Business | 17 Sport | 28

Boost for loan books of Qatari banks

Jorge Lorenzo wins British Grand Prix

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Monday 2 September 2013

26 Shawwal 1434 - Volume 18

Number 5810 Price: QR2

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

ISO 9001:2008

CAIRO: Egypt deported three Al Jazeera journalists yester-day, days after the channel car-ried appeals from leaders of ousted President Mohammed Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood to stage protests against the army-backed government.

Al Jazeera’s offices in Cairo have been closed since July 3, when they were raided by secu-rity forces hours after Mursi was toppled, although the channel, broadcast from Qatar, can still be seen in Egypt.

Security officials at Cairo airport, declining to be named, said Wayne Hay, Adil Bradlow and Russ Finn had been put on an Egyptian plane headed for London, after being forced to leave their equipment behind.

AFP

Car-stone art in Saudi

Youths mount their cars on stones in the Saudi city of Duba. This new art-form trending in Saudi Arabia is called ‘Tahjir’ or ‘Stoning’, in which cars are raised atop stacked piles of rocks and bricks.

Egypt expels three Al Jazeera journalists

DOHA: About one-and-a-half months after implementing the government ban on issu-ing driver’s licences to certain segments of expatriate work-ers, driving schools say that the decision has hit them hard, causing a major decline in the number of their customers.

Some schools say that the number of trainees has dropped by 30 to 40 percent while some others put it at 15 to 20 percent.

The decision apparently has resulted in shorter waiting lists in driving schools and faster enrol-ment for admission-seekers who are eligible for a licence.

Given the significant drop in the number of applicants, driv-ing school officials believe that the ban could have a positive role in reducing traffic congestions in Doha and other cities.

The ban applies to more than 160 categories of expatriate work-ers, most of whom belong to the blue-collar segment. The list also includes categories such as typ-ists, translators and some sec-tions of salesmen. “We have seen a drop in the number of train-ees by 30 to 40 percent since the decision was implemented. This is natural because labourers form a major segment of our students,” Adil Saleem, manager of Al Raya driving school told this daily yesterday.

He said initially there was con-fusion among the schools as well

as licence seekers about the cat-egories included in the ban.

“This problem has almost been solved after the Traffic Department issued a full list of the job categories,” said Adil.

A source from another driv-ing school said, the list, in Arabic is vague on some categories but a representative of the Traffic Department is available in every school to clarify on such issues and decide on the applications.

The source claimed that the impact of the decision on new enrolments was not as severe as was initially expected. He, how-ever, admitted that waiting time for new admission-seekers has significantly come down after the new decision.

A senior official of the Gulf Driving School said the deci-sion had caused a decline in the number of trainees by 15 to 20 percent. He was, however, hope-ful that the government would review the decision once major construction works in the country are completed.

Some industry insiders have expressed the view that the deci-sion will have a negative impact on companies that have employed a large number of labourers.

“The new decision could force companies to change the profes-sions of some segments of their workers to make them eligible for a driver’s licence,” said an expert.

THE PENINSULA

Curbs on licence take toll on driving schools

RP stickers on passports may be scrappedE-link to ease GCC visa procedures

CAIRO: Ousted Egyptian president Mohammed Mursi is to stand trial for “incitement to murder”, state television reported yesterday without giv-ing a date for the trial.

It said he will stand trial in a criminal court along with 14 other suspects in his Muslim Brotherhood movement on charges of “incitement to murder and violence” in December 2012 when seven people were killed in clashes between his supporters and opponents. See also page 8

Mursi faces trial for ‘inciting murder’

The Foreign Minister H E Dr Khalid bin Mohamed Al Attiyah attends a meeting of the Arab League with foreign ministers of Arab countries on Syria yesterday at the organisation’s Cairo headquarters.

CAIRO: Saudi Arabia and the head of the Syrian opposition National Coalition yesterday made appeals for US-led strikes on Syria, urging Arab nations to back them.

The calls were delivered in sep-arate speeches by Saudi Foreign Minister Saud Al Faisal and Coalition chief Ahmad Al Jarba at a meeting of Arab League foreign ministers in Cairo.

The final resolution passed at meeting in Cairo urged the UN and international community to “take the deterrent and necessary measures against the culprits of this crime that the Syrian regime bears responsibility for”.

“I am here before you today to appeal to your brotherly and humanitian sentiments and ask you to back the international operation against the destruc-tive war machine” of the Syrian regime, Jarba told the Cairo meeting.

The Saudi foreign minister told his colleagues in the pan-Arab body, which is divided over the conflict, that opposing mili-tary intervention in Syria would encourage the Damascus regime to “pursue its crimes”.

“Opposition to international action only encourages the regime to pursue its crimes,” Prince Saud told the Arab

League meeting. “It is time to ask the international community to assume its responsibilities and to take deterrent measures” against the Syrian regime, he added.

Arab League foreign ministers had initially planned to meet on Tuesday to discuss an imminent US-led punitive strike on Syria for allegedly gassing civilians on August 21 in Damascus suburbs.

The meeting was brought for-ward to Sunday as US President Barack Obama said he was determined to launch a strike on Syrian regime targets and would seek congressional approval for it. Washington says the alleged chemical attack killed hundreds

of people and Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday that Washington had proof the Syrian regime used sarin gas.

The US has pointed to the Arab League as a potential ally for military action against Syria but several member states of the Cairo-based organisation are opposed to a strike.

Saudi Arabia and Qatar, major backers of rebels fighting to top-ple Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, want firm action while other Arab states such as Syria neighbours Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan have ruled out joining any attack. AGENCIES

See also pages 5, 8 & 10

Syria opposition, Saudi plead for strikes

DOHA: The system of putting residence permit (RP) stick-ers on passports of expatriate workers during issuance and renewal of RPs could go, if a GCC proposal in this regard is approved by the authorities concerned.

The 28th meeting of GCC immigration directors which began here yesterday discussed this issue, among a series of other important issues. The meeting discussed a proposal to use ID cards instead of the paper stick-ers on the passports and store all vital information about residents on these cards.

Qatar currently uses ID cards as a vital tool of personal identi-fication but has not yet abolished the sticker system. Introduction of smart ID cards for citizens and expatriates allow the card hold-ers to avail of various Ministry of Interior services online including renewal of residence permits of people under personal or company sponsorship. The procedure may become simpler and faster, if the sticker system is abolished.

The high-level meeting stressed the importance of working on an electronic link to simplify the pro-cedures for issuance of visas and residence permits between the GCC states.

The meeting also discussed measures related to issuance

of visas to expatriates visiting other GCC countries and facili-ties provided to them. Details of the discussions were not disclosed yesterday.

A proposal submitted by Qatar on a training programme for GCC immigration employees and granting them a diploma on suc-cessful completion of the course was also discussed in the meeting.

The three-day meeting at Ritz Carlton will conclude tomorrow.

The Qatari delegation is headed by Director General of General Directorate of Border Passports and Expatriate Affairs (GDBPEA) Brigadier Abdulla Salim Al Ali.

Assistant Director General of GDBPEA Brig Mohammed Ahmed Al Ateeq, Director of Search and Follow up Department Brig Nasser Mohammed Al Sayed, Director of Border Passports Dept Col Nasser Abdullah Al Thani, Assistant Director of Nationality and Travel Documents Dept Col Hamad Abdul Wahab Al Mutawwa and Assistant Director of Information Systems Dept Col Abdul Rahman Ali Al Maliki are also part of the Qatari team.

Brig Yousuf bin Ahmed Al Ghatm, assistant undersecretary of Borders and Search and Follow up in Bahrain chaired the sessions yesterday. THE PENINSULA

Picture on page 3

NSA spied on Al Jazeera: Report FRANKFURT: The US National Security Agency (NSA) spied on the internal communications of France’s for-eign ministry and diplomats and those of Al Jazeera, a German magazine said yesterday.

Der Spiegel reported that in 2010 the NSA monitored the internal computer network of France’s diplomats and that of

the ministry itself by accessing so-called virtual private networks, a tool that generally offers a secure Internet connection to users.

The “top secret” NSA docu-ment seen by the magazine and dated June 2010 said French dip-lomatic offices in New York and Washington had bugs installed on the premises and that screen-shots were taken from computer

monitors in UN offices. Yesterday’s revelations are also believed to originate from Snowden.

Al Jazeera was another NSA target, the magazine said, with its internal communications sys-tem successfully hacked due to its “high potential as sources of intel-ligence,” according to a March 2006 NSA document seen by Der Spiegel. AFP

02 HOMEMONDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2013

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DOHA: The New York-based multi-national financial services corporation, MasterCard, yesterday announced the official launch of its Priceless Arabia campaign, which will bring the global ‘Priceless Cities’ programme to its cus-tomers in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region, including Qatar, for the first time, said a statement yesterday.

The campaign, aiming to bring consumers closer to their passions through this offer, recognises and celebrates the region, build-ing on the global destinations strategy since its inception in 2011.

Be it embracing history at Petra in Jordan, following the paths of pharaohs in Egypt, discovering the natural wonders of

Oman or experiencing the very best that Dubai has to offer, Priceless Arabia will give cardholders unique experiences in one of the world’s most diverse and exciting regions.

Travel, attractions, sports, dining, shop-ping and entertainment are at the heart of the campaign, and cardholders can avail exclusive offers and experiences in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Oman, Lebanon, Morocco, Kuwait and Bahrain.

“With its rich cultural heritage and booming tourism and travel sector, the Middle East is the ideal market to introduce our latest Priceless Cities campaign, which stresses the importance of memorable expe-riences rather than material things,” said Raghu Malhotra, Division President, Middle

East and North Africa, MasterCard. “The Arab region shares many common-

alities among its diverse population with its common language, cultural similarities and high interregional travel habits.

“It is these similarities that inspired us to develop MasterCard’s first region-wide Priceless Arabia campaign as a natural evolution of the global Priceless Cities pro-gramme we have launched in other markets.

“This region will remain a strategic focus for MasterCard.

“And as the programme develops, we will be creating even more priceless opportuni-ties for residents and overseas visitors,” he added.

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: A regular bedtime routine for children can help prevent sleep difficulties, ensuring a child gets ade-quate rest needed for growth and development, says an expert at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC).

Senior Consultant and Deputy Head of Paediatrics at HMC, Dr Ibrahim Ahmad Al Janahi, has stressed the importance of sleep and says a bedtime routine, for example giving your child a bath each night, signals to the child that it’s time to rest.

“It is preferable to start this routine from the bathroom or

the living room and it should end in the bedroom,” he explains.

“A bedtime routine could include washing the child’s face and hands and brushing his or her teeth. Some children also like to say goodnight to their family members or to have their favourite toys or items placed around them each night.

“It is important that children feel good about their bedrooms and space. Parents need to help their children ‘wind down’ before bedtime and a good way to do this is reading a story to them.”

According to Dr Al Janahi,

the amount of sleep a child needs varies according to their age and other factors, including their brain development.

“Children’s growth hormones are stimulated when they are asleep, so adequate rest is vital for their development,” Dr Al Janahi said.

Babies from one to two months typically need to sleep for 14 to 18 hours a day, children between one and two years need 12 hours, those between eight and 12 years require at least eight hours and teenagers need around 10 hours due to physi-cal changes they experience, he said. THE PENINSULA

Dr Ibrahim Ahmad Al Janahi

Bedtime routine can solve children’s sleep disorders

Priceless Arabia campaign by MasterCard

DOHA: The interest in pur-suing career in nursing has increased among students in Qatar and the University of Calgary-Qatar has received 123 new students this week.

The student population at UCQ has increased by 25 per-cent this year. Seventy-four of the 400 students are Qatari. Among the new students, 23 are male.

“Your journey to becoming part of the future of nurs-ing in Qatar begins here,” said UCQ Dean and CEO, Dr Kim Critchley in her welcome address at UCQ101.

“The degree you will earn is a bachelor of nursing from the University of Calgary in Canada. This is the gold stand-ard of nursing degrees.”

The growth in enrolment is clear indication of the high esteem in which the profession

is coming to be regarded in Qatar.

The need for locally edu-cated professional nurses is highlighted in the National Healthcare Strategy and sup-ported in Nursing Strategy 2013-2015 of Hamad Medical Corporation.

As best education is needed to produce the best nurses for Qatar, the campus of an estab-lished Canadian university with more than 155,000 alumni and an international reputation, the UCQ’s sole mission is to enrich Qatar’s health and wellness through educating nurses.

UCQ’s new nursing students join the hundreds being edu-cated for careers as nurses and nursing leaders in Qatar.

THE PENINSULA

UCQ receives 123 new students as interest in nursing increases

UCQ Dean and CEO, Dr Kim Critchley, addressing the new students.

DOHA: Primedia Qatar, a multi-media search solution provider, has announced the release of the first edition of its banking directory “Qatar Banking and Finance”, yesterday.

“Qatar Banking and Finance” is the latest addition to Primedia international’s publications portfolio specialised in the banking and finance industry.

Serving the entire country, “Qatar Banking and Finance” is to become the exclusive source of information for this sector: Comprehensive list-ings of banks, financial institutions, investment, insurance and support companies, Who’s Who section of the industry leaders, expert insights, and more.

With this new dedicated brand, Primedia offers the industry’s stakeholders five exclusive opportunities to maximise their visibility locally, regionally and internationally: Banks in Bahrain, Arab Banking & Finance, Qatar Banking & Finance, Banking & Finance Directory UAE, and Global Islamic Finance.

“We are excited to publish the first edition of the Qatar banking and finance directory,” said Chief Operating Officer Aldrin S Menezes.

“Industry leaders have been very enthusiastic about this project and there is no doubt that Qatar Banking and Finance is the most trust-ful reference for the developing Qatari banking segment,” he added. THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Vodafone yesterday announced the addition of three new countries to Vodafone Passport — France, the US and Switzerland. Existing and new Vodafone postpaid customers will enjoy a standard roaming rate of Dh75 per minute/SMS/MB when roaming in these countries.

This is a massive reduction in the regular rates a customer would pay when roaming.

For instance, when roaming in France, a customer would pay a regular rate of QR55 per MB while when activating the Passport, a customer will only pay Dh75. This comes in addition to 23 countries already on Vodafone Passport that also enable custom-ers to roam for Dh75 per minute/SMS/MB.

They are: The UAE, Saudi Arabia, the UK, India, Egypt, Germany, Turkey, Italy, Australia, Spain, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Greece, South Africa, Ireland, Ghana, Romania, Czech Republic, Portugal, Hungary, Iceland, Albania, and Malta. Vodafone Passport is a bonus that can be added for free to the Postpaid Gold Plan or the above scheme.

THE PENINSULA

3 more nations in Vodafone scheme

HMC expert stresses adequate rest for kids’ overall development

Primedia Qatar launches its first banking directory

The cover of the directory.

DOHA: The Strategic Planning Department at the Ministry of Interior has started a survey for clients of the Expatriates Affairs Department at Border Passports and Expatriates Affairs Directorate to measure customer satisfaction on vari-ous services.

The survey team has distrib-uted forms which include ques-tions on services.

First Lieutenant Mohamed Ghaith Al Kuwari, from Information and Statistics Section at Strategic Planning Department, said the survey will last one week.

He said that during the survey, the department has found that there was major progress in the performance level of the employ-ees in receiving clients and pro-viding required services.

THE PENINSULA

Interior Ministry survey on client satisfaction

03MONDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2013

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com HOME

FM receives new Greek envoy

The Foreign Minister H E Dr Khalid bin Mohammed Al Attiyah yesterday received Greek Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Qatar, Ioannis Metaxas, who presented copies of his credentials.

DOHA: Ooredoo’s ‘Heart-to-Heart’ contest winners were awarded special prizes during a ceremony at the company’s headquarters recently.

The contest, which was hosted on the company’s Facebook page, asked Ooredoo customers a simple question: “If you had QR10,000, to whom would you give it, and why?” People submitted their answers in 30-second record-ings via a webcam, which were uploaded onto a special Heart-to-Heart app on the Ooredoo Qatar

Facebook page, where fans voted for the best video. Five winners were announced. Each had a spe-cial reason why they wanted the money.

Mohammad Reza Raisi said he would give the money to his father, for the help and support he had provided through his life.

Joey Domingo Rendon said he would give the money to his brother, who is expecting a new child in his family.

Loradel Panaligan is going to give the money to her friend, who

needs help with medical bills, while Michael Diaz is set to give the money to his wife and kids, so they can enjoy life. The fifth win-ner, Fatima Azzam, is providing the money to her neighbour, who helped her during her pregnancy in recent weeks.

‘Heart-to-Heart’ was one of a series of special initiatives hosted by Ooredoo during Ramadan, and the latest in a series of engaging contests and entertainment on its popular Facebook page.

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: An international study programme to overcome learn-ing challenges commonly faced by students is set to become available in Qatar.

Pearson, the world’s larg-est education company, and StudyPlus, a subsidiary of ScorePlus Middle East, have announced a partnership which will see thousands of schoolchil-dren in Qatar provided with state-of-the-art learning pro-grammes at their new centre in Al Saad, Doha.

The programmes cover key areas in maths, literacy and English language curricula and have been developed to overcome learning challenges commonly

faced by students in these areas.The programmes include

Mathematics Navigator, a highly flexible learning tool to overcome misconceptions and fill critical gaps in maths knowledge by building students’ conceptual understanding and problem solv-ing skills.

Algebra skills will also be enhanced through the use of Onramp to Algebra, a pro-gramme to ensure students are adequately prepared for advanced algebra instruction.

Literacy Navigator will also be implemented to develop stu-dents’ skills in comprehending informational text and help them navigate texts found in their

content area classes, such as sci-ence and social studies.

English language develop-ment will be assisted through implementation of the Language Central programme in schools, targeting students’ conceptual understanding, academic vocab-ulary, written and oral language and comprehension skills.

Nigel Kelly, Head of Middle East publishing at Pearson, is convinced that the availability of these programmes in Qatar will help students achieve their learning potential, and play a key role in realising the govern-ment’s goal of creating a compet-itive, knowledge-based economy.

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Nearly 5,000 Qatari women have been treated under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) since its launch and the first mother benefiting from it gave birth on July 17 at the Women’s Hospital.

As of August 27, 4,760 women availed the National Health Insurance Scheme, which in phase 1 covers maternity, obstet-rics, gynaecology and related healthcare services.

They included 1,047 inpatients and 3,713 outpatients at partici-pating hospitals and clinics, while the call centre received over 800 enquiries during its first six weeks of operations.

Introduced by the Supreme Council of Health as part of its National Health Strategy,

the National Health Insurance Scheme aims to provide world class healthcare to all Qatari nationals and expatriates.

Phase 1 of the National Health Insurance programme covers female Qatari nationals aged 12 and above. “To be honest, I was a bit worried because I didn’t know how the insurance scheme would work and what I needed to do to get coverage,” said Elham Hussein. She was one of the first women to receive services under the National Health Insurance Scheme.

“Luckily, when I went to Al Ahli Hospital, everything went very smoothly and I was admit-ted right away without any difficulties.

“The National Health

Insurance Scheme really makes things much easier because you know that you are covered and you know that you can go to hos-pital and be treated right away,” she added.

HMC Women’s Hospital, Al Emadi Hospital, Al Ahli Hospital and Doha Clinic Hospital are part of the National Health Insurance Scheme, with Al Wakra Hospital, Al Khor Hospital and the Cuban Hospital scheduled to be added to the provider network in September.

With all Qatari females aged 12 and above automatically enrolled in the scheme, a Qatari ID issued by the Ministry of Interior is all that is needed to access National Health Insurance Scheme health-care services at the participating

hospitals of one’s choice. “We are very pleased with

the smooth introduction of the National Health Insurance Scheme,” explained Dr Faleh Mohamed Hussain Ali, acting CEO of the National Health Insurance Company (NHIC) which manages the National Health Insurance Scheme.

“Thousands of patients have been treated in the first one-and-a-half month since the scheme’s launch in what is a strong tes-tament to seamless integration between the participating hospi-tals and the NHIC to implement the National Health Insurance Scheme.”

The scheme will be rolled out in five phases over the next two years. The next phase will expand

the coverage to include all Qatari nationals, regardless of age or gender. The second stage will also see an expansion of healthcare services to include all medical dis-ciplines. Expats and visitors will be added to the National Health Insurance Scheme in the subse-quent stages.

“The smooth launch of the scheme reflects a lot of the work that went into preparing the healthcare sector for the launch of the scheme,” said the Project Manager for the National Health Insurance Scheme at the Supreme Council of Health, Husein Reka.

“As more providers are added over the coming weeks, the scheme will reach out to more Qatari women covered in the first stage.” THE PENINSULA

Emir, Premier greet presidentsDOHA: The Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani yesterday sent a cable of con-gratulations to the President of Slovakia, Ivan Gašparovic, on his country’s National Day. The Emir also sent a congratu-latory cable to the President of Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov, on his country’s National Day.

The Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani sent similar cables.

Envoy presents credentialsBUENOS AIRES: The Chief of Protocol at Argentina’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ambassador Dario Lucas received Qatar’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Fahad bin Ibrahim Al Hamad Al Mana who presented his credentials.

QNA

Drilling vessel

A drilling vessel anchored at Doha Corniche. KAMMUTTY VP

New programmes to help Qatar students overcome challenges

NHIS benefits 5,000 Qatari womenPhase 1 of National Health Insurance Scheme covers maternity, obstetrics and gynaecology

Ooredoo awards contest winners

The GCC immigration directors holding their 28th meeting in Doha yesterday.

04 HOMEMONDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2013

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As a serious reader, what I look forin a newspaper is the quality of contentsrather than glossy appearance.

n my view, a good newspaper provides the right balance between news and analysis. It is a newspaper that lets you read, think and arrive at your own conclusions.

It’s also important for a newspaper to cover issues and events that concern you, and cover them in-depth, not just provide loads of information with limited or no relevance to you. A newspaper that achieves all of these and provides the right mix of news and views is clearly the best newspaper.

The Peninsula fulfills all these criteria. It is one of the forerunnersin providing honest and unbiased reporting of local andinternational events.

I have been and willcontinue to be aPeninsula reader.

Dr. Saeed AI Sulaiman Director of Academic Affairs Qatar Aeronautical College

I

BY AZMAT HAROON

DOHA: The Qatar Pro Wrestling (QPW) will soon launch an exclusive gym to train Arab wrestling enthusiasts.

The facility, in its second phase of planning, will train many Qataris and Arabs to become professional wrestlers, a senior official of QPW said yesterday.

“At the moment we don’t have Qatari professional wrestlers and that’s because it’s a new business here. But the next step of QPW is to have a wrestling gym for all Arabs to get training to become

pro-wrestlers,” Ali Al Marafia, the Founder and Chairman of QPW, said.

He was speaking at the launch of the QPW World Championship that will be held in the first week of October in Doha. The three-day championship will feature many famous international wrestlers.

Although Qatar is home to a large fan-base of sport wrestling, due to a lack of support, organis-ing such events here is difficult.

“There are always challenges such as the selection of venue, safety and security, marketing and promotion, and ultimately

financial issues. It’s very difficult to work with government institu-tions in such cases because the process is usually slow,” said Bilal Taha, who previously organized the Middle-East’s first WWE event in Qatar.

He said the WWE event in Qatar cost him about $1.1m. “I didn’t make much money out of the first event and the QPW championship now is also more of an investment that aims to pro-mote the sport here.”

Taha said with the opening of the facility, the organisation will also be able to hunt wrestling

Qatar Pro Wrestling to launch gym

talent in the country. “Maybe, there are Qatari wres-

tlers we don’t know about. This gym would be the contact point for many of them.”

Carlos Edwin Colón, popularly known by his ring-name Carlito, who was in Doha for the launch

of the QPW Championship, said that becoming a professional wrestler was not an easy task.

“It’s very easy to be a wres-tler but to be successful at it is something entirely different,” said Colón, who has worked with World Wrestling Council (WWC),

WWE and RAW.Asked about violence and

blood in some matches, he said: “Wrestling is about entertain-ing people. After people see my match, I think they should feel like they saw something good.

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Wrestling enthusiasts in Qatar are in for a visual treat of action-packed entertainment as Doha sets stage for Qatar Pro Wrestling world championship featuring some of the most famous wrestlers in the world, including Bobby Lashley, Carlito, and Big V.

The championship is organised by Qatar Pro Wrestling (QPW), in cooperation with Hyatt Plaza shopping Mall and Global Entertainments, and it will take place on October 3, 4 and 5 at the Hyatt Plaza Shopping Mall.

“We are delighted to organise the first event of Qatar Pro Wrestling in Doha. With exceptional wrestlers coming from all over the world, QPW championship will be an action-packed and memo-rable event for wrestling lovers,” Ali Al Marafia, the Founder and Chairman of QPW told a press conference yesterday.

The three-day shows will feature famous wres-tlers, including Bobby Lashley, Carlito, Big V, Alofa, Chris Raaber, Chris Master, Michael Kovac, Johnny Moss, Rene Dupree Shehab Al Mossa and Matt Cross.

QPW has appointed former CEO and founder of Golden Relations, Bilal Taha, as event coordinator and adviser for the championship.

“The response we received for WWE in 2011 was overwhelming and has, since then, inspired us to take wrestling in Qatar to the next level,” Taha said.

QPW championship will take place in the tent at Hyatt Plaza shopping mall. Organisers said the aim was to attract more people to watch wrestling matches. “At previous wrestling events, cheapest ticket started from QR250 or QR300, so many could not watch matches live,” Taha said, adding that tick-ets of the event start from QR100.

QPW world title belt, valued at over $2,000, was also unveiled at the press conference.

Carlito, a professional wrestler best known for his work with World Wrestling Council (WWC), World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and RAW, was also present.

“We are glad to join hands with QPW and global entertainments in creating a first-of-its-kind inter-national wrestling championship in Qatar. Wrestling is a sport enjoyed by kids and adults alike and we believe our efforts will play an important role in promoting Qatar as a destination for unique interna-tional events,” said Feroz Moideen, General Manager, Hyatt Plaza Shopping Mall. Tickets are available in all Virgin megastores across Qatar.

THE PENINSULA

Feroz Moideen, General Manager, Hyatt Plaza, Ali Al Marafia, Founder and Chairman, QPW, Carlito Wrestler, Bilal Taha, event consultant QPW, Hussin Farhan, Manager of Big V, and Alofa with QPW belt during the Press conference at Hyatt Plaza yesterday. ABDUL BASIT

World championship next month

Attacks killed 800 Iraqis in August: UNBAGHDAD: About 800 Iraqis were killed in August, the United Nations said yesterday, condemning violence that has reached levels not seen since 2008.

Most of the 804 killed were civilians, targeted in shootings and bombings mainly claimed by the Iraqi wing of Al Qaeda. More than 2,000 people were wounded, UN fig-ures showed. The number of people killed last month was lower than in July, when the UN reported that there were 1,057 vic-tims, the highly monthly toll since 2008. REUTERS

It will train Qataris and Arabs to become professionals

MIDDLE EAST 05MONDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2013

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

ISTANBUL: Syrian President Bashar Al Assad has moved military equipment and personnel to civilian areas and put pris-oners in military sites as human shields against any Western air strikes, the opposition said yesterday.

The Istanbul-based opposition coalition said rockets, Scud missiles and launch-ers as well as soldiers had been moved to locations including schools, university dor-mitories and government buildings inside cities.

“Reports from inside Syria confirm that Assad has (also) ordered detainees to be moved to military targets and to be used as human shields against possible Western air strikes,” the opposition coalition said.

Ex-soldiers told Reuters last week that military sites in Syria were being packed with soldiers who had been effectively imprisoned by their superiors over doubts

about their loyalty, making them possible casualties in any US-led air strikes.

Thousands of loyal security forces and militia, meanwhile, have moved into schools and residential buildings in Damascus, mixing with the civilian popu-lation in the hope of escaping a Western strike, residents say.

Critics say the delay is simply buying Assad more time. The opposition coalition earlier called on the US Congress to back a military intervention and said international inaction during the conflict, now in its third year, had emboldened Assad and allowed the violence to escalate.

France said yesterday that it would await the US Congress’ decision. “France cannot go it alone,” Interior Minister Manuel Valls told Europe 1 radio. “We need a coalition.”

Meanwhile, Syria hailed an “historic American retreat” yesterday, mockingly

accusing US President Barack Obama of hesitation and confusion after he delayed a military strike to consult Congress.

With Obama drawing back from the brink, President Bashar Al Assad said Syria was capable of confronting any external strike, but left the most withering com-ments to his official media and a junior minister.

“Obama announced yesterday, directly or through implication, the beginning of the historic American retreat,” Syria’s official Al Thawra newspaper said in a front-page editorial. Syria’s Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad accused Obama of indecision.

“It is clear there was a sense of hesitation and disappointment in what was said by President Barack Obama yesterday. And it is also clear there was a sense of confusion as well,” he told reporters in Damascus.

REUTERS

Assad ‘deploying’ human shields

Ban presses for faster result: UNUNITED NATIONS: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon yester-day pressed UN chemi-cal weapons inspectors to speed up their verdict on a suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria, his spokesman said.

Samples collected in Syria will start to be sent to European laboratories from today.

The UN also revealed that two Syrian gov-ernment officials are observing the handling of evidence collected during a UN investigation into the August 21 attack near Damascus that prompted western threats of a mili-tary strike on President Bashar Al Assad’s forces.

Pressure on the UN is mounting as the United States said that it has proof that sarin gas was used by government forces in the attack on the Ghouta area, in the Damascus suburbs, which it says left hundreds dead. Ban spoke with the UN chemical weapons inquiry chief Ake Sellstrom yesterday, the UN spokes-man Martin Nesirky said.

“In light of the horren-dous magnitude of the 21 August incident,” Ban asked Sellstrom “to expedite the mission’s analysis of the samples and information it had obtained without jeopardizing the scientific timelines required for accu-rate analysis,” Nesirky said. “They discussed ways to further accelerate the proc-ess,” he added.

The United Nations has refused to announce its timeline for finishing the analysis. Nesirky said the presence of the govern-ment officials was part of the “guidelines” for the UN inquiry which was estab-lished after a demand by the Syrian government.

AFP

WASHINGTON: The Obama administration indicated yes-terday that it would launch mil-itary strikes against Syria even if it failed to get the backing of the US Congress, claiming evi-dence that sarin gas had been used in chemical attacks out-side Damascus last month.

Less than a day after the presi-dent vowed to put an attack to a congressional vote, Secretary of State John Kerry said the admin-istration was determined to act against the regime of Bashar Al Assad, and did not need the back-ing of Congress to do so.

Kerry, one of the leading advo-cates of a military assault on dic-tator Bashar Al Assad, claimed the US had identified the type of nerve agent used in the August 21 attacks on 12 neighbourhoods outside Damascus.

In a round of appearances on political shows yesterday, Kerry said the evidence of sarin came

from blood and hair samples from first responders who helped vic-tims of the attacks. Kerry said the evidence had not come from United Nations weapons inspec-tors, but did not give any fur-ther details of the source for the samples, nor where or when they had been tested. He said the case for attacks against the Syrian regime was growing stronger “by the day”.

Kerry said the Obama admin-istration’s clear preference was to win a vote in Congress that could occur as early as next week, after lawmakers return from their sum-mer recess on September 9. He said he was confident of a yes vote. “We don’t contemplate that the Congress is going to vote no,” Kerry told CNN, defending the decision to seek congressional authorisation that has stunned Washington and foreign capitals alike.

He stressed that President Barack Obama had the right

to take action “no matter what Congress does”. He said he could “hear the complaints” about presidential abuse had Obama not gone to Congress, but that its backing would give any military action greater credibility: “We are stronger as a nation when we act together.” But he added: “America intends to act.”

Syrian opposition figures have reacted with exasperation to what they perceive as Obama’s delay in striking against Assad.

While the Obama administra-tion insists that the exclusive pur-pose of any such military attack would be to punish the chemical weapons attack and deter future use, the fractious and diverse opposition hopes the anticipated US strike will finally tip the military balance in their favour, something they have not man-aged decisively in a two-and-a-half year civil war that has killed nearly 100,000 people.

Samir Nishar of the opposi-tion Syrian National Coalition called Obama a “weak president”, according to CNN. Kerry reacted to the evident Syrian opposition disappointment by suggesting that Obama will not limit US involvement in the foreign civil war to cruise missile strikes teth-ered to chemical weapons. The administration “may even be able to provide greater support to the opposition”, Kerry said.

Obama began providing weap-ons to Syrian rebels after deter-mining earlier this year that Assad had carried out a smaller-scale chemical attack.

Deeper involvement in the Syrian civil war has prompted deep reluctance within the US military to bless even a one-off military strike. General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and a multi-tour veteran of Iraq, has voiced such fears for more than two

years. “My worry about this is what’s the future, what’s the strategy,” said retired marine general Anthony Zinni, a former commander of US forces in the Middle East. “How much does this draw us further and further in incrementally?”

Several congressional hawks are asking the same question, but from a different perspective.

John McCain and Lindsey Graham, two of the most interven-tionist Republicans in the Senate, said they found it difficult to sup-port “isolated military strikes”. In a statement this weekend, the two said they wanted the goal of the military campaign to “achieve the president’s stated goal of Assad’s removal from power, and bring an end to this conflict”.

Kerry, responding to McCain and Graham, said he was con-fident the two senators would become convinced that “there will be additional pressure” on

Assad. “A strategy is in place in order to help the opposition and change the dynamics of what is happening in Syria,” Kerry told ABC News, while simultaneously denying the US would get sucked into the mire of the civil war.

Some leading legislators pre-dicted that Obama would win the vote. “At the end of the day, Congress will rise to the occasion,” Representative Mike Rogers, the chairman of the House intelli-gence committee, told CNN. “This is a national security issue.”

Kerry said he was not deterred by the paucity of allies who have signed on to the US impend-ing attack. Neither the United Nations nor even the US’s closest ally, the UK, will bless the loom-ing strike against Syria.

“We have a coalition of more than a few, but this is a situation that’s going to grow as the evi-dence comes out.”

GUARDIAN NEWS

Obama ‘has the right’ to strike Syria: KerrySecretary of State insists sarin gas used in Damascus attack; confident of yes vote in US Congress

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BY JONATHAN STEELE

B ARACK Obama still criticises the US-led attack on Iraq as a war of choice, not one of neces-

sity – which he claims the attack on Afghanistan was. Now he has turned his own plan to attack Syria into a similar war of choice, but the choos-ers are going to be very different from when George W Bush took his disas-trous decision a decade ago. No longer will it emerge from the bloodless bun-ker of the White House situation room with its steely computer lists of mili-tary hardware and images of projected targets. It will come from a raucous

Congress and the number-crunch-ers of the opinion polls that will be taken from the American public over the next few days.

Some may see it as a huge video game, reality TV on a mass scale. Having ruled out boots on the ground and thereby guaran-teed there will be no bodybags of US troops or pilots, Obama is asking a jury of safe spectators to press the yes or no buttons

on missile strikes. More than that, he proudly declares he is challeng-ing world leaders to get off the fence and approve his plans. He will make the case to the G20 countries at this week’s summit in St Petersburg.

He is even calling on Arab leaders to stand up and be counted. They are in an especially difficult position because the Arab street remembers decades

of western military intervention in their region and is deeply hostile to any more. Though the Arab League suspended Syria in November 2011, and many Arab monarchs are arm-ing and financing Bashar al-Assad’s opponents in the civil war, none has yet dared to come out publicly for an American attack. Obama says he has had private words of support, but he wants them to declare their allegiance in public.

It is a case of breathtaking arro-gance, a call for recognition that the US is not only the world’s policeman but the world’s enforcer. Obama said he was asking “every member of the global community” to consider what message impotence and inaction in the face of the use of chemical weapons would send to dictators everywhere. With a half-sentence that brushed the United Nations weapons inspectors aside and dismissed the security coun-cil for being “completely paralysed”, Obama was saying in effect: “We are the empire. Accept us.”

The difference between the rival motions that David Cameron and Ed Miliband put to the House of Commons and the one that Obama’s people have drafted for Congress is instructive. In Britain the tone was more good Samaritan than good cop, highlighting protection over punish-ment. Both motions in parliament talked of alleviating the suffering of Syrian civilians and emphasised the principle of humanitarian interven-tion. Although Cameron and Miliband used dubious legal grounds to try to justify bypassing a veto in the UN security council by saying western military strikes were needed to protect Syrians, Obama’s draft resolution only talks of “protecting the United States and its allies and partners”, as though there is suddenly a new threat to the wider world.

The president’s promise that mili-tary strikes on Syria would be limited

and narrow is of course welcome. There will be no Baghdad-style shock and awe. For that we can be grateful. But war is still war, and the dangers of unintended consequences, mission creep and cracking on for the sake of cracking on lurk behind every sandhill.

Obama’s draft resolution has a short paragraph on the need for a political settlement in Syria and even calls on the Geneva talks processto be resumed urgently. Is it cynical or just naive? Syrian rebels’ intransigence and their unwillingness to attend without pre-conditions are the main reason for the failure of Geneva so far. US military strikes will only embolden them to delay further. The hope of a ceasefire – by far the most reliable and prin-cipled mechanism to protect Syrian lives – will recede again.

The best hope lies with the American public. It is not just the futility of eight years of fighting in Iraq, frustration in Afghanistan, the loss of thousands of soldiers’ lives and the maiming of tens of thousands more that are causing so much doubt over a US attack on Syria now. Nor is it only the financial cost of war in an era of austerity. There is a growing sense that the problem goes beyond imperial overstretch. The very concept of empire is under scrutiny. Twenty years ago, Americans were proud to be the world’s hyper-power. They felt they had won a great vic-tory in the cold war. Now they see the pit into which that end-of-history triumphalism has led them. The US military-industrial complex and the power elite in Washington are feel-ing unusually uncomfortable. Even as pilotless drones and missiles have the potential to usher in an age of US casualty-free interventions, Obama is trying to summon Americans to take up a punitive role yet again. The next few days of national debate will be cru-cial, and in a week’s time we will see which button they press.

THE GUARDIAN

PAKISTAN AND Osama bin Laden’s nexus is back in spotlight. An appellate court in Pakistan raised eyebrows

when it out of the blue overturned the conviction of a Pakistani doctor who helped the CIA in netting the dreaded Al Qaeda leader.

By ordering a retrial, which sets aside Dr Shakil Afridi’s 33 years of imprison-ment, the court seems to have opened a Pandora’s box. Now the man whom the United States praises for his cour-age and intelligence skills — and the Pakistani establishment hates as a traitor — is once again an accused. Leon E. Panetta, who was director of

the CIA at the time of the raid in May 2011, had later confirmed that Afridi had played a role in the hunt for Bin Laden and expressed anger at his prosecu-tion. Since then Afridi’s fate has been a matter of contention between both the countries.

Little is known as to what prompted the local appellate bench to take such a dig, and whether its strings are being pulled from elsewhere or not. The retrial is likely to become an element of foreign policy, as Washington will once again try to prevail over Islamabad to ensure justice and possibly release Afridi. There were already calls from the US Congress to bestow the intelligence mole with US

citizenship for his services in locating Osama bin Laden. Afridi who ran a non-governmental organisation — engaged in providing hepatitis vaccination — was recruited by the CIA to provide intelli-gence about militants in the tribal areas, where he was working as a senior medi-cal officer. Though calls for his retrial and possible release were made for umpteen times, and the issue was taken up by senior US dignitaries visiting Islamabad, it is not clear why this sudden change of heart has come and that too at the very conventional level of dispensing justice.

Has the change of guard in Islamabad influenced such a move or Pakistan’s invisible powers-that-be are

gearing up for some quid pro quo with the Americans in lieu of Afridi are ques-tions that do not have an instant answer at this point of time. Moreover, the inter-esting aspect is that none from the fed-eral government, especially the law and foreign ministries, have come forward to make a comment over the issue. The fact that this retrial order has come after the leakage of Abbottabad Commission Report, which failed to blame any par-ticular individual or organ of the state for the US Navy SEAL operation that killed Osama and violated Pakistan’s sovereignty, is quite meaningful. Will Afridi walk free as Raymond Davis is anybody’s guess! Khaleej Times

Syria: The US public faces a grim reality TV choice

Any opposition to any international action would only encourage Damascus to move forward with committing its crimes and using all weapons of mass destruction.

Quote ofthe day

Saud Al FaisalSaudi Foreign Minister

The other side

Obama is asking

a jury of safe

spectators to

press the yes

or no button for

military strikes.

Will they vote

for an end to

empire?

T HE scene looked rather odd, a pleasant surprise for any Arab country -- hundreds of people taking to the streets, chanting slogans, anger writ large on their faces. It was no ordinary protest. The one

which happened in Iraq on Saturday was against what people called excessive privileges for their elected lawmakers. It’s unusual for people in an Arab country to protest against privileges which leaders heap on themselves. That Iraqis did that is a testament of both the strength of their democracy (whatever democracy the country enjoys) and the recklessness of their leaders who indulge in personal aggrandizement and enrichment when an entire population is struggling to survive.

Hundreds of people came out on to the streets in Baghdad and central and southern Iraq against generous pension payments to their lawmakers. Crowds chanted ‘oil is for the people, not the thieves’, and “no to squandering the wealth” as the government was giving thousands of dollars to parliamentary and government officials. The number of protesters marching on the streets was no indication of the extent of public anger. Security forces had closed most bridges connecting the two sides of Baghdad since Friday evening and blocked demonstrators from reaching their planned protest sites. Security forces also stopped media covering the

demonstrations. Unemployment was officially

estimated at eleven percent in Iraq in 2011, but that’s no actual figure. The country’s economy is in intensive care; sectarian strife between Sunnis and Shias has torn the country apart and poses serious risks to stability and peace, and daily bombings in which several people are killed have created instability and fear. There are multitudes of other problems that deserve urgent attention, but

the government of Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki has been accused of fiddling. There is nothing wrong with lawmakers claiming decent perks, but paying themselves exorbitantly when most of the population is struggling to make ends meet, and while practically doing nothing to improve the living conditions of people whom they represent, is a serious crime. Maliki owes an answer to the people and must take remedial measures to ensure that justice is done.

Much of the ills plaguing the country can be resolved if the government has the will. Iraq has an elected government and a security force which listens to the government. The current problems are created by terrorists and a small number of people with vested interests. The government will enjoy the support of the people if it acts against terrorists and miscreants. But unfortunately, it lacks the will.

Maliki has said he supported the protesters’ demands and would work to amend the salaries of high-profile officials. He needs to act urgently on many dangers facing the country •

Self-servants

Protests in Iraq against huge benefits for lawmakers reflect poorly on the Maliki government.

Editorial

06 VIEWS MONDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2013

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

Afridi’s retrial undercurrents

VIEWS 07MONDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2013

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

PADDY ASHDOWN

So what do we do now? The short-term answers are easy. The long-term ones pose real challenges for our country.

Parliament has spoken and — who can doubt it — reflected the current mood of the British people. Theirs is the sovereign voice and it must be respected — and it will be.

There are strange paradoxes here. It is pos-sible to be proud of a parliament that said no to the executive on a matter like military action. But sad; even — dare I say it — a little ashamed at the decision it took.

There are reasons for this. The leftover poisons of the Iraq war; the toxic effect of public distrust in our politics. Mishandling by the government. President Obama’s unwise attempt to rush to action. A Labour opposition that used its parliamentary duty to ask ques-tions as an excuse to avoid making decisions. These are reasons why we are where we are. But they are not excuses.

They do not diminish the damage done to our country’s standing — or the effect this will have on how we face the problem of conflict in a naughty world. We have made it more dif-ficult for Barack Obama to act. Maybe even now, he won’t. Then Great Britain, which led in international law and engagement, will lead a retreat from these ideals towards a new mood of growing isolationism.

The bottom line is this: Parliament was asked to join an international coalition led by a US Democrat president, whose aim, a

firm response to a flagrant breach of interna-tional law, was supported by most European and many Middle Eastern nations.

And parliament said no. The subtext is per-haps as disturbing as the headline. The par-liamentary division figures show the darker figures lurking below Labour’s clever strategis-ing. The government lost because of 30 Tories (and I regret nine Liberal Democrats). Among the former, many, if not most, want Britain to leave Europe at any cost. So those who propose Britain’s splendid isolation from our European neighbours have now crucially diminished our standing with our closest Atlantic friends. Alone at last — God help us!

There is a dangerous mood of isolationism running in our country. George Osborne is right. As a nation we must make a clear deci-sion whether this is the path we want, or not. Maybe I am just a hoary old voice from the past. Maybe last Thursday was the start of a new Britain, as the Tory isolationist right, Labour’s pacifist left and some further-flung voices claim. If it is to be so, then let it be so because we have chosen it. Not sleepwalked into it. There are big questions here. Why then would we need the world’s fourth most expen-sive defence forces? As parliament debated,

a Ukip poster van cruised outside with the slogan “Keep out of Syria! Oppose Defence cuts!” Do they really not see the connection? Inside, the ranks of superannuated generals and admirals followed each other in orderly procession to warn us that action couldn’t mean taking risks.

Churchill said if you bring a bunch of gen-erals together, all you get is the sum of their fears. Quite so. And what, in this brave new world, will Labour do? Having placed in ques-tion its proud tradition of internationalism in pursuit of a mix of genuine concern and politi-cal opportunism, will it now join the crowd rushing for the exit, or help lead the way back to saner ground?

Labour’s answer to this question is of pro-found importance, not just to them, but to the whole future of progressive politics in our country. Criticise the government as one may, we now know the convictions of David Cameron and Nick Clegg — the latter driven by a passionate internationalism. We cannot say the same for Ed Miliband. Parliament proved last week it would be no one’s poodle — good. But if it were now to lead a Gadarene rush towards isolationism, that would be very bad indeed. THE OBSERVER

BY DAVID ROTHKOPF

For a man who is often so Hamlet-like he seems he should be attending meetings in a black velvet doublet

and whose Syria policy in partic-ular seems to have been defined primarily by actions not taken and decisions not made, Barack Obama made one of the most pro-found and momentous decisions of his presidency on Saturday.

By announcing that he would require congressional approval before taking action against Syria’s regime for gassing its own people, he took a step that seemed certain to have multiple, poten-tially profound ramifications. Here are just five:

1. A SYRIA ATTACK ISN’T A SURE BET

Military action against Syria that seemed a “certainty” on Friday is no longer assured. And if air strikes take place, their delay — despite Obama’s protestations to the contrary — make them likely to be less effective. While the president, and particularly Secretary of State John Kerry in his remarks on Friday, have made a compelling case for action in Syria, one can never underesti-mate this Congress’ ability to find reasons for inaction, partisanship or unproductive cavilling.

The far right and left of the parties are disinclined towards intervention. The more hawkish are disinclined towards actions that are too limited. And many Republicans are disinclined to do anything that might help Obama. What is more, developments in the interim — like hesitation by other allies — could make the US appear more isolated or the likely impact of attacks seem less desirable.

All these things could con-tribute to a “no” vote that would make it very difficult for the

president to reverse course and take action anyway.

If the administration per-suades Congress to support mili-tary action, it will be seen as a victory for Obama. But it may also have given the Assad regime another two-three weeks to rede-ploy assets and hunker down — so that the kind of limited attack envisioned has more limited consequences.

2. RED LINES AIN’T WHAT THEY USED TO BE

Obama has hemmed and hawed regarding his supposed “red line” on chemical weapons use again, further undercutting his cred-ibility. When he first suggested a red line, he cited movement or use of chemical weapons as being intolerable. But movement and use have, according to reports, occurred on multiple occasions since then — and the US took no action.

This latest incident on August 21 was so egregious it was impos-sible to continue looking the other way. And it was followed, appar-ently, by another on August 26. Taking action seemed the only way to restore a sense that Obama was a man who meant what he said. But then, late this week, as Britain balked at sup-porting Washington and domestic public opinion was seen to oppose any US involvement in Syria, a spirit of hesitation seemed to grab the administration, culminating in Saturday’s bombshell.

Even if attacks take place, a new caveat will have been added to any future warning Obama may choose to make: We will act — if the most feckless Congress in memory chooses to go along with him.

3. HE’S NOW BOXED IN FOR THE REST OF HIS TERM

Whatever happens with regard to Syria, the larger consequence of Obama’s action will resonate

for years. He has made it unlikely that at any time during the remainder of his term he will be able to initiate military action without seeking congressional approval.

It is understandable that many who have opposed actions (Libya) taken by the president without congressional approval under the War Powers Act would welcome Obama’s consultative approach. It appears to be more in keeping with the kind of executive-legis-lative collaboration envisioned in the constitution. While America hasn’t required a congressional declaration of war to use mili-tary force since the Second World War era, the bad decisions of past presidents make Obama’s move appealing to the war-weary and the war-wary.

But whether you agree with the move or not, it must be acknowl-edged that now that Obama has set this kind of precedent — and for a military action that is excep-tionally limited by any standard (a couple of days, no boots on the ground, perhaps 100 cruise missiles fired against a limited number of military targets) — it will be very hard for him to do anything comparable or greater without returning to Congress for support. And that’s true whether or not the upcoming vote goes his way.

4. OBAMA DIALED BACK THE POWER OF HIS OFFICE

Obama has reversed decades of precedent regarding the nature of presidential war powers — and whether you prefer this change in the balance of power or not, as a matter of quantifiable fact he is transferring greater respon-sibility for US foreign policy to a Congress that is more divided, more incapable of reasoned debate or action, and more dys-functional than any in modern US history. Wait for the Rand Paul filibuster or similar congressional

gamesmanship.The president’s action in Libya

was undertaken without such approval. So, too, was his expan-sion of America’s drone and cyber programmes. Will future offensive actions require Congress to weigh in? How will Congress react if the president tries to pick and choose when this precedent should be applied? At best, the door is open to acrimony. At worst, the paral-ysis of Congress that has given us the current budget crisis and almost no meaningful recent legislation will soon be coming to a foreign policy decision near you. Consider House Speaker John Boehner’s statement that Congress will not reconvene before its scheduled September 9 return to Washington.

More importantly, what will future Congresses expect of future presidents? If Obama abides by this approach for the next three years, will his successors lack the ability to act quickly and on their own? While past presidents have no doubt abused their war powers authority to take action and ask for congressional approval within

60 days, we live in a volatile world; sometimes security requires swift action. The president has that right, but Obama’s decision may have done more — for better or worse — to dial back the impe-rial presidency than anything his predecessors or Congress have done for decades.

5. US GLOBAL STANDING WILL LIKELY SUFFER

As a consequence of all of the above, even if the president “wins” and persuades Congress to sup-port his limited action in Syria, the perception of America as a nimble, forceful actor on the world stage and that its president is a man whose word carries great weight is likely to be diminished.

Like the shift or hate it, foreign leaders can do the maths. Not only is post-Iraq, post-Afghani-stan America less inclined to get involved anywhere, but when it comes to the use of military force (our one indisputable source of superpower strength) we became less likely to act or, in any event, act quickly. Good or bad, that is a stance that is likely to figure into

the calculus of those who once feared provoking the US.

A final consequence of this is that it seems certain that Obama’s foreign policy will be framed as so anti-interventionist and focused on disengagement from world affairs that it will have major political consequences in 2016.

The dialectic has swung from the interventionism of Bush to the leaning away of Obama. Now, the question will be whether a centrist synthesis will emerge that restores the idea that the US can have a muscular foreign policy that remains prudent, capable of action and respects international laws and norms.

That is what Obama would argue he seeks. But I suspect that others, including possibly his former secretary of state, may well seek to define a different approach. We could see divisions within the Democratic Party on national security emerge as key fault lines in the Clinton vs Biden primary battles of 2016. Imagine Clinton vs Rand Paul in the gen-eral election.

THE GUARDIAN

UK must not sleepwalk into isolationismLabour has placed in question not only its tradition of internationalism but the future of progressive politics in the UK.

BY ELLEN JOHNSON SIRLEAF

In the developed world, reliable energy is something that can be taken for granted. People pay attention when something goes wrong, like when the power goes out during the Super Bowl, forcing players and fans to sit uncomfortably in the dark for 34

minutes.In my country, the West African nation of Liberia, living without

power has become a way of life. For the last decade, we’ve been dig-ging out from the aftermath of a 23-year civil war that left our energy infrastructure in a shambles. In a country of 4.1 million, about 1 percent of urban residents — almost no rural residents — have access to elec-tricity. Everyone else depends on unreliable and inefficient sources of energy such as firewood, charcoal, candles, kerosene, battery-powered flashlights, palm oil and small petrol and diesel generators. Many of these energy sources are toxic and create pollutants that have serious health consequences.

I was delighted when US President Barack Obama put energy pov-erty at the centre of his trip to Africa this summer. His Power Africa initiative aims to double electricity access in sub-Saharan Africa by building on the continent’s potential in gas and oil and its potential to develop clean energy.

Initially focusing on six partner countries, including my own, Power Africa will mobilise the US private sector to add 10,000MW of cleaner, more efficient electricity generation capacity, while increasing elec-tricity access by at least 20m households and businesses. The White House has pledged $7bn over the next five years for the initiative, most of which will be returned to US taxpayers because of the structure of the plan’s public-private partnerships. The US private sector has committed an additional $9bn in direct assistance.

The US Congress is taking action to address African energy pov-erty. Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., the committee’s ranking member, have introduced the Electrify Africa Act of 2013, a bill that would address some of the limitations of the Power Africa initiative and have the goal of providing electricity access to more than 50 mil-lion people by installing 20,000MW capacity by 2020.

It is heartening to see Obama, Congress, the UN and the World Bank focused on increasing energy access in sub-Saharan Africa. They are aware that without a reliable power supply, patients are treated in under-equipped hospitals, vaccines requiring refrigeration can become unusable, students cannot study after dark, and routine business transactions are difficult.

As the first female president of an African state, I’m concerned about the disproportionate impact energy poverty has on women and girls.

Globally, at least 1.2 billion people — nearly a fifth of the planet — live without access to electricity, according to the World Bank. The highest concentration is in sub-Saharan Africa, where more than 550 million people do not have electricity. Cowboys Stadium near Dallas, Texas, uses more power than the total installed capacity of my country.

WP-BLOOMBERG

Five outcomes of Obama’s Syria decision

US President Barack Obama, accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden, speaks about Syria from the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, DC, on Saturday.

Obama said he had decided he would go ahead and launch military action on Syria, but he believed it was important for American democracy to win the support of lawmakers.

Boosting energy access in sub-Saharan Africa

The Labour Party leader, Ed Miliband, speaking in the House of Commons during a debate on a response to the situation in Syria on Saturday.

08 MIDDLE EASTMONDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2013

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

BAGHDAD: At least 19 Iranian dissidents were killed in clashes at a camp north of Baghdad yesterday, two security sources said, but the dissident group itself put the toll far higher.

The violence took place hours after a mortar attack on the camp which the dissent group Mujahadin-e-Khalq (MEK) blamed on the Iraqi army.

The security sources said that army and special forces opened fire on residents who had stormed a post at the entrance to Camp Ashraf, a site that Iraq’s govern-ment wants closed down. They said 52 people were wounded and 38 arrested.

MEK said 52 of its roughly 100 members there had been killed.

An advisor to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki said reports that security forces had opened fire on the residents were “baseless” and said Maliki had ordered an investigation into what happened at the camp.

“We want to know the truth,” adviser Ali Al Moussawi said. He said it was not clear what exactly had caused the blast in the morn-ing. Residents could have been killed in the explosion or through infighting at the camp, he said.

MEK, which the US State Department removed from its list of terrorist organisations last year, said some residents were machine-gunned with their hands tied behind their backs.

The US embassy in Iraq con-demned “the terrible events that took place in Camp Ashraf” and the United Nations said it would send in a team from its Iraq office to carry out its own assessment.

“We further call on Iraqi authorities to act with urgency to immediately ensure medical assistance to the wounded and to secure the camp against any further violence or harm to the residents,” the US embassy state-ment said, calling for a full and

independent investigation.MEK emailed photos of peo-

ple it said had been shot in the head during the clashes. Men and women were shown lying on blood-covered floors. It was not possible for Reuters independ-ently to verify the images.

“The Iraqi government stresses the need for help to deport ele-ments of the Mujahadin-e-Khalq who are on Iraqi soil illegally but at the same time confirms its commitment to the safety of souls on its territory,” Maliki’s office said in a statement referring to “events” at Camp Ashraf.

It gave no further details. MEK wants Iran’s clerical lead-ers overthrown, and fought with former Iraqi Sunni Muslim leader Saddam Hussein’s forces in the 1980s Iran-Iraq war.

It has been trying to recast itself as an Iranian opposition force but is no longer welcome in Iraq under the Shia Muslim-led government that came to power

after US-led forces invaded and toppled Saddam in 2003.

“The United Nations deplores the tragic events at Camp Ashraf today,” a statement from the office of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said, echoing calls for a probe. “It is the duty of the Government of Iraq to ensure the safety and security of residents,” it said.

Mortar attacks on a newer MEK camp in a former military compound in western Baghdad, where authorities had relocated most Camp Ashraf MEK mem-bers, took place in February and June. At the time, MEK blamed Iran’s Quds force — an elite unit of the Revolutionary Guards with a special focus on foreign operations.

MEK, also known as the People’s Mujahideen Organisation of Iran, led a guerrilla campaign against the US-backed Iranian Shah during the 1970s that included attacks on US targets.

REUTERS

CAIRO: Egypt’s army-backed government unveiled a constit-uent assembly yesterday almost devoid of Islamists, and gave it 60 days to review amendments that would erase Islamic arti-cles brought in by the Muslim Brotherhood and more hardline Islamic parties.

The constitutional review is part of a road map unveiled by the administration that took power after the army deposed president Mohammed Mursi on July 3.

Egypt will hold parliamentary and presidential elections only once the constitution is approved in a referendum.

Reflecting a power shift as the government cracks down on the Brotherhood, accusing it of ter-rorism, the changes proposed in a first draft of the constitution may open the way for a comeback by some members of the old order associated with Hosni Mubarak, who was toppled in a popular revolt in 2011.

The proposed amendments would remove Islamic articles — hotly disputed by secularists — that include one that gave Muslim scholars a say over some affairs of state, and also lift a ban on some Mubarak-era officials assuming public office.

Drawn up by a 10-member “committee of experts” appointed by decree, the draft preserves the privileged status of the military, which it effectively shields from civilian oversight.

Although Islamists won five popular votes held since 2011, the constituent assembly will have only two Islamists among its 50 members. One belongs to the hardline Salafi Nour party, the other is a former Brotherhood leader now harshly critical of the group he left last year.

While the assembly includes

the founders of the Tamarud petition campaign that galvanised support for protests that led to Mursi’s downfall, there is no obvi-ous place for the pro-democracy youth movements that ignited the 2011 revolt against Mubarak.

There are also places for Muslim scholars, representatives of the church, the arts, unions, members of secular parties and prominent figures such former Arab League chief Amr Moussa and renowned heart surgeon Magdi Yacoub.

“It’s a very establishment list,” said Nathan Brown, an expert on Egypt based at George Washington University in the United States, adding: “The procedure does seem to tilt in favour of accepting what the experts have drafted.”

The presidency said six Islamist parties, including the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, had been approached to fill the two seats set aside for Islamists. Only Nour had responded.

The Brotherhood says it wants nothing to do with the army’s plans for Egypt, decrying Mursi’s removal as a coup against a demo-cratically elected head of state.

At least 900 people, most of them Mursi supporters, have been killed since he was toppled.

The Brotherhood and the Nour Party secured a major say over the last constitution-drafting process by winning some 70 percent of the seats in parliamentary elections held after Mubarak’s downfall.

Critics said the Islamists then sidelined other groups in a proc-ess that failed to reflect Egypt’s diversity. The constitution was signed into law last December by Mursi after being approved in a referendum.

The panel will meet for the first time on September 8.

REUTERS

Few Islamists in constitution panel in EgyptDraft cuts Islamic clauses

Iranian dissidents killed in Iraq camp

NICOSIA: Syria maintains an arsenal of chemical weapons that is considered one of the big-gest in the Middle East, but its makeup and size remain guess-work as few facts have emerged.

Britain, France and the United States have accused the Syrian regime of having unleashed poi-sonous gas against its civilians in Damascus suburbs on August 21 that killed hundreds.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said Washington has proof the regime of President Bashar Al Assad used sarin, a lethal nerve gas that kills in minutes devel-oped by Nazi scientists in 1938.

France said yesterday it will soon declassify secret defence documents detailing Syria’s

chemical arsenal in defiance of international conventions.

A government source made the comment after the Journal du Dimanche weekly said French intelligence agents had compiled information showing that some of the weapons had been stockpiled for nearly 30 years. The arsenal included over 1,000 tonnes of chemical agents, the paper said.

“The citations from the notes are correct,” the source said. “The government plans to make public the declassified documents on the Syrian chemical arms programme.” According to the Sunday newspa-per, the arsenal included sarin and mustard gas. The secret documents showed that Syrian scientists had also worked to develop a powerful

agent that was far more toxic that sarin.

Syria has denied unleashing chemical gas and blamed rebels fighting to topple Assad’s regime. Key ally Russia also said last month it has proof that rebel fighters had employed sarin nerve gas in March near Aleppo, in northern Syria.

The Syrian regime acknowl-edged for the first time on July 23, 2012, that it had chemical weap-ons and threatened to use them in case of a Western military intervention, but never against the Syrian population.

Syria is one of the few coun-tries not to have signed the Chemical Weapons Convention and is believed to have a large stockpile of sarin and other nerve

gases. The Syrian programme was launched in the 1970s with the help of Egypt and the then Soviet Union.

In the 1990s, Russia provided support, followed by Iran since 2005, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), an inde-pendent organisation tracking data on weapons of mass destruction.

An analyst at the non-prolif-eration and disarmament pro-gramme of the International Institute for Strategic Studies says Syria has the biggest chemi-cal weapons programme in the Middle East, launched with the goal of counterbalancing Israel’s nuclear programme.

The analyst says important information on the programme

has been collected following the defection of several Syrian mili-tary officers, but that the infor-mation is “far” from complete.

According to a specialist at the Monterey Institute for International Studies in the United States, Syria has “hun-dreds of tonnes” of diverse chemi-cal agents. A French specialist at the Foundation for Strategic Research said: “Their armoury of chemical agents is quite strong.

“The Syrians have managed to master the synthesis of organo-phosphorus, that’s the last gen-eration, the most efficient and most toxic of chemical weapons. In this family, one finds sarin and VX, as well as ... mustard gas,” he said in July 2012. AFP

Syria’s chemical weapons: Mystery arsenal Al Azhar against strike on SyriaCAIRO: Al Azhar in Cairo, Sunni Islam’s highest author-ity, yesterday declared its firm opposition to any US strikes on Syria, saying this would amount to “an aggression against the Arab and Islamic nation”.

The institution in a state-ment “expressed its categorical rejection and condemnation of the decision by the American President (Barack Obama) to launch military strikes on Syria,” to punish president Bashar Al Assad’s regime for an alleged chemical weapons attack near Damascus last month that left hundreds dead. Al Azhar said such strikes would amount to “an aggression against the Arab and Islamic nation... which endangers peace and international security.”

The Islamic institution insisted on “the right of the Syrian people to decide their destiny and their government for themselves in all freedom and transparency,” while condemning the “recourse to chemical weapons, whoever it was that used them.” AFP

AMMAN: The trial of radical cleric Abu Qatada, who faces terror charges in Jordan fol-lowing his deportation from Britain, will start within 10 days, a Jordanian judicial source said yesterday.

“The state security court is scheduled to hear the first sittings in the trial of the radical Islamist Abu Qatada within the next 10 days, after the state prosecutor has finished investigating” Qatada’s alleged involvement in attacks in the kingdom, the source said on condition of anonymity.

Jordanian military prosecutors charged Abu Qatada in July with conspiracy to carry out terror-ist acts, after British authorities deported him from London.

If convicted on the terror charges, the extremist cleric could

face a minimum of 15 years’ hard labour in Jordan, the judicial source said. He added that the trial would be public and that media would be allowed into the courthouse.

Abu Qatada is currently in Muwaqqar prison, a maximum security facility in the desert east of Amman that houses more than 1,000 inmates, most of them Islamists con-victed of terror offences.

He was condemned to death in absentia in 1999 for conspiracy to carry out terror attacks, includ-ing on the American school in Amman, but this was immediately commuted to life imprisonment with hard labour.

In 2000, he was also sentenced in his absence to 15 years for plot-ting to attack tourists in Jordan during millennium celebrations.

AFP

Syria conflict toll over 110,000BEIRUT: More than 110,000 people have died in Syria’s two-and-a-half-year old conflict, and more than half of those killed were civilians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said yesterday. The Observatory, a British-based rights group which opposes Syrian President Bashar Al Assad’s rule, said at least 5,833 children were among the dead. “More than 110,371 people have fallen since the day the first martyr of the revolu-tion died on March 18, 2011 in Deraa province, to August 31, 2013,” the Observatory said in a statement. It said 56,138 of those killed were civilians. AFP

Abu Qatada trial in Jordan to start within 10 days

Israel foils bomb plot in JerusalemJERUSALEM: Israel’s Shin Bet domestic security agency said yesterday it had arrested three Palestinians engaged in a plan by Hamas to bomb a Jerusalem shopping centre.

Shin Bet said in a statement that in a joint operation with the military and police its agents last month detained two men from Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem who worked as cleaners in the Mamilla mall, an upmarket shop-ping street just outside the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City.

The development, which also houses a five-star hotel and lux-ury apartments, is popular with Israelis, Palestinians and tourists.

The statement said that also arrested was a Hamas opera-tive from the West Bank city of Ramallah whose home was found to contain an explosives lab and who recruited the Jerusalem men, both in their 20s. “They were sup-posed to bring an explosive charge into Israeli territory,” the Shin Bet said. “They were to bring it into the mall and hide it in their lockers at their place of work.” AFP

Suez Canal unrest

Peace day protest in Turkey

A file picture of a boat passing by Suez Canal. Egypt has arrested three people who opened fire with machine guns on a ship passing through the Suez Canal, an army source said yesterday, playing down what the water-way’s chief described as a terrorist attack. During Saturday’s unsuccessful attack, the Panamanian-registered container ship Cosco Asia came under fire in a northern section of the canal.

A Kurdish woman waves a paper flag of PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan dur-ing a peace demonstration at Kadikoy, in Istanbul, yesterday. Many BDP (Peace and Democracy Party) supporters gathered in the district located on the Anatolian side of Istanbul to mark the Sepember 1 peace day. Turkish police blocked the entrance to Istanbul’s Gezi Park to prevent a demonstration there against a possible military intervention in Syria.

Putin’s love for dolphins

Russian President Vladimir Putin touches a dolphin during his visit to oceanarium on Russky island near the eastern city of Vladivostok yesterday. Putin is on a three-day visit to the Russian Far East.

INTERNATIONAL 09MONDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2013

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

JOHANNESBURG: Anti-apartheid leader and former South African President Nelson Mandela returned to his home yesterday where he will con-tinue to receive intensive care after three months in hospital with a lung ailment.

Mandela, 95, had spent 87 days in a Pretoria hospital after he was rushed there in early June suffer-ing from a recurring infection of the lungs, a legacy of the nearly three decades he spent in jail under apartheid.

“Madiba’s condition remains critical and is at times unstable. Nevertheless, his team of doc-tors are convinced that he will receive the same level of inten-sive care at his Houghton home that he received in Pretoria,” South Africa’s presidency said in a statement. It referred to Mandela by the traditional clan name by which he is affectionately known.

The Nobel Peace Prize laure-ate’s latest hospitalisation in June had attracted a wave of attention and sympathy at home and across the world.

His home in Johannesburg’s Houghton suburb had been “reconfigured” to allow him to receive special care there, the presidency added. Police blocked off a section of the street in the upscale neighbourhood, where a crowd of reporters and camera crews had gathered.

“The health care personnel pro-viding care at his home are the very same who provided care to him in hospital. If there are health conditions that warrant another admission to hospital in future, this will be done,” the presidency added.

“It is a day of celebration for us, that he is finally back home with us,” Mandela’s grandson and heir Mandla said in a statement, acknowledging that he was “not a young man anymore”.

Mandla said his grandfather’s discharge from hospital disproved claims that Mandela was in a “veg-etative” state “waiting for his (life) support machines to be switched off, in effect declaring him dead”. Thousands of well-wishers had visited the Pretoria medical facil-ity during his stay there to leave flowers, cards and gifts. Mandela made his last public appearance waving to fans from the back of a

golf cart before the Soccer World Cup final in Johannesburg in 2010. In April state broadcaster aired a clip of the thin and frail statesman being visited by President Jacob Zuma and top officials from the African National Congress.

The ruling party said he was “in good shape” but the footage showed a weak old man sitting expressionless in an armchair.

“He is out of hospital, that alone is good news for us. We don’t want to be thinking negative. We just want to remain optimistic. He is alive and kicking and a part of us, that’s good enough,” Motemi Tinashe said outside the Mandela Family House Museum in Soweto, south of Johannesburg, where he lived before his imprisonment.

For more than a decade Mandela has been out of politics, dividing his time in retirement between his home in Houghton and Qunu, the village in the impoverished Eastern Cape prov-ince where he was born.

His admission to hospital four times in six months has reminded the nation of the mortality of the father of the post-apartheid “Rainbow Nation” and the mor-als he stood for. “I often wonder how much Mr Mandela knows about what is going on in South Africa and the state of politics. The ANC is a disappointment and I pray he doesn’t know that,” said Thomas Mkhize, a Johannesburg taxi driver.

“The current leaders care more about themselves and their pock-ets than the people,” he said. Many analysts and critics accuse the century-old ANC of having lost its moral compass.

The anti-apartheid leader was elected South Africa’s first black president in multi-racial elections in 1994 that ended white minor-ity rule. Mandela’s imprisonment included 18 years on the notori-ous Robben Island penal colony, when he and other prisoners were forced to work in a limestone quarry and he first suffered the lung infections that were to dog him for years.

The presidency requested that Mandela and his family be given “the necessary private space so that his continuing care can pro-ceed with dignity and without unnecessary intrusion.”

REUTERS

Mandela back home after long stay in hospitalHis condition still critical

A man sprays water on a car in an attempt to save it from a forest fire burning close to a marina on Sousa river in Gondomar, north of Portugal, yesterday.

LISBON: Portugal remained on alert yesterday for change-able weather that could stoke new forest fires, but emergency services said they were satis-fied that blazes in the country’s north and centre were under control.

“It’s a pleasant surprise. The situation is much calmer,” said Carlos Guerra, spokesman for the Civil Protection Authority, add-ing that strong winds that exacer-bated the fires had subsided.

Portugal has embraced the newly calm atmosphere after a blaze that claimed the lives of three firefighters in the central Caramulo mountains was con-tained on Friday.

The abatement of the Caramulo fire freed up resources to tackle the 313 other fires known to fire-fighters on Saturday, Guerra said.

“That allowed us to channel our resources to where they were most needed,” he said.

Hundreds of Portuguese fight-ers backed by Spanish and French aircraft have been battling wild-fires in the north and centre of the country for days.

Croatia sent two aircraft to join the firefighting efforts, which aided three French planes on Sunday.

The weather anticipated in the next few days could cause a wors-ening of the situation, however, with strong winds, dry conditions and high temperatures expected.

AFP

Portugal remains alert on new forest fires

MADRID: Most Spaniards back Madrid’s new tough stance against Gibraltar and nearly one in two would favour clos-ing Spanish airspace to flights to and from the disputed British territory, a poll released yester-day showed.

Fully 62.8 percent of those surveyed said the right-leaning Spanish government’s current pressure on Gibraltar was “good” or “very good”, the poll by the Real Instituto Elcano think-tank showed. Madrid disputes Britain’s three centuries of sovereignty over Gibraltar, a territory on the southern tip of Spain which meas-ures just 6.8sq km and is home to about 30,000 people.

The latest tensions between Madrid and London over the out-post began in July after Gibraltar boats dumped blocks of concrete into the sea near the territory. Gibraltar said it was creating an

artificial reef that would foster fish populations.

Spain said the reef would block its fishing boats and introduced stringent border checks which it said are needed to stop smuggling, creating waits of several hours for motorists trying to enter the tiny territory.

Last month Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said Spain was mulling a 50-euro fee to enter or leave Gibraltar, tax investigations of thousands of Gibraltarians who own property in Spain and the closure of its airspace to planes heading to or leaving the airport in the British outpost.

“The party is over,” he said in a front page interview with con-servative daily newspaper ABC in what was seen as a reference to the previous Socialist gov-ernment’s softer stance on the British outpost. Nearly one in

two Spaniards, 48.1 percent, said they would support “very much” or “quite a lot” the closure of Spain’s airspace to flights to and from Gibraltar while 46.2 percent said they backed closing Spain’s border with Gibraltar.

Spain closed the frontier cross-ing with Gibraltar in 1969 under the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco. It was fully reopened only in 1985.

The strong backing for Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s stance on Gibraltar comes as backing for his conservative Popular Party has been hurt by a slush fund scandal that has tainted top party mem-bers, and the government’s failure to revive the economy.

Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo has accused the Spanish government of seeking to distract attention from the corruption scandal and the weak economy with its hard line. AFP

Most Spaniards back tough stance on Gibraltar: Poll

Spain police bust marijuana operation by Dutch nationals MADRID: Spanish police have dismantled a large indoor marijuana-growing operation with the arrest of six Dutch nationals, includ-ing a couple and their son, and the seizure of 3,400 mar-ijuana plants, the interior ministry said yesterday.

Police found the marijuana plants as well as 300 halluci-nogenic mushrooms in three homes in the southern prov-ince of Malaga, the ministry said in a statement.

“The facilities that housed the plantations were of high quality and were equipped with a special growing system that allowed for continuos crop-ping,” it said.

“During the operation six Dutch nationals were detained — four men and two women — between the ages of 25 and 58. Among those arrested were a married couple, their son and daughter-in-law,” it added.

Police suspect the ring grew the drugs in Spain and then shipped the narcotics to the Netherlands where they were sold.

Senegal president fires prime minister DAKAR: Senegal’s President Macky Sall fired Prime Minister Abdoul Mbaye yes-terday just over a year after naming the former banker to head the government, an offi-cial said.

Presidential spokesman Abou Abel Thiam did not say why Mbaye, who was not a member of any political party, was sacked but said a replace-ment and new government would be named soon.

Mbaye, 60, was appointed in April 2012. He studied in Senegal and France’s top business schools and previ-ously worked at West Africa’s BCEAO central bank.

Sall won a hotly contested presidential election in March 2012 against veteran incum-bent Abdoulaye Wade.

AGENCIES

ABUJA: Seven Nigerian rul-ing party governors and a former presidential candi-date formed a splinter group opposed to President Goodluck Jonathan on Saturday, in the most explicit internal threat yet to his assumed bid to run for another term in office.

Nigeria’s ruling People’s Democratic Party has been in

power since shortly after the end of military rule in 1998, but it is increasingly riven by inter-nal squabbles, centred around Jonathan’s alleged intention to run again in 2015.

“We address you today as leaders of the PDP, who are wor-ried by the increasing repres-sion, restrictions of freedom of association, arbitrary suspension

of members,” read the statement by seven governors and former vice president Atiku Abubakar.

“We consider it a sacred responsibility to save the PDP from the antics of a few des-peradoes who ... are bent on hijacking the party for selfish ends,” it added. Many north-erners say Jonathan’s running again would violate an unwritten

rule within the PDP that power should rotate between the largely Muslim north and mostly Christian south every two terms.

But the president has also made powerful enemies else-where, including the governor of Rivers state Rotimi Amaechi, who is from Jonathan’s own oil producing Niger Delta region.

REUTERS

Nigeria’s ruling party splinters, in threat to Jonathan

10 INTERNATIONALMONDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2013

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

Bones unearthed

Dr Erin Kimmerle, the assistant professor of anthropology at University of South Florida, exhumes a grave at the Boot Hill cemetery at the now closed Arthur G Dozier School for Boys in Marianna, Florida. Teams of searchers recovered human bones from the sands of Florida Panhandle woodlands in a “boot hill” graveyard where juveniles who disappeared from a notorious Old South reform school more than a half-century ago are believed to have been secretly buried.

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama has taken a potentially huge political gam-ble by putting the decision over whether to attack Syria in the hands of Congress.

Republican and Democratic leaders may be expected to back the president’s call for military action, but support among law-makers, who have become increas-ingly restive in recent months, is by no means guaranteed.

With a vote not scheduled to take place until the week begin-ning September 9, when members return from recess, Obama faces days of intense political debate over the evidence of a chemical weapons attack perpetrated by the Syrian government and the rationale for military strikes with limited international support.

In a sign of the looming bat-tle, the Republican senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, both hawks who have urged strikes on Syria, said they would use the vote to push for a more significant intervention than that proposed by Obama, who said that it should be “limited in duration and scope”.

“We cannot in good conscience support isolated military strikes in Syria that are not part of an overall strategy that can change the momentum on the battlefield, achieve the president’s stated goal of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad’s removal from power, and bring an end to this conflict, which is a growing threat to our national security interests,” they said in a statement.

Democrats control the Senate, but Obama could face the toughest battle in the Republican-dominated House of Representatives, which is

opposing the president on a range of issues from healthcare to immigration reform.

The House Speaker, John Boehner, welcomed the presi-dent’s announcement in a joint statement with other Republican leaders. “Under the constitution, the responsibility to declare war lies with Congress,” the statement said. “We are glad the president is seeking authorisation for any mil-itary action in Syria in response to serious, substantive questions being raised.”

There were also calls for an early recall of Congress, similar to the emergency session of par-liament in Britain on Thursday. Obama acknowledged the British vote against military force in his speech, saying after David Cameron’s defeat “many peo-ple have advised against taking this decision to Congress”. The British vote galvanised members of Congress who felt they should have a say over military action — more than 200 signed a statement calling for a vote.

Senior Democrats can be expected to support Obama. House minority leader Nancy Pelosi was reported on Friday to have been pushing Obama to take action against Syria. However, most observers were predicting that a vote would see rebels on both Republican and Democratic sides.

The top Republican in the Senate foreign relations com-mittee, Bob Corker, said Obama could have difficulty securing the necessary votes on Capitol Hill. He told CNN the president would need to use “every ounce of political capital that he has to sell this”.

For Obama, political capital is

Battle looms in US Congress over Syria strikeObama could face toughest fight in House of Representatives, which has opposed him on a range of issues

US President Barack Obama (back to camera) addressing his national security advisers in the Situation Room of the White House late on Saturday. Obama has formally asked the US Congress to authorise military action against Syria over alleged chemical weapons attacks.

scarce in Congress. Even before his announcement on Saturday, political observers were antici-pating a major showdown when members of Congress return in September over government budgets and the debt ceiling.

He appeared to acknowledge some potential pitfalls when he called on members of Congress to “consider that some things are more important than partisan differences or the politics of the moment”. The president did not say whether he would launch a military attack without congres-sional approval.

The question of whether a US president can launch military action without congressional backing is subject to dispute. While it is argued a commander-in-chief cannot constitutionally declare war without Congress, in recent decades presidents have used executive powers to sanction military action.

When running for president in 2007, Obama said the presi-dent “does not have power under the constitution to unilaterally authorise a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent

threat to the nation”. He added that “in instances of self-defence, the president would be within his constitutional authority to act before advising Congress or seek-ing its consent”.

Obama later came under criticism in 2011 for launching strikes against Libya after mini-mal consultation with Congress. Throughout the week White House officials have said the use of chemical weapons posed a threat to the core national security interests of the US, and indicated Obama was ready to act without Congress. Senior administration

officials gave the impression that strikes were imminent and some observers were expecting them to begin on Saturday night.

Obama’s decision on Saturday to seek approval from Congress delayed action for days or possibly weeks. The calculation may have had less to do with his commit-ment to constitutional principles than his realisation that he was becoming isolated.

Unable now to secure the back-ing of the United Nations Security Council or even Britain — who Obama conceded was America’s “closest ally” — he appears to have sought the cover of congressional backing. However, the decision carries with it major political risks. Polls show limited support among citizens for military action against Syria, although the pub-lic is more open to limited strikes that might only last a few days.

Political analysts said Obama would not have sought congres-sional backing unless he was con-fident he could win the vote.

However he could face tough opposition in the House of Representatives, where an unu-sual alliance between libertar-ian Republicans and leftwing Democrats last month almost passed a motion against the National Security Agency.

The motion, which sought to effectively halt the mass collection of US phone records in the after-math of whistleblower Edward Snowden’s disclosures, lost by just 12 votes.

It constituted a major rebellion — a majority of Democrats voted against the White House — and showed how congressional leaders sometimes have only limited sway over representatives.

GUARDIAN NEWS

CALIFORNIA: A massive wildfire that has charred the northwest edge of Yosemite National Park in California has sent smoke into a scenic and pre-viously unaffected area, obscur-ing views of popular landmarks for tourists who visited the area.

The smoke from the fire, which broke out two weeks ago, spread to the area during a holiday week-end that in the past years has seen the park fill with visitors.

Shifting winds brought heavy smoke from the so-called Rim Fire to Yosemite Valley, an area famed for its towering granite rock formations, waterfalls and pine forests, according to the park’s website and footage from cameras posted on the site that showed smoky conditions.

Yosemite Valley has been open to visitors and largely smoke free in recent weeks, but a park offi-cial said smoke began wafting into the area on Friday. It also reached the Wawona area to the south, the park’s website said.

The Rim Fire had charred over 223,000 acres (89,000 hectares) by late Saturday. Most of the dam-age was in the Stanislaus National Forest which spreads out from Yosemite’s western edge.

The blaze has blackened about six percent of Yosemite’s wilder back country, said National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis.

The Rim Fire was 40 percent contained on Saturday afternoon, up from 35 percent earlier in the day. “We are moving in the right direction,” said Trevor Augustino, spokesman for the US Fire Service at Rim Fire command centre. Flames were heading toward two groves of the park’s famed sequoia trees, Jarvis said.

“This is not a catastrophe for Yosemite National Park,” he said in a phone interview after sur-veying the affected areas. “These trees are very old and it’s not the first fire they’ve ever seen.”

Firefighters carried out con-trolled burnings the previous night around the groves to clear away debris from the forest floor that could otherwise fuel a fire to such an intensity that it danger-ously licks at the trees’ crowns.

Jarvis estimated that firefight-ing efforts had cost state and fed-eral agencies about $54m.

REUTERS

LONDON: British broadcaster David Frost (pictured), a mas-ter of the television interview, famed for coaxing an apology for Watergate from Richard Nixon, has died suddenly, his family said yesterday.

Aged 74, he had a heart attack late on Saturday aboard a luxury cruise liner where he had a speak-ing engagement.

His sudden death brought trib-utes from international celebri-ties and political leaders, many of whom called him a good friend as well as an acute interrogator.

“David Frost died of a heart attack last night aboard the Queen Elizabeth, where he was giving a speech,” his family said in a statement, adding they were “devastated”.

The ship’s website indicated the liner left the southern English port of Southampton on Saturday, bound for Lisbon.

A household name in Britain since 1962, when as a recent Cambridge graduate he hosted the cutting edge television satire show That Was The Week That Was, Frost secured his broader reputation with the Nixon inter-views of 1977, three years after the president retreated into silence after quitting in disgrace.

In those encounters, drama-tised in the 2008 film Frost/Nixon, the British talk-show host sparred with the former US president for hours before eliciting a moment of historical drama — Nixon apologised for the bugging of Democratic rivals at Washington’s Watergate building and the later cover-up.

“I’m sorry,” Nixon finally con-fessed to Frost. “I let down my friends. I let down the country. I let down our system of govern-ment and the dreams of all those young people that ought to get

into government but will think it is all too corrupt.”

Frost, the son of a Methodist minister from Kent outside London, launched his career while still at Cambridge University as a leading figure in the Footlights Dramatic Club, a hotbed of inno-vative comedy that also produced members of Monty Python.

Speaking for a generation that grew up in a Britain shorn of its imperial power — if not preten-sions — after the Second World War, That Was The Week That Was mocked an indignant establish-ment, enjoying huge ratings and making the youthful Frost a star.

He went on to become best known as an interviewer of world leaders, sitting opposite virtually every US president and British prime minister of the age. He showed a rare talent for extract-ing intriguing and revealing information.

An engaging personality off-screen, and made wealthy by his interests in a string of success-ful television ventures, Frost’s celebrity-studded contact book — and his lavish parties — were the stuff of legend in politics and show business.

That his own style and a catch-phrase became themselves much mimicked only underlined his status as a fixture on the small screen. He continued to pursue the art of the interview, present-ing a weekly conversation on Al Jazeera International.

His recent guests included Israeli President Shimon Peres and British racing driver Lewis Hamilton. British Prime Minister David Cameron spoke for many with his comment on Twitter: “He made a huge impact on tel-evision and politics. The Nixon interviews were among the great broadcast moments — but there

UK broadcaster David Frost, famed for Nixon apology, dies

were many other brilliant inter-views. He could be — and certainly was with me — both a friend and a fearsome interviewer.”

REUTERS

ORLANDO: Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who is leading a conserva-tive push to eliminate funding for President Barack Obama’s new healthcare law, took his fight to a forum of Republican activists where he challenged lawmakers in his party not to “surrender” on Obamacare.

Cruz, a potential 2016 Republican presidential can-didate, used a speech to an Americans for Prosperity confer-ence here, to take to task those in his party who are wary of risking a possible government shutdown in an effort to fight Obama’s sig-nature healthcare law.

“Right now, the people who are fighting the hardest against our effort to defund Obama, sadly, are Republicans,” Cruz told sev-eral hundred activists. “Well, you know what: You lose 100 percent of the fight if you surrender at the outset.” To loud applause, he added that Republicans should “stand up and win the argument.”

Congress, which returns to Washington on September 9 after a summer break, faces two budget fights in quick succession.

Lawmakers must pass a

spending bill by October 1 to avoid a government shutdown. By mid-October, they must pass an increase in the country’s borrowing limit or risk a default on the debt.

Cruz is among a group of con-servative lawmakers who want to use the first showdown — over a bill to keep the government funded — to try to block Obamacare.

But many congressional Republicans, including House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, disagree with that approach even though they too oppose Obamacare.

Republicans, who control the House of Representatives, have repeatedly tried to repeal the 2010 healthcare law. Implementation for a major part of the law will begin on October 1, when health-care insurance marketplaces, known as exchanges, will be rolled out in the states.

Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is expected to extend federally subsidised health coverage to an estimated 7 mil-lion uninsured Americans in 2014 through the marketplaces.

REUTERS

Over 223,000 acres charred in massive Yosemite wildfire

No surrender on Obamacare, asserts Texas senator

Malaysia crackdown

Earthquake drill

A suspected illegal foreign worker sitting with her child while waiting for verifications during an immigration raid operation shortly after midnight in Klang, outside Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia began casting a nationwide dragnet early yesterday over an estimated half a million illegal foreign workers amid a crime wave that has cast the nation’s focus on security.

A young boy takes shelter under a table as he experiences an intensity 7 earthquake in an earthquake-simulation vehicle at the venue of a major annual earthquake disaster drill in Chiba, east of Tokyo, yesterday. Disaster drills are organised across the country on the Disaster Prevention Day as Japan marks 90th anni-versary of the Great Kanto earthquake.

ASIA 11MONDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2013

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka yester-day hit back at UN rights chief Navi Pillay for “transgressing” her mandate, a day after she accused President Mahinda Rajapakse’s regime of becoming increasingly authoritarian.

The government said the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights violated the “basic norms” that should have been observed by an international civil servant when she criticised the Sri Lankan administration.

“The High Commissioner’s observation that Sri Lanka is showing signs of ‘heading in an increasingly authoritarian direc-tion’ is a political statement on her part, which clearly trans-gresses her mandate,” a govern-ment statement said.

Pillay on Saturday ended a fact-finding mission to probe alle-gations of war crimes, four years after the end of a Tamil separatist war that according to UN esti-mates claimed up to 100,000 lives between 1972 and 2009.

A no-holds-barred military offensive in 2009 crushed Tamil Tiger rebels who at the height of their power controlled one-third of Sri Lanka’s territory.

At the end of her mission, Pillay accused Sri Lanka of becoming increasingly authoritarian, with activists facing growing mili-tary harassment, the rule of law eroded, and the independence of the judiciary undermined.

“The judgement on the lead-ership of the country is better left for the people of Sri Lanka to decide, than being caricatured by external entities influenced by vested interests,” the government statement said.

Pillay told reporters she had wanted to place flowers and pay respects to all victims of the war at a site in the conflict zone.

But Colombo said it had objected because she had wanted to “surreptitiously” pay floral tribute at Mullivaikkal, a lagoon area in the island’s northern coast where Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was killed on May 18, 2009, in the war’s final battle.

“It was pointed out by the Sri Lankan side...(to the UN) that if such a gesture needed to be made it should be done at a venue com-mon to all victims of the terrorist conflict and not on the grounds where the Tiger leader met with his death,” the statement said.

Pillay’s mission took her to the former war zones of the country’s north and east to meet relatives of those who disappeared during the decades-long conflict.

She later said that those who met with her were being visited by police and security forces and intimidated, a charge denied by Colombo.

Sri Lanka has resisted demands for what the UN calls “credible allegations” that up to 40,000 civilians were killed in the final months of the separatist war.

Colombo approved Pillay’s visit after previously accusing her of overstepping her mandate. The U-turn came as Canada led calls for a boycott of a Commonwealth summit due to take place in Colombo in mid-November.

In March, the UN passed a resolution pressing Sri Lanka to more thoroughly investigate alleged war crimes.

AFP

Sri Lanka hits back at UN rights chief Pillay ‘transgressing mandate’

TOKYO: Radiation near a tank holding highly contami-nated water at Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant has spiked 18-fold, the plant’s opera-tor said yesterday, highlighting the struggle to bring the crisis under control after more than two years.

Radiation of 1,800 millisiev-erts per hour — enough to kill an exposed person in four hours — was detected near the bottom of one storage tank on Saturday, Tokyo Electric Power Co, also known as Tepco, said.

An August 22 readings meas-ured radiation of 100 millisiev-erts per hour at the same tank. Japanese law has set an annual radiation exposure safety threshold of 50 millisieverts for nuclear plant workers during normal hours.

Last month, Tepco revealed that water from the tank was leaking. Japan’s nuclear regula-tor later raised the severity of the leak from a level 1 “anomaly” to a level 3 “serious incident” on an

international scale for radiation releases.

The Fukushima Daiichi power plant north of Tokyo was dev-astated by a tsunami on March 11, 2011 that resulted in fuel-rod meltdowns at three reactors, radioactive contamination of the air, sea and food and the evacua-tion of 160,000 people.

It sparked the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl a quarter of a century earlier. While there were no new leaks found at the tank, a Tepco spokesman said another leak had been detected from a pipe connecting two other tanks nearby.

“We have not confirmed fresh leakage from the tank and water levels inside the tank has not changed,” the Tepco spokesman said. “We are investigating the cause.” Tepco said the radiation measured was beta rays, which would be easier to protect against than gamma rays.

The Tepco spokesman also said the higher level of radiation

from the latest reading was partly because investigators had used a measuring instrument capable of registering greater amounts of radiation.

Instruments used previously had only been capable of measur-ing radiation up to 100 millisiev-erts, but the new instruments were able to measure up to 10,000 millisieverts.

Radiation of 220 millisieverts was also recorded near an adja-cent storage tank, where a read-ing of 70 had been registered last month.

Radiation of 230 millisiev-erts was detected from the new leak from the pipe connecting two nearby tanks, a new meas-urement of 70 was taken from another, separate storage tank.

Those tanks are built of steel plates stuck together by bolts - the same structure as the tank that was found last month to have leaked 300 tonnes of highly toxic water.

REUTERS

JAKARTA: A strong 6.5-mag-nitude earthquake struck off eastern Indonesia yesterday, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said, send-ing people running from their homes in panic but causing no damage or casualties.

The quake was also felt about 500km away in Darwin, Australia, where it set bookshelves shaking and moved furniture, the national AAP news agency reported.

The earthquake hit in waters near the remote Barat Daya islands in Maluku province at 8:52pm (1152 GMT) at a depth of 132km, the USGS said. It was 411km east of Atambua and 425km south of Ambon.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre did not issue an alert. Indonesia’s national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said some people in south-west parts of Maluku province felt strong shaking for about 10 seconds and ran out of their homes.

But Suharjono, an official from the meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency, added: “We have not received any reports of casualties or damage. I don’t think there’s going to be any sig-nificant impact.”

In Australia, the quake was felt in the Northern Territory and further east in Queensland, AAP reported. “It went for quite a length of time, around 30 sec-onds... We had books moving,” Steph Bond, senior forecaster at the Bureau of Meteorology in Darwin, was quoted as saying.

AFP

BEIJING: China is investigating the head of its state assets regulator, a former top energy executive, for “serious discipline violations”, the government said yesterday in what appears to be a deepening crack-down on corruption and push for reform.

A brief government announcement said Jiang Jiemin was “suspected of serious disci-pline violations”, shorthand the government generally uses to describe graft.

The investigation was being carried out by the ruling Communist Party’s anti-graft watchdog, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the statement said. No other details were given.

President Xi Jinping has made fight-ing pervasive corruption a key theme of his new administration, vowing to go after “tigers”, or senior officials, as well as lower-ranking “flies”.

Jiang was promoted to head of the Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) in March, from his previous post

as chairman of energy giant China National Petroleum Company (CNPC).

SASAC is a ministerial-level body run by China’s cabinet, and is directly responsible for more than 100 state-owned companies.

The announcement about Jiang, much anticipated by industry insiders, comes after the government announced last week that four of CNPC’s top executives were under investigation for alleged wrongdoing.

Those investigations were announced shortly after the close of the trial of Bo Xilai, once a rising political star who is now await-ing a verdict on charges of graft, bribery and abuse of power.

Jiang had been expected to take a major role in reforming China’s sprawling state sec-tor as the Communist Party seeks to allow private investment into important sectors of the economy, such as energy, transport and finance, over the next five years.

But reform of state-owned industries has run into opposition from vested interest

groups threatened by the prospect of com-petition and conservative elements in the party uncomfortable with more economic changes.

The Communist Party will hold a meeting in November to discuss deepening reforms as leaders look to set China’s economic agenda for the next decade.

“It seems apparent to me that the government has faced a strong level of opposition from vested interests in the state sector as it’s tried to push forward changes, and I think the discipline body has essentially tried to put the foot down and start taking action,” said Duncan Innes-Ker, senior China analyst for the Economist Intelligence Unit.

“It probably means reform will be able to move a bit faster, but one has to worry that it resembles the old-style purges of people who have disagreed with the party line,” he said.

REUTERS

BANGKOK: A Thai protester was shot dead and another injured at a rally in the country’s south yesterday, officials said, following demonstrations calling for higher rubber prices.

In a pre-dawn attack, shots were fired at a group of protest-ers acting as guards at a rally site in the southern province of Nakhon Si Thammarat, local governor Viroj Jiravarungsan said.

One man, aged 29, died of his injuries in hospital, while a 25-year-old man was seriously wounded. It was not known who carried out the attack, but Viroj said there was concern that the incident could be used to “escalate the protest”.

Viroj said police had failed to access the crime scene to recover forensic evidence because a group of around 300 protesters had barred their entry. “The government clearly ordered that there be no violence used against the protesters,” he said.

Demonstrators, angry about a sharp fall in the price of rub-ber, have blocked a major road in Nakhon Sri Thammarat as part of protests that began on August 23. They have called for farmers in other regions of the country to encircle the capital Bangkok with other transportation stoppages in a more wide-spread demonstration on September 3. AFP

Radiation readings spike 18-fold at Japan’s nuclear plant water tank

Strong quake strikes off eastern Indonesia: USGS

Cambodia warns foreignersPHNOM PENH: The Camb-odian government yesterday warned foreigners to stay away from opposition protests against a hotly disputed election as thou-sands of riot police practised crowd control in the capital.

Authorities and security forces would “avoid potential clashes at all costs” said the government ahead of expected September 7 mass opposition protests against the poll results. “All foreigners liv-ing in the Kingdom of Cambodia should keep a reasonable distance from all protests related to the election,” the statement said.

Thousands of Cambodian police officers were seen learning pro-test control tactics in a park in Phnom Penh. AFP

Thai protester shot dead

China probes top official in anti-graft push

12 PHILIPPINESMONDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2013

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Vying to be first Filipino astronaut

Models dressed as astronauts jump during a selection process of the first Filipino to be sent to space, dubbed Apollo national challenge, at a park in Manila on Saturday. From around 28,000 applicants, the selection was trimmed to 400 where the best two were selected, and will be sent to Axe Apollo space camp in the US in December for astronaut training along with over a hundred other candidates from all over the world. A total of 20 tickets will be awarded to successful participants, a possibility to be sent to space.

Businesswoman Napoles on suicide watchFilipina Janet Lim-Napoles inside a detention cell at Fort Santo Domingo in the town of Sta Rosa, Laguna province, Philippines, yesterday.

MANILA: Sharp objects, shoelaces and ropes are not allowed for this high-value detainee. She gets a refrigera-tor and a reception room but not air-conditioning.

Controversial businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles, at the cen-tre of controversy over a multi-billion-peso pork barrel scam, settled into her special detention facility yesterday, with her custo-dians making sure no harm would come to her, either from outside elements or by her own hand.

Apart from ensuring that she cannot use any implements for committing suicide, her custo-dians must also make sure she cannot get hold of any device for escaping, according to Deputy Director General Felipe Rojas, Philippine National Police (PNP) deputy chief for operations.

Napoles was taken into custody by the PNP Special Action Force (SAF) at Fort Sto. Domingo in Sta. Rosa, Laguna following the order of the Makati City court

to have her transferred for secu-rity reasons. PNP-SAF director Chief Superintendent Carmelo Valmoria said shoelaces and curtains are not allowed at the bungalow where Napoles is now detained.

“We assure the public that there are no ropes or curtains inside. There are no sharp objects there. Even toothbrush handles have been broken,” Valmoria told reporters at the main gate of Fort Sto. Domingo shortly after Napoles was formally turned over.

“It’s like a typical bungalow with the doors and windows hav-ing grills,” Valmoria said.

Sacks were placed around the fence of the bungalow to allow Napoles some privacy.

The bungalow has a floor area of 82.4 square meters.

It has a 40sq m receiving room and a common toilet measuring 3.25 square meters. The bedroom is 19.2sq m. The windows, doors and ceiling have iron grills and its doors have padlocks.

Valmoria said the police camp is secured with closed-circuit television cameras installed at various points as part of the tightened security for Napoles.

He said the detention facility was not air-conditioned, but a small refrigerator was allowed for Napoles to store her medicine since she is a diabetic.

Valmoria said there are medi-cal personnel available inside the camp in case of emergency.

Valmoria explained Napoles is considered a detainee under the rules of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) since she is facing charges of illegal detention before the Makati City court.

Under BJMP regulations, sharp and pointed objects like toothbrush handles, kitchen utensils, metal spoons and forks are not allowed inside the deten-tion cell.

He said Napoles would have to depend on the food rations brought to her since cooking

is not allowed at the detention facility.

“Napoles will get meals three times a day but without any snack in between regular meals. But since she is a diabetic, she could have biscuits,” Valmoria said.

When Napoles was turned over to the custody of the police camp, she had a blood pressure of 120/90. “She needs to have trice a day insulin, that’s why she needs a small refrigerator,” Valmoria added.

He said retired Marine Col. Jimmy Napoles was not allowed to stay with his wife but was told to guide the police guards on how to administer the insulin and other medical procedures regard-ing her diabetic condition.

Valmoria added Napoles could move freely inside her detention facility, which will be padlocked as soon as regular visiting hours is over.

The facility will be opened at 6am. THE PHILIPPINE STAR

Roxas plans to defend P9.5bn DILG budgetSenate hearing at 9am todayMANILA: Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas II is set to defend today the P9.5bn budget of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) for 2014, which has been questioned by the political opposition in connection with the P1bn fund allocated for climate change and the relocation of informal settlers.

Senate finance commit-tee chairman Senator Francis Escudero has set the hearing at 9am today at the Recto and JP Laurel rooms at the Senate at the GSIS building in Pasay City.

The DILG has under its wing the Bureau of Fire Protection with P8.725bn budget for 2014, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology with a budget of P6.270bn, Local Government Academy (P149.8m), National Police Commission (P1.422bn), Philippine National Police (P71.945bn), and the Philippine Public Safety College (P1.5bn).

Under the special provisions of the DILG, a P9.5bn budget was allocated to the Office of the Secretary, about P76m was appropriated for 2014 to enhance the local government unit capac-ity on climate change adaptation and disaster risk management framework.

As safeguards, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has mandated the Office of the DILG Secretary to submit either in printed form or any form of electronic document a detailed annual work plan prior to the commencement of the project and quarterly reports on financial and physical accom-plishments of the project.

The committee on appropria-tions and Senate committee on finance should be furnished a copy of the periodic reports of the agency, which are also mandated to be published in the DILG offi-cial website.

The DILG secretary is also barred from realigning the

P1.547bn set aside for the Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan Program (Pamana), which shall be used exclusively to implement the projects in conflict-affected areas already identified by the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP).

“In no case shall said the amount be used for any other purposes. Implementation of this provision shall be subject to guidelines to be jointly issued by the OPAPP, DILG and DBM,” the DBM said.

For the relocation of informal settler families residing in dan-ger areas within Metro Manila, the Office of the DILG secretary gets P1.244bn for the housing programme for the squatters.

Based on the National Expenditure Program prepared by the DBM, P700m will be used for the construction of medium-rise buildings while P544.6m is being set aside as an interim shelter fund for 40,000 target families.

Roxas also has at his disposal P572.73m for the Potable Water Supply Project to fund waterless municipalities and barangays.

About P500m is also allocated in 2014 for the so-called perform-ance-based challenge fund that would subsidize qualified local government units under the Local Governance Performance Management Programme for the implementation of priority projects to support the accom-plishment of the millennium development goals.

It also aims to ensure the implementation of the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2009 and the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction Management Act of 2010.

In particular, the subsidy shall be used for rehabilitation and maintenance of roads leading to tourism sites and production zones to boost local economic development or promote peace and order in the area.

THE PHILIPPINE STAR

Groups seek tighter rules for setting up NGOs MANILA: Leaders of legiti-mate organisations are wor-ried over the government’s pronouncements of reforms to regulate foundations and non-government organisations (NGOs) in the aftermath of the pork barrel scam.

It now takes P1m or more to put up and register a foundation or an NGO that helps the poor.

With the capital requirement and other procedures that would be asked by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), only those with ample funds can set up a foundation or an NGO.

Anton Mari Lim, co-founder and president of the Yellow Boat of Hope Foundation that is help-ing poor island communities in the country, was among the NGO leaders who were shocked over revelations of the P10-billion pork barrel scam.

“But people, especially the gov-ernment, should refrain from tak-ing knee-jerk reactions,” Lim said.

Lim’s foundation builds “school boats” that has spared thousands of public schoolchildren in coastal communities from having to swim kilometers to go to school.

Lim, who was cited last week as one of the four Cobra Pinoy Heroes of 2013, lamented that there were proposals to make the registration of NGOs and foun-dations stricter. If government authorities would make it hard to form groups to implement com-munity development programs to help poor families, many would think twice about volunteering, Lim said.

THE PHILIPPINE STAR

Excess ballot papers to be reusedMANILA: The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will use excess ballot papers from the May elections for the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) polls in October.

Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes said they were able to cut down the election expenses as a result of this.

“We initially set it to be bid out, but we learned that there were

excess papers so we were able to save a bit in the cost of bal-lot paper,” he said. The Comelec has previously approved a P148-million budget for the purchase of ballot papers for the Barangay and SK elections.

A few weeks ago, the Comelec issued a resolution ordering the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) to leave out the bidding for the procurement of ballot

papers for the October 28 polls. Meanwhile, Brillantes doubted allegations that ballots are being printed in Quezon City long after the May elections.

Without preempting the results of the Comelec probe, Brillantes said the allegations of former Comelec official Melchor Magdamo is a highly unlikely occurrence.

THE PHILIPPINE STAR

MANILA: President Aquino has appointed retired Maj Gen Natalio Ecarma III (pictured), a former commander of the United Nations peacekeeping forces in the Golan Heights, as the sixth undersecretary of the Department of National Defence.

Aquino also designated Edwin Lopez, a former chief of staff in the House of Representatives of now Transportation and Communications Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya, as one of the assistant secretaries of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC).

Ecarma and Lopez were among the 49 new appointments made by the President to various positions in the government.

Ecarma, a retired Marine officer, said he is grateful to President Aquino for giving him the opportunity to return to pub-lic service.

“I’m very much honored to con-tinue serving the people. We will help the President achieve the straight path,” Ecarma said in a phone interview yesterday.

Asked what he could provide to the defense department as undersecretary, Ecarma said he has experience, idealism, and love for the country and its people.

Ecarma was named mission head and force commander of UN peacekeepers in Golan Heights in 2010, the first Filipino general to the unit that consists of soldiers from various countries.

A graduate of Philippine Military Academy class ’81, Ecarma was a former assistant chief of staff for operations of the Presidential Security Group,

Philippine Marine Corps Chief of Staff, and Brigade Commander of the Combat and Service Support Brigade.

He oversaw peace and develop-ment projects when he was bri-gade commander in Sulu in 2007.

Lopez worked as second-in-command of Abaya when he was then Cavite congressman.

He likewise worked for now Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas – another stalwart of the ruling Liberal Party like Abaya – from 1998 to 1999, when the former sena-tor was still a congressman from Capiz.

Aquino also appointed former rear admiral Lino Dabi of the Philippine Coast Guard as another assistant secretary of the DOTC.

The President designated as third DOTC assistant secretary lawyer Jaime Fortunato Caringal, who obtained his law degree from the University of the Philippines in 2003.

He earned his pre-law (political science) and graduated honorable mention at the Ateneo in 1999.

THE PHILIPPINE STAR

Former UN peacekeeping chief named to defence department

PAKISTAN / AFGHANISTAN 13MONDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2013

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Anti-rebel operation

An Afghanistan National Army special forces member jumps from a military vehicle during an anti-Taliban operation in the Gozara district of Herat province yesterday.

Protest against Syria, Russia

Pakistani demonstrators participate in an anti-Syria and Russia rally in Quetta yesterday. Syria urged US lawmakers to show “wisdom” in their vote on a proposed military strike on Damascus, after President Barack Obama decided to seek congressional approval.

KABUL: Potential presidential candidate Omar Daudzai was appointed as Afghanistan’s act-ing Interior Minister yesterday, putting him in a high-profile public role seven months before the country’s first democratic transfer of power.

Daudzai will move back to Kabul from Islamabad, where he has been ambassador since 2011 during a time of fractious ties between the two neighbours.

Last month Daudzai, a former chief of staff to President Hamid Karzai, set up an office in Kabul and said he would be a “probable” candidate in the April 5 election.

Karzai, who is barred from

standing for a third term, has said he will not back any runner in the wide-open race, but Daudzai is seen as one of his closest associ-ates and loyalists.

Daudzai, 55, from the biggest ethnic group, the Pashtuns, was a member of the Hezb-e-Islami fac-tion during the Soviet occupation and worked for the UN.

Presidential spokesman Rafi Ferdous confirmed the appoint-ment, which came after interior minister Mujtaba Patang was ousted by parliament last month over accusations that he had failed to thwart the threat from Taliban rebels.

Patang was dismissed after

Kabul formally took responsi-bility for nationwide security from US-led Nato troops, but he remained as the “acting” interior minister until yesterday.

Afghanistan’s 350,000-strong forces are suffering a steep rise in attacks as the Nato combat mission winds down, with police and army casualties said to have increased by 15-20 percent since 2011. The Taliban have launched attacks across Afghanistan in recent days, with scores killed in suicide bombings, ambushes and rocket attacks, and executed five aid workers who were kidnapped in Herat. The bullet-riddled bod-ies of seven civilians kidnapped

one week ago by the Taliban were found in Ghazni province yester-day, officials said.

The election to succeed Karzai, who has ruled since the Taliban hardliners were ousted in 2001, is seen as the key test of whether 12 years of international military and aid intervention has been worthwhile. In 2010, Karzai con-firmed reports that Daudzai, a former ambassador to Tehran, received bags full of cash from Iran. Karzai said they were trans-parent payments and the money was used to run the presidential office.

Karzai named controversial former warlord Abdul Rasul

Sayyaf, 2009 runner-up Abdullah Abdullah and former finance min-ister Ashraf Ghani as possible candidates.

Other potential runners include Qayum Karzai, the president’s brother, and former interior minister Ali Ahmad Jalali. Karzai has pledged to work to ensure a smooth election, but international donors have expressed concern about whether the vote will pro-duce a credible result after the 2009 poll was marred by massive fraud.

Daudzai’s appointment will have to be approved by parlia-ment, and would have to resign before running for president.

MIRANSHAH: At least nine Pakistani servicemen were killed yesterday when a roadside bomb hit an army convoy pass-ing through the troubled region of North Waziristan near the border with Afghanistan, secu-rity sources said.

The incident happened in the Boya area of North Waziristan, a stronghold of militants linked to the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Rebels often launch attacks on troops and civilians from mountain hide-outs on the porous border.

Initially, army sources said three soldiers had been killed but later a security official in the regional town of Miranshah raised the death toll to nine.

At least 21 soldiers were wounded, the official said, add-ing the bomb was an improvised explosive device.

He said the bomb hit a convoy of up to 20 vehicles carrying regu-lar soldiers and members of the paramilitary Frontier Corps to the town of Miranshah from the Datta Khel area.

US drone strikes often tar-get insurgents in lawless and

inaccessible North Waziristan, home to homegrown and foreign militants.

On Saturday, at least three foreign militants were killed in a suspected drone strike in the Mir Ali area of North Waziristan, local officials said. Pakistan, which opposes the pilotless attacks, con-demned the latest strike. “These unilateral strikes are a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” a Foreign Ministry statement said. It said Pakistan had repeatedly empha-sized the importance of ending drone strikes.

The attack came a day after Pakistan announced to formally lodge its protest on US drone attacks in the UN General Assembly session next month.

Islamabad is battling a Taliban-led domestic insurgency that has killed thousands of civilians and security personnel since 2007.

The US considers the tribal belt the main hub of Taliban and Al Qaeda militants plotting attacks on the West and in Afghanistan.

North Waziristan is frequently targeted by US drones. AFP

Karzai appoints presidential hopeful as interior minister

Kabul’s influential police chief Mohammad Ayoub Salangi was named Deputy Interior Minister.

AFP

Nine Pakistan soldiers killed in border blastBomb hits convoy of army vehicles

ISLAMABAD: Unidentified gunmen attacked a residence of a political leader with hand grenades in Pakistan’s Quetta region last night, police said.

Officials said that armed men riding on a motorcycle hurled two hand grenades at the house of Sardar Akhtar Mengal, the President of the Baluchistan

National Party-Mengal.“Two grenades exploded inside

the house located in Railway Housing Society,” officials said, adding that several windowpanes of the house were smashed in the attack.

Mengal was not presented in the house at the time of the attack.

He was at his other house located in Sariab road area, police said. Sources said no one was injured.

The local administration stepped up security for Mengal and his family by deploying a heavy contingent of police and other security forces around his houses. AGENCIES

Gunmen attack political leader’s home

Roadside bomb kills eight in Afghanistan KABUL: At least eight peo-ple were killed in a roadside improvised explosive device explosion in northern Parwan province of Afghanistan, offi-cials said yesterday.

The incident took place on Saturday after a vehicle car-rying security personnel of a mining project struck the bomb in Bagram district.

Provincial health officials said the condition of four work-ers was critical, and they had been taken to capital Kabul for treatment.

No group has so far claimed responsibility.

Karachi clinic attack claims 4ISLAMABAD: Unidentified assailants opened fire at a clinic late on Saturday night, killing four people in Landhi area of Karachi, Police said.

The gang came on five motorcycles and fled after the attack in Shah Lateed Town. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) said the clinic belonged to its Karachi committee leader Ghulam Sarwae Dahiri. The MQM said that Dahiri’s son was among the dead.

MQM leader Altaf Hussain condemned the incident and demanded that the govern-ment investigate the incident and arrest all those involved.

AGENCIES

KABUL: Women across Afghanistan risk being unable to vote in next year’s presidential elections because of a severe shortage of women in the security forces, the country’s election monitor said recently.

Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission (IEC) said that there were just 2,000 of the required 12,000 women needed to carry out body searches required for vot-ers entering polling stations set aside spe-cially for women. Voting is segregated as the two sexes are not permitted to mingle in public in conservative Afghanistan.

The shortfall of women staff is one of the greatest challenges facing the government ahead of the vote, planned for April 5.

“This is a really important issue for the IEC. We must have the same opportunities

for male and females,” IEC spokesman Noor Mohammad Noor said.

Recruiting women into the police force was considered an important victory for Western efforts to promote equality after the toppling of the hardline Islamist Taliban in 2001. However, a report late last year found the aspirations of Afghanistan’s female police force have been poisoned by a steady stream of taunts, molestations and even rapes by their male colleagues.

Recruitment has proved slow and num-bers remain far below President Hamid Karzai’s target of 5,000 women by the end of 2014. To make up for the election day shortfall, the Ministry of Interior is consid-ering training female teachers to carry out searches at polling stations, the IEC said.

The Ministry of Education was prepared

to “help in any way possible”, a spokesman said, though it was unclear whether the plan was workable.

Election officials encountered similar problems at the 2009 presidential poll, with female staff present at only 30 percent of polling stations set aside for women.

No figures for turnout of female voters are available, but officials say the numbers were very low, except in central Bamiyan province and areas in the country’s north. In some areas in the less secure south and southeast, officials and international observ-ers reported that almost no women voted.

Even if the ministry finds and trains the 10,000 women needed to secure polling sta-tions, in Afghanistan’s most conservative provinces hardly any women have registered to vote. REUTERS

PESHAWAR: The pro-vincial chapter of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has failed to get a go-ahead from the central leadership to launch a membership drive and hold intra-party elec-tion on the lines of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Some members of the pro-vincial council of PPP said a proposal had been sent to the central leadership for per-mission for new membership and elections but they got no response. That’s why all activi-ties of the party had come to a standstill, they said.

“We have been in the party

since we were students and faced all kinds of hardship for it in the province, especially during the martial law,” said a member. “We were in hot water during the martial law of General Zia-ul-Haq but the workers kept their association with the party, however, now everyone is disappointed.”

A senior worker said PPP was facing a leadership crisis as all powers were retained by President Asif Ali Zardari.

“A former provincial presi-dent and some other senior leaders tried to get appoint-ment from Zardari to discuss issues but he didn’t respond.”

INTERNEWS

Lack of female security force could hit Afghan vote

Omar Daudzai.

PPP fails to take steps for revival

14 INDIAMONDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2013

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Sikh celebrations

Sikh devotees gather next to the illuminated Golden Temple in Amritsar yesterday to celebrate the 409th anniversary of the holy book of the Sikh religion.

Asaram questioned in JodhpurJAIPUR: Arrested spiritual guru Asaram Bapu, facing alle-gations of sexual assault on a minor, was yesterday brought to Jodhpur town, where he was interrogated after being sent to a day’s police custody and taken to his ashram for recreating the “crime scene”, police said.

During the interrogation at the Police Lines, near Mandore in Jodhpur, the white-clad, bearded 72-year-old Asaram asserted he was innocent.

He will spend the night at the Police Lines, police sources said.

“We had sought two days’ police custody, but the court has given us a day’s custody. We, after interro-gating him, will again present him before the district and sessions judge here tomorrow (Monday) and, if need be, seek more cus-tody,” said a police official in Jodhpur, 350km from here.

The guru was also taken to his ashram, 35km from Jodhpur, at around 6pm for recreating the alleged crime scene. The exer-cise lasted around 20 minutes, a source said.

Asaram Bapu denied the alle-gation of sexual assault levelled against him by a minor girl, Jodhpur Police Commissioner Biju George Joseph told reporters. The incident had reportedly occurred on August 15.

The police chief said Asaram had undergone a medical exami-nation and the doctors had declared he was fine. Police sources also said that Asaram would undergo a potency test.

The family of the victim Sunday broke their hunger strike follow-ing the arrest.

The girl’s father and a few rel-atives, based in Uttar Pradesh’s Shahjahanpur, began their hunger strike Saturday morning, pressing for legal action against Asaram.

Thanking the media for keep-ing the case in the spotlight, the

girl’s father requested an early trial and sought Asaram should be treated as a common criminal, and should not be given bail.

A Rajasthan Police team flew Asaram Bapu to Jodhpur in the afternoon after arresting him past midnight Saturday from his ashram in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore.

The spiritual guru was brought from Delhi where he was flown from Indore by a morning flight.

Hundreds of his supporters gathered outside the Delhi air-port as the plane carrying him arrived at 9.30am and raised slo-gans. Asaram Bapu waited in the airport’s VIP lounge before being taken on the flight to Jodhpur at 11.20am.

His supporters also staged a protest march at Jantar Mantar. A few protestors who tried to break the barricades were detained but let off later. Security was stepped up in the Rajasthan town ahead of Asaram’s arrival.

The girl lodged a complaint Aug 20, accusing Asaram of sexually assaulting her at his ashram in Jodhpur. Asaram has denied the charge, and his son has claimed the girl was “mentally unstable”.

The guru has been booked under various sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and the Indian Penal Code.

According to the allegations of the girl, who studied at his ashram in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhindwara and stayed in a girls’ hostel there, the guru sexually assaulted her on the pretext of exorcism.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot Sunday said the law would take its own course in the case. Talking to media per-sons here, he said that no actor, politician or any other person was above law.

“Let the law take its own course. Police should be allowed

Spiritual guru asserts innocence

to do its job of unbiased investi-gation. We want that whoever is guilty should be punished,” said Gehlot.

In Delhi, Congress general sec-retary Digvijaya Singh Sunday again accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of adopt-ing double standards on crimes against women and maintaining

silence in this case.He asked Gujarat Chief

Minister Narendra Modi to make public the judicial commission report on murder of two boys, who were living in an ashram of Asaram Bapu in the state.

He also questioned why BJP leader Sushma Swaraj, who was vocal on issue of crimes against

women, was quiet on the minor girl’s allegation against the spir-itual leader.

Asaram has blamed Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son and party vice president Rahul Gandhi for his legal tan-gles. The Congress has rubbished the allegation.

IANS

MANJERI: Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy yes-terday inaugurated a govern-ment medical college — the first to come up here in three decades — and announced that eight more were in the pipeline and would be ready in two years’ time.

The last government medical college that was commissioned was in Trissur in 1982. With the inauguration of the 520-bed Manjeri Medical College, the number of such institutions in the state has gone up to six.

The opposition Left Democratic Front, who have declared war against Chandy for not quitting in the wake of the solar scam, in which, they allege his office is involved, boycotted the pro-gramme and staged protest near the venue by waving black flags.

Chandy criticised their stand. “This is an historic occasion and when there is celebration here, a section is staying away. If they keep out of developmental progress in the state, soon they will be sidelined.” He said the foun-dation stone for four government medical colleges have been laid at Pathanamthitta, Idukki, Palakkad and Thiruvananthapuram and will be soon laid at Wayanad and Kasargode. “We are mulling tak-ing over the Kochi Cooperative Medical College and the Pariyaram Medical College which is right now under the cooperative sector,” he said.

“Things are fast changing in other parts of our country and the world but in our state it’s only slogans and strikes... but we will not waste our time. Instead, our government is committed to the all-round development of the state and we will go forward despite the non-cooperation from a section,” said Chandy accusing the Left opposition of blocking the state’s progress. IANS

Kerala gets first government medical college since 1982

NEW DELHI: False terror cases against young Muslim boys was the main concern expressed by the minority community members who gathered here to take stock of the promises made by the UPA government.

“Muslim youth are charged with terrorism and are later acquitted. This destroys them and their families,” said Mohd Shahid of Aligarh Muslim University.

He was speaking at a semi-nar on “UPA II and Muslim Expectations” organised by the Aligarh Movement magazine at the India Islamic Cultural Centre on Friday evening.

Agreeing that sometimes injus-tice is done due to the bureau-cratic and police system inherited from the British, Congress leader Anees Durrani said either the youth who are framed in false

terror cases or the community leaders should seek compensation from the government.

Mohammad Adeeb, MP, said: “No change has come in the mind-set of police and administration. So nothing can be done till the mindset is changed.” Noting “there are many instances where Muslim youths have been wrongly framed in terror cases”, journal-ist Ashish Khetan said: “Islamic terror too is a reality.”

“There should be no politics of victim-hood. There should be justice for all, the innocents who are killed in terror incidents and those who are wrongly blamed for it,” said Khetan.

The meeting also took stock of the promises made by the UPA-II government.

“A lot of promises were made when UPA-II came to power in

2009 but there is little imple-mentation of them,” said Jasim Mohammad, editor of the Aligarh Movement magazine.

“The government is making joke of Muslims as we have been continuously believing in the Congress,” said Farhat Ali Khan, OSD of Jamia Urdu.

The Congress should fulfill its promises, noted film director and social activist Mahesh Bhatt said.

“The core ideology of the Congress is secularism which is not its monopoly but a tradition of our forefathers,” he said.

Among the other issues raised by the community leaders were jobs for youth, implementation of Sachar panel report, a bill to curb communal violence and minor-ity institution status for Aligarh Muslim University.

IANS

False terror cases destroying families, say Muslims

Police escort spiritual guru Asaram Bapu outside an airport after his arrest in Jodhpur yesterday.

INDIA 15MONDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2013

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

Rape verdict sparks anger

A demonstrator holds a placard during a protest against the verdict of a teenager, who was sentenced to three years in juvenile detention, in New Delhi yesterday. The opposition said it would seek tougher punishments for juveniles after the verdict sparked widespread anger.

NEW DELHI: A supply crunch following the government’s pol-icy to curb gold imports and concern over a possible Western attack on Syria could lead to a further rise in the yellow met-al’s prices and mar the coming festive and marriage season.

Gold touched Rs34,600 per 10 grams for 24 carat on Wednesday in the bullion market. The price settled at Rs33,000 per 10 grams for 24 carat yesterday.

“There is comfortable gold demand. Gold is innate to the Inidan culture. If the situation continues like this, in the com-ing festive and marriage season we will be facing a lot of supply crunch. The government wants to shrink the size of this industry,” Harshad Ajmera, director on the board of the All India Gems & Jewellery Trade Federation, said.

No gold has been imported since July 22 after the govern-ment slapped an eight percent import duty on the yellow metal in June which was hiked to 10 percent on August 13 in a bid to contain the current account deficit. The government said too much gold import is draining for-eign exchange from its coffer.

“We are facing supply crunches. Actually we are still using gold that has been imported on July 22. But with the festivity time round the corner we expect a supply crunch and a lot of chaos to take place,” said Bachharaj Bamalwa, former chairman, All India Gems & Jewellery Trade Federation.

Industry players question the prudence of the policy, saying it had not arrested the rupee’s depreciation against dollar.

Some traders felt the situa-tion will become something like 20 years back when there was no price measurement barometer in the gold industry. The market during that time was completely dependent on smuggled gold as gold import was banned under the Gold Control Act 1962. This act was abolished by the govern-ment in 1992 and gold import was liberalised.

“It is a similar situation like

1992 when the entire industry was unorganised,” said Ashok Minawala of Minawala Jewellers in Mumbai.

Ajmera said the government was shooting in the dark. “They (government) have not been able to handle the economy of the country properly and now they are thrusting all pressure on this industry. Highest import bill is generated from the oil sec-tor. Government must put some more restrictions on the oil sector rather than continuously putting pressure on the gold industry.”

Restrictions on import has opened the grey market for smug-gled gold from abroad, he said. “But we cannot work on smuggled gold. We are facing problems as we do not have enough raw mate-rials to work on.”

Somasundaram P R, manag-ing director, India, World Gold Council, said: “We are hoping that the government will come up with some clarifications on the import of gold soon. And following that clarification import is expected to resume in a phased manner.”

“We are now waiting for a clarification from the customs department shortly regarding the RBI guidelines on import duty,” said Bamalwa.

In the meantime, small traders have begun making losses. Rahul Gupta, chief executive officer, PP Jewellers, does not see any merit in the government move to con-tinuously increase import duty. “This is not going to solve the government’s problems. The gov-ernment is in turn hitting some industry badly,” he said.

There are four million artisans who work for this industry and along with them 12 million family members are attached. Hence one percent of the population of this country would be impacted if no import is allowed.

Opposition leaders like former finance minister Yashwant Sinha have voiced their concern over a possible collapse of jewellery trade and millions of people being ren-dered jobless because of the gov-ernment policy. IANS

Gold supply crunch may hit festive seasonNo gold imported since July 22

Protest against US foreign policy

Left-wing party activists walk with flags as they participate in a rally in Kolkata yesterday. The rally was organised to protest against US foreign policy and to promote world peace.

NEW DELHI: The Indian econ-omy and society is at the “tip-ping point” and needs a strong government with “international outlook” to take the country’s progress to the next level, says Sam Pitroda, an adviser to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

“We are at the tipping point. The question is how do we tip. If we tip in a wrong way we are in a mess,” said Pitroda, who advises the prime minister on public information infrastructure and innovations.

“We have 19th century mindset, we have 20th century processes and 21st century requirements. We got to change things. We need to change the way we do things. We need to bring in technology, we need to change processes,” Pitroda said.

Pitroda, who has been associ-ated with the central government and some state governments for more than three decades in vari-ous advisory positions ever since his friend, former prime minister

Rajiv Gandhi, invited him here from his base in Chicago to usher in a telecommunication revolu-tion, said the Indian economy was passing through a difficult situ-ation and the country needed a strong government with an inter-national outlook.

“Right now everybody is waiting for the next election. Psychologically, everybody will say let’s wait for the next election,” he said, when asked whether decision-making has taken a hit because of the upcoming general election.

“We need strong government, we need young people in the gov-ernment, we need government that has international outlook, government that has inclusive mindset,” he said.

Pitroda said the Indian econ-omy has resilience and would soon return to over eight percent growth trajectory.

“We had eight years great, two years are bad. Let’s work hard, we will get back to eight percent

(GDP growth) and then to 10 percent,” he said. “I can’t get depressed because it is not eight percent today. The economy has the resilience it will go back to eight percent,” he added.

Asked what will have the big-gest impact on India’s devel-opment process in the coming decade, Pitroda, who is cred-ited for laying the foundation of India´s technology and telecom leap in the 1980s, said: “It will be Internet-based services and technology”.

“In less than 10 years from now, almost everybody in India will have access to internet and web. It will revolutionise the way we do things and provide social welfare services,” he said.

He hoped the recent economic downturn won’t have any major impact on innovation, as the government has shown its com-mitment to pushing forward the process.

IANS

Petrol pumps may be shut at nightNEW DELHI: With the fall-ing rupee and rising oil import bills fuelling the current account deficit, the petroleum ministry is planning to do away with 24-hour petrol pumps in cities, Minister M Veerappa Moily said here. “It (petrol pump timings) could be 8am to 8pm or something like that. We are still working on it. It may not be implemented on the highways though. Such measures are already in place in many other countries,” a leading daily reported Moily as saying. “We need to discipline ourselves. People will have to tighten their belt and some austerity meas-ures have to be taken without affecting economic activity,” Moily added. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has asked the petroleum ministry to save $25bn on imports and the minis-try hopes to contain fuel demand through such an austerity meas-ure. The petroleum minister had on Tuesday said the oil ministry has worked out a plan to save $22bn in the oil import bill.

Soldier’s body found after 45 yearsSHIMLA: The body of a soldier who died in a plane crash 45 years ago has been found in the Himalayas and will be given a military funeral, the army said yesterday. A team found the soldier’s body, still wearing a uniform with personal identifi-cation documents in the pocket, on August 22 -- more than four decades after he and 101 others died when an army transport aircraft crashed in February 1968. The man, identified as Jagmail Singh, came from Meerpur village in Haryana state south of the Himalayas, an army spokesman said. “Bad weather hasn’t allowed us to fly the body home yet for a military funeral,” he said. The remains were recovered at an altitude of 18,000 feet on the Dhakka gla-cier in Himachal Pradesh state.

Over five million hitby Bihar floodsPATNA: There was no let up in the fury of floods in over a dozen Bihar districts yesterday with major swollen rivers, including the Ganga, affecting more than five million people, officials said. According to the state govern-ment, the toll in floods this year has gone up to 132. “Major rivers, including the Ganga, Sone, Budhi Gandak, Kosi and Gandak, are not showing receding trend so far, a bad news for hundreds of thousands of people affected by floods,” said an official of the cen-tral water commission. In Patna, the Ganga was flowing above the danger mark.

IANS

NEW DELHI: Student Mikael Haris is wrestling with the sort of question confronting others across India, including compa-nies, investors and banks, fol-lowing the 18 percent slump in the rupee this year.

With plans to study for a mas-ters degree in marketing in London from this month, he is trying to decide whether to pay his course fees up front and secure a discount, or to spread them out in the hope that a rebound in the rupee will ultimately reduce his costs.

“We are kind of speculat-ing how to pay the fee, to see whether the rupee will regain its strength. It is a strategy that makes you think, how to lower your expenses,” Haris said.

For the 800,000 or so Indian students who go overseas to study each year, the main question is whether they can still afford to do so as their costs in rupees have risen by as much as 20 per-cent. The top three destinations to study are the United States, Britain and Australia.

The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India estimated overseas Indian stu-dents spend the equivalent of about $15bn a year to pursue their studies.

“If the currency continues to depreciate, it will certainly put a doubt in the mind of students on whether to look at going abroad next year or not,” said New Delhi-based Ajay Mittal, a direc-tor at International Placewell Consultants Pvt Ltd, a student placement company.

“If the slide does not stop it may affect the January or next

September admissions,” Mittal said. Students already studying overseas are looking to cut costs, rely on savings or find work to cover their shortfalls.

Pooja Raman, who is study-ing International Business Law at the National University of Singapore, is worried about pay-ing off her education loan after her expenses rose by 15 percent in recent months. Most Indian stu-dents take loans for their studies overseas.

“If the rupee continues on this devaluation path, it would get dif-ficult to repay it within the given time and I might have to take another one,” Raman said.

Adding to the pressure, state-run Indian banks have not raised the maximum limit on education loans to account for the fall in the rupee, meaning what used to be full-course funding now covers just a proportion.

Foreign students are prized by US academic institutions, partic-ularly at the undergraduate level, because they often pay full tuition and board rather than counting on financial aid from universities, giving them an economic impact that outweighs their numbers - less than 4 percent of US univer-sity enrolment.

So far, USschools say there has been no significant drop off in the number of Indian students, the second-largest population of for-eign students after the Chinese. That does not mean there will not be a fall though, said Gary Hamme, associate vice president for enrolment management at the Florida Institute of Technology.

REUTERS

BANGALORE: A 36-year-old prisoner, involved in sev-eral criminal cases including rape, murder and kidnapping, escaped from the central jail on the city’s outskirts early yester-day, a senior police official said.

“We learnt that Jaishankar escaped from the jail by climbing two 15-feet inner walls and the 30-feet outer wall between 2 and 4 a.m.,” Karnataka’s Inspector General of Prisons (IGP) K V Gagandeep told reporters here.

The IGP has suspended three wardens, two jailors and six secu-rity guards who were on duty then and ordered an inquiry into the daring jailbreak.

The incident came to light when Jaishankar did not turn up for morning roll-call and was found missing from his cell.

“The accused was lodged in a separate barrack as he was under treatment for an ailment. He used clothes and nylon ropes to climb the walls and also got injured as there were drops of blood outside the outer wall,” Gagandeep said.

According to preliminary investigation, Jaishankar even managed to hoodwink a cou-ple of security guards patrol-ling between the first and third walls by disguising as a policeman and pretending to be part of the prison staff.

“We are investigating how he got the police dress and fled in darkness as there was a power failure and the electric fence on the top of the outer wall was not functioning due to power cut and sudden rain in the area,” Gagandeep said.

The undertrial is facing a number of cases in the state and neighbouring Tamil Nadu after he was arrested in May 2011. “We have set up a special team to trace the accused as he is carrying Rs10 lakh cash reward and had a his-tory of escaping from Salem and Coimbatore prisons in Tamil Nadu earlier,” Gagandeep said.

IANS

Society at tipping point: Pitroda

Rupee fall a hard lesson for students overseas

Rape accused escapes from jail

MORNING BREAK16MONDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2013

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

Director, manga artist Miyazaki retires, says Studio chiefVENICE: Japan’s Hayao Miyazaki, a director of feature-length animations and manga artist who has been compared to Walt Disney, is retiring after a five-decade career, the head of his production company said yesterday.

“Miyazaki has decided that Kaze Tachinu will be his last film and he will now retire,” Koji Hoshino, head of Studio Ghibli, which was co-founded by Miyazaki, told reporters at the Venice film festival.

The film, entitled The Wind Rises in English, tells the story of a fighter plane designer and is one of 20 movies competing for the Golden Lion award at the festival on the floating city’s Lido island.

Hoshino did not give any fur-ther details, saying only that Miyazaki would hold a press brief-ing in Tokyo. The director him-self was not at the film festival and the movie being shown was his first in five years.

The 72-year-old Miyazaki has won hearts and accolades around the world in a career that began in the 1960s, blazing a trail for the genre of Japanese cartoons known as “anime”.

His most famous works inter-nationally have been Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away, which helped him make the tran-sition from an already widely acclaimed career in Japan to a far broader audience.

Spirited Away won an Oscar for best animated feature, the first Japanese film to do so.

He began his career in 1963, working on the anime Wanwan Chushingura (Watchdog Bow Wow). His first feature-length film was The Castle of Cagliostro (1979), featuring fictional master thief Arsene Lupin invented by manga artist Monkey Punch.

AFP

Sea turtles fight car accidents, stingrays in basement hospitalBY MIKE DI PAOLA

CHARLESTON: In the base-ment of the South Carolina Aquarium in Charleston, I watched a diamondback terra-pin that had been badly dinged by a car receive cutting- edge laser therapy.

“This is very good for sprains, breaks, bad ankles,” said staff veterinarian Shane Boylan as he waved a hand laser over the injured back and neck of the tur-tle. “Theoretically it increases blood flow and relieves pain, and allows inflammation to decrease faster than it otherwise would.”

Here in the state’s only sea-tur-tle hospital, which opened in 2000, Boylan and others were treat-ing 19 animals the day I visited, including loggerheads, Kemp’s ridleys and green turtles — all threatened or endangered species.

A 99-pound loggerhead had multiple stingray wounds. A green sea turtle had an intestinal impaction. Others suffered from something called “debilitated turtle syndrome.” A number of

turtles were shipped from New England late last year, having been “cold stunned” — trapped in frigid water and too wracked by hypothermia to swim south.

If all goes well, the animals will recover and be released in the wild, like 112 specimens before them.

“There’s something about see-ing a turtle being returned to the ocean that is emotional,” said Kelly Thorvalson, marine biologist and manager of the aquarium’s sea-turtle rescue programme. “You can’t describe it.”

Three full-time staff and more than 300 volunteers are saving turtles along the South Carolina coast, with help from fishermen, recreational boaters and anyone else who spots trouble. “If you can catch a sea turtle in the water, something is wrong with that ani-mal,” Thorvalson said.

As if on cue, two volunteers called in a rescue: a small Kemp’s ridley on Myrtle Beach had swal-lowed a fish hook. They were on their way.

“We always beg people, ‘Don’t

cut the line!’” Thorvalson said. She advises instead that would-be rescuers tether the fishing line to something that can’t be swal-lowed, as turtles will do just that until the hook is buried in its gut.

The week before, the staff exe-cuted its first oesophageal inver-sion, which involved peeling back the animal’s oesophagus bit by bit until the hook could be safely removed, obviating the need to cut into flesh. “It was as clean and as beautiful a surgery as we could do,” Thorvalson said.

When the Kemp’s ridley arrived, the staff rushed out to meet it, and Thorvalson began examining and measuring the creature. They prepped it for X-rays to see how deep the hook has gone.

While fishermen are responsible for numerous turtle injuries, many participate in the aquarium’s sustainable-seafood programme, which encourages restaurants and retailers to buy from them if they are conscientious about how and what they catch.

WP-BLOOMBERG

Kelly Thorvalson, marine biologist and sea turtle rescue programme manager at the Charleston Aquarium, examines a turtle x-ray.

Waar may revive Pakistan’s falling cinema industryISLAMABAD: Film lovers in Pakistan have for a while been writing obituaries about Lollywood, the country’s film industry, named after the city of Lahore where it is based. At its peak in 1968, the industry released 128 films in one year; last year, only five new local films hit the cinemas.

But very recently a revival seems to have been under way. Three films released over the Eid Al Fitr holiday earlier this month have been box office hits, and September promises more success, with two long-awaited releases.

For this cultural resurgence, we have partly the Pakistani Army to thank.

There’s a lot of online buzz

about Waar (To Strike), which is scheduled for release on September 6.

That’s partly because the film tackles Pakistan’s flagging efforts to stem terrorism. The slick, high-budget venture is based on a real-life militant attack by the Pakistani Taliban against a police academy in

2009 and follows antiterrorism police officers as they try to stop subsequent attacks.

But Waar is also getting atten-tion because of rumours that it was financed by Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the publicity wing of the Pakistani Army but the film’s director, Bilal Lashari, denies this.

Does the movie present a citizen’s perspective, or is it

propaganda by a state that has fumbled trying to deal with extremism?

This is an important ques-tion: Despite recent warnings by the Pakistani Army about homegrown militancy, many Pakistanis, including prominent media personalities, empathise with extremist viewpoints.

Long-running allegations that the army provides logistical and financial support to groups fight-ing US forces in Afghanistan have weakened public support for mili-tary operations against militants, including those who explicitly oppose Pakistan even though the country’s security forces have suf-fered more than 15,000 casualties since anti-Taliban operations began in 2008.

Suspicions that the army is backing Waar are fuelled by the widespread belief that the ISPR partly financed two recent block-busters, including Khuda Ke Liye (In the Name of God), which tells the story of two brothers, one who is lured by an extremist group, and the other, whom after 9/11 the FBI accuses of being a terrorist.

In 2011, the agency also pro-duced a TV series on the expe-riences of soldiers and ordinary Pakistanis who worked together to crush Taliban militants in the Swat Valley.

Glorious Resolve, an ISPR docu-mentary about a raid on an infan-try outpost in South Waziristan in 2009, was directed by the son of the current army chief. (It went

on to win an international award.) And the army runs FM radio sta-tions to counter illegal broadcasts by extremist groups.

This activity is a throwback to the army’s previous forays into show business. In the 1960s, under the military dictator General Ayub Khan, the state used films to promote Pakistani nationalism, and cinemas were required to run pro-army documentaries free of charge.

Then another military dictator, Zia Ul Haq, crushed the industry:

Under his Islamisation policies of the 1980s, films were censored and cinemas demolished.

The ISPR’s return to the mov-ies shows its growing need to build a national consensus against terrorism after more than a

decade of obfuscation, as well as its rediscovery of the entertain-ment industry’s potential as an outlet for its messages.

Pakistanis have been flocking to theaters in record numbers since the former military ruler Pervez Musharraf eased restrictions on the import of Indian films.

But the army’s ways are heavy-handed. Last year, ISPR representatives and Pakistan’s intelligence agencies declared that no scenes ‘against the national interest’ could be screened in the country.

A young director who wanted to shoot a movie to promote peace between Pakistan and India was recently denied permission to film by the ISPR.

INTERNEWS

3CHART: 1

Source : Supreme Council of Information & Communication Technology

News in Numbers

Not surprisingly, the higher the broadband speed at home, the more satisfied respondents are with Internet services. In addition, those with higher broadband speeds see much greater value for the money from their Internet services. This suggests that satisfaction levels will improve right along with the country’s infrastructure, which is expected to support broadband speeds of 100 Mbps for almost all households by 2015.

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ICT Penetrationand Usage 7

Satisfaction with Broadband Connections among Households with Internet, by Speed

Fajr (Dawn) 3:56

Shorook (Sunrise) 5:15

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Etihad sees clearance for Jet deal

Monday 2 September 201326 Shawwal 1434

Volume 18Number 5810

Price: QR2

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

Business | 18

HSBC to raise charges

Pedestrians walk past an HSBC branch in central London. The bank is to increase its charges for 700,000 small business customers, with many set to lose their free banking service, reports said.

Public spending drives Qatari banks’ loan book growthQatar firms lead region’s non-interest income growth in second quarterBY SATISH KANADY

DOHA: Heavy public spend-ing has boosted Qatari banks’ loan book growth to the high-est in the GCC. Banks in Qatar registered the highest growth of 23.1 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2013. The overall loan book growth in the region during the period is 13.9 percent.

The region’s non-interest income growth during Q2, 2013 was led by Qatari banks, up 30.6 percent year-on-year. The profit-ability of banks in Qatar increased by 13.4 percent during the period, Global Investment House (GIH) noted yesterday in its quarterly analysis of GCC banking sector.

The loan book of GCC banks grew 13.9 percent y-o-y to $631.2bn in 2Q13. Qatar witnessed highest increase followed by Saudi Arabia, 13.0 percent. “Qatar-based banks maintained their loan growth momentum due to an

increase in public sector spend-ing as the country is preparing to host the FIFA World Cup in 2020. Acquisition made by QNB and Commercial Bank of Qatar (CBQ) during the year also pro-pelled loans growth considerably. Among Qatar-based banks, Qatar National Bank (QNB) and Doha Bank registered higher growth in loan book of 26.3 percent Y-o-Y and 21.9 percent Y-o-Y respec-tively” the GIH analyst Faisal Hasan noted.

The net interest income (NII) of GCC banks increased 12.9 percent Y-o-Y and 10.1 percent Quarter-on-Quarter. The NII of banks in Qatar grew the most, up 30.6 percent Y-o-Y, followed by that of banks in Kuwait (18.0 percent) and the UAE (10.3 per-cent). Among the Qatar-based banks QNB witnessed a robust growth of 46.5 percent Y-o-Y in NII driven by consolidation of the bank’s Egypt-based Egypt-based subsidiary National Societe

Generale Bank-Egypt (NSGB). Masraf Al Rayan’s NII rose 40.9 percent Y-o-Y due to a 28bps Y-o-Y improvement in NIM.

Non-interest income of GCC banks increased 14.5 percent Y-o-Y during the quarter on higher investment income and fee income as well as on one-off gains. Fee income increased 8.6 percent Y-o-Y among GCC Banks, with banks in Qatar leading up 43.3 percent, followed by Kuwait up 17.0 percent.

QNB registered a 69.3 percent growth in non-interest income due to a 91.6 percent y-o-y rise in fee income and 130.5 percent y-o-y increase in investment gains. GIH’s research analyst Faisal Hasan noted.

Provision expenses of the GCC’s covered banks increased 6.4 per-cent y-o-y during 2Q13, mainly due to significant increase in pvosions of Qatar-based banks. During 2Q13, Commercial Bank of Qatar’s provisions of impaired

loans increased to QR134m from a reversal of QR13m in 2Q12. The increase is primarily on account of prudential provision taken on a domestic real estate loan.

QNB also registered an 89.7 percent y-o-y rise in provisions due to growth in its overall loan portfolio after the NSGB acquisition.

Total assets of GCC banks under the GIH coverage expanded 14.1 percent y-o-y to $994.8bn in 2Q13. Qatar-based banks wit-nessed the strongest growth in total assets, up 23.2 percent to $196bn followed by banks in Kuwait, UAE and Saudi Arabia.

Expansion in asset base was supported by double-digit growth in loan book. However, on Quarter-on-Quarter basis, asset growth was sluggish due to marginal increase in loan book. Among the individual banks, QNB led with a 30.4 percent y-o-y growth in asset base.

THE PENINSULA

Bankrupt Detroit seeks funding

A woman walks next to the abandoned Packard Motor Car Company building, that ceased production in the 1950s, in Detroit, Michigan. Detroit, which made the largest Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy filing in US history, filed a request for proposals for $350m in unprecedented financing.

A380 at Moscow show

An Airbus A380 plane on display at the MAKS International Aviation and Space Salon in Zhukovsky, outside Moscow.

BUSINESS18MONDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2013

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

Islamic finance down, but not out in EgyptBankers see no impact on businessCAIRO/DUBAI: With the fall of the Muslim Brotherhood, Islamic finance has lost strong political support in the most populous Arab nation. But economic pressures mean the industry remains likely to grow and the country will eventually start issuing Islamic bonds.

Islamic finance, which obeys religious principles such as a ban on interest payments, was neglected and even discouraged by authorities for ideological reasons in the three decades before the revolution which ousted President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

The market share of Islamic banks in Egypt is only about five percent, well below estimates of roughly 25 percent in the devel-oped Arab economies of the Gulf.

That seemed about to change when Islamist President Mohammed Mursi, a mem-ber of the Muslim Brotherhood, took power in June 2012. The Brotherhood made expanding Islamic finance one of its top eco-nomic policy planks, promising to issue sovereign sukuk, introduce rules to facilitate Islamic fund-rais-ing by companies, and reform the operations of Islamic endowments.

This political backing has dis-appeared with the ouster of Mursi in an army-backed uprising in early July; the interim govern-ment which is to serve until elec-tions early next year has much less fondness for Islamic finance.

But underlying demand among Egypt’s mostly Muslim popula-tion of 84 million, the country’s need to develop what financing sources it can, and the growing role of wealthy Arab countries in the Egyptian economy mean the sector may still grow.

“Sukuk will be available in Egypt particularly because they

are the sole instrument used by some investors in the Gulf Cooperation Council and south-east Asia,” Sherif Sami, the new head of the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority, told Reuters last week.

Sami stressed his body would only handle the technical side of sukuk issues, and any decision to push forward with legal changes to facilitate sukuk would be politi-cal. The technocrats who dominate Egypt’s new economic policy team, many of them with experience from the Mubarak era, have shown little personal interest in Islamic finance.

The image of political Islam has been severely damaged in the eyes of many Egyptians by Mursi’s troubled year in office and his weak management of the economy.

But long-term demand for Islamic financial services has not necessarily changed. Only around 10 or 15 percent of Egyptians use formal banking services, analysts estimate; this implies great poten-tial for growth in both conven-tional and Islamic finance, and sharia-compliant banking could be a way to draw many people into the formal financial system.

Abdel Rahman Al Kafrawi, head of Islamic transactions at Principal Bank for Development and Agricultural Credit (PBDAC), said he had noticed no negative impact since July on business at the 18 PBDAC branches offering Islamic finance.

The state-run bank, which caters to Egyptian farmers, launched Shariah-compliant retail banking earlier this year, setting aside an initial 50m Egyptian pounds ($7.1m) to pro-vide financing for the purchase of durable goods, agricultural equip-ment and education fees.

REUTERS

Etihad sees clearance for Jet dealDUBAI: Etihad Airways expects a $600m investment in Jet Airways to be cleared by Indian authorities imminently, as it further extended a dead-line for regulatory approval that ended on August 31, the Abu Dhabi carrier said yesterday.

Etihad’s plan to buy a 24 per-cent stake in Jet had been delayed by regulators and by concerns from some politicians an April bilateral accord on air services between India and the United Arab Emirates was hurting Indian airlines’ interests.

A potential stake purchase would be the first by an overseas operator in an Indian airline since ownership rules were relaxed and provides India’s largest carrier with a deep-pocketed global part-ner as well as cash to pay down debt.

Etihad confirmed that it agreed to extend a deadline for the deal to win regulatory approvals

for a second time until end of September.

The deadline had been extended by a month in August.

“The revised agreements are expected to be endorsed by the Competition Commission of India and the Indian Government imminently,” Etihad said in an emailed statement, its first com-ments after the deal hit snags with the Indian authorities.

The Gulf airline said its Chief Executive James Hogan met Jet chairman Naresh Goyal in Mumbai this weekend to “review progress on the finalization” of the deal.

“We are working very closely with the Indian Government and regulatory authorities to ensure we meet all the requirements of the new foreign direct investment legislation,” James Hogan said in the statement.

The airlines won conditional approval from India’s foreign

investment regulator in July but it still needed clearance from the capital markets regulator and a ministerial investment panel.

Opposition politicians have also objected to the deal on grounds that the bilateral accord between India and the United Arab Emirates increas-ing the number of airline seats per week favoured Etihad more than Indian carriers.

Indian authorities are yet to say when the deal will be sent to a cabinet panel for the final approval. Authorities could not be contacted on Sunday as it is a public holiday.

Etihad agreed to pay $379m for a 24 percent stake in Jet in April. It also invested an additional $150m in Jet’s frequent flyer pro-gramme and spent $70m to buy Jet’s three pairs of Heathrow slots through a sale and leaseback agreement.

REUTERS

Kuwait’s Warba Bank to list on stock market on TuesdayDUBAI: Kuwait’s Warba Bank, an Islamic lender set up three years ago, will be listed on the country’s stock exchange on September 3 after a restriction on public trading of the stock ended, an analyst and an indus-try source familiar with the matter said.

Warba Bank was not immedi-ately available for comment.

A majority of the shares in the lender, set up with a capi-tal of KD100m ($351m), were gifted to Kuwaiti nationals as part of the state’s wealth shar-ing, with each citizen receiving 684 shares.

The remaining 24 percent of Warba Bank is owned by the sovereign wealth fund Kuwait Investment Authority. The list-ing does not include sale of any new shares in the bank.

Shareholders were legally restricted from trading their stock on the exchange for three years after the April 2010 estab-lishment date, with some private transactions taking place since that period expired earlier this year.

Despite a 5.8 percent drop this week, Kuwait’s benchmark index has risen 28.6 percent year-to-date on the back of strong retail interest amid an improving economic picture in the Gulf state.

Shares in Warba bank are currently traded privately, on the secondary market and are expected to rise once listed on the exchange as a wider investor base, including foreign investors, will be able to buy in. The stock has a par value of 100 fils.

“The value went up to 200 fils (0.2 dinars) per share in the grey market and it’s expected to jump by 50 percent once listed on the exchange,” said Fouad Darwish, head of brokerage at Global Investment House.

Warba Bank had total assets worth 223 million dinars at the end of 2012, according to local press reports in March.

REUTERS

Iraq’s August oil exports rise helped by southern fieldsBAGHDAD: Iraq’s oil exports rose to an average of 2.579 million barrels per day (bpd) in August, the oil ministry said yesterday, due to increased shipments from southern oil fields which have helped it move closer to a year-end target.

Exports were higher than in July when Iraq exported 2.324 million bpd on average. Opec’s second-largest producer wants to export 2.9 million bpd per day by the end of the year.

August oil exports, which have generated revenues of $8.3 billion, are the highest in months due to increased shipments from the southern ports, oil ministry spokesman Asim Jihad said.

Iraq shipped 2.308 million bpd from the southern oil hub of Basra, up from 2.144 million the previous month, a statement from state-run South Oil Co.’s media office showed.

“Shipments from southern oilfields were higher by around 58,000 barrels than what has been set at the August loading program,” the statement said.

Iraq expects output to rise by 400,000 bpd by the end of this year due to the start-up of the Royal Dutch Shell operated Majnoon oilfield in southern Iraq and other smaller sources.

Garraf oilfield in the south, developed by Petronas and Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. Ltd started production of 35,000 barrels per day on Saturday, Jihad said.

Iraq is planning to conduct maintenance this month at its south-ern terminals to expand export capacity but has said exports would continue normally.

Zain Saudi appoints telecoms veteran Kabbani as CEODUBAI: Saudi Arabia’s No.3 telecom operator Zain Saudi has appointed industry veteran Hassan Kabbani as chief executive with immediate effect, the firm said in a statement yesterday.

A native Arabic speaker from Lebanon, Kabbani replaces Fraser Curley, who became CEO of the loss-making company in March 2012.

Kabbani has been recruited to help Zain fight back against better-resourced rivals Saudi Telecom Co (STC) and Etihad Etisalat (Mobily). Zain Saudi had 16 percent of the kingdom’s active mobile subscribers at 2012-end, according to the company’s annual report.

Kabbani has held the post of CEO at several telecom operators in the Middle East and North Africa, including Egypt’s Mobinil from 2008 to 2011 and Algeria’s Djezzy from 2003 to 2008, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Prior to joining Zain Saudi, he was a board member and advisor to Dubai-based Oger Telecom, which holds controlling stakes in Turk Telekom and South Africa’s Cell C. Curley resigned with immediate effect yesterday for personal reasons, Zain Saudi’s statement said.

In July, Zain Saudi — 37-percent owned by Kuwait’s Zain - agreed with lenders to extend an outstanding $2.3bn Islamic loan facility for five years, while a month earlier it also received government approval to defer payment of licence-related fees that could total around $1.49bn over seven years. Zain Saudi’s second-quarter net loss was SR370m ($99m), compared with a net loss of 394m in the corresponding period of 2012, as revenue rose nine percent to SR1.7bn.

AGENCIES

China data shows economy gathering momentumBEIJING: China’s manufac-turing activity strengthened in August to its highest level in 16 months, official figures showed yesterday, the latest data to suggest the world’s second-larg-est economy is picking up steam after two quarters of slower growth.

The official purchasing man-agers’ index (PMI) rose to 51.0 last month from 50.3 in July, according to figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The index tracks manufactur-ing activity in China’s factories and workshops and is a closely watched gauge of the health of the economy. A reading below 50 indi-cates contraction, while anything

above signals expansion. The August PMI was the best since a reading of 53.3 in April last year, according to previous results.

It also marked the second straight month of strengthening and comes as other recent data has spurred optimism a slowdown in the economy may have been stemmed.

Zhao Qinghe, a statistician with the NBS, said in a report on the bureau’s website that the result was the highest this year and “shows that China’s manu-facturing industry as a force for economic development has strengthened to some extent and makes obvious that a return to corporate stability has quick-ened further”. In July, generally

upbeat economic data, including a jump in industrial production to a five-month high, helped spur optimism that China’s eco-nomic weakness may have hit bottom.

And British banking giant HSBC said last month that the initial reading of its PMI survey for August came in at 50.1, rebounding from an 11-month low and the first time since April the indicator had expanded.

HSBC is due to release its closely watched final PMI index for August today.

The first half of this year saw a spike in analyst concerns about China’s economy after an expected rebound from the worst

growth performance in 13 years failed to materialise. China’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew 7.8 percent in 2012, the weakest result since 1999.

Growth in the first quarter of this year dipped to 7.7 percent from 7.9 percent in the final three months of last year and slowed further to 7.5 percent in the three months through June.

ANZ bank economists Liu Li-Gang and Zhou Hao said in a report that the August PMI figure shows China’s “growth momentum has accelerated thanks to faster implementa-tion of the fiscal programme and ‘mini stimulus’ initiated by the new government”.

AFP

ENOC loses US jets fuel dealDUBAI: The US military has not renewed its contract to buy jet fuel from Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) because other suppli-ers made cheaper bids, the US Department of Defence said.

Dubai government-owned ENOC was contracted by the US military to supply jet fuel to Al Minhad Air Base near Dubai from mid-2011 to the start of September 2013.

ENOC, which makes fuel from Iranian oil at a refinery near Dubai, has not been awarded any US military contract renewals in the UAE. Chevron won the new contract to supply US allied mili-tary jets refuelling in Dubai.

“ENOC was not awarded a con-tract because ENOC was not the lowest price offerer,” a spokes-man for the US Department of Defence said in an e-mail.

REUTERS

19BUSINESS MONDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2013

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

Toy, game convention

Visitors take photos of a replica set of the “Hall of Armour” from the movie “Iron Man 3” at the Singapore Toy, Game and Comic Convention. The convention featuring 157 exhibitors from 12 coun-tries, is popular with gamers, collectors and cosplay enthusiasts.

Increased odds of Fed tapering in September

GLOBAL geopolitical risks continue to be the main market focus this week, causing continuous pressure mainly

on emerging market currencies. Indeed, for-eign exchange markets were largely domi-nated by tension in the Middle East, keeping markets in a risk off mode. Emerging mar-kets remain under pressure against the dol-lar and the euro with the major losers, the Turkish lira and the Indian rupee hitting all time low. Strong safe haven currencies like the dollar, euro, Swiss franc, Pound and the Japanese yen were well bid especially due to their status of reserve currencies. On the other hand, gold and oil were also strong during the week over the situation in the Middle East. On the equity side, glo-bal markets were soft, and developed bond markets were well supported. BRIC nations attempted to stop the flood out of interna-tional investors by mentioning talks of set-ting up a joint bank with $50bn in capital.

In the US, the hunt for a replacement of the Fed chairman continues with Yellen and Summers the front-runners. On the monetary policy side, officials continue the same rhetoric stating that they remain data dependent, which forces markets to adjust their odds and make them vulner-able to economic figures volatility. Major US economic figures have become extremely important as investors watched them care-fully for direction of the dollar against the G10 currencies. For now, the 10 years US bond yields continue their march to the three percent threshold, reaching a high of 2.89 percent and making the dollar the favourite bet in a global turmoil and interest rate path uncertainty.

In summary, the euro had a relatively sta-ble week despite faltering on Thursday after the worst than expected German figures and better US GDP figures. The euro reached a high of 1.3399 on Wednesday; however, investors took the opportunity to take profit ahead of the German elections and amid the worst than expected German figures. The currency closed the week at 1.3220

The Sterling Pound continues to trade side-ways as Bank of England governor continues using his dovish tone over the UK monetary

policy. After reaching a high of 1.5612 in the beginning of the week on stronger than expected retail sales, the Pound closed the week slightly lower at 1.5504.

The Japanese yen continues to trade as a safe haven currency again on the back of all the emerging market currencies woes. The currency was mostly affected by the unwind of the Asian high yield trades as investors were cutting their carry trade bets in favor of the Japanese yen. After reach-ing a low of 96.82, the Yen closed the week weaker at 98.17 after the US GDP came above expectation.

In the commodity complex, gold reached a high of $1433 on the back of the Middle East turmoil and despite rumours than the central bank of India might be selling some of its reserve to shore up its dollar reserves. The metal closed the week slightly below the $1,400 level.

Stronger job growthFederal Reserve Bank of Richmond

President Jeffrey Lacker, a consistent oppo-nent of the central bank’s bond-buying, said this week that a stronger job market should allow policy makers to start winding down the quantitative easing program soon. Lacker also said that central banks should avoid channelling credit to specific segments of the economy through rescues or asset-purchase programmes. Moreover, US yields reacted positively to the Q2 GDP figures released on Thursday. The number printed a 2.5 percent, a significant upward revision from the 1.7 percent printed a month earlier.

In summary, the strong data continues to set expectation that the Fed is likely to start tapering its QE programme in the September Fed meeting, hence, keeping the dollar well supported.

With the German election looming in

the background, investors continue to wait for additional concrete evidence that the Euro zone has come out of the recession. Last week, ECB’s Nowotny said that the ECB’s forward guidance on interest rates to be low for a prolonged time “won’t be in place forever.” He mentioned that the path remains dependant on inflation expec-tations. On another front, EU’s Olli Rehn pressured France and Germany mention-ing both countries were holding the key to rebalancing the European economy and must follow through on promised reforms.

German unemployment rose by 7k m-o-m in August partly reversing the previous months’ falls and disappointing relative to market expectations of a further small drop of 5k. The labour market has remained very stable in 2013, as the number of unemployed was 2.94m in August in line with the average of 2.94m for the first 8 months of the year. Analysts argue that the effects from the holiday season could have played a role in August. The unemployment rate remained at 6.8 percent in August unchanged for the past fourth months.

While the PMI composite employment index fell to 49.9 in August from 50.4 in July it is still higher than in Q2 (49.1) and near the no-change threshold of 50. The Ifo business climate rose to 107.5 in August from 106.2 in July, which continue to remain positive for the country. Overall and despite the slight increase in unemployment, the German labour market remains very healthy with a moderately positive outlook.

Inflation released on Friday came below expectation in August at 1.3 percent com-pared to 1.6% in July. Although they expect inflation to be volatile, the ECB will be watching this closely as they are concerned about prices dynamics being on the low side when they are between one to 1.5 percent.

This is likely to suggest a dovish tone from Draghi at next week’s press confer-ence with a re-iteration of the forward guid-ance message with a downward bias to rates. That may overshadow the Euro against a backdrop of what could be relatively immi-nent Fed tapering.

THE PENINSULA

Qatari bourse index adds 48.54 pointsDubai rebounds from sell-offDOHA: Qatar Exchange index kept up its gaining momentum yesterday adding 48.54 points, or 0.50 percent, to advance to 9,667.58 points from 9,619.04 on Thursday.

The volume of the shares traded fell to 8,263,161 from 11,379,967 on Thursday and the value of shares decreased to QR313,421,065.09 from QR400,399,994.06 on Thursday.

Among the top gainers were Industries Qatar which was up 0.98 percent to QR155.00, Barwa Real Estate gained 0.20 per-cent to QR24.55, International Islamic Bank gained 1.80 percent to QR56.50 and Qatar Insurance rose by 1.50 percent to QR60.90.

The banking and financial sec-tor index was added 0.48 points while consumer goods and serv-ices sector index lost 0.88 points. The industrial sector was gained 0.64 points while insurance sector added 1.68 points.

Meanwhile, Dubai’s bourse led a regional recovery in shares yesterday after US President Barack Obama delayed an immi-nent military strike against Syria, saying he will seek congressional consent.

Dubai’s index rose three per-cent, partly recouping losses from last week’s heavy retail-driven sell-off. The market is dominated by short-term, momentum trad-ers who have knee-jerk reaction to political concerns. It is still 150 points away from the five-year peak hit on August 25.

“Dubai rebound from a sell-off today but you’ll see a lot of inde-cisiveness until Congress vote on Syria,” said Ahmed Shehada, head of trading at QNB Financial Services. “It’s smart to reduce risk at this point for the short-term but not completely exit the market.”

Abu Dhabi’s measure rose 1.8 percent, snapping four sessions of losses and Qatar’s benchmark climbed 0.5 percent.

“Confidence is reinstated in the market but we’ll have to wait till next week for a clearer direction

going forward,” Shehada added. The US released evidence the

Syrian government used chemical weapons to attack civilians and said President Bashar Al Assad regime should not go unpunished.

US House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner plans to hold a congressional debate on the matter in the week starting September 9. Any strike, after a congressional vote, would be in mid-September at the earliest.

Ali Adou, portfolio manager at The National Investor said the rally is likely to be short-lived. “The risk will go back up after congress meetings next week.”

British Prime Minister David Cameron lost a parliamentary vote late on Thursday that ruled out its involvement in military action against Syria. French President Francois Hollande is under increasing pressure to also seek a parliamentary vote.

In Saudi Arabia, the meas-ure climbed 1.5 percent, head-ing for its third gain following a 654-points correction early last-week.

There is little direct impact expected in Gulf countries from a strike on Syria, but Saudi Arabia could be more exposed to senti-ment-driven reaction because of a possible military involvement. The kingdom raised its level of military alertness, sources said on Friday.

“Since the expectation for action this week has been defi-nitely postponed, the markets this week will have a relief rally,” said John Sfakianakis, chief invest-ment strategist at Saudi invest-ment firm MASIC.

“You’ll see additional liquidity to buy in stocks that are at rela-tively good entry points compared to what they were prior to last week’s correction.”

Petrochemical shares supported the rally — the sector’s index rose 1.3 percent. Higher oil prices boosted sentiment on the sec-tor; Brent crude made its biggest monthly gain in a year for August.

AGENCIES

Oil minister of Iran orders energy contract overhaulDUBAI: Iran’s new oil min-ister has ordered the revision of energy project contracts to make them more attractive to foreign investors, a National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) executive told oil ministry news service Shana.

Iran’s long insistence on pay-ing contractors with oil made projects unattractive to foreign investors long before Western sanctions made it almost impossi-ble to work in the isolated Islamic republic.

Tehran began offering more attractive production sharing contracts (PSCs) to some Indian companies earlier this year in the hope they would help revive its decaying energy sector.

Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh has ordered a wider review of Iran’s oil contracts because the buy-back deals are particularly unsuitable for the enhanced oil recovery projects NIOC needs to attract investors to revive its age-ing oil fields.

“The petroleum minister has issued a specific order for follow-ing up on reforming the structure of oil contracts in the country in order to invite all well-known domestic and foreign oil com-panies for maximising national interests,” NIOC’s planning direc-tor, Abdol-Mohammad Delparish, said.

“Currently, production sharing agreements are not the priority in the petroleum industry and the focus is on other types of contracts like buy-back,” Shana quoted him as saying.

Delparish said Iranian oil offi-cials were consulting with foreign industry experts about how to make the contracts more attrac-tive for foreign investors.

Under Iran’s buy-back system, contractors are supposed to be paid in oil and gas from projects they develop with their own capi-tal but then have to hand back the project to Iranian companies when completed and wait to be paid.

This system has kept oil majors like Italy’s Eni waiting for multi-million dollar payments for projects they completed decades ago, while sanctions make it still more difficult to get the oil from Iran.

REUTERS

HSBC to cease wealth management business in some Mideast states DUBAI: HSBC Holdings will stop offering wealth manage-ment products in Bahrain, Jordan and Lebanon as the British lender continues to exit small or insufficiently profitable operations globally as part of a strategic review, the bank said.

HSBC, Europe’s biggest bank, has cut its retail banking business in some Middle Eastern nations, including the three nations affected in the latest move, and merged its operations in Oman with a local bank as part of a three-year global restructuring instigated by Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver.

The worldwide move, which has seen the bank exit or sell 54 businesses to help improve profit-ability, has also seen it scale back its Islamic and private banking operations.

“HSBC’s global strategy for retail banking and wealth man-agement is to offer and grow the wealth business in markets

where we can achieve scale,” the bank said in a statement issued yesterday.

“After a detailed review of our Mena business, we will discon-tinue sales of any new wealth investment or wealth insurance products in Lebanon, Jordan and Bahrain from October 7, 2013.”

Existing customers will con-tinue to receive basic services and their wealth management-related investments will be main-tained until maturity, the lender said, adding the decision has not prompted job losses.

The lender, one of the largest international banks in the region with a presence in 14 Middle Eastern countries, has informed employees about the decision internally and those affected will be absorbed by other teams within HSBC’s retail and wealth management division, one bank-ing source said, asking not to be identified as the matter is not public.

HSBC’s wealth management operations fall under its retail and wealth management division. It operates a private banking busi-ness separately.

Global wealth managers have flocked to the Gulf Arab region in recent years, lured by its rich energy and commodity reserves, relatively higher economic growth and rising population.

Wealthy individuals in the Middle East and Africa saw the value of their assets rise 9.1 per-cent to $4.8 trillion in 2012, a study by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) showed in June, as strong economies and rising equity markets fuelled regional growth.

However, competition in the sector has intensified in recent years with about 30 wealth and private banking firms seek-ing to attract clients from the region and leading to shrinking fees.

REUTERS

Weekly Money Market Review

Barkan thrives in Africa

A shopper walks past sale signs at a shopping centre in Lenasia, south of Johannesburg. When Wal-Mart Stores bought control of major South African discount chain Massmart Holdings in 2011, American shopping mall developer Irwin Barkan had an epiphany. An industry veteran of 30 years, Barkan’s US home market was “greying”, while the youthful, African continent offered a sweet spot, with a rapidly expanding middle class and no competition from online retailers.

Indonesian tin exports

A worker makes a final check of refined tin ahead of shipment in a warehouse owned by a private company in Indonesia’s Bangka-Belitung province. China will be forced to scramble for supplies of low-grade tin from Malaysia and LME warehouses after a rule change in top exporter Indonesia, which supplied material used to produce 10 percent of China’s high-grade tin last year.

BUSINESS20MONDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2013

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

Commodity focuses on Syria after strong August performance T

HERE were two overriding themes providing direc-tion in commodities this

past week. The tensions in Syria escalated on the back of worries that Western governments would commence air strikes at President Bashar Al Assad’s regime together with escalating selling of emerg-ing market currencies.

Brent crude reached the high-est level since February as fears grew that oil supplies from the region could be disrupted while gold reached $1,434/oz on safe-haven buying and short covering.

Some profit-taking on both commodities were seen as the week came to a close especially after the UK parliament rejected any immediate Syrian action which puts into doubt whether US is prepared to go it alone without its closest ally. With tensions still running high, the theme will con-tinue to impact markets over the coming weeks but as September begins the focus will also turn to

the US Federal Reserve which on September 18 is expected to announce a change/tapering of its asset purchase programme.

Given the current sensitivity in financial markets with regard to this, the Fed will be very keen to stress that tapering will not mean tightening as it tries to curb the recent rise in interest rates which has been a major factor in sending emerging market currencies into a tailspin.

August saw the best overall monthly performance in a year with the DJ-UBS commodity ris-ing for a second month in a row. All sectors but especially precious metals and energy contributed the most to this performance with indi-vidual performances being led by silver, soybeans and Brent crude.

Soft commodities such as cof-fee and sugar scraped the bottom having failed to join the positive momentum witnessed in other commodities.

Oil markets are once again for a third year in a row engulfed with worries about supply disruptions related to geopolitical problems in the Middle East and North African area. While the crisis in Syria may spread beyond its borders should western govern-ments decide to get involved, the situation that poses the biggest problem currently is the contin-ued disruption of Libyan crude exports.

Recent reports suggests that the country’s daily output has dropped to as low as 200,000 bar-rels compared with 1.4 million back in March.

As a result of this we have seen

Brent crude rally above $117/bar-rel. Syria is not a major oil pro-ducer but the civil war has put two of the major Opec members, Iran and Saudi Arabia, on oppo-site sides.

If Opec supplies were to be dis-rupted further, short-term price spikes could be seen despite the timing of year where refinery demand is expected to slow down. Over the last year we have wit-nessed three price spikes above $115/barrel and they have all led to an immediate correction of a minimum ten dollars.

With traders already holding what increasingly looks like an overextended net-long position the

risk of another sharp correction is growing. But such a move would require further easing of tensions together with signs that demand has begun to taper off, something that is expected to begin towards the second half of September.

A prolonged reduction in Libyan oil production, which nor-mally accounts for two percent of global output, will continue to support higher than normal oil prices with the expected slow-down in demand towards October only having a somewhat off-set-ting impact.

On that basis, Brent crude oil is likely to remain at the upper end of its 2013 range of USD 110-119/barrel. However, any quick solu-tion with regard to Syria and/or a pick-up in Libyan exports car-ries the risk of a sharp correction keeping in mind how the position-ing by hedge funds and money managers have become increas-ingly one-sided during the past few months.

A safe-haven bid helped gold top the $1,400/oz level this past week but with the US Federal Reserves potential announcement of taper-ing only a couple of weeks away, further upside at this stage seems limited. Our Q3 target of $1,450/oz has almost been met and in order to see further progress from here, the geopolitical situation and/or the US growth expectations need to deteriorate. However we also believe that the worst period of selling in gold over the past dec-ade is now over following signs of a pickup in investment demand during August, something that has been absent all year.

Support remains at $1,350/oz with a break below signalling a deeper consolidation back towards $1,277/oz while upside resistance can be found at $1,434/oz before the critical level at $1,488/oz which, if broken, would represent a 50 percent retracement of the October to June selloff.

THE PENINSULA

Weekly Commodity Update

BY OLE HANSEN

(Head of Commodity Strategy, Saxo Bank)

Start-ups fill void left by Spanish unemploymentRegistration of self-employed people rises by 21,992MADRID: The rush starts at about 8pm at La Infinito. That’s when Antonio Rojas Fernandez and Paloma Perez Rodriguez’s Madrid cafe usually fills up, typically keeping them busy until midnight.

While they have two part-timers to help prepare food and bus the dozen tables a few times a week, the couple hasn’t taken more than a day off each since opening in May 2012, five months after they lost their jobs. She was a teacher, while he installed tel-evision antennas.

“It’s not easy, but it’s working,” said Perez, 36, popping her head through a beaded curtain from the kitchen as the fruit blender’s whir covers the music. “I tell people it’s true I still have prob-lems,” said Rojas, who is a year older. “The difference is that now they’re the ones I’ve chosen.”

As Spaniards endure the worst economic crisis and deepest aus-terity measures in their country’s democratic history, start-up com-panies are proliferating.

Over the first seven months of the year, registrations of self-employed people increased by 21,992 while they fell by 6,826 over the same period a year earlier. The number of companies created increased by 8.2 percent in the first half as a 26 percent unemployment rate spurs entrepreneurship in a country where the government still accounts for one in six jobs.

That compares with a 20 per-cent increase in new businesses in neighbouring Portugal, where unemployment is at 16.4 per-cent. The number of start-ups in Germany and France, the euro area’s two largest economies, is declining, data from national sta-tistical offices show.

“There are indications that necessity entrepreneurship, people who create a business to exit unemployment rather than by opportunity, is increas-ing in Spain,” said Mariarosa Lunati, Paris-based economist at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development who specialises in entrepreneur-ship. “This seems to be happening in other countries that are in a situation of crisis as well.”

Spain’s gross domestic prod-uct contracted more last year than initially estimated, INE, the national statistics institute, said last week. It revised the data to a 1.6 percent drop from 1.4 percent. In 2011, the only positive year since 2008, growth was 0.1 per-cent instead of 0.4 percent, it said.

The crisis has jolted people out of their comfort zone, said Paris de L’Etraz, General Director of the Venture Lab at the Madrid campus of the IE Business School. “Necessity is changing this unfor-tunate chip in people’s mind that led to a situation in which, even four or five years ago, more than half the population wanted to work for the government.”

New companies will help foster an economic recovery in Spain if they can generate jobs, business for other firms and revenue for the state, said Pedro Nueno Iniesta, an entrepreneurship professor at Madrid’s IESE business school.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy predicts the economy will grow this quarter after the recession abated in the first half of this year, reducing the unemployment rate for the first time since 2011 in the second quarter.

In July, the Spanish parliament approved a law simplifying paper-work and creating tax breaks to

encourage more Spaniards to become self-employed or start a company. Lawmakers are in the process of looking at another one to reduce the risk of losing personal assets in the event of a bankruptcy.

“It’s very positive that people aren’t just staying paralysed and it’s normal that all businesses don’t prosper,” Nueno said. “Some will last and that means a job is created and another can follow that con-tributes to the economic recovery.”

Yet the fragility of the new companies poses a risk to the economy, said Pilar Andrade Sanchez, president of Ceaje, the young entrepreneurs’ business lobby in Spain.

Figures from the INE statis-tics office show that 53 percent of Spanish companies have no employ-ees, as many can’t afford to hire full-time workers. That portion reached 55 percent last year. The total number of businesses declined for a fifth year in 2012, falling to the lowest level since 2005, the INE said in a statement this month.

While the number of companies seeking protection from creditors fell to 2,408 in the three months through June, the count was 62 percent higher than in the same period in 2011.

“We need to help companies to consolidate or else we’ll keep on churning out companies that go bust after a year,” Andrade said in a telephone interview.

Interest in start-ups increased as Rajoy, 58, made it tougher to find work funded by taxpayers. Since he came to power at the end of 2011, the number of people employed by the state and related companies and organisations dropped 12 per-cent after rising to 3.22 million, the most since the start of data in 1976.

WP-BLOOMBERG

GM sees auto industry slowing in turbulent Middle EastDUBAI: General Motors said it expected the automobile indus-try in the Middle East to show growth that is sustainable, but at a slower rate than in the last few years, hurt by uncertainty and political crisis in markets such as Egypt and Syria.

The US automaker temporarily closed its Egyptian assembly plant outside of Cairo last month, and shut its local office, after deadly clashes between security forces and supporters of ousted presi-dent Mohamed Mursi.

It later reopened them but was still monitoring the situa-tion closely.

“For the entire Middle East market we see growth continu-ing...maybe not at the rates at which we been growing over the past few years of 7 to 9 percent but still a sustainable growth at 4 to 5 percent,” John Stadwick, president and managing director of GM in the Middle East told reporters at a media gathering.

A growing youth population with rising incomes, and high oil prices mean growth would con-tinue despite deteriorating condi-tions, he added.

Syria may face military action by the United States and France while street fights continue to rage in Egypt after the military ousted a Muslim Brotherhood government in a violent coup in July. Stadwick said GM’s Egyptian business would still exceed the sales forecasts.

“We do see a downturn in our regional business so far. We’ll get double digit growth (at GM in the Middle East) year-over-year,” added Stadwick. He gave no com-parison for GM sales in the region.

REUTERS

Sudans to hold summit ahead of oil deadlineKHARTOUM: South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir is to visit the Sudanese capital tomorrow, 72 hours ahead of Khartoum’s deadline to shut down vital oil pipelines, the two nations said.

“I can confirm he will arrive on Tuesday,” Emad Sayed Ahmed, press secretary to Sudan’s President Omar Al Bashir, said yesterday.

He said the two leaders would discuss “all the joint issues” dur-ing the visit, without giving fur-ther details.

A South Sudanese embassy official also confirmed Kiir’s trip but neither he nor Ahmed could say how long the South’s leader was expected to stay.

Kiir last visited Khartoum in October 2011.

In June, Khartoum said it was freezing nine security and economic pacts with the South, and it threatened to shut the oil pipelines linking landlocked South Sudan with Sudan’s Red Sea export terminal.

The decision came after Bashir warned the South over its alleged support for insurgents, who ana-lysts said had humiliated the authorities with their attacks.

Khartoum has twice extended its deadline to shut the pipelines, which are now threatened with closure from next Friday.

Despite the threat, oil has con-tinued flowing for export.

The deadline extensions fol-lowed an appeal from the African Union. The regional group asked for more time to investigate alle-gations — by both Sudan and South Sudan — that they are supporting rebels on each other’s territory.

Regional nations also began trying to determine the centreline of a demilitarised buffer zone along the two countries’ disputed

and undemarcated border.The buffer zone, designed to cut

cross-border rebel support, was among the nine deals Sudan and South Sudan agreed to implement in March after months of delays.

The deals also included fees which South Sudan would pay for sending its oil through Sudan for export, and allowed for the free flow of people and goods across the frontier between the two nations.

Following their March agree-ments, the two leaders held a summit in Juba during an inter-lude of easing tensions after months of intermittent border clashes.

Then came Khartoum’s abrupt threat to close the pipelines.

The South became independ-ent two years ago under a peace agreement after decades of on-and-off civil war.

It split with about 75 percent of united Sudan’s roughly 470,000 barrels per day of oil production, leaving the north without its major source of export earnings and struggling for a replacement.

Inflation soared and the Sudanese pound plummeted in value on the black market.

Oil refineries and export pipe-lines stayed under Sudan’s juris-diction but the two sides could not agree on how much the South should pay for using that infrastructure.

Accusing Khartoum of theft, South Sudan’s government halted oil production early last year, even though it said crude provided 98 percent of revenue for the new nation.

Pumping resumed in April after the nine deals began to be implemented.

A key unresolved issue is the status of the Abyei region.

AFP

BY EDWARD HADAS

Moritz Erhardt has become a tragic symbol. The 21-year-old summer intern at Bank of America Merrill Lynch was found dead on Aug 15

at his rented London apartment.There is no official report of what hap-

pened, but coworkers blogged that Erhardt died after working three consecutive 20-hour days.

Whether or not that is true, the tragedy has prompted a worthwhile debate about the work culture in banking and other high-pressure professions.

Erhardt’s schedule was not extraordinary for the ambitious young people who are try-ing to advance on the fast track at invest-ment banks, law firms, consultancies and other practitioners of long working hours. The normal career starts with a period of white-collar slavery:

80 or more hours a week of drudgery in air-conditioned offices, with occasional breaks for take-away meals.

The tasks eventually become more inter-esting, but the years of mega-hours drag on. Later, workers often have lives of privileged desperation: lots of money, luxuriant houses and holidays, and a trail of damage.

Deaths from overwork are rare. But exhaustion, family breakdowns and sub-stance abuse are common in high-stress jobs with ultra-long days.

The extent of the gradual degradation of character – intelligent and interesting people reduced to narrow-minded career-ists – is a matter of ongoing debate.

Long hours were once traditional in factories.

That changed. So too it could change in the office, and more easily, since shorter workdays have less effect on output there.

These professions don’t need or even obvi-ously benefit from this cult.

So who is responsible for its perpetuation?Employers deserve some blame.Human Resources departments could

brief managers on the extensive psy-chological research about the damage of overwork.

The excuse that mega-hours are some-how good for shareholders is both mistaken and feeble: workers should not suffer unduly just to keep profit up, and profit would not suffer if workers had a chance for a good night’s sleep.

One reason these practices continue is that there are so many would-be workers willing to endure them.

Each intern position at top firms attracts hundreds of applicants.

The few who are chosen, and then the even more select group who get professional positions, vie to put the most hours on the job.

The post-midnight days are often described with a sort of grim satisfaction and pride – a mark of membership of a privileged group.

Fear of being fired or of losing out also keeps people working hard.

However, anyone who is skilled enough to find a job at a leading bank or law firm could easily get a less all-consuming job at some other respectable employer.

And while the lure of ultra-high pay is significant, young professionals could demand, and be given, more reasonable working conditions without sacrificing much income.

I think the culture of long hours can be traced back to something else – the status that now comes with overwork.

This is a historical novelty. In almost all pre-industrial societies, the aristocratic life had ample leisure time, while very long

working hours were a sign of poverty and a low social position – think Downton Abbey. That hierarchy – leisure above labour – made sense when hard work was necessary for survival.

Today, we have a new social hierarchy. A life of leisure is more often associated with shameful unemployment than with wealth and privilege, while the irreplaceable expert enjoys the highest social status. That status is demonstrated by the need, and the desire, to work long hours. The time on the job shows dedication, skills and the importance of the job.

If my theory is right, there’s an economic irony. The skills of most of the professionals who enjoy an elevated social status are real enough, but the social benefits of many of the long-hour roles are questionable. The hard grind of many bankers and lawyers does not translate into much gain for the productive economy.

There is also a social tragedy.One of the great gains of the modern

economy – the reduction of toil – is being squandered.

The labour-market elite, who help set the social standard of the good life, too often choose to put exhausting work, however pointless, before family, community and what used to be called the higher things in life.

As a result, the work multiplies, and with it the sense that it should bring extravagant rewards.

The widespread, horrified response to Erhardt’s death shows that many people are concerned by the hours-culture.

BofA Merrill is investigating working conditions for its young workers, with a view to encouraging cultural change.

That’s a good first step. The overvaluing of overwork has gone too far.

REUTERS

The overvaluing of overwork

BY ELIOT PENCE

A lot can happen in a year. This time last year, US busi-nesses and NGOs bemoaned the Obama administration’s perceived indifference to Africa. Now, they’re trying to find out how to catch the wave of interest. Major new

initiatives, including Power Africa and Trade Africa, unveiled during President Obama’s first true trip to Africa this summer, as well as a reinvigorated push to renew the African Growth and Opportunity Act fully two years before it’s due to expire, have given US-Africa watchers a lot to consider. But what is enough for US policy in Africa? What more can be done in the year ahead? How do things really shake out for investors, civil society and Africans? Here are three additional areas the Administration should consider as it deepens its commitment to the continent:

1. Invest in Africa’s equity and commodity markets. Despite all the interest in Africa’s economic growth and investment potential, it’s still very hard to invest on the continent. Of its less than 30 stock markets, only a few exchanges really offer modern processes and back-end technology to facilitate daily transactions. As Todd Moss from the Center for Global Development notes in a recent paper, some African exchanges trade less in a whole year than New York does before “their first coffee break.” As a result, for institutional investors who need to take large positions or who have fiduciary requirements for daily liquidity, Africa remains almost entirely off-limits. In an era of algorithmic and high-speed trading, Africa’s antique market infrastructure is a major barrier to entry for much needed foreign direct investment.

Innovation is perhaps most evident in commodity exchanges. A number of projects in East Africa are taking off — including the East Africa Exchange (EAX), a private initiative founded by Heirs Holdings, Berggruen Holdings and 50 Ventures, which was launched in January this year. The eponymous Eleni LLC, a consultancy focused on developing private exchanges, builds off the rapid success of Ethiopia’s commodity exchange and the work of Eleni Gabre-Madhin, its founder. Both efforts build the critical architecture necessary for productivity growth in economies that still remain predominantly agrarian.

2. Disrupt Dodd-Frank. Two obscure sections of the Dodd-Frank Act, 1502 and 1504, concern conflict minerals and transpar-ency in Africa. Despite a lot of fanfare in their passing, Section 1502 has been pilloried by almost everyone since: NGOs, academics and the private sector. DF-1502 requires nearly all of the 5,994 publicly listed companies in the US to scrutinize their supply chain and ensure they don’t contribute to the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo. According to estimates in a Tulane University study, the cost of implementing the DF-1502 is close to $8bn . What’s more, no clear guidance exists for how to comply, so companies have mostly taken scattered shots in the dark hop-ing the Securities and Exchange Commission, the end regulator, takes notice. Section 1504, for its part, was remanded by a US District judge in July and sent back to the SEC for further review. Even if well-meaning, the two sections impose unique challenges for investors on the continent, and as others have argued, risk exacerbating the problems they sought to solve.

3. Africa’s rising savers. The biggest fallacy in Africa’s growth is that its future depends on the rising African consumer. It does, but that’s a subplot and the numbers estimating its size range dra-matically. And even if Africa’s consumers are rising, if its markets remain fragmented its overall affect on foreign investment will be limited. More important is the role of Africa’s rising savers. The transformation of Africa’s institutional investment landscape over the next 10 years will be the most important development for its future growth. American investors should be looking at the institu-tions that manage these funds and either look to partner with, or raise from them, since most of the same wells in the US will be dry. Sub-Saharan Africa’s six biggest pension funds are growing at rapid rates; assets in Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya’s pension funds are all growing at over 15 percent year-on-year. As African economies’ dependency ratios even out and asset allocation regulations ease, vast opportunities will open up in domestic private investment markets.

Power Africa and Trade Africa tackle critical issues at the heart of the continent’s development. Together, they represent the most significant Africa-focused US government policy since the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a commitment of $15bn over five years (2003–2008) to fight the global HIV/AIDS pandemic, was passed 10 years ago. With all that has happened in the last year, it is worth considering what more can be done. Rounding out its renewed commitment to the continent by focusing on these three issues would go a long way to ensure a lasting legacy for the Obama administration in Africa.

REUTERS

Crisis looms due to addiction to cash injectionBY HA-JOON CHANG

Just as people started to think that things were get-ting calmer – if not exactly brighter – in the rich coun-

tries, things have become decid-edly slower and more volatile in the so-called “emerging market” economies. At the centre of the (unwanted) attention at the moment is India, which is seeing a rapid outflow of capital and thus a rapid fall in the value of its cur-rency, the rupee. But many other emerging market economies, other than China, have also seen similar outflows and weakening of currencies recently.

This is not necessarily a bad development. The currencies of many emerging market econo-mies, especially those of Brazil’s real and South Africa’s rand, had been significantly over-valued, damaging their export competi-tiveness. Devaluation could actu-ally help these economies put their growth on a more sustain-able path.

However, people are rightly worried that too rapid flows of

capital out of these countries may cause excessively fast devalua-tions, resulting in currency cri-ses and thus financial crises, as happened in eastern Asia back in 1997.

Situations like this can arise because the currencies of the emerging countries have been propped up by something that can quickly disappear.

Given its nature, such capital is ready to pull out at any moment, as an increasing portion of it has been doing for several months.

This is a stark reminder that things are still not well with the world economy, five years on from the outbreak of the biggest finan-cial crisis in three generations in September 2008.

We have had such huge capi-tal inflows into the emerging economies mainly because of quantitative easing (QE) by the central banks of the US, Britain, and other rich countries, which injected trillions of dollars into the world economy, in a desperate attempt to revive their moribund economies. In its initial phase, QE may have had acted like an

electric shot to someone who just had a cardiac arrest.

But subsequently its boosting effects have been largely through the creation of unsustainable asset bubbles that may burst and generate another round of finan-cial crises. On top of that, it has caused much collateral damage to developing countries, by over-valuing their currencies, help-ing them generate unsustainable credit booms, and now threaten-ing them with the prospect of currency crises.

If its effects are at best debata-ble and at worst laying the ground for the next round of financial cri-ses, why has there been so much QE? It is because it has been the only weapon that the rich coun-try governments have been willing to deploy in order to generate an economic recovery.

QE has become the weapon of choice by these governments because it is the only way in which recovery – however slow and anae-mic – could be generated without changing the economic model that has served the rich and powerful so well in the past three decades.

This model is propelled by a continuous generation of asset bub-bles, fuelled by complex and opaque financial instruments created by highly leveraged banks and other financial institutions. It is a system in which short-term financial prof-its take precedence over long-term investments in productive capabili-ties, and over the quality of life of employees. If the rich countries had tried to generate recovery through any other means than QE, they would have to seriously challenge this model.

Recovery driven by fiscal policy would have involved an increase in the shares of public investment and social welfare spending in national income, reducing the share going to the rich. It would have generated new public sector jobs, which would have weakened the bargaining power of capital-ists by reducing unemployment.

Recovery based on a “rebal-ancing” of the economy would have required policies that hurt the financial sector. The financial system would have to be re-engi-neered to channel more money into long-term investments that

raise productivity. Exchange rates would have to be maintained at a competitive level on a permanent basis, rather than at an over-val-ued level that the financial sec-tor favours. There would have to be greater public investment in the training of scientists and engineers, and greater incentives for them to work in and with the industrial sector, thus shrink-ing the recruitment pool for the financial industry.

Given all this, it is not a big sur-prise that those who benefit from the status quo have persisted with QE. What is surprising is that they have actually strengthened the status quo, despite the mess they have caused. They have suc-cessfully pushed for cuts in gov-ernment spending, shrinking the welfare state to the extent that even Margaret Thatcher could not manage.

They have used the fear of unemployment in an environ-ment of shrinking social safety nets to force workers to accept more unstable part-time jobs, less-secure contracts (zero-hour contracts being the most extreme

example), and poorer working conditions.

But is this maintenance, or even fortification, of the ancient regime likely to continue? It may, but it may not. Greece, Spain, and other eurozone periphery coun-tries could explode any day, given their high unemployment and deepening strains of austerity. In the US, which is considered the home of quiescent workers, the call for living wages is becom-ing louder, as seen in the current strikes by fast-food restaurant workers. The British are (overly) patient people, but they may change their mind when the full extent of budget cuts unfolds in the coming months.

All of these stirrings may amount to little, especially given the weakened state of trade unions, except in a few countries, and the failure of the parties on the left of centre to come up with a coherent alternative vision. But politics is unpredictable. Five years after the crisis, the real bat-tle for the future of capitalism may be only just beginning.

THE GUARDIAN

An agenda to boost Africa’s economy

21 BUSINESS VIEWS MONDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2013

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

QATAR EXCHANGE | DAILY TRADING REPORT | 01-09-2013

INTERNATIONAL MARKETS A List of Shares from the worldCOMPANY CLOSE NET VOLUME NAME CHG TRADED

COMPANY CLOSE NET VOLUME NAME CHG TRADED

COMPANY CLOSE NET VOLUME NAME CHG TRADED

COMPANY CLOSE NET VOLUME NAME CHG TRADED

COMPANY CLOSE NET VOLUME NAME CHG TRADED

COMPANY CLOSE NET VOLUME NAME CHG TRADED

A C C-A/d 961.8 2.35 32490

AARTI DRUGS-B/d 189 2.9 1518

ABAN OFFS-B/d 213.35 0.05 51053

AEGIS LOGIS-B/d 110.35 1.5 1223

AHMED.FORG-B/d 95.4 3.3 9429

ALEMBIC-B/d 24.1 1.55 54558

ALOK INDUS-B/d 6.35 -0.13 429757

ANDHRA PAPER-B/d 249.6 0.45 27700

APOLLO TYRE-A/d 62.95 -1 278031

ASAHI I GLASS-/d 31.8 0.3 12225

ASHOK LEYLAND-/d 12 0.13 1051683

BALLARPUR IN-B/d 10.2 0.01 27139

BATA INDIA-A/d 817.7 21.15 34027

BAYER CROP-B/d 1530.05 2.55 1983

BEML LTD-B/d 139.15 -0.75 22415

BHARATGEARS-B/d 28 4.65 1599

BHARTIYA INT-B/d 152 -3.5 16841

BHEL-A/d 118.75 1.25 1327716

BOM.BURMAH-B/d 85.95 0.35 6061

BOMBAY DYEING-/d 45.2 0.25 67896

CABLE CORP.-B/d 19.4 -0.45 1300

CAMPH.& ALL-B/d 104 -3 2054

CASTROL IND-A/d 323.05 10.75 31270

CENTURY ENKA-B/d 99 0.6 3933

CENTURY TEXT-A/d 217.5 1.65 234873

CHAMBAL FERT-B/d 32.65 0.8 272182

CHOWGULE ST-B/d 9.02 -0.23 1201

CIPLA-A/d 416.95 19.7 360412

CITY UNION BK-/d 39.8 -0.75 20742

CMC LTD-B/d 1250.05 -38.75 12292

COLGATE-A/d 1207.85 -17.6 144113

DHAMPUR SUGAR-/d 29.3 0.3 2411

DR. REDDY-A/d 2293.25 43.15 17506

E I H-B/d 49.95 0.9 12828

E.I.D PARRY-B/d 114 -0.75 4345

ELECTROSTEEL-B/d 10.75 -0.16 27535

EMCO-B/d 11.45 0.05 6661

ESCORTS-B/d 82.15 1.8 414724

ESSAR OIL-A/d 57.6 -0.75 160327

EVEREADY INDU-/d 15.75 0.15 31450

F D C-B/d 82.65 1.05 10681

FEDERAL BANK-A/d 257.2 -13.55 81447

FERRO ALLOYS-B/d 4.15 0.06 19950

FINOLEX-B/d 103.55 -3 11770

GAIL-A/d 294.55 5.65 83293

GALADA POWER-T/d 4.83 0.23 5900

GAMMON INDIA-B/d 9.7 0.21 15302

GOODRICKE-B/d 114.5 2.55 1134

GOODYEAR I -B/d 300.5 0.45 1060

HCL INFOSYS-B/d 21.65 0.25 13256

HIM.FUT.COMM-B/d 7.18 0.01 343186

HIMAT SEIDE-B/d 32.75 0.75 10651

HIND MOTORS-B/d 6.35 -0.03 31158

HIND ORG CHEM-/d 7.74 -0.01 2020

HIND UNILEVER-/d 628.55 22.4 310957

HIND.PETROL-A/d 167.55 4.2 209366

HINDALCO-A/d 104.9 -2 2252685

HOUS DEV FIN-A/d 717.95 22.65 247145

I F C I-A/d 18.8 0.1 1536949

IDBI-A/d 54.9 0.15 358687

IFB IND.LTD.-B/d 51.5 1.1 7637

INDIA CEMENT-B/d 46.2 2.1 112834

INDIA GLYCOL-B/d 93.45 0.8 8847

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LONDON

QE Market Summary Comparison Today Previous day

01-09-2013 29-08-2013

Index 9,667.58 9,619.04

Change 48.54 71.31

% 0.50 0.75

YTD% 15.66 15.07

Volume 8,263,161 11,379,967

Value (QAR) 313,421,065.09 400,399,994.06

Trades 8,974 5,878 Up 25 | Down 09 | Unchanged 04

QE Indices SummaryQE Index 9,667.58 0.50 %

QE Total Return Index 13,812.75 0.50 %

QE Al Rayan Islamic Index 2,760.42 0.51 %

QE All Share Index 2,435.62 0.46 %

QE All Share Banks & Financial Services

2,359.14 0.48 %

QE All Share Consumer Goods & Services

5,820.34 0.88 %

QE All Share Industrials 3,101.72 0.64 %

QE All Share Insurance 2,272.17 1.68 %

QE All Share Real Estate 1,720.84 0.21 %

QE All Share Telecoms 1,436.33 0.03 %

QE All Share Transportation 1,781.4 1.12 %

22 MARKETMONDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2013

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EXCHANGE RATE

GOLD & SILVERWORLD STOCK INDICES

CRUDE OIL

Buying SellingINDEX Day’s Close Pt Chg % Chg Year High Year Low

US$ ..........................QR 3.6305 QR 3.6500

UK ...........................QR 5.6146 QR 5.6940

Euro .........................QR 4.7853 QR 4.8532

CA$ ..........................QR 3.4267 QR 3.4944

Swiss Fr ..................QR 3.8921 QR 3.9471

Yen ..........................QR 0.0368 QR 0.0375

Aus$ ........................QR 3.2122 QR 3.2763

Ind Re ......................QR 0.0549 QR 0.0559

Pak Re .....................QR 0.0345 QR 0.0352

Peso ........................QR 0.0810 QR 0.0826

SL Re .......................QR 0.0271 QR 0.0277

Taka .........................QR 0.0464 QR 0.0473

Nep Re ....................QR 0.0345 QR 0.0352

SA Rand ..................QR 0.3495 QR 0.3597

BRENT

$ 113.63

DUBAI

$ 110.64

GOLDQR163.8533

SILVERQR 2.7651

All Ordinaries 5125.295 42.19 0.83 5229.8 4610.6

Cac 40 Index/D 3933.78 -52.57 -1.32 4123.89 3575.17

Dj Indu Average 14810.31 -30.64 -0.21 15658.4 12471.5

Egypt Cma Gn Idx 1026.29 32.57 3.28 999.95 312.38

Hang Seng Inde/D 21731.37 26.59 0.12 23944.74 19426.36

Iseq Overall/D 4190.17 -4.64 -0.11 4285.01 3396.67

Karachi 100 In/D 22160.85 -53.88 -0.24 23944.99 16036.31

Nikkei 225 Index 13388.86 -70.85 -0.53 15942.6 10398.61

S&P 500 Index/D 1632.97 -5.2 -0.32 1709.67 1343.35

Straits Times/D 3028.94 -9.09 -0.3 3464.79 2990.68

Straits Times/D 2971.47 22.7 0.77 3035.78 2657.77

23SPORT MONDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2013

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Rafa Nadal of Spain (right) hits a return to Ivan Dodig of Croatia during their match on the sixth

day of the 2013 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National

Tennis Center at Flushing Meadows, New York,

USA, on Saturday. The US Open will finish on

Monday September 9 for the first time.

Nadal and Federer on collision course at Open

Generation Next sleeper Raonic stirs in New York

Wozniacki and Kvitova beaten; Dan Evans’ run ends NEW YORK: Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal remained on course for a tantalising first ever collision at the US Open after demolishing their opposi-tion at Flushing Meadows on Saturday.

The two great rivals have never played each other at the year’s final Grand Slam but are drawn to meet each other in the quar-ter-finals next week, and they moved a step closer by winning their third-round ties in brilliant fashion.

Federer, playing the fea-ture night match at an buzzing Arthur Ashe Stadium, doled out a 6-3, 6-0, 6-2 hammering to Frenchman Adrian Mannarino but knows the focus is already on the possible meeting with Nadal.

“I have gone through that my entire career, people talking about our matches even before the tour-nament started,” he said.

“We’re used to it. We know how to handle it. Clearly I think we both hope it’s going to hap-pen this time for the first time in New York.”

Earlier in the day, when the sun was at its hottest, Nadal turned on his own masterclass to brush aside Croatia’s Ivan Dodig 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 and lead a trio of Spanish men into the fourth round.

French Open runner-up David Ferrer also moved through, beat-ing Mikhail Kukushkin 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, while a third Spaniard, Tommy Robredo, ended the Cinderella run of British quali-fier Dan Evans.

Former world number one Caroline Wozniacki and the 2011 Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova were among the high-profile casualties in a women’s draw packed with surprises.

Four of the eight women already through to the fourth round are unseeded and three of the eight

LEFT: Roger Federer of Switzerland hits a return to Adrian Mannarino of France. Federer won 6-3, 6-0, 6-2 and remains on course to face rival Rafa Nadal in the quarter-finals. The two players have never met in the US Open tournament. ABOVE: Mirka Federer, wife of Roger Federer, uses her iPhone to view her husband play. Mirka is a former tennis player and reached a career-high 76 in the women’s singles. She retired in 2002 due to a persistant foot injury.

are Italian. Camila Giorgi, who had to come through the quali-fiers to reach the main draw, sent Wozniacki packing with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 win on Arthur Ashe Stadium while Flavia Pennetta knocked out the former US Open cham-pion Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-5, 6-1. Roberta Vinci also won for Italy.

Nadal has been in great form in the past month, winning warm-up tournaments in Montreal and Cincinnati.

He has not dropped a single set in getting to the last 16 at Flushing Meadows and believes he is still improving.

“I played better today than in the previous matches. (That’s) always a positive thing,” he said.

Nadal’s next opponent is Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber, who beat towering American John Isner 6-4, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (5), while Federer’s next assignment is Robredo, a 7-6 (6), 6-1, 4-6, 7-5 winner over Evans.

While Federer and Nadal cruised into the next round, a feisty Victoria Azarenka dropped her first set of the tournament before recovering to book her place in the last 16 of the women’s draw.

A finalist last year and one of the favourites to win the title this season, the world number two and reigning Australian Open cham-pion overcame a shaky start to beat Alize Cornet of France

6-7(2) 6-3 6-2. The Belarussian was given a tough workout from Cornet and allowed her frustra-tions to boil over when the umpire ordered a point she had won be replayed.

“That was the most ridiculous thing there is,” Azarenka growled.

Former world number one Ana Ivanovic had to dig deep to avoid joining the exit queue. The Serbian was on the brink of defeat in her match against American Christina McHale before recover-ing to win 4-6, 7-5, 6-4. She plays Azarenka next.

“I know what to expect,” said Ivanovic. “I really want to play against the best and challenge myself, because I’m ready to take them on.”

Kvitova, the 2011 Wimbledon champion and seventh seed at Flushing Meadows, fell 6-3, 6-0 to American wildcard Alison Riske.

The US Open is the only Grand Slam where Kvitova has failed to at least make the quarter-finals and the Czech said she was unable to play near her best after con-tracting a virus.

“Unfortunately I was lying in the bed yesterday and I had a fever,” Kvitova said. “I tried to play, tried to fight. But my body wouldn’t let me fight.”

Riske burst into tears after her win. The 23-year-old, who still travels with a security blanket that was given to her on the day she was born, has had a long road to her first fourth round appear-ance at a Grand Slam.

She first tried to qualify for the US Open in 2007 and had never won a main draw match until this year. Now she is through to the last 16, and facing a showdown with Daniela Hantuchova, who saved four match points in her 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (4) win over Israeli qualifier Julia Glushko.

“The blankie story is out,” Riske said. “I’m used to it now. I can’t deny it now. It’s getting smaller by the week. It can fit in the palm of my hand.” REUTERS

Actor Ralph Macchio watches Camila

Giorgi of Italy play Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark in their third round match.

Macchio is best known for his roles as Daniel LaRusso

in the award-winning films The Karate Kid

series. RIGHT: Victoria Azarenka of Belarus hits a return to Alize

Cornet of France dur-ing their match.

Alison Riske of the US hits a

return to Petra Kvitova of the

Czech Republic during their third

round match.

Baseball ResultsNY Yankees 2 Baltimore 0

Toronto 4 Kansas City 2

Chicago Cubs 4 Philadelphia 3

NY Mets 11 Washington 3

Pittsburgh 7 St Louis 1

Detroit 10 Cleveland 5

Boston 7 Chicago White Sox 2

LA Angels 6 Milwaukee 5

Atlanta 5 Miami 4

Seattle 3 Houston 1

Texas 2 Minnesota 1

Cincinnati 8 Colorado 3

Arizona 4 San Francisco 3

Oakland 2 Tampa Bay 1

LA Dodgers 2 San Diego 1

Bekele sets sights on Great North Run, Rio marathon SULULTA, ETHIOPIA: Ethiopian track legend Kenenisa Bekele (pictured) said yester-day he was still a long way off from thinking of retirement and is instead eyeing a step up to the marathon in time for the Rio Olympics.

At his training camp outside of the capital Addis Ababa, the world record holder in the 5,000 and 10,000 metres said he hoped to display a return to form when he races Britain’s Mo Farah and fel-low Ethiopian great Haile Gebreselassie this month.

The three will be com-peting in the Great North Run in England on September 16, which organisers say will be the “greatest head-to-head in half-marathon history”.

“I did great things in 5,000 and 10,000 metres and now after those races, my big goal is to run a good marathon and a good half mara-thon, to attack maybe the world record,” said Bekele.

“My big hope is to compete in Rio,” said the 31-year old.

Bekele won gold in the 10,000 metres in Athens, and followed up with the 5,000m and 10,000m double in Beijing in 2008.

But since then he has been beset by injury, finishing 4th in the London Olympics and miss-ing out on the Moscow World Championships.

He has also been overshadowed by the rise of Great Britain’s Farah.

Still, Bekele’s rivals have yet to get within even spitting distance of his world records, set in 2004 and 2005.

“I’m challenging my injury to come back again to fitness, to compete in international races... I don’t want to stop at this early age, so I think I will come back again,” he said.

Bekele, a national hero in Ethiopia, said the half marathon showdown -- his first competitive outing over the distance -- will be a tough race and will live up to the organisers’ billing as a “dream team” showdown.

His stubborn injury, not men-tion Farah’s staggering finishing kick and Gerbselassie’s years of road racing experience, will make for a challenging 21.1 kilometre (13.1 mile) race, he said.

“I will try my best, but of course the race is not easy because I’m competing with Mo Farrah and Gebreselassie and this race it will be my first half marathon,” said Bekele, speaking after a morning session on his private track.

Farah, the reigning 5,000m and 10,000m Olympic and world champion, has raced two half marathons, winning both times, while Gerbselassie is by far the most experienced -- having been world champion at the distance four times between 1993 and 1999 and having won the Newcastle to South Shields race three years ago.

He held the marathon world record and has a personal half marathon best of 58min 55secs.

But Bekele said he is run-ning twice a day, seven days a week and feels ready to take on those he described as his greatest competitors.

“I’m feeling good, I’m preparing to compete,” he said. AFP

NEW YORK: Whisper it quietly but a beast might be stirring at Flushing Meadows.

Milos Raonic is the sleeper of the US Open. Touted as a leading member of Generation Next in men’s tennis, the pow-erful 22-year-old Canadian roared into the fourth round on Saturday with a 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 win over Spain’s Feliciano Lopez.

Raonic’s thunderous serve has landed him a chart-topping 65 aces for the tournament.

His heaviest delivery of 145 miles per hour (72.4 kph) is the quickest of the event.

His relatively seamless pro-gression through the draw comes on the back of his recent appearance in the final of the Montreal Masters against Rafa Nadal and a move up to number 11 in the world rankings.

While the American tennis fraternity sweats on the arrival of a men’s player to match the deeds of retired superstars Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, the relaxed and quietly-spoken Raonic admitted he benefit-ted from lower expectations in Canada.

“There’s a lot more pressure on the Americans,” he said.

“One advantage they have growing up is that maybe there are more wildcard opportuni-ties as an American.

“I’m doing a lot of stuff in uncharted territories, so peo-ple are very supportive of it. Whereas I feel it’s a little bit unfair to the American players, everybody expecting another Pete and Agassi to be there on the top.

“Everybody is always asking, why isn’t their playing doing this? This is an American. I think that’s the big difference.”

Ranoic, though, denied he was flying completely under the radar compared to his US counterparts.

“I think the attention is the same,” he said. “I don’t know how to say it, but one is more negative than the other because they (Americans) are expecting a lot more. In Canada, it’s a lot more positive to be in the situ-ation I am right now.”

Lopez was unable to break the serve of his 1.96 m tall oppo-nent in their two hours and 37 minutes on Court 17.

“I was really struggling with getting anywhere on his service games, but I found my own a little bit,” Raonic said.

“I was getting confidence and calming down. I wasn’t feeling as nervous about the whole sit-uation. I was a little sloppy at the net at times, but I started cleaning things up from the baseline.”

Montenegro-born, Toronto-raised and now resident in Monaco, Raonic’s biggest con-cern appeared to be his sun-burned face.

“I didn’t have any (sun tan lotion) on, so I will probably pay for that tonight,” he said.

Raonic has yet to reach the quarter-finals at a major.

His next assignment will be against eight-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet. REUTERS

SPORT24MONDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2013

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Garcia grabs Deutsche Bank lead NORTON, Massachusetts: Sergio Garcia was not planning to play in the Deutsche Bank Championship but with a one-shot lead after yesterday’s sec-ond round, the Spaniard will certainly be glad he did not take the week off.

Garcia held a one-stroke lead from American Roberto Castro and Sweden’s Henrik Stenson at a low-scoring TPC Boston yesterday.

Garcia, only opted to play in the tournament because he risked missing the next cut in the FedExCup play-offs and he eagled the 18th hole to complete an impressive seven-under-par round of 64, leaving him at 13-under for the tournament.

The Spaniard’s only major hic-cup came on the par-four 14th where he double bogeyed as did Castro.

Stenson was immaculate as he recorded a bogey free eight-under par 63, a round matched only by England’s Justin Rose, the US Open champion who also avoided bogeys as he moved within four shots of the lead.

Overnight joint leader Phil Mickelson was unable to progress from his first round 63. He shot an even-par 71 after some way-ward driving - albeit with char-acteristic recovery work - on the back nine where he made two bogeys and a double as well as a pair of birdies.

Mickelson did produce the shot of the day however. His chip from a poor lay in rough over the back of the 11th green landed two feet from the pin for a tap-in par after the left-hander produced a remarkable amount of back spin.

It was classic Mickelson, as he acknowledged after his round.

“I’ve not seen anybody else hit that shot, to be able to spin it back from that distance and lob it. It sure looks good,” he said.

“I could describe it, but nobody is going to understand that. It was a really good shot,” added the British Open champion.

World number one Tiger Woods, playing with Mickelson and Masters champion Adam Scott, shot a four-under 67, with just one bogey as he ended up a stroke behind Mickelson at the

The Spaniard in front by one shot; overnight joint leader Mickelson five behind

Sergio Garcia of Spain reacts after putting for eagle on the 18th green during the second round of the Deutsche Bank Championship at TPC Boston n

Norton, Massachusetts, yesterday.

ScoresScores from the US PGA Tour Deutsche Bank Championship at the par-71 course yesterday in Norton, Massachusetts. The cut was set at 141.

129 Sergio Garcia (Spain) 65 64

130 Roberto Castro (US) 65 65; Henrik Stenson (Sweden) 67 63

132 Matt Kuchar (US) 66 66; Jason Dufner (US) 66 66

133 Justin Rose (Britain) 70 63; Jordan Spieth (US) 67 66; Harris English (US) 66 67

134 Brendon De Jonge (Zimbabwe) 69 65; Jason Day (Australia) 67 67; Steve Stricker (US) 66 68; Keegan Bradley (US) 69 65; Ian Poulter (Britain) 66 68; Brendan Steele (US) 67 67; Scott Piercy (US) 68 66; Brian Gay (US) 67 67; Phil Mickelson (US) 63 71; Nicholas Thompson (US) 66 68; KJ Choi (South Korea) 67 67

135 Charley Hoffman (US) 70 65; Charl Schwartzel (South Africa) 67 68; Brian Davis (Britain) 63 72; Ernie Els (South Africa) 66 69; Graham DeLaet (Canada) 67 68; Tiger Woods (US) 68 67; Hunter Mahan (US) 65 70; Kevin Stadler (US) 64 71; Stewart Cink (US) 66 69; Bob Estes (US) 66 69

136 Daniel Summerhays (US) 68 68; John Merrick (US) 67 69; Nick Watney (US) 69 67; Brandt Snedeker (US) 68 68; Boo Weekley (US) 67 69

137 David Hearn (Canada) 68 69; Kevin Streelman (US) 66 71; Dustin Johnson (US) 68 69; Marc Leishman (Australia) 70 67; Josh Teater (US) 70 67; Scott Stallings (US) 68 69; Matt Every (US) 70 67; Chris Kirk (US) 66 71; John Huh (US) 66 71; Brian Stuard (US) 71 66

NORTON, MASSACHUSETTS: Phil Mickelson (pictured) conceded he “lost it” during the back nine at the Deutsche Bank Championship yesterday but was delighted that he managed to use his famous recovery skills to stay in the hunt.

The joint overnight leader after producing an eight-under par 63 on Friday, Mickelson shot an even par 71 in the third round yesterday thanks to birdies at the final two holes.

With his wayward work from the tees, Mickelson’s round could easily have unravelled.

After going into the trees on the ninth, he went wildly right on the 10th and bogeyed before failing to find the fairway on his next three holes.

But, as he so often does, the world number three scrambled for par on all of them.

“I could easily have shot myself out of the tournament,” he told reporters. “I shot even par today. I got it in the hazard I don’t know how many times.

“If I go on and play the way I believe I’m going to this weekend I’m going to look back at those nine holes as the key to the entire tournament.”

On the 14th, he finally found the fairway but then blasted his second shot into the rough and then he was in the water on the par-three 16th, where he made double bogey.

Then came two birdies to save his round and leave him still only five shots behind leader Sergio Garcia.

“That was one of my best numbers right there, because I was playing terrible and I shot even par,” he said. “I fought hard. Throughout the course of my career, it happens, where you kind of lose it a little bit.

“I fought hard in the interim and was able to find it there in the end to give me confidence heading into the weekend but more than that, it kept me within striking distance.”

The moment that summed up Mickelson’s performance came on the par-three 11th, where a wayward shot from the tee ended up in some nasty rough behind the green.

His high shot landed two feet from the pin for a tap-in par after the lefthander produced a remarkable amount of back spin.

“I’ve not seen anybody else hit that shot, to be able to spin it back from that distance and lob it. It sure looks good,” he said.

Adding to the spectacle, Mickelson was playing with Tiger Woods, who acknowledged his old rival’s response to his troubles.

“That’s what he does,” said Woods. “It was pretty impressive to see the up-and-downs he made throughout that stretch, and holed a few putts, kept his round together.” REUTERS

Mickelson still in hunt despite ‘losing it’ on back nine

end of their 36 holes together. But Woods was disappointed with his work on the greens.

“I had a hard time hitting the putts hard enough. They were a little slower this afternoon, obviously with the mist coming in, it definitely slowed it up,” he said, after finishing his round in drizzle.

“But still, I just didn’t hit them hard enough. And they were snagging at the grain a little bit at the end. And a couple of putts I thought I poured, but they got snagged at the end.”

Garcia made a blistering start to his round, with some superb ball-striking, recording

five birdies and no bogeys as he reached the turn in 31.

Soft greens again made for low scoring and Garcia was clearly happy to have pushed himself to play in the tournament in order to make sure he was in the third event in the play-offs.

“It was touch and go if I was going to make the BMW Championship without playing here. Obviously being 55th - 16 guys could easily pass me if they played well.

“We decided to come here and make a little bit of an extra effort of playing obviously five weeks in a row, which I don’t usually enjoy very much.

“Hopefully I’ll be able to play well the next couple of days and give myself a good shot at it,” he said.

PGA Championship winner Jason Dufner put himself in the frame with a second round of 66 taking him to within three shots of the lead alongside fellow American Matt Kuchar.

Exciting rookie Jordan Spieth and another young American Harris English were both four shots off the lead.

Defending champion Rory McIlroy shot even-par for the day to leave himself well back, 12 strokes away from the leader Garcia. REUTERS

T20 batsmen(read under: rank, change in ranking, player, team, ratings points, average, strike-rate, highest rating points):

1 (+1) Alex Hales, ENG, 842, 39.11, 136, 842 vs AUS at Durham 2013

2 (-1) Brendon McCullum, NZL, 818, 35.50, 135, 849 vs BAN at Pallekele 2012

3 (-) Shane Watson, AUS, 747, 30.11, 150, 832 vs RSA at Colombo 2012

4 (-) David Warner, AUS, 743, 28.63, 138, 826 vs WIS at St Lucia 2010

5 (-) Martin Guptill, NZL, 738, 35.39, 124, 793 vs RSA at Hamilton 2012

6= (-) Mahela Jayawardene, SRI, 731, 32.48, 134, 785 vs AUS at Pallekele 2011

6= (-) Virat Kohli, IND, 731, 34.87, 130, 731 vs PAK at Ahmedabad 2012

8 (-) Suresh Raina, IND, 719, 33.60, 136, 776 vs ENG at Kolkata 2011

9 (-) Chris Gayle, WIS, 702, 33.30, 143, 831 vs AUS at Colombo 2012

10 (-) JP Duminy, RSA, 676, 34.96, 122, 694 vs ENG at Durham 2012

Bowlers(read under: rank, change in ranking, player, team, rating points, average, economy-rate, highest rating points)

1 (-) Sunil Narine, WIS, 817, 16.75, 5.94, 817 vs PAK at St Vincent 2013

2 (-) Saeed Ajmal, PAK, 721, 17.15, 6.26, 788 vs NZL at Pallekele 2012

3 (-) Mohammad Hafeez PAK 689 19.76 6.56 689 v ZIM at Harare 2013

4 (-) Ajantha Mendis, SRI, 686, 12.84, 6.10, 762 vs WIS at Colombo 2012

5 (-) Shakib Al Hasan, BAN, 668, 19.84, 6.75, 668 vs ZIM at Bulawayo 2013

6 (+6) Steven Finn, ENG, 667, 19.48, 7.16, 667 vs AUS at Durham 2013

7 (+12) Jade Dernbach, ENG, 664, 20.48, 7.86, 664 vs AUS at Durham 2013

8 (-2) Abdur Razzak, BAN, 660, 18.94, 6.92, 661 vs IRL at Belfast 2012

9 (-2) Prosper Utseya, ZIM, 659, 28.04, 6.57, 667 vs Pak at Harare 2013

10 (-2) Nuwan Kulasekara, SRI 655, 24.50, 7.21, 676 vs AUS at Melbourne 2013

Top T20 sidesLeading ICC T20 international rankings at August 31, after the conclusion of England-Australia T20I series. Read under: rank, team, rating points, change in rating points):

Teams Rankings1 Sri Lanka 128

2 Pakistan 125

3 India 121

4 West Indies 120

5 South Africa 118

6 England 112 (-1)

7 Australia 103 (+1)

8 New Zealand 102

9 Ireland 81

10 Bangladesh 74

11 Scotland 62

12 Zimbabwe 46

13 Netherlands 36

14 Kenya 34

Warner, Starc out of Australia ODI squad CHE STER-LE-STREET, England: David Warner has been dropped from the Australia squad for the forth-coming one-day international matches against Scotland and England, Cricket Australia (CA) announced yesterday.

Meanwhile CA also said left-arm fast medium bowler Mitchell Starc was returning home with “some lower back soreness”.

Australia coach and selector Darren Lehmann said dynamic batsman Warner had been left out of the one-dayers, which start with a lone ODI against Scotland in Edinburgh on Tuesday before a five-match series with England begins in Leeds on Friday, because of a lack of runs at this level.

“David has been left out of the Australian ODI squad for this tour purely due to his recent lack of form in this format,” Lehmann said in the CA statement.

“By his own admission, David would acknowledge that unfortu-nately he hasn’t scored the weight of runs that he would like recently in one-day cricket for his coun-try,” former Australia batsman Lehmann added.

Warner played in just one match during Australia’s involve-ment in the Champions Trophy in England in June, scoring nine in a loss to England, but was suspended from the team after punching England’s Joe Root in a Birmingham bar after the match.

He has only played three more ODIs this year, in January against Sri Lanka, where he scored 10, 60 and four.

“Like all selection matters, it

was a tough decision, but like all players he understands the situation and knows he needs to get back to playing RYOBI Cup (Australia’s domestic one-day competition) and making a heap of runs that we can’t ignore,” Lehmann added.

“I spoke with David at length about what he needs to do and I’ve been impressed with his attitude since I’ve come into the Australian set-up.”

Warner’s omission came just a day after he top-scored for Australia with 53 in their 27-run defeat in the second Twenty20 international at Chester-le-Street on Saturday, where England’s victory saw them level the two-match series at 1-1, after England batsman Alex Hales scored 94 runs.

Starc endured a frustrating tour of England, playing in the first, third and fifth Tests of the five-match Ashes series while being dropped for the second and the fourth.

“Mitch reported some lower back pain in recent days so we have decided it’s best for him to return to Australia for further assessment and investigation,” said Australian cricket team doc-tor Peter Brukner.

Australia squad: Michael Clarke (captain), George Bailey, Fawad Ahmed, Nathan Coulter-Nile, James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, Josh Hazlewood, Phil Hughes, Mitchell Johnson, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Clint McKay, Adam Voges, Matthew Wade (wicketkeeper), Shane Watson. AFP

ODI FixturesSeptember 3: Scotland vs Australia, Lone ODI, Edinburgh (0945GMT)

England-Australia ODI series

September 6: 1st ODI, Headingley (0915GMT)

September 8: 2nd ODI, Old Trafford (0915GMT)

September 11: 3rd ODI, Edgbaston (1300GMT)

September 14: 4th ODI, Cardiff (0915GMT)

September 16: 5th ODI, Southampton (1300GMT)

England’s Hales becomes top-ranked T20 batsman CHESTER-LE-STREET, England: England’s Alex Hales has become the number-one ranked batsmen in the International Cricket Council Twenty20 rankings after his match-winning innings against Australia on Saturday.

Nottinghamshire opener Hales’s 94, off just 61 balls, provided the platform for England’s 27-run win.

Hales received 65 rating points for this performance and that helped him leapfrog New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum at the top of the ICC’s Twenty20 international batting standings. AFP

KOLKATA: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has proposed a two-Test series with the West Indies in India in November, apparently to facilitate Sachin Tendulkar play his record 200th Test at home.

The Working Committee meeting of the BCCI here yes-terday approved sandwiching the West Indies visit between Australia’s visit in October for a One-Day International Series and India’s tour to South Africa in December-January.

The West Indies will also play five One-Dayers during their short visit.

“Apart from the home series against Australia in October 2013, the working committee approved a proposed home series against the West Indies in the month of November 2013,” a BCCI release stated.

The board also approved tours to New Zealand and England in the month of January-February and July-September respectively.

“The Indian team’s tour of New Zealand for two Tests and five ODIs in January-February 2014 was approved. The Indian team’s tour of England for five Tests, five ODIs, one T20 International, from July to September 2014, was approved,” added the press release.

It is also speculated that Tendulkar might call it a day after playing the two Tests against the West Indies, so that he could end his 24-year international career playing the two matches at two of the best stadiums in the coun-try, Kolkata and his hometown Mumbai. IANS

BCCI facilitates Sachin’s 200th Test at home

25SPORT MONDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2013

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QOC releases new issue of Qatar Sport MagazineDOHA: The Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) has released the 22nd issue of Qatar Sport Magazine.

The newly-released issue focusses on various local and international sport topics, as well as academic and historic issues.

The magazine highlights the race to succeed Jacques Rogge as President of the International Olympic Committee which will come to a dramatic climax at 125th IOC Session in Buenos, Aires, Argentina on September 10.

The new issue also includes a detailed report on the Indian Premier League Of Tennis, an article on the most famous

Olympic Museums in the world and an interview with the Italian Football Star Alessandro Del Piero.

In this issue, Mohammed Al Hajri, Vice President of the International Centre For Sport Security says: “We believe that education is crucial in ensuring integrity in sport.”

The magazine sheds lights on the career of the Spanish foot-ball legend Raul Gonzalez with Al Sadd Sports Club.

The new issue also contains various reports and topics about the fitness programs, environ-mental issues , as well as several local and international sport events held in Qatar.

THE PENINSULA

The latest issue of Qatar Sport Magazine. The Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) recently released the 22nd issue of Qatar Sport Magazine which focusses on various local and international sport topics, as well as academic and historic issues.

World 9-Ball Pool: Qualifying rounds begin today in DohaDOHA : Ten Qatari players have been seeded directly into the main draw of the Sixth World 9-Ball Pool Championship, which will get under way today at the Al Arabi Indoor Hall.

The Ten-day championship, sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) and the Asian Pocket Billiard Union (APBU) will be held in two stages and is contested by players from 43 countries.

Besides hosts Qatar, play-ers from USA, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Singapore, Bangladesh, Austria, Australia, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Syria, UK, Taiwan, Japan, China, Iran, Bahrain, Algeria, Egypt, Comoros, Switzerland, Spain, Russia, Poland, Lithuania, Italy, Venezuela, Chile, Peru, Albania, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Finland, Portugal, Kuwait, Lebanon, India, Philippines, Hungary, and Canada are taking part in the championship.

The preliminary rounds, Stage 1, which will begin today, will be contested by 133 players and will end on September 5.

The second stage, Stage 2, to be contested by 128 players, will begin on September 7 and will end with the final on September 11.

Qatar Billiards and Snooker Federation (QBSF) Players Affairs Committee Head Mubarak Hamad Al Khayareen said being the host nation Qatar will field ten players in Stage 2.

“We are have set a target of at least one player from Qatar quali-fying for the last sixteen round of the tournament,” said the QBSF official.

The ten Qatari players who feature in Stage 2 are Bashar Hussain, Mohammedd Al Bin Ali, Abdulatif Al Fawal, Khamis Al Obaidly, Ali Al Obaidly, Mohd Al Buainain, Mohanna Al Obaidly, Waleed Majed, Israel Rota and Antonio Gabica.

At the Stage 1 competition, 22 players from Qatar will vie for the qualifying spots in the main draw.

Qatar’s Bashar Hussain during a training session at the Qatar Billiards and Snooker Federation Hall, yesterday. Hussain is one of the ten players who will play in the Stage 2 of the Sixth World 9-Ball Pool Championship at the Al Arabi Indoor Hall. The qualifying rounds of the Sixth World 9-Ball Pool Championship will begin from today at 10.00am. PICTURE BY: VP KAMMUTTY

Twelve players will gain entry to the second stage through the qualifiers, while the defending champion and the top 24 play-ers in the WPA ranking system are guaranteed spots in the main draw.

The Stage 2 of the event will have players who have won wild cards from the WPA and the organisers.

In the second stage, the play-ers are divided into 16 groups of

8 players each. Four players from each group advance into the Last 64 final round.

The final Round of Last 64 to the Final, the competition will follow the single elimination with race to 11, while the final will be race to 13.

Stage 1 qualifying tourna-ments will follow the single elimination, race to 7, alternate break format.

The winner of the event will

get $36,000 and the runner-up $18,000. The losing semi-finalists will each get $10,000, while fifth to eight place winners will $6,000 each.

The total prize money for the entire tournament is $250,000 which World No.1 Darren Appleton won last year.

The Englishman had pulled off a thrilling 13-12 victory over China’s Lee He Wen in last year’s final.

Appleton, former champions Japan’s Yukio Akagariyama, Dennis Orcollo and Efren Reyes of the Philippines, as well as Germany’s Ralf Souquet are some of the other big names in the fray.

Leading American pool equip-ment manufacturer Diamond Billiards Products Inc will pro-vide the tables for the tourna-ment, which will have Simonis 860 Cloth.

“The Diamond tables, with extremely tight pockets, had come in for special praise from players. Our facilities are truly world-class. Players have always enjoyed our hospitality and we want to keep raising the bar,” informed Al Khayareen.

The QSBF has signed an agreement with WPA by virtue of which Qatar have the right to host the championship till 2017.

Today’s preliminary round qualifying Stage 1 action begins at 10am.

The following are the Qatari players who will feature in today’s Stage 1 competition: Meshaal Turkey, Mohammad Saeed Mohammad Alzahid, Salem Alanzi, Ali Saeed, Ghazi Mohammad, Abdullah Alsewid, Bader Al Mansor, Abdulazz Hashem, Muzzamil Hussain, Taher Husain, Tajamel Hussain, Mohammad Gaber, Mohammad Alkhaldi, Alaa Bata, Abdullah Alhajri, Hatem Osama, Abdulla Al Ailali, Mohammad Sultan, Mohammed Alyazeedi, Yazed Turki, Fahad Alsaadi, Salem Mohammad, and Ali Al Marri.

THE PENINSULA

Al-Anabi, Johnson extend contract Johnson to manage Qatari team till 2018

Qatar Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel driver Shawn Langdon makes a run under threatening skies in Indianapolis. RIGHT: Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Thani (left), and Qatar Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel Team Manager Alan Johnson talk during the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series event in Sonoma, California in this July 2013 file picture.

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana: Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Thani, Al-Anabi Racing and Alan Johnson have agreed to a five-year contract extension, the team announced yesterday.

The Al-Anabi Racing team will continue to develop international awareness of the State of Qatar and highlight the nation’s inter-national sports outreach through National Hot Rod Association competition.

Like the last five years, Alan Johnson will continue to manage the Top Fuel portion of Al-Anabi Racing, a two-time NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel World Championship team, at least through the 2018 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season. The team will continue to field two Top Fuel dragsters piloted by current drivers Khalid alBalooshi and Shawn Langdon.

“I am very pleased that we have the opportunity to build on our successful five years and want to thank Alan Johnson and all of the team members of Al-Anabi Racing who brought two cham-pionships and a winning esprit de corps to Al-Anabi Racing,” Al-Anabi Racing team owner Sheikh Khalid bin Al Thani said.

“I know without the hard work of all the team members, we could not have had the record this team has amassed in our first five years. Our extension allows us to con-tinue to invest in technology to push the envelope for even faster times.”

“We are extremely happy to extend our relationship with Sheikh Khalid, Al-Anabi Racing

and the State of Qatar,” Al-Anabi Racing team manager Alan Johnson said.

“We are very proud of our team’s accomplishments in its first five years. Through our working and personal relation-ships with Sheikh Khalid, we have enjoyed learning a great deal about the Qatari culture as well as Sheikh Khalid’s vision and commitment to the sport of drag racing and this great race team. Our relationship with Sheikh Khalid has been very rewarding in many ways.

“We look forward to the chal-lenge of improving our perform-ance both on and off the race track in the next five years. Since this race team began operation in 2009, our goal has been to win races and championships for

Qatar and Sheikh Khalid – that will not change. In the next five years, everyone on our team will continue striving to be the best Top Fuel team in drag racing worldwide while providing addi-tional international awareness of the State of Qatar, its indus-tries, Motorsports and education initiatives.”

The team was extremely suc-cessful in its first five years fin-ishing just two points out of the Top Fuel championship in 2009, its inaugural season.

The following year, the team won the NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel World Championship with driver Larry Dixon, and in 2011, team Al-Anabi suc-cessfully defended its World Championship with driver Del Worsham.

The current drivers began driving for the team in 2012, and this year, Langdon and the silver Al-Anabi team enter this week’s US Nationals leading the field by 121 points while alBalooshi and the gold Al-Anabi team enter the US Nationals in fifth place in the point standings.

To date, the team has won 36 races including two races the team won in Funny Car before Worsham made the switch to Top Fuel for the 2011 season.

Meanwhile, at the world’s larg-est and most prestigious drag race with some 1,000 cars competing in 12 classes, the clear winner so far is the weather.

Both teams that comprise the Qatar Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel team, the two-time NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel World Champions

owned by Sheikh Khalid Bin Hamad Al Thani, entered the weekend hoping to win the Traxxas Nitro Shootout and the Chevrolet Performance US Nationals, the 18th of 24 events making up the United States’ 2013 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season.

Qualifying resumes today with eliminations set for Labour Day, a national holiday in the United States.

During the opening round of qualifying, both Qatar Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel teams, as well as most of the other teams, had trouble managing the oppressive late-summer Indiana heat and a very hot race track.

Neither Al-Anabi car made it down the race track yesterday night. THE PENINSULA

Sad Euskaltel try to savour final VueltaSPAIN: Every morning on the Tour of Spain, as crowds gather at the start of each stage, Euskaltel-Euskadi press officer Jesus Aizkorbe stands at the top the stairs of his team bus and hands out posters.

“There’s a lot more interest here than there used to be a few years back,” Aizkorbe said as he passed the posters to a sea of out-stretched hands.

“So it’s a pity we’re quitting now.”

Like Euskaltel’s 29 riders and 24 staff, Aizkorbe will be out of a job in 2014 because the team are set to fold at the end of the season after 17 years in the sport.

Spain will be left with just one team at WorldTour level and the Basque Country, considered Spain’s cycling heartland, will be bereft of its longstanding flagship squad.

“We’re not quite running around the other teams here with curriculum vitaes sticking out of our back pockets,” team manager Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano said. “But almost.”

Nine months ago Euskaltel-Euskadi’s orange-clad riders looked like one of the most finan-cially secure teams in cycling with Euskaltel, a Basque telecommu-nications company, looking set to back the team for a further four years.

But after Euskaltel’s co-spon-sors failed to provide expected funding, the telecommunications company announced this year it was pulling out of cycling, mak-ing the 2013 Vuelta the team’s last Grand Tour after nearly two decades in the sport.

“I’m trying to live through this one like it was just another race,” Samuel Sanchez, the 2008 Olympic champion and team’s best known rider, said as he signed autographs outside the bus.

REUTERS

SPORT26MONDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2013

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

Tokyo frontrunner to host the 2020 Olympic GamesPublic support for the Tokyo bid rising at home, poll ratings show

Olympic Games bid cities budget

BUENOS AIRES: The International Olympic Committee on September 7 will choose either Istanbul, Madrid or Tokyo to host the 32nd summer Games in 2020. Below is a breakdown of the budget to host the Games.

(Estimated and actual budget)

Athens 2004 $4.6bn $14bn

Beijing 2008 $14bn $40bn

London 2012 $3.7bn $13.9bn

Rio 2016 $2.8bn

Istanbul 2020 $2.9bn

Madrid 2020 $3.1bn

Tokyo 2020 $3.4bn

Bid candidates budget break-down in percent

Istanbul Madrid Tokyo

Technology 14.9 15 12.3

Games workforce 9.2 11.9 7.3

Venues and 29.1 23.7 31.3facilities

Ceremonies and 4.8 4.8 2.9culture

Transportation 3.7 4.5 6.8

Paralympic 7.6 5.6 4.7Games

Advertising and 4.3 5.3 3promotion

Administration 18.1 20.8 23.6and other

Contingency 8.4 8.4 8

BUENOS AIRES: During the London 2012 Olympics Masa Takaya sat back, watched with admiration and mentally took notes.

“London 2012 was a brilliant Games,” said Takaya, acting com-munications director of Tokyo 2020 and part of the team trying to bring the same kind of triumph to Japan.

“It showed how early, efficient delivery was so important to allow a focus on all those vital extra elements that transform a good Games into a great Games that inspire people around the world.”

Next Saturday (on September 7). almost 100 members of the International Olympic Committee will meet in Buenos Aires to decide whether Tokyo will get the chance to follow in London’s footsteps and, perhaps, mark the beginning of another new era: bet-ter times for a country that has spent most of the past two dec-ades in the economic doldrums.

With less than a week to go before IOC officials vote for either Tokyo, Madrid or Istanbul, Japanese officials are confident of winning the race to 2020, notwithstanding renewed con-cern over radiation leaks at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

The bookmakers have made Tokyo the favourite with Istanbul a distant second.

“Our strength lies in our dependability in hosting the Games,” said Tsunekazu Takeda, president of the Japanese Olympic Committee, as the city entered the final, decisive stages of its campaign.

The bid committee is keen to emphasise that it has learned from London’s successful bid for the 2012 Games.

The Japanese capital has hired the same UK-based agency as London and Rio - host of the 2016 Games - to write its speeches and promotional material, and fre-quently cites the importance of the “Olympic legacy”.

If Tokyo’s bid is successful, the Games will centre on the national Olympic stadium, the main venue for Japan’s 1964 Olympics.

The site will undergo a $1bn refurbishment by the UK-based architect Zaha Hadid. By the time the Rugby World Cup comes to Japan in 2019, the ageing sta-dium will be a state-of-the art, 80,000-seat arena, complete with a retractable roof.

The judo competition will be held at the Nippon Budokan, perhaps best known around the

world as the venue for a series of concerts by the Beatles in 1966; the archery and equestrian events will take place on Yumenoshima (which translates as “dream island”), an artificial island built using waste landfill in the 1950s to deal with Tokyo’s rubbish problem.

Some of the football matches will be played in Miyagi, one of the three prefectures in the country’s north-east, whose coastlines were devastated by the March 2011 tsunami.

Public support for the bid is ris-ing at home.

Tokyo organisers last week cited a poll showing approval standing at 92%.

The city’s doomed bid for the 2016 Games fizzled out amid pub-lic indifference and accusations of wasteful spending, soon after the global economy was rocked by the Lehman Brothers bank collapse.

Tokyo’s cause wasn’t helped by Shintaro Ishihara, its ultra-con-servative governor at the time, who was viewed by many outside the capital as a divisive figure because of his confrontational stance towards China.

His successor as governor, Naoki Inose, is less controversial, but was forced to apologise this year when he broke the IOC’s rules on criticising rival bids with a culturally insensitive outburst directed at Turkey.

“Islamic countries ... the only thing they share in common is Allah and they are fighting with each other,” he said in a news-paper interview during a visit to New York.

Inose compounded the gaffe by suggesting that London had secured the 2012 Games because it was “in a developed country whose sense of hospitality is excellent. Tokyo’s is also excellent. But other cities, not so much.”

The IOC decided not to take action after Inose issued an apology.

Not everyone is an Olympics enthusiast.

Tetsuo Ogawa of People Against the Olympics, a pressure group that opposes Tokyo’s bid, is most concerned about the financial cost of the Olympics at a time when poverty levels are rising in Japan.

“Tokyo plans to spend a lot of money building accommodation for athletes, while it’s preparing to evict homeless people from areas close to Olympic venues, including the main stadium,” he said.

“The city spent a lot of tax

money on its failed bid for 2016, and it is wasting it again on what is essentially a gamble.”

But the general mood is gung ho.

In an obvious reference to the London 2012 Games, Takeda has repeatedly pointed to Tokyo’s advanced sports and transport infrastructure, and its relative safety. While Japan has so far failed to rein in its huge public debt, its economic woes are mild compared with those of Spain.

The clear message is that an Olympics in Tokyo would be trou-ble-free, and affordable.

“We believe that Tokyo 2020 will deliver superb, safe Games, which will be a safe pair of hands and be a great legacy for the Olympic movement,” Japan’s Olympic committee president said.

Aside from drawing on the country’s technological prow-ess, advanced infrastructure and stable source of funding, Tokyo is

promising a “downtown” Games with 85% of the venues located within a five-mile radius of the Olympic village.

“The city enjoys the largest GDP of any city in the world,” Takeda said.

“It already has a Games fund of $4.5bn in the bank, as well as full government financial guarantees (if there is a shortfall).”

With Japan showing early signs of climbing out of its deflationary spiral, Taro Aso, the deputy prime minister, has predicted a 3tn yen windfall from the Olympics, while the country’s beleaguered corpo-rations are expected to benefit from a slew of lucrative contracts in the construction, real estate, retail and service sectors.

Tokyo’s city leaders have also attempted to allay safety fears fol-lowing the news last week that highly radioactive water had leaked from a storage tank at the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant.

Japan’s nuclear watchdog raised the severity of the incident from one to three on an interna-tional scale for nuclear accidents.

In response, Inose pointed out that atmospheric radiation lev-els in Tokyo are comparable with those in London and New York.

“The food and water in Tokyo are completely safe,” he said. “The situation in Fukushima will have no bearing on the vote )in Buenos Aires).”

In 1964, Japan had just embarked on a dramatic transfor-mation in the country that would see a defeated, traumatised nation become the world’s second-biggest economy.

The Games that summer were a clear signal that Japan had been welcomed into the international community, less than 20 years after the end of the Pacific war.

Five decades later, buoyed by the example of London 2012, the hope is that the feelgood factor can return. THE GUARDIAN

Tourist attractions ...Istanbul: Towering minarets, underground Byzantine cisterns, museums and steamy bathhouses.Madrid: The largest palace in Europe and the Parque del Buen Retiro, which features a large lake, monuments and several museums.Tokyo: Offers 24-hour game playing, Karaoke, vibrant fashion and futuristic skyscrapers.

Previous Games ...The last time the Olympic Games were hosted in Spain was in Barcelona in 1992.Turkey have never hosted the Games.The 1964 Games were held in Tokyo.

A cup of coffee costs...Madrid: Costs around 1.5 euroIstanbul: TL 5Tokyo: 813 yen

National medal tally ...Turkey: From 1908-2012, the country won a total of 88 Olympic medals, with the most medals for wrestling.Spain: From 1900-2012, Spain won 131 Olympic medals, with the most medals for sailing.Japan: From 1912-2012, Japan won 398 medals, with the most gold med-als being won in judo.

Public backing ...Istanbul: The bid had the highest level of public backing, with 83% support among city residents.Madrid: Was next with 76% in the city.Tokyo: Has the support of 70%.

Wrestling eyes quick return to 2020 Games BUENOS AIRES: From an ignominious Olympic exit to a Games return in less than eight months, wrestling can com-plete a remarkable turnaround when the International Olympic Committee next month votes in one new sport for the 2020 Games.

Wrestling was surprisingly taken off the 2020 Olympics by the IOC Executive Board in a February vote as the IOC looked to refresh its sports programme.

It has since battled back into contention, joining squash and baseball/softball as the three can-didates on a shortlist for one spot on the programme of the 2020 Olympics and a cut of the Games’ millions of dollars of revenues.

The IOC will select the one sport at its session in Buenos Aires on September 8.

For wrestling, clear frontrun-ners to win back the spot, it will be the culmination of a frantic seven-month period that saw more changes to rules, categories and the administration than in entire decades before combined.

The decision to exclude wres-tling, a sport that was part of the

ancient Olympics as well as every modern Games apart from 1900, drew almost instant support from senior IOC members themselves.

“I have the impression that the international federation has understood very well the mes-sages sent to them,” IOC Vice President Thomas Bach said last month.

“The international federation has drawn its conclusions. It is now here with a new president, new programme and new ideas for the sport. That is why I per-sonally believe that wrestling has good chances to come through the vote in September.”

The decision also released a wave of support from wrestling powerhouses including the United States, Russia and Iran, among others, as well as senior politi-cians in many countries, including Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

“I am quite optimistic because otherwise I would stay at home,” Nenad Lalovic, international fed-eration (FILA) president, said this week. “I am happy everyone is speaking so well about wres-tling but the job is not yet done,” said Lalovic, who took over from

Swiss Raphael Martinetti follow-ing February’s shock vote.

“We did everything possible in this short period. We hope we did enough,” said the burly Serb. “We implemented and not only decided. We have changed the whole sport and already imple-mented all these in the junior and cadet world championships.”

For baseball and softball the vote is the peak of an eight-year battle to return to the Games after the two sports were taken off the Olympic programme in 2005. The two sports have since created a joint confederation in a bid to increase their chances to return as a single sport.

Squash has also pulled out all the stops with top players backing the bid and highlighting its ris-ing global popularity and even had top tennis players Andy Murray and Roger Federer join the call for Olympic squash among several non-squash celebrities.

Whether they will manage to convince the IOC membership of the added value the sports brings to the Games in their final pres-entation in Argentina remains to be seen. REUTERS

RIGHT: A picture taken on March 18, 2013 shows the Las Ventas

bullring in Madrid during a visit by the International Olympic Committee

(IOC) evaluation commission team for the 2020 Olympics and

Paralympics Games.

The Olympic Games hosts

1896 Athens, Greec

1900 Paris, France

1904 St Louis, US

1908 London, UK

1912 Stockholm, Sweden

1916Awarded to Berlin, can-celled due to World War One

1920 Antwerp, Belgium

1924 Paris, France

1928 Amsterdam, the Netherlands

1932 Los Angeles, United States

1936 Berlin, Germany

1940

Originally awarded to Tokyo, then awarded to Helsinki, cancelled due to World War Two

1944Awarded to London, cancelled due to World War Two

1948 London, UK

1952 Helsinki, Finland

1956 Melbourne, Australia

1960 Rome, Italy

1964 Tokyo, Japan

1968 Mexico City, Mexico

1972 Munich, West Germany

1976 Montreal, Canada

1980 Moscow, Soviet Union

1984 Los Angeles, US

1988 Seoul, South Korea

1992 Barcelona, Spain

1996 Atlanta, US

2000 Sydney, Australia

2004 Athens, Greece

2008 Beijing, China

2012 London, UK

2016 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

A view of Tokyo skyline and some of its

sports facilities. Tokyo is one of three candidate

cities eyeing to host the

2020 Olympic Games.

2008 Beijing2008 Beijing

2012 London2012 London2016 Rio de Janeiro2016 Rio de Janeiro

2004 Athens2004 Athens

27SPORT MONDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2013

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

Sturridge leads Liverpool to victory over Man United Arsenal see off Tottenham in derby; Swansea pick up maximum points

Liverpool’s Daniel Sturridge (left) celebrates with Martin Skrtel after scoring the opening goal during the English Premier League match against Manchester United at Anfield, Liverpool, Britain, yesterday. RIGHT: Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud celebrates after scoring against Tottenham Hotspur dur-ing their English Premier League match at the Emirates Stadium in London.

LIVERPOOL: England man-ager Roy Hodgson watched three of his players poten-tially join the injured Wayne Rooney on the sidelines dur-ing Liverpool’s bruising 1-0 win over Manchester United yesterday.

Rooney sat out the Premier League tussle at Anfield with a head injury and Hodgson also saw Phil Jones, Glen Johnson and match-winner Daniel Sturridge succumb to injuries.

England host Moldova in a World Cup qualifier on Friday before playing away to Ukraine on September 10 and United man-ager David Moyes said Rooney had “no chance” of taking part after cutting his forehead in training.

“Wayne is bad. The cut is in the middle of his forehead and will take a wee while to heal,” Moyes told Sky Sports.

“He turned around and it was a boot by Phil Jones that caught him down the forehead. Three weeks, I expect.”

Sturridge scored the win-ning goal with a fourth-minute header -- the third match in a row in which he has registered the game’s only goal -- but he later revealed that he had a thigh problem.

“It was great to have the man-ager (Hodgson) here. It’s impor-tant for me to be out on the field,” Sturridge said.

“I had a problem with my thigh before the game. It’s still hinder-ing me now, but I went out and put on a good performance for the boys. Hopefully I’ll be OK for the (England) squad.”

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers revealed that Sturridge had been concerned about his fit-ness in the build-up to the game.

“We just need to assess him. He played but wasn’t sure he would make it through the game,” he said.

“He’s struggled the last couple of days but put himself out there. We need to make sure we think of Liverpool first.

“I would expect with his quality, Roy would look for him maybe to start, but our priority is to make sure he’s OK.” AFP

Rooney out as England injuries mount

LONDON, England: Daniel Sturridge sent Liverpool top of the Premier League with a 1-0 win over Manchester United yesterday, while Arsenal clipped Tottenham Hotspur’s wings in the north London derby.

New United manager David Moyes was without Wayne Rooney due to a head injury that looks set to rule him out of England’s World Cup qualifiers and in his absence, the Scot’s poor record at Anfield continued.

Sturridge, who could ben-efit from Rooney’s absence for England against Moldova and Ukraine, scored the only goal in the fourth minute, having also been the match-winner in 1-0 wins over Stoke City and Aston Villa.

It means that Liverpool are the only team to have won their opening three fixtures, after big-spending Spurs lost 1-0 at Arsenal later in the day.

“It is a great win for our belief,” said Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers.

“Last season we drew too many of the big games and we lost both times to Manchester United, but today was another marker for us and since January our form has been very, very good.”

Although the season remains young, it was a painful defeat for United, who already trail their old rivals by five points.

“I thought we played really well,” said Moyes, the former Everton manager, who revealed after the game that Rooney could be out for three weeks.

“We had long periods of the game, but couldn’t score. Apart from the lapse in concentration for their goal, we played well.

“We got two or three opportu-nities but it was unfortunate we didn’t take them.”

The game was preceded by a minute’s applause for the late Bill Shankly, who would have turned 100 today, and the legendary former Liverpool manager would have appreciated his side’s pur-poseful start.

There were less than four min-utes on the clock when Liverpool

Mathieu Flamini, who has returned to the club from AC Milan, made his second Arsenal debut as a substitute for Jack Wilshere, but fears about the injury-prone England midfielder’s fitness were allayed by the news he had only been suffering from stomach cramps.

After Lloris’s fingertips pre-vented Giroud from doubling Arsenal’s lead in the second half, Spurs manager Andre Villas-Boas sent on Lamela and Sandro, who came on after an injury to Etienne Capoue.

Roberto Soldado vainly appealed for handball after his shot was blocked by Giroud, but while Nacho Monreal was unable to add a second after Lloris saved from Walcott, it did not stop Arsene Wenger’s side stealing into the top four at Spurs’ expense.

In the day’s other game, Swansea City recorded their first victory of the season with a 2-0 success at West Bromwich Albion.

The home side recalled Nicolas Anelka after he was granted com-passionate leave but they lost to Ben Davies volley and a late Pablo Hernandez strike. AFP

Former England footballer David Beckham (centre) attends the English Premier League football match between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur.

struck, with Sturridge stepping off the line to glance Daniel Agger’s header past David de Gea and mark his 24th birthday with an 11th goal in nine games.

The visitors improved in the second half, but Liverpool goal-keeper Simon Mignolet repelled a Ryan Giggs header and a rasping drive from substitute Nani before Robin van Persie slashed a late chance wide.

The final whistle drew roars from the home fans, but there was concern for watching England manager Roy Hodgson, who saw both United defender Phil Jones and Liverpool right-back Glen Johnson hobble off with injuries.

At the Emirates Stadium, Spurs included new record sign-ing Erik Lamela on the bench; the star recruit of a close-season splurge in which they have spent around £110m ($170m, 129 million euros) on new players.

It was a familiar combina-tion that saw Arsenal take a 23rd-minute lead, however, with Theo Walcott crossing for Olivier Giroud to beat France team-mate Hugo Lloris with an exquisite near-post finish.

Isco bags brace in Real win MADRID: Real Madrid con-tinued their unblemished start under new manager Carlo Ancelotti as they beat Athletic Bilbao 3-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu yesterday to move alongside Villarreal at the top of La Liga.

After a promising start from the visitors, who had also won their opening two games, Madrid began to take control midway through the first-half and went ahead when Isco collected Karim Benzema’s lovely scooped pass and lifted the ball beyond Iago Herrerin.

Cristiano Ronaldo then regis-tered his first goal of the season when he nodded Angel Di Maria’s free-kick home in first-half stop-page time and Isco made it 3-0 with a deflected strike in the second period before Ibai Gomez scored a consolation for Athletic late on.

“We have won all three games and this is the right road to hav-ing a good year,” Isco told Canal Plus afterwards.

“We have started well and there is still margin to improve. We are improving with every game and this is our objective.”

Ander Herrera was also only a substitute for Athletic follow-ing Manchester United’s bid for the midfielder earlier this week as Mikel Rico came in to make his debut.

After a slow start, Madrid’s passing and movement steadily improved as the first-half wore on and Ronaldo was first to seri-ously threaten as he saw a low drive tipped around the post from Herrerin before Pepe just failed to turn in Sergio Ramos’s header from the resulting corner.

However, the hosts had to wait just a few minutes more for the opener as Benzema picked out Isco and he controlled and fin-ished calmly to register his sec-ond goal in as many games at the Bernabeu since joining from Malaga.

Athletic were enraged moments after the opener, though, as Benat

Extebarria’s free-kick struck Sami Khedira’s arm in the wall and referee Carlos Clos Gomez awarded another free-kick just outside the box rather than a pen-alty. Benat stepped up again and this time saw his effort whistle just past Diego Lopez’s left-hand post.

Madrid were continuing to look the more threatening, however, and it was no surprise when they doubled their lead just before the break as Ronaldo rose highest to power home Di Maria’s in-swing-ing free-kick.

Ronaldo was denied his second of the afternoon after the break by an excellent stop by Herrerin

as the keeper got down low to parry the Portuguese’s free-kick, but Isco did complete his dou-ble 20 minutes from time as he controlled another pass from Benzema and saw his volley from the edge of the box deflect in off an Athletic defender.

The visitors did finally get some recompense for their efforts six minutes later when Ibai swept home De Marcos’s cut-back.

Real held on to ensure Ancelotti has started his maiden league campaign in Spain with three straight wins, a feat Jose Mourinho failed to achieve in his three years in charge at the Bernabeu. AFP

La Liga ResultsYesterday

Real Madrid 3 (Isco 26, 72, Cristiano Ronaldo 45+1) Athletic Bilbao 1 (Gomez 79)

SaturdayCelta Vigo 1 (Rafa 29) Grenade 1 (Piti 62)

Valladolid 1 (Valiente 47) Getafe 0

Osasuna 0 Villarreal 3 (Perbet 22, Aquino 30, Uche 75)

FridayAlmeria 2 (Soriano 11, Verza 45+2-pen) Elche 2 (Albácar 32-pen, Boakye 90+5)

Rayo Vallecano 1 (Larrivey 79) Levante 2 (Santos 26, Ivanschitz 90+3)

Qatar to play friendly against Mauritius DOHA: Qatar have finalised a friendly against Mauritius after opponents Tanzania said they could not play the international match against ‘Al Anabi’ later this week, it emerged yesterday.

Coached by Fahad Thani, Qatar will host Mauritius on September 5 at Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium.

Tanzania backed out of the friendly saying the national team is preparing for their 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Ghana on September 7, Qatar Football Association (QFA) said.

The Qatar squad - which is currently training until September 10 - will play another friendly against Lebanon on September 9.

The training camp - planned in preparation for the coming Asian Cup qualifying matches - is being held at Aspire Academy.

Qatar have played two 2015 Asian Cup qualifying matches so far - beating Malaysia in February before losing to hosts Bahrain in March.

The 2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification matches will determine the participating teams for the event to be held in Australia.

A total of 16 teams will com-pete in the 2015 AFC Asian Cup.

Qatar play Yemen on October 15 in Doha followed by a return match on November 15.

THE PENINSULA

English Premier League Results

YesterdayArsenal 1 Tottenham 0

Liverpool 1 Man United 0

West Bromwich Albion 0 Swansea City 2

SaturdayCardiff City 0 Everton 0

Crystal Palace 3 Sunderland 1

Manchester City 2 Hull City 0

Newcastle United 1 Fulham 0

Norwich City 1 Southampton 0

West Ham 0 Stoke City 1

Bundesliga ResultsYesterday

VfB Stuttgart 6 Hoffenheim 2

Eintracht Frankfurt 1 Borussia Dortmund 2

SaturdayBorussia Moenchengladbach 4 Werder Bremen 1

Hanover 96 4 Mainz 05 1

VfL Wolfsburg 2 Hertha Berlin 0

Nuremberg 0 Augsburg 1

Hamburg 4 Eintracht Braunschweig 0

Schalke 04 2 Bayer Leverkusen 0

De Rossi not for sale: Roma MILAN, Lombardy: AS Roma have insisted Daniele De Rossi (pictured) is not for sale amid reports Manchester United are still targeting the highly-rated midfielder ahead of today’s transfer deadline.

Club director Mauro Baldissoni told Sky Sport Italia before yesterday’s match at home to Verona he would say “no thank you to any offer” for Rossi.

Roma are keen to make amends for last season when the Giallorossi finished sixth in Serie A and out of Europe before losing the Italian Cup final to fierce city rivals Lazio.

Baldissoni added: “If a formal proposal comes in from Manchester United or any other club, we will always say ‘no thank you’, as would the player.

“The team and Daniele have just finished a season that did not go to plan and both want to make up for that.”

Baldissoni said club icon Francesco Totti, currently in his 21st season with Roma, could be offered a new deal but would not hold the club to ransom. AFP

Real Madrid’s Isco celebrates Real Madrid’s Isco celebrates his goal during their Spanish first his goal during their Spanish first division match against Athletic division match against Athletic Bilbao at Santiago Bernabeu Bilbao at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid, yesterday.Stadium in Madrid, yesterday.

NEW YORK: Defending cham-pion Andy Murray made light of the heavy, humid New York con-ditions yesterday to breeze into the US Open last 16, where he was joined by Tomas Berdych and Stanislas Wawrinka.

Third-seeded Murray, who ended his country’s 76-wait for a Grand Slam men’s champion when he won his maiden major title in New York last year, eased past Germany’s world number 49 Florian Mayer, 7-6 (7/2), 6-2, 6-2.

His win was built on an impres-sive 42 winners and seven aces.

“I think I need to start my matches quicker than I have been doing. I am not that fast out of the blocks,” said the 26-year-old. “But once I got going I was striking the ball cleanly.”

Murray, the reigning Olympic and Wimbledon champion, will face either Italian 20th seed Andreas Seppi or Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan for a place in the quarter-finals.

The Scot leads Seppi 5-1 in their career match-ups, with the Italian’s only win coming in their first meeting on grass in Nottingham in 2006.

Murray defeated Istomin, the world number 65, in their only

match in the quarter-finals at Brisbane in January this year.

Berdych and Wawrinka will clash for a spot in the quarter-finals.

Fifth seed Berdych, who defeated five-time winner Roger Federer on his way to the semi-finals last year, eased past French 31st seed Julien Benneteau, 6-0, 6-3, 6-2. Swiss ninth seed Wawrinka, a quarter-finalist in 2010, got past unseeded Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis, the former world number eight but now down at 53 in the world, 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (1/7), 7-6 (9/7).

Baghdatis, the 2006 Australian Open runner-up, has now lost all three meetings with Wawrinka.

The bearded Cypriot saved four match points before falling

in a big-hitting clash on Louis Armstrong Stadium, which saw a total of 100 winners unleashed.

Berdych hit 36 winners and 11 aces in the contest, which finished six minutes short of two hours.

“It was a bit hot, a bit humid, but otherwise the tennis was good,” said Berdych, who has made the quarter-finals at the Australian Open and Wimbledon this year.

“I managed to stay focused from the first point until the last. There were no ups and downs, just took all my chances that I had, and won in straight sets.”

Wawrinka has a 6-5 career lead over former Wimbledon finalist Berdych, having won their last meeting on clay in the Madrid Masters semi-finals this year.

AFP

Sport Monday 2 September 201326 Shawwal 1434

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Sport | 24 Sport | 25

Garcia grabs Deutsche Bank lead

Al-Anabi, Johnson extend contract

British Grand PrixSILVERSTONE, United Kingdom: Results from the British Grand Prix at Silverstone yesterday:

MotoGP

1. Jorge Lorenzo (ESP/Yamaha) 40:52.515, 2. Marc Marquez (ESP/Honda) at 0.081, 3. Dani Pedrosa (ESP/Honda) 1.551, 4. Valentino Rossi (ITA/Yamaha) 13.233, 5. Alvaro Bautista (ESP/Honda) 13.298, 6. Stefan Bradl (GER/Honda) 20.227, 7. Cal Crutchlow (GBR/Yamaha) 26.299, 8. Nicky Hayden (USA/Ducati) 35.993, 9. Bradley Smith (GBR/Yamaha) 36.119, 10. Aleix Espargaro (ESP/ART) 53.196

Moto 2

1. Scott Redding (GBR/Kalex) en 38:22.897, 2. Takaaki Nakagami (JPN/Kalex) at 1.066, 3. Thomas Luthi (SUI/Suter) 1.170, 4. Esteve Rabat (ESP/Kalex) 1.427, 5. Dominique Aegerter (SUI/Suter) 2.226, 6. Mika Kallio (FIN/Kalex) 8.142, 7. Johann Zarco (FRA/Suter) 12.146, 8. Pol Espargaro (ESP/Kalex) 13.228, 9. Simone Corsi (ITA/Speed Up) 15.162, 10. Mattia Pasini (ITA/Speed Up) 15.225.

Moto3

1. Luis Salom (ESP/KTM) 38:17.291, 2. Alex Rins (ESP/KTM) 0.049, 3. Alex Marquez (ESP/KTM) 0.698, 4. Maverick Vinales (ESP/KTM) 0.849, 5. Miguel Oliveira (POR/Mahindra) 20.561, 6. Jonas Folger (GER/Kalex KTM) 20.625, 7. Jack Miller (AUS/FTR Honda) 20.631, 8. Alexis Masbou (FRA/FTR Honda) 20.882, 9. Jakub Kornfeil (CZE/Kalex KTM) 24.970, 10. Efren Vazquez (ESP/Mahindra) 25.288

US Open NEW YORK: US Open results yesterday (x denotes seeded player):

Men’s singles

3rd round

Tomas Berdych (CZE x5) bt Julien Benneteau (FRA x31) 6-0, 6-3, 6-2

Stanislas Wawarinka (SUI x9) bt Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (1/7), 7-6 (9/7

Andy Murray (GBR x3) bt Florian Mayer (GER) 7-6(2) 6-2 6-2

Lorenzo edges Marquez in thrillerWorld championship leader Marquez docked two points at British Grand PrixSILVERSTONE, United Kingdom: Reigning MotoGP champion Jorge Lorenzo won the British Grand Prix at Silverstone yesterday ahead of Spanish compatriots Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa.

Honda’s Marquez, who hurt his shoulder in the morning warm-up and had to be taken by ambulance to the circuit’s medical centre, maintained his lead at the top of the overall standings.

The 20-year-old MotoGP debu-tant had won the previous four Grand Prix and leads Honda teammate Pedrosa by 30 points, with Yamaha’s Lorenzo a further nine points adrift with six races left in the 18-race season.

Fourth-placed Italian Valentino Rossi, a seven-time world cham-pion, is a distant 77 points off the leader having also finished fourth yesterday.

Marquez was penalised two points for a dangerous move during the warm-up but still increased his championship lead.

“Given the circumstances, it’s gone well for me where the standings are concerned,” said Marquez.

The Spaniard did not slow down when yellow flags were waved after an earlier accident before crashing at the same place on the track and dislocating his left shoulder.“He (Marquez)

continued at racing speed and did not slow down and be prepared to stop as required by the regu-lations,@ FIM, the sport’s ruling body, said in a statement.

“His subsequent crash at the same point as the previous acci-dent seriously endangered the rider being attended and the mar-shals in the accident zone.

The lead at Silverstone changed hands regularly between pole-sitter Marquez and Lorenzo, who only made the final decisive move a few turns from the finish.

Pedrosa was largely a specta-tor in the leaders’ battle, follow-ing closely in third, but not closely enough to make a pass.

“I really deserved this victory,” said Lorenzo. “I fought like I’d rarely done before in order to get it. This success has relaunched me for the season run-in. Even though Marc is in the best position, many things can still happen.”

Lorenzo had not won a Grand Prix since the middle of June at Catalonia.

The British fans, out of luck in the main division, had something to cheer about when home hope Scott Redding won the Moto2 Grand Prix. The Kalex rider and came in just over one second clear of Japan’s Takaaki Nakagami with German Thomas Luthi in third.

AGENCIES

Spanish Jorge Lorenzo (centre) celebrates on the podium after winning the MotoGP at Silverstone in Northamptonshire, yesterday. Lorenzo won the British Grand Prix ahead of Spanish compatriots Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa.

Real Madrid bag Bale on six-year deal: Club MADRID: Gareth Bale’s (pic-tured) prolonged transfer from Tottenham Hotspur to Real Madrid was finally completed yesterday after the Spanish club officially confirmed the move for an undisclosed fee.

“Real Madrid and Tottenham have reached an agreement for the transfer of Gareth Bale,” con-firmed a statement on the club’s website.

“The player will be tied to the club for the next six seasons.”

Widespread reports have sug-gested that the move will make Bale the world’s most expensive player and Spurs boss Andre Villas-Boas said last week he expected his club to receive a world record fee for the player.

However, Madrid sports daily AS claimed on Friday that Real will pay 91m euros ($121m, £78m), three million less than Los Blancos paid for Cristiano Ronaldo back in 2009.

Bale will be presented to the media and the club’s fans today afternoon after undergoing a medical.

The Welshman was coveted by the Spanish giants following a series of amazing performances for Tottenham last season that landed him both the Premier League players and football writ-ers’ player of the year.

Bale scored 21 goals in 33 Premier League appearances, but his efforts still weren’t enough to lift Spurs into the Champions League as they were edged out of fourth place by just one point by North London rivals Arsenal.

And the chance to not only play with some of the best players in the world, but also in Europe’s premier club competition was a

significant factor as the 24-year-old made his desire to move to Madrid clear.

Bale was criticised by Spurs’ boss Andre Villas-Boas on Wednesday after he refused to attend training last week in a bid to force the move through.

Indeed Bale hasn’t played at all since Spurs’ pre-season friendly against Swindon Town on July 16 as he first complained first of a gluteal injury and then a foot problem which kept him out of the English side’s impressive start to their league campaign.

However, he has still been called up by Chris Coleman for Wales’ upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Macedonia and Serbia. The deal lands Spurs an incredible profit on a player they bought for just £7m six years ago

from Southampton. And with his departure having been expected for a number of weeks, Villas-Boas has set about significantly strengthening his squad with the signings of Roberto Soldado, Paulinho, Etienne Capoue, Nacer Chadli, Erik Lamela, Vlad Chiriches and Cristian Erisken to take the club’s spending for the summer to over £100m.

After a difficult spell following his move from Southampton, Bale didn’t begin to truly shine with Spurs until he was moved from left-back into a more advanced position on the left during the 2009/2010 season.

The following year he shot to prominence by scoring a hat-trick against then European champi-ons Inter Milan at the San Siro and helped guide Spurs to the quarter-finals in their first ever participation in the competition before they were eventually ham-mered 5-0 on aggregate by his new employers.

Meanwhile, it is not even immediately clear where Bale fits into the new Real Madrid project under new manager Carlo Ancelotti.

The signings of midfielders Asier Illarramendi and in par-ticular Isco earlier in the transfer window were designed to make Real’s style more closely resem-ble that of rivals Barcelona with a more patient, possession based build-up.

Ancelotti himself said last week that his idea was “not to play on the counter-attack” in a thinly veiled reference to the rapid counter-attacking style Jose Mourinho employed during his time at the Bernabeu.

AGENCIES

Murray mauls Mayer to reach fourth round

Andy Murray of Great

Britain returns the ball to

Florian Mayer of Germany in the third-

round action at the US Open

Championship held at the USTA Billie Jean King

National Tennis Center in New

York City, yesterday.

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