editor@pen.com.qa | adv@pen.com.qa Editorial: 4455 7741 | Advertising: 4455 7837 / 4455 7780www.thepeninsulaqatar.comMONDAY 9 FEBRUARY 2015 • 20 Rabial II 1436 • Volume 19 Number 6336

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Qatar has proposed that banning an imported food item should be under the framework of WTO rules.

International Islamic recorded a full-year net profit of QR826m for 2014, up 10.1 percent from a year ago.

Qatar is close to signing a contract to host a Formula One Grand Prix in two years, motor sport federation president said.

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Al Attiyah at Munich Security Conference

Foreign Minister H E Dr Khalid bin Mohammed Al Attiyah speaking at the 51st Security Conference in Munich, Germany, yesterday. He said the failure of the Middle East peace process is the biggest challenge. See also page 7

RAF mobilises QR12m in two hours for SyriaCharity plans city for orphansDOHA: RAF, Qatar’s promi-nent charity, mobilised a huge QR12m ($3.3m) in just two hours during a radio programme for a project to provide shelter and support to Syrian children who have been orphaned in the ongoing unrest in their country and left homeless.

A rich Qatari who didn’t want to be identified donated QR2m for the Turkey-based project for which RAF (Sheikh Thani bin Abdullah Foundation for Humanitarian Services) is rais-ing a total of QR36m ($10m).

Some 41 buildings will be part of a huge residential-cum-farm complex being built by RAF to shelter and support some 1,500 Syrian orphan children.

At least 25 of these buildings will be for male orphans and the remaining 16 for female. There will be schools, health centres and play-grounds, separately for male and female orphans, as also farms to cultivate olive in the huge complex. The farms will be owned by a trust and will generate income.

The complex, called by RAF a city, is being built in Al Rehania city of Turkey, which is some 60km from Syria’s border.

The Qatar Radio programme aired last Saturday evening, during which the donations were mobilised for the project, was for the recital of the verses of the Holy Quran.

The highest single donation, after the QR2m made by a Qatari, was for QR1m made by a woman and a man. Several donors gave away QR750,000 each since a building (of the 41 total) is estimated to cost this much.

A guest house will be built in the complex where major donors would be able to stay and meet the orphans they are sponsoring.

RAF’s CEO, Dr Ayed bin Dabsan Al Qahtani, said that the idea to build a “City” for the homeless Syrian orphans was mooted when several RAF delegations visited refugee camps in some cities of Turkey like Kalas and Al Rehania that have refugee camps.

Delegation members who were there to ensure aid disbursal to the refugees saw thousands of Syrian orphan children who were homeless and no one was there to take care of them.

“We came up with the idea that we at RAF should build mass shelter for the Syrian orphan children and so we launched the project, which is the biggest of its kind in the entire Middle East,” Al Qahtani said.

After the idea was mooted extensive studies were conducted to assess the feasibility of the project and it was launched thereafter.

Both citizens and expatriates took active part in the donation campaign. THE PENINSULA

22 football fans killed in Egypt clashesCAIRO: At least 22 Egyptian football fans were killed in clashes that broke out yester-day night when security forces barred them from entering a stadium.

The trouble happened at a match between two Cairo clubs, Zamalek and Enppi. Police used teargas to disperse the crowd. A witness said some of the fans were killed in a stampede after the police fired teargas.

“Huge numbers of Zamalek club fans came to Air Defense Stadium to attend the match ... and tried to storm the stadium gates by force, which prompted the troops to pre-vent them from continuing the assault,” the interior ministry said in a statement. Egypt has curbed the number of people allowed into soccer matches since a riot at a stadium in Port Said in February 2012 when more than 70 fans were killed. REUTERS

Health freaks push organic food demandBY MOHAMMAD SHOEB

DOHA: Organic food is catch-ing on in Qatar as more and more people are becoming health-conscious.

“Demand for organic food is increasing. We have seen more than 20 percent rise in the number of customers and turnover com-pared to last year,” a senior offi-cial of a leading hypermarket said yesterday.

Organic food is produced with the help of bio-fertiliser or organic manure in specially developed soil to do away with synthetic

pesticides and chemical fertilisers. Major organic produce, includ-

ing vegetables, fruits, cereals, seeds, pasta, chocolates, candies, biscuits, jams, among others, are regularly arriving in the local market.

Ghassan Jaroudi, Senior Manager, Al Meera Consumer Goods Company, said, “Given the growing demand, we have started importing organic food popular in Europe. We have now shelves with up to 100 items, including ‘Casino BiO’ products such as pasta, jams, chips, chocolates and candies.”

He said local farms have also

started producing organic veg-etables — tomatoes, cucumber and eggplants so far — in small quantities and most produce is sourced from the US, the UK, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Lebanon and other countries.

Until a few years ago, demand was limited to a small segment of higher- and middle-income people. But growing awareness about benefits of a healthy life-style and increasing income levels are expanding the customer base, sources said.

Continued on page 6

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Strong winds on Sport DayDOHA: With preparations in full swing to celebrate the National Sport Day tomorrow, the Meteorology Department has forecast strong dusty winds on the day and advised peo-ple with respiratory problems to keep away from outdoor activities.

Temperature on the day would hover between 16 and 24 degrees Celsius, about two degrees less than today’s expected tempera-ture of 18 to 26 degrees Celsius.

Continued on page 4

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Minister meets ILO official

Minister of Labour and Social Affairs H E Dr Abdullah Saleh Mubarak Al Khulaifi yesterday met Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry, Director, International Labour Standards Department, International Labour Organisation. Talks dealt with international labour and employment issues.

DOHA: There are not many Qataris in hospitality sector jobs despite the industry thriv-ing amid continuing economic boom.

What mainly prevents young Qataris from joining the hospital-ity industry is a mix of factors, including low prestige attached to the jobs in society.

Salaries and perks in these jobs do not match those government employment offers, which are also prestigious and secure.

However, the biggest barrier young unemployed Qataris face in landing hotel jobs is that not many, especially secondary school certificate holders, know English.

And those keen to get into the hospitality industry want an administrator’s position even though they have secondary school qualifications.

There are lots of young Qataris who have passed out of second-ary schools and are looking for

jobs but very few prefer the hotel industry for a career, local Arabic daily Al Raya reports.

“I am willing to work in a hotel provided I get an administrator’s position,” said Ali Al Hammoud, who is on the lookout for a job after passing out secondary school. We don’t know English and that’s the main problem. Also, our people generally look down upon a hotel sector job,” Hamad Ali, another Qatari youth with secondary school qualifications, told the daily.

Hamad, however, said since there are not many jobs available for Qatari youth with secondary school qualifications, he has sub-mitted his CV to several hotels.

Hotel industry jobs are new for Qatari society and people are con-servative and generally look down upon them. “But I think gradu-ally attitudes are changing,” twins Azzam and Abdulaziz Al Subei said. “Most in our community

think a hotel job is all about work-ing as a receptionist or doing valet parking for guests,” they added. But for a young Qatari mother, Umm Zabia, the fast-expanding hospitality sector has tremendous attraction.

Working in a bank for nine years, she said she was now aspir-ing to land a hotel job for better pay, perks and prestige.

“For several years I have been making efforts to improve my skills and abilities so I could land a hotel job. The sector has been developing here like mad,” she said.

Abdullah Mahmoud, a pub-lic relations official at Al Sharq Village and Spa, said some four percent of the hotel’s staff are Qatari. It is true that perceptions about hotel jobs in the Qatari community are conservative but when Qataris join the sector that changes, he said.

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‘English’ keeps Qataris away from hotel jobs Low prestige in society, salaries, perks other factors

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Price list violation

Officials from the Ministry of Economy and Commerce registered cases against 13 outlets in the central market for not displaying the price list, during an inspec-tion campaign.

DOHA: Qatar has proposed that banning an imported food item under SPS measure within the framework of Word Trade Organisation rules, or lifting a ban on such a product should be a collective decision of the GCC states and should not be left to any one member state.

GCC countries keep ban-ning imported food products on valid grounds individually and lift the ban when the situation demands.

SPS measure aims to pro-tect humans, animals or plant life from risks arising from the entry, spread or pests, diseases, disease-carrying or causing organisms.

“We should have a unified mechanism for GCC states to ban an imported foodstuff as part of SPS measure or lift it,”

said Qatar. The proposal was made at a two-day meeting of the GCC Committee on WTO rules held here.

It was chaired by Dr Mohamed

Saif Al Kuwari, Assistant Undersecretary for Laboratories and Standardization at Qatar’s Ministry of Environment. A statement from the Ministry of

Economy and Commerce said the meeting made recommenda-tions, one of which was to unify GCC trade policies until 2017.

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Qatar seeks GCC mechanism to ban imported foodstuff‘Ban under WTO’s SPS measure should not be left to any one state’

The meeting of the GCC Committee on WTO in progress in Doha.

Continued from page 1

Qatar is expected to experience dusty winds and low visibility in some areas from today, according to a forecast issued by the department.

The department has forecast “moderate tem-perature daytime, dusty at times and at some places.”

“We are not advising people with respiratory problems and chest dis-eases to participate in activities,” said the depart-ment in a statement issued yesterday on weather con-ditions on National Sport Day. THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Since last Friday, livestock have begun being auctioned at Al Mazrooa vegetable and fruit yard in Umm Salal.

Auctions will take place for about two-and-a-half hours in the evening until Maghrib prayers every Friday and Saturday dur-ing the winter months.

The yard is open three

days a week from Thursday until Saturday during the winter season to promote local produce.

Animals, including sheep and goats auctioned are locally bred and brought by breeding farms in pick-ups.

Widam, formerly Mawashi (Qatar Meat and Livestock Company), has set up a small automatic slaughterhouse at the yard.

Livestock auction at Mazrooa yard

Veterinarians are present during auctions and check the blood of each animal for traces of diseases. Goats and sheep taken for slaughter are doubly checked for diseases.

The yard is an initia-tive of the Agricultural Department of the Ministry of Environment.

Gradually, livestock have been added to the com-modities sold there.

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A livestock auction in progress.

Dusty winds likely from today

Sports key to healthy lifestyleDOHA: Minister of Youth and Sports H E Salah bin Ghanem bin Nasser Al Ali yesterday stressed the importance of sports as a cornerstone of society’s lifestyle.

He was speaking at a medical seminar held by the ministry for its employ-ees as part of National the Sport Day programme.

He said society should look to maintain strong minds and bodies and that the ministry’s strategy aims to promote sports.

Dr Mohammed Al Kuwari said people should do at least 150-minute light-intensity workout for five days a week or 75 minutes of high-intensity workout a week.

QNA

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DOHA: Several government entities and organisations have announced their programmes to celebrate National Sport Day tomorrow.

Qatar Foundation (QF) unveiled over 40 activities for its students and the public, at a press conference yesterday.

These include programmes for special groups such as women, children, people with disabilities, and families and for the public.

Mohammed Al Nuaimi, Director, Community Affairs, QF, said women-only activities include boxercise, spinning, aero-bics, cross training, mats pilates and circuit and those for the dis-abled include interactive wheel-chair basketball and table tennis.

Children’s activities include street basketball tournament, football skills and running com-petitions. Students and adult activities are beach volleyball and football competition, frisbee, running competition, street bas-ketball and rowing, while walka-thon and QF Ride (E-bikes) are open to all. “QF invites all resi-dents to attend its celebrations. QF will demonstrate how a few small steps towards a healthier lifestyle can bring out the sport-sperson in each of us, with the theme ‘Unlocking Your Inner Athlete’,” he said.

Al Nuaimi said QF is commit-ted to promoting a healthy life-style through sports and other physical exercises in line with the objectives of National Sport Day and Qatar National Vision 2030’s human development pillar.

ENVIRONMENT MINISTRY The Ministry of Environment

has completed preparations to mark the day in Barzan park.

Minister of Environment H E Ahmed Amer Mohamed Al Humaidi will attend the cel-ebration that begins at 8am.

The ministry’s officials and employees, their families and the general public will take part, reports QNA. Mohsen Zayed Al Khayareen, Director, Public Relations and Communication, said the ministry has prepared programmes, including country race, and table tennis, football and volleyball competitions, to raise awareness about sports.

OOREDOO Ooredoo has lined up a sched-

ule to engage with people across Qatar, including competitions and shows and exercise classes for children at Museum of Islamic Art Park. Highlights include a new ‘Snow Area’ for visitors to get a taste of the cold with snow-ball fights and a snow slide.

For children, ‘Speed Painting with Jean Francois’ and Disney’s Wish Upon a Dream have been arranged. Football and shooting tournaments, land-rowing, arm and sumo wrestling, family treas-ure hunt, among others, will also be organised, said Fatima Sultan Al Kuwari, Director, Community & Public Relations. “This year, Ooredoo is all about encouraging

everyone to get fit through fun activities. We have pulled out all the stops to provide our biggest National Sport Day event yet and hope everyone will take part.”

HMCHamad Municipal Corporation

(HMC) is hosting health and sports-related activities for staff and their families. The programme includes a walkathon around Hamad Bin Khalifa Medical City (HBKMC) starting at 9am from Nurses Club, and a mini football tournament at the club from 2pm to 4pm. It is also holding activities, including basketball, mini golf, and children’s games, in and around HBKMC from 9am.

Participants will have the opportunity to check blood pres-sure, body mass index, height, weight and diabetes. Staff from the Nutrition Department will provide healthy eating advice.

Ali Al Khater, Executive Director, Corporate Communications Department, HMC, said as the principal public healthcare provider, HMC is play-ing an integral role on the day on a wider community and staff level.

“HMC is striving to implement Qatar National Vision 2030 which highlights the need to build a healthy society to meet the coun-try’s growth and development goals. “HMC is proud to be par-ticipating in activities for the day for the fourth consecutive year. The day highlights Qatar’s com-mitment to a healthy future and we are pleased to be joining other government entities and organi-sations in supporting the occa-sion.” Aisha Al Khulaifi, Head, Corporate Social Responsibility, HMC, said: “We are encouraging our staff and their families to get involved and make every effort to lead a healthy life.”

QTA Qatar Tourism Authority

(QTA) has also invited the public and hotels and tourism companies to a walkathon, organised in coop-eration with United Development Company at the Pearl-Qatar.

It aims to allow participants to tour the Pearl-Qatar, a synonym for Arab Riviera, in the heart of Doha. “The event is part of QTA’s efforts to engage with the public and the hotels sector, boost sports tourism in cooperation with pri-vate and public sectors, and pro-mote Qatar as a world tourism destination capable of attract-ing tourists from around the world to attend and take part in world-class sport activities,” said Saif Al Kuwari, Director, Public Relations and Communications Department, QTA.

SPORT VILLAGEThe Sport Village is again the

main hub of activity in Doha and is open from 8am to 10pm on National Sport Day. The Qatar Paralympic Committee and over 10 national federations are offering free activities and entertainment for every age and fitness level.

The public is encouraged to

try as many activities as pos-sible. Some of Qatar’s sporting stars, including Para Champions Abdulrahman Abdulkader, Sara Hamdi Masoud and Mohammed Al Khubazi, will demonstrate skills and provide training tips.

Sheikh Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al Thani, Head of Media, Qatar Olympic Committee, said, “The Sport Village is bigger and bet-ter than ever with entertainment and exciting activities for every-one. Our aim is to introduce as many people as possible to a whole range of sports with demonstra-tions and skill sessions. This way we hope to get all of Qatar trying new sports, meeting new people and taking steps towards leading an active and healthy lifestyle.”

The committee has set up an athletics track and the public is invited join in and learn more about paralympic sport and activ-ities available for people with dis-ability. THE PENINSULA

Mohammed Al Nuaimi, Director, Community Affairs, Qatar Foundation, unveiling programmes to mark National Sport Day, at a press conference.

QF unveils 40 activities for Sport DayGovernment entities and organisations draw up programmes for all across the country

DOHA: Sidra Medical and Research Center yes-terday announced detailed plans for its state-of-the-art Cardiovascular Centre of Excellence to mark Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week, observed annually during February 7-14.

It The centre will provide children, including new-borns, and adults born with congenital heart disease with the highest standards of care.

Sidra will feature five centres of excellence, each of which focuses on deliv-ering world-class care in a key aspect of chil-dren’s and women’s health: Cardiovascular health; neonatology (the care of newborns); fetal therapy and intervention; reproduc-tive medicine and vitro fer-tilisation; and genetics and genomic medicine.

The centre will have a large team of experts, led by Prof Ziyad Hijazi, Chair, Department of Paediatrics, Acting Chief Medical Officer, Sidra, and an interventional cardiolo-gist specialising in treating congenital and structural heart disease in children and adults.

Two co-directors will work alongside Prof Hijazi: a chief of cardiac surgery and a chief of cardiology.

Seven medical direc-tors will be attached to the centre to provide expertise in vital areas such as non-invasive cardiology, cardiac critical care and cardiac catheterisation.

The team will be sup-ported by expert nurses and technicians to ensure the highest possible standards in every aspect of patient care. The centre which fol-lows the North American

Sidra plans Cardiovascular Centre of Excellence

FROM LEFT: Paralympic athletes Mohammed Al Khubazi, Sara Masoud and Abdulrahman Abdulkader on the athletics track at Sport Village.

Model of Care, will be underpinned by integration across multi-disciplinary functions, including professional edu-cation, community outreach, leader-ship development, research and clinical services, to improve clinical outcomes through a comprehensive approach to specialised areas.

“The centre will offer care of a

quality that very few hospitals in the world are able to deliver. Research ini-tiatives spearheaded by the cardiology team will advance the international medical and scientific community’s understanding of key aspects of car-diovascular medicine to benefit people everywhere for generations,” said Prof Hijazi. THE PENINSULA

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QU to reduce bus service for studentsDOHA: Starting this term, Qatar University (QU) is reducing bus transport for students as part of logistics re-arrangements.

Measures are under-taken to limit the service and define its terms, said a statement yesterday.

The reduced service will cover areas in and outside Doha selected by special-ists and is redesigned to provide four trips per day — 7am, 10am, 2.15pm and 5.15pm.

Buses operating around West Bay and Madinat Khalifa have been reduced from 44 to 14 and in some areas such as Al Aziziya from three to two in line with student capacity.

Ten buses will operate to and from student dor-mitories from 6.30am to 10.30pm and an emergency bus will be active 24 hours.

Since its inception, QU has provided transport for female students who have no appropriate means of transit to and from the campus. About 1,500 have benefitted this term.

Lekhwiya in military drillDOHA: The Armed Forces General Command has announced that Internal Security Force (Lekhwiya) will carry out military exer-cise in Zekreet camp on Wednesday from 7am to noon. It called on visitors to take safety precautions.

QCS attends Mini Golf for AllDOHA: Qatar Cancer Society (QCS) partici-pated in ‘Mini Golf for All’ at Katara which tar-geted people with special needs.

It set up a booth and held activities to create can-cer awareness. The booth received a large number of fans who were advised to walk for 40 minutes a day or exert equivalent effort.

Vodafone rolls out P’9983DOHA: Vodafone Qatar has introduced the high-end Porsche Design P’9983 from BlackBerry in limited quantities at its Villaggio and Landmark Mall stores.

It is also offering 1GB free local data valid for one month for prepaid customers and 6GB free local data valid for one month for postpaid customers.

Priced at QR6,999, the smartphone combines the Porsche Design brand with the fluid and effort-less productivity experi-ence of BlackBerry 10 technology.

Marc Norris, Chief Commercial Officer, Vodafone Qatar, said: “We’re always looking at products and services that exceed expectations of our discerning and VIP customers and the avail-ability of this product is a reflection of our commit-ment to continue to offer them a unique mobile experience.”

The device integrates premium quality materi-als such as sapphire glass for camera lens, forged stainless steel for Porsche Design floating logo and chassis and a special glass-weave technology for the back door.

Porsche Design has collaborated with BlackBerry for the first QWERTY version with BlackBerry 10 with glass-like keys with the dura-bility of rigid synthetic material and a special 3D effect with silver font characters.

THE PENINSULA/QNA

DOHA: Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) has tied up with an international hotel and travel data provider to keep a track of the performance of hotels in Qatar.

QTA yesterday signed an agree-ment with Olery, provider of online hotel and travel data, to get immediate and real-time data and reports on the quality of the serv-ices and operations of hotels.

Through the deal, QTA seeks to benefit from the Olery destination system which draws on traveller and customer reviews to constantly monitor and analyse dozens of cus-tomer review sites across the world. Olery also aims to cover thousands of reviews each day to provide a deep insight into customer expe-rience in Qatar’s hotels. Data will help QTA compare the quality of the hospitality industry with other destinations around the world or regionally.

Olery’s Hospitality Performance Report will provide QTA with a tool which keeps up with Qatar’s rap-idly expanding hospitality sector.

The report makes it possible to track the overall performance of the destination’s hotels as well as

observe the performance of each hotel individually.

QTA said yesterday it will make use of this information to promote a steady and consistent level of guest satisfaction across the hos-pitality industry. Data can also be used as a basis for extensive mar-ket analysis to make decisions on supporting specific hotels or hotel segments.

At the core of data supplied to QTA is ‘Guest Experience Index’, the only scientifically backed quality measure in the hospital-ity industry, resulting from coop-eration between Olery and VU University Amsterdam.

Ratings for different aspects of guest experience such as comfort, cleanliness and service are being included.

The signing ceremony was attended by Hassan Al Ibrahim, Chief Tourism Development Officer, QTA, and Kim Van Wijngaard, CEO and Co-founder, Olery, in the presence of Issa bin Mohammed Al Mohannadi, Chairman, QTA, and Dutch Ambassador Yvette Burghgraef Van Eechoud.

Al Ibrahim said: “The system might provide QTA with insights

into the industry to allow us to re-allocate our resources to focus effectively on the issues which may be limiting our industry.

“It also gives us the ability to spot trends in individual hotels

concerning their quality of services and customer services, allowing us to assist and take action before they impact on Qatar’s reputation as a destination,” he added.

“We are excited that QTA is

joining the growing number of destination marketing organisa-tions and authorities that want to understand what guests experi-ence in local hotels,” said van den Wijngaard. THE PENINSULA

DOHA: The second World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH) on February 17-18 will discuss an international report on the importance of inte-grated maternal and newborn healthcare.

In 2013, over 280,000 women died due to complications of preg-nancy and childbirth and 2.9 mil-lion newborns died due to lack of

care, reveals the report.The report, developed with

Harvard University and Save the Children, is part of a partnership between WISH and the US-based Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to highlight critical global health and development issues.

In partnership with the foun-dation, Harvard and Save the Children, WISH will host a

special panel session to present some of the report insights to tackle the critical unfinished agenda of reproductive, maternal and newborn health.

The discussion will put for-ward the case for service inte-gration and provide a platform for debate on critical issues and opportunities that can be mobi-lised to ensure efforts to reduce

maternal and newborn mortality as a priority. It will also provide five rec-ommendations for healthcare stake-holders committed to improving the health and wellbeing of mothers and newborns.

The panel coincides with the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that will replace the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals this year, ensuring that the issue of maternal and child health remains at the forefront of global and national health agendas.

It previews some of the proceed-ings expected at the Global Maternal Newborn Health Conference in October in Mexico City, said a state-ment yesterday.

“Newborn mortality makes up

the majority of all under-five deaths despite the existence of proven, cost-effective interventions that could save the lives of hundreds of thou-sands more women and newborns each year,” said Mariam Claeson, Director, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Programme, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Professor Lord Darzi of Denham, Executive Chair, WISH, said: “The special WISH policy briefing aims to build the case for integrating policies and services in ways that improve the quality and accessibility of care for mothers and newborns.

“The timely panel will offer tangi-ble, proven and applicable solutions for lowering costs and saving lives.”

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Continued from page 1

As consumer spending on food is increasing, demand for organic, gluten-free and sugar-free food could grow faster in the coming years, said one source.

Organic food is more expensive and average price difference could be between 50 and 100 percent and much higher in case of some items.

For example, a kilogram of organic wheat may cost about QR35 — nearly seven times more than the regular wheat.

A 250-gramme pack of organic pasta may cost QR19 or more compared to regular pasta at QR3.

Similarly, a 167-gramme packet of organic butter biscuits is avail-able at QR12.75, more than double the price of those made of regular

flour. “Not only fruits and vegeta-bles, we have also started selling a wide range of organic products, including chocolates, nuts, cereals, juices, syrups, paste and others,” the hypermarket official said.

“We have maybe 200 or more organic food items at our stores. The size of our shelves is increas-ing as we are adding more prod-ucts every week.”

Mano de Rosairo, a Sri Lankan woman, said: “About two months ago, I learned more about ben-efits of organic food and started buying organic cereals and leafy vegetables.

“It is an investment in my health and I can avoid visits to doctors.”

According to her, while buying organic food at retail outlets, one must check the expiry date, tags

Officials at the agreement signing ceremony.

QTA’s vigil on hotels’ performanceDeal with Olery to get immediate, real-time data and reports on services and operations

A customer looking at organic food in a hypermarket.

and source country to ensure the products are genuine.

Another customer, Nasser, a

young expatriate who gave only his first name, said: “My gym instruc-tor has advised me to take organic

food such as oat-flax as that helps form muscles faster,” Nasser told this daily. THE PENINSULA

Demand for organic food on rise in Qatar

WISH to have panel discussion on maternal and newborn healthcare

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Traffic chaos

Many crowded areas in Doha witnessed traffic jams during peak hours as Independent schools opened yesterday. The rush is expected to increase in the days to come as more people return from their winter and spring holidays.

DOHA: Qatar Fuel (Woqod) participated in the Education City Career Fair by Hamad Bin Khalifa University and partners at Student Centre on February 1-2. Many com-panies from the oil and gas, media and consultancy sec-tors and local universities took part.

Woqod received many Qatari and non-Qatari students inter-ested in internships and grad-uating students interested in full-time employment. The fair was an opportunity to inter-act with the new generation and learn about their aspira-tions and ambitions as upcom-ing leaders. Woqod highlighted opportunities in various fields available to students and real-istic and fun approach to eve-ryday challenges each profession faces. Students were curious to learn about Woqod’s business activities. THE PENINSULA

Woqod attends Education City Career Fair

Students at the Woqod stand.

DOHA: A Japanese delega-tion representing oil and gas companies, including Japan Cooperation Center Petroleum (JCCP), visited Qatar to strengthen cooperation.

The team was hosted by Qatar International Petroleum Marketing Company (Tasweeq), said a statement yesterday.

The visit follows the signing of a memorandum of understand-ing signed between Tasweeq and JCCP in November 2013.

The MoU aims to exchange learning and development pro-grammes and access JCCP’s technical and non-technical courses.

Another component of the MoU is implementation of ‘Exchange Program for Young Generations’ which allows young employees on both sides to share knowledge and best practices and discuss future marketing challenges in the oil and gas industry.

The eight-member team was headed by Fumihiro Tone, Master Lecturer, Training Department, JCCP.

The main reception was attended by Saad A Al Kuwari, CEO, Tasweeq, Abdulla Al Abdulmalek, Executive Director, Administration, Dr Majid Ibrahim, Head, Learning, Development and Qatarisation and other Tasweeq directors.

Abdulaziz Al Meer, Director, Planning and Performance,

Tasweeq, gave a presentation on the company and its operations, followed by a presentation by Tone on Japan’s energy outlook.

The team was introduced to the marketing infrastruc-ture of petroleum products in Qatar, and show them educa-tional, cultural and economic landmarks.

The team visited Ras Laffan, Mesaieed and Dukhan indus-trial cities, Katara, Pearl Qatar and Museum of Islamic Art.

As part of the programme and the MoU, the first Qatari delegation comprising seven Qatari employees of Tasweeq visited Japan last December.

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Saad A Al Kuwari, CEO, Tasweeq, Abdulla Al Abdulmalek, Executive Director, Administration, and Fumihiro Tone, Master Lecturer, Training Department, JCCP, with officials at the company’s headquarters in Doha.

Japan delegation visits Tasweeq

MUNICH: Foreign Minister H E Dr Khalid bin Mohamed Al Attiyah said yesterday that Qatar was the first Arab country that proposed a res-olution to the Syrian crisis and maintained that the fail-ure of the Middle East peace process remains the biggest challenge.

He said Qatar was also the first to deal with international players who would negotiate a peaceful solution with Bashar Al Assad, but a breakthrough was still awaited.

Dr Al Attiyah was partici-pating in a seminar ‘Is This the End of the Middle East?’.

He said the change the Arab Spring brought about means that the international commu-nity will no longer have to deal with dictators. Instead, he said, the international community now has to deal with the will of the people.

The Minister said temporary stability in the region is not the answer. He said problems

in the Middle East began with the occupation of Iraq, with sectarian violence still plagu-ing the country.

Dr Al Attiyah then addressed the issue of extremist groups in the Middle East and said the problem has to be eliminated.

He said the problem was that Sunni groups that defeated Al Qaeda in Iraq in 2007 were targeted by former Iraqi prime minister Nouri Al Malki.

On the international coali-tion formed to fight in Syria and Iraq, he said GCC members backed efforts of the coalition in Syria but it lacked a clear strategy to deal with Iraq.

On Libya, he said members of the old regime were trying to regain control of the coun-try while others in the country were looking to protect their revolution. Qatar is looking to resolve the crisis through nego-tiations, he added.

On the Palestinian issue, he stressed that Israel’s only option is to hold dialogue

with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas.

He said Israel had waged three fierce wars against Hamas but was never able to wipe off Hamas and will never resolve the crisis.

To a question about accu-sations by Israel’s Minister of Strategic and Intelligence Affairs for International Relations Yuval Steinitz about support to Hamas to launch attacks on Israel, he said Hamas was not a terrorist group but a political and social representa-tion and plays a role of resist-ance to Israeli occupation.

Dr Al Attiyah said Hamas would not fight Israel if the latter would end its occupation and that Qatar does not sup-port any terrorist groups.

He said there were more than 1.5 billion Muslims in the world but mocking Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) went beyond the freedom of expres-sion. He condemned recent acts of violence in Europe. QNA

Teaching hours at Independent schools cut to 16DOHA: The Supreme Education Council (SEC) yes-terday issued a circular to Independent schools, fixing the maximum lesson hours of teachers at 16 per week.

All Independent schools resumed classes yesterday after the two-week spring break. The schools reported 75 to 85 per-cent student attendance on the first day.

The cut in teaching hours aims to reduce work load on teachers and improve students’ performance, said the circular.

The reduced hours will help teachers better focus on other areas such as student assess-ment, analysing examination results and study plans.

The circular said teachers should not be kept busy with extra hours. Teachers with less than 12 subjects can be assigned weekly shifts and rotations according to a time table, said the circular.

The SEC asked school opera-tors not to make teachers busy with unnecessary paper and documentation work not impor-tant in their job.

Independent schools have been asked to involve teach-ers in committees concerned with improving performance of teachers and students.

The circular recommended the use of electronic education tools and specified the role of teachers in eEducation.

THE PENINSULA

FM: Temporary stability in Mideast no solution

Relations reviewedDOHA: Minister of Labour and Social Affairs H E Dr Abdullah Saleh Mubarak Al Khulaifi separately met US Ambassador Dana Shell Smith and Lebanese Ambassador Hasan Najem.

Talks dealt with means of enhancing relations and issues of mutual concern. QNA

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BY JANE HARMAN and JACK GOLDSMITH

IN HIS State of the Union address last month, President Barack Obama reiterated his determina-tion to shut down the detention

facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Some in Congress are resolved to stop him. Even Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who has supported closing the prison in the past, joined a recent congres-sional effort to slow releases from Guantanamo on the grounds that the president has never presented Congress with a “concrete or coherent plan.”

Both sides are right. Guantanamo should be closed but not until the president presents a real-istic plan and makes his case to Congress and the nation. Any blueprint must address very real issues related to the island facil-ity’s 122 remain-ing detainees.

The easi-est question is whether to release the 54 who the admin-istration has d e t e r m i n e d aren’t danger-ous. Many in Congress worry that these pris-oners will return to the fight. Since 2009, Congress has restricted transfers from Guantanamo, and in recent years has required the defense secretary to certify that

they are “no longer a threat to the national security of the United States” or, at a minimum, to craft a plan to “substantially mitigate the risk” of a return to the battlefield. This insistence on individualized, security- protective

releases has significantly reduced the recidivism rate that resulted from bulk releases before 2009. But as the exchange last year of five Taliban mem-bers for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl showed, this standard might need tightening to limit releases to only those persons who pose no threat.

A tougher issue is where to send the remaining non- dangerous detainees. Many come from Yemen, a cauldron of instability. The administration has already persuaded third-party coun-tries to take 100 or so of these detain-ees, including several dozen in the past few months. Still, finding a place to send the remaining non-dangerous detainees will be hard; options have narrowed.

The biggest problem is a group of up to 68 higher-risk detainees. Seven are being tried in military commis-sions. But as Obama noted six years ago, the others “pose a clear danger to the American people.” The men in this category, the president explained, “received extensive explosives training at al-Qaida training camps, or com-manded Taliban troops in battle, or expressed their allegiance to Osama bin Laden, or otherwise made it clear that they want to kill Americans.”

Guantanamo cannot and should not be closed until there is a concrete plan to prosecute these men, or, if neces-sary, detain them in a lawful way that ensures they can never inflict grievous harm again.

Federal courts have ruled that these detainees can be lawfully held until the end of the relevant conflict, whenever that might be. But many cannot be criminally prosecuted because of evi-dence tainted by abusive interrogations, limitations in federal criminal law and other problems of fitting the demand-ing standards of criminal justice to the messiness of the terrorist battlefield. Scores of lawyers in two administra-tions have scoured the case files and case law and (reluctantly) agree.

What to do? Closing Guantanamo must not mean ending detention of these dangerous men, though the two are often confused. The main question is, where will they be incarcerated — in Cuba or in the United States?

The case for sending them to a secure

but humane prison in the United States is that keeping them in Cuba, on bal-ance, hurts US interests. Guantanamo was established to be beyond the reach of US law, a premise the Supreme Court rejected in Rasul v. Bush and Boumediene v. Bush.

The facility is “a propaganda tool for our enemies and a distraction for our allies,” as former president George W. Bush said in a memoir in the course of explaining why his administration “worked to find a way to close the prison.” For similar reasons, closing Guantanamo remains high on Obama’s agenda.

There are no appealing solutions, but members of Congress who dispute the national security assessment of two commanders in chief should con-sider this: Transferring the detainees to the United States is an opportunity to strengthen the legal basis for their long-term detention, which becomes more fraught as the armed conflicts in Afghanistan and against some compo-nents of al-Qaida wind down.

The legislation needed to bring Guantanamo detainees to the United States could supplement the military rationale for holding non-prosecutable — but very dangerous — terrorists with a form of administrative detention akin to civil commitment, one that could apply after the end of the relevant hostilities. Such a statute could pre-scribe the definition of dangerousness that warrants detention, the processes for determining a continued threat to public safety over time and the stand-ards for judicial review.

This approach is, in our view, the least bad option for dealing with detainees. Keeping hardened terrorists incarcerated is essential; keeping them detained at Guantanamo Bay is unten-able. The president and Congress must be partners in finding a secure solution.

Harman, a former Democratic mem-ber of the House of Representatives, is president and chief executive of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Goldsmith, a former assistant attorney general during the George W. Bush administration, is a professor at Harvard Law School and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution.

WP-BLOOMBERG

KEEPING up the momentum in India-China relations, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj came back from her

three-day visit to China with several deliverables — including a new Chinese openness in seeing India take up permanent membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). Previously, the Chinese had linked SCO membership with a greater role for Beijing in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). Ms. Swaraj, during her first visit to China as External Affairs Minister, built on the three meetings Prime Minister Narendra Modi has had

with Chinese President Xi Jinping. She also called on the Chinese President, a rare opportunity for any visiting Foreign Minister. Clearance for the early operationalisation of a new route to Kailash Mansarovar and a decision to hold a session of talks between the Special Representatives tasked by the two sides to resolve the boundary dispute, are other takeaways. Her trip was also part of preparations for Modi’s visit later in the year. As reported in the Chinese media, President Xi himself has set the agenda for taking bilateral ties to a new level by suggesting that the two countries seize the “opportunity of the century” by combining their development strategies. With a slowing

economy and sluggish European recovery, China may be focussing on the Indian market. It also appears willing to invest, following Prime Minister Modi’s “Make in India” call.

It is in such a scenario of contact and consultation that “strong leaders” such as Modi and Xi can think about making some hard decisions when it comes to the decades-old boundary dispute that keeps surfacing during major bilateral visits. So far, the coali-tion nature of Indian governments has been seen as a major obstacle to the give-and-take, compromise approach on the border question. Today, Modi is in the happy situation where he can take a political call on issues, rising above

intra-coalition pressures. In 2005, the Agreement on the Political Parameters and Guiding Principles for the Settlement of the Boundary Question signed by the two countries had raised hopes for an eventual settlement, but those have been belied. It would also seem that President Barack Obama’s successful visit to India around Republic Day has not dampened Beijing’s will-ingness to take relations with Delhi to the next level. Interestingly, India while talking to the US and its other allies in the Asia-Pacific about safety in the sea-lanes, has agreed to set up a “consulta-tion mechanism” on Asia-Pacific affairs with China and Russia.

The Hindu

Need for Guantanamo blueprint

I’m concerned that all these Houthis and... former president Saleh have been undermining the transition process.

Quote ofthe day

Ban Ki-moon UN Secretary-General

The other side

Guantanamo

should be closed

but not until

the president

presents a

realistic plan

and makes his

case to Congress

and the nation.

Any blueprint

must address

very real issues

related to the

island facility’s

122 remaining

detainees.

THE barbaric murder by the Islamic State of a captured Jordanian pilot has infuriated Jordan. The country united and rose in fury and condemnation after the news that its pilot has been burned alive

hit the headlines. King Abudllah II, who was in US, cut short his visit and vowed an all-out campaign against the perpetrators of the crime. And he has kept his word. Amman announced yesterday it conducted dozens of air strikes on the IS and has launched 56 air raids since Thursday. On the first day of the campaign, 19 targets were destroyed, including training camps and equipment. Eighteen more targets including ammunition and fuel depots and logistics centres were hit on Friday. On Saturday, 19 IS targets were destroyed, including barracks and residential centres. Amman must continue its relentless strikes against the terrorists and its forces must be given all kinds of support by Arab and Western allies.

At the same time, these strikes are not easy. Reports say US allies are frustrated with a lack of support from Washington for the anti-IS operations. Jordanians say US failed to deliver promised military equipment including smart bombs, night-vision gear and spare parts for planes. Iraq Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has said promised US deliveries of weapons have been slow to arrive. Leaders of the Iraqi Sunni tribes that are vital for defeating the IS say

they too lack the weapons and ammunition to fight the terrorists. Iraqi Sunni tribal leaders had visited Washington recently to plead for help in recapturing their territory — cities like Ramadi and Fallujah that were taken over by the Islamic State last year.

It’s unfortunate that there is no proper coordination in the fight against the Islamic State. The recent surge in atrocities by the IS militants has hardened world opinion against them, especially in the Arab world. Arab societies and their governments unanimously agree that IS doesn’t represent

anyone, and the world should not baulk at exterminating them. US and its Arab allies must seize this opportunity to fight the militants, and finish the job as early as possible.

Arabs too need to sit across the table and resolve their differences on the issue. A report two days ago said that the UAE sees no defeat of Islamic State without Iraqi Sunnis. The UAE pulled out of US-led air strikes on IS positions partly because it thought they could not succeed without a push to arm Sunni tribes in Iraq. Abu Dhabi is also said to be unhappy with the coalition which has not kept its promise in supporting the Sunnis in Anbar, not preparing them, equipping them and arming them to take part in the war against Daesh.

The West is currently preoccupied by the crisis in Ukraine, but the fight against terror is more important.

Jordan initiative

Amman has unleashed a barrage of air strikes against the IS, but unfortunately is not getting sufficient support from its allies.

Editorial

08 VIEWS MONDAY 9 FEBRUARY 2015

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

India, China and an opportunity

VIEWS 09MONDAY 9 FEBRUARY 2015

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

BY DANIELLE PLETKA

The immolation of a Jordanian pilot is only one of many signs of a Middle East collapsing into brutal disorder. Leaders have

fallen, civil wars are spreading and ter-rorism is thriving. It’s tempting to yearn for the relative security of years past, when the United States’ client dictators kept the region quiet, and to look for another candidate to play the role.

Of course, the lore of the old, stable Middle East is more myth than reality — the half-century before the Arab Spring saw multiple governments fall, the rise of terror, three Arab-Israeli warsand civil wars in Yemen and Lebanon. Still, the allure of the strongman pervades Washington.

The latest example is what appears to be the Obama administration’s efforts to create a regional compact centered on Iranian power.

Few dispute the notion that Iran has designs on the Middle East. Even before the Islamic Revolution, Persia’s lead-ers long aimed — without success — to restore the empire of old.

Over the past 36 years, however, the clerical regime has built an army of prox-ies that have hobbled governments and emerged politically and militarily domi-nant across the region.

Since creating Hezbollah in 1982, Iran has sought to dictate policy in Lebanon. Syrian dictator Bashar Assad is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Tehran, and Hamas is well on its way to becoming the same.

With the US retreat from Iraq and the

collapse of the Arab Spring, Iranian dik-tat has spread farther and wider.

In Iraq, Revolutionary Guard com-manders and Iranian-trained militias are a bulwark of the fight against the Islamic State. In Bahrain, Tehran has sought to transform the downtrodden Shia major-ity’s demand for rights into an Iranian-armed uprising.

And in recent weeks, Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have overthrown a Yemeni government vital to the fight against Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have both rounded up Iranian agents and detained Iranian-backed militants in the past few years.

When President Barack Obama ini-tiated talks with Iran on its nuclear programme, both he and Iran’s leaders insisted they would be limited to the outstanding nuclear dispute. But it soon became clear that Obama had higher hopes and had begun to see the talks as a prism through which to view, and even solve, the region’s troubles.

The clearest sign of a new attitude was the growing, if tacit, coordination between Washington and Tehran in Iraq. Secretary of State John Kerry lauded Iranian efforts while Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, went further, declaring, “Iranian influ-ence will be positive.”

Gulf allies in the fight against the Islamic State view Obama’s coziness with Iran with trepidation: United Arab Emirates forces have reportedly pulled back from airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Syria, in part because of disagreements with Washington over the

growing Iranian role. Even the Iraqi gov-ernment is privately fretting over Iran’s growing domination of Shia militias.

Another sign of changing policy relates to Assad himself. Nearly four years ago, Obama called on the Syrian dictator to step down; now he appears ready to allow Assad to stay.

A new round of Syria peace talks in Moscow effectively vitiates earlier demands that Assad leave office. And talks regarding US use of Nato facilities in Turkey reportedly have foundered on Obama’s unwillingness to target Assad’s forces.

In recent days, the administration has also reached out to the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen to seek cooperation against AQAP. That may seem to make geo-strategic sense, but the collateral damage from working with Iran in Yemen will be tremendous.

Saudi Arabia has already cut its billions-strong economic lifeline to

Sana’a. And then there’s the Houthi group’s motto, which includes the words “death to America, death to Israel, damnation to the Jews.”

The slow-motion acquiescence to Iran’s terms in talks over Tehran’s nuclear weapons programme is the icing on the cake. If the president’s State of the Union threat to veto new Iran sanctions wasn’t enough, reports that Washington is now comfortable with Iran keeping most of its current arsenal of 10,000 uranium- enriching centrifuges are a clear sign that change is afoot.

On its face, taking the Iranian side in a sectarian war in which the Islamic State stands on the other side may make sense in an enemy-of-my-enemy way. What could be wrong with using Iran to kill the Islamic State and Al Qaeda, even if the price is keeping a few bad guys in power in Damascus or Sana’a? Unfortunately, lots. There is no reason to believe that a Shia version of the one-stop dictator

shop that characterised US diplomacy for much of the 20th century will work any better than the earlier Sunni compact that denied tens of millions their demo-cratic aspirations and paved the way to today’s turmoil.

What eludes the Obama administra-tion, as it did George W Bush, is that the battle for the future of the Middle East is a war of ideas. Taking sides in the Sunni-Shia sectarian war will not restore the illusory stability of old.

Rather, the path to long-term sta-bility means working with groups that eschew violence, respecting religious preferences without sacrificing minori-ties, pressing toward s market economies that empower individuals and building toward a region that rests on the consent of the governed.

There is no secret path to peace, not through Tehran, not through Riyadh, not at all.

WP-BLOOMBERG

Fighting terrorism should not violate people’s rights

All forms of ter-rorism must be rejected no matter what

justifications are made. Terrorising and horrify-ing innocent people and killing them is totally unacceptable, regard-less of its motives and whether the perpetrators are groups, organisations or states. This introduc-tion is important because some people believe that criticising the method of fighting terrorism means supporting terrorism and terrorists.

The security bodies’ responsibility to protect people from terrorists becomes inevitable and imperative provided combating terrorism does not violate the rights of innocent people and deviate from focusing on real criminals. Combating terrorism does not target opposition members who peacefully express their views and opinions.

Ever since the 9/11 attacks in the US, countries have cre-ated new forums to fight so-called terrorism both locally and internationally. Unfortunately, such endeavours have so far not proved successful as terrorism is increasing and its victims are innocent people.

Modern history has never witnessed the formation of an international body to fight terrorism the way it does today. The UN alone has over seven bodies working in this area, mostly incompetently. Parallel to this, there are dozens of other international bodies and organisations operating with varying degrees of efficiency and competence.

There are more than 13 agreements or protocols directly or indirectly related to combating terrorism, an endless number of regional treaties and over 230 comprehen-sively and partially specialised research centres studying terrorism.

The results have so far been disappointing in view of the momentum to fight terrorism. The reason might be attrib-uted to the fact that those who claim to be fighting terrorism, directly or indirectly indulging in terrorism activities. They are only interested in fighting terrorism directed to them while do not mind it when it is directed to others and find no harm in reviving and supporting it.

Those fighting terrorism do not mind violating innocent people’s dignity and deem that as a price to be paid, and therefore, fighting terrorism will only remain nominal slo-gans for the sake of which many scapegoats are sacrificed here and there.

(The writer is legal activist and academic researcher) THE PENINSULA

BY ANTONI SLODKOWSKI

Japan’s government opened a communication channel with IS (IS) in the decisive stages of its recent hostage crisis but

was unwilling to use it to start nego-tiations, according to a Tokyo-based Islamic scholar who briefly became an intermediary.

Hassan Ko Nakata (pictured), 54, who police suspected was a recruiter for IS, was asked by the foreign ministry to pass on a message to the group at the peak of the crisis last month, according to Nakata, associates and records reviewed by Reuters.

The request, which has not been previously revealed, shows Tokyo appeared ready at one point to talk to IS to free two Japanese men who had been captured in Syria for ran-som, despite the government’s pub-lic vow not to give in to terrorism.

IS beheaded the two hostages - a self-styled security consultant and a veteran war reporter - days later after Japan decided to team up with Jordan to deal with the crisis, a move that is now under scrutiny at home.

That decision to work exclusively with Amman, which was also try-ing to free a Jordanian hostage from IS, not only closed communications via Nakata but also effectively ended separate contact that had opened up between the wife of hostage Kenji Goto, 47, the war correspondent, and his captors.

“The government sidelined

whatever private communication channels there were in place and proved unable to establish effec-tive contact with the militants until the very end,” said Nils Bildt, president of security con-sultancy CTSS Japan, which has worked for the Japanese govern-ment. Bildt said that may have been a mistake.

The foreign ministry’s anti-terrorist taskforce declined to comment on Nakata’s specific alle-gations. “The Japanese govern-ment took all possible measures and considered all options to deal with the hostage crisis but I would like to refrain from commenting on specific steps undertaken by the government,” said taskforce official Takanori Hayashi.

Nakata, who says he no longer supports IS, said he became involved in the hostage crisis last September when he went to Syria on his own accord in a failed bid to secure the release of the first hostage to be taken, Haruna Yukawa. Goto made a similar mission in late October to free Yukawa but ended up a captive himself.

Shortly after, Goto’s wife, Rinko, received an email from IS rep-resentatives and tried to engage in talks with the help of a UK security consultancy and people who had worked with Goto in the Middle East, according to four peo-ple involved.

Japanese officials had privately told the families of Yukawa and Goto that they would not pay a

ransom if asked.Then late last month, after

Nakata’s return to Japan from Syria, he said he became an intermediary between the foreign ministry and a person he identified as a Chechen fighter with IS, Umar Ghuraba, who was based in northern Syria.

“I just wanted to use my connec-tions with the IS to help solve the crisis,” Nakata said.

A former Islamic law professor at Kyoto-based Doshisha University, Nakata converted to Islam in 1979. He had expressed support for IS on Twitter and posed with a gun before the group’s flag. He says he does not support IS now but maintains friendships with militants.

On January 21, a day after IS announced a 72-hour deadline to pay $200m for Goto and Yukawa, officials at Japan’s anti-terrorism taskforce sent an email to an asso-ciate of Nakata, Shiko Ogata, 31.

The email contained a message addressed to IS and a request it be passed on. Email records show Ogata sent it to Nakata. The mes-sage in English and Arabic said:

“We strongly urge the group not to harm the two Japanese nationals and to release them immediately.” It did not address the ransom demand.

Nakata said he decided not to forward the message, believing it showed no willingness to talk. “If I passed this on, it would be like send-ing a message to kill the hostages,” he said.

The ministry did not follow up with him on the message or the response from IS, Nakata added.

But on January 23, as the ransom demand neared, Nakata received a message from Umar via WhatsApp, a smartphone application. It was just after 4:30 in the morning in Tokyo, 9:30 at night in Syria.

“There isn’t much time left. The IS will carry out its promise,” Umar said in a message in Arabic and translated by Nakata. Umar’s identity and his connection to those holding the hostages could not be confirmed.

The militant asked Nakata whether an audio message Umar claimed to have obtained via “nego-tiation channels” was credible. In it, a man identifies himself as Masayuki Magoshi, a diplomat at Japan’s embassy in Jordan. Speaking Japanese, he says Japan is “seri-ous” about securing the hostages and states their names and dates of birth.

“It’s credible,” Nakata wrote back after saying he had called the head of the foreign ministry’s anti-terror-ism taskforce to confirm the state-ment in the middle of the night.

“It’s important that the condi-tions of the IS are met,” Umar wrote back.

The next day a video purportedly showing a beheaded Yukawa was published online. Goto was killed a week later. Nakata says he never heard back from the anti-terrorism taskforce. He says he has not been in touch with Umar since.

REUTERS

DR GHANIM AL NAJJAR

Scholar provided Japan with channel to IS at hostage crisis peak

Obama’s risky romance with IranGulf allies in the fight against the Islamic State view Obama’s coziness with Iran with trepidation: The UAE forces have reportedly pulled back from airstrikes against IS targets in Syria, in part because of disagreements with Washington over the growing Iranian role.

US President Barack Obama departs from the White House in Washington.

Tokyo appeared ready at one point to talk to Islamic State to free two Japanese men who had been captured in Syria for ransom, despite the government’s public vow not to give in to terrorism.

10 MIDDLE EASTMONDAY 9 FEBRUARY 2015

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

Alawites protest

Members of Turkey’s Alawite community stage a protest in the Kadikoy district of Istanbul yesterday. Thousands of Alawites gathered in Istanbul to protest for greater rights and a more equal position in the education system.

Resume money transfer services: Somali PM to US banksMOGADISHU: Somalia’s prime minister urged the US government and US banks to support money transfer firms that offer a lifeline for many in the war-torn Horn of Africa nation. About 40 percent of all Somali families rely on remit-tances from another coun-try, and the estimated annual total of $1.3bn is more than all foreign aid and investment in Somalia combined.

Funds sent back home to Somalia are crucial for many families and businesses in a coun-try that lacks a proper finan-cial system due to the years of fighting.

Virtually all major US banks have ended remittance services to Somalis in the United States because of regulations designed to stop money falling into the hands of groups branded “terrorists” by Washington, such as Somalia’s al Shabaab.

Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke said in a statement on Sunday he had spoken to American government officials about this “pressing issue” and repeated his calls to US banks to reconsider their decision.

AFP

WASHINGTON/TEHRAN: US Secretary of State John Kerry ruled out extending a March 31 deadline for Iran nuclear talks unless the basic framework of an agreement is hammered out, speaking in an interview aired yesterday.

“The only chance I can see of an extension at this point in time would be that you really have the outlines of the agreement,” Kerry said in the interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” in Munich.

Global powers have been strug-gling for more than a year to pin down a comprehensive deal to rein in Iran’s suspect nuclear pro-gram, after an interim accord was struck in November 2013.

Kerry met with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif on Friday and again yester-day in Munich, where the top US diplomat stressed Washington’s commitment to seeing the dead-line met. After their meeting yesterday, Zarif appeared to rule out any new extension to tough negotiations with world powers.

Kerry said outlining the basics of the agreement was crucial before a possible extension could be considered, but reiterated his preference for sticking to the tar-get date.

“But if we’re not able to make the fundamental decisions that have to be made over the course of the next weeks, literally, I think it would be impossible to extend,” he told NBC. “I don’t think we would want to extend at that point. Either you make the deci-sions to prove your program is a peaceful one, or if you’re unable to do that, it may tell a story that none of us want to hear.”

After missing two previous deadlines, the group known as the P5+1 — Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia, and the United States — set a March 31 deadline for a political agreement.

That would be followed by a

final deal setting out all the tech-nical points of what would be a complex accord by June 30.

But the atmosphere has been complicated by hardliners both in Iran and the United States, with US lawmakers threatening to impose new sanctions on Iran if the March deadline is missed.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif denied yesterday a media report that he had told the United States dur-ing nuclear talks that President Hassan Rowhani’s political clout would be heavily damaged if nego-tiations failed.

A Reuters report on Saturday, quoting three senior Iranian offi-cials who asked not to be identi-fied, said Zarif had warned the United States and other Western powers during ongoing nuclear talks that a failure to reach a deal would likely hasten the political demise of Rowhani.

“I want to correct a very wrong report by Reuters,” Zarif told a

MUNICH: The ‘Quartet’ of Middle East peace mediators urged a prompt resumption of talks between Israel and the Palestinians after a meeting in Munich yesterday and voiced concern about the slow pace of reconstruction in Gaza, dam-aged in last year’s war.

Talks broke down last April

with the Palestinians angry at continued building of Jewish set-tlements in occupied territory and Israel furious at attempts to bring Hamas, which officially denies Israel’s right to exist, into the Palestinian government.

“The Quartet underlined the importance of the parties resuming negotiations as soon

as possible,” the group compris-ing the United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia said in a joint statement after their meeting in Germany.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, Russia’s Sergei Lavrov and deputy UN head Jan Eliasson reiterated that

talks must respect Palestinian aspirations for statehood and Israel’s security concerns.

“The Quartet is deeply con-cerned over the difficult situ-ation in Gaza where the pace of reconstruction needs to be accelerated to address the basic needs of the Palestinian popu-lation and to ensure stability,”

said the diplomats.They urged donors to disburse

the more than $5bn in aid for the Palestinians pledged last October in Cairo to repair damage from the war in the tiny coastal terri-tory. More than 2,100 Palestinians and 73 Israelis died in the fight-ing.

REUTERS

Turkey detains 21 police officers in wiretapping probeISTANBUL: A Turkish court ordered the arrest of 21 police offic-ers yesterday as part of an investigation into the illegal wiretap-ping of politicians, civil servants and businessmen, the Dogan News Agency reported.

Raids began in several cities as prosecutors enforced the court order, privately owned Dogan said, the latest step in President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s campaign against supporters of his ally turned arch-foe, US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen. Prosecutors were not imme-diately available for comment. Scores of police officers have already been detained as part of the investigation since the middle of last year.

Erdogan accuses Gulen of setting up a “parallel state” within the Turkish administration and of trying to topple him, blaming Gulen’s supporters within the police and judiciary for a corruption inquiry that rocked the government late in 2013.

In the course of the scandal, wiretap recordings of senior officials leaked onto the Internet. Thousands of police officers, judges and prosecutors have since been removed from their posts.

In December, a Turkish court issued an arrest warrant for Gulen on suspicion of heading a criminal organisation and last week Turkey revoked his passport. Gulen, who lives in self-imposed exile in the United States, denies plotting against the government.

Erdogan unhappy with spy chief’s resignation for contesting electionISTANBUL: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yes-terday he was unhappy with the decision of powerful intelligence chief Hakan Fidan to resign from his post and stand for parlia-ment in June elections. “I do not view Hakan Fidan’s candidacy positively,” Erdogan said in televised comments at Istanbul airport before heading on a visit to Latin America.

Erdogan said that he had made his opinion on the matter clear to Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu but said the premier had the final say. “I said this to the respected prime minister. I am saying this openly and clearly. But this is a decision of the respected prime minister and the government. “I cannot interfere,” Erdogan added.

Erdogan’s comments stunned Turkish media who had assumed Fidan’s departure was part of a masterplan by the Turkish strongman ahead of the June 7 legislative polls.

AGENCIES

Kerry rules out Iran N-talks extensionIranian foreign minister denies warning Washington that Rowhani at risk if nuclear talks fail

BENGHAZI: A strike by secu-rity guards has closed Libya’s eastern oil port of Hariga, the country’s last functioning export port apart from two off-shore fields, a port official said yesterday.

The closure will lower oil out-put to less than 300,000 barrels a day, a fraction of the 1.6 mil-lion Libya used to pump before the 2011 uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi.

Libya is in the middle of a struggle between two govern-ments and parliaments allied to

armed factions fighting for legiti-macy and territory. The interna-tionally recognised government of Prime Minister Abdullah Al Thinni fled to the east when a faction called Libya Dawn seized Tripoli in August, reinstating the old parliament and setting up a rival administration.

Hariga in Tobruk, an eastern city near the Egyptian border, used to export around 120,000 barrels a day.

Only Brega port is still open but it is used to supply the 120,000 bpd-Zawiya refinery with crude.

All other ports and most oilfields have shut down due to fighting nearby or pipeline blockages by rival factions.

The guards at Hariga com-plained their salaries had not been paid, preventing Greek-registered Minerva Zoe from loading 725,000 barrels of oil, the official said. The port closed on Saturday morning.

The fall of oil exports to a trickle has caused a budget cri-sis, delaying salary payments and halting development projects and hampering the supply of drugs to hospitals. In another sign of

failing state services, several dis-tricts in the capital Tripoli saw outages for 10 hours on Sunday, residents said. Power had already gone off for six hours on Saturday.

A spokesman for the state power firm declined to comment but officials have previously blamed gas shortages.

The Tripoli government has also blamed air strikes by the official government on the west-ern town of Zuwara, forcing the nearby the Mellitah gas and oil complex to lower output for secu-rity reasons. REUTERS

TEHRAN: Iran’s paramount leader said yesterday he backed a fair nuclear deal with world powers in which neither side would necessarily get every-thing it wanted, shoring up Tehran’s negotiating team against attacks by his hardline loyalists.

“I would go along with any agreement that could be made. Of course, I am not for a bad deal. No agreement is better than an agreement which runs contrary to our nation’s interests,” cleri-cal Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a state-ment issued by his office carried by Isna news agency.

Conservative hardliners in Tehran’s multi-tiered power structure remain wary of strik-ing any compromise with the West under pragmatist President Hassan Rouhani’s push for a nuclear deal and to re-engage Iran with the outside world.

“The Iranian nation will not accept any excessive demands and illogical behaviour,” Khamenei said, in remarks apparently meant to keep hardliners — who are promi-nent in parliament, the clergy and security services — on side.

But in a gesture to Rouhani, who revived diplomacy with Western powers soon after his 2013 landslide election,

Khamenei said: “The respected president mentioned something good, which is, ‘Negotiations are all about trying to reach a com-mon stand’.

“This means that one side would not end up getting all it wants,” said Khamenei, in office since 1989 and long known for rejectionist stances against detente with the West.

The West suspects Iran of covertly seeking a nuclear weap-ons capability instead of, as the major oil producer maintains, an alternative civilian energy source through its enrichment of uranium. Iran denies having any nuclear arms agenda.

A comprehensive nuclear deal is seen as crucial to reduc-ing the risk of a wider Middle East war, at a time when Iran is deeply involved in conflicts in Syria and Iraq. After nearly a year of talks, negotiators failed for the second time in November to meet a self-imposed deadline for an agreement.

The negotiations between Iran and the six powers - the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China - have a deadline of June 30 for a final agreement that would curb Iran’s disputed nuclear activity in return for a phased lifting of sanctions imposed on Tehran.

The two sides remain far apart on central issues including per-missible enrichment capacity in Iran, the length of any final set-tlement and the pace at which financial sanctions imposed over Tehran’s suspected atom bomb ambitions would be dismantled.

“Our (nuclear) negotiators are trying to take the weapon of sanctions away from the enemy. If they can, so much the better. If they fail, everyone should know

there are many ways at our dis-posal to dull this weapon,” said Khamenei.

Khamenei, who holds the high-est office in the Islamic Republic with powers to overrule laws, is sceptical about the value of nego-tiations. But he has also repeat-edly endorsed Rouhani’s path towards ending the economi-cally crippling nuclear stand-off against harsh criticism from hardliners. REUTERS

Khamenei rejects West’s excessive demands

security conference in Munich. “Those that talked to me in the past three days know that was not a subject of our negotiation,” he said, adding: “I did not.”

Reuters said it stands by its reporting. Zarif said that if Iran and major world powers, includ-ing the United States, Germany, France, Britain, Russia and China,

failed to reach an agreement it would not be Iran’s fault. He said the negotiations had Rowhani’s support.

“I believe the entire Iranian population understands that this government, that Dr Rowhani, his administration, and the government in its entirety, supported our efforts

in the negotiations,” said Zarif.“Everybody has taken every

necessary measure to make sure we succeed. All Iranians know this. If we fail, and I hope we won’t, they (Iranians) will not consider us responsible for that failure. They will consider attempts (to ask) too much from Iran as a reason for failure.”

The Reuters report quoted the three senior Iranian officials as saying a breakdown in talks would empower Iran’s conserva-tive hardliners. The 12-year-old stand-off has reached a crucial phase, with a March deadline to reach a political agreement ahead of a final settlement by June 30.

AFP/REUTERS

Strike shuts Libya’s last onshore export terminal

Quartet urges revival of talks, reconstruction of Gaza

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a meeting with air force commanders in Tehran.

US Secretary of State John Kerry speaks at the Security Conference in Munich in Germany yesterday.

UN chief in Saudi

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon with the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia in Riyadh yesterday.

MIDDLE EAST 11MONDAY 9 FEBRUARY 2015

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AMMAN: Jordan said yes-terday it destroyed 56 targets in three days of strikes on the Islamic State (IS) group after it murdered one of its pilots, and is determined to destroy IS.

Air Force chief Major General Mansour Al Jobour did not specify where the strikes took place, but told reporters the air raids launched since Thursday had destroyed 20 percent of IS capabilities.

“On the first day of the cam-paign to avenge our airman Maaz Al Kassasbeh, 19 targets were destroyed, including train-ing camps and equipment,” he said, reading from a prepared text.

Jordan has vowed to crush IS after the jihadists burned alive Kassasbeh, who was captured in December when his F-16 war-plane crashed in Syria.

Eighteen more targets includ-ing ammunition and fuel depots and logistics centres were hit on Friday.

On Saturday, 19 IS targets were destroyed, including barracks and residential centres.

“So far, the campaign has destroyed 20 percent of the fight-ing capabilities of Daesh,” he said using another name for IS which

controls swathes of both Syria and Iraq. Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh told Fox News this week the air force had targeted IS in both Syria and Iraq where the jihad-ists have proclaimed an Islamic “caliphate” in areas it controls.

“We are determined to wipe out this terrorist gang,” Jobour said during yesterday’s press briefing.

The air force will step up strikes against IS over the next few days, he added.

Interior Minister Hussein Majali said in remarks published on Saturday that Kassasbeh’s gruesome murder by IS was a “turning point” in the kingdom’s fight against extremism.

Jordanian air strikes are “the beginning of an ongoing process to eliminate” IS, Majali was quoted as saying by government newspa-per Al Rai.

“The day of the hero, martyr pilot’s assassination is a turning point in Jordan’s history in order to face this horrific crime that was committed by the cowardly terrorist organisation,” he said.

Jordan is part of the US-led coalition of Arab and Western countries that has been carrying out air strikes against IS since September.

Jobour said Jordanian

warplanes have flown 946 sorties out of a total of 1,500 by the coa-lition since the campaign began.

“More than 7,000 Daesh crimi-nals have been killed since Jordan began participating in the air campaign,” he added.

The country’s air strikes have contributed to crippling IS oil revenues, Jobour said.

IS has targeted oil and gas facilities in Iraq and Syria as it seeks to finance its campaign and seize more territory for its “caliphate”.

Following Jordan’s intensified sorties, the IS claimed US hos-tage Kayla Jean Mueller had been buried alive under rubble in its self-proclaimed capital of Raqa in Syria.

Mueller’s parents said they were hopeful the 26-year-old aid worker was still alive and appealed to IS to contact them in order to ensure her safe return.

Yesterday, US Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson said Washington was seeking clarification on Mueller’s fate.

“We’re learning as much as we can as quickly as we can about Ms Mueller’s situation,” he told CNN. “Our thoughts, our prayers are with her family right now.”

AFP

SANA’A: The United Nations said yesterday that all parties in Yemen, where a Shia militia dissolved the government and parliament two days ago, are to resume political negotiations.

Factions including the widely condemned Houthi militia will resume talks today, envoy Jamal Benomar said after the UN chief called for Western-backed President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi to be restored to power.

On Friday, the militia dis-solved parliament and created a “presidential council” in a move it said was designed to fill a power vacuum after Hadi and Prime Minister Khalid Bahah resigned last month.

The militia also sought to por-tray the move as a way of head-ing off the threat from Al Qaeda, which has a strong presence in east and south Yemen.

Benomar told reporters in Sana’a yesterday that Shia militia leader “Abdelmalek Al Huthi and all political parties in Yemen have agreed to resume dialogue... which will begin tomorrow (Monday)”.

Tensions remained high in the south and southeast, where authorities said they did “not recognise” the rule of the Huthis and that they “totally reject the constitutional declaration” under which they seized control.

Speaking to reporters after talks with King Salman in Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned “the situation is very, very seriously deteriorating, with the Houthis taking power and making this government vacuum”.

“There must be restoration of

CAIRO: An Egyptian court will this week retry Aljazeera jour-nalists, including a Canadian awaiting deportation, a judicial official said yesterday, after his Australian colleague was deported.

Canadian Mohamed Fahmy and Egyptian Baher Mohamed, journalists with the Qatari-owned channel, were originally sen-tenced to up to 10 years in prison for allegedly aiding the blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood, along with Australia’s Peter Greste.

But an appeals court over-turned that verdict in January and ordered a retrial, which the judicial official said is to begin on Thursday. Greste was deported on February 1 under a presidential decree that allows the authori-ties to expel foreigners charged in Egypt and see them instead face trial in their home countries.

As a result, lawyers said the court was likely to drop proceed-ings against Greste after the opening session. In a bid to secure his own deportation, Fahmy has renounced his Egyptian nation-ality and is awaiting a return to Canada, where he also has citizenship.

However, the third journal-ist, producer Mohamed, remains in jail as he only has Egyptian nationality. The three employees of Aljazeera English were arrested in December 2013 and tried on allegations of supporting the Brotherhood.

In June last year Greste and Fahmy were jailed for seven years, while Mohamed was sentenced

to 10 years in prison before the retrial was ordered.

The journalists’ initial trial came against the backdrop of strained relations between Egypt and Qatar, which supported the Islamist movement of president Mohamed Mursi, whom then army chief and now President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi deposed in July 2013.

Canada had said yesterday that the release of Fahmy was “imminent”, amid reports that it had a team of diplomats in Cairo pressing for his freedom, but he remains in Egyptian custody.

Fahmy’s counsel, the prominent lawyer Amal Clooney, on Saturday sent a letter to Sisi demanding a meeting to press for his release.

His family said in a statement yesterday that a retrial would be “our worst nightmare, to have to go through another circus of a retrial.”

They said they were disap-pointed with what they called the Canadian government’s “conservative approach” in lob-bying for his release and called on Prime Minister Stephan Harper to intervene. Greste, Fahmy and Mohamed work for Aljazeera’s English channel, which operated separately from the Egyptian and pro-Muslim Brotherhood channel Aljazeera Mubashir Masr.

But the prosecution made no distinction between the channels during the trial. Their arrest had sparked a global outcry and calls for their release led by Washington and the United Nations. AFP

56 IS targets destroyed in three days: Jordan

RAMALLAH: A senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas took the stand yesterday in the trial of exiled Gaza strongman Mohammed Dahlan who is being tried in absentia on corruption charges. The trial of Dahlan, once a leading fig-ure in Abbas’s Fatah move-ment who headed Gaza’s powerful security forces, began in December.

The former security chief, who was expelled from Fatah in 2011 and now lives in the United Arab Emirates, has not been in court for any of the hearings in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

According to his legal team, the 53-year-old is on trial in connection with the alleged misuse of $17m (¤15m) in expenses. In an appearance before the court yesterday, the head of Abbas’s office, Hussein Al Araj, said he had not seen any documentation justifying how the money had been used by Dahlan. Asked if he had asked Dahlan for paperwork to justify the expenses, he said: “No, and I don’t know if any-one else asked this either.”

Araj’s testimony was dis-missed as “empty” by Sevag Torossian of Dahlan’s defence team, who said it would now be necessary for Abbas

himself to testify. “In calling Araj to testify, the court has used up its last fall guy and now it must face the conse-quences,” he said, suggesting that Araj had testified in a bid to avoid Abbas being called to the stand.

“In his testimony, Araj said he didn’t see or hear anything (relating to Dahlan’s use of funds) so now I want to hear Abbas’s testimony because apparently he is the only one who would know what hap-pened,” Torossian said.

However, under Palestinian law, Dahlan’s absence means his legal team is denied access to the indictment itself or to

any other court files pertain-ing to the trial. They are also barred from cross-examining witnesses, prompting Torossian to denounce the trial as a “farce”. The next hearing is set for February 15.

Dahlan, who once held the internal security portfolio and was head of security in the Gaza Strip, was formerly a leading figure in Fatah which controls the Palestinian Authority (PA). Known for his fierce opposition to the Islamist Hamas movement, Dahlan led a merciless crack-down on the group in the 1990s, rounding up thousands of Islamists who refused to

recognise the legitimacy of the newly created PA.

Once considered a US pro-tege, he fell from grace in June 2007 after the humiliating rout of his forces by Hamas during days of fierce street battles in Gaza, which saw the Islamists expel Fatah from the territory. In August 2009, Dahlan returned to the politi-cal stage when he was elected to Fatah’s ruling body.

But two years later, he was expelled from Fatah over allega-tions of financial corruption and murder, with the party deciding to refer his case to the attorney general and the anti-corruption commission. AFP

Top Abbas aide testifies at Dahlan graft trial

Strikes cripple militants’ oil revenues: Air Force chief

Cairo to retry Jazeerajournalists this weekYemen talks to resume: UN

legitimacy of President Hadi,” Ban said.

The fall of Hadi’s government has sparked fears that impov-erished Yemen — strategically located next to oil-rich Saudi Arabia and on the key shipping route from the Suez Canal to the Gulf — would plunge into chaos.

Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi on Sunday echoed that statement, branding the Huthi move as a “coup against consti-tutional legitimacy to impose that group’s will at gunpoint”.

The Houthis have said they will set up a national council of

551 members to replace the leg-islature in the violence-wracked country. Yemen is a key American ally in the fight against Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which claimed responsibility for last month’s deadly attack on French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. Abdelmalek Al Houthi, said creating the transitional bodies, which include a security committee, would also head off the threat from Al Qaeda.

However, the statement by authorities in the south, which was independent until 1990, said forces in these provinces — Aden,

Abyan, Lahj, Shabwa, Daleh and Hadramawt — rejected the Houthi takeover. In the oil-rich eastern province of Marib, which the Huthis have long been eye-ing, deputy governor Abdelwahid Namran said that Sunni tribes-men were “discussing means of facing any developments”.

Marib residents said heav-ily armed tribes were preparing to counter any attempts by the Houthis to take over their region.

“The Houthis are incapable of governing (Sunni-majority) Yemen alone,” said analyst Ali Al Bakaly. AFP

A Houthi fighter in police uniform walks in front of a military vehicle which was seized from the army during recent clashes, outside an entrance to the Presidential Palace in Sana’a yesterday.

Man shot dead by police in Tunisia protestTUNIS: A man was shot dead yesterday in clashes between demonstrators and security forces in the southern Tunisian town of Dhiba, near the border with Libya, during a protest over the economy, witnesses said.

Protests in Tunisia in 2010 sparked revolutions that transformed the Arab world, and while coun-tries such as Libya and Syria have been torn apart by the violence, Tunisia itself avoided the worst of the chaos and remains relatively stable.

However, many Tunisians are still frustrated about the lack of growth, high unemployment and rising prices.

Protests in Dhiba started two days ago over taxes imposed on local traders, with residents demanding more opportunities and jobs. Witnesses said police fired bullets and tear gas to disperse crowds who had burned a police station in the city.

REUTERS

BEIRUT: The United States delivered more than $25m worth of military aid including heavy artillery to the Lebanese army yesterday to help it fight jihadist groups which have repeatedly battled with security forces near the Syrian border.

The US ambassador to Beirut, David Hale, said in a statement the weapons would be used to “defeat the terrorist and extrem-ist threat from Syria”.

“We are fighting the same

enemy, so our support for you has been swift and continuous,” Hale said at an event marking the delivery of the weapons in Beirut.

The Lebanese army has fought regular battles with armed groups including militants linked to Islamic State and the Al Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front in areas near the Syrian border, most recently late last month when six soldiers were killed.

Hale said Lebanon was the fifth biggest recipient of US military

aid. It received more than $100m last year. Lebanese officials have warned of plans by radical Islamist groups fighting in the Syria war to seize territory in Lebanon.

While the US-backed Lebanese army has been battling hard-line Islamists on the Lebanese side of the frontier, the Iranian-backed Hezbollah has been battling the same groups on the Syrian side of the border— part of its role fighting alongside Damascus in the Syrian war. REUTERS

US delivers arms to Lebanon

12 INTERNATIONALMONDAY 9 FEBRUARY 2015

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Leaders scramble to avert Ukraine crisisFour-way emergency summit planned for WednesdayMUNICH: The leaders of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France agreed to meet in Belarus on Wednesday to try to broker a peace deal for Ukraine amid escalating violence there and signs of cracks in the trans-atlantic consensus on confront-ing Vladimir Putin.

The four leaders held a call yes-terday, two days after Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande trav-elled to Moscow for talks with Putin that produced no break-through in the nearly year-long conflict that has claimed over 5,000 lives. After the call, Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko said progress had been made and that he was hopeful the meeting in Minsk would lead to a “swift and unconditional ceasefire” in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russian sepa-ratists have stepped up a military offensive in recent weeks, seizing new territory.

A Ukraine military spokesman said that intense fighting was continuing around the rail junc-tion town of Debaltseve, with rebel fighters making repeated attempts to storm lines defended by govern-ment troops. At a high-level secu-rity conference in Munich over the weekend, Merkel said it was uncer-tain whether further negotiations would lead to a deal with Putin but argued that all opportunities for a diplomatic solution should be pur-sued. She came under sharp criti-cism from US senators Lyndsey

Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) shakes hands with President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko during their meeting in Sochi, Russia, yesterday.

Putin acting like tyrant: BritainLONDON: Britain accused Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday of acting like a “tyrant” over Ukraine, but said Kiev’s forces could not defeat Russia’s army on the battlefield and that only a political solution could end the bloodshed.

The comments, by British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, were his toughest yet on Russia and came after he rejected a suggestion that Britain had become an “irrelevance” because it wasn’t directly involved in talks with Putin to end the Ukraine crisis. “Ukrainians can’t beat the Russian army, that’s not a practical proposition. There has to be a political solution,” Hammond told Sky News.

“This man (Putin) has sent troops across an international border and occupied another country’s territory in the 21st century acting like some mid-20th century tyrant. Civilized nations do not behave like that,” he said.

Russia denies Western and Ukrainian accusations it is sup-porting pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine by sending regular troops and weapons into the region. Hammond’s com-ments came a day after German Chancellor Angela Merkel said sending arms to help Ukraine combat the separatists would not solve the crisis, drawing sharp rebukes from US politicians.

Hammond said Britain wasn’t

planning to arm Kiev’s forces but spoke out strongly in favour of renewing European Union eco-nomic sanctions on Russia and possibly escalating them.

“This is one of the last oppor-tunities that Russia will have to avoid yet further significant dam-age to its economy that is bound to happen if the intransigence of Vladimir Putin forces the rest of the world to increase and tighten the sanctions,” Hammond said of the latest push for a peace deal.

Combined with a steep fall in global oil prices that Hammond said was having a “catastrophic” impact on the Russian economy, the sanctions would force Putin to alter course, he predicted.

REUTERS

Graham and John McCain, both Republican hawks, for opposing the sending of defensive weapons to the Ukraine army to help it fight the separatists.

“The Ukrainians are being slaughtered and we’re sending them blankets and meals,” McCain said in Munich. “Blankets don’t do well against Russian tanks.”

US Secretary of State John Kerry sought to play down the dif-ferences with Europe.

“Will we remain united? The

US Secretary of State John Kerry (bottom left) on the third day of the 51st Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, yesterday.

answer is absolutely, positively, unequivocally we are united, we will remain united,” Kerry told the conference on Sunday, describing any differences as tactical rather than strategic.

Members of the Obama admin-istration are also believed to be skeptical about arming Ukraine but the president faces intense pressure from a Republican-led Congress to act.

The Germans believe sending weapons to a depleted Ukraine army would not improve its chances against separatists armed with “unlimited” supplies of Russian military equipment.

They also fear that delivering arms would internationalise the conflict, playing into the hands of Putin, who has painted the crisis as a western plot to weaken Russia.

Merkel, 60, flew to Washington yesterday for talks with Obama. A Russian speaker who grew up behind the Iron Curtain in East Germany, she has taken the lead in pursuing a diplomatic solution to the conflict, speaking with Putin by phone dozens of times over the past year and meeting with him in Moscow, Sydney and Milan in recent months.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who in Munich accused the West of turning a blind eye to ethnic cleansing by Kiev-backed militias, said on Sunday that he expected the Minsk meeting to yield “important decisions”. REUTERS

Charles voices alarm at radicalisationLONDON: Britain’s Prince Charles said the numbers of vulnerable young Muslims being radicalised by “crazy stuff” on the Internet was “frightening”, in an interview yesterday.

The heir to the throne also voiced concern about Christians fleeing the Middle East in droves, saying the situation might end with very few left in the cradle of the religion.

In a BBC radio interview, Charles said radicalisation was “one of the greatest worries” and the issue could not be simply “swept under the carpet. “It’s the extent which this is happening is the alarming part,” the 66-year-old said.

Speaking of “the values we hold dear”, Charles said: “You’d think that the people who have come here, born here, go to school here would abide by those values and outlooks. “But, the frighten-ing part is that people can be so radicalised either through contact with somebody else or through the Internet and the extraordi-nary amount of crazy stuff which

is on the Internet.” “Some aspect of this radicalisation is a search for adventure and excitement at a particular age.”

The Prince of Wales said much of his own work with young people in deprived areas had been aimed at finding “constructive paths” for people to channel their energies.

He said more people now real-ised they had to address pre-vention. “You can’t just sweep it under the carpet.”

Charles said the numbers of Christians in the Middle East was going “dramatically down”, with people “intimidated to a degree you can’t believe” where the Islamic State jihadist group has taken control in northern Iraq. “There is a danger that there is going to be very, very few left,” he said.

“Christians have been in the Middle East for 2,000 years. Before Islam came in the 8th century. And have contributed an enormous amount, as many Muslims and others would agree.

“So that makes it an even greater tragedy.” AFP

Another Nazi memorial vandalised in AustriaVIENNA: Vandals in the Austrian city of Salzburg have defaced a plaque commemo-rating the 1938 burning of books by the Nazis, in the lat-est in a series of similar inci-dents, police said yesterday.

The plaque on a church recall-ing the first public burning of books following the Nazi annex-ation of Austria was “daubed with a tar-like substance,” police spokesman Michael Rausch said.

The memorial, mounted in 2011, includes the famous quote by German poet Heinrich Heine (1797-1856): “That was only a prelude — When you burn books, ultimately you will also burn people”.

In the past two years there have been a spate of similar inci-dents of vandalism in Salzburg in western Austria believed to have been carried out by neo-Nazis.

This has included around 60 cases of plaques in the pavement — so-called “Stolpersteine” (“stumbling stones”) — that contain the names of Jews murdered by the Nazis being defaced.

Last month two men aged 21 and 22 were sentenced to five years and four years respectively in prison for the “Stolpersteine” vandalism, but other incidents have gone unsolved.

In January 2014 vandals painted yellow a Star of David symbol outside Salzburg’s syn-agogue. Under the Nazis Jews were forced to wear yellow stars. And in May 2014 glass on a monument to around 500 men-tally ill patients from Salzburg killed by the Nazis was smashed.

Three people were charged last week over the incident. The same month the letters “KZ” — short for “Konzentrationslager” (“concentration camp”) — was sprayed on a wall outside a shel-ter for the homeless.

Away from Salzburg, last week four swastikas were found daubed or etched on walls at the former Nazi concentration camp Mauthausen, as well as the word “Hitler” in small letters. AFP

Demonstrators pray during a protest near Downing Street in central London yesterdfay. Thousands denounced the depictions of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) printed in the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, on a day when, in an interview to be broadcast Sunday, Britain’s Prince Charles said the numbers of vulnerable young Muslims being radicalised by “crazy stuff” on the Internet was “frightening”.

Foreign experts slam Mexico’s probe into 43 missing studentsMEXICO CITY: Argentine-led forensic experts strongly criticised Mexico’s investiga-tion into the presumed massa-cre of 43 missing students on Saturday, insisting the probe must remain open as they listed a series of mishaps.

The Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team, with experts from 30 countries including the United States, Canada and France, issued a 16-page state-ment questioning the conclusions of the Mexican attorney general’s office.

Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam declared last month that he had the “legal certainty” that the aspiring teachers were mur-dered in the southern state of Guerrero in September.

Murillo Karam said evidence proved the 43 young men were

abducted by corrupt police and delivered to drug gang members who killed them, incinerated their remains in a landfill in the town of Cocula and dumped them in a river.

The Argentine team, which was hired by the parents of the students and has worked along-side federal investigators, said it did “not exclude the possibility that some of the stu-dents met the demise” described by prosecutors.

“However, in our opinion, there is no scientific evidence to that effect at the Cocula landfill,” the statement said.

Authorities sent 17 sets of charred bones to Austria’s Innsbruck University, but the world-renowned lab was only able to confirm the identity of one stu-dent and indicated that the rest

of the remains were nearly impos-sible to identify. The Argentine experts said they found anomalies in 20 of the 134 genetic profiles of relatives that were sent to the university by the attorney gen-eral’s office.

The team also provided pic-tures showing that several fires have burned at the Cocula landfill since 2010, meaning that physi-cal evidence collected at the site could belong to other events unre-lated to the case.

Among the evidence collected by prosecutors was a denture with a tooth, even though none of the students used one.

The Argentine investiga-tors said they found evidence “strongly suggesting the possibil-ity” that the area of the fire con-tains human remains that do not belong to the students. AFP

French police detain six in anti-terror raidPARIS: French police detained six people yesterday suspected of recruiting potential jihadists, just days after another opera-tion saw five charged on simi-lar grounds, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said.

France is slowly recovering from the January 7-9 attacks in Paris that left 17 people dead but remains jittery after inci-dents such as Tuesday’s knife attack on three soldiers outside a Jewish community centre on the French Riviera. Cazeneuve said in a statement that anti-terrorism magistrates in Paris had ordered yesterday’s raid following a probe opened in January last year into “conspiracy to commit a terrorist act and financing of terrorism.”

A source said five people were held in the southern city of Albi and another in the southwest of France. All in their 30s, they are

suspected of handling question-able money transfers and hav-ing recruited candidates to wage jihad. Investigators are also look-ing to see if some of the suspects went to Syria, said the source, who wished to remain anonymous.

“This new raid takes place five days after the detention for similar motives of eight people in the Paris and Lyon (southeast) regions, of whom five were charged on Saturday, and four remanded in custody,” Cazeneuve said.

Last month, Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins said 1,280 peo-ple were either in the process of leaving to wage jihad abroad, already on site, on their way back to France or already returned.

According to Prime Minister Manuel Valls, authorities have to monitor nearly 3,000 people involved in “terrorist networks.” AFP

North Korea missile test

A view of the test-firing of a new type of “anti-ship rocket”, to be equipped at Korean People’s Army (KPA) naval units, at an undisclosed location at sea off North Korea yesterday.

ASIA / PHILIPPINES 13MONDAY 9 FEBRUARY 2015

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

Widodo visits Manila as fate of Filipina lingersFocus on maritime cooperation, tradeMANILA: New Indonesian President Joko Widodo arrived on his first state visit to the Philippines yesterday, as the fate of a Filipina facing execu-tion for drug smuggling in his country hovers over planned talks.

Dressed in traditional batik shirt, Widodo was met at a Manila airbase by Philippine offi-cials before being whisked away without making any statement.

Widodo, who is on the last stop of a three-nation trip after vis-iting Malaysia and Brunei, will meet with Philippine President Benigno Aquino today with the pair expected to sign several agreements, the presidential pal-ace in Manila said.

However, his visit comes as the Philippines tries to prevent the execution of a female national facing death by firing squad in Indonesia after being convicted of smuggling heroin.

A spokesman for Aquino, Edwin Lacierda, said the leaders would discuss drug trafficking but did not say if they would address the case of the woman, who has

not been publicly named.“We are in discussions to fur-

ther work out cooperation in vari-ous areas of mutual interest and concerns, such as migrant work-ers, technical-vocational skills upgrading, the combatting of trafficking of narcotics, and (for) educational visits,” Lacierda said.

Another Aquino spokesman, Herminio Coloma, later said in an interview on government radio that the two leaders would also take up “maritime cooperation, defence, trade and investment”.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said that the accords would cover education, narcotics cooperation, a joint declaration on protecting migrant workers and “research and training in the field of defence studies”.

This could include the issue of China, which regards Indonesia as having a potentially pivotal role in calming rising tensions between Manila and Beijing over territo-rial disputes in the South China Sea, according to analysts.

In August, then-president-elect Widodo told Japan’s Asahi news-paper that Indonesia, which has

Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo (centre) walks with Philippine Lieutenant General Jeffrey Delgado (right) on his arrival in Manila yesterday.

better bilateral ties with China than the Philippines, stood ready to act as an intermediary.

“Indonesia has the gravitas to be the champion of peace in the Asean (Association of South East Asian Nations). Widodo can also be our partner in our efforts to improve relations with China,” Wilfrido Villacorta, a former Philippine ambassador to Asean, said.

“Even if Indonesia is not a claimant country (in the South

China Sea dispute), it has always been playing the role of a con-venor of important discussions on the issue since the 1980s,” said Villacorta, now an international relations specialist at De la Salle University in Manila.

The Philippines signed a mari-time border accord with neigh-bouring Indonesia in May 2014 that has been hailed as a model for peacefully settling territorial disputes.

Last month, Widodo, who has

disappointed rights activists by voicing support for capital pun-ishment, angered several coun-tries by allowing the execution of six offenders on drug charges last month, including five foreigners.

The Catholic-majority Philippines does not have the death penalty, and the fate of Filipinos abroad is a political hot potato in a country where 10 per-cent of the population is forced to seek work overseas.

AFP

Philippine military aids MILF despite bloody clashMANILA: Philippine soldiers rescued members of a Muslim armed group from rival extrem-ists despite frayed ties over the killing of 44 policemen last month, a military report said yesterday.

Members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which is engaged in a peace process with the government, were besieged by the rival Abu Sayyaf group in the troubled island of Basilan on Saturday, requiring mili-tary intervention, said a state-ment from the regional military command.

“Three platoons... along with armoured vehicles together with some members of MILF in the area... proceeded to the encoun-ter site to reinforce the belea-guered MILF members who were engaged in the firefight,” the statement said.

One wounded MILF fighter was evacuated by the soldiers who later overran an Abu Sayyaf camp and are believed to have killed one Abu Sayyaf leader, the report added.

MILF members and other Muslim fighters ambushed and killed 44 police commandos while they were on an anti-ter-ror operation in the southern island of Mindanao on January 25.

The incident violated a cease-fire between the government and the MILF and threatened President Benigno Aquino’s efforts to complete a peace process which would create an autonomous Muslim area in the south.

The MILF have said they were only acting in self-defence but the killings have led many people to question their sincerity.

Aquino has said the peace process must continue to avoid a return to decades of fighting that claimed tens of thousands of lives over previ-ous decades.

It was unclear why the MILF members were fighting guerril-las of the Abu Sayyaf, a Muslim extremist group with ties to the Al Qaeda network who have been blamed for the worst ter-ror attacks in the country’s history.

AFP

Indonesia police chief row sparks crisis for presidentJAKARTA: A feud between Indonesia’s law enforcement and its corruption watchdog over the nomination of a police chief has escalated into a full-blown crisis for Joko Widodo, testing the new president’s pledge to usher in cleaner governance.

Barely 100 days into his term, Widodo sparked an outcry last month when he nominated Budi Gunawan, a politically-connected figure with a murky financial record, to be head of the national police.

The situation snowballed sev-eral days later when the anti-corruption agency, known as the KPK, named Gunawan as the subject of a bribery investigation,

prompting Widodo to postpone—but not cancel — his appointment as police chief.

The notoriously corrupt police — who have in the past clashed with the hugely popular KPK —retaliated by arresting the agen-cy’s deputy chairman on years-old perjury allegations, triggering angry protests.

The deputy chairman has resigned, and police are now threatening to bring charges against the KPK’s entire lead-ership, a move that the agency warns could paralyse it.

Activists rallying day after day outside KPK headquarters are urging Widodo, who comes from a humble background and

is Indonesia’s first leader from outside the political and military elites, to intervene.

But so far the president has taken a cautious approach to a scandal that is proving the first real test of his leadership.

“If he blunders in this KPK case, his image of running a clean government, he can kiss it goodbye,” Yohanes Sulaiman, a political expert at the Indonesian Defence University, said.

Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, is under immense pres-sure to make a decision about Gunawan’s future, but is backed into a corner.

Pressing ahead and installing a known criminal suspect as police

chief would shatter his clean creden-tials, but Widodo risks revolt from political allies if he dumps Gunawan.

Parliament, which must endorse new police chiefs, has already backed Gunawan, and many parties—including from Widodo’s own coalition—want to see him inaugurated.

Gunawan used to be a close aide of Megawati Sukarnoputri, the head of Widodo’s political party who backed him for the presi-dency, and many suspect she is the one who is continuing to push the officer’s nomination.

Widodo is seeking to buy time as he mulls a way out of the crisis. He asked a team of hand-picked advisers to recommend a course of

action, and they said he should not press ahead with the nomination.

While he now seems likely to reject the nomination in the coming days, Widodo is facing accusations of dithering like his predecessor Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who was frequently criticised for his indecision.

Former KPK deputy chairman Erry Riyana Hardjapamekas, one of the special advisers assisting the president, said Widodo wanted to please but was more firm than his predecessor. “I think there is a strong will to solve this problem as soon as possible,” he said, adding he did not think Widodo would go ahead with Gunawan’s inauguration.

AFP

Thailand govt denies Yingluck permission to travelBANGKOK: Thailand’s mili-tary government has denied former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra permission to travel overseas to ensure she is in the country to face criminal charges later this month, a government spokesman said yesterday,

The military toppled the rem-nants of Yingluck’s government in a coup last May, ending months of demonstrations on the streets of Bangkok that had paralysed her administration.

Yingluck was last month banned from politics for five years and indicted on criminal charges over her involvement in a state rice buying scheme.

The attorney general will sub-mit a subpoena to the Supreme Court on February 19, and wants Yingluck to be present for that, government spokesman Sunsern Kaewkumnerd said yesterday.

Yingluck had asked for permis-sion to leave from yesterday until February 22, he said. “The suspect must be present for the first proc-ess of the case otherwise the case cannot proceed,” Sunsern said.

Yingluck’s lawyer, Norawit Laleng, said it was not necessary for her to appear in court for at least two months while prosecu-tors consider the case and chose judges to oversee it. “If the NCPO (junta) denies her permission to travel using her court case as an excuse, then it is a violation of her basic rights,” Norawit said.

REUTERS

Malfunction forces AirAsia to abort flightKUALA LUMPUR: A system malfunction forced the pilots of an AirAsia X flight from Kuala Lumpur to Jeddah to abort the flight and return to Malaysia yesterday, the AirAsia Group’s CEO said.

The incident sparked fresh ques-tions on social media about the Malaysian airline’s safety record as it struggles in the aftermath of the loss of Flight QZ8501 in late December with 162 people on board.

“One auto-thrust not function-ing properly. Actually okay to fly but we just returning it to base,” Tony Fernandes said in a text message, calling it a “minor issue.”

He confirmed the plane — operated by the long-haul arm of the AirAsia Group of carri-ers, AirAsia X — landed safely at Kuala Lumpur’s international airport late yesterday afternoon.

Flight-tracking websites indi-cated AirAsia X flight D7172 flew several wide circles over the Strait of Malacca to burn off fuel.

Fernandes called the manouevre a “routine” precaution as the plane was heavily laden with fuel that normally would have been used up during the several-hour flight to the Saudi Arabian city.

“Just burning off fuel as has lots of fuel as was going to Jeddah,” he said, adding that the plane would be changed and the flight would continue onward.

Although QZ8501 was the AirAsia group’s first deadly acci-dent, it followed two other deadly Malaysia Airlines incidents last year that killed over 500 people and raised concerns among many travellers about the safety of the country’s carriers.

AFP

Sydney siege survivors tell of terror at hands of gunmanSYDNEY: Survivors of a 16-hour siege in a Sydney cafe yesterday told of their terror during the deadly standoff, as a jihadist gunman threatened to kill people “one by one”.

Iranian-born, self-styled cleric Man Haron Monis, 50, held 17 people hostage at the Lindt choco-late cafe in the heart of the city’s financial district on the morning of December 15 before being killed when police stormed the building

in the early hours of the next day.In emotional interviews, some

of the surviving hostages told Channels Seven and Nine of how Monis forced them to call emer-gency services to tell them his demands, and how the gunman became more frustrated as night fell.

“I literally thought he was going to shoot us so that everybody can see through the window,” survivor Harriette Denny told commercial

broadcaster Channel Nine. “You lose hope, thinking about

your family outside, thinking there’s nothing you can do to get yourself out and it’s very hard,” said the 30-year-old, who was pregnant at the time of the hos-tage crisis.

The siege horrified Australia and prompted a mass outpour-ing of grief that saw thousands of flowers laid near the cafe in the city’s Martin Place.

Survivor John O’Brien, 82, said Monis was “ranting and rav-ing” about Prime Minister Tony Abbott and threatened to kill eve-ryone in the cafe.

“Tony Abbott wouldn’t come to the phone, he said Tony Abbott will have all your blood on his hands when I kill you all, one by one,” O’Brien told Channel Seven.

The interviews, for which chan-nels Seven and Nine reportedly paid hundreds of thousands of

dollars, came just over a week after an inquest opened into the siege.

Cafe manager Tori Johnson, 34, and barrister and mother-of-three Katrina Dawson, 38, were killed during the standoff, and the New South Wales coroner had been told in graphic detail how Johnson was made to kneel down and shot in the back of the head after a group of hostages escaped.

AFP

14 PAKISTAN / AFGHANISTANMONDAY 9 FEBRUARY 2015

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Illegal weapons

Afghan security officials deliver illegal weapons recovered during operations to officials of Disbandment of Illegal Armed Group (DIAG) in Herat, Afghanistan, yesterday. The ammunition and the weapons will be trans-ferred for surveillance by the Afghan National Army.

Bombs recovery

Afghan security personnel inspect defused improvised bombs at Mewand district of Kandahar province yes-terday. A month-long operation is under way in Maiwand district of Kandahar province led by Afghan army troops and intelligence forces, with thousands of improvised bombs confiscated and defused.

Fears of horse trading in Senate polls Consensus sought on open ballotsISLAMABAD: The political parties should develop consensus to introduce open ballot for the Senate elections because allega-tions of horse-trading are defam-ing democracy in Pakistan.

These views were expressed by the leaders belonging to vari-ous political parties while some favoured secret balloting.

Senator Saeed Ghani of Bilawal Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) said over the weekend when some party members voted for other candidates against party policies in the 2012 Senate elections, former president Asif Zardari gave statement against horse trading in the Punjab.

Opposition leader in Sindh Assembly and leader of Pakistan Muslim League-F Shahryar Mehar says whenever Senate elections are held, allegations of horse trading are levelled by vari-ous quarters so it was pertinent to introduce open balloting for it.

He said other political parties took oath from their members but their party was not likely to do so but they would discuss the issue of horse trading in a meeting to be held next week.

Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehrika-i-Insaf (PTI) provin-cial spokesperson Aisha Gulalai said that all the political parties should sit together and develop consensus for the constitutional amendment to introduce open balloting for the Senate elections.

To a question, she said there was some kind of information that offers of financial gains were being given to PTI members from some potential candidates so party Chairman Imran Khan warned all of them that he would not tolerate any kind of change in loyalties.

Senate elections would be held on March 3 on 11 seats each in Sindh and Punjab, 12 seats each in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, four seats in Tribal Areas and two in Islamabad.

Senator Zafarul Haq from Nawaz Sharif ’s Pakistan Muslim League-N says as far as horse trading is concerned, open ballot cannot guarantee complete trans-parency in the Senate elections. He said if a member decided to sell his conscience, no one could prevent him from doing so.

“The speaker and deputy speaker of the National Assembly and chairman and deputy chair-man of the Senate are also elected through secret ballot because the members are given the opportu-nity to freely exercise their right to vote. All Pakistanis also cast their votes through secret ballot in the general elections so this system is necessary to ensure vote caste without any pressure,” he said.

Muhammad Adil from Asfandyar Wali’s Awami National Party said they had also introduced secret ballot in their party elections because otherwise the members of the party might feel hesitant to freely exercise right to vote.

Kamil Agha of Shujaat Hussain’s Pakistan Muslim League-Q) said it was quite encouraging that political par-ties had started realising the need to introduce open ballot in the Senate elections but was scepti-cal about its full utility.

“I think the demand came so late especially from PTI chairman Imran Khan because it needs con-stitutional amendment to change the process to elect senators,” he added.

INTERNEWS

Imran’s party keeps supporters on tenterhooks on Senate candidaciesPESHAWAR: Many a peo-ple aspire to get ticket for the Senate election from Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) but hardly any leader is certain as to who is going to get the ticket.

The uncertainty persists even as the date for filing the nomi-nation papers is only days away. The media seems to be shooting in the dark, but several leaders approached for feedback even refrained from making a guess, let alone saying anything with finality.

The parliamentary board for Senate elections will have the certain answer, the leaders inter-viewed said.

The party formed the parlia-ment- board and asked all the aspirants to apply for ticket by

today, according to Atif Khan, the education minister and member of the parliamentary board. “Let me tell you that no name has been debated or finalised as of now,” he said.

Almost all leaders were reluc-tant to discuss who were expected to get tickets. “Even Imran has told us that he has not made up his mind about awarding tickets to any leader said a PTI leader who holds a senior position in the government,” one said.

PTI Khyber Pakhtunkhwa President Azam Swati and General Secretary Khalid Masood aren’t members of the assemblies. They may be the probable can-didates, one leader speaking on the condition of anonymity hinted reluctantly.

From Peshawar district

General Secretary Younas Zaheer and former candidate for elec-toral constituency NA-1 Gul Badshah are also applying for ticket. Sirajul Haq, the Jamaat-e-Islami chief, could also be one of the nominees of the rul-ing coalition headed by the PTI and also including the Swabi-based Awami Jamhoori Ittehad Pakistan (AJIP). The coalition is expected to win seven seats, four general and one each of women, technocrats and minority.

“We feel we deserve one seat as our share and the PTI agrees with us,” said Senior Minister Inayat Ullah, who belongs to JI. “Haq is one of the proposed names, but not a final candidate. It’s up to our parliamentary board to final-ise the nominee,” he added.

INTERNEWS

Turkish premier to visit Islamabad next weekISLAMABAD: Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu will arrive in Islamabad later this month on a two-day official visit, official sources said.

He will meet Pakistan’s politi-cal and military leaderships and discuss a host of issues, including the situation in Afghanistan, the sources said.

Davutoglu, who has served as Turkey’s foreign minister, has toured Pakistan earlier, but this will be his first visit to Islamabad after assuming the office of prime minister in August last year.

Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said: “When con-firmed, we will announce dates of the visit.” Sources, however, said the Turkish prime minister is likely to arrive on February 16.

They added that Davutoglu was likely to discuss the situation in neighbouring Afghanistan and the challenge posed by the Islamic State group. He will also dis-cuss how bilateral trade between Turkey and Pakistan can be increased.

Davutoglu will also lead his country in the Pakistan-Turkey strategic dialogue scheduled to be held in Islamabad on February 17. President Mamnoon Hussain will host a dinner in his honour.

Consumers to get imported LNG from next monthISLAMABAD: The Bin Qasim Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal in southern Pakistan will start supply of imported gas to consumers by March 31, a senior government official has said. Official sources say that the agreement for LNG purchase from Qatar, Malaysia, Brunei and China is expected by March.

He said the price of LNG will be less than $8 per mmbtu in Asia which will bring down the cost of power production from the inde-pendent power producers by up to 20 per cent.

AGENCIES

4,000 schools in KP province don’t have enough studentsPESHAWAR: Of the 20,100 government primary schools in Pakistan’s northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, more than 4,000 are under-enrolled and thus, becoming a liability to the government.

The relevant officials blame it on the opening of educational institutions on political grounds at unsuitable locations.

According to them, a primary school with less than 40 students is considered under-enrolled.

Since primary schools offer six classes from nursery to fifth grade, under-enrolment means they have less than seven students in every class.

The officials said most of such schools existed in the province’s Abbottabad district (520) followed by Mansehra (470), Bannu (380), D I Khan (300), Haripur (260), Chitral (221), Karak and Lakki (211), Kohistan (180), Charsadda (171), Batagram (157), Swat (120), Swabi (117), Kohat (115), Mardan (95), Dir Lower (89), Nowshera (80), Peshawar (75), Malakand (70), Shangla (56), Tank (50), Hangu (42), Dir Upper (40), Buner (39) and Torghar (20).

Mostly such schools exist in rural areas, especially in far-off districts.

A senior official of the ele-mentary and secondary edu-cation department said that under-enrolled schools were an unnecessary burden on the kitty.

“Opening schools away from population places a large financial burden on the government in the shape of payment of salary to staff and utility bills,” he said.

Another official said govern-ment schools were overcrowded in urban areas but the government was unable to set up more due to the high prices of land.

INTERNEWS

Pakistan’s flagship power project facing delayISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s flagship $914m Tarbela fourth extension hydropower project, which planned to add 1,410 meg-awatts by 2018 to the national grid, is facing delays as the country could spend only 17 percent of the contracted loan in the first three years, under-scoring the problems at the implementation stage.

The slow pace of work has not only put an additional burden on the exchequer in the shape of mil-lions of dollars that the govern-ment is paying to the World Bank (WB) in commitment charges on unspent amounts, but it has also blocked the resources that could have been used in other areas.

The Washington-based lending

agency approved $840m for the project in 2012. But almost three years after the work began, the disbursements have amounted to only $143.5m, or just 17 percent of the total, reveal documents of the Economic Affairs Division. The actual spending is even less than the disbursement. The WB released the latest tranche of $23.1m in December.

The slowdown is threaten-ing the timely completion of the project, which is due in 2018, three and half years down the line.

The WB board had approved a mix of concessionary and expen-sive loans to add 1,410MW to the existing generation capacity of Tarbela hydropower project. After completion, Tarbela’s generation capacity will increase to 4,888MW.

The bank gave $440m out of its concessionary lending arm — International Development Association. The remaining $400m came from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development that carries higher interest rates.

Officials of the Economic Affairs Division (EAD) said that the unspent amount for the Tarbela project was not the only case where the government was paying millions of dollars in com-mitment charges.

In the power sector, almost $3bn in loans extended by the WB and Asian Development Bank had remained unutilised, blocking the precious resources besides putting extra burden on the exchequer.

The WB-funded Natural Gas Efficiency project worth $100 mil-lion is another troubled project. The project was approved in 2012 and disbursements to date stood at only $300,000.

The EAD’s indicative disburse-ment chart shows zero releases by the WB against the Tarbela fourth project in the next three years. However, the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) officials insist that things are not as bad as they look on paper.

The WB has recently approved an accelerated imple-mentation programme to fast track work on the project and the extension phase will be completed in 2017, a year ahead of the original plan, claims

Zafar Mehmood, the chairman Wapda.

At the time of approval, the project had won strong support from the directors of the WB. They had termed it a low hanging fruit for Pakistan that would help shift the energy mix away from imported fuel oil for thermal gen-eration to low-carbon, least-cost renewable hydropower generation.

However, the directors had particularly encouraged focus on efficiency and transparency in procurement and financial management, promoting good governance as well as careful implementation of the Social Action Plan to deal with out-standing resettlement issues.

INTERNEWS

After school raid, 30,000 Afghans left Pakistan KABUL: More than 30,000 Afghans living in Pakistan have returned home since the start of the year after coming under intense scrutiny follow-ing a Taliban massacre at a Peshawar school in December, the IOM said yesterday.

There are an estimated three million Afghan refugees living in Pakistan either officially or unof-ficially, most of whom left their country to escape conflict in the 1980s and 1990s. But they are viewed with deep suspicion inside Pakistan and routinely accused by authorities of harbouring militants.

Richard Danziger, head of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) mission in Kabul, said that out of the 30,599 Afghans who had left Pakistan since January, 1,817 had been deported while the rest had left of their own accord.

“They are mostly Afghans without papers who have been living in Pakistan for the past 20

to 25 years,” he said.The figure, which eclipses the

25,000 Afghans who returned from Pakistan over the entire year in 2014, was a result of the breakdown in relationships between the migrants and their host communities following the Peshawar attack, added Danziger.

“It all began after the attack on the aschool in Peshawar. Their lives became intolerable,” he said.

Police raids on Afghan commu-nities are commonplace and they often encounter prejudice during their daily lives.

The killing of 153 people at the Army Public School on December 16 jolted Pakistan, a Muslim coun-try of nearly 200 million people plagued by almost daily attacks.

Afghan authorities in January said they had arrested five peo-ple suspected of planning the attacks but they were not Afghan nationals.

AFP

15INDIA MONDAY 9 FEBRUARY 2015

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

Fire destroys Srinagar buildings

Firefighters try to extinguish a fire in Abi Guzar area of Srinagar yesterday. Seven residential houses were destroyed in a blaze in the area.

Hoping for a good catch

A fisherman casts his net into the river Dhasari in Dimapur in Nagaland yesterday.

Manjhi meets Modi, rules out quittingNitish to parade legislators today to stake claim to power as Bihar crisis deepensPATNA/NEW DELHI: The crisis in Bihar’s ruling JDU deepened further yesterday, as a defiant Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi asserted he will not resign, while the rival camp led by Nitish Kumar decided to parade legislators at Raj Bhavan today and stake claim to power.

Manjhi, who was hand-picked by then chief minister Nitish Kumar as his replacement last year after the Janata Dal-United’s rout in the Lok Sabha polls, has refused to quit.

In New Delhi to attend the NITI Aayog meeting yesterday, Manjhi also called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi but said no politics were discussed in the meeting which lasted 40 minutes.

Addressing a press conference afterwards, he said: “I did not dis-cuss politics with him. Modiji has done some good work for Bihar

and we thanked him for that.” Manjhi said he will prove his

majority in the assembly on February 20, and step down only if he fails. “On the floor, whoever gives us support we will take it. I will not resign from the chief minister’s post,” he said, adding: “They (JD-U) had this misunder-standing that they will make me do whatever they want me to do”.

He termed Nitish Kumar “power hungry and said he showed his real face when he humiliated him, a Mahadalit.

In response, JD-U spokes-person Neeraj Kumar said that Manjhi was speaking the language of the Bharatiya Janata Party by attacking Nitish Kumar, who picked him up for the top post.

“Manjhi has forgotten that he was nominated by Nitish Kumar,” he said.

JDU’s Bihar unit president

Vashsisht Narain Singh said that his party would form a new government in the state under Nitish Kumar’s leadership with the backing of the Congress and Lalu Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal.

“We will parade 130 MLAs, including those of the Congress and the RJD, before the governor on Monday,” he said.

The JD-U has 115 legislators in the 243-member assembly, most of whom are reportedly with Nitish Kumar.

The party is backed by 24 legislators of the RJD, five of the Congress, one from the Communist Party of India and two independents, making it a total of 147 — more than the 122 needed for simple majority.

Manjhi enjoys the support of over a dozen JD-U legislators. He is banking on the support of the

BJP, which has openly come out in his favour. The BJP has 88 leg-islators and it supported by three independents.

JDU president Sharad Yadav, in a letter in Manjhi, has asked the chief minister to resign.

Yadav said that as Manjhi no longer enjoyed the support of majority of party legislators and the legislature party has re-elected Nitish Kumar as its leader, he should resign.

Earlier, the JDU legislators submitted letters of support for Nitish Kumar to Governor Keshri Nath Tripathi staking claim to form the government.

Abdul Bari Siddiqui of the RJD and Sadanand Singh of the Congress also submitted letters of support for Nitish Kumar.

“We have staked claim to form the next government,” Sadanand Singh told the media. “There is

a list of over 130 legislators out of the 243 in support of Nitish Kumar.”

The governor should invite Nitish Kumar to form the gov-ernment, he said, adding: “Any delay to invite Nitish Kumar will encourage horse-trading.” Tripathi is currently in Kolkata as he is also the West Bengal governor. He was likely to reach Patna late yester-day or today, officials said.

Meanwhile, JD-U leaders hit out at Manjhi, accusing him of playing into the hands of the BJP to harm the party ahead of the assembly elections to be held later this year.

“The BJP is behind whatever Manjhi is doing,” JD-U national general secretary K.C. Tyagi said.

Vashsisht Narain Singh added: “The BJP is taking advantage of Manjhi’s lust for power.”

IANS

Spectrum auction may increase call chargesNEW DELHI: Auction of tel-ecom spectrum due on March 4 may burn a hole in the pock-ets of the operators and may increase call and data charges, experts have opined.

“This will be a very big and interesting auction. Operators whose licences are expiring will be bidding hard to secure their position. Though Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular man-aged to secure some airwaves in the 1,800 MHz (megahertz) and in last year’s auction in some of the circles where their licences are expiring, they might have to bid hard to secure their position in circles where they don’t have sufficient spectrum in 1,800 MHz band,” Rishi Tejpal, principal research analyst, Gartner, said.

The total spectrum put to auc-tion is 103.75MHz in 800MHz band, 177.8MHz in 900MHz band and 99.2MHz in 1,800MHz band - a total of 380.75MHz in 800, 900 and 1,800MHz. The government will also put on sale 5MHz in the 2,100MHz band, which is used for 3G services in 17 out of 22 telecom areas.

The reserve price approved is Rs.3,646 crore pan-India per MHZ in 800MHz, Rs3,980 crore for 900MHz band pan-India ; and Rs2,191 crore pan-India in 1,800MHz band.

The government also approved a reserve price of Rs3,705 crore per megahertz for third genera-tion services.

According to reports, the government expects to mop up Rs75,000-Rs100,000 crore from the auction which was mandated after the so-called 2G scam following the previ-ous UPA government’s junking the auction system for a first-come-first-serve basis spectrum distribution that led to charges of large-scale corruption and eventual fall of the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

IANS

AAP confident, BJP hopeful post electionNEW DELHI: A day after exit polls predicted an AAP win in Delhi, its visibly relaxed leader Arvind Kejriwal yesterday watched a Hindi movie as the BJP insisted it was still confi-dent of winning the election with wider national ramifications.

“We were always confident of winning,” Aam Aadmi Party leader and former minister Manish Sisodia, a Kejriwal con-fidant, said. He said he agreed with the exit poll findings “plus or minus one or two seats”.

But other AAP leaders sounded more cautious. “We will accept the congratulatory messages only after the results come out Tuesday,” a party leader said.

Former Delhi chief minister Kejriwal was “cool” yesterday, his colleagues said, after weeks of hectic election campaign that kept him busy every day from 6 in the morning to midnight.

In the evening, Kejriwal went with a large group of AAP col-leagues to watch Akshay Kumar-starrer Baby at the Wave cinema close to his home at Kaushambi in Ghaziabad district adjoining Delhi.

Flanked by Sisodia and Kumar Vishwas, he smiled as a photogra-pher clicked him.

Barring one, four major exit poll surveys have given a clear majority in the 70-member Delhi assem-bly to the AAP, which fought a tough battle as it took on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP.

If the AAP wins, it would be seen as a blow to Modi, who took on Kejriwal vocally in election rallies.

The mood in the Bharatiya Janata Party was clearly subdued but senior leaders put up a brave face, saying they were hopeful of edging out the AAP.

BJP’s chief ministerial candi-date Kiran Bedi met party lead-ers to review the election. Satish Upadhyay, president of the BJP’s Delhi unit, said the party was con-fident of forming a government.

“I am not commenting on the exit polls but we are confident of winning the election and forming a government under Bedi’s lead-ership,” Upadhyay said.

BJP leader and central min-ister Nirmala Sitharaman met Bedi and echoed Upadhyay’s sen-timents. “We are hopeful we will win.”

Asked about Bedi’s comments that she would take the blame if the BJP lost, Sitharaman said: “She has given her personal view.”

In contrast to the subdued glee in the AAP — Kejriwal told his activists to relax until the votes are counted tomorrow — and the BJP’s fervent hopes that the exit polls are wrong, the Congress was shattered.

Exit polls said the Congress, which ruled Delhi for 15 years until December 2013, would be wiped out or at best get four seats out of the 70. The Congress won eight seats last time.

A senior party leader said on the condition of anonymity: “If the exit polls are correct, it will be a matter of concern for us.”

On polling day, Congress President Sonia Gandhi made no claim that her party would win. In a tacit admission of defeat, she said: “Whatever people desire will happen.”

The Delhi election saw a record voter turnout of 67.14 per-cent, according to the Election Commission. At some places vot-ing was allowed even after 6pm as voters had already entered the polling premises.

IANS

No proposal to amend civil nuclear liability lawNEW DELHI: The Indian gov-ernment yesterday released details of the breakthrough on the civil nuclear agreement arrived at last month during the visit of US President Barack Obama, including that there is no proposal to amend the nuclear liability law and that it is on par with the international norms.

In a detailed “frequently asked questions” on the civil liability law and related issues, the statement by the external affairs ministry also states that operator of the nuclear installation shall be liable for nuclear damage caused by nuclear incident.

It also says that the liability of the operator shall be strict and

shall be based on the principle of no fault liability.

The operator shall also take out an insurance policy covering his liability. But the operator, after paying compensation for nuclear damage can have right to recourse in cases where the nuclear inci-dent is due to the supplier, includ-ing defective or sub-standard services or where it is with an intent to cause nuclear damage.

It says after discussions between both sides they arrived at an understanding that India’s Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage (CLND) Act is compatible with the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear

Damage (CSC), which India has signed and intends to ratify.

There is no proposal to amend the civil liability act or the rules, it said, adding: “India Nuclear Insurance Pool has been instituted to facilitate negotiations between the operator and the supplier concerning a right of recourse by providing a source of funds through a market based mechanism to compensate third parties for nuclear damage. It would enable the suppliers to seek insur-ance to cover the risk of invocation of recourse against them”.

On the India Nuclear Insurance Pool, it says it is “a risk transfer mechanism formed by GIC Re and four other PSUs who will together

contribute a capacity of Rs750 crores out of a total of Rs1,500 crore.” The balance would be con-tributed by the government.

Through this mechanism, “operators and suppliers instead of seeing each other as litigating adversaries will see each other as partners managing a risk together. This is as important for Indian sup-pliers as it is for US or other sup-pliers. An international workshop will be held in India to exchange information on international expe-rience with the 26 insurance pools operating around the world in countries such as France, Russia, South Africa and the US,” it said.

INTERNEWS

Poverty India’s biggest challenge, says ModiNEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday called for states to forge a model of “cooperative federalism” to resolve differences even as he flagged poverty as India’s big-gest challenge.

Chairing the first meeting of the governing council of NITI Aayog, he said India cannot advance without all its states advancing in tandem, according to an official release here.

Modi added that he envisioned different states competing with each other in promoting govern-ance initiatives in a spirit of “coop-erative, competitive federalism”.

NITI Aayog or ‘National Institution for Transforming India’ Aayog is a policy think-tank which has replaced the Planning Commission and aims to involve the states in economic policy-making.

The prime minister asked chief ministers to work with the central government to forge a

model of cooperative federalism, whereby the centre and the states can come together to resolve dif-ferences and chart a common course to progress and prosper-ity, the release added.

Modi said that the world has started looking at India differ-ently, but “our biggest challenge still is how to eliminate poverty.” Observing jobs cannot be created, and poverty cannot be removed without growth, he said: “First and foremost we should aim at a high rate of growth.”

Noting that projects are often held up for want of timely deci-sions, Modi asked chief ministers to give personal attention to such factors which slow down projects.

The prime minister empha-sized that the central government wished to empower the states with finances, with technology and knowledge so that they are able to plan better and execute even better.

IANS

Swine flu claims six lives in KarnatakaBENGALURU: The dreaded swine flu has claimed six lives in Karnataka, including four in Bengaluru and one each in Bidar and Raichur districts in the northern region, a senior health official said yesterday.

“Though 95 people, affected by the H1N1 influenza over the last two weeks, tested positive and have been under treatment, six of them succumbed to the disease so far. We have stocked adequate number of Tamiflu tablets for distribution,” state health department director H C Ramesh said.

Asserting that the department had taken steps to contain the disease by educating the people about its symptoms and creating awareness to ensure they take preventive measures, Ramesh said district health officers were directed to monitor the situation in their respective areas and take corrective steps.

IANS

MORNING BREAK16MONDAY 9 FEBRUARY 2015

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

AUSTIN, TEXAS: As the celebrated children’s book of Britain’s Victorian era turns 150, an exhibit in Texas traces its history to show how Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland adapted and transformed through now-familiar con-cepts of merchandising and multimedia.

The Lewis Carroll book swept children’s literature when it was published in 1865, and the popular work was soon adapted for the theater, Alice-themed toys and eventually films during the early days of the industry.

“The book did not have a con-ventional moral. Carroll played with standard moral tales of his day and turned them on their heads,” said Danielle Brune Sigler, the curator who helped put together the exhibit that opens on February 10 at the University of Texas in Austin.

The exhibit, at the Harry Ransom Center, a global leader in its holdings of manuscripts and original source materials, contains more than 200 items, including rare publications, draw-ings and letters and photographs by Carroll, the pen name for Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. The exhibit shows how Dodgson, the University of Oxford mathemati-cian who composed the story for the daughters of his Oxford dean, tried to balance his life in aca-demics with his alter ego as the author of a widely popular book.

Dodgson was an avid amateur photographer, when the craft was in its infancy, who also dabbled in drawing. The mathematics professor also kept up corre-spondence with children, and the exhibit includes letters in which he challenges them with games, puzzles and codes.

His photographs, a few of which will be on display, including one of the story’s inspiration, Alice

Alice in Wonderland at 150, more than child’s play and tea parties

Liddell and her sisters, were well received. But Dodgson knew his drawings for “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” were not up to snuff and turned to one of the pre-eminent illustrators of the day, John Tenniel, for help.

The exhibit shows how both, at times, grew weary of Alice as its popularity grew. Dodgson report-edly often would not answer let-ters addressed to Lewis Carroll.

As for Tenniel, well, he was often fed up. “I shrink at the mere mention of ‘Alice in Wonderland,’” Tenniel wrote to a friend in a let-ter on display, referring to the book by its commonly used name.

While Carroll may have grown tired, he was also involved in mar-keting his product, creating an Alice-themed stamp case for chil-dren and helping to bring a pro-duction of “Alice in Wonderland” to the stage. Meanwhile, weak

copyright protection led to unau-thorized publications of Alice to pop up in the United States. As the times changed, so did repre-sentations of Alice, who is seen as a flapper in a 1929 version of the book in the exhibit and a psyche-delic icon in a 1960s coloring book.

Along with showing how the book became a trailblazer for children’s literature, the exhibit also shows how Alice became a theme for toys. They ranged from the simple to the technologically advanced for the day, such as 1933 Movie-Jecktor filmstrips - paper strips about 3 feet long that when run through a toy projector, dis-play a simple animation.

Carroll’s work was also recorded as an early audio book. It was part of a 1958 series of 16 rpm records that included “The Wizard of Oz” and “The Trial of Socrates.” “The characters drive

a lot of the interest in Alice,” said Sigler, the curator, adding that many people are less familiar with the book’s narrative.

“A lot of people have absorbed Alice through films, through toys and through condensed versions but have not necessarily read the original,” she said. “These adapta-tions have been so popular, that they have often supplanted Lewis Carroll’s story.” REUTERS

A 1948 comic book format edition of Alice in Wonderland released on Saturday at the University of Texas in Austin. As the celebrated children’s book of Britain’s Victorian era turns 150, an exhibit in Texas traces its history to show how “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” adapted and transformed through now-familiar concepts of merchandising and multimedia. RIGHT: John Tenniel’s illustration of the “mad tea-party” from the first published edition.

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Monday 9 February 201520 Rabial II 1436

Volume 19Number 6336

Price: QR2

editor@pen.com.qa | adv@pen.com.qa Editorial: 44557741 | Advertising: 44557837 / 44557780www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

DOHA: International Islamic (QIIB) recorded a full-year net profit of QR826m for 2014, up 10.1 percent from a year ago. The Islamic lender’s total rev-enue stood at QR1.52bn during the period.

The Board of Directors has proposed to distribute a cash divi-dend of 40 percent of the bank’s capital (QR4 per share) to share-holders subject to the approval of the Qatar Central Bank. The Board has also proposed to the shareholder’s General Assembly to issue additional Tier 1 Sukuk up to equivalent of QR3bn to sup-port the bank’s capital require-ments for future growth and expansions.

The earnings per share (EPS) reached QR5.45 in 2014. The results were announced after a meeting of the Board of Directors, chaired by Sheikh Dr Khalid bin Thani bin Abdullah Al Thani, to discuss the final financial statement for the year ended December 31, 2014.

Commenting on the finan-cial results, Sheikh Dr Khalid, Chairman and Managing Director of QIIB, said that the results reaffirm QIIB’s ability to continue to grow and strengthen

International Islamic net profit grows by 10.1pcRevenue touches QR1.52bn; lender proposes to issue QR3bn Tier 1 Sukuk

Sheikh Dr Khalid bin Thani bin Abdullah Al Thani Abdulbasit A Al Shaibei

its financial position. “The results strongly confirm the bank has made good growth across all portfolios of its business and suc-ceeded in realizing its strategy, which is commensurate with the rich opportunities available in the Qatari economy. The national economy is seeing a fresh revival and has become prosperous under the wise leadership of H H the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.”

He said QIIB would continue

to focus on the domestic market, which has many mega projects under implementation. The bank will continue its policy of focusing on the Qatari market as QIIB believes it is the bank’s responsibility to fully engage in nation building and support the national economy.

In line with the vision laid out by the Government of Qatar, the local economy is being managed well, which has provided it immunity from the

f luctuations of the global econ-omy. Sheikh DR Khalid empha-sised on QIIB’s commitment to various kinds of project financ-ing, be it large projects related to infrastructure, other major development plans or small and medium enterprises.

This will help QIIB realise its strategy of actively getting engaged in national economic development and realise the expectations of its shareholders and customers.

Abdulbasit A Al Shaibei, Chief Executive Officer, QIIB, said the

operating income earned by the bank in 2014 stood at QR1.51bn compared with QR1.45bn in 2013. Customer deposits reached QR26.6bn at the end of 2014, from QR24.4bn at 2013-end, representing a growth rate of 8.9 percent. Financing assets showed a growth rate of 14.8 percent in 2014 compared with in 2013.

Abdulbasit said the bank’s total assets stood at QR38.4bn at 2014-end, up 12.8 percent from a year ago. Total shareholder equity stood at QR5.4bn in 2014, compared with QR5.1bn in 2013.

Capital adequacy ratio under Basel II stood at 16.27 percent at 2014-end compared with 18.86 percent at 2013-end.

Abdulbasit said that 2014 rep-resented another year of success and growth for QIIB, where the bank was able to take full advan-tages of various opportunities available within the banking sys-tem and the overall Qatari econ-omy. He expressed full optimism and confidence about 2015. Going forward, QIIB would continue its growth trajectory, he said.

THE PENINSULA

BY SATISH KANADY

DOHA: Paris-based global energy group GDF Suez is look-ing to reinforce its presence in Qatar. The Group, which occupies a leading position in Qatar’s power generation and energy services, is set to fur-ther strengthen its foothold in the country by diversifying its portfolio assets.

GDF Suez, which already oper-ates two major power and water plants in Qatar is a bidder in Qatar’s new power plant. The company is also looking to accel-erate its presence in the energy management services in the run up to FIFA 2022.

“In Qatar, we have invested a lot in power generation sector. GDF Suez is involved in almost 40 percent of Qatar’s total power production. We operate two big-gest power plants in Qatar. Now, we have submitted our bid for facility D, a new power plant,” Group Chairman and CEO Gerard Mestrallet told The Peninsula dur-ing his recent visit to Doha.

GDF Suez is the largest

independent power producer in Qatar. Its two key assets in Qatar include Ras Laffan B Power and Water Plant and Ras Laffan C Power and Water Plant, also known as Ras Girtas Power Company. GDF Suez has 40 percent and 20 percent stakes, respectively, in these projects. Ras Laffan C is Qatar’s largest power and water plant.

With an estimated $27bn joint investment in the region, the global energy group is looking to accelerate its investments in Qatar and enter into new areas. It is also looking for potential inves-tors, both individuals and insti-tutions, as co-investors, who are ready to invest in the countries the Group has major presence.

“We are interested in further expanding our presence in Qatar and strengthen our cooperation in the sectors like power, natural gas and energy services. My meeting with various potential partners also evoked the idea of co-invest-ments in the countries where we have strong presence. We could propose to Qatari companies and individuals to co-invest with us in

China, South East Asia and Latin America.”

Gerard said energy management was one of the key areas of his dis-cussions with Qatari authorities. Qatar wants to make sure that its FIFA-linked projects are energy efficient and with zero carbon foot print. Qatar is also interested in our expertise in biomass. GDF has solution to offer Qatar to manage complex energy system.

Giving an update on GDF Suez’s operation at offshore Block 4, Gerard said it’s too early to say whether the project is economi-cally viable or not. “We are cur-rently assessing the possibility to enter into an appraisal phase in the Block 4. We made some drill-ing, last year and year before, which has been promising. We need to assess the size and quan-tity of the gas… It’s too early to say whether the project is eco-nomically viable.”

Block 4, located in the Northern part of Qatar, is the largest non-associated gas field in the world. GDF Suez holds 60 percent shares and operatorship of Block 4.

THE PENINSULA

GDF Suez aims to reinforce its position in Qatar

GDF Suez Chairman and CEO Gerard Mestrallet speaking to The Peninsula during his recent visit to Doha. KAMMUTTY VP

Turkish Stream pipeline route outlined

Kuwait panel wants $4.78bn airport plan bids rejectedKHOBAR: A committee in Kuwait’s public works min-istry has recommended that all bids to build a new ter-minal at the country’s inter-national airport be rejected, state news agency KUNA reported yesterday.

In November, the tender committee for the project said a consortium of Kuwait’s Kharafi National and Turkey’s Limak Holding had submit-ted the lowest bid for the con-tract, worth 1.386bn dinars ($4.78bn).

But KUNA quoted Kuwait’s minister for electricity, water and public works, Abdulaziz Al Ibrahim, as saying on Sunday that a technical committee in the ministry had recommended all bids be rejected.

Ibrahim did not give a reason for the recommendation, but said the committee had studied all aspects of the bidding.

Last Thursday, Kuwait’s Al Watan newspaper quoted min-istry sources as saying the low-est bid exceeded the estimated cost of the project by 39 per-cent, and did not meet techni-cal specifications.

Other bidders for the con-tract included China State Construction Engineering Corp and Dubai-based Arabtec. KUNA did not say on Sunday whether the tech-nical committee’s recommen-dation to reject all bids would be adopted, or whether a new round of bidding might be arranged.

Kuwait has planned tens of billions of dollars worth of infrastructure projects in the last several years but has struggled to implement many of them because of bureau-cratic delays, political tensions, and allegations of corruption and inefficiency.

REUTERS

Gulf institutional funds shun Europe, favour Japan and AsiaDUBAI: Gulf institutional investors are putting their money into Asian equities, in particular Japanese stocks, but are shunning European shares after years of under-performance, the Middle East head of Pictet Asset Management said yesterday.

Many of these Middle Eastern entities, including some of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds, have traditionally been regarded as significant investors into European developed markets.

Qatar for example, through Qatar Investment Authority and its sub-sidiaries, has in recent years embarked on an aggressive expansion spree which has seen it buy up stakes in major companies such as Volkswagen and Siemens, as well as real estate and infrastructure on the continent.

The eyes of many institutional funds are now turning east, accord-ing to Francesco Genovese, regional head of Middle East, Africa and Central Asia at Pictet Asset Management. “There’s lots of traction for Japanese equities, Asian equities and global emerging markets (equi-ties), as well as emerging (market) debt in local currencies,” he said. “They were really keen to invest in European equities four or five years ago, but they have been so disappointing (for returns) that, now, they look at other investments.” REUTERS

ISTANBUL: Turkey and Russia yesterday tentatively agreed on the route for their planned Turkish Stream gas pipeline which Moscow hopes will replace its now scrapped South Stream project.

Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz and Gazprom chief execu-tive Alexei Miiller surveyed the route over the Black Sea during a four-hour ride by helicopter from Istanbul.

Russian President Vladimir Putin dramatically scrapped the South Stream project during a visit to Ankara in December, blaming the European Union for placing obstructions in its way.

The South Stream pipeline

aimed to carry Russian gas from southern Russia to EU consum-ers under the Black Sea avoiding Ukraine, whose relations with Russia are currently in deep cri-sis. It was to have surfaced in EU member Bulgaria.

Under the new Turkish Stream project, the pipeline will surface on Turkish territory on the Black Sea and then carry the gas over-land up to the Greek border.

Yildiz said that the pipeline landfall was planned to be in the Turkish Black Sea town of Kiyikoy. The Turkish Stream pipeline would go through Turkey’s Luleburgaz region to the town of Ipsala on the Turkey-Greece border.

“We had an opportunity to...

explore the pipeline route,” Yildiz told Anatolia. “We passed over some places two to three times as we tried to assess how we can work with environmental concerns,”he added.

Gazprom in a statement con-firmed the route and said that the length of the onshore pipeline in Turkey would be 180km after it crosses the Black Sea.

“The tentative date for the completion of the first line is December 2016,” it said. The capacity of the pipeline — to be built by a new Gazprom subsidiary — will be 63 billion cubic meters of gas. About 50 billion cubic meters will be delivered to the Ipsala gas hub for further export. AFP

BUSINESS18MONDAY 9 FEBRUARY 2015

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

DOHA: Qatar Exchange index gained 103.27 points or 0.82 percent when the bourse closed at 12,623.93 points here yester-day. The traded value reached QR1.13bn with a volume of 40,253,031 shares from 11,302 transactions.

Indices of all sectors gained, barring consumer goods and services which went down 0.24 percent when it closed at 7,351.32 points. The real estate sector index gained the most, up 2.80 percent to 3,919.57 points. The telecom sector gained 1.89 percent to 1,440.79 points. Of the firms listed, 29 gained, nine went down while three remained unchanged.

Meanwhile, Gulf stock markets rose after oil made further gains and local companies reported mostly upbeat earnings and other positive news. Brent crude jumped 2.2 percent to $57.80 per barrel on Friday, posting its largest two-week gain in 17 years because of falling oil rig counts.

Saudi Arabia’s stock index rose 1.8 percent to its highest close since November 24 in heavy trade. Shares in Saudi Kayan Petrochemicals Co surged their daily 10 percent limit and its big-ger affiliate Saudi Basic Industries (Sabic) jumped 3.0 percent.

The kingdom’s oil ministry has allocated more natural gas to Saudi Kayan for it to expand ethylene production at its pet-rochemical complex in Jubail, the company said. As part of the same deal, Sabic will reduce the marketing fees it charges Saudi Kayan, which will save the company SR280m ($74.6m) this year and SR600m a year once its projects are completed, it said.

Saudi Arabian Mining Co (Ma’aden) surged 5.3 percent to SR39.50 after AlBilad Capital

said it maintained the stock’s fair value at SR39.62. “Profitability indicators are expected to wit-ness a significant improvement starting from this year with the launch of commercial production in many facilities,” it said.

One losing stock was Saudi Cement, which fell 1.8 percent after it proposed a dividend of SR2.5 per share for the second half of 2014, down from SR3.5 a year earlier.

Dubai’s index edged up 0.2 percent and property developer Damac was one of the top gain-ers, surging 5.8 percent. The stock originally listed in London, but it joined the emirate’s bourse last month and its Dubai shares sub-sequently plunged by more than a third. It recovered those losses last week and its sharp rise may have attracted more investors.

The firm’s subsidiary Damac Real Estate Development Ltd reported a 46 percent surge in 2014 profit last week and Damac, which plans to delist from London, was due to review its own results and dividends later on Sunday.

Abu Dhabi’s bourse edged up 0.3 percent as National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank rose 1.8 and 2.1 percent respectively. Food and beverage firm Agthia Group gained 2.5 per-cent after it reported a 22 percent increase in 2014 profit.

Egypt’s market slipped 0.1 per-cent as property companies pulled back further after gaining strongly in the last few weeks. Developer Talaat Moustafa Group dropped 2.4 percent, trimming its gains this year to 15.8 percent. Meanwhile, investment firm Pioneers Holding rose 1.8 percent after it submit-ted a fresh bid for Arab Dairy Products at 64.30 pounds per share, topping an offer by Lactalis.

QNA/REUTERS

Qatar bourse index gains 103.27 pointsGulf markets rise after oil rally

DUBAI: Kia Motors Corporation had a record-breaking year in exporting vehicles to the Middle East and Africa in 2014 with a 323,807 vehicles, up 10 percent from the previous year.

Saudi Arabia witnessed sub-stantial growth, recording a total of 70,421 units, representing a 70 percent year-on-year increase. Locally, Qatar exhibited 12 per-cent year-on-year sales increase, the seventh consecutive year it was able to do so.

The most desired Kia vehicle in the MEA region during 2014 was the Cerato with 54,914 units. The Rio was the second best with 54,487 units delivered, while the Picanto, and Sportage followed with 53,187 and 47,613 units respectively.

Kia’s sedan line up of Optima and Cadenza, specially configured to meet the regional demand for premium feel and extensive prod-uct features, have shown a tre-mendous increase recording 67

Kia exports over 320,000 vehicles to MEA in 2014

percent (29,070 units) for Optima and 83 percent (5,413 units) for Cadenza.

Over the course of 2014, Kia posted increased year-on-year exports in Saudi Arabia (70,421

units), Egypt (17,213 units) Bahrain (4,629 units), and the UAE (16,466 units).

“Our success in expanding the Kia brand in the Middle East region and Africa is important

not just for the region but on a global scale as well” said Alex Chung, President of Kia Motors Middle East & Africa Regional Headquarters.

THE PENINSULA

NEW YORK: As the saying goes, everything is bigger in Texas. For the past five years, the economy of the Lone Star State has outperformed the rest of the United States.

But the collapse in oil prices has left Texas facing its toughest test since the financial crisis.

A 50 percent tumble in oil prices since June has prompted compa-nies such as Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron to slash billions of dollars in worldwide investment. Oil serv-ices companies like Schlumberger and Halliburton have announced thousands of job cuts.

So far, only a handful of petro-leum companies have filed layoff notices in Texas this year, and the Texas Workforce Commission actually reported an increase in mining jobs in December.

Yet few doubt what lies ahead for the second-biggest US state, by economic output and popula-tion, after California.

There will be “a major-league contraction in oil and gas activity in Texas,” said Karr Ingham, owner of Ingham Economic Reporting based in Amarillo in oil-rich West Texas. “Over the coming months, the industry is going to shed jobs on a regular basis. We’re very early in that process.”

Boyd Nash-Stacey, senior economist at BBVA Research in Houston, predicted the down-turn would cost some 60,000-80,000 mining jobs in Texas, with an additional ripple effect on other sectors such as retail and hospitality.

The oil slump already has begun to cool the real estate market in Houston, the fourth-biggest US city and an economic powerhouse for most of the 2000s due in large part to the surging energy industry.

“It’s a question of how bad it’s going to get and for how long,” said Charles Gordon, a vice chair-man of real estate firm CBRE in

Houston. “The shock is how fast energy prices fell.”

Texas has been outpacing US growth for some time. In 2013, the Texas economy grew at an annual clip of 3.7 percent com-pared with 2.2 percent for the whole economy, and in the prior year its pace was more than dou-ble the national rate, according to US Commerce Department data.

The throng of activity into older oil centers like the Permian Basin in West Texas and the newer Eagle Ford shale in south-ern Texas has been a driver.

Economists agree that match-ing that flaming growth level will be impossible in 2015, but there is debate about just how bad things will get. JPMorgan Chase chief US economist Michael Feroli suggested in a December report that the outlook for Texas was comparable to 1986, when a steep drop in oil prices was followed by deep layoffs, big declines in the

real-estate market and a bank-ing crisis.

“Texas, will, at the least, have a rough 2015 ahead, and is at risk of slipping into a regional recession,” the report said. Given its huge size, “the prospect of a recession in Texas could have some broader reverberations.”

But BBVA’s Nash-Stacey said many parts of Texas, including big cities Dallas and San Antonio, have limited exposure to oil and should benefit from the relief of lower petrol prices.

Moreover, since the 1980s, the state has added a major technol-ogy center in the Austin area, home to Dell, and built out the giant Texas Medical Center in Houston, which has significant research programs for cancer and other diseases.

“It’s not a death blow,” Nash-Stacey said. “Texas isn’t what it was in the 1980s.”

AFP

Oil crash to drag on booming Texas economy

Gulf Air, Batelco extend partnership agreement

Gulf Air and Batelco have extended their partnership agreement to enhance benefits for Batelco’s Al Dana customers. Members of Batelco Al Dana Club, who hold Gulf Air Frequent flyer cards as part of their Al Dana Club benefits, will have the opportunity to accrue additional Gulf Air Falconflyer Miles based on their Batelco bill payments. The agreement, which sees the accrual rates for Batelco’s customers raised from 30 to 50 Gulf Air Falconflyer Miles for every BHD100 spent, was signed at the national carrier’s head office by Gulf Air A/Chief Commercial Officer Ahmed Janahi and Batelco A/General Manager Consumer Division Ebrahim Al Sayed.

ROME: If Greece is forced out of the eurozone, other coun-tries will inevitably follow and the currency bloc will collapse, Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said yesterday, in comments which drew a rebuke from Italy.

Greece’s new leftist govern-ment is trying to re-negotiate its debt repayments and has begun to roll back austerity policies agreed with its international creditors.

In an interview with Italian state television network RAI, Varoufakis said Greece’s debt problems must be solved as part of a rejection of austerity policies for the eurozone as a whole. He called for a massive “new deal” investment programme funded by the European Investment Bank.

“The euro is fragile, it’s like building a castle of cards, if you take out the Greek card the oth-ers will collapse.” Varoufakis said according to an Italian transcript of the interview released by RAI ahead of broadcast.

FRAGMENTATION RISKThe eurozone faces a risk of

fragmentation and “de-construc-tion” unless it faces up to the fact that Greece, and not only Greece, is unable to pay back its debt under the current terms, Varoufakis said.

“I would warn anyone who is considering strategically ampu-tating Greece from Europe because this is very dangerous,” he said. “Who will be next after us? Portugal? What will happen when Italy discovers it is impos-sible to remain inside the strait-jacket of austerity?”

Varoufakis and his Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras received friendly words but no support for debt re-negotiation from

their Italian counterparts when they visited Rome last week. But Varoufakis said things were dif-ferent behind the scenes.

“Italian officials, I can’t tell you from which big institution, approached me to tell me they backed us but they can’t tell the truth because Italy also risks bankruptcy and they are afraid of the reaction from Germany,” he said.

“Let’s face it, Italy’s debt situ-ation is unsustainable,” he added, a comment that drew a sharp response from Italian Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan, who said in a tweet that Italy’s debt was “solid and sustainable.”

‘OUT OF PLACE’Varoufakis’s remarks were “out

of place”, Padoan said, adding that Italy was working for a European solution to Greece’s problems, which requires “mutual trust”.

Italy’s public debt is the largest in the euro zone after Greece’s and Italian bond yields surged in 2011 at the height of the euro zone cri-sis. They have since fallen steeply and have so far come under little pressure from the renewed ten-sions in Greece.

Varoufakis said his government would propose a “new deal” for Europe like the one enacted in the United States in the 1930s. This would involve the European Investment Bank investing ten times as much as it has so far, Varoufakis said.

If Europe continues to pur-sue counterproductive austerity policies the only people who will benefit will be “those who hate European democracy,” he said, citing the Golden Dawn party in Greece, the National Front in France and the United Kingdom Independence Party in Britain.

REUTERS

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s first and only budget airline, flynas, aims to turn profitable this year for the first time since it was launched in 2007, partly by cut-ting costs, its new chief execu-tive said.

The kingdom’s air travel mar-ket is expanding rapidly on the back of rising incomes and popu-lation growth. Over 68 million passengers passed through Saudi Arabia’s 28 airports in 2013, up 5.2 percent from 2012, according to the latest data from the General Authority of Civil Aviation.

Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia), the national carrier, and privately held flynas are cur-rently the only options for flying domestically within the country, and they are struggling to keep up with demand.

But even in this environment,

high operating costs and regula-tory obstacles, such as price caps on domestic fares, have made it hard for airlines to make money. In 2010, rival Sama Airlines was forced to halt operations after incurring a loss of about $300m.

Flynas Chief Executive Paul Byrne said that a combination of demand growth and cost-cutting was likely to push his airline into the black this year. “We would certainly gear ourselves towards an absolute minimum of break-even this year, but we are hoping for a small profit at least. We have basically budgeted ourselves for a modest profit this year, which will be the first for flynas.”

According to its website, flynas carried 6.5 million passengers in 2014, almost double the 3.3 million which it carried in 2013.

Byrne replaced the previous

chief executive, Raja Azmi, last November, a month after flynas announced it was shifting strat-egy and suspending long-haul flights because profits on the routes did not meet expectations.

The company now expects to expand its capacity by around 20 percent this year, focusing on shorter-haul flights. Byrne said fly-nas was waiting for the green light from Egyptian authorities to start a new route from Riyadh to Cairo, hopefully in April; it already has a route from Jeddah to Cairo.

The Riyadh-based airline, 37 percent owned by Saudi invest-ment firm Kingdom Holding and the rest by National Airline Services Holding, now flies to 25 destinations with a fleet of 24 air-craft. Financial markets have been speculating that flynas might con-duct an initial public offer of shares

by the end of 2015, but Byrne said turning profitable would be a major condition before the company could proceed with an IPO.

Lower global oil prices may help the move towards profitability as the airline is enjoying a slight reduction in fuel prices in several countries, though the immediate impact won’t be large as some air-ports are trying to double handling charges, Byrne added.

Saudi Arabia announced in 2012 that it would liberalise its domestic air travel market. That will mean more competition. Qatar Airways has obtained permission to run a Saudi domestic carrier, Al Maha Airways, though its chief executive said in December that complicated bureaucracy meant the launch of the Saudi arm would be delayed a further six to 18 months.

REUTERS

Euro will collapse if Greece exits: Official

Saudi’s flynas aims to profit from lower costs

BUSINESS24MONDAY 9 FEBRUARY 2015

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

ADDIS ABABA: Chinese workers mingle with Ethiopians putting the finishing touches to a metro line that cuts through Addis Ababa, one of a series of grand state infrastructure projects that Ethiopia hopes will help it mimic Asia’s indus-trial rise.

Brought to its knees by “Red Terror” communist purges in the 1970s and famine in the 1980s, Ethiopia has been transformed in the last quarter century, becom-ing one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies.

At the heart of the state’s “Growth and Transformation Plan” are railway, road and dam projects to give the landlocked nation cheap power and reliable transport, as well as the metro line - the first urban light railway network in Sub-Saharan Africa.

“This is the future,” said Abate Yaye, 27, from the poor south as he helped complete the $475m system being built by China Railway Engineering Corp, much of it on concrete stilts to keep it above the crowded streets of an expanding capital.

“We will become an example for the whole of Africa.” Hefty state-led investment has kept the economy of Africa’s second most populous nation growing at more than 8 percent a year for over a decade, but economists say Ethiopia’s rulers need to relax their grip and give room for more private enterprise to maintain momentum.

Foreigners cannot invest in banking and telecoms and for-eign retailers are barred, while Ethiopian banks are directed to buy low-yielding government

development bonds. “This is a country where, relative to rest of Africa, there is pretty good state capacity and a commitment to a development mission,” said S Kal Wajid, the outgoing Ethiopia mission chief for the International Monetary Fund. But he said pri-vate business needed room to grow and generate income so the economy could reap greater ben-efit from the new projects.

DEBT LIMITSOthers in Africa have looked

with envy at Asia’s inexorable rise but few governments, if any, have proven as single-minded as Ethiopia has in mobilising its resources in a bid to turn an agrarian nation of 96 million peo-ple into a manufacturing hub.

Yet it comes at a cost. The IMF said last year Ethiopia was “on the cusp” of shifting from low to moderate risk of debt distress. Total debt at about 50 percent of gross domestic product was still manageable, but tougher if it rises much more.

“In the next five-year plan, there should be a clear indication of a change of emphasis and a sig-nificant emphasis on the private sector,” said Wajid, referring to the next Growth and Transformation Plan starting in July. The govern-ment insists it will not rack up unsustainable debts because funds are used to finance infrastructure and other projects such as sugar factories and industrial zones.

Investors also say Ethiopia benefits from better security than others in a region blighted by Islamist militant attacks. And few executives cite corruption

as a big hindrance in business, although it can be elsewhere in Africa.

But Ethiopia is no model for political and media freedom - there is just one opposition party member in the 547-seat parlia-ment and international rights groups say the authorities muz-zle critics. The government insists politics is open to all and that it allows free speech.

The current five-year growth programme ends in June and the government has given little away about the next plan. But it remains clear about its economic goals.

“Without investing in infra-structure, it is now abundantly clear that Africa cannot sustain growth,” Finance Minister Sufian Ahmed said in December.

Sufian’s deputy Abraham Tekeste said this month the new plan would likely continue “most of the priorities” of the last one.

The government can point to a list of investors suggesting its formula works. Clothes retailer Hennes and Mauritz is starting to source supplies from Ethiopia , consumer goods maker Unilever is building a factory, Diageo and Heineken have bought breweries.

US private equity giant KKR invested in a flower farm last year while an Ethiopian winery is among the investments of 8 Miles, an African-focused fund chaired by singer Bob Geldof who launched Live Aid to help Ethiopian famine victims.

LIMITED ROOMThe government’s ban on for-

eign retailers is aimed at encour-aging local manufacturing, to cut

Ethiopia bets on projects to boost industryGovernment touts cheap power, reliable transport; economists call for giving more room for private business

A general view shows a complete section of the Metro-line under construction in Addis Ababa.

back on imports, not wanting a consumer culture that could drain foreign exchange. Central bank foreign reserves barely cover two months of imports — an inade-quate level, according to the IMF. Other east African states have at least four months.

The government says it wants to keep banks in the hands of Ethiopians and telecoms control-led by the state as the sectors pro-vide funding for national projects such as infrastructure. Earnings from the state telecoms monopoly

are helping fund a railway linking Addis Ababa to a port in Djibouti, for instance. But that leaves few domestic funds available in the market for businesses that could create jobs in future.

Ethiopia, with average annual per capita income of $470, aims to reach middle-income status by 2025, which the World Bank says starts at $1,046.

For now, even Ethiopian banks have limited room for manoeuvre. They must invest the equivalent of 27 percent of their loan portfolio

in the development bonds, hinder-ing their ability to lend to the pri-vate sector. “The lending capacity of banks is growing very slowly,” said Mulugeta Asmare, president of Bank of Abyssinia, one of 16 private banks in a sector domi-nated by state-owned Commercial Bank of Ethiopia.

Banks must rely on equity and deposits for funding, in a nation where only one in 10 people have a bank account, because there is no developed capital market.

REUTERS

BEIJING: China’s monthly trade surplus rose 88 percent to reach a record 370bn yuan ($59bn) in January, data showed yesterday, as imports dropped sharply on lower commodity prices and sluggish domestic demand.

Exports from the world’s sec-ond-largest economy also fell — by 3.2 percent year-on-year — to 1.23 trillion yuan ($197bn), the customs administration said. Imports fell 19.7 percent from a year earlier to 860bn yuan ($138bn), the largest drop in more than five years.

The country’s trade surplus, long a source of tensions with its trading partners, rose above a previous all-time monthly high of $54.5bn posted in November.

Economists said the figures reflected continued downward pressures on China’s economy, which grew at its slowest pace in 24 years last year and is expected to slow further in 2015.

But they also warned that the data may have been affected by short-term factors, such as a crackdown on commodity financ-ing and the later date of China’s Lunar New Year holiday this year.

The trade surplus soared

47.2 percent in 2014 to a record $382.46bn.

China’s huge trade surpluses were long a source of friction with the United States as the workshop of the world pumped out manufactured goods and US debt mounted, but the issue has receded in more recent years.

China’s economy grew 7.4 percent in 2014, its weakest for almost a quarter of a century, and slower than the 7.7 percent in 2013. “China’s manufacturing sector is under great pressures as both external and domes-tic demand remains sluggish,” Li-Gang Liu, Greater China econ-omist for Australian bank ANZ, said in a statement.

“Today’s poor trade data could add depreciation pressures on the RMB exchange rate,” he added. Exports to the EU fell by 4.4 percent year-on-year in January, while imports fell by 6.9 percent, the customs data said.

The fall in Chinese imports was led by a decline in imported iron ore and crude oil, the data showed, in part reflecting recent low prices for commodities such as oil. “The much weaker than expected import data not only

reflects the fall in commodities prices but also implies weaken-ing domestic demand,” Japanese finance company Nomura said.

The trade data was consistent with a official survey last weekend showing manufacturing activity contracted for the first time in more than two years, suggesting weakening growth momentum, Nomura said.

China’s leaders are trying to pull off a managed slowdown of the Asian giant to make growth more sustainable and led by con-sumer spending as in other major economies. The slowdown last year prompted some interven-tion by authorities to establish a floor on growth even as they tout a retooling of the country’s eco-nomic model that is expected to result in further slowdowns in the years ahead.

Such intervention has contin-ued this year, with the central bank announcing Wednesday an across-the-board cut in the per-centage of funds banks must hold in reserve. That move followed the bank’s decision in November to cut benchmark interest rates for the first time in more than two years.

AFP

DUBAI: Islamic banks are going to new lengths to grab the market share offered by an increasing number of working women in the Gulf region.

Al Hilal Bank PJSC, a Shariah-compliant lender owned by the Abu Dhabi government, has been marketing a perfumed credit card since last month to lure the rising number of women in employment in the United Arab Emirates.

The Laha card, whose Arabic name means “for her”, comes with a bottle of perfume and has a special section to hold the fragrance. Oman’s Bank Nizwa SAOG began specialized financial services for women in October, while Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank PJSC created its own women’s credit card in June.

“The woman’s segment is defi-nitely an area of focus for Islamic banks and will continue to be,” Ashruff Jamall, the Dubai-based head of the Islamic finance divi-sion at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC, said. Al Hilal’s card “should go down well with the market. Other banks might come out with more products,” he said.

The efforts highlight the grow-ing economic power of women in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, where the proportion of the female population in the labour market jumped to an aver-age 38 percent from 28 percent in the two decades through 2013, according to World Bank data.

Women’s net worth in the GCC may grow as much as 15 per-cent to about $258bn in the 10

years through 2023, according to Kuwait Finance Centre, an asset manager and investment bank.

Al Hilal has seen “a lot of demand” for its card, according to Mohamed Zaqout, head of per-sonal banking at the lender. In the GCC, the majority of women have their own bank accounts, accord-ing to a PwC study published in October. Female customers are less “prone to switching banks” than men, Jamall said this week.

“One of our missions is ensur-ing Islamic banking caters to all the segments, including modern UAE women,” Al Hilal’s Zaqout said. “The Islamic market is growing and we wanted to offer something unique to this impor-tant sector.”

The female focus is not neces-sarily new. Dubai Islamic Bank PJSC, the biggest Shariah-compliant lender in the UAE, has had a segment of the busi-ness called Johara dedicated to women since 2000, and currently has seven exclusive branches. The women’s business is an important and “very profitable” unit for the bank, Chief Executive Officer Adnan Chilwan said.

“The women sector has been comparatively neglected in the past and women are now becom-ing increasingly more independ-ent in respect to looking after their own banking needs,” Jamall said. “It has become a natural area of focus for Islamic banks.”

Oman’s Bank Nizwa in October introduced a ladies’ banking serv-ice in response to what it called a

“dramatic increase” in the percent-age of women in the workforce. Female workers climbed to 29 per-cent from 18 percent in the two dec-ades through 2013, as the country’s population almost doubled, accord-ing to World Bank data.

In the UAE, the gains were more dramatic. About 47 per-cent of women held jobs in 2013, compared with 29 percent two decades earlier. The country’s population grew more than four- fold in the period.

While women are present in greater numbers in the work-force, their roles remain limited. In most developing countries, less than 10 percent of senior posi-tions are held by women, and in the majority of Middle Eastern nations it is under 2 percent, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

In Abu Dhabi, where Al Hilal Bank is based, about 16 percent of the total workforce was female in 2013, according to data provided by the government. Women, includ-ing Emirati and foreign nationals, accounted for about a quarter of the population in the UAE in 2010, according to government data.

“GCC women are being empow-ered and have the liberty and influ-ence to make decisions on their own,” Muhammad Ashfaq Ur Rehman, an independent Islamic finance consultant who previously worked at Standard Chartered Plc, said. “Any offering catering to women would certainly elevate the performance and increase the acceptance level.”

WP-BLOOMBERG

Islamic Finance: Perfumed bank cards target women in Gulf

A truck drives past shipping containers at a port in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province.

China’s Jan trade surplus at new high as imports, exports fall

DOHA: Gulf Aluminium Rolling Mill Company (Garmco), one of the largest downstream alu-minium facilities in the Middle East, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Dubai-based Metals Industries (MI), for techni-cal and operational co-operation, said a state-ment yesterday.

Garmco and MI will work together across a number of key areas covering operational, techni-cal and warehousing/service centre functions in order to identify prospects for mutual benefit and the capturing of synergies.

To this end, senior representatives involved in the commercial and operational functioning of each company will soon meet in Bahrain to assess opportunities and establish a plan for the

implementation of the memorandum of under-standing. Garmco is a Bahrain-based global exporter of flat rolled aluminum products with a network of 16 subsidiaries and associates com-panies spanning the Middle East, Asia, Far East, Australia, Europe and the USA. It was estab-lished in 1981 by the governments of Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Its current shareholders are Bahrain Mumtalakat (37 percent), Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (30 percent), Industrial Bank of Kuwait (17 per-cent), Gulf Investment Corporation (6 percent), Government of the Republic of Iraq (5 percent), Government of the Sultanate of Oman (2.5 per-cent), Qatar Holding Company (2.5 percent).

THE PENINSULA

Garmco signs MoU with Metals Industries

QATAR EXCHANGE | DAILY TRADING REPORT | 08-02-2015

QE Market Summary Comparison Today Previous day

08-02-2015 05-02-2015

Index 12,623.93 12,520.66

Change 103.27 104.73

% 0.82 0.84

YTD% 2.75 1.91

Volume 40,253,031 28,050,472

Value (QAR) 1,133,245,608.51 883,884,281.66

Trades 11,302 10,641Up 29 | Down 09 | Unchanged 03

QE Indices SummaryQE Index 12,623.93 0.82 %

QE Total Return Index 18,948.1 0.82 %

QE Al Rayan Islamic Index 4,471.13 1.80 %

QE All Share Index 3,263.76 0.88 %

QE All Share Banks & Financial Services

3,258.87 0.02 %

QE All Share Industrials 4,095.93 1.00 %

QE All Share Transportation 2,461.37 1.08 %

QE All Share Real Estate 2,582.06 2.80 %

QE All Share Insurance 3,919.57 1.46 %

QE All Share Telecoms 1,440.79 1.89 %

QE All Share Consumer Goods & Services

7,351.32 0.24 %

EXCHANGE RATE

GOLD & SILVERWORLD STOCK INDICES

CRUDE OIL

Buying SellingINDEX Day’s Close Pt Chg % Chg Year High Year Low

25MARKET MONDAY 9 FEBRUARY 2015

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

US$ ..........................QR 3.6305 QR 3.6500

UK ...........................QR 5.5162 QR 5.5945

Euro .........................QR 4.1362 QR 4.1937

CA$ ..........................QR 2.8827 QR 2.9398

Swiss Fr ..................QR 3.9013 QR 3.9573

Yen ..........................QR 0.0308 QR 0.0314

Aus$ ........................QR 2.8209 QR 2.8767

Ind Re ......................QR 0.0584 QR 0.0596

Pak Re .....................QR 0.0357 QR 0.0364

Peso ........................QR 0.0818 QR 0.0834

SL Re .......................QR 0.0272 QR 0.0278

Taka .........................QR 0.0463 QR 0.0474

Nep Re ....................QR 0.0365 QR 0.0373

SA Rand ..................QR 0.3162 QR 0.3226

BRENT

$ 55.02

DUBAI

$ 52.60

GOLDQR148.2182

SILVER QR 2.0186

All Ordinaries 5765.468 31.76 0.55 5759.2 5248.5

Cac 40 Index/D 4670.74 -25.56 -0.54 4701.52 4076.16

Dj Indu Average 17673.02 6.62 0.04 18103.4 15340.69

Hang Seng Inde/D 24765.49 85.73 0.35 24995.08 23312.5

Iseq Overall/D 5604.55 1.67 0.03 5639.89 5072.7

Karachi 100 In/D 34672.25 -154.26 -0.44 34844.8 32134.82

Nikkei 225 Index 17504.62 -174.12 -0.98 17850.59 16592.57

S&P 500 Index/D 2041.51 -8.52 -0.42 2093.55 1737.92

Straits Times/D 3406.58 -10.99 -0.32 3432.62 3267.89

Straits Times/D 3290.99 -1.82 -0.06 3387.84 2953.01

Straits Times/D 3274.06 -8.82 -0.27 3291.83 2953.01

PARIS: Germany and France have been

able to borrow at negative rates for some

time, meaning investors are paying to

loan Berlin and Paris money, but with

interest rates falling further as the ECB

gears up to launch quantitative easing,

multinationals are also now getting paid

to borrow.

The phenomenon is a result of investors

seeking a safe place to park their money in

debt markets where interest rates have been

dragged down to ultra-low levels.

The need for low-risk instruments, and

with little concern about inflation, has seen

investors actually push the interest rate into

negative territory for short-term German

and French government bonds.

Swiss food giant Nestle was the first to see

the interest rates on its euro-denominated

debt fall into negative territory when the

yields on bonds that expire in nearly two

years fell below zero.

“It is sort of a domino effect. If sovereign

bonds are paying less, then this ricochets

and those of corporations will pay less and

finally investors will enter uncharted terri-

tory,” said Christophe Quesnel, a trader at

Oddo Securities, which specialises in corpo-

rate debt.

“Among the distortions caused by low

interest rates and QE is that some govern-

ments, corporates and households are now

getting paid to increase debt,” said analysts

at Royal Bank of Scotland. “For the first

time, high-rated corporate bonds are also

trading at negative yields (Nestle), and many

are near-zero (Shell, Novartis, Air Liquide,

BASF, Sanofi, etc),” added RBS.

The ECB has brought its main interest

rate to just 0.5 percent as it seeks to boost

growth in the eurozone by lowering borrow-

ing costs.

With the eurozone now hit by a bout of

deflation thanks to falling oil prices, the ECB

is about to launch quantitative easing (QE)

in which it will buy up ¤60bn ($68bn) of

sovereign and corporate bonds per month.

This will have the effect of pushing down

yields, or the rate of return to investors, even

further.

But why would investors accept paying to

loan money to someone?

EFFECT OF FEAR

“It’s the effect of fear” about the delicate

situation in Europe, said Juan Valencia, a

credit specialist at Societe Generale CIB.

“Investors are putting their money in

the safest instruments, as they aren’t sure

about getting their money back with other

investments. Thus they are paying for the

‘privilege’ to loan to the most solid states

and corporations,” he said.

The ECB’s QE programme, which will buy

up over a trillion euros in bonds, will have

a massive impact on the euro-denominated

debt market which totals just ¤1.5 trillion.

Valencia said ¤900bn of that debt already

yields under one percent, and ¤400bn less

than 0.50 percent.

Some investors, such as pension funds

and insurance firms, are required to place

a certain percentage of their funds into

bonds issued by countries and companies

with secure credit ratings.

With the ECB entering the market, find-

ing good returns in safe investments will get

even harder. “There is a compression proc-

ess underway and everything is heading for

zero,” said Valencia.

“Investors are thus being pushed to

choose bonds of companies a little less safe

or frankly to change assets to get a better

return,” said Quesnel.

For companies “it is excellent news”, said

Valencia, although he warned “just because

money is practically free doesn’t mean that

some companies won’t find themselves in

complicated situations.”

Quesnel said the drop in borrowing costs

shows “the ECB has done its job” and now

“we need growth to pick up and unemploy-

ment fall so people consume.”

Valencia remarked that while “compa-

nies are overall in good shape after hav-

ing made big efforts since the 2008 crisis”,

to really prosper “they need growth and

consumers.”

AFP

QE also means free lunch for multinationals

DUBAI: The Saudi Arabian riyal

has moved back to very near its

peg against the US dollar in the

spot market after a recovery

in local equities prices reduced

fund outflows, traders said.

The dollar/riyal rate had climbed

in recent weeks as high as 3.7605 -

its highest level since January 2010,

when markets were in the grip

of the global financial crisis. The

Saudi central bank maintains a peg

of 3.75 against the dollar and in the

previous several years, the rate had

never moved beyond 3.7510.

Traders attributed the spot

market volatility to the plunge

of the Saudi stock market, which

sank more than 35 percent

between September and mid-

December as the slide of global oil

prices dragged down petrochemi-

cal stocks in particular.

Foreign and Gulf investors in

Saudi equities moved some of

their money out of the country,

putting unusually heavy pressure

on the riyal spot rate. Before the

crash, foreigners were believed to

hold several percent of the Saudi

market’s capitalisation, which is

now about $530bn.

In the last several weeks, how-

ever, the stock market has recov-

ered sharply as oil prices have

regained some strength and the

government’s budget plans have

shown it is willing to use its huge

fiscal reserves to keep state spend-

ing high despite cheap oil. The

Saudi stock index has jumped 11

percent in the past two weeks.

The bourse’s recovery has

halted heavy capital outflows

from Saudi Arabia and encouraged

some inflows, the traders said. A

monthly Reuters survey of Middle

East fund managers, published at

the end of January, showed them

turning positive on Saudi Arabia.

Forty percent expected to

increase their Saudi equity allo-

cations over the next three

months while none expected to

reduce them — a big shift from

the December survey, when 40

percent said they intended to cut

their Saudi equity allocations and

33 percent to raise them.

REUTERS

Spot Saudi riyal back nearpeg after equities rebound

SPORT26MONDAY 9 FEBRUARY 2015

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

Josoor Institute, Leaders organise ‘Lessons for Sport’ DOHA: Some of the most sen-ior figures from the sports and events industries in Qatar and across the region yesterday participated on the first day of a professional development work-shop titled Leadership: ‘Lessons for Sport.’

The two-day workshop has been organised by Josoor Institute and Leaders, a global event, pub-lishing and consultancy business.

A mix of Secretary Generals, CEOs, Executive Directors and other senior level execu-tives from organisations includ-ing the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy, Qatar Olympic Committee, the Qatar Football Association and the Qatar Stars League joined rep-resentatives from Sports Clubs, Sports Authorities and Football Associations from Iran, Jordan and Saudi Arabia in attending the event at the Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC).

Josoor Institute have partnered with Leaders for delivering the workshop, given its enviable rep-utation for organising premium gatherings of world leaders to inspire learning across the busi-ness and performance side of sport. This is the first time that Leaders has organised a sum-mit for senior executives in the Middle East.

During the two days, partici-pants will benefit from sessions that focus on sharing best prac-tice in organisational leader-ship and management as well as valuable leadership lessons based on the experience of influential global figures from across gov-ernment, the sports and events

industries and its related fields. Speakers from some of the world’s best-known sports, business and academic organisations including The Football Association, Abu Issa Holding, Salford University’s Centre for Sports, Atlanta MLS Franchise, the United States Olympic Committee and the Norwegian Centre of Football Excellence are joining experts from Leaders Consulting for the workshop.

Hassan Al Thawadi, the Secretary General for the Supreme Committee, the found-ing partner of Josoor Institute, delivered the opening note at the workshop and said: “We have

an amazing opportunity to host the first FIFA World Cup in the Middle East. It is an opportunity to create a positive change. A step towards bringing this change was the establishment of Josoor Institute.”

He further elaborated: “To have a renowned sports organisation such as Leaders host their first event in the region, showcases both Josoor Institute’s rising stat-ure and its commitment towards developing capabilities from grassroots to senior leadership.”

“Working with our partners such as Leaders is the ideal way to continue the momentum that we established this past

year. Our workshop will help develop the knowledge and skills that the region needs as well as equip existing and future leaders with world-class education and training,” highlighted Mushtaq Al-Waeli, Executive Director (acting) of Josoor Institute.

The professional development workshop will also provide unique opportunities for senior execu-tives to share their knowledge, ideas and their experiences with one another in relation to the development of personal leader-ship and management styles.

Commenting on the workshop, Clive Reeves, Managing Director from Leaders Consulting said:

“Working with Josoor Institute provided the ideal introduc-tion for our first major event in the Middle East. With this high calibre audience, we had the ideal blend of skills, experience and expertise to really explore in depth how high performance principles from sport and beyond can support the leadership, strat-egy, culture, and talent manage-ment of successful organisations.”

The workshop builds on Josoor Institute’s progress to date in cat-alysing the growth of a sustain-able sports and events industry in Qatar and across the region.

In 2014, Josoor Institute made great progress in equipping more

than 1,100 junior and mid-level sports and events industries pro-fessionals – the leaders of tomor-row – with practical skills and techniques on topics such as the running of major events, mar-keting and PR, and Venue and Stadium Management.

The workshop takes place dur-ing the same week that Qatar cel-ebrates its National Sports Day, designed to encourage sport and activities for everyone.

Promoting healthy living through sport and other physical exercise supports the objectives of the Qatar National Vision 2030’s Human Development pillar.

THE PENINSULA

Participants of the two-day workshop

‘Lessons for Sport’ pose for a group picture, yesterday at the Qatar National

Convention Centre in Doha. RIGHT: Hassan

Al Thawadi, Secretary General for the Supreme

Committee speaks during

the opening day’s session.

Warriors overcome late fightback by NY KnicksNBA: Mavericks down Trail Blazers; Bulls outwit PelicansNEW YORK: The Golden State Warriors held off a furi-ous fourth quarter surge by the New York Knicks, winning 106-92 at Madison Square Garden.

Golden State (40-9) was led by forward Draymond Green, who scored 20 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, while guard Stephen Curry added 22 points and six rebounds.

The Knicks, down by 26 points late in the third quarter, got within five points with 4:20 to play before the Warriors pulled away again.

Mavericks 111, Trail Blazers 101 (OT)

Dirk Nowitzki drained the game-tying three-pointer late in regulation and scored a game-high 25 points to lead the Dallas Mavericks to an improbable

111-101 overtime victory against the Portland Trail Blazers.

All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge and point guard Damian Lillard appeared to have Portland primed to pick up a rare road win against a playoff team but the Blazers squandered an 11-point lead in the final two minutes of the regula-tion time.

Bulls 107, Pelicans 72Guard Derrick Rose scored

20 points and forward Pau Gasol added 20 points and 15 rebounds before taking the fourth quarter off as the Chicago Bulls snapped a three-game losing streak with a 107-72 road rout of the New Orleans Pelicans.

With Pelicans power forward Anthony Davis in the locker room nursing a right shoulder bruise, the Bulls (31-20) took command by outscoring the Pelicans 42-11 in a 13:18 span of the second and third quarters.

Bucks 96, Celtics 93Brandon Knight scored

26 points and Giannis Antetokounmpo posted a double-double for the fourth time in his last five games as the Milwaukee Bucks edged the Boston Celtics 96-93. AGENCIES

Langston Galloway (left) of the New York Knicks fouls Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors in the fourth quarter of their NBA game at Madison Square Garden, yesterday.

NHL: Predators edge out RangersNEW YORK: Nashville cen-tre Mike Ribeiro’s 700th career point came on a tie-breaking goal during the third period, giving the Predators a 3-2 win over the New York Rangers.

Ribeiro’s 11th goal of the sea-son and his first point in five games proved to be the winner as Nashville (34-12-6) improved to 21-3-1 at home. Eighteen of those wins have been by one goal.

Kings 4, Lightning 2The Los Angeles Kings scored

three times in the opening period and beat Tampa Bay 4-2, ending the Lightning’s franchise-record 10-game home winning streak.

Right wing Justin Williams scored twice, including a key goal in the third period after the Lightning had cut a three-goal deficit to one, to give the Kings (22-18-12) just their sixth road win of the year.

Canadiens 6, Devils 2

Centre Tomas Plekanec and right winger Dale Weise each scored twice to lead

the Montreal Canadiens to a 6-2 home win over the New Jersey Devils.

Maple Leafs 5, Oilers 1

Goa l t ender James Reimer stopped 32 shots and came within 2.3 seconds of a shutout as the Toronto Maple Leafs snapped an 11-game los-

ing streak with a 5-1 home win over the Edmonton Oilers.

Bruins 2, Islanders 1Right winger Loui Eriksson

scored the winning goal in the third period as the Boston Bruins edged the visiting New York Islanders 2-1. The Bruins had lost their last three home games against the Islanders.

Sabres 3, Stars 2Right winger Chris Stewart

had three assists to lead the Buffalo Sabres to a 3-2 win over the Dallas Stars.

Buffalo built a three-goal lead early in the second period and survived to end a season-worst six-game home losing streak.

AGENCIES

NBA ResultsChicago 107 New Orleans 72

Washington 114 Brooklyn 77

Golden State 106 NY Knicks 92

Philadelphia 89 Charlotte 81

Dallas 111 Portland 101

Milwaukee 96 Boston 93

Utah 102 Sacramento 90

NHL ResultsNashville 3 NY Rangers 2

Los Angeles 4 Tampa Bay 2

Boston 2 NY Islanders 1

Buffalo 3 Dallas 2

Toronto 5 Edmonton 1

Montreal 6 New Jersey 2

Columbus 4 Ottawa 1

Minnesota 1 Colorado 0

Detroit 3 Arizona 1

Vancouver 5 Pittsburgh 0

Carolina 5 San Jose 4Pittsburgh Penguins’ forward Maxim Lapierre (40) checks Vancouver Canucks’ defenceman Dan Hamhuis during the third period of their NHL game at Rogers Arena, yesterday.

Jamaican Powell settles for second in Boston GP BOSTON: Former 100-meter world record-holder Asafa Powell of Jamaica settled for second place behind American Trell Kimmons in the 60 meters at Saturday’s Boston Indoor Grand Prix athletics meet.

Kimmons, the second-slowest qualifier for the final, surged from the start and outleaned his rivals at the finish line to win in 6.51 seconds with Powell, a world and Olympic 4x100 relay champion, second in 6.52, and American Michael Rodgers, the 2010 world runner-up at 60m, third in 6.53.

“I knew coming into this meet it was a great field,” Kimmons said. “I just wanted to get off to a great start and execute my race.”

Kimmons, a US indoor and out-door sprint runner-up who took Olympic silver on the 4x100 relay in London, will race next week in New York at the Millrose Games and then rest until the outdoor season.

Powell, who owned the world record from 2005 until 2008, when Usain Bolt broke the mark, tested positive for a banned substance in 2013. His ban ended last year.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Michelle-Lee Ahye won the women’s 60m crown in 7.15, edging American Tianna Bartoletta, a two-time world long jumpchampion, by .04 of a second with Ghana’s Flings Owusu-Agyapong third in 7.26.

New Zealand’s Nick Willis, the 2008 Olympic 1,500 runner-up, won the mile in 3:51.61, shatter-ing the decade-old meet record of 3;43.18 by Kenyan Laban Rotich

with the year’s world-best time and a New Zealand record.

“That’s really cool,” Willis said of his achievements. “My finish was really good. It was just a mat-ter if I could hang on.”

American Ben Blankenship was second in 3:53.13 with Morocco’s Abdalaati Iguider, the 2012 world 1,500 champion, third in 3:54.41.

Ethiopia’s Dejen Gebremeskel, the 2012 London Olympic 5,000m runner-up, won the 3,000 in 7:48.19, edging American Bernard Lagat by .14.

Ethiopian Dawit Seyaum, last year’s world 1,500 outdoor jun-ior champion, took the women’s 2,000 in 5:35.46 with Kenya’s Sally Kipyego, a 10,000m London Olympic runner-up, second in 5:40.35. AFP

Boston Indoor Results

Top finishers on Saturday from the Boston Indoor Grand Prix (USA unless noted):

Men 60M: 1. Trell Kimmons 6.51 seconds, 2. Asafa Powell (JAM) 6.52, 3. Michael Rodgers 6.53.

1,000M: 1. Matthew Centrowitz 2:17.00, 2. Pat Casey 2:18.30, 3. Eric Sowinski 2:19.12.

Mile: 1. Nick Willis (NZL) 3:51.61, 2. Ben Blankenship 3:53.13, 3. Abdalaati Iguider (MOR) 3:54.41.

3,000M: 1. Dejen Gebremeskel (ETH) 7:48.19, 2. Bernard Lagat 7:48.33, 3. Hassan Mead 7:48.72.

Shot Put: 1. Ryan Whiting 21.43m, 2. Christian Cantwell 20.83, 3. Justin Rodhe 19.99.

27SPORT MONDAY 9 FEBRUARY 2015

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

Podium finishes for Qatar’s Al Sharshani and Al Jinah at Sail the Gulf 2015 regatta

Qatar International Regatta 2015(Sail the Gulf)

Final Results

Optimist

1st: Chitresh Tatha (India)

2nd: Saif Al-mansoury (UAE)

3rd: Navyn Prabhakar (India)

Laser 4.7

1st: Hamza Al Ali (UAE)

2nd: Saoud Al Naar (Bahrain)

3rd: Abdurrahman Al Jinah (Qatar)

Laser RDL

1st: Saeed Al Zaidi (UAE)

2nd: Ebrahim Showaiter (Bahrain)

3rd: Najeeb Ullah (Pakistan)

Laser STD

1st: Ahmed Al Balushi (Oman)

2nd: Waleed Al Sharshani (Qatar)

3rd: Hussain Al Jabr (Oman)

470

1st: Muhammad Akram Tariq and Khalid Hussain (Pakistan)

2nd: Praveen Prabhakar and Vishnu Sujeesh (India)

3RD: Duarte Monteiro and Adeel Khan (Portugal/Pakistan)

Hobie - 16

1st: Chinna Reddy and Yakobu Kalaga (India)

2nd: Nayef Al Hada and Mohammed Bastiki (Kuwait)

3rd: Hassan Al Baker and Mohamed Ahmed Ismail (Qatar)

Optimist Team Racing

1. INDIA: Mahesh Balachander, Rishab Nayar, Nithya Balachander, Nauyn Prabhakar, Chitresh Tatha

2. UAE 1: Saif Al Mansouri, Ibrahim Al Hammadi, Abdulah Al Bishr, Khamis Al Hammadi, Hamza Al Ali

3. Bahrain: Khalid Shomaten, Nawaf Jamal, Faisal Jamal,Salman Duaij

4. Qatar1: Al Naser Abdurahman, Bouchema Kheireddine, Al Awamlah Zaid, Al Sharshani Ali, Al Sharshani Moheen

Qatar Match Racing up

1. Sergei Musikhin, Kirill Luzin,Denis Tiurikov, Sergey Bakharev

2. Ramirz Saverio, Giulio Berdini, Eugenio Catalani, Tommaso Bo Vignoli

3. Ebrahim Abdulla, Abderrahim Abdulla, Ahmed Abdulla, Ahmed Al Nar

4. Ebrahim Duaij, Mohamed Daood, Omar Hazeem, Salman Duaij

DOHA: Qatar’s Waleed Al Sharshani clinched the second place in the Laser Standard class while two other local sail-ors finished on the podium at the Qatar International Regatta 2015.

Besides Al Sharshani, the other Qatari competitors who excelled were Abdurrahman Al Jinah, who took the third place in the Laser 4.7 and the pair of Hassan Al Baker and Mohamed Ahmed Ismail in Hobie-16.

In the Laser Standard class, Oman dominated with Ahmed Al Balushi and Hussain Al Jabri caliming the gold and the bronze. Qatar’s Al Sharshani was just one point off the gold spot, but had to be content with silver2.

Qatar’s bagged the third place in the Hobie Cat 16, India’s Chinna Reddy and Yakobu Kalaga were in a league of their own notch-ing up eight wins from nine races, they were unbeatable. Silver went to Kuwait’s Nayef Al Hada and Mahammed Bastiki and bronze to Qatar’s Hassan Al Baker and Mohamed Ahmed Ismail.

A tight finish unfolded in the Laser 4.7. Only three points sepa-rated the first three finishers. Hamza Al Ali of UAE held tight onto his lead that he had claimed from day one, leaving Bahrain’s Saoud Al Naar in second and Qatar’s Abdurrahman Al Jinah in third.

In the Optimist class, there was an intense battle between India’s Chitresh Tatha and Saif Al Mansoury of UAE. Tatha warned off the strong challenge to win the top place followed by Al Mansoury while India’s Navyn Prabhakar took the bronze.

In the 470, it was an easy win for Pakistan’s Muhammad Akram Tariq and crew Khalid Hussain. India’s Praveen Prabhakar and Vishnu Sujeesh came second, with Duarte Monteiro and Adeel Khan in third. In the Laser Radial, Saeed Al Zaidi sealed the first place. The five-day event was organized by Qatar Sailing and Rowing Federation.

THE PENINSULA

Waleed Al Sharshani, second place win-ner in the Laser Standard at the Qatar International Regatta 2015, Sail the Gulf, poses for a picture with Qatar Sailing and Rowing Federation (QSRF)President Khalifa Mohd Al Sewaidi. RIGHT: A podium winner for Qatar with QSRF President.

Anirban Lahiri of India (right) receives the trophy from Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak after winning the Malaysian Open golf tournament in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, yesterday.

The podium winners in different categories of the Qatar International Regatta 2015 - Sail the Gulf - pose for a picture with officials of QSRF at the awards ceremony on Saturday night.

Holmes, English share lead at Torrey PinesLA JOLLA, California: Brain surgery survivor JB Holmes joined overnight leader Harris English atop the Farmers Insurance Open leaderboard fol-lowing the third round at Torrey Pines yesterday.

Holmes put together a four-under 68 on the tough South course to move to nine-under 207 for the tournament while English finished with a 73.

Former US Open winner Lucas Glover (70), recent Sony Open winner Jimmy Walker (70) and fellow Americans Spencer Levin (70), Chad Campbell (70) and Nick Watney (72) shared third at eight-under.

Holmes, who underwent brain surgery for Chiari malformations in 2011, managed seven birdies with three bogeys leaving him in great shape to chase down a

fourth win on tour. “I hit it really well all day and putted well, so it was nice to get out there on this beautiful golf course and make some putts,” Holmes said.

“Started out pretty good and was able to chip one in on four to kind of get me going.”

English began the day with a two-shot lead and extended it to three with an opening-hole birdie but a costly double-bogey on his fourth hole created a tight leaderboard.

After driving the ball in the fairway bunker of the picturesque par four that hugs the Pacific Ocean coastline, English sent his approach into the left rough short of the green. His chip shot flew over the putting surface and his par save attempt from the fringe rolled six feet by the hole. REUTERS

Piller clings to lead when darkness hits BahamasPARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas: American Gerina Piller clung to a one-stroke lead when darkness halted yesterday’s third round of the Bahamas LPGA Classic while a dozen rivals lurked within two strokes of the lead.

Only six of 74 players who made the cut earlier in the day man-aged to finish before sunset at the event, fighting to finish as planned Sunday in windy conditions after heavy rain washed out much of Thursday’s play.

Piller, seeking her first LPGA title, was three-under for nine holes to stand on 10-under overall, but a pack on nine-under included Americans Lexi Thompson, Brooke Pancake and Kelly Shon, Germany’s Sandra Gal, South Korean Kim Sei-Young and France’s Perrine Delacour.

“I was a little nervous on the first tee but I felt fine,” Piller said. “(The key is) just minimize the mistakes. The wind can switch at any second, it can gust and that’s hard to deal with.”

Thompson, seeking her fourth LPGA title, made the biggest charge into contention yester-day, making five birdies in a row to stand seven-under in the third round alone with two holes remaining.

She began on the back nine and made her birdie run from the 15th through first holes, feeding in part off playing part-ner Stacy Lewis, who was six-under for the round.

“We probably had the best golf going on today, we had so many birdies,” Thompson said. “The first two days, we were ball strik-ing it well, just didn’t make that many putts. But we were defi-nitely feeding off each other, off of birdies.” REUTERS

Maiden Euro Tour victory for LahiriIndian fends off Wiesberger in MalaysiaKUALA LUMPUR: India’s Anirban Lahiri reeled off four birdies in his first five holes and held on down the stretch for a one-stroke victory over Bernd Wiesberger to take his first European Tour title by winning the Malaysian Open yesterday.

Lahiri had vaulted into conten-tion the day before with a tour-nament-low ten-under 62, and followed up with a final-round 68 for the win.

“I don’t think it has sunk in just yet but I’m pretty sure when it does, I’ll be pretty happy,” said the 27-year-old.

“I’ve got a bad habit of making it hard for myself, but I’m happy I managed to get it over the line.”

The Malaysian Open is co-sanctioned by the European and Asian Tours, and the win was Lahiri’s sixth on the Asian circuit.

Lahiri began the day five strokes behind third-round leader Wiesberger, who had shot to the top of the boards Saturday with a European Tour personal-best nine-under 63 at the tricky Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club.

But on the par-five fifth hole yesterday, Wiesberger chunked his third shot into a water hazard for a costly double bogey, opening the door for Lahiri.

The Indian charged through with his early birdie blitz. Despite a couple of later bogeys, he fended off the faltering Wiesberger, who suffered three bogeys on the back nine to card a two-over 74 for the day.

“It hasn’t quite finished the way I intended to,” Wiesberger said.

“After the hiccup on five, I didn’t hit it anywhere near as good as the last 15 rounds. It’s tough to say, but it is what it is and unfortunately I beat myself out of it today.”

England’s Paul Waring and the second round co-leader Spain’s Alejandro Canizares finished two strokes behind Wiesberger in a tie for third on a breezy yet scorch-ing day.

England’s Lee Westwood had held the co-lead after each of the first two days and remained in the hunt when the final round started.

But his chances of defending the title he won last year crum-bled as he posted a disappointing 75 to end in a four-way tie for fifth, five strokes back of Lahiri.

Westwood, who has won the tournament twice and seems to play some of his best golf in Asia, is notably comfortable with the Malaysian Open course’s undulat-ing fairways.

But after a strong start, his birdie count dropped each day while several other golfers seemed to get hotter.

The European Tour said Lahiri’s performance could move him to within the top 40 in the world golf rankings -- from 73rd before the tournament -- putting him in line to play the upcoming Masters, golf ’s most sought-after individual prize.

“The Masters is definitely one of my targets. I don’t know how far I moved up but I’m pretty confident now that with this win, I should have a good chance,” he said. AFP

Malaysian OpenKuala Lumpur: Leading final-round scores yesterday in the $3m Malaysian Open at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club (par 72):

272 Anirban Lahiri (IND) 70-72-62-68

273 Bernd Wiesberger (AUT) 70-66-63-74

275 Paul Waring (ENG) 69-68-65-73, Alejandro Canizares (ESP) 68-65-68-74

277 Gregory Bourdy (FRA) 70-70-68-69, Richard T. Lee (CAN) 69-69-68-71, Paul Peterson (USA) 72-69-64-72, Lee Westwood (ENG) 66-67-69-75

278 Marc Warren (SCO) 70-71-69-68

279 S.S.P Chowrasia (IND) 76-67-68-68

280 Wade Ormsby (AUS) 73-69-71-67, Nathan Holman (AUS) 72-71-71-66, Richard Bland (ENG) 68-70-73-69

281 Scott Hend (AUS) 73-72-66-70, Wang Jeung-hun (KOR) 77-66-67-71

Farmers Insurance OpenLa Jolla, United States: Leading scores yesterday after the third round of the $6.3m US PGA Tour Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines (par 72, USA unless noted):

207 J.B. Holmes 69-70-68, Harris English 68-66-73

208 Lucas Glover 70-68-70, Jimmy Walker 72-66-70, Spencer Levin 68-70-70, Chad Campbell 67-71-70, Nick Watney 71-65-72

209 Alex Prugh 70-70-69, Bill Haas 72-67-70, Andres Gonzales 69-69-71, Jason Day (AUS) 73-65-71, Jhonattan Vegas (VEN) 67-69-73

210 Scott Stallings 70-72-68, John Peterson 68-72-70, Ian Poulter (ENG) 67-71-72, Marc Leishman (AUS) 72-66-72

SPORT28MONDAY 9 FEBRUARY 2015

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

Azarenka confirmed for Qatar Total Open 2015DOHA: Two-time former champion Victoria Azarenka has been confirmed as a sin-gles wildcard for the 2015 Qatar Total Open.

The winner of the 2012 and 2013 titles in Doha is keen to return to the city where she has gained so much success and a tournament she always states that she loves.

Azarenka intended to play last year but she was injured. Now, it appears she is well and truly over her injuries having put in a quality performance at the recent Australian Open.

She reached the fourth round at the first Grand Slam of the year with classy wins over Sloane Stephens, Caroline Wozniacki and Barbora Zhalavova Strycova before being beaten by Dominkia Cibulkova.

She has two Grand Slam titles to her credit — the Australian Open 2012 and 2013 — and was a finalist at the US Open in the same years.

Azarenka enters the tourna-ment with a ranking of 41, how-ever, she had reached the position of world No. 1 in January 2012.

“Victoria Azarenka is extremely popular with fans in Qatar. She is a two-time winner on the court and a winner off the court with her wonderful personality,” said Qatar Total Open Tournament Director Saad Al Mohannadi.

“Even with major injuries in 2014, she still made an impact around the world, particularly at Grand Slams. So far this year she has shown her form by beating top

players at the Australian Open. The Qatar Tennis Federation knows Victoria Azarenaka will be an asset to the tournament and knows spectators will appreciate her skill when she plays.”

Despite her injuries last year she still managed to make the final at Brisbane and the quar-ters at the 2014 Australian Open as well as the US Open.

Already confirmed for the Qatar Total Open are six top-10 ranked players — world number three and defending champion Simona Halep, current Wimbledon champion and world number four-ranked Petra Kvitova. Also playing are Agnieszka Radwanska from Poland who is number six in the WTA rankings, Caroline Wozniacki ranked number eight, Germany’s Angelique Kerber ranked number nine and Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova ranked number 10 in the world.

Also in the player acceptance list are seven-time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams, former US Open winner Sam Stosur from Australia and two-time Grand Slam winner Svetlana Kuznetsova

The tournament will be held at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex from February 23-28 with quali-fying taking place on February 21 and 22. Tickets are available online at www.qatartennis.org and at City Center, Landmark, Lagoona, Villaggio and on-site at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex.

THE PENINSULA

Former champion gets singles wildcard for Doha event

Victoria Azarenka from Belarus has been confirmed as a singles wildcard for the 2015 Qatar Total Open.

KRAKÓW, Poland: Former world number one Maria Sharapova sent Russia into the semi-finals of the Fed Cup yes-terday as she defeated Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska 6-1, 7-5 to give her country an unassail-able 3-0 lead.

The doubles pairing of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Vitaliya Diatchenko later made it 4-0 as they beat Klaudia Jans-Ignacik and Alicja Rosolska 6-4, 6-4.

Following Sharapova’s vic-tory over Urszula Radwanska in straight sets on Saturday, com-bined with a three set win for veteran Svetlana Kuznetsova over Urszula’s sister Agnieszka, Russia cruised into the last four.

French Open champion Sharapova is playing just her fourth Fed Cup tie since her 2008 debut but in order to make the Olympics next year all players have to make themselves avail-able for the annual women’s team tournament.

“It is a very important win for me,” said Sharapova, who has often been criticised for not play-ing enough Fed Cup matches.

“Playing for the national team there is always added pressure.”

In front of a partisan home crowd of some 15,000, Sharapova, who recently lost the Australian Open final to Serena Williams, improved her record against the world number eight to 12 wins against just two defeats.

Radwanska saved two match points at 2-5 down in the second set to draw level at 5-5 but ran out of steam as five-time Grand Slam winner Sharapova closed out the match in 1hr 46mins.

In Stuttgart, Germany, Andrea Petkovic endured another gruel-ling three-set marathon to seal

Germany’s 3-1 win over Australia to put the hosts in the semi-finals.

Germany, the 2014 finalists, will face Russia in the semi-finals on April 18-19 after Petkovic again dug deep to seal a 6-3, 3-6, 8-6 win over Jarmila Gajdosova with the third set taking nearly an hour.

It was the second time in 24 hours Petkovic was carried to victory by the vocal 4,000-strong crowd in a gruelling tie after Saturday’s victory over Samantha Stosur came down to a 12-10 bat-tle in the third-set after three hours, 13 minutes of tennis.

Having been 4-2 down in the crucial third, Petkovic showed her composure by converting her second match point to seal Germany’s win and keep them bidding for a second straight final appearance.

“I was a bit tired from yester-day, but I always just played it one point at a time,” said a jaded Petkovic at Stuttgart’s Porsche Arena.

“I hope there is Champagne, but beer is also okay. We’ll mix in with the fans anyway, the atmos-phere was incredible.”

Angelique Kerber had earlier put Germany on the brink of the semi-finals with a straight-sets win over Stosur, who has lost both of her singles rubbers in Stuttgart. AGENCIES

Sharapova powers Russia into Fed Cup semi-finals

QTF to host first Qatar Asian Junior eventDOHA: The first Qatar Asian Junior Under-14 tennis tourna-ment will be held from February 13 to 19.

The Qatar Tennis Federation (QTF), led by Nasser bin Ghanem Al Khelaifi, will host this tourna-ment at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex.

Around 80 players from Qatar and 16 different countries, includ-ing India, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Pakistan, Bahrain, Lebanon, Sri Lanka, Philippines and Yemen, will participate in this feed-in event.

The Qatar National Team includes Ali Al Mhamoud, Mubarka Al Nuaimi, Mohammed Al Sumaiti and Hasan Al Obaidly — all participating in the main draw.

This tournament provides the national team with the opportunity to compete with international players, enhancing

their performance with every match.

Khalid Al Khelaifi, QTF Board Member and head of the national team committee, said: “This tour-nament will see an intense com-petition, especially with players who are coming from various ten-nis schools from different parts of the region. It helps us provide a good opportunity to put our national team on the right track in order to improve their Asian ranking.”

This tournament will be fol-lowed by the second Qatar Asian Junior Tournament from February 16 to 20.

The QTF provides young tennis players with the best resources and opportunities to reach their maximum potential and com-pete in renowned tennis tour-naments locally, regionally and internationally.

THE PENINSULA

The QTF will host the first Qatar Asian Junior Under-14 tennis tournament from February 13 to 19 at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex.

Fed Cup ResultsResults from the Fed Cup World Group quarter-final matches yesterday

Quarter-finals

4-Russia bt Poland 4- 0

1-Czech Republic lead Canada 2- 0

3-Italy are level with France 2- 2

2-Germany bt Australia 3- 1

Russia’s Maria Sharapova reacts during her match against Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska during their Fed Cup World Group match in Krakow yesterday.

QNB celebrates Qatari handball heroesDOHA: QNB, acting in its dual capacity as tournament spon-sor and strategic partner of the Qatari men’s national handball team, celebrated the historic achievement of Qatar reach-ing the final of the 24th Men’s Handball World Championship by hosting a team reception recently at The Sharq Hotel and Spa Resort.

Players and officials were hon-oured by Qatar’s biggest bank in recognition of Qatar becoming the first non-European side to reach a World Handball final following impressive knock-out stage vic-tories over Austria, Germany and Poland.

In a hard-fought final, Qatar lost 25-22 to Olympic and European Champions France at a packed and hugely supportive Lusail Multipurpose Hall.

Previously, no Asian team had reached the quarter-final stage and only two African sides had ever reached the semi-finals.

Commenting on Qatar’s excel-lent performance at the Handball World Championships, QNB Group Chief Executive Officer. Ali Ahmed Al Kuwari said: “QNB is delighted to be recognising the outstanding performance of the

Qatar men’s handball team during the recent World Championship. Coach Valero Rivera and the play-ers were an inspiration to many and they have captivated the hearts and minds of the popu-lation by their stirring on-court performances. Their achieve-ments were both considerable

and historic and combined with an excellent organised tourna-ment, they have left a lasting sporting legacy for Qatar Sport to emulate and be proud of in future years”.

A cornerstone of QNB’s com-prehensive Corporate Social Responsibility Programme (CSR)

is the support given to national and grassroots sporting activities and organisations across Qatar. This is aligned to Qatar’s National Vision to become a true centre of sporting excellence in the MENA region and an exceptional desti-nation of sports tourism.

THE PENINSULA

QNB recently hosted a team reception for the Qatari men’s handball national team at The Sharq Hotel and Spa Resort.

Zidane tells Real not to write off SchalkeBERLIN: French star Zinedine Zidane has warned his cur-rent club Real Madrid to take nothing for granted when they face Germany’s Schalke 04 in the last-16 of the Champions League.

Title-holders Real could be forgiven for expecting little opposition in Gelsenkirchen for the first-leg on February 18 with the return in Madrid on March 10.

Carlo Ancelotti’s Real inflicted a record 6-1 defeat on Schalke at exactly the same stage of the competition last season.

Madrid ran riot at the Veltins Arena as Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo each scored two goals as Schalke were hammered before also losing 3-1 away for a 9-2 aggregate defeat.

But Zidane, who currently coaches Real’s reserves, says the first-team should take noth-ing for granted this time in Gelsenkirchen.

“I would like to say that Schalke has no chance and Real will safely reach the quarter-finals,”

the 42-year-old ex-Real mid-fielder told German daily Die Welt yesterday.

“But in the knockout phase anything can happen. In two games, you have double the chance of an outsider playing above themselves.

“You must always be cautious — especially against a German team.”

Real have won only three of their 27 away matches in Germany.

Two of those victories came last season when they smashed Schalke, then routed Bayern Munich in the semi-finals on the way to winning the title.

Current Schalke boss Roberto di Matteo won the 2012 Champions League title with Chelsea and has helped the Royal Blues climb to third in the Bundesliga since tak-ing charge in October.

Despite preaching caution, Zidane believes Real will progress to face Pep Guardiola’s Bayern Munich in the Champions League final at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium on June 6. AFP

29SPORT MONDAY 9 FEBRUARY 2015

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Veterans set for key role at CupAfridi, Vettori and Jayawardene ready for fifth World Cup appearance Down Under

Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi gestutres during practice session ahead of the ODI against New Zealand in Dubai in this September 2014 file photo. CENTRE: New Zealand left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori warms up during practice session at the Sharjah Stadium in Sharjah, in this September 2014 file photo. RIGHT: Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardene looks on during a practice session ahead of their first Test match against Pakistan in Galle, in this August 2014 file photo.

SYDNEY: The belief that “old is gold” will once again be put to the test in this World Cup, with several players bolstering teams with their experience and guile.

Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardene, Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi and New Zealand’s Daniel Vettori are the most experienced players as each of the trio will be featuring in their fifth World Cup.

Jayawardene, 37, retired from Test cricket last year after a glit-tering career and he will hang up his One Day International kit after the World Cup.

With a 33-match tally in the tournament, Jayawardene will be the most experienced player when it comes to World Cups.

After a miserable first round exit as defending champions in 1999 the next three editions were memorable, with Sri Lanka the losing semi-finalists in 2003 and runners-up in the next two World Cups.

He led the team from the front with a scintillating century in the 2007 semi-final against New Zealand and then notched another ton in the final of 2011 World Cup, albeit in a losing cause as hosts India won in Mumbai.

Jayawardene still holds a key position in Sri Lanka’s bat-ting order, along with Kumar Sangakkara who will be featuring in his fourth World Cup.

Sangakkara has played 30 World Cup matches and just like old wine has embellished his bat-ting, with the left-hander the highest run-getter in one-day internationals last year.

Afridi was a relative newcomer when Pakistan finished runners-up to Australia in the 1999 World

Cup but the next two World Cups weren’t memorable for the aggressive all-rounder.

Pakistan crashed out in the first round in 2003 and 2007. Afridi played just one game in the 2007 event after being suspended for the first two.

He was Pakistan’s captain in the 2011 World Cup and led them to the semi-finals, where they were beaten by India.

Pakistan will rely heavily on Afridi’s late-over slogs to give

their innings much-needed impetus.

Moreover, Afridi, also a handy leg-spinner, will want to shine at this World Cup after announcing he will quit one-day cricket fol-lowing the tournament.

Matching Afridi in the spin department will be New Zealand’s Daniel Vettori, with the 36-year-old left-armer having featured in the 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011 edi-tions of the World Cup.

A skilled spinner, Vettori still

holds the trump card when it comes to slow bowling, being able to put a brake on batsmen’s run-scoring besides taking wickets at crucial stages.

Vettori’s captain, Brendon McCullum, will also be featuring in his fourth World Cup.

McCullum will be the key to co-hosts New Zealand’s hopes of posting big totals in the World Cup.

His blistering form in all three formats of the game augurs well

for the Black Caps, who for the first time are amongst the top three favourites.

Like McCullum, Chris Gayle is a danger for bowlers.

Gayle can hit any bowler on his day, hitting big shots at will and has performed well for the West Indies in the 2003, 2007 and 2011 World Cups.

Trading his best swing bowl-ing against the best batsmen of the world will be England’s James Anderson, playing his fourth

World Cup. Besides Steven Finn and Stuart Broad, Anderson will form a solid pace attack for England, who can be the dark horses of the event.

Also playing in his fourth World Cup will be Pakistan’s Younis Khan. At 37, Younis will be the second-oldest Pakistani in the World Cup behind 40-year-old captain Misbah-ul Haq. Despite his age, it will be only a second World Cup for Misbah, who fea-tured in the 2011 edition. AFP

Misbah unsure about Ajmal’s inclusion SYDNEY: Pakistan captain Misbah-ul Haq said yesterday he was unsure whether Saeed Ajmal would participate in the World Cup after the off-spin-ner’s bowling action was cleared.

The 37-year-old had originally withdrawn from the World Cup, which begins on Saturday, after he failed to correct his action in time for the 15-man squad announcement last month.

Ajmal was reported during the Galle Test in Sri Lanka in August last year and he was subsequently suspended by the governing body ICC from bowling at international level after his action was assessed a month later.

His withdrawal left Pakistan’s World Cup plans in tatters as they lost four one-day matches – two warm-up and two One Day Internationals – in New Zealand.

Ajmal was on Saturday cleared by the ICC (International Cricket Council) to play again, sparking talk of a surprise call-up for the World Cup.

“You never know, there are a lot of ifs and buts,” Misbah told a press conference when asked of Ajmal’s chances of appearing in the showpiece event.

“The main concern is that he

hasn’t played any cricket yet, let’s see how it goes in the next week because the team is already announced and everybody is here so I can’t just say anything about that,” he added.

Ajmal played two unofficial one-day matches for Pakistan’s second string against Kenya in Lahore in December, bowling only 12.1 overs.

Misbah said that Ajmal himself had doubts whether he would be ready to play.

“I can say he is not sure about that because you need some cricket behind you before such a

big event,” said Misbah. Pakistani media have reported that the team’s management were not in favour of reinstating Ajmal, and the rules state a player can only be added when injury rules out a member of the original squad.

Misbah admitted his team’s poor form was a concern, having lost three one-day series last year and going down 2-0 against New Zealand this month.

“I think we are not having good times in the ODIs... but I think this team is capable of turning that around.

“I am excited about this team.

This is a bunch of youngsters and a few senior and we are a team which can surprise anybody at any stage.

“I am really hopeful that we are going to improve our performance but we can do that in the World Cup.”

Meanwhile, Pakistan all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez has been ruled out of the World Cup with a calf muscle injury, an offi-cial of the country’s cricket board said yesterday.

“He has been advised two to three weeks rest by the doctors so he is out of the World Cup,” Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) spokesman Raza Kitchlew said.

He said the tour selection committee has sought to replace Hafeez with 25-year-old opener Nasir Jamshed who has played 45 ODIs.

“A request with medical reports has been sent to the ICC technical committee for inducting Jamshed into the squad,” Kitchlew said.

Hafeez, 34, has been one of Pakistan’s key player, having scored 4542 runs and taken 122 wickets in 155 One-day interna-tionals Pakistan open their cam-paign against India in Adelaide on February 15. AGENCIES

Pakistan cricket captain

Misbah-ul-Haq speaks at a press

conference ahead of the World Cup in Sydney, yesterday.

Australia thump India in World Cup warm-up SYDNEY: Glenn Maxwell and David Warner notched aggres-sive centuries to lead Australia’s 106-run win over a hapless India in a World Cup warm-up match, raising their status as favourites in the mega-event starting this week.

Maxwell reached his whirl-wind 100 off just 53 balls, hitting 11 boundaries and eight sixes before retiring for a 57-ball 122 to bolster Australia to 371 all out in 48.2 overs.

Skipper George Bailey won the toss and chose to bat at the Adelaide Oval ground.

The Australian hit paceman Umesh Yadav for two fours and three sixes in the 45th over to build on the fiery 83-ball 104 by Warner, whose knock was stud-ded with 14 boundaries and two sixes.

Aaron Finch had helped Warner hit 62 in just 8.2 overs in Australia’s rollicking start, which Maxwell ended with some brutal hitting, taking 88 off the last 29 balls he faced.

Bailey also chipped in with

a slow 66-ball 44. Paceman Mohammad Shami took three wickets, but conceded 83 in his 9.2 overs.

India’s Rohit Sharma (eight) and Virat Kohli (18) fell early when India batted, but Shikar Dhawan (59) and Ajinkya Rahane (66) added 104 for the third wicket.

But after their partnership, only Ambati Rayadu made a fighting 42-ball 53 with four sixes and as many boundaries.

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni fell for a first-ball duck to paceman Pat Cummins, who was Australia’s top bowler with 3-30.

Mitchell Starc, (2-16), Josh Hazlewood (2-25) and Mitchell Johnson (2-26) bowled with fire to bundle India out for 265 in 45.1 overs.

New Zealand play Zimbabwe, Pakistan face Bangladesh, England battle the West Indies and South Africa meet Sri Lanka in warm-up games today.

The World Cup starts in Australia and New Zealand on February 14. AFP

Australia’s Glenn Maxwell hits a six from the bowling of India’s Mohammed Shami during the World Cup warm-up match against India in Adelaide yesterday.

Mohit replaces injured Sharma NEW DELHI: World Cup organisers yesterday accepted India’s request to include seamer Mohit Sharma in place of pace spearhead Ishant Sharma, who was ruled out of the tournament due to a knee injury.

The lanky Ishant, the most experienced seamer in India’s current squad with 106 wickets from 76 one-day internationals, has not played since being injured during the Boxing Day Test against Australia in Melbourne in December.

Mohit, 26, who has played 12 one-dayers and taken 10 wickets, is already in Australia as an addi-tional member of the team that played in the recent tri-series that also featured England.

India, who lost the preceding Test series against Australia 2-0 and failed to make the tri-series final, open their World Cup cam-paign against arch-rivals Pakistan in Adelaide on February 15. AFP

‘Pakistan need spirit of Imran’ KARACHI: Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq needs to adopt the uncompromising attitude Imran Khan employed in 1992 if the class of 2015 want to emu-late that triumph at this year’s World Cup, former pace bowler Shoaib Akhtar said.

Very few would have tipped Pakistan to win the showpiece event 23 years ago but Imran’s young team fought back from imminent elimination in the opening round to defeat England in the final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

“The Pakistan team is passing through a very difficult phase after having also lost Muhammad Hafeez. The onus is now on Misbah to set the tone with front-line performances,” Shoaib told Geo News channel.

“Imran lifted a deflated side in 1992 to win the World Cup with some great frontline perform-ances. Pakistan need spirit of Imran. I hope Misbah can do the same with this troubled side.”

Pakistan captain Imran

Khan lifts the World

Cup trophy at the

Melbourne Cricket

Ground in this March 25, 1992, file photo.

The talented but unpredictable side are not favourites this time either and their preparations have been hit by injuries to several bowlers, including all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez and paceman Junaid Khan, and the unavailabil-ity of leading spinner Saeed Ajmal

due to an illegal bowling action. Ajmal was cleared to bowl again after passing biomechanic tests but having pulled out of Pakistan’s World Cup squad in December, he can only be called into the squad if another player withdraws injured.

REUTERS

SPORT30MONDAY 9 FEBRUARY 2015

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Blind rescues Man United Roma end run of draws to remain in Serie A title huntROME: A late strike by Leandro Paredes ended Roma’s run of four successive league draws to beat Cagliari 2-1 and reduce the gap on leaders Juventus to seven points and keep their Serie A title hopes alive yesterday.

Elsewhere, Napoli tightened their grip on third place with a dominant 3-1 home win over Udinese at the San Paolo where Dries Mertens opened the scor-ing and prompted an own goal by Frenchman Cyril Thereau in the second half.

Samuel Eto’o came off the bench for Sampdoria in Genoa but failed to make the difference as Sinisa Mihajlovic’s men saw their push for a Champions League place stall after being held 1-1 by Sassuolo. Juventus sit top on 53 points, with Roma second on 46. Napoli are a further four points adrift in third and Fiorentina, who dominated a five-goal thriller with Atalanta earlier, moved up to fourth on 35 points. Juventus had taken their lead over Roma to 10 points on Saturday with a commanding 3-1 win over Milan in Turin, where Carlos Tevez took his league-leading goals tally to 14 for the season.

Roma’s title push stalled due to four consecutive league draws and with several key players missing, their trip to Sardinia was set to be anything but plain sailing.

However, Garcia repudiated accusations their run of draws was because of a lack of respect for their opposition despite the Frenchman saying on several occasions that his team would win the title.

“Even if it appears from time to time I say things that appear arrogant we have not been lacking in humility,” said Garcia.

Alessandro Florenzi, Kostas Manolas, Daniele De Rossi, Kevin Strootman, Juan Iturbe, Gervinho and Seydou Doumbia were all unavailable against a Cagliari team that has enjoyed a minor resurgence under the guid-ance of Gianfranco Zola. Captain Francesco Totti shook off ‘flu symptoms to spearhead a three-pronged attack with 18-year-old Daniele Verde to his right and Adem Ljajic out on the left.

Garcia, who made his name as a coach with unfashionable French side Lille guiding them to the 2011 domestic double, praised the young players who he said made the difference against Cagliari.

“The difference was the young players, with a goal by Paredes and two assists from Verde,” said 50-year-old Garcia.

“I believe in this guy (Verde). Aside from his technical and tac-tical qualities he works a lot for the team and he is very eager. I think he will go far.

“The youngsters showed that when we need to call on them that they are ready and that is good news.” Cagliari had the brighter start and Roma ‘keeper Morgan De Sanctis had to use his legs to save from Duje Cop at the near post. Verde, however, made the most of his Serie A debut for the Giallorossi and was Roma’s most dangerous player in the opening half. AFP

Al Kass Cup: Sao Paulo trounce PSG, Arsenal winDOHA: Sao Paulo SC Brazil and England’s Arsenal regis-tered resounding wins at the Al Kass Cup International.

Yesterday at Aspire Academy grounds, the Brazilian wonder kids stormed to a 5-0 victory over Paris Saint-Germain, while in the second match Arsenal put in a highly professional perform-ance to defeat a plucky Aspire Academy team 3-0.

With both sides, Sao Paulo and PSG, having already through to the knockout phase, the outcome of the game would decide which team topped Group D.

The Brazilians were ahead within six minutes after Gustavo Dos Santos embarked on a deter-mined run through the middle from halfway, shrugging off a series of challenges before find-ing Bruno Rapanelli to his left. The attacking midfielder took one touch before crossing low to Paulo Da Silva, who shot straight at keeper Valentin Pinto but made

no mistake from the rebound.Thereafter, Augusto Galvan

added the second one, applying a first-time finish following a high diagonal ball from the right that wasdeftly chested into his path by Dos Santos.

But there was no stopping the Samba Sensations, who were 3-0 up on 37 minutes. Da Silva was fed down the right and, as the keeper rushed out, he crossed to Dos Santos, who gleefully headed into an open goal.

The irrepressible Brazilians went four in front five minutes before half time, when Dos Santos chested down Rapanelli’s diago-nal ball from wide on the right before slotting confidently past a helpless Pinto. In the 76th minute, but any hopes of a PSG mini-revival were definitively crushed the next minute when Paulo Da Silva latched on to a ball through the middle to lob the unfortunate Pinto from 20 yards.

THE PENINSULA

A player of Sao Paulo receives the Man-of-

the-Match award after their match against PSG in the Al Kass International Cup in Doha yesterday. RIGHT: An Arsenal player, Man-of-the-

match winner, poses with his cheque

during the award ceremony after the Arsenal and Aspire Academy match.

Burnley left with headache after draw, Crouch keeps Stoke in top 10LONDON: Manchester United needed a stoppage-time equal-iser from Daley Blind to a secure a 1-1 draw away to West Ham in the Premier League yesterday.

It looked as if Senegal midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate, deployed as an auxiliary centre-back by Hammers manager Sam Allardyce, had won the game for the home side with a brilliant close-range finish in the 49th minute after he controlled Mark Noble’s free kick with his back to goal.

But Blind struck from the edge of the area in the second minute of stoppage-time after Marcus Rojo’s ball into the box was only partly cleared. There was still time for United left-back Luke Shaw to be sent off for a lunge on Stewart Downing and the result prevented Louis van Gaal’s side from leapfrogging Southampton into third place.

“We played very badly in the first half and showed a lot of spirit in the second half,” United man-ager van Gaal told Sky Sports.

“We gave away that goal and then played football but you have to do it from the first minute.

“But what spirit after the goal and I thanked my players for that,” added the Dutchman after seeing compatriot Blind spare United’s blushes.

Allradyce, meanwhile, was left ruing what might have been.

“A win would have been nothing more than we deserved,” he told the BBC.

“It’s a great shame we conceded the goal but a fantastic perform-ance which entertained the crowd -- I always respect the point against one of the ‘big boys’ even though they got the goal late.”

Earlier, Peter Crouch’s late equaliser ensured Stoke City gained a 1-1 draw away to Newcastle that kept them in 10th place. A mediocre match burst

into life in the final 16 minutes when Jack Colback, who moments earlier might have been sent off for a second bookable offence fol-lowing a poor challenge on Victor Moses, fired Newcastle into the lead to the delight of the St James’ Park faithful.

But much-travelled former England striker Crouch made sure Newcastle did not leapfrog Stoke when the beanpole for-ward’s trademark header at the back post gave the visitors a share of the spoils. “I was pleased to get the goal and the point was the least we deserved,” Crouch said.

Meanwhile, midfielder Colback admitted he had been fortunate to be on the pitch when he scored.

“I made two fouls all game so I wasn’t repeat-offending but if I had of been sent off I wouldn’t have had much argument,” he said. Yesterday’s first of three Premier League fixtures saw Burnley let slip a two-goal advan-tage for the third straight match

as they were held to a 2-2 draw by fellow-strugglers West Bromwich Albion at Turf Moor. This result did see the Clarets climb out of the bottom three, although they are now just a point clear of the relegation zone.

Burnley were 2-0 in front after just over half an hour thanks to Ashley Barnes and Danny Ings.

But they conceded two headed goals from corners, Chris Brunt pulling one back for the Baggies on the stroke of half-time before Nigeria striker Brown Ideye equalised in the 67th minute.

Ideye’s leveller was the 14th headed goal that Burnley had con-ceded in the league this season -- the most in the English top-flight.

Burnley at least came away with a draw, having lost 3-2 to Crystal Palace after going 2-0 up in their last home match and then going out oof the FA Cup with a 4-2 defeat by Tottenham Hotspur.

Meanwhile in the La liga, Sevilla blew the chance to extend their advantage over Valencia in fourth as Pedro Leon’s late winner handed Getafe a 2-1 victory yes-terday. The hosts went in front on the half hour mark when former Swansea City striker Alvaro Vazquez was brought down by Diogo Figueras inside the area and he picked himself up to dis-patch the resulting penalty.

Sevilla enjoyed the majority of possession after the break, but it took a wonder strike from Polish international Grzegorz Krychowiak to bring them level as he fired in his first La Liga goal from 20 yards. However, Getafe secured a vital three points in their battle to avoid the drop five minutes from time when Leon forced the ball home from close range after Sergio Rico had made a double save from Fredy Hinestroza and Diego Castro.

AFP

Manchester United’s Dutch midfielder Daley Blind (left) celebrates scoring his goal with Manchester United’s English defender Luke Shaw during the English Premier League football match at the Boleyn Ground, Upton Park, in east London, yesterday.

Raith add to Rangers’ woes with Cup winGLASGOW: Raith Rovers completed a week of turmoil for Rangers by knocking them of the Scottish Cup with a 2-1 win at the fallen Glasgow giants’ Ibrox ground yesterday.

For Raith it was another knockout success against sec-ond-tier rivals Rangers after their victory in the final of last year’s Scottish Challenge Cup -- an event for the country’s lower league clubs.

Ryan Conroy, formerly of Rangers’ arch-rivals Celtic, gave Raith a 54th-minute lead with a curling free-kick before Haris Vukic, one of five players contro-versially on-loan from English Premier League club Newcastle, equalised for the home side eight minutes later.

However, Christian Nade scored Raith’s winner 15 min-utes from time in the fifth round tie when he bundled the ball in after Rangers goalkeeper Steve Simonsen could not hold Jason Thomson’s hard-hit cross.

Friday had seen the latest twist

in a season of boardroom drama at Ibrox when former director Dave King had gained sufficient shareholder approval for a March 4 meeting demanding the current board be removed.

That announcement came just a day after Rangers caretaker

manager Kenny McDowall revealed he had been told by the board to play the five Newcastle loan players who arrived on trans-fer deadline day.

However, Rangers managing director Derek Llambias insisted subsequently that the board was not picking the team.

As events transpired, only Vukic and Remie Streete of the five Newcastle loanees were fit to start yesterday.

Newcastle owner Mike Ashley owns an 8.92 percent stake in Rangers and is being investi-gated by the Scottish Football Association over whether he has breached rules concerning dual interests.

McDowall stepped in after previous manager Ally McCoist resigned in December, but has already handed in his notice at Ibrox and will leave the club at the end of the season.

Rangers are currently second in the Scottish Championship, 19 points below leaders Hearts with three games in hand. AFP

Valencia’s goalkeeper Diego Alves (left) and Valencia’s Argentinian for-ward Pablo Piatti (centre) vie with Espanyol’s defender Victor Alvarez Delgado during the Spanish league match at the Cornella-El Prat sta-dium in Cornella de Llobregat yesterday.

Scottish Cup Glasgow: Scottish Cup results yesterday:

5th round

Rangers 1 (Vukic 62) Raith 2 (Conroy 54, Nade 75)

Stranraer 0 Dundee United 3 (Erskine 21, Dow 27, 31)

Played on Saturday

Dundee 0 Celtic 2 (Griffiths 7, Johansen 47)

Falkirk 2 (McCracken 11, Smith 79) Brechin 1 (Trouten 55-pen)

Hibernian 3 (Dja Djedje 42, Gordon 60-og, McGeouch 68) Arbroath 1 (Stewart 17)

Partick 1 (Taylor 67) Inverness CT 2 (Watkins 16, Tansey 27)

Queen of the South 2 (Lyle 48, Reilly 90) St Johnstone 0

Spartans 1 (Mackinnon 90) Berwick 1 (Willis 4)

English Premier League

London: English Premier League results yesterday:

Burnley 2 (Barnes 11, Ings 32) West Brom 2 (Brunt 45, Ideye 67)

Newcastle 1 (Colback 74) Stoke 1 (Crouch 90)

West Ham 1 (Kouyate 49) Manchester United 1 (Blind 90)

Played on Saturday

Aston Villa 1 (Okore 48) Chelsea 2 (Hazard 8, Ivanovic 66)

Everton 0 Liverpool 0

Leicester 0 Crystal Palace 1 (Ledley 55)

Manchester City 1 (Milner 90) Hull 1 (Meyler 35)

QPR 0 Southampton 1 (Mane 90)

Swansea 1 (Ki 66) Sunderland 1 (Defoe 42)

Tottenham 2 (Kane 56, 86) Arsenal 1 (Ozil 11)

31SPORT MONDAY 9 FEBRUARY 2015

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BY RIZWAN REHMAT

DOHA: Experienced Spanish cyclist Jose Joaquin Rojas yes-terday drew first blood at the Tour of Qatar opener, edging former champion Tom Boonen in a tight-bunched sprint near the Sealine Beach Resort.

The 29-year-old Movistar rider let out a scream of joy when he beat 34-year-old Boonen to the finish line of the first stage that started in Dukhan.

Boonen, riding for Ettix Quick Step, failed to find that extra burst of energy and finished in second spot, a notch ahead of Frenchman Arnaud Demare of FDJ.

Acclaimed British cycling giant Bradley Wiggins (Sky) and Marcel Kittel (Giant-Alpecin) were among the riders who lost contact with the 51-man leading group on the run-in to the finish.

Rojas clocked a time of 3 hours 49 minutes and 50 seconds as heavy crosswinds fractured the group of 141 riders into two close to the finish line.

“I jumped after many riders, on the side of the fence,” Rojas said. “I could see there was a window for me to move on,” he added.

“I will enjoy this victory. I did not expect this win,” Rojas said. “We will see what happens tomor-row. It was a nervous day. When the riders accelerated, I had to focus on the strong winds as well,” the Spaniard said.

“There was an opportunity to win the stage and I took it,” Rojas said.

“We always expect that it will

be windy. That’s how it is in Qatar,” Rojas said when asked about strong crosswinds. “We knew that. We came with that idea (to battle winds),” he added.

“I am in very good shape. I am not afraid about the big names,” Rojas said. “Yes, I can build on the lead tomorrow but we will have to wait and see.”

Two days after the final stage of the women’s Tour of Qatar, the wind had picked up but was this time blowing from the south-east.

As expected it was a tough day for the men who gathered at Dukhan for the start of their edi-tion of the Tour. Facing the wind for most of the day, the 141 riders took off at 1.23pm for the 136km stage.

After just a kilometre of rac-ing, two riders managed to break away: Jarl Salomein (TSV) and Luca Sterbini (BAR). Their lead rapidly grew and went from 2’50 at the 8km mark to a maxi-mum 10’40 at the 22km mark, while Matti Breschel (TCS) and Mark Vandenberghe (EQS), on a

counter-attack, were 7’15 adrift.While the counter attackers

were caught at the 32km mark, the front two reached the first intermediate sprint (38km mark), won by Salomein, with a 5’05 lead.

The two riders were eventually caught at the 65km mark. Shortly after, the battle between favour-ites kicked off. Indeed, as the Trek and Etixx Quickstep teams picked up the pace at the front, the pack broke up into several groups. A total of 46 men were present in a front group.

The only favourites or big names failing to make it to the front were Alejandro Valverde (MOV), Nacer Bouhanni (COF), Lars Boom (AST) and Wiggins.

After enjoying a 25” advantage, the leaders’ group was eventually caught at the 81km mark. As the bunched pack headed towards the second bonus sprint, Boonen and Peter Sagan (TCS) were caught

in a crash.Moments later, the sprint was

then claimed by Nikias Arndt (TGA) ahead of Niki Terpstra (EQS) and Roberto Ferrari (LAM).

After having tried his luck a first time, Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) gave it a second go at the 95km mark. After enjoying a 25” lead, the Belgian was rapidly caught back.

At the 107km mark, three other riders took off on a breaka-way: Breschel (TCS), Boom and Westra (AST). Their lead reached an interesting one minute some five kilometres later. But as the pack chased harder and broke up into several groups, there wasn’t much the escapees could do.

They were caught at the 125km mark as just over 50 riders were leading the race.

The big names not present at the front were Marcel Kittel

(TGA), Boasson Hagen (MTN), Wiggins (SKY) and Filippo Pozzato (LAM). With 10 kilome-tres to go, the leaders had a 45” advantage.

That gap dropped down to 11” with 3km to go. But there was no catching the front group. In a final bunched sprint, Rojas surprised the field as he took off early.

The Spaniard managed to keep his impressive pace all the way to the line, beating Boonen and Démare to conquer his first ever success in Qatar.

Thanks to his victory, the Spaniard captured the overall leader’s Golden Jersey that he will be wearing today from Al Wakra to Al Khor.

Rojas also leads the points classification while Démare con-quered the Pearl White Jersey for the best young rider.

THE PENINSULA

Spanish surprise as Rojas stuns Boonen for opening stage gloryExperienced Spaniard edges former champion in the first stage of the Tour of Qatar

Cycling ResultsTop 10 riders in stage one

1 Jose Joaquin Rojas (Spa) Movistar Team 3:49:50

2 Tom Boonen (Bel) Etixx — Quick-Step

3 Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ.fr

4 Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo

5 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Argon 18

6 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek Factory Racing

7 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) IAM Cycling

8 Andrea Guardini (Ita) Astana Pro Team

9 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Team Katusha

10 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits

General classification after stage 1

1 Jose Joaquin Rojas (Spa) Movistar Team 3:49:40

2 Tom Boonen (Bel) Etixx - Quick-Step 0:00:04

3 Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ.fr 0:00:06

4 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Etixx - Quick-Step 0:00:08

5 Roberto Ferrari (Ita) Lampre-Merida 0:00:09

6 Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:00:10

7 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Argon 18

8 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek Factory Racing

9 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) IAM Cycling

10 Andrea Guardini (Ita) Astana Pro Team

Point classification after stage one

1 Jose Joaquin Rojas (Spa) Movistar Team 15 pts

2 Tom Boonen (Bel) Etixx - Quick-Step 12

3 Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ.fr 9

4 Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo 7

5 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Argon 18 6

6 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek Factory Racing 5

7 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Giant-Alpecin 4

8 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) IAM Cycling 4

9 Jarl Salomein (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise 3

10 Andrea Guardini (Ita) Astana Pro Team 3

Team classification after stage one

1 Astana Pro Team 11:29:30

2 FDJ

3 Etixx-Quick Step

4 Team Katusha

5 Trek Factory Racing

6 Tinkoff-Saxo

7 BMC Racing Team

8 IAM Cycling

9 Bora-Argon 18

10 Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:00:13

Spain’s Jose Joaquin Rojas (left) punches the air as he crosses the finish line to win the 136km first stage of the 2015 Tour of Qatar, between Dukhan to Sealine Beach, yesterday. PICTURES: SALIM MATRAMKOT

Australia’s Dennis sets one hour world recordGRANGES, Switzerland: Australian cyclist Rohan Dennis became the latest rider to break the world hour record complet-ing 52.491km on the track in Granges, Switzerland, yesterday.

The 24-year-old — who recently won the Tour Down Under — broke the previous mark of 51.852km set by Austrian Mathias Brandle last October in Aigle, Switzerland.

Dennis, world track pursuit champion in 2011, was always on target to break the record and was at one point in line for com-pleting 52.739km but he slowed down in the final 10 minutes.

His success, at a track close to his team BMC’s headquarters, comes a week after his compatriot

Jack Bobridge failed in his bid in Melbourne.

“I feel pretty proud, also happy. I’ve prepared myself for a long time, it’s a huge relief,” Dennis said.

“I’m really proud to take the chance. 2015 starts better than expected, with the victory in the Tour Down Under and now this record. It’s absolutely amazing. We set 52.5 km as the goal, above this it would have been a bonus.”

The 2012 Olympic team pursuit silver medallist and 2011 world team track pursuit champion bec-came the first Australian to claim the record.

Dennis said that he believed he could improve on the record.

“Yes I can improve this record.

There are some things I didn’t do perfectly, my pacing could be bet-ter, I could have more control,” he said.

“As I’m getting older, I’m get-ting stronger.”

Dennis, Olympic team pur-suit silver medalist in 2012, may not have the record for long as several other formidable cyclists have pledged to tackle the mark this year including British legend Olympic and world time-trial champion as well as the 2012 Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins.

“Wiggins is the main rider to be able to beat me,” admitted Dennis.

“There’s also (Thomas) Dekker, we have to see what the altitude in Mexico can bring.” AFP

The CEO of the Qatar Cycling Federation, Ahmed Al

Humeidi, hands over a bouquet

to Jose Joaquin Rojas on the podium

after the Spaniard won the first stage

of the 2015 Tour of Qatar,

from Dukhan to Sealine Beach,

yesterday.

Australian cyclist Rohan Dennis (left) and his coach Neal Henderson celebrate after breaking the hour record for bicycles at the Velodrome Suisse in Grenchen, Switzerland, yesterday.

Tour of Qatar Stages

Stage 2: Monday, February 9 - Al Wakra to Al Khor Corniche - 194.5km

Stage 3: Tuesday, February 10 - Losail to Losail - 10.9km individual time trial

Stage 4: Wednesday, February 11 - Al Thakhira to Mesaieed - 165.5km

Stage 5: Thursday, February 12 - Al Zubara Fort to Madinat Al Shamal - 153km

Stage 6: Friday, February 13 - Sealine Beach Resort to Doha Corniche - 124.5km

Monday 9 February 201520 Rabial II 1436

Volume 19Number 6336

Price: QR2

editor@pen.com.qa | adv@pen.com.qa Editorial: 44557741 | Advertising: 44557837 / 44557780www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

Sport | 26 Sport | 28

NBA: Warriors prevail over NY Knicks

Azarenka confirmed for Qatar Open

SportQatar set to host Formula OneWe are about to sign contracts to organise a race: QMMF President Al Attiyah DOHA: Qatar is close to sign-ing a contract to host a Formula One Grand Prix within the next two years, the president of the country’s motor sport federa-tion has said.

Nasser bin Khalifa Al Attiyah, who is also the Vice-President of the International Automobile Federation (FIA), said the race would be held in 2016 or 2017, add-ing to the growing list of high-profile international sporting events hosted by Qatar.

“We are about to sign contracts to organise a Formula One race,” Al Attiyah said. “We have com-pleted all the steps and there are only a few details before the offi-cial signature,” he added.

Al Attiyah added that Qatar would offer the choice of two cir-cuits on which to race, either in Losail which has already hosted Moto GP and World Superbike events, or a specially-designed street course through the capital Doha.

There have previously been question marks over whether Qatar could host a Grand Prix because it relied on the approval

of Bahrain and Abu Dhabi, which already host races.

In December, Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone said Bahrain and Abu Dhabi would not allow Qatar to join the Grand Prix racing circuit. But it now appears any problems have been ironed out.

In September 2004, Qatar hosted the first ever MotoGP

leg and then four years later introduced night racing at Losail International Circuit.

Qatar invested an additional $15m to have state-of-the-art floodlight beams erected at Losail Circuit.

Since 2008, Qatar’s Losail Circuit has been hosting the opening leg of the MotoGP World Championship under lights.

Nasser bin Khalifa Al Attiyah, Vice-President of the

International Automobile

Federation (FIA) and President of Qatar Motor and Motorcycle

Federation (QMMF) says Qatar is about to sign contracts for hosting a Formula

One race.

Qatar is ploughing billions of pounds into sporting events and has won the right to host the 2022 World Cup and was also recently awarded the 2019 World Athletics Championships.

A week ago, Qatar drew unparalleled attention when it successfully staged the Men’s World Handball Championship. Last year, Doha staged a leg of

the FINA World Championship (short course). In October 2016, Qatar Cycling Federation (QCF) will stage the UCI World Road Championship. Later this year, the Qatar’s capital Doha will host the 2015 World Boxing Championships, the International Boxing Association (AIBA) con-firmed almost two years ago.

In 2019, Doha will welcome

athletes and fans for the IAAF World Athletics Championships, three years before Qatar becomes the first Arab country to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Last year in May, Qatar were awarded the rights to host the 48th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships set to be held in October 2018.

THE PENINSULA/AFP

A spectacular night shot of Losail

International Circuit which

could host Formula One race as Qatar is set to get the hosting of

a race.

SRI LANKA’S WEEKLY NEWS UPDATES

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