude
from Turkey’s Mediterranean port of Ceyhan,
the United Leadership, has been anchored off
Morocco for more than two months without
unloading.
But a little over two weeks ago, the 1mn barrel
Suezmax Kamari tanker loaded Kurdish oil at
Ceyhan before sailing to a point just under 200
km (125 miles) off the Israeli and Egyptian coasts.
Reuters AIS Live ship tracking showed the
ship was fully loaded, based on its draft in the
water. After turning its satellite tracking off on
August 1, the ship reappeared four days later
sitting far higher in the water — indicating it had
unloaded its cargo of disputed oil.
It was not possible to determine which port
the oil had been delivered to or who the buyer
was. In June a cargo of Kurdish oil that sailed
from Ceyhan aboard the United Emblem Suezmax tanker was delivered into Israel after being
transferred at sea to another ship. The KRG has
denied selling oil to Israel “directly or indirectly”.
Another cargo, again carried by the United
Emblem tanker, was transferred to a second
vessel off the coast of Malaysia late last month.
The buyer remains unknown.
Iraqi Kurdistan has been selling small
volumes of oil trucked into Turkey since 2012
but has faced fiercer opposition from Baghdad
since its own pipeline to Ceyhan started at the
turn of the year. It now carries around 120,000
barrels per day to the port.
The KRG has said it plans to increase oil sales
to around 1mn bpd by the end of next year,
which could potentially give it enough economic clout to speed a push for independence.
This week the Kamari has again loaded crude
at Ceyhan, sailing to Malta where it executed a
ship-to-ship transfer to a smaller vessel called
the United Carrier, a shipping source familiar
with the matter said and ship tracking showed.
The vessel is managed by Greece-based Marine Management Services, the same company
that runs the Suezmax tankers lifting Kurdish oil.
The United Carrier is now sailing towards a
port in Croatia. The Omisalj port imports oil for
Croatia’s refineries, which are partly-owned by
Hungary’s Mol Group, a company that has invest-
ed in oilfields in Iraqi Kurdistan. A spokeswoman
for Mol Group in Hungary declined to comment.
The Croatian government, which owns the
100,000 barrel per day INA refining company
jointly with Mol Group, was not available to
comment yesterday — a public holiday in
Croatia.
Based on international prices above $100 a
barrel, total Kurdish crude sales from Ceyhan
would total around $350mn, even if some tankers have been slightly discounted.
This week a senior Turkish official called on
the US to lift hurdles to the sale of crude from
Iraqi Kurdistan, the Financial Times reported,
saying Kurdistan was facing an enemy that was
boosting its operations through oil sales.
Islamic State fighters are selling oil from
oilfields and refineries they control to local
communities and smugglers, US intelligence
officials said on Thursday.
“We appreciate the Turkish line of thinking
and we believe other countries should also support oil sales from Iraqi Kurdistan,” the senior
KRG source said. “If they are going to trust
Kurdistan to fight ISIS (the previous name of
Islamic State) they should not expect us to do it
with one hand tied behind our back.”
On Thursday Nuri al-Maliki finally bowed
to pressure and stepped down as Iraqi prime
minister. There are hopes the new prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, will negotiate an oil sales
agreement with the KRG, though some have
cautioned he has previously backed Maliki’s
stance on the issue.
The latest signs point to the KRG continuing
to step up its oil sales. The United Dynamic,
another Suezmax tanker managed by the same
shipping firm as the other Kurdish oil vessels is
also now sailing towards Ceyhan, according to
Reuters AIS Live.
Yesterday the United Dynamic, which is
currently empty, was off the northern coast of
Tunisia. It is due to dock at Ceyhan on August 21.
allocation to Europe in favour of
emerging markets over the past six
months. Relative valuations, a key
factor in luring US buyers over the
past year, have ceased to be attractive, too.
European shares trade at 13.8
times their expected earnings for
the next 12 months, Datastream
data showed. This is close to the
lowest discount to their US counterparts in 10 years at 15.6 times,
and the largest premium to emerging markets at 10.7 times.
The stimulus of US takeover bids
for European companies, when US
pharma group AbbVie snapped up
British rival Shire and AstraZeneca
turned down Pfizer, has also worn
off, with suitors discouraged by
valuations and doubts about tax
breaks. “You want to see the European market down to around 12 or so
on a forward-earnings basis,” said
David L Donabedian, chief investment officer of private wealth management п¬Ѓrm Atlantic Trust in Baltimore, which has assets of $25.4bn.
But without an obvious catalyst
from the European Central Bank,
whose mandate limits its scope for
Federal Reserve-style quantitative
easing, the outflows may continue.
“We’re not going to wait around
for a continual decline in the economy,” said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer of BMO Private Bank
in Chicago, which manages assets
worth $66bn. “If there is a better opportunity somewhere else,
we’re going to move that capital.”
Moody’s sees
continued
uncertainty
in Turkey
Reuters
Istanbul
Turkey’s lira eased yesterday as political uncertainty in
the aftermath of Tayyip Erdogan’s presidential election
victory persisted, with Moody’s warning the outlook
was likely to remain unstable until at least the middle of
next year.
Erdogan’s victory in Sunday’s vote did not resolve the
country’s credit challenges, Moody’s said, and the political landscape would remain uncertain until at least the
conclusion of parliamentary elections, due by June 2015.
Turkish markets initially took Erdogan’s win as a sign
of continuity, firming early on Monday, but have since
traded less optimistically. The lira weakened to 2.1620 to
the dollar by 0955 GMT from 2.1514 late on Thursday.
“Until the political landscape reaches some stability,
the country’s structural reform agenda is likely to suffer,
leaving Turkey exposed to potential shifts in international market sentiment,” Alpona Banerji, vice-president
and senior analyst at Moody’s, said in a note.
The ratings agency said the credit implications of the
election would not be clear until a new prime minister is
appointed in late August and a parliamentary election held.
Erdogan expects to announce his new prime minister
as early as next week following a meeting of his ruling
AK Party’s senior leadership, he told reporters late on
Thursday.
Erdogan, who remains prime minister until he is inaugurated on August 28, wants a staunch loyalist as his
replacement who can hold the AK Party together and
win a stronger parliamentary majority in the election.
That would boost his chances of pushing through the
constitutional change needed to introduce the presidential system he has long coveted for Turkey.
Moody’s also forecast Turkey’s economy would grow
by 3% this year, down from 4% in 2013, and raised concern about the independence of monetary policy.
“A series of rate cuts to the one-week repo rate
between January and July and one cut to the overnight
borrowing rate increase inflation risks in Turkey and
are likely to fuel questions about the central bank’s
independence,” it said.
Erdogan, wedded to the idea that high interest rates
cause inflation, has repeatedly called for the central
bank to make sharper interest rate cuts.
Istanbul’s main share index was up 0.05% at 77,610.12
points, slightly under-performing the broader emerging
markets index, which was up 0.14%.
The benchmark two-year government bond yield fell
to 9.22% from 9.24% on Thursday.
Jordan bank goes on trial
in Hamas п¬Ѓnancing suit
AFP
New York
J
ordan’s Arab Bank went on
trial on Thursday in New
York accused of aiding alleged “terror” by transferring
support funds to the families
of Palestinians who died in the
conflict with Israel.
The families of several Americans killed in early 2000s attacks by the Hamas movement
said the bank, which has a New
York branch, was in violation
of the 2001 Anti-Terrorism Act
when it served as a conduit for
the money from a Saudi Arabian
fund to the Palestinian families.
But the bank argued on the
п¬Ѓrst day of the trial that it could
not be connected to the attacks
cited by the accusers.
If the court п¬Ѓnds it guilty, the
bank said such a ruling would
place too much burden on the
global banking system and its
routine automatic transfers of
trillions of dollars every day of
money on behalf of clients not
officially blacklisted.
“The facts show that Arab
Bank provided routine banking
services in compliance with applicable counter-terrorism laws
and regulations, and had no in-
tention of providing support to
Hamas or any other known �terrorist’ organisation,” it said.
The plaintiffs п¬Ѓled the suit
against the bank in 2004, four
years into the Second Intifada,
a Palestinian uprising that left
thousands of Palestinians and
Israelis dead.
Arab Bank lawyer Shand
Stevens defended the
bank, saying that it
complied with US laws and
that the Saudi Committee,
as the source of the funds,
was never named as a
terror group by the US
The plaintiffs said Arab Bank
was the conduit by which the
Saudi Committee for the Support of the Intifada Al-Quds
fund sent money to the families of Palestinians who died in
the uprising, including suicide
bombers.
They also pointed out that
Hamas, which the US officially
designates as a terror group,
directed the distribution of the
money from the Saudi fund.
That made the Saudi Committee and Arab Bank active
supporters of Hamas’s attacks,
they said.
“Any person who chooses to
participate in a suicide bombing
or other terrorist attack does so
secure in the knowledge that if
he or she is killed in that attack,
the п¬Ѓnancial needs of his or her
family will be more than met for
some time,” the suit said.
By taking part in supporting
the families, Arab Bank “knowingly aided and abetted each
and every alleged �terrorist’ act
committed by Palestinians.”
“They were using these charities to fund terrorism,” said the
plaintiffs’ attorney Mark Werbner. “They wired money at the
demand of Hamas. They received money on behalf of Hamas. They made direct payment
to Hamas.”
But Arab Bank lawyer Shand
Stevens defended the bank, saying that it complied with US laws
and that the Saudi Committee, as
the source of the funds, was never named as a terror group by the
US. He told the court the bank
too had been been a victim of
Hamas and other terror groups.
Arab bank has 200 branches
in 30 countries. Its shareholders
included the king of Jordan and
the family of former Lebanese
prime minister Rafik Hariri,
killed in a 2005 Beirut bombing
blamed on Hezbollah, a close
ally of Hamas.
2
Gulf Times
Saturday, August 16, 2014
BUSINESS
Reach Energy whets investor appetite for Malaysian SPACs
Reuters
Kuala Lumpur
R
each Energy Bhd, set up by veterans in Malaysia’s oil and gas
industry, made its market debut
in Kuala Lumpur yesterday after completing the country’s largest-ever initial public offering by a special purpose
acquisition company (SPAC).
The 750mn ringgit ($236.44mn) IPO
exceeded the initial share sales by other
local SPACs such as Sona Petroleum
Bhd and Cliq Energy Bhd, which raised
between $100mn and $150mn last year.
Reach Energy, which has no existing assets, is looking to acquire п¬Ѓrms
in both the exploration and production
Hong Kong
cuts 2014
forecast
as growth
slows to
1.8% in Q2
AFP
Hong Kong
Hong Kong yesterday cut its
economic growth forecast
for 2014 after an unexpected
slowdown in second quarter
expansion blamed on a
fall-off in tourist spending
and a slowdown in domestic
demand.
Gross domestic product grew
1.8% in the three months
ending June 30 compared
to the same period last year,
the lowest since 2012, a
government statement said.
The result falls short of a
forecast by five economists
polled by the Wall Street
Journal, which expected a 2%
year-on-year increase.
The figure was also lower
than the previous quarter’s
year-on-year 2.6% growth, as
the government lowered its
growth forecast for the year
to two to three per cent from
three to four per cent.
Exports of goods were
up 2.3% year-on-year
for the second quarter,
helped by a pick-up
in June
“The distinct slackening in
tourist spending of late and
the slowdown in domestic
demand have emerged as
new sources of uncertainty
affecting the overall
economic outlook,” the
statement said.
Exports of goods were up
2.3% year-on-year for the
second quarter, helped by a
pick-up in June. The figure
is up from the previous
quarter’s year-on-year growth
of 0.5%.
Exports to the European
Union and the US continued
to grow at a moderate pace,
while exports to other Asian
markets improved due to
a better global economic
environment.
Exports of services saw a
2.3% year-on-year decline
for the second quarter, the
first decrease since 2009,
dragged by a slowdown in
exports of travel services.
Private consumption grew
by 1.2% year-on-year for the
reported period, lower than
the preceding quarter’s yearon-year expansion of 2%.
“Domestic demand is likely
to maintain only a rather
slow pace of expansion in
the second half of the year.
Local consumer sentiment
may turn somewhat cautious
following the economic
growth slowdown in recent
quarters,” the statement said.
The potential for growth may
be held back by the “rather
fragile” advanced economies
of the US and the EU, the
statement added.
Risks including the
changing of the pace of US
monetary normalisation and
constrained recovery of the
eurozone economy were a
concern, the statement said.
“Looking forward, the
global economy is expected
to remain on a moderate
recovery path in the rest of
2014. This, together with
an improving mainland
economy, should entail a
somewhat brighter export
outlook for Hong Kong in the
period ahead.”
segments of Asia’s oil and gas sector,
following in the footsteps of Hibiscus
Petroleum, Sona Petroleum and Cliq
Energy.
SPACs, common in the West but still
rare in Asia, attract investors who hope a
team of experienced industry executives
can translate seed money into profits
down the road. They are also drawn to
bonus giveaways such as warrants attached to shares bought during IPOs.
But there are risks unique to SPACs.
In the US, half of the SPACs launched
in the past decade have failed to complete an actual acquisition and posted
negative annual returns, according to
data from research п¬Ѓrm SPAC Analytics.
Malaysia late last year tightened rules
on SPACs to assure investors their mon-
ey will be secure in the months or years
that such shell companies might take to
п¬Ѓnd an income-generating asset.
People in the industry say only the
best of SPACs have made it to the market in Malaysia, owing to the strict rules
set on them. Regulators have rejected a
number of applications, for п¬Ѓrms ranging from palm oil to healthcare, as their
management teams lack a track record
and the ability to generate returns for
shareholders, a source told Reuters.
Malaysia’s Securities Commission
said in December that SPAC funds from
an IPO must not be used to pay remuneration for the management team until an asset acquisition is completed.
The company’s management also cannot sell their shares in the SPAC un-
til assets are generating income. The
firm’s management, whose experience
and track record must fall in line with
the SPAC’s objectives, must hold at
least a 10% stake to ensure a “meaningful financial participation”.
Reach Energy is led by Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Shahul Hamid, who has had senior roles
at Esso, Shell and Petroleum Development Oman (PDO). Other top officials
include former staff from Petronas,
Schlumberger and Sime Darby.
According to Reach Energy’s IPO
prospectus, Malaysia’s pilgrimage fund
Lembaga Tabung Haji, CIMB-Principal Asset Management Bhd, and Hong
Leong Asset Management are among
the cornerstone investors in the Shari-
ah-compliant company. “This is seen
as the safest SPAC to date, because it is
the first one to genuinely attract institutional attention here,” said a banker who
was involved in the Reach Energy IPO.
Shares of Reach Energy fell 6.7% to
70 sen as of 0330 GMT, down from its
offer price of 75 sen per share. The stock
dropped as much as 8% to 69 sen.
Hibiscus Petroleum - the п¬Ѓrst SPAC
in Malaysia and Southeast Asia bought a 35% stake in Norway’s Lime
Petroleum over two years ago.
The purchase has earned Hibiscus
Petroleum a positive cash flow, after
the company spent nearly two years in
the red. But it will need more acquisitions to go beyond the 9mn ringgit to
12.6mn ringgit it has seen in net income
in recent quarters, according to industry observers. The company, whose top
officials have worked with global industry giants such as Chevron, Murphy
Oil, Schlumberger and ExxonMobil,
aims to build an asset portfolio strong
enough to support dividend payments
while funding newer ventures that are
still in a risky phase.
Sona Petroleum made its п¬Ѓrst acquisition with a 40% stake in oil and gas
blocks from London-listed Salamander
Energy Plc for $280mn.
It targets exploration and production
assets in Asia, the Middle East and Africa, according to the company’s website. Meanwhile, Cliq Energy has shortlisted two potential acquisitions and is
currently awaiting regulatory approval.
Thailand economy seen
avoiding recession in Q2
Reuters
Bangkok
S
ome pillars of the Thai economy
remain shaky, but the country likely avoided a recession in April-June
after the army took power in a bid to end
political tensions and get state and private spending going again.
The planning agency will announce
second quarter gross domestic product
п¬Ѓgures on Monday. In the п¬Ѓrst quarter,
the economy shrank 2.1% from the previous three months.
Earlier this year, many economists
thought there would be contraction in
April-June too.
But the median forecast in a Reuters
poll is for on-quarter, seasonally adjusted growth of 0.9%, which would mean
Thailand avoided a technical recession
– defined as two consecutive quarterly
contractions.
On an annual basis, the economy
probably grew 0.3% after contracting
0.6% in January-March, the poll showed.
The Bank of Thailand (BoT) has forecast on-quarter growth of more than 1%
and on-year contraction of 0.4%.
Skirting recession does not mean solid
growth has returned.
Gundy Cahyadi, an economist with
DBS Bank in Singapore, said the economy might have avoided a technical recession “but the outlook is still far from
being robust.”
“GDP growth momentum is likely to
pick up in late 2014 but a return to nearterm potential will still take some time,
even if the government is going to be
clearly pro-growth,” he added.
The junta, which took power on
May 22, has made delayed payments to
rice farmers, approved infrastructure
projects and accelerated approvals for
private investment applications halted
by political unrest.
The moves have helped improve sentiment. A university’s index of consumer
confidence, which fell for 13 straights
months through April, has risen since the
coup. But consumption remains subdued and auto sales are tumbling. And
the key tourist industry, which accounts
for about 10% of GDP, has not fully recovered. In April-June, the number of
visitors were 12.3% fewer than 2013,
while hotel occupancy rates were about
Workers assembling a car at a Mitsubishi Motors plant in Laem Chabang, Thailand. Some pillars of the Thai economy remain shaky, but the country likely avoided a
recession in April-June after the army took power in a bid to end political tensions and get state and private spending going again.
48% in the quarter. The junta has lifted
curfews but kept martial law, which can
pose issues in some insurance policies for
travel.
Five-star hotelier Erawan group,
which earlier forecast a 2%-4% rise in
revenue this year, said on Thursday it expects a 9% fall. “Although revenue will
improve in the second half, it can’t offset
a weak first half,” chief financial officer
Kanyarat Krisnathevin said.
Hemaraj Land and Development said
on Thursday it cut its 2014 industrial
land sales target by 25%, to 192 hectares,
due to the weak economy.
Exports account for more than 60% of
the economy, so sustained growth gains
depend on raising shipments. But these
have been held by not by politics – the
crisis did not disrupt ports or factories but by weak global demand.
Weak exports have in turn hit factory
output. In April-June, exports rose just
0.6% from a year earlier, central bank
data showed.
In the Reuters poll, just one of 11 respondents – economist Barnabas Gan of
OCBC Bank in Singapore – forecast GDP
to have a second consecutive shrinkage in
April-June, citing lacklustre investment
and consumption during the period.
Gan agrees with others that the Thai
economy will see “better times in the
second half”, helped by improved consumer confidence and government
spending on infrastructure.
Samsung to buy US п¬Ѓrm SmartThings
AFP
Seoul
S
amsung said yesterday it had
reached a deal to buy a US home
automation startup SmartThings,
as the South Korean electronics giant
aims to expand beyond the increasingly
saturated smartphone market.
The world’s top smartphone maker
said it had entered into a deal to buy the
US app maker, which allows people to
monitor and control their home appliances via mobile devices.
“With Samsung’s resources and support, SmartThings will be able to expand
its platform and become available for
even more partners and devices,” Samsung said in a statement.
It gave no details of the value of the
deal.
SmartThings will continue to operate independently under its founder and
CEO Alex Hawkinson and will become
part of Samsung’s Open Innovation
Centre, the statement said. The centre
is responsible for developing Samsung’s
new software and services.
“We are committed to maintaining
SmartThings’ open platform, fostering more explosive growth, and becoming its newest strategic partner,” the
centre’s head, David Eun, said in the
statement.
SmartThings, founded in 2012, has
built an open platform that supports
about 1,000 devices.
Samsung produces electronic products including handsets, memory chips,
TVs and other home appliances like
washing machines and refrigerators.
But the company earns more than a
half of its sales and profits from its mobile business, which is faced with increasing competition in an increasingly
saturated market.
Samsung last month reported a 20%
drop in its net profit for the second quarter with analysts predicting a bleak future for its key mobile unit.
The п¬Ѓrm has ramped up efforts to promote Internet-enabled wearable devices
like smartwatches, in a move towards
the market for the Internet of Things, in
which household appliances and electronic devices are connected through the
network.
Samsung said yesterday it had reached a deal to buy a US home automation startup SmartThings, as the South Korean
electronics giant aims to expand beyond the increasingly saturated smartphone market.
Gulf Times
Saturday, August 16, 2014
3
BUSINESS
Indonesia’s
2015 budget
highlights
fuel subsidy
challenge
AFP
Jakarta
Energy subsidies are set to eat
up a huge chunk of the Indonesian budget again next year,
the president said yesterday,
highlighting the challenge for
incoming leader Joko Widodo
to reduce the crippling payouts.
At current rates, fuel and
electricity subsidies are
expected to cost 363.5tn rupiah
($31.3bn), up slightly from this
year, according to a draft
budget for 2015 presented
by President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono.
That is around 18% of the
budget, with fuel subsidies the
main drain on state coffers.
The subsidies are historically
a tense political issue in Indonesia, where fuel price hikes to
reduce the payouts have been
met with massive protests and
caused divisions between coalition partners in government.
But economists say cutting
the subsidies is vital, as they are
a major drain on the economy,
taking money away from other
areas where it is sorely needed.
They have also been criticised as being poorly targeted,
as they give the rich as much of
a discount on fuel as the poor.
Yudhoyono, who will step
down as president in October
after serving a maximum of two
terms, has made some limited
cuts during his tenure but has
been criticised for not going
nearly far enough.
He called on the next government to divert energy subsidies
to the poor.
“Moving forward, it is necessary for the government and
legislature to understand this,”
he said, adding they must “take
the steps and work together to
ensure our subsidies are well targeted and that the amount spent
on subsidies is not excessive”.
The last time the parliament
approved a hike was in 2013, a
move that triggered protests
around the sprawling archipelago nation.
Yudhoyono said the government forecast growth of 5.6%
in 2015, while inflation was
expected to ease to 4.4% and
the rupiah would stabilise at
11,900 to the dollar.
The government allocated
around $10bn to the public
works and transport ministries
to give the country’s ageing
infrastructure a facelift and attract more investment.
The draft 2015 budget must
be approved by parliament, and
the final version may differ as
Yudhoyono has invited president-elect Widodo, who won
last month’s presidential poll,
to incorporate his programmes
into it.
China issues property
registration rules draft
AFP
Beijing
C
hina yesterday published a draft of longawaited property registration rules, a
move expected to stabilise the real-estate
market and help crackdown on corruption.
Real estate taxes based on a national registration system of property ownership are regarded
as an effective way to curb speculation, as the
government seeks to rein in years of surging
house prices – a source of resentment for ordinary Chinese.
The system is also expected to act as an anticorruption tool by preventing officials from hiding their assets.
Ideas about the scheme emerged in 2007 when
a landmark property law took effect but the
specific rules have been long in the making and
their announcement was delayed due to their
sensitivity and complexity, Chinese media have
reported.
China’s Legislative Affairs Office, a department within the country’s cabinet or State
Council, published the draft regulations yesterday, stating that a national property registration
system will be established.
Relevant information – such as the location,
area and origin of ownership – will be shared
among government departments including police, taxation and audit authorities “in real time”,
according to the draft regulations.
“State authorities may look up and photocopy
property registration documents relevant to their
investigation according to the law,” they said.
Properties including land, houses and forests
are all subject to the registration, they added.
A man rows a boat on a river in front of new properties in Taiyuan, Shanxi province. China yesterday published a draft of long-awaited property registration
rules, a move expected to stabilise the real-estate market and help crackdown on corruption.
Public opinion on the draft is to be solicited
until September 15, according to the Legislative
Affairs Office.
Public outrage is intense over high home
prices in a real estate market that critics say is
vice president of a bank in the northern province
of Shaanxi and a delegate to the local legislature, was sentenced to three years in prison after
she was found to have purchased more than 40
properties under multiple identities.
IT-savvy India no longer land
of �snake charmers’: Modi
AFP
New Delhi
I
Modi: Appealing to global business to set up shop in India.
ndian Prime Minister Narendra
Modi yesterday said a “digital India” could compete with the world
and hailed its IT professionals for banishing the country’s image as a land of
snake charmers and black magic.
In an Independence Day speech,
Modi said India had transformed itself
through strides taken by its information technology outsourcing sector. But
more still has to be done to get India
digitally connected through the Internet and tap other technologies, he said.
“Some 25 to 30 years ago, the world
used to think we are a land of snake
charmers and black magic. But our
youth has surprised the world with its
IT skills,” he said.
“I dream of a digital India. It was
once said railways connects India. To-
Malaysia posts 6.4% Q2 growth
Reuters
Kuala Lumpur
M
rife with abuse by corrupt government officials,
some of whom have sought to hide wealth by illegally amassing dozens of homes under false
identities.
In one high-profile case last year, Gong Aiai,
alaysia’s economy grew 6.4% in the
second quarter, faster than expected, as exports kept up their strong
performance and consumer spending stayed
buoyant despite steps by the central bank to
curb high household debt levels.
The stronger than expected п¬Ѓgure will п¬Ѓrm
expectations that the central bank could follow up July’s hike in interest rates – the first
in three years – with another as early as next
month in order to dampen household debt.
The Malaysian ringgit extended its gains to
hit a high of 3.1635 against the dollar after
the GDP data was released.
Gross domestic product in the April-June
period showed the strongest growth since
the last quarter of 2012, having accelerated
from 6.2% in the п¬Ѓrst quarter. A Reuters poll
of analysts had forecast Malaysia’s gross domestic product would grow 5.8% in the second quarter.
Other data released showed the current
account surplus narrowed in the second
quarter as imports grew more slowly and exports remained brisk.
“The very strong export performance was
better than expected,” Bank Negara Governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz told a news conference. “It’s very likely that the overall growth
for the year will exceed growth projections
made earlier.”
The central bank has a forecast range of
4.5% to 5.5% for full-year GDP. Zeti added
that the central bank’s efforts to curb consumer debt were working as intended, noting
a recent “moderation” in household debt.
“If we were to be overly stringent in our
policies it will result in an over adjustment,”
she said. To curb the ballooning household
debt, which hit 86.8% last year, the central bank raised its interest rate from 3% to
3.25% in July. Many economists believe it
will have to do more to dissuade borrowers,
though they differ over the timing of a likely
increase in interest rates, with views ranging
from anytime between next month and next
year.
“This definitely provides more room for
Bank Negara Malaysia to hike the interest
rate,” Irvin Seah, an economist with DBS in
Singapore, said of the strong GDP п¬Ѓgures.
“From Malaysia’s perspective, all cylinders are firing - exports improving, domestic growth is strong, and that certainly calls
for tighter monetary policy.”
The current account surplus narrowed to
16bn ringgit ($5bn) from 19.8bn ringgit in
the previous quarter.
Exports from the trade-dependent
Southeast Asian nation rose 8.8% in the
quarter, led by sales of electronics and
manufactured products, outstripping the
7.9% rise in the п¬Ѓrst quarter. Import growth
slowed to 3.9% from 7.1% in the п¬Ѓrst three
months of the year. Economists expect the
current account surplus to narrow further
in the second half of the year as the government’s infrastructure spending picks up
with implementation of several projects that
will raise demand for imports.
day I say IT connects India... I fully believe a digital India can compete with
the world.”
In February, Indian Satya Nadella
was appointed Microsoft’s chief executive in an endorsement of home-grown
talent that has risen to the top of the US
corporate world. Modi, a tech-savvy
politician who is immensely popular on
Facebook and Twitter, said India must
use Internet to reach out to each of its
1.2bn people.
“Digital India is not an elite concept
anymore. We have to take broadband
connectivity to every village. We have
to use this idea to revolutionise health
and education in India,” he said.
Modi, known as zealous moderniser
when chief minister of the prosperous
Gujarat state, also appealed to global
business to set up shop in India.
“I tell the world – come, make in India. Sell anywhere, but manufacture
here. We have the skill and talent,” he
said. “Our dream should be to see the
�Made in India’ signs in every corner of
the world.”
While known for its flagship outsourcing industry, India’s manufacturing sector is still nascent.
The government is anxious to create
manufacturing jobs to employ the millions of Indians who enter the employment market each year.
Modi also called on Indians to do
their bit to promote manufacturing,
saying the country should become selfreliant.
Modi tapped into the philosophy
preached by India’s independence icon
Mahatma Gandhi who urged Swadeshi
– self-reliance in manufacturing of
goods.
“Each Indian must take a pledge so
that the country does not have to import anything. Even if the youth start
manufacturing one item each, it can
make a huge difference,” he said.
Apple stores users’ personal
data on servers in China
Reuters
Beijing
Apple Inc has begun keeping the personal data of
some Chinese users on servers in mainland China,
marking the first time the tech giant is storing user
data on Chinese soil.
The storage of user data in China represents a
departure from the policies of some technology
companies, notably Google, which has long
refused to build data centres in China due to
censorship and privacy concerns.
Apple said the move was part of an effort to
improve the speed and reliability of its iCloud
service, which lets users store pictures, e-mail and
other data. Positioning data centres as close to
customers as possible means faster service.
The data will be kept on servers provided by China
Telecom Corp, the country’s third-largest wireless
carrier, Apple said in a statement yesterday.
“Apple takes user security and privacy very
seriously,” it said. “We have added China Telecom
to our list of data centre providers to increase
bandwidth and improve performance for our
customers in mainland china. All data stored with
our providers is encrypted. China Telecom does
not have access to the content.”
A source with knowledge of the situation said the
encryption keys for Apple’s data on China Telecom
servers would be stored offshore and not made
available to China Telecom.
Apple has said it has devised encryption systems
for services such as iMessage that even Apple
itself cannot unlock. But some experts expressed
scepticism that Apple would be able to withhold
user data in the event of a government request.
“If they’re making out that the data is protected
and secure that’s a little disingenuous because if
they want to operate a business here, that’d have
to comply with demands from the authorities,”
said Jeremy Goldkorn, director of Danwei.com, a
research firm focused on Chinese media, Internet
and consumers.
“On the other hand if they don’t store Chinese user
data on a Chinese server they’re basically risking a
crackdown from the authorities.”
Goldkorn added that data stored in the US is
subject to similar US regulations where the
government can use court orders to demand
private data. A spokesman for China Telecom
declined to comment.
With its rising middle class, China has become an
increasingly important market for Apple. Sales of
the iPhone rose almost 50% in China in the three
months ended June and salvaged an otherwise
lacklustre quarter for the Cupertino company.
Other companies have opted not to situate servers
in China, where they would have to comply with
local laws.
Google publicly abandoned China in 2010 and
moved its services, including its search engine, to
Hong Kong-based servers after refusing to comply
with Chinese government censorship. Microsoft
Corp also does not have servers for its email
service in China.
Yahoo came under criticism in 2005 after it
handed to Chinese authorities e-mails that led
to the imprisonment of Shi Tao, a journalist who
obtained and leaked an internal censorship order the
government had sent Chinese media. “China doesn’t
want any digital service offered to Chinese people
to be hosted offshore,” said Goldkorn. “I suppose it
was inevitable that Apple had to comply if they were
using foreign servers for Chinese user data.”
In July, Apple’s iPhone was branded a danger to
China’s national security by state media, because
of the smartphone’s ability to track and timestamp user locations. Apple denied tracking user
locations.
Gulf Times
Saturday, August 16, 2014
4
BUSINESS
DJIA
WORLD INDICES
Company Name
Exxon Mobil Corp
Microsoft Corp
Johnson & Johnson
General Electric Co
Chevron Corp
Wal-Mart Stores Inc
Procter & Gamble Co/The
Jpmorgan Chase & Co
Verizon Communications Inc
Intl Business Machines Corp
Pfizer Inc
At&T Inc
Coca-Cola Co/The
Merck & Co. Inc.
Intel Corp
Walt Disney Co/The
Visa Inc-Class A Shares
Cisco Systems Inc
Home Depot Inc
United Technologies Corp
3M Co
Mcdonald’s Corp
American Express Co
Boeing Co/The
Unitedhealth Group Inc
Goldman Sachs Group Inc
Nike Inc -Cl B
Caterpillar Inc
Du Pont (E.I.) De Nemours
Travelers Cos Inc/The
Lt Price
98.67
44.60
101.28
25.61
126.28
73.78
81.56
56.65
48.71
187.43
28.55
34.62
40.87
58.48
33.98
89.21
210.19
24.40
83.54
106.33
141.46
94.06
86.50
122.95
81.17
172.32
76.80
105.67
64.92
91.77
% Chg
-0.42
0.73
-0.72
-1.04
-0.54
-0.83
-0.48
-0.58
-0.59
-0.24
-0.63
-0.83
1.72
-0.51
0.12
0.68
-1.10
-0.57
-0.38
-0.47
-0.62
0.04
-0.88
-0.93
-0.79
-0.24
-0.65
0.01
-0.43
-0.49
5,111,731
25,829,580
3,464,272
16,148,346
2,686,216
3,842,463
4,529,423
8,038,285
10,490,624
1,426,783
11,555,671
15,781,455
15,510,953
4,631,864
17,891,585
4,744,274
1,108,389
22,682,174
2,809,523
1,856,730
1,056,582
2,504,910
1,884,656
2,826,467
1,388,183
1,381,491
1,253,876
2,408,083
1,487,736
779,051
FTSE 100
Company Name
Whitbread Plc
Wpp Plc
Wolseley Plc
Weir Group Plc/The
Vodafone Group Plc
United Utilities Group Plc
Unilever Plc
Tui Travel Plc
Tesco Plc
Travis Perkins Plc
Tullow Oil Plc
Severn Trent Plc
St James’s Place Plc
Standard Chartered Plc
Sse Plc
Sports Direct International
Smith & Nephew Plc
Smiths Group Plc
Standard Life Plc
Shire Plc
Sage Group Plc/The
Schroders Plc
Sainsbury (J) Plc
Sabmiller Plc
Rsa Insurance Group Plc
Randgold Resources Ltd
Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc
Royal Mail Plc
Rio Tinto Plc
Rexam Plc
Reed Elsevier Plc
Royal Dutch Shell Plc-B Shs
Royal Dutch Shell Plc-A Shs
Royal Bank Of Scotland Group
Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc
Pearson Plc
Persimmon Plc
Prudential Plc
Petrofac Ltd
Old Mutual Plc
Next Plc
National Grid Plc
Wm Morrison Supermarkets
Mondi Plc
Marks & Spencer Group Plc
Meggitt Plc
London Stock Exchange Group
Lloyds Banking Group Plc
Legal & General Group Plc
Land Securities Group Plc
Kingfisher Plc
Johnson Matthey Plc
Itv Plc
Intertek Group Plc
Intu Properties Plc
Imperial Tobacco Group Plc
Imi Plc
3I Group Plc
Intercontinental Hotels Grou
Intl Consolidated Airline-Di
Hsbc Holdings Plc
Hammerson Plc
Hargreaves Lansdown Plc
Glaxosmithkline Plc
Glencore Plc
Gkn Plc
G4s Plc
Fresnillo Plc
Friends Life Group Ltd
Easyjet Plc
Experian Plc
Diageo Plc
Crh Plc
Capita Plc
Compass Group Plc
Centrica Plc
Carnival Plc
Coca-Cola Hbc Ag-Cdi
Bt Group Plc
British Sky Broadcasting Gro
Burberry Group Plc
Bp Plc
Bunzl Plc
Bhp Billiton Plc
British Land Co Plc
Bg Group Plc
Barratt Developments Plc
British American Tobacco Plc
Barclays Plc
Babcock Intl Group Plc
Bae Systems Plc
Astrazeneca Plc
Aviva Plc
Arm Holdings Plc
Antofagasta Plc
Ashtead Group Plc
Aggreko Plc
Aberdeen Asset Mgmt Plc
Admiral Group Plc
Associated British Foods Plc
Anglo American Plc
Lt Price
4,275.00
1,212.00
3,108.00
2,597.00
197.55
870.50
2,599.00
366.60
248.00
1,685.00
706.00
1,938.00
737.00
1,212.00
1,489.00
696.00
1,018.00
1,266.00
368.50
4,850.00
392.20
2,292.00
311.70
3,250.50
439.40
5,065.00
1,048.00
435.60
3,406.00
496.70
962.00
2,490.00
2,384.00
347.60
5,290.00
1,120.00
1,312.00
1,420.00
1,134.00
193.60
6,820.00
875.00
173.10
1,006.00
427.10
467.80
1,927.00
73.59
238.30
1,098.00
295.40
3,090.00
207.50
2,808.00
336.60
2,522.00
1,351.00
377.00
2,250.00
332.60
643.50
613.00
1,080.00
1,392.00
358.80
338.60
263.70
1,005.00
308.80
1,289.00
1,032.00
1,738.50
1,417.00
1,192.00
958.50
313.50
2,239.00
1,327.00
371.30
849.50
1,459.00
470.95
1,629.00
2,050.00
730.50
1,163.50
353.90
3,519.00
217.60
1,106.00
437.00
4,092.50
503.00
907.00
807.00
907.50
1,710.00
426.20
1,333.00
2,807.00
1,577.50
% Chg
1.14
-0.49
0.23
-0.73
0.64
0.52
0.27
-0.84
1.14
0.12
0.28
-0.31
-0.27
-0.57
0.47
1.02
-2.21
0.88
0.55
-0.06
0.44
0.04
1.14
-0.38
0.41
-1.07
0.10
-1.80
0.89
-0.96
-0.21
-0.06
0.13
-0.46
0.67
0.00
0.15
0.18
-0.87
-0.41
0.22
0.52
1.41
-0.40
-0.21
0.28
-0.41
0.12
-0.42
0.73
-0.10
0.26
-0.14
-0.04
-0.03
0.76
-0.37
1.70
0.40
0.21
-1.21
0.82
0.19
-0.22
-0.51
-0.41
-1.09
-2.14
0.16
0.00
0.98
0.55
-0.21
-0.17
-0.31
-0.35
0.22
0.00
0.92
-0.53
0.76
-0.22
0.12
1.21
0.83
0.61
0.80
0.50
-0.18
1.19
0.00
-0.09
-0.59
0.33
-0.74
1.45
-0.58
0.24
0.23
0.75
-0.41
Volume
474,285
4,203,438
1,062,821
486,457
39,631,358
1,388,019
2,722,736
1,666,199
20,796,189
815,204
3,692,313
523,453
1,673,762
4,478,904
2,710,670
1,126,450
2,192,918
1,130,525
3,666,610
2,136,342
2,827,676
383,995
7,196,967
2,177,706
2,406,063
318,206
2,103,504
2,649,174
3,879,769
2,142,432
3,568,863
3,448,793
4,401,410
8,147,118
1,108,056
1,980,271
1,136,329
4,281,913
1,159,347
9,545,803
234,901
5,846,236
8,081,624
825,196
3,413,650
2,287,267
257,598
82,359,530
9,840,409
2,581,623
5,360,186
586,469
11,574,812
267,881
2,716,518
1,560,689
556,663
1,597,231
608,613
6,842,644
26,955,090
2,331,224
595,118
6,169,217
19,496,290
5,111,853
10,844,287
891,380
2,616,188
2,586,669
1,451,449
3,824,618
4,016,387
1,389,376
5,399,554
10,089,624
575,417
275,405
15,280,704
2,428,991
1,301,523
24,316,976
445,157
9,605,964
3,922,316
6,430,596
4,564,099
1,968,234
32,135,324
1,805,802
6,161,680
2,911,971
5,304,377
2,573,017
1,669,030
1,429,240
605,043
1,759,665
958,548
750,628
3,514,366
TOKYO
Company Name
Inpex Corp
Daiwa House Industry Co Ltd
Sekisui House Ltd
Kirin Holdings Co Ltd
Japan Tobacco Inc
Seven & I Holdings Co Ltd
Toray Industries Inc
Asahi Kasei Corp
Sumitomo Chemical Co Ltd
Shin-Etsu Chemical Co Ltd
Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings
Kao Corp
Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd
Astellas Pharma Inc
Eisai Co Ltd
Daiichi Sankyo Co Ltd
Fujifilm Holdings Corp
Shiseido Co Ltd
Jx Holdings Inc
Lt Price
1,490.50
2,074.50
1,335.50
1,370.50
3,548.00
4,370.50
707.40
814.40
368.00
6,398.00
475.70
4,375.00
4,677.50
1,493.50
4,323.50
1,874.50
3,093.00
2,023.50
517.60
% Chg
-2.26
-0.88
-0.74
-0.51
0.78
-0.21
0.14
-0.95
0.00
0.27
0.44
-0.01
0.38
1.60
1.12
0.32
-0.40
1.07
-1.60
Indices
Volume
Volume
4,715,000
1,953,600
1,673,600
1,706,900
2,198,600
1,616,400
2,717,000
3,943,000
3,466,000
590,300
3,730,200
1,197,800
1,180,000
5,424,300
843,500
1,063,600
2,078,300
1,478,700
8,305,600
Lt Price
Change
Dow Jones Indus. Avg
S&P 500 Index
Nasdaq Composite Index
S&P/Tsx Composite Index
Mexico Bolsa Index
Brazil Bovespa Stock Idx
Ftse 100 Index
Cac 40 Index
Dax Index
Ibex 35 Tr
16,621.55
1,950.14
4,443.36
15,242.65
44,566.02
56,512.24
6,689.08
4,174.36
9,092.60
10,222.20
-92.03
-5.04
-9.64
-48.53
-227.00
+731.83
+3.82
-31.07
-132.50
-72.60
Nikkei 225
Japan Topix
Hang Seng Index
All Ordinaries Indx
Nzx All Index
Bse Sensex 30 Index
Nse S&P Cnx Nifty Index
Straits Times Index
Karachi All Share Index
Jakarta Composite Index
15,318.34
1,270.68
24,954.94
5,559.61
1,038.99
26,103.23
7,791.70
3,314.77
21,194.20
5,148.96
+3.77
+0.18
+153.58
+16.75
+3.65
+184.28
+52.15
+19.94
+281.92
-6.59
TOKYO
Company Name
Bridgestone Corp
Asahi Glass Co Ltd
Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Meta
Sumitomo Metal Industries
Kobe Steel Ltd
Jfe Holdings Inc
Sumitomo Metal Mining Co Ltd
Sumitomo Electric Industries
Smc Corp
Komatsu Ltd
Kubota Corp
Daikin Industries Ltd
Hitachi Ltd
Toshiba Corp
Mitsubishi Electric Corp
Nidec Corp
Nec Corp
Fujitsu Ltd
Panasonic Corp
Sharp Corp
Sony Corp
Tdk Corp
Keyence Corp
Denso Corp
Fanuc Corp
Rohm Co Ltd
Kyocera Corp
Murata Manufacturing Co Ltd
Nitto Denko Corp
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
Nissan Motor Co Ltd
Toyota Motor Corp
Honda Motor Co Ltd
Suzuki Motor Corp
Nikon Corp
Hoya Corp
Canon Inc
Ricoh Co Ltd
Dai Nippon Printing Co Ltd
Nintendo Co Ltd
Itochu Corp
Marubeni Corp
Mitsui & Co Ltd
Tokyo Electron Ltd
Sumitomo Corp
Mitsubishi Corp
Aeon Co Ltd
Mitsubishi Ufj Financial Gro
Resona Holdings Inc
Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdin
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Gr
Bank Of Yokohama Ltd/The
Mizuho Financial Group Inc
Orix Corp
Daiwa Securities Group Inc
Nomura Holdings Inc
Nksj Holdings Inc
Ms&Ad Insurance Group Holdin
Dai-Ichi Life Insurance
Tokio Marine Holdings Inc
T&D Holdings Inc
Mitsui Fudosan Co Ltd
Mitsubishi Estate Co Ltd
Sumitomo Realty & Developmen
East Japan Railway Co
West Japan Railway Co
Central Japan Railway Co
Ana Holdings Inc
Nippon Telegraph & Telephone
Kddi Corp
Ntt Docomo Inc
Tokyo Electric Power Co Inc
Chubu Electric Power Co Inc
Kansai Electric Power Co Inc
Tohoku Electric Power Co Inc
Kyushu Electric Power Co Inc
Tokyo Gas Co Ltd
Secom Co Ltd
Yamada Denki Co Ltd
Fast Retailing Co Ltd
Softbank Corp
Lt Price
3,559.50
569.80
309.80
0.00
168.00
2,107.50
1,637.50
1,525.50
27,165.00
2,331.50
1,419.00
6,531.00
775.30
453.80
1,323.00
6,578.00
388.00
745.30
1,249.50
315.00
1,874.00
5,140.00
44,255.00
4,613.50
17,710.00
6,010.00
4,969.50
10,100.00
4,878.00
617.60
999.30
5,991.00
3,474.00
3,333.50
1,481.50
3,410.50
3,402.50
1,129.50
1,074.00
11,290.00
1,320.50
747.10
1,699.50
6,685.00
1,340.00
2,150.50
1,175.00
588.90
566.40
430.10
4,115.00
584.10
196.50
1,588.50
839.20
644.60
2,564.00
2,387.50
1,440.00
3,202.00
1,271.00
3,278.00
2,438.00
4,100.00
8,251.00
4,937.00
14,855.00
252.40
6,773.00
5,963.00
1,803.00
386.00
1,244.00
976.20
1,166.00
1,140.00
593.60
6,470.00
353.00
33,030.00
7,012.00
% Chg
0.31
-0.90
0.65
0.00
0.60
0.45
-0.52
0.03
-0.26
-0.09
-0.49
-2.08
-0.44
-0.37
-1.19
-0.71
0.26
-0.33
0.12
0.32
2.13
0.78
-0.58
0.25
0.45
-0.17
0.95
-0.54
-0.91
-0.35
-0.03
-0.30
0.14
-0.24
-0.17
0.90
0.10
-0.79
0.00
1.71
0.53
0.44
-0.41
1.66
-0.19
0.12
0.30
-0.71
-0.14
0.51
-0.02
0.26
0.05
-0.35
-0.73
-0.09
-0.52
0.23
0.14
-0.71
-1.43
0.12
1.90
1.77
-0.48
0.92
1.61
-0.67
0.03
-0.40
-0.25
-0.26
0.65
1.49
1.22
0.53
-0.10
0.06
0.00
0.08
-0.62
Volume
1,476,300
5,071,000
24,537,000
18,767,000
2,352,900
2,614,000
2,903,500
107,400
1,712,300
2,792,000
2,034,300
8,697,000
9,850,000
4,018,000
705,000
11,229,000
5,918,000
3,996,700
6,174,000
11,139,500
459,500
84,600
1,266,800
439,200
269,000
1,235,900
722,500
681,600
21,162,000
6,733,200
3,850,400
3,798,200
952,700
2,940,800
1,192,300
1,711,700
3,270,800
959,000
576,100
3,914,400
6,386,200
5,272,300
495,700
2,498,700
2,141,900
1,878,800
31,883,700
8,781,500
7,779,000
3,111,600
2,177,000
66,718,100
2,036,700
4,674,000
8,623,500
749,000
1,391,500
2,210,900
1,554,600
1,815,800
2,967,000
5,467,000
2,331,000
862,500
747,300
493,300
8,039,000
1,680,000
1,245,800
2,607,200
5,390,600
1,583,200
1,394,000
1,065,000
1,050,400
3,659,000
213,000
7,975,600
170,400
5,838,200
SENSEX
Company Name
Wipro Ltd
Ultratech Cement Ltd
United Spirits Ltd
Tata Motors Ltd
Tata Power Co Ltd
Tech Mahindra Ltd
Tata Consultancy Svcs Ltd
Tata Steel Ltd
Sun Pharmaceutical Indus
Sesa Sterlite Ltd
State Bank Of India
Reliance Industries Ltd
Power Grid Corp Of India Ltd
Punjab National Bank
Oil & Natural Gas Corp Ltd
Ntpc Ltd
Nmdc Ltd
Maruti Suzuki India Ltd
Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd
Larsen & Toubro Ltd
Lupin Ltd
Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd
Jindal Steel & Power Ltd
Itc Ltd
Infosys Ltd
Indusind Bank Ltd
Idfc Ltd
Icici Bank Ltd
Hindustan Unilever Ltd
Hindalco Industries Ltd
Hero Motocorp Ltd
Hdfc Bank Limited
Housing Development Finance
Hcl Technologies Ltd
Grasim Industries Ltd
Gail India Ltd
Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories
Dlf Ltd
Coal India Ltd
Cipla Ltd
Cairn India Ltd
Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd
Bank Of Baroda
Bajaj Auto Ltd
Bharat Heavy Electricals
Bharti Airtel Ltd
Axis Bank Ltd
Asian Paints Ltd
Ambuja Cements Ltd
Acc Ltd
Lt Price
545.95
2,632.55
2,362.30
484.60
90.60
2,150.70
2,499.75
541.70
814.85
289.50
2,362.50
1,002.95
133.20
910.35
410.10
142.05
174.45
2,666.55
1,321.85
1,484.10
1,183.40
953.35
285.20
356.85
3,612.55
548.25
145.40
1,479.65
714.55
178.60
2,510.55
826.70
1,124.30
1,538.00
3,326.50
425.70
2,755.75
196.20
356.45
448.60
318.60
613.35
878.25
2,135.00
212.95
365.20
377.80
617.80
210.90
1,480.85
% Chg
-0.78
0.94
2.83
2.34
2.32
0.13
-0.01
1.35
1.53
2.82
-0.27
1.29
0.68
0.41
2.01
1.50
0.20
0.59
0.43
2.10
1.60
-0.39
3.67
-0.13
0.12
1.61
0.97
1.89
-0.58
-0.81
-2.64
1.76
-1.73
-1.42
1.90
3.38
0.53
0.98
0.96
1.87
1.13
1.61
0.36
-0.60
1.55
-0.92
1.04
0.33
2.53
1.96
Volume
1,141,910
169,358
492,997
6,941,850
5,204,567
331,066
844,912
10,097,992
1,895,429
5,782,374
1,767,733
2,982,543
2,746,275
816,207
7,130,861
5,445,449
1,462,203
341,033
961,736
1,636,285
575,537
1,062,577
3,411,595
4,641,067
870,637
579,262
5,377,839
2,622,791
983,172
15,755,347
508,416
3,276,032
4,033,569
672,954
65,743
1,970,716
155,913
7,931,960
3,284,550
2,721,284
1,479,312
1,599,793
1,239,735
356,881
7,365,708
3,159,802
3,003,476
691,034
2,485,998
195,194
Traders are seen at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The DAX tumbled 1.44% to 9,092.60 yesterday.
Ukraine hostilities hit
Europe stock markets
AFP
London
E
uropean stocks closed lower yesterday, giving up earlier solid
gains after news that Ukrainian
artillery had destroyed part of a Russian
military column spooked investors.
In Frankfurt, the DAX tumbled 1.44%
to 9,092.60, while in Paris the CAC 40
slid 0.74% to 4,174.36 points.
London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index
ended just above the flatline at 6,689.08
points, compared with Thursday’s
close.
“A feeling of complacency had been
creeping back into investor psychology this week with a general feeling
that perhaps the declines at the start of
the month were overdone,” said Jasper
Lawler at CMC Markets.
“The encounter in Ukraine was a
hefty reminder that geopolitics cannot
be ignored.”
Equity markets turned lower after
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko
said that Kiev had shelled and destroyed
part of a Russian armed convoy as it
crossed into eastern Ukraine.
European leaders hit out at Russia,
with Brussels urging Russia to put an
“immediate stop” to all forms of hostilities near the Ukrainian border and
Britain summoning Moscow’s envoy.
The Kremlin hit back, warning to
Kiev not to interfere with a convoy of
vehicles it deployed to carry humanitarian aid to eastern Ukraine areas controlled by pro-Moscow secessionists.
News of the rising tensions in Ukraine
sent investors running for the safe havens of European bonds, sending the
yields on German and French state debt
to new record lows.
It also hit US shares, which had posted two straight days of gains as investors shrugged off geopolitical tensions
over signs the US economy continued
to grow.
In mid-afternoon trading, the Dow
Jones Industrial Average was down
0.38% to 16,650.58.
The broad-based S&P 500 lost 0.39%
at 1,947.62, while the tech-rich Nasdaq
Composite Index fell 0.13% to 4,477.11.
Oil prices gained in New York on the
news as traders fretted about an interruption in supplies from Russia, the
world’s second-largest oil producer.
In foreign exchange trade yesterday,
the euro rose to $1.3389 from $1.3365
late on Thursday in New York.
The European single currency
climbed to 80.22 pence from 80.09
pence on Thursday, while the pound
rose to $1.6690 from $1.6686.
In corporate news, shares in mining
giant BNP Billiton closed up 1.21% after it said it could spin-off unwanted
assets to focus on top tier commodities such as iron ore, copper, coal and
petroleum.
Shares in the world’s second-largest
HONG KONG
HONG KONG
Company Name
Aluminum Corp Of China Ltd-H
Bank Of East Asia
Bank Of China Ltd-H
Bank Of Communications Co-H
Belle International Holdings
Boc Hong Kong Holdings Ltd
Cathay Pacific Airways
Cheung Kong Holdings Ltd
China Coal Energy Co-H
China Construction Bank-H
China Life Insurance Co-H
China Merchants Hldgs Intl
China Mobile Ltd
China Overseas Land & Invest
China Petroleum & Chemical-H
China Resources Enterprise
China Resources Land Ltd
China Resources Power Holdin
China Shenhua Energy Co-H
China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd
Citic Pacific Ltd
Clp Holdings Ltd
Cnooc Ltd
Cosco Pacific Ltd
Esprit Holdings Ltd
Fih Mobile Ltd
Hang Lung Properties Ltd
Hang Seng Bank Ltd
Henderson Land Development
platinum producer Impala Platinum
fell more than 1% after it warned a п¬Ѓvemonth strike could slash its full-year
earnings by up to 75%.
In economic news, Britain’s output
expanded by 0.8% in the second quarter of 2014 compared with output in the
п¬Ѓrst three months of the year, official
data showed yesterday.
Gross domestic product (GDP) grew
by 3.2% in the April-June period compared with the second quarter of 2013,
the strongest growth since mid-2007.
Rob Wood, an economist at Berenberg, said growth “could well get more
lopsided in the near term” as events in
Ukraine hit demand for exported goods
while domestic demand expands rapidly.
The upbeat British data stands in
contrast to the 18-country eurozone,
where growth ground to a halt in the
second quarter dragged down by top
economies France and Germany, official
data showed on Thursday.
European stock markets had risen on
Thursday as data fuelled speculation
that the European Central Bank would
be forced to roll out stimulus measures.
“Bad news has resumed its position
as the familiar rather than the rare story,” said Capital Spreads dealer Jonathan Sudaria.
“Fears of a European recession and
deflationary slump have been welcomed
by markets” because of the prospect of a
new ECB stimulus programme, he said.
Lt Price
3.58
33.75
3.69
5.81
9.81
24.95
14.74
144.50
4.82
5.91
22.95
26.00
93.40
22.85
7.62
23.95
17.10
22.45
23.45
12.92
16.46
65.35
14.70
11.74
12.22
4.46
23.40
131.50
49.80
% Chg
0.56
0.60
0.00
0.00
0.20
0.20
0.55
0.21
-1.03
0.51
-0.22
0.00
5.78
0.00
-0.26
0.63
-1.16
0.00
-0.21
-0.92
1.35
-0.15
0.41
-0.84
0.83
0.22
-0.64
0.00
0.10
Volume
19,301,283
1,873,315
229,051,500
17,759,753
15,971,074
9,583,830
3,127,714
2,162,853
22,689,626
133,825,013
17,422,510
1,432,354
72,739,928
14,835,487
57,236,986
1,452,432
8,709,152
1,777,167
11,599,890
29,504,472
20,010,951
2,593,845
71,432,797
1,166,623
2,161,748
15,413,259
5,779,044
772,275
1,344,669
Company Name
Hong Kong & China Gas
Hong Kong Exchanges & Clear
Hsbc Holdings Plc
Hutchison Whampoa Ltd
Ind & Comm Bk Of China-H
Li & Fung Ltd
Mtr Corp
New World Development
Petrochina Co Ltd-H
Ping An Insurance Group Co-H
Power Assets Holdings Ltd
Sino Land Co
Sun Hung Kai Properties
Swire Pacific Ltd-A
Tencent Holdings Ltd
Wharf Holdings Ltd
Lt Price
17.40
183.10
83.90
104.60
5.26
10.12
30.75
9.72
10.74
66.15
72.45
13.64
116.80
99.25
130.30
59.25
% Chg
0.23
1.16
1.27
-0.19
0.19
0.00
0.16
-0.21
0.56
0.30
1.33
-0.44
0.00
-0.65
0.15
1.28
Volume
5,267,352
7,954,828
26,053,282
4,863,494
112,218,789
32,956,501
1,113,881
11,421,955
59,878,608
8,462,817
2,260,348
3,624,159
2,836,058
779,995
20,450,168
3,206,887
GCC INDICES
Indices
Doha Securities Market
Saudi Tadawul
Kuwait Stocks Exchange
Bahrain Stock Exchage
Oman Stock Market
Abudhabi Stock Market
Dubai Financial Market
Lt Price
13,505.26
10,588.26
7,234.21
1,476.98
7,321.17
5,052.94
4,813.06
Change
-17.53
-4.84
-11.50
+6.84
+22.82
+49.91
+7.99
“Information contained herein is believed to be reliable and had been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. The
accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed. This publication is for providing information only and is not intended
as an offer or solicitation for a purchase or sale of any of the financial instruments mentioned. Gulf Times and Doha Bank
or any of their employees shall not be held accountable and will not accept any losses or liabilities for actions based on
this data.”
CURRENCIES
DOLLAR
QATAR RIYAL
SAUDI RIYAL
UAE DIRHAMS
BAHRAINI
DINAR
KUWAITI
DINAR
Gulf Times
Saturday, August 16, 2014
5
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Tom & Jerry
The Flintstones
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1125
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1455
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1805
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2005
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2115
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2155
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2245
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0005
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2250
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0030
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0345
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Disappeared
Stalked Someone’s
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Dr G Medical
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Dr G Medical
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Dates From Hell
0525
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1005
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1935
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2120
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0040
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Prophets Of Science
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Live MSNBC The
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Timmy Time
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Ki Khoj
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0200
HIGHLIGHTS
Olympus Has Fallen
Ghost Machine
Bol Bachchan
on OSN Movies Premiere HD at 1800 & 0200 hrs
on MBC Action at 1900 hrs
on Star Plus at 1400 hrs
Phineas And Ferb
Phineas And Ferb
Crash & Bernstein
Crash & Bernstein
Kickin It
Ultimate Spider-Man
Phineas And Ferb
Phineas And Ferb
Lab Rats
Lab Rats
Max Steel
Max Steel
Kickin’ It
Kickin’ It
Phineas & Ferb
Across The
Second Dimension
Phineas And Ferb
Phineas And Ferb
Phineas And Ferb
Phineas And Ferb
Pokemon Bw
Adventures In
Unova
Ultimate Spider-Man
Crash & Bernstein
Lab Rats
Lab Rats
Kickin It
Kickin It
Phineas And Ferb
Phineas And Ferb
Phineas And Ferb
Lab Rats
Camp Lakebottom
Ultimate Spider-Man
Marvel Avengers
Assemble
Hulk And The
Agents Of S.M.A.S.H.
Randy Cunningham
9th Grade Ninja
Phineas And Ferb
Phineas And Ferb
Lab Rats
Kickin’ It
Scaredy Squirrel
Saraswatichandra
Pyaar Ka Dard
Meetha
Meetha Pyara Pyara
Mahabharat
Yeh Hai Mohabbatein
Iss Pyaar Ko Kya
Naam Doon - Ek Baar
Phir
Saath Nibhana
Saathiya
Ek Hasina Thi
Ek Veer Ki Ardaas
Suhaani Si Ek Ladki
IIFA Awards 2014 Curtain Raiser
IIFA Awards 2014 Green Carpet
IIFA Awards 2014 Main Event
Movie: Bol Bachchan
Iss Pyaar Ko Kya
Naam Doon - Ek Baar
Phir
Suhaani SI Ek Ladki
Saath Nibhana
Saathiya
Saraswatichandra
Ek Hasina Thi
Mahabharat
Diya Aur Bati Hum
Yeh Rishta Kya `
Kehlata Hai
Pyaar Ka Dard
Meetha
Meetha Pyara Pyara
Ek Veer Ki Ardaas
Yeh Hai Mohabbatein
Saraswatichandra
Ek Hasina Thi
Diya Aur Baati
Pyaar Ka Dard
Meetha
Meetha Pyara Pyara
Ek Hasina Thi
6
Gulf Times
Saturday, August 16, 2014
TV Schedule
0625 Come Dine With Me
0710 Holmes On Homes
0800 Phil Spencer Secret
Agent
0850 Phil Spencer Secret
Agent
0940 Antiques Roadshow
1030 French Food At Home
1055 French Food At Home
1120 French Food At Home
1145 New Scandinavian
Cooking With
Andreas Viestad
1215
New Scandinavian
Cooking With
Andreas Viestad
1245 The Hairy Bikers USA
1310 Rachel Khoo’s Kitchen
Notebook London
1335 Come Dine With Me
South Africa
1430 Antiques Roadshow
1525 Fantasy Homes By
The Sea
1610 Fantasy Homes By
The Sea
1655 Fantasy Homes By
The Sea
1740 Fantasy Homes By
The Sea
2000 Fat & Fatter
2055 Come Dine With Me
Supersized
2230 Antiques Roadshow
2320 Bargain Hunt
0005 Cash In The Attic
0050 Phil Spencer Secret
Agent
0230 Come Dine With Me
Supersized
0405 Marbella Mansions
0450 Marbella Mansions
0535 Marbella Mansions
0700
0905
1048
1235
1430
1600
1800
2000
2200
0130
0415
The Yearling
Show Boat
High Society
East Of Eden
Ride, Vaquero!
Where The Spies
Are
Summer Holiday
Operation
Crossbow
The Comedians
The Outfit
It Happened At The
World’s Fair
0500 Cheerful Weather For
The Wedding-PG15
0700 The Words-PG15
0900 Despicable Me 2-PG
1045 Life Of Pi-PG
1300 You Got Served Beat
The World-PG15
1500 Parental Guidance-PG
1700 Despicable Me 2-PG
1900 The Heat-PG15
2100 Bachelorette-PG15
2300 The Bling Ring-18
0030 Birdsong-18
0330 Despicable Me 2-PG
0515 You Got Served Beat
The World-PG15
0615 Lightspeed
0800 Green Flash
930
The Bonfire Of The
Vanities
1130 The Addams Family
1300 The Dukes Of Hazzard
The Beginning
1430 North
1600 Country Strong
1800 The Darjeeling
Limited
2030 The Edge Of Love
2200 Dance Of The Dead
2330 Green Flash
0130 Mexican Sunrise
0300 The Bonfire Of The
Vanities
The Edge Of Love
on MBC Max at 2030 hrs
0610
0635
0700
0725
0755
0815
Swamp Brothers
Call Of The Wildman
Call Of The Wildman
Project Puppy
Project Puppy
Weird Creatures With
Nick Baker
0910 Must Love Cats
1005 America’s Cutest Pets
1100 Too Cute!
1155
Treehouse Masters
1250 My Pet’s Gone Viral
1320 My Pet’s Gone Viral
1345 My Pet’s Gone Viral
1415 My Pet’s Gone Viral
1440 My Pet’s Gone Viral
1510 My Pet’s Gone Viral
1535 My Pet’s Gone Viral
1605 My Pet’s Gone Viral
1630 Too Cute!
1725 Too Cute!
1820 Tanked
1915 My Tiny Terror
2010 Deadly Islands
2105 Wildest Indochina
2200 My Tiny Terror
2255 Deadly Islands
2350 Untamed & Uncut
0045 Wildest Indochina
0135 Animal Cops
Philadelphia
0225 Untamed & Uncut
0315 My Tiny Terror
0405 Deadly Islands
0455 Animal Cops
Philadelphia
0545 Treehouse Masters
0630 Unguarded With
Rachel Nichols
0700 Quest Means
Business
0800 World Sport
0900 CNN Newsroom
0915 CNN Marketplace
Africa
1015 CNN Marketplace
Middle East
1030 Art Of Movement
1045 I Report For CNN
1200 CNN Newsroom
1330 Unguarded
With
Rachel Nichols
1400 Amanpour
1430 Inside Africa
1630 CNNGo
1730 Backstory
1830 African Voices
1900 CNN Marketplace
Europe
1915 CNN Marketplace
Africa
1930 Art Of Movement
1945 I Report For CNN
2000 World Sport
2030 Mainsail
2100 International Desk
2300 The Brief
2330 Unguarded
With
Rachel Nichols
0100 Piers Morgan Live
0615
Stepmom
0815
Armageddon
1045
People Like Us
1245
The Four
1445
Stepmom
1645
1815
Double Team
The Nightmare
Before Christmas
1930
Garage Sale Mystery
2100
Reign Of Fire
2245
Snake Eyes
0030
Today You Die
0200
Reign Of Fire
0345
0530
Snake Eyes
Today You Die
0600 The Chronicles Of
Narnia Prince Caspian
0830 Dr. Seuss’ Horton
Hears A Who
1000 Casper’s Scare School
1130 Shark Bait
1300 Muppets From Space
1430 Pacific Pirates
1600 Curious
George
Swings Into Spring
1800 Casper’s Scare School
2000 Problem Child 2
2200 Pacific Pirates
2330 Curious
George
Swings Into Spring
0100 Dr. Seuss’ Horton
Hears A Who
0245 Problem Child 2
0430 Pacific Pirates
Problem Child 2
on OSN Movies Kids at 2000 & 0245 hrs
0600
0700
0800
0900
1000
1100
1200
1300
1330
1400
1500
1600
1700
1800
1900
2000
2030
2130
2230
2330
0000
0100
0130
My Kitchen Rules
My Kitchen Rules
Criminal Minds
Make It Or Break It
Nine Lives of Chloe
King
Low Winter Sun
Lost
The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons
Grey’s Anatomy
The Bridge
The Listener
Bones
Private Practice
The BlockUnlocked
Revenge
The ApartmentStyle Edition
Dirt
The BlockUnlocked
Greek
According To Jim
According To Jim
0630
0730
0800
0900
1000
1100
1130
1200
1230
1300
1330
1430
1530
1600
1700
1800
1900
2000
2130
2230
2300
0000
0100
0200
0300
0400
VCD
Double Shot
XO
LOOP
KPOP Explosion
TOP 5
TOP 5
TOP 5
TOP 5
TOP 5
[V]S
VCD
Double Shot
XO
LOOP
KPOP Explosion
XO
LOOP
Videoscope
ATM (Asian Top
Music)
Double Shot
VCD
KPOP Explosion
Backtracks
XO
LOOP
0600
0700
0800
0900
1000
1100
1200
1300
1400
1500
1600
1700
1800
1900
2000
2100
2200
2300
0000
0100
0200
0300
0400
0500
0600
Cinema Landmark (1) : Postman Pat: The Movie (3D)
2.15pm & 4pm; Plastic (2D) 6.30pm; Suniya Fi Masr (2D)
8.30pm; Anjaan (Tamil) 10.30pm.
Cinema Landmark (2) : Plastic (2D) 2.30pm;
Guardians Of The Galaxy (3D) 4.30pm; The
Expandables 3 (2D) 6.45, 9 & 11.15 pm.
Cinema Landmark (3) : Barbie & The Secret Door (2D)
2.30pm; Lucy (2D) 4.15pm; El Feel El Azraq (2D) 6pm;
Guardians Of The Galaxy (3D) 8.45 & 11.15pm.
Royal Plaza Cinema Palace (1) : Postman Pat: The
Movie (3D) 2.15pm; Singham Returns (Hindi) 4pm; The
Expendables 3 (2D) 6.30, 9 & 11.15pm.
Royal Plaza Cinema Palace (2) : Barbie & The Secret
Door (2D) 3 & 4.30pm; Guardians Of The Galaxy (3D)
6.30, 8.45 & 11.15 pm.
Royal Plaza Cinema Palace (3) : Plastic (2D) 2.30 &
4.30pm; Lucy (2D) 6.30pm; El Feel El Azraq (2D) 8.15pm;
Singham Returns (Hindi) 11pm.
Mall Cinema (1) : Postman Pat: The Movie (3D) 2.15 &
4pm; Plastic (2D) 5.45pm; Vikramadithyan (Malayalam)
7.45pm; Anjaan (Tamil) 10.30pm.
Mall Cinema (2) : Barbie & the Secret Door (2D)
2.30pm; Lucy (2D) 4.15pm; El Feel El Azraq (2D) 6pm;
Guardians Of The Galaxy (3D) 8.45 & 11.15pm.
Mall Cinema (3) : Plastic (2D) 2.30pm; Guardians Of
The Galaxy (3D) 4.30pm; The Expandables 3 (2D) 6.45,
9 & 11.15pm.
Global Cinemas, West End Park (1) : Vikramadithyan
(Malayalam) 2.30, 5.30, 8.30 & 11.30pm.
Global Cinemas, West End Park (2): Velai Illa
Pattathari (Tamil) 2.45pm; Jigarthanda (Tamil) 5.30pm;
Bangalore Day’s (Malayalam) 8.30 & 11.45pm.
Hunter Hunted
Caught In The Act
One Ocean
The Border
Mega Factories
Showdown of The
Unbeatables
Fight Science
Banged Up Abroad
Car SOS
Access 360 World
Heritage
Ultimate Survival
Alaska
Blowdown
Ancient
Megastructures
Megastructures
Ultimate Survival
Alaska
Blowdown
Ancient
Megastructures
Showdown of The
Unbeatables
Fight Science
Banged Up Abroad
Car SOS
Megastructures
Ultimate Survival
Alaska
Blowdown
Ancient
Megastructures
0630 Devon Ke Dev
Mahadev
0700 Devon Ke Dev
Mahadev
0730 Devon Ke Dev
Mahadev
0800 Devon Ke Dev
Mahadev
0830 Iss Pyaar Ko Kya
Naam Doon
0900 Iss Pyaar Ko Kya
Naam Doon
0930 Iss Pyaar Ko Kya
Naam Doon
1000 Iss Pyaar Ko Kya
Naam Doon
1030 Emax
Star
Quiz
Challenge 2014
1100 Life OK Blockbusters Raajneeti
1400 Tumhari Paakhi
1430 Tumhari Paakhi
1500 The Adventures of
Hatim
1600 Super Cops Vs. Super
Villains - Shapath
1700 Savdhaan India 2
1800 Welcome - Season 2
1830 Welcome - Season 2
1900 The Adventures of
Hatim
2000 Super Cops Vs. Super
Villains - Shapath
2100 Savdhaan India
2200 Savdhaan India 2
0100 Savdhaan India
0200 Devon Ke Dev
Mahadev
0300 Devon Ke Dev
Mahadev
0330 Devon Ke Dev
Mahadev
Garage Sale Mystery
on Star Movies at 1930 hrs
0500 Bigg Boss Saath 7
0600 Sanskaar - Dharohar
Apnon Ki
0630 Sanskaar - Dharohar
Apnon Ki
0700 Comedy Nights
With Kapil
0800 Madhubala - Ek Ishq
Ek Junoon
0830 Madhubala - Ek Ishq
Ek Junoon
0900 Chashme Baddoor
1100 Movie
1400 Balika Vadhu
1430 Balika Vadhu
1455 Cook, Love, Eat
1500 Balika Vadhu
1530 Balika Vadhu
1600 Bigg Boss Saath 7
1700 Sanskaar - Dharohar
Apnon Ki
1730 Sanskaar - Dharohar
Apnon Ki
1800 Sanskaar - Dharohar
Apnon Ki
1830 Sanskaar - Dharohar
Apnon Ki
1900 Tba
2000 Bigg Boss Saath 7
2100 Comedy Nights
With Kapil
2130 Comedy Nights
With Kapil
2230 Madhubala - Ek Ishq
Ek Junoon
2300 Madhubala - Ek Ishq
Ek Junoon
2330 Madhubala - Ek Ishq
Ek Junoon
0300 Sasural Simar Ka
0330 Sasural Simar Ka
0400 Sasural Simar Ka
0430 Sasural Simar Ka
PRAYER TIME
Fajr ........................................................................3.46am
Shorooq (sunrise) ..................................................... 5.07am
Zuhr (noon) ............................................................ 11.38am
Asr (afternoon) ........................................................3.07pm
Maghreb (sunset) .....................................................6.10pm
Isha (night)..............................................................7.40pm
USEFUL NUMBERS
Emergency ..................................................................... 999
Worldwide Emergency Number ........................................... 112
Kahramaa – Electricity and Water ....................................... 991
Ooredoo Telephone Assistance ............................................ 111
Local Directory ................................................................ 180
International Calls Enquires................................................150
Time ........................................................................ 141, 140
Doha International Airport ...................................... 44656666
Labor Department .................................... 44508111, 44406537
Medical Commission ................................................ 44679111
Mowasalat Taxi ....................................................... 44588888
Qatar Airways ........................................................44496000
Weather Forecast..................................................... 44656590
Hamad Medical Corporation ......................................44392222
.............................................................................. 44393333
Qatar General Electricity and
Water Corporation ................................................... 44845555
...........................................................................................
44845464 ............................................................................
Primary Health Care Corporation ............................... 44593333
...........................................................................................
44593363 .............................................................................
Qatar Assistive Technology
Centre ................................................................... 44594050
Qatar News Agency.................................................. 44450205
..............................................................................44450333
Q-Post – General Postal
Corporation .......................................................... 44464444
Qatar University .......................................................44033333
Gulf Times
Saturday, August 16, 2014
7
BUSINESS/LEISURE
Adam
Fiat Chrysler growth
plan challenged by
possible merger delay
Merger to create Fiat Chrysler
Automobiles; tie-up key to US
listing, capital raising to fund
growth; deal subject to €500mn
limit to pay out exit rights;
shareholders worried about
business outlook; drop in share
price makes exit deal more
tempting
Pooch Cafe
Reuters
Milan
S
ergio Marchionne has shown
he is determined to let nothing stand in the way of Fiat’s
merger with Chrysler, but a share
price slide may yet force the CEO to
hit the brakes on plans to turn the
world’s No 7 car maker into a top
player.
Fiat bought out Chrysler at the
start of 2014 and both operate as
one п¬Ѓrm. Marchionne now plans to
merge them into a single legal entity
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA)
to boost the firm’s global clout and
pave the way for a US listing he says
is key to help fund a €48bn ($64bn)
growth plan.
However, his plan looks to be on
shaky ground. The merger cannot go
ahead if too many shareholders who
disagree with it take up his formal offer to buy their stock at a set price — a
legal requirement triggered by Fiat
moving its registered offices from
Italy to the Netherlands — and recent
events make that a possibility.
On top of concerns that Marchionne may be overreaching with
his investment plan — to grow net
profit five-fold and sales by 60% by
2018 — Fiat’s recent poor results and
weak markets prompted a slide in its
shares to their lowest this year and
below the €7.727 price that Marchionne is offering investors who
want to depart when the merger occurs.
Should investors holding around
9% of eligible shares decide to sell,
that would breach a €500mn payout
limit that Fiat has set — and throw
the merger into doubt. Fiat would
have an opportunity to place the
tendered stock to other shareholders
and later to the public at the same
exit price, an unlikely prospect while
the market value remains lower.
“With the share price where it is
today, a delay is a possibility,” said
Andrea Giuricin, a transport analyst at Milan’s Bicocca university.
Garfield
Bound And Gagged
Cryptic Clues
Sudoku
Sudoku is a puzzle
based on a 9x9 grid.
The grid is also
divided into nine
(3x3) boxes. You are
given a selection of
values and to complete the puzzle,
you must fill the
grid so that every
column, every row
and every 3x3 box
contains the digits
1 to 9 and none is
repeated.
Weekly’s Solutions
ACROSS
1. Dishonourable foundation
(4)
3. Log cabin? (8)
9. Boy about to press for the
operator (7)
10. Tries to transform
observances (5)
11. Describing one who gives
you a glassy stare? (12)
13. Supply bases of French
vessels (6)
15. Ask oneself if the
Communist at present is
returning (6)
17. Insurance premiums paid
by restaurant patrons (5,7)
20. Ill-treatment of Lincoln
around the States (5)
21. Crooked dealer taking in a
thousand for the gem (7)
22. Putting on clothes - what
sauce! (8)
23. Take the lead in Moliere’s
“Tartuffe” (4)
“If there is a delay, it would impact
Fiat’s plans to lure foreign investors
and ease its access to cash. Marchionne’s attempts to convince the
market to the contrary shows he is
getting a bit nervous.”
Fiat said itself in a July SEC п¬Ѓling
that a delay could “negatively affect Fiat’s business plans and operations”. But as the fall in Fiat shares
heightened that risk, so its CEO has
downplayed it.
“I’m absolutely unfazed by all
this,” Marchionne said last week.
“Even if the merger were not to happen as described... none of our plans
presented in May are going to be impacted.”
On the approach to the merger
Marchionne hit bumps in the road
he did not expect: His core North
American market is weakening, Italy
slid back to recession in the second
quarter, and conflicts from the Middle East to Russia have dampened
investors’ appetite for risk in equity
markets.
In addition two proxy advisory
п¬Ѓrms, offering independent voting recommendations as a service
to institutional investors, recommended a vote against the merger
on the grounds that it decreased investor rights and tightened the grip
on the company by the Agnelli family through a loyalty scheme put in
place as part of the merger to reward
long-term investors.
The merger was approved by 84%
of shares represented at the meeting, but some institutional investors, including Norway’s sovereign
wealth fund and the People’s Bank
of China, voted against, according
to the minutes. Neither would comment on the vote.
Some individual shareholders
expressed their concerns over Fiat
moving its registered offices away
from Italy, its home for the past 115
years, and also raised worries that
the share price would suffer once
the stock’s primary listing moved to
New York.
In the end the hold-up may
simply be down to a technicality.
Against the price Fiat had to set to
pay off dissenting investors — the
€7.727 a share is based on the stock’s
six-month average — its Thursday
closing price of €7.33 makes that offer still a generous one.
Eligible investors have until August 20 to tell Fiat whether they plan
to cash in on their exit rights. The car
maker will announce the number of
shares for which exit rights have been
exercised in the week of September 1.
If a critical mass of investors
breaches the cap Marchionne has
set, he has said he will start the
merger process again — effectively
meaning a delay of several months.
However, with the stock’s recent
fall, a new merger attempt would
lead to a lower exit price, making it
easier to keep the outlay below the
payout cap the second time around.
Marchionne has warned that investors would be taking “an enormous risk” by exercising the exit
rights, because their shares could be
locked up for as long as six months
before the outcome is known — and
then left in their possession if the
cap is breached.
Marchionne is counting on the
merger and the US listing to help pay
for a relaunch of its Alfa Romeo and
Maserati brands, export Jeeps globally, and take all three to fast growing Asian markets, where the group
is currently weak.
That investment plan’s targets
and timelines look ambitious to
even the most optimistic of analysts,
most of whom say capital raising of
some sort is needed to make it affordable.
Fiat had €18.5bn of cash at endJune, but nearly €32bn in debt. Its
п¬Ѓnancing costs are high and margins
are weakening — operating margin
stood at 2.7% in the п¬Ѓrst half of this
year.
It is also valued below its European peers, trading at 2.6 times enterprise value to forecast core earnings (EV/EBITDA) compared to the
median of 4.3 times for the sector in
Europe.
Fiat has ruled out asset sales and a
share issue for now, but may go for a
mandatory convertible bond. However, Marchionne said any decision
on п¬Ѓnancing would only be taken
after FCA was created and with a delay, this would be pushed out as well.
A delay to the planned October
New York listing could also complicate an already challenging US offensive. Marchionne believes a Wall
Street ticker is necessary to set up
Fiat as a player able to rival the likes
of Germany’s Volkswagen and BMW,
but after a lukewarm response to last
year’s US debut of sister company
CNH Industrial, he expects it will
take time for Fiat to lure US investors.
Quick Clues
DOWN
1. One who meddles with
active group of people (8)
2. Regal forms of address for
fathers (5)
4. Fancy the part of Lorna
Templeton (6)
5. Tries cedar to make boards
(12)
6. Would an ice-cap cool him
down? (7)
7. Frustrate a fleet movement
(4)
8. But always the majority,
apparently (12)
12. He religiously opposed
Saladin (8)
14. The crop due to be
reprocessed? (7)
16. Draught excluder with
pictures on (6)
18. Something bestowed on a
U.S. president (5)
19. Eggs are put face upwards
(4)
ACROSS
1. Scheme (4)
3. End (8)
9. Beware! (4,3)
10. Alcove (5)
11. Inconsistent (3,2,7)
13. Anticipate (6)
15. Entreaty (6)
17. Undeniable (12)
20. Inexperienced (5)
21. Vertical (7)
22. Discouraged (8)
23. Sole (4)
DOWN
1. Jersey (8)
2. Concerning (5)
4. Exit (6)
5. Plotters (12)
6. Weird (7)
7. Always (4)
8. Sweets-seller (12)
12. Clerical (8)
14. Acrid (7)
16. Smart (6)
18. Start (5)
19. Old (4)
Weekly’s Solutions
QUICK
Across: 6 Sublime; 7 Split;
9 Vogue; 10 Perhaps; 12
Deferential; 14 Sensitivity; 18
Qualify; 19 Query; 21 Askew; 22
Signify.
Down: 1 Buxom; 2 Clause; 3 Imp;
4 Upshot; 5 Display; 8 Receive; 11
Testify; 13 Bequest; 15 Solder; 16
Truant; 17 Gruff; 20 Win.
CRYPTIC
Across: 6 Paladin; 7 Peace; 9
Fleet; 10 Manacle; 12 Stateliness;
14 Just deserts; 18 Stories; 19
Inapt; 21 Break; 22 Earring.
Down: 1 Rally; 2 Patent; 3 Tin;
4 Retain; 5 Oculist; 8 Dallies; 11
Steered; 13 Hunters; 15 Thread;
16 Tuners; 17 Spine; 20 Fan.
Gulf Times
Saturday, August 16, 2014
9
BUSINESS
Silver market reboots price benchmark
Reuters
London
T
he silver market ushered in a
new era of electronic benchmarking yesterday after a regulatory drive for transparency brought
the 117-year-old silver �fix’ to an end.
Scrutiny of precious metals pricing from European and US п¬Ѓnancial
watchdogs intensified in the wake of
benchmark manipulation in other п¬Ѓnancial markets, most notably the rigging of London Interbank Offered Rate
(Libor).
The п¬Ѓnal conference call in the old
process of п¬Ѓxing the benchmark silver
price took place on Thursday between
banker-dealers in the $3bn-a-day
London silver market.
The London silver п¬Ѓx started in 1897,
predating the gold process by 22 years,
in the offices of one trading п¬Ѓrm and
with three others participating.
At that time, the cash price of silver
was 27-9/16 old pennies. Yesterday,
the п¬Ѓrst LBMA Silver Price was set at
$19.86 per ounce.
Beginning in 1999, the process was
conducted by telephone, with HSBC,
Deutsche Bank and Bank of Nova Scotia-ScotiaMocatta as п¬Ѓxing members.
The new price mechanism, operated
by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange
and Thomson Reuters in association
with the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA), is an electronic,
auction-based and auditable process and is tradable with an increased
Silver bars are displayed at the Austrian gold and silver separating plant in Vienna. The silver market ushered in a new era of
electronic benchmarking yesterday after a regulatory drive for transparency brought the 117-year-old silver �fix’ to an end.
number of direct participants. Traders were sanguine about day one of the
new price.
“Without enough participants in
the old system, it seems to be the best
solution available, maybe the way to go
for the other precious metals as well,” a
European precious metals trader said.
The CME Group provides the platform and algorithm, while Thomson
Reuters acts as administrator. The
LBMA, which acted as a facilitator in
the quest to п¬Ѓnd an alternative to the
benchmark, will publish volumes and
participants of each daily settlement
on its website.
Volumes on the new benchmark
yesterday stood at 525,000 ounces on
the sell side and 325,000 ounces on the
buy side.
The LBMA said three price partici-
pants had been accredited to contribute to the benchmark from August 15
– HSBC Bank, Mitsui & Co Precious
Metals and The Bank of Nova Scotia.
While a number of banks, trading
houses, refiners and producers have
expressed interest in contributing,
“the tight schedule and the time of year
has imposed time constraints on some
potential participants seeking internal
sign-off on the necessary credit, legal,
compliance and IT requirements”, the
LBMA said.
At its silver price webinar in July,
the CME said that “for day one participation, we are looking at the
LBMA market-makers with consistent and constant bilateral credit facilities”.
Eleven institutions are LBMA market makers for gold and silver. Credit
Suisse said on Thursday that it would
be taking part in the new process, while
UBS said in an e-mail that “it is currently evaluating the feasibility of becoming an auction member in the near
future”.
Societe Generale, JPMorgan, Bank
of America-Merrill Lynch, Deutsche
Bank and Barclays declined to comment, while Goldman Sachs did not
respond to a request for comment.
The new benchmark – used by producers, consumers and investors – is
set every day at noon as an online
“equilibrium auction” conducted over
multiple auction rounds.
Like the old process, it starts with
a price that reflects the spot market
level.
Then within each round of the auction, participants enter their buy and/
or sell orders, which are compared at
the end of each round to determine
whether the market is balanced.
To be balanced, the total of buy versus sell orders entered by all market
participants need to be within a certain
tolerance, which is initially three lakhs,
or 300,000 ounces.
If the market is not balanced, a new
suggested price is automatically calculated (moved up or down on the side of
the imbalance) and a new round begins
at this price.
If the market is balanced, the LBMA
Silver Price is determined, and market
participants then execute trades based
on the buy/sell orders they entered in
the last round and any at-market orders entered.
The operator and administrator
will have full transparency about the
names during the auction process, but
participants, who can change the size
of their orders at any time, cannot see
the names of others.
The overhaul of the silver п¬Ѓx process
is the п¬Ѓrst in a series of revamps of all
precious metals benchmarks, including the century-old gold п¬Ѓx and the
platinum and palladium п¬Ѓxes, whose
operators earlier this month said were
looking for a new administrator.
Some of the companies that had
proposed alternatives to the silver п¬Ѓx
said they would send their tenders for
the gold market, when the request for
proposals process starts at the end of
August.
10
Gulf Times
Saturday, August 16, 2014
BUSINESS
Austrian investor
Benko buys Karstadt
Reuters
Berlin
G
Shipping terminals are seen in the harbour of Bremerhaven. In recent weeks, the German economy has been hit by a barrage of bad news that has surprised even the most ardent
Germany sceptics.
Energy policy, reform
roll-back put German
economy in uncertainty
Reuters
Berlin
T
he German soccer team’s romp to
victory in last month’s World Cup
was hailed at home as a symbol of
the country’s emergence as a confident
global economic power.
But in an ironic twist, the feel-good
triumph in Brazil may have come at
a time when Germany’s new “Wirtschaftswunder”, or economic miracle, is
coming to an end.
In recent weeks, the economy that
proud German politicians have taken to
describing as a “growth locomotive” and
“stability anchor” for Europe, has been
hit by a barrage of bad news that has surprised even the most ardent Germany
sceptics. The big shocker came on Thursday, when the Federal Statistics Office revealed that gross domestic product (GDP)
had contracted by 0.2% in the second
quarter.
“The euphoria that we’ve seen, the
perception that the German economy is
booming is simply misplaced,” said Marcel Fratzscher, director of the DIW economic institute in Berlin.
So why is Germany suddenly ailing?
The standoff with Russia over Ukraine
has received its fair share of blame in the
German media.
But that conflict may not hit the economy with full force until the third quarter. It was only last month that Europe
stung Moscow with economic sanctions,
prompting a tit-for-tat response from
Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In reality, economists and some government officials acknowledge, there are
deeper reasons for the recent downturn.
And they have little to do with the spike in
geopolitical tensions in eastern Europe or
the Middle East.
They start at home, where Chancellor
Angela Merkel’s abrupt exit from nuclear
energy after the Fukushima disaster in Japan and aggressive push into renewables
has unnerved German industry.
A recent overhaul of the country’s complex renewable energy law has done little
to alleviate uncertainty over future policy
or assuage fears about German energy
competitiveness.
“Energy intensive industries in particular have lost confidence in the future
of Germany as a business location,” said
Thomas Mayer, a former chief economist at Deutsche Bank who now runs the
Cologne-based Flossbach von Storch Research Institute. “I think this is a major issue that will burden German industry for
years to come.”
Further souring the mood among businesses has been a roll-back of economic
reforms that Merkel’s predecessor Gerhard Schroeder introduced a decade ago,
and which many credit with fuelling a
sharp drop in German unemployment and
a rebound in growth that began in 2006 when Germany itself hosted (but failed to
win) the World Cup.
Since coming to power in late December, Germany’s left-right “grand coalition” government has pushed through a
reduction in the retirement age for some
San Bernardino begins
bondholder talks two
years after bankruptcy
Reuters
California
S
an Bernardino, California, has begun face-toface talks with some of its
biggest creditors – bondholders and insurers – for the first
time, two years after п¬Ѓling for
bankruptcy in a case that has
slowed to a crawl in the past 12
months.
Paul Glassman, an attorney
representing the city, said in
a court hearing on Thursday
that an all-day mediation session was held on August 5 with
Ambac Assurance Corp, the insurer of $50mn of pension obligation bonds issued to the city
in 2005.
Ambac was also negotiating
on behalf of Erste Europäische
Pfandbrief-und
Kommunalkreditbank AG, the holder
of the bonds, and Wells Fargo
Bank, the bond trustee and the
flagship bank of Wells Fargo &
Co. Details of the negotiations
are subject to a judicial gag order.
Glassman said the city will
begin talks soon with another
creditor, bond insurer National Public Finance Guarantee
Corp, a unit of MBIA Inc
San Bernardino, a city of
205,000 people located 65
miles east of Los Angeles, п¬Ѓled
for bankruptcy in August 2012
with a budget deficit of $45mn.
The city is one of a handful of municipal bankruptcies being closely watched by
the $3.7tn US municipal bond
market. Bondholders, public
employees and other state and
local governments are keen on
understanding how п¬Ѓnancially
distressed cities handle their
debts to Wall Street, compared
with other creditors like large
pension funds such as Calpers,
during Chapter 9 protection.
Stockton, another California
city that declared bankruptcy
around the same time as San
Bernardino, is significantly
closer to exiting Chapter 9. Detroit, Michigan, which п¬Ѓled the
biggest municipal bankruptcy
in US history in July 2013, п¬Ѓled a
plan of adjustment to deal with
its $18bn of debt in February.
San Bernardino has also
reached a “tentative” deal
with the police union - the
city’s biggest - after months
of closed-door negotiations,
Glassman said. He added that
the deal represented “significant progress” in the city’s attempt to issue a bankruptcy
exit plan, known as a plan of
adjustment.
In June, the city reached a
deal with its biggest creditor,
the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (Calpers). San Bernardino has imposed significant cuts in pay
and other benefits on its police
and firefighters.
workers and won parliamentary approval
for a nationwide minimum wage of €8.50
($11.40) an hour.
Next on the agenda are stricter limits on
temporary workers. The pension reform,
which allows longtime workers to retire
four years early at 63, risks aggravating
a skilled labour shortage in some sectors
of the economy. Ratings agency Moody’s
said this week that it undermined the sustainability of the German pension system.
The unintended effect of the policies
has been to discourage п¬Ѓrms from investing at home. Corporate investment in machinery and equipment, for example, hit
an all-time low of 6.2% of GDP last year,
Elga Bartsch of Morgan Stanley points
out, despite solid domestic demand dynamics, low lending rates and still-upbeat
business sentiment.
Compounding the problem has been
pronounced weakness in public investment. A study by the DIHK Chambers of
Commerce and Industry last month said
Germany was suffering from an overall
investment gap amounting to 3% of GDP,
or 80bn euros annually.
At roughly 17% of GDP, total annual
investment levels in Germany lie below
those of other industrialised countries,
which average over 21%. In Germany’s
southern neighbour Austria, for example,
the level is 27%.
Pointing to these п¬Ѓgures, DIHK President Eric Schweitzer likens the current
mood in Germany to that on the Titanic:
“Everyone is partying and no one sees the
threat of the looming iceberg.”
In private, government officials also
admit to concern. The Economy Ministry has been examining ways to tackle
Germany’s investment problem and Minister Sigmar Gabriel has invited outside
experts to discuss the matter later this
month. After his Social Democrats (SPD)
pushed through the pension and minimum wage legislation, Gabriel is trying
hard to show the business community
that he is listening. Earlier this month he
spent nearly a week touring small-tomedium-sized Mittelstand companies in
eastern Germany.
“There have been periods, for example
in the late 1990s, when Germany lost its
economic edge,” said one government official, who requested anonymity due to
the sensitivity of the growth debate. “Are
we heading into another of these periods?
There are people who are concerned that
we are.”
Germany still looks good compared to
European partners such as Italy, whose
economy also contracted by 0.2% in the
second quarter, and France, which admitted this week it would miss its deficit targets for this year after its economy stagnated in the period.
Part of Germany’s second quarter
weakness can be explained by weather
effects: the mild winter led construction
п¬Ѓrms to invest more heavily in the п¬Ѓrst
three months of the year, at the expense of
the recent quarter.
German unemployment, at a rate of
6.7%, is near post-reunification lows and
wages are on the rise, supporting domestic demand, which has taken over from
trade as the economy’s main growth pillar.
erman
department
store giant Karstadt is
changing hands for the
second time in four years, with
Austrian property investor
Rene Benko set to overhaul the
loss-making chain.
A familiar sight in German
cities and the owner of the famous KaDeWe luxury department store in Berlin, Karstadt
competes with Kaufhof, which
has capitalised on Karstadt’s
woes to gain market share.
The two run around 100 stores
each.
Signa will now try to keep
Karstadt out of the media
limelight in order to focus fully
on its restructuring, Wolfram Keil, managing director of
Signa Retail, said.
“The most important goal
now is to achieve calm and to
present, discuss with labour
representatives, approve and
implement the next steps of
a sustainable restructuring
strategy,” he said in a statement
yesterday.
He did not provide any details about what form the restructuring would take and
Signa was not immediately
available for comment yesterday, a public holiday in Austria.
Signa Holding, Benko’s
property vehicle, last year
bought a majority stake in
Karstadt’s luxury and sportsfocused stores from US investor Nicolas Berggruen. It said
on Friday it was taking over the
remaining minority stake.
Signa is also taking control of a further 83 Karstadt
department stores that are
bundled together in a separate
company, exercising a call option to take over 100% of the
stores for a symbolic €1 ($1.34).
The revised option allows a
full takeover, Signa said, and
would mean Berggruen’s exit
from Karstadt. Signa had previously agreed an option that
would allow it to take over 75%
of Karstadt, sources had told
Reuters.
Signa said that no further
money would be paid to Berggruen as part of the deal.
Berggruen, the son of an international art dealer who has
a net worth of $1.9bn according to Forbes, rescued Karstadt
from insolvency in 2010 but
has come under п¬Ѓre from unions after failing to invest and
turn around the chain.
In July, Karstadt’s chief executive Eva-Lotta Sjostedt
stepped down after only п¬Ѓve
months in the job, hinting at
a lack of support from Berggruen.
“Despite all of our efforts,
Karstadt is still not reporting a
profit. We are therefore making
way so that Karstadt can have a
fresh start with a new owner.”
Berggruen said in a statement.
A source close to him said
that Berggruen felt it was not
only money that was necessary
but restructuring and consolidation within the sector.
There has long been speculation that Karstadt and Kaufhof could merge, but German
retail group Metro, which owns
Kaufhof, has always rejected
such a move. Benko previously
tried to buy Kaufhof, but Metro
dismissed the bid as too low.
Shares in Metro rose 1.3% on
Friday, outperforming a 0.5%
rise on the German index for
medium-sized companies.
Privately-held
Karstadt
doesn’t report financial results. It saw sales fall 3.9% and
made a net loss of 34mn euros
in the п¬Ѓrst half of its 2013/2014
п¬Ѓscal year, German business
newspaper Handelsblatt reported in May.
Kaufhof, on the other hand,
reported a 0.5% rise in sales
in Germany in the п¬Ѓrst nine
months of its 2013/14 п¬Ѓscal
year.
Benko: Set to overhaul the loss-making chain.
CORPORATE RESULTS
Finnair posts weaker-than-expected profit in Q2
very mild weather conditions throughout the
winter,” MVV said in a statement yesterday.
Since Germany’s decision to abandon nuclear
energy by 2022, the country’s utilities firms
face competition from a massive expansion
of renewable energy as well as declining
wholesale power prices, pushing their gas
and coal plants into loss.
Larger German peer RWE and France’s GDF
Suez have also pointed to mild temperatures
as one factor when reporting a decline in
profits.
MVV confirmed its adjusted EBIT would rise
again in the fiscal year 2014/2015, which
starts in October, after an expected decline in
profits by up to 19% to €170-€175mn this year.
This recovery will be driven by two biomass
and energy-from-waste plants in Britain,
which are both scheduled to become operational next year.
Loss-making Finnair cut its full-year profit
forecast yesterday after posting a weakerthan-expected quarterly result due to delayed cost-cuts and tough market conditions.
Stiff competition from discount carriers, high
fuel prices and unfavourable exchange rates
put pressure on the state-controlled airline
while it struggled to implement planned
cost cuts in the face of strong labour union
resistance.
“Due to delays in the personnel cost reduction negotiations and the unfavourable
market conditions driving the decline in
unit revenue, Finnair estimates that its 2014
operation result will show a significant loss,”
it said in a statement.
The company had already cut its sales
guidance in June, forecasting a significant
fall in turnover from 2013, but declined at
that point to update its profit outlook until
it saw how negotiations with staff over cost
cuts proceeded. Finnair’s second-quarter
core operating result fell to a loss of €20mn
($27mn) from a profit of €7.5mn a year ago,
also missing analysts’ average forecast of a
shrinking profit. Finnair has in recent years
expanded its flights to Asia, but that strategy
would backfire if Russia were to ban European flights through its airspace.
The airline said it had in June reached
€176mn of annual cost savings since 2010
and that it was committed to hit its target of
€200mn by the end of the year.
MVV
Germany’s No.5 utility MVV Energie said
its operating profit fell 15% in the first nine
months of the year and joined its larger peers
in blaming both a mild winter and an ongoing
overcapacity crisis that is hurting prices and
earnings.
MVV said its nine-month adjusted earnings
before interest and tax (EBIT) fell to €185mn
($247mn). “Alongside developments in the
energy industry, where generation prices
witnessed a further decline, the company’s
business performance between October
2013 and June 2014 was affected above all by
OTP Bank
Hungary’s OTP Bank posted its deepest
quarterly loss on record yesterday, weighed
down by regulations at home and higher loan
provisions in Ukraine. OTP’s second-quarter
net loss was 153bn forints ($655mn) as it set
aside 176bn forints to prepare for a Hungarian law forcing banks to refund loan clients.
Its 109bn forint operating profit was in line
with recent quarters.
Hungary’s parliament required banks in July
to pay refunds to customers on contract
modifications that had been deemed unfair
and on disadvantageous exchange rates that
were used to calculate foreign currency loan
payments. “Those acts will put a substantial
burden on the banking sector,” OTP said in its
earnings statement on the Budapest Stock
Exchange website.
The bank, which had been profitable in nearly
every quarter, even during the economic
crisis in 2008 and 2009, had warned on Monday that it might suffer deeper than expected
losses because of Hungary’s regulatory
environment. Deputy Chief Executive Laszlo
Bencsik told Reuters the bank was upbeat
on its ability to generate profits as it saw
problems easing in Russian and Ukraine as
well as in Hungary.
Gulf Times
Saturday, August 16, 2014
11
BUSINESS
Yen bonds
create
Argentina
CDS auction
uncertainty
Reuters
London
T
he п¬Ѓnal list of securities
that can be delivered into
the credit auction to settle credit default swaps linked to
the Republic of Argentina may
not be published until a day before Thursday’s auction, adding
to uncertainty over the п¬Ѓnal recovery price.
After excluding four Japanese
yen-denominated par bonds
from the list of deliverables due
to a lack of documentation,
ISDA’s Credit Determinations
Committee last week received a
request to incorporate the 0.45%
due 2038 yen bonds alongside a
copy of the prospectus for the
2005-issued securities.
Market participants had until 5pm New York time last Friday to submit any additional
bonds for consideration and a
further three days to challenge
the list. ISDA then has an additional two days to publish the
final list, pushing the deadline
to as late as Wednesday – just
one day ahead of the auction on
August 21.
“All the documentation has
been sent to ISDA and that
should be sufficient to include
the yen bonds in the list,” said an
emerging markets credit analyst
at one US house.
“The real question is how
much of the yen bonds will actually be available for the auction.
They are very illiquid and probably very tightly held by Japanese retail.”
The ISDA Credit Determinations Committee judged earlier this month that Argentina
failure-to-pay credit event after
the sovereign after the sovereign
failed to pay a US$539m coupon
on its restructured bonds
As the cheapest-to-deliver,
the yen bonds would typically be
delivered into the auction to determine the п¬Ѓnal recovery price.
However, with just over
US$200m outstanding, compared to US$900m net notional
of CDS to be settled according
to data from the DTCC, they are
unlikely to go far in covering the
imbalance between buy and sell
orders at the end of the п¬Ѓrst auction phase.
Given their low 0.45% coupon, the yen bonds currently
trade around 23 cents on the dollar, compared to 48 cents for the
euro par bonds, which analysts
see as the next cheapest-to-deliver securities.
The huge gap between prices
of the two likely deliverable
bonds makes Argentina’s auction unusual in its uncertainty.
However, market activity suggests that dealers and investors
are largely ignoring the impact
of the yen bonds on the п¬Ѓnal
price.
Following last Thursday’s
announcement of the supplementary list, recovery locks on
the debt hardly moved, shifting
from 42-45 to 42-44.
BHP Billiton set to spin
off unwanted assets
German
Bund yields
hug 1% on
weak outlook
Reuters
Melbourne/London
erman Bund yields held
near their record lows
around 1% yesterday,
with investors increasingly betting the ECB will ease monetary
policy further to lift a stagnating
economy struggling with low inflation.
Data showed on Thursday
the eurozone economy failed to
grow in the second quarter even
before the sanctions the West
and Russia imposed on each
other over the conflict in Ukraine
started to bite.
Russian President Vladimir
Putin struck a conciliatory note
on Thursday in Crimea saying
Moscow would stand up for itself
but not at the cost of confrontation with the outside world.
However, tensions remained
high in Ukraine, where Kiev
government forces were п¬Ѓghting pro-Moscow separatists and
dozens of heavy Russian military
vehicles massed near the border.
Ten-year Bund yields were
last 0.4 basis points higher on
the day at 1.018%, having briefly
dipped below 1% on Thursday,
according to traders.
“We look for Bunds to hug the
1% yield ... not just for today, but
rather longer,” Markus Koch, a
Commerzbank analyst, said.
While the ECB is unlikely to
take fresh measures in the next
few months, many in the market say it will eventually have
to embark on asset purchases, a
monetary policy tool known as
quantitative easing, as pressure
mounts on it to act.
Against this backdrop, the
market remained biased towards
another downward lurch in Bund
yields.
“If QE expectations do accelerate, expect sharper moves
downward in Bund yields but if
QE continues to be delayed, this
will also benefit nominal bonds
as the market will price mounting deflation risk and a central bank far behind the curve.
Neither hurts core bonds,” RBS
strategists said in a note.
Citing their own fair-value
models which take into account
inflation, private sector loan
growth and manufacturing activity surveys, they said Bunds
were not yet expensive at these
levels. They said they only become so at a yield of 0.96%.
Not all in the market share this
view. Didier Duret, chief investment officer at ABN Amro, said
such ultra-low yield levels were
reminiscent of the situation in
Japan which is going through a
period of prolonged subdued inflation and bond yields.
“At 1% you are bound for a
negative real yield. This is Japan-like behaviour which we
don’t buy here,” said Duret. He
does not hold Bunds because
“they are not attractive”.
The euro, which fell against
the dollar on Thursday after data
showed Europe’s powerhouse
economy Germany unexpectedly contracted in the second
quarter, regained lost ground.
G
D
iversified mining company BHP Billiton declared its preference for
a demerger of its aluminium,
manganese and nickel assets
yesterday, setting the stage
for the formation of a separate
business that could be worth at
least $12bn.
BHP said its board was considering a spin-off at meetings
ahead of its annual results announcement next week. An
Australian newspaper said
those plans were well advanced
and would include the Nickel
West business that the world’s
biggest miner has been trying
to sell.
“A demerger of a selection of
assets is our preferred option,”
the company, which has a market capitalisation of $185bn,
said in a statement to the Australian stock exchange.
BHP has long aimed to sell
or spin off its manganese,
aluminium and nickel assets,
which contribute little to its
earnings. Simplifying the company would “generate stronger
growth in cash flow and a superior return on investment”,
it said.
Some of the largest shareholders in BHP welcomed the
announcement.
“It’s good to see BHP taking
the lead in the sector on this. It
reassures you as a BHP shareholder. It makes me more willing to have it as a significant bet
within my fund,” said Christopher Moore, portfolio manager
of Fidelity Global Industrials
Fund.
“Really we should see more
of this in the mining sector. I
would expect others to take
BHP’s lead. Rio Tinto, Anglo
American could also follow suit
in doing this.”
BHP’s rivals Anglo American
and Rio Tinto have both said
A view of the BHP Billiton headquarters in Melbourne. The diversified mining company declared its preference for a demerger of
its aluminium, manganese and nickel assets yesterday, setting the stage for the formation of a separate business that could be
worth at least $12bn.
they would focus on the parts
of their portfolio that can deliver higher return.
BHP is likely to offload between $1.0-2.5bn of its debt to
the new vehicle, according to
analysts. Any more than that
could be challenging to handle
for a company that relies on assets whose profitability can be
volatile.
Shares in BHP were up 2.4%
by 1121 GMT, outperforming a
1.3 rise in an index of Londonlisted mining companies.
BHP is relying on iron ore for
the lion’s share of fiscal 2014
earnings after beating its own
guidance for full-year output.
“Spin-offs have the potential to crystallise value that the
market may not have been able
to see,” said Neil Boyd-Clark,
a portfolio manager at Arn-
hem Investment Management,
which owns shares in BHP.
The Australian Financial Review (AFR) newspaper said the
separate company would comprise BHP’s aluminium, manganese, nickel, Cannington
silver mine and South African
energy coal assets and would
be worth $14bn.
Analysts were divided over
the precise value of those assets, with estimates ranging
from $12bn to $23bn.
BHP was also debating
whether to spin off its coal assets in New South Wales, the
AFR said, without citing any
source. The new company
would be based in Perth and led
by BHP’s Chief Financial Officer Graham Kerr, it said.
It would have a primary listing on the Australian stock ex-
change and was likely to take a
secondary listing in South Africa, the AFR added.
BHP declined to comment
on the AFR report.
“Whether to list in Australia
and South Africa will be a marketing decision. It’s a question of matching the investor
base,” said a banker familiar
with BHP’s thinking. “Looking
at the base metals space you
don’t have many listed names
in Australia. And in South Africa, you can tap some money
from pension funds who can
only invest in rand.”
In its statement to the market, BHP said it expected to
consider a demerger when the
board meets next week and
would announce any material
decisions immediately.
BHP is scheduled to an-
nounce full-year earnings on
August 19.
UBS analyst Glyn Lawcock
said last month he expected
BHP to go through a threestep process, selling its Nickel
West business, then spinning
off its manganese, aluminium
and South African energy coal
businesses as a separate company to all shareholders, before
unwinding its dual-listing in
London.
Most of the assets that analysts expect it to shed came into
the company through Londonlisted Billiton when it merged
with BHP in 2001.
At the time, those assets
were touted for the diversity
they brought, creating a mining giant with roughly equal
earnings from aluminium, base
metals, coal and iron ore.
Asia markets rise despite downbeat data
AFP
Tokyo
A
Reuters
London
sian shares rose yesterday, tracking gains on Wall Street and in
European markets despite downcast eurozone growth data and statistics
showing a larger-than-expected rise in
US jobless claims.
Hong Kong gained 0.62%, or 153.58
points, to 24,954.94, Shanghai climbed
0.92%, or 20.26 points, to 2,226.73,
Sydney added 0.32%, or 18 points, to
5,566.5, while Tokyo ended flat, edging
up 3.77 points to 15,318.34.
Mumbai and Seoul were shut for
public holidays. In other markets, Wellington rose 0.31%, or 15.67 points,
to 5,078.08; Spark was up 1.05% at
NZ$2.88% and Warehouse Group
gained 1.29% to NZ$3.14.
Taipei fell 0.26%, or 23.8 points,
to 9,206.81; Hon Hai lost 1.38% to
Tw$107.5 while HTC rose 0.4% to
Tw$127.0. Manila lost 0.74%, or 52.49
points, to 7,008.51; budget supermarket chain Puregold plunged 8.73% to
36.05 pesos, Alliance Global fell 3.35% to
26pesos and BDO Unibank eased 0.22%
to 91.50 pesos.
The rise followed a positive lead
from Wall Street, where the Dow Jones
Industrial Average added 0.37% to
16,713.58 on Thursday, extending the
prior day’s gains. Traders shrugged off
the rise in initial claims for US unemployment insurance benefits last week
that did not alter the still-improving
trend in the volatile weekly data. New
jobless claims, a sign of the pace of layoffs, rose to a six-week high of 311,000
in the week ending August 9, up 21,000
from the prior week’s revised 290,000,
the Labor Department said.
The four-week moving average was
up 2,000 to 295,750, but still reflected
an improving jobs market. A year ago
the average stood at 335,000 claims.
Investors also appeared to view
Thursday’s weak second quarter eurozone growth data—dragged down
by Germany and France - as likely to
spur the European Central Bank to step
in with more stimulus for the 18-nation bloc. Currency markets were stable on easing concerns over the situation in Ukraine after Russian President
Vladimir Putin called for an end to the
crisis in the violence-wracked country.
Putin said Moscow should not “fence
itself off from the outside world” despite
a plunge in East-West relations over the
pro-Kremlin insurgency in Ukraine.
Investors interpreted the remarks as a
signal by Putin that he preferred not to
escalate the deadly Ukrainian crisis much
further. The dollar was at 102.53 yen in
afternoon Asian trade, compared with
102.45 yen in New York late Thursday.
The euro bought $1.3363 and 137.07
yen against $1.3365 and 136.93 yen in US
trade.
In oil markets, US benchmark West
Texas Intermediate for September delivery rose three cents to $95.61 while
Brent crude for October was up 54 cents
to $102.61 in afternoon trade. Gold
traded at $1,313.53 an ounce compared
to $1,310an ounce late Thursday.
European IPO issuance triples in first half of the year
Reuters
London
Going on the road isn’t what
it used to be for investment
bankers hawking shares in
companies seeking a stock
market listing.
Gone are the days of the private
jet and the two-week carousel
of five-star hotels in Europe and
the US. Instead, it is more likely
to be a scramble from Hong
Kong to New York, often flying on
commercial airlines, to capture
the ear of potential investors.
Companies looking to woo
prospective shareholders are in a
rush to get their stock listed while
market sentiment is still positive,
conscious that rising tensions
in Ukraine and the Middle East
could weaken investor appetite.
Anxious to reach market before
their competitors, company
executives and their bankers are
embarking on whistle-stop tours
of financial hubs such as London,
New York, Boston and Singapore,
each costing €250,000
($334,000) to €350,000 or more.
“You’re getting to the market
much quicker before a window
might close,” said roadshow
project director Fallon Painter,
citing the example of Russian
hypermarket chain Lenta, which
squeaked through its initial public
offering (IPO) the same week that
Russia entered Crimea.
Painter is the investment banking
world’s equivalent of a rock
band’s roadie. The company for
which she works, Media Tree,
is hired to organise and run the
investor roadshows at which
companies pitch their stock.
Bankers are expecting a busy
second half after strong equity
markets helped European IPO
issuance levels to more than
triple in the first half of 2014
against the same period last
year, with 130 companies selling
$41.2bn of new shares – the
highest since 2007, Thomson
Reuters data show.
The wave of issuances helped to
compensate investment banks
for weak trading revenues, with
Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and
Deutsche Bank taking the top
three positions for European IPOs
by deal value.
With such a large number of
IPOs, companies are battling
for investors’ time and bankers
sometimes try to steal one
another’s appointments. To
The wave of issuances helped to compensate investment banks for weak trading revenues, with
Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank taking the top three positions for European IPOs by
deal value.
avoid such shenanigans, which
can cause problems with rivals,
companies such as Media Tree
are hired to deal with scheduling
problems.
“It turns sometimes into a little
bit of a rat race,” Painter said.
“But it’s not convenient for them
(the bankers) to have a spat
when they have to see each
other’s faces on a new deal in a
week’s time.” The emergence of
large institutional investors and
growing pools of private wealth
in Asia and the Middle East has
also expanded the number of
cities that need to be visited,
meaning that management
teams sometimes split up to
cover more ground.
But such a division of labour
can be counter-productive,
says Aquico Wen, a former
Legg Mason fund manager and
founder of Asia-focused fund firm
Victoire.
“An investor gets an incomplete
picture of the management team
if the chief executive heads one
delegation and the chief financial
officer another,” Wen said.
Businesses wishing to list also face
a tougher sales pitch following
poor aftermarket performances
from the likes of British retirement
group Saga and Spanish industrial
testing company Applus, which
have made investors increasingly
choosy about which offers they
back.
While some bankers privately
grumble at the monotony of
seeing the same presentation
and often hearing the same
questions in multiple locations,
there is general agreement that
the roadshow is a crucial part of
the IPO process.
A company’s management needs
to be able to present well and
answer questions competently to
win over investors.
“When a deal is difficult, there’s
nothing that sells a company
better than a good management
roadshow,” one former IPO
banker said. For Marcus Bray, the
managing director of roadshow
and creative agency Imagination,
there are parallels between his
current job and his previous life
as a theatre producer.
“Issuers and the banks
really want to find a way of
differentiating themselves and
telling their story,” he said.
The tighter timeframes and
pressure to see as many
investors as possible means there
is little leisure time on tour for
companies and their advisers.
“They can be doing 20-hour days.
The only time they’re catching
any sleep is on the flight,” Bray
said. A cost-conscious image has
also become more important in
the post-crisis era - hence the
decision by some firms to eschew
the once-ubiquitous private
planes and luxury hotels.
Logistical problems are also
common.
The management of stock
market operator Euronext was
caught up in a recent taxi strike
while in London, prompting
Media Tree’s Painter to consider
putting them on bicycles.
“We didn’t know how well
that would go down with
management,” she said.
Saturday, August 16, 2014
BUSINESS
GULF TIMES
Japan enters global halal market with food exports, Muslim tourism
By Arno Maierbrugger
Gulf Times Correspondent
Bangkok
Japan is taking steps to enter the global
halal market whose overall value is
estimated to hit $1.6tn in 2018, up from
$1.1tn in 2013, according to latest studies.
The country plans to massively
increase its halal food exports to Muslim
countries in Southeast Asia, as well to the
Middle East, and focus on the halal tourism industry by stepping up the number
of Muslim-friendly hospitality facilities in
the country and training hospitality staff
how to cater to Muslim guests.
Large Japanese food companies such
as Ajinomoto, Asahi Beverage, Kewpie
and Umakane are all expanding their
product range with halal products, and
some firms are also interested in entering
other halal sectors such as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and Islamic finance,
according to the Japan External Trade
Organisation (Jetro).
The initiative of the country whose
Muslim population is just around
200,000 out of a total population of
127mn can be seen in the light of its
efforts to tap new business sectors to
reflate its stagnating economy.
Japan is now working on leveraging
growing demand from the Muslim world
by increasing the output of products
with halal certification, supported by
institutions such as the Halal Development Foundation of Japan and the Japan
Halal Association. The latter has already
been approved as a halal certifying body
in Japan by the influential Department of
Islamic Development in Malaysia (Jakim).
Another institution, the Japan Muslim
Association, has been recognised as a
halal certification body by Indonesia’s
top Muslim clerical body, the Indonesian
Ulema Council. Mohammad Zubair,
general secretary of Halal Development
Foundation of Japan, said at the inaugural
Japan Halal Summit held on August 4-6
on Tokyo that the bodies are working
together to create one single Japanese
halal standard that should be accepted in
every Muslim country in the future.
Japan is known for its high-end food
market that encompasses meat, chicken,
packaged and ready-made meals, frozen
processed food, dairy, spices and soups
prepared at high quality standards. It has
also a broad range of traditional food
products that qualify for halal certification, such as miso paste, variants of soy
sauce and instant noodles, teriyaki, sushi,
ramen, sashimi and even locally grown
rice.
There is now also a growing number
of halal restaurants in Japan catering to
Muslim customers, reflecting the fact that
more and more tourists of Islamic faith
are visiting the country. According to
the Japan National Tourist Organisation,
more than 300,000 tourists visited Japan
in 2013, more than double the 140,000
in 2011.
While Muslim tourists predominantly
come from the Muslim nations of Malaysia and Indonesia — Japan has recently
eased visa requirements for both nations
— there was also a slight growth in visitors
from the Middle East, the organisation
said.
It is estimated that Muslim visitors to
Japan could reach one million in the year
2020, more than triple the 2013 level, according to a forecast by Singapore-based
CrescentRating, an organisation promoting
global halal travel. To support this trend,
Japanese tourism authorities are holding
seminars in a number of tourist regions in
the country to train hoteliers and restaurant
owners how to cater to Muslim guests who
have distinct needs when travelling, which
are — apart from halal food — also prayer
rooms at airports, shopping malls and
hotels and other appropriate arrangements.
Robust manufacturing output
buoys US economic outlook
Manufacturing output rises
1% in July; producer prices
up 0.1%; New York state
manufacturing activity
slows in August; consumer
sentiment ebbs in
early August
Reuters
Washington
U
S manufacturing output
rose broadly in July and
automobile production
recorded its largest increase in
п¬Ѓve years, boosting the economy at the start of the third quarter.
While other data yesterday
showed some cooling in factory
activity in New York state this
month, economists said it did
not change the view of an economy with strong momentum,
noting that the pullback followed a robust increase in July.
“The broad-based nature of
the (manufacturing) gains indicates that the strong secondquarter rebound in economic
growth momentum is being
sustained,” said Millan Mulraine, deputy chief economist at
TD Securities in New York.
The Federal Reserve said factory production jumped 1.0%
last month after rising 0.3% in
June. That was the largest gain
since February and reflected
increases across all major categories.
Auto production surged
10.1%, the biggest rise since July
2009. There were also sturdy
gains in the production of machinery and computers and
electronic goods, which economists said hinted at a pick-up in
business investment this quarter.
A stronger pace of business
investment is needed to ensure
sustained economic growth.
The economy grew at a 4.0%
annual pace in the second quarter and current forecasts peg the
growth rate for the third quarter
within a range of 2.5% to 3.0%.
Industrial capacity utilization, a measure of how fully
п¬Ѓrms are using their resources,
The Federal Reserve said factory production jumped 1.0% last month after rising 0.3% in June. That was the largest gain since February and
reflected increases across all major categories.
last month hit its highest level
since February 2008.
The solid rise in manufacturing and a 0.3% advance in
mining output helped to offset
a 3.4% weather-driven decline
in utilities production. That left
overall industrial production up
0.4% in July.
The data had little impact on
US п¬Ѓnancial markets, with traders focusing instead on events in
Ukraine. The Ukrainian government said its forces had attacked
and partly destroyed a Russian
armored column that entered
Ukrainian territory overnight.
In a separate report, the New
York Fed said its “Empire State”
general business conditions index fell to 14.69 this month from
25.60 in July.
A reading above zero indicates expansion. Growth in new
orders slowed, but a further de-
cline in inventories pointed to
an acceleration in activity in the
months ahead.
While manufacturing is gaining steam, there is little sign of a
broad pick-up in inflation pressures at the factory gate.
In another report, the Labour
Department said its producer
price index for п¬Ѓnal demand
edged up 0.1% in July as the cost
of energy products fell, offsetting an increase in food prices.
Prices received by the nation’s farms, factories and refineries rose 0.4% in June. In the 12
months through July, producer
prices increased 1.7%.
Excluding food and energy,
wholesale prices gained 0.2%,
matching June’s increase. They
were up 1.6% in the 12 months
through July.
“Aside from recent energy
weakness, the PPI results con-
tinued to point to a steady
firming in underlying inflation
trends that we expect to continue to be seen in a continued
inflection higher in the core
consumer price index as well,”
said Ted Wieseman, an economist at Morgan Stanley in New
York.
Overall, inflation has been
rising in recent months, a fact
acknowledged by the Fed at its
July policy meeting. The US
central bank, which had repeatedly warned that price pressures
were too low, said the likelihood
of inflation running persistently
below its 2% target had diminished somewhat.
Firming inflation and a tightening labour market have led
some economists to anticipate
an early interest rate increase
from the Fed. The central bank,
however, has shown no sign of
being in a hurry to lift its benchmark lending rate from near
zero, where it has been since
December 2008.
Another report yesterday
showed consumer sentiment
hit a nine-month low in early
August. The Thomson Reuters/
University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index fell to
79.2 from 81.8 in July.
Meanwhile,
Economists
raised their forecasts for US
economic growth in the third
quarter but trimmed their estimates for the balance of 2014,
though the outlook for both job
growth and lower unemployment was strengthened.
Analysts see the economy
growing at an annual rate of
3.0% in the current quarter,
up from a previous estimate of
2.9%, according to the Philadelphia Federal Reserve’s quarterly
survey of 43 forecasters, released yesterday. Fourth-quarter growth was forecast at 3.1%,
down from a previous estimate
of 3.2%, and п¬Ѓrst-quarter 2015
growth was estimated at 3.1%,
unchanged from an earlier estimate of 3.1%.
Meanwhile, they see the
economy growing at a rate of
2.1% for all of 2014, down from
the previous estimate of 2.4% in
the previous survey in May.
Growth in 2015 is expected
to come in at 3.1%, unchanged
from the 3.1% estimate in the
May survey. The pace of hiring
was expected to accelerate in the
current quarter compared with
previous expectations, with an
average rate of monthly nonfarm job growth seen around
228,600 versus a previous forecast of 204,700. That is expected to dip in the fourth quarter,
averaging 211,200, although
that is up from a prior forecast
of 197,900.
Hiring
should
average
204,800 a month for all of 2014,
compared with the prior fullyear forecast of 196,500.
The jobless rate was expected
to be 6.1% at the end of the current quarter and 6.0% by the
end of the fourth quarter.
The most recent official unemployment rate released by the
government showed the jobless
rate in July stood at 6.2%, up
a tenth of a point from June’s
reading, which was the lowest
since September 2008.
Inflation was expected to remain muted, with year-on-year
core consumer price inflation,
which strips out food and energy costs, averaging 2.1% in the
third quarter, compared with
a previous estimates of 1.8%.
Fourth-quarter core CPI was
seen at 2.1% versus a previous
forecast of 1.9%.
Looking at the inflation
measure most closely tracked by
the US Federal Reserve, the core
personal consumption expenditures, or PCE, index, forecasters
also see muted price pressures.
The third-quarter rate was seen
at 1.8%, up from 1.7% in the May
survey.
Coke pays $2.2bn
for key Monster
Beverage stake
Reuters
New York
C
oca-Cola Co said it is
making a cash payment of
$2.15bn for a 16.7% stake
in Monster Beverage Corp as the
world’s largest soda maker seeks
to expand into faster-growing
categories such as energy drinks.
Under the agreement, Coke will
have two directors on Monster’s
board. Coke will transfer ownership of its worldwide energy business including brands like Full
Throttle and Burn, to Monster.
Monster will transfer its nonenergy business, which includes
Hansen’s Natural Sodas and Peace
Tea, to Coke. Coke will become
Monster’s preferred distribution
partner globally, while Monster
brands will be the only energy
drinks distributed by Coke.
For Coke, the transaction represents an opportunity to increase its footprint in energy
drinks, a $27bn market globally,
according to Euromonitor International. It comes at a time when
people are drinking less soda in
developed markets. Coke said last
month that its quarterly revenue
in North America, its biggest
market, was flat, partly driven by
a decline in diet Coke sales.
In turn, Monster will gain access to Coke’s extensive global
distribution system. The companies have a distribution agreement in the US and Canada and
will amend it to expand into additional territories. On a conference
call with media, Rodney Sacks,
chief executive officer of Monster, said that the company would
also convert distribution agreements it has with AnheuserBusch InBev in the US to Coke.
“We believe it will be a winwin strategy” Sacks said.
A person familiar with the
transaction said that the deal
enables Monster to enter markets where it doesn’t have a presence, like China and Russia, and
increase its footprint in places
where the company thinks it can
gain share, like Brazil.
Coke’s chief executive Officer
Muhtar Kent said the company
has the option to increase its
stake to 25% and cannot exceed
that amount in the next four
years. Coke is under no obligation to make additional investments.
Petroleum producers shift attention from Middle East
By John Kemp
Following four decades of war, sanctions,
nationalisation and unrest, oil and gas
producers are gradually adjusting to rely
less on the Middle East.
The countries around the Gulf and on
the Arabian Peninsula still contain the
greatest concentration of giant and supergiant fields anywhere in the world and
have some of the most attractive oil and
gas geology.
But the increasingly hostile political
environment above ground has forced
oil and gas companies to hunt for new
reserves in other parts of the world where
the geology is tougher but political conditions are much easier.
Diversification away from the Middle
East is one of the main reasons why oil
prices have remained virtually unchanged
as unrest has spread across much of the
region since 2011.
The region’s importance has been
declining in terms of both production and
share of proved reserves in recent years
(http://link.reuters.com/duq62w).
In 2013, the countries of the Gulf and
the Arabian Peninsula, which the BP
Statistical Review of World Energy terms
“the Middle East”, accounted for almost
33% of global oil production and 17% of
gas output.
But the share of both has flattened in
the last three years after rising strongly
since the mid-1980s.
The shift away from the Middle East
is even more marked in terms of proved
reserves, which represent future production.
Middle Eastern countries accounted for
48% of proven oil reserves worldwide in
2013, down from 56% in 2005 and 64% in
1993, according to BP.
The region contained 43% of proven
gas reserves, down only marginally from
46% in 2005, but ending the steadily
increasing share that had characterised
the market since the 1980s.
For the last two decades, oil and gas
producers have been adding reserves
more rapidly outside the Middle East.
Between 1993 and 2013, oil producers
added to proved reserves at an average
annual rate of 4.2% in the rest of the world
but just 1.0% in the Middle East.
Over the same period, gas producers
added reserves in the rest of the world at
an average rate of 1.8% per year compared
with 3.0% in the Middle East.
But growth in the Middle East has
slowed recently. In the second half of the
period, reserve growth in the rest of the
world accelerated to 2.3% a year, while
reserve growth in the Middle East eased
to just 1.1%.
The metaphorical centre of gravity in
the global oil and gas industries is gradually shifting from the Middle East towards
North and South America, Africa and Asia.
And the trend seems set to continue
over the next decade, given the shale
boom in North America, and intensive exploration and production in other regions
outside the Middle East.
The Middle East was a comparative
latecomer to the oil and gas industry and
its dominance of global production is a
relatively recent phenomenon.
During the first five decades of the
20th century, global oil production was
dominated by the US, Mexico, Venezuela, Romania, Russia, Malaysia and
Indonesia.
The first oil was found in the Gulf only
in 1908, followed by Iraq in 1927, Bahrain
in 1932, Kuwait in 1937, Saudi Arabia in
1938, the United Arab Emirates in 1954 and
Oman in 1962.
As late as the 1940s, the Middle East
was still a relatively small oil producer in
global terms. In 1950, the Gulf countries
accounted for less than 17% of worldwide
production.
Massive field discoveries between
the 1940s and the 1960s, and extensive
development work by the international
oil companies, boosted the Gulf’s share
of global output to 25% in 1960 and 31%
in 1970.
But disputes escalated over pricing and
government revenues. Between 1970 and
1980, a wave of nationalisations saw all
production in the region pass into govern-
ment ownership, after which production
growth all but ceased.
The Middle East’s share of global oil
production peaked at 37% in 1975, a
record that has never been seriously challenged since then.
The Mid East region has become progressively more hostile for international
oil and gas producers.
Nationalisations in the 1970s were
followed by the Iranian revolution; the
Iran-Iraq war; the first Gulf War between
Iraq and the US; sanctions against Iraq;
the second Gulf War; intensified sanctions
on Iran; the eruption of a civil war in Syria;
and now an insurgency in northern Iraq.
Only Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain,
Qatar and the UAE have retained a sort of
calm amid the violence and geopolitical
instability (and Bahrain was convulsed by
riots in 2011).
With the exception of Saudi Arabia, the
UAE and Qatar, the rest of the region has
achieved no net growth in oil production
since 1976.
Even in Saudi Arabia, production gains
over the last 37 years (2.8mn barrels per
day since 1976) pale in comparison with
the increases achieved during the 1950s,
1960s and early 1970s.
Increasingly locked out of the best Middle Eastern oil and gas fields, international
oil companies have been forced to shift
their efforts to other, more readily accessible, sources of supply.
Huge new oil provinces were developed during the 1970s and 1980s in
Alaska, the Gulf of Mexico, the North Sea
and the Soviet Union in response to the oil
shocks of 1973 and 1979.
Collapsing oil prices after 1985 led to a
big reduction of exploration and production expenditure around the world and
stemmed the shift away from the Middle
East. But the renewed rise in oil prices in
the 2000s has spurred a new exploration
boom, and the shift away from the Middle
East has resumed.
The shift will almost certainly continue
over the next decade unless there is a
radical improvement in the region’s political environment.
Saudi Arabia’s enormous oil and gas
resources remain closed to outside
companies. Sanctions have prevented any
increase in oil or gas production from Iran.
Syria and Iraq have become failed states
where central authority has collapsed and
both are convulsed by civil war.
By contrast, the shale revolution has
added millions of barrels per day of extra
production in the US and Canada, and
similar quantities of natural gas. Oil and
gas companies are now exploring similar
shale deposits around the world — including in Argentina, China and Russia.
Enormous conventional gas reserves
have been developed in Australia and the
industry is prospecting for more off the
coast of Mozambique. Deepwater drilling
is developing oil and gas off Latin America
and West Africa. The industry is also
prospecting in Thailand and elsewhere in
Southeast Asia, as well as the South and
East China Seas, East Africa and the Arctic.
With the possible exception of shale,
none of these resources is as geologically
attractive as the giant conventional oil and
gas fields of the Middle East. But the politics of the region have become too hard,
so oil and gas companies are increasingly
looking elsewhere.
Advances in horizontal drilling, hydraulic fracturing, seismic surveying and
deepwater drilling have opened a much
broader global oil and gas resource base,
giving exploration and production companies many more options.
Middle East producers, especially Saudi
Arabia, will remain hugely influential in
the oil market for many more years.
Saudi Arabia and its close allies the UAE
and Kuwait are the only countries that
routinely hold spare production capacity
and therefore play a crucial role in helping
to smooth out short-term fluctuations in
supply and demand.
However, until the political and security
situation improves, or oil prices fall, the
Middle East’s relative importance as an oil
and gas producer will continue its long,
slow decline.
John Kemp is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own.
HORSE RACING | Page 5
TENNIS | Page 4
Qatar holds
strong hand
for Doncaster
showpiece
Robredo
topples
Djokovic in
Cincinnati
CRICKET
Saturday, August 16, 2014
Shawwal 20,, 1435 AH
Pakistan again
crumble to
Herath’s guile
GULF TIMES
SPORT
Page 2
QATAR ASIAN CHAMPS Both Jimmy Anderson and
Ravindra Jadeja have not violated
the ICC’s code of conduct, judicial
commissioner Gordon Lewis rules
Members of the victorious Qatar junior handball team pose at the Hamad International Airport after their arrival from Iran yesterday. The Qataris beat South Korea 29-28 in the final in Tabriz to complete a hat-trick of Asian Championship titles.
Qatar finished unbeaten in the tournament beating Japan, Syria, Uzbekistan, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Iran before prevailing over South Korea in the decider.
CRICKET
More of the same from India
England on top after dismissing India for 148 despite Dhoni’s defiant 82
AFP
Manchester
I
ndia captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni stood
alone as the tourists suffered yet another
batting collapse to hand England the advantage on the п¬Ѓrst day of the п¬Ѓfth and п¬Ѓnal
Test at The Oval.
At close yesterday, England were 62 without
loss in reply to India’s meagre 148 all out, a deficit of 86 runs.
England captain Alastair Cook was 24 not out
and Australia-born Sam Robson, driving well
after a run of low scores, 33 not out as the hosts
looked to extend their 2-1 series lead.
Earlier, Dhoni made 82 —more than 55 percent of India’s runs—in an innings where only
Murali Vijay (18) and Ravichandran Ashwin (13)
also got into double п¬Ѓgures.
Seam-bowling all-rounders Chris Woakes
and Chris Jordan took three wickets apiece after
James Anderson and Stuart Broad, who had two
each, quickly justified Cook’s decision to field
п¬Ѓrst in overcast conditions on a green-tinged
pitch.
India, as in their innings and 54-run defeat
inside three days in the fourth Test at Old Trafford, lost п¬Ѓve wickets before lunch.
Their top order again lacked the technique
or the application to cope with deliveries that
swung and seamed off the pitch.
And but for Ian Bell dropping last man Ishant
Sharma in the slips, India would have been 95
all out. Instead the recalled paceman, who made
seven not out, lingered for more than an hour in
helping Dhoni add 58 for the last wicket—easily
the best stand of the innings.
Thursday saw the experienced Dhoni, who
had top-scored with 71 in India’s first innings
152 at Old Trafford, joking about his “horrible”
batting technique.
But no one could fault his resolve.
Under grey skies promising swing movement, England had to wait just four balls for
their п¬Ѓrst wicket.
Anderson, who started this match seven
wickets shy of Ian Botham’s England record of
383 Test wickets, had opener Gautam Gambhir,
trying to withdraw his bat, caught behind for a
golden duck.
SCORECARD
India 1st Innings
M. Vijay c Root b Woakes ..................... 18
G. Gambhir c Buttler b Anderson .......0
C. Pujara b Broad ...................................... 4
V. Kohli lbw b Jordan .............................. 6
A. Rahane c and b Jordan ..................... 0
M. S. Dhoni c Woakes b Broad ............82
S. Binny c Cook b Anderson .................. 5
R. Ashwin c Root b Woakes ..................13
B. Kumar c Buttler b Jordan .................. 5
V. Aaron c and b Woakes ........................ 1
I. Sharma not out ...................................... 7
Extras (b6, lb1) ......................................... 7
Total (all out, 61.1 overs, 290 mins) 148
Fall of wickets: 1-3 (Gambhir), 2-10
(Pujara), 3-26 (Kohli), 4-28 (Rahane),
Broad, passed п¬Ѓt despite suffering a broken
nose while batting in Manchester, then dismissed Cheteshwar Pujara (four) when the ball
deflected onto his stumps via pad and arm.
Virat Kohli had arrived in England with a
stellar reputation.
But his miserable series continued when,
playing no stroke, he was lbw to п¬Ѓrst change
Chris Jordan for six. This exit meant the talented batsman had scored a mere 114 runs in nine
innings this series at 12.66.
5-36 (Vijay), 6-44 (Binny), 7-68 (Ashwin), 8-79 (Kumar), 9-90 (Aaron),
10-148 (Dhoni)
Bowling: Anderson 17-4-51-2; Broad
15.1-4-27-2; Jordan 14-7-32-3; Woakes
14-7-30-3; Ali 1-0-1-0
England
A. Cook not out ....................................... 24
S. Robson not out ................................... 33
Extras (b4, w1) .......................................... 5
Total (0 wkts, 19 overs, 86 mins) .... 62
To bat: G Ballance, I Bell, J Root, M Ali,
J Buttler, C Woakes, C Jordan, S Broad,
J Anderson Bowling: Kumar 7-1-25-0
(1w); Sharma 7-2-12-0; Aaron 3-0-14-0;
Binny 2-0-7-0;
Match position: England are 86 runs
behind India with all 10 first-innings
wickets standing.
England’s Chris Jordan (5th L) throws
the ball up after catching India’s
Ajinkya Rahane (4th L) on the first
day of the fifth Test match at the Oval
cricket ground in London yesterday.
Jordan then caught and bowled Ajinkya Rahane for the п¬Ѓrst duck of his Test career.
Vijay survived for more than 90 minutes but
he fell when edging Woakes to Joe Root at fourth
slip. India were now 36 for п¬Ѓve inside 19 overs,
an even worse collapse than they suffered on the
п¬Ѓrst day at Old Trafford where, after Dhoni won
the toss, they were reduced to 62 for п¬Ѓve inside
24 overs.
At lunch, India were 43 for п¬Ѓve, with Dhoni
six not out. That soon became 44 for six when
recalled all-rounder Stuart Binny edged a full
length Anderson delivery that swung late to
Cook at п¬Ѓrst slip. Wickets continued to fall as
the floodlights pierced the gloom and India
should have been out for under a hundred.
But after Sharma’s reprieve, Dhoni slashed
Jordan over the slip cordon for a four that took
India to three п¬Ѓgures and later drove him over
extra-cover for six. Dhoni’s defiant knock—
which featured 66 runs in boundaries (15 fours
and a six) ended when the number six pulled
Broad straight to Woakes at long leg.
England got through to the close with few
alarms although Cook had a fortunate escape,
on nine, when Bhuvneshwar Kumar appealed
for lbw against the left-hander.
However, Paul Reiffel ruled not out.
Replays showed the ball had pitched in line
and would have hit the stumps but India’s ongoing objection to the Decision Review System
meant former Australia paceman Reiffel’s verdict stood.
Gulf Times
Saturday, August 16, 2014
2
SPORT
SECOND TEST
CRICKET ROUND-UP
Pakistan crumble
to Herath’s guile
Left-arm spinner grabs five wickets as Pakistan finish day two at 244-6
AFP
Colombo
T
�A BIG ACHIEVEMENT
FOR A SPINNER’
“It is a big achievement for a spinner, especially since I have about 200 wickets in the
last five-six years.” said Herath, who got few
opportunities when Muralitharan was in the
side. “I am extremely happy to achieve this
landmark so late in my career. I always think
of how I can be of assistance to the team
with my style of bowling.”
Herath said it was important to get Pakistan out quickly and then put up a big score
in the second innings to tighten the screws
on the tourists. “There is already some help
for the spinners but not much. But it will
take spin by the fourth day,” he said. Opener
Ahmed Shehzad anchored the innings with
58, but his dismissal just before tea turned
the tide in Sri Lanka’s favour as Pakistan lost
four wickets in the space of 30 runs.
Shehzad had put on 47 for the п¬Ѓrst wicket
with Khurram Manzoor and 63 for the second with Azhar Ali to lift the total to 110-1
before the collapse on either side of tea.
Earlier, Sri Lanka’s last two wickets added
59 useful runs to the overnight score of 2618 before the hosts were all out 45 minutes
before lunch. Number 11 batsman Chanaka
Welegedara returned unbeaten on 27 after
adding 36 for the last wicket with Herath
(17). Left-arm seamer Junaid Khan п¬Ѓnished
with п¬Ѓve for 87, with all his п¬Ѓve career п¬Ѓvewicket hauls coming against Sri Lanka.
Fellow seamer Wahab Riaz claimed three
for 88. Sri Lanka won the п¬Ѓrst Test in Galle
by seven wickets.
Madugalle
reaches 150
Test landmark
London: Chief match referee
Ranjan Madugalle became the
first official to reach the 150-mark
in Tests when he took the field to
officiate in the fifth and final Test
between England and India at
The Oval here yesterday.
A former Sri Lanka captain,
who was a mainstay during his
nation’s formative years in the
Test arena, Madugalle represented his country in 21 Tests and
63 One-Day Internationals (ODIs)
between 1979 and 1988, in which
he scored 1,029 and 950 runs,
respectively.
Following his retirement, he
soon made the transition to
refereeing and marked his debut
in the Test between Pakistan
and Zimbabwe in Karachi. “It is a
huge honour for me to reach this
landmark in my career and I am
extremely proud and privileged
to be the first person to do so,”
said Madugalle.
“It is impossible for me to
select a highlight from that time
because I have had many happy
memories. I have approached
every series and every Test
match in the exact same manner
and I have learned a lot working
across the world over the years.
I would also like to thank the ICC
for its encouragement.” he said.
Agencies
Sydney
A
Sri Lanka’s Rangana Herath (left)
celebrates with captain Angelo
Mathews after taking the wicket
of Pakistan’s captain Misbah-ul-Haq
in Colombo. (Reuters)
est cricket’s top-ranked spinner
Rangana Herath skittled Pakistan’s
top order on way to surpassing the
250-wicket mark to put Sri Lanka
on top in the second Test in Colombo yesterday.
The 36-year-old left-arm bowler grabbed
five wickets as Pakistan, replying to Sri Lanka’s first innings total of 320, were reduced to
140-5 after tea on the second day at the Sinhalese Sports Club. The sixth-wicket pair
of Asad Shafiq and Sarfraz Ahmed stemmed
the rot with a 93-run stand that lifted the
tourists to 244-6 by stumps, still trailing by
76 runs with four wickets in hand.
Shafiq became Herath’s 251st victim,
bowled for 42 just before stumps, but Sarfraz remained unbeaten on a п¬Ѓghting 66 in
a match the tourists must win to level the
two-match series.
Sarfraz, the dapper wicket-keeper, insisted Pakistan will not lose sight of the fact
that they must win the game.
“We are here to win,” he said. “We will remain positive for the rest of the match. The
pitch is getting slower and it is difficult to
score freely. Spinners will have a big role to
play.”
Sarfraz lauded Herath’s effort, calling him
a world class spinner. “Lot of credit to Herath,” he said. “He knows these conditions so
well and makes the most of it.” Herath, playing his 57th Test, is only the third Sri Lankan
bowler to reach the 250-wicket mark after
world record holder Muttiah Muralitharan
(800) and Chaminda Vaas (355).
England were
�petrified’ of
Johnson: Haddin
ustralia wicketkeeper
Brad Haddin reckons
England’s batsmen
were �petrified’ of
fast bowler Mitchell Johnson
during the Ashes in Australia,
and that fear helped the other
bowlers do well too.
Australia won the Ashes 5-0,
with Haddin scoring at least a
half century in each Test, and
was pipped to the Man of the
Series post by Johnson, who
took 37 wickets, a whopping 15
more than the next man, Ryan
Harris.
Haddin told ABC Radio:
“Mitch’s summer was something out of the box. I think the
one thing is, and Mitch realises
it as well, he can’t do his job if
Rhino (Ryan Harris) or Peter
(Siddle) or Lyno (Nathan Lyon)
are not doing their job.
“They bowled really well together as a group. Mitch got a
lot of the rewards for that because, to be perfectly honest,
they were petrified of facing
him. We can gloss over it but
I think that was an exciting
thing about last summer, the
pace Mitch bowled. But the
other guys did an enormous
job to support the group. And
our slippers caught well.”
Next year will see another
Ashes series played, and Haddin is keen to be a part of that,
but says there is a lot of cricket
to be played before then, and
he’s hoping to keep his name
ahead of younger keepers on
the team sheet.
“I do enjoy playing against
England, I won’t lie about that.
There’s obviously a goal there.
I know it’s a big cliche but I’m
just worried about the small
steps in front of us at the moment.
“We’ve got a big series in
the UAE, we’ve got India here,
we’ve got a World Cup campaign. So it’s important not to
think too far ahead to thinking
about those events and miss
“Mitch’s summer was
something out of the box.
I think the one thing is,
and Mitch realises it as
well, he can’t do his job
if Rhino (Ryan Harris)
or Peter (Siddle) or Lyno
(Nathan Lyon) are not
doing their job”
the excitement about playing
now. I have got the World Cup
and Ashes in my mind, but I’m
preparing to play these other
tournaments to keep moving
Australian cricket in that direction we want to go,” Haddin
said.
HALES AIMS TO STAY ON
SELECTORS’ RADAR
England T20 batsman Alex
Hales hopes his performances
for Nottinghamshire and the
England Lions will keep him on
the selectors’ radar for a place
in the п¬Ѓrst ODI team.
Hales has played 32 T20s for
England but has yet to make
his ODI or Test debuts, with
the selectors oddly resistant to
pick him, despite some sterling
recent knocks. He made 141 off
96 balls for Notts against Middlesex this week.
Hales, who also scored a
ton for the Lions a fortnight
ago, told the BBC: “I’m feeling in really good nick across
all three formats. When you
come across patches like this
you want to cash in whenever
you can. All I can do is knock
on the door with performances
for Notts and the Lions.
“My performances in T20
for England have been some
of the best of my career so
far, so hopefully if I do get the
chance in one-dayers, I can
take some of that experience in
and hopefully build some big
innings in that format as well.”
There have been calls for
Hales to be included in the ODI
squad in particular, so that he
can be part of the World Cup
in Australia, with pundits feeling he would be a better option
than Alastair Cook or Ian Bell
at the top.
SCORECARD
SRI LANKA I INNINGS (OVERNIGHT 261-8)
D. Prasad lbw Junaid
13
R. Herath c Khan b Rehman
17
C. Welegedara not out
27
Extras: (b-8, lb-7, nb-6)
21
Total (all out, 99.3 overs)
320
Fall of wickets: 1-79 (Silva), 2-144 (Sangakkara), 3-167 (Jayawardene), 4-177
(Tharanga), 5-215 (Thirimanne), 6-249
(Dickwella), 7-249 (Perera), 8-261 (Mathews),
9-284 (Prasad)
Bowling: Junaid 27-6-87-5, Riaz 20-3-88-3
(nb6), Rehman 19.3-4-53-1, Ajmal 33-5-77-1.
PAKISTAN I INNINGS:
Khurram Manzoor c Dickwella b Herath 23
Ahmed Shehzad c Dickwella b Perera
58
Azhar Ali c Mathews b Herath
32
Younis Khan c Dickwella b Herath
13
Misbah-ul Haq c Dickwella b Herath
5
Asad Shafiq b Herath
42
Sarfraz Ahmed not out
66
Abdur Rehman not out
1
Extras: (lb-3, nb-1)
4
Total (for six wickets, 70 overs)
244
Fall of wickets: 1-47 (Manzoor), 2-110 (Ali),
3-122 (Shehzad), 4-131 (Khan), 5-140 (Misbah), 6-233 (Shafiq).
Bowling: Prasad 9-2-27-0 (nb1),
Welegedara 15-2-51-0, Herath 25-3-98-5,
Mathews 7-1-13-0, Perera 14-1-52-1.
Pakistan trail by 76 runs with
four wickets in hand
Brad Haddin (left) was pipped to the Man of the Series post by
Mitchell Johnson after Australia won the Ashes 5-0.
EUROPEAN ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
Diniz sets new 50km walk world record
at Dudince, Slovakia when he clocked
3:38:45.
AFP
Zurich
Y
ohann Diniz of France
smashed the world 50km walk
record at the European Athletics Championships yesterday in a time of 3hr 32min 33sec.
The previous record of 3:34:14 was
set by Russia’s Denis Nizhegorodov in
Cheboksary in May 2008.
The ecstatic 36-year-old Diniz even
had time to stop for a few seconds to
collect a Portuguese flag from a fan and
also waved a French flag as he crossed
the п¬Ѓnishing line for his third successive European title in Zurich.
“I started off cautiously, with the
rest of the pack and as usual I had
pins and needles in my legs. I caught
the Russians and asked myself if I had
made a mistake because I did the same
thing at Moscow (10th at 2013 world
championships),” said Diniz, who won
the fourth gold medal at the Championships for France.
In changeable weather conditions,
Diniz had to cope with rain, sun and
wind as he seized control of the race
with 14km to go. He strode away to
finish 3min 48sec in front of Slovakia’s
Matej Toth with Russian Ivan Noskov
claiming bronze, a further 1min 20sec
back. Diniz’s previous best time and
the French record dated back to 2009
Yohann Diniz of France reacts after winning the men’s 50km walk at the
European Athletics Championships in Zurich yesterday. (AFP)
STEEPLECHASE WINNER
DISQUALIFIED FOR
SHIRTLESS CELEBRATION
Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad was
stripped of the 3,000 metres steeplechase gold medal after performing a
shirtless celebration down the п¬Ѓnal
straight at the European Athletics
championships on Thursday.
The Frenchman, well clear of the
rest of the п¬Ѓeld, pulled off his vest as
he came around the п¬Ѓnal bend, put it
in his mouth as he waved to the crowd.
He then held it in his hand as he sprinted down the п¬Ѓnal straight for what appeared to be his third successive European gold in the event but turned out
to be a premature celebration.
He initially received a yellow card
from a track official for “acting in an
unsporting or improper manner” before he started his lap of honour. But
he was later disqualified after Spain,
whose athletes п¬Ѓnished fourth and
п¬Ѓfth, made an official protest citing
rules on “clothing, shoes and bibs”, organisers said.
Mekhissi-Benabbad’s compatriot
Yoann Kowal, who had moved from
fourth to second in the final 200 metres, took gold instead, ahead of Krystian Zalewski (Poland) and Spain’s Angel Mullera.
“When I took off my vest on the last
metres, it was because of my joy, of
course,” he told the championship’s
official website before the disqualification was announced. “It was the
pleasure of winning. I was so happy to
defend my title.”
Mekhissi-Benabbad has been involved in controversy in the past and
was once suspended along with teammate Mehdi Baala after they traded
blows following the 1,500 metres at a
Diamond League meeting in Monaco.
At one point Baala head-butted
Mekhissi who responded by swinging
his arms wildly as he threw a series of
punches, some of which missed their
intended target.
Elsewhere, double Olympic champion and former world champion Barbora Spotakova won her п¬Ѓrst European
gold medal in the javelin, throwing
64.41 metres with her п¬Ѓfth effort.
Anzhelika Sidorova of Russia won
the women’s pole vault in dramatic
style as she cleared 4.65 metres on her
third and п¬Ѓnal attempt to move above
Ekaterini Stefanidi of Greece, who had
п¬Ѓnished her competition with a best of
4.60 but was ahead on countback.
Frenchman Benjamin Compaore’s
opening effort of 17.46 metres was
enough to win the triple jump and
Russia’s Sergey Shubenkov retained
his title in the 110 metres hurdles as he
won in 13.19 seconds.
Gulf Times
Saturday, August 16, 2014
3
SPORT
SPOTLIGHT
Nanjing ready to host Youth
Olympic Games from today
Hosts China are fielding the biggest contingent of 123 athletes. They are followed by Brazil, who have listed 97 athletes
Agencies
Nanjing, China
R
ain threatens to disrupt the start of
second Youth Olympic Games, which
will begin today in Nanjing, China’s
former capital, and run until August 28.
Yesterday the weather held up after two days
of persistent rain as the Organising Committee
put in п¬Ѓnal touches for the vibrant and colourful 90-minute ceremony lined up at the Nanjing
Olympic Sports Centre.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, IOC President
Thomas Bach, ex-IOC president Jacques Rogge,
Chinese Olympic Committee head Li Xueyong
and many other dignitaries from around the
world are to attend the ceremony, which will
showcase the youthful spirit of the event.
Also during the opening ceremony, both IOC
boss Bach and COC head Jinping would deliver
their speeches and a Chinese female athlete
would run the п¬Ѓnal lap of the torch relay before
the cauldron is lit.
The 2014 Youth Olympic Games will bring 28
sports together in a unique multi-sport event
for young athletes who are given a once in a lifetime opportunity to participate in high-level
sporting competitions while also engaging in
a Culture and Education Programme (CEP) focused on the Olympic spirit and Olympic values.
On Thursday night, the third and п¬Ѓnal rehearsal was performed and various new elements have been added to the programme, according to opening ceremony director Chen
Weiya. “Even there may be some more additions
to make the events more appealing and thrilling
tomorrow. Called �Light Up The Future,’ the ceremony is said to be a blend of the China’s rich
history with the abundance of spirit and energy
that the YOG stand for. Chen also insists that
the ceremony would still be enjoyed by everybody be it young or old.”
“Our responsibility is to show to the youth
across the world an opening ceremony that is
full of youth and vitality,” Chen said, adding, “In
the opening ceremony you will see young people
singing, dancing and generally expressing their
enthusiasm for the future.”
The majority of dancers, stuntmen and singers are youth. Chinese singers Zhang Jie and
Zhang Liang Ying are the notable singers who
would be performing tomorrow. South Korean
singing sensation Kim Soo Hyun has also been
roped in by the organisers.
Chen however did not reveal how the cauldron would be lit on Saturday. “That part is
certainly the most difficult part of an opening
ceremony. We received many proposals from
the NYOGOC. “One included using a dragon.
We shortlisted four ideas and п¬Ѓnally picked one
option. I can’t tell you how the cauldron will be
lit, but I can certainly tell you that it will be lit.”
PARTICIPATING NATIONS
With Sierra Leone and Nigeria pulling out due
to Ebola virus, 202 nations are expected to compete in the YOG. One athlete from South Sudan
will compete under the IOC flag as the African
nation doesn’t have a National Olympic Committee.
Hosts China are п¬Ѓelding the biggest contingent of 123 athletes. They are followed by Brazil,
who have listed 97 athletes.
Performers rehearse for the opening ceremony of the Youth Olympic Games, which will begin today in Nanjing, China’s former capital. The event will feature more than 3,700 competitors aged 15 to 18.
BELOW: Qatari athletes and officials at the game village yesterday. Qatar’s 23-member team will contest in athletics, shooting, gymnastics, equestrian, table tennis, handball and swimming.
EVENTS AND MEDALS
As many as 222 events in 28 disciplines will be
contested. Golf and rugby sevens are newest additions to the YOG programme. Beach volleyball
has come in place of indoor volleyball and п¬Ѓeld
hockey has introduced new format of seven-aside. Mixed gender is a new event in shooting
and a few other sports have also come up with
different formats.
The medals for Nanjing YOG have designed
by a 23-year-old Slovak sports fan Matej Cicka.
He clinched the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games Medal Design Competition which
was held by IOC. His winning entry, �Track of
Winners,’ was chosen among over 300 entries
received from 50 countries. The IOC jury described it as “modern, fresh and dynamic” when
they were brought together from around the
globe to pick the winner.
The judging panel comprised world-renowned designer, Thomas Heatherwick, the
man behind the iconic Olympic cauldron at the
London 2012 Olympics ; Youth Olympic Games
400m hurdles gold medalist Aurelie Chaboudez, Short-track speed skating champion Yang
Yang, Youth Olympic Games Ambassador Yelena Isinbaeva and Olympic fencer and IOC Athletes’ Commission Chair Claudia Bokel.
CZECH MOTOGP
Athletes from Ebola-hit nations barred
from some Youth Olympics events
AFP
Nanjing, China
the affected countries. The IOC did not respond
immediately to a request for clarification.
Athletes from Ebola-hit countries in west Africa
have been barred from competing in some
sports in the Youth Olympics that open in China
today, the International Olympic Committee and
Chinese organisers said yesterday.
“Athletes from affected areas will not compete in combat sports” and “it was also decided
that no athletes from the region would compete
in the pool,” they said in a statement.
The decision, which affects two athletes in
combat sports and one in pool events, was
made “with regard to ensuring the safety of all
those participating” in the Games taking place
in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing, they
added. They did not reveal the nationalities and
names of the athletes affected by the decision.
According to the Youth Olympics’ website,
there were a total of 25 people on the team lists
of Ebola-hit Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea and
Nigeria.
Sierra Leone’s six-name team comprised a
weightlifter, four members of the beach volleyball squad, and 17-year-old swimmer Saidu
Kamara. Guinea’s four-name team was made up
of two track and field athletes, swimmer Alhoussene Sylla and judoka Mamadama Bangoura,
both of whom are 16 years old.
The two-name team from Liberia included a
track and field athlete and 15-year-old swimmer Momodou Sombai. Nigeria’s squad was
the largest, with 13 members, all of them track
and field or beach volleyball competitors, apart
from 16-year-old wrestler Bose Samuel. It was
not clear how many of the 25 competitors had
already arrived, nor why only one swimmer had
been barred, given that there were three from
In their joint statement, the IOC and the Nanjing
organising committee said that all those in
delegations from west Africa “will be subject to
regular temperature and physical assessment”
during the Games. “We have been reassured by
the health authorities that there have been no
suspected cases and that the risk of infection is
extremely unlikely,” they added.
They said that they had been working closely
on the issue with Chinese health authorities and
“under the guidance” of the World Health Organization. But the WHO—which says the Ebola
outbreak is being vastly underestimated and
last week declared it an international emergency—cast doubt on the Olympic restrictions.
“I’d be astonished if such a decision was taken
along with us, because we’re very, very clear
about this,” said Tarik Jasarevic, a spokesman
for the UN health agency. “What we are saying
is that only two categories of people should
not be travelling: people who are infected with
the virus, and those who are being identified
as contacts of these people, who should be in
a surveillance programme for 21 days,” he told
reporters.
“These are people who have been in close
contact with body fluids of infected people, usually family members or close friends, or some
health workers who have been exposed. No
other restrictions are being recommended,” he
added. The Youth Olympic Games begin today
in Nanjing, China’s former capital, and run until
August 28. The world’s worst-ever outbreak of
Ebola in west Africa has killed 1,069 people so
far and sparked international alarm, with several
major airlines cutting flights to the region.
INFECTION RISK �UNLIKELY’
Marquez tops rainy practice
AFP
Brno, Czech Republic
C
hampionship
leader
Marc Marquez topped
the Czech Republic
MotoGP free practice
yesterday ahead of tomorrow’s
race, with the afternoon session
disrupted by heavy rain that affected times.
The Spanish Honda rider and
reigning world champion took
1min 56.803sec to cover the
5.4-kilometre (3.36-mile) circuit in dry conditions yesterday
morning. Fellow Spaniard Jorge
Lorenzo on a Yamaha came second 0.037sec behind his compatriot and 0.015sec ahead of Marquez’s Honda teammate Dani
Pedrosa.
Marquez, who tested a new
bike for the 2015 season at Brno
together with Pedrosa in July,
said the conditions were different this time. “From the first exit
I saw that the grip was different,” he said. “I started to change
something on the bike because I
didn’t feel good but we did a really good job and in the end I was
happy with the setup.”
Lorenzo was equally happy
with his performance on the dry
track. “In the morning we were
really satisfied because suddenly
we were very competitive,” he
said. Italian Ducati rider And-
Ducati rider Andrea Davizioso (left) of Italy performs a wheelie next
to Honda rider Marc Marquez of Spain after the second free practice
session for the Czech Grand Prix in Brno yesterday. (Reuters)
rea Iannone dominated the afternoon session with a time п¬Ѓve
seconds slower than his morning
performance, being one of only
two riders who had their times
measured before the downpour
started.
Marquez set the best wet time
ahead of Pedrosa and Italy’s Valentino Rossi on a Yamaha. “The
biggest problem was two corners
in the downhill, turn 10 and 11
were completely dry in the end
so one part of the circuit was
completely wet and the other
part completely dry,” said Marquez. “For that reason it was
difficult to manage the tyres because when you push there you
destroy it.”
Forecasters predict more rain
for today’s practice and qualifying sessions. “This afternoon it
was wet and we were not competitive compared to the Hondas, especially in the first laps,”
said Lorenzo. “We don’t have so
much grip, we need to п¬Ѓnd some.
If it rains, we’re going to struggle.”
At Brno, the 21-year-old Marquez is eyeing an 11th straight
win in as many races this season,
which would be a new record.
Italian legend Giacomo Agostini
won the opening 10 races of the
premier class season in 1968,
1969 and 1970, and Marquez
equalled that feat at Indianapolis
last Sunday.
At Indy, Marquez also became
the п¬Ѓrst rider since Australian
Mick Doohan in 1997 to win 10
races in a row. However, no one
has ever won the п¬Ѓrst 11 races of
a season—in part because Agostini’s perfect season in 1968
comprised only 10 events.
After 10 of 18 MotoGP races
this year, Marquez leads the
championship standings with a
perfect 250 points, 89 ahead of
fellow Catalan Pedrosa and 93
ahead of Rossi.
Gulf Times
Saturday, August 16, 2014
4
TENNIS
CINCINNATI MASTERS
SPOTLIGHT
Robredo topples
Djokovic; Federer
survives Monfils
Serena to take on Jankovic after beating Pennetta
T
ommy Robredo shocked world
number one Novak Djokovic
Thursday at the Cincinnati Masters, but Roger Federer avoided an
upset again Frenchman Gael Monfils.
Spain’s Robredo, seeded 16th in the US
Open tune-up, sent top-seeded Djokovic
packing 7-6 (8/6), 7-5, the defeat coming a
week after the world number one Serb was
beaten in the third round at Toronto.
The Wimbledon champion now goes into
the US Open, the п¬Ѓnal Grand Slam of the
year which starts on August 25, well short
of matches and confidence.
Second-seeded Federer, a п¬Ѓve-time
Cincinnati champion, held off Monfils 6-4,
4-6, 6-3. He booked a tough quarter-п¬Ѓnal
against eighth-seeded Scot Andy Murray,
who battled more than two hours against
the huge serve of John Isner, п¬Ѓnally dispatching the American 6-7 (3/7), 6-4, 7-6
(7/2).
Federer had a rare show of temper late
in the match, arguing with the chair umpire over a decision not to call on electronic
line-calling on a particular point.
But Federer quickly recovered his poise,
clinching the match with a service winner
after breaking Monfils in the penultimate
game.
“I’m just happy the way I’m playing right
now,” Federer said. “It was much better
than the last couple of matches.
“I was hitting good forehands, not making so many mistakes, returning better,” he
added. “So there was a lot of positives out
in the match. Sometimes frustration, but
sometimes that’s what Gael does to you.”
Djokovic, who was married last month
and is soon to become a father, said it
wasn’t a question of the new elements in
his life weighing on his tennis.
“I just lost the match,” he said. “It was
bad. Many, many things are not clicking
these two weeks on hard courts. It’s unfortunate, but it’s more than obvious I’m not
playing even close to what I’m supposed to
play.
“I have to keep on working and trying
to get better for the US Open. I just don’t
feel comfortable. That’s it.” Robredo was
thrilled to win only his second match in
eight encounters with a world number one
player. He beat then-top ranked Lleyton
Hewitt at Roland Garros 11 years ago.
“It’s amazing to be here playing and to
beat the number one, I’m more than happy,” said the 32-year-old Robredo, who
next faces sixth-seeded compatriot David
Ferrer—a 7-5, 6-0 winner over Mikhail
Youzhny. Murray, in search of his п¬Ѓrst title
since Wimbledon in 2013, has struggled to
regain top form since his return from back
surgery in January.
“It’s a very important match for me to
win,” he said. “I had lost a few close matches over the last few months. It was important for me to come through.”
Australian Open champion Stan
Wawrinka, the third seed, rallied to beat
Croatian Marin Cilic 3-6, 6-0, 6-1.
He’ll play France’s Julien Benneteau, who
beat Jerzy Janowicz 7-5, 6-1.
Fifth seed Milos Raonic made amends
with his 30th ace on match point after earlier double-faulting three times while serving for victory.
The Canadian defeated American Steve
Johnson 6-7 (7/9), 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) and next
faces Italian 15th seed Fabio Fognini. Fognini beat Lu Yen-Hsun of Taiwan 3-6, 6-3,
6-3. In women’s action in the combined
ATP and WTA event, defending champion Serena Williams continued her march
through the draw, beating Italian 13th seed
Flavia Pennetta 6-2, 6-2.
AFP
New York
L
Tommy Robredo of Spain returns to Novak Djokovic of Serbia at the Linder Family Tennis Center on Thursday in Cincinnati, Ohio.
AFP
Cincinnati
Li’s future
�up in the
air’, says
Navratilova
Williams next plays eighth seed Jelena
Jankovic, who beat Sloane Stephens 7-6
(7/4), 6-4.
Also through was world number two and
second seed Simona Halep, a 6-4, 7-5 winner against Czech Lucie Safarova.
“Today was much better than my first
match here,” said Halep, winner in Bucharest last month and runner-up to Maria
Sharapova at Roland Garros. “I was happy
to win in two sets, since she was up 5-4.
Halep earned a mouth-watering rematch
with п¬Ѓfth-seeded Sharapova, who beat
fellow Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
6-4, 7-6 (7/2). Sharapova had to rally from
a break down three times in the second set
but managed to п¬Ѓnish it off in two.
Ukrainian teenager Elina Svitolina, who
took out double Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova in the second round, claimed
her second seeded victim with a defeat
of Spain’s number 15 Carla Suarez Navarro 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. She’ll next face former
world number one Ana Ivanovic, a 6-2, 2-6,
6-3 winner over Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Fourth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of
Poland cruised past Germany’s Sabine Lisicki 6-1, 6-1 and will take on Denmark’s
Caroline Wozniacki, a 7-5, 6-2 winner over
sixth-seeded German Angelique Kerber.
Navratilova in Singapore
i Na’s Grand Slam future
is “up in the air” after
an injury-hit season
and the loss of her inspirational coach, tennis great
Martina Navratilova told AFP
yesterday.
The 18-time Grand Slam
champion said Li’s ability to
withstand injuries was the critical question as she approaches
her 33rd birthday in February.
China’s Li won the Australian Open in January but her
season has nose-dived and
along with splitting with coach
Carlos Rodriguez, she has also
been sidelined by a knee injury.
“The body is the biggest issue for her, clearly, now,” Navratilova said in an interview,
when asked whether Li was capable of winning a third Grand
Slam title.
“She had some motivation
issues a year ago after Wimbledon but then she had a good
talk with Carlos and then wins
the Australian Open the following year.
“So she’s had a great year, she
won a Slam which is amazing.
But now she may not play the
rest of the year, so it’s up in the
air for her.
“Game-wise, does she have a
Slam? Yes, but is the body going
to cooperate?”
Navratilova was speaking during a promotional visit
ahead of her WTA Legends
appearance in Singapore in
October, which will run alongside the season-ending WTA
Championships.
Her comments underline the
questions facing Li, who will
miss the US Open and may not
return until the inaugural Wu-
han Open in her home city next
month.
Li, ranked third in the world,
has had dips in her career before but Rodriguez, the former
coach of Justine Henin, was key
to her most recent revival.
Navratilova, who won the
last of her Grand Slam singles
titles at 33, knows only too well
the physical challenges that are
facing the Chinese star.
“It’s a tricky thing. When
you get older you need to curb
your schedule and not play as
much,” she said.
“But when you play too little
then you’re not match-tough,
and then you start losing early
and then you need to play more
tournaments to get the matches.
“And then it really upsets
your rhythm of getting ready,
so it’s tricky when you get older.
You have to keep adapting.”
Of Rodriguez’s decision to
stop coaching Li, Navratilova
said “sometimes the relationship kind of runs its course”.
But she said she was open to
taking up a coaching role with
a top player, following the example of Stefan Edberg, Ivan
Lendl, Boris Becker and Amelie
Mauresmo.
“I’d like to pass on the
knowledge. There’s no substitute for that one-on-one, getting into the nitty-gritty of the
game,” she said.
“And you can only really do
that with a top player, when
you’re just searching for that
little edge. That sliced backhand or the dropped volley that
you may only use once or twice
a match but may mean the difference between winning or
losing.
“I love getting into those details of the sport. I’m sure it’ll
happen.”
Injury woes: Li Na
SWITCH HIT
Israel to
play Davis
Cup in US
Reuters
London
I
Two tourists pose for a photo with US tennis legend Martina Navratilova (2nd R) as she tours the Chinatown district in Singapore yesterday. Navratilova is on a two-day tour
of Singapore, as part of the build-up to the BNP Paribas WTA tennis finals in Singapore in October.
srael’s Davis Cup tie against
Argentina originally scheduled for Tel Aviv next month
has been moved to Florida,
the International Tennis Federation (ITF) said yesterday.
Continuing violence in and
around the Gaza Strip had
prompted the ITF to call for an
alternative venue for the World
Group playoff tie.
Announcing that the Sept 1214 tie would now be played in
Sunrise, Florida, the ITF said:
“The neutral venue was proposed by the ITA (Israel Ten-
nis Association), who retained
choice of ground after the tie
was unable to be staged in Israel.
“The venue has been approved
by the Davis Cup Committee
subject to a successful ITF site
visit. The tie will be played on
outdoor hard court.”
Earlier this month the inaugural $1 million ATP Israel Open,
also to be held in Tel Aviv, was
cancelled by the governing body
of men’s tennis because of the
Gaza conflict.
The ATP World Tour 250
event, which was due to take
place from Sept. 15-21, would
have been the first high-profile
men’s tournament to be held in
Israel since 1996.
Gulf Times
Saturday, August 16, 2014
5
SPORT
HORSE RACING
Qatar holds strong hand for Doncaster showpiece
Agencies
Doncaster
Q
atari owners are represented by seven
of the 18 initial entries made for the
ВЈ150,000 Qatar Racing and
Equestrian Club Harwood International Stakes (Group 1
PA), the UK’s highest value race
for Pure Bred Arabians, which
takes place at Doncaster on 13
September.
Julian Smart, whose racing year is split between his HH
Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa al-Thani’s Al Shahania Stud
in Qatar and a summer base in
Lambourn, is responsible for
four including previous Group
race winners Al Anga and Aden.
Smart, three-time winner of
Qatar’s most prestigious race the
H.H. Emir’s Sword, is also set to
saddle Taraf, the striking silver
dun п¬Ѓlly who won the Shadwell
Madjani International Stakes at
Newmarket in July and the Emirates NBD Conditions race at the
Dubai International Arabian
Races at Newbury last weekend.
Leading French trainer Alban
de Mieulle and owner / breeder
HH Sheikh Abdulla bin Khalifa al-Thani will be hoping for
a repeat of their success in 2013
when Nashmi joins the line-up
after they claimed victory with
Tarabak in the inaugural running
of the race.
Nashmi was narrowly beaten
by last year’s second, Djet Taouy,
in a Listed race at Newbury in
May in which Shadiya п¬Ѓnished
third and is one of three entries
in the Doncaster showpiece for
British owners, the Almost All
partnership.
Although Nashmi doesn’t
have Djet Taouy to worry about
Umm Qarn trainer Alban de Mieulle (left) and jockey Oliver Peslier (second from left) lead in Tabarak after
winning the Harwood International at Doncaster.
this year he does look set to face
opposition from two others from
the Jean Francois Bernard yard,
including No Problem Al Maury,
the top lot at the 2013 Arqana
Sales in France.
UK Champion Arabian trainer,
Gill Duffield, also has a strong
hand. The pick of her three entries is Manark who won a seven
furlongs Group 2 event at Newbury as a three-year-old year
old.
The Royal Cavalry of Oman
succeeded in a rare feat when Al
Mouhannad retained his crown
in the Group 1 Jebel Ali Racecourse Zaabeel International at
Newbury last weekend. He will
be looking to improve on his
third place in this race last year.
Toutatix, saddled by Georgina
Ward who has recently relocated to the UK from Oman, comes
to the race after winning the
opening Premier Handicap at
Newbury’s Dubai International
Arabian Races last weekend
over the same distance. This
represents a significant step up
in class but he looked impressive on his most recent start and
never gives up without a п¬Ѓght in
his races.
Arabian Racing Organisation
Racing Manager Amanda Smith
commented “We are very grateful to Qatar Racing & Equestrian
Club for their ongoing support
of Arabian Racing in the UK.
This race is the single most valuable of the UK season and the
only race for Pure Bred Arabians
staged on a Classic card in Britain.
“More than 30,000 people attended Doncaster last year providing a fantastic showcase for
Qatar and for Arabian Racing. I
am sure Qatar Racing & Equestrian Club will be rewarded with
another superb event.”
GOLF
Villegas takes lead
with 63 at Wyndham
Championship
Rest, riding in mountains refresh Colombian as he seeks Wyndham win
Reuters
Greensboro, North Carolina
C
Lexi Thompson hits her tee shot on the 17th hole during the first
round of the LPGA Championship at Monroe Golf Club.
NABISCO CHAMPIONSHIP
Duo share
LPGA first
round lead
AFP
New York
L
exi Thompson, gunning
for her second major title of the year, shared the
п¬Ѓrst-round lead Thursday with Meena Lee on six-under 66 in the LPGA Championship.
Thompson, 19, won the Kraft
Nabisco Championship earlier this year for her п¬Ѓrst major
championship title.
South Korea’s Lee is a twotime winner on the LPGA Tour,
but is seeking her п¬Ѓrst major.
The duo were one stroke in
front of American Brittany Lincicome, the 2009 Kraft Nabisco
winner, who was joined in third
place on 67 by Canadian Jennifer
Kirby and Colombian Lisa McCloskey.
American Cristie Kerr and
China’s Feng Shanshan, both
former winners of this event,
shared sixth on 68.
Thompson charged into contention with three birdies in her
п¬Ѓrst п¬Ѓve holes.
She had seven birdies through
15 holes before she was slowed by
back-to-back bogeys at 15 and
16, but capped her round with a
birdie at 18.
“Overall it was just a really
solid round,” Thompson said.
“I started off with birdieing two
and three, so that got me a little
confidence early in the round,
and I just tried to keep that going, pretty much keep that
steady pace going.”
Thompson,
who
played
alongside defending champion
Park In-Bee (72), said her length
off the tee was an advantage.
“Coming into the week I knew
this golf course was going to be
set up good for me,” she said. “I
get to hit driver on every hole,
but you just have to hit it straight
in majors because usually they
grow the rough up pretty deep,
and that’s what majors call for.”
She was philosophical about
three-putt bogeys at 15 and 16.
“I just didn’t have good speed
on the two putts and didn’t make
the come-backers,” she said. “It
happens, it’s golf. You’re going
to hit bad shots and miss putts,
so I just tried not to let it get to
me and just tried to birdie one of
the last two. “It was the harder
one of the holes, so I was pretty
happy about that.”
South Korea’s Lee also nabbed
eight birdies with two bogeys.
After opening her round with
a birdie at the 10th, Lee answered her п¬Ѓrst bogey of the day
at 13 with three straight birdies.
She picked up four more birdies with one more bogey coming
in.
“It was little windy out there
this morning, but I putted really
good today,” Lee said. “So I was
really happy with my play.”
South Korea’s Ji Eun-Hee and
Lee Mi-Rim—winner on Sunday in Michigan—were among
a group of eight players three
shots off the pace on 69.
New Zealand teenager Lydia
Ko, who could seize the world
number one ranking with her
п¬Ѓrst major title this week, headlined a group of 13 players on 70.
amilo Villegas, refreshed after a quick
trip back to his native Colombia, carded
seven-under-par 63 to earn the
lead after the п¬Ѓrst round at the
Wyndham Championship on
Thursday.
Villegas compiled an eagle
and п¬Ѓve birdies for a one-stroke
edge over Americans Webb
Simpson and William McGirt in
delightful conditions on a mild
summer’s day at Sedgefield.
“It was nice to go without
any bogeys and I think it probably showed it was a consistent
round,” Villegas told reporters.
“I kept it on the fairways, on
the greens and just made the
putts when I hit it close. My
birdie putts weren’t even that
long. I just hit the ball nicely.”
Villegas, 32, a three-time
PGA Tour winner, was heavily
promoted by the PGA Tour as
the next big thing when he burst
on tour in 2006.
But his career stalled as he
battled minor injuries and loss
of form and he fell to 148th on
the rankings in 2012.
“Do I feel like I have played to
my potential the last two-anda-half years? No,” he said. “But
it’s not everything about golf.
You’ve got to be a little bit easy
on yourself and just enjoy life.
The game has been good to me.
I have no complaints.
“Did I see (a 63) coming?
Not really, but I felt good on
the range this morning and just
kept it going.”
A keen cyclist, he returned
home last week to visit his
parents in Medellin, where he
enjoyed some strenuous rides
around the mountainous terrain.
As well as Villegas played, he
could not steal much local attention away from North Carolina-born Webb Simpson, the
2012 US Open champion who
lives in nearby Charlotte.
Charlotte is also home to
Martin Laird, though the Scot
was born much further afield in
Glasgow.
Laird has won three times
on tour, most recently the Texas Open last year, but rather
than using those successes as a
springboard, he has regressed
this season.
However, a return to coach
Mark McCann six weeks ago
has the 31-year-old hopeful he
is back on the right track after
missing all four majors this year.
“I’d been struggling with my
ball-striking a little while, kind
Camilo Villegas of Colombia plays his tee shot on the 16th hole during the first round of the Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country
Club on Thursday in Greensboro, North Carolina.
of searching,” Laird, who had
been in sight of the early lead
after shooting a п¬Ѓve-under 65,
told reporters.
“We started working on some
things that we worked on in the
past and with that little comfort
factor knowing I played my best
golf working with him in the
past, we clicked and I started
playing a little better and building the confidence week by
week.”
Casey needs �win, win’ to earn
Ryder Cup consideration
Briton Paul Casey acknowledges he is not on the radar
screen for Ryder Cup selection
right now, but winning the next
two weeks on the PGA Tour
would likely change that.
Casey, a three-time member
of the European team, has won
twice at Gleneagles in Scotland,
which next month will host the
biennial showdown between
Europe and the US.
This would seem to make the
former world number three an
ideal candidate for selection,
but the depth of European talent leaves him a long way down
the current pecking order.
Casey instead is focusing on
qualifying for the PGA Tour’s
four-event playoff series, which
starts next week.
He is on the bubble, 125th in
the standings, with the top 125
after the Wyndham Champi-
onship on Sunday advancing to
the lucrative playoffs.
An opening п¬Ѓve-under-par
65 at Sedgefield on Thursday
was a big step in the right direction.
“I’m not ruling myself out
but I would have to do something exceptional to catch
his eye,” Casey said, referring to European captain Paul
McGinley, who will pick three
players to go with nine automatic qualifiers.
“A win, win would catch his
attention. I’ve played some
good golf this season, but
if I was captain I’d be looking at four guys right now, as
the standings sit (for captain’s
picks).
Those four, he said, were
English compatriots Lee Westwood, Luke Donald and Ian
Poulter and Scotland’s Stephen
Gallagher.
Casey is enjoying life on and
off the course again after struggling with injuries that derailed
his ascent to the top of the rankings while a divorce was also a
major distraction.
His new п¬Ѓancee, British TV
personality Pollyanna Woodward, is expecting their п¬Ѓrst
child in a few weeks, and he
recently was granted US permanent residency status after
settling in Phoenix, Arizona,
where he plans to stay.
“You get bored with the sunshine,” he joked.
6
Gulf Times
Saturday, August 16, 2014
SPORT
SPOTLIGHT
Manfred elected next MLB commissioner
Reuters
Baltimore
L
ong-time official Rob
Manfred, the right-hand
man of outgoing Major
League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig, was elected
his successor in a vote by team
owners on Thursday.
Manfred, named MLB’s chief
operating officer last year after
serving as its head of labor relations for 15 years, will take over
for the 80-year-old Selig when
he retires in January after 22
years in charge.
“My single biggest challenge
is filling the shoes of the gentleman who stands to my right,”
Manfred told a news conference.
The election of Manfred, who
had to п¬Ѓght through a contest
with Boston Red Sox chairman
Tom Werner for the job, was an
affirmation of the success of
Selig’s regime.
ROUND-UP
Rockies’
Gonzalez
to have
season
ending
surgery
AFP
Denver
T
he Colorado Rockies
say outfielder Carlos
Gonzalez will have season-ending surgery on
his left knee Monday.
The team made the announcement Thursday night, saying
Gonzalez will have his patella
tendon repaired.
It’s been an injury-riddled
year for Gonzalez, who is on the
disabled list with not only an
aching left knee but a sprained
right ankle. He was out earlier
this season after doctors found
and removed a small tumor in his
left index п¬Ѓnger.
With all his ailments, Gonzalez struggled at the plate. He hit
.238 with 11 homers and 38 RBIs.
The last-place Rockies are already missing All-Star shortstop
Troy Tulowitzki, who will undergo season-ending hip surgery
Friday in Vail, Colorado.
Meanwhile, Athletics shortstop Jed Lowrie will be placed
on the disabled list because of a
fractured right index п¬Ѓnger.
Lowrie had been trying to play
through the injury. He is expected to miss two to three weeks.
The 30-year-old is batting
.238. with п¬Ѓve homers and 42
RBIs this season.
The Pittsburg Pirates acquired
right-handed reliever John Axford from the Cleveland Indians in
a waiver deal. The Pirates will be
responsible for the remaining portion of Axford’s $4.5mn contract,
estimated to be $1.3mn. The Indians do not get a player in return.
Axford opened the season
as the Indians’ closer, but was
replaced in May when control
problems proved his undoing. He
walked 30 batters in 43 2/3 innings this season while compiling a 2-3 mark with a 3.92 ERA
and 10 saves in 49 appearances.
Joe Nathan apologized for making two obscene gestures toward
frustrated Detroit Tigers fans after
his outing on Wednesday.
Nathan, the team’s closer, was
booed when he walked the п¬Ѓrst
two batters he faced in the ninth
inning but did not allow a run in
the 8-4 victory over the visiting
Pittsburgh Pirates.
Manfred, 55, has been credited as a key player in helping
the sport achieve 21 years of labor peace after decades of bitter
conflict with the Players Association that saw a series of strikes,
lockouts and courtroom battles.
In forging a strong working
relationship with the players union, Manfred also led the owners’
side in negotiations that brought
about the joint drug program in
2002 that has grown to become
the toughest in North American
professional team sports.
The long period of labor
peace has contributed to a robust growth of the game, with
revenues more than doubling
to $8bn last year from $3.9bn 11
years ago.
But the game needs to attract
more young fans and grow internationally.
Selig smiled on like a proud
papa at Manfred’s election.
“There is no doubt in my mind
that he has the training, the tem-
Newly elected commissioner of baseball Rob Manfred speaks at a
press conference after being elected by team owners to be the next
commissioner. At left is MLB commissioner Bud Selig.
perament and the experience to
be a very, very successful commissioner and I justifiably have
very high expectations,” said
Selig.
Manfred came to the owners’ quarterly meetings favored
to win the job, but on the п¬Ѓrst
ballot fell short of the 23 votes
he needed from the 30 clubs to
win, according to sources with
knowledge of the vote.
The choice was down to Manfred or Werner after the third
candidate recommended by a
search committee, MLB’s vice
president for business Tim Brosnan, withdrew before the voting began.
After more than four hours of
wrangling and a catered snack
for the owners in a midtown hotel, Manfred was elected with
the outcome announced as a
unanimous 30-0.
Once the winning vote was
reached, Manfred was ushered
into the meeting room by a stout
set of security guards.
The commissioner in waiting
said he was unconcerned about
which teams may have initially
opposed him.
“I said my commitment to the
owners was that I would work
extremely hard, day in and day
out, to convince all 30 of them
that they made a great decision
today,” said Manfred.
Manfred did not want to get
into job priorities so soon after the vote, adding that a lot of
great ideas had been expressed.
“The process provided a great
opportunity for candidates to
talk about issues they saw in the
game and maybe more importantly provided great opportunity to get feedback from clubs
about where they wanted the
game to go,” said Manfred.
Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos was pleased with the
outcome.
“I think the owners elected a
very confident, strong leader and
I think he’s going to make a real
difference in the future and can
build on the accomplishments
of the previous administration,”
Angelos told reporters as he left
the meeting.
Opponents of the Manfred
candidacy were believed to feel
that more aggressive negotiating
could help bring player salaries
under greater control.
Despite baseball’s rosy bottom
line, MLB, unlike the National
Football League, National Hockey League and National Basketball Association, does not have
a salary cap, relying instead on
revenue sharing and a punitive
luxury tax on payroll spent over
the limit.
The 64-year-old Werner, who
also serves as chairman of Liverpool Football Club of the English
Premier League and made his
fortune as a TV producer, was
gracious in defeat.
“I think Rob will make a great
commissioner and I’m going to
support him,” Werner said as he
made his way from the hotel.
“Some of the ideas we talked
about was to speed up the play
of the game, to capture a generation of young fans that I think
we need, and to make the game
more popular internationally,”
said Werner. “All those ideas got
a warm reception.”
BASEBALL
Odorizzi, Longoria help
Rays top Rangers 6-3
�The whole group is confident. They’re not braggish about it, just businesslike in a confident way’
Agencies
Arlington, Texas
J
ake Odorizzi retired the
п¬Ѓnal 10 hitters after allowing a home run, Evan
Longoria homered and
drove in three runs and the Rays
beat the Texas Rangers 6-3 on
Thursday.
“The guy’s confident,’’ manager Joe Maddon said of his
24-year-old pitcher. “He’s swaggering out to the mound, and
swaggering back in. The whole
group is confident. They’re not
braggish about it, just businesslike in a confident way.”
And they have the numbers to
back it up, with Odorizzi striking out seven in seven innings
to help give the Rays their ALrecord 18th consecutive road
game without allowing more
than three runs.
Odorizzi (9-9) was the starter
the last time Tampa Bay gave up
more than three runs - the last
home game before the 10-game
trip that just ended with the
Rays taking three of four from
the Rangers. He gave up п¬Ѓve
runs in a 7-5 loss to the Los Angeles Angels on August 3.
Following up six shutout innings in a win at the Chicago
Cubs, Odorizzi didn’t allow another baserunner after Geovany
Soto’s first homer of the season
to pull the Rangers within 4-2.
“I’ve been growing a lot since
the first part of the season,’’
Odorizzi said. “I found out a lot
about myself.”
Jake McGee pitched a perfect ninth for his 13th save in
14 chances, getting the Rays
within three games of the major
league record for consecutive
road games with three runs or
fewer allowed held by the 1908
Cubs.
Robbie Ross (2-5) came up
from Triple-A Round Rock to п¬Ѓll
in for Texas ace Yu Darvish, who
is sidelined with elbow inflammation. The left-hander gave
up six runs in 4 1-3 innings.
Ross started the season in the
Texas rotation after spending
two years as a reliever. He struck
out the side in the п¬Ѓrst but then
looked a lot like the pitcher who
Texas Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor is unable to make the tag as Tampa Bay Rays’ Brandon Guyer steals second during the third inning of the game on Thursday, in
Arlington, Texas.
was sent back to the bullpen in
May not long after giving up 30
runs - 23 earned - in 26 2-3 innings over п¬Ѓve starts.
“I just started maybe being a
little too п¬Ѓne and trying to pick
around the zone instead of just
going right at them like I was in
the beginning,’’ Ross said.
Elsewhere,
Los
Angeles
Dodgers improved to a National
League-best 70-53 with their
6-4 victory over Atlanta.
Adrian Gonzalez was 3-for-5
with a double and three RBIs,
Dee Gordon had three hits and
four runs and Yasiel Puig added three hits while making the
defensive play of the game by
crashing into the fence to rob
Braves’ first baseman Freddie
Freeman of extra-bases in the
sixth inning.
Max Scherzer struck out a
season-high 14 batters and collected his American Leagueleading 14th victory as the
Detroit Tigers defeated the
Pittsburgh Pirates 5-2.
Scherzer (14-4) did not give
up a run on three hits in eight
innings.
J.D. Martinez drove in two
runs for Detroit (65-54) while
pinch hitter Gaby Sanchez hit a
late two-run homer for the Pirates (64-57).
Right fielder Nori Aoki’s tworun triple in the fifth inning gave
the Kansas City Royals the lead
they held to beat the Oakland
Athletics 7-3.
The Royals batted around in a
п¬Ѓve-run seventh.
Oakland (73-48) has seen
their lead in the AL West
trimmed to two games.
Adam LaRoche and Bryce
Harper both hit two-run homers and Stephen Strasburg
threw seven strong innings as
the Washington Nationals beat
the New York Mets 4-1.
The Nationals (66-53) increased their lead in the NL East
over Atlanta to a season-high
six games.
Right-hander Mike Fiers
scattered three hits and struck
out 14 over six shutout innings
as the Milwaukee Brewers salvaged a series split with a 6-2
victory over the Chicago Cubs.
Second baseman Scooter
Gennett doubled in two п¬Ѓrstinning runs, left п¬Ѓelder Khris
Davis homered and scored twice
while shortstop Elian Herrera
went 3-for-4 with an RBI and
run scored.
Jon Jay slammed a pinch hit
two-run double off the center
п¬Ѓeld wall in the bottom of the
eighth as St. Louis jumped into
second place in the NL Central
with a narrow 4-3 win over San
Diego.
The Cardinals (64-56) stayed
two games behind п¬Ѓrst-place
Milwaukee and leapfrogged
Pittsburgh in the division and
for the п¬Ѓrst wild-card spot.
Center п¬Ѓelder Marcell Ozuna
hit a walk-off double in the 10th
inning to lead the Miami Marlins to a 5-4 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Marlins’ reliever Mike Dunn
(10-5) earned the win in two
scoreless innings and set a franchise single-season record with
10 wins by a reliever.
Results
LA Dodgers
DETROIT
KANSAS CITY
Milwaukee
BOSTON
Washington
MIAMI
Tampa Bay
ST. LOUIS
COLORADO
6
5
7
6
9
4
5
6
4
7
ATLANTA
Pittsburgh
Oakland
CHICAGO CUBS
Houston
NY METS
Arizona
TEXAS
San Diego
Cincinnati
4
2
3
2
4
1
4
3
3
3
NBA
Cousins hurts knee in US practice, not serious
AFP
Chicago
US National Team player DeMarcus Cousins lays on the court and is
looked over by trainers after an injury during a practice of the men’s
basketball team Thursday.
S
acramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins
injured his right knee
in Thursday’s practice,
the first since Team USA lost
Indiana Pacers star forward
Paul George to a leg injury.
Cousins will undergo what national team general manager Jerry
Colangelo said is a precautionary
MRI exam and is out for Saturday’s exhibition against Brazil at
the United Center. Team USA is
practicing this week at Qwest MultiSport training facility in Chicago,
site of the NBA Draft Combine.
In addition to Kevin Durant,
who withdrew last week citing
mental and physical fatigue, the
preliminary roster of 16 is reduced to 14 players for the exhibition this weekend.
Colangelo said he is hopeful
Cousins is not seriously injured.
A sprained knee could bring a recovery time of 4-6 weeks, which
would eliminate the center from
the FIBA World Cup of Basketball in Spain, which begins Aug.
30. The championship game is
Sept. 14.
The list of All-Stars not on
the team represents a virtual
who’s who in the NBA, including LeBron James, Kobe Bryant,
Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and
Durant, who withdrew after
Kevin Love, LaMarcus Aldridge
and Blake Griffin had done the
same.
Meanwhile, Phoenix Suns
guard Isaiah Thomas underwent
successful arthroscopy on his
left wrist and is expected to be
fully recovered in time for training camp, the team said.
Gulf Times
Saturday, August 16, 2014
SNAPSHOTS
PICTURE PERFECT
Honda Moto3 rider Efren Vazquez (left) of Spain leads a
pack of riders during the second free practice of the Czech
Grand Prix in Brno yesterday. (REUTERS/ /DAVID W CERNY)
Ukraine’s Anna Voloshina performs in the synchronised swimming solo free routine preliminaries during the European Swimming
Championships in Berlin yesterday. (REUTERS / MICHAEL DALDER)
Bryan brothers Bob and Mike celebrate with a chest bump after their win over Eric Butorac and Raven
Klaasen at the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati, Ohio. (AFP / ANDY LYONS)
Barcelona’s Brazilian
players Neymar (left)
and Rafinha joke
during a training
session. (EPA /
ALEJANDRO GARCIA)
RIGHT: Kariem
Hussein of Switzerland
celebrates after
winning the 400
metres hurdles during
the European Athletics
Championships at the
Letzigrund Stadium
in Zurich yesterday.
(REUTERS / ARND
WIEGMANN)
Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni pulls en route to his brilliant 82 during the fifth Test against England at The Oval in London yesterday. (AFP / GLYN KIRK)
Jamaican Olympic sprint champion Usain Bolt listens to a
question during a news conference to present the �Mano a Mano’
challenge in Rio de Janeiro. (REUTERS / SERGIO MORAES)
7
8
Gulf Times
Saturday, August 16, 2014
RUGBY
BLEDISLOE CUP
Australia’s cool captain eyes
mission almost impossible
�This game tonight is going to be about adapting to the situations that occur’
Reuters
Sydney
T
he Wallabies will suffer setbacks against New
Zealand in today’s Rugby
Championship clash and how
they react to those reverses will
determine whether they can
upset the All Blacks, captain
Michael Hooper said yesterday.
Hooper and his team mates
face what has proved mission
impossible for any international rugby team over the last 14
months when they try to bring
a halt to the world champions’
winning streak at 17 matches at
the Olympic Stadium.
Despite New Zealand coach
Steve Hansen’s assertion to the
contrary, the Wallabies have not
been talking up their chances of
preventing the All Blacks from
claiming a record 18th win and
Hooper’s measured comments
reflected that sense of realism.
“This game tomorrow night is
going to be about adapting to the
situations that occur,” he told
reporters.
“The Kiwis are going to throw
some great stuff at us, we’ve got
to be able to absorb that, then
put what we’re good at out on
the п¬Ѓeld, and counter it.
“We know we’re going to turn
over the ball, we know these
things are going to happen, but
being able to get back at them,
get back on the horse so to speak,
is going to be paramount.”
New Zealand are unbeaten in
their last seven matches against
Australia, have not lost in Sydney since 2008 and have held
the Bledisloe Cup the two countries compete for annually since
2003.
When Australia point to fullback Israel Folau’s 13 tries in
his п¬Ѓrst 18 tests, New Zealand
can counter with winger Julian
Savea’s 23 in 22 matches.
Hooper has been in brilliant
form this year as he led New South
Wales Waratahs to the Super Rugby title but his opposite number
on Saturday will be Richie McCaw, three-times World Player of
the Year and long the benchmark
for openside flankers.
Members of the Australia’s Wallabies Rugby Union pose for an official photo before their training in Sydney, yesterday. The New Zealand’s All Blacks play against Wallabies in their first Bledisloe Cup game in Sydney
today.
“Superb team, I’ve never
beaten them,” said Hooper.
“I drew once and that was a
little taste but you want to be
able to know that you can take
on these guys and try and match
up with them.”
If the prospect of battling
such monumental odds for the
п¬Ѓrst time as captain was bothering Hooper, the 22-year-old was
certainly not showing it.
“It feels pretty cool to be honest, I’m excited,” he added.
“This is a massive game for us,
the biggest game for us as a Wallabies group each year. I don’t feel
any pressure because I’ve seen
what the players around me can
do. That makes me really excited.”
The Waratahs were considered to have had a slight edge
over a Canterbury Crusaders
pack including McCaw in the
Super Rugby п¬Ѓnal at the same
arena two weeks ago, but Hooper scoffed at suggestions the All
SPOTLIGHT
Blacks’ skipper might be on the
wane.
“With the 127 caps he’s got
now, there’s no chance he’s a
spent force,” said Hooper, who
had just turned 10 when McCaw
made his test debut.
“The amount he brings to
the All Blacks jersey and the
guys around him is monumental. Every time you get to play
against these guys, you’re pretty
pumped to take him on.”
Hooper expects big clashes
all over the park from the off on
Saturday and called on the notoriously quiet Sydney crowd
to get behind the Wallabies - as
they got behind the Waratahs in
the Super Rugby п¬Ѓnal.
“It was the first time I’d experienced it in New South Wales,”
he said.
“If something similar could
happen tomorrow night it would
definitely help the team and
spark a lot of confidence for us.”
PREVIEW
Smith loss no great drama, Springboks �young
says All Blacks skipper
guns’ out to pummel
Argentina today
Reuters
Sydney
A
ll Blacks skipper Richie
McCaw has brushed off
the almost certain loss
of centre Conrad Smith for today’s Rugby Championship
match against Australia, when
the world champions could set
a new record for consecutive
victories.
New Zealand’s final preparations for the start of their title
defence were hit by a pregnant
pause on Friday morning when
Smith rushed home to Wellington to be with his wife for the
birth of their п¬Ѓrst child.
Exciting young talent Malakai
Fekitoa will come off the bench
to replace the 77-test veteran
in midfield and Ryan Crotty has
been called into the squad, even
if coach Steve Hansen has not
given up hope Smith might play
a part in the match.
“It’s happened enough times
in the past,” a phlegmatic McCaw told reporters at the Olympic Stadium.
“Just look at the last test we
played when Conrad broke his
thumb. Malakai was the last guy
to play at centre in the last test
so him slotting in will be п¬Ѓne.
“At the end of the day, if you
let those things influence what
you do in the weekend, you
haven’t really got the environment set up right so hopefully
everyone’s aware of what’s go-
Captain Richie McCaw gives a thumbs up to team mates during a
training session for New Zealand’s All Blacks Rugby Union team in
Sydney, yesterday.
ing on and have prepared as
such.”
That sort of sangfroid in the
face of disruption typifies the
sort of team culture that has
helped the All Blacks match the
record for most consecutive
victories for a top tier nation
over the last 14 months.
An 18th successive victory on
Saturday would add that record
to an already impressive collection of honours the All Blacks
have achieved in the last three
years, including the World Cup
triumph and back-to-back
Rugby Championships.
Beat the Wallabies in Sydney
and again in Auckland in the return match next week and New
Zealand will retain the Bledisloe
Cup for an 12th straight season.
McCaw becomes the п¬Ѓrst
player to play 50 matches in the
two incarnations of the annual
southern hemisphere test championship on Saturday and his
approach to feats and honours
remains as grounded as ever.
“We addressed it at the start
of the week and said there was
an opportunity,” he said of the
record winning streak.
“If you look at the Bledisloe,
that’s on the line as well. We
just want to go out and perform
well and if we do that we give
ourselves a good chance of winning and getting one hand back
on the Bledisloe.
“Those by-products would
be nice but we’ve got to get the
job done first.”
AFP
Pretoria
S
pringboks Damian de Allende, Handre Pollard
and Lood de Jager will be
the centre of attention today
in a Rugby Championship Test
against Argentina with an air of
inevitability hanging over it.
The two-time world champions have run up 100 points at
home against the Pumas while
conceding just 19 in two previous southern hemisphere championship matches.
And the margin of victory in
the п¬Ѓrst-round game seems the
only issue to be resolved when
the second and eighth-ranked
rugby nations clash at Loftus
Versfeld stadium in Pretoria.
Coach Heyneke Meyer will
send into battle on the South
African highveld a mix of multicap �old hands’ and �young guns’
with the 2015 Rugby World Cup
in their sights.
An injury to 2007 World Cup
winner Jaque Fourie offers De
Allende, a 22-year-old Western
Stormer, a chance in the unfamiliar role of outside centre.
Big, strong, fast and an excellent passer, De Allende is more
used to inside centre or leftwing, roles п¬Ѓlled by skipper Jean
de Villiers and fellow veteran
Bryan Habana.
“I like his mental toughness,”
said Meyer of De Allende. “He
is a big guy who runs beautiful
lines and has soft touches and
skilful attributes.”
The Springbok coach says he
knows all about deadly goalkicker but often unadventurous
fly-half Morne Steyn and needs
depth in the crucial position.
Enter Northern Bull Pollard,
a 20-year-old who debuted
against Scotland two months
ago and a player many believe is
destined for stardom.
The words of legendary
former Springboks fly-half Naas
Botha can only boost the confidence of the tall, physically imposing playmaker.
“Handre has an amazing skill
set. He is big, fast, handles well,
and has good vision and maturity.
“There used to be a question mark over his goal-kicking
consistency, but that has been
rectified,” said one of the most
accurate goal-kickers in South
African rugby history.
Whereas Steyn favours lying
deep and tactical kicks, Pollard
relishes attacking the advantage
line and many pundits believe
he will be the п¬Ѓrst choice come
September 2015 in England.
When Bakkies Botha moved
to France after an unsuccessful World Cup defence in 2011
and Victor Matfield temporarily retired, South Africa went
from having the best locks in the
world to a desperate search for
replacements.
Eben Etzebeth emerged as a
young front-of-lineout enforcer
in place of Botha, but п¬Ѓlling the
shoes of Matfield proved more
problematic.
De Jager, a two-metre-plus
21-year-old from the unfashionable Central Cheetahs, got
his chance against Scotland and
Meyer loved what he saw.
“Lood is a very intelligent
player and probably one of the
most improved Springboks I
have coached this season. I think
he has got an unbelievable future.”
Although Argentina say they
are rebuilding, only full-back
Joaquin
Tuculet,
left-wing
Manuel Montero and tight-head
prop Ramiro Herrera have no
Rugby Championship experience.
England-based
hooker
Agustin Creevy has succeeded
France-based flank Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe as skipper
of a Pumas side seeking a п¬Ѓrst
Championship victory after a
draw and 11 losses over two seasons.
Gulf Times
Saturday, August 16, 2014
9
FOOTBALL
FOCUS
SPOTLIGHT
Only thinking about
future, says Suarez
�I am really happy to feel like a footballer again, and to be with my team-mates’
Italy coach’s Puma
deal sparks fears of
conflict of interest
AFP
Rome
A
ntonio Conte (right)
will earn more than any
other Italy coach before
him thanks to a deal
with kit sponsors Puma, Italian
media reported yesterday, sparking questions over a possible
conflict of interest.
The former Juventus boss was
named the new coach of Italy on
Thursday on a two-year contract, and will be paid 3.2 million euros (ВЈ2.5mn, $4.28mn)
a year—with over half coming
from sportswear giant Puma, the
reports said.
Conte can also boost his earnings with bonuses linked to qualifying the team for the Euro 2016
п¬Ѓnals as well as improving his
team’s world ranking, currently
14, to among the top eight.
He is expected to hold a press
conference in Rome on Tuesday
during which the exact details of
his salary will be revealed.
“Conte: the best and the best
paid,” the country’s biggest-selling daily Corriere della Sera said,
with editorialist Mario Sconcerti
describing the 45-year-old as
“by far the best choice”.
“His charisma, having won a
lot, and recently, will give him a
momentum with the players that
no other coach has ever had,” he
said.
Conte steered Juventus to a
third consecutive title last season, the п¬Ѓrst time the club had
achieved the feat since a п¬Ѓveseason title run in the 1930s.
But Puma’s role in securing
Conte for the Italian Football
Federation (FIGC) -- the п¬Ѓrst
time any such deal has been
made in Italy—has left many
critics fearing the sponsor will
wield too much power.
Uruguayan forward Luis Suarez (centre) takes part in his first official training session with Barcelona yesterday. (AFP)
AFP
Barcelona
L
uis Suarez trained with his Barcelona teammates for the п¬Ѓrst time
yesterday and then admitted he
was still paying for his “mistake”
in biting Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini at the
World Cup.
After getting the green light from the
Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the
Uruguayan striker was the centre of attention as he took part in his п¬Ѓrst training
session with the Catalan club.
But afterwards, interviewed wearing a
Barcelona shirt, he told the club website:
“I’m paying for a mistake I made and one
I have apologised for, but I have to forget
about all this. I am only thinking about
the future, which is at FC Barcelona, the
club who I dreamed of playing for.”
After the uncertainty of the past weeks,
Suarez stressed: “I am really happy to feel
like a footballer again, and to be with my
team-mates. I just couldn’t wait to get
started.”
Suarez took an active part in the session
with the main group under the watchful
eye of coach Luis Enrique.
On Thursday, the CAS upheld Suarez’s
four-month ban from playing in competitive games as well as his nine-match
international suspension, but it did al-
low him to train and play in unofficial
matches.
And that means he could make his
debut against Mexican club Leon in the
Gamper Trophy, the traditional curtainraiser to the season at the Camp Nou.
Suarez has reportedly been training
on his own in an unknown location in
Catalonia since completing his 95 million euros (ВЈ75 million, $127 million)
move to the Camp Nou from Liverpool
last month.
He will be available to play in competitive matches from Saturday, October 25,
meaning his official debut could come in
the п¬Ѓrst Clasico of the campaign against
Real Madrid.
Suarez has never explained his propensity to bite opponents.
He earned a 10-game ban for biting Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic in 2013, after being
sidelined for seven matches with Dutch club
Ajax in 2010 for the same offence against
PSV Eindhoven’s Otman Bakkal.
Suarez will be presented to the Barca fans
on Monday before the Joan Gamper Trophy
match and on Tuesday he will be presented
to the media at a press conference.
In yesterday’s training session, Brazilian Neymar completed the full session,
even though he has not received the medical all clear after suffering a fractured
vertebrae in the World Cup quarter-п¬Ѓnal
against Colombia.
SCOTTISH PREMIER LEAGUE
Stokes expects Celtic to raise their game
AFP
Glasgow
A
nthony Stokes admits Celtic’s
performances must improve as
they prepare to welcome Scottish Premiership leaders Dundee United to Celtic Park today.
The Hoops will unveil the Scottish
Premiership championship flag before
the match with Jackie McNamara’s side,
but the mood at the Glasgow club is still
downbeat despite a winning start to the
defence of their title at St Johnstone on
Wednesday.
That result was a vast improvement
from their back-to-back defeats in
Champions League qualifiers against Legia Warsaw—they remain in the competition after the Polish side were punished
for п¬Ѓelding an ineligible player but the
games still caused significant damage to
Celtic morale.
However, Stokes, who scored the
opener in the 3-0 win at McDiarmid Park
in midweek, says the best is yet to come
from the Hoops once new manager Ronny
Deila stamps his style on the team.
“The gaffer has come in and he has set
us up in the way he wants to play. I think
there was some good football there,” said
the Irish striker.
“We moved the ball well, and what
we haven’t done before is create many
chances but we did that on Wednesday
night, and took them. It was a comfortable enough win in the end.
“We are only three or four games into
the season and that was our п¬Ѓrst domestic
game and we are only going to get better
and sharper. We are still trying to improve
and get our fitness up to peak performance.”
Deila’s men will need to be sharp
against early pace-setters United, who
have won both of their opening п¬Ѓxtures of
the campaign.
Celtic’s Anthony Stokes (left) challenges St Johnstone’s Lee Croft during their Scottish Premier League match on Wednesday. (Reuters)
Mario Bilate scored a wonder goal to
secure United’s 1-0 win over Motherwell
in midweek and now the hitman has set
his sights on wrecking Celtic’s title party
and his club’s first win at Parkhead since
December 1992.
“I have been told it has been some time
since we last won at Celtic Park. Now we
have a good chance. Our confidence is
very high and it’s only going up. This is
the perfect opportunity to strike,” said
Dutch striker Bilate, whose new team
lost last season’s Scottish Cup final to St
Johnstone at Parkhead.
“It is going to be a new experience for
me. In the Championship in Holland
sometimes you play in front of crowds of
about 500.
“Playing at Celtic when we’re top of
the league will be a great experience.
“We can go there with confidence because we have shown we can play good
football that sets us apart from other
teams in the Premiership.”
On Sunday, Hearts welcome Hibernian
to Tynecastle for the п¬Ѓrst Edinburgh derby of the season.
The clubs, who are more accustomed to
clashing in the top flight, now find themselves battling each other and fallen Glas-
gow giants Rangers for promotion from
the Championship following relegation
last season.
Both clubs go into the match unbeaten
after Hibs defeated Livingston and Hearts
won 2-1 away to title rivals Rangers on the
opening weekend.
FIXTURES
Today
Celtic v Dundee United
Dundee v Partick Thistle
Hamilton v St Johnstone
Motherwell v Inverness CT
Ross County v Kilmarnock
�QUESTIONS OF ETHICS’
“How will Conte deal with the
players who have contracts with
the same sponsor who is paying
his salary? Who will have the final say when it comes to renewing a contract?” Maurizio Crosetti in La Repubblica asked.
“Will it be the banana man
who will decide? Or Puma’s
managing director?” he said in a
reference to FIGC president Carlo Tavecchio, who was elected
last week despite describing African players as “banana eaters”.
Stefano Semeraro in La Stampa warned that “sport has always
been tied up with questions of
ethics... but this summer Italian
football has had to deal with the
interference, real or feared, of
commercial interests.”
The concern, he said, is that a
coach paid by a sponsor “could
favour a colleague of the same
brand ahead of an athlete sponsored by someone else”.
Conte’s first match in charge
will be on September 4 when
Italy face the Netherlands in a
friendly.
Five days later, Italy begin
their Euro 2016 qualifying campaign in Norway and the pressure will be on for a team whose
failure in Brazil was the second
successive World Cup at which
they had failed to get out of the
group stage.
With a contract running until
July 31, 2016, Conte has a mission
“to relaunch the national team
and develop new players from
across the federation’s training
centres”, said a statement released by FICG.
Conte’s time in charge of Juve
was not without its controversial
moments as, in the summer of
2013, he was caught up in a corruption row after he was charged
with failing to report attempted
match-п¬Ѓxing during his time
with his previous club Siena.
He protested his innocence but
was banned for 10 months, reduced on appeal to a four-month
touchline ban, which saw him
miss the п¬Ѓrst half of last season.
Conte, who captained the club
during his playing career which
stretched over more than 500
games and included п¬Ѓve league
titles, also led Juve to a record
points haul of 102 points as they
won their 30th official league title last season.
Brazil World Cup saw top class
attacking football: FIFA
Berlin: The World Cup in Brazil saw “top quality and attacking
football” which is good news for the future, the Technical Study
Group (TSG) of the ruling body FIFA said in its report published
yesterday.
The TSG also highlighted the high level of goalkeeping despite 171
goals overall, an “extremely balanced” event overall and a large
number of goals scored by substitutes during the June 12-July 13
tournament won by Germany.
“The competition was characterised by the top-class attacking
football on display from practically all 32 participating teams,” the
report said.
“The trend is for teams to play positively and do everything to
win a game rather than merely �not lose’ ... This is a tendency
and philosophy that is very positive and promising for the future
development of football worldwide.”
The TSG consists of 13 men led by former Liverpool manager
Gerard Houllier. Its report will be the subject of several upcoming conferences for the FIFA confederations in September and
October.
The TSG noted several changes compared to 2010 South Africa,
such as teams using one instead of two holding midfielders,
hardly any long balls up front, tactical flexibility and the use of at
least two strikers at most teams.
“Successful teams were not limited to just one creative player,”
the TSG observed, adding: “Teamwork was essential, as were key
players who worked hard for the team, such as (Brazil’s) Neymar,
(Argentine Lionel) Messi, (Dutchman Arjen) Robben, (German
Toni) Kroos and (Colombia’s James) Rodriguez who all made a difference and were able to decide a game on their own.”
Forwards like Neymar, Messi, tournament top scorer Rodriguez
and Thomas Mueller were named among “priceless assets” for
teams “as they reward team play and finish off build-up play in a
moment of individual brilliance”.
At the other end of the field, “there is a new era of goalkeeping in
modern football,” led by Golden Glove winner Manuel Neuer of
Germany. “Denying opponents scoring opportunities is no longer
enough. The keeper has to have some of the skills of an outfield
player in order to contribute to the build-up of the game, to control passes from his defenders when they are under pressure from
opposing players or to intercept long balls outside of his penalty
box,” the TSG said.
The report named “transition the �magic moment’ of a game and a
key factor in modern football” and substitutions were also important in the difficult Brazil climate as a record 32 goals came from
players who had not started the game, up from 15 in 2010 and
better then the previous best 23 at Germany 2006. A stunning 41
goals were scored between the 76th and 90th minute overall.
“The new record speaks volumes for the quality of the coaches,
who know exactly what was needed to win a game, but also the
quality of the players on the bench,” the report said.
10
Gulf Times
Saturday, August 16, 2014
FOOTBALL
LIGUE 1
Makelele bidding to be thorn in PSG’s side
AFP
Paris
A
familiar face will hope to make
it another frustrating day for
Paris Saint-Germain today as
the champions play their п¬Ѓrst
home game of the new Ligue 1 season
against SC Bastia.
The Corsicans are now coached
by former France midfielder Claude
Makelele (right), who gave up his position as Laurent Blanc’s assistant at
the Parc des Princes to become a coach
in his own right.
Makelele also п¬Ѓnished his playing career as captain of PSG and his presence
on the opposition bench adds extra intrigue to a game that carries real importance to the hosts after they kicked off
the campaign with a 2-2 draw at Reims.
“I am very happy that things have
turned out this way and I can’t wait
to be at the Parc des Princes,” said
Makelele of the prospect of returning
to Paris after last week’s 3-3 draw with
Marseille, another of his old clubs.
Makelele’s previous job means he
knows exactly how PSG will set them-
selves up, but he played down Bastia’s
chances of recording a п¬Ѓrst ever win in
this п¬Ѓxture.
“Laurent Blanc has a clear philosophy and he will not change just because
I have been his assistant,” said the
41-year-old.
“I know well enough how things
work there to have an idea of what to
expect but I have no miracle recipe.
Nobody can compare themselves with
PSG in Ligue 1. In my view, no team will
go to the Parc and win. But we will do
everything to be the only ones who do.”
PSG, who have now failed to win
their opening game in any of the four
seasons since the Qatari takeover in the
capital, were dealt a blow on Monday
when captain Thiago Silva suffered a
hamstring injury in a 2-1 friendly victory against Napoli that will rule him
out for several weeks.
Blanc has been criticised for bringing
Silva back so soon after he was afforded
a long summer break, and he may now
be tempted to give new recruit David
Luiz a little longer to build up his п¬Ѓtness.
“Thiago Silva did not return to training too soon. If we need to blame someone for this injury then I plead guilty. I
take responsibility,” Blanc said.
On the prospect of coming up against
his old assistant, he added: “I didn’t expect him to leave us but I am not disappointed. It was his wish, his choice to
seize the opportunity.”
There are seven new coaches in Ligue
1 this season and the only one to lose on
his debut was Leonardo Jardim, whose
Monaco side were beaten 2-1 at home
by Lorient despite seeing п¬Ѓt-again
Radamel Falcao come off the bench and
score a penalty.
They will look to bounce back at Bordeaux, whose new coach Willy Sagnol
is a former Monaco player.
“Like Monaco, Bordeaux have a new
FOCUS
coach who advocates attacking football
so we can expect a good game. We know
we need to react after the defeat against
Lorient,” said Monaco goalkeeper Danijel Subasic, who will miss the influence
in central defence of suspended captain
Ricardo Carvalho.
Elsewhere, Lyon travel to Toulouse on
Saturday while Marcelo Bielsa’s Marseille
entertain Montpellier and Saint-Etienne
take on Reims on Sunday.
FIXTURES
Today
Paris Saint-Germain v SC Bastia
Lens v Guingamp
Lorient v Nice
Metz v Nantes
Rennes v Evian
Toulouse v Lyon
Tomorrow
Marseille v Montpellier
Saint-Etienne v Reims
Bordeaux v Monaco
SPOTLIGHT
Arsenal have the
X-Factor, says
captain Arteta
�We’ve got experience now, we are able to win — we have the qualities to do it’
Jose headache over
Chelsea number
one goalkeeper
AFP
London
J
ose Mourinho knows he
faces a tough job keeping both Petr Cech and
Thibaut
Courtois
at
Chelsea when he п¬Ѓnally decides
which will be the club’s number
one goalkeeper.
Yesterday, Mourinho described the pair as two of the
best three goalkeepers in the
world and revealed he has yet
to announce his line-up for the
opening Premier League game at
newly-promoted Burnley.
Cech, 32, has been the established п¬Ѓrst choice for the last 10
years but п¬Ѓnds himself under
pressure from Courtois, 22, who
is back at Stamford Bridge after
spending the last three years on
loan at Atletico Madrid.
Mourinho accepts it will be
hard to keep both players happy
throughout the campaign - and
both have been linked with moves
away if they miss out on the top job.
The Chelsea manager insists
the club has yet to receive an
approach for Cech or Courtois
but accepts that situation could
change.
But he said: “In this moment
I don’t want to think about it.
There is not an offer, so not a
possibility.
“I’m working with them and I
told them as a group today, everyone of my players in the squad
I’m happy to have them.
“I’m not waiting for anything. It’s not good to analyse
something that isn’t on the table. Every manager in the world
would like to have Courtois and
Cech.”
And referring to the possibility there could be more comings
and going during the п¬Ѓnal weeks
of the transfer market, Mourinho
said: “The market is open and
experience says we never can say
what will happen.
“You never know if a player
has a different reaction or opinion in this last part of the month
or if any club tries to do something with our players.”
The manager is pleased,
though, to be confronted with
the problem of choosing between
two top �keepers.
He added: “The only thing I
can say is in this moment they
are working well and hard and
we are so happy to have them
both.”
Chelsea goalkeepers Petr Cech and Thibaut Courtois.
CONFIDENCE
Liverpool can thrive
without Suarez,
insists Rodgers
Arsenal players pose with the FA Community Shield trophy after beating Manchester City in the final at Wembley Stadium in London earlier this week. (AFP)
AFP
London
A
rsenal captain Mikel Arteta is
confident his side’s opening Premier League fixture against Crystal Palace today will mark the
start of a sustained challenge for the title.
The past 10 years have seen Arsene
Wenger’s team achieve a top-four finish
on every occasion, but not once have they
been strong enough to pip either Chelsea,
Manchester United or Manchester City
for pole position on the п¬Ѓnal day.
Yet Spanish midfielder Arteta believes
that could change this season.
The arrival of marquee signing Alexis
Sanchez from Barcelona, coupled with an
impressive pre-season that culminated
with a 3-0 victory over reigning champions City in the Community Shield last
Sunday, has generated a wave of optimism at the Emirates Stadium.
Three squad members - Mesut Ozil,
Per Mertesacker and Lukas Podolski won the World Cup with Germany, and
although the trio will not feature against
Palace, their success adds to the feelgood
factor at the club.
The recruitment of Chile forward
Sanchez was further proof that Wenger’s
reluctance to spend large sums on a single
player has disappeared; the previous season he had spent a club record ВЈ42.5 million (53 million euros, $70.9mn) on Ozil
and before that Santi Cazorla had been
recruited to give the Gunners an extra dimension.
Arteta, appointed captain following
Thomas Vermaelen’s sale to Barcelona,
is sure those additions to a squad also
boasting young British talent in the shape
of Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere can
add up to a potent brew.
“In the last three seasons, we’ve signed
�X-factor’ players,” he said. “When Santi
came, I think fans got really excited because he was giving us something really
special.
“With Mesut it was something very
special. Now we have Alexis - but you forget about Theo, who missed six months
last year and was superb when he was п¬Ѓt.
“Then there’s Oxlade-Chamberlain,
Jack and Rambo (Ramsey), who was unbelievable last season.
“Suddenly you’re talking about six or
seven really good players that can make a
difference in a game and that’s what you
want to win trophies.”
Wenger is looking to bring in a topquality replacement for Belgian centreback Vermaelen, and an ВЈ8 million deal
for Olympiakos defender Konstantinos
Manolas could be completed soon.
�SET A MARKER’
And Arteta says his arrival would complement the earlier sterling work done by
Wenger in the transfer market.
“We’ve done our business early this
season so we can start from the off and
that’s what we want,” he said.
“We want to set a marker and we don’t
want to miss that opportunity. We’ve got
experience now, we are able to win - we
have the qualities to do it.
“We have the structure, the fans, the
club and the desire to do it.
“Last season was a big step forward.
To compete in the most tough and difficult league - where you are facing п¬Ѓve or
six opponents ready to win the Premier
League - is not easy to п¬Ѓnd anywhere else
in Europe.
“When you’re playing and you look at
the bench, and you see that we have options to change the game.
“If we make the right decisions, I’m
sure we will be there.”
Palace’s preparations are in complete contrast after reports emerged late
Thursday that manager Tony Pulis had
left the club by mutual consent in a shock
move prompted by disagreements over
transfer policy.
The former Stoke City manager kept
the Eagles up by overseeing a series of
impressive results after succeeding Ian
Holloway last November.
But it is understood he became frustrated at a perceived lack of backing in the
transfer market from owner Steve Parish.
Cardiff City striker Fraizer Campbell,
former Fulham defender Brede Hangeland and Liverpool full-back Martin Kelly
have all been recruited, but Pulis saw a
number of other targets, including Gylfi
Sigurdsson, Steven Caulker and Michu,
join other clubs.
AFP
London
B
rendan Rodgers insists
Liverpool are still a force
to be reckoned with despite the departure of
star striker Luis Suarez.
Suarez hit 31 league goals last
season as the Reds came within
touching distance of pipping
eventual champions Manchester
City in the Premier League title
race.
However, the controversial
Uruguay international was sold
to Barcelona after Liverpool lost
patience with his behaviour following his bite on Italy’s Giorgio
Chiellini during the World Cup.
Without Suarez there is an assumption Liverpool will fall back
out of the top four, but Rodgers
does not think that will be true as
his team prepare for their opening
match of the new season at home
to Southampton tomorrow.
“The game is all about opinion and every team is forensically
looked at in terms of what they
will produce or not,” Rodgers
said yesterday .
“Luis was a world-class talent
but we scored 101 goals last year
and 70 of those came from other
parts of the team.
“Every big team will lose a top
player at some point but no-one
is bigger than the club.
“If the fear factor is taken out
of us that will be seen over the
course of the season but for us
there is no change.”
Liverpool beat Borussia Dortmund 4-0 in a friendly last
weekend and Rodgers believes
that result proves his team are
ready to move on without Suarez.
“You saw against Dortmund
we have goals in the team,” Rodgers said.
“We had evidence of that last
season as well and over the two
years I’ve been here when Luis
hasn’t played we have won most
of our games.
“We had nearly a 70 per cent
win rate in the Premier League
last year which is a fantastic
achievement and we hope to
continue that.”
Gulf Times
Saturday, August 16, 2014
VINCENT KOMPANY
POSTER
BELGIUM AND MANCHESTER CITY FOOTBALLER | 2012 EPL PLAYER OF THE SEASON | MBA STUDENT
11
Saturday, August 16, 2014
FOOTBALL
GULF TIMES
CONTENDERS
MANCHESTER CITY
Manager: Manuel Pellegrini (CHI)
2013-14 position: 1st; FA Cup: quarter-finals;
League Cup: winners; Champions League; last
16
Transfers in: Eliaquim Mangala (Porto, ВЈ32
million), Fernando (Porto, ВЈ12mn), Willy Caballero (Malaga, ВЈ6mn), Bacary Sagna (Arsenal), Frank Lampard
(New York City, Loan); Transfers out: Javi Garcia (Zenit St
Petersburg, ВЈ12mn) Jack Rodwell (Sunderland, ВЈ10mn), Gareth
Barry (Everton, ВЈ1mn), Costel Pantilimon (Sunderland, Free),
Joleon Lescott (West Brom, Free), Alex Henshall (Ipswich, Free),
Ellis Plummer (St Mirren, Free), Reece Wabara (Doncaster, Free),
Marcos Lopes (Lille, Loan), Emyr Huws (Wigan Loan), Greg
Leigh (Crewe, Loan), Jason Denayer (Celtic, Loan)
W
ith City’s domestic supremacy reasserted with a second
league title in three years, the focus of Manuel Pellegrini
and his players turns to conquering Europe for the first time.
After another premature exit from the Champions League last
season—in the last 16 against Barcelona—City would dearly love
a sustained challenge for the continent’s top trophy. Pellegrini
has opted for experience when he signed old hands Fernando,
Bacary Sagna, Frank Lampard and Willy Caballero.
PREMIER LEAGUE
United start afresh
as League begins
LIVERPOOL
Manager: Brendan Rodgers (NIR)
�We will look to put right the wrongs from last year’
2013-14 position: 2nd; FA Cup: fifth round;
League Cup: 3rd rd
Transfers in: Adam Lallana (Southampton,
ВЈ25mn), Dejan Lovren (Southampton, ВЈ20mn),
Lazar Markovic (Benfica, ВЈ20mn), Divock Origi
(Lille, ВЈ10mn), Emre Can (Bayer Leverkusen, ВЈ9.75mn), Rickie
Lambert (Southampton, ВЈ4mn), Lawrence Vigouroux, Kevin
Stewart (Both Tottenham, Free), Javier Manquillo (Atletico Madrid, Loan); Transfers out: Luis Suarez (Barcelona, ВЈ75mn) Conor
Coady (Huddersfield, ВЈ375,000), Pepe Reina (Bayern Munich, Undisclosed), Villyan Bijev (Slavia Sofia, Free), Jakub Sokolik (Yeovil,
Free), Luis Alberto (Malaga, Loan), Iago Aspas (Sevilla, Loan), Andre
Wisdom (West Brom, Loan), Brad Smith (Swindon, Loan)
AFP
London
J
ust three months after their hopes of winning the English title for the first time in 24 years slipped away, the Reds return
for a defining season under Brendan Rodgers. How Liverpool
respond to the sale of Luis Suarez to Barcelona will determine
whether last term’s impressive progress comes to a grinding
halt. Rodgers has splashed out close to ВЈ100 million to replace
the Uruguayan and add depth to a squad that must cope with
the demands of domestic and European campaigns.
T
he Louis van Gaal era will begin in
earnest for Manchester United today when they host Swansea City
in the п¬Ѓrst match of the 2014-15
Premier League season.
The 63-year-old Dutchman has impressed in his п¬Ѓrst four weeks at the United
helm, overseeing п¬Ѓve wins and a draw in
pre-season, but it is in the league that his
achievements will be judged.
Swansea were one of eight teams who
came to Old Trafford and won last season,
creating a sense of vulnerability that Van
Gaal has been hired to banish for good.
Coincidentally, United also met Swansea
on the opening day of the 2013-14 campaign, with the then-defending champions
winning 4-1 at the Liberty Stadium in David Moyes’s first league game as manager.
The result was to prove a red herring, as
United п¬Ѓnished the season down in seventh
place, but midfielder Tom Cleverley says
that it will be important to set the right
tone for the forthcoming campaign.
“We can’t wait to get going against
Swansea and look to put right the wrongs
from last year,” he told the United website.
“We started against Swansea last year,
but away. This time it’s at home and I’m
sure the fans will be the same as us: raring
to go. It’ll be the manager’s first competitive game and I’m sure it’ll be a special atmosphere.”
Wayne Rooney will lead United out for
the п¬Ѓrst time since being named captain
after Tuesday’s 2-1 friendly win over Valencia.
United will have to make do without ВЈ27
million ($45 million, 33.6 million euros)
close-season signing Luke Shaw, however,
after the 19-year-old left-back was ruled
out due to a hamstring strain.
Another team buoyed by a positive preseason period are Arsenal, who launch
their assault on the league title at home to
Crystal Palace.
Having ended a nine-year trophy
drought by winning last season’s FA Cup,
Arsene Wenger’s side gave an eye-catching
demonstration of their title credentials by
outclassing league champions Manchester City 3-0 in last weekend’s Community
Shield.
New signing Alexis Sanchez, a ВЈ30 million acquisition from Barcelona, is in line to
CHELSEA
Manager: Jose Mourinho (POR)
2013-14 position: 3rd; FA Cup: last 16; League
Cup: quarter-finals; Champions League: semis
Transfers in: Diego Costa (Atletico Madrid,
ВЈ32mn), Cesc Fabregas (Barcelona, ВЈ27mn),
Filipe Luis (Atletico Madrid, ВЈ15.8mn), Mario
Pasalic (Hajduk Split, ВЈ2.4mn), Didier Drogba (Galatasaray, Free).
Transfers out: David Luiz (PSG, ВЈ50mn), Romelu Lukaku (Everton, ВЈ28mn), Demba Ba (Besiktas, ВЈ4.7mn), Patrick van Aanholt
(Sunderland, undisclosed), Ashley Cole (Roma, Free), Sam
Hutchinson (Sheffield Wednesday, Free), Frank Lampard (New
York City, Free), Tomas Kalas (Cologne, Loan), Wallace (Vitesse
Arnhem, Loan), Thorgan Hazard (Borussia M’bach, Loan), Bertrand Traore (Vitesse, Loan), Mario Pasalic (Elche, Loan), Ryan
Bertrand (Southampton, Loan), Gael Kakuta (Rayo Vallecano,
Loan), Kenneth Omeruo (Middlesbrough, Loan), Christian Atsu
(Everton, Loan), Marko Marin (Fiorentina, Loan)
Manchester United’s Marouane Fellaini (centre) celebrates after scoring a goal against Valencia at Old Trafford in Manchester earlier this
week. Louis van Gaal has impressed in his first four weeks at United, overseeing five wins and a draw in pre-season. (AFP)
make his competitive home debut against
Palace and captain Mikel Arteta has called
on his side to make a positive start to the
campaign.
“We’ve done our (transfer) business
early this season so we can start from the
off and that’s what we want,” the Spanish
midfielder told the Arsenal website.
“We want to set a marker and we don’t
want to miss that opportunity. We’ve got
experience now, we are able to win. We
have the qualities to do it, we have the
structure, the fans, the club and the desire
to do it.”
Palace go into the game in crisis after reports emerged late Thursday that manager
Tony Pulis had left the club after falling out
with owners over transfer policy.
Championship champions Leicester City
will play their first top-flight game since
2004 when they host Everton on Saturday,
while fellow promoted side Queens Park
Rangers welcome Hull City to Loftus Road.
Champions Manchester City begin their
title defence at Newcastle United tomorrow.
When City last claimed the title, in
2012, they won only two of their opening
п¬Ѓve games the following season, but captain Vincent Kompany feels that they now
possess the necessary know-how to retain
their title.
“We know what to look out for. We know
what not to do,” said the Belgian centreback, who has signed a new five-year contract.
“The players at City have got experience
with winning trophies. It goes in phases.
We’re in this phase now. We feel we can win
it.”
Liverpool, who narrowly lost out to City
in last season’s title race, open the campaign at home to Southampton, who saw
Adam Lallana, Rickie Lambert and Dejan
Lovren all leave for Anfield in the close season.
Lallana will miss the reunion with his
former club due to a knee injury, but Lam-
bert and Lovren are both in contention
to feature in what will be Liverpool’s first
competitive game since the sale of Luis
Suarez to Barcelona.
Chelsea, meanwhile, are expected to
hand competitive debuts to new signings
Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas when they
visit the third promoted team, Burnley, on
Monday.
T
“The Luke Shaw case is the climax of Manchester United’s predictable pre-season
injury crisis due to �too much training too
soon’.”
Verheijen questioned why Shaw, 19, cut
short his post-World Cup break and said
he reported back for pre-season training
too early.
Van Gaal accused the left back of being
unfit on their pre-season tour of the
United States.
“Luke Shaw had to do extra training to get
fter finishing last season without a major trophy, Jose
Mourinho has invested heavily in a revamped squad that
will be expected to bring home significant silverware in the
second season of his second coming at Stamford Bridge.
Mourinho has a knack for winning big prizes in his second full
season at each of his clubs, landing the Champions League at
both Porto and Inter Milan in year two and the Spanish title at Real
Madrid. To do the same in west London, he has opted for a Spanish
flavour, with Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas the headline signings.
ARSENAL
Manager: Arsene Wenger (FRA)
FIXTURES
Today
Arsenal v Crystal Palace
Leicester City v Everton
Manchester United v Swansea City
Queens Park Rangers v Hull City
Stoke City v Aston Villa
West Bromwich Albion v Sunderland
West Ham United v Tottenham Hotspur
Tomorrow
Liverpool v Southampton
Newcastle United v Manchester City
Monday
Burnley v Chelsea
Van Gaal is over-training Man United players: Verheijen
he injury sustained by Manchester United defender Luke
Shaw (right) was caused by too
many training sessions from new
manager Louis van Gaal, former Wales
assistant coach Raymond Verheijen said
on Thursday.
England left back Shaw, signed from
Southampton in the close season for
around 30 million pounds ($50.06 million), may be out for a month with a hamstring problem and will definitely miss the
start of the Premier League campaign at
home to Swansea City today.
Verheijen called fellow Dutchman Van Gaal
(LVG) a “great appointment” by United but
at the same time accused the former Netherlands manager of “incompetence” and of
working his players too hard.
“What LVG proves is that top coaches are
not perfect. Even the world’s best have
deficiencies,” Verheijen said on his Twitter
feed. “LVG is tactically superior to most
other coaches but planning & periodisation is not his strongest point: double
sessions & muscle injuries,” added the
Dutchman, an expert on football fitness
and a frequent critic of the methods of
top coaches.
A
fit. Who was in charge of his individual
programme?,” asked Verheijen.
“LVG’s coaching skills & tactical superiority often compensate for this periodisation deficiency but there is clearly room
for improvement.”
Verheijen suggested Van Gaal’s methods
were responsible for a spate of injuries
among the Dutch players before and during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, a tournament where they finished third.
“During the World Cup preparation the
Dutch players had to do frequent double
sessions so not surprisingly the muscle
injuries accumulated,” he said.
“At Man United, in the first few weeks, LVG
has applied the same approach and, as
expected, with the same result.
“But who is gonna tell a top coach that he
has to raise his bar in a certain area? The
�yes-men’ in his coaching staff? Journalists? Who...?”
Last season Verheijen attacked the training methods of Van Gaal’s United predecessor David Moyes after Dutch striker
Robin van Persie was injured.
He has also been critical in the past of
top managers like Roy Hodgson, Roberto
Mancini and Chris Coleman.
2013-14 position: 4th; FA Cup: winners;
League Cup: fourth round; Champions League:
last 16
Transfers in: Alexis Sanchez (Barcelona,
ВЈ30mn), Calum Chambers (Southampton,
ВЈ16mn); Mathieu Debuchy (Newcastle, ВЈ12mn); David Ospina
(Nice, ВЈ3mn), Elias Chatzitheodoridis (Mas Kallitheakos, Undisclosed), Hugo Keto (HJK Helsinki, Undisclosed), Ben Sheaf
(West Ham, Undisclosed); Transfers out: Thomas Vermaelen
(Barcelona, ВЈ15mn), Johan Djourou (Hamburg, ВЈ2.5mn), Thomas
Eisfeld (Fulham, Unidsclosed), Zak Ansah (Charlton, Free), Lukasz Fabianski (Swansea, Free), Bacary Sagna (Manchester City,
Free), Chuks Aneke (Zulte Waregem, Free), Wellington Silva (UD
Almeria, Loan), Carl Jenkinson (West Ham, Loan), Benik Afobe
(Milton Keynes Dons, Loan)
R
evitalised by their FA Cup final triumph last season, a cathartic victory over Hull that ended the club’s nine-year trophy drought, Arsene Wenger’s side head into the new campaign
brim full of belief that they can win the Premier League for
the first time since 2004. For the Gunners to achieve that lofty
ambition, Wenger will need midfield dynamo Aaron Ramsey to
stay fit for the entire season, while also drawing consistently
strong performances from his two key signings—Chile winger
Alexis Sanchez and France right-back Mathieu Debuchy.
MANCHESTER UNITED
Manager: Louis van Gaal (NED)
2013-14 position: 7th; FA Cup: third round; League Cup: semifinals; Champions League: quarter-finals
Transfers in: Luke Shaw (Southampton, ВЈ30mn rising to
ВЈ31mn), Ander Herrera (Athletic Bilbao, ВЈ28.8mn), Vanja Milinkovic (FK Vojvodina, Undisclosed); Transfers out: Alexander
Buttner (Dynamo Moscow, ВЈ5.6mn), Patrice Evra (Juventus,
ВЈ1.5mn), Bebe (Benfica, ВЈ2.25mn), Jack Barmby (Leicester,
Free), Federico Macheda (Cardiff, Free), Nemanja Vidic (Inter
Milan, Free), Louis Rowley (Leicester, Free), Rio Ferdinand (QPR,
Free), Vanja Milinkovic (FK Vojvodina, Loan), Angelo Henriquez
(Dynamo Zagreb, Loan)
T
he painful memories of David Moyes’ ill-fated season in
charge have been swept away as the fallen giants begin the
road back to relevancy under Dutch coach Louis van Gaal. A
campaign should benefit from United’s relatively undemanding fixture list in the opening weeks, when a long winning run
would buy time for van Gaal to institute the changes needed to
ensure at least a top-four finish and ideally a title challenge.

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